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Glancing around at everyone, Shizue Izawa lowered her head.
Her gaze settled on the slime in her arms.
"Mr. Slime," she said seriously, "would you be willing to talk with me?"
"Of course!"
"In that case," Shizue said, "let's go outside and talk."
Holding Rimuru, she stood up and walked out of the room, heading straight outside.
"...Eh?"
Watching them leave, Eren blinked in surprise. "Are Shizue-san and Senior Rimuru acquaintances too?"
Because she always addressed Shirou Emiya as "Senior," Eren naturally followed suit and referred to Shirou Emiya's slime companion the same way.
"Maybe they weren't before," Shirou replied casually, "but they are now."
"Eh? What does that even mean?"
Eren tilted her head, completely lost.
Sitting beside her, Shirou Emiya calmly picked up his chopsticks and continued eating grilled meat as if nothing unusual had happened.
"If you don't understand," Cabal said flatly, "then stop asking questions."
He already had a rough idea of what was going on.
With a scornful glance, he flicked his ears dismissively.
"Hey! Don't look down on me!" Eren snapped back.
The trio immediately fell into their usual noisy exchange.
Watching them, Shirou Emiya chuckled softly.
Being around these three always made things feel relaxed.
After a moment, Eren suddenly remembered something.
"Speaking of which, Senior Shirou," she asked, "weren't you searching for traces of a Demon Lord? Why did you end up staying here and training such a big group of goblin soldiers instead?"
"Traces of a Demon Lord, huh?"
Shirou Emiya paused, then smiled.
"I already found traces of that Demon Lord."
"...Eh?"
Eren and her two companions exclaimed at the same time.
They had assumed that Shirou Emiya hadn't found anything, which was why he was staying here. They never imagined that he had already found traces of a Demon Lord.
Or rather-
That there really was a Demon Lord inside the Jura Forest.
"Where?" Eren asked quickly. "Where did you encounter them?"
Shirou Emiya looked at the trio.
They were afraid.
But also curious.
"Haven't you met him already?" he asked calmly.
"That's impossible!" Eren immediately denied it. "We've never met any Demon Lord!"
The other two nodded frantically.
"But," Shirou Emiya continued, "weren't you just talking to him?"
"...Just now?"
At that moment, realization struck all three of them at once.
The Demon Lord Shirou Emiya was referring to-
Was Rimuru.
That slime.
Their faces froze.
How could that possibly be true?
Before they could say anything else, an overwhelming surge of magical power erupted in the distance.
It was sudden.
Violent.
Even from far away, they could feel it.
The surrounding temperature rapidly climbed, the air itself growing heavy and dry.
"It's here," Shirou Emiya murmured.
He stood up and walked outside.
In the distance, the sky had begun to darken unnaturally. Flames rose high, illuminating the surroundings with a terrifying glow.
"What's going on?" Eren shouted.
The trio hurried after Shirou Emiya, staring at the distant scene with shock and confusion written all over their faces.
"Rigurd."
"Yes, Lord Emiya!"
Rigurd rushed over immediately. He had already been organizing people to prepare for evacuation.
"Organize everyone at once," Shirou Emiya said. "Move them away from the burning area. Transfer any relatively valuable items so they don't get caught in the fire."
"But Lord Rimuru is still over there!" Rigurd said anxiously.
Even in the face of disaster, his first concern was Rimuru's safety.
That loyalty made Shirou Emiya nod inwardly.
"Rimuru and I will handle that side," he said.
"Yes!"
Although Rigurd had never personally seen Shirou Emiya fight, he had a clear understanding of his strength.
After all, even Rimuru-the strongest in their eyes-had openly admitted that he was no match for Shirou Emiya.
Because of that, Rigurd trusted him completely.
After giving his instructions, Shirou Emiya moved quickly toward Rimuru's location.
At that moment, Rimuru was riding on Ranga's back, staring up at the massive figure blazing in the sky.
Flames twisted and roared, forming a terrifying silhouette.
"It looks like trouble finally showed up," Shirou Emiya said as he arrived.
"It's Shirou!" Rimuru replied. "And yeah-this opponent is definitely strong!"
"Ifrit the Flame Elemental, huh?"
Shirou Emiya narrowed his eyes slightly.
The corners of his lips lifted.
He was satisfied.
Ifrit the Flame Elemental.
As the first genuinely troublesome enemy Rimuru faced after being reincarnated, Ifrit possessed basic combat power on the same level as both Rimuru and Shirou Emiya.
At this stage, all three of them could be classified as Super A-class.
Logically speaking, they should have been evenly matched.
But this world didn't function on logic alone.
Here, raw power wasn't the most important factor.
Skills were.
Outrageous, unreasonable skills.
This wasn't a cultivation world with rigid, step-by-step realms. Power rankings here were nothing more than rough estimates.
Take dragons, for example.
The S+ Storm Dragon Veldora-one of the so-called ceiling-tier beings-had been sealed by a Hero.
Meanwhile, the Star Lord Dragon had created the world itself, essentially holding a position equivalent to a god.
Yet if evaluated by the system, the Star Lord Dragon would likely also be classified as S+.
Because S+ was the highest rating available.
That alone showed how absurdly large the power gap could be between beings labeled with the same rank.
Now that the Star Lord Dragon was gone, the being with the strongest raw power was the Storm Dragon Veldora.
And yet, his actual combat performance was laughable.
He was known as the "shame of the ceiling."
Why?
Because he lacked top-tier skills.
That alone demonstrated just how critical skills were in this world.
And now-
Ifrit, whose abilities were entirely focused on fire, had encountered Rimuru and Shirou Emiya.
Both were immune to fire.
Even if they shared the same rank, the outcome was obvious.
Instant defeat.
Moreover, although Shirou Emiya's basic abilities were only Super A-class, his ability to cut concepts meant he genuinely feared no one in this world.
Against anyone, he had a chance.
But now-
He finally had a sufficiently strong opponent.
A perfect training dummy.
There was no way Shirou Emiya would let him die too easily.
"Rimuru," Shirou Emiya said, "leave this one to me."
As he spoke, he raised his hand.
Instinctively, he held back a portion of his power.
A long spear was projected into his grip.
He looked up at Ifrit.
"Pure elemental spirits like this are probably immune to physical damage."
"Only magic can hurt him."
He tightened his grip.
"But for a warrior, that's simple."
"All you need is to wrap your weapon in magic."
Magic surged.
The spear was instantly enveloped by Shirou Emiya's mana, its surface glowing with a faint red light.
A deadly sharpness radiated outward.
He didn't activate his concept-cutting ability.
He didn't unleash Noble Phantasm bombardment.
This time, Shirou Emiya intended to fight purely as a warrior.
A same-level battle.
After all, the Divine Blessing he possessed from the DanMachi world didn't grow stronger by killing enemies.
It grew through self-improvement.
Through training.
And in a life-or-death battle, when facing a powerful opponent of equal standing, a person's latent potential would naturally be drawn out.
That was how one became stronger.
What Shirou Emiya needed wasn't a kill.
It was pressure.
"Come on," he said quietly. "Give me more pressure."
He stomped the ground.
His figure vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of Ifrit.
The elemental's blazing attack passed harmlessly by as Shirou Emiya dodged with ease.
He closed the distance.
The spear swung.
With a thunderous impact, Ifrit's massive body was sent flying.
It crashed through countless tree trunks before finally coming to a stop.
Shirou Emiya lowered his spear slightly and pointed the tip directly at the elemental.
His voice was cold.
"Don't think that just because this isn't magic," he said, "you don't need to resist."
"Because if you do..."
"You'll die miserably."
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