That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 6

by Fuse

  (Sir Benimaru, the jesters have fled.)

  (I saw,) came the Thought Communication reply. (They might think they’re letting us live. How naïve of them.)

  Benimaru’s orders for Geld were to discover what the enemy was capable of and keep Phobio safe. I couldn’t just sit there and watch things unfold, he thought, but not killing me was a bad mistake. Sir Benimaru has recorded how that battle worked out—and then Rimuru will analyze it and break open the secret to their strength.

  Thus, this was a defeat with some benefits to them. Mission accomplished. And if he can’t win now, he can close the gap with his future training. He had hoped to settle the score with these guys for using and abusing him, but Geld simply didn’t have what it took.

  But next time, I’m winning, he silently resolved.

  (I’ll go back to my command, then.)

  (Please do. There’s one more dangerous element on the field right now, so I’d better tackle that.)

  Sir Benimaru sure has it tough, Geld thought as he closed the link. This battlefield was full of dangerous elements, and since they had to deal with them all at once, he was forced to divvy up his army’s assets and scatter them around. Benimaru intended to sort these conflicts by priority and step in himself to handle any rescues needed, but one misstep along the line could lead to serious danger. He seemed to be handling his post well, however. One would think he’d focus on finding and killing Footman first, but he successfully managed to put overall victory above his own vendettas.

  This isn’t some general with a thirst for blood, I suppose. Compared to when we fought him, the growth he’s shown has been amazing…

  It made Geld trust in Benimaru all the more.

  It was several minutes into the battle—minutes that, to Gabil and Sufia, felt like hours. But it ended unceremoniously.

  “Mgh?!”

  “What on…?!”

  “Huff…huff… What…what is the matter…?”

  After the second or third repetition, Sufia had learned how to roll with Middray’s throws, helping recover her energy. Gabil, meanwhile, had flung his spear wildly around at this attack he wasn’t used to, completely exhausting him. Middray, dealing with them both, appeared completely unhindered by fatigue—compared to sparring with Milim, this wouldn’t even make him break a sweat.

  And Middray was the first to notice it.

  “All forces, use your healing magics!” he shouted, the casual ease disappearing from his face. “Stand up! Stand up and rouse everyone around here!”

  “This is bad, Father Middray,” Hermes said, apparently feeling much better now. “This guy… The reading I’m getting is huge.”

  “I know that! This is Charybdis, the beast Lady Milim dispatched just the other day. Or is it its remains?”

  “Yeah… It looks unstable to me. I imagine it’ll disintegrate before the day is through…”

  “But this is a battlefield. If things go wrong, it could rapidly evolve. Better not to give a monster like that the food it craves.”

  The fallen priests around him cast healing spells to revive both themselves and Team Hiryu under Gabil’s command.

  “Charybdis?” Sufia asked. “The monster that used Phobio as a core to revive itself with?! I thought Lady Milim had already destroyed it!”

  “Yes,” Gabil added, realizing this current match was over. “If it was Charybdis, Lady Milim definitely killed it…”

  “Calm down. It’s not the real thing; just a fragment of its force. I think it used Yamza as its replacement core…”

  Middray was using Dragon’s Glance to analyze the innards of the creature. It was not as strong as Milim’s own Dragon’s Eye, but it still provided him with ample enough vision and analysis skills.

  Hermes, meanwhile, was surveying the area for any other potential threats. “Looks like you’re right, sir. That ass Yamza was trying to kill us, but his soul’s already been consumed. With how he is now, we’ll just have to keep damage to a minimum and wait for him to fall apart,” he coldly concluded.

  “Did you hear that? Keep your weapons at the ready, people. And don’t get greedy! If buying time is all we need, that won’t be a tall order.”

  “Let us help you out,” Gabil added, in sync with Middray as if they were old friends. “We are more used to high-altitude flight since last time. If we can catch those scale attacks before they strike, they cannot hurt us.”

  Even a crazed, twisting beast like Charybdis had a tendency to chase after anything moving. A flying target, Gabil reasoned, would make the perfect lure. Sufia was also thinking unusually lucidly, trying to execute on what she could do here.

  “Right,” Middray began, “I’ll aid in the retreat so it can’t feed off any of our ground forces and—”

  But before he could finish, things took an abrupt turn as Benimaru all but vaporized Charybdis.

  “What…on…?! He just pulled off the most unbelievable thing!”

  “…Who is that guy? A demon lord? Unless you’re Lady Milim, how could some regular magic-born do that? He has to be some kind of monster…”

  Only Middray and Hermes had an accurate bead on the situation. Sufia and Gabil saw it at the same time but couldn’t parse what just happened. All they could see was that the evil aura of Charybdis had been snuffed in an instant.

  “Hey, what’s going on? Tell me!”

  “Yes. We seek an explanation as well.”

  “Yeah, um, I’d want to explain,” Hermes said, “but…”

  “I don’t think we need to,” Middray finished.

  Before either of them could, the air in front of them twisted and warped, revealing a magic-born with hair as red as roaring flames. It was Benimaru, sword rested on his shoulder, and he was here to take on Middray, the last threat on the battlefield.

  “Well,” he said with a sneer, “I see you’ve been entertaining my friends?” Then he realized something wasn’t quite right about this picture. There was evidence of combat around him, but there were no injuries—and by the looks of things, no hard feelings on either side.

  “Sir Benimaru, wait! These are Lady Milim’s fighters, the priests of the Dragon Faithful!”

  “What? Lady Milim’s?! In that case…”

  “Yes! They healed our wounds with magic!”

  “…I see. It seems I’ve jumped to conclusions. You seemed like such a threat in this theater, I couldn’t help but be alarmed.”

  “Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! You didn’t jump to conclusions at all. We were actually fighting, yes. And we did perform some healing, but that was to prepare for what we thought was an oncoming disaster. Now I suppose all that wasn’t necessary.”

  “…Ah. So what now? Are you taking us on?”

  “Well, what should we do…?”

  “Because personally speaking, I would prefer not to engage in combat with Lady Milim’s forces.”

  “No, I suppose not. I can understand wanting to try it, but there is no quarrel between us. I would simply want to compare our powers.”

  “Yes… I can see that.”

  The two gave each other knowing grins.

  “Whoooa!” Hermes interjected. “Not good, Father!”

  “Yes, Sir Benimaru! If you hurt one of the Dragon Faithful, there’s no telling what kind of calamity that would bring upon us!”

  “You heard her, Father Middray! Sir Rimuru is Lady Milim’s friend. It would all end in tragedy, I am sure of it!”

  Sufia silently resented Hermes and Gabil for stepping in.

  “Fair enough,” Benimaru said. “Besides, if I don’t come at him trying to kill him, I expect it’ll result in nothing but defeat for me—and I don’t like engaging in losing battles.”

  “Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Quite so. And I’m not sure even I could withstand a blow like the one that buried Charybdis!”

  Middray might have laughed the concept off, but he had a suspicion that he could win the battle before Benimaru had a chance to bust that out. That would result in a life-and-death duel, however, g
oing well beyond the boundaries of a friendly sparring session. A battlefield was the wrong place for this, and it no longer meant anything anyway.

  Thus ended the battle in the former kingdom of Orbic, while the unified forces enjoyed a near-total victory. But this wasn’t the only battlefield.

  At the stroke of midnight, Shuna, Soei, and Hakuro sprang into action. They quickly discovered Clayman’s headquarters within the wetlands covered by the mysterious mist and began to stealthily make their way there.

  Beyond these wetlands were several murky swamps, gas bubbling out from the surface. This was what created the cloud of mist, making things seem eerier than they already were. The moment they waded in, visibility plummeted to nearly nothing.

  “Uh-oh. This mist is blocking our Magic Sense.”

  “It is,” confirmed Soei. “That was why we called off our investigation. With this poor visibility, anyone inside would have to rely on their own five senses to ‘see’ around them. That’s what the enemy must use to keep track of what goes on in here.”

  “Mm, I see. So we face a brutal disadvantage.”

  “Indeed, Sir Hakuro. You and I can use Covert Agent to hide our presences, but Lady Shuna…”

  “I should be fine.”

  It was true. Hakuro could use his Haze concealing skill to all but disappear to the external observer, as could Soei. You could be standing right next to them and never realize it. Shuna, despite not having this exact Art, could still perfectly heal herself.

  “Hmm… A combination of illusory and mystical magic? It doesn’t work like Haze, but it has the same effect. Well done, Lady Shuna.”

  Hakuro was right—this approach was Shuna’s original creation. While she wasn’t quite as gifted at it as Rimuru, her Creator unique skill allowed her to conjure up her own magic spells without a recipe.

  “Then we should be fine,” Soei said. “But I want you all to remember that Thought Communication won’t work in this fog. Visibility is low, it is hard to stay in contact, and we all need to proceed carefully and cautiously. Also…”

  Even with Soei’s Replications, Thought Communication–based conversation would be impossible. Instead, he provided a length of Sticky Steel Thread around each of their wrists for emergency contacts. Focusing on this thread would allow them to maintain at least a modicum of communication, but if the string broke, that would be the end of the contact. Using it required a great deal of caution.

  Shuna and Hakuro nodded and wrapped it around their wrists. They were ready now. “Let’s get going,” Shuna said, and the three ran off.

  Then, after several minutes of walking, Shuna stopped.

  “…Oh no,” she whispered. “We seem to have fallen into a trap.”

  “A trap?”

  “I can feel my senses going haywire on me, yes, but I don’t feel any enemies around the— What?!”

  Before he could finish speaking, Soei felt multiple presences nearby appear from out of nowhere, virtually surrounding them.

  “How on…? Where were so many of these enemies hiding, such that we couldn’t notice them?”

  “No, Hakuro! They weren’t hiding. We were lured right to them!”

  “Ah… This fog. The cloud’s doing more than confusing our sense of direction. It’s concealing the enemy and inviting us right to the middle of their circle…”

  “I see. That explains the odd feeling I had just now.”

  “You’re right. The mist is triggering Spatial Interference to lure intruders from any direction to a specific place—”

  Before Shuna finished explaining this, one of the presences appeared. Soei and Hakuro steeled themselves toward it, keeping a watchful eye out for the still-unseen monsters in the mist, as Shuna closed her mouth and focused on it—a skeleton dressed in a vestment of pure white.

  “Such massive magical force,” she whispered, beads of sweat on her forehead. For a moment, she thought it might have been Clayman himself, although she banished the thought quickly. It was past midnight; the demon lord should be over at the Walpurgis Council. Perhaps it was one of Clayman’s five fingers, then—but the figure before them exuded pure presence, beyond that of the Lycanthropeers and approaching demon lord level. The power of this magic-born was overwhelming; it was a wonder that it was subservient to anyone else.

  She recalled what Mjurran told her about Clayman’s most senior leaders—and that one of them was geared strictly toward defending their base.

  “…You must be Adalmann, then. The ruler of this land—the wight king with power over countless undead…”

  Hakuro had just used Heavengaze to reach the same conclusion. But this figure was more ominous than how Mjurran described it, its force far more massive. The guardian of this wetland was a wight king on the level of a demon lord.

  Soei accepted Shuna and Hakuro’s appraisal, finding no reason to doubt it. Then, quietly, he sharpened his bladelike mind. No matter who the enemy is, he will kill him—that was his credo.

  But just as Soei was about to move, the wight king spoke.

  “Indeed, I am Adalmann. I have been ordered to protect this land by the great demon lord Clayman. Lowly intruders like you may do nothing but humbly submit your lives to me. Do it, and I will kill you without pain.”

  This was the command of a kingly figure, not the words of a foe who saw Shuna and her companions as equals. Considering the massive, overwhelming amount of Adalmann’s magic energy, anything else would almost seem improper.

  Now, all around the area, a legion of over ten thousand undead were writhing, as if attracted to the seemingly inexhaustible supply of magicules. Cracking, wrenching sounds filled the air as they moved to encircle the trio.

  “We are fully surrounded,” Shuna breathlessly reported. “This mist is working alongside a directional barrier to prevent teleportation outside. All our means of communication are blocked. The only way to get out of here is to defeat this Adalmann foe.”

  “Then we must strike their leader at once.”

  “No disagreement here. A blow from me can even kill the dead.”

  Hakuro and Soei had no interest in following Adalmann’s advice. As Shuna explained the situation, they both went on the attack. But Adalmann simply laughed in their faces.

  “Heh-heh-heh… You appear not to know your place. I generously provided you mercy, and yet, you remain foolish to the end. You will regret refusing that offer shortly.”

  He breezily swung an arm. The next moment, the most surprising thing happened—the white blade of Hakuro, instantly zooming within range of Adalmann, was blocked by the knight who had appeared in front of him.

  Hakuro stepped back in shock, failing to believe that this killer blow could be parried. This was a death knight, ranked A-minus in the Guild system, but from that clash, Hakuro could sense something was off. It was a powerful monster, yes, but no garden-variety death knight could ever block a slash from him.

  “You are no normal adversary. Very well. Let me give you my full attention.”

  He had an accurate bead on this death knight and the threat it carried for him. Its strength relied not on physical toughness but on the built-up level of its skills—which meant Heavengaze would tell him nothing about it. So he used his own physical might to confront it.

  “……”

  The death knight was silent; the corpse serving as the shell of its body was incapable of speech. But there was a blistering blue flame in its sunken eyes. The light of consciousness was in there, the pride of a former human being, and it told Hakuro that his challenge was accepted.

  Even after abandoning life, this death knight was a proud, noble warrior. The difference in magical energy between the two was negligible, as was their physical muscle. It marked the beginning of a clash between built-up skills, one that quickly made sparks fly.

  Before Soei, meanwhile, was Adalmann himself, an enormous shadow from out of nowhere blocking all attempts to attack him.

  “Deh!” Soei glared at the towering shade. “No…
A dragon zombie?”

  “No, Soei!” Shuna could see it more fully, through the muck. “Nothing that weak! Its magicules outnumber yours; it stands at the peak of the undead—it’s a death dragon!”

  Soei’s face tensed upon hearing this. He could manage this solo, but fighting this foe while guarding Shuna was a different story. The usually reliable Hakuro was too busy with the death knight. He had to dispatch this death dragon as soon as possible, or else Shuna would be overrun by the thousands of undead lumbering their way in from all sides. Now, Soei realized, was no time to hold back.

  “Then, die! Mystic Thread Strike!”

  Without delay, Soei dealt out the most powerful attack he could, a killer move that fricasseed the enemy with thousands of branching strings of Sticky Steel Thread, each granted the Insta-Kill effect from his Shadow Striker unique skill. They created a virtual garden of beautiful, bloody blooms, like a kaleidoscope. Even a half-spiritual life-form like an undead would be snuffed out by this spiritual body-slicing move—or so it should have.

  “No! It’s regenerating?!”

  Soei could feel himself begin to sweat. The sixty-foot-long beast’s body was ripped apart, seemingly ending the battle. But then, as if nothing was amiss, the death dragon’s body reassembled itself. It went so fast, even faster than Ultraspeed Regeneration, that it seemed like nothing less than immortality.

  “Then let me destroy you, soul and all…”

  “Soei,” Shuna shouted out as he steeled himself, “calm down! You know how to analyze your foe’s strengths. You should know that you can’t beat a death dragon!”

  “But…”

  “That dragon’s soul is within the magic-born Adalmann,” she quietly declared. “Don’t worry about me; just work on keeping that dragon where it is. I’ll defeat Adalmann!”

  “That’s too dangerous!”