Paladin of the Dead God

The impossible sight left Sadraza utterly stunned.

The salt tentacles, cursed constructs imbued with a thousand years of resentment and thirst, turned everything they touched into salt. Yet Isaac’s left hand calmly crushed the salt tentacles as it climbed upward.

No, it was devouring them.

At that moment, Sadraza’s withered mind finally grasped the nature of those tentacles.

“Could it be… Chaos itself?”

Only a miracle could counter another miracle. The curse that turned everything into salt was being countered by Isaac’s greater vitality and the predation effect. Even when parts of his tendrils turned to salt, new ones sprouted rapidly, tangling around like creeping vines.

[■, ■■■■─!]

Sadraza let out an incomprehensible scream in the broken language, a mix of a howl and a cry, and severed his own tentacles. By now, Isaac’s left arm had fully transformed into a writhing mass of tentacles up to his shoulder. Each tendril pulsed with an unholy, indescribable energy.

Eyes emerged along the tentacles, grinning and glaring at Sadraza, while mouths lined with sharp teeth flicked their tongues as if savoring the feast to come.

A vast, insatiable void.

The ravenous appetite from beyond the Outer Boundary had crossed into the realm of order and now sought to consume him.

“What are you hesitating for, Sadraza?” Isaac whispered seductively, his eyes gleaming.

“Come and devour me, just as you’ve always desired.”

Isaac’s left arm and the shadowy tendrils rising beneath him like waves flowed and rippled like a cloak, poised to attack at his command. They moved with the grace of hunting hounds, awaiting their master’s signal.

Sadraza focused on one key detail: only the tentacles were miraculous, while the rest of Isaac’s body remained human. If he could just pierce Isaac’s body with his salt tentacles, he could reduce him to a dried, crumbling husk. With a guttural roar, Sadraza lunged his tentacles at Isaac once more.

Isaac’s tendrils leaped to intercept, coiling around the salt tentacles in midair.

‘So, he belongs to Chaos? What of it? I’ve survived for a thousand years by devouring Outer Boundary creatures and offering them as sacrifices!’

Sadraza poured every ounce of his strength into this confrontation, achieving a power that rivaled that of angels—if only temporarily.

After all, Isaac was just a human. He couldn’t compare to Sadraza, who had consumed divine flesh for centuries.

Indeed, despite wrapping around most of Sadraza’s salt tentacles, Isaac’s tendrils began to falter under the pressure.

Given Sadraza’s exhaustion from battling countless Outer Boundary creatures, the power he displayed was extraordinary.

Sadraza’s crimson face pulsed and then opened wide. A salt-formed tongue shot out like a spear, aimed directly at Isaac. Yet as their eyes locked, Isaac’s expression told Sadraza this was precisely the moment he had been waiting for. ṘÂＮÒ𝖇Еʂ

The Color Beyond surged from the ground, enveloping Sadraza entirely. His vision turned pitch black, and he staggered, disoriented. At the same time, a powerful blow struck his body.

‘What… what’s happening?’

Sadraza released Isaac and tried to regain his senses, but Isaac didn’t let go. He clung to Sadraza with relentless determination.

Another crushing impact. Sadraza stumbled and finally tumbled, rolling uncontrollably.

He rolled down a slope for what felt like an eternity before realizing that Isaac had dragged him somewhere deliberately. He had baited Sadraza into pouring all his strength into one attack, leaving him vulnerable.

[■■■■■■■■!!]

“I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Isaac’s voice echoed dreamily from within the Color Beyond.

The colors poured illusions, echoes, and phantom pains into Sadraza’s senses, overwhelming him. Suddenly, the pressure holding his salt tentacles disappeared. Sadraza seized the chance to escape, unleashing an explosive surge of energy.

The Color Beyond shattered into fragments, and Sadraza’s vision cleared.

Only then did he realize where he had fallen.

It was the desolate seabed of the Miarma coast, now a barren salt desert.

Half-buried ships, like gravestones in a mass graveyard, dotted the landscape. The path leading back to Miarma was visible in the distance, with Isaac standing at its entrance.

“This is your grave, Sadraza,” Isaac said coldly.

Sadraza let out a furious roar and tried to climb back up. But then he noticed what had dragged him here: a horde of Outer Boundary creatures. Dozens of them, fused into a grotesque mass, were biting and tearing at his body.

The realization that Isaac had even manipulated the Outer Boundary creatures left Sadraza horrified.

At that moment, a thunderous bell rang out, echoing across the heavens and earth.

A divine wave swept over them, halting Sadraza, Isaac, and even the Outer Boundary creatures for a brief moment. Though it was just one chime, it carried the clarity of a divine message, etching a single vision into their minds.

An overflowing sea.

Crack.

A massive fissure spread across the salt desert, spanning dozens of kilometers.

***

Aidan had finally completed the ritual. However, deep inside the maw, there was no way to confirm if the ritual had truly succeeded.

A grand bell rang out, reverberating across the land, but there was no way to confirm if the power had been successfully transferred to the one being invoked.

However, the situation was different on the surface.

In the region of Miarma, from the Dawn Army stationed tens of kilometers away at Issacrea to the Outer Boundary creatures in the distant south, all could sense the awakening of the summoned power.

Thud, thud, thud!

Massive earthquakes and deafening roars erupted in rhythmic intervals, as though the earth itself pulsed with a heartbeat. The confused monsters roared, biting at each other in frenzied chaos.

Isaac quickly climbed back up to Miarma before the slope collapsed entirely. Surprisingly, Miarma appeared untouched by the disasters; it was as though the city was shielded from the earthquakes.

Meanwhile, Sadraza struggled to ascend the slope, only to tumble back repeatedly under the tremors’ force.

The fissure that had started deep within the salt desert struck the salt dam first.

The immense shockwave briefly pushed the sea back, but the water retaliated in an unstoppable, massive tidal wave. Though the crack in the dam seemed small in scale, the wave shattered it entirely, pouring into the desert with ferocious speed.

For the first time in a thousand years, the sea reclaimed the barren land.

Everything that had stood on the salt desert was swept away like an illusion. The rushing seawater surged forward, reaching Miarma’s shores in an instant. Sadraza, scrambling desperately toward the hill, froze in awe at the unbelievable sight.

The sea was coming.

Longing, obsession, love, fear, sorrow, anger—every emotion he had ever attached to the sea came rushing back to him as the landscape he had dreamed of returned.

Sadraza stood, transfixed, forgetting even the need to climb to safety in Miarma.

The sea struck first at his ankles.

Though it seemed slow as it surged over such a vast area, the force was tremendous, leaving no obstacles untouched. The current was strong enough to topple even an angel. When Sadraza’s face hit the water, his daze broke, and he jolted back to reality.

[■■■■!]

Sadraza frantically called for his god. But there was still no response.

Was the god silent despite hearing him? Or was it because his language had been destroyed? Or perhaps it was simply because seawater kept flooding his mouth.

Sadraza struggled to steady his faltering legs, only then realizing his tentacles were dissolving. The relentless waves rendered his salt tentacles unable to maintain their form.

The sea he had longed for and dreamed of was now destroying him.

“Summoned one, please… give me… another chance…”

His words bubbled out as foam in the water, but there was no mercy. The rapidly rising tide struck him again and again, leaving him unable to resist.

Once, his title had been "The One with the Swim Bladder," a high priest allowed to breathe underwater despite his human form. Yet now, even with the power of an angel, he could neither breathe nor stay afloat.

His limbs wore down, and his crimson face shriveled rapidly as though all his stolen powers were being reclaimed.

Through his dimming vision, he spotted a man standing on the hill above.

Isaac stared down at him with an unreadable expression as he sank.

If only I hadn’t betrayed him…

Would he have been able to stand there, watching the sea rise?

No, that wasn’t it. Even before his betrayal, Sadraza had already been tainted.

As the sole survivor of a betrayed and fallen cult, it was fitting that he should meet a miserable end by betrayal himself. His demise would serve as a fitting lesson to the new generation.

The Salt Council, reborn by abandoning the sins of the past, would learn from his fate.

***

Isaac watched as Sadraza drowned.

The last survivor of the Sea Cult meeting his end in the sea felt deeply ironic. Yet, wasn’t it fitting in some way? Hadn’t the cult always yearned for death in the sea?

In that sense, it was an honorable death for Sadraza.

“…I suppose it’s a good thing Sadraza betrayed me.”

For the past thousand years, Sadraza had filled his sanctuary with unholy offerings—humans and other defiled sacrifices. If he had successfully completed the ritual with that power, there was no telling what catastrophic effects might have occurred.

But Sadraza’s betrayal ensured that he absorbed all the corruption into himself, and by personally gathering pure sacrifices afterward, he enabled the ritual to proceed cleanly. He even met a neat end.

There could be no better conclusion.

“Thank you, Sadraza. You were a fine villain…” Isaac muttered with a faint smile.

As he spoke, more of Chaos’s minions emerged behind him.

There were Zihilrat and Hectali.

Unlike the mindless beasts that made up most of Chaos’s followers, these two were loyal to Isaac alone.

“We have done as you wished, Master Isaac,” said Hectali, moving her lips—the only part of her face that still retained a human form.

While Sadraza was transforming, Isaac had prepared contingencies, summoning his loyal followers. He had known he wouldn’t match Sadraza’s strength in a direct confrontation.

And it was here that Hectali showcased her unique expertise.

“You managed to control Chaos’s minions?” Isaac asked.

“Because their intelligence is little more than that of beasts, it was possible,” she replied. “I gathered the weakened ones, disrupting their cohesion. Though, perhaps it helped that Sadraza gave off such an… enticing scent.”

The horde of Outer Boundary creatures that attacked Sadraza had been lured in and driven by Hectali.

Though her suggestion was cautious, Isaac was satisfied.

Even providing Chaos’s minions with just a sense of direction was an invaluable achievement.

If I implant the ‘Parasite from Beyond,’ Isaac thought, I might be able to refine their movements further. @@novelbin@@

Isaac had no intention of becoming the leader of these monsters. But if he could leash them and control them with a whip, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Just then, he noticed the enormous mass of creatures that had sunk alongside Sadraza rising again from the sea. Though battered and weakened, it was still alive.

Turning to Zihilrat and Hectali, Isaac spoke.

“Take the chance to devour whatever you can here. I want you to grow stronger as well.”

Sensing their master’s intent, the two followers bowed gratefully before leaving to fulfill his command.

“Now,” Isaac murmured to himself, “I suppose it’s time to clean up the rest of this mess.”

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