Chapter 167 – Melting Point (Three)

Ray quietly rose from his seat and stared directly at Ayla as he spoke.

“Then you can just get eaten. As you wish. While hoping Binjin will be satisfied with that and stop.”

Ray believed there was no stimulus stronger than death in this world.

No matter how large one’s stature.

No matter how much money one had, or how much power one possessed.

In the end, humans were beings who could only cower and tremble in fear before death.

Ayla would be no different.

“…….”

Upon hearing Ray’s words, Ayla neither retorted nor showed any agitation.

She simply.

Tap— tap— tap.

Turned her body, took a few steps forward, and stood facing the approaching Lacria.

“Yes! Ayla! Stay right there! You too shall become part of a great being and contribute to the construction of the new world to come! Cough! Lacria! This is the prey I prepared for you!”

Amidst Binjin’s shout, blazing with madness.

Lacria lifted its body the moment it approached and opened its maw.

The deep darkness residing within was reflected in the girl’s unmoving eyes.

─────!

The head plunging down like a spike.

The instant before being swallowed whole.

“……!”

Ayla felt her collar being pulled back.

Kwaang──!

With a tremendous crash, concrete fragments scattered.

“Cough! Cough!”

Within the hazy dust.

Ayla realized her two legs were moving independently of her will.

‘Enhancement Magic…?’

The sensation in her body felt far more energetic than usual.

As she emerged from the dust, she could see the boy dragging her by the wrist and running.

“Why, why, how come…?”

“…….”

Her voice was flustered, but no answer came.

The boy was lost in thought, pondering the phenomenon he had just witnessed.

‘Ayla’s Vessel… there was no trace of fear of death at all.’

Fear itself existed within the Vessel.

But that was only regarding Binjin or Lacria; it couldn’t be called a fear of death itself.

Did Ayla truly not fear death?

─Thump.

A sprout budded in the boy’s chest.

It was a sprout of excitement and joy, perhaps at having found someone of his own kind.

‘The biggest common denominator between Ayla and me is the Blue Mana underlying our Vessels. Is the perception of death related to that?’

Then, a voice reached him again.

“Why did you save me? You clearly told me to die with your own mouth…”

“Don’t die.”

At least not until I’ve completely finished observing the Ice Field.

“…….”

Ayla closed her mouth.

Because the words she had heard before naturally came to mind.

「I hope you don’t get hurt. At least while I’m staying here.」

Words the boy had spoken while healing her ice-cut wound with the white light of Healing Magic.

Tap-tap-tap-tap─!

Along with urgent footsteps.

A fine tremor began to form within the white worry in Ayla’s Vessel, a worry directed solely at others.

A feeling of the mind’s anesthesia wearing off.

“Ayla! How dare you! How dare you disobey my orders! Cough! Lacria! Chase them!”

Ayla, who had only now properly recognized the blood-soaked Binjin, asked.

“Don’t tell me Master… you did that to him?”

Ray understood in an instant what she was asking and replied.

“Binjin isn’t as strong as you think.”

“…….”

“He just knows a lot. More importantly, that ‘I’m fine’ remark you made earlier, what were you thinking when you said that?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you say that?”

Ayla was taken aback.

Thinking back, it was absurd.

The question itself was strange, and she couldn’t fathom why he was asking it in such a dire situation.

“Is that important right now?”

“It is.”

Ayla was extremely confused but answered after thinking as hard as she could.

“Because it’s much better for a useful younger sibling to survive than a useless me.”

“As I thought, I still don’t really understand.”

“But that snake…”

Ayla looked back with fearful eyes at Lacria chasing them.

She seemed to have noticed that Binjin sacrificed his disciples with Exploitation Magic, but apparently didn’t know where the extracted Mana was used.

Ray answered.

“A Spirit.”

“A Spirit?”

“To be precise, a Spiritual Creature on the verge of becoming a Spirit.”

The memories of Binjin swirling in his mind were gradually being sorted out.

Spirit.

An animal that accumulates a certain amount of Mana within its body sheds its form and becomes an entity invisible to human eyes, a Spirit.

Lacria was a desert snake that dreamed of becoming a Spirit and, lured by Binjin’s promise to supply high-quality Mana, entered a master-servant Contract.

‘That’s the information sorted out so far.’

To know more, he needed more time for the memories to be organized.

Hearing the sound of scales and a forked tongue from Lacria, which had closed in right behind them, Ray spoke.

“Watch your step.”

“……!”

Simultaneously with his words, the floor rose in the form of a narrow pillar.

Kwa-deudeuk─!

A slightly forward-leaning angle.

The boy and girl, carried by the wind, flew through the air along a high-angled diagonal path.

Taak─!

They landed neatly on the spiral staircase running along the wall.

“……?”

Ayla’s face looked bewildered, as if she hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet.

Ray immediately checked below.

Lacria, having lost its prey in vain, was hissing and looking up at them.

‘It probably can’t follow us up here.’

A height corresponding to about the middle of the tower.

Even if Lacria lifted its body to the maximum, its head wouldn’t reach this place.

In other words.

‘The enemy has no means to attack us in this high position.’

Lacria didn’t seem to use any special Magic besides its Ward.

Binjin, too, was in a state where he couldn’t use any Magic at all due to his Ring being destroyed.

Also, although Binjin’s life force was burning tenaciously like a flame about to go out, judging by his condition, he clearly wouldn’t last long.

If the source of the commands disappears.

The probability is high that Lacria’s aggressiveness would no longer be maintained.

Ultimately, it meant they just needed to buy time here while organizing his memories.

“Ayla, you can catch your breath a little. The enemy probably can’t attack us here. First, let me finish talking about the Ice Field in your Vessel…”

Just as Ray was speaking to Ayla, who was catching her breath.

Kugu-goong─!

A sound came from below.

Looking down, they could see Lacria spiraling up the wall.

Cracks formed along its path on the wall, and fragments of the spiral staircase and wall crumbled away.

“…….”

“…….”

The boy and girl fell silent.

Ray lifted his head and spoke.

“Run.”

The chase resumed.

Ray and Ayla sprinted at full speed along the staircase, but the difference in movement range stemming from the disparity in body size was not something to overlook.

Whenever he found a gap, Ray turned and launched attack Magic, including Fireballs, but the yellow scales suffered no damage whatsoever.

And the distance began to close in literally an instant.

“Haa─ haa─.”

Ayla’s breath was coming in ragged gasps.

Her heart pounded.

Her legs trembled.

But she couldn’t stop.

The moment she slowed down, she would be swallowed by that giant snake’s maw.

Or fall to the dizzying depths below along with the collapsing staircase.

“Haa─ haa─.”

It was strange.

If it were her original self, she would have helplessly collapsed and given up.

But this boy running beside her kept her legs moving.

“……!”

Perhaps because her thoughts had wandered for a moment.

Kwadang!

Her foot caught on a step.

Worry about the situation preceded the intense pain she felt in her body.

The boy had stopped running and was looking back at her, and the giant snake chasing from behind…

‘Ah.’

The creepy sound of scales told her it was extremely close.

She didn’t have the courage to look back.

She could instinctively sense it was too late to get up and run again.

“I’m.”

Staring straight at the boy.

“Fine.”

She finished the short sentence.

Since dying wasn’t frightening, that statement could be considered true.

However, the action the boy took next was completely unexpected.

He leaped over a dozen steps, landed beside her, and swiftly scooped her up.

Thump!

“Ah.”

It was the first time a boy had lifted her, and it was somewhat embarrassing.

But it was a momentary emotion, and Ayla knew well this wasn’t the situation to dwell on such things.

However.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap─

“…….”

The way she was being carried was quite different from what she’d imagined.

To be precise, she was wedged like a bundle under the boy’s arm as he ran along the staircase.

With her face facing forward alongside the boy’s.

“Arm.”

At the voice that reached her, Ayla dazedly stretched her arm forward.

“Mana.”

She gathered Mana in her palm.

“Ice.”

The Mana shot out in a thin beam, freezing the staircase solid.

“Keep shooting.”

Ayla wondered what this was all about but obediently followed the instruction for now.

Without stopping his run, Ray grabbed Ayla’s wrist and adjusted the direction of her arm toward the railing.

And the moment Lacria, which had closed in right behind them, opened its maw wide.

Taat─!

He leaped over the railing and ran through the air.

Jjeojeok! Jjeojeojeok!

Beneath their feet, the blue ice Ayla was creating was forming a path in real-time.

“Much better than last time.”

Ayla was confused in many ways.

“Keep it up.”

However, it was the first time she had heard such praise-like words from another person.

“You’re doing well.”

For a moment, she truly felt an inexplicable lump in her throat.

In that state, Ray and Ayla reached the upper part opposite the spiral staircase.

Turning their heads, they saw Lacria coiling its body against the wall.

To anyone watching, it looked poised to uncoil and launch itself toward them.

“Magic doesn’t work on its scales. To deal damage, we need to target its body’s interior or destroy the core of the Contract itself…”

At Ray’s muttering, Ayla asked.

“The core of the Contract?”

“It’s located deep inside, past the neck. If we destroy that, Lacria will no longer obey Binjin’s commands.”

After thinking for a moment, Ayla spoke.

“Then, I’ll be the bait.”

“Bait?”

“I’ll stand still here. When that snake launches itself and opens its mouth wide to devour me, that’s the moment to aim. You just need to fire your strongest attack Magic into it, right?”

Though it was a sudden proposal, Ray wasn’t flustered.

He merely considered whether it was a method applicable to the current situation.

Certainly… currently, Lacria was prioritizing Ayla as its target under Binjin’s command.

‘If she becomes bait…’

After weighing the possibility, Ray spoke.

“It’s a method worth trying. With the distance opened now, it’s also the optimal timing for proper aiming. Even if we fail to destroy the Contract’s core, we can still inflict significant damage.”

There was no time for a lengthy conversation.

Because Lacria was already preparing to uncoil its body.

Ray positioned himself behind Ayla, who stood before the railing, and drew up the Gem’s Mana at maximum output.

Pajijijik─!

An eerie yellow electric current gathered to the size of a fist, emitting a light that grew endlessly stronger.

“……!”

A thrill and chill that no Wizard living in the world of Mana could fail to feel.

Ayla instinctively knew this was Magic of another dimension, something an ordinary Wizard like herself could offer no help with.

Ray spoke.

“We need to stand in one place. Don’t move. The angle at which Lacria flies in could change.”

It was at that moment that Lacria’s movement halted.

Without taking his eyes off that sight, Ray continued.

“The moment to dodge is when Lacria reaches right before us and opens its maw. You must dodge on your own. It’s highly likely I won’t be able to pay attention to you, as I’ll be focused on the Magic and aiming.”

“…I understand.”

Pajijijik──!

The current, compressed over and over, reached the limit of its power amplification.

And simultaneously.

Kwaaaaang──!

Lacria uncoiled its body like a spring, stretching long, and surged toward Ray and Ayla.

The tower shook from the recoil, and a massive crack formed in the wall where the lower part of Lacria’s body was attached.

A split-second moment where the slightest error or mistake could lead to death.

“Dodge well.”

Ray warned.

“Otherwise, you’ll be seriously hurt.”

Staring at the unmoving back of Ayla, from which blue hair flowed down.

Staring at the giant head of Lacria flying toward them from the front.

Preparing to fire the sphere of current at the decisive moment.

And then, the next instant.

Just as Lacria’s head arrived right before their noses and opened its maw wide toward Ayla.

“I’m fine, even if I get hurt.”

The reply came.

Still, no fear of death was reflected in the girl’s Vessel.

The boy’s mind went blank.

It was an irresistible force.

[I’m fine.]

To whom he had heard those words.

Where the persistent sense of déjà vu he had always felt had originated from.

Everything.

Because he realized it all in an instant.

‘…Why only now.’

The moment the flower of realization bloomed amidst countless overlapping questions.

The 3rd Ring began to glow.