Chapter 152: Please let me borrow your face for a moment

After turning the ‘Five-headed Snake’ Ervine into Experience Points, Vandalieu took the fatally-wounded Iris to the place she needed to go to in order to be reborn. And upon returning to Talosheim, he entered the Job-changing room with unsteady steps.

Iris’s vital organs had been wounded by the holy sword Nemesis Bell; she had been in a state where she would have died within half an hour if Vandalieu hadn’t maintained the Death Delay spell on her.

She would be turned into a member of one of Vida’s races other than Vampires, using the reconstruction of her body during her transformation and her increased Vitality and healing abilities after her transformation in order to heal her.

Vandalieu had gone through a lot of effort to take her to the place to carry out the ritual, such as using Out-of-body Experience and then the Materialization Skill on the spirit form wings to take the form of a strange bird, and preparing the necessary amount of Mana.

“… I’m sleepy,” Vandalieu murmured.

The time it had taken was a bigger problem than the work he’d needed to do.

There wasn’t a target that Legion could designate for teleportation at the place where the ritual would take place, and Vandalieu hadn’t created a Dungeon there yet either, so he’d been forced to fly there which had taken a long time. In addition to that, the ritual hadn’t been conducted in a long time, so time had needed to be taken to gather the necessary tools and check the correct procedures.

Persuading the other party to cooperate with him hadn’t taken very long at all, shortening the process considerably, but even so, it was still harsh on Vandalieu.

It was fortunate that he had been able to use the time the journey took to break the seal on the Demon King equipment to acquire the Demon King’s antennae.

“I can use the Status Effect Resistance Skill to endure my sleepiness, but just because I can endure it doesn’t mean it’s not hard on me. But I have to do this task soon, so… before that, I’ll get my Job-change while I’m at it.”

He had received a considerable amount of Experience Points from Ervine, who had dealt the final blow to the ‘Insect Swarm’ Bebeckett. With the other Experience Points that he had gained by watching the ‘King Slayer’ Sleygar, the ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert and the members of the Hilt, Vandalieu’s Demon King User Job had reached Level 100.

As expected of a man who could have aspired to reach S-class and his companions.

It was fortunate that Vandalieu could gain Experience Points by watching battles through the Demon King’s eyes, just like he could with his own eyes.

“Well, I’ll eat them after I get information from them… my Attribute Values and Skills increased from eating Ravovifard, the evil god of release, but I didn’t gain his memories, so it will probably be fine. Leaving that aside…”

As Vandalieu slapped his hand on the crystal ball, the Jobs that he could change to were displayed inside his head.

『Jobs that can be selected:【Disease Demon】【Spirit Warrior】【Whip Tongue Calamity】【Vengeful Berserker】【Dead Spirit Mage】【Dark Healer】【Labyrinth Creator】【Magic Cannoneer】【Dark King Mage】【Divine Enemy】【Dark Guider】【Creation Guider】【Fallen Warrior】【Insect Nin】【Destruction Guider】』

“Yes, there’s a new one.”

Destruction Guider… from its name, wasn’t it a bad guidance? It sounded like he would lead others to all kinds of destruction.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve been breaking and eating souls… well, for now, I’ll select Dark Guider.”

The Danger Sense: Death spell made sure that he knew when someone was aiming for his head, but regardless of that, Sleygar’s movements had been too quick for him to deal with.

He’d noticed it the moment before it happened, but before he could move his body or cast a spell, Sleygar had appeared from behind him and performed a single slash with his specialized weapon… His specialized weapon was made of Orichalcum and that single attack had contained a lot of power, so even an instantly-cast barrier would likely have been futile, however.

If it wasn’t Vandalieu whose head had been cut off then, the target would have died in an instant.

It was Sleygar’s Artifact and superior Skill that had made that incredible speed possible. He had superhuman physical abilities.

It was unlikely that there were many assassins as skilled as Sleygar, but the number of such assassins would not be zero. So, what needed to be done was…

“First of all, I need to train myself to have physical strength equivalent to Sleygar’s.”

This wasn’t a problem that could be resolved easily, so Vandalieu would simply continue training steadily until he found an effective solution.

『The Level of the Mana Enlargement Skill has increased!』

『You have acquired the Guidance: Dark Path and Dark Path Enticement Skills!』

『The Guidance: Dark Path Skill and Guidance: Demon Path Skill have fused and transformed into the Guidance: Dark Demon Path Skill!』

『The Dark Path Enticement Skill and Demon Path Enticement Skill have fused and transformed into the Dark Demon Path Enticement Skill!』

Name: Vandalieu

Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)

Age: 9 years old

Title:【Ghoul King】,【Eclipse King】,【Second Coming of the Demon King】,【Guardian of the Cultivation Villages】,【Holy Son of Vida】,【Monstrosity】,【Scaled King】【Tentacle King】【Champion】

Job: Dark Guider

Level: 0

Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User, Tree Caster, Demon Guider, Archenemy, Zombie Maker, Golem Creator, Corpse Demon Commander, Demon King User, Dark King Mage

Attributes:

Vitality: 9291

Mana: 1,516,260,108 (+758,130,054)

Strength: 1557

Agility: 1229

Stamina: 1675

Intelligence: 3100

Passive skills:

Superhuman Strength: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Rapid Regeneration: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Dark King Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Status Effect Resistance: Level 10

Magic Resistance: Level 7

Dark Vision

Dark Demon Path Enticement: Level 3 (Fused and transformed from Dark Path Enticement!)

Chant Revocation: Level 6

Guidance: Demon Path: Level 5 (Fused and transformed from Guidance: Dark Path!)

Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthen Subordinates: Level 8

Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Enhanced Agility: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Large

Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Thread Refining: Level 3

Mana Enlargement: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Active skills:

Bloodwork: Level 4

Transcend Limits: Level 1 (Awakened from Surpass Limits!)

Golem Creation: Level 3

No-Attribute Magic: Level 9

Mana Control: Level 8

Spirit Form: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)

Cooking: Level 5

Alchemy: Level 7

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Multi-Cast: Level 8

Long-distance Control: Level 8

Surgery: Level 7

Parallel Thought Processing: Level 7

Materialization: Level 6

Coordination: Level 7

High-speed Thought Processing: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Commanding: Level 7

Thread-reeling: Level 6

Throwing: Level 6

Scream: Level 4

Dead Spirit Magic: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Artillery Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Shield Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Armor Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Group Binding Technique: Level 2

Surpass Limits: Fragments: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Unique skills:

God Devourer: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Grotesque Mind: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)

Mental Encroachment: Level 7

Labyrinth Construction: Level 7

Demon King Fusion: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)

Abyss: Level 4

Hostility

Soul Devour: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Demon King fragments:

Blood

Horns

Suckers

Ink Sacs

Carapace

Scent glands

Luminescent organs

Blubber

Jaws

Eyeballs

Proboscis

Fur

Exoskeleton

Jointed legs

Antenna

Curses

Experience gained in previous life not carried over

Cannot learn existing jobs

Unable to gain experience independently

“Hmm, now that I look at it like this, my Attribute Values have increased as well. My Vitality is close to 10,000, and my Agility had gone above 1,000. I have my Skills as well, so as I am now, I might be able to win a fight against an average B-class adventurer in hand-to-hand combat without using magic.”

Of course, in the end, he couldn’t deal with Sleygar’s speed.

Even if he had about two billion Mana, he couldn’t forget that he could still die.

“More importantly, Guidance: Dark Demon Path and Dark Demon Path Enticement… the previous Skill names made it sound like I would guide living people to death, so I’m glad that it changed.”

TLN: The word for “Demon Path” can also mean “netherworld,” so the previous Skill names sounded like he would guide/entice people into the netherworld.

Did this mean that he had more targets that he could guide and entice? Well, he would probably find out soon.

“For now, the task ahead comes first. First, I need to smash the head before Iris is reborn.”

Duke Marme was spending the afternoon in a carefree manner in his office at the occupying army’s headquarters.

Because one of the problems that had been a constant source of trouble for him ever since he took this position in the Sauron region would be solved.

“It was humiliating to lower my head to Marshukzarl, but… it was a small price to pay.”

Duke Marme had lowered his head to Marshukzarl, his cousin who was also his political enemy, asking for the ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert and other members of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords to be dispatched.

And they had arrived yesterday. The one Duke Marme had seen and exchanged pleasantries with was Rickert Amid, someone who was an honorary noble with no land but a duke nonetheless, and, more importantly, a relative. But there should have been others with him, keeping themselves hidden.

And in the same day, Rickert had gone in the direction of the former Scylla territory that was now haunted by the resistance, along with the other hidden Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords.

The fort on the boundary of the former Scylla territory… had been attacked and destroyed by a swarm of Undead the previous year, so soldiers were stationed in a hastily-built temporary fort. According to their reports, there had been numerous bright flashes of light, explosions and the thundering noises of trees being destroyed coming from deep within the former Scylla territory, and they had even seen pillars of light descending from the sky on three occasions, signs that familiar spirits had been summoned… The accounts also said that two of those pillars of light had unnaturally disappeared, but that was probably just their imaginations.

“Hmph, I suppose we will need to have a party to celebrate Rickert and his companions’ victory. Let’s entertain the soldiers as well. No, I suppose showing the Princess Knight’s head to the foolish commoners comes first,” Duke Marme murmured to himself.

Having received such reports, he was certain in the victory of Rickert and his companions. He had no doubt that the foolish resistance that had gotten carried away would be exterminated, and that the heads of the little girl who called herself the Princess Knight and the traitor, Baron Ragdew, would be brought in front of him.

He was sitting here in the army’s headquarters just in case, but that was so that he could thank Rickert and his companions for their hard work personally as the top figure of the army, once they returned after finishing their mission. If he did that, Rickert and Marshukzarl’s impressions of him would at least improve a little.

This incident had caused his political influence to decrease, but he should be able to suppress that by appealing to the fact that he was a member of the same family of the emperor and the hero.

If possible, he would have liked to capture the Princess Knight alive and execute her by burning her at the stake in front of the people, but unlike Cuoco, a traitorous nobleman of the Amid Empire, the Princess Knight was apparently a young girl. It would be problematic if he executed her like that and this was used as a persuasion point by other rebellion movements.

And since he was the one who had asked for the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords to be dispatched, he wouldn’t be allowed to do anything that would darken the reputation of the ‘Light-speed Sword.’ He would have to resist his urges and settle for just making a display of the severed heads. As for Baron Ragdew’s family, he would make an exception and spare them… though he would have them enter priesthood, separate them from the rest of the world and then have them die of ‘disease’ later when the opportunity arose.

Drunk on his feelings of joy, Duke Marme gulped down the contents of his glass. “Bring the next bottle of wine. If possible, something better than this one,” he ordered his attendant behind him without turning around.

“Here you are,” said the high-pitched, quiet voice of a child as a cup filled with red wine was offered to him.

“Hmm, a pleasant scent – Who are you?! A child, no, those eyes are those of a… Dhampir?! Why is there a Dhampir here?!” Duke Marme exclaimed, jumping back in astonishment.

Vandalieu, who had two horns of the Demon King growing from his forehead, looked up at the man in his late middle-age years with an expression of confusion. “Oh, he doesn’t know about me? … Ah, this guy wasn’t told about me, was he?”

“This guy, you say?! You bastard, I am a duke, and there is a limit to how much disrespect I will tolerate! You filthy Dhampir, even if you are a child, I will not forgive you!” Duke Marme turned to face the doorway, red with anger. “What are you doing, soldiers! Execute this insolent child!” he shouted.

He shouted, but nobody came.

“Why? Why is nobody coming? Where are the soldiers that are supposed to be in front of the room? Where are my knights?!”

“Where are they? I’ve either killed them or captured them alive. Well, I used Deodorization to stop the smell of blood from reaching this room, so I can’t blame you for not noticing, though. Even this antenna wouldn’t be able to detect it, after all,” said Vandalieu.

“Killed-?! Don’t be preposterous! Unlike the soldiers of this area, the capable soldiers that I brought with me -”

The door opened while Duke Marme was mid-sentence, and a black Goblin, a man made entirely of bare flesh and a spearman with patches all over his body that was clearly an Undead at first glance entered the room.

“King, we’ve killed everyone except for the ones you said not to!” said the Black Goblin Braga.

“Working on my own for the first time in so long actually makes me restless,” said Ghost, who had temporarily separated himself from Legion.

“Borkus and the others were complaining that the fort is too small,” said Mikhail.

Each of them had their weapons in one hand and several decapitated heads in the other.

The heads were those of Duke Marme’s knights and officers.

“HYIH?! Monsters and Undead?!” Duke Marme turned pale and fell backwards onto his back.

Vandalieu simply stared at him. “The soldiers you employed locally, your servants and the list of people that Cuoco provided have been spared. That might not matter to you at all, though.”

So Vandalieu said, but it seemed that this really didn’t matter to Duke Marme. With the crotch of his extravagant clothes becoming drenched, he tried to crawl away from Vandalieu.

“You bastard, could you be the Dhampir that’s supposed to be on the other side of the Boundary Mountain Range?! Th-that’s… how did you get past the headquarters’ defenses?! And how did nobody in my army notice you leading an army across the Boundary Mountain Range in the first place?!” he shouted.

Duke Marme finally realized that the Dhampir before his eyes was the same one that he had tried to hire the S-class adventurer Schneider to exterminate after the Mirg shield-nation’s expedition army returned as Undead.

“We secretly crossed the mountain range, snuck into the inside of the fort and then dealt with everyone by persuading them or through force,” Vandalieu explained.

Legion’s Teleportation had been used to cross the Boundary Mountain Range, and the Dark King Magic spell Blind Spot, Ghost’s power and the ninja techniques of Braga and the other Black Goblin Ninjas had been used to infiltrate the fort. After that, Vandalieu had released insects as well as Mikhail and the rest of the Undead.

Using force to kill and capture targets. The ‘capable soldiers’ mentioned by Duke Marme had been no match for Mikhail and the others. The more fortunate targets were the ones whose severed heads were being held.

The locally-hired soldiers and non-combatant servants had been brainwashed by the Mental Encroachment Skill and made to go outside.

“Ervine… or maybe it was Rickert? You probably let down your guard because you firmly believed that they would win, but that made things easy for me. If your defenses had been tight as usual, I might have needed to use rougher methods,” Vandalieu said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Even though this was the army’s headquarters, it wasn’t as if every soldier was stationed in a single building. Vandalieu’s forces had infiltrated and eliminated enemies swiftly and quietly, so the soldiers on the same premises but in separate buildings still weren’t aware of the situation.

If those soldiers in the other buildings had maintained a system so that they would immediately notice anything unusual, things would have been a little different.

Duke Marme was speechless for a moment, but then quickly returned to his senses. “Wait! I surrender, I surrender! What are you after?! Is it fame in the Orbaume Kingdom?! Whatever it might be, I should be able to help you with it! I’m Duke Marme, someone with a claim to the emperor’s throne!”

He was aware of his own value. Whatever else might be said of him, he was a duke. If he was brought to the Orbaume Kingdom, he could be exchanged for a large sum of reward money, and if hostage negotiations were carried out with the empire, even more money could be gained.

He was overestimating his own value a little, but those with the position of duke were worth more than just their abilities.

“Even if you kill me here, Marshukzarl won’t give a damn! In fact, he might use this to begin an all-out war. You should take me captive and treat me with honor -”

“Yes, as you’re hoping, I intend to capture you alive rather than kill you,” said Vandalieu.

Duke Marme breathed a sigh of relief, but it was too early for that. Vandalieu’s tongue peeked out from between his lips.

“Demon King’s proboscis.”

A long, thin proboscis like that of a butterfly extended from the tip of his red tongue.

“What is that?! What are you – GYAH?!”

With a speed too fast to be seen by the eye, the proboscis stabbed into Duke Marme’s chest.

“This is a proboscis. The mouth organ of insects such as butterflies,” said Vandalieu.

“You bastard… you said you’d capture me alive…”

From the sensation of his tongue and limbs gradually becoming unable to move, Duke Marme had mistakenly assumed that his blood would be sucked and he would die.

“You’re mistaken if you thought I’m sucking your blood,” said Vandalieu. “In fact, I’m injecting anesthesia… a paralyzing venom secreted from my tongue into you.”

Why are you doing that?! thought Duke Marme, who had no intention of resisting, as he opened his eyes wide in shock. He saw a woman with a collar appear behind Mikhail and approach him.

She grabbed the duke’s hair roughly and forced him to face upwards.

“IGEH?! Wha are hyuu doinh?!” Duke Marme shouted, protesting with inarticulate words.

Isla ignored him, unsheathed her favorite knife and licked its blade with her purple tongue. “Will we deal with him here?” she asked her master.

“Yes, I’ve paralyzed him so he won’t die from the shock. We’ll be taking him back as a prisoner… as an experimental subject, but we still need to make a proper declaration of war.”

Today was the last day that anyone would see the duke’s face ever again, including Vandalieu and Duke Marme himself.

Around the time the occupying army’s headquarters became a stage for a tragedy, there was a man with his face hidden, running.

The man had predicted that the army would be in a situation of crisis right about now. He even thought it was possible that every single soldier would be wiped out. However, he hadn’t spoken a single word to warn them. He had prioritized returning home without even approaching the headquarters.

My duty is to return with information, nothing else!

The man, the only member of the Hilt to have survived because he had been hiding in a faraway place right from the beginning without getting involved with the battle at all, simply made haste to reach his destination.

The Divine Realm of Alda, the god of law and fate, was filled with the panicked clamoring of the gods.

There were some who had originally been humans, but now that they had become gods, they did not lose their composure easily. It was not common for them to be in dismay and lose their senses.

But the scenes that could be seen through the records of the ‘Five-headed Snake’ Ervine and the ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert were more than enough to strike the gods into a whirlpool of chaos.

“What in the world is that?! This can no longer be called a human!”

“Just how many fragments of the Demon King does he… and yet, his mind is not consumed by them! Is he an incarnation of the Demon King?!”

“More importantly, the destruction of two of Niltark-dono’s familiar spirits is a grave matter! Even if they were familiar spirits made of Mana with no minds of their own, how abominable it is that as a mortal, he can destroy servants of a god…!”

How unsightly, thought Fitun, the god of thunderclouds, as he looked upon his brethren with a cool gaze.

The reincarnated individual that he had taken in, the ‘Marionette’ Hajime Inui, knew that Vandalieu had absorbed multiple fragments of the Demon King and wielded them like they were parts of his own body. Fitun had been surprised upon learning that Vandalieu had considerably more fragments than he had heard before, but he wasn’t flustered by this.

As for the destruction of familiar spirits, which were servants of gods, Fitun felt contempt towards the gods whose faces had turned pale at this thought.

War is a series of battles to the death to begin with. The thrill is there because there is the chance that you will be killed. What did these guys expect when their boss said, “This is a time of war against the remnants of the Demon King’s army and Vida’s faction?”

Fitun was a heroic god and a god of war; he didn’t expect the others to quiver in anticipation like him. But they were still gods; shouldn’t they be more composed?

“Everyone, calm yourselves! A new sinner… a new fiend has been born in our world. That is all this means!” said Niltark, the god of judgment.

His tone was brazen; he showed no signs of discomposure despite having had his familiar spirits destroyed and his followers’ souls taken from him.

Of course, to begin with, one of his followers was the kind of person who would use familiar spirits as sacrificial pawns… No, considering Niltark, I suppose he approved of it, thinking it was a necessary sacrifice. The broken familiar spirits were puppets, after all, Fitun thought as he killed time.

Meanwhile, Mill, the goddess of slumber, and Nineroad, the heroic god of wind who was also Fitun’s superior, were trying to calm the other gods down, but the chaos wasn’t really dying down.

It seemed that the gods who had experienced fighting the army led by the Demon King Guduranis were deeply shaken. It was likely that their past traumas had resurfaced.

When I look at them like this, gods are no different from humans. Oh, damn.

Being the only one to remain quiet and calm, he had ended up standing out.

“Fitun, do you have some thoughts about this matter?” asked Nineroad, having taken notice of him.

The other gods’ eyes focused on Fitun as well.

He couldn’t honestly tell them what he had been thinking, but replying with, “I’m just standing here quietly” was too foolish as well.

Fitun decided to give a response that would be expected of him. “This is not really worthy of being called a ‘thought,’ but for now, it is just that he can use over ten fragments and break souls, is it not? And though you say he can destroy the servants of gods, what he destroyed were merely defenseless familiar spirits as they were descending,” he said. “With that being the case, I thought that there are all kinds of methods available to us.”

Several enraged gods began berating Fitun.

“Merely familiar spirits, you say?! How dare you say that in front of Niltark-dono!”

“You are a mere lowly member here! Do you even understand how serious this situation is?!”

But their master Alda spoke, causing them to fall silent and step back. “What methods do you speak of?” Alda asked.

“As I am a junior member, I don’t have any particularly great methods, but… I think it would be good to raise a champion like my master Nineroad, multiple of them if possible, give them Artifacts like Nemesis Bell or pieces of Demon King equipment that can face the Demon King’s fragments, and then break that Dhampir’s entire body to destroy him completely. After that, we just need to seal his remains and soul along with the Demon King’s fragments,” said Fitun, describing his thoughts in depth.

If one ignored the point of ‘multiple of them if possible,’ it was an exact outline of the plan that he was putting into action using Hajime.

The gods unanimously argued against Fitun’s suggestion.

“Such foolish… a method that is impossible outside of theory!”

“It is easier said than done. Fitun-dono, if such a thing was possible in the real world, none of us would be suffering like this. We would have won the war against the remnants of the Demon King’s army and Vida’s faction long ago.”

Indeed, that was how difficult… impossible, the method suggested by Fitun was.

There was not much difference between it and a plan for world conquest thought of by a playing child. Selecting those with desirable qualities and granting them divine protections was possible. Unlike Demon King equipment, giving them Artifacts was a little difficult, but not impossible.

But whether the heroes raised this way would be able to stand on even grounds with the champions of the past was another matter entirely.

Even if divine protections were given to them to speed up their development and increase their potential, they couldn’t grow stronger infinitely. It wasn’t just a matter of their qualities. There were flaws that could only be seen during events experienced during the development process and after they had already gained power.

Being gods didn’t mean they knew everything. The reality was that there were many candidates to become heroes who would not even reach the heights reached by Ervine, whom Vandalieu had defeated a few days ago.

I don’t need to be told that. It’s more fun to actually attempt something if you’re unsure whether it’s possible or not… These peace-loving fools.

A fight to the death against an enemy that could kill you. It was only natural that it was difficult to prepare to win a battle where you would lose everything if defeated.

“Yes, I apologize for my imprudent speech,” Fitun said without speaking these inner thoughts, trying to step back.

But it was none other than Alda himself who spoke, changing the atmosphere completely. “No, it is exactly as you say,” he said. “A Dhampir who does not die even if decapitated, who does not lose himself to the Demon King’s fragments despite having absorbed over a dozen of them, who casts spells that none have ever seen before, who misleads people’s hearts and commands a multitude of subordinates. It is a being that cannot exist outside of theory, a being straight out of a delusion. That is the kind of enemy we are forced to fight. Ordinary methods will not do. No matter how difficult it is, we must do everything we can to carry out a method that is impossible outside of theory. I will give a trial to the hero who is my follower, the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz, and his companions. After that, I shall grant him power and use him to carry out this method that is impossible outside of theory. The rest of you, find your own candidates to become heroes and raise them.”

This decision caused unrest among the gods once more, but this time, it was a positive unrest with the idea that they could defeat the Dhampir since Alda himself was taking the initiative.

Training Heinz… Kukukuh, that will not happen so quickly. During that time, I will thoroughly strengthen Hajime.

It would become a competition of who could kill Vandalieu first. With a feeling of enjoyment, Fitun struggled to contain his laughter.

On the other hand, Alda’s mind was filled with distress.

It seems that Nineroad has started to realize. Hasn’t Fitun realized it as well? The most problematic… difference between Vandalieu and the Demon King Guduranis.

The Demon King Guduranis had tried to destroy every living creature and god that had existed in this world from the beginning. The monsters he created, even the superior monsters, had been nothing but pawns to him, and he had mercilessly destroyed the subordinates that were his evil gods if they disobeyed him or proved to be useless.

This allowed every living being in this world to focus their strength into fighting him. Thanks to the champion Zakkart, it had even been possible to make enemies betray the Demon King.

Even when one considered the fact that this was the age of the gods, an era when the gods ruled over the people directly, that was how much of a threat the Demon King had been.

But Vandalieu was different. He was not an invader, an enemy to the entire world.

He protected those who served him equally, whether they were monsters like Undead, humans or members of Vida’s races, and considered it only natural to bring about peace. He did try to destroy those he saw as enemies, but there was no doubting that there were clear standards that he had set for himself.

And those standards were difficult to describe as harsh in this world.

In other words, Vandalieu was nothing more than another person ruling a nation in this world.

… It was just that his goals, his methods of achieving them and his sense of values were in absolute conflict with Alda and the gods who served him.

But for the humans who lived in Lambda, that wasn’t the case. In fact, Vandalieu had taken in the people of the cultivation villages in the Hartner Duchy and those from the Sauron Liberation Front.

From Alda’s point of view, it was difficult to believe, but Vandalieu was not a being like Guduranis, a being that the people of the world needed to set aside their differences to join forces, concentrate their power and stand up against.

Then it seems that I must carry out the reconciliation with Vida’s races that Nineroad suggested. By doing that, I can prevent Vandalieu from becoming the leader of Vida’s races as a whole.

Like the humans, those of Vida’s races were not aware of the gods’ circumstances. That was why there were quite a lot of people living in human societies who worshipped Alda and the gods who supported him.

Thus, he had to do as Rodcorte had said, destroying Vida’s circle of transmigration system and moving the souls of the members of Vida’s races to Rodcorte’s system.

But the requirement of this is to have Vida fall from her position as goddess. Even if that were to succeed, we can only take those among Vida’s races that did not originate from repulsive beings, such as the Titans and Beast-people.

There was a time when the gods needed to fight the remnants of the Demon King’s army until Ricklent and Zuruwarn, the last two remaining great gods, could be resurrected. During this time, having lost her sanity from the sorrow of losing her own champion, Vida had incited the evil gods who were supposed to have changed sides and deceived the insane Zantark, spreading new chaos and disaster across the world. But even so, to Alda, Vida was just a sister who had gone down the wrong path.

But she had led the world together with him, bringing her opinions against his since they were born. Alda could not deny this, nor did he intend to.

That was why he had defeated Vida a hundred thousand years ago, hoping that she would regain her sanity at the end of her long slumber.

And now, in order to save half of the children that she had given birth to in her madness, he would have to drive her from her position as a goddess and have the rest of them be treated purely like monsters.

It wasn’t that he felt no hesitation or guilt over this.

“But I suppose I must carry this out. Going back, everything originated from my lack of power that prevented me from cutting down the roots of all of Vida’s races and protecting the world’s order. But Bellwood, my champion… I pray from the bottom of my heart that you awake from your soon-approaching encounter with Heinz.”

If Bellwood were still active now, Farmaun would not have performed the mad act of leaving with his subordinates to return to Zantark’s side, Alda thought regretfully, hoping that Bellwood’s awakening would return Farmaun’s sanity.

Name: Rickert Amid

Race: Human

Age: 27 years old

Title:【Light-speed Sword】,【Evil-breaking Sword】

Job: Sword Saint

Level: 32

Job history: Apprentice Knight, Equestrian, Knight, Magic Knight, Magic Sword User, Holy Swordsman, Master Swordsman

Passive skills:

Augmented Muscular Strength: Level 1

Augmented Agility: Level 1

Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with a Sword (Large)

Strengthened Defense Power when equipped with Armor (Large)

Disease and Poison Resistance: Level 3

Active skills:

Light-speed Sword Technique: Level 1

Armor Technique: Level 8

Shield Technique: Level 5

Mount: Level 5

Archery: Level 3

Commanding: Level 5

Coordination: Level 6

Transcend Limits: Level 1

Transcend Limits: Magic Sword: Level 1

Familiar Spirit Descent: Level 2

The ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert Amid. In the beginning, he gained experience and piled up achievements like a knight should. Taking up the holy sword Nemesis Bell as he polished his talent in swordsmanship, he was appointed as a member of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords.

He was generally someone who displayed his true value by fighting directly on the frontlines, and as a knight, his ability to command and lead troops was only a little above average.

Also, as he specialized in swordsmanship, his defensive abilities were lacking. But the swing of his Nemesis Bell, with the enhanced physical strength and agility from his Passive Skills, is not at all inferior to that of an A-class adventurer.

His abilities were equivalent to those possessed by the ‘Sword King’ Borkus while he was alive. If one factors in his equipment, his Nemesis Bell and the other precious Magic Items that he was equipped with, such as his item bag, he surpassed Borkus.

Name: Ervine

Race: Elf

Age: 249 years old

Title:【Five-headed Snake】,【Evil-breaking Sword】

Job: Evil Whip User

Level: 100

Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Whip User, Thief, Mage, Enchantment Mage, Magic Whip User, Dual Whip User, Executioner

Passive skills:

Dark Vision

Enhanced Agility: Level 7

Enhanced Muscular Strength: Level 6

Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with a Whip (Large)

Augmented Attribute Values: Loyalty: Level 1

Mental Corruption: Level 3

Status Effect Resistance: Level 5

Intuition: Level 2

Detect Presence: Level 5

Active skills:

Killing Snake Whip Technique: Level 4

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 6

Throwing: Level 4

No-Attribute Magic: Level 2

Mana Control: Level 7

Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 6

Water-Attribute Magic: Level 6

Earth-Attribute Magic: Level 5

Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 5

Light-Attribute Magic: Level 6

Silent Steps: Level 9

Lockpicking: Level 4

Trap: Level 5

Surpass Limits: Magic Whip: Level 10

Transcend Limits: Level 3

Familiar Spirit Descent: Level 3

Unique skills:

Niltark’s Divine Protection

Ervine, the ‘Five-headed Snake’ of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords. A veteran among the members, he was a capable individual who possessed such ability that he could have aimed for promotion to S-class if he were an adventurer. His strength and loyalty were so trusted that he was given a piece of the dangerous Demon King equipment.

He came from the same settlement as Marshukzarl’s mother, the Elf concubine of the previous emperor, and this connection had brought him into the service of the Amid Empire.

He possesses an affinity for five attributes, but his talent with them was not particularly exceptional; he prioritized his skills with a whip and techniques as a spy, for which he did have talent for. He turned his eyes towards magic when he felt that he had reached the limit of what could be done through combat techniques alone. Thus, he was not adept at using magic other than enchantments for his armor and weapons such as his whip.

He possessed power roughly equal to that possessed by the ‘Divine Spear of Ice’ Mikhail while he was alive.

Job explanation:

【Demon King User】

A Job that can be acquired by one who can harbor the Demon King’s fragments without having their mind absorbed by them, but instead absorb them and use them as a part of themselves.

Those who possess fragments while having the Demon King Encroachment Degree Skill, and those who possess Demon King equipment, cannot acquire this Job. This is because those who possess Demon King equipment are simply able to use the fragments as weapons due to the seals on them rather than absorbing them and using them as a part of themselves.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep