The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

110 Eclipse King and Tentacle King

Vandalieu suddenly realized that he was in a place that he didn't recognize.

"This is... ah, a dream."

Having experienced something 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 someone's house without realizing it.

"But it's a dream, after all... I wonder if someone else is going to come?"

He began looking to see if there was anything around in his field of vision, which somehow 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 something 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 me 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 me." 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 formed the mouth-like area quivered in rhythm with the words spoken by its voice. It seemed 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 some 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 Merrebeveil. I felt an aberrant... abnormal presence among those who worship me. Wanting to ask who you might be, I summoned you here."

Merrebeveil was a name that Vandalieu remembered hearing before.

"Is that not the name of the heroic goddess worshipped by the Scylla race in their territory?"

Heroic gods were heroes who had become 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.