The four adventures didn't seems to wary of us and told us everything.
They were exceedingly forthright with their story, Their guild master had sent them to examine the area around the cave and check to see whether anything suspicious had taken place…but this mission was proving to stymie them.
"Yeah, that's the thing!" Kabal continued. "We're here looking for 'suspicious' things, but what the heck is 'suspicious' supposed to mean? We're clueless here!"
"Totally!" Elen chimed in. "I wish he could've said, like, 'Look for this or that or the other thing' instead of leaving it so vague!"
"We might be good scouts and all that, but we can't do everything, y'know?" Gido added.
And so they bad-mouthed their guild master without a care in the world. I almost felt sorry for the guy.
here looking for 'suspicious' things, but what the heck is 'suspicious' supposed to mean? We're clueless here!"
"Totally!" Elen chimed in. "I wish he could've said, like, 'Look for this or that or the other thing' instead of leaving it so vague!"
"We might be good scouts and all that, but we can't do everything, y'know?" Gido added.
And so they bad-mouthed their guild master without a care in the world. I almost felt sorry for the guy.
Along the way, this group had run smack into a large, suspicious-looking boulder with a hole in it. For some reason they though that was it!, because they drew their swords and stabbed it a little bit…only to wake up an entire nest of giant ants. I didn't know how to comment on that.
It was a miracle they were alive—they'd spent the next three days constantly on the run, losing all their possessions on the way, before making it here. I had to hand it to them for managing that, really.
"Well," rimuru reflected, "I wouldn't say there's much 'suspicious' going on around here, no. The cave, mainly, I guess?"
Elen shook her head. "But we didn't find anything in there, no. Did you know the story behind that cave? There's supposed to be this big, evil dragon sealed inside, but we spent two weeks running up and down that cave, and nothing! Two weeks without a bath, and we got practically nothing for it…"
"Whoa, c'mon!" an unnerved Kabal barked back. "We can't go around revealing that much to them!"
"What do you care?" Gido countered. "She's the one who did it! It don't matter to me!"
The men completely panicked at Elen's unwitting revelation.
We already knew, of course, thanks to our last encounter with them. After asking for the reason of investigation they spilled the beans.
Kabal somberly shook his head in response. "Well, if she's said that much, no point hiding it. Like she said, rumor's been going around that the dragon in there's stopped responding…"
Hmm. As I expected, Veldora's disappearance must've put the humans in a disarray. That vanishing act, despite him being safely sealed away, was huge news—Well this was some crazy powerful dragon after all, although to me he'd just seemed like a nice guy who liked to chat sometimes.
Must've been a big deal, though, if people were sending out search parties. Was building this town near the cave mouth a mistake?
"We brought along a Reaction Stone, too, because they said the cave was practically bursting at the seams with magicules…but it wasn't anything near what we thought it'd be. I mean, the concentration's a little heavier than your typical cave, but nothing outside what's normal now. And that is pretty unusual, so at least we've got that to go back home with, but…"
"It's still packed with strong monsters, though, so I don't really wanna go back in again if I have the choice," Elen said. "No treasure to speak of, either, and no magic ore. All that monster hacking you gotta do, and there's no payoff for it at all!"
"Yeah," Gido added, "you might find some bandit gear if you look a bit, but nothin' worth goin' out of your way for."
Well, what if I told you that there used to be loads of it…and a certain slime swallowed it all up? And what if I told you the magic had declined in there because he also swallowed up Veldora, the guy generating all of it? That's all basically his fault, isn't it?
Oh well, they wouldn't grieve if they didn't know.
We continued talking for a while. They had said too much anyway, as Kabal put it, so they might as well go all the way. These guys were a lot more good-natured than I gave them credit for at first.
As Rimuru was worried about the location of the town he asked them if there will be any problems.
"It…oughta be fine, right?" Kabal said.
"Yeah," Elen agreed. "It's not the guild's problem in the first place. What about the local governments, though?"
"Ooh, that ain't for me to say," was Gido's opinion.
Of course, the guild wouldn't know what their host nations were thinking. Plus, They don't have the jurisdiction to act.
Then, as I was caught up in my thoughts, I noticed that something was going on with Shizu, who'd been sitting there listening the whole time. Suddenly, she slumped to the floor, unconscious. We all immediately came up to her, trying to hold her up, when…
"Nhh… Nraaaaahhhhhh!!"
Things progressed quickly after that.
Once Shizu's extended groan ended, the tent was visited by absolute silence.
Cracks were now appearing over her mask, mystical force wafting out from beneath. All of us could tell that something bad was happening.
"Summon magic?!" Elen shouted in surprise.
"Whoa, for real? Where the hell'd that come from? What rank is it?"
"…Umm, judging by the size of the magic circle, I'd have to guess B-plus or higher."
"Well, we can't just sit here, boss. We gotta stop it!"
So they were seasoned adventurers after all, when they needed to be. A few words exchanged, and they immediately leaped into action.
"Great Earth, place thy bonds over her! Mud Hand!"
"Urrrrrraaahhh! Knockdown!!"
First, Elen tied her down. Then Kabal landed a full-body blow. Gido played backup, ready to act the moment trouble appeared. Hmm. For B ranks, their teamwork was good. Not a single wasted movement.
But all Shizu had to do was lift the top of her index finger up a bit, and that was enough to trigger a small explosion around her. The tent was destroyed, but what about those three? Were they hurt? There was a bit of a shock wave, but we were unscathed.
Kabal, who had landed a Knockdown on Shizu after Elen bound her, had sadly taken the full brunt of the explosion with his body. It had sent him flying. Gido was fine, however, and he'd sensed danger early enough that he'd pushed Elen aside to safety as well.
"You all right?"
"We're just fine, yeah
Um, I'm kinda aching all over!" Elen protested. "They better give us some hazard pay for this!"
Kabal, for his part, was already on his feet. "Owww… Guys, could you worry about your leader at least a little?" He must've had some endurance.
"I knew Shizu was a magic user, but summoning, too…?"
"What'd she summon, anyway?"
"No, no," Gido cut in, "that ain't even the half of it. As far as I know, you can't launch magic without a chant during a summoning—"
Before he could finish, he stopped, looking at Shizu as if he couldn't believe his eyes. He had just hit upon an idea.
"Wait… No way… The Conqueror of Flames?"
Shizu was still casting a spell. Her entire body was glowing bright red, hovering in the air a little. Her mask remained prominent on her face as her long black hair spilled out of her robe. What's she trying to do? She doesn't seem to be in a normal state, I sensed a turbulent spiritual fluctuations from her.
"Rigurd, get everyone out of town! Don't let anyone near here!" rimuru shouted.
"But…"
"That's an order! Once they're evacuated, get Ranga here for me!"
"Yes, Sir Rimuru!"
The goblin king sped off.
That was a good call, they couldn't do much to against this, It'd be a waste of countless lives. Now those adventurers don't strike as the scheming type unless they were so good at that I was fooled.
"Yo, Gido! What's that Conqueror of Flames thing?"
"Wasn't that a hero or something?" Elen chimed in first. "I think she was active around fifty or so years ago?"
Famous, then? I thought to myself. Then Shizu's mask fell off her face.
Flames shot upward.
Up in the sky, three flame salamanders appeared. It was a hell of a way for Shizu to reveal her face to us. Her black hair fanned outward with the shock wave, shining brilliantly against the inferno. She had a fleeting, transient beauty to her—but her eyes emitted a wicked shine, and the edges of her lips were twisted upward in what seemed to be an expression of utter joy at the carnage she had seen.
Something about it struck me as completely unnatural, in a way it was similar to hollowfication where a different ego takes control.
Then...
Launching unique skill "Deviant."
The voice of the world echoed around us. As it did, the beautiful young girl transformed into a giant of pure fire.
"No mistakin' it," Gido shouted. "That's the Conqueror of Flames, the master of Ifrit the titan… The strongest elementalist in the world!"
Ifrit, the fire titan. The lord of fire, capable of burning anything in his path. A level above any royalty, mortal or divine.
"Gahh! Ifrit? Isn't that spirit, like, above A rank and stuff?!" Kabal yelped.
"Oof… That's my first time seeing it," Elen said. "But…how could we ever beat that?!"
"Yeah, we can't," retorted Gido. "We're all gonna die here… Sure was a short life, I guess."
With his three flame salamanders by his side, the Conqueror of Flames surveyed his domain. No wonder the three of them were in such a panic. Even a single salamander boasted B-plus strength. But… What was the deal with Shizu? To me, it didn't seem as if she was controlling all this—more like Ifrit was controlling Shizu.
There was a shock wave as Shizu—or Ifrit—unleashed a torrent of magic force.
…That was weird, I confirmed her unnatural fluctuations —just a little show of violence, although there was nothing little about it. It didn't seem like the work of a free mind; the attack looked more as if it was preprogrammed by someone. Now there was no doubting it. This wasn't Shizu's will at work. Ifrit was supposed to be hers to handle, but now he was out of control.