Fire and Frost in the Depths
The entire world was burning.
A world destroyed by the Demon Lord.
Kang Yoonsoo surveyed the scene with familiar eyes.
The world had fallen once again.
Now he would die to the Demon Lord and regress to the next life.
It had become the most natural order of things.
He stood alone atop a high cliff.
That was when a voice suddenly reached him.
‘Child, this will be your final life.’
Kang Yoonsoo flinched, his shoulders trembling.
That’s right. This was his last life.
Why had he forgotten?
‘You must prepare.’
It was a familiar voice.
The same whisper he had heard in the Mudgem habitat and the Hatar Mountains.
The voice of the woman who had warned him of impending change.
‘Save the world. And save me. Bring an end to this long journey.’
“Who… exactly are you?”
No answer came.
A bright light enveloped Kang Yoonsoo’s body.
* * *
Kang Yoonsoo opened his eyes.
Was it a dream?
He looked around the dark surroundings.
A space lined with gleaming iron bars.
His body lay bound tightly in chains.
‘Black Tiger Clan headquarters underground prison.’
At that moment, a thick laugh echoed from beyond the bars.
A large-bodied guard stood there.
“Keh keh. Finally awake? I was dying to start the torture.”
“Anton. We meet at last.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“You don’t remember me? Well, my appearance has changed, so I suppose you wouldn’t. I’m Kilthon. Your older brother from the Limahill slums.”
Kang Yoonsoo softened his tone while still lying down.
The guard’s voice came, flustered.
“What nonsense! My brother was sold off as a slave when I was nine.”
“I was alive. I escaped my master, changed my appearance, attached a fake Terminal, and posed as a Traveler.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! How could something like that be possible?”
“Uncle Galton was the only relative with a mage’s blood. I asked him to change my appearance. Even if you forgot me, I never forgot you for a single moment, Anton. Those warm memories of twisting a cat’s guts and yanking a girl’s hair to torture her.”
“D-Don’t tell me… Brother? Is it really you?”
Kang Yoonsoo nodded.
The guard shook his head in disbelief, his voice trembling with tears.
“Then say the password. The one only we brothers shared as children!”
“Torturing the Saintess, the Goddess, and the Princess at the same time is our brothers’ lifelong wish.”
“I-It really is you!”
The locked prison door swung open with a clank.
The plump guard ran toward him, tears streaming down his face.
“Big brother!”
Crack—!
Kang Yoonsoo sprang up in an instant and headbutted the guard’s forehead.
The guard’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed.
Kang Yoonsoo used his foot to retrieve the keys from the guard’s waist and unlocked the chains binding him.
“Your brother was tortured to death by his master’s daughter right after being sold as a slave.”
Kang Yoonsoo stepped out of the cell.
His dimensional backpack and two longswords hung on a wall rack.
After retrieving his belongings, Kang Yoonsoo walked slowly down the corridor.
‘This is Block C. In my previous life, the Black Tiger Clan imprisoned Iris and me in the same block. Shanette and Henrik were locked in Blocks A and B.’
Along the way, he would need to find Iris’s cell and rescue her.
Footsteps echoed from across the hall.
Kang Yoonsoo quickly hid behind a wall and used his body modification tools to draw a black tiger tattoo on the back of his hand.
Then he hurried forward and spoke to the approaching figure.
“This is bad. One of the prisoners we locked up escaped.”
“What? Damn it, is that true?”
The fierce-looking clan member rushed past him toward the cell.
“No.”
Kang Yoonsoo immediately turned and struck the back of the clan member’s neck with the flat of his blade.
The precise blow to the vital point made the man gasp before collapsing unconscious.
As he walked down the corridor, he encountered four more clan members and knocked them all out the same way.
When he entered the cell where Iris was held—
“Oh my, Kang Yoonsoo.”
Iris stood calmly in the center of nine collapsed clan members.
Was Iris this strong at this point in time?
Kang Yoonsoo spoke, slightly surprised.
“What happened?”
“When I woke up, they wanted to look under my skirt. So I broke my chains and resisted, and they fell quite easily.”
Black Tiger Clan members were at least level 200.
She took them down that easily?
Kang Yoonsoo thought for a moment before speaking.
“Do you still have the Mana Golem’s traits?”
“I do. Everything feels so light.”
“Don’t eat any other hearts for a while. That strength will be very useful.”
Combined with a doppelganger’s naturally strong physique and the golem’s power, the result was explosive strength.
Iris made a sad face.
“Don’t eat hearts? You say such cruel things so casually, Kang Yoonsoo.”
“You can eat other things.”
“Hmm. Then in exchange, make me something delicious.”
“I don’t cook.”
“Really, you’re too much.”
“……Later, ask Shanette to make you an apple pie.”
Kang Yoonsoo managed to calm Iris, whose eyes had begun to well with tears.
The two walked down the corridor.
The Black Tiger Clan had converted a criminal detention facility into their headquarters.
The underground prison was vast and its layout complex.
‘If Iris’s trait has settled on raw strength, we can move faster.’
Kang Yoonsoo kicked the door ahead of them.
Inside, three rough-looking clan members were smoking cigars and playing cards.
“Who the hell are you?”
“What’s it to you?”
The moment one clan member sneered, the flat of a blade flew into his forehead.
The remaining two drew their weapons, but Iris’s strength overwhelmed them.
Leaving the three unconscious clan members behind, Kang Yoonsoo pointed at the ventilation shaft.
“Iris, tear off the frame.”
Iris easily ripped the frame away with one hand.
The space beyond the shaft was wide enough for an adult to crawl through.
“You plan to crawl through there and sneak into the cells where Shanette and Henrik are held.”
“No.”
Kang Yoonsoo shouted into the ventilation shaft.
“It’s here. Come quickly.”
Soon, heavy thumping sounds echoed from the passage beyond the shaft.
Henrik, covered in grease, crawled out with a displeased expression.
“Agh! My back nearly broke.”
Iris looked at him curiously.
“Why was Henrik in there?”
“I followed the classic protagonist prison escape scenario. Isn’t that shaft the shortcut every escapee dreams of?”
“Weren’t you bound in chains with a guard watching?”
“I detached my prosthetic left hand, wriggled free of the chains, and used a puppet to strike the guard from behind. But how are you two together? Where’s Shanette?”
“She’ll join us soon.”
Kang Yoonsoo extended his right hand.
“Salamander Sally, summon.”
A beautiful girl appeared with a flow of flames.
For some reason, Sally had puffed cheeks and a sulky expression.
“Papa! Sally is mad.”
“Why.”
“Acle is too selfish!”
Sally complained to Kang Yoonsoo, thoroughly upset.
“He won’t play with Sally and always ignores her. He always looks down on her. He won’t even call her big sister. Acle is a really bad little brother! Sally hates Acle!”
“Look at that. Even spirits have sibling rivalries, huh.”
Henrik spoke with surprise.
Kang Yoonsoo looked at Sally.
“We don’t have time. Breathe fire into the ventilation shaft. As much as you can.”
Sally kept her sulky face.
But she obeyed without complaint.
Transforming into a lizard, Sally unleashed a thick stream of flames.
Whoosh—!
The fierce fire spread through the underground via the ventilation shaft where a weak breeze flowed.
Explosions followed.
Kaboom—!
“W-What is this noise?”
“There are several gas chambers used for torture down here.”
“What? Then isn’t this dangerous?”
“At least the underground will be engulfed in fire within minutes.”
Kang Yoonsoo stepped calmly into the corridor.
The headquarters basement had become a chaos of smoke and heat.
“The gas chambers exploded! If you want to live, get upstairs now!”
The clan members scrambled up the stairs in a frenzy.
At that moment, one of the pillars supporting the ceiling melted and crashed down.
Kaboom—!
The only escape route collapsed under the fallen pillar.
The Black Tiger Clan members cursed violently.
“Someone do something!”
“We’re all going to burn to death like this! Damn it!”
Leaving the panicked clan members behind, Kang Yoonsoo walked toward the charred debris.
A woman’s hand suddenly shot up from the burning room.
“Phew!”
“……You really aren’t hot?”
“Why are you surprised now?”
Shanette rose, brushing ash from her body.
Kang Yoonsoo looked at the gathered group.
“I have something to say to everyone.”
It was rare for him to explain his plans.
Everyone watched him with serious eyes.
“I let myself be captured on purpose to make contact with the Black Tiger Clan’s leader.”
“Black Tiger Clan? Weren’t those the guys we impersonated at the Dusk Goblet Clan last time? No wonder there were so many with black tiger tattoos.”
Shanette’s eyes gleamed with enthusiasm.
“What do we need to do now?”
“We’re going to scam them.”
“……”
They were used to this by now.
Shanette sighed.
“Still, the goal is to wipe out the criminal clan, right?”
“No. We’re going to ally with the Black Tiger Clan.”
“……!”
Henrik’s face twisted grotesquely.
“Hey, you crazy bastard. After causing all this mess, you want to form an alliance with the Black Tiger Clan?”
“The Black Tiger Clan’s leader is a madman, so it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, he’s probably just like you.”
Kang Yoonsoo pulled a handkerchief from his backpack.
The four of them covered their faces like masks with the handkerchiefs.
He used his body modification tools to draw black tiger tattoos on the backs of their hands.
As the flames grew fiercer, the Black Tiger Clan members still hadn’t escaped the underground.
“At this rate, let’s make a path with corpses!”
“Can’t we put out the fire with blood?”
True to their nature as criminals, they were crude.
Kang Yoonsoo stepped forward.
“Everyone, move aside.”
He extended his right arm.
“Icicle Acle, summon.”
A chill spread as Acle appeared.
Acle wore an openly displeased expression.
“Summoning me in such a hot place! Are you out of your mind?”
“Help me, and I’ll give you the Crown of Frost.”
“W-What?”
Acle looked startled.
The Crown of Frost, the treasure of the Winterkill Ruins, was something any ice spirit would covet.
“You’ll really give me that crown?”
“If you help me enough.”
“Hmph, I don’t like it, but I have no choice! Ice Storm!”
Acle swung both hands filled with cold.
A fierce chill spread, instantly extinguishing the flames before them.
Now they only needed to climb over the collapsed section to reach the upper level.
“Keh keh! The fire’s gone!”
“We’re saved! I don’t know who you are, but thanks!”
The Black Tiger Clan members surrounded Kang Yoonsoo with vicious grins.
The one who had started the fire was being treated as a savior.