In truth, it wasn't only Benimaru and the others who were shocked by Ren Kuroda's strength. Even Clayman—the mastermind lurking behind the scenes—had never imagined that things would turn out like this.
The Storm Great Calamity was a natural disaster that struck fear into everyone's heart. Even Clayman himself didn't dare claim he could suppress it with absolute certainty.
And yet now, this terrifying calamity was being pinned to the ground and beaten senseless by some completely unknown nobody. Who the hell would believe that if they heard it?
First, an absurdly powerful slime had appeared in the Jura Forest. And now, on top of that, someone had shown up who could suppress the Storm Great Calamity through sheer physical strength alone.
Clayman felt like he no longer understood the Jura Forest at all. Hadn't the forest remained largely undisturbed all these years solely because of the Storm Dragon's presence?
At this moment, Benimaru and the others were desperately entangling more than a dozen flying sharks, preventing them from interfering.
Meanwhile, Ren Kuroda himself was feeling a rare sense of frustration.
Because he had begun to realize that, to him, the Storm Great Calamity might truly be an almost "invincible" existence.
With its Magic Interference ability and its trait of reviving after a certain period of death, it could indeed be considered nearly immortal.
That said, killing it wasn't completely impossible.
For one thing, although it possessed Magic Interference, if one's own magical power was overwhelmingly strong, then no matter how potent that interference was, the remaining magicules would still be enough to instantly annihilate it, preventing any chance of regeneration.
The flying sharks currently soaring through the sky were a perfect example. Though they also possessed Magic Interference, with Ren Kuroda's demonic power, killing them would be easy.
The problem was that achieving that level of overwhelming superiority was extremely difficult for him right now.
While his magicule output was indeed higher than the Storm Great Calamity's, the margin wasn't large enough to allow for an instant kill.
Of course, aside from this direct and brutal method, there was another option.
As a spiritual lifeform, the Storm Great Calamity required a vessel in order to exist physically.
And the vessel it was currently using was the majin Grumid.
Ren Kuroda was already tracking Grumid's location by following his aura.
Unfortunately, the Storm Great Calamity seemed to have realized what Ren Kuroda was trying to do. It struggled violently, and its regeneration speed began to increase even further.
"Witness the roar of divine flames—The devouring blaze of the greedy wolf!Advance like fire… Ravaging Flame: Greedy Wolf!"
The Storm Great Calamity's armored scales had already been pulverized by Freakish Strength and Chaotic Might. At present, it was focusing on regenerating its flesh. As for its scales, it didn't yet have the spare capacity to restore them.
Without those scales, its defensive power plummeted, and even its Magic Interference ability weakened considerably.
To maximize his damage, Ren Kuroda finally began using techniques infused with demonic power.
Flaming slashes fell one after another. Packs of fire wolves howled as they surged across the Storm Great Calamity's still-regenerating body, forcing out shriek after shriek of agony.
The burning flames gnawed at its wounds like ravenous beasts, devouring flesh and severely slowing its regeneration.
At the same time, Ren Kuroda used both hands and feet, brutally tearing into the Storm Great Calamity's flesh. Guided by another lingering aura within its body, he searched relentlessly for Grumid.
Maintaining constant pressure with Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain techniques to hinder regeneration while continuously inflicting damage, Ren Kuroda finally located Grumid—the vessel—embedded in the creature's forehead.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ren Kuroda raised his blade and brought it down in a single decisive strike, severing all the tentacle-like appendages binding Grumid. He then forcibly ripped the unfortunate majin out of the Storm Great Calamity's body.
The instant it lost its vessel, the Storm Great Calamity's massive body began shrinking at a visible rate. With a final, unwilling roar, it vanished from the swamp entirely.
The moment its immense magicule presence disappeared, everyone on the battlefield felt it.
With the Storm Great Calamity's signature gone, those on Rimuru's side collectively let out deep sighs of relief.
When the calamity had first appeared, even the Dryads—the stewards of the Jura Forest—had believed the forest was facing an unavoidable catastrophe. Yet the reinforcements Rimuru had called in were so absurdly powerful that they had single-handedly dealt with a natural disaster.
"To think even the Storm Great Calamity was taken down," the Dwarf King murmured, gripping his knightly longsword as he faced the enraged clown, Footman. His expression was completely relaxed."My junior brother Rimuru's friend… he's not just strong. He's an outright monster."
Earlier, their side had been completely suppressed, allowing Footman to joke and taunt the Dwarf King even while fighting.
But now, the outcome was all but decided.
Though they still didn't know who was truly pulling the strings behind the scenes, one thing was certain—the enemy's plan had failed.
With Rimuru's ally being this absurdly powerful—having even defeated the Storm Great Calamity—the other Moderate Harlequin Tia, or even the Orc Disaster, posed little threat.
Whether Ren Kuroda defeated Tia first or Rimuru defeated the Orc Disaster first, this battle was all but guaranteed to end in their victory.
Although over a hundred thousand orcs still remained on the battlefield, all the high-ranking majin were dead. Once the Orc Disaster was eliminated, the orcs—freed from the influence of Starved Ones—would inevitably lose their will to fight.
Elsewhere, after dragging Grumid out of the Storm Great Calamity's body, Ren Kuroda discovered that the unlucky vessel was somehow still alive.
He showed no mercy, ending Grumid's life with a single slash.
And at that moment—after defeating the Storm Great Calamity through strategy and finishing off Grumid—the progress bar for Ren Kuroda's task to "Become a Demon Lord Seed" finally reached full completion.
Among the numerous majin Clayman had sent as reinforcements, there had clearly been quite a few Named Monsters.
Combined with the calamity-class Storm Great Calamity and Grumid himself, Ren Kuroda had finally met all the conditions.
The transformation began.
"Individual has met evolution criteria.Individual Ren Kuroda has begun evolution into a Demon Lord Seed.Magicule capacity increased.Physical resistance increased.Magic resistance increased.Base skill Advanced Swordsmanship enhanced—current level: Master Swordsmanship.Skill acquired: Demon Lord's Haki.High compatibility detected with existing skill Intimidation.Skills have been fused into new skill: Demon Lord's Pressure.Race has changed—from High Majin Race: Oni, to Supreme Majin Race: Oni-God.All subordinate monsters under this system receive blessings. Magicule capacity increased…"
This long series of announcements flooding Ren Kuroda's mind did not come from his own system—but from the Voice of the World unique to this realm.
Though this place was called another world, Ren Kuroda felt it resembled a game far more than anything else. Now that he had fulfilled this world's specific conditions, his evolution had been triggered.
Nearly every message was pure benefit. Ren Kuroda was ecstatic, silently lamenting how stingy his own system seemed in comparison.
Just look at the scale of this reward. Not only did it massively boost his magicules—his demonic power—but it also upgraded his skills, automatically fused abilities, elevated his race, and even extended blessings to his subordinates.
Power, skills, race, followers—simply by becoming a Demon Lord Seed, Ren Kuroda had received unimaginable gifts across the board. He had truly struck it rich.
He was also deeply relieved that he had summoned Spider Princess and the others during his earlier fight against the Falmuth soldiers.
According to this world's rules, once he became a Demon Lord Seed, all monsters subordinate to him—such as Spider Princess—should also receive blessings and grow stronger.
But to receive the world's gifts, the most basic requirement was being present in this world.
Ren Kuroda didn't believe for a second that the Voice of the World was so omnipotent it could strengthen his subordinates across entirely different worlds.
As his evolution into a Demon Lord Seed progressed and his race changed, Ren Kuroda's demonic power—this world's magicules—began skyrocketing.
Previously, his normal state hovered at A–rank, while Half-Demonization pushed him to A+. Now, thanks to becoming a Demon Lord Seed, his demonic power surged continuously. In his Half-Demonization state, it finally shattered the A-rank ceiling and reached the S-rank.
And S-rank wasn't just a brief spike.
After breaking through the limit, the overwhelming torrent of demonic power only settled once it firmly stabilized at S-rank.
Now, in Half-Demonization, Ren Kuroda possessed solid S-rank demonic power. Even in his normal state, though weaker, he was unquestionably at A+.
His base state had reached what once required transformation.
A complete upgrade across the board.
With his normal demonic power now at A+, Ren Kuroda had fulfilled the second foundational condition for becoming the "Lord of Tokyo's Yokai." Once he returned and wiped out a few so-called A-rank yokai factions, his second-stage objective would be complete.
And after becoming a Demon Lord Seed, beyond the explosive increase in demonic power, Ren Kuroda looked at his newly fused skill and his swordsmanship—now elevated to the Master level—and smiled in satisfaction.
After evolving into the Oni-God race, he had also gained a new unique skill—one that seemed similar in nature to skills like Gluttonous King or Wisdom King.
His new unique skill bore a name befitting his transformation:
King of Oni-Gods.