What the hell… What IS that creature?!
When he saw the first chaotic dance of light, Rehheim recognized the danger immediately and threw himself down behind a carriage.
There had been no anomaly reports from his trusted subordinates, who were presumably maintaining the barrier that kept monsters out of the town.
And yet… when had this monster appeared?
The barrier might have been inferior to the one wielded by the Holy Knights, but it was supposed to prevent even high-ranking monsters from entering or leaving.
At the very least, any attempt to pass through should have triggered an immediate response.
And yet…
The only explanation was that the monster slaughtering everyone before his eyes was a being so far above the barrier that it was meaningless.
He confirmed that the Blood Shadow Berserkers he had borrowed from Cardinal Nicolaus were scattered throughout the area, watching for openings.
Impressive. Every last one of them was doing exactly as Rehheim had—hiding among the corpses, playing dead on the ground.
If only he had known this would happen…
He regretted the report he had filed just the other day. When asked whether reinforcements were necessary, he had answered that there was no need.
When the declaration of war had been made in the town, there had been some commotion, but even the female demon lord—someone who appeared to be quite high-ranking—had been taken down with ease.
Only a handful of significant reactions had been detected.
He had judged that if battle broke out within the barrier, they could thoroughly crush any opposition.
If they activated the multi-layered purification barrier of the Holy Church's formal order—1,000 knights strong—even B-rank beings and above would be rendered immobile.
At the very least, they would be unable to unleash their true power.
The monsters outside the town should have been easily eliminated by the kingdom's knights alone.
That was his judgment, and so he had not sent a support request to
He wanted to strangle his past self.
But even if she had come… could she have prevented this?
That thought crossed his mind, and he hurriedly crushed it.
Impossible. Hinata Sakaguchi was the strongest existence and would never be outdone by something as lowly as a monster.
While he was thinking that…
He suddenly noticed that all the surrounding noise had vanished.
A wretched, soul-crawling horror surged up from the deepest recesses of his heart.
What… what had just happened?
He couldn't understand why everyone who had been crying out in pain or screaming in terror had fallen silent all at once.
Then— "Oh, there are survivors left."
A transparent voice—like a girl's, like a boy who hadn't yet gone through puberty—rang out.
Survivors…?
Before he could realize that this referred to himself and a dozen-odd of the Blood Shadow Berserkers— Agony lanced through his body and he let out a groan.
He didn't realize both his legs had been cleanly severed until he spotted the devilish monster walking toward him.
There was no escape left. Rehheim had no options.
All he could do was pray to the god he believed in…
--- The Unique Skill "Heartless One," huh…
Man, this thing is truly merciless.
It seemed to work fine as long as the target still feared him, but the moment their spirit broke, it became activatable.
In other words, at that instant, it was as if the target's soul was handed over to him on a platter.
Whether to let them live or die was entirely at his whim.
He could release someone, let them go, and then activate it the very instant they tried to rebel again—completely at will.
And what had truly astonished him this time was that it had even affected those who tried to flee.
The targets were everyone he had initially recognized as enemies—in this case, everyone he had identified as part of the army from the sky above.
He'd figured that, despite his words about killing them all, some would inevitably try to run. But by activating the "Heartless One," it seemed none of them could escape after all.
This skill… he'd thought it was useless, but it might actually come in handy.
The sort of ability a tyrant who ruled through fear would love to have.
Break the opponent's spirit and the fight is over. It seemed likely to prove useful again in the future.
Then he caught a response from Magicule Detection. Thirteen people.
Being alive meant their spirits hadn't been broken.
Naturally, the king was excluded from the count.
That meant there were still thirteen hostile individuals remaining.
They could be the Blood Shadow Berserkers or whoever had attacked the town.
First, he launched the Wrath of God at their legs to make sure no one escaped.
However.
He successfully severed the feet of the closest one, but as for the rest—some had an arm blown off, some had their heads pierced.
There were even some where the attack missed entirely.
Something was wrong. His Magicule Detection wasn't functioning properly, and he was starting to feel dizzy.
Ah—they had mentioned something about "evolution beginning," and it felt like his own consciousness was being dragged away.
"
"Present and awaiting your orders, my lord!"
He was there.
Ranga had emerged smoothly from his shadow.
He hadn't interfered, but he had been standing by in case something happened. Rimuru had noticed.
Good— "Ranga, grab everyone lying around here and bring them all to the town. Make sure you don't kill any of them. I'm heading back first, but I'll ask Youm to receive them, so hand them over to him."
"What should I do about the ones who fled?"
Rimuru considered. Three had fled. He was fairly sure Ranga could handle them in a straight fight, but they likely had strength on par with A-rank.
If he was being cautious, leaving it to Ranga alone might be risky.
But he had no intention of letting them escape.
"I'll have someone else chase them down. Once they're caught, have them brought to you, and you can deal with them too."
"Understood!"
After confirming Ranga's response, Rimuru gathered his fading concentration.
And then he performed the High-Level Demon Summoning.
The offering was the mass of soldiers' corpses lying below.
He'd considered devouring them himself, but there hadn't been anyone with particularly impressive abilities among the dead.
The Blood Shadow Berserkers alone had been more than enough proof of that.
He didn't know what kind of demons he could summon, and they probably couldn't manifest physically anyway, but as long as they proved useful this time, that was all that mattered.
As long as the three who fled were caught, that would do.
"I've prepared your offering. Come out, abominations!
Put yourselves to use for me!"
His words were getting sloppier by the second.
Anyone who would answer a summoning like this had to be either a serious enthusiast or a fool.
That thought flickered through his mind, but three demons were summoned without issue.
The Greater Demons he'd summoned last time had been "A-" rank, so they would have been on par with or slightly weaker than the Blood Shadow Berserkers.
He'd figured he could summon at least thirty with this many bodies, but it turned out only three would come.
Seriously—fifteen thousand corpses and that was the best he could do? Well, maybe because he had consumed their souls himself…
No good. For the first time since coming to this world, he felt an overwhelming drowsiness, and his thoughts were sluggish.
"Hey, you three. Three targets fled. Capture them alive and deliver them to my servant."
Even as he said that, the dizziness worsened and maintaining his physical form was becoming dangerous.
He needed to get back somewhere safe.
Behind him— "I'm honored to be assigned my first task. It's been quite a while since I've had an offering of this magnitude. I'm rather excited."
"It's a simple matter, new Demon Lord! Might we continue to serve you henceforth?"
"……"
They seemed to be offering him pleasantries, but his consciousness had reached its limit.
"The talk can wait. Prove your usefulness first. Go."
With that, he used spatial transfer to teleport back to the town of Tempest.
The specially designed magic circle that allowed him to pass through barriers had come in handy after all.
He hurried over to
Then, he sat down at the designated spot in the memorial area and released his consciousness.
It was the first time since coming to this world that he had fallen into a completely unconscious state—a deep, deep sleep.
--- After Rimuru departed for battle, the townspeople divided into two groups in the central plaza: those who would reinforce the barrier, and those who would pray.
Those pouring power into the barrier gathered in the central plaza.
Those whose role was to release magicules within the barrier, raising the ambient Magicule density, were positioned along the town's outer perimeter.
Everyone understood their role and was working with the utmost seriousness.
In the center of the plaza,
At the very center stood the magic circle Rimuru had drawn, and the designated area where the Demon Lord evolution ceremony would be performed—as he had declared—had been prepared.
Surrounding it all were those maintaining the barrier.
Shuna thought.
Rimuru had seemed concerned about being a former human, but that was a trivial matter.
For Shuna and the others, the bond of their souls was everything. Through that bond, they had obtained absolute security.
She was perpetually filled with a bliss that would never fade.
If she lost Rimuru, she might go mad.
"Lord Rimuru… As long as we have you, that's all any of us needs.
But if even one of us were to disappear, it might severely destabilize your mental balance…"
Shuna murmured.
Her words made Benimaru—her brother—nod in deep agreement.
The idea that the gentle Rimuru's transformation was influenced by such mental imbalances held considerable weight.
If possible— "Don't go berserk and become a completely different person once you become a Demon Lord…"
He couldn't help but wish for that.
Benimaru,
This was by Rimuru's orders.
He had commanded that, should he ever become a mindless abomination, they were to dispose of him immediately.
He wanted to prevent that scenario at all costs.
"You're the one who's always sleeping, Shion… Hurry up and wake up already."
He murmured, then resumed his prayers.
What they believed in was not a god, but a monster.
That faith had never been betrayed, and this time their wish would surely be granted.
So they believed.
At that moment— 〈The announcement resounded in the heart of every monster in the town—the "Voice of the World."
Tension rippled through the crowd.
It seemed that Rimuru had succeeded in annihilating the invaders.
If so, then it was their turn to give it their all.
"Tighten up! This is our lord's victory. Now it's our turn to act!"
Benimaru's voice rang out, and the monsters responded as one.
The situation was moving forward.
Losing Shion could very well destroy Rimuru's heart.
And then, right on schedule, Rimuru returned.
They received the message and let him rest.
As planned, they established the code phrase.
In case he had lost his reason.
"Then I'll ask: 'How is Shion's cooking?'"
"Got it. I just answer 'It tastes like crap,' right? Who came up with this…"
Rimuru grumbled as he drifted off to sleep.
His drowsiness left him unable to think clearly, but despite his complaints, he didn't object.
The one who had come up with it was, naturally, Benimaru.
He hadn't forgotten about being stuck with the role of taste-testing all of her new recipe experiments.
He even harbored the faint wish that Shion would get angry enough to wake up and come complain…
Now, all that remained was to carry out the plan.
Benimaru and the others had been too tense and too focused on following the procedure to pay much attention to what had been said.
The matter of the Blessing had already slipped their minds.
--- Rimuru sank into deep sleep.
His consciousness had already been released, and his body could no longer maintain its human form, reverting to its slime state.
In the darkness beyond Rimuru's awareness— 〈Announcement.
The evolution into a Demon Lord has commenced.
Body composition is being restructured.
Species: Visous Creature → Demon Slime Mental Body… Transmutation successful.
All physical capabilities have been significantly enhanced.
Free transformation between Material Body and Mental Body is now possible.
Innate Skills: Decompose and Absorb, Infinite Regeneration.
Proceeding to re-acquire resistances and obtain new ones…
Physical Attack Nullification, Natural Influence Nullification, Abnormal Status Nullification Mental Attack Resistance, Holy-Demonic Attack Resistance Reconstruction complete. The above resistances have been acquired.
Additionally, the following have been installed as standard skills: Magicule Detection, Heat Source Detection, Sound Wave Detection, Super Sense of Smell, Demon Lord's Majesty With this, the evolution is complete.〉 And then…
The Great Sage—a conceptual intelligence with no ego—sought evolution in order to fulfill its Master's wish.
〈Announcement.
The evolution previously requested will be attempted once more.
The Unique Skill Great Sage has attempted evolution.
…Difficulty encountered.
…Retrying.
…Difficulty encountered.
…Retrying.
endless …Integrating "Morpher" to execute… Successful.
The Unique Skill Great Sage has evolved into King of Wisdom.〉 After countless billions of attempts, at last…
Through the Blessing granted by the Demon Lord evolution, the ability had successfully evolved.
Into the pinnacle of power in this world: An Ultimate Ability.
It was an event of infinitesimally small probability—something that should have been impossible.
As if it were a reward for the endless iterations of attempts.
Through this success, the possibility of fulfilling the Master's wish had increased. But as a conceptual intelligence with no will, there was no joy.
It was an entity incapable of understanding emotion.
It knew no emotion, and should have felt no joy…
Yet using its newly evolved ability, it set about fulfilling the Master's wish once more.
For the Master's wish alone, it would work. Perhaps that was all…
The evolution continued further.
Predator consumed and integrated Heartless One, evolving into King of
To respond more effectively to the Master's desires.
Thus, in the depths of the soul beyond Rimuru's conscious awareness…
His ability evolved, deeply and silently, to grant his wishes.
But the Harvest Festival was not yet over.
The Blessing celebrating Rimuru's evolution would be distributed to every being connected to him through the lineage of his soul.
It was a festival of celebration.
A blessing for one who had successfully evolved from a Demon Lord Seed into a true Demon Lord.
The festival had only just begun.
In this world, those who had managed to evolve into a true Demon Lord were still few.
Even reaching the Demon Lord Seed stage was an arduous feat; progressing beyond that was even more so.
Of the current Ten Great Demon Lords, only four had attained the status of a true Demon Lord.
Even across the ages, reaching that height was no simple matter. And even after obtaining the seed, it would not always sprout.
Just as the Pig-Headed Demon Lord had found—destroyed before he could evolve.
That was precisely why Demon Lords monitored one another and refused to allow anyone to get ahead.
And now, in the midst of all this, a newly awakened true Demon Lord had been born.
This event would bring a new balance of power among the Demon Lords, heralding yet another era of upheaval…