"Hey! Guildmaster! Don't spend too long fighting the elves!"
Joseph Joestar shouted to Kairo Retsu over the gathering voice channel. "We're not here to start a war with the elves, remember?!"
"Oh right! Kinda got carried away…"
Kairo Retsu replied, "Can't help it! These elves are just the right difficulty for me! Big flashy moves actually work on them!"
"Just think about who we were fighting in the Infinity Castle!" Kairo Retsu sounded genuinely wronged. "Akaza and Kokushibo… guys who trained in martial arts for hundreds of years! Their combat experience just steamrolled me! You think I wasn't frustrated?!"
"Small frames, high agility, zipping around the battlefield, and they hit like trucks! They were literally Rajang! Straight-up Rajangs!" Kairo Retsu's voice rose with indignation. "Rajang is bad civilization!"
"But you're taking too much damage too often," Naofumi Iwatani sighed and spoke a few words in defense of Kazuma, who now had tears silently trickling from the corners of his eyes. "He's close to choking. And I think Laios and Marcille have already left the building by now."
"! Seriously?!"
Kairo Retsu was shocked.
"Mm!" Tanjiro joined the party voice chat as well. "I already noticed—Miss Marcille used some weird-looking creature to quietly drag Miss Falin's body off into the forest!"
"Perfect! Then let's go check how the Palicoes are doing with the construction work!" Kairo Retsu said enthusiastically. "Tanjiro, hold the Farcaster! Watch my performance!"
[Farcaster: A consumable item that allows fast travel to a camp, even mid-battle.]
"Oh…"
Tanjiro felt a little embarrassed.
Even though he knew Kairo Retsu wasn't a bad person, the way Kairo acted in front of the elves made Tanjiro feel like… he'd become an accomplice to something villainous…
Right then, Kairo Retsu addressed the elves again.
"I actually was kind of looking forward to fighting you all."
He put on a scornful expression and started a show for the elves. "So this is all the 'great Western elves' have to offer?!"
"Magic… Ancient Magic? Laughable!" Kairo Retsu spread his arms wide, deliberately not defending against their attacks—as if to prove their spells were powerless against him.
Joseph and Naofumi, meanwhile, increased the speed at which they were force-feeding potions into Kazuma.
"Damn it, no magic works on him!" Patadru said, clearly agitated. "Just where did this Tallfolk come from?!"
"That's exactly the point!"
Kairo Retsu suddenly pointed at Patadru. "You people haven't even tried to sincerely talk to me… You haven't even introduced yourselves! Even though I already know your names."
He began pointing them out one by one:
"Misrun, the former dungeon master, and leader of Team Canary…"
"Patadru, this is your first time at the dungeon frontlines, right? Hishewis, illusion specialist…"
"Then Freyche, Rision, Ota…"
"See?! I clearly know who you all are, and even understand you. We could've been friends!"
Kairo Retsu spoke with a heartbroken expression. "But even my self-introduction—you only heard it through illusion magic! You wouldn't even let me explain my thoughts properly! That kind of thing's important! Communication! Communication!"
"So now I have to become the dungeon master quickly, and then talk things through with you all at leisure!"
"How does he know so much about us?!" Hishewis took a step back.
She had used illusion magic on Kairo Retsu multiple times during the battle, but every time, the instant it landed, it would break on its own.
It felt like he was playing with them.
"You know I used to be a dungeon master…" Misrun suddenly realized. "You know about the demon."
"Yep."
Kairo Retsu spread his arms. "The demon's desire to devour the dungeon master's 'desire' or whatever… let it eat it, for all I care. I'm not stingy. If it could just tell me what my desire tastes like afterward, that'd be great."
As he spoke, Kairo Retsu pulled out the Winged Lion's Book from his backpack.
"I don't feel like wasting any more words with you. That other book isn't even here anymore."
As he said that, the eye on the Winged Lion's Book opened, revealing an infinity symbol and fixing its gaze on Kairo Retsu.
"Well then… I hope that by the next time we meet, a new dungeon master has already emerged among us!"
The next moment, Kairo Retsu pulled out a green Farcaster and smashed it into the ground. Thick smoke erupted from the impact.
"!"
The elves tried instinctively to stop him, but just then, a Wyvern soared overhead. A claw shot out from the smoke and latched onto a device on the wyvern's leg—lifting Kairo Retsu straight into the air.
"Bye-bye, folks!"
Kairo Retsu blew the elves a kiss from midair. "Let's meet again… atop the back of Dahren Mohran!"
His enthusiastic—but to the elves, deeply unsettling—parting words made them scramble to stop him and Tanjiro who followed close behind, but it was already too late.
"Find that guy's companions! We can't let them unseal the other book!" Patadru shouted in frustration.
Only now did the elves finally realize—
"Where's Kabru?!"
"No one's upstairs!"
"And that Chimera we killed—it's gone too!"
It finally dawned on them.
Had they been too focused on Kairo Retsu all this time? There were clearly other issues that needed attention, so why had they been stuck fighting only him?
Back on the wyvern's back, Kairo Retsu scratched at the skill jewel embedded in his gear.
Taunt Jewel…
[Taunt Attack: Attacks draw enemy aggression to a certain extent.]
Sure, the skill effect wasn't that strong… but it was enough to keep all the elves' attention focused on him.
"Hah!"
Hanging under the wyvern, Kairo Retsu stretched lazily. "Now let's see—who's going to become the dungeon master first?"
"Winged Lion."
Kairo Retsu glanced down at the Winged Lion's Book.
"Who do you think is more suited to become the dungeon master?"
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