It's a nice read and all but it only really gets a 4/5 from me. Just due to 1 big reason. The love from the girls are really unnatural and forced in. Like it fells like one moment they just like each and other there in love. One big reason is because of the weird structure of the story. Like a chapter about the heroines comes in 1 or 2 chapter than it goes into a 10 chapter long story progression with alot of time no mentioning of said heroine... more>> from before. It's very wierd progression because alot of heroines just dont have a story arc for them. They just becomes a lover of the MC. Take a example ivar. From the chapter she appears in her true form it only took 5-6 chapters for her to go from 0-100 on affection. Wtf is this pacing. Theres like 100/500 chapters that are dedicated to the heroines and there are like 5 major heroines in the story and like 5 minor. That's a whopping 10 chapter per girl in a 500 chapter wn. Feels so forced. Also the 2 major heroines aka that progress the stories the most Barbados and paimon dont even have the most lines with the MC.

Also spoilers

Yea it's a tragic story and all but it's the MCs fault. I read it in mtl so I may be wrong but dantalian brought it upon himself from what I read. Pretty much the reason why everything went to sh*t is because he was an as*hole to daisy. <<less

this is good web novel but because the lightnovel did so great in it's revision. it's is hard for me to get a good read of the web novel. every times I see differences made I just can't accept it as the original story...

the characters, the dept, the emotions, the poetic sense is so much different even though it's the same character, story, and setting.

... more>>

Spoiler

the destruction of the s*ave house for example differ so much, I can't feel the evil, death and destructive aura with witches missing in the scene of the web novel. the lady general gives more stoic mysterious and deep hatred vibe, you can feel more connection between her and Dantalian in their exchange. as I remember in light novel.

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and take not it was translated by the same translator. <<less

First of as reminder I didn't read the cancelled LN version of this series. Be aware, that many (bad) reviews feature a comparison. This guys desire a conclusion of the dropped light novel and despise the changes between the versions. So my review only feature the web novel.

And it's awesome, good translation quality, a dark story but all in all I really like the development of Dantalian. It started with him dropped in a hellscape as weak being, that struggle to survive. In this struggle there is no place for... more>> morale, but his awful choices has consequences for his mental health. That makes him more and more addicted to drugs and drive him insane. But all in all his actions are believable from his experiences and he still have his emotions. He's never powerful as combatant and his power is scheming/politics.

The novel progress from typical dungeon building with game-like elements like status menu/summoning monsters and he has experiences from the progressing game, that he use to progress. But his actions change the future, so it's not as scipted like in other novels with this premise. After that it starts with relationships and many s*x scenes (the translator use disclaimers) and goes to politics and scheming. In the later half there are nearly no s*x scenes anymore (especially not explicit), the game-like elements are gone and the dungeon building as well. So the point of view changes from game-like progress that's limited to larger scale politics and wars. Cause he's weak he need relations to stronger beings, who have their own agenda. There are no mindless heroine and especially not a lovely damsel in distress.

Be aware that this story is dark with "creative" torture, explicit s*x scenes, child abuse, loli heroine, featuring long parts of politics/optional what-if chapters and has combat only from the view of a general - so no action, no power level. And be reminded that you have death (s) ? Of important characters as well (in a not heroic way). If you despise bad endings, than finish the novel with chapter 391 and don't start the next arc. If you look for a hero or a misunderstood antihero, better skip this story, there are no heroes here and on both sides just villains with varying degree. You have been warned! :) <<less

really liked this, kinda funny, good characters, peak mind games, great mc

I'm gonna read the ln then come back to this after and see if I can stomach the rest.

tldr/Never let the author cook again

i have mixed feelings. I really like the webnovel, at the same time I hate MC. I hate him not in the same way I normally don't like characters (bad writing, beta MC ect.) but because he is such amazing villain. It is my first time to continue reading a novel with MC to whom I fel disgust.

This is an excellent read, and the translator/editor did a fantastic job with the script (not surprising that the TL is a professional translator). The characters are nuanced and interesting, and the story progresses in a realistic way. Dantalian so far has survived by trickery and scheming. A lot of stories like this start off as "I'm totally the weakest" but then they become god by volume 3 because of cheat abilities or some shit. Not here. Characters act how you expect them to according to their motivations. Overall it's... more>> a solid story that needs more readers. One thing to note, however, is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. While the first 20 or so chapters do focus on him developing his newly acquired dungeon, the story has almost nothing to do with defending a dungeon like the title implies (that's merely the name of the game he was isekai'd into).

This story is basically a really long read about scheming, subterfuge, and war politics. There's a bit of videogame stuff, but it quickly fades to the background to the point of never being brought up again. Dantalion himself is almost supernaturally intelligent, and practically every sentence in the novel is him scheming (or the consequences of his scheming). Things mostly go his way, and he's in control almost all of the time. It ends up making some parts weird, because how did an ordinary Korean guy become the physical manifestation of keikakku doori? Whenever you find yourself asking how things are going so well for him, just remember that his skill makes him the master of bullshitting his way to get what he wants. It does sorta open up some plot holes, but they're easy to overlook.

I heard that the light novel ended up being axed because the author had to make so many changes to accomodate mass market appeal due to publisher demands, so he ended up dropping it. I also heard that the story there is wildly different, so I might read that after I catch up on this since it's only 5 volumes.. Lapis best girl. <<less

1. Love it you the MCs slow moral decay throughout the story is apparent which fits in with the fact that he is a Demon Lord the fact that demon Lords of such eccentric personalities and are so messed up is established early on in the series and you can slowly see how the MC starts to fit into that mold
2. The MC stays weak throughout the series but his charisma and candor are what carry him which is the best part of the series in my opinion since we have an MC that doesn't just become overpowered over time or is just overpowered from the beginning he manages to twist and Warp everyone around him so he can use them as Shields or swords if he needs to while staying weak himself
3. Spoiler

   Lots of people cry about no happy ending with his brainwashed harem but truthfully he deserves no happiness at all and he deserves all the pain and insanity that he will eventually go through because he is truly a piece of sh*t and it's great because it's a very refreshing change from the redeemed villain trope

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If you enjoy politics it will be 5.0. Dungeon aspect is not the main focus. Interesting battles and strategies. Good writing. Over all 4.0 for me.