Paladin of the Dead God
chapter-149

Episode 149: The Apocalypse Handler (4)

‘Let’s test and see.’

At that moment, a considerable amount of faith that the beast of chaos had harbored seeped into Isaac’s body.

Isaac manipulated the flowing color in his hand to behave like a liquid. As the color started to coil around the flesh of the apocalypse handler, he hardened it back into a solid.

Then, a few multifaceted spiders emerged from the debris of the apocalypse handler, scurrying into view. They aimed for Isaac’s back and charged at him suddenly. However, sharp spikes sprouted from the pooled color around the corpse of the handler, impaling the spiders.

Pffft-brrrrt! The colors that had punctured the spiders melted back into a liquid and dispersed into the air like gas.

‘It’s useful, but it needs a lot more divine power to make it harder or more refined.’

Nonetheless, it was a highly useful ability in various situations.

One of the advantages of ‘The Color Beyond’ was that as long as it was dark enough, it was relatively inconspicuous.

It would be handy when needed.

“Isaac!”

Isaac quickly made ‘The Color Beyond’ disperse like a gas.

Whether Bashul didn’t notice the color or thought it was the remnants of the apocalypse handler, he didn’t seem suspicious. However, he looked Isaac up and down as if dumbfounded.

“Sir Holy Grail Knight, are you alright?”

“What’s… Ah.”

All the lifeforms that had come into contact with the apocalypse handler’s body had either melted and been absorbed or suffered severe wounds. Bashul had various lacerations and burns. Particularly, a grave wound that had pierced his foot seemed to cause him to limp.

“It seems that the gas-like clump was actually a swarm of low-density bugs. They are hostile to nearby lifeforms, biting and swallowing anything that comes close, but they seem to have lost their hostile instincts once their head died.”

“Ah… I see.”

While the makeshift logic circuits of the multifaceted spiders were inevitable, their existence was only a matter of time. Such beings couldn’t survive long on their own.

Isaac knew from experience that ‘The Color Beyond’ could inflict minor injuries. He had once surprised Delia Lyon in his own domain with it. However, he had thought it difficult to inflict any real damage, but the apocalypse handler was truly a monster of the afterlife.

***

“Is Your Majesty alright?”

“Yes, but…”

Bashul turned around with a troubled expression. Rene was leaning against the carriage, gasping for air. When she coughed violently, blood soaked her armor.

Isaac rushed over in shock.

“Weren’t you alright before?”

“Yes, but something went wrong… I’ve gone to call a priest.”

A soldier kept checking on Rene, and the Emperor brightened the burning light on his horn to shine on her. The purifying light was strong enough to burn away any ordinary curse, but Rene’s condition showed no signs of improvement.

Isaac hurriedly took out the Sacred Artifact of Healing.

Waltzemer asked,

“What’s that?”

“It’s a relic that uses blood to heal wounds. It belongs to the Red Chalice, but the Codex of Light would forgive us for using it to save a noble knight!”

Fortunately, no one objected. Isaac wrapped the Sacred Artifact around Rene’s torso and cut his hand to let the blood flow. The artifact activated, turning a deeper shade of red, but Rene’s complexion did not improve.

This meant that she was neither cursed nor internally injured.

“Has Lady Rene Lomerk shown any strange symptoms before?”

“Other than coughing violently when she used high-level swordsmanship against that monster…”

Bashul’s words made Isaac’s face stiffen.

Then, Rene coughed violently again, spewing blood with fragments of organs and black legs wiggling within it.

Everyone who saw this turned pale.

Rene fumbled around her mouth as it twitched.

“This…”

Black legs wriggled inside her mouth. She had inhaled the creature’s fluids by accident while stabbing the apocalypse handler, messing up her breathing. The violent coughs had been caused by this from the start.

Realizing her condition, Rene’s eyes filled with horror. She hurriedly tried to remove her armor and grab a sword, but at that moment, Waltzemer raised his spear.

“Your Majesty!”

Crack. Isaac tried to intervene, but Waltzemer’s spear had already pierced Rene’s chest. Her eyes shook violently then dimmed.

Flames rose from the tip of the spear, burning the creatures inside Rene, including the multifaceted spiders, and soon her body was consumed by fire.

In an instant, only white bones and charred armor remained where Rene had been sitting.

Waltzemer looked down at her remains and spoke.

“She died protecting her Emperor. Treat her with the highest honor.”

Bashul bit his lip, then nodded.

“Yes.”

Isaac also looked down at Rene’s remains with a heavy heart.

He wasn’t resentful towards the Emperor for not seeking another way, but at the last moment, Rene had tried to cut open her own abdomen, a decision made in panic.

The Emperor’s spear had mercifully ended her suffering quickly.

Yet Isaac couldn’t shake the feeling that if he had revealed his power, he might have been able to save her. After all, those creatures were also of the chaos lineage. He might have been able to control them.

“Isaac.”

At that moment, Waltzemer steadied him by the shoulder and helped him stand. As Isaac lifted his head, he saw people who had hidden inside their homes during the monster’s sudden attack now emerging one by one.

“Stand tall and show them a confident face. These are the people you saved.”

Isolde, who had been organizing the guards to control the chaos, appeared in view. They were all looking at the Emperor’s horn glowing like the sun, an unmistakable symbol that made the citizens gasp and then kneel one by one.

“The Emperor has vanquished the monster,” someone murmured as if in a whisper. The whisper quickly spread like wildfire.

“The Emperor has saved us!”

“Long live the Emperor!”

Soon, voices praising the Emperor burst forth continuously. Tears and sobbing filled the air as the people kneeling and bowing continued their cries of praise. It was as if a divine miracle had manifested to save them.

Of course, the monster had initially targeted the Emperor, but that was irrelevant now.

“Listen!”

But then the Emperor shouted loudly, dismissing any plans of a quiet exit. The soldiers also formed up to enhance the Emperor’s aura.

“It was not I who saved you. It was this Holy Grail Knight, Isaac Issacrea!”

Isaac turned to Waltzemer in surprise, but the Emperor gently nudged him to look forward.

“The Holy Grail Knight has aided me as well. These malevolent pagans have assaulted our brethren, yet we remain steadfast in our devotion to God! The Code of Light has revived the Grail Knight, who now stands as the embodiment of your divine will!”

Isaac felt uncomfortable with the Emperor’s overly gracious words. Moreover, knowing that the attackers were minions of chaos and that an agent of the Red Chalice had been involved made it worse. Many people, including Rene, had died right before his eyes.

“A toast and thanks to you, Isaac Issacrea.”

As the people’s attention turned towards him, a tremendous amount of faith began to pour in. It was a feeling of fullness in his chest, filled with praise, gratitude, and desperate hope for salvation.

Isaac couldn’t possibly reject this ‘pressure.’

“The Holy Grail Knight has returned to us!”

As Waltzemer raised Isaac’s hand, the people also shouted in unison.

From afar, Isolde looked at Isaac with an unfamiliar expression.

“The Holy Grail Knight has returned!”

“Here is the Holy Grail Knight, Isaac!”

It was a dizzying flood of adulation.

***

“Why did you do that?”

“What do you mean?”

The Emperor was preparing to leave again.

He had not brought many guards for secrecy, and now that the assassins knew their location, they needed to move quickly. Dietrich had agreed to reinforce the escort, but the best option was to move quickly before rumors spread.

“Why did you tell the people that I saved them?”

“Did I lie?”

“…Without Your Majesty’s light, there would have been more casualties. Without Haltaba’s lightning, there would have been no gaps in the monster’s defense, and without the knights Bashul and Rene, we wouldn’t have been able to bring it down. I only struck the final blow.”

Waltzemer burst out laughing. After laughing for a while inside the carriage, he casually murmured.

“You really aren’t used to being loved, are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing much. Just think about it. Who was the first to detect and react to the conspiracy?”

“It was me.”

“Who was the first to find and kill the summoner to stop the summoning?”

“…It was me.”

“Who secured the evidence that the Immortal Order was behind it?”

Isaac didn’t answer.

Waltzemer didn’t press further about who had dealt the final blow to the monster when even the royal guards had fallen. Instead, he patted Isaac on the shoulder.

“I understand it’s overwhelming. It feels like hogging the glory while many are hurt and dead. But that’s what heroes do; they sit alone on a throne built upon many corpses.”

Isaac remembered Waltzemer was a war hero who had emerged victorious after numerous civil wars. Under his feet lay not only enemies but also many comrades and allies.

Isaac, aspiring to rise within the Dawn Army, had a role model to follow.

The Emperor gestured towards the still-cheering crowd around the carriage.

The Emperor chuckled softly at Isaac’s reluctant tone. “If I were to step into the spotlight now, it would just look like an old man overreaching himself.”

The spotlight should shine on only one person. Isaac was already aware of the Emperor’s intentions, but he could not forget the image of Rene vomiting spiders.

“Ah, and among the possessions of the summoner you killed, I found this.”

The Emperor pulled something from his pocket. It was a gruesomely distorted and crushed Ankh, though it still bore the form of the Codex of Light’s symbol.

“This is…?”

“It appears the owner was originally a priest. We found tattoos of prayers on him and identified the monastery he belonged to. However, we haven’t figured out the details yet.”

A chill ran down Isaac’s spine as he realized what the Emperor was implying. He whispered in a voice dripping with murderous intent,

“Right. There’s a high probability that the Codex of Light sect is behind this conspiracy.”

“Why would the sect…”

“Why ask such a question? To them, my very existence is an annoyance. They disdain the idea of earthly power sharing in the celestial authority! But they can’t openly do anything because of this horn.”

Waltzemer scoffed as he continued, “Or maybe they’re just provoking me enough to anger me. They set up the Immortal Order as a scapegoat and say, ‘Are you just going to stand there?’”

“But did the Immortal Order really not intervene?”

“And both you and I, and Bashul too, know that there could be those within the sect colluding with the Immortal Order for some reason.”

Isaac remained silent.

Waltzemer had accepted Bashul knowing that he was a follower of Ellil and held strong antagonism towards the sect.

“They killed Rene. It’s not something I can reveal just yet, but I won’t forget this incident. I will definitely break the necks of those traitors.”

He turned to look Isaac squarely in the eye.

“I’ll need your help to do it.”

Isaac could sense that Waltzemer’s ambitions were greater than he had thought. Perhaps his aspirations would not stop at being the emperor of the White Empire.

And there was another historical figure who had aimed for greater power.

The Tyrant Elil.

Whether Waltzemer wanted to become another Elil was a question without an answer.

But there was something else that troubled Isaac more than the Emperor’s ambitions.

‘How did the Emperor find the Ankh that I missed?’