『Demon King.』

“I heard it.”

—Uwoooooooh!

The sound echoed as if from deep within a cavern. And it wasn’t just one—

—Uwoooooooh!

—Uwooh!

—Uwooooh!

The cries overlapped, enough to fill the entire expanse around them.

“From here on, keep your mind sharp,” Clay warned Selimia, “Not everything you see or hear here is real. Even with the ritual’s protection, if you lose focus, you might not be able to tell the difference.”

This was a place where fakes inevitably mixed with the real. Even now, it was impossible to know whether any of those cries belonged to an actual creature… or if none of them did.

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind,” Selimia replied, her expression resolute.

“You be careful too, Demon King.”

“Of course.”

After her words, Clay resumed walking, his boots crunching against the snow. The cries grew steadily closer.

“!”

Through the blizzard, he caught sight of a massive silhouette—a yeti, its violet eyes glowing through the white.

“Demon King!”

Selimia moved instantly, summoning a massive ice spike from the ground and hurling it at the shadow.

Craaaash!

The spike flew diagonally and struck the silhouette—only for the shape to vanish without a trace, as if nothing had ever been there.

“A… fake,” she murmured, glancing at Clay with a sheepish look.

“It’s fine,” he said without rebuke.

“You can’t be expected to judge every time whether it’s real or not. Besides, you acted quickly because you thought I was in danger.”

“Demon King…”

“Let’s keep moving.”

The snowstorm was growing harsher. Standing still would only waste precious time.

—Uwoooh!

But after only a few steps, Clay found himself facing more silhouettes—this time, five of them.

They’re enormous.

Each was as tall as a large golem—around five meters high.

“Demon King!”

Selimia again conjured spikes, aiming at every silhouette, hoping for another quick answer.

Thud! Thud! Thuuud!

This time, however, the shapes caught the spikes in their massive hands, changing the situation entirely.

“Huh?”

As she faltered, Clay said sharply, “Focus, Selimia.”

Just because they seemed to catch her attack didn’t mean they were real. Closing his eyes for a moment, he sharpened his senses, gauging the auras of the shapes surrounding them.

“This is…!” His voice rang out.

“They’re real, Selimia! All of them—!”

Boooom!

One of the yetis smashed its fist into the ground where Clay stood, its full form revealed—white as packed snow, long fangs bared in a roar.

“Demon King!”

The impact sent snow billowing like flour, obscuring him from sight. With a cry, Selimia summoned two ice swords into her hands.

“You bastard!”

Sliding across the snow with unnatural grace, she lunged forward and slashed both blades.

“How dare you touch the Demon King!”

Slash!

Two long wounds opened on the yeti’s body—

“What…?”

—but no blood flowed. They were little more than surface marks. The yeti swung a massive fist at her in retaliation.

Bam!

Selimia barely managed to retreat, but more yetis were already closing in, fists raised high.

Crash! Boom! Bam!

She darted between the blows, feet swift even in deep snow.

The Demon King…!

She could move well here, but Clay couldn’t—not in the same way. If that first yeti’s strike had landed, he might still be buried—until she spotted a figure through the flurries.

“Demon King!”

He was fine. Rising from the snow, Clay launched himself at a nearby yeti and swung his sword in a single arc—

Shhk!

The blade severed its head. The headless body stood for a beat before collapsing forward.

“They feel no pain! Go straight for the head!” he shouted.

Snapping to focus, Selimia conjured a staircase of ice beneath her feet, carrying her up to the height of a yeti’s neck.

“Die!”

Slash!

Her crossed blades cut like shears, taking the head clean off.

—Uwoooh!

Other yetis charged at the sight of their fallen kin, only for spikes to erupt from the snow, skewering them from feet to shins.

Even without pain, they couldn’t advance while pinned. Selimia ran up the immobilized bodies, beheading them one by one.

By the time she dismissed the spikes and landed back in the snow, the headless corpses were toppling in every direction.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The force of their fall sent a shockwave through the snow, briefly parting the blizzard in a circular burst.

“Demon King!”

She rushed to him.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Brushing snow from his coat, Clay straightened up.

“It didn’t land cleanly. And with all the snow piled up, the impact was dampened even more.”

He gave a dry chuckle.

“Either way, the real danger here probably isn’t these kinds of monsters, so there’s no need to make a fuss.”

“Ah, understood.”

As they continued walking, Clay asked,

“Selimia, when we were fighting those things… did you catch a glimpse of something golden over there?”

She followed his pointing finger, her brows knitting slightly.

“Mm… I don’t really see it.”

“I only caught a glimpse, so I’m not certain.”

But Clay explained that if he had truly seen a golden light, then their destination was likely in that direction.

“The temples I saw the last time I came here all had a glow to them.”

“Then…”

“It means our destination shouldn’t be far.”

Of course, whether seeing such a light so clearly, even for a moment, was a good omen remained to be seen.

“Stay alert—things could show up along the way that are far more dangerous to us.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“By the way, Selimia.”

At this point, Clay decided to ask something that had been nagging at him.

“Are you completely unrelated to this place?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m asking about your origins.”

Selimia gave an awkward look.

“Are you wondering if I might be one of those monsters?”

“It’s not worry—just curiosity.”

Clay had known for some time that Selimia wasn’t human, but even he didn’t know the full truth about her.

“I’m only asking in case there’s some way you might be especially suited to this place. You don’t have to overthink it. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”

She let out a small sigh.

“It’s not that I want to hide anything from you, Demon King… it’s just that I honestly don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes… I have some hazy memories, but that’s it.”

But she didn’t speak of those hazy memories right away. Clay asked carefully,

“Can I hear them?”

“…If you won’t think ill of me after.”

“I promise.”

Selimia slowly began to speak.

“My very first memory… was this blizzard.”

She remembered coming to her senses within the raging snowstorm and moving through it.

“I don’t know what form I had back then.”

After wandering until she’d left the boundary, she somehow became the Selimia of today.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you anything more concrete—it’s all so vague. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn’t human.”

“I see.”

“Oh—”

Something else seemed to come to mind.

“Before I regained consciousness in the blizzard… there was a moment where I felt an incredibly strong light.”

“Light? You mean holy power?”

“Mm… it wasn’t quite like Elhaen’s holy power. It was a cold light.”

A cold light.

Clay frowned inwardly.

Not holy power… but a light that felt cold?

Even he couldn’t easily imagine what that might mean.

“In any case, I’m sorry I couldn’t properly answer your question.”

“It’s fine. It wasn’t something I had to know.”

“But I do know I was born here.”

Though this place was a boundary where worlds met, she made it clear she hadn’t come from another world—she had originated here.

“I’m not from anywhere else.”

Perhaps she wanted to make it clear she wasn’t a foreigner. Clay’s eyes narrowed slightly at her words.

Could it be…

A possibility crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head.

No… unlikely.

It was a far-fetched thought. Just as he was about to change the subject, he spotted the light again.

“Selimia.”

“Yes, Demon King—I see it too.”

She confirmed she had spotted it as well.

“It’s not all that close, but I think I can get a bearing on it.”

She hesitated.

“But… can we trust that light?”

Even when focusing, it was hard to judge something so far away. At the very least, they’d have to get closer to be sure of anything.

“We have no choice. It’s the only clue we have.”

There was no other way, no matter how cautiously he might wish to proceed.

“Can you take me there quickly?”

“Take you?”

“We’ll meet monsters along the way, and I might face illusions or hallucinations again. I kept moving before, but I think we need to travel more efficiently.”

Too much contact risked them both experiencing the same hallucinations, so he’d avoided it until now. But the way the light flickered faster and faster made him uneasy.

“If it disappears again, there’s no guarantee it’ll reappear. And without it, I’m not sure we could keep our bearings. Better to have you get me there now, before it’s too late.”

“…It won’t be comfortable.”

“I won’t hold it against you.”

She hesitated for a moment before extending her hand.

“Then… could you hold my hand?”

While she seemed a little embarrassed, Clay took it without hesitation.

“Like this?”

“!”

Selimia looked startled, but quickly cleared her throat.

“It’ll be a bit cold.”

Shhhhhh.

The chill spread through Clay’s body—but it wasn’t just cold. For an instant, he felt as though he had become one with her.

“Here we go!”

Her eyes flashed as she pulled him forward, and in the next moment, Clay was sliding swiftly over the snow.

(End of Chapter)

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