Chapter 165
His vision darkened.
“…Ugh.”
He forced his heavy eyelids open, but not a single speck of light greeted him.
Payne blinked dazedly before realizing it was the middle of the night.
‘What happened?’
He remembered stumbling along the mountain path, half walking, half not, urged by Ashtel to leave as soon as possible. But his already weak body had started to fail since the previous evening. He thought it was just a fever and tried to rest briefly, but then his memory went blank.
‘Did I collapse?’
Trying to lift his upper body, he noticed a pile of leaves beneath him and surveyed his surroundings.
Realizing he was conscious, he saw no sign of the noisy succubus.
“…Ashtel?”
He called her name, but received no answer. She must have left the spot.
“Ugh, huh.”
As soon as he tried to rise, a dizzy spell hit him hard.
Leaning against a wall, Payne guessed where he was.
Surrounded by stone walls with no light seeping through the small entrance, he was trapped somewhere in a cave deep in the mountains at night.
‘No, am I being imprisoned?’
Feeling around his neck, he found the dog collar he’d worn while living in the cabin. But since there was no leash attached, it seemed he was free to move.
Ashtel wouldn’t leave without some plan.
Suppressing suspicion, Payne tried to remove the collar—but it seemed sealed shut as if glued.
‘Damn it…’
Giving up on the collar, he scanned the area with sharp eyes.
Soon, a wave of corruptive symptoms hit him like a seizure, and he collapsed again.
“Ugh.”
Breathless and feverish, his vision spun wildly.
His trembling arms touched the leaf-covered ground, and the snake-patterned marks on his skin burned with pain.
Though his sight was black, Payne recognized the corruptive marks swinging around his arms and sunk into despair after realizing the cause.
‘Is it because I gave my divine power to Sir Duvalkan?’
Payne’s divine power was vast, but even vast power had limits.
Moreover, since being caught by Ashtel and unable to perform his daily prayers, his spiritual energy was dwindling day by day.
Meanwhile, he had entrusted much of his power to Duvalkan to help preserve his life, so no strength remained to suppress the corruption.
‘It’s my fault. I thought I’d be fine once the curse improved.’
Ashtel’s efforts to draw out the demonic energy were decreasing.
That meant little demonic energy remained in his body.
‘Is it because the cure wasn’t complete…?’
Muttering this, Payne clenched his fist and unleashed his divine power.
As he summoned even the hidden reserves, his cold sweat eased noticeably.
But this was only a temporary fix.
Payne’s divine power wasn’t infinite. If left as is, he would surely lose consciousness and collapse again.
Struggling to stand, he glanced at the scattered emergency supplies around him—medicine bottles rolling about, unexplained bandages, mysterious powders—proof of Ashtel’s attempts to find him the right medicine.
Luckily, the bottle that seemed like fever medicine was empty, suggesting he hadn’t taken anything else.
Payne absentmindedly touched his lips and shuddered at an odd feeling.
‘Now that the demon’s gone, it’s the perfect time. I need to go down the mountain and find people.’
He had to join the knights searching for him and break free from Ashtel.
Ordinary citizens would only get caught up with demons; he had to meet Van for safety.
Payne glanced briefly at his makeshift bed—a pile of soft leaves, twigs, and the pillow he’d packed in his bag—and stepped outside the cave.
As Ashtel hadn’t appeared, it seemed she hadn’t placed any magic to prevent his escape.
How could she be so careless at such a critical moment?
‘If I ask Van, he can break this collar.’
With that thought, Payne moved slowly.
Outside the cave, the welcoming moonlight guided the path down the mountain.
* * *
“No! Why did this happen?”
Ashtel, having gone to a nearby human village for Payne’s sake, pulled her hood over her tear-streaked face.
‘Are Payne and I wanted criminals?!’
If possible, she planned to bring a doctor or healer back to the mountain.
Fragile humans could lose their lives or become disabled from even mild fevers; Ashtel couldn’t bear to do nothing.
She had intended to return before Payne woke, but after arriving at the village and seeing the wanted posters in the square, she changed plans.
Their faces were large and clear—hers and Payne’s.
‘And Payne’s looks even worse in the picture?’
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