Sinister-looking beings had appeared in the skies over every battlefield and the major cities. A single glance was enough to know that these were no ordinary beings.

The armies of the Holy Nation of Amid, the Farzon Duchy, and the Orbaume Kingdom were greatly shaken by these new appearances.

“What the hell is that?! One of the Demon King’s servants?!”

“Has Alda sent a demigod that serves him as reinforcements?! No, it looks way too ominous for that!”

None of them had even imagined that gods would descend directly upon the world to intervene in this war. That was also true for the army of the Orbaume Kingdom. Vandalieu had warned the dukes, telling them that the gods of Alda’s forces might try something, but this information had not reached the low-ranking common soldiers.

This information had been withheld because the dukes were afraid that it might lower morale, and also because some might consider any extreme measures taken by Alda to be ‘divine punishment’ and believe that the Farzon Duchy and the Holy Nation of Amid were on the side of justice.

And this current situation was beyond even Vandalieu’s predictions.

He had imagined that Alda would use the fragments of Guduranis’s soul in some form, but he had expected it to be on a smaller scale – such as only having the fragments infest some potential heroes on one or two of the battlefields.

Vandalieu had not expected that Alda would unleash them all over the world… by infesting remnants of the Demon King’s army, and gods and demigods from Vida’s faction, no less. Does Alda want to destroy the world? he wondered.

These unleashed gods, infested by the fragments of Guduranis’s soul, would eventually unite if Vandalieu left them alone without absorbing them. This would result in a resurrected Guduranis with more fragments than Dark Avalon had possessed.

Of course, this process would result in tremendous damage not only in the Holy Nation of Amid and the Farzon Duchy, but in the Orbaume Kingdom, Gartland, and the Demon Continent as well. Leaving them alone was not an option.

And of course, Vandalieu himself was an inhabitant of this world, so he would be greatly troubled if the world were to be destroyed.

However, this measure that Alda had chosen to deploy was quite troublesome for Vandalieu, but not insurmountable. Even though beings with fragments of Guduranis’s soul embedded in them had appeared in every region, he had positioned sufficient forces to fight against them.

Of course, Vandalieu was the only one capable of absorbing fragments, so he would have to move from his current location in Talosheim’s royal castle.

And the first location he headed to was… the Demon King’s Continent, above Gartland.

Vandalieu had come to the Demon King’s Continent because he was worried about the fighting strength of the forces that remained here now that Doraneza and her warriors were absent. And more importantly, because the one that Alda had made descend in this location was Luzemazera, one of Vida’s subordinate gods.

“AAAAGH!” Luzemazera screamed in madness. “Ah… Champion?”

“I am honored to meet you, Luzemazera, Goddess of Regeneration,” Vandalieu said.

Luzemazera was a long-serving subordinate god of Vida, the Goddess of Life and Love. She ruled over not only the healing of wounds and illnesses, but also yearly natural phenomena such as lands that became barren over the dry season becoming wet and green again in the rainy season, and the leaves of trees shed during autumn regrowing anew in the spring.

And a hundred thousand years ago, she had been sealed away when Alda attacked Vida’s faction. For a moment, she reacted to the soul fragments of the creation-oriented champions that made up Vandalieu’s soul, but…

“N-N-N-N-NO! GUDURANIS!” Ryuzemadera screeched.

Having mistaken Vandalieu for Guduranis, her eyes clouded over with murderous intent. It was likely the fragment of Guduranis’s soul infesting her sensing the fragments that Vandalieu had devoured.

Vandalieu made a displeased noise. “It’s quite a shock to be called ‘Guduranis,’” he said.

Using the wings he had grown from his back, Vandalieu evaded the offensive spell cast by Luzemazera. It landed upon the trees on the surface of the Demon King’s Continent, which had flames growing on their branches instead of leaves, instantaneously causing them to shrivel up and die.

It seemed that this spell was one that caused the life force in the target to go rampant, rapidly accelerating its death. It worked in a far more roundabout way than producing flames, lightning or ice; it was very Mana-inefficient. After all, Luzemazera wasn’t a god suited for combat to begin with.

That, and the fact that Alda only had unconfirmed information that one of Vandalieu’s bases was on the Demon King’s Continent, was probably why he had chosen to deploy her here.

Even though infesting her with a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul had successfully increased her Mana, it did not provide her with new, powerful ways to attack like fragments of Guduranis’s body would, such as horns and fangs – though it seemed that in return, Luzemazera was still free to cast elemental magic until Guduranis took over her completely.

“Die, Guduranis! Slayer of Zakkart, of the champions! I shall kill you before I kill Alda!” Ryumazera hissed.

“… The mental damage I’m taking from this is greater than anything else, so let’s speed things up and help her right away,” Vandalieu muttered.

A tremendous amount of blood sprayed from Vandalieu’s back. This blood – Demon King blood – rapidly transformed into Demon King tentacles, with Demon King suction cups attached.

These tentacles then soon became long, thick, and enormous.

“UWAAAGH! Damn you, Guduranis!” Luzemazera screamed, casting more spells with tears of blood streaming from her eyes.

A very enormous, peculiar Demon King with countless red-black tentacles appeared in front of her.

To give a more understandable description, it was an enormous octopus that possessed a countless number of legs, with Vandalieu where its head should have been.

Vandalieu had chosen to come here first in order to save Luzemazera.

That wasn’t because she was more important than the other gods of Vida’s faction, nor was it because he had any personal attachment to her.

Unlike demigods, Luzemazera was a god who did not possess a physical body. Alda had undone her seal and infested her with a fragment of Guduranis’s soul. Because of him, she had been forced to descend upon the world.

Even now, her strength was rapidly evaporating, and if too much time passed, she would be unable to maintain her existence as a god and extinguished from existence, even if the fragment of Guduranis’s soul was successfully removed.

The other gods of Vida’s faction were either demigods or those who had once belonged to the Demon King’s army. There were some who were gods like Luzemazera, but there were people at their locations who were capable of sealing them away and buying time to delay their extinguishment from existence.

That was why Luzemazera and Gartland were in the most danger.

“Look, I’m Guduranis. I bring destruction and calamity upon the land and feed on the despair and resentment of the living,” Vandalieu said, taunting Luzemazera with an imitation of Guduranis so poor that Guduranis himself would die from outrage if he were here to hear it.

But perhaps having lost her sanity to the fragment infesting her, Luzemazera was convinced by Vandalieu’s imitation. “Guduranis… Guduranis! GUDURANIIIIS!”

With more tears of blood running down her cheeks, she fired off more spells haphazardly. Vandalieu repelled them with a ‘Magic Absorption Barrier,’ but he deliberately allowed one to visibly hit him.

However, although one Demon King tentacle fell away, rotting, a new one grew in its place immediately. Seeing this and perhaps understanding that her spells were ineffective despite her state of madness, she raised her staff and swung it at Vandalieu with a crazed scream.

The power in her staff was tremendous; it was capable of crushing a hill or breaking a rocky mountain to pieces.

But Luzemazera’s movement was simply not good enough. As a god with no combat-related divinity, there was no way for her to have any knowledge on how to wield a staff as a weapon.

Vandalieu stopped her swing by wrapping his tentacles around her staff, then proceeded to wrap his tentacles around her arms and legs.

The suction cups clung to Luzemazera so she could not escape, and Vandalieu even produced viscous mucus with Demon King mucus glands, along with threads produced at the tips of his tentacles, further locking her down.

Luzemazera grunted in exertion as she struggled to escape. “Do you intend to torment me?! Know that you will never break the will of the gods of this world through such methods!”

Luzemazera, a hundred-meter-tall goddess with tears of blood running down her face, was bound by tentacles, mucus and threads on the Demon King’s Continent. It was a grotesque sight – or perhaps a comical one.

Vandalieu sincerely did not want to know what the inhabitants of Gartland were thinking as they watched this scene through the holes in the Demon King’s Continent.

“I know I needed to stop her from moving, but what am I doing? To a goddess, no less,” he muttered to himself.

This is all Alda’s fault, too. I’m going to smash Heinz’s soul swiftly, but with Alda, I’m going to beat him into a pulp and then break his soul at a speed that draws out his destruction, Vandalieu thought, though his hands were still busy.

“Let’s wrap this up quickly, for both her sake and mine,” he said.

“That’s right! At least finish me off quick–” Luzemazera snarled before stopping mid-sentence and screaming.

Vandalieu cast the ‘Out-of-body-Experience’ spell, then began working on Luzemazera’s soul, activating his ‘Aberrant Technique,’ ‘Spirit Therapy,’ and even the ‘Soul Encroachment’ Skill.

“Even a god’s soul should have the same structure as a human’s,” Vandalieu said to himself. “With that being the case, I just need to find the foreign object, be careful to not affect everything around it, and…”

“NOOO! DOOON’T!” Luzemazera screamed.

“Devour it,” Vandalieu said, finishing his sentence.

He bit into the fragment of Guduranis’s soul that had been implanted in Luzemazera’s soul. Unlike Dark Avalon, she had not been completely taken over yet, and perhaps this was why it was easier for Vandalieu to find it and devour it.

“Hmm… It seems that I just devoured ‘Guduranis’s Sorrow.’ I suppose that was why she was crying tears of blood.”

Alda had infested Luzemazera with ‘Sorrow.’ It was likely what Alda had deemed one of the relatively smaller fragments of Guduranis’s soul. And that seemed to be correct – Luzemazera had not been completely taken over by the fragment after being infested, but even taking that into account, the fragment did not seem to have strengthened her all too considerably – though the way she had been driven mad was terrible, perhaps because the sorrow overflowing from her heart had turned into rage.

If Vandalieu had let her be, she would likely have attacked the guardian deities of Gartland, as they had not been recognized as belonging to Vida’s faction a hundred thousand years ago.

If that had happened, the guardian deities of Gartland would have had no choice but to descend upon the world themselves and fight back, causing both sides to expend tremendous quantities of power.

“Ah… Where… am I…? Was I not sealed away by Alda…? Then why am being violated so…?” Luzemazera said in a daze, regaining her sanity quickly.

“This is a medical treatment,” Vandalieu said, hastily releasing her.

“Who are you? I feel the familiar presence of Zakkart and the others, and another, more peculiar presence that resembles Guduranis but at the same time is completely different…” Luzemazera murmured.

Vandalieu separated from his enormous, octopus-like lower half and vanished somewhere, leaving the now-free Luzemazera behind.

“More importantly, I think you should head to the pseudo-Divine Realm,” said the octopus-like lower half as it turned into a Demon King Familiar. “You can ask the other gods to get an understanding of the situation. And the ones protecting the nation under this continent are gods who are remnants of the Demon King’s army, but they joined Vida’s faction, so please don’t fight with them.”

Luzemazera gave a terrified shriek. “That was your main body?!”

“No, this is a split entity. Sorry, but this is an emergency situation, so my main body has gone elsewhere.”

《The Levels of the ‘Aberrant Technique’ and ‘Spirit Therapy’ Skills have increased!》

《You have acquired the Demon King’s Sorrow!》

Meanwhile, a fierce battle was taking place in the skies over Orbaume.

An evil god with the form of a twisted spiral shell was battling with magic against Gufadgarn, the Evil God of Labyrinths.

The evil god laughed and cackled uncontrollably. “Comical! Truly unsightly!”

The space between the two twisted, ripped open, then closed again, over and over. It was a battle of advanced space-attribute magic.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Gyupyaresla, Evil God of Demon Castles. Though I believed you to be more gloomy and silent,” remarked Gufadgarn.

“And you seem to have become quite a lot smaller!” the evil god taunted. “What’s the matter?! Was it a request from your oh-so-great Zakkart-sama?!”

The evil god with the form of a spiral shell was Gyupyaresla, the Evil God of Demon Castles. He was one of the gods who had caused the formation of Dungeons in the world of Lambda, and at the time of the battle between the Demon King and the champions, he had been a more powerful god than Gufadgarn.

He was sealed away before the decisive battle between Guduranis and the champions’ army led by Bellwood. His seal was watched over by Vida, and then by Alda after he stole it from her.

Having learned that Gyupyaresla had been resurrected, Gufadgarn had decided that she was the most suited to fight him.

After all, the space-attribute was highly distinct compared to the other attributes. Masters of the space-attribute were even capable of warping space and returning attacks back to the attacker.

And Gufadgarn was far beyond a master when it came to space-attribute magic. It wasn’t a difficult task for her to instantly open a small Teleportation Gate to send an enemy’s attack flying back at them.

And she believed that Gyupyaresla was capable of doing the same. That was why, to her great sorrow, she had parted from Vandalieu to be here.

“Yes. Everything is according to the will of the great Vandalieu,” said Gufadgarn.

Her words were enough to summarize her personality as a god. She worshiped Vandalieu as a great being. If Vandalieu decreed that something ought to be white, then it was white; if he decreed that it should be black, then it had to be black.

And if Vandalieu ordered that Orbaume should be saved, then Orbaume needed to be saved.

Gyupyaresla laughed once more. “Truly laughable! I am aware that you were among the dregs of the Demon King’s army, but I think I am about to truly lose my mind with how amusing it is that a subordinate of Guduranis-sama could ever devote themselves to a champion!”

It seemed that to Gyupyaresla, Gufadgarn’s chosen existence was unbelievable. The countless protuberances on his spiral shell squirmed, and his laughter echoed from them.

“You may laugh, but you have been infested by a fragment of Guduranis’s soul, and you are being used as a disposable pawn by Alda, who opposes the great Vandalieu. From my perspective, you are the comical one,” Gufadgarn said calmly.

Gyupyaresla cackled again. “Not bad! To think that Gufadgarn would be having a war of words against me?! It seems that a truly long time has passed indeed!”

“Indeed. And you are nothing more than a relic from the past. And you shall meet your destruction as a source of sustenance to sate the great Vandalieu’s hunger.”

Gyupyaresla laughed incredulously. “I refuse!”

And so Gufadgarn and Gyupyaresla quarreled. But the exchange of spells was growing fiercer still.

Lightning and flames conjured from somewhere were passing through Teleportation Gates created by both gods, traveling back and forth as each tried to strike their foe.

Gyupyaresla laughed uncontrollably once more. “That Gufadgarn, my equal! An equal to me, after I have become a sacrifice for the fragment of the soul of the great Guduranis!” he cackled.

“The fragment embedded in you, is it ‘Joy?’ Or perhaps ‘Madness?’ … With that said, I do not know of all of the fragments of Guduranis’s soul,” Gufadgarn murmured.

“This will never be over at this rate!” Gyupyaresla snarled.

A new protuberance appeared on his shell, and a gate opened on its surface.

A countless number of monsters howled as they emerged from within. Gyupyaresla’s shell itself was a living Dungeon. His intention was no doubt to release this wave of monsters to trample the city of people that Gufadgarn was trying to protect in order to shake her composure.

But this was the city of Orbaume, which was effectively run by Vandalieu.

Members of a vigilante force, made of civilians who had become Demons through pseudo-reincarnation, flew into the air to meet the monsters in battle.

“It’s time to show everyone the might of the Zakkart Town Vigilante Force! Slaughter the enemy!”

“I’ll eradicate anyone who tries to lay a hand on my grandchildren!”

“Kill, devour!”

And they were joined by Hendricksen and the other adventurers, who were able to fly using Magic Items.

“We’re late! Guys, we can’t let the Vigilante Force protect the city on their own!”

“Yeah! I know they’re former civilians, but we can’t call ourselves adventurers if all we do is hide behind them!”

And in the distance, from the nobles’ district, a mansion floated into the sky – along with the soil of its grounds.

“Impossible! I could understand other types of monsters being on your side, but why are even Demons and Undead opposing me alongside the humans?!” Gyupyaresla shouted in disbelief.

“That is why I said that you are nothing more than a relic of the past,” said Gufadgarn.

Having been sealed away long ago, before the defeat of the Demon King Guduranis, Gyupyaresla knew nothing of the forces that were fighting against him.

Meanwhile, the chaos was growing on the battlefield where the army of the Holy Nation of Amid was fighting against the army of the Demon Empire of Vidal.

“Die, filthy Alda worshipers!” an Elder Dragon screamed in hatred as it twisted its body, sending a rain of lightning upon the army of the Holy Nation of Amid.

“AAAAGH!” one soldier screamed.

“Is that a Thunder Dragon?!” shouted another.

“No, you fool! It’s an Elder Dragon! A true Elder Dragon!”

“I am Ziggurat, the Storm Lightning Dragon God! Remember my name as a parting gift as you die, filthy Alda worshipers!” the Elder Dragon snarled. “Where is Alda hiding?!”

With his eyes glowing ominously, the Storm Lightning Dragon God rained more lightning upon the Crusader Army, followed by a thundering gale of wind.

He wasn’t even looking at the army of the Demon Empire of Vidal.

Or to be more precise, he was also raining lightning on the area where the Undead warriors, including Borkus, were crossing swords with the Crusader Army’s knights. But he wasn’t attacking the Ghouls or Noble Orcs at all.

Borkus roared in anger. “You’ve done it now, you bastard! You want me to cut you up into a fillet?!”

“That must be an Elder Dragon god of Vida’s faction! Zod, do you recognize him?!” Schneider asked.

“I do!” said Zorcodrio. “The air about him is different now, but that’s Ziggurat. He is an Elder Dragon god who held the frontlines by my side during the battle between Vida and Alda a hundred thousand years ago! Though I heard that he was sealed away after I was.”

“I see… That’s problematic,” Schneider said with a scowl.

And the reason he was scowling immediately became clear.

“Glorious soldiers, chosen by Alda!” shouted a young man’s voice – presumably that of Eileek. His voice echoed clearly across the battlefield. “An enemy sent by the despicable Demon King Vandalieu has appeared before us! After absorbing fragments of Guduranis, he has embedded them within gods of Vida’s faction!”

He claimed that Alda’s deeds were that of Vandalieu.

There were few in modern human society who were capable of recognizing Ziggurat, who had been sealed away by Alda’s forces a hundred thousand years ago, by his name or appearance.

And this location was near the Boundary Mountain Range that separated the nation ruled by Vandalieu, whom they referred to as Demon King, and their own nation. And Ziggurat was indeed targeting the worshipers of Alda’s forces… the soldiers, knights, and adventurers whose armor and shields bore the holy symbols of Alda, Nineroad, and Farmaun.

Ziggurat was also targeting the holy symbols of Farmaun because he was unaware that he had joined Vida’s faction fifty thousand years ago. His last memories were from a hundred thousand years ago.

And because this claim was being shouted out by Eileek, the one in the position of the Crusader Army’s supreme commander, many of the remaining men fell under the impression that Vandalieu had embedded fragments of Guduranis into Ziggurat and other gods in order to use them as disposable pawns.

“Well, I would do the same if I were in Eileek’s position… and it isn’t really a big deal,” said Schneider.

The Crusader Army, which had been on the verge of collapse, was now managing to maintain its structure as an army while being attacked by Ziggurat. That was all.

“More importantly, we’ve got to prepare to seal the one over here,” Schneider murmured, turning his gaze in another direction – where an enormous boar was bellowing in fury as it was attacked by Budarion and his forces.

This was Bododo, the Evil Boar Beast-King.

“You bastards!” he howled. “You are the descendants of the monsters that I created! You dare oppose your creator?!”

He had once been known as the Boar Beast-King, but he had betrayed the gods and the other Beast-Kings. He had joined the Demon King’s army and become the ancestor of the Orcs.

“We have never, not even once, revered you as our creator!” said Budarion, the king of the Noble Orc nation, in a defiant and heroic declaration. “Our guardian deity is Mububujenge, the Evil God of Degenerate Corpulence, whose compassion knows no bounds! We as a race shun your existence!”

Bododo had created Orcs to cause as much suffering as possible to humans. As a result, Orcs had been created as a unisexual race that had historically violated and defiled many women.

Even after individually exceptional Orcs were born and the superior race of Noble Orcs was established, these aspects of their nature had not changed.

And yet, Vida, the Goddess of Life and Love, had accepted them. Mububujenge created flesh-wives… female-shaped mannequins made of flesh, so that they would not have to forcibly breed with humans in order to leave offspring. And she had bestowed them the land within the Boundary Mountain Range.

Thus, there was not even a single citizen in the Noble Orc nation that worshiped Bododo.

“You vermin!” Bododo screamed.

“We will at least take enough pity on you to grant you a peaceful rest, so that you will act as a servant of Alda no longer!” Budarion said as he struck the former Beast-King, causing him to squeal in pain and rage.

At this rate, he’ll be defeated before Vandalieu comes to absorb the soul fragment, Schneider thought to himself with a wry smile.

• Name: Budarion
• Rank: 14
• Race: Noble Orc Abyss Arch-King
• Level: 71
• Age: 19 years old
• Passive skills:
  • Dark Vision
  • Monstrous Strength: Level 7 (LEVEL UP)
  • Endless Sexual Stamina: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Strengthen Followers: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Augmented Attribute Values when equipped with a Sword: Very Large (Awakened from Strengthened Attribute Values when equipped with a Sword and LEVEL UP!)
  • Inferior Race Domination: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Self-Strengthening: Guidance: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Magic Resistance: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Status Effect Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Mana Enlargement: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Strengthened All Attribute Values: Medium (NEW!)
  • Physical Resistance: Level 3 (NEW!)
  • Strengthened Attribute Values: Ruling: Level 4 (NEW!)
  • Rapid Healing: Level 5 (NEW!)
• Active skills:
  • Demon Path Fang Sword Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Armor Technique: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 6
  • Mount: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
  • No-Attribute Magic: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Mana Control: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Earth-Attribute Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Life-Attribute Magic: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Alchemy: Level 1
  • Commanding: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Coordination: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Dismantling: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Spirit Clone Descent: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Transcend Limits: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Transcend Limits: Magic Sword: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Surpass Limits: Magic Armor: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Magic Fighting Technique: Level 3 (NEW!)
• Unique skills:
  • Mububujenge’s Divine Protection
  • Vandalieu’s Divine Protection (NEW!)
  • Vida’s Divine Protection (NEW!)

• Name: Borkus
• Rank: 17
• Race: Lifeless Mythological Hero
• Level: 1
• Title: Sword King, Grim Reaper of the Former Scylla Territory, Colossus Slayer
• Passive skills:
  • Dark Vision
  • Transcendent Strength: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Physical Resistance: Level 10
  • Attack Power Enlargement when equipped with a Sword: Very Large (LEVEL UP!)
  • Defense Power Enlargement when equipped with Non-metal Armor: Medium (Awakened from Augmented Defense Power when equipped with Non-metal Armor!)
  • Intuition: Level 7
  • Mental Corruption: Level 5
  • Super Self-Strengthening: Guidance: Level 1 (Awakened from Self-Strengthening: Guidance!)
  • Magic Resistance: Level 4
  • Strengthened Attribute Values: Eating Demigods: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Strengthened Attribute Values: Killing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Rapid Regeneration: Level 1 (NEW!)
• Active skills:
  • True Sword King Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 10
  • Archery: Level 8
  • Armor King Technique: Level 3
  • Transcend Limits: Level 10
  • Dismantling: Level 6
  • Commanding: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Coordination: Level 10
  • Teaching: Level 2
  • Transcend Limits: Magic Sword: Level 10
  • Transcend Limits: Magic Armor: Level 7
  • Familiar Spirit Demonfall: Level 5
  • Magic Fighting Technique: Level 3
  • Long-distance Control: Level 1 (NEW!)
• Unique skills:
  • Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
  • Talos’s Divine Protection
  • Vida’s Divine Protection
  • Farmaun’s Divine Protection

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep