The surrounding scene changed once again, transforming from a desolate land into an ice field drifting with vast stretches of white snow.
White mirror surfaces began to float, accompanied by flickering purple light, as the Mirror Demon summoned three warriors from within its own body.
And this time, they were even stronger.
Their bodies were covered in solid stone armor. Over the already massive stone armor, a layer of blue shimmer flowed across the damaged parts, wrapping it in an additional layer of protection.
The warriors' skin took on a bronze hue, their muscle lines extremely defined, every movement pulling taut strands of muscle.
Their expressions were solemn, and their eyes faintly emitted blue light.
Above their heads floated their levels.
[LV43]
"Do you know, Viktor!"
"They are my strongest..."
[Tier Four Magic: Sunken Star Sea]
Before the Mirror Demon could finish speaking, powerful magic completely cut off its words.
The surrounding space instantly began to change. A blue, star-filled magical sky echoed around Viktor. A galaxy carrying countless specks of stardust fell from the boundless darkness.
Large swathes of deep-blue fragments turned into ice crystals and completely collapsed.
Enormous sheets of ice froze the stars solid and slammed down violently around the warriors.
The surroundings were completely sealed. The warriors' attacks smashed heavily into the ice crystals, splashing brilliant bursts of icy shards.
Powerful blue magic instantly spread across the entire ice crystal. A terrifying force shattered the soaring galaxy, tearing open a massive gap.
They stepped on the cold light, passed through dense clusters of silver stars, and charged straight toward Viktor.
But in the very next second, they froze in midair.
The shattered stars also hovered beneath the endless starry sky.
The ice crystals regrouped and reformed into a galaxy. The stars reintegrated into it and reversed upward toward the heavens.
The entire space twisted under the pressure of overwhelming magic. Their bodies were suddenly pierced through by the galaxy, their flesh collapsing entirely.
Stars burst violently from their blood, completely covering their bodies.
Powerful, chaotic magic poured out from within them, but as if guided by the galaxy, it turned into streams repairing the broken star river, spiraling upward into the sky once more.
One warrior, just like that, had all his life force forcibly stripped away with ease.
Amid the goose-feather snowfall, fine ice crystals still drifted through the air.
Along with cold, shattered blood mist.
"The names of the weak."
"I don't want to hear them."
The moment Viktor's cold, utterly merciless voice echoed around them, the Mirror Demon could no longer remain calm.
It violently shook its mirror body, and countless warriors surged out from the mirror like an army.
The surrounding scene shattered, all kinds of environments completely blending together.
Viktor's magic power began to surge explosively. Red patterns spread across his coat in the blink of an eye.
In the next second, the ground began to tremble.
The sky was gradually covered by dark clouds, sunlight completely swallowed by raging winds.
Whether it was snowfields or oceans, forests or deserts, everything began to collapse and quake. The earth shook violently, fissures bursting open from the soil.
Magma surged up from deep underground toward the sky, flames igniting across everything in existence.
Towering pillars of magma, carrying thick flames, swallowed everything whole. The warriors hadn't even fully entered the battlefield before being engulfed by scorching heat and searing temperatures, unable to advance even a single step.
Terrifying heat waves swept over them, brushing across their bronze skin. The stone armor that shimmered with faint blue light slowly cracked apart.
In an instant, the sky turned red. Blazing flames ignited even the dark clouds, and the void gradually reappeared above.
Within this astonishing sea of fire, their bodies slowly melted into blood and evaporated away.
The Mirror Demon was afraid.
It could not understand what kind of power this was.
In its hundreds of years of understanding, it had never seen anyone capable of doing what Viktor was doing.
A single person, effortlessly altering an entire terrain.
That overwhelming sea of fire, carrying magma, seemed ready to completely drown everything.
Under such terrain alone, Viktor didn't even need to attack.
The warriors it summoned couldn't survive even half a minute under this apocalyptic horror.
The moment they touched magma, they were devoured by flames and heat waves, leaving not a trace behind.
The Mirror Demon grew more and more confused, but what filled its mind even more was shock.
'Why? Why, why, why?'
Why did fighting Viktor make it feel weaker and weaker?
Or was it... Viktor who was growing stronger?
And what was even more absurd was his magic power.
What was going on with it?
'That level of magic, that kind of terrain-altering ability, how could it possibly be something a mere Tier Four mage could achieve?!'
The Mirror Demon couldn't understand it.
So much so that it didn't even notice... every time Viktor killed a warrior, he would glance downward.
There, was his rapidly surging experience bar.
When the number reached a limit, finally...
[Lv45→Lv46]
'That should be about enough.'
He made a very obvious gesture, one that caught the Mirror Demon's attention.
Yes, the Mirror Demon noticed.
Every time the warriors it summoned died, under the glow of magic, Viktor would slightly raise his arm.
And in his hand, a blue potion would appear out of thin air.
'That... That was Viktor's source of magic?!'
The Mirror Demon realized it instantly.
It narrowed its eyes, hiding its mirror body within the void, waiting for the right moment.
When Viktor raised his hand again, the Mirror Demon saw it clearly.
In his hand, he held that blue potion.
The bottle was already open, about to be poured into his mouth.
The Mirror Demon's gaze sharpened. Its body gradually solidified as it stepped across magma, across the void, and appeared right in front of Viktor.
Around its mirror body, countless pitch-black tentacles stretched out.
They wrapped toward Viktor's palm, aiming straight for the potion in his hand.
But in the next instant, Viktor's lips curved upward slightly.
"Got you."
The potion in Viktor's hand vanished instantly. With a slap of his left hand, a round shield flew out from his waist and was caught in his grip.
At the critical moment, the shield blocked the Mirror Demon's tentacles.
Clang!
A metallic sound rang out.
Block successful!
A wave of dizziness surged uncontrollably into the Mirror Demon's mind, stiffening its body and locking it in place.
Almost the instant the Mirror Demon was stunned, Viktor grabbed the end of his staff and swung his arm with all his strength.
Bang!
Like an arrow tearing through the air, the staff carried tremendous force and smashed through the magical barrier in front of the mirror.
The massive staff body slammed straight into the mirror.
Under the enormous impact, cracks appeared across the mirror's surface.
Almost at the same time, the cards at Viktor's waist flew out.
Countless steel flying cards formed a whirlwind, completely surrounding the mirror and slicing its surface apart.
Under the metallic silver gleam of the cards, faint white-silver light flickered.
Light reflected endlessly between the mirror surface and the cards, and the surrounding world was once again dragged into the void.
When the Mirror Demon came back to its senses, it realized that the world around it had already changed completely.
And none of this was by its own will.
Countless iron cards spun wildly. The world was torn into strips, completely mashed together.
Cities and forests interwove. From towering tree canopies extended gray stone chimneys.
Wooden warning signs were planted in the middle of towering city walls. Oceans overflowed from collapsing desert caverns, while cobblestone roads broke apart in grassy fields.
The sky was just as chaotic.
Red, black, blue, yellow…
Skies of every color were forced together. Vast blue heavens were mixed with patches of dark clouds.
Like a canvas splashed with thick, heavy paint.
The surrounding scenery continued to spin endlessly amid the chaos, without a moment's pause.
Even the Mirror Demon itself felt dizzy just looking at it.
Finally, Viktor snapped his fingers.
The cards spinning around it stopped, and the densely shattered world stopped rotating as well.
At this moment, the Mirror Demon could finally see clearly what kind of world was reflected on its mirror body.
Piece by piece, fragments of "worlds" assembled together, shattered and chaotic, like a broken glass mosaic.
Viktor's voice followed, "You think that in your 'mirror world,' you're invincible."
"But in reality, I know exactly how to defeat you."
The so-called mirror world, in essence, was a massive transparent box.
The Mirror Demon could reflect light onto one side of that transparent box to project whatever world it wanted.
But Viktor used iron cards polished smooth enough to reflect images to intercept the light and disrupt its reflection paths.
Through shattered mirror fragments and high-speed rotating iron cards, any light that landed anywhere would be reflected into countless points of light, eventually projected onto the transparent space.
That was how this patchwork-like world was formed.
This was the optimal strategy discovered by the player raid groups after countless attempts against the Mirror Demon.
Find a way to shatter the Mirror Demon's mirror surface, then restrain its true body.
Then bring along more than a dozen mirrors and enter the dungeon.
The Mirror Demon's strongest attack was using mirrors to reflect memories and summon powerful ancient warriors.
But once that method was cut off, it couldn't even summon a complete person.
"So, you've lost."
The Mirror Demon's methods were restrained.
Even its mirror body was shattered, unable to repair itself with light.
Yet it seemed to have forgotten fear, forgotten dread.
Facing Viktor directly, it grew even more arrogant.
"And then what? Even though I'm surprised you found my weakness."
"You still can't kill me."
Unrestrained laughter echoed from the shattered mirror.
"I said it before, so long as there is light, I will not die!"
"And you, Viktor, your existence will be erased little by little over time."
"No one will remember you."
The mirror's purple eyes suddenly widened, as if tearing themselves apart.
"Just like those ancient warriors trapped here, you too will become the same."
"Forever trapped in the mirror, with me, becoming forgotten fragments."
Hearing the Mirror Demon's words, Viktor let out a faint chuckle.
"Are you not curious?"
"What?"
The Mirror Demon froze.
Then Viktor's voice slowly sounded, "Since I know your weakness so well…"
"What makes you think I don't know how to kill you?"
At those words, the Mirror Demon stood stunned.
But Viktor's voice, like the reaper itself, continued to echo around it, "Oh, right, can you guess how I got in here?"
"Don't forget, you never invited me."
As he said this, the massive mirror began to tremble.
It realized it.
How Viktor had replaced Liya and been left inside the mirror.
"From start to finish, you misjudged one thing."
Viktor raised his head, his confident gaze fixed on the trembling mirror surface.
"From the moment I entered your world..."
"The only possible Viktor was me."
Suddenly, the mirror's eyes widened hideously.
At some unknown point, it saw... on Viktor's shoulder, a pitch-black crow had appeared.
Under the refraction of light, the crow's shadow stretched long and thin.
All sound around them suddenly cut off.
The crow's twisted grin spread. Its shadow elongated, covering the chaotic world in darkness and swallowing all light completely.
Even Viktor's figure gradually disappeared. The mirror was also engulfed by shadows, sinking into this sea of darkness.
Light... was devoured.
Suddenly, a crimson pupil tore through the darkness, blazing to life beneath the falling mirror.
Before the eye, black feathers drifted in the powerless sea of despair. A sinking voice echoed endlessly in the Mirror Demon's ears.
"Someone like you..."
"...Also dares to call itself a demon?"