Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 349

349. Salt Desert (2)

“……Well, anyway, we have absolutely no way of breaking the Salt Desert other than believing in Isaac-nim, the ‘Dreamer’ mentioned in the prophecy.”

It seemed like they had no choice but to believe in Isaac, but it was true that the believers of the Salt Council trusted Isaac. For now, that was enough. Even Aidan was loyal enough to keep his mouth shut even after witnessing Isaac’s unpleasant appearance several times.

“Just in case, we will wait here for about a week before leaving. If anything happens, please do not hesitate to come back. Now that the Orca Fleet is in our hands, the Nightmare Strait is no longer a threat.”

“I’m just saying this in case, but don’t even think about taking that thing back to Audrey Harbor.”

“Of course.”

Yenkos caressed Horace’s skull while mumbling. He seemed to be wondering if he should decorate it with gold leaf.

“Isaac-nim, we are ready.”

Then, Hesavel approached with quick steps and reported. It meant that the main force had all left, and only Isaac’s side remained.

Elill was in the vanguard/reconnaissance, Tuhallin was in the lead, the Isacrean Knights Templar were in the main force, and Isaac was going to move in the rear. It was a formation that prioritized speed, judging that there would be no organized attacks.

Isaac nodded and greeted Yenkos.

“Then I will see you later.”

“Yes. I hope to see you off the coast of Mirmya.”

***

Isaac rode Nell and flew through the sky, scouting the Salt Desert.

Hesavel was too vulnerable to the environment of this desert. There was nowhere to hide, but in the end, her eyes were scorched by the heat of the cursed sun. In the end, she was rolled up in cloth and carried on a wagon like a package.

Isaac thought it was because Hesavel was a vampire, but when he actually rode Nell and flew, it wasn’t that.

‘The glare is no joke.’

The Salt Desert was relatively pale yellow, but the glare reflecting the heat and light was enormous. It was like the snow blindness you get when you stare at a snowy plain in the Arctic for a long time. Even the cursed sun was rising in the direction they were walking, so it was difficult to look away and move.

‘The soldiers might be more tired than expected. Will they be okay?’

Isaac carefully checked if any of the moving soldiers were falling behind or dropping out. Thanks to the thorough heat countermeasures, there didn’t seem to be any for now. Isaac’s heat countermeasures were to wrap his body in cloth to block the heat and to prepare plenty of drinking water. The Salt Desert was relatively bearable as long as the sunlight was blocked because the humidity was low.

And the prayers and hymns of the Isacrean Knights Templar also helped.

Isaac did not pray to the lighthouse keeper who would not listen to him anyway. Instead, they offered prayers that caused the light to scatter and reflect. The knights were confused by the concept of ‘reflecting’ and ‘scattering’ the light that they were supposed to fully accept and embrace, but it was not an act that went against their doctrine.

In the first place, there was no being that could fully withstand the radiance and heat emitted from Urbanus. It was a light that had been neutralized and softened several times through the hands of angels, popes, and priests. When applied to the cursed sun, it became a fairly plausible ‘sunshade miracle.’

It wasn’t something that could be completely avoided, and it was only neutralized to some extent, but it was still relatively bearable. However, there was nothing that could be done about the radiant heat coming from the ground.

‘If I had to say there was a side effect, it would be… It’s too conspicuous.’

Thanks to the reflection of the cursed sun’s light, the main force of the Isacrean Dawn Army, where the Knights Templar were located, had become a dazzling army like a shining jewel that could be seen from several kilometers away. It seemed like all the monsters in the vicinity would come swarming.

However, Isaac was more annoyed by the sun than the monsters.

After all, monsters could be killed.

‘Even so, there are fewer monsters than I was worried about.’

They found a few monster corpses that seemed to have been killed when Elill’s army broke through, but they did not see any living monsters.

As Elil’s troops broke through, they found several corpses of monsters that seemed to have been defeated, but no living monsters were in sight.

“No, how many lives do you have?!”

Isaac and Elil’s army, aided by the believers of the Salt Council, face challenges in the Salt Desert. Isaac confronts a monster, saves a soldier, and gains hero status. Curious about controlling chaos creatures, he faces a new dilemma.

Of course, they were not completely absent. There was one that had been bothering Isaac since earlier.

On one side of the Salt Desert, far enough away that Isaac couldn’t fly over and eliminate it himself, a monster was watching them.

Isaac did not let his guard down as it moved, as if it were aware of him while keeping its distance. It is a natural fact that a creature with more intelligence is more troublesome than one that is simply strong.

“Grrrrrrr…”

At that moment, Nell let out an irritated growl. The intense heat was enough to tire even Nell, who was a dragon. Especially since she had to face the sunlight head-on in the sky, she had no choice but to get tired. Isaac had no choice but to land and let her rest, deciding that it would be better to move when necessary.

‘I’ll have to seize the opportunity to kill that thing as the situation allows.’

***

After about half a day of walking, soldiers began to show signs of fatigue despite all the precautions taken against the heat. With the dazzling reflections, the dizzying mirages, and the horizon that made it difficult to get a sense of direction, the concentration of those on guard had been waning for a long time.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

And as if to take advantage of such carelessness, a scream erupted from the ranks.

Soldiers were being sucked in as one side of the Salt Desert collapsed. As the boundary of the salt pit, which was dug in the shape of a funnel, collapsed and widened, Rottenhammer hurriedly shouted.

“Fall back! Knights forward!”

The knights rushed forward and prepared to jump into the salt pit.

“It’s under the ground! Be careful!”

Isaac warned urgently. He had realized what it was.

The monster, which was conveniently named the Desert Phantom after the Ant Phantom, buries itself under the salt pit instead of the desert and eats unfortunate victims (mostly other monsters) that pass by.

As befitting its habit of dragging its prey into a pit to eat it, it can hunt even those stronger than itself if they are within its territory. There was no need to jump into such a pit. It would have been better to just hammer it in like a Thoorin.

However, Thoorin was too far away, and the Desert Phantom was not standing still either.

As the knights hesitated at the boundary, tentacles shot up from the ground. The brown tentacles instantly grabbed the knights’ ankles and pulled them inward. Only then did a huge maw appear inside the funnel.

It was like a strange flower made of flesh, with its insides and outsides reversed. Instead of a pistil, there were teeth and a parched tongue wriggling in its wide-open mouth. The tentacles, which seemed to have taken root below, crawled up and dragged the victims who were trying to escape inside.

“Damn it!”

However, the knights were knights, and they immediately swung their swords and cut off the tentacles in one stroke. Rottenhammer also jumped in without hesitation as the knights were dragged in. Isaac did not stop him either.

“How dare such an unholy beast dare to block the path of the Dawn Army!”

Rottenhammer slid down helplessly, but he smashed and tore the tentacles with his hammer. The hammer, engulfed in flames, burned the tentacles as soon as it touched them. Then, as he struck the ground hard with his hammer, the Desert Phantom seemed to feel the heat waves and writhed as it burrowed back underground.

In the process, several soldiers who were still tied to the tentacles began to be dragged in. The knights rescued them quickly, but three of them were tied up. At that moment, Isaac jumped into the pit and cut off two of the tentacles at once.

However, one of them had already been sucked into the Desert Phantom’s maw. As a regretful sigh was about to escape, Isaac was already throwing himself into it.

“Isaac!”

Rottenhammer tried to rip the Desert Phantom apart with his hammer in a panic, but it had already burrowed underground. Rottenhammer looked down into the pit with a blank expression as the pile of salt blocked the hole.

At that moment, with a thud, the Desert Phantom shot up violently. Its body, which was longer than before, stretched out and writhed in agony before collapsing and going limp. Soon, Isaac emerged from the Desert Phantom’s belly, along with the soldier who had been dragged away.

At that moment, with a thud, the desert ghost fiercely emerged. Its body extended longer than before, writhing in agony before crumbling and collapsing. Soon after, Isaac walked out alongside the soldier who had been dragged away.

Episode 350. Salt Desert (3)

“No, do you have multiple lives?!”

Rotenhammer, forgetting his manners, burst out in anger. More lectures followed about the importance of his role as a commander, symbol, and authority. “If you die, what will happen to this alliance?” he added.

Isaac replied brazenly, “Honestly, if you thought I would die this easily, you wouldn’t have followed me, right?”

“No…!”

“I had confidence in saving this friend. If I can save him and don’t move due to my weight, it’s as good as me killing him, isn’t it, Rotenhammer?”

Speechless, Rotenhammer let out a deep sigh.

“If you’re going to follow me, you better have a spare heart. I thought your heart had stopped.”

Meanwhile, the soldier rescued by Isaac was in a critical condition, making it difficult to restrain him, but he repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

“T-Thank you, Sir Knight. This grace will surely…”

The soldiers supported the grateful soldier, guiding him to a cart.

***

Rumors spread throughout the army within seconds that Isaac had jumped into the monster’s mouth to rescue a soldier.

The soldiers who saw an outer demon for the first time were terrified by its appearance alone. However, even that fear was overshadowed by Isaac and the knights’ actions. No, to forget the fear, the tales of Isaac’s heroics were exaggerated and spread.

After all, the presence of a hero on the battlefield was necessary.

“To be honest, I feel a bit sorry.”

Isaac followed him for other reasons as well.

Of course, he had no intention of neglecting the soldier who had followed him for help. But more than that, he was curious if he could control the monster.

He was well-versed in all kinds of strategies existing in this world, but he had no knowledge of the victory conditions or strategies for nameless chaos creatures. Not to mention the limits of his abilities and what he could or couldn’t do.

Many monsters of chaos creatures belonged to the nameless chaos. So far, the nameless chaos creatures had seen him as an enemy, but he thought that if he could understand their reasons or control methods, he could at least avoid fighting.

“But the result is half success… No, failure.”

Isaac felt the creature’s will inside the desert ghost’s mouth.

It clearly had human language, vocabulary, and will. However, it was too rough and degenerate in form, making it hard to see it as human anymore. Metaphorically, it could be seen as a pig or chicken level creature that knew how to speak human language.

Isaac thought he should leave before the soldier died, so he even preyed on it, but he only filled his stomach and didn’t gain any special benefits from the prey.

“Now, even if I fill my stomach, the benefits of preying don’t stand out unless I eat a lot. Is there much room left to get stronger?”

Certainly, Isaac was already among the top tier of humans. In fact, even if you searched through his knowledge, there were few who could deny that he was the strongest. Considering that most people capable of matching him were under the protection of angels, Isaac had achieved tremendous success for his age.

In terms of levels, he was close to the maximum level. Eating a few more times wouldn’t make it easy to achieve new characteristics.

“To gain something, I need to eat a meaningful creature like Delode Ciel…”

Suddenly, something came to Isaac’s mind, and he turned his head. It was the mysterious creature that had been watching them from the other side of the desert. However,