Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 2.3

Rimuru flew toward Velgrynd, who was poised and ready to engage him.

In front of him, Veldora let out a roar into the sky. The impact shook the very atmosphere, and Veldora himself took off in the midst of it, Velgrynd following behind him. The roar echoed with the certainty of sure victory—and then the attacks began, each one aiming to annihilate Rimuru.

From the very first move, Veldora went all out. The Storm Blast—that roar of destruction that pained Velgrynd as well—coursed toward Rimuru.

Report. Storm Blast detected. Using Uriel, Lord of Vows, skill Absolute Defense to neutralize and dispel each wavelength…

Raphael automatically began taking defensive action. It was interrupted by Rimuru’s shouted order.

“No! Evade, you idiot!”

It immediately carried this command out, but part of its computing circuitry found it impossible to gauge Rimuru’s intentions. Out of several behavior patterns it assessed, staging a counterattack after Absolute Defense seemed the most optimal solution. The fact that Rimuru, its master, dismissed this out of hand made it a little upset.

In a very, very tiny part of its computational region, Raphael was confused. Rimuru had ignored its opinions many times before, but this was different—something Raphael detected because it had worked with Rimuru for a long time. It was perhaps unusual in itself that a skill, part of the natural laws of the world, would hold such feelings at all…but Raphael and Rimuru weren’t considering the consequences at the moment.

The Storm Blast brushed passed Rimuru as he took evasive action. Immediately after, the Absolute Defense that would normally be protecting him was penetrated. An explosion took place where Rimuru was just a moment ago, the Storm Blast scattering destruction in its wake. Any delay to his evasive action just now would’ve resulted in injury.

Raphael, seeing this, grew more confused.

A computing error? An unexpected contingency? I do not understand…

Why did Rimuru know what was coming? Its computation was perfect. There would never be any mistakes.

Raphael began scanning the data on hand, looking for something it might have overlooked. But even calculating at speeds that easily exceeded the latest in quantum computers, the cause of the issue remained unknown.

Confusion. According to estimates, it should have been one-hundred-percent defendable…

The words leaked out unintentionally. They didn’t need to be said. It was Raphael making excuses, one of the most improbable things in the world.

A mere skill should never make excuses, but nobody noticed it. The battle was in full swing, and now was no time to fully examine this.

Rimuru continued to reprimand the confused Raphael.

“Quit fooling around! Veldora has Faust, and part of that is the skill Control Probability, right? Real bad news.”

Then Raphael remembered. Rimuru was absolutely right. Why did it forget about something so important? It was so strange—and only then did Raphael realize that something really was wrong with him. Something, it reasoned, had to be interfering with it—but the cause was unknown.

It spent a moment pondering over whether to tell Rimuru. Its pride made it very difficult to simply tell him it didn’t know the cause. But if it didn’t, there was a strong possibility that Rimuru could suffer damage as a result. After some more computations, it determined it was best to tell him—but having Rimuru brand it as incompetent would be akin to Raphael losing its whole basis for existence.

Even thinking any of this was an act of betrayal against its lord. A skill wavering like this was something that should never have happened. But despite it all, Rimuru’s words continued to flow into the increasingly befuddled Raphael.

“Veldora’s a reckless fighter. It’s not weird at all that he’s outperforming even your perfect calculations. Don’t get worked up just because you made a little mistake. That’s how unpredictable he is—quit worrying about it! Just believe in yourself. I’ll handle Veldora, so you do something about Velgrynd!”

Rimuru was talking to Raphael like he thought it best to keep it informed. Raphael was only a skill, and he was treating it like a real partner.

“All right? There’s two of them, but with you and me, that makes two as well. If you can hold Velgrynd down, I can free Veldora in the meantime. So you gotta hold out, okay? No matter what it takes. I’m counting on you, bud!”

That was enough to soothe Raphael’s confused, empty heart.

He is relying on me? Even when I was wrong?

Raphael was constantly making mistakes, and Rimuru still trusted in him.

…Ah! I am nothing more than a computational aid, but he still needs me…

Its anxiety was already gone. Regaining its usual confidence, the Lord of Wisdom responded.

…Acknowledged. I understand. Moving on to the interception of the subject Velgrynd.

It was true. Rimuru, the master Raphael loved so much, wasn’t so small-minded that he’d get worked up over something as uncertain as “probabilities.” All it needed to do was relax, trust in him, and keep following along.

“By the way,” Rimuru casually added, “I’ve never really called you by a proper name before. There’s Raphael, yeah, but that’s a skill name; it doesn’t really count. I think I’ll take this opportunity to give you one right now.”

…?!

Raphael found this incomprehensible. A strange feeling coursed through it—bewilderment, joy, an outpouring of emotion. It couldn’t hide its befuddlement at this incalculable uncertainty that had sprouted inside of him.

What was he talking about?

It was confusing, but Raphael also understood his intention.

Ah… He cares about me because I was underperforming.

Rimuru must have been more devastated than anyone else when Veldora was taken. But even now, he could still be considerate of others. That’s who Rimuru was.

“Okay, how about Ciel?”

!!!!!!!

“You’ve got knowledge as wide as the open sky, so, Ciel—get it? I dunno if you’ll like it at first, but bear with me. Hell, if you have a problem with it, take it out on that red guy!”

Rimuru talked quickly, as if trying to hide his embarrassment. Raphael—or Ciel—experienced a feeling of contentment that no skill was supposed to feel.

Ahhh, I am now in eternal bliss…

It truly did have that thought. And with that, the moment of evolution arrived. At that moment, the ultimate skill Raphael, Lord of Wisdom, was reborn as Manas Ciel.

I… I am Ciel. A Manas, or theosophical core, merged with a skill. I exist alongside the soul of Sir Rimuru, providing support. It will be a pleasure to work with you.

Now, Ciel thought, there was nothing to fear. They were supposed to be in a major crisis right now, but nothing seemed dangerous any longer.

“Oh, um, great. Same here, I guess?”

The first time Ciel heard Rimuru’s voice, it was filled with a sense of euphoria.

“Okay, so go show off some of your power to them!”

And for Ciel, an order from Rimuru was the greatest of rewards.

As you command, my lord!

The Lord of Wisdom had awakened into Ciel. And in accordance with Rimuru’s wishes, its power would bloom into ever-sharper view…

As ordered by Rimuru, Ciel (formerly Raphael) took action to intercept Velgrynd.

Her Burning Breath was easily blocked by Uriel’s Absolute Defense. It stunned the dragon into silence. She wasn’t going easy on Rimuru at all; she used Raguel, Lord of Relief, to further enhance her breath, so no mere barrier could have ever blocked it. It had to exact a toll on her enemy—unless that enemy was so superior that he could see right through it from start to finish.

But Rimuru showed no sign of exhaustion. Not even the three demonesses could withstand a blow from Velgrynd in dragon mode unscathed. The fact that Rimuru did so without batting an eyelid indicated that this was one demon lord you couldn’t pussyfoot around with your attack. It was greatly displeasing, but Velgrynd continued to think calmly. She believed she had an edge in magicule count—perhaps the quality of her skills lost out to his. Or maybe the demon lord Rimuru had a built-in resistance to heat attacks.

Instead of worrying about it further, she decided to take action. As she had done with Veldora, she created a set of partial Separate Bodies to launch eleven rays of light at once—her Nuclear Cannon attack. At the same time, the eleven rays also unleashed another round of Burning Breath. This multistage, twenty-two-part heat attack had enough temperature to easily vaporize an asteroid. If Rimuru survived this, then clearly heat didn’t work on him.

The results were a little hard for her to swallow. The heat rays, deployed at converging angles to prevent any escape, shot at Rimuru—but all of them were repelled by the shield of light he conjured.

Damn it! He blocked it with absolute minimal movement—like he calculated that to perfection!

Velgrynd was no longer enjoying this. Seeing Rimuru be impervious to heat enraged her, but even worse, that attack just now was all but a complete waste of time. If it had drained him even a little, her vast advantage in magicules would have made her victory unassailable…but right now, Rimuru was consuming almost no energy at all. At this rate, Velgrynd realized, she could very well end up exhausting herself first.

It was clearly time to get serious. But there was one more unpleasant act in play. Rimuru had shot a glance at Velgrynd at the start of all this, but after that, he didn’t even bother to look at her. His focus was entirely on Veldora, and he was paying his sister virtually no mind at all. Also, he wasn’t using any shield against Veldora, evading all of his attacks instead. Only when evasion was impossible would he react with a similar attack of his own to cancel it out—but with Velgrynd, that shield of light was all he needed to repel everything.

Yes, he could use Magic Sense to keep tabs on all of his surroundings, but he was still clearly ignoring her. It all but declared to Velgrynd that he didn’t see her as a threat. That, more than anything else, triggered her rage.

I’m gonna make him regret looking down on me!

So the proud Velgrynd decided to unleash the most powerful attack in her possession.

With a hateful glance at Rimuru (who was still ignoring her), Velgrynd began conjuring up her mighty magic force, running it through her body. The support provided by Raguel, combined with acceleration symbolized by her own heat, could be worked in parallel to forcibly heat her up—in other words, boost her performance. The results allowed Velgrynd to go thousands of times faster than the speed of sound—the fastest physical speed of anything in the world.

So what happens when the target of this power is someone other than herself? As a spiritual life-form with resistance to physical attack, Velgrynd has no problem withstanding this newfound performance—but could anyone else ever withstand it? The answer is no. No matter what kind of life-form it is, no physical body can endure continuous forced acceleration. The same is true for spiritual ones—even passing thoughts are converted into energy, ultimately leading to thermal collapse.

That is exactly what this was designed for.

“Prepare to have your body rot away, not a single piece of flesh left! Cardinal Acceleration!!”

It was her most powerful of techniques, eclipsing even Burning Embrace.

Cardinal Acceleration contained the full force and authority of Velgrynd. She crafted it in secret for Velzard, in preparation for the final battle they must wage at some point in the future; she’d never normally waste it on a mere demon lord, but she was too enraged to let that stop her.

With a roar from the crimson dragon, a wave of doom coursed toward Rimuru. This ultimate blow symbolized the pride of the Flame Dragon at her fastest, capable of making all matter collapse in an instant. It could bury any enemy, at a speed that made it impossible for anyone to avoid. By the time Rimuru, busy focusing on Veldora, realized what was going on, it would be too late. His mind wouldn’t work fast enough to comprehend what just occurred before he ceased to exist in this world.

I wish I could make him regret underestimating me, but he won’t have the time for that now, will he? That’s the only regret I have.

With this absolute confidence, Velgrynd peered ahead to see how it worked out.

…?!

Instead she goggled at the sight of Rimuru standing there, unharmed.

No… It can’t be…

She doubted her own eyes. There was absolutely no way that anyone could withstand an impossible-to-avoid, utterly lethal blow like that without a scratch. Even the demon lord Guy Crimson himself—even her sister Velzard the Ice Dragon—could have been taken down by it, or at least Velgrynd thought so.

“…You’re unharmed? That’s impossible. My Cardinal Acceleration works against every type of barrier and defensive skill! If you took it that easily, what did you even do?”

Velgrynd was clearly losing her cool. If he had canceled out the attack somehow, that was one thing, but no barrier could ever have deflected it. The reality of it all was too much to grapple with. It gravely affected her composure.

“Huh,” Rimuru replied. “Well, it was a close call, yeah, but given the impulsiveness of it, it was pretty easy to eat up, y’know?”

This was, in fact, entirely the work of Ciel, who was still dedicated to handling Velgrynd. It worked out exactly as calculated; Rimuru’s assistant was attempting to make Velgrynd attack him. Ciel put Rimuru before everything else, doing as it was ordered without getting in his way, and that was enough to shut Velgrynd down. It ran Analyze and Assess on the dragon’s nature, selected an effective response, and put it into action.

One example of this was the shield of light Rimuru had been using, which had a special effect on Velgrynd’s powers. Ciel, the sum of all its integrated skills, had all of Rimuru’s ultimate skills under its control. One of those ultimates was Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony; Ciel had just used its Predation skill, gaining an immediate grasp of Velgrynd’s Cardinal Acceleration, and the Isolate skill to capture and banish the attack into Complex Space—an evolved version of Rimuru’s Stomach.

That attack was certainly capable of destroying Rimuru. It couldn’t be defended against with normal methods, and even Raphael’s computational power wouldn’t have been able to deal with it. But Ciel wasn’t Raphael. No longer a mere skill, it had evolved into a presence on a different dimension from the Lord of Wisdom. And no matter how the enemy may attack, as long as Ciel could determine the nature of the attack, it was not a problem—something it just proved in the way it wielded Belzebuth.

Once Isolate was invoked, all that remained was to Absorb the energy in Complex Space. When used like this, the Complex Space ability of Belzebuth was transformed into a defensive measure as stout as Absolute Defense from Uriel, Lord of Vows.

Velgrynd’s surprise was understandable. After all, everything had ended before Rimuru himself had a chance to so much as think Oh, crap, I’m in trouble. Still, Rimuru responded defiantly to Velgrynd’s shock—he didn’t want her to realize it was pretty much nothing he himself did.

But Ciel’s scheme didn’t end there. Able to communicate with Rimuru more smoothly than ever before, it could even use the art of conversation as a weapon to pursue Velgrynd with. But speaking of Velgrynd…

You have to be kidding me! You “consumed” it? You simply ate up Cardinal Acceleration, my greatest ability?!

She couldn’t comprehend what Rimuru meant. It was still the middle of battle, but she was too stunned to move—and even though it was for just a moment, it was a fatal error.

“So I’m sorry to bother you while you’re still shocked that your amaaaazing attack was a dud, but you didn’t forget that we’re in a fight here, right?”

It was already too late by the time he asked. Ciel was unerring in its actions, and Rimuru gave it his full backing.

Calculation of Velgrynd’s magicule count complete. After accounting for the subject’s nature and characteristics, I determined it is possible to encase the target in Insulated Imprisonment for several hundred seconds. Activating!

Before Velgrynd realized it, a layered magic circle had surrounded her.

This was a compound skill, combining the ultimate skill Uriel’s Unlimited Imprisonment with Spatial Insulation. Ciel had crafted it just now, exclusively for use against Velgrynd, and now she was caught in it.

The combat airspace had been fully computed by Ciel—the temperature, humidity, gravity, wind currents, sunlight, the pulses of every living thing within it. It was all in the palm of Ciel’s hand, and no matter what Velgrynd did, it’d be impossible for her to leave this airspace.

The blinding light of this Insulated Imprisonment declared by Ciel made Velgrynd feel dizzy.

How…? How could it be so easy for him?!

The dragon’s crimson body trembled in humiliation at having been beaten. But no matter what she tried, the Insulated Imprisonment never so much as wavered.

“Okay, sit tight in there for a while, okay? I’ll play with you after I free Veldora.”

The words placed a final exclamation mark on Velgrynd’s defeat.

All right. I’ll admit defeat this time. But I still have Parallel Existence. And whether this is Insulated Imprisonment or not, I can just trace a soul corridor out of here!

Velgrynd did have one more move she could make. It’d mean giving up her current body, but the majority of her remaining energy would be channeled back into the replication she positioned next to Ludora as insurance. It was brutally humiliating, but it wasn’t the end for her yet.

Slowly, cautiously, she got to work, making sure Rimuru didn’t take notice. Little by little, she began transferring magicules through her soul corridor…without realizing that was exactly what Ciel wanted.