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Chapter Text

            S rank hunter Sung Jin-Woo was having an… eventful week. He'd had his first real date, finally gone to that amusement park he'd always told himself he'd experience at least once, and he'd gotten stabbed through the chest by the Beast Sovereign. He'd also finally gotten to speak with the former Shadow Sovereign, Ashborn. Now feeling much stronger than before, Jin-Woo was a tad anxious to pop back into the fray. He knew that he could crush both the Sovereigns of Frost and Beastly Fangs quite handily now, but the mental image of himself, fighting a horde of dragons and the Monarch of Destruction himself, was too crazy. He needed a place to power level.

            With that thought, the new Monarch of Shadows cast out his senses, searching for a place rich with magic and capable of honing his skills. He would grow to meet this final challenge. He would-

            Everything shuddered around him, as his power drew him out and into the abyss, crashing clear through the cracks between dimensions. Thankfully, it was simply a shadowy bullet firing through the nothingness, not large enough to draw the attention of the waiting Antares.

            The luckiest thing of all was that the path of least resistance was straight through the gate in the skies of Seoul, and clean through the shadowy figure of Grand Marshal Bellion.

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            Rimuru Tempest was having… an eventful week. He had become a Demon Lord, killed Clayman, freed his 'bestie' Veldora from his seal, and managed to dodge a certain death due to the miraculous acquisition of the Chef skill by a certain lousy cook. And on top of all that, he'd managed to claim the entirety of the Great forest of Jura! Things might finally be settling in for peace. 

            Then, during his daily meeting with Rigur and Rigurd, he got a notification from Raphael. <Attention. Massive energy signature approaching from above.>

            Rimuru instantly teleported outside the city limits, trying to help Raphael gauge the landing point of this unknown entity. 'Is it hostile?' Rimuru decided to ask. 'It doesn't feel like Milim, or any of those other guys from Walpurgis.'

            <Negative. The energy signature boasts a high magicule count, a course towards the woods north of Master's position, and a reading matching no known allies, acquaintances, or enemies. Proceed with caution.>

            At least one of them could be cautious and collected. Rimuru decided to head over and check it out. Raphael decided to send an alert to Soei, Shion, Benimaru, and Diablo, just in case.

            Rimuru didn't actually need for Raphael to tell him where the energy signature was, because there was a clear black line from a point on the ground to a- where the hell did that massive black pool in the sky come from? Reaching the edge of a massive crater taking up most of a natural clearing, it was clear exactly what was causing all the ruckus. That would be the buff Asian man currently curled into a ball in the center of the hole, looking for all the world like that meme with Goku or something. Mikami Satoru hadn't been a big fan of DBZ back on earth, but one could not call themselves a serious anime buff without at least watching some of it.

            Scattered around the man in the crater looked to be a dark residue made up entirely of magicules. Those magicules were slowly forming the shape of what looked to be a kneeling soldier in full plate armor, with a massive sword. The visor slowly looked up from the unconscious figure before it, towards the strong creature fast approaching what could be none other than Ashborn's chosen successor. 

            Bellion, somewhat nervously, cleared his throat. "I have absolutely no idea what's going on here."

Chapter Text

            Consciousness was coming hard for Sung Jin-Woo. Bellion had not put up any sort of fight against that bewildered slime, nor his reasonably strong companions. He didn't really understand what the slime and his friends were saying, but it seemed that the Ant king (Beru) understood one of the languages the ball tried. His only caveat was that he was to carry his liege to wherever they were going to let his liege stay, for the time being. Their new 'hosts' were gracious enough to loan out a room in their nearby hospital. It was a bit small and mean, according to the whispers of Igris, still stuck in Jin-Woo's shadow, but it would do.

            After two days lying motionless on the lone bed in the room, hunter Sung shot awake, grabbing at his chest. "Ahhh, what the- where am I?"

            Bellion somehow found it possible to bend even lower in his kneeling stance. "I do not know, my liege. It appears you managed to force your way through our gate above your city, and through the cracks between dimensions. You probably ended up on the closest habitable planet that was high in magic energy. Since you were effectively travelling alone, you managed to squeeze through without the need for a large tunnel towards your specified target destination."

            His king looked exceedingly surprised to see Bellion, considering he would've known if any shadows besides Beru and Greed could talk. "Well then. Igris, Beru. You two can come out. I can tell you guys are worried."

            In a flash, both of his main lieutenants were kneeling next to Bellion. "My Lieeeege!" Was the first thing out of Beru's mouth, whereas Igris nodded to Bellion first. "I am glad to see you are well, Grand Marshal Bellion. Tell me, how did you end up here? Last thing I remember was cracking through the Monarch of Frost's ice and then getting sucked directly into our liege's domain."

            Jin-Woo, halfway through swinging his legs out of the bed, paused. "Igris? That's your voice? I've been waiting for you to start talking ever since I found out Beru could. Wait. Why do you guys look so small? Beru, you look about as strong as you were during the Jeju raid. And I don't think I've met you before, Bellion."

            Bellion, again, inclined his head. "You and your shadows, all those capable of making the trip at least, have been weakened. With time and training, your full power will eventually manifest once more. I am Grand Marshal Bellion, in full command of the true Shadow Army, second only to yourself my liege. You ended up crashing into me and dragging me along for this ride when you used the gate above Seoul as a shortcut." 

            "Now, here is what Beru and I have managed to figure out about where we landed. You made a crater to the north of this town when you landed, and the first to respond is evidently the ruler of this land. A sentient ball of slime named Rimuru Tempest. They and their advisors let you stay in this room till you awoke. I would expect them along shortly, now that you are capable of answering their questions."

            As if on cue, there was a light knock on the door. Jin-Woo decided to test his control over Ruler's authority by opening it with the magic energy in the air. On the second try, he managed to get the latch open. Swinging open, the door revealed a kid, maybe 14, with effeminate features and long, silvery blue hair. "Yo, my name's Rimuru, what's yours?" Their magic energy signature was clearly restrained at the moment, but from what Jin-Woo could tell, the kid could probably rival Chairman Goh or some of the stronger S rankers back home.

            The words sounded foreign, kind of similar to what was shouted at Jin-Woo during his trip to Japan, hmmm… Beru, seeing his Liege's face, started to act as an interpreter.

            "Sung Jin-Woo. Bellion here says I should probably thank you for your hospitality, especially considering how I got here." The Shadow Monarch scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

            This Rimuru nodded. "It's nothing, really. Better to treat you to some Tempest hospitality than to give you the cold shoulder. By the way, are you Japanese? Your features look close to what I remember."

            Jin-Woo scoffed. "I don't know a lick of Japanese, but thankfully Beru is fluent in it. Also, I don't think we're from the same version of earth, if you're referring to the same Japan that I know. Either that, or you made it over here before the first gates appeared. I don't think there's a single person on earth right now who doesn't know my name or face."

            "Gates? No, I never heard of anything like that. I got stabbed in the street in Japan, then woke up reincarnated as a slime in this world. How did you get here?"

            Jin-Woo shrugged. "After taking over for my predecessor, Ashborn, I got a solid look at what my final enemy would look like. I decided to find a way to train even more, now that I've hit the peak for my world. The Monarch of Destruction is too strong for me to beat outright, and I don't think my shadows can stand up to his army of dragons. We needed to go power level."

            Bellion nodded. "The Shadow Army had little reason to grow beyond a few hundred thousand. Ashborn was never interested in making his army as large as possible, unlike the rest of the Monarchs, and even most of the Rulers. Antares, in particular, has an obscene number of dragons under his command."

            "Well, you guys ended up here right after all the conflict. I mean, the first elements of the army that went and finished dealing with Clayman got back yesterday. Hopefully, this peace should last for a while yet." Rimuru's chipper, upbeat attitude was in direct contrast with Sung Jin-Woo's frankly bleak story. "Anyways! You hungry? I know I am. There's a seriously tasty meat skewer stand two blocks away."

            "Might as well. Nobody in my family ever says no to meat." Jin-Woo made to stand, grimaced, and held out his hand. Mana swirled, and a bottle started to form, before collapsing in his palm. The hunter grimaced once more, and bit out a single word. "Beru."

            "Yes, my liege? How may I serve my king?" Beru was being over courteous now. Wonderful. Jin-Woo would've instantly banned him from his historical dramas, if the ant had any way to watch them at the moment.

            "Seems my little trip took more out of me than I thought. And of course it happens as soon as I lose access to the Shop. Could you use some of your healing on me? I'm going to have to practice before I can make my potions again." Jin-Woo could see the exact moment where Beru understood what he was asking for: help. The ant's shoulders straightened, and Beru looked about ready to pop with how much he puffed his chest out at the responsibility.

            Beru quickly held his hands out to be of use to his Sovereign, but somebody beat him to it. A fist-sized ball of healing potion splashed against Jin-Woo's forehead, followed by a childish laugh. "You're fine! That healing potion should do the trick! Your bug friend there looks about ready to- Hey! Put me down!" The little teenager shifted to resemble a ball of blue Jello, the same color as their hair. Said ball was wriggling frantically in Beru's grip as the shadow started to tear up.

            "Khiieek! You dare! I was about to be of use to my king! You have no idea-" Beru's impassioned, fiery speech was cut short by his Sovereign stepping on his foot and coughing meaningfully. Ashamed, the Marshal let go of his gooey captive and sank into Jin-Woo's shadow. Rimuru hit the ground with a boioing instead of the expected splat.

            Bellion nodded to Jin-Woo. "I believe I shall take a short rest inside your domain, my Sovereign. I would very much like to meet the new Shadow Army." A simple nod was all the response he received, before Jin-Woo turned towards the doorway.

            Halfway to the door, Jin-Woo looked at the sorry state of his clothes. Five clawmarks stood out on the front of his ruined t shirt, while the back was downright destroyed by the Beast's sword. His pants were ragged from the sheer volume of near misses by the Frost Monarch's Spears. And the interdimensional travel certainly hadn't helped. Focusing for a moment, shadows and mana twisted and formed into a black jacket, and some armored greaves.

            Rimuru popped back into his human form, nodding approvingly. "That… looks a bit better for walking around in. We'll have to swing by Shuna's shop to get you some fresh clothes. Maybe Kaijin and Kurobei can help you replace your weapons or armor." 

            Jin-Woo simply hmmm'ed in response, not yet committed to the idea. He could probably make something better himself, but it wouldn't hurt to take a peek at what they have. Who knows? They might have something that rivals Kamish's Wrath! But probably not. Best not to keep his hopes up.

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            Dreamboat. That was the word running through Rimuru's head, over and over again. This guy, he had to at the very least rival Soei for dreamboat status. No, Sung Jin-Woo might just surpass Soei. The guy was built like a musclebound model, and seemed to gravitate almost exclusively to tight fitting clothing that wouldn't get in the way while he went about his business. 

            Stopping by the meat skewer stall was a welcome change of pace. It wasn't extravagant, or complicated, or forced to taste good; it was simply a well cooked, well seasoned bit of meat. Definitely a solid palate cleanser. Certainly nothing wrong with getting a skewer or five, right? Not for Jin-Woo, who walked away from the stall with no less than eight skewers in hand. Less than a minute later, eight bare sticks were waiting to be thrown away. "That's pretty good" was the only comment. Not too shabby, especially against one of THE biggest gluttons on this planet.

            Following up their light snack, it was time to visit Shuna and her Gobolinas. They had barely made it past the threshold before everyone's focus was solely on the newcomer. I don't think any of the fashionistas in this room have ever set eyes on a better clothing model. Rimuru wouldn't have been surprised to see hearts forming in the eyes of a few people in the room, if this was a slice of life anime. Shuna, however, was all business. Like usual. 

            "Hello Rimuru sama! How can I help you today?" 

            "Heya Shuna! Just showing that guy that appeared a few days ago around. Thought it'd be nice if he got a replacement wardrobe." Rimuru's infectiously cheery demeanor seemed to get even brighter when interacting with the pink haired girl. "We're going to have to ask him on styles though, I don't think he would necessarily want a kimono."

            "As much as I wouldn't mind a t shirt and jeans, it'd probably look out of place. Could I get a bit of help designing a hanbok? It'd feel a bit more natural than some Japanese wear." Jin-Woo was decidedly against the idea of being forced into foreign feudal era fashion. Might as well make it into HIS feudal era fashion.

            Rimuru perked up at the idea. "Yes, I think I could help out with that. Would you want the full set, or just a portion of it?"

            "I'd want to forgo the chima , but otherwise traditional. I just think it'd get in the way too much while fighting." 

            After explaining the concept and it's similarities with other articles to Shuna, she got to work. With her students helping, the work was done in a matter of minutes. The measuring and fitting took longer than anything else. Sung Jin-Woo was handed a white Hellmoth Silk hanbok. 

            Slipping into it was simple, and as soon as he finished tying off the cord belt, the outfit started to sync with his magic energy emissions. The silk turned pitch black, with tiny wisps of shadowy smoke trailing his movements as he shifted around. The cord belt, interestingly, turned purple, while something that looked suspiciously like Beru's hand held out a high tier Monster Crystal belt cinch for him to wear.

            All in all, the outfit was extremely comfortable, offered full range of motion, and meshed well with his overall color palette. "Anything else you want to order while we're here? A jacket or coat, perhaps?" It was almost like Shuna could read minds. 

            Jin-Woo nodded. "That sounds perfect, maybe a jacket and some boots. Oh! Here." As if suddenly remembering, hunter Sung reached into his storage space and pulled out the pelt of one of those Ice Bears from the first Red Gate. "Some bear fur I picked up a while ago. I think I might've left it a bit too long though; the fur itself seems to have turned black after sitting in my Inventory for so long."

            Shuna nodded quickly, eager to try working with this new material.

            Jin-Woo, meanwhile, turned to Rimuru. "Hey, do you have any way to quickly teach me this world's main  language? Seems like everyone is speaking the same language here. Translating from it to Japanese, and then to Korean, is like asking for details to get left out. Beru could probably learn it himself, but it'd be messier that way."

            "Umu…" Rimuru thought for a bit. 

            Hey, Raphael, any way to fix this language gap?

            <Alert. If Master initiates a Thought Link, then the relevant information can be copied and shared to the subject.>

            Thanks Raphael! "Ok! I've got an idea! Probably best to head over to my office first, though. I'm going to try and get one of my skills to talk to you."

            Jin-Woo shrugged noncommittally. "Sounds fine to me, I guess I can check out the weapons some other time. Lead the way."

Chapter Text

            Once inside the ornate little office, Rimuru started explaining his plan. "So if I try to establish a Thought Link, my skill Raphael should be able to copy over my knowledge of this world's languages, and key it to come out as Korean instead of Japanese. Sounds simple, ne?"

            "Alright, fine. I don't especially love people playing around with my mind and body, but this is a lot less invasive than the Architect was. Go for it."

            Upon hearing that, Raphael jumped into action. <Notice. Thought Link to Individual: Rimuru Tempest requested. Do you accept? YES/NO .>

            "Yes." And like that, time seemed to stop. 

            Yo, this is Raphael. He's going to be doing the work for me. Rimuru's human form was standing there smugly. A golden orb flew forward. 

            <Notice. Uploading languages into individual: Sung Jin-Woo's memory… Successful. Alert. Individual: Sung Jin-Woo has Ultimate Skill: Shadow Lord Ashborn. Would Individual: Sung Jin-Woo wish to see their full skill list? YES/NO >

            Yes, obviously. A floating screen popped up within view of both Jin-Woo and Rimuru. 

Skills:

            Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skill Shadow Lord Ashborn

• Shadow Creation
• Shadow Storage
• Shadow Domain
• Monarch's Shadow
• Shadow Exchange
• Undead Supremacy

            Unique Skills

Magicule Control

• Matter Creation
• Ruler's Authority
• Mana Blade

Longevity

• Ultraspeed Regeneration while resting
• Poison Immunity
• Disease Immunity
• Abnormal Status Immunity
• Detoxification
• Will to Recover <used>

Extreme Perception

• Magic Sense
• Advanced Hearing EX
• Advanced Sight
• Advanced Smell
• Advanced Taste

            Extra Skills

Shortsword Mastery EX

Herculean Strength EX

Quicksilver

Perfect Memory

Stealth

Bloodlust

            Skills

Tenacity

.........

......

...

            Whaaaaaaa! Jin-Woo was honestly unsure whether that sound was more from the astonished slime in front of him, or his soldiers, crying out in elation. Probably safe to split that 50/50.

            <Notice. Objective Completed. Terminating Thought Link.>

            And just like that, time went back to it's usual flow. The entire exchange had taken about half a second. Although, for some reason, the blue haired child in the room looked to have died, with their soul escaping their mouth and everything.

            "Huh, neat. Thanks for being my interpreter, Beru. Now, I think I'll go for a ru- you ok there Rimuru-nim? You look like you've seen a ghost."

            The ashen child shook their head. "I-I'm just trying to work through that skill list. Not even Raphael has so much as heard of that Ultimate Skill until now. I think it was made specially for you."

            "Yeah, makes sense. Ashborn was my predecessor. Fitting that he's the namesake for his former skillset. Well, I think I'll go for a run. If you need me again, I'm sure you'll know how to find me. Later." Sung Jin-Woo was utterly deadpan. He had dealt with too much crazy shit over the past year for anything to really surprise him. 

            "Y-yeah, sure. Wait, what do you mean by 'I'll know how to find you'? Wait! I have more que-" the sound of the slime abruptly cut as Jin-Woo fully submerged in shadow. He decided to simply pop back up by the front door to the building, no sense causing a panic by just appearing in the main square. Time for his daily workout.

…

            Jin-Woo leaned against a tree on the edge of a clearing. The city guards, mainly hobgoblins (much more photogenic than the ones he was used to), were friendly enough while he tried to head out into the forest for his daily jog. The warnings about a Knight Spider sighted somewhere in this neck of the forest were easily laughed off with a quip about a warmup.

            After making it past the gates, Jin-Woo started with his 10k run. By the end, he could tell his dimensional jaunt had weakened him. He was sweating after only the run! Sweating! That hadn't happened since shortly after the fight with Kargar-whatever. Tusk really was a much easier name.

            Now, finishing up with his 100 pushups, Jin-Woo called out to his soldiers. "Come out. Let's get a roll call going. No. 6, you just come out alone and mark the number of Giants who made it. No sense broadcasting everything." 

            At his command, about 400 troops rose up. Igris and Iron stood at the head of the Knight Corps, numbering about a hundred. Tusk's two bodyguards stood in front of the 75 remaining High Orcs that made up the Orc Corps, while Tusk himself led almost 80 mages. Tank and about five of his fellows made it, while Jima and his ten strongest appeared next to them. Beru stood in front of the core portion of the New Shadow Army, leading around 130 fellow ants. Giant No. 6 rose up in a kneeling position, and proceeded to scratch the number 29 into the dirt with a dead tree trunk. Lastly, Bellion, Greed, and Kaisel rose up behind Jin-Woo.

            "If I'm counting correctly, the strongest 440 made it, including Bellion. The rest had to stay behind. And it looks like we're back to mid B rank at the low end, so there goes all that Japan training. Beru, you have something to say?"

            "Yes, my liege. Please allow me to challenge Grand Marshal Bellion for the rank of Grand Marshal."

            Jin-Woo frowned slightly. "Beru, give it a few more days. I think that we all need to go do a bit of hunting, and figure out the pecking order that way. Until we do, the two of you and Igris, as the Marshal rank shadows, will take joint leadership for the time being. Greed!"

            The hulking shadow formerly known as Hwang Dongsu came to attention. "Yes, my liege? What do you require of me?"

            "Until further notice, I think I'll be putting you in charge of a tentative Beast Corps. Namely, Tank and Jima. Although as we collect some new Shadow Soldiers, that number will probably go up." Upon hearing this, the barrel-like chest on the latest humanoid soldier puffed up even more than his 'at attention' pose, somehow.

            "Thank you very much, my liege!" The subsequent 90 degree bow was honestly impressive, considering how much puffed-up chest there was in the way.

            Jin-Woo nodded to himself. Then, he snapped his fingers. On his cue, all soldiers sank back into his shadow, save for Kaisel. "Let's get a feel for the layout of the area around town, shall we?"

            With a happy screech, Kaisel flapped his wings and shot off the ground. Being the Sovereign's favorite mount had its perks.

Chapter Text

            "Rimuru sama! We have reports of a Wyvern or Sky Dragon spotted near town! Shall I notify Benimaru, or maybe Soei?" A panting Rigurd was always a sign that something's wrong. But that wasn't the real problem. 

            Raphael had just finished alerting Rimuru to a slightly more serious problem than a single dragon. That dude was really strong! Even while clearly weakened, Sung Jin-Woo still surpassed the likes of Carrion in raw power, and had an Ultimate Skill to boot! On top of that, a large portion of his skills were practically unheard of! He'd have to take a peek at the dude's shadow soon...

            Alright, time to focus. "Really? Hmmm… Benimaru is doing some follow up with Alvis and Suphia about the battle earlier this week, and Soei isn't suited for long range. Would any of Gabiru's men be in town delivering the day's potions?"

            "Ah, they're the ones that made the report. One went to get Gabiru, and the other two are headed up as we speak. Hopefully we can at least drive the thing off before it starts damaging the town. It should be easy enough once Gabiru gets here." 

            Rimuru thought for a second or two, then said "I think I'll take a look too, but try not to let Veldora know. He's probably going to do something stupid like releasing his aura to try and scare the dragon off." Immediately after saying that, the shadow of something zipped past the office window, along with a very recognizable laugh. Moments later, Veldora's voice called out through the Soul Corridor.

            "Yo, buddy, I got this! Time to go all out! Gonna kick this smoky Wyvern back to where it came from so hard it'll have a twitc-"

            "Stop! No! I said you couldn't release your aura right around town! If you do that, no dessert!"

            "Awww, c'mon Rimuru, I was just going to play with it a little… huh, that's weird."

            "What? What is it?"

            "Looks like there's a guy just standing on top of the Wyvern, all casual-like. He looks pretty strong. Two Dragonewts from town are yelling at him, it seems."

            "What does the guy look like? Somebody from Walpurgis, or something?"

            "Nah, looks like one of those supermodels from those ads in your memories. I'll tell him to go away, if I can't just throw him."

            Rimuru Tempest sighed. The hardest part of this job wasn't running the country, it was dealing with the strong people that invariably came to stay in town. Veldora, Milim, and Ramiris were all so childish. Then,  something in what Veldora had said stood out at him. “Hey, did you say a supermodel?”

            Veldora, however, was too busy flying away to respond.

_________

            Jin-Woo looked bored. To be fair, he was quite interested in this country, but he was exceedingly bored with the pair of jabbering lizards telling him to leave. When one of them invariably pointed his spear at Kaisel, that's when they actually caught his attention. "And what do you think you're doing, pointing that thing at Kaisel?"

            "You weren't even listening! We told you to leave, now!" The light green one was doing the talking. The blue one was doing the jabbing.

            Jin-Woo sighed. "Any two flying ants, come out. Not you Beru, you'd end up ripping their wings off even if you grabbed them lightly. We aren't hurting them. And NO snacking!" Two hulking ants with wings appeared from his shadow, and moved to grab the two Dragonewts by their torsos. Within seconds, two writhing soldiers were captured, and another speck was headed this way. 

            Focusing his senses for a moment, Jin-Woo could easily tell what was on its way. A Dragon, in human form. Even holding his aura in, there was enough leaking out to give him a visibly purple tint in the surrounding mana. 

            "And what do you want? Are you also going to tell me off for giving Kaisel here some time to stretch his wings?" 

            "Kuahahaha! I am the Storm Dragon, Veldora! Who dares intrude on my best buddy's land?"

            "Intrude? I left that town for a jog almost an hour ago. The Slime said I could. Do you have a problem with me giving one of my boys time to enjoy himself?"

            Veldora looked vaguely put out at that statement. "Noooo, but that isn't very fair. Rimuru just told me I couldn't even release my aura, or he'd take away dessert." The mental image of a cutesy slime telling this hulking, blond dude that he'd get dessert taken away was almost enough to make Jin-Woo snigger. He managed to hold it in, however. The sound of Iron laughing at the dragon nearly caught him off guard. 

            "Well, we could always spar somewhere else if you want." Gabiru's yelling form could be seen zipping upwards towards the ants holding his lieutenants captive, followed by the lieutenant who went and got him. "One sec, let me drop these four off, then we can find somewhere empty to spar at."

            Veldora was a bit puzzled by the number, but was excited to finally get to try out his new martial arts moves on someone. "Sounds good! But why four? You've only got two Dragonewts there." Gabiru suddenly flew past, yelling like a madman, and was promptly stopped by a wall of mana. "Well, there's the third-" the dark green Dragonewt joined Gabiru in rubbing his snout after colliding with the wall. "I see why you said four now. Alright, let's go!"

            Jin-Woo grabbed the two freshly-arrived Dragonewts by their cheeks, unsummoned Kaisel, and dropped like a stone towards the minute form of the blue haired slime kid standing by the town hall, some three hundred feet below. 

            Three hundred feet of free fall was so much more exciting than those coasters he went on with Hunter Cha. Heck, the two Dragonewts in his grasp were making it sounded like a proper coaster too, with all that screaming. About ten feet above the ground, Jin-Woo invoked Ruler's Authority. Mana whipped around to catch him and his charges, and brought him to a perfect stop on the ground, not even leaving a mark on the ground. Dropping the still-screaming, very confused Dragonewts, he nodded amiably to Rimuru. "Well, there's your lizard friends back. Sorry about the confusion. Alright, I better go, your buddy wants to spar. He seems very excited about the prospect." While Jin-Woo was talking, his ant Shadows had dropped off the other two, and retreated into Jin-Woo's shadow. 

            "Wait! Wait? That was you? Oi! Where are you two going to fight? I gotta know so I can evacuate the nearby civilians!" Definitely not so I can follow and watch the fight, no no no…

            Jin-Woo merely shrugged. "I'll probably find some empty stretch of forest, or maybe an island. One moment." Casting his senses out, Jin-Woo was surprised to notice that he could barely feel past the edge of the forest, let alone the rest of the continent. That was a LOT weaker than he was expecting. Well, no use bemoaning it now, it seemed like there was a nice empty clearing about thirty klicks northeast, with nothing nearby for kilometers. Good enough. "Alright Veldora, get over here. A good area is about thirty kilometers northeast of here. Want to race, or do you want to just teleport there?"

            "Hmph! I could beat you there, no problem! You're on! Kuahahaha!" And with that, the dragon was off, jumping the gun. 

            "Tch! Didn't even wait to start. Oh well, see ya later." Jin-Woo also took off, running at his top speed off into the forest. Since the wily dragon decided to get a head start, Quicksilver was on the table. A dark blur was all that could be seen behind him as he ran.

            Rimuru, for his part, was still gobsmacked at the carefree way in which Jin-Woo was dealing with one of the True Dragons. He either had guts, or was simply used to being strong enough to rival the strongest his world had to offer. Crazy dude.

            Gabiru and his subordinates were barely cognizant of events at this point. They were still gibbering about how they were bested in their element by someone who didn't even have wings. 

________

            Approximately two minutes after the impromptu race started, it was over. Jin-Woo zipped into the clearing, only to be greeted by the grinning figure of Veldora.

            "Alright, alright. You were faster than someone who's been unconscious the past three days, with a head start. Congratulations. Now, how about a couple of ground rules?" Veldora's grin lessened a notch, before he focused on the possible rules. "How about this; I won't use my weapons if you don't use your breath weapon or related magic."

            "Ha! You don't even have any weapons on you!" One of the Kamish's Wrath daggers appeared in Jin-Woo's open hand. "Never mind, that's pretty badass. Sounds fair! I won't use my Storm magic, if you don't use your shortsword." The dragon fang dagger dematerialized once more. "And what about those guys in your shadow? What should I not use to make it fair?"

            "How about you stay in your human form for this fight? They can be the crowd of spectators." Jin-Woo flashed a grin, and called out two dozen Knights, and two dozen High Orcs. "Which cheer squad do you want?"

            "Those cool looking Orcish guys, obviously. They look like something out of that World of Warcraft game. And anyways, it looks like the Knights would lop my head off if I would've chosen them." Veldora was correct. Iron looked positively apocalyptic at the idea he wouldn't be allowed to cheer for Jin-Woo. "Should we have them on the east and west ends, while we line up north to south?"

            "Sounds just fine to me. High Orcs, you're cheering for Veldora." The leader of Team A was a bit put off by the idea, but he eventually agreed. "Alright then." Teleporting quickly, Jin-Woo snagged the north corner. "Ready?"

            ""Let's go!""

            After that, the clearing was made quite a bit bigger.

Chapter Text

Guy Crimson was pretty bored five minutes ago. At the moment, however, he very much wasn't. Two beings that were registering as unawakened and awakened Demon Lords, respectively, were clashing in the northern portion of the Newbie Demon Lord (Rimuru)'s territory. Very interestingly, both felt as if they had Ultimate Skills. He just HAD to check this out, didn't he? "Raine! I have something for you to check out."

"Yes, Lord Guy? What would you require of me?" The Demon Peer maid instantly responded to her Master's summons.

"Looks like some folks that are rivaling Demon Lords are fighting in the northern portion of the Forest of Jura. Avoid the newbie, and see if those two might be worthy of joining us at the next Walpurgis."

"As you wish, Lord Guy." And with that, Raine set off to find these two strong individuals.

_______

Jin-Woo was steaming. Not in any metaphorical sense, he was moving so quickly that his sweat was being converted to steam. His opponent, however? Veldora was fine. If anything, he seemed to be a little disappointed that he couldn't release his full strength during the fight without instantly winning. Currently, they were exchanging dozens of blows per second. 

A left jab whistled towards Jin-Woo's head, forcing him to dodge, and counter with a right hook. That was blocked by Veldora, who managed to get his left back in time to bat the incoming fist away. A low kick was fired at the Monarch's shins, artfully dodged by a jumping kick. That one connected, and sent the dragon skidding back a few feet. By the time Veldora got his eyes back towards his 'foe', Jin-Woo had already zipped behind him, and was delivering a flurry of blows into his back, capped off with a palm strike to the back of Veldora's head.

A cloud of dust rose alongside the cheers of the knights, as Jin-Woo managed to bag this round. "Kuahahaha! This is fun! Between your skill, and my strength, we're pretty evenly matched at my current output. What is that, 15-13 now?" Veldora laughed while rubbing the back of his head.

"Sounds about right. Want to call it here for the day? It's only been about thirty minutes, but it feels a lot longer." Jin-Woo offered a hand up to his sparring partner. The dragon took it, still laughing.

"Ha! You said it! I haven't felt this much strain from combat in over 300 years! Looks like this clearing is about ready for a break, too. What were those black lines you were trying to hit me with a few minutes ago? They damn near quadrupled the open space."

"Testing out my Mana control. I usually focus it by sending it through a blade, but it's one of my only ranged attacks. It'd be handy if I've been disarmed and don't have time to retrieve my daggers, though." Jin-Woo sucked in another deep breath or two. "And you're one to talk! It felt like I was fighting a Street Fighter character, or something! Between the floating kicks, Hadouken's, and even the grabs, you looked like you were copying Ryu and Chun Lee!"

"Kuahahaha! You recognize the moves I trained on! I found them in Rimuru's memories before I got freed, alongside the sacred texts(manga)! They all seemed to be a bit too slow to actually hit you, though." Veldora clapped Jin-Woo on the back. Then, both of them froze. There was something approaching. 

_______

Raine was shocked. The stronger of the two beings Lord Guy sent her to investigate was none other than Veldora, Lady Velzard's little brother. The weaker looked to be… an ordinary human? No, the human was releasing a truly dangerous amount of magic energy. And those black soldiers cheering both sides on, she had never even heard of something like that! They couldn't be Veldora's soldiers, the half cheering for him looked Somewhat like Ogres crossed with Orcs. It looked too naturally put together to be any sort of crossbreeding, however. And those black knights! Wild and varied armor designs, some of which were wholly foreign and strange, others simple and utilitarian. 

All in all, the soldiers seemed ethereal, possibly even otherworldly. And the magic essence she was picking up on was unlike any she had seen before. It's closest neighbor would have to be Darkness spirits, but even then, those were purple. These soldiers' mana was as black as night. It was a perfect match to the human's own mana. This one was much, much stronger than he let on. She had to get a closer look.

After she got within a few kilometers of the sparring duo, something changed. After the human won the current bout, both seemed to take a break. Then, the moment she crossed within a kilometer of the clearing, still airborne, both heads snapped to look directly at her. Seems like their senses had finally spread around enough to spot her approach. The True Dragon seemed to have possibly recognized her, seeing as she was at Walpurgis, did the introductions, and always stayed near Guy. The human, however, instantly shut his eyes. Mere moments later, a presence started to rise from immediately below her position. A giant black ant-like monster flew up from below, moving almost at supersonic speeds. It stopped exactly level with her, blocking her view of the clearing.

"My Liege would like to know why you are spying here. He requests that you speak to him face to face instead of skulking around in the clouds." The ant monster spoke first in what seemed to be it’s native tongue, then repeated the query in fluent Japanese. When she showed zero comprehension, Beru shrugged and snapped his fingers. A red hand waved, and alongside some unnatural movements, Beru began speaking in a language Raine understood, albeit a bit brokenly. After a moment, Raine made it clear she could finally understand him.

Raine considered her options. She could talk to the human, who was now staring levelly at her, or she could teleport back to report. The former matched Guy's orders, but the presence of Veldora made things complicated. The Dragon was known to hang around with Rimuru quite a bit, and she wasn't supposed to alert them if she could help it. Eventually, she realized that even though she had stopped moving, she was getting drawn inexorably closer to the clearing. The ant was keeping perfect pace, following her down. “Wha-What is happening?! Magic?” She was close. It wasn’t magic like she was used to, it was the magicules themselves reacting to the Ruler’s Authority over them. And that Authority said to encase the Demon Peer, and bring her closer.

“Kieehk! You still have not responded to my liege’s request! He has decided to make the choice for you!” Beru, with a little bit of help from Tusk, explained the situation without actually answering her question. Meanwhile, Raine had her quandary deepened. This human had… way too many interesting abilities! Guy might even take personal interest with this one, like he did with Leon. That would be an even bigger mess this time, as Leon was beholden to basically nobody, whereas there’d be so much more hassle going through Rimuru to talk to this man. Oops. Spent too long thinking about the future. Time to focus on seeing how strong this chantless barrier spell really was.

Moving her limbs felt sluggish, as if the air around her was about as dense as mud. With [Flight], she could probably escape, but it would slow her down. Most likely, that would be all the warning the ant thing would need. Better to talk to the human now that she was well and truly discovered, then use [Teleport] to leave. But that didn't mean she had to let this human control her approach. 

For one such as her, the actions were as smooth and easy as breathing. She quickly teleported to the middle of the clearing. Annoyingly, the human seemed to have been capable of tracking her through the teleport, as he was staring at her intently, without a hint of fear. Oh well. At least she got to enjoy the sound of the strange ant's frantic buzzing as he hurried to catch up. "Hello, Veldora sama. My Lord Guy Crimson wished to greet you and your opponent. It is truly wonderful to see that you have managed to attain a human form. Although it is truly surprising to see a human with the skill to challenge you in this weakened state."

"Kuahaha! Finally, I have found a reliable sparring partner! Thank you for noticing Rainy (he totally screwed up the name, this time there was less to get wrong than the 'Milus' incident)! But he's still too new to handle my full power and special moves! Kuahaha-oof!"

"Oioioi, aren't you forgetting something? Even with you bragging about how you're holding back, you still lost 13-15 to a guy who's been unconscious for the past few days. And it seems you know this one, so why don't you explain what's going on?" The Korean hunter elbowed his sparring partner in the side, and grinning easily at the incenced dragon. 

"Well, I'm still polishing my fighting style! And I was getting used to your moves and your trump cards! I won't lose next time!" A surreptitious glance at the Korean revealed an eye roll and a challenging grin. Veldora blanched a little, and answered the question. "And this is Raine, one of the maids to the Demon Lord Guy Crimson. He runs the group that my buddy Rimuru joined. Raine and Misery do everything that guy needs. Looks like he noticed our sparring match."

"Unsurprising, honestly. Your energy blasting attacks were so wide range and wasteful that they could probably be seen from orbit. You really do need to work on your shielding more. Oh, and Raine, tell your boss that if he's interested in me, he comes himself. Or he can wait for me to come to him when I've gotten some of my strength back." Slipping a soldier into Raine's shadow unnoticed was quite easy, and hopefully it would stay that way until the maid got home. Always nice to know where to look later. 

Completely quashing his aura down to that of a normal human, Jin-Woo turned to look at Raine. "Well, nice to be greeted, I suppose. See ya back in town, Veldora. We're gonna have to find a better sparring location soon. Later." And with that, hunter Sung used Shadow Exchange, and popped up back by the town gate he left through a few hours prior. Boy was it good to be able to teleport.

Veldora just gave Raine the side-eye as soon as the human left. "Definitely a fun guy, I'll give him that." 

"I forgot to mention. Your sister says hello. But yes, this Jin-Woo seems like quite the interesting charact- where are you going, Veldora sama?" At the first mention of Velzard, Veldora instantly took off and started flying back to Tempest. He left so quickly he didn't even hear the query. 

Raine sighed. "Annoying dragon, always making my job harder…" absorbed in her complaints and grievances, Raine made to teleport out. Then it struck her! Those two had ruined her chance to one-up them, and leave first! Those annoying pricks! Now lightly fuming, Raine teleported home.