Chapter 98

“The one who stops everything, the one who cuts the flowing tide. You who stop the running time, the origin of all cycles, the beginning. Winter; the king of all seasons.”

A snowflake shape was engraved around the floor Nina stood on, and at the same time, the floor began to freeze. The ambient temperature began to drop sharply at once, and the lake slowly froze.

Like clouds, white breath flowed out every time they breathed. However, neither Nina nor Adrian was cold.

Rather, a sense of comfort was felt.

The white fog hovering around the pale bellac began to gush out. The translucent body emitted a bluish light.

“It looks like a ghost.”

At Nina’s words, Adrian gave her a look and quickly fixed it on the bellac.

“I’ve never heard of such a bellac before.”

The bellac, which had been floating in the air, soon began to fly slowly their way. Nina pulled her sword unsheathed.

At that moment, the ghost-like bellac disappeared.

‘Huh?’

Lost in bewilderment, the bellac reappeared behind him. Adrian’s sword brushed against it.

– Kiiiii!!

It steadily stepped back, making a strange sound. Adrian said.

“Nina, cutting it doesn’t have a feeling of texture.”

“You don’t think that’s because it’s intangible, right?”

It’s the same as a ghost, so you can’t cut or stab it with a sword.

Nina took a deep breath and ran forward at once. Her sword cut the bellac right in the waist.

– Kiiiii!!

The bellac shouted and shook itself. However, there was no change in its appearance. Nina was dumbfounded.

“There’s no damage.”

It raised its arms angrily, and at the same time, white smoke began to pour out of its mouth. The two dodged quickly from side to side.

It seems like the attack version of the cold fog.

‘It’s like spraying liquid nitrogen.’

Nina clenched her sword thinking so.

“Winter, your frost and your engraving pattern, the sharpest blade above all else!”

The frost patterns carved on the shining blade of the sage steel were clearly visible as if they were shining.

“Yaaah!!”

She swung the sword and cut the mist.

As if cutting through a waterfall, the fog cracked and her attack touched the opponent. The bellac, whose head was split in half, paused for a moment.

Then, slowly splitting the rest of it’s head and spreading from side to side, she turned towards Nina.

“Oh, I hate it. I really hate it. It’s too creepy!!”

Nina screamed and Adrian said.

“Nina, can you hold it alone for a minute?”

“Of course, I’ll be careful not to kill it in the meantime!”

As Adrian tried to escape the battlefield, the bellac, which had disappeared with a bang, appeared in front of Adrian and blocked him.

Nina kicked it with all her strength.

– Squeak! 

The bellac bounced off with a strange noise.

“Aha! Attacking works when it tries to attack the opponent, I’m sure.”

The reason why the attack went in when the fog was blowing earlier must be because it had to be materialized to attack this side.

The bellac, which was kicked back, screamed bizarrely again and rushed at Nina.

Bam, bam, bam.

The sound of disappearing and appearing was heard continuously.

Adrian disappeared into the shadows in the meantime.

Nina looked at her opponent, avoiding the attacks.

‘It would be a bit difficult if the opponent wasn’t at the level of an elite of the Dark Knights.’

The fact that it appeared and disappeared, and that physical attacks did not work must have thrown a lot of its opponents out of their game.

But if it’s a Dark Knight who has dealt with many bellacs, they’ll just say, ‘Then we’ll just have to find its weak point.’ and gather up their weapons.

‘Well, the norm for us is the hard level.’

You must not only have muscles and brawl to deal with bellacs. The head also has to be fast in counter thinking.

Nina tested whether it was possible to attack with just fine iron without a spirit. It disappeared and appeared, and the next time it tried to attack, it was enough to attack without chanting for the spirit.

It just moves quickly from place to place to attack, so you only need to be fast enough to attack in the gaps.

‘It has good durability.’

Thinking of that, a normal sword, even with pure Lency Steel would not be enough.

However, sage steel would be sharp enough.

‘Albeit the cold fog must be a little annoying.’

Human beings can’t help it, they will get stiff hands and their movements would become sluggish in the cold.

‘Should she ask for the uniforms to be added with fire and cold-resistant functions?’

Now even this type of relaxed thought was possible.

“Nina!”

Then, Nina shouted at Adrian’s call from afar.

“Burn!”

Her sword was colored with gold. The bellac flinched as if she were frightened at the moment.

Nina didn’t miss the gap. When the golden sword cut through the bellac, it didn’t burn in flames as usual but it was like······.

‘Golden fireflies?’

The bellac disappeared as it gradually became a golden glow.

Clink-

Something fell into its place. Nina frowned her eyes when she saw the object.

It was a skeleton wrapped in silver.

‘Oh, my God.’

This unpleasant feeling.

She slightly lifted the skull and looked inside, there was a small shard embedded in it.

‘Oh, I hate it. I really hate it.’

Somehow, she thought it wasn’t a normal bellac.

As she took her gaze away from the skeleton, her energy began to drain.

‘Again!’

Nina was on her knees before she collapsed, but her energy consumption was stopped.

“What?”

She peeked into the skull and found that the shard had disappeared. Compared to the last time, the energy consumption was much lower.

‘And I’m hungry again!’

Adrian ran as Nina sighed.

“Nina, are you okay? What’s going on? Are you injured?”

Now that there is no one watching, the way he talks came back to the way he was.

“No, there was a piece of fallen spirit king stuck inside. So I started to lose my energy.”

She got up from her seat.

“This time it was only a little bit, but I still got hungry. Rather, isn’t this a real human skeleton?”

“I think so, too.”

“Did you catch the guy?”

Adrian nodded. Nina asked because she was worried.

“Didn’t he die because I killed the bellac?”

“I don’t know why, but he’s not dead. I wrapped him up.”

“Then let’s take him back. I want to sleep in a bed.”

“······Yes.”

Adrian was one beat behind answering. Nina looked far away at the castle. The sun was already out and dusk was all over the place.

“Shall we camp today? They’ve lost anyway.”

“I’ll prepare quickly.”

Nina nodded at Adrian’s words.

She doesn’t know what he did with the pagan, but if Adrian said he wrapped it well, he’s got it covered.

He made a fire in an instant, made a bed, and went up to the frying pan. In the meantime, Nina caught two water birds from the lake and handed them over to Adrian.

Adrian pushed Nina a well-baked piece of round grain, trimmed the water birds she had caught, and began to bake them on a bonfire.

“Why is it delicious when Adrian bakes it?”

The dried fish was round and tightly bound together.

You can just eat it while drinking water or mix it with the right amount of water and bake or boil it.

Adrian’s extra special salt and sugar were added to the roast, and it was crispy, sweet, and salty, so it was delicious.

After eating about 3 servings of the remaining dry rations alone, and eating 1 whole bird that Adrian had cooked, Nina glanced at the remaining one.

He laughed and gave Nina the remaining one.

When she finished eating, her hunger stopped.

“Is Adrian all right?”

“I’m fine. Do you want more?”

“No, Adrian should eat now.”

At Nina’s words, he put the rest on his plate.

Nina poked the skull, Adrian frowned and wrapped it in his bag.

“How can a human-shaped bellac be possible?”

Since human souls are gifts from God, they cannot become bellacs even if they are consumed by the fallen spirit like other creatures.

“I think they used the body. There was a piece in the skull.”

Nina squinted at Adrian’s words.

“If it weren’t for me or you, it would have been a lot of trouble. It was grade S.”