Rimuru looked at the giant Orc standing before her, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
'Is this the Orc Lord? He seems weaker than I imagined!'
Unlike the original story, with Kaito and Shizue's guidance, Rimuru had grown considerably stronger than her original-story counterpart.
At this point, the Orc Lord had not yet devoured Gelmud, which was why he felt relatively weak to her.
Speak of the devil. Without warning, a figure came crashing down from the sky and landed between Rimuru and the Orc Lord.
The impact threw up a large cloud of dust. When it cleared, what stood before everyone was a demon wearing a bird's head mask.
It was none other than the majin Gelmud, who had rushed over after parting ways with Laplace of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance.
Seeing Gelmud appear before her, Rimuru murmured quietly, "A majin?"
Watching the Orc ranks thin out at a terrifying rate, Gelmud raised his gentleman's cane and pointed it at Rimuru, his voice shaking with fury.
"What do you think you're doing?! You've ruined Gelmud's meticulously laid plans!"
Hearing the name Gelmud, Rimuru recalled something Rigurd had told her before.
'Gelmud? Isn't that the majin who bestowed a name upon Rigurd's eldest son, Rigur?'
[Answer: Yes... yes, it is!]
Gelmud raised his hands and roared.
"I was just a hair's breadth away from cultivating a new Demon Lord who would be completely obedient to me!"
"A new Demon Lord?"
"That's right... I..."
Kaito listened to Gelmud's endless speech about his grand plan and couldn't help but frown.
'I came to watch a fight, not to sit through a monologue. Good heavens, will you ever stop?!'
Kaito raised his hand and lightly flicked at Gelmud's image in the water mirror.
"Ah ah ah! Who is it! Who's attacking me! Show yourself!"
Gelmud clutched his forehead and crouched on the ground, screaming wildly, completely oblivious to the Orc Lord who had crept up behind him.
The Orc Lord, now directly behind Gelmud, raised the greatsword in his hand and brought it straight down on Gelmud's neck.
"Pfft!"
"Why... why!"
As the greatsword fell, Gelmud's body and head split apart in an instant. His head hit the ground, eyes still wide with disbelief.
"This... the Orc Lord actually killed Gelmud!"
Rimuru exclaimed in surprise, watching the Orc Lord frantically devour Gelmud's corpse.
With each passing moment, the Orc Lord's aura grew more terrifying as the magicules within his body surged rapidly.
[Confirmation complete! The Orc Lord, the individual named Geld, is experiencing a rapid increase in magicules and has begun evolving into a Demon Lord Seed!]
'Is that the Demon Lord Seed Kai-chan told me about earlier?'
[Answer: Yes!]
[The individual named Geld has evolved into the Orc Disaster!]
"The Orc Disaster!"
Looking at the fully evolved Geld before her, Rimuru recalled what Kaito had told her before they set out.
One day ago...
"Rimuru! If you run into the Orc Lord and he's about to evolve into a Demon Lord Seed, let him finish evolving, alright?"
Rimuru looked at Kaito in confusion. "If I let him finish evolving, won't he be even harder to kill?"
Kaito smiled mysteriously. "Just trust me on this one. Once he finishes evolving, don't fight him. Use [Predator] straight away. Don't worry, he can't devour you. There'll be a nice surprise once you absorb him!"
"Alright, I'll listen to you, Kai-chan!"
Back to the present.
'I really want to try out [Great Sage]'s abilities, but since Kai-chan said to use [Predator], then here I go!'
Thinking this, Rimuru instantly shed her humanoid form and launched herself at Geld in her true slime form.
"A Slime? With that much magical power, and it's a Slime?!"
Geld stared in disbelief at the Slime charging toward him in her true form.
But his body moved regardless. He conjured several magicule tentacles and sent them lashing toward the approaching Rimuru.
"Whoosh..."
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Rimuru's small body twisted and darted between the tentacle strikes, closing the distance to Geld at frightening speed until she was right in front of him.
"Devouring isn't your exclusive right!"
With that, Rimuru expanded into a massive watery net that wrapped itself around Geld's entire body.
"Whoever completely devours the other first, wins!"
"Aah aah aah!"
Feeling the Slime coiling around him and beginning to consume him, Geld stretched out both hands and tore frantically at Rimuru's body. But her regeneration far exceeded anything he had imagined. The more he tore away, the more she spread, until his entire body was engulfed.
Benimaru and the others, having finished off their own opponents, looked on at the Orc Disaster being consumed by Rimuru with visible unease.
"Will Rimuru-sama be alright?"
"Should we go help? If something happens to Rimuru-sama, how are we going to explain it to Kaito-sama?!"
Hakurou considered for a moment, then said, "I think it best we do not interfere. Since Rimuru-sama chose to do this herself, she must have her reasons. If we force our way in, we may disrupt her plan."
Though Benimaru found Hakurou's reasoning sound, his worry for Rimuru still pushed the words out of him.
"But... Rimuru-sama, she..."
"Benimaru! Don't worry. Just watch quietly. She will be fine."
"Kaito-sama!"
Benimaru, still conflicted, suddenly heard a voice in his ear and cried out in surprise.
"What! Kaito-sama! Where is he?!"
Shion, hearing Benimaru mention Kaito, frantically spun around searching for him.
"Yes! Understood, Kaito-sama!"
Having replied, Benimaru couldn't help but rub his temple as he looked at Shion, who was still scanning every direction.
"Kaito-sama isn't here! I just received a telepathic message from him. He says to watch quietly, Rimuru-sama will be fine."
"Oh thank goodness! If Kaito-sama says she'll be fine, then she definitely will be!"
Everyone present let out a breath of relief. Their trust in Kaito's words was absolute.
It was well known that Kaito was the pillar everyone leaned on. As long as he was there, they feared nothing.
Meanwhile, deep inside the inner world of the Orc Disaster.
In a desolate inner world of parched, cracked earth, Geld stood with his back to Rimuru and spoke of his past.
"That man told me that as long as I became the Orc Lord and kept devouring, my clansmen would not have to die. Even knowing I was being used as a pawn for someone else's scheme, that was the only choice I had. So I had to keep devouring."
"Even if you are a Slime who can devour all things, I absolutely cannot become your meal!"
Rimuru stood in a single ray of sunlight that cut through the grey world, bringing a touch of warmth to the barren landscape. She too had her back to Geld.
"When it comes to devouring, I have the advantage. You were always going to lose."
Geld's voice was heavy with suffering.
"I devoured every monster I could find. I even devoured Gelmud. I even consumed my own kin. And still my clansmen suffer from hunger. I absolutely cannot lose!"
As his voice grew faint, Geld's figure slowly collapsed to the ground.
"This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. You have already lost. And so you will die."
Rimuru looked down at Geld lying on the cracked earth, and her voice carried a hint of reluctance.
"I cannot lose. If I die, my kin will have to bear the sins alone. I am not afraid of my own grave sins. I just want my kin to never know hunger again. I am willing to bear all the hunger in this world by myself."
Rimuru, her body flowing like a long river of Slime across the broken ground, answered him.
"Even so, you cannot escape death. But don't worry. I will devour your sins, and the sins of your kin as well."
Geld's voice came faintly, barely above a whisper in his final moments.
"Devour my sins and the sins of my kin... you truly are insatiable..."
His voice faded, and with it, the weight he had carried so long. Geld let go of his mission and slowly closed his eyes.
Rimuru looked at him lying there at peace, and spoke quietly.
"Yes. I am that insatiable... Kai-chan, I am greedy too. I want to stay by your side forever."
Far away, on the distant mountaintop overlooking the battlefield, the sun finally crested the horizon. Morning light spread across the land, as if heralding the start of something new.
[Confirmation complete! The Orc Disaster has disappeared!]
"Whoosh..."
Rimuru, back in her humanoid form, gazed at the rising sun and whispered softly.
"Rest in peace, Geld."