Paladin of the Dead God
chapter-124

Chapter 124. Urbansus (4)

Isaac was momentarily at a loss for words.

The priests who refused to treat the plague, the farmer who threw his newborn into the fire for fear that his child would not reach heaven, the merchant selling indulgences, the begging poor… How could they all become followers of the nameless chaos?

Before he knew it, Isaac was walking through a monastery with Amundalas.

Amundalas gestured to Isaac as they walked down the quiet monastery corridor. At the tip of her finger, there were monks whispering something devoutly.

Amundalas explained what they were discussing.

“They are precisely those who wish for the end of the world.”

“Those who wish for the end?”

There have always been fanatics who cry out for the end of the world, regardless of the era. They shout that the end is near and that we must prepare for it immediately.

“But who do you think are the people who wish for the world to end? The poor? Those dissatisfied with society? The oppressed? Well, they might wish for destruction too.”

Amundalas showed the market scene again.

“But surprisingly, even those powerful and deeply religious also wish for the end of the world. They prefer ‘and they lived happily ever after’ to living in fear of when their glory will crumble.”

The monks whispered a name. To Isaac, the name sounded muffled, as if erased. That fact alone made it clear that it was the original name of the nameless chaos.

And suddenly, he felt a chill.

The white plague breaks out just by knowing the name of the nameless chaos.

They will die.

Amundalas continued, pointing at the monks.

“They think that the Codex of Light has ‘completely conquered the world’ and thus established this glorious kingdom in their era. They do not want this beautiful creation to break. And they want to go to heaven before they commit more sins.”

“Surely, that’s why.”

“It’s not a guess; it’s obvious. The Codex of Light says that the eternal kingdom is in heaven. Compared to that, this life, where one can sin at any time, is just insecure and uncomfortable. The same goes for the rulers, priests, and the wealthy. They believe they deserve to go to heaven because they contributed to this ‘golden age.’ So many kings, nobles, priests, and the wealthy hoped for ‘the end’ to come. The poor, in their own way, hoped for the end of this oppression and suffering.”

Amundalas waved her hand again and changed the location. This time, she took them to a vast desert. A pyramid-shaped altar was visible.

The moment Isaac saw it, he felt nauseous with déjà vu of a certain scene that came to mind. Seeing Isaac’s reaction, Amundalas muttered expressionlessly.

“It seems you have been eroded by the memory of an event that took place here?”

Isaac recalled the nightmare he had and the ritual performed by a man in yellow clothes on this pyramid altar.

“It seems that really happened.”

“Yes. Among those you saw earlier, there were those who desperately wished for the end. They decided not to wait for the end quietly… but to invoke it themselves. They began to draw out the faith, the power of chaos, that was spreading among themselves.”

Terrifying memories flashed through Isaac’s mind like lightning.

A tilting and distorting world, monsters crawling out using human skin as gates, mountains of human corpses. Scenes that could not be seen with a sane mind.

“Is chaos originally such a faith?”

“No. Of course not. But as I said before, everything in the world is influenced by Urbansus. The followers of chaos desperately wished for the destruction of the world and the end of this order. Then the form of that miracle could not be normal.”

The result was tentacled monsters and a crumbling world.

Isaac realized why the miracles he performed were all like this.

They are the remnants left by those who wished for the end in the past.

It is still a trace of Urbansus that affects Isaac.

“In the meantime, one person… prepared this unprecedented ritual.”

Isaac immediately thought of the man in yellow clothes. The man who always stared at Isaac with desperate obsession from the afterlife. Isaac was sure that the man was constantly approaching him and that he would eventually encounter him.

“Who is that?”

“I don’t know. His name was erased along with him. Even if I knew, it would be best not to mention it carelessly. This place is also Urbansus.”

Somewhere in this Urbansus, there is the man in yellow clothes. Amundalas was warning him.

Isaac was silent for a moment, then spoke as if he still had lingering thoughts.

“Even so, such a crazy cult religion couldn’t have spread widely.”

“That’s right. It didn’t spread that much.”

Amundalas said, as if mocking Isaac’s expectation.

“It spread to only about a third of the world’s population at the time.”

At that figure, Isaac fell silent.

The white plague that wiped out a third of the world’s population.

Isaac realized that it was not the nameless chaos that spread the white plague. It was just that the plan of the madmen who dreamed of the world’s destruction had succeeded.

But their destruction ended with their death, not the world’s.

However, Isaac suddenly realized that such an absurd miracle could not have been accomplished by the power of a single believer.

It was impossible with human power alone.

Not without the help of a god.

“Did chaos agree to all this?”

“It must have. Even if the man in yellow clothes was an unprecedented genius sorcerer, he couldn’t have done it alone. Killing so many people at once.”

“Why would he do such a thing?”

“I don’t know. Gods create many mysteries. But even other gods may not understand the white plague.”

It’s back to square one.

The white plague was not created by the nameless chaos, but the fact that it agreed to it does not change. Then why did the nameless chaos agree to annihilate its own order with the white plague?

‘Did it ultimately not withstand the pressure of Urbansus?’

***

Before he knew it, Isaac was back under the deck of the ship in the salt desert.

“I don’t know if this is enough of an answer for you, Isaac.”

She lay down on the salt floor, looking tired, and said,

“The white plague is the result that the followers of chaos wanted. Whether to escape the oppression of the Codex of Light or to leave the painful present life for heaven, the desired result has come. It’s just that we don’t know why the nameless chaos agreed to it.”

That much is the will of the gods.

As Amundalas, who can only see the information that flows in, it was something she could not know. Isaac bowed his head, realizing that Amundalas had answered as sincerely as possible.

“Thank you. Your answer is sufficient.”

Amundalas gazed intently at Isaac and suddenly, as if struck by a thought, issued a warning.

“I just want to caution you on one thing.”

Tapping the floor with her fingernail, Amundalas continued,

“Using strong divine power means that you are getting closer to the gods. It means the boundary with the afterlife is thinning. It means Urbansus could taint you.”

“I’ve heard something similar from an acquaintance before.”

Eidan had said something with a similar nuance. As the power of miracles grows stronger, individual free will disappears, and the collective will of the faithful can take over.

“At that time, I replied, ‘Isn’t that what happens when you join any group?’”

“That’s right. If you set aside Urbansus and everything else, it’s commonly called peer pressure. Groups can’t tolerate dissimilarity.”

However, Amundalas’s eyes sparkled as she pointed at Isaac and said,

“But you are exceptional. Strikingly different. The pressure of thousands of years, of hundreds of millions of people, will be transmitted to you alone. Right now, it might not be very strong, so the pressure from Urbansus might not be significant. But the stronger you become with the power of chaos, the more dangerous it will be.”

Isaac kept silent for a moment, not responding.

He understood what Amundalas was saying and what she was worried about. Isaac’s safe growth so far was all thanks to the power of the nameless chaos. But he also felt that he should not rely entirely on that power.

It wasn’t just about hiding his identity.

It was the anxiety that a power given without reason could also disappear without reason.

It would have been the same with any other faith, not just the nameless chaos.

‘It’s not entirely my own power.’

Isaac thought about the nameless chaos.

It was clear that the nameless chaos was benevolent. And it didn’t seem likely to withdraw that benevolence easily. Honestly, Isaac had trusted the nameless chaos and risked his life on it many times. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he trusted it more than anyone.

But his afterlife… Urbansus was different.

Isaac now knew where his tentacles and miracles originated.

From those who desperately wished for destruction.

And the man in yellow clothes.

The fact that the nameless chaos killed a third of the world’s population with the white plague means that a third of the world will exert pressure on Isaac.

If such an alien afterlife pressures Isaac to ‘be like them,’ can he really withstand it?

Amundalas was concerned about that.

After a long silence, Isaac finally spoke.

“I understand your concerns.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“It’s a serious matter to just say ‘don’t worry, nothing will happen’… But for now, it’s been helpful to me. I should thank you again.”

Isaac bowed his head in gratitude.

So far, he had never felt his will being influenced by another’s. But if what Amundalas described was true, it would come in a form beyond his awareness.

But Amundalas looked at Isaac and smiled slyly.

“I like your cautious nature. It seems the Drowned King’s sacrifice was not in vain.”

Suddenly, Isaac began to understand how much courage the Drowned King must have needed. That battle had been his desperate struggle to discover Isaac’s true intentions.

“By the way, did you know I was coming?”

Amundalas seemed to know a lot about Isaac, more than what could have been conveyed through the Moonwell Ritual.

She clearly knew a great deal.

Isaac was curious, but Amundalas covered her lips and shook her head.

“I cannot reveal everything now. Especially about you, as mentioning it might attract unwanted things.”

She whispered with a smile.

“However, I believe that, unlike them, you wish for the permanence of this world.”

Isaac remembered what the Drowned King had said before sending him to this world.

‘Then I believe you, like me, also desire the permanence of this world.’

“What does that mean…”

“It’s time to go back. I’ve already revealed too many secrets. I’ll have my share of struggles here, so you go on and work hard there.”

With that, Amundalas pushed Isaac’s shoulder lightly.

In the next moment, Isaac’s vision changed.