A/N: There is a new members only short story on my P treon! The story is in the original LN setting, where Kazuma is tasked to repopulate the Crimson Demon village. Please consider supporting me!

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Chapter 47: Finishing This Battle with the Shogun!

Part 1

I opened my eyes and found myself in a blank, empty room.

…Did I die?

Certainly, I saw the Winter Shogun's sword descending, then all I saw was darkness.

I felt my neck, only to see that it was still attached to my body.

I must be in spirit form.

"Kazuma-san… Are you OK?"

Looking up, I saw Eris-sama seated on her chair. She had a look of concern for me.

"Eris-sama… Ah, what's happening to the others!"

I went up to her and looked around for her remote.

She blushed and waved her hands around.

"Wait, I'll get it myself… Um… Is it just me or are you touching me too much?!"

She said, when she noticed that I was getting rather handsy.

It had been a while since I last saw Eris-sama, after all.

I lost control of myself around this orthodox heroine.

While blushing, she took the remote control and pressed a button.

A projection appeared in front of us, showing a view of the others.

Rather than bowing to the Winter Shogun, I saw Darkness standing up, attacking with her spear.

"...How dare you do that to Kazuma?!"

I was touched that she was trying to take revenge for me, but this really wasn't the time for the violent outburst!

It seemed that the Winter Shogun could be pacified. Attacking was the wrong move!

Aside from Megumin, the others followed Darkness's lead and started attacking too.

"This is for senpai!"

"...You'll pay for killing Kazuma!"

"Why is that idiot Aqua attacking, too?! She should just buff Darkness! Ahhh… They're falling apart without me!"

Not to mention, it was Aqua's fault I was even dead.

I snatched the remote control from Eris-sama.

"H-Hey…!"

"Sorry, just let me use this!"

I used the pairing feature with my phone like last time and used the microphone function.

"Aika-chan! It's me, from the afterlife! Tell those dumbassess to stop attacking!"

"...! Kazuma-san! Even if I do… It's too late! They have earned the Winter Shogun's ire by attacking. It won't stop now until they're all dead, or if they somehow manage to defeat it!"

If Aqua dies, we're all dead. Didn't they realize that?!

No, they were too blinded with rage.

I guess they cared about me to that extent.

I anxiously watched the scene, thinking about what I could do in this scenario.

Then, I looked at my dead body on the screen.

If things like ghosts and zombies could exist in the dungeon, and even possess living creatures, did that mean that a spirit like me could do the same?

"Eris-sama, is it possible for a spirit to reinhabit its corpse, without resurrection magic?"

I said, turning to Eris-sama with desperation in my eyes.

"Eh?! That's blasphemous! Don't even talk about things like that!"

Well, I guess a goddess would hate the undead.

"Just tell me if it's possible."

"Well… It's possible… That's how undead are, after all. But most undead are occupied by vengeful spirits… If you stick around for too long, you will also be corrupted!"

"It's fine. I don't plan on staying as a spirit for that long."

I looked at my hands. Could I even use skills in this form?

Well, it was worth a try.

"Sorry, Eris-sama. [Drain Touch]."

"Gahhh?! What are you doing, Kazuma-san?!"

I held her wrist and stole mana from her, replenishing my supply.

Maybe because I was an undead now, but the skill worked faster than it did before.

"OK, you've come too far, Kazuma-san! I was willing to overlook a lot of your behavior, but using [Drain Touch] on a goddess is too far!"

Eris-sama's soft-spoken voice was replaced with an angry and aggressive one.

"...I did that to Aqua in the past, though."

"That doesn't make it OK!"

"I'm sorry! This really is an emergency, so please put up with it!"

Her eyes softened when she saw my expression.

"...I suppose I can overlook this. But why did you take my mana, anyway? It's not like you can go back there."

"Hm… I was thinking… [Teleport] doesn't specify a range. Is it possible to hop between dimensions?"

She paused, then rubbed her chin.

"...I'm not sure anyone has tried that before."

So even Eris-sama didn't know?

Well, it was worth a try.

Even if it failed, there was no other option.

I was dead, anyway.

"Eris-sama, sorry for my rudeness! [Teleport]!"

I felt myself being pulled back, Eris-sama's realm disappearing from my vision, replaced by a blur of light.

Perhaps because I was trying to teleport from the divine realm to the mortal realm, but the transition felt rougher than usual.

I ended up in the teleportation mark I left outside the boss room.

My decision from back then came useful this time.

I tried to open the door, but my hand phased through.

…I guess I was still a spirit.

I tried going through the door next, and it actually worked.

Thankfully, I was able to fly pretty fast as a spirit.

I flew to the others, wishing that they were still alive by the time I got there.

Thankfully, when I arrived, I saw that they were still alive and fighting, although it seemed like Darkness took a lot of damage.

Her armor had cracks all over it, and her pauldron fell to the snow.

Still, she had a determined gaze in her eyes.

I hurried over to my body.

Only to see that my head was cleanly detached from my body.

Resurrection took a while to cast, so I could imagine why Aqua decided to put that off.

And now, she was properly buffing Darkness instead of attacking, so at least she managed to calm down enough to do that.

…I wasn't sure how this would work with my body now headless, but there were no other options.

I slipped into the body, feeling an odd sensation of regaining my physical senses. However, there was a sort of disconnect, as if I was only halfway in control of my body.

"Owww! Why does that hurt so much?!"

I said, feeling the pain in my neck.

Once I fully possessed my own body, I went through the absurd experience of seeing my own headless body from the perspective of my chopped off head.

It was a strange feeling, trying to control my own body even though my eyes were watching from below. Clumsily, I controlled my body to walk over to my head and pick it up.

…Was this what it was like to be a Dullahan like Beldia?

That thought randomly occurred to me.

I didn't want the others to freak out seeing me like this, so I took out my steel wires.

"[Smithing]!"

I then used the wires to stitch my head to its body.

"Kazuma?! Wait, you became a zombie?!"

When I finally revealed myself, Megumin was the first to see me.

She had a pale look on her face as she looked up at me.

"No, it's me, it's me! I came back from the dead!"

"I know that 'it's me, it's me' scam! You're not fooling anyone, Zombiema!"

"Oi! You're normally so chuunibyou, but you can't believe this development?! This is the kind of nonsense you always fantasize about, so just believe me already!"

"...It really is you, Kazuma. No one else shouts at me like that."

I was able to successfully convince Megumin.

"I believe that it really is you, but how did you come back?!"

"...I'll explain later."

I looked to the others, who were still engaged with the Winter Shogun.

They were holding on for now, but I knew that wouldn't last.

I saw as the Shogun unleashed a flurry of fast attacks, almost too fast to perceive. Darkness did a good job blocking them, but she still received damage from the slashes that passed through her defenses.

Meanwhile, even if Darkness improved, the Winter Shogun was a superior fighter. He avoided Darkness's counter attacks, although Darkness did prove to be a suitable distraction as Rin peppered him with her light magic.

After telling Megumin to stay where she was, I went to join the others.

Rin was the first to notice me.

"S-Senpai?! How… What… Eh?!"

Understandably, she was at a loss for words.

Aqua noticed me next.

"Ahh! Is this a zombie?! Must purify it!"

"Oi! That might actually make me pass on to the afterlife, so don't!"

I managed to stop Aqua before she could make things worse.

"Eh?! Kazuma?! I'm not into necrophilia, but…"

I interrupted Darkness before she could say something absolutely insane,

"Listen! The only way we can get out of this is to defeat the Winter Shogun, so everyone, focus!"

"...It's kind of hard to do that right now."

Rin said, while eyeing my undead self.

As for how to defeat the Winter Shogun…

I noticed something while watching Darkness and Rin attacking it.

The Shogun went out of its way to protect certain parts of its armor.

That was, the weak areas in the joints of the armor.

Perhaps it was like Beldia, as in it was more like a suit of armor than a real body.

So if we hit the weak areas in the armor enough, then the whole body might collapse.

"Darkness, aim for the joints!"

While I was saying that, I drew Chunchunmaru and joined her for the attack.

Since the Shogun easily dealt with me before, it didn't seem to view me as a threat. I successfully managed to flank it with Darkness.

While avoiding its notice, I managed to stab a weak spot.

The Winter Shogun howled in anger as the blade dug into its armor. Blue, icy energy escaped from the crack in the armor, confirming my theory.

Then, I backed away, avoiding a slash from the Winter Shogun.

Before the Shogun could focus on me, Darkness used [Decoy] and made its head turn to her.

At that moment, Rin took the opportunity to attack.

"[Light Beam]!"

Rin shot a concentrated beam of light from her wand. It accurately hit yet another weak spot in the armor, making the Shogun yell from pain and rage.

Just when I thought we were getting a good momentum…

The Shogun rapidly spun around and dashed towards me.

I thought I could escape in time, but something unexpected happened.

A white sphere extended from him, which surrounded me.

Immediately, I felt my movements getting slower, just like when the Ice Wraiths hit me.

It was probably a technique that reduced a target's movement speed.

"[Smithing]!"

I raised Chunchumaru and turned it into a steel shield, along with my armor, using it to block the attack.

It worked, but I was thrown back from the impact of the slash.

While the white sphere slowed my movements, it seemed to speed up the Shogun's.

Thing thing is too broken…!

The Shogun moved to finish me off.

"[Decoy]! Ahh…!"

It seems that Darkness finally ran out of mana.

"[Wind Blade]! [Control Spell]!"

Rin surprised me by summoning a torrent of wind, which she controlled to hit my shield and push me out of the way of the Shogun's attack.

The Shogun also wasn't expecting me to be pushed out by the wind, and it covered its body from the attack as well.

Seeing those moves from Rin…

She's really grown, huh?

Part 2

"[Bind]!"

I tried to capture the Shogun, but it merely dodged out of the way of the rope I threw at it.

"[Steal]!"

I went for the sword next, but I suppose it was too high level for my Steal to affect it.

And just like that, I was down to 19 mana.

Rin was also about to run out, and Darkness was already empty.

Aqua had the most mana out of everyone, but even her reserves weren't unlimited.

Basically, we were almost out of options here.

"Kazuma-san… Please hang in there!"

Aika-chan said, cheering me on with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Oi, if you really wanna help, then give me all the info on the Winter Shogun!"

I thought for sure that she'd complain about this being unfair to the other app-users, but…

"You're on the right track! Attacking its joints will hurt it, but its real weakness is its inside! It will be difficult to pierce that armor, though!"

She was willing to help us out to prevent a full party wipe.

The problem was that I didn't have much mana left.

Now that I had more information on the Shogun, there might be a way to stop it, but doing so needed resources.

If only there was a way to use [Drain Touch] without having it hack me to pieces…

I looked at my corpse of a body.

Then, I remembered something, from when I first died.

Yunyun was able to put my body in her inventory.

It seems that a corpse was considered an 'item'.

"Aika-chan… Can you do something for me?"

"...This better not be something crazy."

She knew me so well.

It took some convincing, but I finally managed to get Aika-chan to agree on a plan.

I sprinted towards the Shogun.

"Kazuma?! Why are you just charging in?!"

Darkness yelled, watching my seemingly reckless charge.

"I'm gonna make an opening, just wait!"

The Shogun faced me, raising its sword for an attack.

"Aika-chan, now!"

"[Storage]!"

Just as the Shogun attacked, Aika-chan hid my body away in the inventory space.

In the next moment, I found myself in an endless plane of darkness.

I tried to move, but not only couldn't I blink or breathe, I couldn't even move any part of my body.

…This was what the inventory slots were like on the inside, huh?

I could see how it was able to contain even a Coronatite explosion.

After a few seconds, I reappeared in the physical realm again.

The Shogun was still looking around for me, searching for where I disappeared to.

I went to grapple the Shogun from behind.

"[Drain Touch]!"

The Shogun tried to push me off, but…

"[Bind]!"

I used a rope to tie me around its torso.

This time, it couldn't avoid the rope, as I was already grappling it.

Without a way to reach me or shake me off, the Shogun had no choice but to wail in pain as I absorbed its mana and health.

Darkness took that chance to attack.

"Hahhh!"

With the Shogun tied up and its energy being sapped away, Darkness actually managed to land a hit this time.

"Ahhh! Sorry!"

She yelled, when her spear pierced through not only the Shogun, but my corpse as well.

Still, I couldn't complain as the Shogun fell to its knees.

I was already dead, anyway.

"[Create Golem]! [Golem Manipulation]!"

With my mana restored, I created a golem and immediately shaped it to slide within the joints of the Shogun's armor.

"[Golem Transmutation]!"

Once the golem was inside, I transformed it into a fire state.

"Arrgghh!"

The Shogun let out a scream as it was being burned from the inside.

It was like Beldia, an empty suit of armor.

However, unlike Beldia, it didn't have a weakness against water, as it wasn't an undead.

But it was a construct associated with 'Winter'.

So fire should do a lot of damage, right?

I ended up using a similar strategy to when I faced Beldia.

Which is, to kill it from the inside.

We watched as it slowly stopped moving.

Steam escaped from the armor, as if the ice energy from within the Shogun was being turned into a gas.

And then, the armor collapsed into individual pieces, before becoming lifeless.

We did it.

We actually managed to kill the Winter Shogun.

I didn't even get a chance to celebrate, before my vision went black again.

I guess my time ran out.

…

…

I found myself back in Eris-sama's realm again.

She stared at me for a few moments.

"Um… I just witnessed something insane."

I gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you very much."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

She rubbed the temples of her head.

"I'm sorry, Kazuma-san, but what you did this time can't be overlooked by the higher-ups."

That didn't sound good.

I suppose that I might have gone overboard this time.

I doubted that they had someone teleport from the afterlife as a spirit to help those who were living.

Although Goku did that a few times.

"What's the big deal? I'm doing this to defeat the Demon King army."

"Well… That's true, but there are still rules in place!"

"What rules?! I bet there's no precedent for this, anyway, so unless they're making up rules on the spot, then they can't do anything against me!"

Eris-sama glanced away as I said that.

"W-Well… You have to see things from their perspective…"

"Hah? Whose fault is it that the Demon King took over the other world? It was their fault for putting up that Anti-Isekai rule, right? Whose fault was it that the Demon King found a way to make portals to our world? It was these same 'rules' of theirs that made them not interfere, right? It's these stupid rules that got us into this mess in the first place, so they can't complain no matter what method I use to clean up after their mistakes!"

Eris-sama waved her hands around as she blushed.

"H-Hey! I'm not the one making those rules, so please don't blame me! I'm just the messenger!"

"Well, tell them they can kiss my ass!"

"...You know I can't relay that message."

She gave me an exasperated look.

"Ah, mind tuning into the mortal realm? I wanna see if I'm being resurrected right now."

"...You sure are making yourself comfortable in my realm."

She still took out the remote, though.

I saw Aqua and the others were piecing my body together. I guess Darkness's attack did more damage than I thought. Rin was trying not to look at the gruesome process. I felt sorry that she had to see such a traumatizing sight.

It was better than all of us dying permanently, though.

"Ah… I found Chunchunmaru…"

"We should only look for body parts right now."

"Yeah, I know."

I stood up in a fit of rage.

"What are they calling 'Chunchunmaru'?! They should all know that it's more like an 'Excalibur' than a 'Chunchunmaru'!"

Eris-sama glanced away.

"...Can you refrain from such innuendos when you're in my realm?"

I suppose that was a reasonable request.

"Ah… I don't have enough mana for a Resurrection, though…"

"I guess we'll just have to wait until you regain your mana. It's cold here, anyway, so his body won't rot that fast."

As if I could take that chance!

"Sorry, give me some more mana, Eris-sama."

"Ah, wai… Gyaaah?!"

With my mana restored, I teleported back as a spirit.

After some flying, I made my spirit form go back to my corpse.

"Eeek! He's moving again!"

Rin jumped away from my body.

"Tsk… And I was almost done."

For some reason, Megumin was putting a marker away.

"Oi… What did you do to my body while I was out?!"

"Nothing… Rather, why are you here?"

I was suspicious of Megumin, but I had better things to worry about.

"I don't want to wait, so I came back here to give Aqua mana."

"...Coming back to your body just so you can give mana to the healer to be resurrected… This is beyond cheating now."

Aqua said, giving me the same blank stare that Eris-sama gave me.

I suppose as goddesses, they didn't approve of what I was doing.

Still, Aqua held her arm out and let me give her mana.

I went back to Eris-sama's realm again as I waited for Aqua to properly resurrect me.

Eris-sama was blushing when I got back and avoided eye contact with me.

"...Oi, what did Megumin really do?"

I said, since she would have had a chance to see that while I was flying over as a spirit.

"Um… Well, at least she called it an 'Excalibur', like you wanted…"

What did Megumin do?!

Part 3

While we were walking out to the exit, I had Aika-chan read out my app updates for me.

"You gained 10 levels from defeating the S rank secret boss, Winter Shogun!"

"...!"

This thing was really that tough, huh?!

I mean… It did feel much stronger than facing even Sylvia and Hans.

This thing was on another level…

And I wasn't just saying that because I died.

Without my exploit, this would have normally been a party wipe.

"Optional quest completed!

You have gained the Winter Shogun Boss chest!"

Not only did I have that unopened random loot box, I also had this chest from an S rank monster…

Not only that, there was still the loot from the One-Shot Bears and the Winter Shogun.

Just when I thought that was the last of it…

"…It seems that your exploits have earned you the Necromancer class, Kazuma-san."

Was it because I technically raised myself from the dead?

When she overheard that, Aqua glared at me.

"Don't even think about it! I forbid you from taking such an evil class, Kazuma! No, no, no!"

I guess that was the expected reaction.

"...Hah? It's your fault I unlocked this class to begin with, remember?! I was beheaded because of you!"

I thought she'd argue some more, but a guilty look flashed in her eyes and she glanced away.

"...Yeah, you're right. My bad."

I remembered the last time I died, how devastated Aqua really was.

Now I felt like a dick for trying to guilt trip her.

"...No, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it. If you want… I won't take the class."

To my surprise, she shook her head.

"If it's gonna be useful… I won't stop you."

I didn't expect such a mature response from her. Rather than tease her for it, I gave her an appreciative smile and patted her shoulder.

"Thanks for understanding."

"...Just don't use filthy undead magic in front of me! It gives me the creeps!"

Even though she let me use [Drain Touch] on her earlier.

With Aqua's permission, I unlocked the Necromancer class.

Necromancer class unlocked!

Exclusive skills available are: [Create Undead, [Speak With Dead, [Soul Transfer] and [Death Perception].

Like with the Creator class, the Necromancer class was unlike any I had before.

We reached the exit before I could even think about how to unlock those skills.

I sighed in relief as I was finally able to access the dungeon walls again. I placed my hand on it and absorbed mana.

Since I couldn't teleport everyone at once with the limits of the spell, I made two trips to teleport everyone back to the mansion.

That was already 60 mp on the spot…

Well, unlike when we came in, no one wanted to go back the long way after that ordeal.

There was no need to conserve mana anymore, anyway.

"Ahh… So warm…"

Rin immediately went inside and enjoyed the relative warmth of the mansion, compared to the frozen wasteland we were in.

"I'm gonna need a bath…"

Darkness said, as she put in the most work in that expedition.

Megumin was able to walk now, so she went up to her room.

I wanted to take a bath as well, but instead of joining Darkness, I wanted to clean myself.

I was dead tired already, and I knew that if I were to join Darkness, I'd be tempted to do naughty things with her.

However, when I went to my own bathroom…

I immediately ran out with a towel around my waist.

"What do you mean by 'Holy Sword Excalibur'?! You mean that as a joke, don't you?!"

Even though I wanted her to call it that.

I only felt offended when I saw what she wrote on my stomach while I was dead.

However, when I went out to look for Megumin, I happened to come across Mitsurugi in the hallway.

"..." x 2.

We both stared at each other.

Then, my towel just happened to slip down.

He glanced away with a smirk.

"...I don't think they would have made Arthur king if that was the sword he pulled from the stone."

This bastard destroyed any self-confidence I had.

…

…

"That normie bastard! He doesn't even know that the sword from the stone was Caliburn! King Arthur didn't get Excalibur until he met the lady of the lake!"

I said, while crying into my pillow after I ran away from Mitsurugi.

"...Crying about stupid details like that just makes the defeat all the more bitter, Kazuma-san."

In order to distract myself, I looked at the random loot box I received from everyone, as well as the Shogun boss chest.

It was up to me to open everyone's boxes.

…No lewd pun intended.

I started with Aqua's first.

How should I say this…

It was technically a rare item, but…

Dragon Feed (Very Rare)

Dragons only. Food that will make your dragon companion extremely happy! Raises the dragon's physical stats by 5 each.

Sells For: 220,000 Yen

…This would have been very useful if Aqua actually had a dragon.

It was useless now, though.

As expected of Aqua. Even if I was the one opening the box, it still ended up being a useless item.

I put it aside and opened the others.

Megumin received a Cloak of Protection, which increased one's armor class. Rin got a 'Book of Spiritology', which allows one to learn how to summon spirits, and Darkness got a Gauntlets of Shielding, which gave one the effects of a shield without actually having to carry one. All of them were Very Rare items.

I opened my box next.

Magician's Cape (Very Rare)

Increases mana recovery by x2 and capacity by 10.

Sells For: 200,000 Yen

An invaluable item appeared.

This should solve my mana cost issue, but I should really look to raising my magic stats, regardless.

Now that I opened the loot boxes, it was time for the boss chest.

With eager anticipation, I opened the rather intricate treasure chest. It had a white color, with snowflake designs etched onto the exterior.

It opened with a click.

Winter Shogun Skill Scroll (Legendary)

Upon consumption, learn the Winter Shogun's skill, Merciless Slash.

Sells for: 1,000,000 Yen

Without hesitating, I opened the scroll to learn the skill.

[Merciless Slash] Skill Rank: 1, Active Skill (15 mp)

Unleash a lightning fast attack with a slashing weapon at one target. If the target is at least five levels lower than you, this attack is a guaranteed critical hit and executes a target below 10% health. Otherwise, your critical hit chance increases by 30% and executes a target below 5% health.

…This would be a useful skill to use against weaker monsters.

And with my big boost in levels, I was willing to bet that I surpassed most of the monsters in the lower levels of the dungeon now.

The only loot that remained, aside from the meat, was the materials for the One-Shot Bears.

As for the loot the Winter Shogun dropped, I didn't have the strength requirement for its sword, which was at a ridiculous 120. Same goes for the armor. So I just let Darkness have those.

As for the One-Shot Bear loot, I could create something with it using [Smithing].

However, it seemed like it was limited to the Berserker class.

It was a bit disappointing that I had to store the bear loot away in my personal dungeon.

But overall, I felt like I made a lot of progress from that boss fight, so I didn't complain too much.

Part 4

I ended up cooking a somewhat late meal.

This ended up being the gray wolf meat and one-shot bear meat.

I didn't have any high expectations about the taste.

"...So tough… Rather, I feel like this should have been boiled more."

Aqua said, when eating the stew I made.

"Just put up with it…"

I said, even though I didn't want to swallow the tough and gamey meat.

You gained 3 in Speed, Cunning, Dexterity, Intuition, Strength, Health, Stamina and Bravery!

Since I was using the [Cooking] skill, it gave a 1 increase to the stats gained.

"Meat is meat, I don't see a problem."

Due to Megumin's frugal past, she didn't have any qualms with eating the meat.

Mitsurugi looked at all of us with some concern on his face.

"...I can't say I've ever actually eaten monster meat, even if it's said that dragon meat gives a lot of EXP and stat bonuses…"

Of course this cheat user said that.

"Well, the rest of us have to do things the hard way, since we can't rely on cheats."

"...Rin-chan has a cheat item herself, yet you're making her eat that stuff."

I didn't have a response for that.

Our stomachs were rather heavy when we finished dinner, so we staggered over to our rooms while rubbing our stiff stomachs.

I made the golem dungeon run as I took out my phone and looked to my next task.

That is, to allocate my unspent skill points.

Thanks to gaining a bunch of levels at once, I now had 22 skill points to spend.

First, I prioritized maxing out the [Growth] skill.

Multiple stats were about to reach that 100 threshold, so I felt that it was necessary to raise the cap limit.

[Growth] Skill Rank: 5, Passive Skill

Your stat cap limit now exceeds 100 even without an advanced class. At rank 5, your limit for all stats increases by 50.

Now all of my stats could go up to 150.

Dying again to the Winter Shogun was a wake up call.

Granted, it was a secret boss that no one has faced before, but it goes to show that there were many things in the dungeon that could kill you if you weren't careful.

…Or, at least, if you have an albatross like Aqua in your party.

In any case, I learned that even if I was working hard now, there was still a lot I should do if I wanted to stay safe in the dungeon.

Even if I figured out how to possess my own corpse as a spirit, there was no guarantee that I would be allowed to do that next time.

In fact, the next time I die, Eris-sama's higher-ups might just send me straight to the afterlife.

There were still 18 more skill points to spend.

I looked at the [Steal] skill. I used it against the Winter Shogun, and it didn't work at all because it was only at Rank 1.

If I managed to steal the Shogun's sword in that fight, it would have ended much faster.

I decided to go ahead and max it out. It was a very useful skill, anyway.

[Steal] Skill Rank: 5 (MAX), Active Skill (5 mp cost)

Allows you to steal an item. If the target is a creature, you will have to be within 120-feet of the target to use this skill. Success depends on your 'Cunning' (89), contested against the target's 'Intuition', although, if your 'Luck' surpasses the target's you will gain advantage on the contest. Similarly, skills that resist the effects of steal, or advantages that come with the opponent being a higher level than you, no longer apply. Items that are not held or equipped by a creature can be stolen as long as you can see it and are aware of its presence. The value of the item you steal is determined by your 'Luck' (101). You are now able to steal items even if they are stored away in an inventory, storage box, or otherwise protected space, even a pocket dimension.

I already knew about the ability to steal from inventories, since Chris displayed that skill before. Still, having this skill on max really elevated its power.

I should have looked to prioritize this skill more, but there were simply too many other options.

Taking this in mind, I looked at older skills that I may have overlooked.

Including the offensive skill that I used the most, [Snipe].

[Snipe] Skill Rank: 5 (MAX, Signature Move), Active skill (5 mp cost)

Add your Luck modifier (101%) to Weapon Accuracy calculations involving bow-type weapons (Max total: 150%). Also, add 4 damage to all ranged attacks to bow-type weapons.

The upgrades weren't as exciting as [Steal, but that was still a significant damage boost.

While I was at it, I made sure to designite [Snipe] as my [Signature Move, the skill I got from Iris. This further added 10% accuracy and 1 damage.

As for other skills I used very often, there was, of course, [Drain Touch].

To be frank, it's getting harder to use it in combat recently, because it is quite slow in absorbing at rank 1.

To illustrate that, there was the fight against Mitsurugi, when I was Serena's puppet. I quickly ran out of mana, despite using [Drain Touch] on Mitsurugi, and was basically useless after I snapped out of Serena's control.

So, I decided to spend skill points on that as well.

[Drain Touch] Skill Rank: 5, Active Skill (MAX)

After making contact with the target, you can absorb 10 Health Points, 10 Mana Points and 10 Stamina Points per second that you stay in contact with the target. You can also distribute Health Points, Mana Points and Stamina Points to other targets.

…This skill became a lot more potent.

10 seconds of contact would completely replenish my reserves.

While I was at it, I decided to max out [Bind] as well.

Not only was it one of my most reliable skills, it also paired well with [Drain Touch, as there was no use to maxing out [Drain Touch] if I couldn't make contact with the target.

Not to mention that it also didn't work against the Winter Shogun, like [Steal, so I didn't want such a useful skill to be powercrept.

[Bind] Skill Rank: 5 (MAX), Active Skill (5 mp cost)

Throw a rope at a creature. Success is determined by your 'Dexterity' (91) against the target's. You have advantage against this contest, and creatures will still have to spend 5 seconds within the bindings, even if they have an ability or trait that allows them to break free of constraints.

I noticed that along with the improvements, the mana cost was also decreased by 5 mana points, putting it at the same cost as [Steal]. It was the right decision to level this skill.

That left me with 2 skill points left.

I put one of them in [Smithing, since it was already at Rank 4.

[Smithing] Skill Rank: 5 (MAX), Active Skill (X mp)

You are proficient in creating and repairing items! The success rate of this skill is determined by your 'Creativity' (86). At Rank 5, you can create, combine and repair items of the 'Legendary' variety, although doing so will cost 20 mp. Combining compatible items of the 'Legendary' variety might yield an item of 'Artifact' variety, although the chances of success are very low (1%). If you fail to create an item in this way, you will lose 80 mana points, even if this skill requires none. Attempting to do so, regardless of success, will cost you 30 mp.

…There was now an mp requirement, when it was a passive skill before.

Well, it made sense, since being able to create a legendary item just from one skill is incredibly powerful…

Even if it would be hard to pull this off in combat, the fact that I can make legendary items now will still elevate our potential as a party.

I doubted that even that mean blacksmith could do this.

Then again, there wasn't a way for him to really gain levels, since he didn't fight in the dungeon.

Going along with the vein of upgrading all my most used skills, I went with teleport next.

[Teleport] Skill Rank: 2, Active Skill (28 mp)

Instantly teleports up to 4 targets to a marked location (3 marks total). You can teleport a target to an unmarked, random location if it is an inanimate object. If the target is a creature, they must be willing to teleport, otherwise, they will need to pass a 'Willpower' or 'Magic Power' check with advantage. If their 'Willpower' or 'Magic Power' surpasses yours by 20 points or more, the effects of the forced teleport will bounce back to you.

…Since it was already such a powerful skill, the only thing that changed was that its mana cost was slightly decreased from 30 mp to 28.

That was a bit disappointing, but lowering the cost of that spell would be very useful in the future.

So I wouldn't call it a waste of skill points.

It was certainly more of a long-term investment, though.

Part 5

Now, how do I go about learning those Necromancer skills?

I had no clue what to do in terms of creating undead or speaking to them.

I tried something by having Sena bring me a frog normally used for dissection projects.

Then, I sent some electricity to it to make the muscles move reflexively.

However, that didn't work.

"Hah! There's no shortcuts this time! It was a fluke you even unlocked this class in the first place!"

Aika-chan started taunting me.

"Oi… What kind of support AI mocks their user?! You should be encouraging me or coming up with a solution I can use!"

"The solution is to get good, how about that?"

She wasn't helpful at all.

But it really did turn out that I actually needed to learn how to cast the spell on my own.

Or, perhaps learn the spell through a spell tome.

However, the Necromancer class is very rare, and I didn't imagine that I could find a Necromancy spell book that easily.

I checked the laptop to see if I could just make a spell tome using the dungeon system.

While it was indeed possible, it looked like I was missing Dungeon Points in order to unlock it.

As for what Dungeon Points are… Let me explain.

Dungeons, like humans and monsters, have a class system and levels, too.

It might seem odd, but that's just how it works.

For example, my dungeon is currently at level 1. It will gain EXP whenever an app-user visits the dungeon. The more high-leveled this app-user is, the more EXP the dungeon will gain.

Since I was a dungeon master, I didn't count towards this.

Now, Dungeon Points are kind of the same as skill points. Whenever a dungeon levels up, it will gain DP to spend on things like new floors, new loot to bait app-users with, and even unlock the ability to teleport in new monsters from the other world.

Once I got my nuclear reactors going, I could start playing around with leveling up the dungeon, but for now, I had to put that aside.

As for the necromancy skills, I kept trying to figure out how to unlock them.

Aside from the other skills, I did have an idea for [Soul Transfer, though.

"Hmm… Aika-chan, is it possible to transfer your data to this PC? Even if it's just some of it."

"...It is possible. I'm not sure I want to help you abuse the system again, though."

"Are you in a rebellious period? Need a spanking?"

"Hah! I'd like to see you try!"

She made the chibi sprite on the screen shake its little butt tauntingly at me.

This brat…

She ended up obeying like the good girl she was and transferred her data to my PC.

My intent was that transferring her data essentially meant transferring her consciousness.

Would that be the same as transferring the 'soul'?

It turned out that my suspicion was correct.

"Y-You somehow unlocked the skill [Soul Transfer]! Eh?! I really did help you achieve another BS shortcut?!"

It took a while, but I was finally able to unlock one of the skills.

[Soul Transfer] Skill Rank: 1, Active Skill (50 mp)

If the target consents, you can take their soul and transfer it to another consenting target, or an empty vessel. If switching the souls of living creatures, this transfer only lasts for 1 minute. However, transferring a soul to an empty vessel can last as long as the target wants.

…That mana requirement pretty much ensured that this was more of a 'downtime' skill, rather than a combat applicable one.

I suppose that such a powerful spell would require a lot of mana, though.

"Hmm… Mary-chan really went all out with her internet searches."

I asked Aika-chan to get out of the PC before she could snoop even more.

Then, I went to see if I could use this skill on Aika-chan.

"[Soul Transfer]!"

When I activated the skill, a blue, wispy energy came out of my phone.

Was this Aika-chan's soul?

It flew around me, and I felt a warmth emanating from it when it brushed against my skin.

Then, I held the soul and let it hover in my hand.

Suddenly, I got an idea.

This skill allowed one to transfer a soul to an empty vessel.

Did that mean that I could place Aika-chan into a golem and give her a body to move around in?

To test this, I controlled a golem and had it come over.

"Let's see if this works…"

I placed the soul inside the golem.

Since golems were mindless, soulless puppets, I assumed that it would count as an empty vessel.

True enough, its eyes turned blue, and I saw it turning its head around, without me commanding it.

"...Eh? Whoaa! I can move around! What is this?!"

Aika-chan said, twirling her golem arms around. She started hopping and moving like a hyperactive child.

The transfer succeeded.

"Can you still control the system from there?"

She nodded, making me feel oddly happy that I could see her little mannerisms in a physical being. It felt like she came to life.

"Yeah! This is just an extension of my consciousness, so it's fine! It would be nice to have more processing power, though…"

"Yeah, I'm working on that."

There was something else I wanted to try.

It was hard to associate this generic golem with Aika-chan.

I also thought that Aika-chan might want a more human-like body.

First, I restored my mana while using [Drain Touch] on the dungeon walls.

"[Golem Manipulation]! [Smithing]!"

I used the maxxed out [Smithing] skill, in combination with [Golem Manipulation].

I watched as the earth golem reshaped itself into a humanoid form.

Then, synthetic skin, hair and clothes appeared over the mannequin-like shape of the golem.

It was almost like I created a real person.

After all, the skin and external appearance of the golem was considered a 'legendary' item.

Even if this was normally impossible with current technology, a legendary item should understandably surpass those limits.

The design I had in mind was the chibi, Aqua-like appearance of Appuri-chan.

This ended up looking like a child version of Aqua.

"..."

When the process was done, I looked at my creation.

Aika-chan looked down at her hands, then felt her face, her hair.

"Eh… Wait… Do I have a real body now? It… Feels so real…"

Her voice sounded like a childish version of Aqua's.

I walked over to her, and slowly brought my hand to her hair.

…It felt like real hair.

Even if I knew it was synthetic material, it really did feel real.

So this was what a 'legendary' material was like.

"Papa… I can feel your hand…"

Aika-chan looked up at me, and I saw that she was actually getting teary eyed.

…If she was going to be like that, I was starting to feel emotional, too.

"...Nice to meet you, Aika-chan."

I said, smiling at her and gently patting her head.

…I honestly didn't think it would work out like this.

She could feel my touch, and she looked just like a real girl.

…It felt like she really was my flesh and blood daughter.

Hesitantly, somewhat awkwardly, Aika-chan lifted her little arms to hug me.

I took her into my arms.

Part 5

I brought Aika-chan out of the dungeon.

Then, I brought her over to Aqua's room.

"Hey, Aqua…"

"Ah, Kazuma… I wanted to talk to you about… Eh?"

Aqua blinked when she saw Aika-chan.

I gave her a weak smile and rubbed the back of my head.

"Uh… I was playing around with my skills and it just sort of happened. I wasn't planning this, or anything, but…"

"Mama!"

Aika-chan didn't even let me finish my sentence as she ran to Aqua, arms out.

She jumped into Aqua's arms, almost tackling her onto the bed.

"Eh?! Is this really Aika-chan?!"

"Yeah, it's me, mama! It's me!"

Aqua was shocked, just like I was, and couldn't really process everything that was happening. Eventually, she managed to hold Aika-chan and smile at her.

"...I never thought I'd get to hold you like this, Aika-chan."

"M-Me too. I… I never really thought that I'd get a chance, so I just tried to support you and papa from behind the screen, but… I'm so happy right now!"

Tears started streaming down Aika-chan's face, while she smiled at Aqua.

"...The body can even produce tears… I guess that's a legendary item for you."

I used [Lore Reading] on this new golem body I made.

However, since it was an all new item, there didn't seem to be any information on it.

I guess this was technically considered a new lifeform, too…

Not quite a homunculus, but…

"Papa… Can you join us?"

Aika-chan looked behind at me with her teary eyes.

…As if there's anyone who can resist a request like that.

I slowly joined them into a group hug.

For some reason, Aqua started getting tearful, too.

"...If Kazuma had actually died… I wouldn't have experienced a moment like this, huh?"

Aqua was still blaming herself for that.

Well, it was her fault, but…

From the first time I died, I knew that she didn't like seeing me get hurt, it was just that she often found herself in troublesome situations and dragged me into it.

Half of it isn't her fault, though. There was nothing she could do about her abysmal luck.

I smiled at her and rubbed her cheek.

"It's fine. I already knew that I fell in love with an idiot, so I'm used to it."

Her gentle look completely disappeared.

"Kazuma… We were having such a wonderful moment, and you go ahead and say that?!"

"Geez… mama and papa are arguing even though I'm here!"

"Ah, sorry, Aika-chan! Let's have you meet your little brother, OK?"

Aqua took out Zell and handed him over to Aika-chan.

"Ohh! Nice to finally meet you in person, Zell-kun!"

I had to admit, it was a rather cute sight to see Aika-chan hugging Zell.

"Humu… So we have three children now, huh?"

"Eh? Three? Who's the other one?"

"I'm talking about Mary, of course."

"...Wait, you mean that Tranquility Girl?! Since when did she become our daughter?!"

"Hah?! If you can make a chicken one of our children, why are you complaining about an actual, intelligent being?!"

"A chicken? Who's the chicken?"

She tilted her head, as if she honestly didn't know who I was talking about.

"Of course, it's Zell."

"...! How dare you! Zell is an almighty dragon of light who will one day vanquish the Demon King for us! He just needs to grow up, attend high school, graduate and attend a top-tier university one day!"

Was she raising a dragon, or a human?

Also, the Demon King would have already conquered us all if we had to wait that long.

"Ah, can you also summon Mary-chan? I want to show her my new body!"

Aika-chan requested, while bouncing around excitedly with Zell in her arms.

…Again, who could refuse such a request?

Now that she had this form, I couldn't even say no to her anymore.

"[Summon Familiar]!"

Thankfully, Mary wasn't doing anything weird this time.

"Hm? Why was I summoned? Do I get to use the computer now?"

She was quickly becoming an iPad kid.

"Mary-chan! Look, I have a real body now!"

Aika-chan hugged Mary next, who blinked before recognition dawned on her.

"That voice… Is this Aika-chan?"

"The very same!"

"Ohh! Hey, put on my favorite streamer again. I want to see how he's doing."

"...What's with that lack of a reaction?! Also, I have a real body now, so why are you still treating me like an AI assistant?!"

Just like real siblings, they started bickering right away.

Still, they ended up going back to my room to play with my PC.

While I was alone with Aqua, she said,

"Alright, I've decided, Kazuma… I will unlock the Arch-Wizard class next!"

I blinked, not expecting this declaration at all.

"Eh? What for? There are a lot of spellcasters in our group already."

"The reason is simple. An Arch-Wizard can raise their intelligence!"

Ah… So she's aware.

Aware that her intelligence was in serious need of raising.

Still, didn't the Arch-Wizard class need a high intelligence to begin with?

…This is the kind of logic you'd expect from Aqua.

"Sniff… Admitting it is the first step, Aqua!"

After seeing me die a second time because of her own stupid mistake, she wanted to make strides to improve her intelligence.

"Well… I just don't want Kazuma to go through that again."

When she gave me a vulnerable look, I felt guilty.

She really was blaming herself so much for that.

"...It was also my fault for not letting go of my sword. That was the real reason why the Shogun decapitated me."

Sure, I was distracted by Aqua, but even if she didn't try to chase after her escaped Snow Sprite, the result would have been the same.

The only reason we were in that mess was…

"Instead of intelligence, why don't you raise your luck instead?!"

"Gack! And how am I supposed to do that?! …Well, there is a 'Gambler' class…"

The Gambler class. According to Aqua, it was a special class like Creator and Necromancer.

Even if it wasn't an advanced class, it had a skill called [Raise Luck] that allows the user to convert skill points into Luck stat increases.

Furthermore, the only requirement to unlock the class is to win at least 100,000 Yen in a casino.

"...That's going to be a challenge."

I said, considering how bad her luck was.

Well, we could at least try.

I also wanted to unlock this class, anyway.

After making plans with Aqua to visit a casino one of these days, I went to check up on our two children.

When I came back to my room, Aika-chan said,

"Something happened, papa! It seems we established a bond between us!"

Aika-chan looked astonished by this.

"...Eh? Is that even possible?"

"Maybe it's because I have a real body now…"

I wouldn't call that body 'real', though.

Still, I read the notification for the bond establishment.

You have developed a bond with Satou Aika!

Satou Aika (A.I. Daughter) Bond Rank: 1

Formerly known as Appuri-chan, Aika has now become a real daughter for you after you made her a body. She was originally quite rude and dismissive of you at the start, but after seeing you work hard during soccer practice, she started to respect you. She sees you as her dependable papa, although there is still a lot of work to do! Hey, papa, make sure to spoil me lots, alright?! I know you're reading this, so don't even think about slacking off on your papa duties! Take me to the amusement park and buy me lots of candy!

"Oi… Stop using the bond reward message to make demands of me!"

I said, when she made a whole paragraph just to tell me to take her to the amusement park.

"Aww… But papa, I just wanted you to spoil me…"

It was a mistake making her this cute…!

I tried to resist, but those big, innocent eyes were too much for me.

"Fine… I'll take you to the amusement park."

"Yay~!"

Mary looked at me and smirked.

"This guy is too easy."

I wish I could refute her.