Imugi
As he stepped inside, he examined the walls.
Every surface was covered in murals whose age was impossible to determine.
They were filled with bizarre characters and drawings, making it difficult to tell what they meant.
"There's no need to look that closely. It's just drawings about how the imugi is insanely strong and magnificent."
Jinhyeok, who had been leading the way, turned back.
Elia was casually interpreting the pictures and writing.
"You can read that?"
"Of course. There's no script in this world I don't know, you know?"
"As expected, that comes with age."
"Don't call it age. It makes me sound old."
She said it jokingly, but the fact that Elia could read those characters meant only one thing.
So they're connected.
It meant that Elia's world and this one were not completely separate.
It felt like he had stumbled upon something enormous, yet it didn't quite sink in.
If anything, his head felt fuzzy.
Of course, this alone wasn't proof that the worlds had always been connected.
It could be a place that never existed before and had only appeared after the Tower emerged.
Let's just find the imugi.
Before they could go any farther, Elia tapped Jinhyeok on the shoulder.
Knowing what she meant, Jinhyeok spoke.
"I'll go alone from here. Everyone, dismiss your manifestations!"
After confirming that all his companions had disengaged their manifestations, he moved forward again.
The Yordle Compass no longer worked.
It felt like it was saying, I've brought you this far, now find it yourself.
At least there aren't any forks in the road.
The path stretched straight ahead, so there was little chance of getting lost.
Saaaaaa—
A faint blue glow leaked out from the far edge of his vision.
The moment he stepped into it, his darkened view was flooded with light.
The cold that had been wrapping around his body vanished.
In its place came a chill so sharp it made his skin prickle.
He had taken only one step, yet it felt as if he had crossed into another dimension.
"It's huge."
Jinhyeok lifted his gaze and muttered in awe.
A vast chamber whose ceiling could not be seen.
Filling it was an enormous mass of ice, so large its size was impossible to gauge.
He reached out and touched the ice.
Tap.
The instant his fingers made contact, the murky interior turned clear.
"Whoa…"
His mouth fell open with a gasp.
The inside of the ice was not empty.
A serpent coiled within.
Though calling it a serpent might not have been accurate.
Compared to this, even the centipede elder looked cute.
It was monstrously massive.
Its girth was so thick it put most building pillars to shame.
Ding!
[You have discovered an imugi that has been asleep for thousands of years!]
[This is a world-first discovery! Would you like to update the Book of Honor?]
Don't you dare!!
For once, the system was being considerate and asking his opinion.
Absolutely not.
China was a country obsessive about national security to begin with.
And Jinhyeok hadn't even gone through proper immigration procedures.
If word got out that an illegal resident had claimed something like this, they would stop at nothing to hunt him down.
[Checking the Player's class! Class 'Collector' confirmed!]
[Unique Trait 'Achievement Collecting' has been added!]
Oh?
After cards and weapons, achievements were now included as well.
At first, he had thought the class name was a little over the top.
But with traits being added one after another, it was starting to feel strangely appropriate.
Let's see.
He circled the ice and checked on the imugi's condition.
Judging by the fact that it didn't stir at all, it was still asleep.
He rubbed his chin.
How was he supposed to extract its heart?
After poking around for a while, trying to figure out how to get it out in the first place…
The cold aura around him suddenly intensified.
Just standing still made every hair on his body stand on end.
He slowly turned his head toward where he felt the presence.
Something blue was slowly taking shape.
I want to call my friends.
It wasn't necessarily dangerous, but it was scary.
He felt like hugging Kancho would at least make things better.
At last, the blue form took on a human shape and moved its mouth.
It seemed to be speaking, but he couldn't understand a word.
Ding!
[The imugi is attempting to communicate with you! Responding to the conversation is the Player's choice!]
It sounded like he'd have to brace himself if he accepted.
He nodded without hesitation.
If he wasn't going to, he wouldn't have come this far in the first place.
"Are you human?"
Though the language was still strange, the meaning now came through.
"Shall I guess why you came to find me? To obtain power you were never meant to have, I presume."
Immortality was a form of power too, so he couldn't deny it.
"You're not wrong."
"Countless humans have come seeking me throughout the ages. And they all desired the same thing."
It seemed people had always longed for eternal life, no matter the era.
"How did you end up trapped here, Imugi?"
"I am not trapped. I am merely waiting for the time to ascend."
"When that time comes, will you be able to leave this place?"
"Of course."
What flashed through his mind was transfer.
A mysterious phenomenon that occurred without warning, at random times.
Perhaps what the imugi was waiting for was also a transfer to a floor that suited it.
"Now then, human. Speak your desire. There is no need to hide it."
"Can you really give it to me if I say it?"
He didn't specify that he wanted its heart.
If he said that outright, it might burst out of the ice and headbutt him on the spot.
The imugi stared at him for a moment, then curled its lips upward.
"Of course. I am a being who has lived for thousands of years. To you, it would be a miracle; to me, little more than a trivial amusement. If you wish it, I shall grant it."
"Thank you."
"However, I will not give it freely. More precisely, I cannot give it to just anyone. I, too, have my standards."
With a light wave of its hand, a massive scale appeared between the imugi and Jinhyeok.
"This is a scale that measures you. It will judge whether you are worthy of receiving my power. Well? Do you accept?"
Perhaps noticing his hesitation, the imugi let out a soft laugh.
"There is no need to be afraid. You have nothing to lose. I will demonstrate first."
Energy flowed from the imugi's form and settled onto one side of the scale.
It immediately tilted.
"See? Nothing happens."
"That's true."
"I ask again. Do you accept?"
It asked calmly, but inside, the imugi's mouth was parched with anticipation.
How long had it been since it last saw a human?
And one possessing such potent energy at that.
Enough to sate this maddening hunger, at least for a while.
The Scale of Devouring.
A divine authority granted only to imugi that had lived for over a thousand years.
A power perfectly suited to a creature that had grown stronger by deceiving others with its forked tongue.
Accept it. Say it. Hurry.
Perhaps sensing that urgency…
Jinhyeok, who had been staring at the scale, finally spoke.
"I accept."
The instant the words left his lips, blue energy surged from his body.
"Kiiiiiyaaah!!"
As his power slowly transferred to the scale, the imugi opened its mouth wide.
An unearthly cry spilled forth.
"Foolish creature of a foolish race! You humans are nothing but greed, never knowing your place! I will savor your soul!"
There was no need to hide anything now.
Once the scale activated, it would never stop until one side was devoured.
Jinhyeok quietly looked at the imugi and spoke.
"Honestly, at first I had my doubts. Whether it was really right for me to kill a being that's lived for thousands of years just because I needed it. It felt a little too villainous, you know?"
"And who do you think is killing whom? Don't make me laugh."
"Then an old friend of mine told me something."
He continued evenly, recalling the previous night.
"An imugi deceives people with its treacherous tongue. It has devoured thousands, tens of thousands, and used them as nourishment to grow this large. So there's no need to feel guilty."
"And yet, you were still deceived by me! Idiot!"
Unfazed, Jinhyeok continued to recite Elia's words.
"An imugi is so massive that a physical fight could drag on for quite a while. Depending on the terrain, it might even manage to escape. But there's no need to worry. There's an easy way to kill an imugi."
The corner of Jinhyeok's lips lifted.
"An imugi is arrogant, but it is also a coward. It will never bring out the scale unless it believes it is guaranteed to win. So just as an imugi has deceived people with its serpent's tongue, you should deceive its serpent's eyes with the power you possess."
"What nonsense are you—!"
The imugi cut itself off.
Behind Jinhyeok, multicolored shapes began to form.
A moment later, they took distinct shapes and lined up behind their master.
"Ridiculous! Only the power of two beings can be placed on this scale! Numbers will not change the outcome!"
Brimming with confidence, it declared this…
But only seconds later, the imugi's eyes widened.
Why?
Why were strange colors beginning to mingle within Jinhyeok's energy as it flowed toward the scale?
No one else's power was being added.
It was simply that his energy had always been this way—now blazing in countless hues, growing to an utterly absurd size.
Before they were heroes, they were cards collected by a Collector.
There was no circumstance under which their power would ever be evaluated separately.
"Actually, I'm pretty timid myself. So in the end, I asked my friend one last question. Even so, it's still an imugi that's lived thousands of years. Isn't it too dangerous?"
As Jinhyeok finished speaking, Elia stepped forward from behind him.
And she repeated to the letter the answer she had given him.
"There's nothing to worry about. It's just a snake."
A cruel smile curved her lips.
"Something like that could never surpass us."
The moment her words faded into the air—
Jinhyeok's power was placed onto the scale.
KUUUUUUNG!!!
There was no need to measure and compare.
Unable to withstand the weight bearing down on one side, the imugi's scale vanished into nothingness.
"Ah..."
Though one of its promised authorities had been erased, not everything was lost.
The power dwelling within the imugi inside the ice began to pour into Jinhyeok.
"This can't be…"
The imugi wanted to scream that this was impossible, but no such luxury was given.
Its form shattered and dispersed.
KRAKAKAKAK—
Cracks spread through the ice that had imprisoned it.
The ice began to collapse into fragments.
For a long time, the imugi must have believed without a doubt—
That on the day this ice broke, it would soar into the sky at last.
But what awaited the imugi when it emerged from the ice was not flight.
It was—
KUUUUUUNG!!
A plunge into death from which it would never rise.
Shards of ice blasted outward in all directions, and the chill that had clung to him disappeared.
"Haa…"
Jinhyeok finally released the breath he'd been holding.
A white cloud of vapor dispersed into the air.
Ding!
A message appeared amid the drifting mist.
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T/N:
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