Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 298



Only Krnovel

Episode 298. On the other side of the scale (5)

All Isaac knows about the Hand of Midas is that it is a sacred object that has the power to turn everything it touches into gold. Isaac still remembers what happened when he got the Hand of Midas. He became the agent of the golden idol, and the whole world was dyed in gold.

However, Leonora pointed out that this fact was ‘misunderstood’.

So Isaac answered firmly.

“If you are mistaken, then you are mistaken.”

Where Leonora may have gotten her knowledge, Isaac knows it firsthand. How dare he refute it?

But Leonora answered confidently.

“If there is a relic that produces gold, the Golden Idol Clan will be the first to come forward and destroy it by any means necessary. Think about it. If there is a relic that mass-produces gold somewhere in the world, what will happen to the value of gold?”

“that is…….”

Leonora continued speaking without giving Isaac a chance to respond.

“The price will plummet and the gold you have will be treated like sand. No, sand will be more valuable. As far as I know, there is no relic that can create sand. If that happens, wouldn’t the gold idol group that currently has the most gold go bankrupt?”

“……yes.”

“Why would we waste time and money looking for something like that?”

This was the question Isaac wanted to ask.

The saying, “You have to get that to win” doesn’t work. In the game, that’s the ending, but in this world, life continues on after that.

It meant that there was something in Midas’s hands that was more than enough to overwhelm other faiths.

“Then what is the identity of the Hand of Midas?”

Leonora smiled at Isaac’s question.

“Would you like to join the top ranks of the Golden Idol?”

“what?”

“The knowledge I am about to share with you is information that only the Inner Circle of the Golden Idol, the highest of its kind, can know. If you are Sir Isaacrea, you will have no shortage of it. If you join, I will tell you immediately.”

[Nameless chaos watches you.]

A warning followed, as if they were saying they would wait and see. Of course, I had no intention of joining, but I was shocked to see even the nameless chaos reacting like this.

Isaac bared his teeth and scattered Cachulain.

“Okay. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll take Angela.”

“Umm, this is difficult… … .”

Leonora bit her nails and looked at Isaac with longing eyes. The being she never wanted to be an enemy of was confronting her with the being she could never yield to.

Leonora was not at all pleased with this situation.

“Grail Knight, please don’t do that and cooperate with me. If you just join my hand, the Golden Idol Group can send the Isacrea Dawn Army on an expedition with much more plentiful and solid equipment.”

“No need.”

“Please think about it a little more and answer. What does it mean to receive support from the Golden Idol? More abundant supplies mean a more successful and comfortable expedition, and fewer casualties. Shouldn’t we send at least one more young man back with his limbs intact?”

“… … .”

“Is it okay for all those orphans, widows, and orphaned children to cry because of one child who is not right in front of them? Isn’t that hypocrisy?”

Leonora sensed Isaac’s sensitive spots and whispered seductively.

Isaac never considered himself a kind person, but he did feel guilty about the people he had dragged into war for his own purposes. It was Isaac’s duty to send at least one of those people back home unharmed.

Do you save the child in front of you, or do you safely return the parents to children who might have lost their parents somewhere?

‘Here we go again… … .’

Isaac felt his nerves tense at the familiar conflict.

Leonora is always like this. She forces easy choices with obvious answers, but ends up moving the subject in the direction she wants.

The annoying thing is that sometimes what she says actually sounds right.

Isaac’s inner self began to fester and his conflicts began to deepen. At best, he was just a girl, a girl whose real name he did not know and with whom he had no deep connection.

If we just give up that child, we can send back the countless soldiers who believed in and followed Isaac in good health.

“I am…….”

But then something happened that shook Isaac’s heart.

[Nameless chaos watches you.]

[Nameless Chaos wants you to ‘take Angela to the Holy Land Lua’.]

[The rewards of chaos await you.]

***

“Knight of the Holy Grail?”

When Isaac, who was about to say something, was just staring blankly into space, Leonora spoke to him suspiciously. However, Isaac stared blankly into space for a while before bursting into laughter.

Leonora was worried that Isaac might suddenly go crazy and start swinging his sword, but fortunately that didn’t happen.

‘Has the Nameless Chaos ever offered a mission for someone else?’

I’ve only ever been given missions for Isaac, or for the sake of the nameless chaos. This was my first mission to protect someone, and it could be a very long-term mission.

Isaac had no illusions that the nameless chaos had suddenly made him feel warm-hearted.

This was a mission for Isaac’s inner self.

Isaac stopped laughing and looked at Leonora.

“Hmm, the revelation has come down. I can’t help it. I really wanted to hear your advice for my soldiers, but I have no choice but to take Angela with me. I’m really confused and don’t know what to do.”

Isaac had refused to accept any nameless instructions from Chaos at any time up until this point.

But this time, I didn’t feel like refusing at all.

“timing?”

Leonora’s face distorted.

She clicked her tongue, as if she understood Isaac’s agitated reaction.

“These gods are no help at all… … Huhpis!”

Leonora took out the holy relic she had prepared in case of an emergency from her bosom. The moment the golden scroll opened with a snap, golden threads spread out in waves.

Isaac realized that Leonora was trying to summon the divine beast using the holy relic.

‘Herpes? Is that the happy cat Herpes? You’ve summoned a troublemaker.’

The rush of golden threads pushed Isaac forward with a force almost like a flood. At one point, the golden threads gathered into a single mass and transformed into a giant golden cat with six legs.

As expected of an efficient person, Leonora immediately got on the carriage and started running away as soon as she summoned Herpis. The coachman immediately ran away furiously in the opposite direction, towards Lenheim.

As soon as Isaac moved to follow, Herpis struck Isaac down with one of his six legs.

Bang! It was just a cat’s soft body, but it was the paw of a cat that was dozens of tons long and dozens of meters long, so the mark left on the ground was terrible. As Isaac remained still, Herpis looked at him with interest and lifted and lowered his front paw.

Isaac suddenly realized that he had become like a rat and smiled in vain.

“meow?”

Isaac tried to talk, but in cat language it might have meant something like ‘pounce’. Herpis made a sharp noise and extended his claws to scratch Isaac.

Isaac immediately struck the claws away with Cachulain, but the weight alone caused a massive impact that struck Isaac.

Herpis’s attacks didn’t stop there. When the guy couldn’t get through his attacks, he started shaking his body. Then, a huge amount of hair… no, countless golden threads spread out and covered Isaac.

Isaac swung his sword in a hurry to strike, but instead of being cut, he only felt a gentle push as if a feather had been struck. When he raised his sword energy, it was barely enough to cut.

However, the sensation in the area that had touched the hair began to gradually become numb, and even the sense of caution and tension toward the herpes began to fade. Naturally, even the blackness subsided.

The thread had the ability to absorb the target’s murderous intent and anger.

It was the polar opposite of Isaac’s swordsmanship, which was full of life energy.

‘You neutralized the sword? That’s ridiculous.’

Herpis is a divine beast that is summoned primarily to subdue its target rather than kill it. Of course, like a cat, it will beat it until it is about to die, and if it is a really difficult target, it will bite it to death, but it basically ‘plays with it’ and then subdues it.

But Isaac had no intention of remaining a quiet, captive mouse.

“Let’s see whose hair is shaggier?”

Isaac muttered nonsense and showed off his newfound powers.

The moment the ‘Hidden Ritual’ was activated, a curtain of chaos gently enveloped the area.

***

Herpes didn’t notice the change right away.

It was because it was the middle of the night and I couldn’t perceive the darkness very well.

But soon the stars in the night sky, the refreshing smell of the forest, and the chirping of owls disappeared, and were replaced by a lukewarm, sticky air.

More than anything, the sense of connection with Urbansus had disappeared.

Soon an unpleasant sensation came over me.

It was a similar feeling to falling into water.

As soon as he realized that, Herpis jumped up as if in a fit of convulsion. The countless threads he had been wielding rippled and scattered in all directions.

Isaac took advantage of the gap and escaped, looking at the rampaging Herpis.

It was a shame that he had told his followers not to harass animals, but ended up doing this himself.

‘If you think about it, Herpes has six legs, so isn’t it closer to an insect than an animal?’

When I thought about it that way, it made sense. It was good to brace myself like this when I thought about the terrible things I was going to do from now on.

At least this seemed like a better way to go than trying to cut the herpes that wouldn’t even cut well with a kachulainn.

Isaac raised both his hands and took the form of trapping the herp in them.

“The Hand of Chaos.”

Soon, tentacles, the hand of nameless chaos, began to extend from the darkness. What started out as one or two tentacles began to grow longer and longer.

This battle was more like an experiment for Isaac. How far can the miracle of chaos be unleashed in the space filled with color beyond, and how powerful can it become?

The cat in the box was enough of a power experiment to see if it would be alive or dead when the curtain was broken again.

As expected, the tentacles extended out smoothly as if they were inside his body, even though they were not necessarily his hands or feet. To be exact, it seemed as if the colors beyond had become Isaac’s hands and feet. Within this, Isaac could freely pour out miracles and prey on his opponents.

Herpis noticed the anomaly and started to convulse, slapping the tentacles away. However, as their number increased, more and more tentacles began to wrap around the creature’s limbs.

Soon a terrible scream rang out.

***

Leonora looked out the window of the moving carriage several times to look behind her. The coachman told her not to do so because it was dangerous, but she couldn’t do it.

Herpis had never let her down so far, but she had never used it against a Grail Knight who could even defeat an angel.

Kurrururur… … Thud!

At that moment, a dull sound echoed through the running carriage.

The coachman quickly drew his sword and swung it in shock, but with a pain that felt like his wrist was breaking, the sword disappeared somewhere in the forest.

“Stop the carriage. You don’t want to get stranded in the forest.”

Isaac, who was on the roof of the carriage, looked down with a cold face and said, “How on earth did you chase me?”

The coachman gritted his teeth and had no choice but to stop the carriage. Isaac came down from the roof and tore open the door, revealing Leonora biting her lip.

Isaac reached out and put his hand down to Angela without even looking at her.

Leonora muttered as she looked at the sight.

“No amount of coaxing or threats will work on you.”

“No. Persuasion sometimes works. Especially when bribery is involved.”

Leonora thought Isaac was making a lame joke, but Isaac was serious.

If the nameless chaos hadn’t presented the mission, it was hard to be sure where his mind would have wandered.

“Did you kill Herpes?”

“no.”

Isaac threw the tattered scroll at her.

“But he must be stressed because some of his hair was pulled out. Provide him with a dark place and feed him wet food.”

“What on earth are you talking about… … .”

Before Leonora could finish her words, Isaac grabbed her cheek. At the same time, golden hairs sprouted from Isaac’s hand and embedded themselves into Leonora’s skin.

It was a privilege gained from eating a lot of Herpes’ fur.

[‘Happy Cat, Herpis’ Hair (A)’ has been preyed upon.]

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

[You have acquired the ‘Anger Reduction (Temporary)’ perk.]

[Temporary privileges remain as blessings until they are digested.]

Isaac felt Leonora’s fighting spirit subsiding and whispered quietly to her.

“Just calm down for a while. Please.”