Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 364



Only Krnovel

Episode 364. The Land Where Life and Death Collapse (1)

As the lighthouse finally crushed a part of the wall, a huge white colossus rushed forward, making a fierce noise, targeting the gap. The moment the thirty-meter-tall deer-shaped white colossus collided, boiling lava was sprayed out like a meteor shower. Taking advantage of the gap, the soldiers of the Dawn Army rushed forward all at once.

“Death to the dead!”

Even if the soldiers didn’t rush in, the Undying Cult would have already retreated, and since they weren’t planning on taking over anyway, they could have easily reduced Bel Slav to ashes with just miracles and relics. However, the Dawn Army didn’t hesitate to rush into the seething fortress.

Thud, thud, thud.

The white giants trampled the sizzling Bel Slap. The flames burned hot beneath their hooves, but the white giants simply focused on their silent trampling.

This action had the effect of completely trampling and crushing the undead that had not yet escaped from Bel Slaap’s fortress, while also blocking their escape route.

The undead of the Undying Order panicked when the only escape route, the inner well, was blocked by molten lava. They belatedly figured out the classic escape route – the back door, but that too was already surrounded by the Dawn Army.

Now the only way left was to fight to the death.

But the Immortal Church wasn’t the only one suffering.

A significant number of the undead soldiers were still waiting behind the walls, avoiding the pouring fire from the lighthouse. Having already transcended the fear of death, they felt nothing more than bewilderment and anger at the current situation.

[Come. Shoot.]

The moment the Death Knight gave a short command, the undead soldiers all threw their spears.

Shhhhh! A hundred spears slashed across the sky at once. It was a small number compared to the number of soldiers rushing in, but it was different from before.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Shriek, swoosh! Crunch! All one hundred spears, without exception, pierced one hundred necks.

It was absurd to think that most arrows used in war would miss and fall to the ground, but it was possible because all of the people who threw the spears were the elite of the sect, the ‘Immortal Spearmen’.

The sight of a hundred corpses standing with spears impaled on them after a flurry of spears was horrifying. The sight of those running in front being slaughtered all at once was enough to make anyone flinch, but the Yeomyeong Army was not shaken at all.

“He who lacks faith will be the first to die!”

A cultist, his glassy eyes gleaming, ran through the corpses.

In response to this invincible logic, the Immortal Spearmen threw their prepared spears once again, one of which was aimed at the fanatic running ahead.

There’s no need to throw too many shots. One shot will kill the guy anyway.

The cultist struggled as if trying to throw the spear away, but failed. The spear pierced the cultist’s eye in an instant. Once again, countless corpses appeared.

But the fanatic did not fall. He staggered, and in one breath broke the spear that had pierced his eye. Then, covered in blood, he charged, shouting in an unintelligible dialect.

Even the Undead of the Immortal Cult were astonished at the unbelievable sight.

“Aaaah! Those who lack faith will die first!”

Other soldiers followed suit, following the fanatic’s heroic charge.

The zealot quickly climbed onto the remnants of the wall, which were heated to a fever pitch. Just by standing on them, his clothes caught fire, and the undead thought that this time, the zealot they had failed to kill would finally be burned to death.

“Light, light, the law of light protects me!”

The cultist strode across the molten lava, roaring hotly. The sight of his entire body burning was not the only thing that came to mind for the undead.

Everyone who saw it was reminded of the most famous angel in the fanatic’s image, the lighthouse keeper.

[Water, back off!]

The Death Knight gave urgent instructions.

It wasn’t that he was worried about the lighthouse keeper. Following the fanatic, other soldiers of the Dawn Army also began to enter at the same time. They also willingly threw themselves into the boiling rocks, as if they didn’t care if their whole body was burning. Those who couldn’t overcome the heat and rolled around became stepping stones for the soldiers who were chasing after them.

In an instant, hundreds of blazing Dawn soldiers stormed into Bel Slaap. The undead soldiers swung their spears at them, cursing, but the spears slid back with a strange creaking sound.

The undead soldier looked at the unbelievable sight through the burning and torn clothes.

Her dark, charred skin gleamed like obsidian.

That was the last thing the undead soldier saw. The axe wielded by the blazing zealot split his head and set it ablaze.

The Death Knights gnashed their teeth at this one-sided situation.

They did not hold grudges against the Immortal Emperor Beshek. The moment they stood in the front line fortress, they had already prepared for this situation. Their grudges were directed at their allies, not their enemies.

[What on earth are the Walaika Kingdom troops doing!]

***

“I think it’s over.”

“I guess so?”

A hill near Bel Slav. The royal army dispatched from the Kingdom of Walaika, the elite unit known as the ‘Skewer Corps’, was watching the battle from afar. Their role was to keep the Dawn Army in check by taking charge of one axis of the battlefield to prevent Bel Slav from being surrounded.

It was judged that the Dawn Army would not be able to easily attack Bel Slav just by waiting in a fortified high ground with thorough defense and miraculous armament.

But the Code of Light responded in a way that defied their common sense.

They completely ignored the presence of the Walaika Army and focused solely on Bel Slav.

Although they had left some reserves, they were not enough to stop the Skewer Corps. In fact, the back of the head of the main force of the Dawn Army was completely empty, so if they attacked right away, they could deal a great blow. The adjutant of the corps commander asked if he thought the same thing.

“Should I give the order to attack now? They seem more defenseless than before.”

It would have been a reasonable decision for an ally to make, but Marler Roanoke, commander of the Skewer Legion, made a different decision.

“Look at that. Belslav is like a fox that has jumped in front of a bear. We can drive a spear into the bear’s side while the fox is biting. But what then?”

Mahler shook his head.

“Without worrying about the aftermath, if only a portion of the main force of the Dawn Army changes course north, the Walaika Kingdom will become a sea of ​​fire.”

“How many spies have we planted in the Yeomyeong Army? Can’t you believe it?”

“The spies warned us not to get involved unless the situation is clearly tilted. We’ll have to hold out somehow, but it’s a war we don’t necessarily need to bear the brunt of.”

The adjutant kept his mouth shut. Mahler shook his head.

“Gertonia… … No, now even the name of the country is meaningless. The Code of Light is completely insane. Why on earth do they shed such meaningless blood?”

Like most Walaika nobles, Mahler believed that the war was merely the by-product of failed conspiracies and schemes.

Mahler would not have led such a noisy army and destroyed the city with relics, but would have bribed the lords and gatekeepers or caused chaos through continuous assassinations.

But the Dawn Army didn’t do that. They just charged straight in and smashed the sacred relics, the sacred beasts, and the soldiers. It was a completely crazy move in Mahler’s eyes.

“But wouldn’t our sides be warm if Bel Slav were captured?”

“Looking at that, it seems like they have no intention of occupying. Anyway, this is certain. As Her Majesty the Queen said, the Dawn Army has no interest in us. They will continue south.”

The real goal of the Maler and Skewer Legions’ participation in the battle was to confirm whether the Dawn Army was truly heading to the Holy Land, Lua. And after observing the fierce battle, it was possible to confirm without a doubt that the Light Code had staked its life on the Dawn Army this time. It was not the time to worry about small countries in the East.

Mahler smiled broadly.

“Whether it’s the Code of Light or the Undead Church, they’ll all be weakened when the war ends. The one who quietly conserves their strength will win.”

Mahler said this and turned his horse. The legionaries began to move at once at his movement. The elite Red Grail Legion, dispatched to support the Immortal Cult, retreated north without even swinging a spear or sword on the front line.

The Death Knight Commander, who was watching from afar, let out a roar of anger, but it was out of earshot.

***

“Reports that the Skewer Corps has retreated.”

Imperial Knight Commander, Papal Vicar Horhel smiled bitterly at the report from Feltron.

“I knew it. You mosquitoes. You never attack someone stronger than you.”

The cruelty and discipline of the Skewer Legion are famous. Even the German Empire Army cannot take them lightly. However, the battlefields where the cruelty and discipline of the Skewer Legion are displayed are only against those who are weaker or have fewer numbers than them.

The Walaika nobles only fight with their full strength when fighting against opponents weaker than themselves. When they fight against opponents stronger than themselves, it is usually only when they fail to surprise attack or are unable to escape.

This time again, that fact has been clearly revealed.

“Shall we send a pursuit party?”

“No. You don’t need to worry about them anymore. Just throw them all into the siege.”

“yes.”

The retreat of the Skewer Legion allowed the Dawn Army to focus even more on Bel Slaap. Under the command of the Paladins, the Dawn Army formed a wide encirclement and steadily trampled the undead.

As the evening came, the castle, Bel Slav, whose walls were as tight as rose petals, had become a huge rock. The sight of the castle itself melting into rock was both majestic and eerie. The red-hot rock shone like a red tombstone even in the evening.

It was the first glorious victory of the main force of the Dawn Army.

However, the battlefield was far from glorious. Horhel crossed the middle of the battlefield. There were still many corpses that had not been recovered, despite flames rising everywhere to burn the corpses.

The Immortal Cult’s attacks are focused on increasing the ‘number of corpses’ themselves. They do not make clumsy attacks, but kill the enemy with certainty. This is because the corpses can soon become allies. Therefore, even though the Dawn Army won, they suffered more than ten times the number of deaths compared to the Immortal Cult.

‘It is a great victory.’

But Horgel judged it to be an overwhelming victory.

Ironically, the Immortal Cult and the Code of Light have different values ​​for human life.

Unlike the Code of Light, which allows children to be born and raised at any time, the Undead Order can only accept converts as true believers, as those who do not convert become mindless undead.

The undead who are converted in this way also accumulate experience and knowledge for at least tens and up to hundreds of years. They are qualitatively different from the Dawn Army who use worm fanatics as meat shields.

If the ratio is 1:10, then it’s considered cheap.

And behind that great victory was the ‘symbol’ that Horgel had been waiting for.

Before Horhel’s eyes, a tower of skulls was piled high. A significant portion of the undead army was buried under the rocks of Bel Slap, but a considerable number were collected with only their heads cut off. They were sealed so that they could not emit any mental waves, and were merely used as decorations. This was the result of their immortal counterparts instead of death.

“Is this all the heads you’ve collected?”

“Yes.”

The one who answered was a fanatic whose whole body was as black as obsidian, with one eye destroyed. And around him stood hundreds of black fanatics, all with glassy, ​​gleaming eyes.

“Thanks to the protection of the Law of Light, we were able to achieve a glorious victory. Praise be to you, Priest.”

Horhel chuckled.

‘The soot, the human soot… … .’

Horhel recalled the oracle given to the council of watchmen, a message from angels about the events that would occur before the coming of the millennium.

First, they will look down from heaven to earth with their glass-like eyes. Soon, those who are dazzled by the heavenly light that emanates through those eyes will rise up and take the lead.

And finally, as the will of heaven is done on earth… … .

‘With this, the Code of Light has come one step closer to the Millennial Kingdom.’