The black-haired ogre shuddered, mist covering his entire body. He fell to the ground, still bolt upright and unable to move. Facing the brunt of my B-plus-level black centipede transformation was enough to stop even him in his tracks.
But the ogres weren’t your run-of-the-mill foes. The moment I felled the black-haired one like a mighty tree, two others lunged at me. In a moment, the purple-haired ogress was upon me, cannonball-like mace swinging in the air. The blue-haired one was lurking behind her shadow, ready to land a surprise attack when I wasn’t paying attention. It was a well-practiced example of teamwork, but with Magic Sense, I could see it coming a mile away. Veldora had told me no one would ever sneak up on me again, and he was right.
The noble-faced ogress sneered, eyes like two long slits. I waited for the moment she raised her mace high, then pointed my left hand at her and unleashed a spinning flurry of Sticky Steel Thread. The flexible strands, strong enough to even keep Ifrit restrained, had been synthesized with Deviant to grow even more durable. They now cocooned the ogress, and she couldn’t escape, no matter how she struggled. All that training really did pay off.
As I sung my own praises in my mind, a sword shot at me from a blind spot below. The blue-haired swordsman had aimed straight for my heart. But I didn’t panic. Magic Sense had told me he was there, so I was just thinking about how I’d handle him.
I decided to use my right arm as a shield to deflect the straight sword. After the dull thunk of steel striking against something solid, the sword broke neatly in two.
The ogre’s eyes widened in surprise as I landed my follow-up, a straight jab from a scaly right arm. I had deployed Body Armor—the scale defense from the lizards in the cave—up and down my hand and forearm, and it made short work of the blue-hair’s chest plate. It shattered, ensuring I had defanged him without hurting myself a single bit along the way. I didn’t really need Body Armor here—Resist Melee Attack linked with Multilayer Barrier was enough to annul any potential damage to my arm—but hey, just in case, you know?
That meant three ogres were out of the picture. That left the pink-haired ogress Ranga was tangling with, the haughty-looking red-haired one, and the elder ogre, still standing there and gauging my every move.
“Do you see how strong I am now? Are you willing to hear me out a little?”
“Silence! Now I am more convinced than ever—you lie at the very root of this calamity. It was your cohorts who led those fetid pigs to destroy our home, was it not? A simple horde of orcs would never be enough to defeat us normally. It was you! The magic-born who doomed us!”
Um? The magic-born who what? This was getting to be one serious misunderstanding. And when that red-haired ogre said pigs, was he talking about orcs? Rigur and his crew had suggested there was some kind of struggle going on over forest territory…
“Wait, you’ve got the wrong—”
I attempted to state my case, only to be stopped by a premonition behind me. I turned around—the elder wasn’t there. Was the other one lecturing me just to divert my attention?!
In a panic, I turned, blocking a strike from behind with my right hand. It was a shock, someone evading Magic Sense to get so close undetected. Thankfully, the unique Great Sage skill sped up my thought processes to a thousand times faster than normal. The elder unsheathed his blade in a flash, and I was just barely in time.
But something about my arm felt unusual. My skill set kept me from experiencing pain, but—oops—he had lopped the thing right off. This old guy’s skills were incredible. Even with Multilayer Barrier and Body Armor in place, it was like he could cut through paper.
“Mmh… I must be growing senile. I was sure I had decapitated you there…”
Senile, my ass. His physical skills were no match for his companions, but his speed was ridiculous. He was lethal.
Retrieving my amputated arm, I stepped back a little ways.
“Sir Rimuru?!”
“Stay back! I’m fine!” I shouted, shooing Ranga away. The elder was too dangerous for him to handle. He looked confused for a moment but turned his attention back to the pink-haired ogress, apparently trusting me.
“I will not miss next time,” the elder said as he resheathed his sword and readied it anew.
No way I would underestimate his advanced age now. I needed to show him everything I had.
Apparently waiting for the moment I was fully focused on him, he leaped up, and with a shout of “Die for my comrades!” slashed at me from my flank.
“Hah!” the red-haired ogre shouted, still targeting me. “Losing an arm should be the end for you. You were strong, I’ll grant you that, but you were arrogant. You thought you could take us on alone, but that was your undoing!”
He had a unique way of moving, too, one that let him stab at my weaker points head-on. He must have seen me as enough of a threat to not bother keeping alive.
Master-level teamwork like this was a huge pain in the ass. I was incredibly strong, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, but I was really just an amateur in a fight. Whatever rubbed off on me during phys ed class was about all I had.
Getting all serious against a total newbie seemed a little immature, but then again, I did tell them I couldn’t lose. I suppose I had it coming. But I still had to make it out of this scrape, by hook or by crook.
I considered the situation as I worked to keep the two at a distance. Taking them on with a single arm sounded like a steep order, so I used my Predator special skill to reabsorb it. Self-Regeneration, the slime-intrinsic skill I started with, was good enough to heal me when paired with Predator in the past. Hopefully, it could handle more delicate surgeries like this…