Chapter 127
The heat emitted by the Black Magma Slime caused the Great Lord’s body to flow down like candle wax.
He became completely immobile and was helplessly engulfed by magma.
And thus, Pururu died.
No, the Great Lord Bururu died.
No traces of the Great Lord remained.
The magma had melted even the bones and absorbed them.
‘Did I expect too much from the invaders? What a waste of time.’
From this incident,
I lost all desire to trade with the invader race.
I don’t want to deal with a race that has such a mindset.
‘Even if they’re invaders, if they had at least suggested an offering that caught my interest, I might have considered it a little.’
Of course.
The idea of sacrificing life is not unreasonable.
That world is also a place of survival of the fittest.
The weak naturally become prey for the strong.
Even so.
Offering up sentient beings that resemble me crossed the line.
The fact that they uttered such words despite clearly seeing me through Iris was nothing short of mockery.
‘Even if they’re sentient, creatures like the Poison Apple or Pig King wouldn’t be a problem… But still, cannibalism among kin is out of the question.’
Technically speaking, they are not my kin.
But I don’t eat races that resemble humans either.
Naturally, I have no desire to receive them as offerings.
The reason is simple.
The physiological aversion is too great.
That’s why I might cause death, but I absolutely do not engage in cannibalism, nor do I take lives without cause.
And my policy on cannibalism is fairly broad compared to others.
In my opinion, goblins also fall into the category of targets for cannibalism.
Anyway.
If they had offered animals or livestock hunted by the Great Lord, I wouldn’t have executed them so swiftly. After all, I eat other monsters in the labyrinth too.
‘Though I’ve heard they’re intelligent, it seems they’re not smart enough to grasp their opponent’s tendencies. Well, I guess that’s natural if they don’t have telepathy.’
…And perhaps.
Up until now, all of this may indeed have been just an excuse.
While I’ve been pretending to be cold and rational on the surface, I might have wanted to side with the survivors deep down.
After all, it’s natural for one’s own arm to bend inward.
‘If only the natives had a larger population, I wouldn’t have had to consider anything and would have chosen right away.’
Until just now, I was weighing the options due to an obsession with seeking gains.
But now, my heart has tipped to one side.
I can’t judge whether those survivors are good or evil, but it’s clear that the invaders fall into the category of evil by my standards.
Ah. The standard of evil is simple.
It is not bound by laws set by humans.
It is judged subjectively, defining as evil those who grieve my feelings.
Ultimately, all living beings view the world through their own lenses.
Each one is the protagonist of their own life, so it’s natural to define justice according to their own criteria instead of the world’s standards.
Thus, defining good and evil from one’s own perspective is a given.
At least, that’s how I see it.
Anyway.
Because of this recent event, we gained the trust of the natives.
─“N-no way… To kill the Great Lord in one blow…”
─“…Am I dreaming right now?”
─“What kind of creature holds magma inside itself…?”
Amidst the people who were extremely flustered, the search team leader Amuterso quickly collected himself, cleared his throat, and said loudly.
─“I told you! The individuals I brought are God’s messengers, and the one reflected on that screen is God!”
That shout caused a stir among the people.
─“…Is that really God? That man?”
─“I still can’t believe it, but if that person isn’t God, then it’s hard to explain what just happened. The ones here must be the messengers of God, who killed the Great Lord as if squishing a bug.”
─“So gods really do exist?”
─“Then why didn’t they help us when we were being invaded?”
─“You said they’re not the gods of our world. From what I remember, they mentioned being a prospective god that roams through dimensions.”
─“Wait… It doesn’t matter whether that man is God or not. What’s important is that they possess a stronger power than the invaders.”
─“Indeed, it is more important that these beings are offering to help us than whether they are gods. Even if they aren’t gods, if they save us, we would gladly treat them as gods.”
─“We can’t be sure of their identity, but at least we confirmed they are not on the same side as the invaders… I guess it wouldn’t be bad to believe them.”
─“It’s not just ‘not bad,’ but we must wholeheartedly believe and accept their offer. We don’t have the luxury to make choices right now.”
─“I’ll just believe. What’s the big deal about gods? The strong person is God, right?”
People were slowly starting to acknowledge us.
Finally, it seemed we could communicate properly.
The arrival of the Great Lord wasn’t useless after all.
*
Currently, there are 4 remaining Great Lords.
There are an estimated 20 Lords.
They are scattered across the planet, not gathered in one place, as the natives say.
From what I gathered from the natives’ stories, it seemed that all the Great Lords are A-rank, and the Lords are B-rank to C-rank.
‘Since there can’t be anyone stronger than the Great Lords, subjugation should proceed smoothly… And being spread across the planet isn’t a problem; the Black Magma Slime’s abilities should handle it well.’
By the way, the one with the highest intelligence and relatively mild temperament among the Great Lords is the one we just killed.
In other words, the other Great Lords won’t be able to communicate.
Anyway.
I decided to annihilate all the invaders.
It seems impossible for the two races to coexist.
There are ways to dominate the invading race.
But the natives seem to be against such a solution.
‘Well, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t feel secure either if the invaders were still alive. They’d have to live trembling, fearing that peace could be broken at any moment.’
The natives wanted a fundamental resolution to the current situation.
In other words, they wanted the complete eradication of the invading race.
Sadly.
Completely uprooting them is impossible.
The invading race doesn’t only exist on this planet.
The Great Lord had revealed it controls numerous planets directly.
According to Iris’s speculation, the invading race likely exists in other dimensions as well.
So, I decided to only subjugate the invaders present on this planet.
It would be impractical to subjugate those from other planets given the time constraints.
And crossing dimensions to achieve this would be even harder.
So what if we were invaded again?
I instructed them to send an SOS to the altar.
Once I receive the note asking for help, I could immediately use the designated dispatch ticket to send monsters.
After that.
While we had been talking with the natives for a long time.
[Explorer, documentation complete.]
The Centauress had finally finished compiling the data on the Lords and Great Lords.
When I checked the data,
The Lord was designated as A-2, and the Great Lord as A-3.
“Good work.”
“Thanks!”
[Thank you!]
After checking the drawings.
When I turned back to Iris, one of the people from beyond the dimension cautiously posed a question.
─“Um, by the way… You mentioned that the messengers of God don’t have much time left in this world… What do you plan to do about the other four Great Lords and the Lords…?”
“Don’t worry. I can subjugate all of them in just a few hours.”
─“…What? You can subjugate them all in a few hours?”
The person who asked looked as if they couldn’t believe it.
Those gathered nearby shared a similar reaction.
Even several assistants had a similar response.
Doubts began to sprout among the natives once again.
Well, I didn’t care.
I’d just show them through action.
In a few hours, they would be staring in awe at a cleansed planet with all the invaders gone.
“Anyway, we’re going to go out to subjugate now, so you all should rest in the bunker for a bit.”
I said that and stepped out of the bunker with Iris and the Black Magma Slime.
Then I asked the Black Magma Slime.
“Blak, are you ready?”
─[Yup!]
“Don’t destroy anything other than the specified targets. You can’t melt down buildings like last time, got it?”
─[Uh-huh!]
The Black Magma Slime can selectively attack only the desired targets.
As long as the enemy is designated,
It can spew out harmless magma to allies.
By actively utilizing that capability,
I intended to cover the planet itself with Blak’s magma.
After all, there’s a history of an S-class slime covering a nation within hours in Elemenzia, so an SS-class slime should be able to envelop a planet in that time.
And it seems confident as well.
“Alright. Let’s get started.”
─[Yup! Let’s go!]
─[I’ll go up high and film.]
Iris swiftly ascended.
Following her, the Black Magma Slime also jumped high into the sky.
At that moment.
The black surface of the slime cracked open.
And like a volcano erupting, the magma inside violently spewed out.
The magma, which covered the sky, endlessly reproduced and poured down like a waterfall to the ground.
Eventually.
Defying gravity, the magma spread in all directions, instantly swallowing the horizon.
And thus, the extermination of the invaders and the cleansing of the planet began.