by Fuse
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 Ravenous 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.
“Fall back!”
The moment I did, the ogres stepped back.
“Tell Gobta and the lizardmen not to come near here!”
“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!
A flurry of magical bolts flung themselves toward me. I used Predator to consume them, and then the tendrils of yellow wrapped themselves around me.
The demon lord Geld’s Death March Dance bolts danced around in the air, as if self-conscious, before coming in to swallow me. It was infused with Chaos Eater, and it had a mission to carry out.
In another moment, the elastic tendrils were around me. Even if they were still on the other side of my Multilayer Barrier, it still didn’t feel very pleasant.
—Yeah? You wanna consume me? Well, all right. Do it if you can!
Worked up as I was, my instincts commanded me to flash a weak smile.
If you wanna eat me, you’ll just get eaten first.
Silently, I removed my mask and put it in a pocket.
It was time for my clash with the demon lord Geld.
An impartial observer would probably assume that I’d have a hard time defeating the demon lord.
But slowly, I took out my sword, the yellow aura still around me. I didn’t like that aura, but it wasn’t dealing me much damage. I didn’t have Resist Rot in my arsenal, but it must have been dealing melee damage upon me—nothing I couldn’t cover for with Ultraspeed Regeneration.
Closing the distance between us, I slashed at Geld. He cleanly blocked me with his meat cleaver, sending me somersaulting. I should’ve expected as much. I couldn’t take Shion in a sword-on-sword clash, and she just lost to this guy. And Hakuro, who was on another plane of existence from me swordsmanship-wise, could do little against him.
I tried another slash, moving at hyper-speed to confuse my foe, trying to find any weakness I could from every angle I could think of. I knew it was pointless, but I couldn’t stop going through the cycle. Whenever I was blocked or swatted away, I just kept going back, testing it all out.
It assured me of one thing. I was weak.
I thought back to the five fighters I had directly under me, as well as Shuna and Kurobe. They had each inherited part of my skills, and in terms of using them, they were already far more expert at them than I was.
A refresher:
Ranga: Dark Lightning, Control Wind
Benimaru: Dark Flame, Control Flame
Hakuro: Hasten Thought
Shion: Steel Strength, Strengthen Body
Soei: Shadow Motion, Replication
Shuna: Analyze and Assess
Kurobe: Research
Even among the most typical of skills, the differences were obvious. The ones they inherited were either downgrades or incomplete versions of my own. Absolutely a step down, in all ways. But they were using them all far more effectively. If I fought each one-on-one, I was pretty sure I could win. Several at once? No way. That was how strong my fighters had become.
And despite that, the demon lord Geld probably could take them all in one go. And win. My Sage analysis of the battle results told me so. They all lacked a truly decisive weapon, and sooner or later they’d run out of energy and lose.
This wasn’t a foe I could beat if I fought normally. Emphasis on normally.
The ogres could use their skills far more deftly than I could. Why was that? For Hakuro, that was mainly just his high level at work, but what about the others? There were a few reasons—they mixed the skills with their own Arts, or their instincts allowed them to unleash their full potential without holding back. They had adopted the skills for themselves, and they could use them more efficiently than I ever could. That’s what made them strong.
Through my Sage-based simulations, I knew I’d have trouble defeating several at the same time. But was that really the case? And…really, was I “weak” at all?
To answer that—
Let’s start with an assumption.
Most of my skills were wrested away from other monsters. I wasn’t born with them, so I needed to start by understanding exactly what they were in the first place. You aren’t automatically handed a driver’s license just because you’re tall enough to sit behind a steering wheel—and you sure couldn’t expect to win a professional race that way.
But when I found myself transferred to this world, I did already have a skill or two. The skills I was born with, ones I could use as freely as snapping my fingers.
So all I needed was a single order.
“All right, Great Sage. Smash that foe for me!!”
Received. Switching to auto-battle mode.
—And there was my answer.
The demon lord Geld was overjoyed. Monsters with some actual backbone to them—and five at once!
Any monster formidable enough to make Geld feel pain would be more than welcome inside his stomach. He could eat the strongest he could find, and that would put him even farther down the road to demon lord evolution.
Just as he was about to swallow them up, another monster blocked his way. Geld was hungry. He had taken severe damage, and he needed flesh and blood to heal himself. That was why this monster in his way riled him up so much, this strange creature wearing a mask.
Worthless minion, he thought. He bore almost no palpable aura and looked like just another human. He had seen him sprout wings and fly, however, so there was no doubting his monster origins.
The demon lord intended to kill this thing along with the five tidbits he already had in his sights. But it was so strange—Geld’s attacks seemed to do nothing. He would lose his five snacks before long.
Now this monster was standing before the demon lord, all alone. It removed his mask, revealing its true face—though it was more girl-like in appearance than anything, with hair as silvery as the moon. It looked cute, but the smile on its fac
e was one of pure evil. Almost like it was looking forward to this upcoming battle.
The moment the mask was off, the aura it held back began wafting across the area. Geld sensed something was off. My imagination? I cannot even comprehend the bottom of this aura…
But despite his apprehensions, Geld was greeted with the sight of this creature unleashing a flurry of pointless attacks. Maybe it was his imagination after all.
I’ll eat you first, then!
If this puny insect got in the way of his meal, Geld had no reason to show mercy. And this creature had far more energy than he originally thought. A high-quality entrée.
Flicking away the annoying pest, Geld adjusted the grip on his meat cleaver, preparing for the final blow. But then the creature halted its silly assault, standing bolt upright on the ground.
What’s it doing now?
The girlish creature’s expression froze, completely bereft of emotion. And then, it looked at him. Those eyes—they shone like gold, as if appraising him. Geld wondered what it meant. Then he realized there was an arm right in front of him.
…?!
He knew what had happened, but hesitated to accept it as fact. His own left arm had been severed at the elbow in an instant, and sent flying in front of his eyes. Then it was turned to ashes with Dark Flame.
The sword in the monster’s hand was wreathed in a dark flame. It burned without heat, but it had vaporized the severed arm in milliseconds. The temperature levels must have been surreal.
…An enemy?
Yes. An enemy. This thing he treated as nothing more than food before. Now, things had changed. The foe projected a much larger presence now.
The first enemy the demon lord had faced since his evolution made him anxious from head to toe. He began to feel physically uncomfortable.
No… My arm won’t regenerate?!
He checked his own arm. It was burning at the end with Dark Flame that never seemed to extinguish. It was keeping him from healing, its aura now connected to his enemy’s. As long as he didn’t kill the foe who had put this upon him, the flame would never disappear.
Anger began coloring Geld’s eyes. He ripped the remainder of the arm off at the shoulder, consuming it in several large bites, before regenerating the arm from the socket. Then he thought for a moment. If he didn’t have enough power before, he could just use his skills to compensate. This foe’s speed was exemplary, but Geld held the power advantage. If he could just crush it, all that speed would be his.
Matching his meat cleaver with this monster’s moves—nimbler than ever before—he blocked the full brunt of the enemy’s force. But the moment sword met cleaver, the Dark Flame swallowed it whole, melting it.
No…!
The demon lord Geld reared back, shocked. Was this an enemy? No. It was a threat. He had to consume it with every power he had at his disposal. Otherwise, he finally realized, he would be the one eaten.
Geld’s aura swelled, releasing a shock wave of force. He watched the monster elude it, then unleashed Death March Dance once more. The magical bolt split into eight in midair, each bolt hurtling toward its target. Each one was enhanced with Ravenous, bestowed with the Rot property.
The monster evaded them as they flitted through the air, absorbing each one of its pursuers.
Geld laughed. Now you will be consumed!
The five fighters from before no longer figured in his mind. All that mattered was the prey in front of him.
The monster was still distracted by the magic bolts. He confronted it, reaching out for its body. The foe noticed just in time. It turned, then began to grapple with him. Geld had the strength advantage. I could crush it now, he thought.
But then he fell, his balance lost. The foe had kicked him in the knee, shattering it. This innocent little girl. It was unimaginable, how quick the strike, how brutal the impact.
Geld refused to let go. Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha! I like it! I’ll eat you just as you are!
The prey was in his hands, ready for the first bite. It was helpless now. A little bit of damage was of no concern to Geld. Even that shattered knee was already regenerated, good as new.
The demon lord filled his palm with the yellow aura, preparing to infuse it into his prey. Ravenous allowed him to rot his foes directly with a single touch, arresting all their life functions and converting them into more nutrients for him.
Every fiber of his being desired to eat this creature, every ounce of energy poured toward his Rot skill. And in a moment, his opponent would stop resisting, as its body slowly melted into nothing…
Things have unfolded just as I thought.
With the full support of the Great Sage unique skill, I was now fighting with my skills at maximum efficiency. I was making complete use of them, but it wasn’t because I had leveled up or anything. I wasn’t “fighting” so much as I was letting the Sage do the fighting for me. It was a totally optimized approach, leaving everything to good ol’ Sage. Just as I figured, it demonstrated perfect mastery of my skills.
Once I knew I couldn’t overpower Geld, I placed a Multilayer Barrier over my sword and imbued it with Dark Flame. This kept the sword from deteriorating over time, greatly boosting its attack force along the way.
Even the skills I never managed to use too well were expertly handled by the Sage. It processed all the data at hand and always chose the most effective move to make next. It was covering the entire board as it figured out how to handle the demon lord, like a chess problem.
But even then, I couldn’t let up. Geld was starting to keep up with me speed-wise, and if this battle kept going, it might get worse. And if Resist Flame was one of the potential upgrades, I had nothing on him.
Hell, for all I knew, we were already at that point. And besides, everything I had for myself applied equally to the demon lord Geld. He had only just evolved; he was unfamiliar with whatever he had just inherited. Whatever advantage I had, I was losing it with every moment I dawdled.
Geld was in the throes of evolution, much as I thought I was. That was why I had to wage the battle this way.
Grappling with him was exactly what the Sage predicted. It would prove difficult to burn Geld to a crisp with Dark Flame only. He healed so quickly that it’d take too much time to completely burn him up. It might be possible if we could capture him in a Flare Circle, though, and that was why I had to subdue him first.
So I had instantly overwhelmed my opponent, inviting him to fight using the skills he was most familiar with. The demon lord fell for it beautifully, accepting my test of strength.
Just like the Sage predicted, Geld wanted to rot me, then consume me. If I could deploy a Flare Circle before then, I won.
I had to hand it to the Sage—it had read the guy like a book. But now the one possibility I had given a passing thought to—the one the Sage dismissed as too infinitesimally unlikely to happen—became reality.
“Gah-ha-ha-ha! Flame doesn’t work on me, you know!”
I had locked myself in a Ranged Barrier with him. The Flare Circle was now under way—and the demon lord Geld, who was supposed to be bursting into flames now that it was several thousand degrees around us, was instead heartily laughing in my face.
I hate it when these worst-case scenarios become reality.
…?! Report. Enemy confirmed to have resistance to flame. Requesting immediate alterations to plan…
The Great Sage came back online, sounding the same as always, even if I imagined it sounding a tad unnerved.
This was terrible. Horrible, really. Right at the climax of it all, my enemy had just checkmated me. But—why, though? There was still no anxiety or concern in my heart. As if I had hoped this would happen all along.
“Oh really?” I said, flashing a proud smile. “Because you might be a lot happier succumbing to the flames soon.”
The Chaos Eater that served as Geld’s aura was starting to make its way through my Multilayer Barrier. It didn’t hurt, but it was making me intensely uncomfortable as it wended its
way around my skin. And yet—I still felt nothing but joy. It was what I wanted. He was my enemy, and he had to give me this much, at least.
I got this, I silently told the Sage, retaking control of my body. The Sage, while taking over, had allowed me to observe Geld at close range. Taking full advantage of the break, I had accelerated my thoughts a thousand times to consider what to do if the unlikeliest of events occurred.
A computer that never makes mistakes tends to see everything as a probability. It seeks efficiency, cutting away anything it deems redundant. That was why I was here. I was a ball of inefficiency, a former human with a deliberately incomplete thought process.
So don’t be disappointed, partner, I whispered in my heart as I sneered at the demon lord. You were perfect. Just leave the rest to me…
This guy wanted to consume me. That prediction came true, at least. And that meant I had an opening.
A little while back, I was a tad overoptimistic, reasoning that I should have eaten the demon lord back when I still had the chance. Right? And I was, at the core, a slime. I had exactly three intrinsic skills: Absorb, Dissolve, and Self-Regeneration. They were gone now, merged with assorted other skills, but I also had a unique skill—Predator—that was an enhanced version of them all. It suited me perfectly as a slime. Nothing could’ve worked better with my inner essence.
I doubted that my evolved Ultraspeed Regeneration was any less incredible at healing than whatever the demon lord was sporting. Which meant that if we started consuming each other, I was bound to win in the end, right?
…Report. The probability of you executing Predator first is—
The “probability” doesn’t matter. Quit worrying. I told you to leave the rest to me, didn’t I? Either the demon lord Geld rots and kills me, or I consume him first. It couldn’t have been any simpler, and I was ready to do it, even if my chances were exactly zero percent.
Why? Because that was my plan from the very start.