A Search for Imir
Thwack!
The 51st floor, Blood Swarm.
Record-breaking clear.
Splat!
The 52nd floor, Night Moth.
Record-breaking clear.
Crash!
The 53rd floor, Dragon Wyrms.
Record-breaking clear.
Because I cleared three floors in record time within just three days, the Hunter Administration Office was thrown into utter chaos.
If I kept climbing at a rate of one floor per day, it would take less than a week to reach the 59th floor, where Choi Muryeong was currently stuck.
It seemed the Bureau had already set up a dedicated support team for my high-floor raids, planning to attach them to me the moment I reached the highest floors.
…I was really just trying to test Bell, though.
Indeed.
After seeing Bell wipe out the 51st floor all by himself, I wondered how he would fare on the 52nd and 53rd floors, which also featured flying insect-type monsters.
The result, as you can see, was…
An absolute slaughter.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Of course, it was likely only possible because the enemies were insect-type monsters. Whether I could use Bell in the 60s, where demons started appearing, remained to be seen.
Anyway.
Thanks to that, I managed to conserve my stamina and run the tower twice a day.
Once with Bell clearing it, and then once by myself.
New Record Achieved!
Thanks to that, I was even able to break my own records.
After all, I was still faster than Bell.
"Hunter Lee!"
Kang Mina greeted me the moment I returned.
She originally belonged to the Talent Management Team.
However, after I cleared three floors in a row, she was promoted to the leader of my dedicated support team.
It made sense, considering she was the one in the Bureau who knew me best.
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes, I have something important to tell you!"
Kang Mina smiled, though her face looked exhausted.
It was unprecedented for a guild-affiliated hunter to get a dedicated team from the Bureau, so she must have been swamped with work.
"You could have just texted me."
"It's too important for that," Mina whispered, lowering her voice.
"First, let's go to the conference room."
Following her, I was greeted by a brand-new department instead of the usual Talent Management Team.
It had some long, convoluted name like the 'Independent Cooperation and Coordination Team,' but apparently, nobody actually called it that.
Everyone just referred to it as the 'Lee Taepyeong Team.'
Anyway.
What could be so important that we had to move to a private room?
I leaned back in my chair and looked at Kang Mina.
"Hunter Lee."
"Yes?"
"I must ask you to refrain from climbing the Babel Tower for the time being."
Huh?
What was she talking about?
Instead of asking me to climb faster, she was asking me to stop?
I stared at her, utterly baffled.
Mina looked equally troubled.
"Actually, during the month you were away, Hunter Lee..."
"Yes."
"Several disappearances have occurred around the world."
"...Disappearances?"
"Yes. To be precise, not in the real world, but inside the Babel Tower."
"..."
"Over thirty hunters have already gone missing."
But people going missing in the Babel Tower was a common occurrence. It was a dangerous place, after all.
In fact, surviving and returning was the real anomaly.
...I don't get it.
Sensing my confusion, Mina quickly continued her explanation.
"These disappearances are different from the usual ones."
"Usually, those who go missing in the Babel Tower are low-level hunters between levels 1 and 10."
That was true.
"However, the hunters who disappeared this time are all Awakened of level 30 or higher."
Oh?
Now that was strange.
"What's more, they were all raiding floors appropriate for their levels. One of them was a specialist who had cleared the 31st floor over a hundred times."
"So they were veterans who had no business going missing."
"...Exactly."
Of course, even veterans faced danger. But that was usually when something changed—like challenging a new floor or attempting an achievement run.
Yet, most of these missing hunters vanished during routine raids that were no different from their usual runs.
"Today, one of the missing hunters returned..."
Mina pulled out her phone with a grim expression.
"He's a Canadian hunter named Winston. The 31st-floor specialist I just mentioned."
On the screen, a massive, bear-like man sat with a completely vacant, hollow expression.
"...His entire team was wiped out. He was the only survivor."
Mina pressed the play button.
"This is..."
"It's a video shared by Canada early this morning."
Mina's expression was dead serious.
"We can't tell exactly what's happening inside the tower from this alone, but..."
"..."
"It's clear that someone is doing this with a specific intention."
"..."
"So, you must be extremely careful for the time being."
I nodded obediently. Mina looked far too serious for me to make a joke.
Of course, I have a pretty good idea of what's going on...
But it wasn't something I could easily explain here.
"I'll be careful."
"Yes. Please. Losing you, Hunter Lee, is something I can't even begin to imagine..."
"Don't worry. I'll keep a low profile for a while."
"R-Really?"
I grinned and stood up from my seat.
"It would be a huge headache for you if I went missing, wouldn't it?"
"...Extremely, extremely troublesome."
"I'll make sure not to go missing."
I shrugged nonchalantly.
Missing, huh?
As if I'd ever go missing.
Maybe another one of Imir's clones would, though.
"Enter Babel Tower."
With just those words, one could enter the tower from anywhere, not just the official entry points.
However, entering the tower from an unofficial location was practically suicide for ordinary people.
That was why nobody did it.
Come to think of it, was this my first time entering the tower from somewhere other than an entry point?
Whoosh!
Well, the sensation wasn't any different. Maybe I was just used to it by now.
Whoooooosh...
The 46th floor, Snowy Mountain.
A fierce, biting wind howled around me.
Roaaaaar...!
And from far away, the roar of an Ice Bear echoed. It would probably head this way soon.
But I wasn't here to hunt Ice Bears today.
"Bell, go play."
Flash!
As if it had been waiting for those words, Bell leaped out from the shadows.
Pitter-patter!
Bell dashed off at lightning speed toward the source of the Ice Bear's roar.
I watched Bell's figure disappear into the snowy peaks before speaking.
"Come out, Imir."
I summoned Imir.
Pop!
Imir materialized instantly.
With hands clasped together and head bowed low, his posture was the very definition of polite and submissive.
He clearly knew what was coming.
"You heard that too, right?"
"...Yes, Master."
Imir was already trembling like a leaf.
"They said they need to find 'Lord Imir.'"
"..."
"That would be you, wouldn't it?"
"Y-Yes..."
"Who's looking for you?"
"..."
"Do I need to make you speak?"
"I-It's... my main body..."
Imir's face was beyond pale; he looked completely bloodless, white as a sheet.
"M-M-Master! Unlike the main body, I have sworn my absolute loyalty only to you! I swear on my life that this has absolutely nothing to do with me...!"
Imir began to make excuses frantically.
Of course he would.
He was already a separate entity from the main body, nothing more than my loyal slave.
However.
His mental structure was bound to be identical to the main body, Imir.
Which meant...
Japmir also knew exactly what was happening right now, and what the main body was thinking.
Gulp.
Reading the look in my eyes, Imir hurriedly spoke up.
"A-As I mentioned before, the main body is hiding in the Demon Castle on the 69th floor."
There were six fragments of Imir in total.
The largest fragment, the one that could be called the true 'Imir,' was the main body residing in the Demon Castle.
The remaining five fragments were scattered throughout the tower.
One monitored the movements of the dragons in the 70s, while the others watched the flow of the tower in the 50s, 40s, and 30s respectively.
They weren't just monitoring, either.
Their mission was to directly reveal themselves and form contracts when they found worthy beings, harvesting sacrifices in return to make the main body stronger.
That was the duty of the 'fragments.'
Japmir was the one stationed in the 40s, responsible for the contract with the white orcs at the snowy mountain altar...
Well, that plan had gone down the drain.
"The main body must know that it lost a fragment, but that the fragment has not been 'destroyed.'"
"So?"
"It is trying to retrieve me."
"How?"
"The clones on the 50th and 70th floors cannot easily leave their posts. Therefore, the one currently searching for me is likely the clone from the 30s."
"Oh?"
"If they retrieved the souls of the white orcs, they might have realized that a 'human' has the fragment. So..."
"They're capturing humans and torturing them for information?"
"T-That is likely the case. B-But! This has absolutely! Absolutely! Absolutely nothing to do with me, who has been reborn after meeting you, Master...!!"
Imir desperately drew a line between himself and the others.
"Hmm."
I looked at him and chuckled softly.
"I know exactly what to do."