The Second Dragonoid's Tale

Chapter 41: That Time A Slime Saved A Dragonoid

After Rimuru finally decided to part ways with the children, leaving the mask Shizu gave him to Chloe, he talked a fair distance away from the city before attempting to teleport back to Tempest. The reason for his return was a growing feeling he once had before when F/N visited the Dwelling. However, his skill didn't work as [Great Sage] informed him he was in a wide-range magic field. Souei's shadow clone appeared, bleeding and hurt, warning Rimuru of a powerful enemy before vanishing.

A hostile feeling grew on his back, as a woman spoke up from behind him. Despite his best effort to play off being an adventurer, the woman knew better. He was the leader of the nation of monsters and informed him that they planned to eliminate them. Hinata Sakaguchi, Rimuru called her by name.

She was more powerful than him and the barrier was not helping, as it limited all magical skills. Hinata's lack of interest in discussion further didn't help as she immediately moved in to attack with great malicious. She believed that Rimuru had killed Shizu, blind to the deception from her source. It did not help that Rimuru used Ifrit, which Hinata knew possessed Shizu.

In the end, Hinata used [Disintegration] to completely remove Rimuru's existence. Blind in many ways and believing she avenged Shizu, Hinata left the battlefield not realizing she had been tricked by the slime. She had been fighting a clone that Rimuru created right after Souei warned him. Hiding in his slime form among the tall grass, he told to Ranga as much when he appeared from the slime's shadow shortly after the barrier was removed.

"My lord," Ranga informed, "The truth is I've tried to get in touch with Benimaru for a while. But my [Shadow Step] won't connect."

Rimuru, growing more worried, "That's impossible, the barrier should have already disappeared."

Notice. It is possible that the destination is isolated by the same type of barrier.

That's when Rimuru realized what he was feeling. The Falmuth Kingdom, using the doctrine of Luminous as justification when in truth they wanted the wealth of Tempest, had attacked with a small group while the main army was on the march. The advance party had set up a barrier around the city, and with the help of a second hostile party, another barrier was created. One obstructed the outside through magic invalidation. The other weakened monsters. Rimuru felt the emotions that followed despair.

Appearing with Ranga in front of the sealed cave, the two of them were greeted by Vesta and Gabiru. Rimuru was informed of the situation before the real Souei appeared, who followed him to the barrier surrounding the city. Right before he was about to order Souei to find the person responsible for the barrier outside, a bright light came from the city. Rimuru, able to pass through the barriers, ran in to see what was happening. Reaching the center of the city his eyes widened as the light faded.

He witnessed the many dead bodies that lay on the ground, whose eyes opened as F/N fell to the ground. Running over to his body, words of the past came to the front of his mind.

In the event neither myself nor Rimuru are around to resolve the issue, you are allowed to defend yourselves but only as needed.

Rimuru lowered himself to F/N's body. The people who had revived were still understanding what happened as the survivors of the attack gathered, including Benimaru and Rigurd.

"Lord F/N!" Cruz yelled, running over to his body to hold it, as most stood shocked.

The surge of magic released by Rimuru did not help, as for the first time he was upset, "How?" He turned to Rigurd and Benimaru. "You defended yourselves, right?"

"Y-yes," Rigurd lowered his head.

Erebus stepped forward and looked towards Sofia, "It's my fault." The odd confession seemed to snap Rimuru out of it and confused Sofia, who was at a loss for the situation. "I recognized Sofia from Lord F/N's memories... I gave the order not to kill her and thought I could stop her with Shion and Cruz, but she was under the influence of someone else, and her rampage continued while the others fled."