Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 91



Only Krnovel

Episode 91. Night of the Dead (4)

“Heretic Questioner?”

The Heretic Questioner’s power is focused on investigation, infiltration, and assassination, so he is inferior to a Paladin in terms of combat. Of course, Isolde can compete with a decent paladin, but it is still nothing more than an individual’s power.

Isolde also knew that.

“It is right for the Holy Grail Knight to protect more residents. But someone has to protect the merchants.”

If Isaac moves southeast, an unidentified enemy emitting cold air from the northwest of the territory will raid the territory. Judging from the energy felt, it seemed difficult for one or two Paladins to respond.

Isaac thought for a moment and nodded.

“Then please do me a favor. “I’ll attach two paladins.”

Although it is a valuable force, Isolde will need more force than Isaac, who is near the castle. Isolde nodded his head and hurried out with the designated paladins.

“For the rest, let’s start preparing for defense immediately. “And we ask that one priest stay behind and hold a prayer service for salvation with the believers who have fled.”

As Isaac gave instructions, everyone began to move in unison.

It may sound absurd to call a prayer meeting in the midst of an attack, but in this world, prayers are followed by answers.

When believers ask for salvation, whether it is God, an angel, or someone from the church, they listen and help. In fact, there were many cases where people were saved through this type of prayer in isolated situations.

Although the other party was not moving and was just making a threatening demonstration, it was necessary to prepare as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Isaac was relieved.

‘I’m glad Isolde stepped forward first.’

Isaac already knew that the Immortal Cult was approaching.

There were many foreshadowings and circumstances, not just Aidan’s hints. Above all, I was confident that the Immortal Church would not easily give up this territory that had taken a lot of effort.

However, the reason he appeared today is probably because of the brazier craftsman.

Immediately after Aidan asked for protection for the furnace craftsman, Isaac immediately ordered Zihillet and Hesabel to search the nearby area. And through constant exploration in the sanctuary, they detected even the slightest abnormality.

As a result, Isaac had already predicted the approach of the Immortal Church.

Aidan may have been careful, but they were already tracking him. And when it was determined that the hidden furnace craftsman could not be found, he deliberately let Aidan go. Afterwards, as the brazier craftsman approached the territory, he took advantage of the opportunity and launched an attack.

‘This is the procession of the upper part of the North, to which Aidan belongs.’

In order to obtain the furnace craftsman, the Immortal Church will place its main force here to keep Isaac in check, and will send its forces to the top to deal with the few merchants and mercenaries. Isaac had been planning to ask Isolde for a favor long ago. This is because it took the heretical beliefs of the Salt Council and the Hearth of the World to enter the territory all at once.

In a situation where Barbary and the golden idol had already been brought into the territory, the influx of many faiths at once could have raised unnecessary suspicion.

In other words, Isaac was planning to tie Isolde with him as well.

‘You may think you were taken advantage of, but you will continue to be a blinder to the Code of Light.’

***

The strange omen began from the darkened side of the mountain ridge.

While the evacuation of residents continued, the soldiers who had completed preparations for the fortress discovered strange shadows moving on the mountain ridge. The soldiers were agitated as they saw the strange movements.

“It’s a zombie… … .”

Zombies are often confused with ghouls created by the Red Grail Club in that they are living corpses without intelligence, but they are completely different.

First of all, ghouls do not rot. Because rotting is not beautiful. The Red Grail hates things that are not beautiful.

However, the zombies created by the Immortal Church are different. Zombies are merely an intermediate process before ‘completely’ joining the Immortal Church. Since it is cumbersome to peel the flesh and drain the blood from a freshly dead corpse, they naturally eat it as a zombie until it turns white.

Only after becoming completely white-skeleton are the qualifications for conversion to the Immortal Church and the basic conditions to become a resident of the Black Empire met. At this point, there is no way to turn back, so unless you are extremely religious, you will belong to the Immortal Church.

Isaac asked the priest as he looked at the moving group of zombies.

“The catacombs have been built, right?”

“yes. “There are no moveable bodies.”

In the Baekje Kingdom, corpses were usually cremated. This is to prevent cases of ‘conscription’ by crazy priests of the Black Empire. However, there are times when it is not possible to burn the body due to unavoidable circumstances. In such cases, they placed a stone in their mouth, sealed it in a solid sarcophagus, and placed it in an underground cemetery.

The zombie group slowly approached the castle. The strange-looking silhouette came closer, revealing her true form under the moonlight. It was a clear picture of how everyone died. Sometimes, the weapon that caused the incident was now held by the person himself.

“Disgusting Immortal Church bastards… … .”

The soldiers muttered indignantly at the miserable sight. Of course, most of them were Barbarians or pagan slash-and-burn farmers, but there was no one who did not reflect themselves or their families in their appearance.

But Isaac had other thoughts inside.

‘Actually, the life satisfaction of people who converted to the Immortal Church doesn’t seem to be bad… … .’

As long as you become a resident of the Black Empire, your senses will return and you can live without suffering from starvation or illness.

If you start to think about whether life is really it, there will be no end to it, but most of the world’s worries will be solved once the problem of eating and living is solved. All you have to do is live the remaining long time with emotional satisfaction.

Of course, right now it was time to be angry about the Immortal Church, so I had no intention of talking about it.

The zombies came quite close and surrounded the fortress. As expected, there were no people looting or burning the village.

When the siege was somewhat established, one of the zombies walked forward. He was a large man dressed as a hunter, probably originally a poacher.

“Kak!”

The guy coughed blood loudly and twisted his neck grotesquely. Then he started making voices in a strange position.

“… … In the end, they sent a rescue soldier. “Do you have more time than you think?”

Despite his grotesque appearance, he had a dignified tone of speech.

Isaac realized that the priest of the Immortal Church who controlled this group of zombies was transmitting his voice through this hunter.

‘As expected, he’s a cautious guy.’

Even through the sanctuary, its exact location could not be determined. Methods of hiding one’s energy vary depending on the religion, so it was clear that the body was being hidden through some kind of method.

When Isaac didn’t answer, the hunter cleared his throat again.

“We are not here because we have any business for you. “I don’t want to harm the Code of Light priests or paladins, so if you tell me to return to those who left the castle earlier, I won’t touch you.”

“Stop that bullshit, you rotten bastard!”

One of the Holy Knights fired back with an insult in a rather harsh tone. The rules for maintaining a dignified attitude and polite speech do not seem to apply when dealing with the Immortal Church. The hunter stared at the paladin quietly.

“Paladin Ansel. You’re hiding your fear with a harsh attitude. Beware of the four spears.”

Paladin Ansel, whose name was suddenly called, gasped.

Isaac clicked his tongue.

‘He’s not an ordinary guy after all.’

With those words just now, I realized that the other person was not of an ordinary rank.

‘Confirming the names means you can read the list of people who will die. Is it really at the level of a bishop?’

The list of those who will die is a precognitive ability unique to the Immortal Church. It is the ability to know how the other person will die, and the closer the time is, the more accurate it becomes. Looking at the four spears, if a battle broke out, there was a high probability that Paladin Ansel would die.

It was rumored to be an infamous ability, as the mere mention of it drastically lowered morale – something that was a shame in the game, but is now ‘real’.

As Ansel began to tremble slightly, Isaac put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t listen to all the nonsense. “There are many cases where they are just talking nonsense.”

When Isaac said that, Ansel calmed his breathing as if he was visibly relieved. As Isaac said, there were many cases where the priests of the Immortal Church talked about whatever they wanted. Because he had no way to check anyway. Anyway, it was a good way to lower morale.

The hunter burst into laughter.

“ha ha ha… … It’s you. Isaac, the famous Holy Grail Knight. “I really wanted to meet you sometime.”

The hunter bowed with an exaggerated gesture. A grotesquely bent neck dangled. Isaac confirmed that the arrows were within reach and was about to order fire, but when he saw the soldiers trembling, he decided to stop.

Even though they are soldiers of the Holy Grail Knight, their roots are borderline country bumpkins. The fear was as great as the hatred towards the Immortal Church. If a pointless order is given and even an outcry is raised, it may collapse.

‘I need to boost morale somehow.’

Isaac whispered instructions to Werner who was next to him. Werner was shocked to hear the instructions, but did not question Isaac’s instructions. He immediately headed somewhere below the walls.

After giving instructions, Isaac boldly climbed up the castle wall.

“Holy Grail Knight!”

The soldiers nearby were horrified and tried to stop Isaac, but it was no use. Isaac stood at the edge of the castle wall, looking down at the group of hunters and zombies. He had a guy with a bow, but if the other guy showed guts, he had to show similar guts.

“You created a sloppy group by sacrificing poor people, you foolish priest!”

“Leftover rice?”

When the hunter asked as if he was puzzled by the unfamiliar analogy, Isaac answered.

“The maggot is the only one left after enjoying the dinner, so isn’t it a waste of leftovers?”

Puheap. Laughter flowed from somewhere on the castle walls.

Actually, Isaac didn’t think it was a very funny joke, but the soldiers needed that little bit of relaxation. In a tense situation, Isaac’s one word helped his soldiers regain their composure.

“If you think that you can do anything about Issacrea Monastery with a hodgepodge of slash-and-burn farmers, poachers, and a few wanderers, you are greatly mistaken. How are you going to fight a siege with the bodies of those poor people? Are you going to slam your torso against the castle wall?”

As Isaac pointed out, the soldiers also calmed down and were able to see the zombies. The zombies’ bizarre appearance caused physiological repulsion, but they only had tough durability, were slower than ordinary people, and did not even have proper equipment.

“We can burn your rude villages and drown their bodies in wells.”

The hunter responded to Isaac’s words with a threat. Certainly, if Isaac was confined to the castle, it would be inevitable that the estate he had settled in would become unusable.

“If you can, try it.”

Isaac answered with a grim smile. The moment the hunter felt puzzled by that smile, Isaac’s hand went up and then went down at once.

“launch!”

At the same time as someone who received the signal shouted, arrows were fired towards the group of zombies. Arrows were not fired from the walls. It was being fired from the direction of the village.

“Bury those rotten things!”

Jacquelet was ambushing the village buildings with the Barbari hired as mercenaries and then began the attack at the same time. When the villagers began to evacuate inside the walls, they did not return together. The Barbaris remained in the village and were preparing an ambush.

Grumbling. The fire arrow coated with rosin burned and attached itself to the zombies. In an instant, dozens of zombies began to burn, but the hunter only laughed.

“Are you just being arrogant and believing in an ambush like this?”

In his view, an ambush was like giving up the advantage of a castle wall and voluntarily giving up flesh to the teeth of zombies. The shabby tree house was on the verge of collapsing if the zombie army pushed through it.

However, when he was about to order the zombies to attack, the gates of the Isacrea Monastery began to open. The moment the castle wall door was opened, the paladins and horsemen, led by Isaac, rushed out all at once. Even soldiers were coming out after that.

“what?”

The moment the hunter was taken aback by the even more incomprehensible sight, Isaac was already finishing his attack on this army of death.

The real ambush was not outside, but inside them.

Swarms of flies, centipedes, and maggots, which had already begun to spread dozens of days ago, began feasting inside the bodies of the zombies.