Gotta hand it to Raphael. Ciel, I mean. It seemed kinda down in the dumps to me, so I gave it the name on a whim…and I guess it was happier about it than I thought it'd be.
After all, its previous machinelike reactions to me were much smoother and more humanlike. I feel like it had been improved by, like, a lot. It was in such
great shape now, I wonder what happened to it just beforehand. It had gone into auto-battle mode on me several times in the past, but now it was activating skills and doing all kinds of crap—the scale of it all was totally different.
Even Velgrynd, who seemed so overwhelming to me, was no match for it. Its suggestion—to have her activate her finisher skill, then wait for her magicule count to dwindle right afterward—was a perfect strategy. The combination of my abilities and the way she responded to certain things was what made it work…which makes it sound easy, but I have no idea how much computing power it'd take to make this possible. We were hopefully outclassed in magicule count, after all, so if we wanted to cage up this superior opponent, we needed an Insulated Imprisonment built efficiently and with only the elements I enjoyed an advantage in. Call it a "Calculated Prison" I created with my partner —that's what it took for Ciel to score a complete victory.
The crux of this operation lay upon whether or not I could withstand Velgrynd's attack. Ciel's computation said I could, and I trusted it on that—but if she misread that, it'd be the end of me, too. Why did I trust it? Simple. I was dealing with Veldora, and I told Ciel it was in charge of Velgrynd. I knew it could do it, too—and it lived up to my expectations perfectly, even better than I had imagined. Ciel used my abilities more skillfully than I ever could to fulfill the job.
That's my partner for you. Now I was more impressed with Ciel than ever.
So thanks to an unexpected boon, Ciel was now more dependable than ever for me. But I couldn't forget my objective. Before Velgrynd made another move, I needed to free Veldora's mind. So how many seconds can we hold her back, exactly?
Even if Velgrynd went on a violent rampage, the Insulated Imprisonment will hold for a total of two hundred more seconds. I don't think we need to worry about that, however.
Um, why not?
Even three minutes and change were something to be grateful for, but Velgrynd's still a major threat. I can't just ignore it that whole time…
No, as predicted, Velgrynd is currently trying to escape. I knew she could use a soul corridor to transfer energy away from her, so I
considered the possibility that she'd flee without worrying too much about this replication before us.
I…see? Or I think I do. If any replication could be made into her "real" body, there was no major need to force her way out of this Insulated Imprisonment? Or maybe there was…and that was why Ciel created a loophole for Velgrynd to try and exploit. That's right—Velgrynd showed her hand too much, bandying around Parallel Existence and not hesitating to use it against the three demonesses and Veldora. I had been monitoring all of that, so there was no shortage of material for Ciel to analyze.
Velgrynd's Parallel Existence couldn't produce an inexhaustible supply of clones. Ciel must have measured her magicule count to the point that it knew the maximum amount she could hold—and once we knew that, we'd understand how many more replications we needed to churn through before she was defeated. Ciel, meanwhile, worked backward from there. It saw that Velgrynd probably had an insurance policy on hand, and so it baited her into escaping into it. I'd probably do the same thing if I had a power that useful, but my Replications didn't have access to ultimate skills. A little annoying, but I was willing to admit defeat there.
In the end, the seemingly omnipotent Parallel Existence could only really be used either as a decoy or against a weaker opponent. I mean, it's still extremely useful insurance and a nice asset to have depending on the opponent—I can think of a few fun ways to use it. But it just didn't seem effective against someone of equal or higher rank. But Ciel was the one who exposed that weakness for all the world to see. Like, I'm actually kinda scared of its computing ability. Everything was going exactly as Ciel wanted, like it was predicting the future.
The progress it's made is kind of exasperating, but either way, Ciel's my partner. Best to stop worrying about extraneous stuff and get on with the objective at hand. Ciel had conquered Velgrynd, strongest of the True Dragons, and I sure wasn't gonna fall behind.
"All right. But just in case, I'm gonna put all my power up against Veldora right now so I can be assured to wrap up in under two hundred seconds. Give me a hand, Ciel!"
As you wish!
I—or Ciel and I, I guess—squared up against Veldora, our primary mission. Ciel had earned me some precious time—not a lot, maybe, but for us, it may as well have been infinite. I'd never live it down if we didn't make the most of it. Could we do it? That wasn't the question—we were doing it.
That was the determination in my mind as I resumed my attack on Veldora.
Release Veldora, then defeat Ludora. Those were my objectives—and it's what I wanted to do, not just because Guy asked me to.
Ciel's birth had surprised me so much that, without anticipating it, I was back to my normal state of mind. My serenity had long since returned to me…but that didn't mean my anger was gone. That anger, I decided, I'd save until I could take it out on Emperor Ludora. But first things first.
So how would I approach Veldora? Well, to start out, I was trying to talk to him. Talking about "ruling over" Veldora was easy enough, but we were dealing with a True Dragon with gigantic amounts of energy—it must take an incredible effort. Taking over the will of a spiritual life-form is one of the most difficult tasks I can think of, in fact.
As I saw it, there were several types of subjugation like this. One was charm based—you made the subject follow your will, heart and soul. Another was coercion-based, taking away their free will and forcing them to obey. A third was total domination, where the target wasn't even aware they were being subjugated. The list went on and on.
Yuuki carried out total domination on his subjects, but in Kagali's case, it was more coercion-based—and that was what Veldora was dealing with, too.
This coercion could work on several levels as well. The target might retain their free will but still be reluctantly forced to follow orders, or they may have their free will removed entirely, turning them into an unquestioning robot. It didn't seem to me like Kagali had any free will left right now, but what about Veldora? Spiritual life-forms all had incredibly strong wills, something that I didn't think could be erased so easily, so I decided it'd be worthwhile to try
calling out to him.
But Veldora's resistance was just too fierce.
I assumed his orders were to eliminate the enemy (i.e., me), but he was just vicious, throwing all restraint out the window. Even with Ciel handling Velgrynd for me, Veldora alone was nonetheless proving a tough match. I still had my assorted storm-type skills on hand, so it was possible to cancel out his moves— but with the off-the-charts power he boasted, just doing that kept my hands full. We weren't really in a conversational mood, in other words.
That was where we were at when I decided to let Ciel defend for me. The Control Probability thing was tricky, but I trusted that Ciel had a handle on it. Now the real work begins, I thought as I tried getting closer to Veldora. Gales of wind were flying around me, but my location was as calm as the eye of a hurricane. It was, like, really relieving. Everything from Veldora was being offset, and Ciel wasn't even as frantic as I was a moment ago. It barely even touched my magicules—and best of all, I was in incredibly good shape.
Of course. The demons serving you have been sending you Food Chain–based support through their soul corridors.
Oh, was that it? It felt like I was getting stronger—but thanks to my other allies, I was holding my own against Veldora.
Once I was aware of that, there was no way I could fail. After finally reaching a spot right in front of Veldora, I took the opportunity to call out to him.
"Sorry to keep you, Veldora. Do you recognize me?"
No reply. Well, he did let out a Thunderstorm Roar, but other than that, nothing.
I lashed out at him with my first, unconsciously irritated. But, as anyone could have expected, it didn't stop him. The attack would have needed an element of magic force, not just physical, or else it'd never damage him much. But that was okay by me. My goal was to wake Veldora up, not kill him—for now, I'd just give him a good beating instead.
So I continued to hit Veldora in the face as hard as I could. I was actually too close-range for much of his attack repertory to work; a lot of spells and skills
would wind up hitting him as well. Being controlled like this, he might keep whipping them out anyway without a care, but I figured Ciel would take care of that.
A punch. Another punch. Then a kick. But Veldora only roared in response.
What do you think about using Predation on Veldora and locking him in your Complex Space?
A rather frightening suggestion from Ciel, I thought. If that was a yes/no question, I was kinda leaning toward yes…but was something like that possible?
Not a problem. Belzebuth is under my command, so if I receive the order, I can immediately put it into action.
It's certainly…dependable, I guess. It was funny to think that Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony—this all-powerful ultimate skill—got its start way back with Predation, a species-specific slime skill. Thanks to that, it couldn't have been better geared toward me; handling it was always such a breeze. And now that Ciel had further optimized it, I figured it'd work on Veldora as well.
Now that I was a demon-lord slime—a demon slime, if you will—Belzebuth could be invoked from any part of my body. In fact, I didn't even need to make physical contact with my target any longer. It took on more power the closer I was to the other party, though, so now that I was in point-blank range of Veldora, I expected serious performance.
Anyway, my mind was made up.
"Thanks for causing me all this damn trouble, Veldora! Quit making me worry about you all the time!"
As soon as I shouted it, I immediately tried devouring Veldora via Belzebuth. But then:
(Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Just a little mistake on my part. Forgive me!) I heard a voice in my head I really shouldn't have been hearing. (Veldora, right?)
(Indeed, it is I. Veldora the Storm Dragon, your erstwhile ally!)
It couldn't have been a trap. He was acting like too much of a fool for it to be. That carefree voice, not a thought in his mind—it couldn't have been anyone else.
(Hey, so you're conscious?)
(Yes. Actually, I detached my core as quickly as I could. I cannot physically speak, but I still have my wits about me!)
Aha. So he's there, all right.
If Belzebuth was working its way through his body, did that make telepathic communication through his "heart" possible? Either way, I was glad he was safe —but now I was angry for other reasons.
(So what're you waiting for, then? Regain control of your body!)
All that worry, and he was treating this like a day at the beach. Did he have any idea how much I was freaking out? I felt justified in complaining a bit about it.
(I would have done that long ago if I could! But listen to me, Rimuru. Don't you think you should calm down a bit and be a bit more careful?)
Like I needed him telling me. Besides:
(Shut up! If I was gonna be calm about this, I wouldn't have done something as crazy as take on two True Dragons at once!)
I didn't need anyone to point that out to me. Now that I was calmer, I was actually kind of impressed that I survived. But I couldn't have been too cautious back there. Nothing about dealing with True Dragons was "careful" in the first place. But as I was thinking about this, Veldora was still cheerfully giving me advice.
(Oh! Watch out for this—I'm about to break out some Dark Lightning!) (Stop providing color commentary like a sports broadcast!)
Even worse, he didn't launch Dark Lightning at all; it was Death-Calling Wind instead. Ciel canceled it out for me and I'm pretty sure I could've dodged it anyway, but why the hell was he giving me fake advice?!
(You call that lightning?! That was Death-Calling Wind! It was about to kill me!)
My complaints were met with a half-chuckled excuse.
(Hmm?! Oh, sorry! Kwah-ha-ha-ha! It seems I've yet to gain a full grasp of my body. I can sense myself activating a skill well enough, but I can only identify it right about half the time.)
So he wasn't being helpful, then. My enemy had Control Probability, too, which meant it was likely safer to just ignore Veldora's predictions.
(All right. You don't need to do that, so can you just shut up for me? It wouldn't be very funny if I trusted random nonsense from you at this critical moment and it killed me, would it? I'm really disappointed in you!)
This made Veldora start panicking a bit.
(Wait, Rimuru, wait! I'm doing my best here. Let me help you a little!)
He was desperately arguing his case, but there wasn't much to back up his claims. I had to put reason first here, not emotion. Besides, I already had his cooperation. Just hearing Veldora's voice did a lot to ease my concerns.
(Well, I'm just happy you're all right.)
Veldora responded with his usual energetic laugh.
(Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Of course I am! I'm the strongest of all dragons!) Right. That was a relief. But then:
(Besides, it wasn't Ludora who cut off our soul corridor, but I myself. I have never truly lost in battle at all!)
Huh? What's this dude talking about…?
(What do you mean?)
(Oh, it's simple. When I was busy focusing on that man Kondo's attack, Ludora tried to assert control over me. I was furious about this—the three of them tackling me at once, my sister included? How truly unfair! But I wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario, so I reluctantly made the decision to cut the corridor away.)
Sounds to me, Mr. Strong Dragon, that you were being a little careless there, weren't you? There's no such thing as "fair" or "unfair" on the battlefield…
(Stop acting like that was so noble of you! What the hell were you even doing? I've been constantly telling you never to let your guard down!)
(Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! I never thought you'd be lecturing me under these circumstances!)
Veldora seemed to be enjoying this to no end. It was appalling. Appalling and pointless to tolerate any further, so I moved on.
(So the decision you made was to shut down our soul corridor?)
(Indeed. I reasoned that Ludora's domination would have affected not only me, but you as well through the corridor.)
So he hurriedly turned it off to protect me? Well, if that's the story he gave me, I really couldn't be mad at him any longer.
(All right. Great! Well, in that case, sit tight while I take care of this!) (Very well! I have not a worry in the world!)
Nice to be relied on like that.
(Right. I'll have you free in a moment, so hold out a bit.)
(Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! How wonderful to hear. I will trust in that, my friend!)
So I knew what happened to Veldora. He had lost control over his own body, but his core was still intact. He didn't have the power to regain control at the moment, though, so I'd have to sort that out for him. I didn't expect problems— if his core was all right, I could figure the rest out.
Here was one idea:
"Ciel, if we have Veldora's core in hand, would we be able to revive his ultimate ability Veldora, Lord of the Storm?"
Not a problem. All information related to the skill has been retained, so once a soul corridor is reconnected to Veldora's core, the ultimate ability can be restored.
Well, that was easy. In short, all I had to do was consume Veldora in front of
me and retrieve his core. Now I just had to make my move—piece of cake.
Okay, time to defeat this foe—Veldora the Storm Dragon, the strongest in the land! And so on!
We now had a clear path toward solving this problem, so I decided to get this over with fast.
There were two problems still in play—my time limit, and the location of his core. In terms of time, I still had a lot of that. We had been using Hasten Thought to minimize the time spent on that last conversation, so only a few seconds of real time had passed. Even with the attacking and defending that took place in between, I still had over three minutes to work with.
The problem was the core's location. It was inside his body, close enough that I could communicate with it via Telepathy, but pinpointing its exact coordinates was actually pretty tricky. Should I accidentally destroy it in the process, all would be lost—this mission would be a failure, and Veldora would go through the reincarnation process. Normally, you'd never have to worry about this—the core of the creature is the most heavily protected part of it. But in Veldora's case, his core was detached from his main body, leaving it fairly defenseless. A careless strike in the wrong place could wind up landing a direct hit, which would be beyond unfortunate. It'd free him from Ludora's control, I'm sure, but it'd also wipe out Veldora's current personality, and it wouldn't restore our soul corridor, either. That had to be avoided at all costs.
If I could devour Veldora all at once, I wouldn't need to worry about any of this. Sadly, though, swallowing him whole wasn't possible, even with my Complex Space—not without his consent. I could try weakening him and cutting down his magicule count a bit, or I could try some more Predation on him, being careful not to damage the core along the way… Hmm…
Now that I thought about it more, actively damaging Veldora's body seemed like a non-starter. Maybe clocking him on the head a few times, like I did before, was kind of scarily dangerous. I came in thinking it'd be hard to damage him, much less defeat him, and now he seemed like this fragile figurine to me.
Of course, a bolt or two of magic wouldn't even scratch him, and a random
punch or kick would achieve little as well. Only when you add the effects of an ultimate skill to these attacks does the damage become more substantial. Even Disintegration, the most powerful of holy magic, could only do a little bit of damage against Veldora's gigantic frame. The durability of these True Dragons was no joke—it's what made them True Dragons.
So, yeah, I think some attacking is safe enough, but you never know what'll happen if you hit someone in the wrong place. That was doubly true now that Veldora didn't have control over his own body. There was just no telling what he would do.
Thus, until I knew the location of Veldora's core, it was safest not to launch any attacks. That meant I had just one way forward. I needed to put my nose to the grindstone, use Predation to eat away at him bit by bit, and hope I find the core along the way. It'd be a race against time, but I had no other option.
Just three minutes…but then again, three minutes could be all the time in the world for me. Filing the time issue in the back of my mind, I turned Belzebuth up to full power and began eating my way into Veldora.
My body reverted from human to slime form—not my usual bouncy liquid form, but a kind of viscous, irregularly shaped blob. This was Ciel optimizing my shape in accordance with the hostile Predation I was engaged in. The more contact surface I had with my target, the more efficient the process was.
So my constantly shifting body ate into the surface of Veldora's body, spreading itself around him. But the target was just too big. No matter how far I stretched myself out, I was really just a dot from Veldora's point of view. It was a daunting task, but I couldn't give up now.
Throwing all caution to the wind, I accelerated my hostile consumption, activating Soul Consume as I searched for his core. This, too, would've been impossible without Ciel's assistance. Looking at that incredible strength it exhibited earlier, I was starting to think it had computational power on a scale far beyond what Raphael had. Guess not only monsters evolve when you name them.
Thanks to Ciel, things were overall going pretty smoothly right now, but we weren't entirely free of obstacles. To be exact, I was in intense pain. Veldora's
body had detected what I was up to, and it was resisting me at all costs. The Storm Dragon's aura was causing my body to disintegrate. I was trying to consume it while it was trying to quash me—and the battle was only just beginning.
Pain, heat, and suffering. I wasn't supposed to be able to feel pain, but it was now coursing across my entire body. Heat shouldn't have meant anything to me, but I felt like someone was dunking me in unbearably hot water. And then the agonizing suffering—something I had never felt before in this world.
The dangerous sensation of having my existence wiped out shortly triggered all of my survival instincts. But I wasn't going to relent. I was going to win. I would overcome this agony and save Veldora. And I wasn't alone now. In Ciel, I had a more reliable partner than ever before. That's why I was so determined to devour the Storm Dragon and absorb Veldora's core. If I could achieve that, this much pain was never gonna stop me.
"Everything all right, Ciel?"
Leave it to me.
We're good, then.
With Ciel's trustworthy reply in hand, I expanded my Predation.
One thing standing in my way was all the energy I was feeding on. Normally it'd be converted into power for me, but against a True Dragon, it didn't work that way. Instead of becoming my power, it was destroying my body from the inside. I suppose dragons are so powerful down to the individual cell level that nothing can ever bind them down. Somehow this dragon got taken over by the enemy anyway, but no point whining about that now.
Whenever part of my body is lost, Infinite Regeneration kicks in to rebuild and replace it. That was one way I could forcibly take in the energy I was consuming. It'd be a lot easier if I could just throw it away, but that wasn't gonna happen. I had to Analyze and Assess all this energy first, or else I might wind up damaging Veldora's core. It was a really tedious process, but it was still the best way— such was my decision after conferring with Ciel. Now it was up to me to keep
going with it.
I put my mind on cruise control as I kept up my work. The clock was still ticking, but I was dealing with a huge target. I began worrying that we might not make it—but I still had faith in Ciel. We were guaranteed to make it in time.
I had some free time, so I performed some analysis work. Would you like to hear about it?
...
What do you mean, you had some free time? I'm kind of in horrifying pain right now. What're you even up to?
I was performing an Analyze and Assess process on Velgrynd's powers, examining her Cardinal Acceleration while she was isolated in Complex Space.
No, that was a rhetorical question… Wait. You figured it out?!
I failed to reproduce the power, but it is possible to develop a very similar technique.
You're crazy, Ciel.
Maybe I should just assume that it's reading my surface consciousness at all times. Better be more aware of my mental barriers, I guess. I'll have to think matters through on a deeper level than before.
Still, though, getting to imitate Velgrynd's most powerful move (as Ciel breathlessly claimed) would be pretty cool. That, despite the fact you can't copy ultimate skills just by observing them…
…Wait a minute. What else was it analyzing? I decided to ask it directly, despite my trepidation.
"What else have you been analyzing?"
Ciel eagerly spoke up, as if it'd been waiting for the question.
Right! I have also finished analyzing Storm Blast. By taking advantage of the remainders from the skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm, this skill is now available for use.
Wait, wait, wait! This is major news! I practically don't even feel the pain any longer!
That sounded like such an incredibly difficult analysis to make. I was unsure if I could believe it at first. It acted like this was just some side project…
No, it is true. And that is not even the important part. Here's the main thing!
I couldn't help but have that reaction in my surface consciousness. But whatever. No point hiding stuff from it anyway.
It was convincing enough, though. I still had the ultimate skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm, in me. Taking advantage of that, I could see how I could reproduce Storm Blast well enough. That's a pretty damn powerful skill, so it'd be nice if I could grab it for myself. I was happy for that—and despite my initial surprise, I suppose performing that kind of work wasn't too unusual by Ciel's standards.
At this point, I was more curious about what Ciel thought the "main thing" was.
"So what is that?"
I have completed analysis of the Storm Dragon you have been Predating. This will make it possible to transform your body composition into the same type as a True Dragon. Would you like to carry this out?
Pardon?
That's a pretty casual way of saying something very disturbing, isn't it? Transforming my bodily composition into the same type as Veldora? And you're asking if I want to "carry this out" like it's a quick little errand?!
Now I'm a little confused. If I'm understanding this correctly, does this mean I would become a True Dragon…?
That is the correct way to see it, yes.
Whaaat?! It's the correct way?!
…Like, are you serious?
Of course! So, would you like to evolve into a True Dragon?
Yes
No
Heh-heh-heh…heh-ha-ha… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
I unconsciously executed a three-part progression of evil laughter. Still giving me yes/no ultimatums, huh? I thoughtlessly noted as I gave the command:
YES!
Instantly, the pain I felt vanished. No pain, no burning, no agony. The Storm Dragon's aura no longer penetrated me—because I had a draconic aura of my own.
Now, the more energy consumed, the more I stored for myself. My magicule count shot ever higher. I was afraid it'd expand to the point where it'd go out of control and explode on me.
Not a problem. I will provide perfect energy management. Yeah, I'm sure you will.
With Ciel, there was no need to worry.
Now my True Dragon self had an identical number of magicules as Veldora. Then I broke through the limit. With this, a new True Dragon was born—and the moment I started being distracted from my current situation, I realized that any further delay in dealing with the Storm Dragon would be fatal.
(You have won, Rimuru! I am rather surprised to see you become a True Dragon, but it seems my eyes never deceived me after all. Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha!!)
Veldora, on the other hand, didn't seem too surprised as he rejoiced for me. He was acting like he'd raised me from a baby or something, but it goes without saying that his contribution to this was next to nothing.
Besides, it was too early to be declaring victory. Veldora's core was the key to all of this, and I still didn't know where it was. Time to put the icing on this cake, then.
"Right, let's get this over with!"
How dare some puppet like this call itself the Storm Dragon. How dare they!
"Consume it all, Belzebuth!!"
At my order, Belzebuth devoured the Storm Dragon's body—with glee, I might add, not to mention tremendous speed. Now things were incredibly one sided in this conflict—the one who eats, and the one who's eaten. The very embodiment of "survival of the fittest"…
The curtain quietly fell on the epic battle. During it, we witnessed an evolution, a new birth, and a bold step into the future.
The remnants of the energy that leaked away from me filled the area with a blinding light—the light of blessing, a light celebrating the birth of a new Truth. This was the light that my old body—the one that hadn't transformed into a True Dragon—emitted as it was converted into pure energy, and even it would be consumed by me as it faded from the world.
With that, my goal was achieved in truly perfect form.
When the light subsided, there was only one life-form left—an indeterminate one. Veldora was gone. And now, as Velgrynd realized, the slime—the demon lord Rimuru—had consumed it.
...…
...
…
According to what they knew, Rimuru was born from a pool of magicules that had leaked out of the sealed Veldora. But now that slime had consumed the Storm Dragon—its father, in a way—and become the fifth True Dragon of the world.
This slime, the Ultimate Slime, took on the form of a human being after a few moments, a blade in one hand and wearing no clothing. He was between the age of fifteen and sixteen, maybe about five foot three inches—small, it was fair to say. But the amount of magicules contained within him was not only comparable to Veldora's; it far outclassed him.
Those golden eyes, a beautiful almond shape, looked capable of seeing
through everything; that hair, silver with a blue tinge, shone white like the moon. He was androgynous, and his face was more touchingly sweet than ravishing, but his divine presence made him transcend beauty itself.
Now that pale skin was enveloped in an evil aura of black and gold. He whispered something—an expression of frustration—and the demonic energy covering his body transformed into a divine full-body outfit, jet black in color. This was crafted through the skill Create Material, a specialty from the demon race, and even though it only used the magicules leaking out from his body, it was impossible to gauge just how strong it would be as armor.
Like flipping a switch, Rimuru suppressed the flow of excess energy. Then he grinned out of one corner of his mouth, satisfied at what he saw.
Velgrynd was watching from her prison cell, interrupting her energy transfer in the process. She was stunned, unable to believe what was happening before her eyes.
The battle between Veldora, her own brother, and the demon lord Rimuru should have been overwhelmingly in the Storm Dragon's favor. It was absolutely impossible for the slime to surpass him in any way. Otherwise, it simply meant that they were "equals" from the beginning…
Is it a coincidence, then? No… Are you saying he just happened to be born right here, right now?!
It was an astonishing conclusion, reached by Velgrynd as she foundered in a sea of thoughts. But she wouldn't easily admit to it. How could she? A monster who just happened to be born near a True Dragon, who just happened to have the right soul to accept draconic energy—the chances were just too small to comprehend.
If Rimuru truly was the fifth True Dragon to be born, that would make him Velgrynd's younger brother—but it happened because he fed off Veldora, and Velgrynd couldn't abide calling something like that a True Dragon. He was something akin to one, at best, and she refused to admit anything so horrifying could exist.
Her instincts told her to crush it here and now. It would be the only way to avenge her brother's death.
Veldora was her darling little brother—bratty, rambunctious, more than a handful to deal with, but still so boundlessly free. She envied him. Yes, she wanted to use him as a pawn, but it'd only be for a blip in time compared to the length of their lifespans. She certainly had no intention of rubbing him out of existence; once she was done with him, she was going to give him his freedom back.
And now—
...…
...
…
The moment Velgrynd realized that Veldora was consumed before her eyes, her anger blew away all sense of reason.
"My sweet little brother… How dare you…!!"
She let out a raging roar. It was well past two hundred seconds, and that roar was enough to shatter the Insulated Imprisonment. The Flame Dragon was enraged, with no regard for her own self-preservation—and now she would unleash all her hostility upon Rimuru.
Well, after eating up Veldora, it looks like I've been reborn into a new species. An Ultimate Slime, apparently, but it now made me part of the True Dragons— maybe a quasi-member, but still.
I'm really not sure there was anything slime-like about me any longer, but I'll keep that my little secret. Too late to worry about that anyway.
So I checked out my new body.
My "main" one—the default form that I existed in without consuming magicules—had grown considerably larger. Or matured, maybe? I was now about as tall as a high school student—a female one, but still. I could adjust my externals to look any age I wanted, so it didn't really mean too much; I just thought it'd be pretty neat to show myself "growing" like this.
The question was whether I could still move around and take action in this
body comfortably. My slime form had grown, too, to a diameter of two or two and-a-half feet. That made me a little too big for a regular person to carry around, so hopefully I could retain my original, smaller package.
Anyway, I could work out the kinks later. For now, I had a problem. I was currently wearing nothing. Totally naked. That wasn't gonna fly. This weird aura was flowing out of me, hiding my naughty bits…but either way—very problematic.
So I tried crafting some clothes. Tapping Create Material (a little something Diablo had taught me), I discovered that the process was actually easy-peasy. Depending on the creator's ability, Diablo said, you could produce some really nice results with it—and I liked what I saw. Comfortable, for sure, and I think straight-up black looks good on me.
As for its armor level… Well, it turned out to be God-class. Whoa, really? God class? Boy, God-class, huh? Neat…
Wait, what?!
This must be exactly what being "flabbergasted" feels like. I thought I had evolved a little, but I guess this proved it, huh? Perhaps my current power was even more tremendous than I had even imagined.
And I suppose I could've seen it coming. Benimaru and the gang had evolved into awakened demon lords, but thanks to Food Chain, all that power was getting channeled back to me. That was likely one reason, and to that you could add all the power from Veldora I'd just consumed a moment ago. It was too much energy to store in my Stomach as it previously existed, but now I had fully analyzed it and made it my own.
So all of this had come together to create what I had now. Basically, it's entirely Ciel's work. Now I feel like calling Ciel simply by its name is rude. Time to pay it some well-earned respect and call it Dr. Ciel!
Please don't call me that.
I thought I heard someone talking, but I didn't care. The good doctor is so wonderful, isn't it? And I'll be expecting big things from it going forward, too!
Leave it to me!
Great.
So now that I had some clothes on, I needed to make sure not to forget the task at hand.
(Veldora, are you okay?)
(Kwah-ha-ha-ha! Quit making me repeat it again and again! But I am quite amazed to see you defeat my body without any hassle!)
(Yeah, well, I was kinda too much "in the zone" to think about exactly what I did. But I'm so glad this worked out!)
Veldora and I were both safe, and it made both of us quite happy. And if we were chatting like this, I assumed Veldora's core was unscathed as well. All that remained was to reconnect our soul corridor and regenerate the ultimate skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm.
Succeeded. No problems found.
Dr. Ciel comes through again. Always doing the job without me having to micromanage it. Another perfect piece of work.
Okay. So that was one objective achieved. And now that I had Veldora back, I really didn't have any business left with the imperial army. But you know what? My anger was just as intense as before—and I wanted to slam it into Emperor Ludora's face. Besides, if I ended the war on this rather indecisive note, it'd doubtlessly lead to future disasters. We'd come this far, so I really wanted to be thorough if I could. As a king, it was my job to eliminate any threats to my realm.
Now that I'd regained my sense of reason, I was beginning to think it'd be all right if I left everyone but Ludora alone. But it's important not to let up. I had a job to do, and I had to see it to its end. Maybe I didn't mind ending it here, but the enemy might have had ideas of their own.
And as if to prove that point, Velgrynd was still alive and well before me, staring at me and brooding inside her prison cell.
I had freed Veldora safely, but for some reason, Velgrynd looked infuriated. Defeating her wouldn't achieve very much for me, so I really didn't want to go
through the trouble of engaging her…but if she was a threat, I had to eliminate it.
Velgrynd is no longer a threat. Not all of her skills have been analyzed yet, but a full set of countermeasures is in place.
Dr. Ciel sure has a lot of confidence. Or maybe arrogance?
No, it is the solemn truth.
It'd be a travesty if I lost after being told that, but no, maybe I didn't have much to worry about. Even in the last battle, I was fully defending myself against Velgrynd's attacks. With Ciel in tow, I could probably shut her down without even struggling very much.
There wasn't much point, I thought, in straying from the original plan. I had the opportunity to thoroughly smash the Empire, and I wanted to take it, ending things right here without any bloodshed. Even now, the Black Corps were out in full force; I could see several large hotspots dotted across the battlefield, and nobody else on the enemy's side was worth my attention at the moment. I was going to tangle with Ludora sooner or later, so it didn't seem tactically mistaken to damage Velgrynd here while I could.
The Empire still had Lieutenant Kondo and Damrada on their side, and the emperor's four personal bodyguards looked like big trouble as well. Ludora was dominating Yuuki's mind, too, and I'd have to dispatch him along with all the other enemies. That, and there should be one more Single Digit to deal with, if my math's correct—dunno who they might be, but if they're at least Sage-level, better keep a sharp eye out. So even discounting Ludora and Velgrynd for the time being, I had eight powerful foes left.
Scanning the battlefield, I spotted several other foes I could classify as "threats," presences I decided we needed to wipe out right now. I call them "threats," but as strong as they were, they really didn't pose much of a threat to me. Having evolved into a True Dragon, my magicule count has ballooned to almost ten times what it used to be. That earned me major boosts in both the quality and quantity of power I could wield; I really felt like I was far stronger than I was before. I hadn't taken Veldora out, so my fuel tank was topped up. I was firing on all cylinders, essentially, and I even felt like I could give Milim or
Guy a run for their money.
…Whoa, hold on. Can't let myself get an ego. Psych yourself up like that, and you're bound to screw things up. Let's keep our guards up and proceed as carefully as possible.
Also, while I was scanning the field just now, I noticed that those "threats" I detected were already engaged in battle with Benimaru and the others. I did give them their orders, yet the speed with which they executed them amazed me. But were they sticking to that other command—the one about not getting themselves killed? I just hope they don't try anything reckless in the name of "lightening my load" or whatever…but let's worry about that later. Velgrynd was before my eyes, and she looked ready to fly at me right this minute; I can think about whether to back up my boys down below once I do something about her.
In less than a second, I made up my mind. The next problem was how I would fight her. Maybe kick off with Release Storm Dragon, part of the ultimate skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm? That would let me call for Veldora, and then we'd go two-against-one on Velgrynd and victory would be all but assured.
Looking back, I've now realized that my magicule count was rarely, if ever, filled up to maximum in the past. I had a sneaking suspicion this was because I had Veldora in a "released," free state this whole time. Veldora and I are kind of one and the same by this point, with both of us capable of resurrecting the other if needed. It didn't exactly work like Velgrynd's Parallel Existences, but it was still an invincibility code that verged on being unfair. Having to lend him my magicules seemed a small price to pay for that—and Veldora's overflow magic streamed straight over to me anyway, so it's not like this was any inconvenience. If anything, this sort of power circulation had an energizing effect on me.
Thus, while Release Storm Dragon came with some disadvantages, the advantages made it all worth it. So I promptly invoked it.
"My sweet little brother… How dare you…!!"
Now Velgrynd was yelling at me. More like how dare she, am I right? "Hey! You're the one who struck first! Besides, you tried to get me and
Veldora to fight each other! What's up with that?!"
"Silence! The mere idea of Veldora being consumed by the likes of you makes me sick! I always knew he was inferior to me, but I cannot believe he would fall victim to a mere demon lord… I refuse to accept his annihilation—and I refuse to ever forgive you for it!"
Then the furious Velgrynd shot out an absurd number of heat rays at me. They didn't work on me, sadly, but at least I learned a thing or two from our conversation. She was that angry because I had eaten Veldora—she thought I must've killed him, completely eradicating him from existence. I knew an easy way to deal with that—invoke Release Storm Dragon, and everything would be cleared up.
But:
(Gaaaaahh! W-wait! Wait, Rimuru!)
Veldora himself stopped me.
(What?) I asked, worried.
(Rimuru, listen to me. My sister is enraged because she thinks I no longer exist —is that right?)
(Sounds like it. So if you can come out and we can explain matters, maybe we can avoid unnecessary combat, you know?)
(You damned fool! Stop being so reckless! If I reveal myself to be perfectly safe right this minute, it would be beyond awkward for me. She'll turn her rage from you to me instead!)
What a stupid answer. I felt like a "damned fool" for listening to him. (Ahhh, I thought I was going to have a heart attack…)
It was clear that I couldn't rely on him for anything right now. He's so useless right at the most critical of moments. I wanted to chew him out, but then Ciel interrupted me.
One moment, please. I would like to take this opportunity, perhaps, to optimize Veldora's powers. I have already received permission from him, so please hold off invoking Release Storm Dragon until the skill
reformation process is complete.
Its tone was as fetching and courteous as ever.
According to Ciel, Veldora's ultimate skill Faust, Lord of Investigation, would be revised and evolved into the new ultimate skill Nyarlathotep, Lord of Chaos. Given that this was an "evolution," this would come with a tremendous strength boost…but what caught my ear in particular was how Ciel "already received permission." Apparently Veldora was already aware of him.
"Since when were you acquainted?"
He became aware of my existence after your evolution to demon lord, Sir Rimuru.
Veldora offered further explanation:
(I was aware of it, but only became fully sure about its presence a few moments ago. In the history of this planet, after all, I've never heard of a mere skill acquiring sentience for itself. But sin-type abilities are known to contain something like an ego for themselves, so I began to suspect that it might've been possible after all.)
So Veldora was suspecting something since way back in the Great Sage days. He had been observing a thing or two inside my Stomach, he said, and what he saw often seemed strange and mysterious to him. Once that turned into Raphael, Lord of Wisdom, with my demon-lord evolution, though, he was pretty much sure of it. It turns out he had been holding conversations with it up to that point, apparently thinking it was me all along. I wasn't that bothered about it, but I was kind of curious to know what they talked about.
But be that as it may, Veldora was acquainted with Ciel. That was the important part.
(Okay, so you knew each other…and you agreed to its proposal? Is that right?)
(Indeed I did! I was hoping I could take on my own sister, but under these circumstances, Rimuru, I will leave it to you!)
Glad he's back to his usual two-timing self. That's the exact opposite of what you were sayin' earlier, isn't it?! And Ciel's way too eager to mess around with
his skills, too.
I really didn't think now was the time for this, but maybe it'd be more of a hassle if they tried that stuff while Veldora wasn't confined.
Besides, I was kind of interested in testing out my powers. I had Ludora to take on in the future, so I had an obligation to find out how strong I was now. Velgrynd would be the perfect guinea pig for this. Now that the heat was off (no pun intended), I could use her to see how I'd grown in assorted ways.
Might as well do it while I can, right? I'll be keeping an eye on my friends, but until they're in real danger, testing my skills will take top priority.
I think that would be a good idea.
Ciel seemed happy about it, too.
So I was all set to go, but then it had a follow-up proposal for me.
By the way, following my assorted analyses, I am now able to combine the ultimate skills Veldora, Lord of the Storm, and Uriel, Lord of Vows, to form the ultimate skill Hastur, Lord of Starwind. Would you like to proceed?
Dr. Ciel just never lets up, does it? I'm about to fight Velgrynd here—how much free time would it have, even? It's almost like it doesn't even see Velgrynd as a challenge any longer. Tinkering with skills seems like its new hobby or something, but I really wish it'd save that for regular business hours.
For the time being, I had to reject this idea.
"Hey, you might find a better way to modify them later, right? So how about you take your time thinking about that stuff some other time?"
…!! Well said, Master. Understood. I will continue to search for greater accomplishments.
R…ight. Glad it agrees with me. I'm not sure what was so "well said" about it, but at least I can concentrate on the battle now.
Besides, Uriel was pretty effective against Velgrynd, and no matter how much of an upper hand I have right now, I don't want to throw away that known advantage. And sure, I might be able to win with Belzebuth alone, but this isn't
a game. I can't let my guard down, and any failure here would be unforgivable. Besides, I know Ciel's thinking way too highly of me. Think I'll only give lip service to its praise from now on.
Still, Ciel's love of messing around with skills was a little harrowing. Its sights were turned squarely on Veldora at the moment, but he said okay to it, so whatever. The real problem would come after this battle was over. I could tell all my friends who awakened to demon-lord form would have some major skill mods waiting for them as well. Dr. Ciel could work that out in no time, I was sure, and I had a feeling it'd be champing at the bit for the opportunity. Or maybe it was already hard at work…?
But even as I worried about this, the showdown with Velgrynd was about to begin.
The crimson dragon and I floated in the sky, glaring at each other. Velgrynd instantly shifted into her human form, and the battle was very suddenly underway. She fired Nuclear Cannon strikes at me in rapid-fire succession, slashing away with her azure dragon sword.
What was the difference between her human and dragon forms? It mostly came down to the difference in defensive force. On offense, they were exactly the same, but the human form was far more energy-efficient. That connects directly to being able to fight for longer, so for extended combat sessions, the human form is likely the way to go.
But dragon mode had an undeniable advantage of its own—the sheer hugeness of it. The scale of her attacks was proportionate to the size of her body—the same power, but a much wider range. That let her take on large numbers of opponents simultaneously…and even if it were just one target, it'd be pretty tough to avoid attacks from such a gigantic creature. Then there's the defense, the real clincher. Finishing off someone so huge required an attack equally large in scale. A sword was unlikely to work, and most magic was just too small in scale to matter. Very little magic worked against True Dragons to begin with, but even ignoring that, any magic devised for human-sized targets was useless. It had to work big, or else it just wouldn't cause much damage.
So going into dragon mode was likely the stronger bet…but Velgrynd chose her human form anyway. And I could guess the reason.
Presumably she is seeking to abandon all defense so she may finish you off, Master.
Looks like it, huh? I'll go with that, then.
Velgrynd's fiendish rage only served to enhance her beauty. All that rage was focused on her blade, and now she swung it with enough force to cut me in half. But I wasn't about to take that lying down. Leaving my magic countermeasures to Ciel, I charged at Velgrynd with my own beloved blade—a straight sword of pure crimson steel. Her azure dragon blade was a kind of broadsword; she hadn't been hiding it, but instead created it just now via Create Material. Its grade was God-class—but so was mine, apparently upgrading itself for its new True Dragon owner. Velgrynd's weapon was a threat, but I was hardly outclassed.
In fact—
With a shrill tiiing, Velgrynd's azure sword shattered.
I was pretty surprised myself, but it must've been even worse for her. "What did you do there?" she asked, once she moved a prudent distance away. I didn't mean to "do" anything; all I did was try to parry her attack. She was really barking up the wrong tree with that question.
That is the difference in each weapon's performance. My master's straight sword is a masterpiece forged with the heart and soul of Kurobe; Velgrynd's is an easily manufactured model, a mere amalgamation of magicules. It is God-class due to the sheer number of magicules involved, but in essence, it is a blunt cudgel of a sword.
That's how it is, huh? I knew there could be pretty stark differences between weapons graded at the same level, but I didn't expect this much difference in the God class. I suppose wielding the same weapon for a long time, really building a relationship, pays off in the end—that's a real good lesson to learn. My current outfit was made with Create Material, too, after all. Just because it's rated God-class doesn't mean I should expect the world of it.
"Well, I just found out that even in the same weapon class, sometimes the difference can be like night and day. The one you just created turned out to be no match for mine."
I doubted that'd be enough to have her give up, but I told her anyway. Velgrynd, who was no fool, seemed to conclude that I wasn't lying—but maybe she wasn't willing to accept it yet, because she kept on producing azure swords from thin air to slash at me with. Only after all of them got rent to pieces did she seem ready to accept reality.
Seething in frustration, she promptly moved on to her next attempt. If materialized weapons were useless, I suppose, she'd just have to rely on her own body next. Claws extended out from her hands as she assumed a kung fu– style stance. Seeing this, I put my sword away.
"…What are you doing?"
I was experimenting, of course. I wanted to see how I was progressing, so I stopped relying on my sword.
"I'm taking you on barehanded. It'd just be bullying the weak if I used a weapon."
A fight like this is all about goading your opponent. If it made her lose her cool, that would be enough to assure victory for me right there.
"Don't you look down on me…!"
And it worked. It was almost funny how easily Velgrynd fell into my trap. Now all I had to do was treat this like a chess game and not make any blatantly bad moves.
Velgrynd's claw attacks were fast—impossible to follow with your eyes. But I had extraordinary perception speed. Ever since I gave Raphael the name Ciel, my Mind Accelerate skill had been increasing. It was once a million times faster than reality, but now that was up to several hundred million times. I could even follow the traversal of rays going at the speed of light. I couldn't move at that speed, mind you, but that didn't mean I couldn't avoid this attack.
This speed boost applied to the casting of magic as well. Spatial Transport now worked nearly a thousand times faster than before—in other words, I
could escape from even a lightspeed attack with a quick teleport, as long as the attack was a certain distance away. One second could be prolonged into ten or so years, so it was like watching a completely stationary world. It'd be tough for normal people to withstand, given that they couldn't move, either, but through the activation of Mind Accelerate at certain key points, Ciel could overcome this for me.
It didn't really matter how fast Velgrynd could move. Now that I was at this point, swordsmanship or martial arts weren't necessary for me. I could just push her down with brute force.
Velgrynd's super-speed attack was closing in. It was going several hundred times the speed of sound; the old me would've doubtlessly had a hard time with it. No, it wasn't worth breaking a sweat over.
"Too slow," I said, goading her further as I Spatial Transported my way behind her. But she was no slouch, either. Anticipating this move, she immediately reacted to it. Pretty tough cookie, I thought. She really was the best of the best, and there was no discounting that.
"Oh, you think so? I doubt you can move quicker than me—is that an application of Spatial Transport, then? It's impressive you can move so naturally with it without creating any spatial rifts, but once I know the trick, I can deal with it."
I thought my taunting would enrage her further, but she was calmer than I expected. That's Veldora's sister for you, I suppose…but Ciel anticipated this as well. And the next move she was likely going to make was:
"But now that I've intervened to keep a given space fixed in time, no one can teleport themselves at all within. Too bad, huh?"
That's the only way for her to counteract me, isn't it? Velgrynd had Spatial Transport as well, of course, and she could intervene and put her own rules over a large swath of space around her. Transport via Dominate Space was no longer possible for me—I could force it anyway, but there wasn't much point if she knew where I'd be exiting. It remained a potential escape route for me, too, but again, she'd know where I'd be going, so it was pretty meaningless.
Now that teleport-type abilities were out of the picture, that just left physical
speed to decide this. Velgrynd now had the perfect environment to seal her victory. That meant her next move was…
"I never thought I'd have to use my true clincher moves on someone like you."
"You think stopping my movement was enough to let you win? Lemme show you just how wrong you are."
"You are a brat, aren't you? If you hadn't killed my boy, I might have liked you. But this is the end now."
Velgrynd took a stance. Kicking against thin air, she turned herself into a supersonic bullet, accelerating further as it shot forward.
"Cardinal Acceleration!"
But the shouted voice was already well behind her. Velgrynd made herself into a crimson meteor, approaching me at the physical limit of sub-lightspeed. It was changing trajectory, too—making this transformation allowed her to function as a flaming ball of wrath, capable of going in any direction. This, I suppose, was Cardinal Acceleration in its purest form. Not a straight-line attack, but more of a guided missile that could go anywhere it wanted. A combination of teeming energy and pondering mass, it was the ultimate in destructive attacks.
Ciel had thoroughly analyzed Cardinal Acceleration, perfectly discerning its true nature for me. Velgrynd was terrifying enough, but Ciel had her beat for sure. I created a manas like this on what was basically a whim—and that whim would spell the Flame Dragon's defeat.
As I planned, Master, I have deployed Belzebuth around your entire perimeter. No matter the angle of contact, Predation on Velgrynd will proceed without complications.
And that was exactly right.
If I tried to eat a sentient target any normal way, it'd be real hard if it tried to resist me. And this was a True Dragon. No matter how much of an effort Ciel put in, Belzebuth-based Predation should have been impossible…
…except that, by her own will, Velgrynd had transformed herself into a meteor-style projectile. All of her energy was placed into her attack, and thanks to that, her resistance to things like this had been greatly reduced.
And here was the result. Velgrynd was now quarantined in my Complex Space.
(How did…?! How in the world did that happen?!) I heard her say.
The moment she thought she finished me off, she was in a completely empty space. For Velgrynd, it must've been difficult to grasp the situation at first. I'm sure it'd take some time for her to realize she had been defeated. Better spell it out for her.
(I won. You just sit there and be quiet, okay?)
(I… I lost?)
(That's what happened, yeah. And you can't escape my Complex Space, so I don't even think your Parallel Existence can exchange any energy with you.)
According to Dr. Ciel, I had consumed over 50 percent of Velgrynd's magicules. The replication standing by next to Ludora had about 20 percent, and the remaining amount—nearly 30 percent—had been expended and needed to be recovered. Apparently she could recover around 10 percent of her magicules per day, so she'd be back at just under 50 percent in three days…but since I had this replication inside of me, she wouldn't recover quite that much. Her own sentience existed in both replications, which made exact calculations a little complex, but either way, I just weakened Velgrynd a hell of a lot.
(If you want the full story, ask Veldora, all right?)
(Veldora? What are you talking about…?)
Velgrynd seemed puzzled, but I think it'd be quicker to hear about this from the horse's mouth.
(Kwaaaaah-ha-ha-ha! It is I, my sister. I hope you are faring well! Doesn't really look like it, but…)
(Veldora?! You weren't gone after all?!)
Great. Hopefully they can talk things over and come to some kind of détente
about this.
So I now had complete victory over Velgrynd, capturing the majority of her magicules in Complex Space.