A gigantic spear of ice suddenly crashed into the carriage, piercing straight through it before slamming into the ground behind it.
Seeing this, Tiyara—who was sitting on the ground—shouted in panic with a tense expression,
"Yuki!!!"
Then, a relaxed voice answered,
"What? Why are you screaming?"
The tone sounded calm, yet slightly surprised.
Tiyara quickly looked away from the destroyed carriage.
Yuki was standing a short distance away. Blood was flowing from one of his legs.
Tiyara immediately stood up and ran toward him.
"Are you okay?!"
Yuki kept staring at Jelrai with sharp eyes as he answered,
"Yeah... but that attack injured my leg."
Tiyara quickly said,
"Wait, I can heal something like that easi—"
Before she could finish, a giant block of ice suddenly crashed down toward them.
Both of them dodged in surprise.
Tiyara took a heavy breath.
"Haa... haa... that was sudden!"
Jelrai stood far away, calmly watching them.
Yuki glared at him with burning anger before speaking to Tiyara,
"We can worry about healing later. First, I kill him."
Tiyara silently looked at Yuki.
The next second, Yuki rushed toward Jelrai.
But suddenly, countless ice vines burst out from the ground, trying to stop and injure him.
Yuki dodged every single one while thinking dominantly,
Slow... too slow. These attacks are way too slow...
His speed suddenly increased.
Jelrai looked confused for a moment.
In the next instant, Yuki appeared behind him and was about to attack—
—but suddenly, a gigantic wall of ice rose from the ground directly in front of him.
No! I can't dodge it!
Yuki was about to crash into the wall—
—but at that exact moment, a blast of fire slammed into the ice wall, instantly vaporizing it into smoke.
Jelrai immediately looked toward Tiyara.
Her hand was still stretched toward the wall.
Then, from within the smoke—
Yuki emerged.
He jumped forward and pulled the flamethrower from his pocket.
Before Jelrai could react—
Yuki fired.
A stream of blazing flames struck Jelrai's body directly.
"AAHK—!!"
Jelrai tried to melt into the ground to escape—
—but Tiyara instantly bound him with glowing purple chains, trapping him in place.
The flames completely engulfed him.
"AAAAAAAHHH!! AHHN... HAAA...!!"
His screams echoed loudly as his body slowly melted apart.
Finally, he dissolved completely into liquid and died.
Yuki dropped onto the ground from exhaustion, receiving a small injury as he landed.
"Ouch..."
Tiyara quickly ran toward him in relief.
The flames from the flamethrower slowly disappeared.
At the place where Jelrai had once stood, only a small amount of water remained.
Seeing that, Yuki slowly stood up.
Tiyara reached him and suddenly hugged him tightly.
"Yuki~!"
The moment she hugged him, Yuki's cheeks turned red and he started blushing.
Tiyara pulled back with an energetic smile.
"You finally defeated him!"
Yuki answered calmly,
"Yeah..."
But then, his expression became serious.
A system window suddenly appeared before him.
On it, the mission "Kill Jelrai" now had a check mark beside it.
Seeing that, Yuki let out a relieved breath.
"Haa... yeah. I defeated him."
I thought he escaped... but no. I really defeated him.
A relaxed smile appeared on Yuki's face.
Meanwhile, Tiyara lightly hopped toward the broken carriage and spoke in a playful tone,
"Anyway... how are we supposed to travel now? And what about the carriage driver...?"
The carriage had been completely destroyed.
Ice still covered parts of it, and the carriage driver was dead.
Only the two horses remained alive, still tied to the wreckage.
Tiyara looked back at Yuki.
Yuki looked at her as well.
Then both of them smiled.
In another scene—
Both of them were now traveling on separate horses.
The carriage driver's body was placed behind Yuki on his horse.
Yuki thought quietly in a sad tone,
We are safe... but I still couldn't save this driver.
After a brief pause, he forced out a normal laugh.
Hahaha... what's wrong with me? Why do I keep forgetting that this world is fake? A world created by Precious.
So even if someone dies, it shouldn't matter... because... because that person was never real in the first place.
Yuki continued riding forward with a painful smile hidden deep inside him.
Then Tiyara looked ahead and said normally,
"By the way, if we keep traveling at this speed, we'll reach OHILO City in about two days."
Yuki gave no response.
Instead, he suddenly made his horse run faster.
Seeing that, Tiyara looked surprised and quickly chased after him on her own horse.
"Wait! Don't leave me alone!!"
And just like that—
both of them continued their journey at full speed.