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“Curse?!” Hajime Fitun repeated, and after a short silence, he burst into laughter. “With Hajime’s knowledge, did you think that I wouldn’t prepare myself against curses before fighting against someone who uses death-attribute magic?!”
Still, Hajime Fitun twisted his body about to try and free himself from the tongue that was coiled around him and emitting a venomous-looking purple glow.
In the research laboratory in a military nation of Origin, the researchers had used death-attribute Mana extracted from Vandalieu to develop Magic Items. Some of that research had been related to military weapons whose existence couldn’t be revealed to the public.
It wasn’t only research on creating immortal soldiers; there was research on viruses, venoms… and the possible application of curses as weapons as well.
But the researchers had failed in all of these. They had been first-rate researchers, but the investigation bodies of Origin had concluded that this research had failed because the researchers had been unable to fully control Mana that had been taken away from its original owner.
Fitun, who possessed the memories of Hajime who had seen the reports from those investigation bodies, had expected that Vandalieu would likely be able to use curses.
Thus, he had taken as many precautions as possible against curses in preparation for today’s battle. Not only had he created an Orichalcum talisman that he had cast himself, he was also wearing a charm taken from the treasure house of a Church.
Thus, he was confident in his defense against curses. All he needed to do was get out of this current situation in which his arms had been bound.
But the tongue wrapped around Hajime Fitun was difficult to remove. Its glow grew brighter and brighter, producing a white smoke.
Suddenly, the tongue grew hot, burning his body.
Hajime Fitun screamed in pain. “Impossible! My talisman and charm don’t have any effect?!”
He felt a sense of fear as he experienced the sensation of not only his skin, but the flesh beneath being seared by the curse.
In the next instant, the tongue that had been binding Hajime Fitun’s body like a rope turned to dust and crumbled away. But the parts of his skin that the tongue had been wrapped around turned black, causing an oozing pain.
“Y-you bastard –” Hajime Fitun groaned.
He tried to raise his scimitars and swing them at Vandalieu once more, but his eyes opened wide as he gave a groan, clutching the right side of his chest. He felt a pain that felt as if several of his ribs had been broken.
Vandalieu watched Hajime Fitun and gave a satisfied nod at the fact that his curse was taking effect. “The curse I placed on you is an extremely easy-to-understand one. It returns back to you all of the pain that others have felt due to your actions… the ‘Curse of Consequence of Action.’”
The ‘Whip Tongue Calamity’ Job allowed Vandalieu to curse those he attacked with his tongue. However, there wasn’t a large variety of curses that he could apply.
The curses he could use was one that decreased the Attribute Values of his target, one that blocked one of their five senses, and the ‘Curse of Consequence of Action’ that he had just used.
“The pain that others have felt due to my actions? You don’t look particularly wounded to me,” Hajime Fitun said, still clutching his chest as he gave Vandalieu a doubtful look.
Indeed, Vandalieu didn’t look like he had suffered any broken ribs. Even the tongue that he had bitten off himself had already regenerated.
“I’m sure there’s someone out there, somewhere else. Someone who’s suffered broken ribs because of this plan of yours,” Vandalieu said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Hajime Fitun let out a surprised noise and his face stiffened. “… A curse that reflects not only the pain I have caused directly, but the pain that has been caused as a consequence of my actions!” he muttered in a strained tone, finally understanding how problematic the ‘Curse of Consequence of Action’ was.
The ‘Curse of Consequence of Action’ reacted not only to harm caused to others directly by the cursed target, but harm caused indirectly as well.
In this case, if anyone was to be harmed by the heroic spirits participating in Hajime Fitun’s plan or the monster rampage that he had caused, Hajime Fitun would experience that pain himself.
… But because it has such a broad effect, it fades away over time. And even the ‘indirectly caused harm’ is based on what the cursed target himself defines that to be, Vandalieu thought.
The curse had these weaknesses. But Vandalieu could maintain the effects of the curse as long as Hajime Fitun was within his sight.
The definition of ‘indirectly caused harm’ was unlikely to have any problems in Hajime Fitun’s case either. At the very least, he was the one responsible for making heroic spirits possess adventurers’ bodies, coming up with this plan, executing the plan and giving the orders. As long as Fitun himself acknowledged that he had done that, the harm caused by these things would remain under that definition.
Still wearing a stiff expression, Hajime Fitun looked down at the talisman and charm hanging around his neck to try and remove the curse.
But the charm split apart with a cracking noise and the Orichalcum talisman turned black as well.
“… I see, so that’s how it is. The Demon King is a being so powerful that all eleven of the great gods were cornered one-sidedly, and there was no hope of defeating him without summoning champions from another world. This curse is the curse of the second coming of that Demon King; there’s no way that I, someone who became a god only fifty thousand years ago, could stop it,” Hajime Fitun murmured, snapping the string around his neck and throwing the talisman away.
Even as he spoke, several different pains assaulted him, all over his body. He experienced the pain of having his arm crushed, his head struck, his side being wounded deeply, being scorched by flames and frozen by ice.
Unable to suppress the emotions rising up from these sensations, Hajime Fitun looked up. “I underestimated you… To think that you’d put such a convenient curse on me!”
He was now wearing a smile so maniacal that one might have expected to smell the stench of blood on his breath. And despite having learned what the ‘Curse of Consequence of Action’ was, he raised his scimitars once more and threw himself at Vandalieu with no hesitation.
“Convenient curse?” Vandalieu repeated.
Caught off-guard by this totally unexpected reaction, his claws, which he had turned into the Demon King’s claws for a better defense, were severed along with the flesh of his fingers by the Orichalcum blades.
That pain was reflected back to Hajime Fitun as well, but his movements were completely unaffected; his nimble attacks continued.
“Indeed! From this pain, I can tell just how much damage you are taking from my attacks! This pain tells me how well my subordinates are doing in battle, and whether the monsters have been exterminated yet!” Hajime Fitun shouted with a laugh, as if he were enjoying himself. “I can even tell that the damage I just did to your fingers is no great damage to you! And I now realize that little tricks are of no use against you! I will show you my final trump card! ‘God Transformation!’”
A light emanated from Hajime Fitun, one that could be described as divine in appearance under normal circumstances. Considering the ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ Skill used by the heroic spirits, it wasn’t difficult to imagine what kind of Skill Hajime Fitun had just used.
Enveloped with the light and now radiating an overwhelming aura, Hajime Fitun charged towards Vandalieu with even faster movements.
“If you value the city behind you and the damned powerless insects that can live nowhere else, stop this with your own body, Demon King!” Hajime Fitun roared, unleashing a shockwave with a slashing motion towards the city.
“Die in pain, you god who is more evil than actual evil gods,” said Vandalieu.
He crossed his arms and stood in front of the shockwave to stop it, and blood sprayed into the air. As he deliberately increased his sensitivity to pain with the Demon King’s nerves, it was Hajime Fitun who screamed in pain.
But Hajime Fitun’s movements did not stop; with another scream and a maniacal laugh, he engaged in yet another, more intense exchange of blows with the silent Vandalieu.
Having learned of Hajime Fitun’s reckless plan, Murakami and his companions were watching the battle from a forest that had a view of the field. All three of them were holding telescopes.
In this world, the technology of producing lenses wasn’t widespread. However, a limited number of merchants who did business with nobles and nations’ armies were capable of creating them. Murakami and his companions had stolen a number of such products.
Of course, the lenses of Earth and Origin had far superior functionality, but… these lenses were still far better than the naked eye. Considering that Vandalieu’s ‘Abyss’ would detect them if they were careless enough to use magic, there were no better tools than these.
Seeing the phenomenon of Hajime Fitun becoming enveloped in a blinding light, the ‘Chronos’ Junpei Murakami sighed. “At this rate, Hajime’s going to lose.”
Murakami’s exasperation was because he was certain in Hajime Fitun’s defeat… and not because of his former second-in-command Kanako and subordinate Melissa transforming.
“What makes you think that? He’s not like Kanako and Melissa, but isn’t this clearly a ‘This is where the real battle begins’ kind of power up?” said the ‘Odin’ Akira Hazamada.
“Yes, I can hear him screaming something like that. He’s not like Kanako and Melissa, but he might be able to push through,” said the ‘Sylphid’ Misa Anderson.
But Murakami’s certainty did not budge. “He used the same ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ as his subordinates or an even more powerful Skill. No matter how you look at it, it’s a power-up with a time limit.”
“… Now that you mention it, he did shout ‘God Transformation,’” said Misa.
She possessed the ‘Sylphid’ ability which allowed her to turn her body into vapor. She was applying this ability to transform just one small part of her body into vapor and shape it into a large membrane of air like an elephant’s ear. This allowed her to pick up vibrations in the air with great precision, so she could hear sounds from great distances away.
She was using this to listen to what Vandalieu, Hajime Fitun, Vandalieu’s companions and Hajime’s subordinates were saying.
She couldn’t pick up the voices of Juliana, Borkus or Woren and the other heroic spirits that were inside a Dungeon, but she could even hear the conversation of Miles and Kizelbyne, who were fighting on a different battlefield.
“Then ‘God Transformation’ probably has a similar effect to ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation.’ If Fitun wields the power of a physical incarnation of a god in the body he’s controlling, it won’t last long,” said Murakami.
“That’s why I’m saying, won’t he be able to defeat Vandalieu with that power of an incarnated god? Fitun was a legendary mercenary and adventurer in his previous life, wasn’t he?” said Akira.
They had learned of Hajime’s current state from the god of reincarnation Rodcorte, the one who had sent the reincarnated individuals into this world. Thus, Murakami’s group had possessed information regarding Fitun since before they joined forces with Alda and his gods… in order to investigate whether he could be used as a resource with which to fight Vandalieu.
They had learned that Fitun was someone who had worked on the battlefield as a mercenary and as an adventurer during times of peace. His activities as an adventurer weren’t well-known in the modern era because Fitun himself had only thought of them as a job on the side to earn a little extra money, and hadn’t put more effort into them than that. Even so, he had received numerous offers to be promoted to A-class.
If the Adventurers’ Guild had taken his achievements as a mercenary into account as well, there was no doubt that he would have reached S-class.
He had gone through a war against a nation taken over by an evil god’s cultists, another nation that worshipped the gods of Vida’s faction, and a powerful Majin who commanded an army of Demons and called himself the new Demon King. In all of those wars, Fitun had raised the severed head of the enemy’s leader.
Even Murakami could not deny that he held some expectations for a god with such a history.
“Akira, if Fitun can push through and overwhelm Vandalieu right now, it’s true that he has a high chance to win. But to me, it looks like he just likes to gamble with the odds stacked against him,” Murakami said. “It’s true that there are times when you need to succeed in carrying out your dangerous plan. Like the time we experienced in our previous lives.”
In Origin, Murakami and his companions had found themselves unable to continue following the Bravers – especially Amemiya Hiroto’s policies – and accepted the offer of the ‘Avalon’ Rikudou Hijiri, who was secretly conducting research into the death attribute.
They had carried out the extremely dangerous plan of infiltrating the Eighth Guidance by pretending they were going to cooperate with them, using them in a battle to the death with the Bravers, then carrying their corpses to the Federal States to sell.
As a result, Murakami had lost half of his subordinates even excluding ‘Marionette’ and ‘Death Scythe,’ whom he had been using as disposable pawns from the very beginning anyway. And after that, he and the rest of his subordinates had met their fate after being betrayed by Rikudou Hijiri.
Leaving aside the fact that the final outcome couldn’t have been changed given that they were betrayed by the one who hired them, it was true that one needed to take great risks if they wanted to reap a large return.
Like Murakami’s group, there was no future for Fitun if he failed to defeat Vandalieu; even if his chances of victory were slim, he had no choice but to fight with all of the strength that he could muster.
The current state of the battle was exactly that.
“… In other words, we have no choice but to intervene. Shit. It would have been the easiest thing for us if Hajime was just able to kill Vandalieu,” Murakami muttered.
The reincarnated individuals had been promised a reward from Rodcorte if they were successful in killing Vandalieu. They were promised that they would be reborn into a wealthy environment on Earth or in a world with a developed civilization similar to Earth. It was likely that they could even ask to be reborn with a talent in sports or art if they wanted.
That reward would be given to all reincarnated individuals, not just the ones who killed Vandalieu… though this would likely exclude Kanako Tsuchiya and the others who had joined Vandalieu’s side, as well as the ‘Mage Masher’ Asagi Minami’s group who had no intention of cooperating.
This was a measure that Murakami had requested of Rodcorte, in order to prevent the reincarnated individuals from hindering one another.
… Of course, Hajime Fitun was unaware of this as Hajime had already fallen to Fitun at that point, so he had not received the Divine Message from Rodcorte notifying him of this.
However, If Hajime killed Vandalieu while having been possessed by Fitun, Murakami and his companions would receive the reward. This would have been the most convenient outcome, as they would receive the reward without exposing themselves to any danger whatsoever, but… it seemed that they needed to give up on hoping for this.
“But what will we do if Hajime starts attacking us instead? Even if he’s been possessed by a god, he’s someone that we deceived and deliberately killed in our previous lives. I can’t imagine that he’d trust us,” said Misa, once more bringing up a possibility that had prevented the group from offering to join forces with Hajime Fitun before he even began his plan.
But Murakami wasn’t worried. “He doesn’t have the spare strength to do that. Besides, the god who’s controlling Hajime now is a god in position, but his way of thinking is more like an evil god. I don’t think he’s so much of the virtuous type that he would refuse our help if we just jumped in and started backing him up.”
“Then I suppose things will be fine until we kill Vandalieu,” Akira said with a nod.
As for what happened after killing Vandalieu… Rodcorte would recover his soul before Vandalieu turned into an Undead and put the same seal on it as the one on the fragments of the Demon King’s soul. Murakami and his companions didn’t need to think about what came after that.
With the Skill called ‘God Transformation’ activated by Hajime Fitun, his body would simply head towards an inevitable collapse, and there was no guarantee that Murakami and his companions would all survive the aftermath, either.
But even if that happened, their reward would be happiness in their next lives. They would be able to claim their reward as long as their souls weren’t devoured.
“Now then, let’s show off the power we’ve gained in our third lives,” said Murakami.
The three of them took out their Orichalcum equipment and placed the rings on their fingers, which contained familiar spirits, against their chests.
“‘Familiar Spirit Descent,’” they murmured.
Vandalieu was not the only one engaged in a fierce battle; his allies were as well. However, there were some one-sided matchups that seemed like they would be decided quickly.
An Elf boy was fighting off a countless number of Skeletons, a scimitar in each hand, as if he were dancing.
“‘Dark Night Blade Wind!’” he shouted.
The humanoid skeletons, made of both human and monster bones, groaned helplessly as they were cut down.
But there was no composure in the boy’s expression.
“I guess I should have brought higher-class Potions,” he muttered.
His ribs had been broken, and they hadn’t recovered yet. At this rate, his broken rib would pierce his lung and prevent him from displaying his true strength. No, at this rate, his body might collapse from the side effects of ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation.’
With that in mind, the boy decided to wield his technique at full strength, right now.
Seeming to sense something about his presence changing, a countless number of Skeletons flooded in towards him.
The Skeleton of a four-legged beast dashed nimbly around the boy with and cast a venomous Breath towards him.
With a groan, a Skeleton with spirit-form wings fired bone and spirit form projectiles at the boy from the sky.
And one enormous creature that could be more aptly described as a Bone Golem made of an assortment of different bones rather than a Skeleton also charged in towards the boy.
The speed and power of the Skeletons’ movements weren’t those of any ordinary Skeletons. They were so powerful that D-class adventurers would be completely overwhelmed by them, even if the numbers were even on both sides.
But although the boy’s body had once been that of a D-class Elf adventurer, it was now being controlled by a heroic spirit of Fitun, the god of thunderclouds.
“‘Transcend Limits: Magic Sword!’ ‘True Rapid Response!’ Mana, imbue my blades with the light of the stars! ‘Shining Star Blades!’” he shouted.
He improved the performance of his Orichalcum-coated magic swords and his own reaction speed with a Skill and a martial skill, and cast a light-attribute enchantment on his weapons.
“I shall show you my secret technique! ‘Great Chaotic Star Blade Dark Night Dance!’”
The heroic spirit’s name was the ‘Star Blade’ Shestun. When he was a human, he had been Fitun’s adoptive parent and his instructor in becoming a mercenary.
He was capable of using all kinds of combat techniques and spells, but he was most proficient at dual-wielding curved swords. People sang his praises, saying his swords were so fast that his swordsmanship wasn’t visible at all, and those who witnessed him in battle were unable to remember anything other than the light reflected off his blades.
The dual scimitars wielded by Shestun destroyed Skeletons one after another. They split the hard skulls and severed the thick femurs as if they were branches, cutting his foes to pieces.
He cut through not only spirit-form wings but the shapeless poison breath as well, and succeeded in defeating over a thousand Skeletons.
His ferocity in battle could certainly be praised as being unmatched.
But victory was not something that he could grasp.
A deafening groan echoed out across the battlefield.
Shestun had destroyed over a thousand Skeletons… Skeletons that were a part of the ‘Bone Pandemonium’ Knochen, who was made of tens of millions of bones. To him, this was no great loss.
Even if his bones were severed, in the end, they were still bones. They hadn’t turned to dust or vanished. They had simply become smaller and grown in number.
And it took Knochen no effort whatsoever to put those smaller bones together to create more creatures that were still a part of him.
On top of that, some of Knochen’s creatures with black bones had started joining the battle. Shestun’s scimitars dug into these black bones, but they did so with a dull noise.
The scimitars, which only had their surfaces coated in Orichalcum, suffered chips in the blades as they met the black bones… the Demon King’s bones.
“… So, this is as far as I go,” Shestun chuckled. “To think that I would face a foe who emphasizes quantity over quality to this extent.”
In addition to his chipped scimitar blades, he had already overused the ‘Transcend Limits’ Skill that he had activated long ago. The collapse of his body due to ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation’ had already progressed considerably.
His fate may have been different if he was facing any foe other than Knochen, if his weapons were the magic swords that he had wielded in his previous life rather than imitations, or if he had not been separated from the other heroic spirits.
Knochen let out another deafening groan.
Still wearing a bitter smile, Shestun was swallowed up into Knochen’s swarm of bones.
The heroic spirit Shestun’s soul appeared, leaving behind the soul of the Elf boy, the original owner of the body. Knochen immediately tried to catch it, but the soul, which had no physical substance, slipped through the bones.
However, Shestun was unable to begin a counterattack against Knochen. He had occupied a physical vessel in this world, albeit forcibly, so he had suffered considerably less damage than he would have if he had descended upon the world directly. But even so, he had spent enough power that he would not be able to influence things in Lambda any further if he didn’t return to his Divine Realm.
Thus, Shestun floated up towards the sky, intending to return to his Divine Realm and recover.
But since this was the inside of a Dungeon, spatially isolated from the outside world other than the entrance and exit. It would take longer for a god inside it to return to his Divine Realm than it had taken to descend here.
And before Shestun’s soul could leave, a voice rang out.
“As I thought, it seems that you will attempt to return to your Divine Realms once your bodies are destroyed,” it said.
A hole ripped open in space, and spider-like legs emerged from within and grasped Shestun’s soul. In the next moment, the legs vanished back into the hole, taking Shestun’s soul with it.
“Retrieval successful,” Gufadgarn murmured.
“Don’t take your eyes off me!” a human woman said, raising her staff into the air.
Aiming at Gufadgarn, she unleashed a barrage of fast-traveling light-attribute projectiles and earth-attribute projectiles that were shaped in a way that made their trajectories complex and difficult to avoid.
“‘Wind Arrow Barrage!’” she shouted, casting yet another spell, one that sent forth arrows made of wind that were extremely difficult to see.
The projectiles from her spells were not very powerful individually, but these offensive spells were well-known for their accuracy.
And the one casting them was not any ordinary mage – it was a mage who had become a heroic spirit. One would not escape unharmed if they were struck by these.
But Gufadgarn didn’t even glance at her.
“However, there is a limit to how long I can hold it,” she muttered to herself, continuing her consideration of what to do with Shestun’s soul now that she had captured it.
The woman’s spells did not reach Gufadgarn’s body. The space around her distorted, with a countless number of holes opening to swallow each and every single projectile.
But the woman didn’t have time to be surprised by this. The space around her was quivering as well.
She cursed under her breath. “‘Lightning Mana Shield!’”
As her projectiles were swallowed by the distorted space around Gufadgarn, a countless number of holes opened around the woman as well, redirecting the projectiles she had just fired back towards her.
Using the lightning she had conjured upon her palm as a shield, she took a defensive posture that was more skilled than one would expect from a mage, protecting herself from the projectiles. She succeeded in blocking all of them, but there was panic in her eyes, and a frustrated-sounding groan escaped her lips.
“So, this is no use, either… I staggered the projectiles’ timing and changed their trajectories, but you still used ‘Teleportation Gate’ in response to each one, without so much as an incantation… Nobody told me that there would be a space-attribute magic user like this!” she muttered.
The woman had wandered across battlefields with her magic and prowess in physical combat as her weapons, and ascended to become a heroic spirit, but she had never encountered such an irregular user of space-attribute magic like the one before her eyes right now, the one who appeared to be a young Elf girl. Not once, even after becoming a heroic spirit. Such a user of space-attribute magic had not existed for at least the past fifty thousand years.
“Ultimately, I will offer it to Vandalieu, but he seems busy. A little ingenuity will be needed to have him consume it now,” Gufadgarn murmured. “… Ah, you still exist, I see,” she said, finally directing a gaze upon the woman as if she were an unpleasant sight, as if she were nothing but vermin.
It was only natural that the woman had never seen Gufadgarn before. Gufadgarn was an evil god who ruled over labyrinths, and in addition to gaining power from people who worshipped her, she also gained power from the emotions of fear and terror they held towards Dungeons.
The only other god that ruled over Dungeons, the evil god of demon castles, was currently sealed away. Thus, Gufadgarn’s power had reached the point of being equivalent to a great god.
“To think that I, the ‘Tempest Strike Mage’ Matilda, would be treated like some small fry…! I’m sure you have Gufadgarn’s divine protection or something, but don’t look down on me!” the woman – Matilda – shouted.
“So, you know of the existence of the evil god,” Gufadgarn murmured.
Matilda had mistaken Gufadgarn for an Elf mage, so Gufadgarn had assumed that Fitun and his subordinates didn’t know of her existence.
But it seemed that Matilda had not realized that the Elf girl before her was the vessel, the physical incarnation, of Gufadgarn herself.
Gufadgarn was puzzled as to why Matilda had not noticed, but… that just proved how flawless her vessel was as a disguise.
Gufadgarn was an evil god who had served the Demon King Guduranis, arriving from another world that had different laws of physics from this one. Thus, it was difficult for her to conceal her presence when she was inhabiting her vessel.
But she had obeyed Zakkart’s wish (or rather, misspoken words) and created a vessel for herself over tens of thousands of years. Not only the vessel’s appearance, but the presence it radiated unconsciously and even the way it smelled was identical to that of an Elf.
As for her strange manner of speech and movement, to someone who had never seen her before, it might simply appear that she was eccentric because of her fanaticism towards Vandalieu.
Indeed, that was what Matilda had assumed.
“It’s true that I haven’t even put a scratch on you yet. Maybe it can’t be helped that you’re looking down on me,” said Matilda, her voice filled with frustration and anger towards Gufadgarn. “That’s why… I’m going to take my leave now!”
She turned around and attempted to escape.
This was a Dungeon without so much as starlight illuminating it, but the other heroic spirits were engaged in combat here and there nearby, and through the darkness, she could see the lights produced by their battles. Using those as landmarks, it wouldn’t be difficult to regroup with them.
But no matter how much Matilda ran, she could not get further than a certain distance away from Gufadgarn. Space was warping in front of her, hindering her escape.
But that was what Matilda was aiming for – to force Gufadgarn to use her magic.
She fell for it! she thought. Either way, this body is out of time. I’m sorry, Commander, but you’ll have to be satisfied with this Elf’s head!
Matilda’s body was close to collapsing. She cast the spell whose incantation she had been muttering under her breath and rapidly reversed the direction of her body’s momentum.
“‘Wind Air Dash!’ ‘Lightning God Spear Enchantment!’”
She dashed through the air with wind-attribute magic and created a lightning tip at the end of her staff, turning it into a spear. Using ‘Transcend Limits’ and every other Skill she possibly could, she closed the gap between herself and Gufadgarn in an instant.
“‘Tempest God Spear Storm!’ Pay the price for underestimating me!”
Matilda unleashed a deadly martial skill. She had been known as the ‘Tempest Strike Mage’ as a mortal because of her highly-refined mastery over both magic and the art of physical combat.
“I see. You intend to rely on speed and the sheer number of your attacks in order to overcome the speed with which I can process information. It is a frontal approach, but that makes it difficult to defend against it,” Gufadgarn observed, immediately realizing what Matilda intended to do.
She manipulated space just as she had done before, redirecting Matilda’s lightning spear-tip back upon her.
“However, I must make it clear: I have not underestimated you.”
The champion Zakkart had hated such arrogance. Thus, Gufadgarn always did her best to show respect towards her foes in battle in her own way, even if they were clearly weaker than her… at least, towards foes that were worthy of respect.
Matilda screamed in desperation as she performed lightning-fast thrusts, one after another. Even with Gufadgarn’s ‘Teleportation Gates’ redirecting them back to her, she dodged each of them with a hair’s width to spare and continued unleashing her ‘Tempest God Spear Storm.’
Her fast, skilled use of her spear was indeed enough to overcome Gufadgarn’s information processing speed; several of the thrusts did connect with Gufadgarn’s body, as she did not open ‘Teleportation Gates’ in time to stop them.
“It is merely that you are not a being that is worthy of my respect,” Gufadgarn said.
Matilda and the other heroic spirits had robbed others of their bodies and lives, and were now using them as if they were their own. If they managed to kill Vandalieu as planned, they would place the blame for all of the harm they had caused on Vandalieu, or perhaps even on the original owners of the bodies they had possessed.
Gufadgarn did not know all of this.
However, this plan of putting all of the risk upon others while calling it a ‘battle to the death’ was extremely unsightly to her.
She would have thought more of the heroic spirits if they had marched upon the soul-devourer Vandalieu rather than Morksi, a city full of civilians.
“Therefore, I had no intention of fighting you. I was thinking of simply waiting until your body disintegrated,” Gufadgarn continued as she gazed at the astonished Matilda, even as her body was pierced over and over by the spear of lightning.
“Y-you’re not… human… You’re not a living being?” Matilda gasped.
Her spear had pierced several of the human body’s vital spots – the neck, the chest, the stomach – even now, it was burning a searing hole in Gufadgarn’s right eye.
But Gufadgarn continued to speak to her, completely unaffected. “However, I have now realized that this might be considered ‘pitiful’ for the original owner of your body. Having her body possessed by another and being abandoned to die a slow death with nobody putting an end to her misery – I am sure this must be considered ‘inhumane.’ Therefore, although I may already be too late, I shall immediately –”
Space warped in the shape of a sphere around Matilda, and a countless number of small ‘Teleportation Gates’ opened.
Matilda shrieked in terror.
“– drag you out of that body,” Gufadgarn said, finishing her sentence.
Matilda was assaulted by clawed, spider-like legs that emerged from each and every ‘Teleportation Gate.’
Still screaming, she attempted to fend them off with her now tip-less staff and her spells, but her body had already begun to collapse, and she had just spent all of her power on her ‘Tempest God Spear Storm.’
Her entire body was pierced by the spider-like legs, and with it no longer being possible to inhabit the body, Matilda’s soul emerged – only to be immediately trapped and collected by Gufadgarn.
“Now then, I must also recover this corpse and its damaged spirit, but… it seems that the battles are progressing elsewhere as well. I must collect the souls of the heroic spirits and offer them to Vandalieu when the time is convenient,” Gufadgarn murmured to herself.
Even after defeating the ‘Tempest Strike Mage’ Matilda and regenerating her vessel’s wounds, Gufadgarn did not leave. She still had a number of tasks left to complete, such as capturing the souls of the heroic spirits that were trying to escape to their Divine Realms.
- Name: Hajime Fitun
- Race: Human
- Age: 2 years old (17 years old in appearance)
- Title: Reincarnated Individual, God of War, God of Thunderclouds
- Job: God’s Puppet
- Level: 100
- Job history: Warrior, Wind-Attribute Mage, Magic Sword User, Berserker, Dual-wielding Swordsman, Assassin, Dark Fighter, Lightning Blade Warrior, Head-hunting Warrior, God’s Vessel
- Attributes:
- Vitality: 104,705
- Mana: 12,561
- Strength: 10,270
- Agility: 21,072
- Stamina: 18,939
- Intelligence: 1,320
- Passive skills:
- Status Effect Resistance: Level 5
- Death-Attribute Resistance: Level 5
- Wind-Attribute Resistance: Level 5
- All Attribute Value Enlargement: God’s Voice: Small
- Murder Healing: Level 1
- Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with Dual Blades: Large
- Mental Corruption: Level 10
- Rapid Healing: Level 10
- Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 6
- Intuition: Level 5
- Active skills:
- Dual Blade Thunderclap Technique: Level 3
- Lightning God Magic: Level 2
- Mana Control: Level 10
- Archery: Level 6
- Dagger Technique: Level 8
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 9
- Throwing: Level 5
- Transcend Limits: Level 1
- Silent Steps: Level 7
- Lockpicking: Level 5
- Trap: Level 6
- Surgery: Level 1
- Survival: Level 3
- Armor Technique: Level 9
- Transcend Limits: Magic Sword: Level 2
- Coordination: Level 1
- Assassination Technique: Level 7
- Assassin Fighting Technique: Level 5
- Dismantling: Level 3
- Chant Revocation: Level 5
- Light-Attribute Magic: Level 4
- Unique skills:
- Marionette: Level 10
- Rodcorte’s Divine Protection
- Fitun’s Divine Protection
- Target Radar
- God Transformation
- Status Effects:
- Fused
Job explanation: God’s Puppet
A Job that represents the fact that one is the puppet of a god. It provides bonuses to Familiar Spirit Descent and related Skills… This is generally a Job acquired by fanatical humans who sell their souls to evil gods and offer their bodies to them as vessels; it is not a Job that would normally be acquired by ordinary believers of respectable gods.
The reincarnated individual Inui Hajime was originally only about as powerful as the ‘Gungnir’ Kanata and other similar reincarnated individuals, but after following Fitun’s instructions and being strengthened by him, he acquired strength equivalent to that of an A-class adventurer.
He was originally more proficient at covert operations using the power of ‘Marionette’ rather than hand-to-hand combat or firefights, but due to Fitun’s influence, he awakened superior versions of the ‘Swordsmanship’ and ‘Wind-Attribute Magic’ Skills – attaining powers suited for a battle-junkie that leaps onto the front line of battle.
In choosing this path of development for Hajime, Fitun did not put much thought into Hajime’s own qualities; he simply made Hajime into something that resembled his own former body as closely as possible for when he would eventually possess him.
Due to Fitun making this choice and only having two years to implement it, his Status is irregular in various places. His Mana and Intelligence are low because it was Fitun expending Mana and doing the thinking, not Hajime.
In a way, one could think of it as Hajime having acquired the Mana of a god and his help in making decisions, but… in reality, his body and soul have been taken over to an even greater extent than in the case of Gordon Bobby.
There are also imbalances in terms of his Skills, such as the fact that he has not awakened any superior combat-related Skills other than ‘Swordsmanship,’ the fact that he has not learned ‘No-Attribute Magic’ and the fact that his awakened superior Skills are still at a low Level.
His ‘Mental Corruption’ being at Level 10 is due to his body having been taken over.
The ‘Assignable Active Skill’ given to him by Rodcorte has been spent on ‘Chant Revocation,’ a Skill that is normally difficult to acquire.
As a result of Fitun’s strengthening, Hajime was driven to insanity and became useless on his own, but reached a sufficient quality for Fitun to use and wield the power that he possessed when he was a mortal. (Hajime’s low Skill Levels are essentially being compensated for by Fitun’s experience in combat.)
However, in order to acquire ‘Rapid Healing’ and other Skills that are ordinarily difficult for humans to acquire, Hajime has undergone training that scraped away at his very life, so his lifespan was shortened even before he used ‘God Transformation.’
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Hobbes
Funny that the battle junkies maniacally & fiendishly wishing for a fight to the death immediately want to go back home to their divine realms as soon as they shuffle off their stolen mortal coils… Disgusting examples of hypocrisy, lies, & cowardice. So glad that Spider-woman Gufadgarn & our little Soul Eater Van are on the case. ^_^
Winter
Gufadgarn is preparing a soul feast for Van xD
It’s also pretty hilarious that a piece of trash like Fitun became a god and subordinate of the ‘illustrious’ and ‘just’ Nineroad, but the evil gods, who helped them defeat the Demon King are treated as targets of spite and hatred, because of Alda’s faction’s propaganda.
I really hope that at least some people make a connection between the attacks on the city and the numerous “heroes” that from Alda’s faction that have appeared recently.
Well, I guess even if they can cover up their mistakes, at least this will be a major boost for Vida’s fundamentalists.
Lawless
Gufadgarn is a badass
the curious one
Why doesn’t Can have the Reincarnated Individual title?
Vitor
Someone has noticed something weird with Hajime Fitun’s skills? I believe it was at some point, maybe when he was making crazy training shit while Fitun brainwashed Hajime, or maybe when he met the Flame Blades, but he was wielding a spear, and when he met Gordon in order to have him being taken over by Bobby he had an axe, but he doesn’t have spear technique or axe technique
Ronin
I mean do you need those techniques when you’re equivalent to an S-rank? Literally can equip any weapon and just hit these low level adventurers who are only D and C rank.
Zenden1st
so fitun is basically a parasite
prnewt
Hajime’s int stat is almost as low as 10% of his second lowest stat, what an idiot
Hunt3rm4n
“I shall show you my secret technique! ‘Great Chaotic Star Blade Dark Night Dance!’”
“Hahah! You fool! You didn’t realize that I, too posess a special attack!
Tremble before my ‘Great Major Blazing Haunting Jailbreak Phosphorus Promethea Paradise-Incinerating Starry Night Hundred Suns Multiple Penetrating Shieldbreaking Stunning Spear Lunges’! Haaaaaaaaah!!!!”
You see, the longer the name, the stronger the attack. I think…
FunniFear
How many times the author has written this and so about every character. I’m tired of wading through it to get to the plot.
Zvasvida
Vandalieu watched Hajime Fitun and gave a satisfied nod at the fact that his curse was taking effect. “The curse I placed on you is an extremely easy-to-understand one. It returns back to you all of the pain that others have felt due to your actions… the ‘Curse of Consequence of Action.’”
Judgement upon thee.. b****
hungsayori
“But no matter how much Matilda ran, she could not get further than a certain distance away from Gufadgarn. Space was warping in front of her, hindering her escape.”
so, Gufadgarn just created a space attribute treadmill, Bellwood grieves in agony at the fact that yet another earthly invention has been brought onto this world..
SnappingTurt3ls
The entire last few chapters summarized, along with how I think the next few will go:
Hajime: SO ORDINARY ATTACKS DON’T WORK HUH!?! SO HERE IS MY STRONGEST MOVE!!!
Vandalieu: *Basically no damage*
Hajime: HAHAHA IT WAS A TRAP! HERE IS MY REAL STRONGEST MOVE!!!
Vandalieu: *Completely unharmed* *Counter attacks*
Hajime: HAHAHA I HAVE PREPARED FOR THIS ATTACK! NO DAMAGE! WAIT THERE IS DAMAGE! TASTE MY SECRET TRUMP CARD MOVE!
Vandalieu: *Takes some damage but recovers instantly*
Hajime: MONSTER! TASTE MY SUPER SECRET ULTRA HIDDEN TRUMP CARD MOVE IN RAPID SUCCESSION!!!
Vandalieu: *Absolutely fine* Alright I’ve got places to be so can we finish this up? *Cripples Hajime*
Hajime: ACK! YOU WIN THIS ROUND, BUT I’LL BE BACK!!! *Dies*
no1
Just realized that Van never devoured the souls of the reincarnated individuals before. He broke their souls, but he still has not devoured their souls before, if this battle ends the way I think it will then those four will be the first
Savarian
thanks for the updates stay safe and have fun
no1
Please give us the next chapter, the month is close to being over
Irazori
Yes!! All shall suffer the wrath of the future “ECLIPSE CURSECASTER”!!!
Murakami’s group are totally f-ed for most likely misreading the situation that Van is in. Also, fitun has murder healing? Isn’t that an undead skill?
SoulsTogether
It was never stated that Murder Healing was specific to only Undead monsters.
Here is an excerpt from the first time the Murder Healing skill was mentioned, in chapter 154, “they possess the Self-Enhancement: Murder and Murder Healing Skills, which temporarily increase Attribute Values and restore Vitality respectively when they inflict wounds upon others.”
Tejing
It’s not exclusive to undead. Schna’s dwarf party member, Merdin, has it.
Vitor
And Isla had it even before becoming an undead if I remmember correctly
Lord Rin
Oh I didn’t realize a new chapter had come out.
Man they are really making it more apparent that Fitun isn’t sharing information with his subordinates. Fitun knows about Gufadgarn and what she looks like yet he doesn’t bother to tell that information to the others so Gufadgarn’s opponent can’t even recognize who they are fighting. At best they are just assuming that their opponent is somebody who has Gufadgarn’s Divine Protection so they went into the fight thinking they’re facing an elf mage and not the Evil God of Labyrinths.
Speaking of Gufadgarn, she sure has gotten a huge power up since joining Vida’s side. Originally she was basically a weak nobody but now according to this chapter she’s equal to a great god in power. Also now we know that she’s preventing Fitun’s subordinates from escaping back to their Divine Realm so Van can chomp on them later as an after-battle snack.
Once again we see just how much Murakami’s group are trying to wing it. They still just assume that Rodcorte will somehow do something to Van’s soul despite having absolutely zero evidence to prove that he can. Then they really were just hoping that Fitun would deal with Van for them and that they’d get the rewards for it without lifting a finger. Now that they see Fitun isn’t likely to succeed in killing Van, they’re gonna rush in to help without any real plan. Sure they got some orichalcum weapons but so what? All that does is put them on an even field against Van in terms of strength of weapons but that’s it. They also got some rings with some familiar spirits in them but all that seems to do is give them access to Familiar Spirit Descent which again only puts them on a theoretical even field with Van’s allies who also got Familiar Spirit Descent or Demonfall or other higher-level Descent skills.
Marco Hueber
Aww… I caught up with the latest translated chapter T_T
Now I have to do the impossible choice: wait for the next chapter to be translated, or read the raws using google translate
which is worse than watching Boku no PicoAlex-dono
Next chapter van is going to say: “Now tell me Fitun can a god like yourself feel fear?” and then transform into the world’s first super dhampir.
jug
Thx for the ch
Paps
Thanks for the chapter. Poor Hajime, a puppet indeed. Well Van will have a feast of souls when this figth is done.
Kaiser
Van’s exploits are always hilarious
gomezseba37
Wow just stat wise fitun is so much weaker than heinz. van its just playing arround with him.
Devimon
Does all the DK parts control by Van have a soul ability?
Absolute Zer0
I usually hate it when there is no casualties on protagonist’s side. But in Death Mage it feels unreasonable to expect casualty on Van-sama’s side since he prepares for every possible and impossible situation.
Marco Hueber
Imagine a fight between Vandalieu and Seiya from Cautious Hero
SoulsTogether
Van: Attacks with tongue without any telegraphs.
Seiya: “As I expected…”
Also Seiya: Actives tongue-repellent shield and casts “Phoenix Spear” magic.
Also Van: Dodges and uses Dark King magic to light everything on fire…or at least tries.
Seiya Again: “I also expected that and made Ghost countermeasures.”
Van Again: Obliterates the earth with Golem Creation.
Seiya: Dies.
…
Real Seiya: “That was just my clone…”
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t know I think considering both their personalities the fight would look more like…
Van: silently watches from the shadows as Seiya grows stronger and so goes to increase his levels and power.
Seiya: Knowing Van keeps explosively getting stronger goes to do more training.
In the end the fight never happens and they just keep trying to out bulk up each other, lol.
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Gufandran being a considering waifu and thinking of her Van-sama and his meals while he is fighting, what a love story.
After this fight, Van-sama is going to have a banquat of delious souls that he can eat.
Eddy
gudfangar’s logic is zakkart = Vandeliu> all
V4NQU1SH
Thanks for the wonderful chapter~!!!
Raidanzoup
Van gon be feastin thanks to Gufadgarn
Pikaku
I’m just imagining Gufadgarn capturing the souls in little jars
Ltshrek
I like how the enemy think they still can beat van and his apostles (tis a shortcut) when their information is lacking..welp it’s free to dream
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. I wonder if Van will gain any skills from the buffet that Fitun prepared for him. He will gain a ton of power ups from them surely probably in strength, constitution, and speed with some in magic. I find it funny that Van is still not going all out. He has not used the shadow nor much in the way of demon lord parts, so Fitun is still being toyed with. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Tejing
The other big thing he hasn’t used is soul form/soul destruction fighting technique.
Entropy
I doubt Van will use that technique since he probably wants to eat Fitun’s soul. I just find it funny that Fitun is going super saiyan and Van is still pretty relaxed in the fight. I doubt the three other reincarnators will be of much use in the fight.
Tejing
Why would using it prevent him from eating Fitun’s soul?
Entropy
Wasn’t thinking, the soul destruction might be switched for soul devour instead with Van’s fighting technique. Fitun still started a fight pretty much unprepared. If he had attacked with Alda heroes than he might have gotten lucky and killed Van. This fight seems like Van is going less out than when he fought against the 3 vampires or Heinz.
Jonathan Hurd
Looking at Hajime’s stats and the skill explanation I’m getting a flash back to ‘Birknye’ and Hirushakyu’s case. Instead of improving on Hajime’s strengths and blending in Fitun’s own, he just tried to brute force Hajime’s body into his own and thus threw away any benefits his host could bring.
Its hilarious how conceited everyone in Fitun’s group is. They just assumed they are stronger than the years of fighting and learning all of Van’s companions have been through. Instead of trying to improve themselves further they just figured if they had a physical body they can easily win and go on a rampage.
I completely agree with Gufadgarn when she said its stupid to talk about a fight to the death when you’re risking someone else’s life. I am looking forward to the end where the Heroic Spirits are about to be eaten by Van and seeing him say something like ‘It was a fight to the death what did you expect to happen when you lose?’
Metazoxan
I think the point was less to “improve themselves” and more that they were all just bored.
They were all former warriors who spent their entire lives fighting … only to then sit around all day doing nothing as heroic gods in a divine realm.
They wanted to have the thrill of combat again. But even so they aren’t suicidal and won’t intentionally put their lives at risk just to relieve boredom.
Which is why they possessed bodies but only far enough that they could still retreat when the bodies died. Only Fitun was crazy enough to put his actual soul on the line. The rest only wanted the thrill of battle.
Darkhelios
So Murakami&his “friends” were simply waiting for Hajime to do the job and wanted to reap the profits without doing anything…? Even worse than what I expected. I thought they were hiding, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
For me, Vandalieu was/is simply waiting for them in order to get serious. Better to get rid of all assassins at once than letting one of them escape. The survivor(s) could try / might want to hurt Vandalieu’s friends after all.
God’s puppet? A job which is not acquired by ordinary believers of respectable gods? Well… I guess we now know one of Heinz’s future job.
Absolute Zer0
I think Heinz will aquire God’s Puppet Job right after Bellwood wakes up.
Locke25
Gufadgarn here is exactly why you shouldn’t let Nasus stack Q. You think you’re strong, until you get hit once.
Kazza
Ah, the quick-update-after-a-bit-of-a-wait-for-the-previous-chapter. The QUAABOAWFTPC, as I have just named it, patent pending.
Murakami being Murakami, good to see morons being morons. At this point, I’m honestly wondering if Densuke’s going to troll us by having Van be atomized or something by a Fitun suicide attack, only for him to pull something like a “JK, LOL! THAT’S A CLONE!” because everything seems to be working too well, you know what I mean? No one’s really pulled a surprise off that lasted more than scratch damage. And given Murakami’s track record, he doesn’t have anything better in his repertoire.
So, that Curse of Consequences, who else has a little fanon theory in their head that Van devised it deliberately for Heinz and Co? Just as a final “f* you, this is what you’ve actually been doing to people,” before they get devoured.
Unless it’s only applicable for all injuries after casting? It’s a little unclear on that. I’d think a 50,000-year-old war god’s list of caused injuries would be so long he’d literally still be receiving injuries after the time limit ran out. So, I guess Darcia’s burning would be out of that range.
But even if that’s the case, hey, that’s what tinkering is for.
Tejing
Yeah, as I understand it, it’s only for pain that happens while the curse is in effect, which makes it probably a lot less useful against Heinz & co, though it might evolve later :-). On the other hand, Heinz does think the whole dang world revolves around him, so maybe it would work pretty well after all?
VEreality
Brother/Sister(don’t know what you are), I think that by now we all know that EVERY new move is designed to hurt Heinz and Co. I mean, we still don’t know what Van is going to do with the deceased girlfriend of Heinz. We know he has her soul but he doesn’t know which one is it. I can only imagine the damage he can do to Heinz with that one.
That is unless her soul is going to go against Vandalieu and save Heinz……
Jonathan Hurd
Honestly its a bit hard to tell the curses complete limits quite yet. It seems the wounds apply if you feel responsible for the actions. In that case I don’t think Fitun would be feeling too much from his time as a God, since people probably have fought wars in his name, but its not like he told them to do it.
From what the chapter said I think most if not all the pain Fitun is feeling is actually his own subordinates. That is a truly cruel curse especially to use on someone like Heinz. Cast that on him and then start torturing his friends. Heinz not only gets to feel their pain but also know that his friends are enduring that because of him.
Valeth
You may be right about him feeling the pain of his subordinates. However, it could possibly also cause pain of anyone his subordinates hurt as well, or at least that is what I figured when I first red it.
As this would also include all the monsters that are attacking the city IMO.
Dark Mage
Thank you very much for the chapter.
VEreality
Thank you Yoshi-sama!
I *holding back rears* I…..excuse me… it’s just… I waited for so long for curses to become something that Van would use. He is now more of a demon than ever before!!!
I love this curse. It’s Ereshkigal’s power but with a wider range. I wonder if he will be abel to do something like Grey road’s curses from Seven deadly sins.
For those that don’t watch the show or read the manga, those curses can cause whoever kills in his presence to rapidly age until they die, transform people into demon, steal all five senses from someone and even bind those that cause harm to others.
A whole new world has opened up to us guys and gals. Viva Vandalieu!
Eddy
well, the aging thing could be done on a small scale with the magic of death, maybe if it improves the magic of the dark king it can do it on a large scale, it is something common for necromancers to have skills that steal the life of your enemy or weaken him Although that makes me doubt, is Vandeliu still a necromancer? On stealing the 5 senses he can already steal one, it only remains to see if a future job allows him to steal 2 or 3 or even 5 but yes, it is satisfactory that after mastering the ways of poison and bone and the invocation Vandeliu finally he headed down the path of curses
Tejing
Well, it’s not exactly the same as Ereshkigal’s power with a wider range, cause it doesn’t replicate the damage, just the pain. Their vitality doesn’t go down.
VEreality
True. I guess you gain some you lose some. Either way it is still a handy skill. That sudden pain is going is going to mess his enemies pretty bad. The only reason this curse didn’t do much in this fight is because Fitun is a psycho and a battle maniac
Jonathan Hurd
A plus over Ereshkiglal’s power though is that it is not limited to the most recent attack. It hits back for all the attacks. So you can’t offset it like Heinz’s group figured out by doing a big attack immediately followed by a light one.
Add in that all the pain is concentrated on one person and I don’t think it would be too hard to overwhelm someones mind by killing a few hundred or thousand people all at once in extremely painful ways.
no1
The girl that Gufadgarn was fighting, Matilda. Was anyone else suddenly reminded of that old movie with the same name 🙂
Eddy
nope, but I remember the movie, although Matilda from the movie would be more like Vandeliu, a magician without attributes with a divine level mana pool
Supreme king
I was reminded of the song waltzing Matilda if anything
SumRandomGuy
When they got pierced by spider-like legs, I imagined it like in “Death by Daylight” when the survivor got sacrificed
Triopsate
To be fair, if gufadgarn felt like it she could probably make dead by daylight irl version…
The stage is basically just a big dungeon room and she could easily throw a survivor’s soul to van to have him toss it into a golem and make them believe they were part of dbd.
Just imagine if one day we find out the entity is actually just a loli elf eldritch God.
no1
Yay, a new chapter and only 3 days after the previous chapter. So Murakami and his group are intervening by aiding Hajime Fitun to bring down Van quickly, why are all of Van’s enemies so impulsive and reckless at times like these. Even if they all join forces, there is still no certainty that they can beat him. Whatever, having most of his enemies in one place makes things easier for Van. Also It seems like Van’s allies are finishing up their battles with Fitun’s subordinates. Also Hajime’s job “God’s Puppet”, fits him really well. I hope we see more exciting fights in the upcoming chapters soon, thanks Yoshi and editors.
Eddy
First, because they are always on the edge, whenever they are going to attack Van they are in a situation where they have to do it yes or yes, in the case of the murakami group they know that Hajime is basically the only force on the ground that the group de Arda can command now and they don’t know what they will do next, second, they have always been reckless, no matter how the evidence shows otherwise, they think that killing Van is the only viable option and they want to do it as quickly as possible, third, all of Van’s enemies see him as vulnerable and with weaknesses that they can exploit, and it is half because Van wants it to be that way and the other half possibly the influence of death magic that makes measuring his power difficult.
Jonathan Hurd
I will say I can kind of understand Murakami’s logic for why he needs to kill Van. It is similar to Van’s logic for why he needs to kill Heinz. The way Murakami sees it Van is a threat. Even if Van doesn’t intend to hurt them now there is no promise he won’t change his mind again. Its similar to how Van wants to kill Heinz because Heinz poses a threat to Van’s mom and friends. Sure Heinz changed his mind and decided he wouldn’t hurt her, but there is no promise he wouldn’t turn back.
no1
Van is at least careful when confronting his enemies, from what I’ve seen from Van’s previous battles, his enemies have been quite reckless, going all in with no guarantee for victory
Jonathan Hurd
I gotta admit I like Vans caution the best. I think a good part of it is based on the inferiority complex he developed in the first two worlds, but after meeting the ghouls he started building confidence while never letting it go to his head.
I mean after killing Gungnir he could of potentially wrote off the reincarnators but he is still cautious and taking counter measures even when he showed for the meeting with Kanako’s group and Magemashers.
The biggest thing is Van also realizes how important information is in warfare. So he tries to hide his abilities from his enemies as much as possible. Add in his constant advancements and it’s no wonder Aldas group is running on completely outdated info.
Doc
I don’t believe that was Van’s reasoning if I remember back to their conversation in Alda’s labyrinth. First off, Murakami’s sole reason is he wants a nice, happy, peaceful life in a world with modern conveniences. Lambda isn’t a planet that can offer him that, even if he were to side with Van or choose to not interfere. So that’s why he chooses to fight Van. Due to lack of intel his group still consider Van’s strength to be within approachable values and that schemes could bring him down. So from their perspective, there’s no reason not to try if there’s a huge reward involved and they can carefully plan out the fight to be what they think is impossible for Van to win.
For Van to Heinz, it’s solely due to his own desire. Heinz and his team played a crucial part in his mother’s death. The first person in his two previous lives who actually unconditionally loved him. For no reason other than that, he wants Heinz and his group dead. Sure it can be rationalized as him being a threat to his mom and removing that threat, but even Van realizes it’s simply because he can’t stand him continuing to be around.
Jonathan Hurd
I completely agree that Murakami wants off Lambda as soon as possible. After meeting Rodidiot he has zero respect for God’s and anyone can see the signs of war building. Even without Van this war isn’t stopping and Murakami doesn’t want in it.
I do think though if he just wanted a comfortable life in Lamdbda, Vans society and city actually could offer a pretty amazing modern life. They don’t have TV of course but thanks to monster meat the foods better. Golem cars for transport and a fairly high living standard.
I will say I find the idea ‘due to a lack of Intel they consider Van killable’ kind of funny. Usually when you lack information you should assume your opponent is more dangerous not less, lol. It’s not like Van can’t permanently kill you by eating your soul or anything.
Who Cares
Heinz exposed himself as a hypocrite when Van confronted him in the dungeon. A sincere apology would have stopped Van from trying to wiping him and crew out, instead they tried evade blame for their actions and claiming their victims asked for it.
Chiu ChunLing
I don’t know about ‘a sincere apology’ but Van did give them the option of quitting the trial now that they knew Alda’s true objectives.
They flat-out refused.
There is no reasonable way to interpret that other than as a determination to carry out Alda’s general program of genocide and the specific program of wiping out Van and everyone he loves.
Jonathan Hurd
I agree Murakami’s and his groups decision is stupid, but the timing of it does make sense. Murakami wants off of Lambda as soon as possible to avoid whatever crusade Alda seems to be cooking up. With that in mind he needs to kill Van sooner than later.
Murakami doesn’t really know or trust Alda’s group so there is no reason to wait for their people to grow stronger. He has no clue if they will help him or turn on him. As far as the other Braver’s the ones who could probably fight Van would be Hiroto. Who might not even want to kill him due to their history. The other option would be the Avallon who already used Murakami as a pawn and killed him so no reason to trust that guy.
Considering that Hajime controlled by a Battle Crazy God who is already stuck in the fight with Van is the best shot he is going to have for who knows how long.
Imo, as stupid as Alda is I think his method of raising heroes is probably the smartest. Now the fact that he is trying to raise those heroes in basically a gilded cage free from threat isn’t that great, but still better than the alternatives. Everyone else is too eager and looking for short cuts. Van has gotten to his current power base by constant effort and practice. The fact that idiots keep feeding him power ups is not really helping their case, lol.
Renrobt
Yeah Alda’s slow and steady approach is probably a good strategy, only it has a major flaw in it: it involves Van.
He grows too fast, gains skills, jobs, titles, etc. faster than a god can blink. 3 of the major gods are actively on his side, while Alda is the only major god awake and on the side opposing. Also while only a select few know Peria is seemingly on Van’s side as well.
Slow and steady doesn’t work against Van cause if you give him time he makes countermeasures upon countermeasures. You need quick, decisive actions, that don’t give Van time to prepair and break through his constantly ready forces.
Eddy
That “faster than a god can blink” joke is perfect for life.
Jonathan Hurd
I completely agree, that’s why I think Aldas strategy is in the right direction, but bad execution. The biggest problem is how safely Alda is doing things. Take the dungeon he made for the five colored blades for instance. No threat from deaths, you could easily hit the reset button and you fight monsters with preset patterns.
Sure it’s the safest way to level, but it severely hampers creativity and combat experience. It’s like a PvE player going and trying to do PvP against someone who specializes in PvP.
Van and his crew have tempered themselves in true life and death battles over and over again. They put their lives on the line. Sure they pick opponents appropriate for their level, but if they mess up it will kill them. They’ve been doing it that way for years. Developing bonds and teamwork.
Honestly I think the scariest thing about Van might just be his guidance. He is leading so many people who are all constantly striving to improve themselves. He has accidentally made an army of S rank adventurers for himself.
ObserverBias
iirc, Van “started” with dethroning a Noble Orc King, then being assaulted by multiple vampires in the dead of night, then playing Tower Defense against a two-headed invasion force, then went after a plant-based evil god (what ever happened to him, by the by? Last I recall he’s aligned with Van, but he’s legitimately not been mentioned since Firdig first showed up?), THEN an Orichalcum golem AND a god’s Spirit Clone.
None of which was ‘appropriately leveled’ down to him, and after which everything since has (by comparison) been a steamroll. I might have gotten the order wrong, but from this it seems like he was tapping above his weight class long before he had weight.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think Van met a Plant Based Evil God til Zozogante. The early evil God’s he met was the one trapped in the book in the mages guild in Hartner Duchy and then Fiderg.
Who you might be thinking about is one of Wind Spear Rileys slave companions who Can turned into an undead. The shieldbearer went from not speaking at all to not shutting up and being obsessed with tending the Garden.
The reason we haven’t really heard about him for a while is I think the author was more using him to show how drastic people can change when they become undead.
ObserverBias
I was thinking Zozogante, but couldn’t remember what exactly happened with him (or when their encounter was), though Riley’s former team also has had extended leave from screen yes.
Entropy
Maybe a better idea would be to go after Van’s allies including Vida and associates. You are right about the groups trying to kill Van as soon as possible, but how old is he 6 or 7. He is already a beast, imagine how strong he will be at 20 or 30. Another idea would be to wait until a few more bravers are there. So far two or three are just not much of a threat to Van, maybe 10 or 15 could kill Van. The only other way I can think of killing Van would involve at least 5 gods around the power Curatas or greater or to create a controlled, weaker demon king. Another option would be for Alda to offer an olive branch to the evil gods in an attempt to kill Van. All of those ideas could easily backfire though.
Jonathan Hurd
I think Vans hit 10 or 11 years old now after he finished his growth spurt. You are right though Van does keep constantly getting stronger so cutting the problem out now and not giving him even more time does make sense.
What’s funny about targeting Vida and her races is they have been kind of doing that for the last hundred thousand years. They can’t really get an army across the boundary mountain range since its to dangerous and they can’t convince enough followers to genocide Vidas people. Sadly for Alda and crew the only real way to strike Vans allies is basically all out war which he’s not prepared for yet.
What I do find funny though is the fact that Van has no problems joining forces with Vidas forces. They welcomed him with open arms and made him king. Alda, the reincarnotors, and the evil God’s fundamentally cannot trust each other.
For Alda he has preached against outside influences to long to trust them now. Evil God’s know they’re on his hit list and the reincarnators know he doesn’t like them and would rather use them as tools.
Evil Gods can’t trust each other much less get humans to trust them. Alda has spent the last hundred thousand years saying he will destroy them all. They know if they help him knock Van and Vida off they’re next. As for the reincarnated, the whole reason they’re supposed to kill Van is he’s a monster. Why would they join a monster to kill a monster.
On the reincarnators side, for Alda they’re untested and untrustworthy. They bring the outside tech he so fears and have no respect towards him. Evil Gods would probably welcome them if they became worshippers but that would mainly be for exploitation.
In the end I get part of the reason all three groups are doing their own disjointed and uncoordinated attacks is because there is no place to build trust. I think another problem for them is each of these three groups feels like they are the top of the food chain.
Aldas religion basically rules human society, Evil Gods rule the underbelly of that same society, and the Bravers are coming from a world where they were superheroes who could only be taken down by other superheroes. Alda and the Evil Gods have been in their positions for a hundred thousand years. Even the Bravers were basically God’s among men for a good forty years. Vans only been around for ten years. The scales have already started to tip just none of them have understood it yet.
Comparing that to the desperation and fear Van and Vidas races have been through its no wonder Van has never rushed to fight unless he can make it as favorable as possible. It’s no wonder Vidas races are such a United front. In the face of an overwhelming for they had to be and they had to join with any decent ally they could find.
I think Alda and his crew are a few more losses short of truly learning how terrible their position is.
Entropy
Great points. I have been trying to get in the shoes of Van’s enemies and think of ways to kill him. So far the only tricks I can think of would be to seal, or limit his abilities and even then the odds of victory are slim to none. He is a living army of undead, plants, insects, and now beasts that he can raise to higher stats with his divine abilities. A braver or god that can copycat or steal his powers might be a threat as in parasite from superman, even then they would probably lose to the numbers of Van’s allies especially since parasite never was able to beat superman. Right now Alda’s best bet is to hope some elder god shows up to lend him aid, his hero idea works out, or to create another Demon King that he can “hopefully” take out after Van. I foresee several Alda’s gods, evil gods, and bravers joining up with Van in the future mainly because being against him is suicidal at this point.Who knows though, maybe a braver will have a trick or power that neutralizes Van’s tricks.
Supreme king
Oh I’m early for once
Baldingere
Thank you for the chapter!! Murakami’s group doesn’t even stand a chance, they’re blind to his true power!
Loki
Two years and Murakami thinks that he and his goons are able to make a difference against Van. I mean sure, their powers may be a bit annoying but not enough to make a difference.
Darkhelios
For now, it seems that Vandalieu has yet to go all out. And Murakami’s group don’t have a lot of informations concerning Vandalieu battle abilities so I guess it’s normal that they’re underestimating him. They’re probably expecting him to be already fighting with all his powers… not hiding most of his powers.
For me, it might be Vandalieu’s plan: Make them underestimate him by not fighting Fitun with all his strengh. Doing so = Easier to hide from the city… and easier to draw Murakami’s group out. If they saw him toying with Hajime, they would likely hide and target Vandalieu’s friends or wait for an opportunity. Drawing them out = killing all assassins at once.
ObserverBias
Feel like they’re well aware that they wouldn’t make a “difference” so much as they’re attempting to let HF extract from the situation, based on their dialogue on his transformation. He’s their “ace in the hole” that isn’t aware there’s a hole, and if he dies _here_ it’s a waste.
If they were so confident in their own abilities, they might have already offered their backup to him before the fight, but they didn’t.
Apokryphos
Thanks for the chapter~~ Translator.. and author… and sponsors~
Soundwave
I don’t think what Murakami and the others are planning to do is very smart yes they can help Fitun beat Van-Sama but from what it looks like Fitun is losing pretty badly thus far unless Murakami has something up his sleeve? Thanks as always for the support and translations on this series! 🙂
Superboy8338
I just LOVE it when a-holes get their comeuppance…! WAY TO GO, VAN!!
kazamakj
This seems like it will be a total wipe out without any casualties to Van’s Team.
Superboy8338
Yep.
Kuro-san
In other words: It will be the same as always, nice.
Kiriaru
Awesome chapter! I wonder how much Vandalieu will be able to handle?! Gufardgan should be able to capture all the heroic spirit should in the Dungeon at least but will have to be particularly clever in getting them to Vandalieu if they’re going to do it during the battles.
Eddy
you don’t have to, you just have to work hard to keep them under control, there shouldn’t be 15 minutes of battle left
Tejing
I wasn’t expecting curses to be part of the Whip Tongue Calamity job, but I like it. That particular curse is pretty awesome.
Murakami’s group totally don’t seem to have realized Van isn’t even close to going all out yet… just as Van probably planned.
It’s pretty nice seeing how totally outmatched those heroic spirits are. Knochen and Gufadgarn are crazily difficult to beat.
I hope Gufadgarn manages to capture all those heroic spirits. Can’t have Van’s midnight snacks getting away.
Fitun’s status is… pretty underwhelming, really. The only stat where he even comes close to Van is agility, and his skill setup is definitely inferior to Van almost across the board too. Although… how did he get the Surgery skill? That’s kinda a weird one.
flannan
>how did he get the Surgery skill?
After training “rapid healing”, he had to patch up, right?
Tejing
Ah, good point. That’s probably it.
Ovnidemon
Also, Marionnettte training. Fitun expanded the use of marionnette using Origin science on Brain Anatomy. So either because of the knowledge or by experimenting to perfect the use of Marionnette, the skill went up
Jonathan Hurd
That’s a nicer reason than I was thinking. For me considering his hobby in Origin was controlling females bodies and taunting/torturing them. I was thinking Surgery level one might have been gotten from that.
Another idea that comes to mind for me is maybe the skill was gained when Fitun used Marionete on peoples brains. I think that could classify as surgery.
Eddy
I wouldn’t underestimate it, their stats and abilities may be rubbish compared to Van’s, but if Van and Banda have taught us anything, it’s that a good mana pool and previous experiences can make up for the lack of benefit from the system.
On the other hand you are right Knochen and Gufadgarn are terrifying, on the one hand I always felt that as a necromancer Vandeliu’s horde lacked people, but Knochen makes up for it and is even more efficient, he does not need orders, he is able to organize himself perfectly by if only and its numbers are almost inexhaustible unless you sacrifice half the power of a rank s or a complete army of ranks d to b. And gufadgarn is somehow an even stronger and more terrifying version of Genedaror Rex gap, and we’re talking about a mutant capable of sending you to a random place between the planet and even other dimensions as easy as moving your hands.
And how long will the group of murakami endure, 4 or 5 attacks from Vandeliu? too optimistic?
Jonathan Hurd
Yeah, if Van wanted useless cannon fodder he could easily raise any number of dead. A big reason he doesn’t bother is because they would start as Rank ones being almost completely pointless even against normal people.
For the true horde he has an entire army of Demons at his beck and call from Gufadgarns dungeon. Add in who knows how many Demon King Familiars who are completely made up of DK parts and now you have quantity and quality all in one, lol. Finish that up with his army of Ghost servants and you have a pretty horrifying horde. Knochen then brings in the Skele’s to round out the monster army.
I feel like Murakami’s group wouldn’t last a single all out attack from Van, but considering Van is trying to limit landscape changing attacks I think 4 or 5 attacks might be fair. If Van could get away with one good Hollow Cannon then he could probably kill not only Murakami’s group but Fitun in one blow.
Renrobt
Don’t forget, his Mana and Int is underwhelming cause he it is using a God’s Mana and intelligence rather than that of his own body’s. In that sense he likely has those 2 stats increadibly high, even if the mana is only approaching Van’s level. After Van devours him we will finally see how much mana a proper god has, though I think that Murakami’s group will end up withdrawing and saving him as well, to fight at a later date.
And yes, I hope Gufadgarn can get enough snacks for Van.
Phantom Knight
I am surprised that no one mentioned how Vandalieu-sama somehow created a more advanced curse than the [Counter] spell. He hadn’t managed to completely recreate the spell that Ghost uses yet, so I am super surprised that he created [Consequence of Action] without telling us when/if he learned the [Counter] spell…….I guess we can only assume that he learned [Counter] even if no one said anything.
Then again, don’t get me wrong. This spell shows that Van-sama is really improving drastically in unexpected areas. I never thought he would create such a vague yet powerful curse before he managed to acquire God Magic, so I am really really shocked.
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like Vans acquiring Ghost’s presence negation and the curse are kind of different things. Part of it was that Van had been unconsciously reducing his presence for years before meeting Ghost. So his adaptation of that spell was more of Van just consciously using it than starting from scratch.
For the tongue curses Van didn’t really make them they were granted by his job. They are interesting and I can think of some fun uses but I feel like they might be more skills territory than magic based.
Another part is both Van and Eshrikgals curses have their own pros and cons. Vans curse inflicts pain from multiple sources, but I don’t believe it actually delivers the damage. It’s distracting but it can be endured.
Ershikgals curse on the other hand deals direct hp damage based on the last hit. You can work around that like Hienzs group does by following big hits with a small one, but the fact that it does actually transmit the wound is a plus in its favor.
Renrobt
It seems you misunderstood the Effect of the [Consequence of Action]. This ability inflicts all pain that is felt due to the cursed individual’s actions, as long as that individual does/would acknowledge his responsibility of the harm.
But that’s all. It doesn’t reflect or inflict damage only the sensation of pain. This isn’t an upgrade of [Counter] rather a wholly separate ability.
But considering that he has already learned to use Ghost’s Ability, it is not impossible for him to get the other abilities and if he were to combine the 2 somehow and actually create the effect you imagined that would make larger groups and armies useless against Van, as he can use the damage they cause to obliterate the more powerful individuals. Plus this would counteract Van’s low Hp, since he would be using the army’s hp instead of his own for the [Counter].
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Morgan
First!
Thanks for the chapter. Didn’t expect one so soon but it’s a welcome surprise.
Fitun is probably a masochistic as well as a battlw maniac. Not even battle maniacs deliberately stack the odds against themselves.
EDIT: Darn. 2nd by only seconds. If only I was logged in when I read the chapter.
Jonathan Hurd
I was thinking Fitun really is an M too after he said he liked the curse, lol. Part of me is like ‘Van back away slowly’.
ObserverBias
No, that’s… that’s why they’re called battle maniacs (in exclusivity, they’re both the S and the M at the same time). The slight step aside from that would be blood knights, and even they usually go “If I don’t die I’ll probably live” instead of “YOLO so hit me harder.”
Doom-sama
ALL HAIL VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD, AS HE FIGHTS AGAINST THE HERETIC GODS WHO ARE MORE CORRUPTED THEN THE EVIL EVIL GODS! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
I activate my trap card, and send Murakami to the Shadow Realm!
2077
Bumped your account. Thanks for supporting the series and yoshi’s translations.
Seinvolf
Btw, how to sort the comment section by the newest post?
The current one is by the most liked post…