Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 52



Only Noblemtl

Episode 52. Shell (2)

Light began to emanate from one part of the armor along with the message that the seal had been lifted. The part that had been scratched and crushed was the engraved emblem that indicated it was Carlsen’s armor. In the place where the sentence was erased, a sentence engraved with light was revealed.

[I will be with you.]

It was a meaningful phrase, but I had no idea what it meant. However, judging from the incident, it was clear that the seal had been lifted.

‘No, I was planning on lifting the seal at some point, but so soon?’

Isaac was confused but also looked forward to seeing what features would be revealed. Soon, traces of miracles and blessings engraved on Carlsen’s armor began to appear before Isaac’s eyes. As expected, the incredible blessings that made one’s eyes widen were listed, as expected from the armor of a person designated as a famous angel.

‘Highest health recovery, clue to truth, guiding thread, watchman’s hammer… … Oh my god, what is this… … ?’

There was a long list of blessings that could only be obtained by completing one heroic journey. At this level, it was clear that not only the angels, but even the Code of Light were treated with interest.

Isaac, who until then had thought of Carlsen as nothing more than a boss mob, realized once again that he had been designated as a famous angel.

He was a true hero of the Code of Light before his apostasy, and would have been an object of fear to heretics.

The moment Isaac felt joy at the new miracles, a violent reaction appeared from an unexpected place.

[Nameless Chaos is watching you.]

“Ugh… … ?!”

The flash of light emanating from the armor suddenly darkened.

Isaac flinched from the intense pain he felt throughout his body. Tentacles were crawling up from all over his body. Nameless chaos was reacting just as it did when Isaac was mortally wounded.

Tentacles crawled up between the armor, tearing at him and leaving scars.

Quad deud deuk!

However, as if the armor would not be left alone, it spewed out flames and burned its tentacles. Isaac had a hard time coming to his senses as he suddenly gave his body up to a battlefield of tentacles and flames.

‘What is this?’

But it wasn’t as painful as I thought. The tentacles are Isaac’s ability, and the flames also spew out to protect Isaac. But Isaac realized that the two could never coexist.

The reason why the tentacle that chewed up and swallowed Carlsen Milter spat out this armor.

‘No, damn it…’ … !’

Isaac had no choice but to grab the clasp in his hand to take off his armor. But at that moment, the tentacle locked the lock again. It prevented him from taking off his armor. At the same time, the tentacle greedily bit into the armor.

Wow!

The armor crumpled roughly. Then, the fire and light emanating from the armor weakened at the same time.

It was a fight that was unfavorable to the armor from the beginning.

Armor exists to block threats from the outside, not from the inside… … It didn’t exist to stop tentacles.

The tentacles were chewing, crushing, and biting as if they were not going to miss the moment when the armor was weakened. Then, the miracles engraved on the armor began to be erased one by one.

“Hey, wait!”

When Isaac saw his precious armor being damaged, he screamed and tried to stop him. However, the tentacle crushed the armor that it had not been able to eat before, as if it wanted to digest it this time.

In the end, without Isaac having time to stop him, the armor was shattered in an instant.

‘I couldn’t eat it before, so why this time?’

The answer was simple. In the meantime, Isaac became strong enough, and his tentacles also grew.

Now I can fully digest it.

Thanks to this, the blessings that the Priests of the Code of Light would consider as family glory disappeared in an instant.

“Ah, ah… … .”

Along with Isaac’s death, Carlsen Milter’s armor soon disappeared into history.

***

“Isaac?”

Catelyn knocked on the door when Isaac did not come out after a long time.

“Have you gotten dressed yet? If you don’t feel comfortable wearing formal clothes, we can send a servant to help you… … .”

Still, when there was no answer, Catelyn opened the door. In the middle of the warehouse, Isaac was sitting with an exhausted expression on his face. He looked somewhat devastated.

Catelyn was puzzled to see that Isaac’s outfit hadn’t changed much since he entered the warehouse.

“Aren’t you wearing any armor?”

“… … I’m wearing it. “I hid it because it was a miracle of storage.”

Isaac raised his steel-gloved hand. It was the only piece of Carlsen Milter armor he had left. Catelyn was surprised, saying she didn’t know such a miracle would happen, but she didn’t understand why he was so depressed.

“Don’t you like the gift?”

“No, um… … no. very good. “To the point where it’s a bit excessive.”

Isaac said with a smile.

“I’m tired, so I’ll leave for today. “I’ll be staying in Soeur for a few days, so if you have anything to talk about, please send someone to my lodgings.”

“Yes, I understand.”

After receiving a farewell welcome from a puzzled Catelyn, Isaac returned to his lodgings.

After returning to his dorm, Isaac confirmed that no one was around and let out a long sigh.

He then sent his will to reveal the armor to the tentacles inside his body.

Charrrrrrrrrrrrr! With a sound like snake scales trembling, the armor spread around Isaac’s gloves. The armor instantly transformed into full-body armor that covered Isaac from his legs to his head.

Even with the help of servants, full body armor takes at least 30 minutes to put on and take off, but it took less than 10 seconds to fully arm it. Even though the paladin’s armor was basically imbued with a miracle that helped with attachment and detachment, it was an amazing performance.

However, its appearance was quite different from before. First of all, the overall carving traces formed a delicate pattern, so it did not appear that the sentences and scripture passages had been forcibly erased. In some ways, it was like looking at an elaborate work of art. But the patterns were actually divided into pieces as small as a fingernail, like snake scales.

The joints were connected with tentacles instead of chains or fabric, and there was no sign of being hammered or glued at all. Because the tentacles were ‘made’ like seashells, there were no traces of processing left.

Isaac tried to move his body. Because it was full-body armor, it was incredibly light and flexible.

Each part is made of steel, so it is incredibly soft and bends naturally. It felt like I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

‘Actually, it’s just tentacles and a shell, so in a way it might not be wearing clothes… … .’

Isaac looked at the armor he was wearing.

[Contaminated Carlsen Milter’s Paladin Armor (S)]

Sorry, Carlsen. Your armor has been torn to pieces and corked by tentacles.

The tentacle chewed through Carlsen’s armor, swallowed it, and recreated it as Isaac’s new shell.

In the meantime, it was natural to erase all the miracles that interfered with digestion. Fortunately, the basic miracles that remained before the sealing remained. However, all balance-breaking miracles have been deleted.

‘This… … okay. If I wanted that far, it would have been too much of a cheat.’

In fact, if you look at the function of the armor itself, it is much better now than before. Since you cannot wear armor all year round, it reduces the inconvenience of having to wear it every time you fight, not to mention its softness and lightness.

Moreover, there were no traces left that could identify it as Carlsen’s armor.

‘And since the blessings of the Code of Light have been erased, I may be able to engrave blessings by combining them according to my preference. If you think about it that way, it’s not that bad.’

To be honest, the existing blessings were simply flashy, strong, and rare, and compatibility and combination were not taken into consideration at all. In the first place, it would be difficult for Isaac to use the Code of Light miracles, so it would be more appropriate to engrave a new blessing.

Thinking positively made Isaac feel better.

Of course, despite this, it was difficult to erase my feelings of regret.

‘Isaac.’

At that time, a will was conveyed to Isaac.

It was Heshabel.

After Heshabel became an apostle, she was able to express her will by sending her will to Isaac like the offspring of Chaos. Isaac could hear the full loyalty in her voice.

‘I’m ready.’

It meant that the mission entrusted to her had been completed.

Isaac nodded and headed towards where she would be waiting.

It was a slum in Soeur.

***

It was drizzling in the slums of Soeur.

Although the raindrops were not heavy, they were enough to make the chilly temperature even colder.

However, in the middle of the dirty vacant lot, a group of people were gathered, puffing their breath.

They fiddled with the weapons they carried inside their clothes with anxious eyes. However, it was only an act to calm my mind, and I did not dare to bring it up. It was because of a woman standing in a corner of the square with her hood pulled down deeply.

Even from inside the dark hood, the woman was staring at them eerily, with her red eyes shining clearly.

In those eyes, the Barbarians couldn’t help but recall the ghost story about a man-eating monster that had been floating around Soeur for a while.

“Everyone pay attention!”

Then a familiar voice woke them up.

Isaac and Jacquelet were entering the clearing.

Isaac looked at the group as they entered the clearing. The people gathered here were none other than a group of Barbari who had been pushed out because their livelihood was at a loss due to the rapid rise in Lorecus. Logistics was not working properly due to the sharp rise in the price of Lorecus, so the Barbarians who had been slash and burn came to the city in search of work.

The Barbaris looked very nervous as Isaac, dressed as a paladin, stood in front of them. Previously, he was dressed like a mercenary, so he attacked without hesitation, but now Isaac had the appearance of a perfect paladin, and the paladin was an object of fear to the Barbarie.

‘Looking at it this way, it’s really diverse.’

Barbary does not refer to a specific people or group. It refers to those who have no faith, whether intentionally or not. And there is one peculiar thing about these Barbaris.

Because there is no faith, the power of faith does not work well.

In other words, it has high magic resistance.

This was also the reason why they were not easily attracted to other faiths or could exist as an independent force. Yukhar cleverly tried to take advantage of these very characteristics of the Barbaris.

‘Even if Goluwaru was resurrected disguised as a golden idol, there would have been a lack of immediate supply of faith… … That’s why I tried to use them.’

Yukhar hired Barbaris with money who were not interested in any religious people. He first placed them under his command, and then tried to subjugate them to his faith by providing them with Lorecus liquor. Thanks to this, the Barbarie’s magic resistance was significantly weakened.

And now Isaac was going to take advantage of them.

Isaac slowly opened his mouth.

“everyone.”

The Barbarians couldn’t come to their senses from the shocking first words.

A paladin uses an honorific title for them? Even though the Barbarians were fellow citizens, there were many cases where they were treated as criminals or children because they did not have religious beliefs.

“Do you ever think about having faith again?”

Isaac took full advantage of his charm and began missionary work.

***

The missionary work did not take very long.

It was just a short talk of about 10 minutes followed by a question and answer session of about 30 minutes. Isaac spoke by cleverly mixing the doctrines of the Code of Light with the philosophy of his own thoughts. In any case, the doctrine of the Code of Light is the belief that is most similar to the thoughts of Isaac, a 21st century modern man, so even if he mixed in some of Isaac’s own thoughts, no one would notice.

The Barbarians, who thought they would be conscripted by Isaac or, in the worst case, arrested or disposed of, returned despite being embarrassed by this unfamiliar method of missionary work.

“I think it left quite an impression. Sir Isaac.”

Heshabel came to his side and said: But Isaac just tilted his head.

“I don’t know. In fact, I didn’t even think I could be persuaded with just a few words. “I even killed a few of them.”

“It seems like there are quite a few people who have been persuaded by that. Among them, one named Jacquelet seemed quite impressed.”

Jacquelet asked Isaac the most questions and responded most enthusiastically during the missionary mission. He even helped Isaac during the Lore Curse deal, so he seemed to have already been partially mentally defeated.

Isaac nodded, thinking of Jacquelet.

“That’s right… … Jacquelet has already decided to become a saint, so I think he will do well for a long time.”

Isaac had an apostle, Hezabel, who would carry out orders directly under him, and created a position called saints under the apostle.

It was a common position similar to that of a priest or priest. Isaac could not grant miracles directly, but in this world’s belief system, it becomes stronger depending on the individual’s faith, and it also becomes stronger as many believers gather under it through missionary work.

Jacquelet was the leader of a fairly large group of Barbarians, so it was clear that he would soon become stronger.

And the class created in this way became stronger as it went up. The faith that was gradually accumulated at the bottom became stronger as one went up.

‘and… … The faith accumulated in this way becomes my strength.’

Naturally, Isaac was the top predator in this multi-level religious system.