IBOSO 93

CHAPTER 93…………………………………………..

Even though Lloyd was dead, I didn’t feel any relief.

He could use his ability to survive by parasitizing someone else’s body.

“He might have taken over someone else’s body right before dying.”

Was there any way to check?

Lost in thought, I recalled when Cassius had used his ability on the ghosts.

The aftermath of the collision between similar abilities had also brought the memories of the ancient priests into me.

Lloyd, while conversing with the ancient priests, had once shown the rose on his back.

On his back bloomed a single bright blue rose without any black thorns.

It symbolized that he had found the Omega he had engraved and resolved the curse of his ability.

In the priests’ memories, Lloyd was an ancestor of Cassius.

But now, he looked completely different.

“In the original story, Lloyd’s body had a blue rose.”

It seemed that when the body moved, the rose—a symbol of his ability—would appear.

If he had died without transferring to someone else, the blue rose should still remain.

There was no harm in checking.

“The deceased Archmage was the Alpha of the ability.”

The fact that Lloyd had an ability was not widely known.

But the high priests and the paladins were aware. Yurgen, the guardian of the Seonghwang, naturally knew this as well.

“Yes, I heard he had a psychic ability.”

“There was a blue rose on his back—the curse of his ability. Did the corpse of the deceased Archmage also have a blue rose?”

Yurgen, blinking with eyes bloodshot from fatigue, gestured into the air and summoned a wind messenger.

“I will check… ugh!”

Yurgen, using his holy power, staggered and leaned back against the wall.

The wind messenger he created was strange too.

It was small and flew slower than a turtle.

At that speed, it would likely get caught by someone or collide with something and disappear.

“Are you alright, sir?”

Yurgen sighed, leaning against the wall.

“I’m fine…”

“You don’t look fine at all!”

“It’s really nothing. While Your Grace was away, I received messengers from priests across the continent. Handling them alone seems to have exhausted me.”

The records of the messengers Yurgen had received were considerable.

After dealing with the messengers alone, leading the paladins, and completing the search of the Archmage’s Tower, he had again expended his holy power, so stumbling was expected.

“I’ll help you.”

I held Yurgen’s hand, which was weakly braced against the wall, and activated my healing power.

It was to restore his stamina and replenish his depleted holy power.

Yurgen’s holy power clashed with mine. As they mixed, I could clearly sense his holy power.

“Huh, this feels familiar.”

Even abilities of the same type have unique sensations.

It was my first time directly clashing with Yurgen’s holy power, but it felt strangely familiar, like I had experienced it before.

Faint memories of the past seemed to resurface.

Before the memories fully came back, Yurgen pulled his hand away and created a wind messenger.

“Thank you for the recovery. I will immediately contact the paladins in the Archmage’s Tower to verify.”

The messenger he summoned this time was enormous and disappeared at incredible speed, far faster than before.

I stared at Yurgen’s hand as it moved away.

Something about it seemed almost on the verge of recognition.

“May I check your holy power once more?”

“You mean by holding my hand? That won’t do.”

He gathered his hands behind his back, seemingly to prevent me from touching them.

Then he looked at me and smiled slyly.

“This much assistance from Your Grace is sufficient. I fear my superiors.”

He referred to me as Seonghwangbi rather than a saint.

Judging by how he drew a strict boundary, it seemed he was conscious of Cassius’ authority.

Cassius, who seemed kind to me, must appear differently to others.

Especially toward anyone who harmed me, he transformed into a loyal beast, so perhaps Yurgen wanted to strictly maintain the boundary.

“Well, he even threatened priests with just a glance yesterday.”

With a single deadly look, all the priests had shut their mouths.

Yurgen must have been fairly intimidated by Cassius as well.

I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position unnecessarily.

“Then could you create a small ball of light instead of using your hand?”

“That should be fine to create in front of Your Grace!”

Indeed, he was careful of Cassius.

Yurgen quickly formed a sphere imbued with the power of wind.

Its color was similar to healing light but a deeper green.

I touched the floating green light.

“Let’s see.”

Tracing the familiar sensation, it felt like a rather old memory.

To examine his power precisely, I released my holy power.

But Yurgen scattered his own power entirely, preventing me from observing closely.

“What’s this? I haven’t checked yet!”

“You don’t need to verify my power. As expected, you must have encountered me once before.”

“You said before that we had met a long time ago.”

“That’s right.”

“Tell me when we met.”

Scratching his head a little embarrassed, Yurgen began speaking.

“Well, actually, there was a reason I decided to become a paladin.”

He unexpectedly started recalling the past.

The temple had taken in young Yurgen, who had been abandoned by his parents.

To repay the temple that had accepted him, he chose the path of a priest.

When Yurgen was a trainee priest, he obtained the holy power of wind.

But his power was weaker than others.

Having gained such a weak power made him feel like he might be abandoned by the temple. So he practiced alone relentlessly.

“If I practice, I’ll become useful.”

Wind power was used in many ways: sending messengers, opening and closing warps, and more.

If he grew even a little stronger, he wouldn’t have to worry about being abandoned.

The master who taught Yurgen how to use wind power said:

“Wind can be activated with less power than other holy powers. But since you often need to create many at once, the overall holy power consumption is high compared to other attributes.”

“……”

“If mismanaged, your holy power could be exhausted. Do not practice alone. Especially for young priests like you—if your holy power is depleted, you could lose your life. Remember this well.”

Despite the strict warning, Yurgen ignored it and continued training alone.

Through his solitary practice, he eventually learned to create dozens of wind messengers at once.

But when he felt pride in his accomplishment, his vision flashed white and he felt a tearing pain in his chest.

“Ahhh!”

Yurgen screamed and collapsed.

“My holy power is depleted.”

An adult might faint, but young priests could die from it.

He needed to receive holy power from another priest of the same attribute immediately.

But he felt his blood draining, unable to move his fingertips.

“Save… me.”

Breathing grew difficult.

Since he had come to train secretly at dawn, no one was passing by.

He was dying alone.

In Yurgen’s fading vision, a girl suddenly appeared.

“Oh, what should I do?”

Before him was a trainee priest like himself, with shining silver hair and unique eyes.

“This girl… must be the priest from that noble family that the seniors dislike.”

Her name was Sonia, if he remembered correctly.

Sonia shook Yurgen’s shoulder.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

Don’t shake me—I feel dizzy.

He wanted to protest, but he had neither the strength to move his lips nor to open his eyes.

“You’re unconscious, right?”

Though his eyes were closed, his ears were open, and he could hear her voice.

“If you can, get another priest here.”

A trainee priest couldn’t handle this alone.

“If you haven’t lost consciousness, pretend you don’t notice. Understand?”

When Sonia held his hand, he felt holy power flowing into him.

“What? A wind priest?”

At first, he thought it was the same wind power, but it wasn’t.

Sonia’s holy power spread through him, gradually suppressing the pain. It was definitely a different kind of power.

Yurgen quickly realized its nature.

The power of healing, which had not appeared for hundreds of years.

As the pain subsided, Yurgen finally opened his eyes. In his view, Sonia was disappearing as if fleeing.

She had saved his life.

So, at her request, Yurgen pretended not to know about the healing holy power.

But he assumed it would eventually be discovered.

It would be impossible to hide such a unique power forever.

The only healing priest in the world would inevitably become the subject of gossip.

A mere priest like her would struggle to protect herself.

Wanting to repay her kindness and someday help her, Yurgen became a paladin.

“Well, now I guess I’m not needed anymore.”

Someone much stronger than him was protecting Sonia.

Though he felt a little jealous, Yurgen quickly let it go.

“Honestly, they suit each other.”

It was enough that his benefactor was safe.

After finishing his recollection, Yurgen looked at Sonia.

She seemed lost in thought, trying desperately to recall a memory.

She concentrated so hard that slight wrinkles formed on her brow.

“Priest Sonia really seems to have forgotten.”

To him, it was a precious memory he could never forget.

Yet Sonia, who had saved a dying person, couldn’t even remember properly!

That irritated Yurgen, somehow.