Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party-Chapter 99: Overwhelming Regret

Lucia recalled every painful detail of that day.

I wanted... I wanted to save them somehow.

Her family had turned into beasts. Her sister had become a ferret, attacking their mother, who was now a chicken. Those who had once been family no longer recognized each other, devolving into wild, animalistic instincts.

After Grimudo’s departure, Lucia was left in utter despair. She hired people to care for the animals thanks to the family’s wealth that the Demon King had spared.

But the animals didn’t live as long as humans. Her mother, now a chicken, faced a lifespan of no more than ten, and possibly as few as five years.

In desperation, Lucia went to the Pope of the Elysia Church but found no answers.

I don’t understand how this curse works.

Even after the Pope tried to use holy power, the transformed people remained animals, only becoming healthier.

The Three Gods Church itself reeled in shock from the Demon King’s terror. Even a mythical elixir would have offered no cure.

“If any method exists to reverse this curse, only an ancient Demon King would possess that knowledge. We have no means to break it.”

Lucia couldn’t accept the reality of her family’s transformation into beasts. Had they perished, she might have surrendered to grief; instead, they lived, but as strangers she could not recognize. She clung to the belief that she could one day restore them.

This hope drove her to join the hero’s party, to face Grimudo, defeat him, and somehow undo the curse. It was all for her family.

But now, with one more beast added to the count, she questioned the purpose of everything she had endured. What meaning did the journey, the hardships, and the sacrifices truly hold?

Deep down, she might have known she couldn’t accomplish either goal: revenge or restoring her family. She had been avoiding the truth.

Sparkle.

Then, as despair claimed her, she failed to notice the bluebird feather on her chest quiver.

The polymorph curse was a force outside the feather’s ability to block, so it decomposed into pure, holy power.

Lucia felt her body shift entirely. The transformation that had been torturing her was gone; she was now back to her human form. Her arms and legs were smooth, without a trace of fur. She quickly checked her body in disbelief. The curse had lifted.

“The polymorph curse...”

She did not recognize her surroundings, however. The dilapidated shack and the empty forest around her were unfamiliar. Yet location no longer mattered; her attention was fixed on her restored body.

She tore off her top to inspect herself further, confirming her transformation had reversed.

“Ah, ah... What, what just happened...”

In her confusion, another figure stirred beside her. Parnell stretched with a loud yawn, groaning as she worked out the soreness in her back. She, too, had nearly become a snake but had returned to human form.

Her body felt stiff, but it was better than the alternative.

“Grimudo... He did something to us at the last moment.”

Yurinel frowned at her hands, which had nearly become lion’s paws.

If the transformation had worked, she would have killed the snake and eaten the cat. It appeared the bluebird feather had blocked the curse, though she could not discern how.

‘’Anyway, I’m glad it ended without issue. Who cares, as long as we’re safe? But where is the Saint? There’s no way I would have forgotten the Saint, no matter how urgent it was.’’

Parnell looked around. She, Yurinel, and Lucia were fine, but Aridel was missing.

Only Aridel’s holy robe lay on the ground.

‘’Cheep, cheep, chirp, chirp...’’

The robe wasn’t alone.

A bird, making sounds Yurinel remembered hearing often as a child, flapped its wings, trapped inside the robe. The robe twitched and danced as if on its own.

‘’No way...?’’

Yurinel’s face turned pale. Parnell was speechless and stayed silent.

It would have been a relief if it were false, but they had just felt their bodies twist into inhuman forms. Plus, Aridel didn’t have a bluebird feather.

‘’Tell me that bird isn’t the Saint. Quickly.’’

‘’I, I don’t know. I can’t say that. It would be blasphemy...’’

‘’Chirp?’’

A lark poked its head out from within the robe. The bird’s feathers looked like Aridel’s hair color. Parnell staggered.

She saw it. Thebird’s eyes were the same deep blue as Saint Aridel’s.

‘’Oh, good heavens.’’

‘’Chirp. Tweet tweet...’’

The bird tried to fly away in fear. Parnell, still in shock, cast a simple spell. She had enough power for low-grade magic, even now.

‘’Bind.’’

‘’Cheep?!’’

‘’Catch that. I... I can’t catch it with my own hands. I’m going to die and go to hell...’’

Parnell, the one who had bound the Saint with magic, covered her head and closed her eyes in a silent prayer to the goddess Nemi.

Yurinel managed to catch the bird before it hit the ground. She almost dropped it.

A chill ran down her spine. The Saint had almost died from falling.

Grimudo’s magic is too strong. It won’t break.

Yurinel’s body was in the same state as Geher and Rayman’s. Grimudo’s black magic had invaded her magical circuits, choking off proper flow and making it nearly impossible to draw fresh power.

Damn it, the magic is too strong. Was black reinforcement always this intense?

It felt suffocating, as if her nostrils were sealed and she could not breathe. Surrounded by dark power, her circuits remained clogged, unable to draw in a single spark.

In the previous battle in the Arctic, the holy power of the God of Hope had melted the black magic from her body, but now, she couldn’t escape the feeling of suffocation.

She regretted it deeply. She shouldn’t have let that person go like that, but no matter how much she regretted it, it couldn’t compare to Lucia’s pain.

“Lucia. I know it’s a big shock, but try to pull yourself together... Lucia?”

Lucia gnawed at her nails, utterly adrift. Neither Parnell nor Yurinel had ever witnessed the fearless demon hunter so broken.

“What’s wrong? Are you scared? Even so, we managed to escape from him twice. We should be grateful for that.”

Parnell tried to comfort her, but Lucia didn’t respond.

Lucia was murmuring to herself, not talking to them.

“Why, just why? If you could break the polymorph curse... why didn’t you tell me?”

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The answer Lucia had been searching for was always right beside her, not in the Arctic.

No, more precisely, it had always been there.

“Why... even though you could...”

“Polymorph curse? The curse that turned the Saint into a bird, the same one we nearly suffered a moment ago?”

Parnell barely caught her breath and replied.

“I don’t know how you know about it, but did you ever ask Kyle if he could break the curse? You didn’t, right? So he wouldn’t have known.”

“...Lucia? Lucia? Hey, snap out of it!”

Parnell shook Lucia, who had collapsed. She wanted to cry, but crying wouldn’t help.

I don’t know where we are, but it’s far from the nearest magic tower.

Here, even magical communication failed. Telepathy or message spells demanded too much power to function.

Parnell sighed, thinking about the one commoner she acknowledged and found irritating, the Old Man tower master. He was her teacher in name only. In reality, they barely exchanged a word, let alone letters. They weren’t on bad terms, just indifferent to each other.

Since they never kept in touch, he’d hardly be surprised by their silence, and thus wouldn’t come searching.

“For now, we rest. Then we carry the Saint back to the Empire. Once there, we can alert the temple or the magic tower...”

They had no holy sword, no whip, and no magic power. But they were still alive.

Unless they surrendered to despair, they had to determine their next move.