Chapter 168 – Melting Point (Four)

“Put this on before you go out, it’s freezing outside. If you go out like that, you’ll definitely freeze solid and get frostbite.”

─It’s fine.

“Ray Hyung! What if I give you my share? You need to eat something to fill your stomach so you can use your strength!”

─I’m fine.

“Ray, isn’t that a bit dangerous? That’s Moltonne Street. If you get attacked while passing through there for no reason… Are you sure it’s okay?”

─Yeah, it’s fine.

It’s fine, really.

‘I am.’

The short sentences spat out in a dry tone to the kids under the bridge.

Now, the voice from the past that no longer had a recipient in this world, after circling through a long time, struck an endless echo in the boy’s present chest.

─I’m fine.

That wasn’t something he had heard from someone else.

In the past, it was a phrase he habitually used in Sector 50.

…Why did he only realize such a simple riddle now?

“I’m fine, if it’s for Ain.”

In the end, the source of the déjà vu he felt in Ayla’s words was none other than himself.

‘It was a phrase I used habitually.’

The Ice Field of Ayla that he had intently observed for the exploration of Blue Mana.

There, his own face was reflected as if in a mirror.

‘I thought I had been observing Ayla until now.’

That was a huge misconception; he had been observing himself all along.

The realizations flowed like water.

The sight of Ayla not caring even when her finger was cut.

The act of prioritizing others over herself when performing a task.

The indifferent attitude towards her own life, not fearing death.

All of those were characteristics not only Ayla possessed, but he himself possessed as well.

‘I think I understand now.’

Why Ayla’s Ice Field glowed blue every time she said “it’s fine.”

Why Blue Mana was difficult to find in a Vessel.

And ultimately, what emotion Blue Mana was related to.

The realization rushed in.

Ain’s Sky Blue Mana was the emotion of loving and cherishing oneself.

The Indigo Mana of the mansion children was the emotion of hating and abusing oneself.

And the intermediate-colored Blue Mana laid in the Vessels of Ayla and himself.

‘Complete indifference towards oneself.’

At that moment, the Ice Field laid in the boy’s Vessel emitted a blue light several times more brilliant than the girl’s.

The boy realized.

“I thought I loved myself enough.”

That it was a ridiculous delusion born from narrow thinking.

[Crackle! Cracklecrackle!]

The Ice Field thickened and emitted an even colder chill.

The dots of Mana racing for the 3rd Ring left a piercing, aching pain in his chest.

But it was fine.

The pain was familiar, and since he was indifferent towards himself, it would soon become a state where he might not even know if it hurt, as if anesthetized.

Above all.

‘There is a being similar to me.’

The fact that he was not the only one with an Ice Field gave him a strange sense of comfort he had never experienced before.

‘Ayla.’

The boy staring at the girl’s Vessel had his thoughts freeze the next moment.

With the completion of the 3rd Ring, his sensory perception expanded, allowing him to observe even minute details he couldn’t see before.

In Ayla’s Vessel, facing Lacria’s gaping maw, there was a faint fear residing.

It was neither fear of Binjin nor fear of Lacria.

It was, precisely, fear of death.

‘Why?’

An intense sense of disappointment washed over the boy’s entire body like a tidal wave.

The slightly upturned corners of his mouth returned to their place.

The interest and curiosity subtly reflected in his gaze towards the girl evaporated without a trace.

In an instant, suddenly.

‘…….’

The boy found all the surrounding situations uninteresting.

He only thought he should quickly end this futile situation.

In a fleeting moment.

Ray pushed the stiff, immobile Ayla aside and whispered.

“Without even truly intending to die.”

Ayla’s blue eyes opened wider than ever.

The white worry in her Vessel also writhed greatly.

Ray, holding the sphere of electricity originally meant to be thrown, leaped into Lacria’s mouth.

Crunch─!

Fangs grazed his back as Lacria’s mouth closed by a hair’s breadth.

Koo-woong─!

The spiral staircase and the wall behind it, struck by his head, crumbled down.

Soon, Lacria raised its head high, and something could be seen sloshing and flowing down inside its long yellow body.

“…….”

Ayla, slumped on the intact side of the staircase, stared at the sight with a dazed face.

Perhaps her mind was paralyzed by the shocking sight of her friend being devoured.

Or perhaps her spirit seemed to be somewhere else, caught in some rushing thought.

A frenzied shout came from below.

“Kheuheuheu! Kuhahaha! Gulp! Yes! An inferior being like you trying to escape would ultimately end like this! My victory! It’s my victory! Gulp!”

Binjin’s laughter continued.

─────!

Midway, some clamorous sound came from between the raindrops outside the tower.

But no one inside the tower had the capacity to notice and pay attention to it now.

“Kheuhaha…?”

Binjin, savoring the joy of victory, suddenly witnessed an anomaly.

A fingernail-sized ice crystal had formed in the air before his eyes.

At a glance, it was of supreme perfection, something he wouldn’t even dare to attempt to replicate.

The first thing he felt was deep bewilderment.

Next, the emotion that overwhelmed Binjin was.

“Wh-what is this…!”

Thick shock and astonishment.

What reflected in Binjin’s eyes as he turned his head were ice crystals densely covering all directions.

From the tower’s floor to its top.

A number that seemed to exceed tens of thousands.

Thud!

Binjin slumped down with a pale, blue face, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

In the intense cold that had encroached upon the space, he couldn’t even breathe properly.

‘Wh-who cast such Magic… A-Ayla, is it her? N-no, there’s no way that inferior being could wield such a miraculous Magic….’

Only one person came to mind.

The boy whose identity was unknown but was clearly a high-level Wizard, who had impersonated an Elf to receive treatment.

‘B-but that guy is now in Lacria’s belly….’

Binjin’s eyes, shifting their gaze, were dyed with astonishment.

“La-Lacria!”

Lacria was frozen stiff, its head held high in the air in the same posture.

As if its entire body had been instantly frozen.

That was no metaphor.

Crackle!

A piece of ice bloomed on a scale in the center of Lacria’s body.

Cracklecrackle! Cracklecracklecrackle!

Instantly multiplying and spreading in all directions.

Lacria became a giant ice sculpture in an instant.

Craaack─!

The next moment, cracks formed on its body and it shattered into pieces.

Countless ice fragments and chunks emitted a dazzling light in the air.

And Binjin.

“……!”

Met the gaze of emotionless black eyes revealed among the blue fragments.

He immediately prostrated himself flat.

Bang─! Kwaang─!

Ice chunks raining down like hail struck the Ward Lacria had wrapped around Binjin.

He trembled incessantly without rest.

Cold from the chill?

Fear from the hail?

It was none of those.

This was the instinctive fear a prey feels before a predator.

With great effort, he raised his head to look up.

The boy was standing in the air.

Though he was wrapped in a bluish chill all over, what felt cold was rather the boy’s expressionless face.

And no wounds were visible on his body.

‘H-how on earth…?’

A strong question bloomed in his pounding chest.

Lacria’s digestive fluids were highly toxic; it was normal for the body to melt immediately upon being swallowed.

‘Did he protect himself by attaching a Ward closely to his body? No, that can’t be, Lacria’s digestive fluids can break down elemental bonds and melt any high-output Ward.’

There was one way to protect the body from the digestive fluids.

That was to use a modified Ward of a specific elemental combination formula.

But there was no way the opponent could know the combination formula.

That was an elemental combination he had discovered after long research after contracting with Lacria.

Right.

Only with a specific combination of elements… elements only… elements only…?

“Ah…?”

Binjin realized he couldn’t recall the combination formula no matter how hard he thought.

It felt as if the memory itself had been plucked out.

Only then did the image of the boy turning the fountain pen cap just before the Exploitation Magic activated cross his mind.

‘That bastard to be torn to death…! My knowledge…!’

It was at that moment.

When the fear swelling in Binjin’s Vessel all transformed into intense malice towards the opponent.

Bang─! Kwaang─!

“Kugh…! Kueuk…!”

He gasped for breath under the hail.

He knew his life wouldn’t last much longer.

The last flicker of life’s flame he was burning was being extinguished even faster by the cold surrounding him.

But still.

Just before dying, once.

He should be able to vent his anger at that bastard who ruined everything.

Binjin raised his head.

He saw the girl blankly staring at the ice spear she had created before her.

And the boy looking down at such a girl from the air.

The Rings of the two were activated, and their number was….

‘3rd Circle…!’

Binjin was astonished.

Both of them possessed the 3rd Ring he so desperately desired.

In the boy’s case, he could understand as he had presumed him to be a high-level Wizard.

But in Ayla’s case, he couldn’t accept it at all.

‘Ayla, did you inferior, foolish girl gain some enlightenment in that short moment? When I whipped you so much for your sake, you made no progress…! You who wouldn’t even follow the order to be eaten by Lacria…! How dare…! Now of all times…! Utterly useless to the world…!’

Deep feelings of betrayal and inferiority swelled mercilessly in Binjin’s Vessel.

And then.

───!

A faint voice and presence were felt from the direction of the tower entrance.

‘Right, perhaps….’

Binjin’s face was dyed with ecstasy.

Perhaps that inferior disciple on the high staircase might play a rather useful role.

At the moment Binjin moved his body with all his might.

“…….”

Ray was looking down at Ayla from the ice foothold in the air.

‘3rd Circle, she reached it.’

Ayla was moving Mana, refining the ice spear she had created.

She seemed deeply immersed, even forgetting her surroundings.

Ray knew that was an irresistible, inevitable moment for a Wizard.

A Wizard who has reached a new realm can only gasp at the expanded outer edge of the world in that instant.

‘But reaching 3rd Circle at once.’

Ray recalled the words he had spoken while pushing Ayla aside.

“Without even truly intending to die.”

Given the circumstances, Ayla likely realized her true emotions from those words in that instant.

And that probably led to the formation of a new Ring.

They say Mana waves its hand to those who are honest with themselves.

‘…Then Ayla must be in a state where she recognizes that she fears death.’

It couldn’t be otherwise.

Because.

“…….”

Ray’s gaze turned to the emotion of worry residing above Ayla’s Vessel.

The white mass that only directed itself towards others and never towards itself was melting.

Drip, drip, falling.

Touching its owner’s blue Ice Field.

Creating a sky blue dot.

…The Ice Field was melting.

The frozen emotions were released and scurried busily atop the Vessel.

The puddle formed from the melting Ice Field evaporated from the heat of the emotions, becoming a sky blue wind.

The Ice Field was no longer visible.

At that moment, Ray knew.

That Ayla had become a human capable of loving herself.