A Message Written in Blood
Whooooosh...
The sun had set over the snowy mountain.
With his back to the increasingly biting wind—
Clang!
Clank!
Imir was destroying the altar with his own hands.
"*Pant, pant.* Master, will this do...?"
"Yeah, that looks about right."
"T-Thank you, Master!"
Imir bowed deeply at the waist.
He was so polite it made me wonder if he was actually a demon.
"Hmm..."
I stared at the shattered altar with a satisfied expression.
Man.
Perfect.
I especially liked the completely smashed head of the statue.
"But, Master..."
"Yeah?"
"Couldn't we make that fellow do this instead?"
Imir gestured subtly toward Bell.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, then clicked my tongue.
"Why would I waste resources like that?"
"Pardon...?"
"He can clear the 51st floor all by himself. Why would I make him do menial labor?"
It was true.
While Bell was indeed a crazy killing machine, his power wasn't infinite.
If it were, I would have cleared the floors ten times a day.
He could do it once. After that, he could still move, but his performance dropped significantly.
So, chores like this...
"You have to do them."
"Y-Yes, of course! Chores must be done by this humble slave!"
"Glad you know your place."
I glanced sideways, gesturing with my chin toward a pile of Ice Bear carcasses.
"Well, aren't you going to start the next task?"
"Y-Yes, right away!!!"
Like a loyal slave, Imir rushed over to the pile of Ice Bear carcasses.
Gush, gush!
While Imir drained the blood, I drafted the contents of the 'letter'.
A letter should be concise, right?
"Master, I am ready!"
At Imir's call, I nodded.
"Write down exactly what I dictate."
"Yes!"
Red blood splattered across the pure white snowfield.
If you want your clone back, come here. Tomorrow.
The 69th floor.
"Aaaaargh!"
"Aaaaah!"
Imir, the master of the Demon Castle, listened to the screams with a bored expression.
"..."
No matter how much he tortured them, no human knew the whereabouts of his clone.
They only repeated meaningless pleas for their lives.
The soul clearly said it was a human...
Indeed.
The answer given by the White Orc's soul was 'human'.
On the day Imir's clone vanished, the only entity present there was a single human.
Of course, this was incomprehensible to Imir.
Not an elf, not a dark elf, not a dragonoid, but...
A human?
A creature so insignificant that they hadn't even reached the 69th floor yet?
Such a human had defeated his clone?
It was impossible.
Yet, a soul could not lie. Even if it did, there was no way Imir wouldn't notice.
Therefore, Imir had used his clone on the 30th floor to capture humans who matched the description of the 'human' the White Orc had spoken of.
But even among them...
He is not here.
None of the humans possessed Imir's clone.
In fact, none of them even knew of its existence.
If someone had acquired such immense power, they would have used it. And if they had, other humans would surely know about it.
"..."
No matter how deeply he pondered, no answer came.
It was only natural.
There was no way Imir could know.
To Lee Taepyeong, the power of Imir's 'clone' was nothing more than a crude toy.
And...
"Lord Imir. The sixth clone has reportedly discovered something on the snowy mountain."
He was about to lose the rest of his clones as well.
Whooooosh...
The snowy mountain altar.
Or rather, the ruins that no longer deserved the name of an altar.
In the center of it stood Imir.
This was the sixth clone, the one managing the 30th-floor range.
Even though he managed the lowest floors, he was neither weak nor inferior compared to the other clones.
After all, he, too, was 'Imir'.
"..."
Standing amidst the ruins of the altar, Imir watched two approaching silhouettes.
He could feel it.
One of them was a clone just like himself, though he felt no connection to it.
And the other was...
"...?"
A dark elf.
The one walking toward the altar was not a human, but a dark elf.
But surely...
The White Orc's soul had said the last thing it saw was a 'human'.
Why was a dark elf coming here accompanied by his clone?
No matter how stupid a White Orc might be, could it really mistake a human for a dark elf?
"..."
Actually...
Maybe it could?
If a dark elf was behind this, it made some sense.
Wiping out the White Orcs, and severing the connection to his clone...
Of course, even for a dark elf, destroying a clone was close to impossible.
But at least they had a better chance than a human.
"Tch..."
If so, all the time spent searching for humans had been a waste of effort.
Suppressing his rising irritation, Imir stared at the dark elf.
Scars from tears and stitches covered not only the dark elf's face but his entire body.
Imir instinctively realized that with such wounds, the creature shouldn't even be alive.
Which means...
It was proof of immense strength.
...I must not let my guard down.
Indeed.
Even if it was hard to believe and he didn't want to accept it, the opponent had already defeated one of his clones.
Because of this, the main body had granted this clone far more power than usual.
As a result, the strength the sixth clone possessed right now was twice its normal level.
He might even be stronger than the clone on the 70th floor.
"Is it you?" Imir asked, curling his lips into a sneer as he addressed the dark elf.
"Why would a dark elf..."
"..."
"No matter how much you are blessed by the Goddess of Night, you should know what boundaries you must not cross."
"..."
"You must have gone mad."
"..."
The dark elf remained silent.
He merely stared at Imir with dead, lifeless eyes that held not a single glimmer of light.
And so...
"Imir!"
Imir called out to the clone standing beside the dark elf—to his other self.
"I don't know what happened, but it's all over now."
"..."
"You must return to the Demon Castle."
"..."
"The main body..."
Before he could even finish his sentence—
Shring!
A wavy scimitar slashed toward Imir's neck.
It happened in an instant.
"...!"
If he had let his guard down even slightly, his head would have been rolling on the ground.
"I thought you called me here to negotiate, but I guess not."
Imir bared his teeth in a grin.
"Fine by me!"
Clang!
At the same time, blades rained down from all directions.
Imir's arms, transformed into ice scythes, deflected all the incoming blades.
And then—
Whoosh!
The pincer attack from the other Imir—
Clang!
Was also completely deflected.
"Hahaha! Too bad, but I am stronger than you right now!!!"
It was true.
Even though they were both Imir, the clone of the 30th floor currently possessed more power granted by the main body, making him naturally stronger.
Fwoosh!
Darkness expanded along with the cold.
A black blizzard began to envelop the area.
Creak, crackle...
At the same time, the dark elf's body began to freeze over.
Creak...
The limbs that were struggling to move eventually ground to a complete halt.
"...!"
Was he overwhelmed by the power?
The other Imir also stood frozen, looking at him with a face filled with dread.
Foolish clone!
Imir lunged at the dark elf triumphantly.
"Die!!!"
The sharp ice scythe—
Stab!
Pierced straight through the dark elf's heart.
"..."
It's over!
Smiling, Imir drove the ice scythe deeper and deeper.
Spurt!
Instead of a scream, the dark elf coughed up black blood.
Clatter...
The wavy scimitar he was holding fell to the ground.
Finally, he was dead...
Dead...?
...Wait a minute.
This wasn't death.
This was...
This dark elf wasn't even alive to begin with...?
And at that moment, Imir realized.
There was no 'clone' of Imir inside this dark elf's body.
Instead...
"...Ugh."
There was something else.
Something completely antithetical to a demon!
"Ugh...!"
An incomprehensible sensation washed over Imir.
It felt as if his heart was bursting and his entrails were being turned inside out.
"Bleeeaargh!!!"
Imir fell to his knees.
He tried to pull his ice scythe out to distance himself from this sensation, but—
Grab!
The other Imir tightly bound his body, preventing him from pulling the ice scythe out of the dark elf.
"W-What the f— *Gag!*"
Power began to backflow through the connection point.
Why... why is this happening?!
Imir struggled to find an answer, but the more he writhed, the more the unknown power churned his insides.
Imir began to convulse.
And then—
"...I'm sorry."
The other Imir looked down at him with pity.
For what...?
When Imir looked up at him, the clone with the exact same face answered as if reading his thoughts.
"...For everything that is about to happen."
The other Imir was genuinely sorry. No, he felt pity.
Why?
Just as that thought crossed his mind—
Stab!
Something pierced through Imir's ribs.
Tearing flesh, crushing bone, piercing his heart, crushing bone again, tearing flesh...
Splatter!
Blue blood sprayed out.
Drenched in that blood, the Sword of Calamity trembled.
Only then did Imir realize.
The 'clone' wasn't in the dark elf, it was in this sword...
"Imir."
A clear voice snapped his fading consciousness back to reality.
Imir barely managed to move his eyes to look toward the source of the voice.
"I heard you were looking for me?"
"Cough, *cough*..."
"Well, how do I look?"
"*Gasp*..."
Grinning down at Imir was—
"Good to see you too, bastard."
Just as the White Orc had said.
A 'human'.