Boom!
The blade of Hoirang clashed against Yukina’s ice barrier, sending powerful winds rippling across the surroundings.
“You blocked that? Then try blocking this too.”
Taeseong swung his sword once more.
The previous strike had been just a test.
Right before Hoirang’s blade reached Yukina’s neck, another ice barrier emerged—thicker than the last.
Slice!
However, Taeseong’s sword cut cleanly through the barrier. Yukina, startled, twisted her head at an almost inhuman angle to gain some distance.
‘What the hell…?’
Seeing this, Taeseong smirked with a relaxed expression. He hadn’t even used half his strength, let alone his full power.
“Is this really all you’ve got?”
Yukina’s face twisted in shock.
She couldn’t comprehend the situation.
She had always known that Lee Taeseong wasn’t an ordinary Delta-class administrator. The martial prowess he had displayed was undeniably beyond the norm.
But at best, she had assumed he was high Gamma-class or just barely reaching Beta-class. Naturally, she had believed that as one of the strongest Beta-class administrators, she would easily overpower him.
“…!”
Yet every time he swung his sword, the ice barriers she created were sliced apart like paper.
Barriers that multiple Gamma-class administrators combined hadn’t even managed to scratch.
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon, but as an experienced administrator, she quickly adjusted her thinking.
‘He’s at my level. At the very least, he’s on par with Xiao Yun.’
An intense chill surged from Yukina’s entire body and spread outward.
The rolling wave of frost swept forward as if it intended to freeze everything in existence, swallowing Taeseong whole in an instant.
“……”
Taeseong’s entire body began to freeze rapidly from the feet up.
This wasn’t the ordinary ice manipulation of lesser abilities—it was something entirely different in nature.
The extreme frost that had already consumed his lower half was proof of why she was a Beta-class administrator, gnawing away at him without pause.
‘Impressive, I’ll give you that.’
But it didn’t stop there.
Above Yukina’s head, dozens of ice spears appeared.
These weren’t simply frozen from moisture in the air.
She had pushed their freezing point to the absolute limit, compressing them into lethal weapons.
For a regular ice manipulator, such a feat would take at least thirty minutes to perform.
But at the peak of mastery, she could execute it in seconds.
“I’ll admit, you’re more capable than I expected. But you’ve overestimated yourself.”
“I thought you were mute, but I see you can talk.”
“…Just because you’ve been on a winning streak since your return, do you think you’re something special? Don’t delude yourself. You’re just a child playing with borrowed power. Stop acting like you’re the protagonist of this world, you fool.”
In truth, this was something Yukina had once told herself.
When she first arrived in this world, she had been convinced she was the strongest.
But that belief had been shattered.
There was always another sky above the sky, and beyond that, yet another.
‘Strength is always comparable.’
She had never expected to truly understand the phrase a frog in a well.
Back in her world, Yukina had always ranked number one among hunters.
It was inevitable that she would learn this lesson the hard way.
“Die.”
With a chilling command, the ice spears in the sky all descended at once.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Watching Taeseong stand motionless in the face of the attack, Yukina smirked.
So, after all that bravado, he was frozen solid and unable to move, left to be pierced like a fool.
What a pathetic end.
The massive barrage of ice spears ripped through Lee Taeseong’s body—
His left arm.
Right arm.
Left thigh.
Chest.
Right thigh.
Left shoulder.
Right shoulder.
His entire body was shredded, and the blood that sprayed from him dyed the white snow a deep crimson.
From a distance, Team Leader Yato watched in despair, whispering in disbelief.
“…L-Lee Taeseong… Administrator…”
Even their last hope had died in vain.
‘Ah… It’s over. Everything is over.’
But contrary to everyone’s expectations—
Lee Taeseong, standing without a single scratch, stared at Yukina and spoke in a low voice.
“The only one deluded here is you.”
Yukina’s face contorted in pure shock.
‘W-what…? How is he still alive!? I saw it with my own eyes…!’
A direct hit from that attack should have instantly killed any Beta-class administrator—or at the very least, left them critically wounded.
Yet Lee Taeseong’s body was spotless.
Even after being impaled all over, he stood there unscathed.
‘This is impossible! Even with exceptional regeneration, this level of recovery is absurd! How could he take my frost-forged spears and come out completely unharmed?!’
She had assumed he remained motionless because he was frozen by her frost.
But that was her own misconception.
The cold constraining his body was something he could melt away at will.
After all, Lee Taeseong bore the flames of Ignost, the next Spirit King.
Yet, despite this, he had deliberately remained still.
It was an experiment.
His regeneration had evolved after consuming the Three-Headed Serpent Tanjin.
And what better way to test it than this?
He had a feeling that even if his entire brain were destroyed, it would regenerate.
But a feeling was just that—a feeling.
There was no need to test it unnecessarily.
So, he had let his entire body be torn apart, except for his head.
Naturally, within less than a second, everything had regenerated.
At this point, it wasn’t even regeneration—it was restoration.
“I’ve always been the protagonist, no matter the world.”
That was Taeseong’s mindset.
Whether on the battlefield, in another world, or in this place—he had to believe he was the protagonist in order to survive.
It didn’t matter if he actually was or not.
What mattered was that he believed it.
Taeseong didn’t believe in fate.
Fate was nothing more than a vast chessboard designed by someone else.
On a broader scale, he understood that he, too, was just another piece in the game.
But he was convinced that if he never gave up and continued to forge his own will, he would eventually become the one moving the pieces.
Perhaps even his very thoughts were part of some transcendent being’s plan.
Even so—
“If I don’t believe it, then who will?”
Boom!
With a sound of air splitting, Taeseong’s footprints were imprinted clearly in the snow-covered ground.
He disappeared from Yukina’s sight and reappeared behind her. She tried to turn her body, but she was already a beat too late.
‘Damn it!’
In a fleeting moment—
Yukina resolved to use her final measure, and her body transformed into ice. Just as Lee Sooah had assimilated with Ignost, she, too, drew forth all her inherent power.
The difference, however, was that even at full strength, she was not consumed by her own power. Even after transforming into a spirit form, she retained her reason.
“Permafrost.”
A secret art that explosively unleashed all of her power at once, freezing everything in the vicinity.
Normally, it would have turned a 10km radius into frozen wasteland, but now, it was limited to the space beneath her feet.
A pure white chill, as fine and delicate as eternal snow, spread and devoured its surroundings.
Crrrrrack.
In less than a second, the entire area beneath both Taeseong and Yukina was completely frozen.
The sight, as if the world itself had stopped, was enough to evoke the image of a winter apocalypse.
Eternal Ice.
The very source of Yukina’s power.
Born from the Snow Queen and an S-rank hunter who controlled vegetation, she was what was commonly referred to as a half-demon.
Half monster, half human—an existence that could belong neither to the world of humans nor that of monsters.
Yet, thanks to inheriting her mother’s blood, she wielded the supreme power of Eternal Ice and became an unprecedented hunter.
She became a hero who saved the world, found a good husband, built a happy family, and had a lovely daughter.
But—
She was caught in an unknown dimensional shift and ended up in this place.
Yukina’s blue eyes gazed upon the frozen world.
“I… must return.”
Of course, there was no answer.
Or rather—there shouldn’t have been.
Crack!
“How unfortunate.”
The icy surface that had covered Taeseong’s body cracked apart, and blue flames erupted.
“That’s no longer possible.”
Before anyone knew it, the flames that engulfed his entire body began spreading in all directions, melting the very ground beneath his feet.
“…What are you?”
Taeseong, now wrapped in blue fire, resembled a king returning from the depths of hell to pass judgment.
His flame-imbued eyes burned fiercely, and his lips curled into a smirk.
“I’m nothing more than a lowly Delta-grade administrator.”
Slash!
The blade of Hoirang, covered in blue flames, sliced across Yukina’s neck.
She had intended to buy time and escape, knowing she was in her spirit form, but unfortunately, that was the worst choice she could have made.
Hoirang was no ordinary sword.
Her severed head rolled across the ground.
Her unfocused eyes stared into the void as her lips parted.
“I… must return… I must… return…”
A futile end.
“So… this is how it… ends…?”
Her lips trembled slightly—then, a radiant smile.
As if, in her fading vision, she saw a beloved figure.
“…Yuuki. Yui.”
I’m coming home now.
Those were her final words.
From the distance, Yato’s joyful voice rang out.
“Ito! Are you okay?”
“Huh…? Sis? Captain?”
The other frozen administrators, looking bewildered, began glancing around in confusion before cheering in relief.
“Huh? My body…! It’s moving! I can move again!”
“Captain! My body is moving!”
“I thought I was dead…”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Yato sniffled as she wiped away tears.
“Lee Taeseong… hic… Administrator… hic… saved us…”
As Taeseong approached, Ito, still looking dazed, suddenly ran up to him.
“Captain! Thank you! As expected, you’re the best!”
“Let go.”
“Hehe. See, sis! I told you it was a good decision to follow the captain! I was right, wasn’t I? Being under the captain’s command was bound to help us!”
Sniffling, Yato nodded repeatedly.
“…Thank you. Really… thank you…”
Taeseong approached her and asked,
“So why did Yukina suddenly attack you all?”
“I don’t know… There was no warning at all. She just ambushed us in an instant…”
Taeseong, lost in thought for a moment, seemed to recall something.
“I almost forgot.”
He stepped toward Yukina’s decapitated corpse and reached for her chest.
Thud!
Watching from behind, Yato’s face turned pale.
“L-Lee Taeseong… Administrator…?”
Before long, he pulled out a fist-sized blue crystal, placed it in his mouth, and bit down.
“We’ll know once I eat it.”
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