Paladin of the Dead God

Chapter 366: The Shattered Ground of Life and Death (3)

The Immortal Order was a faith, and the territory they had claimed was referred to as the Urdantu Empire.

However, the term "Empire" held little meaning for a land where scarcely any living beings resided. Its population density was so extraordinarily low that it was questionable whether it could even be considered a territory. Even the undead, who supposedly belonged to this domain, found the formal name "Urdantu Empire" unfamiliar.

“Snowfall in the middle of the desert, huh.”

Edelred gazed at the gently cascading snowflakes, an expression of disbelief etched on his face. The heavy clouds in the sky had suggested rain, but he hadn’t anticipated snow.

While veterans like Rottenhammer, Gebel, and other paladins who had fought alongside the Dawn Army weren’t surprised, the knights of Elil were largely astonished.

“There are no signs of an ambush yet, but from this point forward, an undead army could appear at any moment. Stay vigilant.”

Tense glances passed between the commanders.

Meanwhile, the marching soldiers appeared visibly relieved by the cooler weather. For them, devising long-term strategies was a task for their superiors. All they had to do was follow orders, and they couldn’t help but find the drop in temperature comforting.

Many of the soldiers, particularly those from the northern regions of the Gerthonia Empire, even seemed to welcome the sight of snow.

But the renewed energy in their steps wasn’t just due to their spirits. Edelred gradually realized they were walking along an ancient, wide road that stretched across the desert. Broken columns lined the roadside, hinting at its former grandeur.

“This place...?”

“It’s the ruins of an ancient empire,” Isaac answered Edelred’s unspoken question.

“Up until 300 years ago, the Codex of Light used this road. The Immortal Order must have restored and repurposed it.”

Edelred marveled at how Isaac had managed to locate this sand-buried road and guide the army across the vast desert. However, as usual, the only plausible explanation boiled down to, “Our Holy Grail Knights are just that exceptional.”

As they continued along the road, more ancient ruins emerged. This time, the remnants appeared to belong to a settlement built in a distinctly different architectural style. Traces of scavenged columns and foundation stones suggested that materials from nearby ruins had been repurposed to construct the settlement.

At the village entrance, Rottenhammer approached a stone stele and muttered in disbelief.

“Well, I’ll be damned. A prayer from the Codex of Light is inscribed here. This used to be Codex territory.”

“So, this village must date back at least 300 years,” Isaac remarked calmly.

Rottenhammer muttered, still incredulous, “You’re saying this is a relic from the unified empire, when the Codex of Light was at its peak? I can hardly believe it.” RÃ₦ǒВΕs

During that era, the Codex of Light had dominated most of the continent, relegating other faiths to the fringes.

Though layers of corruption and hypocrisy lay hidden beneath the surface, history rarely brought such details to light.

The Dawn Army’s typical advance route started in the northern stronghold of Belslav, passed through the Fortress of Gehenna, then continued to the holy city of Ushak before finally reaching the Holy Land of Lua. The regions in between were mostly ravaged or rebuilt, making intact ruins like this an uncommon sight.

Though weathered by time, the village remained largely intact, thanks to its stone construction. Yet, its abandonment lent it an eerie atmosphere.

Isaac, while briefly surveying the village, came to a sudden halt. His gaze locked onto the patterns carved into a doorframe.

The design resembled writhing tentacles.

“Could it be... that someone who worshiped the Nameless Chaos once lived here?”

Isaac recalled that during the era of the unified empire, nearly one-third of the world’s population had been adherents of the Nameless Chaos, with the majority of them also worshipping the Codex of Light.

The mighty unified empire had crumbled under the dual catastrophes of the White Plague and the rise of the Immortal Order.

Isaac wondered if the inhabitants of this village had succumbed to the White Plague, their bodies turning to white sand upon death.

“If that’s the case...”

Isaac cast a fresh gaze over the desert.

Among the countless grains of sand, there would undoubtedly be a significant proportion that had once been followers of the Nameless Chaos.

“Let’s stop here for the day and rest,” Isaac declared abruptly.

Edelred glanced at him in surprise. “Already?”

“We won’t find a better place to rest than this village. It’s spacious, and its walls are still intact. These walls were likely built to guard against creatures from the Outer Boundary, but they’ll serve just as well against the undead. We might as well make use of them.”

The soldiers, who had been marching through reversed day and night schedules, now needed to adapt to the shifting climate.

Isaac’s reasoning was sound, and the other commanders agreed.

Isaac, however, had an ulterior motive.

“Before we reach the Holy Land, I need to uncover as much as I can about what happened during the White Plague.”

There was no way Lianne could have stopped him.

Isaac was no longer the same as her—or any ordinary knight.

He suspected Lianne had realized this too and felt a mix of despair and resignation.

“I’ll have to apologize to her privately later.”

Turning to Edelred, Isaac bowed his head once more.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. But... did you hear anything when you entered?”

Isaac had distinctly heard the word “traitor.” The voice was so clear that it couldn’t have been a mere hallucination. Yet whether it was an auditory trick from within the ankh or something more tangible, he couldn’t tell.

Edelred shook his head.

“I cleared my throat, knocked, and even said, ‘Sir Isaacrea, may I come in?’ Surely you wouldn’t have drawn your weapon for that. What did you hear?”

“...Nothing of note. Perhaps the nearing Holy Land is causing me to hear things.”

Isaac deflected the question, carefully concealing the ankh.

“And what brings you here, Your Majesty?”

“Well...” Edelred hesitated, his tone heavy with unease.

“Something unusual was discovered in my quarters.”

***

“About thirty years ago, there was a knight. Though eccentric, she was renowned as the strongest since Elil’s time, earning the nickname ‘the Greatest of Elil.’ Even the Lady of the Lake herself cherished her.”

Isaac nodded, recognizing the story.

“But this knight believed that being the strongest in the small kingdom of Elil was meaningless. She crossed the seas, defeating every powerful opponent she encountered... until she was swept up in something extraordinary—the Dawn Army.”

For a swordmaster obsessed with dueling strong foes, joining the Dawn Army was inevitable. After all, it was where the greatest warriors gathered.

But this knight’s path took a peculiar turn.

“She declared, ‘I will reclaim the Holy Land that even the Codex of Light couldn’t recover,’ and renamed herself after the Holy Land. No one saw her again... until today.”

Edelred sighed, producing a dagger. Its plain, whitewood scabbard was crudely inscribed with the name “Lua.”

Isaac instantly recognized the name and the story. He also understood why Edelred had brought up this legendary swordmaster.

She was known as Lua Vellin, the Red Blade.

Her name was meant to be a title bestowed upon her when she ascended as an Archangel. But she disappeared from the Dawn Army before that could happen, and her fate remained a mystery—until now.

“This dagger undeniably belongs to the Vellin family. Which means...”

Elil had joined this war for one reason: divine will, as claimed by the priests.

But for the knights and nobles who provided the army and funding, the reasons were more personal.

It had been revealed that the Immortal Order had systematically stolen the Armyes of Elil knights for decades.

For the knights of Elil, faith wasn’t their highest priority. If it were, Elil wouldn’t have renounced the Lighthouse Keeper, betrayed their god, and sought divinity themselves.

What mattered most to Elil knights was honor.

“To put it bluntly, Elil knights would rather die than suffer disgrace.”

For them, allowing their ancestors, mentors, and kin to be desecrated was unthinkable. While they might compromise with reality on some points, their foremost objective was not the reclamation of the Holy Land Lua but the recovery of their ancestors’ remains.

And those remains were highly likely to be roaming somewhere in the Immortal Order’s territory.

“We may soon face that famed predecessor of ours in battle.”

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