Chapter 236 (1/2)

Death Mage 236 – The i is the soul

The moment Vandalieu took out his Gyubarzo staff, it wasn't only Hajier; Gordon Bobby and the other heroic spirits sensed it as well

Vandalieu had gone to the effort of wielding a staff, so cautious was out of the question

“'Hollow Bullets,' 'Death Bullets,'” Vandalieu is' barrier

The projectiles he fired appeared to be nothing more than 'Mana Bullets,' but in reality, they were 'Hollow Bullets,' a spell of 'Hollow King Magic,' consisting of highly condensed Mana Gordon Bobby and his allies repelled the weapons and spells that they had been using previously

“Don't let thee them like your life depends on it!” Hajime Fitun shouted

Gordon Bobby and the other heroic spirits, who had undergone 'Heroic Spirit Transformation,' obeyed that command immediately Even the titan shi+eld-bearer threw himself to the side in order to avoid the projectiles

The heroic spirits leapt towards the forest, destroying all of the black, fist-sized 'Hollow Bullets' that were still in the air At thataimed a telekinetic fist at them

“'Lightning Beast assault!'” said Haji

Doug clicked his tongue “I won't let you do that!” hethe aim of his telekinetic fist towards the beasts instead

He had to be cautious of the 'Marionette' ability

In general, the effects of the reincarnated individuals' abilities eaker when used on another reincarnated individual In addition, Rodcorte had adjusted abilities such as 'Chronos,' 'Mage Masher' and 'Venus' to have no effect at all on other reincarnated individuals other than Vandalieu

But some abilities would have their effects suppressed only by a little

And it had been over two years since Haji howspells that did not exist in Origin It was possible that he had some secret trick up his sleeve

It was unlikely that he would have full control over Doug, but it was possible that Doug's body and mind would be paralyzed for a while, which would be fatal if it happened in theneeded to destroy the beasts with his telekinesis

“'Super Rapid Reaction!' HERE I COOOOOOME!” Haji beasts, as if he had expected Doug to choose this option

“W-what?!” Doug uttered in surprise

“Atlas! Do you still have your habit of turning into a coward at critical moments?!” Hajime Fitun taunted

Doug's telekinesis eakened by Hajih about half of the beasts still vanished in a flash of sparks, Hajih

“You bastard! Don't you dare callspat, forcibly reminded of the name he had on Earth – shi+rai Atorasu

“Doug, you back up Melissa and Kanako I'll be sending them some presents, so look out above you,” said Vandalieu, dashi+ng past Doug to meet Hajime Fitun in battle

TLN: This will be explained a little further down

Gordon Bobby and the Flainal for their bloodthirst towards Kanako and Melissa

“Alright! Hey, senior! I'll use you as a shi+eld like you told

He didn't knohat Vandalieuas he kept an eye out above hi else, he used his telekinesis to grab Isis, whom the enemy had decided to deal with later

“Oh h of you,” Isis remarked

In the next moment, Isis was thrust in front of the enemy

“Your barrier orhis spear that had been strengthened by a h Melissa's barrier

But as Isis suddenly appeared in front of the tip of his spear, he hastily changed the course of his attack

Naturally, he had heard of the 'Counter' ability of Isis… which extended to all of Legion's ht attack intended to suppress the enemy's movement would be fine if it were countered, but not a full-blown attack that had been enhanced by a martial skill

Gordon Bobby narrowly , but he lost his balance and his movement had stopped entirely

“'Powerful Acid Bullet!'”

“'space Strike!'”

Kanako and Melissa's offensive spells flooded in – acid projectiles and shockwaves created by warping space

Gordon Bobby shouted in alarm and fell back

“You fool! That's what happens when you charge in without thinking!” one of the Flame Blades said as he and the others leapt in to cover Gordon Bobby

“'Colossal Ice Beast assault!' Kill that piece of meat that looks like a wo an enor it at Isis

“I see That does work,” Isis observed

Just as she finished her sentence, the enormous bear of ice swept her head off with its front paw In the next ing noise

The half-Elfthe servant he had created with e instead

Although a bear ion as a whole, he had decided that it would be enough to take down one of their personalities

He gave a surprised laugh of triumph; he himself hadn't been sure that it would succeed “W-what do you think of that! I think it went rather well!” he said in a tone that one ht expect fro his body was quite old

The heroic spirit controlling the body of the ue “Being so loud after defeating just one part of theainst three You are at a disadvantage in both nuth; your chances of victory are – huh?”

He stoppeddown from above

The monsters turned into Zo in a forest some distance away, but a Mountain Giant had been thrown from there in this direction

The Fla crushed by the Mountain Giant They could have destroyed it while it was still in ht use that as an opportunity to attack

Meanwhile, Doug was falling back as well, using his telekinesis to carry himself and the other two

“What is that?! They ht land on us, you know?!” shouted Kanako

“Apparently it's a present to his girlfriends You don't have any idea who he's talking about?” asked Doug

TLN: In Vandalieu's previous line of “I'll be sending them some presents,” the 'them' in this case is 彼女達/kanojo-tachi, a plural for on context, 彼女/kanojo also irlfriend'

“At the very least, it isn't lad for the backup These people have suddenly beco with that 'Heroic Spirit Transformation' or whatever”

Just then, there was the roar of a Thunder Dragon Zombie and the footsteps of Mountain Giant Zombies

And Ki, coed towards the Flame Blades… It see him with Mana

“Thunder Breath!” he shouted, cackling maniacally

The titan shi+eld-bearer iic Steel Wall' – !”

Unable to fully deflect the lightning, he screamed as sparks ran across his entire body

“GAH! You h my 'shi+eld Technique' and 'Wind-Attribute Resistance?!' How can a powerful thunder breath like you exist?!” he shouted

“I probably just look like the breath of a“Here comes another one!”

With that, he returned to the Thunder Dragon Zoed at the Flame Blades once more

“I guess he does Now then, shall we transform and use Deely cheerful Kanako

“I didn't want to show that to people who are fro that Muraka fro only De her transforlum expression

“Don't worry about it,” said Doug “I'm sure there are a ton of people elsewhere who have transformed And at this distance we're pretty much impossible to see from the city”

“Transfor herself that this wasn't as bad as perfore

Meanwhile, Vandalieu was a little surprised by Hajied in towards him and his allies

Vandalieu didn't have much of a sense that he and Hajime Inui had been students in the same year; he had almost no memories of him at all But based on what he knew of Hajiion, Kanako and the others, he had expected that he would e

But Vandalieu was not so astounded that it affected his movements

“'Death Bullets,'” he ic spell, firing black, walnut-sized projectiles that sapped the life from anyone they touched

But Haji his forward ? Then take this in return!”

Rather than creating , he unsheathed a knife enchanted with lightning and threw it If Vandalieu ary of the threat of 'Marionette,' he would need to block it with a barrier or avoid it

“What a poor greeting,” Vandalieu said, deflecting the lightning-covered knife with his extended claws

He felt nothing that would suggest that 'Marionette' had taken effect

“Sorry about that I wanted to check that my 'Marionette' wouldn't work on you!” said Hajime Fitun

Vandalieu was a Dhaic Resistance' and 'Status Effect Resistance' Skills almost from birth

Even Hajime Fitun hadn't expected that Vandalieu could be affected by the status effect of having his body being controlled by the special ability of someone else

“But I'll show you… 'Marionette' isn't just a boring ability that manipulates others!” said Hajime Fitun

In the next ht in front of Vandalieu, as if he had teleported there

“'Super Rapid Response,'” said Vandalieu, cal his 'Ar entered close range in an instant

He swung his Gyubarzo staff in a doards arc This attack was powerful enough to pulverize a C-class adventurer in a single blow, but Hajime Fitun avoided it

However, this was all according to plan Vandalieu didn't expect this brute-strength attack with no technique to it to actually land on his foe Even as Hajied, Vandalieu continued his attack

“'Spear Kick,'” heout a sharp kick like the thrust of a spear

At the same time, he threw a kunai hidden up his sleeve with the hand not holding his staff and spat a powerful, corrosive, venomous saliva from his mouth

An ordinary opponent would be distracted by the et hit by either the kunai or the saliva

But Hajied not only the kick, but the kunai and saliva as well… by throwing hiround “I ad so dirty in front of people! But at this distance, you can't run from these!”

The re beasts leapt over Hajied at Vandalieu, who reflexively put up his 'Magic Absorption Barrier'

The lightning beasts disappeared helplessly as they were sed by the barrier But Hajime Fitun wasn't shaken; he extended his bent knees to leap forward off the ground and drew the two curved blades in the sheaths on his back

“'Twin Fang!' 'Million Slash!+'” he shouted

“'Claw Wall,' 'Thousand Beast Claws,'” Vandalieu murmured in response

The dual-wielded curved blades… Hajih the barrier Vandalieu stopped theht Hajime Fitun went on to deliver a series of countless follow-up attacks, which Vandalieu dealt with using a countless number of his own claw attacks

The black barrier was shredded to pieces, and as Vandalieu's staff and claws collided with the scimitars, blood sprayed into the air

Having wounded Vandalieu's fingers and hands, the corner of Hajiic barrier and not your anti-physical-attack barrier?! I intended to cut you to pieces when you stopped ed to cut your hands!”

“Since your intent is to kill me, I expected that you would at least come equipped with Orichalcuments, after all,” said Vandalieu

His shalloounds healed within seconds due to the 'Rapid Regeneration' Skill He had turned the blood that had sprayed into the air into venon that Hajime Fitun had been affected by it

“So, you've seen through me I created an illusion to make my weapons look as if they were made of iron, but it seems that it was pointless,” said Hajime Fitun

The two sci were made of Orichalcu they were made of iron and deal a fatal blohile Vandalieu stood still to use his 'I Barrier'

Illusions that refracted light like a ht have worked on Vandalieu, but illusions that affected their targets' s that weren't there wouldn't work due to the effects of 'Deformed Soul'

However, Vandalieu had expected that Hajime Fitun would make at least thethat he wielded the frag

“So… What are you? You're not the 'Marionette,' are you?” Vandalieu asked with a feeling of certainty, as he and Hajie bloith their claws and scimitars

“Hey, that's cold You don't remember your own classmate? Wait, were youto play it off

“There weren't any Gods a my classmates,” said Vandalieu

“You just said 'God,' didn't you,” Haji coht with me are Gods, rather than heroic spirits When did you notice?”

Vandalieu fell silent

His fa Familiars were stationed all around the city of Morksi and inside the Dungeon that he had created to look like Morksi

Thus, he had witnessed Hajio 'Heroic Spirit Transfor of the strange feeling she had when using 'Venus' on the titan shi+eld-bearer had given him a clue about Hajime and his subordinates' true identities as well

And most importantly –

“I can smell two souls inside you One of them smells… delicious, like Hihiryushukaka's,” said Vandalieu

It was as if there was a delicious dish and one that wasn't so delicious, served on the same plate

There was no way that an ordinary human's soul would smell delicious to Vandalieu, and yet, he felt a desire to consuer and bloodthirst towards Hajime Fitun That made him absolutely certain

A shi+ver ran up Hajier lurking deep within Vandalieu's clouded eyes

Fitun, the God of thunderclouds, felt a thrill at this sensation, so that he hadn't felt in tens of thousands of years

“Good, that's good! That's what I' about! This is exactly how a battle to the death should be – right?!” he shouted

He had narrowed his lips, and as he shouted the word 'right,' he spat out small needles that he had concealed inside his mouth, which entered Vandalieu's eyes

“Foaht Blade Wind!'”

With a hidden weapon often employed by assassins rather than mercenaries, Hajime Fitun robbed Vandalieu of his vision and activated an 'assassin Fighting Technique' martial skill He then rushed forith a fast attack that Vandalieu's eyes were no longer able to see – as if aht

“If you insist, I could give you so from my mouth,” said Vandalieu

He activated the De a third eye on his forehead, and stopped Hajime Fitun's scimitar with his claws

And this ti at Haji that it was likely veno on his 'Status Effect Resistance' Skill and the effects of his Magic Items

But his face stiffened as he saw that it was a slimy liquid and realized that he had made a mistake

“'Flaic' spell that recreated the coion's personalities

With the De's fat that Vandalieu had spat from his mouth as their fuel, flames enveloped Hajime Fitun

Hajime Fitun screamed as he quickly becahtly burned fro too close to him