Soei smiled a thin smile. He felt, truly, that he had served his master well. To him, this was nothing Benimaru could ever manage, whether he was son of the past king or not. The two had been rivals since childhood, and sooner or later Soei would have become his loyal subject, serving the lord that led the way for the entire ogre race.
But that was all in the past. Now, he had a new master in Rimuru. And the thought pleased him.
The ogres had enjoyed a long era of peace, undisturbed by any kind of conflict. To them, the monsters of the forest were nowhere near challenging enough—and as of late, they haven’t even had any rampaging lesser dragons to deal with. It was a good thing, Soei knew. But he could never deny that he wanted to make full use of all the skills that had been hammered into him.
Then his settlement was attacked by orcs. He cursed his powerlessness on that day. He had assumed their end would come quickly afterward—they were rudderless, unable to avenge their friends and family.
But now, he was happy, and thankful for his happiness. Under his new master, he had been granted a chance at vengeance.
He would never let his pride weaken his guard. That single defeat had taught him a great deal. Along with the humiliating memories, he had etched into his heart exactly how foolish he had been all along.
He had polished his Arts for his master, eliminating his foes, honing everything he had within him. Nothing delighted him more than having orders to follow. And now, Soei was ready to faithfully execute them.
✦ ✦ ✦
Looking up at the silent man, the chief recognized him as the monster who had met with him earlier. The high-level member of the magic-born races who called himself Soei, the very one who had offered the alliance. He came for me? But we have no alliance forged yet. But, but… Doubts and questions swirled in his mind. Yet, the chief, near the end of his life, could do little. He attempted to speak, clearing the blood from his throat.
“Lord Soei… You have come for me? After we forged ahead, ignoring your advice…? By my very life, please, help the lizardmen—”
He tried his best to entrust his people’s future to Soei before he passed. But now there was another figure there. One he did not recognize before she spoke.
“Father, drink this!”
An aqua-blue container was presented to his mouth. The moment he felt the liquid passing between his fangs, his hideous-looking wounds were magically gone, as if nothing had ever been amiss. In a moment, it had brought him back to perfect health.
“Wha?!”
The chief sprang up, in a state of shock.
“My advice…? What do you mean? Well, it doesn’t matter. I want you to wait here until the appointed day arrives. And try to be careful. Neither my master nor I would enjoy it very much if you were to die on us.”
It sounded so out of place, this cold, oddly calming voice.
He’s saying he’ll keep his promise about the alliance? But…
“But now is no time for that,” he said. “The orcs…”
Then he realized something was off. The orc general, halberd still high in the air, had stopped moving. His face had an odd dark-reddish tint to it, his muscles bulging as he focused all his strength on the upcoming swing.
“That… What is the meaning of…?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve stopped him for now.”
Soei’s comment made the situation clear for the chief. But what did it mean…?
He gave Soei a wild-eyed look. He realized that this orc general, who had completely dominated him in battle a moment ago, was now rendered completely helpless before this envoy.
“What…? What are you…?”
“A pity, though,” Soei blithely commented as he looked at the frozen orc. “I had him captured, I was hoping to torture him so he would be of some use to Sir Rimuru…but it would appear he is sharing information with some outside source. I suppose I will have to kill him, then.”
For Soei, an information merchant of sorts, having data leaked out to the enemy deeply bruised his pride. That was why he always took the utmost care in observing the enemy. A blue light flickered in his eyes now, detecting minute shifts in the magicules in the atmosphere. It indicated he was using Observing Eyes, one of his extra skills, and that skill told him the orc general was transmitting what he saw to someone, perhaps through a crystal orb or other medium.
Soei decided it was better to kill the orc than to have his cover blown. But murder in itself did not interest him that much. So he decided to reveal a little more, in hopes of gauging the enemy’s movements.
“But just killing you would be boring,” he said with a mild smile, “so why don’t I have you relay a message as well? I assume whoever’s controlling you orcs is watching me now, right? Your turn is next. And we’ll make sure you will deeply regret making the ogre mages your enemy.”
And with that, Soei took his eyes off the orc general, no longer interested in him. His work was done, and it was time to take out the trash.
“Die,” he whispered. The next moment, the orc general was torn into millions of fine pieces by the Sticky Steel Thread Soei had wrapped around him.
Right there was the moment that the final form of Threadmaster, a battle move first conceived by Rimuru, was born.
✦ ✦ ✦
The chief watched, stunned speechless. He tried to keep his mind from racing as he recalled what he had just heard. Then he turned to Soei, not bothering to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Ogre mage… He is among the ogre mages?!
He stared at him, as if looking at something his mind refused to parse. Then he recalled the power he had shown a moment ago. Now it made sense.
Perhaps I should have known. He is a legend along the lines of the orc lord. The next level of ogres…
Ogre mages were the evolved form of ogres, already high-level denizens of the forest. It made sense, then, that the force he exhibited was akin to a high-level magic-born. Well past A rank, and difficult to wrap one’s mind around. So few among the magic-borns ever made it to that point.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
But something Soei said rang in the chief’s mind. He had said the ogre “mages.” Plural. There were more of them. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
My decision… he thought. My decision to accept this alliance was the best one I have ever made…
Then the chief sank to the floor. He was sure of it now. If the ogre mages were helping him, the lizardmen would absolutely be saved.
✦ ✦ ✦
Despite having an orc general defeated in the blink of an eye, the orcish soldiers showed zero sign of panic. The battle continued at a frenzied pace as the guard chief used the recovery potions Soei gave him to tend to the wounded.
Soei wearily eyed the hordes. “We can hardly rest easy with these annoying flies around,” he said, as calm and composed as ever. “I might as well take care of them, too, while I’m at it. Give me one moment, please.”
Shortly after, Soei’s body appeared to disrupt into multiple images of himself. Five shadows leaped forward, each one identical to Soei, right down to his clothing and equipment. They were copies, made with his magical Replication skills, and each one silently began taking action.
Heading for the corridors, they stood before the lizardmen doggedly propping up the halls’ defense. One was stationed at each of the five exits out of the chamber, including the evacuation route. The lizardmen stared in awe at them but let them through regardless.
“You may rest for now,” each one said as he went down his individual paths. As they did, the lizardmen were greeted with an unbelievable sight. The orcish soldiers, who had seemed like demons from hell itself just a moment ago, were helpless as Soei mowed them down by himself. The same sight was unfolding in each of the corridors.
Demonwire Slash.
An efficient, glittering machine of death. In a moment, the Sticky Steel Thread deployed across each corridor was infused with magic power, moving exactly how Soei wanted it to. There was no place to run from it, especially in these tight underground halls.
The moment he executed the move, the orcish soldiers found themselves instantly sliced and diced. It was perhaps lucky for them that they were incapable of fear. From the lead man forward, they were being massacred without even a moment of resistance. Soei showed them no mercy, no pity for even a second, slaughtering the orcs like a hunter reaping the lives of prey caught in his trap.
The orcs to the rear feasted upon the bite-size pieces of orc chopped up by the web-like network of string, ran full-steam forward, and got killed themselves.
The corridors were a twisty mass of passages, and now they were the sole domain of Soei. He had his wires laid out in a dizzying number of ways, and he could alter their locations at any time. To him, the orcs were simply bothersome pests that needed to be exterminated, far too frail to be considered truly enemies. His Replicants silently, efficiently, followed their orders as they carried out the carnage.