An imperfectly resurrected Guduranis was gathering fragments of his soul – and that news spread to every region through Vandalieu’s Demon King Familiars.

Kanako was currently in Alcrem, the capital city of the Alcrem Duchy. Alcrem was the starting point for her idol activities in Orbaume, and she was currently protecting it from rampaging demigods and commanders of the Demon King’s army – the reason being that although her fans in the Demon Continent, Gartland, and the Demon Empire of Vidal were all important to her too, the fans in the Orbaume Kingdom were the ones in most danger.

“Are you serious?!” Kanako exclaimed when she heard the news. “… If it comes here, it wouldn’t matter how many Bug-Brain-kuns we have. We don’t have many cannonball-type Demon King Familiars left, either.”

Of course, Alcrem was also an important location for Vandalieu as well, so there were plenty of fighting forces positioned here in addition to Kanako.

The being with the most prominent presence was Legion, upon whom Kanako and the others were riding.

“How strong is this imperfectly-resurrected Guduranis? If it’s just one or two of his soul fragments, I don’t think it’s a big deal,” said Legion’s Jack.

The enormous spherical mass of flesh floating above the city had used itself as a shield to protect the city from the attacks of the gods sent by Alda, used ‘Counter’ to reflect the damage, and was now restraining an immobilized target – more specifically, a Pure-breed Vampire who had been sealed away during the battle between Alda and Vida a hundred thousand years ago.

The Pure-breed Vampire roared in anger. “Let me go! Why are you not killing me?! I’m telling you, there is a fragment of Guduranis’s soul embedded in me!”

Legion’s various personalities were attempting to placate him.

“Shut up already, damn it! Can’t you be quiet and listen to what people are telling you?!”

“Valkyrie, I think you’re the last person he wants to hear that from.”

“We did explain to him that the soul fragment can be removed safely, so he just needs to stop struggling and let us seal him away.”

“It’s useless. If he could be reasoned with, we wouldn’t call it a ‘rampage.’”

“Stop it! I don’t need a reason, just let me die!” the Vampire howled.

“The fragment embedded in this person is probably the ‘Wish for Death.’”

“It might be ‘Despair.’”

“There really aren’t any good soul fragments, are there?”

“Well, it is the Demon King’s soul, after all.”

And so, as the Pure-breed Vampire Aluabell screamed and begged for death, he was surrounded by flesh and sealed away.

Incidentally, the seal was done using an Orichalcum vessel that had once contained a fragment of the Demon King that Vandalieu had already absorbed.

“… So, that’s why we’re confused. We have no idea just how much of a threat this imperfectly-resurrected Guduranis is,” concluded one of Legion’s personalities.

“I’m not sure how wise it is to use our own experience as the standard, though,” said another.

“Well, you can’t be blamed for that. I’d imagine that it would be weaker than Dark Avalon, at least… Is it?” asked Kanako.

A Bug-Brain-kun, also known as a Demon King Familiar, answered her quickly. “Naturally, I think it’s weaker than Dark Avalon… the Guduranis who took over Rikudou and Edgar.”

The Demon King’s Instinct, Memories, and soul dust had taken over the souls of Edgar and the ‘Avalon’ Rikudou Hijiri, with a body made of fragments of the Demon King. Both the body and soul were Guduranis’s; there had been no other being to resist them.

Rikudou and Edgar had been foreign entities, but Guduranis had completely absorbed them, becoming able to use their Skills. And on top of that, he had been able to command the nearby souls of Rikudou’s subordinates, becoming able to create artificial spirits – something that he had been unable to do a hundred thousand years ago.

What Alda had unleashed was rampaging gods of Vida’s faction and commanders of the Demon King’s army, infested by fragments of Guduranis’s soul. Even in cases where the fragments had taken over their hosts, the hosts’ bodies did not contain a single of the fragments of the Demon King that made up Guduranis’s original body. And depending on the soul fragment… Fragments such as ‘Madness’ and ‘Lust’ had a high probability of producing beings that did nothing more than rampage indiscriminately.

And although this did not apply for demigods and commanders of the Demon King’s army, as they possessed physical bodies, gods of Vida’s faction who were taken over by fragments consumed power at a tremendous rate as long as they remained in the mortal world without returning to their Divine Realms, eventually causing their existence to be extinguished.

“With that said, I suppose it would depend on the type of fragment and what kind of host it has infested. I’m not sure if they exist, but I think if a fragment like ‘Desire for Battle,’ ‘Fighting Spirit,’ ‘Slyness’ or ‘Cunning’ were to take over a powerful commander of the Demon King’s army, it would be quite troublesome,” the Demon King Familiar said. “Gyupyaresla, the Evil God of Demon Castles, almost reached that state in Orbaume, but Gufadgarn sealed him away for us.”

In the end, the threat posed was dependent on the type of soul fragment and the host it had infested.

“In other words, we can’t make a prediction until we know what soul fragments remain and what gods were unleashed… If only we could wring Alda by the neck and squeeze it out of him,” said Kanako, making a statement that would render any worshiper of Alda speechless.

Indeed, Alda was the only one who knew which gods had been released from their seals and which fragments of Guduranis’s souls had been embedded in them.

“And the imperfectly resurrected Guduranis will probably use death-attribute magic and soul-breaking, so please be wary,” said the Demon King Familiar.

“The same thing as Van-sama… or not quite?” said Eleanora as she slipped her hand inside the wrinkles of the brains of the Bug-Brain-type Demon King Familiar to retrieve a Blood Potion from inside.

The Bug-Brain-type Demon King Familiar, which was also serving as a Potion holder, was completely unfazed by Eleanora’s hand being shoved into its brain. “Not quite. Especially the soul-breaking part.”

‘Soul Devour’ was Vandalieu’s specialty, and he had used it constantly during battles against enemies such as Dark Avalon and Fitun.

But to Guduranis, breaking souls was a trump card. It was a deadly technique that consumed a large quantity of Mana, though it varied depending on the strength of the soul that he was breaking. And Guduranis could only break souls; he did not devour them. Thus, the act of breaking a soul did not restore his Mana or increase his power.

This was why, during the age of the gods, some gods such as Botin had been sealed away rather than destroyed, why Ricklent and Zuruwarn had slumbered after being wounded, and why Peria’s soul had not been broken.

If Guduranis had been able to devour souls like Vandalieu could, every single god of this world would have been devoured by Guduranis, and the Demon King’s army would have ruled over Lambda before Zakkart and the other champions could even be summoned.

“However, it would still be dangerous for someone who is not as strong as a god… those who aren’t confident that they can fight against people with Rank-12-equivalent strength, or other beings with Rank-13-equivalent strength,” the Demon King Familiar continued. “After all, it would not take Guduranis much effort or exhaust much of his strength to break the soul of someone who isn’t as powerful as a god.”

“In other words, Legion and Eleanora-san would be fine, but it’ll be dangerous for the rest of us, so we need to have Van protect us!” said Kanako.

“What do you mean?! Avoid causing Van-sama any more trouble by being vigilant and protecting yourself!” Eleanora said indignantly.

“I’m joking, of course,” said Kanako. “In any case, where is it? If it’s aiming to gather soul fragments, it might come this way.”

Indeed, if continuing to gather more fragments of Guduranis’s soul was its goal, it would attempt to acquire the fragments before they were devoured by Vandalieu.

With that being the case, it was certainly possible that it would come to this location, as there were still undevoured soul fragments here.

In fact, there was a host infested by a soul fragment close by, screaming in a lively fashion, parts of its body petrified here and there.

Parafalpa, the Evil God of the Forest of Spreading Decay, was an evil god who possessed a head resembling that of a fly and a body that resembled that of an eight-legged monkey. He was a fearsome evil god who dissolved and slurped up everything he touched, but he was currently being made to roll about on the ground like a caterpillar, as Bellmond and Bone Man had taken all of his legs.

“How tenacious, even though we have severed or petrified all of his limbs,” said Bellmond.

“Jyuooh… Shall we split his body open, then?” suggested Bone Man.

The dissolving fluid secreted by the evil god was capable of melting Orichalcum weapons in minutes if they were lower-grade, mass-produced items like Nemesis Bell, but it was utterly meaningless against Bone Man’s incredible technique of slashing the air to produce vacuum blades that struck the enemy.

Bellmond’s threads, being in contact with Parafalpa for extended periods of time, had melted several times, but…

“By the way, Danna-sama, I need some more new thread, please,” Bellmond requested.

A small Demon King Familiar clinging to her arm produced additional thread every time the previous threads dissolved.

“Umm, wouldn’t it be bad if you kill him?” said the hesitant voice of Carlos, a former potential hero of Alda’s forces, chosen by Rubicante, the God of Heat Hazes.

He seemed to be worried as Bone Man and Bellmond’s actions indicated that they might kill the evil god before Vandalieu could devour him.

Before the battle began, he’d been told to make sure to not kill the evil gods. I couldn’t even if I tried, Carlos had thought, but when the battle actually happened, Bellmond and Bone Man had almost completely neutralized Parafalpa without any problem other than his persistence.

Carlos and his companions had tried to assist, but this was all so hard to believe. It felt as if they had wandered into a world of mythology.

But this is reality, though, Carlos thought as he turned his gaze elsewhere, in a direction where another battle between gods was taking place.

The Goddess of the Holy Spear Elk, the deity who had granted her divine protection to Hendricksen – a potential hero born in the same place as Carlos – had descended upon the world. She was exchanging blows with Mermedia, the Goddess of Blizzards, a subordinate god of Peria belonging to Vida’s faction who had been sealed away a hundred thousand years ago.

“Who are you? Name yourself!” Mermedia demanded.

“How many times are you going to make me tell you! I am Elk, the Goddess of the Holy Spear!” Elk replied.

“I see, I am Mermedia, the Goddess of Blizzards. Now then, you should name yourself, too!”

“Like I said, I am Elk!”

“I see, I am… Err, yes, I am Mermedia, the Goddess of Fountains…?”

“Why are you asking me?!”

Their combat was taking place far enough from the city that the shockwaves would not cause any harm to it, but their divine forms and the comical dialogue between them could be witnessed by the city’s residents.

“Elk, calm yourself. Mermedia-dono’s behavior is caused by the fact that she has lost her sanity to the fragment of Guduranis’s soul within her,” said Hirshem, the God of Strings, who had also descended upon the world to assist Elk in the task of sealing Mermedia away.

Elk and Hirshem were the gods who had granted their divine protections to Hendricksen and Eridia, adventurers who were friendly with one another. They had descended upon the world themselves in order to fight for the people, even at the risk of losing their own power. Seeing them, Carlos – who had been abandoned by Rubicante – could not help but feel the difference between him and the other two adventurers.

But in truth, Elk and Hirshem had once belonged to Alda’s forces, and they had descended upon the world to also make it clear that they had joined Vida’s faction.

Now that Mermedia had stopped moving, Legion – whose diameter was about a kilometer – approached her from behind.

“Now that we’ve sealed away the Pure-breed Vampire who was doing his best to try and kill himself, this person is next, right?” one of Legion’s personalities said.

Berserk let out a growl.

“S-stop, I… Umm… AH!” Mermedia cried out.

As Vandalieu wasn’t here, she had been spared from being covered in mucus and tentacles, but she ended up being enveloped inside a tentacle-shaped mass of flesh and sealed away.

Perhaps Byazekbyoct, who had been sealed away by Darcia at the end of their battle, had been more fortunate in terms of maintaining some dignity.

Meanwhile, on the other side of this battlefield, another battle was taking place.

Rain was pouring upon the Evil God of Ice Blades Subavolo, a commander of the Demon King’s army who had been sealed away towards the end of the war.

“What is this bastard?! Why is his presence similar to Guduranis-sama’s, even though I don’t sense Guduranis’s presence at all?!” he shouted, the contradictory statement making no sense.

Subavolo was a commander only in title, having been promoted only after all of the truly powerful evil gods had been sealed away. Still, he possessed power several levels above gods such as Fidirg and Zozogante.

His appearance seemed tame for an evil god, taking the form of a gorilla covered in long, silver fur. But each strand of fur was actually a sharp needle, and Subavolo was able to make it change form however he wished. He could bundle it together to form spearheads and large blades, then divide it again and fire the strands as projectiles in the form of a countless number of arrowheads.

And when he was being attacked, his fur became a sturdy armor… or at least, it was supposed to.

With a wordless scream, someone with the appearance of a Dhampir boy with white hair unleashed shockwaves from his mouth, ignoring Subavolo’s fur completely and striking at his mind and body.

Indeed, this was the ‘True Demon King’ Vandalieu… or rather, a fake. It was Kühl, also known as the ‘Fake Vandalieu.’

As a result of his training, he had successfully increased his Rank and become a Rank 13 Vandalieu Slime – a Slime version of Vandalieu.

He could not only perfectly imitate Vandalieu’s appearance, voice, and mannerisms, but even imitate his Skills, too.

Of course, that didn’t mean that he could use death-attribute magic or dead spirit magic, nor could he use fragments of the Demon King as he had not absorbed any. But his imitation of the ‘Dark Scream’ Skill produced a terrifying, echoing scream that tortured both Subavolo’s body and his instincts.

In agony from the repeated ‘Dark Scream,’ Subavolo let out a screech of anger that sounded like the creaking of metal as he made all of the fur on his body stand on end, then fired millions of strands of his fur as projectiles.

Subavolo stood about a hundred meters tall; the fur he fired scattered over a huge area. It would reach not only Legion, but Elk, Hirshem, and even the city of Alcrem behind them. However –

“‘Aegis!’”

An enormous wall-like barrier, larger than Subavolo himself, appeared to block all of the fur projectiles.

The one who had cast the barrier was Melissa, who possessed the cheat-like ability ‘Aegis.’

“Come on, now! Here’s the few remaining fireworks we have, on the house! Go on!” said the ‘Hecatoncheir’ Doug Atlas, who was standing on the other side of the barrier.

He was using his telekinesis to move cannonball-type Demon King Familiars along the ground, which was not blocked off by the barrier.

“Here we go, then,” one of the Demon King Familiars said.

“If you need more of me, just hold on a little longer,” said another.

One after another, they struck Subavolo, causing him to roar in pain.

No matter how hard and sharp Subavolo’s fur was, they exploded upon the slightest contact… in fact, contact wasn’t even necessary, as Vandalieu could make them explode at will.

And the Demon King Familiars were made of fragments of the Demon King. No matter how sharp and hard Subavolo’s fur was, they were not as powerful as Guduranis. Thus, the Demon King shrapnel produced by the explosions easily pierced the defense provided by his fur.

But even as Subavolo writhed in pain, the barrier vanished. Believing that this was an opportunity, he attempted to begin a counter-attack.

But at that moment, arrows rained down upon him, fired by Miriam – who had acquired the ‘Holy Bow Princess’ Job. “How long do we have to wait, Vandalieu-san?! Please hurry! This evil god has really been scaring me!”

She had been frightened by Subavolo’s enormous form and his screams, but there was no hesitation in her movements as she raised her bow in the rain and fired her arrows. And the arrows she fired were also made of Demon King fragments and Orichalcum, so they were causing Subavolo considerable damage.

This was followed up by Arthur – who was backed up by not only Miriam, but his younger sister Kalinia and his childhood friend Borzofoy as well – performing a deadly technique he had created during his special training.

“Perish! ‘Demon King Sword!’” Arthur roared, sweeping his blade straight through Subavolo’s fur and into the side of his body.

“I shall not be outdone! ‘Demon King Sword!’” shouted Bone Man, performing the very same technique to sever one of Subavolo’s legs.

He had been so envious of Arthur that Arthur had taught it to him.

Subavolo howled in pain. “Why?! I am the one who is supposed to be doing the tormenting and butchering! This rain, if it wasn’t for this wretched rain, I would be able to torment these humans to death by destroying their lungs!”

During the battle against the champions’ army, Subavolo had specialized in spreading fur fragments almost invisible to the naked eye into the air around him. Humans who inhaled these fragments would have their lungs torn to pieces and eventually become unable to breathe.

But because of the rain that was falling only upon him, his fur fragments could not float in the air, instead falling uselessly onto the ground.

This was the doing of Bashas, the Goddess of Rain Clouds, who had not existed a hundred thousand years ago. In response to the songs sung by Ediria, as well as Bashas herself who resided in a vessel, rain clouds had gathered to provide rain – a blessing for Arthur and his allies, and a curse for Subavolo.

As Eleanora and Kanako joined the battle as well, with all of his fur and all four of his limbs lost, Subavolo was also enveloped inside Legion and sealed away.

• Name: Kühl

• Rank: 13

• Race: Vandalieu Slime

• Level: 70

• Title: Fake Vandalieu

• Passive skills:

  • Blunt Damage Nullification

  • Hunger Resistance: Level 3

  • Predator’s Super Restoration: Level 5 (Level Up!)

  • Precise Body Form Manipulation: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Secreted Poisonwork: Level 1

  • Magic Resistance: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Monstrous Strength: Level 1 (Awakened from Superhuman Strength!)

  • Physical Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Self-Enhancement: Guidance: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Enhanced Attribute Values: Mimicry: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

• Active skills:

  • Silent Steps: Level 7

  • Bloodwork: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Transcend Limits: Level 2 (Awakened from Surpass Limits!!)

  • Grow: Level 6

  • Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Coordination: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Charge: Level 3

  • Parallel Thought Processing: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Long-distance Control: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

  • Infest: Level 4

  • Mimicry: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)

• Unique skills:

  • Vandalieu’s Divine Protection

  • Skill Mimicry: Vandalieu: Level 2 (NEW!)