The victory ceremony concluded without incident.
Some had undergone unexpected evolutions, while others had their evolutions put on hold—but no one had lost control.
All things considered, it could be called a success.
But there was no time for celebration. After all, the war was still ongoing.
The enemy forces that had invaded the Monster Nation from land had all been eliminated, but a fleet of airships was now approaching from the north—via the sea route, or more accurately, the sky route.
I had already contacted both Hinata and Luminas.
"Hmph! I shall turn them back myself!"
Those were Luminas's words.
But I couldn't imagine that Demon Lord would actually move on behalf of humans.
Still, the Council and the Holy Theocracy of Lubelius were cooperating.
As the Western Nations' defensive response, the Northwestern Front was to be handled primarily by a force centered on Lubelius.
In short, Lubelius bordered the western edge, and it made sense for the Committee to maintain a standing army there.
Beyond that, as the headquarters of religion, they produced numerous Holy Knights and possessed their own independent military strength.
Hinata's relationship with Luminas, who had been appointed as the Committee's head, wasn't particularly bad either—so it wouldn't be surprising if she was genuinely willing to help in earnest.
Well, as long as they cooperated to some degree, that was more than enough.
Perhaps it was Hinata's way of lending a hand, but the reason didn't really matter.
When I had contacted Hinata, I'd originally planned to have standby forces come here as reinforcements. Instead, I had them return to Ingracia. Once you organized them into a proper army, the costs—food, lodging, everything—became astronomical.
Besides, if Luminas ever found herself in a crisis, she could respond immediately on her own.
The decision to relocate the center of the Committee and Council to the Monster Nation had already been made, so each nation was in the process of preparing.
Before long, the flow of people would naturally center on the Monster Nation, but for now, the Kingdom of Ingracia was still the hub.
That said, many people—especially those who were single—took the opportunity to head to the Monster Nation.
Roughly thirty percent of mercenaries and adventurers chose not to return to Ingracia, instead staying in the Kingdom of Blumund or towns along the way to wait and see.
The infrastructure for trade hadn't fully developed yet, so their moves weren't complete, but they were people who predicted that within two years, the Monster Nation would become the cultural and economic center.
You could call them shrewd.
In the end, only each nation's regular armies returned to Ingracia, and those would serve as reinforcements for the Northwestern Front if the need arose.
However, estimating the capacity of three hundred airships, we could expect roughly one hundred thousand troops.
They wouldn't commit to a maximum-capacity assault—that would require too much consideration for logistics.
When I checked with Caligulio, he corrected me on the terminology—they were "flying ships," not "airships." He had some oddly specific obsession about that. Each flying ship could carry four hundred soldiers, and operating them required a minimum of fifty mages.
They were currently transporting a Beast Corps, with command entrusted to a man named Major General Zamud.
"As I understand it, the remaining members of the Aerial Combat Corps are mostly scientists. In this invasion, they deployed elite mage-warriors as countermeasures against Lord Veldora. So, accounting for rotation crews as well, they'll likely operate with around a hundred personnel per ship.
Three for the flying ships. Another thirty thousand for the Beast Corps. And thirty thousand beasts on top of that.
Nine ten-thousand in total—that's the composition of this invasion force. Zamud won't throw the scientists onto the front lines either."
Those were Caligulio's estimates. Since the invasion was planned as a simultaneous assault and they'd departed ahead of time, he'd left the specifics to them.
But well, the estimate was probably accurate. If the rest were scientists, bringing them along wouldn't add any real combat power. They'd just bring a few for repairs, if that.
Around one hundred thousand was manageable—Luminas had boasted she could handle it with ease.
Three hundred Holy Knights, plus Luminas's personal Blood-Red Knights—four hundred strong.
The Blood-Red Knights were a super-elite order composed entirely of A-rank knights, with Vampire Knights as their core.
That said, they were technically knights at the very bottom of the noble class, so their individual strength was roughly equivalent to that of Holy Knights…
Vampires, much like demons, had combat abilities that varied greatly depending on their aristocratic rank. High-ranking nobles supposedly possessed power comparable to an entire army, so they never traveled in groups.
If seven hundred individuals had broken through the A-rank ceiling, that alone was a formidable fighting force.
And on top of that, Luminas had the "Seven Star Sages"—those immortal beings she kept as personal retainers.
They were, apparently, humans who had evolved from Holy Knights.
Not vampires, but their lifespans had been greatly extended, turning them into semi-spiritual life forms.
The Holy Knights were trained within the Holy Theocracy of Lubelius and then deployed into real combat under the Western Holy Church.
Among those who survived countless crises, a rare few occasionally evolved.
When a human evolved, they became a Sage.
It seemed to differ from the Hero system, but they became dramatically more powerful—comparable to a High-ranking Magic General.
Even among vampire nobles, those of high rank possessed combat power on the level of former Demon Lords. In truth, the forces Luminas commanded were comparable to almost anything.
There were supposedly around seven such "Grand Nobles," so if Luminas got serious, entrusting the battle to her wouldn't be a problem.
Still, just to be safe, I had sent Arnaud and the Holy Knights residing in the Monster Nation through a teleportation gate to support Luminas.
Arnaud had recently been trained by
I was actually a little worried—he'd trained with Apito so many times that he might have developed some strange hobby. But the upside was that he might evolve into one of those "Sages" that everyone was talking about.
His swordsmanship had originally been strong enough to rival a High-ranking Magic General, so if he evolved, he'd likely reach Albert's level.
Speaking of Albert—he had died a warrior's death just one step short of becoming a Sage, but as a result of becoming a Death Knight, he had gained the power of a monster.
The direction of his evolution was different, but in essence, he had acquired physical abilities on par with a Sage. On top of that, over a thousand years had passed and he'd accumulated considerable mana.
If he paired up with Adalman and performed a Sacred-Demonic Reversal, he would possess holy power on the level of a Saint that surpassed even a Sage… frankly speaking, he might be off the charts.
I had granted Arnaud a full transmission of skills, but in terms of swordsmanship, Albert still surpassed him. The fruits of a millennium of training had reached their own pinnacle.
Well, in any case, Luminas had given me a confident reply, so there was no need to worry about reinforcements.
That was why I was able to hold the victory ceremony with peace of mind.
If we'd been lounging around while they were still fighting, and something went wrong, we'd have no one to blame but ourselves.
Timing-wise, there had been plenty of leeway, so I'd been confident it would be fine. In any case, the Evolution Ceremony had concluded safely.
Now everyone just had to work hard and acquire their abilities.
"Well, well! I'm glad everything wrapped up nicely. Then I'll be heading back to the command room!"
"Me too! I'm coming along~!"
Veldora and
No, that room was for wartime use—it wasn't your personal playroom.
Okay, so it was still wartime, but the two of them just wanted to use the big screen to research where they wanted to go play.
The low-cost surveillance magic had been running continuously, and there was no problem with that since I'd made it easy enough for anyone to use.
It couldn't show just anywhere in the world, but it could display a fairly wide area.
Recently, the two of them had made it a daily routine to use that magic to watch scenes from all over the world and enjoy the scenery.
It was all because I'd said, "Once the war is over, let's go on a trip!"
They were apparently conducting thorough research on where to go in advance.
Think of it as the mentality of doing extensive field research before traveling—that should help you understand.
Despite having lived for so long, these two had never traveled the world. They were even more enthusiastic about the trip than I was.
Well, they looked like they were having fun, so I let them be.
"Alrighty. I'll join you guys later."
I sent the two of them off with those words.
Honestly, as their guardian, I needed to properly guide them. That was what being a guardian was all about.
It was absolutely not because I wanted to join them in planning the trip.
After Veldora and Ramiris returned to the labyrinth, the executives greeted me before departing.
Some of them were struggling to control their newly acquired evolutionary power, so I told them to head back without pushing themselves.
Myormail was even coordinating with representatives from various nations to establish embassies in the Monster Nation.
He didn't forget to introduce the annual events and specialty products from the labyrinth during those negotiations either.
He was an invaluable asset—truly someone we couldn't do without.
When I offered them words of gratitude, they beamed with happiness.
That was when it happened.
"Notification. Approaching high-density magical entity detected. Will arrive at this location in three seconds."
Raphael issued an emergency alert.
I hurriedly deployed a defensive barrier to protect everyone present.
Raphael's detection range had a radius of roughly twenty kilometers. If something could arrive in just three seconds after being detected, that meant its speed was beyond anything reasonable.
It was over twenty times the speed of sound—a verbal warning wouldn't have been fast enough.
But this was no time to be impressed by such absurd speed.
I had just barely finished raising the absolute defense barrier with Covenant King when a man descended with a shockwave.
The arena floor—made of stone with ten thousand times the strength of concrete—cracked violently and was destroyed.
What a这家伙. He hadn't used any skills or techniques. He'd simply crashed in with his body alone and done all that damage.
The Demon Peers could ignore the laws of physics to produce shockwaves and move at the speed of sound…
But this guy had apparently come here without manipulating any laws at all—just because it would've been "too troublesome."
No one else in the world should be capable of such absurd feats.
As far as I knew, only three people were.
Veldora, Milim, and the Demon Lord
Veldora was out of the question.
Milim, at least, made an effort to be considerate when she came.
I only realized afterward that even when she'd first appeared, she'd been holding back as much as she could.
If Milim flew at full speed with genuine intent, weaker monsters would simply be obliterated.
She might look like a tyrant, but she was actually surprisingly kind in her own way.
So it wasn't Milim—that left only one person.
Sure enough, once the swirling dust settled, a Demon Lord with flaming crimson hair stood before us.
Demon Lord Guy Crimson.
Most likely the most powerful being in this world—even stronger than me.
The entire venue was instantly wrapped in tension, and the shadows that
What did he want?
If he'd come looking for a fight, I wasn't interested.
"Yo, long time no see, Rimuru. So what's going on here?"
"It hasn't been—that long! And 'what's going on' is what I want to ask you!"
How should I put it—Guy just casually strolled up and started chatting.
I couldn't understand what he was after, just appearing out of the blue like this.
"Hmm? Oh, right. You're the type who values your subordinates.
My bad about that. But listen—"
Blaze Dragon Flame Emperor!
Guy was in the middle of offering an apology when he suddenly swung his left hand and unleashed an explosion-type magic spell.
The scorching flames, imbued with directional intent, surged like a dragon and struck at the figures approaching from behind Guy.
The dragon split into three, wrapping around each of them.
Incredibly, the three of them—Demon Peers who were supposed to have high resistance to magic—couldn't fully defend against Guy's spell.
It tore through multiple magical barriers and the flame dragons inflicted severe damage on all three.
It was probably only natural since I could do the same, but the sheer power of a spell cast without any incantation at all was somewhat irritating.
"Ahaha. Now that surprised me.
If you didn't die from that, it really confirms you're on the level of Demon Peers, huh?
Were there still ones like that left in the Netherworld, or did they evolve?
Well, whatever.
If they're Demon Peer-level, they should be stronger than an unawakened Demon Lord seed, right?
Combined with those few awakened Demon Lord auras I sensed earlier, what exactly is going on here?"
Guy looked down at the three who had been floored by his magic and spoken those words.
No way—he could sense awakened auras from that far away?
That was what I thought, but then— "Answer. If connected through the Voice of the World, awakening can be sensed regardless of location."
Raphael's words convinced me—and apparently, the system could do it too.
So that meant he'd noticed the acquisition of Ultimate Abilities as well…
"Answer. Detection is naturally possible. However, if multiple awakenings occur simultaneously, detection may not be possible."
I see.
So that was why he'd figured out Yuuki's ability so easily. It made sense now.
I wished he'd told me about important things like that, but the fact that Raphael wouldn't answer unless asked was, I felt, his one shortcoming.
After my own awakening to an Ultimate Ability, I'd asked if anyone else had acquired one, and it turned out Luminas had as well.
Of course, what kind of ability it was couldn't be determined without seeing it directly or obtaining information.
Guy had been watching me under the assumption that I'd acquired an Ultimate Ability, but apparently hiding it had been impossible from the start.
If he'd awakened to an Ultimate Ability from the very beginning, he could have concealed a later acquisition—but I couldn't.
Then did that mean he'd figured out that I had multiple?
"Answer. No problem. As per your orders,
Excellent work, as always.
Leaving it to my teacher meant that even Guy could be deceived.
It probably wasn't exposed, but I couldn't let my guard down.
Well, that exchange had happened in the blink of an eye, but the real problem was Guy himself.
The three who had tried to attack from behind Guy had sensed his danger through their extraordinary abilities and moved to eliminate him immediately.
That was understandable—he was an abnormally high-density magical entity, and he was already causing damage to the venue.
Given that he was clearly not friendly and his combat power was unknown, choosing preemptive elimination was arguably the correct call.
They had acted on my behalf, and from their perspective, this was no time to hold back.
But the opponent was too strong.
For Guy, the strongest Demon Lord, even a surprise attack from three Demon Peers was nothing to worry about.
If it were me, I might have taken at least one hit.
Setting that aside, the spell he'd just used was also a problem.
How could anyone deal that much damage to Demon Peers with a mere spell?
"Answer. It's a layering of abilities. The effects of an Ultimate Ability are being overlaid onto the magical output."
Was that possible? It had to be—he'd just demonstrated it right in front of me.
Well, if it was possible, I'd just copy it.
I'd leave that to Raphael to figure out. The real question was how to respond to Guy's question.
"What's going on? That's a bit much to ask…
They sensed you as a threat and attacked—that's all. Please forgive them.
But you can't just appear out of nowhere like that either!
I'll overlook the damage to the arena, so let's call it even, yeah?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry about that.
I can teleport to places I've been before, but I haven't flown in a while. Went a little too fast and couldn't stop in time. My bad!
I'm not planning anything against those three, so it's fine. Demons fight each other all the time, after all.
But you'd better give me a proper explanation about those awakened ones hanging around here."
He accepted my proposal graciously.
At the very least, war with Guy had been avoided.
More importantly, Guy hadn't come here planning to destroy us, and that was a relief.
Moving to eliminate him instantly showed they lacked composure. They were currently being tended to by Diablo, which probably meant a lecture was in order.
As for the others, they'd been too overwhelmed by the pressure to move. It was fortunate that so many had already returned to the labyrinth for their evolutions.
If someone hot-blooded had been foolish enough to provoke a fight, things could have gotten messy.
Even
She seemed to have judged that assessing the opponent's strength and serving as my shield was the only thing she could usefully do.
That, more than anything, surprised me. She had really grown.
In any case, Guy clearly harbored no hostility, so I decided it was safe to drop my guard.
With that settled, I resolved to escort Guy to the guest quarters.