Chapter 47: Let's launch things with a high amount of bloodthirst
The bathhouse was currently the only functional facility in the royal castle of Talosheim. As there was no functioning national government, this was the only facility of any use.
「That was a good bath~」(Ghoul woman)
「The massage-Golems that the King made for us were good too, weren't they?」(Ghoul woman)
「Really? I found the『Jacuzzi』thing that made bubbles come out to be better.」(Ghoul woman)
The Ghouls who had only ever bathed in cold water before coming to Talosheim were totally engrossed in submerging themselves in hot water. There were some Golem products that Vandalieu had come up with, but the hot baths seemed to be the most pleasurable thing after all.
「Oh yes, have you heard? The rumors that Chief Tarea has been summoned into the King's bedroom every day recently.」(Ghoul woman)
「I've heard about it, but doesn't he just want her company? The King is only four years old, after all. I've heard that he gets lonely easily, too. And she's not the chief anymore, she's the foreman, right?」(Ghoul woman)
「That's right, but I'm more used to calling her Chief -」(Ghoul woman)
As the two Ghoul women walked along during their conversation, Tarea, the subject of their discussion, ran across in front of them.
「Huh? Foreman -」(Ghoul woman)
Immediately afterwards, Vandalieu passed across them as well. For some reason, he was crawling across the ceiling silently using all four limbs.
「…」(Ghoul woman)
As the two of the were rendered speechless at the sight of the Ghoul King, Tarea came back. She had been captured by Vandalieu.
「Nooooooooo! Please let me go for toniiiiiight!」(Tarea)
「No, no, we have to test the catapults' firing tomorrow, so let's do ten more today.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu walked away, holding the teary-eyed Tarea in the air with[Telekinesis.]Watching him leave, the two Ghoul women swallowed before speaking again.
「It's not because he's lonely?」(Ghoul woman)
Vandalieu was next to Tarea, who was lying in an unladylike, spread-eagle position while breathing wildly.
「The[Youth Transformation]will be complete in a few more days. Let's do our best.」(Vandalieu)
「Hauu…」(Tarea)
Seemingly exhausted and unable to get up, Tarea let out a strange sound.
Tarea had experienced many things in the past, but the[Youth Transformation]caused sensations she had never felt before to run through her entire body. The unpleasant feeling of something foreign crawling around inside her body, and the pleasure of having her entire body massaged, causing her muscle tension to vanish.
She was in an incomprehensible state where her body was full of energy, but at the same time, it felt as if she had just run a marathon.
The fact that she had learned a secret that was only between Vandalieu and Zadiris up until now made her feel younger as well. These were only good things for Tarea, but…
「Uu, it's true that I don't get tired easily, run out of breath or get blurry eyes anymore, and my back no longer hurts, but…」(Tarea)
Tarea's aging had progressed further than Vandalieu had initially thought. As to be expected of someone over two hundred and sixty years old.
「Should we reverse another ten years of age?」(Vandalieu)
「Hyih?! Let me go for tonight!」(Tarea)
The Pure-breed Vampires who only gathered together once every few millennia had assembled in one of the numerous meeting places for the Vampires who worshipped Hihiryushukaka, the[Evil God of Joyful Life.]Something that hadn't happened for tens of thousands of years was taking place.
A crooked seven-pointed star had been drawn on the floor using special, freshly-drained blood. The three Pure-breed Vampires raised their arms towards the center of this star, curling their hands into fists.
「I, Ternecia, pour my sacred blood.」(Ternecia)
A drop of blood fell from in between Ternecia's fingers. Her eyes were shining like those of a child about to open a box containing a present.
「I, Gubamon, pour my sacred blood.」(Gubamon)
Gubamon, an old man who looked like a withered tree, rolled his large eyes. A drop of blood fell from in between his fingers as well.
His unknown desires were showing unpleasantly in his eyes.
「I, Birkyne, pour my sacred blood.」(Birkyne)
And then red blood also fell from Birkyne's white hand. His eyes were ominously empty. His lips that normally gave a gentlemanly smile were pressed together tightly, as if he were enduring something unpleasant.
These three Pure-breed Vampires gathering in one place and cooperating to carry out a task was something that had not happened in tens of thousands of years.
A single Pure-breed Vampire possessed enough power to defeat a party of adventurers made up of superhuman A-class adventurers alone.
As well as acting as the rulers of this Vampire community, they had received the divine protection of Hihiryushukaka, the[Evil God of Joyful Life], and were equivalent to being his subordinate gods.
Just what kind of ritual were they carrying out?
「… Hmm, it seems that the ritual has failed. That damn Sercrent, has he betrayed us?」(Gubamon)
Gubamon looked at the seven-pointed star that showed no response whatsoever and raised the ends of his lips in a smile, exposing his pointed fangs.
「Well then, next is Eleanora. Get on with it.」(Ternecia)
「… Yes.」(Birkyne)
As Ternecia pressed Birkyne to perform the next step, he took an unconscious child from a Noble-born Vampire who had been waiting nearby and cut off its head, using the side of his hand as a blade.
Blood gushed onto the floor, glowing mysteriously and crawling around as if alive to form another seven-pointed star.
The three of them each gave a drop of their blood as they had done earlier.
However, the result was the same. Nothing happened.
「It seems that Eleanora has betrayed us as well.」(Ternecia)
「Kukuku, if they were dead, they would have been revived here as Undead, after all.」(Gubamon)
This ritual was one that summoned the souls of dead Noble-born Vampires and resurrected them as Undead.
It required the decapitation of a child born to a woman who had only ever known one man, and all three of the Pure-breed Vampires needed to contribute a drop of their own blood to the seven-pointed triangle drawn with that child's blood. Even though this ritual would revive a Noble-born Vampire as an Undead, the resulting Undead would be vastly weaker than the live Vampire, so it was hardly worth the trouble.
The reason this ritual was being carried out was because a major incident had occurred a month ago.
[Slay the Dhampir born between the Subordinate Vampire Valen and the Dark Elf Darcia.]
That was the divine message that had recently been given to the Pure-breed Vampires by Hihiryushukaka, the[Evil God of Joyful Life.]
They had given the task of slaying the Dhampir in question to Sercrent and Eleanora around a year ago. As Vampires' sense of time was different from that of humans, they had thought that perhaps Sercrent and Eleanora were having some difficulty with the task, so it hadn't really occurred to them that they should investigate the situation.
As the problematic Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped Vida had showed no signs of movement, there hadn't been anything to get impatient about, either.
However, things changed when the evil god sent the divine message directly. Even though the evil god had given the Pure-breed Vampires his divine protection, it was unusual for him to send them a divine message.
The evil god had given them a direct order to slay the Dhampir. It was a significant enough event that even Gubamon, who normally refrained from attending these meetings, had stopped admiring his collection to come out here.
They had then tried to contact Eleanora and the others who had been sent to slay the Dhampir, but it was already too late.
That was why this ritual had been carried out. If they had killed the Dhampir but lost their lives in the process, they would be revived as Undead and be able to report the fact.
It they could not be revived, it would be clear that they had betrayed the Vampires.
「It seems that we've been underestimating this Dhampir. Perhaps he has captured his would-be assassins alive and is now tormenting them, but either way, they have failed.」(Ternecia)
「Sercrent was not a particularly excellent individual, but he was still a moderately useful man. If the Dhampir has made him betray us, he must possess a considerable amount of power.」(Gubamon)
Gubamon nodded in response to Ternecia's words, excited about the fact that his subordinate might have betrayed him. Either the Dhampir had prepared something that forced Sercrent to obey him even if it made his own parent and every Noble-born and Subordinate Vampire his enemy, or he was powerful enough to convince Sercrent that doing so was the better choice.
「Fuhaha! The corpse of such a Dhampir is something that I would like to acquire! I cannot help but be excited by thoughts of what kind of Undead I will turn him into! Kyiihihihihihihi!」(Gubamon)
For Gubamon, who had made it his life's hobby to collect the corpses of heroes and use them to create Undead, it appeared that the[Evil God of Joyful Life]had given him an indication as to which corpse should be added to his collection next.
A Dhampir so dangerous that the evil god personally wished for his demise. Wouldn't that be an even more valuable addition than some A-class adventurer? It was unclear as to what made him so dangerous, or perhaps he had simply incurred the evil god's wrath, but he had caught Hihiryushukaka's attention.
「Do your best then. I'm not really interested - no, I am a little. That Dhampir was leading hundreds of Ghouls, wasn't he? Making Undead from Ghouls sounds interesting.」(Ternecia)
Ternecia was also interested in creating Undead, but she did so to create works of art. Unlike Gubamon, she wasn't particularly concerned with the strength and fame of the materials used to create the Undead.
The theme of her creations in the past few centuries had been「Families」, so she had no interest in a Dhampir whose father had already been disposed of and whose mother had been burned at the stake. But it was possible that the gray-brown skin of the Ghouls would look attractive once they were turned into Undead.
That was what her twisted inspiration was whispering to her.
And as for Birkyne…
「Sheet…」(Birkyne)
He quietly whispered a single word.
Hearing a word that Birkyne wouldn't utter with his usual demeanor, the Noble-born Vampires who had been standing by with empty cages in their hands opened their eyes wide in surprise.
「Birkyne-sama…? Higyih?!」(Vampire)
Birkyne unconsciously seized the head of the Noble-born Vampire who had spoken his name and raised this「thing」into the air.
「Birkyne-sama, whatever are you doing?! Gugeh?!」(Vampire)
Birkyne swung the panicking「thing」around wildly.
「DAMN IIIIIIIT! MY ELEANORA! MY TOY THAT I CHOSE FROM AMONG DOZENS OF HUMANS! HE STOLE HER FROM MEEEEEEE! THAT ACCURSED DHAMPIIIIR!」(Birkyne)
Being shaken in every direction, the「thing」in his hand struck the floor and walls numerous times, causing various pieces to break off and scatter everywhere.
「I WAS GOING TO TOY WITH HER FOR CENTURIES TO COOOOME! I WAS GOING TO CONVINCE HER THAT SHE WAS SPECIAL, MAKE HER CONCEITED AND THEN BREAK HER BY SCRAPING OFF HER FLESH PIECE BY PIIIIEEECE! HOW UNFAIR OF HIM TO TAKE HER FROM ME BEFORE I COULD GET TO THE GOOD PART! THAT DAMNED, ACCURSED, UNFORGIVABLE DHAMPIIIIIIR!」(Birkyne)
「What?! Hyih! Birkyne-sama?!」(Vampire)
「Please stop, Birkyne-sama! What is the - Gehoh!」(Vampire)
「HYIIIIIH! Birkyne-sama has gone mad! Run away, run awaaaay!」(Vampire)
「NOOOOOOO!」(Vampire)
Birkyne went into a frenzy with disheveled hair, bloodshot eyes and a foaming mouth.
His appearance was no longer that of a young nobleman or even that of an angry beast, but that of a broken madman.
He swung his fist wildly, destroying a pillar that had barely avoided destruction up until now, and then stopped, breathing heavily with his shoulders heaving.
「Haah… haah… fuuh.」(Birkyne)
He looked up into the sky to see the beautiful, blue-white glow of the moon and the sparkling stars that accompanied it.
As Birkyne threw away the「thing」… the head of the Noble-born Vampire, which was already in a poor enough state to make it impossible to tell whether it was even a man or a woman, he calmly spoke to Ternecia and Gubamon as if nothing had happened.
「So that brings up the question of what we will do next, Ternecia. Do you have any ideas?」(Birkyne)
He took a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket, cleaned his mouth and hands with it and quickly adjusted his hair with his fingers.
「Ah, you're back. It didn't last very long this time, did it?」(Ternecia)
「The last time, you were in that state for days. I was considering whether Ternecia and I needed to stop you.」(Gubamon)
「Fufu, my apologies.」(Birkyne)
Birkyne had completely reverted to his usual self, but his surroundings were in a pitiful state.
The meeting chamber that previously looked as if it were from inside the large mansion of a nobleman had now turned into a mountain of rubble, other than two circular areas roughly a meter wide around Gubamon and Ternecia.
Blood and severed limbs sprawled over the rubble. Heads and fragments of heads littered the ground.
Half of the Noble-born Vampires and the majority of the Subordinate Vampires had been turned into silent corpses.
「Well, it's fine. I thought that this would happen, so I didn't bring my servants to today's meeting other than some Subordinate Vampires to fill the numbers.」(Ternecia)
「Kakaka, well done! But all of my Noble-born Vampires were present today!」(Gubamon)
「I have done a terrible thing. How many of them did I crush?」(Birkyne)
「Don't worry, don't worry! I was thinking of cutting down those that were below average so that I do not end up with another individual like Sercrent. You have merely made the selection for me by cutting down those who could not survive your temper!」(Gubamon)
「I see. How terrible of you to use me like that.」(Birkyne)
「By the way, why are you asking me? I did say that I'm interested, but I'd be happy as long as I can skin the Ghouls when the Dhampir is dead.」(Ternecia)
「It's simple. First was Gubamon's subordinate Sercrent, then my Eleanora, so you're next aren't you?」(Birkyne)
「You're right. I suppose I won't look very good if I don't make any moves.」(Ternecia)
Ternecia took a moment to think.
「Well then, I suppose we can mobilize the army. There's a guy in the Amid Empire's army that wants eternal life. A convenient guy who will do anything we tell him as long as we turn him into a Vampire.」(Ternecia)
We'll exert our influence on him, and a few other noble families and high officials… If we do that, we should be able to set the army after the Dhampir in about two years.
An average Noble-born Vampire, another Noble-born who was quite exceptional for her age and a few dozen Subordinate Vampires, was it? The Dhampir disposed of that many of our forces.
I don't know what methods he used to fight them, but it was enough for the evil god himself to send a divine message. I'm sure he used a very abnormal method.
So let's try attacking with numbers. Things will surely go well if we use thousands of soldiers, knights, adventurers and the High Priest that burned his mother at the stake.
If we hide our subordinates among such an army, there will be no chance for him at all. A hundred Noble-born Vampires would be too many, but a few dozen should be enough.
「Can you give me that information? I'm sure those who worship Vida can't make use of it if I break it with my own hands once I'm finished with it.」(Ternecia)
「I do not mind」, said Birkyne in response to Ternecia's request.「It was information that the guys worshipping Vida are fairly likely to know anyway.」(Birkyne)
「Yes, if Ternecia destroys it, we can be certain. But it is a serious matter to mobilize the army; you were quite poor at utilizing humans, were you not?」(Gubamon)
「What, you don't consider yourself good at it either, do you?」(Ternecia)
「Hihihi! That is right, I am also poor at using them!」(Gubamon)
「In any case, it seems that you have an idea. I want you to let me know when your plan begins to progress. Now that our god has given us a divine message, there is a need for us to cooperate.」(Birkyne)
「That is right; Hihiryushukaka-sama's punishment would take a toll on our bodies, after all.」(Gubamon)
The three of them laughed in agreement as the other Vampires who had somehow managed to survive staggered to their feet. And then they began the journey to the next meeting location.
They were all thinking the same thing about Hihiryushukaka's divine message.
Why would the evil god, the only existence who certainly possessed greater power than them, make the effort to send a divine message instructing them to kill the Dhampir?
For him to have done that meant that Hihiryushukaka's attention had been drawn to the Dhampir. A Dhampir that was not one of his followers.
In other words, couldn't this be a sign that the Dhampir possessed something that would be a threat to Hihiryushukaka…? Some kind of power or information?
In that case, if we could somehow get our hands on it, wouldn't it be possible to rule and conquer the evil god himself?
Hihiryushukaka knew that the Pure-breed Vampires would think this. It was only natural; they were only applying the teachings that he himself had given them.
That was why Hihiryushukaka had given them no information regarding Vandalieu in his divine message.
A human-sized boulder flew from the catapult with a whoosh.
The boulder fell accurately on top of a wooden target set up in the firing area, destroying it.
Basdia, who was sitting in a chair with a monster-leather parasol protecting her from the sun much like a human lady, let out a sigh of amazement as she rubbed her expanding abdomen.
「These catapults are amazing. They look very promising.」(Basdia)
「This is still just the test-firing phase.」(Vandalieu)
This was the response of Vandalieu, who was being thrown into the air by Pauvina next to her, but he seemed not entirely unsatisfied.
He was generally expressionless, had the eyes of a dead fish and a flat-toned voice, but once one got accustomed to it, it was possible to tell his emotions from his manner of speech. The slightly more carefree tone of speech he was using now was proof that he was in a good mood.
「The results of firing with normal projectiles are excellent. Next, I'll begin test-firing with Golem projectiles.」(Vandalieu)
「Yes, ready!」(Pauvina)
As Pauvina gave this vague order, the catapult moved on its own and prepared to fire. This catapult was essentially a catapult-shaped Golem that Vandalieu had created through[Golem Transmutation.]
It was no ordinary catapult; it possessed arms and wheels made of stone.
It was possible to make it load projectiles, take aim and fire all on its own.
And as Ent wood had been used in the construction of its body, it had the sturdiness of metal and excellent resistance to fire.
「Fire!」(Pauvina)
The loyal catapult Golem fired the next boulder.
It flew through the sky in a trajectory similar to the previous one, but towards a different target, which had wooden dummies lined up around it for some reason… and landed on top of it.
『UOOOOOHHN!』
And then the projectile let out a groan and stood up!
「Did the catapult launch a Golem?」(Basdia)
The sight of the projectile-turned-Golem destroying the wooden dummies around it took Basdia by surprise.
The Golem seemed to have taken some damage from the impact of landing, but it caused no problems in combat as Golems didn't feel pain or anything.
This would likely be incredibly effective in a real battle. The main weakness of Golems was their slow movement. This method would provide the Golems with a way to attack the enemy while removing that weakness.
A Golem fired at the enemy this way would easily break down the front lines and then run rampant among their ranks; this would not be an easy attack to deal with.
「Yes. And since we might be fighting Subordinate Vampires, I've put silver plating on its fists and toes.」(Vandalieu)
「You've got attention for detail. It's exciting to see.」(Basdia)
「Thank you, but it seems that the Golem projectiles still have room for improvement.」(Vandalieu)
「Do they really?」(Basdia)
It's destroyed all of the wooden dummies set up as enemies, so as far as I can see, it's perfect. As Basdia thought this, Vandalieu, who was sharing the vision of the Undead insects he had set up nearby, shook his head.
「There's one wooden dummy that has only had its legs crushed, its torso is completely unharmed. Even though I ordered the Golem to kill… to inflict damage in ways that would be fatal to humans.」(Vandalieu)
It would be impossible for a human to enter a battle with two broken legs unless they were treated first. However, it would be possible for Vampires to continue fighting even with both legs broken.
Vandalieu wanted the Golem to crush their heads just in case.
「You've got a high amount of bloodthirst, don't you, Van?」(Basdia)
「Hiiigh~」(Pauvina)
Pauvina threw Vandalieu directly overhead. It seemed that she had reacted to the word「high」in Basdia's sentence.
She had once done this inside a room, causing a stain of Vandalieu's nose-blood to appear on the ceiling, so she had been forbidden to throw Vandalieu into the air indoors. She seemed to be intent on enjoying herself as much as she could today.
Pauvina caught Vandalieu as he fell onto her with a smacking sound.
「… There's a big impact when I land, so do it more gently.」(Vandalieu)
「Okay!」(Pauvina)
「I'm begging you, I really am. Leaving that aside, I'll be starting the test-firing of the special projectiles now.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu spoke somewhat lifelessly, and then the catapult loaded a large barrel this time.
And then it was launched. It drew an arc in the air… and then split into two.
「What?! Did it fail?」(Basdia)
A transparent fluid spilled from within and splashed onto the ground in front of the target.
「No, it was quite successful. That was a barrel-shaped Golem I made for spreading poison and pathogens among the enemy. After it's launched, it splits at a certain timing and spreads its contents in front of the enemy.」(Vandalieu)
「Poison?」(Basdia)
「Yes, poison. It only had water in it just now, though.」(Vandalieu)
Poison and pathogens could be created as long as Vandalieu had the Mana for it. He could carry out biological terrorism anywhere, anytime.
He did have to be careful not to be affected by his own poison and pathogens, however. If he was afflicted by the deadly poison and disease that was powerful enough to overcome his[Status Effect Resistance]skill, he would collapse immediately without even being able to cast any spells.
「Poison and disease… Is that alright?」(Basdia)
「It's more of a problem of what I spread than how I spread it. The Undead and Golems will be fine, but poison and diseases will affect you and the other Ghouls, after all.」(Vandalieu)
It was a truly difficult problem to solve.
If he was planning to spread disease, it would be best to use pathogens with high infectious capacity, but it would be pointless if Basdia and the others, especially the children with weak immune systems, were to be affected by them. It would be fine if he could use[Sterilization]and[Disinfect]right away, but it was impossible to know what could happen during battle.
So then would poison be better after all? But if Vigaro and the other warriors were in the battle, it couldn't be used.
「Maybe it will be fine if I use the same components that are in the Ghouls' paralyzing venom? Hmm, I wonder if there are any deadly airborne diseases that are difficult to treat, highly infectious and only affect humans.」(Vandalieu)
「Wait a minute, that's not what I was trying to ask. I'm trying to ask if it's really alright to do that. Our enemies might be humans, right?」(Basdia)
「Yes, and…?」Vandalieu replied as Pauvina threw him up and down slightly more gently than earlier. It seemed that he was still unsure as to why Basdia seemed concerned.
「No, I'm not going to say that I have a problem with killing people, either. But won't it cause problems to kill too many?」(Basdia)
「Ah, it would be problematic to kill more than necessary, wouldn't it?」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu nodded a few times in agreement… probably. It was difficult to tell due to him being thrown up and down.
「It's fine. I'll be careful not to kill more than necessary, and it's not like these weapons have to be used. Mom wouldn't be happy about it, either.」(Vandalieu)
Darcia wasn't a peace advocate in particular. However, she wouldn't approve of a massacre, either. She would definitely hate unnecessary murder and try to stop Vandalieu from performing such murder. If he actually did it, she would likely be heartbroken about it afterwards.
Basdia was a Ghoul who had been raised in a village where she had been taught not to fight with adventurers. It was possible that she felt very reluctant to kill humans because of this.
And Vandalieu had no recollection of becoming a murderous fiend; he considered himself to be a normal person.
People are creatures with societies, and as long as that is the case, the happiness of humans lies in those societies.
Vandalieu's objective was to become happy and stay happy. Unnecessary murder would simply be an action that would lead him further from this goal.
「That's why I'll try not to kill any more than necessary.」(Vandalieu)
「Yeah, we won't kill, you know?」(Pauvina)
Vandalieu and Pauvina made this declaration together. But Vandalieu continued speaking.
「But if I need to slaughter every single enemy to protect everyone, I'm going to do it. So don't get angry at me if it comes to that, alright?」(Vandalieu)
「You got it?」(Pauvina)
He wouldn't kill people he didn't have to. However, there was a god and a religion that taught that killing every member of their races was justice, and this religion was the official religion of an entire Empire. In order to survive in this world, there would be times where he would be forced to kill all of his enemies in order to survive.
As Vandalieu told Basdia this, she seemed to get a little haughty.
「That's a given. If it were necessary to slaughter all of the enemies in order to protect this child and you and all the others, Van, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd gladly swing my axe at them.」(Basdia)
「What a reliable mother you are.」(Vandalieu)
「I am, aren't I? If you ever want to give me my child, let me know anytime.」(Basdia)
「That will be at least another ten years from now~」(Vandalieu)
As Vandalieu gave Basdia this response, Pauvina gave Vandalieu a particularly large throw towards the sky.
Falling from this height would cause quite the impact, so he used[Flight]to float gently in the air.
And then he reflected upon the events of the past few months.
Chapter 48: It seems I've become a place for insects
Vandalieu and his companions had built their walls, solidified their defenses and prepared their weapons. Undead and Golems had been successfully placed for surveillance purposes at locations where Vampires and humans were likely to cross the Boundary Mountain Range.
Vandalieu had personally tried stepping into the entrances of the route that had been used by Eleanora's party and the tunnel that led to the Hartner duchy after the surveillance Golems had been placed at these locations.
There had been no particular problems on the route that Eleanora's party had used. But things had been strange at the tunnel.
From the outside, the tunnel looked as if it had simply caved in, but Vandalieu had used[Golem Transmutation]to turn the rubble into Golems and[Spirit Form Transformation]to go inside and investigate. He had found that the inside of the tunnel had been destroyed too thoroughly.
According to what he had heard from Nuaza and the other Undead Titans, two hundred years ago, the First Princess Levia and the other Undead Titans used this tunnel to escape and then used some hidden mechanisms to seal the tunnel. But the inside of the tunnel was had been like an impossible puzzle.
There hadn't been a single large rock among the rubble, only large amounts of soft dirt and sand. When he had tried to remove the rubble to rebuild the tunnel, more and more dirt and sand kept falling from above. That was the state the tunnel had been in.
Vandalieu hadn't investigated through the entire tunnel to the end but the first few hundred meters were all in this state, even though the tunnel was covered by mountains high enough to reach the clouds.
It was as if someone had used sophisticated earth-attribute magic to turn the boulders and hard bedrock above the tunnel into tiny grains of sand in order to make it impossible to rebuild the tunnel.
With this being the case, the tunnel would remain sealed forever if Vandalieu's[Golem Transmutation]skill didn't exist; it would have been completely impossible for the Mirg shield-nation army of two hundred years ago to reconstruct the tunnel.
Nobody knew how Princess Levia had collapsed the tunnel. It was possible that the mechanism or magic used to collapse it, which only Talosheim's royal family knew about, was just that incredible. However… Vandalieu found this suspicious.
He wondered whether the Vampires had something to do with this.
If he thought about it, the commercial trade between Talosheim and the Hartner duchy would have been nothing but an eyesore for the Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped the evil god and feared the Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped Vida that lived in the southern regions of the Bahn Gaia continent beyond the Boundary Mountain Range.
If trading had become very prosperous in Talosheim's geographical location, the people there would have eventually started exploring the southern regions of the continent. This could have caused the Vampires worshipping Vida to possibly make a move.
That might have been why they had chosen to mobilize the Amid Empire and the Mirg shield-nation without making any movements themselves. They had probably wanted to reduce the strength of the Empire and the Mirg shield-nation around then anyway, and with the Vampires' influence extending into the Empire, starting a war would have been a simple matter.
Eleanora knew nothing about this. She seemed to have been considered an individual with great promise, but she hadn't been in an important position in the community as a whole, and not even a decade had passed since she had even become a Vampire.
Since the Vampires in the same faction that worshipped the evil god didn't seem to be on good terms with each other, it was only natural that she didn't know.
Vandalieu stopped his speculations here. No matter how much he investigated, the truth wouldn't be clear unless he were to talk to some person or spirit who knew about the events of two hundred years ago. For now, he just needed to increase his intent to kill the Vampires who worshipped the evil god.
And the remaining tunnel in the mountain range leading to the Mirg shield-nation was found.
It had been covered by a large boulder, however. As Vandalieu had suspected, a tunnel had been built a hundred thousand years ago on this side of the mountain range as well.
Borkus's party had slaughtered Earth Dragons, Rock Dragons and scattered a Goblin King's large pack to find it.
The Dragon materials that they had brought back as souvenirs were currently in Tarea's hands, being processed to create equipment.
With this, Vandalieu's surveillance network was complete.
And though they didn't possess enough fighting strength to stand against the Pure-breed Vampires, everyone was improving both individually and as a whole.
His powerful companions like Borkus, Eleanora and Vigaro had leveled up in the past few months, but their Ranks hadn't increased.
However, prior to this, Vigaro had undergone a Job-change from Warrior to[Axeman], a Job specialized in using axe techniques. He had apparently even acquired the[Deforestation]skill as well. He had acquired it during the search for the tunnel by cutting down trees that were in the way with his axe.
Nuaza had become a Rank 5 Lich.
「I have finally lost the "Lesser" from my race title. I will no longer allow Borkus-dono to call me a weak youngster!」he said, smiling with his face that was only made of skin and bones.
Braga had become a Rank 4 Black Goblin Assassin, while the other Black Goblins had become Black Goblin Scouts. They were quite the team of scouts.
It seemed that Braga was walking along the path of a ninja that he had heard about from Vandalieu.
Zemedo and Memediga had increased their Ranks as well, becoming an Anubis Rider and an Anubis Monk respectively. Zemedo had successfully tamed a monster he had captured in a Dungeon and become able to fight while using it as a mount. Memediga had apparently increased in Rank while studying magic and martial skills simultaneously, shortly after she began going on dates with Berg in the Church of Vida.
Was this the goddess's blessing?
The Orcus Gorba hadn't increased his Rank yet, but his body had grown enough for him to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the three-meter-tall Borkus and he had grown even stronger and sturdier.
Most importantly, he had found a Giga in a forest and captured it alive. Because of this, Talosheim now had a supply of fresh eggs.
Everyone was becoming stronger by increasing their Ranks, leveling up and improving their skills.
With this, unlike when they had been forced to escape the Devil's Nest forest, they were capable of fighting.
Vandalieu wanted more anti-Vampire weapons prepared if possible, but he lacked time and, more importantly, skills and technology for those.
However, fortunately, it seemed that Pure-breed Vampires and Noble-born Vampires who had lived a long time had an unusually slow perception of time, so when they made a move, they would use a plan that would take years, or several months at least to carry out.
Vampires had long lifespans and surrounded themselves with the company of other Vampires, so their sense of time was very different from that of humans.
They often referred to events over ten years ago as,「a little while ago.」
It was still unlikely that Vandalieu would be left alone for ten years, but Eleanora estimated that they would take two to five years to make their next move as long as there were no special reasons to act faster.
And so Vandalieu decided that he should start taking action to achieve his own goals.
He would acquire Vida's legacy, the resurrection device beneath Talosheim's royal castle, and resurrect Darcia.
「I have to become stronger for that as well.」(Vandalieu)
In order to do that, the half-destroyed Dragon Golem that still protected it needed to be defeated. But if that was all, Vandalieu wouldn't need to become stronger.
He would simply need to stand at the back and support Borkus, Eleanora, Vigaro, Zadiris and the others. Darcia's resurrection was at stake, but there was no need for him to be positioned at the front.
However, only Vandalieu was capable of melting the ice that sealed the chamber guarded by the Dragon Golem, and when he had gone to melt it, he had felt a powerful response from his constantly-active[Danger Sense: Death.]
That was proof that the Dragon Golem had noticed Vandalieu and was preparing to attack him the moment he tried to enter the chamber. In other words, even if he was planning to leave all of the fighting to Borkus and the others, there was a high chance that he would receive some kind of attack as soon as he opened the chamber and be killed immediately.
Of course, Vandalieu had become much stronger than he was the first time he had seen the Dragon Golem through the wall of ice. He had gone through a Job-change and leveled up. His Attribute Values and his skills had increased.
The[Soul Break]that he had acquired after destroying Sercrent's soul was a particularly powerful skill.
Upon careful inspection, it had turned out to be a skill that dealt damage to Mana equal to the amount of damage to Vitality that Vandalieu inflicted.
If he dealt damage to Vampires with this, their Mana would stay damaged even if their Vitality recovered immediately, so this skill would be effective to use in battles against Vampires. He would even be able to drain the Dragon Golem of the Mana it used as its power source… if he could damage it.
But even so, he still felt a powerful reaction from[Danger Sense: Death.]That was why he needed to become stronger.
That was why he decided to resume his Dungeon-clearing that he had put on hold.
『The Dungeon we're going into is a Class Dungeon. It'll be on another level from the D-class Dungeons you've already been in, kid. Don't let your guard down.』(Borkus)
Borkus was doing his best to make a strict face, but the remaining half of his lips were raised in a smirk. Vandalieu didn't comment on this.
「Yes. I'm relying on you to guide me through.」(Vandalieu)
The Dungeon they would be clearing was Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah*. It was a Dungeon discovered by Borkus's ancestors, countless generations ago.
Unlike the D-class Garan's Valley and Doran's Aquatic Cavern, nobody usually entered this Dungeon other than adventurers. No matter how strong Titans were, this Dungeon was too dangerous for anyone other than a genuine adventurer to venture into.
「That's right, this place is really harsh. There are a lot of floors and the monsters are strong. There aren't many monsters that use attacks that inflict status effects or problematic traps, but the monsters are strong.」(Vigaro)
「You have said the same thing twice. Are you drunk?」(Zadiris)
『But the monsters really are strong. Even though our Ranks increased, it's tough for us from the third floor onwards if Vigaro-san isn't with us.』(Saria)
『Jyuuh. From the eleventh floor onwards, it was difficult battle after difficult battle.』(Bone Man)
The members of this exploration party were the Rank 6 members Vigaro and Zadiris, as well as Rita, Saria, Bone Man and Bone Bird who had become Rank 5. Other than the inclusion of Borkus, their guide, they had a suitable amount of fighting strength for clearing this Dungeon.
As its name suggested, Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah was a Dungeon with many savannahs in its terrain.
Some floors had forests, rivers and lakes, but they were mostly savannahs. The scenery was -
「Just like in a movie.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu whispered these words as he released a[Mana Bullet.]
Dinosaurs roamed across the ground that was covered in thick, verdant grass that looked like a green carpet. It was as if Vandalieu had traveled back in time to the Cretaceous Period.
It was a truly moving sight.
Even as he noticed the groups of dinosaurs coming to attack, Vandalieu's sense of wonder didn't disappear.
『O~oi, if you don't hurry and crush that Raptor�� Oh, you've already done it.』(Borkus)
As Borkus relaxed at the back and watched, one of the Raptors that had slipped through the frontline tried to attack Vandalieu, only to be turned into mincemeat by a[Mana Bullet.]
Normal[Mana Bullets]weren't this powerful; they were slower than arrows and attacks of other attributes of magic, difficult to fire in a controlled trajectory and easy to predict.
It was a spell full of flaws, but Vandalieu had poured ten thousand Mana into a single bullet to release a projectile larger than himself that should have been called[Super Mana Cannon.]Its size made it hard to avoid and lately he had been twisting the shape of the Mana to alter the projectile's trajectory.
Because of this, it was even able to bring down a fast-moving Raptor.
『I suppose the others won't have any problems on the first floor since they've been in here before.』(Borkus)
Though Vigaro, Zadiris, Bone Man and the others were still inexperienced in his eyes, they were slaughtering the Raptors with ease.
The boss of this group of Raptors was a Rank 4 Huge Raptor that was larger and more intelligent than the rest, but they were fighting it safely.
If there had been a few less Raptors, Vandalieu would likely not have had to do anything.
『Well, this is where it starts.』(Borkus)
The monsters appearing in the earlier floors of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah were mostly similar to the dinosaurs that Vandalieu knew or large reptile-type monsters such as crocodiles and turtles.
It seemed that these monsters that had scales like Dragons and yet weren't Dragons had been named「Sub-Dragons」by the people of Talosheim. Incidentally, Wyverns and similar monsters were apparently also categorized as Sub-Dragons.
Indeed, it wouldn't be strange to think of them as being related to pterosaurs.
As they descended from the first floor to the second and then from the second to the third, the battles with the monsters naturally became harsher.
From the fifth floor onwards, there were no Rank 3 monsters appearing at all and there were Rank 5 monsters among the monsters that did appear.
「GYAOOOHN!」
「Oh, a tyrannosaurus rex.」(Vandalieu)
An enormous, triangular silhouette, fangs sharp and long enough to be used as tips of spears, powerful rear legs and short front legs.
Probably the most well-known carnivorous dinosaur on Earth, the tyrannosaurus rex… This was an Armored Tyrannosaurus, a monster with a higher Rank. It was a dinosaur covered in hard scales and a carapace like an ankylosaur, but it was apparently a Rank 5 monster in Lambda.
Vandalieu found it strange to think that this enormous carnivore was weaker than Bugogan and only as powerful as a Wyvern, but it turned out that this wasn't so strange after all.
『Jyuuh! You will become provisions for my lord![Flowing Water!][Slicing Moon!]』(Bone Man)
Bone Man avoided the Armored Tyrannosaurus's biting attack with flowing movements and half-severed its neck with a slash that drew a circular path in the air.
After successfully increasing his Rank when Vandalieu had added more spirits to his body, he had trained even further and become a Rank 5 Skeleton Baron. His[Swordsmanship]skill was level 5, while his other skills such as[Archery]and[Shield Technique]had reached level 4.
The Armored Tyrannosaurus was supposed to be of the same Rank as him, but it was only capable of simple movements, perhaps due to its overly-active instinct to attack. Bone Man performed complicated, mysterious movements that seemed to ignore the normal rules of motion as if they came naturally to him. This was the difference between them.
『My lord, what shall we do with this corpse?』(Bone Man)
「I already have a Tyrannosaurus Zombie, so I suppose we'll use it for materials and food. Which parts of the tyrannosaurus monsters were tasty, again?」(Vandalieu)
『I believe it was the area around their legs.』(Bone Man)
They took the Armored Tyrannosaurus's Magic Stone, stripped it of its scales and carapace and then took a break as they ate the meat of its legs.
The mid-boss on the tenth floor was a herbivorous dinosaur.
But it wasn't the enormous, long-necked brontosaurus that Vandalieu had been hoping to see. It was a ferocious triceratops that even a wild boar would flee from.
「BOOOOH!」
Flashes of lightning appeared around the horn on the tip of the triceratops's nose and the pair of horns on its forehead as it let out a roar that sounded somewhat similar to that of a cow and prepared to charge.
「… Hmm, as to be expected from a creature of another world.」(Vandalieu)
This triceratops had undergone a fantasy-like evolution.
『It is a Tri-Horn that has increased its Rank and contains wind-attribute Mana in its horns! Leave this to us!』(Saria)
『We have defeated it before!』(Rita)
Saria and Rita, the Living Armor sisters, stepped forward. They looked significantly different from how they had looked before.
They had increased their Ranks to become a Rank 5 Magic High-Leg Armor and Magic Bikini Armor, and finally acquired the[Spirit Form]skill.
As a result, they had visible bodies instead of just being suits of armor… Bodies that were like clouds of white mist with no outline that were just barely human-shaped.
Their[Spirit Form]was vague and seemed as if it would be blown away by a strong wind, but their other skills had increased as well. Though they were Rank 5, the two sisters could hold their own against Rank 6 enemies.
The promising-looking pair charged directly at the Tri-Horn from the front -
『KYAAAAAAH!』(Saria/Rita)
As they leapt up, their gauntlets that were still clutching their weapons, their greaves and their iron boots separated and flew into the air.
「Huh?」(Vandalieu)
「Th-they died?! Have they died?!」(Vigaro)
『Geh?! GEEEEEH!?』(Bone Bird)
『Hey, hey, isn't this looking bad?』(Borkus)
Vandalieu was surprised. The two men and Bone Bird began to panic. However, Zadiris didn't panic or make any noise, instead letting out an exasperated sigh.
「Another of their ill-humored jokes again.」(Zadiris)
As she whispered this, Rita and Saria's gauntlets and iron boots and turned in the air and they gripped their weapons, the halberd and the glaive, once more.
「BOOOOOH?!」
As the Tri-Horn who believed it had defeated them let out a roar of victory, they thrust their weapons into its neck, back and belly and cut it to pieces.
And then the Tri-Horn stopped breathing and the pieces of armor that had separated reunited once more, restoring Saria and Rita to normal.
『We're done here. This method is effective against the Tri-Horn.』(Saria)
『I suppose it thinks that it has defeated us once we separate our parts. Its movements stop and it's full of openings, so it's a piece of cake~ ☆』(Rita)
『Ah, I suppose you're getting thirsty now. Here. It's freshly-squeezed, Bocchan.』(Saria)
Vandalieu took the wooden cup full of fresh Tri-Horn blood from the two sisters who showed no signs of shame.
「I understand why you did it, but wasn't the screaming unnecessary?」(Vandalieu)
『Ah, that's… The electricity of the horns shocked me more than I expected, so I couldn't help it.』(Saria)
『Nee-san, you're weak to electric shocks, aren't you?』(Rita)
「Rita, I believe I heard you screaming as well.」(Zadiris)
『Th-that was… I was just feeling a little playful.』(Rita)
「That kind of playfulness is unnecessary! And more importantly, tighten your spirit form! You look like a log.」(Zadiris)
『You're mistaken! This isn't because I had a child's body or that I had excess flesh when I was still alive, but because I'm still experienced -』(Rita)
「Don't play around in battle when you're still inexperienced! You scared the hell out of me!」(Vigaro)
『Yeah, you've got some bad hobbies, Jou-chan.』(Borkus)
Vandalieu was watching Rita being scolded by the senior members; it seemed that he had decided not to say anything to her himself.
「But Saria, you should be careful as well, okay? Even if you're going to do something like that, do it better next time. If you don't, I'll let my enemies cut my flesh and organs in battle again.」(Vandalieu)
It's unfair that I get scolded for being reckless while others can get away with it. It should be fine to say at least this much.
『Please don't! Really, please don't! I'll think of a better way to do it!』(Saria)
With her face turning pale… or not, Saria hastily made this promise. Things would probably be fine from now on.
「Though this is another topic, how did you do that thing where you separated into pieces while attacking?」(Vandalieu)
Though Saria and Rita's pieces of armor were separate at first glance, they had generally moved together as if worn by an invisible person up until now.
However, they had acquired the[Spirit Form]skill, though it was still level 1, which had granted them misty bodies. Yet they had separated the pieces of their armor in battle. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?
『That's because we have acquired the[Long-distance Control]skill.』(Saria)
「Long-distance control?」(Vandalieu)
『Yes. It is a skill that lets us move parts of our bodies such as our gauntlets and boots separately from our main bodies.』(Saria)
Apparently, Saria and Rita had wondered whether something like that would be possible and acquired the skill by practicing together.
『That seems like quite a useful skill. I would certainly like to acquire this skill myself, jyuuh.』(Bone Man)
『Geeeh.』(Bone Bird)
Bone Man and Bone Bird spoke up after hearing this story.
Since Bone Man had flesh and cartilage made of spirit form and Bone Bird was made entirely of bones other than its wings, it was likely possible for them to acquire the[Long-range Control]skill with practice. If they controlled their spirit form, they would simply be separating their bones without any risk.
It was likely that the[Long-range Control]skill was a special skill possessed by Undead such as Living Armors, Skeletons and Zombies to begin with.
Vandalieu hadn't seen it in this world yet, but scenes where a Zombie or Skeleton's severed limbs would move and attack on their own had been almost obligatory to include in horror works on Earth.
There were things like severed lizard tails that regrew, but they didn't move on their own so that was probably different.
「I'd like to acquire that skill, too.」(Vandalieu)
『『Eh?』』
Though the skill was a specialized skill for Undead, Vandalieu didn't see this as a reason that he couldn't acquire it himself. But as he said this, the atmosphere around everyone froze.
『Umm, I don't know about Bocchan separating himself into pieces…』(Saria)
『If you do not put yourself back together afterwards, would you not be forced to become an Undead yourself, my lord?』(Bone Man)
「No, I'm not planning to cut my own arms and legs off to practice.」(Vandalieu)
It would indeed be problematic if he didn't put himself back together afterwards. He thought that it might be possible if he used[Spirit Form Transformation]beforehand, but if not, he might cause irreversible damage to himself.
He had put himself back together after allowing Bugogan to cut his torso, but that was because he had repaired the damage immediately after being cut. There was no telling what could happen if he delayed the repairing process to practice for acquiring the skill.
「For now, let's try doing it with my hair.」(Vandalieu)
Zadiris and Basdia had called Vandalieu's long hair「truly manly hair.」It seemed that he had wanted it to be like the lion's manes of the Ghoul men.
Darcia had thought of it as being cute, so Vandalieu was growing it out, thinking that it was fine as it was. It would likely reach waist-length soon. He did plan to cut it before it reached his ankles, however.
『Well, if it's your hair, then…』(Saria)
『My lord, if it does not work well with your hair please do not attempt to make changes to your fingers or anything of the sort.』(Bone Man)
It seemed that Vandalieu had made them worry, but he had no intentions of giving up on the acquisition of the[Long-range Control]skill that seemed as if it would have a variety of applications.
Even if he did acquire it, he had no plans to cut of his arms and send them flying to perform rocket-punches or anything like that, however.
Things got even harsher from the eleventh floor onwards.
The monsters appearing were all Rank 5, and from time to time a Rank 6 monster would appear on its own.
『But it's from the eleventh floor onwards that this Dungeon becomes a good hunting ground. There are a lot of usable materials other than those that come from monsters.』(Borkus)
The fresh leaves of an enormous fern the size or a large tree could be crushed to make medicine, and if dried and boiled, they made a bitter but healthy tea.
Apparently, adventurers in the past had ventured into this Dungeon with the aim of reaching the floors containing plateaus in which amber could be found, and cliffs whose rocks would produce whetstones that made it more difficult for weapons to rust.
And there were many Experience Points to be gained here.
「The dinosaurs here are on the verge of death, so please finish them off.」(Vandalieu)
『As you will!』(Bone Man)
『Nee-san, an octopus-like one went that way!』(Rita)
『Bocchan! What is this flying monster that seems to be related to snails and octopuses?!』(Saria)
「I think it's an ammonite, though the ones I know didn't fly in the air.」(Vandalieu)
『A knight of the ammo race! In that case, I shall be its opponent!』(Bone Man)
「No, it's not really a knight…」(Vandalieu)
Bone Man stepped forward to challenge the flying ammonite with a shell as large as a bear to an honorable one-on-one duel.
Including this ammonite, all of the monsters appearing here were individually of the same or higher Rank as Bone Man. Of course, by defeating them, he could gain large amounts of Experience Points.
「UOOOOOH![Iron Slash!]」(Vigaro)
Facing a hard-headed herbivorous dinosaur's headbutt attack, Vigaro used his newly-learned Axe Technique martial skill.
With a loud smashing sound, it split the dinosaur's oval-shaped, bony head in two, continuing down to its chest.
Now that Vigaro had become a Ghoul Berserker in the battle in the Devil's Nest forest and acquired a Job in Talosheim, his strength was equivalent to that of a B-class adventurer.
As he had acquired the[Axeman]Job that provided bonuses to the[Axe Technique]and[Deforestation]skills, he would likely continue to grow even stronger.
「Uoh! I've even split the Magic Stone in half!」(Vigaro)
「What are you doing?」(Zadiris)
Vigaro felt the sensation of cutting through the Magic Stone among the flesh and blood and raised his voice. Zadiris sighed as she fired a spell at another dinosaur.
Zadiris had reached level 100 long ago but had lacked the skills to increase her Rank. Due to the training that she had done after coming to Talosheim, she was now a Rank 6 Ghoul High Mage.
Her appearance hadn't changed significantly, but a red jewel had appeared on her forehead like a third eye. It was apparently some kind of organ that assisted her in the use of magic.
Zadiris's light-attribute attack spells were fearsome, cutting the ankylosaur-like dinosaurs like hot knives through butter.
「Hmm, the[Chant Revocation]skill is working well… Boy, can you give me a little of your Mana?」(Zadiris)
「Yes, yes.」(Vandalieu)
Her Mana pool had increased as well, but it was certainly still nowhere near Vandalieu's. It was only natural for her to run out of Mana if she used it carelessly.
The most valuable materials that could be harvested in Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah, other than the materials obtained from the Dungeon's Boss, were the honey and beeswax of the Cemetery Bees.
They were Rank 5 bee-shaped monsters, around thirty centimeters in length. Each of them weren't individually threatening, but they were fearsome in that the whole swarm attacked together like a single unit.
Their large jaws were capable of shredding plate armor like paper, and their sharp stingers couldn't be blocked by the average Shield-bearer. And the most vicious weapon they had was their deadly venom.
The potent neurotoxin couldn't be resisted by average resistance skills and was capable of causing death by shock in minutes.
It was said that countless corpses of adventurers desiring the exquisite honey and the beeswax that could be turned into the most extravagant candles and soap could be seen surrounding the nests of these monsters.
So their nests were just like cemeteries.
「That's what I heard, but could it be that they're surprisingly friendly to people?」(Vandalieu)
『There's no way… Kid, could it be that those bees are Undead?』(Borkus)
「I think they're healthy and very much alive.」(Vandalieu)
Borkus was astonished by the sight of Vandalieu being swarmed by so many bees that he appeared to be made of them.
『You wanted sweet things, so when you asked me to find some for you, this is what I thought of. The Cemetery Bees are the rarest monsters in this Dungeon.』(Borkus)
「… Considering that, there are a lot of them, aren't there?」(Vandalieu)
The Cemetery bees buzzed around Vandalieu, licking him with their tongues rather than biting him with their jaws or stabbing him with their stingers.
Vandalieu didn't get the sense that they were surrounding him to increase his body temperature and overheat him to death, so it seemed that they were simply attached to him.
『Amazing, Bocchan, even the bees are madly in love with you.』(Saria)
『Jyuuh, is this really alright, my lord?』(Bone Man)
「… Probably?」(Vandalieu)
If Vandalieu had been someone who hated insects, he would probably have fainted, but he didn't dislike them that much. As a child, he had admired rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles.
As he reminisced about this, a conspicuously large Cemetery Bee, leading countless other bees, flew towards him.
It made a creaking sound with its jaws as it landed on Vandalieu's head.
「Boy, is that not what is known as a queen bee?」(Zadiris)
「It looks like it.」(Vandalieu)
「And what is it doing?」(Zadiris)
「Probably being tamed?」(Vandalieu)
「… Boy, is it possible that you can charm not only Undead, but monsters with things like death and cemetery in their names?」(Zadiris)
『That's pretty amazing; I've heard that insectoid monsters have powerful instincts that makes it impossible for anyone to tame them.』(Borkus)
「Yeah, that's amazing, Vandalieu. This could be the first time anyone in the world has done this.」(Vigaro)
「I'm guessing you're praising me, but I can't hear you over the sound of their wings.」(Vandalieu)
It seemed that[Death-Attribute Charm]also worked on a certain kind of insects. Or perhaps he had used Undead insects so much that even living insects had started to become attached to him?
Chapter 49: The victory against the mid-boss was unfulfilling, but the Dragon Golem is next
Insectoid monsters have no ability to think and move solely on instinct.
Upon hearing this, one might think that this would make it easier for Tamers such as those with the Animal Trainer skill to control them. However, the reality is that their instincts are too powerful for humans to manipulate.
There have been those who came up with ways to use special herbs, incense and certain sounds to control them to a certain extent, but the final result was too unstable to be called taming. It was a dangerous method where one mistake would end with the would-be tamers being eaten.
And thus, the fact that insectoid monsters and Undead cannot be tamed became widely-known.
"Is that how it's supposed to be?" Vandalieu asked after listening to Borkus's explanation.
Buzzing.
"It is," replied Borkus.
More buzzing.
"I find that hard to believe." Vandalieu had been captured by the countless Cemetery Bees and was now being carried around by them.
They're so friendly, though.
It apparently happened to be the time of year where the Cemetery Bees would change the location of their nest when Vandalieu had found them. And then they had been caught by his Death-Attribute Charm.
There had been a previous incident where the Undead in a Dungeon were friendly towards Vandalieu, but he hadn't managed to tame them and bring them outside the Dungeon back then. However, these bees had followed Vandalieu's party even down to the next floor.
It was likely because the level of Vandalieu's Death-Attribute Charm skill had increased since back then.
Or perhaps it was simply that Cemetery Bees were more compatible with Vandalieu.
"Ghouls, Vampires and Cemetery Bees. This Death-Attribute Charm works on a lot more things than I thought," said Borkus.
Cemetery Bees were originally one of the types of monsters created by the Demon King to fight against humans and take over this world. It is possible that they were actually created by an evil god who rules over death.
Either way, if Death-Attribute Charm levels up any further, it might be a good idea to start avoiding Dungeons and Devil's Nests where there are lots of Undead.
It would be pandemonium if I was followed by hordes of Undead each time I entered and exited such places. It might be an effective way to gather forces quickly, though.
"So what are you going to do about that guy?" asked Vigaro, pointing at the mid-boss on the twentieth floor of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah.
"GYAOOOOHN!"
The Rank 6 Venom Wyvern spread the wings that were attached to its front limbs as it let out a roar.
It was a Wyvern that had grown older and increased its Rank, becoming larger and evolving to gain the ability to secrete deadly venom from its claws and the enormous spike at the end of its tail.
Its intelligence was still just at the level of being relatively intelligent for a beast, and it was still incapable of spitting some form of deadly breath. However, the speed and mobility of normal Wyverns couldn't compare to those of the Venom Wyvern.
It was said that it would be impossible even for Class adventurers to defeat this monster in close-range combat without being able to fly themselves.
"I'll try fighting it alone, just as we planned at the start." Vandalieu had been planning to use the mid-boss that appeared before the boss of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah as a test for himself.
Even if he leveled up and his Attribute Values increased, it would be meaningless if he couldn't put them to use in real battles. He wouldn't be able to confidently say that he had become strong enough to not be killed instantly by the Dragon Golem.
For that purpose, he was to fight the Venom Wyvern one-on-one and see if he could defeat it. Of course, without using a Mana Absorption Barrier to remove the Mana from its wings and bring it to the ground.
Of course, even if he was able to defeat the Venom Wyvern, there was no guarantee that he would be able to avoid an instant death at the hands of the half-destroyed Dragon Golem.
That Dragon Golem was overwhelmingly superior to the weak Dragon that was currently flapping its wings threateningly in front of Vandalieu.
Well, this is just to get an idea of how strong I am. I know I'm not going to gain any special abilities or anything from beating this mid-boss. If I win, I'll try going down to the Dragon Golem again and if it's still not going to work out, I'll just have to come back and do more training.
"Make sure you don't die," Borkus warned him.
"Do your best, boy. Do not forget that we are all watching over you," said Zadiris.
Receiving this encouragement, Vandalieu stepped forward to challenge the Venom Wyvern on his own.
"I failed this time, too," said Vandalieu.
"Well, it can't be helped. I heard that Class adventurers need to have a lot of talent or put in an incredible amount of hard work."
"Vandalieu works hard for his age, but it's one-on-one… you're a Tamer, so you don't need to worry about it, right?"
After failing for the fifth time, Vandalieu had returned to Talosheim and was resting while developing more weapons, making katsuobushi and doing other various things.
He was currently attending a meeting between Bilde and the other mothers who were busy raising their children, where ideas regarding childcare were being exchanged. He was also practicing death-attribute magic at the same time.
The food menu was mostly Japanese, consisting of miso soup containing katsuobushi and wild vegetables, acorn powder udon and agar soaked in honey for dessert.
He had first tried making katsuobushi around this time last year, mass-producing failed products that had been made using a process based on his knowledge from Earth of over twenty years ago, but he had finally become able to make it successfully and reliably recently.
I should have learned more about katsuobushi and smoking food. Well, I'd never imagined that I would be making katsuobushi in another world.
He had tried to connect the pieces of his vague knowledge of the process from television and whatnot and executed it as best as he could, producing large quantities of failures as a result. He got the feeling that the fillets were supposed to be smoked near a charcoal fire, but it was likely that he remembered it incorrectly or the method he remembered was some kind of unorthodox one.
As for the udon, it had been made using acorn flour that was smoother than wheat flour with the eggs of the Giga bird that Gorba had captured to bind the flour together. He had originally wanted to make ramen, but he had been unable to make lye water*.
Sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate are the main ingredients of lye water; in other words, it is a special kind of alkaline solution. Vandalieu was currently trying to think of ways he might be able to make it. Even the spirits of the researchers in Origin that Vandalieu had listened to hadn't made their own lye water.
He was trying to devise a method, so he would likely be able to make it in a few years' time.
Vandalieu had been surprised to learn that noodles didn't exist in Lambda. There was no udon, soba, ramen, not even pasta. So when he had first made udon, everyone's impressions had been something along the lines of, "This bread is quite long and thin. It's interesting that you've used boiling water to make it."
Well, that was why spreading the Japanese custom of slurping when eating udon and soba seemed like it would be fun.
He had thought that there would be at least udon or pasta, but… Considering that there was no smoked food either, perhaps there were only simple foods and recipes in this world. Perhaps the reason was that the people hadn't had the freedom to invent them, or the fact that delicious monster meat and produce could be obtained from Devil's Nests, eliminating the need to invent such food.
And the agar used for the dessert was something that Vandalieu had made from tengusa, while the honey was, of course, from the Cemetery Bees. Vandalieu had tamed… or rather, been forced to tame the Cemetery Bees, who were now building an enormous nest in Talosheim's royal castle.
Even though it was winter, worker bees were being sent into the Devil's Nests to produce honey. Incidentally, the Cemetery Bees mainly ate meat. There was no problem with giving them the meat of monsters that wasn't suitable for eating, such as that of Goblins.
The honey of the Cemetery Bees had a powerful scent and rich taste. The combination of agar with this honey had become very popular. With things like tengusa and kombu being major food ingredients, the inhabitants of Talosheim were forced to reconsider their opinions on the value of seaweed.
They required effort to make, however, as they couldn't be created through the cast of a spell like miso and fish sauce.
"Come to think of it, Van, isn't it a bad idea to give honey to the children?" asked Basdia.
"This is honey that has had everything harmful to the body removed, so there's no problem," said Vandalieu.
Vandalieu had used Sterilization and Disinfect to remove any components that could cause harm to the body from the honey while preserving its quality. It would be impossible for anyone to collapse from eating this honey… though he couldn't change the fact that one would gain weight if they ate too much of it.
"So I suppose it's fine for them to eat."
"Uu~." The baby in her arms made a strange noise.
"But it's still too early for you to eat baby food, Jadal." Basdia readjusted the way she was holding the baby, who was reaching a hand out towards a plate full of honey-covered fruit, so that the baby was further away from it.
Jadal was Basdia's daughter who had been born towards the end of summer. Perhaps in return for Basdia having gone through so much trouble getting pregnant, the birth and delivery had been surprisingly straightforward. Now Jadal was growing quickly.
Her gray-brown, puffy cheeks were very adorable.
"Jadal-chan has grown big, hasn't she?" said one of the other mothers. "Ah, are you trimming her claws properly?"
"No, it seems like she hasn't grown any yet," replied Basdia. "When did Varbie start growing them?"
"For Varbie, I suppose it was just before she turned a year old. But sometimes they can grow them as early as three months after they're born, so make sure you trim them properly."
"Children can hurt themselves with their own claws, after all," said another mother. "Did that happen for you, King?"
"Vandalieu started growing his claws after only three months, but he was already very smart by then," said Darcia.
"Really?! Smart at the age of three months, that's amazing."
"He was only a year old when he came to our village, so I think it's a bit late to be surprised."
Darcia was smiling as she joined in on the conversation between the Ghoul mothers. She had only been visible to Vandalieu and the Undead up until now, but now she was able to be seen by Basdia, Bilde and the others as well as converse with them thanks to the Visualization spell that Vandalieu had invented, though it did make her appear rather transparent.
He had thought that Darcia would be less stressed if she could communicate with others more smoothly, so he had created the spell with that in mind.
Well, since it also made the whip-marks and burns on her spirit visible, it would be difficult to use in human societies, unlike in Talosheim where everyone knew about her circumstances.
Vandalieu wanted to resurrect her and make this spell useless before entering human societies.
Meanwhile, Vandalieu was playing with the Ghoul children nearby.
"Nao~." Another of the Ghoul babies made a noise.
As Ghoul boys had the heads of lions as soon as they were born, they looked just like kittens at this age. They didn't have paws, but they were very cute.
Bone Man didn't seem to be able to deal with them, however. Vandalieu was really glad that he had instructed him not to harm any cats without thinking.
"Papa."
"I'm not your papa," said Vandalieu.
I know you're really attached to me, but I'm not your papa. Let's make this very clear.
"Nii-nii."
"That's right, Nii-nii is correct."
If by "Nii-nii" you mean "Onii-chan", you're absolutely right. I'm three years older than you.
"Nee…"
"Not Nee-nee, Nii-nii."
I'm not your onee-chan.
"The King is kind of girlish, I guess," one of the Ghoul mothers commented. "Like the shape of his head."
"You're right; if he had the same skin color as us, you'd never think he's a boy," said another.
As Ghoul men had the heads of lions, from Bilde and the other mothers' perspective, Vandalieu had feminine features and a girl's head. However, it seemed that this didn't apply for the Undead Titans like Borkus or Zran who had large, robust bodies with beautiful muscles.
"Muh… Once my voice changes and I hit my second growth period, I'm sure I'll be like them, too."
And by the time I'm an adult, I'll have a cleft chin, arms like logs, a broad chest, abdominal muscles like the caterpillar tracks of a tank and thighs thicker than a woman's waist. I'll definitely be as macho as a Hollywood star.
I have the Superhuman Strength skill that increases my muscle strength, so I'm sure of it.
… Probably, I hope.
Pauvina, with the other children riding on her back as if she were a horse, passed happily by Vandalieu as he was feeling strangely insecure about his future self.
She was almost one year old, but she was already big enough to look five or six. She was currently obsessed with letting the other children ride on her back.
She was definitely not showing off her future promise of becoming a muscular individual right in front of Vandalieu.
"Come to think of it, what happened with clearing the mid-boss?" asked Basdia.
"Once I'm finished with this break, I'll be going to challenge it for the sixth time," replied Vandalieu.
Vandalieu had repeatedly lost to the mid-boss on the twentieth floor of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah.
Of course, it wasn't as if his life was put at risk during these fights. In a fight to the death, he would win. But simply based on the rules he had set, he was losing.
He fought the mid-boss one-on-one. This included the restriction of the use of Golems created through Golem Transmutation.
On top of that, he wasn't allowed to use Mana Absorption Barrier to rob the mid-boss of its mobility.
The time limit he had set was determined by an hourglass, which took roughly five minutes for all of its sand to fall.
Vandalieu had fought the Venom Wyvern under these rules five times.
He couldn't land his attacks on the Venom Wyvern, and even if he did, they were ineffective, and five minutes would quickly pass. He had repeated this process several times.
Using Disinfect removed the venom inside the Venom Wyvern's body, which meant that he didn't need to worry about being poisoned until it produced the venom again. His Impact-Negating Barrier was more than enough to stop the Venom Wyvern's direct attacks.
But Vandalieu's attacks hadn't been able to deal a decisive blow, either.
At first, he had tried using the no-attribute spell, Flight, to match his opponent, but he had been completely unable to keep up. If it were just a matter of speed, he would have been able to move faster by simply spending a great amount of Mana, but the Venom Wyvern was far superior when it came to performing tight turns.
To begin with, the no-attribute spell, Flight, was simply a spell that used Telekinesis to move the caster's body. It wasn't a match for the skillful, complicated flying techniques of the Venom Wyvern that employed the use of wind-attribute Mana in its wings.
And then he had tried defeating it from a distance. He had tried aiming at it with Mana Bullets, but this had failed due to their problematic range and projectile speed.
At any rate, Mana that wasn't affected by any attribute dispersed easily. The Mana Bullet spell was a spell that gathered such Mana to prevent its dispersion as much as possible.
However, there were limits to how much he could prevent it from dispersing. Their range was only several dozen meters normally, and even when Vandalieu poured ten thousand Mana into a single projectile, it didn't even last a hundred meters. Even using Multi-Cast to release multiple Mana Bullets at the same time had the same result.
Their speed was inferior even to arrows, never mind bullets fired from the guns on Earth, and their trajectory was linear, making them very easy to avoid. Dodging them was child's play for the Venom Wyvern that could fly in any direction at high speeds.
Vandalieu had tried methods like twisting the shape of the Mana Bullets to alter their trajectory, but still none of them had managed to hit. If they did, they had enough destructive power to burst the Venom Wyvern's flesh and organs, however.
In any case, as Vandalieu was unable to engage it in close-quarters combat and Mana Bullets were ineffective. This meant that he was left with the indirect methods of poisoning it, infecting it with disease, using Soul Break to somehow take its Mana away and distracting it with a Lemure to create an opening.
But even when he had managed to get poison created using his Deadly Poison spell into the Venom Wyvern's eyes and mouth, it wasn't effective as it seemed to possess the Poison Resistance skill.
Things had gone well when he had done the same thing with disease, but five minutes passed before the disease began to work.
Soul Break was a skill that had no effect if Vandalieu couldn't land any physical or magical attacks on the enemy, and since the Mana drained by the skill was equal to the amount of damage dealt to the body, he couldn't drain any of the Venom Wyvern's Mana.
Though Lemures had worked on lesser Wyverns, the Venom Wyvern hadn't shown any large openings despite being surprised by the bloodthirst that the Lemure suddenly produced.
And then Vandalieu had remembered his battle against Sercrent and amplified his Impact-Negating Barrier at the moment of the Venom Wyvern's attack, managing to trap its claws and tail in the barrier and creating an opening for the first time.
But before he had managed to move into an attack, it twisted its long neck to bite off the tip of its tail and its trapped paw to escape.
It was even more resolute than Sercrent had been. This wasn't something that even a wild animal would be able to do immediately. It was only its fighting instincts as the mid-boss of a Dungeon and the knowledge that it would die instantly if one of Vandalieu's Mana Bullets struck its torso that allowed it to do this.
And after that, the five-minute time limit passed again.
After their battles, Borkus and the others had quickly dealt with the Venom Wyvern, continued on to defeat the Dungeon boss on the thirtieth floor and taken the loot in the treasure chamber.
This had given him experience and caused him to level up.
"I can definitely win next time," said Vandalieu.
"Vandalieu, you don't have to be in such a hurry, you know?" said Darcia. "If I'm resurrected five years, ten years or even a hundred years from now, I don't mind."
"It's alright," said Vandalieu. "I say this every time, but it'll be alright this time."
Darcia seemed uncertain, but Vandalieu knew he had a chance to win this time.
He had gotten an idea for altering the Mana Bullet spell to create a new death-attribute spell.
Vandalieu had thought that death-attribute magic had limited ways to deal damage directly to enemies, but if there were limited ways, he just had to invent some.
He had postponed the invention of such a spell because he didn't gain any experience from defeating enemies himself, but he could devote his efforts to it if necessary.
As a result, he had successfully finished developing a new spell yesterday. This spell was a projectile affected by the death-attribute with long range, high speed and a difficult-to-read trajectory.
"I'll definitely win next time. There won't be a seventh time," Vandalieu declared confidently.
Unlike the regular monsters, mid-bosses and bosses that appear in Dungeons are produced by the Dungeon's core.
That is why no matter how many times a boss is defeated, once a certain amount of time passes, a monster of equal strength appears in its place.
"Shaaah…"
"Shuaaa."
Seven enormous snake heads large enough to swallow a cow whole were coiling around each other. However, there was only one tail.
It is one of the Dragon races, a serpent with multiple heads. When this creature hatches from its egg it has two heads and is the size of a Japanese rat snake, but the number of heads increases as it develops, as does the size of its body, the hardness of its scales, its regenerative abilities and the potency of its venom.
And once it matures to adulthood, it becomes an enormous seven-headed serpent known as a Hydra.
It is Rank 6, superior to Wyverns among the Dragon races.
Its intelligence is not much different from a normal snake and it is far less mobile than Wyverns.
However, its powerful body can mow down a human with ease, and it is difficult to wound it through its scales with normal methods. And the substance secreted from its fangs is a potent venom that cannot be removed without a special antidote.
And what makes this creature difficult to kill is its resilience that keeps it alive unless all of its heads are cut off and its heart is destroyed. If only one of these two steps are taken, its regenerative ability will allow it to make a full recovery in a matter of days.
Incidentally, Hydras can develop even further to grow an eighth head, becoming known as an Orochi. Its name was no doubt given to it by one of the champions from another world.
"I want a rematch," said Vandalieu, seeing the Hydra that had appeared for his sixth attempt at fighting a mid-boss of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah.
"No, that's probably impossible," said Borkus, denying him immediately.
"But I just invented a new spell to deal with the Venom Wyvern's mobility…"
The Hydra was less intelligent and less mobile than a normal Wyvern. Of course, it couldn't even compare to the higher-Rank version, the Venom Wyvern.
"There's nothing to be done about it," Borkus told him. "It was actually really unusual that the same monster spawned five times in a row as the mid-boss in the first place."
Normally, the race of mid-bosses and bosses that appear in Dungeons are not fixed. They tend to be of around the same general strength, but they are generated randomly by the Dungeon.
This Dungeon would generate Rank 6 Dragon or dinosaur-type mid-bosses.
The Venom Wyvern was probably one of the stronger monsters that could have been generated. The reason it had appeared five times in a row was due to Vandalieu's bad luck.
"It's not like that Hydra's going to back down now," said Borkus. "Try it out. That new spell of yours."
"Sure… Death Bullet."
As Vandalieu lifted a hand towards the Hydra that was raising its curved necks, a black object resembling shimmering hot air appeared at his palm.
He fired the Death Bullet at the Hydra that had sensed some extraordinary presence and was trying to escape.
The Death Bullet consisted of death-attribute Mana capable of draining an enemy's life-force, condensed using the same principle as the Mana Bullet.
He couldn't fire them consecutively because he still wasn't used to casting the spell, but their range and speed were on another level. They also had a homing ability that allowed them to chase targets to a certain extent.
"SHIGYAAAAAH!"
However, the Death Bullet's projectile speed and homing ability proved unnecessary as it hit the Hydra with ease. A scream rose from the Hydra as its Vitality was drained, and its heads began lowering towards the ground one by one.
Vandalieu fired multiple more Death Bullets, and once all of its heads were lying on the ground, he fired one last Death Bullet at its heart to deal the final blow.
What remained was the corpse of a Hydra that was dead despite being completely unwounded.
"Oh, that's pretty amazing," said Borkus.
"Considering that the amount of Mana I spent was equivalent to the entire Mana pools of a hundred first-rate Mages, not really," said Vandalieu.
"That might be true, but… that's less than one percent for you, isn't it? Anyway, you should be happy. You beat a mid-boss in less than a minute, never mind the five-minute time limit."
"I did, but…"
"You don't need to be so focused on the Venom Wyvern. The main thing is, you just need to become strong enough that the Dragon Golem won't kill you straight away," Borkus reminded him. "Isn't that right?"
You're right, but I still can't feel satisfied.
Still, as Borkus says, clearing this Dungeon repeatedly until the Venom Wyvern appears is wandering too far away from my goal. So I guess this will do.
The Dragon Golem is next.
[The levels of the Death-Attribute Charm, Strengthen Followers, No-Attribute Magic, Mana Control, Cooking and Unarmed Fighting Technique skills have increased!]
[You have acquired the Long-distance Control skill!]
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 4 years old
Title:[Ghoul King]
Job: Death-Attribute Mage
Level: 100
Job history: None
Attributes:
Vitality: 90
Mana: 204,506,933
Strength: 67
Agility: 46
Stamina: 71
Intelligence: 233
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 1
Rapid Healing: Level 3
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 5
Status Effect Resistance: Level 5
Magic Resistance: Level 1
Dark Vision
Mental Corruption: Level 10
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Chant Revocation: Level 3
Strengthen Followers: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 3
Active skills:
Bloodsucking: Level 3
Surpass Limits: Level 4
Golem Transmutation: Level 4
No-Attribute Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Mana Control: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Spirit Form: Level 2
Carpentry: Level 4
Engineering: Level 3
Cooking: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Alchemy: Level 3
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Soul Break: Level 1
Multi-Cast: Level 1
Long-distance Control: Level 1 (NEW!)
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently