Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 275:

Dera Heman, Commander of the Golden Lion Paladin Order.

As soon as the name of the person considered the strongest among the paladins of the Codex of Light was mentioned, Isaac and Bashul froze instantly. Dera Heman was an opponent Isaac couldn’t defeat without using his tentacles, and doing so would reveal his identity immediately.

‘Moreover, his abilities are a terrible match for mine. He’s troublesome…’

But the situation had already reached a point of no return once the order for his summoning had been given.

Bashul grimaced and immediately swung his sword at the librarian. However, the moment the lights on the ceiling flickered, the librarian had already retreated far away.

It seemed he judged there was no need for him to exert himself since Dera Heman would soon arrive. Indeed, the librarian was more concerned with preventing the destruction or rampage of other sealed items than with Isaac and Bashul.

Bashul ground his teeth as he looked at the distant librarian and turned to Isaac.

He hesitated for a moment but then spoke as if he had no choice.

“Isaac, escape now and go rescue the Emperor.”

“Didn’t you hear? Do you not know who Dera Heman is?”

“Of course I know. I was once a paladin of the Codex of Light myself.”

Bashul growled.

Although his practical experience in combat was minimal due to his duty to guard Lichtheim, there was no disagreement within the empire that he was the strongest among the paladins.

The Golden Lion Paladin Order itself was the elite of the elite. And Dera Heman was at its pinnacle. He was both the commander and the chief knight.

“That’s exactly why I’m doing this. Someone has to hold that monster back, whoever it is. It’s better this way. If there were any issues during the Emperor’s rescue, Dera Heman would definitely show up, so it’s better to deal with him here. You’re more familiar with this labyrinthine underground structure, so it should be you.”

‘I’m curious as to who will be dealt with. Even if Bashul sold his soul to Elil, he wouldn’t be able to defeat Dera Heman.’

Yet, Isaac agreed with Bashul’s opinion.

If one of them had to stay behind to draw attention while the other helped the Emperor escape, Isaac was the right person for the job due to his knowledge of the layout.

However, Isaac doubted whether Bashul could hold off Dera Heman and the librarian for even five minutes.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we fought together here?”

“Don’t you trust me? I’m not as weak as you think. I told you I had a hidden trump card the last time we fought.”

Bashul muttered with a crooked grin.

His tone wasn’t boastful. He seemed to have something to rely on.

Just as Isaac was considering using his tentacles in a battle fought with all his might.

And Bashul was reluctant to show Isaac what he had.

Probably for the same reasons as Isaac.

‘Could it be…’

Isaac had one absurd possibility in mind but couldn’t verify it. Because at that moment, with a loud noise, the secret archive started blinking with a red light from afar.

Thud, thud, thud, thud. Each time the sound of doors slamming open and shut reverberated, the red light approached faster and faster.

Seeing this, Bashul shouted urgently.

“Go! Leave this to me!”

“Stop raising flags and keep quiet, would you?”

Isaac abandoned the idea of escaping.

Running away in this situation wasn’t the answer. The librarian wouldn’t let him go easily, and if a state of emergency was declared throughout Lichtheim, Isaac would find it difficult to accomplish anything.

‘If only this crazy tentacle hadn’t acted on its own…’

But why did this crazy tentacle devour that book on its own?

Suddenly, Isaac pondered that thought.

Thud. At the same time the red light fell in front of them, a massive stone door appeared. It was similar to the door through which they had entered.

Bang. With a tremendous sound, a blinding flash of light flooded in.

Silhouetted against the glow, a man wearing a lion mask with seven eyes, clad in pajamas and slippers, strode in.

***

Bashul and Isaac were momentarily taken aback by the man in pajamas.

A golden lion mask with seven eyes embedded in it.

An unmistakable sign of Dera Heman. Yet there were other descriptions too: dazzling golden armor and a radiant white cape.

There was certainly no mention of pajamas or slippers. At least he was holding the burning Luadin Key instead of a teddy bear, which was a relief.

‘That’s right. It is the middle of the night, after all.’

It was unclear whether to be grateful that he at least bothered to put on his mask or to criticize him for only bringing the mask in such a situation.

Regardless, it was apparent that he was quite displeased to be summoned at this late hour.

However, he hesitated for a moment upon seeing Isaac and Bashul. He couldn’t immediately determine whether they were allies or enemies due to the confessor’s robe that obscured their faces.

Isaac quickly pointed at Bashul and shouted.

“It’s him! He’s the one who destroyed the purple!”

Bashul looked at Isaac in shock, and in that moment, Dera Heman sprang into action.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t stupid. The commander of the Golden Lion Paladin Order quickly deduced that a confessor had no reason to be wandering the secret archive at this hour, and he decided to cut them both down.

His sword swung toward Isaac, who was closer. Instead of drawing his own sword recklessly, Isaac wrapped his hand in sword energy to block it. However, the sheer force and the miracle imbued in the Luadin Key cut through Isaac’s sword energy with ease.

Crack! Isaac managed to deflect the sword and retreated backward.

Dera Heman’s sword was layered with killing miracles, allowing it to pierce through Isaac’s sword energy effortlessly. As blood dripped from the wound on his hand, his tentacle twitched as if ready to spring forth.

‘Stay still.’

If he hadn’t deflected it with the tentacle in his left palm at the last moment, his hand might have been severed. He knew Dera Heman was strong, but not to this extent.

It seemed there were still many strong individuals left in the world, like Atlan.

Dera Heman looked perplexed upon seeing that Isaac’s hand, though bleeding, was otherwise unharmed. Still, he didn’t immediately continue his attack. Instead, he swung his sword at Bashul.

Bashul had no choice but to draw his sword, channeling as much sword energy as possible to block Dera Heman’s attack. Yet, even with just one strike, the sheer power caused Bashul’s sword energy to waver significantly.

“Oh… Damn it! Just leave already!”

Bashul almost called out Isaac’s name but barely managed to swallow it and shouted instead.

“Just stall for a moment. Please.”

However, Isaac’s original goal of making Bashul draw attention and buy time had succeeded, so he desperately tried to devise a way to overcome the situation. Killing Dera Heman now was impossible. He hadn’t even revealed his full strength yet. Also, if the librarian controlled all the doors and paths, they wouldn’t be able to find a way out.

They were trapped in this vast prison with a beast.

Even considering breaking the seals on the items was an option, but if he did more of that, the Blind Sentinel might actually come this time. The situation was already dangerous enough.

If only they hadn’t come to the secret archive in the first place.

Isaac suddenly recalled the knowledge the tentacle had consumed.

Concerning the Threads That Bind Urbansus.

‘Damn it. Do I really have to use that method?’

Thoughts of how ridiculous and seemingly forbidden it was flooded his mind. Yet, there was no other way.

As soon as Isaac made up his mind, he cleared his head of all distractions.

This world shows what believers believe in. If the person has doubts, “miracles” do not occur.

“Bashul!”

Isaac, unlike a swordmaster, called out to Bashul, who was struggling defensively against Dera Heman. Dera Heman, seeing Bashul hold his ground longer than expected, had even taken off his slippers to fight.

It was surprising enough that he could fight so well with slippers on.

With the even more intense assault, Bashul seemed unable to spare any breath for a reply, and his sword was already in tatters.

“We’ve never been here! Let’s go with that!”

Isaac hoped Bashul would understand what he meant with just those words.

Fortunately, as expected, Bashul immediately grasped the meaning. However, for Bashul, it was a statement that was shocking beyond disbelief.

He turned his head towards Isaac with wide eyes.

“You…”

Dera Heman wasn’t naive enough to miss an opening. In an instant, he swung his sword, aiming to sever Bashul’s neck.

Thunk. However, the sound that came out upon striking the neck was too light and dull for having cut through flesh and bone.

Dera Heman’s eyes widened at the change occurring in Bashul, who had just lost his head.

Ssssshhh…

Bashul’s body crumbled into a pile of ash.

And from the rising dust, Bashul suddenly reappeared, swinging his sword at Dera Heman.

Boom. With a different kind of roar and a sharp sound of air being pierced, Dera Heman was forced to retreat as if being blown back.

However, this time Bashul didn’t let him go. As Bashul moved, a trail of gray ash formed, clouding the field of view.

Bashul growled, muttering as if snarling.

[There better be a plan for what comes next.]

It was the voice of an angel.

Elil’s fourth Archangel, Ashen.

Elil’s secret sword, whose whereabouts were unknown, had taken residence in Bashul’s body, preparing to deal a critical blow to the Codex of Light.

Isaac smiled.

Ashen could kill Dera Heman as it stood, but doing so might attract the attention of angels who favored Dera Heman, and the Blind Sentinel might also appear.

It was more elegant to slip away cleanly here.

“Let’s go rescue the Emperor.”

With this, the temporary script was completed.

Writer Ashen. Protagonist Isaac.

And editor Isaac.

But the script’s revision is only possible within Urbansus. So how to enter Urbansus?

It was simple. There was a method currently only available to Isaac.

Above Isaac’s head, a green ash tree began to form a halo.

Lighthouse of the Watcher

By the right of Elil’s Great Warrior. Version, Elil’s Battlefield.

A green light and the scent of fallen leaves filled the surroundings, and leaves and branches began to sprout from every box and seal.

Elil’s rule started to take control of the secret archive. As Isaac forced Urbansus to be reflected here, Ashen also moved to revise history.

In the gazes of Dera Heman and the librarian, who seemed shocked, the two began the script’s revision.

***

The moment Isaac entered the revision of Urbansus, his perspective shifted slightly from before.

White Owl stated that revising Urbansus requires an angel capable of observing it. An angel can choose and view all timelines, striving to create the desired history in their selected timeline.

However, in reality, there aren’t many ‘meaningful’ timelines.

Consider a scenario where a boy saves his brother from dying in an accident with an angel’s intervention. However, if Orcs from the Olkan Code invade the city, killing all its citizens, saving the boy’s brother becomes significant to the boy but holds no historical importance. Just as the significance of Orcs taking over the city becomes irrelevant if a meteorite suddenly falls and destroys the continent.

A large flow consumes small variables.

Just as a few droplets splashing don’t change the course of a large river.

Historically significant events occur only at very few points in the entire history.

Therefore, Ashen was contemplating at which point in history they should intervene.

Which moment in history should be corrected?

And Isaac could see into Ashen’s deliberations.

‘Something’s different from before.’

If observing Urbansus was like flipping through desired pages of a book for angels, Isaac was now one step beyond that. While being a character in the story, he could also observe both angels and Urbansus.

Isaac pondered what had changed from before.

‘Is it because I devoured White Owl’s book?’

Isaac continued to digest “Concerning the Threads That Bind Urbansus.”

He hadn’t fully understood all the content yet, but all the book’s knowledge seeped into Isaac’s inner self through predation.

And the stored knowledge was ready to emerge when needed.

What mattered was ‘knowledge.’

The moment Isaac acquired forbidden knowledge, he began seeing the world with a perspective and insight different from before.

Like the difference in view between those who know lightning as divine wrath and those who understand thunderclouds and electromagnetism.

Of course, Isaac had only just gained the perspective and didn’t have the power to alter history.

Choosing what to change and how is the angel’s part to decide.

But Isaac already knew which part he would choose.

There was a portion he had marked, like placing a bookmark in advance.

A lucky splash of Chaos.

It wasn’t historically significant.

It only held meaning for Isaac.

“There’s a slight issue with the plausibility of this part.”

***

“What’s going on, why are you like that?”

Isaac opened his eyes. He still felt a slight headache and dizziness that made his vision double, but he quickly recovered. Bashul was watching him with anxious eyes nearby.

They were in the underground corridors of Lichtheim.

They had just exited the underground passage.

Isaac smiled and replied.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go rescue the Emperor.”

The name of the Nameless Chaos wasn’t in the secret archive.

Thus, there was no reason to go to the secret archive.

But instead, Isaac had stolen a piece of even more important knowledge.

Isaac, who was supposed to be just a character, would typically lose that knowledge if history was altered, but this time he remained a witness to the revision, so it didn’t vanish.

‘Thanks, Olkan Code. You band of thieves do have something worth learning?’

_____________

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