Chapter 51 - 105-107

Chapter 105: A person who won't be escorted

Four carriages were moving along a highway in the former Sauron Duchy. The carriages at the front and back were packed with mercenaries, and the coachmen of these carriages were mercenaries as well. There were also more mercenaries on horseback surrounding the carriages, further strengthening their defense.

And the two carriages in the middle were loaded with 'goods.'

"Really, the world has become a nice place." The leader of this group, Padej Boctarin, had a cheerful smile on his face, paying no attention to the strict atmosphere. "Rumor has it that this region's name will be formally changed soon. Oh my, what a happy event. With this, the Amid Empire's rule will become firm."

The leader of the mercenaries called out to Padej.

"Is it really alright to say that, Danna? Aren't you a pure-blooded citizen of the kingdom?" he asked.

Was it alright for Padej to be so happy when his own nation, his birthplace, had been occupied and was now being ruled by an enemy nation? But Padej's smile did not falter despite this question.

"Of course," he said. "Which nation I was born in does not matter. I am a merchant; I love anything that grants opportunities for profit. And the Amid Empire will bring more profits to my business than the Orbaume Kingdom. Please look at the commodities behind us." Padej pointed at the second and third carriages. Each of them were carrying over a dozen people. "This quantity and quality would have been unimaginable in the Kingdom."

They were slaves.

Expensive slave collars hadn't been put around their necks, but there were sturdy shackles around their wrists and ankles instead.

Padej Boctarin was a slave trader. But slaves were allowed even in the Orbaume Kingdom. So why was he making more profits under the Amid Empire's occupation?

The reason for this was the races of the slaves. The slaves in the carriages were Beast-people, Titans, Dark Elves, half-Elves and there was even a Drakonid among them. All of them were members of Vida's races or those who shared their blood.

In the Amid Empire, the treatment of slaves of races considered to be people - humans, Elves and Dwarves - was strictly regulated. However, members of Vida's races and those who shared their blood were discriminated against. Their treatment was essentially unrestricted.

Padej had noticed this; he was gathering members of Vida's races in the Sauron Duchy and selling them as slaves.

"It is true that they are attractive women and sturdy slaves that look as if they could work anywhere," the leader of the mercenaries agreed.

The carriage contained beautiful women that would even make the mercenary leader himself start drooling, sturdy men who looked as if they would be able to handle all kinds of harsh labor and young boys who were just at the perfect age to begin teaching them work.

The mercenaries were outsiders in this business other than the fighting, but they understood that there were large profits to be made if these slaves were all sold.

"But didn't the magistrate-sama announce that the Emperor would keep the laws regarding slaves in this region as they were now for another fifty years?" said another mercenary.

As he pointed out, Emperor Marshukzarl had not imposed the Empire's discriminatory system in the Sauron Duchy.

This was a postponement for the citizens of the Sauron Duchy, and at the same time, it was a trap.

If the humans, Dwarves and Elves of the Sauron Duchy were to suddenly be told that their neighbors, coworkers, lovers, spouses and their own children were to become those who should be discriminated against, they would naturally rebel against the Empire. This could potentially cause a large-scale rebellion and a countless number of people would try to escape into the Orbaume Kingdom.

But if they were to hear that things would stay the same for fifty more years, some of them would feel relief rather than a desire to rebel. For the humans in particular, who were present in the Duchy in large numbers, fifty years from now was a distant future, where their children and grandchildren's generation would have already begun.

Even Dwarves and Elves, who had long lifespans, might think that the system would change or the Orbaume Kingdom might retake the Sauron Duchy within fifty years.

So then, wasn't it best to see how things went for now rather than doing something as dangerous as defying the Emperor?

These fifty years were a long enough postponement to make the Dwarves and Elves think this.

Doing this was effectively a measure to prevent the people of the Sauron Duchy from unifying.

But despite this being intended to be a trap, the law was the law. Breaking it would, of course, lead to severe punishment.

"That is why I have chosen this road with no people, hired you gentlemen as guards and am smuggling these slaves into the boundaries of the Amid Empire, is it not? There are no military police who would begin an investigation for the sake of these poor slaves of Vida's races," said Padej.

The mercenary leader laughed. "You're right about that. We'll deliver these goods where they need to be, Danna. So…"

"I know," said Padej. "I will provide ample remunerations for your work."

"No, no, not that -"

As if pouring water on the black conversation between the slave trader and the mercenary, armed men and women with cloths covering their mouths appeared from the forest on both sides of the carriages, blocking the path ahead and behind.

And then a female knight, who had a mask covering her mouth like the others, glared at Padej with a sharp glint in her eye and made a declaration.

"We are the Sauron Liberation Front! Padej, you traitor who would even utilize the invaders to sell the people of our nation as slaves! Consider yourself a dead man!"

Looking closely, some youth could be seen in the knight's face; it was that of a girl who was in her later teenage years. But the strength of her voice contained no signs of inexperience.

"I-it's the Sauron Liberation Front!" cried one of the mercenaries.

"Mercenaries, it seems it is already time for you to work. I am counting on you!" Padej shouted at the leader. His face turned pale, but he didn't lose his composure.

The mercenary leader's face twisted in a smile as he raised his special halberd. "Yes, leave the execution to me."

Padej wanted to ask, "Huh? What are you saying?" But what came from his mouth instead was his own blood. He gasped, coughed and then collapsed with his eyes rolled back.

As the mercenary leader removed his special weapon from Padej's corpse, he bowed towards the female knight. "I��m finished, Ojou," he said.

The other mercenaries tied up the workers that Padej had hired and then followed their leader's example, lowering their heads.

"Alright. Release the slaves from their shackles," the knight ordered.

"Yes, leave it to me."

The mercenaries that Padej had hired were working with the female knight who led the resistance.

They removed the shackles from the slaves, who were still confused by the sudden events, and the members of the resistance began wrapping cloaks around the women and children.

The female knight called out to the mercenary leader, who seemed somewhat relieved.

"Are you alright with this, Debis?" she asked. "Though he was indeed scum, mercenaries won't be able to survive if they betray their employers."

Debis, the mercenary leader, gave a bitter smile. "Heheh, I don't mind," he said. "Mercenaries are just those of us who have no choice but to do this work because we failed to die on the battlefield. Discontinuing this business might be just what we need." And then he gave the salute that he had learned when he was a part of the Sauron Duchy's army before continuing. "We were already losers to begin with. If it means we can return to being soldiers of Sauron before we die, under Ojou's flag, no less, we'll cover ourselves in as much mud as we need to."

"The flag we wave is not my flag, but the flag of the Sauron family," said the female knight. "I haven't been knighted; I'm merely the eldest daughter in a family of knights."

Though she was happy that the former subordinates of her late father were placing their hopes on her, Iris Bearheart didn't fail to remind them of this.

There were several other organizations in the resistance apart from the Sauron Liberation Front that she led, and there was also the Reborn Sauron Duchy Army, led by Duke Sauron's illegitimate child and his younger brother. Though everyone present was an ally, it was best to avoid words and actions that could cause internal discord.

"Also, the social status of my family is the lowest among those who are a part of the Liberation Front," said Iris. "I am but a small shrine being lifted up by the others."

Iris's family was a family of knights, one of the lowest noble families that could name an heir in the Orbaume Kingdom's aristocratic system. And all of the members in the Sauron Liberation Front were from families with higher court ranks than hers.

"Iris-ojou is saying something again. Is she being sarcastic towards me, the fifth son of a baronet's family?"

"Who knows. Maybe she's being considerate to me, the illegitimate child of an earl's family."

"No, no, I am sure that she is holding back for me, a former orphan who became the adopted daughter of a marquis's family to be used for a political marriage."

Though all of these members came from such families, they were actually those who would normally never be able to succeed their families or gain significant positions, those who would have eventually become commoners unless they were adopted by another noble family or married to gain another noble surname.

In the previous war, many heads of noble families as well as the eldest and second sons who could have succeeded them had fallen in battle or escaped to other duchies. The noblemen remaining in the Sauron region now were those who had either allied themselves with the Empire or dummy replacements left behind bearing their names to reassure the people.

And those who were not so important to the Kingdom that they desperately needed to escape, and yet were individuals that the Empire could not ignore because they did indeed possess the blood of noble families, had gathered under Iris's command.

"Heh, you'll just be having me, someone who's been a soldier for three generations, joining you, so there won't be any problems," said Debis.

"That's reassuring," said Iris. "Alright, it's about time we depart!"

The resistance, whose numbers had doubled now, as well as the slaves who had now become free citizens again, cheered as they began to move with the stolen carriages. The only thing left behind was the pool of the slave trader's blood.

The voice of a boy leading a somewhat sinister-looking group of individuals echoed out in the refreshing air of this clear morning.

"We'll make this our camping ground," Vandalieu declared.

If survivalists on Earth were to hear this, they might be exasperated, wondering what kind of camping ground this was supposed to be.

"Get up."

The ground surface was steadily transformed into Golems and the slope of the mountain changed into a flat, open space with a reasonable surface area. He didn't forget to transform the bedrock and boulders into Stone Golems as well, to form pillars that would support the flat ground.

And then bones began to join together with clattering noises in this newly-formed open ground.

Knochen groaned as it transformed into ramparts and inhabitable buildings made of bones. The roofs were made not with tiles, but things such as the bone plates of Stegosauruses and tortoise shells.

The insides of the buildings were not empty; they contained tables, chairs and beds made of bone. Rita and Saria quickly carried in the sheets and mattresses that Sam had been carrying aboard and began making the beds.

Vandalieu used his Golem Transmutation skill to quickly dig a well and his Labyrinth Construction skill to create a small Dungeon for quick travel in emergency situations.

Last of all, Eisen and the other Immortal Ents lumbered around Knochen's surroundings, concealing the bone mansion so that it couldn't be seen from outside.

"Well done, Danna-sama," said Bellmond.

Everything was complete after less than an hour. Everyone began to rest, drinking the tea that Bellmond had prepared.

With just that much time and effort, a base that was very comfortable to live in with the defenses of a sturdy fort had been created. It even had food and water available from the well and the Immortal Ents, and there was an emergency escape option as well.

"I'm sure it would be designated as a disaster," Vandalieu remarked quietly, looking at Knochen (or rather, one of its Skeletons), who was the core of this base.

Knochen gave a curious groan.

A fortress filled with countless Undead had suddenly appeared in an unnoticed location. Any previously-prepared precautions and defenses were useless in such a situation.

And because Knochen possessed the High-speed Flight skill, its mobility was incomparably superior to those of other Bone Forts.

If it wanted to, it could go over castle walls at night and form a fortress before morning while attacking the city.

It was an absolute nightmare from a defender's point of view.

���Now that it comes to this, I'll have to consider that the Empire, Kingdom and the Pure-breed Vampires might use similar tactics and rework Talosheim's defensive tactics," said Vandalieu.

"Van, don't be scared~! Calm down~!" said Pauvina.

"Relax, Vandalieu. There's no need to be scared," said Darcia.

The two of them were trying to calm him down now that he was feeling an irrational sense of danger and imagining things that were impossible.

"Please look over here, my lord. I am managing to do this with more than usual," said Bone Man, who had removed his own skull and ribs and started juggling them, perhaps in an attempt to draw Vandalieu's attention away from such thoughts.

"Bocchan, the chances of the Empire or the Kingdom throwing a monster like a Bone Fort onto the frontlines are… well, nil," said Saria.

There wasn't even a one percent chance. As long as Vandalieu was the only one capable of taming Undead, there was nobody who could manipulate monsters of the same type as a Bone Fort.

If they were to use large plant-type monsters or special Golems, it might theoretically be possible to achieve something similar, but… these would just be empty theories.

Even if such empty theories somehow became reality, such large plant-type monsters would likely move slower than shellfish on land, and the manufacturing cost of a moving fortress-type Golem with current alchemical knowledge would cause nations to go bankrupt ten times over.

"Then what about the Pure-breed Vampires?" Princess Levia asked.

"I do not know how much fighting strength Birkyne-sa… Birkyne and Gubamon possess, but I do not believe that they possess a Bone Fort," said Bellmond.

"Eh, is that true?" Princess Levia seemed surprised. "But I do think that Knochen-san is very convenient."

Bone Forts were rare Undead monsters and only a handful of them had been historically confirmed to exist, but Birkyne and Gubamon had been alive since the age of the gods. As they were capable of taming Undead, it wouldn't have been strange for them to set their sights on Bone Forts.

That was what Princess Levia had thought, but Bellmond shook her head.

"Princess, you mustn't use Danna-sama as a standard," she said. "They are capable of taming Undead, but they are only capable of controlling Undead that they have created themselves using corpses as materials. They are unable to tame Undead that already move and exist. Thus, if they wished to possess a Bone Fort, they would need to create one, but gathering such a number of bones would be truly difficult*, in every sense of the word."

And after they gathered the materials, they would need to perform a ritual to turn them into an Undead, so this would take a considerable amount of time.

"Can they not steadily develop from Rank 1 Living Bones?" Vandalieu asked.

"I do not believe that they did this," said Bellmond. "If they wanted more fighting forces, increasing the numbers of Subordinate Vampires would suffice… and Danna-sama, the majority of Undead are not as intelligent as Knochen-dono and Bone-Man-dono."

In other words, even after taking the effort to raise them, they would be left with Undead who would only be able to obey simple commands like, "Fight," and, "Stay here."

"And they are not managing a nation or a large-scale mercenary band to begin with," Bellmond continued. "They are a type of criminal organization. They do not even have any need to directly fight an enemy army."

The Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped evil gods had survived up until now by spreading their roots beneath society. Thus, it was apparently unnecessary for them to conduct large-scale battles such as wars on their own.

To begin with, Pure-breed Vampires and high-ranking Noble-born Vampires each possessed enough fighting strength to scatter the army of a single nation. As they had no civilians that they needed to protect, just one or perhaps a few of them would need to go on a rampage or simply escape.

"Then what about the evil gods?" Vandalieu asked.

"The evil gods, you ask…? My knowledge does not extend that far," Bellmond said, unable to answer his question.

However, Vandalieu and his companions would one day do battle with the evil gods, including Hihiryushukaka, the Evil God of Joyful Life, the one who had given Gubamon and the other two Pure-breed Vampires his divine protection.

As long as this fact remained true, they needed countermeasures against these enemies.

"Well, even if I want to come up with countermeasures, I can't come up with anything other than defeating them through sheer force, so let's prepare while trying to think of new ideas," said Vandalieu.

"My apologies. I have failed to convince him," said Bellmond.

"That's not true, Bellmond-san," said Darcia. "You did well!"

"Jyuuh, there is nothing to apologize for," said Bone Man. "My lord has returned to normal, after all."

Knochen groaned in agreement.

As Vandalieu watched everyone thank Bellmond for her efforts, he wondered whether he was overthinking things, but he reconsidered and decided that it would be best to make preparations while not doing anything unreasonable.

It was thanks to Vandalieu's persecutory delusions that Talosheim's defenses had been increased to this extent.

"Now then, we'll be going now. Everyone, if bandits or Empire soldiers come and you can stop them from passing, please dispose of them. The same goes for the Vampires who work for the evil gods. But you mustn't lay a hand on the people of the resistance. If they look like they will die, please help them."

With these words, Vandalieu left his camp along with his companions.

The first objective was to make contact with the Scylla, but first he had to gather nearby spirits to gain information. That was why they were going for a little walk around the area first.

"Well, I don't have high hopes for this," Vandalieu said.

In these nature-filled mountains and hills, there were countless forms of life and the air was restless with countless spirits appearing and disappearing. These spirits were very convenient for making Golems. However, it was difficult to say that they were useful as a source of information.

The spirits of plants were insensitive to their surroundings, and Vandalieu didn't expect much from the spirits of insects, either. Animals would know a few things about the areas that their territories encompassed. Birds were the most promising, as they had good eyes and lived over wide areas.

But the spirits of such wild animals lost memories from when they were alive very quickly, and the vast majority of them lasted less than a year before returning to the circle of transmigration.

Thus, the only reliable ones were the spirits of intelligent creatures such as people or monsters. But this was simply a nature-filled mountain in the middle of nowhere. There weren't even any signs of battle having taken place here, so it was unlikely that there would be spirits of people here.

Therefore, the spirits of monsters should have been the ones to look for, but…

"I wonder if there are any Goblins or something," said Vandalieu.

"Despite the fact that we are trying to find them, there aren't any, are there?" said Princess Levia.

"There really aren't any," said Pauvina.

The three of them were going along a mountain path, searching for monsters that could be used as sources of information, but this seemed to be a more peaceful mountain than they had thought. There wasn't a single trace of a Goblin, despite the fact that Goblins were monsters that could be found anywhere.

… Though it was entirely possible that they had simply fled in fear of the Titan Ghost who was over two meters tall and the enormous little girl.

"This would be a relative success if we were just watching the autumn leaves fall, though," said Vandalieu.

The trees here were separated by generous amounts of space, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves was very beautiful. There were no red leaves and few autumn colors, but it was not a bad view at all.

"What are we hunting? Are Momijis monsters?" Pauvina asked.

Pauvina had made a common misunderstanding for children first hearing about watching autumn leaves fall, so Vandalieu went to correct her, but Princess Levia responded first.

"They are deer-type monsters," she said. "It was written on stone tablets that deer meat is called 'momiji.' This is correct, isn't it?"

"Yes, they're deer," said Vandalieu.

It was another world, so there wouldn't really be any problems if watching autumn leaves falling had a different meaning.

Suddenly, Pauvina began sniffing the air. "Ah, I can smell water this way," she said.

Displaying the sharp sense of smell of a half-Noble Orc, Pauvina did more work than the swarms of spirits gathering around.

"Going to the water should give some clues, shouldn't it?" said Princess Levia.

Like Lizardmen, Scylla were a race that needed to be near water. Of course, that didn't mean that all bodies of water would have Scylla living there, but they would at least get some clues.

"I shall remain hidden nearby, then," said Princess Levia.

"Please do," said Vandalieu. "Pauvina, where is the smell coming from?"

"Hmm, it's over there."

Just in case, Levia erased her presence. Vandalieu followed Pauvina, who was following the smell of water.

After a short while, they arrived at a small pond.

"There aren't any Scylla-sans, are there?" said Pauvina, sounding disappointed.

As she said, there were no signs of Scylla at this small marsh that was about ten meters across.

"But there is someone who used to be a Scylla," said Vandalieu.

He could see the spirit of a Scylla.

"It's not here… It's not here… It's not here…" the Scylla whispered.

Her expression was terribly depressed, and she appeared to be searching for something with both of her hands and the tentacles of her lower body. She was apparently searching so frantically that she hadn't taken notice of Vandalieu's Demon Path Enticement skill. She was what is known as a Jibakurei*.

It was the most ghost-like spirit that Vandalieu had ever encountered.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

As Vandalieu spoke to her, the Scylla's spirit raised her face and was taken aback. And then her expression loosened as she gazed at him. The shadow of sadness that had been present in her expression had dramatically receded.

"An important… ring. I was only just given it, and… I went and lost it…"

Deciding it was fine to show her to Pauvina, Vandalieu cast Visualization on the Scylla's spirit as it began talking. She told him that she was a Scylla by the name of Orbia, from a clan that ran a village near this pond.

Scylla were an entirely female race, and Orbia had a secret relationship with a certain man. This man was a person who held a significant position in society, and their relationship could not be made known.

"But he told me that he wanted to give me a symbol of our engagement and asked me to come out here alone, so I snuck out of the village. And then, right here, I received the ring from that person… I was so happy that I began to feel faint… and before I knew it…"

"You had died," said Vandalieu, finishing her sentence.

"That's right! Before I knew it, I'd turned into a ghost, that person was nowhere to be found and the ring was gone… and I didn't know what was going on…"

"You poor thing, you forgot what happened when you died, didn't you?" said Pauvina.

"It was painful when you realized that you'd died before realizing it, wasn't it?" said Princess Levia.

The three of them had experienced death before; they nodded in sympathy as they listened to Orbia's story.

"Well then, I'll help you look for the ring," said Vandalieu.

"Are you sure?! I've searched for days and haven't found it, you know?" said Orbie.

"Yes. I have to divide first."

"Divide? Uwah, you're dividing?!"

Vandalieu used Out-of-body Experience to multiply himself and searched everywhere, even inside the mud of the marsh.

While he was doing this, Princess Levia and Pauvina were asking Orbia how she had died.

"Do you have any idea as to when you died?" Princess Levia.

There was the option of using Mental Encroachment, but there was a possibility of Orbia going mad and her mind crumbling if her memories were dug up forcefully, so it was best to ask her and have her remember.

"No, I don't remember anything…"

The appearance of ghosts were often influenced by how they appeared when they died. The spirit of a person who had been stabbed in the chest would have a knife protruding from their chest, so it would be easily to tell the cause of death in such a case, but Orbia had no external injuries.

It was possible that the cause of death hadn't appeared on her spirit body because she didn't remember how she had died.

"I'm sure it happened in an instant," said Pauvina. "You don't remember what happened before you died? Maybe something strange happened."

"Now that you mention it… Recently, in a number of villages, there have been incidents where Scylla have been getting attacked in places where they were alone and killed in horrible ways… Could it be that I was killed by the person responsible for that?! This is terrible! What if that man was also put in danger?!" Orbia exclaimed.

"I-it's alright," said Pauvina, reassuring her. "If that person's spirit was nearby, Van would have noticed."

"That's right," said Princess Levia. "I am sure that your precious person is safe."

"You're right," said Orbia, regaining her composure. "That wouldn't necessarily have happened to that person."

Just as she finished speaking, all of Vandalieu's clones returned to his physical body.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't find your ring," said Vandalieu. "It was either stolen by the one who killed you or it's with your dead body. Or perhaps 'that person' has it?"

"I see… thanks for searching for it," said Orbia. "With this, I can give up."

Suddenly, Orbia grew fainter. Now that she knew that her ring wasn't here, her lingering attachment had faded and she was trying to return to the circle of transmigration.

"Orbia-oneesan…" Pauvina whispered.

"Please find happiness after you are reborn, alright?" said Princess Levia.

The two of them watched her with sad expressions.

"Yes, thank you," Orbia said to them with a smile as she disappeared -

"Ah, excuse me, but it would be really helpful if you could lead me to the Scylla village."

"Come to think of it, I didn't tell you where it is, did I?"

Orbia came back before disappearing.

"Also, do you have no intention of becoming an Undead?" asked Vandalieu. "You'll be able to take revenge on the criminal with your own hands."

"Hmm, an Undead, not really," Orbia said. "I suppose I don't really care about revenge, and as long as that person is safe… ah, but while I'm at it, I might want to confirm his safety for myself."

And so she easily agreed to stay with Vandalieu. It seemed that she wanted to at least stay with him until she could make sure that her lover was safe.

"I'm happy, but conflicted," said Pauvina. "I kind of knew that things would come to this, though."

"It is conflicting indeed," Princess Levia agreed. "Though I did think that things would come to this."

The two of them, who had both been stopped from returning to the circle of transmigration by Vandalieu, glared at him with reproachful eyes.

Having Undead insects deliver a message to everyone else who was waiting, Vandalieu and his companions headed for the village that Orbia used to live in, following her lead. The village was apparently in the marshes in the mountains.

"Eh, this child is Vida's Holy Son?! Amazing! Us Scylla have been worshipping Vida all this time, but none of us have this Title!" Orbia exclaimed.

"Fufun, that's right," said Pauvina. "Van is amazing. And what about that person that you love, Orbia-oneechan?"

"I can't tell you his name," said Orbia. "But he's really cool~♪ especially when he flicks his bangs to the side, like this."

Her lover was apparently a handsome person with characteristic bangs.

"At this rate, it seems that we'll be able to identify her lover straight away," Vandalieu whispered.

But as they were drawing closer to a river that lay between them at the village, they heard a piercing scream.

"It could be that someone is being attacked," Vandalieu said.

"Uwah, so fast?! But why are you using your hands to run as well?!"

"Because it's faster. Pauvina and Princess Levia, please follow me."

Without waiting for a response, Vandalieu immediately began running on all fours towards the direction that the scream had come from.

"Umm, that's probably not right, but it might be… ah, your tongue extended?!"

Orbia seemed bewildered, but Vandalieu used the Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skill, Tongue Blade, to cut through the branches that were in the way. He kept running, deciding that he'd think about things after finding the one who had let out the scream.

If they were being attacked by Orbie's murderer, he would have to make heavy use of magic, so he wasn't using Flight.

In fact, since he was traveling just to the nearby river, flying wouldn't have been much faster than running on all fours.

Name: Saria

Rank: 7

Race: Living Maid Armor

Level: 49

Passive skills:

Special Five Senses

Strengthened Physical Ability: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Water Element Resistance: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Physical Attack Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Self-Enhancement: Subordinate: Level 4 (NEW!)

Active skills:

Housework: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Halberd Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Coordination: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Archery: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Spirit Form: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Long-distance Control: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Armor Technique: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Name: Rita

Rank: 7

Race: Living Maid Armor

Level: 51

Passive skills:

Special Five Senses

Strengthened Physical Ability: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Fire Element Resistance: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Physical Attack Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Self-Enhancement: Subordinate: Level 4 (NEW!)

Active skills:

Housework: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Naginata Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Coordination: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Archery: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Throwing: Level 7 (NEW!)

Spirit Form: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Long-distance Control: Level 7 (NEW!)

Armor Technique: Level 7 (NEW!)

Monster explanation:

[Living Maid Armor]

Saria and Rita have become these monsters after Vandalieu added Dark Copper armor to them in the shape of frills and laces.

It can be assumed that the likely conditions for becoming Living Maid Armors are things such as possessing the Housework skill, being someone's maid and being suits of armor that appear maid-like.

As there are no Rank 6 Living Armor-type Undead with the Housework skill that are aware that they are maids other than Saria and Rita, they are the first monsters of their kind to appear in Lambda.

Thus, there is a high chance that adventurers seeing them would mistake them for strangely-shaped Living Armors or Living Magic Armors.

It is not only combat abilities that receive bonuses; the Housework skill receives bonuses as well, so they have the potential to develop into exceptional maids.

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Chapter 106: Regarding the difficulty of communication between races

Leaving Pauvina and Princess Levia behind, Vandalieu rushed towards the person who had produced the scream that had reached his ears. What he found was a beautiful woman with hair of a bright green-blonde color that wouldn't be seen on Earth, seemingly drowning in the river.

"Kyah, kyah, kyaaah~♪"

Still screaming (?), she was flailing at the water's surface with both her arms. There was no dangerous monster or suspicious silhouette that could be a murderer anywhere nearby.

She was just drowning… perhaps?

"Hmm?"

Vandalieu stared at this beautiful woman with his face sticking out of the thicket on the riverbank, even forgetting to put his stretched-out tongue away.

The reason for this was that the sight before him was a very strange one.

Normally, someone with pride in their swimming abilities might leap into the river right away to save the drowning woman.

However, no matter how Vandalieu looked at the situation, the beautiful woman was not drowning.

First of all, the woman was unmistakably a Scylla.

The lower half of the woman's body couldn't be seen as it was hidden by the water. But it was almost winter, and despite that, this woman was in a river near a Scylla village, inside Scylla territory, half-naked with nothing but a cloth wrapped around her chest. Given the circumstantial evidence, this conclusion could be drawn.

They were a race of people with octopus tentacles for the lower halves of their bodies, and though they weren��t as well-adapted to being underwater as Mer-people, they were fine with being underwater for about half a day.

Of course, it was possible that there were some Scylla who were not good at swimming. It was likely even possible that they could drown if water levels increased or they were in bad shape.

But this river's water was flowing gently. Even now, there were leaves floating slowly past the woman.

"And most importantly, there's not the slightest reaction from my Danger Sense: Death," Vandalieu murmured.

This meant that the woman was harmless to Vandalieu, and she herself was at absolutely no risk of dying.

"And now that I listen to her screaming carefully, it's not screaming."

For some reason, it had the intonations of a song.

But then this raised the question of why she was pretending to drown in a place like this.

In fantasy works on Earth, Scylla were depicted as monsters who pretended to drown and then attacked the ones who came to help them. Was this the case here?

But if this was the case, there was a conspicuous lack of killing intent.

"So, so, are you going to go to her?" asked Orbia. "Or are you going to ignore her?"

Vandalieu had wanted to ask Orbia about the woman, who was likely acquainted with Orbia, but for some reason, Orbia was looking at Vandalieu with an excited sparkling in her eyes, seemingly intending to watch what he would do next.

"Hmm, I suppose I'll try calling out to her," said Vandalieu.

It didn't seem that the woman needed to be saved, but it was still possible that a dangerous murderer was in these areas. It was probably best to at least speak to her.

Vandalieu thought that it would be a pain if he were to use Flight to approach her just because he didn't want to get wet, only to have her detect the use of magic and mistake him for an enemy. So he decided to manipulate threads extended from his fingers with Thread-reeling to move towards her as a bridge.

It would look strange to see him using invisible threads as a bridge, but from the front, it would likely appear as if he was if he was walking on the water's surface.

"Kyah~♪ Kyaaaah~♪"

"Hello, excuse me," said Vandalieu, calling out to her. "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

"Kyah… Huh?" The beautiful woman froze and stared at him blankly. It did indeed seem that she hadn't been drowning. "Why is there a child in a place like this, walking on the river? More importantly, you just came closer to me?!"

The woman's expression and the color of her face changed hectically. She became flustered as the former went from surprise to bewilderment, while the latter became gradually more red.

She seemed greatly disturbed; her octopus-like tentacles were squirming about around her as well.

Her expression changes so easily; I'm jealous. So, she was a Scylla after all. And it seems that there are bokukkos* in other worlds, too. With these thoughts running through his mind, Vandalieu watched the woman for a while.

"Are you alright?" Vandalieu called out to her after realizing that she wasn't showing any signs of regaining her composure. "Please calm down, I don't have any intention of harming you."

The woman bent backwards, holding her head in her hands. "You're even calling out to me?!"

Tentacles wrapped around Vandalieu's torso before he could ask, "What did you want me to do?"

"Come here for a second!" the woman said.

And then Vandalieu was taken to the side of the river.

"Uwaaaah… What should I do, seriously, what should I do~? I was only practicing the courting rituaaal."

According to the beautiful Scylla woman who was now clutching her head in her hands in worry, what she had been performing in the river was practice for the traditional courting ritual that was handed down among the Scylla race from generation to generation.

A Scylla who wished to get married would swim, sing and dance to make the request of, "Someone, please marry me."

If a man wanted to marry that Scylla, they would enter the water, approach the Scylla and call out to her or embrace her.

Once the above procedure was followed, the proposal was established.

"Wow…" Vandalieu was surprised to learn that what was considered a way of trapping prey on Earth was actually a courting ritual.

Maybe Vida and others told the founder of the Scylla the stories that they heard from Zakkart and the other champions, and the stories changed over time?

The goddess Vida had given birth to many new races, including the Scylla, but she hadn't designed their exterior appearance and inner features beforehand.

She had simply tried to give birth to strong races in order to restore the world that had been ruined by the war with the Demon King. She likely had some idea about what she was creating, but it was unlikely that she had simply decided to create black-skinned Elves and women with octopus tentacles for the lower halves of their bodies.

Thus, Vida had likely named the founders of the newly-born races based on creatures that appeared in the myths, legends and fantasy works that she had likely once heard from the champions.

Thus, the Scylla race had been named as such, and the stories told to their founders had changed into this strange courting ritual.

"We don't really do it that often now, though, this ritual," said Orbia, adding more details to the beautiful woman's explanation. "In the distant past, there were numerous men who mistakenly thought that the Scylla were really drowning, and apparently there were arguments afterwards. Now, it's only really done by couples who have already become close, and people like this girl who do it as part of a festival's ceremony. I didn't perform this ritual with that man."

In Japanese terms, this ceremony was apparently equivalent to giving each other poems before getting to know each other.

"I wish you'd told me beforehand," Vandalieu muttered. If he'd known, he would have called out to the woman from afar without approaching.

"I thought that Vida's Holy Son would know without being told!" said Orbia.

"I didn't notice you!" the beautiful woman protested, being unable to see Orbia's spirit and thinking that Vandalieu's words had been directed at her. But then she dropped her shoulders and let out a heavy sigh. "But I suppose what's already been done can't be helped. It's my fault for practicing on my own because I was embarrassed, anyway. I'm Privel, a Scylla from the nearby village," she said, finally introducing herself. "And you?"

"My name is Vandalieu."

"Privel is the chief's twelfth daughter," said Orbia. "You did it! Connections get!"

Vandalieu suppressed the urge to ask her where her tragic mood from before went.

"Vandalieu, huh," said Privel. "Well then, Van-kun, where are your mom and dad? I need to explain the courting ritual to them…"

"Eh? Isn't it invalidated by the fact that it was an accident?" Vandalieu asked.

"It's not; I'm a shrine maiden," said Privel. "Well, we don't have to go as far as to get married, but I want you to help with the festival."

Vandalieu thought it would have been fine to pretend as if it had never happened, since there hadn't been any witnesses, but Privel's position apparently made that impossible.

"The shrine maiden has the role of offering the courting ritual to the gods during the winter birth festival," Privel explained. "The shrine maiden is supposed to choose just one person to perform the courting ritual to, but… it's a rule that she mustn't choose more people." She sighed. She hadn't expected a child to be passing by in a place like that. "I… it was decided that I would become a shrine maiden on short notice because of certain circumstances, and I might be able to do something about it, but… You're a boy, aren't you? You have quite the rugged-sounding name, too."

"I am a boy," said Vandalieu.

"Then we can't," said Privel. "I want to explain things to your parents and have you cooperate with the festival. If I can't, I'll have to explain the situation to my mother, apologize to the goddess and the other gods, and then have someone else take my position as shrine maiden."

It was apparently a religious problem. Vida's religion apparently had few ceremonial procedures to begin with, but perhaps this one had been created to increase the sense of unity with the village.

"Wait. Was there really a white-haired child like you in one of the other villages? Where did you come from?" Privel asked as she examined Vandalieu closely, having suddenly realized that she had never seen him before.

"Privel became the shrine maiden in my place," said Orbia. "She was a candidate, just like me, after all."

The reason Privel had become the shrine maiden on such short notice was because Orbia, who had been named as the shrine maiden, had been killed.

"I understand," said Vandalieu. "I'll help you."

Vandalieu had never been involved in religious things on Earth, but in this world, he was Vida's Holy Son. He was a religious figure, through and through.

Since this was the case, it was probably best to cooperate with Privel and the Scylla, who also worshipped Vida. It seemed that this would make Orbia happy as well.

And he also wanted to do his best to spread the seeds of goodwill among the Scylla race.

"Eh, are you sure? Thank you! But I have to explain things to your parents first," said Privel.

"It's fine," said Vandalieu. "I have an understanding mother."

He had left the bone fragment that Darcia inhabited back at the camp, just in case. Rita and the others were protecting it now. Darcia wasn't here right now, but it was probably fine.

Suddenly, Vandalieu heard Pauvina's voice.

"Van~."

"Hmm?" Privel looked in the direction that this young voice had come from, and then froze. "She's… a friend, isn't she?"

A little girl with blonde hair that looked as if it was made of pure gold, eight years old in appearance. However, she was nearly two and a half meters tall. And as a precaution, she was holding a steel mace that looked as if it could kill a bear.

"You found a Scylla-san? That's amazing, Van!" Pauvina waded across the river with an innocent smile on her face.

It seemed that Princess Levia had hidden herself.

"This is Pauvina, who is something like my little sister," said Vandalieu.

"I-I see, quite the large little sister, isn't she? Is she a half-Beast-person Titan?" Privel guessed, noticing the triangular ears protruding from Pauvina's blonde hair.

But she didn't realize that Pauvina was a half-Noble Orc… though this was to be expected, as Pauvina was probably the only member of her race to exist in history.

"Hey, I'm Privel," Privel continued, introducing herself. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," said Pauvina. "Van, did you tell her about Orbia-oneesan?"

"Orbia-oneesan?" Privel repeated. "How do you know that name? Ten days ago, Orbia-san…"

Pauvina had let Orbia's name slip.

But Orbia herself said, "I'll take it from here, so cast your spell on me."

It might indeed be better for her to explain things than me, since I'm not good at talking. And since they knew each other while she was alive, it's probably fine, Vandalieu thought as he cast Visualization.

"Privel, I'm sorry that my death caused a lot of trouble for you," said Orbia.

As she appeared out of thin air, Privel's eyes opened wide. With tears welling up in her eyes -

"Orbia-saaan!"

Overcome with emotion, she tried to throw herself into Orbia's chest.

"Hey?!"

Orbia was merely in a state of being visible to normal people, thanks to the Visualization spell.

She didn't have any physical form.

As a result, Privel went straight through Orbia and tackled Vandalieu into the river.

… Lucky sukebes* aren't very lucky after all, Vandalieu thought earnestly as he fell into the river with Privel crushing him.

Privel was certainly not large; if anything, she had a small build. But this only applied for the upper half of her body.

There were eight thick tentacles on the lower half of her body, each of them over three meters long from their roots to their tips… her body weight was over a hundred kilograms.

Men and women of the resistance were running, gasping and wheezing pathetically.

"Damn it, I can't do this resistance thing any longer!"

"You suggested it, didn't you, Haj-Aniki! You said that we'd be able to eat meals if we called ourselves the resistance!"

"Shut up! You guys didn't oppose it either!"

To be more precise, the men and women who had pretended to be a part of the resistance were running.

They were not young people with the noble intention of fighting the invaders for the sake of their homeland, but young people who had simply never found proper work and never eaten well.

Even if they wanted to be adventurers, they didn't have the confidence or the courage, nor did they have the perseverance to patiently train themselves to reach D-class, the class of adventurers that were capable of feeding themselves.

But that didn't mean that they were so desperate that they would stain their hands with outrageous criminal activities.

And then they had heard that villages and towns would assist them with food if they called themselves members of the resistance.

They jumped at this opportunity. They wouldn't actually do anything reckless like fighting the armies of the Amid Empire and Mirg shield-nation that were occupying the lands. They would simply quietly go around to a number of villages and towns, tell resistance supporters that they were members of the resistance and have them provide a little assistance.

They weren't actually participating in any resistance movements so the enemy's army wouldn't take notice of them, and they were not stealing from the villagers by force, so the Adventurers' Guild wouldn't send out an extermination request for them.

Their earnings were small, but it was an easy occupation, with the only danger they had to be careful to avoid being encountering the real members of the resistance.

That was what they had thought until just an hour earlier.

They had been too naïve in their way of thinking. They had been found by a force dispatched to exterminate the resistance, led by some nobleman of the army occupying the area.

This extermination force hadn't done any investigation beforehand into things such as what the resistance had done and how much damage had actually been caused to the army.

They would simply need to hunt down those who called themselves members of the resistance, and investigate these things afterwards.

It would be different for the well-known groups such as the Reborn Sauron Duchy army, led by the illegitimate child of the late Duke Sauron and his younger brother, or the Sauron Liberation Front, led by the 'Liberating Princess Knight.' But it seemed that they had no intention of spending much time on the numerous nameless resistance organizations.

"Damn it, they got Ben and Bicks! Tarmie as well… it's all your fault!"

"My fault?! Meecher, you were happy as well with the fact that you wouldn't have to become a prostitute selling her body for dirt cheap!"

"Shut up, we have to run now! As far as we can!"

The extermination force had ambushed the fake resistance and taken down about a third of them with archers. They had fled without being able to fight back or help their companions, leading to the current situation.

There were no signs of the extermination force chasing behind them, but their fears that their pursuers would suddenly appear at any moment would not stop, so they couldn't stop running.

However, they soon reached their limits. Their hearts felt as if they would snap, their breathing was wild and their legs were hot with pain. As soon as one of them stopped, unable to bear it any longer, it became a cue for the others to all stop as well and sat down on the ground.

For a while, the mountain was filled only with the sound of their breathing. Despite winter being close, the sun was warm, but they were not in a state to be calmed by its rays.

"Where are we supposed to run?"

The man known as Haj-Aniki, who had been completely focused on running, wore a gloomy expression in response to this question from one of his companions.

"Damn it! If only we didn't pretend to be the resistance, this would never have -"

"Resistance?" said an unfamiliar voice.

Startled, Haj raised his face to see a beautiful, half-naked woman with the upper half of her body protruding from the thicket, looking down at everyone.

Is that a Scylla?!

Seeing that the beautiful woman's hair and eyes were green, Haj realized that she was a Scylla.

He knew that many Scylla had green hair and eyes. And the only women who would walk around a forest half-naked at this time of year where winter was close were Scylla.

Come to think of it, we were close to Scylla territory. I suppose we entered it without realizing. Which means…

"Yeah, that's right! We're part of the resistance! We're being chased, please help us!" he shouted.

"That's right, help us!"

"Please, just for a little while, even just one night!"

Haj and his companions pretended to be members in the resistance once more in an attempt to grab hold of this hopeful spider's thread* that had appeared before them. They were planning to flee to the Scylla's village in order to hide from the extermination force that could be chasing them.

The Scylla women stared at Haj and his companions with a vacant expression for a while before answering with a lethargic tone.

"Resis… tance… will help."

The faces of Haj and his companions shone with hope at this response.

"Ah, thank you," said Haj. "We owe you our lives, Goddess-sa…ma…?"

Right before his eyes, the branches of the thicket began to snap and break. The top half of the beautiful Scylla woman's body drew closer.

But the lower half of its body was not made of the tentacles of an octopus, but the body of a serpent, thicker than a log.

"A Lamia? No, it's not a Lamia or a Scylla?!"

For a moment, Haj had thought that she was a member of one of Vida's races that possessed the lower bodies of serpents, but immediately realized that he had made an unthinkable misunderstanding.

The beautiful woman's lower half was connected to the body of an even thicker snake. And this woman's lower half wasn't the only one attached to the root of this snake.

A Dark Elf with pointed ears, a Mer-person with gills in her sides, a Harpy with wings for arms, an Arachne with compound eyes on her forehead, a small Dwarf, a Drakonid with wings growing from her back, a purple-skinned Majin and a Centaur with a long mane - the upper half of these women, who were so beautiful that they would be praised if they were judged on their appearance alone, were attached to the necks of snakes.

"A mutant Hydraaaa?!"

To be more precise, it was a Hydra Zombie created by replacing all of its severed heads with the upper halves of nine beautiful women of different races, but this was of little importance to Haj and his companions.

"Resistance~♪"

The important thing for them was that the creature before them was unmistakably a monster.

"Run!"

Three of the beautiful women were singing while the other six closed in on Haj and his companions. They screamed and tried to flee as fast as their legs would allow, but they had pushed their stamina to their utmost limits just moments earlier. Most of them were struggling to walk, let alone run.

And then there was an ear-splitting scream, the sound of someone dying.

Haj and his companions stopped in surprise and looked up… to see a sensual-looking woman with abnormally large arms and legs, membranous wings extending from her back and a snake-like tail with a stinger attached to the end stretching from her waist, flying above them.

There was an unfamiliar man wearing dark green clothes, white smoke rising from his body with a hissing sound as he dangled from one of the woman's hands.

Letting out a terrified noise, Haj sank to the ground with tears running down his face. "Mommy…"

Some of the other fake members of the resistance fell to their knees as well, while the others had fallen onto their backs with their limbs still flailing in an attempt to scramble away.

"Resis… da…?"

"Resistance~♪"

"Will… help?"

"Shelter, chased, being chased, shelter."

Yamata and Rapiéçage conversed in faltering words that were impossible for Haj and his companions to make any sense of as they began capturing them.

"HYAAAAAAH!"

"HELP MEEEE!"

"I don't want to die, I don't wait to die. Please, don't kill me…"

"Will help."

"Shelter, shelt? Shell. Ter… ter…"

The two of them, who had come out to guard the surrounding area, captured Haj and his companions who were crying, screaming and begging for their lives. And then they returned to the camp.

Name: Yamata

Rank: 6

Race: Patchwork Hydra Zombie

Level: 0

Passive skills:

Dark Vision

Superhuman Strength: Level 3

Deadly Venom Secretion (Fangs): Level 6

Magic Resistance: Level 1

Underwater Adaptation

Dragon Scales: Level 1

Rapid Regeneration: Level 7

Body Extension (Neck): Level 3

Active skills:

Singing: Level 3

Dancing: Level 3

Parallel Thought Processing: Level 4

Scream: Level 3

Monster explanation:

[Patchwork Hydra Zombie]

A work of art (Zombie) created by Ternecia by severing the heads of the corpse of a nine-headed mutant Hydra and attaching the upper halves of the bodies of beautiful women of different races.

Its modeling is spectacular; it is an embodiment of grotesque beauty.

However, its ability in combat is drastically inferior to a regular Hydra. The venomous fangs that are supposed to be its weapons are absent, and most of the upper bodies that have replaced the heads are lacking in defense.

It is Rank 6, but it only possesses the strength of a Rank 4 monster.

However, this is unlikely to have caused any problems, as Ternecia originally created it as a moving form of interior decoration.

Naturally, as it is an artificially-created creature, it is a type of Undead that has not been discovered in Lambda. As long as there are no others with the same terrible tastes as Ternecia, there will be no two identical specimens.

As a result of the numerous remodeling procedures that Vandalieu carried out after retrieving it from Ternecia's hideout, it has become able to use its numerous mouths to produce words, use its canine teeth as venomous fangs and hold objects with its arms.

In other words, it was not able to do these things before undergoing surgery.

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Chapter 107: Lucky sukebes are suckers

Yamata was an Undead that had been created from a top-class specimen as far as nine-headed Hydras went.

As this fact may suggest, her main body was that of a Hydra, while the upper halves of beautiful women's bodies that were attached to her necks were nothing more than decorations.

Each of those bodies could speak words, had their own senses and possessed individual thinking capabilities. They could even sing and twist their bodies to dance. But the main body that their necks were attached to was a Hydra.

Hydras were those kinds of monsters to begin with. Each of a Hydra's numerous heads contained brains, but they were merely sub-brains for controlling each head and neck. There was only one main brain at the root of the necks, controlling its thoughts and the movement of the main body.

That fact didn't change even if a Hydra were to become an Undead.

But because each of Yamata's heads could perform separate tasks with Parallel Thought Processing, Yamata had been chosen as Vandalieu's secretary. Since he used Out-of-body Experience and Spirit Form Transformation to multiply and perform more deskwork, this was probably more efficient than to use nine separate secretaries.

However, contrary to the appearances of each of the bodies attached to Yamata's necks, she wasn't that intelligent. She was a Hydra, after all.

Hydras were the second-most inferior race of Dragons after Wyverns; even after fully developing, they were not particularly intelligent. They hadn't been examined in detail, but it was thought that their intelligence was around that of wolves.

But as a result of Vandalieu's 'surgery,' the leveling she had done in her spare time and her daily training (animal training?), she had become able to understand words about as well as a young child.

"Please help the resistance."

Having been given this order by Vandalieu, Yamata had wondered what the resistance was as she patrolled the area around the camp.

Was it the name of a monster? A flower? A bird? Since she had been told to help it, she didn't think that it meant a stone or dirt.

Yamata understood that she needed to help the resistance if she found them, but she didn't understand what the resistance was.

Vandalieu had been careless. Because Yamata had the upper bodies of people, he had assumed that she had the intelligence of a person.

And then Yamata found over a dozen people that she had never seen before. And these people called themselves the resistance. They said, "Help us," and, "Shelter us."

And so she brought them back in order to "help" and "shelter" them.

And Rapiéçage had been patrolling near Yamata, found a suspicious person who seemed to be chasing after the resistance and killed him with her Electrocution skill. After that, she brought the people of the resistance back along with Yamata. They let the spirit of the suspicious person deliver this news to Vandalieu.

"Resistance."

"Shel… ter."

"I see. I have a good idea of what happened now," said Bellmond.

Each of Yamata's upper bodies had brought one or two people, holding their arms behind their backs, while Rapiéçage had returned with the corpse of a mysterious man who had been electrocuted to death. With difficulty, they had given Bellmond an explanation that gave her a rough understanding of the situation.

There were over a dozen members of the 'resistance' that Yamata and Rapiéçage had brought… captured and dragged here. Their faces were sticky with tears and mucus, and there were even several with wet stains around their crotches. And it seemed that none of them had been able to contain their fear; they had all had lost consciousness with their eyes rolled back in their heads.

"I'm sure they were all terribly frightened," Saria said earnestly; she actually felt sympathy for these fake resistance members.

What they had truly been scared of was Yamata and Rapiéçage, but Yamata and Rapiéçage weren't aware of this.

It was likely that they had interpreted, "Don't kill me," and, "I don't want to die," as desperately wanting to be helped.

That was likely why they had obeyed Vandalieu's orders and brought them here to help them.

"Jyuuh, they lost consciousness the moment they arrived here," said Bone Man, pitying the resistance members. "I suppose their tension reached a limit."

"Though this is but speculation, I suspect that seeing you was the final nail in the coffin, Bone Man," said Sam. His words were completely true.

They had been captured by monsters and brought to a mysterious structure. And then they had been welcomed by a Skeleton.

Haj and his companions couldn't be blamed for losing consciousness.

"We should have been the ones to greet them, saying, 'Welcome~♪'" said Rita.

"Well, it might have given them a little peace of mind," said Saria.

At the very least, they might have been able to greet Haj and his companions without causing them to faint, so they could hear what they had to say.

"So, what are we doing with these people?" Rita asked, suddenly completely serious.

Everyone contemplated for a while before answering.

"They do seem to be members of the resistance… let us disarm them, treat their injuries and set aside a few rooms for them to rest in. Once they wake up, we should give them some food and I will listen to what they have to say," said Bellmond.

Perhaps changing them out of their soiled clothes should come first. This will be a considerable amount of work, Bellmond thought as she swung her tail slightly from side to side.

It was possible that if Haj and his companions had been conscious, their words and actions would have given away the fact that they were fake members of the resistance. But since they had all fainted, despite them being quite suspicious, there was no choice but to assume that they were indeed members of the resistance for now and shelter them.

There wasn't any such thing as a document certifying one's status as a member of the resistance, after all.

They seemed to lack courage for people who had supposedly devoted themselves to save their homeland from invaders, but it was likely that fighting against unidentifiable monsters took more mental preparation than fighting against other people.

And conducting guerilla warfare with the enemy army wasn't the only thing the resistance was for. It was possible that these people were members of the resistance who were specialized in information warfare, which would explain their lack of fighting strength.

They could be discarded at any moment after it became clear that they weren't a part of the resistance, but if they were already discarded and later it became clear that they were actually resistance members, it would be too late.

And the location of this base had become known.

"Either way, now that we have brought them here, we can't throw them back out, can we?" said Saria.

"Indeed," said Sam. "Saria, Rita, please leave the care of the men to me."

"Alright," said Rita.

"This kind of reminds me of when I had trouble changing Vandalieu's diapers," Darcia remarked.

"Darcia-sama, I do believe that such things are best forgotten," said Sam.

Knochen groaned. Bones began rattling as the base's open gate transformed into a solid wall of bone.

And then Eisen and the other Immortal Ents creaked as they moved to place themselves in front of it.

And so, just as Haj and his companions had desired, they were saved and sheltered in an impregnable fortress.

Vandalieu received news of Yamata and Rapiéçage's capturing of Haj and his companions just as he was drying his soaked clothes with Princess Levia's flames after having been tackled into the river by Privel.

The marks left by the suckers of Privel's tentacles stung a little.

Having heard an explanation of the circumstances from Orbia's spirit, Privel had assumed that Vandalieu had acquired a special Spiritualist Job that allowed him to tame Undead.

Princess Levia had shown herself to Privel and given her the explanation that had caused this misunderstanding.

And while Privel and Orbia were talking, Vandalieu had the spirit of the man electrocuted to death by Rapiéçage give an explanation of things as well.

This scout had been a part of the Amid Empire's resistance extermination force that was stationed in a fort on the border of Scylla territory. They had deliberately let the resistance (Haj and his companions) escape and then given chase to try and discover the location of their base.

"Behind me, there should have been one more man with me. By now, he would have returned to the fort with the rest of the unit and reported my D-d-death. The extermination force is fifty… sixty? Fifty?" The expression and eyes of the scout's spirit looked as if they were melting, and it seemed that his memories had begun melting away as well.

But since Vandalieu still wanted to ask more questions, he poured Mana into the spirit in order to preserve its spirit form, and the spirit let out a strange-sounding shout of joy.

Maybe the quality of my Mana changed after I acquired the Demon Guider Job? I get the feeling that the reaction is more extreme than before… Well, as long as it hasn't become less effective, it's fine.

Stepping back a little from the spirit's shout, Vandalieu continued his questioning and learned of the extermination's chain of command, numbers and the size of the garrison at the fort.

As a result, he became certain that this extermination force was incapable of piercing through Knochen's defenses. In fact, with Bellmond, Rita, Saria and Bone Man there, they would be repelled with ease.

As for the fort that they were stationed at, Vandalieu would likely be able to reduce it to a mountain of rubble in a few minutes with a little barrage with Dead Spirit Magic and his Telekinesis cannon.

"But if we did that and a larger extermination force was dispatched after we returned to Talosheim, it would be really bad for the people of the Resistance and Privel-san's people, wouldn't it?" said Princess Levia.

"You���re right," said Vandalieu.

If it was a pack of wild monsters, exterminating them would be the end of it, but this was not true when facing an entire nation of people.

It was unlikely that a large army would be dispatched right away, but it was almost certain that an investigation team of elite individuals would be sent out. That team might contain A-class adventurers and others just as powerful as them.

By then, Vandalieu and his companions would likely no longer be here, but it would pain him to cause trouble for the resistance that was fighting to free the Sauron Duchy.

It would simply be too irresponsible.

"But it is difficult for us to stay here and continue fighting, too," said Princess Levia.

"You're right," said Vandalieu. "Making a move here might cause trouble for the resistance in its own way."

Despite how irresponsible it was to leave things as they were, it was also hard to choose to ally themselves with the resistance and continue fighting with them. The fact was, most of Vandalieu's allies were Undead. Believers of Vida were tolerant towards Undead, but that tolerance was merely dealing with self-conscious Undead by encouraging them to pass on to their next lives rather than exterminating them with no questions asked.

It wasn't the kind of tolerance that treated Undead as creatures to be befriended unconditionally. In fact, the Undead that appeared in the wild were just as dangerous to people as other monsters.

The resistance would be fighting alongside these dangerous Undead. If the Amid Empire discovered this, wouldn't they spread an extraordinarily persuasive propaganda that the resistance had sold their souls to an evil god?

And if Vandalieu were to draw too much attention and caused too much noise as the 'second coming of the Demon King' or whatever else, it was possible that S-class adventurers such as the Thunderclap Schneider or the Blue-flamed Sword Heinz would join forces, overcoming the boundaries of nations for the sake of saving the world.

If Heinz was on his own, Vandalieu might have a chance for vengeance, but if his party members were included and even another S-class adventurer were to enter the picture, Vandalieu would be in trouble.

… Vandalieu was still unaware that Schneider was actually a believer of Vida and a potential ally.

With that said, there were too many moral problems with throwing out or concealing the existence of the resistance members that Yamata and Rapiéçage had saved. So then, the most realistic option was…

"Once the extermination force comes, we'll take a few of them alive and use my brainwashing to alter their memories and have them believe that they were attacked by Undead. I'll use the ones that we kill to create the Undead. If we send a few dozen of Knochen's skeletons towards the fort after releasing the brainwashed survivors, I suppose the enemy army will think that it was the doing of wild Undead?"

There was also the option of capturing all of them alive and using the Mental Encroachment skill to brainwash them, and Vandalieu needed to go to the Scylla village.

This would be the appropriate method to use if the extermination force were to reach the camp while he was doing that.

"Well, it will be alright, won't it?" said Princess Levia. "Normally, nobody would try to analyze the actions of Skeletons and Zombies anyway."

Hearing her reassure him, Vandalieu wrote on a piece of paper that he had received the message, and wrote his own reply on it as well before surreptitiously giving it to an Undead insect to carry.

"Now then, let's get going," said Privel, having finished talking to Orbia. Now, she would lead Vandalieu to the Scylla village and have him meet her mother, who was the chief. "Huh? A rhinoceros beetle at this time of year?" She blinked as she saw the Undead insect flying away.

"Haven't you mistaken it for another kind of insect?" Vandalieu suggested.

It was probably best to not forget the seasons when choosing Undead insects to deliver messages from now on.

The Scylla village was a gathering of huts built at a marsh at the foot of the mountain.

There were sturdy huts built along the marsh's bank, designed for the Scylla whose lower bodies and tentacles weigh more than one would expect from their appearance, and there were also boathouse-like buildings floating on the marsh where the humans and Beast-people of the village apparently lived.

To the distrustful eye, it might have seemed that the Scylla were keeping the men in captivity, but the truth was that they were protecting the men.

"There aren't any Devil's Nests here, so the deep parts of the marshes are safe," said Privel. "When they want to leave, they can row boats, have us carry them or even swim themselves."

That was how it was, apparently.

Incidentally, Vandalieu had wondered whether there were any crocodiles and such since it was a swamp, but the reply was, "There are, and they're delicious." They were apparently the main prey for Scylla hunters.

The Scylla also fished and used large, capybara-like rodents about the size of calves and ducks as livestock to get by, worshipping their main goddess Vida as well as Merrebeveil, the heroic goddess of the Scylla.

"I want ducks," said Vandalieu.

"Those big rat-like things look tasty as well, Van," said Pauvina.

"I'd like a share of those as well."

"But I'm sure they'd become monsters if we raised them in Talosheim, wouldn't they?"

"I wonder if the quality of their meat would change."

While the two of them admired the way the enormous capybaras and ducks were being cultivated, Privel was standing nearby, being scolded by Scylla guards who were equipped with spears and armor made of shells.

"Sneaking out without permission! I understand that you want to practice, but it's dangerous right now!"

"At least ask us to escort you!"

"I-I'm sorry. But listen, we might be able to find out who killed Orbia-san and the others!" said Privel.

The guard onee-sans had noticed Pauvina and Vandalieu, whom Privel had brought back with her. Princess Levia was keeping herself hidden so as not to cause panic, but they seemed to have thought that the enormous, two-meter-tall girl was an important person.

They gave a hesitant glance towards Pauvina, but Privel corrected them.

"No, the smaller one," she said.

"The smaller one? Eh, it's alive?!"

"I was sure that it was a doll…"

How horrible. It's true that Pauvina is holding me up with both hands, but I'm actually talking, Vandalieu thought.

"Hello, my name is Vandalieu," he said, introducing himself.

"I'm Pauvina, his little sister!" said Pauvina.

"Little sister, huh?"

The guards seemed surprised, but fortunately, they didn't seem to be repulsed.

In Scylla villages, children of all kinds of mixed blood were born. Though there weren't any in this village right now, in the past, there had apparently been Scylla with the small upper bodies of Dwarves, the large ones of Titans and even some with beast ears on their heads.

The non-Scylla people in the village were those such as half-Elves who had been unable to fit into society as well, so such Scylla were not subject to discrimination.

Also, for some reason, it seemed that Scylla were affected by Vandalieu's Demon Path Enticement. It was possible that the fact that they used tentacles to crawl placed them under the 'Insect User' category… perhaps they could be equipped?

But in any case, Pauvina stood out, so she couldn't exactly be ignored.

And so Privel introduced Vandalieu as a special Spiritualist who would help resolve the incident with Orbia and took him to the chief.

At first, the chief seemed skeptical of Vandalieu despite her daughter's introduction, but once Vandalieu showed her Orbia's spirit with Visualization, that changed completely.

"Orbia, you… you… uwa~ah!"

"Uwah! Even you're doing this, chief?!"

Overcome with emotion, the chief tried to embrace Orbia's spirit. Having had a good idea that this was going to happen, Vandalieu had escaped immediately.

The chief crashed through the wall of the hut and dived into the swamp.

"Mother!" Privel shouted.

"What happened?!" the Scylla guards asked as they rushed over.

"It seems that Scylla people like embracing each other?" said Pauvina.

"It might be that they are easily overcome with emotion," said Vandalieu.

"Come to think of it, I do like hugs," said Orbia. "I hug all my family and friends to greet them."

Immediately after this conversation, the Scylla guards were overcome with emotion at the sight of Orbia and tried to embrace her as well. They passed straight through her and followed after the chief, taking Vandalieu with them.

"Van, you can't let your guard down," said Pauvina.

Vandalieu was full of openings against attacks with no killing intent that posed no danger to his life.

For the second time today, he experienced being smothered by beautiful women's lower bodies (tentacles).

"Ahem. I have embarrassed myself," said the Scylla chief.

"We're very sorry," said the two Scylla guards in apology.

"Oh no, please don't worry about it," said Vandalieu, whose forehead and cheeks were covered in sucker marks.

After this apology had taken place, the two Scylla guards went to stand guard and make sure that nobody else entered the chief's house.

"If you get any more wet, you'll catch a cold, Van," said Pauvina.

"There is a limit to me drying him, too," said Princess Levia.

"And the conversation wouldn't go anywhere, either," Pauvina added.

And so, a gag order had been placed on the existence of Orbia's spirit.

"Still, to think that a Spiritualist would allow us to meet Orbia again. I was still half-in-doubt when Privel told me this," said Periveil, Privel's mother.

Periveil was a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. If one took Privel and turned her into an adult, expanded her chest threefold, increased the size of her tentacles and made her body's surface glossier, she might resemble Periveil.

Scylla apparently stopped aging in appearance completely past a certain point, so Periveil and Privel might have appeared to be sisters at first glance, but it seemed that having twelve children had granted Periveil a calm air about her.

Considering her actions just moments earlier, this calm air wasn't entirely perfect, however.

"When I heard that Privel had brought a half-Beast-person Titan girl and a white child with her, the day after we heard a Hurricane Dragon's roar, I did suspect something," said Periveil.

"What do you mean?" Vandalieu asked.

"I kept it quiet from everyone, but I received a Divine Message from Merrebeveil, you see."

While being this village's chief, Periveil was also a priestess who had received the divine blessing of Merrebeveil, the heroic goddess of the Scylla.

She had previously received a Divine Message from Merrebeveil: "Welcome the white half-Vampire."

"So you expected that this was me?" Vandalieu asked.

"That's right," said Periveil. "This is my first time seeing a Dhampir, but you're completely white, aren't you?"

This was apparently one of the reasons that Periveil had welcomed Vandalieu and Pauvina into the village.

It seemed that she had some idea as to where Vandalieu had come from. Since he had appeared on the day after the Scylla had heard a Hurricane Dragon's roar, she suspected that he had come from across the mountain range.

After all, the heroic goddess had gone out of her way to deliver a Divine Message about him, so it was unlikely that he was an ordinary person.

"So, Orbia, what were you doing alone in a place like that? You don't remember anything?" asked Periveil.

"Umm, I can't tell you why I was there," Orbia replied. "And I don't remember anything about how I was killed."

"You can't tell me? Ah, a clandestine meeting," said Periveil, seemingly having guessed Orbia's circumstances. It was possible that such circumstances were not rare for Scylla. "But you can't remember, huh? Well, it's unfortunate that there are no clues, but maybe it's better that way."

"… I was killed in quite a horrible way, wasn't I," said Orbia. "More importantly, chief, was there anyone who was killed with me? And wasn't there a ring on my finger?"

"No, there weren't any others where we found your remains," said Periveil. ���And you weren't wearing a ring, either."

"I see…"

It seemed that the corpse of Orbia's lover hadn't been discovered, but nothing had been confirmed, so she couldn't feel relieved. He might have been taken somewhere before being killed.

"Judging from what you're saying, it seems that your good person isn't someone who is known in the village, is he? Do you know anything about this, boy?" Periveil asked Vandalieu.

"At the very least, there weren't any spirits other than Orbia's at the marsh we found her," Vandalieu replied.

This much was certain, because if there had been any spirits nearby, they would have been drawn to Vandalieu by his Demon Path Enticement skill.

That was why Vandalieu thought that there was a high chance that Orbia's lover was alive, but it was also possible that he had already returned to the circle of transmigration, so he couldn't say anything careless.

"I see, then it seems that he will likely be fine for now. That person was brave enough to have a clandestine meeting with you in a marsh with nobody around; you do have some kind of idea as to how strong he is, don't you?" said Periveil.

"Of course!" Orbia said indignantly. "That person's skill with a sword -"

"Orbia-san, are you sure about this?" asked Privel. "If you say too much, we'll be able to tell who it is."

"Oops, that was close!"

The sorrow disappeared from Orbia's expression, as if she were feeling relieved. In a similar way Periveil and Privel's expressions grew brighter as well. It seemed that they were relieved at the fact that Orbia appeared exactly as she had been when she was alive, despite having been killed in a cruel way.

They were disappointed that there were no new clues about the murders, but it was only natural for people to not want to see their friends' faces drowning in sorrow or twisting in hatred.

"Could I hear about the murder incidents?" asked Vandalieu.

"Yes, though it's a bit of a long story," said Periveil.

According to her story, incidents where Scylla from each of the villages were attacked and killed in places where they were alone had been occurring in this Scylla territory for the past half-year. They would go out to hunt and gather, end up chasing their prey too far, get separated from their companions and then vanish, only to turn up the next day in a completely different state.

All of the corpses had been left in mostly the same state, so all the tribes believed that it was the work of the same criminal.

There had already been five victims, including Orbia. With her death, one member of each tribe had been killed.

"We do have an idea of who it is," said Periveil. "We are thinking that it's the work of Alda extremists who can't accept our peace plan with the Amid Empire."

"Peace plan?" Vandalieu repeated.

"To be more accurate, it's something like a non-aggression pact. They told us that they will guarantee our right to govern ourselves in exchange for paying slightly higher taxes than we did when this place was still known as the Sauron Duchy," Periveil explained. "Of course, our worshipping of Vida-sama and Merrebeveil will stay the same as well."

Surprisingly, the Amid Empire was apparently not trying to suppress the Scylla with military might and make them suffer under tyrannical rule. According to Periveil, though she hadn't seen this with her own eyes, the same likely applied for the entirety of what used to be the Sauron Duchy.

The people had been promised that they could keep planting rice for harvestable crops rather than being forced to switch to wheat, their taxes remained the same as what they had been paying to Duke Sauron and some regions with taxes that were too high had even had them lowered.

The people were being encouraged to convert from Vida's religion, but Periveil hadn't heard of anything suggesting that people were being held and tortured in refugee camps.

"I was sure that the Empire would declare that they wouldn't consider those who don't swear loyalty to them as inhuman and conduct a massacre" said Pauvina.

"I would have imagined that the Churches of Vida would be destroyed along with the believers who tried to protect them and those who resisted would be whipped and forced into labor to erect Churches of Alda," said Princess Levia.

"… I can see that you people hate the Amid Empire more than we do," said Periveil.

She and Privel shuddered a little.

Incidentally, Periveil had already been convinced in regards to Princess Levia. "How surprising, a Spiritualist who can tame Undead," she had said.

The reality was different but with the Divine Message and the fact that there was a special Spiritualist boy right in front of her who had brought an Undead that was capable of such ordinary conversation, she seemed satisfied with this explanation.

And though Demon Path Enticement's effects were much milder on Scylla compared to Undead, it was still effective. They thought favorably of Vandalieu, so they believed him without question.

"Well, that's how it is," said Vandalieu.

He was satisfied with Periveil's explanation. He had imagined that it was possible that the Empire would conduct a massacre, but he had thought it was more likely that they would maintain their occupation of the land under moderate conditions and then try to turn it into a part of their own territory.

Since the people of the Empire and its vassal nations couldn't be made to move to the Sauron region in large numbers, there was no choice but to hold it under moderate conditions.

And in this world, where the existence of gods was clearly known, the heavens would restrain them if they did anything too unreasonable. Things might have been different if the inhabitants of the Sauron Duchy were all members of Vida's races just like Talosheim. But although many of the inhabitants worshipped Vida, there were humans, Dwarves and Elves as well. And though they were few in number, some worshipped Alda as well.

"But I cannot understand why they are treating everyone so reasonably," said Vandalieu.

"About that, I think there are all kinds of circumstances, but… well, maybe it just wouldn't be worth it for them to attack us," said Periveil.

"Our territory has a lot of mountains and not a lot of flat ground. There are a lot of ponds and marshes, too. It would be difficult to attack with people alone, and it would be inconvenient for them to live here," said Privel.

This Scylla territory, which was adjacent to the Boundary Mountain Range, was mostly made up of mountains and stretches of wetlands.

And Scylla were as proficient as they appeared at fighting in wetlands, in water and on water surfaces. And they moved more comfortably on dry land than their appearances would suggest. In fact, since they had eight legs, they were much more stable on slopes than two-legged people.

And they were generally strong.

They possessed the Superhuman Strength skill from birth, so the long, flailing tentacles of the lower halves of their bodies were more than enough of a threat to ordinary soldiers.

Their bodies were large and it was as if they were constantly riding mounts; five infantrymen would be needed to hold back a Scylla with a spear.

And all Scylla had combat-related skills such as Unarmed Fighting Technique that they regularly used against the crocodiles that they hunted, so there were no non-combatants other than very young children.

To top things off, they had no real weak points. At a glance, one might think that their upper bodies, which were no different from those of people, to be a weakness, but… their thin arms were certainly affected by their Superhuman Strength and Unarmed Fighting Technique skills.

And since they had hands of the same shape as people, they could make masterful use of weapons such as bows, spears and swords.

And the frightening thing was that the tentacles of the lower halves of their bodies were capable of moving on their own to some extent. Thus, it was possible for Scylla to aim at a distant enemy with a bow and arrow using the arms of her upper body while strangling a nearby enemy to death with her tentacles.

"Wow, they wriggle in the same way, but they're even more amazing than your tongue, Van!" said Pauvina.

"No, I think that's amazing in its own way," said Orbia.

Periveil blinked. "Eh, tongue?"

"Leaving that aside, please continue your explanation," said Vandalieu.

There were a total of five thousand Scylla living in the five villages in this territory. Doing a simple calculation, twenty-five thousand infantrymen would be needed to assault this area.

Even if such large amounts of military funds and men were sacrificed, the land they would obtain would yield little in the way of agriculture as it contained many mountains and marshes, and an unimaginable amount of cultivation would need to be done in order to live in it unless the people would be content to rely on hunting and gathering alone.

There were the Scylla's terraced rice fields, but these couldn't be maintained without the appropriate knowledge.

And there weren't any Devil's Nests that could be accessed without climbing into the treacherous Boundary Mountain Range other than one in the middle of a wide marshland. There was also a single Dungeon, but the inside was entirely made of wetlands, rivers and large lakes, making it difficult to clear for those other than Scylla. Therefore, it would be difficult to make a living by harvesting the products of monsters and Dungeons.

Thus, the Empire stood to gain little from attacking this territory other than the satisfaction of the people of the Church of Alda, who were taught that it was justice to exterminate the members of Vida's races that originated from monsters.

That was why they had settled things with negotiations.

And so, Periveil seemed to think that radical believers of Alda, who could not accept this peace plan, were conducting this series of murders in order to provoke the Scylla into rejecting the peace plan of their own accord.

Several people with the skills of D-class adventurers would be enough to dispose of a Scylla who was on her own.

"But won't they try doing various things in the future, such as demanding that you pay more taxes?" asked Vandalieu.

"Well, they probably will," said Periveil. "I think they're planning all kinds of things, like breaking the bonds between the villages. Everyone knows that, but if we oppose them directly, the Empire would end up wiping us out whenever they want to. We're accepting the peace plan for now to buy time while we look for a new place to live; we're trying all kinds of things. Maybe the Orbaume Kingdom will take the Sauron Duchy back."

The Scylla had not cast aside their wariness of the Amid Empire. They acknowledged the difference in power and were searching for a way to survive.

But Vandalieu could feel that they weren't expecting much from the Orbaume Kingdom that they had once belonged to.

Wasn't the Orbaume Kingdom the motherland of the Scylla race?

"So, you said that you'll investigate the incidents if we give you seeds and pairs of ducks and Huge Capybaras in return, but what will you do today?" Periveil asked. "The sun is setting soon, and the places where the remains of the other victims were found are quite far away."

"Well then, could you please show me Orbia-san's remains? If they are still around, that is," said Vandalieu.

"Yes, that's fine. We bury our dead in the marshes, so they should still be there. Orbia was found five days ago. But…" Periveil hesitated. "Are you going to look at them?" she asked, warning him that Orbia was in a terrible state. This normally wouldn't be something to show to a child.

"It will be fine. His Maj… Vandalieu-kun is accustomed to these things," said Princess Levia.

"Ah, come to think of it, he's a Spiritualist, isn't he? Then it's alright… I suppose?" Periveil seemed a little unsure, but she gave instructions to one of the Scylla guards to tell her that they should lead him to the body.

"Well then, I will be going," said Vandalieu.

"We'll be back!" said Pauvina.

"… Pauvina, you stay here with Orbia-san and Princess Levia."

"Eh~?!"

The investigation into the Scylla serial killing incident began with an autopsy.

Name: Rapiéçage

Rank: 6

Race: Neo Patchwork Zombie

Level: 0

Passive skills:

Dark Vision

Rapid Regeneration: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Deadly Poison Secretion (Tail): Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Physical Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Magic Resistance: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Superhuman Strength: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Active skills:

Electrify: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

High-speed Flight: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Whip Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Surpass Limits: Level 5 (NEW!)

Coordination: Level 1 (NEW!)

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