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#168. Melting Point (4)
“Put this on and go out. It’s really cold outside. If you go out like this, you’ll definitely get frostbite.”
─It’s okay.
“Ray-hyung! What are you going to do if I give you your share? You have to eat something to fill your stomach before you can exert your strength!”
─I’m fine.
“Ray, isn’t that a bit dangerous? That’s Molton Street. If you go through there and get attacked… Are you okay?”
─Yeah, that’s okay.
It’s okay, really.
‘I am.’
Short sentences spat out in a dry tone to the children at Guldari.
The voice of the past, which no longer had a recipient in the world, circled around for a long time and echoed endlessly in the boy’s present heart.
─I’m okay.
That wasn’t something I had heard from anyone else.
In the past, it was a phrase he used habitually in sector 50.
…Why did I only realize such a simple riddle now?
“I’m okay, as long as it’s for Ain.”
In the end, the cause of the sense of awkwardness he felt from Ayla’s words was none other than himself.
‘It was something I used to say out of habit.’
Ayla’s ice sheet, which I looked closely at in search of blue mana.
There, before he knew it, his own face was reflected like a mirror.
‘I thought I had been observing Ayla all this time.’
It was a huge mistake, and he had been observing himself all along.
The realization flowed like water.
Ayla’s appearance, as if nothing had happened even after cutting her finger.
The act of prioritizing others over oneself in performing a task.
An attitude of not fearing death and being indifferent to one’s own life.
All of these were traits that Ayla, as well as herself, possessed.
‘I think I understand now.’
Why did Ayla’s ice sheet glow blue every time she said it was okay?
Why was it so hard to find someone holding a blue mana vessel?
So, in the end, what emotion is blue mana associated with?
The realization hit me.
Ain’s sky blue mana is the emotion of loving and caring for oneself.
The blue mana of the mansion children is an emotion of self-hatred and abuse.
And the blue mana of medium color, laid out in Ayla’s and her own bowl.
‘Complete indifference to oneself.’
At that moment, the ice sheet in the boy’s bowl emitted a blue light several times more brilliant than the girl’s.
The boy realized.
“I love myself enough.”
That it was a ridiculous misconception that arose from narrow-minded thinking.
[Crash! Crash!]
The ice sheet grew thicker and gave off an even colder chill.
The point of mana racing for the third ring left a sharp, aching pain in my chest.
But it was okay.
The pain was familiar, and since I was indifferent to it, I would soon be in a state where I didn’t even know it was hurting, as if I was under anesthesia.
Above all else.
‘There is someone similar to me.’
The knowledge that he wasn’t the only one with the ice sheet gave him a strange sense of comfort he’d never experienced before.
‘Aila.’
The boy stared at the girl’s bowl and his thoughts stopped for a moment.
With the completion of the third ring, his senses expanded and he was able to observe minute details he had never seen before.
A faint fear settled in Ayla’s bowl as she faced Lakhria’s wide-open mouth.
It wasn’t a fear of Binjin or a fear of Lacrima.
That’s right, it was the fear of death.
‘Why?’
A feeling of intense disappointment washed over the boy like a tidal wave.
The corners of the mouth that had been slightly raised returned to their original position.
The interest and curiosity that had been secretly reflected in his eyes as he looked at the girl evaporated without a trace.
Suddenly, in an instant.
‘… … .’
The boy found everything around him boring.
All I could think about was that I had to end this useless situation quickly.
A fleeting moment.
Ray whispered as he pushed Ayla aside, whose body was frozen and unable to move.
“I really don’t have the heart to die.”
Ayla’s blue eyes opened wide.
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The whiteness of the bowl also stirred greatly.
Ray jumped into Larkria’s mouth, holding the ball of electricity he had originally intended to throw in his arms.
Crunch─!
Lakhria’s mouth closed just in time as the fangs grazed her back.
Kuuung─!
The spiral staircase and the wall behind it collapsed as the head hit it.
Soon, Lacria raised her head high and could see something flowing down inside the long yellow body.
“… … .”
Ayla, who had collapsed on the side steps that had not collapsed, looked at the sight with a blank expression.
It seems that his mind was paralyzed by the shocking sight of his friend being eaten.
Or maybe it seemed like his mind was somewhere else, with some thoughts rushing in.
A mad scream came from below.
“Kuhuhuhu! Kuhahaha! Kuku! That’s right! Even if an inferior like you ran away, this is how it would end! It’s my victory! This is my victory! Kuku!”
Binjin’s laughter continued.
─────!
On the way, a commotion was heard through the raindrops outside the tower.
There was no one inside the tower who could notice it now or care.
“Kuhahaha…?”
While Bin Jin was enjoying the joy of victory, he suddenly witnessed a strange phenomenon.
Fingernail-sized ice crystals were forming in the air before my eyes.
It was a level of perfection that was so exquisite that even at first glance, one would not dare to imitate it.
What I felt at first was a deep sense of bewilderment.
Next, the emotions that came over Binjin.
“What, what is this… …!”
It was a deep shock and amazement.
What Binjin saw when he turned his head was ice crystals densely covering all directions.
From the bottom to the top of the tower.
A number that would likely exceed tens of thousands.
dump!
Binjin sat down with his face turned pale and his teeth chattered.
The bitter cold that engulfed the space made it difficult to even breathe properly.
‘Who, who could perform such magic… Ah, Ayla, that? Oh, no, there’s no way that something so inferior could perform such a near-miraculous magic… .’
There was only one person that came to mind.
A boy who pretended to be an elf and attempted to receive treatment from a high-ranking magician, although his identity is unknown.
‘Ha, but that guy is in Larkria’s stomach right now… .’
Binjin’s eyes, which had shifted their gaze, were filled with shock.
“La, Lacrima!”
Lacria’s body was frozen in place with her head upright in the air.
It was as if the whole body had been frozen in an instant.
That wasn’t a metaphor.
Damn!
A piece of ice bloomed on the central scale of Larkria’s body.
Tsk tsk! Tsk tsk!
Because the moment it started to spread out in all directions, it gained momentum.
In an instant, Lacrima became a giant ice statue.
Wow─!
The next moment, cracks appeared in the body and it shattered into pieces.
Countless shards and chunks of ice glowed brightly in the air.
And Binjin.
“… … !”
My gaze met with emotionless black eyes revealed through the blue fragments.
I immediately lay face down.
Boom─! Kwaang─!
Hail-like chunks of ice fell, striking the Larkria shield surrounding Binjin.
I was shivering nonstop.
Cold due to the cold?
Fear of hail?
It wasn’t anything like that.
It was the instinctive fear that the prey feels in the face of a predator.
I barely managed to raise my head and look up.
The boy was standing in the air.
A cold chill was wrapped around his entire body, but what felt colder was the boy’s expressionless face.
And there were no visible wounds on the body.
‘Oh, how on earth…?’
A strong question arose in my pounding heart.
Lacria’s digestive juices are highly toxic, so it is normal for its body to melt as soon as it is swallowed.
‘Protection by sticking the shield to the body? No, that can’t be, Larkria’s digestive fluid can melt any high-powered shield by destroying the bonds of the elements.’
There was one way to protect the body from digestive juices.
It’s about using a specific element combination formula and transforming protection.
But there was no way the opponent knew the combination formula.
That was because it was an elemental combination that he had discovered after extensive research after making a contract with Lakhria.
okay.
Only with a certain combination of elements… Only with elements… Only with elements…?
“ah…?”
Binjin realized that no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a combination formula.
It felt as if the memory itself had been pulled out.
Just before the magic of exploitation was activated, the image of the boy turning the cover of the fountain pen flashed through my mind.
‘The bastard who will tear me to pieces…! My knowledge…!’
That was the moment.
The fear of Binjin, which had been swelling in the bowl, was completely transformed into extreme malice towards the other person.
Boom─! Kwaang─!
“Ugh…! Ugh…!”
I was gasping for breath under the hail.
He knew that he didn’t have much time left.
The last burning flame of life is cooling down even faster due to the cold air surrounding it.
But still.
Just before I died, once.
I could take my anger out on that bastard who ruined everything.
Binjin raised his head.
A girl blankly staring at the ice spear created in front of her.
A boy was seen looking down at the girl from the sky.
The two people’s rings were activated, and their number was… .
‘3 circles…!’
Binjin was shocked.
Both of them possessed the third ring he so desperately desired.
In the boy’s case, it was understandable since he was assumed to be a high-ranking wizard.
But I just couldn’t accept Ayla’s case.
‘Aila, you, so inferior and dull, have you even had a brief moment of enlightenment? You didn’t make any progress when I whipped you so much for you! You didn’t even follow the order to be eaten by Larkria! How dare you…! Now…! You’re useless in the world…!’
A deep sense of betrayal and inferiority swelled in Binjin’s bowl without mercy.
And then.
───!
A faint voice and movement were felt from the direction of the tower entrance.
‘Yeah, maybe… .’
Binjin’s face lit up with joy.
Perhaps, the inferior disciple on that high step would play a rather useful role.
The moment when Binjin uses all his might to move his body.
“… … .”
Ray was looking down at Ayla from his ice platform in the air.
‘3rd circle, reached.’
Ayla was moving her mana to refine the ice spear she had created.
The appearance of being deeply immersed, forgetting even the surrounding circumstances.
Ray knew that it was an inevitable moment for a wizard.
A wizard who has reached a new level cannot help but gasp for breath at the expanded scope of the world.
‘But it’s 3 circles at once.’
Ray remembered what he had said as he pushed Ayla away.
“I really don’t have the heart to die.”
In that moment, Ayla realized her true feelings through those words.
I wondered if that might have led to the formation of a new ring.
Because Mana said that it is a way to wave to those who are honest with themselves.
‘… Then, Ayla must be aware now that she is afraid of death.’
It can’t be helped.
because.
“… … .”
Ray’s gaze turned to the feeling of worry hovering over Ayla’s bowl.
The white mass that was directed only at others and not at itself was melting.
Smart off.
Touch the master’s blue ice plate.
I was making a blue dot.
… the ice was melting.
The frozen emotions were released and moved busily around the bowl.
The puddles formed by the melting ice evaporated in the heat of emotions and became a sky-blue wind.
The ice rink was no longer visible.
At that moment, Ray knew.
That Ayla had become a human who could love herself.