As the Orc Lord continued to march through the forest, a man wearing a plague doctor's mask couldn't help but scream in frustration.
"Damn it, you and your stupid army. How the hell do you lose 13,000 Orcs? Those damn clowns were supposed to look after them… Now it's going to be a pain in the ass to fix your stupid mistake," Gelmud raged at the indifferent Orc Lord, who continued marching as if he didn't hear a word.
The Orc Lord's indifference only fueled Gelmud's anger.
"You stupid pig—" he began, before sensing something in the distance. It felt like a monster or a magic born was hiding. The moment he focused on their direction, he felt the aura begin to move away quickly.
"Hehe… you think you can run away… I'm gonna vent my anger on you," Gelmud muttered, flying off to catch the fleeing individual. His annoyed laugh echoed through the trees as he screamed, "Come back here, you bastard. The less you run, the nicer I will be with you, okay?"
As he screamed, the person's aura suddenly stopped. Laughing, Gelmud continued to fly until he arrived to see a blue-haired Kijin covered in injuries.
"Please… sir… I didn't mean to," Souei began, faking fear in his voice, causing Gelmud to laugh.
"Good, you look to be pretty strong. You'll make a good meal for my pet—" Gelmud began, before suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his chest. As he looked down, he saw an arm sticking out of it.
[Activating Predator.]
In the very next moment, Gelmud was consumed, not even getting the chance to react. Rimuru had used a prototype of Shunpo, enhanced by Sage's Arts, to move without triggering Magic Sense. Quick and efficient, exactly what they needed.
[Error. No intrinsic skills or unique skills have been detected. After a brief analysis, it is expected that he mainly used battle arts or spells.]
The moment Gelmud was consumed, Souei instantly dropped to his knees, no longer looking injured.
"Lord Rimuru, I apologize. There was one person who escaped my notice until after I had already begun the operation. One of the masked people was also hiding and observing the Orcs. I only sensed him for a brief moment before he vanished."
Rimuru mused for a moment, nodding thoughtfully.
"Contact Treyni. We will need her as a backup. If it is who I think it is, you probably won't be able to win. She'll serve to make him run. Just don't provoke him; be respectful, and you'll be fine. Send Shion, Hakuro, and Benimaru to distract him while I deal with the Orc Lord," Rimuru commanded. After hesitating for a moment, he added.
"While I deal with the Orc Lord, make sure you send the rest of our army to continue fighting the Orcs. I need about 9,000 more of them, but I doubt we will be able to defeat that many while I handle the Orc Lord. Just fight until I beat the Orc Lord."
Nodding, Souei sank into the shadows and vanished.
[Synthesis complete. Fusion of Gelmud has been achieved with the rest of the bodies of the Orcs.]
[Begin operation?]
'Yes.' Rimuru commanded.
As the Orc Lord continued to march, from the shadows, a gigantic blob of meat emerged, full of magicules. The Orcs, all under the effects of the skill Starved, instantly moved to eat as much as they could, trying to finally fill their stomachs. However, no matter how much they ate, they would never feel anything other than hunger.
The Orc Lord began to devour gigantic bites, his mind unable to process just how strange it was for the food to have suddenly appeared. As they ate, a masked man raised an eyebrow in suspicion, sensing danger before he could investigate further.
Vanishing from his spot, he saw a gigantic ball of black fire explode, burning a tree to ashes. Landing on the ground, he saw a group of three Kijin ready to fight.
"Ohohoho, I see now how our little group of Orcs got defeated. Three Kijin, with such strength. I guess he was right when he guessed you must have been using some sort of illusion to hide yourselves." Laplace said, his tone mocking yet cautious.
Hakuro took a few steps forward, lowering his head slightly to show respect as Rimuru had ordered.
"We wish to avoid this battle; however, I believe you must understand why we must fight you."
With those words, Hakuro vanished, appearing beneath Laplace as he swung his blade upwards using his signature move, 'Thunder of Heaven and Earth.' Laplace dodged to the side for the first strike, and before Hakuro could complete his movement, he felt a kick to the face, sending him sliding backward.
This simple action was enough to cause all three Kijin to raise their guards even more.
Shion and Benimaru exchanged glances before nodding, moving in unison to attack. Shion vanished from her spot, using the prototype Shunpo Rimuru had taught her, while Benimaru's sword became coated in Hellfire, following Shizue's example, as he dashed forward.
Shion appeared behind Laplace, her sword ready to execute Ogre Guillotine, while Benimaru positioned himself in front of Laplace, prepared to unleash Hellfire in the direction he dodged. But before their eyes, Laplace vanished.
Shion's strike shattered the ground, and Benimaru's flames cut through the air, but neither felt the impact of their attacks. Just as Shion sensed danger to her side, she heard the loud clang of metal striking metal.
Laplace was holding a small dagger that had just been blocked by Hakuro, who now had a third eye on his forehead, focused intently on Laplace.
The moment the weapons collided, all of them jumped to create distance, with Laplace looking at the group in surprise.
"Huh… all of you are quite strong… Say, would any of you be interested in becoming demon lords?" Laplace offered. He had a small orb to keep track of Gelmud that had suddenly stopped working, which meant that Gelmud had likely been killed, probably by one of them. No Gelmud meant the Orc Lord would probably not be as easy to control.
Just as he was about to continue, he felt a sudden wave of magicules surging from the direction of the Orc Lord.
"He's evolving?" Laplace asked, before suddenly dodging to the side as Hakuro tried to attack him again.
"We apologize, but we already serve a Lord. If anyone here is to become a demon lord, it shall be him," Hakuro said, the eye on his forehead darting rapidly as he tried to pinpoint Laplace's location. He suddenly felt numbness in his arm as it was sliced clean off.
"What is their name? Would they be interested in the offer, then? They must be the ones feeding the Orc Lord, no?" Laplace asked as he flicked the blood off his knife before vanishing again to dodge the next strike.
Laplace continued to vanish from place to place, almost like he was just an illusion, as Benimaru's flames exploded around him and Shion's greatsword continued to devastate the ground below him. After a few moments, he appeared on top of a tree.
"We apologize, but we are not to answer any questions," Hakuro said, his voice steady despite the loss of his arm.
Before Laplace could attack again, he felt the trees around him begin to move. A gust of wind sliced in his direction.
"A dryad?" Laplace asked before vanishing, adopting a more defensive pose as he saw the green-haired woman appear.
Treyni materialized gracefully, her presence exuding a calm yet formidable aura. She looked at Laplace, her eyes narrowing.
Laplace looked at the group in front of him, thinking for a moment before sighing.
"Well, this is getting troublesome. If there's a dryad, then playtime is over. See ya." With those words, Laplace waved his hand before vanishing completely.
Treyni narrowed her eyes, scanning for any signs of him before sighing.
"He escaped…"
Hakuro, who was drinking a full potion to heal his cut arm, nodded.
"I now see why Lord Rimuru warned us not to anger him. He was messing around with us." He flexed his newly healed arm. "It was almost as if he could see my attacks before they even happened."
Shion frowned, her eyes filled with anger as she raised her sword.
"If Lord Rimuru had been here, he would have been able to beat him… I was too slow…"
Before she could bring herself down, Benimaru spoke up.
"No, it was all of us who were too weak. Lord Rimuru knew that we would not be able to beat him. This just means we need to train even harder from now on so that our Lord can rely on us to fight opponents like him."
Hakuro chuckled slightly before nodding his head.
"It seems I must increase the intensity of our training… Come on, let us go help our Lord beat the Orc Lord."
— — —
As the Kijin distracted Laplace, Rimuru observed the Orcs devouring the massive blob of flesh with a mixture of disgust and slight regret.
'That's a bit much, don't you think Sage?'
[Notice. The effect of the skill: Starved forces the people under its influence to consume everything in their path no matter what.]
'Well, I guess that's just how this world works. I'm the one who dropped the flesh in front of them either way, so I don't get to feel bad about it.'
After awakening into a demon lord seed, the skill Starved gained the properties of Corrosion and Rot, increasing in strength. Rimuru knew that if he had the chance to consume the strengthened Starved, he would take it.
Letting out a sigh, Rimuru focused as he sensed his army surrounding the Orcs in the forest. Just as he had anticipated, the Orc Lord began to release strong waves of magicules into the air, an aura unlike any he had experienced so far.
[Confirmed. The orc lord's magical energy has expanded in quantity. He has begun the evolution process to a demon lord seed… Evolution complete. The individual Geld has completed the evolution to an Orc Disaster.]
'Target the Orc Generals. I will take care of the Orc Disaster. Prioritize your safety above all else. Retreat if needed,' Rimuru commanded using thought communication. The next moment, countless warriors shot out from their hiding spots.
Souei and his team bypassed the enemies in their path, aiming directly for the generals. Shuna and her people supported them from the background, utilizing techniques Rimuru had taught them from Dwargon. They softened the dirt below the Orcs, making it difficult terrain and lowering their movement.
Meanwhile, Rimuru flew directly toward the Orc Lord, activating his Commander's Aura to strengthen his allies and slightly weaken the Orcs. As he did, he split into two using Ifrit's Replication. One copy had his signature golden eyes, while the other had crimson eyes, focused and expressionless as it began to move.
Great Sage began by summoning countless threads using Universal Thread, binding the Orc Disaster Geld and slowing his movement. Rimuru moved swiftly, cutting off one of Geld's arms and instantly activating Predator to consume it.
Geld shouted angrily as he activated his Starved skill, black tendril-like snakes emerging from his body, corroding the threads. Simultaneously, his arm began to reform thanks to his Self-regeneration.
'Sage.'
[Understood.]
Raising her arm, Sage snapped her fingers, and a flash of Dark Thunder struck, slowing Geld for a moment. Sage's sword coated itself in Dark Flames before she vanished from sight. In a perfectly coordinated attack, both Rimuru and Sage sliced off Geld's arms, leaving Dark Flames behind to stop him from regenerating.
The countless Starved Snakes attacked, trying to consume either Rimuru, but both used the prototype Shunpo to vanish before being caught. The Chaos Eater snakes continued moving to consume the Orcs around Geld, feeding him and making him stronger.
[Notice.] Sage began before being cut off by Rimuru.
'I know. You do the breath, I'll keep cutting.'
[Understood.]
Sage stopped moving, taking a deep breath and activating Particle Breath, a combination of paralysis, poison, and confusion breath. The gigantic cloud of multicolored smoke crashed onto Geld, causing him to scream in anger as he felt his body become harder to move and the burning sensation start to spread.
Without wasting a moment, Rimuru continued to vanish from place to place, cutting off one of Geld's legs before moving to his arm and then the next leg, using Predator with every cut. As the Orc Disaster fell to the floor without limbs, Rimuru appeared on his chest, stabbing him directly in the heart before raising his sword, now coated in Dark Flames.
"You can sleep now. I will take care of the rest of the Orcs. You have done enough," Rimuru said, his voice calm yet commanding. With those words, he sliced off the head of Geld.
Even without limbs or a head, the countless yellowish tendrils and Chaos Eater snakes continued to attack, trying to find food to heal Geld's wounds. But before they could continue, Rimuru activated Predator. His body expanded as it began to consume the Orc Disaster, even as the Chaos Eater tendrils continued to try to heal Geld.
'I can't… die… yet. I need to…'
The words of the Orc Disaster resounded in Rimuru's mind as he began to feel himself being consumed.
'I told you already, I will take care of the Orcs. Just sleep now, and leave the rest to me,' Rimuru said, feeling the countless Chaos Eater snakes begin to vanish, one after the other.
After a few moments, Rimuru finally finished consuming Geld.
[Report. The unique skill, Starved, has been absorbed and synthesized with the unique skill Predator. The new unique skill, Gluttony, has been acquired.]
[Notice. Demon Lord Seed has been acquired.]
With the Orc Disaster defeated, Sage quickly merged back with Rimuru. As they looked at the battlefield, they saw that it had suddenly frozen in place. Without Starved, the Orcs had lost their will to fight. Some were vomiting from the memories of what they had done, and some were passing out from hunger. It was a huge mess.
As Rimuru stared at the battlefield, he received another report.
[Notice. Only 236 Orcs were killed. Our battle with the Orc Disaster went faster than my calculations. Updating parameters for future calculations. It is estimated that 4,482 souls are still needed to evolve into True Demon Lord.]
[Estimations might change depending on the quality level of the souls obtained.]
'Well… I guess that is an issue for another day,' Rimuru thought as he sensed Treyni appear next to him. She looked at him with curiosity, awaiting his next move.
Clearing his throat, Rimuru released all of his aura to get the attention of the Orcs.
"I am Rimuru Tempest, the leader of the city of Tempest." He began, amplifying his voice with Ultrasonic Wave.
"I understand that the actions you all took were because you were under the influence of Starved. You were consumed with hunger, and you were not able to think. That much is not your fault."
The Orcs began to look around at each other with both sadness and regret, lowering their heads in shame.
"However, that all changes today. You now can think with your own mind. So I will give you all an offer. I will take all of your crimes under my own name. In exchange for names and the promise of food, vow your allegiance to me, and I will lead you all into a world where none of you will go hungry again."
The Orcs looked around with fear and confusion, their eyes finally settling on the green-haired woman next to Rimuru.
"I am Treyni, a dryad of the Forest of Jura. I am sworn to protect the forest, and I have decided to put my trust in Sir Rimuru. As a representative and guardian of the forest, I can reassure you that Sir Rimuru will keep his promise."
With the words of a dryad backing him up, the Orcs began to fall to their knees, one by one, until the remaining 200,000 Orcs all bowed down to Rimuru. Even the Kijin and Hobgoblins, who had already sworn their loyalty to him, knelt down, lowering their heads in respect..
"Treyni, could you begin passing the fruits? I can tell that all of them are about to pass out from hunger." Rimuru asked as he saw the countless Orcs kneeling down, some of them passing out from hunger.
— — —
Special Thanks to my Beta Readers/Editors: @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord) and @Kiyan Tribe (FF.net/AO3/QQ) | kiyan_tribe( Discord)