Paladin of the Dead God
chapter-123

Chapter 123. Urbansus (3)

“…Are you asking why I was chosen?”

Isaac was neither surprised nor flustered by the mention of the Nameless Chaos.

It was a situation he had somewhat anticipated. Since the Drowned King seemed to have already conveyed information about him, it was unlikely that Amundalas was unaware. What he wondered was why Amundalas was being so kind to him, knowing that he had been chosen by the Nameless Chaos.

‘Wasn’t the Nameless Chaos disliked by the other gods?’

Perhaps it was due to a personal liking for Isaac. Regardless of the circumstances, there was a reason why Amundalas was being favorable to him, and accordingly, there was something she wanted.

“Yes. Of course, you have exceptional talent. You’re quite smart too. But there’s a reason the Nameless Chaos chose you. Now that you’ve heard the story of Urbansus, you must have some thoughts.”

Isaac thought back to the first time he encountered the Nameless Chaos.

After clearing all eight playable faiths of Nameless Chaos, he chose a new hidden faith called the Nameless Chaos.

But now, thinking about it, it wasn’t Isaac who chose the Nameless Chaos; perhaps it was the Nameless Chaos that chose him.

While pondering this, Isaac recalled a familiar concept about Urbansus.

‘Come to think of it, the concept of Urbansus is a bit… like a game, isn’t it?’

For example, ‘Nameless Chaos.’

The game Nameless Chaos deals with a story set slightly in the future from now.

The protagonist chooses a faith and races for the victory of that faith.

There are as many worlds within it as there are players. Isaac, as one of the players, died hundreds of times to restart and strive for the desired outcome. Winning is very difficult, but the world changes significantly depending on which faith wins.

However, if he doesn’t like the outcome, Isaac can always restart the game.

Isaac thought that the game ‘Nameless Chaos’ strangely resembled Urbansus.

‘Did the Nameless Chaos draw me in as its follower?’

There are many people who control the game better than Isaac. There are plenty who have done speedruns to clear it in the shortest time.

There are also those who play well with optimized strategies. But one achievement Isaac had over them was this:

He had played and succeeded in all the faiths.

But soon, Isaac denied his own thought.

‘…It must be just a coincidence.’

The concepts of changing history, turning back time, restarting a game are all too common.

If Urbansus is a world that can overwrite history, it’s not strange for the game and the concept to overlap.

However, he could make this speculation.

If Urbansus is Nameless Chaos.

Or if it’s a similar concept.

No matter what changes come, Isaac would be the person best adapted to Urbansus.

***

“It seems you’ve come upon a realization.”

Amundalas spoke as if she was quite pleased.

“…Do you want to join because you think I will win?”

“Something like that. You know what we want, don’t you?”

What the Salt Council wants.

It was clear that she was referring to the victory conditions of the Salt Council as expressed in Nameless Chaos. And that did not conflict with Isaac’s goals.

“To break the Salt Desert and awaken the Dreamer.”

“That’s right. We have always referred to the entity that will appear someday as ‘the Dreamer’…”

If it were possible to awaken the Dreamer simply by breaking the Salt Desert, it would have been done long ago.

However, the god buried under the Salt Desert cannot be awakened from the outside. To awaken the Dreamer, only one who dreams together can do it… that was the interpretation of the doctrine of the Salt Council. The ‘one who dreams together’ was a metaphor for Urbansus.

But no one from the Salt Council had ever set foot in Urbansus while alive.

Until they sent Isaac as their representative.

“If you are considering our request… I will ensure that the Salt Council receives a revelation that you are ‘the Dreamer.’”

Isaac’s eyes widened at Amundalas’s unexpected words. Her words almost made Isaac a second prophet or savior.

Even though he was already a holy knight of another denomination and an outsider with a different faith.

It went beyond the ‘full support of the Salt Council’ that Isaac had hoped for; it was almost as if he would completely command them.

“Is that… possible? I understand that the Salt Council is currently cut off from the afterlife.”

“Just send undeniable evidence in your hands. Don’t worry.”

“…Even though I belong to a different faith?”

At Isaac’s words, Amundalas shrugged her shoulders.

“To be honest, we are not pleased with the current situation either. How could it be pleasant to entrust our fate to an outsider? But there is a reason why the Drowned King sent you at the cost of his own life.”

Amundalas raised her finger in front of Isaac and whispered in a voice as if she was thirsty.

“Chaos always brings change. Always.”

She grinned, her fangs shining sharply.

“There may be things that do not welcome change. But the weak always crave change. There may be others besides us who wish for the intervention of chaos. Haven’t you already been approached by someone who recognized your identity?”

Isaac immediately thought of the Mirror Handmaiden of the Red Chalice Club but did not mention it.

There was no need to show his hand. He had not yet confirmed Amundalas’s exact identity.

“There is a condition.”

“A condition? Besides the full cooperation of the Salt Council?”

“That’s just secondary. I originally tried to get close to the Salt Council to get answers.”

Amundalas’s lips twitched.

“Good. If you’ve come all the way to the netherworld to ask, it must be no ordinary question. What are you curious about?”

Isaac had been looking forward to this moment since he made contact with the Salt Council through Aidan.

He had tried to find answers on his own and conducted investigations, but the related history had been persistently deleted. And now, Isaac realized that it had gone beyond artificial levels.

Perhaps Urbansus had intervened and erased the related history.

“What happened 300 years ago when the White Plague was rampant?”

Isaac asked about the history erased by the relentless Nine Faiths.

“Why did Nameless Chaos kill all its followers and commit suicide?”

Amundalas looked at Isaac without expression. She didn’t seem surprised, as if she had expected this question. Isaac felt a sense of impatience with her silence and urged her for an answer.

“Please tell me. The erasure of records about the White Plague went beyond the level of human intervention. Hearing the story about Urbansus today makes sense.”

The Fate of an Empire and a Faith Hinged on a Single Act

“Whether Luadin was loaded onto the ship or not, that simple fact alone divided the rise and fall of an ancient empire and brought a faith to the brink of collapse.

That is the power Urbansus holds.”

The events that befell the Nameless Chaos also suggested to Isaac that something had been decided in Urbansus and a particular history had been erased.

“If you don’t know, then is there someone who can answer… ?”

“No, it’s not that I can’t answer. I just hesitated because I didn’t understand the question.”

Amundalas tilted her head in confusion as she spoke.

“Chaos. The Nameless Chaos. Yes, that’s what it’s called now. I see. That entity has always had thousands of names, no different from being unnamed. What I don’t understand is, hmm. You said the Nameless Chaos killed all its followers and committed suicide?”

“Isn’t that right? Otherwise…”

“Although I am trapped here, history continues to flow in. The Nameless Chaos did not commit suicide. It was…”

Amundalas seemed to think again and waved her fingers in a complex manner.

“This is not erased history, so see for yourself.”

***

Scenes passed by quickly before Isaac’s eyes.

From the end of the sea to the end of the mountain range, from the endless great cliffs to the distant plains, from the bright yellow desert to the forests reaching up to the sky. Isaac ran through all of it. He was a paladin, carrying the flag of the Codex of Light, embodying the honored circle and the spreading rays of light, racing across the fields.

The glory and order of the Codex of Light filled the whole world.

“It’s a landscape from 300 years ago.”

Next to him, Amundalas, dressed as a priest, followed and spoke. Atop the hill, Isaac saw the world spread out under the high-rising sun.

The Codex of Light dominated this world.

“It was the time when the power of the Codex of Light was at its peak. The traitor Elil and the World’s forge were banished to an island across the sea, the despicable orc horde under Olkan’s rule fled to the fringes of the world, and the Red Chalice hid in back alleys and brothels. It was indeed the era of light.”

It seemed that the immortal order did not exist at this time. All known lands and what could be called ‘the center’ were under the rule of the Codex of Light.

Isaac could not understand how nameless chaos spread disaster amidst this bright prosperity.

“Where are the followers of the nameless chaos?”

“Do you not see?”

At Amundalas’s voice, Isaac looked down at the ground. Only then did he realize that the hill he was standing on was not made of dirt.

It was a mound of corpses piled high enough to form a shallow hill. And around this hill of bodies, new corpses were continually being brought and added.

It seemed like a massacre, but no wounds were visible. Amundalas pointed to the people who were carrying the bodies like a swarm of ants and said,

“There was a plague in that village. The villagers pleaded for salvation from the priests of the Codex of Light. But the priests refused to perform miracles.”

“They refused to perform miracles?”

“Being afflicted by the plague is evidence of heresy. The priests thought the villagers had worshipped the plague god. Do you think it’s nonsense? If they weren’t heretics, they would go to heaven after death and serve the Codex of Light, so what’s the problem?”

Eventually, when enough bodies had accumulated, people sprayed oil and set the pile of corpses on fire. The fire spread quickly, perhaps because oil had already been poured over the hill of bodies. Suddenly, Isaac spotted a villager holding a baby amidst the approaching flames.

The baby was crying out loud.

In that moment, the villager holding the baby threw it into the flames.

Without realizing it, Isaac tried to leap forward, but in the next moment, he was somewhere else. This time, it was a bustling downtown market.

Isaac glared at Amundalas. Amundalas, in the guise of a merchant, shrugged as if to ask what the problem was.

“Was that baby also infected with the plague?”

“No. It was a healthy baby.”

“Then what’s the problem…”

“But it could have caught the plague. Being infected means heresy. Then you can’t go to heaven. You have to die as a pure baby to go to heaven.”

Isaac was speechless at the bizarre logic.

Amundalas walked on. The market was bustling, and the merchants were lively. But Isaac could not look at the market with the peaceful gaze he had when looking at the fields before.

In the alleys between the market, beggars were begging, and a man with religious symbols tattooed all over his body was muttering something incessantly. In the center of the market, a bishop-certified cloth was being auctioned off and sold.

Isaac felt a sense of dizziness.

“That’s not what I asked about.”

“Weren’t you curious about what happened?”

“Yes. When a single system overwhelmingly seizes power, it becomes rigid and starts to rot. That’s what happened to the Codex of Light 300 years ago.”

Isaac said, glaring at Amundalas with annoyance.

“But after all, it’s a thing of the past. I can’t say that the order is clean now, but it’s an old story, so it doesn’t really matter, does it? So where are the followers of chaos, and did the nameless chaos kill them all?”

At that, Amundalas laughed and replied,

“Everyone you’ve seen so far has been a follower of chaos.”