It's nothing new, but I have resistance to heat.

What I mean is, when I was under Forneus, I made a sauna as part of an effort to lose weight. It was just going into a stone room, lighting a fire outside, and enduring inside as long as possible, but clearly that kind of heat wasn't a big problem for me.

Crackle!

But this was a bit much.

They say the most painful way to lose your life is burning alive, and those words weren't wrong. The most effective attack against the tentacle monster—setting my whole body on 'fire' and charging—was fine up to that point, but I felt like I absolutely couldn't endure it.

If I was like this, how much more so for Gremory?

Kyaaaaaaah!!

Gremory screamed continuously and thrashed about wildly. Accordingly, the tentacles danced as if going berserk, and the more they did, the tighter I embraced Gremory. The flames on the outside of my robe touched Gremory's skin directly, and Gremory's whole body burned.

At this rate, we'd both get nicely roasted.

But neither Gremory nor I were weak enough to burn to death quickly from mere flames. I had the thick skin characteristic of orcs, and Gremory was protecting her skin with mana.

"Y-you pig bastard!!"

Gremory, with nearly half her hair burned away, tried to kill me with resentment-filled eyes. She grabbed my neck and dug in her nails, trying to squeeze me to death. I pressed down firmly on Gremory's shoulders so she couldn't escape.

Kiiiiiiik!!

The flames spread to the tentacle monster. The protrusions spread out like fine hair became good conduits for transmitting flames, and the monster wrapped tentacles around my body trying to grab and drop me. Even if it meant wrapping around the flames completely, it seemed intent on dropping me right away.

But that much couldn't break me.

Right now I was engaging in close combat alone, but I hadn't come to attack alone.

Whoosh! Thwack thwack thwack.

Andras claw arrows sniped the tentacles trying to wrap around my neck. And other arrows severed the tentacles connected to the women positioned on each wall. At the center of it was Lune, with Meri's Fireballs helping out.

Kieeeek!

The tentacle monster's body started twisting violently. With the pipeline to the women, who were no different from energy sources, cut off, it needed to restore the tentacles immediately. But each time, Meri shot fire arrows at the severed tentacle strands.

Sizzle.

Fire caught at the ends of the tentacles. The tentacle monster spun the severed tentacles around and around, and accordingly, sparks spread in all directions. The entire room began heating up intensely, and I held Gremory and declared.

"Ah, this is called playing with fire."

"Stop talking crazy bullshit! Aaaaah!"

Gremory endured the pain while writhing with her skin turning red and cooking. Though she was blocking the flames using mana as a protective shield, she couldn't stop her silky hair from burning.

And this hot fire play between Gremory and me couldn't end at just this level.

"Uuuugh!"

I made Gremory bend almost double, then opened the front of my robe and brought Gremory inside my robe. Inside the robe was soaked wet with my sweat, and Gremory turned her head in disgust.

"Hehe, hot right?! Feel like dying?!"

"Y-you'll burn to death too, you idiot!"

"Surrender! Then I'll stop!"

I grabbed Gremory's face and bumped foreheads. If Gremory surrendered, I'd also release my strength and back off, but if Gremory wished to keep fighting, we'd both meet our fate in the flames.

It was a gamble.

Even if we both died, Gremory would die first, and I'd have no choice but to live with burns all over my body.

"You're really gonna die!"

"Hehe! Will you surrender, or will you burn to death?!"

I grabbed the back of Gremory's head. The flames on the ends of my sleeves scorched Gremory's back. Whether Gremory resisted violently trying to put out the fire or not, flames kept flying toward me.

Crackle, crackle!

The fire arrows Meri shot grazed past the flames burning around me. Thanks to that, the flames grew fiercer, and the more they did, the tighter I embraced Gremory. Now Gremory had two choices left.

Surrender and live.

Or die and become ash.

The foundation of my reckless negotiation was just one thing.

'Gremory absolutely won't try to die.'

If there's one thing I'm damn good at besides other things, it's reading people. Even without the system's support, I could read Gremory's true feelings from her wavering eyes.

Gremory doesn't want to die.

"Burn hot! Wahaha! You die and I live!"

And as if Gremory had also read my will, her face was full of confusion, resignation, and pain.

"...I lost! I lost! So please!"

Finally.

[Subjugation: Gremory could no longer endure the pain from the orc's insane hot hug. While admitting the immediate defeat, she still has a shred of pride remaining that she absolutely cannot form a master-servant relationship with such a madman.]

Master-servant relationship. The system seemed to be telling the truth. Gremory was someone who stood above others, not someone who would submit under me or under others even in death.

Rustle.

I threw off my robe. The robe thrown onto the tentacle monster burned brightly only on the outside surface, roasting the tentacle monster's surface dry.

Kieeek...

And the tentacle protrusions wrapping around Gremory fell off one by one. As expected, the tentacle monster had stuck tentacles like anchors into Gremory's pussy and asshole, but unable to withstand the heat from Gremory's heated body, they slipped out. I pulled Gremory out and stood up on the tentacle monster.

Whoooosh—

The bodily sensations from Berserker slowly began returning. Though it was a moment of barely 3 minutes, that brief time felt as long as a thousand years. I grabbed Gremory and leaped high off the tentacle monster.

"Uwaaaaah!"

I jumped toward my subordinates in an arc. I swatted at the flames on my pants and Gremory's clothes with my hands, and thinking I couldn't catch it, I grabbed and tore the burning cloth.

Both I and Gremory became red-cooked naked. Gremory's hair had burned to nearly short-bob length.

Thud!

I fell back-first. Gremory fell on top, using my body as a cushion. Though I was the one who fell directly to the ground, Gremory passed out from the pain of her body burning.

Gurrgle!

The Slime Dragons spat fluid onto me. The cold mucus had its surface cooked immediately, and steam spurted out between the mucus. I took a bite of the mucus covering my face.

"Haah."

I felt like I'd live. It was something I could never have done if not for the sensory rampage through Berserker. If Gremory's surrender had been even about 10 seconds later, my exposed outside would've been roasted dry and my inside would've been steamed moist by sweat.

Though I wasn't cooked by electricity, I'd charged into attack with fire directly on my body anyway. I stared blankly at the ceiling in exhaustion.

"Hey, I won."

"..."

Lune, Eila, Lime, Andras, and Meri who'd made me set fire to my body were looking down at me with complicated faces. Faces that seemed relieved, bewildered, and angry.

"Alright, you can scold me later, let's finish what we need to do first."

I pointed to where Gremory and I were lying. The tentacle monster was still going berserk with its whole body on fire.

Rummmble.

An earthquake rang through the entire dungeon like it was resonating. The tentacle monster swung its tentacles wildly in the air thrashing about, and sand started falling from the ceiling.

"Gotta catch that thing."

"...Yes, Master, please rest. We'll handle it."

Eila showed motivation first and drew her sword. But I barely raised my body and stopped Eila. I tossed the unconscious Gremory to Arthur and pointed to the corridor where we stood.

"Eila. Does it look like it can put out its own fire right now?"

"...Not at all."

The tentacle monster had the intelligence to distinguish between men and women, but didn't have the wisdom to put out the fire on its body. I pointed my subordinates to the corridor, and sharp-witted Eila immediately gave the order.

"Retreat—!"

The subordinates exited toward the corridor while maintaining their formation. I walked with difficulty supported by Lune and Eila.

Kieeeeeek!

The tentacle monster extended tentacles thin and long, swinging in all directions. But its reach was so short it couldn't even touch us who hadn't even exited yet, let alone the corridor.

"Lune. Originally I was just going to exit like this, you know?"

I pointed to those looking at us with trembling eyes. The others too, but especially the dark elf was saying something to me with eyes fallen into fear.

I said I wanted to die, but I don't want to burn to death—!!

Too late to save them. There was no one to save, and the moment we went to save them, we'd get wrapped in the tentacle monster's tentacles and become companions on the road to the afterlife. But if we just left them like this, they'd all burn to death.

"Lune."

"..."

Lune squeezed her eyes shut and raised her bow.

"Master."

"Yeah."

"...Can I handle them well later and return them to nature?"

"Of course."

As much as that. Having received my permission, Lune first raised her bow toward the dark elf. They were all nodding to Lune expressing gratitude.

"The will to live..."

Lune was feeling it too. The women already violated by the tentacle monster had lost the will to live. Our job was to send them off from this life as comfortably as possible so they could live new lives as they wished.

"...I'm sorry."

Lune pulled the bowstring with a hardened face. Aiming at the dark elf first, who though corrupted was once kin, meant Lune had considerable resolve. Lune released the pulled string with a hardened face. Even I became solemn at her grim resolve.

"I'll send you off peacefully...!"

Whoosh—

Lune's arrow crossed through the air. The dark elf closed her eyes with a faint smile.

Thunk.

Lune's arrow grazed the dark elf's earlobe.

"..."

"..."

Thwack thwack thwack thwack.

Eventually the hunters and Lune joined forces to snipe the women, and the women closed their eyes with peaceful smiles.

***

Gremory, unconscious.

Tentacle monster, burned to death.

The ★4 camel monster didn't return through the portal. Even though we made a passage in the ceiling with Slime Dragons and were watching the situation carefully, the monster was completely silent—either it sensed its master's defeat or fell into the crude trap I made thinking it wouldn't happen.

Eventually, during the remaining time, we examined Gremory's dungeon one by one. On the path facing like a mirror image to the portal we entered through, there was a passage heading outside. Gremory's dungeon structure was extremely simple yet efficient.

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The entrance corridor (▽) was the path toward the human world. I didn't know where exactly, but outside the entrance were corpses and skulls of humans everywhere. And we entered Gremory's dungeon through the opposite side, the portal (△).

In the middle corridor were troops, and on the left and right were traps with the tentacle monster and traps dropping underground. Though Gremory's structure was simple, Gremory's dungeon was much wider and larger than my dungeon. Actually, maybe about three times that size.

'Anyway, it's my house now.'

I tapped the cheek of Gremory bound on the bed. Gremory with short hair scorched by fire was quite pretty too. Her body cooked once from the heat felt like the body defiled by the tentacle monster had been disinfected.

"Hey. Wake up."

"...Ah."

Gremory opened her eyes right away. And after looking at me hazily once, she looked at the ceiling and sighed deeply.

"Life, fuck, losing to a guy like this in that way..."

"Hehe. As long as you win by any means necessary, that's all, right?"

"That's true."

Gremory didn't care about means and methods to the point of bringing in a subordinate she couldn't even control. Though she might be dissatisfied with me for my unsophisticated fighting style, Gremory had committed comparable acts.

"Portal surprise installation, three-way choice trap, tentacle combination. Not just me charging with my body on fire, but you're in no position to say anything either."

"True. In the end, your madness was stronger. ...I admit it. Kill me. It's my defeat."

"...? Why kill you?"

I couldn't understand Gremory already giving up on life. Gremory tilted her head and looked up at me.

"D-don't tell me! You're planning to humiliate and then kill me?!"

"Won't kill you, but will humiliate you."

I climbed on top of Gremory and grabbed her face.

"From now on, it's Blazing Ras!"

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