Ch.5656. Blood Eagle

The Holy City, capital of the Rom Empire.

This city, which can confidently declare itself the hegemon of the surrounding region, is divided into eight districts. Among these districts, the one occupying the largest area is—naturally—the general residential district.

*Bestia, Goddess of Hearth and Stability.

Protected by Bestia, Goddess of Hearth and Stability, this area where ordinary citizens of the Rom Empire reside is characterized by its charming row houses topped with impressive orange roofs.

*Juno-Shala, Goddess of Home

While not as splendid as Juno-Shala’s luxury residential district with its magnificent mansions covered in reddish-brown roofs, the general residential district is still quite respectable, being home to legitimate citizens with full citizenship rights.

The district benefits from remarkably progressive security policies for its time, with well-maintained public safety and small green spaces adorned with sculptures scattered throughout the area.

Among these green spaces, the largest by far is the central plaza—an impressive location featuring well-tended flower beds and a magnificent fountain installed in the center.

And in this place, right now—

“Lord Ma-Duk! Lord Ma-Duk! For-forgive me! Please! Please—!!”

On a cloudless summer day with the sun blazing overhead.

A bizarre-looking monster was entering the park, dangling a man who was screaming at the top of his lungs.

Despite this being the most popular park where guards dispatched from the legion would surely be stationed to maintain order, the man was openly calling out the name of a cult deity banned by the pantheon, begging for forgiveness.

Yet there was only one reason why no one was intervening:

The guards who had tried to stop this monster—a red-furred werewolf—had already been torn to shreds by its claws and turned into cold corpses.

Standing about 2.5 meters tall even with its hunched posture, this werewolf was larger than typical ones. Through its dense red fur, one could faintly see something like glistening scales underneath.

With a magnificent, slightly darker red mane flowing down its back like hair, this monster had easily dismembered twelve well-trained soldier guards, demonstrating its formidable strength.

In terms of combat ability, it ranked roughly at the lower end of mid-tier beasts.

With fighting power befitting an aura user capable of tearing apart a grizzly bear with bare hands, it began its “work” as citizens fled screaming.

Are you familiar with the Viking execution method known as the “Blood Eagle” (blóð-ǫrn)?

The condemned is fixed with arms spread wide, then the skin and muscles of the back are cut away to expose the ribs. After exposing the ribs, they are all broken and separated from the spine.

Then, the lungs are pulled through the gaps created when breaking the ribs away from the spine and stretched out, creating an overall appearance of bones and lungs hanging down—resembling a bloody eagle.

They even sprinkled salt on the wounds during this process. This punishment, considered extremely horrific even by the notoriously cruel Vikings, was being performed with remarkable skill by the monster.

Even though this was the Holy City, capital of the world’s strongest nation, the Rom Empire, it was physically impossible to station mid-tier or higher combat forces that could arrive anywhere in the city within minutes.

Of course, unlike other regions, the Holy City was the most important area in the Rom Empire.

Therefore, there was always at least one mid-tier warrior on five-minute standby who could arrive within 10-20 minutes depending on individual circumstances, but by then, the incident was already concluding.

The red werewolf-shaped monster completed the Blood Eagle while keeping its victim barely alive.

It then mounted the body on a pole, firmly securing it to resemble the national emblem of the Rom Empire.

“Over there!”

After an intense battle with two on-site response team members who arrived two minutes later, the werewolf’s head was cleanly severed, and its body turned to black powder, dissolving into the air like a summoned creature.

※ ※ ※

At the same time, in my divine realm.

“Good job, doggy.”

“Woof! Woof!”

The special Revenge Hound, which had excellently punished the deceiver and returned to the divine realm after being discharged through death, was praised by me as I patted its head using my wolf avatar.

Even though it had shown considerable talent for receiving divine blessings and had been elevated to near mid-tier with various blessings… this Revenge Hound was originally just an ordinary mutt.

So honestly, I hadn’t expected much… but who knew it would perform its duties so admirably.

“Alright, from now on, you’re the leader of the Revenge Hounds, servants of… the Lord.”

Believing that achievements deserve appropriate rewards, I decided to appoint this one as the leader of the Revenge Hounds. At the same time, it needed a name to distinguish it from other Revenge Hounds.

“Yes, let’s call you Poppy.”

After a brief moment of consideration, I decided to simply borrow the name of a Maltese I once owned.

“Now, Poppy, take it easy for a while.”

“Woof! Woof!”

Anyway, with that matter concluded.

‘Next, I’ll…’

I, one of the split consciousnesses of Ma-Duk controlling this wolf avatar, began preparing for a trip to the material world to start the next task.

The method is simple.

Although I forcibly brought this wolf avatar into the divine realm using the special nature of my consciousness, its essence is merely an extremely powerful wolf-type monster from the material world, strong enough to destroy an entire country.

Since its physical body still remains in the material world, I only need to shift my consciousness there slightly…

‘Ta-da.’

Before I knew it, I opened my eyes in the wolf avatar’s body, which was enshrined in a hidden room of my temple in the underground city.

“Ughh…”

…Crack.

I loosened up my body, which had stiffened from being left motionless for quite some time, and shook off the dust with a gentle release of divine power.

Then, disguised as an ordinary priest, I left the temple and headed for the workshop district of the underground city.

Specifically, I was going to Grumhil’s workshop—a man who was once the chief administrator of the underground city but had now returned to being a blacksmith.

Grumhil had briefly served as acting mayor, but… his true calling was blacksmithing.

That’s why, thinking it would be a waste to keep a top-tier blacksmith idle, a separate mayor was elected.

Of course, there was an incident where someone I entrusted with the position became arrogant, causing trouble and attempting corruption before being executed… but that’s a story from the past.

Fortunately, after finding a suitable replacement, Grumhil returned to being a blacksmith and was happily producing special equipment using minerals provided by the city government.

And now, having business with him, I mobilized this wolf avatar and headed to the workshop district of the underground city.

‘Is this my first time seeing it with my own eyes?’

The workshop district I arrived at was quite impressive—noisy with the sound of machinery yet filled with passionate shouts that could be heard occasionally.

Steam-powered spinning machines puffed out steam as they spun thread, while dozens of dwarves hammered away at the body of a giant iron golem in one corner.

Amidst this splendid scene of busy workshops producing goods for the city’s consumption,

The place I arrived at with my avatar was, naturally, my original destination—Grumhil’s workshop.

“Hmm? What brings a priest here?”

As if he had been taking a break, Grumhil was sitting in front of his workshop filled with intense heat when he saw me in priestly robes and greeted me respectfully, asking about my business.

I couldn’t help but admire his respectful attitude, showing deep reverence and faith toward me (Ma-Duk), and his courtesy toward a priest who was clearly much younger than him.

Who would have thought that this stubborn old dwarf would show such respect to someone presumably much younger, solely for religious reasons?

“He has instructed me to deliver a message to you, Grumhil.”

“…Who are you?!”

Thinking it would be disrespectful to him to continue hiding, I removed the hood covering my head, revealing the wolf ears hidden underneath, and disclosed my identity.

“I am the messenger of the Great One. Grumhil, He has words for you.”