The Culprit Is You (Everyone Else Is Dead, After All)! (1)
When Seol Miho exhaled, a plume of pure white mist spilled from her lips. The surface of the spring froze over in an instant, seized by a dry, biting cold.
"Ugh...!? Is that liquid nitrogen?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them, and Miho explained with obvious pride.
"That's right! Nitrogen Flake is a Creation Type jujutsu that produces liquid nitrogen. When they talk about the Frozen Empress of the Frozen Soil at Seonggwan Academy — they mean me."
"Don't go spreading your own nickname."
"Is this really the time to be acting leisurely? Nitrogen Flake can do this, too."
Lost Paradise was tropical, so bananas lay scattered across the ground. She jammed one onto her claw and fired it from the launcher.
THUD! Flash-frozen by liquid nitrogen, the banana slammed into the earth beside me like a war mace.
"Fufufu. Want to get all sticky again? Come into my arms already♡"
The mercury Dongbaek Rinje wore like a second skin rippled, then split and unfurled into tentacles. Tch. I knew better than anyone how dangerous those things were — I'd been on the receiving end. I could live with the humiliation of being treated like that as a human being. The real problem was the mercury itself: the only metal that's liquid at room temperature. Slash it, slash it again — it's like cutting water, and the applications are endless. On top of that, mercury is a notoriously lethal poison. I had no interest in becoming the next Qin Shi Huang against my will.
"—!"
The tentacles writhing toward me shattered with a crystalline crash. Frozen solid by the liquid nitrogen Seol Miho had exhaled, their advance stopped cold. The young lady of the Seol clan glared at Rinje and issued a warning.
"Trying to snatch him right in front of me? I finally found my three-thousand-pointer."
"Hwaaah. Maybe you're the one who should get wrapped up helpless in tentacles first~?"
It was a bit early for both of them to treat me like a fish already in the net. Well, infighting was more than welcome as far as I was concerned. While the girls locked horns, I turned my attention to the other two enemies.
"Swordsman. I hear the Namgung clan has long coveted the art of sword telekinesis?"
Wi Do-woon floated in the air without so much as a wobble, sipping tea as he asked.
Sword telekinesis. A blade-control art that lets a swordsman manipulate a weapon at range without ever gripping it. Much like my junior sister's Twin Kings of All Arms, which treats a sword as a firearm, sword telekinesis had been a long-cherished ambition of the Namgung clan.
"That's right. We researched it to counter firearms with the sword."
"I'm afraid I must call those efforts futile. Watch closely. Sword telekinesis is but a mere fraction of my Qian-Kun Psychokinesis."
He pushed his glasses up with a forefinger and activated his psychokinesis. From behind Do-woon, a greatsword the size of a child came flying at me — Damro, one of the Five Swords Under Heaven, which had passed from the Namgung clan to the Wi family.
A ringing clash — I barely managed to block it with the Changgun Sword, but my hands went numb.
"For crying out loud. Use Master's sword with some respect."
On its heels, the mangroves around us were ripped from the earth at random and hurled my way. I weaved left and right until my vision spun. Just as one tree was about to come down on the crown of my head, a buzzing saw blade sheared it in two!
I thought it was a chainsaw object, but it's made from a sawshark Nephilim.
Wielding a chainsaw that looked like a shark, Rumira crashed the party, cheerfully slicing the tree apart. Apparently she'd been absorbed in chatting with her subscribers until now.
"To be interrupted right before my very eyes — how utterly absurd."
Wi Do-woon wore a look of consternation and pressed a palm to his forehead.
"Did you just save me?"
I'd written them all off as garbage, but to think there was one shining light among them. Come to think of it, she'd been friendly toward Eunha.
Rumira flashed a V-sign, her tone dripping with confidence.
"Eheheh... Thank Miracle TV's viewers for the vote. Between a four-person raid and a school-bully smackdown video, more people picked the latter~. If you're grateful, hit subscribe and like."
It wasn't exactly school bullying, but that had taken ten years off me. I asked the hyperactive streamer girl,
"A sorcerer who wields a chainsaw? A Chainsaw Girl?"
"Wheeeew~~. Something like that. Aren't you being a little too relaxed? If you were going to bolt, that was your window."
She said it with a whistle. The other three, eyes bloodshot at the thought of claiming the Star's Fragment, prepared their next attack. I closed my eyes softly and spoke.
"Then if you'll excuse me. —Undine, won't you give me a hand? I promise I won't harm any more of your kind."
The four of them each reacted differently to my plea.
"Undine? You mean that little spirit from earlier?"
"How preposterous. Reduced to begging a Nephilim to save you, I see."
"That desperate, flustered look... adorable."
"Nya-ha~. Lost Paradise's Nephilim are rare. If one actually shows up, the view count's gonna explode."
No sooner had the words left my mouth than the ground around us began to rumble. The frozen spring burst apart, and a round, translucent giant rose from the water.
The spirits corresponding to Class II Nephilim — the Undines — had coalesced and evolved into a High Undine. Unlike the Nephilim of the outside world, which were little more than beasts, the Nephilim of Lost Paradise, isolated in this otherworld for so long, possessed a wisdom of their own. If a related sorcerer could take them as shikigami, they were elevated with the title of spirit.
"Evolution?"
"Whoa. That's cool. Are you all watching~? First time I've seen Nephilim fuse."
"Water just needs to be frozen, right? Kh!?"
The High Undine glanced at me as if to say go on, then attacked the four of them without mercy.
Well, I was the gentleman of the bunch, at least.
Freezing the spring. Mercury contamination. Ripping up trees indiscriminately. Noisy deforestation. I felt a little bad for Mira, who'd saved me, but their crimes against nature ran deep. Seizing the chance to escape, I hurriedly got out of there...
"Just past the jungle and you're already in volcanic terrain."
Having at last escaped that nest of beauties, I caught my breath and sat down on a slab of basalt. The heat was enough to cook the flesh off my bones, so I pulled on the robe I'd secretly brought along. Throwing something on over a swimsuit was probably still within the rules.
I glanced around at the scenery. Fish were swimming in magma that flowed like a babbling brook.
Wait.
Fish!? I scanned them with my crystal smartwatch.
It's edible, so try making a fishing rod and catching one.
Overall Score:Eunha Pt 1
There was absolutely no way I was eating that. Between Team Manhanjeonseok and my childhood friend, I couldn't fathom why they were so obsessed with cooking Nephilim.
I felt a little sorry for them, but just as I was cutting down the magmafish one by one, the lava field froze over.
Keng.
The fox around her neck let out a cry as a signal, and Miho appeared, claws equipped.
"—Aing. Finally just the two of us, huh?"
"Don't talk all cute like we're lovers sneaking off for a tryst. I don't like it."
"How hurtful. Now that the Star's Fragment is as good as mine, I actually like you."
I shrugged at the delighted Miho and asked,
"I thought I'd run pretty far. How'd you find me?"
"My scarf, Ho Baekgu, is an object, but it's alive. I had it catch your scent and track you down, Mr. Swordsman."
Miho let out a long haaah of breath, and in an instant, cold air swirled around us. At risk of suffocating in the nitrogen fog, I drew a careful breath and raised my arms.
"I'll surrender, sure — but if you get the Star's Fragment, what are you going to do with it?"
"That curious? I suppose there's no reason not to tell you."
Utterly in control, Seol Miho had grown generous toward her prey. Her cheeks flushed faintly, an uncharacteristic shyness stealing over her.
I let out a gasp of astonishment before I could stop myself.
"Huh. That's something. You, a sorcerer who wields cold?"
It was like a fish that hated water. Unless you were a magmafish, that is.
"Nobody awakens their Innate Cursed Technique because they wanted to, you know? Though a non-sorcerer like you wouldn't understand."
Talk about extreme. Couldn't she just dress warmly? If she'd been the type to make a decent wish, I would have surrendered out of sheer magnanimity. I lowered my hands and wrapped my fingers around the hilt.
"Surrender's off the table after all. Let's go a round."
"You really don't know when to quit. I was hoping to wrap this up quietly."
Ice sheathed the blades of her claws, transforming them into icicles. They shot from the launcher like arrows, aimed at my shoulder. But every last claw shattered before it could reach me, shoved aside by cursed energy.
A jujutsu that was invincible in a one-on-one. That held true even on the defensive.
"Wh-what is that? A jujutsu imbued in the robe you're wearing? Kh. Did you get it from Lord Tanlang—?"
Keng.
Ho Baekgu yapped at me not to cheat, but I just shrugged. Changgun Sword in hand, I closed in on the slack-jawed Miho. Seol Miho quickly froze both arms solid with liquid nitrogen and blocked the blade. A gamble — but under ordinary circumstances, it would have stopped my sword.
But — unfortunately for her.
KRAAAAAANG!! The impact hit. Cracks spiderwebbed across the frozen ground, and the magma brook began to flow once more.
"I held back enough not to kill you. It's a little easier now that I'm wearing the robe."
I sheathed the glowing sword at my waist with a wry smile. The remnants of the roar hummed on, as if reluctant to leave, then at last faded away.
How much time had passed?
"...Why..."
Miho opened her eyes, still sprawled across the fissure, and the word slipped out. She had lost to the swordsman. Was this how Princess Yongso had felt? Her grand dream of driving out General Winter had been crushed.
"Ugh. My arms are shattered."
The arms she had frozen solid with Nitrogen Flake to block the attack had shattered like glass. Solids flash-frozen by liquid nitrogen were bound to break before long. Once she got off the island, perhaps they could be treated somehow, but...
That was when it happened. A shadow approached the fallen Miho.
"Is that you? If you came looking for Mr. Swordsman, he's already gone."
"It's so nice and warm, which feels wonderful, but I can't stay here forever. I think I've already been disqualified. Would you help me up?"
But no answer came. Just as she was about to press for a response—
"Uh, ah..."
Miho let out a moan at the burning pain she felt in her chest. Blood spread across her breast like a vivid crimson rose. The moment she understood what it was, a savage pain tore through her body.
Her vision flickered. Even breathing was difficult.
Is this death?
The strength drained from Miho's eyes.