Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 409



Only Noblemtl

Episode 409. A Country for the Dead (2)

[Open your eyes!]

Cardinal Rohen Otter, the Code of Light, opened his eyes.

No, it was closer to being forced. The light in front of his eyes suddenly became extremely bright. The light was so bright that for a moment, he was blinded and couldn’t see ahead.

Another shout was heard as Rohen Otter groaned on the floor in pain.

[Open your eyes, you blind ones!]

This time, the eyeball was forcibly restored. Rohen staggered to his feet and realized that he was not the only one who had been treated like this. People were seen staggering and sitting down all over the Dawn Army, rubbing their eyes.

The soldiers came out of the barracks with bewildered expressions only after hearing the commotion, but the priests, one hundred and one hundred of them, were all sobbing with fever or rolling on the floor with their faces covered. However, the soot-covered ones and those with glass eyes were staring at the sky, and bright flashes of light were coming out of their eyes.

‘What is it? What on earth is going on?’

After making a secret pact with the Undead Cult to eliminate the Grail Knights, the main force of the Dawn Army retreated to the back of Katla Ridge. Many commanders were shocked and bewildered at the meek surrender of Katla Ridge, which they had barely managed to occupy with so much blood and corpses, but they were able to suppress it with a rebuke that it was God’s will.

After that, the Yeomyeong Army reorganized and rested, which was not part of the plan, to build up strength.

Once the Isacrea Dawn Army was destroyed, Rohen Otter’s plan was for them, the ‘true’ army of gods, to come out with their reserves and crush the Undead Cult in one fell swoop.

[Reclaim the Holy Land, Warriors of the Dawn Army!]

Only then did Rohen realize that the voice that was constantly ringing was that of the burning maiden. And he noticed that the sky was as bright as day.

The sun has not risen.

There were angels in the sky.

A woman with her whole body on fire was spreading her wings made of flames like a tree.

Beside it was a giant eye with spinning old swords, wrapped around itself with wings of flame.

And finally, the moment Rohen Otter saw that last angel, he unconsciously covered his eyes and fell to his knees.

A beautiful shape with sixteen wings and six lighthouses, all of which are evenly and well-balanced.

What I saw in that fleeting moment was the glorious sight I had seen in Lichtheim, the lighthouse keeper. A splendid radiance filled the sky. It drove away the night and illuminated the world as if it were day.

In fact, all the known angels of the Light Code were gathered in one place, except for the ‘Blind Watchman’ who guarded Lichtheim. The priests could not raise their heads in front of this horrifying sight, and could only bow down to the floor.

The burning maiden let out a roar of anger at the pitiful sight.

[Get up and march to the Holy Land, you idiots!]

Rohen sat up with a start, feeling a burning pain in his back.

It wasn’t just pain. It was as if his back had been lashed with a burning whip. When Rohen saw the priest’s back in front of him, blackened with the marks of the whip, he knew that his own would be in the same condition.

“Advance! A revelation has come down! Advance to the Holy Land, Lua!”

The priest screamed in fear at the sudden revelation that came in the middle of the night. It was the cry of a mere priest without any authority to command, but the soldiers of the Dawn Army who saw the priests being treated also started to run while shouting repeatedly.

“The dawn army, the dawn army resumes! The angels are watching!”

“The oracle has come down! March to the Holy Land, Lua!”

Here and there, soldiers and priests started to pick up random things and run. Some soldiers, unable to even hold their weapons properly, picked up sticks or rocks and ran.

Rohen was speechless at this absurd sight.

***

“Cardinal Rohen!”

As Rohen was staring blankly up at the angels, Horgel’s voice was heard. Even his eyes, filled with fear and bewilderment, were filled with the most senior member of the Watchers’ Council.

“Do you know what this is? Did the angels give you some warning?”

“W, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why, why me… … .”

“Didn’t the burning virgin come to you and whisper to you! … … to go ahead with the plan!”

Horgel barely managed to swallow his words.

Rohen came to his senses.

“Father, is the Immortal Church successful?”

Now that we’ve succeeded in killing the Grail Knight, are you saying we should restart the Dawn Army? No, if that’s the case, then we should start planning our war again step by step. Instead of running around like a whipped calf. But this is like being chased…

For a moment, Rohen felt his head heat up. A terrible possibility occurred to him.

“The Grail Knights succeeded.”

“what?”

“The Grail Knights… … have defeated the Grave Lord! The Grail Knights are advancing on the Holy Land, Lua!”

Rohen shouted, feeling dizzy and forgetting even the honorifics.

Horhel could not understand how a handful of troops could defeat the Cemetery Lord, who even commanded the Lunar Eclipse Army, but he thought that there was no reason for the angels to act like this. However, it was clear that the gods were working on a grand plan that they could not understand.

“First, you too, get your weapons ready! Since the angels have come forward, we won’t stop until we reach the Holy Land, Lua! Since there is no Graveyard Lord, we will trample on the capital city of Ushaq in one go. So… … .”

“Burning Maiden, Sword of May, Lighthouse Keeper, please stop!”

But Rohen did not listen to Horgel and ran like a madman, shouting.

The Sword of May and the Lighthouse Keeper did not even glance at him, only the Burning Maiden looked down at him with a frown.

“Burning Maiden, this is not right! Please let us lead the army! We can do as well as the Grail Knights! Please do not get your hands dirty, and let us do the work of dipping our hands in the mud of the earth!”

Horgel wanted to shout at them to stop right away.

The Watchtower Council was meant to converse with the angels, but they could not dare advise or urge them.

However, Rohen could see how terrible the damage would be if the soldiers were to storm the capital city of Ushak. It was not that he suddenly realized the value of life. However, these were the soldiers he would command and lead.

If the Angels of Ming command the Dawn Army like this, then he too will become just one of those soldiers.

That can’t be.

You are a precious being chosen by the angels. You are the most precious tool to carry out the heavenly will on earth. The heavenly will must be carried out through you. If you directly project that will… … doesn’t it seem like you are an ‘ordinary person’?

“Please reconsider! I will personally make the Grail Knight… … .”

At that moment, instead of speaking, Rohen spat out flames.

Rohen didn’t know what was happening, but the flames raging inside him were burning his heart, his intestines, his lungs before his skin.

Soon, Rohen was burning alive as the blood boiled through his veins throughout his body.

Rohen looked like a strange fireplace, with flames shooting out of every orifice.

The burning maiden looked down at Rohen in annoyance, then turned away again.

The Sword of May was quietly staring at her.

[I thought the Cardinal was saying something about Isaac.]

[He was originally a fool. He must have gone mad because he was afraid that the Grail Knights would take away his power.]

May’s Black was about to say something more, but stopped as the lighthouses surrounding it began to move.

Click, click, click. After a steady sound like a clockwork mechanism being wound, they could feel the entire Dawn Army begin to move completely.

It was a military force with little discipline, fighting spirit, or morale, but its purpose was clear.

The Immortal Cult’s army, suddenly attacked by the Dawn Army, collapsed in an instant.

Now the capital Usak was within reach.

But the lighthouse keeper wasn’t even looking at the capital city of Usak in the first place.

From the time he first descended until now, his gaze has been directed solely to the Holy Land, Luaman.

May’s black lighthouse keeper stared blankly at him. It wasn’t hard to guess what the burning maiden was up to.

But there is nothing that happens within the Code of Light that the lighthouse keeper does not know.

Whatever she did, it happened with the lighthouse keeper’s permission, or at least with his acquiescence.

And whatever it was, it would have been necessary for the grand scheme to come to fruition.

***

Horgel stared blankly at Rohen Otter, who had been turned into a torch while standing.

The sight of his hand stretched out in front, black and burnt, seemed like a signpost indicating the direction the Dawn Army should take. Incredibly, it pointed precisely in the direction of the Holy Land, Lua.

Even at the Watchtower Meeting, he was a particularly clever and ambitious person.

He was not the kind of person who would foolishly invite death, but the harsh war known as the Dawn Army seemed to have worn away even his strong spirit.

‘I understand you, Rohen.’

Horhel has fought in the Dawn Army twice, but the previous Dawn Army was not as terrible as this one.

The war was waged with human reason and rationality, and there were raids, ambushes, sieges, and annihilation. However, the current Dawn Army was literally a rolling ball of fire using humans as firewood.

The only thing that kept Rohen going through this terrible war was his ambition. He believed that he was carrying out the divine plan of Heaven, that he was carrying out Heaven’s will on earth.

The moment he thought that his role had been taken away by the Knight of the Holy Grail, his ego would have collapsed.

Horgel understood him.

But at the same time, he blamed his foolishness.

“Of course the angels all knew.”

Interfering with the Grail Knights could mean interfering with the Dawn Army itself. Horhel knew the risk, which is why he left it up to Rohen.

Rohen was drunk on the thought that he was carrying out the orders of the angels, but Horhel did not forget how dangerous the angels were.

And now, look.

Seeing that the angels came out like this and ordered an all-out attack, it seems that a major rift has developed within the Immortal Church.

If it is true that the Grail Knights defeated the Grave Lord and defeated the Eclipse Army, then the main force of the Dawn Army has no other chance than now.

“Perhaps the angels foresaw all this!”

You shook and shattered the immortal sects just by moving the celestial pendulum back and forth. The foresight and wisdom of the angels were simply amazing.

Horgel praised them from the bottom of her heart and turned a blind eye to Rohen’s foolish death.

It just seemed like only by doing that would I be able to accept the countless deaths that would come in the future without collapsing.

***

“… … You captured the capital city of Usak in one day?”

“Occupation? I guess I should say destruction.”

At Siero’s words, Peltran muttered with a pale smile.

It wasn’t just the front line that ran as if they had been whipped, but the Dawn Army in the rear as well. Even the units of Feltron that were guarding the Gehenna fortress had to run.

Thanks to that, Peltrun’s appearance was a mess.

His entire body was covered in burn marks and ash, and his armor didn’t match at all, as if he had picked it up from different places. On the other hand, Siero, who arrived late, was relatively clean.

Siero didn’t doubt his words.

Because the city they were standing in was Ushak, the capital of the Immortal Cult.

And as Feltron had said, the city was close to ruins.

The legendary triple walls and seventy-seven spires were buried beneath the charred rubble, and since the original capital city of Ushak was built, the Dawn Army had not been able to penetrate even this natural fortress, let alone the Holy Land of Lua.

But the legendary city was taken in just one day.

The very next day, when the lighthouse keepers and angels appeared and ordered the advance.

“How on earth… … .”

“How? With three angels coming out, what city in the world could have lasted more than a day? I was completely wrong. The Dawn Army will not fail at this rate. I can understand the madness and greed of humans, but I absolutely cannot understand the madness of heaven.”

Feltron muttered, smiling bitterly.

“No… … Should I say that I cannot understand the limits of the abilities of the Grail Knight? Who would have expected that he would defeat the Lunar Eclipse Army?”