The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time
chapter-189

The Amid Empire’s northern vassal nation, the iron-nation of Marmuke. As its title suggested, it was a nation with numerous ore mines. In a forest somewhere in this nation, Schneider was frowning, a deep crease appearing between his eyebrows.

“It would be a good present if we could recover it, and it wouldn’t do to let it go and have it wander into the hidden village, so I supposed it can’t be helped… But what are we doing defending the peace of a nation that we’ve decided to truly abandon, a nation that’s soon to become our enemy?” he wondered out loud.

In front of him, there was a squirming, snarling thing that was being wrapped in a thin, cloth-like sheet of metal.

“Stop moving!” Schneider spat, giving the creature a powerful blow from his knee.

“Schna, I know it’s thin, but this is an Orichalcum seal. I think you would have to hit harder if you want it to feel anything,” said Lissana, looking exasperated.

“If I hit it harder, the seal would break and the fragment would escape from its host, wouldn’t it?”

“If you’re smart enough to know that, then don’t kick it. It’s dangerous.”

Dalton was watching this exchange through narrowed eyes. “By the way, why aren’t we sealing it normally by killing the host first?” he asked. “It’s a pain and even dangerous to seal it while the host is still alive, right? It’s not someone we really don’t want to kill, either.”

Indeed, the ordinary method of sealing a rampaging fragment of the Demon King was to kill the host and seal the fragment that was inside the host’s body. It was unheard of to seal a fragment with the host still alive.

The reason it was unheard of was because it was needlessly dangerous to do so. There was no known way of separating the fragment of the host and keeping the host alive, so the host could never be returned to their original state. And if the seal lasted a long period of time, the host would eventually die in the end.

On top of that, the host of this particular fragment of the Demon King was not even a human; it was a Goblin that had apparently been living in the ruin the fragment had been sealed in. Needless to say, Schneider and his companions were not acquainted with it or had any prior relationship whatsoever.

That was why Dalton was questioning this method.

“That Vandalieu that you met, he might be able to remove the fragment without killing the host, right? I thought it would be perfect to test whether he can, using this host that we wouldn’t be upset about if he failed,” Schneider said, answering Dalton’s question. “I’ll be carrying it myself, and I’ll dispose of it the moment I think it poses any danger, so it’s fine, right?”

But even if Schneider went this far, it was unclear as to whether Vandalieu was even interested in being able to extract fragments of the Demon King from their hosts without killing them. However, given what Schneider had heard from Dalton about Vandalieu so far, he thought that Vandalieu would have an interest in it.

“Well then, let us carry this and join up with Zod and the others,” said Lissana. “Do you know whereabouts he is now?”

“According to the wind spirits… he’s apparently fighting with a group of monsters on the other side of this mountain. He’s apparently feeling good ever since he became ‘Abyssal’ or whatever,” said Dalton. “Alright, let’s get going and join in!”

“Hey, are you planning to make me run on that mountain trail while carrying this huge thing? Jeez, my knee joints are hurting me,” said Schneider.

“… Isn’t that because you just used it to kick a Demon King fragment host wrapped in Orichalcum?” Lissana pointed out.

And so, Schneider and his companions secured a fragment of the Demon King, suppressed a monster rampage and continued making progress with their plan of migrating the members of Vida’s races on the Amid Empire side of the continent.

As spring came and the start of summer approached, Darcia’s training in Vida’s Divine Realm was reaching a climax.

Her training in individual Skills such as archery, using a dagger and magic was already complete. She had moved onto mock battles against her instructor - the heroic spirit Veld who had once been a Dhampir - as well as the Pure-breed Vampires and Majin slumbering in Vida’s Resting Grounds, including Elper and Godwin’s grandmother and father.

“I lost again…” Darcia murmured, crestfallen.

“Of course you did,” said Veld with a stiff expression. “Even considering the fact that your sense of time is faster, we will not be defeated by you after less than a year of training. I am a heroic spirit who was once a mercenary, and the others are all mythical monsters who are all Rank 13 or above.”

Indeed, Darcia’s opponents in her mock battles were all foes that none other than S-class adventurers would even stand a chance against. Being unable to defeat such opponents was nothing to be upset about.

In fact, I’d like her to be prouder of the fact that she is even able to engage in mock battles against us that simulate real combat, Veld thought.

If Darcia was in the state that she had been while alive and tried to block a single attack from Veld or any of the Pure-breed Vampires with her practice weapon, she would be sent flying away.

The fact that she was able to repeatedly engage in mock battles that simulated real combat was astounding.

Her soul alone is this powerful, so there’s no telling what she will be like once that body of hers is complete.

Darcia’s body, developing from the ‘root of life,’ was approaching completion. Once she was resurrected inside it, Veld had the feeling that she would be so powerful that he would not be able to defeat her without bringing out his true strength.

Not that he intended to ever engage in real battle against the parent of a real monstrosity.

“Now that the mock battles are over, the training of the soul is next. There, off you go,” said Veld.

“That’s right. Come, Darcia,” said Vida with a kind beckoning gesture.

“Yes, Vida-sama,” said Darcia, stepping in front of Vida.

“Veld, why don’t you join as well?” Vida suggested.

“I shall humbly refrain, my goddess,” said Veld, skilfully escaping the situation.

This was how it always went.

“By the way, Vida-sama… Is this really training of the soul?” asked Darcia as she and Vida sat down facing each other and holding each other’s hands as they always did.

This training of the soul was being in contact with Vida and exchanging meaningless conversation. That was all.

Of course, it was a great honor to directly face and hold the hands of Vida, one of the eleven great gods who had created the world and the mother of all of the new races, including the Dark Elves.

But Darcia felt like this wasn’t quite the same as training.

However, according to Vida, Darcia’s soul was training itself during this process.

“This is very, very important training,” Vida told her. “And it is also the greatest blessing that I can give you. By matching your wavelength with mine like this…” She stopped, sensing a small disturbance in Darcia’s alignment. “Well, you’ll be overly conscious about things if I give you a complicated explanation, so it’s better to just relax. Don’t think, just feel.”

“Alright,” said Darcia, trusting in Vida’s judgment and clearing her senses.

As she did, she felt like she was being enveloped by Vida’s warm presence.

“By the way, is Vandalieu doing well?” Darcia asked. “He was talking to me today as well, but it seems that lately it’s his spirit form rather than his physical body…”

Vandalieu was unaware that Darcia was training in Vida’s Divine Realm, but she could hear the words he spoke to her physical body inside the capsule.

Thus, even though Darcia had become a mere spirit, she knew what Vandalieu was doing… She was surprised to hear that he had become the Demon King, but she was at ease, knowing that he was lively as usual.

However, she had the feeling that Vandalieu’s voice hadn’t been coming from his physical body as of late. Her son often used Out-of-body Experience to create clones of himself, but she still found it strange.

“Let’s see, lately he’s… healthy and growing a little too fast,” said Vida, revealing that something was indeed happening.

“What?! Vandalieu is growing big like Pauvina-chan?!” Darcia exclaimed.

“He’s not growing that much!” said Vida. “It’s just that… he’s kind of surpassed the limits of his body, I suppose?”

“I see… Then everything’s alright,” said Darcia, giving a sigh of relief. “I thought that maybe he’d become the huge Vandalieu that everyone saw in their dreams.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling at ease. He hasn’t grown that big physically; he’s just a few centimeters taller now,” Vida told her reassuringly.

While Darcia and Vida were having their conversation, Vandalieu was lying limp in Eleanora’s arms. To either side of her was Bellmond and the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena, the Undead Titan who had been a hero of the former Talosheim. Both of them were looking at Vandalieu with worried expressions on their faces.

“Vandalieu-sama, are you really alright? Isn’t it best for you to have some rest?” said Eleanora.

Vandalieu’s eyes were half-closed and his breaths were ragged. Eleanora was repeatedly pressing her fingers against his neck to test for a pulse, because if it weren’t for that, it really seemed like he was dead.

“No, it’s not like I’m sick or injured,” said one of the spirit-form Vandalieus that seemed perfectly healthy, unlike his body. “It seems like it’s just growing pains.”

This was the reason behind Vandalieu’s body lying limp. After devouring the evil gods and visiting Shashuja, he had felt pain all over his body.

He had thought that it was just muscular pain at first, but his body had become completely immobile the next day.

“I was pretty surprised,” remarked one of the spirit clones. “My body wouldn’t move an inch.”

“I was in a strange state where my bones and tendons were hurting as well as my muscles, but I was still lively,” said another.

“It wasn’t poison, illness or a curse, so Disinfect and Sterilization didn’t have any effect either,” said a third.

“So, as your physical body cannot move, you are now mainly working with your spirit form created through Out-of-body Experience?” Bellmond said with a sigh. “Personally, I would prefer you rest if your body cannot move.”

“I agree,” said Eleanora. “I don’t know how many immigration applicants will come, but I don’t think you need to go so far.”

In response to the two Vampires’ words, the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena gave a small groan and grimaced. She was the one who had examined Vandalieu. “It should be better for His-Majesty-kun to not push himself, since he’s experiencing something like extreme muscle pain, but… I have no idea if having his spirit form come out of his body and do work is pushing himself, since nobody can do it other than him.”

Vandalieu was currently creating new buildings in Talosheim to accommodate the future immigrants led by Schneider and his party, the Storm of Tyranny.

He was moving the walls that were numerous stories high to expand the city, transporting lumber and stone that would become materials for the buildings and putting the buildings together.

The building construction tasks excluding the movement of the walls were also being performed by craftsmen, not by Vandalieu alone. But he was turning the materials into Golems and moving them, essentially filling the role of heavy lifting machinery, so he was playing a crucial role.

“But it seems like they’ll be here before my eleventh birthday. I want to at least have a foundation in place by then,” said Vandalieu’s spirit clone. “I can’t have them stay inside Knochen or put Cuatro in the waterway for them to stay there.”

A skeleton from Knochen, who was floating around and transporting lumber nearby, gave a groan as if to say, “I don’t mind that.”

Now a Rank 11 Bone Palace, Knochen was already larger than Talosheim’s castle. If it arranged itself properly and furniture was brought in, it would become a housing complex that could comfortably house a thousand families.

If the Four Dead Sea Captains and the other sailors were to vacate the ghost ship Cuatro, it could also house a significant number of people, though not as many as Knochen.

“You’re right. It might be cruel to ask the hopeful immigrants to start living in an Undead as temporary housing all of a sudden. Cuatro might be alright, but Knochen is just made of bones,” said Eleanora.

Knochen gave a sad groan.

“I’m not saying that it’s your fault! I’m just saying that it might be hard for people who aren’t used to you!” Eleanora added hastily.

Talosheim’s citizens were already sufficiently accustomed to skeletons to see them without feeling disturbed. But although the hopeful immigrants were members of Vida’s races, they were not this accustomed to Undead. It was highly likely that they would be scared even of skulls, which weren’t scary as they didn’t have any expressions.

… It was possible that some of them might be soldiers and warriors who were used to seeing them, but they would likely be agitated by the sight of skulls for a different reason.

“Danna-sama, the reason you are rushing to expand the city’s urban area. Is it because some of the Dark Elves from the village that Darcia-sama was born in will be among the hopeful immigrants that come to see Talosheim?” Bellmond asked.

“That’s part of it,” said Vandalieu, not making any effort to hide anything. “We need to appeal Talosheim’s greatness to them, after all.”

Vandalieu could place a charming effect on members of Vida’s races with the Dark Demon Creation Path Enticement Skill, but the effect was weaker on members of races that did not originate from monsters.

Thus, Vandalieu was nervous about whether the Dark Elves from his mother’s birthplace would like Talosheim or not.

Bellmond and Eleanora thought that he didn’t need to be so concerned, however… After all, once the whole Undead factor was looked past, there was no nation with the infrastructure, public order, luxurious food choices and cheap taxes that Talosheim had.

“But I don’t intend to put any burden on the craftsmen, so I intend for all of the construction to finish sometime after the first group of visitors arrive,” said Vandalieu.

“… It might be good to have them see the construction process, too,” said Eleanora. “Maybe they’ll feel more familiar with the Undead afterwards.”

“I see. That might be good.”

In addition to Vandalieu turning the materials into Golems to move them, they were also being transported by the Undead like Knochen. Building construction was the perfect task to show the visitors the working power of Undead that felt no fatigue.

“Fuhahahah! Come, brave warriors! We must transport the stone!” said the voice of Legion’s Valkyrie from behind Vandalieu.

The Zombies that Valkyrie referred to as brave warriors followed Valkyrie past Vandalieu, silently carrying stone materials. These were Isis’s handmade Zombies made from the weak challengers of the Trial of Zakkart who had been defeated on the shallower floors.

They wouldn’t see this and think that the Undead are slaves… or at least, I hope not. Though I suppose they’d be more concerned about other things if they ever saw Valkyrie’s true form, Vandalieu thought, his mind wandering.

“… Well then, it seems that you will rest appropriately, so I suppose it is fine,” said Bellmond, bringing the conversation back on-topic. “I am still worried that you cannot move your body, however.”

“Yes… Jeena, can’t you do something about it? You’re a saint of healing, not just a saint of muscles, aren’t you?” said Eleanora.

“The ‘Saint of Healing’ Title came first, actually,” Jeena said pointedly. “But even the healing of my Life King Magic can only relieve the pain at best. I don’t know any spells that can stop a child’s growth period, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to use it. His-Majesty-kun’s Status Effect Immunity doesn’t have any effect against it either, right?”

Bellmond and Eleanora had never heard of anyone’s body becoming unable to move because of growing pains, so they were very worried that something bad was happening inside Vandalieu’s body.

However, even Jeena who was proficient with healing magic was unable to do anything about it.

“Yes, my Status Effect Immunity Skill isn’t having any effect. What’s happening to my body now isn’t an illness or anything. It’s just growing pains of the kind that have never been seen before,” said Vandalieu. “Even if you reduce my pain or I use Painkilling to remove it, my muscles won’t be restored to their normal state, which is probably why they still can’t move.”

Vandalieu’s body was currently rapidly approaching the development of secondary sexual characteristics. His bones creaked and his muscle fibers were repeatedly being torn and then reconstructed by the effects of his Rapid Regeneration Skill. It was possible that there were changes occurring in his internal organs as well.

Of course, such growing pains extreme enough to immobilize the entire body would normally never happen, not even to a Dhampir.

But Vandalieu was not normal, even compared to other Dhampirs.

He was a young Dhampir boy who had experienced nineteen different Jobs, including his current Magic Cannoneer Job. This was easily more Jobs than an average A-class adventurer.

Vandalieu and all of his companions were unaware of this, but he had experienced far more Jobs than the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz, an S-class adventurer.

Considering that, Vandalieu’s Attribute Values were abnormally low with the exception of his Mana. That was because the growth of his Attribute Values had been suppressed by the fact that his body was so young.

Similar phenomena were known to have occurred in the past. There were some nobles and apprentices of capable adventurers who had leveled up by delivering the killing blow to weakened monsters from a young age.

Such children had a markedly slow growth in Attribute Values as their Levels increased compared to adults. And around the time they approached the development of secondary sexual characteristics, they would experience sudden pain as their Attribute Values increased.

Having examined Vandalieu, the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena had reached the conclusion that a phenomenon like this was occurring in Vandalieu.

“Princes Levia and Zandia were leveling up from when they were children as well, though it was just up until their first Job change,” said Jeena. “But it seems that His-Majesty-kun has gone through too many Jobs.”

There wasn’t a single person in history who had experienced nineteen Jobs at Vandalieu’s age. Thus, his body’s growth that had been suppressed up until now was occurring all at once.

By the time this process was finished, it was likely that Vandalieu’s Attribute Values apart from his Mana would multiply several times over.

But this also meant that there was certainly no healing that would be effective in treating his current condition. After all, he was simply developing at an extremely rapid rate.

“I could use healing magic to repair the broken muscle fibers, but they’re being torn and regenerated faster than His-Majesty-kun’s own Rapid Regeneration Skill can keep up with, so I don’t think there’s any point. My Mana would run out before his growth pains stopped,” said Jeena.

“It seems that the Status Effect Immunity Skill doesn’t have any effect in this situation, either,” added Vandalieu. “It’s just normal growth, after all.”

The Status Effect Immunity Skill, which had awakened from Status Effect Resistance after Vandalieu devoured the souls of the sealed evil gods, had the powerful effect of negating any abnormal statuses.

This Skill nullified any diseases and poisons, and even curses would have almost no effect on Vandalieu. He would also be unaffected by any attempts to disturb his mind from the outside.

However, it would not nullify things that were not abnormal statuses.

Vandalieu could become able to resist pain, fatigue and sleepiness, but he would still feel these things. In fact, being unable to feel these things would be an abnormal status in and of itself.

It seemed that Status Effect Immunity took effect on externally-caused statuses, but had imperfect or no effect at all on statuses originating from Vandalieu’s own body.

“Incidentally, it seems that it has no effect on the curses that Rodcorte placed on me,” said Vandalieu.

“So, it seems that it cannot affect curses placed upon you directly by a god,” murmured Bellmond.

“No, I think it’s because I was cursed before I was born, so my cursed status is being recognized as a normal status.”

Incidentally, even though Vandalieu was able to break the divine authority of Alda, the god of law and fate, he was unable to remove the curses that Rodcorte had placed upon him. The curses had been placed directly upon his soul rather than his body, so he couldn’t touch them.

Since breaking his own soul in order to remove the curses wasn’t an option, there was nothing he could do about them. And even if he were to learn a precise technique to destroy only a very tiny part of the soul one day, it was unlikely that he would attempt it.

It wouldn’t be worth risking becoming completely disabled in order to remove curses that were full of flaws anyway.

“But is doing this amount of work in such a state not placing a burden on you? If possible, I think you should leave the less important tasks for later,” said Bellmond.

“Yes, like the personal equipment for Bellmond and myself for instance,” said Eleanora.

“No, the only thing that needs to be done for your transformation staves now is deciding on their designs, so they won’t take much time once you have a fitting session with me,” said Vandalieu.

“Please leave it for later,” Bellmond said firmly.

“Yes, you should do that,” Eleanora agreed.

The two of them insisted on delaying the completion of the liquid-metal transformation staves, which were currently very popular among Talosheim’s younger citizens. Though Vandalieu was confident in their function and wanted to hear their serious opinions on the designs, he decided to give up on pushing this matter for now.

“You’ve finished Zandia and Pauvina-chan’s, haven’t you? What about mine?” asked Jeena.

“I’m making adjustments, so please wait a little longer,” said Vandalieu.

Each transformation staff was order-made, and took time to make, though the prototype metal-suit-type ones hadn’t taken too long.

“Well, for now, I can’t do anything but wait and make sure I get plenty of nutrients until my growth periods are over,” said Vandalieu.

“So, there is nothing to be done. Well then, Danna-sama, how about some of my blood?” Bellmond suggested.

“Bellmond! You just offered your blood to Vandalieu-sama a little while ago, didn’t you? It’s my turn now!” Eleanora exclaimed, glaring at Bellmond with sparks in her eyes.

“You have the role of holding Danna-sama in your arms, do you not, Eleanora?” Bellmond pointed out, sparks appearing in her own eyes.

“Hmm, I don’t suppose a Zombie’s blood would be of any use…” Jeena murmured, unable to join in on this conversation and looking lonely.

Vandalieu was currently in a state where even the smallest movements caused him pain, so the only way he could obtain nutrients was a liquid diet… In other words, blood.

As Eleanora and Bellmond glared at each other, Isla, the Vampire Zombie and ‘Eclipse Emperor’s Hound’ who led the Dark Night Knights’ Order, appeared with a large wagon.

“Vandalieu-sama, I have brought you your meal,” she said, giving Eleanora and Bellmond a proud smile.

There was a large quantity of meat on the wagon that she had brought. It had been cut from large monsters and roasted or boiled, and it gave off a delicious, hunger-stimulating smell.

“Wait a moment, all of those pieces of meat are larger than Vandalieu-sama’s head, aren’t they?” said Eleanora, looking exasperated.

“You could have cut them smaller,” said Bellmond. “Would it not be best to shred the meat now, at least?”

“Silence, all of these have been requested by Vandalieu-sama. Come, dig in, Vandalieu-sama!” said Isla, offering the meat dishes to Vandalieu.

But it was clear that Vandalieu would not have the jaw strength to chew such thick cuts of meat in his current state.

However, Vandalieu did not seem to mind.

“Thank you, Isla. Itadakimasu,” said a spirit-form Vandalieu.

Several black blood vessels sprouted like vines from Vandalieu’s physical body in Eleanora’s arms, and the twisted bundle of blood vessels split into two at the end to each support one half of a pair of fanged jaws.

This part of Vandalieu’s body that had become an enormous, red-black snake then began feasting on the large chunks of meat.

“Danna-sama, could it be that you can activate the Demon King’s fragments without any problems?” asked Bellmond.

“Yes. The Demon King’s fragments don’t grow during my growth period, after all,” replied Vandalieu.

“If that is the case, then it might be less inconvenient than I thought. Vandalieu-sama can just use the Demon King’s jointed legs when he wants to move his body,” said Eleanora, but she made no sign of intending to let go of Vandalieu.

“Well, it costs Mana to use both the Demon King’s fragments and Out-of-body Control, so it’s best for my body to be able to move,” said Vandalieu.

“Please eat to your heart’s content, Vandalieu-sama,” Isla said with a smile. “Incidentally, are you able to taste your food while dining in this manner?”

“Yes, because I have the Demon King’s tongue.”

The jaws consuming the meat that Isla was feeding them included the Demon King’s tongue, so even while eating at this pace, Vandalieu could properly taste his food.

But even so, they seemed to be abnormally ravenous, and they consumed all of the meat dishes that clearly had more total volume than Vandalieu’s entire body.

“Well then, I shall go and hunt another serving for you!” Isla said cheerfully.

But then Vigaro appeared, pushing another wagon carrying large chunks of meat.

“That won’t be necessary! I’ve gone and hunted some meat for you, Vandalieu!” he said.

“Vigaro… You have shown up unnecessarily with the perfect timing,” Isla muttered in displeasure.

She wanted Vandalieu’s hunger to be satisfied, but by the food that she offered.

Ignoring Isla, Vigaro offered Vandalieu the masses of meat, which had only just been butchered and bled.

“Itadakimasu,” Vandalieu said, and the Demon King’s jaws grinding and breaking the bones as it began eating it at the same pace as before.

“It seems that this kind of thing will continue for some time. As even my blood had no effect on Danna-sama’s growing pains, meat and bones might be the better option. Well then, Danna-sama, I shall go to acquire more food as well,” said Bellmond as she turned to leave, deciding that Vandalieu would not be satisfied even after finishing the large amount of meat that Vigaro had brought.

“How about you go with her? You’ll lose your touch, little girl,” said Isla, taunting Eleanora. “I shall take care of Vandalieu-sama while you are gone.”

“Your intentions are obvious, but very well. Feeding Vandalieu-sama is an attractive prospect as well, after all,” said Eleanora, handing Vandalieu’s body over to Isla.

“Then maybe I should go as well. Borkus is doing family service, and Zandia is doing something with Zadiris and that new girl Kanako,” said Jeena.

Of course, nobody asked what Vandalieu wanted.

But he voiced his opinion anyway.

“I’ll go as well. It’s difficult for my spirit form to spend long periods of time separated from my body, so I’ll make a suitable vessel,” he said, having no complaints.

As Isla held Vandalieu’s body with an expression of bliss on her face, more fragments of the Demon King were activated inside it. A strange creature was formed from a tortoise’s shell about the size of a large platter, thin, jointed legs protruding from the leg-holes and an enormous eyeball in the hole where the tortoise’s head would normally be.

One of Vandalieu’s spirit-form clones possessed this creature.

“Now, this insect-tortoise has become an extension of me as well. Please take me with you,” said Vandalieu.

“Is this something like a familiar?” asked Bellmond.

“Something like that. This will be training for my Long-distance Control Skill, and it will also let me test if I gain Experience Points with just my familiar nearby when Bellmond and Eleanora defeat monsters.”

The familiar, aptly named the ‘insect-tortoise,’ made a creaking noise with its exoskeleton. And so, through the use of this new familiar, Vandalieu gained even more Experience Points and developed even more during his growing pains.

《The Level of the Group Thought Processing Skill has increased!》

《Long-distance Control Skill has awakened into the Group Manipulation Skill, and High-speed Thought Processing has awakened into the Super High-speed Thought Processing Skill!》

Meanwhile, in an inn in a certain city of the Orbaume Kingdom, Murakami was standing in the room where his companions were supposed to have been sleeping.

“Gotouta ran, that bastard,” he muttered angrily under his breath.

The ‘Super Sense’ Gotouta Kaoru… Kaoru Gotouta, was in her bed. She was breathing audibly in her sleep despite the fact that Murakami, the ‘Sylphid’ Misa and the ‘Odin’ Akira were present.

But as Murakami kicked the bed lightly, she evaporated like mist. The Gotouta here had been an illusion produced by a sophisticated spell combining light-attribute magic and wind-attribute magic.

A short message written on crude paper appeared in the illusion’s place.

“Please don’t look for me.”

“That traitor,” spat Akira. “Sen… Murakami-san, what are we going to do? Should we chase her?”

“Let her go. It might be a problem if she joined Vandalieu’s side, but I don’t think she’ll do that,” Murakami replied, crushing Gotouta’s note in his hands.

Name: Knochen

Rank: 11

Race: Bone Palace

Level: 45

Passive skills:

Dark Vision

Monstrous Strength: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Spirit Form: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Bone Form Manipulation: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)

Physical Resistance: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)

Absorption Healing (Bone): Level 8

Fortress Form: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Fission: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthened Attribute Values: Fortress Form: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator: Level 2 (NEW!)

Self-Enhancement: Guidance: Level 2 (NEW!)

Active skills:

Silent Steps: Level 2

Breath (Poison): Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

High-speed Flight: Level 6

Long-distance Control: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)

Projectile Fire: Level 8

Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Construction: Level 1 (NEW!)

Unique skills:

■■ンダル■’s Divine Protection (NEW!) [n, da, ru]

Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Bone Palace

There have been three castles standing in Talosheim in recent times. The first is the royal castle where Master lives, which also contains the underground workshop that I work in. The second is the Gehenna Bee nest. And the third is Knochen, who has become a Bone Palace after its Rank increased.

One can say that it has simply changed from being a “fort” to a “palace,” but that difference is more than enough for it to be considered a different race of monster entirely.

Knochen has independently improved its own livability by incorporating materials other than bone, and it would be suitable to live in anywhere other than areas with extreme environments like those inside the Trial of Zakkart… though inhabitants would have to deal with staring at skulls constantly and the walls and ceilings shaking in response when talking to Knochen.

Incidentally, any citizen of Talosheim could likely endure these conditions, not just Master and myself. Skeletons are expressionless and not frightening once one is accustomed to them, and our nation is the place in the world where skulls are most frequently seen.