The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time

Chapter 308: A new champion, and deep worries…

Alda, the God of Law and Fate, stood in the chamber on the deepest floor of the Dungeon that he had created… which was now empty.

This chamber had been created to protect the slumbering Bellwood, so it was partially a Divine Realm, which allowed Alda to exist here.

But to be more accurate, this space was not empty; a god other than Alda was also present, and Alda was not simply standing there.

Alda was casting a hatred-filled gaze at the other god… the Evil God of Sinful Chains Jarodipus, who had been sealed in the wall of the Dungeon.

“Filthy invader… Just what did you show Bellwood? What did you put into his head?” Alda muttered.

Bellwood was a heroic god, a symbol of Alda’s forces and the most powerful fighter among them, and Alda was proud to have chosen him as his champion. When Bellwood awakened and was reunited with Alda once more, Alda had been filled with a hope and joy so great that it erased the despair he had felt when Botin and Peria chose to join Vida’s side.

If Bellwood led the gods and Heinz led the humans, and they combined their strength, they would be able to win the battle against Vida’s faction… the battle against Vandalieu. Though they would face many hardships and many lives would be lost, but knowing this did not crush Alda’s hope.

It was just like when the battle was fought against the Demon King Guduranis to prevent the world’s destruction.

But the awakened Bellwood was almost like a completely different person from who he was before.

“The confidence that filled him, the passion that inspired others, the charisma that lifted our spirits no matter the situation… All of it, gone. Now, it is as if he perceives himself as powerless… No, it is as if he is defeated and in despair, a recluse who has given up on everything.”

After he awakened, Bellwood had declared to Alda and the other gods that he had been mistaken, and that he would become a mere source of power that obeyed Heinz’s will.

Heinz was indeed an exceptional human and a devout worshiper; he was unmistakably the greatest hero of the present day. Awakening Bellwood from his fifty-thousand-year slumber was an incredible accomplishment that was worthy of being engraved in history and praised until the end of time.

But even so, Alda had never imagined that Bellwood would abandon his own will and leave all decisions to Heinz.

“Bellwood was filled with confidence and incredible at raising everyone’s morale by standing at the forefront, but… now that I think back, his desire of always wanting to stand at the forefront no matter what was his only fault.”

Ever since Bellwood was new to this world and inexperienced, he had always tried to be at the center of attention and lead everyone else. Alda had given him some harsh but honest advice back then. But because Bellwood quickly gained the power to back up his words, even Alda believed he had been mistaken about how capable Bellwood was. Alda had forgotten about these incidents up until now.

But one could assume that this was connected to his defeat fifty thousand years ago at the hands of the Evil God of Sinful Chains… though it had been depicted as a battle that ended in both Bellwood and the evil god defeating each other simultaneously, due to how much unrest it would have caused among the mortals if the truth became known.

As a heroic god, Bellwood possessed overwhelming power that made the presence of allies unnecessary for him, but if he had been accompanied by heroic spirits or other gods despite that, then perhaps he would never have been struck by the divine authority of the Evil God of Sinful Chains.

Considering that, perhaps it could be said that Bellwood had one less weakness now.

“But why… Why did he tell us the reason he considered Vida’s races to be evil, and that he had been mistaken for doing so?”

Alda’s forces were now willing to accept the continued existence of Vida’s races that did not possess Ranks in their Statuses, but a hundred thousand years ago, they had believed that exterminating them all would protect the world’s order – that it would be beneficial for the world’s sake.

In truth, even now, Alda still truly believed that all of Vida’s races should be exterminated in the end without exception. Beast-kin, Vampires, Titans, Majin – even if they offered their prayers to him, if they weren’t all eradicated equally, it would be disrespectful to all those who had already lost their lives.

He wasn’t unwilling to be flexible regarding the order and timing of the eradication of each race, however. For example, he could wait until the Dhampir girl under Heinz’s protection lived out the rest of her life.

But his worshippers had begun to co-exist with Vida’s races in various ways. They treated them as friendly neighbors, convenient slaves, sources of labor, soldiers – and in some nations, it was necessary to have them as rulers or soldiers.

That was why he had yielded to Nineroad’s pressure to accept them and asked Rodcorte to include the races of Vida that did not possess Ranks to his circle of transmigration system.

There was nothing to be done about it now. Alda couldn’t help but feel powerless, that it was his responsibility for failing to lead the people to a path of justice, failing to teach them that continuing to fight rather than co-existing with Vida’s races was the right thing to do.

He couldn’t help but feel that he had done what Bellwood hated most – compromising on his ideals.

But even after learning this, Bellwood had remained silent. He hadn’t reacted at all, in fact.

“He has lost all independent will; it is as if he is in a daze. Jarodipus! What have you done to Bellwood, you wretched creature?!” he shouted, anger and irritation welling up within him once more.

But naturally, Jarodipus did not answer him. He was completely sealed away, so no matter how much Alda shouted, his words would never reach him… though even if Jarodipus hadn’t been sealed away, there was no guarantee that he would answer truthfully.

He was a deranged god who laughed instead of screaming every time I drove a Stake of Law into him. It is futile to express my anger at him.

But the truth was that Jarodipus hadn’t been deranged. Alda’s Stakes of Law only took effect on gods who belonged to the world of Lambda… Jarodipus had laughed in amusement at Alda’s own divine authority serving as proof that he was a god of this world.

But Alda did not come to this realization, and turned his back to the wall upon which Jarodipus had been sealed.

“Bellwood’s mental scars have not yet healed. There is no doubt that he will return to his former self once he descends upon Heinz’s body and defeats the new Demon King Vandalieu,” Alda told himself. “In order to make that happen, I must explain to Heinz why we did not accept the existence of Vida’s races, but…”

Bellwood had entrusted every decision to Heinz; teaching and guiding Heinz would surely lead to Bellwood returning to who he once was.

However, the difficult question was whether to tell Heinz about the circle of transmigration system – It was Alda himself who had decreed that mortals must never be told about it.

It was something that all the great gods had agreed upon, even before the arrival of the Demon King Guduranis in this world.

Why restrict the knowledge of mortals? Because if mortals were to gain this knowledge, they would use it to become capable of deeds that only gods were capable of, while remaining mortal.

Even if it took vast periods of time – centuries or millennia – they would inevitably reach that point one day.

Of course, Vandalieu had already reached that point without that knowledge being granted to him.

“Now then…” Alda murmured as he vanished from the Dungeon and returned to his own Divine Realm, pondering how he should explain things to Heinz.

Only Jarodipus’s shadow remained in the Dungeon, and with no chains to make any noise, it was enveloped in silence.

The most elite individuals of the Demon Empire of Vidal were gathered in the S-class Dungeon on the Demon King’s Continent, which was yet to be named.

The ‘Sword King’ Borkus, the ‘Magical Girl’ Zadiris, the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena, the ‘Tiny Genius’ Zandia, the ‘Giant Slayer’ Basdia, Bone Man, the ‘Death Axe King’ Vigaro, the ‘Eclipse Emperor’s Loyal Dog’ Eleanora, and the ‘Eclipse Emperor’s Hound’ Isla.

Standing behind all of them was the Dungeon’s creator, Vandalieu. Today’s objective was for him to see the Dungeon’s difficulty for himself, and he didn’t plan to take part in any battles unless an emergency situation occurred.

With all of their strength combined, the companions of Vandalieu that had gathered here would be capable of defeating an equal number of enemy demigods, but their faces were all wearing the same nervous expression now.

“Jyuuh, could it be that I am the only one here who does not possess a Title…?” said Bone Man.

“The first thing we need to do is transform! We’ll be pushing all the way to the mid-boss on the fifth floor in one go!” said Borkus.

“Yes. We are racing against the clock, after all,” said Zadiris.

Borkus and the others activated their transformation equipment and then charged into the Dungeon. The moment they did, a heavy noise echoed from behind them.

“What was that?” Vandalieu asked.

“The Dungeon’s entrance shuts when ten people enter. Of course, that includes monsters from outside,” said Jeena.

“We say it shuts, but it can be opened from the inside, so we’re not completely shut out. It just means that we can’t call for reinforcements or rescue,” said Zandia.

Even as they spoke, the group was moving through the Dungeon.

The floors themselves were all very simple. Grassy plains, forests, ice fields, dark and lightless nights. There was some difficulty introduced by the Dungeon’s environments, but that wasn’t unusual at all for Dungeons of B-class and above, and the natural environment of the Demon King’s Continent was much harsher.

There were no riddles like those in the Trial of Zakkart.

The monsters that appeared were all powerful Rank 10 monsters, but these were common to see in A-class Dungeons as well.

At present, the Dungeon’s difficulty was too low for it to be considered an S-class Dungeon. Borkus and the others were slaughtering the monsters one-sidedly, progressing through the Dungeon without any struggle.

But that impression of the Dungeon was immediately erased when they saw the chamber on the fifth floor where the mid-boss was waiting.

A Rank 14 monster… a Dragon with three heads, each emanating different kinds of Mana – flames, icy air, and lightning – roared at them. It would be named ‘Three-headed Dragon King’ for now.

It was flanked by a groaning pair of Rank 12 Adamantite Giant Golem Knights, a Mad Spirit King that was a mass of Mana that had been corrupted by miasma, and a Gigant Flying Shark that was the king of predators in the ocean and had teeth that could crush a fortress.

Behind them was a Rank 13 monster with a woman’s head and the body of a lion, reciting incantations to cast spells. This monster was named ‘Sphinx Wizard Empress’ for now.

Incidentally, these monster names were temporary because they had only just been discovered on the Demon King’s Continent and did not have officially designated names.

“… This is the mid-boss chamber, right?” said Vandalieu.

“Yes, it is, but… it seems that the Dungeon bosses and mid-bosses from the floors below somehow sense the presence of intruders and climb the stairs to form a party here,” Vigaro explained with a grimace.

“We were hurrying so that we could avoid this, but… it looks like we didn’t make it in time,” Borkus sighed.

Vandalieu finally understood why his companions had described his Dungeon as ‘bugged.’

“We didn’t make it in time, but there’s nothing to be done about it now! Mother, Zandia, back me up!” said Basdia.

“Yes! No matter what, we must defeat that Sphinx that likes to pretend it is an empress!” exclaimed Zadiris.

“Zadiris, isn’t that a bit of a personal grudge?” said Zandia.

Basdia and the others fought heroically. They had the advantage of numbers, and despite the difference in size between them and the monsters, they had equal or greater strength. Vandalieu didn’t directly participate in the battle, but simply being present nearby caused Skills like ‘Super Strengthen Followers’ to activate and increase their Attribute Values.

But the Dungeon bosses coordinated well with one another and were not so easily defeated. Ordinarily, if they were on the same battlefield, it would not be strange for them to be killing each other. Though they were intelligent, they did not think of each other as allies, and to begin with, the Mad Spirit King didn’t have any trace of an ability to reason.

Despite this, they displayed advanced teamwork and fought tenaciously until the very end.

When one was dealt a fatal blow, it would use its own body to protect an ally whose wounds were relatively light – or pretend to do so, and then perform a suicide attack and blow up its own body – a strategy that one would never expect to see a monster use.

“I see. The difficulty really is bugged,” Vandalieu said as he helped recover materials from the monsters’ corpses after this fierce battle.

The fact that other mid-bosses and Dungeon bosses would gather in the first mid-boss’s chamber and lie in wait was certainly abnormal, but so was their skilled coordination and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their allies.

No ordinary adventurers’ party would have been able to deal with this.

“It is, isn’t it, Van-sama? At first, we thought that maybe the souls of the monsters on the Demon King’s Continent inserted themselves into the monsters of your Dungeon. What do you think?” asked Eleanora as she recovered a Magic Stone from the wreckage of a Golem.

Vandalieu looked around, then shook his head. “No, there were no souls in these monsters… Well, not having souls is normal for naturally-occurring Golems and the Mad Spirit King, since it’s a mass of Mana that’s been corrupted by miasma.”

The only spirits in the mid-boss chamber were the ones Vandalieu had brought with him; the spirits of the monsters that had just been slain were nowhere to be seen.

It was unlikely that they had returned to the circle of transmigration before Vandalieu noticed them. In most cases, spirits were defenseless after their bodies were killed.

“I see. It actually makes more sense to me that they don’t have souls,” said Isla as she came closer to Vandalieu. “They were all created by the Dungeon, but they’re of different species and aren’t part of the same horde or anything. It would be impossible for them to show such coordination and selflessness if they had their own self-awareness and instincts.”

“So you’re saying it’s only possible because they’re like puppets. But I wonder why these puppets are capable of such things?” said Eleanora as she tried to get even closer to Vandalieu than Isla.

Gufadgarn appeared from behind Vandalieu to join in on the discussion. Because she remained hidden inside a twisted portion of space, she had successfully slipped through the Dungeon’s limit on how many people could enter.

“I believe that it is because of the intent with which Vandalieu created this Dungeon – his desire for it to be a very difficult Dungeon – and this intent functions as an irreversible command that is issued to all monsters spawned by the Dungeon,” Gufadgarn said. “To think that even soulless puppets will obey your absolute commands from the moment they are created… as expected of the great Vandalieu.”

Although it was difficult to tell due to her always being expressionless, those who knew her well could see the enrapturement in her eyes.

As Gufadgarn praised Vandalieu, his blonde-haired female butler, who had one eye that had a vertical iris resembling that of a snake, emerged from Vandalieu’s back as if she were a growth that was a part of him.

“But now that the Dungeon bosses have already been defeated, this Dungeon is now a fortress without a commander, is it not?” Bellmond asked.

“Now that you mention it, the other mid-boss chambers and boss chambers should be empty now… More importantly, where have you been hiding?” asked Eleanora.

“Were you inside Vandalieu-sama’s shadow?” asked Bone Man.

“That is not far from the truth, but to be more precise, I have been on standby inside one of Danna-sama’s Inner Worlds,” Bellmond replied.

The effect of the ‘Inner Worlds’ Skill, which Vandalieu had gained after acquiring the ‘Qliphoth’ Job, did exactly what its name suggested – It allowed him to have ten special spaces within his body, though they were not quite large enough to call ‘worlds.’

Each space was several times the size of the city of Morksi, and it was possible for people to spend their time inside these spaces just like they would outside. Vandalieu could also choose what each space’s purpose was.

He was currently only using three of the ten spaces, however.

“There is one that we are forbidden from entering, so I do not know what is inside it, but… another is for stockpiling Demon King Familiars, and the third has been provided as a space for myself and others to be on standby,” Bellmond explained. “Like ‘Shadow Group Binding Technique,’ we enter and exit through Danna-sama’s shadow, so it does not look any different.”

“I can’t use space-attribute magic, after all. I’m currently still deciding what to do with the other seven, but I’m thinking of keeping one for evacuation purposes in emergency situations,” Vandalieu said telepathically.

“That’s quite the strange Skill you’ve got there,” Basdia remarked. “By ‘evacuation,’ I suppose you mean that we could evacuate the entire nation there if necessary.”

“I see. A wise king once said, ‘A country is its people.’ But I suppose in His-Majesty-kun’s case, the country is his-majesty-kun,” said Zandia, imagining a jet-black Vandalieu Kingdom where everything was made of Vandalieu – in other words, Demon King fragments.

“A space with lots of Demon King Familiars! I’m really interested in seeing it. A lot of the Demon King Familiars are pretty cute,” said Jeena, picturing a space filled with all kinds of bizarre-looking Demon King Familiars.

“Indeed… though if we agree, Luciliano would insist that only we would think so,” said Zadiris.

As the women enjoyed this rather boisterous chat, Borkus looked at them with an unimpressed expression on the half of his head that still had a face.

“Hey, shall we get going now? And the kid is somewhere inside there, right?” Borkus asked, just to make sure.

“I haven’t heard Vandalieu speak physically for a while now,” said Vigaro.

Vandalieu could hear them, but… he was unable to speak due to being squeezed from all sides by the women’s bodies.

“I can still breathe, so I’m fine,” he replied, using telepathy again.

“There is no need to rush, is there? The Dungeon bosses have already been defeated,” said Bellmond.

Monsters in Dungeons, including mid-bosses and bosses, respawned after they were defeated. However, it took time for that to happen. Weaker monsters respawned faster, and stronger monsters respawned slower. Dungeon bosses wouldn’t respawn for at least a few days unless they were the bosses of an E-class Dungeon.

Considering this was an S-class Dungeon, it wouldn’t be strange for the boss to not respawn for months.

Thus, Bellmond’s suggestion was not an unreasonable one, but…

“Jyuooh. No, we cannot let our guards down,” said Bone Man.

“Yeah, Bone Man’s right. This Dungeon’s mid-bosses and Dungeon bosses respawn in about half a day,” said Borkus.

“It’s not clear as to whether it’s because the miasma is too concentrated on the Demon King’s Continent or because Vandalieu poured too much Mana into it, but this is no ordinary Dungeon,” said Vigaro.

This bugged Dungeon was an exception to the rule.

“Not only that, but the other monsters of the Dungeon seem to know that and stand in our way to slow us down, buying time for the bosses to respawn,” Vigaro added.

“Monsters with tough bodies banding together to form walls, monsters that are good at attacking from far distances doing hit-and-run attacks on us…” said Bone Man.

“In any case, we need to move as deep into the Dungeon as we can while we have some room to breathe,” said Borkus. “If we take too long and don’t quite make it to the next chamber, the bosses and mid-bosses will respawn and then come flooding in from both the floors above and the floors below, and we’ll get sandwiched.”

Vandalieu realized that his Dungeon was far too difficult, though in a different way from the Trial of Zakkart.

However –

“Shall we turn back, then? Considering we managed to defeat even the Dungeon bosses, this will do for cutting the monster numbers down for now,” said Vandalieu.

Although the Dungeon hadn’t been cleared, from the viewpoint of reducing the Dungeon’s monster population, they’d done enough. Bosses respawned quickly, so a monster stampede would occur more quickly for this Dungeon than other Dungeons, but… that also meant that more of the miasma on the Demon King’s Continent was consumed.

Considering that, perhaps it was a more casual Dungeon, since it wasn’t necessary to proceed through every floor, of which there were nearly a hundred, and defeat every Dungeon boss along the way… though any challengers would be crushed immediately unless they brought the necessary strength and numbers.

“Alright, let’s do that,” Borkus agreed. “Clearing Dungeons while being chased by respawning mid-bosses has a thrill to it, but I did enjoy the all-out battle.”

And with that, Vandalieu and his companions canceled their clearing of the Dungeon and turned back at the fifth floor.

After returning from the still-unnamed S-class Dungeon, Vigaro and Basdia approached Vandalieu with something on their minds.

“Zadiris has been acting strangely recently,” said Vigaro.

“For a while now, she’s been pacing back and forth in front of the Job-changing room and sitting down while muttering to herself,” said Basdia. “I think it’s because all of her available choices for changing Jobs have ‘princess’ in them again, but…”

“If you already know that, then isn’t the problem already resolved?” asked Vandalieu.

Zadiris was a three-hundred-year-old Ghoul chief, but she was greatly distressed that her Jobs and race title all had ‘princess’ in them, and she was struggling desperately to change that.

Vandalieu didn’t see what the problem was with being a princess, but to her, it seemed to be a very serious problem that she could not give up on trying to solve.

“Well, it’s not that I don’t understand how she feels. I’m sure it’s the same as how I felt when I failed to become muscular, no matter how much I wanted to be,” Vandalieu said.

No matter how much muscle training he did, his arms had never grown any thicker. No matter how much he ate, his ribs were always visible on his chest. No matter how much he trained his back, no matter how many sit-ups he did, no matter how many horns and joined legs he grew, his body didn’t grow any bulkier or ripped.

Perhaps this was nothing to do with a lack of effort or a problem with his diet; perhaps this was a limitation that he had been born with. Even with this thought lurking in the back of his mind, he had always been unable to give up on his dream – at least, until he acquired ‘Muscle Technique.’

“No, I think it’s a little different from that. Including the method of resolving it,” said Basdia.

“… I see,” said Vandalieu, looking disappointed.

“In any case, we want to make her give up and just change Jobs, before she starts doing something strange just to make a different Job available,” Vigaro said.

There was no guarantee that there would always be new choices available every time one went to change Jobs. Even if one’s Job’s Level reached 100, if their Skills were still low and the requirements for new Jobs to become available weren’t met, then no new Jobs would appear.

Many who found themselves in this situation would aim to acquire new combat or magic-related Skills in order to make a completely different kind of Job available.

In this world, those who did not acquire new Jobs were at a disadvantage in terms of their Attribute Value growth and bonuses to their Skills. That was why they would simply pick a Job out of what was available, even if it wasn’t what they hoped for.

According to one theory, such efforts resulted in the discovery of Jobs such as ‘Magic Knight,’ which used both magic and a sword; ‘Bard Mage,’ which used magic and songs; and ‘Fighting Thief,’ a version of ‘Thief’ that was exceptionally skilled in the use of ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique.’

“… Well, I don’t think we need to worry about Zadiris doing anything strange, but I’ll try talking to her,” said Vandalieu with a nod.

As he began walking towards the Job-changing room, where Zadiris was likely continuing her strange behavior –

“VAAAAAN!” an excited Kanako shouted as she came rushing over. “Listen, Van! I’ve become a ‘Champion!’” she said, picking Vandalieu up and spinning him in a circle.

“Wow, that’s great,” said Vandalieu.

Kanako was evidently overjoyed by her acquisition of the ‘Champion’ Title.

“You’ve become a ‘Champion,’ Kanako? That’s incredible!” said Basdia.

“Yeah, it really is! Let’s have a competition between us sometime!” said Vigaro.

In this world, ‘Champion’ was a Title that was granted to the worthy among those who originated from other worlds, such as Zakkart and Hillwillow. It could never be acquired by those who were originally from this world, like Schneider and Randolf, no matter how hard they tried.

That was precisely why it wasn’t unexpected for Kanako to become a ‘Champion.’ She was a reincarnated individual like Vandalieu, had acquired a ‘Guider’ Job, and had recently been granted Botin’s divine protection – possibly due to her surname, Tsuchiya. But Basdia and Vigaro weren’t surprised by how happy she was, either.

“This will be the next hot topic in the Demon Empire of Vidal and Gartland! Van, I would like you to redesign my transformation equipment! Make it more champion-like!” Kanako said delightedly. “And Vigaro-san, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your challenge!”

Kanako didn’t seem to have a sense of how much of an honor this Title was. Or to be more precise, she was thinking… but more about how to use this to further her activities as an artist; it seemed that this was more important to her.

Vandalieu was aware of this.

“Yes, I suppose your transformation equipment will need a redesign,” said Vandalieu as he thought of ideas for her new costume.

Knowing Kanako, she probably means for me to keep its functions the same while changing its design, but… I’m not a designer. I’ll have to improve its functions, too, he thought.

Altering only the costume’s appearance would have implications for Vandalieu, who bore the Title of ‘Patron Saint of Transformation Equipment.’ Thus, he was intent on improving the functions of Kanako’s costume as well.

… He was also currently making Deeana’s transformation equipment, so perhaps he would need more help. Perhaps he should turn the space of one of his seven remaining Inner Worlds into a transformation equipment workshop?

“By the way, were you in the middle of discussing something?” Kanako asked.

“Yes. It seems that Zadiris is worried about what to do about her Job,” said Vandalieu.

“I think this happens every time for her, but… I do have some information about that.”

Kanako recounted seeing Zadiris behaving strangely a few days ago. With a brooding expression, Zadiris had approached Kanako as if to ask her something, but ended up leaving without saying anything.

“I tried squeezing the truth out of her, willing to do so even if she ended up getting annoyed at me, but she didn’t tell me anything in the end,” Kanako said.

“Mother, approaching Kanako for advice… It probably isn’t anything to do with stage performances, so I’m a little curious,” said Basdia.

“It seems that she is worrying more than I thought,” said Vandalieu. “Well, then, let’s go and ask her, shall we?”

And so, rather than waiting for Zadiris to open up on her own, the four of them went to address the problem proactively by asking her.