Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 356



Only Krnovel

Episode 356. Thirsty Dinner (6)

Sadraja hastily expanded his senses.

This is the sanctuary of the Salt Council, and the land where Sadraza had made his base for a thousand years. The sense of extreme expansion spread out like a skein of thread around him. Beyond the walls of Mirmia, past the surrounding cities and towns, only a few kilometers away could one spot a portion of the Isacrea Dawn Army.

It wasn’t a distance you could run away from as soon as the sun went out.

‘No way… … You withdrew your troops in advance? You predicted my betrayal?’

I know Isaac is strong. Even the companions who came with him were strong enough to kill him in one breath. But when the monsters of the outside world started to invade, I thought that the army they were leading could become hostages if necessary.

They would die stopping the monster not to protect Sadrazza, but out of a sense of responsibility towards their soldiers.

But Isaac responded by withdrawing his troops early.

‘No, then what about the soldiers I saw?’

Before Sadrazza began his ritual, he had clearly seen Aidan, Isaac, and a few soldiers. Even if the other soldiers had been taken away early, was Isaac confident that he could escape from that horde of monsters?

Sadraza searched for Isaac, but could not find any trace of him or of the soldiers he had seen.

It was something I couldn’t understand.

Kik, thump, koogugugu… … .

“Shut up!”

The sound of the monsters of the outer world violently destroying and destroying the fisherman’s house grated on Sadrazza’s sensitive nerves. The fisherman’s house, which had maintained its original shape under the cursed sun for a thousand years, was now facing unprecedented destruction.

And finally, some of the monsters began to dig their way through the hole that Sadrazza had blocked.

“These… … lowly beasts dare… … .”

Sadraja’s body began to ripple and slowly change. His divinity began to reconstruct his body into a form befitting his rank. Sadraja quickly rose up through his throat and leaped out in one breath.

The monster, who was just about to pass through the empty lot and enter the interior of the black pyramid, suddenly made eye contact with another monster that had popped out.

Kukukukukung! The fisherman’s house collapsed with a loud noise. Dozens of tentacles emerged from the huge cloud of dust.

It had scales, feathers, fur, teeth, and claws that were hard to believe were from a sea creature, and an awkward shape that seemed to have been created by squeezing them together.

As if a giant octopus had adorned itself with the remains of everything it had eaten so far.

It was already difficult to see it as a vassal of the Sea Order.

Rather, it seemed closer to an apocryphal beast that had forgotten order.

Sadraza crushed the monster wrapped around his tentacles in one breath and burst it.

Kkwadduk! Sadraja shivered at the power and lightness he felt in his own grip.

He has been replenishing his strength by performing the Thirsty Feast ritual little by little for the past thousand years. It is thanks to this that his body has been transformed and he has survived until now.

But at any time, the monsters of the apocalypse were unpredictable. But now, the monsters of the apocalypse were being crushed like ants under his tentacles.

Sadrazza shuddered at the overwhelming power and omnipotence. Was this the power of God? Was this the power of an angel?

If even a ritual made from corpses and remains can grant this power, how much greater power can one gain by devouring a god?

Even though he was enjoying the power of greater and more powerful authority than ever before, Sadrazza was suffering from an even more burning thirst. He could see monsters swarming the fisherman’s house at his feet.

To Sadraza’s eyes, it looked like a well-prepared banquet.

[Okay, I’ll eat them all up!]

And if, as a final dessert, I could nibble on the soft flesh of the defenseless god trapped beneath the salt desert, I would finally feel full.

***

Behind the black pyramid.

Countless monsters were swept away by Sadraza, and at the same time, the monsters were drawn to Sadraza’s ‘delicious smell’ and followed him, and the fisherman’s house fell into silence. Now, there was almost no sacred power left in the black pyramid, so no one wanted to come here.

And in that quiet place, a particularly dark curtain slowly began to lift.

Isaac, Aidan, and the Salt Council sailors disguised as soldiers appeared in it. As soon as Isaac lifted the ‘Hidden Ritual’, he sensed Sadraja’s presence.

“… … The bastard’s mind is completely sold. Move quickly.”

The hidden ritual that could isolate him from any being worked perfectly for the purpose of hiding his presence. Although I am not sure, Sadraja seemed to have temporarily gained almost angelic powers. However, even Sadraja could not detect Isaac in his own territory.

Aidan looked up at the fisherman’s house with a pitiful expression. From his perspective, it was inevitable that his thousand-year-old senior would betray and blaspheme the ‘dreamer’ who had been appointed as his savior.

“I don’t think Isaac is surprised.”

“Yeah, well… … Actually, I had a feeling from the beginning.”

The reason is simple.

Because humans cannot live for a thousand years.

In those days, when there was not even a sect of immortality, the only beings who could live for a thousand years were those who possessed divinity.

That is, Sadraza is an ancient god or something similar.

“… … Sadraja was an ancient god?”

“I’m not sure. He could have been a special adult with an extended lifespan, or he could have been the last angel chosen by the Caller. But rather than thinking that all those exceptions were given to Sadraza… … it’s more reasonable to think that he may have obtained his divinity through human sacrifice and exploitation of divinity.”

It is possible that he may have found a way to use the confused believers immediately after the destruction of Mirmia. If so, it would explain why he alone survived while everyone else died and disappeared.

It was a reasonable explanation, but I wasn’t sure. There really was no such thing as an exception, and I didn’t want to blindly doubt a priest who had been guarding the temple for a thousand years.

“It was difficult to tell you for the same reason. It would be cruel to reveal that the priest who had guarded the temple for a thousand years was actually a monster who exploited the divinity.”

“… … So that’s why you dragged me around and kept hinting at me.”

Aidan didn’t look terribly disappointed.

In fact, thanks to Isaac, he too had some doubts and at the same time prepared himself mentally.

However, if he could successfully complete this ritual without betraying anyone, Aidan was willing to apologize for his ‘misunderstanding’.

But now that possibility is gone.

“Let’s go. We have to finish this before Sadrazza gets back.”

“yes.”

The Salt Council believers walked down into the throat where Sadrazza had protruded in a heavy atmosphere.

The sins committed by believers can only be resolved by other believers.

Sadrazza may think that he chose to monopolize the entire banquet instead of betraying everyone, but he would be wrong.

Now the only path left for him was the road to destruction.

***

[Do not act foolishly on this sacred ground, you filthy filthy creatures!]

Sadraja, drunk on madness and power, swung his tentacles at the monsters.

Sadraja himself was actually destroying more of Mirmia than the monsters, but he didn’t really care. Rather, he felt a thrill of power as more buildings were destroyed and more monsters were crushed.

This fucking desert, this fucking city, this fucking cult and god, these incompetent angels.

More than anything, he hated himself the most for crawling on the floor and struggling to survive. His acts of enjoying power and violence were also acts of washing away his past.

A thousand years of resentment and anger towards everything exploded at once and flowed out from his entire body.

But the monsters’ counterattack was not easy.

“■■, ■■■■, ■!”

Among the monsters, profane language that roughly translates to something like a cross between dirty things, something that smells, something that smells, etc., was repeatedly spewed out. Even as they watched their own kind being crushed right next to them, the monsters greedily clung to their tentacles, biting and climbing on them.

It was like a swarm of ants rushing at a fighting cock. The chicken could crush the ants with its claws, peck at them, and send them flying just by flapping its wings. But the ants were not afraid or scared, and were only focused on biting the chicken.

Even the monsters of the apocryphal scriptures were not even clear whether they were dead or not, even when their entire bodies were crushed. Even when their entire bodies were as good as a slurry, they were stuck to the tentacles and bit them with only their teeth. If Sadraja was a monster that tried to take the form of a god, then they were truly bottomless monsters.

Monsters who do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives to drag their opponents into the mud.

The biggest difference between Sadraza and the monsters of the apocryphal scriptures is that they ‘attempt to maintain their humanity, even if only formally.’ That was gradually narrowing the gap in this fight.

Sadrazza suddenly felt tired of his obsession.

And I was shocked that he even thought he was tired.

‘already?’

Great power means great expenditure of strength.

That is why when angels descend to earth, they either borrow the body of a representative or, even if they reveal their true selves, they quickly exert their powerful power and then retreat.

Sadrazza looked around.

The ancient capital that had endured for a thousand years was now a complete ruin. There were blackened, crushed corpses and their bodily fluids flowing like rivers. However, many monsters were still creeping closer.

Sadraza felt fear creeping up on him, not knowing how many monsters were out there.

[You dirty bastards! Where do you dare to trespass!]

Sadraza violently crushed another monster with his tentacles, causing it to burst. Then he felt a stinging pain in his fingertips. The monster, which had particularly sharp teeth, had burst apart with its head, and its sharp fangs had sunk deep into the tentacles.

And still many monsters were approaching.

[This, this, when the sun was up, it was difficult to even approach the city… … .]

Sadraja spouted out a pitiful sound, even looking for the sun he once cursed and hated. However, that cursed sun was actually extinguished with his own hands.

The sun will not rise again until the lighthouse keeper returns.

Sadrazza began to slowly retreat.

It is not a flight. There is now enough blood in the city. There is more blood in the throat, perhaps more sacrifices prepared than in the past thousand years.

‘If I perform the Thirsty Feast ritual again and absorb its power… … .’

No, this time, let’s go all the way down to the throat and devour the power of the one who calls. And let’s perform the thirsty banquet ritual once again with his flesh.

Absorbing the flesh of a god and making it mine, where else could one obtain greater authority and power?

Sadrazza retreated to the fisherman’s house, horrified at his plan.

But the moment he saw the black pyramid, his expression hardened.

He felt the traces of someone’s intrusion. He felt the traces of someone else’s feet and divinity breaking into the sanctuary where no one but himself and his corpse had entered for a thousand years.

And within it, a familiar ritual was being performed.

[no!]

Sadraja quickly shoved his face into the throat. It was difficult to squeeze into the hole because he had inflated his body without any countermeasures. It was the same even though his body was in the form of a flexible cephalopod.

But Sadrazza could not be stopped.

If his senses are correct, the ritual taking place inside his throat right now is a ‘thirsty feast’.

It is not a ritual to absorb power like oneself, but a ritual to truly cut the neck of the one who calls and break the salt desert.

[No! Don’t wake him up!]

Now, even spitting out contradictory words and actions, Sadraja dug into the hole. At that moment, an unfamiliar sword light flashed in the darkness.

Shriek, slap. Sadraja didn’t know what it was at first, but soon he screamed in familiar pain.

Sadrajah pulled away again with a scream that shook all of Mirmia. Above his head, the Ruaddin Key was burning white.

Isaac, hanging on the sword, whispered as he twisted the blade.

“As expected, the whip made by Ruaddin works well on traitors.”