Paladin of the Dead God
Chapter 453: Apocalypse (4)

"...You know what my plan is?"

Isaac looked at the White Owl incredulously. Isaac had never told anyone about his plan. No, he couldn’t tell them. Because there wasn’t a concrete plan in the first place. The White Owl might just be acting like it doesn’t matter what Isaac does since it’s an abandoned timeline anyway. But the White Owl looked at Isaac with a strange expression. As Isaac looked at her as if asking what she meant, she avoided his gaze and said as if making an excuse, "You must be thinking of giving the Lighthouse Keeper or the gods a taste of their own medicine. To those who don’t know how scary people are and are busy reshaping the world as they please."

Isaac continued to stare at the White Owl. If she wanted to hide her emotions, she could hide them as much as she wanted. But acting suspicious like this seemed to mean that she wanted him to know her intentions.

"You seem to know what the result will be. Do I fail?"

The White Owl smiled at Isaac’s words. "Does it matter?"

It didn’t matter. Whether he succeeded or failed, Isaac was going to commit it anyway. However, judging from the White Owl’s attitude, it didn’t seem like the result would be as Isaac wanted.

***

Several days after the White Owl’s visit, a loud bell rang repeatedly from the steeple of the ramparts. It was an alarm announcing the encroachment of the Outer Boundary. The soldiers witnessed the dark clouds writhing and distorting like intestines above their heads. Monsters whose shapes were difficult to gauge poured down like a waterfall from the wrung-out sky.

"The encroachment of the Outer Boundary has resumed! The monsters of the Outer Boundary are swarming!"

Because it had been quiet for a while, the soldiers and priests were able to engage in battle in a well-prepared state. However, they were soon horrified to see the monsters pouring down like a waterfall, so that the sky was dark and immeasurable. Literally, a wave of Chaos that covered the ground black. It wasn’t just attacking the Holy Land Lua, it was a number that would literally flood in like a flood, cover it, and still have leftovers.

"Wh, what is that? Oh my god, are those all monsters?"

"How can there be such a…"

Thud, thud. In the midst of that, a roaring sound that shook the ground was heard. The soldiers, who thought an earthquake was occurring, saw the sky collapsing beyond the horizon. No, it wasn’t that the sky was collapsing, but a huge shape the size of a cloud was squirming and crawling up. It was swollen like a huge sheep, but it was all rotting flesh, and above it, tentacles were wriggling like maggots, imitating the sound of a baby crying. Each time dozens of hooves dragged the giant body forward, the monsters under the ground were crushed. The soldiers, seeing the size of the crushed monsters, realized that this giant Outer Boundary monster would easily cross the ramparts and have plenty to spare.

"……Run away! Run away! The Holy Land Lua is over!" A soldier screamed and tried to run away. At that moment, the priest next to him struck the soldier’s head with a mace, knocking him down. The priest immediately grabbed the soldier’s crushed head, burned it, and shouted, "The Lighthouse Keeper will burn all those monsters! Don’t retreat and hold on! If you retreat from here, the residents of the Holy Land Lua will all die!"

But the soldiers were in a panic and were making an uproar. "Angel! Call an angel, quickly!"

"You bastards! Watch your words! Are you going to show a shameful appearance with the Millennium Kingdom right in front of you!" The soldiers, who had been panicking and trying to run away, were startled by the priest’s roar.

The Millennium Kingdom would be descending soon anyway. If they ran away from here, they wouldn’t be able to enter heaven. In the end, the soldiers had no choice but to face the monsters in front of them with all their might.

Just in time, Beshek arrived at the ramparts. He too was horrified to see the monsters filling the horizon, but he didn’t show any signs of shrinking.

A priest approached and asked, "Bishop, should we evacuate the believers?"

"No, even if we run away from that number, not even half will survive. It’s better to believe in the blessings and protection on this rampart and hold out until the angels come."

But those words meant that they would all die if the angels didn’t come. Beshek suddenly thought that this ordeal was a kind of trial and punishment that the Lighthouse Keeper was giving him. It was as if he was asking what the point of turning away from the threat and protecting his beliefs alone neatly when the Outer Boundary was such a fearful existence.

"Evacuate the residents to the pyramid. It’s the center of the Holy Land Lua, so we’ll be able to hold out for as long as possible."

But Beshek didn’t actually order it for strategic reasons. He looked back at the pyramid, but in fact, he was thinking of someone else, someone who might be preparing and preparing for this situation somewhere in the pyramid.

’……In the end, it turned out as you warned. I’ll protect my position in my own way, so I can only hope that you have prepared well too.’

***

’This is crazy.’

Isaac also watched the sky collapsing. Even though he had heard the White Owl’s warning in advance, it was a frightening scene. Isaac proceeded with the ritual he was preparing, hoping that Beshek would be able to hold out until he had completely finished his plan.

What Isaac was trying to do was simple.

To use Midas’ Hand to execute the ’emotion sharing’ ritual that he had experienced on the gods and angels as well. It was an unprecedented ritual, so he didn’t know if it would succeed or not, but Isaac was convinced that it would. Midas’ Hand is a finger that points to the destination that the world should run towards, and the ritual is a way to appeal to the world.

Isaac was planning to share the appeals, resentments, and sorrows of the Chaos believers in the wide-open Urbansus. The reason why they can’t hear people’s cries is because they are too high. If so, all he had to do was make it resound all the way to the sky. He was convinced that something would change after the angels shared emotions with the ’lower things’ they looked down on.

"Priest."

A believer approached Isaac, calling him a priest. Isaac had denied several times that he was a priest, but they knew that anyone who carried a sword, had a lot of knowledge, and received God’s blessing was a priest.

The believer politely handed Midas’ Hand to Isaac. No one except Isaac knew the use of Midas’ Hand. Since no one had ever held it and made a wish, Midas’ Hand still remained as the skinny, dry mummy’s arm. Isaac held the hand and took a deep breath. The believers worshiping the Chaos God had already gathered near the pyramid. It was only natural since they were the core of the ritual. And residents who had received Beshek’s instructions were rushing in like a flood from all over the Holy Land Lua. They would also become a means of conveying fear and desperate appeals.

"Let’s start." There was no time to brace himself or think about it again. Those monsters were more than capable of smashing the Holy Land Lua in an instant. The Lighthouse Keeper might spare Beshek alone, but he wouldn’t even blink if the rest died. Isaac slowly climbed the pyramid. Behind him, the Chaos believers followed. One old woman among the believers quickly followed Isaac and draped something over his shoulders: a ragged yellow robe. A robe that wrapped around the shoulders and was slit long so that the arms could move comfortably. It was a priest’s robe made by laboriously collecting scraps of luxurious fabric and carefully sewing them together.

’This is……?’

Isaac felt a sense of déjà vu. His head was dizzy for a moment, but when he thought about the hard work they must have put in to make it for him in this difficult life, he couldn’t refuse.

The old woman looked up at Isaac with tearful eyes and whispered, "Please save us……"

He felt nauseous.

Isaac led the believers and continued to climb the pyramid slowly. The believers who followed him continued their appeals and entreaties: to be liberated from the world full of pain, to be freed from those scary beings. Isaac was being pushed by the pressure of the world.

What if the angels didn’t listen to their appeals? What if they heard their wails and entreaties and told them to shut up, saying they were noisy? From that point on, it was difficult to imagine what kind of emotion this appeal would change into. At least they wouldn’t just keep crying and waiting for mercy.

Uncertain possibilities and fearful imaginations shook Isaac. Isaac had never properly understood the concept of ’the pressure of Urbansus’ until now. But now, he was on the verge of being crushed by the expectations and emotional pressure that were rushing towards him.

At some point, Isaac realized that there were no more stairs to climb. The sky was tearing, and the Holy Land Lua was on the verge of collapse. Beshek’s belief that he would protect the Holy Land Lua, the believers’ entreaties to deliver their voices to the gods, and Isaac’s own obsession that he had to do something about it.

Everything weighed down on Isaac’s hands.

Isaac realized that the ritual had already begun. All the believers were crying out for the Chaos God with different voices. They were looking for saviors with all different shapes, different powers, and different names.

All he had to do was deliver the voice to Urbansus. Isaac held a dagger in his right hand and Midas’ Hand in his left hand. Isaac, who had been staring intently at Midas’ Hand, soon struck his left hand with the dagger, piercing it along with Midas’ Hand.

"Gods and angels, listen to the voices of humans." And it was done.

***

Screams, wails, appeals, entreaties, screams, and uproar resounded in Urbansus.

A tearing uproar resounded in all heavens. It was a loud enough noise that all beings from the past to the present could hear it.

Ah, it’s so sad. My child is crying again somewhere. Crying for me to find them. I’m here! Baby, don’t cry!

The uproar was conveyed to even the existence that should not have been heard. Isaac met a huge eyeball in a distant illusion. The purple eyeballs filled with tears were so huge that they made the size of the sky laughable. No, this world itself was only a small island floating in front of those eyeballs.

It was difficult to even imagine what the gas-like boiling pupils were made of. Each strand of tentacles wriggling between the eyelids was large enough to sweep away the Holy Land Lua like dust. The eyeballs were rushing closer, hearing the cries.

You have forgotten me, but I have not forgotten you! I’m so glad I found you even now!

It was a name he already knew, but the name naturally came to mind as if he had known it since he was a child. Mother of All Gods. Six syllables, like a name engraved in his genes, were etched in his mind. That name, Mother of All Gods, which the Lighthouse Keeper had been trying to erase for a long time, was flowing back up. No, had it ever been erased in the first place?

The Lighthouse Keeper had been trying hard to erase the Mother of All Gods over a long period of time. But in the process, the history he had jumbled up and the lives trampled under it were rather crying out and already calling for the Mother of All Gods. She had been listening and searching for that voice all along. There was a god who listened to the appeals of the abandoned. It was just that the god was a crazy god who had existed since the distant past, and Isaac was now telling her the location.

Thud. The illusion suddenly broke, and Isaac fell backwards. The believers ran and hurriedly supported him.

"P, priest, did the ritual succeed?"

Isaac gasped for breath and recalled the illusion he had seen. He didn’t know if it was an illusion created by his own worries or if it was real. But if it was real? If the Mother of All Gods was coming here now?

"Priest, how is it? Did the god hear our voices? Will the angels now listen to our pain?" The old woman grabbed Isaac and asked. Isaac was creeped out. There was no way to explain what he had seen to them. That the Mother of All Gods was approaching? Would they even know who that was? Should he tell them that they should turn it back now if they could?

No. Isaac realized that it was irreversible. They were already at the bottom. If a powerful god appeared who would listen to their words, they would cling to it, come what may.

Isaac imagined a future where everyone was given Midas’ Hand. That may be the form in which the Age of Turbulence of the God of Myriad would be recreated.

The sorrow of being betrayed is transformed into anger. The Mother of All Gods will grant their wish filled with anger. No, she must grant it.

Isaac smiled brightly.

That’s right! Their god is coming to save them! But the evil Lighthouse Keeper is blocking between the earth and the sky.

If so, there is only one way: to tell everything as it is so that the Mother of All Gods will sweep away all the gods of this land! After everyone is equally crushed, the angels will have no choice but to wail together in the swamp! Isaac strongly slammed his head on the floor. The believers, startled by Isaac’s sudden action, screamed and backed away. After slamming his head on the floor a few more times until blood was flowing down from his head, Isaac came to his senses.

’What is it? I thought of this?’