Paladin of the Dead God

The first thing Isaac thought was, 'Why is Zihilrat in this form?'

The image of Zihilrat that he remembered was a functional and efficient form located somewhere between a rat and a leopard, based on a bundle of tentacles.

'Why is he bothering to wear a decaying human skin?'

Frankly, it was a form that inspired fear rather than respect, but the other people admired Zihilrat without any problems and prostrated themselves before Isaac following his lead.

Isaac thought it was a bizarre situation even while feeling his faith fill up with devotion.

But he knew how he should act here.

"Rise, my Saint."

He felt Isolde staring with an expression as if she had misheard, but Isaac calmly grabbed Zihilrat's hand and pulled him up.

He was worried that the skin of the decaying hand would fall off, but it was quite strong when he actually grabbed it. It must be thanks to the bundles of tentacles squirming elastically under the skin.

[Truly, the Savior...]

The contrast between Isaac's neat and beautiful appearance and Zihilrat's half-decayed appearance was in itself giving off a sense of awe.

It looked like Isaac had really come down to 'save' them.

Zihilrat bowed his head several times as if moved. He led Isaac into the alley and said to those around him.

[Today is the day that my soul's master has returned, so I will refuse visitors. Please refrain from causing any disturbances or riots today.]

[Yes, I understand.]

The other Dawn Prayer Meeting undead obediently accepted Zihilrat's instructions. In some ways, his appearance, having more influence than himself, was quite bizarre.

Once only Ieris and Isaac's group remained, Isaac asked in disbelief.

"I'm curious about what's happened in the meantime."

"A lot has happened, Master."

Zihilrat glanced at Linde and Isolde for a moment. It was as if he was asking if those two could hear.

Isaac nodded.

"I don't intend to hide anything anymore, Zihilrat. I'm already branded as a devil by the Codex of Light anyway. Tell me everything you've done, what you've done for me, without hiding anything."

"I will do so, Master."

***

After the descent of the Millennium Kingdom, Isaac's subordinates were all left abandoned.

The subordinates either wandered according to their instincts or left to find the hidden plan that 'Isaac had not told them'. Most of the monsters that Isaac had hastily created in the Outer Boundary were the former, but the subordinates that Isaac had personally created and tamed belonged to the latter.

"I stole the body of a Codex of Light priest and returned mixed in with the retreating Dawn Army group. For some reason, there were a lot of priest corpses scattered outside the Holy Land Lua."

"Really? That's quite something."

It was a strange thing that so many priests died outside the Holy Land Lua, where they would be receiving strict protection. But anyway, that fact became an opportunity for Zihilrat to provide direction for the future.

"It was awkward to be mixed among the Scorched Ones, so I returned with the ordinary returning soldiers. But even after obtaining the power of immortality, the road was so rough and long that many of them became tired and dropped out."

"It was the return trip, but why...

Ah, you didn't even think about returning in the first place."

Isaac muttered in disbelief.

For a large-scale expeditionary force like the Dawn Army, logistics were the top priority rather than the state of armament or the quality of training. But the Dawn Army only thought about the way to go and didn't even consider the way back.

Because there was no next step anyway.

"Yes. So, I thought that the number of soldiers hiding would gradually decrease if this continued, so I hunted wild animals nearby or released rats to feed the people."

One of the things that Isaac thought was unexpected after returning was that they needed to eat even though the Millennium Kingdom had descended. He wondered if they wouldn't die even if they starved, but according to Isolde, they would starve to death and then be revived. If this was repeated, they would reach a quite terrible state.

Thinking about it, it was only natural. The power of immortality was based on the power of Chaos.

And the impulse that Chaos almost uniquely felt was hunger.

Even Isaac and his subordinates were often incited by constant hunger, and they lost their strength when they were hungry.

Perhaps that was why the Immortal Emperor gave up his body in exchange for immortality.

Zihilrat had saved their lives in the truest sense.

"Then, I somehow arrived in Ushak. But what the soldiers, who thought they could somehow rest if they just arrived in Ushak, faced was a plundered site where the Orcs had swept away every grain of millet on top of the ruins they had created."

Thanks to that, Zihilrat had to continue feeding them even after that. Fortunately, Zihilrat, who was skilled at manipulating the consciousness of low-level creatures, didn't find it difficult to secure food.

"Then, the undead who had lost the Immortal Emperor's control began to return to Ushak. What should I say, the situation started to become complicated there. This is the undead's hometown, but the soldiers who had made that hometown a ruin were standing firm."

It was Zihilrat who had mediated that difficult situation.

Zihilrat raised his ragged body and continued.

"At that time, my appearance was already a mess. Isn't it obvious that I'm an undead? But the Dawn Army returnees seemed to consider me a life saver and protected me. And the undead also needed someone to mediate the relationship with the 'occupying' Dawn Army soldiers."

"......That was the 'Saint Under the Ground'."

"That's how it happened."

Zihilrat sat in a neat posture and nodded.

He didn't know if it was because he had become accustomed to taking a noble attitude or if the belief in the 'Saint Under the Ground' had changed him to act that way, but to Isaac, Zihilrat's change seemed quite positive.

Only then could Isaac find 'meaning' in Zihilrat's form, not 'efficiency'.

The undead with flesh were the most despised class even in the Immortal Order.

But Zihilrat, who hadn't 'completely' revived and had flesh, gave off a sense of fear and a strange atmosphere as if he had transcended humanity.

Humans had reverence for an incomprehensible form that was beyond the ordinary.

There was a reason why the appearances of angels were strange.

It was in the opposite direction from Isaac, but Zihilrat had also acquired an appearance that overwhelmed and seduced humans.

The one who was located in the most despised and lowest class had the power and authority to shake Ushak.

That paradox made people have reverence for Zihilrat.

It was a phenomenon that Isaac, who had believed that he had to show a beautiful appearance to survive, couldn't help but feel complicated about. Zihilrat was obtaining respect in the opposite way from Isaac, with an appearance that anyone could see was repulsive.

"As time passed and Ushak was rebuilt, many people asked me to mediate. Among those who were mixed in with the returnee group, there were those who had joined the Millennium Brotherhood, and among the undead, there were those who had been Ushak's rich. I was coordinating them and conveying your words."

"My words?"

Zihilrat stared at Isaac with shining eyes.

"Your will, your teachings, your actions. I tried to imitate your appearance as much as possible in a world without you, Master. But now that you have returned, please lead us again."

Only then did Isaac find the reason for Zihilrat's change.

It was not due to the expectations of those around him or a survival strategy, but a form that imitated Isaac.

Zihilrat wanted to imitate not Isaac's appearance, but his inner self. That was the background for the birth of the Saint Under the Ground.

But at the same time, Isaac could still clearly feel the violence squirming under the 'Saint's' body. Zihilrat would return to his original assassin monster right now if Isaac ordered him to. Or he would do both in parallel.

No, he might already be doing both in parallel.

'Mediation' was impossible with conversation alone. Sometimes a monster was necessary too.

***

After hearing Zihilrat's story, Isaac thought it would be better to leave Zihilrat as he was for the time being.

From what he heard, Ushak would be shattered by internal strife right now if Zihilrat wasn't there. It was an excessive responsibility for a tentacle monster who lived in the city's basement, but he was a tentacle monster who was now ruling the world, so there was nothing he couldn't do.

"Alright, Zihilrat. For the time being, it would be good to remain as you are and spread my... my words."

"Yes, Master."

"If necessary, I will ask you for help then. And..."

Isaac recalled what Zihilrat had said before he came here.

"I know how well this place is running thanks to your control. But you said you had something to ask me?"

"That's right."

Zihilrat bowed his head and said.

"As you can see, this underground market is a place where two faiths harmonize and are controlled. But the land above is not."

"Is it because of the Millennium Brotherhood?"

"Yes, that's right. The Millennium Brotherhood, who came late, are acting like an occupying force and exploiting this place's products and remaining assets."

From the Millennium Brotherhood's point of view, it was only natural that they couldn't understand the 'undead who were still left even though the Millennium Kingdom had descended'. But since it was impossible to kill the undead, it seemed like they had chosen to exploit them.

'Judging from the scenery of Ushak, which is no different from a refugee camp... it seems like the Codex of Light is deliberately hindering reconstruction.'

Judging from the fact that the Millennium Brotherhood, who were Codex of Light believers, were running rampant in the Holy Land Lua like it was their own front yard, it was safe to say that the Urdantu Empire had already been destroyed or was being treated as an occupied country. The Millennium Brotherhood was probably acting like an occupying force. It was an ending that they had no choice but to face at the point when the Immortal Emperor disappeared, but it was a terrible ending for the expression that the Lighthouse Keeper had used: 'Heaven comes down to earth.'

'In the first place, the Immortal Order was a fence built by the Lighthouse Keeper to fight against the Outer Boundary. But now that the Millennium Kingdom has been built, it feels a little unfair that they're being treated like a colony.'

As long as the Millennium Kingdom persisted, they would be slaves forever.

Since no birth or death would occur, there would be no generational change either. In the end, the Millennium Kingdom was one where all systems were rigid. Isaac thought he knew what Zihilrat was going to ask him.

"Are you asking me to drive out the Millennium Brotherhood?"

Zihilrat blinked his eyes and nodded.

It was only natural that the Millennium Brotherhood would see the scene of heretics forming a colony and trading while hiding from their eyes as blasphemous. In particular, they would see Zihilrat, who wielded influence while calling himself the 'Saint Under the Ground', as a thorn in their side.

"A 'Molter' named Bishop Ramael has been dispatched as the representative to the Brotherhood's Ushak branch. From what I've heard, he's planning to sweep away this entire underground city soon."

Molter.

Isaac paid attention to the unfamiliar vocabulary that he had heard before.

"What's a Molter?"

"Um, one who has broken out of his shell. It refers to one in whom the light of heaven has finally begun to break through and reveal itself as a human."

Even after hearing it so abstractly, it didn't intuitively come to mind. But Isaac couldn't help but make a serious expression at Zihilrat's words that followed.

"In fact, I've tried to do something about him somehow with my own power. But far from getting close, I almost got hurt instead."

Zihilrat muttered while covering his hole-filled face.

"Half of the wounds on my body were made at that time. Molters are those who have transcended the category of humans and are located somewhere between humans and angels. Bishop Ramael is just starting to molt, but... he was not someone I could dare to face."

The fact that Zihilrat, who had easily cooked human hunters, was saying this meant that he wasn't an easy opponent at all. When he thought about it, even just being a Scorched One was enough to wield Paladins with a flick of his fingers.

'The average of the overall strength itself must have risen quite a bit.'

But Isaac wasn't worried.

What he thought was the opposite, something closer to the nature of a monster.

Isaac wondered how much warm flesh would be waiting under the shell that the Molter had begun to shed.