BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH

I do remember saying something like “Give your all,” yes. Don’t worry. I’m not losing my marbles yet. It’s only been around three years since I was reincarnated, even. No need to worry about that.

But still…

As I watched the big screen, I began to wonder if those words were really mine after all. Did I really say that? After all, the screen was showing my army pretty much kicking everyone’s ass out there. Which is great. Super. No problems there. But the content was just too much to watch. It was such a lopsided thrashing that I just kept my mouth agape the whole time.

Gobta was acting very cool, very non-Gobta-like, as he stormed around the battlefield and crushed tanks with his bare hands. Unified with Ranga, he both looked and raged like someone who deserved being called part of the Big Four. And Gabil, to his credit, had transformed into a real strong-looking dragon-ish kind of monster, smashing up enemy ships with some kind of crazy powerful energy reaction. And not just him—everyone on Team Hiryu had undergone transformations, too. I realized at once that this was Dragon Body at work, but since when had they mastered it so well…?

Also, that Dragon Body skill—something I left for later and never got to—I had no idea it was so amazing. It’s got a time limit, and you can only be active in it for around ten minutes, I guess… But the crazy power more than makes up for the disadvantages. It’d be suicide if you used it the wrong way, but it’s a nice little card to add to your deck, I think.

But even Gabil and company lost the spotlight to that giant midair explosion. I don’t know what the heck they did, but the enemy’s flagship had a thermonuclear meltdown or something, and it took out the Empire’s entire airship force with it. That surprised even me, but as a result, the Empire’s airpower was essentially destroyed—every single ship crashed to the ground.

That kicked off a major offensive by the Tempest forces. With Gobta’s and Gabil’s forces joining up, everyone could see that we had gained the upper hand in the war. Even in modern warfare, helicopters had an overwhelming advantage against tanks—and in much the same way, Team Hiryu was mostly using breath attacks from the air, inflicting heavy, one-sided damage on the Empire’s ground forces. And because they were such small targets, the tank guns weren’t even a threat. Really, as long as they don’t hit you, it’s not worth worrying about.

The Empire didn’t just sit there and take a beating, of course, They tried fighting back several times…but we squashed every attempt they put up.

The big performers in that respect were Veyron and Zonda under Ultima’s command. Those two were definitely old demons, all right. They seemed to have an eye for spotting the strongest among their foes, and regardless of whether they were squad captains or regular soldiers, they only chose the most powerful…and tore them apart. Their butler and cook outfits (respectively) weren’t exactly appropriate, but for the imperial troops, they became a symbol of fear.

Looking at the enemy’s supply units, Hakuro was slashing away at them with his sword, offering no mercy. Apparently some of them even tried to introduce themselves first—“Goddamn you! I am ranked ninety-seventh—!!” and so on—but Hakuro’s white blade made them spew blood before they could finish.

“Forgive me,” he said to the bleeding masses. “Sir Rimuru is watching this battle. He has ordered us to go at full power, and thus I can offer you no mercy.” That really wasn’t how I meant it, but now I understand how much of a big deal it was to them.

You know, though… I couldn’t really withdraw that order now. If I butted in at this point, it’d just cause confusion on the field. So I took the long view and decided to watch how the battle unfolded.

This turned out to be a pretty good decision. Frankly, the imperial soldiers Veyron, Zonda, and Hakuro picked off were equal to or better than paladins in ability. That, and their gear was pretty insane, even better than the spiritual armor worn by paladins—Legend class in quality. Looking at the big picture, they were way stronger than any of those guys, a fact that shocked me when Raphael gave me the results. I wasn’t sure how they got this kind of equipment, but they did, and that was that.

Maybe the people granted this gear were the heavily rumored Imperial Guardians, huh? Gadora told me about them, this group handpicked from the best the Empire had to offer, including otherworlders. There were around a hundred of them, he said, and I guess the “rank” stuff they mentioned was proof of their membership. If people like that were given a chance to really strut their stuff, things might’ve been a lot more chaotic out there.

It was smart of us to take them out before they were fully ready, just like Hakuro did. Veyron and Zonda did the same, too, taking action before anyone knew what was going on. They all had a good eye for spotting the most fearsome of our foes, like they had stats floating above their heads. If all their champions had bonded together, I don’t think killing them would’ve been so simple, but it’s their fault for being careless on the field. Got a problem with that? Well, you should’ve gone all out from the start.

That, of course, could be said for us as well. If we showed any needless mercy to the enemy, there was a good chance they’d take advantage of it. If that happened, the damage would’ve been unthinkable. I refused to let us do anything foolish like hurt a friend to rescue an enemy soldier. I couldn’t help but want to show a little compassion sometimes, but that would be the same as letting up because I assumed victory was in the bag. We were fighting a war here—best to keep our minds hardened and let them all do their best till the end.

So regarding the surrender I was expecting to receive from them… Well, while I was admiring the exploits of Hakuro and the gang, something strange was going on in the Empire’s command HQ.

Report. Activation of the large-scale destructive magic Death Streak confirmed. The user is the subject Testarossa.

Hearing Raphael’s report, I hurriedly projected things on the big screen. There they were, Testarossa and Ultima, standing around with big smiles. Nobody else was alive. The nearly one thousand tanks the Empire had left were silenced, all the infantry deployed around them fallen. It’d have to be in the tens of thousands, I estimated. Death Streak, was it? That’s one ridiculously dangerous spell…

Understood. Death Streak is a type of nuclear magic, a magical death ray that kills all living creatures. As a side effect…

Raphael was happy to analyze and explain the situation to me, but I really don’t think I could be blamed for almost shouting “Don’t use that kind of dangerous magic!!”

Ultima’s nuclear blast was called Nuclear Flame, apparently, but this move seemed several times more dangerous. Not that Testarossa was stopping her, either, but…

Either way, the moment that spell triggered, that pretty much decided the match. There were no surviving enemy commanders left, and it was only a matter of time before we weeded out the remaining troops. So our battle with the Empire over on the Dwarven Kingdom side ended in a fantastic victory for us.

The imperial army, which we considered to be a decoy, was annihilated—literally wiped off the face of the earth, and not just in strategic terms, either. It was absurd. I didn’t think telling them to “go all out” would result in something like this.

Also, Benimaru was starting to act a bit scary.

“…If this was the result, was there any damn point to my strategy in the first place?! What the hell’s up with our intelligence officers down there?! You said they were under your control, Sir Rimuru, but can you explain this, please?”

Yes, I had been keeping a few things to myself. Benimaru didn’t need to yell at me with a freaky smile like that. I mean… You know. Did we really have a strategy at all? And look, Benimaru, you’re not the only one who wants an explanation. In fact, I wanna get some answers on this, too!

…But I couldn’t just shout out everything on my mind, so I glanced at Veldora for some assistance. He averted his eyes. I knew this in advance, but it was pointless to rely on Veldora for situations like this. The same went for Ramiris; she wouldn’t pitch in, either.

“No, um, I told you, right? Those are the new guys that Diablo recruited and brought in for us.”

“I know they’re Diablo’s people.”

No dancing around the topic, then. Ah well. So I decided to be honest and tell him everything. If it was Benimaru and Geld, I was sure that revealing that these ladies were super-freaky Primals would be greeted with a smile and a nod. Besides, Diablo was responsible for everything related to them, so if something came up, we could discuss it then.

Armed with this theory, I prepared to tell the truth.

“So uh, do you know what a Primal is?”

“A Primal?”

Benimaru didn’t seem to, but Shuna, currently offering us some coffee, interrupted.

“You’re referring to the Seven Sovereigns, the source of all demons? I overheard a conversation about them the other day, so I got curious and looked it up, but I was surprised to see that Diablo is one of them.”

I didn’t know the Primals— the origins of all demons—had such a fancy moniker. And really, why was Shuna smiling so peacefully as she unveiled all this classified information?

The smell of coffee drifted across the Control Center, easing the tension a bit.

“Um…?” Benimaru seemed confused.

“Oh, you didn’t know, my brother? Well, it’s not just Diablo. Testarossa, Carrera, and Ultima are all sovereigns of demon-dom as well.”

“They are?”

“They are.”

Shuna’s smile almost blinded me. Faced with it, Benimaru could no longer state any doubt. And seeing him fall silent like that, I thought: Wow, Shuna’s actually a pretty big deal, huh? I was steeling myself to tell this horrifying secret, but having it revealed so readily was sort of a disappointment. Kinda felt better this way, though.

“Diablo, I want you to explain it.”

“Very well, Sir Rimuru. Benimaru, I must admit that I am as she says, a Primal Demon…”

I sipped at my coffee as I listened to Diablo’s speech. Mmm. Tea is great and all, but I do like me some coffee, too.

“…All right. I understand,” Benimaru said. “That certainly explains everyone’s strength, then. But if that’s the case, I wish you had told me about it from the beginning.”

“Well, you know,” I began, “I thought people would get all scared if they knew the truth. Me and Veldora are one thing, but I didn’t want you guys to have more unnecessary stuff to worry about.”

I was worried for my friends, so I kept quiet. I made sure to emphasize only that point. Let’s not dwell on how I gave them bodies and names and stuff, if we could.

“Well, I wasn’t afraid of them, neither!”

Even Ramiris was on my side. Hopefully everyone else wasn’t too freaked out by this…

“I believe your concerns were unnecessary, Sir Rimuru. If you have accepted them, then we all welcome them as our friends.”

“Yes, Benimaru is right. Nobody here would discriminate against others based on strength or appearance.”

Benimaru smiled as he said it, Geld preaching stone-cold fact to me. They helped me banish my worries for good. Not even Shuna had any concerns about Diablo and the rest of the demons; the fact that they were still treating each other as they always had was proof of that.

“Well, great, then. Now I feel bad for worrying so much.”

“Ha-ha-ha! You should have more faith in us.”

“Exactly. But I do have to thank you for worrying about us enough to assign Carrera and the rest to us.”

It was a little awkward, but I was glad Benimaru and Geld accepted it. But what about Gabil and Gobta and the rest? They seemed to be doing fine, as far as I could tell, and let’s hope they continue to be.

“Well, we’re all getting along well with Diablo. I’m sure it’ll be okay!”

Shion gave him her stamp of approval, not that I was ever worried about her.

“What do you mean, Shion?”

“I mean exactly what I said, Diablo.”

Shion, my first secretary, and Diablo, my second, glared at each other. Being called a Primal sounds real pretentious, but this was how he mainly acted. Once again, I was relieved that I had worried over nothing.

With that behind us, we discussed the day’s events a bit longer.

“I assigned Testarossa and Ultima to the field army because if the enemy had a demon lord–class threat on their side, I thought we’d be in trouble. Then, well, they put in a little too much of an effort.”

This was all thanks to that order I sent out, but I really didn’t expect everyone to go this out of control. It was just so wild, so over the top…and so cool, too. They just annihilated an entire enemy army, and they didn’t flinch even once.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Seems they got a little too excited and carried away, didn’t they? I’ll be sure to give them a good lesson about it later,” Diablo said cheerfully.

“Keep it in moderation!” I didn’t forget to add. But ah well. Diablo could take care of himself, and I was sure he’d continue educating them…again, without overdoing it.

Next up, we surveyed our damages. Just two hours after the start of battle, all the fighting was over. It looked like we had a lot of injured on our side, but as for the final damage report…

“All casualties have reportedly been fully healed!”

A cheery voice echoed across the Control Center.

All the demons who had gone into battle had been given Tempest-made High Potions, ten per person. That allowed them to immediately heal most wounds. And that even applied to people I thought were dead at first; in fact, they were only playing possum, and even their severed limbs had already been fully healed with Full Potions. They were playing the decoy role with serious aplomb, just as Benimaru ordered them to.

“I told you, didn’t I? I told you not to worry.”

“You sure did. And I trusted you and everyone else, of course.”

Everything went according to Benimaru’s plan. The one random element he didn’t expect, apparently, was the demons’ performance. As a result of that, despite going through a lot of potions, we didn’t suffer a single casualty. It was an utterly unbelievable way to win.

That being said, we weren’t totally unscathed. It seemed Gabil and Team Hiryu suffered some fairly serious bodily fatigue due to the side effects of the Dragon Body skill. I was pretty wowed by that move, but sure enough, the ten-minute time limit wasn’t the only minus. The moment battle ended, the overexertion crashed on them like a tidal wave, and they all lay prone on the ground, as if paralyzed. This wasn’t an “injury” per se, so potions wouldn’t help them. After taking in all those magicules and becoming so strong, maybe this was the body rejecting all that foreign matter out again.

This fatigue penalty seemed to apply to all of Team Hiryu, not just Gabil. But I was fine with that. Best to have them think “You should be glad it wasn’t worse” and leave them be.

It would later transpire that this paralyzing condition lasted for around twenty-four hours, so after some debate, we decided to limit Dragon Body activations to no more than once every other day, tops. Their full strength scored them the win this time, but invoke that move at the wrong time, and it could come back to bite them. A real double-edged sword, you could say. So I advised Gabil to be very careful with that.

Next we turned our attention to the Empire’s side.

The Magitank Force led by Lieutenant General Gaster had two hundred thousand troops; Major General Farraga’s Flying Combat Corps had forty thousand. That, as confirmed by the wizard Gadora, was the first size of the imperial forces.

But we didn’t take any POWs this time. They were all dead—around two hundred forty thousand in all. What a massacre. And look, it’s not that my heart didn’t ache over it. But when I became a demon lord, I did it by killing twenty thousand people by my own hand. By this point, I guess I was just done making excuses.

Either way, after killing all two hundred forty thousand members of this force, I guess their souls were being “offered” within me. A little while after battle began, I started feeling the souls accumulating at a frantic pace. This must be what collecting souls from the people working for you feels like, that classic demon lord perk. Thanks to that, I had an exact grasp of just how many enemy soldiers we beat.

But…I mean, really, this many human souls? Because, like, ten thousand was enough to upgrade me from regular to “true” demon lord. What would two hundred forty thousand do to me?

The answer: Nothing! The moment I awakened to true demon lord, that must’ve been the end of the road. Makes sense. Otherwise, Guy Crimson would’ve been busy eradicating the entire human race, reaping souls all over the place. He kept the needless slaughter to a minimum because he instinctively knew there was nowhere higher to go from here.

That was when I received an unexpected notice.

Report. The amount of acquired souls has exceeded the set limit. It is now possible to awaken subordinates connected to you via your soul lineage. The following people are eligible…

Pretty outrageous even by Raphael standards.

Apparently, if you gave a set amount of souls to a qualified receiver, you could awaken them. I assumed capturing excess souls was pointless, but even if they didn’t affect your own evolution, you could still use them to evolve the people under you. As Raphael put it, several people close to me had met the requirements for this awakening. Giving them the souls I had acquired would, it seemed, grant them the same kind of awakened strength that I enjoyed as a true demon lord.

The number of souls required was one hundred thousand. Sheesh. I didn’t think ten times would be needed to awaken someone else. No wonder nobody else knew about this until now. Maybe someone like Guy did…but who could say? Even if he did, it wasn’t like he could execute on it all the time. Besides, it’s a lot easier to befriend a demon lord and have him boost you up than try to do it yourself. Maybe that was how the Walpurgis got its start—a gathering of the big bosses, a way for Guy to see who was really worthy of joining up.

But maybe there was some other reason for it. Maybe I was giving him too much credit, and he really didn’t know after all; I couldn’t dismiss that notion. At the very least, a hundred thousand souls was nothing to sniff at. It was killing an entire city, basically, so you couldn’t be casual with it.

Anyway. As of right then, I had around two hundred fifty thousand extra souls on me, which would let me awaken two people. My pool of qualified subordinates: Ranga, Benimaru, Shion, Gabil, Geld, Diablo, Testarossa, Ultima, Carrera, Kumara, Zegion, and Adalmann—twelve in all.

…Create a soul corridor to evolve a subordinate?

Yes

No

Based on how Raphael put it, I guess I could awaken people even if I wasn’t physically nearby. A soul corridor would allow my target and me to be unaffected by time and space, kind of like how Veldora and I used to be; it would also strengthen the bond between us, which wasn’t a bad thing, either.

So what now?

In my case, awakening made me incomparably stronger than before. It evolved my unique skill the Great Sage into the ultimate skill Raphael, Lord of Wisdom. If someone like Benimaru could evolve to that level, then I had no reason to hesitate.

But hang on. What was the deal with that “soul lineage” thing? If I had to guess, it referred to the soul connection we had after I gave those people names. Naming a monster causes an evolution, and I definitely wasn’t shy about doing that all the time, but I also knew it was kind of dangerous. I wasn’t afraid to name with confidence because Raphael was now assessing the safety risks for me. Get it wrong, and I’d be stripped of all my power and maybe even die—that or be permanently weakened.

In my case, I had Belzebuth’s Stomach, a tremendously useful skill, and I used it to store any excess magicules I had. If I was short, I could apparently borrow some from Veldora, too… But either way, Raphael managed all that, and I didn’t need to worry about a thing.

So unfair, isn’t it? Normally you needed your own magicules to name something, which made it no small feat. I bet that was even true for Guy. That’s why so few people were really connected to others at the soul.

But as far as I was concerned, my friends were irreplaceable. I meant that, too. And I didn’t mind experimenting on myself, but I wasn’t gonna use my friends as guinea pigs. Raphael was recommending this option to me, so I didn’t think it was dangerous…or I liked to believe that. But something told me this was playing with some serious fire. Besides, I didn’t even know who I should pick, and there were a bunch of other problems, too. If magicule energy was the main factor, I really thought Soei would qualify as well—but he didn’t, so it made me wonder about the conditions for staging an awakening.

Everything about it was so unclear, which really gave me pause. During my Harvest Festival, there was a long period of dormancy before I evolved, known as my Initiation. There was no guarantee that wouldn’t happen again this time, so I really wanted everything worked out in advance. Most of all, however, this war wasn’t over yet. The imperial army’s main force, some seven hundred thousand of them, was on the march toward our capital. Going on wacky adventures during such urgent times really wasn’t a good idea.

So the answer is no for now. Let’s leave this matter until things settle down.

I ordered the goblins to go on salvage duty, collecting the intact tanks and surviving airship wreckage for me. Gabil and the dragonewts would be knocked out for a while longer, so I had the Wyvern Riders transport all the stuff they got over to the Dwarven Kingdom. I wanted them to have all the recovery time I could give them.

Instead, I sent the Blue Numbers to join up with the goblins. This was on Benimaru’s suggestion; he said there was no need for them to hurry back to the capital, since even if they did, they wouldn’t be in time for the final battle.

Gazel, to his credit, also asked if I needed any reinforcements. I told him we had no problems for now. The dwarves, too, were still in the middle of war. Hostilities at the Central entrance were done, but the East exit bordering the Empire was still staked out by an imperial force of some sixty thousand. Gadora identified them as Yuuki’s division, deployed as a diversionary tactic…but we didn’t know what was to come, so I really didn’t want to drop the ball with them.

I was sure Gazel could take care of that…and in fact, I was sure he was fully on the case that very minute. Our mission right then was to settle the score with the Empire’s main force. The opening battle was a huge victory for us, but the enemy still had a force far too enormous to downplay.

In terms of numbers, we were at an overwhelming disadvantage…but my staff couldn’t have been more motivated. Shion couldn’t wait to get cracking, even saying stuff like “I can’t let those demons hog the spotlight! I have to go out there and show them what real strength means!!” She sounded so frustrated. I almost wanted to ask exactly who was her enemy in this war.

“Aren’t you supposed to be my bodyguard?”

The moment I pointed that out, she regained her composure in a big hurry. Nothing good comes from being too eager to fight, after all.

But Shion wasn’t the only one raring to go among us.

“My lord! Ultima’s been bragging shamelessly, saying our forces achieved a huge victory in the first round! Oooh, I can’t wait to get my turn! Would it be all right if I went over and put in a few choice words?”

Carrera’s cheeks were flushed as she flew into the Control Room. I had ordered her to stand by with the rest of the Second Army Corps, but I guess the demons were all Thought Communication-ing with each other. Her fellow demons boasting about all the murder they committed must’ve been more than she could stand…but I couldn’t have her working solo right then.

“A few choice words?” Benimaru asked. He knew Carrera was a Primal, but he still dealt with her the same way. Maybe I really was worrying too much.

“Yes, I thought I could give them a little nuclear magic as a gift.”

She said that with the most endearing smile. Jaune, the Original Yellow, sure lived up to her reputation.

“Denied!” came Benimaru’s disgusted reply.

“Carrera, please be patient until further orders,” Geld added. “Your actions take on meaning only when they’re applied at the most critical moment.”

Carrera wasn’t too happy about that, but she had no intention of disobeying Benimaru. She reluctantly nodded at Geld’s rebuke.

“All right. I just wanted to show you what I could do, but maybe there’s a time when that’ll be more effective, huh? I’ll sit tight and wait.”

Glad she saw things our way. It looked like she respected what Geld had to say; maybe they were a better pair than I thought.

“Ha-ha-ha! Carrera, life is about more than going on the rampage, you know. It’s only when we become a sword for our leader that we can truly shine!”

“Yes, Shion, I understand you. Maybe I’ve been a little too hasty, huh? I’m going to go cool off a little.”

Are you really one to talk, Shion? I thought. It was a nice thing to say and all, but coming from her, it sounded so unconvincing. Weren’t you the one who wanted to go on a big rampage just now? But let’s hold back on that. It’d be a bad idea to rehash the conversation when it was over now. I gave Shion a judgmental frown as Carrera left.

So morale definitely wasn’t a problem.

On our side, we had the forces inside the labyrinth as well as the rested Second Army Corps. Everyone from my top officials to the soldiers deep down the chain of command seemed to be in high spirits, eager to give it their all—they must have heard my orders. The Empire, meanwhile, totaled seven hundred thousand troops. We’d never compete in numbers, but this was quality over quantity. The other side might still have had some strong characters lurking in the background, but we had one killer defense mechanism in the labyrinth.

“The key to victory is gonna lie in the labyrinth. Veldora… Ramiris… I’m counting on you guys!”

“Yes, of course. Do not fear. I’ll take care of everything!”

“Right, exactly! We’re all backing you up, so you just rest easy!”

Their eager replies soothed my heart.

The important thing here was how we’d avoid casualties, and luring the enemy into the labyrinth was the best way to do that. Inside the Dungeon, we could reduce the wear and tear on our army down to zero, and that wasn’t all—we could also add the monsters of the labyrinth to our forces, letting us make up for any numerical disadvantages without much hassle. Count the lower-level monsters, and the total number would add up to several hundred thousand.

“Then we’ll just have to see how much the Empire believed in Yuuki’s cajoling, huh?” I said.

“Isn’t it the other way around? You can’t trust him, and that’s exactly why he’s led them to have their suspicions of him.”

“Ah, that does make a lot of sense!”

I was sure Benimaru was right. If you looked at Yuuki as an enemy, he was quite a nuisance. We might’ve been in a temporary partnership, but there was no way to trust him as an ally. Maybe the feeling was mutual on the imperial side?

“Someone that fishy, maybe it’s safer to have him infiltrate the enemy instead of fight with him as allies.”

That was an unusually accurate statement from Shion.

“At least we don’t have to expend any effort worrying about whether we’ll be betrayed,” Benimaru added with a nod. “The imperials, on the other hand, probably don’t consider Yuuki to be a complete ally. They’ll be wary of him, suspicious of whatever he has to say. In other words, they don’t really know how the sixty thousand troops by the East exit of Dwargon are going to act. The Empire might make their strike there, so we’d best tell Gazel to be on his guard.”

“Knowing King Gazel, I don’t think we’ll need to worry. But no, there’s nothing more annoying than an untrustworthy ally. If I were you, I’d be the first to crush him.”

I already told King Gazel about Yuuki, and like Benimaru said, I’m sure he took all necessary measures without me checking up on him.

Our main concern should have been the Empire’s main force. Even as we spoke, they were attacking from multiple sides, trying to surround us. The only thing left in our city was that huge gate, so there was no great need to panic, although we still couldn’t help being nervous.

My main concern was that they’d skip Tempest entirely and instead attack Farminus, the new kingdom established by Yohm. He had people like Razen and Gruecith around to defend it, but that nation honestly didn’t have the wherewithal to wage large-scale war at the moment. We were still in the middle of providing them support as they reformed their ways, so we really didn’t want it to become a battlefield. It’d be up to us to provide reinforcements, of course, and that’d really complicate matters as far as I was concerned. So along those lines, we were glad it didn’t seem to be turning out that way. Regardless, we couldn’t let our guards down.

If the Empire didn’t trust Yuuki and instead opted to whiz right by us and into Blumund…then we’d have Geld’s force attack them from the rear. It’d be easy to send the Second Corps over with my teleport spell…but we’d still have a ground war on our hands. The Second Corps would get far less support from the labyrinth, and I was sure it’d be a tough battle. We should have been able to recruit a good number of volunteers from the labyrinth, but even so, we couldn’t force monsters out of there if they didn’t want to go, so the numbers would have to be smaller. Besides, if we fought on the ground, we couldn’t leverage the labyrinth’s features at all, and thus we’d have to be prepared for serious casualties.

Ideally, we really wanted the enemy to enter the labyrinth. Bringing the battle there, in Benimaru’s eyes, was both the safest route and the one most likely to succeed. If we fought on the ground, we’d lose our advantage in the labyrinth; we’d have to fight them head-on, in a level playing field. Which was how it usually was, of course, but in war, the key to victory was all in building an edge for yourself. I didn’t think the labyrinth was exactly fair or whatever, but if we won, then hey, we were in the right.

So while (hopefully) the labyrinth would serve as the main battlefield, our basic strategy was still the same even if we fought on the ground. Job one for us was to ferret out the strongest fighters on the opposing side, and just like how we used the goblins as bait for that before, we’d use Geld’s force for that this time. That common core was in each of Benimaru’s proposed strategies.

Really, I guess they were doing this to protect me, their supreme general. I care deeply for all my friends here, and Benimaru and the rest put me first just as much—or even more, in fact. I didn’t want them to get killed for my sake, but Benimaru’s much more of a tactician than an amateur like me—he kept damage to almost nothing in the previous battle, even.

So as long as I left everything to him, I could just sit back in my chair and relax. That, and I wanted to keep trying to make people feel secure in relying on me.

We had set up a large gate on the ground in order to make it easier for imperial troops to come storming in, but looking back, maybe that felt a little too deliberate? I, at least, was a bit worried they might think it was a trap—but my fears were unfounded. I didn’t know if someone out there was granting wishes for me today, but in the end, it turned out just as I had hoped.

“The enemy’s fanning out in front of the main gate!” the operator reported. On the big screen, we could see rows of imperial soldiers lined up in an orderly fashion. If Argos was presenting this to us, it had to be true, but Soei’s group was monitoring them as well, so this definitely wasn’t illusory magic or whatnot.

The Empire had clearly taken the bait, and all seven hundred thousand of them were on the scene, not bothering to stick to stealth any longer. Their attempt at intimidation, maybe, not that it’d work on us. We had zero intention of surrendering by now. Maybe we’d run to fight another day, but capitulation was never gonna happen. Besides, we couldn’t hope for a more ideal setup.

“We’ve won,” I muttered to myself.

“Yes,” Benimaru briskly replied, “we have.”

Factually speaking, indeed, we were already guaranteed a tactical victory. Once we were all in the labyrinth, we’d take zero damage—as long as we took our time, we were guaranteed to win. Beyond that, as long as they didn’t have some kind of unimaginable champion who could beat a demon lord, we had an insurmountable advantage.

“Good thing those greedy bastards let the labyrinth catch ’em.”

“Very true. I thought Sir Rimuru’s bait was a little too obvious, but I’m glad they took it for us.”

“Yeah, well, looks like you did a good job on it, Gadora.”

The enemy was now revealing their full extent to us. If they had spread them out a little more around the forest, we might’ve been anxious about the stronger among them hiding out somewhere. Spreading your forces thin is generally a bad idea, I think, but right there, having them all together like that actually helped us a lot. I imagined they were gonna start filing into the labyrinth soon, so really, the only question was how much of the army they’d keep on the surface.

“Well, either way, I imagine it’s not strategically sound for the Empire to skip our nation. If they decide to blockade this labyrinth gate and keep marching west, that’s trouble, but…”

“Yeah, if they left, say, a hundred thousand out of seven hundred thousand, that’d be enough to surround the gate easy.”

Then, if the remaining forces marched over to the Western Nations, they’d have little to worry about behind them. If that happened, by the way, we’d still be able to transport ourselves in and out—but our destinations would be restricted to places we had spent some extent of time in before, and we couldn’t access anyplace with space-freezing barriers over it. Practically speaking, if we could undo the seal on the entrance to the Dwelling of the Spirits (Ramiris’s old haunt), we could come and go through that. Still, though, we’d essentially be trapped in the labyrinth, left helpless as we watched them overrun the Western Nations—and if it came to that, we’d have to find a way to force ourselves out and attack.

So in the end, it might wind up turning into a ground war anyway. But we couldn’t avoid that, really. So before that happened, we’d want to cut down the enemy’s strength as much as we could.

“Are we going to send a warning to their ground forces?”

“Yeah, maybe we can agitate ’em into deploying more soldiers inside.”

Veldora and Ramiris had some interesting opinions on this.

“You know, there’s something to be said for that… But nah, no warning,” I said.

“No? Why not?” Veldora asked.

“You know about the words we put on the gate already, right, Ramiris?”

“Oh! Right, there was that…”

We had actually carved a message on the massive gate. It read:

THROUGH THESE GATES, THE WEAK ARE UNWORTHY TO PASS

So how were they gonna react to that?

“I’d love to see what they do when they read it,” said Ramiris.

“Indeed, if it were me, I’d snap and come storming through the gate. Although, I’d nonetheless keep my troops at bay,” added Benimaru.

I’m sure that was exactly what Benimaru would do. Trap or not, he’d totally ram his way in.

“I would pay it no mind. I am all-powerful!”

Yeah, sure, Veldora. I didn’t ask you.

“Me, I dunno… If Beretta insisted on going, then I guess I’d follow along, that kind of thing?”

Ramiris… If you’d be too scared of it, then don’t press your luck, okay? And you name-dropping Beretta is just making him snicker.

“If anyone is foolish enough to ignore that warning, they forfeit their right to Sir Rimuru’s mercy. They have no right to complain about what happens.”

I didn’t know why he was looking so gleeful about it, but yeah, Diablo was correct. This message did have the nuance of a warning, after all.

“Of course, if they’re too much of a coward to go through the gate, they deserve to be in this battlefield in the first place. We must annihilate them all and make them understand the folly of antagonizing Sir Rimuru!”

Shion? If you put it that way, then we’re all gonna have to fight ourselves, aren’t we? Can you maybe think a little before you provide advice in the future? You’re making Geld crack up.

Really, though, the rest of my main staff were of similar minds. Super motivated, all of them, and super eager to dedicate more victories to me. Testarossa and Ultima donated a whole bunch of souls. Whether they knew that or not, everybody here seemed eager to follow in the pair’s footsteps.

Testarossa—or demons in general, really—apparently have a taste for the residual emotions left in each of those souls. There are assorted ways of consuming these, but Testarossa told me she loves to see faces frozen in fear the most. That smile of hers really is scary. I probably would’ve been petrified pre-reincarnation, but by this point, well, that’s how it is.

Which is fine and good for demons, but what about the other monsters? It’s not like they’d know what to do with the souls they’ve collected. I learned about all this only a few moments ago, besides, and I’m still wondering why it’s this big competition now. I’m sure it’s like the spoils of war for them or something, but I really don’t need those kind of spoils…

…Seven hundred thousand, though, huh? If we really did score all those, that meant I could awaken seven more people. The fact that thoughts like this were naturally coming into my mind now was frightening, but…

…No, no, no. I gotta stay firm with myself. Can’t have my mind turn monster on me. With that resolve in mind, I faced the big screen.

“They’re on the move.”

Row upon row of imperial soldiers were now moving in formation, calmly storming the gate as if they weren’t scared at all.

“Just as planned,” I muttered. If at least half of them can go in for us, it’d make things a lot easier later…”

Benimaru gave this a calm smile. “I have no intention of letting even a single soldier escape. I’ll go in, too, if need be.”

Geld nodded. “My Second Corps has approximately seventeen thousand troops. Compare us by numbers, and it looks dire, but in ability, we don’t miss a beat. We can take advantage of the terrain to entrap the enemy.”

“Great to hear. And if I burn the inner halls with my flames, anyone left standing oughtta be strong enough to put up a worthy challenge.”

“I’m sure Carrera would be glad to help with that. She’s been wanting to let off some steam for a while now, so I’m sure she’ll be eager to exercise her skills.”

“No, there’s no doubting the power of a Primal. It’s a tough act to follow.”

Hang on. This conversation was going a lot differently than I expected. Benimaru and Geld were going on like this was already won. Real bold of them, considering how I was still a little worried about this. Carrera had become a part of their strategy as a matter of course, too; there wasn’t even a shred of hesitation about tapping a Primal’s power.

“That’s not fair, Benimaru! If we’re aiming to wipe out our foes, that’s where I come in!”

Even Shion was stepping up. Yet again, she’d forgotten that she was supposed to be bodyguarding me… But then, there was no place safer for me than the Control Center. Team Reborn, the force Shion led, prided themselves in their relentless tenacity. It’d be a shame to leave them idle this whole time, so if this turned into a ground melee, I’d like to get them out there.

So…yeah, I could see myself giving deployment orders to Shion if she wanted them, but…

“Shion, calm down. We need to gain an accurate gauge of what the enemy’s doing first. Depending on how things go, though, I may need to tap your abilities, yeah.”

She’d have to be content with that for now.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… If Sir Rimuru needs a bodyguard, I alone can more than fit the bill.”

Well, if Diablo’s volunteering for that, then if things really get hairy, we could call Testarossa and Ultima back. They can teleport in no time flat, after all.

“If you say so, Sir Rimuru, then fine. In that case, you’ll be up, Shion.”