Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 388



Only Noblemtl

Episode 388. Breakwater Against Chaos (7)

Isaac and Tukhalin looked around tensely as the flock of pale birds that had been scattering suddenly stopped as if frozen. The flock of white birds stood still in the dark sky without even flapping their wings, looking like constellations.

They had no idea why the stuffed pale constellation had suddenly frozen or what was happening, but they had seen something similar before.

“Has the immortal emperor arrived? Why is that guy so light-headed, even though he’s a god?”

Tukhalin tried to act relaxed as he joked, but he seemed out of breath.

The Immortal Emperor had not attacked or cursed any of them when he had appeared before, but his mere presence was enough to shake the Isacrea Dawn Army.

Isaac stared into the pale void. It was clear that Beshek was somewhere there. But he couldn’t figure out why he was holding onto the pale and staying still.

Then, suddenly, the darkness cleared and the flock of pale birds dispersed again. However, instead of trying to run away like before, the flock wandered in all directions as if they didn’t know where to go.

‘Isaac.’

At that moment, a signal came from Hesabel riding on the Nel.

She had been waiting in the sky, her eyes burning brightly, waiting to find the pale body early. In the midst of the movements of hundreds of birds that seemed to be flocking, Hesabel finally found something that caught her eye.

A crossbow arrow with a red feather flew in.

Bang. The arrow shattered the spine in an instant, and Hesabel’s blood that had been stuck to the tip of the arrow instantly took over the bone structure.

The pale body began to fall.

Isaac’s eyes also saw a bird with a bright red pattern, unlike the other pure white birds. Isaac quickly ran after the pale bird that fell into the middle of the wasteland. Then, the moment she hit the ground, he cut off her wing with a single stroke.

[for a moment…….]

Pale tried to say something quickly, but Isaac didn’t wait.

The moment he grabbed her cervical spine with his left hand, numerous bundles of tentacles wrapped around her pale body. Then, as if swallowing her in one bite, they crushed her entire body and thrust into her left hand.

Kkuadduk, uduk, uduk.

There was no room for screams or groans.

“Not twice.”

[Preyed on ‘Pale (EX)’.]

[Consumption efficiency increases with the ‘Dead God’s Guts’ perk.]

[You have acquired the ‘Shape of Division’ perk.]

[Faith increases dramatically.]

[Cold resistance greatly increases.]

Isaac felt a thrill of the predatory effect he had not felt in a long time.

I felt like my growth was slow, but it seemed that I had to eat something great to get some real results. And I devoured the soul of an angel, not just any other being.

At that moment, Isaac’s eyes opened to a new possibility.

‘Wait a minute, then… … If I eat other angels, they won’t be resurrected?’

Come to think of it, Carlsen’s soul also entered Isaac’s stomach and couldn’t leave.

What this meant was that the souls Isaac had eaten would not return to Urbansus.

Even if the parts eaten are part of angels, they will live forever with the loss of a part of their soul.

***

“Isaac! Where is he? Did you catch him?”

While Isaac was awakening to new possibilities, Tukhalin belatedly followed him on short legs and asked.

Isaac couldn’t say anything because he had already swallowed the paleness, so he just nodded quietly as he always did and made up something appropriate.

“I cut off its wings and cut off its neck, and it turned to dust.”

“He turned into dust? Huh? Then did you really kill the angel?”

“I guess so.”

Isaac muttered as he watched the dust begin to scatter in all directions. The flock of pale birds that had scattered in all directions began to scatter and turn to dust all at once.

The resistance of the undead soldiers, who had been strongly influenced by the pale, also weakened, and their battle lines collapsed like dust.

Tukhalin let out a long sigh, seemingly at a loss for words at the clear symbol.

“A great angel dies so easily? Huh… … .”

“It’s not easy to die.”

Pale had already been mortally wounded by Isaac. But he returned alive and blocked Tukhalin’s advance, showing his tenacity and viciousness.

Ansel’s share of this victory was no small considering that he was able to inflict a fatal wound on Pale thanks to Ansel risking his life.

Tukhalin spoke belatedly, as if making excuses.

“What I meant was that it was hard to believe that a Heavenly Angel could die. The Thunder Master told me that the angels of the Immortal Church could die because there was no distinction between the afterlife and the living world, but still… … .”

‘Well, it’s not the first time that a celestial being has been harmed by a human. There have been cases where they’ve been killed.’

Although rare, historically there have been instances of angels being defeated by humans.

Just as Isaac’s defeat of the Archangel of the Red Grail was ‘amazing’, not ‘impossible’, and there are cases where he was actually killed.

This is the case when one is purged by God.

Isaac thought of a snowy owl.

Although the two angels assisted, her murder was clearly carried out by Carlsen’s hand. It was an achievement that would not be recorded in history, as being erased from Urbansus was the fate of the purged angels, but it actually happened.

“When the Immortal Emperor appeared, I thought I would be helpless. But I didn’t know that he would just disappear without helping his angel.”

Tukhalin looked up at the sky, still feeling chilled. The sky that had been engulfed in darkness was once again covered with only faint dark clouds, as if nothing had happened.

Isaac said, watching the scenery.

“Pale was abandoned by the Immortal Emperor.”

The moment he devoured Pale, he felt it. Although the thing he devoured contained enormous divine power, it did not feel like it was of the rank of an angel. At the last moment, the Immortal Emperor stripped Pale of his rank.

That is, at that point, Pale was destined to become an archangel.

It was not erased from Urbansus, but was completely destroyed when Isaac preyed on it.

“You were abandoned? Why? You ran away?”

“I don’t know why. It could be because an angel who died fighting honorably is better than one who ran away, or maybe he was just angry at the constant defeats and chased them away.”

Isaac shrugged.

If the Immortal Emperor were a living ruler, this decision would be cruel. Pale has made many mistakes, but she is not incompetent. She could use this defeat as a stepping stone to grow further.

However, it was clear that the Immortal Emperor judged that there were more negative factors arising from Pale’s defeat than that.

‘Perhaps it is because the prestige of gods and angels themselves does not stand.’

For gods who are believed in through faith, trust, and fear, it would be unacceptable for them to be looked down upon by humans. In that sense, it is better to boast that they were defeated because their opponents were superior than to appear to have been defeated because they were incompetent.

So, in the end, admiration for Isaac also returns to awe for all the gods.

‘In the end, it seems that the Immortal Church values ​​their own power more than their followers.’

***

“Holy Grail Knight!”

As soon as Ethelred saw Isaac, he rode his horse and came running with a joyful expression. Ethelred, his nose red from running hard in the snow, jumped down from his horse with a breathless expression.

He held the Isacrea Dawn Army flag and waved it forcefully towards Isaac.

“Thanks to you, we have achieved another great victory! Your insight seems to see right through the heart of the enemy. This detour, the precise timing, and the ability to deploy troops at the right time and place! There is nothing to criticize!”

“You are too kind, Your Majesty.”

Isaac answered humbly, but Ethelred continued speaking, unable to contain her excitement.

“No, no! I saw those flying birds earlier. It was the pale angel, right? When I saw that, I was so curious about what would happen that I prayed to Eli, but all I saw was two people beating up the angel!”

Ethelred’s excitement was the excitement of all the knights of Elril.

The Isacrea Knights had already seen Isaac defeat Pale in a much more dangerous situation, so they were not particularly impressed this time.

But for the knights of Elril, it was a dramatic sight they had never seen before.

“Tukhalin helped me a lot. And if the Elril Army hadn’t arrived at the right time, I wouldn’t have dared to break through. By the way, did you defeat those Rua impostors?”

“Well, there was some damage, but no major power loss.”

Ethelred looked slightly pained, but still answered happily.

“However, with far less casualties than expected, we have also recovered a significant number of the ancestors’ remains and heirlooms that we had lost. It has been so smooth that it is hard to believe that we will be defeated under the banner of the Isacrea Dawn Army!”

Isaac even gained faith from Ethelred, as Ethelred’s trust was so strong.

Isaac’s heart ached as he thought of Ansel. It would be nice if Ethelred could overcome the crisis of death by trusting in him like that, but he did not want to create a situation where he blindly trusted him and jumped into death.

“It is simply the result of luck, training, and discipline. Your Majesty, please do not rely on such superstitions and focus on training.”

“Hmm? Oh, well, I will do that.”

Ethelred felt a strange sensation when Isaac answered her so stiffly, but she didn’t care.

Isaac also thought he was talking nonsense. In a world where faith is everything, what does it mean to tell people not to believe in superstitions?

However, only Ansel and Ethelred’s words reached Isaac, and many people’s beliefs were already being formed regardless of Isaac’s intentions.

A Grail Knight might be able to do it.

To restore the holy land of Lua, which has been a long-cherished desire for hundreds of years, to bring about change in this world that has been stagnant for a long time, to guide it to the most honorable battlefield, to carry out the most secretive conspiracy that can stand above everyone, to gather all the wealth and satisfy its unfulfilled desire, and maybe it will all be possible to achieve it.

This world gives what it wants to those who want it.

All of the jumbled wishes became beliefs and began to give Isaac strength.

***

The Gertrude Fortress was already destroyed and was nothing more than a rag, but from there, there was only an open plain leading to the Labyrinth Valley. There was no better place to reorganize than here, so the Isacrea Dawn Army decided to stay for another day.

While campfires were being built and campsites prepared here and there, Isaac went out alone to a secluded clearing.

Just in case, Hesabel was watching from a distance, but it wasn’t close enough for him to hear. As soon as Isaac thought it was a quiet enough place, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

‘pallor.’

The response came quickly. A pale woman appeared in his dark mental world. She was as skinny as an anorexic woman, and even before she became undead, she looked like a skeleton.

She glared at Isaac with a displeased expression.

‘It was still there after all.’

As with Carlsen, the mighty being seemed to take a while to fully digest.

It was the same even if the paleness level had dropped.

Pale looked displeased, but no longer seemed angry.

“What is this trash can?”

“If I say that the place you will be staying in from now on is a trash can, what will you become? Speak nicely.”

“All humans are sacks of shit. We all carry a precious lump of shit inside our chubby lumps of flesh. Whether it’s a trash can, a sack of shit, or a flower basket, words don’t change the truth.”

“Yeah, yeah. Our pale one would be nice to be thin.”

Isaac said sarcastically. Pale looked at Isaac blankly and said.

“You too, Holy Grail Knight. No matter what name you are called, the fact that you are a monster will not change. Just as the Code of Light cannot change the truth that the Dawn Army is nothing more than a suicide march, no matter how much it is covered up.”