Ch.5252. Divine Levia

Meanwhile, around the time when the God of Great Vengeance and Fresh Blood would discover that the vampire named Selim was actually Vlad von Dracula, a final boss-level vampire.

The Kingdom of Levia was also gradually racing toward its end.

The Vampiric Dragon’s army, having breached the fortress, spread in all directions, recreating a zombie apocalypse in this ancient land, while dealing with superhumans who didn’t fit the zombie apocalypse by turning them into superhuman undead.

The Vampiric Dragon was strictly controlling his army under Ma-Duk’s orders, so there was no possibility of undead leaking to the outside, and the land near the Kingdom of Levia was desert, so there would be no problems.

However, in this situation, one might wonder.

While the Kingdom of Levia was falling to the vampire army, what exactly was the god of Levia doing?

With priests under their command who could unleash holy attacks—the most effective against the undead—and being the principal deity worshipped as the national religion of an entire country?

To understand this… we need to turn back time briefly.

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The national religion of the Kingdom of Levia was a kind of primitive monotheism.

To compare it to reality, it was like a primitive Judeo-Christian faith where a local deity was worshipped and spread to surrounding areas while diminishing other gods.

And in this world of various mystical phenomena and diverse races, monotheism was quite an anomalous religion.

In a world teeming with gods, to demote other deities to spirits, angels, or demons would require power on the level of a world faith… How could one deity manage that alone?

Therefore, inevitably unable to challenge other gods who had formed pantheons, the reality of monotheism in this world was barely maintaining its lifeline within its own territory.

Moreover, given the nature of this world’s gods who were typically bound to specific domains, it was common for followers to worship multiple deities or other faiths even within a god’s own territory if it wasn’t the god’s specialty area.

Faith in this world was a give-and-take. Whether intentional or not, the basic structure was that both god and follower benefited from their exchange.

Balance was maintained—benevolent gods demanded less but provided fewer benefits, while malevolent gods offered definite rewards but exacted a corresponding price.

However, in monotheistic faith, this balance tends to be distorted.

The fundamental principle of monotheism is that all other gods are false and only one should be worshipped, but the god acting this way is rarely as powerful as a true monotheistic deity should be.

Therefore, no matter how many temples are built or sacrifices offered, a domain-specific god would inevitably be more efficient than a self-proclaimed monotheistic deity. Unless the deity was a super munchkin, they would eventually reach their limits.

Both in games and reality, there was something fundamentally flawed about monotheistic doctrine in this world.

And the deity of Levia’s national religion, the owner of this flawed faith, had… due to excessive mysticism and sanctification, lost their divine name (神名), to the point where even they didn’t know what it was.

Considering that a divine name connects followers to their god in this world, they were in a state where they had been forgotten and lost any chance to intervene in the world.

Since gods are essentially beings that parasitically exist in the material world, and their existence must be recognized by mortals to be proven…

When a divine name is forgotten, it’s practically equivalent to being on the verge of extinction. The god of the Kingdom of Levia was effectively powerless.

Even worse, they had forgotten what domain they originally governed—their divine attribute itself was lost.

This god was barely maintaining their existence by granting power to priests and delivering oracles to temples.

And in this situation, as their last bastion of authority—their temple—declined due to the opposition of Barca XII and XIII, and just as it was about to expand again with the help of Barca XIV…

Surprise! During the mental collapse of Barca XIV, some evil god secretly infiltrated, corrupted him, and turned him into a vampire—practically a slave to the evil deity!

In the chaos where the royal palace collapsed and the capital turned to ashes, the god, unable to properly use their divine sight, could only helplessly watch.

However, it wasn’t that the principal deity of Levia watched all this without any emotion.

Although their already faint existence grew even fainter as followers died in droves, to the point where even their emotions were becoming dim, they couldn’t suppress the boiling anger even with such faded emotions.

Therefore, with what little rationality remained, the god determined that they would certainly disappear in this state and resolved to use everything they had left to kill that accursed dragon.

The god, who had been holding out by expending the other two apostles they had appointed, now sent down their last remaining apostle, Barca I.

A figure whose position in Levia’s religion was essentially that of Moses, the child they cherished most—the god sent him back to reality to kill that dragon.

For this purpose, the principal deity began to consume themselves.

Even if it meant reverting to a pre-divine state, it didn’t matter.

Only, only for final revenge.

Since posthumous apostles become like divine servants, the god imbued their will that even if they disappeared, the apostle would remain to kill that dragon.

After compressing power to the point of distorting Barca I’s self, the god used their last remaining strength to manifest him—and simultaneously reverted to their former form as a sea fairy.

《…So, it ends like this after all.》

Levia, Queen of the Sea Fairies, former god of the Kingdom of Levia’s national religion.

Levia, the sea fairy who had been the principal deity of the Kingdom of Levia, gradually faded from the divine realm and returned to where she originally belonged…

《Found—you—.》

—CRUNCH!

Levia, who was trying to return to her essential place, was swallowed by the jaws of a massive wolf that appeared from thin air.

This was the fate of a being who had drawn too much attention through emotions like anger and vengeance, and who had reverted to a mere fairy after consuming their divine attribute without any precautions.

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However, while the fairy queen who had been a god might have perished, her apostle—Barca I, whom she had summoned to the material world by gathering even souls—did not disappear.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAANG—!!!!

With a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth, a pillar of light—for it could only be called that—struck down from the sky, and from within this pillar of light, Barca I reappeared in this world.

He wore the skin of a carnivorous animal that resembled a golden hyena, over which he had armor made of small iron plates joined together, and a helmet decorated to look like a hyena’s head.

After revealing his majestic appearance, Barca I vaporized all the surrounding undead with just the impact of his arrival. He then immediately threw himself into the enemy lines with two axes in hand and began to shred the undead.

The axes in both hands were so large and crude that they should have required two hands to wield, yet Barca I handled them as skillfully and naturally as if they were extensions of his own body.

In short, at this rate, there was a high possibility that the entire army would be shredded.

‘…Oh?’

Of course, I had personally planned to grant peaceful rest to most of them after the conquest of the Kingdom of Levia was complete, keeping only a few…

But if I left him unchecked, even those I needed to keep would be annihilated.

Moreover, as he remained in the mortal world as a divine legacy, able to fully manifest his power as an apostle of a god, there was a chance the Vampiric Dragon could be cut down.

《Child, come and subjugate that blasphemous one.》

Therefore, having no choice but to act urgently, I chose to summon Lisa to eliminate that monster along with the Vampiric Dragon.

‘Blood-soaked God… if that is your wish, I shall gladly do so.’

Though it was quite a sudden and unexpected request,

Our good Lisa didn’t say a word of protest and simply boarded the Vampiric Dragon that appeared in mid-air, following my command.

《I shall grant you power. Do not let your guard down.》

“…If my lord desires it, gladly.”

To assist her, I used my surplus faith to bestow a blessing upon her. Lisa solemnly offered a quick prayer and then prepared to immediately engage in battle.