That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

CH-86

Rimuru's POV

Just as I was about to sit down, Carrera and Geld barged in. No, it would be better to say that Carrera was the one who barged in, and Geld was just following her.

While sitting down, I look at her and ask, "What is it?"
"Milord. Please allow me to go and defeat those foolish invaders."
"*Sigh* Fine. You can do what you want. Make it a bit flashy as well. Also, try to keep the bodies as intact as possible."
"Understood." Carrera said. I am sure she didn't understand why I want the bodies intact, but oh well. That doesn't matter.

"Diablo?"
"Yes, Rimuru-sama?" Diablo said as he came in front of me and bowed.
"I want you to capture the major people of the enemy."
"So you wante to infiltrate the enemy base?"
"Yep."
"Consider it done milord."
"Good."

"Also, Benimaru, we have received reinforcements from Carrion. Allow them to fight as well, or else it would be disrespectful."

"Understood."

Let's end this war.

3rd person POV, in the Imperial Camp

Calgurio has been on the ends of his wits for nearly 3 days. He has yet to hear anything from the group that he had sent inside the labyrinth. Even the Magitank forces were not contactable. Just as Calgurio was thinking about what to do, one of his aides came into his tent.

"General Calgurio, someone from the Magitank Division has arrived."
"Finally! Bring them here." Calgurio said happily.
"At once, sir." The aide bowed and left.
'Finally. Atleast this isn't a complete failure.'

Just as Calgurio was thinking about to how to deal with the labyrinth with the new reinforcements, a woman walked in, with a bewitching smile. Her dirty clothes didn't sully her beauty a bit. This woman was Misha of Women, one of the three heads of the Cerebrus organization underground, and in public, she was one of the aides in Magitank Division.

"So? Where is the main force?" Calgurio asked with desperation clear in his voice.
"Decimated." Misha answered in a low tone.
"Huh?"
"I said, they are decimated. There is nothing left of the Magitank Division."
"What? This is no time to be joking."
"I am not joking General. The only ones who survived are those who came with me and I. I also prioritised escape, so I have no information on what happened at the base, apart from the fact that a large scale magic was used."
"Tch."
"We should retreat."
"Huh?"
"There is no way we will win. The offense on Dwargon has failed. With majority of the forces lost inside the labyrinth, there is very little hope that they will come back alive."
"What are you saying? Most of the top brass have resurrection bracelets. If they die they will revive."
"But that isn't proven, is it?"
"That-"

Just as Calgurio was about to refute Misha's statement, someone interrupted him.
"No sir. She is correct. We have to retreat." A man said as he entered the tent. The fact that the guards didn't stop him was concerning, but Calgurio already had an inkling as to who he could be.

"Who are you? How dare you enter without permission?" An aide asked.
"I am Krishna, ranked 17th in the Imperial Guard."
"Wah! Imperial Guard? Why is someone from the Imperial Guard here?"
"Forget that. I remember you went into the labyrinth. What happened there?" Calgurio asked the main question he wanted the answer to.

"It's over. There is no one left in the labyrinth. They have all been killed. Both Bazan and Reiha, ranked 35th and 92nd have also been killed. Also we were killed by a monster named Zegion. He wasn't even a part of the Big Four. Even General Minitz was killed in front of me. I don't know about General Kansas, but I can guarantee that he is no longer alive. I suggest it would be wise to retreat." Krishna reported.

It was only now that Calgurio realized how much he had underestimated the demon lord. More than nine hundred thousand soldiers had been led into this war, yet less than two hundred thousand were alive, meanwhile, the enemies had little to no casualties. It was now that he realized that he had the entire idea about the war wrong. No, in the past few days, he had felt repeatedly that he was wrong, yet denied that feeling, and now it was coming back to bite him.

"Fine. We are changing course. Tell all the soldiers, we will be retreating back."

Just as the tent got noisy, a voice calmed them all down.

"I can't allow you to do that. My boss, Lady Carrera, has said that all of you will be given a choice to either surrender peacefully, or die in vain, trying to fight us. Any other choce such as retreat is not authorised." Agera said as he entered the tent.

"Who are you?" Krishna said as he came in between Agera and Calgurio.
"I am Agera and i have come here to tell you the will of my lord."
"So you serve that Rimuru?" An aide asked.
"How dare you call milord without any honorifics?" Agera said, just before slicing off the head of the the aide.

"Either surrender and live as slaves, or die in vain. That is all. We will wait for an hour for your answer. Also, if you decide to attack or retreat before that time, we will not hold back." As soon as Agera said this, he left the tent. He only had one thing to do. Instill fear. Rimuru had gotten enough data to know that Calgurio was greedy, but not incompetent.

"What should we do now?" Misha asked.
"What can we do? The only thing we can do is fight these monsters and show them the power of the Imperial Army. Meanwhile, Misha, I want you to take this information about our defeat and run away as soon as the war begins. Atleast give some information to Emperor Rudra. It shouldn't be a complete waste." Calgurio replied.
"Understood. Also, before I go, the one who wiped us out wasn't the Storm Dragon. We were wiped out by large scale nuclear magic. Not one, but two 9f them. I am sure you understand what that means."
"...Yes." Calgurio said with hesitation. He didn't want to accept this, yet Misha had no reason to lie. This meant that Storm Dragon Veldora had still not appeared and was against them. This made Calgurio more sure that allowing Misha to run away was a good choice.

This all had happened just how Rimuru had predicted. Misha was Yuuki's subordinate, so in a way, she was her subordinate as well. By allowing Misha to retreat, not only was she safe, but it also meant that there would be no one else to transfer the information back to their Empire.

Just like that, the Imperial Army was set to fight to the last man. Seeing all the motion in the Imperial Army, Geld, the leader of the Second Corps, got ready. He and his subordinates, the Yellow Numbers were well known for their toughness and defensive abilities. Supplement this by strong Armor made by Garm, and nearly unlimited amount of healing potions, they were nearly impossible to beat. They could recover from any injuries, till the time it didn't kill them on the spot.

Numerically, the Tempest forces are still at a major disadvantage. Thinking that this numerical advantage would help them was one of the biggest flaw Calgurio had. Soon Calgurio would realise just how utterly incorrect it is for a large army to attack those who are truly at the top of the food chain.

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I hope you guys like it.