As Zaydas' aura expanded, he saw two notifications that caught his attention:
[Announcement. You have reached the level of a [Demon Lord Seed]!]
[Announcement. The skills: [Body Armor], [Dragon Scales], [Dragon Eye], [Dragon Shift], [Dragon Body], and [Dragon Aura] have fused and become a Unique Skill: [Diabolic Dragon (Rank S)]!]
He didn't even know when he had gained [Dragon Aura], but it was easy to assume it happened when he almost lost consciousness as his power leaked out.
His aura started to lose stability, returning to his body.
[+435,483 AP!]
Bending his right arm forward, Zaydas opened and closed his hand. The strength in his grip was incredible. He had become several times stronger now.
Taking a deep breath, he murmured in his mind: 'Status.'
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|Name: [Zaydas Gremory]
|Race: [Hybrid: Devil/Homo Magi]
|Rank: [Satan-Class Devil] / [Rank S]
|Title: [Count], [King], [Zaydas Gremory Tempest], [Chosen Hero], [Quetzalcoatl], [Demon Lord Seed]
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|Intrinsic skills: [Demonic Power (Rank S)], [Power of Destruction (Rank S)], [Magicules (Rank S)], [Ultraspeed Regeneration (Rank S-)]
|Ultimate skills: [Merlin, Lord of Magic], [Loki, Master of Puppeteers]
|Other skills: [Dimensional Jump (Rank S+)], [Healthy Body (Rank A+)], [All-Purpose Farming Tool (Rank S-)], [Angel Wings (Rank B+)], [Blood Drain (Rank A-)], [Vampirism (Rank B+)], [Ultrasonic Wave (Rank B+)]
|Unique skills: [Program (Rank A+)], [Modeling (Rank A+)], [Degenerate (Rank S-)], [Shadow Predator (Rank S)], [Diabolic Dragon (Rank S)]
|Extra skills: [Magic Detector (Rank S-)], [Thought Acceleration (Rank A)], [Analytical Appraisal (Rank A)], [Haki (Rank B+)], [Shadow Motion (Rank A-)], [Explosive Flames (Rank A)], [Body Double (Rank B+)], [Spatial Storage (Rank A)], [Steel Strength (Rank A)], [Strengthen Body (Rank A)], [Black Thunder (Rank A)], [Corrosion (Rank A)], [Dissolve (Rank B)], [Absorption (Rank B)]
|Holy Spirit Quetzalcoatl Skills (Special S): [Light Transformation], [Holy Light], [Divine Judgment], [Spiritual Protection]
|Resistance Skills: [Paralysis Resistance (Rank C+)], [Poison Resistance (Rank C+)], [Magic Resistance (Rank B+)]
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|Achievement Points (AP): [800,155]
|Equipment: [Evil Pieces]
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It was simply a breathtaking scene. Not only had he improved himself, but all of his skills had also undergone some enhancement.
Benimaru and the others moved to stand before him.
"Zaydas-sama, it's good to see you well!" Benimaru said.
Shion stepped forward and hugged him.
"Calm down, Shion," Zaydas said, making no effort to push her away, instead hugging her back and patting her on the back. "I'm fine, actually, more than fine."
Souei asked, "Zaydas-sama, if I may ask… what exactly happened?"
"Kufufu." Zaydas let out a villainous chuckle. "My power has basically tripled."
Upon hearing that, several gasps echoed.
If he was already considered a powerful being before… now that his power had tripled, just how strong had he become?
Little did they know that this estimate was only based on his raw power, without even considering the skills that had significantly improved.
"Shion-san, you've been clinging to him for too long!" Asia intervened.
"Asia, I thought you were on my side." Shion looked hurt at her.
"This is this, that is that," Asia said in her cute voice, making a separating gesture with her hands.
By the way, behind Rurushi was a Blood Orc General, and Tia had also succeeded—behind her stood a Radiant Orc General.
Besides these Orc Generals, there were several common Orcs and hundreds of regular soldiers.
'I'll try to make their common soldiers fuse and evolve later,' Zaydas thought.
He hadn't considered doing so before because they had too few common soldiers. However, now that they had many, even if the fusion failed, it wouldn't be a huge loss.
{"I found the Orc Lord."}
Everyone heard Rimuru's voice.
"Zaydas-sama..."
Without letting Benimaru finish what he was about to say, Zaydas interrupted him: "Let's go there too!"
"""Yes!"""
They let out a war cry.
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In a spacious conference room, there were powerful beings, but strangely, the room was enveloped in complete silence.
The various shadows of men and women were seated around the large round meeting table. A large crystal sphere, the type used by seers to view certain images, such as scenes from other locations, was nestled in the middle of the table.
From the lowest seat, near the entrance of the room, a man was casting some kind of spell toward the sphere.
The man dressed as a clown. The name of this clown is Gelmudo. He is the one in charge of this meeting and is also responsible for a certain project.
A project he has been working on for many years, and that project is to bring forth a new Demon Lord. In the name of his own ambition, the project must not end in failure.
And so, the final day of the project had finally arrived. He managed to invite the four capricious "Demon Lords."
'It has to succeed at any cost,' Gelmudo thought. After all, it is impossible to make a Demon Lord move with money.
For that, you would need things that attract their interest, such as prey or a rare Magic Tool (Artifacts). Either way, it was necessary to pay a very valuable compensation.
This time, Gelmudo had succeeded in making the four Demon Lords move. In other words, the compensation he paid was sufficient. When the time comes for the birth of a new Demon Lord, the other Demon Lords do not remain silent.
If a fool were to freely proclaim themselves a Demon Lord, they would be killed because they would invoke the wrath of the Demon Lords. Furthermore, if there were such a person who could turn the tables against an enraged Demon Lord...
Such a person, if they had the ability, would be recognized as a Demon Lord. In these last few hundred years, there has been no birth of a Demon Lord with such ability. The last born Demon Lord was the human "Demon Lord" Leon Cromwell.
With his overwhelming magical power, he increased the number of Majin (demonic beings) under his control and proclaimed himself the Demon Lord of the frontier.
One of the Demon Lords, who was furious with him, the Magic King (Curse Lord), had waged war against him. But instead, he was killed by Leon. He was also defeated by Leon's own hands.
In response to the situation, the other Demon Lords recognized him as a new Demon Lord. But a Demon Lord with such ability was not a common occurrence.
Therefore, to claim a stranger as a Demon Lord, it was necessary to obtain the support of at least three or more Demon Lords. If you messed with the new Demon Lord, the supporting Demon Lords would become opponents at the same time—that was the expectation.
And following such procedures, for the sake of the birth of the new Demon Lord, Gelmudo was excited because of his ambition. This time, to turn the Orc Lord into a Demon Lord, one more step was necessary.
For the bored Demon Lords, he prepared the stage for the Demon Lord's birth as a spectacle. It was for their amusement, which was one of the conditions for support.
Of course, that was not all. He would also give them magical equipment (magic items) and magical tools (artifacts). For Gelmudo, this was the gamble of a lifetime. The Orc Lord had to eat the Goblins and the Lizardmen to evolve as a Demon Lord.
Today was the day when everything would end. To become a Demon Lord and obtain support at the same time, one must devastate a human city. By doing so, it would become the news of the birth of a new Demon Lord.
If such things happened, Gelmudo's ambition would be fulfilled. By manipulating the Orc Lord from the shadows, he would be on equal footing with the other Demon Lords.
And yet...
There was no reaction from the crystal ball. Gelmudo grew impatient.
'This is bad,' he thought.
He didn't want to imagine what would happen if he offended the Demon Lord who was eagerly awaiting the show.
'It won't project! There's nothing that can be done.' At that moment, he wondered if he was about to become minced meat.
Even if he wasn't killed, he could be cursed to become minced meat, leaving only his consciousness intact.
'It's no use. I don't want to imagine that anymore.' Gelmudo quickly cast the spell again, but there was still no reaction from the crystal ball.
"Hey... what are you doing?" A voice colder than ice echoed.
The room fell silent, the intimidation was enough to disrupt Gelmudo's spell.
Gelmudo panicked, sweat dripping all over his body.
"P-please wait! I will determine the cause immediately!" His instincts told him that if he left things as they were, it would be bad.
However...
"Creak!"
A sound of something grinding as if it were being crushed was heard. But before that...
"Bang~~ggg!"
From Gelmudo's right side, something large flew at high speed and crashed into the back door with a thunderous sound.
One of the Demon Lords, a small and beautiful girl with silver hair, stood up and threw the large round table with her left hand.
She used no skill whatsoever.
The desk alone accounted for several percent of a small country's state budget; it was a masterpiece made of fragrant, carved wood.
The heavy back door was decorated with elaborate embellishments. Now, it was just a massive hole in the building's wall. One could see it miserably destroyed—such a thing had happened.
"You... are you treating me like an idiot?" the girl said. Her name was Frey.
Gelmudo could not even mutter his words properly due to fear: "P-p-please forgive me!!! I will confirm the cause immediately!!!"
"Really? Then do it quickly," Frey said. "Since I am generous, I will wait!"
'What part of you is generous?!' Though he didn't even have time to think about that.
Gelmudo trembled in fear, the door had been destroyed by the table that flew out through the now large hole in the wall.
The conference room was on the 3rd floor, but he could no longer be concerned with appearances. He jumped out and began chanting a flight movement spell.
His ambition had dissipated. What occupied Gelmudo's thoughts now was that he didn't want to die—nothing else. He wasn't mocking the Demon Lord. That was the truth...
But, it was seen as if he were mocking them. Gelmudo took pride in being a high-ranking demon. That's why he thought he was capable of putting up a good fight against a Demon Lord.
With speed reaching the speed of sound, Gelmudo flew toward the swamps.
But it was not for his ambition. It was because, to survive, he needed to fix his mistake with all his strength.
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As they advanced, they killed every Orc in their path. Before Hakurou, a group of Orcs stood like a wall of flesh, trying to block his advance.
However, there was no battle, not even a sound... In an instant, Hakurou appeared behind them, while all of them had been cut down without even knowing when it had happened.
Magical circles appeared right below the bodies, not only to prevent the Orcs from eating and continuing to grow stronger through cannibalism but also as a useful source of energy to keep improving him.
Unlike Rimuru, he wouldn't wait for problems to come knocking on his door to become stronger. Until now, Rimuru had barely used [Devour] on the Orcs. It was a huge waste, to say the least.
Soon, they arrived at the location where Rimuru was hovering.
And then, they saw the Orc Lord. A monstrous and ugly pig. Its dull yellow eyes were full of hostility, and it released its aura. In response to the aura, all the Orc soldiers seemed to overflow with power...
"Kiiiinn!!"
A harsh sound was heard.
Zaydas' [Magic Perception] detected someone flying at supersonic speed in the distance.
It was a man dressed as a clown, wearing a strange mask with a crow-like beak and round glasses attached to the brown mask.
"Boom!"
That clown landed right in the middle of the swamps, crashing between the two armies in conflict.
'Rank A...' A bit surprising, but not too much.
Although he had the magicules of a Rank A, it didn't mean he possessed power equivalent to a Rank A like Shion and the others.
Any of them could kill him if they so desired.
Zaydas landed on the ground, followed by Shion, Asia, and the rest.
The clown-like man looked at Zaydas and then shouted loudly, stomping his foot on the ground while holding his cane, looking like a spoiled child who had been deprived of playing with their phone: "What the hell is all this!? How dare you ruin Gelmudo-sama's plan like this!!!"
The expressions of the Onis changed. Shion tightened her grip on her Odachi's hilt.
Benimaru stood beside Zaydas, and if permitted, he would slice this clown into pieces right now.
On the other side, Hakurou did not utter a single word, keeping only one eye open, but in that eye was an infinite coldness that was about to erupt.
Zaydas wanted to dig a grave for this entire clown who was simply confessing his crimes before his furious victims.
Acting like a big shot when, in reality, he wasn't all that.
Then the clown pointed his finger at the Orc Lord and said: "You useless, stubborn fool! All because you didn't evolve into a Demon Lord even after eating the lizards and that ogre trash! Making the great Gelmudo-sama come all the way here, what a mess!!!"
The Lizardmen who were followers of Gabil looked at Gelmudo in confusion. At first, this so-called Gelmudo was a powerful being who had given Gabil his name. But in the end, was everything just this clown's plan, and was it his fault that Gabil died?
"Damn you...! You deceived Gabil-sama!!!"
When one Lizardman said that, several others joined in.
"Shut up, you useless bunch who are only good for being food for the Orc Lord!" Gelmudo shouted at them.
Saying this, Gelmudo pointed his hand at them, saying: "Die!" and fired a magic bullet at them.
"We will avenge Gabil-sama!" Gabil's followers shouted at the top of their lungs. A single magic bullet took down five Lizardmen.
Well, maybe because hitting five targets weakened the attack, or maybe they were really very resilient, but none of them died. Gravely injured, but still alive.
"Humble lizards! If you want to die that badly, I will gladly kill all of you! And I'll have the Orc Lord devour your bodies!!!" While saying this, Gelmudo gathered a larger magic sphere in his hand.
"Hey, you." Ria called his attention to her. Smiling, she asked as he looked at her: "Am I beautiful?"
Reflexively, Gelmudo nodded: "Beautiful, very beautiful!"
Smiling, she said: "Then, shoot that at the Orcs, right?"
"Yes, as you wish~!" Then, several were astonished to see that someone with such magical power was actually controlled by Ria.
Gelmudo wasted no time and then launched the red sphere into the air. Soon, the sphere split into multiple smaller spheres, and then several shots were fired, hitting the heads of the Orcs.
"Ria, make him come here and watch the next scene, okay?" Zaydas commanded.
"Yes~" Ria replied cheerfully, then looked at Gelmudo and said: "You, come here."
"Yes." Without the slightest resistance, Gelmudo responded.
Soon, he approached and stood before Ria.
Zaydas touched his shoulder and then did something without anyone noticing.
Right after that, he said: "Benimaru, Shion, Souei, and Hakurou. The Orc Lord is yours, do whatever you want, but leave the body behind. After all, I want my friend here, Rimuru, to devour him."
"Me, devour the Orc Lord's body?" Rimuru pointed at himself.
Zaydas looked at him: "Yes. I have my reasons for wanting you to do this, but if you trust me, this will be something good for you."
"Understood. I trust you." Rimuru responded immediately.
Meanwhile, Shion said with a fierce expression: "Hey, you big pig. How dare you attack our Ogre village!"
"You will pay for the crimes you committed." Benimaru held his samurai-style sword, looking coldly at the Orc Lord.
"So this disgusting creature is the Orc Lord. How deplorable." Hakurou said.
"Revenge? Keep dreaming." The Orc Lord finally reacted, saying indifferently: "It doesn't matter if you're humble Ogres or anything else. I will eat all of you!"
Holding his massive double axe, he began to walk, causing loud footsteps due to his ridiculously fat and tall body.
"Die!" He shouted, slashing toward them, but then, as he raised his hands to attack, he realized that all the weight in his hands had disappeared, and when he lowered them, he saw that both his hands were gone.
"What?" Looking up, he saw Souei controlling threads and holding the Orc Lord's severed arms.
Under his control, Souei made the arms appear in front of Rimuru.
And before the Orc Lord could react, Shion had already appeared before him and, with monstrous strength, attacked from above.
"Booom!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The Orc Lord's scream echoed as his body was split from the shoulder down to the leg.
The sound of flesh tearing resounded as the smaller part separated from the Orc Lord's body, and even when he tried to regenerate, Hakurou moved, and the Orc Lord's pig-like head flew into the sky.
The entire scene was witnessed by Gelmudo, and even under control, his body trembled every time something happened.
However, the Orc Lord was actually still alive. Even without a head, even though he didn't regenerate immediately, strands of flesh began moving toward the head that had rolled onto the ground while the Orc Lord's body remained standing.
"Rimuru-san, this is your chance. Go and devour him." Zaydas said.
Scratching his head, Rimuru took the Orc Lord's arms and approached. Then, he changed from his Blue Slime form, and his body expanded, engulfing the Orc Lord despite his ridiculous size.
Unlike the intense battle when Rimuru devoured the False Supergirl, the Orc Lord didn't resist as much.
In an instant, Rimuru devoured him and then, like an intertwined rope, expanded toward the sky until he returned to normal, taking on a human appearance—a younger and more masculine version of Supergirl.
Zaydas then took a step forward and stood before Gelmudo.
Smiling, he slowly said, syllable by syllable: "I hope you all enjoyed the show. Ah, yes, if you ever get any twisted ideas about touching my people… I don't care who you are, believe me when I say I will eat every single one of you without leaving even the bones behind."
Then, Zaydas stepped back a little more and began to transform.
From a head larger than the Orc Lord's, a green-scaled body with red markings began to take shape, and just below the head, large crimson-feathered wings extended for several meters. As he slithered through the sky, gaining even more altitude, he became a creature stretching for kilometers.
Flying with his massive head hovering near Gelmudo, his blood-red serpent eyes gleamed with malice as he said: "Yes, I am threatening all of you!"
Immediately after, the enormous mouth of the Feathered Serpent swallowed Gelmudo whole.
Then, he soared high into the sky and roared. His roar made the heavens and earth tremble.
This roar did not only reach that battlefield but also echoed even into the farthest reaches of the Jura Forest.
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The Demon Lords watched the scene in silence.
Some swallowed their own saliva, while others turned as pale as sheets.
Yes, they were Demon Lords, but they had not awakened. They were Demon Lords in name only.
"W-Who is that monster?" one of them murmured.
Frey remained silent but then said, "I'm withdrawing."
She didn't seem to want to get involved any further, even though she was the one who had turned Gelmudo's eyes into a "mirror," allowing them to witness the entire scene.
As for that, Gelmudo hadn't even realized she had done something to him, but… it didn't matter anymore. Even if he had known, it was too late—he was dead, and somehow, they had drawn the attention of an unwanted being.
"That power… He must be an awakened Demon Lord, there's no other explanation!" one of them exclaimed, and the rest neither denied nor confirmed it.
Among them, one who had the appearance of a wealthy noble with fine, long lilac-colored hair murmured softly, just enough for himself to hear: "Hmph, bunch of cowards, just wait, I…"
However, even he couldn't feel confident at that moment.
What they had witnessed through the crystal ball was utterly absurd, after all.
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