The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

Chapter 350: The instinct awakens

Vandalieu’s rapid-fire ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ was a version where he fired after only a short time spent concentrating his Mana. By sacrificing power, he shortened the time needed to cast the spell. Its targets, Rikudou and Heinz, began moving at the same time.

Rikudou quickly gathered his own Mana in order to cast a spell to block the ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon.’

Meanwhile, Heinz recited an incantation. “‘Radiant Turn!’”

This was not a defensive spell; it was a spell that increased the speed of his movement. Heinz had been waiting for Vandalieu to target him and Rikudou at the same time, and he had been ready to cast this spell.

But it wasn’t Vandalieu who became flustered by this, but Rikudou.

“What?! ‘Magic Absorption Shield!” Rikudou shouted.

He finished casting his defensive spell, but even with the power of the ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ having been significantly reduced, it was difficult for him to block it completely.

He shouted loudly in exertion as he squeezed out as much of his Mana as he could to stop the torrent of powerful black Mana that streamed towards him. But the shield of Mana that Rikudou had produced looked like it would be pierced at any moment.

But with this, I should be able to manage to avoid being lethally wounded! If I don’t die, then this body that’s made from the fragments of the Demon King can quickly regenerate! Rikudou thought.

He knew that he would somehow survive this attack. But a moment later–

… Hmm?

Rikudou saw Vandalieu, who was firing the rapid-fire ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ from one hand, move again.

“‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’” Vandalieu said.

He raised his other hand and fired a second ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon.’ But he hadn’t fired it at Rikudou, nor was it aimed at Heinz and his companions; it was flying in a completely different direction.

“W-what are you doing?!” Heinz shouted.

Having escaped the rapid-fire ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ he and his companions watched in bewilderment but stayed wary of what Vandalieu might do next.

But Rikudou knew what Vandalieu intended to do, and a chill ran across his entire body.

“‘Teleportation gate,’” murmured Gufadgarn.

A teleportation gate appeared in the path of the ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ and its exit appeared behind Rikudou.

“‘Magic Absorption Shield!’ So, you were able to fire two at the same tiiiiime!” he bellowed in fury.

The moment Rikudou cast a second defensive spell at his back, the ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ crashed into it.

“I’ve let one of my targets get away, but I shall make sure to crush the one that I’ve caught,” Vandalieu said.

He had fired the first ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ to prevent Rikudou and Heinz from moving. The real attack lay in the second ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ which had been fired with plenty of Mana concentrated in it. Gufadgarn’s teleportation gate had changed its trajectory so that it would strike the back of his immobilized targets in a pincer attack.

With this, he would be able to defeat his targets that might be able to survive a single cast of his spell… Even in the worst-case scenario, they would certainly be almost fatally wounded.

Heinz had managed to escape, but Vandalieu wasn’t worried about that. Heinz wasn’t attacking Vandalieu to protect Rikudou, nor was he trying to attack the people of Orbaume.

It would be difficult to justify killing Heinz and his companions, who were S-class adventurers and honorary nobles, after Rikudou was already defeated. Thus, he didn’t even mind if they simply ran away, but–

“Has he done it?!” exclaimed Edgar.

“No, not yet!” said Heinz.

It seemed that they had no intention of running away. It was unlikely that they would be willing to do so until they witnessed Rikudou’s death with their own eyes.

I suppose I have no choice but to be pleased that they’re not attacking me while I’m unable to move because I’m attacking Rikudou, Vandalieu thought.

But simultaneously casting two ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannons’ took a great toll on him. If he didn’t have the Staff of Five Sins, his arms would have broken apart from the recoil, scattering pieces of his flesh onto the ground below… though the only consequence of that would be that there would be more Demon King Familiars to exterminate the monsters at ground level.

Meanwhile, Rikudou groaned as he resisted his own destruction with all his might. “Damn you, you wannabe idol!” he cursed.

The Demon King Familiar in Prime Minister Tercatanis’s office was firing numerous beams of light at Rikudou through the window. With a gaze filled with hatred, he looked down at Kanako, who was replacing the Demon Kings’ luminescent organs and eyeballs that were necessary to fire those beams of light.

But he was under so much pressure that even looking down at Kanako had taken some time.

Rikudou groaned again. “A-at this rate… Demon King’s right arm, left arm!”

He activated the Demon King’s right arm and left arm, which he had kept concealed as one of his trump cards. Multiple of the fragments that Tercatanis had gathered, such as the Demon King’s right thumb and left wrist, had fused to form these arms.

These arms had extraordinary strength, hardness, and anti-magic properties. Rikudou attempted to use these to suppress the ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ but… they began tearing apart, unable to withstand the torrent of black Mana.

Impossible! According to my calculations, the Demon King’s right arm and left arm should be able to withstand even attacks from Orichalcum weapons! Are you telling me that Vandalieu’s prowess at magic has surpassed that of the Demon King Guduranis?! … No, that’s wrong!

Rikudou poured more Mana into the Demon King’s arms to increase the rate of their regeneration as he desperately looked for a way out of this situation.

That’s wrong! Vandalieu hasn’t surpassed Guduranis! It’s just that I haven’t drawn out the original potential of Guduranis’s body!

The Demon King Guduranis had possessed enough strength to vanquish the Dragon-Emperor God Marduke; even the champion Bellwood would have stood no chance against him on his own.

It was true that Vandalieu was powerful. There was no way to describe him as anything other than extraordinary. But he did not surpass Guduranis in pure fighting strength. If he did, he wouldn’t be having so much trouble fighting against Heinz and his companions.

So then, why? It was because Rikudou wasn’t as powerful as the Demon King Guduranis, either.

Why?! I trained for months on end, and yet I cannot make full use of this body?! And it’s not just Guduranis’s body that I possess; I even have fragments of his soul! Just what must I do to surpass Guduranis… or stand equal to him?!

At this rate, his body would break apart and he would be destroyed, his soul devoured. His survival instincts were screaming at him out of the fear and danger he felt, and he felt like his ability to reason was going to burn out.

And at that moment, he gasped in realization.

That’s right. [I have been unable to wield my full power because my reasoning has been holding it back.]

The fragments of Guduranis’s soul that were embedded into my own soul were his instinct and his memories! The instinct cannot show its true power when my reasoning is suppressing it! [In order to defeat Vandalieu, I must unleash the instinct!] [It’s alright, I know I will be able to remain myself!]

The moment these thoughts ran through his mind, power welled up through his entire body.

With a great roar of exertion, he instantly restored the ‘Magic Absorption Shields’ that were on the brink of vanishing, blocking both ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannons’ for just a single moment, which was enough for him to escape.

“Something has changed about him,” Vandalieu said as he stopped his spells and regenerated the broken bones in his arms with the Demon King’s bones.

Rikudou let out a low laugh. “You can tell? Experience leads to the growth of gods as well, not just humans. By being exposed to danger, [I] sensed that [I will prevail in this battle by unleashing my instinct!]”

And then he laughed, emanating an even more sinister presence than ever before – one that would cause anyone nearby to cower and feel their spines tremble.

Now that I think about it, it is obvious. The instinct to survive, the instinct to hunt, the instinct to fight… Instinct is necessary for battle. So why did I ever think to [suppress the instinct with my reasoning?] [By listening to the whispers of the instinct, I can use the Demon King’s memories as my own!]

“Here I come! First… you!” Rikudou declared.

“I am but a knight who serves the Alcrem house!” he replied. “Now go, quickly!”

Despite traces of boyishness still remaining on his young face, he spoke with the mannerisms of an older man and wielded his sword like an experienced fighter.

“He’s the spitting image of Lord Bravatiyu, the ‘Knight of Roaring Flames,’ who was one of the Five Knights of Alcrem!” one of the knights exclaimed.

“I heard that he’s an illegitimate son of Lord Bravatiyu, but it seems that we misjudged him,” said another.

“Let’s go! We must support Bravatiyu Junior!” said the captain of the knights.

The knight’s name was Bravatiyu Junior. He was the illegitimate son of Bravatiyu, the Knight of Roaring Flames, who had fallen in the battle to retake the former Scylla territory… or at least, that was the public story. In reality, he was Bravatiyu himself.

He let out a ferocious roar. “Come and fight me, you filthy monsteeeers!”

It was possible that his shouting was an attempt to drown out what the knights behind him were saying about him.

In one of the city’s plazas, far away from the nobles’ district and the commercial district, the ‘Furious Mountain Shield General’ Ludario was helping the people evacuate into an underground theater beneath an inn owned by the Jahan house.

“All this destruction… It seems that Orbaume will need a great deal of time to recover, Ludario,” said Hadros.

“You must be very calm, given that you are already thinking about the recovery,” Ludario remarked.

Hadros himself was leading the evacuation efforts. He wasn’t strong enough to fight against the monsters, but he was strong enough to survive the current situation as long as he was accompanied by a bodyguard. And with the evacuation efforts being led by a duke in person, they were proceeding smoothly.

But because of the monsters continuously appearing from the countless number of gates, the damage was spreading. Up until this point, the monsters had acted on their own decisions immediately after emerging from the gates. They had checked their surroundings and stopped in confusion when they encountered monsters from other gates, buying precious seconds for the city.

But Rikudou’s order had caused the monsters to indiscriminately attack everything in sight from the moment they emerged from the gates.

Vandalieu and his companions were minimizing the casualties, but the damage to the city’s buildings and other structures was only growing larger.

The stone paving was being trampled and crushed, and the buildings were being toppled and crushed by the monsters’ enormous bodies. Stray projectiles were causing explosions and fires.

“Duke Jahan! Is the evacuation shelter really safe?!” asked someone from one of the groups of adventurers.

Ordinarily, this question might be considered insolent.

But Hadros glanced at the faces of the adventurers and the girl they were protecting. “Of course!” he said reassuringly. “I swear it on the name of the Jahan house and the god that I worship. This emergency shelter is safe!”

“… Thank you, Your Excellency. Maxim, take Selen inside,” the adventurer said.

This group of adventurers were the A-class adventurer party known as the ‘Thundering Armaments,’ and the girl they were protecting was the Dhampir Selen.

“Uncle Rembrand… Do your best. Make sure you come back safe!” Selen said.

“Yeah. Leave it to us!” said the adventurer named Rembrand.

Leaving Selen in the care of the mage of the party, who had used up all his Mana to get to this place safely, Rembrand and the others threw themselves into the battle once more to protect the people from the monsters.

“… Are you sure about this?” Ludario asked his master.

“I was asked to take them in if they evacuated here,” Hadros said. “And A-class adventurers are valuable fighters. Though it would have been better for the Five-colored Blades who brought them here to also fight against the monsters and help with the evacuation.”

“Is that your friend’s opinion?”

“It is my own opinion as well.”

As master and servant watched while having this conversation, Rembrand and the others were joining the battle.

A group of six adventurers was fighting against the monsters coming from the gate near the evacuation shelter.

“We’re the Thundering Armaments! Allow us to help!” said Rembrand.

“‘Extreme Provocation!’ Thanks a lot! Defeat the monsters while they’re drawn to me!” said a young man, a shield-bearer who seemed to be the leader of the group.

The other five members were a swordsman, a scout, a female shield-bearer with an unusual fighting style where she wielded a shield in each hand, a female warrior armed with two swords, and another swordswoman. It was quite the unusual combination.

But Rembrand could see that they were indeed skilled. The male shield-bearer stopped a Fire Giant’s kick with his shield, and the swordsman and swordswoman used the opening given to them to sever the Fire Giant’s leg from the back of the knee. Once it fell, they cut off its head.

The female shield-bearer was using her dual shields as blunt weapons to attack and defend at the same time, while the female warrior turned out to be a user of four blades, with which she decapitated Minotaur after Minotaur. The young man who was a scout vanished as if by magic, and he was piercing the vital organs of monsters from behind.

With Rembrand’s party joining the battle, the monsters were swiftly defeated.

“Maybe you didn’t need our help,” Rembrand remarked.

“No, we defeated the monsters quickly thanks to you. We can use the time we saved to defeat other monsters or take a break,” said the young man leading the group.

He took a potion from his pocket and began drinking it. It was black-red in color, and Rembrand did find it strange, but there was something else that he was more curious about – the names of this young man and his companions.

“Could you tell us your names? We just got here from the Farzon Duchy, so we don’t know your names yet,” Rembrand said.

From the battle that had just taken place, Rembrand had learned that this group was at least as capable as his own party, if not more capable; it was strange that he had never heard of such strong individuals.

“Ah. To tell you the truth, we just arrived here in Orbaume today!” the young man said. “I’m Kasim, the swordsman over there is Fester, and the scout is Zeno. And that’s Kachia-san, Gaol, and Gerda-san.”

“I see. So are Kachia and Gaol your familiars?” Rembrand asked. “It seems that they are wearing collars, but… they don’t seem to be the collars of the Tamers’ Guild in Orbaume?”

“Yeah, we were just heading to the Tamers’ Guild, actually! But then this fuss happened while we were on our way, so we didn’t really have time for the Guild’s inspections, did we?!” Kasim exclaimed.

“It can’t be helped, can it!” Fester agreed loudly. “The streets are filled with monsters, after all! But I’m sure the Guild will overlook it! Don’t you think so?”

Rembrand found Kasim and Fester’s behavior to be a little strange. But he accepted this explanation, thinking that it was a minor detail given the gravity of the current situation.

“I suppose they will,” he said. “By the way, are you alright? You look rather pale…”

“We’re fine, just a little tired. Now then, we’re going to go and defeat the monsters coming from that gate over there, so can we leave this place to you? Alright, thanks. Let’s see each other again alive,” Zeno said, forcibly cutting the conversation short and hurrying away with his companions from Rembrand and his party.

It would be troublesome if Rembrand were to learn that they had mutated into Dark Humans, or that Gerda was a Zombie, and they wouldn’t be able to carry out the aid that Vandalieu had asked them to.

“But the Thundering Armaments are a B-class adventurer party, right? Being called skilled by them means we’ve gotten pretty strong!” Fester said excitedly.

“Fester, it was years ago when the Thundering Armaments were B-class. They became an A-class party while we lived on the other side of the mountain range,” said Kasim.

“Maybe it was a bad idea for me to come…” said Gaol.

“Don’t worry. It seems like they don’t know about Empusas, but nobody’s in a state to be worried about things like that,” said Zeno.

“Because Kasim-kun and the rest of you mutated into Dark Humans, it’s easier for me to blend in with you, since I’m a Zombie,” said Gerda.

And so, Kasim and his companions, who actually weren’t even registered at any Adventurers’ Guild, headed towards the next battlefield.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!