Chapter 247

Isaac decided not to respond immediately.

If the Brient Paladin Order were suddenly replaced by the Issacrea Paladin Order, it was likely to raise unnecessary suspicions from the parish of Renheim and the broader church. Isaac was already under scrutiny. Although he wasn't going to command the Brient Paladin Order right away, the church would think otherwise. He wanted to avoid being hindered by unnecessary suspicions.

What mattered was that Rottenhammer had shown his intentions to him. There was no immediate need to place the Brient Paladin Order under Isaac's command.

If the church were to oppose Isaac, Rottenhammer would at least support him.

That was far more important than changing the name of the order.

'Whether or not the paladin order accompanies me when deploying the Dawn Army is crucial.'

Moreover, the Brient Paladin Order had accumulated significant combat experience. They were a genuine elite paladin order, unlike those who only dealt with powerless life insurance policyholders behind the scenes.

Isaac decided to leave them as they were for now and gradually imbue them with his own influence over time.

"But what is this?"

The ruins of the Nameless Chaos were in a state of disrepair, making it difficult to determine where to start. However, there was one conspicuous object, partially buried in the debris—a large, round object.

It was an egg the size of a person that Isaac had noticed when he first entered.

"An egg? I've never seen one this large. Could it be a dragon's egg?"

"I'm not sure. It seems like the cultists were venerating it, so I'm examining it."

In fact, Isaac had been inspecting this egg before Rottenhammer arrived.

The egg existed in the game as well. Though noticeable, it couldn't be broken or interacted with, so he had assumed it was just a decorative object.

Yet, for some reason, Isaac felt a strange attraction to the egg. It wasn't a sense of powerful energy or ominousness. It felt more like the familiarity one feels with a childhood friend or the scenery of one's hometown. However, he didn't want to risk touching it and causing an unknown event.

"Hmm."

Without hesitation, Rottenhammer tapped the egg with his finger. Seeing nothing happened, Isaac cautiously placed his hand on it. The surface was rough but covered with intricate patterns. Isaac could sense that these patterns were inherent, not carved by someone.

'Is this an egg laid by one of the followers of the Nameless Chaos, or...?'

As Isaac considered cutting the egg with his sword, he suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?"

Rottenhammer sensed Isaac's confusion and asked. Isaac staggered back but didn't move away. He couldn't remove his left hand from the egg.

Rottenhammer immediately understood the situation.

"My hand..."

"Focus on your hand and recite a prayer!"

Rottenhammer swung his hammer at the area where Isaac's hand touched. If it had been a subordinate paladin, he would have simply smashed the hand and healed it later, but he couldn't treat Isaac so carelessly.

Bang! Crack! However, the egg smoothly deflected Rottenhammer's hammer, remaining unscathed. Meanwhile, Isaac's hand was slowly being pulled into the egg.

Despite no visible cracks or holes, his hand was being drawn in as if plunged into soft mud. Sweat beaded on Isaac's forehead as he drew his sword. He was ready to cut his wrist if necessary. Rottenhammer, thinking similarly, raised his hammer again.

Isaac hastily stopped Rottenhammer.

"Wait! Just wait a moment!"

Crack, crackle. Isaac felt the tentacle from his hand moving inside the egg. He tried to use his 'Rat in the Wall' ability to see inside the egg, but it didn't work. It was as if the inside was a completely different world, impenetrable.

Yet, he felt the tentacle consuming something.

No, it was slightly different from consuming flesh, bones, or blood.

'This is...'

At that moment, the egg made a crackling sound and broke, releasing his hand.

"Isaac! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

Isaac examined his hand in bewilderment. It was unscathed, as if nothing had happened. Rottenhammer swung his hammer again at the egg's cracked part. This time, the egg shattered instantly. Inside the large hole was an empty space.

Rottenhammer peered inside in disbelief.

"There's nothing. The inside is completely dry."

"...Yes."

Isaac realized this too. The egg had been dead for a long time, probably since he first saw it, if not longer. Whatever was inside had either left long ago or ceased to exist.

The tentacle had... rather than consuming, it had 'reclaimed' something. It was a familiar power, as if something that had always been part of Isaac had returned to him.

'No way...'

Isaac thought as he looked at his hand.

'Could this be a Nephilim's egg?'

The thought sent chills down his spine.

It was unlikely that there were two Nephilims related to the Nameless Chaos in this world.

***

The monster that appeared in Baelbaden in the middle of the night and its blazing form was as visible as a beacon to the surrounding villages. By the time the sun rose, terrified soldiers and knights dispatched to assess the situation, along with support troops from the Renheim Cathedral, arrived in Baelbaden.

Rottenhammer led the troops and ordered the recovery of the wreckage.

"Our guard duty has suddenly turned into a mission to excavate and restore ruins. We might as well take this opportunity to completely overhaul this land of decadence and indulgence. Now that traces of the cultists have been uncovered, the church will have no choice but to agree."

Upon returning to the surface, Rottenhammer shared his vision for the future of Baelbaden.

Isaac didn't particularly mind if this place remained a land of decadence and indulgence, but he agreed with the idea of completely overturning it. The lord of Baden, who still hoped to reclaim his territory, would be upset, but that was his fate. The church wouldn't care about the fate of Baelbaden once it was of no further use to them.

As Rottenhammer revealed his plan, he discreetly whispered to Isaac.

"The Issacrea territory isn't far from here. If you can win over Bishop Lamarie of the Renheim Cathedral, you could use this place as your stronghold."

Noble territories and parishes under the church's influence were different. To expand his territory, Isaac would need the emperor's permission, but expanding a parish only required the consent of the involved parties.

Isaac smirked at Rottenhammer's ambition to extend influence to the large city of Renheim. Renheim was even bigger than Seor. It wouldn't be an easy task.

"That's beyond my jurisdiction. In any case, it's fortunate that the problem is resolved. If you find any unusual items during the excavation, please let me know."

"Of course."

Isaac lacked the time and manpower to meticulously search the ruins. Additionally, it was better for him to possess relics related to the Nameless Chaos rather than letting them fall into the church's hands. Although he considered interrogating Neria again, leaving the cleanup to Rottenhammer seemed more reliable.

"Oh, by the way, Ian found something peculiar. He picked it up while investigating to gather evidence of the cultists underground. I was too busy to show you earlier."

Rottenhammer pulled out a distorted ankh. Isaac recognized it after a moment. It resembled the ankh shown by the emperor, which had been held by the priest who summoned the Apocalypse Handler in Rougeberg.

However, the ankh Rottenhammer showed had the emblem of the World's Forge, not the Codex of Light. It was also covered in marks as if it had been chewed by small teeth and scratched with claws.

It looked as if a beast had crudely carved it.

'Now that I think about it, summoning the Whitewood in Prayer was more of a summoning ritual than a resurrection ritual.'

Summoning the Apocalypse Handler in Rougeberg was also a summoning ritual. Isaac believed this commonality was no coincidence. The ankh used as a catalyst for the summoning ritual in Rougeberg had been excavated from this place.

'So, it wasn't a fabrication by the emperor?'

Isaac, who had been suspicious of Waltzemer for failing to discover this, felt a bit of self-reproach. All the evidence and accusations pointed to the Codex of Light.

There wasn't enough evidence to suggest that Waltzemer had staged the event by sacrificing his own guards.

'Do the members of the church have the guts to do this without fearing hell? Or is the Lighthouse Keeper generous enough to send these perpetrators to heaven?'

Isaac sighed and tightly gripped the ankh that Rottenhammer handed him.

"Thank you."

"No need to mention it. I should be thanking you for taking on such an ominous item. By the way, I saw something strange yesterday... Is that dragon yours?"

Rottenhammer finally asked about Nel, the dragon, which had been weighing on his mind. Nel, after the battle, had returned to the forest, but the paladins had spoken highly of its tremendous performance.

Isaac nodded with a wry smile.

"Yes. It turned out that way."

"Did you coat yourself with honey or something that attracts these wicked beings? If I had something like that, I would have aimed for the Holy Grail Knight rather than just a paladin."

Rottenhammer spoke with genuine envy.

Isaac thought that extensive game knowledge and strategies would suffice for now.

Whatever it was, it was a talent that Rottenhammer couldn't have.

***

Isaac left the now busy Rottenhammer behind and prepared to depart.

He instructed Neria to head to the Issacrea territory. She might encounter Claire. He had already given instructions to the followers guarding Issacrea, so they wouldn't be alarmed by unexpected visitors.

'More importantly...'

Isaac checked that no one was around and looked at his left palm.

A thin tentacle slithered up from his wrist, splitting his palm and crawling up like a sixth finger. He was so accustomed to it now that it didn't even feel grotesque anymore. But the tentacle didn't just emerge from his left palm.

Tentacles were sprouting from various parts of his body, including his back, waist, shoulders, neck, and right hand. The range of tentacles expanded the more he consumed. When he devoured the Drowned King, his mutation had extended to his shoulders.

But the recent change was dramatic. It seemed like he could generate tentacles from almost his entire body. Although there weren't many situations where he'd need to do that.

'Is it because of that egg?'

The change occurred after the tentacle consumed something inside the egg at the Nameless Chaos ruins. After the tentacle consumed it, Isaac felt something incomplete within him become whole.

It was as if he had left a part of himself in that egg when he was born.

'Was my body originally inside that egg, and someone extracted it for some reason and brought it into the world?'

Isaac recalled that Baelbaden had been seized by the church and closed off roughly twenty years ago.

It matched the timeline of his own age.

Isaac had lived in a secretive village protected by the church until Kalsen's invasion almost got him killed. According to the original 'history,' Isaac should have died.

But he didn't die, and Gebel had picked him up and protected him.

Many histories had changed.

'Does that mean my parents once stayed here?'

Isaac had never been curious about his biological parents. To him, 'Isaac' was nothing more than a game character. There was no reason to be curious about the origin of a game character. But the further he progressed, the more the traces of his parents seemed to catch his eye.

This could possibly be related to why Isaac was chosen by the Nameless Chaos.