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Birkyne stood behind the rows of orphans and nuns of the orphanage who were smiling with empty, puppet-like eyes, protected by his four close confidants that were also his most elite warriors.
“How impatient, asking me what I want straight away,” said Birkyne, speaking to Vandalieu in a leisurely tone. “Even if we do away with the introductions… don’t you want to ask, ‘What is going on here?’ or, ‘What did you do to them?’”
“… I never heard that you were the type to be concerned with such dull clichés,” said Vandalieu, showing no signs of preparing for battle.
He was still standing right next to Matthew, who had led him here, right in front of Birkyne. He appeared defenseless and full of openings.
But Birkyne and his confidants were on full alert.
“Move to his side, on the opposite side of that boy… and if he tries anything, protect me,” Birkyne whispered to Seris.
“Yes, my lord,” she said in response.
He was restricting Vandalieu’s movement as much as possible by having Seris stand next to him, even if it only made the tiniest of differences.
It was a fact that Vandalieu had defeated Ternecia, though she had been wounded at the time, as well as Gubamon completely on his own. Among the three Pure-breed Vampires who worshiped Hihiryushukaka, Ternecia had possessed the most powerful offense, and Gubamon had possessed the most powerful defense and a skill for space-attribute magic.
Even now, Vandalieu’s empty expression and flat-toned voice was exerting an unbelievable amount of pressure on Birkyne and his confidants.
That was exactly why Birkyne was acting in a leisurely manner towards him.
A society enveloped by such darkness that it made even criminal organizations pale in comparison. A society where it was normal for its inhabitants to toy with and devour those who were weaker than themselves. A society where if one did not do that, they would become the ones to be devoured. Birkyne was one of the individuals who had built such a twisted, hierarchical society.
Birkyne couldn’t even remember how many hands that were grasping at straws he had stepped on and crushed underfoot.
That was why he was afraid of ending up on the side that would be crushed and devoured.
“I suppose it is Eleanora who told you about my nature,” Birkyne murmured. “Bellmond and Miles would not be so well-informed about me.”
What he was trying to show Vandalieu, someone that he could not so easily lay a hand on, was half-instinct.
“Yes, Eleanora is very good to me,” said Vandalieu.
Naturally, he was not speaking in a leisurely tone. He had indeed made preparations so that he would be ready no matter when Birkyne showed up, but… him infiltrating the city without warning and taking everyone in the orphanage hostage had been beyond his expectations.
Even if he used space-attribute magic to teleport here directly, Gufadgarn would have noticed. And I’m examining Matthew and Seris right now, but there’s no sign that any spells, poisons, diseases, parasites or Magic Items are affecting their minds. Just how did he infiltrate this place and take over their minds? Vandalieu wondered.
Until he understood this, he could not engage in battle with Birkyne so easily. His feelings of frustration at this fact was what was pressuring Birkyne and his confidants now.
Matthew laughed. “What’s the matter, Vandalieu?”
“Matthew, be quiet. Don’t interrupt Vandalieu-san and Birkyne-san’s conversation,” said Seris.
The strangest thing about this situation was the people of the orphanage, who had been taken hostage by a Pure-breed Vampire and were being exposed to the pressure that Vandalieu was emanating.
Even now, they didn’t appear to have taken any notice of the tense atmosphere. They showed no nervousness as they continued smiling and laughing. Vandalieu was certain that they were being manipulated in some way.
I want to examine their minds in detail, but if I use the ‘Mental Encroachment’ Skill, I really will be full of openings.
“If you order it, we will create openings for you,” said Chipuras.
Kimberley cackled. “Is it finally time for us to make an entrance?”
Vandalieu told them telepathically to wait.
“Eleanora has treated you well, huh… It seems that she has become much more useful than when I was disciplining her. I thought that I had trained her to her limit by the time that she joined your side, but… even just considering this one fact, it is clear that you are no ordinary being,” said Birkyne. “But leaving that aside, I would certainly prefer if you would ask me the clichéd questions. I believe our conversation would progress much more smoothly if you had an accurate understanding of the situation, you see.”
“… Conversation? After you’ve taken hostages?” said Vandalieu.
“I do not mind if you think of it as an exchange. What I am offering is everyone in this orphanage – head, the nuns and the orphans, and I’ll throw in many more as well. I cannot fathom how much you value the lives of those whose names and faces you don’t even know, but… as a believer of Vida, you can never save too many women and children, can you?” said Birkyne, hinting that he had hostages outside the city of Morksi as well.
“… ‘What is going on here?’ And ‘what have you done to them?’” said Vandalieu, asking the questions that Birkyne had suggested before.
Birkyne gave a small laugh. “What we need as Vampires who worship Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, is sacrifices. It is troublesome to kidnap people every time we wish to make a sacrifice, so we have been running facilities for human trafficking since a very long time ago. Bandits, mercenaries, slave traders, brothels, monasteries that are deep in the mountains, and in the past thousand years, many orphanages as well.”
Orphans were far more convenient even than slaves and prostitutes for Birkyne and his Vampire organization. An orphanage in a slum inhabited by the poor was absolutely perfect.
Such orphanages allowed them to house and manage children from an age before they were even self-aware, and even if they grew to become adults before there was an opportunity to use them, they could simply be thrown out of the facility.
The majority of people didn’t even glance at the orphans, so in many cases, nobody would even notice if they abruptly went missing. Even if someone did wonder, the guards would not investigate in detail after being told that the orphans had died of illness or injury.
There were some cases where relatives and former acquaintances of slaves, prostitutes and those living in monasteries would come to take them back. There had even been more than a few times where the facilities’ true purpose had become revealed due to such problems.
The Vampires running the facilities would actually be happy to hand over one or two of their livestock in order to prevent any trouble, but… that would be suspicious in and of itself. Slave traders that sold slaves for cheaper prices, brothels that let their prostitutes go from their bondages without the full required amount not being paid, monasteries that encouraged their inhabitants to return to a secular life… It would be unavoidable for such facilities to draw the suspicious gazes of other slave traders or related Guilds and Churches.
However, there was almost no such trouble for orphanages. Children who became orphans were those who had no relatives in the first place or those whose relatives couldn’t afford to raise them. On very rare occasions, relatives living in distant places might come to adopt a child, but in those cases, the orphans could simply be handed over.
The orphans of orphanages were simply let go. Nobody suspected anything.
That was why Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires had operated orphanages in various cities to secure sacrifices and individuals that would become new Vampires.
“This orphanage is just one of them. It is not a place that we took over recently; it has been this way since it was built. It has been run without any problems other than one perceptive priest of Alda taking notice of it once. Of course, there is a limit to the number of orphans that orphanages can accommodate, so we are running some facilities of other times as well. Just like the mine that I found Eleanora in. I consider it fortunate that I did not tell her about these activities,” Birkyne said as he placed a hand on Sister Vestra’s shoulder. “The reason that these people worship Vida is merely that having a sign reading ‘the goddess of life and love’ over the orphanage is convenient. If they worshiped the gods related to Alda, most of the Churches in the cities would interfere with donations, charity, introductions to new connections and what have you. It would be problematic for the management of our puppets.”
Birkyne moved his hand from Vestra’s shoulder to her waist and pulled her close towards him, demonstrating that she really was a puppet under his control.
But Vandalieu noticed that Vestra’s cheeks were stiff after having this done to her.
Sister Seris left Vandalieu’s side and briskly walked towards Birkyne… and pinched the back of Birkyne’s hand that was on Vestra’s waist.
“Birkyne-san, please do not hold Vestra like this,” she said with a smile.
The four Noble-born Vampires’ tension reached a peak with her behavior, but Birkyne calmly removed his hand from Vestra’s waist.
“My apologies,” he said.
“Birkyne-san, it would be problematic for anyone to make advances on our sisters, even you,” said the orphanage’s head with a bitter, exasperated expression.
“Hey, Mr. Birkyne’s a pervert!” the children jeered.
Within seconds, Birkyne covered the back of his hand, which had returned to its ordinary color, and gave a bitter smile.
“Silence,” he said.
In an instant, everyone in the orphanage stopped moving. The orphanage’s head, the children, Matthew, Seris who had returned to Vandalieu’s side again – all of them had frozen in place with no expression on their faces, as if they really were just puppets.
“Now then… as you can see, they are –” Birkyne began.
“This city was under your influence long before I came here. But all of their personalities are their own, and none of them intended to deceive me. That’s true not just for Matthew and the other children, but for the nuns and the orphanage’s head as well. They are brainwashed, convenient puppets for you,” Vandalieu summarized.
Birkyne was surprised for a moment, and then his smile widened.
It seemed that Vandalieu’s summary was correct.
“Brainwashed… That is a good word. It was apparently often done in other worlds, wasn’t it? Bellwood mentioned it often, to the anger of Zakkart and the others… though when I think about it now, I think Bellwood was the brainwashed one,” said Birkyne.
Though he admitted that the people of the orphanage had been brainwashed, brainwashing someone wasn’t such a simple task. Vandalieu, who possessed the ‘Mental Encroachment’ Skill, knew this from experience.
“From the way you ordered them to be silent, you must have brainwashed them yourself. How did you brainwash them all? And is Sister Seris a Vampire?” Vandalieu asked.
“… Oh my, how did you notice that she is a Subordinate Vampire?” Birkyne mused, ignoring his first question.
“When she pinched your hand, the back of your hand turned red. An ordinary nun would not be able to even scratch a Pure-breed Vampire if she swung a club with all of her strength. There is no way that she could have made your skin turn red if she was an ordinary nun,” Vandalieu replied.
Vandalieu had taken no notice of this when he had examined her with his spirit form and spells, however, as he had simply assumed that she was a human.
“I see. The act has backfired… That is right. This orphanage’s nuns, Seris and Vestra, are Subordinate Vampires… Not that they have been given my blood,” said Birkyne. “They are well-made, are they not? They remain unfazed by sunlight, do not have crimson eyes and do not need to act, as they themselves are unaware that they are Vampires.”
Approximately a hundred years ago, Gubamon had acquired a Subordinate Vampire servant who was able to move about in sunlight without any problems… Valen, Vandalieu’s father.
Having heard this and wanting Vampire servants of his own who could serve him in daylight, Birkyne had begun experiments, partly as a way to pass the time as well.
He had first gathered a hundred children and bathed them in sunlight. It was not ordinary, warm sunbathing; powerful, burn-inducing rays had been produced by magic, and their wounds had been healed by magic afterwards. This was repeated over the course of days and months until the children acquired the ‘Sunlight Resistance’ Skill.
After the children acquired the ‘Sunlight Resistance’ Skill and grew up to a certain extent, they would be transformed into Vampires. This process would lead to artificially-created, sunlight-resistant Vampires.
But the unfortunate result was that over ninety percent of the children had died, unable to withstand the procedure. Seris and Vestra had acquired the ‘Sunlight Resistance’ Skill before they died, but they were one of the few that had managed to do so.
The whole thing had so few cases of success and took so long until it was complete that Birkyne’s interest had shifted to other things, so they were not put to use as spies like Valen was.
However, they were turned into Subordinate Vampires, had their memories altered and later deployed as nuns who managed the orphanage.
If they hadn’t been brainwashed by Birkyne, they would likely have been guided by Vandalieu the moment they saw him.
But… is it just my imagination? Why was her grip so strong when she pinched me? They are indeed Subordinate Vampires, but they have not undergone any combat training, Birkyne thought to himself.
Despite his cool response to Vandalieu, he had actually been shaken for a moment when Seris pinched him. Seris was Rank 3 at most, and had not acquired any combat-related Job, and yet she had managed to slightly hurt a Pure-breed Vampire.
But Birkyne couldn’t afford to immerse himself in thought right now.
“But to you, whether they are Vampires or not is not important, is it? The important thing is that I am capable of offering them… exactly the way you know them,” he said.
This was the critical point of Birkyne’s plan. He had not taken hostages. He was negotiating under the reasoning that Vandalieu had simply grown attached to his possessions, so he was now offering them.
In preparation for this plan, Birkyne had re-brainwashed every single human in every single human-farming facility under his control.
He had described several of Vandalieu’s characteristic traits to them and brainwashed them to get closer to him once they met the individual who met Vandalieu’s description. This way, the plan would work no matter which city Vandalieu appeared in.
Matthew’s attempt to steal from Vandalieu’s food cart out of all the food carts in the area was one of the effects of Birkyne’s brainwashing… though even Birkyne wouldn’t have expected him to try to steal from Vandalieu.
After that, the orphanage had successfully come under Vandalieu’s protection as a result of the brainwashing, just as Birkyne had planned.
Birkyne had become certain of this after the event that had happened just the other day. He had learned that men who appeared to be spies had infiltrated the orphanage and then fallen back without doing anything, and that the crooked guard Aggar was being searched for.
I don’t know the fine details, but such strange events would only happen because Vandalieu did something. There is no doubt that he dirtied his own hands to protect the orphanage from the guard named Aggar, Birkyne thought.
Indeed, he had executed his plan after going down the same line of reasoning as Earl Isaac Morksi.
“If you value their lives, I will not threaten them. It is true that you and I were enemies, once. But it is a fact that Alda and his servants have been active in recent years, in a way that they have never been before. I am sure you are more informed about this than I am, are you not? Naturally, Alda and his believers are my enemies as well. Considering the current state of affairs, should we not avoid trying to destroy one another? Even if we are unable to join forces, it would be logical to form an agreement of noninterference… nonaggression. Don’t you agree?” Birkyne said reasonably.
Vandalieu simply quietly observed him. At the same time, he was examining Matthew and Seris beside him, testing a number of theories. With the ‘Super High-speed Thought Processing’ and ‘Group Thought Processing’ Skills, the time that Birkyne took to speak was plenty.
“As a symbol of good faith, I will offer these people to you. I will do as you wish in regards to the brainwashing. I can return their original memories, and I do not mind making them forget that they were my pets. I can even turn them into your slaves,” Birkyne continued. “What do you say? Tell me what you wish for –”
“I refuse,” said Vandalieu, shutting down Birkyne’s offer.
There was no value in even considering this threat that was disguised as a negotiation.
If he accepted Birkyne’s offer, it was possible that Matthew, Seris and all of the others could be saved right here. However, there was no meaning to this if the brainwashing could not be undone. Birkyne was offering to remove the brainwashing, but there was no guarantee that this wasn’t a lie.
Even though Birkyne said with his words that he would remove the brainwashing, it was possible that they may remain brainwashed. There was no guarantee that they would not go back to being manipulated by him at a single command.
Vandalieu took a step towards Birkyne.
“Now, now, calm down,” Birkyne said. “If you are thinking that you can undo the brainwashing by killing me, that is a very hasty decision. Or do you intend to brainwash them yourself?”
Birkyne’s confidants had instinctively prepared themselves for battle when Vandalieu rejected the offer, but Birkyne was still smiling.
“No, I’m not,” said Vandalieu.
He took another step forward. Mortor and the other confidants’ faces twisted in fear and dread. Birkyne’s smile gave an unnatural twitch.
“Even if they die, you will revive them as Undead… No, you will use the root of life to resurrect them? If that’s the case, you should give up on that idea. I have made every single one of these people except those two over there drink holy water before you came to this place. The moment they die, they will return to the circle of reincarnation!” Birkyne said loudly.
“I’m surprised that you took such a step when you’ve probably never even tested whether holy water takes effect from inside the stomach. I think it was a pointless measure,” said Vandalieu as he took another step forward.
Birkyne’s confidants bared their fangs, extended their claws and prepared themselves.
“S-stop! Do you really not care about what happens to these humans?!” shouted Mortor.
“Take a look at this!” said a Noble-born Vampire of Elf origin as he took hold of Vestra’s neck with his clawed hand and began to squeeze.
Having been ordered to be silent by Birkyne, Vestra remained as still as a puppet. Only her breathing and the color of her face revealed her current physical state.
“Even if this woman is a Subordinate Vampire, I could crush her neck in my hand in an instant! If you will kill us anyway, we will take all of these people with us!” the Elf Noble-born Vampire shouted.
Vandalieu stopped for a moment… though it was unclear as to whether it was because he thought that the threat was serious or because he simply thought it unnecessary to get any closer.
“I apologize for my subordinates’ unsightly behavior, but they are right. And this is not the only orphanage I am operating from the shadows. There are two more in the Alcrem Duchy alone. There are even more if you count the entire continent of Bahn Gaia,” said Birkyne. “You may not know them, but will you abandon all of the orphans that are not here?”
“Your brainwashing technique doesn’t take effect unless you give direct commands… or to elaborate, you can’t give new orders if you are not there yourself. Which means that as long as you’re here, the only ones you can manipulate are the orphans of this orphanage. Even if you scream something in this place, it will not affect those who aren’t here,” Vandalieu concluded.
Birkyne’s expression froze. “… Why would you think that? Do you have any proof?”
“This is a conclusion I made based on my own experience and knowledge. And based on you,” said Vandalieu.
He knew very well that there were no all-powerful spells or Skills. There was no way that a technique for doing something as difficult as brainwashing people would have no flaws.
The effect of Eleanora’s Charming Demon Eyes was broken when eye contact was broken, and other spells did not have long-lasting effects. Even Vandalieu’s ‘Mental Encroachment’ Skill was not simple.
It was likely impossible to perfectly control all of the thousand or so orphans in numerous orphanages across the continent.
Vandalieu, and even Chipuras and his other companions, would think that it might be possible through some spell that was advanced beyond imagination. But they would also conclude that Birkyne could not possibly be able to use such a spell.
“If it were possible, why are you people here in the first place? If you are so scared of me that you flinch every time I take a step forward, you could have stayed far away and communicated your intentions to me by manipulating someone like a ventriloquist’s puppet. If your voice alone was enough to manipulate these people, you could have used a Magic Item that can carry sound over long distances. Such Magic Items are expensive, but I would assume that you possess many of them,” said Vandalieu.
The fact that Birkyne and his subordinates were here now meant that manipulating the people of the orphanage from a distance was impossible. The fine details of how Birkyne was manipulating them were still unclear, but it was likely that Birkyne himself needed to be near the targets of the brainwashing.
Considering that, one could question how he was able to manipulate orphans and slaves all over the continent, but it was likely that he was using a special way of moving about that had slipped by Vandalieu and Gufadgarn’s surveillance web. If he was a user of space-attribute magic, it would have had to be unknown to Eleanora, Chipuras and even Ternecia and Gubamon before their souls were broken. Vandalieu thought that Birkyne likely achieved his movement through some Magic Item or Unique Skill.
“If you understand my conclusion, then… let go,” said Vandalieu as the skin of his forehead squirmed, and then slits opened in it to reveal four sinister-looking eyeballs.
“Huh?!”
“W-what is this…?!”
Each of the four Demon Eyes of the Demon King glared at one of the Noble-born Vampires. All of them froze in a fear that felt as if it were directly gripping their beating hearts. Vandalieu was not holding back their effects like he had with the upstart who had called out to Darcia before.
“Let… go,” Vandalieu repeated.
The Elf Noble-born Vampire released Vestra’s neck from his trembling hand. Even though he knew that he was endangering himself by letting go of her, he could not disobey the fear that was piercing his instincts.
“So, negotiations have broken down… I admit, I have failed,” Birkyne murmured.
In his experience, he had been able to negotiate with anyone as long as he held in his hands things that were held dear by those he was negotiating with. It wasn’t only limited to families, lovers and friends; they could be mementos that would have no value to anyone else, precious documents or money.
Birkyne had determined that what Vandalieu held dear was his companions. That was why Birkyne had gone through with this very roundabout plan to make Vandalieu recognize his pet humans as companions.
But Vandalieu had shown less discomposure than Birkyne had planned, and seen through Birkyne’s hand of cards. Birkyne had also failed to take into account that Vandalieu had acquired more fragments of the Demon King.
“But… You have fallen for it, you damned midget! In the end, you failed to understand how I am controlling these pigs, didn’t you?! Taste it for yourself!” Birkyne shrieked in a hysterical voice, just as Vandalieu took another step forward.
As Vandalieu’s foot came down on Birkyne’s shadow, the shadow writhed as if it were a living creature and wrapped itself around his foot.
The shadow branched outwards as it climbed the surface of Vandalieu’s body, reaching his head in an instant. It was as if a black creeping vine had grown on Vandalieu and wrapped itself around him.
“… I see,” said Vandalieu.
He no longer had the freedom to move his body. He could move his mouth and move his eyes, but nothing more than that.
The Noble-born Vampires cheered.
“We did it! Birkyne-sama’s shadow has captured him!”
“Even you can lose your mind in your anger! How foolish, to approach Birkyne-sama directly!”
A smile of satisfaction appeared on Birkyne’s sweat-drenched face.
“It is as they say. To think that you would step on my shadow. But, well, I thought that things might turn out this way,” he said, returning to his usual gentlemanly-like tone of speech. “You have likely acquired not only ‘Status Effect Resistance,’ but also the ‘Mental Corruption’ Skill at a high Level, and it seems that you also manipulated the minds of the humans in the upper echelons of the Hartner Duchy’s Mages’ Guild. You are clearly on the side that does the controlling, so you thought that even if you don’t understand how I manipulate my puppets, you thought that you would be safe, didn’t you?”
“I understand now. You use the power of a Demon King fragment. Could it be referred to as the Demon King’s shadow?” said Vandalieu.
A large crack formed in Birkyne’s gentleman-like demeanor. His mouth twisted in such a way that even his attractive appearance could not conceal his hatred.
“Indeed, it is the power of the Demon King’s shadow, which I acquired a hundred thousand years ago. It is with this power that I rose to my current place in the world,” he said.
After being defeated in the war against Alda a hundred thousand years ago, Birkyne and the other two Pure-breed Vampires, who had left Vida’s side, had undone the seals on the Demon King fragments that Vida had entrusted them with.
Ternecia had acquired the Demon King’s horns, Gubamon the Demon King’s carapace, and Birkyne the Demon King’s shadow.
As its name suggested, the Demon King’s shadow was a special fragment. Why had Guduranis’s shadow, which didn’t normally physically exist, been sealed together with a physical body part fragment? Birkyne had concluded that it was likely due to a coincidence that was both a miracle and a nightmare.
In addition to the physical fragment, a part of the Demon King’s soul had become caught up in it by coincidence!
Even when activated, this fragment did not have any physical attack or defensive power. However, it possessed a power that the other fragments possessed – the ability to manipulate others.
“I have immersed myself in the research and study of this fragment. My ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ Skill has reached Level 10, but as you can see, my own will remains intact! Like you, I am able to completely control this fragment!” Birkyne said proudly with a maniacal laugh. “What do you think?! Are you surprised?! Or perhaps you are disappointed in yourself now that you have realized that you are not the only special one!”
As Vandalieu listened to this explanation, he checked his own current state and spoke with telepathy, organizing his plan.
The moment he extended fragments such as the Demon King’s jointed legs out from inside his body, they became unable to move. His tongue also froze in place when he extended it from his mouth. It seemed that the Demon King’s shadow’s controlling effects reached anything that influenced its shape.
Vandalieu tried using his ‘Magic Absorption Barrier’ just in case, but as expected, it had no effect against a fragment of the Demon King.
“It’s futile. I heard from Hillwillow, people known as ‘ninjas’ in other worlds use a technique called Kage-nui, sewing their enemies’ shadows to themselves to stop their movement, don’t they? This is just like that! Even if you possess a monstrous strength that one would not expect from your appearance, even if you possess fragments of the Demon King, you can never escape from this,” Birkyne said triumphantly. “Will you unleash light from your eyes like when you fought the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords?! Or maybe you’ll make a part of yourself explode to erase the shadow! Feel free to do so, if you don’t mind the deaths of the children around us and behind you!”
TLN: Kage-nui/影縫い roughly translates to “shadow stitching.” It’s a ninja thing and is featured in Naruto.
Birkyne had planned for the event that negotiations broke down. That was why he had waited until not just Matthew and Seris, but many people of the orphanage, became attached to Vandalieu – in order to minimize the number of people that he would not mind sacrificing… He had not expected all of them to become attached to him, but that was convenient now.
“But rest assured. We will not kill you… or rather, we cannot kill you. I would be in danger if the countless fragments of the Demon King in your possession were to spill out, and I need you and Alda to destroy each other,” Birkyne continued. “I don’t even know how to kill you. It seems that even if I could, you would turn into an Undead and attack me. I don’t want to be targeted by Gufadgarn and Vida’s faction, either.”
It seemed that Birkyne had no intention of killing Vandalieu. In fact, he believed that he must not kill Vandalieu. That was why Vandalieu’s ‘Danger Sense: Death’ was barely reacting at all to Birkyne’s actions.
Killing Vandalieu would eliminate Birkyne’s greatest threat to himself. But that wouldn’t remove all of the heroes that Alda’s faction was raising, cause Vida and the Pure-breed Vampires of her faction to return to slumber or placate Vandalieu’s subordinates.
It was clear that he would be crushed in between Alda’s forces and the remnants of Vandalieu’s.
“That is why I will force the agreement of nonaggression and noninterference… into your brain!” Birkyne said.
Vandalieu felt the unpleasant sensation of something slipping into his ears.
“I heard an explanation of how the brain works from Zakkart when he was still alive. I will use the Demon King’s shadow to infiltrate your brain and brainwash you physically. This means that the ‘Mental Corruption’ Skill is useless. You still have the ‘Status Effect Resistance’ Skill, but… I have even brainwashed Vampires and Majin before. I will just work carefully until I overcome your Skill’s effects,” Birkyne explained. “But rest assured. Once I’m done with my puppets, I’ll release them to you.”
However, the Skill that Vandalieu possessed was not ‘Status Effect Resistance,’ but its superior version, ‘Status Effect Immunity.’ Thus, the chances of succeeding in brainwashing him was considerably low. Still, it would feel very unpleasant to continually have his brain meddled with directly.
And I’ve already got all of the information I need, anyway, Vandalieu thought to himself as he activated the Demon King’s eyeballs and luminescent organs, emitting light towards his feet.
At that moment, he regained the freedom of movement in part of his body.
“This brat has eyeballs on his legs?!” one of the Noble-born Vampires shouted in surprise.
“Stop him, even if it’s only for a second!” Birkyne shouted.
The Noble-born Vampires immediately obeyed his command and leapt at Vandalieu in order to stop him from moving. Birkyne was likely trying to use the opening they created to stop Vandalieu’s movements once more with the Demon King’s shadow.
But Vandalieu released ‘Death Bullets’ at the Noble-born Vampires. With ‘Chant Revocation’ and ‘Greater Multi-cast,’ multiple spells flew out at once, causing the Noble-born Vampires to fall back hastily.
Birkyne clicked his tongue in frustration. “Go!” he shouted, commanding his puppets.
At that moment, Seris, Matthew and all of the other people of the orphanage gathered in the chapel rushed towards Vandalieu and clung onto him.
Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a very heartwarming scene, but… it was simply ominous now.
At that moment, Vandalieu stopped resisting.
Birkyne gave a wide smile and laughed. “Your attacks against my subordinates avoided the brat and the woman behind you, and were more for protecting them rather than yourself. You can’t resist any more now that my puppets that are so precious to you are all clinging onto you, can you? They will cling onto you even if all of the bones in their limbs break, until I order them to stop. If you understand the situation, you should stay still and let me perform the brainwashing. I don’t mind killing a few of them! If you don’t want me to do that, then be obedient!”
Vandalieu decided that he could no longer maintain his disguise.
“I will not be obedient, precisely because I don’t want you doing that,” he said. “Please come out, the four of you.”
In response to this, Chipuras and two others appeared around Vandalieu.
Birkyne opened his eyes wide in shock upon seeing these familiar faces. “The ‘Fine Dog’ Chipuras and the ‘Mad Dog’ Berkert. And even the ‘Fighting Dog’ Daroak. So, you turned Ternecia’s Five Dogs into Ghosts after they were defeated! … But so what?”
He had been shocked at first, but since they were Undead… Ghosts with no physical bodies, at that, they didn’t represent any threat, no matter how strong they had been while alive.
Birkyne’s confidants thought the same; they calmly raised their weapons and faced the three Ghosts.
But that was a fatal mistake.
“So what, you ask? This is what!” Chipuras shouted.
Berkert began laughing maniacally.
“Burn the image of our reborn forms into your eyes!” screamed Daroak.
The three of them began to shine violently, as if they had become incarnations of the sun.
Being defenseless against this attack that struck them directly, Birkyne and his confidants, who were Vampires that could be burned by the sun, screamed in agony as their entire bodies were scorched.
“GAAAAH! Light-attribute Ghosts?! Impossible, my eyes, my shadows?! AAAAGH!” Birkyne shrieked as he twisted his body and covered his face.
The Demon King’s shadow was forced behind him by the light being emitted from the Ghosts.
“Now is the time, Vandalieu-sama!” shouted Chipuras.
Vandalieu extended his spirit form to wrap all of the people of the orphanage in it, used ‘Embodiment’ to materialize it and then cast ‘Flight’ to float into the air.
In the next moment, he used ‘Golem Creation’ to create a hole in the chapel’s wall, which he had silently turned into a Golem earlier, and escaped through it.
From there, he regrouped with the waiting Gufadgarn. Seeing this, the Ghosts returned to Vandalieu’s side.
“Congratulations on your safe return, Vandalieu,” Gufadgarn said.
“I’m back, Gufadgarn. I’m glad that he acted exactly as you told me he would,” said Vandalieu.
“I knew of him before I even came to this world, after all. It seems that some things were mixed up, but it was fortunate that it went largely as expected.”
“B-Birkyne-sama, what shall we do?! Should we retreat?!” asked Mortor, flustered.
“Chase him!” Birkyne ordered, his regenerated face twisted in anger. “What use is there in running?! Since negotiations have failed, there is no way for me to survive other than to brainwash him and turn him into my puppet!”
As long as Gufadgarn was outside, there was a high chance that they would be chased no matter where they ran. Attempting to run would simply be a slow way to commit suicide.
“The puppets are still under my control! And there are countless more humans outside that I can use as hostages! Hurry and get outside!” Birkyne shouted in fury.
Knowing that they would be killed if they disobeyed, the confidants flew out the hole that Vandalieu had created.
Birkyne himself leapt out to chase Vandalieu as well, but… he was still unaware that even if he left the chapel, he could not get outside.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Hobbes
Hey Van caught 3 Shiny Ghost Vamp~ I mean Pokémon!
X07Zero
After rereading it again I just notice the hint that Gufadgarn said in this chapter now ^^;
Zenden1st
Rock and a hard place for Birkdine
JKingSniper
lmao so stupid
Birkyne really overestimate himself and underestimate Vand
NsP7737
He’s trapped and he won’t escape
Wsteven7o7
DK Donkey Kong.
unwanted child
“But… You have fallen for it, you damned midget!
if brainwashing the kids didnt ensure his death this did
Jason
Wow, when did he had the time to turn them to light attribute ghosts
Now he only needs earth attribute ghosts
Chiu ChunLing
It was actually Heinz who turned them into attribute ghosts by killing them with Radiant Slash and so forth.
antonio
question if vampires were born from the undead corps of zakkart how because of dk suol destruction ability how Birkyne met him he say
I heard an explanation of how the brain works from Zakkart when he was still alive
I heard from Hillwillow, people known as ‘ninjas’
Brainwashed… That is a good word. It was apparently often done in other worlds, wasn’t it? Bellwood mentioned it often, to the anger of Zakkart and the others… though when I think about it now, I think Bellwood was the brainwashed one,
Yggdrasil
He was a human before
OokamiNoO
He met Zakkart and hillwilow when they were alive. Back then he was not a vampire
Gohankuten
The Vampire Ancestor was born from Undead Zakkart. The Ancestor then changed 100 select individuals who had fought in the war against Guduranis into Pure Breed vampires by giving them his blood. Thus Birkyne was probably a Human and talked and interacted with the Champions during the war and then afterwards was changed into a Pure Breed vampire.
Morgan
How to kill Vandalieu Zakkart – A 20 Step Guide.
1. Wait till he’s not paying attention to anything.
2. Destroy any pseudo-reincarnation magic circles
3. Destroy Vida’s races outside the Mt. Boundary Range
4. Destroy Vida’s faction outside the Mt. Boundary Range
5. Recruit Alda’s faction
6. Recruit Rodcorte and the gullible Bravers
7. Recruit every nation opposed to Vandalieu
8. Use all Demon King Fragment Weapons
9. Destroy the Mt. Boundary Range
10. Destroy Vida’s races inside the Mt. Boundary Range
11. Destroy Vida’s faction inside the Mt. Boundary Range
12. Destroy Vandalieu’s army
13. Survive Vandalieu’s first armageddon attack
14. Survive Vandalieu’s next 50 armageddon attacks
15. Destroy Vandalieu’s Body faster than he can regenerate
16. Destroy or seal the Demon King fragments that will come to life.
Now that Vandalieu has no body,
17. Incinerate the Root of Life before Van moves it
18. Have every god put their strongest seals on Vandalieu
19. Protect Rodcorte as he disassembles Van’s soul
20. Hope that Van doesn’t use the DK Fragments in his soul form to destroy Rodcorte
21 a. You have succeeded and Vandalieu’s soul has been split into pieces and will never threaten you again.
21 b. Rest in pieces (in Vandalieu’s stomach) knowing you’ll never need to even have an infinitesimal chance of seeing Vandalieu Zakkart again.
LmaoLN
For that to happen the chances are less than 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%
Wsteven7o7
The chances of that happening are so low in the entirety of infinity it has not happen…
Morgan
Why would Vampire Ghosts be 4x more vulnerable to light? Vampires and Ghosts are 2 different races. Also, they’re Spirits, dead ones, sure, but still beings that live off mana of their attribute. Also, light mages can become vampires, I’m pretty sure it has already happened at some point.
ObserverBias
…? The ghosts aren’t vulnerable to light, they’re acting as sources of Light. Or is this one of those instances of “the comment this is in reply to go nuked”?
Morgan
I was certainly not expecting the Demon Kings Shadow. Even another part of his soul.
I wonder if that was inspired by the Egyptian belief that the “Shadow” is one of the parts of the soul.
Thanks for the chapter!
Morgan
The LightNovelBastion team must be essential works.
I figured this out because they bring us something to enjoy in this terrifying time.
Real heroes protect people and make them happy. And you guys have certainly been making me happy.
Thank you all very much.
Shadi1089
To tell you the truth, Normal Vampires are probably more likely to become light attribute ghosts post mortum because of their natural weakness to solar radiation (if they do become ghosts, that is), thusly they are more likely to die from it than any currently-known race in Λ.
I would have found it even more perplexing if they became dark-attribute ghosts. After all, vampires don’t normally die from the dark.
NB: Yes, I do realise that tenebrae is not currently a real attribute in either Origin or Λ. Only ignis, aer, aqua, terra, victus, lux, tempus (Λ-exclusive!), spatium, and just recently, mortus exist in Λ and Origin. As far as is known, there was never a tenebrae in either world.
EDIT: I was referring to tenebrae being a new attribute not necessarily darkness. In latin “tenebrae” refers to multiple things. not just the “absence of light,” as there is no direct translation of
“tenebrae” into english.
NB: This, however, does not apply to Abysmal Vampires, as they are not weak to solar radiation.
MrTrixer
That shadow didnt jump over to Van like the other parts, could it be that the shadow is a side product of that other part it was sealed with? Or maybe its because a part of the soul of the demon king is present that the shadow wont join Van?
This could get dangerous..
Thank you for the chapter and the treat! (^_^)/
ObserverBias
Would reckon it’s because the Degree is at 10 and possibly something to do with why he’s “not insane.”
polynesianvibez
damn, i was hoping for van to transform and scare the shit out of them lol also, i’ve caught up on chapters
thanks for the chapter
Alex-dono
thanks for the chapter. Also can’t wait to read what happens next. It could either be van soul breaks birkyne or he lets him live because of his actions. He killed gubamon because gubamon was the reason his father was pursued and his mom was caught and killed. He killed ternecia because she was more useful dead than alive. but I can’t see any reason for him to keep birkyne alive because he doesn’t need someone who is manipulative. Also he came to the town with the intent to draw attention to himself so that he could kill murakami or birkyne. Also Eleanora hates birkyne. So I think he’s going to soul break birkyne after extracting information from his spirit but if he doesn’t kill birkyne I would be curious as to why.
Tejing
Van did already state way back in chapter 45 that he would kill Birkyne. He usually holds to such statements. The only counterexample I can think of is when he said he’d kill the reincarnated Bravers. Even discounting that, I can’t imagine him letting Birkyne live. Though, Eleanora doesn’t really hate Birkyne, she just doesn’t care about him at all.
Jonathan Hurd
Van did state he was going to kill all the reincarnators, but he stated that when he was half mad and still wounded by Rodcortes actions. After he calmed down he started reconsidering since it wasn’t really their fault they didn’t know about him it was Rodcortes.
With Birknye he’s killed too many people and done to much evil to be forgiven or allowed to continue. Especially since he’s already brainwashed so many of Vidas races Van doesn’t know when this same scenario will repeat itself or if he’d kill the hostages just to hurt Van. Better to put the mad dog down imo.
Van also never really forgives those who are hostile to him. Birknye has done to much to Van to live.
Shadi1089
In order to put the Evil God of Joyous Life below him, would it not be better to shout “Non serviam!” to him? 😂
Shadi1089
I was talking about Birky, by the way. I just thought it was funny at the time.
Note: “Non serviam!“ in Latin means “I will not serve”. Basically what the Lucifer at the time said to God before the fall.
Shadi1089
“brothels that let their prostitutes go from their bondages without the full required amount not being paid“
…Is that what it’s supposed to say? Or am I overthinking things?
Shadi1089
I hope that’s a typographical error, because that is a very confusing sounding clause.
Jonathan Hurd
Basically the brothels it’s talking about are the underworld type where women are forced to pay off their debts with their bodies. It wouldn’t make any sense if an organization like that just let people go and said “okay your debts are clean”. The moment anyone tries to negotiate for someone’s release.
Shadi1089
Indeed, I already knew that; I was not talking about the brothels, but the redundant negative in the clause (in this case a dependent clause). I am sorry I did not clarify any further.
Alex-dono
its probably translated as closely to the original text so what might be a redundant negative in the clause in English isn’t in Japanese and the translator probably isn’t an English major so it would be understandable if he missed it.
icedown
I think your right, should be with, not without.
EDIT. Went and looked it up myself because I got curious. It is definitely with. Pretty much the same thing as the cheap slaves line but just an example with prostitutes.
Demonuss69
I know it goes against his nature and all his experience but ole Birkyne really should have just been straight up with Van. How much harder would it have been to just send a proxy to be like “My master wishes to cease hostilities, please agree to this nonaggression pact.” Offer up the use of a portion of his Intel network. Use some actual diplomacy instead of “I’m going to hold your friends hostage and be an evil cunt for shits and giggles because me badman.” The shadow being in control theory makes alot more sense, or at least I’d like to think that a 120 millennium old vampire would have a little more self preservation otherwise.
Jonathan Hurd
I would honestly say this is probably Birknye being as diplomatic as he can be. I mean he’s lived for a hundred thousand years in a society where showing any weakness gets you killed. Throwing yourself to the mercy of your enemy is tantamount to suicide in his culture. Having spent so long suspecting and manipulating others it becomes hard to ever be frank.
While it would make some sense to have a messenger throw himself at Vans feet and beg forgiveness the question for Van would become why be satisfied with a part of Birknyes organization when he can just take the whole thing. Birknye is completely on the back foot and to make matters worse Van really doesn’t like him to begin with. He needed some edge of any kind to even talk to Van.
I will say if the Shadow isn’t in charge and he just wants to live I think he should have stuck to the plan he detailed a while ago. Basically go into hiding, cut all outside ties so you can’t be found, and wait for Alda and Van to fight to the death. Hope for Aldas win and then go back to corrupting his society. In the case of Vans victory maybe try to sneak into his.
Absolute Zer0
Birkyne is too Tsundere XD. Being tsundere doesn’t suit males
Morgan
Men are Tsundere more than women. Women say it when they like their female friends. Men don’t usually say it about male friends.
Jonathan Hurd
I think when they became ghosts they stopped being Vampires so not sure there would be a 4x bonus damage. I do have to admit though I never saw light ghosts coming. Now that was a twist.
I will say as far as light attribute being used by those who you wouldn’t think should, in the Trial of Zakkart there were demons using anti undead light spells. So it’s not like evil creatures can’t use the element.
Renrobt
Well so far in this novel light attribute is literally just that: light. Not holy but simply light. So lasers, spotlights, anti-vampire fake sunlight, etc. Or if one is more crafty, illusions and deflecting light to make one invisible.
In this sense light attribute is something that is detached from morality.
Though lets be fair: the demons in the dungeon were made for the trial so they could have very well be custom creations that had abilities that they would not naturally have, to throw of anyone and test how they can adapt to such a situation. That kinda was half of the point of the trial after all.
Matchu
That and that alda is gonna flip his shit when he finds out
Renrobt
Let’s be fair here. Alda is flipping his shit with every step Van makes.
Also considering that the people in the orphanage has yet to be guided (at least completely), due to the brainwashing, Alda can probably see whats going on through them.
Jonathan Hurd
I believe Alda can only see through his worshippers. The orphanage worships Vida so I don’t think Alda can see but Rodcorte might be able to.
Shadi1089
Thanks for the chapter!
Shadi1089
Indeed the Irony of Light Attribute Vampire Ghosts is very perplexing.
IlCroato
Have been wondering for a LOOOOONG time Chipura’s attribute. Did not expect that!!!
Lightnovelfan
Well, I guess that´s the end of the last stooge and Van can now use another element with his Dead Spirit Magic. Take that Braver (the leader with the similar name), who needs cheats when he has some mad skills?
Now that I think about it, all of Bravers´ abilities are quite underwhelming in Lambda. I just read his wiki page and he is basically no threat at all.
Chantless Magic? Van has the skill since the age of one.
Multicast? Van can unleash dozens of spells at once ( I think his maximum so far was twelve against Erkine)
Use all Elements? Van can use all plus No Atribute, Death Atribute and Time Atribute with the Right ghost.
Ignore defense? Not much of a threat in Lambda and I think Vans´ death bullet and cannon also ignore defense.
Avalon is probably a much bigger threat. Unlimited growth and fast learning could be incredibly dangerous in Lambda. Learning multiple Jobs in a very short time can make him really strong. I think when they come to Lambda, Avalon is going to be the end boss.
Although I think that Braver will also try to fight him. When he dies, Rodcorte will probably say something like: When your wife dies and Comes here, she will know the truth you hid from her and will face Van. If you want to save her, kill him.
Renrobt
I completely agree with Braver being pretty much useless against Van. Even if we disregard Dead Spirit Magic which effectively replicates the ability to use all elements on, but on a higher degree, Van has magic nullification, making it useless anyways. While this nullification depends on how much mana he pours into it, this is Van we are talking about. With his current mana pool he could causally rival literal gods, not just the weakened evil gods.
I also agree that Avalon is the greatest threat. With skill system which can grant supernatural skills that defy even biology, as long as one trains hard enough, a unique skill that grants unlimited growth and accelerated learning is probably the most broken thing, even without a divine protection, the “normal” way to accelerate growth and unlock the limits.
The only thing I disagree is the reason for fighting. Consider Banda being on Origin sooner or later he will get revealed while trying to protect Mei from Avalon. The secret that they were the ones to kill Van is not something that they will be able to keep for long. And it is something Avalon likely already knows and will definitely use as psychological warfare, baring any extreme situations where one or more of them are almost instantly killed.
While I can’t exactly think of a convincing reason what would convince to fight against Van, it is likely that he will accept it in hopes of recreating the Bravers and calm down both the gods and all the other reincarnated individuals.
Jonathan Hurd
I am completely on board with Van kicking Bravers butt. One thing to remember though is he does have 5 more unique skills. Now that is no where close to Vans number. Add in the fact that Van is constantly training to improve and I don’t think we have to much to worry about.
Part that makes it better for Vans side is I think Braver never really hid his info. So the Eighth Guidance probably knows them all. If they don’t then definitely Kanako does.
For reasons Braver needs to fight Van… I think the fact Van has Death Attribute mana is probably all he’ll need by the end. I think Braver is getting to the point he will blame everything wrong in his life on that mana. It was fighting the Undead that changed the Bravers to an anti terrorist organization. It was Death mana that lead to Eighth Guidance being born. It gave Murakami and the rest a reason to leave…
We all know none of these events are really death attribute man as faults. All of this was caused by deep rooted issues the Bravers chose to ignore. What is funny is no one with Death Attribute Mana ever really did terrible things to start. All the terrible things were perpetrated by those seeking it. Still I don’t think anyone wants to face the idea that all the misfortune in your life was really because of you. Much easier to blame outside factors.
Renrobt
While yeah I can totally understand why he would go down the path of blaming everything on the Death Attribute, so far I don’t really see him to be the kind of guy who would shift the blame like that. he seems to be the stereotypical hero type (so far)
He acknowledged that the Eight guidance is their fault with not taking proper care of them. After learning who the “Undead” was he felt great regret and only didn’t discuss the truth because he cared for his wife’s feelings. And many other instances that makes him feel like essentially superman, at least morally (though powers that literally stand above every other and a rival that only has incredible mind but otherwise no superhuman physical proves? He and Avalon make a pretty good Superman and Lex Luthor)
Also finally depending on how long he has still on Origin he will get to know that Mei’s attribute is also Death, and he is definitely not the type to abandon anyone, especially his daughter. While this might make him frustrated in the short term, with Banda guiding and teaching Mei she could easily show of the good one can do with it.
Honestly in my opinion the more time he has in Origin the less likely he will have a good reason to fight Van. Thought that doesn’t mean Rodcorte wouldn’t do something stupid that for once actually gets them fighting. Whether that is erasing memories or implanting the soul of the demon king, or something equally bad and that definitely not gonna backfire, who knows.
Jonathan Hurd
I like the comparison between super man and Lex Luther to Braver and Avalon. That makes a lot of sense. I think it is very likely Avalon resents how easy Braver got his powers and has set himself up to surpass Braver as a way of showing he is the greatest.
I will say I appreciate Hiroto feels guilt about the Eighth Guidance and Van. I honestly don’t completely blame him for the Undead incident. I do blame the entire Braver organization for what happened to the Eighth Guidance admittedly.
I think he will conflict with Van for similar reasons to Asagi. Basically the dead shouldn’t be resurrected, Death Attribute mana is too dangerous, therefore we should seal it. I do hope he meets Banda and learns to appreciate him looking out for his daughter, but I do feel the whole Plutos corpse exploding, the Undead incident, and whatever happens with Hijiri will cement to Hiroto that the Death Attribute is to dangerous in anyone’s hands.
A big problem with the info any of the reincarnotors will be given about Van is its only from Aldas people’s perspective since Van has guided everyone else, and it’s being given to them by Rodcorte who has a giant stake in them killing Van. So no way they get to see any of the nice things Vans done. I can already see the highlight reel of Van destroying a few armies and breaking souls playing on loop for them.
Absolute Zer0
I think bringing Mei-chan to Lambda ahead of her parents and setting her parents against Van will be much more interesting. Something like
“Mei! Don’t be decieved!” (Hiroto)
“No father! You are the one who were decieving my mother! If not for you and those idiotic gods Papa would not be tormented like this! I will not permit any more than this! So… You should die!!!!”
So classic tragic drama material!
Renrobt
Damn that is something I haven’t even thought of… Has been guided by Van and the gods are probably watching out for her, so even though she is a native of Origin it doesn’t seem to be impossible for her to be sent to Lambda.
And considering Banda, and later Van in this scenario, she will probably have a rather different view of death than normal people, so even if killing her father would not be an easy decision, in her eyes likely it won’t be something final, irreversible.
But damn I love the idea, as much as I don’t want any harm to come to precious little Mei-chan.
Kiryl
Actually I think that the ignore all defence skill could be problematic.
If I remember correctly then they made some of his magic attacks continue forever destroying everything on their way.
Dan Smith
It would be, if not for the concept of Hit point in Lambda. It said before that even if a D-class adventurer sneak attack a S-class adventurer it would unlikely to even leave a scratch, not counting armor or skills, a S-class Hit points can’t just be reduce to 0 by a mere attack from a D-class. What make Ignore defense of the Braver in Origin so dangerous is that no matter what equipment or cheats you have, he can just throw a dagger at you and you die. But in Lambda, even if his cheat could ignore defense it won’t do jack sh*t if it’s not strong enough to bring the opponent hp down to 0 or the opponent heals the damage or fast enough to avoid it. Legion or any vampires on Van’s side are one of his worst match, insane hp, ridiculous healing factor, high speed, skill in magic and physical attacks. Van could also beat him very easily, Van is faster, more powerful in physical attacks, stronger magic and regenerative ability. His Hollow Cannon can oneshot the Braver, his anti magic spell can negate the Braver’s spell, his demon king’s part can pierce barriers,he can create golem to shield himself from the Braver’s physical attacks, as they are classified as creature rather than shields
no1
True, Rikudou’s skills, unlimited development and increased learning speed, does seem like somethings that Van might not be able to match. Who knows If Rikukou ever faces off against Van in Lambda or Banda in Origin. Maybe Van or Banda will devour his soul and possibly gain those skills, fingers crossed
Absolute Zer0
JESUS. Rikudou’s cheat+Van’s ridiculous growth. That will be nightmarish
Morgan
No he doesn’t. When he reincarnated in Lambda, Vida tried bestowing a divine protection on him but couldn’t cause the Death-attribute mana ate it.
The reason Van has seemingly unlimited development is because the system managed by Ricklent’s subbordinates keeps making new jobs, skills and races for Van cause of his curse to not learn pre-existing jobs. Having a ridiculously obscene amount of mana to simply power level + an army of helpers to support him. Whenever he hits a wall he simply invests time into doing something new.
He doesn’t have Unlimited Development, he’s just that good it looks like it.
Anyway, the most confusing thing about this series is that Van was supposed to have no good luck, ever. He’s been pretty lucky though, so the author may have deviated a little.
Also, Van VS Amamiya would be a bad match since while Ignore Defense is mana-based, it would still tear through Van’s energy-absorbing barriers. Why? Because those barriers are also mana based. With Chantless Multi-Cast, Braver can use multiple spells as fast as Van. Frankly, Van could theoretically cast an infinite number of spells instantly, but it wouldn’t matter since Braver’s weakest spell with Ignore Defense would pass right through them. And if Van uses Soul Form, Ignore Defense may just make the spell tear through his soul, through I’m doubtful.
Also Narumi already knows that Amamiya isn’t Van, she got them mixed up and that’s how she met her future husband. I also doubt she’ll care about Van trying to save her when it was 30+ years ago and she still died.
If anything, she’s more likely to hate Van once she meets Banda.
Absolute Zer0
I’m sure Braver can’t damage soul since if it was possible Rodiot will be shitting about it. And if Banda plays it well there is chance to make Amemiya family ally though guiding them will be little hard. Because Braver can’t accept Undeads but it is possible to change it with Mei’s help. He SHOULD be more open hearted when his own child is using them after all. And Death attribute magic is not really user friendly so Mei-chan has no choice but to rely on Undeads to fight against Ricudou anyway. At least Hiroto should have this much consideration.
Dan Smith
Side chapter 5. Vida:”With this, this soul has received my blessing. Its unhappy destiny should become a little better. And though his growth may face walls, it won’t face any limits. It will become easier for new Jobs to appear, and it should affect the people around him, too”
Eddy
no, life said so, his blood plus a couple of zakkart remnants made him basically have no growth barriers. And about bad luck, he still has it (that’s why almost nothing goes as he had originally planned, both in combat and in his personal life), he has simply learned to prepare for the worst scenarios and take for granted that his enemies they will use the lowest and most probable tactics, you kill bad luck with effort
theblasblas
This was… a “meh” chapter. There really can be no tension between Van and Birkyne since Van was able to defeat the other two vampires when he was much, MUCH weaker. Instead the author should have went with the body horror route by describing in great detail what was happening with the bodies of the puppets. If the author spent as much time describing Vestra as she was getting choked or the orphans as they were clingng emotionlessly onto Van as he did with the whole “pinch” thing this would have been a far more interesting chapter.
Jonathan Hurd
I’m not sure why describing children being tortured would up the tension if the whole situation is still one sided. That just makes it seem like he has a fetish for child torture.
The tension of the this fight isn’t so much if Van can win a fight but him figuring out the brainwashing and how Birknye slipped in.
It’s also seeing if Van can figure out the brainwashing or will he have to eat Birknyes demands.
theblasblas
It won’t up the tension, but it would make the chapter more interesting.
“The tension of the this fight isn’t so much if Van can win a fight but him figuring out the brainwashing and how Birknye slipped in.”
Precisely, and this was handled very poorly. Birkyne basically tells Van how it works, but as the adage goes “Show don’t tell”. I think it should have gone something like this. Birkyne tries it on Van, Van doesn’t notice anything happening because of his immunity. Birkyne doesn’t check if it worked because of his pride in his ability. Birkyne redos the brainwashing on Vestra to check why the pinch hurt so much. Vestra’s face twitches in an unsightly manner like a dead frog being forced to move by electricity. Van gets pissed, and now that he knows how the brainwashing works proceeds to wreck Birkyne.
Ozarazil
I think the problem is that Birky placed all of his eggs in one basket.
With Gufadgarn by his side Vandal can get out of almost any situation, the momment Birky left the sisters and the orphans all together in the same room he lost, he should’ve keep one sister and some orphans in another building away from Van (I don’t know if Gufadgarn would be able to find them but hey, it’s better than what he did I think)
I thought that Vandal might kill the orphans and then revive them later, I forgot that Gufadgarn was protecting the orphanage.
bencachinit
Thanks for the chapter!
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Soon Van will get the shadow of Guduranis and a part of his soul. Looking forward to this. And then the Nara-Clan will join Talosheim. By the way, will there be shadow magic skill? Or will it belong to the Dark Magic skill?
Absolute Zer0
Why spoil buddy? Well this much is pretty obvious tho’
Tejing
Pretty sure that was a prediction, not a spoiler. Still better to say “I think” or “I assume” to be clear.
Jonathan Hurd
I’m not sure if it would spawn a new magic itself. I think the most likely thing is Van incorporates the DK Shadows powers into his Dark King Magic. It could be very useful combined with Vans reduced presence skill already. Wrap yourself in the Shadow and use that to become a perfect ninja/assassin.
Morgan
Dark King Magic =\= Dark Magic. Also DK fragments use mana for Van to manifest them, but they aren’t actually magic themselves. He’ll probably create a skill with the shadow and dark king magic though. Like “Shadow of Death” or something. Brainwashes or kills beings that are standing in the shadow.
gomezseba37
“Birkyne himself leapt out to chase Vandalieu as well, but… he was still unaware that even if he left the chapel, he could not get outside.” Gufadgarn took the entire chapel inside his dungeon? LOL
Absolute Zer0
B-BAKANA!?!? *Idiotic voice*
Renrobt
Probably just the hole Van opened up goes into a dungeon rather than the whole church being transported.
But still RIP Bryknie, already in the trap.
Morgan
No, the whole church and it’s surroundings are a dungeon. They were probably teleported down a floor or hundred. Gudfadgarn would have moved the whole floor rather than just the people in it to prevent anyone noticing anything.
Also, I can totally imagine Gudfadgarn becoming a big sis type character playing “Who can build a better dungeon” together with Van.
V4NQU1SH
I want to see birkyne die slowly….
Thanks for the chapter~!
conscript117
Thank you for the chapter update.
Absolute Zer0
Even this retard dude mess up with Van’s brain that doesn’t make sense, since Van is constantly in half-spiritual state similar to his soul manipulating his own living body. And messing up with his soul is suicide… Really, it seems there is no way to kill Van. Now i’m starting to pity Van’s enemies
Jonathan Hurd
Well Birknye did state his goal was never to kill Van. Part of the reason he couldn’t if he wanted to is he lacks allies now. If Ternecia and Gubamon were still alive, they worked together, and they jumped Van after he fought someone like Murakami or Alda. Then maybe he could kill Van.
It’s not impossible to kill Van just amazingly difficult. You have to lock him down from escaping. That entails stopping one of the most powerful Space attribute God’s, lol. You have to deal with his swarm of allies. You then have to exhaust his over 7 billion mana. Then you have to strike down his physical body. After that you then have to deal with his soul reviving his body as an undead, lol.
Honestly it’s possible but you really would need multiple God’s and heroic spirits involved to ever truly stand a chance. The worst part is of course Van spends most of his time safely in Vidas barrier. If you tried to March towards him you have to contend with all of Vidas God’s too.
Absolute Zer0
Worst possible enemy. What if Van complete research on Death Magic and attain so-called Immortality then? And it his soul is almost at level of Great God too. If not his age stricting his growth in status then i refuse to believe Five Colored Sword and Reincarnators can freely move around.
And if his body can withstand his mana to use reinforsement magic then this will be really over. I think only Bellwood guy can put decent fight in such case
agimax
Don’t forget farming all the stat boost items to max your stats.
Jonathan Hurd
I just have Sir Integra’s voice from Hellsing abridged playing in my head, lol. “That’s step one. What about steps two through ten.”
Paps
Thanks for the chapter, really for such a well elaborated plan he forgot that Van has as a subordinate someone that can meddle with space time, so the moment he showed up in front of Van he was captured.
Kiryl
Does he actually know that? It is not easy to predict that your enemy get a god as his servant.
Tejing
It’s pretty unlikely he knows about it. The only way he might know is if he knew who made the trial of zakkart and why, and guessed that it had stopped teleporting around because van conquered it. But if he knew that, he’d have realized that van is zakkart too, and there’s no way that wouldn’t have come up in the scenes we saw of him up to now.
Paps
Well he had such a good intel on Van that I though he was already aware of it.
Lord Rin
Right I still have no idea why Birkyne tried this instead of waiting for Van and Alda to fight each other before swooping in afterwards and taking out the weakened victor. He said that he re-brainwashed every person that are his puppets so that means these aren’t any more special than any others so it’s not like he can say, “Well I put so much work into these guys specifically so it’d be a waste not to use them now.” especially since every single puppet of his has always been expendable from the beginning. Like I could see it if Birkyne had either already brainwashing this orphanage for a different purpose and Van just happened to show up which could endanger whatever previous goal he had with them or he found out Van was in this city and he specifically came to brainwash them for using them as hostages in a negotiation but neither scenario happened. Also since the brainwashing can only be in effect when he is physically near them and personally orders them then it just exposes himself to danger since he can’t be 100% sure Van wouldn’t just disregard their safety and attack him. He never even tried to test if making his puppets drink holy water beforehand would be able to send their souls immediately off to be reincarnated so that Van couldn’t take their souls.
On another note, it looks like everybody had been at least partially guided by Van and receiving some of the effects of Strengthen Subordinates and Followers which is why the Sister was able to make Birkyne’s skin red from her pinch despite only being rank 3 and having no combat skills. Anyways in true James Bond-villain fashion Birkyne decided to gloat and explain what he did and his powers instead of just getting on with it which gave Van time to analyze everything and set up a counter plan.
So I guess it’s safe to say that Birkyne actually has been taken over by the Demon King’s Shadow. I’m pretty sure it’s been said previously that level 10 encroachment signifies that a person has been completely taken over and not some warning that that’s the limit before take over occurs. Nor does it evolve into a higher skill or disappears from your stats to signify that you’ve been taken over. Anyways either because they said that the DK’s Shadow was some anomaly that contained part of Guduranis’ soul along with a physical fragment, maybe the fragment just doesn’t realize that it has taken over Birkyne or maybe because it’s an anomaly it can’t outright control Birkyne’s body and is instead influencing him subconsciously. Another reason I’m sure that he’s been taken over is because Gufadgarn says she knew him since before coming to this world and Birkyne is native to Lambda so Gufadgarn can’t have known him from a time previous to arriving on Lambda.
Also I’m guessing that they’re all inside one of Gufadgarn’s dungeons since the last line said that even if Birkyne left the chapel, he can’t go outside.
Ovnidemon
He made that before the fight between Alda and Van to secure himself. He knew that Van would fight him one day, and since Birk is weaker than Alda, it would have most likely happened sooner.
In addition, Van started to grab the underworld, so the odds of him finding Birk was increasing each days.
Van is also growing stronger each day, so the chance of the negotiation being successful is also decreasing since Van could just obtain a skill to counter that.
Finally, the fight between Alda and Van will be decisive, since the loser will lose everything (Alda can’t create anymore heroes and if Van dies, so does his empire), because of that, Alda can’t be careless and must be the strongest possible before that (especially not now, since his main fighters are down and there isn’t any truly strong warrior left). So the fight won’t happen soon, and by the times it arrives, all the contients will be under Alda or Van controls, so Birk couldn’t hide anymore
Jonathan Hurd
I agree with Lord Rin that Birknyes plan to meet and brainwash Van is completely counter productive if all he wants to do is win against Van or survive. Birknye doesn’t have to stay on this continent. He also doesn’t have to go outside. He’s stayed hidden from Alda and his flunkies for over a hundred thousand years and they have owned the entire part of the continent he lives on. Van can’t have as extensive an information network as Alda here and even if he did there is no way for him to find Birknye if he hides away in a completely remote area.
The reason why Birknye isn’t waiting to me is because he is being manipulated by the Demon Kings Shadow. The Shadow recognizes Van as the main Body but also knows it’s a different soul from Guduranis. I think the reason Birknye is so obsessed with Brainwashing Van is because it is trying to wipe out Vans personality. Afterwards it will possess the Main Body and take over. Assuming I’m right what it is trying to do with Van might actually be what it did to Birknye himself. Basically convince the host he is the one in charge but make them listen to all its commands.
serapheid
That theory is possible, but it also holds true that Birkyne’s days were numbered. Even if he fled, he knew Vandalieu would chase him since he was the easiest to deal with amongst his enemies. If he were in a different continent, he’d lose all the intelligence network and control he’s set up over the years, so if he gets found by Van, then there’s literally nothing he could do. Van’s power is growing by the day due to competent subordinates and a growing population of believers.
Knowing all this, Birkyne sees he has a chance to survive doing what he did despite his lack of information, basically a final gamble over a sure choice of death. It’s a matter of perspective, and this was basically what he saw to survive. It’s easy to say he should’ve done this or that since we’re mostly seeing it from a reader’s perspective, not taking into account what he was feeling or thinking at that time.
Jonathan Hurd
Oh he’s definitely feeling cornered and he and the rest of his subordinates are scared to death of Van. I will say the Vampire organization was already pretty much in tatters after Heinz purged Ternicias group and Gubamon purged his. So giving up on it now doesn’t seem as big a blow.
I also find Van chasing after Birknye very unlikely. Alda is openly gearing up to fight him. He has reincarnators hunting him. He honestly doesn’t have the time to chase after Birknye. Part of the reason Van is currently sitting in the open is he doesn’t want to waste time hunting for Birknye, but wait for him to come to Van.
Another good reason to pack up and leave is in preparation for the giant fight about to go down. If Alda and Vida do have a giant all out war that will change current society completely. He’s going to have to completely redo the organization after that anyways. So still seems if all you value is your life, run and fight another day. He even mentioned thinking of doing just that a few chapters ago that’s what makes him coming out directly like this suspicious to me.
Entropy
I agree, Birkyne should have waited until after alda sent heroes against Vand. Either way an enemy would be dead and another would be weaken. Another option is that Birkyne is already long gone and the shadow is in complete control. The demon King was manipulative and controlling of his servants and would destroy them at the drop of the hat and the current Birkyne is the same way. I think this is a possible option since I remember a riddle from years ago describing a shadow as a reflection. If Birkyne started out in control, as he gained levels in the demon king skill, he might have lost himself without realizing it. It would also be sort of fitting that the puppet master ended up as a puppet. If Birkyne is truly gone and this is Diet Demon King, then Edgar will follow a similar path of being erased. I do suspect that if Edgar is mentally destroyed, the demon king will do everything to kill Vand since Vand is stealing his body and powers from him.
Absolute Zer0
I think Birkyne was under influense of DK fragment since his actions are most nonesensical in entire series. And his negotiation skills backfired here since he was not in position to negotiate. It explains why Hihiryushakaka was so sure Birkyne will fail. Since his DK fragment is atrracting to main body he had no chance to succeed and he himself was not aware of this.
SheepySenpai
Thanks for the chapter!
Does anyone know when the next ‘Banda’ chapter is and how many chapters it goes for. Thank you.
Jonathan Hurd
Somebody a while back said it will be in the 230’s I think. I think we’ll get the update on Banda after the battles with Birknye, Murakami, and Hajime are done.
SheepySenpai
Thanks
Tolkien
TRANSLATOR SAMA S2 thank you and keep going
CCaprice
Making the same mistake as Aggar. You shouldn’t go through openings that lead to Gufadgarn. Thanks for the chapter.
gomezseba37
To be fair Gufadgarn is OP af he has godlike level space magic and his pyshycal body is a dungeon without exit its just… unfair I feel bad for whoever has to fight against that
ShadyDemoness
you said ‘godlike’ level of space magic. He is literally the god of Labyrinths so it would make sense, that he has those powers. He isn’t at the level of the god of space but he is atleast at demigod power level because he has no believers.
Kuro-san
In fact, it has already been said that like all, or almost all, the other evil gods who haunt ‘Dungeons’ have been sealed, basically all the emotion that non-divine beings have towards dungeons (As hope or despair) has if in faith for Gufadgarn.
Gufadgarn has already reached, at least in crude divinity, the level of the high gods, they just did not reach the proficiency of a Zuruwarn because they are not a god of space, but a labyrinths god; however, to be fair, they must be better at manipulating space than gods like the maps goddess.
SuicidalSkeletin
ALL BOW DOWN TO YOSHI SAMA
Kuro-san
Thanks for the chapter!
In a considerable number of chapters ago, I remember reading a comment that mentioned a comment from someone who said something about the possibility of having one (or more) Goblin Slayer in Lanbda. I remembered that today and thought, why not? Anyway, the result is below. I had to adapt; but, in my opinion, it’s fine and I’m sorry for the possible English errors.
Goblin Slayer – Human, 20 years old, male.
A top D-class adventurer. He was an ordinary boy from an ordinary villagein the middle of the Amid Empire; however, unfortunately, he suffered from a tragic event.
His village was invaded by a legion of Goblin, whose ranks ranged from 2 to 3; his village, which had only a few hundred inhabitants and no adventurers or soldiers, was destroyed.
He only survived because he was hidden in the basement of his house while watching his older sister, who hid him in the basement, serving as a toy for the terrible green demons and because a group of C-class adventurers, who aimed to subdue a dangerous group of Goblins who were reported to the Guild by a caravan, arrive three days after the massacre. He was found malnourished with a canteen of water in his hands.
After being rescued, he was taken to an orphanage that, incidentally, was managed by a former B-class adventurer, who had a habit of training orphans who showed interest in becoming adventurers.
When he turned 15, he left the orphanage and registered with the adventurers guild. He started out as a F-class adventurer, on the recommendation of the orphanage manager, and chooses ‘Avenger’ as his first job and has acquired the ‘Revenge, Goblins’ skill as a result.
Time passed and he completed several collection missions, earning some extra income by delivering some ears of goblins that he, ‘by chance’, encountered while carrying out his collection missions. Because of him wearing a helmet that covers his entire face and not talking much, only the receptionist who made his registration knows his identity.
Two months after his registration, he was promoted to E-class, shortly before reaching level 100 as an avenger… He quickly became known as ‘Goblin Slayer’, for just hunting the green demons. He also awoke the unique skill ‘Goblin Slayer’.
After maximizing his avenger job, he chose the warrior job, in order to acquire better combat skills to exterminate the green demons more efficiently. He spent two years maximizing his work; in the meantime, he became a D-class adventurer and began to travel from city to city, from village to village, killing goblin. It was only a matter of time before he became a celebrity and, indeed, the title ‘Goblin Slayer’ was won.
Then he chose rogue job, to hone his skills as a scout and hunter to kill goblin more efficiently. He spent three years leveling his work, even after reaching his first talent wall. After maximizing his work, he chose the job of goblin hunter without thinking and is currently in his second talent wall after reaching level 10.
Even though he is a celebrity, the Goblin Slayer does not interact much with the nobles simply because the nobles are of no value to a D-class adventurer who only hunts for goblin.
The Goblin Slayer has a calm and capricious personality, as well as a fertile imagination to block the goblins’ possible escape routes, in addition to devising countless cruel plans to exterminate them. He doesn’t say much, with most of his answers boiling down to ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Okay’, ‘There’, ‘Here’, etc. He keeps his belongings in a Box of Items about 10 cubic meters in volume, which he found in a dungeon when he temporarily joined the group of one of his orphaned brothers who also became an adventurer. Besides, he has several martial skills, although he is not considerably vomited with most of them. And finally, he is an atheist; however, he wouldn’t mind praying to a god who gives him power to kill goblins
=========================
•Race: Human, 20 Years.
•Jobs: Avenger; Warrior; Rogue; Goblin Hunter, Lv10.
•Title: Goblin Slayer
•Attributes:
○HP: 784
○MP: 236
○STR: 673+50
○AGI: 563+30
○STA: 722
○INT: 122
•Skills:
○Passive: Mental Corruption, Lv5; Revenge, Goblins; Enhanced Strength, Lv5; Enhanced Offensive Power When Equipped with Sword, Small; Disease and Poison Resistance, Lv3; Detect Presence, Lv3; Enhanced Agility, Lv3; Enhanced Defensive Power When Equipped with Non-Metallic Armor, Minor.
○Active: Sword Techniques, Lv4; Armor Techniques, Lv3; Shield Techniques, Lv2; Unarmed Fighting Technique, Nv2; Launching Techniques, Lv3; Traping, Lv3; Dagger Techniques, Lv2; Archery Techniques, Lv2; Club Techniques, Lv2; Spear Techniques, Lv2; Light Steps, Nv3; Surpass Limits, Nv3.
○Unique: Goblin Slayer, Lv10.
=========================
And here it is, I changed the model of the ‘status screen’ a little bit, but it still works the same way. Also, the ‘+50’ and ‘+30’ bonuses, come from the ‘Enhanced Strength and Agility’ abilities, I just put the bonuses that I thought were cool, I don’t remember Densuke-sama already saying how much they really increased, even in raw
P.S .: In Death Mage, according to raw, hunter jobs have their own evolution tree and, as I understand it, this tree starts with ‘Hunter Apprentice’ and ‘Hunter’, which offer little increase in attributes; however, after that comes jobs like ‘Dragon Hunter’ or ‘Goblin Hunter’, which are likely to offer a greater increase in attributes according to prey.
P.S.S.: Caso você esteja usando o Google Tradutor e o emprego ‘Rogue’ for traduzido como ‘Vampiro’ ou coisa parecida, saiba que o verdadeiro significado dele é ‘Ladino’, uma classe de D&D.
Does anyone out there have anything to add, or their own version of a Goblin Slayer from Lambda?
Otakukamikazes
I think the intelligence stat should be higher but only about goblin slaying…..
Is a hard call after all he is completely incompetent about almost everything unrelated to goblin slaying
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like the intelligence maybe should be a little higher as well, but I believe in Lambda the int stat isn’t really about brains but spell casting so it could be right.
The stats feel like they might be a bit high for a D class adventurer. Though it’s hard to tell since we only ever really see Vans full stats.
I would say he’s not even so smart about Goblin Slaying he’s determined. He makes up for lack of smarts by constantly thinking and improving.
Kuro-san
As far as I know, in Death Mage, the INT attribute represents the ability to cast spells and martial arts without suffering a headache from the mana drain. I created this version of Goblin Slayer with low INT, because I based it on the idea that he has low magical affinity.
Also, in the ‘Appendix 3 – Adventurers’ Guild written: ‘D-class adventurers who fight at the frontline would have 500 Vitality, Strength and Stamina, 100-150 Agility, 50-60 Intelligence and around 100 Mana.’, Based on that , I assumed that a D-class adventurer has about 500 points in his main attributes.So yes, he is above a standard D-class adventurer; however, this has a convincing motive.
First, he started with the avenger job, which, in my opinion, grants a moderate increase in attribute values.
Second, warrior and rogue jobs together are expected to give a medium-high increase to HP and STA; an average increase for STR and AGI and a minimal-low increase for MP and INT.
Third, and last, read in whatever tone you want, however, it is undeniable that I wrote ‘A top D-class adventurer’ at the beginning of my text; and by that, I mean he’s one of those class D adventurers who can kill 4-rank monsters (Although he could probably kill a 5-rank goblin), so it’s only natural that he has attribute values greater than one common D-rank adventurer.
Apart from these three points, it is natural that lonely adventurers are, on average, a little more powerful than adventurers of the same rank who participate in parties.
Kuro-san
First, this is the status screen of a Goblin Slayer B-Rank:
• Race: Human, 30-40 Years.
• Jobs: Avenger; Warrior; Rogue; Goblin Hunter, Swordsman, Trapper, Exemplary Goblin Hunter, Lv10.
• Title: Goblin Slayer
• Attributes:
○ HP: 10142
○ MP: 1213
○ STR: 1163+70
○ AGI: 974+50
○ STA: 1254
○ INT: 652
• Skills:
○ Passive: Mental Corruption, Lv7; Revenge, Goblins; Enhanced Strength, Lv7; Enhanced Offensive Power When Equipped with Sword, Big; Disease / Poison / Fatigue Resistance, Lv4; Detect Presence, Lv6; Enhanced Agility, Lv5; Enhanced Defensive Power When Equipped with Non-Metallic Armor, Medium; Enhanced Defensive Power When Equipped with Shield, Medium.
○ Active: Sword Techniques, Lv7; Armor Techniques, Lv4; Shield Techniques, Lv4; Unarmed Fighting Technique, Lv3; Launching Techniques, Lv3; Traping, Lv5; Dagger Techniques, Lv3; Archery Techniques, Lv3; Club Techniques, Lv3; Spear Techniques, Lv3; Light Steps, Lv5; Surpass Limits, Lv5.
○ Unique: Goblin Genocide, Lv3.
Second, where did all this difference between goblin lords and goblin kings come from? First, the Goblin Lord did nothing more than try to invade a farm with a few hundred goblins and simple yet effective strategies.
Something that Hartner Duchy’s Goblin King should also be able to do and on a larger scale, considering that Hartner Duchy’s Goblin King had 1000 goblins at his disposal, in addition to the ‘Strengthen Followers’ ability.
Furthermore, goblin champions, apparently, are not very different from goblin lords in terms of ‘raw power’, since goblin lords are basically goblin champions, but smart enough to rule a legion with hundreds of members. And from what has been presented, as the Goblin Lord having difficulty killing the original Goblin Slayer (which, by the way, is only at the superhuman level by the standards of our world), both the Lords and the Champions must be around ranks 3 and 4, instead of ranks 6 to 8, as you proposed.
Other than that, I agree with your point of view.
Kuro-san
First, don’t compare the adventurers of Goblin Slayer with the adventurers of Death Mage, the average power of both worlds is completely disproportionate.
For example, on the ‘Vs Battle Wiki’ website the Goblin Slayer (Without the Gate Scroll) is classified as 9-B (Wall Level: Characters who can destroy or significantly damage extremely resistant materials such as stone, metal or steel, as well as similarly resistant parts of constructions such as structural boulders and walls.), same classification of Bears and T-rexs that in Death Mage are classified as rank 3 and 4, respectively. Other silver-ranked adventurers should follow suit, considering that if they are much stronger, they would be gold-ranked adventurers, who should be rated 9-A (Small Building level: Characters capable of destroying rooms or entire small constructions such as houses or smaller buildings.), same classification as the ogre that, if we convert to Death Mage, must have the power of a monster of rank 5 or 6.
Second, goblin champions go head-to-head with silver-ranked adventurers, which, logically, means that they are also equivalent to ranks 3 or 4.
Third, the goblins (Goblin Slayer) do not have a base rank of 2, they are in rank 1, otherwise they would not be so underestimated. Especially if we take into account that one of the main reasons why goblins are underestimated by adventurous novices is that a good part of them already killed a wandering goblin when he was a child. Bearing in mind that while rank 1 monsters can be killed even by children with sticks, rank 2 monsters are as strong as wolves.
Fourth, unless the version of Novel and Manga has changed, the Goblin Lord’s ax is not enchanted, because in chapter 14 of the manga, the Goblin Slayer says ‘And that ax … It’s not enchanted, but i wouldn’ t want to be struck by it.’, the ax was probably just a high quality ax. Also, according to the manga, most of the goblin champions were using powerful weapons, like the one the Spearsman killed, which had a chain with a stone attached, or something like that, so the Goblin Lord has a capacity equal to that of a goblin champion, even though it may be slightly below average.
Fifth, the goblins (Goblin Slayer) do not have ‘Enhanced Learning’ and ‘Unlimited Development’, they have ‘Ability to Learn and Evolve’, as do the humanoid races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc.). Goblins are just not as civilized as humanoid races because they are muscular brains by nature.
For example, goblins did not learn overnight to make boats in Water Town, in my opinion, or they observed boats enough and made trial and error until they were able to produce boats or someone taught them how to make boats.
Besides, the goblin lord was not a genius by human standards, that’s what I wrote, he just used simple but effective strategies, like begging for one’s life to let down enemies’ guard or using hostages. He was just a genius among goblins who are usually as smart as children.
Sixth, each adventurer, or group of adventurers, of rank C is equivalent to a monster of rank 5 or 6, while the Goblin King, probably the strongest, was only rank 4. In other words, it is not a fair comparison, considering that as we saw above, each silver-ranked adventurer is comparable to a monster of rank 3 to 4, they would obviously need a greater amount of people and resources to deal with Lord Goblin’s legion.
Seventh, the Goblin Slayer being taking the Goblin Lord into a trap would only justify the Goblin Lord being having a hard time against the Goblin Slayer, after he fell into the trap.
And, lastly, Goblin Slayer is a piece of work to show a goblin hunter, so she needs to show how dangerous goblins are, while in Death Mage goblins are nothing more than background. It is only natural that goblins (Goblin Slayer) appear more threatening than goblins (Death Mage), although there is not much difference between their real dangers.
InfernoHomura
I expected this but what I never expected that Birky would even considering brainwashing Van-sama
Nobody2
Ohhh I don’t mean to sound greedy or ungrateful but I hope Yoshi releases another chapter tomorrow. I can’t live with that cliffhanger!
Jonathan Hurd
You’re not alone. Let us wait together with baited breath and hype the size of a skyscraper, lol!
Kazza
Waitaminute… Someone (Tank, you’re usually good at this) explain what was meant by… well a couple things.
1. In addition to the physical fragment, a part of the Demon King’s soul had become caught up in it by coincidence!
Wait, who’s saying this? Densuke? Is this supposed to be Word of God (omniscient clarification) that Gudurandis’s soul wasn’t actually spilt up between Alda and Rodcorte (or at least not completely)? Or is it referring to the thing where the fragments all have a mini-will to revive Gudurandis? But then why specify the shadow in particular? They all have that, hence why they freak out when Van’s near.
2. “I have immersed myself in the research and study of this fragment. My ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ Skill has reached Level 10, but as you can see, my own will remains intact! Like you, I am able to completely control this fragment!”
OK, Birkyne doesn’t know this, but Van doesn’t have the DK Encroachment Degree Status. He actually used a trick to get out of it. Wasn’t it stated that it measures how close you are to Gudurandis? As in, you reach 10 you become one of the Fragments mini-wills and seek to revive him? If he was immune to it… why is it still there?
‘Cause you think of poison immunity, it’s not like you get hit by poison and have “Badly Poisoned” on your status. You’re immune, so it doesn’t show up.
But it being on there shows that it is affecting him, right?
And Finally:
3. “I knew of him before I even came to this world, after all. It seems that some things were mixed up, but it was fortunate that it went largely as expected.”
Dear Vida, what is this? He’s obviously not talking about Birkyne, who was only ‘born’ after Zakkart died, and he’s probably not taking about Hihiryushukaka, ’cause he didn’t seem to have any input on this plan.
So I can only assume he’s talking about Gudurandis, cause he has apparently taken over Birkyne. Thing is, if he did, why is he still calling himself “Birkyne.” He should either be Gudurandis or Fragment No. 226.
And if he is the Big Daddy G, why in the hell would he be worshipping Hihiryushukaka, literally one of the gods he ruled over in the past? That implies he is still Birkyne.
Is it trying to say the Shadow is parasitic itself, and controls Birkyne (since it can apparently do that) to protect itself since it’s in a weaker state?
I’m honestly so confused right now. It seems Densuke wanted to foreshadow a twist (Birkyne is possessed by his fragment) but kind of directly stated it offhandedly – As much of an oxymoron as that is. And so now we have to wait next chapter to understand what rules are being broken, or what tricks are being used to subvert the rules. Not really his or Yoshi’s fault, but that was way too haphazard of a reveal for what little time it had. I don’t even want to speculate, really, cause I’m not sure exactly what the details are.
‘Cept I was wrong again. Not Cordyceps. Damn it.
Other than that, great chapter. I was actually wondering what counter Birkyne would use to keep the Death Mage from keeping souls nearby, though I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t actually know it would work. Still, seems like a smart idea, so Van should always keep it in the back of his mind. Wonder if he could make a counteracting “Unholy Water” with the DK’s blood.
Honestly, Birkyne (Gudurandis?) – Birandis, that was the shittiest set of negotiations I’ve ever seen. You made Ervine look good. How did you do that?
Vinzenz226
I think Birkyne got a part of the demon king with a little part of gurdanis soul maybe because the demon kings shadow is special in that case and the reason for Birkyne still being sane is maybe because Birkyne fused with the demon kings fragment just like vandalieu because it had a part of gurdanis soul so soul fusion from that I can safely say Birkyns soul should also look somwhat different not to the extent of vandalieu but still different that should make it so soul devourer has actually use for once
Tejing
If he fused he wouldn’t have the encroachment degree skill at all…
SuicidalSkeletin
Soul Fusion is inherently different to being recognized as a Demon King. He is simply a being that is not the Demon King, so his use of the fragments will result in the Encroachment. Vandalieu in contrast to that not only is the Demon King in name, but also in essence, as the Fragments’ behavior also proves.
I have formed the suspicion that Birkyne is controlling the Fragment due to his use of his peculiar soul structure, or simply the Fragment is incapable of taking over his mind.
Vastorn
Honestly, you’ve got to give Birkyne some credit, he was less negotiating and more hoaxing Vandalieu to accept his proposal and even while that strategy would’ve worked well with literally anyone else, he still had a plan if things went awry. He planned everything pretty well, really. His downfall was he was against Van, who had the intel, the strength and enough backup for almost any situation. Even if Birkyne could try to brainwash him, he would’ve fail, since Van has status immunity and grotesque mind.
So yes, he played it well, but it wasn’t even underestimating Van, Birkyne could’ve NEVER fathom that Van is actually the Demon King itself, nor how strong has he become, it something not even in his wildest nightmares he could’ve pictured. His only mistake, was making himself an enemy of Vandalieu.
Tejing
You seem to be assuming here that if Birkyne has been taken over by the bit of Guduranis’ soul in the fragment, he would have Guduranis’ memories and sense of identity. That doesn’t seem certain to me at all. What if he is Guduranis in more like the same sense that Van is Zakkart? Then he might honestly not realize, and believe that he’s somehow immune to the encroachment, even though the encroachment is actually complete.
Renrobt
Also I doubt that he was the violent, prone to extreme outbursts type of person while he was on Vida’s side. I mean that is something that would definitely get you kicked out of the camp of the goddess of love.
While this could be partially from the Evil God’s influence, it could very well be that when he looses his composition the fragment goes berserk but since it is not a physical fragment it just worsens the emotional state and makes the person in this state rather violent.
Jonathan Hurd
So to go in order…
1) I believe the info is from the author. I think the shadow is special because it’s not really a physical part of the body but it still exists in the physical plane. So it became a fragment that gives a physical part of the body and a part of the DK s soul. Yes Alda has the largest part of the soul. Rodcorte got given a small insignificant part to seal as well since his domain is souls and Alda was annoyed at him, but also couldn’t trust him. That doesn’t mean other smaller parts of Gudas soul didn’t slip by. They just sealed the scariest parts. Gudas memories, reason, instincts, emotions, and thoughts. These are all parts of Gudaranis with no physical part.
2) So an important thing to note is Van didn’t cheat his way out of Demon King Encroachment. He actually surpassed it. The Demon King Fragments aren’t trying to take over Vandialuieu they’ve joined to be a part of him. The skill Van got was Demon King Fusion. Eventually that evolved into the Demon King skill. It was actually stated at one point you can’t get the Demon King skill if you have Encroachment, so Birknye is once again vastly underestimating Van.
One thing to keep in mind is we have indeed seen the DK Encroachment of a few pieces, but all those pieces were just body parts with no will past uniting. We’ve never seen someone encroached with a part of the soul.
Another thing to remember is the stronger the host the more subtle the fragments unusually work on the mind. Birknye declared he is in complete control, but we saw the same with Ravovifard. To late did he realize what he thought was his own voice and decisions was actually the fragments controlling him. Honestly the moment you no longer feel the pieces trying to take you over. You’ve already lost.
Van is different because they recognize Van as part of them. They aren’t trying to take over Van because to them he already is the main body. His will is theirs.
3) For why would the DK fragment that’s completely taken over Birknye not make an abrupt jump… I would say it’s because Birknye is a strong good host. Birknyes network is perfect for finding and collecting the other fragments. Also think about Birknyes overall goal to take over the other two purebreeds. If the fragment acted out the other two would immediately join forces to stop and seal it. If it could take over Ternecia and Gubamon though it gets two powerful allies and secures their fragments too.
Also think about Birknyes current actions. They don’t really make sense if you think about them. His goal is to have Van and Alda kill each other. Well they’re already on a collision path. Why does he need to meet Van in person then? The smart move is hide. Move away from the continent and wait it out for a few thousand years. Why is he so dead set on not killing Van? Normal Birknye should have lost his temper long ago. Why the obsession on brainwashing Van and not running for the hills?
My theory is Gudarnis Soul is in the driving seat and it realizes Van has taken control of his Body. It knows it can’t wrest back control so what it is trying to do is wipe out Vans mind so he can take over Vans body for itself.
For bowing to Hirushaku his old subordinate, Gudaranis has shown long ago from stuff like his fight to destroy the creation champions he is clever and not unwilling to lower himself to get the job done. I will say the fragment is probably leaving Birknye with some of his mind to help it act and move.
The most important reason to me why the Shadow hasn’t made any drastic moves is because it’s not stupid. Everyone fears Guduranis return. No one was truly loyal to him and wants him back. So if he made obvious moves to revive he might actually face a unified front of Evil God’s, Alda, and Vida together. The shadow the only free roaming soul part would be locked up and it would all be for nothing. He’s got a strong immortal body to work with why not bide his time? Build power, sow discord, he already lost a direct conflict with Alda before no reason to rush round two. Don’t give them a reason to unite. Instead stoke the discord. Set Vida and Alda against one another. After one has wiped out the other then you can use that chance to snatch the victory at the last second.
I will say the chapter has stated the Shadow is a unique and different fragment from the rest. So if you want an explanation as to why it’s weird there it is, imo. The other part I would say is we’ve never seen what a fragment of Gudranis soul will do. We know the body wants to come back together, but the soul might have deeper thoughts.
Kiryl
About point 1:
I think Rodcorte was actually asked to hold on to all the parts of the demon lord’s soul rather than just one of the chunks. I think there actually was a chapter where they mentioned what the individual parts contained. (1 his memory, 2 his will, etc).
Jonathan Hurd
I thought that too, but I believe it’s been confirmed that Alda is sealing the most dangerous parts of the soul himself. He forced Rodcorte to have smaller less powerful parts so that Gudarnis Soul wasn’t all on the same world making it harder for it to become whole. He didn’t give Rodidiot more of it because it’s Rodidiot, lol.
We did confirm that a while back when Rodidiot went to his sealed vault he took out his two portions of the Demon Kings soul and has now mixed them into Edgar’s soul to try and repair it.
Tejing
In side chapter 12, we see that Alda definitely personally sealed some of the fragments of Guduranis’ soul:
“That’s impossible; the Demon King’s soul was divided and its pieces were sealed by powerful gods! My lord, some of them should be with you!” shouted a heroic spirit whose name had echoed through the lands when he was still alive.
His voice almost sounded like a scream of terror. But his reaction was one of the better ones; there was no small number of Familiar Spirits who couldn’t even speak.
That was how much the Demon King Guduranis was feared. Those present here were those without physical bodies who had ascended beyond mortal life, but because of this, it was easy for them to understand what having their souls broken would mean, deepening their fear.
“Precisely. Even now, some of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul fragments are in my possession,” Alda replied reassuringly.
An air of relief spread among those who had gathered in this Divine Realm. However, Alda suspected that the fragments of the Demon King’s souls that he did not possess were, in fact, contained within that Monstrosity.
Metazoxan
I think you might be slightly over estimaiting the complexity of the will of the soul fragment. IT’s only a small piece after all. But it is possible the fragment allows the fragment to have a more complex will than “must return to main body” and it’s able to plan it out to some degree.
What I think is more likely though is that when Brynke fuzed with it he became something like a Psudo-demon king. Not enough to get the demon king fusion skill, but enough so that the encouchment stopped at 10. Because instead of him getting taken over by a primitive will and seeking the main body he just fused with the fragment to the point of partly becoming Gundaris himself.
Like you said he probably hasn’t noticed he’s no longer fully himself anymore. But the current personality we see if probably his real self aka what he became after fusing with part of Gundaris’s soul. So what’s probably happening if he’s subconconciously desiring to draw the fragments into himself. But he’s holding back partly due to fear of getting taken over as well as fear of standing out too much. He’s confident at controlling shadow but not at controlling any other fragments on top of it.
Overall his intentions are probably vague and incomplete because they are based on his own thoughts influenced by subconscious will. The will isn’t entirely separate from his conscious one but he’s not fully away of it either.
Kazza
OK, question 1 was mostly just me being rhetorical, so there’s nothing I disagreed with in your reply.
2, however, I’m confused what you mean. Yes, now Van is recognized as the new Demon King, but when he was first infected by the blood it remained silent due to his Mental Corruption. He then used the Mental Encroachment he got from sealed-book-god to convince the blood it was a part of him – not a piece of something else needed to be reunited. So, he didn’t out-Demon-King it, he fooled it into thinking it was a part of him, and since it was a part of the Demon King, Van must be the Demon King’s main body.
Other than that, I’m with you on the whole subtlety-on-higher-levels thing. It does make sense that Birkyne isn’t immune like he thinks, but then that leads into a different problem.
3. If the shadow is intelligent and has taken over Birkyne, it has done a horrendous job of taking advantage of Birkyne’s resources. Keep in mind, this isn’t a fragment he happened upon recently, he had this thing for literal millenia, and in all that time he never used it on the two other Pure-Breeds, despite the fact that it apparently works (sans the mind control thing) on Van, who’s much stronger than either of them (perhaps combined). Could he not freeze them kill them, because despite their regeneration they’re still the same rank as him?
No, if the Shadow truly wanted to take over the organization it had ample opportunity to do so.
And that brings me to Hihiryushukaka. To be honest, I don’t think Gudurandis is actually that willing to throw away his pride. The only reference I can think of to draw that conclusion is that he disguised himself as a lower-ranked general to kill Zakkart… but that’s not really the same. He wore the disguise to fool Bellwood, but he was still in control of the situation. But I might be forgetting something so I’ll let you have that.
However, submitting to Hihiryushukaka does more harm than good. Being a follower of a god allows that god to have a 24/7 surveillance method on you. Your thoughts, actions and desires are all laid bare to see. If he truly wanted to hide the fact he was conscious, becoming a follower to a god that would specifically want him sealed is a bad way to do it.
So that’s what I mean, from the evidence presented in this chapter, it seems Densuke is trying to foreshadow that Birkyne has been taken over. However, if it is Gudurandis, that raises so many questions on his motivations that it makes more sense it’s actually Birkyne.
Honestly, that’s my main problem, it seems like a twist for twists sake and those generally aren’t good in stories because the author didn’t think them through. I’ve got faith in Densuke, but overall this twist doesn’t seem well thought out.
Metazoxan
I think it’s best to explain this from step 1.
1.When The Demon King was beaten he was split into pieces, not as in body parts but just bits and pieces of his body. These parts then manifested as specific organs not related to what part that piece of flesh belonged to which is why some parts are a bit random.
However the soul is different. The soul contained actual conciousness so in order to prevent the DK from resurrecting they took the soul away from lambda. So no matter how much the parts rampage they’ll never rejoin with the soul.
But one thing went wrong with this plan.. slightly. FIrst of all keep in mind a shadow is not a physical thing and doesn’t truly exist but one of the fragments of the DK fused with it and made it into a real thing. THis alone would have only made a living shadow but a small sliver of the DK’s soul also possessed the shadow creating the one and only fragment to contain a bit of real soul and thus possessed the DK’s power to dominate others. This is why the shadow has so much power that goes beyond just being a fragment with some small ability.
2.It’s because the fragment already has a piece of the DK’s soul. So unlike the other fragments it doesn’t desire to rejoin or possess a mini will. If the soul was stronger it could draw other fragments to itself like van but because it’s only a little the soul fragment was only enough so that when Birkyne fused with it he became just a little like the demon king in the way Van became the demon king. But he still has the encouchment skill because he was unable to become the demon king himself. So he’s still being encrouched upon by the fragment.
Kazza
OK, so it’s basically an amnesiac Gudurandis? I hope that’s explained later because with the evidence presented that’s not clear as what’s happening.
Also, hate to be that guy, but #Biggoron’sSwordWithoutLock-On all the way. The thing has such an extreme arc if you swing while still Dark Link can’t avoid it. And since he doesn’t use his shield often and relies on countering (he counters downward swings with his own, and will jump on any stabs you do) he doesn’t have the defense necessary to withstand a couple hits.
Honestly, I find Morpha a bigger headache because its always moving when my Hookshot won’t.
Metazoxan
It’s not really amnesia as the memories were never really there to begin with.
This isn’t like it was him and then it lost his memories. It’s more his shadow became one of the fragments of his body and a small piece of his soul was left behind. It’s not enough soul for it to be Gudurandis himself. But it retains some of his essence and power.
It’s also possible that merging with it caused Byrk to become something like a Pseudo Demon King but he’s a far cry from becoming the DK himself or a new DK like Van.
In the end he’s only slightly more significant than a mindless fragment host that seeks only to merge with “the main body”.
Phantom Knight
Thanks for the chapter!!!!! I feel so sorry for Vestra and Series. They went through traumatizing near-death experiences before someone transformed them into vampires. They were then brainwashed into having a somewhat hard yet leisurely life, but the kicker is that they would occasionally sell off their cherished kids and watch others of the orphanage die before they do.
They are living a fake life drenched in misery and darkness….sigh, the orphans and director are hardly better. They are brainwashed and have to deal with their friends dying without consciously realizing everything.
I hope Van-sama don’t erase their memories and saves them all. The buns need to accept and adopt to their locked memories, and a lot of them need to get stronger to prevent another tragedy like their own. Plus, they can hopefully find the other facilities and clean up Birkyne’s mess
Jonathan Hurd
Honestly considering some of Vans servants starting points I think finding out you’re secretly a Sun resistant vampire is one of the better backstories, lol. They’re already under Vans guidance and when he shows he has quite a few Vampires under him I think they’ll be fine.
Lord Rin
I think this orphanage was only recently brainwashed by Birkyne and probably hasn’t been used to get sacrifices yet. Earl Morksi has always been keeping an eye on it and secretly sending them donations. His predecessors too. They would have realized something was up since Birkyne has to go and personally order people for the brainwashing to take effect and he would have been eventually marked as suspicious yet that hasn’t been the case. It’s also bad that the nuns are vampires because they are always in the public eye and people would go all, “Hey those nuns have been here ages yet they haven’t aged. That’s suspicious. Are they actually human?”
Having the leadership be vampires only works if either the location is super remote where people won’t notice, it’s some underground organization where the leaders are rarely seen and don’t have to make public appearances or the place has only been recently established and they need vampires to set up the groundwork before turning it over to vampire thralls that can work in public.
Tejing
Well, birkyne clearly stated that it’s been under his control since it’s founding. Of course, he could be lying, but it does make sense. Clearly Birkyne has some method of teleporting in directly, since he got here without Van or Gufadgarn knowing about it, so others wouldn’t notice him dropping in occasionally either. As for the nuns not aging, all he has to do is rotate them among the various orphanages often enough that no one notices the lack of aging.
VEreality
Ghosts! Ghosts everywhere! They are the answer. Along with “Darcia is best mama”, “Van can do it” and, most recently, “Birkyne is an idiot” 🙂
I can’t wait to see what is going to happen when this part of Guduranis soul will merge with Van.
I think that flashbacks from 100 000+ years ago are going to become a thing.
Love it. Thank you Yoshi-sama! I also hope that you and everyone reading this comment are safe and healty. Don’t go outside. Read some quality light novels for Pete’s sake(*wink wink nudge nudge*)
Superboy8338
Birkyne is SO D-E-A-D, ‘DEAD’.
WizziBot
That sounds familiar but I cant remember where from…
kazamakj
That last line, did he turn this whole area into a dungeon? That would be the easiest to protect this city from the damages.
Jonathan Hurd
We did see Gufadgarn seal off Aldas dungeon as well as when she connected the entrance of the orphanage to a dungeon. So she probably cut off the entire space after Van jumped out. I’m pretty sure Birknye teleported in with the DKs shadow, but not sure if he will be able to get out with it now, hehehe.
no1
Pretty sure everyone saw this coming, thank you for the chapter Yoshi. Seriously though demon king’s shadow, the demon king organs and animal parts sort of make sense, but a shadow is a bit of a stretch. I was kind of expecting Birkyne to die, maybe next chapter.
Tejing
Well it’s probably not a purely physical body part precisely because a bit of the DK’s soul was in it.
no1
I assumed that the parts of the demon king’s soul was with Alda and Rodcorte. Didn’t think they were careless enough to leave a piece behind to mutate into a shadow
Jonathan Hurd
Birknye’s so getting killed before this is over. No one calls Van a midget and lives.
For the fragments I believe it was explained before that they kind of randomly transformed to parts of Guda after they were cut from his body. One of them being his shadow is honestly pretty cool in my book.
Also it means once Van gets it he’ll be one step closer to realizing the Empyuse and Black Goblins dreams. Now he just needs to get some hand signs and tame a giant frog and we’re good to go!
SheepySenpai
The shadow is probably a fragment because it had a connection to one of the Demon Lords skills or something like that. Also with how this novel flows, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a weapon that could cut shadows.
Lord Rin
Not really a stretch. Guduranis’ soul was also chopped up into pieces and they also became fragments that Alda gave to Rodcorte to seal and watch over and they are also immaterial so a shadow being a fragment isn’t too unlikely.
TheTrueDeathGod
Maybe the soul piece contained the Demon King’s magic and it manifested the shadow as a by-product of his magic. Awhile back it said that the Demon King used Death Attribute magic. Which may be able to control shadows and darkness. I believe this because of the awakening of Dark King Magic and its opposite is life and light attribute magic.
Kiriaru
Demon Kings shadow, beaten by the Demon Kings Eyes and Luminescent organs! Amazing! Vandalieu handled that extremely well and the entire scene was great, Birkyne really thought his, admittedly good, plan would work.
We all knew it probably wouldn’t but I couldn’t have guessed it would end like that. Perhaps if Vandalieu can defeat Birkyne in the next chapter or 2 then he can get all the Demon Kings shadow and part of the Demon Kings soul. I wonder what effect it might have on the curses that Vandalieu has, probably none.
Now to wait and see how this fight proceeds and what ends up happening to Birkyne. Hopefully Vandalieu can keep everyone safe.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. I wonder since there are light ghosts if there are also dark ghosts aka living shadows. I suspect Vand will make some after he gets the shadow. I find what Birkyne said about having level ten demon corruption weird and suspicious. If the shadow can control Vand’s mind, what is to stop it from controlling or altering Birkyne’s mind. Something tells me Birkyne might only think he is in control. Look at what happened to that god of release that had two parts, he thought he was in control and ended up being the puppet. I might be wrong though since the shadow has not tried to join the main body or it could have a mind of its own. I do wonder how ghosts become light ghosts and if any of them will join Vand’s normal band of ghosts. I also want to know what evolution they have. I am also curious about how the vampires that thought they were humans did not go crazy without blood. I presume that vampires must feed on blood so if vampires thought they were humans, wouldn’t they eventually starve to death.
Tejing
Dark isn’t its own attribute in Lambda. It’s just a different way of using the light attribute, so the light ghosts might be able to use darkness as well. I agree about whether Birkyne is in control. Chipuras has pretty much already joined the normal ghost troup. The blood thing is a good point… maybe Birkyne had them drink blood when he was present then forget about it when he was gone or something?
Dungeon
I thought because they were subordinate vampires they were low enough rank that they did not need blood to survive. But, if not that, it is possible that they were brainwashed to forget that they had drunk blood right after completing the action. Kind of like how you do something unconsciously without realising it.
Kiryl
Wasn’t there something about vampires not actually needing to drink blood in this universe? I might remember wrong but I think it was just a way they quickly could restore hp and mana.
Jonathan Hurd
I believe the need to drink blood isn’t too big as long as you don’t level up the blood drinking skill from what I remember. You also don’t need to drink human blood. Monster blood worked perfectly fine as well so maybe they just had their meat a bit bloody and that would satisfy the requirements.
Jonathan Hurd
So going from what has been said before… The element of the ghost is decided by how you died. For instance Princess Levis was burned at the stake so she became fire. Orbia already had water magic and lived in the swamps so water and then earth. Kimberly was electrocuted by Rappiecage so electricity. Heinz killed I think two or three of Terncias dogs with his Light magic so Light Ghosts.
I’m honestly still hopeful for Space and Time ghosts but that’s just me. I think time you would have to age someone to death. Cool but probably impossible.
I was thinking of Ravivofard too when Birknye said he was in complete control. I think the Shadow is trying to join with the main body, but I think it wants control of it. Birknye is to obsessed with Brainwashing Van. I think the Shadow wants to wipe Vans mind so it can take his body which already has so many fragments and rule it.
Tejing
Well we have no idea what kind of ghosts they’re ranking up into, but the space attribute does seem like the most likely possibility.
Tejing
Hahaha, I love watching Birkyne’s plans fall apart.
Question: Who are Van and Gufadgarn talking about at the end there?
Van: “I’m back, Gufadgarn. I’m glad that he acted exactly as you told me he would,”
Gufadgarn: “I knew of him before I even came to this world, after all. It seems that some things were mixed up, but it was fortunate that it went largely as expected.”
My best guess is they’re talking about Guduranis, and despite Birkyne’s claims he’s actually being controlled by the fragment. He’s not a raging beast like others who are taken over by the fragments simply because his fragment has a bit of Guduranis’ soul in it. Though it raises the question of how Gufadgarn and Van knew to expect him to be overtaken by the fragment. The only other possibility I see is that they’re talking about Hihiryushukaka somehow, but that doesn’t entirely seem to hang together to me.
Dungeon
I was thinking that by ‘this world’ they were talking about the difference between a god’s divine realm and the mortal world. But now that you mention it, it could be Hihiryushukaka because he is considered an ‘evil god’ which just a term for a god that came over with Guduranis like Gufadgarn. So Gufadgarn would know the how Hihiryushukaka acts therefore knowing how Birkyne would act because Hihiryushukaka has/had Birkyne, Teenecia, and Gubaman emulate as a way of worshiping him.
Jonathan Hurd
My problem with the statement being about the time Gufadgarn spent in the Divine Realm is that Gufadgarn slept for most of the time after she made Vidas dungeons dreaming of Zakart. She only really woke up a hundred years before Van was born because Vida/Rinklent sent her a message about Zakarts revival.
Also I don’t think Gufadgarn would really know anything about someone like Hirushakyu since she has no interest in anyone none Zakart. It would make sense she has some idea of how the Demon King works since he was the leader of the faction she first joined.
Also after she defected he was her master’s biggest enemy so she would have studied him to help Zakart anyway she could. Doubly so after he killed Zakart.
Dungeon
I was meaning before Gufadgarn had joined Zakkart she would have been on the side as Hihiryushukaka.
Kazza
See, I’m with you there (the fragment is controlling Birkyne) but if that’s the case why is he subservient to Hihiryushukaka? Unless it’s supposed to be that the shadow is masquerading as Birkyne due to being weaker… but even then why wouldn’t he take steps to collect as many fragments as he could? He’s not some nobody adventurer, he’s one of the Top 3 Vampires in the country.
Tejing
Well, the bit of Guduranis’ soul in the fragment might not have included any memories or sense of identity, which could lead to him honestly believing he is Birkyne. That’s my thought anyway.
bk3k
[spoiler]Bingo![/spoiler]
Jonathan Hurd
I think it’s been biding its time because it would be to suspicious if it started collecting fragments in the open. Until very recently Birknye was with Ternicia and Gubamon. If he started trying to get more fragments those two would suspect he was overtaken and put him down. He’s also being watched by Hirushaku and any large collecting of Fragments wouldn’t escape Alda and Vidas sides notice. Worst case scenario he could be hunted by the entire world and then eventually sealed.
Another part is the other fragments are already working to get together. Better for the Shadow to try and let that happen and then join them when enough had already gathered. Til then if he continues to stoke hostility between Alda and Vidas side it gives chances for the fragments to get out as well as exhausting his two biggest foes.
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR DEATH GOD, AND THE GREAT DETECTIVE, AS HE SOLVES ALL THE MYSTERIES AND DEFEATS THE NEFARIOUS BUT BRILLIANT ARCH-NEMESIS MASTERMIND MORIA…BIRKYNE! THE SACRED MESSAGE OF THE DAY IS:
Oh, you didn’t know? A god you might be familiar with turned this whole Church into a Dungeon some time ago!
Soundwave
Thus starts Van VS Birkyne tbh I felt like this is one of the dumbest decisions Birkyne could’ve made I thought for a while he would be a more worrisome opponent for Van but he in the end never made any use of the reincarnators it probably would’ve been smarter to go to sleep for a few thousand years but like earlier Birkyne wouldn’t know what was going on in the outside world and whether a danger would loom over him or not what do you guys think? Was this a smart move or a bad move?
Dungeon
I believe it was a bad move, because Van wasn’t even trying to look for Birkyne to any great extent. The only reason he was preparing for him was because: one Van believed Birkyne would try something and two it was convenient to get rid of him if he did try something.
Wannabe
I think Birkyne should have been using his shadow power on Van’s minions waay before now, to get intel without killing them. The problem with giving Van time is that he’s getting stronger and it doesn’t seem to slow down. Birkyne is pretty much as strong as he’ll ever be. Birkyne is also on his kill list as someone who had a hand in his mom’s death, so there really wasn’t a good end for him other than hiding and just getting lucky.
With Van’s abilities it’s hard to know ahead of time that Birkyne’s shadow technique was never gonna work. Maybe if he could learn from Murakami that the eighth guidance had a member who could control her own body with her spirit and bypass her brain, he would have had a better shot.
Jonathan Hurd
The problem with trying to take Vans minions is the vast majority are in the boundary mountain range. The ones who aren’t are close by/watched by him and have significant power. He has to do the brainwashing in person as well. There is no way he could get it done before Van notices. Doing it so openly would also completely reveal his abilities to Van taking away even the chance to surprise attack Van.
The worst part for Birknye would be that the majority of Vans troops are undead as well so there there are no assurances they’d be able to be mind controlled like living people.
Wannabe
Yeah. Though, Van didn’t know what he looked like and as long as they didn’t plan on fighting the detect death wouldn’t activate at least. The optimal strat I would’ve used for Birkyne is too late: Don’t betray Ternecia!
Seriously they have been some sort of allies for 100k years and he talks Gubamon into ruining everything. Not that I think they would’ve won, maybe gotten a stalemate and an understanding to take things seriously. The hazards of joining a god that is all about betraying people for dumb reasons…
I forget that they had really overestimated how dangerous the other pureblood vampires would be. Otherwise I’d say he could target people from the other kingdoms, suggest they go visit Talosheim, and pump them for info afterward. Don’t kill anybody, just gather info and wipe their memories afterward. Learn about the 100 reincarnators that are coming to fight him and see if some want to team up.
I think the window of opportunity has long passed, though. It doesn’t really feel like a cheap win to me either with how patient and paranoid Van is.
iamleejn
Light-attribute ghosts? That’s gonna make Alda awfully cranky when he finds out.
Hmm, so they join fire, thunder, and water. Is Van going to have access to ALL the attributes through Dead Spirit Magic?
Does that mean…SPACE GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody2
Would space ghosts look like portals or black holes? How would space ghosts work I’m super curious now. What about time ghosts? Time is an attribute in lambda after all.
Jonathan Hurd
My guess for Space ghost is you’ve gotta tear someone apart by splitting them between dimensions. For time I think you might need to super accelerate their age. Both would be hard to do but I really want those ghosts to join Van, lol.
Darth Salty
Space ghosts run late-night talkshows and interview celebrities. They also have Empusa who play the keyboard.
Lord_Rindall
Birkyne is such a refreshingly smart villain
Kazza
Is he? He took steps against Van, sure, but he still underestimated him and relied entirely on his overwhelming DK power – the same mistake Terenicia and Gubamon did. He just recklessly assumed because his fragment wasn’t about smashing stuff and/or preventing said stuff from being smashed it was inherently superior and unstoppable. Apparently it’s got a pretty big weakness to light magic which – since any opponent who faces him would likely be prepared to fight a vampire – any opponent would probably have in reserve…
Honestly, I’m not impressed. Just the fact that he chose to fight instead of run when the negotiations break down shows a clear lack of intelligence – whether it be through pride or fear.
Darkhelios
Relied entirely on his DK power? Of course. To be more precise: He had to. This power was literally the only thing able to hit Vandalieu at that point. The rest of his advantages as a Pure-breed Vampire are useless against Vandalieu. Strength? Useless. Regeneration? Or being difficult to kill? Vandalieu can break his soul. Magic? Vandalieu can cancel it.
And concerning his choice of fighting instead of escaping, we already have the explanation: He can’t run away. Gufadgarn exists after all so “running away” isn’t an option. Even more now that he revealed that, by killing him, Vandalieu will be able to prevent him from hurting more orphans. He has a target on his back so Vandalieu would definitively hunt him down if he tried to run away. This fight is his only hope of staying alive: He has to brainwash Vandalieu. If he can’t, if he tries to do anything else, he will die.
Kazza
I agree that the DK fragment was his best option, but that just goes to the root of the problem – why is he trying to fight Van right now?
Van didn’t know where he was, and was trying to draw him out. He could’ve gone with that whole orphan-hostage plan without actually being there, or he could’ve just kidnapped them and left a subordinate. He didn’t need to demonstrate his mind control ability, just show that he’s willing to trade their safety for his.
But he chose to fight – something he has a clear disadvantage in – because he was overconfident.
As for the Gufadgarn thing – I’m confused what you mean. Gufadgarn isn’t omniscient, so unless you’re saying she would be following Birkyne in a little space pocket like she does Van (which is unclear how she creates those), her being there doesn’t allow Van to know where Birkyne is at all times.
Again, this is all because Birkyne made a power play when the wise decision would be to remain hidden and communicate through proxies.
Jonathan Hurd
I will say as a compliment to Birknye he is truly the first opponent to take Vandalieu by surprise. He managed to sneak past Vans security network and brainwash people close to Van without Van ever noticing.
For why he is fighting. I completely agree it is a terrible idea and a stupid move. As you said he could have traded them safely from a distance. I think he didn’t because he’s being controlled by the DO s shadow. It explains why he is so weirdly obsessed with Brainwashing Van rather than escaping or killing him.
The thing with Gufadgarn is she is one of the strongest Space attribute God’s. She can see the ripples in space if he tries to teleport away and could simply follow him. She is definitely not Omniscient but now that she has Birknye in her sights there’s no way she’d let him go. You can’t really outrun her she just teleports. You can’t teleport away she just opens her own gate. Add in Birknye is not a space attribute mage to start and the items to teleport usually have set locations and there really is no way to get away now that he delivered himself in front of her.
Darkhelios
The problem with “doing nothing and hiding yourself” is that Alda’s faction & Vandalieu’s faction are gaining strength while his own organisation is basically in tatters due to Ternecia&Gubamon’s deaths. In order to make sure that he wouldn’t be caught between those two fires, Birkyne had to make a move.
Moreover the orphan-hostage couldn’t be used if Birkyne decided to remain hidden and only sent a subordinate: 1) His mind control ability has some restrictions. 2) It’s likely that they managed to enter the city without Vandalieu noticing it thanks to the DK’s fragment = if Birkyne himself didn’t move, his subordinates wouldn’t have been able to do anything. As such, he couldn’t use his subordinates while remaining behind… and even less try kidnapping the orphans (in fact: He also noticed what happened when “someone else” tried to do it… and vanished).
For sure, he could have use his ability in order to infiltrate the city, take some children and leave an subordinate… but once again, Vandalieu could have just decided to kill the said subordinate to obtain every informations about Birkyne’s hideout.
Moreover it seems that him coming was a lot better for the negociation… even if it failed in the end: He managed to remain composed. His subordinates didn’t. That’s also something we can take into consideration.
Jonathan Hurd also mentionned something really interesting: The DK’s fragment might be affecting Birkyne’s mind, forcing him to go to Vandalieu.
Kazza
OK, so you begin by saying he can’t do the kidnapping while staying hidden, and then say he can. It’s one or the other.
I am willing to say yes, he can in fact kidnap them without actually being there. He doesn’t need to mind control them to kidnap them, because they’re a bunch of 6-15 year old kids and a couple nuns who have no fighting ability. Van doesn’t have Vampire-detecting senses, or else he would’ve sensed the two nuns were subordinates. So, if the vampires just walked into the orphanage under cover of night they could’ve taken anyone they pleased. After all, they don’t need to kidnap the entire orphanage.
From there, he actually doesn’t even need to leave a subordinate. He could leave a literal note saying Van has to come alone or else whoever’s life is forfeit.
And a good negotiation? No. That was terrible negotiation because it was entirely made up of ultimatums. That’s not how you negotiate, because all that accomplishes is making the opposing party hate you. He would be much better off if he dropped all sense of hostility and offered Van actual benefits to an alliance.
The plan he went with is entirely based on stroking his ego, hence why I’m saying he’s not acting particularly intelligent when you think about it. And you both may be right, he is probably being unknowingly influenced by the Shadow – that doesn’t make the decision suddenly intelligent.
Kazza
OK, same thing I told DarkHelios: Your argument becomes much weaker when you contradict yourself. You say Van has an advanced surveillance network and Gufadgarn is always on watch, therefore Birkyne can’t get in, but then immediately say Birkyne can get past it.
You can’t have it both ways.
So he can just appear in the orphanage, but not take the same method to get out? And he can accomplish teleportation without space-attribute magic? Where did you get that from?
If your only answer is “The DK Shadow let’s him do that.” That’s weak and unsupported. Try again.
Entropy
If I had been in Birkyne’s shoes, I would have fled the continent. I know that is losing a great deal of power, but Alda and Vand were increasing their power and would have crushed him during their war. I would then have returned after the dust settled and then tried to either take on the winner or hide in shadows of the victor. Worse case scenario, Birknye should have abandoned his kingdom and gone elsewhere. Starting over would take time but as an immortal monster Birkyne had plenty of that.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Rainbow Dash
yesss