Chapter 202 - A draw? A huge defeat?

Chapter 202 - A draw? A huge defeat?: Resurrection

Death Mage 202 – A draw? A huge defeat?

For some reason, the real Vandalieu had taken over a reproduced copy of himself. Having realized this, Curatos tried to call for assistance.

Though the challengers of this Dungeon could be resurrected over and over in this Dungeon no matter how many times they died, Vandalieu was able to destroy souls and thus grant his enemies a true end to their existence, even here.

As far as Curatos could tell, it seemed that even Vandalieu himself had not expected to be in this situation, but… even so, there could only be one oute if he were to encounter Heinz and his panions. Curatos could not afford to lose the still-inplete Five-colored Blades.

The outside of this Dungeon was being guarded by personnel from both Alda and Vida’s Churches in the Orbaume Kingdom. But in addition, there were heroic spirits and gods that were skilled in bat, ready to descend upon the world at a moment’s notice in the event that Vandalieu or the gods of Vida’s faction were to attack.

Curatos just needed to summon those gods into this Dungeon.

“I did not expect that he would enter the inside of the Dungeon directly, but this ends here,” Curatos muttered to himself.

As Vandalieu was in a copied body, he would not be able to exert his full strength, and once the gods entered this Dungeon, he would be repelled easily. Curatos had no doubt about that.

But he was astonished to find that his request for aid was not reaching the outside world.

“Impossible…! I have been meticulous in maintaining munication –”

Suddenly, Curatos let out a groan and staggered as he felt a sensation resembling the impact of a battering ram hitting his body. This sensation signaled that someone was trying to open the Teleportation Gates, the gates that connected the different spaces within the Dungeon, but was obstructed by the barriers that Alda, the god of law and fate, had erected.

Curatos knew who it was. With this event coinciding with Vandalieu’s appearance here, it could only be the gods of Vida’s faction.

But a direct intrusion into the inside of the Dungeon was the situation that Curatos and his master Alda needed to prevent the most.

That was why Alda had built sturdy protective measures while creating this Dungeon in order to prevent Zuruwarn, the god of space and creation, from entering the Dungeon directly.

“My lord’s protections are… cracking…!” Curatos murmured, shuddering in horror.

The battering-ram-impact-like sensations were continuing intermittently, and the cracks that were produced with each one were not small enough to be ignored.

But who? How were they doing this to what should have been a perfect defense?

“… Gufadgarn, the evil god of labyrinths. He has followed the ‘path’ that Vandalieu has taken into this place, spatially separated the inside of the Dungeon from the outside and is now trying to enter himself!” Curatos realized.

It was known that Zuruwarn had joined Vida’s side; this being his doing was one possibility. But considering that Gufadgarn had ceased his maintenance of the Trial of Zakkart, this evil god that created numerous Dungeons and increased the pollution of this world was the more likely answer.

Vandalieu had created a small tear in the Dungeon’s perfect defense by entering, even though it was only his mind that had entered. Now, Gufadgarn was making use of that tear.

“I can feel several other presences… strong presences… but I must deal with the situation at hand for now,” Curatos told himself.

He began repairing the barrier to buy as much time as he could while also creating copies of himself. These copies would act on his behalf, inform the Five-colored Blades of the situation and provide a way for them to escape. He also began making preparations for the worst.

In order to minimize the losses from this defeat.

While Curatos was performing these trial-and-error tests, Jennifer and Diana died and returned to the ‘town.’ He was terrified that their souls had been broken, but he was relieved to find that their souls were intact and had returned to their bodies. It seemed that Vandalieu had spared them.

However, there was no guarantee that he would spare the rest. Curatos quickly shut the ‘corridors’ to prevent Jennifer and Diana from leaving the ‘town’ to return to this floor, and also to prevent Vandalieu from entering the ‘town.’

However, while Curatos was performing these tasks, Edgar also fell into a dire situation.

“So, he intends to destroy their souls after all… he is devouring them?!” Curatos exclaimed in shock.

Edgar was almost pletely out of Mana, and Luke, the familiar spirit of Niltark, the god of judgment, who had descended upon him, was in a critical state as well. Meanwhile, Vandalieu’s Mana had recovered, albeit only slightly.

Curatos recorded this phenomenon and realized that unlike the Demon King Guduranis, who had only destroyed souls, Vandalieu was capable of devouring them.

There was no longer any time to lose. Curatos sent the copies that had somewhat taken form, along with the ones that carried his own mind.

“No way, we can still fight! We can’t afford to lose this Dungeon –” Heinz began.

“Even if you are capable of fighting, it will be futile. As you are now, you cannot avoid defeat,” said Curatos.

He had instructed Heinz to destroy his own fake body, return to the ‘town’ and escape from this Dungeon, but as he had expected, Heinz wanted to stay.

However, Heinz was gravely misunderstanding the situation.

“It is possible for me to heal your wounds and restore your Mana. However, I cannot heal wounded souls,” Curatos said.

Indeed, Heinz and Delizah could certainly still fight. However, the souls of the heroic spirits that had descended upon them were already wounded. With time, they would likely heal and return to normal, but… if they continued to fight against Vandalieu and continued receiving heavy blows, it was possible that their souls would bee damaged to an irreparable state.