The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

There was a large, unrefined, st.u.r.dy-looking, rectangular entrance that looked as if it was made of steel. Next to it was a wooden sign that looked like a door plate, reading: ‘The Trial of Zakkart.’

“… The sign is quite out of place, isn’t it,” Vandalieu remarked.

“According to Gizan-dono, it is something that was added later,” said Sam.

This was the entrance to the Trial of Zakkart that had appeared in an area of the Dark Elf nation. Vandalieu felt a considerable amount of emotion as he looked up at it.

In the depths of this Dungeon was a relic of Zakkart that would help resurrect his mother.

“But it’s apparently really dangerous, so don’t push yourself. The thought of you and everyone else pushing yourselves too hard is worse for me than the thought of not being resurrected,” said Darcia’s spirit.

This was what she truly felt. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to come back to life, but she didn’t want her son or the others that she considered to be family to be injured or killed in the process.

“It’s alright, Mom. In the southern region of the continent, people don’t die in the Dungeon except in exceptional cases,” Vandalieu said, rea.s.suring her.

“I know that, but… Vandalieu, you seem like you would do reckless things without even batting an eye,” said Darcia.

Zadiris and the others nodded in agreement with her words.

“A year ago, his heart and lungs were stopped and he ended up forcibly moving his own heart and breathing by puncturing holes in his own lungs with metal pipes, didn’t he?” said Tarea, the leader of the Ghoul craftsman team.

“It was only recently that your head was cut off, Your Majesty,” said the Succubus Iris.

Vandalieu’s gaze wandered off in response to these words.

But the Living Armor sisters Saria and Rita, as well as Eleanora, encouraged him.

“There are other incidents… there are a lot of cases where it can’t be helped,” said Saria.

“Now that I think back, I do think they were often the right choices to make,” said Rita.

“So, Vandalieu-sama, it’s nothing to worry about, but please be as careful as possible,” said Eleanora.

“Yes, I’ll do my best,” Vandalieu said.

“By the way, are we going to clear the Dungeon right now?” Borkus asked.

The women raised their voices.

“What are we going to do about the tournament? We were still deciding who gets Vandalieu.”

“That’s right, I haven’t lost yet!”

“I don’t have any hope, even though I tried quite hard.”

“It is true that we had the emperor sit in a seat with the word ‘prize’ written on it, but that was not the objective of this tournament…” said the Dark Elf king Gizan, who had led everyone here.

He had a stiff smile on his face. He had only intended for those who won to be able to face the Trial of Zakkart with Vandalieu.

But it seemed that before he knew it, all kinds of other things had been added on.

“Collars…”

“I want… a transformation staff.”

“I heard that there were rights to experiencing a new ma.s.sage?”

Perhaps they were just jokes that had gone too far, but there was cold sweat on Gizan’s forehead.

“I’ll make those for you even if you don’t win. I haven’t thought of a new ma.s.sage yet and I can’t make the collars and transformation staff right away, though,” said Vandalieu, seeming to not be bothered by this as he calmed the contestants down. “But please call them chokers, not collars.”

“Yaay~♪”

Gizan breathed a sigh of relief as well. He swore to himself that he would not make any more careless jokes from now on.

“I believe we can simply cancel the tournament. It was not a tournament with victory as the goal in the first place, and although there are more contestants remaining than other years… this year, we have His Majesty the emperor and his abnormal ability to transport people,” said Gizan, announcing the cancellation of the tournament.

During other years, the tournament usually only selected several challengers or perhaps a little over ten people at most.

That was because it would be too dangerous if those challenging the trial were too weak, and the people on the inside of the Boundary Mountain Range thought that the meaning of the trial would be diminished if the challengers formed large groups to face it.

The Trial of Zakkart was a Dungeon that searched for the successor to the champion Zakkart; it was a ceremonial trial. There would be no point to it if the strength of numbers was used to push through and conquer it. In fact, doing so might anger the Dungeon’s creator, Gufadgarn, the evil G.o.d of labyrinths, who was likely waiting in its deepest chamber.

And the Trial of Zakkart contained several floors that were too narrow for groups of several dozen individuals to move about properly. For these reasons, Gizan and the others had restricted the size of the groups challenging the Dungeon to several people to around a dozen at most.

But this was not true for the human societies on the outside of the Boundary Mountain Range that believed that one would become recognized as a successor to the champion Bellwood if they cleared the Trial of Zakkart.

In the past, there had been numerous royals and n.o.bles who had tried to clear the Dungeon by sending over a hundred knights and adventurers inside, and some nations who had continuously sent slaves inside the Dungeon, not to clear the Dungeon but to stop it and keep it within their own borders.

The results of these attempts were clear, as the Trial of Zakkart was still roaming the world today.

But Vandalieu was able to equip large numbers of Undead, insects and plant-type monsters with Group Binding Technique. And Vandalieu was the most likely candidate to be the successor to Zakkart that Gufadgarn was searching for.

He possessed a soul that had been created from the soul fragments of the champions; he wasn’t a successor in the ordinary sense of the word. But considering the time at which Gufadgarn had suddenly awoken and created the Trial of Zakkart, it was clear that he had nominated Vandalieu.

Thus, Gizan and the others had decided that Vandalieu would be allowed to use some extreme methods.

“Therefore, this year, it will be fine for all contestants who possess a certain amount of strength… those who can survive a B-cla.s.s Dungeon with ease, to partic.i.p.ate,” Gizan said, making a decision that had never been made in previous years.

“That’s disappointing… If I just had another year… If I just had more muscular strength,” said Oniwaka, Kijin king Tenma’s daughter, in frustration.

She had trained herself even further after her contest of strength against Vandalieu in the Kijin nation, but it seemed that she hadn’t had enough time.

But Oniwaka already had plenty of physical strength – the strength needed for her to swing her weapons and run around while wearing her armor.

“No, I think you have plenty of muscular strength,” said Gizan, having watched her during the tournament. “In fact, I believe the problem lies in your technique and experience…”

“Oniwaksan, there will be more opportunities to fight. If you continue your steady training until then, you will have enough physical strength,” said Vandalieu.

“You’re right. Vandalieu, I’m going to show you what I’m worth in next year’s bodybuilding tournament and the next opportunity to fight!”

Gizan’s words seemed to have been drowned out by Vandalieu’s, not reaching Oniwaka’s brain despite entering her ears.

“Also, if you polish your technique as well as your muscles, you’ll be perfect,” said Vandalieu, not forgetting to tell her to improve herself in areas other than muscular strength.

“You’re right! Those who call themselves warriors must strive for greater heights!” said Oniwaka.

With enough diligent training, the experience needed to make decisions in an instant would develop naturally.

“Kachia, Bilde, please look after Talosheim with Mikhail and the others,” said Vandalieu.

Kachia, the Ghoul woman who had once been an adventurer, and Bilde, the young Ghoul from the same settlement as Zadiris, didn’t have enough strength to face the trial. Thus, they were left with the responsibility of protecting Talosheim.

“It can’t be helped. I finally increased my Rank and became a Ghoul Amazoness Warrior, but it’s still tough for me to take on a Rank 8 monster by myself,” said Kachia. “I’ll help Bilde and play with Varbie and Jadal.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you,” said Basdia, who often left her daughter Jadal with Kachia and Bilde. “I feel bad, always relying on you, but…”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Bilde. “By the way, how long do you think it will take?”

“I think it will take at least one month. We don’t know how many floors there are, after all,” said Vandalieu.

The Trial of Zakkart was confirmed to have at least fifty floors. The group of challengers led by Kijin king Tenma had progressed past the fiftieth floor, but even then, they had apparently been unable to see the end of the trial.

Thus, Vandalieu thought that it would take about a month even if they were to progress through two floors a day.

“So, let’s go back to Talosheim and make preparations first,” said Vandalieu, turning around.

“Indeed, we must pack our things,” said Sam.

“We need to make adjustments if we’re leaving Talosheim for over a month,” said Eleanora.

“I can’t stand having to go back with a Dungeon right in front of us, but I suppose it can’t be helped,” said Borkus.

Being in a Dungeon for over a month meant that they would need to prepare all kinds of equipment and things like food. It seemed that they would be able to procure a certain amount of food from inside the Trial of Zakkart itself, but there were also places where there were several floors of icy fields in a row and floors with stone labyrinths containing nothing but inedible monsters.

The Trial of Zakkart would remain in the same place for a month, and it would not Teleport as long as challengers were still inside. Thus, there was no need to rush.

Previous challengers had also faced it after making sufficient preparations rather than entering as soon as it appeared.

“Also, there’s the issue of Jobs. Is everyone alright in that regard? If anyone is almost at Level 100, we can wait about half a month,” said Vandalieu.

Queen Donaneris had asked Vandalieu this question before. Rank increases were automatic as long as the conditions were fulfilled, but Job changes required one to touch the crystal at the center of a designated Job-changing room.

“Come to think of it, can’t we take a Job-changing room with us? It would be simple if we could just carry that crystal with us,” said Baba Yaga, one of Legion’s personalities.

It seemed that there were still many things that she was curious about, as it had only been about a year since she was reincarnated from Origin, a world without Jobs and Skills.

“You can’t do that. To be more precise, it’s possible, but not realistic,” said Isla, twirling the chain on her collar around her fingers.

She was around thirty-thousand years old if one included the time she had lived before becoming an Undead several years ago.

Carrying the crystal of a Job-changing room on its own didn’t allow one to change Jobs anywhere. The entire room, including the crystal, was a ceremonious place for the purpose of carrying out a Job-change. Thus, there would be no point in having just the crystal.

And the Job-changing room needed properly-built walls and a ceiling. Something like a tent that could be put up and taken down easily wouldn’t work as a subst.i.tute.

“Every few thousand years, there are strange humans that try all kinds of things, like building a Job-changing room in a Dungeon chamber and armies that bring craftsmen and materials with them on an expedition to build one. But they’re destroyed by monsters and enemies so they can’t be used for long, and in the end, they always decide that it wasn’t worth the cost and effort,” said Isla.

Thus, the most that could be done was building Job-changing rooms at permanent defensive positions such as forts, outside Dungeon entrances and on the edges of Devil’s Nests.

“I see. So, it’s not for game-like reasons, then,” said Baba Yaga.

“Wait! If that is the case, this can all be solved by taking the entire room with us!” said Valkyrie.

“Valkyrie, that’s impossible… even if he were to turn the whole room into Golems, Vandalieu-sama can’t equip Golems inside himself,” said Eleanora.

“I could have it move while still retaining its shape as a room, but it would take a lot of effort in carrying it around in the narrow areas of the Trial of Zakkart. It might be destroyed by monsters or traps, too,” said Vandalieu.

Valkyrie pointed her countless fingers towards Sam. “There will be no problems if it is placed in a part of Sam’s carriage!” she said.

“In my carriage? I do have spare s.p.a.ce, but is it possible?” Sam asked, looking back at his carriage.

The carriage, which was Sam’s main body, was a three-horse carriage with a canopy; it was unthinkable that it could carry a properly-constructed room. But with the s.p.a.ce Expansion Skill, the interior volume of the carriage was easily over ten times its exterior appearance.

It would even fit a small house inside, never mind a small room.

Vandalieu gave it some thought. “It’s possible,” he said, surprised by this realization. “Honestly, the thought never occurred to me… Valkyrie, that’s an amazing idea.”

As Sam was an Undead, Vandalieu could equip him with Group Binding Technique. There would be no problem with this, even if there was a Job-changing room installed inside his carriage.

“A moving Job-changing room. The thought never occurred to us, either,” said Gizan.

“Amazing. With one sentence, you solved a problem that humans have failed to solve for thousands of years!” said Borkus.

Valkyrie gave a loud laugh, her upper body protruding from Legion’s surface proudly. “You can praise me more if you want! Well, the idea only came to me because we have Sam and Vandalieu.”

“But they say that without the 1% inspiration, the 99% hard work goes to waste*,” said Vandalieu, patting Valkyrie’s head as he remembered the words of a wise man. “Let’s build it as quickly as possible when we get back.”

Indeed, Vandalieu had a fixed idea of what a Job-changing room was; he wouldn’t have come up with this idea no matter how long he thought about it.

With this, even if anyone reached Level 100 inside the Dungeon, they would be able to change Jobs. Even Vandalieu would be able to acquire one of the new Jobs that had appeared at his last Job-change, like Bestower.

“So, Father will be renovated. He’s becoming less and less like an ordinary carriage, isn’t he,” said Rita.

“Rita, just say that I am becoming more convenient!” said Sam.

“Ooohn?” Knochen groaned, as if to ask, “What about me?” as it was made of a countless number of bones that could rearrange themselves in any form.

“Knochen, your bones come apart when you’re moving, and your physical size doesn’t change as you don’t have the s.p.a.ce Expansion Skill, so it’s difficult for you,” said Vandalieu.

“Oooohn…”

“Knochen, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, so do not lose spirit,” said Sam. “You are a fortress, not a storehouse, after all.”

“OHHHHN!” Knochen, who had seemed sad a moment ago, regained its spirit.

“We have to install the Job-changing room in Sam, but there are a lot of other things we need to bring. We don’t know what kind of state we’ll get Zakkart’s relics in after we clear the Dungeon, after all,” said Vandalieu. “I’ve kept materials that could be used for Mom’s new body preserved in the workshop, too.”

He was carrying around the blood crystal that he had received from Vida as well as Darcia’s remains, but the Orichalc.u.m skeletons that he had made, the artificial body parts made from the Demon King’s fragments and materials from high-Rank monsters were inside his underground workshop.

He had to go and get them.

“Umm, Vandalieu? I get the feeling that the G.o.ddess’s blood alone will be enough… I’m not sure what I’ll become if you were to use all of those things,” said Darcia, seeming uncertain as to whether she would be a Dark Elf when she was resurrected.

“I cannot imagine it, but things will work out. Even if you grew something… like new wings or a tail,” said Iris.

“Iris, if that was supposed to be rea.s.suring, I’m sure you could have chosen other words,” said Kachia. “Eleanora, you mustn’t look at Darcisama like a companion who is just like you.”

Darcia felt a sense of companionship with those whose races had been changed by Vandalieu.

The Farzon Duchy was one of the Orbaume Kingdom’s twelve duchies, the duchy that prospered on its maritime and fishing industries.

There was a valley that had become a Devil’s Nest in an inland region of the Farzon Duchy, some distance away from the sea. There were a few men and women gathered here.

“So, this is the place. The place where the Trial of Zakkart will appear next,” said the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz, the leader of the S-cla.s.s adventurer party known as the Five-colored Blades, with emotion in his voice.

He was already in his late twenties, but perhaps as one would expect from an S-cla.s.s adventurer, he looked younger than his appearance; his skin did not show any signs that he was about to enter middle-age.

He was holding a map that he had borrowed using society’s trust in his party and a Magic Item that resembled three compa.s.ses that had been joined together.

“So, we’re finally challenging the Trial of Zakkart again… it’s really been a long time,” said the scout Edgar with a distant look in his eyes. He had already entered his thirties and had wrinkles on his face. “Jennifer and Diana joined us, we met Selen, and before we knew it, we became the leaders of Alda’s peaceful faction and honorary n.o.bles –”

“It really has been a long time,” said the unarmed fighter Jennifer with a sigh. “I thought that I’d die of old age without ever seeing it.”

She had joined the Five-colored Blades after Heinz’s party moved to the Orbaume Kingdom and faced the Trial of Zakkart.

Her objective was to conquer the Trial of Zakkart, which was like a fairy-tale for adventurers, and become a living legend.

And yet… all kinds of things had happened since she joined the Five-colored Blades, but she had never managed to face the Trial of Zakkart.

“I’m sorry for dragging you through all kinds of things. But there’s no mistake that this Trial Seeker is pointing to this location,” said Heinz.

“It’s not like I was complaining, blaming you or doubting you, Heinz,” Jennifer said. “I just thought that it’s been a long time. I’ve become stronger over the past few years and I got to meet Selen; I don’t think of it as a waste of time.”

“I think it was rather quick. The Trial of Zakkart is a wandering Dungeon that teleports around different places in the world about once every month. If it appears in distant places and places that are far from where humans live, the chances of reaching it before it moves somewhere else are not high. According to the records, it is not unusual for it to appear outside of the Bahn Gaia continent,” said the Elf Diana, who was a priestess of Mill, the G.o.ddess of slumber. She had once been Jennifer’s partner when they were an adventurer duo.

She was young for an Elf, but she seemed the calmest among the party.

“Well, since you’re an Elf, I’m sure that’s how it is for you, Diana,” said Heinz.

“But the months and years since I joined the Five-colored Blades have been unbelievably eventful. Honestly speaking, it feels as if I have lived through a hundred years’ worth of adventure in the past few years,” Diana said.

“We fought a Pure-breed Vampire, and we sealed away a Demon King fragment recently, too. We’ve been through all kinds of things. It might be an exaggeration to say that it’s a hundred years’ worth, though,” said Delizah, the female Dwarf shield-bearer. “But our objective isn’t to stare at the entrance to the Trial of Zakkart. Everyone, prepare yourselves… or so I say, but even the Trial Seeker can’t tell when the Dungeon will appear, can it?”

There was a renowned s.p.a.ce-attribute mage who hadn’t faced the Trial of Zakkart but had noticed its peculiar characteristics when it began appearing.

He had realized that the Dungeon’s teleportation to a new location every month was either because of an advanced s.p.a.ce-attribute spell, or because it had been created by a G.o.d who ruled over the s.p.a.ce attribute or some other evil G.o.d. Thus, he devoted himself to researching it.

It was a heretical way of thinking, as he had been surrounded by those who thought of the Trial of Zakkart as a trial to find the successor of the champion Bellwood who had defeated the fallen Undead champion Zakkart.

Thus, his research had never stood out, but it produced results. He invented a Magic Item that, with a number of conditions met, identified the location where the Trial of Zakkart would next appear.

And then he had handed that Magic Item to Randolf ‘the True,’ an S-cla.s.s adventurer whose name had already been well-known at the time.

But Randolf had simply kept the Trial Seeker in his possession, not facing the Trial of Zakkart even once. And then Heinz and his companions had received it.

“It’s unfortunate, but we only know the next place it will appear. But even then, it’s worth the effort we’ve made,” said Heinz.

After he and his party sealed away the Demon King’s nose, they had learned of the Trial Seeker’s existence from the notes of the s.p.a.ce-attribute mage who created it and learned that it was in Randolf’s possession. Randolf was working under a false name now, but they had found him and asked him to lend this Magic Item to them.

Randolf had given a deep sigh but handed them the Trial Seeker with no sign of regret.

“If you want to risk your lives on a pointless effort, then I’ll give it to you. But don’t ever make contact with me again,” he had told them, and then he had suddenly vanished right in front of their eyes, leaving no response to their questions of what his parting words meant.

“It was a lot of hard work, finding Randolf. I feel like it was even more work than finding Ternecia’s hidden base. And we had to go around the Mages’ Guilds to have them investigate how to use the Magic Item,” said Edgar. “It couldn’t have killed Randolf to give us some written instructions, right?”

“Edgar, I think we should be thankful that he gave us a Magic Item for free. It must have been bothersome that we found him and made contact with him, yet he gave it to us without asking for any money or anything… though it’s true that he looked really displeased the whole time and his eyes looked like he was making fools of us,” said Jennifer.

“Edgar isn’t being serious, Jennifer. It’s just that his pride as a scout was just hurt by the fact that he couldn’t follow Randolf’s presence when he disappeared,” said Delizah.

“… He was still upset over that, huh. So petty,” said Jennifer.

“It cannot be helped. Human men develop an inferiority complex once they are over thirty years old,” said Diana.

Under the eyes of the women of the party, Edgar realized that things weren’t looking good for him. “I’ll look for a suitable place to set up camp,” he said, and then he left.

“Good grief,” Heinz muttered.

But they did indeed need a place to set up camp.

They had learned where the Trial of Zakkart would next appear thanks to the Trial Seeker. But as Heinz had told Delizah, there was no way of telling when the Trial of Zakkart would appear here.

“It was coincidence that we could quickly arrive at the next place the trial will appear after we went around visiting Mages’ Guilds and alchemists to investigate how to use this thing, but… the Dungeon might appear tomorrow, or it might take over a month.”

Even if a month pa.s.sed, the Trial of Zakkart would not move to its next destination as long as there were still challengers inside.

“… I hope it’s appeared in a secluded region so that there aren’t any challengers. We’ll clear the Trial of Zakkart, avenge Martina, take over the great tasks of the champion Bellwood and hear Alda’s voice,” said Heinz, his voice full of resolve. “If possible, I want us to serve that duty.”

“As leaders of Alda’s peaceful faction and as Selen’s caretakers, I hope we can take that role,” said Diana.

“I want to at least bring back Martie’s hairs. We couldn’t even do that last time,” said Delizah.

“Still, I wonder where it is now?” Jennifer said, looking up at the sky.

They didn’t know. They had no idea that the Trial of Zakkart was in the Dark Elf nation in the region contained within the Boundary Mountain Range, a place that was unexplored territory for them.

“It’s possible that it’s outside the continent, like Diana said,” said Heinz.

He and his companions didn’t know the true purpose of the Trial of Zakkart, or that the one who cleared it would become not the successor of Bellwood, but of Zakkart, the one they called the ‘fallen champion.’

Most importantly, they didn’t know that inside the Boundary Mountain Range, Vandalieu was about to face the Trial of Zakkart.

The Five-colored Blades would only be able to face the Trial of Zakkart if Vandalieu and his companions were defeated by the trial and ejected outside the Dungeon.

Several days later, Vandalieu and his companions a.s.sembled in front of the Trial of Zakkart once more, having made their preparations.

“We’ll do our best to survive!” Tarea exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Pauvina shouted, raising her fist into the air.

“I wouldn’t mind if you left me behind!” Luciliano said sorrowfully.

“It’s fine, we’ll protect you as well as we can. You can’t let your guard down, but don’t worry so much!” Pauvina said, rea.s.suring him.

“Yes, Pauvina narrowly qualified for this,” said Vandalieu.

Pauvina had been increasing her Level in Vandalieu’s failed attempt at creating an cla.s.s Dungeon that was still more difficult than an ordinary B-cla.s.s Dungeon, alongside Privel and the others. Thus, both Vandalieu and Gizan had accepted that she was qualified to face the Trial of Zakkart.

And since she was qualified to face it, she would follow Vandalieu inside. But even though she raised her Orichalc.u.m shield and Vandalieu spoke rea.s.suring words, the fear on Luciliano’s face didn’t fade away in the slightest.

“As well as you can, you say. Narrowly qualified, you say. These aren’t rea.s.suring words at all!” Luciliano shouted.

Indeed, perhaps these weren’t quite the correct choice of rea.s.suring words.

“Have you forgotten your leveling with us in B-cla.s.s Dungeons, Lucie? You were always laughing towards the end of it, weren’t you?” said the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena.

“That’s right, you’ll be fine. And if you’re about to die, the Dungeon will forcibly teleport you outside and the Dark Elf medical team will heal you back up,” said the ‘Tiny Genius’ Zandia.

The two of them had forced Luciliano to accompany them into B-cla.s.s Dungeons.

“So, believe in yourself,” Zandia said.

But Luciliano was aware that he had been laughing during those leveling sessions because he had been a little mentally broken.

It was true that Luciliano’s Level had increased considerably, and he had even changed Jobs. But he couldn’t imagine that he had become strong enough to pa.s.s through the Trial of Zakkart, a place that countless B-cla.s.s and cla.s.s adventurers had failed to return from alive.

“I’m telling you, it’s impossible! And I came here from outside the Boundary Mountain Range! There is no guarantee that Gufadgarn will recognize me as someone from inside the Boundary Mountain Range!” Luciliano protested.

“Hmm, that’s true.”

Gufadgarn was never even aware where he and the Trial of Zakkart currently were. It was unclear as to how aware he was of the challengers inside the Dungeon.

And until now, there were none who had faced the Trial of Zakkart after crossing the Boundary Mountain Range. Luciliano’s concerns were reasonable.

“But I want you to manage the materials that could be used for Mom’s new body, so please work with me, Luciliano. And I want you to look at the corpses of previous challengers that we might find inside,” said Vandalieu.

“N-now that you mention it, there are those!” Luciliano exclaimed.

G.o.dwin, Budarion and the others who had faced the Trial of Zakkart before had seen preserved statues made of stone and metal, depicting people they had never seen before.

It was likely that this was what remained of Martina of the Five-colored Blades and the other challengers from the outside of the Boundary Mountain Range.

This was a valuable opportunity to touch the precious corpses of powerful adventurers that he normally wouldn’t be able to touch.

Luciliano pondered this for a while. “Alright,” he said finally with a nod. “But I will not partic.i.p.ate in battle, so don’t expect me to fight.”

“It’s alright. I was never expecting that to begin with,” said Vandalieu.

“Yeah, n.o.body’s expecting that!” said Pauvina.

“I see! That makes me more relieved!” said Luciliano, smiling broadly upon realizing that n.o.body had been counting on him to fight to begin with.

“I think you should be a little more concerned about it,” said Vigaro.

But Luciliano showed no signs of concern at all.

“I am joining so that I can maintain the equipment; you’re being too selfish,” said Tarea.

She was planning to be on standby inside Sam’s carriage as much as possible as well, however.

“Luciliano, Tarea, why don’t the both of you have the boy make you new equipment like this transformation staff?” Zadiris suggested. “I have not used the finished product yet either, but the prototype that I tried has considerable defensive power.”

“… I refuse. Master said that those take time to make as they are order-made for individual use,” said Luciliano.

“The items can be used by others, as they still don’t have a function to identify users. But it would be like me trying to wear clothes that fit you perfectly, wouldn’t it? That would be terrible, so I will decline,” said Tarea.

“Muh, that is true,” Zadiris agreed, lowering her transformation staff. “The prototype was a simple item, but the boy did say that the finished product will have a lot of decorations.”

“Now then, I suppose we should get going,” said Vandalieu.

“Everyone! Vandalieu! Don’t push yourselves,” said Darcia.

Vandalieu, who had equipped everyone that he could, entered the Trial of Zakkart with Vigaro, Zadiris and Legion.

Gizan and the other Dark Elves, who were now in work-mode, watched them leave.

“… With this, our yearly suffering might finally come to an end,” said Gizan, who was also acting as the leader of the medical squad.

Monster explanation:

【Satan Blood Blaze Ghost】

A monster born after the Deep Blood Blaze Ghost Princess Levia increased her Rank even further.

It is believed that this is the result of her having continued drinking the Blood Potion created by Vandalieu.

She is covered in majestic black flames worthy of the name of Satan (a Demon King). She also possesses the ability to strengthen herself even further with the Demon King’s blood. Incidentally, the Demon King’s blood used for this is the blood of the one who possesses the ‘Demon King’ t.i.tle, in other words, Vandalieu.

She has learned the Materialization Skill from Orbia, allowing her to materialize parts of her own body. She is using this ability to learn Unarmed Fighting Technique and Shield Technique.

Monster explanation:

【Dark Broad Ghost】

A monster born after the Deep Broad Ghost increased her Rank even further. The liquid making up her entire body has grown deeper in color, and it is becoming more like a physical body.

Her training in magic is progressing smoothly; she is learning magic-related Skills that she had found difficult and not acquired while she was alive.

But she apparently still finds magic difficult; she is more proficient in suffocating enemies by covering their faces and attacking them from the inside after getting inside their lungs.

Monster explanation:

【Thunderbolt Ghost】

Kimberley became a Hard Blitz Ghost and then increased in Rank even further. Unlike the races of Levia and Orbia, Thunderbolt Ghosts have appeared in Lambda before, albeit in extremely small numbers.

This fact bothers him a little, and he has decided that he will become a unique race with his next Rank increase.