Chapter 57
Evil God Beliar (1)
There were two paths to victory in a [World Collision].
The first was to reduce the opposing god’s influence to zero.
Gods who followed conventional methods usually adopted this plan. It allowed them to determine which side was superior without engaging in direct warfare, resulting in relatively few losses. They could also enter [Negotiations] at any time and bring the World Collision to an end.
There were several ways to diminish an opposing god’s influence, the most common being [Faith Reduction].
Undermine the credibility of the opposing god’s religion, shake the inhabitants’ faith, and demonstrate that one’s own world was superior.
If the conflict became prolonged, [Culture] or [Politics] could also be used to reduce the enemy’s influence. The objective was to convince the inhabitants of the opposing world that submitting to one’s own world would be more beneficial.
Gods of intermediate rank or higher generally employed such methods.
Lee Shin’s strategy closely resembled this plan.
The disparity in the two worlds’ sizes was so great that he had no chance of winning a full-scale war. Therefore, he had sought to attack the foundations of the opposing world—a world composed of countless different races and governed by irrational principles.
He had attempted to instill fear in the Iron Men and caused turmoil throughout the opposing world’s numerous colonies. Although Beliar had yet to notice it, Lee Shin had even laid the groundwork for further chaos by using the succubus Lilith.
Beliar’s strategy, by contrast, was closer to the second path.
Reduce the number of believers in the opposing world to zero.
It was a strategy employed only by worlds populated by extremely warlike races or by evil gods whose followers consisted of fanatics. If such a strategy were adopted in a conventional world, its inhabitants would not actively support it.
What rational person would readily agree if suddenly ordered to wage a war of mutual annihilation against another world?
Anyone would naturally feel repulsed by the idea.
In any case, from a broader perspective, Lee Shin and Beliar were now competing while pursuing entirely different paths to victory.
“We must pull back our defensive line, even if it means surrendering some of our territory. There are too many places to defend right now, and our forces are being spread too thin. Let us relinquish what must be relinquished.”
For the time being, Lee Shin’s Small World focused on defense while minimizing its losses.
Considering the disparity in size between the two worlds, it was holding out surprisingly well.
Of course, it was difficult to be satisfied with that.
“It would have been better if they had simply charged straight in...”
The dwarves had expected the enemy legions to rely on their overwhelming strength and push forward recklessly.
Had they done so, the dwarves could have inflicted catastrophic losses upon them. After all, this extreme fortress zone had been constructed specifically to devour every enemy that entered it.
The fortress of iron and blood could grind down every invader, regardless of their numbers.
While it was nearly impossible to breach, the Land of Steel had inherited the same weakness as the Maginot Line upon which Hephaestus had based it.
It was poorly suited for offensive operations.
More importantly, it was particularly vulnerable to guerrilla tactics.
‘I invested a lot of divine power into building this.’
Lee Shin’s assistance had been indispensable in constructing such a fortress within such a short period.
He had poured enormous quantities of divine power into various [Production Facilities] and [Technological Development Facilities]. He had even gifted Hephaestus a sacred relic, nearly exhausting his divine power in the process.
Of course, it had not been entirely meaningless.
Large enemy forces occasionally attempted to break through the defensive line. The moment they entered the designated kill zones where the dwarves could concentrate their firepower, the dwarves’ barrage shredded them all.
As long as their opponents were not the Iron Men, the dwarves’ firepower proved highly effective.
Raymond had already assessed the dwarves’ military capabilities as comparable to those of modern humanity. Soldiers of other races charging at them with primitive melee weapons could easily be torn apart.
「TIP: Even this is already an exceptionally impressive achievement.」
The status window spoke as though trying to console him.
「TIP: What other lower-ranking god could accomplish this much against a mid-to-high-ranking god?」
「TIP: Moreover, the opposing god will soon begin to feel pressured.」
Pressured?
「TIP: [Military Worlds] like the opposing world harvest divine power from the colonies under their control. Although the Iron Men are powerful, they cannot be produced in large quantities. They are creations that must be deployed as a small elite force.」
「TIP: Ultimately, the divine power the opposing god can use as a resource primarily comes from their countless colonies. However, the longer the war continues, the more those resources will begin to dry up.」
「TIP: Because of the turmoil you have spread.」
The status window was right.
Only the Iron Men remained entirely unaffected within the opposing world.
Their immense power obscured the truth, but the [World of Chains and Shackles] was slowly rotting away from within its hidden depths.
‘That’s right. I should trust my world.’
There was a decisive difference between Beliar’s world and Lee Shin’s.
The overwhelming majority of the opposing world’s inhabitants had been crushed beneath fear and force, compelled to obey, and driven onto the battlefield.
Every inhabitant of this world, however, genuinely loved it and fought for its sake.
That was a tremendous difference.
A truly tremendous one.
Besides, had they not deployed a secret weapon of their own in response to the enemy’s tiresome guerrilla tactics?
It was almost time for its effects to surface.
[Hug me!]
It was time for an adorable little fellow whom no one could resist hugging to shine.
***
The overall level of faith in the World of Chains and Shackles was extremely high.
That was partly because of the fanatics whose faith practically pierced the heavens. Even setting them aside, however, the Iron Men possessed a very high level of faith on average.
Because their faith was so strong, a high percentage of their souls awakened into clergy-related classes.
As metallic lifeforms and members of a warrior race, most Iron Men became [Holy Knights].
Some acquired derivative traits such as Crusader or Paladin, but broadly speaking, they were all still [Holy Knights].
That did not mean there were no priests or clerics, but they were exceedingly rare.
Despite their rarity, they did not receive proper treatment.
Beliar’s world was a military world ruled by the logic of strength.
A person’s status was determined not by the depth of their faith or how devout they were, but by the achievements they had earned in war and how powerful they were.
The world itself had been designed in a way that prevented members of the [Clergy] lineage from developing properly.
Consequently, even those who acquired the traits of a Holy Knight focused on training their weapon skills or learning techniques useful in battle rather than cultivating their divine power.
As a result...
“Why can’t you stop that one skeleton?!”
“Catch it! Just catch it already!”
“It’s a creature of flesh and blood—no, wait, it doesn’t even have flesh or blood! Why can’t you capture one insignificant undead made of nothing but bones?!”
The perfect environment had been created for Jude to run wild.
“Kyahaha! Hug me!”
A single tiny skeleton had crossed over from the Small World.
No one had taken him seriously at first, but Beliar’s legions soon discovered just how troublesome that necromancer could be.
“Use your divine authority! Use it!”
“I did! I used it, but he’s completely unharmed!”
“Unharmed?”
There were unquestionably Holy Knights among the Iron Men.
Although they were not particularly skilled, they knew how to channel divine power and wield divine authority. Therefore, they relentlessly bombarded Jude with powers that should have been fatal to the undead.
Yet Jude continued running around without the slightest injury.
It was not as though becoming Lee Shin’s believer had granted him immunity to divine power.
No matter how one looked at it, Jude was still undead.
He could not help but be vulnerable to divine power.
“That tickles! Kyahaha!”
His resistance was simply far too high.
“Holding Eve’s hand hurt more than that!”
Eve, Jude’s best friend, was the saintess who possessed the greatest divine power in the Small World.
She had even been appointed a Guardian Angel and had spent considerable time as the saintess closest to God. As a result, she possessed an absurd amount of divine power that far exceeded the average.
And Jude was always stuck to Eve like glue.
If Eve was a blazing ball of fire, the divine authority unleashed by the Iron Men was no more than the warmth of a sauna.
Far from hurting him, it only made him laugh.
“What the hell is that thing...?”
The very existence of an undead who believed in a god was a contradiction.
An undead with faith?
The legion’s soldiers had survived countless battles, but they had never imagined anything like this.
“What the fuck is that?”
Naturally, their god Beliar felt the same way.
“Why does an undead have resistance to divine power? And what kind of bizarre combination is this? Dwarves, a druid, and an undead necromancer...”
Was that former human some sort of collector of rare species?
Three types of beings that were difficult to encounter even once had gathered in a single place.
And on top of that...
‘...A legendary-grade soul?’
Although the damage Jude had suffered currently prevented him from using his full power, his soul had originally been of the [Legendary] grade.
It was a soul of the highest rank, the kind that could scarcely be found even in the worlds of higher-ranking gods.
Why was something like that in the world of a lower-ranking god?
‘Unless he survived alone for centuries after his entire world was annihilated, how could an undead body possibly contain a legendary-grade soul?’
Once again, Beliar had guessed the truth with astonishing accuracy.
“Mars, what do you think we should do?”
Beliar frowned.
That skeleton was roaming freely throughout his world as though it were his personal playground.
Even the number of undead Jude had raised was steadily increasing.
After all, the World of Chains and Shackles was filled with “corpses,” the raw materials of a necromancer.
Those who had starved to death because of the druids’ interference.
Those who had been executed to prevent morale from falling.
And the countless lives unjustly sacrificed throughout its long history to uphold their god’s majesty.
All of them served as nourishment for a necromancer.
[I believe it is time for us to advance.]
“Advance?”
[The map is almost complete. I believe I have also identified their behavioral patterns.]
“...”
“What should we do?”
[We must deploy our aerial forces.]
Rather than reorganizing their own world, Mars proposed launching an offensive first.
[There cannot possibly be several forces like that necromancer in the world of a lower-ranking god. The enemy must have grown impatient and deployed its secret weapon. If they wish to stop us, they will have to recall that necromancer. For now, an aggressive offensive is our best option.]
“I suppose there couldn’t be two creatures like that...”
[We have also determined the approximate extent of the dwarves’ firepower. We know where we need to break through. Once we breach their defensive line, we can seize the fortified positions they constructed. After establishing a foothold there, we can gradually occupy the Small World.]
“Occupy it...”
[We can also reuse a method we employed in the past. We will bargain with the demons and have them open [Rifts] inside the opposing world, allowing us to launch a diversionary operation. The dwarves are powerful against armed forces and metallic lifeforms such as the Iron Men, but they are vulnerable to monstrous creatures.]
Even to Beliar, it sounded like an excellent strategy.
Had the demons’ [Rifts] not been the greatest aid when he destroyed the dwarves’ world in the past?
Dealing with demons was always unpleasant, but no one was more useful when it came to definitively annihilating an entire world.
“By aerial warfare, you mean using the dragons?”
[Yes.]
Beliar still possessed the deadly blades that had once brought the dwarves to ruin.
Drawing those blades again would not be difficult.
“Proceed.”
Beliar smiled faintly at Mars.
[Great One, how much longer will this war continue...]
[I wish to return home. My son...]
[How much longer must we starve?]
The prayers of countless soldiers from the other races reached him from afar.
[Great One, please send my husband home.]
[I miss my father. Please, return our father to us...]
[We have nothing left to send as war supplies. Please take pity on us and grant us your mercy...]
But they were not Iron Men personally crafted by Beliar.
There was no possibility that he would listen to the pleas of inferior slaves made of flesh and blood.
Ignoring their pitiful, trembling voices, Beliar sat arrogantly with his chin propped upon one hand.
Those complaints, grievances, and irreverent prayers would all cease once the war ended in victory.
As always, once he completely eradicated the opposing world, they would once again proclaim his greatness and praise him.
That was what Beliar believed.
‘I suppose the amount of divine power I harvest on the next Lord’s Day will be somewhat lower.’
But what did it matter if it decreased?
Beliar already possessed an enormous reserve of divine power.
He certainly had far more than Lee Shin, who possessed a mere three worlds.
He had expended a considerable amount while reorganizing his world for this war, but even if he used every last bit of his divine power, the situation would reverse once the next Lord’s Day arrived.
He could then spend divine power to distribute food throughout the colonies and placate the inhabitants. He could also grant the Iron Men new bodies and raise their morale.
‘That former human’s divine power must be nearly exhausted.’
A god without divine power could do nothing but sit and watch even as his world burned around him.
Beliar knew very well how wretched and powerless gods became when their divine power was depleted.
Surely that bastard would eventually accept defeat with an utterly ridiculous expression on his face.
Even then, Beliar remained unaware.
‘Unless he can draw divine power from another world, how could a mere lower-ranking god ever harvest more divine power than me?’
Lee Shin possessed an enormous number of believers in a world beyond the three worlds he owned.
Furthermore, those believers were no longer unofficial followers.
They had become formally recognized believers and would now provide Lee Shin with a quantity of divine power incomparable to what they had generated before...
Of course, the unexpected variables did not end there.
[We will now enter.]
To reverse the situation, Mars entered the opposing world at the head of the Third Legion and eighteen dragons.
Considering that the enemy world had nearly collapsed under the assault of the single dragon Governor Johan had brought with him, it seemed more difficult for such a force to lose than to win.
However—
[...?]
“...?”
Lee Shin’s world surpassed Beliar’s imagination by an enormous margin.
「Your believers have discovered members of their own kind.」
「[Dragons] are the most arrogant of all races, but they are also the race with the greatest love for their own kind. They love their young even more than they love their god.」
「Your [Dragons] have discovered one of their own kind!」
「[Protective Instinct] has activated.」
「The dragons have lost their will to fight.」
The dragon riders had crossed through the sky.
And beneath them, they saw a dinosaur waddling along.
A wingless dragon.
The dragon gave a long, lazy yawn and waved its hand.
「‘Baby Dinosaur Rex’ greets you!」
「Please accept the harmless and adorable dinosaur’s greeting.」
「Why not offer him a compliment?」
「“Wow, you’re really big!”」
Beliar felt as though he was about to lose his mind.
Eve, Jude’s best friend, was the saintess with the greatest divine power in the Small World. She had even been appointed a Guardian Angel and had spent considerable time as the saintess closest to God. As a result, she possessed an absurd amount of divine power that far surpassed the norm.
And Jude was always stuck to Eve like glue.
If Eve was a blazing ball of fire, the divine authority unleashed by the Iron Men was no more than the warmth of a sauna. Far from hurting him, it merely made him laugh.
“What the hell is that...?”
The very existence of an undead who believed in a god was contradictory.
An undead with faith?
The legion’s soldiers had survived countless battles, but they had never imagined anything like this.
“What the fuck is that?”
Naturally, their god Beliar was equally baffled.
“Why does an undead have resistance to divine power? And what kind of bizarre combination is this? Dwarves, a druid, and an undead necromancer...”
Was that former human some sort of collector of rare species?
Three types of beings that were difficult to encounter even once had gathered in one place.
And on top of that...
‘...A legendary-grade soul?’
Although the damage Jude had suffered currently prevented him from using his full power, the skeleton’s soul had originally been of the [Legendary] grade.
It was a soul of the highest rank, the kind that could scarcely be found even in the worlds of higher-ranking gods.
Why was something like that in the world of a lower-ranking god?
‘Unless he survived alone for centuries after his entire world was annihilated, how could an undead body possibly contain a legendary-grade soul?’
Once again, Beliar had guessed the truth with astonishing accuracy.
“Mars, what do you think we should do?”
Beliar asked with a frown.
That skeleton was freely roaming his world as though it were his personal playground. Even the number of undead Jude had raised was steadily increasing.
After all, the World of Chains and Shackles was filled with “corpses,” the raw materials of a necromancer.
Those who had starved to death because of the druids’ interference.
Those who had been executed to prevent morale from falling.
And the countless lives unjustly sacrificed throughout its long history to uphold their god’s majesty.
All of them served as nourishment for a necromancer.
[I believe it is time for us to advance.]
“Advance?”
[The map is nearly complete. I believe I have also identified their behavioral patterns.]
“...”
“What should we do?”
[We must deploy our aerial forces.]
Rather than reorganizing their own world, Mars proposed launching an offensive first.
[There cannot possibly be several forces like that necromancer in the world of a lower-ranking god. The enemy must have grown impatient and deployed its secret weapon. If they wish to stop us, they will have to recall that necromancer. For now, an aggressive offensive is our best option.]
“I suppose there couldn’t be two creatures like that...”
[We have also determined the approximate extent of the dwarves’ firepower. We know where we must break through. Once we breach their defensive line, we can seize the fortified positions they constructed. After establishing a foothold there, we can gradually occupy the Small World.]
“Occupy it...”
[We can also reuse a method we employed in the past. We can bargain with the demons and have them open [Rifts] inside the opposing world, allowing us to launch a diversionary attack. The dwarves are powerful against armed forces and metallic lifeforms such as the Iron Men, but they are vulnerable to monstrous creatures.]
Even to Beliar, it sounded like an excellent strategy.
Had the demons’ [Rifts] not been the greatest aid when he destroyed the dwarves’ world in the past?
Dealing with demons was always unpleasant, but no one was more useful when it came to definitively annihilating an entire world.
“By aerial warfare, you mean using the dragons?”
[Yes.]
Beliar still possessed the deadly blades that had once brought the dwarves to ruin.
Drawing those blades once more would not be difficult.
“Proceed.”
Beliar smiled faintly at Mars.
[Great One, how much longer will this war continue...?]
[I wish to return home. My son...]
[How much longer must we starve?]
The pleading prayers of countless soldiers from other races reached him from afar.
[Great One, please send my husband home.]
[I miss my father. Please, return our father to us...]
[We have nothing left to send as war supplies. Please take pity on us and grant us your mercy...]
But they were not Iron Men personally crafted by Beliar.
There was no possibility that he would listen to the pleas of inferior slaves made of flesh and blood.
Ignoring their pitiful, trembling voices, Beliar sat arrogantly with his chin propped upon one hand.
Those complaints, grievances, and irreverent prayers would all cease once the war ended in victory.
As always, once he completely eradicated the opposing world, they would once again proclaim his greatness and praise him.
That was what Beliar believed.
‘I suppose the amount of divine power I harvest on the next Lord’s Day will be somewhat lower.’
But what did it matter if it decreased?
Beliar already possessed an enormous reserve of divine power.
He certainly had far more than Lee Shin, who possessed a mere three worlds.
He had expended a considerable amount while reorganizing his world for this war, but even if he used every last bit of his divine power, the situation would reverse once the next Lord’s Day arrived.
He could then spend divine power to distribute food throughout the colonies and placate the inhabitants. He could also grant the Iron Men new bodies and raise their morale.
‘That former human’s divine power must be nearly exhausted.’
A god without divine power could do nothing but sit and watch even as his world burned around him.
Beliar knew very well how wretched and powerless gods became when their divine power was depleted.
Surely that bastard would eventually accept defeat with an utterly ridiculous expression on his face.
Even then, Beliar remained unaware.
‘Unless he can draw divine power from another world, how could a mere lower-ranking god ever harvest more divine power than me?’
He did not know that, aside from the three worlds Lee Shin possessed, there were a great many “believers” in another world who worshipped him.
Nor did he know that those people were no longer unofficial followers. They had become formally recognized believers and would now provide Lee Shin with a quantity of divine power incomparable to what they had generated before...
Of course, the unexpected variables did not end there.
[We will now enter.]
To reverse the situation, Mars entered the opposing world at the head of the Third Legion and eighteen dragons.
Considering that the enemy world had nearly collapsed under the assault of the single dragon Governor Johan had brought with him, it seemed more difficult for such a force to lose than to win.
However—
[...?]
“...?”
Lee Shin’s world surpassed Beliar’s imagination by an enormous margin.
「Your believers have discovered members of their own kind.」
「[Dragons] are the most arrogant of all races, but they are also the race with the greatest love for their own kind. They love their young even more than they love their god.」
「Your [Dragons] have discovered one of their own kind!」
「[Protective Instinct] has activated.」
「The dragons have lost their will to fight.」
The dragon riders crossed into the sky above the opposing world.
Beneath them, they spotted a dinosaur waddling along.
A wingless dragon.
The dragon gave a long, lazy yawn and waved its hand.
「‘Baby Dinosaur Rex’ greets you!」
「Please accept the harmless and adorable dinosaur’s greeting.」
「Why not offer him a compliment?」
「“Wow, you’re really big!”」
Beliar felt as though he was about to lose his mind.