Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN) - Volume 20 - Chapter 2.03

After Rimuru and Guy left, the atmosphere in the meeting room turned languid.

“I’m not sure I have ever felt so helpless before,” muttered Diablo—an eloquent expression of what was on everyone’s minds.

“You said it,” Benimaru truthfully replied. “I was told I had a major role to play in analyzing the situation and leading the command, but I’d give up all that in a heartbeat if I could join Sir Rimuru.”

He didn’t passionately object to this because he thought Rimuru had made the right call, but deep down, Rimuru was a lot more precious to him than any of his allies.

Things were just different this time. Rimuru wasn’t at all his usual easygoing self. In fact, he seemed quite nervous. He was trying to hide it to keep everyone from worrying, but Benimaru had known him for too long. He could tell at a glance—they just didn’t have the upper hand this time.

“I guess we were all kind of taking advantage of Sir Rimuru still, weren’t we?” said Benimaru. “I never meant to, but…”

“Yes,” agreed Diablo. “If this is Sir Rimuru’s desire, I will obey it…but I’m not sure even he thinks he can give anything but a hundred-percent effort in battle here. It’s quite upsetting.”

“Not just that,” Benimaru added. “Between Feldway, Jahil, and the demon lord Daggrull, we have so many foes we need to watch for, and I can’t say we have enough manpower to tackle them all. I’m sure that’s why he wanted you to help us out instead, Diablo.”

He was pretty much right on the nose. That was only natural, considering how long he and Rimuru had worked together. That was why Benimaru was so down on himself.

“Well, no use pitying ourselves,” concluded Zegion. “We have to put our heads down and carry out our assigned tasks.”

He, too, understood just how important the labyrinth was. He warned those under him not to let unnecessary anxiety interfere with their given duties. The labyrinth team would head back to their own territory to fully prepare for whatever enemy might come at whatever time.

Benimaru chuckled at Zegion. “Heh… You’re right. Everyone, brace yourselves and get ready for your mission!”

With that final word of encouragement, everyone went back to work, hoping to fulfill the responsibilities Rimuru had granted to them.

Ramiris and her team were hurriedly flitting about. They had a lot to do, and keeping busy was one way to stave off the anxiety.

In time, the Control Center returned to its usual sort of atmosphere…but the fragile sense of normalcy quickly faded away with the return of Soei.

“You’re back, Soei?” Benimaru asked.

“Yeah. Where is Sir Rimuru?”

“Out for now. A serious situation has come up, and he’s going to deal with it.”

“Ugh. So we have to rely on him yet again…?”

Benimaru couldn’t agree more with that sentiment. “So,” he asked, “what’s going on? You seem in a hurry.”

Soei composed himself and began his report.

“I was investigating the movements of Daggrull’s force under orders from Sir Rimuru, but…”

He started laying out the fruits of his labor.

In the Holy Void of Damargania, there existed an underground city, buried beneath the desert, that served as an emergency shelter. When the once-prosperous capital was destroyed, the giants abandoned the surface and developed a large underground cavern centered around a lake, creating a living space that could support tens of thousands of people. The women and children among the giants were still there, apparently living life as normal.

Witnessing this, Soei concluded those living underground had not been affected by the changes undergone by Daggrull. Relieved, he began to look into why Daggrull betrayed his allies in the first place.

His first stop was the royal palace. There were only a few soldiers guarding it, but the government administration was still at work inside. None of them had heard about Daggrull’s behavior; in fact, they welcomed Soei as an envoy from an allied nation. After listening to their stories, Soei was able to pinpoint the potential cause of this crisis. He had no concrete evidence to back it up, but since there was no other intelligence to refute it, Soei saw fit to return home and report to his superiors.

“…Aha. So Daggrull had two brothers, one of whom was banished, and he was once feared as an evil destroying god marauding the land?” said Benimaru.

“Exactly,” replied Soei. “He had a change of heart after Lord Veldanava defeated him, and after he met the current queen Kisara, he became the calmer figure we knew up to now, apparently.”

“I see the old myths shouldn’t be dismissed as mere myths. This one, at least, is based on a kernel of truth.”

“Yeah, I think so, too. And if so…”

“…It’s the return of that evil god we should be worried about.”

Benimaru and Soei nodded their agreement to each other. Everyone else listening watched them, stern looks on their faces.

“Hmm… That might be the case, yeah. Daggrull is kind of the incarnation of a natural force, and he fought Veldanava a super long time ago, too.”

The unexpected contribution from Ramiris lent even more credence to this reasoning.

“By the way, how strong was this evil god?” Benimaru asked her.

“Oh, real strong. Not as much as I am, but stronger than my master back then, at least.”

“Mmm?” said Veldora.

“Ah, but you’re way stronger now, Master!”

Veldora never liked chatter about anyone outmuscling him, so Ramiris quickly corrected herself. Whether she actually believed that or not was unclear, but either way, Daggrull in his evil god days clearly rivaled a True Dragon, at least in strength.

Bad news always seems to be followed by more bad news. The second wave of it was from Mjöllmile, who came charging into the Control Center.

“I have something important to tell you all! Big Mama—um, that is, Emperor Elmesia—just sent an urgent message informing us Thalion is now in a state of war!”

“What?!”

Benimaru demanded more details.

Mjöllmile replied that he’d received a call on his cell phone. There were several means of communication available between Thalion and the Western Nations, but Elmesia must have decided this direct line was her best bet this time. Mjöllmile, sensing the urgency after the emperor called him personally, rushed over as he talked to her.

He was still catching his breath, but had enough to give the basic summary. Thalion was under attack by Zarario and Jahil, who had led their main military forces to stage an assault.

“So it’s a full-on attack, not a diversion?” Benimaru asked Mjöllmile.

“Indeed it is!”

“I know Thalion has Lady Sylvia, but it could be hard going for them…”

Benimaru groaned. Sylvia could fight, yes, well enough that her against Benimaru would be a pretty exciting duel to watch. But Jahil had given him the fight of his life. There was a certain chemistry involved with any battle matchup, but if both Jahil and the powerful Zarario were there, Sylvia wouldn’t be able to do much alone.

“Argos monitoring magic successfully switched over. Playing feed from the area!”

The quick-witted Alpha projected the scene from Thalion onto the main screen. It depicted a tree dating from ancient times, large enough to house a full-size city. This was the holy tree of Thalion, the pride of the nation.

Here and there, on its trunk and branches, flashes of light were twinkling. They were tiny in the video, like sparklers, but considering the size of the tree, they were undoubtedly large-scale explosions.

“Jahil’s fire? He’s not playing around.”

“What’ll we do, Benimaru?”

Benimaru, hearing Soei’s question, scowled in anguish. Unless they sent someone over there, Thalion was likely to fall—but they had no one to send. Deploying an inferior force would do little to help; they had to send one that could ensure victory. Over in the labyrinth, people carried out suicide missions without having to fear death. Even if victory wasn’t guaranteed, it was easy enough to stall for time in there.

Outside the labyrinth, however…

“Guess I’ll have to go.”

Benimaru, Diablo, and Zegion—even these three were no guarantee against Jahil’s force. If they sent anyone else, it’d be like sending them to the gallows.

“Shall I go as well, then?”

Diablo made the offer, but Benimaru stopped him. He had a bad feeling about that, although he couldn’t articulate why.

“No,” he said. “I’ve fought Jahil once, and I was no match for him then, but I think I have a winning plan now.”

Benimaru had been training hard in the labyrinth, reassessing his abilities. There was no visible change yet, no increase in his magicule count, but his abilities had most certainly improved. That was no guarantee he could win against Jahil—but he still exuded all the confidence he could, if only to assuage everyone’s fears.

“Hmm…”

Diablo, taking Benimaru’s intentions into consideration, fell silent. Benimaru nodded his thanks to him.

“Besides,” he continued, “if this turns out to be a diversion, it’d be dangerous to divert any more resources away from the labyrinth, our main keep. My gut tells me it’s better for you to stay here.”

“Very well. If that is what you say, Sir Benimaru, I will heed your orders.”

Rimuru had left Benimaru in charge. He was above Diablo in the chain of command, something Diablo understood well enough, so he wasn’t going to defy him. Still, he wanted to speak his mind to him.

“…You do realize that Zarario is a major threat, yes?” Diablo asked.

Benimaru was wary of Jahil, but in Diablo’s mind, Zarario was even worse.

“That man is a true warrior,” Diablo insisted. “His magicule count is not the highest, but his latent skill is quite impressive.”

However, this observation wasn’t enough to sway Benimaru. It did cause him to waver a bit, but he banished his indecision, not showing any of it to Diablo.

“I’m heading out,” Benimaru said. “That’s my final decision.”

“Heh. Are you trying to imitate Rimuru? Who’ll serve as commander?”

“I can handle that duty in Thalion, too,” Benimaru avowed. He knew this was pretty reckless, but he still wanted to push through with it.

“Benimaru,” Veldora said, “have you forgotten about me? Someone like myself could defeat little ants like Jahil or Zarario with a single flick of my wrist, you know.”

Veldora’s supreme confidence once again shook Benimaru’s resolve. Now that Rimuru had defeated Michael, there was less reason for Feldway to target Veldora. Benimaru’s instincts as a commander told him he should make better use of their best weapon of all instead of keeping it under wraps deep in the labyrinth. But at the same time, his instincts—his wild intuition, one might call it—said it was a bad idea. So without showing any emotion, he turned the offer down.

“Certainly, Sir Veldora, Jahil would be no match for you. But…”

“Mmm? Is there some concern you have in mind?”

Benimaru snorted a bit. He was full of concerns. And he had a good reason not to send Veldora, their greatest weapon, to Jahil.

“My worry is about the evil god we discussed earlier. I’ve heard before, Sir Veldora, that the demon lord Daggrull was once an eager fighting partner of yours. On top of that, we have his younger brother, the giant called Fenn, who has been sealed away since ancient times. Those two were almost even with each other, right?”

Diablo nodded under Benimaru’s gaze. “I did not see them fight, but from a distance, I received the impression Fenn was the superior fighter.”

“Ah. Well, he showed up in Ultima’s report, too, so there’s no doubting the threat he poses. Even with the demon lord Luminus on hand, I’m not sure Shion, Adalmann, and all their forces together could beat them.”

Both Daggrull and Fenn were comparable to True Dragons—that was a fair assumption. And they couldn’t ignore Glasord, either. He reportedly fought evenly with the demon lord Leon, so beating him would likely be a challenge as well. That, and there were even more unknown talents among the giants’ army. If Daggrull were to go into full “evil god” mode in these circumstances…

These were all just possibilities, but Benimaru couldn’t shake off his unease.

“However,” countered Veldora, “we still have time before they reach Lubelius, don’t we? If I went to Thalion and wrapped up matters over there fast…”

“That’s just wishful thinking. If Sir Rimuru has a secret way to instantly teleport his troops around, we should assume the enemy has something similar as well.”

Rimuru advised them that simply buying time would help them enough. Benimaru agreed with that, and he was still reminding himself not to let his guard down.

Besides…he could sense some kind of presence clinging to the back of his neck. A premonition of danger provided by his internal instincts. He couldn’t say why, but he could just sense something was happening in Lubelius.

“As I said, Sir Veldora, we need you to be ready if things go really bad.”

Rimuru liked to keep calling Veldora his secret weapon, and Benimaru agreed with that assessment. If you had a surefire winner in your hand, it generally worked out better if you left it unused until the very end. If you found yourself in a position to play it, that pretty much meant the worst had happened. And if some other unexpected event came along on top of that…it’d mean the end for their side.

“All right,” Veldora said. “I will be here, so feel free to fight to your heart’s content!”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh… Imagine, Sir Benimaru himself joining the fray. Allow me to handle matters back here…but we also look forward to your continued command.”

Diablo was now on Benimaru’s side on this question…and so it was decided.

He would take several other people with him. They knew Jahil and Zarario were there, but that might not be all the firepower the enemy had. At times like these, the defending side is always at a disadvantage, so they had to be prepared for whatever kind of attack the enemy could throw at them.

“I’ll join you.”

Soei was the first to volunteer. Benimaru, not against this, readily agreed to the offer. He’d be good for goading and distracting the enemy with the arsenal of skills he had—and his adeptness with them all let him perform well above what his stats suggested.

But who else would come along? That was the conundrum. Team Kurenai was too exhausted for the job. Gobta and Ranga were the same way. The latter was in a deep sleep within Rimuru’s shadow to recover his lost strength, but Gobta was, well, relatively healthy?

“Yeah, but I dunno about just bringing Gobta alone…,” Benimaru mused.

“I don’t wanna die yet, sir!”

With Gobta himself providing this valuable piece of feedback, the room agreed to count him out for now.

The labyrinth forces could also travel to Thalion, but Benimaru discounted the idea. He thought it was smarter to keep them in the labyrinth instead of dragging them to some new, unfamiliar land.

But this meant it’d be just two of them over there.

“Well, so be it,” Benimaru said. “Soei and I work well together anyway. We shouldn’t die, at the very least.”

“Right,” agreed Soei. “We’ll have Lady Sylvia and Emperor Elmesia on hand, too. If we can work well as a team, we might be able to find a path.”

Elmesia was visible on the main screen depicting the scene from Thalion.

“Wow,” gasped Mjöllmile. “Big Mama’s sure fighting up a storm…or, really, I’m astounded she’s this much of a fighter at all!”

It was a surprise for everyone, not just Mjöllmile. Sylvia and Elmesia, almost impossible to tell apart in looks, were also remarkably similar in battle ability. The only major difference was that Sylvia used lightning in her fighting style, while Elmesia preferred wind. This was an unexpected asset on their side—and a happy surprise for Benimaru, for a change.

Now their chances of winning were better, if just slightly, and Benimaru and Soei felt a little bit more optimistic about it.

But then Beta—monitoring video feeds from assorted locations—shouted out in a stiff voice, “Urgent report! Lady Milim and Lady Velzard have begun to move. If they continue in their current direction, they will smash right into the sacred tree that protects Thalion!”

Everyone’s eyes focused on the large screen. The red dot on it represented Milim; the blue one, Velzard. They were both moving at a frightening speed, as if intertwined with each other. Beta was right—at this rate, they were on a crash course for Thalion.

“Why are they doing that? Did Rimuru do something?”

No one had an answer for Veldora.

“If someplace gets caught in that,” a pallid-looking Benimaru said, “it’s gonna be burned to ash.”

“Perhaps this is what Feldway was trying to accomplish.”

Velzard’s blizzard had iced over the battlefield in the former Eurazania. Thanks to that, for better or for worse, the damage itself had been kept to a minimum. That meant nothing unless Velzard lifted the freezing ice, but there was still hope that not everything was lost. But that might not be true. Any direct hit from a crazed Milim would immediately vaporize an entire city…and Thalion wasn’t the only place in danger.

“Does he want the world to perish at the hands of Lady Milim?” Benimaru asked.

“I cannot say for sure,” Diablo calmly replied, “but given how crazy he is, that’s certainly a possibility.”

If Feldway’s true aim was simply to spread death and destruction all over the place, perhaps this was his way of priming the pump for Ivalage’s summoning. It was a possibility, one Diablo had just pointed out, and it seemed plausible to Benimaru, too. If Diablo thought he was crazy, he must have been way off his rocker indeed. Who could even tell what someone like that might be thinking?

Either way, Thalion was in danger of being wiped off the map. And after that, where would the next target be? The Western Nations? El Dorado? Or maybe they’d just pass through all the cities before finishing up at the labyrinth? They didn’t have enough information to go on. Just thinking like this wouldn’t provide any answers.

“There’s no time to dwell on this,” Benimaru said, standing up.

Rimuru was on the scene. If Diablo’s hunch was correct, he was desperately trying to stop this onrush. Instead of agonizing over it, Benimaru reasoned, he should step up and do something. He wasn’t averse to the “no guts, no glory” credo. His confidence could occasionally get the best of him that way, leading him to think anything was possible if he tried. But that was only true for himself—dragging other people into that was against his principles.

“Sorry, Soei,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Those were the only words that needed to be exchanged. With that, they were both resolved and ready to go out into a potentially deadly situation…

“I’ll come, too.”

…but then the demon lord Leon, who had slipped out of his hospital bed and joined them in the Control Center at some point, announced his presence. And what’s more:

“And me. I have such a grudge against Jahil, I can’t even begin to explain it to you.”

Kagali was there, too, her face so determined that it was clear she’d never take no for an answer.

Teare was behind her as well. “I gotta kick that guy’s ass and free Footman from him! I’ll do whatever it takes for that!”

She shed tears as she declared her will. And Benimaru had no reason to stop her.

“No need to hold back,” he said. “I will gladly accept your offer.”

They had their team. And now the missing pieces were in place.

Even after Benimaru left with his teammates, the Control Center remained a hive of bustling activity. Data was being gathered from across the world to send to Benimaru. Everyone busily working there had the same wish: I don’t want anything more to happen.

It was the hope of the entire Control Center that everyone would at least come back safe. But even this modest hope was about to be dashed.

“Urgent message from Sir Adalmann!” cried Beta. “He’s engaged the enemy giants at the Long Wall in the desert!”

It was the moment when Benimaru’s premonition came true in the worst possible way. The greatest battle yet had begun.