The Mirror King's Defeat
The Frost King. I-I barely managed it.
Mina let out a weary sigh as she collapsed onto the floor. How had it come to this? It had all started when she converted one of the three swords she had created back into mana, absorbing it in her desperate bid to save Seok-jun.
"Lee Jun? What's the matter all of a sudden!?"
Lee Jun had seized her shoulder, halting her in place. Mina's heart had been racing so fiercely that she wanted to sprint straight toward Seok-jun, but—
"It's a message from Grizzly."
"From Seok-jun?"
Mina paused, momentarily confused, until he tapped the side of his helmet near his ear. That gesture clued her in. She remembered the ski resort incident—how he had contacted them then, carrying her while transforming into a snowboard to help defeat the freeze golem. They must have had some private communication device just for the two of them.
"When the signal comes, throw the sword at the mirror's core."
"The core? But no matter where I look..."
She still hadn't identified the real one. That was when Mina realized it. The cores that had been scattered everywhere—above, below, and all around—had noticeably dwindled. Especially after she shattered the ceiling mirror, no cores remained visible overhead.
The cores reflected in the mirror have been reduced to four directions?
Cores were still visible afterward, but they pointed in the same directions anyway. The crucial point was that every core on the ceiling had vanished. In a normal mirror that reflected objects accurately, the true core should have been right where Mina and Lee Jun stood.
But there's nothing here.
That meant the real core existed in the form reflected by the mirror. Yet there were now four wall mirrors in total. She had already absorbed one of her three prepared swords to recover her mana, leaving her with only two in hand. It wasn't enough to cover every direction, and forging two more would drain what little mana she needed to reinforce her body.
Still, failing to create another sword would mean gambling blindly without knowing which was real.
There was one more, wasn't there?
The one with Seok-jun. The moment Mina realized this and glanced his way, he was already spinning her sword, tethered by a rope of his own mana. Ready to throw it to her at any second.
When she raised one sword, he hurled his toward the Frost King's flank as if he had been waiting for exactly that. Mina, in turn, flung hers with all her strength toward the core in the opposite direction from where the king's gaze had shifted.
One sword flew straight at the Frost King's front. The blade Seok-jun had held stabbed weakly into the ground before Mina and returned to her. But—
We're still one sword short!
Even now, only two swords could be thrown. One direction would inevitably miss a core. As Mina agonized over what to do next—
"It's not the back. He said to throw them at both sides."
At Lee Jun's relayed instruction, she hurled the swords toward the mirrors excluding the one behind the Frost King without a moment's hesitation. First to the right.
Ugh, my mana...!
The instant she released the final sword to the left, the mana reinforcing her body ran completely dry. Drained from total mana exhaustion, she could only sit there and watch helplessly as the blades soared toward the three directions excluding the rear.
Please hit!
She watched with a flicker of dread. The Frost King twisted his body to the right.
"...What?!"
In that moment, the sword thrown to the right pierced straight through the core on that side.
"Heh. So you were aiming for this all along?"
The Frost King asked in a hollow voice. Seok-jun replied calmly.
"If an object is reflected in a mirror, the same object must exist on the opposite side. I figured that's how you would see it."
After all, the only swords he had shown you were two.
"Isn't that right, Mirror King?"
"Indeed. It seems I have been deceived within my own domain. However, if we assume that, then logically my core should have been at your feet, no?"
Mina nodded as she listened to their exchange. By the principles of mirrors, the Frost King's core should have been on the floor mirror from the very beginning.
"No matter how true the saying that the area beneath the lamp is the darkest, there is nothing more dangerous than leaving something so vital in a place where your enemy can strike it at any time."
Seok-jun shrugged, remarking that if it had been him, he would have been so anxious he could barely have moved. He continued.
"And when you began attacking us from the ceiling, I began to suspect. You still could not use mana at all."
"Oh?"
"Eh?"
Mina forgot how far away she was and let out a bewildered sound. If that was true, how had he managed to attack them from the ceiling after turning the entire cavern into mirrors?
"The evidence is that golem there."
The spot Seok-jun indicated was exactly where Mina and Lee Jun had stood. A golem? There was nothing...
"This is..."
Only then did Mina see it from her position. Precisely at the center where she had charged forward to target the Frost King at the closest possible range. Collapsed transparent fragments lay scattered there. They had been invisible before, but upon approaching to inspect—
"A freeze golem? No, this is somewhat more..."
It was a freeze golem shaped similarly to the Frost King himself. This must have been what moved like his avatar, threatening them. It appeared to have been sliced when Mina launched her slash at the ceiling; the clean cut surface was visible.
"Why do you think so? If that were my avatar, wouldn't it be more natural to assume I was using mana?"
That was true. If creating such a thing wasn't done with mana, what other explanation could there be?
"If you could create such things with mana, you would have simply produced several and overwhelmed us with numbers. That would have been far cleaner and more efficient. Yet only that single golem was imitating you."
"But I still have questions. How did you notice the golem? I made it transparent."
The Frost King nodded at Seok-jun's explanation but pressed further.
"And the core's location? Even if you realized I was the center, you could not have been certain where the core itself lay, correct?"
That had been Mina's question as well. Until she heard Seok-jun's reasoning, she had not been able to perceive the golem at all.
"The fact that you ask both questions together suggests you already suspect the answer. It's the light."
"Light?"
"Mirrors do not produce light themselves. They only reflect it."
Therefore, even a box lined with mirrors would show nothing if covered. Yet despite this place being exactly that sort of enclosed space, the interior was bright. That meant there had to be a light source—and the odds were high that it was the core. It was the most vital organ, after all, and the one that held the greatest amount of mana.
"I deduced that the core would be on the opposite side of the darkest shadow."
Even inside a mirror, shadows form. No matter how perfectly a mirror reflects light, it cannot reflect every ray completely. The more reflections repeat, the fainter the light becomes.
"The same principle applied to the golem. No matter how transparent, reflection occurs at certain angles. That light led me to conclude you were only pretending to use mana."
"Final question. How did you know I could not use mana?"
When the Frost King asked gravely, Seok-jun looked up at him and pointed at himself with his thumb.
"We are the proof."
"....Puhahahahahahaha!!!"
The Frost King's booming laughter echoed through the cavern. Mina stared blankly, still trying to process the situation, as Seok-jun went on.
"We do not die even when our mana is depleted."
"Ah!"
Now that she thought about it, she too had squeezed out every last drop of her mana. Yet her life was not in danger. She simply felt utterly exhausted.
"So you assumed you were merely moving your own body."
Because, as he had said at the start, every part of this cavern that the king occupied was his body.
"To be seen through so thoroughly is almost refreshing."
The Frost King spoke and sprawled out on the ground. His massive frame caused the earth to rumble with a heavy thud.
"May I ask your names?"
"What are you..."
Sensing the battle was over, Mina approached Seok-jun's side alongside Lee Jun. She faltered at the Frost King's question.
"Cha Seok-jun."
"Lee Jun."
"You're just going to tell him that easily?!"
Mina cried out at their nonchalant responses, but—
"Lee Mina."
Flustered by the crimson lens-like eyes fixed on her, she hid behind Seok-jun and answered in a small voice.
"I see. So those are your names."
He blinked the light from his lens-like eyes as though savoring the sound, nodding several times before the red glow brightened once more.
"You have defeated me. If you have questions, I will answer them one by one."
"Defeating you in this state hardly seems like something worth bragging about."
Seok-jun spoke without enthusiasm. The Frost King let out a great laugh.
"This is simply the result of my defeat. Yet it is also my form. I cannot deny it. Therefore, no one can deny that you have defeated me."
Since I myself acknowledge it, claim the victor's rights.
Seok-jun appeared to be considering his words when Lee Jun raised his hand first and waved it wildly.
"Hmm, very well."
"How do you even take care of your business looking like that?"
"Why would you ask something so pointless?!"
Mina pressed a hand to her forehead, at a loss for what to do with Lee Jun. The Frost King answered with complete seriousness.
"Business? You mean digestion. I do not know. For us, it is something we may do or not do as we choose."
"There's no relief, big or small? How unsatisfying!"
"Please stop obsessing over weird things!!"
While Mina shouted at Lee Jun, Seok-jun asked another question.
"Does that mean you can control it according to your will?"
"That is correct. At the same time, it is not."
Yet another incomprehensible reply. Mina wondered if he would elaborate, but—
"Now for the final question."
"E-eh? Me?!"
Mina panicked as the red light turned toward her, but Lee Jun and Seok-jun were already watching her as though the matter were settled.
She thought hard about what to ask. One thing had been bothering her.
"Could you tell me about contractors?"
It was something he had mentioned after seeing Seok-jun's mana that had stuck with her. She understood that Yu Seong-jin was an S-grade hunter, but the term "contractor" was entirely new to her.
"Hmm. Contractors."
The Frost King let out a low rumble before finally answering.
"My desire to rip those bastards' faces bare is overwhelming. However, no matter how you look at it, they are still of the same kind. There is only one thing I can say."
Beware of contractors.