Ch.275275. Qualification

“Hmmm.”

A low breathing sound.

Lanhart breathed quietly like a predator hiding in the bushes, stalking its prey.

His golden eyes, gleaming even in the darkness, were looking down at the city of Norsweden.

Within his muscles that writhed as if alive, a subtle golden light flowed—one of the changes that came after consuming the ancient dragon.

“Is this it.”

Another change Lanhart had received as he gradually integrated the ancient dragon into his body was his eyes.

“So magnificent it’s frightening, and therefore beautiful.”

Lanhart could now see souls.

The sight of millions of souls floating above Norsweden’s streets looked almost like a storm of calamity.

It made him feel foolish for having declared he would devour such power.

Yet despite this, Lanhart did not give up.

While some people look up at a towering structure and surrender, others burn with passion for the challenge.

Lanhart was clearly the latter.

“Khuuu.”

As he exhaled with uncontrollable excitement and fighting spirit, the trees around him began to melt where his breath touched them.

Even Lanhart himself hadn’t expected to assimilate the ancient dragon so cleanly.

[Greedy intruder.]

At the resonant voice from behind, Lanhart immediately turned and pointed his spear.

There stood a majestic white tiger with a massive body.

The mountain’s master, the Mountain Lord.

“So you’re alive? I thought you’d disappeared, swept away by that entity.”

Despite Lanhart’s provocative question, the Mountain Lord’s heavy gaze remained unwavering.

[They did not come to harm anyone.]

The Mountain Lord still had questions about that entity, but it wasn’t something he could resolve himself.

He would leave it to the man who had come as a foreigner and was now leading this continent.

“So why have you come to me? Are you here to avenge another guardian deity that I devoured?”

Lanhart growled, ready to charge at the Mountain Lord. But the Mountain Lord had no intention of fighting him.

[The disappearance of a guardian deity from a distant foreign land has no effect on me. I came only to warn you.]

“…A warning?”

Lanhart asked what he meant.

The Mountain Lord slowly turned his gaze toward the storm of souls raging over Norsweden.

[It is a power that should not be coveted recklessly. Do not confuse foolishness with courage.]

“Ha.”

[I will specially overlook your trespassing on this mountain. Now leave quickly.]

At those words, Lanhart gritted his teeth and gripped his spear tightly. For a guardian deity, his logic seemed riddled with holes.

“You say it’s power that shouldn’t be coveted, yet Deus Verdi is an exception?”

[…]

“Stop talking nonsense. Power of that magnitude will eventually be possessed by someone. This continent isn’t foolish enough to leave something like that alone.”

Unless it completely disappeared from this continent. Who would leave such an enormous power wandering around so openly?

“No one can claim qualification or ownership over that power. But if someone must possess it.”

Thump.

Pounding his chest with his fist, Lanhart declared firmly:

“I, Lanhart, will seize it.”

[…How foolish.]

“We’ll see if you can still say that after I’ve devoured it.”

If the Mountain Lord had no intention to fight, Lanhart had no business with him either. Fighting the Mountain Lord now would prevent him from facing Deus at full strength.

It was also a strategic retreat.

“…?”

As Lanhart tried to summon his blood demons to descend into the city, he realized something was wrong.

The blood demons weren’t refusing to emerge from his shadow.

They had completely disappeared.

‘What’s going on?’

It wasn’t that the blood demons had suffered a major blow, or that they couldn’t emerge due to the Mountain Lord’s pressure.

They were simply gone.

“…”

Though somewhat perplexed, Lanhart decided to move forward.

He didn’t need blood demons; he could just go down on his own two feet.

As Lanhart turned to descend the mountain, the Mountain Lord also turned away.

[Is this the end of one who was human but became a monster of power.]

It wasn’t a particularly pleasant sight.

* * *

“Kuhueup!”

Findenai’s body was lifted and thrown through the air. He rolled across the ground, crumpling pathetically.

“Ptui! Ptui! Ugh! Something weird got in my mouth!”

As if some garbage had entered his mouth, Findenai complained irritably, his gaze fixed once again on Deus.

Since his first appearance, Deus had stood motionless as if rooted to the spot, simply staring at me.

Even when warriors like Findenai and Darius charged at him, they couldn’t even get close before being thrown back, which was starting to look almost amusing.

Crash!

Darius had flown through the air and gotten his head stuck in a nearby trash can. His struggling and pleas for help were almost pitiful.

“What does that guy want anyway?”

Deia approached me, shielding her face with her hand against the strong wind of souls.

No attack had been effective so far.

But the important thing was that this enormous power wasn’t consciously blocking our attacks.

It would be more accurate to say that we couldn’t penetrate its presence.

To use an analogy, he was like a wall.

A wall does nothing but stand there, yet we cannot break it.

“…”

From the beginning until now, his gaze had remained firmly fixed on me.

‘Even the souls follow him.’

Who could be inside Deus Verdi’s body that all these souls would follow so devotedly?

Among the souls were people I knew.

Emily, the girl who loved flowers.

The natives of Setima whom Setima’s angel had protected.

The royals who had been captured by Griffin’s demon and then released.

Those who found peace through me in the Republic of Clark.

Musin Han-so, with whom I formed a long connection only after death.

Even the burn-scarred woman who had mourned the loss of her daughter.

‘They all helped me when I created a land of peace in Deus’s body.’

It was thanks to them that I could stand here now.

‘What’s going on? Has something happened to them?’

My mind was in turmoil.

Just as I was worrying that something bad might have happened to the souls who had helped me…

“Deus Verdiiiii!”

A fierce roar echoed from the entrance leading up to the mountain. Our gazes all turned beyond Deus, but

the one whose name was called continued to stare only at me.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Each step forward felt like it was striking the earth.

A lion hungry for strength, leading the hunters.

It was Lanhart’s entrance.

“Who the hell is that guy?”

Even Findenai was somewhat surprised, as Lanhart looked quite different from how I remembered him.

His entire body emitted a subtle golden light, and somehow a massive dragon’s tail had sprouted above his buttocks, sweeping the ground.

His build had grown larger, and the power emanating from his body could hardly be considered human.

“Ancient dragon…”

Yes.

He had almost completely absorbed the ancient dragon. Now all traces of the vampire had disappeared, and he had entered the realm of demigods.

It was the tragic miracle created by his mad obsession with strength.

“I, Lanhart, have arrived heeere!”

Lanhart’s shout was truly like a lion’s roar. My ears rang, and even the souls around him were pushed back.

Yet still.

Deus Verdi’s gaze remained fixed on me.

“Why…”

Why?

For what purpose?

I felt like my brain had frozen. In the past, I might have had a sharper insight.

Was it because of travel fatigue?

Or had I become lazy?

I wasn’t sure.

But I could tell that the entity dwelling in Deus Verdi’s body was demanding some kind of answer from me.

“Where are you looking?!”

Whoosh!

Lanhart’s spear, filled with rage at being ignored, flew straight at Deus.

It was a first.

For the first time, it nearly touched Deus Verdi’s body.

Despite Findenai, Darius, and Norsweden’s soldiers charging at him multiple times without getting anywhere near,

Lanhart’s spear pushed through the souls and grazed Deus’s cheek before reaching us.

If the souls hadn’t twisted its trajectory, Deus’s head would have been pierced and shattered.

Crash!

Lanhart’s spear passed through us on the opposite side, smashed through several building walls, and only stopped when the spear itself broke from the force.

Tremendous power.

I don’t know how he absorbed the ancient dragon, but the tragic miracle had favored Lanhart.

“Millions of souls! Truly magnificent fruit spread across the continent!”

With both arms outstretched, Lanhart smiled brightly.

The souls tried to push him away in rejection, but only his murky golden hair fluttered violently.

“What qualification does Deus Verdi have that you follow him! What qualification do I lack that you reject me!”

Lanhart’s confident smile.

He was certain the situation was flowing according to his will.

“Who in this land has the right to handle you! Who would not be swayed by this enormous power!”

“…Huh?”

“I, Lanhart, will tear you apart, violate you, and devour you to reign as the tyrant of immense power!”

Lanhart’s words hit me like a hammer breaking through my frozen mind.

Not because his words and determination were shocking.

Ironically, I found a hint in Lanhart’s words.

He was right.

Does Deus Verdi have the right to handle that power?

Can we be certain that, with millions of souls in his body and enormous power in his hands, he won’t use them for personal gain?

“Not all souls… believe in me.”

“What?”

Deia beside me heard my muttering and asked what I meant.

But my steps were already heading toward Deus.

A strong wind blew.

The fierce wind of souls tried to push me away from all directions.

But it wasn’t sincere.

That’s why, unlike Lanhart who was struggling forward stubbornly, I could take clear steps forward, even if it was difficult.

“Not all souls know about me.”

With souls numbering in the hundreds of millions, there would inevitably be more souls who didn’t trust me than those who did.

I did summon them, that’s true.

But that’s all.

Anyone can speak empty words.

The many souls who had helped me, who had believed in me. The reason they weren’t visible was…

“Because they shouldn’t be seen.”

They cannot help me.

Because this is a test.

“I see.”

I had somehow reached right in front of Deus Verdi.

He was still looking at me, but now that I was this close, I felt he was somewhat welcoming me.

“Deus Verdi.”

He called me.

Though occupying Deus’s body, he still called me Deus.

“Foreigner who came to this land.”

Now I couldn’t call him “he.”

They were.

Millions of souls facing me in one form.

They were asking:

“Do you have the qualification?”

“…”

“Do you have the qualification to hold us?”

A question that felt both forceful and tinged with subtle sadness.

Who in this land could nod without hesitation to such a question?

“We simply want to know.”

The clustered souls realized their power had grown too strong.

And therefore, they feared their power could be misused.

The souls needed confirmation.

“Will you become our peace?”

Whether they could trust and entrust themselves to me as a being.