160 – To the Homeland of Fire – 3

The group’s marching speed was incredibly fast.

It might be a strange way to put it, but since Ji-hye, who had been the only one with a slow movement speed in the party, had left, and Unika, who possessed the blood of a unicorn, had joined, everyone had ended up as vanguard classes, so there was no problem even if they continued to sprint.

The one whose speed lagged the most was Eun-shin, who was of the rogue class.

Of course, Eun-shin was very frustrated by that fact, and he voiced his grievances to Gi-jun during the break time that had been created because of him.

“No, this makes no sense, Hyung. I was originally the fastest in the party…! Even the priest is faster than me!”

“A priest… Ah, you mean Lora. I’m sorry, but Lora isn’t just a priest.”

“That’s right, she’s a vampire priest.”

Lora, who approached carrying water to give to Gi-jun, corrected him with a light laugh.

“I am no longer hurt by that level of comment, so you can speak comfortably, Jun-nim. I no longer wander or get hurt.”

“A vampire priest…”

At those words, Eun-shin blinked and looked at Lora, but he could not fully grasp her heterogeneous identity just by looking at her outward appearance.

“Vampires have high physical abilities and magic power. It is thanks to that that I can keep up with the march.”

“I see… But on top of that, you even have divine power.”

“Because Lady Ishtar’s grace still remains with me. I am only grateful to her.”

At the sight of Lora speaking while making the sign of the cross in a natural manner, Eun-shin unintentionally and instinctively blurted out an exclamation of admiration.

“That’s ridiculously broken.”

“Well, yeah.”

Gi-jun also instinctively nodded in agreement.

Eun-shin might have been able to compete on a similar level with Lora before she entered Valahia Castle, but she had fully inherited everything from Carmilla and had even consumed the true blood of the Lord of Thorns, already reaching a mature Unique grade.

On top of that, because she had taken all of Carmilla’s exclusive equipment—she had reached a level where she might even be able to aim for the Legendary grade one day.

No matter how hard he had trained, there was no way Eun-shin, who was still only at the Rare grade, could catch up to her.

“There’s no competing with this…”

“What’s the point of competing with Lora? Your specialty lies elsewhere.”

Gi-jun patted the shoulder of Eun-shin, who was discouraged after realizing the gap with Lora, and added.

“Besides, everyone is slow at first. Shin, I will train you step by step too.”

“The priest… Did you train Lora too, Hyung?”

“I did train her, but she grew on her own.”

“What do you mean, grew on her own? It would have been impossible if Jun-nim had not helped. Therefore…”

Lora, who firmly denied his words, suddenly blushed and reached out her slender, smooth fingers to stroke her own neck.

But before she could mention specifically what he had helped her with, Gi-jun stopped her.

“Right, I get it. Thanks for bringing the water, Lora.”

“Fufut, don’t mention it.”

Lora let out a chuckle and stepped back without saying much.

Looking at Gi-jun with an expression as if he was too tired to even say anything, Eun-shin muttered with a sigh.

“Jun Hyung, who was in the same place as me, has gone too far…”

“I swear I didn’t do anything suspicious.”

“But it’s something that might look suspicious in other people’s eyes, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then it is suspicious, Hyung.”

As expected of the party’s number-one assassin, Eun-shin’s skill at striking vital points was considerable.

To Gi-jun, who was resolving never to help this guy if he ever got bitten by a vampire, Eun-shin spoke carefully.

“By the way, for a priest, doesn’t Lora-ssi’s vibe seem a bit sexy?”

“Shin, this is the first time I’ve heard the word ‘sexy’ since crossing over to the continent of Leta.”

“I just said it because I thought she was sexy, so if you ask me why I’d say such a thing…!”

“Sorry, Jang-geum. I just meant that I haven’t had any male companions I could talk to about this kind of thing.”

In fact, since this Grand Quest had ended, Gi-jun had also been wondering if Lora’s vibe had become a bit too mature.

Considering what she had gone through so far, he thought it was only natural for her to mature, but perhaps growing a step further as a vampire under Carmilla’s influence had played the biggest role.

To borrow Eun-shin’s expression, Carmilla had been sexy in her way of thinking, her behavior, and even the clothes she liked to wear.

If it was Carmilla, who had yearned for Lora so much—wouldn’t she be extremely pleased to know that even a part of herself had melted into her?

“Setting that aside, it’s quite far. I feel like we’ve run quite a bit.”

“Seriously… we might have to camp out again today.”

Sensing that it would be disadvantageous if they kept going like this, Gi-jun forced a change of subject, and Eun-shin, like a good younger brother, played along.

However, it was also true that they had not yet reached Uralta despite marching at a tremendous speed.

Would it be better after all to ask Fortis and ride the sky carriage even now?

While he was having such thoughts, Lucy suddenly whispered in Gi-jun’s ear.

—Contractor, I feel a truly terrible barrier formed up ahead. It’s a barrier that confuses the senses of those who enter and eventually scrambles all five senses into a mess. A natural barrier manifested through mana harboring the unique heat of the volcano.

—Keee.

Following Lucy’s warning, Ur made a confident sound.

It meant that for his current self, who wielded dominance over not just flames but everything harboring heat, penetrating the barrier would be simple.

However, since Gi-jun was not entering alone right now, he had to completely collapse the barrier; since doing so could deplete his spiritual power and mana—he decided to use an easier method here.

A short while after that, Unika declared the end of the break and began to explain, saying they no longer needed to run.

“Beyond this point is the area dominated by the barrier. Since I brought magic tools, from now on, all of you should hold my sleeve… Oh my?”

Unika, who had been speaking in a confident voice while guiding at the front of the group, suddenly blinked her eyes after checking the magic tool.

“The barrier isn’t being detected.”

“It is thanks to Jun’s power.”

Tilla said in a calm voice to the flustered Unika.

“Jun recently obtained an item that protects not only himself but also the party members from status ailments.”

“…Could it be a Holy Relic?”

Pure shock appeared on Unika’s face as she deduced the identity of the ‘item’ in an instant.

It seemed Glittertoss had not leaked the customer’s information even to the lord’s representative.

Gi-jun nodded to Unika, who was gaping in shock, and showed her the Fragment of Unique Territory he had activated earlier.

“Here.”

“Haa.”

Having received too great a shock, she fainted while standing in place.

As Lora quickly approached and infused her with divine power, Unika snapped her eyes open and let out a scream.

“A Holy Relic! Just how did you obtain it? Perhaps during this Grand Quest?”

“No, I got it from the ruins that the Shadow Stalker told me about.”

“My goodness! Could that man be a gay?! He gave you something that could never be handed over unless he deeply loved Jun-nim!”

“He probably didn’t know I would come out of there with a Holy Relic either.”

The others only vaguely thought that a Holy Relic was amazing—but ironically, the one who knew the value of a Holy Relic best in this place was Unika.

If she found out how sick and tired the group had gotten of coming into contact with Holy Relics during this Grand Quest, she would probably faint.

“I see. Glittertoss must have known about this. That’s why he accepted my proposal so easily…!”

“I see the volcano.”

Even while Unika was making a fuss, Tilla, who had been calmly observing the surroundings, suddenly uttered those words.

Was it because the party had already entered the barrier territory? Beyond the horizon, which had looked like a wide plain until just now, a truly gigantic mountain could be seen rising.

Whether the rumors of it constantly undergoing volcanic activity were true, black smoke was rising even now, to the point that it felt strange they had not noticed it until now.

Perhaps Uralta was a city formed around that volcano.

Unika stared blankly at the volcano that had revealed itself closer than expected and spoke.

“Normally, we would have had to make a long detour from here.”

“At our speed, an hour should be enough. What do you think? Do you realize Jun’s greatness a little now?”

“…We are the ones who introduced you to Jun-nim, so why are you acting so proud?”

Unika, who snapped in disbelief at Tilla for shrugging her shoulders and boasting on behalf of Gi-jun, who was the actually impressive one, let out a sigh and spoke.

“Then let’s go right away. Glittertoss will welcome us.”

It seemed like they could arrive at Uralta at any moment, but the way there was not that easy.

This was because the temperature rose as they drew closer to the volcano, and before long, the air became hot enough that those with low species ranks could not even endure it.

―You are in an environment with high temperature, geothermal heat, and a natural barrier that confuses the senses. Due to the influence of the Adaptation (Uc) skill, all abilities increase by 15%.

―You are in an environment with high temperature, geothermal heat, and a natural barrier that confuses the senses. Due to the influence of the Adaptation (Uc) skill, all abilities increase by 15%.

As expected, the Adaptation skill activated.

On the other hand, there was no sign of Gi-jun’s unique skill, as if it did not even consider this level of environment as a debuff.

Eun-shin, who was walking side-by-side next to him, let out an exclamation of admiration, perhaps because his Adaptation skill had activated at the same time as Gi-jun’s.

“This skill is seriously broken. It’s not even limited to stats, all my abilities rose by 10%.”

“If you grow it to the Uncommon grade, it rises by 15%.”

“…It hasn’t been long since you obtained the skill, so how is it already Uncommon?”

“If you rush headlong into a vampire castle, it becomes like that.”

Anyone else would have shown a fed-up reaction here, but Eun-shin clicked his tongue in regret.

“I should have gone to the castle too, after all.”

“Don’t worry, there will be a next time.”

“Then, I’ll protect your back, Hyung.”

“…Saying there will be a next time, shouldn’t we be worried instead?”

Overhearing those words from the side, Unika wiped the sweat from her forehead and reacted in disbelief.

Then, as if she suddenly recalled something, she narrowed her eyes and asked Gi-jun.

“Is it perhaps related to the other Divine Beast you mentioned last time?”

“As expected of Unika, you’re sharp.”

“That’s because Jun-nim promised to make me shoes from the leather obtained by catching a Divine Beast.”

“So that’s the reason you remember…”

Thinking there was no reason not to show her the damaged Jarnvidr entry pass since he had already shown Unika even the Holy Relic, Gi-jun opened his inventory—and realized it was now vibrating and spewing light.

“…Huh?”

Hold on, no way.

Gi-jun, who narrowed his eyes similarly to Unika from earlier, turned to look at her and asked.

“Unika, don’t tell me there is a legend about a Divine Beast sleeping in Uralta?”

“…”

At those words, Unika gulped.

Her pupils were shaking violently.

Just as Gi-jun was about to ask why, Unika muttered in a trembling voice.

“To think the anomaly in Uralta was due to a Divine Beast.”

“What do you mean.”

Was this something to be happy about since there was no longer a need to go searching for the Divine Beast?

To the dumbfounded Gi-jun, Unika spoke as if making an excuse.

“As you know, Jun-nim, a Divine Beast is not such a common existence! If I had known something as dangerous as a Divine Beast was lurking here, I wouldn’t have brought you to Uralta.”

“I have no intention of blaming you, Unika. I was planning on catching the Divine Beast sooner or later anyway.”

The Divine Beast paired with Hati—Skoll was known as the wolf that swallowed the sun.

Naturally, harboring strong heat would make it difficult to raid, but Gi-jun had experienced a massive growth in his ability to control light and heat as he reached the Unique grade this time, and since Tilla, a Flame Human, had also promoted to the Legendary grade, it could be said that their countermeasures against the heat were perfect.

‘Skoll. If we catch him, will we be able to enter the secret realm of Jarnvidr? I originally planned to go to the Magic Kingdom after stopping by Uralta, but since Ji-hye has to stay in Cor for the time being anyway, would it be better to visit Jarnvidr before that? …No, even setting Skoll aside, would our party even be able to endure in Jarnvidr?’

Jarnvidr.

This meant the Iron Wood, and was the place where Hati and Skoll were born, as well as the roughest of rough terrains inhabited by the Jotunn, the giants appearing in Norse mythology.

Of course, if they entered such an extreme environment, Eun-shin would be able to do the training he wanted to his heart’s content, but.

Just as Gi-jun, whose mind had become complicated upon encountering in an unexpected place the task he had postponed until now, was staring blankly up at the volcano.

―Rumble

As if guarding against him, the volcano began to erupt.

Looking at the lava soaring into the sky, Unika spoke in a stiff voice.

“It looks too dangerous to climb the mountain right now. Let’s rest here for a bit first…”

“No, it’s fine.”

—Keeeee!

In tune with Gi-jun’s firm voice, Ur stepped forward and cried out loudly.

Rodim, Tilla’s Red Flame Beast, received his master’s gaze and landed lightly next to Ur while wagging his tail.

“We are sleeping in Uralta tonight.”

“Rodim, let’s go.”

The spirit and the Red Flame Beast simultaneously began to sprint.

Even while the earth was turning upside down and lava was erupting here and there, the path they advanced on was as smooth as if a carpet had been laid out.

Unika, who belatedly recalled the fact that Gi-jun had erupted a volcano during the faction war in Cor, ran along quietly behind them.

“Oh, you’ve finally come, VVIP!”

Not long after, the group entering the entrance of Uralta truly received a grand welcome from Glittertoss.

“Everything is because of that guy! We must tear the traitor of our clan to pieces this instant!”

“The volcano continuing to erupt, the divine blessing not dwelling in our works, and Mary rejecting my confession are all because of Glittertoss!”

“Glittertoss! We will offer you as a living sacrifice to appease Lord Ptah’s wrath!”

Although he was in a state of being tightly bound in ropes and hung on an execution pyre.