Without being able to resolve their fight, the fight with Chaybdis had begun. Benimaru was forced to swallow his apologies to Katsumi and focus on the fight as General. Charybdis, the calamity, had awakened, and was headed straight towards the capital city of Rimuru. As of now, the village assumed that since Rimuru had swallowed Veldora with [Predator], Charybdis, who was born from a cloud of Veldora's magicules, had come to seek vengeance against the slime. As Rimuru had instructed, they were to engage in battle with Charybdis outside of the town in a stretch of forest located between the town and Dwargon.

The current forces that were ready to go up against Charybdis included the Kijin, Gobta and the Goblin Riders, Geld's army of high orcs, Gabiru and his servants and 100 pegasus-mounted royal guards from Dwargon sent by King Gazel. Minus the Pegasus Knights, they all stood atop a hill, awaiting Rimuru's orders. Rimuru simply watched Charybdis approach in the distance before he turned around to address the group.

"Well, ready to do this?" Rimuru asked as he faced the group.

"Yes, sir!" Everyone replied. Quickly setting their plan into motion, the different groups scattered into their respective areas of their forest. The first goal to take down were the thirteen megalodons that surrounded Charybdis.

Benimaru was the first to strike, using his [Hell Flare] and throwing it up perfectly at one of the low flying megalodons, instantly engulfing it in a sphere of black and purple flames. The Megalodon crashed down into the forest, albeit it was still whole. Benimaru clicked his tongue. Despite the power in his attack, he couldn't destroy the damned beast. He turned his head slightly, subconsciously searching for Katsumi. She wasn't too far away, but when she looked up and met his gaze, she turned away with a small huff. Benimaru sighed dejectedly and focused back to Rimuru.

Charybdis has an extra skill, [Magic Jamming], Rimuru projected towards all the current warriors. Not everyone could reply, but he made sure that everyone understood that within a 300-meter radius, the movement of the magicules was disturbed and therefore reduced the efficacy of magic. Stick to the plan still! Scatter them and strike each one individually!

The next megalodon to crash went to the Orcs. They purposely lured one down to the forest down, the shark-like beast crashing into the ground, yet completely unfazed by it. Despite kicking up dirt and tearing up the path, the megalodon continued pushing, trying to grab a few of the High Orcs in its jaws. Geld turned around once the shark had skid some, putting his hands out to grab the shark on the nose and using his own body to try to slow it down. Despite being forced back a fair ways down the path, Geld managed to counteract the shark's momentum, both of them coming to a complete stop. The other orcs took the chance and pounced on the grounded shark, digging their axes and swords into the chinks in the shark's metal exterior. Feeling the pain, the megalodon whipped its tail, tossing the orcs off easily. Geld, who was still holding onto the megalodon to stop it's movements, slightly panicked. His brethren had been tossed off to the side, and he knew he couldn't fight it alone.

Thankfully, he didn't have to hold out long as Gabiru came flying from above, his spear pointed towards the shark. Using his skill [Vortex Crash], Gabiru's trident stabbed through the plating on the shark and right into the megalodon's forehead. The beast jerked out of Geld's hands, flailing in pain as it let out a horrifying screech. It wasn't long before the shark coughed up blood and then promptly collapsed, the trident still stuck deep in its head. Pulling it out, Gabiru made a plan with Geld to attract the third megalodon down, using the exact same tactic they had just done.

The fourth went down to the Pegasus Knights as they charged in from the sky. With their sheer numbers and aerial horses, they overwhelmed one of the megalodons, managing to slice into the weak points and cause it to crash to the ground.

The fifth shark was lured down by Gobta and the Goblin Riders who used the same tactics as the high orcs since neither of the two teams had the agility or ability to maneuver easily in the air. The shark roared loudly as it chased three of the goblins down the path, it's body coming closer and closer to the ground. This one came in at an angle that immediately stopped it's momentum, allowing the rest of the Goblin Riders who had been in hiding to jump out. Gobta, who had been one of the ones to lead the shark down, turned back on his wolf and charged in to help attack. The shark flailed as the Goblins stabbed it between the plates of armor, and Hakurou stood by, directing the goblins on their tasks. After all, Hakurou was the instructor.

However, the goblins were unsuccessful and had been thrown off. Hakurou decided to intervene, quickly dicing the megalodon into minuscule pieces that fell to the ground in a mess of megalodon armor plating. He graciously took the time after defeating the shark single-handedly to voice his disappointment in the Goblins who had yet to improve to his standards.

The sixth and seventh Megalodon's were brought down by Souei. Teleporting onto the back of one of the sharks, he used his skill [Puppet Strings] to forcibly control it, easily turning it around towards one of it's own. The two of them crashed, the first using its jaws to lock onto the second, shaking its head and tearing the other shark apart. The two megalodons roared as they both were sent off the path. The second megalodon tried to get back to it's position, but Souei's control easily allowed him to spin the shark in circles, bringing it down. He turned the puppet shark around, heading towards Charybdis. As soon as he jumped off the shark, it was sliced by his threads into multiple, even sized fish fillets.

The eighth shark went down to Soka and her team of dragonnewts. Using their skills and stealth taught by Souei, they successfully got up to the Megalodon without being detected despite flying directly in it's face and tore into the flying beast.

The ninth and tenth Megalodons were successfully taken down by Katsumi. She jumped off the ledge that she and Benimaru were stationed at and landed herself in the forest directly under the slow flying Charybdis. Using [Iced Hurricane], Katsumi set out waves of wind and water that battered the remaining Megalodons. Three of them managed to force their way out of the strong, swirling wind, but the other two were unsuccessful as they got torn apart. Katsumi clicked her tongue as one of the surviving Megalodons flew down at the ground toward her. She quickly withdrew the hurricane and drew her claymore just in time to block the Megalodon's sharp teeth. She was pushed back from the force of the monster's attack, the both of them skidding to a stop right before she jumped away. From above, Benimaru sent a [Hell Flare] at the Megalodon that attacked Katsumi once made it a safe distance away, taking care of the eleventh.

The last two megalodons went down to Shion and Ranga, who had teamed up, determined to prove themselves in this battle. Ranga, who had somehow learned how to fly, made his way above the sharks, dropping Shion down as she used her skill [Decapitating Demon Blade] to literally chop the shark's head off. Ranga turned around midair, howling as his two horns sparked with black lightning. He aimed his head towards the last megalodon, successfully electrocuting it, the burnt fish falling from the sky. Ranga quickly picked up Shion again before she fell too far and made his way to rendezvous with Souei atop Charybdis.

While the Pegasus Knights attacked Charybdis from above, the two Kijin and Ranga attempted to find a weak point on Charybdis. Shion stood atop Ranga as he ran down the length of the monster, dwarfed in size. Souei, who had the most agility out of all the Kijin didn't need a wolf and relied on his own speed.

It might try to pull something! Don't let your guard down! Rimuru's voice echoed in all three of their minds. The three of them responded with affirmations that they would beware as they continued their attack.

Charybdis roared, feeling the three figures on his back. Souei drew one of his blades, holding the handle with the blade pointed downwards. His second blade still remained strapped to his back. Ranga and Shion had also made their way to him and faced a direction to his side, so that whichever way the attack came, someone could respond immediately.

Suddenly, Charybdis dislodged his own scales, shooting them outwards. The Pegasus Knights quickly evaded back, but the two Kijin and Ranga were less lucky. From the sheer force of Charybdis blowing his own scales off, the three of them were tossed off the beast. Ranga was first to recover, launching straight towards Shion, knowing that Souei could land easily on his feet. Sure enough, all three of them managed to negate damage from their fall, Ranga landing in a gallop with Shion on his back and Souei landing in a crouched position next to Katsumi.

The scales seemed to have some ability to be controlled as they swarmed around the group rather than attacking the nearest target. The scales grouped up in the air, then began shooting themselves forward like bullets. Souei tried to dodge using his [Spacial Travel], but the scales were too numerous and he ended up getting scratched by a few. Shion took the different tactic of trying to block the scales in stead of evade. Katsumi tried to protect them all by setting up a summoning another hurricane with them at the eye. It managed to send some of the scales off course, but many of them still made it through.

"I can't dodge!" Souei growled out slightly as the barrage of scales continued raining down on them. "Dodge? Don't be a weakling!" Shion scolded as she batted away scale after scale until one launched straight into her stomach. She grunted in pain as another one hit her across the face and threw her backwards.

"You two are getting hit so much because you keep moving so much," Katsumi scolded. She had the least number of scratched compared to the other two. Ranga stood behind her. "The hurricane is throwing the scales off track, but if you two keep moving around, you're going to get hit by stray ones more than the ones that get through."

Having enough of it, Ranga jumped forwards into the onslaught of scales, using his [Black Lightning] to incinerate them one after another as the lightning traveled from scale to scale. However, there simply were too many for him to finish them all, though Ranga managed to buy them a bit of time.

"Souei, use [Spacial Travel] to escape," Ranga commanded as he looked at the male. He was crouched on the ground, breathing heavily. "I will act as Shion and Katsumi's shield."

"You fool! Do you want to die, Ranga?! I'll do this alone! Take Katsumi and get out of here." Shion called out, leaning heavily on her blade that was stabbed into the ground.

"Do you think I'm that weak, Shion?" Katsumi replied, drawing her claymore as she summoned ice-tipped blades. "No offense, but I think I have a better survival chance than you do in this onslaught."

Ranga only laughed at the two of them.

"Rimuru-sama's chosen course of action is the one granting the highest chance of survival."

"Highest chance of survival, eh?" Souei echoed with a smirk. "In that case, I'll stay, too. Oh, don't get the wrong idea. The real me will withdraw before I get killed, so don't worry."

"Aren't you confident?" Katsumi asked with a giggle toward her cousin. She turned back to face her enemy.

"Typical Souei," Shion chuckled. " In that case, let us all survive!"

The four of them quickly braced themselves to launch towards Charybdis as the scales aligned themselves to strike again. Giving each other a quick nod, all four of them prepared themselves to charge forward as Katsumi drew all the water nearby to her. A voice stopped them in their tracks.

"You guys really are idiots."

Rimuru was standing in front of them, putting himself between the scales and his four subordinates. They skidded to a stop behind him, staring at him in shock. Rimuru only smirked as he turned around to face them.

"You could at least rely on me at a time like this."

"Rimuru-sama!" Shion said in surprise. Rimuru only smiled back at the four before facing the seemingly endless number of scales.

"Devour all! [Gluttony]!" Rimuru stretched his hand towards the main grouping of the scales as a large tornado of black mist spiraled outwards from his palm, devouring all the scales in its path. In just a few seconds, the scales had all disappeared. The kijin stared at Rimuru in shock. They knew their master was strong, but even they didn't really know the true extent of his power as Rimuru never had to use it, even against the Orc Lord.

"Leave the rest to me," Rimuru reassured the group of four. "You guys fall back and rest for a bit."

"We can still help you!" Souei argued back.

"Take it easy," Rimuru said in reply, his bat wings flapping lightly behind him. "Look."

Rimuru looked forward towards Charybdis and the four of them followed his gaze. They flinched as they saw glimmering scales growing again across Charybdis' underside, and they figured it was safe to assume the scales on top were also regenerating.

"The next time it uses those, I don't know if I'll be able to protect you again," Rimuru stated seriously. "I'll fight it for a while. Attack at Benimaru's order."

Despite her anger, Katsumi knew that Benimaru was the General for a reason. She nodded, being the first to blindly agree. After all, based on what she knew, they would only be a hindrance to Rimuru if they remained there. The other three were reluctant, but they eventually agreed and retreated back to Benimaru. He and Shuna were standing atop a hill that allowed them a good overhead view of the forest and the battles going on. Truth be told though, Benimaru's gaze had been locked on Katsumi in worry. He knew that she was strong enough to protect herself, but even kijin could get injured and he hated to see that for her, even if they were currently fighting.

Once the four of them had retreated, Rimuru flew towards Charybdis, dodging left and right as the monster shot more scales off towards the slime.

"Now then..." Rimuru said as he flew closer to Charybdis. "I guess I'll just do whatever I can."

Laying back slightly on his wings in midair, Rimuru activated [Black Lightning], targeting the underside of Charybdis. Charybdis clearly felt the pain as his single large eye rolled around. Once he spotted Rimuru, he let out a beam, trying to vaporize Rimuru. Instead, the beams reached the forest floor, setting the trees on fire.

"Katsumi, can you control the fire?" Benimaru commanded the blue-haired girl next to her. She nodded, quickly drawing the water around her. The water swirled above the forest while remaining under Charybdis. Once enough water had gathered, she exploded the mass, causing it to rain over the forest. The fire was out in just a few short minutes.

"Benimaru!" Katsumi called as she took her gaze away from the water. Her attention had gone to Charybdis to see Rimuru's attack. Benimaru followed her gaze and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Everyone, utilize all methods at your disposal to attack Charybdis!" Benimaru called. "Even if the effects are weak! Don't give it a chance to recover!" The goblins and orcs cried out in acknowledgement of the call to battle, launching arrows and abilities at the monster. Katsumi joined in, launching waves of ice-tipped water spears at Charybdis like missiles. Benimaru reached for Katsumi's hand subconsciously and she took it.

"Don't think I've forgiven you, yet," Katsumi said bluntly as Benimaru looked at her in shock. "We'll have a better chance not passing out if we're making sure that our powers are regulated." Benimaru nodded, not wanting to argue. Even if it was just because of the battle, he was glad that she had at least reached for his hand.

Despite giving the entire battle their all, by sunset, Charybdis had at least 60% of his health left and was still regenerating with his extra skill [Ultraspeed Regeneration]. Despite how many attacks were thrown at him, how many blades of ice, how many steel threads, how many balls of hell fire, the monster was recovering faster than they could take him down.

The only good thing about this battle was the Charybdis was slow. Despite having fought all afternoon and evening, he hadn't made it past the stretch of forest they had decided to fight the monster in. However, it was taking a toll on the army. The pegasus knights had retreated lower and hid slightly in the forest to recover and the goblins and orcs who had overextended their magicule use were currently recovering in a makeshift camp. Katsumi was using the her water to help soothe the battle-worn army while hiding the pegasus knights in a light mist. Benimaru stood watch, but he eyed Katsumi worriedly since she was expending so much energy to cover for everyone. The rest of the kijin stood nearby, staring up at Charybdis in a loss of how to defeat the giant calamity. Rimuru hovered nearby Charybdis in the air, sighing as he watched the monster make it's way centimeter by centimeter.

"D-Damn you... M-Milim..." Charybdis growled out in a broken stutter. Rimuru turned looking at Charybdis. Originally, Trya and Vesta had said that Charybdis wasn't a monster with intelligence to talk to. Yet Charybdis clearly had just said something.

"Milim?" Rimuru echoed. "You just said 'Milim,' didn't you?" Rimuru asked Charybdis. Charybdis didn't respond. So instead, Rimuru used [Appraisal]. It appeared that there was a sign of life the [Great Sage] could detect from within Charybdis. The body which Charybdis had possessed had intense anger

"Intense anger?" Rimuru muttered as he examined Charybdis, who surprisingly hadn't attacked him despite Rimuru calmly flying right in front of Charybdis.

"Towards Milim?" Rimuru finally understood the situation. Charybdis was headed towards the capital city Rimuru because Milim was in the town. Everyone had assumed that it was because Charybdis was angered at Rimuru having swallowed Veldora.

Benimaru, you can stand down for now. Milim will have a go. It seems like Charybdis was after that pink Demon Lord after all. Rimuru reported to Benimaru. Benimaru quickly replied and relayed the information to the rest of the troops who collapsed onto the ground tired, yet relieved. Katsumi confirmed that she heard the order, but she didn't withdraw the mist hiding the pegasus knights nor did she sit down and rest. Instead, she continued staying true to her position as a Healer and tended to the exhausted warriors.

Milim! Rimuru called out as he realized that Milim could easily solve this issue without Rimuru feeling too bad about relying on the childish demon lord. Milim woke up flailing.

"I wasn't asleep! I was awake the whole time!" she insisted aloud.

No, you were obviously asleep. Rimuru replied via [Thought Communication].

"I was just meditating!" Milim insisted once again. "I was really cheering you guys on!"

Listen, this guy seems to have business with you, Rimuru stated with a sigh as he tiredly gestured backwards to Charybdis.

"What?!" Milim said, her excitement clear as day. She used her own [Appraisal] on Charybdis and determined that the host body was indeed Phobio, the beastman from before. Rimuru sighed as he felt a headache forming.

Of course it had to be him. Anyway, I had you sit this one out because I thought he was after me, but... Rimuru trailed off.

"Are you gonna say I can fight him?!" Milim asked with stars in her eyes. Before Rimuru could respond, she launched herself up and towards Rimuru.

"He was here for you, and we were just in the way. Sorry about that," Rimuru said as Milim happily appeared beside him.

"It's fine! Don't worry about it!" Milim brushed off, clearly happy just to be fighting. "I'll get him!"

"Oh, also," Rimuru said quickly before she could blast away. "Phobio works for the Demon Lord Carrion, right? So I'd like to let him live and help him out."

"That won't be a problem!" Milim laughed haughtily. "I'll show you how much restraint I've learned recently!" Rimuru quickly backed off, relaying to the captain of the Pegasus Knights that this was now Milim's fight. They too retreated immediately, knowing that 'restraint' to Milim wasn't the same 'restraint' everyone else thought. After all, Milim was one of the most powerful demon lords. Seeing the knights fly out of the forest, Katsumi withdrew the mist, allowing the mostly green forest to reveal itself again.

"Mili... Milim!" Charybdis growled out in a jumbled mess as Milim proudly stood in front of him. Charybdis launched his scales again towards Milim, but she remained unfazed at the millions of scales shooting her way.

"I've already seen that trick," she told him with a smirk on her face. "Now I'll show you one of mine."

With just a lift of her hand, all the scales flying in the air froze as they lost all of their momentum, dropping straight to the ground into the forest as she flicked her hand lazily downward.

"This is what you call 'restraint!'" Milim lifted her hands high above her head as a warbling tone rang out from the beam of light forming. This was her skill, [Dragon Buster]. Instantly, as the rays of light hit Charybdis, the entire area exploded in flames as the calamity-class monster was blow away in a single strike. From below, the army stared at the red smoke in the air with blank smiles on their faces. What was all that fighting for if Milim just blew it away in one go?

True to her word, Milim blew away everything except Phobio himself. Flying up, Rimuru caught him safely, albeit the beastman was a bit burnt. Flying down to a circular clearing, Rimuru made quick work of extracting Charybdis before it awakened again, and swallowed it using [Predator]. The Kijin, Milim, Treyni and Trya stood nearby, waiting anxiously as Rimuru worked on Phobio, only relaxing once Charybdis had been successfully consumed by the slime. Much to Benimaru's dismay, Katsumi took a spot on the other side of the group by Shion and Souei while he stood next to Rimuru and Shuna. When Phobio was fully healed, Rimuru fell back with a sigh, exhausted from the fight as well.

Before Rimuru left, he quickly threw a full potion onto Phobio, healing him from all injuries and burns. Benimaru knelt down next to the beastman.

"Rimuru-dono," a voice called out. It was the captain of the Pegasus Knights, Dorf.

"Oh, Dorf-san," Rimuru greeted as he turned to face the knight. "I appreciate your help. We were able to defeat Charybdis thanks to you."

"No, it wasn't us who defeated Charybdis," Dorf denied. The two of them looked to Milim. "Could you explain what this is all about?"

"Well, um, actually..." Rimuru trailed off, rubbing the back of his sheepishly, unsure how to explain that Charybdis had originally been after Milim and there was really no need for the rest of them to have fought. "This girl is called Demon Lord Milim, and... you see?"

"Demon Lord?" Dorf echoed as he gave Milim a once over. Then, he burst out laughing. "I see you have a fondness for jokes, Rimuru! If you had such a powerful magical weapon, I wish you had said so from the start!"

"It's no joke!" Milim shouted at Dorf angrily. "I'm a Demon Lord! I defeated Charybdis!"

"I see. You wish to keep the specifics of your weapon secret. I understand that. It's always best to keep your trump card hidden."

"I'm telling you, I'm a Demon Lord!" Milim shouted up at the captain. Dorf just ignored the girl.

"Charybdis could have had catastrophic effects on all mankind," Dorf said addressing Rimuru instead, "so it's defeat is most fortuitous. I must report to my king, so I will take my leave now."

"Oi, damn it!" Milim continued to yell, mad and frustrated that she wasn't being recognized as the all powerful Demon Lord that she was.

"You were a great help," Rimuru thanked Dorf who bowed his head slightly towards the slime. "Give King Gazel my regards."

Dorf agreed, still ignoring the raging Demon Lord beside him, and head back to his army to mount his pegasus. With a quick wave to Rimuru, he and the rest of the Pegasus Knights took off, heading back to Dwargon.

"Hey, you awake?" Rimuru's voice dragged everyone's attention to the center of the clearing where Phobio laid, holding his head slightly in pain.

"Where... am I?" Phobio managed to grunt out through the pounding headache and aching limbs. Rimuru may have healed him, but it didn't take away the aches. Everyone slightly changed their stances from relaxed to defensive.

"What... What did I..."

"Do you remember what you did?" Rimuru asked Phobio. Phobio remained silent for a moment before a look of recognition passed through his eyes. He gasped and bowed low to the ground on his hands and knees, hie forehead almost touching the ground as he yelled out his apology.

"I'm so sorry! I've done something unthinkable to Milim-sama and I've caused so much trouble for you!"

"Why did you do-" Rimuru's question was interrupted as Treyni and Trya stepped up.

"How did you know where Charybdis was sealed?" Treyni asked, cutting straight to the point.

"We won't accept that you just happened to find it," Trya emphasized.

"Right... You see..." Phobio got up slightly, though he still remained on his knees with his head angled downwards. "Two Masked harlequins that called themselves Tear and Footman led me to the cave. They promised me power rivaling that of a Demon Lord's..."

"Masked harlequins named Tear and Footman?" Treyni echoed as she walked forward a bit. Treyni leaned down and drew a face in the dirt. "Did the mask look like this?"

"No, the ones I met were a girl with a mask with a tear under one eye and a heavy man with an angry mask." Benimaru flinched at Phobio's words.

"Uhm, that Laplace guy also..."

"Laplace?" Rimuru interrupted Gabiru.

"Laplace once showed up before me as a servant of Gelmud. He was wearing a mask like the one Treyni described," Gabiru explained. "Also, he called himself the vice president of a jack-of-all-trades group called the Moderate Harlequin Alliance."

"I see," Treyni said as she stood up from off the ground. "And this person's name was Laplace?" Treyni and Trya nodded at each other.

"Footman, huh? We'll have to remember that name." Benimaru echoed the name distastefully as Shuna stood by without her usual lighthearted smile. Souei too was a bit down since Footman had been the one to destroy their ogre village. From beside him, Katsumi clenched her hands in a fist, her heterochromatic orbs glaring into the dirt.

"A mysterious jack-of-all-trades group, the Moderate Harlequin Alliance?" Rimuru muttered to himself. "They pretend they're helping you, then use you to fulfill their goals without getting their own hands dirty... They sound like they'll be trouble."

Rimuru looked at Milim, who quickly raised her hands into the air in surrender and waved them around.

"I don't know anything about them!" Milim swore to Rimuru. "In fact, if fun people like that are really out there, I wanna meet them!"

"It may be that it wasn't Gelmud, but Clayman who's plotting something in secret," Milim revealed after a few seconds.

"Clayman?" Rimuru asked.

"He loves coming up with schemes like that," Milim said with certainty.

"The Demon Lord Clayman... Souei, when you are out scouting, be on the lookout for these individuals. If they're spotted, leave immediately and report back to me."

Souei nodded his head. If these masked harlequins had a demon lord backing them, and even one had managed to evade Treyni, it could be dangerous if the two of them engaged carelessly regardless of how powerful they were.

"Regardless of whose scheme I was roped into, what happened was my own responsibility," Phobio said as he stayed kneeled in front of Rimuru. "It has nothing to do with Demon Lord Carrion, so please... take my life and leave him out of this!"

"Next time, be ore on your toes so you won't be fooled again," Rimuru told the bowing beastman.

"Huh?" Phobio looked up, a bit confused,

"You can move now, right? So you can go."

"But... what I did was unforgivable!"

"I don't even want your life. Right, Milim?" Rimuru said quickly. Shion looked like she would've been more than glad to lop Phobio's head off while Katsumi had begun to draw her blade. From beside him, Benimaru had his palm opened, as if wanting to start a fire and roast Phobio over it. He had to move the conversation along before Phobio actually died.

"Yeah, totally! I thought I'd give him just one little whack, but I've matured so much, after all." Milim posed with one hand on her hip and the other on her head, as if she had become a god for her restraint.

"You were going to hit him?" Rimuru asked, deadpan.

"I'm not mad at all, so I forgive you!" Milim said nicely to Phobio.

"There you go. So don't worry about it," Rimuru insisted to Phobio who stared at the two in disbelief. After bring Charybdis to the town, they weren't even going to use his life for exchange?

"Right! That's okay with you too, right, Carrion?" Milim suddenly turned around as everyone tensed at the new presence. No one made a move to assume an aggressive stance because, after all, this was a Demon Lord that just appeared. He wouldn't take lightly to being attacked right away, nor would any of the battle-weary individuals present win in a fight against Carrion.

"L-Lord Carrion!" Phobio stuttered out in shock.

"So you figured it out, Milim?" Carrion asked with a smirk, ignoring Phobio.

"Of course I did!" Milim replied proudly.

"Yo," Carrion called out to Rimuru in a friendly tone. "Thanks for sparing this guy's life." He stared down at Rimuru and his eyes narrowed.

"You're the masked majin who defeated Gelmud, are you not?"

"Yeah, that's right." Rimuru replied with confidence. He jumped out of Shion's arms and morphed into his human form. "Are you here to avenge him?"

At this, all the Kijin braced themselves for another fight. They didn't want to go up against a demon lord, but if that is what ended up happening, they would all defend Rimuru with their lives. Thankfully, Carrion only chucked slightly, denying Rimuru's question.

"Get up," he called to Phobio. Phobio quickly obeyed the taller Demon Lord. Carrion leisurely walked over to Phobio, and then struck his hand out, pushing Phobio's head into the ground.

Rimuru and the kijin all flinched in surprise due to Carrion's harsh discipline. As they stared at the demon lord, one of Phobio's allies rushed over to check on the beastman that Katsumi was hoping hadn't died.

"Sorry about that," Carrion apologized to Rimuru. "It seems my underling here was out of control. That means I was negligent in his oversight. I hope you'll forgive him."

"S-Sure..." Rimuru said, a bit in shock that Carrion had literally planted Phobio's face into the ground.

"I owe you one after all this," Carrion said with a slight smile, though it wasn't seemingly the friendliest of smiles. "If anything comes up, you can always count on me."

"In that case, I'd appreciate it if you'd enter a non-aggression pact with our nation," Rimuru offered immediately. The less Demon Lords out to get in the way of their town, the better.

"That's all you want?" Carrion seemed surprised, then smiled a more genuine smile. "Very well. The Demon Lord... no... The Beastmaster of the Animal Kingdom of Eurazania, Carrion, swears on is name to never raise a blade to your nation."

"Thanks," Rimuru said with a slight bow.

"Now," Carrion leaned over and easily picked up a passed out Phobio by the back of his shirt. slinging him over his shoulder. Phobio's head was dripping blood.

"We'll, I'll see you again, Rimuru," Carrion said as he turned back slightly, completely ignoring the bleeding beastman in his arms. In a flash of bright light, Carrion and his beastmen disappeared.

"Now then," Rimuru turned to face the remaining group, "let's head home!"

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Hey hey~!

Fast update today because this chapter was very anime-content heavy. As always, let me know what you think of this chapter! :) 

Stay safe and healthy!
ThePurpleDragon