The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time

br>After they suffered heart attacks and died suddenly, the tomato believers would talk on and on about the wonders of tomato sauce while whispering complaints about the food of the laboratory’s cafeteria.

Vandalieu liked mayonnaise when he was on Earth, but he was someone who preferred ketchup.

“We haven’t had tomatoes up until now, so I’d given up on it.
But with this, finally… Get up, get up, get up.”

Well, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have the other ingredients he needed, so things would probably work out.

Vandalieu also acquired potatoes, carrots, daikon, onions and other vegetables from the farms, taking the whole fields.
It would be possible to make potato starch from the potatoes.

Incidentally, Vandalieu was using Golem Transmutation to create piles of dirt to fill the holes created by removing the fields.

“Now then, shall we head back to Talosheim?” he said.

Taking his field-Golems along, Vandalieu and his followers put the Mirg shield-nation behind them.
As previously planned, the farmlands had been dealt devastating damage and a thousand Undead were left behind.

He spread deadly poison in all of the irrigation channels and water reservoirs, and also in the fields where nothing but dirt remained.

It wasn’t poison that would dissipate with time, but the kind of contaminant that would leech into the ground and moisture and linger for decades.

With this, the cultivated land would become uninhabitable and unusable for humans.

Leaving Undead in the villages was Vandalieu’s way of showing ‘kindness’.

They served as warnings so that the villagers wouldn’t return and unknowingly try to use the poisoned water to raise more crops.

And another point of ‘kindness’ was that Vandalieu hadn’t touched the wells, knowing that there would be a chance that the contamination would reach all the way towards the town.

“Viscount Balchesse, you stole the Devil’s Nest forest from us, but let’s say we’re even now,” Vandalieu murmured in the direction of Balcheburg, before entering the tunnel through the entrance on the Mirg shield-nation’s side.

“Come to think of it, Bocchan, you can make Wood Golems out of trees, can’t you?” asked Saria.

“Hmm? I can, why?”

“Couldn’t you make thread and paper just by turning the plants themselves into Golems?”

“… Ah.”

Vandalieu had the feeling that he had done things the long way, but he had acquired meat and soya beans, so his efforts hadn’t been in vain.

 

 

 

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At the same time, in the Divine Realm of Alda, the God of Law and Fate, the gods were conducting an emergency meeting.

The reason was that Bormack Gordan, the one who had been considered a candidate to become a heroic spirit and possibly even a god depending on his work, had now wandered astray from Alda’s teachings.

“Curatos, show everyone the Record.”

The God of Records, Curatos, opened the book he was holding at Alda’s command.
Countless soap-bubble-like spheres rose from its pages.
Their surfaces bore images of what the expedition army had witnessed in Talosheim.

They began bursting and disappearing one after another.
In the next instant, the last remaining soap bubble with a close-up image of Gordan’s Undead face disappeared.

“This is the record from a child who was a part of the expedition army,” said Curatos.

“… What of the records after that?” asked Alda.

“Unfortunately… It seems that their spirits were trapped after they were slaughtered, or they turned into Undead as Bormack Gordan did.
However, please look here.” Curatos opened another page, showing a scene where the wall of Balcheburg was broken and the Undead expedition army was doing battle with the soldiers.

This was the scene witnessed by Alda’s believers, Recorded by Curatos.
Curatos had been able to Record the things seen and heard in the instant the believers made the unconscious prayer of, ‘Oh God,’ and now he was able to share those Records with others.

The things shown in these Records were things that many of the gods present here, including Alda, were aware of.
After all, they were the ones who had been prayed to when the soldiers whispered, “Oh God.”

However, there was no small number of gods seeing this for the first time.
They were greatly shocked.

“This is… A Dhampir child is capable or something like this…”

“How could this be! This disease has never existed before; are you to say that this Dhampir created it himself?!”

“He is making use of Undead… He is just like Za–”

“Silence!” Niltark, the God of Judgment, interrupted the god to prevent him from saying something careless.
“I would like to ask you to refrain from referring to this Dhampir by anything but ‘Dhampir’ or his name, ‘Vandalieu!’”

“My apologies.
Thank you, Niltark-sama,” said the other god, realizing his mistake after seeing Niltark’s furious expression.

Comparing Vandalieu to be ‘The second coming of Zakkart’ or ‘A being similar to an evil god’ wasn’t a problem of character for the gods.

They wanted to avoid Vandalieu from acquiring a Title.

Titles appearing on one’s Status are not mere labels or second names, but things that have an actual effect.
A Title of Goblin King would grant increased damage against monsters known as Goblins, and Titles such as Invulnerable or Immortal would make it more difficult for the bearer of such Titles to die.

The conditions for acquiring a Title is for a large number of individuals, or individuals with great influence, to call someone by that Title.

Though their power and positions varied, everyone gathered here was a god.
They were the most influential beings in the world of Lambda.

If the gods were to call Vandalieu ‘The second coming of Zakkart’ here, there was no telling what kinds of powers he would be granted.

“But Alda, why have we been gathered here? This Dhampir has indeed used countless Golems and Undead while being young of age, created a disease, slaughtered an army of six thousand, turned that army into Undead and bared his fangs at the Mirg shield-nation.
But looking at it another way, that is all he is capable of, is it not?” The one speaking was Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds.
He was a god of a younger generation compared to the other gods here, having only become a god within the past few tens of thousands of years.

Fitun’s words could be interpreted as cruelly disregarding human life, but as he said, the things that Vandalieu had done, seen in the Records, were not something to gather all of the gods and make a big fuss over.

Up until now, over ten thousand lives had been claimed with each war, and there had been countless countries brought to ruin by monsters going on rampages.
Compared to such historical losses, the deaths of the expedition army and those in Balcheburg, which totaled to less than ten thousand, were very small.

The fact that only soldiers and adventurers had been killed as a direct result of battle only reinforced that notion.

Of course, the family, lovers and friends of the deceased would be tortured by feelings of grief and loss, but it wasn’t as if powerless civilians had been mass-murdered.

And as gods, they could not support a single nation too much without causing problems.

“But aren’t this Dhampir’s actions simply too cruel?” another god asked.

Fitun felt an urge to laugh at him.
“What are you saying? This Dhampir’s actions seem halfhearted to me.”

“Halfhearted?!”

“Yeah.
As proof, the disease that the Dhampir used on the expedition army, he didn’t use it in Balcheburg, did he? That’s why the Undead were repelled.” As Fitun said, Vandalieu hadn’t used that disease when attacking Balcheburg.
Despite the fact that the town of ten thousand could have been annihilated by three thousand Undead if the disease had been used.

No, the limitation of the disease that caused it to stop its effects after half a day… If that limitation had been removed and it infected a single person in Balcheburg, that alone would have spelled the end of the town.

Its rate of spread and the speed at which it produced its symptoms was probably too fast for it to spread to other towns and villages, but ten thousand citizens would be reduced to crippled, ill people within hours.

Even if they were lucky enough to recover, the disease would simply mutate and infect them again, so there would be no survivors.

The people of Balcheburg would writhe and suffer plenty before all dying.
Only materials to create Undead would be left.

“He didn’t do that, so that’s why his actions are halfhearted… no, naïve,” said Fitun.
“He is not someone we should be wary of.”

“… Fitun, it sounds to me that you are underestimating the Dhampir.
Am I wrong?” asked Curatos.

“What are you saying Curatos-dono? I am simply saying that the things this Dhampir has done are not problems worthy of us gods gathering and discussing them.
If we are to discuss anything, should it not be the evil-god-worshipping Vampires squirming in your territory, Alda?”

Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, wasn’t a particularly zealous supporter of Alda.
He was simply a former hero praised by the people with many great achievements against Vida’s races and the evil gods to his name; he wasn’t a devout follower of Alda like Gordan.

Good grief, the days have been excruciatingly dull since I became a god.
I don’t care if it’s Dhampirs or Undead, I wish there was a worthy foe that would have my blood boiling like it did when I was a human.

Alda opened his mouth.
Everyone was expecting him to reprimand the young god for his impertinence.
“What Fitun says is reasonable.”

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The gods, including Fitun himself, stirred at Alda’s unexpected words.

“However, things are not so simple.
There is reason to believe that this Dhampir, Vandalieu, has destroyed the Artifact created by Yupeon and broken the ‘divided spirit’ within.

The gods were now making an uproar.

“Impossible! A divided spirit… He has broken something so similar to a soul?!”

“So that is the reason that Yupeon is not here…”

“Perhaps the fact that he did not spread the disease to the town as not due to naïvety as Fitun suggested, but as a warning to us? To say that he can do such a thing anytime he wishes.”

“But he could not possibly be so audacious as to threaten us… If he is, then the ancient –”

“SILENCE!” It seemed that Alda was trying to use this meeting to share his sense of impending danger with the gods who had become so relaxed recently.

Even though Alda had declared that this was a war against the remnants of the Demon King and Vida, with a hundred thousand years passing without any real progress, even gods would feel weary and soft.
This was only spurred on by the lack of organized movements from the remnants that were supposed to be their enemies.

“Then will you send a Divine Message that this Dhampir should be exterminated?” asked Curatos.

“No,” said Alda.
“There is a chance that that would have the opposite effect.”

If Alda gave the order to exterminate Vandalieu and gave detailed information regarding him through a Divine Message, the clergyman receiving the Divine Message might not be able to receive it fully and there was a high risk that it would be interpreted in a dangerous way, such as,“Kill the children*.”

TLN*: This misinterpretation would be possible in Japanese because there’s often no plural distinction, so “Kill the child” would interpreted as “Kill the children” in this context.

 

And if they sent knights and extermination forces to Talosheim without being scrupulous in preparations and information-gathering, they would simply repeat the failures of the expedition army.

As a result of the discussion, it was decided that Divine Messages would be sent to every church, allowing the clergymen to instill vigilance in the humans and encouraging them to be prepared.
The Dhampir had already done such great things.
The gods anticipated that he would stay holed up in the Boundary Mountain Range for a while, gathering his strength.

And there was someone other than Vandalieu who was also dangerous… Alda had sent numerous Divine Messages, saying, “That man is dangerous.*” But despite that, the man who had signed a contract with an evil god, the Thunderclap Schneider, was still moving about freely.
They had to be wary of him as well.

TLN*: Depending on context, in Japanese, this can also mean “That man is in danger” which is why the Divine Message has been misinterpreted repeatedly up until now.

 

In the meantime, we should use the clergymen to gather candidates for champions and heroes, raise them and prepare… I suppose.
Oh, wise Alda, you are halfhearted as well, thought Fitun.
He laughed bitterly to himself.

If it were up to him, if there was even the smallest chance that the Dhampir possessed the same power as the Demon King, he would gladly sacrifice ten thousand or even a hundred thousand lives in order to exterminate him.
He would make the gods endure the flesh-gouging pain of creating divided spirits and have them descend upon the world, prepared to risk the annihilation of all of the servants and heroic spirits.

He wouldn’t grant the Dhampir time to gather more power.

However, Fitun did not voice this opinion.
Though the others likely wouldn’t listen to him, if by some tiny chance they did adopt his plan, it would only trouble him.

This is the first enemy I can fight to the death that has appeared since I became a god.
I have to let him grow more.

A fight to the death is not where the strong kills the weak in a one-sided manner.
It is a fight to the death because it is a fight where both have the ability to take his opponent’s life.

Now then, small Dhampir.
Grow larger, crueler, more relentless and most importantly, more powerful.
I, Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, will watch over you until I kill you by my own hands!

 

 

 

Job explanation:

【Soul Breaker】

A Job that one who has broken a soul can acquire.

It grants a bonus to the acquisition of skills such as Soul Break, Spirit Form, Long-distance Control and Parallel Thought-Processing, and though it provides great growth in the Mana and Intelligence Attribute Values, growth in other Attribute Values are low.

The Job’s name may suggest that it is an offensive Job, but because one must possess enough power to break a soul to acquire this Job, it is a Job that simply provides support for Soul Break.

 

 

 

Skill explanation:

【Materialization】

This is a skill that materializes parts of the body that does not originally have physical form.
It is mainly acquired by Astral-type monsters, spirits that have been contaminated with Mana, such as Ghosts and Specters.

The materialized spirit form becomes susceptible to physical damage, but it does not have flesh and blood, so the damage taken is still less than damage from silver or Magic Items.

It has a greater effect than the Spirit Form skill, causing one to be in a state closer to having a body of flesh, but as it allows damage from the aforementioned sources and adds limitations of forces such as gravity, it cannot be said to be superior to the Spirit Form skill.

No people other than Vandalieu have been confirmed to possess this skill.