Epic of Caterpillar

535 An Introduction to the Dark Steppes Gods Pantheon

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[Day 248]

[Kireina] gained +320 Skill Points and Subclass Skill Points due to the prayers of your believers!] (Added!)

[Kireina] gained 6.876.642.442.322 EXP due to the prayers of your believers!] (And the Experience Points gained from yesterday underwater hunting)

[LEVEL 097/250] [EXP 19.576.264.780.990/20.230.000.000.000] (Added!)

Today I woke up with Marduk and Nammu drinking my milk, it seems that in the middle of the night, they got quite hungry. I glanced at my side as I found Nanshe drinking from Mady, to the other side was Belle drinking from Adelle… Nirah was peacefully sleeping while having her tail wrapped around my waist, resting her torso over my belly.

Ah, and about the Scylla triples, it seems that they are very well-suited for land, even more than Mady, so they didn't really need to sleep underwater like they had to when they were inside their eggs… most likely because the eggs would dry out in the outside, but when they were born they developed fur and scales, and their skin hardened and became resistant to dryness.

I gently caressed my children hair as I felt their auras leaking from their half-sleep states, Marduk had a blazing red aura, leaking a strong and pressuring atmosphere, meanwhile, Nammu had a bluish aura, leaking the voracity of a giant wolf.

Each of my children had distinct auras, and there was also Nanshe who had a purple and intoxicating mist-like aura, Belle having a bright and dark aura converging eclipses and dawns… and the seven harpy chicks had a colorful aura, most of the time being of the same color as their feathers.

I caressed their heads until they slowly woke up and glanced at my eyes… for some reason Marduk seemed a bit frightened... Why was it?

After the initially surprised expression on his crimson eyes, he calmed down and we continued the rest of the day as normal, it was until after breakfast that I decided to call on the gods for some questions while making sure that Kaggoth was well welcomed.

Using Agatheina's artifact, I contacted her, she seemed to have been taking a nap in her bed when I called her, but she quickly got up to hear my words.

"Ah, Kireina-sama! Oh? About Kaggoth…? Well, she was welcomed with open arms by everyone present! She had been currently staying at Merveim's Divine Realm where she is wrestling against that battle-maniac wyvern… Due to her size, some of the gods were a bit frightened, but she seemed to be capable of reducing her size, making it easier to socialize with her" said Agatheina with a pleasant voice.

"So Merveim finally found a wrestling partner… Anyways, could you call the rest of the gods? I have a few things to talk with everyone" I said.

"Oh! Of course, Kireina-sama, let me reassemble our pantheon in no time!"

Kaggoth was too big to sit down at the table, but she enjoyed tea, nonetheless. It seems that her claws had already grown back, but were still quite soft… I still have not eaten the claws she gave me, but planned to do so today at lunch or dinner.

"Ah, everyone, thanks for coming so fast, I wanted to ask you guys about a few gods I don't know about, especially two that blessed my newborn children, Marduk and Nanshe…" I said.

Marduk was weirdly blessed by the same gods that blessed Ymir, while Nanshe had the blessing of two poison-attribute gods that I didn't know about, one of them was a dragon, so perhaps Merveim and Hodhyl knew something about them.

"Gravern and Smirkes? Two Fire-Attribute Gods? …Well, I am clueless on this one… there are so many gods, it is hard to recognize them all or remember, especially those that we have not seen in a while… I might have seen them, but I honestly can't remember" said Agatheina.

"Gravern kind of sounds to me… but perhaps I am mistaking it with a Demon God that had a divinity surrounding Graves… so perhaps not… I am sorry, Kireina-sama…" said Kaggoth.

"Those names sound like the names of some species of monsters… but aside from that, I have no idea," said Marnet.

"Hmm… perhaps if they are so unknown, they might be inhabiting a different Realm than us, or perhaps are living in a place where they cannot be seen by the rest of the world and the gods of the Realm of Vida…" said Hodhyl.

The names 'Gravern' and 'Smirkes' did not seem to resonate with any of the gods present… but my wives came out with some conclusions after hearing Hodhyl.

"Perhaps, just as Hodhyl-sama said, those gods might not inhabit the surface, but the Lower Realm?" asked Zehe with intrigue.

"The Lower… Realm? What is that place?" asked Merveim.

Most of the gods present did not know about it either, Agatheina barely had an idea of the place.

"I think I kind of know it, but not the details surrounding the place… it is a large area below the surface of the Realm of Vida…" said Agatheina.

"Indeed, we explored it in great detail when we completed the Forsaken Labyrinth, the dungeon of the God of Sand and Earth Omgramid… it is a place filled with unique fauna and flora, mostly everything is very hot down there, and giant monsters of a higher class than the ones in the surface inhabit it… surprisingly, there are many small nations of demi-humans… I suspect that those gods might be from there, just as Zehe pointed out" I said.

"Then, just like in the surface, are the gods down there taking care of their mortal children?" asked Nesiphae.

"That should be the case… then Gravern and Smirkes are gods from there… but the surprising and strange thing is that they once blessed Kireina-sama's prey, an Ashura with the name of… Ymir? And then they blessed her child… this is suspicious, what if they hold ill will against her?" asked Agatheina.

"My tribe also comes from down there! But no gods protected us, we were loners. I remember that the few tribes we interacted with did had some patron gods that they prayed to… but I don't remember the names… Gravern and Smirkes weren't there, that's for sure," said Oga.

"Just as Oga-sama says, it seems that these gods are loners that don't protect mortal tribes… And yeah, I was thinking the same thing as you, Agatheina, but it is hard for us gods to alter our blessings to do negative things in those we bless, and it would be a waste of resources and time" pointed out Hodhyl.

"Well, they also don't seem to be demon gods, nor dragons, or titans… they're just human gods like us?" asked Bovdohr.

"Maybe they were guided by Kireina-sama just like us, Bovdohr!" said Nomera.

"Yes… that could be the case!" said Bovdohr.

"In any case, we can't do much, right?" asked Brontes at my side, the gods seemed to agree with my wife, they had blessed my former prey and 'enemy', but they also blessed by child… as they said, it is hard to create negative effects on a blessing, even more, when the blessing fits perfectly with Marduk's powers and nature.

There are two options, it could mean some kind of animosity, a very complicatedly built one for whatever reason, or an expression of goodwill, similarly to Bovdohr and Nomera, wanting to show their appreciation to me and also to possibly join our Pantheon.

"But even if they want to join, it is hard to look for them, as they inhabit a place that we cannot see… so until Kireina-sama and her family go back there to explore, we cannot communicate with them… and in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop, everyone uses pseudonyms, looking their shops through their real names will be useless," said Agatheina.

"Well, let's leave the topic of those guys for another occasion then… in another topic, talking about the ones that blessed my Nanshe…"

I asked the gods if they recognized the names 'Ghiotl, the Demon Demigoddess of Treacherous Venom' and 'Othairth, the Dragon Goddess of Poisonous Eyes'.

Responses came immediately this time.

"We remember Othairth, she is one of our sisters!" said Merveim.

"Wasn't she with the Central Continent Gods Pantheon? Why would they blessed what could be considered their future enemy?" asked Agatheina.

"It seems that Othairth finally left the pantheon then… though I don't know where she could be exactly," said Hodhyl.

"She left the pantheon?" I asked.

"Well… indeed, Othairth had a similar mindset than us, but seemed to had stay way longer with our conservative siblings… She most likely finally lost it after another discussion and left it once and for all… after all, much like us, she has her own tribe of mortal children… although we have our children inside our Divine Realm as it is smaller, while conventional wyverns are also considered our children, like those living in here, the children of the Wyvern Overlord," said Hodhyl.

"If she went to protect her children… she most likely traveled to the north from here, to a large area at the upper corner of the Border Continent named the 'Dark Steppes'… though I doubt that she has any strong connection with the gods there because she hasn't talked with them as much, they seem like pacifist demon gods, from what I can recall," said Merveim.

"Err… I also know Ghiotl, or well, it sounds to me… she is a Demon Demigoddess that also lives in the Dark Steppes… It seems that she is indeed an ally of Merveim and Hodhyl's sister… hm, should I say it?" wondered Morpheus.

"Say what?" asked Maeralya.

"Oh, our little sisters… right! It all connects now…" muttered Marnet.

"Ah, these two are pestering me all the time in my Divine Realm, they want to have a meeting with Kireina-sama…" said Levana.

"Meeting with me?" I asked.

Levana and Morpheus then introduced me to Dhyellele, the Beast Demigoddess of Rodents, and Savaphe, the Beast Demigoddess of Land Turtles. These two young demi goddesses had a connection with Othairth and Ghiotl as their mortal children inhabited the Dark Steppes with the children of these other gods, and also of all the gods in there.

According to the info they had, it seemed like a slumbering and sealed god was awakening and wreaking chaos and disorder by expanding a divine aura capable of inducing mutation into the flora and fauna. The gods there had their tribes surrounded by this and were now guarding against it using a barrier they created together.

Although Dhyellele and Savaphe's children didn't seem in direct danger, as they could simply move them here through their sibling's connection, they wanted me to help the lone gods in the Dark Steppes in specific, to make them join this place by going to meet them personally, ensuring to them that I didn't want to eat them because they were 'evil' Demon Gods.

Yes, they thought that if they came here to ask for help, I would eat them because they were Demon Gods… well, I might have done that in the past, but I???ve changed and I don't rush into conclusions… as much.

Dhyellele and Savaphe were trying to convince Levana to contact Agatheina, so then they could directly ask for my help me.

But Morpheus and Levana, alongside Maeralya and Marnet, had taken the words I said with strict loyalty and rejected all their pleads for help until I showed interest on my own for them, as I really didn't want to get bothered when I was with my family enjoying a few weeks of a slice of life.

Othairth and Ghiotl, who were gods directly allied with Dhyellele and Savaphe decided to bless Nanshe and see if by doing that, I could see their 'show' of goodwill… most likely.

In the end, everything was just a bunch of misunderstandings.

Well, it is also amusing how things connect like this… it suddenly became way more complicated, it gave me the feeling that this Realm is really small.

To put a cherry on the top, the slumbering and sealed god that is recently awakening was sealed by Zeus and his family in the past, and seemingly, according to some reports brought in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop by Agatheina, the presence of Hephaestus's very distinctive divinity had been felt by the Lone Gods there.

The Lone Gods there sold the information in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop most likely to bring it to my noses. They are quite shy, but also surprisingly scheming.

"Well… even after hearing all of the stories, I won't go there immediately… I still want to see Celica's child, and for the eggs of Habitis, and the reincarnated Moonfang and Sunclaw royal families to hatch, and there is also a bunch of other things I want to do… so I hope they understand. You can tell this to your sisters, Levana" I said.

"I see… thanks for your benevolence, Kireina-sama… I will tell them, and hopefully, they'll let me alone" said Levana while sighing in relief.

I could also send a True Body Clone there, but I don't want to… it would be like working while also relaxing, and it does feel very weird, especially when my mind is not immersed in the task completely, so I will wait.

After having discussed a few other things with the gods, I decided to spend the rest of the day with my family, as I began to cook Kaggoth's claws with the assistance of Rimuru, Chokumotsu, and Kaen…

"T-These claws… are they really… the claws of a giant crab goddess?!" asked Kaen, his fiery eyes setting ablaze before the challenge of cooking such divine ingredient.

"Ukii! I am pumped up, my husband! Let us do it! Just you wait, Kireina-sama! We'll make you the best dish ever!" said Chokumotsu.

"Yeah, let's do it! Guuuuu!" said Rimuru.

"Wait, don't rush things...! I am helping as well…!" I said.

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