It was a sight to behold.
The ogres were seriously dunking it out.
Dude, that Hellflare wiped out a few thousands in one swoop.
These guys turned out to be monsters, I guess.
My honest appraisal of all this: What the heck?
With every swipe of her sword, Shion was cutting down great quantities of orcs.
Her blade was glowing a dim shade of purple, infused with her aura.
Battlewill, I presume.
A flash of the same color shot through the air with every slash, cutting orcish soldiers in half with the shock waves.
The sword was no kinder to those it physically struck—some literally exploded.
A single slash had a range of twenty feet or so, slicing through everyone unlucky enough to be in its path.
She smiled a graceful, fetching smile as she danced her way through the hordes.
The attacks just kept coming, uninterrupted, and not a single orc could lay a claw on her.
Her strength was simply overwhelming.
But there were a couple of other guys in battle that made Shion look like a rank amateur. Those were Benimaru and Ranga.
Benimaru's dome blasts were off the roof. I mean, see!!
He'd used a barrier to freeze
the space, 『Flame Manipulation』 to accelerate the particle motion inside, and then 『Dark Flame』 to convert the excited particles into searing flame.
It'd instantly cook everything in the enclosed space, like Ifrit's Flare Circle except with an even larger range.
It disappeared in the space of 2 seconds, but with temperatures this high, that was enough.
Man, talk about capable; he's seriously taking his anger out.
What a way to vent.
If only Feldway were here...
Well, onto the next target.
Now for the other guy—er, wolf. Ranga.
Transforming into a tempest starwolf out of nowhere was kind of freaky, I thought, but it was the skill he immediately unleashed afterward that really
threw me.
I suppose that was how you were supposed to use Dark Lightning, without placing any limits on it.
He even controlled the wind to enhance its effects. Dang. What was that?
「I believe the individual Ranga combined Dark Lightning with the extra skill Wind Manipulation, taking advantage of the differences in temperature and atmospheric pressure to create bursts of up-and-down-flowing currents, thus creating whirlwinds.」
Heh, I see…
So he generated tornadoes to attack a wider range than he could with just lightning?
Well, it sure worked. It knocked out an entire section of the orc horde.
It consumed a ton of his magic, though, so I doubted a second strike was coming any time soon.
Which, I mean, if he could rapid-fire stuff like that, I
think we'd need to redefine everything about how war even worked on this planet.
Gauging all of this made me realize something. The brakes I had subconsciously been applying to myself all this time—they had nothing like that.
There was a concept that some skills were a little too dangerous to unleash and just
lobbed them willy-nilly at enemies.
I mean, imagine me going against an opponent like Violet and dumping Enma and Odin on her.
That's... a weirdly entertaining idea.
Well, the point is that I mostly place a seal on my skills due to how dangerous and unpredictable they can be.
Looking back at my level of carelessness, I don't want to think of how damned I'll be when it comes to that skill issue.
That was a given in the survival-of-the fittest world they were born in, I imagined, and really, maybe I was the one being weird about it.
It'd suck if I held back and my friends paid dearly for it.
What I did not really get was Reina-san's obsession for skills.
Like—really, it's mine, not ours!
Come on, I did not expect that from you.
Always doing the honor and making life more annoying for me.
I can boldly say that I currently have no way to utilize my skills to an acceptable degree due to the constant alterations being made on them.
It all went from the dude with multiple unique attributes to an ultimate-level gigachad.
From the unique demon to the ultimate devil.
Man, what a way to overpower a demon.
Well, I'm looking forward to another skill practice session.
Let's move on.
The orc lord, a pig-headed monster who redefined ugliness, came to the front.
He had two orc generals with him, both clearly a level above the orcs from before.
Their dull, yellow eyes were brimming with hatred, and I could see their auras all the way from up here.
Benimaru, Shion, Hakuro, and Ranga were now lined up together to engage them. Even Soei was there, now next to Benimaru.
They were clearly ready to
rock.
Just as I was about to touch land…
*Tiiiiiing*
…there was a sharp, ear-piercing sound.
As it rang in my mind, my 『Universal Perception』 noticed something flying toward the area at high speed—aimed right at
the middle of the marsh where the two armies were fighting away.
It was a man, dressed rather oddly and with an annoyingly strong aura (sarcasm).
It was one of those upper-level magic-borns I'd been hearing about.
I landed on the ground, following his trail, Rimuru, Ranga and Benimaru sidling next to me.
The man gave us a sideways glance.
"What in blazes is going on here?!" he shouted, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. "Who dares to disrupt the plans of
the great Gelmud himself?!"
Great Gelmud? He certainly isn't as great as he makes himself appear.
I think I had an idea of what we were dealing with. This was the bad guy, wasn't he?
I knew it. And the way he revealed who he was without anyone asking indicated he might be a bit of an idiot, too.
He looked minion level, but I didn't want to read this book by its cover.
His clothes were odd, but each component seemed to be magical by nature.
Yep, that's a majin.
Gabiru: 「L-Lord Gelmud?」
Gelmud: 「You worthless waste of space!
If you had just eaten these stupid lizards and other fodder and evolved into a demon lord, then I, the great Gelmud, wouldn't have to be here right
now!!」
Wow, cold. Your own… scrap that.
What did my dude here just let up?
A demon lord? Oh—wait, you don't mean…
「It is as you think. Their plan was to make a demon lord this whole while.」
Great, another wannabe monster ruler.
Really now? Like—how many times have they tried that? Don't they ever give up?
Well, I guess another round of ass-kicking wouldn't be such a bad idea, I figured.
Gabiru: 「Eaten these…lizards? Ha…ha-ha-ha! Talk about your gallows humor, eh? You'll find I am still perfectly hale and hearty, Lord Gelmud.
Ever since you granted me your name, I have done my best to exercise the full potential of my abilities…」
Gelmud: 「Huh? Oh. You, Gabiru?」 He asked while I was pondering this. 「I wish you could've fed yourself to the orc lord sooner than now…
As blundering and worthless as you are, you still bother to haunt this world? Well, so be it. Now that I am here, I might as well help you shuffle off to your grave.
Gabiru, I hereby command you to become the orc lord's strength. Your death will be the greatest thing you have ever done for me!」
He was gesturing wildly at the orc lord now. The orc lord didn't budge.
He simply looked at Gelmud with his sunken eyes and opened his mouth.
"Evolve…into demon lord… What is that…?"
Gelmud: 「Dahh! Your brain must be the size of a walnut!!」 Gelmud screamed to the heavens.
Wow, dude, chill out, would yah?
He's your pawn, not your emotional punching bag.
Gelmud:「It seems all that prey has avoided your brain entirely and gone straight to your muscles. We are out of time. I am forbidden to meddle in this…but I have no other choice.」
He turned his bloodshot eyes to Gabiru now, showing an open palm.
Then, without any further warning, he shouted "Die!" and launched a bolt of magic.
"Look out, Sir Gabil!"
"Get, get down!"
A small detail of lizardmen scurried toward the awestruck Gabiru to protect him, forming a living shield as they warned him of the danger.
That single magic bolt was enough to send five high into the air. But it didn't kill any of them.
Whether the force of the blast was dissipated among all the bodies or the lizardmen were really just that tough, nobody was dead from it.
Seriously injured, yes, but very much alive.
Gabiru: 「Wh-what are you…?! Lord Gelmud, why did you do such a
thing…?!」
So he was using and abusing Gabiru all this time, and now that things weren't going perfectly according to plan, he was gonna kill him?
Something told me that I probably wouldn't get along too well with this Gelmud guy.
Gabiru's face twisted itself in despair, betrayed by the one person in this world he believed in.
Nobody cared.
Gelmud: 「You cocky inferior races… If you wish to die that badly, I'll kill the lot of you right now!
Perhaps you'll finally be of service to me once you're in the orc lord's stomach!!」
Gelmud began focusing his aura above his head, attempting to launch an even more powerful magical bolt. Or was it magic?
Because he took almost no time
to cast it. All he did was close his eyes and gather his magic at a particular point in the air. Not that it mattered.
Seeing enough of it all, I fulfilled my part of the deal.
Fubuki: 「『Enma』.」
Gone. Yes, they were gone.
Not out of this world, not out of the universe.
Simply gone. The magic attack vanished into nothingness.
Gabiru: 「M-My love! You've come to save me!! It truly is you!!」
「...」
You know, a more delayed destruction is most definitely welcomed.
Dunno if those dunces even let up on my gender, but that'll matter after this whole shit. As for now, I'll play along, I guess.
Fubuki: 「Uhh, sure. Whatever suits you. But aside that–」
Gelmud: 「You–!」
Gabil looked up at me in awe. I doubted he understood what was going on.
Things had vaulted beyond what his brain could process. Don't worry, though. I don't expect any favor back.
This guy here? He's just pissed me off.
Before Gelmud could continue to utter nonsensical words, Rimuru gave him a sturdy blow to the gut.
Hey, where did he come from suddenly?
Gelmud: 「Ba-ha-ha-ha! Let me show you what a high-level magic-born can do to you
all. It's time for you to die! 『Death March Dance』!!」
Gelmud had an expression of crazed joy. He intended to do us all in at once.
The bolt, when he finally launched it, split into countless smaller bolts in the air, all arcing toward us.
Each one was about as powerful as the first bolt he produced, and now tons were raining down upon us, one by one, as if forming
an orderly line.
Gelmud, I'm sure, was expecting us to be helpless, perishing
with nowhere else to run to.
But that wasn't going to happen.
If I were to consider the difference between us…
Yep, not dealing with this.
Using an ultimate skill for such a small gathering had long been deemed overkill.
Anymore would simply be psychotic.
Okay, let me get this straight.
He's Gelmud. He tried to make a demon lord.
If we look at his strength here, he's nowhere powerful enough to handle a demon lord, so yeah, he's a pawn.
There must be a greater evil behind this. A real demon lord, perhaps.
A little intel would do.
Gelmud: 「Huh?! How dare you assail the great Gelmud himself!? You lots! Such disrespect shall not be condoned!! I will end it all in the blink of an eye.」
And he went down faster.
Rimuru literally bullied him. First, a casual attack using Icicle Lance, then the sharp water blade was thrown.
If that wasn't enough, the punches, slaps, and occasional kicks were delivered home in the sweetest way imaginable.
No lies, no deception. It is the truth.
Pure, unadulterated fact.
To sum it up, it was a one-sided all-you-can-beat match.
Rimuru beat him up so badly that his next words actually made sense.
Gelmud: 「Urgh! Alright, I get it! If you want it so badly, then I'll let you join my cause! Soon, I will–」
He got punched again.
Does he even have a head?
Gelmud: 「Agh! S-stop, stop! Wait a minute! I have the backing of a demon lord behind me! You will not get away with this—」
Oh, now he comes out with that. Man, what a pain in the ass.
Rimuru: 「So? And what're you gonna say when you run back crying to this guy? You don't think he'd actually let you stay alive after this, do you?」
Gelmud began visibly shivering, face painfully tense.
Gelmud: 「Gaahhhh!! Get away from me!」 He stammered the words as he crawled backward. 「You're dead! The demon lord will never forgive this!!」
Rimuru quickly decided to use his Sticky Steel Thread skill to keep
Gelmud in place before he got any funny ideas.
He had already been levitating
into the air, chanting something—probably attempting to fly off, I assumed.
But that was no problem now.
Gelmud: 「Damn you!」 he shouted, attempting to unravel himself as Rimuru approached him silently. 「S-stop, get away! Hey! Orc lord! Over here! Help me!!」
Now he was seeking salvation from the very orc lord he called a fool and a dunderhead a moment ago. Talk about a lost cause.
I always respected a leader who had the high regard of his staff, but I hated the opposite.
Especially when they treated the people under them as disposable.
I was merciless against that.
◇◇◇
Gelmud, paralyzed by fear, fired bolt after bolt of magic at me, materializing them out of thin air despite having his hands restrained.
It is a very skillful act, but it didn't help him. They harmlessly bounced off my Multilayer Barrier—the bolts counted as a melee attack, I guess, so they couldn't penetrate my defense at all.
I knew that from my previous Analysis, so I knew I no longer had to bother Predator-ing them.
The former sneer on his face was replaced with a gasp of despair.
Gelmud: 「Dammit! Help me, orc lord— I mean, Geld!!」
Ah. So he had named the guy after all. I suppose he wanted to conceal his relationship to the orc lord for reasons I couldn't surmise.
He said he was "forbidden to meddle" before, which I imagined had something to do with it.
That, at long last, stirred the orc lord to action. Did he want to help Gelmud?
Well, all right. He was free to do whatever. I promised Treyni that I'd take him out anyway.
It looked, externally speaking, that he was little more than
Gelmud's puppet, but I didn't care.
It wasn't like picking off the guy behind the scenes were gonna neatly end all of this.
I had no reason to hate this orc. But that didn't mean I could let him live.
Watching him as he closed the distance between us, I gauged the situation.
None of this felt threatening in the least. I couldn't estimate his magic stores since I hadn't made physical contact with him yet, but I figured it wouldn't be
too far from Benimaru's.
And that was still around half of Ifrit's. If I gave this a serious effort, it shouldn't be too tricky.
My main concern was what would happen once all these orcish soldiers were leaderless.
Gelmud: 「Well, it's about time you stood up, you good-for-nothing idiot. Ha-ha-ha!
I don't know who you think you are, but you're about to get a taste of real strength!
Get him, Geld! Show him what it means to defy me and—」
With a wet, squishy-sounding thud, Gelmud's order was cut off mid-sentence.
His head rolled along the saturated ground a few feet.
The orc lord had done a marvelous, if somewhat forceful, job of chopping it right off his shoulders.
*Crunch*, *Splish*, *Splorch*
Ugh, gross… He's eating the dude.
The orc lord, upon walking up to Gelmud, had not hesitated a moment in using his meat cleaver–like weapon to decapitate the man.
Once that was done, he started to slash away, carving the body into small, bite-size pieces that he immediately hurled into his mouth.
It was a low-born, pathetic, and all-too suitable ending for Gelmud.
So this pig-guy wanted him dead, too, huh? Or was this his orcish instincts at work?
Either way, it wasn't exactly great news for me. The dull, yellow eyes now had the glint of youth and intelligence to them.
He had regained his sentience, something he had once lost to the power he gained from all the
different races he had tasted.
I wasn't anticipating this… Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
The resulting aura was like nothing I had experienced so far today.
VOTW: 「Confirmed. The orc lord's magical energy has expanded in quantity. He has begun the evolution process to a demon lord seed… Evolution complete. The
individual Geld has completed the evolution to an "Orc Disaster."」
Ooh, that was the Voice of The World speaking, wasn't it.
Reminds me of the Sage…
Wait. Stay focused, man. He's really done it now. There I was, figuring I could whip him anytime I wanted, and now look. Cut me a break, man.
This was completely my fault. I knew I shouldn't have gotten so cocky.
Gelmud was so much weaker than I anticipated, and I figured killing the main guy behind all this would wrap everything up, neat and clean.
Boy, was I wrong.
Too bad I didn't kill him when I had the chance.
Okay, new rule from now on. When you can kill a guy, just do it. I'd have to keep that in mind.
There is no point making mistakes if yo have never learned anything from them, after all.
Either way, we had Fubuki here in case things went south.
But getting back to the point. What should I do with this guy? I couldn't stew in my own juices forever.
He's gonna have to be taken down, one way or the other.
Things were now moving along by themselves, regardless of what I thought.
Reality wasn't willing to wait for me.
"Graaarrrgh!! I am an Orc Disaster, the devourer of all! My name is Geld—Geld, the demon lord!!"
It was a menacing sight…
◇◇◇
Benimaru: 「How about we take it from here, my lords?」
Fubuki: 「Hmm, sure. Go right ahead.」
With the permission given, a second was not spared.
Shion didn't even bother to speak.
With a flash, she whipped out her large sword and swung it home, putting all her strength behind it, enhanced further by the extra skills Steel Strength and Strengthen Body.
Geld attempted to block it with one meat cleaver–equipped hand.
Even for him, it wasn't quite enough. He brought up his right hand now, too, doing his best to resist Shion's incessant attack.
Shion: 「You think some dirty pig can be a demon lord?!」 Shion shouted as she landed another strike from up high.「Don't you dare believe that!」
Kurobe's expertly crafted blade now had a visible aura around it as it landed with a dull thud against the demon lord's body.
Both took a step back before clashing once more. Longsword slammed against cleaver, raining sparks upon the battlefield.
It looked like an even match, but before long, the differences between the two became clear.
Every muscle on Geld bulged, his very armor pulsing as if it were part of his body.
Shion was tossed back, and Geld pursued her. Realizing the danger, she attempted to deflect the blow while leaping backward to reduce the impact.
The damage upon her was clear nonetheless. She winced in pain—it'd be a while before she was ready to move again.
But Shion wasn't the only one here. As Geld landed the follow-up attack, a middle-aged samurai stood strong behind him.
It was Hakuro, and with a speed even I was just barely capable of following, he drew his sword from the staff it was hidden in.
The blade glowed with a constant light, energized by the battle force housed inside the wielder.
Its brightness indicated exactly how focused Hakuro was on this.
No one could block or dodge him now. A streak of metal ran across the demon lord's body, cutting it cleanly in half and even slicing off the head on the way back up.
That had to be enough, I thought, but I was still being far too optimistic.
Geld's body reconnected itself, thanks to a yellowish aura that regrouped all the parts with tentacle-like tendrils.
The completed body then leaned down, grabbed its head off the ground, and reattached it like nothing was amiss.
The horror movie–like scene silenced everyone for a moment.
Even Hakuro was obviously surprised.
Now I knew the most fearsome thing about the demon lord Geld was his otherworldly healing skills.
For now, this monster wouldn't have any resistances, but once he gained them, he'd be impossible to kill.
Then:
Soei: 「Demonwire Bind!」
Soei used his Sticky Steel Thread to apprehend Geld.
He had been lurking within Hakuro's shadow, waiting for the perfect timing to restrain the demon lord's moves.
Soei: 「Get him, Benimaru!」 he shouted.
Benimaru was already on the move,
suddenly unleashing a Hellflare strike.
Only a small dome opened around Geld—whether he was deliberately keeping it small or was short on energy after deploying four of them, I didn't know.
Geld, restrained, definitely had no means of escape from the barrier as it became engulfed in high-temperature flames, doing their level best to incinerate the demon lord.
The power of the heat was unaffected by the size of the dome, giving us a guaranteed death.
Or so we thought. Several seconds later, the dome was gone—and Geld was just casually standing there.
Benimaru grimaced at the sight. Hellflare was a powerful move, yes, but it was designed for efficiency.
It was focused on doing its deed within only a couple seconds; it was incapable of keeping the burners on for extended periods of time like Ifrit could.
The battle continued as I watched and analyzed. Ranga aimed an extra strike at Geld before he could fully heal from Benimaru's damage.
He focused his Dark Lightning on a single point and released it, much as I had before.
Nothing fancy; just a killer amount of force.
It hit Geld directly, freezing him. He was burned and blackened, and as we watched, he fell to the ground.
This time, I was sure we had won. And why not? Not even I was sure I could withstand that kind of attack.
If it were a Replicant of mine, it'd be burned to crisp.
I guess we all wound up pitching in on this kill. Hope they don't think any less of me for it.
I doubted any of the ogre mages could've taken him on solo and
had any chance.
That attack just emptied Ranga's energy, too—Dark Lightning consumed a ton of it, with obvious results.
He was now curled up on the
ground, unable to move. I wish he could've kept a bit in reserve, but I couldn't blame him for not doing so at a time like this.
Besides, it was over now, right?
Then I heard something.
"So this…is pain."
The blackened, charred demon lord was back on his feet. Guess not, then?
◇◇◇
This monster was totally beyond all common sense. I wasn't sure this was reality any longer.
Before my eyes, the demon lord had just ripped off both his arms and eaten them.
An orc general ran up to him.
"My lord, let my body join yours…"
They nodded at each other, and that was that. The orc general was killed, then casually cannibalized.
Man… And with every bite, that charred skin fell away, revealing yet another fresh layer underneath.
Then he grew entirely new arms, driven by the muscle and fiber gained from what he consumed.
He could use that to cast Self Regeneration on himself as many times as he wanted, I imagined.
Talk about an incredible healer. I mean, seriously, if we don't kill this dude in one hit, we're never getting outta this.
Or maybe we'd have to render him into nothing but atoms to finish him.
The one thing we knew for sure, though, was that my five strongest underlings could pool their abilities together and that still wasn't enough.
Then the demon lord let out a guttural battle roar. "Not enough!" he screamed, his yellow aura coursing across his body.
"More! More, let me eat
more! Consume them all! 『Chaos Eater』!!"
Like sentient tendrils, the yellow aura extended its way toward the nearby piles of bodies.
They instantly corroded their flesh, consuming them whole.
If anything, it was this yellow aura that was the true driver behind Geld's power.
It was another application of his unique 『Starved』 skill.
Part of that skill involved Rot—something that could literally rot anything that it made contact
with.
If the target failed to resist it, it was corroded and killed if it was organic.
Fearsome indeed.
Instinctively sensing all this, I ordered my troops to retreat
The moment I did, the ogres stepped back.
Rimuru: 「Tell Gobta and the lizardmen not to come near here!」
Benimaru: 「What about you, Sir Rimuru?」 Benimaru asked.
I opened my mouth to reply. I was cut off.
"You will become my next meal. Die! 『Death March Dance』!!"
The same attack Gelmud tried out earlier. But now it was much more of a punisher.
Not only was far more energy packed into it, but each tiny magic bolt had Rot added to it.
Get hit by one, and even the ogres would be gravely hurt.
I had to do something.
I was no longer able to keep my body from quivering. This was something that came from instinct.
Uh-oh. I just couldn't stop.
—Is this fear?
No.
This…is joy.
Oh. So I'm overjoyed.
Yes—
From deep within my body, I was quivering in a frenzy of joy, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
A foe that even five of my strongest fighters couldn't handle. And yet, there wasn't a trace of fear in my heart.
The depression I entered this battle with was a thing of the past.
Now, this demon lord had elevated himself in my mind. He was my enemy.
Sorry, I thought you were just a pain in the ass earlier. Now I'm serious!
You are my enemy.