Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 212



Only Krnovel

Episode 212. The Overlord (4)

Elril didn’t ask ‘Why should I join the war?’ because she didn’t want to join the Dawn Army. She wanted to see into Isaac’s mind and hear his thoughts.

Then Isaac gave the prepared answer.

“The chivalry of the Kingdom of Elril has long since fallen to the ground. A heretic knight from a foreign land has been defeating all the famous swordsmen in the land. The king of Elril learned the swordsmanship taught by the foreign heretic knight, and the guardian of the holy land was also defeated by him.”

It might have seemed suicidal to stand before Elijah and declare that his faith, his kingdom, and his legacy were all lost. But Isaac was confident in what he was doing.

Ellie doesn’t harm herself with things like this.

‘That’ doesn’t work ‘that way’.

“Then were they carrying out their assigned duties well? King Elril could not even suppress the witches’ rampage, and was dragged around by the rebels, the Holy Land Guardians were being eroded by the Undead Cult, and your angels dared to allow the undead to invade.”

Isaac apologized to Aethelred and Lyanna inwardly, but it was necessary to say those words.

There was no way to get Ellie interested in the ground again.

“Is this really the land of knights, Elril? Isn’t this just a gathering of warlords who are falsely claiming your name?”

“You are right.”

Ellie said with shining eyes.

“Those who call themselves knights fight among themselves like wolves on the islands furthest from the battlefield for a handful of honor. There are no more knights in the kingdom of Elril. There are only thugs with swords.”

Ellie muttered with a laugh.

“Then is the kingdom in perfect condition? They have lost all of their former glorious lands, yet they have no intention of reclaiming them. Yes. It cannot be helped, since they wanted to follow the order of the Code of Light. Then why does the kingdom continue? If they do not even wage war to defeat their enemies?”

“That is indeed so.”

“Even the angels are the same. They have imprisoned me in the hour of delusion, fearing the resumption of the war I will wage. No, I am the most pitiful of all. I am a fugitive who committed incest, a defeated general, a betrayed king, a god who turns his back on reality. A pitiful king who suits a pitiful country.”

Isaac swallowed at Elril’s cool words.

Calurien had said that he had locked him up to protect him from Ellil’s self-loathing, and Ellil was doing exactly that.

But I doubted whether there was any way for Elril not to do that.

The moment he ascended, Elil became the god of knights who sang of victory, glory, courage, and honor.

But is there even one corner of him now that is in keeping with his faith and doctrine?

His army is stranded on the safest island nation farthest from the Dawn Army, his knights are busy squabbling among themselves, King Elril has not shown any real charisma, and his most glorious swordmasters are losing battle after battle to the pagan paladins.

‘Heaven and hell are in the same space.’

If so, this place must be hell prepared for Ellie.

There is no rule that the place where God resides is necessarily heaven. At the bottom of this hell, Elil exists, licking his failures, regrets, and past glories.

There is only one way out of this hell.

war.

Elril looked at Isaac with sparkling eyes.

“Those who seek courage need moments where courage is needed, those who seek honor need battlefields where honor can be gained, and those who seek glory need places from which to return with glory.”

His eyes shook with a strange longing and desire.

“For a knight to exist as a knight, he needs a battlefield.”

***

Thump.

Elril walked down from the rubble of the rubble pile.

In Isaac’s eyes, Elril was just a war-crazy warlord. However, it was strange to demand different values ​​from a tyrant who had spent his entire life pursuing only conquest and power. Especially when his faith and followers were stained with defeat.

“I already knew a long time ago that you are of the same kind as me.”

Kindred spirits. Isaac was about to say that he had no incestuous desire for his daughter, but that was not what Elil was saying.

“You do not truly believe in your own faith, and even your beliefs are just tools for you. Love, loyalty, they are the same. You act only for your own benefit. Isn’t that so?”

Isaac couldn’t answer.

He was actually dragging the Kingdom of Elril into the battlefield for the goal of reclaiming the Holy Land. His relationships, his journey, his beliefs, his faith, were all just means to an end.

Isaac looked at Ellie intently and asked.

“So what is your goal?”

It was not a victory. Isaac could be sure of this.

No, of course it would be better if he could win. However, if Elril was a being who could give up everything to achieve his ‘goal’, he would not be able to say that he is the same as Isaac. And above all, if that were the case, Elril’s declaration of victory could not be ‘Ragnarok’.

Because war is a process, not a goal.

However, Ellil was declaring the great war against everything as a ‘declaration of victory’.

“I wish they were all dead.”

Ellie growled.

“I wish my followers would be warriors, shouting for honor and glory on the battlefield, and then fall to the mud of the battlefield. Even if they are all killed, I will be happy. They will finally enter the battlefield filled with glory.”

How would you feel if there was a god who hated your faith?

The Elril in front of my eyes was exactly that kind of being.

The fact that the Kingdom of Elril is the safest place away from the ‘true battlefield’, that the believers refuse to fight, and that they have stopped progressing and are only insisting on the old-fashioned, comfortable life.

Everything was disgusting to Eliel.

‘So when the Undead Cult performed a ritual to revive the undead, they accepted it and were resurrected?’

When Isaac played as the Undead Cult, it was impossible to resurrect Elril as an undead.

In the end, it is highly likely that the resurrection of Elril was accepted because it was requested by none other than Elril’s knight, Vilon Georg. He wanted to push the Kingdom of Elril into battle by any means necessary.

Ironically, Calurien, who had been imprisoning Elril, was the one guarding the Elril Kingdom.

Isaac realized once again that Elril was already dead.

Elril stood in front of Isaac’s nose and whispered.

“And I want you to lead that war.”

Isaac felt strange seeing Elril neither hostile nor wary of him.

Of course, it is possible that Elril is unaware of his lineage and beliefs, but there is no reason for him to show such strange affection so casually.

For Elril, the nameless chaos will also be an enemy that must be defeated.

“… …You know that I am a Nephilim, right?”

“What is that? I also gave birth to Nephilim. In order to escape from that sin, I had to break away from the Code of Light.”

“Is my faith not a problem?”

“As far as I know, Chaos is already dead, and its name is forgotten. Now that Chaos has come, it cannot escape the Forest of Oblivion. Even if it stretches its tentacles beyond and disrupts the order of light, isn’t that also a battlefield for glory?”

That is, it was the spirit, or madness, that even if nameless chaos were to erupt again, he would step forward and cut it off.

Isaac couldn’t tell if it was just Elil or the other gods as well, but even though he didn’t like it, Elil had a passionate crush on Isaac.

He believed that Isaac would lead the stage of the great war, the future he dreamed of.

“But if you want to win, it’s not enough to just try.”

Elril’s eyes flashed and she gently touched Isaac’s eyes with her hand.

“I will tell you the secrets of the world… … .”

***

Time suddenly began to turn back in the castle of Luzberg.

The broken walls were restored, the burnt ashes returned to the curtains and carpets, and the wet stones dried again. At some point, Isaac arrived in a hall strongly bathed in the sunlight.

In the center of the room, there was a huge table that could fit six adult men, and on top of it, a map of the entire continent was spread out so large that it was difficult to see at a glance. The map, which showed the deployment of the Elril Kingdom army and the other armies opposing it, was overwhelming in its scale alone.

It was a time when the Kingdom of Elril still occupied a significant portion of the continent. However, it showed a time hundreds of years ago when its territory was gradually being taken away.

It was at least 5,600 years ago.

“How is the situation going in Ultenheim?”

At that moment, someone walked briskly behind him and spoke. When he turned his head, he saw the same face, Elril, approaching him with a heavy expression. While Isaac was trying to find something to say, his mouth opened on its own.

“It’s the worst. General Baden is dead, and the Ultenheim garrison has surrendered completely.”

It was not Isaac’s voice. Only then did Isaac realize that he was a wizard wearing robes, a staff, and a cone-shaped hat. Isaac was Calurien now.

Ellie opened her mouth.

“Did the change happen again because of Urbansus?”

Isaac, no, Calurien, took on a gloomy expression at Elril’s words.

“I guess so. General Baden and his army were a force that could never be defeated, but seeing them get defeated so unilaterally… … .”

The change brought about by Urbansus. It was clear what it meant.

Amundalas said that the afterlife is the sum total of all past times, and that the past that is corrected there affects reality. The enemies were using this very skillfully, and Ellil was being unilaterally exploited by them.

The two checked the map again. There were quite a few white horses, symbolizing the Code of Light, surrounded by the green horses of the Kingdom of Elril, the scarlet of the World’s Brazier Order, the blue of the Salt Council, the light green of the Olkan Code, and all the other colors.

The faith that invaded the kingdom of Elril was the Code of Light. The war between Elril and the Code of Light was not at all strange. Before the Black Empire appeared, Elril was nothing more than a traitor.

Then, of course, questions arise.

‘Why doesn’t Elil use Urbansus?’

Calurien opened his mouth.

“It seems that the newly named angel in the Code of Light, ■■■■, is very active. Even in Urbansus, we can’t keep up with her movements. If things continue like this… … .”

Isaac hadn’t misheard. The moment the angel’s name from the Code of Light was called, he couldn’t hear anything and his tinnitus subsided.

Isaac knew that this was not just an unusual name, but a name that had been erased even from Urbansus. Most likely, the angel was some being that had now become a fallen angel.

Just as it is an honor to be named by God, it is an indescribable humiliation and despair to have one’s name erased. However, before being erased from the records, it seemed that the angel had accomplished considerable feats in pushing the Kingdom of Elril.

Elril stared at the map intently. But looking at the map did not change the placement of the horses.

It was clear that the Elril Kingdom’s army was in a great defensive position. The area that marked the territory of the Elril Kingdom was nearly half of the continent, but the area that the army actually controlled was less than half. Even with the loss of Ultenheim, Elril was in a situation where it had to retreat even from Luzberg.

“How about going to Aldeon first?”

“Aldeon? You mean that island?”

At that time, Aldeon was not the center of the Kingdom of Elril, but rather a remote island on the outskirts. However, because the scenery was beautiful, Elril often used it as a vacation spot.

“No matter how strong the power of the Code of Light is, it would be difficult for it to spread to the Salt Council’s territory and run wild. For now… … .”

“You’re telling me to run away. No, in that case I’ll ascend.”

Calurien was silent at the words that Elril suddenly spoke. It was because Calurien knew better than anyone what that meant. After all, it was Calurien who had told him about the Ascension Ceremony.

Elril looked at Calurien and said.

“Wizard, my undefeated armies are being annihilated all across the kingdom due to ridiculous mistakes and miscalculations. Even the battles that Nimlot and I personally fought and won are reported as defeats when we look back. This ridiculous fraud is possible because the Code of Light manipulates history. And the other gods are in agreement with it!”

Ellie growled and shouted.

“We need to ascend. That way we can stop the lighthouse keeper from messing around. We need to be able to use Urbansus too!”

“Your Majesty, if that happens, Your Majesty… … .”

“The flesh will die. But is the flesh of any importance to God?”

“Your Majesty, you do not know what it means to be incorporated into the Nine Faiths!”

Calurien groaned.

“Living beings have joys and sorrows, they can make mistakes and have worries. But an ascended god cannot do that. Becoming one of the nine faiths means becoming an absolute order and concept.”

“It’s something we already talked about last time. Right. What’s the problem with me becoming that absolute order?”

“Your Majesty’s order, thoughts, beliefs, morals, ethics… …all of them will remain as eternal truths. Your Majesty will become a being without worries or mistakes. If anything goes against that order, you will try to suppress the world in order to constantly correct it.”

Calurien’s words were overly vague and metaphysical.

It was impossible for Elril, who wanted to become an ascended god right away and win the Light Code, to understand. However, Calurien was also having a hard time, not knowing how to explain it any further.

If we have to make a metaphor, Elil is a revolutionary who is currently creating a new order. A revolutionary is powerful and is worshipped by those around him. However, ascending to heaven is like completing an ideology through the death of a revolutionary. People often equate ideology with a revolutionary, but the two are different.

A revolutionary may change his ways, but his ideology does not.

The ascended god is not a thinking or pondering creature.

It exists as a single concept.

A concept that will never change, be convinced, or be regretted.