Saga of Slime and Devil (Remake)

Vol 2 | Chapter 7 | Territorial Expansion

In a room filled with elegance and opulence, where wealth had brought the aesthetic beauty of the owner, sat a man, dressed in a pristine white three-piece suit, his pale brown eyes shining as he slowly savored the aged wine in his glass, a wine of a kingdom long gone.

Such an appearance that he was showing to anyone watching is overcompensation for the power, or lack thereof that he has to his peers. He however, had the strategic mind to enact schemes, and in his eyes, to overcome the difference in strength by using cunning methods.

Demon Lord Clayman, one of the eleven Demon Lords, and of course, amongst the four younger ones of the new generation. Like those of his generation, he had yet to awaken his Demon Lord Seed, which forced him to avoid confrontation and use his wits as much as, if not more than his strength.

While many would say that the workings of Clayman's mind as an enigma, the truth is that he had a simple goal. A goal, in which he is to become an Awakened Demon Lord, and assist in reviving his Master Kazalim back to his full strength one day. The process of awakening a Demon Lord Seed was something of a mystery, but what was known was that souls were required.

The Orc Lord was an experiment in the Jura Tempest forest to try and create an Awakened Demon Lord, in addition to being a puppet to gain control over the Jura Forest. However, this had unintended consequences.

With the defeat of the Orc Lord, he had lost the Demon Lord Seed in Orc Disaster for a mysterious reason. Not only that, but it also resulted in another Demon Lord joining the ranks.

Tanya Tempest, one of the two beings that claimed to be amongst Veldora's main and trusted subordinates. The other being the slime known as Rimuru Tempest.

While most knew of Veldora only as a brute who used strength over knowledge and strategy, it appears that he was far smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He had managed to gain a slime and a demon to gather and create a new geopolitical power in the Jura forest after all.

And of course, as was the case with many of the newer Demon Lords, Milim Nava had to jump in and provide her support. Now there was a 'Federation' there, one that was co-led in the name of the Storm Dragon.

The individual that he had sent to observe and ensure that everything went according to plan, a fellow member of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance, Tear, stood in front of him, dressed in a clown outfit of sorts, shades of pink and blue clashing and a mask to match.

Her regenerative abilities as a Deathman meant that she could shrug off hits that would disable a normal person. That didn't stop her from complaining about the situation though, "—and then she just sliced my arm clean off! She mentioned that it was a warning, but not much surveillance was due to her. And I even had to expend a bit of energy to regrow my arm!!!"

Clayman took another sip of wine and sighed, "Looks like our plan of forcibly awakening Charybdis won't be possible." He swirled the red liquid some more in the glass before sniffing it once more. "Even if we know about Charybdis' whereabouts and how to go about awakening it early, we wouldn't be able to if that Demon's on the lookout for us. It's a shame, but we'll have to drop any hopes of a conventional means of spying on Tempest."

Tear tilted her head in confusion, "Why can't we just forcefully awaken him anyways? I was able to at least check out the cave where he was sealed before I was spotted. Surely we'd have enough time."

"Even if we found someone willing to volunteer themselves or otherwise be tricked into doing it, I doubt we could with that Demon now constantly watching. Regardless, Charybdis will eventually awaken on their own, right?"

Tear nodded, "Mhm! I'd give it a month. But if it awakened on its own, it would just go in some random direction and perhaps not even attack Tempest!"

Clayman swayed his arm around as he responded, "That's a possibility, yes, but I'd say Tempest's probably a pretty appealing target to something like Charybdis. I doubt that Demon will let it fly around uncontested in its domain regardless. Either way, even if it awakens on its own I'm sure we'll either get a better gauge on Tempest's power, or it'll be completely destroyed. Both work to our benefit."