TLN: I missed Borkus’s new Title in the last chapter: ‘Grim Reaper of the Former Scylla Territory.’ My apologies.
Yoshi
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The moment Vandalieu took out his Gyubarzo staff, it wasn’t only Hajime Fitun who sensed danger; Gordon Bobby and the other heroic spirits sensed it as well.
Vandalieu had gone to the effort of wielding a staff, something that he had never done before. Not being cautious was out of the question.
“‘Hollow Bullets,’ ‘Death Bullets,’” Vandalieu murmured, unleashing spells just as Melissa undid the ‘Aegis’ barrier.
The projectiles he fired appeared to be nothing more than ‘Mana Bullets,’ but in reality, they were ‘Hollow Bullets,’ a spell of ‘Hollow King Magic,’ consisting of highly condensed Mana. Gordon Bobby and his allies repelled them with the throwing martial skills, throwing weapons and spells that they had been using previously.
“Don’t let them hit you! Dodge them like your life depends on it!” Hajime Fitun shouted.
Gordon Bobby and the other heroic spirits, who had undergone ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation,’ obeyed that command immediately. Even the Titan shield-bearer threw himself to the side in order to avoid the projectiles.
The heroic spirits leapt towards the forest, destroying all of the black, fist-sized ‘Hollow Bullets’ that were still in the air. At that moment, when their formation was broken, Doug aimed a telekinetic fist at them.
“‘Lightning Beast Assault!’” said Hajime Fitun, summoning a horde of beasts made of lightning.
Doug clicked his tongue. “I won’t let you do that!” he muttered, shifting the aim of his telekinetic fist towards the beasts instead.
He had to be cautious of the ‘Marionette’ ability.
In general, the effects of the reincarnated individuals’ abilities were weaker when used on another reincarnated individual. In addition, Rodcorte had adjusted abilities such as ‘Chronos,’ ‘Mage Masher’ and ‘Venus’ to have no effect at all on other reincarnated individuals other than Vandalieu.
But some abilities would have their effects suppressed only by a little.
And it had been over two years since Hajime was reincarnated in this world. There was no telling how much he had improved himself. Even now, he was casting spells that did not exist in Origin. It was possible that he had some secret trick up his sleeve.
It was unlikely that he would have full control over Doug, but it was possible that Doug’s body and mind would be paralyzed for a while, which would be fatal if it happened in the middle of battle. That was why Doug needed to destroy the beasts with his telekinesis.
“‘Super Rapid Reaction!’ HERE I COOOOOOME!” Hajime Fitun roared, leaping in right behind his lightning beasts, as if he had expected Doug to choose this option.
“W-what?!” Doug uttered in surprise.
“Atlas! Do you still have your habit of turning into a coward at critical moments?!” Hajime Fitun taunted.
Doug’s telekinesis was weakened by Hajime’s presence, and although about half of the beasts still vanished in a flash of sparks, Hajime and the remaining beasts kept charging through.
“You bastard! Don’t you dare call me by that name!” Doug spat, forcibly reminded of the name he had on Earth – Shirai Atorasu.
“Doug, you back up Melissa and Kanako. I’ll be sending them* some presents, so look out above you,” said Vandalieu, dashing past Doug to meet Hajime Fitun in battle.
TLN*: This will be explained a little further down.
Gordon Bobby and the Flame Blades, having returned to their original formation, were now fully directing their bloodthirst towards Kanako and Melissa.
“Alright! Hey, senior! I’ll use you as a shield like you told me before, so don’t go too wild!” shouted Doug.
He didn’t know what Vandalieu meant by ‘presents,’ but things would probably be fine as long as he kept an eye out above himself. Not questioning anything else, he used his telekinesis to grab Isis, whom the enemy had decided to deal with later.
“Oh my, how rough of you,” Isis remarked.
In the next moment, Isis was thrust in front of the enemy.
“Your barrier or my spear! Which will win?!” Gordon Bobby shouted, thrusting his spear that had been strengthened by a martial skill to try and break through Melissa’s barrier.
But as Isis suddenly appeared in front of the tip of his spear, he hastily changed the course of his attack.
Naturally, he had heard of the ‘Counter’ ability of Isis… which extended to all of Legion’s members. A light attack intended to suppress the enemy’s movement would be fine if it were countered, but not a full-blown attack that had been enhanced by a martial skill.
Gordon Bobby narrowly managed to avoid that happening, but he lost his balance and his movement had stopped entirely.
“‘Powerful Acid Bullet!’”
“‘Space Strike!’”
Kanako and Melissa’s offensive spells flooded in – acid projectiles and shockwaves created by warping space.
Gordon Bobby shouted in alarm and fell back.
“You fool! That’s what happens when you charge in without thinking!” one of the Flame Blades said as he and the others leapt in to cover Gordon Bobby.
“‘Colossal Ice Beast Assault!’ Kill that piece of meat that looks like a woman!” said the half-Elf Flame Blade mage, creating an enormous bear made of ice and sending it at Isis.
“I see. That does work,” Isis observed.
Just as she finished her sentence, the enormous bear of ice swept her head off with its front paw. In the next moment, the bear’s own head shattered and crumbled with a ringing noise.
The half-Elf mage had avoided taking damage from Legion’s counter by using the servant he had created with magic to receive the damage instead.
Although a bear made of ice wouldn’t be enough to take down Legion as a whole, he had decided that it would be enough to take down one of their personalities.
He gave a surprised laugh of triumph; he himself hadn’t been sure that it would succeed. “W-what do you think of that! I think it went rather well!” he said in a tone that one might expect from an elderly person; perhaps the heroic spirit controlling his body was quite old.
The heroic spirit controlling the body of the man who had been the Flame Blades’ leader clicked his tongue. “Being so loud after defeating just one part of them,” he muttered. “But still, this makes it six against three. You are at a disadvantage in both numbers and strength; your chances of victory are – huh?”
He stopped mid-sentence as a Mountain Giant came flying down from above.
The monsters turned into Zombies and controlled by Vandalieu were fighting in a forest some distance away, but a Mountain Giant had been thrown from there in this direction.
The Flame Blades immediately fell back to avoid being crushed by the Mountain Giant. They could have destroyed it while it was still in mid-air, but they were wary that Doug and the others might use that as an opportunity to attack.
Meanwhile, Doug was falling back as well, using his telekinesis to carry himself and the other two.
“What is that?! They might land on us, you know?!” shouted Kanako.
“Apparently it’s a present to his girlfriends.* You don’t have any idea who he’s talking about?” asked Doug.
TLN: In Vandalieu’s previous line of “I’ll be sending them some presents,” the ‘them’ in this case is 彼女達/kanojo-tachi, a plural form of 彼女/kanojo, which means ‘her.’ However, depending on context, 彼女/kanojo also means ‘girlfriend.’
“At the very least, it isn’t me and Kanako,” said Melissa. “Still, I’m glad for the backup. These people have suddenly become so strong with that ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ or whatever.”
Just then, there was the roar of a Thunder Dragon Zombie and the footsteps of Mountain Giant Zombies.
And Kimberley, who had transformed into black lightning, combined himself with the Thunder Dragon’s breath and charged towards the Flame Blades… It seemed that Vandalieu’s clone was continuously supplying him with Mana.
“Thunder Breath!” he shouted, cackling maniacally.
The Titan shield-bearer immediately stopped Kimberley with his shield. “‘Great Magic Steel Wall’ – !”
Unable to fully deflect the lightning, he screamed as sparks ran across his entire body.
“GAH! You made my body go numb through my ‘Shield Technique’ and ‘Wind-Attribute Resistance?!’ How can a powerful thunder breath like you exist?!” he shouted.
“I probably just look like the breath of a mutant Dragon!” Kimberley said, still cackling. “Here comes another one!”
With that, he returned to the Thunder Dragon Zombie’s mouth, turned to black lightning again and charged at the Flame Blades once more.
“I guess he does. Now then, shall we transform and use Demonfall while he buys us time?” said a rather strangely cheerful Kanako.
“I didn’t want to show that to people who are from the same city as us. It’s especially depressing considering that Murakami and the others are probably watching from somewhere. We… can’t get away with using only Demonfall, can we?” Melissa sighed, taking her transformation staff out with a glum expression.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Doug. “I’m sure there are a ton of people elsewhere who have transformed. And at this distance we’re pretty much impossible to see from the city.”
“Transform,” Melissa muttered, telling herself that this wasn’t as bad as performing live on stage.
Meanwhile, Vandalieu was a little surprised by Hajime, who had charged in towards him and his allies.
Vandalieu didn’t have much of a sense that he and Hajime Inui had been students in the same year; he had almost no memories of him at all. But based on what he knew of Hajime’s personality and abilities that he had learned from Legion, Kanako and the others, he had expected that he would maintain his distance to take the battle from medium range.
But Vandalieu was not so astounded that it affected his movements.
“‘Death Bullets,’” he murmured, intercepting Hajime with a death-attribute magic spell, firing black, walnut-sized projectiles that sapped the life from anyone they touched.
But Hajime Fitun laughed as he dodged them without stopping his forward momentum. “Is that supposed to be a greeting? Then take this in return!”
Rather than creating more beasts made of lightning, he unsheathed a knife enchanted with lightning and threw it. If Vandalieu was wary of the threat of ‘Marionette,’ he would need to block it with a barrier or avoid it.
“What a poor greeting,” Vandalieu said, deflecting the lightning-covered knife with his extended claws.
He felt nothing that would suggest that ‘Marionette’ had taken effect.
“Sorry about that. I wanted to check that my ‘Marionette’ wouldn’t work on you!” said Hajime Fitun.
Vandalieu was a Dhampir born to a Dark Elf mother. He had possessed the ‘Magic Resistance’ and ‘Status Effect Resistance’ Skills almost from birth.
Even Hajime Fitun hadn’t expected that Vandalieu could be affected by the status effect of having his body being controlled by the special ability of someone else.
“But I’ll show you… ‘Marionette’ isn’t just a boring ability that manipulates others!” said Hajime Fitun.
In the next moment, Hajime was right in front of Vandalieu, as if he had teleported there.
“‘Super Rapid Response,’” said Vandalieu, calmly activating his ‘Armor Technique’ martial skill despite his enemy having entered close range in an instant.
He swung his Gyubarzo staff in a downwards arc. This attack was powerful enough to pulverize a C-class adventurer in a single blow, but Hajime Fitun avoided it.
However, this was all according to plan. Vandalieu didn’t expect this brute-strength attack with no technique to it to actually land on his foe. Even as Hajime dodged, Vandalieu continued his attack.
“‘Spear Kick,’” he murmured, sending out a sharp kick like the thrust of a spear.
At the same time, he threw a kunai hidden up his sleeve with the hand not holding his staff and spat a powerful, corrosive, venomous saliva from his mouth.
An ordinary opponent would be distracted by the martial skill whose name Vandalieu had spoken out loud, and get hit by either the kunai or the saliva.
But Hajime dodged not only the kick, but the kunai and saliva as well… by throwing himself onto the ground. “I admire the audacity you have to do something so dirty in front of people! But at this distance, you can’t run from these!”
The remaining lightning beasts leapt over Hajime Fitun’s back and charged at Vandalieu, who reflexively put up his ‘Magic Absorption Barrier.’
The lightning beasts disappeared helplessly as they were swallowed by the barrier. But Hajime Fitun wasn’t shaken; he extended his bent knees to leap forward off the ground and drew the two curved blades in the sheaths on his back.
“‘Twin Fang!’ ‘Million Slash!’” he shouted.
“‘Claw Wall,’ ‘Thousand Beast Claws,’” Vandalieu murmured in response.
The dual-wielded curved blades… Hajime Fitun’s scimitars, pierced through the barrier. Vandalieu stopped them with the staff in his left hand and the claws of his right. Hajime Fitun went on to deliver a series of countless follow-up attacks, which Vandalieu dealt with using a countless number of his own claw attacks.
The black barrier was shredded to pieces, and as Vandalieu’s staff and claws collided with the scimitars, blood sprayed into the air.
Having wounded Vandalieu’s fingers and hands, the corner of Hajime’s mouth rose in a smile. “You’re using only your anti-magic barrier and not your anti-physical-attack barrier?! I intended to cut you to pieces when you stopped moving, but I see that I’ve only managed to cut your hands!”
“Since your intent is to kill me, I expected that you would at least come equipped with Orichalcum weapons or weapons made of the Demon King’s fragments, after all,” said Vandalieu.
His shallow wounds healed within seconds due to the ‘Rapid Regeneration’ Skill. He had turned the blood that had sprayed into the air into venom, but there was no sign that Hajime Fitun had been affected by it.
“So, you’ve seen through me. I created an illusion to make my weapons look as if they were made of iron, but it seems that it was pointless,” said Hajime Fitun.
The two scimitars he was wielding were made of Orichalcum. His plan had been to fool Vandalieu into thinking they were made of iron and deal a fatal blow while Vandalieu stood still to use his ‘Impact-Negating Barrier.’
Illusions that refracted light like a mirage might have worked on Vandalieu, but illusions that affected their targets’ minds to make them see things that weren’t there wouldn’t work due to the effects of ‘Deformed Soul.’
However, Vandalieu had expected that Hajime Fitun would make at least the minimal preparations to kill him, considering that he wielded the fragments of the Demon King.
“So… What are you? You’re not the ‘Marionette,’ are you?” Vandalieu asked with a feeling of certainty, as he and Hajime Fitun continued to exchange blows with their claws and scimitars.
“Hey, that’s cold. You don’t remember your own classmate? Wait, were you my classmate or not?” said Hajime Fitun, trying to play it off.
“There weren’t any gods among my classmates,” said Vandalieu.
“You just said ‘god,’ didn’t you,” Hajime Fitun said, his expression suddenly turning completely serious. “The subordinates I brought with me are gods, rather than heroic spirits. When did you notice?”
Vandalieu fell silent.
His familiars and Demon King Familiars were stationed all around the city of Morksi and inside the Dungeon that he had created to look like Morksi.
Thus, he had witnessed Hajime Fitun’s subordinates undergo ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ and speak their own names. And Kanako’s mentioning of the strange feeling she had when using ‘Venus’ on the Titan shield-bearer had given him a clue about Hajime and his subordinates’ true identities as well.
And most importantly –
“I can smell two souls inside you. One of them smells… delicious, like Hihiryushukaka’s,” said Vandalieu.
It was as if there was a delicious dish and one that wasn’t so delicious, served on the same plate.
There was no way that an ordinary human’s soul would smell delicious to Vandalieu, and yet, he felt a desire to consume every time he directed his anger and bloodthirst towards Hajime Fitun. That made him absolutely certain.
A shiver ran up Hajime Fitun’s spine as he saw a glimpse of the primitive hunger lurking deep within Vandalieu’s clouded eyes.
Fitun, the god of thunderclouds, felt a thrill at this sensation, something that he hadn’t felt in tens of thousands of years.
“Good, that’s good! That’s what I’m talking about! This is exactly how a battle to the death should be – right?!” he shouted.
He had narrowed his lips, and as he shouted the word ‘right,’ he spat out small needles that he had concealed inside his mouth, which entered Vandalieu’s eyes.
“Foam at the mouth and die! ‘Dark Night Blade Wind!’”
With a hidden weapon often employed by assassins rather than mercenaries, Hajime Fitun robbed Vandalieu of his vision and activated an ‘Assassin Fighting Technique’ martial skill. He then rushed forward with a fast attack that Vandalieu’s eyes were no longer able to see – as if ambushing Vandalieu on a moonless night.
“If you insist, I could give you something from my mouth,” said Vandalieu.
He activated the Demon King’s eyeball, creating a third eye on his forehead, and stopped Hajime Fitun’s scimitar with his claws.
And this time, it was Vandalieu’s turn to spit something at Hajime Fitun. Deciding that it was likely venom, Hajime Fitun decided to continue attacking, relying on his ‘Status Effect Resistance’ Skill and the effects of his Magic Items.
But his face stiffened as he saw that it was a slimy liquid and realized that he had made a mistake.
“‘Flame Prison Death,’” said Vandalieu, casting a ‘Dark King Magic’ spell that recreated the combustion ability of Baba Yaga, one of Legion’s personalities.
With the Demon King’s fat that Vandalieu had spat from his mouth as their fuel, flames enveloped Hajime Fitun.
Hajime Fitun screamed as he quickly became a mass of flames, and Vandalieu was slightly burned from being too close to him.
But Vandalieu quickly extinguished the flames on his own body with ‘Demon Fire,’ a spell that conjured a mass of blue-white flames that absorbed heat energy.
“I can’t make foam from my mouth, so you’ll have to make do with this fat,” Vandalieu said to Hajime Fitun as he extended his tongue into his eyes to remove and throw away the needles.
“Everything is wrong with this damned Demon King!” Hajime Fitun screamed in anger as he extinguished the flames.
It seemed that he had forcibly extinguished them by using a wind-attribute spell that removed all of the oxygen from the air around him.
“This serves as proof that the oxygen in the air is necessary for things to burn, even in this world,” Vandalieu observed, having figured out what Hajime Fitun had done based on the movement of his Mana.
“Why are you saying something so stupid? Are you trying to provoke me?” Hajime Fitun said, sounding relatively calm for someone who had just been turned into a human torch.
He was almost completely unharmed.
He had received the ‘Death Attribute Resistance’ Skill from Rodcorte, and before facing Vandalieu, he had taken the time to acquire various resistance Skills and gather Magic Items in preparation for this day. He wouldn’t receive fatal damage from the likes of shallow magical attacks… though of course, the reason why he had managed to get away from Vandalieu’s ‘Flame Prison Death’ with only minor burns was because Vandalieu had only cast it at a shallow level.
Vandalieu had held back, as the flames would have engulfed far too large an area if he had cast it at full strength.
“Are you trying to buy time by angering me? If you’ve noticed that we’ve undergone ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation,’ you’ll also have realized that we have a time limit imposed on us. Once that limit is reached, not only my subordinates but I myself will also lose our power and become helpless. Is that what you’re aiming for?” Hajime Fitun questioned. “This won’t be enjoyable at all if that’s the case, so I’ll tell you this: Buying time is pointless.”
The heroic spirits had incarnated inside the bodies of adventurers forced into a vegetative state by the ‘Marionette’ ability. If they wielded the full power that they possessed as heroic spirits while in this state, the bodies of the adventurers would collapse within minutes.
But through harsh training in Fitun’s Dungeon of Trials, they had trained these weak bodies into ones that were fit to be used by heroic spirits. On top of that, each of them had been given a Magic Item that continuously repaired any damage to their bodies, though the items’ effectiveness varied.
By doing this, they had succeeded in extending that time limit of ‘several minutes’ to over ten minutes.
Gordon Bobby and the Flame Blades were those among Fitun’s subordinates who had been exceptionally compatible with the bodies of the adventurers they had taken over; they had become able to fight with ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ for long periods of time.
The time they could fight for was still less than an hour, but a little conversation posed no problems.
And Hajime Fitun himself was not using a Skill like ‘Heroic Spirit Descent.’ What he was using was the ‘Marionette’ itself, in order to manipulate his own body.
While living in Origin as Inui Hajime, he had only used his ability to control others. But Fitun, who was a god of war and had been a mercenary during his mortal life, had thought of using the ‘Marionette’ ability to freely control his own body.
Fitun was a man who had become a god through the worship of his strength and his countless achievements in battle. His experience in combat against other humans alone was vast.
He was using that experience to the fullest while controlling Hajime’s body as he fought against Vandalieu.
Naturally, there was no time limit for him.
“If you do nothing but buy time, your precious allies will be killed by my subordinates…” Hajime Fitun began, but he was interrupted by the loud noise of a Mountain Giant’s corpse landing after having been thrown by its own allies that had been turned into Zombies.
“Transform!” said Kanako and Melissa’s voices as they raised their staves, drowning out that thundering sound.
“What the hell is that?!” Hajime Fitun shouted.
The liquid metal separated from the staves and changed form, completing Kanako and Melissa’s transformations in an instant.
Both of them were now in mini-skirts that appeared easy to move about in, but although Kanako’s clothes featured a large number of ribbons and frills, Melissa’s was a more reserved, tight design.
When Vandalieu first started making transformation staves, there was the alchemy-related issue of having to make sure there was enough surface area to draw magical circles upon, so he had been forced to make transformations include a surplus of decorative parts. Considering that, Melissa’s clothes were a significant technical improvement.
“What is that?! They look completely different!” one of the Flame Blades shouted.
“They’re Magic Items! They’re definitely their trump cards, don’t let your guard down!” Gordon Bobby warned his companions.
The heroic spirits possessed the knowledge that Fitun had gained from acquiring the body of a reincarnated individual, but they hadn’t been taught about Earth’s sub-culture work.
Though Kanako and Melissa’s appearances were very peculiar and surprising, the heroic spirits became even more cautious rather than letting their guard down and laughing.
But Fitun possessed Hajime’s knowledge and understood where Kanako and Melissa’s transformation staves came from.
“D… Damn you! Transform?! You’re fooling around and playing games while we’re having a battle to the death?!” he shouted, his surprise turning into anger at this sacrilege of the sanctity of combat.
Seeing an opening, Vandalieu flew in. Putting his Gyubarzo staff back on his back, he swung the claws of all four limbs.
But all of this was an act from Hajime Fitun.
He fell for it!
He activated ‘Marionette’ against Vandalieu, who had already come into contact with his electricity. But he didn’t expect to be able to manipulate Vandalieu.
Vandalieu was an inhuman being; even if Hajime Fitun somehow managed to gain control of his body, he would simply use ‘Out-of-body Experience’ and continue fighting. Hajime Fitun hadn’t counted on being able to control him at all, right from the very beginning.
But there’s another way to use this ‘Marionette’ ability. I’ll read your thoughts!
‘Marionette’ could not only manipulate nerves, but read the small, biologically-produced electrical currents flowing along them, which meant that it could read the thoughts inside the brain. This was one of Hajime Fitun’s trump cards.
This was an advanced use of the ability that was only possible through the knowledge Hajime possessed as a reincarnated individual and the power that Fitun possessed as a god of the wind attribute.
This isn’t directly reading the mind with magic; it’s just reading the small electric currents in your nerves and predicting your thoughts! It’s like lip-reading but with brain waves; even resistance Skills are useless against this! Now then, let’s have a look inside your brain… WHAT IS THIS?!
As Vandalieu flew towards Fitun, Fitun read his thoughts, but his astonishment caused his reaction to Vandalieu’s attacks to be delayed. His act almost stopped being an act.
“‘Thousand Beast Dual Claws,’” said Vandalieu, unleashing a flurry of rapid, consecutive claw attacks.
Hajime Fitun shouted in alarm. “‘Extreme Rapid Response!’”
Barely managing to deflect Vandalieu’s attacks with his scimitars by improving his reaction time with ‘Extreme Rapid Response,’ Fitun broke out into a cold sweat.
What the hell kind of brain does this guy have?! I get that he’s thinking multiple things at once, but there has to be a limit! Fitun thought in disbelief.
Vandalieu, swinging the claws of all four of his limbs while also occasionally using ‘Sharp Tongue,’ a thrusting attack with his tongue, was operating with a countless number of simultaneous thought processes through ‘Group Thinking Technique.’
It wasn’t just his fine control over his limbs; he was also focusing on providing Mana to Kimberley, giving orders to the Dragon Zombies, controlling his Demon King Familiars and keeping alert to his surroundings. With a countless number of thought processes happening at the same time, Hajime Fitun had been unable to immediately decide which to read.
But I see now. This is the one I should be reading, Hajime Fitun thought, successfully identifying the thought process that he should be reading after exchanging several more blows with Vandalieu. This is it. If I read this, I’ll know what he will do before he does it!
However, this thought process was far faster than could be explained through the science of Earth. On Earth, there was a limit on the speed of humans’ thoughts… In principle, it should have been impossible for thoughts to occur faster than the speed of the electrical currents traveling along the neural network.
Despite that, the electrical currents traveling across Vandalieu’s brain were moving at incomparably faster speeds.
If scientists on Earth were to observe this, they would be astonished by the impossibility of what they were seeing and think that there was some kind of mistake. But this was Lambda, not Earth.
This was not only a world in which magic existed; it was also a world in which Dragons roamed the skies, where Giants strode across the land, where even humans could run on the surface of water if they were S-class adventurers. As the laws of physics were different in this world, it wasn’t unusual at all that Earth’s scientific knowledge didn’t apply here.
The other problem was whether it was possible to read those high-speed thoughts; it would have been impossible for Hajime, but Fitun was a legendary mercenary who had become a god of the wind attribute. He was confident that he could do it.
Hajime Fitun gave a triumphant laugh. “Die! ‘Transcend Limits,’ ‘Transcend Limits: Magic Sword,’ ‘Twin Heavenly Thunder Blades!’”
Pushing Hajime’s body and his magical swords to their limits, he unleashed the martial skill of an advanced Skill.
“… ‘Hollow Bullet,’ ‘Impact-Negating Barrier,’ ‘Screw Sharp Tongue,’” Vandalieu murmured in response.
Surprised by Hajime Fitun’s sudden decision to attack with full strength, he activated ‘Transcend Limits’ and began attacking more aggressively.
But Vandalieu’s attacks had suddenly begun to not work against Hajime Fitun at all.
There were more instances in which his claws were deflected by a scimitar and attacks that should have at least forced Hajime Fitun to block were dodged completely. And in turn, there were more instances in which Vandalieu was forced to block Hajime Fitun’s scimitars.
Deciding that it would be bad if the exchange of blows began disfavoring him, Vandalieu fired ‘Hollow Bullets,’ put up a thin ‘Impact-Negating Barrier’ for an instant to try and stop Hajime Fitun’s movements and used a thrusting attack with his extended tongue.
But Hajime Fitun dealt with all of these. He slashed through the barrier with an Orichalcum scimitar the moment it appeared, and avoided the black projectiles and tongue without stopping his movement at all.
“One blow to begin with!” Hajime Fitun mused to himself as his scimitar struck Vandalieu’s torso in return.
His lips twisted in a smile of joy as he dealt proper damage to Vandalieu for the first time. But the smile quickly vanished and he clicked his tongue as he realized that the wound was shallow because of the liquid metal armor that Vandalieu was wearing beneath his clothes.
Meanwhile, the exchange of blows continued.
It’s a good thing that he’s not using the ‘Radiant Life’ that Heinz used or any spells that delay regeneration, Vandalieu thought.
The shallow wound had regenerated immediately. The damaged liquid metal armor had returned to liquid form and repaired itself within seconds as well.
It was indeed fortunate that Hajime Fitun wasn’t using anti-death-attribute magic like the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz had.
But why is he able to read my attacks? Vandalieu wondered. Even considering that he has the advantage when it comes to experience in combat, his overall strength shouldn’t be that much different from my own.
From what Vandalieu had seen, Hajime Fitun possessed significantly greater strength than what Vandalieu could display due to the need to protect his reputation. But he was dealing with Vandalieu’s attacks as if he could see the future; it was difficult to imagine that the difference was so great that Vandalieu should be forced into a one-sided struggle to defend himself.
With that being the case, he must have done something. The one who predicts the future is the ‘Gazer’ Hitomi, so that can’t be it… Is he reading my thoughts to know what I’m going to do?
‘Marionette’ was an ability that controlled others. But it was possible that it could be used as a way to read their thoughts as well.
Then let’s test this… Staff, he said in his mind.
The Gyubarzo staff on Vandalieu’s back let out a peculiar noise in response from the ominous-looking merman-like skull on its tip.
The skull’s jaw opened with a click and released a strange beam of light. Vandalieu had placed a Demon King’s eyeball and the Demon King’s luminescent glands inside it.
There was no way that Hajime Fitun could anticipate a ranged attack from a staff that wasn’t even in Vandalieu’s hand.
But Hajime Fitun managed to hastily avoid the beam, cursing as he did so. Seeing this, Vandalieu was certain that his thoughts were being read.
Hajime Fitun himself knew from Vandalieu’s thoughts that Vandalieu was aware of it. But at the same time, he thought: So what?
Humans could not think without using their brains and nerves; the brain was absolutely essential for fighting by casting spells and using one’s body.
But with this, it was possible that Vandalieu would now bring out his full power as the Demon King, abandoning his attempts to protect his reputation and prevent damage to the city. Hajime Fitun began preparing a special, deadly attack to put an end to this battle before that happened –
“Hmm? W-what?!” He shouted in alarm.
In the next instant, he screamed in pain as Vandalieu’s claws gouged out a large chunk of flesh from his side.
If the wound had been a little deeper, or if his armor wasn’t made of the hide of a high-Rank monster, the wound could have reached his internal organs.
But Hajime Fitun received a bigger shock not from the wound, but something else.
He had suddenly become unable to read Vandalieu’s thoughts.
Impossible, he thought in astonishment and panic.
Meanwhile, Vandalieu disconnected his limbs from their sockets with popping noises. “‘Whip Strike Claws.’”
He unleashed an attack that combined ‘Whip Technique’ and ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique.’ Vandalieu’s disjointed, extended limbs flew about in a rapid assault upon Hajime Fitun.
Hajime Fitun screamed in anger. “What is the meaning of this?! You bastard, how did you stop my ‘Marionette?!’”
Unable to defend himself from all of Vandalieu’s claw attacks that came swinging in from strange and unpredictable directions, Hajime Fitun became covered in his own blood in an instant. He hadn’t sustained a fatal wound yet, but that was only because he had only barely managed to succeed in protecting his vital spots like his head.
He knew he had to regain his composure, and for that, he needed to read Vandalieu’s thoughts. In order to do that, he put more of his concentration into his use of ‘Marionette,’ but that caused a drop in the attention he paid to his own defense.
But that effort paid off; Hajime Fitun now understood what Vandalieu had done.
“You bastard… You’re not using your brain?! Just how much of a monstrosity can you be, Demon King?!” he exclaimed.
Using ‘Marionette,’ Hajime Fitun had searched for signs of Vandalieu possessing some other organ that carried out the function of the physical brain, or him having been replaced by an illusion or a Golem by a third party.
But it wasn’t that he had become unable to read Vandalieu’s thoughts. Vandalieu’s brain had simply stopped all activity and was doing no thinking whatsoever.
“Don’t say that like I’m some kind of idiot,” said Vandalieu as he cast ‘Flame Prison Death’ and ignited Hajime Fitun’s blood that was on the surface of his body.
Suppressing a scream, Hajime Fitun extinguished the fire in the same way as before and recovered by drinking a Potion taken from his pocket.
He looked with an expression of fear towards Vandalieu, who was speaking and casting spells without using his brain.
“It’s regrettable that you’re looking at me that way when all I’m doing is controlling my body directly with my soul and spirit rather than using my brain,” said Vandalieu.
From his perspective, he wasn’t doing anything extraordinary. He was simply controlling his body with just his soul and spirit.
In Origin, he had spent a long period of time in the presence of other spirits, with the freedom of control over his body having been robbed from him. Ever since his experience of turning into an Undead, Vandalieu had always possessed the ability to think without using his brain, and it didn’t take him much effort at all.
That was why he was able to do things like multiply his thinking capacity by using ‘Out-of-body Experience’ and multiplying his spirit’s heads.
To Vandalieu, the brain was important but not the only important organ in his body; it was nothing more than a supplementary organ to his soul.
Well, it would be inconvenient in various ways if I stopped ALL of its functions… I’d have to manually control my breathing and heart rate, so I’d die if I lost consciousness, Vandalieu thought to himself.
This was why Vandalieu didn’t choose to do this when it wasn’t necessary.
“It seems that ‘Marionette’ is unable to interfere with my soul and spirit… ‘Whip Tongue,’” said Vandalieu.
He swung his tongue that was extended from his mouth like a whip, aiming for Hajime Fitun. The whip of flesh struck Hajime Fitun’s arm and wrapped itself around it.
“Not yet, it’s not over yet!” Hajime Fitun shouted.
He made no attempts to remove the tongue from his arm; he grasped it instead and tried to pull Vandalieu towards himself.
He was likely under the impression that unlike a whip, Vandalieu would be unable to let go of his own tongue if it were to be pulled. He intended to strike Vandalieu’s head with his scimitar once Vandalieu lost his balance.
But this was a bad move. It would have been understandable for Hajime to make this error, but it was carelessness on the part of the war god Fitun, even if that carelessness was because he still hadn’t regained his composure from the shock and surprise that he had experienced moments earlier.
As Hajime Fitun continued pulling, Vandalieu’s tongue simply grew longer. And without any hesitation, Vandalieu closed his mouth and bit off his own tongue once it had reached a sufficient length.
Now free and separate from Vandalieu, the whip made of flesh turned into a snake and coiled around Hajime Fitun’s body.
Hajime Fitun screamed. “‘Flame Prison Death’ again?! It’s no use, I’ll use my own magic to put it out no matter how many times you –”
“No, I’m going to put a sinister curse on you with my whip-like tongue,” said Vandalieu.
The moment he finished speaking, the tongue wrapped around Hajime Fitun’s body began glowing with a venomous-looking color.
Skill explanation: Assassin Fighting Technique
A Skill specialized for combat against other humans, combining ‘Assassination Technique,’ ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ and ‘Dagger Technique.’ It is effective when attacking other humans, and there are specialized martial skills, but it is not well-suited for use against monsters with significantly different anatomy like beasts and Dragons, or monsters like Slimes and plant-type monsters that possess no internal organs.
Thus, this Skill is more often acquired by mercenaries and assassins rather than adventurers.
However, it is still effective against demi-human-type monsters, so some adventurers do possess it.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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A_wandering_otter
The orriculum weapons by passing the barrier is bullshit it was never stated the only two ways should be overloading it with a strong enough attack or heinz’s mixture of light and life attributes
Naberisu
It was never stated however these barriers were never shown working against orichalcum either.
Hobbes
It’s not BS. Your reading ability is questionable though.
Orichalcum is the ultimate godly metal which can be used to beat down fragments of the DK, form nearly impenetrable defenses, & even deal damage to souls under the right circumstances.
How exactly is it BS that Orichalcum weapons would have an easier time breaking through Van’s barriers than other less magically resistant metals?
Vitor
“What is that?! They might land on us, you know?!” shouted Kanako.
“Apparently it’s a present to his girlfriends.* You don’t have any idea who he’s talking about?” asked Doug.
“At the very least, it isn’t me and Kanako,” said Melissa. “Still, I’m glad for the backup. These people have suddenly become so strong with that ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ or whatever.”
You say that Melissa… but I don’t see Kanako’s denying it…
Zenden1st
who knew whip tongue would be so clutch
A_wandering_otter
I mean van could end this fight in an instant it’s just that he doesn’t want to disturb his neighbors by gauging out the land scape with a single spell
Chiu ChunLing
Earth’s scientists: “c is the absolute speed limit of the universe.”
Lambda’s Time Attribute: “Speed limits are more like ‘suggestions’ than actual rules.”
Hobbes
Exactly man. Like Relativity is relative, y’know bro?
This makes me think Ricklent & Zuruwarn went through a Surfer-Fratboy-ish phase when they were making Lambda.
Hunt3rm4n
That was cool, but why f*ck didn’t the Abyss skill activate when his thoughts were being read?
NsP7737
because he didn’t use his ‘eyes’? maybe?
Del1a
Because his thoughts weren’t being read. Fit in read the electrical signals in his body and predicted what he was thinking. Besides the abyss skill requires some sort of sight.
Adddmeeee
I’m just imagining Van’s tongue as a chain of handkerchiefs in a magician’s pocket
Vicoodi
[Meanwhile, Vandalieu disconnected his limbs from their sockets with popping noises. “‘Whip Strike Claws.’”]
it’s moments like this that make me wish for an anime adaptation.
Zenden1st
Meanwhile, Vandalieu disconnected his limbs from their sockets with popping noises. “‘Whip Strike Claws.’”
Vigaro: Ah a man of culture, I see.
Course
This came late but thanks for the chapter.
Paps
Thanks for the translation, I came late to teh party but its always a fun read. HAHAHAH Fitum has no idea of how much of an eldrich Van is at the moment.
Alex-dono
for a second there i was reminded of luffy vs enel
Ozarazil
The strong point of this story is not Van, lets face it Van is kind of a boring character (I mean he’s almost reaching omnipresence and omnipotency and he’s like 11 or 13).
The world building on the other hand is the strong point of this story tho. The multiverse, the myths, all the systems and the religions. How the RPG aspects of the world are explained through “different laws of physics” (i hate this word) and how god’s direct intervention in the world made it possible.
Going back to Van though, i say what i said in later chapters, what can Murakami and the others do against him? From my perspective the only option they have is hope. Hope in Meh-kun’s dad dying quickly and going to Lambda (and it’ll still be be pretty har, unless Aldumbass or Rodocumte get involved) or two, hope hat Van ends up badly injured after this and take the chance to kill him (wich again, will be hella tough with the army filled with legendary beings that he has that are far stronger than the original legends because of his guidance, devine blessings, titles and other support skills xD…).
In the next chapter, unless the focus of the story changes, Fitun is going to get eaten.
no1
This fight was about as exciting as his previous fight with Hihiryushukaka. I wonder in what way Van will get stronger after he eats Fitun. I mean we all know that his fights with gods ends with the god being eaten by him
Kazza
Oh shit, the fight has started now!
I quite liked it, so far. Fitun is altogether a smarter opponent than Van is used to facing, and seeing his tricks and Van having to think ahead to counter them is part of why I love Van’s fighting style.
That said, I do have a complaint (probably closer to a nitpick, but hear me out): So, Fitun is reading the electrical signals of his brain, emphasis on “reading,” which is a mentally performed, but still sight-based method. Shouldn’t that have activated Abyss?
Now, I know this doesn’t really matter, because all it would’ve done is shorten the chapter by a few paragraphs. It doesn’t change Van’s response, so altogether I can just say “dramatic tension.” Densuke wants you to be worried if Van can figure it out. He does, wooh, relief.
But, regardless, I still think it’s a problem. Abyss is pretty loosely defined, and as such skirts a little close to a Get-Out-of-Jail card. It requires vision, but as Merrebeveil and Tendou showed, actual eyes aren’t necessary. You can be a squid monster or a disembodied spirit and Abyss will activate. Hell, you don’t even need to look at Van himself, as Curatos’s copy was enough to trigger it. I think, at least, not 100% sure on what happened in there.
And even if the argument is, “He’s not looking at Van, he’s looking at his brainwaves,” then where would it end? Those are still parts of his body generated by him. Can you look at his blood, and since you’re not looking at him, only a discarded part, Abyss won’t activate? What about the DK Avatars? His soul?
Now, does this bother me that much? No, I’m just too long-winded for my own good. All it did is make me worried Abyss would be forgotten again if tension demanded it… which I would definitely have a problem with if it led to a loss on Van’s part.
SoulsTogether
Well, the reason the Abyss skill is not activating might because Van can perfectly see Fitun like normal. After all, in all the situations where the Abyss skill was activated, Van-sama was never mentioned to also be normally watching the person causing the Abyss skill to activate. In this situation of battle, sure Fitun is reading Van-sama’s thoughts, but it isn’t like Fitun is doing anything metaphysical by performing that action. Just like how a person would read the body language of a person to determine the other party’s next actions, Fitun was simply reading the neuron processes of Van-sama to determine his next actions. Thus, that might not have been enough for Abyss to activate, as Fitun wasn’t “spying” on Van-sama’s thoughts but rather “reading” them as they were technically directly presented in front of his special electricity sense to read. Just like how Van-sama’s body is presented directly in front of Fitun’s eyes to see.
Another reason why the Abyss might not have activated is…well, let me first explain it with a hypothetically. Imagine there is a magic book that perfectly records all of Van-sama’s actions with written words and then someone chooses to read that book. Let’s call this reader “Bob.” In this situation, is Bob spying on Van-sama by reading a book that perfectly describes Van-sama’s current actions? The answer would, technically, be no. This is because reading about someone is an impersonally way to learn about someone: it is a secondary source. As such, Bob is, In truth, looking at the book and not at Van-sama itself. Thus, the Abyss would not active on Bob, just as it did not active on Heinz when he stared at the Van-sama copy that Curatos made. However, the book itself would definitely active the Abyss skill since that is technically spying on Van-sama.
If that’s the case, then if we assume Fitun’s way of “reading” Van-sama’s thought is similar to echolocation (electricity in the brain neurons get copied and sent back to Fitun to process), then Fitun is technically reading the electricity that gets sent back to him as if it was a book. You get were I’m going with this? Essentially, the “words” of a “book” in this situation is the electricity that gets copied from Van-sama’s brain…the book from the previous analogy. As such, all Fitun has to do then is read the electricity (book) that was copied from Van-sama and, therefore, be able to read Van-sama’s thoughts without the worry of the Abyss skill. In addition, since the electricity that gets copied stays within Van’s brain area, there really isn’t anything for the Abyss skill to show Van-sama, from staring back at that copied electricity, besides his own brain. I mean, yes, that explanation is a bit of a stretch, but it just goes to show how many loopholes there is to an ability that allows you to “see anything that views you.” An opponent just needs to transform the thing that they “see” into something that isn’t “you.”
Another answer to this predicament could be because Fitun was “reading” and not “visualizing,” Van-sama’s thoughts. Yes, you don’t need eyes in order to active the Abyss skill, but that doesn’t mean just anything can active the Abyss skill either…or perhaps anything can active the Abyss skill. We simply don’t know the truth about that matter. Like, does hearing Van-sama talk active the skill? Does smelling Van-sama active the skill?
In my opinion, I believe you have to “visualize” Van-sama to actually activate the Abyss skill. This theory not only explains why the Abyss skill worked on Curatos’s Van-sama copy, (as the copy is a visualization of Van-sama) yet didn’t work on Curatos himself even though he perfectly recorded and recreated Van-sama’s image, but also explains why every situation of the Abyss skill activating so far included words like “spying,” “watching,” or “seeing.” After all, even if God’s like Merrebeveil and Tendou don’t have eyes, they can still probably visualize Van-sama in some way. In fact, they themselves prove such assumptions because they have commented on Van-sama’s appearance before. On the other hand, while reading Van-sama’s “brain electricity” instead of Van-sama’s “mind,” he technically did not visualize Van-sama’s mind nor his body.
There are also probably a few more possible explanations, but these are just a few I came up with off the top of my head.
Kazza
That’s a fair theory. I will say, though, your first paragraph is incorrect: He and Gubamon were face-to-face when the Demon Eyes of Destruction was reflected. Van even saw the attack coming, due to Danger Sense: Death. So it had nothing to do with whether or not Van is aware he is being watched.
The only real problem I have with your theory is that Abyss is still activating, just on the medium itself, not the caster. So Van should be getting something in return, you know? Maybe in this situation, he receives Fitun’s own synapses in activating Marionette, but since he has no affinity with lightning he can’t read/translate it.
But you’re right, we don’t know enough about Abyss, so making absolute statements either way isn’t really possible. Like I said, this one situation isn’t that major, as he figures Fitun’s strategy out without it, but if it were to become a trend that every god he fights is immune and can fight without Abyss activating, that’s where the writing will start to fall apart.
SoulsTogether
Ah, yeah, you’re right. To be honest, I totally forgot about that fight with Gubamon. I mean, my first theory could still be a possibility if we assume that the Abyss skill’s ability to reflect attacks and reflect gazes are separate and have different activation conditions, but that’s just my brain’s own futile attempt at creating an entirely improbable scenario that goes around that contradiction. Don’t mind it.
Also, about my theory involving the Abyss skill activation on a medium, instead of the caster, and not getting anything in return…I might not have explained that one clear enough, my apologizes. What I wanted to say is that the Abyss is getting something in return, it’s just that “thing” is coming from the medium instead of the caster because the medium is the one “spying” on Van-sama, while the caster is simply “spying” on the medium. In addition, the “medium” in this scenario is just a copy (or, rather, an electrical spit off) of Van-sama’s own thoughts, that was created from amplifying the already existing electricity current in Van-sama’s neurons, in which that “copy” is also contained within Van-sama’s brain. As such, even if the Abyss skill activates and shows information about the medium in question, that means very little since separating Van-sama’s own thoughts from an exact electricity copy, of his thoughts, which is also located in his brain is an incredibility hard task. Does my explanation make sense? Once again, it’s an improbable idea of an electricity-style echolocation, but I still think its possible.
In either case, even if every God is immune to the Abyss skill in the future, I don’t think that the writing will fall apart just because of that. Honestly, the writing in this story is phenomenal. Thus, in my personal opinion, I think the author is entitled to make a few mistakes or excuses here and there as long as he doesn’t mess up something big. I mean, the Abyss skill’s specific activation conditions was never anything important to the story anyway. If it was, those conditions would have been directly stated already.
Julian Skilton
Just putting my guess here, but Abyss doesn’t activate because Fitun isn’t using his eyes. Abyss clearly draws on the saying, “when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.” All the times the ability has activated, it has always been based on a magical, vision based skill. Clairvoyance, Death Scythe, Demon Eyes, even his copy could fall under the conditions. If magic is used to observe Van, it causes Van to connect to whatever is being observed and allows him to observe them in the same manner. The demon eyes reflected, and combined with Hostility, dealt more damage. Clairvoyance allowed Van to observes Rodcorte’s divine realm because Rodcorte used magic to connect his realm with Taloshelm then used Clairvoyance to connect it. Death scythe uses vision to lock onto targets. Abyss didn’t activate with Fitun because while Van is being observed with magic by technicality, Fitun isn’t directly observing him. He essentially collected data, then interpreted. So what Fitun is observing isn’t Van, but a description of Van, which most likely escaped the abyss skill.
Absolute Zer0
Embodymend of Eldrich horror parotagonist that treats zombies as person, with organs that was not supossed to exist who can make God shudder with glance? Horror movies started to feel cute.
Eddy
do not forget that it causes madness in the minds of mortals with the abstract drawings written on stones and gets into people’s dreams taking strange shapes
Jonathan Hurd
To be fair the paintings aren’t supposed to be mental attacks. They’re invitations to the Demon Path. It’s not Vans fault people aren’t sane enough to go to follow the right path.
Doc
I feel like the author is starting to get into the super man problem of having to put up tortured logic as to why the OP character doesn’t just immediately solve the problem. So Van is refusing to use his real strength making this fight far harder than it needs to be all because he’s trying to keep his reputation in a town he’s only using to trap his enemies to fight with him anyway. Do I have have that right? It’s such a self defeating reason.
Tejing
His reputation in human society has broader importance beyond the immediate goal of drawing out his current enemies. It’s also about promoting Vida’s true religion and drawing as many people to their side as possible before the battle lines really get drawn, so it’s not self defeating. He’s fighting in a more difficult, but still workable, way right now in order to make his later battles easier.
ObserverBias
There’s also that he’s expecting yet another group to be spying on his fight, and he doesn’t care to give them more information on his abilities than they may already know (as if they don’t attempt to jump him soon after this fight, they go on to spread information on his abilities to others that are still coming after him). Mind, iirc, we’ve still seen less than 30 of the 100 Bravers, and the one with the most annoying ability to potentially oppose him is on the other side of the veil.
InfernoHomura
When will be the next chapter? Like I’m really excited about this battle and more to come!
Tejing
There’s a pin in the discord channel that keeps track of the chapter progress and any estimates Yoshi chooses to give. If it’s not there, we don’t know either.
EllieKit
It seems that a new episode in only released if it’s sponsored. If the amount needed wasn’t huge, that’d be fine, but $200 for a single chapter is ridiculous.
Tejing
There are currently 6 further chapters already sponsored, and that number hasn’t hit 0 in years. Also, Yoshi has made it clear he wouldn’t hold back chapters even if it did. The only thing dictating the rate of new chapters coming out is Yoshi’s available time.
Zing
And where is the proof of that?
For over the year there has not been a single none-sponsored chapter. Moreover, the sponsored chapter limit has increased from 100 to 150, to 200.
Tejing
The dollar amount varies with the size of the chapter. There’s a pin in the discord channel that Yoshi keeps up to date with the current donation status. And of course there are no non-sponsored chapters. Yoshi can’t even keep up with the donations as it is. And honestly, if there are enough people out there who value the translation enough to donate more than Yoshi can keep up with, what does it matter to you what the chapter “price” is? (Since he’s not actually tying translation speed to it anyway, it’s more like a limit for how much donation gets credited per chapter than an actual price) You get the chapters at the same rate regardless. Check the FAQ here: https://lightnovelbastion.com/death-mage-translation-and-donations-faq/
CaptainSlender12
I’d say that the proof of this is the fact that if you check the discord, which is regularly updated, the sponsored chapter queue has not reached 0 in over a year.
EllieKit
Well, I guess it makes sense every chapter is marked as sponsored if there’s so many in the cue. What had me concerned is that there didn’t seem to be any consistency to how often the chapters are released. Some months there are 5 or 6 and other months there are only 2. I get chapter length will affect how fast they can be translated, but the chapters of the months we only get 2 don’t seem to be twice as long as the chapters in the months where we get 6, though I could be wrong. It’s not like I keep a word count.
GLWD
Hmm, I’m a bit concerned about how the possibility of a peanut gallery is evening the fight in Fitun’s favor.
At this rate, poor Van might not have enough time to give thanks for the food before he tucks in – and that would just be bad manners!
Jonathan Hurd
Don’t worry Van was raised right. Fitun is the main course so of course he has to eat it neatly before he digs into the desert that is Murakami’s group.
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Hajime Fitun is saying that fightinh is a sacreligious activity while he himself is using despicable moves in order to limit the fighting strength of his opponent and still has the assassins Hidden somewhere. But on the hand he prepared a delicious meal for Van-sama where he’ll get rid of some of his enemies, eating some souls and gaining some of their abilities.
Tejing
I think you’re using the word “sacreligious” pretty much exactly opposite to its meaning…
ObserverBias
Way I’m parsed it, what he was saying boils down to “Oh you fight dirty! I love it! Now come at me for real!”
Lord Rin
“I can smell two souls inside you. One of them smells… delicious, like Hihiryushukaka’s.”
I love this sentence. It’s probably the most Demon King-y thing Van has ever said. Also it sort of indirectly is implying that Hajime is utter shit since compared to Fitun’s soul, Hajime’s isn’t appetizing. Also it implies that Fitun is more like an Evil God than a Heroic God since Van compares the scent of his soul to Hihi-chan’s.
Anyways it does show just how utterly crap Hajime is since he couldn’t even use Marionette well. He just used it in the most basic way of just taking control of people’s bodies by making a connection with them via static electricity so despite how he had access to modern science that’s all he ever did. Yet look at this now where Fitun is in control and has all the same information at his disposal and should still be unfamiliar with it yet he manages to use Marionette in more creative ways like taking control of his own body to remove its limiters and increase his power or using Marionette to read the electrical signals of others’ brains to know what they’re gonna do before they do it like mind reading.
Well he’s still dumb in that he didn’t account for Van doing the exact same thing of controlling his body with his soul to get around Marionette like Isis did before which led to Hajime’s death. Hell Isis is right there so why would he assume that she wouldn’t have taught Van how she got around Marionette? Van is an even greater Death Mage than her so it should be assumed that he’d also be able to control his body via his soul like Isis.
Anyways as for Fitun’s subordinates, even though they’ve been given magic tools to increase the time they can spend using Heroic Spirit Transformation, it’s only increased the time limit to 10 minutes. I’m sure Kanako and the others can last that long if they wanted to turn this into a battle of attrition. I doubt they will since they still gotta watch out for Murakami’s idiots but they at least have the option. It also seems Fitun’s subordinates haven’t been given all the necessary information on their opponents. The subordinate that crushed Isis’ head thinks that that was enough to kill her when if they’d been given complete information then they would know that no way in hell would that be enough to kill Isis or even put her temporarily out of commission. This entire fight really is making it more obvious that they’ve been impatient and rushing to battle and now it’s time to pay for their impatience.
Eddy
About the first, I think it refers more to the taste of a god soul in conditions, unlike the weak god of liberation and the almost forgotten evil gods of the demonic continent, the soul of hihi is that of a god who has been consistently adored for years.
About hajime, fitun can do half of the things because he has better control over electricity but you’re still right, hajime settled for the simpler but powerful part of that power, similar to gurudanis with the soul breaker, they thought his ability was the ultimate but as Van and Fitun demonstrated, they only scratched the surface.
And on the latter, he knew that that ability was not going to work completely, but what surprised him was the extent to which Vandeliu went, turning off his brain is something difficult even for a god like him possessing a body, but even so just stunned for a few moments
Tejing
It really is very Demon King-y. I also found it interesting that he compared to Hihi and not Curatos, and drew the same inference from it.
SoulsTogether
Well, Van-sama wasn’t in his right mind when he killed Curatos. In addition, he was mainly focused on Heinz at that time instead of the God of Records, so its kind of iffy to compare Van-sama’s Curatos-Parfait meal to the current Fitun-steak.
Tejing
Good point I suppose. Still, I think there might be an element of attitude similarity involved.
ObserverBias
Something else to consider there is that his ‘fight’ with Curatos didn’t last particularly long (as Curatos’ goal was mainly to send Heinz’s group’s souls away) and that he seemed to descend directly into the Labyrinth with no filter/host. In comparison, both Hihi and Fitun (and Ravovifard, for that matter) used the filters available to them, and by comparison lasted much longer in combat.
Also, the distinction arose from directing bloodlust in Fitun’s direction giving a different reaction that even Van noticed. Possible the god eater skill comes with its own hunger?
sopaipin
thank you for the chapter :D!!!!
Ltshrek
He call van a demon king and assume van will fight like a human lmao what a dumb god
Eddy
“I can smell two souls inside you. One of them smells… delicious, like Hihiryushukaka’s,” said Vandalieu.
It was as if there was a delicious dish and one that wasn’t so delicious, served on the same plate.
There was no way that an ordinary human’s soul would smell delicious to Vandalieu, and yet, he felt a desire to consume every time he directed his anger and bloodthirst towards Hajime Fitun. That made him absolutely certain.
A shiver ran up Hajime Fitun’s spine as he saw a glimpse of the primitive hunger lurking deep within Vandalieu’s clouded eyes.
Fitun, the god of thunderclouds, felt a thrill at this sensation, something that he hadn’t felt in tens of thousands of years.
First, the meme at that time felt the true terror never had a better use and second, sometimes I forget that Vandeliu is a very sweet young man who would do almost anything for a good meal (if you want to try to kidnap Vandeliu he will better to have good muscles and good food)
Nobody2
Hajime Fitun how did you not see this coming. You literally died in your previous life because one of the eighth guidance members was brain dead and controlling her body with just her soul making her immune to your power.
Hobbes
The only cure for stupidity is soul death…
Eddy
This chapter shows two things that I like about this story, one, although there is little fighting every time there is one, it shows the growth of both Vandeliu and his companions, giving us impressive moments that I hope to live to see in the manga one day and two, like fitun said, it’s good to see a real deathmatch with no honor, no friendliness or decency, we see both of them use all kinds of strange techniques, feints, weak point attacks and dirty tricks.
Although this shows something, Vandeliu still has a way to go, Fitun managed to stick the needles in their eyes, the same thing that almost happened to Banda, let’s hope this is an opportunity so that, like Banda, he learns to be more aware
BurstThrough
Thanks to Yoshi for the chapter.
I’m EMBARRASSED that not even Doom-sama or anyone else noticed that Van was doing the exact death magic of Isis and that hilariously Fitun’s entire plan could be destroyed by the same magic that killed Hajime(well, left him a death’s door).
MintyMints
Rodcort told us about Van earlier when explaining why the three reincarnaters he reincarnated as babys can only temporarily recall previous memories until they’re brains develop enough as opposed to Vandelieu.
no1
I can’t believe I did not notice this chapter 6 hours after it had been released. So we finally see Hajime Fitun and Vandalieu fight each other after watching the subordinates of each side fight each other in the previous chapters. At the end of the chapter we all know what is going to happen to Hajime Fitun, but I can’t wait to read the next chapter, thank you Yoshi.
Kiriaru
Thanks for the chapter, nice to see a 1 v. 1 fight with Vandalieu!
Loki
I love how Van, when learning that his mind is being read, just shuts his brain off like it is no issue. And for him, it is.
ExplodingPenguinDood
I like the sprinkle of real world science, I like it very much.
Respect to Fitun for recognizing how the brain works, but not enough to mess with it.
So can Van separate soul damage he’s dealing? Cause if he can then when Hajimes soul gets destroyed then bye bye Marionette probably.
Thanks for the chapter Yoshi and John ✌️✌️👍👍
Eddy
It is good when magic although it interferes with the laws of physics, you still have to take them in, It is a good middle ground, there are stories that are too detailed trying to explain the scientific explanation behind each magic, although that shows the effort that the author puts into the work and if it gets along it leads to much more complex magical combat, And then there are the simplest ones, those of most of the xianxa, in which spiritual energy is the true law and the higher the plane the heavier, harder and hotter everything is but for some reason all forms of life are equal to lower
Tejing
Remember that Van changed from breaking souls to consuming them. We still haven’t seen what happens if he consumes someone with one of roddy’s cheat-like abilities, but I’m still guessing he’ll absorb the ability.
Jonathan Hurd
I’m excited for the moment Van eats a reincarnator and hope it gives him their skill. I will say though that if Van absorbs the skill and Rodidiot finds out he’s going to use that to fear monger even more. Basically tell all the next reincarnators Van is going to hunt you down so he can eat your soul to steal your skills!
I will say that if Van does get the abilities for eating them the ones I want him to grab the most would probably be… Magemasher since I think he can use Neutral magic even while it’s active. Gungnir because Van mainly uses his body to attack and doesn’t need armor.
The best reincarnotor skill for Van though, imo, is Odins seeing a few seconds into the future. Considering how many thought processes and mana Van has going he could dedicate a few brains to constantly watching the immediate future and preparing to act on it. Van could make that ability truly shine.
Dark Mage
Thank you very much for the chapter
jug
Thanks for the ch
Rogal Dorn
Van need some Astartes as his followers. Every kingdom would burn while Talosheim would remain unconquerable.
VEreality
In this world we call them Legion. Or ghouls. Or vampires. Or Orcs. Or goblins. Or kobolds. Or anubises. Or Vida’s races. Or Talosheim citizens. They also have a lot of other names.
It has also been hinted at a cult among the citizens that worships the one and only, lord and saviour Vandalieu(aka people who want to thank Van so much that their behaviour became somewhat troublesome)
The holy crusade is approaching brother. Vandalieus vult!!!!
Baldingere
Each time a new chapter comes out, I want to bimge read it all over again. One day I will give in, but i shouldn’t do it at the start of the school year!
Thank you very much for the chapter, Yoshi-sama and John U!
Ace o laemons
i swear this fight is like trying to eat beans with a huge ass rapier or broadsword.
InfernoHomura
I like this ANALogy and I don’t know why
UnveilingSage
me TOO
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, THE GREAT HERO AND GLORIOUS DEATH GOD, AS HE DEFEATS ALL FOOLS AND HERETICS WHO DARE OPPOSE HIM! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Brains become fairly unnecessary after a certain point.
BurstThrough
Your message fails to put our lord’s view on importance of muscles.
“Brawn is underrated. While spirit can do the brain’s job for you, nothing replaces muscle.”
Which is why Apostle Legion is the closest to the lord.
Tejing
Your comments almost always make me smile.
Jonathan Hurd
He gets me full on grinning every time, lol.
Akuanu69
Finally!! After all this time, the chapter I was waiting for!! thank you so much for your hard work.
hungsayori
“You bastard… You’re not using your brain?! Just how much of a monstrosity can you be, Demon King?!” he exclaimed.
wow, i cant believe Vandalieu is my team mate in my ranked games!
ExplodingPenguinDood
🤣🤣
InfernoHomura
Is your pfp.a mix of Jotaro and Sayori?
Wsteven7o7
Yeah i can’t have a single day remembering a level 500 player on Apex just jumping over and over the hole game on a wall.
I was so done that my brain had Fatal Error
SilverEagleLive
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
-John Paul Jones and Van probably
VEreality
Yes! Thank you Yoshi-sama!
This is awesome! Man! Those are…. a lot of dirty tricks. I am going to say this: respect for Fitun for not being a moron. He may be an idiot but not a moron. It’s a big difference.
Also, it would have been so much cooler if Van would have coiled his tongue around Fitun’s body and then use the DK jaw and eyes to make an actual snake head. Imagine having that in your face. That’s some Xenomorph crap that would give people nightmares…… I just remembered that DK fragment that would allow Van to lay eggs……welp….
Matchu
I Mean he hasnt grotten the one that allows him to lay eggs ‘yet’
Not a spoiler just a pure guess
Eddy
eggs? at some point Vandeliu will be like the thing, each drop of blood will be an individual Vandeliu and will be able to consume the body of any living being with whom they come in contact
SoulsTogether
Isn’t that already a thing though? I mean, in chapter 201, the chapter said this…
[He had thus invented the Dark King spell ‘Bloodlust,’ which transformed his own blood into carnivorous microbes. The Status Effect Resistance Skill and anti-disease Magic Items were worthless against this spell.
Heinz and his companions were being eaten alive by a countless number of microbe-sized Vandalieus.]
Vandalieu is just a pure monster! …a purely lovable monster, that is.
Eddy
What if a Vandeliu xenomorph were born, I know that would not kill him but what would the resulting creature be like, and how would he react? son please do not eat the brains of the Arda faction, you are going to starve or they may cause you stomach problems, let me serve you a scam of potato secondary brains that is much more nutritious and then I will help you create a nest
BurstThrough
He is quite stupid cause one of the two magic spells that got Hajime killed in Origin (Soul movement and acid water) could destroy cleanly his trump card.
Dan Smith
Fighting Van is like playing chess with a opponent who live in the 5th dimension
ReikoLupus
Fortunately, 5D Chess with Timetravel and Parallel Universes is already a thing, so you can train for the day you have to fight against Vandalieu XD.
Unfortuantely, it looks like this God isn’t interested in playing games, so he lacks practice.
Phantom Knight
In the skill explanation, did Yoshi-sama mean “Unarmed Fighting Technique” Instead of “Unarmed Combat Technique?” I thought the name was the former. However, I may be recalling it wrong
Yoshi
Thanks, fixed
Guroga
I’m surprised Van didn’t instagib Fitun but i guess Van likes seeing what his opponents do.
Tejing
And now we begin the meat of the battle.
That use of marionette never even occurred to me; cool surprise there, not that it did him much good. Overall, Fitun seems tricksy, but nowhere near tricksy enough to win, as expected.
I’m sorta surprised they didn’t realize what was going on with Kimberly, since they know about the elemental ghosts and dead spirit magic.
Also, who was Van talking about sending presents to? Was it Kanako and Melissa after all, and they just misinterpreted the whole “girlfriend” thing?
Lord Rin
When Van was talking about sending presents he was referring to Fitun’s subordinates. It’s a bit of wordplay as the TL note explained. The term Van used when referring to “them” was “kanojo-tachi” but that term has the word “kanojo” in it which can sometimes mean “girlfriend” which is why Doug misinterpreted what Van said as “girlfriends” instead of “them”. Well Kanako would be happy if Van referred to her as his girlfriend…
Tejing
I don’t think that really matches up. Fitun’s subordinates are mostly male, and the prominent ones among them all are, so why refer to the whole group with ‘kanojo-tachi’? If my understanding of japanese is correct, that might not refer to an all-female group, but it should at least refer to a group whose most relevant/prominent/identifying member is female.
Yoshi
My interpretation is this: Vandalieu says “them” meaning Kanako and Melissa. Doug misinterprets this as “girlfriends.” Kanako and Melissa are like “uhh that ain’t us,” especially since they don’t want any Giant corpses as presents
Tejing
Thanks. That’s a little more detail than I’d put together, but generally what I figured.
Superboy8338
When will Murakami’s group show up…?
Jonathan Hurd
I think Murakami will show when one side or the other has definitively lost. Until then they might as well let the two wear each other out. Murakami knows this is basically his one shot so he’ll wait for the most optimal timing.
Superboy8338
Thank you for the update!!! I LOVE how the only reason Fitun is still around is because Van is holding back.
Renrobt
Let’s be fair, the only time Van would not hold back is when there is no one but enemies around. It was quite “lucky” that he was transported to Alda’s dungeon so we could see him going all out.
Eddy
Although we saw him do his best, we did not see him use all his power, he had no access to his staff, to the armor and hidden weapons, or spirits to create golems or his elemental ghosts or cannon family members, he was about 60% of his power and still mop the floor with them
Jonathan Hurd
Part of it as well is Van knows Murakami and crew are around as well. He needs to keep any eye out for them so he can’t really lose himself in the fight with Fitun and use everything.
I do gotta admit I enjoy how one sided the fight is even when Vans basically fighting with two hands behind his back.
Lord Rin
Only two hands behind his back? I’d say more like two hands and a leg behind his back >.>
Jonathan Hurd
Add in a tongue and maybe Fitun could win, lol.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…