Chapter 171: An echoing scream

An echoing scream

『 The Levels of the Dark King Magic, Dark Demon Path Enticement, Automatic Mana Recovery, Thread Refining, Increased Mana Recovery Rate, Transcend Limits, Alchemy, Commanding, Group Binding Technique and Surpass Limits: Fragments Skills have increased!』

According to the previous challengers of the Trial of Zakkart, like the Majin king Godwin and the Dark Elf king Gizan, the floors of the Dungeon could generally be divided into three categories.

Firstly, the first to the thirty-fifth shallowest floors were riddle floors. They encouraged challengers to display acts like those of Zakkart and the other creation-oriented champions, and imposed deadly penalties upon those who acted like Bellwood and the other combat-oriented champions.

From the thirty-sixth to the seventy-second floors in the middle, including the desert floor that Vandalieu's party had cleared to level, there were no more visible riddles that needed solving.

Each floor had a different internal layout and presented a harsh environment, and they required battles against monsters that were adapted to these environments. The ability to survive through these was tested.

Three large silhouettes that appeared to be Titans wearing conspicuous, fluffy, black furs, as well as a floating man releasing pale sparks and a carriage that flew through the air, were passing through one of these middle floors.

"So, I suppose this means it's just an ordinary Dungeon? Shield Bash!" shouted the 'Saint of Healing' Jeena, driving her round shield into the stomach of a Yeti Berserker whose body was covered in white fur.

Her arm, which was far more powerful than her gentle-sounding Title would suggest, sent the Yeti Berserker flying towards the mass of ice behind it, blood pouring from its mouth.

A harsh-sounding dying scream drowned out the sound of the impact.

"That's how it is, isn't it?! I'm sure Gufadgarn's run out of tricks, too, right?!" said the 'Sword King' Borkus.

His enormous magic sword tore into the stomach of a Poison Wendigo that was even larger than him. It was a superior race of Wendigo, which looked related to Yetis at first glance but were actually Demon-type monsters. But to Borkus, even this Poison Wendigo was nothing more than small fry that he wouldn't lose to as long as he didn't let his guard down.

Jeena and Borkus had been A-class adventurers when they were alive; for them, these middle floors of the Trial of Zakkart didn't seem so difficult to clear as long as one didn't fail the riddle-solving of the earlier floors and become exhausted from getting through large groups of monsters and dangerous traps as a result.

Yeti Berserkers and Poison Wendigos were Rank 9. They were monsters that could be defeated without too much difficulty by an A-class adventurer party.

"Lightning Blade Wave! I don't think that's the case," said Zandia, the two-meter-tall Titan Zombie with the Title of 'Tiny Genius,' as she unleashed a magical blade of lightning to hold back a newly-appeared Poison Wendigo.

"Really? Both this icy field and the desert before it are just ordinary Dungeons other than the large amount of enemies," said Borkus.

"I agree with Borkus. Have you noticed something?" Jeena asked.

"Hmm, well, I didn't think it's surprising that neither of you noticed, but... I think these middle floors test not only the fighting strength of challengers, but their ability to adapt to different situations creatively," said Zandia.

"Adapt?"

"That's right. They're testing whether we can get through the monsters while adapting to the harsh environments. The dryness and sunlight of the desert, the marshland that releases poisonous fumes at irregular intervals, the forest of enormous mushrooms and molds filled with a fog of spores and even this ice field that's so cold that the monsters' blood freezes the moment we spill it. If we don't adapt to the environments well, we'll be killed by monsters that we'd normally be able to defeat," Zandia explained.

Living creatures were not always in their best conditions; their conditions varied greatly depending on their environments.

It would be difficult for most to display their ordinary abilities in a scorching-hot desert, a marshland with bad footing that emitted poisonous gas, a dark fungal forest with spores blocking visibility and this intensely cold ice field, whose ground was entirely ice and snow.

"I see," said Jeena. "We're not supposed to overcome these problems with resistance Skills, willpower, passion or fighting spirit; we're supposed to solve them with tools and magic. Maybe it's because you've become a Zombie Princess, but you've gotten smarter and smaller."

"Jeena-nee, you'd die before you learned any resistance Skills and it would be completely impossible with willpower alone," Zandia pointed out. "And I haven't become smaller."

As a result of their leveling, Zandia and Jeena had reached Rank 9 and 10 respectively. Their race titles had changed from Zombie Hero to Zombie Princess and Zombie Saint.

There was nothing different about their appearances... or at least, there shouldn't have been, but Jeena teased Zandia from time to time.

"Hey Princess, even if we're supposed to be creative, it'd be impossible if we didn't bring the materials and stuff with us beforehand!" said the Thunderbolt Ghost Kimberley, disagreeing with Zandia's theory as he released lightning attacks at the unarmed Yeti fighters and Yeti Berserkers.

Incidentally, Princess Levia wasn't participating on this floor because the Yeti Mages and Wendigos used water-attribute magic, and Orbia wasn't participating either because her body, which was becoming more and more material, would freeze if she lost her focus even a little.

"And there are way too many different types of environments!" Kimberley continued. "Even if you expected everything and brought everything you needed, you'd need an Item Box or you'd need to be Boss!"

As he said, there were limits to how much ordinary humans could carry. Weapons and armor were already considerably heavy; it would be impossible to move while carrying enough equipment to adapt to an ice field and a desert.

With repeated Job-changes, the physical abilities of the humans of this world could only be thought of as superhuman by those of Earth and Origin. But even such superhumans could not fight while carrying luggage several times larger than their own bodies.

"That's why you're supposed to use monster materials," Zandia said as she pierced a Wendigo with a light-attribute ray. "The carapaces of the Sandworms that appeared in the desert floor, the furs of the Yetis of this floor, there's all kinds of stuff, isn't there? I think Gufadgarn is telling us to gather things for ourselves and put them to use."

According to the records left in Vida's Resting Grounds, it was Zakkart and the other creation-oriented champions who had established the utilization of monster materials during the war against the Demon King.

Materials taken from monsters had been used as food and equipment before then, but technology and knowledge, such as which monsters' meat were suitable for consumption and which monsters' bones and fangs could be used as weapons, had not been shared between clans and settlements.

Hillwillow further developed the techniques used to process monster materials, and Ark discovered a way to use Alchemy to create even better equipment and items. Solder took their findings and inventions and compiled and edited them as knowledge, and Zakkart used this to create manuals for effective learning, teaching and to spread the knowledge to the craftsmen scattered across the regions.

Before that, the ways that monster materials were utilized had differed between regions and craftsmen, but with the champions' actions, the techniques were improved and shared.

But this achievement had been long forgotten in human societies. By the time the Demon King was defeated, the population of the world had shrunk to a mere three thousand, and the knowledge and techniques were lost.

And when Vida distanced herself from Alda, many of the people who had felt gratitude towards the creation-oriented champions followed her, causing even more loss of knowledge.

Farmaun had spread this knowledge to the people again when he founded the Adventurers' Guild, but because of that, there were many who credited Farmaun for the achievements of the other champions.

At the time, Farmaun had told the people that the achievements were those of Ark, Solder and the others, and there were even written records that this was the case, though he was still responsible for not allowing the knowledge and techniques to be lost completely.

But naturally, none of these circumstances mattered to Gufadgarn, who had no knowledge of what transpired in human society.

That was likely why the effective use of monster materials was a part of the Dungeon's trial.

"Hmm, I get what you're trying to say, but we haven't struggled much on these floors so far - BYOH?!" Jeena let out a strange noise and vanished.

The Jack Frost facing her, a snowman-shaped Demon, stopped moving in surprise as it lost sight of its enemy.

But Jeena soon reappeared, breaking the snow and ice beneath the Jack Frost's feet.

"Bah!" she gasped. "I take back what I said! It's just like you said, Zandia-chan, this is a harsh environment!"

It seemed that she had fallen into a crack in the ice that had been covered by snow.

"Jeena-nee, His-Majesty-kun told us to be careful of crevasses, didn't he? He said to not step anywhere other than where enemies have stepped on and where the snow has been blown away. Does 'saint' mean 'muscle-head' rather than 'holy person?'" said Zandia, casually mocking Jeena.

Jeena puffed out her cheeks.

"Other than the cracks in the ice, we haven't struggled that much," said Borkus. "Even the cracks... Sword Storm!"

The shockwave of Borkus's Sword King Technique martial skill sent two Yetis flying, along with the surrounding snow.

"We can't miss them if I do this! We do just fine even in the heat or cold, right?" Borkus said, resting his magic sword on his shoulder.

But the others didn't agree.

"I'm telling you, that's because we're Undead," said Zandia, narrowing her eyes. "Our senses are dull and the temperature being a little hot or cold has no effect on our condition."

As she said, as they were Undead, they were not affected by environments being somewhat harsh. Their bodies were not alive.

Human bodies would undergo large changes if their body water content dropped by a few percent or their body temperatures were lowered by as little as five degrees. They certainly wouldn't be able to fight normally; they would hallucinate and have severely impaired decision-making. If their body water content or body temperature dropped more than that, they would likely die before the monsters could kill them.

But Undead as a race were largely unaffected by such changes. As their senses were dulled, they wouldn't feel any mental stresses, either.

But that didn't mean that they were invincible.

"Ah, it might be that we are affected, even if we don't notice. My fingers are broken inside my gloves," said Jeena, only just realizing that her fingers had frozen and broken.

Even though she was a Zombie, she wasn't completely unfazed by temperatures low enough to freeze her body.

She was wearing heavy anti-cold equipment made of the Demon King's fur to keep the cold out, but... her usual body temperature was low and her body fluids didn't circulate, and perhaps this made her less suited to extremely cold temperatures than living humans.

"Yeah. Well, it's not normal to only get away with that little damage," said Zandia. "Thanks to His-Majesty-kun, things are easier for us in a number of ways... ah, it's His-Majesty-kun."

A creature that was completely covered in black fur, appearing to be a Yeti child... Vandalieu, who had activated the Demon King's fur and completely covered himself with it, emerged from within Sam's carriage that was moving along behind the Undead Titans.

Vandalieu, now a black furball, used Flight to approach Jeena and released Rita and Saria, whom he had equipped with Group Binding Technique.

"Jeena-san, we're changing places!" said Rita.

"Leave the rest to us," said Saria. "Our bodies are spirit form, after all. Please have Bellmond-san sew you up inside Father's carriage."

Living Armors like the twins had no physical bodies, so depending on the materials of their armor, they were unaffected by the extreme cold.

"Okay, thanks," said Zandia. "By the way, why isn't His-Majesty-kun talking?"

"Apparently it's because his lungs will freeze if he opens his mouth," said Rita.

"... It's said that children are outdoor creatures, but I suppose there's a limit to that," Jeena remarked.

"Boss, we should get more Undead like me that can withstand cold temperatures. Next time you're disposing of guys like the Ahrai family, leave it to me," said Kimberley.

And so, the cause of death of the villains in the next town that Vandalieu would visit was decided.

Having cleared the ice-field floor, Vandalieu and his companions were resting on the stairs between it and the next floor.

"Ah, it was so cold. I underestimated cold conditions a little. Even though I've never experienced such extreme cold, I was naïve," said Vandalieu.

"It's been a while since we felt cold, too," said Rita.

"Well, I think it was just us imagining the cold," said Saria.

Even in the Trial of Zakkart, the stairs were generally safe zones. But if one spent an entire day on the stairs or it was decided that the challengers had given up on clearing the Dungeon and were intending to use the stairs to survive, monsters would appear or the challengers would be forcibly teleported to the next floor.

But since they could rest here, perhaps it was less harsh than the B-class Dungeon that Vandalieu had created in his attempt to make an A-class Dungeon.

"Just exposing myself to the outside air steadily drained my Vitality; it was a very harsh place. I cannot really release my flames inside Sam's carriage, either," sighed Princess Levia, who was being used as a campfire.

She could produce enough heat to fight in rain or even blizzards as long as she was careful of the water vapor, but it seemed that the extreme cold that would even kill a human wearing insulating clothes had been impossible for her to cope with.

"I did not expect the cold to be so extreme that even my Comfort Maintenance Skill would not be able to maintain a pleasant temperature," said Sam.

"Was the Demon King's fur not warm, Master?" asked Luciliano, who had come outside for once now that the party was resting safely.

"Maybe because I'm not experienced at using it or maybe because the Demon King's body wasn't that strong against the cold to begin with, it seems that the Demon King's fur is less protective against the cold than Yeti fur," said Vandalieu.

Luciliano took note of Vandalieu's words.

"Well then, I shall make enough warm clothing for everyone here. There is no guarantee that there won't be another floor like that one ahead of us," said Tarea as she began work on the Yeti fur that Borkus and the others had gathered. "The quality will be quite rough, since I am making them quickly. Please don't mind if it looks unfashionable."

"I won't care. I'm counting on you... fuh, hot water is really good for a frozen body," said Borkus.

"It really is. I'm going to take a bath in Orbia every day from now on," said Jeena.

The two of them were soaking their frozen bodies in a liquid that had been heated by Princess Levia.

"Hey, you two, be more considerate. I feel bad for Orbia-san," said Zandia.

The liquid they were bathing in was the Dark Broad Ghost Orbia.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. You guys worked hard in the place of those of us who couldn't go outside. Van-kun, you should come here too," said Orbia, calling out to Vandalieu while she warmed Borkus and the others with her liquid tentacles.

But Vandalieu had something he needed to do before that.

"I need to eat first," he said.

Vandalieu had stepped onto the frontlines for the first time in a while on the ice fields, but other than that, he had spent almost all of his time eating. But it wasn't because he was slacking off; he had to provide all of the vitamins, calcium and chitin required by those he had equipped with Group Binding Technique - the insectoid and plant monsters, as well as Privel, Gizania and the others... he had accidentally gone and tamed a Huge Gluttony Worm, so the burden on him had increased sharply.

"So, it is impossible to supply all of them with just the Demon King's blubber?" said Luciliano.

He was asking whether Vandalieu could provide the nutrients required by his equipped monsters by activating the Demon King's blubber and using his Mana to create fat.

"It's possible, but it's not very efficient," Vandalieu replied. "I would have to constantly activate the Demon King's blubber, and considering that I'll have to use Dark King Magic when the time calls for it, it's harsh on my Mana. My Mana recovery won't keep up with the expenditure."

"I see... Incidentally, it seems that the food is ready," said Luciliano, stopping his pen and covering his nose.

"I followed the recipe, but... is Poison Wendigo entrail stew really edible, Van?" Basdia asked.

"I have heard that Yetis are not suitable for consumption; I think it is fine to eat other things, you know? It is said that Bushi show strength in the face of hunger*, or something," said Gizania.

TLN*: This is a Japanese saying means not showing weakness even in times of difficulty.

The two of them, who had been in charge of cooking inside Sam's carriage while Vandalieu was outside, brought out a stew that looked too colorful to be considered food.

"We can offer our meat. A few kilos will grow back in no time," said Legion as they looked at the stew's eye-piercing, fluorescent colors.

The others would have problems with this, even if Legion could regenerate, but most would accept Legion's offer rather than eat this stew.

"No, let's leave that as a last resort. I've erased the poisonous compounds with Disinfect," said Vandalieu.

Demons generally were not considered to be edible. The reason for this was that the bodies of many of them contained compounds that would harm the human body. Eating a Demon with 'poison' or 'venom' in its race title was nothing short of suicide.

But since Vandalieu had erased the poison with his magic, it should be possible to eat them. If one ignored how it looked, something could be done about the smell... the stink. Vandalieu steeled his resolve and put some of the stew in his mouth.

"... You two, it's more delicious than it looks," he said.

"Van, you don't have to force yourself," said Basdia.

"I want you to be honest," said Gizania.

"... It tastes just a little worse than Gobu-gobu," said Vandalieu.

The traditional preserved food of the Ghouls, Gobu-gobu, which turned the normally stinking, inedible meat of Goblins into something edible. Vandalieu found the stew a little worse than that food.

"As we expected," Basdia and Gizania said, nodding.

"It was like that for me when I tried it, too. The smell isn't as bad as how it looks, though," said Basdia.

"Both of us clapped at our success before we tried it," said Gizania.

Apparently, they had tasted it and decided that it was just barely acceptable.

In truth, it really was just barely acceptable. It couldn't be called delicious just because the poison was gone, however.

"What should we do? Should we give up on cooking?" Basdia asked.

Iris and Eleanora were currently cooking using the magical stove in Sam's carriage, though they were cooking Yetis, not Poison Wendigos.

Yeti meat was simply very fatty, and yet sinewy and hard. Generally, only the fat was taken from it; it wasn't normally a material that was used for food.

"Well, I'm sure it can become delicious depending on how it's cooked. Like putting it in a curry," said Vandalieu.

"... Even frogs and snakes are edible if you put curry powder on them and fry them, after all," muttered Ereshkigal, one of Legion's personalities.

Vandalieu nodded in agreement.

Of course, there were still things that tasted incredibly unpleasant even with curry powder applied to them, such as Goblin meat.

"I wonder how far Heinz and his companions cleared before they turned back?" said Vandalieu as he remembered Heinz, the target of his revenge, whose party were the only survivors of this Dungeon from human society.

"Well, Iris said it before, but they haven't spoken much about what happened in the Trial of Zakkart. There are only vague rumors, so we can't even guess," said Luciliano. "But Master, you are unusually interested in them, aren't you? I believe the statue of the person who was apparently their party member was discovered in the lower floors."

One of Vandalieu's objectives was to acquire the corpse of the Elf spirit-user Martina, the Five-colored Blades' only casualty, in order to turn her into an Undead. But this was supposed to be quite low on his list of priorities.

Of course, he would readily give up on this objective if it was necessary to resurrect Darcia or if it would threaten the safety of his companions.

Vandalieu had said this before entering the Trial of Zakkart; was it possible that he had changed his mind?

But Luciliano's worries were needless.

"No, I'm relatively uninterested in that, but I was just wondering how far Heinz and his companions made it with their abilities at the time," said Vandalieu.

What interested him was how strong Heinz and his companions had been at the time, and based on that, how difficult the Trial of Zakkart was.

How far could they get while leveling up and testing their new equipment - in other words, how far could they get before they started struggling? It seemed that Vandalieu was trying to figure this out.

"The first time Heinz and his companions faced the Dungeon, they were fewer in number and less capable than when they fought Ternecia. I was thinking that we would be able to force our way through and continue leveling on the floors that they were able to clear," Vandalieu explained.

"Well, that's true," said Borkus.

At the time, Heinz and his party had been not only strong as adventurers, but had been equipped with various Magic Items to withstand the harsh environments, possessed deep knowledge regarding monsters and were, overall, highly capable.

But as they were now, Vandalieu's party were superior to that party in every aspect. In fighting strength, numbers, materials and prior knowledge. Heinz's party at the time couldn't even be compared to Vandalieu's.

The path that Heinz's party had used all of their desperate efforts to pass through was equivalent to a well-maintained mountain path for Vandalieu's party.

"Isn't what we heard from Godwin-san and the others enough to figure that out?" said Darcia, mentioning Godwin's party, whom Vandalieu could compare his party to. "Or maybe they aren't useful as a reference here, since they mostly cleared the Dungeon in the correct way?"

"That's right, Mom," said Vandalieu.

Godwin and his party had proceeded through the Trial of Zakkart with the correct answers, thanks to Gizan and other knowledgeable individuals. The fighters like Godwin had forcibly cleared their way through when they really couldn't figure out the correct answers, but the number of floors they had cleared this way was low.

And as expected, Godwin's party had faced the harsh environments like the desert and the ice fields in the proper manner. They had waited for the scorching sun to set and then quickly crossed the desert during the night, and they had made cold-weather gear from monster materials and kept themselves hidden as they crossed the ice fields in order to keep their battles to a minimum.

Apparently, even the battle-crazed Godwin didn't like fighting in disadvantageous circumstances.

Since Vandalieu's party were fighting large armies of monsters head-on and leveling up as they proceeded, Heinz and his companions were a better reference point, as they would have likely made their way through the Dungeon with the wrong methods.

"Well, there is no use in thinking about it. It's possible that we passed where Heinz and his party cleared up to long ago," said Vandalieu.

"Master, I would say that we have," said Luciliano.

"Ah, I am of the same opinion. I would say so too," said Tarea.

"Me too," said Jeena.

The three of them thought that they had already passed through where Heinz's party had managed to get to.

"They were A-class adventurers at the time, right? And this was years before they fought the Pure-breed Vampires and their subordinates," said Basdia.

"Unless the quality of A-class adventurers has gone up a few steps since I was an adventurer myself, I think the limit would be around the desert floor," said Jeena.

The monsters appearing on the middle floors were mostly Rank 8 to 10, with perhaps a single Rank 11 or 12 monster per floor. One might assume that four A-class adventurers would be able to clear them as long as they could get past the most powerful monsters.

But continuing to clear the floors would cause fatigue to build up, as well as mental and physical stresses due to the environments that changed significantly from floor to floor. And if they didn't keep replenishing their supplies effectively, they would gradually run out.

"And I have not heard that they had a skilled craftsman like myself among them to use the materials to repair their equipment," said Tarea. "Well, even an amateur would be able to patch together furs taken from Yetis, but... extensive movement while fighting would cause them to fall apart."

And the A-class adventurers of this world were superhumans that would only exist in movies and comics on Earth. Hastily-made cold-weather clothing wouldn't be able to withstand their incredible physical abilities.

"I see... then I suppose we'll only be able to keep leveling for a few more floors. Though we might reach the lower floors before then," said Vandalieu.

Meanwhile, Rodcorte had finished making all kinds of preparations, and he was now about to detach Lambda from his system, along with Earth and Origin.

The fact that he had carried out all of this work in just a few days showed how much impatience and danger he felt.

"Hey, let's stop this!" Aran pleaded.

He and the other familiar spirits were desperately trying to talk some sense into Rodcorte.

"If you actually detach a world from the system, three of them at that, there's no telling what malfunctions will occur. Isn't that right?!" shouted Endou Kouya.

"And you've been doing everything you can to develop Lambda, haven't you?! Are you really just going to give it all up?!" said Shimada Izumi.

"Your words are reasonable. I have no experience in detaching worlds that are connected to the system," said Rodcorte. "It seems that I will become very busy in dealing with the malfunctions that will occur when I detach Lambda and the other worlds from the circle of transmigration system. And the thirty years I spent using you will go to waste. The loss of not only Lambda but Earth and Origin as well is not a small loss to me."

If Rodcorte went through with this, he would likely feel something like a body blow that would continue damaging him for a long time. It would take hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years to return to normal.

But it would be fortunate for him to resolve things by receiving a single body blow.

"But if I act now, things will end with that," said Rodcorte.

Kouya and Izumi gave small groans in response to this answer.

"The gods of Lambda have sided with Vandalieu; if he begins breaking human souls indiscriminately, the entire system will suffer fatal malfunctions," Rodcorte continued. "As he is the reincarnation of the champions, humans that are not members of Vida's races or believers of Vida should have no value to him. There is no telling when he will commit genocide -"

"You know that he won't do something like that, right?! Just look at his past actions!" shouted Aran.

According to Aran's analysis with Calculation of the data gathered so far, Vandalieu was a non-pragmatist who prioritized his emotions, and his mind fell into the virtuous category.

It was true that he created Undead and didn't hesitate to kill or even make food out of humans he considered his enemies. His actions followed a sense of values that couldn't be ignored by human society.

But he followed his own rules, and Aran thought that these rules were quite open-minded. At the very least, he wouldn't commit indiscriminate genocide unless he was heavily cornered... even at the point where Aran and the others might consider it inevitable, Vandalieu likely wouldn't go through with it for a while, though it was unlikely that he would hesitate to commit indiscriminate genocide.

Even if he toyed with the dead and applied his brainwashing-like charm to spirits, Aran had no complaints.

"That may have been true up until now, but how can you say for certain that he will not do so in the future?" said Rodcorte.

He did not understand human emotions; to go further, he was a god who did not trust humans. Vandalieu had already gone insane; Rodcorte couldn't believe that he would not become even more deranged.

"Even if he wanted to do that, the gods that are his allies, Vida and Ricklent, should stop him!" said Kouya.

"That is questionable, Endou Kouya. Just like the gods of Origin and Earth," said Rodcorte.

He didn't trust gods other than himself, even if he did predict how they would act based on their history and the information he knew about them.

Based on these predictions, Vandalieu resented Rodcorte, and there was no telling when he would cross a line to clear that resentment. Vida, Ricklent and Zuruwarn should be stopping him; in Rodcorte's eyes, they were all insane.

A hundred thousand years ago, Vida had repeatedly performed futile deeds in an attempt to resurrect Zakkart, and having feelings of dissatisfaction towards Rodcorte, she had plotted to rule over reincarnation herself. He could understand her dissatisfaction and distrust, but dividing the world that had just been saved from the Demon King and creating new seeds of conflict could only be considered an act of madness.

Things might have been fine if Ricklent and Zuruwarn had just accepted Vida's actions and criticized Rodcorte for sending the reincarnated individuals to Lambda, but they had become the allies of Vandalieu, who threatened the world's stability and order like the Demon King Guduranis once did.

And the god of Origin had stolen the souls of the reincarnated individual Minuma Hitomi and the Eighth Guidance from Rodcorte's system and handed them to Ricklent and Zuruwarn.

The gods of Earth, like the other gods, were hostile towards Rodcorte as well. According to the records from the members of the Legston family, Vandalieu had apparently acquired the divine protection of a god of another world. That could only be the gods of Earth.

One could guess that it was the gods of Earth, where Zakkart and the other champions were born, but Vandalieu himself was a being that had no relation to Earth. It should be impossible for the gods of Earth to give such a being their divine protection.

So it had to be the gods of Earth after all.

That was the kind of god they were. It was possible that they would remain silent even if Vandalieu committed indiscriminate mass-murder and genocide.

At this rate, Peria and Botin, who were either slumbering or sealed away, were suspicious as well. They were gods who had been involved with the creation-oriented champions in the past; wouldn't they go completely insane? These wild thoughts that were almost delusions ran through Rodcorte's mind.

"The only great god of these worlds that has remained sane is Alda," said Rodcorte.

That was what he believed. If Ricklent were to hear these words, his emotions would go past anger and turn into pity, or perhaps he would give a scornful laugh.

"So... what will happen to the humans of those worlds and us reincarnated individuals?" asked Aran, throwing this question at Rodcorte with the feeling that every option had been exhausted.

"Those worlds... Earth and Origin are particularly likely to be destroyed within a few years to a few decades. The reincarnation of not only humans, but all life, including plants and animals, will cease," said Rodcorte.

Reincarnation would no longer occur in worlds separated from the system. Thus, the next generation of all plants and animals, including humans, would be born as bodies with no souls.

There would likely be almost no effect in plants. But the more intelligent and needing of consciousness an animal species was, the greater the effect would be on it... life forms that would not even feed themselves would grow in number, so it would be a serious problem.

It was possible that lost spirits would enter the bodies, but... that would be something like a fox possession*. They could not be considered normal.

TLN*: This is a thing in Japanese folklore, where people are possessed by fox spirits.

Leaving Earth aside, it could be assumed that the spontaneous rising of Undead would increase explosively in Origin and Lambda. The world would be filled with spirits that had nowhere to go, and even if one were to try and purify them, they had no circle of transmigration to return to.

"It is likely that Earth and Origin will become worlds filled with only plants and primitive creatures that move based on their instincts and reflexes," said Rodcorte. "Considering that, Lambda will suffer the least damage. As Vida's and the Demon King's circle of transmigration systems exist in addition to my own, those guided by Vandalieu, members of Vida's races and monsters will undergo reincarnation."

It was ironic that the world Vandalieu lived in would suffer the least damage despite the fact that he was the reason why Rodcorte was detaching the worlds from the system in the first place.

"I get what's going to happen to the worlds. What's going to happen to our friends?!" asked Izumi.

"Those that are still alive in Origin will keep the cheat-like abilities, fortunes and destinies that I gave them. While they are still alive, that is," said Rodcorte. "Once their second lives are over, they will wander the world with nowhere to go, just like the rest of the people of Origin."

As their connection to the system would be severed, Amemiya Hiroto and the others would not be able to reincarnate in Lambda, nor would they be able to come to Rodcorte's Divine Realm. The program that Rodcorte had created would no longer function.

Their second lives would be their last.

"There were many who thought negatively of their third reincarnation. For them, I think it is not all so bad," said Rodcorte.

"So then... what will happen to Asagi and Mao who have already been reincarnated in Lambda?!" Aran demanded.

"... Whatever happens will happen. At the very least, they will not die as a direct result of this event. Depending on how Alda, Vida and the rest of the gods deal with it, they may end up wandering endlessly after their deaths."

Even if they could not undergo reincarnation, that didn't mean they would die immediately. It simply meant that they could not be reborn naturally.

"We should expect Vida and Vandalieu to take responsibility and conduct reincarnation properly. It is even possible that Zuruwarn teaches the gods of Earth and Origin how to create circle of transmigration systems, preventing the worlds' destruction," said Rodcorte.

"S-STOOOOOOP!" Aran and the others screamed, but as they were Rodcorte's familiar spirits, they could not directly interfere with him.

Rodcorte ignored their screams and began performing the work needed to sever the connection between the worlds and his system.

In the next moment, what sounded like a dying scream echoed across the Divine Realm.

"Gih? GYAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The source of the scream was none other than Rodcorte himself.

Name: Jeena Rank: 10 Race: Zombie Saint Level: 65 Title: Saint of Healing, Saint of Muscles Passive skills: Dark Vision Mental Corruption: Level 6 Monstrous Strength: Level 1 (Awakened from Superhuman Strength!) Physical Resistance: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!) Augmented Mana: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!) Strengthened Attribute Values: Religious Faith: Level 8 Strengthened Defense Power when equipped with a Shield: Large Poison Resistance: Level 5 Cold Resistance: Level 1 (NEW!) Active skills: No-Attribute Magic: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!) Life King Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!) Mana Control: Level 7 Halberd Technique: Level 10 Saint Shield Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!) Surpass Limits: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!) Surpass Limits - Magic Shield: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!) Familiar Spirit Descent: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!) Long-distance Control: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!) Spirit Form: Level 4 Chant Revocation: Level 3 (NEW!) Coordination: Level 2 (NEW!) Unique skills: Healing Effect Enlargement: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):

[Zombie Saint]

A legendary kind of Undead recorded in the Mages' Guild's documents. According to those documents, there has only been a single recorded case of such an Undead appearing, when a saint was prosecuted for a crime they did not commit, executed with bitter emotions and then tempted by an evil god to become an Undead.

It is said that the Undead destroyed a kingdom and spread disaster wherever it went until it was purified by a hero with the divine protection of Alda.

As an Undead researcher, it is... or was, a dream to create such an Undead one day.

Because she organized the bodybuilding tournament, Jeena has acquired the 'Saint of Muscles' Title and an overpowering physical strength unbefitting of a saint. In addition, she has acquired Life King Magic, which is the superior life-attribute magic Skill, increased the Level of her Augmented Mana Skill and even acquired the Chant Revocation Skill. Thus, she is capable of conducting both physical and magical battles with high proficiency.

Her fighting strength surpasses the Zombie Saint in the Mages' Guild's records... though her usual behavior and speech is completely different from that of a saint.

Name: Zandia Rank: 9 Race: Zombie Princess Level: 88 Title: Tiny Genius Passive skills: Dark Vision Superhuman Strength: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!) Magic Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!) Augmented Mana: Level 10 Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 3 (NEW!) Increased Attack Power while equipped with a Staff: Medium (NEW!) Cold Resistance: Level 1 (NEW!) Active skills: No-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Life-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Light-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Water-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Earth-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Space-Attribute Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!) Time-Attribute Magic: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!) Precise Mana Control: Level 1 (Awakened from Mana Control!) Dismantling: Level 1 Chant Revocation: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!) Aura of Fear: Level 3 (NEW!) Unique skills: Genius of Magic Ricklent's Divine Protection (NEW!)

Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):

[Zombie Princess]

This is likely a race title that can only be attained through a Rank increase by a high-class Undead that is worthy of being called an Undead princess rather than a person of noble birth becoming an Undead after death.

Several cases of this race title should have appeared in history, but there are no records left of them.

Zandia inflicts mental damage on those who look at her with her Aura of Fear, and she is capable of attacking with advanced spells. Perhaps because she has gained Ricklent's divine protection, her Time-Attribute Magic stands above her magic of the other attributes.

She is likely the second magical girl.