Paladin of the Dead God

In truth, Isaac’s ease in fighting them was expected.

He wielded the sanctity of Kaldwin, as well as the powers gained from slaying the Reaper: enhanced damage to spirits and the effect of Soul Predation. Fighting the undead was no longer the challenge it had once been. Unlike the meager, half-souled skeletal sailors, the Death Knights possessed some degree of faith that could be absorbed.

[“Consumed ‘Rusty Death Knight (C-)’.]

[‘Intestines of the Dead God’ grants increased consumption efficiency.]

[Insufficient faith to obtain special perks. More nourishment is needed.]

Unfortunately, they offered little sustenance. Isaac could guess why.

‘As I thought, these Death Knights are much weaker than usual.’

Death Knights were powerful not only because of the strength and personality they retained from life but also because they had countless years to hone their skills and refine themselves. They might have found custom weapons or received blessings over time.

But the White Eagle Paladins hadn’t been afforded that luxury.

Their armor, encrusted with barnacles and tangled in seaweed, was rusted a sickly yellow, as though they had wandered the depths of the sea for untold years. To call them Death Knights seemed almost a mockery.

In their grim appearance, Isaac sensed not only neglect but disdain, perhaps even malice.

Isaac recalled Horace, who had briefly disappeared into the fog to escape the Grasp of the Abyss. Specifically, he recalled Horace’s defiant proclamation that, despite being a servant of the Immortal Order, he had never abandoned the Dawn Army.

‘The efficiency of Soul Predation is pitiful here. To make it worthwhile, I’d need a soul as powerful and rich as that of someone like Villon Georg.’

With a final slash, Isaac cut down the eighth Death Knight, causing some of the sailors on the White Eagle warship above to falter. It was clear that a few were untying ropes to drop Death Knights onto Isaac’s ship in desperation.

Isaac steadied himself and charged toward the White Eagle warship’s hull. As he plunged forward, his blade sliced through the air, releasing eight streaks of dark energy, all converging on a single point with devastating force.

A vision filled the minds of those watching, as if several ferocious serpents were simultaneously tearing into a massive beast, bringing it down.

Boom! With a shattering crash, the White Eagle warship’s hull tilted precariously. The impact left splintered remnants as if it had collided with a reef. The sheer power was something even a whaling harpoon couldn’t achieve, leaving the sailors in shock, while Isaac still wasn’t satisfied.

As he prepared for another strike, the White Eagle warship finally reacted in panic.

Clang, crash! A tremendous weight landed on Eidan’s ship, causing it to lurch. Isaac sensed a foreboding presence.

The mist took on a bluish hue.

A massive Death Knight with an intense blue gaze emerged from the fog. His aura alone told Isaac that this one was the commander of the Paladin Order.

Isaac grinned as he regarded the figure.

‘This one might actually be worth consuming.’

***

Meanwhile, Horace, having gained some distance, was deep in thought, trying to puzzle out Isaac’s true nature.

‘Immortal Emperor, could he really be…?’

Horace possessed the keen insight, skills, and experience of a Salt Council captain from life, and those instincts had only sharpened since he became undead. Though his knowledge was frozen in time from 180 years ago, that limitation now helped him piece together a possible answer about Isaac’s identity.

‘Could he truly be a survivor of the Nameless Chaos Cult?’

In his lifetime, chaos and terror from the Nameless Chaos’s fall and the Immortal Order’s rise were still fresh. The Codex of Light zealously erased all remnants of the Nameless Chaos, so much so that most had since forgotten, but Horace, having seen many worlds, retained fragments of those memories.

Still, he couldn’t understand why a supposed apostle of Nameless Chaos would pose as a Paladin of the Codex of Light or why he would be under the Salt Council’s protection. This mystery held him back.

Then, Horace noticed something.

The White Eagle Paladin Order’s commander was now fighting Isaac. At that sight, Horace’s eyes widened, and he roared in fury.

[I told them not to release that bastard!]

Without wasting another moment, Horace seized the helm, turning his ship sharply.

The commander, with his immense size and weight, seemed poised to crush Isaac, yet Horace saw him only as a small frog standing before a snake.

The relationship was that of predator and prey.

[None shall escape from this sea! None!]

Horace’s warship, riding the wind, charged fiercely.

Around Eidan’s ship, the chaos of broken and entangled ships left a tangle of wreckage. With Horace’s ship bearing down like an unstoppable force, sailors scrambled in all directions across the deck.

Eidan, seeing the mayhem, called out desperately to their only hope.

“Sir Isaac!”

Isaac didn’t even glance at Horace’s approaching ship. Instead, he drove Kaldwin into the commander’s solar plexus, then slashed upward, cleaving him in half.

With Horace’s scream echoing around them, Isaac felt the commander’s soul being absorbed into his blade.

[“Consumed ‘Corrupted Delrod Siel (A+)’.]

[‘Intestines of the Dead God’ grants increased consumption efficiency.]

[Acquired temporary perk: ‘Unyielding (Temporary)’.]

[Blessing will remain until the perk is digested.]

Then Isaac turned toward the oncoming Horace’s ship and extended his open palm.

The Hidden Rite.

The most secretive of veils descended in silence, slowly, yet it was as if it had always been there, awaiting its time.

And within that veil, a brutal and unholy mass was about to unfold.

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