Bang!
Rimuru leaned to the left, narrowly dodging a barrage of bullets. "I'm starting to get better at predicting her attacks," he muttered.
His sword flared with black flames as he launched himself into the air. With a swift rebound off a nearby tree, he landed behind Glenda in a blur of motion.
CLANG!
Her knife, now glowing with a golden hue, met his flaming blade in a powerful clash. The collision triggered a shockwave that split the ground and sent nearby trees toppling like dominoes.
"How the hell did you even survive a fight with Hinata!?" Glenda shouted with a wild grin. In a blink, she pulled her gun and pressed it against Rimuru's temple.
Bang!
Rimuru snapped his body back with unnatural flexibility, the bullet grazing past harmlessly. Before Glenda could recover, he drove his foot into her jaw, launching her into the air.
She twisted midair and landed with a graceful backflip, boots skidding against the forest floor. "If this is your best," she taunted, brushing a trickle of blood from her lip, "then this isn't going to end well for you."
"Bite me!" Rimuru shot back. 'Just because I'm holding back, she thinks this is all I've got?'
---
<>Notice: Analysis complete. Spatial disruption released by the individual known as Glenda can now be detected by the Skill [Mana Perception]<>
---
Nice! Rimuru grinned, eyes narrowing. Time to put [Gluttony] to good use.
Glenda noticed the shift in his expression and felt a sudden chill. "What are you grinning about?" she asked, unease creeping into her voice. "I don't like that look on your face."
With a flick of her wrist, she spun her gun and fired several rounds, each bullet arcing outward, aimed in seemingly random directions.
Over a dozen mana-infused rounds vanished into thin air, sucked into swirling distortions.
Then, they reappeared.
In an instant, Rimuru was surrounded. The bullets curved through the air, aimed at different parts of his body from all directions, an inescapable storm of death.
This wasn't the first time she had used this technique.
The first time, Rimuru had lost an arm, a leg, and part of his torso. The second time, he'd managed to dodge, only to stumble into her crossfire and get riddled with holes once again.
But this time, it played out differently.
Rimuru didn't even flinch.
The bullets struck his body, and vanished into it, swallowed whole by his gelatinous form without causing the slightest injury.
Glenda froze. "Wha…?" she gasped. "What just… Even my mana bullets?"
Rimuru took a slow step forward, calm and composed. "Now's your chance to surrender. I promise you'll be treated fairly, and returned to the Holy Church once this conflict is resolved."
Glenda's eyes narrowed.
'Tch. He doesn't know anything...'
Her thoughts flashed back to the clandestine meeting she had with the Rozzos, the veiled threats, the heavy expectations.
"Don't get full of yourself, small fry!" she growled, raising her weapon again.
"I don't usually do this because of the strain," Glenda said, her voice tight with effort. "Unlike the other Saints, I wasn't lucky enough to be born with an affinity for elemental spirits."
A transparent aura surged around her, tinted with a golden hue that shimmered like sunlight through glass.
"But that doesn't mean I can't use this!" she shouted.
The aura around her exploded outward, releasing a series of controlled shockwaves that slammed into Rimuru. He braced himself, leaning forward into the wind-like pressure as the shockwaves pelted him like invisible fists.
When the dust finally settled, Rimuru's eyes narrowed. "This is just like Hinata's…" he muttered.
Glenda now stood clad in shimmering silver armor, its design sleek and angular. A black gemstone embedded in the lower part of her chest plate pulsed ominously. From her back burst three sets of jagged, black wings, each one exhaling trails of thick grey smoke that quickly began to saturate the battlefield.
<> Notice: The grey smoke is disrupting the use of [Mana Perception] <>
"Seriously?" Rimuru scowled. "I didn't even get to see Hinata use this armor properly, and now I'm supposed to deal with it?"
Glenda gave a small, amused smile. "Unfortunately for you, my Elemental Armament is nothing compared to Hinata's Holy Armament. And without a contract with an elemental spirit, I can't even tap into its full capabilities."
Her gun began to shift, growing larger and more menacing as sparks of raw energy crackled along its length.
"So… she's not even at a hundred percent?" Rimuru murmured, eyes narrowing in cautious disbelief.
Glenda didn't reply. She simply raised the weapon, took aim, and fired.
BOOM!
Rimuru instantly reverted into his slime form, barely dodging the blast. But even the passing shockwave from the projectile was enough to launch him through the air.
"What the hell?!" he yelled, skidding to a halt and twisting around. His eyes widened. "The forest… it's bald!"
A massive, smoldering crater stretched behind him where trees had once stood. Everything in the path of Glenda's shot had been vaporized.
"Even if I can't use my Armament at full power, I'm still the third strongest Saint, and the second strongest Battle Sage," Glenda said, her voice calm, her smirk confident. "So, slime... what was it you said earlier? Oh, right, 'Now's your chance to surrender.'"
Rimuru sweatdropped with a nervous smile on his slime body as he transformed back into his human form. "Hey great sage, tell.me we can take her."
<>Easily.<>
Rimuru blinked. "Huh?" Internally a chibi version of Rimuru yelled in dramatic rage. 'So you mean to tell me we could have won this fight this entire time? What the hell great sage!'
<>...<>
'I heard that!'
Rimuru's slime body rippled with suppressed irritation as he reformed into his human shape, his eyes focused on Glenda with frustrated rage. "Here's your final warning Glenda Atlee, I won't be playing nice anymore."
Glenda didn't hesitate. She raised her oversized gun, magicule swirling violently at the barrel's core.
"Then let's end this..!"
Rimuru vanished.
BOOM!
Her shot fired straight through the forest, tearing a fresh trench into the land, vaporizing a boulder that had been sitting untouched for centuries. But Rimuru wasn't there.
She spun instinctively, crossing her arms just as black lightning crashed into her. The impact sent her flying, slamming into a tree with a thunderous crack.
Rimuru appeared a short distance away, glancing down at his hand with a mild frown. "That was way weaker than I expected." His eyes scanned the battlefield, noting the thin mist of grey smoke lingering in the air. "Magicule dampening too, huh?"
He shook his head. "Doesn't matter." Raising his hand, he called out, "Devour it all! [Gluttony]!"
A purple miasma erupted from his palm, spreading outward and swallowing the grey smoke like a living entity.
<> Analysis Complete. Acquired Skill: [Flux Resistance] <>
"Neat." Rimuru grinned just as Glenda leaped back into the fray, determination burning in her eyes.
"Ready to give up?" he asked, voice casual.
Glenda snarled, raising her oversized gun. "Where do you get off talking like you've already won?"
"I don't know if you realize this, but physical attacks don't do much to me, not anymore." Rimuru's eyes flicked to her weapon. "Nice gun, though."
"My bullets don't just target the physical," Glenda snapped. "They're tuned to affect spiritual properties too."
"Huh," Rimuru mused, grinning. "So… not just physical attacks then."
With a cry of frustration, Glenda rushed forward, switching back to her blade. Mana surged through it, forming a golden arc as she slashed.
Rimuru stepped smoothly into the attack, letting the edge slip past him. In a fluid motion, he twisted and brought his katana around in a retaliatory strike.
Boom!
At the last moment, Rimuru halted his blade and instead caught Glenda's strike barehanded, [Gluttony] flaring to consume the energy of her slash.
Glenda leapt back, sweat now visible on her brow. 'My attacks... they don't work anymore.'
Rimuru lunged after her, a blur of movement. Their blades clashed again and again, steel against steel, magic against monster, but the outcome was becoming clear.
'This fight isn't in my favor,' Glenda realized grimly as she flipped backward, trying to gain space. Her black wings flickered erratically, and fatigue began to weigh her down. 'No… This fight was never in our favor. Not once we learned the advance army had been defeated.'
She vanished in a burst of high-speed movement, reappearing behind Rimuru with her knife aimed at his neck.
But he was gone.
She blinked, and found herself slashing at empty air as Rimuru shifted into his slime form, slipping through her attack like water.
'Damn it. I can't finish this. My armament's falling apart…'
Grey smoke poured from her wings in thick plumes, blanketing the forest floor. It was a final distraction, one last gambit.
'We've already lost. I have to retreat. With the Saints and Hinata together, we can still crush this nation. Regardless of what Rimuru is… otherworlder or not.'
'And besides,' she thought bitterly, 'this is Hinata's fault. She should've killed him when she had the chance.'
Even as she ran, she could feel the smoke she left behind being devoured, drawn into Rimuru's insatiable power. But she didn't look back. Her armor flickered and shattered into fragments of light, leaving her drained and exposed.
Still, no one followed.
Branches whipped against her face as she pushed forward through the underbrush, stumbling now, her body heavy with exhaustion. She finally slowed to a halt, collapsing against the trunk of a tree.
Her breaths came in sharp gasps as she struggled to remain conscious.
"Just a little farther…" she whispered.
"I think this is far enough."
The voice was soft, feminine, barely more than a whisper, but it brushed past Glenda's ear like a cold breeze.
Before she could react, thick vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around her limbs with crushing strength. She gasped, struggling against the sudden bindings, her body still weak and sluggish.
"What the..?!" Glenda twisted and writhed, but the vines only tightened.
The air shimmered in front of her, light bending as a figure slowly emerged from the glow, tall, graceful, and unmistakably feminine.
"A… a Dryad?" Glenda breathed, her voice hoarse as her struggles continued in vain.
"So this is a saint," the woman said, stepping closer. She reached forward and gently placed a hand on Glenda's head. "Now… what to do with you?"
There was a pause. Then Hanae murmured, almost to herself, "Perhaps elder sister will know."
The world tilted. Glenda's vision blurred.
Those were the last words she heard before darkness claimed her.