Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 120



Only Krnovel

Episode 120 Drowned King (7)

Boom, boom, boom.

A series of terrible sounds erupted from inside the tentacle. The Drowned King groaned in pain he had never felt before and tried to spread his tentacles again, but they did not unfold. It felt as if something powerful was grasping the tentacles inside my legs.

[What? What on earth is this… … .]

The sound coming from inside was not the sound of Isaac’s armor being crushed, but the sound of his muscles and flesh being torn into pieces.

It was the sound of him being chewed alive.

Only then did the Drowned King realize the identity of the instinct that made him move like an animal.

He knew that he could never escape Isaac, or this unknown thing, by his own will, so he cut off his leg without any regret. Of all his limbs, it was his leg that contained the most strength, but there was no room for concern.

The pain hit me as soon as my leg was cut off, but it was nothing compared to the pain of being chewed and swallowed alive.

It was an unusual pain.

The Drowned King has experienced many battles and hardships. I have suffered more serious injuries than this several times. But this pain was something he had never felt before.

The leg he cut off wriggled and was increasingly squeezed inward. The Drowned King could not even breathe as it looked as if his huge legs were being sucked into a small hole. I couldn’t even think of an option to attack while it was still.

When the leg finally disappeared without a shred of flesh left behind, what was revealed inside was something the Drowned King had never expected.

‘… … clam? No, sea anemone?’

When I first saw it, I thought of a sea anemone with a shell.

Tentacles were sprouting from every joint under Isaac’s armor. Since it was Isaac’s armor that he had been fighting with, he could only infer that it was ‘Isaac’, but what it was could not be known even with the knowledge gained from the Drowned King’s long life.

The tentacles were awkwardly pretending to be human, attaching the armor together with clam-like suction cups. And in his hand he still held the unlit key of Ru al-Din.

Its helmet creaked as it turned towards the Drowned King.

It stumbled awkwardly a few times, but soon began to move as if it had adapted to its shape. However, its movements were as bizarre as a sea anemone learning to walk with limbs for the first time.

It was a funny move, but the Drowned King couldn’t bear to fight it and began to retreat.

The Drowned King suddenly missed Isaac.

Soon, the monster wearing Isaac’s shell began running across the sea. However, the Drowned King did not know whether it could be said that it was running.

Rather, it seemed like it should be said to change the order of the body.

The head takes the lead and steps out what appears to be an arm or leg, followed by the torso, and then a second or third arm appears and steps on the surface of the water. Even the jointless Drowned King had never seen such bizarre movements.

However, because the direction of the malice was clear, the Drowned King could not proceed rashly. Instead, he used the water current to push Isaac away while simultaneously pushing his own body back. Fortunately, the tentacle monster maintained its human form as if it were trapped inside Isaac’s armor.

The guy seemed to have decided that he couldn’t catch the Drowned King like this, so he swung the Ruaddin Key. There was no form or heat in the movement.

It seemed like it was literally random.

However, the Drowned King felt an eerie life inside him.

Isaac’s arms instantly stretched nearly tens of meters. The Drowned King was astonished by the absurd change, but he had no time to prepare.

Burbubbubbuk!

A total of eight places. Red scars were instantly engraved all over his body.

‘Strong. No, not only that… … .’

The Drowned King couldn’t even follow the attack with his eyes. Even each wound was fatal and could not be ignored. If he weren’t an angel with infinite regenerative powers and a gigantic body, he would already be torn to pieces along the cross-section by now.

The wound was not even a sharp cut, but rather a rough gouge, as if it had been bitten by a pack of animals, making it difficult for it to even regenerate. Unidentifiable poisons and germs swarmed in each section, preventing regeneration.

[What are you…? … What is it, Isaac?]

The Drowned King muttered in confusion. When Isaac stepped forward, he certainly looked noble. Even when he sent everyone away and faced him alone, he was not afraid and showed his confident inner self. The Drowned King even felt himself becoming smaller.

But what does that look like now?

Was such a monster hiding beneath that noble appearance?

[Is that the god who protects your order, Isaac?]

The Drowned King let out a self-mocking mutter.

***

Meanwhile, Isaac was watching this situation with a strange feeling.

‘hmm… … I feel like I’m sleepwalking.’

I thought I had made a mistake when I was caught in the tentacles of the Drowned King. In fact, although he caught the Drowned King several times in the game, he was defeated more times. He was confident, but he wasn’t prepared enough, so it wasn’t surprising if he lost.

Of course, despite this, Isaac did not think that this was the end for him.

This was because he had a tentacle monster that popped out in times of crisis.

Of course, it is unknown how omnipotent this tentacle monster is.

It’s strong enough against humans, but it might not even be able to control an angel like the Drowned King. However, seeing the Drowned King retreat even at the cost of his own arm, it seemed like his power was working.

‘Did Ulsten do a good job? ‘I’m not sure yet.’

Meanwhile, the armor was acting as a seal that prevented the armor from splintering or the tentacles running wild. Armor made by a furnace craftsman is already excellent armor in normal times, but in an ’emergency’ situation like this, the tentacles were able to be controlled.

It was to avoid the unfortunate event that Isaac made a mistake and ate everyone around him.

‘There may be some room for improvement, but… … I guess I’ll be satisfied with this.’

Ulsten should already be applauded for maintaining his human form even when his body transforms into a tentacled monster. He was a world-class brazier blacksmith who also made armor for lycanthropes.

‘But I didn’t know you could even use advanced swordsmanship.’

The technique with which the tentacle monster attacked the Drowned King with the Ruaddin Key was clearly Isaac’s own advanced swordsmanship, the ‘eight-pronged’ sword technique.

It was surprising that swordsmanship was used in the theme of a tentacle monster, but if you think about it, Isaac created swordsmanship with the movement of tentacles in mind from the beginning.

What he meant was that Isaac’s swordsmanship may have been optimized when he turned into a tentacle monster in the first place.

‘Anyway, when will this end?’

Originally, this ‘runaway state’ ended only when all threatening objects around were completely devoured. In that case, it would only end when the Drowned King was completely devoured, but it was difficult to estimate when that would happen. I didn’t want to end it in a state where it was completely left to the tentacles.

And it was the same for the Drowned King.

***

“Bishop! “Try something!”

The sight happening across the sea also caught the eyes of the Salt Council believers. All they could see was that Isaac had been captured by the Drowned King’s tentacles, and that the key to Ruad-Din had lost its luster. It was so clear what it meant that they lost their composure. Even to the extent of clinging to Juan, who couldn’t do anything.

But it was the same for Juan.

The current situation was so frustrating and hopeless that he, too, shed tears.

‘Are you saying this ordeal wasn’t God’s arrangement for the Holy Grail Knight to overcome?’

I definitely thought so at first. Isaac will once again cut down the angel of heresy and exalt its noble purpose. But now he was captured and losing his powers. Still, he couldn’t do anything himself.

“Bishop, please do something!” Has the Code of Light abandoned the Holy Grail Knight?”

‘You guys are angels, so take care of it yourself!’

The words came up to my throat. But it couldn’t be done.

It is the Code of Light that buried the God of the Salt Council under the salt desert.

For Juan, a priest of the Code of Light, to say such a thing was not only cruel but also irresponsible.

‘If I wasn’t here to put Isaac through this ordeal, then why did I come here?’

Juan suddenly had this question.

So what role do you play in this ordeal? A role that receives meaningless criticism? To feel hopeless and unable to do anything? It is unlikely that he intended to scold himself by sacrificing an outstanding hero, the Holy Grail Knight, right in front of his eyes.

At that moment, a sharp realization came to me.

‘This ordeal was prepared for me.’

Juan hurriedly got up from his seat. The ship was still in the midst of a storm, but if there had been light, I found a spot where I could hear it best and settled down, holding the rosary in my hand that I couldn’t even remember when I took it out.

The Drowned King was swinging his huge tentacles and scratching the sea to see what was happening on the other side of the sea. I couldn’t even guess what kind of terrible thing Isaac was going through under those tentacles. The truly mythical landscape filled Juan with fear, so he closed his eyes tightly and began to pray.

“Light, please remove the darkness that has covered my eyes.”

A long time ago, I remembered the sublimity of light and the beauty of order that I had forgotten.

The days when I was still a fledgling priest, when I prayed for miracles for salvation, not miracles for the sake of miracles. The beauty of the candlelight that was lit when it was still pure.

“The world without your truth is full of darkness and fear. Please light the way for the child who escaped from your cage to return. Please help me not to let your delicate candle be extinguished by the sea breeze… … .”

At one point while a small prayer was being recited, the light of dawn twinkled across the sea.

***

Suddenly, Isaac felt faith flowing into him.

Their faith is several times more intense and sincere than that of other believers. A prayer filled with earnest wishes was being given to me. And that faith began to manifest itself as a miracle in a clear physical form.

Isaac knew the identity of this miracle.

‘Wings of brilliance?’

Wings made of light began to sprout one by one on Isaac’s back. A miracle that ordinary priests can never activate. A powerful miraculous power was flowing into his body, giving even ordinary humans strength and authority comparable to weak angels.

One, two, three… … A total of four wings sprouted from Isaac’s back.

‘no way?’

The only people who can perform such miracles are at the level of a bishop or higher.

Isaac noticed that piety was already flowing in from a ship atop the distant Salt House.

A smile appeared on his lips.

“Whatever, you can do it. Inspiration.”

As the overwhelming miraculous power took over the body, the tentacles quickly withered away. Isaac was able to regain his body and reason as soon as his body recovered. And as if reacting to that, the grip of the abyss that was wriggling above the clouds also disappeared.

As Isaac was about to step into the sea, he realized that his body was already floating slightly above the water. Without having to make any effort to move, the wings of brilliance were already supporting him naturally. The heat of the Ruad Din key burning hot again evaporated the raindrops before they even fell.

And the Drowned King was also watching.

As soon as Isaac thought about moving forward, the Wings of Radiance pushed his body away.

The tip of the key of Ruad-Din flew like an arrow towards the Drowned King.

The tip of the sword pierced the Drowned King between the eyes with ease.

As if he had been waiting.

‘what?’

Isaac, who thought that this time it would be a barely even fight, was shocked. I thought it might have been a trick to draw me in again, but the wound inflicted this time was definitely fatal. In particular, the Ruad-Din Key was also strengthened by the Wings of Radiance, and its heat and flame were more than doubled.

As Isaac looked at the key to Ruad-Din, he suddenly remembered the Drowned King’s strange obsession with the sword.

‘Did this knife mean something?’

In the heat that even his ultramarine blue eyes were turning white, the Drowned King accepted the moment he had been eagerly waiting for.

He muttered, lifting his tentacles as if he were worshiping Isaac.

[Use me as a door… … The moonwell ceremony is performed.]