Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 264

264. Find a Way Back (3)

Rembrary, having ventured out with eight demons and returned to the temple alone, found himself in a rather awkward predicament.

“What? Why are you alone?”

“…….”

He’d managed to use his divine power to weaken the eight demons surrounding him, his voice resonating with holy energy. When demons are drained of their power, they instinctively burrow back into their own dimension, unable to move until they recover. Rembrary had pushed these demons nearly to that point.

His original plan was to leverage this to regain the people’s trust.

But it didn’t work. In fact, it only made them more suspicious. Rembrary was initially troubled. Should he heal the injured and weak among the people? Would that restore their faith in him?

He seriously considered it but ultimately decided against it. Even if he healed them, he’d likely only hear, “What are you up to now?” again.

These people didn’t believe he’d lost his power or had his soul swapped; they believed he was deliberately withholding it.

Besides, there were still demons within the temple. He had to be cautious, unsure of their exact numbers. Right now, they underestimated him, but if they discovered his power had returned, it could lead to even more trouble.

He had to tread carefully, as he had almost no allies.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

And now, this situation.

The demons were clearly taken aback when the high priest, who had left with eight supposed paladins, returned alone. To avoid arousing further suspicion, Rembrary offered a plausible lie.

“We were walking, and they suddenly sank into the ground.”

“What?”

One of the demons poked Rembrary’s shoulder, repeating the question sharply.

“Do you expect us to believe that?”

“Does it sound like anything *but* words to you?”

“What?!”

The demon, offended by Rembrary’s sarcasm, was about to retort when the demon disguised as the high priest grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. He then scrutinized Rembrary.

“Did you see who did it?”

“I didn’t, but there were plenty of witnesses. Why don’t you ask them?”

Rembrary denied any involvement and emphasized that it had happened in a public place. The high priest demon frowned, seemingly finding the explanation reasonable.

“Go find out.”

The high priest demon ordered another demon, who quickly hurried outside. With one demon gone, the one who had poked Rembrary’s shoulder grabbed his collar this time.

“You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?”

Before Rembrary could answer, the demon dressed as a paladin quickly intervened.

“Where would this high priest get that kind of power? It must have been the escaped paladins.”

Another demon reproached the one grabbing Rembrary’s collar.

“If this human had that ability, he wouldn’t have been caught and forced to play the role of a puppet.”

Their rebuke was laced with contempt for Rembrary. The other demons laughed.

“That’s true.”

“He’s just a high priest in name only, good for nothing but crying.”

“Humans are so foolish, believing in and following such a guy as their greatest high priest.”

Rembrary didn’t take the bait. He knew that saving his pride wasn’t important right now. He needed to focus on the long game.

In the end, no matter how much the demons laughed, Rembrary remained still. They laughed even harder, concluding that the paladins were responsible and deciding to increase their guard.

“When you all disappear…”

Rembrary had been silent until then, but now he spoke for the first time. The demons looked at him, surprised by his sudden interjection. Rembrary asked with a gentle smile.

“Will more demons be coming here?”

This was also why Rembrary had concealed his power earlier. In response to Rembrary’s question, the demon disguised as a high priest smiled confidently.

“They’ll be here soon. In the end, you can’t escape from here until the Demon King comes, human.”

Rembrary was curious but didn’t want that answer.

“I see.”

Rembrary sighed, put his hands behind his back, and nodded.

‘If I get rid of these guys, more demons will flock here… Should I leave them alone for now?’

* * *

Later that evening, a demon in a priest’s robe appeared in his bedroom to deliver food. As Rembrary was finishing his meal, another demon arrived to collect the empty dishes.

“What’s with eating it all? You usually only eat like a bird.”

After finishing dinner, Rembrary prayed to Redrin again, attempting to commune with the divine.

But how long had he been doing that? A creepy sensation flashed past him. Rembrary quickly jumped up and rolled away. He hadn’t trained in *nakbeop* [a martial arts technique for safely breaking falls] for nothing during the training camp. Thanks to those fifteen days, he was able to get up quickly.

“You?”

Rembrary was shocked to see a knife sticking out of the wall where he had been standing, and the one holding the knife was a familiar face. Moreover, that familiar face, Ninring, was a paladin from the order that protected Rembrary.

Before he could fully process the surprise, Ninring swung the sword again.

“Ninring, stop.”

Rembrary commanded, dodging the blade. But Ninring didn’t listen and continued to attack.

“Ninring!”

Rembrary shouted, but Ninring didn’t even blink. Rembrary was dumbfounded. ‘Is this paladin crazy?’

He had suspected that the paladins might distrust him, given the general sentiment.

Still, seeing it in person was more absurd than he had imagined.

Rembrary dove over the bed and threw a pillow at Ninring. While Ninring was distracted by the pillow and the feathers scattering everywhere, Rembrary took off his shoes and grabbed them.

At that moment, Ninring, who had been attacking silently, suddenly hesitated and looked at Rembrary with shaking eyes. He blinked and asked in a bewildered voice.

“High Priest…?”

“Don’t fail to recognize me in strange places. It’s truly embarrassing.”

“Oh my god. That tone! High Priest? Are you really the High Priest?”

Ninring’s eyes widened. He trembled, then stepped back and shook his head.

“No, that can’t be. The High Priest is no longer in that body. The High Priest is…”

“Do I have to cast a divine punishment for you to recognize me?”

When Rembrary took off the shoes he was wearing, Ninring burst into tears.

“That dignified shout! You are definitely the High Priest!”

Rembrary felt sorry for his crying paladin, and his anger subsided a little. He went back over the bed and patted Ninring’s shoulder, who was sobbing.

“Don’t cry. It’s enough that you recognized me now.”

“High Priest… Please punish me for not recognizing you.”

“It’s not okay, but I’ll forgive you. Stop crying.”

* * *

Ninring calmed down after crying for a long time.

Rembrary was worried he had cried too much, but fortunately, the person who had occupied Rembrary’s body cried so often that the demons passing by simply said, “He’s crying again,” and moved on.

Ninring wiped his eyes with his sleeve and confided, sounding like he was complaining.

“I saw Rembrary in the village. I saw him defeating the demons, but I thought the fake was colluding with them to confuse us again.”

“Again?”

“It happened a few times in the beginning. Because of that, my brothers and sisters…”

“…….”

When Rembrary’s expression darkened, Ninring quickly continued.

“Some of the colleagues who saw Rembrary today said that Rembrary seemed to have returned. But I couldn’t believe it and forcibly carried out the ambush. …I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You did well.”

Rembrary patted Ninring’s shoulder and suddenly thought of the Demon King’s fragment inside his body, or rather, inside his shadow. He also remembered that his memory was sometimes cut off and he was deprived of his body by that entity.

“High Priest?”

Rembrary’s gaze turned to his shadow. The shadow looked normal. But even in the original world, the shadow didn’t always writhe.

Rembrary stared at the silent shadow and added, just in case.

“If I act strangely, stay away from me immediately. Trust me, but don’t trust me completely, and be constantly vigilant.”

“…Are you saying you might be possessed again?”

Rembrary nodded and asked Ninring.

“First, tell me about the situation in detail. How did things get this far, and how is the world turning?”

Ninring calmly explained that all five continents except the eastern continent were now dominated by demons.

The Redrin Temple was most prosperous in the western and southern continents, and the Great Temple was located in the western continent, but both had fallen to the demons, and humans were being used as slaves or food.

“Suddenly, a crack appeared in the dimension, and there was talk of evacuating to that side. There is also a saying in mythology that we settled here through the crack.”

‘Crack…’

“But we can’t go right away, so we dispatched an advance investigation team, and in the process, the high priests of the northern and central continents were captured by the Demon King.”

A high priest could be appointed for each god, but since the four most prosperous gods in the five continents were four, the number of high priests was also four. But two of them had already been captured…

“What about the eastern high priest?”

“He took the remaining people and went into the crack. Since then, contact has been lost, so I don’t know what happened. Most of the people who didn’t follow are gathering in the east and trying to fight the Demon King’s army.”

Rembrary recalled the crack that appeared in the world where Woo-yeon lived and muttered.

“I should investigate the crack after all.”

“The crack?”

“Yes. Afterwards, let’s gather people and go to the east. Now is the time to join forces with anyone.”

* * *

Rembrary, having made a decision, first helped Ninring escape from the temple.

“Aren’t you coming with me, High Priest?”

“It’s easier to get caught if two people go out. I’ll make a fuss, so go out alone.”

“But…”

“If we go out together, I have to use my power, but isn’t it better if they don’t know I’ve found my power?”

The demons were currently relaxed around Rembrary, but if they found out that he had regained his power, they would try to catch him with everything they had, even after he escaped. The demons he dealt with during the day were easy to handle, but if it was revealed that he had power, there might be demons who came prepared with defenses against divine power.

It was better for Rembrary to hide his power as much as possible.

“Yes. Be careful, High Priest.”

Ninring believed in Rembrary, so he readily left first. Rembrary made an appropriate amount of noise to attract attention while Ninring escaped, and when he thought he had gotten away, he stopped the commotion and returned to his room.

And the next day, when a demon came to bring him breakfast, Rembrary was waiting in front of the door and immediately knocked the demon unconscious.

As the demon disappeared into the floor, Rembrary took the bowl and came out of the bedroom.