Chapter 238
Chapter 238: What Kind of Mage Hits Someone With Their Staff?
The surrounding scene shifted once more—from desolate wasteland into an ice plain drifting with white snow.
The white mirror surface began to ripple. Accompanied by flashes of purple light, the Mirror Demon summoned 3 warriors from within its own body.
And this time, they were stronger.
Their bodies were encased in solid stone armor, and a blue luminescence flowed across the battered plating, wrapping the already enormous stone armor in yet another layer of protection.
The warriors' skin was a deep bronze, their muscle definition impossibly sharp—every movement pulled visible striations across their frames.
Their expressions were solemn, and from their eyes radiated a faint, steady blue glow.
Their levels floated above their heads—
LV43
"You know, Viktor!"
"They are my strongest—"
【4th-Tier Magic: Sunken Star Sea】
Before the Mirror Demon could finish its sentence, the powerful Magic cut its words off entirely.
The surrounding space changed in an instant. A blue starfield of Magic Power surged around Viktor, and a vast galaxy carrying ten thousand motes of stardust fell from the boundless dark.
Enormous swaths of deep-blue fragments shattered into ice crystals and collapsed completely downward.
Colossal ice formations froze the stars solid and came crashing down around the warriors.
The entire area was sealed. The warriors' attacks slammed into the ice crystals with all their might, sending dazzling showers of ice flowers scattering outward.
Powerful blue Magic Power instantly engulfed the entire ice formation, and a terrifying force shattered the galaxy that soared skyward—a massive gap was torn open.
The warriors trod across the cold radiance, weaving through the dense field of silver stars as they charged toward Viktor.
But the next instant, they froze in midair.
The shattered stars hung suspended beneath the endless starry sky.
The ice crystals re-converged and became a galaxy once more. The stars fused back into it, reversing course and spiraling upward into the sky.
The entire space warped under the weight of the immense Magic Power, and their bodies were suddenly pierced through by the galaxy—their flesh began to collapse.
Stars erupted violently from within their blood, engulfing their bodies entirely.
Powerful, chaotic Magic Power poured out from within them, yet as though guided by the galaxy, it became the current of a fractured river, continuing to spiral skyward.
1 warrior—just like that, with effortless ease—had every last drop of life forcibly stripped from him.
Through the heavy goose-feather snow, fine ice crystals continued to drift.
Still carrying their cold, broken blood mist.
"The names of the weak."
"I have no interest in hearing them."
The moment Viktor's cold, dispassionate voice rang out around it, the Mirror Demon could no longer maintain even a shred of composure.
It lurched violently, its mirror body trembling, and countless warriors erupted from the mirror like an army.
The surrounding scene shattered. Every kind of environment blurred and bled into one another.
Magic Power began to surge across Viktor's entire body, and in the blink of an eye, red engravings had spread across every inch of his Coat.
The next second, the earth began to tremble.
The sky was gradually blotted out by storm clouds. Sunlight was swallowed entirely by the howling wind.
Snowfields or oceans, forests or desert wastelands.
All of it began to crack and shake. The earth heaved wildly, and fissures erupted from the soil.
Lava surged from deep underground toward the sky. Flame ignited across every surface of every thing.
Sky-piercing columns of lava, thick with roiling fire, swallowed everything whole. All the warriors, barely having stepped into the center of the battlefield, were already enveloped by the scorching heat—unable to advance a single step.
A terrifying heatwave swept over them, searing across their bronze skin. The stone armor flickering with faint blue light slowly cracked apart.
Then the sky turned red. Raging flames ignited even the storm clouds, and void began to reassert itself overhead.
Within this stunning sea of fire, their bodies gradually dissolved into liquid, flowing away and evaporating.
The Mirror Demon was afraid.
It could not comprehend what kind of power this was.
In all its hundreds of years of understanding, it had never once seen anyone capable of what Viktor did.
1 person—effortlessly reshaping an entire terrain.
That towering sea of fire, laden with lava, looked as though it would drown everything without exception.
Under these conditions, Viktor didn't even need to attack.
The warriors it had summoned couldn't survive even half a minute beneath this apocalyptic environment.
The instant they touched the lava, the flame and heatwave consumed them without leaving so much as a trace.
The Mirror Demon grew more and more bewildered—but what dominated its mind even more was shock.
Why, why, why?
Why was it that the more it fought Viktor, the more it felt itself growing weaker?
Or was it—
Viktor, growing stronger?
And the more absurd matter still: what exactly was going on with his Magic Power reserves?
That level of Magic Power. That terrain-altering ability.
How could it possibly be something a mere 4th-Tier Mage could achieve!?
The Mirror Demon couldn't comprehend it!
So much so that it hadn't even noticed.
Every time Viktor killed a warrior, he would glance downward for a moment.
Down there, his Experience Bar was climbing without cease.
When the number reached its limit, at last—
LV45→LV46
That's about right.
He made a very deliberate gesture—one the Mirror Demon didn't miss.
That's right, the Mirror Demon noticed.
Every time the warriors it had summoned died, beneath the glow of Magic Power, Viktor would raise his arm ever so slightly.
And in his hand, a bottle would appear from thin air—a blue potion.
That—was Viktor's source of Magic Power!?
The Mirror Demon realized it in an instant.
It narrowed its eyes and concealed its mirror body within the void, biding its time.
When Viktor raised his hand once more, the Mirror Demon saw it clearly.
In his grip was that blue potion.
The cap was already open. He was about to pour it into his mouth.
The Mirror Demon's gaze sharpened. Its body gradually took on substance, and in an instant it stepped across the magma, through the void, and appeared before Viktor.
From around its mirror body, countless pitch-black tentacles extended outward.
The tentacles wound toward Viktor's palm, aimed directly at the potion in his hand.
But right then. The corner of Viktor's mouth curved upward:
"Got you."
The potion in Viktor's hand vanished. His left hand snapped out, and a Round Shield flew from his hip and was caught in his grip.
That Round Shield, in that critical instant, blocked the Mirror Demon's tentacles.
Clang—!
A metallic ring rang out—the block was successful!
Immediately, an irresistible wave of dizziness surged through the Mirror Demon's mind, locking its body rigid and leaving it unable to move.
Almost the instant the Mirror Demon was stunned, Viktor seized the tail end of his Staff and swung his arm in a full arc with all his strength.
Thud!
Like an arrow cleaving the air, the Staff carried with it a dense, weighty force and broke through the Magic Power barrier before the mirror.
The massive body of the Staff smashed squarely into the mirror.
Under that enormous impact, a faint crack appeared across the mirror's surface.
Almost simultaneously, the Throwing Cards at Viktor's hip flew out in sequence.
Countless iron Throwing Cards formed a whirlwind, completely surrounding the mirror, slicing across the mirror's surface from every direction.
Beneath the iron silver gleam of the cards, a faint white silver light flickered.
The radiance reflected endlessly between the mirror's surface and the cards, and the surrounding world was pulled once more into void in an instant.
By the time the Mirror Demon came back to its senses, it found the world around it had taken on an entirely different appearance.
And none of this had been its doing.
Countless iron cards spun in wild circles, tearing the world into strips—shredding and blending everything together.
Cities and forests interlaced; from atop the towering treetops, grey stone-brick chimneys extended. Wooden warning signs jutted from the center of tall city walls. The ocean spilled from the collapsing maw of the desert wasteland, while cobblestone roads fractured apart in the middle of open grassland.
The sky was equally surreal.
Red, black, blue, yellow.....
Every color of sky gathered together at once, a vast clear expanse shot through with patches of storm cloud.
Like a canvas splattered with thick layers of paint.
The surrounding scene continued to spin through the chaos without pause, without rest.
Even the Mirror Demon itself, looking at this scene, felt dizzy and disoriented.
At last, Viktor snapped his fingers.
The cards circling around it ceased their rotation, and the fractured, densely jagged world stopped spinning.
In that moment, the Mirror Demon could finally see clearly—what the world reflected in its mirror body actually looked like.
Piece by piece, fragments of world assembled together—broken and jumbled, like a shattered glass puzzle.
Viktor's voice followed:
"You believed that inside your Mirror World, you were invincible."
"But in reality, I know exactly how to defeat you."
The so-called Mirror World was, in essence, a massive transparent box.
The Mirror Demon could use reflected light on one face of the transparent box to project whatever world it desired.
But Viktor had likewise used the iron cards—polished smooth enough to reflect a human image—to intercept the light, disrupting the trajectory of the reflections.
By shattering into countless fragments across the high-speed spinning cards, any light falling on any surface would be reflected into countless scattered points of light, which ultimately projected onto the transparent space.
That was how this collage-like world scene had been constructed.
This was the optimal strategy that the Player Raid teams had identified for the Mirror Demon after countless attempts.
Find a way to shatter the Mirror Demon's mirror surface, then take control of the Mirror Demon's true body.
Bring along a dozen or so mirrors and enter the Dungeon.
The Mirror Demon's most powerful offensive method was using the mirror to reflect memories and summon powerful ancient warriors to attack.
But with that method cut off, it couldn't even summon a complete person.
"So, you've lost."
The Mirror Demon's means had been neutralized.
Even its mirror body had shattered—unable to repair itself with light any longer.
But it seemed to have forgotten how to be afraid. Forgotten how to cower.
Confronted directly with Viktor, it became even more brazen:
"And then? I'll admit—I'm surprised you found my weakness."
"But you still can't kill me."
A frenzied laugh echoed out from the shattered mirror.
"I told you—as long as there is light, I cannot die!"
"And you, Viktor—your existence will, little by little, over time, be completely erased."
"No one will remember you."
The mirror's purple eyes suddenly wrenched wide open, as though torn apart.
"Just like those ancient warriors imprisoned here—you will be the same as them."
"Forever trapped inside the mirror, together with me, becoming forgotten fragments."
Listening to the Mirror Demon's declaration, Viktor let out a faint, quiet laugh:
"Aren't you curious?"
"About what?"
The Mirror Demon startled.
Then Viktor's voice rose slowly:
"Since I know your weaknesses inside and out, then..."
"What makes you think I don't know how to kill you?"
At those words, the Mirror Demon went blank.
But Viktor's voice continued, relentless as a death knell, echoing around it without end:
"Oh, and—guess how I got in here in the first place?"
"Don't forget—you never invited me."
At that, the enormous mirror began to tremble.
It had figured it out.
How Viktor had taken Leah's place and ended up inside the mirror.
"From the very beginning, you made 1 wrong assumption."
Viktor raised his head, his gaze steady and certain as it fixed on the trembling mirror surface:
"From the moment I entered your world."
"There was only ever 1 possible victor—and it was me."
Suddenly, the mirror's eyes wrenched open to a horrifying degree.
Without knowing when it had happened, it saw—perched on Viktor's shoulder, a pitch-black Crow.
Beneath the refraction of the light, the Crow's shadow stretched long and thin.
In an instant, every sound in the surrounding world went utterly silent.
The Crow's twisted smile spread outward. Its shadow elongated, blanketing the chaotic world around it in darkness, swallowing every last ray of light completely.
Even Viktor's silhouette gradually faded away. The mirror was likewise engulfed in shadow, sinking beneath this dark sea.
The light was devoured.
Hehehehehe—
Suddenly, a single crimson pupil tore through the darkness, blazing to life below the mirror as it continued to fall.
Before that eye, black feathers were swept through the powerless sea of despair, and a submerged voice echoed endlessly in the Mirror Demon's ears.
"You—"
"Dare call yourself a Demon?"