The wind whipped over the frozen sea, causing snowflakes to swirl high into the air before gently descending. Amidst the thickly piled snow, patches of ice sparkled like polished mirrors in the sunlight.
Guards of the city of Drosia patrolled the beach, while various spirits danced around them in seemingly random patterns.
Drosia's mana hole lay beneath the sea, difficult for humans to approach but surrounded by countless sea spirits. Most of the Drosian guards possessed an affinity with spirits, drawing mana from the mana hole through their connection with the spirits to protect the city and the sea.
While there were individuals who made contracts with spirits, it was rare for such contracts to extend beyond simple cooperation. Spirits had no skills like humans; their magical control was lacking, and they could only unleash the power of their attributes without efficiently manipulating their abilities. Collaborating with humans to lend their power was possible without formal contracts.
"We've received a support request from B-1 in the east. Seems like a lot of ice has melted."
Upon receiving the transmission, some guards redirected their snowmobiles. They sped across the frozen sea beyond the white beach.
While spirits also antagonized monsters appearing each night, they primarily targeted the densely populated city. Consequently, most monsters emerging from the sea attempted to crawl onto the beach. Thus, Drosia's guards and spirits froze a portion of the sea at a distance from the shore.
Monsters lacking SS-grade or higher cold resistance perished in the intense cold.
"The sun will set soon."
Sipping warm tea from a thermos, a Drosian guard murmured. Despite their basic cold resistance skills and equipped gear, the constant freezing magic along the coast made the chill unavoidable. Standing for long periods required at least C-grade cold resistance skills.
The guard beside him also wore a weary expression from the cold. However, within the city, absorbed cold from the spirits made it feel like spring all year round.
"There was a warning about SS-grade monster appearances. And not just one, but two."
"At least it's in the sea this time. If they were within the city, the damage would be significant."
"Still, all the effort we put into freezing will go to waste. Looks like we'll have to work overtime for a while."
Managing the already frozen sea was relatively easy, but once it melted, refreezing it became challenging. Hopefully, the monsters were on the smaller side. As they prayed, the sky darkened. Amidst the deep crimson hue, hints of purple mingled, and faint starlight emerged one by one.
Guardians with no or low combat abilities began to leave the beach. Meanwhile, only the spirits roamed the sea.
"- They're here!"
With a loud voice, the spirits all stopped in unison. Schools of fish swimming on the breeze, blue nymphs frolicking on the snow, and dolphins gliding on the ice all turned to face one direction.
Boom!
A deep resonance shook the air. Piercing the darkening sky, a large white object tinged with blue appeared-a massive whale.
Countless spirits swirled around the slowly moving whale. Even the sea spirits began to converge towards the white whale. Watching this, the Drosian guards wore expressions of awe.
"amazing."
"The spirits are so desperate. You said it wasn't like that originally?"
"Delta is strong, so the spirits here were friendly. But never to that extent."
While the guards were talking, the whale slid down onto the frozen sea as if it were sliding. The combat and support guards riding on the whale's back jumped down one by one. Then the whale's form began to blur.
The translucent blue giant water blob wobbled and slowly split from the middle. Leaving only a part of the center, walls of water were erected on both sides, and the remaining part smoothly descended towards the ground without any tremors.
As the water platform that came down like an elevator completely dispersed, the white boot heels touched the snow.
"You could have just jumped down."
Delta, Park Yerim, spoke to the water spirit that had returned to the form of a small whale. It's a waste of effort since she has a flying skill. But the whale shook its head vigorously.
Park Yerim slowly looked around. Numerous spirits straightened their postures and their eyes shone wherever her gaze landed. The overwhelming attention and favor made Park Yerim slightly shrug her shoulders.
'I have to go back anyway.'
For some reason, the spirits showed deep interest in Park Yerim, who had entered Delta's body. Not only the small and young spirits who couldn't speak properly, but also the old spirits who were hundreds of years old, all tried to catch her eye.
What they wanted was only one thing, a contract with Park Yerim.
She grabbed a spirit who could speak and asked why, but there was no clear answer. They just wanted to. That was it.
"Delta!"
The guards who had landed first called Park Yerim as they started the snowmobile. Park Yerim lightly jumped onto the snowmobile. Since she couldn't detect the exact appearance location of the SS-class monster, the spirits followed her as she patrolled the area.
"- We can check it out too!"
"- Right, you can rest!"
"If you rush in like that again, you'll get hurt."
Park Yerim flicked a large bouquet that came in front of her with her fingertips and spoke.
"- You shouldn't interfere. Don't block the way."
A spirit in the form of a tropical fish with long and colorful fins spoke in a calm voice. A white-furred wolf jumped next to it. Following closely behind the snowmobile that Park Yerim was riding was a sea snake that was terrifyingly large. The guards nearby glanced anxiously at the sea snake spirit, which was avoided due to its strange personality and lack of cooperation.
- Over here, over here! Here!
A swallow from a distance soared high and shouted. Park Yerim skillfully turned the handle of the snowmobile. A few spirits clung to her and increased the speed as if flying, and as soon as she arrived where the swallow was.
Crack!
Cracks began to form on the solidly frozen ice sheet. Park Yerim abandoned the snowmobile and launched herself into the air. Her empty hand spread out and one of the spirits, who had been watching each other, quickly jumped in.
The form of the spirit held in Park Yerim's hand blurred and transformed into a long spear. The spirit's mana was transferred to Park Yerim, sharply refined, and returned to the spirit, the spear. The ice spear, swirling with magic, was shot towards the sea where the cracks had formed.
Kwaang─!
The ice sheet sank and a large hole was pierced. The thick ice, like a wall, was pierced in an instant, and the cold sea water below was pushed by the force and spouted. A head covered in scales popped out from between.
- Grrrr.
The monster, with large fins like sails along its back, bared its teeth menacingly. One of its eyes was pierced by an ice spear. The monster's fins split to the sides and began to flutter like wings. Heat rippled around the monster that rose into the night sky in an instant.
"Hey, I know someone like you."
Park Yerim smirked. The monster heated the air even more, making it boil. Steam rose in a white mist, starting to melt the sea beneath the monster. But that terrible heat didn't even touch the ends of Park Yerim's hair.
In the midst of the watching Drosia guards and countless spirits, Park Yerim took a step forward.
"If Gagu is at the level of boiling kettle water, you could easily heat up a bath.
- Kyaruk.
Steam hot enough to melt flesh surrounded the monster like a band. The spirits couldn't dare approach and retreated behind Park Yerim. The spirit that had turned into an ice spear also kept its distance. The monster's scales heated up like heated iron, and a huge heat mass swooped down towards Park Yerim, flapping its wings.
At the same time.
Kwaaa!
Sea water spouted. A cold water pillar mixed with ice shards blocked the monster's charge. Steam spread like a thick fog all around. The monster, still maintaining its heat, covered the ice sheet. Ice chunks broke and splashed, but Park Yerim was already gone from that spot.
Instead, a sea snake rose above the ice sheet. The long body covered in cold blue scales quickly wrapped around the monster. With a squeeze, the scales collided with each other. The hot scales and the frozen scales began to wrestle against each other.
- Kyaaa!
The monster spewed out heat, trying to shake off the spirit that had wrapped around it. Normally, the spirit's power would have been much less than enough to face an SS-class monster.
But Park Yerim was riding on the head of the sea snake. She, who could delicately bring out the power of water.
The power of the spirit, which had grown into a large lump over time, spread out under Park Yerim's command. It swallowed the monster's heat and made a strong cold flow throughout its body.
Park Yerim was not just giving orders. Her hand touched the snake's scales.
Chalalak!
Sharp spikes rose all at once on the blue scales. Thousands of ice spikes gnawed and pierced the monster's scales. The struggling monster suddenly felt a shadow covering it from above and raised its head.
- Kruk.
It was water. Suddenly, a high wall of water fell forward, covering the monster. Steam could no longer rise. The water seeped into the wounded scales and froze quickly. The monster's body quickly hardened, and its screams and heat were all swallowed by the cold sea water.
"Is the next one out?"
Park Yerim, who had not a drop of water on her body and had soared into the sky, asked the surrounding spirits. Other guards rushed to the monster, half-submerged in water, to finish it off.
- It's still under the sea!
At the words of the fluttering butterflies, Park Yerim jumped into the sea without hesitation. The spirits followed her in a swarm, and not long after, a monster like a large eel was pulled up to the water surface. The eel, which was struggling by spewing out sticky mucus and wrapping itself in various defense skills, was soon dealt with.
The spirit that had turned into an ice spear approached Park Yerim, who was carefully collecting points, and fluttered.
- If you make a contract, it will be much more comfortable than now. Because you won't need to control our power directly.
If a contract was made, it was possible for the spirit itself to adjust its power according to the contractor's ability. Park Yerim didn't need to lead them one by one like now. When the topic of the contract came up, the spirits sent hopeful looks. Park Yerim lightly waved her hand.
"I said it's okay. I'm not thinking about it now. Thanks, but I'll pass."
Park Yerim smiled and looked at the spirits. She didn't dislike the beings who constantly sent her affection. Honestly, it was flattering and tempting.
'I have to go home.'
She couldn't take responsibility. Even though this world wasn't real, she didn't want to act irresponsibly towards those who liked her. Especially if it was for profit. If she was going to keep them by her side, she had to take responsibility to the end.
'I wonder if he's okay.'
She wasn't too worried about others, but Han Yoojin was on her mind. This world had a higher average rank, would he be okay?
'I want to find him, but I can't leave my post! If it was Han Yooyun, he would have gone to find him right away.'
The problem was that all the spirits were trying to follow her if she suddenly disappeared. If the spirit disappeared suddenly, the city of Drosia would not last long and would collapse.
Deciding that she couldn't do that, Park Yerim sighed. At least if she died here, it wasn't a real death. If it was her real body, she would have gone to find Han Yoojin, regardless of the city.
"Delta!"
Then a Drosia guard approached her.
"We received a contact from Medsang City."
"Medsang? Where was that?"
"It's a city famous for having many auxiliary system guards. There are several guards from Medsang in Drosia too. But it's not Mu of Medsang, but Han Yoojin who─"
"Ahjussi?!"
Park Yerim teleported in front of the guard in an instant. The guard stepped back in surprise.
"Han Yoohyu isn't there? He should be right next to him."
"Yes? That's well······."
"There was an SS-class guard who used a flame skill, who was it?"
"It's the Alpha of Akates. Among the companions, and there is also─"
'It's Han Yoohyun! Right! He was with him after all.'
"Well, a request for permission to visit Medsang's ship came in under the name of Guard Han Yoojin. But there's also the Alpha of Akates, Lambda of Lanchea, and one more SS-class guard without a name in the party, so it seems to be a high risk factor."
"It's okay! Tell them all to come!"
Park Yerim said with a wide smile.
"There's no problem. Anyway, even if they all attack, I'm the strongest here!"
With her confident attitude suggesting they prepare to welcome the guests, the guard who brought the news also nodded, relieved of his anxiety. In this place, even if all the cities united, the winner would be Delta of Drosia.
---
"Ah, everyone. "Are you ready?"
He shouted with a loudspeaker. Several of the Lanchea guards positioned around nodded slightly. On either side of me, Yoohyun and Moon hyuna were standing strong.
After contacting the city of Drosia, where Yerim was presumed to be located, we were divided into two teams. Sigma, chased by monsters, remained on the ship with Noah. While luring the SSS-level monster, Yoohyun, Moon hyuna, and I decided to set up the disc.
Starting from the nearest Lanchea.
"It looks like there will be at least three SS-level monsters, so be prepared."
If an unmanageable level monster were to appear, we planned to open a path out of the city. We'd send a message to the ship on Medsang and they'd come nearby to lure us out. Hopefully, we wouldn't have to deal with two SSS-level monsters at once.
"Be careful too, brother."
"Don't worry. I'm going to eat the cookie first and then press the button."
Safety comes first. After munching on the mini mini cookie, I jumped onto the button on the disc and pressed it. Soon, monsters appeared, and I slowly got accustomed to the shaking sensation. Three SS-class monsters. Manageable.
Yoohyun swiftly picked me up, placed me in his breast pocket, and hopped onto the bike Moon Hyuna had started.
Once this is dealt with, next is Medsang. A subquest arrived as if to celebrate the installation of the third disc.
"Be careful of the cold!
[The city of Drosia is located in the north near the frozen sea. Be prepared to avoid catching a cold! Let's wrap your neck with a cozy and warm fur scarf~☆]
[Reward: 100,000P, handmade hot pink long cardigan,and strawberry-flavored cold medicine"]
…Have you made a cardigan already? Impressive. Though the strawberry flavor isn't that great."
---