The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time Chapter 165

There were two figures standing in a wasteland some distance away from the Majin nation, a dangerous region where Rank 5 monsters roamed, a place the average adventurer wouldn’t survive a single hour.

“GAAAAAH!”

“UOOOOH!”

The ‘Sword King’ Borkus raised his black greatsword into the air. Vigaro, the four-armed Ghoul, let out the roar of a lion as he swung his axe sideways.

The air vibrated as the two weapons collided, the shockwave shaking the boulders nearby as if they were flimsy toys. Even monsters that were normally ferocious had fled like mice in fear of these two.

“You’ve grown stronger, haven’t you, Vigaro! Not as strong as me, though!” Borkus shouted, a provocation mixed in with his words of praise.

Neither of them showed any killing intent. But Borkus had accepted Vigaro’s request of a match with the same spirit and equipment as a real battle.

Vigaro frowned and let out a low growl. “It does seem that my skill isn’t as great as yours yet.”

His combat ability had clearly increased. When Vigaro and Borkus first met, Vigaro was far below Borkus, completely unable to defeat him unless Borkus was taken completely by surprise. Even with only a single arm and a sword with only the handle remaining, Borkus would certainly have defeated Vigaro in a battle.

But in Talosheim, he had acquired a Job and gained strength rapidly.

I have the superior Attribute Values, but the difference isn’t great enough for the match to be decided by that alone. Jeez, these members of Vida’s races that have Ranks get stronger twice as fast as everyone else, Borkus thought.

When members of Vida’s races like Ghouls and Vampires that possessed Ranks gained Jobs, their Job Levels and their Monster Levels increased at the same time, so they developed more quickly than humans or monsters. Borkus learned of this from watching the development of Vigaro and the other Ghouls.

… They didn’t stand out much compared to the Dhampir who was developing at a steep diagonal angle away from common sense, however.

“But I received guidance! I received advice from a strangely tall, skinny Vandalieu that appeared in my dreams!” Vigaro exclaimed.

“… I’ve said this a few times, but are you sure that wasn’t just a dream?” said Borkus.

“Honestly, I sometimes think that might be the case. But thanks to that dream, I’ve mastered it!”

The tension in the air had loosened for a moment, but now, it returned again in an instant.

“So, you did awaken your superior Skill! Alright, I’ll put it to the test!” Borkus declared.

“Yeah, I’ll show you my power now that I’ve gained what I was lacking!” Vigaro roared.

He normally wielded three battleaxes and a s.h.i.+eld, but now, he threw his s.h.i.+eld into the air over his head.

“Huh?”

For a moment, Borkus thought that Vigaro was just making a show of throwing away his defense to devote himself entirely to attacking, but he raised his greatsword nonetheless, not letting his guard down.

And then he saw a fifth arm silently extend from Vigaro’s back and s.n.a.t.c.h the s.h.i.+eld out of the air.

“… Huh?!”

“Here I come!” Vigaro roared.

“Wha –?! Wait, what the h.e.l.l is that you just grew from your back?!” Borkus shouted, his discomposure clear.

But the now five-armed Vigaro closed in quickly.

Three of his arms, which were longer and more flexible than those of a human, were wielding battle axes, while the remaining arm grasped the ground to support his body.

“Tch!”

Despite his discomposure, Borkus defended against the three axes, which were all aiming at different parts of the body with different attack timings, with his greatsword and defensive movements. And then he swung his weapon back in retaliation.

“GAH!”

But the s.h.i.+eld held by the arm growing from Vigaro’s back deflected Borkus’s blade. Taking advantage of this opening, Vigaro swung his three axes and unleashed a fourth attack from his free elbow aimed at Borkus’s legs. He positioned himself low against the ground, attacking from a position that would be difficult for Borkus, a t.i.tan Zombie, to deal with.

“Leaving the reason that you’ve grown an extra arm aside, it seems that you’re using your fifth arm to maintain your defense with your s.h.i.+eld while using your free arm to adapt to the situation,” Borkus observed. “But it’s not good enough!”

Borkus’s powerful front kick deflected one of Vigaro’s arms. And then he ignored two of the axes and moved straight forward, closing the gap between him and his opponent, and swung his sword down.

“GYAOH?!”

Vigaro immediately tried to stop the attack with his s.h.i.+eld, but he was smashed into the ground by this attack from above, his fifth arm unable to withstand the power of Borkus’s sword.

“Guh… I still can’t use them properly. Spirit Form and Materialization,” groaned the defeated Vigaro.

The fifth arm growing from his back was not a part of his body, but his spirit form that was extending from it.

“Now that you mention it, I had a feeling it looked a bit transparent. But I’m surprised you managed to learn those Skills when you’re not even Undead. What a weird guidance,” Borkus muttered.

“The tall, skinny Vandalieu tore off a part of himself and then told me to eat it. I did, and then it grew from my back. When I woke up, I was a Rank 10 Ghoul Astral Tyrant and I’d acquired those Skills,” said Vigaro.

“… That dream’s a nightmare. Never mind that, what’s the name of your superior Skill? An old buddy of mine had Axe King Technique, but yours is different, right?” asked Borkus, pulling out the one axe that had buried itself in his leg.

The names of superior Skills were different for each person. The most popular ones were ‘X King Technique,’ but there were many cases where the Skill names were different due to the Skill owners’ fighting styles and mental factors.

“It’s Death Lion Axe Technique,” said Vigaro. “At the moment, I can’t maintain my fifth arm for long because of my inexperience and lack of Mana, but I’ll catch up to you soon.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it,” said Borkus.

Meanwhile, Basdia was watching the fired-up conversation between the two men.

“They asked me to come to make sure that nearby monsters wouldn’t interfere, but… I wasn’t needed, was I? Well, I got to see something unexpectedly valuable, considering that I was just killing time while Jadal comforted Mother.”

As a warrior, she didn’t dislike heavy scenes like this, and she was satisfied at having been able to witness a battle between two exceptional fighters.

And then she grouped up with them to treat Borkus’s leg, which had been almost severed due to the reckless way that he’d fought.

Incidentally, she had become a Rank 9 Ghoul Amazoness Chief before seeing Vandalieu in her dreams, but she was still waiting for her advancement to Rank 10.

While Borkus and Vigaro engaged in their fired-up conversation, Vandalieu was inside a certain Dungeon.

The Palace of h.e.l.l.

This was the ninety-nine-floor, high-difficulty Dungeon in the Majin nation. As a palace, its interior structure was like the inside of some kind of building, but the environmental hazards were top-cla.s.s, such as the pools of magma in the courtyards and entire buildings that were made of ice.

Other than the monsters that were simply animals with Demon-like features, like Devil Octopuses and Demon Apes, the monsters of the Dungeon were all actual Demon-type monsters, which were moving, condensed ma.s.ses of contaminated Mana.

Monsters like Lesser Demons could be defeated with a little caution for their great physical ability and moderate ability in magic. But the weakest Demon-type monsters that appeared in this Dungeon were Rank 7 Greater Demons, Lava Demons and Frost Demons.

They were sly and highly capable in combat and the use of magic, and their most prominent feature was that they possessed numerous special abilities. These came in great varieties, such as spells that were cast with Chant Revocation, special venom, roars that damaged the minds of those who heard them, great regenerative abilities and the ability to temporarily become invisible.

And as Vandalieu and his companions travelled deeper into the Dungeon, there were even more powerful enemies, like groups of Rank 9 Demon Generals and Rank 10 Archdemons led by a Rank 11 Demon Lord.

And although the materials that could be taken from the monsters were valuable and had high monetary value, almost none of them were suitable for consumption. Thus, those who came to clear this Dungeon had to bring their own food.

Because of this Dungeon’s nature, even most of the Majin, who were highly capable in combat and could acquire Jobs that allowed them to tame Demon-type monsters, couldn’t manage more than reducing monster numbers in the shallow and middle floors.

That was supposed to have been the case, but… Vandalieu casually walked down a corridor whose floor and walls were made of polished stone.

“Hmm… we’ve only had a handful of fights so far,” he said, looking at the Demons lined up on both sides of the corridors like palace guards.

They weren’t monsters tamed by the tamers of the Majin nation; they were ordinary monsters that inhabited this Dungeon.

Despite that, they showed no signs of intending to attack Vandalieu or those following behind him.

“Perhaps they have been charmed by you, just like the Undead we encountered in our first Dungeon, Bocchan?” suggested Sam, who was carrying the luggage in his carriage, remembering the Dungeon that he and Vandalieu went into during their hidden journey out of the Mirg s.h.i.+eld-nation.

“It seems that it’s different from my charm and guidance,” said Vandalieu, looking at the Demons.

He extended a hand, and the Demons standing in front of him trembled slightly. There was fear in their reptile-like eyes.

“It seems that I’m scary to them,” Vandalieu said.

The Demons feared Vandalieu so much that they had abandoned their instincts as Dungeon monsters to attack and impede the advancement of intruders.

“Monsters of Dungeons are scared, huh. This would be unthinkable in any ordinary Dungeon…” muttered G.o.dwin, the Majin king.

The minds of monsters sp.a.w.ned inside Dungeons were influenced by the Dungeons to eliminate intruders and cooperate with other monsters to some extent to achieve this task.

But unlike monsters sp.a.w.ned by Vandalieu’s Dungeons, monsters sp.a.w.ned by ordinary Dungeons had souls. Thus, Dungeons did not control their monsters’ minds completely.

There were cases where monsters would run and hide from overwhelmingly powerful enemies or become tamed by those with very good compatibility with the monsters.

But there were almost no such cases for Demons.

They were beings created when corrupted Mana gathered to form bodies and souls inhabited them. No matter how strange most monsters were, they had desires and instincts as living organisms, but Demons did not.

They had no limited lifespans; they were able to continue living forever without sleeping, eating or reproducing. It wasn’t that they couldn’t do these, but they were nothing more than leisure activities for them.

Thus, it wasn’t rare for Demons to simply throw their lives away for fun. The more powerful Demons were, the stronger this tendency was. They didn’t value their lives, surrender or try to flee from battle.

The reason they couldn’t be tamed by those who were not Majin, who possessed special characteristics as a race, was because of these un-organism-like values.

“Hmm, I wonder why? I haven’t really even fought any Demon-type monsters before,” said Vandalieu.

“Though this is but a guess, perhaps it is because you possess the Demon King t.i.tle and the fragments of the Demon King?” Sam suggested.

“That’s probably it,” G.o.dwin said, hitting the palm of his hand with the fist of his other. “It’s said that Demon-type monsters began forming after the Demon King created them to be his own servants. They’re probably trembling in fear of the increased presence of the Demon King inside you, kid. But since there are a lot of things different from the presence of the Demon King Guduranis, they won’t obey you. That might be the state that they’re in.”

“I see. That might be how it is,” said Vandalieu. The Demons didn’t confirm or deny G.o.dwin’s theory, but he was convinced.

“I am still unable to tame even a single Lesser Demon… and yet, Archdemons are as meek as cats before His Majesty. Perhaps I should say that it is to be expected, but…” The ‘Liberating Princess Knight’ Iris Bearheart, former leader of the resistance who had survived after receiving fatal wounds by transforming into an Obscene-Majin Succubus, let out a sigh.

She had transformed from a human to a Majin through the ‘Blood Coc.o.o.n’ ritual carried out by G.o.dwin, but less than a year had pa.s.sed since then, so she couldn’t handle Demons well like natural-born Majin yet.

“Iris… that is something that even normal Majin take ten years to learn. It is nothing to be disappointed about,” said the spirit of Iris’s father George, who resided in the dark magic sword, the Orichalc.u.m holy sword Nemesis Bell that had been remade by Vandalieu into Nemesis George.