I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 366: Master?

Kahr’uun warriors stumbled back with their weapons raised and magic flaring instinctively. Even after witnessing the transformation, fear was deeply ingrained. How could it not be? This being had slaughtered hundreds only moments ago.

She stopped when she reached Victor.

He was still kneeling with his body drained beyond exhaustion and shoulders sagging as if the weight of the sky rested upon them.

A young and terrified Kahr’uun warrior near the front lost his nerve.

"She’s going to kill him!" he screamed.

A shard of ice condensed in his palm and hurled forward.

Victor reacted without thinking.

Boom.

A telekinetic wave exploded outward from him. The warrior was flung backward as if struck by a mountain, skidding across the ice before slamming into a snowbank unconscious.

Victor’s voice rang across the battlefield, hoarse but ironclad.

"No one touches her."

Silence fell like a blade.

The girl stepped closer, then lowered herself smoothly to one knee before Victor.

Her head bowed.

"...Master."

The word echoed.

Every Kahr’uun present froze.

Rhozan’s staff slipped from his grasp and struck the ice with a dull clatter.

Master?

Victor exhaled slowly.

He reached out with fingers trembling slightly from fatigue. She took his hand carefully, as if afraid he might vanish, and helped him to his feet.

Her strength surprised him.

The crowd recoiled another step.

Victor straightened as much as his battered body allowed and swept his gaze across the warriors.

"It’s going to be fine," he said calmly. "She won’t hurt anyone unless I allow it."

A murmur rippled through the ranks filled with fear, disbelief and confusion.

Victor’s eyes hardened.

"And if anyone dares attack her," he continued as his voice dropped into something dangerous, "I will destroy them myself."

The words weren’t shouted.

They didn’t need to be.

No one doubted him.

Rhozan finally found his voice.

"Iruhun..." he began with a conflicted and shaken tone. "This—this thing—"

Victor turned toward him sharply.

"Her," he corrected. "She is her now."

Rhozan swallowed.

Victor gestured toward the girl beside him.

"As promised," he said evenly, "the blood debt will be paid. But not by the innocent."

Rhozan stiffened.

"You don’t mean—"

"I do," Victor cut in. "You said some of them still live. The ones who ordered it and the ones who ignored the screams and called it necessity."

Rhozan’s face paled.

"They are elders," he said weakly. "Pillars of our civilization."

Victor’s eyes burned.

"Then they should have known better."

The girl beside him tilted her head slightly as emotions stirred beneath the surface. Her hatred was no longer wild... it was now focused.

Victor turned to her and, for the first time since the bond formed, smiled gently.

"As promised," he said softly. "You may do whatever you wish with those who remain from that time."

Her lips parted slightly.

"...Truly?" she asked.

Victor nodded.

"Yes."

Rhozan took a step back as horror dawned fully now.

"You would condemn them?" he demanded. "They are old! Frail! They’ve lived for decades since—"

"And so have their victims been dead for decades," Victor replied coldly. "Age does not absolve guilt."

He stepped closer to Rhozan until they stood face to face.

"You lied to me," Victor continued. "You omitted the truth to manipulate my compassion. I will not allow you to protect them now."

Rhozan clenched his fists.

"If I refuse?" he asked quietly.

Victor’s gaze flicked toward the girl.

The air thickened.

"You won’t," Victor said. "Because if you do, I’ll release her. And this time, I won’t intervene."

That broke him.

Rhozan’s shoulders slumped.

"...I understand," he whispered.

Victor straightened, though his body protested fiercely.

"Take us to them," he ordered.

The girl rose from her kneeling position and stood beside him.

She hesitated, then carefully reached out and tugged lightly at his sleeve.

"Master..." she said softly. "What... what should I call you?"

Victor paused.

For reasons he didn’t fully understand, the question struck him harder than any blow.

"...Victor," he answered at last. "Just Victor."

She nodded.

"Victor," she repeated, testing the name as if it were something precious.

They began to move.

The Kahr’uun parted instinctively, opening a wide path before them. Some looked away in fear. Others stared with a mix of awe and dread.

And some—some watched the girl with something else in their eyes.

As they descended once more toward the underground ice city, Victor felt the corruption meter within him inkling forward.

He still didn’t know what it meant but he would find out after all this was over and done with.

He glanced down at the girl walking quietly at his side.

She was calm now but beneath that calm lay centuries of pain compressed into something fragile.

’I’ve taken on more than I can see,’ Victor thought grimly.

But as he remembered the small Kahr’uun girl’s innocent smile...

He knew he would do it again.

...

...

They arrived at the underground ice city and cold blue light spilled out, refracting through crystalline pillars and frozen arches.

Victor, Rhozan, the remaining warriors, and the girl walked in. The sound of boots against ice echoed down the vast corridors, carrying far—far enough that word reached the inner districts before they even arrived.

They gathered.

As they always did.

Tens of thousands of Kahr’uun emerged from their dwellings, from temples carved into ice, from communal halls warmed by mana braziers. Whispers spread like frost creeping across glass.

"The Iruhun has returned..."

"They’re alive!"

"The corruption—what happened on the surface?"

Victor felt hundreds of eyes lock onto him the moment he stepped into the grand central plaza. Some faces brightened in relief. Others were confused. Many were fearful.

Rhozan raised his staff and the crystalline tip lit up faintly as his voice echoed outward.

"People of Kahr’uun," he announced with a strained but resolute tone. "the threat on the surface... has been dealt with."

A wave of cheers erupted instantly.

Relief crashed through the city like a thaw after endless winter. People cried out, embraced one another, fell to their knees in thanks. Some even prostrated themselves toward Victor, chanting the title they had given him.

"Great Iruhun!"

"Protector!"

"Savior of Kahr’uun!"

Victor did not react.

Because he could already feel it.

The shift.

Eyes turning.

Attention slowly sliding away from him... and toward the figure standing quietly at his side.

The girl.

Her dark markings stood out starkly against her pale skin and the spiky lines that looked almost alive beneath the city’s glow. She neither smiled nor scowled. She simply observed with her gaze drifting across the gathered masses with an unsettling calm.

The cheers faltered.

Questions rose.

"Who... who is that?"

"She wasn’t with us before."

"Why does she feel... wrong?"

Victor stepped forward before the uncertainty could harden into fear.

"She is the corrupt entity," he said plainly.

Screams instantly erupted upon the revelation.

People stumbled backward, some tripping over themselves in panic. Warriors snapped into defensive formations as weapons were raised.

"The corruption?!"

"Impossible—"

"I thought the Iruhun killed it!"

"Did he bring it back to destroy us?!"

The surroundings descended into chaos.

Victor raised his hand. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The air pressure changed.

Invisible force swept outward, pressing down on every soul present. It wasn’t an attack.

It was command.

Silence fell.

Victor’s voice carried through the frozen city, clear and unyielding.

"No one," he said, "is ever going to harm her again."

Murmurs broke out instantly with disbelief and fear mixing into anger.

"Why would you protect that thing?!"

"She slaughtered our warriors!"

"She exists to kill us!"

Victor’s eyes hardened.

"You live," he said, "because ten pregnant Kahr’uun women were sacrificed to bring you here."

The words struck like a hammer.

The city froze from shock.

"You live," Victor continued. "because twenty innocent lives were taken without consent. Mothers. Children. Lives deemed expendable for survival."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Some turned pale.

Others looked away.

"The entity you call corruption," Victor said, gesturing subtly toward the girl beside him, "was born from that sin. From terror, pain, betrayal, and despair."

The girl’s fingers curled slightly at her side.

Victor went on.

"Her vengeance is valid," he stated flatly. "And you should be grateful."

That drew their attention back to him sharply.

"Grateful?" someone whispered.

"Yes," Victor said. "Because I stopped her from wiping you out entirely. Because I struck a deal. Because I chose mercy—for those who did not deserve to be judged for crimes committed before their birth."

"You are alive," Victor concluded, "only because I stood between you and consequence."

No one cheered now.

No one spoke.

Moments later, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the eastern corridors.

A procession emerged.

Elders.

Some walked under their own power, leaning on ornate staffs. Others were escorted by guards with their expressions ranging from confusion to dawning dread.

Victor recognized it instantly.

These were not ordinary elders.

Their robes bore old sigils—insignia no longer used. Titles long retired.

Leaders.

Decision-makers.

Participants.

The crowd parted instinctively as they were brought forward, whispers swelling like a storm.

"Those are—"

"Wait... they’re from that generation."

"They were alive back then?"

Some of the elders finally noticed the girl.

Their eyes widened.

"No..." one croaked. "Impossible..."

Another staggered backward. "It can’t be..."