Because Ren Kuroda had become an Awakened Demon Lord, the strength of Medea and the other spirits under his command—such as the Samurai Spirit—had also risen accordingly.
At this point, the Demonic Power Crystals and Spiritual Power Crystals Ren carried on him no longer had any meaningful effect on them.
But when it came to dealing with the mere subordinates of a Demon Lord, Ren felt their current level of strength was already more than sufficient.
Meanwhile, the ten thousand soldiers of the Kingdom of Falmuth, after undergoing a round of refinement through the Spiritual Power Crystals, were brimming with excitement.
Most of them had originally chosen to remain behind because of Ren himself—his charisma, his presence as a leader. And judging by the results now, it seemed their decision had truly been the right one.
Of course, Ren was not wealthy enough to hand out a Low-Grade Spiritual Power Crystal to every single one of the ten thousand soldiers. However, rotating their usage among units was still entirely feasible.
As things stood, those ten thousand Falmuth soldiers felt as if their combat power had skyrocketed.
Each of them now believed their strength could easily rival that of elite adventurers.
And under the amplification magic of Medea, a mage from the Age of Gods, they could clearly feel it—their speed had increased, their strength had grown, and even their physical endurance had improved dramatically.
Their reserves of magical energy had expanded. Their bodies had become stronger.
Naturally, the anxiety that had weighed on them before vanished completely.
At this point, forget fighting ordinary monsters—even if someone told them to go hunt a dragon, they felt bold enough to give it a try.
As for the other nobles and military forces of Falmuth, watching this army with their own eyes left them utterly stunned.
None of them had expected that Ren was not only monstrously powerful himself…but could mass-produce powerful warriors as well.
Leaving aside the transformation of those ten thousand soldiers for the moment, Alice's evolution alone had already made the nobles of Falmuth green with envy.
Even Alice's own father wore a complicated expression when he sparred with his daughter after her transformation.
With a single swing of her sword, Alice carved a deep trench into the ground—so powerful that the shockwave destroyed half the courtyard.
Her father stood there in silence.
He himself had trained in martial arts for decades and fought on countless battlefields. Though he had never quite reached the level of the kingdom's former strongest knight commander, Falken, he had never been far behind either.
And yet now his daughter had leapt straight to the top.
Defeating him was effortless.
According to Alice herself, Ren had merely given her a few beautiful crystals…and pressed a few points on her body.
"…His Majesty Ren plans to depart tomorrow. If I go to the palace tonight and swear my loyalty, would it still be in time?" her father muttered seriously.
"Alice has certainly grown stronger… but when it comes to commanding troops, I believe your father should—"
"Stop embarrassing yourself. What the hell were you doing earlier?"
A stern voice interrupted him.
Duke Brance stepped out from the house and scolded him mercilessly.
"Do you think His Majesty Ren is an idiot? Crystals that can increase someone's strength like that are obviously incredibly rare. Do you really think His Majesty needs Alice's combat ability?"
"He simply admired her attitude and rewarded the loyalty she showed him."
"And those monsters His Majesty summoned last night—you felt it too, didn't you? That overwhelming demonic energy. It's power that ordinary humans could never hope to reach."
Alice's father had originally planned to rush to the royal palace and volunteer for the campaign.
But Duke Brance stopped him on the spot.
At present, the Brance family—especially Alice—had earned Ren's favor. The duke had no intention of letting his foolish son ruin that by acting rashly.
With Alice's current strength, she had effectively reached the pinnacle of human power.
As for the Church's so-called strongest weapon, Hinata, Duke Brance did not know exactly how powerful she was.
But he did know one thing:
Even relying solely on Alice's strength now would be enough to ensure the Brance family remained prosperous for the next hundred years.
The following day, Ren and his army departed under the enthusiastic send-off of the people of Falmuth.
Compared to the aristocracy, the ordinary citizens held a strangely fervent admiration for Ren.
To them, their king was practically a god descended from the heavens.
This expedition to defeat a Demon Lord?
Surely it was just because the king had grown bored of ruling and felt like trying out the role of a hero for a change.
After finishing the internal affairs of Falmuth and spending another day traveling toward the Great Jura Forest, Ren and his forces finally arrived at Rimuru's territory.
By the time they reached the town, two full days had passed.
However, when Ren approached the city gates with his army and saw the streets—
broken structures, damaged roads, and buildings still undergoing repair—
he froze.
A troubling thought immediately crossed his mind.
Did Clayman learn about our plans and strike first?
But that didn't make sense.
If Clayman had attacked Rimuru's town, there was no way Rimuru wouldn't have contacted him.
As Ren's large force entered the town, the residents reacted like startled birds, instantly becoming wary.
A group suddenly appeared in front of them.
Several adventurers, led by a familiar party.
Alongside them stood a demon dressed in a butler's uniform, with black hair and crimson eyes.
When Rimuru awakened as an Awakened Demon Lord, his direct subordinates—such as Benimaru and Gobuta—had received his blessing and fallen into a deep sleep as part of the process.
At present, sleeping monsters were practically everywhere throughout the Monster Federation.
The nation's defenses were, in effect, almost nonexistent.
The group confronting Ren consisted of the Kid Trio, Youmu's party, and the majin Myuran.
The demon in the butler's attire was a being Rimuru had summoned before falling asleep—a demon called forth using the twenty thousand corpses left behind after the battle.
According to Rimuru before he entered his slumber, the allied forces of the Western Nations and the Church had already been completely dealt with.
However, judging from Ren's group's clothing, they clearly seemed to come from one of those Western nations—and they had arrived with a massive army.
Naturally, this made Youmu and the others extremely cautious.
"This can't be right… These people aren't normal humans. With just our strength, we don't stand a chance…"
Youmu and the others were ordinary humans.
Because their strength was limited, they only felt that Ren's group was troublesome due to sheer numbers, failing to notice anything more alarming.
But Myuran, being a majin, stared at Ren's forces with a pale face.
"…Impossible."
Ren's strength was far beyond her level, and because he had concealed his aura, she could not sense him directly.
However, not every great yokai standing beside him had bothered to hide their presence.
The demonic energy radiating from several of Ren's companions was overwhelming.
In Myuran's perception, they were existences far beyond anything her group could possibly fight.
Even the demon known as the Primordial Black, standing nearby, wore a rare look of seriousness as he observed Ren's group.
His strength exceeded Myuran's, allowing him to perceive even more.
Those powerful monsters radiating immense demonic energy were formidable—but not completely unbeatable.
The true problem…was the young man standing at the center of them all.
Ren Kuroda.
He wasn't releasing even the slightest aura.
And yet—
Simply standing before him made the Primordial Black feel the skin across his entire body tremble.
This wasn't a matter of whether they could win or lose.
If that man wished to kill them…
they wouldn't even be given a single chance to escape.
At that moment, Myuran quickly stepped forward.
"Lord Ren… you've finally arrived."
"There have been… some developments over the past few days regarding Lord Rimuru."