Ch.1010. Blood Deity

“······Is it over?”

A moment later.

Having fulfilled all the conditions needed for promotion to form a religious order, I was smiling contentedly while looking at my status window, which had completely changed from before.

Ma-Duk

Race :: God

Type :: Personality-based Thought Complex

Class :: Evil God (Low)

Abilities

Divinity :: Low

Divine Attribute :: Low

Faith :: Medium

Interference Level :: Low

Believers :: 184

Souls (Believers) :: 14532

Souls (Sinners) :: 0

Divine Attribute

Vengeance: 100% (Lowest)

Skills

God’s Eye (Low), Bestow Blessing (Low), Grant Divine Magic (Low), Divine Punishment (Low), Bestow Miracle (Low), Create Divine Artifact (1/2), Designate Apostle (1/2)

Though small in scale, I have a solid religious order and an apostle whose potential is among the highest in the game.

However, my growth as a god seems to be progressing several times slower than the average game progression, perhaps due to historical limitations and reality adjustments. I hurried to find and resolve several hidden pieces, but…

‘The hidden pieces available now… most of the good ones are probably gone.’

Because my starting point is too early, most of the well-known hidden pieces don’t exist yet since their conditions—notably the destruction of the Old Pantheon—haven’t been met.

Moreover, most hidden pieces are only for regular mortal players, like items or potions that boost stats.

But even so.

There is one exceptional hidden piece that can only be obtained now, and only by a god.

That is the Blood Divine Attribute, considered a tier 1.5 attribute, and a certain vampire bloodline whose loyalty can be gained through this Blood attribute.

Let’s look at the divine attribute first.

Material divine attributes like Blood surprisingly don’t spread faith easily unless they’re easily idolized like animals or precious items.

Instead, these material divine attributes have unique mechanisms that allow for sacrificial rituals where the material governed by the god’s attribute is offered to receive blessings or divine servants.

Particularly, these blessings can have powerful effects regardless of individual talent or the god’s rank as long as there are sufficient offerings. Blood is not difficult to obtain and creates a mystical atmosphere easily.

Additionally, blood can expand the scope when creating exclusive miracles or divine magic.

Since blood symbolizes life, it can be used to create healing magic, and its property as a liquid that can solidify makes it easy to conceptualize magical images.

In essence, with a little effort, one can obtain 57% of a divine attribute that could potentially rank just below tier 1 attributes like love or abundance.

As for the vampire bloodline… luck is needed.

Vampires.

A type of high-level undead also known as blood-suckers, they can only increase their numbers by biting and infecting mortals, and are weak to silver and sunlight—almost identical to the vampires commonly portrayed in media.

The difference is that the progenitor of this vampire race was a human transformed by the curse of a previous Blood God who possessed 100% of the Blood divine attribute.

They suffer side effects like experiencing emptiness and gradually losing rationality if they don’t continuously drink blood. Additionally, their flesh melts when exposed to sunlight or holy power.

These curse effects can be alleviated using the 57% Blood divine attribute, and coincidentally, near the hidden location of this attribute lives the progenitor of a vampire bloodline—a vampire with progenitor-level potential.

Her name is Lisa von Draculaina,

turned into a vampire by Vlad von Dracula, the leader of all vampires. While her exact background is unknown, I clearly remember she was wandering near the Blood Sanctuary when Bjorn was still a gladiator slave.

So recruiting an inexperienced vampire—not even 15 years old—who has nowhere to turn should be no problem. Furthermore, to obtain the Blood divine attribute, a ritual must be performed at the sanctuary through the recruited vampire.

In the game, sending a vampire believer there would strengthen the vampire and grant the player the Blood divine attribute. Going there in person should reveal the method.

‘Well then… shall I start looking?’

So I shifted my gaze to the location where the Blood divine attribute was hidden and observed the surroundings with God’s Eye—

‘······Found her.’

Before long, I discovered a silver-haired, red-eyed girl wrapped in rags, shivering in a remote cave so deep that sunlight couldn’t reach.

※ ※ ※

“C-cold…………”

The small girl—Lisa, who looked barely 10 years old—shivered and pulled closer the rags she wore—once a polar bear fur cloak handmade by her mother.

Of course, this did nothing to alleviate the cold.

Not only was a tattered bear skin insufficient to block the chill rising from the deep cave, but there was a more fundamental reason.

The cold Lisa felt wasn’t due to low temperature, but rather a symptom—a side effect of her not having drunk blood for too long as a vampire.

Even if she wanted to leave the cave, with her sun resistance at rock bottom from not drinking blood, venturing out in broad daylight would… well. Though the exact outcome was uncertain, it certainly wouldn’t be positive.

Of course, as a high-level true-blood vampire, even a single sip of fresh blood would dispel the cold and help her overcome sunlight… But how could Lisa do that when she didn’t even know she was a vampire, or what vampires were?

Moreover, despite being from the harsh, barbaric North, she was apparently of high birth and raised gently, with such a delicate disposition that she couldn’t even kill a rabbit, let alone drink blood.

Thus, in her current state, Lisa was destined to either become a blood-starved monster or meet her end in the sun—

《Behold.》

“…………?? ……..!!!!”

Before Lisa, a presence appeared.

A skull with blood-red glowing eyes, two crossed crucifixes, a crimson halo, and an overwhelming presence that filled the cave.

For an 11-year-old Lisa, this was a higher-dimensional being beyond what she could have imagined existing.

And as someone who had been a candidate for shaman (and priest), Lisa remembered what to call such a being.

God. A higher-dimensional being transcending human reason and intellect.

“G-God… why have you come here?”

After staring blankly at the god for a while, Lisa hastily collected herself and, as she had learned from the previous shaman-priest, knelt down, bowed her head before the god, and spoke carefully.

This must have been quite difficult for an 11-year-old, but overwhelmed by the god before her, she addressed him with perfect etiquette that no one could fault. The god then opened the skull’s mouth and began to communicate directly into her mind.

《Child cursed with blood, I have arrived here for your salvation.》

‘C…urse?’

Something seemed to resonate with Lisa as she focused on the word “curse,” and the god, as if reading her thoughts, told her exactly what she wanted to know.

《Your thirst and emptiness, endless cold, and the curse of sun and flowing water are the curse of the Blood God. It has transformed you into a being that cannot survive without drinking blood.》

“……..”

《You seem to want to know the reason, but curses have no reason. The Blood God, while dying, cursed random mortals, and you were unfortunate enough to be caught in it.》

As the nameless god explained, Lisa began to sob with a despairing expression.

A god’s curse. Having seen a warrior in her tribe transformed into a hideous monster by the tribal god’s curse, this was all the more devastating for her.

《But do not despair. I am here before you.》

“…………!”

And to the despairing Lisa, the god spoke as if embracing her, offering hope along with a choice.

《Follow me, and I can turn your curse into a blessing, but trials will stand in your way. Will you follow me?》

“……….Gladly, I shall.”

Of course, the conclusion was as good as predetermined from the start.

Lisa pledged obedience to the god and swore to be his faithful servant. As the god’s form gradually disappeared, he left a final message.

《When there is no sunlight, follow the path I shall lay for you to the sanctuary. Once you arrive there, you will no longer need to suffer. Remember my words.》

After staring for a long time at the spot where Ma-Duk had completely vanished, Lisa finally rose to follow the path forming in her mind—and at that moment, she froze in place.

‘W-warmth………..’

From the red crucifix tattoo that had somehow appeared on the back of her right hand, she felt a warmth she hadn’t experienced in who knows how long.