Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 245



Only Krnovel

Episode 245. Unholy Beings (3)

As Rottenhammer expected, Isaac was fighting.

But the fighting style was a little different from Rottenhammer’s idea.

‘It would be pointless to cut that guy up with a knife.’

However, the praying white tree that I had seen in Ultenheim had some human qualities, but now it had grown to a size that was more like a structure than a living thing. It still had tentacles with nerves and muscles writhing around, but it didn’t seem like Isaac could take it down with a few cuts with his sword.

Especially in a situation where we still don’t know how huge a body is beyond that ‘door’.

So Isaac decided to close the door.

‘Hesabel, protect me so that no one comes near me.’

‘yes.’

Isaac sat down in the center of the altar. Tentacled fleas and multi-legged spiders with abnormally long legs swarmed around him. However, before Isaac could raise his sword, a storm of red feathers suddenly swept through the area.

Pupupupu! Hesabel appeared in the place where the red storm had swept through. She spread her large wings to protect Isaac and mercilessly eliminated those who would interfere with the ritual he was about to perform.

‘I’ve finally reached a point where I can trust this guy with my back.’

It seems like only yesterday that he had such ominous thoughts about stuffing a bug into Hesabel’s head and making it burst if she showed any signs of betrayal. From now on, Isaac was going to focus on the ritual of closing the door he had opened. There might come a time when Isaac would become weak during that time.

If Hesabel betrays, there will be no more chances.

It would be heartbreaking if Hesabel were to betray him, but Isaac was certain that would not happen.

Isaac opened the book of nameless bugs, glaring at the praying white tree.

The scriptures were still constantly being updated with new words. How Isaac disciplined the ignorant who claimed to be him, how he punished the servants who did not recognize their master.

It was a strange feeling to see a book written right before my eyes, with myself as the main character.

Isaac found it difficult to think freely as he saw even the words ‘I had a strange feeling’ written down.

‘concentration.’

Isaac swept the book with his palm. From now on, Isaac will be in charge of writing this book.

In nameless chaos there is in fact no consciousness.

Because all names, rituals, and miracles have been forgotten, weathered, and disappeared. The rituals that remain now are nothing more than crude remnants of fragments of the past.

There is only one true consciousness.

Everything Isaac reads, says, and does.

The deeds are engraved in Urbansus and become a ritual that can be reproduced.

Isaac’s fingertips etched words into the Book of Nameless Bugs.

[… … Saint Isaac sternly ordered the open door to be closed. The blasphemous being who had been wandering outside, bewildered by the dreary wind outside, fell to the floor with his head cut off as soon as the door closed… … .]

Kkwaddudduk!

The underground temple shook violently with a loud noise. Then, a strange noise that had never been heard before shook the entire Baelbaden. It was the scream of a praying white tree.

The fleas nearby couldn’t stand the loud scream and started bursting out.

As even Hesabel was staggering, suddenly, blood began to spurt out like a flood from the cliff where the praying white tree stretched out.

Swish, swoosh. The blood that flowed out surged like a wave, soaking Hesabel’s ankles and Isaac’s scriptures and clothes as he sat down.

But Isaac didn’t move an inch and just stared at the book.

The book of the nameless bug sucked up the blood that was rushing in and wrote its words in a vivid purple color.

Kkwadk, kkwadk!

However, the door was not completely closed yet, perhaps due to the considerable resistance of the praying white tree. Not only that, but it was struggling to open the door again by twisting its half-cut torso.

As the blood gushed out and formed a flood, the praying white man could not help but stop worshipping the moon and look back at Isaac.

[■■■■ ■■ ■■■!!]

Camille’s face appeared as a tumor swelled in the middle of the praying white tentacle. She shouted at Isaac in an incomprehensible manner with an expression of anger that was hard to imagine as a human face.

But Isaac didn’t hear a word of it.

His consciousness was already somewhere far away.

***

Isaac was sitting in the middle of the forest.

On the pure white sandy beach, unidentifiable black trees stretched out towards the sky, completely dry and pitch black. Among the trees, one tree in particular stood out. Unlike the others, it seemed to still have some life left in it.

It was the first time he had seen it, but Isaac somehow knew it was Camille. Only then did he realize that each and every tree he saw around him was a dried-out form of tentacles hundreds or thousands of meters long, like praying white trees.

[What the hell are you?]

Camille, who knew how to express anger, hatred, and murder, was standing there sobbing in the middle of the dry forest.

[What the hell are you doing… to throw me into this hell?]

Camille was blaming Isaac.

She was blaming Isaac for dropping her, a cardinal who was once counted among the most important in the Order of the Holy Light, into such a terrible place. She was sobbing, saying that Isaac was the one who ruined her, who was guaranteed a place in heaven even if she died.

“You created this hell, Camille.”

Isaac looked at Camille for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“This is the afterlife that best suits you.”

Isaac remembers that when Camille died, no one mourned her death.

The competing bishops were eyeing the empty cardinal’s seat, and the church was looking for a new cog. Claire might not have been so sad if she had known the truth about her grandmother. Neria seemed to be the only one who was mourning, so if that’s the case, then this is the only afterlife that suits Camille.

Isaac’s answer did not seem to satisfy Camille. She screamed and writhed, then swung her branch-like hands at Isaac.

Isaac turned the pages of the scriptures.

As the blank sheet of paper was revealed, Camille’s fingers began to break and twist in a spiral. The bizarre twists spread through his arms, twisting and bursting his entire body. There was no logic to the phenomenon.

It just happened because it was written that way in the book.

A nameless chaos was writing a book, and Camille was just a character in the book.

But the probability does not flow that way. Camille’s anger enveloped Isaac even with her torn and burst body. She wanted to vent her anger, to kill Isaac. Because a saint needs trials. She was a being chosen for trials, even though she was insignificant.

For the saint to take one step forward.

Nameless chaos no longer intervenes in writing. From now on, it is a battle of will and enlightenment.

Or… … it could be an opportunity for the saint to realize new values.

[Gaaaaah!]

Camille suddenly screamed and started to twist her body. Her fingertips were suddenly engulfed in flames. The flames spread quickly, eating away at her body. Not only that, but every corner was being crushed and crushed.

Isaac did nothing.

This was the work of his assistants.

***

“Fire! Burn everything!”

“I was worried because it seemed like a living thing, but it rides well, Captain!”

Rottenhammer and his paladins were setting fire to the praying white tree’s body. The flame of the holy fire that surrounds the weapon is one of the basic miracles for the paladins. Camille’s body absorbed the flame of the holy fire like dry firewood and burned. It seemed that the name of the tree was not given for nothing.

The lightning that Nell occasionally spewed burned, leaving long, fiery scars on the praying white tree.

Nell also seemed satisfied with this conflagration.

However, because the size of the praying white tree was so large, the flames reached hundreds of meters and the knights began to look worried. If it continued to burn like this and collapsed, it seemed like the fire would be uncontrollable.

“Don’t worry about the fire, just burn it down! This is a hot spring town anyway, so there’s plenty of water! And it’s better to put out the fire than deal with this monster.”

To be honest, it was the same for the knights, so they were willing to set it on fire. The fleas that climbed the white trees praying in the blazing flames were burned to death, and the night stalkers staggered, unable to bear the heat. The few that remained were often caught and eaten by Nell.

“Cut it down without mercy, starting from the very spot where it was burned!”

Boom! Rottenhammer slammed his hammer into the charred area, sending a large amount of debris flying out. Despite not being a weapon suited for chopping down trees, it was destroying far more than the swords and axes wielded by other paladins.

The burned part was not as tough or hard as the tentacles, so it was easy to cut them off. Of course, it was not easy to cut off the tentacles that were close to a building with a diameter of over 10 meters. However, they were steadily cutting off the praying white tree one by one. And their activities were steadily accumulating shocks somewhere.

***

The attack by the Brient Knights did not fatally damage the praying White, but it was far more dangerous when Isaac closed the door on Urbansus and his torso was torn apart.

Not only is it a fatal wound, but if the power of the main body still beyond that is cut off, then from that point on, there is no other way but to wither and die.

Because of this, Camille tried to focus more on Isaac. However, the attacks of the Brient Knights and Nel’s breath brought pain that could not be ignored.

[Ahhhhhhhh!]

She released more bugs to subdue the intruders. At the same time, she released more monsters towards Isaac’s body. A creature that looked like a fusion of a snail and a mantis crawled out through the tentacles’ skin.

But there was already a strong bodyguard waiting there.

It was because she always hung out with Isaac, but Hesabel was already one of the strongest among the nobles of Walaika. And the blood that was the basis of her power was now pooling all over the world like a flood.

As the monsters rushed towards them, Hesabel carefully covered Isaac’s face and body with her wings to prevent the filthy blood from splashing on him. Then she clapped her hands with an eerie smile.

With a loud bang, the blood that had pooled on the floor shot up into the air as big as a head, then exploded all at once in all directions. Each one of them contained the power of a ballista.

The arrow of blood exploded as soon as it pierced the monster’s skin, soaking it with blood once again.

“joy.”

A snail-shaped mantis that had secretly bypassed tried to wrap its tentacle-like body around Hesabel. However, Hesabel did not look back and immediately put her palm under the mantis’s chin, and pushed the miracle that Isaac had given her inside—the tentacle. Hesabel quickly penetrated the mantis’s body and took control, sucking out the bodily fluids inside in an instant.

The last locust was gone, not leaving a single drop of fluid behind. The rest were just a swarm of fleas that barely survived due to their small size. Now, they were melting away every time they stepped into the pool of blood that was no different from a moat, and they couldn’t even approach Isaac.

Once safety was secured, Hesabel bent down and looked at Isaac, who was concentrating his consciousness.

A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Knock, knock, knock!

There was a sound like the ground was convulsing and screaming. The door was closing again as the interrupted ritual resumed. Camille was screaming, screaming, pleading, sobbing, and thrashing about at Isaac.

But her role ended there.

Crunch, crunch, crunch… … .

The eerie sound of flesh and bones being crushed echoed. The praying white tree writhed, but it was nothing more than the meaningless convulsions of a dying creature. The moment the loud noise suddenly stopped, the praying white tree’s gigantic body slowly collapsed.

[Nameless chaos watches you.]

[The reward of chaos has been given.]

[Nameless Chaos enhances the ability ‘Children of Chaos’.]