Oh right. Gelmud was the guy who named the first Rigur, the older brother of the current one. Did he name Gabil, too, then? The lizardman himself spoke up before I could pursue the question further.
“Eaten these…lizards? Ha…ha-ha-ha! Talk about your gallows humor, eh? You’ll find I am still perfectly hale and hearty, Lord Gelmud. Ever since you granted me your name, I have done my best to exercise the full potential of my abilities…”
Ah, so it was him. But naming a monster just so the orc lord could consume him? That…made an awful lot of sense, actually. Eating a named monster with enhanced skills and strength and all that, would make the orc lord that much more powerful.
But why not name the orc lord himself, then? A lot of this guy’s M.O. still made little sense to me.
“Huh? Oh. You, Gabil?” Gelmud asked while I was pondering this. “I wish you could’ve fed yourself to the orc lord sooner than now… As blundering and worthless as you are, you still bother to haunt this world? Well, so be it. Now that I am here, I might as well help you shuffle off to your grave. Gabil, I hereby command you to become the orc lord’s strength. Your death will be the greatest thing you have ever done for me!”
He was gesturing wildly at the orc lord now. The orc lord didn’t budge. He simply looked at Gelmud with his sunken eyes and opened his mouth.
“Evolve…into demon lord… What is that…?”
“Dahh! Your brain must be the size of a walnut,” Gelmud mustered. “It seems all that prey has avoided your brain entirely and gone straight to your muscles. We are out of time. I am forbidden to meddle in this…but I have no other choice.”
He turned his bloodshot eyes to Gabil now, showing an open palm. Then, without any further warning, he shouted “Die!” and launched a bolt of magic.
“Look out, Sir Gabil!”
“Get, get down!”
A small detail of lizardmen scurried toward the awestruck Gabil to protect him, forming a living shield as they warned him of the danger. That single magic bolt was enough to send five high into the air. But it didn’t kill any of them. Whether the force of the blast was dissipated among all the bodies or the lizardmen were really just that tough, nobody was dead from it. Seriously injured, yes, but very much alive.
“Wh-what are you…?!” Gabil exclaimed. “Lord Gelmud, why did you do such a thing…?!”
So he was using and abusing Gabil all this time, and now that things weren’t going perfectly according to plan, he was gonna kill him? Something told me that I probably wouldn’t get along too well with this Gelmud guy.
Gabil’s face twisted itself in despair, betrayed by the one person in this world he believed in.
“S-Sir Gabil, it’s too dangerous!” one of his injured troopers advised him. “Please, get out of here as quickly as possible.”
He certainly had some nice people under him—or maybe it was more like Gabil was a great boss to them. Judging by the state of things when I arrived, he hadn’t used the goblins as the throwaway pawns I expected him to. Perhaps he was using them as a first-line tactical defense, but I could see he had a good reason for it.
The beloved commander, huh…?
“You cocky inferior races… If you wish to die that badly, I’ll kill the lot of you right now! Perhaps you’ll finally be of service to me once you’re in the orc lord’s stomach!!”
Gelmud began focusing his aura above his head, attempting to launch an even more powerful magical bolt. Or was it magic? Because he took almost no time to cast it. All he did was close his eyes and gather his magic at a particular point in the air. Not that it mattered.
I walked ahead, in front of the lizardmen—and in front of Gabil, who was now digging down to protect his men, even in his current daze. I knew he couldn’t see my face through the mask.
What does Gabil think about me right now? I couldn’t shake the thought.
Why was I standing in front of him? That was an easier question—because I liked him. I wanted to help him.
That was the only reason, and that was all I really needed. I wasn’t afraid to do whatever I wanted in life—in fact, I’d sworn it to myself.
Gabil looked up at me in awe. I doubted he understood what was going on. Things had vaulted beyond what his brain could process. Don’t worry, though. I don’t expect any favor back. This guy here? He’s just pissed me off.
“Sir Rimuru, I…”
I held Benimaru back with an arm and took a step forward. Gelmud paid no attention, still focused on the gigantic magic bolt he was conjuring up.
“Ba-ha-ha-ha! Let me show you what a high-level magic-born can do to you all. Time for you to die! Death March Dance!!”
Gelmud had an expression of crazed joy. He intended to do us all in at once.
The bolt, when he finally launched it, split into countless smaller bolts in the air, all arcing toward us. Each one was about as powerful as the first bolt he produced, and now tons were raining down upon us, one by one, as if forming an orderly line. Gelmud, I’m sure, was expecting us to be helpless, perishing with nowhere else to run to.
Sadly, though, they didn’t work on me. I slowly brought a small hand forward, and that was all it took to absorb all the bolts with my Predator skill. A quick round of Analysis produced instant results. This wasn’t magic, but an Art—one where he could roll his aura energy together, mix it with magicules, and give it destructive power.
The fundamental idea was the same as Hakuro’s Modelwill, I figured. But while the energy Gelmud expended on it outclassed anything Hakuro had, splitting that force into so many smaller bolts made the overall impact equal or less. He wasn’t too well-versed in the move yet—and if that was all the power he could cobble together, I was in no danger at all.
“Hey,” I said, “is that all you got? You want me to ‘die’ just with that? Maybe you could give me a demonstration in how to die first?”
I focused my own magic and tried launching a bolt of my own. But nothing came out from the right hand I thrust at him. I could feel the magic and aura flow within me, but I couldn’t quite control it. Even if I understood how it worked, that didn’t mean I could execute it that easily.
So unlike magic, I couldn’t just analyze this to grab it for myself…? Practice really does make perfect. After that killer line I just gave him, too. This is a little embarrassing.