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Grrrrrrrk?!
Phobio had no idea what had just happened in that brief instant.
All he knew was that a pitch-black void had swallowed the great forest, and then every last scale on [Charybdis] had been erased without a trace.
'...N-no... way... How... could this...'
G-grrk... grrrk...!
As Phobio's consciousness wavered in shock, [Charybdis]'s instinct seized the opening and began eroding him again. As if it didn't matter whether the attack had worked or not, it regenerated its scales once more.
For a mindless sovereign, the only thing that truly mattered was destruction.
[Charybdis]'s instinct moved once more to fulfill that purpose.
"...[Ultra-Speed Regeneration], huh."
Watching [Charybdis]'s scales rapidly grow back, Adelio briefly considered cutting all the way through to its core as well, but then he sheathed [Fragarach].
At present, [Tempest] had no one besides Rimuru who could be called [Awakened Demon Lord]-class, so this was still an opponent they had no real chance of defeating on their own. Even so, it wasn't so overwhelming that they couldn't fight it at all, which made it more than suitable as training.
In fact, he had just used it for exactly that himself, and Ria and Shizue, who had been quietly watching, looked like they were starting to want a turn too.
'Rimuru.'
<Y-yeah?>
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Adelio sent Rimuru a [Thought Communication] and continued in a slightly teasing tone.
'In about three minutes, that same attack is coming again. This time, you stop it.'
<...What?! Weren't you planning to finish it just like this??>
Rimuru, who had been caught between shock and relief while watching Adelio's [Arts], sent back a horrified thought as that relief shattered in an instant.
She had just started thinking things might wrap up smoothly without her needing to step in, and now he was forcing her into the fight after all.
And against that vicious-looking giant monster, no less.
'If I handle it all by myself, then this wouldn't really be [Tempest]'s second war, would it? Besides, shouldn't you start using that [Unique Skill] you evolved last time in real combat now?'
Rimuru clearly wanted to refuse with all her heart, but there was no excuse in this situation more solid than Adelio's logic. And since she herself had already handed half of battle command over to him, refusing wasn't really an option to begin with. In the end, she reluctantly nodded.
<...Okay... I'll try it.>
Before long, Rimuru spread her bat-like wings and gathered her magic power in front of [Charybdis], which had fully regenerated all its scales while they were talking.
Grrrrrrk!
And the moment after that, hundreds of thousands of scales came storming in once again—
"Devour it—"
—Rimuru's eyes gleamed calmly as she shouted.
"—[Gluttony]!"
[Gluttony], one of the Seven Deadly Sins and among the highest tier of [Unique Skill]s, had evolved one step further from [Predator].
Its power was simple.
Fwaaaaaash...!!
A vortex that swallowed everything.
It was a demonic whirlpool, similar to Adelio's void, yet different from it.
Grrrk?!
Living up to its name, [Gluttony] rapidly swelled in size and instantly devoured every one of [Charybdis]'s scales pouring down before them. Then it quietly dispersed within Rimuru's palm.
"......"
<...Whew, somehow I pulled it off... That works, right...?>
'Yeah, well done. Now just repeat that about ten more times.'
<...Huh? T-ten more times?>
When Rimuru asked what on earth he meant, Adelio answered in a tone that made it sound perfectly obvious.
'It's not every day you get a target this huge. Of course we should use it for practice. The [Kijin] are up next, so get some rest for now.'
<No, no, you're joking, right?! You're seriously planning to use that thing for training??>
At the idea of practicing against a monster that was basically firing hundreds of thousands of light bullets every three minutes, Rimuru was horrified all over again. This time she didn't hesitate to try stopping Adelio, but—
<How interesting. I would like to take on the challenge.>
<I feel the same!>
<Ho ho, there's nothing quite as enjoyable as landing a truly big catch while fishing.>
<The [Dragonoid]s and the High Orcs also say this seems like a good opportunity.>
<Yes, there are hardly any chances better than this for gaining real combat experience.>
...By then, the other monsters who had somehow been eavesdropping on Adelio and Rimuru's [Thought Communication]—and even Dorph, captain of the [Pegasus Knights]—had started agreeing with him, so Rimuru could only clamp her mouth shut.
'...[Great Sage], you...'
《Explanation. The opinion of individual Adelio Ruber was judged more persuasive than Master's, so I merely connected a small portion of the other monsters' [Thought Communication].》
Once even her own [Skills] started taking the position that [Charybdis] made an excellent training target, Rimuru lowered her gaze with half-resigned despair.
'...Fine, fine... I get it... I'll do it, okay...'
As a [reincarnator] and a slime by nature, Rimuru possessed far less battle instinct than the other monsters.
And so, today as well, she was fated to keep getting dragged across the battlefield until she finally got used to war.
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