Chapter 196: Balance is Broken

"Alma."

The fifth apostle of the Angry One, the snake that consumes itself, the Lamia, Alma Alloy, heard a voice that crossed the boundaries of the world and called her name.

Alma had just opened her eyes in her command tent, and she witnessed the world contracting. Although she remained still, the entrance of her command tent was pulled toward her, and beyond it, the proud soldiers of the Union Kingdom, recruits returning from their dawn training, and the landscapes of the fourth continent's forests and plains all compressed into her field of vision. The scenes within her sight narrowed into individual lines, crossing the boundaries of the sea and sky before her, and before she knew it, she found herself surrounded by the familiar hall where the Angry One dwelled.

The many doors of the hall began to open in order, and when a giant throne on top of a high platform appeared, Alma's sense of reality returned.

The Angry One was there, looking down at her with flames in their eyes. The Angry One had summoned Alma from the continent.

Alma almost collapsed due to the overwhelming dizziness that swept over her. However, she managed to push her concentration and endurance, twisting her long lower body to stand upright.

"Alma."

"Yes, Angry One… Did you call me?"

Alma realized that her clothes were messy, but she dared not touch it. When considering a relationship of simply a superior and subordinate, instead of a god and their subject, the Angry One wasn't such a bad superior. However, there were still times when the Angry One wasn't in a good mood, usually after dealing with Night Sky and his Pantheon.

"Do you know why I called you?"

Alma lowered her head.

An apostle like Alma handled dozens of tasks, large and small, directly, as well as hundreds more indirectly. Alma wasn’t a god, so she couldn’t know about every problem that arose immediately. She knew that there were a few things to consider, but trying to gloss over them in front of the Angry One would be foolish.

"I apologize. I do not know."

"Two percent of the total Faith points just vanished."

Alma had grown familiar with the language and metrics of the gods, so she understood what this meant. Two percent could be considered big or small. The current faith resources to maintain the frontlines were roughly half of the total, with the remaining half saved for creature creations or using Miracles as needed, as well as for when creature creations and priests exert their power during battles. And during a major battle, faith resources could sometimes literally fall close to the bottom.

‘However, if it was a temporary situation, there would be no reason for the Angry One to be overly concerned.’

Alma narrowed down the many tasks she was responsible for where Faith points could largely come and go. She eventually narrowed down the event the Angry One could be mentioning down to the fingers on both hands.

But before Alma could figure it out, the Angry One first said, “Alma, did you know about the Vampire?”

"...Yes."

Alma could now narrow it down to one problem. It was something that happened around a hundred years ago.

At the time, Alma Alloy, who was conducting the unification war in and around the Garang Kingdom, noticed frequent disappearances in a certain valley and began an investigation. What she discovered through her investigation was the existence of a Vampire.

Alma thought that the Vampire needed to be dealt with immediately, but first, she informed the Angry One of the fact. But the Angry One's opinion was different from Alma's. The Angry One knew that the Vampire had fled to avoid another god and decided to mimic that god to provide comfort.

The fake god that the Vampire started believing in became evidence of faith and made the Vampire spread false beliefs to the slaves. These slaves believed that salvation would eventually come, and they ended up being devoted to the Angry One, even to their deaths.

This was just one of the Angry One's numerous schemes, so the Angry One likely didn't remember it as something important. As such matters were like intricately tangled threads, thus something under the matter of causation, no one, not even a god, could easily unravel it. Therefore, Alma did not consider it to be of great importance either. However, the Angry One’s greatest opponent had found a beginning to the tangled threads.

Alma said, "I ordered the Fangs to chase after them. But..."

"Yes, it seems that they have failed."

The sharp clanging sound of metal from within the Angry One's helmet sent a chill down Alma's chest.

Del was competent, and security around the slave labor camp was certainly thorough. So when Alma heard that they had been found on the train, she thought she didn't need to worry much about the Vampire anymore.

‘That wasn’t it. It seems that they found the Vampire’s location because I sent Del out.’

The Angry One continued, "Night Sky didn't just take their faith away, but also claimed that the fake god is himself."

"How...?"

"I deceived the slaves, trapping them in the shackles of hope, but Night Sky somehow got hold of it."

Alma realized that this was a bigger problem than she had thought. The lost two percent of Faith points was not just a mere two percent. The laborers didn’t just realize that the god they believed in was fake, but they began to believe in Night Sky as their savior. They believed in Night Sky with even greater faith than they had in the One Who Stands Behind.

Furthermore, the Vampire had been forced to perform many Miracles to maintain the Faith points of the One Who Stands Behind, and the Faith points used for those Miracles had come from Night Sky, not the Angry One.

‘So the gap is not two percent, but four... No, it's definitely more than that.’

This was a significant problem. Looking at the size of Faith resources alone, the Empire had more. However, the Empire did not employ oppressive policies like the Union Kingdom, so they had to spend more on maintenance due to the minority species, scattered rebel groups, and wars with nations other than the Union Kingdom. And this imbalance between the two nations had kept the balance of power leveled. That was the sole reason the standstill at the borders had been maintained for such a long time.

‘But the balance has been disrupted with this matter.’

If the gap exceeded five percent, it was not merely a matter of a gap in power. The power of Miracles and arrangement of creations, as well as the abilities of the priests through Faith points, held greater strategic and tactical value.

Throughout the wars with the Empire, the Faith point gap occasionally reached five percent or more, but…

‘This time, it isn’t just a temporary situation. The doctrine of the Union Kingdom's warfare needs to change.’

Even as an apostle, Alma understood that she couldn't bear the responsibility with her life alone. She knelt and placed her hands on the ground.

"Please, punish me."

The Angry One, Hegemonia, stayed silent for a moment.

Hegemonia was aware of their own playstyle. It was sharp, but there was always an element of stubborness. Instead of unraveling the overall context, Hegemonia focused on finding and exploiting the weaknesses that their opponents showed by accident at the perfect time with their animal-like senses. It was this persistence that often brought victory to Hegemonia.

‘But it doesn't always lead to victory.’

Especially with players like Nebula, who had no openings and turned any potential weaknesses into opportunities, Hegemonia had a hard time utilizing their strengths.

As time passed, Hegemonia believed that the situation would become more favorable for them. No matter how skilled a player was, they were prone to losing focus in the long term, and past mistakes became more apparent with time. However, the one whose sharpness had become dull was themself. Among the many variables they had played out without context, one was pressing them like a debt borrowed thoughtlessly.

‘It’s my fault.’

Alma was a loyal subordinate. She had consistently reported on this matter, just not stating its importance; the one who hadn’t paid attention to it was Hegemonia themself.

Hegemonia said, “This is not the time to discuss rewards and punishments."

"But..."

"A Thunder Lizard has appeared in Rubeil. I have already sent the first apostle."

The first apostles of the Angry One as well as Night Sky could be said to represent the respective gods’ powers, and they had fought for a long time. But Alma felt that this battle was different from before.

"Based on my calculations, the current gap is seven percent. It will increase further after the restoration of the Afterlife.”

“...”

“At this rate, we have no choice but to accept that gap and slowly fall toward our doom.”

Flames flickered within the horn helmet of the Angry One.

"Get up, Alma. It's time for an all-out war."

***

Lakrak’s spear struck the Fang agents and security guards. Sparks flew from the contact point between the spear and the ground, and just by getting caught in the sparks, the soldiers burned to death with no chance of survival.

‘...They’re dying!’

At that moment, something fell out of the air.

Thud!

A shockwave swept over Lakrak and pushed dust away in concentric circles. Lakrak managed to block the hammer that came down toward his head with his spear, but the ground beneath him sank deeply. The edge of the tunnel behind Lakrak also collapsed into the raging fire.

Lakrak then said to the Gnoll holding the hammer, “Salkait.”

Salkait, the first apostle of the Angry One, tribal chief of the Ears Cut Tribe, and the nation's founding king, replied after destroying the ground, "Lakrak…it's been a while."

Lakrak angled his spear aside to push down the hammer. Salkait, holding his massive war hammer the size of his head, skillfully dodged all of Lakrak's strikes and made another swing. The clash between them sent shockwaves through the air, filling the sky with thunderous roars and causing earthquakes. The battle of these two apostles was like a living natural disaster.

With each avoided attack, even those who were at a distance were swept up, so the Fang agents, guards, and laborers fled without discrimination.

As Lakrak dodged Salkait’s attack, he shouted to Ramin, “What are you doing? Save Hwee-Kyung!”

Though Ramin initially thought she couldn't move a step, she realized she had to after hearing Lakrak's voice. Hwee-Kyung and Juran were being taken away by Del, fleeing in the distance.

Salkait then squinted and swung his hammer toward Ramin. Considering the distance was nearly a hundred meters, Ramin thought Salkait had made a mistake.

Thud!

However, the ground split and the cracks extended beneath her feet. She had to quickly roll away to avoid it. The shifting layers gave Ramin motion sickness.

Salkait laughed. "Haha! Think you can go?"

Lakrak then quickly slashed at Salkait's throat with his blade, and the battle resumed.

Ramin, despite her fear and the ground breaking with each step, ran up the steep terrain, which rose higher than her head. She stumbled several times, hitting her head and scraping her knees.

“Run!”

She could hear Lakrak’s voice even though his figure was obscured by the dust clouds.

Ramin clenched her teeth and went up a hill.

‘If I can just get over this...!’

However, when Ramin saw the view at the top of the hill, her legs nearly gave up.

-Goooaaa…

There stood a Golem the size of a house. This monster, seemingly made entirely from stone, was a presence often seen on the frontlines of the Union Kingdom and was known as the Siege Golem.

‘Right, this is the Union Kingdom. If the Angry One desires, they can unleash their monsters at any time.’

Hegemonia used the same templates commonly used by players when creating creature creations, and the Siege Golem was a favorite for many players. It was strong and tough. Despite lacking any flashy traits, it was a monster that boasted perfect efficiency.

‘It wasn’t just sent out carelessly. It's resistant to both electricity and blades, a guardian to block my path.’

As Ramin wondered if she should be happy about the fact that even the enemy's god seemed to have taken notice of her, the Siege Golem's fist came crashing down on her head.

Thud!

The impact echoed from behind the hill. Salkait laughed.

"Hahaha! Black Lizard, what a pity. Here, the Angry One can provide strength at any moment."

"..."

"It's unfortunate you're short-handed."

Lakrak replied, "Did I ever say I came alone?"

"…Huh?"

In his lifetime, Lakrak had led his own army, accompanied by renowned warriors. This invincible army had never been defeated, and there was no one who didn’t know about the legends. As time passed and his reputation, or more precisely, the level of Apostle Lakrak rose, more of those legends had been converted into his power. Now, living up to his name, the legendary Thunder Dragon King could summon the past warriors.

Raising her sword to block the Siege Golem's attack, Ramin noticed a shadow over her. A Lizardman had raised their shield and blocked the Siege Golem's attack. It was a Lizardman, but it wasn't Lakrak.

"Who...?"

Shimmering a pale blue light, the Lizardman in black scales didn't seem to quite belong to this world, and he turned to face Ramin.

"...Muel."

"Me?"

"No."

The Lizardman used their sword to parry the Siege Golem's attack. In a fight of strength, the Siege Golem staggered and stepped back. The Lizardman raised his head and glared at the Siege Golem.

"My name is Sairan Muel."