Only this time... since she was investigating and prepared to sacrifice herself at any moment, Touko hadn't brought any of the more powerful creations from her workshop. Neither her formidable combat automata, nor any indescribable entities, nor even her familiar, Nameless Shadow, had come with her. That left her with no choice but to rely on Magecraft.
She could summon the legendary Phantasmal Species, the Golden Wolf, to help her. Although they no longer had a contract, Beowulf had made it clear that he was willing to help Aozaki Touko whenever she asked. He was one of the few friends she had.
But if she won a battle between puppeteers by relying on the Golden Wolf... that would be hard to swallow.
"Oh dear. If you really find this fight so dreadfully boring, Miss Touko, why not just let this body die? After all, you'd only be losing a puppet." Fim chuckled. "Besides, the great battle is about to begin. I'd hate to miss out on the festivities."
"Hmph!" Touko lifted her head with disdain and snorted. As the giant fist came down, she swiftly dodged and drew a rune in the air.
Oh? Could that be Rune Magecraft?
Fim paused in surprise, but immediately recognized its source. After all, restoring the twenty-four most basic Rune symbols and analyzing several primordial runes from the Age of Gods were among Aozaki Touko's two most famous achievements.
As he stared in surprise and curiosity, Touko rapidly sketched one rune after another in the air. Unlike basic Magecraft, each Rune symbol already represented a fundamental effect. A single rune, for instance, could represent an explosion. Combined, runes could produce entirely different effects. Thus, the number of runes one could use was an important—and fundamental—measure of skill in Rune Magecraft.
And mastering Rune symbols wasn't as simple as learning to write. It was like using one's magical energy to copy a masterpiece by a world-class painter: not a single mistake was allowed, and each rune was the work of a painter with a completely different style. An average Rune Magecraft user might spend their entire life without mastering more than two runes.
Primordial runes were even harder.
Yet Aozaki Touko had mastered all twenty-four basic runes, as well as three primordial ones!
Just how terrifying was Touko when she used Rune Magecraft to its fullest...? Before Fim could finish considering the question, he saw countless blue runes glow with a faint light as Touko cried, "Along!" But that wasn't all. Just as Fim's emergency alchemical calculations determined that he could still defend against the runes' power, Touko laboriously finished carving the last one. It was a mysterious symbol unlike the blue runes, one that shimmered gold. Even when Fim devoted all his computational power to studying it, he couldn't make out its shape!
That was... primordial?!!
Fim had only just realized it when the dozen or so blue runes in the sky abruptly began to swell and expand. Then, as if copied, they split into countless clusters of runes!
Primordial Amplification increased the size of other runes in an instant, multiplying their power several times over, depending on how much magical energy the user expended!
"Too bad I don't have a Mana Furnace. Otherwise..."
Touko panted softly. She hadn't prepared beforehand, and forcing herself to release so many Rune symbols was exhausting, even for her. But soon, she smiled. Damn giant puppet! She'd blast it to ashes!
When she'd fought Aoko, she'd had a workshop, where she'd created three primordial rune stones, each made physical by expending a massive amount of magical energy. They'd expanded a rune to ten million times its original size, bringing it to the level of True Magic!
Touko was smiling, but Fim's face had turned ashen. His computational device kept sounding alarms. The calculated power had even exceeded the limits of his alchemy. What did that mean?
It meant this damn woman was going to blow the entire gorge sky-high!!!
This was a puppeteer?!! Was that even reasonable? It made no sense!!! Did puppeteers not usually fight with puppets? Why was she throwing a damn nuke at him?!
Fuck puppeteers!
He felt like Rimuru had set him up... Before they'd come, Rimuru had assured him, "Buddy, I've got the easiest job for you. Just stop the other puppeteer from getting into the city and blowing everything up."
He hadn't understood why Rimuru had said that. Now he did...
How was this the easiest job? Rimuru had clearly dumped the most troublesome one on him, the bastard!!
At that thought, Fim dropped the act. While secretly retreating into the darkness, he hurriedly ordered his puppet to run for it. Those giant puppets were expensive. Even after living for several centuries, he'd only made seven—and the previous White Knight had already damaged one. It was still under repair...
The next moment, Touko saw what was happening and sneered. "You think you can run now? Too late!"
As she spoke, she opened her left eye wide. Her azure Mystic Eye unleashed layer upon layer of intricate patterns, creating mirror after mirror within its vision. The mirrors reflected the power of her Mystic Eye over and over, building it up, until at last her gaze fell upon the puppet and locked onto it!
Her Binding Mystic Eye, amplified tenfold, activated!
In an instant, blue chains formed wherever her gaze fell, binding the giant puppet and even cutting off its magical energy.
From the shadows, Fim's face turned red as a pig's liver!
"Damn it! The Mystic Eye needs to look directly at its target. With Magecraft on this scale, if you don't run—"
"I'm not afraid to die." One of Touko's eyes shimmered as she smiled at the puppet. "A puppet for a puppet. Seems like a fair trade."
"You..."
"That giant puppet must be worth a fortune. How many years does it take you to build one?" The Rune symbols were on the verge of erupting. As she watched the blazing energy flare up, Touko delivered the final blow. "But I have plenty of bodies like this one!"
With that, an all-consuming magical explosion roared forth. Across Cornwall and the western plains beyond, even Kayneth, who was preparing to depart, felt the ground tremble. He froze, then looked in astonishment toward the distant northern mountains, where a mushroom cloud had erupted into the sky...
"Fou, should I let those few people you told me to let escape, or not? Human thinking is so strange, Fou!"
"I told you not to let the Executors escape, but someone definitely has to make it back alive. There need to be survivors to spread my good name!"
"Fou?! So should I let them go or not?!"
"...Never mind. Have the Dead Apostles in charge of the interception come talk to me. You just need to act with me."
Inside Cornwall, Rimuru was explaining how to fight to Fou, his face full of pain. Suddenly, he felt the ground tremble and looked up in shock at the pillar of light to the north. Remembering Aozaki Touko's methods, the smile at the corner of his mouth froze.
He stared blankly for a moment, then murmured, "I told you to stop her, not to fight her for real... This isn't my fault... I just hope... you make it back alive."
The gorge's violent blaze lit countless faces. As it appeared to merge with the dawn on the eastern horizon, Barthomeloi once again approached the Church's popes.
"Attack early? But the Burial Agency..."
"Even if the Burial Agency arrives, they won't take part in the frontal assault. They'll only hunt down the powerful individuals assigned to them," an old man said. "I'm sure you don't want more of the city's Executors to die. The flanking and rescue forces will need pressure from the front to carry out their operations effectively."
Unlike the Church, which was sending tens of thousands of nuns, believers, and Executors to the front, the flanking force consisted mainly of the various mages the Magic Association had invited at great cost, along with its own members. The Lords' strength was another important guarantee of their ability to operate independently. For instance, the elderly Inorai could wipe out an entire city with sand.
Inorai had yet to reach the battlefield, but Yuri Phis had already conjured eerie ghostly flames in the forest, summoning hundreds of Evil Spirits to spread throughout the workshop. Whether for the mages' flanking operation or Kayneth's rescue mission to save Rimuru, the advance forces needed to bear the brunt of the pressure. After much hesitation, the Church finally gave in to pressure from its allies and ordered the troops to advance about an hour ahead of schedule.
In an instant, an army numbering in the tens of thousands began its slow advance toward Cornwall.
"Quite a sight." At the very top of the manor overlooking Cornwall from the mountains, White Knight Rimuru seemed to have been sitting there the whole time. Now, however, a pitch-black familiar resembling a bat stood beside him—or rather, a Dead Apostle serving as his familiar.
He was one of White Winged Duke's subordinates. Apparently, he could share his master's vision and act as a messenger. A video call, more or less?
And the one speaking to Rimuru was White Winged Duke, who was far away in Germany.
Looking through his subordinate's eyes at the massive army pressing forward beyond the distant, faint fog, he chuckled. "It seems things have exceeded your expectations."
"The Magic Association and the Church want to reclaim Cornwall in a single decisive battle. It's only a peninsula, after all, so there's no real way to outflank the enemy." Rimuru spoke expressionlessly. "They've practically mobilized all their forces in Western Europe, and even more mages are on their way. According to our agreement, it's your turn to act."
"Mm... Western Europe... of course." White Winged Duke chuckled. "Speaking of which, more and more Dead Apostles have been coming from the Far East lately... Is that connected to you?"
"The Far East?" Rimuru reflexively started to shake his head, then suddenly paused and smiled. "Maybe it is."
"Is that so?" White Winged Duke studied Rimuru's eyes beneath his mask. He didn't seem to be bluffing, and the duke understood some of what was going on. Perhaps the White Knight had had some connection to the Far East in the past.
Seeing the other man's expression, Rimuru laughed a few times, then lowered his eyes. "That's enough testing, White Winged Duke. Until the Kingdom of Dead Apostles is stable, we should stick together. As for my identity, Altrouge knows all about it."
"Leave the Dead Apostles from the Far East to you. I've already signed a contract forbidding me from having a faction of my own, so you can decide whether to use them as cannon fodder or protect them."
The Dead Apostles who'd originally fled to the Far East had done so because the Magic Association there was poorly organized and the Church had little presence. Most were mediocre mages who'd become Dead Apostles. Sending them into battle would amount to little more than adding a few corpses to the pile.
Rimuru didn't care about them, even though he now knew they were a gift from Kuonji Alice.
But they weren't the real gift. That was the feeling Alice had expressed through them: "Whatever you do, I'll support you."
That quiet girl, thousands of miles away, who could understand everything he was thinking from even the smallest bit of news about him, then quietly take action.
"Get ready to act, White Winged Duke." At the thought, Rimuru's lips curved slightly, and his voice grew more cheerful. Even his tone with the duke became warmer. "Black Knight will have the Dead Apostles under Altrouge cooperate with you."
"Then hold out as long as you can, White Knight." White Winged Duke's voice turned grave. "When dawn breaks over one region, another will always fall into darkness."
"That's the way of the world. No one can change it." The light in the Dead Apostle's eyes began to flicker. After leaving those words behind, White Winged Duke ended the connection. The Dead Apostle swayed, his crimson eyes gradually returning to normal. He quickly dropped to one knee. "Sir White Knight."
"You may leave." Rimuru stood up. Having taken care of matters with White Winged Duke, he still had something more important to do: keep teaching that stupid dog Fou how to fight!
Back with Fou, the priest had been about to keep arguing for a while longer when Fou yawned. The next moment, a gigantic black shadow materialized behind it. It threw its head back and roared, sending rippling waves of aura across the area. One after another, the Executors turned pale and collapsed, spitting blood.
In an instant, the four Executors in front had stopped breathing!!!
The priest and Rimuru exchanged a glance. Rimuru nodded solemnly, and the priest hurriedly crushed his cross. With a bang, a golden shield, twice as wide as it was tall, appeared before him. It was his field of isolation, which could briefly sever the space behind the barrier from the current world, shutting out all mystery and abilities.
"Everyone else, get behind me!!!" Rimuru strode toward the white figure, and the priest looked at him with solemn respect. He also carried out Rimuru's orders, prioritizing the safety of the startled mages—
But in the shadows behind them, several Dead Apostles with flickering red eyes had already crept up on them.
They were elite Dead Apostles under Altrouge, assigned by White Knight Rimuru. They were on par with first-rate Executors.
Just as White Knight Rimuru had told Fou, his achievements needed people to spread the word. But if all twenty-odd people made it back alive... that was a bit too many, wasn't it?
Meanwhile, as the priest's squad fought desperately, Rimuru charged at Fou. After trading a few blows with it, he nearly kicked it flying.
Fou: "..."
"When I turn around to grab your paw, you're supposed to knock me down with your tail. Is that tail only for looking cute?"
Rimuru caught Fou's limp roundhouse kick with one hand and helplessly gave its paw a little squeeze... Now he knew that the rumors weren't all false.
Fou really couldn't do anything except use conceptual attacks on the level of True Magic to erase humans!
But since Fou was a house dog... it made sense that it had lost its wild side?
No, wait!! Wasn't it abandoned once?!!
"Fou!!!" After being lectured by Rimuru for a while, Fou finally couldn't take it anymore. It spun around and slammed its head into Rimuru's chin with a thump. Landing on the ground in front of him, it raised its head proudly and looked down on him. "If my master didn't want you hurt, I could take away your ability to speak in a single hit, you know, Fou!!"
As it spoke, it walked over to Rimuru's side and brushed his face with its tail. "My tail is so soft and silky. How am I supposed to fight with it, Fou?"
"Reinforcement Magecraft..." Rimuru had lost his balance and fallen over, but couldn't be bothered to get up. Instead, he pretended to be weak. "You could make it as hard as steel, or sweep with it, or something?"
"Fou?!"
"Even an Eevee can smash rocks with its tail. What's your excuse?"
"...Eevee?" Fou clambered up to Rimuru's face, sniffed his forehead, then lifted its little paw and placed it against his forehead like a human.
Rimuru: "...Forget it. I didn't expect much from you anyway..."
At that, a vein popped on Fou's forehead. It pressed down with its little paw, and with a thump, Rimuru's head burst like a watermelon, turning into a puddle of liquid that slowly spread.
Seeing this, Fou raised its paw in disgust and shook off the water. "Even if I'm not good at hand-to-hand combat, my physical abilities are enough to overpower most beings! And you already have physical immunity, so what use would good fighting skills be against you, Fou?"
As it spoke, it shook its head. Then someone suddenly grabbed it by the tail and slammed it to the ground with a smack—"Fou?!!"
Still completely bewildered, Fou felt itself get picked up again and hurled away with a whoosh!
"At least if you were good at hand-to-hand combat, you could dodge my attacks..." Rimuru watched the stupid dog slide down the wall after smacking into it. He sighed helplessly. "Take this seriously. We're fighting for our lives here..."
"Ahhhhh! You damn bastard!!" Fou slid down the wall, its face aching. It turned back and snarled, "Do you want me to hit you with an erasure attack or not?!"
"Go ahead. I never said you couldn't."
"...?? Are you serious?"
"Of course." Rimuru lowered his eyes, a faint smile on his face. "Sometimes, you have to give something up to achieve what you want."
"To fool those old foxes, pretending won't work. I really do have to be on the verge of death."
"...Won't that affect your other identity?" Fou hesitated, then added awkwardly, "It's not that I'm worried about you."
"It shouldn't... All right, since the effect targets my entire being, it'll probably have some impact. But my Magic Resistance is high, so complete erasure is impossible. And as a Phantasmal Species, I can recover quickly, so it won't have too much of an effect. Most importantly, this is a clone, so the impact on my main body is limited."
"Anyway..." Rimuru raised his eyes and tilted his head with a small smile. "I'm counting on you, Fou. Go easy on me, okay?"
"Quick recovery... What kind of creature are you, Fou..." Fou still seemed unsure, but in the end it answered reluctantly, "I'll try to target this clone instead of the concept of your whole being, but if you're lying to me... I'll bite your head off, Fou!"
"Sure. Go ahead..."
"..." Fou sighed and raised its paw. The shadow of the giant beast gathered behind it once again. Suddenly, it let out a breath and mumbled weakly, "Maybe you should go to the edge of the battlefield first? That way, they might get to you in time to save you?"
"..." Rimuru couldn't help laughing at that. He said helplessly, "Just do it. I'm not asking you to kill me."
"I feel like you're underestimating what I can do..." Seeing how determined Rimuru was, Fou reluctantly raised its paw and muttered as it unleashed its talent: the deadly erasure of primates!
A wave of primordial aura rippled outward again, but this time it locked onto the petite figure. In an instant, Rimuru felt his whole body shudder. A terrible sense of despair, corrosive as an abyss, immediately began eating away at every part of his skin, burrowing into his muscles. Then the pain of disintegration and tearing spread through his organs, bones, and even every cell!
"Shit..." Rimuru hadn't expected the effect to come so quickly—or to hurt so much!!
Caught off guard, his legs went limp and he lost all feeling in them. He hit the ground with a thud—
Great Sage, block as much of the pain as possible!
"Understood!" As Great Sage's voice rang out, the pain throughout Rimuru's body immediately diminished. His mimetic cells were still disintegrating, but his powerful Magic Resistance slowed the process somewhat, while his Hyper Regeneration quickly caught up, barely managing to hold the two forces at bay. Even so, his constantly disintegrating and reforming mimetic cells left him feeling terribly weak, and his coordination had deteriorated badly.
"Returning to your Slime form can reduce your magical energy consumption. Your Magic Resistance is not yet sufficient to withstand the erasure process of Primate Murder, which is comparable to Gaia's will. The human tissues of your mimetic form will almost completely dissolve within three seconds—"
Before you continue