「 ✦ Rimuru Tempest ✦ 」
I flew over the snowy valleys of the far southern parts of the continent at a steady speed of dozens of times the speed of sound. The world blurred past me in streaks of white and gray, the land below dissolving to nothing more than abstract patterns beneath my flight path.
Garland was probably just around the corner if I wasn't mistaken—though honestly, I didn't exactly know where it was except that it was somewhere in the south. Geography was never my strong suit, and maps in this world were about as reliable as weather forecasts back on Earth.
I really should have a GPS function, I mused internally. Note to self: work on that later. Maybe I could use Megiddo's principle for that?
I'd been flying for nearly an hour now, and despite scanning the horizon constantly, I still hadn't spotted a demon town or settlement of any kind. The southern continent was proving to be far more desolate than I'd anticipated. Just endless snow, ice, and the occasional mountain range.
Was I going the right direction?
Maybe I should have asked for better directions before leaving.
But then again, I thought asking would ruin the badass image I had of myself right before I left.
Just great. I'm probably lost again.
It was during this moment of increasingly frustrated searching that something spectacular caught my eye down below on a massive snowy plateau. Two monstrous animals were locked in violent combat, their battle so intense that it was literally reshaping the land around them.
One was an Indominus—a massive, bipedal predator. The other was a Xeno with its signature, sleek and black carapace.
Xeno... now that I thought about it, that was the same type of creature I'd saved Shizuku and the others from when I first met them months ago. Back then, it had seemed like an unstoppable enemy. It was a powerful predatory species, apex hunters in their own right, and my human friends had been way weaker at the time, so no wonder it had gotten the better of them.
But the Indomini, as far as I knew from the various monster encyclopedias I'd read with Iu, were widely considered to be the most powerful terrestrial predators on Tortus. They were an endangered species too, as it turned out, since they had this charming habit of killing each other for no understandable reason.
You'd think creatures sitting at the absolute pinnacle of the natural food chain would be smarter about species preservation, but apparently not.
Maybe they're just really committed to the whole 'survival of the fittest' thing, I thought, watching as the Indominus landed a devastating blow that sent the Xeno skidding across the snow.
Before I knew it, I had unconsciously created a makeshift cloud beneath me and was now sitting comfortably thousands of meters up in the air, completely sidetracked from my original mission. The battle below was just too fascinating to ignore. It was like watching a nature documentary, if nature documentaries featured creatures that could level towns.
The Xeno recovered quickly, its tail whipping around to catch the Indominus in the ribs. The larger creature roared and retaliated with a vicious bite that the Xeno barely dodged.
This is actually pretty entertaining, I admitted to myself. Way better than flying around aimlessly looking for a country of demons.
The fight continued for several more minutes, both creatures giving as good as they got. The Xeno was faster and more agile, but the Indominus had raw power and those damn jaws. Eventually, though, experience and brute force won out. The Indominus managed to pin the Xeno down and deliver a finishing blow that left its opponent dead in the snow.
The victorious predator let out another roar, probably announcing to every creature within a fifty-mile radius that this territory was now under new management.
I was just about to clap—because honestly, that was a pretty damn impressive display of natural selection in action—when I felt a shift in the space behind me. The sensation was distinctly familiar and definitely not friendly.
Instead of applauding, I slowly turned around to find five beautiful white women floating in the air behind me. Angels... or apostles, as they're called. Same difference, really—both were apparently equally pretentious.
This time, they weren't carrying their usual massive weapons. They just floated there in formation, white as ever with their white wings beating in a synchronized pace, white hands empty, white faces wearing those same bland expressions I'd come to associate with their entire white species.
It was like looking at a group of customer service representatives who'd been lobotomized.
"The lord wishes to meet you," the one in the middle said in a tone so monotone it could have put an insomniac to sleep.
I studied them for a long moment, taking in their postures and identical expressions. Really committed to the whole emotionless servant thing, aren't they?
"Is there a dress code?" I asked, gesturing to my casual drip. "Because if we're talking about meeting the big guy upstairs, I should probably know if cargo pants and a zip up are acceptable, or if I need to dig up a suit from somewhere."
They didn't reply. They didn't even blink. They simply moved aside, paving the way to the portal they had popped up from. Now that was embarrassing, and I felt like I just talked to a mirror and got caught.
I stood up from my makeshift cloud and began walking forward, each step creating solid platforms of compressed air beneath my feet. Physics didn't really make much sense to me ever since I became a demon lord, but then again, very little of my experiences in this world did from the beginning.
As I approached the group of apostles, I couldn't resist saying one final, honest thing.
"You guys are boring as hell," I said, passing between two of them. "Seriously, would it kill you to show some personality?"
Their faces didn't change. Of course they didn't.
The truth was, I was actually getting tired of flying around aimlessly searching for Garland. Having the enemy take the initiative and personally invite me into their own territory was an incredibly convenient development. It saved me time, it saved me energy, and it meant I didn't have to keep pretending I knew where I was going.
What could go wrong?
I mean, sure, walking straight into what was essentially heaven—or hell, depending on one's theological perspective—all by myself without any backup or detailed battle plan was probably not what most people would consider a sound strategy (and definitely not something the old me would've ever dreamed of doing).
In fact, most reasonable people would probably call it suicidal.
Good thing I've never been accused of being reasonable.
The thing was, I did have some preparations. Secret ones that I'd been working on during the past few days. Nothing too elaborate, just a few contingency plans that would hopefully keep me alive.
And honestly? I was confident I could handle whatever they threw at me. Call it arrogance, call it confidence, call it a complete disconnect from myself or reality and whatever—but I genuinely believed I had what it took to survive this encounter.
Right?
I was built different, after all, so that had to count for something. Probably. As I reached the portal, I couldn't help but pause for a moment.
Tell me I'll survive this, Raphael.
<
So... maybe? That's... not exactly the reassuring confidence boost I was hoping for.
<
Now you're just being sarcastic.
<<...>>
Good chat, Raphael. Your confidence is really inspiring stuff. With that less-than-reassuring talk in my head concluded, I took a deep breath and stepped through the portal, leaving the snowy air far behind.
···—–—⚜—–—···
"I know for sure I ain't insane when I say this is neither heaven nor hell," I muttered while floating in an endless dark void reminiscent of outer space. "Matter of fact, I ain't even sure I'm still in the same world or whatever."
The silence that followed was deafening. Just me, suspended in what looked like the universe's most depressing corner. Stars twinkled in the distance, but they felt wrong somehow, like they were made of condensed shit rather than burning gas.
I let out an awkward chuckle that echoed strangely in the atmosphere-less void. It was embarrassing. No, it was beyond embarrassing. It was the kind of thing that made me question whether I'd been getting a little too cocky lately.
Here I was, thinking I was about to have some epic showdown with the gods themselves, maybe exchange some witty banter before throwing hands, and instead... I got bamboozled. Completely and utterly bamboozled by what was apparently a pretty convincing portal.
My dumbass, I thought, floating aimlessly while trying to process just how spectacularly I'd been played. I mean, I've done some pretty stupid things in my time, but walking straight into an obvious trap has got to be in the top five.
The worst part was that I couldn't even be properly angry about it because the situation was so ridiculous that I could only laugh. I had absolutely no idea how they'd managed to pull off something this insane. Forced transfer to another universe wasn't exactly something you could just casually do with a bit of magic.
Either I got pranked or those guys really decided the best way to deal with me was to just... yeet me away somewhere I can't touch them.
Neither option was particularly flattering to my intelligence.
They really did all this just to get rid of one annoying slime? It was like using a nuclear missile to kill a mosquito, except the mosquito was me and the missile was banishment.
I'd been drifting through this cosmic wasteland for what felt like hours now, and the scenery hadn't improved much. Massive chunks of what Raphael had labeled as "dense magicule formations" floated past me like asteroids made of pure magical energy. Some were the size of buildings, others looked big enough to have their own gravitational pull.
At least the local wildlife is interesting.
I'd already had to deal with several of the void's native inhabitants. After I murdered some of them, Raphael had cataloged them into three distinct species: Cryptids, Insectars, and Phantoms.
What made it even more surreal was that these three species seemed to be locked in some kind of eternal racial war. Even now, I could see flashes of light in the far distance where groups of them were tearing each other apart.
These aren't the epic battle in my plans. Really makes you humble, you know?
The creatures were powerful enough to be annoying, but not quite on the level where I needed to break out my serious side. Still, each kill had left me with more questions than answers.
More importantly...
Raphael, please tell me you've figured out how to get us back home.
<
Define 'significant time.'
<
I groaned. I didn't exactly have that much time to spare.
<
More powerful than the three-way monster mash happening over there? I gestured toward the distant light show where Cryptids, Insectars, and Phantoms were still happily murdering each other.
<
Fantastic. I rubbed my temples, feeling the beginnings of what would have been a headache if I still had a fully human nervous system. So I'm stuck in monster universe, surrounded by things that want to badly eat me, with the possibility of even worse things showing up if I stay too long, and the only way home is a days-long project.
Another awkward chuckle escaped me as the full absurdity of my situation sank in. Rimuru Tempest, demon lord and founder of a nation, floating helplessly in space.
Well, I thought, watching another explosion bloom in the distance as the war raged on, at least it can't get any worse.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I immediately regretted it. In my experience, thinking "it can't get any worse" or anything along those lines was basically the universe's cue to prove you wrong in the most spectacularly annoying way possible.
Yeah.
This might be bad.