Evil Dragon Veldora Tempest

It didn't take Veldora long to return to his usual attitude. After all, there was always something new to catch his interest. But as he looked at the screen before him, he suddenly realized—he had missed something important!

While he was busy dealing with Shizue's soul, Rimuru had transformed into a human.

"How regrettable! Why must I divert my attention at such a pivotal moment? Ifrit, you should have called me!"

Ifrit sighed, shaking his head. "Please don't blame me for that, Storm Dragon…"

"I told you to call me Veldora!"

As the two argued, the adventurers who had traveled with Shizue were preparing to leave. The dwarven smiths handed them new, improved equipment, and they accepted it with gratitude. There was no long farewell, no lingering sadness. They had grieved, but now they had to move forward.

The world was cruel, and those who wished to survive had to keep moving. Strength wasn't just about power—it was about accepting loss and continuing onward. Even Rimuru would have to learn that lesson.

Veldora leaned back, thinking about what had happened. He remembered hearing the mechanical voice of the World announcing his new skill: [Synthesis]. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to it. But now, he had time to wonder—how had he acquired it?

Since he had interacted with her soul in its final moments, he must have inherited it. Such an occurrence would have been nearly impossible under normal circumstances, but within Rimuru's isolated stomach-space it was possible.

Veldora smirked. 'Interesting. Then, what exactly does this skill do?'

He called upon his own skill, [Investigator], for an answer.

<>

Veldora's golden eyes sparkled with interest as he listened to [Investigator]'s explanation.

"Oho! So I can merge skills and abilities into something new?!" His booming voice echoed with excitement. "This is quite the boon!"

Ifrit, sitting beside him, sighed. "You're surprisingly quick to move on, Veldora Sama…"

"Hmph! A being as grand as I cannot afford to wallow in sadness forever!" Veldora crossed his arms proudly. "Besides, I must honor Shizue's memory by making full use of this gift she left behind!"

Ifrit shook his head but didn't argue.

Veldora stretched his wings slightly, leaning back with a satisfied grin. "Now then, let's see…"

Before attempting [Synthesis], Veldora decided to sort out all of his abilities.

As a True Dragon, he possessed three Intrinsic Skills from birth:

- [Universal Perception]

-

- [Universal Shapeshift]

-

- [Dragon Spirit Haki]

The first, [Universal Perception], allowed him to sense nearly everything within an extremely large range. It was a far superior version of [Magic Sense], which he had once taught to Rimuru inside the sealed cave. Not only could he perceive light and sound—like Magic Sense—but he could also detect killing intent, heat, and even the vibrations of sound waves. It was an ability that made it nearly impossible to sneak up on him.

The second, [Universal Shapeshift], was exclusive to True Dragons. It allowed him to change his body however he desired, altering his size, form, and even appearance with ease. As a proud dragon, he had never thought of changing his shape before. But now, after seeing Rimuru take a human form, Veldora was curious. A human form could be useful—especially for interacting with others more conveniently. Not to mention... if he ever wanted to try that "sex" thing he had heard about, staying in his massive dragon body would certainly be a problem.

The last was [Dragon Spirit Haki].

Haki was a form of spiritual pressure that could freeze weaker beings in place with sheer willpower. While others, such as Demon Lords or Heroes, possessed their own versions of Haki, [Dragon Spirit Haki] was on another level. It was a power unique to True Dragons, capable of overwhelming anything short of another True Dragon.

With it, Veldora could coat his aura with magical and physical properties, bend others to his will, or even cause actual physical damage just by exerting his presence. When fully unleashed, it could shred anything that came into contact with his aura.

These three skills were already at their peak. Each had a clear purpose, so Veldora saw no reason to combine them with [Synthesis].

Aside from these, he had several other skills:

- [Investigator] (Unique Skill)

- [Synthesis] (Extra Skill)

- [Thought Communication] (Common Skill)

An advanced version of [Telepathy] that allowed communication with multiple people at once.

-[Spatial Motion] (Extra Skill) – Allowed instantaneous travel to any place he had been before or knew the coordinates of. It functioned similarly to transfer magic, creating a gate that connected two points in space. However, it consumed a large number of magicules, making it inefficient for frequent use.

Beyond his skills, Veldora had an overwhelming list of Tolerances, making him nearly untouchable:

- [Abnormal Condition Nullification] – Immune to all debuffs and status effects.

- [Holy-Demonic Attack Resistance]– Greatly reduces damage from holy or demonic energy attacks.

- [Natural Effects Nullification]– Negates environmental hazards like extreme heat, cold, or poison.

-[Pain Nullification] – Feels no pain, no matter how severe the injury.

- [Physical Attack Nullification] – Physical attacks simply don't work on him.

- [Spiritual Attack Nullification] – Immune to mental or soul-based attacks.

As for combat techniques, he had a vast collection of Arts, powerful moves that relied on his own strength rather than automatic skill activation:

Aspectual Magic:

- Barrier Magic

- Flight Magic

True Dragon Magic:

Storm Magic

- Black Flame

- Black Lightning

- Dark Lightning

- Death-Heralding

- Destruction Storm

- Ruin Tempest

- Thunderstorm

- Storm Blast

Lastly,

- Dragon Claws

- Wing Blades

Most notably, his Dragon Claws carried a special ability called [Dividing Ability], which allowed them to cut through any material in existence, regardless of its toughness.

After reviewing his abilities, Veldora nodded in satisfaction.

"Kwaaaa-ha-ha-ha! I truly am amazing!"

Now, the real question was—what should he combine with [Synthesis] first?

He had so many abilities that it was giving him a headache. What should he fuse? He went through his skills again, even reviewing manga and anime for reference. The conclusion was clear—most of his attacks were wide-range, powerful enough to destroy the surroundings, but that also meant their potency was spread out. Normally, this wasn't an issue since he had the highest magicules among the True Dragons, second only to his brother Veldanava. However, brute force wasn't always the coolest option.

His first idea was to use [Barrier Magic] to contain his attacks, allowing them to focus on a single target. But before doing anything too complicated, he decided to try something simple first.

<< Would you like to Synthesize [Barrier Magic] and [Black Flame]? >>

Veldora waited for a few seconds.

<< Success. Acquired [Hell Flare]. >>

Veldora grinned as he observed his newly created technique.

"KWAHAHAHAHA! This is quite something!"

The small dome of black flames flickered intensely, the heat inside reaching unimaginably high temperatures—hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius. Even though the barrier contained most of it, small traces of heat still leaked out, warping the air around it.

"Hmm… it's not perfect yet," Veldora muttered, rubbing his chin. "The barrier holds the flames inside, but some of the heat is escaping. If I reinforce the barrier further, I could make it completely contained… or maybe even compress it? I should synthesize my [Dragon Spirit Haki] too!"

Excited by the idea, he focused his will.

<< Would you like to enhance [Hell Flare] by integrating additional barrier layers and [Dragon sprit haki]? >>

"Oh? Now that sounds interesting. Yes, do it!"

<< Success. Acquired the Art [Purgatory Nova]. >>

This time, the dome pulsed with a deep crimson glow. The heat no longer leaked out, completely trapped inside the reinforced barrier.

"So it's an Art, not a Skill? Well, that makes sense," Veldora mused. "Both [Black Flame] and [Barrier Magic] are types of magic, so it's only natural that they fall under the category of an Art rather than a Skill."

<< [Purgatory Nova]—A technique that traps black flames within a reinforced barrier, heating up the interior temperature to a trillion degrees Celsius. This attack bypasses thermal resistance and, due to the integration of [Dragon Spirit Haki], deals direct damage to the target's soul. >>

"KWAHAHAHAHA! This is even better than I expected!" Veldora roared in delight.

Beside him, Ifrit was trembling. His flames flickered wildly as he stared at the deadly dome of fire, sweat (or something resembling it) dripping from his forehead.

"U-Uh… Veldora-sama?" Ifrit spoke hesitantly.

"Hmm? What is it, Ifrit?" Veldora asked, still admiring his masterpiece.

"Could you, um… not use that thing anywhere near me? I mean, I'm a flame spirit, but even I don't think I'd survive that!"

Veldora blinked. "Eh? But you're inside unlimited imprisonment. Surely you wouldn't—"

Ifrit frantically waved his hands. "A trillion degrees?! It bypasses resistance?! It damages the soul?! I'd get evaporated before I could even scream!"

Veldora burst into laughter.

"KWAHA-HA-HA! What a cowardly flame spirit you are!"

"Excuse me?! It's called common sense!" Ifrit huffed, pouting in embarrassment.

Veldora couldn't help but laugh even harder at the sight of Ifrit's flustered reaction. But as he wiped away a tear from his eye, he suddenly paused, hearing a distant scream.

<< Based on the vocal frequency, I suspect it is a cry for help... >>

the voice of [Investigator] rang out in Veldora's mind.

"Hmm?!"

"It sounds as though there's an emergency, Master Veldora," Ifrit said, his voice now full of concern.

Veldora's attention snapped to the screen. There, on the display, a group of six ogres stood facing Rimuru.