Ch.8: The Heroes vs The Demon Lord

Rimuru saw a magic portal in front of him.

Ciel-san where is this portal?

[I can't say exactly but it's inside the Orcus Dungeon. Probably the place where the students went].

Ok let's go then.

Rimuru went through the portal and found himself in the middle of the labyrinth.

[Magical perception has detected several people nearby turn right go straight and take the second left].

Ciel-san is reliable as always.

Rimuru followed this path and met up with Commander Meld and the students. Before meeting them he made some rips in his clothes and also threw some dirt on them to make it look like he had been in a fight.

"Meld-san it's me!"

"Rimuru?"

"Rimuru-kun! Are you okay!?"

Shizuku approached and asked.

"Yes I am fine. The knights and I were transported to a room with several monsters."

"And the knights?"

"They... died."

"There's something coming ! on guard!"

Meld turned toward Rimuru and shouted.

The students stood on guard. Most at least, some looked despondent for some reason.

"I see...I expected that, but it's good to see that you are okay."

"It's good to see you guys okay too... Eh? What happened to Shirasaki-san?"

Rimuru saw fainted Kaori being carried and asked Meld.

[She fainted due to great mental pressure].

"She fainted during the fight. We encountered a magical creature called Behemoth and had to flee."

Rimuru realized that something was wrong. Meld was speaking evasively. Rimuru looked around to see if he understood anything and

"Meld-san."

"Yes?"

"Where is my brother?"

Everyone got complicated expressions on their faces. He asked the question they so feared.

"He held the Behemoth so that we could escape and he... passed away"

Rimuru was about to explode with rage when a warning came from Ciel who called thoughtrnto acceleration.

[Warning, the individual Nagumo Hajime is still alive].

How do you know?

After the master's brother and his colleagues were summoned I put a soul mark on him and the other students. This mark informs me if something happens to this person's soul, and if he was dead the mark would be gone].

If he is still alive we have to save him fast!

[There's no need].

Why?

[This labyrinth is made with a magic that nowadays is called Magic of the Age of the Gods. And inside here is a separate dimension. So even if the master's brother dies and his soul dismantles in the air the master has the Superior Ability Void God Azatoth. One of the uses of this magic is 'consumerism' an enhanced version of King Glutton Belzebuth if we use this Skill we can suck up all the magic particles in the air including Souls. After that we could remove the memories of the soul of the master's brother and seek his body to revive him].

Our Ciel gave a very detailed explanation. But wouldn't it be easier to just rescue him?

I have 2 reasons for that.

Wow, come on, tell me. I know you like to show off your intelligence.

I'm not showing off! The 1st reason is that if the master abandons his colleagues now, there's a good chance that some of them won't make it alive. They have received the trauma of seeing their classmate 'die' and they won't be able to fight properly and without the knights here to protect them many could get hurt or even die. And the second reason is that my analysis of the monsters that the master collected revealed that if you ingest them you have a 95% chance of death and a 5% chance of absorbing the strength of the monster you ate].

I don't understand that second reason. Explain further

[Yes!!!]

Why is he so excited to explain? As I thought he is really a show-off.

[If the master's brother wants to survive, he will have no choice but to eat monster meat so as not to starve to death. The master's brother is of non-combatant class and has a very malleable mana because of this. In addition he has little magical power which will make his mana weak, but he is also otherworldly with a soul strengthened by the passage of worlds. With this his chances of fusing with monster flesh will be at an all time high! Then he will gain power and no longer be intimidated by his peers!]

(Hajime's chance also increased by ingesting the ambrosia, but Ciel didn't know that.)

I understand but wouldn't it be better to stop him from dying so it wouldn't be traumatic for him to die and then revive? Because there is still a chance that he won't survive the monsters.

[The best option is to search for him after ensuring the safety of his colleagues].

All right, let's go with this plan then!

Ciel decided to hide from Rimuru that fusing with monster flesh must be extremely painful.

Rimuru deactivated thought acceleration and spoke to Meld in a heavy voice.

"Let's go back to the surface."

He turned around and also asked Ciel to make fake tears fall from his face so the rest of the students wouldn't find his reaction strange.

"Rimuru-kun do you want to talk a little?"

Shizuku asked him in a worried voice.

"No I'm fine." He spoke in a dry tone.

After that they continued their way back to the surface.

●●●

It takes them three days to reach the surface. Meld reported the events to the Kingdom, in the same several of the students told the church that they no longer wanted to go to war. It seems that seeing a fellow student die finally made them understand what a war was.

The students were still at the inn next to the Orcus labyrinth because their rooms in the castle were being prepared and they didn't want to move Kaori too much because she was still unconscious.

Two days later Kaori woke up.

She saw Shizku lying next to her sleeping.

"Shizuku-chan"

Kaori spoke in a tired voice.

"Kaori! You're awake! How are you doing? Do you feel any pain?"

Shizuku hugged her friend and Kaori hugged her back.

"Yeah, I'm fine . I just feel a little sleepy."

"Well sleeping for five days is tiring I guess."

Shizuku helped Kaori sit up as they talked.

"Five days? That long....why... I was in the dungeon... and..."

Shizuku who saw that she was remembering was going to change the subject, but before she could.

"So...ahh... And Nagumo-kun?"

"That's..."

Shizuku was in a bitter impression thinking about how to break the news. Kaori seeing this tried to run away from reality.

"...It's a lie right? You guys saved Nagumo-kun after I fainted, right? He must be training, right? Hmmm, I'll go out and thank him. So please let go of my hand Shizuku-chan.

As Kaori spoke Shizuku continued squeezing her hand.

"Kaori he's not here anymore."

"Stop..."

"It's just as you remember it."

"Stop it..."

"Kaori he died."

"That's a lie! He didn't die! It didn't happen! Why are you saying that!? Even Shizuku-chan isn't allowed to say that."

As she caught reality Kaori struggled to get away from Shizuku's embrace but Shizuku kept squeezing harder and when Kaori realized she was no longer trying to leave and started to cry.

"Kaori...

"Shizuku-chan Nagumo-kun is no longer here..."

"That's right."

"At that moment Nagumo-kun was hit by one of our attacks, who was it?"

"I don't know. Everyone avoids the subject thinking that it could have been them who missed their magic."

"I see..."

"Would you hate that person?"

"I don't know. I think it's better not to know who it is."

Kaori wiped her tears and spoke.

"Shizuku-chan, I... I don't believe... I don't believe Nagumo-kun is dead."

"Kaori that..."

Shizuku once again had a pained expression.

"I know the chances are low. I know they may be less than 1% but as long as it's not zero I want to believe he's alive. I'm going to get stronger. Strong enough to protect him and everyone and I won't believe he's dead until I confirm it and.... Shizuku-chan?"

"What ?"

"I want you to help me."

"....."

They stared at each other for a while. And Shizuku who will Kaori's strong determination spoke up.

"All right!"

She hugged Shizuku and said "thank you"

At this moment the door opened and Kouki and Ryytaro walked in.

"Kaori you...."

"Kaori! How did you..."

The two came out and closed the door.

Shizuku didn't understand this, but then she saw the pose the two were in. Kaori was on Shizuku's lap hugging her while Shizuku stroked her head. They surely thought something was going on.

"Come back here you idiots!"

●●●

Rimuru was acting as well as he could. He didn't pull conversation with anyone and gave short answers when people talked to him. He thought that this is how he would act in this situation and then continued to pretend that he didn't know that Hajime was alive. He also trained and slept a lot more than usual to make it look like he was shaken.

He felt a little bad for deceiving his colleagues about this, but...

Rimuru was undecided whether or not to tell his colleagues about Hajime's survival. That might relieve them a lot.

The only problem was that it would lead to a lot of questions about his abilities and why he didn't tell them before.

Ciel also told him that the best thing to do was not to tell, because this would serve as a determination for the training of his colleagues. And it would also make sure that the church doesn't force those students who don't want to go to war.

He thought for a while and decided to make his choice when Kaori woke up so if he was going to tell, he wanted to tell everyone together.

So he arrived at the inn and found that Kaori had woken up. He saw her in the inn restaurant having soup while chatting with Kouki, Ryutaru and Shizuku.

Kaori noticed him and called out to him.

"Rimuru-kun!"

Kaori approached holding Shizuku's hand.

"Rimuru-kun about Nagumo-kun I ...:

"Don't say anything about that. I came to talk about something else."

He spoke in a direct tone.

"Another...thing?"

Kaori tilted her head in confusion

"Yes about what you guys are going to do from now on. Sensei has arranged for those who don't want to fight not to be forced. I want to know what you guys are going to do."

"To that I..."

She thought for a moment and then spoke with determination.

"I've already decided that! I don't want to believe that Nagumo-kun is dead! I want to save him! And even if there is little chance that he is alive I still won't believe that he is dead until I confirm it with my own eyes! And for that I will train harder and get stronger!"

She closed her fist and placed it on her chest as she said this.

Hearing this Rimuru decided that she didn't need to tell them about Hajime. The students actually became more determined, especially Kaori. So he decided it would be better not to tell them that Hajime was not alive.

"I see. Well since you're all fine I'll go now."

He spoke as he headed towards the inn where he had left his sword.

"Go? But didn't he just come back from training?"

Kaori said confused. She looked at Shizuku who was wearing a thoughtful expression. Shizuku then opened her eyes perplexed as if she had discovered something.

"What is it Shizuku-chan?"

"Kaori we have to call Kouki and Ryutaru. Quick!"

●●●

Rimuru picked up his sword from the inn. He had left it there to talk with Shizuku and Kaori. Normally he would gurd it in his separate space, but it would be awkward to do that in public so he left it in his room before talking with Kaori and Shizuku.

He was heading to the Orcus Dungeon. He was going to look for Hajime so he wouldn't let him die. Ciel told him that he had a method to revive Hajime, but Rimuru thought it best to look for him anyway. The Dungeon was full of magical Beasts, so he wanted to spare Hajime a traumatic death, like being eaten alive.

He got close to the entrance when he saw four people standing there. They were Kouki, Ryutaru, Kaori and Shizuku.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Rimuru-kun we know what you are going to do. You think Nagumo-kun is alive don't you?"

Shizuku asked as she took a step forward. She thought of this possibility when she saw that Rimuru had no specific reaction to Kaori's words. And also with Rimuru saying: since you're all right I can go. That is, he wanted to make sure that they were okay before he went to look for Hajime.

Damn! she totally read me! Rimuru wondered what the best course of action was.

Rimru lowered his head so that his hair was in front of his eyes and spoke in a calm voice.

"Yes."

"And you are going to look for him aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Rimuru we can't allow you to do that."

Kouki spoke as he stood with his arms crossed behind Shizuku.

"Nagumo is dead and we can't afford to lose another companion."

Kaori got a complicated expression when Kouki spoke this, but continued in silence.

"No matter what you say I won't believe that my brother is dead. I will still search for him."

Kouki looked at his group and they nodded in agreement

"I'm sorry Rimuru but we can't allow you to pass even if we have to use force."

"I-that's right Rimuru-kun we still don't have enough strength. If you go there now you will die. We can't allow that."

"I'm sorry."

Ryutaru, Kaori and Shizuku spoke in this sequence.

"Tsu, if you are going to stand in my way then it is I who am sorry."

When he said this he raised his face and his eyes that were covered by his hair now glowed red... yes it was Ciel. When Rimuru didn't know what to do he decided to hand over everything to his trusted friend. It was also Ciel that the Hero group was talking to.

When Shizuku and Kaori saw those red eyes staring at them they felt a chill run down their spine and realized, the one staring at them was not Rimuru. Rimuru always had a gentle or playful look, and in battle a stubborn look. But the cold look in those red eyes made them instinctively take a step back.

But the idiotic muscle brain didn't realize this and went on the attack. Kouki was also blinded by his desire to show he was the strongest and started reciting a magic chant.

"Shizuku-chan what shall we do?"

Kaori asked in a slightly frightened voice without taking her eyes off Rimuru.

"Tsk now it's too late! I don't know if this is a second personality or what but we can't let it go. Kaori take care of the barriers and the healing."

When she said "too late" she was referring to Kouki is Ryutaru who had already left for the attack.

Ryutaru quickly approached Rimuru and punched him with his metal gloves. Rimuru stood there helplessly, or so Ryutaru thought. When he threw the punch his right glove split in half into an invisible barrier. He tried to move away when he saw this but Rimuru was faster and did a spinning kick the kick caught him in the stomach and threw him so hard that he took some dirt when he fell.

At this moment Rimuru looked at Kouki who threw him a huge blade of light while saying.

"You shall not pass!"( For some reason that phrase was very similar to that of a certain gray mage.)

  Rimuru ran straight into the lamina of light, Kouki thought he would get seriously hurt. But he just ran through it like it was nothing and also gave it a direct kick that sent Kouki flying with his body in a > and hit the wall. Kaori was reciting a magic to heal them both while Shizuku attacked Rimuru.

"Flickering bloom."

She spoke and then attacked with a speed that left only a blur behind.

She attacked at shoulder height with her sword still sheathed and when the sword was 2 fingers away.... Rimuru disappeared, Shizuku looked puzzled and turned around when she felt a presence on her side, it was Rimuru, when she looked him in the eyes she felt a blow was coming and put her arms in front of her to defend. But strangely she received no blow. She saw Rimuru lift his finger and a small black spark came out of it and went towards her legs and made them lose their strength.

She understood what that was, it stunned the nerves in her legs and made her fall. She thought she was going to hit her head but was surprised when Rimuru supported her back and gently laid her on the ground.

Kaori cast her healing magic on Kouki and Ryutaru. Now fully recovered Kouki and Ryutaru realized they couldn't take it easy and activated....

"Overcome Limit!"

"Varja!"

Overcome Limit was an ability of Kouki's that tripled his strength for two minutes, but then left him with severe fatigue.

Varja was Ryutaru's Skill that created a thin, powerful layer of mana around his body increasing his physical strength.

The two attacked with their full strength at the same time. Kouki attacked with a sacred sword from the right and Ryutaru aimed a left punch.

Rimuru just raised his hand and Little Black Rays came out of it.

The rays attacked Kouki and Ryutaru causing them to fly backwards hard and fall. Kaori's staff was glowing and she was about to cast another healing magic, but before she could....

Her staff stopped glowing as if it had malfunctioned. But she understood what was happening when she saw that Rimuru had his hand outstretched towards her with a purple light coming out of his hand.

This was the 'Undo Magic' he had learned during the war against the Empire on his world.

And so The Hero's group was totally immacapacitated by Rimuru.

●●●

Ciel had fun in that fight. When Rimuru asked him to take over he felt dazzled. he wanted to show the greatness of his beloved master.

He tried to make his master look as cool as possible in the fight by easily dodging blows and even breaking his opponents' weapons.

In fact the reason he was less rough with Shizuku and Kaori was at Rimuru's request.

Rimuru didn't want to hurt them because he realized that they were only worried about him.

But in Ryutaru and especially Kouki he saw an enthusiasm to fight, they wanted to show that they were stronger than Rimuru. And Rimuru said to Ciel "Since those two want a fight. Give them one.

After the fight was over Ciel gave control back to Rimuru. Rimuru's eyes turned gold again, and the atmosphere around him.

"Rimuru-kun I..."

"No need to apologize Shizuku-chan"

"Fwe!?"

She absently let out a cute voice of surprise. Rimuru's voice surprised her because of its tone. this voice he spoke to her with was in the same gentle tone he always spoke to her before the events in the Dungeon.

"Look, I'm really glad that you care about me, but I'll be fine. I'll go find my brother and you guys stay here and train to get stronger and then help me out there, okay?

"Ta-ta good."

She still had a worried expression so Rimuru, even if a little embarrassed, stroked her head and gave her a gentle smile. That beautiful smile made her blush.

Rimuru approached Shizuku who had a guilty expression on her face. She should have thought he was angry with her.

He turned to Kaori and spoke in a somewhat serious tone. Kaori was looking at Kouki and Ryutaru but then started looking at Hajime and Shizuku's interaction with a curious look.

"Shirasaki-san you don't have to worry about them in a little while your magic will return, and you will be able to heal them. but first I have something serious to tell you."

"Yes?"

"

"If you are going after Hajime-kun. You have to be aware of yourself first. Think about your feelings about Hajime and make them clear in front of everyone when you meet him ."

"If not, .you will keep bringing feelings of jealousy and hatred to him ."

Rimuru said this and started walking toward the Orcus Dungeon .

"Be well!"

He waved as he entered the labyrinth.

At the same time. In one of the 10 large dungeons that was located in the Great Raysem Canyon.

"I finally made it hahahaha that magic circle was hard to copy but the mighty me! I did it hahahaha."

A little girl's voice could be heard. The owner of the voice seemed to be trying to play Maleficent, but with her cute voice it was not at all convincing.

"Wuhahaha if that asshole God can summon a hero so can I! Yes, yes, Moledy you are very clever is yes!"

She was praising herself for being able to recreate a magic from an ancient book.

This magic was the Hero Summoning Magic when Miledy heard about the hero summoned by the Kingdom she immediately remembered a magic that she had read, but which at the time she thought would never work.

Miledy was standing in front of a large magic circle that had four wires attached to it, these wires were connected to a large light blue tank.

"Hahaha it took a while to fill the tank with magical power, but it worked now let's summon this hero."

After saying this he pulled the lever in front of him causing the magic circle to glow.

The magic circle stopped glowing after a few seconds and out of it a beautiful girl with black hair and white clothes came out.

"I was summoned?"

The girl muttered as she looked around confused.

"Yes, yes you must really be a hero if you have experience with invocations."

The girl's necklace began to glow and she removed it from her blouse.

"It's reacting... wait that means that!..."

The girl tried to contact one of her otherworldly colleagues with a multi-universe communication method.

So that's why we lost contact... the laws of this universe are very complicated, it's not his fault, but I'll still ask him to spoil me as compensation ehehe.

Miledy didn't understand what the girl was mumbling something while she smiled happily and spoke.

Hello I am Miledy Raisen your summoner, we have a lot to talk about Heroine but first what is your name?

"It's Chloe... Chloe Aubert.

●●●

Rimuru was on the stairs to the 1st floor of the labyrinth when something happened. The ring on his necklace began to glow.

He took the ring in his hand and looked at it perplexed

Ciel-san, that means Chloe is...

Yes, she is in this universe.

Can you locate her? That's what this necklace was made for, isn't it?

Normalmentelmente could, but because of the different laws of this universe I can't at the moment.

Yes... even though we really want to look for her, let's leave that until after we find Hajime-kun.

Yes, it's natural that you want to see her.

Yes even because she is my fiancée!

Chloe.