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Yoshi
The heroic spirits, familiar spirits serving the gods who were in charge of the fighting forces, could do nothing but watch as the grand farce took place.
“… I didn’t think that the Demon King’s adaptability would be so troublesome,” one of them said.
If the heroic spirits had a Rank like monsters, they would be around Rank 14, and each of them was capable of holding their own against a weaker evil god in single combat. There were over a dozen heroic spirits in this divine realm of the gods that were looking down upon Alcrem. If they all attacked Vandalieu with their combined strength, even Vandalieu would be unable to avoid struggling in battle against them.
However, this was not the Age of the Gods that had long since passed, when gods and their familiar spirits resided in the world itself. In order to wield their power on the world’s surface on their own, heroic spirits would need to expend a tremendous amount of energy.
Thus, even if the heroic spirits were to descend upon Lambda, they would only be able to fight for a few seconds. Even if they were able to give Vandalieu a difficult battle, it was difficult to tell whether they would even be able to deal irrecoverable damage during that short time, never mind defeat him.
That was precisely why, under ordinary circumstances, the correct way for heroic spirits to exert an influence upon the world was for them to descend upon heroes with the divine protections of the gods and lend them their strength.
However… at this moment, there wasn’t a single potential hero with the divine protection of a god of Alda’s forces in Alcrem. The gods had been on alert because of Vandalieu’s appearance in Morksi – one of the Alcrem Duchy’s cities of commerce – and instructed the potential heroes to evacuate.
“Being overly cautious has backfired. Of course, even if they were in Alcrem now, they have not been nurtured sufficiently to become vessels for us to descend upon.”
“Even so, we wouldn’t have had to let the Demon King do as he pleases and get away with all of this. It’s true that he saved the people of Alcrem from Zerzoregin. I will admit that. But to fool the people he saved, and to receive their worship through fabricated lies… How is he any different from Zerzoregin!”
“More importantly, what happened to Borgadon-dono? If he is still alive, there is no chance that he would overlook the Demon King’s transgressions. Has his soul been devoured like Zerzoregin’s after all…?”
“It is not certain that that is the case,” a heroic spirit with a spear on his back in response to this question. “It is possible that Borgadon-dono is alive and in support of the Demon King.”
“W-what?! You heretic, do you mean to ridicule Borgadon-dono?!” another heroic shouted, outraged.
“Calm yourself. I mean to do no such thing,” the heroic spirit with the spear replied with a sigh. “However, I only knew Borgadon-dono through his familiar spirits, which turned out to be familiar spirits of an evil god in disguise. None of us here, including me, know the real Borgadon-dono. Furthermore, it is unclear as to whether Borgadon-dono has memories of the time that passed while he was absorbed by Zerzoregin, but if he does not, then he would know nothing of the battle between Alda, the God of Law and Fate, and Vida. It would not be strange for him to feel a debt of gratitude towards the Demon King who saved him, and try to repay him for that. Do you disagree?”
The other heroic spirits couldn’t think of any way to refute his words.
“Borgadon-dono had extensive conversations with the ‘Fallen Champion,’ and he is a subordinate god of Botin-sama, Mother of the Earth and Goddess of Craftsmanship, who chose Hillwillow as her champion. It is possible that they thought in similar ways,” the heroic spirit with the spear continued.
“Perhaps so… Then at the very least, my blade shall reveal the true identity of those puppets to the eyes of the people!” said another heroic spirit, unsheathing his sword.
“Don’t; there is no use in doing that. You will simply be struck down during your descent,” the heroic spirit with the spear told him.
“That is true, but are we supposed to simply leave him?! If Borgadon-dono supports the Demon King as you say, there is no telling what will happen if he joins Vida’s forces!” the heroic spirit with the sword shouted.
The heroic spirit with the spear could understand what the sword-wielding heroic spirit was saying.
If Borgadon were to support Vida’s faction and joined them, he would not pose any threat to the forces of Alda, the God of Law and Fate, and his betrayal would not cause any large deficiencies in how Alda’s forces were run.
Disguised as Borgadon, Zerzoregin had pretended to have fallen into slumber in order to focus on protecting the seal on the evil god Forzajibal, so his familiar spirits had done little other than share information; they had not played any role in maintaining Alda’s forces.
On top of that, the current Borgadon had only been released from Zerzoregin, so he was missing the vast majority of his power, and it was likely that his current form was like that of a dead spirit… like a condensed, conscious mass of naturally-occurring Mana. Thus, even if he were to become an enemy, he would not pose any direct threat to Alda’s forces.
However, the damage in terms of the amount of worship he received was great.
Considering the world as a whole, Borgadon, the God of Mountains, was not a major god. There were likely many in the neighboring Amid Empire who did not even know his name.
However, he was the patron god of the capital of the Alcrem Duchy, the city of Alcrem with a population of a million people, where there were none who did not know of him.
Borgadon also had a large political influence. For example, the Title of ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountain,’ which had been passed down from knight to knight, from generation to generation… This Title had originated from the myth that Borgadon had sealed away Zerzoregin and Forzajibal, collapsing the surrounding mountains and creating a barren wasteland in the process.
… In reality, these knights had been Mimic Humans, and it was uncertain as to what Duke Alcrem would do with the Title in the future, but… since the duke was participating in Vandalieu’s farce, there wasn’t any use in thinking about it.
If Borgadon were to join Vida’s faction, the influence on Alcrem’s people would be immeasurable.
Even so, the worship of the gods of Alda’s forces in other duchies of the Orbaume Kingdom would likely remain unaffected, but… the places in Alcrem where worship of the gods of Alda’s forces was strong would be stolen by Vida’s faction completely.
Considering the actual loss, the mental damage on Alda’s gods caused by this, and the fact that Vida’s faction would grow in strength, this could not be described as a small amount of damage.
“I understand how you feel. But even if all of us here were to combine our powers, the most we would be able to do is interrupt this puppet show. The Demon King is not the only one waiting for us down there. There is Gufadgarn, the incarnation of Vida, a countless number of the Demon King’s servants, and it is highly likely that more of them will arrive as reinforcements through teleportation. Do not forget that his stronghold is not in Alcrem, but in the area beyond the Boundary Mountain Range!” the familiar spirit with the spear reminded the others.
Even if the heroic spirits were not struck down during their descent, the Demon King’s forces were endless. Descending now would be equivalent to giving themselves up to become the Demon King’s after-meal dessert.
The heroic spirit with the sword who was on the verge of abandoning hope seemed to understand this; he gave a heavy sigh and stepped back.
“Still, how did the heroic spirits fight the Demon King’s army a hundred thousand years ago? Even considering that Vandalieu and Guduranis are different beings, if we could learn how our predecessors fought, then we could learn something…” the heroic spirit with the spear murmured.
“My master has told me,” said a heroic spirit holding a staff. “But I do not think his words would give us many hints. After all, the heroic spirits who existed in this world before the arrival of the Demon King Guduranis were not powerful. I was told that the power they possessed was not much different from that of familiar spirits who had once been other, ordinary humans.”
“Is that true?! I do not intend to say that strength alone qualifies one to become a heroic spirit, but there are certain standards!” the heroic spirit with the spear exclaimed in surprise.
Heroic spirits were those who had been respected by the people as heroes during their lifetimes, and even if they could not become heroic spirits on their own, they would become heroic spirits if their greatness was recognized by the gods. Thus, it was naturally common sense that heroic spirits were powerful.
However, that was the common sense of the current era.
“I said the same to my master, but he told me this,” the heroic spirit with the staff continued. “Before the Demon King Guduranis arrived in this world, leading an army of evil gods, there were no monsters in this world, not even a single Goblin. Naturally, there were no Devils’ Nests inhabited by monsters, no Dungeons, and as the people received blessings and teachings from the gods directly, they did not fight wars or kill one another. Even the Status System did not exist. There was no possible way for people to become powerful as they are capable of doing now. The heroes of the time were those who were more proficient at hunting than others or those who could run faster than average. It is only natural that such people ascending to become heroic spirits would not be as powerful as heroic spirits are today.”
The world had been peaceful before the arrival of Guduranis. Weapons and armor had been used to hunt and fish, and the Status System with Jobs and Skills had not existed.
That was why the people had been at a heavy disadvantage against the Demon King’s army before Ricklent invented the Status System to strengthen the people and the champions were summoned.
“I see. In other words, individuals who are heroes among heroes, like the champion Bellwood, are necessary in order to defeat the Demon King. In that case, now is not the time,” the heroic spirit with the spear whispered.
But another heroic spirit spoke up. “I have just received word. The man who has the qualities to become such a hero among heroes, Heinz, has returned.”
Unaware of the heroic spirits’ conversation, Vandalieu was making an eyeball glow.
“It’s hard to bring it into focus. This is the opposite of its intended use, after all. Yes… This is good. The luminescent organs are working,” he murmured to himself.
The enormous eyeball he was holding in his hands was emitting light and producing an image on a blank, white wall.
“Wow, Van! That’s amazing! It’s just like the real thing!” Pauvina shouted excitedly. “Right, Juliana?”
“Yes! I feel like I’ll be able to hear sounds and the people’s voices any second!” said Juliana.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before!” said Braga. “I want to show it to my family!”
“‘Movies,’ amazing! Amazing, ‘movies!’” said another Black Goblin.
They were all excitedly watching the projected image. The footage that Vandalieu was projecting was of the grand-scale farce that had taken place that afternoon.
Although Braga and the rest of the Black Goblins had been unable to participate in it, they hadn’t said anything about it… But Pauvina and Juliana – especially Pauvina – had complained about not having been able to take part. Thus, Vandalieu had come up with the idea of at least showing them footage of it, and was now playing this screening of it using the fragments of the Demon King.
With the ‘Perfect Record Technique’ Skill, Vandalieu was able to perfectly record everything he saw with his eyes as images, and he was projecting them using the Demon King’s luminescent organs and the lens of an eyeball as a film projector.
“I’ll call this ‘Film Projector Technique,’ I suppose. There’s color, but no sound, so it feels quite old for a movie, though,” Vandalieu said.
He remembered the sounds he had heard as well, but there was nothing that he could use as speakers to reproduce them accurately.
“Then we’ll just need to explain,” said Darcia. “Pauvina, Juliana-chan, this is where Bravatiyu-san said, ‘As the leader of the Five Knights of Alcrem, my name…’ What did he say again?”
She was trying to describe the events that had taken place, but she quickly got stuck as she was unable to remember everyone else’s lines.
“Darcia-san, he’s right here, so we just need to ask the man himself,” said Privel. “Right?”
Bravatiyu had been staring in disbelief at the projected film and at Vandalieu, but was brought back to his senses by Privel putting a tentacle on his shoulder.
“Hmm? D-did you say something to me?” he said, startled.
“We would like you to tell Pauvina and Juliana what you said back then. Could we ask that of you?” said Gizania.
“I-I do not mind, but…” Bravatiyu said.
He nodded, but he stared at Vandalieu and the enormous eyeball that was acting as a projector for a few moments, as if hesitating.
“Well then, I’ll rewind the footage to before Bravatiyu shouts and sends a slashing attack at the Golem playing the part of the evil god… Since I can reproduce the image, I’d like for you to provide the audio,” said Vandalieu.
“Come on, come on!” Pauvina and the others said, urging Bravatiyu to say his lines.
Bravatiyu seemed to decide that he was in no position to refuse. “Back then, I shouted, ‘Incarnation of Borgadon, I shall aid you!’ and released ‘Sky Rend’ towards the evil-god-Golem. However, my ‘Sky Rend’ was entirely ineffective because of that ‘Demon King’s exoskeleton’ or whatever it is, and shouted, ‘Impossible! My martial skill!’ to act as if the evil god was a powerful being,” he said loudly and clearly.
“… But back then, you sounded completely monotone, like you were just reciting the script. It was worse than Van’s lines,” said Kachia.
Indeed, Bravatiyu’s acting at the time had been terrible.
“It was indeed. It was a perfect example of a third-rate actor. Any ordinary person would have at least shouted melodramatically, even if it wasn’t required,” Ralmeya remarked.
“I’m sure you’re not supposed to be conscious of the fact that you’re acting. Either your nerves got the better of you despite your age and experience, or you were mentally shaken by the evil god despite knowing it was a fake,” said Baldiria.
“Ralmeya! Baldiria! You traitors, you are talking as if you are completely on their side –” Bravatiyu began, outraged that his fellow knights were watching the film with a friendly attitude towards Vandalieu and his companions.
“Oh, look, next is the part where Serjio-dono’s specialty lightning attacks were also ineffective, and his spells had little effect as well,” said Gizania, interrupting him.
As Serjio began reciting his lines, Bravatiyu had no choice but to shut his mouth and fall silent.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s my turn, huh. I said, ‘Get back, old man!’ then raised my spear and cast the ‘Lightning Strike’ spell, but the evil god’s surface just got burned black a little, and there was no damage. I clicked my tongue, and said, ‘It’s no good. It’s repelling both martial attacks and spells. What are we supposed to do against a guy like this?’”
Seeing his trusted knights’ interactions with the others, Duke Alcrem stared at Vandalieu and his companions in a daze. However, he was surprised.
The film that Vandalieu had created was not so astonishing – the same thing could be accomplished with spells or Magic Items.
With light-attribute or wind-attribute illusion spells, it was not difficult to project scenes from the caster’s memory. Mages who created such performances were often employed at large theaters.
Time-attribute magic could also be used to create images of the past, although this was more difficult. With this method, sound would also be reproduced.
Magic Items such as crystal balls that recorded events of the past had been made since long ago.
Of course, only true masters of magic would be able to recreate scenes of the past with such detail, and even if they used all of their Mana, they would not be able to project more than thirty minutes’ worth of footage.
As for Magic Items, the longer the footage they could record, the bigger the crystal balls were, and thus the cost of creating them would increase sharply. The upper limit of their recording duration was considered to be just a little over ten minutes.
Considering that, what Vandalieu was doing was indeed amazing, but… what Duke Takkard Alcrem, Bravatiyu, and Serjio were surprised about was the fact that he was doing so using fragments of the Demon King.
In the distant, ancient past, the Demon King Guduranis’s body had been unstoppable by anything other than arms made of Orichalcum wielded by the legendary champions and the heroes they led, and if not Orichalcum, then arms wielded directly by the gods themselves.
To the people of this world, the fragments of that body were considered to be spiritually taboo, and more importantly, extremely dangerous.
If a fragment infested a person, it would enter a frenzy and cause enormous damage to everything around it, and it would be impossible to remove from the host until they died.
Demon King Equipment was made of fragments of the Demon King, and when a piece of Demon King Equipment was destroyed, the fragment would infest a nearby host and destroy its surroundings in its search for other fragments, seeking to resurrect the Demon King.
The Demon King fragments were such terrifying objects, and yet, they were currently being used as a film projector. It was only natural for the duke to be dumbfounded. Although fragments of the Demon King were used in peaceful ways every day in Talosheim, it was the first such occurrence in a human society.
To begin with, the very concept of using fragments of the Demon King this way would never be thought of in human societies. At most, people would use materials created by the fragments… such as using the crystal masses that Zerzoregin released with the Demon King’s crystals as materials for equipment and as alchemy ingredients.
“What am I to say… I feel like everything I thought I knew is being broken down around me,” Takkard Alcrem murmured to himself.
But at the same time, he reaffirmed to himself to never make enemies of Vandalieu and his companions.
This was a decision that he had made after learning that Braga and the Black Goblins were the true ‘Face-tearing Demon’ and Vandalieu was the mastermind commanding them, that Juliana was the reborn form of Juliana Alcrem, and of the existence of the Demon Empire of Vidal… something that was more terrifying than the existence of Zerzoregin and the Mimic Humans.
It had been less than five years since he aligned his duchy with Alda’s peaceful faction, but he was now aligning it with Vida’s faction. It was likely that he would need to grant Ghouls human rights, and once the temple of Borgadon was rebuilt, it would need to be decorated with sculptures of Vida rather than Alda.
It was likely that he would face some opposition from the nobles who supported the Alcrem house. He didn’t even want to imagine the reactions of the other dukes’ houses, Marshal Dolmad or Prime Minister Tercatanis of the royal capital.
There would naturally be opposition from the Church of Alda, and it was even likely that there would be opposition from the Church of Vida as well – most of the clergymen of the Church of Vida welcomed the peaceful faction of Alda.
As a result, some of the nobles might revolt, and it was possible that those in the royal capital would decide that Duke Alcrem had lost his mind and send assassins after him.
But even considering all of these dangers, Takkard would not change his mind.
Compared to the risk of making an enemy of the Demon King… the Great Demon King Vandalieu, the rebellions of other nobles and the danger of assassins are but a small matter! he thought.
Vandalieu had created an enormous Golem that was over a hundred meters tall simply for the reason that it had been necessary for the fabricated show for the people. Turning that one Golem against the city would result in enormous damage.
The city’s walls were several dozen meters tall, but they would be like plywood against such an enemy. Magical barriers would also be futile against the sheer, overwhelming volume of Mana that Vandalieu possessed.
And naturally, there was also the fact that Vandalieu’s fighting forces were so overwhelmingly powerful that the entire army of the Alcrem Duchy would not be able to defeat them. Even if Vandalieu didn’t create any enormous Golems… No, Vandalieu was stronger when he hadn’t created any.
Of course, I owe him a debt for saving the capital. He is a virtuous enough person to have saved our city without any promise of reward. If we respond to that with sincere gratitude, it is almost certain that he will harbor more goodwill for this city and the Alcrem Duchy, the duke thought. However, I will have to ask him to stop the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ business and have the knights’ order act based on the information he provides.
The public story was that the acts of the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ had been carried out by servants of the evil god, so it would trouble the duke if the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ were to continue being active. The activities of the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ also harmed the authority of the duke’s house and reduced the people’s trust in the city guards and knights’ order.
Thus, he intended to have Vandalieu and his companions provide information, and put that information to use in official investigations. It would be best to put Ralmeya and Baldiria in charge of that.
… The two of them were in complete admiration of Vandalieu, and Baldiria referred to Darcia as ‘Goddess-sama’ with no hesitation, but Takkard didn’t intend to do anything about that.
People were free to admire and respect whoever they wanted to. The two of them had sworn loyalty to the Alcrem house and knights, and it seemed that their loyalty had not changed.
If the object of their admiration was the emperor, a famous knight, or a general of the Amid Empire, an enemy nation, it would have been a matter of great concern. But because their admiration was directed at individuals with whom the Alcrem house would be establishing friendly relations with, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience. The duke would have the two of them act as mediators for proactive exchange with the Demon Empire of Vidal in the future.
The problem is the duchy’s nobles, but I’m sure Earl Morksi will understand. I’ll need to do some work on convincing the other nobles… the other dukes, the prime minister and the marshal can come second!
“It seems that you’ve been deep in thought for a while, is something the matter?” asked Vandalieu.
“Huh?! N-no, nothing at all!” Takkard said hastily, jumping in surprise.
However, he was under excessive stress; his face was pale and his already-thin hair looked even frailer than before.
Even Vandalieu, who was terrible at guessing what others were thinking, didn’t believe him.
However, Vandalieu was the only one who had been frank and revealed various secrets. It would likely be a hasty move to use ‘Youth Transformation’ and reverse his age.
Still, he didn’t feel good about simply ignoring Takkard’s state of poor health. And if he were to suddenly collapse and perish now, he would need to start discussions all over again with a successor to the duke’s house who didn’t know anything.
Even if Vandalieu’s relationship with the duchy couldn’t be made public, he wanted Takkard to remain its duke until the relationship had progressed to a point where it could be stably maintained long-term.
“… Take this,” said Vandalieu after some thought, producing an antenna from his forehead and using it to take out a cream-filled container from his pocket.
“Th-this is some kind of ointment, is it?” said the duke.
“Yes, it’s a medicine used in the Demon Empire of Vidal called ‘V Cream.’ It improves the skin… and if applied to the scalp, it promotes hair growth and restoration,” said Vandalieu.
Takkard made a surprised noise. He had been shrinking away in fear of Vandalieu’s black antenna, but upon hearing the words ‘hair grown and restoration,’ his eyes lit up, and he reached out and took the V Cream.
And so began the relationship between Vandalieu, Emperor of the Demon Empire of Vidal, and Takkard, head of the Alcrem house of dukes.
“Kühl, you’re even cooler than the real one!” said Privel’s voice in the background, followed by a happy wobbling noise from Kühl.
In the scene projected on the wall, Kühl, who had disguised himself as the ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’ Goldie, stopped the attacks of the Golem acting as the evil god with his own body.
Now! Kill it, even if you have to kill me with it! the image of Goldie shouted silently, before being turned into dust in a spectacular fashion.
The day after the farce that covered up the truth, Vandalieu and his companions headed for the Job-changing room in Sam’s carriage. The reason for that was, of course, because his Level had reached its upper limit after the previous day’s battle with Zerzoregin.
It was thought that Job changes should be done as quickly as possible, with the exception of some situations such as when one was undecided on what path they wanted to take, or when there were no Jobs available to change to.
Once one’s Level reached 100, their current Job would not increase in Level any further, and even if they changed to another Job, the effects and bonuses to Skills of the previous Job would still permanently be in effect.
However, Vandalieu had been tired after yesterday’s performance, and he had been busy with various things after it as well. After he took care of those things, more time had passed than he had expected, so he had gone to sleep without changing Jobs.
“I told you that you could go to bed if you were tired, but you insisted on staying awake until the parade was over,” said Darcia.
“You fought Mimic Humans and an evil god, and after that, you had to control Golems in the show for the people. It must have been greatly tiring even for you, Van-dono,” said Myuze.
“And even after that, you projected that film with ‘Film Projector Technique’… You worked too hard yesterday,” said Gizania.
“Mom, Myuze, I couldn’t miss seeing everyone’s moment of triumph, and the film projector was just an idea I had so I wanted to do it,” said Vandalieu.
After the… ‘battle’ with the evil god, Vandalieu and his companions had returned to the city, and the sides of the road to the castle had been lined with people who were fanatically celebrating victory, creating a small parade.
Even though the sun had gone down, the road had been lit up with light-attribute magic, and with smiles and cheers, the people had welcomed back the heroes who had fought the evil god alongside the God of Mountains Borgadon.
Darcia, Myuze and the others had told Vandalieu to rest, but he had wanted to see the people praising them.
However, he had indeed been tired, and creating and controlling enormous Golems that were over a hundred meters tall had used up more Mana than he had expected, so the parade had been a battle against the urge to sleep.
“I am unable to find the words to thank you for all of your effort. Despite sacrificing the mountains, I failed to seal him away, and not only that, I was used by him and allowed him to get away with so much. My honor deserves to be covered in mud and buried, and yet you did so much for me,” said Borgadon.
Indeed, as a result of yesterday’s farce, the people had renewed their faith and worship in Borgadon. He had been nothing more than a soul, but he was looking considerably better now.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Vandalieu. “It was more convenient for us for the truth to not be spread. And if the capital of Alcrem were to descend into chaos, it would have a large negative effect on Morksi as well.”
One of the Five Knights of Alcrem had actually been a monster, a Mimic Human who served an evil god. On top of that, that evil god had turned out to be the ‘Borgadon’ that had been worshipped in the ‘Sacred Wastelands.’
If that truth was revealed, it would likely cause panic among the people. They would lose the beliefs that served as their anchors, begin baselessly suspecting that their neighbors might be Mimic Humans, or wonder if the gods they worshipped were actually evil gods. Naturally, this would negatively impact the authority of the duke’s house as well.
Such a situation wouldn’t be a good thing for Vandalieu. It might be useful for Darcia’s propagation of the word of Vida, but… it would also be a little troublesome if the people began worshipping Vida too much and Darcia became unable to leave the Alcrem Duchy.
The farce and fabricated lies were more convenient for Vandalieu and his companions.
“Even so, I give you my thanks,” said Borgadon. “You could have saved yourself much trouble by simply devouring me along with Zerzoregin…”
“No, that’s not true,” said Vandalieu.
“He’s right, Borgadon-san. I know that you’ve lost your power and feel disheartened, but don’t abandon hope. We need you to do your best moving forward,” said Darcia.
Borgadon seemed to be in quite a fragile state of mind. Even though Vandalieu and Darcia offered words of encouragement while they waited for their turn outside the Job-changing room, he didn’t seem to be gaining much motivation.
Just then, the room’s door opened. Miriam came out, apparently having finished changing Jobs, and walked towards Vandalieu.
“Vandalieu-san?! What is the meaning of this?!” she demanded.
“Is something the matter? Also, we’re friends, so please call me ‘Vandalieu’ or ‘Van.’ I don’t even mind being called ‘Vaa-chan,’” said Vandalieu.
“‘Is something the matter,’ my foot! Your divine protection has appeared on my Status – What is the meaning of this?! You’re not only an emperor, but a god as well?!” Miriam exclaimed, looking shocked and almost panicked.
“Calm down, Miriam-san. I’m sorry my son surprised you like that. But he doesn’t give people divine protections consciously, so there was no way to tell you in advance that he would be giving it to you,” explained Darcia.
This seemed to help Miriam regain her composure.
“I-I see. I guess it can’t be helped, then. Well then, next time… Huh, it’s not really something to get angry about, is it? Didn’t I just do something really rude?” she said, coming to her senses and turning pale upon realizing what she had done.
Everyone gave an understanding nod, telling her not to worry about it.
“Well, we should have explained properly yesterday,” said Darcia.
“It’s only natural to be surprised. But the divine protection is a real divine protection, so don’t worry. It’s not a curse, and it doesn’t have any strange effects,” Privel said reassuringly.
“So, stay calm,” said Myuze. “Well then, I shall explain ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ to her, Van-dono, so you can go ahead and change Jobs first.”
Incidentally, a little while after this, Arthur and the others would also be surprised to find that they had received Vandalieu’s divine protection, and Miriam would end up having to explain it to them later after hearing the explanation from Privel and the others.
“Thanks,” said Vandalieu, managing to escape Miriam’s grip. “Well then, let’s go right ahead…”
He stepped into the Job-changing room.
《Jobs that can be selected: Vengeful Berserker, Dark King Mage, Fallen Warrior, Insect Ninja, Destruction Guider, Chaos Guider, Hollow King Mage, Eclipse Cursecaster, Demon Ruler, Creator, Pale Rider, Tartarus, Wild Spirit, Dark Battery Cannoneer, Magic Staff Creator, Soul Fighter, God Destroyer, Qliphoth, Dark Beast User, Spirit Therapist, Artisan: Transformation Equipment, Hollow Shadow Caster, Balor, Apollyon, Demigorgon, Great Demon King, Soul Devourer, God Devourer, Nergal, Ravana, Shaitan, Chi You, God Spirit Mage (NEW!), Ouroboros (NEW!)》
Seeing the list of Jobs available in his consciousness, Vandalieu noticed two new Jobs: ‘God Spirit Mage’ and ‘Ouroboros.’
‘God Spirit Mage’ was likely to simply be the superior version of the ‘Dead Spirit Mage’ Job. But ‘Ouroboros’… What was this Job?
TLN: The ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.
“If I recall correctly, it’s a symbol of eternity… Could it be related to the design that eats its own tail, since I learned cannibalism-related Skills?” Vandalieu wondered.
Demon King Familiars were extensions of himself, so when he used ‘Cannibalism,’ it could be considered to be eating himself.
“Well, I’ve already decided which Job to choose this time. I select ‘Great Demon King,’” he said.
If Vandalieu acquired the ‘Great Demon King’ Job, surpassing ‘Demon King,’ perhaps he would become able to control the Demon King fragments better and perhaps acquire a beautiful, bodybuilder-like physique with the Demon King’s muscles?
Vandalieu succumbed to the temptation of this possibility and selected the ‘Great Demon King’ Job.
《You have changed Jobs to ‘Great Demon King!’》
《The Levels of the ‘Monstrous Strength,’ ‘Super Rapid Regeneration,’ ‘Deadly Venom Secretion: Claws, Fangs, Tongue,’ ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Reigning,’ ‘Surpass Limits: Fragments,’ ‘Labyrinth Creation,’ and ‘Abyss’ Skills have increased!》
《‘Demon King’ has awakened to ‘Great Demon King,’ ‘Thread Refining’ has awakened to ‘Demon Thread Refining,’ ‘Bloodwork’ has awakened to ‘Blood Rule,’ and ‘Surpass Limits: Fragments’ has awakened to ‘Transcend Limits: Fragments!’》
“… I awakened various Skills and the Levels of others increased, but I didn’t hit the maximum level right away like last time,” murmured Vandalieu. “Well then, checking my Skills can come later. The Demon King’s muscles come first.”
He raised his left arm and activated the Demon King’s muscles, picturing his ideal, thick, log-like arm in his mind.
With a creaking sound, his arm split. His muscle fibers leapt out from beneath his skin and swelled up, enveloping it.
“… My arm did indeed get thicker and longer, but I think it’s not quite right,” Vandalieu said with a sigh as he looked at his arm that had been lengthened and thickened by his bizarrely-growing muscles.
It looked powerful, but there was no beauty in its appearance.
Just as this thought ran through Vandalieu’s mind, his arm split once more, his muscle fibers branching out. Each of them then condensed together and transformed into the ideal arm that he had pictured.
“… They are what I pictured, but why are they tentacles?” Vandalieu wondered, looking at the six newly-formed bodybuilder-arm-shaped tentacles with his eyes half-closed. “Maybe because the Demon King was a being from another world, his muscles won’t take the form of the muscles of a human bodybuilder. It’s doubtful as to whether Guduranis was even a mammal, after all.”
Just as he gave up, he heard a notification in his head:
《Your Level has reached the maximum Level!》
In the end, ‘Great Demon King’ had reached Level 100 immediately, just like ‘Demon King’ had.
“After all, I do have more fragments than when I took the ‘Demon King’ Job… My next job… I select ‘Vengeful Berserker.’”
He had thought that this Job might be closely related to the ‘Scream’ Skill, so perhaps he would be able to add audio to yesterday’s unfortunately silent film, but… there weren’t any further changes.
“Well, if all else fails, let’s just hope that there’s a fragment like the Demon King’s vocal cords or something,” Vandalieu told himself as he left the Job-changing room.
The public believed that the evil god had been sealed away, but the crystals in the wastelands had been created and left behind by him. Specialists from the Mages’ Guild and the various Churches were scheduled to investigate them, and while they were doing that, Vandalieu and his companions would be restarting their discussions and coming to agreements regarding their future relationship… the secret diplomatic relations that they would establish.
A few days after that, a funeral was held for Goldie and his family, and various other functions were held, such as the bestowing of awards and announcing the construction of a new temple of Borgadon. Thus, Vandalieu and his companions’ stay in Alcrem ended up being extended for another ten days.
- Name: Vandalieu Zakkart
- Race: Dhampir (Mother: Goddess)
- Age: 11 years old
- Title: Ghoul Emperor, Eclipse Emperor, Guardian of the Cultivation Villages, Holy Son of Vida, Scaled Emperor, Tentacle Emperor, Champion, Demon King, Oni Emperor, Trial Conqueror, Transgressor, Black Blood Emperor, Elder Dragon Emperor, Food Cart King, Genius Tamer, True Ruler of the Entertainment District, Patron Saint of Transformation Equipment
- Job: Vengeful Berserker
- Level: 0
- Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User, Tree Caster, Demon Guider, Archenemy, Zombie Maker, Golem Creator, Corpse Demon Commander, Demon King User, Dark Guider, Labyrinth Creator, Creation Guider, Dark Healer, Disease Demon, Magic Cannoneer, Spirit Warrior, Bestower, Dream Guider, Demon King, Demiurge, Whip Tongue Calamity, Divine Enemy, Dead Spirit Mage, String User, Great Demon King
- Attributes:
- Vitality: 575,691 (Increased by 202,331!)
- Mana: 8,514,741,172 (+7,663,267,054) (Increased by 1,973,394,604 in total!)
- Strength: 58,882 (Increased by 15,531!)
- Agility: 52,751 (Increased by 13,225!)
- Stamina: 62,480 (Increased by 20,433!)
- Intelligence: 67,493 (Increased by 11,095!)
- Passive skills:
- Monstrous Strength: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Super Rapid Regeneration: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dark King Magic: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Status Effect Immunity
- Magic Resistance: Level 9
- Dark Vision
- Dark Dream Demon Creation Path Enticement: Level 9
- Chant Revocation: Level 9
- Guidance: Dark Dream Demon Creation Path: Level 9
- Constant Mana Recovery: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Super Strengthen Subordinates: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Deadly Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Agility: Level 9
- Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 10
- Augmented Attack Power while Unarmed: Small (Awakened from Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed!)
- Strengthened Body Part (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 10
- Demon Thread Refining: Level 1 (Awakened from Thread Refining!)
- Mana Enlargement: Level 9
- Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 9
- Strengthened Attack Power while activating a Magic Cannon: Very Large (LEVEL UP!)
- Augmented Vitality: Level 2
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Reigning: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Worshipped: Level 3
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Demon Empire of Vidal: Level 1
- Self-Regeneration: Cannibalism: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Augmented Attribute Values: Cannibalism: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values when Enveloped in a Soul: Small (NEW!)
- Active skills:
- Blood Rule: Level 1 (Awakened from Bloodwork!)
- Transcend Limits: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Golem Creation: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Hollow King Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Precise Mana Control: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Cooking: Level 8
- Alchemy: Level 10
- Soul Destruction Fighting Technique: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Greater Multi-cast: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surgery: Level 8
- Embodiment: Level 4
- Coordination: Level 10
- Super High-speed Thought Processing: Level 6
- Commanding: Level 10
- Thread-reeling: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Throwing: Level 10
- Scream: Level 7
- God Spirit Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Demon King Artillery Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Armor Technique: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Shield Technique: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Shadow Group Binding Technique: Level 7
- Transcend Limits: Fragments: Level 1 (Awakened from Surpass Limits: Fragments!)
- Spirit Therapy: Level 1
- Whip Technique: Level 3
- Spirit Form Transformation: Lightning
- Staff Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- High-speed Flight: Level 1
- Unique skills:
- God Devourer: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Deformed Multiple Souls (Awakened from Deformed Soul!)
- Mental Encroachment: Level 9
- Labyrinth Creation: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Great Demon King (Awakened from Demon King!)
- Abyss: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Divine Enemy
- Soul Devour: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Vida’s Divine Protection
- Earth’s Gods’ Divine Protection
- Group Thought Processing: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Zantark’s Divine Protection
- Group Control: Level 7
- Soul Form: Level 4
- Demon King’s Demon Eyes
- Origin’s Gods’ Divine Protection
- Ricklent’s Divine Protection
- Zuruwarn’s Divine Protection
- Perfect Record Technique
- Surpass Limits: Soul: Level 1
- Mutation Induction
- Demon King’s Body (Merged with Demon King’s crystals, sweat glands, muscles, and cnidocytes!)
- Demigod
- Curses
- Experience gained in previous life not carried over
- Cannot learn existing jobs
- Unable to gain experience independently
Job explanation: String User
A Job that excels in allowing the user to use threads that they themselves create. It provides bonuses to a variety of things, such as sewing, weaving, combat using specialized threads, and musical performance using stringed instruments.
It can be acquired by those who can create strings and possess an affinity for the death attribute.
Job explanation: Great Demon King
A Job that can be acquired by those who possess the ‘Demon King’ Skill and fragments of the Demon King, and have previously acquired the ‘Demon King’ Job.
Overall, it is the same as the ‘Demon King’ Job, but it generally provides bonuses to more Demon-King-like things, such as the mutation of living creatures and the creation of monsters and Dungeons.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Korath
Wow, Alda faction actually has someone with a brain: spear guy =)
EjPuzatiy
Yeah, lets just slay Vandeley’s plans right this instant and tell the massess the tuth
What do you mean theyll go insane?
Sailon
(“Even so, we wouldn’t have had to let the Demon King do as he pleases and get away with all of this. It’s true that he saved the people of Alcrem from Zerzoregin. I will admit that. But to fool the people he saved, and to receive their worship through fabricated lies… How is he any different from Zerzoregin!”
“More importantly, what happened to Borgadon-dono? If he is still alive, there is no chance that he would overlook the Demon King’s transgressions. Has his soul been devoured like Zerzoregin’s after all…?”)
.
The gods and heroic spirits of Alda faction is really amazingly hypocrites and stupid, they where humans before so they should undenstard the consequences if the truth was revelead the panic that would cause and how would affect Alcrem duchy, and saying Van crateing story to be worship, but the truth he himself killed the evil god would generate alot more worship, the lies he create made the worship not go to Vandalieu but to Borgadon and Vida. And if the truth was revelead Borgadon would complete lose his followers and would make impossible for him to recover.
Hell the truth even hide fact the Alda faction failed to detect a evil gid hide betwen them for 100 000years.
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And another funny fact they act like they never created false story’s to justify their action or to recive worship, like the lies about Vida races as enemies of Mankid, or the fact they erase the existence of the evil gods that betrayed Guduranis and help to defeate him. Hell Alda even lie that he is the leader of the gods. And if they are so strongly believed that truth should be told, they should have revelead the fact Fitun attack a city full of civilians and used them as hostages to fight agaist the “demon king” and that the same “demon king” was the one defending the city.
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Meaning the enemies should never lie but whe can lie and created as many stories to justify our action and to defend the “order and peace of the world. Realy the force of hypocrisy is so strong in them that even Yoda is surprised.
Alke
I knew he would be Daimaou 😏he chose Daimaou for the muscles, yet again got tako muscles 🐙🐙🐙🐙😂😂😂😂
Randy Rando
Just like to point out that van has at least 1 skill that awakened twice and at least 1 that did so 3 times. Blood sucking turned into bloodwork into blood rule, and mental corruption turned into grotesque mind into deformed soul into deformed multiple souls. As a reminder, most A rank adventurers only have about 1 awakened skill at level 1-3 or so. At least, that’s how it was for Borkus when he was introduced.
A_wandering_otter
I want van to pick all the demon/ mythical creature jobs
PrinceHaten
Thanks for the chapter
Zenden1st
Guess that explains the question of my question as to the gods governing the earth attribute…
Alot of them mimic humans.
I think van obliterated the mimic human race to ashes, so I guess we won’t see a new race of mimic humans or undead mimic humans added to talosheims ‘Vidal’ diverse residence.
Dk Muscles don’t seem to work the way Van wants them too, I think its because Dk muscles are emulating vans soul on his physical body, it was said that van soul was distorted because the way his friends put him back together, if I’m not wrong he was originally a giant version of himself.
great demon king instantly lvl up so this makes me wonder wouldn’t he instantly lvl up his jobs like dark king mage hollow king mage god destroyer and soul fighter? itd be a good way of grinding out jobs but van obviously doesn’t pick jobs with 100% devotion to min-maxing or pragmatism.
Nevertheless Id like to see van encounter more evil gods and third parties now on hopefully the ones like evil god of demon castles or evil gods of sinful chains.
Zenden1st
hmm id like to see the political plays duke alcrem will make from now on
Halmep
Me in a nutshell: Eclipse Cursecaster, Pale Rider, Qliphoth, Eclipse Cursecaster, Pale Rider, Qliphoth…
Vandelieu: Well, I’ve already decided which Job to choose this time. I select ‘Great Demon King’.
Me: Noooo…
If Vandalieu acquired the ‘Great Demon King’ Job, surpassing ‘Demon King,’ perhaps he would become able to control the Demon King fragments better and perhaps acquire a beautiful, bodybuilder-like physique with the Demon King’s muscles?
Me: Sniff well that’s so like him….
《Your Level has reached the maximum Level!》
Me: Yeaaaaa!!!
Van: ‘Vengeful Berserker.’
Me: NOOOO!!!!
He had thought that this Job might be closely related to the ‘Scream’ Skill, so perhaps he would be able to add audio to yesterday’s unfortunately silent film, but… there weren’t any further changes
Me: ….sigh
Spruce
I seriously doubt Van would agree to the removal of statues for Alda’s faction. Not only would that raise hostility towards himself and his allies, it’d also potentially weaken their allies who are still technically members of the Peaceful faction. Besides, this being a polytheistic society, just adding Vida and their allies to the temple line-up could help reinforce the teaching of the Peaceful faction and foster more tolerance & camaraderie for her peoples and believers.
Chiu ChunLing
Zerzoregin already demolished the temple along with all the statues, then Van’s Dead Spirit Magic turned it into a smoldering crater, nothing needs to be removed.
I think you’re missing something when you talk about Van’s allies who are technically members of the Peaceful faction. All of Van’s allies are Vida fundamentalists, though some maintain a public stance of secular neutrality.
Irazori
Since Doom-sama hasn’t been active, I might as well say a sacred message some of us were thinking.
ALL HAIL VANDALEIU, THE BENEVOLENT DEATH GOD OF TV AND MOVIES!!!
Alke
You forgot the bodybuilding and magic girls in his list 😇😇
BigKahuna
Had a feeling the donations would explode. I picked a good time to catch covid.
ObserverBias
The heroic spirits mention something about a ‘farce’ and a ‘puppet show’ early on, and I didn’t put 2 and 2 together to figure there /was/ a farce, and wait a moment, there was another update before this one.
(…)
For shame, me, not realizing that I had missed such an important numbered update. For shame.
.
But, yeah, finished this one, then the previous one, so the reveal that there was an actual faked ‘play’ that took place and it wasn’t just the heroic spirits being pithy, was genuinely hilarious, along with the reveal that the ‘heroes of the past’ were likely significantly weaker than they currently are, even accounting for Van being on the scale, so either it was a genuine miracle Guduranis fell, or most of his fragments doing game-breaking gimmicks is his “one” gimmick that let him get that far to begin with.
.
Furthermore, Greater Demon King as a class just took a moment of FLEXing to realize “Wait, no, you’ve definitely already cleared this one as well, move along.”
Chiu ChunLing
Well, the heroic spirits of the past weren’t strong in battle, but the heroes and Champions who were still alive gained the benefits of the Status system and were able to become stronger, and also gained the ability to take down familiar and heroic spirits to let the gods lend their power as well.
Though of course, Bellwood taking down Guduranis would still literally count as a miracle since he must have taken down a portion of Alda’s power to accomplish it. That same miracle could have been accomplished by Zakkart, saving many lives, if Bellwood hadn’t conspired to abandon him to the enemy.
C3pJ0e
TBH I half expected Van to have his arm grow like when luffy uses his third and fourth gears
Chiu ChunLing
That would be hilarious and still far from the image of muscularity Van idealizes.
Humble Bumblebee
“You guys can stop donating for awhile.”
…I refuse!
ravelphenex
i wonder what he’ll become if he pick shaitan job. after all shaitan is another word of satan.
Skarbrand
Maybe it will improve his Mental Encroachment skill and increase his ability to control Demons.
DarkCarnage
ya all the iffy god/demon type jobs will be interesting to see the bonuses they give lol.
Entropy
That was an interesting chapter. It would be funny if Goldie became a familiar god in the same way that pluto had a god version in the bravers world. I imagine this could happen since he died as a hero in front of several people, and did not truly exist so he might end up a mix of a heroic and familiar god. Alda’s group are morons, they thought it might be a good idea to descend and attack both golems. They do realize that would look like they were trying to kill a god on their side. i am surprised that the mountain god has so much personality, I thought he started as a familiar god like curatos and would be pretty simple. Maybe Van can add a statue of him at his home. Van might conquer the world with hair restoring cream. Forget immortality and tasty healing potions, kings would give their treasury not to go bald. Heck if actually works on skin, it might clear up acne as well.
Humble Bumblebee
I think gods don’t come into existence spontaneously in Lambda as easily as Origin and Earth because in the latter two, the different gods are really all part of the same thing that arose organically through human consciousness. That’s why a version of Pluto could become a goddess in Origin so quickly. That’s what I think anyway, and why a version of Goldie isn’t likely to ascend to godhood in Lambda.
Chiu ChunLing
Even if they could come into existence “as easily”, the population of Origin is a hundred times the population of Lambda, so that “as easily” is far less likely to occur. It mentioned before that when the population of Origin and Earth was lower, it would take many generations of belief for new gods to exist, only after the population explosion is it possible for them to emerge in a matter of a few years of popular belief.
Thinking about it from the other side, that’s also why Alda doesn’t regard the increase in population as a desirable thing, it makes it harder for him to monopolize worship to himself and the gods he approves.
Randy Rando
100 times? I was under the impression that Lambda only had about 100k people and that origin is basically Earth with magic. Earth currently has about 8 billion people, 8,000 times that of Lambda
Randy Rando
I mean 80,000 times. Me smart and mat gud.
Triduo
Heinz will be back… But he’ll have a hard time strengthening himself to surpass Van this time ! Even with the gods’ help :
Van’s stats are all over 50 000 now and his Skills are basically making him unkillable.
Paradoxe : Those Gods loves to cheat so they’ll probably train Heinz to become Bellwood’s vessel or some sh-t, I just know it. -___-
Yeah, you might be right… Then again, Vida did the same with Van’s mother in a healthy way, so…
Paradoxe : Heinz will probably become a brain dead skin puppet for this so-called Hero God. -___-
Buphido
…hol up, “Dead Spirit Mage” is mentioned both in the paragraph of Van’s available jobs and in his job history. Is that a mistake by the author? I would think that you can only acquire a job once?
Yoshi
Sorry, that was my mistake. It’s fixed now
prnewt
So Takkard is also a member of the “Turning Shining Light to Darkness” association huh
Lord Rin
That heroic spirit with a spear is once again forced to play nanny for the rest of those other idiotic gods. They immediately decry him as a heretic for even suggesting the possibility that Borgadon has sided with Van and he has to explain at length why it is a possibility in order to calm them down. Then another hot-headed idiot tries to descend to the mortal realm to expose Van’s fabrication and fight him before having to be talked down by the spear god from doing something rash that would inevitably get him killed. Somebody give spear guy a raise. He doesn’t deserve having to deal with this crap. Also who cares if Heinz has recovered? He still needs to continue the Trial of Bellwood and we’ve seen how slow Heinz’ party’s progress is. At their current rate I wouldn’t be surprised if it still takes them at least a year more to complete it.
Meanwhile Van is hosting a Movie Night. I’d said bring the popcorn but I’m not sure if it even exists in Lambda. I mean sure popcorn isn’t exactly a hard thing to make but with how much of an environmental nutjob Bellwood was I wouldn’t be surprised if he banned it. After all he’s the jackass who also banned soy sauce and rice cultivation because of ‘environmental concerns’. Anyways it’s funny how there’ll all busting Bravatiyu’s chops over how bad his acting was. Who knew that somebody could be even worse at line reading than VAN of all people? On the other hand so looks like Duke Alcrem is serious about allying with Van and Vida. He might not be as open-minded as Earl Morksi but at least he’s not stupid. He was able to identify that the benefits of this alliance far outweigh the demerits. Plus he’ll get some Rogaine out of this deal >.>
Anyways looks like everyone was able to get experience from the ‘fight’ against the evil god despite it just being a farce since people like Miriam were able to change jobs despite not participating in the fight against Zerzoregin and I don’t think battling some random Human Mimics would have given enough experience to get a job change. Meanwhile Miriam’s group have now found out Van is a god since they got his divine protection. Meanwhile Van got two new jobs though they don’t seem that surprising. Also it’s kinda funny that previously Van used to be so apprehensive about getting the Demon King job but now he immediately chooses the Great Demon King job because of the possibility of it allowing him to get the swole Hollywood-action star body he always dreamed of. Aaannnddd of course it didn’t out the way he hoped but at least the job maxed out and he was able to pick the Vengeful Berserker job next.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, it would be fine if a few of the stupider gods decided to become Van’s dessert and lend a bit of extra dazzle to the end of the Super Sentai show. Though I’m sure once Sword guy got turned into sparkles and “Oh no! Even the heroic spirits sent by Alda are helpless! Only Vida’s heroes can save us!” most the others would have second thoughts.
I honestly have to wonder how anyone thinks Heinz has a serious shot of turning this around. From what’s been said, isn’t Bellwood being kinda guarded by the Evil God of Sin Chains? Or they’re sealed together while fighting each other. Anyway, it seems like Heinz has to fight the guy that struck down Bellwood…that doesn’t seem like a sure thing.
The movie night is great. I like how it serves as a transition between “alliance of convenience” to “committed friendship”, and the different levels at which it’s working.
There’s got to be another Demon King job, like “Buff Demon King”.
Tejing
Wow, that was a big jump in the queue. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that large… 🙂
These heroic spirits have no right to judge how Van and the Duke deal with this situation after totally failing to even notice an Evil God in their midst for 100k years…
Heinz is back huh? Guess the conflict will begin to heat up soon.
Give them a bit and the 5 Knights will fit right in with Van and the gang. I’m glad to see the Demon Empire of Vidal has a positive relationship with a human territory for the first time. This should lead to some pretty interesting stuff going forward.
He’s surpassed 16 billion mana, he’s up to half a million vitality, and he’s clear 50k in all his other stats. Overall, it’s quite the improvement.
I sort of wonder what the deal is with demon thread refining, but I’m betting there’s not really much that’s new about it, just more of the same.
The cannibalism skills are interesting. I wonder how broadly they apply? Perhaps he can devour his own soul without negative consequences now? Or even with a positive result? That would be pretty awesome.
I’m still waiting to understand a bit better what comes of wrapping himself in his soul the way he does, but it’s certainly good that he got a skill to improve on that.
I did not expect Bloodwork to awaken again, but Blood Rule sounds really cool. It’s probably just the same skill, but better, though.
Armor Technique and Shield Technique are on the verge of awakening now… anyone have any thoughts about what they might turn into? Soul Wrapping Armor Technique or something similar, perhaps? Not sure about the Shield Technique though.
Deformed Multiple Souls is cool, but not really news. He’s been something of a distributed existence for some time, now he’s just moreso. Think maybe it will fuse with Group Thought Processing and/or Group Control at some point?
Oh dear, Abyss is level 10… what kind of ludicrous skill will it awaken into? I’m somewhat afraid to contemplate it…
I’m still rather interested to see what uses Van comes up with for the Demon King’s Crystals. The Muscles are obviously pretty generally useful, even if he can’t make himself look buff, but the Sweat Glands and Cnidocytes seem pretty situational.
Chiu ChunLing
Oh, hey, if he can devour his own soul in a more controlled and beneficial manner, he could probably really get rid of those curses, eh? And remake his soul into the form of a superb bodybuilder while he’s at it…if everyone’s willing to cooperate and not rebuild him in some Eldritch Abomination themed design again.
I still don’t really get how Crystals are even a body part, but Sweat Glands are awesome even if all they do is control heat damage (I bet they can be used to make some kind of strange potions too). Cnidocytes are obviously super useful for drastically increasing contact poisoning damage, which would synergize really well with Tentacles using Whip Technique.
Doc
“But to fool the people he saved, and to receive their worship through fabricated lies… How is he any different from Zerzoregin!””
You’re right nameless heroic spirit. Van should have told the people that Alda’s gods failed to notice an evil god masquerading as the god of the Mountains for a hundred thousand years. Allowing an evil god to grow stronger on false worship. Thus potentially leading to everybody that Van tells that truth to, to begin doubting their beliefs to other gods, leading to their entire power structure weakening. Absolute idiot.
And what worship would Van receive? Nobody apart from the Duke’s inner circle knows of Van’s involvement. If they mean worship for Vida through Darcia’s involvement, well, that’s what your side gets for doing nothing to help and is deserved payment for Van solving what was their responsibility.
Also, them not knowing the fate of Borgadon confuses me with how much these gods/spirits can actually see of the mortal plane. Like sometimes they seem to follow most of what is happening, down to details that even people at the place wouldn’t notice. Yet here they don’t notice the soul of a god floating around, casually having a conversation with Van? Even if they can’t hear what’s happening, I feel like a god, even a very weakened one, should be immediately noticible.
The spear holding heroic spirit referencing the “fallen champion” I believe is Zakkart if I’m remembering correctly. So absolutely Borgadon would side with what is essentially Zakkart’s reincarnation (well, a piece of his soul, as well as a piece of Hillhallow’s soul that was his master’s champion).
Interesting that Van spilled the complete beans to Duke Alcrem. I suppose there’s no great risk in hiding that he’s the Emporer of a country, though I would have maybe kept some things close to the chest.
Doc
Also, so since when has Darcia’s race been “goddess”? Like, I know she can be Vida’s incarnation when she invokes that skill. I know she has titles like holy mother and people may refer to her as a goddess, but I thought her actual race was still “chaos elf”. But the colon after her name in Van’s stats said, “Goddess”.
Though that would fit Van’s “demigod” status in a more literal way now if that’s the case.
Doc
This chapter just had so much to talk about. The idea that the “god of mountains” is a “lesser” known god that people outside of the Alcrem Dutchy might not even know of seems silly to me. I mean a mountain is a pretty obvious visual thing. In a world where they seem to have gods for every possible type of cloud, 1 god representing all mountains seems pretty major to me. And Botin created him during ancient times so you’d think everybody would be aware of him. Anybody who looks at a tall mountain peak and gives a prayer for safety when climbing it or people mining ore from mountains would strengthen that god. I mean there would be domains within nations completely reliant on mountains. Am I to believe none of these regions apart from Alcrem give the god of mountains worship?
Lord Rin
Remember that gods can see through the eyes of their believers which is why they can sometimes know things that should be impossible to know but in this situation they wouldn’t have any believers around for them to see through to learn about the state of Borgadon. Meanwhile they can also just look down from above like they were previously doing to observe Talosheim but they aren’t likely to do that now for fear that Van’s Abyss skill will alert him to their spying or they might be scared that they’d be mentally attacked like the gods who had been observing Talosheim previously who’d mostly pass out except for Bashas who ended up guided and switching sides. Speaking of which I wonder how they’ll react when they learn Bashas, Zelzeria and Hamul have switched sides?
As for Darcia’s race, it has never said ‘Goddess’ itself but she is Vida’s Incarnation which was enough to change Van’s race from dhampir(dark elf) to dhampir(goddess) right after Darcia had been resurrected. Darcia’s race still is Chaos Elf Source but since she’s also Vida’s Incarnation then that also technically makes her a type of demigod.
I think they consider Borgadon a lesser known god probably because he hasn’t really done anything. There’s just the story of him sealing the evil god Forzajibal but that’s it and as was once explained, people tend to worship gods based on how powerful they appear. Since Borgadon only has one story about him then most people would rather choose to worship a different god who has more stories about them and is more active like Alda or Fitun while Borgadon is only really worshipped in Alcrem Duchy because that is the location where he was supposedly sealing an evil god and would from time to time ‘prevent’ the evil god from escaping. This was mentioned to be a practice started by Alda when he named himself the Chief of Gods and is something unnatural since before every god was worshipped more or less equally.
Doc
Brativya, Duke Alcrem, as well as any of the Duke’s inner circle that weren’t guided by Van (Ralmeya, Badira) would still be believers of Alda. Because the Duke’s chosen to side with Vida doesn’t mean they didn’t still worship Alda’s gods beforehand. In a past chapter Alda’s gods could observe Van and his subordinates directly through people Van was interacting with up until the moment Van guided them.
And for “they couldn’t look down from above out of fear of Van’s Abyss skill”, I believe the skill only activates when Van is the target being looked at. Clearly these heroic spirits observed the puppet show somehow. The only 2 methods we know are through someone’s eyes or by direct observation from above.
And my point was even if they couldn’t visually see Borgadon, the dude’s a god. Can they not like detect the worship going to gods?
As for Borgadon not having “done anything”, I find that reasoning dubious. I mean what had Curatos, the god of records “done” in order to be known? He was a subordinate to Alda but unlike Fitun had no heroic deeds to his name. He simply served a function within the gods domain yet when his statue broke the entire continent knew and was shocked. Again, mountains are a tangible thing. As are the benefits one can receive from them. If there is a “god” that represents them then it shouldn’t matter what personal deeds that god has done. It’d be like saying if there was a god of the ocean that hadn’t done anything, people wouldn’t give prayers to it when out at sea.
Chiu ChunLing
People might pray to Botin or another Earth Attribute god instead of Borgadon, especially if they’ve never heard of Borgadon. And outside of Alcrem, the site of his legend, he’s not very famous. This is like how Alda robbed Vida’s divinity over the Life Attribute except it doesn’t require any outright lies.
To use a more fitting example, it’s how Gufadgarm became the primary god of Dungeons after the Evil God of Demon Castles was sealed and mostly forgotten. I bet there are gods of cliffs and landslides and a lot of other things to do with mountains.
Tejing
Darcia’s Race isn’t “Goddess”, but Van’s race line in his status has called his mother a “Goddess” since chapter 192 when she reincarnated and became Vida’s Incarnation. I guess you just missed it in every status since? There’s been a fair amount of discussion about what exactly that means, but Word of Densuke says that it does mean Van has an unlimited lifespan. Personally I prefer to think of this in the terms that, in a way, Vida is like Van’s parent in addition to Darcia, since she had a direct hand in his reincarnation, and the status system had no way to represent this, but when Darcia became Vida’s Incarnation, it changed the way it described his situation (by this interpretation, he actually always had an unlimited lifespan, but just didn’t know it). Afaik this interpretation doesn’t contradict anything established in the story, and avoid the nonsensical idea that the change to his mother’s situation somehow magically affected his lifespan.
Doc
“in every status since”… Bit condescending on the question. You state this like Van’s status updates appear constantly. They don’t. And it’s a single word in what is a continuously growing status. Sorry I apparently didn’t notice the change. The line is connected to Van’s race and shows his living parent and what you would think would be her race to give context to where Van comes from. Thus why I made the crazy leap of logic of thinking Darcia’s race was “goddess” instead of chaos elf source which you’d only know when the author rarely shows her current status.
Chiu ChunLing
Yes, but before complaining about it you could have checked. Or if you were really simply asking sincerely, you could have accepted the answer with honest thanks.
Chiu ChunLing
Hahah, true, but I would have gone with the more direct point that Alda has also been lying to everyone all this time about the reasons for his war on Vida and her races.
The problem for the gods is that most of what they see is only what their worshippers see, and what they see directly peeking down from their Divine Realms. If none of their worshippers saw Borgadon, and he wasn’t easily visible from above, then they’d have to rely on sensing his mana, which was mostly stolen by Zeroregin and consumed with him.
And I think it’s true that Van would’ve devoured him without a second thought if he acted like Yupeon, which is how most of Alda’s faction assumes all ‘true’ gods would act.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Seinvolf
—but upon hearing the words ‘hair grown and restoration,’ his eyes lit up, and he reached out and took the V Cream. And so began the relationship between Vandalieu, Emperor of the Demon Empire of Vidal, and Takkard, head of the Alcrem house of dukes.
XD…
WholesomeAF
Thanks for the chapter! Kudos to all who supported! Dang you’re all solid guys! Also author, stay safe and healthy!
WholesomeAF
I meant TL anyway you guys knew
nadirku
wow, that thirty chapter in a day is amazing!
Also, I kind of like how with the “Demon King”, and “Great Demon King” jobs the novel is just like: “we know Vandalieu is a great demon king, ha ha, moving on”.
Moonfang
Ah, Heinz being mentioned right as “vengeful berserker” is picked up? Nothing dramatic happening here, for sure lol
no1
good point, hopefully leading up to an exciting battle in the future, or maybe a one sided massacre, whichever works for me 🙂
Lord Rin
Heinz still needs to finish Alda’s dungeon and his group has always been hella slow so I don’t think there’ll be any encounter between Van and Heinz any time soon.
Chiu ChunLing
Maybe he’ll gain the power to express his anger at his enemies with his facial expressions during a fight.
no1
Another chapter and so soon. This is a good day. So the Heroic spirits are helpless as usual and I guess Heinz is finally making a comeback. He’s been out of commission since the end of vol 9, gone for almost 70 chapters, wow. Haven’t seen Van’s stats in a while, good to know. Finally the great demon king job and just like last time, another job immediately after. This was a good chapter thank you Yoshi and hope to see the next one soon 🙂
X07Zero
Thank for the chapters ^^
As a leecher, this Novel’s supporters is so awesome XD
and I found it aa irony that because of COVID we have this many chapters in a short time =_=;
WholesomeAF
I have mixed feelings as well. Anyway, let’s just be thankful TL won’t have any trouble financially in his quarantine period.