“Ugh… just the one resurrection elixir after all of that.”
“Still — getting even one is remarkable.”
It really is.
Given everything we went through to get here, pulling nothing but misses for so long — the one time with Primila may have been the lucky exception, and resurrection elixirs are genuinely that hard to come by.
“True! You may praise me!”
“You’ve done remarkably well, Lady Fiona.”
Satisfied by my words, Lady Fiona produced the elixir in good spirits.
She’s apparently going to perform the revival right here.
“Do you already know who you’re reviving?”
“Yes. Last time I needed eyes, so I revived Pilukaya. This time I need staff, so I’ve chosen someone who can fill that role.”
She picked whoever best fits the dungeon’s current needs.
That’s the Demon Lord thinking. She’s genuinely been paying attention to what the dungeon requires.
The first revival since Pilukaya. What kind of demon was about to return?
“A demon and an elemental. I wonder what species is next.”
“Hmm~ Probably Rigma the old man, so Hydra—”
“Come back to us, Rigma.”
Pilukaya had apparently heard me and started to answer.
Hydra — that massive multi-headed snake. A formidable-sounding demon, which was reassuring.
In response to Lady Fiona’s call, a body began to take shape.
It started as a large, formless mass — from here it would gradually become something human-shaped—
Wait. Something just collapsed. Crumpled, like it couldn’t hold itself up. Did it fail?
In the end, it never formed into anything recognizable. A silvery liquid simply slumped and pooled on the floor.
That was no Hydra.
Yet Lady Fiona, entirely unperturbed, addressed the puddle directly.
“Are you awake, Rigma?”
“…I really would have preferred a bit more sleep. It’s been a while, my liege.”
It spoke.
Everyone else accepted this as entirely normal — so the revival hadn’t failed after all.
“I appreciate being revived, I do. But what’s the occasion? Coming to lecture a useless Heavenly King?”
“Not at all. Your particular abilities are needed again. I apologize to Ripianemu, but I chose to prioritize you.”
“Is that so… ah, so Primila and Pilukaya are already back too. Good. Supporting my liege on my own was a bit much to ask of me.”
A listless sort of demon. He speaks like someone who just woke up and can’t quite be bothered.
And his form hasn’t changed from that puddle on the floor. Is that all right?
“Hey, Pilukaya.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Didn’t you say something about a Hydra earlier?”
“Oh, you caught that? Hydra-gram Slime. Apparently Rigma-san is a rare species.”
So it was Hydra-gram, not Hydra. My mistake.
A Slime, then.
“That’s why nobody reacted when he came out looking melted.”
“Hm… don’t know who that was, but hearing someone learn about my species and go straight to analysis instead of looking down on me — that’s a new one.”
He’d been listening.
With no visible eyes, ears, or mouth, being addressed without warning was slightly startling.
Though looking down on a Heavenly King wasn’t something I’d consider regardless.
Rigma — Mana: 95 / Strength: 83 / Technique: 99 / Fortitude: 99 / Agility: 99
Stats like that made the thought even less likely.
“This is Rei. He is mine. And he is the skilled demon responsible for creating the item that revived you.”
“Well, well — sounds like I owe you one. I’m Rigma, Hydra-gram Slime. Good to meet you.”
“I’m Rei — a demon. Good to meet you.”
“You’re my liege’s favorite. No need to be formal with anyone but her.”
“…Alright. Good to meet you, Rigma.”
My reply seemed to satisfy him. Rigma shifted his body slightly — a subtle gesture, though I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.
“Now then, Rigma. I have work for you.”
“Already? My liege, a man who’s just come back from the dead needs some recovery time…”
“You’ll be fine. My people are all exceptionally capable.”
“…When you say it that sincerely, I don’t really have much choice, do I.”
No ulterior motive. Lady Fiona meant it plainly, and Rigma seemed to understand that.
Which meant he couldn’t really refuse.
“So what’s the job? Something easy, I’d hope.”
“Inn staff.”
“…You’re not expecting me to be some country’s spy, are you?”
“No. Staff at the inn inside the dungeon.”
“I genuinely cannot parse that…”
He’s a Slime.
If it was staff we needed, wouldn’t Primila or Pilukaya — both humanoid — be more appropriate?
“You’ll take a human form for the role. That familiar, vaguely unenthusiastic appearance of yours.”
“My liege is hardly one to talk about lacking enthusiasm… we’re probably about even, aren’t we?”
“More than even — I win. My forces are in ruins, my dungeon was a shambles, I have been thoroughly without motivation… shall we all simply hide away together?”
Lady Fiona’s drive had evaporated again, for the first time in a while.
Even Rigma seemed caught off guard and moved to settle her down.
“With Rei around, hiding away wouldn’t be entirely impossible~”
“Don’t let Lady Fiona hear that. The underground demon realm would become an underground bunker.”
Fortunately, Pilukaya’s remark didn’t reach her.
“Well then — transforming…”
Rigma spoke languidly, and the silvery liquid body shifted into the shape of a person.
Like watching the resurrection elixir work in reverse, the texture changed gradually alongside the form.
What appeared was, as he’d mentioned himself, a middle-aged man. And not a demon — he looked entirely human.
“Whoa…”
“There we go. About the only thing this old man is good for.”
This time being addressed didn’t startle me. He had eyes to look at me with, and a mouth to speak from.
Not just the shape — every feature seemed to function exactly as it would for a human.
“Rigma possesses abilities rare even among Slimes — the capacity to transform into virtually any form.”
“This is more or less my default, but I can manage other things if needed. This one’s just easiest.”
“Rigma-sama previously served alongside Pilukaya-sama on intelligence operations in foreign nations — his mercury-based body transforms at will, as you see.”
That explained Lady Fiona’s choice.
In this form, nothing about him reads as a demon.
Whether there were ways to detect him beyond sight I couldn’t say, but at least to me he was indistinguishable from a human.
Working at the inn, he’d be unlikely to draw hostility on account of being a demon.
Though having a Heavenly King work the front desk…
That’s an extravagant use of personnel.
◆
“Of all the roads to wander down…”
“A puddle — wait, a Slime!”
“Never seen one with a body like that… silver?”
The silver liquid spreading at the edge of their vision — it took the hero’s party a moment to realize it was a demon.
They moved immediately into combat stances. The Slime, by contrast, stirred into motion with all the urgency of someone being woken up early.
“Rigma, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Pleasure. Even I can’t exactly wave a hero through unchallenged — so if you could die quickly, I’d really appreciate it.”
“How dare—!”
Not intended as provocation, but the swordsman took it as one and charged.
And yet for all the languid speech, the Slime reshaped a section of its body in an instant — and a spear lunged out to meet him.
“Damn it!”
“See, this is why I hate this. Warriors fighting warriors, young people fighting young people — take it up with Primila or Pilukaya.”
Rigma fought on, wielding his own body as a weapon — hard mercury limbs, reshaping on the fly, pressing the attack without pause.
But the heroes had grown through everything that had led them here. They weren’t going to be caught by a simple pattern.
“This isn’t looking good… keep this up and the old man loses.”
His preferred attacks met with counters, and Rigma found himself on the back foot under their relentless pressure.
The hardness of his body was one of his strengths — he wasn’t going down easily.
But the heroes didn’t let that slow them either.
“You’re solid! But we’ve had practice — Primila broke us in!”
“…Fair enough. Killed her and came away confident. Then I’d better give her a chance at some payback, for her sake.”
As he spoke, the Slime’s form shifted into a shape they recognized.
Someone they had definitely defeated. The form of Primila, the Heavenly King.
“Primila?!”
“Wrong — just the old man inside. But I’m the second hardest thing in this army, so I can probably give you a reasonable replay of that fight.”
Rigma came at them with Primila’s frame and none of her composure — and he was right, it was hard. Just not quite as hard as the original.
If this was just an inferior copy of someone they’d already beaten, then victory was simply a matter of time.
They didn’t get cocky. But they were sure they’d win.
“This is nothing compared to Primila or Pilukaya!”
“You’re right. So I’ll make up the difference in numbers.”
“A second one?! Three?!”
Three Primilas split and moved independently, each driving in from a different angle.
The cleric fell first. Recovery was gone.
The spirit user fell next. Wide-area magic was gone.
One by one, picked off with methodical certainty, the heroes’ journey ended there.
“Well. That about covers it. Don’t hold it against me — you killed my people first.”
◆
“A Slime? Easy pickings — hit it hard and farm the experience!”
“Slimes have been rough lately, just so you know…”
“It’s so hard! Why are all the Heavenly Kings like this?!”
“If the boss won’t stagger you might just get juggled.”
“There’s so many! Primila’s cute but not if it’s an old man inside!”
“Durability seems a bit lower than the real one, at least. But this thing might turn into Pilukaya next, right?”
“Probably… should we have taken this one out first?”
The thought occurred to them — but they’d already cleared two Heavenly Kings. Starting over wasn’t appealing.
And so the men kept throwing themselves at Rigma, losing over and over as they tried to work out the pattern.
What they didn’t know was that if they’d encountered him first, he would have shifted into the other Heavenly Kings just as readily.