Cherreads

Chapter 24 - 50-52

Chapter 50: The battle against the Dragon Golem that was seventy percent destroyed by the hero

Since Vandalieu's[Death-Attribute Mage]Job had reached level 100 after his sixth clearing of Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah, he headed for the Job-changing room in the Adventurers' Guild for the first time in over a year.

"Give me some fish sauce for this. Miso as well."

"Katsuobushi and kombu for me."

"Is there any honey? I want some wasabi, too."

"Give me some acorn powder!"

"The Giga eggs are sold out, huh. Then at least give me some eel. Ammonite is fine as well!"

The Adventurers' Guild had been turned into a place where the food that Vandalieu had invented, including the flavorings and kombu, was being distributed and traded.

People would come here to receive a rationed amount, and if they wanted any more than that, they would have to barter using materials that they had gathered from the Devil's Nests.

Requests for goods had been posted on a board so that the goods in short supply would be replenished, so it appeared as if the Adventurers' Guild had begun operating again.

"If real Adventurers' Guilds were full of Ghouls and Undead like this, going in and out would be easy," Vandalieu said to himself.

Leaving that wishful thinking aside, the Ghouls and Undead Titans would be able to make acorn powder themselves without having to trade for it, though the flavorings would be impossible for them.

When asked why they came to trade for it instead, these were the responses they gave.

"Hey, hey, we get miso, fish sauce, kombu and agar distributed for free and if we want more, all we have to do is pick up monster materials, Magic Stones and ingredients like acorns and bring them in to trade. Why should we have to spend time making it on our own?"

"You have to break acorns, soak them in water for three days and then dry them before turning them into powder, right? Killing monsters is easier."

It seemed that the Undead Titans and Ghouls' sense of manual labor was very different to that of the humans on Earth.

"Well, it's much easier to go into a Devil's Nest and hunt an Orc than raise a pig from birth for its meat, so I understand how they feel." Vandalieu seemed to have been raised into quite the hunter himself.

Incidentally, the amount of products Vandalieu was producing had increased, so he had built a special manufacturing facility for things like acorn powder and walnut sauce.

He had used his Alchemy skill to make Magic Items imbued with spells like Withering for drying and Decomposition to decompose the flesh of the walnuts. Golems were set up in lanes to perform tasks like smashing, cooking and powdering the ingredients, so there was a lane of Golems for making acorn powder and one for making walnut sauce.

Seeing the Golems shaped like mortars and other equipment at work reminded Vandalieu of factories on earth.

The only fuel required was Mana, so it was very economically and environmentally friendly. And in an emergency, the Golems would change shape to participate in battle.

It was a wonderful, environmentally-friendly factory that didn't require any maintenance.

"I wonder if I can industrialize the nori and agar as well. If I made more labor necessary, it would create more jobs in the future… But the Ghouls and Titans are hunters, so maybe I don't need to worry? But in a few decades from now, there will be Black Goblins and Anubises who have aged and can't fight anymore." Vandalieu contemplated these truly complicated factors.

Well, let's leave thinking about the societal system for later on.

"So, the Job-change. I suppose I'll be a Golem Transmuter now."

Vandalieu could only acquire undiscovered Jobs due to the "Cannot learn existing Jobs" curse. During his previous Job-change, "Golem Transmuter" was the available Job that had appeared alongside "Death-Attribute Mage".

So he would definitely be able to undergo a Job-change now.

He calmed himself down and coolly reached out to touch the crystal ball in the Job-changing room.

『Jobs that can be selected:[Golem Transmuter][Undead Tamer][Soul Breaker][Venom Fist User][Insect User]』

"There's a lot more…" Vandalieu whispered in astonishment at the five Jobs displayed in his head. It seemed that among the three curses Rodcorte had placed on him, this one was the most pointless.

Well, it will probably cause trouble for me in the future.

The reason "Undead Tamer" hadn't appeared previously is probably because I wasn't aware that Undead can't normally be tamed until I heard about it from Eleanora.

It's strange to think that whether the Job is displayed or not is dependent on whether I'm aware of this fact, but it's probably something like that.

It seems self-explanatory that this Job will provide bonuses to Undead-related skills, but many Tamer-type Jobs apparently don't provide a lot of bonuses to Attribute Values.

"Soul Breaker" is clearly a Job that has appeared because I acquired the Soul Breaker skill after destroying Sercrent's soul.

Soul Break is a skill that applies its effects to all of my attacks. Wouldn't this Job probably give me bonuses to a wide range of both magic-related and martial-type skills?

As for its Attribute Value bonuses, I have no idea. It seems like it would increase Strength and Intelligence, though.

And "Venom Fist User"… What is it? Could it be a Job that appears for someone who uses death-attribute magic after reaching a certain level with the Unarmed Fighting Technique skill and killing a certain number of enemies with poison?

It seems like it would probably give bonuses to Unarmed Fighting Technique, Strength, Agility and Stamina, but… it seems like the kind of Job that would make people refuse to shake hands with me.

It would break my heart if people refused a handshake or wiped their hands with a handkerchief after shaking my hand.

There's no doubt that "Insect User" has appeared because I tamed the Cemetery Bees. Its bonuses to skills and Attribute Values are probably the same as Undead Tamer except applying to insects instead of Undead.

It would be a good Job if it increases the amount of honey the bees produce. It might even be interesting to tame rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles so I can call myself the King of Insects that I couldn't become on Earth.

"But I'm going with Golem Transmuter this time."

Because the opponent I'm fighting next is a Dragon Golem.

There were no stories telling what kind of inorganic mineral the Golem was made of and[Appraisal]couldn't be used through the ice. There was a chance that the Golem Transmutation skill would be useful against the Golem that was made of an unknown substance.

Controlling it directly would be impossible, but the place where Vandalieu would be fighting it was a large yet finite space. There was a floor, walls and, most importantly, a ceiling. In addition, the Golem's wings had been broken. There was no chance that it would be able to fly freely.

If I turn the floor and walls into Golems and manipulate them, I should be able to rob the Dragon Golem of its freedom or at least slow its movements down.

Golem Transmutation was useful when I killed Sercrent and his subordinates. I've used it to develop Golems that manufacture acorn powder and walnut sauce as well as repair Talosheim's walls and royal castle. This skill should become important in helping me survive longer and making my life richer.

[You have selected Golem Transmuter.]

[The levels of the Strengthen Followers and Golem Transmutation skills have increased!]

Name: Vandalieu

Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)

Age: 4 years old

Title:[Ghoul King]

Job: Golem Transmuter

Level: 0

Job history: Death-Attribute Mage

Attributes:

Vitality: 90

Mana: 204,506,933

Strength: 67

Agility: 46

Stamina: 71

Intelligence: 238

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

Chant Revocation: Level 3

Strengthen Followers: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 3

Active skills:

Bloodsucking: Level 3

Surpass Limits: Level 4

Golem Transmutation: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

No-Attribute Magic: Level 4

Mana Control: Level 4

Spirit Form: Level 2

Carpentry: Level 4

Engineering: Level 3

Cooking: Level 2

Alchemy: Level 3

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 2

Soul Break: Level 1

Multi-Cast: Level 1

Long-range Control: Level 1

Curses

Experience gained in previous life not carried over

Cannot learn existing jobs

Unable to gain experience independently

When Vandalieu checked his Status, he found that his Attribute Values hadn't increased as much as they had when he acquired the Death-Attribute Mage Job.

Well, that's probably just how the difference between a first Job change and a second one is.

"Now then, time to go below the royal castle…" Vandalieu paused and reconsidered. "Before that, I need to test out my Golem Transmutation skill now that it's leveled up, and I should ask everyone how they're feeling now that my Strengthen Followers skill has leveled up as well."

Vandalieu inspected the Golem Transmutation skill to find that it cost him less Mana than before to create Golems. If he were to cross the Boundary Mountain Range again, he would be able to create the paths to do so at twice the speed that he had managed the first time.

In the future, I might be moving the mountains out of the way rather than creating paths or digging a tunnel… Though I won't do it that carelessly, because it would be troublesome if I happened to come across some magma. I don't know anything about this world's geographical structure, anyway.

Also, his Golems had become stronger. It seemed that his Golems had started being affected by[Strengthen Followers.]They wouldn't be able to put up a fight against the Dragon Golem, but they would probably be useful in the future.

"You really mustn't push yourself too hard," said Darcia. "If you think it's too dangerous, you have to run away immediately, okay?"

"That's what I intend to do, Mom," Vandalieu assured her.

"Bocchan, may fortune be with you," said Sam. "But it is also courage to escape when the situation calls for it."

"If the situation calls for it, I'll open a hole in the wall and come running back."

Vandalieu and his carefully-selected companions headed below the royal castle as Darcia and the others saw them off.

The enemy they would be facing was the Dragon Golem. The hero who had been said to be destined to become S-class, a hero so powerful that he had killed Borkus with a single attack, had not been able to defeat this enemy.

Its head, right arm, wings and tail had been destroyed, cracks were running all across its body and the magic spear was even still embedded in its chest. But even so, this was a powerful enemy for Vandalieu and his party to face.

That was why Vandalieu had only chosen those who were Rank 6 or above, those who could be revived by being placed in a new body if their current one was damaged and those that Vandalieu was using to soak up damage.

The Rank 9 Borkus and the Rank 8 Eleanora were obvious choices. Next were Zadiris and Vigaro, who were Rank 6.

And then there was Bone Man, Bone Wolf, Bone Monkey, Bone Bear, Bone Bird, Saria and Rita. They were still only Rank 5, but their bodies were made of bones and suits of armor. Even if they were smashed into tiny pieces, they could be revived once Vandalieu prepared new bones and suits of armor.

And as for meat shields, or rather, stone shields, Vandalieu was bringing ten Stone Golems with him. This was a precaution that he was taking just in case the available materials in the Dragon Golem's chamber were brittle or they had been magically altered in a way that would make them difficult to turn into Golems. They would sacrifice their bodies to slow the Golem's movements and act as shields.

They were made of the spirits of the Orcs and Goblins from Bugogan's village, so Vandalieu intended to exploit them fully.

"Depending on what the Dragon Golem is made of, I'm afraid that it might be able to attack spirits, so please be very careful," Vandalieu warned his party.

The wall of cursed ice is still in place, so I still don't know what the Dragon Golem is made of. I'm sure it's not going to be made of simple iron.

"If it's made of Mythril which has strong anti-magic properties, it will be hard for me and Zadiris to make an impact with our spells," said Vandalieu. "Mythril can damage spirits as well. If that's the case, we'll be completely reliant on the physical attacks of Borkus and the others."

"It would be a relief if it were made of Adamantite, since we wouldn't have to worry about it damaging spirits. But if it's made of Adamantite, my sword won't be able to cut it. The situation would be reversed; we'd be reliant on your magical attacks, kid," said Borkus, tapping his fingers against the handle of Bugogan's magic sword that he had received from Vandalieu.

His sword was simply a magic sword with enhanced sharpness and strength, but its attacks were quite powerful. With this sword in hand, Borkus would be able to slice through the scales of an Earth Dragon with ease.

"Is it really that hard?" asked Vigaro, swallowing nervously upon hearing that even Borkus's sword wouldn't be able to cut through it.

"You bet," said Borkus. "It's a magical metal so hard that even the scales and bones of inferior Dragons are nothing like it. If you tried comparing iron to it, the iron might as well be slime."

"But if that is the case, Vandalieu-sama's spells will be effective," said Eleanora. "There is also the option of pulling that spear out and using it."

"Also, we have no choice but to aim for the cracks in its body," Zadiris added. "Well, if its movements are slow, the boy simply needs to bury it in the floor."

"There are other options. Like using the broken pieces of the Dragon Golem that are lying around. Since they'll be made of the same material as the Golem itself, they should at least serve as shields," said Vandalieu as he and his companions walked through the underground passage.

There were still broken fragments of ice littered across the ground. Despite this being the one place in Talosheim that not even a single Undead entered for two hundred years, it was the most ominous place in the city.

However, Vandalieu had melted all of the walls of ice that served as barriers to enter. There was now nothing in their way.

Then they arrived in front of the Dragon Golem's chamber. They could see a dragon made of a black metal through the ice.

"The danger of death is less than it was before, but… it's still there," said Vandalieu.

"What will we do? Shall we postpone this venture?" asked Saria.

"No, we'll press on," replied Vandalieu. "It's a Golem that defeated someone who almost possessed the power of an S-class adventurer; there's no way that we'll defeat it without facing any danger."

In order to defeat the Golem that was carefully made by the goddess herself without facing any danger, Vandalieu would either need to become more powerful than an S-class adventurer or make Borkus and the others all as strong as S-class adventurers.

Vandalieu had gone from being a powerless baby with nothing but a large Mana pool to becoming this powerful in a little over four and a half years, but there was no telling how many years, how many decades it would take him to achieve that power.

Darcia had told him not to push himself, but Vandalieu had no intention of waiting that long.

I want to celebrate my birthday this year with a mother who has a physical body, Vandalieu thought as he cast enchantments on his party members. Zadiris and Eleanora cast their own spells as well.

Everyone had their physical and magical damage resistance increased by Vandalieu's Energy Absorption.

Their weapons had their attack power increased by Zadiris's Blade of Wind Enchantment and their Agility enhanced by her Blessing of Wind. Just in case, she cast Arrow Evasion which made it easier to dodge projectile attacks and offensive spells. It was a little regrettable that many of the party members were Undead, so she couldn't use light-attribute enchantments on them.

Eleanora's time-attribute spell, Acceleration, allowed them to move even faster.

Finally, Vandalieu transferred Mana to Zadiris and Eleanora until they were full and then their preparations were complete.

Other than Borkus's magic sword and Vigaro's axe, everyone's equipment had been enhanced by monster materials and items obtained in the treasure chambers of cleared Dungeons.

Many pieces of their equipment were enhanced by Earth Dragon or Rock Dragon materials, or made of Black Steel, a lower-value magical metal.

Bone Wolf let out a growl. He and the other Undead were the ones making the most extravagant use out of those materials, all of the major bones in their bodies had been replaced by those of Dragons whose shape had been changed to match their skeletons.

Even an Ogre would be incapable of breaking their bones now.

"Well then, let's go," said Vandalieu.

He raised a hand and began sucking the Mana out of the wall of ice. It was thicker than the other walls of ice he had removed, but the difference wasn't great and the ice began melting steadily.

The Dragon Golem sensed this and made a loud, slow movement. Sideways.

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. It wasn't retreating or approaching; it simply continued sideways and stopped in front of its own severed head that was on the ground.

Could it be, it's going to pick it up and put it back on - this is bad!

"Everyone, split left and right and retreat!" Vandalieu ordered.

Vandalieu obeyed the warnings his instincts gave him and stopped his spell. Everyone followed his command and split into two groups.

The shining black head of a Dragon came flying through.

The Dragon Golem had kicked its own head to launch it as a projectile weapon!

"It's quite the smart Golem!" Borkus spat as he avoided the Dragon's head that had smashed the ice like brittle glass and destroyed all of the Stone Golems that were supposed to be their meat shields.

"And that's the metal of the gods, Orichalcum! The fact that it destroyed the cursed ice that only Vandalieu-sama should have been able to remove is proof of that!" Eleanora said in a slightly trembling voice, making it clear what the Dragon Golem was made of.

Orichalcum, Mythril, Adamantite, Damascus Steel, Black Steel - all of these magical metals are high-quality materials, the most precious metals in this world. It is said that only the gods can handle them.

One of these precious metals made up the entirety of the Dragon Golem's thirty-meter-long body.

"Using it for weapons and equipment is one thing, but what an amazing goddess, using it for a Golem larger than a dinosaur!" said Eleanora.

"Uwah, if we brought all of that back, we'd be able to buy a country," said Rita.

"Well then, please bring it back," said Vandalieu.

"Eh?"

"Rita, Saria, Bone Man, everyone, please gather the pieces of that Golem," Vandalieu ordered as he dashed into the chamber behind Borkus and Eleanora.

Letting out a noise that was difficult to tell whether it was a roar or the sound of creaking metal, the Dragon Golem thrashed around with dull but powerful movements.

"UOOOOH! Dragon Slayer!" Borkus struck the Dragon Golem with his prided, most powerful martial skill, but though it made a loud impact against its cracked arm, he didn't manage to cause any new damage.

"Sheet! GAAH!" Borkus swore as he was repelled by the Dragon Golem's arm and sent flying like a ball in a sports match. The enchantments that had been placed on him broke like fragile glass.

"There's no way you can get through Orichalcum that's even harder than Adamantite, is there?" Eleanora said in exasperation as she flew through the air, trying to find an opening. Her objective was, of course, the spear embedded in the Golem's chest.

I'll pull it out and use it as a weapon. Even if I can't do that, if I thrust it deeper into the Golem, it should deal some damage.

Vital spots exist for Golems other than those created by Vandalieu. Their heads or bodies contain cores that are the source of the Mana that powers them; a Golem hand-made by a goddess should be no exception.

Since the Golem already has no head, the core should be somewhere in that body. If it's broken, the Golem will stop moving. If I'm going to aim for anything, it has to be that.

The current situation… Borkus was being stopped by Vandalieu's Impact-Negating Barrier before he hit the wall. Vigaro had decided to give up on attacking after seeing Borkus's sword have no effect, and it seemed that he was now devoting himself to acting as bait.

Zadiris was attacking with wind and light-attribute spells, but they were having no effect against the mass of Orichalcum that had even greater anti-magic properties than Mythril.

The ones who were playing the biggest role were probably Bone Wolf and the other Undead.

"UOOOOOHN!" roared Bone Bear.

They had been unable to increase their Ranks to surpass being Rotten Beasts, but Vandalieu had flooded them with his Mana to cause them to become Rank 5 Hell Beasts and, in Bone Bird's case, a Hell Bird. All of the bones of their bodies were now the crimson color of fresh blood.

Their crimson bodies were picking up broken pieces of the Dragon Golem in their jaws, scooping them up in their arms and dragging them along with their claws to gather them up. This was to make sure that the Dragon Golem wouldn't use them as projectile weapons like it had done with its own head, and also so that they could be used.

���Bocchan, do you think that you could make a Golem with this?!" Rita asked incredulously.

"… It's repelling my Mana; turning it into a Golem is impossible," replied Vandalieu. It seemed that it would be difficult to use directly.

"Vandalieu-sama, stop the Golem's movements!" shouted Eleanora, as if to say that this would be her time to shine. Vandalieu answered her request by using Golem Transmutation to turn the floor into a Golem.

"UOOOOOHN!"

Countless arms extended from the floor and grasped the Dragon Golem's legs.

However, the Dragon Golem moved with a creak and they broke like twigs. Its movements were slow, but its power was extraordinary.

However, it began focusing on trying to destroy the floor-turned-Golem at its feet; its decision-making ability seemed to be flawed from having lost its head, or perhaps it found the floor Golem extremely irritating.

"This is it!" Eleanora used Super-Acceleration to accelerate the flow of time around herself and flew towards the Dragon Golem's chest.

She forcefully took hold of the spear's handle, and pushed -

"Gah?!" Eleanora let out a gasp as an icicle made of cursed ice appeared from the magic spear she had grasped and pierced her chest.

She had been aware that Artifacts often rejected anyone other than their owners when touched.

"Impossible, even after two hundred years…"

However, she hadn't expected that this weapon would still respond over two hundred years after its owner had perished.

The icicle had pierced Eleanora's heart magnificently. There was no saving her. But Vandalieu would likely raise her as an Undead after her death and make use of her. In that case, I should push this magic spear even a little deeper into the Golem while I'm still alive, for the sake of my master who is the most fearsome being in this world.

For this purpose, Eleanora produced Mana Bullets behind her and released them at both herself and the magic spear. Even if the magic spear itself is made of Orichalcum, even if it's covered in cursed ice that won't let anyone near it, I should be able to push it at least a little deeper with this.

But the Mana Bullets she had created with the last of her strength vanished.

"NUORYAAAAA! DRAGON SLAYEEEER!"

"Iron Tear! Circular Axe Whip!"

Borkus and Vigaro, wielding misshapen lumps of metal that couldn't be called swords or axes, struck the Dragon Golem with them.

The Dragon Golem's body creaked and the cracks in its surface began to spread.

Even as Eleanora felt surprise at this sight, her consciousness became distant… And then the icicle was broken and tossed away. The next thing she knew, Vandalieu was looking down at her.

"I'm sorry. I could sense the danger, but I couldn't stop you in time," he said. "But please don't try to accomplish things at the cost of your own life."

"Kah… I… apolo…�� Eleanora tried to apologize while coughing blood.

"It would be best if you don't talk," Vandalieu told her.

And then his claws grew longer right before her eyes.

"Because my body is small, this is all that I can give you."

Vandalieu's blood dripped onto Eleanora's face. She reacted instinctively to the smell of its rich Mana, opened her mouth and accepted it.

Her heart began to regenerate rapidly. It should have been impossible for her heart to recover after being destroyed to this extent.

"I kept your death away," Vandalieu explained. "As long as I have my Mana, no wound is fatal. I'm sure it hurts, but please do your best to heal."

"It's… already healed," said Eleanora. "Thanks to your blood," she added.

To think that I made a complete recovery after having my heart pierced through. Eleanora could feel power flowing throughout her entire body just from licking the remainders of Vandalieu's blood on her lips.

If Vandalieu hadn't ordered Eleanora to use her normal tone of speech, she would have been praising him as her lord and expressing her gratitude and loyalty by kissing his feet.

However, this was a time where she should express her loyalty through her work.

"Give me a sword as well," she said.

"Umm, please wait a moment." Vandalieu was unable to create a sword for her right away.

He was currently casting three spells simultaneously.

He had attach handles to broken Orichalcum fragments that Bone Bear and the other Undead had gathered and barely managed to alter the shapes of the lumps of metal so that at least the Swordsmanship and Axe Technique skills could be used with them, forming crudely-made Orichalcum weapons. They were trying to return to their original shape like a memory alloy, so the two instances of Golem Transmutation that he was using for the two weapons to prevent that were two spells.

Transforming the floor into a Golem to impair the Dragon Golem's movements was another spell.

Making Eleanora's weapon would be the fourth.

Maintaining the shape of the Orichalcum fragments was using up a particularly large amount of his Mana.

"Boy, you are so hot that my hands are almost burning," Zadiris warned him. She was helping alleviate his symptoms by casting healing magic on his head.

"Please bear with it for a little while longer," said Vandalieu.

"No, won't you worry about yourself a little more?" Zadiris sighed.

"It's alright; Surpass Limits is still taking effect."

"Boy… Surely you are not under the impression that you can surpass your limits endlessly?" Zadiris showed her anger while wearing a smile.

"I don't need a sword anymore! I'll sit here quietly and watch!" said Eleanora, taking back her request.

Vandalieu decided to obey their wishes and stay put as well.

And it seems that things will be fine even if we just watch from now on.

With each swing of Borkus and Vigaro's crude weapons, the cracks in the Dragon Golem's body grew larger and deeper.

The Stone Golems that Vandalieu had rebuilt were acting as decoys for the Dragon Golem's counterattacks, and each time more pieces of Orichalcum broke off its body, Bone Monkey and the other Undead gathered and discarded them so that the Golem couldn't use them as projectile weapons.

The Dragon Golem that had limited options for attacking and dulled movements after being more than half-destroyed by Mikhail wasn't even an enemy now that a method of inflicting damage to it had been found.

The only thing to be careful of now was the self-protecting mechanism of the magic spear that had pierced Eleanora's heart. Borkus and Vigaro simply needed to make sure they didn't accidentally touch it, so it wasn't a substantial threat.

With a loud sound, the Dragon Golem's right leg collapsed. Half of its one remaining arm dropped onto the ground.

And then its torso followed, crumbling as the Dragon Golem fell.

They had won.

Everyone believed it. The only casualties were the Stone Golems. Borkus, Vigaro and the Undead let out a shout of victory.

Vandalieu didn't doubt their victory either. He looked towards the door on the wall far behind where the Dragon Golem had stood. The resurrection device that he had been unable to search for up until now was likely behind that door.

With this, he would be able to resurrect Darcia.

But then that confident belief turned into fear.

"Run -"

Countless icicles exploded outwards from the Dragon Golem, drowning out Vandalieu's shouted warning.

Chapter 51: You're an enemy

Icicles extended with explosive force from the cracks in the Dragon Golem's torso.

Vandalieu and Eleanora were far away, but Vigaro and the others had been caught up in it with no chance to react.

Bone Wolf and Bone Bird let out screams as the icicles pierced them while bones and pieces of armor flew and rolled across the ground all the way over to Vandalieu.

Vandalieu's eyes met with those of a skull that had landed nearby.

"Bone Man… What about your other parts?" he asked.

"Jyuuh! My lower half is on the other side and my left arm has been swallowed by the ice. The rest is all around this area!" replied Bone Man, his lower jaw and teeth clattering energetically. It seemed that he had split himself into pieces to escape the icicles.

"As expected of an Undead," said Zadiris.

"I've started to lose confidence in my own immortality," said Eleanora.

The two of them smiled bitterly with relief and looked up to see Rita and Saria, who were combining their armor pieces to make up a single suit of armor now that they lacked the parts to make two. Vigaro was unharmed and Borkus was getting onto his feet, despite having now properly lost half of his head rather than just his face. It seemed that there was surprisingly little damage done.

"Those icicles… That cursed ice moved with the Dragon Golem's fragments that cover it like armor," said Vandalieu. "The surface of the ice has Orichalcum fragments in it, so it nullified my Energy Absorption and Zadiris's Arrow Evasion."

On top of that, the cursed ice was a special substance that only Orichalcum and Vandalieu's death-attribute magic could break down.

Bone Man and some of the other Undead had managed to avoid the icicles by splitting themselves into pieces, but Bone Monkey and Bone Bear had instinctively tried to stop the ice to no avail.

Bone Bird, who was missing a leg, gave a sorrowful cry.

Vandalieu saw the crimson color of Bone Monkey's femur fade away, returning to its original white color.

"My lord…!" Bone Man began.

"I know." Vandalieu used Spirit Form Transformation on his right hand, connected it to the spirits of Bone Monkey, Bone Bear and Bone Wolf and poured his Mana into them to preserve their damaged spirits. Their spirits had been gravely wounded by the Orichalcum, and though it was possible to heal them, it would be difficult to have them return to fighting shape right away.

"Is everyone alright?!" shouted Vigaro.

"Tch! My good looks have been ruined!" Borkus lamented.

They were both still holding their weapons, which were crude and barely weapon-shaped at all. But they were still weapons made of Orichalcum.

They had managed to block the Orichalcum-covered icicles with these to protect themselves.

"Here you are, Rita-jouchan," said Borkus.

"Thank you," replied Rita.

While Vigaro was unharmed, the skull-like right half of Borkus's face had been broken… because he had immediately grabbed the bra portion of Rita's bikini armor.

"I was thinking about how embarrassing it would be to fight in front of everyone with my chest exposed," she continued.

"Chest, you say… there's nothing there," said Borkus, seemingly disappointed at the fact that Rita was still just a spirit other than her armor, but it seemed that she had no intention of being upset by his remark.

"Once my Spirit Form skill levels up like Father's, you will be able to see it," she told him. "Bocchan, what will we do now?"

"Let's see… Is there anyone who can explain this situation?" Vandalieu asked.

"I can speculate," said Eleanora, pointing a finger towards the combined mass of the ice and the remains of the Golem. It had begun writhing and creaking after icicles had exploded outwards.

She was pointing at the magic spear that was still embedded in the Dragon Golem's chest.

"That magic spear, Ice Age, has probably gone wild. The Dragon Golem has been stopping its functions up until now, but I'm sure it took Mana from the Dragon Golem's core to release that explosion of ice. I couldn't have imagined that it would be capable of doing something like this, nor that its self-protection mechanism would still be functioning."

In other words, it seemed that it was all Mikhail's fault.

"Then do you know what's going to happen to it now?" asked Vandalieu.

"I don't know what has caused the magic spear to go wild or how exactly it is receiving power from the Golem's core, but if it's just on a rampage with no purpose it will keep thrashing around indiscriminately until it runs out of Mana."

"Indiscriminately," Vandalieu repeated. "I see."

Into the walls or the floor, or perhaps towards the resurrection device beyond the door.

The headless Dragon Golem whose legs had sprouted Orichalcum-tipped icicles like the legs of an octopus or a squid… Or rather, the magic spear, Ice Age, was doing something far more terrible than Eleanora's prediction.

It was moving directly behind it, towards the resurrection device.

"We must stop that rotten spear," said Vandalieu.

There was now no other choice. There would be no point in reorganizing another party to come back; the resurrection device would already be destroyed by then.

"Yeah! Leave it to me!" shouted Borkus.

He and Vigaro began running, crude Orichalcum weapons in hand. Since the ice was cursed ice, only they and Vandalieu could deal a decisive blow to Ice Age.

Their attacks landed in an interesting way. The legs made of ice made no attempt to avoid the attacks; they were broken and pieces of ice scattered across the floor.

However, no matter how much they broke, the amount of ice wasn't decreasing.

"Nuuuuh! There's no end to this!" said Vigaro.

"It's the Mana! As long as that Golem's core still contains Mana, that spear will keep making more ice!" said Borkus.

As Ice Age's ice was not a part of its body like a Golem, no matter how much of it broke, there was no damage to Ice Age itself. Since it was using the ice as limbs, breaking it would slow down its movement, but that would be nothing more than stalling for time.

Vandalieu was trying to stop it as well by turning the floor into a Golem, but the ice crushed it easily and continued onwards, slowly but surely.

"Then I'll smash the spear itself! Instant Response!" Borkus moved with a speed that was difficult to imagine possible for his enormous body, running up the ice and closing the distance to Ice Age itself.

However, before he could get close enough for his weapon to reach it, countless icicles appeared and were launched towards him.

"Sheet! The ice near the spear is damn fast!"

Faced with this machine-gun fire of icicles, even Borkus had no choice but to stop and fall back.

But as the icicles were being fired straight after being created, there were no Orichalcum fragments included in the attack. Even if they hit Borkus, they wouldn't really cause any serious damage as he was a Zombie.

However, it seemed that the icicles stayed under Ice Age's control after being fired; he could see that they writhed unpleasantly after being repelled by his sword.

If they hit him and pinned him down, he would be immobilized until Vandalieu melted them for him.

"Damn it! I couldn't defeat the weapon's owner and now I can't even win against the weapon itself?!" Borkus bellowed. He wasn't giving up; he began looking for another opportunity.

"Vandalieu, we need more help!" Vigaro was still breaking the legs made of ice away from the spear to buy more time.

Both of them were probably aiming to make it run out of Mana.

However, the ice being generated by Ice Age showed no signs of weakening.

"I can't bear to watch this any longer," said Eleanora, picking up an Orichalcum fragment and flying into battle.

"Rita, we're going too!" said Saria. The two of them picked up one of the Orichalcum fragments that were shaped more appropriately and followed Eleanora's lead.

And then they began attacking Ice Age's legs with that Orichalcum fragment. Its shape wasn't very good for using as as a weapon, but fortunately the two of them possessed considerable physical strength. Smashing the Orichalcum into the ice with all of their strength was enough to break it.

Eleanora used her large Orichalcum fragment as a shield as she moved to join Borkus. She blocked the icicle projectiles as she looked for the smallest chance.

Even the one-legged Bone Bird was screeching as it fired its spirit form feathers. It knew that it couldn't break the ice, but it wanted to buy as much time as possible.

Everyone was fighting with everything they had so that Vandalieu could acquire the resurrection device. But it seemed that Vandalieu could do nothing more.

He was already managing six spells simultaneously.

He had stopped turning the floor near Ice Age's legs into Golems as it was completely ineffective, but he was maintaining the shape of two Orichalcum weapons, and the spirit form transformation on his right hand to protect each of the fallen Undead's spirits made four more - six in total.

Even with the Multi-Cast spell, he was past his limits. His Surpass Limits skill was already active, as was his Rapid Healing skill. Zadiris was murmuring the incantations for light-attribute healing spells, but even so, it felt like his brain was boiling.

No matter how big a lake is, there is only so much water that a bucket can draw from it at a time. In same way, no matter how large Vandalieu's Mana pool was, there was a limit to how many spells he could cast at a time.

What should I do?

What was happening now wasn't a fight to the death. If Vandalieu left it like this, nobody would die. Only the resurrection device will be destroyed.

That spear was clearly moving with some kind of intent. It would have been unnatural for it to head in a straight path towards the place where the resurrection device was likely to be if it was simply on a rampage.

It was the spear once wielded by Mikhail, the Divine Spear of Ice, the spear forged for heroes by the god of ice who served Peria, the goddess of water and knowledge. It was unmistakably a legendary-class, or maybe even mythical-class Artifact.

In that case, it wasn't strange to think that it had a mind of its own. And that mind considered Mikhail… the justice of the champion Bellwood and the justice of the God of Law and Fate, Alda, as true justice.

The champion who didn't accept things from other worlds, denying and destroying existing prosperity for the sake of this world's own culture and civilization despite not knowing how long those would take to develop.

The god who doesn't acknowledge the lives of those who don't obey his laws, who still passes on discriminatory teachings against the races created by Vida even after a hundred thousand years have passed.

The hero who dealt the fatal blow to the nation of Titans in their name.

The crazed magic spear of that hero was trying to destroy the resurrection device that Vandalieu desired.

There was some truth to their beliefs. It couldn't be said that they were completely wrong.

So then, was Vandalieu the one who was wrong? Was his desire to resurrect his dead mother an absolute evil?

That wasn't right, was it? Treating the wounded, curing the sick - extending the lives of creatures who will eventually die one day is always a good thing, so why should only the resurrection of someone who is dead be considered evil?

I won't acknowledge their beliefs. So I have no choice but to win. How can I do that? I have Mana. I have Mana, but I can't win like this. I don't have enough brains, I have too few brain cells. What should I do?

"Boy, you are at your limit!" Zadiris's voice was full of sorrow. Vandalieu was at his limit; he couldn't do any more. Could he only watch as the battle was lost, as the hope he had gained was taken away from him?

There was one way. If he gave up on the spirits of Bone Monkey and the other wounded Undead, there would be less burden on his brain.

But he couldn't do that. The resurrection device was his hope to gain something; what use would it be if he lost something to get his hands on it? At first, Bone Monkey and the others had been nothing but tools to him. But now they were his important servants that he had raised up to this point. He could replace their bones no matter how many times they were broken, but he couldn't replace their spirits.

That's right, their spirits are - ah, right. I do have another brain, don't I?

Realizing this, Vandalieu began to split into two.

"Boy -?!"

At least, this is how it appeared to Zadiris. However, she quickly realized that this wasn't the case.

"Spirit Form?!"

Vandalieu was now separate from his physical body… He was having an out-of-body experience.

Normally, a body with no soul would collapse and stop moving, like a dead tree. However, Vandalieu was still using his body through magic.

The spirit-form Vandalieu was controlling the physical Vandalieu through the Long-distance Control skill that he had acquired.

"With this, I have two brains," said Vandalieu. "Zadiris, please take care of my physical body."

"Yes, leave it to me." Zadiris was startled by the fact that Vandalieu was speaking through both his spirit form and his physical body, but she quickly focused on her healing spells.

With this, he could split the six spells he had barely been managing to maintain, with each brain managing three. But it was still not enough. In order to stop that miserable, god-made stick, he needed more.

But what more could he do?

My brain is… Hmm? I'm in spirit form right now. Then do I even need to worry about my shape?

Vandalieu looked at his physical body to see his right arm under Spirit Form Transformation, split into three to preserve the spirits of the wounded Undead by providing them with Mana.

When he used Spirit Form Transformation on his physical body, he was able to freely change its shape like he was doing with his right arm. With that being the case, he would certainly be able to change his shape now that he was completely in spirit form.

Vandalieu's vision expanded.

Manipulating his spirit form with his Spirit Form skill, his head split into two at the neck. Now he had three brains.

It still wasn't enough. He quickly added more. Now he had five brains.

Using his new brains, he made Golems. He made more, more and more. He embedded Orichalcum fragments in the Golems he made.

In short, he was now doing the same thing as that stick. He mixed Orichalcum instead of ice into his Golems that he made from the floor and walls so that it could be used as a weapon.

Stone men with black metal protruding from their bodies roared as they rammed themselves into the octopus of ice, one after another.

"Bocchan?!" exclaimed Rita. "Why is your appearance like that?! There are two of you and you have so many heads!"

"I didn't see nothing!" shouted Vigaro.

"Ah! How terrifyingly beautiful!" remarked Eleanora.

As Golem reinforcements appeared one after another as if Vandalieu was trying to use up all of the walls and open a giant hole in the floor, everyone had turned around in surprise to see two Vandalieus, and one of them had a rather grotesque appearance. They were surprised… but for some reason, Eleanora's eyes showed signs of awe and excitement.

"Everyone, pay no attention to my lord's appearance! You must fight!" Bone Man shouted from the ground near Vandalieu's feet.

"Move your hands, not your mouths!" Borkus said, reprimanding them.

Bone Man and Borkus's voices returned them to their senses, and they returned to work once more to destroy the ice.

Indeed, this was simply work now.

The magic spear was indeed a legendary-class Artifact. However, it would normally never have the power to fight battles on its own. It was merely using some method to utilize the huge amount of Mana contained in the Dragon Golem's core in order to produce and manipulate ice in order to make its struggling movements.

That was why the movements of the cursed ice were slow and stiff. If it were made of normal ice, Borkus and the others would have broken all of it long ago even without Orichalcum weapons.

That cursed ice was being swarmed with countless Golems with Orichalcum fragments attached, broken by Vigaro and the armor sisters and even directly melted by Vandalieu's death-attribute magic. It couldn't even maintain the shape of its ice even though it had stopped firing projectiles, let alone repel Borkus and the others.

"This damn spear is so annoying!" Borkus struck the spear as it struggled in vain, sending it flying out of the thick chest of the Golem that it had been embedded in and spinning onto the floor.

The ice stopped moving at that instant.

Is it over? Vandalieu wondered as he returned to his physical body. He felt dizzy for a moment as his extra fields of vision disappeared, but Zadiris stopped him from falling to his knees.

"Whoa… Thank you, but why are you holding onto my head so tightly?" he asked her.

"I was just thinking that it would be terrible if this head were to split into multiple as well." Zadiris had both arms wrapped around Vandalieu's head. It seemed that she had been very shocked by the division of his spirit form head.

Vandalieu had frequently branched his arms out into tentacle-like shapes with Spirit Form Transformation, however. Did dividing his head make more of an impact than his arms?

"More importantly, the first thing I need to do is prepare bodies for Bone Bear and the others."

Vandalieu really wanted to rush to the resurrection device. But that could come last.

Reviving the Undead came first. He could heal their wounded spirits after putting them in bodies. It wouldn't take much time or effort.

But as Vandalieu attempted to return them to normal, their spirits growled in protest.

They had become burdens to Vandalieu; they were weak. They didn't want to be returned to normal because they wanted to become stronger.

Bone Bird let out a cry. It seemed to be in agreement, intending to join them.

"… I think it's possible, but are you sure?" Vandalieu asked. "If I do this, I don't know if I can undo it."

Bone Bird nodded, as did Bone Wolf and his companions. Their spirits had already lost the appearance of when they were alive; they were now skeleton-shaped.

They had originally been the wandering spirits of animals and insects. They had no memories of how they had appeared when they were alive, and they already had almost no memories of before they were turned into Undead. Their loyalty to Vandalieu was the most important thing to them. It was because of him that they were now immortal creatures with no limited lifespan, no need to eat or reproduce, without the chains of animal instinct binding them.

"I understand."

Bone Bird's spirit came out of its body. The spirits of the others lost their shapes, and all of the spirits mixed together.

The bones of Bone Bear and the others that had been scattered around rolled across the floor to gather in one spot.

And then the spirits that had combined with each other and lost their shapes entered that spot.

A monster made of bones let out a roar as it was born. It was built like the pieces of different puzzle sets had been forcibly joined; the bones of a bear, a monkey, a wolf and a bird were combined together.

It was a Chimera with a body consisting of bones. A Japanese person might think it was a Nue* made only of bones.

"This is a Bone Chimera. A creature born of a single malicious entity trapped in the bones of multiple animals, humans and monsters… This is the first time I am seeing one," said Zadiris. "Bone Bird, Bone Monkey, Bone Wolf, Bone Bear, Bone Man. This is a splendid display of loyalty."

"Umm… I am still here," said Bone Man.

"Ah, that is right."

Bone Man's skull was still lying on the ground. The magic spear's rampage was over, so his bones were steadily gathering together, however.

"Bone Man, please let me know if there are any bones you are missing," said Vandalieu.

"As you will."

Vandalieu headed towards the magic spear lying on the floor, bringing Bone Chimera with him.

"Vandalieu-sama, it's dangerous to approach that spear!" Eleanora said, trying to stop him, but he waved her down with his hand.

As to be expected of an Artifact; there wasn't a single scratch on the magic spear. Vandalieu enveloped it in dark, death-attribute Mana and then touched it.

"Do not touch me!" shouted a voice echoing inside his head.

It seemed that this magic spear had a clearer personality than Vandalieu had expected. A weapon with conscious intelligence; should this be called an Intelligent Weapon?

"Filthy Dhampir! I do not know what your intentions may be, but they will certainly be crushed by Mikhail's successor, my future owner! Enjoy your brief victory while it lasts!"

"Ah, I'm not interested in that stuff, so can I ask you to tell me some things regarding the current situation? You were a spear originally created to serve Peria, not Alda, weren't you?" asked Vandalieu.

Judging from the angry, distressed tone of Ice Age, he could guess that Yupeon, the god of ice, had similar views to Alda and the champion Bellwood unlike Tristan, the god of the seas who had mated with Vida to become one of the ancestors of the Mer-people.

Ice Age, an Artifact created by Yupeon, shared his views. And the hero it had acknowledged as its owner over two hundred years ago was Mikhail, the Divine Spear of Ice. He had been a devout believer of Alda, a hero who believed in the justice of the Amid Empire and Mirg shield-nation from the bottom of his heart.

However, he had been narrowly defeated by the goddess-made Dragon Golem and Ice Age was left embedded in the Golem's chest, separated from its owner.

In this world, those who lost their lives can never come back. In Mikhail's absence, Ice Age had decided to use his cursed ice to seal away the resurrection device that overturned this law of his own accord so that nobody would ever touch it.

Normally, he wouldn't have been capable of doing this without his owner despite being an Artifact. But by coincidence, he had been able to use the Dragon Golem's core that was lightly touching its tip and receive the necessary supply of Mana from there. He had built multiple walls that only Mikhail could pass through.

The wall that contained Zandia's hand was not Mikhail's doing, but Ice Age's.

"But it was not Mikhail or the one who bears his will, but you who came to this place. An insolent creature such as you who toys with life, accompanied by two filthy undying creatures! How regrettable it is that I was only one step away from completely crushing your ambitions!" screamed Ice Age.

"That's - what?" Vandalieu was about to say, 'That's a shame', but then he had noticed something strange about Ice Age's words.

Two… He said, 'two'. Even if you exclude Rita and Saria, there's Borkus, Bone Man, Bone Bear… Six in total. I'm sure this guy wouldn't use a different counter between Undead people and animals*.

So why two? The first time I came here, it was me, Borkus and Nuaza, the three of us. Is that what he means?

Vandalieu didn't know how good this magic spear's five senses were, but it seemed that it had been working even while embedded in the Dragon Golem's chest.

It was obvious once he thought about it. In this state, Ice Age had created walls of ice at the entrance to this chamber, the distant corridor and the entrance leading to this underground area, after all.

It wasn't strange to think that he had noticed Vandalieu and his companions when they had visited this place around two years ago.

So what has this guy been doing up until now? When a Dhampir who was able to melt his cursed ice appeared in the company of two Undead instead of Mikhail's successor, what did he do in this period of over a year?!

"Vandalieu, what's wrong with you all of a sudden? Are you talking with that spear? Hello?"

"Bocchan, what's the matter?!"

Taking no notice of Vigaro and Saria's voices, Vandalieu began to run towards the door that the Dragon Golem had been protecting.

The door, which was made of the same material as the wall and difficult to spot, opened on its own as Vandalieu approached. It had probably been set to open once its guardian, the Golem, was defeated.

On the other side of the door was a large pipe made of some unidentified glass-like substance, a magic circle, a monolith with indecipherable characters engraved on it and something that resembled a flat-screen television from Earth.

All of them had been pierced by icicles, damaged and broken.

"Fu… FUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It seems that it has worked well! I could obtain Mana from the Golem's core, but I had become unable to move in exchange for that. I was unsure whether I had managed to destroy the device with the ice that I created in that distant space, but it is a relief to see that I succeeded! Your evil plans have fallen apart, Dhampir!���

Ice Age's harsh, loud laughter sounded repulsive to Vandalieu's ears. Behind him, Bone Chimera let out a sorrowful cry while Vigaro and the others stood there, frozen in place.

And then Vandalieu turned his wide-open eyes towards Ice Age.

If it's broken, I just have to fix it, and if that's impossible, I just have to find another way. I'll never give up on resurrecting Mom.

But before that, I have to dispose of this thing.

"You would destroy me, Dhampir? It is indeed likely possible for an insolent creature such as you who is even capable of manipulating Orichalcum, something that only the gods should be allowed to do. However, doing so would be meaningless. I am an Artifact created by Yupeon, the god of ice; I am essentially a clone of him. Even if this spear is destroyed, my consciousness will return to Yupeon and one day I shall stand before you once more in the hands of another hero like Mikhail. And then I shall sever the thread of your evil life, along with your filthy undying creatures!"

Vandalieu felt nauseous as he listened to the repulsively confident voice that had absolute belief in its own righteousness.

"I'll ask you just to make sure. Are you serious?" Despite his nausea, Vandalieu asked the spear this question, just to be absolutely certain about his upcoming decision.

"Of course! If you should regret anything, regret your own cursed birth -"

"Then I will destroy you."

Vandalieu stabbed his spirit-form fingers into the magic spear. He felt the Orichalcum resist, tearing off his skin. He felt pain, as if his exposed flesh and bone were being scraped away by a file.

Ice Age's voice turned into a screaming noise. It sounded so pleasant to Vandalieu's ears that he forgot his own pain.

"It seems that you're a clone of a great god, but you're one of our genuine enemies," he said. "Since you've said that you will curse us and deny us with all of your might, with not a single shred of mercy, with no exception, then I have no choice but to do this."

It was possible that Ice Age didn't know why Vandalieu had wanted to obtain the resurrection device. But it didn't matter.

In that case, that would simply mean that Ice Age had said, 'evil intentions,' while not knowing anything. If that was the case, Dhampirs were an absolute evil to him, worse than insects that caused only great harm while having no benefits to existing whose intentions were not even worth listening to.

That was to be expected. This spear believed Mikhail's actions had been those of justice.

The actions of the hero who had believed his home nation was good for obeying the orders of the Empire to invade the Titan nation that was doing nothing more than prospering in the area surrounded by the mountain range. The hero who had put an end to that nation.

And he even called those who had turned into Undead after being killed by that hero 'filthy'.

As long as this magic spear existed, he would continue cursing Vandalieu and his companions for being evil and watch vigilantly for an opportunity to tear out their entrails with his tip. That was the kind of existence he was.

"If I left someone like you alone, I wouldn't be able to calmly look for a way to resurrect my mother, and I would definitely be unable to become happy in the future," said Vandalieu. "Ah, there it is. I thought it would be here since you said you're a clone of a god; I'm glad I found it. Even I can't destroy something that doesn't exist."

Ice Age continued screaming unintelligibly. "You… bastard… You would turn a god into your enemy -"

"No, we're enemies of your god no matter what we do, aren't we? So it doesn't matter what I do, does it?"

What was Ice Age trying to say after he had already destroyed any opportunity for negotiations, reconciliation, harmony or a truce, all on his own?

Had he said and done all of these things with so little resolve that he expected to remain unharmed afterwards? If so, Vandalieu couldn't help but admire his nerve. He would find it impossible to be so bold.

"I think it's impossible for you to do this, but if you can, please tell him something for me," said Vandalieu. "Tell him that he's my enemy."

"Gih, gah, Mikha -"

Ice Age's wonderful song stopped and the clear sound of a cloned god's soul being destroyed rang out.

[The levels of the Golem Transmutation, Spirit Form, Multi-Cast, Soul Break and Long-distance Control skills have increased!]

[You have acquired the unique skill, God Slayer!]

Side Story Chapter 1: In a Divine Realm

In the space between worlds, Rodcorte, the god who ruled over the circles of transmigration* for multiple worlds including Earth, Origin and Lambda, had created a place that could be called a 'Divine Realm' and was currently sitting in there.

This was also the place that the souls of the one hundred people who had died on Earth had once gathered.

Rodcorte was currently observing Origin's present state. As a god, he was capable of seeing many things happening there from outside the world. He was far from omniscient, but he could gain a general picture of things.

"The lapsing of Origin into chaos is inevitable. I suppose the cause lies in the existence of Amamiya Hiroto and his death," he said, speaking to himself.

The world where magic and science coexisted, where Vandalieu had lived during his second lifetime, where Amemiya Hiroto and the others who were reincarnated there were still living. Rodcorte considered this world to be as far-developed as Earth, but it was falling deep into chaos.

The cause of this was Vandalieu… Amamiya Hiroto's death attribute. The military nation that had used him as an experimental animal extorted death-attribute Mana out of him and produced a large number of Magic Items that exceeded common sense.

Cookware capable of fermenting food to make it reach the optimum level of maturity in an instant.

Storage cabinets that kept food preserved almost permanently.

Medical equipment that removed any poison and illness from the body without causing any harmful effects.

Pills that restored the organs with impaired function due to aging, illness or injury.

Hair regrowth medicine that restored lost hair.

Things that had been impossible through other attributes of magic and previous science… Things that had been theoretically possible but almost impossible to actually create in practice. Such things had been created at unbelievably low costs.

That death-attribute Mana had created dream-like produce and domestic livestock, led to the announcement of cures for previously incurable viruses, pathogens and hereditary diseases and even made cryogenic sleep possible.

Research had almost reached the secret behind immortality.

If one were to ask whether such things were possible with death-attribute Mana alone, the answer is that it really was.

At a glance, the death attribute may seem like a simple counterpart to the life attribute. Indeed, the things both attributes were capable of were similar, and if the life attribute transcends its highest limits, it can achieve exceedingly close results.

However, they are not completely the same. The reason is because life is energy. No matter how much energy one adds, no matter how much one tries to limit its consumption, it will run out eventually. In other words, death occurs.

The death attribute is the one that governs over death. It is able to remove the phenomenon of death from living things. It is free to accelerate or stop decomposition; in the same way, it is simple to produce things that can eliminate poison and illnesses. It is not even difficult to return failing organs and cells to a healthy state.

However, the military nation that discovered the death attribute had caused Amamiya Hiroto to die in their reckless experiments. And the others who had reincarnated in this world had thoroughly destroyed him. Not even a single fragment of his Mana had been left behind.

Nobody could create death-attribute Magic Items anymore. The research could not continue. The produce and livestock that had been created still remained, but those alone weren't enough to satisfy mankind.

The military nation was internationally condemned for the existence of the research laboratory that had conducted illegal experiments that completely ignored human rights. Its president and the high officials that had been involved with the laboratory resigned, but that was only the beginning.

The dream-like Magic Items that the military nation had been producing and selling were now completely impossible to create.

The largest nation in the international committee that had condemned the military nation for its actions immediately began research on the death attribute. Amamiya Hiroto had killed most of the researchers in the original laboratory and consumed much of their spirits. Their souls were just barely intact, but their memories and personalities were not in a state for them to be useful, so even methods such as Necromancy were useless.

The few survivors, the remaining research materials and the death attribute Magic Items possessed by each nation were all gathered for analysis in a desperate attempt to reproduce the death attribute.

The people in power had been lured by the industrial and medical advances offered by the death attribute, or rather, the word 'immortality' which had almost been achieved.

The military nation had become much weaker, but as long as the powerful men of the world continued to desire immortality, the secret feuds between the federal states, commonwealths, republics and new nations would surface in a large way.

War could break out and cause the loss of millions, tens of millions of lives.

"I don't really care about that, but…" Rodcorte had no interest in calculating those numbers. In fact, people being killed in war would be a wonderful thing; he would welcome them with open arms. He was the god who ruled over the circles of transmigration, after all.

It would be problematic if people didn't die and come to be reborn.

Even if tens of millions of people were to die all at once, Rodcorte's transmigration system wouldn't have any difficulties in dealing with them. It could process up to a trillion people at a time. There would be no problem at all.

Origin had a population of ten billion people. Only a small number, not even one percent of them, would die in war and their numbers would soon increase again afterwards. Things would be back to normal in less than a hundred years.

In fact, people's life expectancies in Origin had surpassed those on Earth by too much due to the existence of magic in Origin in addition to science, so this was just perfect.

Rodcorte did indeed desire the world's development, but a society capable of sustaining a population of billions of people without falling to ruin could already be considered nothing but a good result.

Even if a population of seven billion were to shrink to five billion, he would consider it as only a minor decrease. Rather, if humanity underwent some kind of spiritual evolution or reached some 'next stage', then they would really be beyond his control.

He wouldn't mind if they advanced into outer space, however.

With that said, Rodcorte had no intentions of directly intervening with the world and his ability to do so was limited so he couldn't do anything about the situation anyway.

If he wanted to stop the conflict and war in Origin, it was possible for him to send a 'Divine Message' to those who had been reincarnated from Earth in order to guide them and give them information. However, he had no intention of doing that, either.

The reason he had sent them to Origin rather than Lambda in the first place was so that they could gain experience. He had helped them by giving them cheat-like abilities, fortunes and destinies, so he would have them do as they liked, whether they chose to stop the conflict, participate in it or simply stay uninvolved.

If war began, some of them, maybe even dozens of them, could die. That would be an experience for them in itself. There were a hundred of them after all; there would be no problem if some of them failed.

For Rodcorte, a god who was not directly believed in by humans, humans were nothing but bits in a computer. Just information flowing in a system. Good and evil, tragedy, happiness, none of that mattered. Everything would be fine as long as the system continued working with no problems.

"The problem is immortality, I suppose."

The thing that would cause Rodcorte trouble was immortality. As he was a god ruling over the circles of transmigration, creatures that don't die would be nothing but beings who denied his authority and hinder his system.

It would be even more problematic than Undead who continued moving after death and the resurrection of the dead.

Undead are a result of souls lingering in the world without being reincarnated, but they would still return to the system eventually. The resurrection of the dead was problematic, but if the soul was already transmigrated, only the body would be resurrected and the soul would never return. Only a small error would be caused.

However, immortal beings would never return.

If Undead were small errors that wouldn't cause any problems even if left alone for a while and the resurrection of the dead was a bug that was slightly more difficult to fix, immortal beings would be a critical bug that would require the system to be brought down for maintenance in order to eliminate.

"Even considering that, it's good that Amamiya Hiroto died."

If Amamiya Hiroto had continued to live, the research had gone on and immortality had become a reality, Rodcorte would have been racking his brains over how to deal with it. Even if he were to send those reincarnated from Earth a Divine Message, he possessed no way of forcing them to obey his commands.

He couldn't even send Divine Messages to humans other than them.

This was also because Rodcorte's existence wasn't known and he wasn't worshipped by the people of any world. This was to ensure that if something serious were to happen in one world, it wouldn't affect the circles of transmigration of other worlds, but… he was now regretting not preparing another being like a subordinate god or collaborative god.

Gods are not omniscient or omnipotent; their direct influence extends only as far as their authority allows and to those who believe in them.

No, for now, Origin would be fine. Rodcorte would let it be. Mankind would not self-destruct or decrease in numbers too drastically.

Coming to this conclusion, Rodcorte shifted his gaze away from Origin. And then he suddenly realized something.

"It has been five years since Amamiya Hiroto reincarnated in Lambda. His memories may have returned by now."

Memories of previous lives returning while still in the body of a breastfeeding infant would have placed a huge mental burden on reincarnated individuals. In order to protect their minds, Rodcorte had set things up so that their memories would start returning from the age of five onwards.

As long as nothing hugely troublesome and unexpected occurred, memories would not return to a breastfeeding infant.

"The fact that Amamiya Hiroto's soul has not returned here means that he was unfortunate enough to not die within the first five years of his life. It may be some time before his memories return, but I should check to make sure."

If Amamiya Hiroto's memories had indeed returned, Rodcorte had to drive him to suicide so that he would die before it was discovered that he could potentially make immortality a reality.

He had three curses placed on him, but even Rodcorte had been unable to erase the death attribute that had soaked into his soul and become a part of him. If he struggled and refused to give up, he would learn to cast death-attribute magic in Lambda as well.

For this purpose, Rodcorte used his system to investigate Amamiya Hiroto's life following his reincarnation. Through this system, it was possible to look at a reincarnated soul's past and present situation.

However, there was no information about Amamiya Hiroto.

"… What is this?"

He searched again, but there was no information. There were records of his reincarnation from Earth to Origin, but the records stopped suddenly following his death in Origin.

"Could it be that he wasn't reincarnated? That isn't possible. Amamiya Hiroto was definitely reincarnated. But the fact that there are no records in the system means - Oh no. He fell out of my system and entered a circle outside of my control!"

For Rodcorte, there were three irregularities in Lambda. The first was the Undead that even appeared from time to time in Origin.

The other two were the monsters that the Demon King and his subordinates had created in ancient times and the new races created by the goddess Vida.

Those two weren't managed by Rodcorte's circle of transmigration system.

When the Demon King created the monsters, if their transmigration fell under the categories of Rodcorte's system, the Demon King would have been unable to reincarnate monsters' souls and have them be reborn. For this reason, he had somehow managed to imitate Rodcorte's circle of transmigration system and created his own transmigration system.

That was why monsters were still rampant in Lambda to this day. This was also the reason bosses and mid-bosses were unnaturally generated inside Dungeons.

Humans and other races who worshipped the evil gods were now falling outside of Rodcorte's system and being incorporated into the now-fallen Demon King's system instead. This was another thing causing slightly problematic errors in Rodcorte's system.

And the problems caused by the races created by Vida were due to the hostility between Vida… or rather, all of the gods of Lambda, and Rodcorte.

When the Demon King first appeared, the gods of Lambda known as Vida and Alda had asked Rodcorte for help. Rodcorte had refused all of their requests and simply observed carefully.

If he were to get involved and the Demon King destroyed his soul, this would have effects on all of the circles of transmigration of the other worlds that he managed, not just Lambda. This was a decision he made to prevent that from happening.

To Rodcorte, Lambda was but one of many worlds. If it were destroyed, Rodcorte would feel pain equivalent to several bones being broken, but it wouldn't be a fatal wound. He wasn't willing to risk a swift death in order to avoid his bones being broken.

After that, Rodcorte had protested against the decision of the gods of Lambda to summon champions from other worlds in order to turn the tides of the battle. Because the champions had only been summoned from worlds whose circles of transmigration Rodcorte ruled over, this had caused errors in his system.

He requested that they quickly send the champions back or simply exploit them until they died.

Back then, Rodcorte had thought that Lambda's destruction was inevitable, so he hadn't wanted more trouble to be caused by a meaningless struggle.

As a result, a deep gulf formed between Rodcorte and the gods of Lambda. Rodcorte himself didn't think much of it, but Vida in particular held a profound distrust in him.

With this as one of the reasons, Vida made an imitation of the system created by the Demon King with her own original functions included, creating her own circle of transmigration system, and then gave birth to new races including the Vampires. As she ruled over the life attribute, her divinity was quite close to Rodcorte's. It would have been impossible for her to rule over the circles of transmigration of multiple worlds, but she probably thought that she would be able to manage one world's once she built a system for it.

It was likely that she intended for not only the races she created, but all of the future races of people that would exist in Lambda to be managed by her own circle of transmigration system.

However, despite being hostile towards Rodcorte as Vida was, Alda, who prioritized the strict preservation of law and order above all else, defeated Vida and her followers.

As a result, only the new races created by Vida were being reincarnated through Vida's system.

There was a high chance that Amamiya Hiroto's soul had been swallowed up by either the Demon King's system or the goddess's system and he had become reborn as either a monster or a member of one of the races created by Vida.

"Muh… He isn't here after all."

Using his system, Rodcorte looked up all of the people who had been born around the time of Amamiya Hiroto's second reincarnation but no information on Hiroto was to be found.

"But just why has something like this happened? The probability of this happening is less than one in ten quadrillion. Unless I am just terribly unlucky… Oh no. It's because of that."

Rodcorte remembered that the things Amamiya Hiroto hadn't been given included not only cheat-like abilities, but a fortune and a destiny as well. As he had no fortune and no destiny, there was always a constant danger that he would go along a path that even Rodcorte himself wouldn't be able to predict.

On top of that, three curses had been placed on him just before he was reincarnated. Rodcorte had done this in order to encourage him to end his own life, but the possibility that this had caused flaws in Rodcorte's system couldn't be ruled out.

"I have no choice. It will take some time, but I will investigate if there are any people who have encountered Amamiya Hiroto's reincarnated soul. I should at least be able to learn of his current situation… This is a Dhampir."

There was a Dhampir appearing in the memories of a certain merchant. It seemed that Amamiya Hiroto had indeed reincarnated as a member of a race created by Vida.

But this wasn't the problem.

"Impossible, why have his memories returned? On top of that, he is already using death-attribute magic and controlling the Undead?!"

Rodcorte couldn't even tell whether the Dhampir in this memory was even a year old or not, and yet he was already using death-attribute magic and speaking with a childish voice. His memories had clearly returned.

"I suppose this is because I did not give him a fortune. In that case, I have to improve my method the next time I have a chance."

Rodcorte regretted the mistakes that he had made during the process of reincarnating Amamiya Hiroto and the others from Earth.

Back then, Rodcorte had prepared enough cheat-like abilities, fortunes and destinies for a little over a hundred people. He had prepared plenty, so that he wouldn't be lacking any even if there were many people to distribute them to.

And just as he finished preparing the ferry had sunk with good timing and around a hundred people, not including the evil people responsible, had died. Among them, all but one chose to be reborn in another world.

Thinking that it would be a waste to not use everything he had prepared, he had distributed it all without leaving a single item remaining, only to find that he had overlooked one person.

To think that this one remaining person would become so troublesome as a result.

"Now then, the question is what to do with Amamiya Hiroto… Vandalieu. Should I warn Alda? I suppose it would be better to set the evil gods on him."

Alda was the only attribute god who was still currently properly active in Lambda, the god who possessed the most power.

However, his relationship with Rodcorte was as terrible as it could be. Alda had no choice but to overlook Rodcorte's actions so that the order of the circles of transmigration would be preserved, but that did not mean that he forgave them.

Rodcorte's decision to reincarnate these people had been made without Alda's knowledge. Because of this, if Alda were to find out about Vandalieu and the others, he would be infuriated with Rodcorte.

From Alda's point of view, Rodcorte had abandoned him in a time of need without offering any assistance, and now he was doing these things on his own… and a hundred more people would be reincarnating in Lambda with Jinxes, cheat-like abilities that defied common sense that Rodcorte had given them on a whim.

It was more than likely that Alda would order his subordinate gods and followers to murder those one hundred reincarnated individuals.

With that said, leaking information to the evil gods to have them kill Vandalieu would also be a poor move. The evil gods had sense of values so twisted that Rodcorte couldn't understand them. It was possible that they would make Vandalieu their ally instead of killing him.

As a result of much contemplation, Rodcorte decided to watch and wait for a while.

"A few of those reincarnated in Origin should die in the next few years. I'll ask them to kill Vandalieu."

Undead had always appeared in Lambda, so the number of Undead increasing by a few wouldn't have any effect on the system now.

And for Vandalieu, whose curses would prevent him from turning his experiences into skills, reaching immortality without the assistance of the science of Origin would be an enormous task. It would be impossible to do so in decades, centuries or possibly even millennia.

In a few years' time, once the second of the reincarnated individuals died in Origin, he would ask that person to kill Vandalieu and then there would be no problem. That person would have cheat-like abilities created by Rodcorte himself, while Vandalieu had only death-attribute magic and the 100,000,000 Mana contained within his Empty Frame. When Rodcorte analyzed the records from the merchant, it seemed that Vandalieu had succeeded in leveling up, but the other two curses should still be functioning with no problems. He would probably not become any stronger than that.

There was no problem.

Coming to this conclusion, Rodcorte turned his gaze away from Lambda.

If he had searched the memories of the adventurer Luciliano who had encountered Vandalieu through his Live-Dead, he might have felt a greater sense of danger.

If he had made contact with the evil gods, he would likely have learned that the soul of the Vampire Sercrent had been destroyed by Vandalieu and made a move before the souls involved in his own system were destroyed.

But instead, Rodcorte remained oblivious to the greatest mistake that he had ever made.

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