Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 795

◈ 795. Cursed Lyder

Lumena, watching the child, eventually blew directly on the feather.

Unlike when Rembrary used the feather, it fluttered in one direction before falling.

Rabsus stared at the feather. “Is it working?”

The feather flew a little further before dropping again.

Rabsus strode towards the feather. Then the feather flew a bit more before falling.

‘Thank goodness. It seems to be working.’ Relieved, Rabsus carefully followed the weakly flying feather.

* * *

Rembrary, unaware of this situation, ran diligently after the feather. The wildly trembling feather, as if urging him to hurry, felt ominous.

“Huh.”

Then, Rembrary stopped, spotting a familiar face.

‘That person?’

It was the injured paladin who had arrived in the carriage. The paladin Rembrary had healed.

As if hearing the sound of leaves being stepped on, the paladin stared intently at a black fragment in his hand before turning his head.

“Oh? You… you’re the one with the healing ability.”

The other person recognized Rembrary and smiled.

Rembrary took a half step back. The paladin was wearing a black cloak. It wasn’t paladin attire.

Such black cloaks were versatile and used everywhere, but Rembrary was reminded of a black magician.

The black magician who had appeared at the Great Temple had also worn a similar cloak.

“Why are you backing away?”

The moment that person asked, Rembrary lost consciousness.

As Rembrary collapsed, the black magician, who had approached the child from behind and raised his hand above his head, lowered his hand.

“Who’s this kid? Is he a priest too?”

“He can use healing abilities.”

The black magician, disguised as a paladin, quickly ran over and lifted Rembrary.

“We need to keep him alive.”

* * *

The sound of water droplets echoed. Rembrary slowly opened his eyes.

‘A cave?’

Sitting up and looking around, it was definitely a cave.

A piercing, acrid smell emanated from somewhere, but there was no smoke. Instead, wind was blowing in from one side.

Rembrary got up. The atmosphere here was similar to the cave he had entered to save Cherub.

‘Did I faint?’

Rembrary moved towards the direction of the wind. How far had he walked? Rembrary found the person who had been disguised as a paladin again.

Rembrary’s eyes widened. What was that person doing?

The person was placing Lyder in a strange magic circle and chanting a spell.

Lyder was lying in the center of the magic circle, seemingly conscious but unable to move.

Rembrary picked up a fist-sized rock nearby and stealthily approached the black magician from behind.

He didn’t know what it was, but he felt he needed to get rid of this person first.

Then, the moment he made eye contact with Lyder, the black magician turned around and pushed Rembrary.

Having almost reached his target, Rembrary fell to the side, clutching the rock.

“You’re a dangerous one. Bringing something like that. Not something a priest should do, is it?”

The black magician muttered.

Rembrary, using the rock he had been holding as support, got up and charged at the black magician.

The black magician used the book he was holding under his arm to push Rembrary away.

Rembrary was like a valiant ostrich, but still a bit too small to fight an adult.

Rembrary tumbled again.

The black magician glanced at Rembrary and began chanting the spell again.

Rembrary activated his halo. But the black magician didn’t stop chanting.

Just as Rembrary was about to turn off his halo, the black magician stopped chanting and smiled.

“What to do? It’s already all over.”

Rembrary picked up the rock again and ran.

The black magician easily dodged to the side and grabbed the fallen Lyder, using him as a shield.

“Shall I tell you something interesting?”

“Your character, using a baby half your size as a shield, is the most fascinating thing.”

“Creating a monster from a priest with divine power is more effective than creating one from an ordinary person. Why do you think that is?”

Rembrary threw the rock and charged at the black magician.

The black magician, using Lyder as a shield, made a “Ugh” sound and dropped Lyder. Lyder had bitten him.

Lyder, lying on the ground, began to twist his body.

“It has begun.”

The black magician muttered, looking at the blood dripping from his palm.

Rembrary stared at Lyder. Lyder was rolling around on the ground.

As Rembrary approached, Lyder strongly pushed him away. Rembrary flew backward.

Crashing into a pillar, Rembrary staggered while looking at the arm Lyder had pushed him with.

Like the black magician earlier, Rembrary also had a large wound on his arm.

The black magician burst into laughter.

“I cursed your friend with werewolf blood and heart fragments. The success rate isn’t high, but it seems to have worked well this time.”

Rembrary ran towards Lyder again.

‘If I heal him with divine power now, it might work somehow.’

Rembrary grabbed Lyder’s shoulders with both hands and sent divine power.

It had some effect.

“Let go!”

Lyder shouted human words and threw Rembrary again. Rembrary crashed into the wall and rolled several times. His head was dizzy, and his back throbbed. Rembrary healed himself and got up.

“What a good friend.”

The black magician covered his mouth and chuckled.

“But it doesn’t seem to be working.”

Just as Rembrary was about to run again, Lyder looked at Rembrary.

In that fleeting moment, Rembrary read a strong determination in Lyder’s eyes.

And as Rembrary took a step forward, Lyder was running out of the cave.

“Lyder!”

Rembrary ran to the end of the cave and stopped. There was no one there. The cave ended abruptly, and below were the lush treetops.

The distance between here and the ground seemed as high as the 7th or 8th floor of a palace.

“Lyder….”

“Damn it!”

A curse was heard from behind.

“He jumped on his own!”

Thumping footsteps grew closer, and the black magician grabbed Rembrary from behind and pushed him.

The black magician looked down and cursed again.

Rembrary picked up a stone next to him and threw it at the black magician.

“Don’t mess with me!”

The black magician, hit in the back, turned around and shouted fiercely.

“I’ve been tolerating you enough!”

At that moment, a faint tremor was felt inside the cave. Rembrary looked that way. The black magician suddenly ran towards it.

‘What is it?’

Rembrary also got up and ran after the black magician.

“Damn it!”

The black magician shouted and stopped. Several paladins covered in a hazy cloud of dust were approaching from inside the cave.

“It’s a child!”

One of them shouted, seeing Rembrary.

The black magician made a sound that combined the bleating of a sheep and the bellow of a whale. Then, something slammed into the paladins from behind, causing the cave to echo.

The paladins quickly turned around and slashed at the monster. Some rushed towards the black magician.

The black magician turned around to use Rembrary as a shield.

But Rembrary was already running towards the place where Lyder had been.

Rembrary ran to the point where the cave ended, continuously healing himself as he jumped.

“!”

A sensation of his heart floating upwards rushed in as his body sank.

The sound of wind fluttered in his ears, and then a large tree violently struck his body.

The tree branches scraped past his arms and legs, and then the ground grew closer, and finally, the dirt rushed right up to his face.

Rembrary rolled a few times and then jumped up.

“Lyder? Lyder!”

He shouted wildly into the air, but there was no response. Rembrary took out the feather from his pocket.

He was about to infuse it with divine power when he saw something through the leaves in the distance. Rembrary ran towards it.

“Lyder!”

Lyder was lying down. Lyder was looking up at the sky with his eyes open.

Rembrary noticed that one of Lyder’s eyes had turned red.

Rembrary placed his hand on Lyder’s neck. He felt a faint pulse.

“I’ll save you.”

Rembrary whispered and grabbed Lyder’s hand. When he released his hand, Lyder turned his gaze from the sky to Rembrary.

The color had returned to Lyder’s lips. But one eye was still red.

“Are you okay?”

Rembrary asked, and Lyder blinked his eyes three or four times before sitting up.

Lyder looked down at his hand. Animal-like fur was growing on Lyder’s hand.

Lyder’s nose grew longer, and fur began to grow on his face.

Lyder’s ears turned into pointed triangles, and finally, his face completely transformed into that of a wolf.

Lyder silently looked into Rembrary’s eyes before asking.

[My face looks like a wolf.]

“Your wolf face is also very cute.”

Tears began to well up under Lyder’s eyes.

[Why did you save me?]

“Because you were hurt.”

[I didn’t want to look like this. That’s why I jumped. Rembrary, why did you save me?]

“Baby. Your current face is more handsome than your original face.”

[Why did you save me!]

Lyder howled like a wolf and pushed Rembrary. Rembrary flew away, hitting his back against a tree and rolling.

Rembrary healed himself and approached Lyder again, grabbing his furry hand.

“Baby. I’ll infuse you with divine power. Then the parts that have turned into a monster might disappear.”

While Lyder was shedding tears, Rembrary sent divine power with the feeling of driving out the monster rather than healing.

[Keang!]

However, Lyder cried like a beast and bit Rembrary’s shoulder.

“It’s a monster!”

“A monster is attacking a child!”

At that moment, a commotion broke out, and paladins rushed over and swung their swords at Lyder.

Rembrary quickly pulled Lyder closer.

“No, no!”

“That’s a werewolf pup. Rembrary. Get out of the way.”

One of the paladins shouted in a loud voice.

“It’s Lyder. He’s a trainee priest who came with me!”

Rembrary shouted again, holding onto Lyder.

“Rembrary. At that point, he’s already turned into a monster. He bit you. It’s better for him if we let him go.”

Another paladin said in as calm a voice as possible.

Rembrary still held onto Lyder and shook his head.

“It’s because of the curse. I can heal the curse.”

Lyder, whose face had turned into that of a wolf cub, was breathing heavily. But Lyder remained still.

Tears continued to fall from Lyder’s eyes, making Rembrary’s shoulder wet.

The paladins exchanged glances.

“What should we do? He’s crying.”

* * *

It was the 1st Investigation Team that saved Rembrary. They said they had captured two black magicians and eliminated all the monsters they had encountered on the way. But judging from the fact that monsters were still appearing, it was clear that they hadn’t caught the main culprit yet.

Rembrary reunited with Bora-hair among the 1st Investigation Team members who hadn’t entered the cave.

“What’s that?”

“It’s Lyder.”

“What? He has the face of a dog?!”

As Lyder growled, Rabsus hid behind a paladin.

“Lyder is kind. But he’s baring his teeth right away. Aren’t you just holding onto some strange werewolf and insisting it’s Lyder?”

“It’s Lyder. A black magician cursed him, and that’s how he became like this. But the curse hasn’t fully taken hold.”

Rembrary held Lyder’s arm tightly. He was speaking well earlier. For some reason, Lyder wasn’t speaking human words now.

“Baby. Just say one word that you’re Lyder.”

As Rembrary spoke, Lyder didn’t say anything, instead baring his fangs and growling.

“Baby?”

Even when Rembrary waved his hand, Lyder only growled. But he didn’t recklessly push Rembrary away like he had at first.

Rembrary held Lyder’s arm tightly.

‘Redrin. Just like I couldn’t remove Cherub’s curse, I couldn’t remove this curse either. If I could remove the curse, I could heal both of them. What should I do?’