Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN) - Volume 19 A Prologue

He ignored the surprised Feldway and took Velgrynd into his arms.

“Masayuki?”

Prologue
The Chief Angel Moves

He understood that it was just a dream.

An unfulfilled dream.

To revive the “Star King Dragon” Veldanava in a complete form was not possible for the ‘Justice King Michael’ who was only a mere Skill.

But even so, he couldn’t help but hope.

A world without Veldanava was of no value to Michael.

………
……
…

Michael opened his eyes.

He shook his head lightly to shake off the lingering sentiment.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit confused at the feeling, as if his emotions were being exposed for the first time.

I thought that I wasn’t as naive as Rudra, but I guess I was wrong.

In the end, that was the conclusion.

Trust no one and use everyone as pawns—If that had been done that from the start, then Obera’s betrayal could have been prevented.

He hadn’t done that because he believed in Feldway. He thought that Feldway’s friends, the people he trusted, would also be trustworthy to himself.

But that was a mistake.

When the Ultimate Skill ‘Salvation King Azrael’ that he had tethered to his hand had returned, Michael realized that he had failed.

Obera had betrayed them.

She had used her administrative privileges to erase ‘Salvation King Azrael’ and escape from Michael’s control.

In order to make up for that loss, he had used Feldway to reinforce his control over the Angelic Skill Holders currently under control through the Ultimate Dominion.

With that, there is no problem with the Phantoms. The Insectars may betray us, but our interests are still aligned. Monitoring will be essential, but once the battlefield is prepared, we’ll be able to handle the rest.

The battlefield was the land where the contract with the Insectars took place. Michael had promised Zelanus that he could carve out any area he wanted and make it his domain.

That’s right.

If anyone lived there, the Insectars would take care of them. In other words, Michael intended to send Zelanus to the fiercest battleground.

The location would slowly be determined, but there were several problems.

The first, needless to say, was how to deal with Obera’s betrayal.

The Phantoms were loyal to Feldway, so there was no need to worry about a drop in morale. He could have even postponed the decision judging by the threat level, but he had a feeling that it would be a bad idea.

Obera’s role had been to monitor the “World-destroying Dragon” Ivarage. Now, however, that importance had been diminished. Whatever happened in the Otherworld was none of Michael’s concern, and if anything, the situation of Ivarage’s manifestation in the Cardinal World was incorporated into his strategy.

In other words, he didn’t care if Obera abandoned her mission. However, it would be a different story if she tried to cooperate with the enemy forces such as Demon Lord Rimuru or Demon Lord Guy.

In order to nip such concerns in the bud, taking the initiative seemed more certain.

So, who should they send?

That was the main question.

This was also related to the following issue.

Should they proceed to the next target as planned? If they were going to take out Obera, shouldn’t the plan be revised?

This was not a trivial matter.

After all, the troops under Obera’s command were a part of Michael’s army.

The loss of strength due to his mistake made Michael feel uncomfortable. This was also a new experience for him.

Emotion was something that Michael, as a Manas, had a difficult time understanding. And yet, recently, his thoughts had been disturbed like a noise in a song.

So he suddenly had the thought to enjoy the feeling.

If this is an “emotion,” then perhaps I should consider myself lucky. Even if there is only one perfect answer, there are innumerable ways to get there. The shortest way is not necessarily the right way, so I can be forgiven for enjoying the process.

If one’s emotions are disturbed every time a problem arises, then it is better to just enjoy it.

Impatience narrowed one’s field of vision, and anger would dull the thinking.

Regret was meaningless, and the most constructive thing to do was to avoid making more mistakes in the future.

If that was the case, then he had found a solution to his current problem.

“…That’s right. I, myself, should defeat the rebels.”

Any losses should be recovered within the day.

Rather than imposing one’s own mistakes onto others, it was better to make up for them as soon as possible. That way, he would not have to worry about opening more wounds and would be able to calmly tackle the next problem.

Michael’s mood lifted as soon as he came to that conclusion.

It was also his first time ever experiencing this—

“Emotions” are not so bad after all.

That’s what Michael felt.

In the Otherworld, there is no such thing as gravity.

It is similar to outer space in that there is no concept of earth and sky.

There are only objects made of condensed magicules scattered throughout the empty space. Such objects were as strong as magisteel, and generated powerful gravitational forces, so they were processed to be used as ‘bases’.

The former angels, the Phantoms, used such bases to live a life similar to one in the Cardinal World, so as not to forget their lives in a gravitational field.

The base of Obera, which was comparable in size to an asteroid, was the frontline base against Ivarage. Its strength was unrivaled by any other bases and was one of the most important facilities for the Phantoms.

Michael jumped towards that base.

When ‘Spatial Transportation’ was used from the Heavenly Star Palace, Obera’s base was already empty. However, Michael immediately sensed the presence of a large army nearby.

Over there—Michael thought, as he turned his gaze.

Obera also seemed to have noticed Michael’s presence and immediately responded by taking an intercepting stance. With unhindered movements, she and the others had formed a full-blown formation and turned their hostility towards Michael.

Because there was no ground and sky, the type of formation was different from that on earth. A ‘full-sky formation’ was a tactic that was built on the premise that the enemy was small in number. It aimed at annihilation of the enemy by encircling them from above, below, right, and left.

It was a successful formation against cryptids.

The cryptids were specialized in their individual fighting ability and rarely swarmed together. Therefore, using a tactic that encircled them in large numbers was very effective.

Obera had always been at the forefront of the battle, and her command was excellent. The soldiers who responded to her were also worthy of praise.

Ah, it really is a shame. At any rate, I wish I could have made better use of this force—

Michael sighed.

These were the people who had been holding off the cryptids for so long. Their usefulness was impeccable, and it would be a shame to lose them here.

However, there was no room left for negotiation.

Michael’s decision to eliminate the traitors and make up the losses was unwavering even in the face of Obera and the others.

“That was faster than I expected.”

Obera remarked.

Michael responded with a few words of his own.

“Your actions were meaningful in that they made me aware of my mistakes. However, you should understand that there is no forgiveness for that.”

“Of course, I am not going to ask for your forgiveness. Michael, was it? I don’t know if you are the will of a Skill or anything else, but I have no obligation to obey the orders of someone who reeks of suspicion.”

The intentions of both parties were confirmed.

And just like that, the war began.

Obera was the first to move.

Hundreds of thousands of troops moved at her will, filling the other world with the light of annihilation.

Using the full-sky formation, the soldiers were deployed in three dimensions, forming a hemisphere. The front was lined up with defense specialists, and the back rows were constantly attacking as layers were replaced over and over.

This made it seem as if it was filled with light.

Light converged on Michael from all sides of the hemisphere.

An army trained to battle cryptids could function without problems, even at the scale of the entire army. The energy wave offensive, which emphasized efficiency to the utmost, was unleashed continuously even as the troops were replaced.

Naturally, there was no way to avoid them, so Michael was directly hit by the concentrated fire.

But Michael did not panic.

This was because no matter what the attack was, it would be ineffective against the ‘Castle Guard.’

—However, there was a problem here.

“Geh, this—is this pain?”

‘Castle Guard’ was supposed to disable all attacks, but for some reason it hadn’t done so this time. As a result, the overlapping energy of Obera’s concentrated fire burned Michael to a crisp.

It was an unbelievable event for Michael.

His own body was gradually being damaged. Unperturbed by this, Michael pursued the reason why this happened.

…No energy is reaching the ‘Castle Guard’? I see…apparently, none of them are loyal to me.

Michael was convinced that this was the reason, and he was correct. Rudra, with his charisma, had a huge following of Imperial subjects. However, Michael himself did not have any loyal subordinates.

This was because very few people in the world even knew of Michael’s existence, and those few people already had masters of their own.

Moreover, those masters were only connected by mutual interests, and they did not trust each other, nor had they sworn allegiance.

The only exception was Feldway, with whom he was bound by friendship. Moreover, Michael’s own Parallel Existence, the Ultimate Skill ‘Justice King Michael,’ had been transferred to him, so they were treated as the same entity.

There was no point in manifesting the power of ‘Castle Guard,’ using one’s own loyalty. That was a very natural logic.

I see, I didn’t understand anything about my own skill.

Surprisingly, people did not understand themselves. In the same way, Michael had been mistaken about ‘Justice King Michael.’

Previously, when he had confronted Rimuru’s group on the airship, he had thought that he was protecting Feldway with his ‘Castle Guard.’

But that was different.

Feldway was Feldway, and he was using his skill.

Unlike back then, Michael could no longer use the loyalty to Rudra. That is why the ‘Castle Guard’ was ineffective.

Because this skill nullified all attacks, the conditions for using it must be strict. Michael understood this deeply through his own pain.

Obera, the attacker, was also surprised at the unexpected turn of events.

She was aware of Michael’s ‘Castle Guard.’

She had been told that any attack would be useless, so she was confused to see Michael taking damage. That said, there was no doubt that this was an opportunity, so before she could worry about all that, she gave her orders.

“Keep on attacking with all of your strength! Keep the coordination smooth, and do not allow Michael to rest!!”

The soldiers also knew what they were doing and attacked at full force without needing to be told to do so.

Obera thought to herself.

Michael’s pursuit was within expectations. There had been a high probability that her betrayal would be discovered when she erased the angelic skill, and she had been prepared to take some sort of action at that point.

Because she would have definitely done the same.

As a countermeasure for such a case, she planned to launch a full-scale attack, as was being done right now, while continuing to fight a battle of secret withdrawal.

The destination of escape was the enemy’s territory.

She had intended to guide Michael well and hit the cryptids.

However, it seemed that this was not currently necessary.

By Obera’s perspective, Michael’s energy level was several times greater than her own. He appeared to be a formidable fighter, but his combat experience did not seem to be as good as she had expected.

Perhaps we can win like this? No, that’s too naive. I feel sorry, but some of my soldiers will have to act as decoys in the end.

Obera was a cool-headed and brilliant commander.

She was willing to sacrifice her weaker subordinates by dividing her army into numbers. The ability to sacrifice the minority in order to keep the majority alive was also a prerequisite for commanding a large army.

That is why she could order her subordinates to ‘die’ without hesitation.

The selection of who to let live had already been made. If Michael did not make a move, she could teleport out during that opening.

Now that Michael was here, she would be able to open the Great Gate of the Sky from inside the Otherworld.

It was with this in mind that Obera, the strategist, set up this escape.

“Oma, you will lead the First Legion out of the battlefield. The destination is our Lord, the Demon Lord Milim-sama.”

Obera commanded her loyal followers. She herself intended to stay here and take command until the very end.

The First Legion was the most elite of those under Obera. Oma was also an excellent second-in-command, and her fighting skills were outstanding. With the addition of her undead elf body and increased strength, she would be indispensable to Demon Lord Milim in the future.

Believing that, this was Obera’s last order.

However…

Oma did not agree.

Oma, who had regained her speech when she became an undead elf herself, asserted fluently.

“You must be joking. The key to the gate can only be handled by you, the ‘Primordial’. Even if that were not the case, a warrior could never leave their lord, whom they must protect, just to run away.”

With that said, she smiled quietly.

All the soldiers under Obera’s command shouted at the top of their lungs in agreement.

“““Our glory is with you!!”””

Without Obera, there was no point in surviving. Those were their true feelings, and their pride.

If Obera had been possessed by ‘Justice King Michael,’ the absolute ‘Castle Guard’ would have been manifested. An unbreakable command and a loyal soldier would have been realized, but unfortunately that was only a hypothetical story.

“You guys…”

Obera was troubled.

The worst thing that could happen was that they all died here. At the very least, someone had to reach Milim and inform her of their situation, providing as much information as possible.

Should I stay? Or should Oma take over?

At this point, feelings were irrelevant. What mattered most was the decision with the highest success rate.

Obera had made her decision and was about to say it when—

“All hands, spread out as fast as you can!!”

She sensed something was wrong and gave the order immediately.

Obera was deep in thought, but she still kept her attention on Michael, who was under heavy fire. She was not foolish enough to make such a mistake on the battlefield.

That’s why she was had noticed.

Michael’s energy had suddenly stopped decreasing.

In other words, it meant that he was no longer taking damage, but before she could figure out why, she sensed that Michael was condensing a vast amount of energy. Therefore, she had opened her mouth before she could worry about it.

Following Obera’s orders, hundreds of thousands of troops began to move at once. Since those closer to the outer rim were faster, they tried to spread out in all directions without getting jammed.

However, as if to ridicule their movements, Michael’s technique was activated.

“Scorch Dragon Cardinal Acceleration.”

It was a blow that made the power he had gained from capturing Velgrynd completely his own.

The multi-headed crimson dragon laid waste to Obera’s army, and more than ten thousand soldiers perished in that instant.

It was like a scene from a nightmare.

But even so, the damage was not as serious as it could have been. If Obera had not noticed, everything would have ended in that instant.

“Y-You…!!”

Obera was furious that her lovely subordinates were killed, but she remained calm despite her anger.

She analyzed the current attack and calculated the ratio of strength based on its power. Just from that, she concluded that there was an overwhelming difference between Michael and herself.

It was obvious that if things continued as they were, the worst would come to fruition.

In fact, the tens of thousands of scattered rays of light, which had started to counterattack, were being repelled by an ice barrier Michael had put up.

Not only Velgrynd-sama, but perhaps it’s also the power of Velzard-sama…

Michael’s body was surrounded by a beautiful blue-white layer of icy diamond dust. It didn’t matter that there was no atmosphere in this other world, Michael’s aura was generating a supernatural phenomenon.

And that power was undoubtedly the ‘Snow Crystal’ shield of the ‘Frost Dragon’ Velzard.

An absolute barrier that was said to prevent all attacks. Although it was a defensive technique classified as a physical phenomenon, its nature allowed it to cut off all wavelengths and frequencies.

Spiritual attacks could work, but it required an amount of energy comparable to that of Velzard to penetrate.

The current Michael was comparable to, or even greater than Velzard. In other words, it would be impossible for Obera alone to shatter ‘Snow Crystal.’

In the first place, only a few of Obera’s subordinates were capable of spiritual attacks like ‘Disintegration.’ Even if she were to unite the power of all the survivors and launch Disintegration, it was unlikely that it would even reach Michael.

“Oma, I am entrusting the mission to you. Escape from here. And to Milim-sama—”

“I cannot accept that. Obera-sama, as Chief of Staff, I have the authority to disobey orders from you. This is the perfect moment to do so!”

Showing a rare moment of disapproval, Oma spoke up once again.

Obera could feel Oma’s determination.

In that case, there was only one course of action to be taken.

“Then I shall leave this to you. Everyone, give it your all!!”

‘Die,’ Obera ordered.

And yet—

The soldiers under Obera’s command all wore gleeful expressions.

“““Our lives are yours!!”””

That declaration was the signal.

The merciless destruction resumed, and…

—

Notes:

Micheal: It should be noted that Michael is not really referred to using any he/she/it pronouns, but because it needed to be specified in English, ‘he/him’ will be used from here on out.

Bases: The word used for ‘bases’ is “Kyoten (拠点)” also meaning ‘location/position,’ or ‘point’—kind of like a foundational point/base point.

Above, below, right and left: Basically, the enemy is surrounded on all angles, even from below because there is no ground.

Force: By ‘force,’ or ‘senryoku (戦力),’ Michael is referring to war potential.

Reeks: The word used is “usankusai (胡散臭い)” which would translate to “stinky” in English. However, in Japanese, it is used to describe something as ‘shady’ or ‘suspicious looking.’

Her speech: In case it was forgotten, in V18, Oma was the one who had lost both her eyes, and instead got a single eye that could see everything. Her mouth was sewn shut and she had only communicated through telepathy until then.

Undead elf: Undead elf can also be called a Deathman.

Joking: It doesn’t come through in English, but Oma says this while still sounding formal/respectful with her form of speech.

Primordial: I brought this up in V18, but as a recap, the word used here for ‘Primordial’ angels is different than the one used for the Primordial demons. The general translation is “Shigen (始原)” which translates to the ‘source,’ or ‘origin.’ When used in conjunction to “Nanatenshi” (which means seven angels), together they can translate to the ‘Seven Original Angels’ (or Seven Angels of the Origin. That’s why I tend to call then the Seven Original Angels. It also helps with the confusion with the Seven Primordial Demons.

You: The word used here is “Kisama” which translates to “you” but more brash/rude and is used when people are angry/holding contempt. It’s basically like saying “you bastard!” Obera normally speaks very formal/politely so it’s a bigger contrast in Japanese than in English.

Our lives are yours: The soldiers refer to Obera here as “Kijō-sama” which is like a respectful way to refer to someone like a noblewoman or lady. I guess it’s kind of like saying ‘milady’ but more polite.