Ch.66. Sacrifice (1)

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

The silence that descended was immediate.

The knights stood awkwardly, with our Belladis—no, Vera—at the front, looking thoroughly irritated.

Her pale beauty came alive with animation, making her as pretty as a magazine spread.

She possessed a bewitching charm that made you feel like you could stare at her all day.

But right now?

There was a stray cat with its fur standing on end, unable to recognize its own deity.

“Um… Vera?”

“How dare you, how dare you shorten my name! That’s a pet name only between my deity and me…!”

An ominous magical energy rose from Vera.

“That alone is reason enough for you to be torn apart and die right now, don’t you think?”

“…..”

Let me trace the disconnect between her and me.

‘Ah.’

The Divine Manifestation system only allows me to see her from a first-person perspective.

My avatar in the game is never precisely described.

It’s to enhance immersion for gentlemen players.

Therefore, my avatar has an uncertain appearance in the game.

And the form I’ve taken through Divine Manifestation is unfamiliar to them.

‘Emergency.’

Realizing this meaning, Vera’s anger no longer seemed like a mere tantrum.

‘MAJOR emergency!’

That was truly the growl of a beast ready to tear its opponent to shreds.

-Whoosh!

A sharp blade came rushing at me first.

I activated a skill and blocked it at a hair’s breadth.

-Clang!

Her attack was blocked by a translucent barrier with a fierce noise.

It gave me chills because it contained killing intent, but currently, Belladis had no means to harm me.

My Divine Manifestation level is 10.

It’s at the highest tier.

This means that a body composed of Divine Manifestation cannot be harmed by anything in this world.

Nevertheless, I wanted to try using a defensive skill.

It would look bad to take an attack head-on in front of everyone, and I also wanted to try using a skill directly.

‘It looks cool.’

A celestial being descending from the sky with wings spread.

The composure and gentleness of easily blocking an attack from someone ranked among the strongest in this world.

How could I resist?

Back to the present.

I decided to take action with the very displeased Vera.

“Vera.”

“Again, that name…!”

Ah, we’re not on those terms yet.

“Belladis.”

“How dare you call me by my name! I won’t forgive you!”

What am I supposed to do here?

-Whoosh.

The massive wings that sprouted on my back flapped on their own.

The resulting breeze gently swept through Belladis’s hair.

I hadn’t landed on the ground yet.

Floating in the air, I slowly observed the current situation.

The knights’ aura was quite menacing.

They had clearly come prepared to take action today.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have marched all the way here wearing such deadly weapons and armor.

For me.

They had steeled themselves to wage war to rescue me from a hostage situation that didn’t even exist.

‘It’s touching, but…’

It’s truly ironic that all of this stemmed from a misunderstanding.

I thought for a moment.

Since I’ve already manifested, why not continue with the concept?

For example:

“No one can be happy in war.”

If I smile benevolently, showing the composure of someone who understands everything in the world.

Even with overwhelming power, it’s enough to instill a sense of dissonance.

“That’s rich coming from someone from the Black Sun cult.”

“Are you saying I’m an apostle of the Black Sun?”

“Aren’t you? You appeared suddenly, neutralized my attack, and blocked my deity’s knights.”

Well, that’s true from her perspective.

I simply came for a fan meeting.

“It saddens me that you still don’t recognize me.”

“…You.”

Seeing me maintain my composure, Belladis’s expression grew increasingly fierce.

“Either die or get out of the way.”

“And if I choose neither?”

-Grind.

The sound of teeth grinding marked the limit of her patience.

Another attack would come soon.

I first carefully examined Belladis’s stats.

“Name: Belladis Rocheria

Magic 9 Strength 10 Agility 7 Intelligence 6 Mental Power 8″

Her strength is at 10, the highest level a human can reach according to the setting.

This means no one can match Belladis in combat power.

Since fighting gently isn’t an option, I should try to win her over with words.

I carefully recalled my memories with Belladis.

Quest character, vampire, victim of the Black Sun cult.

No one could quell the hatred she holds for the Black Sun, as they completely changed her life.

“The ‘Incarnation of the Black Sun’ is nervously looking around.”

‘Don’t you know you did wrong?’

It’s so obvious they handled human affairs carelessly.

That’s why the child turned out this way.

“When I first met you, you were with Lisia.”

“…Lisia?”

“Are you willing to listen now?”

I don’t want to fight. Fighting would damage that pretty face.

Combat talk only applies to earthly beings, not to constellations like us.

Regardless, I continued speaking to the uncertain Belladis.

“Back then, in the forbidden sanctuary of the Black Sun cult.”

Nothing is more effective at tickling someone’s heart than the story of their first meeting.

First impressions are half the battle, aren’t they?

And the story related to Belladis is particularly intense.

“How do you know about that?”

“Lisia was concerned about you, but I knew about the warmth inside you.”

The battle with Belladis, the Black Sun’s vampire, is famous for its high difficulty that stirred the community.

The developers clearly put effort into making her worthy of the legendary monster’s name.

Her brutal attack patterns crush the hopes of players who enter the battle optimistically.

-Phase 2.

Add to that the boss health bar increasing with each hit, and you feel like you’ve fallen into cosmic horror, your blood running cold.

Many users gave up on recruiting her and chose to eliminate her instead.

But I didn’t give up on Belladis.

All I needed was my perseverance and time.

Lisia played a crucial role in the battle with her.

Only Lisia, who had been with me from the beginning, could handle Belladis’s combat power on the front line.

‘The others specialize in support roles.’

That’s not to say the other characters are useless.

It’s just that Lisia’s presence was essential in that situation.

I would block Belladis as she moved across the forbidden area, then immediately analyze her patterns and give feedback to Lisia.

That way, we finally succeeded in bringing Belladis to the brink of death.

【Vampire Belladis Rocheria】

The key element in that process was finding a way to neutralize the curse inherent in her blood.

Holy Blood.

The condition for recruiting a companion that could only be obtained by completing an event quest over 16 days of attendance.

And that special item is still within me.

“Holy Blood (S)

: Divine blood imbued with intense holiness that can suppress the blood curse. Can be used to recruit ‘Belladis Rocheria’ to the cult.”

Of course, since Belladis is already part of our cult, it has no effect, but sentiment matters, doesn’t it?

Here, I pondered once more.

‘Hmm.’

Just using it would be boring.

With all this careful buildup, simply using it would be anticlimactic.

How could I create a more dramatic presentation?

My eyes naturally turned to the message window that was persistently chiming.

‘Hey.’

At my call, the Incarnation of the Black Sun showed a question mark.

‘You asked for help, right? Empty-handed?’

“The ‘Incarnation of the Black Sun’ freezes stiffly.”

‘Let’s use some of your cult members.’

Since it had come to this, I decided to actively use the situation.

“The ‘Incarnation of the Black Sun’ doubts their ears.”

‘You need to do your part too.’

I mean, is it strange for a villain cult to do villainous things?

Since I’m currently bearing the full brunt of Belladis’s displeasure, I needed to redirect her attention elsewhere.

And conveniently, the Black Sun cult that our people were targeting is right there.

The Black Sun priests were fully prepared to block our advancing cult.

Their dark armor created an intimidating aura as it absorbed the darkness, but compared to our brilliantly radiant people, it was child’s play.

They must already know.

If a holy war breaks out now, one cult will be erased from the world today.

‘Have one of your people attack me.’

“The ‘Incarnation of the Black Sun’ asks if you’re crazy.”

‘Just do it. Want to end this?’

As I added coldly, commotion began among the confronting Black Sun group.

“What, what’s happening! Why are you acting like this?”

“Grrrr…!”

One of them convulsed, and then an enormous amount of divine power rose up.

It seemed the madness and divine power amplification bestowed by the Incarnation of the Black Sun had activated.

‘That’s right.’

Feeling satisfied with this, I continued my conversation with Belladis with a benevolent expression, pretending to know nothing.

“I’m sorry for only appearing before you now. All of this is my fault.”

“You, what are you—”

Belladis’s confusion deepened as she fell further into the labyrinth.

But before she could find answers to her questions:

“Raaaah!!”

A cult priest suddenly jumped between me and Belladis, delivering a powerful blow to me.

-Splash!!

Red blood splattered across her pale cheek.