Izuku has absolutely no idea how to react to Uraraka excusing herself right after their away party returned from Aeonia’s graveyard only to quickly limp into the shrine room of the Hierarch of Conquest.
And then quickly bowing to the altar before throwing a few bones that she took from the skeletons she defeated during the battle into the sacrificial bonfire in front of it.
… seriously?
“W-what?” Uraraka seems to be somewhat startled by Izuku seeing what just occurred. “We know for certain that this god exists, right? I think it’s only fair to… errr… honor him, appropriately? I mean…”
Of all the gods that your girlfriend could worship in this world
she picked up the local version of Khorne
wow
Shut up, Shigaraki.
Ochako, I get it that you’re pretty… warlike, and you’ve set up a goal for yourself in this fantasy world to fight as many powerful enemies as you can.
But it’s still going a bit… far.
“Well, I definitely don’t plan to get very, errr, emotionally invested in this.” Uraraka replies, sounding much more confident about it. “I don’t plan to use his name as a war cry, I don’t plan to go fight his enemies, I don’t plan to go on a bloody revenge crusade when someone destroys his altar here. It’s just… something less? Admitting that he exists, giving one or two things as a sacrifice, and so on. I figured out that it’s only fair, and besides, if we do get some help from upstairs, it can’t hurt, right?”
Izuku quickly checks the [Religion] tab. And he confirms that they did obtain a very small amount of favor from Saevius, the Hierarch of Conquest. High God of Rage, Slaughter and War. Belonging to the Nine Hordes pantheon.
Their [Religion] tab didn’t have many inputs aside from that. It only had the gods that they’ve heard about.
The second deity from the Nine Hordes was Dolositas, the Hierarch of Deceit. High God of Thievery, Deceit and Trickery.
The only entry in the Shadowlight Covenant was their personal menace. Luna, the Hierarch of Night. High God of Anarchy, Revolution, Night and Moon.
Rampant Bloom was represented by Occasa, the Hierarch of Desolation. High God of Weeds, Parasites and Pests.
The Breathless Tide had Nex, the Hierarch of Undeath. High God of Undead, and Calamitas, the Hierarch of Disaster. High God of Bad Luck, Envy and Natural Disasters.
The Immutable Hierarchy (that was a new term) was represented by Tyrannus, the Hierarch of Chains. High God of Tyranny and Slavery.
There was also Pentagram, a faction with just a single deity: Odius, the Hierarch of Hatred, High God of Madness. Truly, the most benevolent, sane and friendly of all the gods they heard about thus far.
The only ‘decent’ deities on the list were Honor, Exarch of Authority, High God of Honor, Authority and Imperium, and Sol, Exarch of Day, High God of Sun, Light, Order and Purity. The former was listed as a part of the Ardent Flame, the latter as a Searing Light.
Were the exarchs split as well, or was it more about their personal outlook on the world? So less a separate pantheon and more of a faction? It was one of the many things left on their list of ‘learn about eventually’.
Judging from Luna referring repeatedly to Sol as her sister, it seemed to imply that the title of a ‘High God’ was used regardless of the holder’s gender.
Their joint list of favors obtained by them thus far was limited to the results of Uraraka’s recent sacrifice to Saevius… and some ‘freebie’ points they obtained from Luna. It wasn’t enough to unlock Evernight, but it was enough to potentially unlock the cheapest creature on the list, the Blessing of Night.
He quickly checks out if something changed in the rest of the system. And he confirms his suspicions. Whatever Luna did, it also unlocked a shrine dedicated to them. He’ll mention it to Shigaraki later.
In the meantime, he has Uraraka’s religious conversion to - to quote Shigaraki - ‘local version of Khorne’ to address. Whoever Khorne was.
… Ochako, just promise me that you’ll never turn into another Kacchan.
I admire his dedication, hard work and combat skills, but I’m fully aware that he’s not, errr, the most friendly person.
Coincidentally, your friendliness is one of the parts of you that I admire the most.
“Wha?!” That startles Uraraka. “I’d never! I might love a good fight, but I draw a line between my enemies and my friends! I fight the former, but I befriend the hell out of the latter! And this isn’t going to change, ever!”
So… you won’t be acting in any… impulsive way?
No unexpected and crazy life-changing decisions?
No acting in a way that the Ochako Uraraka I knew on Earth would find shocking?
In other words, he is asking if you’re planning to go on a rampage with an axe in your hand and while chanting BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE but he is too much of a pussy to say it directly
You had to say that, didn’t you?
yes
“I do have something very unexpected and crazy and impulsive that I plan to do when only it will be possible.” Uraraka replies quickly and almost cheekily. “But it doesn’t involve any sort of violence. I promise.”
…elaborate?
“It’s a secret.” Uraraka replies immediately. “You’ll know in time. Trust me and wait for it.”
Great.
I trust you, Ochako.
Now go and rest.
By the way, Shigaraki, Luna unlocked their shrine for us.
Really?
Oh, shit, really
… the moment Toga learns that Uraraka began to worship Saevius, she’s going to start dropping some offerings to Luna from time to time, doesn’t she?
For ‘moving her’ to a world where she can live without having to care for laws and with both her ‘Ochako-chan’ and ‘Izukun’ around her.
That’s… likely.
We’re going native worryingly quickly.
Sigh. No matter how I look at it, it’s our world now.
I guess I can’t fight that.
***
They assimilate the deathblade, obviously. This lets them unlock [Deathblade], a creature of the Breathless Tide with an Estimated Threat Level of 25 . Making them the strongest creature that they had in their hands. Alongside the [Burial Chamber] lair for the undeath.
If they could spawn it right now, that is. But it would make for an excellent Floor Guardian of… fifth level?
…
If this is the equivalent of a level 5 Floor Guardian, just how powerful Aeonia must be to want to be a level 15 Floor Guardian or even a level 20 First Guardian?
She called herself a ‘former deity’ and ‘pretty much an archdaemon’.
What did you expect, that she’d be weak and a pushover?
Still, this is insane.
By level 15, [Deathblades] will be able to wander the whole floor.
They won’t even be minibosses! Just regular mobs! And we can literally fill a whole level with just them!
Well, I’m definitely looking forward to all the deaths that it will cause
Eh, of course you do.
As Uraraka is busy healing and Toga is busy cooing over her injuries (to her clear discomfort that Toga doesn’t seem to notice), we should expand 2nd Level.
The traps we’ve installed are likely going to be more dangerous than any creature we can put right now, so we need more of them.
And I still hope to get more creatures aside from the slimes and shards.
Like what? The elementals? The spiders?
Most of them that we can put on 1st or 2nd Level are just going to be complete trash mobs
They can’t really kill anyone, who comes in appropriately prepared, just delay them
Only Floor Guardian rooms can offer some stopping power, but if we put mobs there, we can’t house our ‘human’ servants anywhere
… we’re stupid.
Speak for yourself, please
No, I just realized something
The ‘special servants’ that form our ‘court’, why are we spreading them around?
What
We’ll eventually centralize the servant quarters, likely on the lowest level of the Dungeon. We don’t need to spread their quarters through the entirety of the Dungeon.
SHIT
You’re right, you’re stupid.
We should have figured it out a long time ago.
Fuck
If we house them all on the lowest Level, then considering the current size of the Dungeon and the fact that the enemies have to be on their guard while our servants can run through the Dungeon at max speed, Uraraka and Toga would still make it to the 1st Level Floor Guardian room in time to intercept them
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Yes.
In fact, we should have just gathered up the servants on the lowest level for a last stand (if needed) and rely on mobs for the defense on the higher levels.
We could also give some additional amenities to them on the lowest level, like a kitchen, some place to wash themselves properly and so on.
Sigh.
Yeah, that’s going to be a major modification to the whole structure, but we should definitely get this shit done asap
Monoma and Spinner are delayed a bit more, aren’t they?
Yeah
We gotta do this first
The list of priorities goes like this:
1. Finish the Sen’s Fortress Lite
2. Expand to 3rd Level and put all our servants there, with a Node Room or two if needed
3. Improve creatures on the upper layers
4. Get Monoma and Spinner going
Yes.
I have an idea concerning the ‘improve creatures’ bit
Go on?
After a while of talking it through, his idea is accepted. But it’s something for later to make into reality. So, in the meantime, they decide to immediately move over to point 1 of Shigaraki’s list.
And they get it done, at the cost of another brief blackout. Izuku still hates that entire mechanism with passion.
This time it’s even worse than usual as they missed a lot of the post-expedition period of patching-up and exchanging combat experiences to get better for the next time.
As for the 2nd Level, Shigaraki decided to make it even more lethal. How? Well, by making the last lengthy ball route be a dead end one, with the tunnel to Yaoyorozu and Kirishima’s living quarters (and the Throne Room) branching off in the middle of it.
If you missed it out due to running for your life in a dimly lit corridor, you were going to die.
And it was entirely possible to miss it entirely due to five previous ball traps requiring you to run all the way to the very end in order to avoid getting squashed. If you did the same thing for the sixth time in a row… you’d die.
image [https://images.squidge.org/images/2024/04/17/image.png]
1. Entrance. 2. Boulder Start. 3. Boulders End. 4. Dead End. 5. Throne Room
This has emptied their Residual Mana storage. Thankfully, it was refilling pretty quickly. But, in the meantime, they have some free time for themselves.
Izuku quickly checks on Ochako (who was fast asleep, her broken leg having clearly healed by now). Then he quickly checks on Himiko (who was also fast asleep, in her own bed surprisingly enough).
He checks on Kirishima, and finds him sleeping in his own bed, snoring quite loudly. Izuku is standing to notice a pattern there.
He decides to check up on Yaoyorozu-san, only to find her walking through the 2nd Level, likely heading to her quarters. Huh, at least one person wasn’t asleep.
Sorry to interrupt you, but did Ochako heal properly?
Look, he had to start that talk somehow, okay?
“Hmm?” Yaoyorozu raises her head. “Oh, yes, she did. Not immediately, but it’s clear that being in a place with sufficient Ambient Mana Level is accelerating our healing process. I don’t think that it’ll help with lethal injuries, though. And it’s too slow to be useful in combat.”
I see.
I have a question for you.
You’re knowledgeable on nearly every subject imaginable. Does this include the religious history of our world?
Yaoyorozu sighs loudly.
“Religion has been a part of human history ever since it began.” She then says. “Like economy and war. You clearly have a question in mind, and before I’ll be able to say if I can help you with it, you’ll have to specify what part of the subject it touches.”
Religious beliefs in the times of the Roman Empire.
“Looks like I’m not the only one to notice that the High Gods seem to be named in Latin.” Yaoyorozu replies immediately. “Like Saevius, whose name seems to be derived from the Latin word meaning ‘cruel’, ‘barbarous’ or ‘savage’.”
Yes.
Now that I think about it, the beastkin Elder mentioned something called the ‘limitanei’, apparently some sort of armed forces of some major empire in the area.
Sounded like a first line of defense, she mentioned how the beastkin could overwhelm them only to be crushed once the ‘real’ army would arrive.
“Limitanei is the name for the Roman Empire’s frontier defense forces established sometime between late 3rd and early 4th Century.” Yaoyorozu replies. “Yes, this does begin to sound more and more Roman to me. What exactly did you want to ask? That religious question?”
I wanted to know how religious worship ‘worked like’ in the Roman Empire.
“That’s… still way too wide of a subject.” Yaoyorozu replies while turning the corner. “I assume that you’re referring to Uraraka’s recent religious conversion?”
Kind of.
You know of it?
“I figured it out from the context clues.” Yaoyorozu replies. “Like Uraraka heading to his shrine after the expedition. Despite having a broken tibia. And me knowing how much she loves fighting.”
I see.
I’m just not sure what to think about it and I don’t want her to feel bad because of that.
So I’m trying to figure it out before she wakes up.
“Hmm…” Yaoyorozu thinks it over for a few seconds. “It’s not an easy subject to talk about, most of what I can give you are speculations. Even if I know some things about the Roman Empire, there’s no guarantee that it works the same way here.”
I’ll take that, if there’s nothing better.
“Early on, the Western paganism saw gods as bigger, better humans, with their worship being best imagined as a form of a communal filial piety.” Yaoyorozu replies, beginning her lecture. “They were the ‘parents’ of your city, your tribe or so on. You respected them and acknowledged their existence, thanked them when you thought they helped you, apologized if something bad happened and you felt that it was because you somehow insulted them, cared for their houses and belongings and so on.”
It sounds similar to shinto.
I think.
My family wasn’t big on that, to be honest.
“Not exactly unexpected, shintoism has been in decline for a long time now.” Yaoyorozu replies. “The thing is, ‘godlessness’ and ‘excess piety’ were both looked down upon. Godlessness was bad because you ignored those that gave you what you have and didn’t honor them as you should. Excess piety was bad because you shouldn’t debase yourself in front of your parents, and you shouldn’t be all over them constantly. It was beneath your dignity as a human being.”
So, take part in festivals and public rituals, grant them some offerings when appropriate, and other than that, just live your life as you should and don’t bother them?
“Yes.” Yaoyorozu replies. “It changed over time, however. Philosophy destroyed the foundation of traditional paganism in the West, at least among the intellectuals of its time, by asking questions that were really hard to counter. For example: There are no minotaurs around, no nymphs that we can go and find, so how are you so certain that Zeus exists if all that we know about him comes from the same myths?”
I can see how your answer will be almost pure speculation.
Isn’t hamadryad a type of nymph?
“It is.” Yaoyorozu nods. That did indeed complicate the situation greatly. “To finish my line of thought, the philosophical outlook on religion began to evolve, creating various religious movements that seeked to remake the very foundation of the traditional religions. Usually drifting towards some forms of monotheism. An example might be neoplatonism, which saw gods as being bigger than humans, but still merely a higher order emanation of a being they called The One, which was a transcendent being that predated everything else, from which everything else was born and to which all would return.”
That… sounds kind of familiar.
“It is, indeed.” Yaoyorozu agrees with him. They all knew Ibara Shiozaki, even if not closely. “A big part of the religious turmoil of the later Roman Empire was about which of the growing monotheistic or semi-monotheistic doctrines would take over and replace the crumbling polytheism. Christianity? Neoplatonic interpretation of old paganism? Manicheism? However, in this world, the existence of the gods appears to be a confirmed fact.”
So you think that the most likely solution is that the world out there operates largely on the ‘early paganism’ rules?
“This appears to be likely, yes.” Yaoyorozu replies, although Izuku can hear at least some reservations in her voice. “However, I’d argue that it appears likely for some deities. Like the exarchs. Judging from what Luna has been saying about Pentagram creatures being likely to drive us insane, and from what Aeonia apparently mentioned about the treatment of Rampant Bloom worshippers, at least some Hierarchs appear to work… differently .”
As in, they somehow corrupt people?
“To some degree, yes.” Yaoyorozu replies. Izuku definitely didn’t want to hear that. “However, we’re fine with using Rampant Bloom creatures. This suggests to me that Pentagram can corrupt its worshippers and everything that comes in contact with it, but the same cannot be said about Rampant Bloom. So, my guess is that Occasa is simply more involved with her worshippers, actively promoting the extreme forms of ‘excess piety’ I mentioned above. Creating violent cults and so on.”
Likely offering them some forms of magical power, which they use to guide the creatures that their deity spawns in order to convert the world in her image.
Thus forming some twisted feedback loop of ‘more atrocities -> more power -> more atrocities’.
“Correct.” Yaoyorozu nods. She is almost at the Throne Room, likely planning to catch a shut eye and rest. She didn’t mention it, but… Izuku has his guesses.
So, what I’m getting out of it, is that we can offer shit to all gods (aside from the Pentagram ones), even Occasa if we were for some reason insane enough to do it, for as long as we’re not getting a power trip out of it
In short, it’s fine to give Occasa a $100 to fuck off, because she does exist and we’re just admitting she exists and has influence over the world and we’re just sticking to the ‘filial piety’ thing
having a healthy respect towards what’s greater and older than us
But the moment we start getting emotionally invested in her ‘religious doctrine’ and we go into the ‘excess piety’ field, shit will start to go bad
Did I get it correct?
“Y-yes.” Yaoyorozu replies, clearly surprised with Tomura joining the talk. And even more by him saying some actually sensible things. “That’s what I suspect as of now. I still do not recommend getting involved with Occasa, but Saevius is likely a much safer bet.”
Right.
Now that I think about it, the Elder mentioned how the beastkin are sometimes recruited by that not-Roman empire as mercenaries.
So I guess that the whole ‘Nine Hordes’ thing can’t be that bad.
“Yes, it sounds so to me.” Yaoyorozu agrees with him. “From what I heard about the local beastkin, they’re clearly just a somewhat savage tribal population. Far from the worst by our world’s standards, as we’re yet to see them indulge in cannibalism or anything akin to that.”
In short, you can reason with them, but it’s entirely likely that if you have something shiny, they’ll steal it from you
while thinking that it’s alright because you were a dumbass to not protect it well
and they’re much more likely than the civilized folks to club you in the head while stealing said shiny thing
“That’s a bit… rough way of describing it.” Yaoyorozu replies. “But it’s not entirely incorrect. In fact, it might be quite correct. They likely have a certain degree of what you’d consider a martial honor, but it’s the sort of thing that tends to apply only to those that can stand up to them.”
After thinking back on how the beastkin acted while within his Domain, Izuku can see that being a thing. They were… definitely rather rough people.
I see.
I guess that Ochako has found the perfect middle-ground by herself then.
You pretty much cited her words about taking the middle-ground, not going too far, just admitting to herself that gods exist and that respecting them properly definitely can’t hurt.
“That’s definitely reassuring.” Yaoyorozu replies while nodding to herself. “It makes sense, Uraraka-san might not be a polymath genius, but she is definitely smarter than most. And her common sense is a potent force indeed.”
Yes. Yes, it is.
Sigh
Your mutual pining is getting annoying to watch
You want me to show you something scarier than Cat Might?
God, no
Good.
“Anyway, I’m planning to go to sleep now.” Yaoyorozu decides to announce. She was almost at her quarters, walking through the Throne Room. “And I’d prefer to go to sleep without having to listen to any of you, my positive feelings for one of you aside.”
Right, my bad.
We’ll likely just skip time until any of you wakes up or until someone enters the Dungeon.
“Very well.” Yaoyorozu nods while pulling the curtain covering the entrance to her room aside, only to freeze suddenly. “Before I forget - Midoriya-kun, if you would be so kind, I’d gladly get my hands on proper writing supplies as I’d love to be able to start noting down all the things that I’ve learned about this world. And, naturally, on any locally written book that you can get me.”
That won’t be a problem, Yaoyorozu-san.
Well, it will be a problem because we’re in the middle of nowhere, but it won’t be a problem for me to deliver things to you if we find them.
“Great.” Yaoyorozu replies while walking into her quarters. “Thank you, and good night, Midoriya-kun.”
I’m not surprised that she didn’t even say goodbye to me
But did it at least sting?
No
Shame.