Paladin of the Dead God

Both the sailors aboard Eidan’s ship and those of the ghost ships stared in a trance.

The tendrils stretching out from the ghost ship were unmistakably larger than the ship itself. They crushed and shattered the hull as they overflowed, resembling the flesh of a mollusk spilling out of a broken shell—or perhaps the sight of intestines bursting from a shattered skull.

The sight itself was a cascade of sacrilegious and abominable images.

The immeasurable chaos surged forth, swiftly engulfing Horace’s ship.

The tendrils rising from the abyss wrapped around the ship, dragging it toward the depths—a nightmare every sailor carried in the back of their mind.

[Retreat!]

A booming shout jolted everyone from their stupor.

Horace’s bellow brought both the undead sailors and the Salt Council’s crew back to reality, dispelling their frozen fear. The undead crew scrambled, hacking at the tendrils with axes to free their ship from the grip of the monstrosity.

Fear, after all, stirs the survival instinct in those with intelligence. And survival instinct manifests in two ways: either through retreat or awe.

Horace instinctively chose the former, but the Salt Council’s sailors, watching the tendrils chew through the ghost ship, felt the latter.

“The wrath of the sea stretches out its hand!”

“The Drowned King has sent his beast, the Kraken!”

Though the Kraken was typically depicted as an octopus, and this beast clearly had far more limbs, the sailors didn’t care. Between the mist and the Color Beyond, they could hardly make out the creature’s full shape anyway.

But most of all, the sailors, overcome by awe, didn’t want to believe that “it” wasn’t on their side.

[What foul beast is this…!]

Unlike them, Horace, who was still in partial control of himself, turned his glowing blue eyes toward Isaac. Isaac stood there, his hands twisted into a peculiar shape as he focused on Horace’s ship. He was clearly controlling the ghastly mass of tendrils.

He was no ordinary entity, that was certain. Was he truly a Paladin of the Codex of Light? Yet, there was no time for Horace to ponder Isaac’s true identity.

Horace’s eyes flashed as he took hold of the helm.

He had once encountered a real Kraken in the nearly sacred waters of reverence. And he’d survived that encounter. Granted, the Kraken clung to ships with its suckers, but this one latched on with teeth and claws.

[Hoist every sail! First Mate, release all the armor rings on the hull! We’re getting out of here!]

Though Horace’s command surprised the crew, they obeyed without question, executing his orders mechanically.

Now, the miracle of the Salt Council—the council he had once belonged to—began to manifest.

Crrrack, crack! Horace’s ghost ship twisted and wriggled with fierce speed, slowly wrenching itself free of the tendrils. A precisely angled rudder, perfectly timed sails, and a favorable wind—all aligned, propelling Horace’s ghost ship forward with startling speed.

Simultaneously, the barnacles and outer armor cladding the ghost ship’s surface began to shed, peeling off like old skin. The ship, slipping free from the tendrils, surged forward, widening the distance.

***

“Ah, he escaped.”

Isaac sighed, disappointed as he watched. He’d thought it was a deadly trap, but capturing a Salt Council ship at sea had proven more challenging than expected. The Grasp of the Abyss couldn’t extend over too great a distance, so he would soon need to withdraw it to Urbansus.

“Sir Isaac, look over there!”

As the Color Beyond dispersed and the tendrils receded, another ship shot toward them through the mist at an incredible speed.

The sails bore the emblem of a white eagle rising against the backdrop of the sun.

It was the emblem of the White Eagle Paladin Order, the main force of the 7th Dawn Army.

The ship approached with such speed that it seemed intent on slicing Eidan’s ship in half with a single blow. The crew shouted, trying to steer the ship, but the grappling hooks attached to the sides made movement nearly impossible.

The prow, carved in the shape of a white eagle, loomed as it closed in, seeming ready to snatch up Eidan’s ship.

In that moment, the Salt Council’s miracle extended its grace to Eidan as well.

The waves, surging forward, lifted Eidan’s ship. The sudden shift slackened the grappling lines momentarily, and the ship rose high enough that its deck nearly matched the height of the ghost ship.

Eidan, quick to seize this miraculous moment, shouted.

“Pull the sail lines!”

Creak, snap! The crew, catching onto the miracle, pulled the sail lines tight, stretching them until they screamed. The ship leapt forward, breaking free as some of the grappling hooks snapped, recoiling to slam back against the undead sailors.

Just as Eidan’s ship swerved sharply, the White Eagle warship’s hull skimmed past, narrowly missing.

Crash! The White Eagle warship, now without control, collided with the ghost ship that had been restraining Eidan’s ship. A cacophony of shattering wood echoed as the two ships splintered upon impact. Eidan felt a chill as he realized he had narrowly avoided being caught between the two ships.

“Well done, Eidan! Keep it up!”

Isaac called out with ease, seemingly unaware of the miracle that had just taken place. Eidan and the crew exchanged incredulous looks, but Isaac had a new, formidable opponent of his own to face.

Skeletons hung from the side of the White Eagle warship, dangling limply like marionettes. Unlike the other undead, however, these skeletons wore **Paladin armor** marked with the symbol of the Codex of Light.

Snap, bang! The sound of ropes being released accompanied the descent of the Paladins of the White Eagle Order—or rather, Death Knights—onto Eidan’s deck. The corpses, appearing as if they’d been hung from nooses, moved with jerking motions as though restrained by invisible collars.

[……!]

Unable to produce a proper voice, they let out strained wails that sounded like a twisted parody of agony as they charged toward the crew.

In a flash, Isaac charged forward.

With a swift clank, he deflected the Death Knight’s sword and drove his own blade into its brow. The Death Knight’s body shuddered from the strike, and as Isaac twisted the blade free, it collapsed and exploded into fragments. Without hesitation, Isaac turned his focus to the next Death Knight and struck.

“Unbelievable…”

Eidan was stunned as he watched Isaac effortlessly dispatch three Death Knights in rapid succession. The fact that the Paladins of the White Eagle Order had become Death Knights, whether willingly or not, meant that they still retained the same strength and skill they had in life.

Yet Isaac was cutting them down almost as quickly as he’d dealt with the skeletal sailors. His movements made it seem as if he could single-handedly battle an entire order of Paladins—and indeed, he was.

In truth, Isaac’s ease in fighting them was expected.