Chapter 63: Ah, the sound of revenge is so sweet.
The stronghold, where General Langil Mauvid, Chezare Legston and several hundred defensive troops remained, was in a state of chaos.
This had been caused by Isla and her subordinates ceasing to hide their true identities.
"General! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Isn't it obvious! They're Magic Items that allow the use of Flight!"
"Then why are those mercenaries being burned by the sunlight?!"
"You're mistaken! That's because of the poison that the Dhampir released!"
"Why were those mercenaries disguised in the first place?!"
"Th-that's… How should I know!"
For Chezare and the rest of the people present, Vampires were evil monsters. They found it difficult to accept that such monsters had been moving in and out of the stronghold as if they owned the place. And those Vampires had been disguised as a mercenary band specially hired by General Mauvid. He had even listened to several of her opinions.
"I-I'm sure that the Vampires replaced the real mercenaries somewhere! I have nothing to do with them!" Mauvid insisted.
But with this many suspicious circumstances, there was no way that his words could be believed.
"You bastard, the Vampires are your accomplices!"
"Your objective is for all of us to be annihilated, isn't it! That's why the mercenaries said that the whole army should advance earlier!"
"You insolent fools, know your place! You dare defy Earl Mauvid, a general of the Empire?!"
"Shut up, shut up! That means you're a traitor who's with the Vampires as well!"
The stronghold was no longer that of an expedition army. There were two groups in chaos, Mauvid with the protégé subordinates he had brought with him from the Empire, and Chezare with the soldiers from the Mirg shield-nation.
Th-those damned Vampires! Were they planning to betray me and throw me away? But it won't work, I'm not a man who will meet his end here!
And so Mauvid prioritized his own survival and tried to find a way out of this place, but…
"Damn it! Who cares about the general now! Retreat! Start the retreat! Organize the rear troops and slow the enemy down! We're all going to be killed at this rate!" Chezare was leaving Mauvid aside and ordering the expedition army to retreat.
While they were having this unproductive argument, the enemy was harvesting the lives of their soldiers like wheat.
High Priest Gordan and Riley were still holding out, but at this rate, annihilation was inevitable.
"Have the stronghold's men go around the back!" Chezare ordered.
"What?! Chezare, what are you saying, you bastard! If you do that, what troops will there be left to protect us?!" Mauvid demanded.
"General, what are you saying at a time like this -"
"Silence! Not a single one of my men will move!"
Chezare made a noise of frustration.
If the argument continued, a deadly battle between the Mirg shield-nation's troops and Mauvid's protégé knights and soldiers could break out in the stronghold. In terms of numbers, the Mirg shield-nation's side would likely win, but this wasn't the time to do this.
Now that things had come to this, Chezare wanted to organize a rear guard with at least the Mirg shield-nation's troops, but though they were soldiers, they were still humans in the end. There would be an outburst of dissatisfaction at the order to march towards death while the Empire's men remained in the stronghold.
General Mauvid's authority had fallen to the ground now that he had been revealed as an accomplice to the Vampires. Why should the soldiers have to die so that those allied with the Vampires could retreat? That was what the soldiers would surely think.
If only Chezare and Mauvid's positions were reversed…
"Ah! The Vampires have been defeated!"
"It's a miracle from Alda!"
On the image of the battlefield projected and magnified with light-attribute magic, they could see Isla having her head cut off by an enemy woman wielding a sword.
The reality was that it was Zadiris and the other Ghouls who had burned Isla, and the women was Eleanora, another Noble-born Vampire. But as those here didn't know the exact details of the situation, the light must have looked like a miracle of Alda.
Chezare felt some relief, hoping that this would somehow cause some of the chaos to subside.
"I-Isla-dono…"
General Mauvid and his confidants among his protégé soldiers turned pale. For them, Isla and her subordinates had been the lifeline for this expedition.
They would be safe no matter what happened, as long as they had the Vampires who were individually powerful enough to stand up to a thousand men, especially Isla who would be difficult to defeat without the help of an A-class adventurer. Victory was assured. That was what they had believed.
"I-it's over! Retreat! Cover me so I can retreat!" shouted Mauvid.
"General?!"
Mauvid started running to escape the stronghold. He was trying to abandon the soldiers being killed on the battlefield right now, and everything else, in an attempt to save himself.
Langil Mauvid had succeeded the position of general, but he wasn't a heroic soldier or a calm strategist. He was more like a politician who was knowledgeable about military matters.
He would receive information from the Vampires who worshipped the evil god, produce results at their convenience and make various excuses to the finance minister in order to secure budgets.
He didn't possess any fighting power himself, nor did he have the resolve to engage in a fight to the death.
It was the duty of soldiers to exchange their lives for those of the enemy on the battlefield, and as long as he kept the chair in the stronghold warm, his subordinates would bring achievements to him.
That was why he would normally never have chosen to become the commander of this expedition army, but he had agreed to do so because he had been overconfident in the power of Isla and the other Vampires and his own sense of self-worth that they had given him.
"All forces, retreat! Protect me!" Mauvid ran, practically foaming at the mouth.
"General… No, you are no longer our general!" Chezare tried to order arrows to be fired at Mauvid's back.
He would dispose of him for the crime of desertion. His incompetence had been revealed and it would have been better if there were no soldiers who obeyed such incompetence, but even so, he was officially the supreme commander. If word got out that the supreme commander tried to flee, the expedition army would no longer maintain its appearance as an army. It would fall apart and it would become every man for himself. And then they would be killed by their pursuers or by wild monsters.
That had to be avoided.
"Arch… ers! Rangil is… running before the enemy…"
Before he could finish speaking, Chezare began coughing violently. His throat became painful and hoarse, unable to produce words.
As he looked on with blurry eyes, he saw that Mauvid had already collapsed. No, it wasn't just Mauvid; all of his protégé knights had been unable to remain on their feet. The other leaders of the expedition army were scattering the contents of their stomachs across the ground and groaning in pain with their faces drenched in tears and mucus.
Could this… be!
"This is the stronghold!"
"Kill all the leaders! King's orders are to kill them in a way that their faces can still be identified, especially the general and nobles!"
"We'll chase the ones who ran!"
As Chezare tried to get onto his feet, still coughing violently, an Undead Titan dressed in black, a black Goblin with his mouth covered by a cloth and a monster resembling a Kobold, mounted on a Raptor, charged in and broke the stronghold's tent.
One of them, the Undead Titan, was holding a soldier with no arms or legs who was still alive, gasping for breath, in one hand. Seeing this, Chezare understood what had happened.
"One down!" Zran killed Chezare with a strangely-shaped double-edged knife… a kunai that had been custom-made by Datara.
He had made one of the soldiers from the battlefield more portable and brought him here to spread the disease, and now he smashed the soldier's head. By the time he did that, Braga and the other Black Goblins had finished finishing off the expedition army's leaders, so he gave them further orders.
"Let's go, you lot!" he shouted. "This is our first battle as the ninja unit! Let's make a show of it and gain some achievements! Those who do well will get a reward from the Holy Son!"
"I want honey!"
"Tempura for me!"
This was the ninja unit with Zran, whose Rank had increased for him to become a Zombie Ninja, as the captain. Braga, a Black Goblin Ninja, was the vice-captain. A cavalry unit of Anubis Riders led by Zemedo weren't far behind, riding across the battlefield mounted on tamed monsters.
… It seemed that Vandalieu hadn't explained that ninjas were supposed to conceal themselves.
The expedition's soldiers, unaware that the stronghold had been overrun, were still making independent decisions to put up a resistance. In other words, they had been unable to maintain their coordination as an army, fighting in separate, platoon-sized groups.
The messengers had also been defeated by the disease and the stronghold had been annihilated after failing to recover from the chaos. The only orders were coming from the leaders currently on the battlefield.
The reason they continued fighting despite this was not because they were proud heroes who would fight with their lives on the line, but because they were simply unable to escape due to their stamina having been taken by the disease and because to them, the enemy didn't look as if they would accept a surrender.
"GAAAAH!"
"FUGOOOH!"
Enormous bee-like monsters, Undead, Ghouls and Black Orcs holding shields, axes and mauls charged at the soldiers from behind.
But among the elite soldiers of the Mirg shield-nation, there were some whose minds would break after being placed in this situation.
"No, I don't want to die! I'm going to become a father soon!"
"I see. Then you should have trained yourself more," said Basdia. Her axe, imbued with wind from an enchantment she had cast herself, split the head of the soldier who had apparently left his pregnant wife back in his home country.
"I can't die in a place like this! I'm going to go home and propose to Milly! And then she and I will -"
"I'm going to confess after this battle is over, too," said the Orcus Gorba as he swung his club at the desperately-struggling man who appeared to be a knight. With a lethal-sounding noise, the knight was sent flying into the air before rolling across the ground.
"Wait, I have a family -"
"Huh?! There aren't many who don't!" Borkus cut down soldiers begging for their lives, one after another. Vandalieu had explained beforehand that no prisoners were to be taken, and there was no reason to listen to the soldiers begging for their lives anyway.
For the inhabitants of Talosheim, the expedition army was an invading force that outnumbered them by more than three to one. They had to reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible while they could.
There was no need to feel sympathy for the invaders and their circumstances.
And Death-Attribute Charm would have no effect on those who would beg for their lives because they didn't want to die.
"You lot! Put some heart into it!" shouted Riley. His mind still had not been broken. After recovering from the disease with the anti-status-effect Potion that he had brought just in case, he had regained his posture and was destroying Stone Golems and using Overpower to mow down the Cemetery Bees that were flying around.
"But, Master…" Gennie began to protest.
Flark was wordlessly struggling to breathe.
"Give us the Potion, too…" said Messara, choking.
Riley was the only one able to recover and fight. The three criminal slaves that formed his party were already unable to move.
Gennie was so pale that it seemed that he could collapse at any moment; Flark was holding his shield, but he was out of breath. Messara was already on the ground, unable to stand up.
Riley clicked his tongue at his disappointing slaves as he examined the situation around him.
The expedition army's numbers had already been halved, and there were more trying to flee than there were putting up a fight. The only ones still fighting in an organized manner were the group of priest-warriors led by High Priest Gordan and a handful of knights and soldiers who had managed to join up with them.
They had formed a circle and were trying to retreat while casting healing magic on themselves.
If only Riley could regroup with them… no, if he couldn't, he likely wouldn't survive.
"Tch! We're grouping up with those guys!"
"You can't do that!"
A grand, sharp, long-ranged Sky Rend attack came flying in. Riley avoided it with Waltz, a defensive martial skill that used his weapon to spin and deflect the attack.
"You bastard…" he muttered.
"Hoh, you just used Waltz to stop my attack. As expected of an A-class adventurer," said Borkus.
Riley's Overpower should have cleared everyone around him, but Borkus was standing there. From his appearance, Riley instantly knew that he was distinctly different from the Ghouls and the other Undead.
Riley's experience as an adventurer and, more importantly, his Intuition, were screaming at him. That he was in danger.
"What's wrong with you? Why is someone like you obeying a Dhampir brat?!" he demanded.
The Sky Rend that Riley had blocked earlier was clearly not a serious attack. Borkus had sent it at him after calling out to him, rather than at the same time.
This was a clearly superior foe. Why was such a being acting as a Dhampir's subordinate?!
"Isn't it obvious? It's a request. And I've even been made the military officer." The remaining half of Borkus's lips rose in a smile as he gave a vague reply, and then he raised his sword over his head. "People call you the second coming of Mikhail, don't they? I was killed by him two hundred years ago, you see, so I want to see if you're really his second coming or not."
"So, you're a loser who wants to vent his anger. How pathetic," said Riley. But he felt a physical pressure from the bloodthirst being directed at him and his survival instincts were screaming. And yet, this wasn't an opponent he could turn his back and run from.
"You lot! Get up! Stand in front of me!"
Flark, whose actions were restricted by the collar of subordination around his neck, staggered as he obeyed Riley's command.
"Gennie! Messara! You guys as well! Hurry up!"
Gennie and Messara screamed in response to these orders.
"No way! I'm supposed to be positioned at the back, you know?!" Messara protested.
"Th-that's right, Master, what are you thinking, using a Scout like me as a shield?!"
Gennie was at least wearing leather armor, but Messara was only wearing a special dress that emphasized magical defense. Against Borkus's magic sword, both would be equivalent to a single sheet of paper.
"Shut up! You slaves are pieces of equipment for your owner! Die so that I can live!" shouted Riley as he raised his spear and focused his mind. It was pointed at the backs of his three slaves, and it was clear that he was under the assumption that he would sacrifice them.
"No way! Haven't we been doing our best to serve you all this time, Master!" Gennie pleaded.
"Wait! You said you'd release me and make me your mistress when you became a nobleman!" said Messara. "Was that a lie?!"
Borkus did indeed see the screaming Gennie and Messara, and Flark whose hopeless eyes could be seen through the gap in his helmet, as pieces of equipment for Riley.
Criminal slaves were those who would normally be executed or imprisoned for their entire lives, and as an Undead, Borkus could see the spirits of their victims that were haunting them.
There was no room for sympathy.
"Don't you worry, after I kill you, I'll drink the alcohol I'll be rewarded with to honor your… memory!" Borkus was unsure if Riley remembered these words but said them anyway as he charged forward rapidly.
"… Iron Wall!" Flark activated his martial skill as his last act of resistance.
"Triple Slaaaash!" roared Borkus as his magic sword went straight through Flark's shield and severed his torso.
"DAMN IT, GEH?!"
"NOOOOOOO!"
Gennie swung his knives with tears streaming down his face and Messara raised her staff, but Borkus's second and third attacks cut them down.
And then Riley roared as he unleashed his most powerful martial skill.
"HUNDRED RENDING SCREW THRUUUUSTS!"
But his Spear Technique skill was level 8. Meanwhile, Borkus's Swordsmanship skill had maxed out and awakened into a superior skill, Sword King Technique. He was a superhuman with a sword.
Even Riley's greatest martial skill wasn't difficult for Borkus to block. He used Flowing Willow, a martial skill that would deflect his opponent's attack…
"Hmm?"
The flesh on Borkus's shoulder was torn away.
Riley's spear had been faster and sharper than Borkus's Flowing Willow.
Borkus had indeed deflected the attack that was aimed at his head, but his armor that had been made from Dragon materials was pierced and he was losing flesh from his arm and his leg.
As he saw Riley's lips rising in a smile, Borkus remembered something. He could do the same thing that Riley was doing right now.
"If I recall, it's Surpass Limits - Magic Sword. Was this how to do it?"
This was a skill that caused a wielded Magic Item to perform beyond the limits of its ability. Most individuals with Jobs such as Magic Sword User and Magic Spear User had such a skill. Riley had used this skill to slip through Borkus's defenses.
And of course, as a former A-class adventurer who held the Title of Sword King, Borkus could also use this skill.
He swung his sword, remembering how he had used the skill while he was alive.
『The level of Borkus's Surpass Limits - Magic Sword skill has been restored to level 10! The Surpass Limits - Magic Sword skill has awakened into the Transcend Limits - Magic Sword skill!』
"Ah?" Riley let out a noise of surprise.
His spear, which had been caught in Borkus's Flowing Willow, was sent flying from his hand.
"Huh, you're nothing special after all."
In front of Riley's now-empty hand was an enormous swordsman, wielding a magic sword that was glowing with Mana.
"Th-there's no way, right? I-I'm not someone who can die in a place like this, I'm supposed to become a hero -"
"You can't," said Borkus. "Pierce."
As the magic sword pierced his heart, Riley's tongue hung loosely out of his mouth as blood poured out of it, and then he stopped moving.
"By the way, this isn't the end. In fact, it's just the beginning," Borkus told Riley's spirit.
Vandalieu breathed in deep, filling his chest with the air of the plains that was filled with the smell of blood and entrails.
And then a sense of superiority, a sense of intoxication, a sense of accomplishment, happiness and hunger all came to him at once.
He had to be calm; he was going to take his revenge now, so he needed to stay calm.
This war would end with an overwhelming victory for him and his allies. That was already a confirmed fact for Vandalieu.
Stepping onto the battlefield himself, even for a moment, was something Vandalieu had done completely on a whim. There was some strategic purpose to him doing so, but it was slight in the big scheme of things, so it was just a whim in the end.
But children are whimsical creatures.
"Get up, get up, get up," Vandalieu murmured as he sped across the ground. By having increased his Agility and using Spirit Form Transformation on just his internal organs, he had mastered a way of moving at the speed of a wild beast.
He was headed for the only group that was putting up an organized resistance, the one led by High Priest Gordan.
"Alda is with us!" shouted a priest-warrior.
"Do not falter! There is still hope yet!" said a knight, encouraging his allies.
High Priest Gordan was leading them at the front of the group.
"Alda be my witness! Steel Crusher!" With his wrinkled face twisted in an expression so ferocious that even a demon might flee from him, he swung his war club at Vigaro.
Vigaro's Orichalcum waistband received the blow with a clang, but he let out a groan and fell back.
Though it was a piece of defensive equipment made of Orichalcum, it was something that Vandalieu had turned into a wearable shape, attached to a belt and clasps made by Tarea's working team. Strictly speaking, it was just a crude piece of armor made of a magical metal. As it was indeed made of Orichalcum, it did not break, but it seemed that it was unable to completely negate the impact.
"Kuh! What is the meaning of this, there are large numbers of Ghouls and Undead wearing Artifacts on their bodies…!" Gordan had no room to work with, despite having repelled Vigaro. The disease had taken his stamina, he had spent Mana on spells to recover from the disease and then he had fought continuously in this state.
During this, he had successfully purged the Vampires who had fallen to the sunlight that he assumed was a miracle from Alda, but other than that, he hadn't achieved anything with the exception of destroying more Stone Golems that were clearly disposable.
Even the anti-Undead spells cast by Gordan and his group were blocked by the magical defense of Orichalcum equipment, so the Undead could not be defeated.
"At this rate, I will be unable to fulfil the Divine Message and everyone will…" As Gordan murmured these words to himself, in the corner of his vision, he noticed a white shadow closing in like some kind of illusion. "That's -!"
"That's him."
Gordan and Vandalieu both laid eyes on their target and began moving at the same time.
"Take this, Projectile Attack!" Gordan unleashed a Club Technique martial skill that sent a shockwave flying at Vandalieu from his war club.
"… Death Bullet." Vandalieu released a rapid-fire of Death Bullets, aimed at everyone other than Gordan.
Gordan's Projectile Attack was easily evaded by Vandalieu. As he could sense attacks with Danger Sense: Death, it was only natural that he could avoid an attack that was released from such a distance.
Vandalieu's Death Bullets struck the shields and armor of the priest-warriors around Gordan. As they were in a circle formation, if they evaded these projectiles, their allies on the inside and the other side of the circle could be hit, so evading hadn't been an option for them.
These magic attack projectiles that were the size of a fingertip could be withstood by using the last of their Mana to use the Rock Wall and Rock Form martial skills. That was what they had thought, but…
Letting out surprised groans, they fell to the ground with their eyes rolling up.
"Kaufman?! Erik?!"
"No way, he took two out with one attack?!"
Wow, they're weak.
These two priest-warriors had been brought here by Gordan; they were supposed to be superior to the expedition army's soldiers. Even Vandalieu was surprised that they had died instantly.
But he had cast the spell that had brought down a Hydra, Rank 6 Dragon with powerful regenerative abilities and a large amount of Vitality, with several shots. And he had used even more Mana than he had back then. There was no way that mere priest-warriors with martial skills like Rock Wall and Rock Form could withstand it.
But Vandalieu ignored his surprise as he continued firing more Death Bullets into the two new person-sized holes in the circular formation.
"Guah!"
"Ugh…"
"Alda! Give me your - gyah…"
Vandalieu fired the projectiles rapidly, aiming for their legs. As Death Bullet was a spell that simply consumed Vitality, it had the same effect whether it hit the torso or the fingernail, so the mages and archers in the center were falling in unusual ways.
"Kuh, leave this to me!" Gordan, having decided that they would all be wiped out at this rate, stepped out to face Vandalieu.
"Everyone, fall back! Leave this to Vandalieu!" Vigaro ordered, and the Ghouls retreated.
In the short amount of time this gave him, Gordan offered a prayer to Alda.
"My lord! Please send me one of your familiar spirits so that this foul Dhampir may be destroyed!"
It was not a mere prayer, but a requirement of using the Familiar Spirit Descent skill that only chosen saints could use.
A pillar of light fell from the sky, surrounding Gordan. A halo appeared over his head and a pair of wings made of light emerged from his back.
The god's familiar spirit that normally possessed no physical body descended upon Gordan's, augmenting all of his Attribute Values. This was his trump card.
"Iron Form! Steel Wall! Light Blade!" Gordan activated multiple defensive martial skills in succession and even cast a spell with Chant Revocation, something made possible by the familiar spirit that had descended upon him. A blade of light that would cut down even a giant closed in on Vandalieu.
But it was blocked by Vandalieu's Magic Absorption Barrier and vanished.
"Break! Diamond Club!" Gordan's movements didn't slow in the slightest. With his war club made of glittering Mythril, he made a full swing aimed at Vandalieu's head.
Vandalieu's head silently flew off his neck.
The priest-warriors cheered, and the Ghouls held their breath.
And then Gordan let out a groan of pain.
He had taken a direct hit from a Death Bullet fired by the headless Vandalieu.
"What's wrong? Did you think you'd killed me just because I have no head?" Vandalieu had used Spirit Form Transformation on his head and separated it from his body at the right timing.
"You damn monster," Gordan spat. He knew that without his Familiar Spirit Descent and his martial skills, the Death Bullet would have likely killed him instantly.
And because Vandalieu's Death Bullet carried the effects of Soul Break, around a third of Gordan's Mana had been erased.
"I do not know how you have taken my Mana, but with Familiar Spirit Descent, I am able to borrow the familiar spirit's Vitality and Mana," said Gordan. "I now have 100,000 Mana! It is not an amount you can erase completely!"
"… Is that all?"
Even if you boast about having just 100,000 Mana… Vandalieu thought as he grew a second spirit-form head at his torso.
"More importantly, this is a precious one-on-one battle. Let's continue," he said.
"You monster… What about this is a one-on-one battle?!" Gordan demanded.
"…? I'm alone, it's just that I've divided my body." Vandalieu was using the Parallel Thought Processing and Long-distance Control skills to control multiple bodies, but he only had one soul, so he was still just one person.
"Silence! I will not listen to your tomfoolery!" shouted Gordan. Though Vandalieu had simply spoken the truth, it seemed that Gordan hadn't understood.
Well, Vandalieu would find it unpleasant if the conversation continued and Gordan started spewing vomit from his mouth instead of words, so he decided to carry on.
"Now then, from here this time." Vandalieu extended his claws and used Spirit Form Transformation on his arms. He extended and divided them into whips.
He resembled Avalokiteśvara*, who he had seen in art textbooks on Earth. If he recalled, Avalokiteśvara had two… how many arms again? Well, it didn't matter. He was just using Avalokiteśvara as a reference.
And then he began to resemble a hundred-handed giant known as a Hekatonkheire from Greek mythology more than Avalokiteśvara, he brought his arms down one after another towards Gordan, whose face had frozen with astonishment.
"Whip Attack." Vandalieu used an Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skill that could normally only be used by Ghoul men, who had longer arms than legs. However, the first attack was easily deflected by Gordan's shield.
"Hmph! Using the Ghouls' martial skill! But before my Steel Wall, such a skill is -"
"Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack."
Vandalieu's arms were swinging endlessly. All of them were using Whip Attack.
Impossible! How could he use that martial skill so many times consecutively?!
A normal person… No, even a superhuman's head wouldn't be able to process this. But Vandalieu had already used Whip Attack dozens, hundreds of times.
Could it be… I-impossible!
In the gap between Vandalieu's countless arms, Gordan saw the head that he had sent flying earlier.
"Whip Attack."
"Whip Attack, Whip Attack."
"Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack, Whip Attack."
What Gordan saw resembled a bunch of grapes.
But it was an aberrant sight; each of the fruit in this bunch of grapes was a child's head with a hollow pair of eyes.
"Monster…!" For the first time, there was fear in Gordan's voice.
Watching him with his countless eyes, Vandalieu felt the urge to laugh.
Back then, Darcia was burned at the stake, but Vandalieu had been unable to do anything but hide in the ground like a worm in order to survive. Now, Gordan feared him.
Gordan was calling Vandalieu "monster" out of fear rather than scorn; he truly feared Vandalieu.
Ah, how wonderful. But choosing this method and going all-out was consuming a lot of Vandalieu's Mana.
"Come."
Materializing one of his heads, Vandalieu called the Golems that he had made beforehand.
Letting out groans, red Golems… Blood Golems made from the blood spilled by the expedition army's soldiers flew towards Vandalieu's mouth.
It wasn't very fresh; it had the taste of the dirt and grass and even contained fragments of the soldiers' bones, but Vandalieu was in such a good mood right now that he didn't care about that.
Seeing Vandalieu feeding like this put the final crack in Gordan's will. He understood that even if he continued to endure these attacks, Vandalieu wouldn't run out of breath or Mana.
Well, even without replenishing it, Vandalieu still had half… around 100,000,000 Mana remaining.
Gordan screamed.
The claws of Vandalieu's whip-like arms ate into his shield, stripped off parts of his armor and dug into his flesh that was covered in light.
Of course, all of the attacks carried the effects of Soul Break, so Gordan's Mana vanished in the blink of an eye and his Familiar Spirit Descent was forcibly removed.
What was left was a single old man with his entire body covered in blood.
Now, it was time to feed.
All of Vandalieu's heads bared their fangs and attacked Gordan.
"High Priest-sama?! Everyone, help the high priest!"
The priest-warriors had been reduced in number considerably, but they ran out to defend Gordan, who could no longer move properly. It seemed that Vandalieu hadn't noticed that they had come to interfere while he was using Whip Attack, but Vigaro and the others had disposed of quite a number of them.
They broke some of Vandalieu's heads, but it didn't really matter. His extra heads were just that, extras. No, even if all of his heads were smashed, he would simply have to make one new head, so their resistance was quite futile.
Vandalieu's fangs sank into Gordan's neck.
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Chapter 64: Play and sing a gloomy, unpleasant marching song
"Just what… happened to me?" Gordan was bewildered.
His eyes couldn't see, his ears couldn't hear, his body was cold. He didn't know anything.
"I had… an important mission… Yes, I should have had an important mission from my god…"
"That is right, Gordan, my servant," a voice said suddenly. From the divinity contained within the voice, Gordan knew immediately that this was the voice of a god.
"?! You are…!"
"However, you were unable to accomplish your mission."
These next words almost caused Gordan to crumble. He had been unable to accomplish the mission that had been given to him by a great god. The frustration and regret caused pain in his heart.
"But I will grant you one more chance to fight, Gordan," said the voice.
"What?! Is that true?!"
"Yes, of course. And if you fight as I am expecting, I will erase the sins of 'this occasion'."
"Certainly, my lord! I, Bormack Gordan, an agent of your divine will, shall fight until my last breath!" As Gordan made this vow, color returned to his world.
He couldn't feel any warmth, but he felt as if his body was in even better condition than before.
"High Priest! Are you alright?!"
"He's opened his eyes! Hurry and bring the Potion!"
At the same time, Gordan could see the enemies of his god swarming around him.
"Get away from me, you filth!" he shouted, striking a nearby enemy with his fist and springing onto his feet.
"High Priest, what are you -?!"
"What, you ask?! I am killing you bastards, of course!"
Conveniently, Gordan's war club was lying nearby. He used his feet to kick it up into his hands and struck down another foolish enemy. The priest-warrior let out a scream sounding like a hoarse chicken as his lungs were crushed straight through his armor and he was sent flying away.
"High Priest! It is me, Arjen!" another priest-warrior pleaded.
"Oh, I see! Then die, Arjen, enemy of god!" One after another, Gordan beat down and slaughtered the priest-warriors that he had taught and guided while he was alive. "Fuhahahaha! God! Please witness this!"
At the hands of Gordan, who was now a Zombie Priest, the expedition army was finally annihilated.
He finished those who were trying to flee and those who were on the ground, leaving none alive.
『The levels of the Superhuman Strength, Bloodsucking, Spirit Form, Long-distance Control, Parallel Thought Processing, High-speed Thought Processing, Unarmed Fighting Technique, Surpass Limits, Multi-Cast, Chant Revocation, Soul Break and Death-Attribute Charm skills have increased!』
『You have acquired the Commanding skill!』
『You have reached level 100!』
Vandalieu was satisfied with the overwhelming victory.
There were no factors that could make them lose, so this was the obvious result.
Vandalieu had acted right after Eleanora turned to his side. He had gathered trump card after trump card, and made all the preparations.
He had anticipated there would be a tunnel the enemy would use and found it first to set up a surveillance network.
He had built walls with Golems, prepared crossbows and built catapults.
He had developed a disease that would only infect the expedition army. He had taken apart the Dragon Golem, created weapons and armor with the Orichalcum and distributed them to his allies. As an anti-Vampire measure, he had repaired the destroyed mercury mirrors and turned them into Golems.
And everyone had put in the effort to increase their own individual strength. The weakest of them were Rank 4, and they even had the effects of the Strengthen Followers and Strengthen Subordinates skills. Their actual fighting strength was equivalent to Rank 5.
In contrast, there were plenty of factors that caused the expedition army to lose.
The stronghold had been in a state where it would be divided if anything happened between Empire and the Mirg shield-nation, and the supreme commander had been a weak-willed traitor who had sided with the Vampires. The second-in-command hadn't been capable enough to create a miracle, either.
Most importantly, they had neglected to gather information on the state of Talosheim.
The expedition army had been made of elite soldiers who were individually capable of defeating a Rank 3 monster, but their destination was a place where there were no enemies weaker than Rank 5.
As a result, though Vandalieu's forces had sustained injuries, they had gained an incredible victory with no casualties.
Pauvina and the others had taken shelter in the royal castle that Vandalieu had turned entirely into Golems, and he had made sure they were safe.
"Now then, let's deal with the aftermath of the battle," said Vandalieu. He had recovered from his fatigue by drinking Gordan's blood, and now he was turning the expedition army's corpses into Zombies, one after another.
There were around five thousand of them. The reason the number of Zombies was less than the original number of soldiers was because some of the corpses had lost their original shape to the way they had been killed or their legs had been crushed, rendering them useless.
Vandalieu could repair even those corpses with Corpse Healing or make some use of them by using his Surgery skill to stitch multiple partial corpses together, but he didn't intend to spend that much time and effort into making more disposable pawns.
Five thousand would be enough. He would use the other one thousand as experience for the Undead, food for the Cemetery Bees and manure for the Immortal Ents, and add their bones to Knochen. As for their spirits, he would turn them into Living Armors or something.
While busy with this work, Vandalieu gathered information from the spirits. The most important one was Isla, who had been the close aide of a Pure-breed Vampire. Unable to resist the Death-Attribute Charm, she told him everything she knew in order to try and please him.
"I see," said Vandalieu. "So it really was the Pure-breed Vampires who destroyed the tunnel on the Orbaume Kingdom's side. Well, that was after the princess and her companions made it to the Hartner Duchy, so it doesn't matter. More importantly, can Ternecia repair the tunnel?" he asked.
"No, I heard that it is impossible even for Ternecia-sama… Ternecia," replied Isla.
This meant that if the Mirg shield-nation's tunnel was destroyed in the same way, the Pure-breed Vampires would be unable to use it. Vandalieu felt relieved.
Isla told him that Ternecia and the other Pure-breed Vampires had lost their ability to acquire Jobs after turning to the evil god, swearing loyalty to him and gaining his divine protection. They had become true monsters.
That explained why Zombie Maker had appeared as a new Job.
He also learned useful information such as the names of humans connected to the evil god, especially of those in the Orbaume Kingdom.
After that, he quickly turned her into a Zombie. The Pure-breed Vampires could apparently conduct a ritual that would summon the spirits of the dead Noble-born Vampires and turn them into Undead, so there was a risk that information would be leaked if Vandalieu didn't turn them into Undead first.
"Vandalieu-sama, you can break their souls like you did with Sercrent's instead of doing something like that." Eleanora made a fearsome suggestion.
But Vandalieu shook his head. "I don't really hate her that much."
Because of his trauma, Vandalieu felt a reflexive bloodthirst whenever he saw women being hurt and tormented. However, to him, Isla was not a woman.
She was nothing but an 'enemy' who had tried to kill Eleanora.
However, Vandalieu had the feeling that it wouldn't be good to destroy someone's soul simply because they were an enemy. He would stop hating them after killing them in cruel ways.
"Ah, but I'm going to have these guys work under you, so if you don't want that, let me know and I'll break them," he said.
Just because he stopped hating them didn't mean that he would feel anything for them. His negative emotions would return to neutral; they wouldn't become positive.
"! I… will work under this…?!"
"Certainly, Vandalieu-sama," said Eleanora. "You understand, don't you, Isla?"
"… Yes, Eleanora… sama…"
Without even glancing at the Vampire Zombie who was hanging her head, Vandalieu continued gathering information from the dead.
Putting up with Riley's flattery, he learned about Heinz who had crossed over to the Orbaume Kingdom. He learned the names, faces, Jobs and skills of each member who had been in the Five-colored Blades. However, the information about one of them was useless.
An Elf woman, a Spiritual Mage by the name of Martina, had apparently died in a Dungeon.
She had entered the same special Dungeon related to the champion Zakkart that Heinz had cleared after crossing to the Orbaume Kingdom and been defeated there.
With that, there were only three enemies left to take revenge on.
"I probably can't expect to find her spirit… though it would be interesting if she turned into an Undead in that Dungeon." Vandalieu gave a sigh and then continued.
He learned of an S-class adventurer in the Amid Kingdom, the Thunderclap Schneider.
He was a saint so beloved by Alda that multiple Divine Messages had been sent to warn him of danger; he was apparently a great hero who had saved numerous towns and villages, and exterminated dozens of monsters over Rank 10.
But apparently, he was currently living on an island that he had received as a reward, living a life of luxury that even noblemen would be envious of and constantly surrounded by women serving him.
Having decided that it would be bad if he were to suspect that the Vampires were involved in the expedition, the Vampires had planned to make moves behind the scenes so that he wouldn't participate in it, but he had simply rejected the request, saying, "I have no intention of going to a place without women and alcohol."
"I wonder why," said Vandalieu. "Well, that definitely saved us, though."
If there had been multiple powerful adventurers in the expedition army, the victory wouldn't have been so easy. An S-class adventurer who was even more powerful than Mikhail would have been terrible to face.
After this, since he had reached level 100, Vandalieu decided to quickly go and have his Job-change. This war had been great for Experience Points and his skills.
『Jobs that can be selected: Venom Fist User, Insect User, Archenemy, Zombie Maker, Tree Caster, Corpse Demon Commander*, Disease Demon, Spirit Warrior』
"Yay, there are more." Vandalieu was happy to discover new Jobs, but it was happening so frequently that he wasn't particularly excited. He had the feeling that if he reported these new Jobs to an Adventurers' Guild, he'd be able to live off the reward money for a while.
Corpse Demon Commander was probably a Job that had appeared because he had gained the Commanding skill. It would likely be related to skills like Coordination and Commanding that could strengthen an army.
Disease Demon… Was this really a Job? Wasn't it the name of a monster? Well, it probably was a Job after all.
This battle was clearly the cause of this Job appearing. It sounded rather exaggerated considering that Vandalieu had only created one disease that turned harmless after twelve hours.
Spirit Warrior was there maybe because of his Unarmed Fighting Technique skill and because he had now experienced the Soul Breaker Job? It was likely that this Job would provide bonuses to combat skills like Unarmed Fighting Technique.
But if he chose this Job, wouldn't he have to wear armor bearing a star sign?
"For now, let's try going with Venom Fist User," Vandalieu decided.
He wanted to visit the Orbaume Kingdom next year to see its situation and learn about the adventurers' school, so he wanted to increase his own individual fighting strength.
At first, he had thought that people would refuse handshakes if he took this Job, but he had come up with various ideas recently, so he wanted to test them out. He would take Spirit Warrior at another opportunity.
『The level of the Status Effect Resistance skill has increased!』
『You have acquired the Poison Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue) skill!』
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 5 years old
Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King]
Job: Venom Fist User
Level: 0
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker
Attributes:
Vitality: 160
Mana: 328,116,728
Strength: 108
Agility: 105
Stamina: 105
Intelligence: 757
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Rapid Healing: Level 3
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 5
Status Effect Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Magic Resistance: Level 1
Dark Vision
Mental Corruption: Level 10
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Chant Revocation: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Strengthen Followers: Level 7
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 3
Strengthen Subordinates: Level 4
Poison Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 1
Active skills:
Bloodsucking: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Surpass Limits: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Golem Transmutation: Level 6
No-Attribute Magic: Level 4
Mana Control: Level 4
Spirit Form: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Carpentry: Level 4
Engineering: Level 3
Cooking: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Alchemy: Level 3
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Soul Break: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Multi-Cast: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Long-distance Control: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Surgery: Level 1
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Materialization: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Coordination: Level 1
High-speed Thought Processing: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Commanding: Level 1 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
God Slayer: Level 1
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
"Eh? It's supposed to be venom fist, but for my fangs and tongue as well?"
Vandalieu had become able to secrete poison from various places. To think that he would literally have a 'poisonous tongue'…*
"Bocchan, we have acquired all of the expedition army's materials!" Saria reported.
"Well then, shall we depart?" said Vandalieu.
"Vandalieu-sama, may I come with you…?" asked Eleanora.
"We'll be traveling in basic carriages, but if you're alright with that," Vandalieu replied.
"I want to go too!" said Pauvina.
"Pauvina… well, alright."
"Yay!"
"Now then, the Eclipse King's army will now begin its march."
The soldier on lookout duty at the makeshift fort at the tunnel was watching over the wastelands with his partner.
He had already become completely accustomed to the frequent phenomena such as fearsome howls in the distance, pillars of light rising into the sky without warning and lightning strikes.
He had been scared of them at first, but he had decided that they were a good thing, signs that monsters were fighting each other and reducing their numbers.
The Class adventurers hired by the army had exterminated almost all of the monsters in the area near the fort. It seemed that there had been a lot of very profitable monsters. The soldier had overheard that the fur lining the stomachs of the hedgehog monsters could be used as a material for high-quality woolen goods.
However, the air around the fort was filled with a strange tension.
"Hey, rumors have it that…"
"Shut up."
"What, I haven't said anything yet, have I?"
"You're going to say that something's happened to the expedition army, right?"
"So you know already?"
Ten days had already passed since the expedition army departed this fort. According to the schedule, they should have reached Talosheim long ago, but no messengers came and no smoke signals rose up in the sky.
There were apparently other signals and communication methods that the ordinary soldiers hadn't been told, but it seemed that no contact had come through those, either.
This was the reason for the tension at the fort.
"There's a fully loaded supply unit on the other side of the tunnel that's about to get here, isn't there? Considering that, isn't it strange that we haven't heard anything?"
"I do think it's strange, but… try letting the captain hear you say that, you'll get a good scolding."
Of course, if it was discovered that the soldiers were whispering morale-lowering things to each other, they would be reprimanded. They were curious about it, but not curious enough that they would discuss it and risk facing lectures and punishment from their terrifying boss.
They might have considered it if their boss was a young, beautiful woman, however.
"But you know… Hmm? What's that?"
"What's what?"
"Look, over there. Isn't there something glowing there?"
As the soldier looked in the direction his companion was pointing in, he did indeed see something glowing. It was flickering blue and white.
"It's probably a monster's eyes or something," he said. "It's far-off, too, so just ignore it."
Perhaps because humans were rare here, monsters frequently observed the fort from afar. At first, they had been terrified whenever they saw monster eyes gleaming in their direction, but now it was well-known that such monsters were intelligent enough to not attack as long as they stayed in the fort.
The soldier thought that the light seen by his partner was another pair of monster eyes, but -
"Hey, those lights, there are more of them," said his partner. "And maybe it's just my imagination, but aren't they coming this way?"
The soldier looked again and saw that there were indeed more lights.
One light turned into two, then, three, then five, ten, dozens. More and more were appearing by the second!
And on top of that -
"There's a sound… no, voices. I hear voices."
"Report this to the captain! Those aren't ordinary monsters!" the soldier said, half-screaming. He blew the horn that signaled an emergency. Hearing the horn, the captain who had sprung to his feet and the leader of the adventurer party that was on night watch came.
"What's wrong… What's that?!"
There was no need for the soldiers to make a report; the blue-white lights had clearly increased. There were over a hundred of them already. The sound had grown louder as well.
"If I recall, you can use light-attribute magic, can you not?!"
"I've got it, you just need me to make those blue-white things visible, right?" A male adventurer recited an incantation, producing a Flare spell. He threw the glowing sphere that had appeared in his hand into the sky with all his strength.
In an instant, the darkness over the wasteland was dispelled, as if a sun had appeared in the night sky.
The light revealed the expedition army that the fort had been waiting for contact from.
Groans and shrieks rose from them.
Their eyes were rolled back and their tongues were hanging out of their mouths. Gruesome wounds were visible on their bodies and their entrails were being dragged along the ground. But these were the Mirg shield-nation's elite soldiers, whose march would not stop.
The soldier screamed, but nobody could blame him for doing so.
"Is that the expedition army's… flag? Does that mean that the expedition army was annihilated?"
"I suppose so. There are thousands of them there; I don't think there are any survivors," said the adventurer.
There were several thousand Undead soldiers of the expedition army revealed by the light. The adventurer wasn't optimistic enough to believe that there were any survivors or that any of these Undead were still alive.
And on top of that…
"The fort! Take! Kill!"
"How dare you… bring us… to this place… I'LL KILL YOOOUUU!"
The Undead were screaming with resentment, wearing furious expressions that made it difficult to believe that they had been humans to begin with.
"Captain-san, commence retreat!" the adventurer shouted, having confirmed what they were dealing with.
Even the spineless soldiers were startled by these words.
"Retreat?! Don't be stupid, how can we do something like that without crossing blades with the enemy!" said the captain.
"If we cross blades, we'll be wiped out! Captain-san, including us adventurers, there aren't even four hundred of us at the fort!"
There were three hundred soldiers in the fort. There were nine Class adventurer parties.
Each of the Class adventurers could defeat Rank 5 and 6 monsters individually, and an entire party could even stand up to a Rank 7 monster.
But the soldiers in the fort could hardly be called elite. One of them would have his hands full defeating a Rank 2 monster, and if they worked together, they might somehow take down a Rank 3 monster.
"But our enemies are just Zombies, right? With you Class adventurers, things should work out!" said the captain.
"If they were Rank 2 Zombies, even with thousands of them, we'd somehow manage," the adventurer agreed. "If all of us fought together and you didn't mind the fort being half-destroyed, that is. But you heard their voices, didn't you?"
"Voices? I heard them, but what about them?"
"Lower-Rank Zombies don't speak words with meaning. They're like beasts; they can only howl and scream. Sometimes they might have a word or two mixed in there. But these guys looked this way and recognized this fort, spoke discernable words of hatred and there were clearly some Undead that are more intelligent than Zombies."
As the captain comprehended the meaning of the adventurer's words, his face turned pale.
Among the thousands of Undead, there were some Zombies that were Rank 3 or above.
"If there are even a few hundred Rank 3 monsters, it's not something we can deal with," the adventurer continued. "Undead of Rank 3 and above can use the martial skills they used while they were alive. And since they're Undead, there's no limit to their stamina."
A future where everyone would be crushed and slaughtered helplessly flashed through the captain's mind.
"All forces, prepare to retreat!" he shouted. "Fill the tunnel with all the traps we have, pour oil on the fort and set it on fire! Archers and mages, attack the enemy and buy time until we've made our preparations! We'll have you adventurers work with us as well!"
"Yeah, leave it to us!"
"All forces, prepare to retreat! All forces, prepare to retreat!"
They hastily began moving.
The soldiers protecting the small fort in front of the tunnel had succeeded in their retreat.
After having successfully decreased the number of Undead at least a little without taking any casualties, they frantically proceeded through the tunnel.
They knew that if the Undead caught them, they would meet horrific fates.
Still frantic, they came out of the tunnel. The captain of the fort on the Mirg shield-nation's side of the tunnel had already been informed on the situation by a messenger rider sent ahead. Mages who had been hired just in case the impossible happened collapsed the tunnel with their magic.
With this, the Undead would not be able to come out.
They felt relieved, but a mage sensed that the Undead were digging their way through the collapsed tunnel and carrying on, around a hundred meters from the tunnel's entrance.
"This is hopeless! Abandon this fort and retreat to the town!"
This fort was to prevent adventurers and criminals from trying to cross the Boundary Mountain Range illegally; it wasn't something that had been built to deal with monsters coming out of the tunnel.
"You can't collapse the tunnel one more time?!" the captain demanded.
"What are you expecting us to do something that's already collapsed?! I'll have you know that these spells won't reach them a hundred meters away. Even if you tell us to do the same thing again, it's impossible! All of us will take a day to recover our Mana!" shouted the mage.
The Undead moved without rest, and even now, they were digging through the tunnel at a terrifying pace. The mage could sense that they had already made their way through a third of the collapsed portion of the tunnel.
Retreat was the only option after all.
"What are we going to do about the cultivated land?!"
"Send a messenger, have them evacuate!"
"Hurry up! All forces, retreat!"
Sending a messenger back to the cultivated land, the soldiers retreated.
Fearing the monster invasion, the people living in the cultivated lands were evacuated to the town under the protection of the guards, an urgent request was posted at the town's Adventurers' Guild and adventurers were summoned from even other nearby villages and towns.
At the same time, Viscount Balchesse, the lord of this land, gathered all of the soldiers that he had.
It was uncertain if they would make it in time, but they somehow did in the end.
The Undead had been expected to continue day and night without rest, but for some reason, their footsteps had been a little slower than the human forces. The people were evacuated and preparations, though insufficient, were made.
Even so, the battle to defend Balcheburg, Viscount Balchesse's town, was beyond fierce.
"Hyahahahahaha! This is the return of your herooooo!" The Green Wind Spear Riley, who had been hailed as the second coming of Mikhail, released martial skills one after another, striking down the arrows fired by the soldiers protecting the town.
"I-I am! The Amid Empire's General Mauviiiiiiiid! Open the gates! Open the gaaaaaaaaates!" General Mauvid, who had led the expedition army in imposing, resplendent clothes, now commanded the Undead army in their invasion.
"Guhihihyaehehehehahaha! You evil flesh of filth! I, Bormack Gordan who serves god, will destroy you aaaaaall!" To top it all off, Bormack Gordan, the clergyman renowned as a Vampire hunter, was opening large holes in the wall protecting the town with his Club Technique.
"The Undead are coming in - GYAH!"
"Hihihi! Offer your flesh and entrails to your herooo!" Riley's spear pierced the stomach of a soldier who was trying to deal the finishing blow to another Undead.
"You i-i-i-i-impure filth! Diiiiiieeeee!" Gordan crushed another soldier, straight through the shield he was holding.
"Fuhahahaha! This is our triumphant retuuurn! OUR TRIUMPHANT RETUUUURN!" Mauvid's loud laughter and screams filled the air as he led the Zombies on.
However, the expedition army had weakened after becoming Undead and they weren't as coordinated as they had been while alive. Though Viscount Balchesse suffered casualties, they succeeded in protecting all the civilians and other than its outer wall, the damage to the town was light.
It was also fortunate for them that Riley's spear and Gordan's war club had been replaced with weapons provided by the army and that Chezare and his Black Bull Knights' Order hadn't become Undead.
No, the most fortunate thing was that the Undead had been slow to move.
Viscount Balchesse hired a Spiritualist to investigate what had happened to the expedition army.
But the spiritualist shook her head. "The spirits of those Undead have all gone back to the mountain range; not even one of them stayed behind. It was as if they couldn't hear me calling out to them at all."
"Well, it was all deliberate, though," said Vandalieu.
He and his followers were busy burning and destroying the unoccupied cultivated land on their way back.
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Chapter 65: Now then, please pay your compulsory fee of goods
Vandalieu used the Zombified expedition army as a makeshift disposable army to begin a reverse invasion on the Mirg shield-nation, where he planned for them to suffer an honorable defeat.
He lit several Demon Fires and had the Zombies make noisy footsteps and groan loudly to ensure that the soldiers at the fort that had been built at the tunnel's entrance would notice them.
He positioned those who had fortunately turned into high-Rank Undead at the front of the army, excluding the expedition army's important members. The reason he did this was because it would have been problematic if Mauvid, Riley or Gordan were to be somehow broken during the preliminary skirmishes.
And the soldiers in the fort retreated, just as Vandalieu had intended.
"Is it fine that we're not slaughtering them all, Bocchan?" asked Sam.
"It's alright," Vandalieu replied. "They're not worth killing, and it's not necessary. With that being the case, I mustn't kill them."
The soldiers at the fort were average in strength, and the commander was hardly an important figure in the army. There were only a few hundred of them, anyway. It wasn't worth taking the effort to kill them all.
And more importantly, it would be more helpful to have them act as messengers.
… Though when they set the fort on fire, Vandalieu did feel some bloodthirst.
He used Heat Leech to extinguish the flames, salvaged the unburnt materials of the fort and continued through the tunnel.
"Wow, it's so spacious. How many carriages of Father's size could fit through side-by-side?" Rita wondered.
"Five… six would likely fit through," Vandalieu replied.
"I wonder how a tunnel like this could be built," said Saria.
"GUGAH?!" Rapiéçage let out a noise of pain.
"Rappie, if you fly too high, you'll hit your head on the ceiling," Vandalieu warned her.
Vandalieu simply proceeded through the dull tunnel, letting the Zombies at the front of the army deal with the fort at the tunnel's exit, and then used a wide-area Detect Life to dispose of the remaining spies of the Vampires.
And then he headed straight… not for the town, but for the cultivated land that had once been the Devil's Nest forest.
Sending the army to the town, Vandalieu and around a thousand Zombies remained in the villages in the cultivated land.
The army advanced on Balcheburg, the capital of Viscount Balchesse's territory, and engaged in a crude, reckless frontal assault.
There were three thousand of them, but since they were between Ranks 2 and 4 and unaffected by Vandalieu's Strengthen Followers and Strengthen Subordinates, Balcheburg's defense would likely succeed.
They were moving slowly directly from the front in the middle of the day, the Zombie mages were unable to recite incantations, Gordan and Riley weren't equipped with their Magic Items and Undead with utility value such as Chezare hadn't been added to this army. Even in the worst case scenario where the Undead managed to break the city's wall and get inside, Vandalieu had ordered them not to kill unarmed elderly citizens, women and children.
No matter how useless Balcheburg's defenses were, its population was around ten thousand. They should have received word in advance and there were Dungeons and Devil's Nests nearby as well. Adventurers and soldiers would have been desperately gathered here.
If a group of Undead simply showed up there, arrows and offensive spells would rain down on them from the walls and their numbers would be reduced.
Well, the soldiers and adventurers would likely suffer some casualties, but probably not more than a hundred. The adventurers and soldiers of this world were tougher than those in Earth or Origin because of their Jobs and skills.
At worst, the Undead would make a hole in the wall and run rampant inside for a while before being wiped out?
It would be problematic if they killed too many people, so that would be perfect.
"Corpses are only a temporary burden, after all," Vandalieu murmured to himself. "That town needs to nurture the refugees evacuated from the cultivated land and suffer from now on."
Refugees posed a difficult problem even on Earth. All of the refugees from the cultivated land would only add up to two or three thousand people, but even so, they would be a great burden.
The refugees from the cultivated lands would have nowhere to return to. As many of them were people who had been unable to make a living in their hometowns, they couldn't simply be told to do whatever they wanted now that the cultivation had failed. And with the cultivated lands destroyed, jobs for guards and those working in the churches would be gone as well, so the loss would be felt from all sides.
On top of that, there was the disastrous event of six thousand elite soldiers being annihilated, with the majority of them turning into Undead and attacking the town.
With this, the Mirg shield-nation's dignity would be scarred beyond its economic losses and the loss of its personnel. Its relationship with the Amid Empire that had led the expedition would worsen.
The Empire would likely want to push the responsibility for the failed expedition on the Mirg shield-nation just like it had done two hundred years ago, but General Mauvid was now leading Vandalieu's Undead army and loudly declaring his own identity.
But the Undead second-in-command, Chezare who was born in the Mirg shield-nation, was absent. It was obvious which of them would leave a lasting impression on the people.
Even Gordan and Riley would be making a show of their rampage, standing out even more than the damage that they were causing.
They would be making a mess of their own honor and reputations as well as those of the Church of Alda.
There was no TV or internet in Lambda, and though there were things similar to newspapers, they were only available to the wealthy, so information didn't spread quickly and accurately. However, this would be an incredibly devastating event. News of it would spread through the entire western half of the Bahn Gaia continent within the year.
With this, neither the Empire or the Mirg shield-nation would suggest an expedition to the Boundary Mountain Range for the next few decades.
Incidentally, Vandalieu had given up on causing a great scandal by spreading the news that General Mauvid had been connected to Isla and the other Vampires.
As he had slaughtered them all, the Vampires were now Zombies, and even if he added them to the Undead army, the humans wouldn't notice them. Even if the Mirg shield-nation had doubts, the Empire would simply pass them off as Undead that joined up with the army beyond the Boundary Mountain Range.
In fact, there was the risk that the Vampires would appear to be the remnants of those that worshipped Vida and that they were living in Talosheim, putting a false label on Vandalieu.
If Vandalieu had connections to someone he could trust or a position in society, there might have been a way, but he had no connections or position in human society.
That was why he had abandoned the idea.
Also, Vandalieu had taken into account that the Pure-breed Vampires, Earl Palpapek and the top officials of the Amid Empire would now be aware that he was able to utilize Undead.
He thought that they would be more hesitant to try and do something about Vandalieu if they knew how much of a threat he and his allies were, rather than having everything about him stay a mystery.
The fact that the expedition army hadn't made it back alive, everyone would know that whatever was in Talosheim was capable of striking back anyway, so letting this much information leak was necessary.
And though they knew that he could control Undead, the Pure-breed Vampires wouldn't know whether the limitation of only being able to control self-made Undead that applied to them also applied to Vandalieu, or to what extent he could control them.
And he would keep his other weapons such as his Golems and the biological weapon, the disease he had created, a secret.
Even if the Pure-breed Vampires, the Empire and the Mirg shield-nation wanted to try again, they would likely take time to make preparations and even if they did come, they had plenty of weaknesses.
Vandalieu had his companions, who had thought of all of this, plundering the cultivated land.
"Now then, everyone, let's plunder everything," said Vandalieu.
Everyone gave a cheer in response.
Having the remaining one thousand Undead on standby, Vandalieu and the others were looting the cultivated land that was now empty after its inhabitants had evacuated.
"Ah, I found a spinning wheel!" Rita announced.
"Jyuuh, it seems there are no livestock left," said Bone Man.
"Did they take the animals with them when they evacuated?" Vigaro asked.
"I am sure they simply released them, praying that they will be able to recover them later," Nuaza replied. "Horses and cows are valuable workers in farming villages, after all. And it is common knowledge that they can become meat when the people are hungry."
"… People in farming villages live harder lives than I imagined," Vandalieu remarked.
"What are you trying to say? You're the one who's destroying these farming villages beyond any hope of recovery," Borkus pointed out.
"Well, that's true."
The objective of the plundering was to first to acquire livestock… Cows, goats, sheep and chickens rather than donkeys, horses and pigs.
Vandalieu had Golems to perform labor, and horses and donkeys needed more than just grass to feed, so taking care of them would be troublesome. And the environment around Talosheim was too harsh to ride horses through. It was filled with natural enemies for the horses, after all.
Pigs were unneeded as monsters provided plenty of meat.
The reason Vandalieu wanted cows and goats was because he wanted dairy products. Even with the Fermentation spell, making cheese and yogurt would be impossible without the base ingredient. He wanted to make butter as well; the number of things he could cook with these would increase greatly. And he definitely wanted to try the fermented butter he had heard about in the research laboratory in Origin.
As for chickens… The demand for eggs couldn't be met with the Gigas alone, and since each individual egg was the size of an ostrich egg, there were sometimes situations where they were somewhat inconvenient to use.
But it seemed that Vandalieu's wishes wouldn't be granted. None of the farming villages had any livestock left in them.
"Feeding livestock costs money, after all. Though goats eat just about anything," said Kachia.
In this world where Devil's Nests were scattered throughout the lands and dangerous monsters like Goblins lived outside them, agricultural land was limited.
Though the grain harvested from this limited land was sufficient to feed the people, there wasn't enough land to breed livestock in large numbers as was done on Earth.
Because of this, livestock were generally expensive. The farmers of this cultivated land would have taken what livestock they could with them when they evacuated, and set the rest free in the hopes that they would reunite with the animals later.
"What a pity," said Vandalieu. "Well, I did manage to get this, so it's fine."
The next thing he had wanted was machine for spinning threads and weaving fabric. The vast majority of clothes in Talosheim was made of furs and leather.
In the two hundred years since Talosheim's destruction, its fabric-weaving machines had rotted away.
"I could make sewing machines with Golems, but without threads and cloth, it would be…"
"Did the researchers in Origin not know how to spin threads or build weaving machines?" asked Rita.
"They didn't," Vandalieu replied.
Though they were failures as human beings, the researchers were at the forefront of their advanced civilization. There had been some researchers who had wanted to use death-attribute magic for fabric, but they hadn't possessed this knowledge.
"Well, as long as I have a model to work with, I can imitate it with Golems," said Vandalieu. "If I make improvements from there, I think I can build a spinning mill."
It seemed that the day where Talosheim would become a modern city of Lambda with all of the necessities of life was close.
"So, what are we going to do with the fields?" Vigaro asked.
"Well take them, of course," said Vandalieu.
He and his followers weren't after only the materials left behind by the villagers. He wanted their harvest and crops as well. In fact, this was the main thing they were after.
"This is good wheat. Let's take it by the roots. Get up." As Vandalieu gave this order, the wheat field began to rise. Countless legs extended from beneath the earth in which the wheat was growing. After turning the wheat field into a Golem, he intended to take all of its earth and the wheat growing in it with him!
With this, he could make all of the bread, okonomiyaki and takoyaki he wanted, as well as ramen in the near future! He could make more udon and pasta as well. There hadn't been enough acorn powder for all of this, so this wheat would be very helpful.
He would even be able to make straw and straw paper. Well, this would need trial and error as well.
"Bocchan, what about this millet?" asked Rita. "I think it's foxtail millet and barnyard millet."
"Millet can be harvested quickly, so let's take it with us," said Vandalieu. "They're nutritious, too."
He had the feeling that millet was greatly popular on Earth. Processing it was easier than acorns as well.
"Ah, this field has soba," said Kachia.
"They turn it into galettes in the Mirg shield-nation, don't they? Let's take it with us."
Soba would be wonderful. It could be added to either cold or hot soups. It even made aromatic teas… apparently.
"What are we doing with the beans?" asked Borkus.
"We're taking it, of course."
The beans being cultivated here resembled soya beans or something similar to them. With this, Vandalieu would finally be able to make normal miso. Soy sauce, too. And tofu, soy milk, bean curd, fried tofu… how truly wonderful.
Also, boiling the beans that were still green and adding salt to them to eat them as 'edamame*' was apparently enjoyable as well.
"The beans over here appear to be of a different species," said Sam.
"These are… adzuki beans! Get up, get up, get up."
With adzuki beans, Vandalieu would be able to make red bean paste. He didn't have sugar, but perhaps honey could be used as a substitute?
"It appears that there are tomatoes growing in this small field, my lord," Bone Man reported.
"Ah, to think that such a versatile ingredient would be in a place like this…"
Among the researchers in Origin, there had been those who believed in tomatoes in addition to the mayonnaise believers. After they suffered heart attacks and died suddenly, the tomato believers would talk on and on about the wonders of tomato sauce while whispering complaints about the food of the laboratory's cafeteria.
Vandalieu liked mayonnaise when he was on Earth, but he was someone who preferred ketchup.
"We haven't had tomatoes up until now, so I'd given up on it. But with this, finally… Get up, get up, get up."
Well, it wasn't as if he didn't have the other ingredients he needed, so things would probably work out.
Vandalieu also acquired potatoes, carrots, daikon, onions and other vegetables from the farms, taking the whole fields. It would be possible to make potato starch from the potatoes.
Incidentally, Vandalieu was using Golem Transmutation to create piles of dirt to fill the holes created by removing the fields.
"Now then, shall we head back to Talosheim?" he said.
Taking his field-Golems along, Vandalieu and his followers put the Mirg shield-nation behind them. As previously planned, the farmlands had been dealt devastating damage and a thousand Undead were left behind.
He spread deadly poison in all of the irrigation channels and water reservoirs, and also in the fields where nothing but dirt remained.
It wasn't poison that would dissipate with time, but the kind of contaminant that would leech into the ground and moisture and linger for decades.
With this, the cultivated land would become uninhabitable and unusable for humans.
Leaving Undead in the villages was Vandalieu's way of showing 'kindness'.
They served as warnings so that the villagers wouldn't return and unknowingly try to use the poisoned water to raise more crops.
And another point of 'kindness' was that Vandalieu hadn't touched the wells, knowing that there would be a chance that the contamination would reach all the way towards the town.
"Viscount Balchesse, you stole the Devil's Nest forest from us, but let's say we're even now," Vandalieu murmured in the direction of Balcheburg, before entering the tunnel through the entrance on the Mirg shield-nation's side.
"Come to think of it, Bocchan, you can make Wood Golems out of trees, can't you?" asked Saria.
"Hmm? I can, why?"
"Couldn't you make thread and paper just by turning the plants themselves into Golems?"
"… Ah."
Vandalieu had the feeling that he had done things the long way, but he had acquired meat and soya beans, so his efforts hadn't been in vain.
At the same time, in the Divine Realm of Alda, the God of Law and Fate, the gods were conducting an emergency meeting.
The reason was that Bormack Gordan, the one who had been considered a candidate to become a heroic spirit and possibly even a god depending on his work, had now wandered astray from Alda's teachings.
"Curatos, show everyone the Record."
The God of Records, Curatos, opened the book he was holding at Alda's command. Countless soap-bubble-like spheres rose from its pages. Their surfaces bore images of what the expedition army had witnessed in Talosheim.
They began bursting and disappearing one after another. In the next instant, the last remaining soap bubble with a close-up image of Gordan's Undead face disappeared.
"This is the record from a child who was a part of the expedition army," said Curatos.
"… What of the records after that?" asked Alda.
"Unfortunately… It seems that their spirits were trapped after they were slaughtered, or they turned into Undead as Bormack Gordan did. However, please look here." Curatos opened another page, showing a scene where the wall of Balcheburg was broken and the Undead expedition army was doing battle with the soldiers.
This was the scene witnessed by Alda's believers, Recorded by Curatos. Curatos had been able to Record the things seen and heard in the instant the believers made the unconscious prayer of, 'Oh God,' and now he was able to share those Records with others.
The things shown in these Records were things that many of the gods present here, including Alda, were aware of. After all, they were the ones who had been prayed to when the soldiers whispered, "Oh God."
However, there was no small number of gods seeing this for the first time. They were greatly shocked.
"This is… A Dhampir child is capable or something like this…"
"How could this be! This disease has never existed before; are you to say that this Dhampir created it himself?!"
"He is making use of Undead… He is just like Za-"
"Silence!" Niltark, the God of Judgment, interrupted the god to prevent him from saying something careless. "I would like to ask you to refrain from referring to this Dhampir by anything but 'Dhampir' or his name, 'Vandalieu!'"
"My apologies. Thank you, Niltark-sama," said the other god, realizing his mistake after seeing Niltark's furious expression.
Comparing Vandalieu to be 'The second coming of Zakkart' or 'A being similar to an evil god' wasn't a problem of character for the gods.
They wanted to avoid Vandalieu from acquiring a Title.
Titles appearing on one's Status are not mere labels or second names, but things that have an actual effect. A Title of Goblin Killer would grant increased damage against monsters known as Goblins, and Titles such as Invulnerable or Immortal would make it more difficult for the bearer of such Titles to die.
The conditions for acquiring a Title is for a large number of individuals, or individuals with great influence, to call someone by that Title.
Though their power and positions varied, everyone gathered here was a god. They were the most influential beings in the world of Lambda.
If the gods were to call Vandalieu 'The second coming of Zakkart' here, there was no telling what kinds of powers he would be granted.
"But Alda, why have we been gathered here? This Dhampir has indeed used countless Golems and Undead while being young of age, created a disease, slaughtered an army of six thousand, turned that army into Undead and bared his fangs at the Mirg shield-nation. But looking at it another way, that is all he is capable of, is it not?" The one speaking was Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds. He was a god of a younger generation compared to the other gods here, having only become a god within the past few tens of thousands of years.
Fitun's words could be interpreted as cruelly disregarding human life, but as he said, the things that Vandalieu had done, seen in the Records, were not something to gather all of the gods and make a big fuss over.
Up until now, over ten thousand lives had been claimed with each war, and there had been countless countries brought to ruin by monsters going on rampages. Compared to such historical losses, the deaths of the expedition army and those in Balcheburg, which totaled to less than ten thousand, were very small.
The fact that only soldiers and adventurers had been killed as a direct result of battle only reinforced that notion.
Of course, the family, lovers and friends of the deceased would be tortured by feelings of grief and loss, but it wasn't as if powerless civilians had been mass-murdered.
And as gods, they could not support a single nation too much without causing problems.
"But aren't this Dhampir's actions simply too cruel?" another god asked.
Fitun felt an urge to laugh at him. "What are you saying? This Dhampir's actions seem halfhearted to me."
"Halfhearted?!"
"Yeah. As proof, the disease that the Dhampir used on the expedition army, he didn't use it in Balcheburg, did he? That's why the Undead were repelled." As Fitun said, Vandalieu hadn't used that disease when attacking Balcheburg. Despite the fact that the town of ten thousand could have been annihilated by three thousand Undead if the disease had been used.
No, the limitation of the disease that caused it to stop its effects after half a day… If that limitation had been removed and it infected a single person in Balcheburg, that alone would have spelled the end of the town.
Its rate of spread and the speed at which it produced its symptoms was probably too fast for it to spread to other towns and villages, but ten thousand citizens would be reduced to crippled, ill people within hours.
Even if they were lucky enough to recover, the disease would simply mutate and infect them again, so there would be no survivors.
The people of Balcheburg would writhe and suffer plenty before all dying. Only materials to create Undead would be left.
"He didn't do that, so that's why his actions are halfhearted… no, naïve," said Fitun. "He is not someone we should be wary of."
"… Fitun, it sounds to me that you are underestimating the Dhampir. Am I wrong?" asked Curatos.
"What are you suggesting, Curatos-dono? I am simply saying that the things this Dhampir has done are not problems worthy of us gods gathering and discussing them. If we are to discuss anything, should it not be the evil-god-worshipping Vampires squirming in your territory, Alda?"
Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, wasn't a particularly zealous supporter of Alda. He was simply a former hero praised by the people with many great achievements against Vida's races and the evil gods to his name; he wasn't a devout follower of Alda like Gordan.
My word, the days have been excruciatingly dull since I became a god. I don't care if it's Dhampirs or Undead, I wish there was a worthy foe that would have my blood boiling like it did when I was a human.
Alda opened his mouth. Everyone was expecting him to reprimand the young god for his impertinence. "What Fitun says is reasonable."
The gods, including Fitun himself, stirred at Alda's unexpected words.
"However, things are not so simple," Alda continued. "There is reason to believe that this Dhampir, Vandalieu, has destroyed the Artifact created by Yupeon and broken the 'divided spirit' within."
The gods were now making an uproar.
"Impossible! A divided spirit… He has broken something so similar to a soul?!"
"So that is the reason that Yupeon is not here…"
"Perhaps the fact that he did not spread the disease to the town was not due to naïvety as Fitun suggested, but as a warning to us? To say that he can do such a thing anytime he wishes."
"But he could not possibly be so audacious as to threaten us… If he is, then the ancient -"
"SILENCE!" It seemed that Alda was trying to use this meeting to share his sense of impending danger with the gods who had become so relaxed recently.
Even though Alda had declared that this was a war against the remnants of the Demon King and Vida, with a hundred thousand years passing without any real progress, even gods would feel weary and soft. This was only spurred on by the lack of organized movements from the remnants that were supposed to be their enemies.
"Then will you send a Divine Message that this Dhampir should be exterminated?" asked Curatos.
"No," said Alda. "There is a chance that that would have the opposite effect."
If Alda gave the order to exterminate Vandalieu and gave detailed information regarding him through a Divine Message, the clergyman receiving the Divine Message might not be able to receive it fully and there was a high risk that it would be interpreted in a dangerous way, such as, "Kill the children*."
And if they sent knights and extermination forces to Talosheim without being scrupulous in preparations and information-gathering, they would simply repeat the failures of the expedition army.
As a result of the discussion, it was decided that Divine Messages would be sent to every church, allowing the clergymen to instill vigilance in the humans and encouraging them to be prepared. The Dhampir had already done such great things. The gods anticipated that he would stay holed up in the Boundary Mountain Range for a while, gathering his strength.
And there was someone other than Vandalieu who was also dangerous… Alda had sent numerous Divine Messages, saying, "That man is dangerous.*" But despite that, the man who had signed a contract with an evil god, the Thunderclap Schneider, was still moving about freely. They had to be wary of him as well.
In the meantime, we should use the clergymen to gather candidates for champions and heroes, raise them and prepare… I suppose. Oh, wise Alda, you are halfhearted as well, thought Fitun. He laughed bitterly to himself.
If it were up to him, if there was even the smallest chance that the Dhampir possessed the same power as the Demon King, he would gladly sacrifice ten thousand or even a hundred thousand lives in order to exterminate him. He would make the gods endure the flesh-gouging pain of creating divided spirits and have them descend upon the world, prepared to risk the annihilation of all of the servants and heroic spirits.
He wouldn't grant the Dhampir time to gather more power.
However, Fitun did not voice this opinion. Though the others likely wouldn't listen to him, if by some tiny chance they did adopt his plan, it would only trouble him.
This is the first enemy I can fight to the death that has appeared since I became a god. I have to let him grow more.
A fight to the death is not where the strong kills the weak in a one-sided manner. It is a fight to the death because it is a fight where both have the ability to take his opponent's life.
Now then, small Dhampir. Grow larger, crueler, more relentless and most importantly, more powerful. I, Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, will watch over you until I kill you by my own hands!
Job explanation:
[Soul Breaker]
A Job that one who has broken a soul can acquire.
It grants a bonus to the acquisition of skills such as Soul Break, Spirit Form, Long-distance Control and Parallel Thought-Processing, and though it provides great growth in the Mana and Intelligence Attribute Values, growth in other Attribute Values are low.
The Job's name may suggest that it is an offensive Job, but because one must possess enough power to break a soul to acquire this Job, it is a Job that simply provides support for Soul Break.
Skill explanation:
[Materialization]
This is a skill that materializes parts of the body that does not originally have physical form. It is mainly acquired by Astral-type monsters, spirits that have been contaminated with Mana, such as Ghosts and Specters.
The materialized spirit form becomes susceptible to physical damage, but it does not have flesh and blood, so the damage taken is still less than damage from silver or Magic Items.
It has a greater effect than the Spirit Form skill, causing one to be in a state closer to having a body of flesh, but as it allows damage from the aforementioned sources and adds limitations of forces such as gravity, it cannot be said to be superior to the Spirit Form skill.
No people other than Vandalieu have been confirmed to possess this skill.
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