Happy holidays, everyone~ And big thanks to this chapter’s sponsor: Carlos O.R. ($150)
There was an uproar in the Divine Realm of the gods of Alda’s forces.
“There they are!” a god shouted.
“After them! Don’t let them descend to the world’s surface!” shouted another.
Forzajibal, the Evil God of Pillaging, and Zerzoregin, the Evil God of Cannibalism, were supposed to have been sealed away by Borgadon, the God of Mountains. But in truth, Zerzoregin had devoured and absorbed both of the other two gods, and only pretended to be sealed away.
The gods of Alda’s forces had just learned of these facts.
While astonished, they had moved quickly to capture the spies lurking among them.
The spies were the familiar spirits of Borgadon, the God of Mountains. Or rather, the familiar spirits of Zerzoregin that had disguised themselves as such. His familiar spirits did not have the ability to freely change their appearance or absorb other familiar spirits like Mimic Humans, but they were excellent spies.
After all, they had fooled the eyes of the gods for over a hundred thousand years. Some of them had even met with the other earth-attribute gods and directly exchanged words with them on numerous occasions, but the fact that they were actually servants of an evil god had never been discovered.
With vexed expressions, the heroic spirits who served the gods of Alda’s forces stared at the familiar spirits of Zerzoregin that they had captured.
“Is this all of them?”
“It is all of the familiar spirits that are within our reach, at the very least. However, it seems that the ones left were all familiar spirits made of Mana that are not self-aware.”
“Which means that he foresaw that his secret would be discovered, and withdrew them in advance… Even if these were impaled by the Stakes of Law, the god himself would not be affected. What a cunning enemy.”
Considering the number of familiar spirits that the gods had managed to capture, one might think that they had been quite successful, but all they had done was equivalent to picking up and gathering a bundle of lizards’ tails that their real prey had left behind.
“How did nobody realize what they truly were for over a hundred thousand years – a long time even for gods?! Even if the enemy used the Mana and divinity taken from Borgadon when he was absorbed, isn’t it strange that nobody noticed?!”
The gods of lambda were far from omniscient, omnipotent beings. However, there was no mistake that they were beings that transcended humans.
Given that, should they not have been able to notice Zerzoregin’s existence earlier?
“If his existence had been known earlier, Fitun-dono, the God of Thunderclouds, wouldn’t have abandoned hope…!” said a heroic spirit who served a god of the wind attribute, lamenting this twist of fate.
Fitun had left the true battle and strayed from his path as a god; if he had noticed Zerzoregin’s existence, he would have gladly stepped into battle against this evil god, and perhaps he would have found satisfaction in that. Perhaps he would not have met a fate so unbefitting of a god.
But another heroic spirit, one who held a spear, shook his head. “There is no use in saying such things. It is true that the gods should have been able to notice any wicked schemes. But none of Zerzoregin’s familiar spirits, including the ones who escaped, had any wicked schemes in their heads.”
“What are you saying?! Are you saying that the evil gods are not evil?!”
“No. I am simply saying that for the past hundred thousand years, the familiar spirits we captured and the familiar spirits that escaped did nothing other than what ordinary familiar spirits should do. Thus, the gods never saw them as suspicious.”
“W-what? That isn’t…”
The wind-attribute heroic spirit thought back and realized that he had never noticed any suspicious words or actions from the familiar spirits of Zerzoregin. In fact, they had appeared to carry out their duties as familiar spirits with incredible diligence.
There hadn’t been a single incident where they carried out particular investigations in an unnatural way, concealed information they had learned, or caused chaos by passing on false information to the familiar spirits of other gods.
They had been respectful towards other gods, carried out the work necessary to maintain the world’s existence in place of their supposed master Borgadon who had been believed to be in a slumber, and reported all information regarding Vandalieu.
“You’re right… There wasn’t a single strange thing about them,” the wind-attribute heroic spirit admitted.
“They have been acting strange for the past few days, but I’m sure that’s because Zerzoregin informed them that he would be making his move,” said the heroic spirit with the spear.
“If that’s the case, what were these guys trying to do?” wondered a heroic spirit carrying an axe on his back, putting a hand on his chin.
“Keeping an eye on the actions of the gods who serve Alda, the God of Law and Fate, I assume,” said another familiar spirit. “They were making sure that Zerzoregin wasn’t under suspicion, and checking for any weaknesses that could be exploited… Other familiar spirits also report what information they have to their masters, so this wasn’t considered suspicious, either.”
“Is that all? If they wanted, they could have created a large-scale disaster. Not a single one of us were aware of their true identities, after all,” the heroic spirit with the axe said.
“Indeed, Zerzoregin was cautious to the point of cowardice, which is very unusual for one of the evil gods that were under the command of the Demon King Guduranis, even if you take into account the things that he had his Mimic Human servants do,” said the heroic spirit with the spear. “But that cowardly caution is the reason why none of us noticed his existence, is it not?”
The other heroic spirits nodded in agreement. If not for this recent series of events… If Zerzoregin had not gone after Vandalieu’s ‘Demon King’ Skill, the gods would have remained unaware of Zerzoregin’s existence. And perhaps in several hundred or several thousand years’ time, he may have created the previously-mentioned ‘large-scale disaster.’
“Considering that, it seems that we are in Vandalieu’s debt. I have mixed feelings about being saved by the Demon King who destroyed many heroic spirits, including Luke and Joshua.”
“Hmph. We call him ‘Demon King’ but he is still a mortal. Even if he was reincarnated here from another world, he is not an invader. If terrible things were to happen to this world, he himself would be in trouble. That’s all it is. There is no need to feel gratitude for him.”
“But what are we going to do now? Are we to simply stay here and watch? The situation would become out of control if Zerzoregin were to emerge victorious and absorb Vandalieu.”
“The situation would also become out of control with the opposite outcome. If Vandalieu devours Zerzoregin, his power will only continue to increase.”
As this exchange took place among the heroic spirits, the heroic spirit with the spear let out a sigh. “You say ‘stay here and watch,’ but I believe you meant to say that we have no choice but to stay here and watch. Even if we wanted to descend upon the world’s surface, the potential heroes who have received our gods’ divine protections have all left the capital of Alcrem; not a single one is left. Not even in the area around the ‘Sacred Wastelands.’”
The gods were not done nurturing their potential heroes, so they had sent them away from Alcrem, away from Vandalieu, in order to prevent them from being harmed.
There were some who hadn’t interpreted the gods’ instructions correctly and were only three days away from Alcrem in the city of Morksi, but even if they headed to Alcrem right now, it would likely be too late.
“That is true, but… if the alternative is to entrust the matter to the Demon King, then we should just…!” one of the heroic spirits muttered.
“Descending on your own would be futile, so don’t do that. Even if you did, it’s possible that the Demon King himself would simply strike you down before you even finished your descent,” said the heroic spirit with the spear.
But it wasn’t that he felt nothing towards the current situation.
“More importantly, we need to first return to the gods in order to have them seal away these spies that we have captured,” he continued. “After that, our next task will likely be checking whether the seals on the other evil gods are working as they should be. If there is a second or third Zerzoregin out there, this world will be in peril.”
In the end, the reality was that the heroic spirits were entrusting the matter to Vandalieu, the one whom they called ‘Demon King,’ the one who had devoured the souls of heroic spirits and gods.
They could only hope that Vandalieu and Zerzoregin would destroy each other, but they knew that such an outcome was impossible.
The ambition of Zerzoregin, the self-proclaimed third Demon King, was to replace the Demon King Guduranis. But in truth, even that was just the first step in a series of goals.
He wished to become the Demon King, then use his power to devour and assimilate Alda, the God of Law and Fate who called himself the greatest of the gods.
If he accomplished this, Zerzoregin would be the Demon King and the God of Law and Fate at the same time; he would become an unparalleled being who controlled both this world’s light and darkness, and rule over humanity.
He would then manage the world and its people. He would not destroy them meaninglessly; Zerzoregin would be troubled if the world were to be destroyed. He intended to continue maintaining this world just as it had been maintained thus far, and he intended to protect humanity so that they would not fall to ruin.
As the Demon King, Zerzoregin would create monsters, cause disasters, spread disease, and make fools fight wars against each other. He would cause calamities to curb their numbers and strength.
And as the God of Law and Fate, Zerzoregin would answer the people’s prayers, grant divine protections to great individuals among his worshippers to have them defeat monsters, grant the people the strength to rise up and recover from disasters and disease, and heal those who were injured in war.
Humanity would fear the Demon King Zerzoregin, and pray to the God of Law and Fate Zerzoregin to be saved.
Once Zerzoregin became the object of both humanity’s worship and fear, this world would become a farm of humans that provided him with sustenance.
This was the plan for which he had spent over a hundred thousand years waiting, staying quiet in a way that no evil god normally would. This world would become his farm one day, and this was an experiment… a rehearsal for that. For this purpose, he did not mind thinking about how to make his mortal livestock prosper or using his Mimic Human servants.
In truth, the people had feared the Evil God of Pillaging Forzajibal and prayed to the God of Mountains Borgadon, unaware that both were actually Zerzoregin.
Having realized how well this system worked, Zerzoregin had formed a definitive plan to rule over both this world’s light and darkness.
During the time he had spent concealed, he had made the people believe that the ‘Sacred Wastelands,’ his main base, was a holy place. He had attempted to have them place sealed fragments of the Demon King and seals of evil gods there, and he had succeeded to some extent.
After that, all that had been left to do was mend his wounds and gather his strength. In several hundred years’ time, once a conflict broke out between Alda and Vida once more, he would inhabit a vessel, travel to every region to steal the sealed Demon King fragments, and use their power to defeat the gods of Alda’s forces and assimilate them to increase his power even further.
If a large conflict between the gods of Vida and Alda’s forces had begun, Zerzoregin would likely have begun making his move to realize his ambitions.
But Vandalieu’s reincarnation had made all of his plans go awry. He was a reincarnated individual from another world who had gained power at an astounding rate, with the ability to break souls and even destroy gods, just like Guduranis.
It was convenient that he had defeated gods that served Alda and weakened his forces, but the fact that he was gathering and absorbing Demon King fragments one after another was inconvenient.
There was no question he would one day come here, to the ‘Sacred Wastelands.’ The fact that Zerzoregin was in fact not sealed away and the existence of the Mimic Humans would be revealed, and the efforts Zerzoregin had made over the past hundred thousand years would be all for nothing.
First, he needed to escape so that Vandalieu wouldn’t devour him, but even if he were to escape and survive, he would lose his Mimic Human servants and the worship of the people.
On top of that, he would need to continue running to avoid being impaled by Alda’s Stakes of Law.
If that was the case, Zerzoregin had decided that it would be better to defeat Vandalieu, devour him, obtain the Demon King fragments and Vandalieu’s power, then go on to devour Alda, the God of Law and Fate. Thus, he had embarked on what seemed like a reckless plan.
In order to improve his chance of victory, Zerzoregin had decided to execute his plan on the day when Vandalieu would meet Duke Alcrem for discussions.
The gods of Alda’s forces had instructed their potential heroes to leave Alcrem, and with the Mimic Humans committing crimes imitating the Face-tearing Demon, the people’s faith in Alda’s laws had dwindled. And whether the people praised the Face-tearing Demon as a just killer or feared him as a criminal who caused unrest in society, both would provide strength to Zerzoregin.
And finally, he had acquired the ‘Demon King’ Skill, the Skill that made Vandalieu the Demon King.
“Tremble before the power of the new Demon King!”
Zerzoregin’s laughter echoed from his vessel, and at the same time, the body of his vessel began swelling. Its spindly limbs and thin torso and neck became thick and sturdy.
Seeing this, Vandalieu realized what Zerzoregin had done. “Fragments of the Demon King?”
“Correct,” Zerzoregin replied. “I have absorbed and assimilated the fragments that humans have brought to me over the past hundred thousand years!”
At first, Zerzoregin’s plan had been to absorb and assimilate fragments of the Demon King.
Unlike other users of the fragments, Zerzoregin made them a part of himself by assimilating them, and thus the fragments would never rampage out of control… although the flaw with this had been that it took over a thousand years to assimilate a single fragment.
“However, thanks to your ‘Demon King’ Skill, I can use the fragments that I was not able to assimilate in time!” Zerzoregin said with a triumphant laugh. “With these, and the Skills that my servants have accumulated over a hundred thousand years, defeating you is not impossible!”
Zerzoregin had absorbed the remaining Mimic Humans in the ‘Sacred Wastelands’ into his Vessel, and all of their Skills now resided in him.
He had given exceptional Skills to Goldie and the partner that was assisting him, so most of these Skills were Level 5. But stacking multiple instances of the same Skills forcibly increased their Levels.
“Come, former Demon King! Surrender your throne to me!” said Zerzoregin, the power of his presence far exceeding the appearance of his physical body.
With deft movements that left no openings to take advantage of, he began closing the gap between himself and Vandalieu, and raised a fist to strike.
But before he could –
“‘Death Cannon,’” said Vandalieu, forcefully casting the spell with the sheer volume of Mana he was putting into it.
However, perhaps because the Level of his Skill wasn’t high enough, the black beam of light failed to condense and turned into a countless number of ‘Death Bullets’ that scattered in all directions.
Zerzoregin let out a surprised shout, stopping his advance and focusing on dodging the scattered projectiles, but several of them struck his body – and Gufadgarn began a follow-up attack.
“You think that someone of your mediocre stature can take the throne of supremacy? Your arrogance is limitless. Learn your place,” she said, materializing her vessel that had the appearance of a beautiful Elf girl.
Her body split open along a vertical line in the middle, and spider-like arthropod legs emerged from the sub-dimension within.
The legs were so long and thick that it was impossible to believe they were coming out of the body of a small girl, and each of them had a sharp claw at the tip. They swung left and right, swiping at Zerzoregin.
“Throne of supremacy?! You worshipped Zakkart, not the Demon King!” Zerzoregin shouted.
He used the ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ martial skill, ‘Flowing Willow,’ to parry Gufadgarn’s arthropod legs, then grasped them and crushed them in his hands. The exoskeleton crumbled, sending a blue liquid spraying into the air.
Perhaps Gufadgarn didn’t feel pain, or perhaps her arthropod legs being broken was not a significant amount of damage to her; she remained calm as ever.
“I still do. The throne of the great Vandalieu Zakkart is the throne of supremacy,” she said, no signs of discomposure in her voice.
“… I don’t really mind handing over the throne of the Demon King though, personally,” said Vandalieu. “By the way, will your Skills not be stolen if your legs are eaten?”
“I considered that risk,” Gufadgarn said. “I am the vessel of Gufadgarn; even if my Skills are stolen, I can re-inhabit my vessel later and I will return to my usual state.”
To Gufadgarn’s vessels, a few of her arthropod legs were equivalent to a single pinky finger for a human. Even if a Mimic Human were to consume them, it was unlikely that Gufadgarn’s Skills would be stolen.
But the enemy was not a Mimic Human; it was the vessel of Zerzoregin, the creator of Mimic Humans. It wouldn’t be strange to think that he could possess a Skill-stealing ability that was more powerful than that of his creations.
Wanting to check whether this was the case, Gufadgarn had engaged in close-quarters combat rather than the space-attribute magic that she was so proficient with.
“However, it does not seem that there is a danger of that happening. Even if our enemy is the vessel of an evil god, I believe we can assume that its Skill-stealing ability is the same as that of Mimic Humans,” Gufadgarn said, basing this conclusion on the fact that her broken legs had not been consumed.
“What nonsense. I am simply uninterested in your Skills!” said Zerzoregin, continuing to break more of Gufadgarn’s legs as she produced them.
However, these words were nothing more than a bluff; Gufadgarn’s conclusion was correct.
The ability to steal Skills was something that had been created by coincidence when Zerzoregin absorbed Forzajibal, and his ‘Cannibalism’ was combined with Forzajibal’s ‘Pillaging.’
The Status System had been created by Ricklent, the Genie of Time and Magic, the Demon King Guduranis had interfered with it, and it was currently being managed by the Gods of Statuses. The Skill-stealing ability of Zerzoregin and his Mimic Humans was an invalid application of Skills within that system.
Thus, Zerzoregin himself possessed no greater ability to steal Skills than the Mimic Humans he had created. It was possible that this would change if he were to devour the Gods of Statuses, but… currently, his current ability was the limit.
“There is no chance that you would have no interest in my space-attribute magic,” said Gufadgarn, proudly calling Zerzoregin’s feeble bluff.
“In that case, there’s no need for us to continue watching cautiously!” shouted a woman, leaping forward. “For your sin of uttering the blasphemy of replacing Vandalieu-sama, atone by filling Vandalieu-sama’s stomach!”
It was the Vampire Zombie Isla, the ‘Eclipse Emperor’s Hound.’ She was wearing a choker around her neck and armor that resembled a prisoner’s restraints and chains. The criminal organization in Morksi was almost entirely under her control, so she had taken a day off and spent it hiding in Vandalieu’s shadow.
She was joined by Rapiéçage, who had been made by combining the corpses of multiple humans and monsters, and Yamata, the Hydra whose heads had been replaced by the upper bodies of beautiful women of different races. Realizing that their appearance would be too shocking for Duke Alcrem and the others, they had not emerged from Vandalieu’s shadow at the villa with Pauvina, but they were here now.
Rapiéçage let out a growl. “Kill! Pauvina’s share, too!”
“You have brought Undead with you…!” Zerzoregin shouted, the revulsion audible in his voice.
Vandalieu and his companions were not aware of this, but Zerzoregin was unable to steal Skills from Undead. Undead were not alive to begin with; some of them had once been human, but they were not human anymore.
That was why Zerzoregin had made Goldie steal Vandalieu’s Skills in the capital, where he expected Vandalieu to not bring his Undead, but…
“It’s fine as long as nobody finds out,” said Vandalieu.
His attitude towards laws was that he wouldn’t break them for no reason, but if there was a good reason to, then it was inevitable that he would. Thus, Zerzoregin was now in the predicament of having to fight against powerful Undead.
However, Zerzoregin was an evil god who had absorbed two other gods. He moved to deal with them, avoiding taking heavy damage from the transformed Isla’s ‘Corpse Massacre Swordsmanship,’ Rapiéçage’s superhuman strength, and Yamata’s multiple sound cannons.
But even then, he was too late.
“No signs of life inside the temple. There is no risk of collateral damage, so… ‘Great Corpse Flame Prison Destruction Barrage.’ You three, I’ll put you away again,” said Vandalieu.
A number of enormous skulls made of black flames appeared around Vandalieu. In the next instant, they changed shape, defying the laws of physics of light, extending and enveloping Isla, Rapiéçage, and Yamata in their shadows.
“How in the world are you able to use such a powerful spell with a Skill you only just regained – ?!” Zerzoregin uttered in shock.
“This is ‘God Spirit Magic,’” said Vandalieu. “Well then, I’m counting on you,” he said to Princess Levia.
“Yes! Here we go, everyone!” said Princess Levia.
She and the other Ghosts, who had transformed into black skulls, charged at Zerzoregin. This spell had once destroyed a slave mine in the Hartner Duchy; now, it engulfed Zerzoregin and the temple behind him, and a thundering noise echoed across the wastelands.
For a moment, it looked like the fight was over, but… black blades cut through the dust cloud, flying towards Vandalieu.
The battle left behind by Vandalieu at the villa was quickly reaching its conclusion.
“I’ll be damned if I let everyone else have the glory! I shall turn you to ashes with my ‘Roaring Flame Swordsmanship!’” declared the ‘Knight of Roaring Flames’ Bravatiyu, swinging his weapon at a Mimic Human with the appearance of a previous ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains,’ from a generation even further back than Goldie’s grandfather.
“You’re right! At this rate, there won’t be any good parts left for us!” agreed the ‘Knight of Distant Thunder’ Serjio as he crossed swords with the Mimic Human who had the appearance of his great aunt.
As the duke was being protected inside Sam’s carriage, Bravatiyu and Serjio had left Ralmeya to protect the duke and stepped onto the frontline.
“It seems that we have been underestimated. Your current strength is no more than the average standard of the Five Knights of Alcrem,” said the Mimic Human engaged with Bravatiyu.
“Though the difference is slight, our ability is superior to yours. Do you understand what this means?” said the Mimic Human fighting Serjio.
The Mimic Humans unleashed their own attacks on Bravatiyu and Serjio. Indeed, their movements were refined and efficient; even though they were the enemy, Bravatiyu and Serjio had to admire their technique.
However, Bravatiyu defended himself against the slashing strike from Goldie’s predecessor, grunting as he stopped the blow with his sword, and Serjio avoided Jistina’s skilled spear attacks with his shield.
“Your technique is indeed impressive, and you possess strength. But as you were one of the Five Knights of Alcrem, you are not much different from us!” said Bravatiyu.
Indeed, the Mimic Humans who had served as ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’ over the generations had made sure not to become overly powerful. If their achievements were too great, they would have attracted attention from the gods, increasing the risk that their identity as Mimic Humans would be discovered.
“You probably have the same Skills and Attribute Values that my real great aunt did, but… what you’re using is the spear technique that has been passed down in my family! It’s easier for me to predict than other fighting styles!” said Serjio.
Mimic Humans were able to steal the Skills of others, but this also made them unskilled at creating their own fighting techniques and spells. Thus, after stealing Skills, they simply kept using them exactly as they were without adding anything new of their own.
“I suppose this is all of the fakes of everyone,” said Gizania, exhaling as she stepped over a pile of Mimic Human corpses.
“Most of them were all show,” said Myuze. “Simon-dono and Natania-dono were able to defeat their own fakes with ease by transforming, too.”
The Mimic Humans had been aware of the transformation equipment that Darcia and the others had shown off in the city of Morksi. But naturally, being aware of the equipment didn’t mean they were able to reproduce their functions… though they had reproduced their appearances, at least, so some of them had been able to ‘transform’ in appearance.
“Zadiris… I’m sorry your transformed appearance was revealed when you’re not even here, because I was too slow to defeat your fake copy,” Privel said in apology to the real Zadiris.
The fake Zadiris had been frozen solid by Privel’s spells and Breath attacks, and one final strike caused her to crumble to pieces.
Everyone’s work had paid off; the only ones left were the handful of Mimic Humans with the appearances of people from the past, including the ones fighting Bravatiyu and Serjio. Goldie’s partner had already been defeated as well.
“We have already accomplished our goal! Us Mimic Humans are nothing more than pawns of our creator, Zerzoregin-sama. We shall give our lives to slow you fools down!” declared Goldie, who was locked in combat with Darcia, not creating any more new Mimic Humans.
There was no fear of death in his eyes.
“I admire your resolve,” said Darcia. “I don’t think there is any point in slowing us down, though?”
“There is certainly a point in keeping fighters as powerful as you occupied here,” Goldie retorted.
“Well, that might normally be the case. But my son has a lot of allies!”
With a grinding noise, Darcia’s kitchen knife that she used in combat dug into Goldie’s sword. The sword was the treasured sword that he had recovered from his defeated partner, but…
At this rate, Goldie’s treasured sword would break. Realizing this, he activated the ‘Chant Revocation’ Skill and cast several spells.
“Damn it! Enemies with advanced Skills are so troublesome. ‘Conjure White Flame Beast!’ ‘Conjure Ice Dragon!’ ‘Steel Blade Storm!’” he shouted, conjuring a wolf made of scorching hot flames, a Dragon made of ice, and a countless number of blades.
Mimic Humans were unable to split a single Skill into multiple instances of the same Skill, but they were able to combine multiple instances into one. Goldie had increased the Levels of his Skills to some extent with this ability.
However, the only superior Skills he possessed were the ones he had awakened himself – ‘Crumbling Mountain Shield Technique’ and ‘Mountain Wall Guard Technique,’ which had been awakened from ‘Shield Technique’ and ‘Armor Technique.’
Awakening a superior Skill required not only proficiency, but experience as well. This could not be achieved by combining dozens or even hundreds of Level 1 or 2 instances of a Skill.
On top of that, there were cases where instances of the same Skill were completely different in nature.
For example, there was ‘Swordsmanship’ for thrusting attacks using a thin-bladed sword like a rapier, and ‘Swordsmanship’ for swinging large swords like bastard swords. Both were ‘Swordsmanship’ under the system, but they were completely different.
Mimic Humans were unable to combine Skills that were different in this way, even if they were named the same Skill.
However, they were able to combine magic-related Skills as long as they were of the same attribute. Goldie attempted to attack Darcia and the others with this, but –
“‘Conjure Ice Arm Swarm!’” said Privel, conjuring a countless number of arms made of ice that crushed Goldie’s flame wolf.
With a fierce grunt, Pauvina struck the ice dragon with her Orichalcum club, sending it crumbling into pieces.
“‘Transcend Limits,’ ‘Thousand Blade Axe Chaos!’” shouted Baldiria, unleashing a martial skill that struck Goldie’s blades out of the air.
“I feel like you’ll be troublesome for us later if you manage to escape, so we’re not going to capture you alive!” said Darcia. “‘Mincing Slice!’ ‘Lightning Claw Kick!’”
The slashing attacks from her kitchen knife caused blood to spray into the air from every part of Goldie’s body, and she transformed the heel of her foot into a bird-like talon with ‘Chaos,’ then sank it into Goldie’s stomach.
“I-If that’s the case… I’ll take some of your Skills with me!” Goldie groaned, realizing that death was upon him.
He transformed his stomach and tried to consume Darcia’s leg, just as he had done to Vandalieu’s arm.
But unlike Vandalieu, Darcia had bones made of Orichalcum, and Goldie was unable to sever them.
“You bastard! What is this bone?!” Goldie shouted in confusion.
“Have you finally realized why I’ve been fighting you at close range?” said Darcia.
She lifted her leg into the air, along with Goldie, whose newly-formed mouth at the stomach was still wrapped around it. He was helpless and immobile, and Darcia decapitated him with her kitchen knife.
With this, the battle was essentially over… but in the next moment, the sound of a distant explosion echoed across the villa.
- Name: Gizania
- Age: 38 years old
- Title: Warrior Princess (NEW!), Ushi Princess (NEW!)
- Rank: 9
- Race: Great Ushioni Samurai Master (Large-build Arachne)
- Level: 90
- Job: Blade Maiden
- Job level: 7
- Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Swordsman, Samurai, Magic Sword User, Samurai Master, Onimusha, Berserker, Arthropod Leg Fighter
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision (Transformed from Night Vision!)
- Monstrous Strength: Level 1 (Awakened from Superhuman Strength!)
- Strengthened Agility: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Augmented Attack Power when equipped with a katana: (Medium) (Awakened from Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with a katana!)
- Strengthened Body Parts (Carapace, compound eyes, body fur): Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Loyalty: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Demon Path: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Thread Refining: Level 2
- Rapid Healing: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Venom Secretion: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Active skills:
- Katana Technique: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Armor Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- High-speed Travel: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Coordination: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Magic Katana: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Parallel Thought Processing: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Familiar Spirit Descent: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Cooking: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Archery: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Unique Skills:
- Zanalpadna’s Divine Protection
- Garess’s Divine Protection
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection (NEW!)
- Name: Myuze
- Age: 73 years old
- Title: Crystal Blade (NEW!)
- Rank: 10
- Race: Crystal Empusa Kunoichi Master
- Level: 95
- Job: Crystal Kunoichi
- Job level: 12
- Job history: Apprentice Thief, Thief, Assassin, Dark Fighter, Kunoichi, Kunoichi Master, Illusion User, Sickle-arm User, Crystal Swordsman
- Passive skills:
- Superhuman Strength: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dark Vision
- Augmented Agility: Level 3 (Awakened from Strengthened Agility and LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Duty: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Enhanced Body Parts (Carapace, sickles): Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with ninja equipment: (Very Large) (LEVEL UP!)
- Crystal Refinement: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Fire-Attribute Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Detect Presence: Level 4 (NEW!)
- Poison Resistance: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Active skills:
- Camouflage: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Crystal Blade Arm Technique: Level 1 (Awakened from Unarmed Fighting Technique!)
- Throwing: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Armor Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Silent Steps: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Lockpicking: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Trap: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 7
- Assassination Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 1
- Mana Control: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Luminescence: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Familiar Spirit Demonfall: Level 2 (NEW!)
- Unique Skills:
- Zanalpadna’s Divine Protection
- Lioen’s Divine Protection
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection (NEW!)
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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v
So much for mana limits.. even if that mimics been alive for 100k years it shouldn’t have more mana than van.. it was said near the beginning even when he had less than a billion mana that he had more than most gods .. so how does a lowly mimic create so many copies and carry out so many skills and spells against so many.. it’s understandable to create so many as he must have thought processing like skills and mana skills but even so van still takes damage and stuff with everything he has plus his billions of mana
Alke
A hundred thousand years you didn’t even found the moles that were in your divine realm and you now wanna play justice and heroes killing a brilliant 11 years old child who can resolve all the problems you created for you. Ain’t you too much of a looser?! 😒😒😒😒💩💩💩“Hmph. We call him ‘Demon King’ but he is still a mortal. Even if he was reincarnated here from another world, he is not an invader. If terrible things were to happen to this world, he himself would be in trouble. That’s all it is. There is no need to feel gratitude for him.”🧐🧐🧐well, like boss like subordinates! Let me see, so you’re saying that because he is a mortal and not an invader (wich means that he’s not considered as the Demon king when you don’t want to), he must do your job instead of you and you can chase him down after that and kill him as a demon king when you don’t need him anymore, of course, being grateful is a no no😒😒💩💩💩💩all of you need to be digested in Van’s stomach, I insist! HE will be grateful for the meal at least 🍴🍴🙏🙏
Alke
Always cleaning after Alda’s mess, Alda’s sloppy jobs, Alda’s poor excuses for gods and collaborators, Alda’s misconceptions and their catastrophic consequences, Alda’s saiaku choices, Alda’s backstabbing behavior, and Alda’s even worse champions💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩. He’s not your genitor you know? 😒😒😒😒#ain’t_your_mama. And the worst thing is that he is considered as the bad guy in the end! Alda seems like a teenager in his rebellious period for me 😒😒😒if Vandalieu can’t kill him for a reason or another(like world preservation) at least he should “ground” him in his divine realm in the same condition as Vida was, and forever.
Zenden1st
nioce to see darcias divine skeleton coming into play hope she gains confidence through this
JKingSniper
Alda really need to be devoured. Let Van make a clone to take his position
DogeRangler
Well, that was fun, but I could’ve done without half of the exposition. Get back to the interesting fight already, author! I don’t really care about all of the details of what evil god bro has been doing for the past hundred thousand years, just summarize it quick and get back to the action.
Rasho
Yeah, no, it’s these details that are the charming points of this Novel, if you take them away, it’ll literally be like any other generic Novel out there, or even worse, and I’m pretty sure most, if not all, the other readers are attracted to this Novel because of this world building too
Hobbes
@DogeRangler I think you need to Wrangle a longer attention span rather Doges my friend. @Rasho ‘s response was completely on point. Without the exposition & worldbuilding the payoffs & catharsis of the story suffer greatly. That’s what makes this WN great & stand out from the pack in the first place.
Chiu ChunLing
“Hmph. We call him ‘Demon King’ but he is still a mortal. Even if he was reincarnated here from another world, he is not an invader. If terrible things were to happen to this world, he himself would be in trouble. That’s all it is. There is no need to feel gratitude for him.”
Um…but by that same logic it’s irrational to treat him as a threat to the world in the first place, you know?
Not that logical consistency is going to be a strong point of anyone working for Alda. I love how Zerzoregin’s big evil plan is to do basically the same thing that Alda’s been doing for the last hundred thousand years, only with less danger to the whole world.
I also love the image of Darcia using a high kick to lift Goldie up so she can chop through his neck with her santoku.
Supersanttu7
They’re treating him as a threat to the world because he’s a threat to their ambitions of what the world should be. There’s a difference but to them it doesn’t matter.
CyberDre
Not that different from real life
ObserverBias
Eh… very technically, he’s a threat to the ‘world’ by being a threat to /them/, because they’ve gone and tied themselves intrinsically to various functions of the world (on /some/ level if not to the core). By gaining the ability to break spirits, and from there to kill the gods themselves, he’s a threat to them by simply existing. Even if he were of a species part of Lambda’s reincarnation circle, even if he had any level of respect for their pantheon up until that point, as soon as he became able to break down a spirit clone he became something they couldn’t let exist.
Not that they’re in the right, obviously, them (mainly Alda, but they’re on his side of history) making things difficult for him by proxies is what lead him to that ability to begin with. Not fate, not a specific goal to reach that point, just their bias and discrimination overflowing through their people.
Chiu ChunLing
Let’s not forget that Alda decided to upset the balance of the world by declaring war on Vida, sealing her, and then robbing management of the Life Attribute.
Van could indiscriminately slaughter every god in Alda’s faction, and he wouldn’t do as much damage as that.
Of course, that would still be enough damage to be a threat to the world in it’s current sad state, but that’s mostly Alda’s fault in the first place.
bookworm12
Right? And I think ‘if TERRIBLE THINGS were to happen to this world…’ is vague enough to cover everything they are afraid of, including the problems that would occur if Van disrupted the management of the attributes by killing all of Alda’s gods. They don’t know that Van knows that this would cause terrible things to happen to the world, but still.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
X07Zero
Thank for the chapter ^^
After reading this chapter the most impact thing for me is Gizania become a princess too XD
Lord Rin
I can just imagine Zadiris sitting in some dark room doing the Gendo Pose going, “Soon…” now that there’s more princesses.
asdsdsffdhffggkl
no one will be bothered by being “princess”, if everyone in the world has the title “princess”.
Zadiris final boss lol.
Hobbes
Syndrom~ I mean Zadiris: If everyone is a Princess & Magical Girl… then soon no one will be… MHWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Phantom Knight
So, for Myuze, I thought the Vandalieu spirit skill was called [Demonfall Ascent]…..Was it not, or was there a typo?
ObserverBias
Familiar Spirit Demonfall was what it was to begin with (I guess to directly invert god’s “Familiar Spirit Descent”). If you remember where (chapter) you saw it, would you mind specifying where/how (location, situation) it was used?
ObserverBias
Used as in “phrased as Demonfall Ascent,” mind.
ExplodingPenguinDood
Oh look at that, Van doesn’t need to give him a fragment.
Humble Bumblebee
“[Planning to have people pray to a god who both supports and torments them]”
It worked so well for Ehito. What could go wrong? :3
Lord Rin
It actually was going well for Ehit if it weren’t for the unknown variable of Hajime showing up. Welp just like in Arifureta, Van is the unknown variable to screw up Zerzoregin’s plans.
Chiu ChunLing
Not like Alda hasn’t also tried playing this game, for instance with the unnatural eclipse and also the general strategy of demanding his believers do things that are counterproductive to their survival for the last 100,000 years.
hidefreek
I think Zerzoregin is better than Ehito.
He did Mainly for survival and supremacy than joyment in boredom.
He is better than Alda because He care for people upbringing.
Van existance is the sword of Vida which stabs everyone who oppose the goddess.
Raidanzoup
Happy new year! The writing meanders a little in its redundancy, but I usually find that helpful when the chapters are released further apart, so it is what it is. Polish is for paper novels. Thanks for another year of translating the series!
asdsdsffdhffggkl
haahhahhahahaa the big and strong Gizania is also onboard of the princess train lol
Lord Rin
I didn’t expect another chapter being released before this year is over so this is a pleasant surprise.
Well most of the gods from Alda’s faction are idiots but it seems there’s at least one god there with a good head on their shoulders. That god with a spear doesn’t seem blinded by Alda’s bullshit rhetoric and can see the bigger picture. They were able to figure out how Zerzoregin was able to infiltrate Alda’s faction without being discovered for over 100,000 years unlike the other gods who are incredulous and trying to deny they could have possibly been at fault for it and failing to notice anything wrong. The spear god also correctly pointed out that it would be suicide to try to descend to the mortal world to try to interfere in Van’s fight and that trying to order their heroes to head to Alcrem in their stead would be pointless since they’re too far away to make it in time and that they’d be better off letting Van deal with Zerzoregin while they go investigate if there are any other Evil Gods doing the same things as Zerzoregin.
Anyways Zerzoregin’s plan actually sounded like it would have had a good chance of succeeding if he didn’t needlessly and pointlessly order his Human Mimics to commit crimes that would definitely catch Van’s attention. I’ve said it before but most of Van’s enemies’ fatal flaw is impatience and they flip out from fear and do something reckless that gets them killed. Well anyways it doesn’t look like this’ll be a long fight since Zerzoregin almost immediately was forced to activate his Demon King fragments. I do wonder which ones he has though.
Looks like the Mimic Humans weren’t much of a problem either. Even Simon and Natania who are currently the weakest in Van’s group managed to take out their copies pretty quickly after transforming their metal limbs.
On another note looks like the Princess Curse is still going strong I see. Zadiris must be thrilled. Gizania has gotten TWO princess titles.
Liger0
Wow another up load Great. Looking forward to the next one. I am guessing at some point Van’s fights are going to take place in higher Dimensions to keep from destroying cities
ObserverBias
That would be dangerous for all involved (Van because his very soul would be in danger instead, whoever he’s fighting for very much the same reason). Of course, this is only so far as fighting “without holding back.” He’s gotten pretty good at that, in full fairness.
no1
This was a good chapter. Another chapter before the year ended. The evil god is overly ambitious. I can expect an exciting fight in the chapters. Vandalieu will be unbelievably OP by the end of the battle. Thanks for the chapter Yoshi and hope to see the next one soon
Entropy
Alda’s group are morons, at least eliminate some of the skills that the evil god can absorb by attacking Van’s allies. How on earth did they not notice that one of their own, which was supposed to be so weaken that he was asleep, was an evil god for 100,000 years? Did they think they had found a god able to contain several pieces of the demon king without any problems whereas other deities had trouble containing them. This is the second time an evil god has been lurking in Alda’s shadow. So far Van has had to clean up these messes while Alda and company have complained about Van being a threat.
Lord Rin
Well as the one god with a spear pointed out, descending to the mortal realm to try to deal with Van or his allies is abject suicide. Van can obviously kill them easily while if they instead try to target his allies now that he’s separated from them would be equally pointless since there are others there that can also take on gods like Darcia and Basdia. As for how they didn’t notice Zerzoregin, the spear god mentioned that his disguised subordinate gods had no wicked thoughts or intentions that would raise suspicion while Zerzoregin himself was cautious and patient so he never did anything to give them reason to be suspicious and he only assimilated one fragment very slowly -though that was something he had no control over- while the rest would just be kept in their individual seals at the temple in the Sacred Wastelands. Well the other gods are still idiots since they want to deny and not admit that someone managed to get one over on them.
Entropy
Well considering the evil god could assimilate one every 1000 years that still leaves a defeated god capable of sealing 100. Even if the evil god didn’t get one every 1000 years and had to take his time to prevent the pieces from taking over, I can see him getting at least double digits. Wouldn’t that be a huge red flag since most of the awakened gods had trouble containing two or three and needed groups to contain 4 or 5 pieces. Mind you, as pointed out earlier, these gods are warriors for the most part, but shouldn’t Curatos have a perfect record of where each demon piece was. These are a combination of nuclear waste and deadly weapons that will bond with anyone that gets close so I am still surprised by how foolish Alda’s group is.
Lord Rin
Oh I misread it and thought it took 100,000 years to assimilate the fragments. If it’s just 1000 then yeah I do wonder why he didn’t have more fragments. The only explanation I can think of is that he just had bad luck and it took a very long time between each fragment being brought to his temple. Anyways if he assimilated the fragments they I assume he could do a similar thing as Van when he made some fake sealed fragments to trick people into thinking they were still sealed and that since Zerzoregin never did anything to raise suspicions then there was no reason for the gods like Curatos to investigate that the fragments in the temple were real. Also Curatos does not have a record of where every fragment is. There whereabouts of many have become unknown which is why we’ve seen them pop up randomly at times like the oviduct being randomly held by a Minotaur or the nose fragment being found by some randos in an abandoned ruin.
Jonathan Hurd
I would guess that while Zerozigan could eat and absorb the pieces he isn’t really combining and becoming one with them in the same way that Van is. If he truly absorbed a hundred pieces as the upper limit would suggest I would guess he would become corrupted.
Another part of it is getting more fragments to himself is tough. All the current pieces are basically sealed or held by some kind of sane host. When one rampages it is usually stopped and sealed somewhere close. It’s hard to justify much less communicate to humans that this highly dangerous weapon of mass destruction should be dragged to the Alcrem Duchy rather than the nearest church.
On the noticing the Mountain God us dead I’m always one to jump on the Alda is an idiot bandwagon. However, this time I think it’s less stupidity and more apathy that lead to the current situation. I mean no God or God’s servant ever bothered to go and check on the seals of the Mountain God or the Evil God’s. I can appreciate being short staffed and not wanting to doubt your allies, but that doesn’t really excuse not checking on a sick ally for over a hundred thousand years, lol.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s not bad luck. Bolgadon is a fairly minor god, who is also supposed to be slumbering and sealing an Evil God, and Alcrem has a temple of a Great God. Combined with the fact that the Mimics serving him can’t be so obviously strong as to attract attention of the other gods, he’s not going to get a huge number of chances to get DKFrags without arousing suspicion.
Thk
In other words Van singlehandedly doing their job better.
Jonathan Hurd
And singlehandedly increasing their work load a hundred times, lol. Maybe they should quit the black company that is working for Alda.
Shank Mugen
So Zerzoregin basically wanted to become the Biblical God
Entropy
Something tells me he would not have been content with just one world. Imagine what he would have done after eliminating Alda. I suspect Rodcorte would be next followed by the other worlds becoming farms. Interesting idea for an evil god. Funny how Alda’s group confuse patience and brilliance for cowardice. Pity he is going to be food soon, he could have been a good ally for Van, although he could never be trusted with all of his scheming.
CyberDre
Well, when a large portion of your group are battle hungry , religious fanatics , that hate progress, it’s not surprising they’d miss things like this
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think other worlds would have to fear unless he managed to eat someone like Zuruwarn or Gufadgarn. No way Rodidiot wouldn’t cut his losses if the DK came after him. However as long as humans kept going through Rodidiots system he’d be all for letting Zerzogian run his own system. He might honestly try to suggest that system to others if it ran through humans fast enough.
CyberDre
Damn….. Looking at history… I kinda see your point
Irazori
The aldiots continue to be even more useless than aqua.
zerozoregin proving to be almost as moronic as hihiryushukaka
And most importantly, Van and co. kicking so much butt as they break their enemies’ common sense/reality.
Can wait to see how this evil god died and made Van even more game broken with new fragments next chapter.
Jonathan Hurd
What’s funny to me is I actually understand why the Evil God’s who setup these big long term schemes to conquer the world are now facing Van. They’ve spent a hundred thousand years setting this all up under the radar. Now Van a new player has basically completely changed the status quo in the span of about ten years.
If the choice is throw away everything. Try to start from scratch competing against new and old enemies. While also being marked by the big players like Alda and Van for the next hundred thousand years… It makes sense to risk it all at that point. Go out swinging winner takes all!
The stupidest person fighting Van is really Alda. Especially after finding out not just Hirioshaksa, but also Zerzogian were waiting in the shadows for you to destroy yourself fighting Vida so they could clean up the pieces. Vidas group just wants to be left alone. If you fight them and weaken yourself there are plenty of Evil God’s waiting to swoop in. You can’t win this battle if you fight it. At least the Evil God’s have something to gain from this reckless fight with Van.
They are definitely going to lose and be eaten, but I understand why they made that decision considering their natures. Aldas decision is just stupid.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, but it was already stupid 100,000 years ago.
So far, all the gods devoured by Van had plausible reasons to suppose they could win based on the information they had. Of course, that Forbidden Tome guy didn’t know anything other than someone was trying to read his book, but still, he had no reason to suppose it wouldn’t work. The others have likewise fallen to Van’s hidden trumps.
But Alda made his decision to intentionally betray the Creation Champions and Vida back when it was obvious that this could only cause terrible harm to the world. His thinking seems to be that he’d rather receive all the worship from a 100 million people than a fraction of the worship of dozens of times that many, but the rest of that worship would have been going to his friends if he hadn’t stained his hands with so much of their blood already.
Lord Rin
Vida was indeed suspicious that Alda did actively betray Zakkarat and the others which is the reason she and her faction split from him but at a later point Vida mentioned that after spending time thinking it over while she was imprisoned that she came to the conclusion that Alda isn’t devious or smart enough to have planned something like that. In other words he’s too stupid to have come up with such a plan. Guduranis just got the better of them and was able to separate the Champions and Alda’s group were just too far away to turn back to save Zakkart’s group. Well even if he’s not guilty of that, it still didn’t stop him from later taking advantage after they beat Guduranis to set himself up as the chief god in charge of all the others
Chiu ChunLing
It’s true that Alda’s too stupid to come up with an actual plan…that’s why he left it to Bellwood.
JeKeBe
Ahhhh, the gods on Alda’s side really are useless. Not sure why anyone would want to be one.
Well, fight’s just about over so we’ll get to see how the Duke reacts and whether or not his idiot minion causes a scene. After seeing how Van’s pals ripped through the mimics one would hope he’d wise up a bit, but I have great faith in human stupidity, story world or otherwise.
… And Darcia. Please never do that when Van’s about, he wouldn’t be happy seeing his mom deliberately feed herself to a monster as bait. I don’t think the continent could stand the resultant explosion.
Irazori
Well yeah. That’s why I’ve been calling them aldiots. Well, that and the thousands of years of pro-vida racism.
Jonathan Hurd
I call them Aldiots because their anti Vida racism is based on a giant sunk cost fallacy. Alda just keeps saying to himself ‘we have done terrible things to Vida, but if we admit it’s wrong now then that would mean everyone who died because of our stupidity was wrong. So we can’t change or stop. We have to keep increasing the body count!’
Irazori
There’s also some parts where they are also kinda pro-rapey towards vida’s races and also rape-shaming the victims in human society. Though I’m not completely sure if that is the fault of the aldiots and just normal human idiocy. But since their so-called justice stance doesn’t like to do a damn thing for anyone (human or demi-human), then I would blame them for making humans so insensitive.