Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 349



Only Krnovel

Episode 349. Salt Desert (2)

“… … Well, anyway, there is no way to break the salt desert other than believing in Isaac, the ‘dreamer’ mentioned in the prophecy.”

It was as if they had no choice but to trust Isaac, but it was true that the Salt Council members trusted Isaac. For now, that was enough. Even Aidan was loyal enough to keep his mouth shut despite witnessing Isaac’s unsightly appearance on several occasions.

“Just in case, we will wait here for about a week before leaving. If anything happens, please come back without hesitation. With the Orca fleet in our hands, the Nightmare Strait is no longer a threat.”

“I’m saying this just in case, but don’t even think about dragging that back to Port O’Drift.”

“Hey, of course.”

Yenkos patted Horace’s skull, grumbling, wondering if it would be decorated with gold leaf or something.

“Isaac, I’m ready.”

At that moment, Hesabel came walking quickly and reported that the main force had now all left, and only Isaac’s side was left.

The vanguard/reconnaissance was to be Elril, the lead was to be Tukhalin, the main force was to be the Isacrea Knights, and the rear was to be Isaac. It was a formation that prioritized speed as it was judged that there would be no organized attacks.

Isaac nodded and greeted Yenkos.

“Then let’s meet again later.”

“Yes. I would like to see it from the sea in front of Mirmia.”

***

Isaac flew through the sky on his Nell and scouted out the salt flats.

Hesabel was too vulnerable to the desert environment. The only thing she had left was her eyes, but eventually, the heat of the cursed sun scorched those eyes. In the end, she was wrapped in a cloth and carried away on a cart like a piece of luggage.

Isaac thought it was because Hesabel was a vampire, but when he actually flew on Nel, that wasn’t the case.

‘The reflection is no joke.’

The salt flats were relatively pale yellow, but even that alone reflected heat and light with great intensity. I thought that this must be what snow blindness is like when you look at the snow-covered plains of the North Pole for a long time. Even the cursed sun was rising in the direction you were walking, so it was difficult to turn your gaze and move.

‘The soldiers’ fatigue might be much worse than expected. Are they okay?’

Isaac carefully checked if there were any soldiers who were moving and falling behind. Thanks to his faithful thermal measures, there didn’t seem to be any at the moment. Isaac’s thermal measures were limited to covering his body with a cloth to block the heat and preparing plenty of drinking water. The salt desert had low humidity, so it was relatively tolerable as long as he blocked the sun.

And the prayers and hymns of the Knights of Isaac Crea were also included.

Isaac did not pray to the lighthouse keeper, who would not listen anyway. Instead, they prayed to cause light to scatter and reflect. The paladins were confused by the concept of ‘reflecting’ and ‘scattering’ light, which they should fully accept and embrace, but it was not an entirely unorthodox act.

There is no being that can completely withstand the brilliance and heat that emanates from Urbanus. It is a light that has been neutralized and softened many times through the hands of angels, popes, and priests. When applied to the cursed sun, it becomes a rather plausible ‘miracle of the sunshade’.

It wasn’t completely avoidable, but it was tolerable to a certain extent. Still, the radiant heat coming from the ground was unavoidable.

‘If there’s a side effect, it’s a side effect… … It’s so noticeable.’

Thanks to the radiance of the cursed sun, the main force of the Isacre Dawn Army, which included the Knights Templar, was a shining, jewel-like army that could be seen from several kilometers away. It seemed that monsters from all directions would swarm them.

But Isaac was more bothered by the sun than by the monster.

Because monsters can be killed anyway.

‘Even so, there are fewer monsters than I was worried about.’

As Elril’s army broke through, they found a few corpses of monsters that appeared to have been defeated, but no living monsters were seen.

Of course, it wasn’t that there were none at all. There was one guy who had been bothering Isaac since earlier.

On one side of the salt flats, but too far for Isaac to fly out and destroy, a monster was watching them.

Isaac didn’t let his guard down at the movements that seemed to be conscious of him while maintaining his distance. It’s a natural fact that someone with high intelligence is more difficult than someone who’s just strong.

“Kurrrrrr… … .”

At that moment, Nell made an irritating grumble. The intense heat was enough to tire even Nell, a dragon. Especially when he was exposed to the full sunlight from the sky, he couldn’t help but get tired. Isaac decided that it would be better to come down to the ground and rest, and then move when necessary.

‘I guess I’ll have to catch that guy and kill him when I get the chance.’

***

After walking for about half a day, soldiers who were starting to get tired of all the warm-up measures began to appear. The concentration of the people on guard had long since been blurred by the reflected light that hurt their eyes, the dizzying haze, and the horizon that made their sense of direction strange.

“Eww!”

And as if taking advantage of that let-down, screams erupted from the ranks.

One side of the salt flats was collapsing, sucking in soldiers. Rottenhammer shouted urgently as the edges of the funnel-shaped salt pit continued to collapse and widen.

“Step back! Paladins, forward!”

The knights leapt out quickly, ready to jump into the salt pits.

“He’s under the floor! Be careful!”

Isaac warned urgently. He had realized the bastard’s identity.

The monster, conveniently called the Desert Ghost after the ant ghost, buries itself under salt pits instead of deserts and preys on its unfortunate victims (usually other monsters) who pass by.

As befitting its nature of dragging prey into pits and devouring them, it can hunt even those stronger than itself within its territory. There was no need to jump into such pits. It would have been better to just hit them with a thunderbolt like Tukhalin.

But Tukhalin was too far away, and the desert ghosts would not stay still.

As the paladins hesitated at the edge, tentacles rose from the ground. Brown tentacles quickly grabbed the paladins by their ankles and pulled them inside. Only then did a huge maw appear inside the funnel.

It was like a flower made of a strange lump of flesh, inside and out. Instead of stamens, its gaping mouth was filled with teeth and a dry tongue. Underneath it, tentacles that seemed to have taken root crawled up, snatching victims who tried to escape and pulling them inside.

“this guy!”

However, the paladins swung their swords and cut off the tentacles in one go, as if they were paladins. Rottenhammer also jumped in without hesitation when the paladins dragged him in. Isaac didn’t stop him either.

“How dare such an unclean beast block the dawn army!”

Rottenhammer slid down helplessly, but he still continued to strike the tentacles with his hammer, tearing them apart. The hammer, engulfed in flames, burned the tentacles as soon as it touched them. Then, when he struck the ground hard with his hammer, the desert ghost writhened as if it felt the wave of heat and dug back into the ground.

Several soldiers still bound by the tentacles began to be dragged in by the frost. The paladins quickly rescued them, but three were still tied up. In an instant, Isaac jumped into the pit and immediately cut off two tentacles.

However, one person had already been sucked into the maw of the desert ghost. Just as a sigh of regret was about to escape, Isaac had already thrown himself into it.

“Isaac!”

Rottenhammer panicked and tried to tear the desert ghost apart with his hammer, but the desert ghost had already dug into the ground. As the salt pile blocked the hole, Rottenhammer looked down at the hole with a blank expression.

At that moment, the desert ghost fiercely surged forward with a loud thud. Its stomach stretched out longer than before, and its tentacles flailed as if in pain before collapsing and falling flat. Soon, the desert ghost’s stomach was cut open, and Isaac walked out with the dragged soldier.

“No, how can you have multiple lives?!”

Rottenhammer lost all sense of propriety and got angry. He was followed by nagging at him to learn more about the importance, symbolism, and authority of being the commander-in-chief, and what would happen to this alliance if he died.

Isaac answered shamelessly.

“Honestly, if you thought I was going to die like this, you wouldn’t have come with me.”

“no……!”

“I was confident that I could save this guy without dying. If I could save him but my weight prevented me from moving, it would be the same as killing him. Isn’t that the same thing with Sir Rottenhammer?”

Rottenhammer had nothing to say, so he just sighed deeply.

“I guess I’ll have to get a spare heart if I’m going to follow you around. I thought my heart was going to stop beating.”

Meanwhile, the soldier who was saved by Isaac was in a state of near-death crisis and had difficulty controlling his body, but he expressed his gratitude several times.

“Thank you, Holy Grail Knight. This grace will surely… … .”

The soldiers carried the soldier, who repeatedly expressed his gratitude, to the cart.

***

The rumor that Isaac had jumped into the monster’s maw to rescue a soldier quickly spread throughout the army.

The soldiers who first saw the existence of the apocalypse were terrified by its dizzying appearance. However, even that fear was covered up by the activities of Isaac and the knights. No, in order to forget the fear, Isaac’s exploits were exaggerated and exaggerated.

After all, the presence of heroes is necessary on the battlefield.

‘Honestly, I feel a little sorry.’

Isaac actually had another intention in following him.

Of course, he had no intention of neglecting the soldier who had come to help him. But more than that, he wondered whether he could control the monster.

He was familiar with all types of strategies that existed in this world, but he did not know the victory conditions or strategies for the Nameless Chaos. He did not know the limits of his abilities or what he could and could not do.

Among the monsters of the apocryphal world, there are many monsters belonging to the nameless chaos. Up until now, the monsters of the nameless chaos have been hostile to him, but he thought that if he could at least figure out the reason or the method of controlling them, he could at least avoid fighting.

‘But the result was half success… … no, a failure.’

Isaac felt the will of the desert ghost within its jaws.

It clearly had human language, vocabulary, and will. However, it was so crude and degenerate that it was hard to see it as human any more. It was like a pig or chicken that could speak human language.

Isaac wanted to get out before the soldier died, so he even ate, but he only filled his stomach and did not get any special effect from the predation.

‘Now, even if I fill my stomach, the predatory effect is not noticeable, or it only becomes noticeable when I eat a lot. Is there not much room to get stronger?’

Isaac is certainly already one of the strongest among humans. In fact, this is a humble expression, and even if you look into Isaac’s knowledge, there are not many people who can deny that he is the strongest. Considering that most people who can compare to him are protected by angels, Isaac has achieved an incredible amount for his age.

In terms of level, it was close to max level. It would be difficult to obtain new characteristics by preying a few times here.

‘In order to gain something, you have to eat something meaningful, just like you preyed on Delrod Ciel… ‘

Isaac suddenly remembered something and turned his head. He thought of the mysterious monster that had been watching them from across the desert. However, he couldn’t find it no matter where he went.

But I still felt like I was being watched from somewhere.