Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~ Volume 3 prologue

The war had finally begun.
Should I win, I would henceforth be able to permanently make the original medals of the defeated Demon Lords and also clear the quota of one war within the year that was imposed on us new Demon Lords. Not to mention, after this, I would be able to focus my undivided attention on developing my city and dungeon.
However, should I lose, my dungeon… my city of Avalon would be gone along with my important monsters.
Thanks to the Creator's kindness, we would be able to rebuild our dungeon after a year but such couldn't be said about the monsters, they were gone for good.
Even if I could make another, it won't be Kuina and the others anymore. It would be someone else entirely.
We were preparing for war until this moment.
My monsters were now ready and deployed, each with their weapon in hand.
And then, the sun rose. At that moment, my entire body was enveloped with magic power. It was an indication that I was being transferred. I then thought that the Creator should be the only one capable of pulling such a feat.
After that, my consciousness faded.
◇
When I came to, my surrounding was all white.
When I looked around, I saw my city of Avalon to my back and three dungeons to my front.
Starting from the left, these dungeons seemed like: a stylish stronghold; a tower with a suspicious atmosphere about it; and a limestone cave that smelled of saltwater.
I was certain these dungeons belonged to the three Demon Lords I was at war with this time.
If the rules from the last war applied to this one, this white space should serve as our staging ground against the enemy's dungeon. However, under that same assumption, any action within this white space aimed to hurt or hinder the other party would be forbidden.
"Is that them?"
After several seconds, three Demon Lords in the same generation as me were transferred.
A gentleman-looking man wearing a jacket only worn by humans, [Steel] Demon Lord Zagan.
An unattractive large man that looked like a bipedal frog, [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove.
A fiendish-looking man with the horns and wings of a demon, [Evil] Demon Lord Morax.
Representing them, Zagan walked toward me and spoke.
"I was growing tired of waiting for this day. Succumb to despair knowing you've lost everything you have as you regret turning down my offer."
Zagan seemed like he was under the assumption that he would outright win.
It was understandable though since their side were the three on our three-on-one.
In addition to that, there was the time limit of 24 hours for this war. After that time limit had passed, the side with the most crystals would win.
Unless I make it pass their defense and break their crystal, they would win.
It didn't help that I had to spread my overwhelmingly fewer fighting force into both offense and defense against enemies that were fortifying their own defense.
Furthermore, the moment I attack and therefore have lesser troops on defense, the Demon Lords whose dungeons I didn't attack would attack me as well.
For that reason, I had decided to attack two dungeons at once with immense speed. Spreading my troops further might seem like an inane plan but attacking with my best troops would make it work. There was also the point that by attacking two dungeons, their offensive actions would lighten.
It was a tactic that I could do precisely because I had three S rank monsters.
"Why would I regret anything? After all, by the end of this war, aside from fulfilling my war quota, I stand to gain three original medals. I can't stop myself from smiling, if anything."
I intentionally acted smug and said so.
"Tsk, nice bluff. There's no way the three of us would lose. We know about your tactics and weak points. You're a fool to show your power in your exhibition!"
With that, I was convinced. Convinced that though he acted like someone smart, he was nothing but an idiot.
"Oh, that is most impressive. But then, aren't you the fool for openly saying you know about your opponent's weak points and have measures against them?"
As I said so, Zagan burned red.
He was a fool, yes, but I was seriously outnumbered and that worried me so I thought it would be good if I could unsettle him even by just a little but I didn't imagine it would have this much of an effect on him.
Still though, him proudly announcing he had countermeasures planned, I wondered didn't he stop and think even for a second that I had taken that under consideration and had measures to counter his own counters as was natural?
◇
>
I heard the Creator's voice in my mind informing me that the war will begin in an hour.
As I had guessed, the rules were mostly the same as the last time.
My three opponents hurriedly retreated to their respective dungeons. A Demon Lord's life was important since dying would obviously equate to them losing. Thus, retreating to one's own dungeon would be the safest bet. If I had the numbers, I would also want to do that. However, being as outnumbered as I was, lazing about was something I could not afford to do.
We Demon Lords grow stronger by receiving some strength from our [Monsters of the Covenant]. I who had given names to two S ranks—Kuina the Celestial Fox and Rorono the Elder Dwarf—was as strong as any other S rank monster and was also able to use a fraction of the girls' powers[1].
Furthermore, Demon Lords had the ability to use [Storage]. This ability allowed me to store up to 10 monsters in a different dimension and bring those monsters wherever I went. With this, I could pull off a stunt like releasing my slow but powerful monsters in the middle of the enemy's stronghold.
So for those reasons, I was going to set out to conquer my enemy's dungeon instead of being safe within my own.
All that said, I had to go back to my crystal room for the moment.
There were still a lot of important things that needed doing.
◇
I made use of my privilege as the dungeon's Demon Lord and transferred to the crystal room. When I arrived, Stolas was busy watching the going-ons within the dungeon through the screen being projected by the crystal.
"So it'll begin soon, huh? Did you come to do some final preparations?"
She was my last line of defense and as such, she was standing by at the crystal room.
Should it come to the point that even this room was about to attacked, we had agreed that she would fight to defend my crystal.
She was but a single person but with her ability, she was worth an army.
"Yes, something like that. After all, I have to protect the city we worked so hard for."
The first floor of my dungeon contained my city while the floor beneath it served as the dungeon proper designed to annihilate any and all intruders.
If left as it was, the city we worked so hard to build and develop would be destroyed.
"[I Shall Compose]"
I recited the words of power and took out a book.
And then, by using [Floor Swap], exchanged the city floor and the dungeon proper.
Moreover, I changed the outer appearance of the dungeon into the cheapest and most standard: a cave.
From being a city filled with lush greenery, my dungeon within the white space became an unimpressive cave.
And thus, the city was protected. That was, of course, unless the enemy had somehow managed to get pass the dungeon proper.
"The humans truly did vanish, huh."
"I know, right? I heard it before but I'm still surprised."
As was explained to us beforehand, the humans, the animals they raise, and even the wild creatures in the city were gone.
When the participating dungeons were connected at the start of a war, all creatures except Demon Lords and monsters within the dungeons were to be transferred to a place where time was stopped.
Moreover, time in this white space flowed much faster than it did normally in the world. Even if a day had passed here, not even ten seconds would have passed in the normal world. The humans would not even know that a war took place.
I who ran a city found this set up to be extremely helpful.
The Floor Swap was complete so next was to mobilize the units for dungeon conquest.
I should move my attacking troops outside of the dungeon before the actual start of the war unless I wanted the enemy monsters to clog up the entrance of my dungeon and effectively block my troops from coming out. But then again, if my troops went outside too soon, my enemies would catch wind of my plans.
To compromise, I had decided to just position my troops very near the entrance wherein they would be able to go out as soon as the fighting starts.
"But it is frustrating to not be able to place a transfer array on that white space, isn't it?"
"Is that so? Thanks for telling me."
Even with the help of a monster that could use [Transfer], transferring outside one's own dungeon could only be done by jumping from one transfer array to another.
I was of the thought that if there was an array somewhere in the white space, I could freely send out some of my monsters to perform a pincer maneuver on the attacking enemies.
"But then, I can just make an array as long as I am inside the enemy's dungeon."
The crow monster that the [Time] Demon Lord had provided me could use [Transfer] so I was going to bring it with me.
I had already prepared an array on my dungeon and as soon as I have broken an enemy's crystal, I intended to transfer back.
"And that completes my final preparations. I'm off, Stolas."
"Good luck. I'll watch your dungeon defense from here and studiously analyze your every tactic."
Said Stolas as she made a mischievous smile.
I was hesitant but it was the least I could do for her.
"Yeah, sure, but do keep in mind that my dungeon will have changed a vast amount next time so there really is no point of knowing my dungeon as it currently is."
She smiled and for a moment, I thought she looked amazed.
And now, to transfer to out.
[1]I'm going to leave this vague for now. It says that demon lords can use the abilities of their named monsters. I'd rather wait until he can use a skill of theirs himself.