It's been a few days since I finished up some small renovations to the Slime Farm. There were a few minor problems when a group of Stone Worms burrowed under the Slime Farm causing a bit of damage. It was fixed pretty easily though. As for the Slimes, progress is going pretty good. One split into two yesterday so their numbers are definitely growing.
I'm walking through town when I suddenly hear a loud boom. An explosion?
"What the?" I immediately fly off to see what happened. I land to see a certain Beastketeer face-down on the floor. Phobio.
Running up to Gobta who somehow always manages to be around when major events like these happen and ask what happened. Sure, I know why he would do this in the original but in this timeline I already approached Carrion with the treaty. How did Phobio manage to still get punched?
Gobta explains the situation and I immediately get a little mad at Phobio. Apparently when he came he located Rigurd and told him that Carrion sent him to talk to me because he was busy. Alright, decent start, makes sense. But then he started being disrespectful and began looking down on everyone for being "lowly monsters" during the conversation. Things somehow managed to escalate to the point where he hit Rigurd, just way less hard. This caused Milim to punch him.
I rub between my brow. So you're saying he still did the same shit, for different reasons? How stupid and prideful is this guy? I turn to look at Rigurd. At least he didn't get hit as hard this time.
I see Rimuru who is already here scolding Milim. Walking up to him I explain that it was a little bit warranted and that it's a little unfair to take her lunch. He deadpans as I explain this.
Ignoring this I walk over to Phobio's unconscious body and throw a full potion on him. I'm a little annoyed at his stupidity at this point but realize this situation can be used to my advantage. Charybdis can once again be guaranteed to be let loose to attack Milim.
He looks around, confused as to what exactly just happened. As he looks up to my irritated expression I start explaining that thanks to him Milim destroyed part of the sidewalk. I finish off the scolding by saying, "I'll make sure this is reported to Carrion."
When he hears that he is filled with fear and anger and yells, "How dare you refer to Lord Carrion in that manner! And who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like this!?"
"My name is Migeru Tempest, one of the Twin Rulers, the leaders of this country. And considering you got sent here by Carrion I am likely the person you came here to talk to. I started the treaty."
His face goes a little pale when I say this. Carrion is definitely gonna punish him for this. From his perspective he might have just caused some big problems for Carrion. He immediately begs for forgiveness.
"I don't have much tolerance for this stupidity. Go back to Carrion and tell him if this treaty is gonna happen then it should be between the three of us!" My angry tone scares him even more. Not because he antagonized me, but because this'll definitely make Carrion really mad.
Rimuru walks up to me and asks if antagonizing him is a good idea. Yes Rimuru, yes it is. I respond, "I don't care, this guy walks in, insults everyone and still expects a civil negotiation at the end! Ridiculous!" Going back to a more casual tone I say, "Alright, so listen, it's a little disappointing that you are a Beastketeer after meeting Albis. Someone Carrion trusts this much shouldn't do this. I'm not in the mood to talk with you, inform Carrion that from now on I want to only talk directly with him." As I walk away his fear is replaced with anger as he marches off.
Alright Moderate Clown Troupe. Do your thing. There's your angered Phobio for you. You are free to do your thing.
Making Charybdis target Milim again has a lot of advantages. This will help a lot in the future. There are two main reasons for now. First, we can get Charybdis' skills from this which will be very useful for later. Second, by letting this happen I can also collect Charybdis' scales for a good resource. It's durable scales will be nice to have to make some more resources. I think the Ministry of Science will definitely benefit from this very well. For now all I have to do is wait and these research materials will start rolling in. Heading back to Migeru City to work on the factories a bit more, I happily wait for the Charybdis news with a smile on my face.
Dord walks up to Kaijin and asks about how evil Migeru looks when he smiles. Kaijin simply agrees as Myrd nods while saying, "Mm-hm."
Later that very same night a Hobgoblin messenger arrived at the construction site with news about a Dryads' arrival and warning about Charybdis. Panicked, he continues saying that "Charybdis is coming to Tempest!" With an almost twisted smile even scaring the Hobgoblin I say, "I'm on my way."
{Notice- It is recommended to stop scaring your subordinates. There is a small chance they might begin to trust you less than subject Rimuru.}
As I arrive at the meeting room I make sure to look as confused as possible when entering. Can't have them suspecting me, can I? Sitting down, the discussion starts. For the most part it remains that same with only a few differences. After her explanation of what Charybdis is I pretend to look scared. Milim notices I'm not actually scared but chooses to not point it out to everyone.
After the explanation is over Rimuru begins gathering forces to see what we can do. This includes sending a Hobgoblin to go request help from the Dwargon. Milim excitedly asks if she can help which Rimuru almost accepts before being shut down by Shion. She droops down after this denial.
{Notice- Extra Skill [Thought Communication] has been activated.}
"Don't be sad Milim. We definitely don't have enough power to stop Charybdis. I'm not scared though because you're here. You'll get your time to shine. Don't worry."
She excitedly says, "Thank you, Migeru!"
{Notice- Extra Skill [Thought Communication] has been deactivated.}
The discussion wraps to a close not long after Rimuru enlists pretty much all the heavy hitters in Tempest. Geld, Hakurou, Benimaru, Shion, etc. I know the plan will work flawlessly except the part where we are supposed to defeat Charybdis without Milim's help so I don't bother stepping in. I doze off for part of it to show how little I care about changing the plan. There is no way we can defeat Charybdis at this point.
The next day, Gazel Dwargo arrives riding on a bunch of Pegasus'. It's a strong army, don't get me wrong, but again, Charybdis is way more powerful than them. I just watch as Rimuru informs him about the plan and discusses futile strategies.
It doesn't take too long to head out. Summoning Ranryo, I hop on his back and ride to the battlefield. We look up to see the massive scaled one-eyed beast as it turns to look at us as well. Rimuru has already sent the groups to split up and take down the Megalodons it summoned so it's just up to us now.
Rimuru prepares for battle as I walk up to Milim who is itching to fight Charybdis. I say, "Stop, Milim. There's no point begging. Just wait for the signal."
Soon the fight actually begins as I fly up and see what I can do. I want to test something out real quick. I use [Detonate] as close to Charybdis as possible just to see what kind of damage I could do with my strongest Magicule based attack. The resulting explosion, while nullified from Charybdis' [Magic Jamming], still ends up being pretty big. So big in fact that it still causes a shockwave powerful enough to blow down trees close enough to it and damage Charybdis enough to make it growl a little. Incredible, it still isn't nearly enough though.
The fight rages on as I see both Ranryo and Ranga fire a combined [Black Lighting] at Charybdis. Combined they do manage to pierce its [Magic Jamming] a little impressing me somewhat. As the Charybdis growls from the minor inconvenience of the [Black Lighting] its eyes begin to glow as it begins firing its scales in all directions. They come right for us like Heat seeking missiles.
Everyone present either runs for cover or dodges the incoming assault. Only a few get hit causing a few injuries. Rimuru and I on the other hand have a better solution for the scales. Rimuru uses his [Gluttony] while I use [Predator] to eat the scales instead. Not having [Gluttony] is a little annoying but in the end this wait for power will be worth it. Eventually, all this waiting will pay off when any master plan finally comes together.
With Charybdis' scales down everyone starts going all out on it again. They know they will come back so fighting it while the scales are still down ends up being the fighting force's top priority. Unfortunately for them, yet again, not much luck. I pull out my sword and slash away at Charybdis to no avail as well. Not much progress, huh. This repeated process of scale's shooting at us followed by failed onslaught continues for a solid 5 hours before Rimuru finally starts to give up. I fly over to him and say, "Doesn't it seem like the time to give up? It's been 5 hours and look at it." I point at the injured Charybdis moving around from the onslaught of what are basically flies for it. "Let's just nuke the thing and get this over with."
He's a little apprehensive but after a bit of convincing says, "Fine, just tell her to hold back. We don't know who Charybdis' vessel is."
"I'll make sure to do that."
I land next to Milim who is sleeping next to a small tree. She looks really cute. I lean down and poke her cheek causing my finger to sink. Crazy how she still has baby fat at over 2000 years old. There's no response. So no [Milim Eye] or [Milim Ear] this time. I just shake her awake to get this over with. "Wah! Oh, Migeru, you're still fighting it?"
"Yeah, it regenerates too fast for Rimuru apparently. It's all on you now."
Excited, she asks, "They gave up!?"
"Yeah, go ahead, it's all yours. Just don't go too far. Phobio is inside Charybdis. Don't kill him."
"Wahahaha! Don't worry, I'll show you how much I can hold back!" Hold back, huh. As she flies off I think to myself, never trust children. During my internal monologue Milim flies up and charges a massive attack as she yells, "Dragobuster!" causing Charybdis to be destroyed in one shot. In my monologue I think, they don't know what's too much or too little. A chunk of Charybdis lands next to me before vanishing into a cloud of Magicules. Mostly too much.
Rimuru sees Phobio's charred body fly off. Rimuru flies over to him and catches him. He then uses [Gluttony] to extract Charybdis' core from Phobio and absorbs it.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated.
Notice- Extra Skills [Gravity Manipulation, Magic Jamming and Ultra-Speed Regeneration] have been acquired.}
Very nice, now all I need are the scales Charybdis shed. After the fight, Phobio wakes up and immediately apologizes. I explain that he shouldn't worry too much about this and that the treaty shouldn't be affected too badly from this so he shouldn't worry. I do make sure to warn him to never try a stunt like this again though. I also walk up to the Goblin Riders and tell them to collect Charybdis' scales. He doesn't understand why but goes ahead and gathers some other Goblin Riders and starts collecting Charybdis scales.
Like every major event tends to end in this is followed up by a massive feast with Megaldon meat as the main theme. I don't attend it though because Vesta and I end up being hard at work in my lab analyzing the scales. They are packed with Magicules and incredibly durable. Just like I thought they end up being very useful. Leaving a few at the lab we ship most of them off to Kaijin. Not a bad harvest.
I laugh a little after thinking that.. Never thought I would say that about collecting dragon scales but here I am. Quite the leap from my old life isn't it?