## Chapter 1476 – 1476. Paladin: The Journey Of Eradication
“Paladin! I’ll kill you before you grow any stronger! Coming to kill me relying only on those eyes is your mistake, your arrogance!”
The gargoyle grabbed my armor and soared into the air. The grip of the fiend holding my armor was tremendous. Stormbreaker wouldn’t last long and began to crumple. I generated even more lightning. The golden current made the fiend scream and stagger.
Bang!
I crashed into a wall. The fiend flew around in the air, repeatedly slamming my body against the wall.
‘This won’t do…! My stamina will run out before this demon’s.’
I had to save my trump cards, Heavenly Heart and Full Recovery, as much as possible. It was much better not to use them, even for growth.
I tilted my head back as far as I could and kicked the gargoyle’s stone head.
Even with my helmet on, tremendous pain traveled through my skull. On the other hand, the fiend’s stone head was fine.
“Hehehe. Is that your last struggle? Good. Go ahead and try!”
Ignoring his words, I headbutted him. My head was breaking. Blood from my forehead trickled down. I didn’t stop.
“Hahahaha! Paladin, you’re going to die! At the hands of none other than Goleeg! I will kill the Paladin!! Hahahahahaha!”
Crackling!
I squeezed out lightning and kicked him.
Part of the fiend’s head, which had been certain of victory, exploded. He lost his balance and fell below.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 6]
Conversely, I used Flash to regain my balance. It wasn’t to withstand the impact of the fall. It was to kill him.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 5]
Thud! As I hit the ground, my sword cleaved through the fiend’s body. I continued to swing the greatsword. To eliminate any possibility, I finished him off completely.
Black smoke poured out of the gargoyle’s corpse and seeped into my body. It was the demon’s soul, the energy of corruption.
[Level has increased.]
My level went up. I immediately used the points I gained on stamina. My body felt a little better.
-Forget about restraint.
-You have power. Why don’t you use that power as you wish?
-Rape a woman. Unleash the desire within you.
The whispers of the demon were heard. It was a ploy to corrupt me.
“Shut up.”
The demon’s whispers didn’t disappear. I ignored the demon’s whispers and joined the battle between the paladins and the gargoyles.
The battle ended with all the gargoyles dead.
Two of the seven paladins had fallen in battle.
•••
“We will now begin the purification ritual.”
The old bishop said.
In front of me was a hexagonal tub. The tub was filled with holy water. I entered the holy water tub naked, without a single thread on my body. I quietly lay down in the tub. And naturally, I relaxed my body. I submerged my head completely in the tub.
Outside the tub, the bishop and other priests were chanting prayers. Their prayers became divine power and seeped into the tub. The purification had begun.
The souls of demons and the corrupted, which could not be completely washed away even with holy water, began to be purified and disappear. Those purified souls became my power.
[Divinity has increased by 1.]
[Divinity has increased by 1.]
This was why I hadn’t used Full Recovery and Heavenly Heart to shake off the energy of corruption. Because I could increase my divinity through the purification ritual.
[Name: Eugene
Origin: Paladin
Level: 9
Strength: 10 Agility: 6 Stamina: 6 Divinity: 7
Skills: Holy Sight (Lv. Master), Holy Aura (Lv.1)]
I rose from the tub. The priests brought towels and wiped my body. The bishop bowed his head to me.
“The purification ritual is all we can do. Any further blessing ritual…”
“I know, so raise your head, Bishop Melasis. How many paladins are ready to move right now?”
“A total of 12 paladins are ready to move. Is there another demon nearby?”
“No. I looked around this village on my way to the church. It’s a large village with many people. And there are corrupted ones hiding among them. I must go to Valentier according to the Goddess’s revelation. But I cannot simply ignore the sight of the corrupted walking around and pretending to be human. Gather the paladins as quickly as possible, and gather the villagers in one place. I will personally cut off the heads of the corrupted.”
Kiiiiing.
Holy Sight activates. No demon or corrupted can escape my eyes.
I beheaded 47 corrupted individuals.
The experience points were very generous.
[Name: Eugene
Origin: Paladin
Level: 13
Strength: 14 Agility: 6 Stamina: 6 Divinity: 7
Skills: Holy Sight (Lv. Master), Holy Aura (Lv.1)]
I invested all the points into strength. Strength was a stat that directly affected attack power. Raising strength was the most efficient way to feel the increase in stats.
I gripped the greatsword and swung it. The greatsword felt as light as a dagger.
“Paladin, please rest for a day. We will treat you with the utmost respect.”
“It’s alright, Bishop. I need to get to Valentier as quickly as possible. I would appreciate it if you could exchange my horse.”
I changed horses and left the village.
•••
I told the bishop that I would go straight to Valentier, but in reality, I changed direction midway.
I wandered through an empty forest, looking for a waterfall.
I entered a hidden cave behind the waterfall. The inside of the cave was blocked by a wall. I charged at the wall with my armor on. Crash! The wall broke, and a new space appeared. I lit the space with a torch I had prepared.
It was an ancient temple. The walls were covered with old murals. The murals depicted demons and humans.
‘In the game, there was a narration… what was it? When demons appeared in this world, tormenting humans and plunging the world into despair… the Goddess Herianne spread her wings of light and gave the light of salvation to humans….’
That was the Paladin.
And the Paladin was not a unique existence. Right now, there are eight Paladins in this world, including me.
‘Paladins are not invincible.’
If Paladins were invincible, all the demons would already be dead. The demons have the upper hand over the Paladins.
I looked through the murals depicting the history of Paladins and demons and went inside. There was an altar inside. In front of the altar, a great demon with black wings and the Goddess Herianne with white wings were facing each other.
The great demon and the Goddess Herianne looked alike.
The altar existed between them.
‘I don’t know if the altar is for the great demon or the Goddess Herianne.’
My goal was the horn placed on the altar.
A severed demon’s horn.
In the game, the name of this item was [Horn of the Primordial Demon]. It was an item for the hidden ending.
I threw away the torch and gripped the greatsword with both hands. A golden aura rose from the greatsword.
-You’d better stop, young Paladin.
A low voice echoed. The source of the voice was the demon’s horn.
I looked down at the demon’s horn with Holy Sight.
-What’s in front of you is the horn of the primordial demon. It can seal the soul of a great demon.
“Who are you?”
-I am Bejisula, one of the five great demons. A pitiful great demon who was betrayed by my own kind and trapped here.
Woo-oong.
The Holy Aura burned even more brightly.
-If you shatter this horn, I will be annihilated. Do you not understand what that means?
“I know. It means an immortal great demon will die.”
The soul of a great demon is different from the souls of other demons or the corrupted. Even if you kill a great demon, its soul does not disappear. Even if you kill a great demon, it will reappear in this world after decades and spread evil again.
-Yes. The opportunity to eradicate demons is right before your eyes. Kill the other great demons and put their souls here. And then deal with them all at once. You will be able to save this world from the demons.
“Do you think I don’t know anything?”
-What are you talking about? I’m telling you how to deal with the great demons! How to kill the ones who betrayed me!
“I know that the moment all five great demon souls gather in that demon’s horn, the primordial demon will be resurrected.”
-…Weren’t you a Paladin who had just awakened? How do you know that?
I saw it in the game.
The primordial demon is the final boss of the hidden ending.
I remembered the quest details. The quest was to kill the great demons, not the primordial demon.
‘The primordial demon is an existence that can destroy the world according to the setting. There’s no reason to face such a dangerous existence.’
-I guess you’re not going to tell me. Listen well, smart Paladin. The only way to kill the great demons is to use the horn of the primordial demon. Seal and eliminate four great demon souls. Then the primordial demon will not be resurrected, and the four great demons will be annihilated. You can seal or do whatever you want with the remaining great demon.
“You must not know because you’ve been trapped for hundreds of years. The Order has already devised a way to kill the great demons. You can kill the great demons without the horn of the primordial demon.”
-What? Wait a minute. How can you be sure that your method is reliable… Kuaaaaaak!
I swung the greatsword down.
The horn of the primordial demon was half-broken, and the scream of the great demon Bejisula filled my vision.
I swung the sword down once more. The demon’s horn was completely broken. The great demon’s scream also stopped.
[Leveled up.]
[Leveled up.]
[Leveled up.]
[Leveled up.]
……
Notifications announcing level-ups appeared in a flurry.
I lowered the hand holding the sword and exhaled.
‘One down for now.’
Four were left.
[Name: Eugene
Origin: Paladin
Level: 25
Strength: 20 Agility: 9 Stamina: 9 Divinity: 7
Skills: Holy Sight (Lv. Master), Holy Aura (Lv.1)]
I used the stats on strength, agility, and stamina. Divinity was important, but it wasn’t what I needed right now. What I needed right now was physical ability for growth.
‘There are other ways to increase divinity.’
•••
I arrived in the great city of Valentier.
I headed to the Valentier Cathedral in the center of the city.
In this world where demons run rampant, the clergy had more power than the nobles. The center of a city or village was naturally occupied by a church or cathedral.
In front of the Valentier Cathedral, dozens of paladins stood in their armor. People who had business at the cathedral held their breath and kept order. They dared not cause a disturbance in front of the cathedral. Even nobles in fancy clothes lowered their eyes like commoners.
I passed by those standing in line and walked up the white marble steps toward the main entrance of the cathedral.
People murmured, and the paladins frowned at me.
Kiiiiiiing.
I activated Holy Sight. The paladins’ attitude immediately changed. They all drew their swords and plunged them into the ground.
“We have been waiting for you! The new Paladin of Valentier!”
“Greetings can wait.”
I passed by the paladins and entered the cathedral.
I walked on the clean marble floor toward the depths of the cathedral. On the way, I encountered priests. They also stopped what they were doing and greeted me as soon as they saw my eyes.
“We, we greet the Paladin!”
“Yes.”
I answered casually and passed by.
I opened the ornate door at the deepest part of the cathedral.
It was darker than the other places. There were no windows, so no light entered. Instead, candles lit the space. It was larger than a chapel, and holy water was pooled around it. At the very end was a statue of the Goddess Herianne, and in front of it, a woman in white robes was kneeling and praying.
The woman’s hair, which was kneeling, reached down to her buttocks. If you looked closely at her back, you could see her back through her hair. The back of her clothes was cut out. There was a tattoo on her back. A winged cross. The emblem of the Order.
That was not just a simple tattoo, it was a stigma. It was proof that she had been chosen by the Goddess Herianne.
I walked on the floor of the sanctuary and approached her, and she slowly rose and turned to look at me. She was covering her face with a white veil.
“Paladin, welcome. I am Amelia. As the Saint of Valentier, I am tasked with guiding and assisting you on behalf of the Goddess.”
