I watched Veldora look back several times before finally leaving, still visibly reluctant to go.
What a sore loser. He really didn't want to go, but since he'd drained a massive amount of my magicules, the least he could do was help mediate.
Besides, no one else could mediate a fight between two True Dragons.
I didn't want to do it either.
And so, without making any compromises, I sent Veldora on his way.
Velda's military strength must be running low.
When I pressed
After hearing about
I didn't know how much of it was true, but I believed that Velda had no more hidden forces in reserve. This wasn't some manga, after all—there'd be no point in holding back reserves when you were already at a disadvantage.
The Four Heavenly Calamity Generals and the Seven Punishing Angels were reportedly Velda's inner circle, her strongest forces.
After that, there were the fallen angels
And then, Lucia.
Of the Four Heavenly Calamity Generals, only Dino remained.
Of the Seven Punishing Angels, four had already been eliminated by
On top of that, in the Ingracia Kingdom, the children,
I was pondering who else might make a move when— It turned out that movements had already begun in various nations.
The angels that had been putting up their last stand against
The angel forces that had been unable to breach the Golden Land disappeared at roughly the same time.
It seemed that the angels scattered across the world had all disappeared simultaneously.
And then, every last unit had been consolidated and reappeared in the Monster Country.
Their numbers: approximately six hundred thousand.
Despite having lost forty percent of their original million-strong army, they still boasted overwhelmingly imposing numbers.
Velda had sent every remaining unit she possessed to crush the Monster Country.
Just as
Looking at it this way, even though we'd achieved victories across the board, the threat level of the angel army remained high.
If this turned into a full-scale war, we wouldn't come out unscathed either.
But we had the Labyrinth.
I'd deployed Geld and
The goal was to make Velda think we were at war.
In the worst case, we'd retreat into the Labyrinth. That would render the angel army unable to operate as a military force.
Just like when the Empire attacked, we could deal with them by picking them off one by one.
Naturally, there were problems.
She couldn't just create exits wherever she pleased.
To be precise, the exit from the hundredth floor to the Spirit Habitat could be accessed from anywhere, but you could only leave from where you'd entered.
In other words, you couldn't enter from the Monster Country and exit in the Urgrascia Republic's Urgr Natural Park.
The real problem this posed was for the adventurers and Monster Country residents whom we'd evacuated.
If exits were limited, and those exits got sealed, we'd be trapped.
Higher-ranked individuals had teleportation, but few common people could use it.
Teleportation magic was also out of the question due to destination issues.
More importantly, teleportation magic seemed to involve complex laws, and it was dangerous for ordinary people to use it inside the Labyrinth.
Those of us who were executives could teleport anywhere at will, but...
While it was possible to live inside the Labyrinth, never being able to leave again would be harsh.
For these reasons, we'd been making a show of holding the entrances at all costs.
But that show was over now.
If Velda was making her move to lure me in as expected, then all I had to do was crush that plan.
Having our entrances sealed would hurt, but we could just break the seal afterward.
I'd pretend to fall into her trap while managing the situation smoothly.
Everything was going according to plan.
The next orders had already been issued.
As long as the enemy's forces didn't exceed our estimates, we'd be fine—but who knew what would happen.
As a combat force, he was unreliable, and I was a little worried.
But...
"I'll handle this! Lord Rimuru, please rest easy and observe the Labyrinth's defensive capabilities."
...I chose to believe in those words from Benimaru.
In the worst case, I could always have
My anxiety hadn't fully dissipated, but I had no choice but to trust those who remained in the Labyrinth.
This operation would put the Labyrinth in danger.
I wanted to ease everyone's concerns as much as possible, but the enemy wouldn't wait.
While I was wrestling with these worries, the full-scale assault on the Monster Country had already begun.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Then, he mobilized for the full-scale assault on the Monster Country.
Zero was a man of few words.
And his true nature was not human.
The leader of the Seven Punishing Angels was
That was only natural.
After all, Zero was an artificial human created by Yuuki.
In a broad sense, he could even be called
Whereas Vega had been given a combatively aggressive personality, Zero had been stripped of all emotion.
Endowed with high computational ability and calm judgment unaffected by emotion, he had been brought into this world as a combat automaton.
Among the hundreds of handcrafted dolls Yuuki had produced, Zero was the sole and complete success.
A rare combat sense, and a perfected combat slime organism body.
He had fully mastered the Seraphim abilities granted to him, and had even evolved as a spiritual lifeform.
And now.
Having received the completed Ultimate Skill 『King of Evil Dragons』
from Velda, Zero was about to surpass a new threshold.
Zero's body and 『King of Evil Dragons』
fused together, and a singular transformation occurred.
It was a mutation that even Velda could not have predicted.
Without anyone noticing, the transformation progressed within Zero.
With the sixty-thousand angel army assembled, the five of them—Zero, Mai, Dino, Pico, and Galatia—gathered together.
To hold their final briefing.
The moment they arrived, Zero had assembled everyone.
Shown the title of Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Army that Zero had been granted, Dino and the others had no veto power.
More than that, Zero's aura exuded an overwhelming, oppressive pressure incomparable to when they'd last met.
Though he felt things were getting troublesome, Dino had no choice but to comply.
"So, what's the plan?"
"Dino, you can't win by fighting passively like you have been.
If you're going to strike, strike hard. Concentrate your forces and give the enemy no breathing room."
"Don't treat me like an idiot.
I was chipping away at them bit by bit precisely because I didn't want them holing up in that Labyrinth. That's the whole point—strategy!"
In response to Mai's jab, Dino boldly declared the excuse he'd already prepared.
What made Dino impressive was that he never faltered when challenged.
In truth, he'd just been slacking off, but by acting so boldly, it almost looked like strategy. Funny how that worked.
"Ggh... keep your mouth shut..."
For Mai, who was the earnest honor-student type, Dino was a difficult opponent.
Having gotten the better of Mai, Dino was about to press his advantage further, but— "There's no time for arguing. I want to begin the operation immediately.
My orders are to destroy the Labyrinth through a total assault.
Therefore, if they hole up in the Labyrinth, so be it.
We're going to destroy the Labyrinth anyway, so there's no problem.
Let's sweep up the surface forces quickly and begin the assault on the Labyrinth."
Zero cut Dino off and relayed Velda's orders.
Dino and the others blanched at those orders.
"Whoa, whoa, don't be ridiculous! That Labyrinth is impregnable!
I'm not saying this because I failed before, but seriously, that place is disadvantageous for us.
The enemy is truly immortal and can ignore casualties.
Even with a military assault, we'd just get divided and taken out one by one."
"That's right! And on top of that, there are some really strong ones among the surface forces.
They're absurdly tough, and because of them, attacks barely work."
"Indeed. There are warriors among them who could fight Galatia in single combat.
These aren't enemies you can simply overwhelm with numbers."
Following Dino, Pico and Galatia also voiced their objections.
In fact, over the past few days of fighting, they'd been unable to make progress against Geld and Gabiru.
If they'd been fighting at full power, it might have been different, but fighting normally, it had remained a dead heat with no clear victor.
That was precisely why they pushed back against Zero's claim that the surface forces could be easily swept aside.
Dino understood the Labyrinth's difficulty as well, so his objections were genuine.
The truth was, he really didn't want to enter the Labyrinth again—but it was better left unsaid.
But the conversation went in the direction Dino feared most.
Namely— "I said there's no problem. Mai, I'm transferring command of the angels to you.
Lead the entire army and sweep the surface forces.
With your abilities, you have bonuses to long-range attacks.
From above, have the angels fire a synchronized volley of sacred light bullets to annihilate the enemies on the ground."
"Got it. My ability's 'Accuracy Boost' and 'Long-Range Power Boost' make this the perfect stage.
I'll link the angels' Thoughts with mine for synchronization—that's fine, right?"
"No objections. The surface will be left to you. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes. And what will you do?"
"I will enter the Labyrinth with Dino and the others."
Zero stated his decision concisely, confirming Dino's worst fears.
(Wh-Why is this guy making decisions without consulting anyone...)
Dino felt like screaming, but unfortunately, in terms of authority, Zero outranked him.
"Whoa, whoa... inside the Labyrinth, the enemy can revive indefinitely—"
"No problem. I will erode the Labyrinth itself.
Using the true power of the 'King of Evil Dragons' granted to me by Lady Velda."
Zero cut off Dino's words and declared flatly, without changing his expression.
Zero's attitude made it clear that further discussion was pointless, and Dino gave up arguing.
It was already a done deal, and since Zero claimed it was Velda's order, nothing Dino said would change it.
"Fine, I'll just follow along then. But is it just you and me entering the Labyrinth?"
"The four of us—myself and the three of you—will enter the Labyrinth.
And the three of you will be responsible for buying me time while I erode the Labyrinth."
"...Got it."
With Dino's acquiescence, Pico and Galatia steeled themselves as well.
And so, the team for conquering Ramiris's Labyrinth was decided.
"When does the operation start?"
In response to Dino's question, "Right now,"
Zero replied curtly.
And then— Taking Zero's words as the signal, the largest-scale assault ever launched against the Monster Country began.
Brilliant flashes of light.
A synchronized attack by the angels, too fast for the naked eye to follow.
A wave of heat swept across the surface, evaporating the towns Rimuru and the others had built.
The forces led by "Guardian King" Geld and "Heavenly Dragon King" Gabiru had no choice but to retreat before the rain of light—not merely a barrier, but a downpour—from the heavens above.
If Geld's abilities hadn't provided a defensive bonus, the sheer intensity of that attack would have annihilated them entirely.
Mai's Ultimate Skill 『King of Weapons』
ability bonus enabled precision targeting.
The angels, unified in will by Mai, locked onto targets through her line of sight and concentrated their fire on single points.
A concentrated assault from six hundred thousand angels was devastating.
The focal temperature was beyond measurement. If Geld's defensive barrier hadn't reflected and dispersed the energy, no resistance would have been permitted at all.
Even though it was only for an instant, Geld had endured the onslaught—credit was due where credit was due.
The area where the town had stood was transformed, in mere moments, into a barren wasteland where nothing remained.
Unlike when the angels had operated without unified command under Dino, they now moved as one will.
Moving with perfect coordination, as though they were a single organism.
That was no longer a threat comparable to what it had been moments ago—it was the Monster Country's greatest menace.
Confirming that the surface forces had fled into the Labyrinth, Zero nodded.
He identified what appeared to be exits—entrances opening onto the surface, and spatial distortions emitting similar waves at several locations.
Mai also visually confirmed those locations and locked them as targets for the angel army.
"Don't show mercy to anyone trying to escape."
"Understood."
After this brief exchange, Zero headed for the Labyrinth, bringing Dino and the others along.
Mai kicked aside those Pico and Galatia had identified as allies, taunting Dino's group as she went.
It was something that had to be acknowledged, but Pico found it grating.
(And besides, it looks like they pulled back way too easily...)
She kept those thoughts to herself, not wanting to sound like a sore loser, but the feeling lingered.
After all, when she'd been fighting, the absurdly high defense of Geld had made her taste bitter frustration.
She thought Mai was impressive for having repelled him so decisively, but something still nagged at her.
(Oh well. If they retreated into the Labyrinth, there'll be chances to fight.
But that defense plus immortality? This is getting ridiculous...)
Resigning herself to deal with it when the time came, Pico followed Dino and the others into the Labyrinth.
The moment the four of them entered—that was the instant Zero's Labyrinth erosion operation began.