Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)
chapter-16-60

16-60. Sage's Tower (8)

Satou here. I loved the feasibility test before an experiment and the experiment itself, but I could never get myself to enjoy writing down the result into a report. Maybe it's like a programmer who loves to code but hates to write down documentation.

◇

"Nyu? Not here~?"

Arisa and Hikaru weren't present at the place we teleported in.

I quickly scan over the Marker list.

--A sub-space huh.

"Let's go Tama."

"Aye~"

I hold Tama under my arm, and moved to the sub-space I created per Arisa's request.

"Looks tasty~?"

In the sub-space that housed houses of cakes, Arisa and Hikaru are fighting someone with a small stature wearing a ragged overcoat.

The small man easily dealt with force magic and fire magic that Hikaru and Arisa cast chantlessly.

Rather, it looks more like the small man and his agility is toying around with Arisa and Hikaru.

Arisa got away along with Hikaru via Short-range Warp (Short Jump) and then she burned down everything around the small man with advanced level fire magic.

The aroma of burning chocolate and marshmallow are pervading here riding the violent explosion wind.

Hikaru drives down a telephone pole sized [Divine Lance] at a burning red sweet house.

The Divine Lance gouged the ground with a roaring sound and scattered fragments of sweets around, but it seemed to have missed the small man, I could see him running up the slanted Divine Lance at a tremendous speed.

AR information is displayed next to the small man.

In the middle of running up the Divine Lance, the small man squatted down and twisted its body even though there was nothing there, he must have evaded an invisible attack Arisa chantlessly cast with space magic.

--Level 99.

The small man brushed off all 15 of the [<>] Hikaru shot out, and then he kicked the air and jumped toward Arisa.

When he brushed off Hikaru's attack earlier, I could see his greenish skin color.

--He's got innumerable titles.

Arisa used Short-range Warp (Short Jump) and took Hikaru along with her, gaining some distance away from the man.

That overcoat seems to have been enchanted with high level Recognition Inhibition functions, but it cannot conceal everything before the AR readings.

--[Demon Lord].

That one caught my eyes among the countless titles the man had.

Amongst others, there are [Demon Lord], [Goblin Demon Lord], [Little Oni King], [Onikin King], [Skanda], [Coward], [Liar King], [Apostle of Thief God].

His level is a bit low, but judging from his titles, he must be the [Goblin Demon Lord] whom Saga Empire founder hero defeated in the past.

"Nyu!"

The small man who was jumping mid air disappeared into black mist, and showed up behind Arisa who just Short Jump-ed herself.

His arm is clad in dark purple light, then a blade-like claw extended out of his bundled-up fingers.

Hikaru noticed his presence and swiftly turned around as countless shields of light block the small man's claw.

That's the late stage Fortress wall on Hikaru's equipment.

The shields that touched the claw blocked it while scattering sparks, but only for an instant, as it cut the shields up like butter in the next moment.

The claw approached Hikaru and Arisa who looked shocked--.

"Kyaaaaaaa"

"Ugeeeeeee"

--The two disappeared before the man as they screamed out.

"Tch."

The small man turns around here.

--His skills are unknown.

This guy seems to be a reincarnated person too, though it's not on his title.

"Eh? Master?"

"Ichirou-nii!"

Arisa and Hikaru shouted in surprise while in my arms.

"Irregular's here eh... I ended up showin' some one or two of my cards, hafta scram soon--"

The small man dived into his shadow trying to run away as he said that.

--I won't let you tho'?

The shadow the small man tried to dive in disappeared while giving off sounds like an evaporating drop of water.

"Barrier that prevents one from goin' outside ey?"

The small man grumbled.

"This is the the first time we meet face-to-face, isn't it?"

"--Face to face? Ah yea yep."

The small man opened a black board that seemed to be [Item Box] skill while agreeing to me.

"I'll get straight to the point, what's your goal?"

"Ya think I'm gonna answer just cuz you ask?"

The small man took out a purple pocket watch and a strange looking wand from the black board.

Leaving aside the wand, I've got a bad feeling about the pocket watch.

"Dangerous!"

Looks like Tama who's still under my arm feels the same too.

I tried to snatch it away with space magic [Item Pull (Aport)], but it seems there's a countermeasure against it built into the pocket watch, the magic failed.

"Familiars, go."

With a single swing of the wand, countless bluish-green colored goblins appeared in the air.

According to AR readings, they're called [Demi Goblin - Air Walker].

The demi goblins rush toward us while running in the air like using Sky Drive.

Each of them is level 50, they don't feel too different to the familiars the Dog-head Demon Lord summoned.

I snap my fingers, then shadows stretch out from below all of the demi goblin, bind them and swallow them all into those shadows.

"Ew that's nasty~ You can even use shadow magic eh."

"Nope, it's ninjutsu."

To be honest, I'm not sure if it could even be called ninjutsu.

But since Tama-sensei who's standing next to me is looking satisfied like, "Mufu~", yeah, let's call it ninjutsu.

Arisa and Hikaru pull my sleeves.

Looks like they're done with their preparations.

"Mythology Extension."

"Mythology Down"

Hikaru and Arisa both cast forbidden magic together.

To assist them, I bind the demon lord mid air using Tama's shadow ninjutsu.

The shadow was negated in an instant, but countless rainbow colored light bands produced from Hikaru's forbidden magic [Mythology Extension] wrap the demon lord, binding and eroding his body.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

The screaming demon lord was erased along with the sub-space by Arisa's [Mythology Down].

◇

"Even though Warship Wand wasn't available, using anti-god magic might've been too much."

The bracelet that was used in place of Warship Wand broke into pieces due to the load from the magic.

Looks like personal equipment really is unusable for anti-god type forbidden magic's usage.

Might be a good idea to equip everyone with the mass-produced Warship Wand asap.

"Ahaha, I mean our opponent was an 『Avatar』 anyway, wasn't it an ideal target for test firing?"

--Pseudo Body (Avatar)?

It's the [Create Avatar] ability that the [Greater Demon Green] used to create a scapegoat when I fought it in the royal capital back then.

"That was an Avatar?"

I asked Hikaru while recalling the green colored skin the demon lord had.

Tama isn't here since I tasked her to survey the surrounding area after the sub-space disappeared.

"Un, he said that he was the one who taught the ability to the 『Greater Demon Green』."

"Shouldn't we meet up with the other girls first? I think Liza-san and Nana would be fine, but it could get a wee bit bad for other girls."

"Ah, you're right."

I pull Tama here with Unit Arrangement and go back to Kariswolk City where everyone is.

I tried searching [Pseudo Body (Avatar)] in all existing Maps, but I found no hit.

I hadn't noticed since I wouldn't know whether he was an Avatar or not without glancing at the [Race] data. I mean it had [Goblin Demon Lord] title, so I ignored unimportant info like Race and Age.

If only I knew that it was an Avatar at the start, I would have traced the line back to its original body before destroying the Avatar, too bad.

Well, since I got to find out about our opponent's identity and goal, and also destroyed the dangerous-looking pocket watch along with the Avatar, it's all good.

I couldn't read through all the information since he hid himself among the Demi Goblin crowds midway through, but that pocket watch was a sacred treasure called [Thief God---] something.

I've also found out that [Goblin Demon Lord] is capable of breaking through late stage Fortress, seems like a good idea to develop a personal-type Castle which is even sturdier than Fortress, and emergency escape equipment that make Short Jump usable.

Feels like I could make something better if I analyzed the [Light Lid of Heavenly Protection] sacred treasure that was protecting cities in the floating island of Lalakie I encountered during the Divine Punishment.

Ah, the [Damnation Cannon] I found in the investigation of the floating island of Lalakie should prove useful to update Lulu's accelerated cannon too.

While I was thinking that, we met up with the other girls, shared information about [Goblin Demon Lord], and [Avatar] with whom it may concern and resumed the trial.

Of course, since the demon lord might come attacking again with a new [Avatar], I've put up space-detection barriers on Kariswolk city and other cities where my acquaintances are.

Maintaining these barriers in dozens of location is pretty tough as expected, hope they come and take the bait quick.

◇

"--a failure huh."

"It cannot be helped. It's a providence of Gods after all."

Sera who heard me muttering overlaps her palm on top of mine to encourage me.

"You're right..."

The spell did activate, however the dead insect in front of me gave no reaction whatsoever.

It was a success when I was testing it in the Experimental Domain (Sand Box) used for simulations, but when I tried to use the revival magic in reality, it didn't go well, my mana dispersed along with an odd sensation that felt like the spell got canceled right before it was activated.

Just as Sera said, the [Providence of Gods] might be at work here.

"Guilty."

Mia with puffed up cheeks pulled my hand from under Sera's, and embraced it in her chest.

I feel like that's an out too, but since Sera doesn't seem like she's minding a children's cute jealousy, I'll let Mia do as she likes.

"You failed the resurrection magic huh~, that's too bad."

"Guess we'll have to look for resurrection items that work like God Tenion's Sacred Treasure."

Hikaru and Arisa exchanged such conversation behind us.

Similar to me and Arisa who cannot get god's blessing, Hikaru who's got God Parion's divine protection can't clear the prerequisite to use the [Artifact of Revival]--blessed by God Tenion--, like Arisa, she has no way to get revived.

"There is no need to get discouraged."

"That's right, Satou-san! The result here alone is amazing by itself!"

Princess Sistina and Zena-san consoled me when they saw the result of the resurrection magic demonstration.

"It's amazing alright."

"Rather than amazing, it's just absurd isn't it."

"Well, this much is nothing for our Cheat Master."

Arisa and Hikaru, so cruel.

There is a rat energetically devouring its fodder inside a cage in front of Princess Sistina and Zena-san.

That rat is the specimen that was formerly a [Vampire Rat].

Resurrection magic may have ended in failure, but I've succeeded in turning undead back into living creatures.

Of course, it can't be used to turn back every kind of undead.

Lesser and unbranded vampires, like [Vampire Rats] can be turned back into living creature--normal rat, without any problem. I can't say for sure whether it's possible for greater vampires because I've got no test subject for it.

However, on the other hand, doing it on intangible undead like ghost and such made them disappear like they were purified, while skeleton and zombies turned into ash.

For ghouls and stuff, most specimens died the moment they were turned back into living creatures.

In just one case, a ghoul survived in the form of something beast-like, but then it rapidly grew old in just one night and died.

"But really, how'd you even get to this point in just two days? Is it Cheat for real?"

"Of course not. I know someone who's an expert in ghosts and those with ethereal body, so I've got them to show me various documents."

Arisa said it like it was easy, but developing magic to turn undead back into the living was quite tough.

When I asked Leiane who's of an unusual [Half Ghost] race about it just because, I ended up having to listen about her life when she was living in the floating island Lalakie in the age of myth.

Lalakie's populace was originally humans, but they transformed into [Half Ghost] through the work of an institution called [Mausoleum of Noble Ascension], and eventually they would discard their physical and soul body and sublimed into a mental life form called [Lalakie Happy Folk].

When I asked her if she had documents pertaining it, she introduced me to the core control system in the main control room of the floating island Lalalkie, a mother computer-like AI, I was able to learn about occult beings like soul body, ethereal body and even anima children from it.

Thanks to such knowledge, I succeeded in creating a composite spell of soul and light magic, [Undead to Life].

As the spell ended up having almost twice the capacity of an average forbidden spell, I think I'm the only person in the world that can do it on a personal level.

Eventually, I'm thinking of disassembling it into a ritual magic that can be cast by multiple casters, but it's too troublesome, so I plan to out-source the job to someone outside.

"So, Master. Are you going to announce this result? Religion-wise, it's gonna get you like, burned at stake you know?"

Arisa said something ominous.

"Eh, really?"

"It's because undead are considered evil monsters that are different from ordinary living beings..."

Sera said so hesitantly.

Since the topic is [Denying the irreversibility of the transformation from living being into undead], the latter half can be written down without problem, as for the first half--

"Then let's just submit a report that affirms the reversibility of undead to living transformation, leaves the possibility of turning back vampires and other undead open while clearly writing down that 『You can't overturn death』, citing examples of the failures in the experiments with zombies and ghosts, but half successful with ghouls."

--We decided to sum it up like such.

Before I started to work on the report, I transform the priests who were kept in a sub-space, and the people I left with progenitor Ban, back into humans.

Of course, I wasn't in Satou form, but as a [Mysterious Priest Koubou].

To prevent some of the priests from killing themselves, I told them that it was a miracle done through an item made of orichalcum posed as a sacred treasure.

Killing themselves after turning back to their original state through a miracle of god would mean betraying their gods after all.

I felt a bit guilty when I saw them extolling the glory of gods in tears, but I convinced myself that this was a form of help too as I returned them back to their country each.

Now that I'm done helping people and all, guess it's time to write the report that will be submitted to [Sage's Tower].