“Hmm hmm.”
Tap tap.
Humming, footsteps.
I walked on the bridge connecting the outer and inner castle, where the sky is visible. Snow had fallen thickly, covering the bridge of the inner castle.
One step, two steps, slashing the waists of rushing demon soldiers.
Swoosh!
Blood was splattered on the pure white snow field. Demons’ blood is red.
Humming, footsteps.
“Won’t you make a snowman with me~ Chris unnie~”
While briefly singing a song in my memory, I crouched down and rolled a snowball. One snowball with a slightly reddish tinge completed.
I should make the second snowball when I come to the dungeon with unnie.
Now the inner castle is close.
Tap, jumping up slightly while diagonally slashing one, two Ice Golems guarding both sides of the door.
Thud.
They fall lightly cut.
While walking down the straight corridor of the inner castle.
Humming, footsteps. And silence.
I arrived at the audience chamber.
On the throne in front, sat a woman covered entirely in blue ice.
With a height of about an adult woman, she looked at me with a snow-white smile.
An ice witch, or something?
“What a cute little guest.”
I’m not little. I’m an adult woman.
Bow.
“Hello.”
“You’ve done well to reach this cold and humble outpost of mine. I apologize for my clumsy way of welcoming guests.”
A being that can communicate. An NPC demon with reason.
Beep.
I turned off the streaming screen. I paused the broadcast for a moment.
From now on, it’s off the record.
The conversation between the ‘hero’ and ‘mistress of the ice palace’ will remain only in my memory.
“Um, Ice Witch unnie? I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it? Since it’s a guest I’ve welcomed after a long time, shall I listen to your story before making you one of my collections?”
Rumble.
Around the Ice Witch’s throne, several statues covered entirely in ice rose up.
Their forms were human, elf, dwarf, demon and monster. Very diverse.
“You have a refined hobby.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
It wasn’t a compliment.
She’s different from the demon executives at the outpost who only said what they wanted to say, the half-chimera that only growled, and Demon General Aspero. She’s the first high-ranking demon I can have a rational conversation with.
Anyway, I have a lot of questions.
Shall I start with a more fundamental question?
“Why are you in a place like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re a demon, right? How was the Demon King’s Army organized again. Similar rank to Demon General Aspero, you’re a Demon General too, right? There should be a Legion Commander class above you.”
The Ice Witch’s eyebrow seemed to twitch slightly.
Creak, the corners of her mouth made of ice fragments rose slightly.
“You know quite a lot. In the current era, do the humans of this land have a way to know the organization of the Demon King’s Army?”
“Well, would you understand if I said I learned through memories from an extremely long time ago?”
“I don’t understand.”
Well, that’s not the important thing.
“Why are you crouching in a place like this? Don’t you feel like going out and conquering the world right away? Ah, is it a setting like you’re storing up power because the time hasn’t come yet? Why are demons bound to ‘instance dungeons’ and such? But, if there are a hundred parties, there should be a hundred Ice Witch unnies. Are you some kind of clone too?”
Wow, this is the first time I’ve spoken so long in my life. Of course it’s just an NPC, but is this the result of my social training so far?
Rumble rumble.
The entire audience chamber covered in ice vibrated. Cold energy was flowing out of the Ice Witch’s body. She seems quite angry.
“To call me a clone or something, you’ve got guts. Shall I cut you into pieces and display you?”
Clang.
I licked my lips and drew Astaroth.
As expected, an NPC is just an NPC, it can’t break the fourth wall. Even that dwarf sage ‘Village Chief Drugel’ couldn’t approach the truth of this world.
Higher-ranking demons above this unnie might know about the essence of this world.
Anyway, demons are also beings bound to the system, ‘instance dungeons’. I wonder how these things can threaten this world.
The Ice Witch, she too will surely have threatening patterns difficult to conquer alone.
Of course, she’s just a demon who doesn’t know much.
Then, she should just die obediently and fill my stomach.
It’s not strange for a hero to pursue money. It’s been that way since ancient times. Looting treasure chests in dungeons and turning over treasure chests in homes. Heroes are legal.
I will claim the rewards I should have received legally.
While I’m at it, I’ll uncover the truth of this world too.
Rumble rumble.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Ice blades started rotating around the Ice Witch. They probably have enough cutting power to easily slice my soft body in half.
The number is ten in total.
“Kyahahahah!”
The Ice Witch let out a mad laugh, lifted her body from the throne, and rushed towards me.
I raised Astaroth too and faced her ice blades.
Clang!
[3rd Named]
[Level 48 Witch Frederica]
[HP 50,000,000 / 50,000,000 (100%)]
* * *
Whoosh, whoosh!
The sound of air being cut by cold air was heard. The witch’s attack wielding ice blades as huge as her body freely.
I pulled my body back slightly. An ice blade dripping cold energy brushed right in front of my face. And I thrust in my sword containing starlight.
Clang clang clang!
Another ice blade moved to block my sword.
This witch knows how to guard.
Spin, while deflecting my sword I turned my body and slashed the witch’s side. I dug in between the ice blades that couldn’t keep up with the irregular sword path.
Whack!
A piece of ice fell off the Ice Witch’s side.
The Ice Witch’s face distorted slightly.
“You cheeky little brat!”
Flash!
White light instantly radiated from the Ice Witch’s blades across the entire audience chamber. The path it took was from my right shoulder blade to my left side. I lightly twisted my body.
Rumble!
One of the ice statues near the throne that the light brushed past fell diagonally cut.
A terrifying attack. Almost on the level of a map weapon. This is a normal pattern? Ranged dealers will have a bit of trouble.
The Ice Witch’s attacks were fierce and fast. Without time to catch my breath, three ice blades fiercely rushed towards my body. Left, right. And above my head. They all swung in simultaneously. As if trying to punish the thief hero who came to steal the dungeon master’s treasure chest.
Swish.
My vision blurred. And when it returned, I saw the Ice Witch’s back. Counterattack, a skill that takes the rear.
The blades rotated once around the Ice Witch’s body.
Clang clang clang!
I, who gained the ‘Vitality’ buff through the Just Guard judgment, started slashing the Ice Witch’s body with even stronger sword strikes.
I swing Astaroth, carving sword marks as a picture onto the statue called Ice Witch.
Fast and powerful attacks, and even guards with ice blades that seem to have will. She’s definitely not an easy being. But my sword that keeps digging in here and there breaking through the ice blade guards continued to carve wounds on the witch’s body.
The witch’s HP had already reached the 90% point.
“Kyah! You annoying little rat!”
The witch who let out a scream once floated her body up and landed a little distance away from me.
Special pattern entry.
Rumble. Crackle, crackle, crackle.
As the entire audience chamber shook from the demonic energy the witch emitted, soon icicles fell from various places on the ceiling forming cold floor signs.
The number is five in total.
I instantly surveyed the battlefield situation.
This pattern is familiar.
It’s the same method as the ‘Ice Ogre King’ from the Ice Spire Tower.
Soon the witch will absorb the cold energy and suck in all these floor signs.
Since there are five floor signs, will there be 5 full area skills? No, there’s no way it would be such a gentle pattern. ‘Witch Frederica’ is the final Named boss of an elite dungeon. She’s not a being to be compared with the Ice Ogre King who was just a slightly tougher solo boss.
If I let her absorb all the cold energy.
At minimum, enrage.
Tap tap tap!
I who made a quick judgment immediately sprang into action to remove the floor signs.
There don’t seem to be any special objects to erase the cold floor signs. By process of elimination, the only method left is to erase them with my body.
I stepped on one cold floor sign emanating cold energy near the Ice Witch without hesitation.
Woong!
The floor sign I stepped on disappeared emitting strong light. I slightly tensed my muscles in preparation for any pain that might come, but no damage came in.
Crack.
Instead my foot froze. A status effect sealing movement, ‘Freeze’.
No matter how much I fly and crawl, I can’t release ‘Freeze’ belonging to ‘status effects’ with just body movements.
Of course there is a way to release the ‘Freeze’ status effect.
Skills that have ‘coordinate movement’ judgment. Flash Strike, Backward Evasion, Counterattack etc. are those.
This time I need to borrow the power of the system.
Crash!
The witch started absorbing cold energy. The cold energy of the entire audience chamber was being sucked into the witch’s body. Soon, she will absorb all the cold floor signs.
There’s no time to delay. For now, since the Ice Witch is nearby, I first release the freeze with Counterattack.
Swish, crackle.
As my body blurred, the ice fell off my feet. I soon appeared behind the Ice Witch.
The remaining cold floor signs are four.
Tap. I stepped on the floor sign near the witch. I released the freeze while approaching the witch through an approach skill. I quickly ran back confirming the positions of the remaining floor signs.
The distance is far. I need to cross the entire audience chamber. Instead, the remaining three floor signs are quite close to each other.
Roar!
There’s not much time left. The cold floor signs were already emitting strong light, about to be sucked into the witch.
One, with my back to the two remaining floor signs, tap tap! Backward Evasion for two. Before the invincibility time disappears, I turn my body, looking towards the last floor sign, flash! Flash Strike for three.
Using all coordinate movement skills, I succeeded in erasing all floor signs. But my foot that stepped on the last floor sign is frozen.
There are no remaining coordinate movement skills to release the Freeze status.
If I take an attack in this state, it’s retirement as is.
Should I use the item’s cooldown reset function? No, I might need to use it for extreme damage.
I feel like I had one more skill that forcibly moves my body’s position.
Swish.
Looking at the witch at a distance, I lowered my posture and gripped my sword in reverse.
[Starlight Sword Energy]
[Cooldown 1 minute]
[Launches 5 sword energy imbued with starlight towards a 15m x 3m area in front (500% multiplier of Starlight Slash 4 times, 2000% multiplier 1 time]
Swish swish swish swish!
4 times, the quickly swung sword strikes containing starlight swept over the witch’s body in the form of sword energy.
Flash!
At the same time, white light radiated from the witch’s hand aiming precisely at my body, shooting diagonally.
An unguardable pattern.
If I don’t release the freeze, I’ll be split in half. But I still didn’t activate cooldown reset.
I need to land the 2000% multiplier final sword energy strike.
Without hesitation, I swung my sword containing starlight.
Crash!
“Gaah!”
The sword energy that passed through the white light dealt great damage to the witch’s body. The light that didn’t interfere with the sword energy shot straight at me.
Swish, I slightly moved my foot to the side, avoiding the witch’s light.
Of course, an action I could take because the Freeze status effect was released.
The recoil from the final strike of Starlight Sword Energy slightly moved my body backwards, releasing the freeze.
Clang clang clang!
The witch who suddenly had a fierce expression flew towards me. The ice blades circling around her clashed with my sword.
We returned to the existing normal patterns. But I couldn’t help but have doubts.
Is this really the end of the special pattern?
Of course, to erase the floor signs alone, I had to use all my skills.
But in party play, they could be erased instantly by dividing them up.
It feels like there should be something more.
My premonition was right.
Woong!
One ice blade that was circling in the air not facing me soon floated in the center of the battle area and started emitting strong light.