Vandalieu suddenly realized that he was in a place that he didn’t recognize.
“This is… ah, a dream.”
Having experienced sothing similar on the night that he had undergone a Job-change to Demon Guider, Vandalieu realized that he was dreaming.
But he felt more unpleasant than he had in the previous dream. A sense of discomfort, as if he had accidentally trespassed into soone’s house without realizing it.
“But it’s a dream, after all… I wonder if soone else is going to co?”
He began looking to see if there was anything around in his field of vision, which sohow allowed him to see all of his surroundings without moving his neck. And then, suddenly, a voice called out to him.
“Hel… lo…”
Vandalieu lowered his field of vision to see the owner of the voice, who was below him and to the side. There was a single Scylla there.
No, looking more closely, it was sothing grotesque that resembled a Scylla.
Green hair and two arms, the upper body of a woman, a lower body that resembled that of an octopus. All of these were just like a Scylla’s at a glance.
But when Vandalieu focused his eyes, he could see that all of these features were made of tentacles of different thicknesses, entwined around each other in bundles to form the shape of a Scylla.
It was like an elaborate straw doll, made out of fibers of flesh. It didn’t look particularly impressive as it was around half of Vandalieu’s size, but it was a little ghastly to look at up-close.
The first thing that Vandalieu did was apologize to this ominous-looking creature.
“I’m sorry about this,” he said. “I’m still at an age where I’m not growing much taller, so I was searching above without thinking.”
Other than the children like Jadal and Varbie, Vandalieu was always surrounded by people who were taller than him. That was why he had the habit of looking up while looking around to see whether anyone was around.
“Not at all, do not concern yourself over such things… for it is I who summoned you here of my own accord. Please forgive .” The Scylla-like creature spoke in a neutral, flowing tone that was unimaginable given its grotesque appearance.
As for how it was speaking despite not having a mouth, the tentacles that ford the mouth-like area quivered in rhythm with the words spoken by its voice. It seed that it was rubbing the tentacles together there in order to produce sound.
For a dream, the setting was quite detailed.
“My apologies, but could I ask who you are? And what important matter have I been summoned for?” Vandalieu asked.
Judging from the appearance of the creature, he could guess that it had so relation to the Scylla, but he still didn’t know what it was so he maintained a polite tone. The Scylla-like creature’s tentacles quivered as it answered.
“I am known as rrebeveil. I felt an aberrant… abnormal presence among those who worship . Wanting to ask who you might be, I summoned you here.”
rrebeveil was a na that Vandalieu rembered hearing before.
“Is that not the na of the heroic goddess worshipped by the Scylla race in their territory?”
Heroic gods were heroes who had beco gods. Thus, they underwent transformations depending on later alterations to the religion or changes in history, but it was said that many of the statues and paintings depicting them resembled the appearance that they had when they were mortals.
But then, wasn’t it likely that they would at least not look like masses of tentacles bound into the shape of a Scylla?
“That is a masquerade that I have kept up since before the founding of the Sauron Kingdom that preceded the Sauron Duchy,” rrebeveil said. “I was originally the Evil God of Sli and Tentacles of the Demon King’s army. I once made a vow with the goddess Vida and beca a parent to the Scylla.”
The truth was that she had been an evil god of the Demon King’s army who ruled over tentacles.
After being defeated a hundred thousand years ago in the battle between Vida and Alda, rrebeveil and the Scylla of that ti failed to escape beyond the Boundary Mountain Range. The Scylla separated into individual families and went their separate ways, but a sizeable number of them succeeded in settling into these lands that were filled with mountains and marshes.
rrebeveil had originally been an evil god in a higher position than Fidirg, the Dragon God of Five Sins, so she had received less damage. And since she had believers in the Scylla race, her power recovered more quickly and she helped the Scylla survive, bestowing her divine blessing upon them and occasionally dispatching her Familiar Spirit.
But the number of people obeying Alda’s will grew over ti, and as they began to form nations, rrebeveil’s very existence beca a heavy burden upon the Scylla.
As the Scylla worshipped an evil god, not only the believers of Alda, but the believers of other gods whose knowledge and history had been forgotten and even believers of Vida treated the Scylla as targets to be feared and persecuted.
“The people cannot distinguish between the evil gods who are remnants of the Demon King’s army and the evil gods who are on Vida’s side,” said rrebeveil. “Alda never intended to tell us apart to begin with, and Vida and the other prominent gods were still slumbering.”
“But I do think that at least Vida’s followers could understand,” said Vandalieu.
“There were so who did, but there can be large differences between believers of Vida. Not all of them are descendants of those who fought in the battle that occurred one hundred thousand years ago; this was true then and it is still true now.”
“… I suppose that is true.”
Not all of Vida’s followers knew the truth about the world’s history. Vandalieu knew this, but now that he was hearing rrebeveil retell the tragedy of the Scylla race, he understood just how troubleso this fact was.
“I did consider pretending to be defeated and going into slumber temporarily, but the Scylla who was the chief at the ti suggested a clever idea,” rrebeveil continued.
As rrebeveil was considering sacrificing herself so that the Scylla could escape persecution, the chief had suggested that they pretend that rrebeveil was not an evil god.
As a result, rrebeveil, the Evil God of Sli and Tentacles, falsely beca rrebeveil, the heroic goddess of the Scylla, and ca to be worshipped this way.
That was apparently why her previous appearance of being a large mass of writhing tentacles had transford into her current Scylla-like appearance.
Incidentally, falsely altering a religion might sound easy to do from a mortal’s perspective, but this was quite a dangerous act for a god like rrebeveil.
Small alterations would be like putting small piercings in the ears, but changing from an evil god to a heroic god would need the sa amount of resolve as being anesthetized and undergoing plastic surgery to the entire body while also receiving surgery to the internal organs at the sa ti.
It was no different from asking a human to undergo a surgery to beco a creature made entirely of tentacles.
Even if it succeeded, their divinity would change so their personality and biology would also change. And even this result would be considered a good one; it was also possible that they would fall apart and be extinguished with their fragnts forming an entirely new god, as if they had been reincarnated. It was even possible that they would separate into two gods and beco weaker.
The Scylla chief of the past had suggested this without knowing how dangerous it would be, but rrebeveil, after long deliberation, decided that there was a chance to succeed and accepted this suggestion.
And just as she had hoped, she successfully disguised herself as a heroic goddess with only her appearance changing a little and going from being in a bigender state to being more female.
She seed happy that she had chosen to disguise herself as the heroic goddess of the Scylla, her own children.
“I see. So that allowed you to decrease the persecution that the Scylla suffered from outsiders,” said Vandalieu.
“Yes. So, who may you be?” rrebeveil asked.
“Even if you ask who I am… Is it not you who sent a Divine ssage to Periveil-san that I would be coming?”
“I was rely passing on the Divine ssage that Vida-sama sent to … and now that I am eting you directly like this, I can tell that you are indeed not normal.”
“Normal… well, it isn’t sothing that I should hide from a god, so I will tell you.”
When did I beco so important that a god would personally co and ask who I am? Is it because of the Demon King’s fragnts and my Mana pool that will reach one billion soon? Vandalieu wondered as he told rrebeveil who he was, what he had done up until now and why he had co to the Scylla territory.
“Oh my… to think that these were the circumstances,” rrebeveil murmured.
For a hundred thousand years, Vida had been sending Divine ssages about Vandalieu to the gods who were her allies as well as her own followers, but rrebeveil had never received any detailed information.
rrebeveil, who had transford from an evil god to a heroic goddess, was partially different from the being that Vida had known.
Though this was a very rough example, it was as if she had changed her address without telling anyone.
“I understand the situation. I, rrebeveil, shall beco your strength.” rrebeveil lowered her head so low that it looked as if she was crushing the lower half of her body.
“Please raise your head,” said Vandalieu. “I am happy to receive your support, but I am a Dhampir. I am not soone worthy of being called ‘onmi*’ by a god.”
TLN*: This is the polite pronoun for “you” that rrebeveil has been using to refer to Vandalieu.
Fidirg, who had been sealed in the Scaled King’s Nest, had t Vandalieu under unfortunate circumstances, but there should have been no reason for rrebeveil to humble herself before Vandalieu.
Being treated like this despite that felt uncomfortable. But despite Vandalieu’s words, rrebeveil showed no signs of accepting them.
Unlike Rodcorte, many of Vida’s allies who had once been a part of the Demon King’s army were humble gods, like Fidirg.
Despite being a goddess, rrebeveil had taken a smaller form than Vandalieu and treated him politely. Thinking that this was the case, his impression of rrebeveil grew even more favorable.
“More importantly, there are things that I would certainly like you to accept,” said rrebeveil. “Because I had these, I was forced to restrict my power more than usual, but I am sure that you can make full use of them.”
Her body divided smoothly, revealing two black lumps that had been buried in the bundles of tentacles.
“Are those fragnts of the Demon King?” Vandalieu asked.
“Yes,” said rrebeveil. “These fragnts are different to in nature, so I was unable to seal both of them at once. There were originally three, but the other was caught up in the confusion during the battle of a hundred thousand years ago, and soone stole it. I would like to leave these two fragnts with you.”
The Demon King’s fragnts could often be used as powerful weapons, but for rrebeveil, they were nothing but burdens.
If they were misused and went out of control, it was possible that they could cause the events leading to the Demon King’s resurrection. That was why she had been devoted in keeping them sealed.
“As a small price for doing this for , I shall grant you the divine protection and Title that I can…” rrebeveil let out a small noise of frustration. “It seems that a divine protection will be impossible.”
“Ah, Fidirg said it was impossible, too. I will ask you again when you make a full recovery,” said Vandalieu.
“Then a Title, at least… you shall beco a king to all who possess tentacles, the Tentacle King.”
“… There is a similar Title that is read the sa way but with a different aning, you know?”
TLN*: Tentacle King is 触王/shoku-ou. I am fairly certain that the other Title that Vandalieu is referring to is 色王, which is also read “shoku-ou.” It roughly translates to “erotic/lewd king.”
『You have acquired the ‘Tentacle King’ Title! 』
『The level of the Abyss skill has increased!』
Vandalieu was surprised that he could hear the announcer in his head even inside a dream, and also felt slightly anxious. What will I tell everyone in Talosheim if they start growing tentacles?
But why had the Abyss skill’s level increased?
“But rely giving you a Title is… Shall I have so of my children serve you?” asked rrebeveil.
“No, you do not have to go so far,” said Vandalieu.
“But with this, what I have given you does not match the burden that I have made you bear.”
For rrebeveil, the Demon King’s fragnts weren’t even weapons; they were equivalent to dangerous chemical pollutants. Since she was having Vandalieu accept them, even if he didn’t consider them to be burdens, it was logical for her to provide a befitting reward. That was what she seed to think.
“Then please give Orbia, Privel, Periveil-san and everyone else the divine protection that was supposed to be for ,” said Vandalieu. “Also, please tell all of the Scylla that they should beco my allies.”
“I have already bestowed my divine protection upon Periveil, but as you will,” said rrebeveil.
“Thank you very much.” The mont Vandalieu finished speaking these words, his consciousness blacked out.
rrebeveil’s body collapsed like that of an octopus or squid that had used up all of its strength.
“… He managed to return. Though I requested sothing of him and I am very grateful for it… I do not wish to et him in my Divine Realm ever again.”
The truth was, rrebeveil had lied to Vandalieu.
She had told Vandalieu that she had ‘summoned’ him, but the reality was different. The mont she tried to interfere with Vandalieu’s consciousness, he had ‘appeared’ in her own Divine Realm.
In fact, rrebeveil hadn’t deliberately taken a form that was smaller than the embodint of Vandalieu’s mind. Her original body had simply been smaller than Vandalieu’s mind.
She had shuddered before the enormous, grotesque being that had suddenly appeared and was late in calling out to him.
“Leaving aside how grotesque and enormous his mind was, his trespassing into my Divine Realm was the power of the Abyss skill. I intended to look into him, but I was looked into instead.”
rrebeveil knew of several beings with powers similar to the Abyss skill that had existed in the world that she had originally been in before she beca a part of the Demon King’s army. These beings had been the first to be obliterated by the Demon King Guduranis.
These were those who possessed the only power in that world that the Demon King could not obtain.
Though Vandalieu possessed a power that even the Demon King did not, even with rrebeveil ‘looking’ into him, it should have been impossible for him to step into her Divine Realm.
This had only happened because rrebeveil had tried to touch Vandalieu’s mind, only to have him follow her instead.
“Now that I think about it, it makes sense that he was looking up to begin with. One who is seated in the depths would need to look up in order to see those in the shallows. O gracious Vida. You bless us with constant good fortune. I pray for prosperity for and my children.”
He would be able to crush even the evil sches of the traitors, rrebeveil thought. With high expectations of Vandalieu, she gave thanks for how fortunate she had been to be able to form bonds of friendship with him.
Having woken up to find himself on the verge of being suffocated due to Pauvina turning in her sleep, Vandalieu succeeded in using Spirit Form Transformation on his entire body to escape from beneath her.
He quickly produced threads from his mouth, made clothes and changed into them. And then he decided to inspect the Demon King’s fragnts that he had received from rrebeveil.
Judging from their nas, he had decided that there would be no danger in testing them inside the room.
“… Demon King’s suckers, activate.”
Suction cups like those of a frog appeared on Vandalieu’s fingertips.
When he pressed his fingertips against the wall of the hut, they attached themselves firmly to its surface.
“Ooh.”
With the suction cups sticking to the wall, he tried climbing it. The suction cups could attach and detach themselves freely, so he was able to crawl across the walls and ceilings as he wished.
With this fragnt of the Demon King, it would be easier to crawl across the ceilings of Dungeons.
And then he continued to the second fragnt.
“Demon King’s ink sacs, activate.”
Ink ca out of Vandalieu’s fingertips. He made an improvised container made of earth and coated in mucus produced by his tongue, gathered the ink in there and then inspected it.
He could control its properties freely; he could make it thick like squid ink or silky like octopus ink. And it seed that he could even change its color at will.
It did not have any particular sll of the sea, so it seed that it could be used to make ink and paint. It was possible that it would even be good for dyes used to dye cloths.
“But one small touch is needed to make these useful in battle,” Vandalieu murmured.
The fragnts were suction cups and ink sacs, after all. Unlike the Demon King’s horns and blood, they did not have properties that would allow them to beco weapons imdiately upon activation.
Should he imitate the way that frogs, octopuses and squids used them?
No.
“Using the abilities of living things in technology… this is biomitics, I suppose.”
“Ah, Your Majesty, you are becoming even less like a person… but I have the feeling that not much has changed,” said Princess Levia.
As she said, Vandalieu had long been able to crawl around walls and ceilings and produce all kinds of dicines, including vitamin pills, from his tongue, claws and fangs. Perhaps suction cups and ink sacs were small additions to these.
“Not much has changed, you say…” Orbia seed shocked by Princess Levia’s reaction.
“What’s wrong~?” Pauvina asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in her bed.
“Vandalieu-kun is crawling around with suction cups on his fingers, and producing ink from his fingertips,” said Orbia.
“Is that all?”
“Th-that’s all, but…”
“Then I’m going to sleep for a little longer~.”
Pauvina collapsed onto her bed and went back to sleep.
After listening to her quiet breathing for a while, Orbia turned to Vandalieu, half-smiling.
“Vandalieu-kun, wouldn’t you rather beco a Scylla?” she asked.
“No, that’s impossible, since I’m a male.”
Incidentally, Scylla were also capable of producing ink.
『The level of the Demon King Fusion skill has increased!』
The extermination force led by Mardock, who had begun moving at sunrise, reached their objective before long.
They had discovered the fortress that the female Majin Undead-user was likely inside.
“These are… fortress walls? There’s no way fortress walls could be built in such a high mountain…”
“Look at reality! There is actually a fortress wall built here, isn’t there!”
Just when had these fortress walls, which were as tall as the trees of the forest, been built in this mountainous region? What about the materials? And how had nobody noticed the flat ground that supported the fortress walls?
There were endless questions that could be asked, but Mardock understood the reality that enemy forces had built a fortress inside the Scylla territory.
“Retreat, retreat, quickly!” he ordered his trembling subordinates.
Mardock had thought that if the female Majin’s hideout was a small one, he would be able to exterminate everyone inside, but even though the extermination force that he led was made of elite individuals, it was not a wise idea to attack the fortress and grounds protected by walls of this size.
He wasn’t foolish enough to have convenient delusions that only the walls were sturdy and there would be no proper soldiers defending them.
He would return to the fort, report this to his superiors in the army and gather information carefully. Attacking would co after that.
However, there was sothing that Mardock and his companions hadn’t realized. They had already been discovered by the fortress walls and the trees standing around them.
Knochen roared and Eisen creaked as they attacked, as if refusing to let Mardock and his n get away.
The Immortal Ents that had appeared to be normal trees up until now began moving, and the fortress wall burst into pieces, the scattered bones turning into countless Skeletons.
“The fortress walls turned into Skeletons?! And there are tree monsters around us?! When did this place turn into a Devil’s Nest?!”
“They’re just Skeletons; no matter how many of them – GAH?!”
Receiving direct hits from the poison breath that Knochen released along with its roars, these supposedly elite n began coughing violently, clutching their chests. And then Bone Animals, which were Skeletons of four-legged beasts, flooded in to pin them down.
The n were being treated so roughly that it seed the Undead didn’t care as long as they didn’t die.
“Retreat! Retreat! Get the captain free!”
The mbers of the unit imdiately tried to help Mardock escape, but Mardock gave other orders. “You moron! Don’t worry about ! Everyone but the rear guard, spread out and run! At least deliver the information! This is an order!” He drew his sword and joined his subordinates that were fighting as part of the rear guard.
Mardock and his extermination force had already been swallowed whole by the huge flood of fast, poison-breathing Skeletons. If he didn’t make sacrifices and allow his subordinates to escape, they would be wiped out without managing to bring any information back to the army.
Having received this order, his subordinates at the back that were still alive began running. However, they ca back less than five seconds later.
They had been sent flying back, their limbs and torsos twisting in directions they weren’t supposed to.
“They’d already gone around us!” Mardock groaned in regret as he turned around to see his subordinates convulsing on the ground.
“That is correct,” said a voice.
The owner of this voice was Bellmond, who had calmly flown around behind the extermination force.
“Good grief,” she sighed. “My tal threads would sever your limbs, so I tried to capture you alive using the tail that I have been given. Perhaps because Danna-sama is too skilled, or perhaps because you are all too frail, this is not going very well. And it is difficult to use the Petrifying Demon Eye on targets that are moving around restlessly.”
“W-what did you say?! You filthy Beast-person!” One of the unit’s mbers charged at Bellmond in rage.
“Don’t!” Mardock shouted, but it was too late.
Bellmond’s tail appeared to vanish, and in the next instant, Mardock’s subordinate made a sound that no human body should make as he was sent flying.
From the glimpse of his body that Mardock caught, he could imagine that he had been killed instantaneously from his organs rupturing and his bones crumbling to pieces.
“I am sincerely sorry,” said Bellmond. “It is all due to my shortcomings that I have failed to capture everyone alive. I apologize for causing you discomfort.” And then she gave Mardock a deep bow.
“You monster!” Mardock ignored Bellmond’s apology, struck down a Skeleton that tried to grab him and then looked around to see if there was any way of escaping the circle of Undead.
“Be careful! There’s one Skeleton that’s way stronger than the others!” one of Mardock’s subordinates shouted in warning.
“Be careful of the Skeleton with the armor and the shield!” said another.
“Jyuuh, it seems that I am hidden when I cooperate with Knochen,” said Bone Man.
Mardock’s subordinates were doing well in keeping the Skeletons back, but Bone Man was among them, cutting down Mardock’s n down one after another with martial skills.
“Capture alive~?”
The Undead Hydra that had been reported, Yamata, sang as she strangled Mardock’s subordinates to death with her long necks.
“Holding… back… Punch!” the female Majin groaned as she crushed the n’s skulls.
“Everyone, do you know what ‘capturing alive’ and ‘holding back’ an?” Saria asked.
“It can’t be helped, Nee-san,” said Rita. “It’s been a long ti since we’ve fought humans.”
These two, who had relatively normal appearances compared to the others, used their enormous halberd and glaive to slice straight through the shields of the n using Iron Wall and into their bodies.
“GUAAAAAAH! MY AAAAARMS!”
“HYIIIH, MY LEGS, MY LEEEEEGS!”
Mardock’s subordinates were alive, but they were on the ground screaming, having lost at least two limbs each. In a way, this was crueler than being killed instantly.
“These things… could it be that they really do intend to capture us alive?!” Mardock exclaid.
Things hadn’t co to a conclusion yet, but even Mardock had noticed that the words “capture alive” had been spoken nurous tis. However, he and his n felt no desire to surrender. Given the horrific scene before their eyes, they found it impossible to imagine that they would be treated decently at all. In fact, it seed more likely that the monsters would change their minds after capturing them and just kill them anyway.
Perhaps it was best to commit suicide? This thought occurred to Mardock as well, but miraculously, he found a place where the Undead encirclent was thinner.
“Super Instant Response! Get out of my way!”
Using Surpass Limits and an Armor Technique martial skill, Mardock ran through the gaps between the Skeletons and slashed at the creaking Plant-type monsters in his way.
“Rupture!”
He used a Swordsmanship skill, and though his mind couldn’t fully endure this and his head began hurting, he ignored the pain as his sword buried itself deep into Eisen’s trunk.
As Eisen’s red sap sprayed into the air, Mardock’s lips twisted in a smile at having been able to strike back. Knowing that he had to keep running through, he tried to escape without stopping his feet.
With more creaking noises, Eisen’s trunk, which had been cut by Mardock’s slashing attack, split as if bursting. A sap-covered arm stretched out from within the trunk and sank into Mardock’s side.
“GAH?!”
Mardock failed to withstand this attack and rolled across the ground with several of his ribs broken. He raised his face to see a woman crawling out from within the trunk that he had split open.
A woman with green skin, branches growing from her back and, for so reason, a cow’s tail.
“W-what is this? What the hell are you things?!” Mardock scread, still lying on the ground. It seed that he had reached the limit of what his mind could endure.
The woman that had erged from within Eisen plucked one of the fruits that was growing on the branches on her back.
“E… eat…” she groaned.
And then the fruit, which was harder than iron, ca crashing down onto Mardock.
“It has beco quiet, now, hasn’t it?” Sam remarked. “I suppose everyone will return soon.”
“Y-yes.”
“Fear not, there is nothing to worry about. Even if the enemy are elite individuals, there is no chance that we will be defeated by a single unit of them. More importantly, would you like so more tea?”
“Please! Please allow us to drink it!”
“Like I said, there is nothing to worry about, is there?” Sam laughed. “Such worriso people you are.”
While all of this was going on, Haj and his companions were sitting inside Knochen’s bone mansion, listening to the sounds of battle and screams of agony coming from outside. And they were cowering before Sam, whose eyes were completely crimson including what should have been the whites of his eyes, as he calmly offered them tea.
Haj and his companions simply would not calm themselves. It would be so ti before the troubled Sam realized that his efforts were in vain.
Title explanation:
【Tentacle King】
A Title that is bestowed by an evil god of tentacles such as rrebeveil, the Evil God of Sli and Tentacles. It can also be acquired by those with tentacles who have been acknowledged as worthy of being a king (or queen), and those who are served by many races of people or monsters that possess tentacles.
Historically, this Title has mostly been possessed by those who possessed tentacles themselves. The known exceptions are a legendary tar who tad a Kraken, and the first king of the Sauron Kingdom.
It has the specific effect of providing an ability to display charismatic qualities to races of monsters and people who possess tentacles. It allows such races to beco followers (requires the Strengthen Followers skill). It also strengthens the Title holder’s tentacles, and enhances skill bonuses and effects when they are used.
Incidentally, the world that the Demon King Guduranis had originally co from was a world where intelligent life-forms with tentacles thrived. Because of this, there had been nurous gods of tentacles.
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