Immortal Paladin

[POV: Da Wei]

To say I was well-adjusted would have been an understatement.

It had taken surprisingly little effort for me to adapt to this world. After more than ten years, I had practically become a local.

“Drinks on me!”

The tavern erupted into cheers.

“David’s buying!”

“Then drink until the bottles run dry!”

“To the head of Stonemar!”

“Long live David!”

“Make sure you eat something, you bastard! We’re not carrying you home again!”

Laughter and clattering mugs filled the tavern as everyone raised their drinks. For all the doom and gloom of this steampunk-like world, the people here certainly knew how to liven things up.

It had been over ten years since I had fallen into this world and settled down in Meregreen. Somewhere along the way, I had long since discarded my peasant garb and started looking more like a respectable gentleman. A suit, a proper coat, polished shoes, and enough money in my pocket to avoid worrying about my next meal had become the norm.

My life had taken a rather strange turn.

With my stats and abilities, I had confidently applied for a mining position shortly after arriving. I had found a massive deposit of precious resources that would have been enough to make any mining company salivate, then used the opportunity to negotiate a share of the operation.

The negotiation itself had been somewhat unconventional.

I had basically defanged the secretly hired gang sent after me, coerced the owner of Stonemar into handing over the business, and somehow ended up becoming the man in charge of the mining operations in Meregreen.

Looking back, it was amazing how quickly things could escalate when I possessed the physical capabilities of a character from a game.

Of course, being a Paladin in Meregreen was a little different from being one in Lost Legends Online.

There were no armies of monsters pouring out of dungeons every other week. No world-ending calamities appeared whenever I had just started getting comfortable. There were no Demon Lords demanding my attention or gigantic beasts requiring me to swing my sword until the scenery disappeared.

Compared to LLO, this place was practically peaceful.

As a result, I had to find other ways to spend my energy.

I had planted my roots in Meregreen, invested in the town, helped establish schools and various programs, created jobs, and generally did whatever I pleased whenever I had nothing better to do. It turned out that doing good things for people had a rather noticeable effect.

“David!”

“To David!”

“Our benefactor!”

“David! Another round!”

The crowd erupted into another cheer, and I couldn’t help laughing.

My goodwill with the people of Meregreen had grown considerably over the years. Some of it was probably because I had helped bring new schools and employment programs to the town. Fair wages, better working conditions, and expanding trade had done wonders for the local economy.

I had also made sure that the mining wealth did not simply disappear into the pockets of a few wealthy merchants.

Still, despite everything I had accomplished here, something had always bothered me. Something felt wrong. There was a massive inconsistency that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

For starters, I had spent years trying to reconcile the fact that a sword-and-sorcery character like me had somehow been dropped into what was essentially a Victorian fantasy world.

Steam engines. Industrial machinery. Firearms. Fancy suits. Factories. And then there was me, walking around with a sword and divine abilities.

Sure, there were traces of LLO scattered throughout this world. There were rumors of dungeons, strange monsters, mysterious ruins, and supernatural phenomena that sounded suspiciously familiar.

But the truth remained.

This was an entirely different world.

And the enormous Tower on the horizon only made that fact harder to ignore.

“Well, everyone, enjoy yourselves,” I said as I stood from my seat. “Today marks the anniversary of me becoming the new head of Stonemar, so I suppose that’s worth celebrating. But don’t turn it into some ridiculous festival just because I bought a few drinks.”

“A few drinks?!”

“You’re leaving before we finish them!”

“Coward!”

“David, you can’t run away from your own celebration!”

I laughed as I waved them off.

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“Enjoy the feast. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? He’s already planning his escape!”

“Don’t worry, David! We’ll celebrate twice as hard tomorrow!”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of!”

Their laughter followed me as I stepped outside and left the tavern behind. The cool night air greeted me. I breathed it in and glanced toward the horizon. Specifically, the Tower. Even from this distance, its enormous silhouette was impossible to miss. It rose beyond the forests like some ancient monument that had no business existing in this world.

I stared at it for a while.

Maybe it was finally time to investigate that thing properly.

I had spent ten years building a life in Meregreen, and there were still a few things I needed to handle before I could leave. But sooner or later, I was going to have to find out what that Tower was. It had to mean something, right?

In a sense, I felt like the Tower was calling me. Besides, I was starting to get bored. I looked down at myself. The suit was beginning to feel stiff. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure how people managed to fight while wearing these things.

It had been some time since I had seen any real combat. My encounters had been limited to the occasional thug, wandering mercenary, or strange self-proclaimed knight who had decided causing trouble was a good way to spend his afternoon.

None of them had been remotely life-threatening.

In a strange way, that peaceful lifestyle had dulled my senses. Fortunately, not enough. Someone was following me.

I continued walking without changing my pace.

It had taken me only a short time to adapt to the limitations of this world. My powers had been heavily nerfed compared to what I had possessed in LLO. I couldn’t use my Ultimates, and I had to consciously guide some of my passive abilities rather than letting them operate automatically.

But my stats hadn’t diminished. Neither had my other abilities. Whoever was following me had picked the wrong person.

I casually turned into an alley.

The city of Meregreen had been built around a heavily forested region adjacent to a mountain where the mines were located. Its industrial side was still in its infancy, with factories and steam-powered machinery slowly spreading throughout the town, but trade in precious stones had already begun to boom.

Especially spirit stones.

That particular resource still bothered me. Spirit stones were far too familiar. They felt like something that belonged in LLO or some universe rather than this world, and yet they were undeniably real.

I made another turn and waited.

Nothing.

Whoever was following me was patient. That was fine. I had plenty of patience myself.

After making a few more turns, I suddenly vanished with Flash Step. I appeared silently on the rooftop of a nearby building and crouched down, looking back toward the alley below.

If my pursuer wanted to follow me so badly, I was more than happy to give them the opportunity.

After all, it had been a long time since I had any real excitement. Maybe tonight, I would finally get some.

A woman wearing a dark conical hat eventually walked beneath me.

I waited until she was directly below before dropping from the rooftop. I landed silently behind her, immediately activating Monkey Grip as I reached out and firmly seized her shoulder.

“Why were you following me?” I asked.

Her response was immediate. One hand snapped backward and grabbed my wrist. When she twisted, the next thing I knew, I was being flung through the air. That was certainly a first.

I twisted my body in midair and focused.

Time seemed to slow.

It wasn’t actually slowing, of course. I was simply concentrating hard enough that my perception stretched far beyond what an ordinary human could comprehend. Even in this nerfed world, the mere concentration of a max-level Paladin manifested through flesh and blood was enough to transcend mortal limitations.

For that brief instant, I saw her clearly.

She was a striking woman dressed in a dark, form-fitting outfit beneath a tightly laced corset. The clothing gave her an elegant yet distinctly dangerous appearance, while her long red hair spilled beneath the brim of her conical hat. Her features were sharp and confident, the sort of face that looked more accustomed to staring down a firing squad than attending a ballroom.

But her eyes were the strangest part.

They seemed to shine with seven different hues. Seven colors shifted within her irises like fragments of a rainbow trapped behind glass.

I landed and immediately closed the distance.

With my stats alone, I could subdue most thugs and even seasoned mercenaries without needing to use any complicated abilities. Even the strange knights who occasionally wandered into Meregreen rarely proved to be much of a challenge.

This woman was different.

I thrust three fingers toward her.

One.

Two.

Three.

She dodged every strike with the smallest possible movements. She didn’t leap away or perform some dramatic maneuver. She simply shifted her body by inches, allowing my fingers to pass harmlessly beside her.

I increased the tempo.

My next strike came faster and another. I swept my leg toward hers, intending to knock her balance away while simultaneously striking from above. However, she saw it. Somehow, she saw it. The woman twisted around my attack and retaliated in the same motion. A card flashed from her hand.

My Divine Sense screamed. When I tilted my head backward, the card skimmed past my left eye. I could smell a faint hint of poison laced on the card. I caught it between two fingers and immediately flung it back.

She tilted her head to the side, the card sailing past her.

Just as quickly, she lunged. A stiletto appeared in her hand, its needle-like point aimed directly at my throat. A strange, murky aura surrounded the blade, twisting around it like poisonous smoke.

That was probably going to hurt.

I activated Reflect. At the same time, I reinforced my body with Divine Flesh. The stiletto struck my throat.

Clang!

The weapon bounced and the blade snapped in half. The force traveled straight back into her. Her arm bent at an unnatural angle. Blood burst from the broken limb. The woman stared at me in shock.

I saw genuine surprise on her face.

The woman retreated decisively, a portal opening behind her.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

I activated Zealot’s Stride and followed her through.

The scenery changed instantly.

We emerged on the far western side of Meregreen, surrounded by the ruins of an old church. The building had clearly been abandoned for years. Broken stone walls surrounded us, while shattered stained-glass windows allowed moonlight to spill across the dusty floor.

The woman immediately pulled out a red potion and poured it over her broken wrist. The injury rapidly healed.

I raised an eyebrow.

This world had a rather strange power system. It seemed to reject the supernatural while simultaneously wielding it through that rejection. Suppression was probably a more fitting term.

Magic existed here, but it felt constrained, compressed, forced to operate within rules that prevented it from becoming as absurd as the powers I had grown accustomed to in LLO.

I looked at her eyes again.

“You have strange eyes,” I noted.

I was fairly certain those eyes were the source of whatever powers she had displayed.

I lowered my hands slightly.

“I am David. You?”

She stared at me.

“You don’t know me?”

I shrugged.

“Am I supposed to?”

Her expression twisted into outrage. “You...” She clenched her healed hand. Her seven-colored eyes seemed to burn brighter. “I may not remember my past lives, but I know my duty. I know what I am. I know my path. It is to slaughter you, Evil God!”

I stared at her.

“...What?”

“As it was orally passed down through the Slayer Order, I, N’wa of Seven Gazes, possess the ability to take you down!”

She pointed at me.

“So I must!”

I grimaced.

What the fuck?

That was an unexpected setting reveal.

I had spent ten years wondering why this world felt so strange, and apparently the answer was that someone had an inherited grudge against an Evil God who probably looked suspiciously like me. How did she even arrive at that conclusion?

”Wonderful.”

I raised both hands.

“Look, I don’t know anything about any Evil God, lady, but I am not it. You are looking at the wrong person.”

“LIES!”

Her shout echoed through the ruined church.

I sighed.

This was going to be a long night.