Ch.1212. Blood God

About eight days had passed since Lisa became aware of her powers as a true-blood vampire.

During that time, I guided Lisa to the hidden location of the Blood Deity while simultaneously teaching her various vampire abilities to help her move beyond relying solely on instinct.

Vampires belong to a species with many weaknesses.

Naturally, they suffer injuries when exposed to sunlight or flowing water. Being fundamentally undead, they are extremely vulnerable to holy power, and weapons made of silver or mythril (true silver) cause them far more damage than ordinary steel.

However, in exchange, vampires inherently possess a diverse range of special abilities comparable to those of established professions, simply through their racial traits.

Their troll-like regenerative abilities that can instantly reattach severed limbs, and overwhelming physical capabilities such as grip strength and leg power three times that of humans are merely the basics.

They possess a form of shapeshifting ability, allowing them to transform their bodies into bats or mist to evade attacks, or partially form bat wings or turn parts of their body into mist to fly.

Additionally, vampires can naturally wield blood magic—spells exclusive to vampires that manipulate blood. Since the damage is determined by their highest ability score, even warrior vampires can effectively cast powerful blood magic without issue.

Moreover, vampires can use special mental skills through what are called “demon eyes,” which have the advantage of being able to charm others or dominate enemies simply by looking at them, without any significant cost.

Vampires also have their unique resource—”blood,” a concept similar to MP—which they can consume to mitigate the weaknesses mentioned above, or even use blood instead of MP when casting spells, or amplify their healing powers.

Of course, when actually using these abilities, one can’t help but feel they’re somewhat mediocre compared to races specialized in specific professions, as their powers seem rather scattered.

Anyway. As I wandered around teaching Lisa how to use these various abilities, before I knew it, she had arrived at our destination.

“So this is…”

The mountain range where the “Blood Sanctuary”—the resting place of the Blood Deity—was located.

※ ※ ※

The Blood Sanctuary, more precisely, is both the palace and tomb of the previous Blood God.

According to the background setting, it’s a secret temple believed to be where the Blood God fled just before being killed by the gods of the Pantheon, and in reality, it actually is where he escaped to.

And since its location must be hidden, there are several conditions required to accurately locate the Blood Sanctuary—

First, a vampire of true-blood rank or higher must clearly recognize the place called the Blood Sanctuary and arrive at the mountain range where the Blood Deity sleeps.

While this might have been just one of many arbitrary conditions in the game, in this world that had become reality, there was a clear reason for this requirement.

Although vampires of true-blood rank or higher are technically a type of undead transformed by the curse of the previous Blood God, this also means they are essentially devotees—their bodies transformed by divine power.

Therefore, true-blood vampires can easily reach the secret temple—the Blood Sanctuary—which only followers of the Blood God can find… and simultaneously, that very vampire becomes the medium to absorb the divine power.

The second reason is quite easy to understand: the true-blood vampire seeking the sanctuary must be accompanied by a deity of intermediate rank or lower.

This is obviously because there needs to be a god to inherit the divine power, while also strongly suggesting an intention to never pass the divine power to higher-ranking gods who might have been competitors or enemies.

And there is the most important final condition.

The deity accompanying the true-blood vampire must not be affiliated with the (old) Pantheon and must have negative or hostile feelings toward it.

Not surprisingly, I had deduced that the previous Blood God had set this condition because he too had been killed by the (old) Pantheon.

In any case, all three conditions must be met to enter the Blood Sanctuary, and naturally, I currently satisfied all of them.

《Proceed to the Blood Sanctuary.》

“Yes, I shall do as you command.”

Following my instruction to move toward the Blood Sanctuary, Lisa began to move, and before long, we arrived at the entrance hidden between valleys in the middle of the mountain range.

The entrance to the Blood Sanctuary was a modest archway made of carved stone bricks.

A strange red light flowed from within, with no visible door or similar element.

One might wonder what exactly needs to be done here… but both Lisa and I instinctively knew.

That touching that red light was the condition.

《Go.》

“…Yes.”

Following my instruction, Lisa entered the passage and touched the red light, causing a flash of brilliance—

《I have been waiting, young god.》

《…?!!》

Suddenly, only my consciousness was transported, and I found myself face to face with a powerful deity presumed to be the previous Blood God.

The Blood God was enormous.

In the center of a space where pulsating red blood churned, the massive deity looked down at me from a magnificent throne made of blood.

His body resembled a red mannequin made of blood, with no facial features and smooth skin in human form, covered with dark red armor that gave him the appearance of a warrior.

Divine light radiated from behind his head in the form of a red halo, and beside the throne was an ornate blood-red greatsword that seemed to be forged from the flames of hell and blood.

His appearance was undoubtedly majestic enough to confirm he was the Blood God, yet somehow his presence felt faint and thin.

Well, no matter how high-ranking a god might be, it’s nearly impossible to maintain and manifest their presence after death.

A god’s presence is fundamentally evaluated more by how much faith they’ve accumulated rather than by their divine rank.

《…You said you were waiting. Does that mean you knew I would come?》

When I questioned what caught my attention in his words, the Blood God answered with a voice that somehow conveyed a hint of pleasure.

《Indeed, young god. For beings like us, isn’t time meaningless?》

He was right.

Unlike the divine race, which is closer to “a race with divine power” than actual gods, the previous Blood God and I are, in a sense, beings who have transcended the flow of time and space.

Of course, if one has apostles or believers in the material world like I do, they would follow the flow of the world using those people as anchors… but it’s different for the Blood God who has half-departed from the material world.

To transcend the flow of time and space means becoming an omniscient but powerless being who knows everything but cannot interfere with the world, while simultaneously being swept away by the torrent of emotions and souls drifting through the divine realm and becoming one with it.

The previous Blood God was probably barely maintaining his sense of self within this Blood Sanctuary, and even that seemed like he intended to consume his last remaining faith and anchor for this conversation before dissolving into the divine realm.

《Are you not afraid of the end?》

So when I asked him if he feared dissolution.

《How could I not be? Even I, ■■■, have emotions, so naturally I feel fear.》

The Blood God—■■■—calmly confessed the fear he was currently feeling, as if making a confession.

《But I feel that if I leave my legacy to you, young god, and dissolve here, at least my traces will remain in the world.》

“…”

《That’s enough for me. That much is sufficient for me to accept dissolution willingly.》

His perspective was that of a being who had been a god from birth, so it was somewhat difficult for me, who had once been a mortal—human, to empathize with.

But even so, I could sense firm conviction and will in his words… and that was enough.

It would be an insult to the previous Blood God—■■■—for me to interfere by saying anything to a god who had decided to end his existence in this way.

So as I simply gazed at him in silence, ■■■ seemed to notice my intention, and the smooth mannequin-like head changed as if smiling.

《Oh my, I’ve been rude in this rare conversation. You must be quite busy right now.》

《…I won’t deny that.》

《Yes, of course. Then—I shall pass everything I have to you.》

And the moment ■■■ said that, his form collapsed, and his disintegrated body transformed into energy that flowed into me.

No, to be precise, the entire Blood Sanctuary was being absorbed into me.

With a strange feeling of my soul being filled, my mind became infinitely distant—

Just like when I had faced the Blood God—■■■, my vision shifted, and I found myself in what appeared to be the center of the Blood Sanctuary temple.

Ma-Duk

Race :: God

Type :: Personality-based Thought Complex

Profession :: Evil God (Low)

Attributes

Divinity :: Medium

Divine Rank :: Low

Faith :: Medium

Interference Level :: Low

Believers :: 184

Souls (Believers) :: 14532

Souls (Sinners) :: 0

Divine Domains

Vengeance: 100% (Low) Blood: 57.9% (Low) War: 4.1% (Lowest) Violence: 2.4% (Lowest) Vampire: 100% (Low)

Skills

Divine Eye (Low), Bestow Blessing (Low), Grant Divine Magic (Low), Divine Punishment (Low), Grant Miracle (Low), Divine Artifact Creation (1/2), Apostle Designation (1/2)

‘…Huh?’

Along with several unexpected additional gains.