**Chapter 167. Melting Point (3)**
—
Silently rising to his feet, Ray looked Ayla straight in the eye and spoke.
“Then I guess You’ll have to be eaten. Just as you want. Hoping Binjin will be satisfied and stop with that.”
Ray believed there was no stronger stimulus in the world than death.
No matter how large one’s body was.
No matter how wealthy, no matter how powerful.
In the end, humans could only cower and tremble before death.
Ayla would be no different.
“……”
Ayla didn’t respond to Ray’s words, nor did she show any signs of agitation.
She simply—
*Tap— tap— tap—*
—turned her body and walked a few steps toward the approaching Laqria.
“That’s right, Ayla! Stay right there! You too will become part of the great being, contributing to the construction of the coming new world! *Cough!* Laqria! Here’s the prey I’ve prepared for you!”
As Binjin’s voice rang out, slick with madness—
Laqria leapt forward as she approached, her mouth wide open.
The deep darkness inside was reflected in the girl’s motionless eyes.
─────!
The head descended like a falling wedge.
The very instant before she was to be swallowed—
“……!”
Ayla felt a tug at the back of her collar.
*KWAANG──!*
With a massive crash, shards of concrete exploded outward.
“Cough! Cough!”
In the cloud of dust—
Ayla realized her legs were moving against her will.
*‘Reinforcement magic…?’*
The sensation coursing through her body was far more energetic than usual.
As they burst through the dust cloud, she saw the boy grabbing her wrist and dragging her along as he ran.
“Why, why, why…?”
“……”
She asked in a flustered voice, but no reply came.
The boy was lost in thought, still processing what he had just witnessed.
*‘In Ayla’s vessel… there wasn’t a shred of fear of death.’*
Fear itself did exist in her vessel.
But it was directed at Binjin and Laqria—not at death itself.
Could it be that Ayla truly didn’t fear death?
*Thump.*
A sprout took root in the boy’s heart.
A sprout of excitement and joy, born from the sense that he might have found someone like himself.
*‘The greatest commonality between Ayla and me is the blue mana embedded in her vessel. Could her perception of death be related to that?’*
Then her voice came again.
“Why did you save me? You clearly told me to die…”
“Don’t die.”
At least not until I’ve completely finished observing the ice plate.
“……”
Ayla fell silent.
Because the words he’d said earlier came back to her unbidden.
*‘I hope you don’t get hurt. At least while I’m staying here.’*
He had said those words as he healed the ice-cut wound with white healing magic.
*Tap, tap, tap, tap—!*
With urgent footsteps—
A faint tremor began to ripple through Ayla’s vessel, which until now had only ever expressed white concern for others.
It felt like the anesthesia numbing her mind was lifting.
“Ayla! How dare you! How dare you disobey my orders?! *Cough!* Laqria! After her!”
Seeing the bloodied Binjin clearly for the first time, Ayla asked:
“Don’t tell me… you’re the one who did that to my master?”
Ray immediately understood what she was asking and answered.
“Binjin isn’t as strong as you think.”
“……”
“He just knows a lot, that’s all. More importantly, earlier, when you said it was okay—you were referring to yourself, right? What made you say that?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you say that?”
Ayla was flustered.
Thinking back, it felt absurd.
Not only was the question itself strange, but it was baffling why he’d ask in such a dire situation.
“Is that important right now?”
“It is.”
Though deeply confused, Ayla answered after thinking it over.
“Because… it’s better for a useful little brother to survive than a useless me.”
“Yeah… still doesn’t make much sense.”
“But that snake…”
Ayla turned to glance at the pursuing Laqria with eyes filled with fear.
She had realized that Binjin had been exploiting his disciples with extraction magic—but she hadn’t known what the extracted mana was being used for.
Ray answered.
“A spirit.”
“A spirit?”
“To be precise, a spirit in its final stage before transformation.”
Binjin’s swirling memories were slowly settling into order.
A *spirit*.
Animals that accumulate a certain amount of mana in their bodies transform into spirits, invisible to human eyes.
Laqria had been a desert serpent that dreamed of becoming a spirit. She had fallen for Binjin’s promise of quality mana and formed a master-servant contract.
*‘That’s the information I’ve organized so far.’*
To learn more, he would need more time to sort through his memories.
Hearing Laqria’s scales scrape and her tongue flick behind them, Ray spoke.
“Watch your step.”
“……!”
Just as he spoke, a narrow pillar rose from the floor beneath them.
*CRACK—!*
The angle tilted slightly forward.
The boy and girl drew a high-angled arc through the air with the wind—
*SLAM—!*
—and landed neatly on a spiral staircase that ran along the wall.
“……?”
Ayla looked bewildered, still not fully grasping the situation.
Ray immediately checked below.
Laqria, having lost her prey in vain, flicked her tongue upward toward them.
*‘She won’t be able to follow us up here.’*
They were about halfway up the tower.
Even if Laqria stretched her body to the limit, her head wouldn’t reach them here.
In other words—
*‘The enemy has no means of attacking us at this height.’*
Laqria didn’t seem capable of using any special magic besides defense.
Binjin’s magic circle had been destroyed, rendering him unable to use magic at all.
Binjin’s breath still lingered, flickering stubbornly like the last embers of a fire, but it was clear he wouldn’t last long.
Once the one giving orders disappeared—
Laqria’s aggression would likely dissipate as well.
Which meant—
*‘We just need to stall here while I organize my memories.’*
“Ayla, you can catch your breath a little. The enemy shouldn’t be able to attack us up here. For now, about that ice plate inside your vessel…”
Ray was just starting to speak to Ayla, who was panting with exhaustion—
*RUMBLE—!*
A sound echoed from below.
As they looked down, they saw Laqria slithering up the wall in a spiral.
Cracks spread along the wall in her path, and spiral steps and wall fragments tumbled down.
“……”
“……”
The boy and girl fell silent.
Ray looked up and spoke.
“Run.”
The chase resumed.
Ray and Ayla sprinted along the staircase, but the difference in their movement range due to Laqria’s massive size couldn’t be ignored.
Ray launched fireballs and other offensive spells when he could, but the golden scales showed no damage.
The distance between them quickly began to close.
“Haa— haa—”
Ayla was breathless.
Her heart pounded.
Her legs trembled.
But she couldn’t stop.
If she slowed down, she’d either be swallowed by the giant snake—
Or plummet to the dark depths along with the collapsing stairs.
“Haa— haa—”
It was strange.
The old her would have sat down helplessly and given up.
But this boy running beside her kept her legs moving.
“……!”
Was it because her thoughts wandered for a moment?
*Thud!*
She tripped on a stair.
More than the pain, she worried about the situation.
The boy had stopped and was looking back at her—and the massive snake pursuing them…
*Ah.*
The chilling sound of scales scraping told her it was dangerously close.
She didn’t dare turn around.
She knew it was already too late to get up and run again.
“I’m…”
Looking straight at the boy.
“…fine.”
She finished the short sentence.
She wasn’t afraid of dying, so the words were true.
But what the boy did next was completely unexpected.
He leapt down over ten stairs, landed beside her, and swept her up in his arms.
*Thump!*
“Ah.”
It was her first time being carried by a boy. It was a little embarrassing.
But that was a fleeting emotion—and she knew now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
However—
*Tap tap tap tap tap—*
“……”
—The way he held her was… not what she expected.
To be precise, she was tucked under the boy’s arm like baggage as he dashed up the stairs.
Facing forward alongside him.
“Arm.”
Hearing his voice, Ayla dazedly extended her arm forward.
“Mana.”
She gathered mana in her palm.
“Ice.”
A beam of mana shot out and froze the stairs ahead.
“Keep firing.”
Ayla didn’t really understand what this was about, but she obediently followed his instructions.
Without stopping his run, Ray grabbed her wrist and aimed her arm toward the railing.
And when Laqria opened her mouth wide, right behind them—
*Jump!*
They leapt over the railing and into the air.
*Crack! Crackle!*
Beneath them, Ayla’s icy blue mana formed a path in real-time.
“Much better than last time.”
Ayla was bewildered on many levels.
“Keep going.”
It was the first time someone had said something like that to her.
“You’re doing great.”
And in that moment, she felt a strange surge in her chest.
Just like that, Ray and Ayla reached the upper opposite side of the spiral staircase.
When they turned, they saw Laqria coiled against the wall.
It was obvious she was gathering herself to leap toward them.
“Magic won’t work on her scales. If we want to inflict damage, we either need to strike inside her body—or destroy the core of her contract…”
At Ray’s murmur, Ayla asked,
“The core of the contract?”
“It’s located inside, past her throat. If we destroy that, Laqria will no longer follow Binjin’s commands.”
After a brief pause, Ayla said,
“Then I’ll be the bait.”
“Bait?”
“I’ll just stand here. And when the snake flies toward me and opens her mouth to swallow me—you aim for inside, and hit her with the strongest attack magic you’ve got.”
It was a sudden proposal, but Ray wasn’t flustered.
He simply assessed whether it was feasible in this situation.
Indeed… Laqria was prioritizing Ayla per Binjin’s command.
*‘If she becomes the bait…’*
Ray, testing the possibility, responded.
“It’s worth a try. With the distance between us now, this is the perfect time for an accurate shot. Even if we don’t destroy the core, we’ll still do significant damage.”
There was no time for a lengthy conversation.
Laqria was already beginning to uncoil, preparing to spring.
Ray stood behind Ayla at the railing and gathered mana from his jewel at full output.
*Crackle—!*
Ominous yellow lightning condensed into a fist-sized orb, growing stronger by the second.
“……!”
It was a sensation no mage living in the world of mana could ignore.
Ayla realized this magic came from a dimension far beyond the reach of an ordinary mage like herself.
Ray spoke.
“We need to stay in one spot. Don’t move. Otherwise the angle of Laqria’s charge will change.”
At that moment, Laqria froze.
Without looking away, Ray continued.
“Dodge only when Laqria is right in front of you and opens her mouth. You have to dodge on your own. I might not be able to look out for you while I’m focusing on the spell and aim.”
“…Okay.”
*Crackle—!*
The compressed lightning reached its peak.
At that exact moment—
*KWAANG—!*
Laqria launched her coiled body like a spring toward Ray and Ayla.
The tower shook from the impact, and the wall beneath her body cracked apart.
In a split second—where even the slightest mistake could mean death—
“Dodge well.”
Ray warned.
“Otherwise, you’ll be seriously hurt.”
He fixed his gaze on Ayla’s unmoving back, blue hair spilling down her shoulders…
Keeping an eye on Laqria’s massive head as it flies in front of him.
Preparing to unleash a sphere of electricity at the crucial moment.
And then, the next moment.
Laqria’s head landed right in front of her, mouth agape at Ayla.
“I’m fine, even if I’m hurt.”
The answer came back.
Still, no fear of death shone in the girl’s vessel.
The boy’s mind went blank.
It was force majeure.
[“I’m fine.]
Whoever had told him that.
The source of the lingering sense of foreboding he’d always felt.
All of it.
It was because Ray had a moment of realization.
“…Why now.
The moment when enlightenment blossomed in the midst of countless questions.
The third circle shone.
