He took his stance to face
The three locked eyes for a moment.
"Well then—begin!"
With
Unlike
More precisely, he found it troublesome and disliked it more often than not.
He figured he'd halfheartedly go through the motions, since he had no real choice in the matter.
But things didn't quite work out that way.
He thought he'd lightly dodged Beretta's incoming fist, yet that arm defied all structural logic and pursued him.
It writhed like a snake, deforming freely at will.
(She looks humanoid, but come on—who cares about appearances!?) (Besides, isn't this thing supposed to have a doll's body? It's completely merged with one by now.)
In that brief exchange, Dino grasped just how dangerous Beretta had become.
She was a completely different fighter from the last time they'd clashed. Back then, he could take her down easily—but this time, that wasn't going to cut it.
(And just how much has she grown in such a short time…?)
It wasn't just
And Zegion was still waiting in reserve. For Dino, the situation was practically hopeless.
Perhaps because he was so leisurely analyzing the situation, he noticed too late that the ground beneath his feet had transformed into a swamp-like mire.
"Ah, damn—!" By the time the thought crossed his mind, it was already too late. Dino's feet were trapped in the ground.
It was Beretta's earth-element attack.
"You didn't have this kind of ability before, did you!?"
"Oh, did I not? Well, I can use it now."
His legs were buried up to the knees, but that wasn't the end of it.
The ground hardened, then shifted into a fluid metal.
It formed a shackle that was nearly impossible to break free from with brute strength alone, binding Dino in place.
Dino had only been on guard against Zegion—he'd never accounted for Beretta's growth.
His original plan was to neutralize Beretta first, then deal with Zegion, but that was no longer an option.
Zegion advanced on Dino as he stood trapped.
The fist that came his way was as sharp and swift as ever.
With his legs immobilized, Dino had no way to dodge. He tried to deflect it with his left arm.
*Pu-thk.* The impact was surprisingly light.
No—it was too light.
It wasn't impact that reached him. It was pain, delivered straight to his soul.
"Aaah—what the hell!!"
Dino screamed in agony.
As a spiritual life-form, Dino naturally possessed "
And yet, as if mocking him, his very soul was crying out in pain.
"Y-you—! You're not Zegion, are you!? A cheap sneak attack…!"
"Fufu, how foolish. It's your own fault for being deceived."
"Attacking an opponent who's bolstered their damage resistance head-on wouldn't do much, would it? But if you're on guard against Zegion, my attacks become far more likely to slip through. An unexpected strike tends to work better than you'd think."
The one who answered with a smile wasn't Zegion—but
And then, her appearance shifted into that of a beautiful insectoid demoness.
The "Instant Death Effect" probably wouldn't have worked on him, but the "Extreme Pain Effect," even at a downgraded tier, had clearly done its job.
If he'd read her intention and resisted, the effect would have been nullified—but once it had already taken hold, a second application was impossible to resist.
That was Apito's ability: the Ruthless Resistance-Breaking Factor.
Having accepted it even once, Dino might as well have already been stripped of all his defenses.
"How dirty! Two-on-one is bad enough, but to pull a stunt like this too!"
"Silence!! There is nothing dirty or clean about battle. Win, and you live. Lose, and you die. That is the ironclad rule!"
Apito silenced Dino's complaints with a sharp retort.
Her radical survival-of-the-victory philosophy left Dino with no room to argue further.
Even Beretta seemed a bit taken aback by Apito's extremism.
If Arnaud and the others were here, they'd probably say something like, "The fact that she still gives you a chance to talk with words makes her comparatively merciful," but for anyone not accustomed to Apito on a daily basis, it would come as a startling surprise.
In general, Apito was docile whenever Zegion was present.
And now, serving as Zegion's proxy, she was fired up to the extreme. Nobody could stop her anymore.
Apito flashed a sadistic smile and raised her elegant hands toward Dino.
"W-wait a moment!
C-calm down, let's talk about this!
If we talk, we'll understand each other! I believe people can understand one another!"
"Yeah, maybe. In that case—die!"
To Dino's scream-laced proposal, Apito's expression softened into a benevolent smile.
And with that same smile, she drove a strike home.
"Aaah—!! S-stop, seriously stop! It hurts—this really, really hurts!!"
Tears forming at the corners of his eyes, Dino screamed.
Even if he wanted to flee, with his legs frozen in place, there was nowhere to go.
『Hooo~ hoh hoh ho! Look at you, Dino-kun~ How does it feel?
Well now, if you cry and apologize to me, I just might forgive you?』
Ramiris's laughter rang out over Dino's shrieks of agony.
"Are you telling me to betray Lord Veld!?"
『Oh my? You're quicker on the uptake than I expected! That's exactly what I'm saying!』
"Are you stupid!? How could I possibly do that!?"
『Hmm. You can't? Why not? I don't really get it—why does Dino follow that guy anyway?』
"Wh-what do you mean, why…? You can't exactly defy Lady
『Dino, think about it carefully. Veldanava and Veld are two different things, you know?』
"Huh? What are you—of course they're the…"
(Hm? Of course? Wait… Lady Veld is Veldanava, right?)
A sense of unease crept over Dino as he talked with Ramiris.
He noticed a contradiction in his own words and couldn't help but fall into thought.
『Whatever. Anyway, since you betrayed poor innocent me, you'll just have to reflect on it for a while!
Now then—finish him off! Beretta, Apito!』
Dino's screams echoed through the air.
In the end, before he had any time to think things through, Dino was subjected to Apito's continued assault.
——— Ramiris's delighted laughter echoed through the control room.
Torturing Dino had apparently eased some of her frustration.
She looked thoroughly satisfied as she gazed at the large display.
"Well, I suppose I can let him off with just that."
"Aren't you going a bit far?"
"It's fine, it's fine. Dino's tougher than you'd think."
Revenge against Dino had been one of her objectives, so there was no giving ground on that.
"Still, I wonder… Will that guy called
"Considering how Veld handled Kazarim when she cut him off, I'd say there's no doubt about it."
"Right, so Veld really isn't Veldanava after all.
Dino just can't seem to grasp that.
And here he probably thinks he's all cunning and can't be fooled by anyone, huh?
What an idiot."
"Eh… yeah. Well, that about sums it up."
Benimaru nodded in agreement, recognizing a bit of himself in Ramiris's words.
He figured it was best to steer the conversation away from that topic for now.
"Still, Zegion was impressive. He had it completely under control."
If they'd intended to engage in a real fight, they could have had Zegion and the labyrinth guardians launch an all-out assault, never giving Zero the chance to infiltrate the labyrinth at all.
Those in the control room understood this.
The reason they hadn't done that—and instead orchestrated this elaborate scheme—was because of Rimuru's orders.
For this operation, Benimaru and Ramiris had discussed and decided on a plan based on Rimuru's projections for Veld's labyrinth conquest strategy.
"So Zero's infiltration and absorption of the labyrinth went just as Rimuru predicted."
"Naturally. Lord Rimuru's predictions never miss."
At Ramiris's remark,
"The next prediction concerns Zero's behavior. Specifically, whether Zero could maintain his sense of self during the assimilation with the labyrinth."
"Yeah. Since I've isolated more than half of my labyrinth's sectors, absorbing all of it at once would be incredibly taxing!
Honestly, if Zero were to slowly acclimate while assimilating, it might be fine—but merging all at once would blow his rationality to pieces, I'd say."
"I see. And what did Lord Rimuru say?"
"To put it simply, Rimuru's request was for us to make the isolated labyrinth sectors visible as bait, knowing that Zero would attempt to assimilate them. Whether Zero retains his rationality in the process is uncertain, but it should have some effect."
"That's why, the moment we finished isolating the labyrinth, we had Zegion attack him. It's not about whether the effect manifests—it's about making it manifest.
Lord Rimuru was concerned about pitting Zero against Zegion, but Zegion was eager to do it."
"Exactly. In the end, it was an even more overwhelming victory for Zegion than expected, though."
"—I understand all that. But what did Lord Rimuru actually say?"
Shuna's questions were answered alternately by Ramiris and Benimaru, but they kept dodging the critical point.
Growing impatient, Shuna pressed harder.
"He said it would reveal their true natures."
"Yes. Not Zero's—but Veld's true nature."
Ramiris and Benimaru answered in unison.
In other words, once Zero fully merged with the labyrinth, he would gain absolute dominance over anyone inside it.
If that happened, wouldn't Zero attack friend and foe alike without discrimination? That was what Rimuru had predicted.
On top of that, Benimaru's strategy had instilled a deep fear of Zegion within Zero.
Zero would crave power to counter Zegion.
Which meant he would likely begin devouring everyone in sight, friend or foe, in his desperate hunger. That was the outline of Benimaru and Ramiris's strategy.
"So the plan is to evacuate everyone just before Zero reaches one hundred percent assimilation with the labyrinth. Trapped between his fear and his thirst for power, Zero will almost certainly turn on Dino and the others."
"That's right! By the way, he's already past ninety-eight percent, so it'll be any moment now."
"I see—Lord Rimuru's foresight never fails. But what if Zero somehow retains his rationality?"
"Then we'll toss him into the Infinite Corridor along with the isolated labyrinth sectors!"
Those in the control room nodded in understanding.
Incidentally, the plan also had the bonus of persuading Dino before Zero completed his assimilation, if possible.
But even so—Shuna suddenly realized that this alone wasn't sufficient reason for Rimuru to reject the all-out assault strategy.
If a direct assault could have eliminated the intruders in the first place, there would have been no need to have Zero target Dino at all.
(In that case, what is Lord Rimuru's true objective?)
Watching Ramiris's excitement, the realization hit her.
(I see… He doesn't want to kill Lord Dino.)
Rimuru and Dino had been on friendly terms, joking around together.
And so had Ramiris.
They'd ended up on opposite sides, but as far as Rimuru was concerned, he didn't want Dino killed.
Whether it was because Ramiris had asked him, or whether it was Rimuru's own wish from the start, Shuna couldn't say—but she was fairly certain that was the case.
If so, then Ramiris's attitude made sense, as did the intent behind this elaborate operation.
Now, all that remained was to watch the outcome.
How Dino would respond. How Zero would respond.
(No matter how things turn out, everything is within Lord Rimuru's palm—that's what this means.)
Shuna nodded with satisfaction and turned her gaze to the large display.
In truth, Rimuru hadn't thought it through to that extent when he issued his instructions.
What he'd actually ordered was to warn them about the labyrinth infiltration based on the predicted capabilities of the newly completed "Sovereign of the Evil Dragon," and to limit the damage by relaying his predictions of Zero's behavior.
Zegion pushing Zero into a corner had been entirely beyond Rimuru's calculations.
There was one more thing.
Just as Shuna had realized—it concerned Dino's fate.
On this matter, Rimuru hadn't even told Benimaru. He'd only discussed it with Ramiris.
In the end, he'd left everything in Ramiris's hands.
◇◇◇ Just as Ramiris and Benimaru finished their explanation, Zero—driven to desperation by Zegion's pursuit—completed his assimilation with the labyrinth at a furious pace.
"He's reached ninety-nine percent assimilation! Time to evacuate everyone!" Ramiris shouted, and Benimaru issued the command.
The assault force, who had been briefed beforehand, teleported back in response.
Once Zero's assimilation was complete, there was a high risk that teleportation would be disrupted, so they had to time the evacuation at the last possible moment.
The operation was a success.
"We have returned, Lady Ramiris."
Beretta spoke on behalf of the group.
Everything had gone according to plan.
"Well done, everyone!
Depending on the enemy's next move, we plan to release the isolated labyrinth sectors into the Infinite Corridor. However, if that fails, we enter full-scale combat.
Needless to say, allowing an enemy who has merged with an isolated space to approach us would be extremely dangerous.
If it comes to that, we will be mounting another assault—so all of you, stay on standby and remain ready!"
At Benimaru's words, everyone acknowledged the order.
They needed to see how Zero would act, and how Dino would respond.
The likelihood of a fierce battle was high, depending on the outcome.
Not a single person in this room was letting their guard down—that much was obvious.
"One more thing—this goes without saying, but Lord Rimuru's continued survival remains classified, just as before."
With that, Benimaru brought his address to a close.
Of course, they couldn't count on Rimuru's direct help, nor had anyone expected it.
Everyone here had accepted the defense of this labyrinth as their absolute mandate, prepared to give everything they had to see it through.
That resolve was shared by all who had gathered in this room.
Just as Rimuru was keeping tabs on Veld's movements, Veld was tracking Rimuru's.
That was Rimuru's judgment—and the reason he couldn't return to the labyrinth.
With Veld's powers, that would be possible.
Ramiris's "Labyrinth Creation" was a highly versatile ability, but it required a connection to the outside world.
If that connection were severed, the labyrinth itself would be adrift in the gaps between dimensions.
Ciel had declared that since Rimuru himself could accomplish that, there was no reason Veld couldn't.
If that happened, escape from there would be possible—but it would take an enormous amount of time.
Returning after the world had already been destroyed would be tantamount to defeat.
That was what Rimuru had explained to Benimaru and the others.
Benimaru recalled those words and nodded firmly.
(Don't worry, Lord Rimuru. I will defend the labyrinth—even at the cost of my life, I swear it!)
Benimaru steeled his resolve and turned his eyes to the large display.
And so did Ramiris.
(That fool Dino. What is he doing at a time like this, honestly…)
The operation was already reaching its climax.
Dino and the others had been cast as targets in the trap designed to lure out Zero.
Zero might retain his rationality and choose to cooperate with Dino and the group.
Or Dino and the others might accept their fate and choose to become Zero's sustenance.
But— Ramiris wished for something far more meaningful than that.
(Let's mess around together again, run experiments together again… Okay, Dino…?)
Ramiris wished.
Trusting in the strategy Rimuru had devised, she prayed—prayed that Dino would once again become her comrade.