Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 220



Only Krnovel

Episode 220. The Wizard’s Tower (1)

Isaac barely made it to the shore after braving the waves. Fortunately, the sandy beach was shallow, but the steep mountain range that rose steeply as he went north was rugged.

But what caught my eye before that was the ‘Broken Mountain’ lying on the plain in front of it. The rough gray rock mountain that suddenly appeared after the gentle hills continued to appear, and it felt strangely out of place.

Aidan muttered in disgust as he looked at the mountain.

“That’s the ‘Broken Mountain’. According to legend, when a great storm called ‘The Night of the Angels’ Strike’ struck the Kingdom of Elril, the wind lifted the mountain and threw it down. Of course, it’s a tall tale, but it’s so bizarre that you can imagine it.”

“… … It might actually be true.”

But Isaac’s interest was not in the legend that may or may not have existed hundreds of years ago. He fixed his gaze on the collapsed ruins where Calurien’s laboratory had been.

Now it was nothing more than a ruin, but as expected from a place where angels once resided, it was full of terrifying legends. There were thieves and Grail Knights who came in after the relics left by Calurien, but after it was completely destroyed, no one came and went.

“Aidan, you stay out of the storm. I’ll stop by that tower for a moment.”

“Yes, I understand. When can I come back again?”

“tomorrow.”

Isaac answered briefly and headed towards the tower with Hesabel.

Hesabel looked at it again and again, as if she was surprised by the fact that the broken rock mountain that Kalurien had thrown down actually existed. Of course, many parts had been worn down by time, but the smooth cross-section of the May Sword’s engravings were still visible.

What happened in Urbansus seemed to deceive not only the consciousness of the people, but even the world.

“Did you say you were looking for something here?”

“okay.”

Hesabel had been gathering information since she heard the story of going to Calurien’s old hideout.

“The elixir of immortality? Or the secret to becoming a god? I’ve also heard of the dragon heart.”

Of course, most of them were based on legends and were just nonsense.

In fact, the established theory was that it was impossible for the angel to have kept such precious relics in such a careless manner, and that anything that could have been plundered had already been plundered, and even if there were any, they would have already been buried under the rubble of the collapsed castle.

But what Isaac was after was neither an absurd legend nor a ghost story.

He had come to find out what he ‘knew’.

‘Advanced dungeon, the wizard’s tower.’

Isaac was about to put his ‘knowledge’ to use for once.

Unlike other thieves, Isaac knew what to look for and how to find it. And what he was looking for was not objects, but ‘food’.

***

After climbing the rugged mountain path, he barely managed to reach the bottom of the tower, but the ruins of the collapsed tower were too deep to dig through. Isaac took out the Ruaddin Key. Although Kachulin was a higher-ranking relic, the Light Code relic that revealed secrets and illuminated the darkness was useful in this case.

As the flames from the Ruaddin Key spread brightly, Isaac thrust his sword without hesitation.

The remains of the tower cracked and split gently. As the stairs leading down to the tower opened, Hesabel followed behind him in admiration.

Normally, you would have to go through a tedious process to break the seal. However, the advanced seal breaking ability contained in the May-reinforced Luaddin Key could easily break through the old seal left behind by Kalurien.

[… … What are you doing here?]

Only then did Calurien send a thought wave to ask.

Calurien promised to assist and advise Isaac as best he could, as commanded by Elril. However, he did not know that Isaac’s first step would be to visit his old hideout.

“I came to take care of the things you left behind.”

[There is nothing here. Of course, all the valuables were disposed of, and the trash was stolen by grave robbers. There was nowhere to throw it, so only the abandoned waste remained.]

“That’s exactly what I came for.”

As soon as Isaac answered, something jumped out of the wall and tried to bite Isaac. However, Isaac easily dodged it and struck it with his left hand. In an instant, the five fingers transformed into five tentacles and swallowed the chameleon-shell-frog chimera that was stuck to the wall.

[‘???(B─)’ has been preyed upon.]

[Consumption efficiency increases with the ‘Dead God’s Guts’ perk.]

[No privileges acquired due to insufficient information.]

The monster’s true identity was the chimera left behind by Calurien.

Calurien was so enthusiastic about biosynthesis that he brought a group of chimeras to attack Isaac and his party. He could not dare to release these ‘leftovers’ into the kingdom of Elril, so he threw them into his old hideout. However, in the meantime, the chimeras survived by fervently breeding and eating each other.

‘Thanks to that, the Wizard’s Tower has become a dungeon with considerable difficulty… … .’

However, because it was a chimera with too many things mixed in, the information was unclear and even the predatory effect seemed minimal.

It’s been a long time since it became difficult to achieve any noticeable effect with these kinds of things.

Isaac’s main goal was to fill his stomach.

The chameleon clam was acting as some kind of alarm bell, as a loud noise began to emanate from the bottom of the stairs. In this place, where outside food rarely comes in, such intruders were very rare.

Of course, it won’t be long before we realize that the roles of prey and predator have been reversed.

***

A chicken-snake-raccoon hybrid chimera fell from the ceiling and tried to wrap itself around Isaac. However, Isaac was able to wrap its tentacles around the opponent and eat it before it could. It was a bizarre sight that made me not feel hungry, but the thought that came to mind first was, ‘Isn’t combining a snake and a raccoon a bit redundant?’

“What on earth are the rules for conducting these biological experiments?”

By the time they faced the rabbit-bear-marmot chimera, Isaac couldn’t help but ask. No matter how you looked at it, it looked like a mad scientist’s insane dungeon.

Despite their cute appearance, the rabbit-bear-marmot chimera boldly charged toward Isaac, as if they were predators even in this terrible dungeon.

Isaac easily blocked the blow with the dead man’s hand and stuck his left hand into the chimera.

Since the main purpose of the tentacles was to prey, Isaac rarely used a knife.

[There was a time when I was immature and curious. At that time, I believed that the survival of my species was in my hands. This is just the remnants of that.]

“Creating a dragon?”

[… … I’m surprised you knew that. How did you know? Did an angel tell you?]

Since this was knowledge he had learned through the game, Isaac roughly glossed over it. However, it seemed like Calurien wasn’t hiding anything either, so he just glossed over it.

The dragon itself is mysterious, but when describing its body, it is always described as a complex creature with a snake’s head, a lion’s body, and bat’s wings. If we simply look at its appearance biologically, it is closer to a chimera that was intentionally created for battle.

Perhaps Calurien had similar thoughts.

[I thought that the species called dragon was a chimera artificially created by some ancient being. Of course, it was absurd considering that even gods are younger than us. However, at some point, when our species began to have difficulty reproducing, I couldn’t help but study that possibility.]

Isaac also first heard that dragons had difficulty breeding. After all, all the dragons that appear in Nameless Chaos are Elder Dragons, and even those are very few in number. Isaac thought that it was because of the gods that they fell, and he had never thought about their breeding.

[These are the remains that were created while researching whether or not it was possible to synthesize a dragon. I buried them in a pit and forgot about them, but I never thought they would become food for chaos now… … .]

Calurien muttered in confusion as he watched the chimeras being devoured one by one by Isaac’s tentacles. The chimeras did not grant Isaac any special abilities, but each of them was strong in its own way, and they provided him with much more nutrition and satiety than wild animals.

But Isaac felt that it was taking too long to get to his real target.

[By the way, how far down are you planning to go? Aren’t you already feeling full?]

“I will return after I have eaten all the ultimate waste you have created, Calurien.”

[… … .]

Calurien did not answer. These chimeras were not a source of shame to Calurien, let alone a source of concern. What he really did not want Isaac to see was at the bottom of this dungeon. These chimeras were in fact nothing more than guards to hide their existence.

Meanwhile, Isaac was starting to get tired of dealing with the guards one by one. Since he didn’t have to worry about anyone, Isaac decided to try out one of the tricks he had learned from Urbansus.

Isaac took a deep breath and sent his will into his armor.

LOL.

The colors from beyond, tinted black on Isaac’s armor, began to flow out, rippling. Like a cloak or a waterfall, the colors quickly filled the dungeon, overflowing and rushing down the stairs.

The colors created by this primordial magic when fighting Calurien were much darker and had a higher density than normal colors. Not only that, they moved like hands and feet, following Isaac’s will.

Isaac pushed the color to its limit.

Of course, the fullness I had built up was depleted to some extent, but it was bearable.

Finally, when the black aura had almost completely drained from Isaac’s armor, he sent tentacles into the color.

[Shadows on the World (B) / You can wrap tentacles in colors from beyond to make them invisible, or hide them in shadows.]

A privilege that had no use other than to deceive the eye became a weapon of mass destruction in a confined space.

Kkwaddeuk, wajak, ughjik, kkwaddeuk.

An eerie noise flowed out from the walls of the stairs. The noise lasted for about ten seconds, then soon died down. Isaac collected the colors again, colored them into his armor, and took another step.

The dungeon was cleaned cleanly, and no more chimeras appeared. It consumed a lot of faith, but I was able to fill my stomach quickly.

“Okay. I guess we can go a little faster.”

Calurien looked at that sight and wondered if that was really the great warrior that Elril had chosen in her right mind.

‘No, maybe that’s why he chose the author as the great warrior.’

***

The dungeon of Calurien was surprisingly deep and wide, so Isaac had to have two more ‘feasts’ before he could reach the bottom he was aiming for. The further down he went, the more both Isaac and Hesabel could sense an ominous aura.

Dense and powerful horsepower.

Just as there were many seals placed overlapping when sealing Elril, there were considerable spells and magic placed overlapping, although of course not as many as those.

“What on earth is here?”

Hesabel, who felt the magic on her skin, asked in a weary manner. Calurien, of course, did not answer, but Isaac nonchalantly revealed the shame he wanted to hide.

“The result of Calurien’s sin.”

Isaac swung the Ruaddin Key to break the seal once more, revealing a hidden space. The floor gave way to a vast void. Beneath it lay a creature, seemingly asleep, wrapped in chains that emitted a soft glow.

It was a giant creature with a half-transparent, half-normal body.

But compared to all the bizarre chimeras I had encountered so far, it had a ‘relatively’ normal appearance. Because, other than the fact that some parts were translucent, it was already a familiar creature.

“… … Dragon?”

Hesabel muttered in disbelief. Aizawa added an explanation to her poor monologue.

“An angel-dragon chimera, to be exact.”