"Seriously, why do I have to deal with something so unreasonable?" I can't help but think to myself.

  "Next, station soldiers at the southern intersection—and make sure at least two of them have fire magic attack skills."

  'Understood. I'll send them right away.'

  What a pain.

  After running into that named character, Duke Edelgard, things snowballed, and now I’ve been more or less strong-armed into pying the role of a strategist. Reluctantly, I decided that if I was going to do it, I might as well take it seriously. So here I am, communicating step by step while slowly turning the tide of battle.

  "Liberta, just as you said, the enemies at the eastern gate are starting to thin out."

  "Tighten security at the northern gate. Jeff, scout beyond it. I don’t think there are any flying hostiles, but if there are, retreat immediately."

  "Got it."

  Still, compared to how he was in the game, his attitude is much milder now. I was nervous when we first spoke, but after a while, it became clear.

  Is it because Lady Esmeralda is safe?

  If I recall the game’s story, he was on such bad terms with the royal family that things were downright hostile. And when he spoke to the pyer, his cold gaze practically forced you to choose between being useful or worthless.

  But now, he’s become a competent noble—one who’ll use even a child if they’re capable, yet still listens carefully to those beneath him.

  Iris Edelgard once said the former duke was kind. Seems she was right.

  Honestly, giving him orders like this feels weird because of my lingering impressions from the game.

  "Liberta, what should we do next?"

  "Move the northwest troops south to block the monster influx. That should at least stop the monsters from pouring in through the southern gate."

  Each time, Lady Esmeralda prompts me to speak.

  She probably thinks I’m hesitating because I’m dealing with nobility.

  In reality, I’m just struggling to reconcile the game with reality.

  'Kid, what’s the pn for the dragon zombie at the southern gate? Stopping the monster influx is fine, but if we don’t deal with that thing, we can’t seal the gate.'

  Even so, my mind stays calm, processing the information from the reports and figuring out how to turn this battle around.

  Who knew all those raid battles I’ve experienced would come in handy like this?

  "There’s a way. Dealing with the dragon zombie requires a bit more preparation. For now, have the soldiers on-site buy time with diversionary attacks and conserve their stamina and mana."

  Based on my knowledge, the current situation is slightly unfavorable for us.

  "More importantly, how’s the progress on identifying the monster types?"

  'Hmph, just as you said. Among the goblin zombies, there are no magic-based types. Instead, we’ve confirmed goblins, hobs, knights, and soldiers.'

  "In that case… we haven’t seen any ogre zombies yet, right?"

  'No, none have been reported so far.'

  But the disadvantage is slowly being mitigated.

  The composition of the enemy forces—or rather, the types of monsters.

  "The confirmed ones are goblins, hobs, knights, soldiers, and the dragon zombie. The fact that we haven’t seen any beast-type undead monsters suggests that the enemy is still…"

  About 90% of the monsters confirmed on-site are undead goblin forces.

  From this, we can deduce that the ones who took over the goblin dungeon were undead-type monsters.

  'Based on your reasoning, we checked—the only unsubdued wandering monster in the west was a Dulhan. It’s almost certain that this Dulhan seized a newly spawned goblin dungeon somewhere. If a monster usurps a dungeon boss’s position, it can evolve, and the dungeon’s attributes shift to match that monster. That much makes sense. But could a stampede of this scale really happen in such a short time?'

  And I had a hunch about that monster.

  I thought it had been defeated, but apparently, one Dulhan escaped subjugation, and there were even reports of it remaining unsubdued in the adventurer’s guild.

  That monster must have taken over the dungeon.

  So far, so good.

  The problem is that even if it did take over, there’s no way a stampede of this scale could happen so quickly.

  "There are several conditions for a stampede. The most common is neglect over time, but I’ll skip expining that. The cause of this rge-scale stampede is undoubtedly an overdose."

  'Overdose? Like when someone takes too much of a drug?'

  "Yes—though in this case, it means an excessively powerful monster entered the dungeon."

  Back in my FBO days, dungeon keys were something pyers were intimately familiar with.

  After all, whether leveling up or gathering materials for equipment and items, dungeons were the most efficient way.

  Given that, it’s no surprise pyers investigated dungeons thoroughly.

  FBO was rumored to have all sorts of hidden elements, so it wasn’t hard to assume dungeons had their own quirks.

  And sure enough, pyers discovered several traits.

  "An overdose in a dungeon occurs when two or more monsters stronger than the dungeon boss are present."

  'Two or more? Reports say there was only one Dulhan.'

  "There must have been another. Some wandering dragon-type, or else a dragon zombie wouldn’t be mixed into an undead army."

  '!?'

  Among these discoveries was the overdose—also called "poisoning"—a method to forcibly evolve a dungeon.

  Higher-rank dungeons dropped rarer materials, but their keys were harder to obtain.

  So naturally, some looked for ways to turn low-rank dungeons into high-rank ones.

  "Whether it was coincidence or inevitability doesn’t matter now. What matters is victory or defeat. If a Dulhan fought a dragon, the dragon would usually win. But this stampede’s forces are undead—meaning, somehow, the Dulhan won."

  Originally, pyers found that dungeons expanded over time, and once saturated, monsters would trigger a stampede.

  They also discovered that high-rank wandering monsters could enter dungeons and kill the boss.

  "Most likely, the Dulhan nded a critical hit with its 'Neck Slice' skill and won. Thanks to that, it gained the dragon’s experience and evolved. If the fight had happened on a pin or open field, that would’ve been the end of it."

  But when pyers found that a wandering monster killing a dungeon boss would repce it, one pyer raised a question:

  "However, this time it happened inside a dungeon. The misfortune of a dungeon usurpation combined with the presence of a rival led to this situation."

  If a usurper obtains a dungeon key from a monster it sys—will it use it or not?

  I remembered a pyer who once discovered an experience loop inside a dungeon.

  That wasn’t something only pyers could do.

  "Most likely, there’s a dungeon inside the dungeon."

  Who decided wandering monsters couldn’t use items dropped inside?

  My guess is that the Dulhan, after taking over the goblin dungeon, used a dungeon key dropped by the dragon it killed inside.

  "And it’s been gaining near-infinite experience from that dungeon, continuously evolving it."

  '!?'

  "In other words, if left unchecked, there’s a limit, but eventually, things will get really bad."

  The dungeon boss itself is leveling up.

  In FBO, once this mechanic was discovered, some called it BS, while others argued it was a great way to farm high-quality materials by letting the boss grow stronger before hunting it at the right time.

  Right now, the situation is the worst possible loop:

  A separate dungeon has spawned inside the Dulhan’s throne room, and the dungeon boss is challenging it.

  A dungeon boss is, by definition, the master of that dungeon.

  If the boss gains experience, the dungeon itself is also fed energy—which causes it to grow, producing more monsters as a defense mechanism.

  And the energy source? A dragon, rich in experience.

  No wonder this disaster unfolded.

  The monster composition leaning physical makes sense too—Dulhans are physical-attacker types among undead.

  They ck the foundation to spawn magic-based monsters.

  As for the current danger level:

  Normally, a Dulhan is Css 3.

  But somehow, it killed at least a Css 5 dragon, meaning it’s likely evolved into a Dulhan Rider—the higher form of its species.

  Css 4.

  Still not enough to match a dragon, but the real trouble is its ability to tame sin monsters as mounts—hence "Rider."

  The dragon it killed was at least a Css 5—a swamp dragon, nd dragon, or wyvern.

  Meaning, it now has a Css 5 subordinate.

  At least the dragon zombie hasn’t cssed up.

  Inside dungeons, monsters matching the key-dropping monster’s rank roam and respawn periodically, with an even stronger boss waiting deeper in.

  Given the current situation…

  "Worst case, we might have to face a Css 6 dungeon boss."

  'A disaster-css!?'

  The Dulhan will keep hunting Css 5 dragons until it reaches that rank itself.

  Then, its next evolution would be Royal Dulhan.

  Since it can’t css up by fighting equals, it’ll probably keep taming dungeon monsters to build numbers before challenging the boss.

  "By the way, better te than never—what did the dragon zombie look like? That changes how we handle this."

  'A wyvern.'

  "Ah, the easiest option."

  Any low-tier dragon is manageable, but a wyvern is the simplest to deal with.

  'You call this the easiest option when we’re on the verge of a disaster-css dungeon spawning? What’s going on in that head of yours?'

  "I’m desperately trying to figure a way out of this mess."

  If it’s a wyvern dungeon, a quick clear is unlikely.

  No matter how many subordinates it gathers, a dragon zombie wyvern can’t fly—its wings are rotted and full of holes.

  Instead, it breathes unrestrained fire, making it a heavy hitter.

  That must be how the southern gate was destroyed.

  "We have until the Dulhan clears the wyvern dungeon’s boss. Before then, if we defeat the Dulhan that took over the goblin dungeon, the stampede will stop. The main horde will likely attack the northern gate by nightfall, so our immediate strategy is to take down the dragon zombie at the southern gate before then."

  The wyvern dungeon’s boss is a Css 6 wind dragon.

  It soars through the vast boss chamber, excelling in wind magic.

  Even with numbers, the Dulhan’s forces—limited to aerial fire breath and swords—can’t defeat it.

  "After that, if we can repair the southern gate and hold the northern one, the stampede’s assault on the capital will temporarily end. We’ll catch our breath, regroup, and then counterattack by heading to the dungeon to clear it…"

  Victory is in sight.

  The path to recovery is clear.

  "If nothing else happens, we might just pull this off."

  "Please don’t jinx it. You never know what might happen after saying something like that."

  "My apologies."

  Even if I’m told not to let my guard down, I’ve spent over an hour giving unfamiliar orders and paving the way for a counterattack.

  It’s only natural to rex a little.

  Though Lady Esmeralda scolded me, I really don’t think anything else can go wrong.

  Not because of some "fg" or fate nonsense, but physically, it’s impossible.

  The stampede has wiped out all monsters near the capital—only zombies remain to attack.

  In games, monsters are often portrayed as allies, but in this world, they’re enemies even among themselves.

  Only those of the same species stick together.

  Right now, the spawn points around the capital have been cleared out by the undead, so there’s no worry of more monsters appearing.

  The only possible trouble would be human conflicts.

  "Then, to ensure nothing else happens, please take command of the capital’s forces. I leave it to you."

  Breaking fgs isn’t my job—

  'Hmph, we have no choice.'

  —but the duke’s, an important figure.

  Relying entirely on a child would hurt his pride.

  Not that I have any intention of helping further anyway.