Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 121



Only Krnovel

Episode 121 Urbansus (1)

‘I was told to use a knife… … Was it because of this?’

Ruad Din Key.

The Drowned King continued to obsess over Isaac, telling him to use his sword. Suddenly, Isaac realized that the sword he was holding had the name ‘Lu al-Din Key’.

The sword is the key that opens the inside and the outside.

The Drowned King was trying to send Isaac through the door.

Ugh.

The wound where the Ruad Din key was inserted began to widen. Soon, crimson blood began to pour out like a waterfall. Considering that the Ruad-Din Key is actually cooking the Drowned King’s body in real time, this blood probably does not belong to the Drowned King.

It was overflowing from somewhere beyond that.

‘no way.’

Isaac remembered that the Drowned King had not performed the Moonwell Ceremony even once in a thousand years. Even though it is virtually the only way to invoke the buried God.

Of course, entering the afterlife without God’s permission is close to trespassing. Therefore, the Drowned King needed a way to safely send passers-by.

It was to use one’s own body as a sacrifice and turn it into a door.

So, you can only do it once, and you have to hesitate for a thousand years.

‘But why now?’

[Isaac. I apologize for testing you.]

The wounds that the Ruad-Din Key left on the Drowned King tore his body wider and wider. But the Drowned King whispered in a feeble voice, like a fading bubble.

[But before I lay you down before my god… … Know that it took courage to believe that you were not just a plaything of chaos.]

‘courage? The courage to freeze to death… … .’

Isaac wanted to shoot back, but it was difficult to even open his mouth due to the unknown pressure pouring out of the wound.

[You said that this world has come to this point over tens of thousands of years plus a thousand years.]

Isaac remembered what he had said.

The Drowned King clearly remembered the words, which he thought he had just ignored.

No, it went beyond that and became the reason for sending Isaac through the door.

[Then I believe that you, like me, wish for the permanence of this world.]

The Drowned King mumbled in a voice that was unclear whether he was sobbing or pleading.

It was an absurd statement, not a request for salvation or protection from the Salt Council. Before he could ask what that meant, the blood pouring from the wound became a huge waterfall and hit Isaac.

The blood turned the color of purple wine into the sea. The fishmen around them sang a strange hymn as they watched the scene.

As the heat generated by the key to Ruad Din evaporated the sea water, salt crystals formed all over Isaac’s body.

The wound was wide open, splitting the drowned king’s body completely in half.

And beyond that was a landscape bigger than the wound.

***

Snap.

Isaac opened his eyes in a distant, white landscape.

The sea, which was colored wine-colored by fresh blood pouring like a waterfall, and the storm and rough winds that threatened to destroy the sky were no longer visible.

The blinding white horizon stretched out far into the distance.

A pyramid so large that it was difficult to estimate its size was visible beyond the horizon. The sun was shining as if hanging from the top of the pyramid, which seemed unrealistic at first glance because it was so huge.

The shape of the pyramid was strange. Somewhere a red river flowed, and somewhere broken pieces were floating. Fierce flames rose between the cracks.

‘here… … ‘Is this the salt council’s paradise?’

When Isaac saw that his arms and legs were all in place and that even his armor and sword were in place, he knew that the Moonwell ritual was a success. It is a ritual performed carefully by an angel who sacrifices his own body. There is no way to fail.

Isaac became one of the very few humans in history to reach the afterlife with a living body.

White salt grains filled the bottom of the shallow water. Isaac felt like he had entered a huge salt farm.

Even though the name of the religion is Salt Council, heaven doesn’t have to be a salt farm… … While Isaac was thinking, he felt a noise above his head.

Sreuk.

Isaac spotted a small ferry approaching slightly higher than his height. Above him, a slightly thin and nervous-looking man who seemed to be a boatman was looking down at Isaac.

There was a large wound on his forehead, and it looked quite ugly.

Without saying anything, he naturally steered the boat downward and brought it closer.

“Get in.”

“Do you know who I am?”

The boatman glared at Isaac with a sullen expression.

“Isaac Isacrea.”

To be honest, I would be lying if I said that the famous ‘Ship to the Other World’ didn’t come to mind. But Isaac had already arrived in that other world. There was even a very high probability that the boatman was an angel.

One way or another, I couldn’t be in a more dangerous situation than I am now.

“You’ll be safer on the boat than there right now, so get on. “There is no time to delay.”

At those words, Isaac climbed onto the flatfish boat.

The afterlife is full of things that are not very welcome, such as gods, angels, and even ghosts. Isaac, who was not a member of the Salt Council, did not want to encounter them unnecessarily.

Maybe from now on you will meet the angels of the Salt Council.

‘Now that I think about it, let alone being a Nephilim, I think it would be difficult if it was discovered that I was a nameless member of chaos.’

If you get caught, you will never be welcomed back. But he was already on the boat. Whatever happened next, Isaac had no choice but to leave it to luck and improvisation.

When the boatman pushed the ground with a long oar, the boat rose into the air as if there was no gravity. Isaac felt strange, but he was able to see this salt farm from higher up.

There was nothing around but a vast salt desert.

“Why is it dangerous when there is nothing around?”

“Don’t you even know that? Have you forgotten what your prophet did here?”

When Isaac looked at the boatman with an expression as if he was wondering what he was talking about, he frowned.

“If you stay there for just half a day, you will lose all your moisture and become a dried pillar of salt. “If you want to do that, get off now.”

Of course, Isaac had no desire to do that. But the boatman’s words brought back a familiar memory.

‘Are you talking about Ruad Din turning the sea into a salt desert?’

When I thought about it, it would have been more reasonable to call this place a salt desert rather than a salt farm. However, Ruad Din’s creation of the salt desert is a real thing.

Didn’t he come to the afterlife?

While Isaac was lost in complicated thoughts, the boat moved quickly. I couldn’t really feel it because there was no background, but it was incredibly fast.

“They are all here. “Get ready to get off.”

Isaac suddenly raised his head and looked down. In the middle between the salt desert and the real desert, there was a very incongruous city. It was a huge port.

It was a huge port that could accommodate hundreds of ships, but in front of it was nothing but a pure white salt desert. I wondered why they had built a port in the desert, but Isaac realized what was going on when he saw things sticking out between the sculptures that looked like docks.

Masts and parts of ship hulls were sticking out like tombstones around the port. Isaac could tell what had happened from the fact that it seemed to have been buried in salt instead of sinking.

There would have been no way for the sailors to escape. As the sea instantly turned to salt, the dock area turned into a burial ground for ships.

Tuk. The boatman’s ferry reached the bottom of the dock.

Isaac looked around with an awkward expression. The surroundings were desolate. As the port city dried up, the residents would have had no way to make a living. Many residents left, and the few remaining residents were just wandering around with a haggard complexion.

It’s so realistic.

Isaac couldn’t erase the thoughts from earlier.

“Isn’t this the afterlife?”

Isaac eventually asked the boatman who was ahead of him.

“right.”

“So this is the Hell of the Salt House?”

The boatman stared at Isaac.

“You don’t know anything about Urbansus. “Don’t you know what kind of people come to the afterlife?”

“Isn’t this where dead people come?”

“Yes. Dead people. Time has passed. Urbansus is all the accumulated past. Time passed. Dead time. A stratified past. “The dead are just inserted into that momentary gap.”

Isaac did not understand exactly what the boatman said. But suddenly I remembered what Aidan had explained about the afterlife. The afterlife is a space that encompasses all culture, morality, etiquette, and norms.

It’s not an exact expression, but I remember it as something similar.

However, when I looked back at the scenery in front of me and what the boatman said, the exact meaning finally dawned on me.

The scene before my eyes is a moment that really happened.

This happened shortly after Ruad Din buried the Salt Council.

Isaac arrived at the memory of that time.

***

The place the boatman guided us to was a boat almost buried in the salt desert. When I went under the tilted deck, it was half full of salt. It appears that the salt hardened during the sinking.

Thanks to this, Isaac had to walk with his back half bent.

The place the boatman guided us to was the captain’s cabin.

When I opened the door, I saw an old woman half-buried.

“ah… … “A guest has arrived.”

The old woman’s eyes lit up as soon as Isaac entered.

Despite her haggard complexion, Isaac knew as soon as he saw her eyes flashing strange colors that she was not human. She wondered if there should be ordinary humans in the afterlife, but she felt an especially ridiculous pressure on her.

It was a power that overwhelmed the Drowned King.

“Forgive me for sitting and greeting you, Isaac Isacrea. “That’s why I look like this now.”

Isaac didn’t think it was strange that the other person knew his name. Doesn’t the boatman know his own name? It was clear to him that the Moon Well ritual had imparted the knowledge they needed.

“I didn’t even know you were sitting.”

Isaac barely managed to keep his knees from giving out and spoke as he leaned against the wall.

“… … Are you by any chance the god of the Salt Council?”

The old woman laughed out loud. Hearing the lively laughter, Isaac thought he had made a hasty judgment.

“No way. Thank you for thinking so highly of me. But don’t speak too loudly. “The one who called has become so weak that he has become suspicious.”

‘The one who calls’ is the name of the Salt Council’s god who is not easily called. Especially after it was buried under the salt desert, it was a name that even believers rarely mentioned because they thought it was a mockery.

The old woman said, pointing to the root-like body below her waist.

“I am Amundalas. The captain decided not to take Ruad-Din on the ship. “He is the one who brought the Salt Council to its present state, and the captain who remained on the sinking ship.”

***

The boatman went out, leaving Isaac alone with the woman who identified herself as Captain Amundalas.

Although she simply said she was a captain, Isaac was convinced that she was a famous angel.

‘As expected, betraying Ruad Din and not taking him on board was not simply the arbitrariness of greedy captains… … Was it the result of God’s intervention?’

If so, the story changes a lot.

Because there is no way God would have done something like that just to extract a few gold coins.

Ultimately, the tale changes from a story about human greed to a confrontation between a powerful god of the time and a newly emerging god. About the fall of one religion and the rise of another.

“As expected, it appears that the caller did not bring Ruad-Din on board the ship to keep the Code of Light in check?”

“exactly. After bringing Ruad-Din safely, the Code of Light grew so powerful. He rejected it because it did not seem satisfactory to the Caller. But as you know, the outcome was even worse, and we even lost the chance to turn things around.”

Isaac thought Amundalas’ words strange.

Not satisfied with the results? A chance to turn around?

‘Does this mean that you foresaw the future when you burned Ruad Din? The result of denying that choice is what the Salt Council is like now?’

Since the words seemed to imply foresight or regression, such questions crossed Isaac’s mind. Amundalas seemed to sense such a question and looked interested.

“Hmm, it’s just as I heard. You don’t seem to know anything about Urbansus, so have you lost your memories? Or did you think it was better to leave him alone?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. “I don’t remember losing anything, and I’ve never heard anything about it.”

Isaac said and then remembered what Aidan had said.

“An acquaintance of mine said that Urbansus is similar to the collective unconscious that controls people, but the current scene here is… … “It’s like a scene from some past timeline.”

Amundalas laughed out loud.

“That friend said it correctly. But to be more precise… … “Of course, this method would be good.”

She began to scratch the dried salt floor with her fingernails and draw a line. It was an image of a boat bobbing in the waves and a scorching sun. Even though it was a graffiti-like drawing, it felt vivid and lively, as if it would move at any moment.

While Isaac was staring at the picture, Amundalas leaned over and whispered.

“You are on the boat.”

At that moment, Isaac was standing on the boat.

‘what?’

The sun was shining so hard that it hurt my eyes.

While trying to block out the sun, Isaac realized that he was not wearing the armor he was originally wearing, but rather an old, Greek or Egyptian-looking outfit. And he saw hundreds of ships lined up next to him, staring in one direction.

Isaac’s gaze naturally turned towards the direction the ships were heading, towards the port.

I saw something standing in the harbor across the deep blue sea.

There was a pale-faced man whose whole body was burning with fire.

The moment he saw that man, Isaac immediately thought of one of the most famous people in the world.

‘Lighthouse keeper Ruad Din.’