Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 211



Only Krnovel

Episode 211. The Overlord (3)

Tsk tsk. Isaac literally felt the world cracking open.

Literally, everything in his sight began to shatter and crack. Time, space, and the living and the inanimate were all shattered and scattered. The only things that remained unbroken were individual entities.

Isaac was thrown out into the world.

In the world that was shattered and falling apart in an instant, Isaac saw that each piece contained all the timelines that Elril had intervened in.

Only then did Isaac understand why Elril’s Heaven was called the Crystal Battlefield.

Even in a single fight, there are hundreds of possible processes and thousands of possible outcomes.

The fight itself is a shining crystal.

The knights of Elril shone like beautiful polyhedrons, sometimes victorious and sometimes defeated.

Victory and defeat were both beautiful. Eliel treasured them all.

The crystal polyhedrons flowed like the tears of wailing orphans and widows.

But the moment all those pieces fell, Isaac was left alone in a pitch-black darkness without light, land, or sky. He had expected a dizzying fall, but that didn’t happen. There was no gravity to pull him down here.

‘Fortunately, I can breathe.’

Isaac took out the key of Luaddin and lit a fire. The surroundings became brighter as the light source came into being, but neither Nimlot, Ethelred, nor Hesabel were visible.

If we were to guess what could happen in Urbansus, it would be impossible to find them. They would most likely have gone to another space-time. Isaac decided to wait a while to figure out how to get out of here.

But soon Isaac changed his mind.

‘I’m going to go crazy like this.’

In a space where no sensation is felt, there is no difference between 10 minutes and 100 years. Isaac thought he had waited for a very short time, but he could not tell if an hour had actually passed or a day had passed. Other people were even more likely to be mentally shaken.

At that moment, Isaac felt a presence.

It was literally a presence. I felt Elil’s presence everywhere, no, in all space and time. It wasn’t just Elil being nearby. If you feel like you’re being crushed by the presence of an angel when you meet them, God was different. Isaac felt like he was in Elil’s stomach.

Suddenly, countless crystal pieces began to appear out of nowhere. The randomly placed crystals formed a mosaic, instantly creating a space-time.

***

Isaac was on a hill where a windswept zelkova tree stood. And in front of him was Elil’s back. Elil was standing beside the tree, looking down at the lake rippling with the wind.

Isaac looked around at the scenery.

Sunny autumn, small hills, large maple trees.

There was no camellia, but it was the same scenery he had seen before entering Urbanus. Only then did Isaac realize what moment it was.

It was the very moment when Elijah ascended.

The day a dancer cut open his chest and stole his heart.

Elril lifted her shoulder from the oak tree she was leaning against and turned to Isaac.

It was an inorganic eye.

It looked more like a statue modeled after Elil than Elil himself.

Of course, everything necessary for life, such as breathing, small tremors, and subtle imbalances, existed. But the Elril before my eyes seemed to be something that was meticulously following even those.

Isaac took the division ritual out of his bosom and knelt on one knee and prostrated himself.

“I offer the holy relic to the Overlord. Please accept the holy sword Gargaldia that has finally returned.”

But Eliel didn’t even look at him. He just silently left Isaac alone.

This was also an unexpected situation for Isaac. Originally, Elril would immediately accept the division ceremony when it came back and praise the reclaimer.

But the person who took his red ceremonial attire was none other than a woman.

Larabia, the woman who was by Elil’s side and Elil’s daughter.

She approached him, holding a censer on her wrist and a dagger in one hand, hiding it behind her back. Elil saw her clearly, but he stared into space as if he had not seen her.

Everything happened as if it were a play.

Elil spread her arms wide in welcome. Larabia approached Elil, kissed him, and hugged him. The rite of division suddenly dug into Elil’s heart.

What happens when God bleeds?

The world held its breath. The scent of blood spread throughout. Suddenly, the whole world turned red as if the sunset had come. Everything in the world seemed to be running towards it, making a lot of noise. The seas overflowed and the rivers flowed backwards. The ground sank, blocking the eyes. In an instant, a huge lake was created in the whole area.

At that moment, Larabia shook the incense burner to light smoke, and put her finger to her lips. For a moment, silence came. The world became quiet as if nothing had happened, and the sky regained its original color. Under the bright autumn sun, Larabia continued her quiet slaughter work on a hill where there was no one but the perpetrator and the victim.

As Elil’s body collapsed, Larabia held him in her arms and laid him against the zelkova tree. Her body was covered in Elil’s blood. However, Larabia did not seem satisfied with that amount of blood, and opened her wound even wider to obtain what she was looking for.

It is the heart of God.

Even after being cut off, the beating heart of Elril was still gushing hot blood. It was the heart of the inexhaustible Holy Grail, eternal vitality, and the one who had reached the highest level in a mortal body. Laravia’s entire body was soaked in the blood gushing from the heart.

At this point, Elril’s body had already died and ascended to heaven. Larabia also ascended to the ranks of the gods in exchange for this ritual. However, Larabia did not shed a single tear or mourn in sorrow. Nor did she appear to feel joy or pleasure.

She kissed Ellie’s cheek once more calmly and whispered something.

But Isaac couldn’t hear a word. In the first place, Larabia didn’t make a sound. She just made a mouth shape, as if she was going to hear a corpse. And then she cut off the tip of her finger as a division ceremony.

As blood began to form on her fingers, she smeared Elil’s lips with it.

Within moments, Laravia fled with the dagger that had cut through Elril’s chest, his heart, and the incense burner that had been used as the weapon of the crime. The only witnesses were the trees, the wind, and the ghosts.

Camellia flowers bloomed as drops of blood fell at her every step.

***

Bam. In an instant, space-time collapsed again, and Isaac was thrown back into the dark space he had been in. Isaac even felt a headache from the sudden change.

Isaac just struggled to make sense of the scene.

‘Was Elil’s ascension… done with Elil’s consent?’

Of course, I had some doubts. How could a dancer cut out the heart of the strongest being on earth, a being that could defeat dragons, angels, and gods while still alive?

It would have been impossible without Ellie’s consent.

But Isaac wondered whether Elril had ‘really’ agreed to this ascension.

Conspiracy, manipulation, and assassination are the realm of the dancer.

Isaac had a suspicion that it was Larabia’s plot that forced Elril to think about ascending. The only person who can take out the heart of the strongest being is the strongest being. Or someone who is willing to give him the heart.

Larabia may have tricked Elril into giving her permission to take out his heart.

‘… … This is too much. It doesn’t matter what the truth is.’

It was hundreds of years ago anyway. It was none of his business whether Larabia gaslighted Elil to get her heart ripped out or put a coin in a vending machine and turned it.

If we listen to the dancer’s perspective, we might be able to understand something more, but the dancer in the flashback we just saw didn’t say a word or express a single emotion. The dancer was already an ascended being, one of the nine faiths, so it was highly likely that she was not a real soul, but just an illusion created by Elil’s Urbanus.

The important thing was that there was now no division ceremony in Isaac’s hands.

Isaac thought that Elil’s flashback was some kind of split-off ritual retrieval ritual.

Showing the anecdotes and stories surrounding the sacred object.

This has never happened before, but it could happen because it is an EX-grade sacred relic dedicated directly to a god.

As expected, Ellie’s presence soon became apparent again.

The first thing I saw was red. Then came the smell of ash from something burning.

It was a fortress made of red stone.

Isaac realized that this place looked familiar. It was Luzberg. The stronghold of the Brandt Dukes and once the capital of Ellil. However, the structure was similar, but the interior was filled with exotic furniture, curtains, and carpets. In addition, it was crumbling and rotting in places, soaked in rain.

Isaac, who remembered the splendid appearance of Roosevelt, found this sight unfamiliar. It looked like a fallen fortress, or rather, a ruin that had been abandoned long ago. Rain was falling under the smoky clouds, pouring in through the hole in the ceiling.

“Come closer.”

Isaac suddenly turned his head at the sound of a voice.

Elil was crouching on the highest seat in the empty hall, a heap of stones. He too, like the ruins, looked like a remnant of a past glory forgotten.

“I heard about your past through other people.”

It was still a sculptural expression on his still inorganic eyes. Isaac heard him say that he had already had some kind of conversation with Ethelred and Hesabel, or that he had searched through their memories.

Elril said, staring at Isaac with empty eyes.

“Although you are a pagan, I know that you are a worthy knight and a worthy warrior. If you wish to receive anything in return, tell me what you wish.”

***

Isaac stared blankly at Elril, who was telling him what he wanted.

I wanted to tell her to go eat and get some sleep, but I couldn’t dare say that. It’s not like Ellie was really hungry or tired.

He was hungry and tired for a reason.

Isaac knelt down on one knee before Eliel and prostrated himself before her, saying:

“I am satisfied that the holy relics have returned to their rightful owner.”

Isaac said something he didn’t mean. In fact, he wanted to tell her to vomit out all her treasures and relics, but that was nothing compared to what Isaac really wanted.

There are no angels, no believers, no ears to hear or eyes to see. This was the story that had to be told now.

“I only hope that, under the banner of the Order of Light, the warriors of Elril would lend me their swords, and I would consider it an infinite honor.”

Before Elril lost interest in the land, he agreed to participate in the war with the Dawn Army under the name of Baekje Kingdom.

He crossed swords with the Code of Light, but grudges were of no importance. He was only after struggle and glory, and did not seek to antagonize the order established by the Code of Light.

And Isaac was talking about joining the Dawn Army again.

Ethelred’s consent alone is not enough. If there are those in the Kingdom of Elril who do not wish to participate in the Dawn Army, there is no more powerful means than the oracle. This will also be a great help to Ethelred, who seeks to bring about the unification of the kingdom.

“It’s the dawn army.”

Ellie opened her mouth with a bored expression.

“Why should we join the Dawn Army?”

Isaac realized that the moment had come, the moment he had been waiting for.

But even when the moment came, Isaac hesitated to answer.

The story he is about to tell will cause countless casualties. It will bring about sacrifices and sorrows that are difficult for Isaac, who considers this world to be nothing more than a game, to bear.

But Isaac had no choice but to answer.

All he could do was offer a brief apology before answering.

“Because this is the last chance for the knights to return to the Kingdom of Elril.”

Elril responded expressionlessly to Isaac’s answer.

“The knight returns, as if there were no knights in my kingdom.”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty.”

Isaac leaned back on the armrest and stared intently at Ellie.

“I haven’t seen a single knight here. This place is nothing but a miserable den of slums where people fight with rags already fallen into the mud.”

Only then did a smile appear on Ellie’s lips for the first time.