I’m not sure how many shonen manga there are where so early on in the story someone you believe will be one of the central figures in the entire thing gets killed off, but given that Dead Rock is set in a demonic world, this series is prepared to be brutal.

We return to the action in the Dead Rock’s school library, where Yakuto is trying to search for a book which will reveal God’s weakness, in the hope that Yakuto can carry out his plan of killing him. Given that the library is magic, you can just think of whatever particular book you want and it will appear on the shelves. However, things become troublesome when Yakuto and fellow student Zelecia the Black Wizard (the human guise of Chako, who is normally in bird form) meet the strongest student in the school, Cougar, who plans to kill them.

While it looks like the duo won’t be able to take them down, fellow student Hien the Fenrir is able to stop Cougar who, it turns out, knows him. Both come from the same level of the demon world, with Hien studying at Dead Rock in the hope of becoming stronger and restoring his level to normality, as it is currently in constant winter. Together Yakuto, Zelecia and Hien beat Cougar, but all the fighting attracts the attention of the school’s Vice Principal, Bren the Gigant, who very easily and simply squashes both Hien and Cougar in an instant.

Yakuto and Zelecia are able to steal a copy of the book they need without Bren realising, but the book is magically sealed and Hien cannot be revived as there appear to be no remains. Regardless, they and the rest of the class are sent out to do some extracurricular activities, namely to visit a wizard who might be able to break the seal on the book. However, Bren soon returns to get the book back.

Having read this volume, my main reaction was one of sadness over Hien’s death, mainly because he was one of the central figures at the start of the story, appearing to have some tsundere qualities which would be fitting for an ice user, and now he is gone in a flash. Whether any remains of him can be found later so that Mikoto can user her necromancy to bring him back, we will have to wait and see, but for me it is a shame to lose a character that appeared to be so interesting so early on. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of typical action to keep you entertained in this volume, as is clearly evidenced, given that the gang are battling a literal giant. On the downside, in my review of Volume 2, I mentioned that it ended with the introduction of a brand new character that I thought we would learn about in Volume 3. Turns out he isn’t even mentioned once here.

There is yet more back-referencing from Hiro Mashima. We get to see Yakuto’s Acnologia transformation again, albeit enhanced by the end of this particular book, and the return of Plue, the tiny snowman like creature when he appears on a cover of a book in the library.

Once more, the production on the series seems good, from the translation by Erin Subramanian, the editing from Cayley Last, the letting from Hames Dashiell and AndWorld Designs, and the cover design by Yusuke Ohno and Abigail Blackman. Unlike the previous volume, we also get some translation notes. Volume 4 is not due out from Kodansha until February 2026.

Given that Dead Rock is able to pull some surprises when it comes to what happens to its characters, it will still be interesting to see how the story continues to progress.

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.