Ren Kuroda studied the man standing before him—Veldora, the Storm Dragon.
Even though Veldora was clearly using a skill to suppress his magicules, Ren could still feel the overwhelming ocean of power swirling within him. The sheer volume of magicules was staggering.
In terms of raw magical energy alone, the Storm Dragon Veldora was likely on the same level as Demon Lord Milim.
But if the two of them actually fought…
Ren was fairly certain Veldora would lose.
The reason was simple. Milim possessed the ultimate skill "Wrathful King," which allowed her magicule output to break past its limits whenever her anger rose. On top of that, she was the only daughter of the Star-King Dragon, and the equipment she carried was leagues beyond anything Veldora had access to.
Calling her the princess of this world wouldn't feel out of place at all.
"Even though I already saw you while I was inside Rimuru," Veldora said, grinning widely, "this is our first proper meeting, isn't it?"
He crossed his arms while looking Ren up and down.
"You're absurdly strong, you know that? To fight my big brother's daughter like that… you've got guts."
His grin widened further.
"Are all reincarnators from other worlds monsters like you? For ordinary Demon Lords, awakening usually takes hundreds of years. Yet the two of you pulled it off in such a ridiculously short time."
While Ren was sizing up the Storm Dragon, Veldora was doing the same.
Before long, Veldora had already reached his own conclusion.
If the strength Ren had shown during his battle with Milim was everything he had, then Ren probably couldn't defeat him.
But if Ren still had some hidden trump card…
Then the outcome would be much harder to predict.
Still, comparing them like that was hardly fair.
How many thousands of years had Veldora lived?
And how long had it been since Rimuru and Ren Kuroda arrived in this world from another dimension?
Veldora understood something very clearly.
Just like the manga he had devoured while inside Rimuru's stomach, characters like Ren and Rimuru were the kind who possessed the legendary "protagonist aura."
Anyone who stood against them was destined to have a bad ending.
If you couldn't defeat someone like that…
Then the smartest choice was simple—don't become their enemy.
Fortunately, Rimuru had a great relationship with Ren.
And Veldora had a great relationship with Rimuru.
Which meant that, after a bit of logical rearranging—
Ren naturally had a great relationship with him, too.
After reading so many manga while sealed inside Rimuru, Veldora had finally figured out why he'd been sealed away in the past.
It was obvious now.
He had picked the wrong side.
The Hero had been the protagonist, while he himself had been the evil dragon.
Under those circumstances, if he hadn't been sealed away, that would've been the real injustice.
But things were different now.
No matter how he looked at it, Ren and Rimuru were clearly the main characters of this story—the chosen ones blessed by fate.
And he?
He was now standing firmly on the protagonists' side.
No—more accurately—
He was the dragon on the protagonists' side.
From here on out, no matter who they faced, it would basically be a dragon-riding face-roll victory.
That, Veldora concluded with great satisfaction, was the overwhelming power of protagonist aura.
While his mind raced through these wild mental scenarios, Veldora even began imagining flashy attack poses he'd seen in manga, already preparing himself to fight heroically on the side of justice this time.
Watching the Storm Dragon devolve into a full-blown chuuni middle-aged man, Rimuru rubbed his forehead with a helpless sigh.
He honestly wondered if he had somehow opened the wrong settings menu.
Why had Veldora turned into… this?
Sure, the old Veldora hadn't exactly been the sharpest knife in the drawer either.
But now things had completely fallen apart.
The legendary name of the Storm Dragon was practically weeping in embarrassment.
Since Rimuru had finally awakened, the first order of business was naturally dealing with the various administrative matters piling up in the city.
The most urgent task was extracting information from Myulan regarding Demon Lord Clayman—such as the structure of his forces and the factions under his command.
At the same time, preparations for war also had to begin.
The army Ren had brought with him needed to be integrated with Rimuru's monster forces so that the combined army could operate under a unified command structure.
However, as Rimuru repeatedly double-checked details and asked question after question with meticulous care, Myulan couldn't help feeling somewhat speechless.
As one of Clayman's "Ten Fingers," Myulan was well aware of many of Clayman's capabilities. She had personally witnessed the terrifying surge of magicules he released when enraged.
But to put it bluntly—
Clayman might seem powerful to ordinary majins or monsters.
Yet compared to the people currently sitting in this room…
He could only be described as small fry.
And this wasn't exaggeration in the slightest.
In fact, Myulan even felt that with Rimuru's current lineup, they could simply steamroll forward without thinking and Clayman still wouldn't stand a chance.
After all, Clayman might be one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, but at best he was merely a Demon Lord in title.
Meanwhile, on Rimuru's side…
There were two Awakened Demon Lords, plus the Storm Dragon Veldora.
Any one of those three individuals alone stood at the absolute pinnacle of power in this world.
And that wasn't even mentioning their subordinates.
Leaving aside the countless lesser troops, just looking at the executive officers was already enough to make the comparison ridiculous.
Clayman's strongest followers were known as the Ten Fingers, powerful majins and magical beasts.
Myulan herself was one of them.
Although most of them were controlled by Clayman through magical means, their strength was indeed quite formidable compared to ordinary majins or monsters.
But "formidable" depended on who you were comparing them to.
Setting everything else aside, just looking at the subordinates brought by Ren and Rimuru…
Myulan was fairly certain she couldn't defeat any of them.
No—
It wasn't even a question of winning or losing.
They simply existed on completely different levels.
Because Ren and Rimuru were Awakened Demon Lords, the gap between them and Myulan was far too large for her to measure their true strength.
But among their subordinates—
Shion, Benimaru, Geld, Medea, Wiz, and several others—
each of them gave Myulan the same oppressive feeling she experienced when facing Clayman himself.
In other words…
Just the subordinates of these two Awakened Demon Lords already possessed strength comparable to that of a so-called "title Demon Lord."
As for the other officers, while not quite as outrageous as those few monsters, they were still well beyond the level of ordinary high-ranking majins or magical beasts.
With a force like this…
What strategy was even necessary?
Myulan honestly believed that dealing with Clayman wouldn't require the three terrifying heavyweights in front of her to act at all.
Sending two or three of their executives would probably be enough to completely solve the problem.
"Thank you for the information," Rimuru said sincerely.
"After what happened last time, I don't want to overlook anything again. I won't underestimate Clayman anymore."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"And because of Ren's concerns, we're also considering the possibility that our actions might anger the other Demon Lords. Myulan, do you know anything about them?"
If they were only dealing with Clayman, Ren and the others naturally wouldn't need to go through such elaborate preparations.
What they truly feared was humiliating one of the Ten Great Demon Lords so badly that the others might decide to overturn the table entirely.
Unfortunately, Myulan was only a high-ranking majin under Clayman.
Her knowledge about the other Demon Lords wasn't much greater than what Benimaru and the others already knew.
"Just to be safe," Ren said after a moment of thought, turning to Rimuru,"we should contact Milim and ask her to lend a hand if things get messy."
He added casually,
"Even if she can't help much, at least she won't jump into the battlefield and cause trouble."
As Myulan walked out of the meeting room, she overheard Ren saying those words.
Her foot slipped slightly, and she nearly stumbled.
Two Awakened Demon Lords.
The Storm Dragon Veldora.
And now they were planning to bring in Milim the Dragon-Majin Tyrant as well.
This wasn't an operation to defeat Clayman.
This was practically a plan to wipe out all Ten Demon Lords in one sweep.