Dungeon of Lust: Managing Otherworldly Beauties

Chapter 243: [Nitro]

Salome, who’d just landed another strike on Lor, screamed at Vale as he walked toward Lor, dragging the bike by the handlebars.

"Vale! What the hell are you doing?"

Vale smiled and yelled back.

"My special attack!"

’God, I hope this works...’

Vale might be screwed if it didn’t. He didn’t really have a way to defend himself. Not to mention, only this first attempt would be a surprise.

The bike strike would definitely be telegraphed, but the speed would be uncanny the first time.

’Unless he put two and two together.’

But Vale doubted it. The man was much too focused on going after ’Ixion’ to assess anything.

As Vale slowly marched forth, he filled up the tank on the side of the bike with Aether; a necessary prerequisite for [Nitro], lest he achieve nonstop acceleration.

’There it is...’

Vale felt the moment his Aether rejected going in the tube, signifying it was full.

Only a few paces away from one another, Vale called out to Lor:

"Hey, Lor! I’m sorry about what I said earlier, can we still be friends?"

The bulky knight grumbled back as he raised his sword.

"Nonsense—"

Before the man could even finish his first word, Vale swung the bike while activating [Nitro].

’Woah!’

Vale’s body shot forward, pulled along by the propulsion of the Aether canister. As he was pulled, he did his best to direct the path of the bike.

In the blink of an eye, the frame over the back wheel of the bike smashed into the knight’s side.

"Gyeahk!"

Lor screamed out as his body was sent sliding away.

As Vale watched, he let go of the bike. The bike flew off until it crashed into the translucent wall, then bounced off, completely fine.

’Ah...’

When Lor’s slide stopped, the knight fell to one knee and coughed repeatedly. A bit of blood leaked out through the eye slit of the visor.

’Ruptured something, eh?’

Vale smiled as he stood back up, only to notice his arm seemed a little longer than usual.

"Ah, fuck! The hell?!"

Lust had dulled whatever pain he should be in, but Vale’s left arm was severely dislocated, to the point where it nearly reached his kneecap.

"Salome, could you, uh..."

The stunned succubus, who’d been woefully unprepared to witness that sight, flew over behind Vale.

Not wasting any time, with Lor still knocked down and all, Salome kicked Vale in the back, causing him to faceplant. She placed a foot on his spine, gripped his left arm, and pushed.

Even with Lust, a bit of pain from the whole procedure shone through.

’Damn!’

Salome stopped for a moment, then said:

"Vale, I can’t steady my arm with one hand, so you’ll need to angle it."

’Seriously?!’

Vale grit his teeth, then slid his right hand to his dangly arm and did just that.

As Salome pushed again and he directed it, Vale heard a loud click followed by a flash of pain. Vale grunted and bore it.

’ERRgh.’

After a few long breaths, Vale stood up.

"Thanks..."

Lor was still coughing up blood, and a major dent in the side of his armor seemed to be pressing on his kidney. Sadly, it didn’t seem to have been damaged to the point where Lor had to take off his armor to survive.

If he could even take off such a set of bulky armor on his lonesome.

As the knight stumbled to his feet, Vale sauntered over to the bike.

Salome’s eyes narrowed.

"You’re not going to do it again, are you?"

"It worked, did it not?"

"Well, it did."

All of a sudden, the one-eyed Archer who’d been spectating everything stepped forward.

"Let me, master."

Vale almost instinctively said ’no.’

However...

’It is most certainly the safer option.’

For Vale, at least. But Alpha was weaker than Vale. If using the attack dislocated his arm, who knows what damage it could cause to her.

Even after thinking it over...

"No. Alpha, continue standing by with the whip and wait for the opportunity to trip him. And if we manage to expose a part of his body, be prepared with [Absolution]."

The Archer looked a little annoyed.

"...Right."

’Well, I guess that would make sense.’

Vale was like her parent, after all. Who’d want to let their father put themselves in harm’s way? Let alone, Alpha’s entire existence was about being an expendable tool for Lust to use. Vale’s actions went against everything a Dungeon Master should be.

’Not that that’s anything new.’

Vale grinned as he picked up the bike again.

’Alright, bastard, what’s your game?’

Now that Lor knew to expect the already telegraphed attack, what would be his counterattack?

That’s what was going through Vale’s mind as he hopped on the bike and pedaled around in circles. Lor, noticeably slower, staggered after Vale, still paying no heed to Salome, who was now using the swords to bash the man.

The only time the man actually cared was when Salome went for his head. When that happened, all he’d do was swivel his head to the side and dodge.

As Vale kept his distance and watched, all he could think was...

’We got pretty lucky, didn’t we?’

The man was wearing that armor because of the Scourge, but he seemed way stronger without it.

Of course, Vale wouldn’t be able to kill the man without stripping that armor away, but things would have gotten much more hectic and disorganized if that movement restriction wasn’t on the man.

’Maybe this was the world’s way of balancing things out...’

It was kind of inconceivable he was expected to take on a Bloomed while Nascent, but if the man was somewhat disadvantaged like so, then maybe it wasn’t as unfair as it seemed.

Vale steadied his breath as he pedaled and began fueling the oddly costly [Nitro] Enchantment.

Vale, other than when he’d first been summoned, had never run into Aether reserve issues; however, he’d already drained over a fourth of his capacity so far just refilling the Enchantment, meaning he had two chances for sure, but any more might be risky.

The bike trailed to a stop as Vale hopped off of it and started dragging it toward Lor.

Salome swung into the dent Vale had made earlier. The man coughed up more blood, but his gait didn’t even sway.

’He’s one tough bastard, that’s for sure.’

Now...

’How we doin’ this?’

If Vale could land a clean blow to the head, who knows, he could end it now! But that was unlikely.

What Vale was currently contemplating was going for another kidney shot, overlapping with his first, or a downward strike on his shoulder.

Either seemed like it would seal victory.

Unlike Vale, an inhuman bastard who couldn’t feel pain and had an ally to help him, Lor wouldn’t be able to fix a dislocated shoulder alone. Taking out a limb would be amazing!

It wouldn’t be like Edith’s or Salome’s injury of missing a limb; the man would be carrying around dead weight — armored dead weight.

"Lor, friend, are you okay? You seem to be coughing up some blood."

Lor didn’t respond.

His hate had reached far beyond anything words could convey.

The two closed in on each other.

’Alright, now or never.’

Vale decided to try for the safer option — the cross swipe.

As Vale began his swing and activated [Nitro], he heard Lor take an oddly deep inhale through his nose.

A moment later, Lor’s blade flashed nearly as fast as the bike. The silver streak bashed into the carbon fiber frame.

’This mad man!’

The bike slammed into Lor’s sword. Lor’s sword which didn’t even move as it absorbed the blow.

Lor was once again sent skidding away, but he didn’t even drop to his knees this time. Not only that, his blade was perfectly fine and his armor had suffered no further damage.

"Scary."

Thankfully, due to Lor’s resistance, Vale’s own arm hadn’t come undone.

Vale cocked his head to the side, at Alpha. He spoke in his home language.

"Alpha, Salome, the next time I’m ready, I need you to trip him."

"As per your will."

"Got it."

Vale, who’d kept hold of the bike, sat back on it and pedaled around the large octagon again.

"Lor, my friend, why have you gone quiet all of a sudden?"

The man grunted, then lifted his visor for a moment to spit some blood on the ground. Vale caught a good glimpse of his face before the visor flipped back down.

’He seemed to be in his early fifties.’

His skin was wrinkled, and he had a thick beard, and his hollow eyes sat in tired eye sockets. But, oddly, unlike one would expect from a warrior from Kaldora, he had a scar on his face over his lip.

’A scar from a sword...’

Not that such a thing mattered; however, it was a slight reminder that Lor was an enemy of circumstance, controlled and driven mad by the system.

He was a person, one with a history.

Though he was also a puppet. One Vale vowed to lay to rest...

’As per his earlier "request."’