Ch.12643. To the Sanctuary (1)

At those words, Yuri flinched and trembled.

“W-what do you mean?”

Ignoring Yuri’s reaction as she stared at me with a bewildered expression, I gently placed my hand on her waist.

“Eek?!! W-what are you suddenly doing…”

“Listen carefully to what I’m saying as we walk. Yuri Tarkovskaya.”

Yuri seemed genuinely startled by my physical contact, but that was exactly the reaction I wanted. I said to her:

“We’ve come all the way to this remote island on an important mission for Flame. How can you, as the guild master, lose focus?”

“That’s… wait, please remove your hand from my waist first!”

Yuri’s body, particularly around her waist, twitched.

I had recently discovered that Yuri’s waist, especially her side, was extremely sensitive. When we spent the night at that hotel in Busan. I had become quite familiar with her body.

I removed my hand. I could be more physically assertive if necessary, but the rest of our party was walking ahead of us.

This shock therapy was sufficient. As I removed my hand, I could see Yuri calming down. Pretending not to notice her reaction, I continued:

“Or is it that you’re distracted because of Arin?”

“That’s… not it…”

“Because I’ve been paying attention only to Arin?”

Yuri fell silent at those words. It seemed I had hit the mark.

“That’s not it. Whatever relationship you have with Arin, it has nothing to do with me…”

“It would be better if you were honest.”

This time, I took her hand. Even though I merely held her hand, Yuri’s body trembled.

“Tell the truth. You’re jealous of Arin.”

“That’s absurd! As the guild master, I would never fail to distinguish between personal and professional matters when it comes to Arin, who might become a saint…”

“For someone who claims that, you’re not providing backup to those knights when you should. With your freezing spells, you could easily provide precise long-range support.”

“That’s… those knights were disrespectful to you…”

“That’s different. If you truly know how to separate personal from professional, you should be helping those knights.”

“But… since you’re personally involved for Arin’s sake… there’s no need for me to…”

In the end, she was admitting that she couldn’t maintain her composure because of me and her jealousy toward Arin.

I intertwined my fingers with hers while holding her hand. I continued whispering in her ear:

“Don’t worry about my relationship with Arin. She’s just a junior colleague to me. Besides, if Arin becomes a saint, I won’t even be able to get close to her physically. Such women hold no appeal for me.”

“What are you saying… you’re making it sound like I’m overly concerned about Arin…”

Despite my brazen words, I could feel Yuri’s expression softening.

If Arin truly became a saint as I suggested, it would be like eliminating a rival for Yuri.

Unable to hide her feelings, I felt Yuri squeezing my hand.

Back when graduation from Eins was approaching, we used to secretly hold hands like this. She must surely be remembering that time.

However, I had no intention of only offering her carrots.

“You know, I’ve been looking at your recent combat records. It’s been quite some time since you became an S-rank hunter, but your skills seem to have plateaued. The fact that Nivis is still in its second form is proof of that.”

Yuri fell silent at those words. I had struck a nerve.

Of course, I knew this was too harsh on Yuri.

‘She must have been busy with Flame’s affairs, and more importantly, her mental state during that time…’

Yuri isn’t a swordsman. As an ice mage, her mental state greatly affects her ability to use magic.

Unless she’s a dark mage, it would be difficult to advance her magic hierarchy when her mind is so unstable that she needs to take stabilizers.

‘Either her mind needs to stabilize, or she needs an extremely strong motivation. That’s what it would take for Nivis to evolve to its third form.’

So I intended to provoke her further. I continued speaking to the silent Yuri:

“Soso obtained the Payeong Sword, a sacred artifact of the Cheonma Faith. She immediately transformed her gear to its third form. Did you know that?”

Yuri stopped in her tracks. But since I was holding her hand and kept walking, she reluctantly continued.

Her expression hardened.

“I know. But why bring up Soso of all people…”

In that moment, the freezing mana around her became intensely cold. Just like when I saw her in the office a few days ago.

It was clear that the current Soso was properly stimulating Yuri. Then Yuri threw an unexpected question at me:

“Is that it? You and Soso… you’re already in that kind of relationship with her, aren’t you?”

Yuri trembled. It was a different reaction from when she was startled by my physical contact earlier.

Now she seemed unable to contain her indignation. But I responded even more brazenly:

“And if we were, what business is it of yours, Yuri?”

“B-but… you know! That I… that I like you… of all people, with Soso… are you really in that kind of relationship?”

Looking at Yuri as she spoke anxiously, I quietly placed a finger on my lips.

“Keep it down. Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing between Soso and me. As I told you, I have no interest in romantic games right now.”

“But…”

“Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

When I raised my voice, Yuri immediately quieted down.

And I was certain. With Yuri as she is now.

With her simultaneous feelings of affection and guilt toward me, she couldn’t refuse anything I said, no matter how brazen.

‘This is right. Right now… I need to control Yuri by any means necessary.’

I needed a Yuri who could surpass her current abilities.

Arin becoming a saint. And Soso, whose Cheonma Divine Technique had already surpassed the 7-star level. Then Yuri too must release Nivis’s third form to replace the original story’s Siwoo.

‘And me as well.’

I couldn’t think of any way to deal with the current Red Lake otherwise.

‘There’s not much time left. If I can just eliminate the Red Lake, I’m willing to do even more shameless things.’

I deliberately hardened my expression as if offended by Yuri’s words. Immediately, Yuri’s expression darkened as well. I could feel her closely monitoring my mood.

“Well, I’m not angry though. I understand how you feel.”

I relaxed my serious expression. Then, gently stroking her hand, I spoke to her kindly:

“Don’t doubt me. Soso is just a friend. The person I need more is you, the guild master of Flame.”

At those words, the freezing mana that Yuri had been unconsciously emitting dispersed.

“Is… is that true?”

“If you become stronger than you are now, I won’t have any reason to give attention to anyone else. Don’t you agree?”

“I… I think you’re right.”

I examined Yuri’s expression once more, then slowly released her hand.

“Then focus more on this mission. If Arin safely becomes a saint, it will be a great strength for me, no, for Flame.”

Yuri quietly nodded.

“Yes. If that’s what you want… I’ll do it…”

Soon, multiple freezing spells began to form around her.

***

The path to the sanctuary within the contaminated holy ground was extremely treacherous.

Three holy knights confidently took the lead, but this island was already overrun with monsters.

However, the battle dynamics changed. Yuri was now fighting seriously.

FZZZZZT-

Five undead froze rapidly. Then they exploded.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-

The knights’ expressions filled with amazement at the scene created by just one wave of Yuri’s hand.

“Snow Woman Yuri Tarkovskaya… I heard she was skilled with freezing spells, but to this extent…”

“So she’s not famous merely because of Grand Duke Andrei’s reputation?”

As the knights said, Yuri’s Nivis continued to shine without stopping.

And the freezing mana radiating from her in all directions was cold enough to freeze everything around her, yet it was stable.

‘Proof that Yuri is concentrating.’

Yuri’s freezing spells differed from conventional theoretical magic formulas.

The core of those freezing spells was dominance.

Yuri possesses an overwhelming affinity for freezing mana. And that affinity is powerful enough to instantly transform the surrounding area into a snow mountain-like harsh weather.

When the surrounding mana temporarily transforms into freezing mana through that affinity.

Within the space affected by the freezing mana, Yuri gains absolute dominance as the master of that mana.

‘The Eternal Barrier is also created through that dominance.’

However, the Eternal Barrier compresses and converges that mana into a single point.

Conversely, when the mana filled with dominance is released outward like now, that freezing mana immediately transforms into high-level attack spells.

And this place is a summer island over the sea, full of humidity. So the range of freezing mana that Yuri has released is unimaginably wide.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-

Once again, Nivis shone, exploding the cooled undead into ice fragments.

‘I did provoke Yuri, but I didn’t expect her to get this serious.’

But I couldn’t afford to be distracted either. I checked the knights’ MCI through my earpiece.

The surrounding magical index has surpassed 300. Despite that, those knights are maintaining their MCI somewhat as holy knights, but they seemed to have lost considerable stamina.

I threw recovery potions to them.

“Drink these.”

Normally, Arin could heal them, but with the holy ground contaminated like this, we needed to conserve Arin’s divine power.

If the sanctuary at the center of the holy ground is contaminated, Arin will need to purify it with her divine power, and then directly receive Ayel’s divine power there.

The knights quickly drank the recovery potions. Then they looked at me and bowed their heads.

“Thank you for your help.”

Their attitude had softened considerably from when they had dismissed Flame’s people before entering this place.

Thanks to the guild master Yuri, our party is now advancing toward the sanctuary. For those knights who received Yuri’s help to maintain a haughty attitude would only hurt their pride.

“Let’s hurry!”

The party moved forward again. The knights, temporarily recovered, took the lead, and Yuri provided fire support. The rest of the party broke through along that path.

Marko the priest and I directly escorted Arin. I said to Marko:

“For undead, their movements to surround our party are too coordinated. The Count of Ghouls must be controlling them from behind. And the target of those monsters is clear. They’re after Arin.”

Marko nodded.

“We must protect Sister Arin at all costs.”

That’s why I was conserving my stamina and mana as much as possible. The same was true for Priest Marko.

‘The Count of Ghouls is probably waiting at the sanctuary.’

So we needed to hurry to that sanctuary while protecting Arin from harm. That’s when Marko and I would need to get serious.

‘She’ll need time to receive Ayel’s divine power and awaken as a saint.’

As we moved quickly, I mentally reviewed the spell formulas I had prepared in advance.

The new flame spell I created to match the three-stage unsealing of the Red Jade.

And then our party entered an area with fog so thick that we couldn’t see even a step ahead.

‘This fog. It’s filled with the stench of rotting corpses.’

I instinctively sensed it. The Count of Ghouls was nearby.