Chapter 67 I won... but at what cost...

Right now, I'm standing on the ground. In front of me is the King of Dwargon, Gazel Dwargo himself in all his majesty. Behind him are all his Pegasus Knights.

Rimuru- "So, how are we going to do this? Whoever makes the first strike wins?"

Gazel- "Fine by me. But are you sure about this? Asking me, the Master of the Sword for a spar."

Gazel asks me while readying his weapon.

As you might have guessed, Gazel and I are about to have a little spar.

Rimuru- "Ahaha! You can't fool me, you would've brought it up regardless. I just skipped straight to the subject."

Gazel just smiles without answering. I'm right after all. I know from reading the novel and watching the anime. Gazel believes someone's true self will reveal itself in a clash of swords.

Since I'm powerful enough to take down an Orc Lord, I can be a threat to Dwargon. Gazel wants to know if I'm an enemy or someone that can be reasoned with, hence the spar.

I quickly brought up the subject of a spar knowing Gazel would accept and now we're here on the ground preparing ourselves. Gazel unsheathes his sword while I took out Yamato from my [Gluttony] stomach and moved Shizu's Anti-Magic Mask to the side of my head.

It might seem a bit overkill for just a spar, but I don't plan on unsheathing Yamato from its scabbard. Instead, I tie the sageo of the scabbard around the guard of the blade ensuring it doesn't just fly off and casually murder someone.

(A/N: A sageo is a string connected to the scabbard used to tie the scabbard to your obi/belt.)

Gazel- "A good sword… Very much cared for…"

Gazel looks at my sword and mutters under his breath.

Anyway, we quickly finish our preparations and Gazel asks me a question that brought to my attention a glaring issue.

Gazel- "So? Who should officiate this spar?"

That's right. We don't have a fucking referee.

Of course, being the genius that I am (A/N: *Cough*) I already have a solution.

I could ask Ranga to do so, or Gazel could just nominate one of his men, but having a neutral third party would be best. Furthermore, the person I have in mind could also get rid of the little prejudice Gazel and his men have against me.

Also so, I speak out loud into the wind.

Rimuru- "Could you help us out a little, Treyni?"

At first, everyone watching me was confused. Did I suddenly go crazy? What kind of mushrooms am I eating? But then a breeze of wind brushes past us and after some visual effects with leaves, vines and branches, a certain dryad reveals herself.

Treyni- "Gladly, Sir Rimuru. My name is Treyni, a dryad and caretaker of the forest. At the request of Sir Rimuru, I shall officiate this spar."

As expected of Treyni, she quickly noticed my intentions and acted like she's only doing this because I asked her to. Well, I know she's also having her own little fun.

But in the end, this achieves the goal I was aiming for.

???- "A dryad!?"

???- "Why is one appearing now?"

???- "Does the dryad have some connection to that slime?"

Murmurings break out in the knights behind Gazel. Gazel himself is also surprised at this turn of events, looking at me and Treyni.

Gazel- "Silence! This slim- Rimuru and I are speaking. I will evaluate him myself and I would appreciate it if you would not create a racket."

This is the first time Gazel called me by my name. As expected, showing my connections to a dryad made him realise that I have real backing aside from my strength.

Rimuru- "Then let's get started, shall we?"

Gazel- "Indeed."

We both raise our weapons and ready our stances.

Treyni- "Ready? Begin!"

Rimuru- "Surprise meat bun attack!"

I take out a meat bun and throw it at Gazel. It hits him square in the chest, denting his armour and sending him flying back with his limbs flailing helplessly.

Treyni- "What!? Kakyoin! He was suddenly blown away! Impossible!"

I see Treyni enjoys the holy texts I gave her.

Well, that meat bun was mostly harmless, only denting Gazel's armour and sending him flying away with the knockback enchantment I added on it. He took no damage, so he quickly corrected his position in the air and landed back on his feet, dragging lines in the dirt as the laws of inertia work their magic.

However, within that time, I quickly ran up to him and by the time he noticed, I'm already in front of him swinging my wooden sword down at his head.

He quickly lifts his sword above his head, parrying it and swinging his sword at me from the side. I lean back as it flies over my chest and I flip back using my hand as a spring.

This time Gazel takes the initiative. Without any pause, he jumps forward swinging his sword at me from my left to which I block.

All this happened in just a couple of seconds. Our attacks are mere blurs to the knights watching, each strike creating a small shockwave. We continue this stalemate for a minute or so with no one gaining the upper hand.

One person attacks while the other either dodges, parries or outright blocks it. Neither of us ever landed a solid hit.

Of course, I'm restraining myself. My physical strength on par with a True Dragon has been reduced to Gazel's level with [Raphael]'s help and I'm not using any other skill in this fight except [Universal Perception] to help me track his movements. I'm fighting Gazel with my raw skill right now.

I know I said "flex my muscles" but it's not like I can just beat this guy into the ground. There will be a whole lot of problems that will occur if I absolutely floor the guy, after all. And I don't want to deal with them.

Well, Gazel is also going easy on me. He has trained in the sword for centuries, my meagre month or so of training can't compare, even with my comprehension rune. Although if this was a serious fight with none of us holding back, I would win.

I feel a little smug knowing that. Of course, fate feels like fucking me over at this point and I just so happen to not notice a little rock behind me which I just so happen to trip over while Gazel just so happened to be making an attack which I just so happened to be able to block IF I DIDN'T TRIP.

Man, fuck my life.

And so, I find myself on the floor with Gazel's sword pointed at my neck.

Treyni- "King Gazel wins!"

*Sigh*

Oh well, what's done is done. I look next to my foot to see that very same rock that I tripped over. I turn it into a small Boku no Pico poster.

… I'm not salty…

Gazel- "That was a good fight."

Gazel sheathes his sword and extends his hand to me, to which I grab and he pulls me up.

Rimuru- "Same here, I learned a lot. Although I would've won."

Gazel- "Gahaha! Sure, keep dreaming!"

Rimuru- "What? I'm serious!"

Immediately after we began talking like good friends with smiles on our faces. The knights watching from the side are still confused as Gazel and I kept talking about the spar we just had and our thoughts.

Eventually, I was deemed as a good slime by Gazel and I invited them all over to my town.

Suddenly, he looks down and notices something.

Gazel- "Hmm? What's this… ARGH! MY EYES!"

Oops. It seems he found the poster… He won… but at what cost…

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Name: Rimuru

Race: Origin Slime

Protection: Crest of Space

Title: Highest Tier Spirit, Leader of the Monsters

Ultimate Skills: [Illya, Heaven's Feel] [Raphael, Lord of Wisdom] [Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony]

Intrinsic Skills: [Infinite Regeneration] [Universal Shapeshift] [Universal Sense] [Multilayer Barrier] [Enhanced Replication] [Universal Thread]

Unique Skills: [Creation] [Rune Master]

Extra Skills: [Lord's Ambition] [Thought Communication] [Control Particles] [Dominate Space] [Control Natural Elements]

Tolerances: [Cancel Pain] [Resist Melee Attack] [Cancel Natural Elements] [Cancel Ailments] [Resist Spiritual Attack] [Resist Holy Attack]

Equipment: Yamato, Harpe

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A/N: Press F to pay respects to our fallen king...

MC: F

Shizu: F

AN: HOLY SHIT HOW DID SHE GET IN HERE!?

Shizu: Nya~

MC/AN: *Screaming like a bitch*

(A while later...)

AN: Ok, now that we chased Shizu out, there's something I need to say.

So it seems lots of you guys are a bit unhappy with me saying that MC can only go head to head against Protag complex guy and not outright beat him into the ground.

And I just wanna say... Fuck y'all

I'M JOKING

You guys had really good arguments, like Yamato that can cut through the sun or Heaven's Feel and shit like that. And I have a solution for this all...

Veldora is a True Dragon, a highest tier spirit. Furthermore he's been alive for thousands upon thousands of years.

Therefore, I will make it so Highest Tier Spirits and all True Dragons get stronger with time and Protag complex guy stole all that power for himself while MC has only been alive for 4 months.

AU for the win.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Also consider dropping some power stones!