Ch.46Adenian Pursuit

The situation had ended. I had achieved my goal by killing the reincarnator who was pursuing me. That should have been the case.

‘Strange.’

Seo-rin looked around. The forest, filled with hazy steam, was enveloped in silence. Nothing could be sensed through her widely spread spiritual perception. Yet she couldn’t relax her guard.

The hand gripping her sword remained tense, and her body maintained a state of readiness, as if prepared to spring into action at any moment.

The instinct of a hunter who once freely roamed the vast snowfields told her: the fight wasn’t over yet. Despite confirming the opponent’s death with her own eyes, despite delivering death with her own hands, her instinct insisted otherwise.

“Sei-ran. What do you think?”

She posed the question to her younger sibling just in case, but no answer came. Seo-rin slowly walked toward the reincarnator’s corpse.

Black blood was gurgling out from the man’s body, where his heart had been pierced through. He wasn’t breathing. The body showed no movement.

Seo-rin crouched down and grabbed the corpse’s head.

‘This is…?’

She realized too late. The appearance didn’t match the target, Partman. The face she examined didn’t look like that of a 20-year-old man.

‘Much older… around 40…’

Suddenly, she recalled the information about a missing informant. At that moment, the stiff corpse unexpectedly began to swell.

“This…!”

BOOM-!

A heavy explosion sound shook her ears. The pain came afterward. Her skin felt scorched, and one side of her vision turned red.

She had noticed too late. A living being would have emitted killing intent. Being a corpse, it had emitted nothing.

“Cough…!”

She didn’t know how many steps she had retreated. Red blood spilled over the elongated footprints. Even in this situation, she didn’t let go of her sword. With half her vision, she maintained her guard and observed her surroundings.

The situation was serious. The rapid activation of the White Dragon Heart Technique dulled the pain in her body, but one knee dropped to the ground.

Seo-rin had to lean on her sword for support while breathing heavily.

The corpse had exploded. Bone fragments from the burst human body had torn her skin.

The skin touched by the black blood turned dark. The sensation in the blackened parts of her body grew faint, and breathing became difficult.

‘Poison…’

While maintaining her vigilance, Seo-rin belatedly began emergency treatment. She scooped up the bubbling hot spring water to clean her skin and poured the medicine and antidote she had received as supplies into her mouth.

“Huff…”

It was just first aid. The situation didn’t improve much. Seo-rin stood up, still gripping her sword. The opponent wasn’t dead. They had cunningly waited for an opportunity and finally landed a blow on her.

‘I’m sorry, Sei-ran.’

She apologized to her sibling who might be watching the situation. Her carelessness had caused injury to her body.

‘It would be terrible if it leaves a scar…’

Her pretty face shouldn’t be damaged. Seo-rin sighed, feeling anger boiling inside. Her left hand trembled as it touched the wounded area.

That’s when it happened. Suddenly, a strange sensation came to her left hand. As if intending movement, her fingers gently moved.

It wasn’t her moving them. There was something familiar in the touch. Her left hand, moving on its own, dipped into the flowing blood and began drawing on her face.

The warriors of the White Frost tribe would receive magical makeup before going hunting. Seo-rin too had asked her sibling to inscribe magic on her face before hunts.

A red line was drawn beneath her cold, settled eyes. Her vision expanded, allowing her to see a wider world. Below that, another red line rotated slightly, extending to the tips of her ears.

Her hearing opened up. Without using mana, she could hear the faint sounds of insects hundreds of steps away.

The red line flowing down from her ear wrapped around her mouth and descended. The image resembling fangs heated her body.

Her muscles expanded and her heart beat roughly. The mana circulating in her body forcibly pushed out the poison, causing the blackened blood to burst out between her torn skin.

Something connected. Seo-rin felt as if the top of her head had opened wide. Something falling from the sky was harmonizing with her senses.

At that moment, a white wind blew. The wind, approaching like frost settling, took the form of a massive wolf.

‘Wolf god…?’

It had no substance. She couldn’t touch it even when reaching out. Yet it existed.

“A spirit…”

Magical power had taken residence in this small body. It must be her sibling’s doing. Seo-rin clutched her chest, hoping to hear her sibling’s voice beyond the pounding heartbeat.

But she heard nothing.

Yet she understood. Her sibling wanted to help her. They lent their power so she could achieve what she wanted.

It was a strange sensation. Her mind had opened. There was no other way to express it. The wind dispersing between her fingers felt new. Taste, touch, sight, smell—everything was new. It felt like being reborn.

[Growl…]

The snow-white wolf wagged its tail in front, as if urging her on. Following its gaze, things previously invisible came into view.

Something whitish was flickering in the wind. She instinctively knew that these floating things were souls.

Seo-rin ran with the wolf. Her body felt light. Without using mana, strength overflowed throughout her body. The incoming wind pushed her back, helping her run faster, and the puddles beneath her feet bounced with elasticity.

The reincarnator, Partman, smiled with satisfaction. At the last moment, through the eyes connected to the corpse, he had witnessed the girl being covered in death poison. The corrupted soul created by the exploding corpse had damaged her body.

No matter how skilled a swordsman might be, one cannot survive when the soul is corrupted. He quietly waited for the death of the imperial knight.

‘Finally, I can obtain a Death Knight…’

It was unusual to have two souls bound to one body, but it wouldn’t be a major problem. If he tore apart the unnecessary soul and imbued it into a sword, he might even strengthen the Death Knight’s power.

‘What a crazy world…’

Partman looked up at the sky. He tried to see something beyond the misty vapor, beyond the blue sky.

But he couldn’t see it. The realm he had built in this world had not yet reached that place.

It was like a garbage dump. Just before falling into this world, he had seen it. Countless souls being sucked in through a narrow passage.

Normal souls were hard to find. What was the purpose? What was that enormous being trying to accomplish by calling so many souls into this world?

There was no way for his current self to know. He needed to fully restore his past realm at the very least. The King of the Dead, who once ruled half of Earth, had declined. He felt his situation was pitiful.

Stitch together torn souls, grow in size, and raise his status. If he continued on this path, he might eventually reach it.

“It’s about time…”

It was about time. Just as Partman, who had been waiting for the knight’s death, stood up to leave the cave.

Suddenly, a chilling wind brushed against his cheek. It was impossible. In an area where geothermal heat bubbled from all directions, a cold wind?

“A wolf…?”

What arrived with the wind was a blurry wolf. Partman could tell it wasn’t a being with substance.

Step-

Small footsteps filled the cave. Seo-rin looked at the opponent before her. Her eyes, opened through magic, recognized the soul filled with death.

The twisted soul was screaming. It didn’t even have a human form. The lump, patched together with souls of other living beings, emitted a terrible stench.

[You, you… w-what is that…?]

Seo-rin tilted her head. The language flowing from the opponent’s mouth was unfamiliar. It wasn’t the language of minority tribes beyond the snowfields, nor was it the common language of the continent.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

What was he looking at? His trembling gaze wasn’t directed at her. He was looking at something behind her. Seo-rin briefly turned her head to check behind her.

There was nothing.

Seo-rin asked one final question.

“Do you have any intention of apologizing to my cute sibling?”

The opponent had dared to call her sibling an evil spirit. If he sincerely apologized, she was willing to end his life without pain.

[What nonsense…]

Whoosh-!

It happened in an instant. The moment an ominous energy rose from Partman’s body, Seo-rin’s form disappeared with the wind.

The footsteps of the flickering wolf raced through the cave interior.

[AAAAARGH!]

She cut him down. But there was no sensation at the tip of her sword. The straight blade passed through, cutting not the flesh but the reincarnator’s soul.

The torn soul began to fade, wailing. Seizing that moment, the massive wolf opened its mouth and devoured the soul.

After consuming the soul, the wolf charged toward Seo-rin. Sensing no hostility, she stood her ground and watched. The soul of her sibling within her told her to do so.

Whoosh-

The moment the wolf’s form touched her body, a snow-white mist spread widely. Like a cloak made of snow, transparent mist draped over Seo-rin’s shoulders.

“Ah…”

The fullness that had filled her body disappeared. Her wide-open mind closed, and her senses returned to normal.