That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 2

by Fuse

  I mused absentmindedly to myself for a while.

  The battle had been raging for around two hours.

  Benimaru had popped off four of those dark-dome attacks. Not even he could deploy them in rapid succession, but I guess they didn’t sap that much of his energy. Ranga’s attack, meanwhile, was proving more of a one-and-done thing. I guess he put his all into it, which explained his current comparative silence. It certainly helped cow his opponents into submission anyway.

  As I saw a bunch of orcs running around in a panic, trying not to get caught in Shion’s attack range, I decided to analyze the situation a bit. I felt oddly calm now. Benimaru decided where to attack first, but I had ultimate authority over where to go last. I wanted to strike the enemy hard on a specific spot, attracting our foes to Shion and hitting them where it hurt.

  Hakuro was busy handling the commander-class enemies for me, and I would hardly call that a battle. He approached them soundlessly and diced them up in an instant. The Ravenous unique skill let the armies boost their leader’s strength by consuming the dead, so making the bodies themselves vanish was apparently a priority for him, which I appreciated. Part of his Modelwill Art, maybe? I could see him release an aura from his palm, burning the corpses—or melting them, really.

  We proceeded along those lines for a while, with me spotting an enemy commander and sending Hakuro over to erase him. We were overwhelming the orc armies, and zero cost to ourselves. I kept up my watch, trying to stay as efficient as possible.

  Even the more eager ogres realized that the tables had turned by now, I was sure. They weren’t attacking as frantically as they were before. They kept their distance from Benimaru and Ranga, fanning out their formations so they weren’t bunched together.

  At that point in time, the orcs had suffered about twenty percent casualties. Over forty thousand had lost their lives. And it wasn’t until then that the enemy’s nerve center—the orc lord—finally took action.

  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.

  So how strong’s this orc lord, then? I had no idea, really, but it seemed that all the powers he gained were starting to make him lose control of his own sense of self. Maybe that was why he was so late to react to us. I wasn’t so sure I needed to worry much about him.

  Either way, though, we couldn’t let him get any stronger. Now that Benimaru and everyone else had arrived, I figured the sooner we took him down, the better. I took my mask out from my pocket and put it on. Time to teach him a lesson, I thought as I descended to the ground.

  Just as I was about to touch land…

  Tiiiiiing.

  …there was a sharp, ear-piercing sound. As it rang in my mind, my Magic Sense 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 a distressingly strong aura. One of those upper-level magic-borns I’d been hearing about. I landed on the ground, following his trail, 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?!”

  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. I’d best not let my guard down, I thought. If I had to guess, this was the guy setting the orc lord on the general populace. And now that his plans were going awry, he looked seriously pissed.

  “L-Lord Gelmud!” Gabil stammered as he ran up to him. “I never would have expected you to come to my aid at a time like this!”

  Gelmud just looked at him the way someone would look at a giant pile of garbage. “You worthless wastes of space!” he spat out at the orcs all around him. “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!!”

  Well, that’s kind of mean. Does he understand what he’s saying, really? He means that the lizardmen and goblins were just meant to be food for the orc lord? Not that it matters to me, but…

  …Wait, haven’t I heard the name Gelmud before?

  Understood. My information indicates the magic-born that gave the goblin called Rigur his name was himself named Gelmud.

  Oh right. Gelmud was the guy who named the first Rigur, the older brother of the current one. Did he name Gabil, too, then? The lizardman himself spoke up before I could pursue the question further.

  “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…”

  Ah, so it was him. But naming a monster just so the orc lord could consume him? That…made an awful lot of sense, actually. Eating a named monster with enhanced skills and strength and all that, would make the orc lord that much more powerful.

  But why not name the orc lord himself, then? A lot of this guy’s M.O. still made little sense to me.

  “Huh? Oh. You, Gabil?” Gelmud 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. Gabil, 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…?”

  “Dahh! Your brain must be the size of a walnut,” Gelmud mustered. “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 Gabil 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 Gabil 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.

  “Wh-what are you…?!” Gabil exclaimed. “Lord Gelmud, why did you do such a thing…?!”

  So he was using and abusing Gabil 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.

  Gabil’s face twisted itself in despair, betrayed by the one person in this world he believed in.

  “S-Sir Gabil, it’s too dangerous!” one of his injured troopers advised him. “Please, get out of here as quickly as possible.”

  He certainly had some nice people under him—or maybe it was more like Gabil was a great boss to them. Judging by the state of things when I arrived, he hadn’t used the goblins as the throwaway pawns I expected him to. Perhaps he was using them as a first-line tactical defense, but I could see he
had a good reason for it.

  The beloved commander, huh…?

  “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.

  I walked ahead, in front of the lizardmen—and in front of Gabil, who was now digging down to protect his men, even in his current daze. I knew he couldn’t see my face through the mask.

  What does Gabil think about me right now? I couldn’t shake the thought.

  Why was I standing in front of him? That was an easier question—because I liked him. I wanted to help him.

  That was the only reason, and that was all I really needed. I wasn’t afraid to do whatever I wanted in life—in fact, I’d sworn it to myself.

  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.

  “Sir Rimuru, I…”

  I held Benimaru back with an arm and took a step forward. Gelmud paid no attention, still focused on the gigantic magic bolt he was conjuring up.

  “Ba-ha-ha-ha! Let me show you what a high-level magic-born can do to you all. 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.

  Sadly, though, they didn’t work on me. I slowly brought a small hand forward, and that was all it took to absorb all the bolts with my Predator skill. A quick round of Analysis produced instant results. This wasn’t magic, but an Art—one where he could roll his aura energy together, mix it with magicules, and give it destructive power.

  The fundamental idea was the same as Hakuro’s Modelwill, I figured. But while the energy Gelmud expended on it outclassed anything Hakuro had, splitting that force into so many smaller bolts made the overall impact equal or less. He wasn’t too well-versed in the move yet—and if that was all the power he could cobble together, I was in no danger at all.

  “Hey,” I said, “is that all you got? You want me to ‘die’ just with that? Maybe you could give me a demonstration in how to die first?”

  I focused my own magic and tried launching a bolt of my own. But nothing came out from the right hand I thrust at him. I could feel the magic and aura flow within me, but I couldn’t quite control it. Even if I understood how it worked, that didn’t mean I could execute it that easily.

  So unlike magic, I couldn’t just analyze this to grab it for myself…? Practice really does make perfect. After that killer line I just gave him, too. This is a little embarrassing.

  Thus, to cover up for my mistake, I shot off an Icicle Lance. It wasn’t like I was married to Modelwill or anything. I just wanted to see how well I stacked up against a so-called upper-level magic-born at this point.

  And once I get bored of it, I’ll “consume” you, too.

  My Icicle Lance accelerated in the air before contacting Gelmud. He had his arms in front of him in an attempt at defending himself, and then instantly froze. He screamed in agony—magic worked well enough on him, which I wasn’t expecting.

  Of course, no magic-born of the upper ranks would be finished by that alone. He immediately shattered the ice off his arms and fired an even larger bolt of magic at me. No fancy tricks this time; just a big, blunt hunk of magic, crafted with everything he had.

  “Die! How dare you inflict pain upon me… I’ll blast you to smithereens!!”

  But he couldn’t. I just ate it up with Predator again. He let out a surprised yelp, shocked that I snuffed out the attack once more.

  “No! What— What is that you’re…?!”

  He began shaking fearsomely. I sent a Water Blade his way. He tried to dodge, but the speed of it caught him off guard, cutting a deep gash in his side.

  “Gaahh!! Y-you… That was not magic…?”

  So it wasn’t that he couldn’t guard it—he just didn’t. He apparently thought Water Blade was magic, so he attempted to counter with an anti-magic barrier instead of expending the energy to dodge it. That barrier was probably why the Icicle Lance didn’t do much lasting damage.

  Gelmud began chanting a spell, fervently attempting to heal himself. Wow, he’s got that kinda thing, huh? He looked like a freak, but maybe he was more multitalented than I thought. Guess the “magic-born” name wasn’t there for show. Maybe I ought to exercise the ol’ arsenal a little myself.

  Benimaru, Ranga, and the others were keeping a safe distance away, staying on the ready but apparently content in letting me handle matters. Shion was probably expecting me to go all-out, I imagined, but she didn’t look disappointed in me. She was hooked, in fact, eyes sparkling with delight as she watched. Hakuro and Soei, meanwhile, were ready to join me at a moment’s notice, just like I figured they would.

  The orc lord and his minions didn’t seem like they were going anywhere, either. Now was the time, I supposed. I casually sauntered forward, stopping once I was next to the still-cowering Gelmud.

  “Hey, can we get serious now? You were gonna show me what a high-level magic-born can do, weren’t you?”

  Then I kicked him. Hakuro could’ve easily dodged it, I was sure, but Gelmud took the full brunt of it. I could feel the sensation of bones breaking against my foot.

  Must’ve been a more telling blow than I thought…or was Gelmud that much of a wuss? Oh wait… I have Multilayer Barrier and Body Armor on me, don’t I? That probably had something to do with it.

  “Y-y-you…?! I am a magic-born, and you…”

  As I pondered over what I had just done, Gelmud began to unleash his full aura in a rage. Yep, he sure was an upper-level guy. But it was still at only about the level of Shion or Soei—lower than Benimaru, in fact. Did that make him an upper-level magic-born? I knew I shouldn’t have worried.

  With a sudden dash, I launched myself toward Gelmud’s chest, aiming a fist right at the pit of his stomach. I felt no pain as I propelled it through his magical defenses. They dulled the effect of melee attacks, apparently, but they couldn’t fully dull the effects of my punch.

  A look of anguish spread across his face. I paid it no mind, landing a flurry of strikes. He could do nothing to keep up with them. His aura was huge, but in terms of physical strength, he was nothing. Long-range strikes must have been his forte—and most projectile attacks were completely helpless against Predator.

  I never thought much about it, but against long-range attacks, I had a pretty insurmountable advantage, I supposed. Let’s try some long-range moves of our own, then. I adjusted the Water Blade I fired a moment ago, creating a ball of liquid. Then I tried infusing it with Poisonous Breath and Paralyzing Breath, seeing if it could all mix together.

  I then tossed the resulting ball, about the size of a fist, at Gelmud. It wasn’t as fast as I thought it’d be, given that it wasn’t pressurized like Water Blades. It was slow enough for Gelmud to react to, and he fired back with a magic bolt of his own. That Water Blade from before must’ve taught him to do away with the taunts and such.

  But it wasn’t done yet. The ball exploded into a spray of fine mist, spreading all over Gelmud’s body.

  “Garhh!!” he shouted in anguish, writhing in the mist. Just as I hoped. Now I knew how to modify the Water Blades themselves. And…wait.

  I think I had my finger on something here. When I created
that ball just now, that feeling I had…

  I pointed my right hand at Gelmud, who was still in pain and desperately attempting to heal himself. Will this work? When I made that ball, I didn’t take any water out from my stomach for it—I just rolled it out from my aura. Maybe if I tried that with magicules instead… There we go. I now had a fist-size piece of spirit above my right hand. So far, so good.

  Now, how to fire this at him… Slowly, I pushed it forward, as if executing a breath-type attack. I felt something push lightly against my palm, and then the ball of spirit shot forward as fast as a Water Blade. Guess it worked.

  Hakuro’s eyes burst wide open. “He’s learned Modelwill,” I could hear him whisper. “Still unrefined, though.”

  So now I had my own magical bolts. We’ll just ignore the second thing he said for now. Once I learned something, things would fall into place pretty quickly. I was sure I could burn more magic to boost its strength, too.

  That shot just now missed, sadly. I’ll hit the next one, I thought as I stared Gelmud down.

  “What are…you…?! How?! Not even an upper-level magic-born such as I could—”

  He was interrupted by the bolt of magic knocking him cleanly off his feet. I was still just practicing, so I didn’t put too much force into it, but it still beat one of my punches, it looked like.

  Next I fired several in succession. Smooth sailing. It’d just be a matter of time before I fully mastered it.

  Time for more practice, I decided as I targeted several shots on Gelmud. I then simply stood there as they all hit home. Geez, I’m more merciless than I thought. I think I got a little too excited about learning this new attack.

  Still, this dude was way too weak. His store of magic was definitely beyond A level, I’d grant him that, but he still felt weaker than the ogre mages. What’s with that?