—–
Deciding to visit the city of High Thunder Siren, led by Yvnei, the Feathered Elder Dragon Windstorm Snake, Kireina and her family quickly moved out of the city after having made sure to transfer all of the High Viper to her Empire, alongside converting the entire city into a golem and rearranging it inside her Empire to suit the people and the available space there.
Wall was having a lot of work by expanding herself, but after being fed a lot of slimes and golems to increase her size, she managed to fit everything well.
As Kireina flew towards her next destination, which was located near floor 87, she began to sense that something strange was happening…
Where were the monsters that Begudhur had sent to the cities? They were taking an awfully long amount of time to reach the city…
Kireina knew about them as she had sensed them long ago through her augmented senses and her Divine Aura, but they had suddenly stopped through their track and were intercepted by another strange group… Kireina sent her flying slime clones towards the zones where the monsters had stopped, to glance at what was currently happening.
Meanwhile, as her flying slime clones moved through the sky of the dungeon, yet another unexpected event was being unfolded in the Dungeon… One that not even Begudhur himself had predicted.
Space itself was slowly breaking apart like glass, and from within the darkness revealed from the broken space, a large and grotesque creature emerged from within, with the size of a truck, and made completely out of transparent jewels, a strange arachnid creature appeared out of the blue, glancing at the monsters sent by Begudhur from above.
"Hmm… Things seem to be happening as you predicted, Zudig" said the arachnid creature.
Suddenly, another figure appeared from within this shadow space behind the broken space, it resembled the fallen Elemental Knight of Fire of the Athetosea Kingdom, David, but his appearance was completely different now, as he wore a dark and gothic armor with draconic decorations and pulsating dark flesh entwined in it as if it were alive.
Instead of blazing crimson eyes, it had dark pupils, and an eerie and fetid presence emerged from within its body… it had long and decaying draconic wings stuck into its shoulder, a rotting dragon tail, and long claws covered in hard and dry bluish dark scales.
"I see! So Kireina, just as I thought went to Nyzzet dungeon after the fool joined her Pantheon… Although I really thought that she would take her sweet time getting there and would end up prioritizing something else… what a surprise this is, and to make things even funnier, Begudhur, that idiot awakened from his seal thanks to her Divine Aura, which suppressed and weakened the seal made by that Hero three hundred years ago! How wonderful! Should I become the God of Fate and Destiny now with such predictions?" asked Zudig.
"Your prediction was accurate due to the circumstances given, don't praise yourself for doing something simply logical. Kireina's Divine Aura properties seem to be capable of eating away Seals and Authorities whenever it expands, as if naturally… I really want her in my collection now," said the arachnid being.
"Patience, my friend, we have not come here for that… Not yet, not yet…" laughed Zudig, showcasing an expression on the face of his host that the original David would never do.
"Your friend? Do not misunderstand our relationship, Zudig. We are merely working together for the benefit of each other. After all, we cannot achieve what we desire without the other, a mutual benefit, and I hope that it stays that way until the end of our treaty… or else," said the arachnid.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You do not have to tell me this for the tenth time today, Kheseerad… Hm? It seems that my Zombie Friends are working faster" said Zudig, as he glanced down below from the space created by Kheseerad…
Kheseerad was the name of this arachnid creature, the Demon God of Foreign Trespassing the name of a mysterious Demon God who had brought tons of headaches to the Lone Gods, a despicable Demon God with the ability to break through the boundaries of space and enter other Gods Divine Realms indiscriminately, or even open entrances to them without any issue, letting others enter on his place… he can not only do this but can manipulate the strange and mysterious Space Attribute Magic with incredible mastery, being able to create his own space separated from his Divine Realm to travel across the world of Genesis…
Kheseerad did not belong to the Realm of Vida but was attracted to it due to its abundant amount of weak Lone Gods that no one cared about, which he liked to predate on by constructing traps in space itself.
He was the main culprit behind the disappearance of many Lone Gods across the Realm of Vida. Using his powers and contact with other Lone Gods willing to help him in exchange for resources harvested in the invasion, he would recruit large groups of Lone Gods and invade the Divine Realms of other Lone Gods, stealing their resources and ultimately their Divine Cores and physical bodies, while using their immortal souls for other purposes.
Gods after all were treasure troves of Divine Materials, their Divine Core harbored their Divine Realm, where materials of their certain divinity would grow, and even their physical bodies could be used for a variety of purposes and as Divine Materials as well.
However, since he acquired the knowledge about Zudig having acquired a power similar to a problematic Mortal which he had heard about, he decided to contact Zudig, to ask him for the power that Zudig possessed… due to his constant invasions, Kheseerad had many Divine Souls ready to be devoured with Divinity Devouring, but he lacked the Skill that could help him not only acquire the divinity of the god but also eat it and acquire its complete power, something that the Divine Technique of the same name was not capable of, and which Kheseerad, despite his riches, did not possess.
And Zudig, knowing the secret of how to acquire Divine Devouring, decided to ask Kheseerad for a few favors before that, one of such favors was to follow Kireina to Nyzzet Dungeon, where Begudhur was supposedly sealed.
Zudig knew about this because he spectated the last battle of Begudhur against the Hero that sealed him three hundred years ago, and now that he had acquired the Divinity Devouring Skill, he wanted to test it by eating this weakened and sealed Demon God, whose Divinity might be ideal for him.
Since the incident where he acquired the body of David, Zudig has not moved at all outside of the Dungeon he stole, slowly getting used to his new powers, and awaiting or an opportunity to devour a small and weak god.
He had even thought about the likes of Geggoron, but he was already eaten by Kireina.
So now, he was aiming at Begudhur, following Kireina through the space created by Kheseerad.
Zudig used his Divinity related with Zombification to zombify the monsters possessed by Begudhur Split Souls, and made them his pets in no time, he waited for the second wave of monsters, those created by Begudhur before going into his metamorphosis, and attacked them with his zombified friends…
Unknowingly, Zudig did a good deed by slowing down the imminent destruction of the two last cities of monsters led by the Elder Dragons.
Zudig goal as of now was to catch Begudhur before he awakes and either eat him or weaken him enough to enslave him… whatever was easier.
Of course, Zudig did not know about Begudhur having acquired powers similar to him… but he was interested in his unique and powerful Divinity, and wanted to catch him before Kireina could.
Now that Kireina had finally gone to sleep in a faraway city, he decided to finally move with Kheseerad, using his Divinity to zombify Begudhur's monsters, those moving to the cities led by the Elder Dragons and making them confront the second wave of monsters with Begudhur's Split Souls.
The Rotten Dragon God glanced down below, seeing the various Zombie Monsters attacking the second wave of Begudhur with great power…
"It is surprising how you can slave the Split Souls of a Demigod through your Zombification," said Kheseerad, cleaning his drooling jaws, as he had finished snacking on a Divine Beast.
"Oh? That? Yes, it is but… a small piece of my true power. After having gone through a reawakening by merging myself with this Hero, I have acquired new powers that far exceeded what I thought to be possible for me… I am no longer a simple Demigod, Kheseerad. By applying my Zombification Divine Technique, which works as a curse not only to the flesh but the soul, I have successfully made Begudhur's Split Souls into Zombies, even the split souls of a god cannot run away from my rotten erosion…" said Zudig with a devilish smile.
Kheseerad saw in Zudig a fearful being that he should not dare to provoke or make an enemy of… yet. For now, he desired the power of 'reawakening' by acquiring the Divinity Devouring Skill. He was not a stupid god though and knew that Zudig would not simply spit out the information. He was tagging along with him and 'helping' him to also learn more about his true powers and also to acquire knowledge about how to acquire his powers.
He knew clear as water that Zudig would try to betray him at worst later on the line, or just run away in the best-case scenario, so he was getting ready for that moment, he had considered such risk from the beginning.
Space Attribute Gods were incredibly rare, and those that existed were often very strong or elusive, so Kheseerad was having a hard time preying on such gods, without having done so for thousands of years… his cultivation was stagnant due to a large progression wall that he couldn't simply cross yet, and he needed many materials that he couldn't harvest so simply, and were as rare in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop.
Space Attribute Divine Materials were incredibly rare, and just as pricy, even selling the physical bodies of gods he caught and their Divine Cores which brought Divine Realms with them, he had only brought but a handful of Space Attribute Divine Materials.
Kheseerad Divine Realm quality was way too high, and the number of resources needed for it to improve on quality and finally let him have his Divine Trial to raise his Rank was incredibly hard.
Space Attribute Gods were incredibly strong, but also had just an incredibly hard time growing and progressing…
Kheseerad glanced at the smiling Zudig with the eyes of a predator, but by using his Space Attribute Divinity, he masked such bloodlust easily, by inserting such energy and essence inside a pocket space barrier that surrounded his entire being, a powerful space armor that could not be simply broken by most Gods.
Even Zudig with his Divinity Devouring would have to consume too much Divine Energy by conjuring Divine Techniques to finally break through it, and by that time, Kheseerad might be capable of running away through his unique powers.
This was one of the reasons why Zudig did not attack Kheseerad, both gods were not capable of damaging each other, it was too hard to kill each other, so they used such fundament to 'trust' each other to an extent…
Begudhur was deep within a slumber now, and was almost incapable of sensing that his Split Souls were being turned into 'Zombies'…
And as Zudig smiled, he descended to the surface while being shrouded on his Divinity, infecting the weakened monsters that his Zombified pets had fought.
"Why don't you eat the Split Soul inside?" asked Kheseerad, curious about Zudig's true plans.
"Because if I do, the pain will be redirected to Begudhur, awakening the sleepyhead, and most likely making him aware of our existence in here… However, now that Kireina is moving here, it would be better to at least leave her some distractions… Hm, this might work" said Zudig, as he moved the Zombified Begudhur's Split Souls inside his Divine Realm while releasing an army of dozens of Undead Divine Beasts… they had a strength comparable to Rank 8 Living Deities and had grown too much in Zudig's Divine Realm, so he decided to sacrifice some of these to distract Kireina.
"Oh? Quite sharp, are you? But what will you do with these Zombified monsters then?" asked Kheseerad.
"Isn't it obvious? We'll track down Begudhur with them… who knows better of him than himself, right?" laughed Zudig, as he used his authority over the Zombified Begudhur's Split Souls and absorbed their knowledge about the whereabouts of the original Begudhur… which also ended up revealing something that made Zudig's smile wider and creepier.
"I can't believe it! To think that he would achieve it as well… Begudhur might be more incredible than we thought, Kheseerad… Now let us hurry up there, follow my directions!" said Zudig with high spirits, as Kheseerad couldn't help but sigh and obey him.
Zudig entered Kheseerad Mobile Pocket Space as if it were a car, as the two went flying through a different space towards Begudhur's whereabouts, in the depths of the dungeon.
—–
