"Well, the response to being an immortal is very vague. I would have liked to see the power of the moment in this place if I could.

　The spirit of time and space, the intrusion of the undead in such a remote area while making a contract with Valus, should we assume that the immortals were also put into the forest where Kaido and the others were headed?
　If so, I tried to fight to acclimate myself to the senses I had acquired in that space, but...

Orayotto!

　It was much more difficult to find the right amount of force.
　I don't know until I use the app whether or not my ability (status) has improved, but my body movements are smoother and my nimble fingers are sharper, so I am able to cut through them much easier than before.
　But unfortunately, although the immortals have high vitality, they are not as hard as they should be.
　So it's a bit unsuitable as a test partner.

It's not to say that it's extravagant, but there's no one with a better response. Well, we'll just have to agree that the job was done early.

　I don't want to use this word to describe the undead, but the scene in front of me right now is full of dead bodies.
　Dirty rags, bones, carrion, and all sorts of carrion are scattered all around.

"Your cutting is abnormal. Now you're stepping into a realm where you're trying to cut out concepts instead of physics. It's called being selfish to complain to someone when you can cut most things even then. Well, it looks like my contractor is a hell of a person.

　I guess it wasn't an optical illusion that all those cut surfaces are funny and clean.
　And Master Valus says my swordsmanship is not an act of severing physical bonds based on atomic theory, but rather cutting off the meaning of adhesion, even if it's just one leg.
　To put it plainly, I'm trying to cut off the word adhesion and eliminate the phenomenon of sticking together.
　That is to say, a dim-witted, second-rate setting is beginning to be given to my slashes.

"A slash that ignores defense or something...what's that? Normally you wouldn't die so easily even if you cut them off, but how is this for the undead? It's funny how physical phenomena don't work at all. There's no point in being a shield (tank) before this slash.
You didn't set out to do it consciously, but you learned it unconsciously. ...... That's scary. But your slashing is just the beginning. Think about it calmly. If you can generate that kind of slash, how can you do the same thing with your defense? If you live as long as we do, conceptual defenses are a given, and there are plenty of ways to prevent your slash.

　I felt like I was being told that the area I was entering was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Is this just a battle of contradictions?　No, it's also called a tussle, in which case who is stronger, by the way?
From there, it's pure competence, the point is, the one who doesn't work hard enough loses.
"I see.

　And I wonder how the instructors would react if they heard this conversation?
　Are you surprised?　Do you want to be vigilant?　Or would you enjoy?
　I think the two of them are going to have some fun, but at least I don't think they can't do what I could.
　Instructor Kio would fight me with an amused smile.
　I can't see a future where Fusio would let me get close to my range of attack in the first place.
　Even in this realm, I still can't see my back.
　We haven't even reached the foot of the wall, let alone surpassed it, which is what we're secretly aiming for.
　You're still laughing at your own arrogance that it's too late for less than a year, but for now, you turn around and look up at the spirit Varus.
　Now is not the time to be sentimental.
　The figure is sitting on top of the snake, looking down at you as it did when we met.

"Well, I guess we don't have much time, so we'll make a deal. Let's make a deal.
Well, if you want to talk about it later, it's going to be a problem, so let's just get it over with.

　As casually as if wondering whether to buy something you forgot to buy, the spirit converses with you, and then the giant snake lowers its height to the ground as if it were hanging its head down, and from its head, Lord Varrus descends.
　But instead of landing on the ground, the foot floats about 30 centimeters off the ground like a floating spirit, and then it approaches you and stops about two meters before you.

Well, contractor. What's your name again?

　I was expecting the tone, the atmosphere, or the arrangements for signing the contract, but he didn't seem to care about my expectations and asked for my name in the same manner.

Tanaka Jiro. I thought this was supposed to be a little more rigorous than that.

　I questioned if that was enough to make a deal, but Master Vals replied that it was something like this.

I don't care about formality and beauty. The point is, it's just an act of you and I making a connection, with our names. Then it's easier to be uncomplicated and less arrogant. And my name, the spirit of space-time, Valus. I will leave it with you.

　I wonder if it's called a word.
　Entrust your name to me.
　It should have been just that simple act, but the words of that part of the speech felt like a heavy weight on my heart.
　And I felt a definite connection with the being in front of me.
　At the same time, a method of calling spirits that I should not have known is also engraved.

I'll be there to help you if you need anything, so hang in there, Giro-chan.

　I was still holding my chest to feel something connected to my chest, but Master Vals told me casually that he was finished.
　And at the same time, like a businessman after his regular working hours, he weakens and slips back onto the head of the snake again.

As soon as you sign up, you're easygoing, well, easygoing. What do I call you?　Is it still Lord Vals?　Then the honorific is with you, too.
The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that you can call me by my name.　And of course, you don't have to use honorific titles. By the way, my water spirit acquaintances call me Vacchan, do you want to try that?
I can't go to ....... Then we'll set it up. Is Mr. Vals right for the time being?
That's normal. I don't think we have time.



　I've decided to avoid calling her Vals since she's not old enough or young enough to be called by her nickname, and I've decided to call her "Vals" or "Ms. Vals".
　And Vals is right, we don't have much time now.
　Thanks to the immortals breaking through space, the flow of time in this place is normal.
　The time you have fought the immortals is not long, but it is not short either, so things will be changing every minute now.
　It's a situation that demands swift action.

"Now, I don't want to ask you to do this off the cuff, but could you lend me a glimpse of your power as a gift for the contract?
"Oh my God, you are a selfish contractor, but let's not think about that for once. Do you want me to send you to the source of this immortal?
"Yeah, just get the case out of the way and I'll be on vacation.
"Huh, I don't hate that idea, okay?　But what's the point?　The place you describe has a pretty strong miasma.
I'll take care of it.
I feel like I'm being forced to deal with a lot of stuff when I sign up.
"I'm a personality that keeps my business domain strictly separate from other people's business domain. If you're not going to fight, you're going to need more support, and that's what I'm asking for, from a man of small and fragile hands. You don't want your contractor to die the first day he signs on, do you?　It's the anniversary of my first contract. Treat me big, please.
Can't help it, just this once?　Already, if your kind is the first contractor, should the next one be a little quieter?
"Then lighten up your ordeal a bit, or you'll be signing up with a bunch of freaks like me?
I'll think about it - then I'll send it to you.

　The deal with the spirits of the twists and turns is over.
　You are not physically tired, but mentally exhausted.
　But if you decide that it's still okay and give him a mischievous grin, he'll return it with a smile that shows his generosity in response to the prankster's mischief.
　In the midst of a conversation that seems to be a mixture of chit chat and jokes, you enter the gap created by the rupture of the space, waving your hand behind your back, prepared by Mr. Vals.
　And then you're sent out, and right in front of you is...

It's awful.

　Hell had been created .
　The space had an atmosphere similar to that of the Immortal King's dungeon, but there was a sense of order in the dungeon, but not in this place.
　Just a space that seemed to be sprinkled with death.
　There are no living people, but instead skeletons of various species, zombies of various kinds, and even ghosts, a lineup that is almost like a fair of lifeless beings strutting about according to their greed.

You could say it's indiscriminate terrorism.

　The rich natural space that was once called the forest of spirits has disappeared, the trees are dead, the soil is dirty, and the springs have turned into poison.
　The environment is too harsh for a living being to survive.
　It's not that the space is polluted, but in the forest of spirits, you light the cigarette you were hesitant to smoke, breathe in the smoke as hard as you can and spit out the white smoke.
　The miasma has caused the white smoke to disappear quickly, but it served to attract the attention of the immortals.
　You'll be able to find a lot more than just a sharp gaze, but also a sticky gaze that's uncomfortable.
　I thought of the culprit who did this, wondering how he or she managed to create such a space, and wondered if he or she didn't think about the inconvenience, but in the end, I simply said that the culprit was an idiot and put him or her in a corner of my mind.

Well, it's time for overtime. It's overtime. Overtime, even for the service. Oh, is it an occupational hazard that you get depressed just hearing the word "overtime"?

　You pull out the mineral tree in an attempt to get some closure before the supervisor's unit arrives.
　You grimace slightly at your partner, who pulsed to convey his disgust at cutting this existence.

Yeah, I know how you feel, but just don't bend your belly button, buddy, I'll take care of it later. I'll be in real trouble if you bend it here. I don't want to have to deal with these guys with my bare hands.

　I'd like to fight a better opponent if I had to," he says, not knowing whether his aversion to combat has been paralyzed or not.
　I'm counting on my partner to pulsate as he communicates his understanding and intent.
　Regardless of my state of mind, I let out a shout of joy that my quarry has arrived, and a swarm of immortals is approaching from all directions like a swarm.
　They are closing the distance in the blink of an eye with the momentum that should be called a rage, and they are attacking me.

"Ah~ It's still a strange sensation when you cut off. Can we get used to this during this battle?

　Still, I swing the mineral tree unhurriedly.
　Physically, or in this case, better to say weight-wise.
　Normally, even if I cut down the lead enemy to one side, my body would be swallowed by the wave of the undead before its followers could launch another attack.
　But I wasn't afraid of that now.
　Anyway.

"Well, what's next?

　That's because that's what happens when you make a normal slash.
　At that pace, I would definitely have been outnumbered by the violence of the undead.
　But I can make a double-digit slash in the blink of an eye.
　In addition, the slashes are in the realm of concepts or thoughts that can cut through things that can never be cut physically.
　What's the result?
　Needless to say, the results speak for themselves.
　The storm known as the slash struck the undead.
　I felt the gusts of wind that came from such a sword strike and suddenly I thought.
　Perhaps, in a sense, it was a foregone conclusion that Instructor Kio's initial attack on me during the rookie training was the wrong one.
　It's hard to maintain force.
　Despite a light swing, I was still able to unleash a single sword against the majority of the immortals that rushed toward me.
　It takes only a few moments to make them realize that they have been cut, and before they know it, their necks and torso, their bodies vertically, their upper and lower bodies, depending on where they were cut, are parted in tears.
　It is a sword that brings back the lifeless to death.
　He had mastered it.
　I stepped into the realm of the undead as casually as if I were going for a slow walk, but there was nothing to stop me.

Ah~ The air is bad. Didn't the guy who did this learn from his parents not to bother other people?　Oh, I guess they didn't learn, or else they wouldn't have done this. Or maybe you're an idiot who thinks it's the right thing to do, or maybe your brain structure is just not right.

　I didn't feel good about the job and complained to the person who caused the incident to distract me, but I didn't have the option of not doing it, so I moved my mouth and mine quietly.


　You literally cut down enemies attacking from all directions, front, back, left, right, and above the ground, and walk towards the increasingly dense miasma.
　The miasma is a miasma that has been in use for years.
　Each time there was more, my arms would waver for a moment without leaving even an afterimage.
　With that alone, the skeleton is divided into three equal parts with its armor, and the zombie turns into a body-only doll, and the ghost vanishes without a trace.

The worm.

　For the umpteenth time, a zombie worm rips out of the ground, opening its big mouth and revealing its uneven fangs, hoping to bite me.

"Hmph!

　With the slightest pause for breath and force, the zombie worm's mouth is cut into little pieces, and the pieces of flesh, along with the blood, are scattered by the shockwave created when it is swept out.
　A natural claymore, the worm's fangs are included in the flying debris, and the fangs attack zombies and skeletons, causing damage throughout the area.

"Ah, a Lesser Rich?

　Magic is the same way.
　It uses magic to detect flying fireballs and dissipate them with a slash before their heat reaches you.
　If ice, wind, stone, and darkness are all made of magic, then you can make magic power crawl through the mineral tree to break the spell.
　The instructor's teachings were truly the polar opposite, but they were also the truth.
　At the time, I thought it sounded like a rhetorical suggestion to cut through a tsunami with a water cutter, but when I tried it, I was right.
　In the distance, I can see the Lesser Rich casting a spell, seemingly perplexed that I've counteracted the magic with a slash.

"So, what's next, the physical?

　The more time I spend fighting with a confused opponent, the more I see what I need to do next.
　Kenjutsu is now in the realm of the inhuman, but the way you move your body has not yet caught up with it.
　Now I can run through 100 meters in a couple of seconds, but it's still not enough.
　Although you are not physically overwhelmed when swinging the mineral tree, you still have the feeling that you are not able to fully utilize your body.
　You'll be able to step into the realm of the future if you train your body more.
　It's a good thing that you're able to have a good idea of what's to come, but from the Lesser Rich's point of view, I'm a nightmare, cutting down on magic and running through at a speed from which I can't escape.

The miasma is a miasma that has been around for a long time, and it's not something that can be easily ignored.

　The miasma density begins to emit a visible purple smoke.
　The miasma of the miasma is proportional to the concentration of black magic, the source of this immortal must be around.

I'm relieved to see that my fears were unfounded.

　The destination is near, and as I was vaguely aware of this, something passes above me.
　A huge body flew in to block the slight moonlight that illuminates this hellish place.

Is it a gatekeeper or a guardian? It's been a long time since we've fought a dragon zombie. And there are two of them!

　The dragon's strong body still poses a threat even in its decomposed body.
　I'm sure its flesh is decomposed, its green scales, which would have been fine in its lifetime, are dirty and its wings are full of holes.
　Such a huge body creates a huge impact when it lands, one blocking my path and the other taking a position to cut off my path.
　The point Vals sent me to can't be too far from my destination.
　I've been physically moving for an hour.

"I'll just knock it over and finish my overtime and get a drink.

　Without worrying that the end was in sight, and with a natural effort, I set out to slay the dragon zombies.


　Word of the Day
　I'm happy to see you get better at your job, but I'm not happy to see the hassle that comes with it.
　Am I the only one who thinks so?