Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 803

◈ 803. Drifting Apart at Heart

“Damn it, the monsters didn’t come this way!”

The four paladins, who had planned to escape in the chaos of the monsters invading the mansion, screamed as they saw the smoke rising from the village.

“What happened?”

“We’ve been together the whole time, how would we know?!”

“Damn it. What do we do?”

A loud bell rang out from beyond the window, summoning the paladins.

“Assemble! Assemble!”

It seemed they were planning to take the paladins waiting here down to the village.

When Paladin 2 peeked his head out the window, Paladin 3 hurriedly pulled him back.

“Don’t stick your head out.”

“I need to see the situation.”

“No, now that it’s come to this, there’s only one way.”

Paladin 3 looked at his comrades with a determined look.

“We have to give up on clearing our names.”

“What do you mean…….”

“We need to fall back and, in the chaos of the paladins going down to the village, escape in the opposite direction.”

Paladin 1 jumped up.

“Then we’ll be hunted by the temple!”

“It can’t be helped. The village is wide and there are many villagers. With so many witnesses, we can’t possibly deal with all the surviving paladins after the battle. If that happens, we won’t be able to clear our names. So, we have to save our lives at least.”

At Paladin 3’s words, the other comrades glanced at each other.

Having lived as paladins since childhood, abandoning the temple and running away was not an easy choice.

“If you want, you can stay and be punished by the law.”

Paladin 3 said firmly instead of urging them, and then went into his room.

A moment later, Paladin 3 came out with his luggage.

“I’m leaving. If we go to a place where the Redrin and Lumena temples don’t have much influence, we won’t be hunted by the temple. I’m confident in my swordsmanship, so I can make a living doing something.”

At those words, Paladins 1, 2, and 4 also went to their respective rooms and came out with their luggage.

* * *

“The Halo isn’t working.”

Rembrary, who had been shooting the Halo [a divine ability] at the giant monster from beyond the window, turned around after a moment of turning off the Halo.

“I guess it’s because it’s too far away.”

“I think it’s because you’re making it too weak.”

Then, Lapsus and Lydal, who were gathered behind Rembrary, began to nag, telling him to try this and try that.

“What should we do?”

Rembrary ignored all the nagging and asked worriedly.

However, even with the three novice priests putting their heads together, an easy solution did not come out.

“Even if we want to combine our strength, we need to get close first.”

Lydal muttered in a gloomy voice.

Even in the meantime, screams were flowing in from outside the window.

Lapsus stared beyond the window, clenching his fist tightly.

“This is not the time. I just have to say it.”

Then, Lapsus suddenly turned around and walked to the door.

“Lapsus!”

Lydal was surprised and followed Lapsus.

Rembrary only peeked his head out and surveyed the situation.

“It’s dangerous. Stay inside.”

The guard standing in front of the door pushed the two children away as they suddenly popped out, speaking in a coaxing tone.

“Please let us out.”

Lapsus said, standing his ground.

“If the three of us combine our strength, we can fight the monster. The monster you see outside the window.”

Lydal also put strength in his feet and grabbed the door frame tightly, saying.

“No. Go inside.”

However, the guards continued to push the two children back into the room.

A loud bang rang out not far away.

“We have to go out!”

Lapsus shouted again, but it was no use.

“Hurry up and go inside!”

The guards became impatient and pushed the two children harder.

Rembrary stealthily approached behind the two.

‘I heard that Lapsus has strong attack abilities. It seems that he can’t use his strength because he’s afraid of causing serious injuries since the opponent is a person.’

“That kid is quietly over there. You guys hurry up and go inside too!”

The guard who found Rembrary shouted in an exhausted voice.

Rembrary slowly approached them again.

And just as the guard was about to say something, he strongly activated the Halo.

“Ugh!”

The guards squinted at the sudden light and covered their eyes, letting go of the children.

Rembrary grabbed Lapsus and Lydal by the hands and ran down the inn hallway.

“Kids! No! It’s dangerous!”

The guards shouted belatedly and ran after them.

However, the inn hallway was already crowded with people running around.

Some were trying to escape out of the inn, and some were trying to enter the inn. It was difficult for the guards to chase the children in that crowd.

The children safely got out of the inn in the meantime.

“Where’s the monster?”

As soon as Lapsus got out of the inn, he looked around and shouted. The monster that was visible from the second-floor window was not easily seen when he came out of the inn.

“That way!”

Lydal shouted, running towards the direction where the screams were heard.

Rembrary and Lapsus followed behind him.

Since people were running from the direction the three were running, it was difficult for the children to pick up speed this time.

“Rembrary!”

Lydal barely grabbed Rembrary, who was being pushed back, and blocked the surroundings with divine power.

The three managed to run around the monster. There was no one around the monster because people had run away.

The monster was slowly looking around, putting its hand on the roof.

Lapsus stretched out his arms towards the monster and tried to crush it.

Rembrary turned on the Halo. This time it was a bit effective.

The monster frowned at the Halo and turned around to move to the other side.

However, it was only avoiding the Halo and not stopping its movements, so every time the monster moved, houses were destroyed and people were busy running away.

“Damn it!”

Lapsus spat out a curse.

“It’s too big, so my power doesn’t work!”

Lapsus also spat out a curse because his power was not working well. The only part that was crushed by Lapsus’s divine power was a bit of the monster’s skin.

Lydal tried to protect the people in the area where the monster was passing from a distance.

Rembrary also eventually turned off the Halo and focused on treating the people who were directly or indirectly attacked by the monster.

It was the first time since he gained the Halo ability.

* * *

Later, paladins arrived from the mansion and began to fight the giant monster.

Perhaps because it was an urgent situation, the paladins saw the children but did not scold them.

Lydal included the paladins in the area he was protecting, and Lapsus stopped attacking the giant monster and flattened the debris that was being swept away by the monster’s swinging arms, reducing indirect damage.

The monster thrashed around the village three times before collapsing with a thud.

Even after falling, the monster continued to twitch its arms and legs.

While Lydal and Lapsus were staring at the scene, exhausted, Rembrary blankly looked up at the sky.

‘Lord Redrin, the damage is greater than I thought.’

Even though the paladins came, the monster had already caused as much damage as it could. Buildings were destroyed here and there, and many people were killed or injured.

Rembrary started walking around again, treating people.

However, no matter how much Rembrary tried, there was nothing he could do for those who died before being treated.

* * *

“Are you okay?”

After the incident was settled, Lydal came over and asked as he passed by Rembrary, who was just sitting blankly on the stairs.

“Are you tired?”

“I’m not tired.”

Rembrary looked down at his hands. It wasn’t just words. He really wasn’t tired.

“Then why are you so gloomy?”

“I’m not really gloomy. I was just thinking that it would have been nice if I was a little stronger.”

“You’re very strong now.”

“I’m very strong now, but I think I need to become stronger. Because it’s not a peaceful time.”

Lydal glanced at Rembrary. Rembrary lowered his hands that he had been looking at.

“If it wasn’t for you, the damage would have been greater.”

“That’s right.”

It was when Lydal was about to say something more to Rembrary. A commotion was heard not far away.

Rembrary and Lydal looked towards the direction where the sound was coming from.

A group of paladins were dragging someone along.

“Uh……?”

Lydal muttered in a strange voice as he saw it.

Rembrary also recognized who the person the paladins were dragging was.

It was one of those who had argued that Lydal should be killed because he was no longer human, and later said he would give him a month and sent him to the mercenaries.

“Why is there only one person?”

“I don’t know? Besides, one person looks strange.”

The paladin being dragged was creaking his whole body strangely here and there.

“Oh, there he is.”

The paladins who were dragging the paladin unexpectedly found Rembrary and approached this way.

As the paladins approached, Rembrary realized that the problematic paladin they were dragging was not creaking because he was hurt somewhere.

“Why is that person like that?”

Lydal asked with wide eyes.

Parts of the paladin’s body had turned to stone.

“He was attacked by a black magician while running away.”

The paladin who brought the paladin explained with a click of his tongue.

“Only this person?”

“No. All four of the problematic ones ran away together. But three were dragged away by the black magician. This one was only half cursed when we caught him.”

The paladin looked at his cursed comrade with disgust.

The cursed paladin closed his eyes tightly and couldn’t say anything.

“When we first caught him, he said he wanted to be treated by you, Rembrary, but now that he sees you, he must be ashamed to ask for treatment.”

The paladin who scoffed shook the paladin who was half-turned to stone.

“Cowardly bastard.”

“…….”

“Rembrary. Lydal. It’s up to you whether to heal this guy or not.”

Rembrary looked at Lydal.

“What does the baby want to do?”

“Huh? Are you asking me? You’re the one who heals.”

“I thought the baby might want to decide.”

Lydal hesitated and looked back and forth between the paladin who was half-turned to stone, Rembrary, and the paladin who was angry at his comrade’s betrayal.

Lydal hesitated and shook Rembrary’s arm.

“You decide. You’re the one who heals.”

Rembrary stared silently at the paladin who was half-monster.

The paladin couldn’t even look at Rembrary.

When that paladin argued to kill Lydal, he probably never thought that he could be in the same situation.

“…….”

Rembrary slowly raised his hand and placed it on the paladin’s head.

Then, the stone that had turned into stone fell off the paladin’s body, and finally the paladin turned into a completely human body.

The paladin who became human looked at Rembrary with trembling eyes. He didn’t even expect that Rembrary would heal him.

“Just leave him alone. Why did you save him.”

The other paladin also grumbled.

“I just saved him because he was in front of me.”

Rembrary said indifferently and got up from the stairs.

He was trying to be alone and think carefully, but people kept gathering. He needed a quieter place.

* * *

Because the paladins had to help the villagers, Rembrary, Lydal, and Lapsus had to return to the room where they had shaken off the guards and escaped.

Gaieger, who had been purifying the parts contaminated by darkness with divine power, was exhausted and belatedly went to find the children’s room.

It was to check if those troublemakers had escaped again.

Gaieger, who exchanged glances with the guard standing in front of the door, opened the door halfway and was surprised.

The other two children were asleep as if they had fainted from exhaustion, but Rembrary was sitting alone at his desk studying.

‘Rembrary is studying alone!’ Gaieger was shocked and stared at the scene before quietly closing the door and backing away.

Rembrary put down his pen and turned his head when he heard the door closing from behind, but when the door was closed, he looked forward again.

Rembrary put his hands together and stared intently at the Holy Scripture.

‘Lord Redrin. Until now, I knew that demons were dangerous and bad, but I had a hard time understanding in what ways they were. But now I know. Black magicians are not people to be close to. The demons who lend their power to black magicians are the same.’