Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 347



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Episode 347. The Sea of ​​Nightmares (9)

[Thank you, Isaac… … but you weren’t expecting me to be on your side, were you?]

Of course, Isaac’s bringing Horace back to his senses did not lead to his victory.

Now that Horace is undead, the dead December can exert influence over him again at any time. If Horace does not confront Isaac here, he will be branded an ‘apostate’, stripped of all willpower and made a slave until he is forgiven.

Any faith is not tolerant of apostates.

And above all, I had no intention of doing that to Horace.

[Apostasy is more than once in a lifetime. I already broke my oath to the Salt Council by joining the Undead Cult. Not twice.]

Since he is no longer a member of the Salt Council, he does not need to be obsessed with the idea that he cannot lie or break his oath. The fact that he lied so calmly when he first met Isaac proved this.

But even so, Horace seemed unwilling to apostatize.

It was also impossible since he was already undead.

“I’m not telling you to apostatize.”

[then?]

“It means to defeat with honor. It means to feel that you are inferior to your opponent, and to feel resentful of the passing years or the indifference of God, but to pretend to surrender calmly so as not to show your ugly side.”

Horace looked at it as if it were no different from apostasy, but he soon noticed the difference.

He stared at Isaac for a moment as if he was at a loss for words, then opened his mouth.

[You want me to turn the boat over?]

“The spoils belong to the victor. Elril even believes it is a sacred procedure.”

Horace stared silently at the stormy horizon.

If he were to let this ship run aground instead of handing it over, Isaac would have no way of getting to Mirmia through the storm. Then Isaac would either have to turn back, or he would arrive as a slain man like the Seventh Dawn.

Would it be possible to pass through the salt desert like that?

Horace remembered that the 7th Dawn Army’s spirit and sense of duty were no less than Isaac’s. Even if Isaac did not break, his surroundings would be different.

Horace didn’t want that.

He let out a mental laugh, then put down the wheel and drew his cutlass.

[How dare you try to take the ship from me! Kill me instead, the captain won’t leave the ship!]

Isaac couldn’t help but laugh.

I didn’t have the strength to lift a finger, but I had to keep up the pace now. The captain of the Salt Council could never just give up his ship.

***

As Horace’s ghost ship came to a halt, Aidan and Yenkos’ ship also slowly approached. They had already expected the result, but there was no one on Horace’s ship, which was strangely quiet. Tukhalin jumped up on the ghost ship, which was unusual for his short body.

“Isaac!”

The ghost ship was as quiet as a graveyard.

Tukhalin had a bad feeling about something. He felt the urge to smash the ship with a hammer right away, but he knew that if he did, the storm around him would come crashing down.

“Where is the Grail Knight? And Captain Horace?”

Aidan and Yenkos also boarded the ship. As they were about to enter the hull to find Isaac, bubbles suddenly began to form around the ship.

Soon, one by one, ghost ships began to appear, slicing through the rough waves. Even the ghost ships that had been caught in the whirlpool and sunk or were destroyed had recovered their shape and regained their original form, albeit clumsily.

Tukhalin snarled and raised his hammer to smash the ghost ships. Suddenly, the cabin door opened and Isaac appeared, holding a skull in his hand, wrapped in the colors of the beyond.

Isaac looked at the captains and Tukhalin who had boarded the ship with a blank expression.

“What are you doing?”

“Isaac! We found you stuck… … What were you doing there?”

“Ah, I was explaining to the Orca fleet that the admiral has changed and going through the certification process. The ghosts that operate the ghost ships are docile and obedient. It seems that they have been ‘enslaved’ without any particular self.”

Then Isaac noticed the hammer that Tukhalin had lifted and the ghost ships rising up around it and said.

“Don’t worry, there are no undead.”

Isaac threw all the undead on the ship into the sea. It was unclear how they would survive in the deep sea, their egos worn out and their wills weakened. They wanted to go home, so they might walk. They were now under the control of the Undead Cult, so he could not take care of them.

Anyway, their name ended in Mirmia 180 years ago.

Aidan’s mouth opened wide at Isaac’s words.

“Sir, you mean… … you subjugated Captain Horace’s Orca fleet and the 7th Dawn Army?”

“To be exact, it’s just a boat.”

It was an unprecedented feat and loot, but Isaac spoke calmly.

Anyway, the ghost ship is useless after passing through this sea. If you drag it to the area of ​​the Light Code, it will be burned immediately, and the Holy Land Lua is deep inland, even among the inland areas. So it didn’t really feel like a place to go.

Isaac could not secure the undead that had secured their ego, let alone the enslaved undead, because they belonged to the Immortal Emperor.

But the ghost ships were, to be precise, closer to relics. They were ready to move in accordance with the will of the ‘captain’. And the key to that is the head containing the soul of the previous captain.

“This is Captain Horace. He finally agreed to give me my ship after losing to me.”

Aidan looked at the skull Isaac was holding with astonishment.

“Is that Captain Horace’s skull?”

“Yes. But now I have lost my ego.”

The surrender of the fleet was not an apostasy, but a ‘defeat and taking’, Horace had room to argue.

But still, his punishment was set. Horace’s soul was now imprisoned in this little skull, without a self.

Now, it was like a sacred relic that moved the Orca fleet.

Isaac spoke as if it were no big deal, but of course the Salt Council, Aidan and Yenkos, were different. He stared at Captain Horace as if he was going to lick his skull.

Isaac hid Horace’s skull behind his back before they could say anything like ‘it’s mine if you lick it’.

Tukhalin looked at the skull with a trembling expression and thought, ‘Isn’t it a bit rich to use the remains of the dead to move the soul? Is it heresy or not?’ However, he soon put his complicated worries aside and decided, like a master of the world’s furnaces, that he had acquired a ‘useful tool.’

“Okay. What do we do now?”

“How do I do that?”

Isaac lifted Horace’s skull. Then, all at once, the Orca fleet turned north, toward the Isacrea fleet that was waiting outside the storm for their return.

“We must bring our friends and reclaim the Holy Land this time.”

***

The father is the first wall and competitor that the son encounters. The son learns frustration and authority from his father and grows up. And the moment he finally defeats his father, the son is finally ready to become a true father.

However, it becomes subtle in the Olkan discipline of repeated reincarnation.

Most orcs have ambiguous paternal lineage. Therefore, tribal societies form matriarchal societies with clear lineage.

But it is different when you become part of the most honorable raiders, the Khan’s army. The Khan is the one and only father and symbol of authority. When the orcs see the Khan, they learn the concept of father, however insufficient. However, Keshik of the Olkan Discipline, Atlan, is rare in that he knows exactly who his father is.

His father is the current Khan, Sahul Khan.

[Atlanta, look ahead.]

At the sound of the voice of the living, Atlan raised his head and stared at his father, Sahullan Khan, standing on the other side of the plain. Sahullan had become noticeably thinner since the last defeat in the Isacre territory. As he appeared less frequently on the battlefield, the progress of the Great Depredation also slowed down.

It was unclear whether it was the shock of defeat or the shock of his beloved horse dying. However, the orcs were already whispering among themselves.

Sahul Khan can no longer shoot the Netherworld.

[I don’t know what the Hwangcheon is thinking. The only authority to choose a Khan is the Hwangcheon. However, it is true that no one has seen Sahul Khan shoot the Hwangcheon since he was defeated by Lord Isacrea. Do you know what I mean?]

“yes.”

[Go and kill Sahul Khan. If he can’t shoot the Nether, the next Khan is yours.]

Mansengja calmly told him to kill the supreme leader of the Olkan Discipline.

It wasn’t a shocking statement. The Olkan discipline originally replaced the Khans in that manner. Most Khans would voluntarily step down by committing suicide when they could no longer shoot the Nether, but there were Khans who couldn’t do that.

Sahullan was also likely to do so.

“What if he can still shoot the netherworld?”

It’s just a question, but I wanted to hear it from the mouth of the person who created it.

[You must die. But even if you die, die looking ahead. That is the only choice you have, even though you were Keshik and disobeyed Khan’s orders.]

It was a fact that most of the orcs knew that Atlan was secretly taking a different path from Sahulan. The only reason Atlan was not assassinated or executed right away was because the Mansangja cared for him.

Atlan sighed and scratched the ground with his forelegs.

The ground is soft and undulating. It is not good terrain for running. If Sahullan were to shoot the nether, it would be more than enough to shoot twice. Atlan was not confident that he could avoid the nether twice and kill Sahullan.

I just hope it doesn’t get launched.

[good.]

Atlan’s giant body leaped forward as if it was being bounced. Kwadududu! It was a speed that was not slow compared to the speed of the arrow.

Sahullan nimbly lifted the netherworld. His arms, which had looked old and wrinkled, bulged with muscle that did not match his age. The bowstring, which had an iron bar, tensed. Atlan gritted his teeth.

The distance was half. Even though the distance had been shortened to a distance where he could only shoot one shot, Sahullan did not let go of the bowstring, perhaps because he wanted to wait for a more certain opportunity or to get closer.

Atlan shouted and charged straight towards the target of the underworld.

A distance where you can see each other’s facial expressions.

Distance enough to look into each other’s eyes.

The moment when, just by releasing the bowstring, the arrow reached a distance that could pierce Atlan’s body.

Atlan’s curved blade split Sahullan’s shoulders and forehead in an instant.

“… … !”

Sahullan let out a short groan and sat down. The taut bowstring slipped out of his hand, but the arrow did not fly even a step, let alone being fired. There were many eyes watching around, but there were no voices of shock or anger.

“… …O Olkan, I have finished my wanderings and am returning to the yellow fields you have prepared.”

Khan, who was kneeling, raised his head and continued praying silently.

“But anywhere without my word cannot be my heaven… … .”

After making his short will, Sahullan let out all the breath in his body. That was all he had left to say. He had no advice or anger left for Atlan, who would become Khan.

And soon the Netherworld that fell to the ground absorbed all of his breath and glowed with a soft yellow color. Like all Khans of the past, when the Khan dies, he is not reincarnated but absorbed into the Netherworld. In this way, he grants strength and wisdom to the Khan who holds the Netherworld in the future.

Atlan let out a deep breath and thought back to what Sahullan had said.

‘Do you still have regrets about living, knowing that you are not worthy of being a Khan, because you do not want to go to a world without your mother? Are you trying to find a way to go to the afterlife that other religions talk about?’

To the Olkan Discipline, Urbanus is simply a place to plunder faith and wisdom. There may be an image of enjoying the glory of plundering shoulder to shoulder with Olkan, but there is no idea that it is a place of spiritual rest.

Because the real value to them lies in this land.

That is, Sahul Khan, who was absorbed into the underworld, cannot meet the horse he loved even after death.

Because the horse that was Sahullan’s lover and Atlan’s mother must have gone to another heaven.

Then someone came and wiped the blood on Atlan’s body with a towel. It was Teherma, the general shaman who assisted Sahullan. He wrapped a yellow blanket and a rosary around Atlan’s shoulders and muttered a prayer.

Only then did Atlan look around. All the orcs were prostrating themselves before him and worshipping the birth of the new Khan. Atlan felt a complex emotion. Then, the Mansaengja whispered.

[Enter the underworld.]

Atlan did as he was told and lifted the netherworld.

[Now, as Khan, order your first raid. Shoot the netherworld in the direction you wish.]

Although it is called plunder, it means deciding the direction of state administration.

For nomads, ‘which direction to move’ is always an important question, because the life or death of the clan depends on that direction.

If Atlan shoots the netherworld towards the west, it means he will continue his ‘Great Depredation’, but if he shoots it towards the east, it means he will return to his homeland, the plains of Man Sahar. Either way, it will not be an easy path.

Atlan thought of one person in the meantime.

Isaac Isaacrea. A Grail Knight. The one who brought defeat to him and Khan’s army.

Atlan thought for a moment and then lightly tapped the netherworld.

The great longbow, the Yellow Heaven, is difficult to lift even if you are not Khan. Pulling the bowstring is even more impossible. However, as soon as Atlan lifted the Yellow Heaven and pulled it lightly, it bent like a flexible reed. He could feel the power contained in the empty bowstring.

The orcs opened their eyes wide in that direction.

Boom! The moment the bowstring was released, a loud noise was heard and a shining shaft drew a parabolic curve toward the sky.

The orcs stared at the receding light, then looked around anxiously. They were worried that the new Khan might be lacking in direction when Atlan spoke reassuringly.

“Going south.”

South. The land where the Code of Light and the Undead Cult clash.

The place where the Holy Land Lua is located.

It was the moment when the new direction of the great plunder of the Olkan discipline was decided.