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Chapter 302:

He didn’t know why Isolde suddenly crossed his mind. Perhaps it was because he was being tormented by another woman.

“What about the orcs?”

“They seem scared. They’re slowly regrouping and preparing to run away. I guess killing their shaman snapped them back to their senses.”

Isaac stood up.

Though it was a short rest, his body felt a bit better after some sleep.

“Now, let’s chase them down and kill them properly. They’ve been tormenting me for days.”

Hesabel chuckled at Isaac’s words.

“Oh, have you found a clue, then?”

Isaac nodded silently.

A few days into the expedition, Isaac had started getting ambushed at unexpected places and lodgings. At first, it was bandits or mercenaries, but as time passed, they were joined by private soldiers of local nobles, Ciero’s Dawn Army, and even orcs.

It didn’t take long to realize that these baseless attacks were orchestrated by Leonora. The assailants were all forces that could be controlled with money.

Initially, Isaac retaliated and defeated them without mercy, but as their numbers increased, it became increasingly difficult. Rumors could easily spread about a Paladin who left the Dawn Army swinging his sword at imperial citizens within the empire.

‘So, when I tried to travel with Nel, they started targeting the Issacrea Knight Order…’

Whenever Isaac showed himself, Leonora redirected the attacks back onto him.

Leonora’s intentions were clear: her sole target was Isaac. It seemed she realized that Angela’s whereabouts no longer mattered. Even if she managed to take Angela, Isaac would certainly retaliate.

Isaac decided to accept the rules and fight accordingly. As long as he kept showing up, the Golden Idol Guild wouldn’t cross any unacceptable lines, like touching the Issacrea estate.

‘The odd thing was that they seemed to know exactly where I was.’

This was especially true of the orcs’ recent persistent assaults.

The eastern part of the empire was currently in chaos due to countless orcs swarming in from beyond the Gilford Mountains. Among them, several White Tiger units, apparently bought by the Golden Idol Guild, began pursuing Isaac.

For days, Isaac had dragged them across the mountains, engaging in guerrilla warfare without rest. He wished he could use the Touch of Chaos to drain information from their minds, but the enemy was thorough. The only information he could glean was how much they had been paid.

And today, Isaac finally figured out what scheme was at play.

“Let’s go.”

Isaac’s eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep, flickered with a purple hue.

***

“Only half have gathered?!”

Uchiura, the White Tiger Captain of one of the Olkan Code’s vanguards, screamed in rage at the devastating losses.

Sahulan Khan waged an overwhelming conquest while sending in a few highly mobile vanguard units to create chaos within the empire.

While Khan’s army had met an unexpected obstacle somewhere in the north, Uchiura and most of the vanguard units were reaping considerable achievements. When they were offered a substantial sum to capture someone, they thought of it as easy pocket money.

They had heard that Paladins were strong. So what? They had three groups, each numbering over a hundred. They had experience fighting Paladins before. Their conclusion was simple: even a Paladin was no match against a coordinated charge of mounted archers. If things got tricky, they could always lure them into an area rigged with bombs.

That was until they met Isaac.

“Is that guy a monster?! How could fifty men be killed overnight without a sound?”

Among the fifty slain was the shaman who had been traveling with them. Realizing the shaman was dead, Uchiura decided to retreat, but the loss of half his forces was painful.

The orcs lowered their heads in silence, but their expressions seemed to blame Uchiura for leading them into a death trap.

“I-I’m sorry, Uchiura Captain. That guy really is a monster. Some of our men said he… changed into some indescribable form.”

“A-And there was also a witch with blood-red wings. I clearly saw her biting into a corpse’s neck.”

Fear was evident in the subordinate’s voice.

Uchiura quickly shouted before panic could spread.

“Enough!”

The orcs fell silent, but by the time they had gathered here, the rumors about Isaac and Hesabel had already spread widely.

Some said the Paladin’s fingers stretched out to crush entire bodies and that mouths on his palms devoured the living. Others spoke of a darkness that tore them apart when he chanted unholy incantations. Some claimed that orcs under his control sprouted tentacles from their eyes, noses, and mouths, attacking their comrades.

It was impossible to know what was true and what wasn’t.

If the rumors were true, then the Paladin was a monster with tentacles sprouting from his hands, devouring orcs whole, spewing darkness, and implanting brain worms. But if such a creature existed, the Codex of Light would have exterminated it long ago. Why would it appear before them now?

“Could that Paladin be… the Soul Devourer who stopped Khan?”

Fear rippled through the orcs once more.

The tale of the Soul Devourer who had halted Sahulan Khan had reached even those deep within the empire. He was known for ruthlessly hunting shamans, tearing apart souls, or enslaving them.

To the orcs who waged war, trusting in their rebirth, there was no greater nightmare. Some even whispered that Sahulan Khan’s son, Atlan, had his soul stolen and was turned into a slave.

One thing was clear: whether the rumors were true or not, this was not an enemy they could handle.

“…Enough. Consider the remaining forces lost and retreat.”

Not all fifty might have been killed. Some could have been left behind, frozen to death in the cold, or merely delayed in returning. But Uchiura could no longer hold out. He would have to endure the mockery of his comrades and retreat.

It was unfortunate that he wouldn’t be able to collect the remaining payment from the client, but he could always make up for it by looting more.

As Uchiura and his crippled White Tiger unit began to descend the mountain in a gloomy mood, someone suddenly appeared, walking up from below. The moment Uchiura saw that face, his expression froze.

“What the—why are you guys so late?”

“W-What, w-why, how are you here?!”

The Paladin they had desperately pursued for days stood right before them, his entire body stained with blood.

Isaac spun his sword to shake off the blood and spoke.

“I saw a bunch of them gathered down there, so I assumed everyone had arrived and went to kill them. It’s only natural to hunt them down when they’re retreating, right?”

Below them, not only Uchiura’s White Tiger unit, but also the allied Keteli and Zarha White Tiger units were waiting. They, too, had suffered significant damage from Isaac and had been the first to descend the mountain. Isaac attacked when their morale was at its lowest, when they were tired and wounded.

Although Uchiura finally encountered the target he had been seeking so desperately, he couldn’t bring himself to give the order to attack. His subordinates would not obey.

Meanwhile, behind Isaac, orcs began to appear, moving in twisted, grotesque motions, their joints contorted. Just as the rumors said, they swung eerie tentacles from every opening in their bodies.

Seeing this, Uchiura shouted without hesitation.

“Run!”

Some orcs were already fleeing before the command was given. Unlike the scattering orcs, Uchiura let out a roar and charged straight at Isaac.

Isaac smiled, pleased with the sight.

“Useful guy. You must know a lot.”

Muttering to himself, Isaac snapped his fingers.

“Zihilrat, Hectali. Come here.”

With a sickening sound, tentacles burst forth explosively from inside the orcs, tearing apart their flesh as monstrous forms emerged. Zihilrat, having adapted to the orc’s body structure, began sprinting on two legs, while Hectali swung its tentacles skyward, moving through the forest.

Had it been a straightforward battle, some resistance might have been possible. But now that it had turned into a hunt, there was no fight to be had.

The slaughter that had begun with Uchiura falling at Isaac’s hand repeated itself against the Keteli and Zarha White Tiger units.

***

There was a village with a long, complex name: Rihnonachche Blatavow. Due to its length, it was simply called “Blata.”

This area had already fallen to the orcs under the Olkan Code, but the village had surrendered swiftly without resistance, allowing it to remain intact.

A week ago, when it seemed the village would see no joy for a while, a group of mercenaries arrived. The mercenaries were generous spenders and, for some reason, had no problems with the orcs, which made the villagers fond of them.

However, one morning, both the mercenaries and the orcs hastily left the village without explanation.

Isaac arrived at this small village an hour later.

“They fled? Left their belongings behind?”

“Yes, that’s what it looked like.”

The village chief, too old to be taken as a slave, was at a loss for how to handle Isaac.

The moment he saw Isaac, he knew he was the famous Paladin of the Holy Grail from the rumors.

If Isaac had engaged in glorious combat or arrived with an army, the chief would have welcomed him as a liberator. But the Isaac he saw looked more like a weary wanderer.

So, the chief hadn’t even considered that Isaac was the reason the orcs had fled.

“Hmm, I see. Very well.”

Isaac nodded calmly and gestured behind him.

The chief jumped in shock when he saw what looked like a walking pile of minced meat behind Isaac. Upon closer inspection, he recognized it as Uchiura, the White Tiger Captain of the orc squad that had occupied the village. Isaac had ensured Uchiura couldn’t kill himself and had dragged him here, half-dead.

Having already tasted Isaac’s terror, Uchiura couldn’t even think of escaping; dying was his only wish.

There was no better description than a “prison of flesh.”

“Chief, could you provide us with some food and a place to sleep? I’ll pay for it.”

“Y-Yes! Of course! Ah, you don’t need to pay!”

Finally realizing that Isaac was their savior, the chief hurried off. Isaac followed him to an inn and sat Uchiura in a chair. The inn was still warm from the fireplace, and food was prepared, as the mercenaries had abruptly left.

Isaac casually picked at the leftover food. Though it had cooled, it had been a long time since he had the pleasure of eating something ‘cooked’ with his ‘mouth.’

“You’re Uchiura, right? You met him here?”

Uchiura mumbled something incomprehensible. With his teeth and tongue mangled, coherent speech was impossible.

“That’s okay. You don’t need to speak. To be honest, there was nowhere else he could have been.”

Isaac hadn’t spent days in the mountains hunting orcs for no reason.

He had noticed that when he used Nel, the enemy couldn’t track him.

That meant they could only find him when he was within a ‘specific range.’

Isaac had pushed the boundaries during the pursuit, carefully observing the orcs’ reactions and identifying the coordinates of the ‘observer’ tracking him.

The result had led him to this village. One of the mercenaries staying here was the culprit.

“Don’t worry. If they know my location, it means they’ll move in the opposite direction, right? That’s why I’ve already sent my subordinates ahead to intercept them. Remember my subordinates? They’ll capture that mercenary and bring him here.”

Uchiura let out another eerie noise.

Isaac surmised it was probably laughter.

Soon, the mercenaries who had driven Uchiura and his men into a death trap would be caught and brought back. Uchiura, knowing what awaited them, could hardly contain his twisted glee.