Ch.2424. Wolf God

Shortly before Bjorn began his battle with the apostle of the old god in the temple, at the same time as the fortress siege was taking place in the material world.

In the divine realm, Blood Warriors were invading the territory of Bjorn’s old tribal god after leaving it.

Across what appeared to be a vast natural field or prairie, blood-red warriors mounted on red wolves charged forward recklessly.

“Keu, KEUAAAAAAAH───!!!”

───Slash!

They cut down the few souls residing here and hunted the gray wolves—servants of the wolf tribal god scattered throughout the region—gradually diminishing their influence.

《You invaders! I, the Wolf God, will never forgive you!》

Of course, since the divine realm is essentially a space equivalent to the god’s physical body, the tribal god—known as the Wolf God—quickly noticed this and created several giant wolves to subdue these Blood Warriors, but…

“Fire!”

KWAGAGAGAGANG!

They were being swept away by combat mounts—or rather, combat hound-vehicles—that roamed the battlefield firing blood-red divine power from the Blood Cannons mounted on them.

With simultaneous attacks occurring in both the material world and the divine realm, the Wolf God was struggling to decide which to deal with first… Nevertheless, the divine territory was an area that absolutely could not be lost.

Therefore, just as the Wolf God, who had descended directly in the form of a wolf with giant eagle wings, was about to leap into battle…

《Oops, adults shouldn’t interfere in children’s fights.》

I too lunged at the Wolf God, taking the form of a winged knight clad in red armor.

《You! Are you the new master of that rabble?!!》

《What if I am?》

After easily dodging the claws he swung, I asked this question, and the enraged wolf didn’t even bother to reply as he stood on two legs—wielding an axe in each hand—and swung wildly at me.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One swing distorted the divine territory, the second created cracks, and the third vaporized dozens of hounds of vengeance caught in its aftermath.

It was indeed powerful enough to justify his willingness to damage his own divine territory through direct attacks… The problem was, none of it could hit me.

Unlike the Wolf God, whose body was nearly 12 meters tall—perhaps a manifestation of his self-conceit and desire for greatness—I had reduced my size to a modest 3 meters to conserve faith and maintain agile movement.

His size and build gave him powerful impact and mass, and despite his bulk, the Wolf God was pressuring me at a speed that seemed physically impossible… But I could tell at a glance it was all just empty bluster, and I intuitively realized:

‘This guy isn’t even a lower god anymore. …No wonder this feels so underwhelming.’

The current Wolf God lacked the faith needed to maintain his status as a lower god and had been demoted to the lowest rank of deity. Even in his own domain, where faith consumption should be minimal, he couldn’t fight properly due to faith deficiency.

All the humans who had been his believers had abandoned him to survive by clinging to the (old) pantheon, and he had consumed all the souls guided to his divine realm to increase his power—sacrificing his future for meaningless immediate gain.

As a result, he naturally had no accumulated faith, nor believers to replenish it.

Therefore, my plan to conduct reconnaissance with this angelic form, then possess a high-ranking servant I had prepared as my avatar and win using information gathered during reconnaissance—had become essentially meaningless.

‘Indeed… plans always go awry somewhere when made in advance.’

So while inwardly sighing with disappointment at my derailed plan, I contemplated how to finish him off without having to directly engage in this tedious battle.

And having finally realized the method—I instructed the angels of vengeance, infusing them with power by transferring a portion of my divinity.

《Break this god, angels of vengeance. Complete your revenge.》

With my blessing and divinity temporarily powering them up to high-ranking servant level, these 36 angels of vengeance should be more than capable of not just slaughtering but subduing him completely.

Originally, only gods can face gods because divinity protects against attacks from lower beings, but excluding spiritual authority—the pure combat power of a lowest-rank god without faith is at best equivalent to a grade 3~2 boss monster.

Had he remained just a beast without divine status, he might have been a grade 0 transcendent, but ironically, becoming a god had lowered his rank.

So I thought they could handle this if I temporarily granted them divinity to wound the god and amplified their combat power to high-ranking servant level through my blessing.

“Power, power is overflowing───!!”

“Ah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Lord Ma-Duk! Your servant shall offer you the blood of that disgusting beast!”

“POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!”

‘…Did something go wrong?’

But whether there was some issue with my blessing, the angels of vengeance abandoned their holy demeanor and instead charged at the Wolf God with battle cries filled with madness and burning hatred.

At first, their battle cries were chaotic and uncoordinated, but that didn’t last long.

“For the Blood Father───!!!!”

“”””””””””FOR THE BLOOD FATHER───!!!!”””””””””””

Somehow, the battle cries had changed to follow Rael’s lead, who still maintained some rationality, and simultaneously, they achieved a semblance of military discipline.

Thus the battle began, and predictably yet pathetically—the angels maintained the upper hand throughout.

The angels, capable of high-speed flight with their wings of light, threw spears and axes made of blood and divine power, bombarded with divine magic, and whenever an opportunity arose, immediately descended to strike and withdraw.

The angels of vengeance, most of whom were once tribal warriors and hunters, hunted the Wolf God by gradually wearing him down despite having half their rationality evaporated, faithfully following Rael’s instructions. Rael coordinated all this through my authority contained in her spear (the Avenger’s Spear).

《■■■■■■■───!!!! Insignificant creatures!!!! You insignificant vermin───!!!!》

The Wolf God charged at the angels with a monstrous roar, intent on killing them, but under Rael’s nearly perfect direction, the 36 angels moved as if they were a single organism.

‘…This is impressive.’

Her skilled direction, which even I—a god with almost all [support functions] at maximum—couldn’t match, seemed unbelievable for someone whose class was High Berserker in the Barbarian tree… She could probably look down on mediocre command-type class holders.

Although I had been prepared for several casualties—perhaps even half—her performance was truly brilliant.

《Rael, pull back your subordinates.》

“……….?!!! Yes!!!!”

So, feeling somewhat proud, I decided to step in directly despite the inefficient faith consumption, and Rael, startled, hastily retreated with the rest of the angels…

《──────Judgment.》

KUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUNG──────!!!!

With my single word, space vibrated, and a massive greatsword appeared in the sky, tearing through space (the Wolf God’s divine territory) as it began to descend.

The giant weapon, identical to the greatsword I had bestowed upon Bjorn, appeared to fall slowly due to its size but was actually descending at a tremendous speed.

《You! You!! YOUUUUUU───────!!!!!》

The Wolf God, realizing that a direct hit could mean instant death, initially tried to dodge, but then seemed to realize that if it crashed into his divine territory, the entire realm might shatter.

So he roared, howled, and tried desperately to push back the falling sword, but… It was too much for a mere lowest-rank god who had been demoted due to lack of faith.

KWAAAAAAANG─────KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGANG!!!!!!

He managed to reduce the sword’s power by drawing and releasing some of the faith that formed his divine realm, but regardless, the descending greatsword struck the Wolf God.

《……………………》

As the Wolf God lay sprawled on the ground, his body cracked with faith and divinity leaking from the fissures—a pathetic sight—Rael, who had approached unnoticed, climbed onto the god’s massive body and aimed her spear (the Avenger’s Spear) at his heart.

It was a perfect checkmate that no one could deny.

※ ※ ※

At the same time.

“HAAAAAAAP───!!!!”

“───Lord Ma-Duuuuuuk!!!”

Clang! Clang!

In front of the Wolf God’s temple, two men serving different gods fiercely clashed their weapons, exchanging blows.