Chapter 290: The horseman of the apocalypse decides not to ride

Though it was difficult to tell because of his shape, Dolstero, the Sea Urchin Beast-King, was defeated by Vandalieu.

“Are Sea Urchin Beast-Kings in season now? To begin with, is it male or female?” said Vandalieu, sounding worried.

The current season was summer. Sea urchin gonads were edible, but on Earth and in Origin, the male gonads were considered to be more high-class ingredients than the female gonads. The same was true in this world as well.

The flavor and the volume that could be harvested also varied depending on the time of year. Vandalieu couldn’t help but be worried about this.

“The previous Sea Urchin Beast-King was male, but I believe Dolstero is female. And unlike ordinary beasts, Beast-Kings do not lay eggs every year, so it is not certain, but… a Beast-King should have plenty of Mana all year round, at all times. I am sure your tongue will be pleased, great Vandalieu,” said Gufadgarn as she recovered Dolstero’s enormous body and the Golem’s wreckage, down to the tiniest shard.

The Orichalcum Golem and the Elder Dragon that were shot down on their initial approach had been too far away for Gufadgarn to recover, so she was eager not to cause any more failures.

“That’s a relief,” said Vandalieu. “Well, I’ve finished experimenting with the Staff of Five Sins and ‘Dark Peak Death Flash,’ so let’s go and back everyone up, shall we? I don’t get any Experience Points for defeating them myself, after all.”

The Staff of Five Sins was a new piece of transformation equipment that he had created for himself. As its name suggested, it was an Artifact that contained the spirit clone of Fidirg, the Dragon God of Five Sins.

There was little change when it transformed, but by producing pipes that fused with Vandalieu’s arm, it allowed him to use the staff without losing the effects of the ‘Augmented Attack Power while Unarmed’ Skill. The ‘Strengthened Magical Power while equipped with a Staff’ Skill, which Vandalieu happened to have recently acquired, was also active.

The ‘Dark Peak Death Flash’ that the Staff of Five Sins produced could be considered an advanced ‘Dark King Magic’ spell; it converged multiple ‘Death Cannon’ beams to release it as a single spell.

After creating this spell, Vandalieu had realized that his imagination was quite limited; all of his advanced spells were simply converging energy and releasing it. However, this spell had taken down a Beast-King with tremendous Vitality and an Orichalcum Golem with a single attack, so it was a satisfactory result.

Vandalieu was particularly surprised that it had defeated the Golem, which only contained a transient life.

This battle could be considered a great success.

“Then perhaps you should complete a Job change first?” said Gufadgarn.

Vandalieu was surprised by this suggestion. Ordinarily, even if one reached their Job’s maximum level during battle, taking a break to change Jobs before continuing would be utter madness.

But as Vandalieu looked around the battlefield, he could see that the situation was overwhelmingly in his allies’ favor. The remaining enemies were three demigod-Golem pairs, but… the Golem of the pair that Eleanora’s group was facing was cracked all over; it looked like it would fall to pieces at any moment.

The Elder Dragon that Rita and Saria were facing was still going strong, but his Golem had turned into a punching bag for Knochen and Sam.

The last pair was under cannon fire from Cuatro and couldn’t get any closer.

“I see. I’ll change Jobs very quickly then, so please make a Gate to the Job-changing room,” said Vandalieu.

“As you command,” said Gufadgarn.

A ‘Teleportation Gate’ leading to the Job-changing room inside Cuatro appeared beneath Vandalieu’s feet, and he fell into it.

“What?! Wait, Van-sama?!” said Tarea, shocked that Vandalieu, who was supposed to protect her, was leaving her.

But Vandalieu’s shadow, which was still lingering near her feet, stood up.

“I’m still here, so don’t worry,” it said.

“Oh my! Shadow Van-sama!” said Tarea, calmed down by the presence of the Demon-King’s-shadow Vandalieu.

“Now then, let’s see what we have here,” said Vandalieu.

He had fallen into the Job-changing room, but he could still hear Tarea’s voice through the Teleportation Gate as he quickly reached out to touch the crystal ball.

《Jobs that can be selected: Fallen Warrior, Insect Ninja, Chaos Guider, Hollow King Mage, Eclipse Cursecaster, Demon Ruler, Creator, Pale Rider, Tartarus, Wild Spirit, Dark Battery Cannoneer, Magic Staff Creator, Soul Fighter, God Destroyer, Qliphoth, Dark Beast User, Spirit Therapist, Artisan: Transformation Equipment, Hollow Shadow Caster, Balor, Apollyon, Demigorgon, Soul Devourer, God Devourer, Nergal, Ravana, Shaitan, Chi You, God Spirit Mage, Ouroboros, Rudra, Blood Ruler, Demon Electricity User, Yin Guider, Divine Guider, Juggernaut, Underworld God Mage (NEW!)》

The new Job available this time was ‘Underworld God Mage.’

Its name was impressive, but… it was likely a Job related to using advanced ‘Dark King Magic’ spells. It was possible that Vandalieu developing new death-attribute spells had something to do with its appearance.

In any case, Vandalieu needed to decide on his next Job. Vandalieu used the ‘Super High-speed Thought Processing’ Skill to quickly consider his initial plan while taking the new ‘Underworld God Mage’ Job into account.

If he were to take a Guider Job, how about ‘Divine Guider?’

Fidirg had been restored to his small shrine in the great marshlands to perform the task of maintaining the barrier that protected the region inside the Boundary Mountain Range. He was considered one of the weaker gods, and yet he had defeated an Orichalcum Golem and a demigod with ease. But it was not solely because he had summoned a split entity of Vandalieu upon his vessel.

Fidirg had been under the effects of Vandalieu’s ‘Group Commander’ Skill, which had awakened from his ‘Commanding’ Skill, and his ‘Super Strengthen Subordinates’ Skill. And most importantly, he had been guided by Vandalieu.

Thus, if Vandalieu became a ‘Divine Guider,’ Fidirg’s strength in battle would become even greater.

Vandalieu considered this, but he put aside his interest in the newly available Job and ‘Divine Guider’ to choose the Job he had planned to take.

“Select ‘Pale Rider.’”

Vandalieu was currently engaging in battles against the demigods as a diversion. These battles yielded a considerable volume of Experience Points, and based on the progress of the tunnel construction in Gartland, he would engage in one more such battle. In other words, it was possible that he would be able to change Jobs one more time before reviving Botin and fighting in earnest against the force defending her.

Taking into account non-diversion battles and training, he might even be able to change Jobs twice.

Thus, he had decided to choose one of the Jobs that shared a name with mysterious gods of Earth. They were full of mystery, so he had decided to try choosing one of these Jobs and seeing whether they came with drawbacks like the complete lack of Attribute Value growth that ‘Destruction Guider’ had.

However, ‘Pale Rider’ was not a god, but a figure mentioned in the bible – a horseman that brought pestilence, a harbinger of the apocalypse. And considering that Vandalieu’s current Attribute Values exceeded those of an S-class adventurer, a drawback like a lack of Attribute Value growth wasn’t much of a concern.

《You have changed Jobs to ‘Pale Rider!’》

《The Levels of the ‘Magic Resistance,’ ‘Constant Mana Recovery,’ ‘Deadly Venom Secretion: Claws, Fangs, Tongue,’ ‘Mana Enlargement,’ ‘Increased Mana Recovery Rate,’ ‘Augmented Vitality,’ ‘Murder Healing,’ ‘Self-Strengthening: Murder,’ ‘Embodiment,’ ‘Super High-speed Thought Processing,’ ‘Group Thought Processing,’ and ‘Group Control’ Skills have increased!》

《‘Dark King Magic’ has awakened to ‘Underworld God Magic,’ and ‘Abyss’ has awakened to ‘Root Source!’》

“With ‘Mana Enlargement’ reaching Level 10, my Mana is now over 20,000,000,000… two hundred times what I had in my previous life,” Vandalieu murmured to himself.

No matter what Rodcorte did to Amemiya Hiroto and Rikudou Hijiri, it was probably impossible for Vandalieu to fall behind them in terms of Mana. Though it wasn’t something that Vandalieu took pride in, he was certain of it.

And so, in order to return to the battlefield, Vandalieu returned to Cuatro’s deck through the still-open ‘Teleportation Gate.’

“Welcome back, real Van-sama!” said Tarea. “What Job did you choose?”

“Thanks, Tarea. I chose ‘Pale Rider,’” Vandalieu replied.

Though he said that, Tarea did not know of the religions and legends of other worlds, and Gufadgarn had only fragmentary knowledge, so neither of them knew what ‘Pale Rider’ meant.

“It’s a legendary horseman that spreads pestilence,” Vandalieu added.

“I see. Would you like to test the Job’s effects immediately?” asked Gufadgarn.

“I don’t think that’s wise. If its effects cause me to spread disease indiscriminately, it would cause a lot of damage.”

If Vandalieu spread disease like the legends told, Eleanora and Bellmond would be fine as they had ‘Status Effect Resistance,’ but Zadiris, Basdia, Mähne, and Hof would be at risk, so Vandalieu did not intend to test his new Job.

“Then will you save your remaining trump cards for another occasion?” asked Gufadgarn.

“Yes, as planned,” said Vandalieu.

He still had backup forces, such as the space-attribute Ghosts whose Ranks had increased. But since his companions were in a dominant position on all fronts but one, there was no need to use them.

“Hmph… So, I don’t get to make an appearance,” said Vigaro in a disappointed tone as he came out of the cabin where he had been on standby onto the deck.

He had been staying hidden on the ship as backup, in case the others had some trouble in their battle against the demigods or the enemy came in greater numbers than expected.

“Unfortunately not. Fidirg is doing well, after all,” said Vandalieu.

“True. That Golem is barely holding its ground, and Fidirg is giving it a one-sided battle,” Vigaro agreed.

“Vandalieu. It seems that there is no need for you to feel any concern about Fidirg,” said Gufadgarn.

The one Vandalieu had been mainly concerned about, the one that he had expected to need Vigaro’s support the most, was not his daughter Basdia, but Fidirg.

When Vigaro first encountered Fidirg, he had perceived Fidirg as a being that was overwhelmingly more powerful than himself, but… time is a cruel mistress.

“Since there’s no need to worry about Fidirg, using any more trump cards will tip the situation too heavily in our favor, and that would make it look suspicious if we left without fighting against the force defending Peria,” said Vandalieu.

Their objective was to create a diversion, not do something about Peria. Thus, it would not be good for a full-scale battle to break out with the forces defending Peria.

If a full-scale battle broke out, it was possible that Vandalieu and his allies would suffer significant losses, as he had only brought enough for a diversion-creating battle. And if they ended up defeating the force defending Peria, it would look suspicious if Vandalieu didn’t do something about Peria afterwards. And although it was unclear whether it was possible or not, if Vandalieu were to revive Peria and take her away while she still slumbered, the gods of Alda’s forces would focus their numbers on defending the unharmed Botin.

If the demigods gathered there were to use some ability to detect the tunnel that was being dug underground, the entire diversion would be rendered meaningless.

“And it seems like Tarea would like me to stop,” said Vandalieu.

Tarea was clinging onto Vandalieu and the shadow Vandalieu, who had come down from the ship’s bow back onto the deck – though it appeared as if she were embracing him, due to their difference in size.

“Really, please stop. I believe in you, Van-sama, but this is too much stimulation for me,” said Tarea.

Perhaps having been influenced by Sam, Mähne and Hof had become able to fly through the sky, and with Saria and Rita on their backs, they were toying with the Elder Dragon.

Tarea’s Rank was higher than Mähne and Hof, but she had a production-related Job. Thus, her Attribute Values were not particularly high, and it seemed that she felt uneasy even with her defense increased by her transformation equipment.

“I’ll stop, so don’t worry,” Vandalieu told her. “But before that, could you please support the Radatel Zombie with the ballista-type Demon King Familiar?”

Knochen, Sam, Saria, and Peta were overwhelming the Elder Dragon and his Orichalcum Golem, but the Colossus of Lightning Radatel, now a Zombie, was at a disadvantage against a Colossus and his Orichalcum Golem.

Being beaten by the Golem and hit by the Colossus’s spells, although the Zombie Radatel had not sustained any great damage, it was wounded. It was counterattacking by releasing lightning attacks with fierce roars and swinging its arms around to spin its whole body in a body-slam attack. But Tarea couldn’t see any chance of it turning the situation around.

“Isn’t that Zombie a little too weak for one that you created, Van-sama?” Tarea asked.

“I made it in a hurry, so it looks stronger than it really is. I wasn’t really counting on it to do much fighting for us,” said Vandalieu.

If Vandalieu had used ‘Surgery’ to improve Radatel’s corpse, the Zombie Radatel’s physical abilities would have been improved, though it would not be as strong as he was when he was still alive. However, Vandalieu hadn’t done that.

Though this was a terrible way to put it, the truth was that Vandalieu had created and brought the Zombie Radatel here not to bolster his fighting forces, but to provoke the Colossi of the forces defending Peria who had been his companions.

He still wanted to avoid it being destroyed, so he had put together a crude armor for it with Demon King fragments, but even so, Vandalieu was fine with most of it being destroyed as long as its head remained intact.

Even if its body was destroyed, he could still reuse the spirits inside it.

… Incidentally, Borkus and the others had treated the people of Gartland to Radatel’s meat, but that had nothing to do with the Zombie Radatel being weak. After all, Borkus had served the meat of Radatel’s heart – an organ that Zombies had no need for.

“In fact, it would be convenient for it to get damaged more. It would create a reason for us to retreat,” said Vandalieu.

In conclusion, the Zombie Radatel was not an ‘ally’ to Vandalieu.

Incidentally, Vandalieu had already devoured and erased Radatel’s soul from existence, so it was the spirit of Repobilis, the Starfish Beast-King, that was inside the Zombie Radatel. It was possible that placing a spirit that didn’t match the body had contributed to the Zombie Radatel being so weak.

“I see. That is fine, but… why me? It is true that I have the ‘Archery’ Skill, but that Demon King Familiar should be able to fire arrows on its own,” said Tarea.

“There’s no deep reason behind it. I just thought that if you manage to hit the enemy, it would help increase your Levels as well,” said Vandalieu.

“Even if you miss, you’ll be hitting the Zombie Radatel, so I don’t think there’s any problem,” said the Demon King Familiar.

“Well, if you say so,” said Tarea.

She felt a little sorry for the Zombie Radatel that was being treated so poorly, but she told herself that it being destroyed meant that the spirit of Repobilis inside might be granted a new body, so she began aiming the ballista with no thoughts of mercy on her mind.

It was an enormous crossbow that would normally take three people to operate, but… although Tarea was far weaker than Ghouls who had taken combat-related Jobs, her physical strength was equivalent to that of dozens of ordinary sailors, so she had no trouble wielding it.

“Here I go! Fire!” said Tarea in an imitation of Vandalieu as she pulled the trigger.

A long, thick arrow made of Demon King fragments was fired forth.

Meanwhile, Fidirg had finished off the Orichalcum Golem he had been fighting. Elated with victory, he moved to help the struggling Zombie Radatel.

“Next is a close-quarters battle –” he began to tell himself, but a moment later, he yelped in surprise. “Something grazed me!”

Tarea’s arrow had grazed Fidirg. The Zombie Radatel let out a dull scream as the arrow pierced the center of its back, and the Colossus in front of Radatel screamed as the arrow buried itself in his shoulder.

“To think that you would aim for me despite striking allies in the process. You truly are no different from Guduranis at your core!” the Colossus muttered.

However, the Colossus was a hundred meters tall; the arrow seemed to have done even less damage than it initially appeared to.

He pinched the arrow between his fingers, pulled it out, and let out a furious bellow.

“I told Fidirg that we’d be fighting from range from start to finish, didn’t I? I’ll use my split entity to remind him to fall back.” said Vandalieu. “Now then, Tarea, fire the next shot.”

“Van-sama?! This large ballista’s aim doesn’t seem to be very reliable!” said Tarea.

Neither Vandalieu nor Tarea, the one who had actually pulled the trigger, were concerned by the Colossus’s words. Vandalieu was simply ignoring them, while Tarea had bigger things to worry about.

“This is your first time doing this, after all. If you fire a second and third shot, I’m sure you’ll get used to it,” said the ballista-type Demon King Familiar.

“The ballista-me is right. Now then, go ahead,” said Vandalieu.

The ballista-type Demon King Familiar quickly loaded the next arrow and drew back the thin muscles that served as springs, and this seemed to help Tarea make up her mind.

“Oh, to hell with it!” she said.

She pulled the trigger repeatedly, sending a volley of arrows forth. A third of them missed, another third buried themselves in the Zombie Radatel, and the rest found their mark in the Orichalcum Golem and Colossus.

Of course, it wasn’t just the ballista projectiles; there were the cannonballs fired by the large-cannon-type Demon King Familiars, as well as Fidirg who had retreated even further back than Tarea, releasing projectiles of black light… darkness projectiles. But these were aimed more carefully to ensure that they did not hit the Zombie Radatel.

Unable to withstand these attacks, the Orichalcum Golem broke apart and stopped functioning. The Colossus, having lost his shield, was exposed to this fierce barrage of attacks and couldn’t even turn his back to flee.

But he gave a furious roar; it seemed that his will to fight had not been broken.

“I’ll get at least one attack in!” he shouted.

He grabbed one of the fragments of the Orichalcum Golem before Gufadgarn could recover it, and threw it.

A chunk of Orichalcum that was larger than a small ship flew towards Cuatro at the speed of a bullet. The damage from this projectile would not be insignificant by any means.

But Knochen roared, and a countless number of bones flew in between the chunk of Orichalcum and Cuatro.

“Thank you, Knochen,” said Vandalieu.

Knochen gave a happy groan in response, and the sound of a countless number of hard objects being snapped could be heard as he intercepted the Orichalcum fragment.

Knochen was an amalgamation of a countless number of enormous bones; ten or twenty thousand of the bones that made up his body being broken was not even a scratch to him. Even if they snapped or were broken to pieces, they were still bones.

Seeing his counter-attack that he’d poured his heart into being stopped so easily, the Colossus’s face turned even redder with anger.

But the next sound that came from his mouth was not an angry shout, but a scream.

Having defeated the Orichalcum Golem they had been facing, Sam, Saria, and Rita had appeared. With their current strength, they were capable of reliably defeating a crudely-mended Orichalcum that was between Rank 10 to 12 as long as they didn’t let their guards down.

“Hah!” Sam said triumphantly. “We have come to provide reinforcements!”

“Aim for the back of the knees, Rita!” said Saria.

“But hitting the lungs from behind is tempting as well, Nee-san!” said Rita.

With this, the Colossus was heavily outnumbered. He was the last one standing, and he was certain to be defeated without returning a single blow to his enemies.

But Vigaro, who had been waiting to deflect the Orichalcum projectile and had his moment stolen by Knochen, reached the end of his patience.

“Screw it, I’m going in!”

Holding axes and a shield with his four real arms and one spirit-form arm, Vigaro leapt down from the ship.

And then, Zadiris and the others who had defeated their own demigod-Golem pair showed up.

“It seems that we are the ones who took the longest,” said Zadiris.

“We’re late to the party, but we’re going to catch up now!” said Eleanora.

“In that case, I shall return to Danna-sama’s side,” said Bellmond.

“I’ll leave this one to my father,” said Basdia.

It was only Eleanora and Zadiris who headed in the Colossus’ direction.

Having finished their task of distorting space to set up a defensive measure against ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ the force defending Peria began attacking from beneath the sea’s surface, but the Colossus had already been defeated.

An increasingly fierce barrage of high-pressure water breaths, spells, and beasts created by magic came from the water, but Vandalieu used the last remaining fake Cuatro as a shield and detonated it as he retreated.

Job explanation:

Dark King Mage

A superior version of the ‘Death-Attribute Mage’ Job. Its Attribute Value growth favors Mana and Intelligence, but also provides large bonuses to the acquisition and improvement of magic-related Skills.

Naturally, one must awaken ‘Death-Attribute Magic’ or Level it close to awakening in order to acquire this Job.