Death Mage 228 – Those who look up at the sky

When Andou Misa died on Earth and was reincarnated in Origin by Rodcorte, she was given the ability to transform her body into vapor and became Misa Anderson.

It seemed that Rodcorte thought of her ability as a cheat-like ability, but she thought of it as a kind of superpower, though it could have been considered to be a cheat in the sense that she had been born with a power that no human could ever attain no matter how talented they were.

And then she died in Origin, burned alive by Baba Yaga, a member of the Eighth Guidance with a combustion ability.

Back then, even with the ability to transform her body into a vapor, she had become unable to make herself completely invisible, and more importantly, she had been found by Baba Yaga in the enclosed space that was the underground base of the Eighth Guidance. In the end, these were the things that had sealed her fate.

Even before the incident, she had been well aware that she would be poorly-matched in a battle against Baba Yaga.

If Misa turned her entire body into vapor, it was impossible to attack her physically. But fire was her worst enemy. If her body’s vapor was altered by combustion, she would lose her body.

There was also the option of fighting without using her ‘Sylphid’ ability, relying on the magic and martial arts that she had learned in her training, but it was difficult for her to block Baba Yaga’s powerful explosions that she could produce instantaneously.

Strategically, it was best for Misa to avoid Baba Yaga at all costs. She was supposed to have kept her distance from Baba Yaga and stayed together with the ‘Odin’ Hazamada Akira who had the ability to accurately see several seconds into the future as they recovered Pluto’s corpse.

But Baba Yaga had been in an unexpected position, and Misa and Hazamada Akira had been burnt alive when she threw and detonated portable organic material… a plastic bottle filled with oil.

Misa had then been born again in Lambda as Misa Anderson.

… And I’m now no different from the curious onlookers down there. How depressing, she thought to herself.

She was currently looking down at the plaza in the city of Morksi with her body turned completely into vapor with her ‘Sylphid’ ability.

In the plaza, there was a crowd of onlookers making some noise, and the duel between the ‘Strong Arm’ Gordon, the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael, Simon and Natania had just begun.

Naturally, the people involved in the duel, the crowd watching on… and even Vandalieu, who was watching the duel from the front row, hadn’t noticed Misa’s presence.

This fact made her feel less miserable.

It’s worth putting some effort in once in a while, she thought.

In Origin, Misa had been unable to make herself completely transparent, and she had sometimes been detected by police dogs and military dogs during her training. But after being reincarnated in Lambda, she had successfully improved her ‘Sylphid’ ability.

She had acquired the ability of becoming completely invisible, and she could not be detected even by high-Rank monsters with a sharp sense of smell. She had even become able to cast magic while in vapor form, and she was able to move objects to some extent as well.

These were the results of approximately two years of diligent training, along with the fact that she had chosen the body of an Elf, a race whose members often had a strong affinity for the wind attribute.

Currently, she was under the effects of a spell that the ‘Odin’ Akira Hazamada had invented, one that erased the presence of her magic and life force. With this, even Vandalieu could not detect her. So she thought, but she was careful to never let her eyes meet his.

It seems contradictory to monitor someone while keeping your eyes off them, but… I don’t want to be destroyed like ‘Death Scythe,’ she thought, remembering another reincarnated individual, the ‘Death Scythe’ Konoe Miyaji.

Konoe Miyaji had succeeded in stopping Vandalieu’s heart and lungs, but he had received some kind of attack in return, causing his soul to break.

At the time, Vandalieu had been on the world’s surface, while Konoe Miyaji had been in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm – a place where even magic would normally not be able to take effect. Konoe Miyaji had possessed the cheat-like ability ‘Death Scythe’ that worked through his gaze, while Vandalieu had not been given any cheat-like ability.

Rodcorte had concluded that Konoe Miyaji’s destruction had taken place through the effect of some Skill that Vandalieu possessed, and Misa and her companions agreed with this conclusion.

The effect of that Skill was unlikely to be powerful enough to destroy someone’s soul or mortally wound them just by making eye contact. It was possible that multiple conditions needed to be met for the Skill to take effect, so Misa making eye contact with him here might not trigger the Skill.

But Misa had no intention of risking losing her life and having her soul destroyed to determine whether that was the case.

In any case, gathering information about the circumstances surrounding Vandalieu was valuable in itself. It was valuable, but –

This is no good… That Gordon guy is no match for him, Misa thought as she looked at the ‘Strong Arm’ Gordon, who was currently fighting against Vandalieu’s companions.

For a C-class adventurer, he was not bad. As his Title suggested, he was a frontline fighter who valued his physical strength, and this was good enough for him to fulfil that role.

Considering his defensive movements, his ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ Skill was also above average… around Level 3 or 4. His punches made an audible noise from the force of the air being pushed away by his fists.

But Miles was evading them with ease. In fact, he was even making fun of Gordon, pretending to be a boxing trainer.

“One, two! One, two! Keep your arms closer to your sides!” Miles said, smiling.

Enraged, Gordon threw his punches more and more furiously.

“Y-you bas… Gah!” he shouted as Miles used the openings created by his rougher movements to land a hit.

“I told you to keep your arms closer to your sides, didn’t I?” Miles said.

His strike, from which he had held back plenty of power, had stopped just short of breaking Gordon’s ribs. Feeling the pain and impact, and sensing Miles’s strength, Gordon’s face turned pale.

Slow to notice, isn’t he? … No, I suppose I can’t blame him, since he’s under the assumption that his opponent is just a guy who runs the slum quarters, Misa thought.

In Origin, even skilled mercenaries and special force soldiers wouldn’t be negligent when dealing with gangs or mafia members. It would be simple to deal with weapons like knives, but even gangs and mafia members would be a threat if armed with black market guns and magical media.

And all humans were the same in the sense that anyone would die if they received an attack in a vital spot.

But in Lambda, the difference between a C-class adventurer and a gang member was staggeringly large. A D-class adventurer, with a reasonable safety margin, would be capable of hunting bears on a regular basis. But a C-class adventurer would be able to slaughter a bear with a single strike.

From the perspective of someone from Origin, a C-class adventurer would be a superhuman.

Meanwhile, a criminal organization in this world would be considered to be quite well-off if they had some thugs who were failed D-class adventurers… unless they were very large-scale organizations, like the ones that had been backed by the Pure-breed Vampires.

Of course, there were likely some assassins or thugs with the strength of a B-class adventurer or even more. It was even possible that there were former A-class adventurers who had committed crimes and been forced to go into hiding in the underworld.

But the difference in strength between someone who just acted as the face of the slum quarter and red-light district and an adventurer would be overwhelming. Gordon had likely assumed that this would be the case here, that this ‘Starving Wolf’ would be nothing more than a blockhead with a big mouth.

But the truth was the opposite.

“What’s the matter? Are you going to give up? If you do, I might forgive you, you know?” Miles taunted.

“You bastard…!” Gordon muttered, his face twisting in a furious scowl.

But he was unable to move. He knew that he was unable to win this fight.

“What’s the matter, Master Gordon?!” one of Gordon’s followers shouted.

“Hurry up and finish him off!” said the other.

Neither of them could see how powerful Miles really was.

“Hey, you there, the big one! Is your nice muscle all for show?!” one of the bystanders who had bet on Gordon shouted.

If Gordon surrendered here, he would become known as a man who was all talk. That was something that he needed to avoid.

He had no choice but to give up on acquiring Basdia and Zadiris, but he would at least need to make some highlights in this scene before he was defeated.

“You guys are first!” Gordon roared as he threw a fist towards Simon and Natania.

They had been waiting for their turn as they were hesitant to fight Gordon three-on-one, but it seemed that Gordon had decided to defeat them in an instant, showing his ruthlessness off to the spectators.

However, his fist was blocked by Simon’s artificial arm.

“GAH!” Gordon screamed in pain as his fist connected with the arm that he had thought was iron only on the outside. “Is your artificial arm completely solid iron on the inside as well?!”

“Yes, since Master told me to become able to move it regardless of how heavy it is. And it would be too easily dented if it were hollow on the inside,” Simon explained.

Gordon was wearing armor himself, so his hand wasn’t broken, but the impact seemed to have been quite painful. He fell back, clutching his fist.

“By the way, my artificial limbs are as solid as Simon’s. Take this!” Natania shouted as she unleashed her pent-up anger in a series of chaotic attacks, forcing Gordon to stay on the defense.

Well, I suppose he’s about right for seeing how strong these new people are, whether they’re his companions or apprentices. But those iron artificial limbs… If he gives them artificial limbs made of Mythril or Adamantite… or even the Demon King’s fragments, they’ll be a threat. But of course, they’re not so threatening now, Misa thought, losing interest in the duel.

She found it hard to imagine that there would be any new developments worth watching.

Misa was an adventurer herself. She knew of the unspoken rules of a duel. In general, weapons were not allowed, and neither was the use of martial skills or some Active Skills such as ‘Surpass Limits.’

If weapons and martial skills were allowed, the chances that someone ended up dead would increase… and if the dueling adventurers were strong, it was even possible that spectators would get caught up in the duel and killed as well. If the dueling parties were A-class adventurers, it wouldn’t be surprising if they ended up destroying buildings with the shockwaves produced by their combat, never mind the spectators.

If they did that, the adventurers would cease being adventurers and become mere criminals, regardless of the circumstances of their duel. Gordon was unlikely to be willing to cross that line. Even though Natania was beating him down, he showed no intention to take out his axe or use martial skills and Skills.

Personally, Misa would have preferred for him to cross that line so that she could see more of Miles’s power and possibly even a part of Vandalieu’s, but… it didn’t seem that she would get to see that.

The problem is that Vandalieu is… completely in spectator mode. The girl that he is holding in his arms… She isn’t a child from the orphanage, is she? Misa wondered.

She began looking and listening for information about the girl around Vandalieu’s surroundings.

The alchemist named Jessie had finally managed to calm herself down after being comforted by the two Ghouls. The girl with the bull horns and tail was shouting, “The knees! You must be thorough in attacking the knees!”

In contrast to the girl, Vandalieu seemed to be observing Natania and Simon’s movements in silence.

But then, he began looking around him, as if something was bothering him. Perhaps there was something nearby, perhaps Hajime… or some of Fitun’s subordinates were lurking around – But as Misa began thinking this, she inadvertently shifted her attention onto Vandalieu.

Vandalieu looked up. He was breathing deeply in and out as he looked up at the empty sky above him.

Misa had become a part of the air; even from a distance, she was able to hear the sound of Vandalieu’s breathing – and thus, she came to realize one possible explanation for Vandalieu’s behavior.

Wait, did he notice me through his breath?!

The Five-colored Blades had sealed the Demon King’s nose, so Vandalieu couldn’t have acquired it. But it was possible that he had absorbed another smell-related or respiration-related fragment. It was possible that he had used such a fragment to detect Misa despite her being odorless and concealing the presence of her Mana or Vitality with magic.

I’m in danger if I don’t get away! Misa realized.

She quickly rode the wind to flee from the city of Morksi.

“Vandalieu-sama, what’s the matter?” Juliana asked.

“I just noticed a strange odor,” Vandalieu replied as he stopped looking up at the sky.

A strange odor… Vandalieu suspected that it was the presence of ‘Sylphid.’

He had heard about the ‘Sylphid’ ability from Kanako and Doug who had been her companions, as well as Baba Yaga, the one who had killed her in Origin.

According to them, the ‘Sylphid’ ability could only turn Misa’s own body into vapor, and anything she was wearing could not be turned into vapor. And even when in vapor form, she was not completely invisible. She could apparently be seen by the naked eye as a white, faint… like a wind ghost if one described her flatteringly, or like the ghost of a dead person if not.

But ‘Sylphid’ was an ability that had been granted by Rodcorte just like Kanako’s ‘Venus,’ Doug’s ‘Hecatoncheir’ and Melissa’s ‘Aegis.’ It would be possible to improve the ability through training.

Wary of the possible improvement of the ‘Sylphid’ ability, Vandalieu had created and placed Demon King Familiars and Golems around the city’s perimeter and on the roofs of several buildings, and they were capable of detecting the presence of Misa’s life force and Mana even if she was in vapor form.

But none of them had responded. It was possible that what Vandalieu had sensed a moment ago had just been his imagination.

“… Gufadgarn, do you know anything about this?” Vandalieu asked.

“No, Vandalieu. I have not sensed anything,” Gufadgarn replied.

As Gufadgarn hadn’t detected anything either, then perhaps it really was just his imagination… but Vandalieu didn’t think so.

He had just been told about the Flame Blades’ recent suspicious movements and that someone who could be assumed to be Hajime Inui was nearby. Given the timing, it was difficult to imagine that he had been imagining things.

It was likely that ‘Sylphid’ had acquired some ability that she had not possessed in Origin, though it wasn’t clear as to whether it was due to the improvement of her ability or the influence of some other factor.

And if she was invisible and not emitting any trace of Mana, then she was no different from the air. Even Gufadgarn would not be able to sense every single change in the flow of air.

But how do I stay on the watch for someone who is invisible, odorless and capable of concealing their life force and Mana? I can’t put up a barrier around the entire city and prevent anything from coming in and out, Vandalieu thought.

If the city of Morksi was separated from the air on the outside, Misa wouldn’t be able to enter even with an improved ‘Sylphid’ ability… but if done incorrectly, the entire city would die of asphyxiation.

… To begin with, a barrier that blocked all airflow – in other words, a physical barrier – would be noticed by the city’s people. It wasn’t a feasible option.

There was a surveillance network of Golems, Demon King Familiars and spirits in place, but it was impossible for them to monitor changes in the air.

However, that didn’t mean that there was no way to prevent Misa Anderson’s spying in the future. There was a basic method available – having important conversations and doing important things inside rather than outside.

“Everyone, let’s do important things in the Dungeon from now on,” said Vandalieu.

‘Sylphid’ was an ability that transformed Misa’s body into vapor, so it was likely that Misa would be able to enter buildings such as houses and towers as long as there was even a small gap available. But if she were to move after entering, there would be an unnatural movement of air inside.

She might be able to move freely inside large buildings with ventilation ducts, but it would be impossible in Vandalieu’s ordinary-sized house that was also entirely made of Golems.

And the Dungeon in the basement of the house was even more perfect. It had only one entrance, and this would not change unless Gufadgarn were to create more. Even with ‘Sylphid,’ Misa would not be able to enter a place that was not spatially connected to her current location.

If there was only one entrance that needed watching, then it would be possible to detect any changes in air flow.

… The easiest outcome would be for Misa to become overly self-confident or desperate to achieve something and attempt to assassinate someone. In that case, Vandalieu would notice through ‘Danger Sense: Death.’

Well, Vandalieu would not be able to sense anything if she were to target someone who was completely unrelated to him, so this was not necessarily a desirable outcome.

I have no intention of risking my own life to save people who have no connection to me at all, but… I am the Holy Son of the goddess of life and love, after all. And I’m just starting to gain society’s trust, too, Vandalieu thought.

“Very well,” said Juliana.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Princess Levia.

Meanwhile, the duel was unfolding in a way that Vandalieu hadn’t quite expected… Gordon was not receiving much damage.

“You damned cat bitch!” Gordon shouted, his face red with anger, as he charged at Natania.

Relying on the strength of his thick arms, he attempted to beat her down.

Though he couldn’t use martial skills, his fist had enough force behind it to defeat an Orc in a single blow.

“Whoops,” Natania said as she deftly moved her body out of the way and performed a leg sweep, causing Gordon’s enormous body to crash onto the stone pavement.

“D-damn it!” Gordon cursed with yet another graze on his body as he tried to stand up again.

“Rather than using pure force to smash his leg with her iron artificial legs, she used his own strength against him to sweep his feet out from under him,” Basdia observed.

“I thought she was just throwing punches in the beginning, but it seems that she is in full control of her artificial limbs as a part of her own body. It is splendid to see that she has come this far in less than a month,” remarked Zadiris.

Natania was controlling her artificial limbs skillfully. The spectators seemed to recognize this as well; some of them were watching with impressed expressions.

But Natania’s artificial limbs were not inorganic limbs; they were inhabited by her own spirit form, allowing her to control them and sense them as if they were a part of her.

“A-amazing… Even the dean of alchemy at the Mages’ Guild in the capital wouldn’t be able to create artificial limbs like that!” Jessie murmured as she watched the battle in excitement, under the impression that the artificial limbs were Magic Items.

The truth was that the ability to process metal was needed to build these artificial limbs, so perhaps it really would have been impossible for the dean of alchemy to make them.

“I’m happy that my apprentice has developed more than I expected… Before they started, I thought she would have broken a few dozen of that man’s bones with her metal limbs and that would be the end of it,” said Vandalieu.

“… Boss, you didn’t just forget about all of the terrible things he said about us after all,” said Simon.

“Of course not. He didn’t just call me a monster; he spoke poorly of my companions and apprentices right to their faces. He keeps referring to Basdia and Zadiris as ‘these Ghouls,’ too,” said Vandalieu.

Vandalieu wasn’t bothered by people saying one or two bad things about him. But there was a limit to that.

And Gordon was the kind of person who had made his way up in the world using violence. With that being the case, there was certainly no problem with repelling him with violence.

“But he’s a good sparring opponent for my apprentice, and he’s following the rules of the duel, so I’m going to forgive him,” said Vandalieu. “… So no turning him into meatballs, fertilizer or sending him into the labyrinth,” he added in a quiet whisper.

He could feel the disappointment of Quinn and Eisen who were inside him, and Gufadgarn who was remaining hidden.

“Natania, let’s get going,” said Vandalieu, deciding that it wouldn’t be productive to continue making Gordon a laughing stock.

“Then let me have a go,” said Simon, stepping forward in Natania’s place.

“Alright,” said Natania, seemingly satisfied with her one-on-one fight with Gordon and handing her prey over to her senior apprentice.

“D-don’t mess with me…!” Gordon groaned.

Unable to discern Natania’s true strength, the crowd began jeering at Gordon.

“All you’ve been doing is falling on the ground!”

“Are you drunk or something?!”

Having given up on the Ghoul women because he was unable to defeat the ‘Starving Wolf,’ Gordon had planned to save face by defeating Natania and Simon, but that had failed as well.

It had failed, but he was not gracious enough to give up.

“I can defeat you easily as long as I watch out for your right arm!” he shouted.

With his anger boiling in his head, he attempted to grapple with Simon. It seemed that his plan was to first grab his artificial arm to stop it from moving.

But as Gordon grasped the wrist of Simon’s artificial arm, the entire forearm detached at the elbow. Having used all of his strength to throw himself at Simon’s wrist, Gordon lost his balance.

“Well then, I’ll get you here!” Simon said and his left… his fist of flesh and bone, connected with an uppercut to Gordon’s exposed jaw.

The last thing that Gordon heard before losing consciousness was the surprised shouts of his followers as he gazed up at the winter sky.

Vandalieu and his companions made no complaints for damages after Gordon’s thorough public humiliation, so Gordon was not punished by the Adventurers’ Guild.

Normally, someone who tried to take another person’s familiars through threats and challenged the Guild Master’s daughter to a duel would be banned from the city’s Guild, but it was fortunate for him and his followers that they received no punishment.

Of course, that was not because the Guild was compassionate towards them, but because they had already been punished enough.

News of the duel that had occurred in Morksi’s large plaza quickly spread throughout the trading city, as well as the cities and villages nearby… People laughed as they spoke of how Gordon was a C-class adventurer who had lost to a thug, how he had thrown himself at a Beast-kin D-class adventurer only to be defeated by her as well and how he had challenged the Guild Master’s daughter to a duel, only to be defeated by her one-armed representative. Gordon’s public image plummeted into the dirt.

Several days after the duel, Gordon lost his ‘Strong Arm’ Title.

Following the wind, Misa took a detour as she returned to the base where her companions were hiding. It was some distance away from the city of Morksi, in a natural cave in a mountain that wasn’t a Devil’s Nest.

The group had not stopped at a single human settlement after entering the Alcrem Duchy, and they hadn’t hunted any beasts or monsters either. Thus, Vandalieu was unlikely to know of this location… If he did, the group would have been killed long ago.

Relieved that she had made it away safely, Misa deactivated her ‘Sylphid’ ability, causing an Elf girl wearing leather armor and holding a staff to appear from thin air.

In Origin, she had been unable to turn her clothes and possessions into vapor with her body, but now, she was able to do so with her clothes, armor and objects in her hands.

However, she could not turn any luggage on her back or heavy plate armor into vapor.

“I’m back. Things are largely the same as when I picked up rumors in the city three days ago,” she reported to her companions. “I’ll start going through the details now.”

“Alright, let us hear it,” said the ‘Odin’ Akira Hasamada.

He and the ‘Chronos’ Junpei Murakami wrote notes and drew a rough map of the city of Morksi as they listened, and they also wrote something on what appeared to be maps of the area around the city.

“But seriously, what is he thinking, running a skewered meat stall? At first, I thought he was planning to annex the Alcrem Duchy as a part of his own country, but there’s no sign of such a conspiracy at all. I can understand that he’s trying to draw us out, but… it’s hard to understand,” said Akira after Misa finished her report, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“I couldn’t investigate that far, so don’t ask me. With ‘Sylphid,’ I can hear the voices of people walking in the streets and strain my ears to some extent, but… I don’t want to go into buildings, and I followed your instructions to not go anywhere near the Adventurers’ Guild and Vandalieu himself,” said Misa.

Her information gathering had been limited to observing events happening outdoors and listening into people’s conversations, and as Vandalieu and his companions suspected, she was avoiding indoor spaces.

And she was even more careful of her surroundings than Vandalieu and his companions would have thought.

“That’s fine. In fact, it would be more problematic if you were to get too close and become noticed,” said Murakami.

Before Misa went to the city of Morksi, he had instructed Misa to not go near the Adventurers’ Guild or Vandalieu. At the very least, she needed to maintain a distance where she could escape immediately if needed.

Some of the adventurers going in and out of the Adventurers’ Guild had the ‘Intuition’ Skill at a high Level. It was possible that such adventurers would intuitively detect Misa, despite the fact that she was invisible and odorless.

As for not going near Vandalieu, that didn’t need to be explained. He was even capable of preventing Misa’s movements at a moment’s notice.

Ordinarily, it would be impossible to capture Misa when she was in vapor form. Even with prior knowledge of the ‘Sylphid’ ability, it would be impossible to immediately produce a container that could contain and seal one person’s body’s volume of gas, and having one on hand would be very inconvenient.

But with Vandalieu’s ‘Golem Creation’ ability, he could create a sealed container out of dirt on the spot. He could even just spill his own blood and use that instead.

As he was capable of manipulating blood, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to entrap Misa inside a bubble made of his own blood. Once she was trapped inside, it would be difficult for her to get out. In fact, it was likely that she would be immediately killed… and destroyed.

“But what are we going to do? At this rate, we won’t have enough clear information,” said Akira.

“… No, we have plenty of information. It’s not enough, but we can’t hope for any more,” said Murakami.

“What do you mean? It’s true that it’s difficult to investigate him, but if I keep doing what I’ve been doing a few more times, we should have more information to work with,” said Misa.

“That’s impossible. Rodcorte told us that he defeated Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, right? But there hasn’t been any large damage to the city. In fact, there isn’t a single person whispering anything about the evil god, is there?” said Murakami. “In other words, Vandalieu is capable of defeating an evil god in the city of Morksi without causing any damage to the city or producing any witnesses. It’s clear that he’s made a Dungeon inside the city.”

“A Dungeon inside the city?! What the hell is he planning to do to that place?!” Akira exclaimed, his eyes opening wide in shock at Murakami’s wild speculations.

The appearance of a Dungeon inside a city would likely cause the destruction of that city.

There were cities that were built around a Dungeon’s entrance, commonly referred to as labyrinth cities. But that was only possible because labyrinth cities were built with the initial intention of building labyrinth cities.

There were walls and guard towers with soldiers stationed on them within the cities to deal with any monsters that came out of the Dungeons, and the residential districts for citizens were built on the outer parts of the cities.

It was only with these special measures in place that labyrinth cities functioned as a place for people to live and as a base for adventurers.

If a Dungeon was built in a city that didn’t have such measures, it would be impossible to maintain the city unless it was an incredibly low-class Dungeon.

“He’s obviously planning to protect the city,” said Murakami in response to Akira’s question. “There’s no doubt that he moved the battlefield into his Dungeon. I don’t know the exact details of the circumstances myself, but he probably used the power of the space-attribute evil god Gufadgarn.”

If the battle had been fought inside a Dungeon, then it made sense that no damage had been dealt to the city and there were no witnesses. In fact, this was the only explanation for this.

“Then it’s pretty much certain that he’s going to use that Dungeon when facing us as well,” said Akira.

“How problematic… If that’s the case, it would be pointless for me to keep entering the city for information if he’s going to be holding discussions in that Dungeon,” said Misa.

There was air in Dungeons, but… for the reasons that Vandalieu suspected, Misa thought it best to avoid the inside of a Dungeon.

“Yeah, so forget about the city. I’ll have you focus more on Hajime… on Fitun,” said Murakami.

“That guy? That guy’s even more difficult to work on…” Misa muttered.

She had been using ‘Sylphid’ to investigate not only Vandalieu, but the ‘Marionette’ Hajime Inui as well.

He and his group were hiding out near the city of Morksi, just like Murakami’s group… forming a faction and gathering fighting forces.

“Fitun is the battle-crazy wind-attribute god, right? I can’t let my guard down around most of them, too…” said Misa.

“I know it’s hard, but I have no choice but to ask you to do it. We’re weaker than them in terms of fighting forces, so if we want to kill Vandalieu, we have no option but to make use of them,” said Murakami.

His plan was to use Hajime’s group.

Of course, he had no intention of fighting over achievements. He had been told by Rodcorte through a Divine Message that the reward would be given to all the reincarnated individuals who had agreed to his request, no matter who ended up killing Vandalieu.

Rodcorte had likely decided that it would be problematic to have different groups hinder each other, considering that killing Vandalieu was already a difficult task.

“… I’ve been wondering lately. Is it even possible to kill him? And even if we did, wouldn’t he just turn into an Undead on the spot like he did in Origin and go for round two?” Akira questioned.

“Don’t get cold feet now, Akira. Rodcorte can’t touch Vandalieu while he’s alive, but the moment he dies, he’s under Rodcorte’s authority. He’ll forcibly seal him away or something, and that will be the end of it,” said Murakami. “If he doesn’t make it in time and Vandalieu turns into an Undead… we’ll have no choice but to run away.”

The ‘Strong Arm’ Gordon. He possesses exceptional muscular strength, and uses a berserker’s fighting style, utilizing his muscular strength and ‘Axe Technique’ while activating the ‘Surpass Limits’ and ‘Surpass Limits: Magic Axe’ Skills. His offensive strength is among the higher ranks of C-class adventurers, but… as he demanded a duel, an unarmed fight in which he can’t use his axe or ‘Surpass Limits,’ he was defeated without accomplishing anything.

Let this be a lesson to not be too full of pride, and to accurately determine your foe’s ability.

Title explanation: Strong Arm

A Title that indicates that its owner possesses great physical strength. It is often acquired by power-fighting-type adventurers and knights, but it is also occasionally acquired by merchants, government officials and nobles.

It is not a particularly rare Title; like the Food Cart King Title, it is common for each region to have at least one person with the Title.