Chapter 201 (1/2)

Death Mage 201 – A confirmed defeat

The grotesque form that Vandalieu had transformed into… It had the silhouette of a huht had tumors and tubes with unknown function on its surface, and there were large eyes and mouths placed haphazardly on it as well

It was far too bizarre, even when corotesque monsters Heinz and his coing what they were seeing

Thus, they were one step late in reacting to Vandalieu leaping towards theinable for a being with such a strange form, he threw a fist in Heinz's direction

There was a dull thud

“What are you spacing out for?! This guy has always been our eneht!” shouted Delizah, who had blocked Vandalieu's fist with her Orichalcum shi+eld

She had not participatedan eye on the situation so that she would be ready to act whenever Vandalieu made his move

“Y-yeah, you're right!” said Heinz, co his sword

“Sorry!” said Edgar, getting ready for battle

The party had been exhausted after fighting the copies of Vandalieu's allies, but thanks to the conversation that had just taken place, they'd had time to drink Potions to coth

However, Vandalieu had started that conversation knowing that this would be the case

The mouths that were scattered all over the surface of his body si scream It was Vandalieu's Scream Skill, loaded with the effects of Mental Encroachment

Edgar groaned and covered his ears “Status Effect Resistance doesn't block this?!”

“He's si our minds with his screa been stopped in his tracks

But Delizah was the one closest to Vandalieu; she was the one affected by the screaered

With the opening given to him, Vandalieu aimed a kick towards her

“Mill, grant peace to ourto Mill, the Goddess of slumber, for her protection

At the sathened the party's mental defenses with a life-attribute spell

Heinz, Edgar and Jennifer recovered from the mental attack of Vandalieu's Scream and unleashed attacks of their own

“… Instant shi+ning Slash!+”

“shi+ning Slash!+”

“shi+ning Thunder Fist!”

Vandalieu blocked one attack with his ar a few Death Bullets to keep Heinz and his companions back, he fell back and put some distance between himself and his foes

But he hadn't gotten away unscathed; several wounds had appeared on his black body The wounds theiven Heinz's party a lot of information

His appearance is strange, and his spells are bizarre as well, but… his ht Heinz

His physical abilities are not poor They're equivalent to an class adventurer; in other words, they're not much different from ours But we still have Heroic Spirit Descent And his speed is worse than ar

His technique isn't anything special… Mine is better, thought Jennifer

He's strong, but not as strong as that Undead titan, thought Delizah

Vandalieu's Attribute Values were not much different from those of Heinz and his coility was lower than theirs

On top of that, his Unar Technique had only just awakened into Soul Destruction Fighting Technique a few o It was far inferior to the Skills of Heinz and Edgar, neverTechnique Skill for a long time already

And for so

In other words, putting together all of these facts, Vandalieu was not an undefeatable foe In this five-on-one situation, Heinz and his party could definitely defeat him

“If that's all you have, maybe you should have just come at us with the other fakes rather than use thear taunted as he looked for an opening

The party had decided that it was possible to defeat him, but they could not decide on a method to do so

He said that's his soul, but what does that mean? Does it mean that this form is his 'soul,' and we should destroy the body on the inside? Or should we be thoroughly destroying the outside layer? Edgar wondered, carefully thinking the situation through despite santly on the outside

But before he could find an opening or an answer to his own questions, Vandalieu responded

“Those were elaborate copies ofcontrolled by a God With that being the case, it was possible that they would have attacked me rather than you,” said Vandalieu “It was convenient that you defeated the to kill them, even if they were fakes”

His words sounded very calm His voice was so steady that it was hard to believe that it was co before Heinz and his party

“Now that's not why I' this, but I'll justat Jennifer

“W-what are you saying?! Of course on't!” Jennifer shouted

“I see… That's a pity I definitely wanted you and Diana back there to do so,” said Vandalieu

“Cut your crap! Why would we do –”

“Jennifer, he is confir to run away or not,” said Heinz “This is a special place, after all”

Indeed, this was a Dungeon in which Heinz and his companions could be resurrected in the 'town' no ht now, they could escape to the 'town'

“But why are you asking this? You want to kill us, don't you? What do you intend to do if we really did kill ourselves?” Heinz asked Vandalieu, thinking that perhaps Vandalieu intended on killing them after they were resurrected, but then he realized that the God who eon would certainly seal the stairways between the floors

However, he could not have predicted Vandalieu's response

“If you all coeon”

Destroying a Dungeon, which could be purified or sealed away, but was not considered to be destructible

That was possible for Vandalieu

It would be probleer than they were now, and… Vandalieu was displeased with the God who eon

Thus, if Heinz and his companions were to flee the battle, Vandalieu intended to fire his Hollow Cannon until he ran out of Mana or the Dungeon collapsed, whichever happened first

“Destroy the Dungeon?!” Jennifer exclaiuy can do it?!”

“Jennifer, please cal as there is the smallest possibility that he can, then we cannot flee,” said Diana

The objective of Heinz's party was to overcoeon's trial, become Bellwood's successors and question the Gods directly

They could not let this chance escape them

And even if it were possible to escape this Dungeon… Vandalieu would be waiting for them somewhere in the outside world, and they would face each other once more

They needed to becoer than they were now They could not run from Vandalieu here

“So, you confirmed whether we had any intention to kill ourselves and retreat, but you already had our way out sealed I' a bitter sic Item that continuously replenished his Stamina

He understood that he and his companions were left with no choice but to defeat Vandalieu here

But Vandalieu's next change was far less subtle than Edgar's

“Calm?” Vandalieu murmured “Me… Calm… Soul optimization”

In the next ed once more His previously flat, featureless, humanoid silhouette transformed into what resembled a full-body suit ofall over the surface of his body

Edgar clicked his tongue “So, you still weren't giving us everything you have –” he began

“Screw Bullet, Rapid Response, Hundred Furious Overarm Blows”

Edgar stopped 's horns that had been fired towards hi that had been created, Vandalieu used the Armor Technique ed at Heinz, unleashi+ng a series of overarm blows

In his ar and the rest of his ene to assume that he was calm

There was no way that he could be calainst Heinz and his coer had the ability to make decisions in a calm fashi+on

Vandalieu remembered his previous drea the 50th floor He now realized that these dreaeon

Here, Heinz and his companions would be resurrected somewhere no matter how they died, and they would keep all of theirup to their deaths But they weren't actually being brought back to life Vandalieu didn't kno exactly this was done, but this was the reality

Thus, even if he was able to kill the entire party, they would be resurrected as they had been before, with the knowledge of how they fared against him in battle

That's why I need to destroy their souls

Since there was no use in destroying their bodies, he had to destroy their souls If he failed to do that, then even if he were to win the battle, he would be acco them information about himself

But would Vandalieu be able to destroy their souls in his current state, while they were capable of being resurrected endlessly? He didn't know the answer to that He instinctively felt that he could, but there was no guarantee or proof that this was the case

On top of that, the circuainst five… There were no spirits nearby that he could create Golems with, nor could he borrow the aid of Princess Levia and the other dead spirits, nor could he summon Eisen and Kühl ere norarn's voice

“shi+t, he's suddenly lost it!” Edgar cursed, continuing to repel the De's horns

Heinz grunted as he deflected Vandalieu's overar sword

Delizah moved beside Heinz to try and protect hi into action to support him as well

“Twisting Bullet… Fire,” VandalieuArtillery Techniquefroun barrels

The party had already faced Vandalieu's Artillery Technique on the 50th floor; Jennifer immediately retreated to the safety of Delizah's shi+eld

“'Suddenly' you say,” Vandalieu whispered incredulously

He was ga on the chance that he would be able to destroy his enemies' souls

He didn't even know if he could win this battle He had watched how Heinz and his co with the copies of Borkus and the others, but there was only one other thing that was advantageous for him in this situation

If Vandalieu were calm, he would likely have killed himself the moment the other copies were destroyed After all, he are that his real body would suffer no effects even if this fake body were to die

But he had not done that; he had awakened the Soul Destruction Fighting Technique and inal Attribute Values He was certainly not calm anymore

“I have always been thinking of nothing but destroying you three!” Vandalieu shouted

“Three? Don't go ignoring us!” Jennifer shouted back, leaping backwards from behind Delizah's shi+eld

She had already activated her Super Rapid Response martial skill and her Transcend Liility enchantment had already been placed on her

“The Five-colored Blades is a five- Kick!”

Having read the projectiles' trajectories froles of the tubes, she unleashed a crescent-shaped slashi+ng kick

“Iron Wall”

See to take a direct hit fro's carapace on his arm and activated a shi+eld Techniqueand made their move

“Hundred Slashes!” Edgar roared “Even with the Dements, don't think you can withstand this with a martial skill like Iron Wall!”

“That's right!” Heinz shouted

A crack appeared on the carapace of the arh the De attacks and Edgar's dagger repeatedly struck it

“Furious shi+ning Instant Slash!+” Heinz roared, and his shi+ning blade crashed down into the sa the entire carapace to pieces

“Iic Absorption Barrier,” Vandalieuhis protective barriers as he stumbled backwards

These barriers were supposed to be able to block even the martial skills and spells of Heinz's party

But Heinz had faced Vandalieu's spells on the 50th floor… around ten ti a temporary death each time

“Those barriers won't work any a spell that he had developed using those experiences

It was a spell that iht and life attributes

He did not know that Vandalieu's spells were of the death attribute, but he had instinctively realized that a coht attributes formed the opposite attribute to the death attribute – despite the fact that even Bellwood, a cha Guduranis on multiple occasions, had never discovered this

With his two barriers cut doith ease, Vandalieu immediately raised his left arm to protect himself As a result, his torso remained unhar his dis into the air

Vandalieu clutched his severed ar into the air

“Heh, your belly's wide open!” Jennifer said with a s in to land a follow-up attack on Vandalieu's exposed torso and end the battle right here

“Wait, it's a trap!” Delizah shouted

“Sharp Screw Tongue, Severing Mouth Sphere”

“What – GAH!” Jennifer screa froues, the tubular organs and proboscises that had protruded from Vandalieu's body

“Jennifer?!” shouted Edgar

“Wait, I'ar tried to rush to help her

But spider-like legs sprouted fro close

“No way… A trap…” Jennifer groaned

“I thought it was quite forced, but it see skills aren't so hopeless after all,” Vandalieu remarked

He had used the Screaue piercing Jennifer's heart and his proboscis buried in her stomach, he tried to suck her blood, but he couldn't Or rather, he could, but he could not taste anything, nor did it recover his Mana

Maybe it's because we're both in fake bodies In that case, I have no ht

He regrew his left arm, curled his hand into a fist and transfor as he raised it into the air

“daasped

“Jennifer!” Heinz shouted

“Heavy Fist,” Vandalieu murmured

His left fist, which had now transformed into a blunt weapon covered in sharp spikes, crushed Jennifer's head Before the fraground, her body turned into dust and disappeared

Heinz and Edgar were fighting against Vandalieu's eight skillfully-controlled jointed legs, but upon Jennifer's death, their attacks became fiercer

“Jennifer should be back at the 'town!' Both of you, please fall back for now!” Diana warned them

“Alr –” Heinz began

“I know that, but if we fall back over every little thing, we'll always be fighting at this guy's pace!” shouted Edgar, continuing his attacks “Spiral Sonic Blow!”

Vandalieu exploited weaknesses and often ear had decided it was best to defeat hiht now

It was difficult to say that Edgar's decision was incorrect In fact, Vandalieu also wanted to put some distance between himself and his foes for now

But I suppose I'll give theht

“Steel Tear”

With two of his eight joined legs having been severed by Edgar, Vandalieu used the sharp ends of the rear down

“Hah, you're too slow!” said Edgar

Edgar had been saving his Transcend Liic Sword Skills; he activated thes with his Orichalcuer one after another

Vandalieu threw the blunt weapon that was his left fist at Edgar, but he was interrupted by Heinz

“Flying Slash, Radiant Life Blade!” Heinz shouted, unleashi+ng a slashi+ng attack that fleards Vandalieu while also enchanting Edgar's dagger with anti-death-attribute properties

“It cannot be helped! Strengthen All Attribute Values!” cried Diana, giving Edgar another enchantment

Heinz's slashi+ng attack landed directly on Vandalieu's left arh, it cut through more than halfway and stopped its movement

Edgar now had his Attribute Values greatly increased, and his dagger was enchanted

“Thousand Slashes!” he shouted, unleashi+ng an advanced martial skill

“Anti-Blade, Death Bullets, Infinite Thrusts, Tongue Blade,” Vandalieu 's fur, activated an Armor Technique martial skill and repelled his eneue

But Edgar's dagger cut through Vandalieu's spells and the body parts that he was defending himself with, and the fur that had turned into a bundle of anti-blade fibers was cut to pieces

I feel like I'ht as he looked up

“Spiral Blow!” Edgar roared, thrusting his dagger into a gap in Vandalieu's helmet

Feeling the sensation of his blade penetrating bone and striking soft flesh, a satisfied smile appeared on his face… and in the next ht e from Vandalieu