Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 342



Only Krnovel

Episode 342. The Sea of ​​Nightmares (4)

Choa… … .

There was no commotion. Even the sound of the waves was the same as before. There was no gunfire or shouting, just an unpleasantly thick, sticky fog that enveloped the surroundings.

Even the sailors on Aidan’s ship looked around with bated breath.

Beyond the gray-white fog, all that was visible were strange ships. The Salt Council sailors shuddered at the thought of these ships appearing silently and surrounding them. If they had wanted to attack, they could have done so at any time.

Without a chance to ask for help or run away.

I could see how the ships that did not return from Nightmare Strait met their end.

Then Isaac approached the railing with footsteps.

The sailors came to their senses and looked at Isaac, who was moving alone and making noise. Isaac calmly headed toward the nearest warship. The skull of the ghost ship captain was still hanging on the end of the Ruaddin key he was holding.

“hey!”

The sailors were immersed in a sense of unreality at the sound that sounded like a friend calling them.

Is this someone Isaac knows? Or is there actually a spy planted here?

But when the sailors saw the ship approaching through the fog, they felt that all their hopes were being dashed.

The approaching ship was adorned with the symbols of the Code of Light and the wave pattern symbolizing the 7th Dawn Army. Like other ghost ships, the hull and flags were neatly maintained, belying the fact that it had been under the sea for a long time.

The railing was decorated with skeletons, hanging in abundance, which made a loud rattling sound whenever the wind blew. There were barnacles embedded in each of the skeletons, and crabs and crayfish crawled among the seaweed wrapped around their bodies.

“Hey, is anyone here?”

But Isaac spoke as if he had not seen anything. While the sailors were trembling in fear that the skeletons would pour down at any moment, they felt a presence beyond the railing of the ghost ship.

[What kind of guy is this?]

A characteristic undead wave flowed from inside the skull. Isaac lifted the captain’s skull and shouted.

“Count Isaac Isacre, Lord of Isacre, Knight of the Holy Grail, Saint of Resurrection, Champion of Elril, Dreamer… … and more.”

[Huh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that braggart. I don’t know that kind of guy.]

“You don’t have to know. Anyway, I’m going to pass by here, so I need you to show me the way.”

The other person fell into silence for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words, as if he was demanding something obvious. After a while, a different voice was heard, as if the person had changed. It was a more serious and weighty voice.

[Why here? To die?]

“Captain? I am on my way to reclaim the Holy Land, Lua. I am on my way to finish the work you left unfinished, so be grateful. That’s enough greetings.”

The Salt Council sailors felt like they wanted to silence Isaac. While the sailors questioned Isaac’s sanity, a quiet, joyful mental wave flowed from inside the Ghost Ship.

The undead began to laugh. Even the skeletons hanging from the railings began to clank and laugh.

[Hahahahaha!]

The sailors were shocked to find that each and every one of the hanging skeletons, which they thought were for decoration, were living undead (although they were confused as to whether this was the correct term). Then, an undead dressed as a captain appeared over the railing of the ghost ship. He struck the skulls of the hanging skeletons with his club and shattered them in one blow.

[Don’t laugh! You deserters! You don’t deserve to laugh at that!]

Only then did the laughter of the skeletons hanging from the railing die down.

The captain looked down at Isaac from the railing and asked a question.

[What’s your name?]

“Isaac. Isaac Isaacrea.”

[I am Captain Horace Cashow.]

The Salt Council sailors began to murmur again at the Undead Captain’s words.

“Horace? The legendary pirate captain?”

“Was it true that the rumors that you were offered the role of guiding the 7th Dawn Army in exchange for being exempted from the death penalty… …?”

Since then, there have been rumors that he has pillaged all seven faiths except for the Salt Council, that he is the only one who has breached the Nightmare Strait, and that he has been designated as an Angel of Honor, but Isaac has not paid any attention to them.

The Salt Council fell, but a hero was born. Horace was a plunderer and explorer who deserved the title of hero. If only half of his legendary achievements were true, he would certainly have been named a great angel.

But in the current situation where God is trapped under the salt desert, it is just a meaningless guess. Especially since he himself has already become undead.

***

[Isaac Isaacrea. I remember the name. What do you mean, unfinished business? We haven’t given up on the Dawn Army yet. Our Orca fleet is still intact. In fact, its numbers have increased. It’s just been delayed a bit by the storm.]

“Usually, if 180 years have passed since the expedition was sent, it is usually considered a failure. Now, it is already the 13th Dawn Army.”

[180 years? Has it already been that long?]

“Yeah. That’s about it.”

[180 years is not that much of a deal. Would a thousand years be a big deal for the sake of the gods’ plan?]

Horace answered shamelessly. Isaac snickered at Horace’s answer and then said sarcastically.

“By the way, Captain Horace. If the Dawn Army is still underway, where are the commander-in-chief and the knights who led the 7th Dawn Army? Duke Arezel Brandt was the commander-in-chief, and the White Eagle Knights were the main force?”

Horace, who had been responding to Isaac’s words as if they were laughable, said nothing for the first time. Isaac calmly looked around at the surrounding ships and continued talking.

“I am the commander-in-chief of the Isacrea Dawn Army, which leads one axis of the Dawn Army. No matter how much I think about it, I feel like it is not ‘appropriate’ to talk to a captain who is nothing more than a guide and a company officer.”

They say the captain is king at sea, but it’s different when it comes to the religiously colored Dawn Army. The captain ‘dare’ not to be the representative to talk to Isaac.

[They are each faithful to their respective roles.]

Horace answered with a smiling voice.

[Follow me and I’ll tell you, junior.]

The atmosphere aboard Horace’s ship began to grow tense.

Isaac gestured to Aidan, who had been watching from behind with bated breath. Aidan approached Isaac, his cutlass clutched tightly with a nervous expression.

“I had hoped, but you’re not in your right mind. I guess we can’t avoid the fight.”

Aidan’s expression turned pale.

“Why didn’t those guys attack from the beginning and instead surrounded us?”

“You probably wanted to gauge my level.”

“What’s the level?”

“I wonder if I should pray to the angel of the Immortal Church or not.”

Aidan’s expression turned pale.

Isaac was also trying to gauge Horace’s condition. He needed to know how crazy he was.

Like Isaac, Horace opened his mouth as if he had reached a conclusion.

[Isaac. This distant senior has only one suggestion.]

“what?”

[Be drafted or submit. Choose one of the two. That’s the only choice for your poor ship and her crew.]

To be conscripted is to become an undead slave without a sense of self and to serve forever, while to submit is to become an undead slave to Horace while retaining a sense of self.

Like the sailors of the countless ships surrounding this place now.

Instead of answering, Isaac spun the skull hanging on the Ruaddin Key around and threw it at Horace. The skull exploded with a loud bang the moment it touched Horace.

Inside the skull were many glowstones. These common relics that glowed intensely when struck were also available to the Salt Council sailors. The glowstones, soaked in the heat of the Ruaddin Key, were engulfed in heat and reacted violently when they were touched by the cold.

Horace was instantly engulfed in flames, but he did not fall down. Instead, he looked down at Isaac with pity, his blue eyes shining in the blazing flames.

‘I didn’t think I’d get hit, but oh well. It’s a bit disappointing.’

Anyway, the captain’s skull was just bait to attract more ghost ships. Isaac’s answer was appropriate, as the surrounding ghost ships began to move all at once. The flames that had engulfed Horace’s body instantly died down in the cold air, and a heavy command flowed out.

[Accept the new recruits.]

***

Kang, karang, kan!

A sharp noise was heard here and there on the ship. It was the sound of the crew of the ghost ship, which had come closer, putting hooks on the bow.

The number of enemies was far too great, but fortunately, there were only two places on this small ship that could be reached. The undead, lacking buoyancy, couldn’t swim, so there was no need to worry about them crawling up.

The second good news was that most of those ships did not carry whaling harpoons.

Cannons did not exist during the 7th Dawn Army, and there was a prejudice that whaling harpoons were only used by fishermen.

That is, the only way for the undead to take over the ship was to shoot arrows or engage in close combat.

“The hook! Break the hook!”

The sailors rushed to cut the grappling line, but they quickly hid behind the railing as arrows flew in. However, even in the midst of this, there were sailors who were unlucky enough to get hit by arrows. Even if they tried to fight back, the undead archers who shot from high up would have the advantage.

Then Isaac stepped forward.

Even the Orc archers of the Olkan Discipline, renowned for their sharpshooting skills, were rarely able to land a blow on Isaac. Isaac dashed along the railing, snapping all the hooks on the side of the ship. Skeletons who tried to clumsily cross fell into the deep sea.

Meanwhile, a few lucky skeletons managed to climb aboard the ship, only to find themselves surrounded by venomous Salt Council sailors.

The sailors immediately chopped up the skeleton soldiers into pieces.

‘It looks like you’re trying to win by just using your strength.’

Although Aidan’s ship was resisting quite well, they were absolutely at a disadvantage in terms of the number of men, ships, physical strength, and time. Both Isaac and Horace knew that this fierce resistance would only last a short time.

[Seize Captain Loan’s ship. Without a ship, they can’t escape.]

Now, if we tried to get out of Nightmare Strait without the Ghost Ship, it was obvious that we would get swept away by the storm.

So Horace decided that there was no need to take down Isaac head-on. It would be easier to just retrieve the ghost ship.

If Isaac happens to be in the favor of an angel, he might end up in an unpleasant situation.

Thud, thud! Skeleton soldiers jumped down onto the hull of the ghost ship that Isaac had seized. They were supposed to enter the hull, contact the spirit that resided on the ghost ship, and take over the control. However, the moment they opened the door of the hull, they were greeted by the colors of the dark beyond.

[What is this… …!]

The ‘colors from beyond’ that Isaac had already densely filled inside his stomach swelled up as if exploding.

In an instant, the colors that had enveloped the skeleton soldiers finally escaped outside the hull, pushing away the fog and taking its place.

The skeleton soldiers were not greatly disturbed by the bizarre visions and auditory hallucinations that scattered colors. They had long since overcome the fear of death.

But it wasn’t just illusions or hallucinations that lurked in the colors.

Isaac twisted his hands in a strange way as he watched Horace bring the ship closer to capture the ghost ship.

In the shape of Isaac’s hand, the Abyssal Grasp erupted out of the Ghost Ship. A swarm of crimson tentacles crushed Captain Loan’s ship, but instead wrapped themselves around Horace’s Ghost Ship.

The sailors’ nightmare has arrived on this sea.