episode_0161

Yiseo-ssi, loosely dressed, staggered towards the Icewood.

One could say it was a pantsless fashion, with her skirt left abandoned.

‘Oh…’

Naturally, her bare legs were highlighted, but even before that, I witnessed white liquid flowing down her thighs.

Despite having expelled it once, my lower body somehow felt swollen again.

Normally, I probably would have pounced on her once more after only finishing the Icewood’s repairs, but…

“Let’s recuperate.”

I decided to give up for now. No matter how much I live like a guy driven by lust, I still display such desires while assessing the situation.

I had somehow managed to seal off my blown-out side with super-regeneration, but it still felt like a strain to handle mana.

If I overexerted myself further in this state, who knew what might happen. If I raised my body temperature and the bleeding burst open again, what would I do then, completely embarrassed?

Additionally, my conscience was pricked. Hadn’t I slept with a woman again without telling Cheon Soyul?

‘Well… I do feel that restriction has loosened quite a bit lately.’

I could explain that it was a real emergency, that I was so severely injured I couldn’t use mana, and it was unavoidable to grant the ice ability.

I thought she might understand to a reasonable extent if I explained it like that.

At worst, I’d get grilled a bit and it would be over.

Did I throw away my NTR preference somewhere?!

“Ahem.”

I patted my stiff waist and raised my upper body, leaning against the cave wall.

If I keep going like this, by the time I’m around thirty, there will definitely come a time when my stamina reaches its limit.

Perhaps only then will I receive the retribution for my actions in this youth.

Even if that time comes, my complicated relationships with women will likely remain the same.

I don’t know. I’ll just groan every night, and if I really feel like I’m about to die, I’ll run away.

That’s when Yiseo-ssi returned after extending the Icewood’s duration as I had instructed.

“Huh?”

Seeing me stretching my body, this older sister’s expression became a little troubled.

“H-Hyunjin-gun, are you hurting? Where is it?”

She rushed over and knelt before me, examining my body from side to side. Since she wasn’t a doctor, she wouldn’t be able to tell much by doing that.

Firstly, just because my side was pierced didn’t mean I was critically injured, so I gave a faint smile to show I was fine.

“I’m fine. Didn’t I tell you? My super-regeneration ability, its recovery limit is truly incredible.”

I subtly pointed with a hand gesture to my side, which was still frozen.

The visible scars were already almost completely recovered.

Perhaps it was because Violet herself was an S-rank villain? This super-regeneration, it seemed like it would reliably protect my life, unless it was an instant death.

“But…”

Still unable to help but worry, Yiseo-ssi mumbled with her lips and looked at me.

As it was a wound caused by her own mistake, her sense of guilt seemed immense.

Feeling the atmosphere was becoming strangely awkward, I intentionally let out a laugh and threw a joke.

“Well, if you’re that sorry, just offer yourself a few more times later. Haha.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

But it seemed the joke wasn’t taken as a joke. Yiseo-ssi slightly reddened her face and tried to take off her clothes, so I was startled and reached out to block her from undressing.

“Ah, no. Calm down. I wasn’t saying let’s do it now… It was just a joke to begin with. Don’t feel too sorry.”

“Does Hyunjin-gun really joke about sharing a bed like that?”

Then, a damned unblockable attack popped out. Yiseo-ssi stared at me intently with dead eyes.

I sweated profusely and closed my mouth.

“It’s not that…”

“Heh heh, I was joking too.”

“…”

She’s really playing with me as she pleases.

Is that a characteristic of older women?

“Did you finish the Icewood repairs well?”

“I can see you’re obviously changing the subject, but I’ll play along. I did imbue it with coldness to its limit as Hyunjin-gun said.”

Yiseo-ssi released a slight burst of coldness from her fingertips and tilted her head with an ambiguous expression.

“I’m not sure if it’s certain. I’m not a magic user to begin with. But, as Hyunjin-gun said, the tree roots did shine brightly.”

“Well, then it’s probably fine.”

I lightly nodded and replied. Unless she couldn’t handle ice magic at all, the repair of the Icewood itself wasn’t that difficult.

If coldness was infused and the roots glowed, it would probably last another two or three hours from now.

I couldn’t maintain it for too long… but it would buy enough time until the main force arrived…

“…But that giant bastard still hasn’t left.”

Mid-sentence, I clicked my tongue, startled by the empty eyes visible beyond the Icewood.

What the hell, surely it wasn’t waiting outside even when that older sister and I were rolling around?

It wouldn’t have been visible from that angle, but I couldn’t help but feel disgusted. Getting needlessly angry, I picked up a small pebble and threw it with a whoosh through the Icewood’s branches.

Thud.

[…]

The monster, hit in the face by the pebble, swiftly lowered its pupils.

Soon after, perhaps enraged, it glared with wide eyes, its gaze flashing towards me.

“Yiseo Noona, now.”

Without panicking, I spoke to Yiseo-ssi. As if she sensed the prelude to ‘that’ laser, she quickly stretched out her arm.

Whirrrr-!

Just before the blazing flame shot out from the giant’s eyes, the coldness shot towards the Icewood, stimulating the branches and making them explode.

Bang! Boom boom boom!!

[AARRGGHHH!!]

It was the first time the giant’s scream burst out. It required consuming some branches, but the close-range strike was definitely effective.

The bastard grabbed its face with one hand, and with the other, tried to somehow force its way into the cave.

Crackle crackle!

It was useless. Our frozen tree, sensing hostile actions, splendidly emitted coldness, completely blocking the giant’s attack at its source.

Haha, serves it right.

Inwardly, I felt deep satisfaction, but since I had a history of getting my side blown off after provoking it once, I decided to restrain myself a bit.

Yiseo-ssi, who had been wary of the giant’s movements, also let out a sigh of relief after seeing the Icewood’s performance.

She put down her dagger again and gently sank down on the opposite side.

I suggested with a serious expression.

“Shall we play word chain until the rescue team arrives? I’m a bit bored.”

“How about the 31 game?”

“There’s a guaranteed winning strategy for that.”

“Gasp.”

The giant screamed wildly and twitched violently, but Yiseo-ssi and I didn’t care in the slightest and focused on chatting.

…without knowing what was happening at the Defense Force headquarters.

*****

Ryu Seeun, who had finally succeeded in completely absorbing Ryu Jinseong’s realm.

Her two eyes were dyed black by the power of the magic ‘Black Heaven’.

At first, she felt a sense of omnipotence, as if she could do anything with this much power.

‘Is this the view Archmages behold?’ she thought to herself.

However.

“C-calm down! Soyul Sunbae!”

“This, *sob*, let go…!”

In fact, the first thing she did with the power of Black Heaven was to calm Cheon Soyul, who was profusely shedding tears and struggling violently.

Cheon Soyul, her face pale and drenched in tears, gritted her teeth.

“M-my connection with Hyunjin was cut… I have to go quickly. Maybe, maybe something big has happened…! *Sob*, ugh.”

“What are you going to do by rushing out alone?! Against an S-rank monster, that’s a suicidal act!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know! Please let go…!”

Cheon Soyul almost crushed her eyes as she breathed out rough breaths. Ryu Seeun, thinking that if things continued like this, something truly terrible would happen, urgently began to ascertain the truth of her words.

‘The connection with Sunbae was cut…?’

It wasn’t a detailed explanation, but she could guess what it meant. It must mean the granted ice ability had disappeared.

And she seemed to think that it meant Lee Hyunjin’s death.

For her, who had planned to go search for Lee Hyunjin and Jung Yiseo together as soon as Ryu Jinseong’s internal injuries healed, she couldn’t help but be perplexed.

Putting everything else aside, the very idea that Lee Hyunjin would die so easily didn’t occur to her.

He was someone who had proudly fought back even against two S-rank villains.

That kind of Sunbae was defeated by a mere S-rank monster? And so early?

‘That doesn’t make sense.’

In a way, this was also trust.

For Ryu Seeun right now, it might be that she was maintaining her composure precisely because she didn’t know about that ‘disconnection of connection’ that Cheon Soyul experienced-.

‘Connection? Ah.’

Ryu Seeun blinked and recalled one fact. Now that she thought about it, strictly speaking, wasn’t she also ‘connected’ to Lee Hyunjin?

As soon as she realized that fact, she immediately concentrated her mind to use ice magic.

If Lee Hyunjin wasn’t dead, the ice magic would react, and if Lee Hyunjin really died… no reaction would come back to her either. Meaning it was possible to discern.

Ryu Seeun coldly suppressed the very faint impatience she felt and manifested mana.

Whoosh!

“Ah.”

Immediately, a shallow but definite ice storm raged above her palm.

At this moment, Ryu Seeun could realize the fact that she was ‘connected’ to Lee Hyunjin.

It felt as if their souls were resonating, perhaps?

Perhaps they were even connected by a red string.

‘…Ah, this isn’t the time for such thoughts.’

Ryu Seeun, who had entertained a foolish thought for a moment, hurriedly turned her gaze to Cheon Soyul.

Half in a panic, she kept shouting Lee Hyunjin’s name, showing no sign of noticing the coldness gathered in Ryu Seeun’s hand.

Therefore, to calm her down, Ryu Seeun tried to open her mouth to speak, but…

‘No, but, wait a minute.’

At a single thought that suddenly popped up, she firmly closed her lips that she had just opened.

…So why did the ice magic that was shared with Soyul Sunbae suddenly disappear?

Now that she thought about it, she had also heard that Yiseo-ssi had been missing after going AWOL from the unit.

“…”

No way?

“Aha…”

After racking her brain as much as she could, Ryu Seeun sighed at the momentary realization that came.

Should I tell her this, or not?