Having cleared the illusion of fear trial on the 95th floor by destroying an entire floor with Hollow Cannon, a Hollow King Magic spell that possessed enough destructive force to distort space itself, Vandalieu and his companions proceeded forwards and continued smoothly clearing the Dungeon.
Things went so smoothly because the monsters on the 96th floor and below were terrified of Vandalieu and fled for their lives as he approached them.
"I wonder what happened to the Dungeon's mind-controlling effect?" said Eleanora.
"Perhaps it was loosened when the power of Bocchan's Hollow Cannon created a hole in the Dungeon," said Saria.
"That's just a guess, though, since we don't know how Dungeons control monsters' minds," said Rita.
The party watched the Demons from behind as they scampered away as fast as they could, letting out screams that sounded like cloth being torn.
… All of them were a minimum of Rank 10; a single one of them could almost destroy the entirety of a small nation. Even a large nation would lose several towns and villages in the time it would take an A-class adventurer to arrive on the scene. These were monsters that were thought of as natural disasters rather than living creatures, but…
"They're even more scared of you than the ones in the Palace of Hell in the Majin nation, aren't they, Your Majesty?" said the Liberating Princess Knight Iris, who was now a Succubus.
"Yes… Maybe I'm just imagining it, but the fleeing Demons look like they have tears in their eyes," said Vandalieu.
"I would never have even imagined that tears could appear in Demons' eyes," said the Ghost Scylla Orbia.
With Iris and Orbia on either side of him, Vandalieu seemed strangely depressed; he looked at the Demons with a somewhat sad gaze.
You don't have to be that scared of me, he thought.
He hadn't minded the Demons lining up in rows in the Palace of Hell, but it seemed that he didn't feel any positive feelings from seeing Demons desperately fleeing from him as fast as they could.
"If they are causing you to become upset, we can go and hunt them," suggested Bellmond.
"Bellmond-jouchan, don't let your guard down. Once they're far enough from the kid, they'll return to normal and turn to fight you," Borkus warned her.
"That's what Demons normally do, after all," said Vandalieu.
Demons were supposed to be fearless even when facing clearly superior foes, laughing as if enjoying themselves until the moment they turned into dust and disappeared.
Even with the Dungeon's mind-controlling effect on them disrupted, they would normally never flee from anything in fear.
"Hmm, is it possible that they are merely pretending to be afraid, and they are actually making fun of the boy?" said Zadiris.
"Mother, as a humble warrior, I'll tell you, that's not possible. Look, that Demon over there that's failed to start running away in time is showing its belly to us in surrender," said Basdia, pointing at a Rank 10 Ark Sword Demon that was lying face-up on the ground.
This monster, which possessed blades instead of hands protruding from both wrists, knife-like claws on its feet and a tail that looked like many small blades linked together, was immodestly exposing itself to the party.
Indeed, this did resemble a wild animal attempting to surrender.
"Basdia, it looks to me more like it's playing dead," said Orbia.
Indeed, with fluids dripping from every orifice in its face as it lay on its side, the Demon's behavior looked more like a small animal feigning death.
"It's not moving an inch; maybe it's actually just lost consciousness…" Basdia murmured.
"Bocchan, should I turn it into Experience Points?" Rita suggested.
"… Maybe not," said Vandalieu, shaking his head. "Though I wouldn't hesitate if we were outside rather than in a Dungeon."
If they were to encounter an Ark Sword Demon outside a Dungeon, Vandalieu wouldn't hesitate to finish it off. If they didn't kill it, it would clearly endanger many lives.
But inside a Dungeon, no matter how many Demons he exterminated, the Dungeon would continue to replenish them. Their numbers needed to be kept down so that they didn't overflow out of the Dungeon, but Vandalieu and his companions had done more than enough of that in the floors leading up to this one.
On top of that, they were not delicious monsters to eat. Thus, Vandalieu didn't quite feel like fighting them.
"Well then, perhaps we should talk about the divine protection," said Zadiris. "Boy, do you really not know what it is?"
"As far as the timing goes, I think it's related to when you collapsed previously," said Rita.
The two of them had acquired a new divine protection immediately after Vandalieu lost consciousness in the illusion of fear trial. But they had heard strange announcements in their head and realized something when they checked their Statuses.
And the strangest thing was that the name of the being who had given them this divine protection could not be read. Only a single letter was visible, and the rest were hidden.
"That should normally never happen," said Jeena, the Saint of Healing. "Divine protections are things that gods bestow upon their followers, so there's no point in concealing their names."
"But according to legends and tales, it is not without precedent," said Iris.
There was a famous tale of a man who went through a period of unhappiness, lost his faith and begun living a wild lifestyle as a mercenary. With a great deal of luck, he survived multiple battles. His heart was touched by the brave actions of a young boy whose sister had been kidnapped by a Vampire, and he took up his sword in the young boy's place. It was only then that he realized that he had acquired Alda's divine protection, and that Alda had been watching over him the entire time.
"… Well, there's no proof that it's a true story," said Iris, who had once been a fervent believer in Alda.
Even she knew that it was more than likely that the story was a hoax created for religious propaganda.
"But there's no proof that it's completely made up. On Earth, true stories were exaggerated quite often. Not that it was limited to just religion, though," said Vandalieu. "But even though we don't know the being's name, isn't it fine since it doesn't seem to have any problematic effects?"
"No, Vandalieu-sama. We have a very good idea of whose name it is," said Eleanora.
"That's right; we can only read one character at a time, but all of the characters are different," said Basdia.
"Yeah, there are some of us that have overlapping letters, but if you put all of the readable letters together, it reads, 'Vandalieu's Divine Protection.' What do you think about that?" said Borkus.
"Gishaaah," Pete hissed.
"Eh, Pete, you can read letters?" Vandalieu asked.
"Gishah."
Pete, the centipede monster with lightning-spouting horns, had apparently learned how to read at some point. His ladder-like nervous system seemed to have evolved.
"That's amazing. Let's celebrate when we get home," said Vandalieu.
"Wait, kid, the more important thing is the divine protection –" Borkus began.
"I… do have some idea in regards to that," said Vandalieu.
After he lost consciousness in the illusion of fear trial, he had seen pieces of himself that had broken off and scattered onto the ground in a dream. He remembered going around and handing them out, not wanting to waste them.
He had done this before, too. He had gone around giving his companions the horns and scales of Garess, the god of warriors, and Lioen, the crystal-horned dragon god, and he had also torn off pieces of himself to give to Vigaro and Pauvina.
"As I thought," said Vigaro. "So, this divine protection is Vandalieu's after all?"
"But there's no proof of that, is there? Maybe there are gods with names like Vandarion or Fantalieu that we don't know about, and they gave their divine protections to everyone separately and concealed their names," said Vandalieu.
"Muh, I suppose we cannot rule out that possibility," said Zadiris.
"No, there's no chance of that. What are you talking about, Zadiris?" said Eleanora, looking at her through half-closed eyes.
"But still…" Zadiris murmured vaguely. "I acknowledge that the boy's theory is implausible and full of holes. But considering that the boy is not a god, I cannot decide whether him granting us his divine protection is more likely or not."
Bestowing divine protections upon others. That was an authority of gods, like Skills such as Familiar Spirit Descent.
Divine protections generally shared the same base effect; they lowered the difficulty of overcoming walls that impeded progress in Attribute Values and Levels. In addition, they made it easier to acquire Jobs related to things ruled over by the gods, as well as making it easier to acquire and increase the Level of related Skills.
It was normal for divine protections to have different effects depending on the god who granted it and the individual to whom it was granted.
And the effectiveness of the divine protection depended on the power of the god who granted it.
"It is true that Danna-sama is a god-slayer, but since he is not a god himself, it would be common sense to think that he would be unable to grant divine protections as Unique Skills to others," said Bellmond.
"With that in mind, my far-fetched theory is more likely… No, I think that's impossible, so please forget that theory," said Vandalieu, rejecting his own theory as he perhaps realized that it was simply too unlikely.
"Furthermore, Danna-sama is a being who generally exceeds what most consider to be common sense… or rather, wanders the realm beyond it," said Bellmond, knowing that common sense did not apply to Vandalieu.
Seemingly aware of this, Vandalieu didn't object to that statement. "It's like I'm a creature from another dimension," he muttered.
"Well, as long as we know that it is Vandalieu who has given us his divine protection, then that is enough for now. It is more comforting than thinking that a divine protection has been forced onto us by an unknown god," said Zadiris.
"That's right. It's just like a continuation of the dream I had when he gave me the Spirit Form and Materialization Skills," said Vigaro.
It seemed that Zadiris and the others had wanted to confirm who had given them this divine protection. Perhaps they were overthinking things, but there was a chance that an evil god that was a remnant of the Demon King's army had placed it on them to hinder them.
But they could feel at ease if the one who had given it to them was Vandalieu.
Though they were surprised, they thought favorably of it, as Vandalieu was almost guaranteed to become a being even superior to a heroic spirit in the future and there were already some, like some of Legion's members, that worshipped him.
"Well then, I'll go around handing things out again the next time I'm dreaming," said Vandalieu.
"Next time, you have to appear as human as possible so that you don't surprise everyone," said Darcia. "Don't appear in a strangely flat shape or as a liquid, okay?"
"Yes, Mom."
After that, Vandalieu and his companions continued clearing the Dungeon smoothly from the 97th floor. The Demons that were supposed to get in their way fled and scattered, and the only monsters left behind were mindless magical creatures like Golems. For some reason, the floors went on and on with no real trial in them.
It was as if they were traversing a deserted plain, or rather, an uninhabited labyrinth.
"It is a little unsatisfying in terms of Experience Points, but it's best if we proceed quickly," said Vandalieu. "I'm used to the Demons running from us now, but why are there no trials?"
"I think it's perfect that there are no Demons, you know!" said Privel as the dragon-head ends of her tentacles released a cold breath that froze the limbs of a Rank 10 Mythril Statue, a statue of a knight made of Mythril. "Ice Beast Flood! … Damn, it's not working!"
She released a water-attribute Spiritual Magic spell, unleashing a swarm of icy beasts, but only the surface of the Mythril Statue was damaged; it was not defeated.
"That is to be expected. Cutting Rain!" said Myuze, unleashing an Empusa-specialized Unarmed Combat Technique martial skill that turned the Mythril Statue into a pile of metal. "Mythril may be exceptionally solid, but it is known as a metal with an even more exceptional ability to repel magic. No matter how skilled you are with magic, it would have been impossible for you to defeat this foe with magic alone, Privel."
"Muh, says the one who just used her own sickles to turn that exceptionally hard metal into pieces," Privel said, sounding dissatisfied.
"That is because I performed a surprise attack from hiding, gaining the bonus of Assassin Technique… It is thanks to Vandalieu-dono and Lioen after all," said Myuze, raising her prided sickle-arms.
She had become a Crystal Empusa due to her divine protections. There wasn't a single nick in her transparent sickles despite having sliced straight through Mythril.
"Well, I was only able to perform my attack because the enemy was unable to move," Myuze added. "This is the power of working together. That is right, is it not, Vandalieu-dono?"
"Statue-type Golems are less robust because they are human-shaped, but their movements are faster for it. I think you're exactly right," said Vandalieu.
"I see! If there are any more Mythril Golems, I'll focus on stopping their movements, so I'll be counting on you to finish them off~♪" Privel said happily, her mood improving.
Her dragon-head-shaped tentacle ends lifted Vandalieu in their jaws with joy as well.
With the original intended difficulty of this floor, having Privel and Myuze on the frontlines wouldn't have been enough. But the Demons who would normally be an obstacle to challengers with their special abilities and magic had fled, leaving only Golems with no special characteristics other than the metals that they were made of, so the party had started leveling again like they had on the middle floors.
It was unlikely that they would be able to defeat Orichalcum Golems, but only Mythril and Adamantite Golems had appeared so far.
"Come to think of it, about the trials… maybe there are some trials that Gufadgarn decided not to put there for us?" Privel suggested. "It's strange that there's just floor after floor that only test our strength."
This would normally be unthinkable, but Vandalieu and Myuze quickly accepted this theory.
"I see… That's possible," said Vandalieu. "I suppose I went a bit too far."
After all, he had pierced the ceiling of a Dungeon, which was normally supposed to be indestructible. In return, Vandalieu had lost consciousness for about an hour due to having exhausted all of his Mana, but one could say that it was quite a low risk to take to destroy a Dungeon floor. It meant that he would be able to make more than twenty holes in the Dungeon every day.
Gufadgarn wouldn't be able to withstand such an event happening repeatedly.
"… Though it would be problematic for us as well if the Dungeon were to collapse, so I don't intend to repeat it," said Vandalieu.
"But from Gufadgarn's point of view, it would not do to simply believe in your self-control and try to take advantage of it," said Myuze. "Considering that, it is possible that the event that happened when we first entered this Dungeon was the removal of a trial."
"Ah, that thing where we felt a bit strange for a moment?" said Privel.
The moment the party entered this floor, the 100th floor, they had experienced some kind of dizziness for a moment. But that had stopped as quickly as it had begun, and there was no trace of it now.
It was too unnatural for everyone to experience it at once for it to just be a trick of the imagination or some ordinary dizziness, so while they had been wary for a while afterwards, nothing had happened.
"You might be right," Vandalieu nodded vaguely, but Myuze's guess was indeed correct.
This trial was forcibly teleporting only the challengers' minds to a special space where they would have nothing but their mental fortitudes to defeat Mind Demons, a special kind of monster that nested in human minds.
But immediately after the trial started and the Mind Demons saw Vandalieu's mind, they had lost their will to fight and immediately ended the trial.
It seemed that the fear felt by the Mind Demons, who only existed within minds, was far greater than that of the ordinary Demons that were fleeing for their lives now.
"By the way, Bocchan, is not about time you changed Jobs?" said Sam, just as the staircase to the next floor came into view.
Vandalieu had in fact already reached Level 100, but would the Demons not turn and begin fighting the moment he disappeared into the Job-changing room that he had installed in Sam's carriage? Being wary of this, he had decided to stay outside and observe the Demons.
But now that they had come this far, it didn't seem like there was anything to worry about.
"Yes, you're right. Well then, I'll go and change Jobs," said Vandalieu, climbing into Sam's carriage as if he were very accustomed to doing so and entering the Job-changing room. "I think there will be a new Job like Hollow King Mage or something, but…" he murmured as he touched the crystal ball.
"Jobs that can be selected:[Disease Demon],[Spirit Warrior],[Whip Tongue Calamity],[Vengeful Berserker],[Dead Spirit Mage],[Dark Healer],[Magic Cannoneer],[Dark King Mage],[Divine Enemy],[Fallen Warrior],[Insect Nin],[Destruction Guider],[Bestower],[Dungeon Master],[Demon King],[Chaos Guider],[Hollow King Mage],[Eclipse Cursecaster][String User]"
Vandalieu saw the Hollow King Mage Job displayed in his head as he had expected, as well as new Jobs that he had not expected.
"I suppose they are read 'shokujuji' and 'genjutsushi?' Well, the one I'm going to choose this time around is Dark Healer, though," he murmured to himself. "I select Dark Healer."
TLN: These are the Japanese readings of the kanji. As far as I'm aware, there isn't anything really notable about these readings except the String User Job, "genjutsushi," would probably normally be translated to "illusionist" if it had the more common kanji for that reading.
Darcia would be resurrected soon. Vandalieu wanted a medical-related Job and Skills to ensure that nothing unforeseen would happen during her resurrection. He could train the Hollow King Magic and Dark King Magic Skills even without acquiring their related Jobs, anyway.
"The Levels of the Rapid Regeneration, Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue), Thread Refining, Increased Mana Recovery Rate, Transcend Limits, Alchemy, Surgery, Parallel Thought Processing and High-speed Thought Processing Skills have increased!"
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Gufadgarn remembered the very moment he came into existence.
He was born as a result of the instinctual behaviors of the beings that were equivalent to 'parents,' and as he continued living on while following the same instincts, coincidence after coincidence brought him to the status of a god. That made up half of Gufadgarn's life.
Gufadgarn was born as a race that could be compared to Earth's spiders or perhaps its antlions. The difference between his race and these Earth species was that his race could instinctively manipulate space-attribute magic, distorting space to create traps for members of other species that they would then feed upon.
They were a primitive race that possessed almost no ability to think, simply obeying their instincts. Gufadgarn was the first of his race to become a god. But the moment he became a god, he lost his instincts.
Because his was a race that simply set traps and waited for their prey, he had weak instincts for battle or hunting, and as they reproduced by binary fission, he had no sexual desires. And by becoming a god, he even lost his need to eat and sleep.
What he gained in return was abilities that his original species did not possess – the ability to think and remember, and the power of a god.
But Gufadgarn could not make use of these. His servants, those of the species that he had once belonged to, were unable to understand his desires. He found no meaning in bringing them prosperity or even in toying with them.
Despite having become a god, he could not think of anything else to do with them, and so he simply spent his days doing the same things that he had done before becoming a god. The only difference was that his traps became larger and more complex.
Before long, Guduranis became the new Demon King, took control over the world and began the invasion into other worlds. Not even understanding the concept of disobeying, Gufadgarn naturally obeyed the Demon King and joined the invasion of Lambda.
In Lambda, with the circle of reincarnation system created by the Demon King and the monster generation that utilized that system, the traps created by Gufadgarn functioned effectively as Dungeons.
But there were already others who possessed such power, far more powerful than Gufadgarn, such as the evil god of demon castles. In addition to that, many evil gods gained the ability to create Dungeons due to the Demon King's influence.
Thus, Gufadgarn simply remained forgotten among the other gods.
That was when the champion Zakkart called out to Gufadgarn. Zakkart accepted Gufadgarn, acknowledging him as a desirable and necessary ally.
Gufadgarn remembered that moment as the moment that he had truly been born.
Now, he was looking directly at Vandalieu. He realized that Vandalieu was the soul created by combining the soul fragments of Zakkart and the other creation-oriented champions.
"This is the place that is the equivalent of this Dungeon's treasure chamber; it is Zakkart's workshop, brought here in the exact same state that it was left in," he said, remaining calm on the surface as he guided his new master and his companions.
But his master's party stopped in front of the treasure chamber.
"Why are there countless Ghosts gathered around this place, letting out groans of anguish?" asked Vandalieu.
Indeed, the reason they had stopped was because for some reason, there were over a thousand Ghosts, groaning in anguish as they drifted about the treasure chamber that Gufadgarn had led them to.
It was an orchestra of anguish performed by over a thousand human souls that only vaguely resembled human faces, having lost their original appearances. Ghosts were merely Rank 2 monsters, but their presence was dreadful.
"These are what remains of those that believed in the gods of Alda's faction and perished in the trial," said Gufadgarn.
This was an even more dreadful truth to Alda and his believers.
"In order to prevent them from delivering information regarding the Trial of Zakkart to the gods of Alda's faction, and in order to prevent them from becoming a part of the enemy's forces as familiar spirits and heroic spirits, I am imprisoning them here and using them as a source of power," Gufadgarn explained.
The power of gods came from religious belief, but fear and awe counted as religious belief as well. Gods would gain less power from this than prayers, but every little bit counted.
This swarm of Ghosts was one of the things that allowed Gufadgarn to maintain the Trial of Zakkart, a unique Dungeon whose difficulty was matched by no other.
But now, they had already served their purpose.
"My apologies. I will banish them into some empty space and dispose of them right away," said Gufadgarn, with the air of someone telling their guests that they would quickly clean their dirty room as he began his task of exterminating the Ghosts.
The Ghosts trembled with dread and despair.
"Wait a moment, I might be able to use those Ghosts. Please leave them as they are," said Vandalieu.
"Very well," said Gufadgarn, canceling his space-distorting spell.
The Ghosts let out sighs of relief and, under the influence of the Dark Demon Creation Path Skill, gathered around Vandalieu.
They had no hair, but it was just barely possible to tell that they were human souls by the black holes where their eyes and mouth were supposed to be. Eleanora and Iris, who had regrouped with Vandalieu, grimaced as they watched them surround Vandalieu.
"What an amazing scene… Do you think you can tell them apart?" asked Eleanora.
Eleanora and Iris were accustomed to the presence of Undead, but the Ghosts Tamed by Vandalieu appeared the same as they had while they were alive apart from the fact that their bodies weren't physical. They had never seen Ghosts whose forms had weakened to this extent.
"Hmm… It's almost impossible," said Vandalieu as he stroked the neck of one of the Ghosts, causing it to let out a moan of pleasure.
He wasn't sure that he could even make out what their race, age or gender was, let alone their individual features.
The Ghost of Martina, the female Elf spiritual mage who had once been Heinz's companion, should have been among them, however.
"Is an Elf by the name of Martina present?" Vandalieu tried asking them just in case.
But the Ghosts simply groaned, unable to answer with words that could be understood.
No, there was one Ghost who had died relatively recently who answered.
"I don't knoooow…" it said.
"… Thank you," said Vandalieu.
It looked hopeless.
"Is there a Ghost that you are searching for? I apologize for this," said Gufadgarn.
He had noticed what Vandalieu and his companions were doing, but he still didn't seem to know the details. He had been sure that they had been looking at the stone statues and ice statues earlier in the Dungeon because Vandalieu wanted to choose corpses to use as materials for Undead.
Of course, he knew that Ghosts such as Princess Levia were among Vandalieu's companions, but they were high-Rank Ghosts the likes of which Gufadgarn had never seen before. He had never thought that Vandalieu would need these Ghosts. Some of them had been A-class adventurers when they were alive, but they were nothing more than Rank 2 Ghosts now.
"Could it be that even Gufadgarn cannot tell them apart?" muttered Gizania, a citizen of the region within the Boundary Mountain Range.
Gufadgarn heard her and his shoulders trembled. "I am terribly, terribly sorry," he said, lowering his head to Gizania to beg for her forgiveness. "They blinded themselves to their own shortsightedness and their hatred grew. Being in contact with my Mana, they became Ghosts. I wanted to ensure that they do not do anything unnecessary… that they did not try to destroy the relics or give advice to the other challengers. Thus, I induced them to quickly lose their personalities and memories," he explained. "I do remember hearing the name 'Martina,' but I am no longer able to tell which of these is her. This is all because I lacked the ability to manage them properly. Gizania-dono, please punish me as you see fit."
"P-punish?! Th-that's unthinkable; please raise your head! Even now, all races within the Boundary Mountain Range, including those of Zanalpadna, are receiving your blessings! It is I who should apologize for making such a thoughtless remark!" Gizania said in shock, shaking her head so violently that it looked like her head would be torn off.
But Gufadgarn remained as motionless as a rock, still bowing. "I am grateful for your words, but the things that I accomplished in the past are unrelated."
"Why?! You have performed many great deeds over the course of history!" Gizania exclaimed.
Gizania was not the only one; the Empusa Myuze and Iris, who had become the adopted daughter of the King Godwin by becoming a Majin, joined in to try and stop Gufadgarn's gesture.
"That is right!" said Myuze. "You are the one who created the Dungeons around the Kijin nation, the Drakonid nation and the Majin nation to preemptively suppress the contaminated Mana, containing it in a state that can be managed! And you created 'Vida's Resting Grounds!'"
"Father has told me that Zantark is our father, that Xerxes is our uncle and you, Gufadgarn, are our master! Please raise your head!" Iris insisted.
Their flustered behavior made it clear just how much respect and emotion the people living within the Boundary Mountain Range felt towards Gufadgarn.
But it seemed that Gufadgarn himself did not intend to take that into consideration. "No, before I am a god, I am Vandalieu's servant. You are my senpais. Is it so strange for me, the newcomer, to bow to you? Everyone, please think of me as a newcomer servant or attendant." He raised his face for a moment, saw Eleanora and Legion in addition to the other three who had been protesting, and quickly looked down again.
"Wait a moment! Are you talking about us as well?!" Eleanora exclaimed.
"No, that does not bode well at all…" Zadiris murmured.
The rest of the party had been watching nervously, but their faces stiffened now as they realized that Gufadgarn was talking about them as well.
"Of course, Eleanora-sama, Zadiris-sama," said Gufdagarn.
"Why are you adding -sama to our names?!" Eleanora demanded.
"It is only natural for Vandalieu's servant to show respect for those who will become his future wives."
Though Vandalieu's companions were disturbed by this, Gufadgarn truly considered them to be higher in the hierarchy than himself. The only ones who weren't were the Ghosts of the previous challengers.
He was a newcomer who had only been accepted as Vandalieu's subordinate a few minutes ago, while the others had been serving him since before they faced the trial of Zakkart. It didn't need to be said which of them had more seniority.
The matter of being a god or a mortal was meaningless… though everyone but Gufadgarn might have disagreed.
"E-even if I am a Vampire who once belonged to a faction who worshipped an evil god, a close aide of the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia who betrayed you?!" said Bellmond.
"Of course, Bellmond-sama," Gufadgarn replied.
This applied to not only those of Vida's races, but the mysterious Legion, the humans as well as Bellmond and Eleanora, who had once been Vampires belonging to a faction worshipping an evil god.
Vandalieu had acknowledged them as allies and had them at his side, after all.
In Gufadgarn's eyes, the only being in this world with any value was Zakkart, and right now, that was Vandalieu. With that being the case, his way of thinking, his basis of good and evil, his philosophies and his preferences needed to match Vandalieu's.
"Ah, I think almost all of the women here are going to marry the kid. Are you really going to add -sama to all of their names?" said Borkus.
"Is that so? Gizania-sama, Myuze-sama, Iris-sama, please forgive my insolence," said Gufadgarn.
"I would prefer if you did not say unnecessary things, Borkus-dono!" said Gizania.
It was a chaotic situation; the men of Legion were troubled by this development as well.
"… What do we do if he calls us with -sama, Shade?"
"… I get the feeling that he's trying to get rid of all of his obstacles. Am I just imagining it?"
"I've been thinking recently, isn't it easier for us to just go with the flow?"
Meanwhile, Darcia was appealing to Gufadgarn. "Gufadgarn-san, I am different," she told him. "I am his mother."
"Yes, I am aware of that," Gufadgarn said.
Vandalieu remained silent, at a loss for what to do. I thought that he might have conflicts with Eleanora and Bellmond, but I didn't expect things to turn out like this. What should I do?
To think that Gufadgarn would be even more humble than Fidirg, the dragon god of five sins… Vandalieu would have never imagined a god that was this unwilling to be intimate.
"Umm, I would like you to be more frank. Stop using -sama; please use -san, -kun or no honorific at all. Also, don't kneel," Vandalieu said finally, knowing that he couldn't just stand there and say nothing.
He intended to repeat this request until Gufadgarn accepted it.
But Gufadgarn accepted it immediately.
"Very well. I shall do that from now on," he said, standing up. "Now then, what shall we do with these Ghosts? They have already served the purpose that I intended for them, so I will leave the decision in your hands."
His stance towards the Ghosts seemed to have softened as well. As the Ghosts had been charmed by Vandalieu, Gufadgarn acknowledged them not as enemies to be made use of, but as junior servants of the same master.
"… For now, let's take them with us. They don't need to be fed since they're Ghosts, and I don't mind taking them with us even if we don't know which one of them is Martina," said Vandalieu. "But you can identify her corpse, right?"
"Yes," said Gufadgarn. "I may not remember the insignificant ones that died immediately after entering the Dungeon, but I have not forgotten those who progressed a certain amount. The one that you are searching for was a part of the party of Alda's believers that made it the furthest into the Dungeon, so I remember her clearly."
"Then there are no problems," said Vandalieu.
An Undead made from Martina's corpse would be sufficient for tormenting Heinz and his companions. They wouldn't be able to tell whether the spirit inside the Undead was really Martina or not, anyway.
And since she had already become a Ghost, she could Possess the corpse, but it wouldn't be possible for her to become a Zombie.
Vandalieu decided that he would pick a suitable spirit and have it pretend to be Martina.
"Now then, I shall guide you to Zakkart's workshop," said Gufadgarn.
Vandalieu nodded, and Gufadgarn resumed his task of leading the party to their destination.
Zakkart's workshop was a place with a strange atmosphere, a combination of a craftsman's workshop and the research laboratory of a mage or alchemist.
There were magic circles of all sizes with pentagrams and hexagrams drawn in them, and the workshop was equipped with Magic Items modeled after machine tools like drills and grinding machines. There was even a furnace for melting metal and a plentiful supply of materials like metal ingots, clay and wood.
And in an open space was a pile of countless treasure chests, overflowing with gold and silver treasures and Magic Items.
"Are those Zakkart's relics, too?" asked the Ghoul war-chief Vigaro, casting a doubtful look over these treasures.
It seemed that he had already started getting used to the company of Gufadgarn, who had gone from being completely reserved to polite and a little friendly.
"Those are the treasures naturally generated by the Trial of Zakkart after I created the Dungeon. They are entirely unrelated to Zakkart," said Gufadgarn.
It was a fixed law of Dungeons that each floor would generate treasure chests, and that treasures would be generated in their deepest chambers. It seemed that even Gufadgarn, a specialist in Dungeon creation, could not change that.
But knowing that they would interfere with the trials if he left them as is, they had gathered them all in one place and simply kept them there.
They were of no value to Gufadgarn whatsoever, but it was possible that they would be of some value to the new Zakkart. And the previous Zakkart had always emphasized a mentality of not letting things go to waste.
"They are the traditional rewards for conquering the labyrinth. Like those who have been turned into stone and ice statues, please use them as you see fit," said Gufadgarn.
"That can come later, so please show me the relic that could resurrect Mom," said Vandalieu, not even glancing at the hundred years' worth of treasures of the Trial of Zakkart, riches that could not be spent even if one bought a castle, furniture, servants, a castle town with fields and a life of enjoyment and luxuries up until their seventies.
Vandalieu would certainly be able to earn this amount of treasure within a hundred years. But Darcia's resurrection was not guaranteed to happen within a century.
"Yes, this way," said Gufadgarn.
He gave a wave of his arm, and one of the workshop's walls moved aside, revealing a concealed space. This space was filled with science-fiction-like objects – mysterious devices, metal pipes with hazard marks engraved on them contained within barriers, several guns that were presumably prototypes and numerous other pieces of equipment whose purpose even Vandalieu and Legion couldn't guess.
Among these pieces of equipment was a group of transparent, cylindrical capsules, large enough for people to fit inside.
Gufadgarn pointed at the white, mud-like substance floating in the fluid that the capsules were filled with. "This is the 'root of life' that was created by the great Zakkart himself."
The way it pulsed with its shape undetermined and constantly changing resembled the Lump-of-flesh-chan, the origin of Legion… the 'base form of life.'
"The root of life…?! Is that different from the base form of life?!" Luciliano blurted out.
He had been busy writing notes and making sketches, but he was unable to contain himself from speaking at the revelation of this object.
"It is extremely similar, but different," said Gufadgarn. "Zakkart referred to this as pluripotent cells. It is an object that makes regenerative medical processes possible."
"Pluripotent cells?!" Legion's Minuma Hitomi repeated.
"To think that he was aiming to practice regenerative medicine in another world before it even came into existence on Earth. The previous era's Zakkart went above and beyond anyone's expectations," Vandalieu remarked.
Research into regenerative medicine to restore lost organs had been ongoing both on Earth and in Origin, but it seemed that the champion Zakkart had completed this task a hundred thousand years ago.
Many had become injured or ill during the battle against the Demon King's army. But at the time, gods had existed on the world's surface. Even those with damage to their limbs or organs could quickly be restored to good health with the gods' treatment.
But as the state of the war worsened, the gods had become unable to continue treating all of the wounded.
Treating cuts and bone fractures or reattaching severed limbs could be done by saints that served the gods, but they were unable to return warriors with incinerated limbs or significant damage to their brains to a state where they could fight.
Zakkart had received power from Vida, the goddess of love and life, and already possessed a reasonable amount of medical knowledge as he had once been aiming to become a forensic scientist. But there were limits to what he could do. And most importantly, even though he was a champion, he was still just one man. There was a limit to the number of people that he could treat at once.
That was why Zakkart had created these pluripotent cells, named the 'root of life.'
Based on Zakkart's knowledge, these pluripotent cells had been reproduced not through science, but by magic and alchemy. The complete product was a set of truly pluripotent cells that could adapt to become any body part, inducing regeneration in any patient.
If transplanted where an arm was missing it would become a new arm, and if they were injected into an organ that had ceased to function, it would regenerate that organ. They could restore bones, nerves, eyeballs and even brains to their original states. It was more fitting to call it regenerative magic rather than regenerative medicine.
It didn't actually have immediate effects like real magic, and the memories and personality contained within damaged brain tissue would not regenerate, but even so, these cells would enable the heavily wounded to return to the battlefield within a matter of days.
While creating the root of life was only possible for Zakkart, the cells had the advantage in that transplantation into patients could be conducted for anyone who knew the procedure.
Of course, it was not only the warriors of Lambda but the champions themselves who had relied on this root of life.
"Regenerative medicine is indeed appealing, but in Mom's case, her entire body needs to be regenerated. Is that possible?" asked Vandalieu.
"It is possible," Gufadgarn replied. "This root of life changes shape in a way that is adapted to the patient's soul, and then regenerates the damaged body part. It does not adapt to Undead, but it should regenerate the physical body without any problems as long as the spirit is an ordinary spirit containing the soul… In fact, that is why its use was stopped in the past."
One day, the root of life had produced a warrior who was supposed to have died. Unable to perceive spirits, Zakkart and his companions had failed to notice that a wandering spirit had entered the root of life.
If that was all that had happened, it would have been a miraculous resurrection of a dead man. But the resurrected warrior had lost his sanity from the fear and despair that he had felt as he died.
He had gone on a rampage inside Zakkart's workshop and tried to kill the injured people waiting for treatment, mistaking them for monsters. In the end, Zakkart himself had been forced to grant him a second death.
Alda, the god of law and fate, had seen this as a great problem and insisted that the use of this regenerative medical technique be halted until a way to stop this from happening again was discovered.
But before it did happen again, Zakkart and his companions had fallen at the hands of the Demon King.
Nobody had known how far Zakkart had progressed on creating a measure to make sure that it would not resurrect the dead, so the root of life was preserved in the workshop, in case the remaining three champions were heavily wounded and needed treatment. And when Vida separated herself from Alda and the other gods, Gufadgarn had brought it with him, along with Zakkart's entire workshop.
"I can see that your mother's spirit still bears damage and has become weakened, but her sanity has been preserved and she has not become an Undead. I believe that her resurrection will be possible. But when this root of life was created, Dark Elves did not exist. Some complications could arise," said Gufadgarn, warning Vandalieu of the risks.
"I see… What should we do, Mom?" Vandalieu asked, looking up at Darcia.
"I'll ask you to do it, of course. I mean, everyone has been working with you so that I can come back to life, Vandalieu. There's nothing for me to be scared of," said Darcia. "Besides… You're going to use that, right?"
"Yes. Gufadgarn, I'm going to have Sam come out here. Everyone, please help me with this," said Vandalieu.
With a noise that was difficult to describe, Vandalieu let out Sam's carriage into an open area. From inside, he began taking out the various things that he had prepared in order to create a new body for Darcia – an Orichalcum skeleton, monster organs and the Demon Eye of Destruction that he had surgically removed from Gubamon.
"It's finally time, isn't it, Bocchan!" said Rita.
"I'm looking forward to Darcia-sama's resurrection!" said Saria.
"Thank you, Rita, Saria," said Darcia.
"OOOOOOOOOHN!" Knochen roared in happiness.
"My lord, you are finally achieving your great ambition… I am filled with emotion," said Bone Man.
"Knochen, Bone Man, please make sure you don't accidentally pass on to the next life from your happiness," said Vandalieu.
"Master, I am proud to be present here in this moment!" said Luciliano, ready to record the event by making sketches.
"… Maybe I should have Luciliano removed from the area," Vandalieu muttered.
"WHY?!" Luciliano cried.
But Vandalieu decided that having Luciliano removed wasn't necessary and he would allow it this time.
"Vandalieu, those things… I do not believe they will fit the root of life," said Gufadgarn, politely trying to stop him.
Though they had been kept fresh and altered to match the size of human organs, the organs were those of monsters, and the skeleton was made of a metal that wasn't even an organic substance. There were no past records of such materials being used.
"It's alright," said Vandalieu, showing Gufadgarn the object that he was carrying with him. "I received this, the blood of the goddess Vida."
Gufadgarn let out a noise of astonishment as he saw the crystallized, crimson sphere of Vida's blood. "That is Vida's blood. It is not blood spilled by a hated enemy, but a blood crystal that she has personally given to one as a symbol of her favor! Blood is a symbol of life; with this, there is no doubt that your mother will be resurrected no matter what you put in her body!"
"Stop it, Gufadgarn-san! Don't stir up Vandalieu any more than this!" Darcia said hastily.
Meanwhile, Eleanora, Bellmond and Isla were talking quietly amongst themselves.
"… I wonder what Darcia-sama will become when she is resurrected?" whispered Eleanora.
"I get the feeling that she will not be a Dark Elf," Bellmond whispered back.
"She could become a new race like an Absolute Elf or Unlimited Elf," said Isla.
"Waaah! That's amazing! Darcia-mama is going to transform too!" said Pauvina, clapping her hands together in joy.
"She may transform, but she will not become a magical girl," said Zadiris.
"If you are a magical girl, I think that Darcia-san can become one as well," said Isla.
"That is not the problem here," said Zadiris.
"Now that I have your approval, I kind of feel like I should be more particular about the materials, but… well, it would take a lot of time to gather more materials," said Vandalieu. "Let's begin."
At those words, Gufadgarn opened one of the cases containing the root of life and added the various materials into it.
Even as the root of life absorbed them, it seemed rather confused, as there were too many materials being placed inside. But when the crystallized sphere of Vida's blood entered it, all of the materials immediately dissolved, diffusing inside the root of life and fusing with it.
"Now all that is missing is your mother," said Gufadgarn, beckoning Darcia forward.
"Alright… Vandalieu, I'll be back soon," Darcia said.
"Yes, Mom. We'll be waiting for you," said Vandalieu.
Darcia patted Vandalieu's head with her ethereal hand, then disappeared into the foundation of life along with the bone fragment that she resided in.
At that moment, the foundation of life gave a loud, thumping pulse.