Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 261



Only Krnovel

Subject Here – Episode 261. All-Khan Discipline (1)

Isaac diligently sent out scouts and repaired the walls until the Olkan discipline returned.

He also flew by on his Nell from time to time to check how far the Olkan Discipline had come from afar. He thought about raining down thunderbolts on the marching troops a few times, but gave up after seeing them firing their cannons at a dangerously close range from about 400 meters above.

If it had been the wrong choice and isolation had occurred, the consequences could have been dire.

Only when Isaac saw the advancing army did he become convinced.

‘It really was a great plunder.’

The number of people seen as the vanguard is in the thousands.

Such units continued on their way. They said there were more of these in the south, so even with a rough calculation, it was possible to estimate that the force would be around 100,000.

Even in the Kingdom of Elril, the number of people who actually clashed during the civil war was less than ten thousand, so it felt unrealistic that an army ten times that number was coming to fight.

If a normal country did something like that, it would fail. Just like the empire we have today.

They’d be ruined too, but they weren’t the type of people to care about that.

Isaac recalled what the Great Pillage was for in the Olkan Discipline scenario.

The purpose of the Olkan Discipline is, incongruously, ‘knowledge’. Knowledge of the gods, knowledge of the secrets of Urbanus. And the place where the most knowledge is currently gathered on the continent is… … .

‘The secret archives of the Lichtheim Censorship Office.’

It is the most secret place in the holy city where the Pope resides.

If you play with the Olkan Discipline, the player will split the empire in half, kill them, and take the knowledge from their corpses. It is an absurd result for the Church of the Light’s Code, which was trying to reclaim the Holy Land, but Isaac experienced in the game that ‘such a future is possible’.

‘And the ones leading this great plunder are Sahul Khan and the angel of fame, Mansaengja.’

Sahul Khan will be leading this group somewhere.

And the Angel of the Heavenly Life… … is a being that even Isaac, who has experienced the game, cannot guess in terms of its form or thoughts. It could be right next to Isaac, or it could be gnawing on moss on a rocky hill somewhere.

To stop the Great Depredation, one of these two had to be killed or persuaded.

***

Phew.

Nell, who had been flying across the night sky, folded her huge wings and landed on the castle wall.

The torches on the walls were burning fiercely. At first, the soldiers couldn’t even get close to the dragon, but now they seemed to have become quite accustomed to this translucent dragon. They couldn’t help but be grateful to the being that flew through the sky several times a day and scouted the long distances on their behalf.

Isaac spoke as he walked along the wall that had been clumsily restored.

“The wall restoration was completed sooner than expected.”

“Because we have an abundance of materials and supplies.”

Jacquelet grumbled. For a former local bandit, the opportunity to ‘legally’ requisition and use Soer’s supplies seemed quite exciting.

And, as befitting a lawbreaker from the back streets, he had found all the gangs and illegally hoarded assets and sent them all aboard a wagon to Isacrea. It was Isaac’s order. The hidden gold coins would be more valuable for the noble journey of a Grail Knight than to be manipulated by orcs… … .

“But is this restoration of the wall really worth it? That cannon thing completely destroyed the wall.”

“There’s a point in making them try to break down the wall. They’ll see the restored wall and think we’re hanging on to it.”

Even though cannons are over-technology, their uses are limited.

For example, there was no point in firing cannons at hills that were difficult to climb up or moats surrounded by rivers. After all, the ports were aimed at the plains or the gates. Isaac planned to make them waste gunpowder on the walls and then give them a grand welcome when they finally stormed in.

“Have you prepared the items I asked for?”

“Yes. There’s still a lot piled up.”

Isaac nodded. It was both unfortunate and fortunate that the battlefield was Soer. It was not a good city to defend, but it was a key trade point, which made it easy to obtain hard-to-find supplies. Furthermore, the items Isaac had ordered were the worst kind of bad stock.

‘What we really need is reinforcements, but… … .’

Subject Here – Isaac looked west with a displeased expression. He had been checking the west from time to time while scouting, but there was no sign of additional reinforcements. Whether it was the Empire or the Church, it was truly disappointing.

“It looks like they’re getting ready too.”

Jacquelet spoke as he looked across the dark plains to the countless rows of flames. The Olkan Discipline was not in a hurry. They laid out their camp and placed their cannons leisurely, as if they did not care how much Soer prepared.

They didn’t even have the siege nets necessary for a classic siege.

‘Since they can capture it whenever they want, it means they don’t care whether they run away or reinforcements come.’

Rottenhammer looked like he was itching to get out, but he didn’t disobey Isaac’s orders.

“When will it start?”

“It wouldn’t be strange if it started today. Cannons don’t have eyes.”

It depends on how impatient the orcs are.

And Isaac regretted his answer.

The orc attack began that very night, without even a declaration of war, with the sound of massive cannon fire.

***

Kukukukukung… … .

The faint sound of gunfire was heard, and soon after, a thunderous roar that shook the earth continued. The procession of shells striking the Soer did not stop even as the night passed, the sun rose and set, and night fell again.

“Just shut up, you motherfuckers!”

Jacklet, who couldn’t sleep a wink because of the cannonade, ran up the rampart with wide eyes and shouted. Of course, what answered her words was more cannonade. The thin rampart couldn’t protect her from the cannonade, so she had to be carried down by the other soldiers.

Jacklet’s condition was similar to that of most of the ordinary people within the Soeur.

The knights with strong mental power were ready to sortie despite lack of sleep and loud noise, but some of the soldiers were starting to have panic attacks every time shells fell.

By then, Isaac couldn’t help but wonder if his judgment had been wrong.

‘… … Are you thinking of crushing the Soer?’

Isaac thought that, like the scouts that came last time, they would try to capture the place after pinpointing the location.

But the shells being fired now were turning the walls of Soeur into something like a sandy beach.

Cannons are consumables. If they had been fired at this rate, many of the cannons would have exploded or been bent, and a huge amount of gunpowder would have been wasted. Even though Soerl is a large city, it is inefficient to do this.

‘Inefficient? You’re thinking of something that doesn’t fit the Olkan rules. There’s no other race as inefficient as those guys.’

Maybe it was just the first big city they saw, so they were just pouring everything in. They didn’t even think about what would happen next. And it seemed like Gebel was making similar guesses.

“I understand your strategy, Isaac.”

Gebel said with a worried expression.

“I’m starting to worry that your strategy is not one that works when your opponent is rational and reasonable. Even if you tell them, ‘If you waste so much gunpowder, how are you going to fight later?’, they won’t understand. Later on, you might regret, ‘I should have used it more sparingly.’ But if by that time we’re already buried under this pit of rocks, what’s the point?”

“… … It’s not the best, but don’t worry, I have a second-best strategy prepared.”

Isaac said with a bitter laugh.

Isaac had no wild idea that the battlefield would go the way he wanted. But right now, there was nothing he could do about it.

If your opponent has overwhelming power, the cards you can use will also be limited.

Isaac went to his sanctuary, the underground of Soer, where he had eaten and conquered Goluwaru, to bide his time. When Isaac placed his hand on his still-pounding heart there, he felt it as if it were his body, through the nerves that stretched throughout Soer.

Through this sense, Isaac had been thoroughly aware of the location of the barracks, troop deployment, and supply routes of the Olkan Discipline for the past few days. However, even if he had figured it out, Isaac could not attack right away.

Just be prepared so you don’t miss it when the time comes.

‘It’s almost time to start.’

Isaac groped around the territory of Soer and stroked a grain of wheat that had not yet grown. The grain of wheat was loosely swaying in the wind and was just watching the war without any concern.

Then suddenly, Mildae bowed to Isaac as if greeting him.

Isaac opened his eyes.

He immediately grabbed his knife and ran outside.

Subject Here – The time has come.

***

Koral Manhojang, who was in charge of the glorious vanguard of the Olkan Discipline, looked at the shattered Soer with pleasure. A huge cloud of smoke and dust rose from the ruins of the shattered walls.

Like most orc nomads, Koral had a fanatical obsession with ‘flatness’.

In that sense, the existence of a castle that suddenly protruded from the wide plain was nothing but strange and unpleasant to them. When the castle walls were lowered to a flat level, Koral felt pleasure.

Everything should be flat, just like the world they live in.

Although they had used more than half of the cannons and gunpowder they had been given to use during the Great Sack in order to cut down the walls, it didn’t matter. No, they wanted to just use them all up and leave. Then they would be able to trample the empire with much lighter bodies.

Then a young shaman came to him and said,

“Corral Manhojang, Shaman Kirmas warns you to be careful of enemy counterattacks.”

“Hmm? Why are you here now?”

Koral asked with a puzzled face.

This is not the first time they have carried out a siege. They have already destroyed many border principalities and kingdoms that were not part of the Germanian Empire. And usually, those inside a city that has been destroyed to that extent are either physically or mentally out of their minds.

If we had the capacity to fight back, we would have done it a long time ago.

But Koral, like a man who respected superstitions, did not laugh and said, “Did the enemy even throw grains of sand?” because he had heard it too.

“By the way, the shaman Kirmas said she heard a story from the dead scouts. That Captain Katawal was killed by some dragon and a monstrous paladin.”

I have seen that dragon in the sky several times. It has been caught in the cannon and has run away, but without the cannon, it would be impossible to fight back. Koral looked up at the sky, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Just as he was thinking that he should save gunpowder now, he suddenly felt something strange.

“huh?”

“Why are you doing that?”

“No, the wind direction changed.”

Then Koral narrowed his eyes and stared at Soer.

“It seems like there’s more smoke rising than before. Is there a fire?”

From the flattened sledgehammer, smoke rose much larger and thicker than before. The smoke even gradually obscured their view as it flew in their direction.

It wasn’t a problem because they were just shooting randomly in the middle of the night, but somehow the strong smoke made me frown.

Then suddenly I realized that I had smelled this scent somewhere before.

‘… …the smell of herbs?’

Doo doo doo doo doo… … .

At that moment, a faint sound of the earth shaking echoed from somewhere. Koral, accustomed to the sound of horse hooves, realized that it was the sound of horsemen’s hooves. A group of knights were running out, mixed with the smoke rising from the saddle.

Koral saw the armor rushing towards him, shattering the sunlight of dawn, and was reminded of the nightmare he had experienced in his previous life. Koral let out a howl of rage and excitement.

“The Knights of the Holy Grail of the Code of Light are coming! Make them cannon fodder─!”

Koral wanted to burst out laughing.

He had already seen the heavy armored knights get crushed by cannonballs several times. In particular, these shells were the miracle of the Olkan Discipline, shells that had been blessed by the ‘ancestors who did not reincarnate but instead served their descendants.’ The background of the Orcs’ amazing accuracy and the durability of their cannons was the blessing of the Orc ancestors.

Koral burst into laughter as he imagined the knights soon disappearing into blood dust.

“Even the knights can’t avoid this! Fire!”

Boom! The next moment, the cannon right next to Koral exploded with a loud noise. The cannon, which had been filled with special gunpowder for the paladins, instantly tore apart all the orcs in the vicinity. Even Koral Manhojang was not spared.

He barely managed to get up in the midst of a dizzying noise. His right leg and arm had been blown off. Looking around, he saw the cannons that had been overworked exploding or shattered into pieces. Even the cannons that had been fired fell in absurdly far away places.

Meanwhile, the Brient Knights had closed the distance in an instant. The knights’ horses had pouches attached to them that constantly emitted smoke. Koral realized that the scent coming from the pouch was the familiar scent of flowers.

Loarkus.

The effect of Lorecus is to lower resistance to magic, namely miracles.

And now the miracle of excessive application of Olkan discipline was causing the cannons to explode.