Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 247



Only Krnovel

Episode 247. Unholy Beings (5)

Isaac decided not to answer for now.

If the Brient Knights were to change into the Isacre Knights right away, there was a high probability that they would be subject to unnecessary caution from the church, including the Lenheim Diocese. Isaac was already in a position where he was receiving attention. Isaac would not be immediately put in charge of the Brient Knights, but the church would not think so. He wanted to avoid being held back by unnecessary caution.

The important thing is that Rottenhammer has shown his will to him anyway. There is no need to place the Knights of Brienne under Isaac’s command right away.

If the Church is hostile to Isaac, Rottenhammer will at least side with him.

That was far more important than changing the name of the Knights Templar.

‘It only matters whether the Knights of the Holy War will be with me when I go to battle in the Dawn Army or not.’

Also, the Brienne Knights have gained considerable combat experience. They are truly elite knights, different from the weak life insurance policy holders or killers behind the scenes.

Isaac decided to leave them as they were on the surface, but take his time and gradually color them with his own colors.

“But what is this?”

The nameless ruins of Chaos were so badly damaged that it was hard to know where to start. However, one area stood out, a round object vaguely buried in the rubble.

It was an egg the size of a person that Isaac discovered when he first came here.

“Is that an egg? This is the first time I’ve seen such a huge egg. Could it be a dragon’s egg?”

“I don’t know either. I think it was used by cult members, so I’m looking into it.”

In fact, Isaac was also looking at this egg before Rottenhammer came in.

This egg exists in the game as well. It stands out, but it is neither breakable nor interactive, so I thought it was just a decorative object.

But somehow Isaac felt a strange attraction to this egg. It wasn’t like he felt a strong energy or an ominous feeling. It was closer to the feeling of kinship he felt with his hometown scenery or childhood friend. However, he left it alone because he didn’t know what would happen if he touched it carelessly.

“hmm.”

Rottenhammer tapped his finger without much thought. Seeing that nothing happened, Isaac also put his hand on it. The surface of the egg was rough, but it was full of delicate patterns. These patterns were not carved by someone, but were there from the beginning. Isaac could sense it intuitively.

‘Is this an egg laid by something from the nameless Chaos faction, or…?’

Isaac was about to take his hand away and cut it with his knife when his movements stopped.

“But why?”

Rottenhammer sensed Isaac’s confusion and asked. Isaac stumbled and leaned back, but did not move. He could not remove his left hand from the egg.

Rottenhammer immediately recognized Isaac’s situation.

“The hand… … .”

“Concentrate your consciousness on your hands and recite the prayer!”

Rottenhammer swung his hammer and struck the area where Isaac’s hand had touched. If he had been a subordinate paladin, he would have simply crushed the hand and healed it, but Isaac could not do that so easily.

Boom! Quadduk! But the egg simply deflected Rottenhammer’s hammer smoothly, without even budging. Meanwhile, Isaac’s hand was gradually sucked into the egg.

Even though there were no cracks or holes, my hand was being gently dragged in as if I was dipping my hand in soft mud. Isaac, who was dragged all the way to the back of his hand, drew out his knife while sweating profusely. He was thinking of cutting his wrist if necessary. Rottenhammer seemed to have similar thoughts as he raised his hammer again.

Then Isaac quickly stopped Rottenhammer.

“Wait a minute! Just wait a minute!”

Knock, knock. Isaac felt the tentacles in his hand spring out of their own accord and move around inside the egg. Isaac tried to see what was happening inside the egg shell with his ‘Rats in Walls’ ability, but it didn’t work. It was as if the inside of the egg was a completely different world, and he felt nothing.

But he felt the tentacles preying on something.

No, it was a little different from eating flesh and bones and blood.

‘This is… … .’

At that moment, the egg broke with a crunching sound and my hand slipped out.

“Isaac! Are you okay?”

“Oh, yes. It’s okay.”

Isaac stroked his hand with a bewildered expression. His hand was unscathed, as if nothing had happened. Rottenhammer swung the hammer again and struck the hole in the egg. Then, unlike before, the egg shattered into pieces and scattered. All that could be seen inside the large hole was an empty space.

Rottenhammer looked inside the egg in disbelief.

“There’s nothing. The inside of the egg is completely dry.”

“……okay.”

Isaac also realized it later. The egg had been dead since he first saw it, no, at least several years ago. What was inside it had long ago escaped, or had long ago become nothing.

The tentacles… … were closer to ‘recovering’ the contents than devouring them. It was a familiar force, as if something that had been a part of Isaac had returned and filled him.

‘no way…….’

Isaac looked at his hands and thought.

‘Could this be a Nephilim egg?’

Isaac felt a chill down his spine as he thought about that possibility.

It seemed unlikely that there would be two Nephilim associated with the nameless chaos of this world.

***

The monster that appeared in Baelbaden in the middle of the night and the sight of it burning brightly were as clear as a beacon fire to the surrounding villages. It was only when the sun rose that the terrified soldiers and knights who had been dispatched to assess the situation, as well as the reinforcements from the Lenheim Cathedral, arrived in Baelbaden.

Rottenhammer led his men and ordered them to recover the wreckage.

“The guard mission suddenly changed into a mission to excavate and restore ruins. I should take this opportunity to completely tear down this land of decadence and pleasure. Now that traces of a cult have been discovered, the religious order can’t do anything about it.”

After returning to the surface, Rottenhammer revealed his own vision for the future of Baelbaden.

In fact, Isaac didn’t really care if this place remained a place of decadence and pleasure, but he was in favor of completely turning it upside down. Lord Baden, who expected to get his land back someday, would grab him by the scruff of the neck, but being unlucky is also his fate. The sect would not care what happens to Baelbaden, which has lost its utility.

Rottenhammer whispered in Isaac’s ear while revealing his plan.

“The Isacre territory is not too far from here. If you can just get Bishop Lamarrie of the Lenheim Cathedral to your side, you can make this place your base.”

The lands of the nobles and the dioceses where the church exerts influence are different. Isaac needs the Emperor’s permission to expand his lands, but expanding a diocese only requires the consent of the parties involved.

Isaac smiled bitterly as he watched Rottenhammer, who wanted to exert influence even in the large city of Lenheim. Lenheim was a city larger than Soeur. It was not an easy place to see.

“That’s not my concern. Anyway, I’m glad the problem has been resolved. However, if you come across anything strange during the excavation, please let me know.”

“Let’s do that.”

Isaac didn’t have enough time or hands to search through each and every ruin. Also, it would be better for Isaac to have the artifacts related to the nameless chaos rather than let them fall into the hands of the cult. He had planned to interrogate Neria once more after she escaped, but it was more secure to leave the rest to Rottenhammer.

“Oh, by the way, Ian said he found something like this when you said something suspicious. I think he picked it up when I sent him in to investigate and used it to gather evidence that the cult was underground. I was so out of it that I couldn’t show him.”

As Rottenhammer spoke, he took out a distorted ankh. Isaac thought it looked familiar, then quickly remembered what it was. It was similar to the ankh the Emperor had shown him, which the priest who summoned the Doomsday Agent at Rougeberg had.

However, what Rottenhammer showed him was an ankh with the emblem of the Order of the Hearth of the World, not that of the Order of the Code of Light. However, it was also covered in marks that seemed to have been chewed on by small teeth, and it was distorted as if it had been cut and carved with teeth and nails.

It was an ankh that looked like it had been roughly carved by an animal.

‘Come to think of it, calling out the praying white tree was… … closer to a summoning ritual than a resurrection ritual.’

The summoning of the Doomsday Cutter at Rougeberg was also a ritual of summoning. Isaac saw that this commonality was no coincidence. The ankh used as a catalyst for the summoning ritual at Rougeberg was excavated from this very place.

‘… … Wasn’t it the Emperor’s own plan?’

Isaac, who had been secretly suspicious of Baltzemer simply because he had not discovered it, reflected a little on himself. All the suspicions and evidence pointed to the Church of the Light Code.

There was very little evidence to suggest that the act was staged by Baltsemer, who sacrificed his own knights.

‘Do these cult members have the guts to avoid going to hell? Or is the lighthouse keeper so lenient that he sends these people to heaven?’

Isaac sighed and held the ankh that Rottenhammer had handed him tightly in his hand.

“thank you.”

“Never mind. I should be grateful to you for taking on such an ominous task. Oh, by the way, I saw something strange yesterday… … Did you tame that dragon?”

Rottenhammer asked about Nell, something he was very concerned about but couldn’t easily bring up. Nell had returned to the forest and was rolling around after yesterday’s battle, but he had heard a lot about the boy’s great exploits from the knights.

Isaac nodded with an awkward smile.

“Yes. It just so happened.”

“Did you put some kind of honey on your body that evil beings like? If I had one, I would have been a Grail Knight instead of a Paladin.”

Rottenhammer said with genuine envy.

Having a wealth of game knowledge and mastery of strategy… I think that’s enough.

Whatever it is, Rottenhammer is a rare talent.

***

Isaac prepared to leave Rottenhammer behind, which had become busy.

I have instructed Neria to head to the Isacre territory. She might meet Claire there. I have already given instructions to the people guarding the Isacre territory, so they won’t be flustered if strangers suddenly show up.

‘More than that… … .’

After making sure there was no one around, Isaac looked at the palm of his left hand.

From the wrist, a thin tentacle crawled up, splitting the palm, like a sixth finger. Now, I had seen it so often that I didn’t even feel disgusted. But the tentacle wasn’t only coming out of the left palm.

Tentacles were sprouting out from various parts of his body, such as his back, waist, shoulders, neck, and right hand. The more he preyed, the wider the range of tentacles grew. When he preyed on the Drowned King, he was able to mutate all the way up to his shoulders.

But this time, the change was dramatic. It seemed like I could almost produce tentacles from my entire body. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’d be pulling tentacles out from my entire body very often.

‘Is it because of that egg?’

It was a change that occurred after the tentacles devoured something inside the egg in the Nameless Ruins of Chaos. After the tentacles devoured it, Isaac felt that something in his unfinished state had been filled.

As if he had left some of it in the egg when he was born.

‘I, no, my body was originally inside that egg, and someone took it out for some reason and brought it into the world?’

Isaac suddenly remembered that Baelbaden had been taken over and closed by the cult about twenty years ago.

It’s roughly the same age as Isaac.

And Isaac, who was living in a secret village protected by the Order, almost died when Carlsen invaded. No, according to the original ‘history’, Isaac should have died.

But he did not die, and Gebel picked him up and protected him.

And a lot of history changed.

‘Then that means my parents once stayed here.’

Isaac had never wondered about his biological parents. To him, ‘Isaac’ was nothing more or less than a game character. There was no reason to wonder about the origins of a game character. However, as he went forward, it seemed that his parents’ actions would become more evident.

Maybe it had something to do with why Isaac was chosen by the nameless chaos.