CHAPTER 84……………………………………..
The more ghosts were within the range of the ability, the higher the likelihood of being consumed by the curse.
“I’ll help you. I just need to keep holding one of Your Highness’s hands, right?”
“Yes, but since I’ll be reading multiple people’s memories at once, I might end up reading Sonia’s memories too. If that bothers you, stay near the tied-up horse and come back in ten minutes or so.”
The ghosts didn’t show hostility toward me, a fellow healing priest.
But Cassius recoiled, criticizing that it was because of his cursed bloodline.
If he used his ability on so many ghosts, Cassius would be exhausted and collapse.
I didn’t know what the ghosts might do to him while I wasn’t there.
I removed the black gloves from Cassius’s hands and held them tightly.
“It’s okay. I want to stay by your side.”
“I’ll try to suppress it as much as possible so Sonia isn’t affected.”
He murmured quietly and closed his eyes.
Cassius said he usually restrained his ability.
When unleashed, his power felt aggressive, like Schwarz’s darkness.
I felt a slight headache.
A sharp force gently enveloped me, as if connecting to somewhere, and a voice resonated in my head.
The voice grew clearer, and I could even see the face of the speaker.
“The power of healing is so annoying.”
Ash and an unfamiliar man were confronting each other.
The stranger shouted.
“I finally got a new body before getting old, and the healing priests ruined everything! Do you know how much effort I put into taking this body?”
“How many people have you sacrificed to maintain that body? Stop moving your soul into other bodies to extend your life!”
“You want me to just die? No way.”
The stranger disappeared, and the scene began to blur and mix.
Then, a series of past memories unfolded.
Unlike now, in ancient times, the healing priests and the Magnus family members alternated in becoming the reigning authority.
Lucius, a healing priest, ascended. The next ruler was from the Magnus family.
Lucius realized that the next ruler candidate’s body had been stolen by someone.
Someone had used a psychic ability to take over his body.
When Lucius discovered the truth, he pursued the culprit, but their whereabouts became unknown.
After a long time, the person reappeared, leading an army.
The usurper’s face resembled Cassius.
Presumably an ancestor of Cassius, he dethroned Lucius and drove all the healing priests into the sanctuary.
“Here is alchemy that binds a healing priest’s soul to the earth. The only one who can undo it is the bloodline of this body I now inhabit.”
“……”
“But what a shame, you will be brainwashed to hate my bloodline and prevented from approaching the sanctuary.”
“You think someone without an Omega seal can manipulate the minds of this many people? They’ll die consumed by the curse first!”
“I already made that. Since the face was suitable, it only took a little coaxing for them to comply. Thanks to that, I can use my ability freely with the next body.”
He laughed and, as proof, took off his upper clothes to show his back.
A single blue rose with only five petals fully opened was on his back.
The curse’s symbol, the thorn, was nowhere to be found.
I recognized the person with that blue rose.
‘Is that… Lloyd Rifelens?’
In the original, the tower master Lloyd’s blue rose was described exactly like that.
Each rose ability has a unique pattern, like fingerprints—no two are alike.
Roses vary in color and variety, so the same pattern of ability cannot exist.
‘No way…’
The alpha of the ability in the memories of ancient priests is Lloyd.
The tower master Lloyd indeed had psychic abilities.
Among them, he specialized in taking over and controlling others’ bodies.
‘So he extended his life by taking someone else’s body before aging?’
And this was from ancient times?
Since the exact start of this was unknown, it might have been much longer.
His obsession with immortality was chilling.
“The opposing Omega will eventually close their eyes. Then your rose will wither, and your ability will be lost! That will be your end.”
“Annoying. Do you think I’d miss something like that? Worry about yourselves instead.”
The man—no, Lloyd—laughed after locking the priests into a sanctuary where divine power was blocked.
“Divine power is borrowed from the Magnus God, right? What if I kill all the healing priests here?”
The thoughts of the priests gathered in one place unified.
Divine power was granted by the Magnus God.
If dead souls couldn’t return to the Magnus God, the borrowed power couldn’t be returned.
That meant the amount of power that could be lent to newly born priests would decrease.
“Even if you try, healing priests will continue to be born!”
“So I’ll keep taking the bodies of reigning authorities, bringing all the newly born healing priests here to kill them. I’m curious when Magnus God’s healing power will run out!”
Lloyd, who blocked divine power in the sanctuary, used his ability to plant hatred in their memories.
The brainwashed priests would continue to hate the Magnus bloodline even in death, preventing access to the sanctuary.
“Once I return, I’ll erase all records of the healing priests as well.”
Laughing, Lloyd instructed the brainwashed paladins to release poisonous smoke.
The toxic smoke spread through the sanctuary’s underground, and the healing priests ran toward the Morning Star at the end of the maze—but none survived.
Trapped in the forgotten sanctuary, they waited a long, long time in the dark underground, hoping for a savior to appear and free them.
I opened my eyes.
My body trembled from absorbing so much information.
“Sonia! Are you alright?”
Cassius, worried, was checking on me.
“Are you alright?”
He asked again.
I nodded, meaning I was fine.
“I’m… just a little surprised. Really, I’m okay.”
I felt fine, but a lump rose in my chest.
I felt the pain of the priests dying in their final moments.
Even in death, they were bound to the sanctuary and suffered. I couldn’t even imagine what thoughts kept them going through such endless time.
I couldn’t stay sitting due to the memories of the past.
I took several deep breaths to calm myself.
“Your Highness, did you see him? The man with the blue rose on his back?”
Cassius’s eyes widened.
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t know why, but I could see the memories of the ancient priests too.”
He lowered his head.
“…I felt the clash between the ability that manipulated their memories and my own power. Perhaps the impact affected Sonia.”
“……”
“I’m sorry for showing such horrific memories…”
“Don’t apologize. It was an accident that you glimpsed the memories. Thanks to it, I now have information to tell Your Highness.”
I smiled genuinely.
“The man with the blue rose is the tower master Lloyd. He seems to extend his life by taking other people’s bodies.”
And only a healing priest could extract the soul from someone else’s body.
Lloyd committed madness to eliminate the only ones who could stop him—the healing priests.
Even to this day.
The ghosts observing from afar whispered among themselves.
─The author is Magnus bloodline? Impossible.
While Cassius used his ability to read the ghosts’ memories, they discussed and reached a conclusion.
─We must drive the cursed bloodline out of the sanctuary.
Their eyes sharpened.
The brainwashing Lloyd placed on them seemed very strong.
Cassius murmured:
“No wonder. Even though I properly held funerals for the remains, they didn’t look kindly on it.”
“You held funerals while cleaning the sanctuary?”
“There were many old bones in priest robes underground. While cleaning, I properly handled them.”
When I fell into the underground maze with Jurgen, I didn’t see any bones.
Instead… something else.
A chill ran down my spine.
I suddenly remembered something I had completely forgotten while thinking about ghosts.
“Isn’t the Western Continent king… a spider down there?”
“There was no such report. There’s also no story of a king spider being found in the Empire.”
Looking back, Jurgen had lied.
‘Because there were many dead, he mentioned spiders to make me not look.’
He could’ve just told the truth!
Both are scary, but ghosts are far better than spiders.
One of the ghosts pointed at Cassius.
─You with the cursed bloodline. Leave the sanctuary immediately. This is your final warning.
Ignoring the warning, Cassius whispered to me.
“Sonia, do you still wish to awaken?”
If I took the final awakening test now, I would fail.
Alchemy binding the healing priest’s power was installed in the sanctuary.
And only someone with the bloodline of the Magnus person Lloyd once stole could undo it.
That was Cassius.
I couldn’t sacrifice Cassius for my goal.
Likewise, Cassius, who knew how to release the alchemy by viewing the same memories, said:
“Are you worried about me?”
He smiled as if pleased.
“This isn’t something to laugh about. If I had to choose between awakening or Your Highness… obviously, it’s Your Highness!”
