The Succubus, The Priest, and His Fall Into Lustful Heat - Chapter 112
After graduating from seminary, when he entered the temple and officially became a priest to begin his training, most of his focus was on mental discipline, but he didn’t neglect physical training either.
However, no matter how much effort he put in, surviving on a cliff hundreds of times his own height would have been impossible—unless he had divine power.
—My dear. My lovely one.
Payne was not born with God’s love. Katzel loved humans, but that love was like a calm, evenly-spread surface—fair, just, and honest. It was clear that it had taken him a long time and great effort to accumulate enough divine energy to survive falling from such a high cliff.
—My baby, whom I love to the point of death.
And the reason Payne dedicated himself so completely to prayer for Katzel was due to another matter…
—If it hadn’t been for you, I would have been much happier.
The sensation that tightened around his neck made it impossible for his thoughts to continue. He gasped and his chest heaved. It felt like someone had taken his fragile life and twisted it tightly around his neck.
It was a familiar voice. Who was it? His mother? Or perhaps his father? Or maybe the great demon who had threatened his life just before he fell from the cliff.
Whatever the case, Payne had to escape this nightmare. It was the only way he could survive.
He struggled and gasped for air, trying to free himself from the pain constricting around his neck, scratching at his body in an attempt to release the pressure.
—If it hadn’t been for you!
Suddenly, something he could hold onto caught his eye, and he opened his eyes wide.
“Payne!”
He was lying down.
Through his blurry vision, he saw a familiar face and breathed heavily. His confusion from the dream made him question whether the woman in front of him was his mother.
At that moment, he tightly gripped something in his hand, and the woman let out a small moan.
“That hurts if you hold it like that…”
“…What?”
That brought him back to his senses. Payne realized that what he had gripped was Ashtel’s lower chest. All the complex emotions he had been feeling evaporated in that moment, replaced by sheer astonishment.
“What… is this…?”
“Don’t move. You’re badly hurt.”
He tried to sit up quickly, but the pain from his whole body made him lie back down. His head was resting on Ashtel’s soft thighs, and although he wanted to escape, it was a miracle he could even speak in his current state.
One of his arms was covered in blood, and his legs wouldn’t move. There were deep gashes on his back and stomach. The moment he realized that the pool of blood on the ground was his own, a piercing headache made him pause for a moment to catch his breath.
“I heard you fell from a cliff.”
That’s right. Your sister pushed me.
“So, I came down to find you, and you’d cast a barrier with your divine power.”
“Did I… say something?”
“Yeah. Don’t you remember?”
It wasn’t something he remembered, but Payne had heard that priests with vast amounts of divine power, when faced with danger, could subconsciously unleash their abilities to survive.
It was a form of self-defense, breaking through one’s limits. It could keep him alive, but it didn’t guarantee safety; it was a reflexive reaction.
“But it looked like your injuries were severe, so I broke the barrier and brought you into a hideout. The air near the forest is thick with poison, and there are demons around, so… wait, don’t move.”
But Payne struggled, trying to free himself from Ashtel’s grasp. He managed to lift his upper body slightly and glanced around at the unfamiliar cave.
“Where is this?”
“It’s just a cave in the forest.”
“Did you use magic to get us here?”
“Mm… I’m not sure if I was able to block the demons properly, though.”
There was a reason Ashtel hadn’t taken him back to the cliff immediately. Without his divine power, Payne was no better than a piece of meat thrown into the demon realm.
‘Sister Carmen’s necklace was broken.’
She searched around, looking for traces, but all she could find were small metal fragments. There was no trace of the amber or magic residue. It seemed like she’d hit something while falling, and a strange premonition settled in.
‘Could Sister Carmen’s tool really break from such an accident?’
She wasn’t sure about her experimental tools, but she was confident it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
Ashtel watched Payne quietly for a while, then, unable to hold back her emotions, lowered her head.
Payne was now able to see her face up close and noticed how deeply troubled she looked. He took a deep breath.
Ashtel’s eyes were very red. They looked pitifully swollen, more so than when she had cried before.
It was a painful sight, especially considering that she had confessed her love for him.
“…Could you… let me go?”
