Paladin of the Dead God
chapter-166-1

Isaac does not enjoy pursuits.

It disrupts the fullness he painstakingly maintains. In the past, he used to energetically run around and exert himself, but he learned to restrain himself upon realizing that all these activities were factors that depleted his fullness.

He felt it was a waste to spend his fullness on such insignificant foes.

However, without exerting some force, the enemies wouldn’t be intimidated, so he had to find a moderate level.

Smoothly, color beyond spread wide under Isaac’s feet. Noiselessly and without a trace, the color beyond began to settle like fog over the vast field.

Isaac walked towards the hiding knights, trudging rather than running.

And just in case they missed spotting him, he even waved his hand.

“Hey!”

The knights on watch stirred visibly. They thought they were well-hidden, but compared to the human hunters of the Red Chalice, they might as well have been walking around naked in broad daylight.

Stealth was apparently not a knightly virtue.

The knights stayed silent, thinking that Isaac was merely testing them. Meanwhile, Isaac walked straight towards them. Eventually, realizing they had been discovered, four knights slowly rose from behind the hill.

“What a lovely night for a moon. Were you perhaps on a double date?”

“…Is it really Sir Isaac Issacrea?”

“If it is?”

The knights whispered among themselves, exchanging looks. Isaac soon figured out who they were.

“Are you knights under General Georg?”

The knights remained silent. However, deciding that hiding was pointless, they tensed up and one by one drew their swords. Isaac, seeing the glint of their swords in the moonlight, muttered.

“I just heard a depressing story about the Georg family, so I’ll let it slide that you’ve drawn your swords. If you put them away now, we can continue as amicably as before.”

But no knight of Elil would bow under pressure without testing the strength of their opponent.

“Let’s see the skills of a crusading knight from across the sea!”

One of the Georg knights charged at Isaac, slashing down with his sword. Having already experienced the spicy taste of Aldeon knights, Isaac didn’t make the foolish mistake of clashing blades directly. Instead, he focused his energy on the colors of the beyond that he had spread on the ground, catching the Georg knight by the ankle.

“Ah, urgh!”

As the Georg knight stumbled, Isaac kicked him squarely in the groin. The knight, making a peculiar noise, staggered and fell. It hadn’t been Isaac’s intention to exploit such an opportunity, but the exposed vulnerability was too enticing to ignore.

Thankfully, the sight of their senior knight falling so quickly seemed to have made an impression on the others.

Two of the remaining three knights charged at him with a shout, while the third turned and started to run towards some horses tied down below the hill.

“So the juniors run while the seniors sacrifice themselves?”

“Draw your sword, Holy Grail knight!”

Out of respect, Isaac drew his sword.

‘Time to assess their skills.’

The sword shone brightly as it swung through the air, making a sharp sound.

***

Despite the Georg knight’s best efforts, his strikes were easily parried by Isaac, who seemed surprised by their ability. However, he quickly continued with another move, attacking Isaac.

Isaac evaluated their skills.

‘Certainly, this is different from Aldeon swordsmanship. More powerful, perhaps a bit more flexible?’

In other words, it was versatile. The two knights worked seamlessly together, alternating attacks and defenses fluidly against Isaac, unlike the Aldeon style which focused on striking a lethal blow, this style seemed specialized in destabilizing the opponent’s balance.

‘It does remind me of Lianne Georg’s swordplay.’

Isaac had learned the hard way what it was like to face unfamiliar swordplay when he first entered Aldeon, so he had prepared beforehand this time.

In the game, Lianne uses her sacred sword’s power for magnificent swordplay that overwhelms her enemies. The swordplay of these knights, if combined with the power of a sacred sword, might approximate hers.

Suddenly, one of the Georg knights grabbed Isaac’s sword blade. The deep part of the blade, designed for balance and not sharp, was clutched under his arm. The knight then executed a martial move, lifting Isaac off his feet.

Isaac was honestly impressed.

It was a risky move that could have cost him his shoulder, but it was executed flawlessly.

‘I’ve heard of sword wrestling, but it’s my first time being on the receiving end.’

None of the opponents Isaac had faced before had dared such a perilous maneuver.

As Isaac lost his balance, another knight swung his sword. Had it been anyone but Isaac, they would have been struck down. But Isaac was merely assessing the Georg knights’ level and swordsmanship.

Crack, bang!

In an instant, with a loud noise, both knights were knocked down.

They looked bewildered as they stumbled and then sat down, feeling the delayed pain. They couldn’t even understand how they had been injured. It was a momentary lapse, but it felt as though Isaac had somehow lifted them in mid-air and thrown them down. Their armor was badly dented.

“He’s bleeding out. He got slashed under the arm, so there will be a lot of blood. Stop the bleeding.”

Isaac pointed at the knight who had held his blade. Despite wearing armor, the knight had severely cut his fingers and underarm. Holding the blade so tightly made it impossible not to get injured. The knight gritted his teeth, trying to grasp his sword, only to realize it was shattered.

Isaac knew well how to silence defiant knights of Elil.

He quietly emanated a sword aura from his blade.

Tick, tock. The surrounding grass was slashed merely by being near the aura.

“Sword aura……”

The Georg knight gasped for breath and gave up resisting. He finally realized that Isaac had been playing with him all along. Had Isaac exerted his sword aura from the start, they would have been shredded to pieces.

“Get him treated.”

At Isaac’s command, the knight hesitantly crawled over to stop his comrade’s bleeding. He seemed to have broken a rib himself, but right now, his bleeding comrade was more important.

As he tightly grasped the wounded area of his companion and began to recite a prayer, the blood quickly stopped flowing. To be able to perform such a miracle, he had to be a knight of considerable rank among the Elil knights.