Death Mage 225 – The Demiurge that grows from the ground when summoned

Immediately after Vandalieu acquired the "Demiurge" Job.

“… We can a.s.sume from the Skill"s name that its effect is similar to "Familiar Spirit Descent." But we can"t use it in real battle until we confirm whether that is the case, how much of an effect it has and how long it lasts,” Isla said logically.

She saw Eleanora and Bellmond off as they rushed back to where Vandalieu was, and closed her eyes to pray.

“"Familiar Spirit Demonfall," activate!” she shouted.

Something that sounded like a groan echoed out, and something that could only be described as a black light erupted at her feet.

The black light then fused with her body as if being absorbed, and a voice echoed in the back of her mind.

“Did you call me, Isla?”

It was the voice of her master, Vandalieu.

“Vandalieu-sama?! I expected one of Vandalieu-sama"s familiar spirits to come, but Vandalieu-sama himself is inside me?!” Isla exclaimed in surprise.

“Strictly speaking, I am not the real me,” the voice said. “I am one of the small mes that you and the others created from the leftover fragments during the reconstruction of my soul. Well, think of me as something like a familiar spirit. Not that I know much about ordinary familiar spirits other than the sensation and flavor they had when I destroyed them.”

Normally, familiar spirits summoned by those who possessed the "Familiar Spirit Descent" Skill were made of the Mana of the G.o.d that had created them, so their individual wills were faint. Thus, even after they descended, they would almost never have conversations with the ones who had summoned them.

But as one would expect from a clone that was made from a fragment of Vandalieu"s soul, it was able to converse with Isla.

“Incidentally, everything I know will be pa.s.sed on to the real me once the Demonfall is undone, so be careful about any secrets that you might want to keep,” the clone added.

Like the Demon King Familiars, the clone was a part of Vandalieu.

“A secret, from Vandalieu-sama?! Please feel free to look upon my heart as much as you wish… If you desire, you may look at all of me!” Isla declared.

“… I can"t read your memories and thoughts,” the clone told her. “But I can hear you when you speak to me with your internal voice like this, and I experience everything you see or hear for the duration of the Demonfall.”

“I see,” Isla said in a disappointed tone, but her liveliness returned again immediately. “But just the thought of becoming one with you like this makes me feel as if there is unlimited power coursing through me, Vandalieu-sama!”

“That"s the effect of "Familiar Spirit Demonfall." The power isn"t unlimited, so be wary of that. And with the Skill at Level 1, it will only last a few minutes,” the clone said.

“Ah, to think that you would continue your explanation so seriously… You are so cold,” Isla lamented. “But that is…!”

“I don"t really think that I"m being cold. I am explaining things in detail because I thought that"s what is best for you.”

Isla had thought things through logically and decided upon what she needed to know before testing the Skill. That wasn"t wrong of her, and the familiar spirit that had descended upon her had thought to do the same thing.

That was why it had used the precious few minutes it had to explain the Skill.

“Vandalieu-sama, you are thinking about me?!” Isla breathed.

“Yes, I am,” said the clone, not denying her despite the fact that she had taken his words with a slightly different nuance. “Now then, maybe we should try moving your body around a little. Try some practice swings with your sword.”

“Of course,” Isla said excitedly.

She unsheathed her sword and began moving her body, pretending that there was an enemy present. Her head was totally blank and her chest was throbbing so hard that it was difficult to believe that her heart wasn"t actually beating, but her movements were sharp.

To those watching, Isla"s movements appeared to be a complete combat demonstration… though Isla herself likely thought of this as a dance with Vandalieu.

But this dream-like time would inevitably come to an end.

“Time is up, so I will be leaving,” said the familiar spirit as it left Isla and disappeared.

“No, wait! Don"t go, Vandalieu-sama!” Isla cried tragically, feeling like she had lost more than the bonus to her Attribute Values.

“There, there, I"m back,” said Vandalieu, who had returned from the Job-changing room.

“Ah, Vandalieu-sama in the flesh!” Isla said, immediately recovering from her shock.

“Umm, don"t worry about her, everyone. She hasn"t lost her mind. You don"t have to be scared of her,” Vandalieu explained to the subordinate Vampires who had been watching.

“That"s right. She was talking to herself, fighting with an invisible enemy, blurting out weird things and breaking down into tears, so it can"t be helped if you thought she"d gone insane, but don"t worry,” said Eleanora.

Vestra looked terrified that she would become like Isla as well one day, and Seris was trying to comfort her.

The voices of familiar spirits could not be heard except for by those who had summoned them. From everyone else"s point of view, it looked as if Isla had been enveloped in a mysterious black light and then subsequently lost her mind… Although the Subordinate Vampires who had already been guided by Vandalieu had been moved to tears and had begun to pray at the sight of the "Familiar Spirit Demonfall."

Thankfully, Director Holly was checking up on the children and they weren"t in the hallway leading to the Job-changing room, so they had not witnessed Isla"s eccentric behavior.

The destruction of Hihiryushukaka, the evil G.o.d of joyful life, was sensed by the G.o.ds of Alda"s forces and the rest of the remnants of the Demon King"s army, despite the fact that they had not directly witnessed it.

“Hihiryushukaka"s presence has vanished from the Bahn Gaia continent…?” murmured Alda, the G.o.d of law and fate.

“It seems that he has been destroyed by Vandalieu,” said Rodcorte, the G.o.d of reincarnation.

Though the G.o.ds did not know the fine details of Vandalieu"s movements, they had indeed been rather strange, and Hihiryushukaka had been after him, so they had concluded that it was Vandalieu"s doing after all.

“… The evil G.o.d that has troubled us for the past hundred thousand years has come to an unsatisfying end. To think that he would become food for Vandalieu on his own. If he had quietly allowed us to seal him away, he could have avoided his own destruction,” Alda lamented.

“I never had even the smallest expectation that he would kill Vandalieu, but… the Demon King"s army isn"t what it used to be, considering that he was not even able to take a single one of Vandalieu"s companions down with him,” said Rodcorte.

Meanwhile, the other G.o.ds that had once been a part of the Demon King"s army trembled in fear.

It wasn"t just Ravovifard, the evil G.o.d of release; Hihiryushukaka had fallen as well. These two evil G.o.ds had gained even more power after the Demon King"s defeat and risen to power in the world, and yet they had both been destroyed just a few years apart.

Though the remnants of the Demon King"s army were called remnants, they acted separately, and they all felt the danger threatening them.

Despite that… they would not gather their strength together once more. Without the Demon King Guduranis, the powerful being that had ruled over them all, it would have been impossible for evil G.o.ds whose values and environments were vastly different to form a large-scale organization as they had. The ones left in Lambda in particular were peculiarly unique, and not in a good sense.

A poor attempt at trying to band together would likely result in the evil G.o.ds trying to crush each other rather than joining forces.

The evil G.o.ds knew this, so they merely formed small alliances with other G.o.ds that were similar to themselves, and they made no large-scale moves.

In contrast to the evil G.o.ds, a G.o.ddess who n.o.body thought was moving… who everyone thought was slumbering, was singlehandedly making a move that was small but would lead to great things, all on her own.

“She was worshiping other G.o.ds as well, not just me, so our connection was very thin. But now, she is close to not only Vida and him, but to me as well,” the G.o.ddess murmured to herself. “In other worlds, they say that the ocean is the mother of all life… I shall do everything in my power.”

To be precise, she was a G.o.ddess who ruled over the water attribute rather than the ocean, but the G.o.d of seas was among her subordinate G.o.ds, so there was no problem in thinking of herself as such.

And Peria, the G.o.ddess of water and knowledge, gave this G.o.ddess her divine protection and a message.

Peria wished to continue pretending to slumber until this G.o.ddess became able to deliver the message to him and see how he acted in response to it.

Several days after Vandalieu acquired the "Demiurge" Job, several dozen people in Talosheim who had gained the "Familiar Spirit Demonfall" Skill gathered and lined up with a set distance between each of them. All of them were armed; it was as if a fighting tournament were about to take place.

“Everyone, you"ve all prepared yourselves?! I"m not prepared yet, so give me a minute!” Fester shouted.

“… Fester. You"ve become a father, so get a hold of yourself,” said Zeno.

“H-hey, it"s just like using "Surpa.s.s Limits," right?” asked Kasim nervously.

“Yes, that"s right, Kasim. It will be like the sensation I had when I summoned familiar spirits while I was still alive… probably,” said Gerda.

“I-it"s my first time summoning a familiar spirit. Am I going to be alright?” Fester wondered.

“I apologize for interrupting your enthusiasm, but please wait a little more before we start the experiment. We must coordinate our timing with those cooperating with us from the Dark Continent and the other nations, you see,” said Luciliano, who was holding several Goblin communication devices.

It was an experiment that was being held, not a fighting tournament.

This was an experiment to see whether there would be any problems with many people using the "Familiar Spirit Demonfall" Skill simultaneously and from different locations.

An ordinary G.o.d would send a divine punishment or two upon followers who tried an experiment like this, thought Luvesfol, the raging evil dragon G.o.d, thinking about what an act of insolence it would be for a G.o.d"s believers to try to test their G.o.d"s limits.

But this experiment had been suggested by Vandalieu himself, so there was no need to worry about that.

No, I suppose there would never be such a large number of people with a G.o.d"s divine protection in one nation… Even a G.o.d who handed them out freely would have his limits. But why am I…

“What in the world am I doing…?” Luvesfol murmured out loud as he thought back upon the events that had led him to this situation.

Although he had been a subordinate of Marduke, the dragon-emperor G.o.d, he had betrayed this world and sided with the Demon King Guduranis. Until just a few years ago, he had been one of the remnants of the Demon King"s army.

He had usurped the worship of the Lizardmen in the marshlands from Fidirg, the dragon G.o.d of five sins who had betrayed the Demon King"s army to join Vida"s faction, but Vandalieu and his companions had taken the lizardmen and the marshlands back.

After that, he had been on a one-way path spiraling further and further down. He had been sealed away while trying to flee from the Bahn Gaia continent, and after that, he had been forced to put on a shameful display before Tiamat, the mountain queen elder dragon G.o.d, and the rest of his former allies…

Still, I am certainly in a better position than Ravovifard, Hihiryushukaka and others who have had their souls devoured… That is certainly true, but…

A sense of conviction did not exist in Luvesfol. What he had was merely a strong desire to survive. That was why he had joined the Demon King"s army, and why he had begged Vandalieu to spare him. He was aware that he had thrown away his pride over and over in order to survive in the past.

But as he reflected upon the situation, he did begin to think that he should have treasured his pride a little more.

“Everyone, you don"t have to be nervous! It will be a part of Van-kun descending… I mean, Demonfalling, onto you!” said Privel, the daughter of the Scylla elder, trying to calm the others down.

“It will fuse with you, but it seems that it"s like "Familiar Spirit Descent" in that it won"t read your memories and inner thoughts. Za.n.a.lpadna sent me a Divine Message, so I"m sure of it!” said the large-build Arachne Gizania, who was a daughter of the queen.

“That"s right, so you don"t have to worry either!” Privel said to Luvesfol.

But Privel"s words could not wipe away Luvesfol"s troubles.

In fact, they only amplified them. The fact that a girl like her was worrying about him made him realize just how insignificant he had become.

But that couldn"t be helped. Luvesfol"s body was currently about ten meters tall, the size of a Wyvern.

As a result of being beaten down and sealed away by the Storm of Tyranny, he no longer possessed his original Elder Dragon body; he had been sealed away in the feeble body of a Wyvern.

To an ordinary person, a Wyvern was a fearsome monster. It was powerful and possessed fangs, sharp claws and solid scales. It could fly, and many Wyverns were capable of breathing fire.

But from the perspective of Luvesfol, an Elder Dragon, Wyverns were the most inferior among the inferior dragons that were the Elder Dragons" descendants.

A Wyvern"s strength, fangs, claws, scales and fire breath were nothing of value. As a type of Dragon, Wyverns were able to fly at reasonable speeds, but acknowledging this was similar to a human praising the agility of a monkey.

And as Wyverns had the intelligence of beasts, it was difficult for Elder Dragons to acknowledge them as their own offspring… Although Luvesfol was not a direct parent of the Wyverns, as he was an Elder Dragon who had an affinity with the water and earth attributes.

I created children numerous times at the order of the Demon King, but many of my offspring were aquatic dragons. Come to think of it, the Scaled King has completely forgotten about me and turned into a Skeleton"s pet. Even though it was supposed to be quite intelligent for a dragon…

As Luvesfol looked into the distance as if trying to escape reality, a large hand suddenly touched his back.

“It"s alright. Van isn"t scary!” said a voice.

The fingers of the hand sunk forcefully into Luvesfol"s body.

Luvesfol let out a shout of surprise and opened his eyes wide as he realized that this hand belonged to the three-meter-tall half-n.o.ble Orc girl Pauvina.

“P-Pauvinsama! What are you doing?!” he cried.

“Hmm, I just thought you were getting too nervous, Luves,” Pauvina replied.

As a result of Vandalieu"s first pseudo-reincarnation, Pauvina had been born as a mixture of n.o.ble Orc and human blood, and she was growing up faster than a human child would. She had stopped growing after reaching about three meters in height, but if one ignored her size, she looked like a girl in her early teenage years… She had clearly surpa.s.sed Vandalieu in this regard.

“I am grateful and overjoyed about your considerate thoughts! But I am fine!” Luvesfol shouted hastily.

Pauvina was Luvesfol"s direct superior… though most people thought of her as his "owner."

Up until a moment ago, Luvesfol had been regretting throwing away his pride, but he had now immediately thrown away that regret and submitted to Pauvina. This was partially due to the fact that Pauvina was something like a younger sister to Vandalieu, but another large reason for his behavior was that Pauvina was easily capable of killing him with her bare hands.

As an Elder Dragon, his instinct was to recognize those who were more powerful than himself as a superior being.

Pauvina had the physical strength from her n.o.ble Orc blood, and had recently learned magic to a certain extent with the aim of acquiring a magical-girl-type Job.

However, she had first acquired the "Tamer" Job and acquired the "Strengthen Subordinates" Skill, saying that this would help everyone bring out their own strengths more… and Luvesfol was under the effects of her "Strengthen Subordinates" Skill.

And she has learned all of this body"s weak points in just a year! What a troublesome younger sister, Luvesfol thought. As for her older brother, what was he thinking when he gave me his divine protection –

But Pauvina did not stop, causing cracking sounds to come from Luvesfol"s spine.

Luvesfol screamed. “Please stop, I beg you, please stop!”

“Huh?” said Pauvina, seemingly unable to understand why he would want her to stop; her fingers showed no signs of stopping whatsoever. “You"re all stiff, you know? Your muscles are all tense.”

As Vandalieu had entrusted Luvesfol to her, Pauvina had learned all of the weak points of Luvesfol"s Wyvern body… where to ma.s.sage it in order to remove his fatigue.

She had done this mainly through Fidirg telling her, and actual practice on Luvesfol.

C-curse you, Fidirg! Getting so full of yourself now that you have four of your heads intact and only need to restore one more! Luvesfol thought as his weak spots were prodded.

But the whole situation was entirely expected for Fidirg.

When Pauvina came to him for advice on how to care for Luvesfol (or rather, keep him as a pet) because Fidirg was an Elder Dragon as well, he had been very troubled.

“Huh? I may be an Elder Dragon as well, but I am a G.o.d that was once a creature that is similar to an Elder Dragon from another world,” one of his heads had said.

“This is like asking a salamander about a newt"s biology,” added a second.

“Honestly, I don"t know anything about that b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s biology… Ah, don"t cry! I"ll do something about it, so give me a minute!” the third said hastily, seeing tears in Pauvina"s eyes.

“First, we need Wyverns! Where can we find Wyverns?!” the fourth head said in panic.

And so, Fidirg caught four Wyverns from Dungeons alive in the jaws of his four intact heads in order to allow her to investigate.

He certainly had not gleefully taught Pauvina how to ma.s.sage a Wyvern, wanting Luvesfol to suffer the ma.s.sage from the hands of a girl.

Rapiéçage and Yamata were also staring at Luvesfol with hollow eyes.

Rapiéçage was the Chimera Zombie that Vandalieu had created by sewing together monster parts and pieces of the corpses of the companions of the "Divine Spear of Ice" Mikhail. Yamata was a Hydra Zombie that the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia had created by replacing the nine heads of the corpse of a mutant Hydra with the top body halves of women of different races.

“Get used to… it,” groaned Rapiéçage.

“It-it-it-it~” Yamata sang.

Both were Undead, so neither really understood ma.s.sages. They had little sympathy for the writhing Luvesfol.

Pain, who had recently developed from a worm into an enormous moth and emerged from his chrysalis, was another regular member of Pauvina"s party. In some cases, other members like Legion and Sam joined as well.

This party"s activities were not all bad things for Luvesfol; some of them had been to his benefit. The most helpful thing was that they had brought him out of the Dark Continent, and he hadn"t needed to meet the G.o.ds of Vida"s faction face to face. On top of that, they had accompanied him for Leveling, which had increased his Rank.

He had been unable to fly with Pauvina on his back at first, but after his Rank increases, he could now fly while carrying her while she was fully armed… although it wasn"t an easy task for him.

With that said, he had merely gone from being a Wyvern to a Huge Wyvern and then a Great Wyvern; there was no change to the fact that he was still a Wyvern.

The Guild Master of the Tamers" Guild, the "Flying Dragon User" Bachem, would have been surprised by this. But Luvesfol thought lowly of all Wyverns; even if he had gone from Rank 5 to Rank 7, he was still just a Wyvern.

With that said, he was better off now than when he had been a weak creature that would have been beaten to death by a few full-strength punches from any of those around him. If he had front legs that were separate from his wings, he would have had no more complaints.

With his next Rank increase, it was possible that he could become a dragon –

Th-this is not good! At this rate, I will fall asleep! Luvesfol thought, his eyes opening wide as he stopped himself from dozing off to the pleasant sensation of his muscular tension being relieved.

At this rate, he really would become nothing more than a pet. He had discarded his pride in order to survive up until this point, but he had originally been an Elder Dragon. He intended to return to his former self one day; he couldn"t afford to lose the part of him that was an Elder Dragon.

“Come to think of it, Luves, you dispatched spirit clones and gave out divine protections as well, right?” said Pauvina, remembering the Scaled King that had received Luvesfol"s divine protection and possessed the "G.o.d Spirit Clone Descent" Skill.

“It was… destroyed. By Van… dalieu,” said Rapiéçage, who had become able to speak more fluently in the past year.

“Now… he"s Bone Man"s Dragon… Leo,” said Yamata, who spoke with some difficulty when she wasn"t singing.

“But despite that, you can summon Van"s familiar spirits?” Pauvina asked.

“Yes, there"s no problem… I think,” said Luvesfol.

Being honest, this was a topic that tore at Luvesfol"s pride and dug up his trauma, so he didn"t want to talk about it. But he was willing to be talkative about it in order to divert Pauvina"s interest away from the ma.s.sage.

“Now, I am sealed within this Wyvern body… I am in a regressed state, having been forced into a pseudo-reincarnation,” he said.

The Storm of Tyranny had applied a forced reincarnation seal on Luvesfol. It was something based on a mysterious technique created together by Peria, the G.o.ddess of water and knowledge, and Ricklent, the genie of time and magic.

It had originally been created to force evil G.o.ds to be reincarnated as powerless animals or plants, delaying their recovery from defeat.

As the Storm of Tyranny had used this on Luvesfol, who was an Elder Dragon who possessed a body, the seal had fused with a part of his body and caused him to regress into a Wyvern instead of a powerless animal.

This would normally have been considered a failed attempt at sealing Luvesfol away. He had become a Rank 5 monster instead of a weak creature… but as a Rank 5 monster was essentially a weak creature to the Storm of Tyranny, Luvesfol had become unable to do a thing.

But as the result of having such a body, Luvesfol had gained a displayed Status, and "Vandalieu"s Divine Protection" had appeared there at some point.

No matter how much Luvesfol thought about it, he could not understand why he had been given a divine protection. However, there was one thing he had concluded from this fact.

“As a result, my status as a G.o.d is ruined… I have become so weak that I cannot even be called a demiG.o.d. That is why I have become able to receive a divine protection from another G.o.d and summon familiar spirits,” Luvesfol murmured. “I cannot say anything about Vandalieu-sama"s ascension to a demiG.o.d, however.”

Pauvina and the others nodded as they listened to Luvesfol"s explanation with great interest. As Luvesfol had hoped, Pauvina"s hands had stopped their work.

Pain made some shrill, echoing noises. Even Pauvina didn"t understand what he was trying to say.

But it seemed that Luvesfol did.

“What is a demiG.o.d, you ask? A demiG.o.d is a being that is not a pure G.o.d without a physical body, and yet is too great to be defined as a human or another kind of organism. Elder Dragons such as myself, Colossi such as Talos, Beast Kings and Pure-breed Vampires are all examples of demiG.o.ds,” Luvesfol explained.

Monsters and members of Vida"s races of Rank 13 or above, and S-cla.s.s adventurers, could also be considered demiG.o.ds in a broad sense. In the sense that they were comparable with G.o.ds, had stepped into the domain of divinity or commanded respect like G.o.ds.

“But Pure-breed Vampires don"t give divine protections to others, do they?” asked Pauvina.

“Pauvinsama, there are differences even among demiG.o.ds. Some may only possess strength that rivals that of G.o.ds, while others could be living in Divine Realms like pure G.o.ds, sending Divine Messages and divine protections to believers,” Luvesfol explained, implying that he had been incredible himself in the past.

“I see. The term "demiG.o.d" is quite vague. Rather than it being a race or a position, it is simply a t.i.tle that defines all individuals that meet certain standards. Now that I think about it, the hierarchy of G.o.ds is also vague… Do they not think of defining it more clearly?” wondered Luciliano, who had suddenly appeared without a noise.

“When did you get here?!” Luvesfol shouted in surprise, having not taken notice of Luciliano"s presence.

But he quickly decided to answer his questions to continue the discussion.

“A clearly-defined hierarchy… My thoughts are certainly not representative for the wills and intentions of all G.o.ds, but a clearly-defined hierarchy would have no meaning for humans, nor for us G.o.ds. In fact, it would be harmful. Therefore, n.o.body has clearly defined it,” Luvesfol said.

“Luves, explain in a bit more detail,” said Pauvina.

“… Try imagining if G.o.ds, including demiG.o.ds, were divided into ten ranks based on their power as G.o.ds. I believe that humans, thinking of what would benefit them most, would pray to the highest-ranking G.o.ds of each attribute. The natures and teachings of those G.o.ds would come second to such rankings.”

From the perspective of believers, it would possibly be most beneficial to choose to worship G.o.ds that were powerful. But they were not monsters that were under the direct control of evil G.o.ds; only a select few would receive any direct blessings from such G.o.ds.

An easy-to-understand example would be Alda, the G.o.d of law and fate. He was a great G.o.d that was worshiped by many people in this world, but less than ten thousand people had received his divine protection. That number was far below one percent of the entire population. With a ranking system among G.o.ds, there would be even fewer people capable of summoning familiar spirits, and the number of people capable of summoning beings more powerful than familiar spirits could be counted on one hand.

The reality was that the majority of believers could not receive divine protections. That fact would not change even if they worshiped weaker G.o.ds.

But Luvesfol believed that the majority of humans would not realize this.

Of course, if there were a clearly-defined ranking, I would be troubled as I would be on the lower end of it, he thought to himself.

The G.o.ds being ranked in this way would also not be able to accept such a system. Their teachings and the achievements of the believers who worshiped them, the ones under the G.o.ds" protection and rule, would all be ignored in favor of simply deciding which G.o.ds were the most powerful.

Even weak G.o.ds could gather strength by gaining the belief of the people over time, and the believers would receive divine protections and the ability to summon familiar spirits.

But if only the powerful G.o.ds were to receive the people"s attention, this would become difficult. Powerful G.o.ds would simply continue to grow more powerful, and the weaker G.o.ds, no matter how right and how kind to the people they were, would continue to grow weaker. It was possible that the hierarchy would become set and rigid.

With the above logic in mind, the people would only have one G.o.d to worship – Alda, the G.o.d of law and fate. As far as the people were aware, he was the most powerful G.o.d that existed. They wouldn"t even glance at the recently-freed Vida.

“I see. Divine protections are not things that can be acquired through effort to begin with, and it is not easy to acquire the Skill that summons familiar spirits. Being picky and choosing G.o.ds only considering these things can hardly be considered faith,” said a satisfied Luciliano, writing down the details of Luvesfol"s explanation. “Thank you for your valuable opinion as a G.o.d. It was very helpful.”

“To elaborate a little further, Vandalieu-sama is an exception,” Luvesfol added. “That person transcends my understanding of G.o.ds. And Luciliano, do not think of yourselves as ordinary believers. You are also exceptions; there are many of you who possess the divine protections of other G.o.ds as well.”

Normally, humans would not create familiar spirits or grant others divine protections during their lifetimes. At the very least, Luvesfol had never heard of such humans.

Luciliano continued to write his notes, and Pauvina was nodding beside him.

“I see. By the way, Luves, you don"t have to add "-sama" to my name and you can speak to me in a more casual way,” said Pauvina.

“No, I could never do such a discourteous…” Luvesfol muttered.

“You can call me "Pau," you know?” Pauvina said.

“Speak… casual,” Rapiéçage groaned.

“Call us by name?” said Yamata.

Pain let out a high-pitched noise in agreement.

“No, no, no! It would be far too impertinent of me,” said Luvesfol, furiously rejecting this suggestion.

“And depending on the person, changing your tone isn"t always a good thing. Van said that if you do change your tone, it"s best not to be so obvious about it,” said Pauvina.

Luvesfol let out a shriek of terror and frantically looked around as he realized that the new Demon King, the one who had devoured the evil G.o.d of joyful life, was observing his behavior. “He is watching me?!”

Of course, there was no way that Luvesfol could find Vandalieu like this. Vandalieu had only left a Demon King Familiar near this place for the experiment.

“Now then, that explanation was very enlightening, but it is time. Doug-kun from the Dark Continent, Iris-kun from the Majin nation, and Sleygar and Haj from the former Scylla territory have informed me that they have finished preparations,” said Luciliano, whose voice was amplified by a Magic Item. “Now then, we will begin the countdown. I will count down from ten, and the moment I say zero, activate your Skills!”

Wait! I don"t want to summon a familiar spirit in this situation! Luvesfol screamed internally.

But the countdown continued relentlessly, and the people gathered here activated "Familiar Spirit Demonfall."

With no choice but to avoid suspicion that he had thoughts that he didn"t want to be read by the familiar spirit, Luvesfol activated "Familiar Spirit Demonfall" as well.

Vandalieu"s familiar spirit… or rather, clone, appeared from the depths of the earth. It read the thoughts that were leaking from Luvesfol panicked, discomposed mind.

“How about you try calling me "Van?"” it suggested.

Interpreting this as a threat rather than a simple suggestion, Luvesfol"s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fainted.

Despite one partic.i.p.ant losing consciousness, the experiment ended uneventfully without any accidents. The experiment proved that "Familiar Spirit Demonfall" activated with no problems no matter how far away Vandalieu was and no matter how many people activated the Skill at once, and it had no effect on Vandalieu himself.

Approximately one month after Vandalieu visited the city of Morksi and opened his food cart.

Natania received a message, along with Vandalieu and his group, from Berard, the Guild Master of the Adventurers" Guild.

It was a notification that the Flame Blades had finished paying off their reparation sum to Natania.