Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 292



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Episode 292. The Whisper of the Brazier (4)

Isaac looked back at Wolsten. This was information he could not have known without him telling him.

But Wolsten shook his head.

If it were a human, it might be a lie, but old-fashioned dwarves would act shamelessly but would not necessarily lie.

“There is no need to doubt Wolsten. I asked the Thundersmith and found out.”

“I was just trying to check.”

Isaac responded with a calm demeanor. If he had heard it from the angel, it was clear that he was not talking about a piece of the Archangel.

It would be a story that encompasses the thousands of archangels buried underground.

‘Or it refers to something lower than that.’

Isaac thought it was better.

The Thundersmith is the oldest of the angels belonging to the world’s furnace. If he is related to those archangels, Isaac will be able to find out more information. Isaac was also curious about the archangels.

“This is not something to talk about in a crowded place, so I would appreciate it if everyone else would leave. I also respectfully ask the King of Elril to do the same.”

Tukhalin spoke politely to Ethelred as well.

When the dwarf, who was twenty times older than him, politely asked, Ethelred nodded with a bewildered expression and retreated. Soon, only Tukhalin and Isaac were left in the forge.

The silence was filled only by the sound of sparks leaping from the blazing furnace.

Tukhalin’s face wavered, shadowed in the flickering flames. Isaac did not know what he had talked to the Thundersmith about, or what secrets he had overheard. But the dozens of blades stuck in the floor spoke of his worries.

Isaac could tell that they were preparing for war.

Suddenly, Tukhalin opened his mouth.

“The Thunder Master is listening.”

“What are you curious about?”

“Do you know what that is?”

Isaac shook his head.

“All I know is what Wolsten knows. There are a great many Light Code Archangels buried beneath this land. I know that I have used the pieces of Archangels as I please, but I have no intention of doing anything with them.”

At Isaac’s words, the flames in the furnace began to crackle. Tukhalin, who had been listening to the sound, opened his mouth.

“That is not the Light Code Archangel.”

“Yes? It had the appearance of an angel of the most basic form of the Law of Light. A body made of six to eight wings made of flames, and eyes. Isn’t that the angel of the Law of Light?”

“To be exact, they are the angels of ‘all faiths.’ In the past, all angels had the same form. Over time, their individuality became more distinct and their purposes changed, so they took on different forms. The Thundersmith created the prototype of the angels.”

Isaac looked at the stove with a surprised face, but he could not see the expression of the flame. It was still hissing incomprehensibly.

“An angel taking on the appearance of an angel? Something… … seems like the order is reversed.”

“I understand that you have been to Urbansus several times. So you know that the chronological order is not important, right?”

“… … .”

In fact, the place where angels are mainly active is not the present, but Urbansus. Even now, in Urbansus, the angels are fiercely fighting, fighting to fix or change the current history.

That is why the angels cannot continue to focus only on the present.

Isaac knew what Tukhalin meant. Those angels were probably not just the Code of Light, but the combined efforts of almost all the faiths to imprison something.

At least the world’s furnace had clearly intervened.

“What’s down there?”

At this point, Isaac had a rough idea of ​​the answer, but he asked a question just to confirm.

“That’s why I said I would decide whether or not to join the war based on your answer.”

Tukhalin stared at Isaac with gloomy eyes.

“Do you know why the gods have imprisoned the nameless corpse of Chaos deep beneath the earth? Do you, the sole heir to his legacy, dream of the resurrection of Chaos that sleeps deep beneath the earth?”

***

Isaac Isaacrea is a Knight of the Code of Light. That’s what he is known for on the surface.

But in reality, he is a believer, apostle, pope, and representative of the nameless chaos. He is the only being in the world who is permitted to share the power of nameless chaos and carry out his will.

But to be more precise, Isaac is an atheist. It’s not that he doesn’t believe there is a god, but he thinks there is no need to depend on a god.

“no.”

Isaac looked at Tukhalin as if he found it absurd.

“It is true that the nameless chaos is giving me power. Sometimes, even I, who use that power, feel like a monster. However, I cannot stand seeing the monsters of chaos running wild in the world. Can’t you see that from the fact that I insist on belonging to the Code of Light?”

Isaac was of the opinion that, however obnoxious and unpalatable the Code of Light was, it was better than the warmongers, hermits, plutocrats, pirates, vampires, skeletons, and looters.

Of course, the Code of Light has also recently been veering into the realm of madness.

So Isaac also tries to conquer the Holy Land on his own, thinking that he has to do something.

But the aforementioned ones were comparatively better than the tentacle monsters that eat people. That was an unchanging and unwavering belief.

Tukhalin did not respond to Isaac’s question.

Frankly, it was suspicious. If Isaac wasn’t helping the nameless Chaos resurrect, then why on earth would Chaos give him power? Because he’s dead and has more time? Or is he just Chaos and doesn’t have a reason?

‘Hmm, that sounds plausible.’

If chaos had a reason, it would be stranger. Just as it is possible to love without a reason, it is possible that he killed all the believers because he hated them without a reason. However, for now, from the position of being loved, he thought that it would be good if there was some reason.

“I didn’t even know that what was buried beneath me was a nameless chaos. But is that even possible? I never thought that a nameless chaos could be something with a form. And burying a god and sealing it away.”

“Nameless chaos is not like that… … .”

Tukhalin was about to say something, but he closed his mouth when he heard a hissing sound coming from the stove. Soon, he thought the timing of his closing his mouth was awkward and began to explain again.

“The Archangels aren’t there to defeat anything, they’re there to act as a kind of lid. They’re there with their strong bodies and divinity to ‘keep’ what’s underneath from leaking out.”

“Is that the nameless chaos?”

“I can’t find an exact expression in the language of the living. To be precise, they are maggots swarming in the nameless corpses of chaos… … Something like that. Insects that have grown by devouring the flesh and marrow of chaos.”

Isaac suddenly had an image in his mind. Those who offered sacrifices and transformed into monsters or sang of destruction. The worshippers of the nameless chaos. And the man in yellow standing on top of the pyramid.

It was an image that was unforgettable even after a long time.

It came to mind again when Tukhalin described it as ‘a swarm of insects on the corpse of chaos’.

Tukhalin stared blankly at Isaac as he seemed to remember something.

He muttered in a passing tone.

“You must have some understanding of the secrets of divinity. Let me tell you from the perspective of someone who serves and cares for the gods who will be born in the future. Do you think that gods can rule over humans?”

“… … Isn’t it?”

I don’t know about the impersonal gods, but the personal gods Elil, Muhi, Olkan, and Beshek certainly convey their will to the believers. No, even the impersonal gods clearly show their will by appointing someone as an angel and dethroning him. No human being dares to oppose their overwhelming power.

But Tukhalin shook his head.

“People are just mistaken about their great power. The gods are more easily manipulated by their followers than anyone else. In fact, they even disguise their authority and power to prevent the angels from being arbitrarily dragged along.”

The gods are the order of Urbanus itself. However, what makes Urbanus is the faith that each individual human being has gathered together.

God is merely a representative of the unified will and a being who can project power on behalf of humans.

“Nameless Chaos is a belief as old as the Code of Light, or perhaps even older than the Code of Light. The incomprehensible, the unknown, the awe, the darkness, beyond the horizon… … All that is unknowable is given the name of Nameless Chaos. People called what they could understand the Providence of the Code of Light, and they considered what they could not understand to be the realm of Chaos.”

The stove hissed and made a sound of air escaping.

Isaac could tell that Tukhalin was merely repeating the Thundersmith’s words. The world’s greatest warrior was acting as a mere messenger, but he was doing his job humbly.

“The Age of Light began, and as time passed, all lands and seas except the Outer Realm were developed. Under the Code of Light, fixed and unchanging rules were to be inscribed upon all the worlds. However… … some did not like this ‘heaven to come.’”

“Can you not like heaven?”

“Let me put it this way. I am a rich man who commands thousands of people by the tip of my chin, and you are my toilet cleaner. Let’s assume that the world will remain fixed in that state forever. Can you accept that?”

“… … Ah, you’re willing to burn down your house. So?”

“Those who wished to burn their homes found an unknown fear in the name of chaos. There is no power as strong and limitless as the fear of the unknown. It is a power that even they themselves do not know what will happen to them, and what destruction it will bring, but at least they thought it was better than what they have now.”

Isaac suddenly remembered that Tukhalin must have been at least 400 years old. This was when the nameless cult of chaos still ran rampant in the world. He must have seen the followers of chaos with his own eyes.

“And by them chaos began to be powerfully polluted.”

Tukhalin spoke decisively, but Isaac had a hard time accepting it right away.

‘Is it possible for God to be so easily corrupted?’

I had a feeling that there was something Tukhalin was hiding, or that there were mysterious circumstances that he couldn’t figure out. But I didn’t plan on interrupting him right away, and just listened quietly.

“I don’t know if the Nameless Chaos liked the process. But it’s not a very positive result considering they ended up killing all the believers. Death is also an unknown area, so it may have been just what they wanted. But there is a little-known fact.”

Tukhalin raised his finger and pointed at Isaac.

“An angel who belonged to the Code of Light helped him commit spiritual suicide. I don’t know why or under what circumstances, but the angel did it despite the lighthouse keeper’s orders.”

Isaac thought of an angel at Tukhalin’s words. The candidates were too narrow to begin with to think of several madmen who would do such an outrageous thing.

“The name was White Owl.”

Tukhalin looked around and muttered.

“This is where she helped euthanize the Nameless Chaos. There is no greater holy place for the followers of Nameless Chaos. The gods sealed the Urbanus hole here so that the worms would not escape.”

***

Long, long ago, this land was called Hendrock Estate.

This was just a small, rural area with nothing much to see, but the former lord, Lishen Hendrock, and the saint of swords, Karlsen Milter, who had come on a mission, had great ambitions.

A plan to create a new god and gain independence from the empire at the same time, which sounds like nothing more than a madman’s delusion. As expected, the attempt failed, and Carlsen hurriedly defected to the Immortal Church and became its stooge.

This is the official history that Isaac has discovered.

In Isaac’s new history, Carlsen disappeared, or rather, he stayed in Isaac’s stomach for a long time. If Carlsen is not a being that can be resurrected from poop, then he will never appear in history again.

By the way, Isaac, who has the ‘Dead God’s Guts’ ability, does not go to the bathroom. It is a miracle that suits his beauty. Therefore, there is no reason for Carlsen to come back to life in the bathroom.

But Isaac learned something new today.

‘It wasn’t such a far-fetched imagination.’

The Holy Land is a place with a deep connection to Urbanus.

In other words, it is a place where the boundary between Urbanus and reality is vague.

Carlsen Milter, or rather the Archangel who had clearly incited him, was probably trying to use the divinity of this place to make him a god who could replace the nameless chaos.

It must have been the work of a lighthouse keeper who hated nameless chaos, but either way, the plan failed. This time, they didn’t even try.

Thinking back to this point, Isaac could understand why Tukhalin was wary of him.

Tukhalin doesn’t know Carlsen, but he suspects that Isaac is trying to become like Carlsen.

[Serial] The Knight of the Dead God