Paladin of the Dead God

Chapter 49:

Chapter 49. Contract Established (1)

Golruwa had escaped yet again, not giving up. However, the merchants pointed towards the place where Golruwa disappeared, guiding Isaac. Not a single person tried to stop Isaac. After all, the creature was not in a state to run far.

Isaac entered an alley of the market.

He felt Golruwa was not far, following the traces of someone dragging themselves along the wall. Isaac walked through the market alley, contemplating how to completely finish off Golruwa.

Then he stopped.

In front of him stood Hesabel Gullmar.

It wasn’t to stop him. On the contrary.

She held in her hands the severed head of Yukhar. Isaac quietly observed Golruwa, whose spirit was shrieking within the severed head. As Isaac approached, Hesabel quickly knelt down and offered the head of Yukhar.

Isaac extended his left hand and devoured the head of Yukhar with his tendrils.

The sound of bones and brain matter being crushed echoed briefly through the dark alley.

While the horrific act was taking place, Hesabel remained bowed, never lifting her head.

Isaac looked down at her and asked.

“Why did you come back?”

“I serve you… the true prophet.”

Hesabel herself didn’t understand why she was there.

Kneeling before Isaac, she pondered this fact.

When Hesabel had run away from Isaac, she swore never to see him again.

But she couldn’t stay away.

Wandering through the dark, filthy underbelly of the sewers, she felt Isaac’s gaze upon her and still felt his touch on the back of her neck.

Then, Hesabel realized. She could never escape from him.

Not because Isaac was pursuing her, but because she couldn’t shake off her thoughts of him.

On the verge of mental collapse, Hesabel clung to one possibility.

Hoping that Isaac truly was the prophet of the red flesh.

With that desperate hope, she returned.

“I believe… I believe you are the prophet of the red flesh.”

Isaac burst into incredulous laughter. He teased her.

“What if I’m not?”

Hesabel had no answer.

In truth, it didn’t matter if he wasn’t. If she couldn’t escape from Isaac, she had resigned herself to be at least his pet. Believing Isaac to be the prophet of the red flesh was just a way for her to feel slightly at ease while committing what was essentially an act of apostasy.

She cautiously looked up at Isaac.

“You control unknown flesh and move beasts that belong to the realm of chaos. That’s something the gods of light, Elil, the golden idols, or the world’s forge cannot do.”

The faiths Hesabel mentioned were those of the White Empire or its allies.

“But at the same time, you have been certified by the paladin order of the Codex of light, lived with them, and brought people to their knees with your proud halo.”

“So?”

“This proves you are skilled in deception and spreading chaos from behind, clearly showing you are the prophet of the red flesh.”

Hesabel had perfectly reasoned her allegiance to Isaac. Isaac, with a gaze of chaos, was surprised by what he saw inside her.

‘She’s seriously committed.’

Hesabel hadn’t returned with ordinary resolve. Even if the real prophet of the red flesh appeared, she was prepared to denounce him as a fake and worship Isaac as the true angel.

The fanaticism of her trust was slightly chilling.

She wasn’t like Heinkel, who temporarily collapsed under immediate fear.

She was convinced there was no other way but Isaac and had completely persuaded herself.

‘Scared her, sure, but to this extent?’

Isaac pondered the reasons behind his actions and remembered that his charm attribute had significantly increased. Especially, the appearance of a Nephilim exerted a stronger effect on the followers of the hedonistic Red Chalice. He thought that her submission through fear was also due to the psychological impact of his charm.

Suddenly, a strange message window appeared before Isaac’s eyes.

[Will you accept Hesabel Gullmar (A) as an Apostle?]

[Becoming an Apostle allows for the consumption of divinity to bestow miracles or strengthen powers.]

This message had not appeared when he clumsily preached to other Barbarians.

An Apostle, not just a follower? Even Isaac, who was clumsy with religion, knew that an Apostle was a very high rank.

Then, Isaac realized it was because of his position within the faith of the Nameless Chaos.

‘Becoming a follower after receiving teachings directly from me, who is akin to a Pope and Messiah… Does that make her an Apostle?’

Isaac was incredulous.

Strictly speaking, Hesabel had not received any teachings or anything of the sort related to the Nameless Chaos. She was hardly in a position to be called a follower. However, Isaac suddenly thought it might be beneficial to accept Hesabel as an Apostle.

Hesabel wasn’t submitting to the Nameless Chaos. She was submitting to Isaac.

In this faith, which lacked doctrine and structure, that point might be important.

Isaac placed his hand on her bowed head.

She shuddered.

Isaac, while contemplating all sorts of delusions, spoke to her trembling form.

“I appoint you as my first Apostle.”

At the word Apostle, Hesabel carefully lifted her head to look up at Isaac.

A chilling aura was emanating from Isaac, swirling around him.

“I give my first command to my Apostle.”

***

Isaac returned to the sewer.

To finish what he hadn’t completed before.

‘Eating Golruwa doesn’t seem to make much difference after all.’

It was the same when he ate Zihilrat. He had hoped that eating a god would change something, but besides feeling like he had eaten a tremendous amount of meat, there wasn’t much difference. However, the effects of divinity manifested in areas other than Isaac himself.

Isaac concentrated his consciousness on Hesabel, who was not present.

Naturally, information about Hesabel appeared before his eyes.

[Hesabel Gulmar (S)]

[Position: Apostle]

[Status: Blind Fanaticism]

[Red Prayer, Parasite Beyond, Vampirism]

‘Consuming divinity to strengthen a follower or Apostle…’

Divinity was like a god’s sense of satiation. By consuming it, he could strengthen followers or Apostles and even bestow new miracles. Thanks to this, Isaac managed to elevate Hesabel’s rank from A to S and gifted her the miracle of creating and implanting parasites. Although it consumed a significant amount of divinity, it successfully elevated her trust from mere submission to blind fanaticism.

Moreover, the more a follower was bound to the faith, the more distinctly their presence was felt. If Hesabel ran to the ends of the earth, Isaac would know her location.

‘With this, betrayal is unlikely.’

He also prepared a gift for Zihilrat.

[Zihilrat (S)]

[Position: Divine Beast]

[Status: Absolute Submission]

[Constant Camouflage, Predation, Under the Hide, Touch of Chaos, Minor Domination]

Zihilrat’s status had skyrocketed from being a limited-lived offspring of chaos to a Divine Beast.

Partly due to its inherent divinity, but also allowing for unexpected abilities like ‘Under the Hide’. This ability, one of the options initially proposed when Isaac created this character, allowed the consumption of a target and the borrowing of their skin.

With this, Zihilrat had the ability to disguise not just as animals but to a certain extent as humans as well.

***

Now, Isaac returned to his true mission.

Before him appeared the sanctuary dominated by Golruwa.

[This sanctuary is contaminated by the ‘God of Wealth’.]

[You can purify the contaminated sanctuary.]

[Will you dedicate this sanctuary to the ‘Nameless Chaos’?]

He also considered returning the sanctuary to the Golden Idol.

But it seemed that this sanctuary had been neglected by the followers of the Golden Idol for a long time. It might have been something secretly managed by Yukhar, or perhaps it wasn’t considered very important. It’s hard to tell the significance of a sanctuary just by looking at it.

‘Might as well make good use of what’s been discarded.’

Isaac placed his hand on the altar and declared.

“I dedicate this sanctuary to the Nameless Chaos.”

As with the sanctuary of Zihilrat, tentacles extending from his hand implanted a pulsating heart within the sanctuary. Accompanied by the beating sound of a heart, Isaac felt remarkably at ease both physically and mentally. The energy depleted while using the Lighthouse of the Watcher was swiftly replenished.

[A reward for ‘Sanctuary Purification’ by Chaos has been granted.]

[Choose one of the following three rewards.]

[Scythe of the Perimeter / Turns the edges of the tentacles into saw blades, tearing apart everything they touch.]

[The Caller from the Abyss / Induces madness in the target, restraining and slowing them down.]

[Color Beyond / Spreads darkness that obscures vision across the area and induces chaos.]

“Hmm…”

Isaac let out a shallow moan, not out of confusion, but because all the choices were necessary for him.

Fighting Golruwa, Isaac realized the existence of enemies immune to physical attacks. If the Scythe of the Perimeter could truly affect ‘everything’, it could be a weapon effective against such entities.

‘But I’m not in dire need of attack power right now, and it’s unlikely I’ll encounter many of those enemies… So, I’ll pass on that.’

Next was The Caller from the Abyss. It seemed similar to Color Beyond in terms of being a debuff, but The Caller from the Abyss seemed like a stronger and faster debuff targeting a single entity, whereas Color Beyond appeared to be an area-wide debuff affecting multiple targets.

‘The Caller from the Abyss might be more effective.’

Especially, such skills are influenced by charisma. If a powerful enemy like Hesabel appears and falls into madness, attacking allies or becoming incapacitated, it could be very useful.

However, Isaac ultimately chose Color Beyond.

The deciding factor was the part about ‘spreading darkness to obscure vision’.

‘Right now, being noticed by others restricts my actions.’

But with this skill that summons darkness, he could obscure visibility to some extent even during the day. If he could utilize his swordsmanship or tentacles under the cover of darkness, it would make overcoming difficult situations much easier.

Moreover, paradoxically, Isaac’s main difficulty wasn’t facing a single powerful enemy but rather multiple foes. This was because the endurance of the Nephilim race was too low for prolonged battles. Despite some regrets, the most optimal choice was Color Beyond.

Isaac felt the effect of the sanctuary, as the entirety of Seor became vividly clear to him.

Even the effects of greed, which had not been directly exposed to the Lighthouse of the Watcher and thus remained, began to fade slowly due to the proclamation of the sanctuary. Come morning, everyone’s mind would clear, and they would face reality.

Isaac could distinctly feel the atmosphere and unrest spreading from the Seor market.

Of course, as Golruwa said, their greed wouldn’t disappear overnight. Many people’s livelihoods and lives were at stake. But for those who needed to read the situation and act quickly, it would feel like a pressing issue.

Isaac, reading the dismay of the Golden Idol’s Seor branch manager, Caitlin, smiled.

“Let’s see about collecting some dues then.”