Chapter 27

Volume 2: The Sunken Continent's Capital, Talosheim

The Spies that Marshal Palpapek had sent out to follow the Ghouls' tracks came back soon after reaching the Boundary Mountain Range, just as he had expected.

The report they gave was a strange one, something like,「The mountain range was too precipitous for carriages to pass over, but for some reason there were traces of carriages passing over them.」

Could the Dhampir have turned the carriages into special Magic Items? No, probably not.

「However, the fact that they crossed the mountain range is a fact. With that being the case, giving further chase would be impossible.」(Thomas)

After receiving this report, Thomas Palpapek readily gave up on the Dhampir extermination that the Vampire had requested of him.

In the first place, for him, dealing with the Dhampir wasn't something that he absolutely had to succeed in doing.

It was not as if the Vampires would kill him for failing; he would not lose his own life. His position as the marshal and his court rank as earl were solid and firm.

He would simply use another opportunity to fulfill the Vampires' requests, endure the finance minister's unpleasantries and focus on dealing with this political opponent. This mistake was certainly one that he could recover from.

Of course, he was angry at the Dhampir and his pride had been scarred. But even so, Thomas Palpapek wasn't a naïve enough man to try to finish the Dhampir with no regard for the costs.

「That is how it is. Sorry, but I will not be able to assist you people any further with finishing this Dhampir.」(Thomas)

That was why he wore a calm expression as he delivered this information to the Vampire's familiar that had come to his room as usual. Though the Vampire often mocked Thomas with his words, he would have also expected that Thomas would give up on the chase.

Defeating that Dhampir shouldn't be a completely necessary task for the Vampires, either.

「... According to your theories, that Dhampir is the Ghoul King and he is now headed beyond the mountain range, correct?」(Vampire)

That was why Thomas felt a little surprise when the Vampire spoke not words of ridicule, but this question in a sour tone.

「That is right.」(Thomas)

「Tch, things have become troublesome. Oi, you really cannot assist us any further? You cannot try to make something happen?」(Vampire)

Even through the familiar, Thomas could hear clear impatience in the Vampire's voice that he never would have expected. It was as if the Vampire had made some huge blunder.

「Send out a request for adventurers, or stir up that religious fanatic, you cannot do anything?」(Vampire)

「To be making suggestions that you yourself know to be impossible, you seem to be quite flustered.」(Thomas)

Indeed, it was possible to send out a request to the Adventurers' Guild without mobilizing the soldiers and knights, as long as the funds were there. However, one would have to risk their life just to cross the mountain range. What kind of whimsical people would accept a request that required them to cross this mountain range that contained an unknown number of Devil's Nests, eliminate a Dhampir who was traveling with hundreds of Ghouls and then cross the mountain range again to return home?

Even if he offered enough money to bring his family of earls to ruin, it was likely that none would accept it.

Even the renowned religious fanatic High Priest Gordan had wanted to give chase, but the Church had persuaded him otherwise and he had already left this land for his next holy task.

「What is the matter? Are you saying that there is something special about this Dhampir?」(Thomas)

「... It has nothing to do with the likes of you!」(Vampire)

With a shout that didn't even attempt to conceal the Vampire's irritation, the familiar took off through the open window. Thomas had a puzzled expression on his face, but he decided that if it had nothing to do with him, he was better off not knowing. And so he stopped giving the matter any further thought.

Even though there were dealings between him and the Vampires, it was not as if he wanted all secrets to be shared. In fact, there were many things that he was better off not knowing.

There was certainly something special about that Dhampir. If there wasn't, there was no way that it could have survived as a breast-feeding infant and then brought the Ghouls together.

However, this level of「something special」wasn't enough for Thomas to pay the Dhampir any particular caution as the nation's marshal. The Orbaume Kingdom contained powerful monsters. This country was constantly exposed to a huge number of threats. The Dhampir was only one more threat added to that number.

It was not a pleasant incident, but it was nothing to become flustered about and make a commotion over.

As long as the nation's military strength and economic power were gradually increased while keeping their guard up, there was nothing to fear.

No matter how much power that Dhampir and the Ghouls amassed, they wouldn't be able to destroy a fortress in a single instant like a high-Rank Dragon would.

Noticing that the black tea in his cup had gone stone-cold, he called a servant to replace it. He decided that after drinking this tea, he would take a rest and stop paying any further thought to the Vampire who seemed like he would be busy soon.

The Vampire whose familiar had flown out of the marshal's house... Sercrent Ozba was a man whose appearance suited his position as a nobleman of Vampire society.

But right now, he was clicking his tongue over and over, scratching his head and violently swirling the red liquid inside his glass.

「Foolish, so foolish, damn it all!」(Sercrent)

If other Vampires could see Sercrent loudly grinding his fangs together, they would question his nobility, but he didn't have the luxury of worrying about his manners right now.

As Thomas Palpapek had guessed, the appearance of a Dhampir wasn't a threat to the Vampires who followed the evil gods. It was an event*.

TLN*: This is "event" as in like an in-game event

Leaving cases where the parent was a Pure-breed aside, Dhampirs didn't pose a threat when the Vampire parent was a Noble-born or Subordinate Vampire. They would simply execute both parents, and the one who had succeeded in doing so would be praised by the high-ranking individuals that ruled the faction.

It was just a game like that.

However, there were some exceptions.

Those exceptions were when the Dhampir matured to adulthood, amassed his own power or headed to the Bahn Gaia continent's southern region... The warhammer's handle that was separated from the head by the mountain range.

Sercrent had been commanded by the Pure-breed Vampire that was his『parent』to at least prevent these from happening.

As adult Dhampirs possessed roughly the same strength in battle as their Vampire parents while having almost none of the weaknesses of Vampires, there was a high chance that they would become troublesome enemies.

If such Dhampirs gathered power, they would be able to use their strength to create powerful organizations. There had been a case where an entire country was ruined and the Vampire community hiding that country's shadows was annihilated. The leader of the mercenary group that had achieved this feat was a Dhampir. Though that fact wasn't widely known in human society, it was a well-known story among Vampires.

And the southern region of the continent beyond the Boundary Mountain Range was still inhabited by Vampires who followed the goddess Vida. Though their overall numbers were low, many of them were surviving Pure-breed Vampires. There were even whispers that some of them had fought alongside the True Ancestor against the god Alda and the heroes a hundred thousand years ago.

If Dhampirs were to join the faction of Vampires that followed Vida, in the worst case scenario, there could even be a war between the two factions. Though it was difficult to believe, the Vampires of the Vida faction felt no shame in recognizing Dhampirs as Vida's children, even if they possessed mixed blood. There was no knowing what they would do.

But Sercrent didn't have to worry about that. The traitor, the Subordinate Vampire whose only redeeming quality was his strength against sunlight, had already been dealt with. He had passed information about the Dark Elf mother to Marshal Palpapek, and as a result, that religious fanatic had burned her at the stake.

He had not managed to finish off the crucial one, the Dhampir, but there was no way for an infant of breast-feeding age to survive on its own.

That should have been the case, but for some reason, it had appeared in a Devil's Nest and was even leading a pack of Ghouls. Even so, the marshal had mobilized the army to eliminate it, so Sercrent had thought that would be the end of it.

That was why he hadn't stepped out to deal with it personally, nor had he dispatched his subordinates to do it.

However, Sercrent's expectations had proved to be naïve. The Dhampir had somehow led the Ghouls across the mountain range.

It was possible that they were simply traveling along the mountain range while slipping through the sight of the marshal's Spies, but even Sercrent knew that relying on that possibility without any confirmation was dangerous.

「This cursed, audacious, mixed-blood child! You have done things in the wrong order!」(Sercrent)

How could he gather power before even becoming an adult and cross that extremely dangerous mountain range?! Sercrent murmured these words, to which Vandalieu would undoubtedly reply,「Because you guys drove us into a corner!」Deciding to report to the Noble-born Vampire that was his superior, he stood up and rearranged his disheveled hair with a comb.

He really didn't want to report his failure, but he was bound by magic in such a way that he couldn't neglect to do this.

Sercrent was the one pulling on the strings attached to the back of the Mirg shield-nation's marshal, Earl Thomas Palpapek, but he was just another Vampire in a management position.

「Ah, jeez, why have the materials been processed so badly?! There's pieces of meat still stuck to the Wyvern hides, and this Needle Wolf fur is full of holes! I am sure you just used your claws to make this mess. Did you forget about all the times I told you to use knives?!」(Tarea)

After coming down from the mountain range, Tarea had become incredibly lively. She seemed to have become a different person after her condition had improved.

It was almost enough to make Vandalieu think that her weakness had simply been caused by altitude sickness. However, Tarea's old age hadn't changed, so he would use[Youth Transformation]on her once things had settled down.

「Well then, we'll be going to take a look inside the Devil's Nest.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu had recovered his Mana after resting overnight and had decided to do a reconnaissance inside the Devil's Nest before bringing everyone inside. He could have scouted with Lemures and Undead bugs, but he would be able to see the most with his own two eyes.

And there was also a need to test how much the Undead of the Devil's Nest ruins were willing to obey him.

The scouting members were Vandalieu, Sam, Saria, Rita, Bone Bird, Zadiris and several Ghouls of Rank 4 and above.

The rest of the Ghouls would be protected by the Ghoul warriors led by Vigaro as well as Bone Monkey and the rest of the Undead.

「Leave everything to us!」(Vigaro)

「Make sure you come back safely, Van. It's a man's job to go out, hunt prey and then return to where the women are waiting.」(Basdia)

「Yes. Basdia, please take care of her as well.」(Vandalieu)

Leaving the Live-Dead in Basdia's care, Vandalieu departed with his party. He looked as if he was going on an excursion, but he was aware of the heavy responsibilities placed on him.

In the Devil's Nests ruins that he was stepping into, he had to secure a source of food for the six hundred or so Ghouls and monsters. Vandalieu was the one who had led them here, after all.

Since Vandalieu could stop decomposition with death-attribute magic, there was no cost to preserving food other than some of his Mana, and it seemed that there was a clear stream of water flowing from the mountain range into the waterways of the ruins, so water wouldn't be inconvenient to find either. Even so, his heavy responsibilities were heavy indeed.

「Do not be so nervous, your shoulders are stiff... They are very stiff, boy.」(Zadiris)

「Ah, right there, fuu... This is heaven.」(Vandalieu)

The boy who would soon turn three years old was having his shoulders massaged by the woman who would turn two hundred and ninety three this year (post-Youth-Transformation). Now that Vandalieu thought about it, this might have been the first time he was experiencing someone massaging his shoulders. His eyelids fluttered in response to the intense pleasure.

「Ah, no, I can't fall asleep when we're about to leave. Sam, let's go.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu immediately erased the sleepiness that he was feeling with his passive skill,[Status Effect Resistance.]

『Certainly.』(Sam)

And so Vandalieu and his party stepped foot into the Devil's Nest ruins.

The Devil's Nest ruins consisted of smaller Devil's Nests with different properties. The central area was a Devil's Nest with no signs of life other than vines and moss, and it was surrounded by a Devil's Nest of ruins that had been swallowed by a forest.

Though they were all part of the same ruins, since there were clearly different regions, it was highly likely that the monsters that appeared in the regions would be different.

And that quickly proved to be true.

「JUGAAAAAH!!」

With a strange-sounding roar, a monster that looked like a three-meter-long wolf with countless needles growing from its back attacked them. It was one of the monsters that had attacked the Ghouls on their journey across the mountain range; Vandalieu and the Ghouls had been calling them「Needle Wolves.」

They were about Rank 3 in strength and though they were wolf-like in appearance, they didn't form packs and mostly appeared on their own.

『EIYAH!』(Rita)

「Gyubih?!」(Needle Wolf)

And though they were ferocious, they were not very intelligent. Normal adventurers would struggle to deal with those fangs, claws and the needles that covered the fur of their backs, but it was a foe that the Living Bikini Armor Rita could easily turn the tables on.

Incidentally, though the Needle Wolves were like wolves, their meat was rich and delicious. Also, the fur on their bellies was soft and fluffy, making it perfect to use in clothes and rugs.

「I've just thought of this, but could it be that these things aren't hedgehog-like wolves, but wolf-like hedgehogs?」(Vandalieu)

『That could be the case; they do not form packs, after all.』(Sam)

Well, either way, one Needle Wolf provided almost two hundred kilograms of food including its organs, so they were good prey to hunt.

As the Ghouls prepared to drain the blood from the Needle Wolf, a spray of water came from the river... the waterway.

「SHAAAAH!」

Three sharks with bodies over two meters long leapt at the Ghouls from the water with their mouths open, teeth bared.

「UOOOOH?!」(Ghoul)

「Fish aren't supposed to fly!」(Ghoul)

Stepping in front of the Ghoul warriors who were surprised at the sight of flying sharks attacking them, Zadiris chanted her[Air Attack]spell, creating a fist of air that punched one of the sharks hard.

Vandalieu blasted a second shark with a[Mana Bullet]with as much Mana as he could fit into it, while Rita took the head of the third with a[Single Flash]from her glaive.

『Father, this is my first time seeing fish this large.』(Rita)

『This may be a dolphin or a whale creature that I have heard stories about.』(Sam)

「Hooh, Sam-dono, you are well-informed. In the Devil's Nest that we came from, there were no such large fish or aquatic monsters. And you lot, why did you lose your presence of mind just from seeing these whales fly?! Have you all been slacking since your Ranks increased?!」(Zadiris)

「S-sorry, Chief.」(Ghoul)

「Grr, we have embarrassed ourselves. Next time, we won't be surprised by flying whales.」(Ghoul)

「No, I think they're sharks?」(Vandalieu)

Sam had always lived in an inland area with no nearby ocean and only knew about aquatic creatures from what he had heard from others, while Zadiris was only familiar with river fish. As Vandalieu explained that they were sharks, not whales, he remembered seeing a low-budget movie with similar scenes. He named these monsters「Flying Sharks.」

「For now, let's avoid draining monster blood near the waterways.」(Vandalieu)

Since sharks were sensitive to the smell of blood, if they drained monster blood near the waterways, they might have to fight an endless stream of Flying Sharks.

Draining the monsters' blood was only to make them weigh a little less anyway, since he could preserve the meat using death-attribute magic.

They decided to get away from the waterway, take apart the Flying Shark whose head had been cut off and take only the liver and fillets of meat with them. They tossed these in the back of Sam's carriage along with the Needle Wolf before continuing their journey.

『Bocchan, why are we taking the fillets with us?』(Sam)

「If you prepare it right, I think it's a food ingredient that's good for the body.」(Vandalieu)

If Vandalieu recalled, shark fillets were good if they were dried after having the skin removed? He had a good feeling that they would be high-quality ingredients... Though he didn't have high hopes for the liver oil as they weren't deep-sea sharks.

They headed deeper into the Devil's Nest, aiming for the region that the Undead appeared in, and as they passed by a half-collapsed building -

「Ah, an enemy attack from inside the building.」(Vandalieu)

Just as Vandalieu said that, a number of large creatures covered in scales jumped out of the building.

They possessed eyes with vertical-slit pupils like reptiles, mouths filled with teeth just as sharp as the Flying Sharks and stood upright on their rear legs that had claws like knives. They were only around two meters tall, but other than that, they were exactly like dinosaurs.

However, Vandalieu pinpointed where they were hiding in advance with[Sense Life], so though they were planning to take the Ghouls by surprise, the Ghoul warriors reacted immediately and defeated them one-sidedly.

「Oooooh...」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu gazed at the motionless dinosaurs with an emotionally-moved expression on his face.

He had felt the same way when he saw Wyverns for the first time, but this was a real dinosaur... Creatures that could only be seen as extinct fossils on Earth and in Origin.

In elementary school on Earth, Vandalieu's uncle had forced him to cancel his participation in the school excursion to the museum. For him, dinosaurs were a symbol of prehistoric times, and seeing an impressive dinosaur skeleton in a museum one day was one of the things he had wanted to do before he died.

「Boy, I think we should be moving on...?」(Zadiris)

「King, these huge lizards, do they taste good?」(Ghoul)

『Let me see, they do not seem to be of a Dragon race...』(Sam)

However, for Zadiris and the others, since they were not Dragons, they were simply Rank 3 or 4 lizard monsters, so they were puzzled to see Vandalieu acting like this.

「... If we can collect enough to use as materials and have some left over, maybe I can make skeleton specimens for my own personal museum.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu only realized the confusion of the others quite some time after his dreams grew.

After the dinosaur... Raptor attack, Vandalieu and his party were attacked several more times.

They were attacked by small-fry monsters like Goblins that could be found anywhere and enormous Dragonflies. Even the Ents that Vandalieu had only rarely encountered because of the deforestation by Bugogan's village had slow movements, so they were not difficult enemies to defeat as long as they were careful of the branches and vines that they swung to attack.

They also fought some stronger monsters of Rank 4 and above including another Raptor attack, an enormous, five-meter-long Saber Tiger and a Horn Bull that attacked by shooting the thirty-centimeter-long horns that grew all over its entire body.

And what they learned through all this was -

『There are quite a lot of monsters in this Devil's Nest.』(Sam)

『Really. It's good that there is a lot of prey, but we're hardly making any progress.』(Saria)

There were so many monsters, and most of them were ferocious. Monsters attacking of their own accord made it more convenient for Ghouls to hunt them, and if they were of this strength, small groups led by Ghouls of Rank 4 or higher wouldn't have any problems defeating them as long as they didn't let their guards down.

But since the attacks were so frequent, Vandalieu's party hadn't even traveled one kilometer since entering the Devil's Nest ruins. Even taking into account the fact that there were crumbled buildings and roads that they couldn't pass through because they had been overgrown with vegetation, it was a pace so slow that it was hard to say that the search was making any progress.

「Is it because adventurers don't come here that there are so many monsters?」(Vandalieu)

「That is probably part of the reason, but there are probably no Ghouls in this Devil's Nest. That is why even though the Needle Wolves are unintelligent, the Goblins that are supposed to be cowardly and seemingly intelligent monsters like Raptors attack us. They do not know how powerful we are.」(Zadiris)

Adventurers didn't come to thin the monster population in these Devil's Nest ruins that was sandwiched by the Boundary Mountain Range on both sides. That was why the monster population here just kept growing.

In addition, since Ghouls didn't inhabit this Devil's Nest, the monsters didn't know how strong Zadiris and the Ghouls were and simply attacked these「intruders.」

If these theories were correct, the Ghouls would have to hunt the monsters in the adventurers' place for a while. If the monsters learned how strong the Ghouls were and stopped attacking them, this place could become a perfect environment to build a village in.

「Well, it seems that most of the monsters have stopped attacking us already.」(Zadiris)

Zadiris glanced at the line of Living Dead walking in succession behind Sam - Vandalieu had turned the prey that wouldn't fit into Sam's carriage into Undead.

Many monsters were ferocious and wouldn't even hesitate to kill other members of their own race. Even so, they would not bare their fangs aggressively at members of their own race unless they were starving, cornered or the conditions greatly favored them for the fight.

The sight of members of their own race that had been killed and turned into Undead was easy-to-understand proof to the monsters that Vandalieu and his party were stronger than them.

Needle Wolves and Goblins still continued to attack them recklessly, however.

「Also, let's make sure to avoid the waterways as we proceed.」(Vandalieu)

「Indeed, those creatures were sensitive to the smell of blood.」(Zadiris)

Wary of the Flying Sharks, the line of Undead proceeded to make their way towards the center of the Devil's Nest ruins.

The center of the Devil's Nest ruins that they arrived at was indeed in ruins, but at the same time, it was a pleasant sight that could be called a work of art.

An enormous castle still towered towards the sky, and surrounding it were numerous buildings that still retained much of their past glory.

And as if to make up for the almost complete lack of life in the area, there were human-skeleton-shaped monsters all over the place.

『Skeletons, and with that size, they must be those of the Titan race that I have heard about. It appears that this was once a country of Titans.』(Sam)

The height of the Skeletons was well over two meters, and some were even around three meters tall. They didn't simply possess a long and narrow spine; their bones were thicker and more solid-looking than those of humans.

And though Vandalieu and the Ghouls hadn't noticed it from the outside where the damage to the buildings had been severe, but the buildings and implements in this Devil's Nest were all built very large. The large buildings made of stone had a typical height of four or five meters between the floor and the ceiling. Closer inspection of the bucket-like object that one of the Ghoul warriors had picked up revealed that it was actually a broken cup.

If Kachia was here, she might have remembered that two hundred years ago, there had been a nation of Titans here. The Amid Empire had ordered the Mirg shield-nation to attempt an invasion to wipe the Titans out.

Titans. They were the first race that the goddess Vida had birthed following the battle with the Demon King.

After the giant god Zeno's heart was destroyed, the Sun Giant Talos was the only one of his followers with a noble spirit and sense of virtue that didn't turn to worship the evil gods. The Titans were the race born between him and the goddess.

They possessed large, robust bodies; Titan shield-bearers were even more reliable than castle walls, and yet it was said that if the Titans were to go on the attack, any castle walls would crumble before the might of this warrior race.

「Well, it's my first time seeing the real thing, though.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu had been born in the shield-nation of Mirg that was part of the Amid Empire, which discriminated against the races created by Vida. He had never even entered a town through the front entrance before. This was his first time seeing Titans.

He wasn't the only one. Adventurers belonging to a race created by Vida were rare in the Amid Empire, Sam who had been the employee of a nobleman, Zadiris and the other Ghouls were also seeing Titans for the first time.

「... The real thing you're referring to are just bones though, King.」(Ghoul)

However, it seemed that there was someone who disagreed that seeing only a Titan's bones was the same as seeing a Titan.

「There are some that aren't made of just bones, you know.」(Vandalieu)

But that Ghoul went quiet as Vandalieu pointed at a Titan Zombie emerging from deep inside one of the buildings. Well, it was possible that he still didn't agree but just thought it was pointless to point it out again.

More importantly, he was more concerned about whether they could be so relaxed surrounded by hundreds of Undead, but like in the Dungeon that Vandalieu had once visited, there was no problem.

Many of the Undead were armed with rusted greatswords, axes or spears with broken tips, but they didn't raise them and simply moved out of the way to create a path for Vandalieu and his party. One after another, they kneeled and bowed their heads.

This behavior extended to Zadiris and the other Ghouls as well; they didn't show any signs of hostility.

「The Undead are really being submissive even though they have not been tamed. It is one thing that they are not attacking us, but to see them behaving so defenselessly towards us is a surprise.」(Zadiris)

「Yes, I was surprised the first time this happened, too.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu had been prepared to use his magic in case these Undead would be hostile towards the Ghouls who weren't Undead like Sam, but it seemed that this was a needless worry.

This was just to make him feel at ease, but he used the no-attribute magic spell[Appraisal]to find -

[Skeleton Warrior (Titan), Rank 3. A monster created by a Titan warrior turning Undead after being killed. Hates all living things, especially those that killed it.]

The information he found was unexpected. Since his no-attribute magic was level 1, when he had tried to use the same spell on the Raptor corpses, yesterday, it only gave him,[The corpse of a dinosaur-shaped monster], so he hadn't been expecting anything this time, so he was surprised by the information provided.

As he tried this on the other kneeling Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers, he learned short descriptions about the monsters in addition to their names.

However, as he tried using[Appraisal]on random weeds, it only gave him,[Weed: A weed.]

It seemed that when Vandalieu used[Appraisal]on Undead, he could learn information beyond what the level of his skill normally allowed him to learn.

『So, Bocchan, what shall we do?』(Sam)

「Let's see, I think they'll listen to what I say, so first I'll ask them if there's someone like a mediator for the Undead and bring up the idea of migrating.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu considered the information that he had learned from using[Appraisal.]Unlike Bone Man, who Vandalieu had created, these Undead seemed to be corpses possessed by the spirits of the original owners of the bodies.

Vandalieu thought that he might be able to communicate with them, but nobody would normally think of the idea of negotiating with the Undead.

But Zadiris and the other Ghouls were accustomed to Undead Sam who they could easily converse with and understand, so they voiced no objections and Vandalieu's idea was, in fact, correct.

From a partially-collapsed temple-like building deeper in the ruins, a monster that looked different from the other Undead appeared.

『Ooh... Could this be...』(Mysterious Undead)

An Undead that looked like a mummy whose body was made of nothing but skin attached to its bones, wearing a robe that seemed to be that of a priest despite its ripped sleeves and yellow stains, walked directly towards Vandalieu and his party.

The three-meter-tall Undead let out strange groaning noises as it approached, perhaps as if emotionally moved or perhaps something else. The Ghouls raised their weapons in bewilderment, while Saria and Rita showed confusion on their faces... no, in their behavior.

But as if he hadn't seen this; he stopped in front of Vandalieu and collapsed onto his knees to kneel as he spoke.

『O Prophesized Holy Son*, thank you for gracing us with your presence and descending upon the『Capital of the Sun』, Talosheim. Please grant salvation to us, who only await to return to dust!』(Mysterious Undead)

TLN*: It's still rather unclear what this term (which appears in the title of the chapter as well) actually is/means, I'll update it if it turns out later that I've got it wrong here.

Zadiris and the other Ghouls only showed more confusion in response to the Undead's words, but Vandalieu simply looked at him silently.

With that said, he simply appeared calm because his eyes constantly looked dead with his expressionless face. In reality, he was incredibly bewildered, with the strange feeling that he would be receiving another Title.

[The level of the Death-Attribute Charm skill has increased!]

Monster explanation:

[Anubises]

These are mutated Kobolds, created by being submerged in death-attribute Mana before birth. Their base Rank is Rank 3.

All of their body's characteristics are superior to normal Kobolds, and their intelligence is no exception. They lack the claws that Kobolds possess on their hands and feet, but they are able to use their fingers more skillfully instead.

They possess the[Dark Vision]and[Status Effect Resistance]skills from birth, and they possess a large amount of Mana, so many of them possess greater aptitude for magic than normal Kobolds.

Their urge to breed and fertility is lower than normal Kobolds, being born in groups of three at most. While normal Kobolds need only three months to develop to maturity, Anubises require ten months.

Their appearance is that of humans with dark skin and the black-furred heads and tails of dogs. If they conceal their heads and tails well, they could be able to disguise themselves as humans.

Though this is a conjecture, it is estimated that while the lifespan of normal Kobolds is about thirty years, the lifespan of Anubises is more than double that.

As the Anubis race has only just been born, it is unknown what kind of superior races of Anubises may exist.

If one were to report the existence of Anubises to the Adventurers' Guild with proof, they would be rewarded handsomely for reporting the existence of a new race of monsters, but that would be difficult at present.