Chapter 136 Differing Viewpoints

“Hmm, they seem to be slowing down. We might have stopped the invasion.” As good as it sounded, they managed to push us back more than halfway from where we started. There were only a half dozen dungeons between them and us reaching our city now. They destroyed their way through just as many, if not more, dungeons, every time flooding the dungeon until it went berserk or just finding/destroying the core.

It seemed like the further down the person went south, the harder the dungeon was, and the only reason they didn’t break through and destroy a path all the way to the western region where we lived was because of us. I had already passed level fifty again; farming was safe, but killing was fast. We killed so much that killing became boring, wiping out tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of undead over the course of a week or so.

Travelling from the western region to the southern region was something almost no one could do before, but now that those dungeons were gone, it would be decades before the surrounding dungeons claimed their territory. If they had an army, they could easily invade, but… They didn’t have an army anymore; we had done most of the damage, but the dungeons killed plenty of them as well.

“So, what’s the plan?” Sarah asked the question, and I wasn’t sure myself. Cherry was the first to give options, and Leaf added to what she said. “We can keep pushing through. Now that there’s no army, we might be able to kill the leader. If we can, then taking back the entire southern region might not be a pipe dream.”

“I don’t like it. It’s too risky. We should head back and tell the king; we’ve been fighting a fight that doesn’t belong to just us; the kingdom is in danger, and they should be forced to help us in case things go bad.” They both made sense. In a completely stable world, I’d agree with Leaf; it made more sense to go get help just like we did with the first berserk dungeon. If we didn’t have the fodder there to pull attention, we might have lost someone actually valuable after all… But…

I felt it in my gut. It would be a mistake not to take advantage of this. We were all leveling at insane speed, impossible to reach unless we were fighting against an army, and once we left, the army that brought the fight to the south very well could be wiped out and become the south's undead army themselves. It also came down to selfishness.

I didn’t know how much time I had left, and I wanted my family to be set up to succeed even without me. Getting levels now would put them in the top echelons of the country. My family was strong already, but selfishly wanting them to be stronger was something I think any good husband would want. “Let’s go and check it out at least. Hopefully, we won't need to retreat.”

…

Master’s Point of View

I was furious, but it didn’t show in my actions. Every single one of my generals was wiped out. All that was left were Greed and some parts of Pride. It would take Greed years to reform her ghostly body, and Pride would never be the same. The greater shade that controlled the lesser ones was made through a freak accident and the sacrifice of a legendary warrior during the ritual, so it was impossible to replicate.

All of the other undead were the leaders that climbed to the top through constant warfare; I just didn’t have the undead to sacrifice to empower a similar number of generals… Not without a surplus of new undead, which was the only option. Passing through the eastern wall was impossible; the only plan that made sense was to go all in on the western warfront, push through, and hope I had the numbers to take over the continent.

Pulling every single undead I had in the country might be the only way I survive, and it would mean giving up many of the projects I had in place, but the only way the undead acted as more than fodder was if they were close to me; I had to go myself. It had been decades since I had to leave this mansion. My most powerful defenses were here, but it was a necessity.

We had been cut off for too long; for undead to thrive, they needed constant new blood, and the only groups I had access to were the guards on the eastern wall, but every man I claimed from there, I’d spend ten undead to take, or the few creatures that came from the northern mountains, because I couldn’t take over dungeon monsters.

…

Mara’s Point of View

I picked at my teeth after ‘taking care’ of my rival's eggs. I almost chuckled at the thought of her taking a younger boy toy to knock her up, but that’s exactly what I just did, and I’d have laid eggs as well if I didn’t give birth naturally. We probably got knocked up around the same time now that I think about it. I still needed to pack up all of her wealth and resources, but besides that. I didn’t want to live in this place, my old home that we fought over.

The reason dragons claim these lairs is access to high-density mana, normally through lava veins going throughout the mountain. That’s why I chose my home location, actually, and why she wanted it. But besides the high mana, this place was awful. Dragons were reclusive, but I wasn’t, and the food I could eat, the items that were being made for me, and the wealth I was acquiring just by existing in that human region, as the king wanted to keep me happy, made it far more valuable to keep living there instead.

I already knew this, though. I came here only for revenge, and everything worked out perfectly. Maybe I’d check in on hubby before heading back to the city. If everything went fine, he should be home by now; he only went to survey the dungeons after all, which was closer to a vacation than anything with how strong everyone was now.

Maybe I’d do a quick flyby and see if I could scrounge up some more resources. He had all of the known/popular crops from every region, but there might be something less popular in the eastern region. Milly was always happy with new herbs, and I could pick up a few other things for the rest of the girls. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how much I’d changed in the past few years.

When was the last time I cared for someone else? I couldn’t even remember, certainly not in decades, besides them at least. I fought it so hard, but what they had felt was different from all the other relationships I was ever part of. They trusted each other, and made you want to be part of it; even me, a dragon, got roped into their family. That just went to show how charismatic the man was. It didn’t take much to make a harem; most nobles had harems after all. It was a completely different thing to have a harmonious harem of women that viewed each other as family rather than rivals.