Now, about the problematic
Without a doubt, with this evolution, he would ascend to the strongest position in the Monster Nation.
Not merely the strongest among my subordinates — he would become a being on par with me myself.
Diablo had grown even stronger than when he fought
In other words, even now, he was already the strongest among my subordinates.
Great Sage confirmed there was no mistake — it was an established fact.
After him came Benimaru, then
After that were the three Demon Dukes.
I was surprised by Zegion's strength, but Diablo stood a clear head above the rest.
And I was about to awaken-evolve this Diablo.
What kind of evolution would a Diablo, even stronger than I had been at my own awakening, undergo? This was something to pay close attention to.
"A title fitting for you would be… Demon God King.
From now on, as my right hand, I entrust you with the command of all demons!"
"Kufufufu — leave it to me, Lord Rimuru!"
And so, a Demon God was born.
Diablo evolved, becoming a being who claimed one of the strongest positions in this world.
With Benimaru and Shion's evolutions having fizzled out, he had truly become the strongest existence on par with me.
The evolution seemed to have finished in an instant.
I had wondered whether it might have been a dud like Shion's, but that wasn't the case at all.
He had simply controlled all of his energy perfectly, without letting any of it show on the surface.
As expected of Diablo — truly magnificent.
I could feel an overwhelming internal magic power that rivaled or even surpassed Demon Lord
The evolution was complete, but it seemed he was still acquiring new abilities internally.
I secretly thought, Maybe I should try a serious fight with him sometime.
Diablo's Blessing was granted to his adjutant
Venom evolved into a Demon Duke.
However, compared to
Even among Demon Dukes, there was a difference in rank.
It was like how among nobility, dukes stood at the top with barons and knights filling the lower tiers.
The three among those Diablo had originally brought over were beings of the same rank as Diablo himself.
Those who had reigned at the peak for so long were not about to lose to newcomers.
There was no way to win on luck alone, and just because one's Magicule count increased didn't mean one's knowledge grew with it.
The accumulated difference in proficiency became an overwhelming gap in power.
And though it was only my intuition, it seemed like Diablo had rationed the energy for the Blessing.
I didn't know if that was even possible, but I just had that feeling.
If anyone could do it, it wouldn't be surprising if it was Diablo — and the fact that Venom and the others' evolutions had been uniform and below expectations was one of the reasons I felt that way.
Diablo would probably think that strength wasn't something given — it was something you seized for yourself.
Well, regardless, Venom did seem to have potential.
After all, he had become a Demon Duke.
It was a sufficient evolution.
Moreover, rather than getting carried away at having evolved to the same rank as Testarossa and the others, he had assessed his own new power and recognized the remaining gap in strength.
As expected of Diablo's right hand.
Though, if he had gotten carried away, Diablo might have killed him.
Diablo was merciless toward the weak, even among his own subordinates.
There were others who received the Blessing as well.
The hundred subordinates of Venom, who had been given physical bodies inside cultivation capsules, were born as Superior Demon Knights.
They didn't reach the level of High-ranking Demon Generals, but they were demon knights with power beyond that of demon humanoids.
They were fierce fighters capable of slaughtering Superior Demons in a single blow.
Frankly speaking, they were beyond specification. As expected of Diablo — completely absurd.
But for Diablo himself, he seemed to have no further interest. He intended to leave the Demon Knights entirely in Venom's care.
He had prioritized being able to move freely under my direct command.
No matter how much he was reinforced, Diablo remained Diablo.
Next came those who had distinguished themselves within the labyrinth.
Zegion,
And the ones called the
At this point, there was absolutely no worry of anyone going berserk.
Well then, let me evolve them one by one.
First was Kumara.
"Phantom Beast King" Kumara — that would be her new title.
When I had picked Kumara up, she had been a silver fox kit. Before I knew it, she had become the master of multiple magical beasts.
I had meant to isolate her in the labyrinth — under the guise of protection — but somehow she had become one of the Floor Guardians who commanded the Floor Bosses.
I recognized those Floor Bosses, too.
I had named her Kumara because she was a nine-tailed fox — nine tails, hence the name.
I had figured no adventurers would come, so I had placed her on the newly built 90th floor, where she asked me to name her friends as well.
I want it understood that I had no ulterior motive like taking pity on her because she was a little girl.
I took it on casually.
I knew naming monsters carried considerable risk, but for magical beasts, the danger was somewhat reduced.
Since they were small, childlike beasts, the naming was completed without any issues.
And that had led to all of this.
Quite the before-and-after, to be sure. Anyone would be shocked. I was shocked too.
What was done was done.
Since I had named the magical beasts that were part of Kumara, it was as though Kumara had received nine names from me…
And since those names had absorbed dense Magicules and grown, it made perfect sense that they had acquired such power.
Unlike before, when they were children, they now lined up before me as my Eight Demon Executives.
Each one clearly possessed considerable power — you could tell just by looking.
Kumara successfully completed her awakened evolution to Demon Lord.
Several of Kumara's tails turned a brilliant golden color, and her fur became beautiful — long, lustrous hair of mixed gold and silver cascading smoothly down her back.
Was the evolution about beauty?
No, naturally, her Magicule count had also increased enormously.
Kumara originally possessed considerable combat power even in her base form. However, it went without saying that her Composite Beast Form — with all eight Demon Executives merged — was what displayed the greatest power.
Magicule count didn't equal strength, but when combined, her power did increase accordingly.
Conversely, Kumara growing stronger meant the eight Demon Executives also grew more powerful.
Above all, since their souls were connected through my naming, the Blessing was given only to the eight Demon Executives.
With this almost unfair exclusivity, it felt like she had taken everything for herself.
You would never guess it from her appearance as a beautiful girl, but you could sense the cunning calculation beneath.
That meant she wouldn't get along well with someone as straightforwardly emotional as
In terms of Magicule count alone, she would easily surpass
No — she was still enormously massive, and still growing. She was desperately holding on to her consciousness.
To avoid going berserk.
"You're dismissed — go back and rest!"
When I gave that order, she looked a little disappointed.
In that regard, she was still very much a child.
I judged that she wouldn't go berserk even if I took my eyes off her, so I sent Kumara back to rest.
She would probably, like
In any case, I looked forward to her growth.
Please don't misunderstand — not in the sense that I was looking forward to her becoming a beautiful woman or anything like that.
Well, becoming a nation-topping beauty was probably a foregone conclusion, though.
In any case, Kumara withdrew and returned to her domain.
Now then, next was Zegion.
The strongest being within the labyrinth.
His Magicule count was high, rivaling Benimaru's.
It was only natural that he was strong, given that he had specialized in martial arts and trained with Veldora.
In this battle, the fact that he had effortlessly dispatched the Empire's seven strongest fighters proved the height of his ability.
But come to think of it — mass-producing Demon Lords…
It was late to say that now, and six had already been granted souls, two of whom had completed their evolution.
Some were still in the midst of the Awakening Evolution's Harvest Festival, and I had been feeling power flowing into me for a while now.
I had wondered whether it would be alright to keep granting souls, but my body was accepting the incoming power without any problem, as though it had been running on empty.
Since some had ended their evolutions as duds anyway, there should be no issue.
Somehow, I felt liberated — I wanted to just keep going.
Don't fear — press forward!
My mood was exactly like that.
How strong would Zegion become? If anything, that thought alone was enough to excite me.
He might even surpass me, but with Food Chain in place, my fundamental advantage couldn't be overturned.
I decided to encourage his awakening without hesitation.
"What magnificent strength. I never imagined you'd become this strong.
Your untiring efforts have paid off splendidly!
Continue to hone that strength for my sake.
And from today, you have my permission to call yourself Phantasmal King."
"Ha… I am truly blessed with fortune!"
Zegion was as taciturn as ever, but he was trembling with emotion at my words.
I worried that my casual remark might have been a bit much, but to Zegion it must have sounded like the most precious gospel.
He was looking at me through a fanatical worship filter that exceeded my expectations, but being revered like this didn't feel bad.
I had simply meant to protect a rare insect, but in the end he had grown so much that I was the one being protected.
His growth was probably less due to hard work and more due to absurd talent, abundant Magicules, and a training partner of higher rank… but well, those were trivial details.
He had grown stronger as a result, and that was all that mattered.
I granted him a soul.
Zegion shuddered for only an instant, but then suppressed the flood of power with sheer willpower.
He had controlled it.
It was undoubtedly not something you could achieve through effort alone… but like Diablo, he had controlled the evolution through the power of will and successfully contained it.
However, unlike Diablo, he hadn't finished his evolution in an instant.
The evolution was still in progress — he simply wasn't showing it on the surface.
Zegion's evolution was terrifying.
His outer shell had gained the ability to partially transform into Ultimate Metal through the power of will.
His Physical Body itself was a weapon.
His body, which dominated and manipulated various laws, was now covered in an exoskeleton rivaling the Mythical-class.
In terms of pure hand-to-hand combat alone, he had unquestionably become the strongest.
For a spiritual life-form, strength in hand-to-hand combat didn't affect one's standing among peers, but as a threat, there was no doubt he was formidable.
He seemed to be acquiring other abilities as well, but he was still in the middle of his evolution.
He was suppressing it with willpower, but his Physical Body was being continuously reconstructed.
I should probably take my time later to verify how exactly he had evolved.
With that, the Harvest Festival had undoubtedly occurred.
The sole recipient of the Blessing was Apito.
The only ones to whom I had personally given "modification" and a "name" were Zegion and Apito. That was likely why Zegion had come to recognize Apito as his only sibling.
In the insect floors, there were other dangerous species as well, but they had not been affected.
Apito returned to her cocoon once more to be reborn — after devouring all of her subordinate bees first.
As a recipient of the Blessing, she absorbed a tremendous amount of energy, causing her Physical Body to collapse.
But she was reborn, and would reign as a true queen.
The reborn Apito gave birth to several insect-type demon humanoids of various species.
Those demon humanoids would form the top of a community to be established on the floors going forward.
Having incorporated the ecology of the insects she devoured, Apito gained the ability "Queen Worship" — to create demon humanoids — and though she was one of the Ten Greats, she would follow Zegion.
Diablo had seemed to intentionally ration the Blessing, but Zegion had given his without restraint to Apito, so it made sense that Apito had undergone an abnormal evolution.
Well, it was Apito who had received the Blessing and was this extraordinary — as for Zegion himself, one could only imagine.
However, that was a story for after the victory celebration ended.
Even Apito had shown not the slightest hint of distress during the proceedings.
The regal bearing she displayed was, like Zegion's, truly befitting.
After the victory celebration, Zegion and Apito would cocoon themselves within the labyrinth to complete their evolutions.
Through his evolution, Zegion acquired one ability.
Apito's "Queen Worship" was an ability of the "Absolute Defense" class — above an Extraordinary Ability but below an Ultimate Skill.
It was a powerful enough ability, but Zegion was on another level entirely.
He had acquired the genuine Ultimate Skill — King of Fantasy.
As Veldora's disciple, it was an ability befitting his master.
By acquiring this ability, Zegion secured an unshakable position within the labyrinth.