Chapter 131

At that moment, I made eye contact with Ji-eun.

She stared at me for a moment, then quickly averted her gaze.

I stopped hugging Si-ho and instead patted her head, letting go of her.

Then, Si-ho glanced between me and Ji-eun before rubbing her head against my hand.

Si-ho knew I had rejected Ji-eun’s confession, so she held back.

“Ji-eun, we’ll move one more time. Are you okay?”

When I called Ji-eun, she nodded.

“This time, it’s not that far, right?”

“That’s true.”

Hearing Ji-eun’s response, I turned to look at Si-ho.

Then, Si-ho clasped hands with us, just like when we had come to Iceland.

At that moment, our vision changed once again.

A vast stone floor stretched out before us, with snow scattered everywhere.

As white breath escaped my mouth, Ji-eun rubbed her hands together beside me.

Once we left the urban area, the wind grew stronger.

“Ji-eun, here are some gloves.”

I took out gloves from my pocket and handed them to her. Ji-eun accepted them and looked up at me.

“What about you, Ha-chan oppa?”

“As for me, handling aura isn’t a problem at all.”

Now that I could handle aura at all times, I used the heat generated by rotating my aura to withstand the cold without much trouble.

Thanks to that, I didn’t need to wear thick clothes.

“I’m cold too. Should I hold Ha-chan’s hand?”

“Whales swim and live even in the Arctic.”

“I have whale-like abilities, but I’m still human, you know?”

“What? Really?”

That was surprising.

“I’ve been noticing this for a while. Ha-chan oppa, you’ve gotten really close with Woo-jung unnie, huh?”

“Close, you say…”

I listened to Ji-eun’s words and glanced at Yoo Woo-jung.

Then, she flipped her hair and gave a mischievous smile, making me cringe.

I don’t know where her initial shyness went.

“It’s just bad luck.”

“You know what they say about hate turning into affection? There’s some truth to it.”

“If you spout nonsense one more time in front of the kids, I’ll bury you here.”

“Eek!”

As I seriously scraped the ground with my foot, Woo-jung ran behind Ji-eun.

“…Affection?”

At that moment, Ji-eun pressed her chin and muttered to herself.

A bad feeling crossed my mind.

“Ji-eun?”

“Ah, no, nothing!”

Realizing what she had just blurted out, Ji-eun’s face turned bright red as she shouted.

It seemed like Woo-jung was a bad influence on the kids.

While this was happening, I noticed Eva unnie was being quiet and turned to look at her.

She was standing a bit away, quietly making a small snowman.

Come to think of it, she always had a quirky side, playing alone even during joint quests in games.

But considering she might not have made it past this month, seeing her like this made me feel proud.

“Domi, this snowman looks just like you, right?”

Seeing her bright smile, I understood why Hyuk-seo hyung was so attached to Eva unnie.

She’s a natural airhead.

After receiving aggressive advances from several women recently, I felt a bit more at ease.

‘Am I blessed?’

But I couldn’t quite say this situation was entirely happy, so I scratched my head.

“They’re coming.”

At that moment, Baeksan was the first to speak, and everyone started looking ahead.

Then, something began pouring down in the distance, stirring up a snowstorm.

What was rushing toward us was none other than dimensional beings.

“Si-ho, take care of Ji-eun.”

“Got it.”

While listening to Si-ho’s response, Woo-jung transformed her arms and legs into beast-like forms and tapped her fists together.

Eva unnie’s talismans were fluttering around her, and I was about to draw Kerafe.

“Hey, Kang Ha-chan.”

At that moment, Baeksan called me.

I turned to him with a puzzled look, and he grinned as if it were a good opportunity.

“When else are you going to practice swordsmanship? Take it out.”

“…Seriously?”

“Yeah, what are you saving it for? To trade for candy?”

Well, that’s true.

“That sword scares me.”

“It’s acting up because you’re scared. Don’t worry. I tamed it once before.”

I listened to Baeksan and took a light breath before agreeing.

“Bazra.”

The moment I quietly uttered that name, a lightning bolt shot up from my hand.

What formed was a single sword imbued with red lightning.

As I looked at the sword, Bazra began shooting lightning in all directions on its own.

“Ah, crap!”

Startled, I quickly dropped Bazra to prevent it from hitting anyone, and it shot lightning into the sky.

The problem was that it also drained my aura, and I could feel it rapidly depleting.

How am I supposed to handle this?

“What are you doing? Suppress it.”

“How am I supposed to suppress it?!”

“Tch, just pour your aura into it. That thing feeds on aura. Once it’s full, it’ll calm down.”

Damn it.

Listening to Baeksan, I had no choice but to summon my aura.

As I sent my aura into Bazra, it immediately began gulping it down.

“That’s going to spoil it.”

Baeksan looked at Bazra with dissatisfaction, but at least it calmed down a bit.

“Ha-chan, what are you doing? I’m going ahead!”

Meanwhile, Woo-jung stomped the ground and charged forward.

In an instant, she leaped hundreds of meters and slammed down on the dimensional beings with her hammer-like fists.

Boom!

At that moment, Okusly, resembling a mix of a white deer and wolf, were swept away.

They were only B-rank dimensional beings, so they couldn’t stop Woo-jung’s rampage.

“Domi, this looks tough.”

Meanwhile, Eva unnie looked at me with slight concern.

“Aren’t you pushing the spirit attached to Domi too hard?”

She glanced at Baeksan as she spoke, and he snorted.

“Push? It’s this guy who can’t handle it.”

“I can’t hear you well, but it sounds like you’re blaming Domi. Don’t do that to Domi.”

Eva unnie couldn’t fully hear Baeksan, but she seemed to understand his tone.

At her scolding, Baeksan clicked his tongue and didn’t say anything more.

From now on, if Baeksan says anything, I’ll just go to Eva unnie.

“It’s okay. Let’s go.”

After saying that to Eva unnie, I ran toward Okusly with my aura activated.

Up close, they were more than twice my size.

Woo-jung, who was casually sending them flying, was definitely S-rank.

Meanwhile, Eva unnie’s talismans fluttered around.

Each talisman that stuck to an Okusly caused their bodies to be engulfed in blue flames.

I didn’t know the principle, but the power was immense.

‘Forget the others.’

I decided to focus on myself first.

An Okusly charging at me thrust its antlers forward.

Okusly have a habit of using their antlers to toss their targets upward.

Knowing this, I sidestepped to avoid the antlers and gripped Bazra, aiming for its side.

During this time, I had learned how to use my body and swordsmanship from Ayu.

Compared to Ayu, I was still lacking, but I had firmly grasped the basics of wielding a sword.

So, based on that memory, I struck down at Okusly with Bazra.

Slash! Crackle!

“Uwoooong!”

Bazra easily cut through Okusly’s thick hide and penetrated deep inside.

At the same time, as Bazra began spewing lightning inside, Okusly let out a painful scream.

Of course, being electrocuted from the inside would hurt.

Thud!

In an instant, the Okusly, now a fried electric ball, collapsed.

In a way, Bazra was a one-hit kill sword.

If it cut, lightning would flow inside, instantly finishing off anyone without resistance.

“…Even my own lightning is scary.”

As I looked at the Okusly, which now smelled oddly delicious, another Okusly charged at me.

I quickly dodged and swung Bazra again, starting to clear out the Okusly.

Thanks to Ayu’s training, the fight with Okusly was easier than I thought.

Because I could now draw out up to 5% of my aura on average.

‘Now I’m decent against dimensional beings.’

Since dimensional beings have simpler movements compared to humans, I felt more comfortable fighting them than Returners or Hunters.

As I took down another one, my vision cleared.

The ground was littered with Okusly corpses.

Woo-jung and Eva unnie had taken them all down.

Seeing this, I sheathed Bazra, which was still emitting lightning.

No point keeping it out; it might act up again.

It seemed like it would take a while to get along with Bazra.

Kerafe was a perfect match from the start.

“Ha-chan oppa!”

Meanwhile, Si-ho and Ji-eun approached.

Ji-eun looked at the fallen Okusly before turning to me with sparkling eyes.

“Ha-chan oppa, you were really strong.”

Come to think of it, this was the first time I fought in front of Ji-eun.

“I only took down a few, though.”

“I’ve never even fought a dimensional being before.”

Ji-eun hadn’t officially registered as a Hunter yet.

So, while she had studied dimensional beings, she had no combat experience.

“You’ll be fighting non-stop soon enough.”

At that, Woo-jung, wiping blood off her hands with a handkerchief, chimed in.

“So Ji-eun needs to get stronger before then.”

“Unnie, thank you.”

“Hehe, Ha-chan, Ji-eun said she’s thankful to me.”

I elbowed her in the side as she smirked and poked me.

“Let’s move. We have to find it.”

The one Ji-eun’s Bonding Ability could be most effective on.

—

The world of Iceland, overrun by dimensional beings.

Why had we come here?

The reason we came here was to utilize Ji-eun’s Bonding Ability.

According to Woo-jung, Ji-eun’s Bonding Ability could form contracts with spirits.

The dimensional gate connected to the spirit world was only in Iceland.

I felt a bit excited.

I had a fantasy about spirits too.

Spirits had always been mysterious beings in myths and fairy tales.

Especially since spirits were known as dimensional beings that didn’t attack humans first.

Of course, that didn’t mean they could be left alone, as they still affected the environment.

“There it is.”

At that moment, Eva unnie spoke up again.

Following her pointing finger, I peeked out and saw white snow spirits floating above a lake beneath a waterfall.

These fluffy, cotton-like beings were low-level snow spirits called Slichters.

“Wow, they’re so pretty.”

Ji-eun’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the Slichters.

She seemed to like them.

“Oppa, I’ll try to make a contract with them!”

I nodded at Ji-eun’s enthusiastic words.

Then, I looked at Eva unnie, who naturally joined Ji-eun, understanding my intention.

Eva unnie knew how to form contracts with spirits.

So, she was going to teach Ji-eun how to contract with spirits.

At that moment, spirits began to gather around Ji-eun.

The curious spirits started moving because a human had appeared.

“Ah, it’s cold.”

As a Slichter touched her hand, Ji-eun laughed playfully, a smile fitting for her age.

Meanwhile, one flew over to Si-ho.

As Si-ho slightly opened her hands, the spirit gently landed on her palms.

Si-ho found it cute and showed it to me.

“Manager, it’s a spirit. It’s cute.”

Si-ho was even cuter.

Is this what it feels like to be a doting parent?

Meanwhile, Woo-jung sneaked up to a Slichter.

She seemed interested in the spirits too, her eyes sparkling.

But as she approached, the spirits all fluttered away.

“What? Why are they running from me? This is discrimination!”

I quietly spoke to her.

“They say spirits like clean people.”

“That’s me.”

How shameless.

I shook my head at Woo-jung and turned my attention back to Ji-eun.

Ji-eun was hugging a Slichter, seemingly trying to form a contract using her Bonding Ability.

Since it was her first contract, it didn’t seem easy, as she occasionally frowned.

Then, she slowly opened her eyes and gently lifted the Slichter.

The Slichter flew up, circled once, and then perched on Ji-eun’s head.

“Ha-chan oppa!”

Ji-eun excitedly ran over to me.

She hugged my arm and proudly showed off the spirit she had contracted.

“I did it! I made a contract! From today, her name is Snow Flower!”

Snow Flower.

To me, it looked like a cotton ball, but the name suited it.

“Huh?”

At that moment, Ji-eun made a surprised sound.

I turned to her, and she looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“Ha-chan oppa, Snow Flower showed me something. It seems like someone is in trouble.”

And what followed was completely unexpected.