Paladin of the Dead God

Chapter 47:

But Isaac sensed something behind him.

Just as Yukhar clung to the shepherd’s crook, something translucent seemed to be squeezing Yukhar with a grip that could crush him. At first glance, it resembled a pig, but its appearance was so mixed and muddled that it was hard to identify accurately.

“What’s your name?”

[This human doesn’t know my name yet… But you, a hybrid born of the unholy union between an angel and a human, could perhaps bear knowing my name.]

The translucent pig squirmed as it whispered its name.

[But it wouldn’t be fun to just tell you. I’ll give you a riddle.]

“A riddle?”

[Yes… I am the cold sun…]

“The treasure god Golruwa.”

[…]

Golruwa seemed taken aback, lost for words.

Isaac had recognized the pig’s form immediately. In the game, Golruwa was an event monster that appeared without a fixed location, issuing riddles and unleashing monsters that didn’t match the player’s level if they failed to answer, leading to the player’s death.

According to the lore, it followed the scent of the greedy, killing them to take what they had.

In any case, an ancient god that took the form of a pig and issued riddles could only be Golruwa.

And it seemed likely that Yukhar could have only summoned that being.

[How did you know my name, hybrid? It should have been forgotten by now.]

“Were you about to pose a question nobody could answer? You’re insane.”

Isaac wasn’t surprised by the existence of an ancient god. He had a familiar premonition when he learned of the sanctuary’s presence. The Nameless Chaos was excited not just because of the sanctuary, but because it had sensed the ancient god.

After consuming the sanctity of Zihilrat, the Nameless Chaos was craving other divinities.

Isaac looked around. From the lavish decorations, it was clear this place was originally the sanctuary of the Golden Idol. But it seemed Yukhar had corrupted it for his own purposes.

“What were you planning to do here? Actually, I don’t care. Just die.”

Isaac extended his tentacles to attack Golruwa. He also commanded Zihilrat, who was hiding in a drainage hole preparing an ambush, to attack while he rushed in as well.

Caught off guard from both sides, Golruwa was unable to defend.

No, it lacked the ability to defend.

Isaac’s tentacles pierced through Yukhar’s chest, and Zihilrat bit off his neck. Suffering fatal wounds in two places, Yukhar died instantly.

“You’re hasty, hybrid paladin.”

Yukhar, with his neck broken, managed to speak. Although it was Yukhar’s voice, Isaac knew its essence was Golruwa. Golruwa still clung to Yukhar in its translucent form. Isaac frowned and retracted his tentacles.

“You’re powerful… But fortunately, I haven’t fully resurrected yet. I’m suspended between reality and unreality. It’s impossible to kill me physically.”

This meant Yukhar wasn’t the medium keeping Golruwa even partly alive. Nor was it the shepherd’s crook. It wasn’t a powerful enough relic.

Golruwa, clutching Yukhar’s body tighter, spoke.

“There’s no need for unnecessary conflict. Paladin. I don’t enjoy fighting.”

“Then why don’t you just kill yourself?”

[“…I am the god of greed and treasures. Paladin, let’s make a deal.”]

Golruwa, also known as the god of wealth, was worshipped by traders until the Golden Idol appeared. While the Golden Idol, whatever its form, symbolized deals, markets, and finance involving cooperation with others, Golruwa represented pure greed, the pursuit of monopoly.

“A wicked ancient god proposing a deal to a paladin?”

[“I don’t know which god you serve, but you’re not a minion of the Lighthouse. So, what’s the harm? I don’t care who you are. I can give you what you want.”]

Golruwa extended its hand towards Isaac.

[“I can sense your greed, paladin. Do you seek people’s recognition? Do you desire victory in your grasp? I can help you. Wouldn’t it be reassuring to have a god as your ally?”]

Isaac found this amusing.

Sure, the conservative Book of Light might disagree, but other faiths didn’t necessarily consider deals as acts of apostasy, as long as their doctrines weren’t violated.

“What kind of deal?”

Isaac asked, already knowing what Golruwa might propose.

As expected, Golruwa gave the anticipated answer.

[“Help me become the god of the Golden Idol.”]

***

Yukhar believed there was no god within the Golden Idol guild.

Of course, there was something that protected the followers of the Golden Idol, something sensed in coincidences, luck, and premonitions by Yukhar as well. But it was a phenomenon, not a deity that could be clearly felt.

He wanted a god.

Like other faiths, he wanted a deity that answered prayers, bestowed miracles, provided guidance through priests, and a sword-wielding paladin to protect against other deities’ followers.

So, when Yukhar discovered the shepherd’s crook and traces of the god of wealth, he thought he might be able to fill the vacancy of the Golden Idol.

“Yukhar wanted to personify the conceptual god.”

“Personify?”

[“To think, speak, judge, be moved, rage, reward, and punish. Like Elil, the Red Chalice, or the Immortal Emperor. Yukhar thought he could become the personification of the Golden Idol. Using me.”]

Golruwa muttered as if amused.

[“So, he borrowed hands here and there to resurrect me. Seems like he might have used the power of the Immortal Emperor’s followers.”]

‘Again? Well, I figured it involved them once ancient gods got involved.’

Who else but the Immortal Order could he have borrowed hands from?

Seor is a trade hub city on the outskirts of the White Empire. It’s common for suspicious people to enter and for unidentified foreign items to arrive.

Like Zihilrat, Yukhar probably didn’t need to borrow the hand of a Wallachia hunter.

But it ended up hiring one, in effect.

[“And for my resurrection… he ignited the flames of greed in Seor. I helped too. I told him the location of the shepherd’s crook and used the emerging trend of Lorekus for a speculation strategy. Ah, gathering money is truly enjoyable the more you have.”]

Isaac thought Golruwa’s strategy was quite plausible.

Ancient gods failed to resurrect because they lacked followers and were too outdated. However, Golruwa planned to devour the followers of the Golden Idol, starting with the greedy of Seor.

The followers of the Golden Idol, desperate to avoid bankruptcy, would cling to the surge in Loracus, and their greed would return power to Golruwa.

‘But Golruwa ends up not resurrecting, right?’

Although Golruwa could be encountered as an event monster in the game, like Zihilrat, it was merely a mid-boss. It never reached the level of a faith. At most, it annoyed and frustrated players.

The failure of Golruwa’s strategy was inevitable, but Isaac didn’t know when or why it happened.

[“But this frail human is too weak and old to serve as my vessel. And as soon as you uncovered my identity, he came running to me, desperately begging for a way out.”]

Golruwa sneered, looking down at Yukhar.

“So, you want my body?”

[“That would be ideal… but you’re not keen, are you?”]

Behind Golruwa’s translucent form, two eyes gleamed with greed. A healthy and young body, even a half-angel with divinity, was the perfect vessel.

However, Golruwa wasn’t foolish enough to lose what it had through clumsy greed.

It excelled in slowly crumbling and then swallowing its targets with greed.

As it had done with Yukhar.

“Well, what do you say?”

Unexpectedly, Isaac responded with an action that took Golruwa by surprise. He opened his arms as if to say, go ahead. Golruwa stared at Isaac, baffled.

[“You’re offering your body?”]

“A strategic ancient god who can converse is better than some unknown tentacle monster. And you want to devour the Golden Idol guild to become a god? That would instantly give me a force of my own.”

[The Nameless Chaos watches over you.]

[The Nameless Chaos is outraged by your ludicrous comparison.]

Isaac ignored the messages from the Nameless Chaos, approaching Yukhar as if he was truly fine with the arrangement. Golruwa wondered if Isaac was plotting something. But even if Isaac had plans, Golruwa thought it couldn’t be harmed.

It was already gaining power through the greed of Seor and could remain in a state of neither living nor dying as long as that greed sustained it, until it fully possessed a body.

It didn’t seem like Isaac would harm himself right after possession either.

Above all, Golruwa read the immense greed within Isaac.

He really thought he could swallow Golruwa and make it his own.

Like he had done with Yukhar.

Golruwa burst into maniacal laughter and lunged at Isaac.

“HAHAHA! I like your greed! Fine, we’ll make a great combination! Let’s devour the world together!”

As Yukhar’s body disintegrated, Golruwa’s translucent form surged towards Isaac like a wave. Isaac opened his arms wide, welcoming Golruwa’s invasion. Golruwa sensed endless possibilities and deep divinity within Isaac.

And then, it felt an unfathomable abyss.

***

‘What is this? What the hell is this?’

Golruwa was bewildered by encountering a vast void unlike anything it had ever felt within a human.

Even a dead god still possessed divinity. The scale and magnitude of a soul were incomparable. Yet, Golruwa felt like a mere minnow floundering in an abyss.

‘This is… What in the world?’

Golruwa felt an unfamiliar emotion for the first time.

Fear of the unknown.

To the god of wealth, knowledge was also treasure. It enjoyed acquiring and exploring new knowledge. It wasn’t averse to new experiences. But this darkness, this space was different. Golruwa realized the moment it understood what lay beyond the darkness, it would reach something irreversible.

It felt fear.

It screamed at the fact of knowing, not knowing, and the possibility of coming to know. The scream was as frail as its presence.

But someone woke up to that scream.

[The Nameless Chaos watches over you.]

Beyond the darkness, as vast as the darkness itself, countless eyes persistently watched over it. Golruwa belatedly noticed a being drifting in the pitch-black abyss.

A being it knew well.

The plague god, Zihilrat. The corpse of a drifting god. Then, like minced meat, it was obliterated as massive tentacles surged up from the darkness.

Before Golruwa could comprehend, its body was torn to shreds.

***

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

It took less than 3 seconds for Golruwa to pounce on Isaac and be flung away again. At least, that’s how it seemed to Isaac.

Golruwa, returned to Yukhar’s body, writhed on the ground, screaming as if being torn alive, trying to crawl away and escape.

“Ugh.”

Crunch, crackle!

Isaac wasn’t unscathed either. Tentacles surged from his body as if the Nameless Chaos itself was in a frenzy. Normally, the tentacles would only appear on his left palm unless his life was in danger, but now they burst forth from all over his body.

Isaac quickly became engulfed in writhing tentacles. Yet, the Nameless Chaos, still seeming furious, tried to tear apart Yukhar.

Isaac had no choice but to be angry.

[“Get back in! Go back!”]

As if scolding a disobedient dog, he hit and chastised several times until the tentacles reluctantly retracted back into his body. Though it was an intentional act, Isaac was taken aback by the excessive reaction.

Finally, as the tentacles withdrew, the Nameless Chaos sent a message as a warning.

[The Nameless Chaos strongly asserts that you are its possession.]