With Glacia’s death, the gate was successfully cleared.
Even though an unexpected crisis arose with the appearance of a hidden boss, the situation was handled perfectly.
The demon, the source of the problem, abandoned its fragment and fled, while Glacia, who had been carrying that fragment, met her eternal rest as a human rather than a puppet of the demon, thanks to the gumiho’s flames.
Glacia’s body slowly burned in the gumiho’s fire.
Carried by the wind, her remains vanished into the distance.
“Yeah, this is enough.”
Si-woo, watching the scene, did not shed tears.
In her final moments, Glacia had smiled.
She had wanted a beautiful farewell, one met with a smile rather than tears.
Painful, sorrowful memories had their place, but more than that, he wanted to end things on a note of shared happiness.
To fulfill the wish of his ever-selfish guest until the very end, Si-woo chose not to cry, even if he felt sadness.
He simply closed his eyes for a moment.
Paying silent tribute to her death, offering his final farewell.
Saria and Im So-yeon.
After reuniting with his party members, Si-woo was the first to inform the Association’s personnel waiting outside the gate that the battle had been successfully completed and that all party members were safe.
Because of the sudden change in the gate’s classification, the Association seemed to have gone into emergency mode.
“Not our problem.”
That was an issue for the Association to deal with, not something Hunters needed to worry about.
Leaving the frantic Association staff behind, Si-woo’s party returned inside the gate to retrieve any remaining valuable items. Their destination was once again the Ice Castle.
“Is this really something created purely with magic?”
Unlike Im So-yeon and Si-woo, who had already witnessed it, Saria had not yet seen the Ice Castle with her own eyes, and she couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.
Compared to Si-woo and Im So-yeon, who had only a shallow understanding of magic, Saria was practically an expert.
To her, Glacia’s techniques were on an entirely different level—even greater than Si-woo’s advanced nervous system enhancement.
She realized now, without a doubt, that Glacia’s mastery had far surpassed what a simple wall of ice could ever represent.
‘If a monster of this caliber had fought us seriously…?’
The question wasn’t about winning or losing—it would have been about survival itself.
Suppressing the chill running down her spine, Saria focused on retrieving the magic she had scattered throughout the castle.
“With this level of durability, we should have plenty of time.”
“Then let’s take our time searching. The castle is entirely made of Glacia’s ice, but the furniture, vases, and other objects seem to have come from the Drake family estate.”
“The Drake family… You mean the place where the boss was originally supposed to be in the Snow Woman’s mansion?”
“That’s probably right.”
But the items found in ordinary rooms would likely only be D-rank. At best, they might reach C-rank.
The only truly special existence in this gate had been Glacia.
The humans of the Drake family had merely been demon worshippers, acting as the hands and feet of the demon.
However, there was one place.
A single location where a truly special item might exist.
“I’ll search the top floor.”
Nodding at Si-woo’s decision, the other two began their search in their own ways.
He climbed the stairs, passing through places he had walked through just hours ago, until he reached the top of the castle.
As he approached Glacia’s bedroom, Si-woo sensed an unusual magic lingering in the air.
It was an energy distinctly different from the other items here.
Yet, at the same time, he had felt this flow of magic before—more than once.
“Huh…?”
This made it the second time.
Once at the café.
And again at the Academy training grounds.
As the sensation clicked in his mind, Si-woo’s steps quickened.
Arriving at the bedroom on the top floor, he pushed the door open in haste.
The aftermath of his battle with the demon still remained in the cold air swirling inside.
Yet, despite the devastation, Si-woo’s eyes were drawn to something utterly mundane.
A simple desk.
“Hah…”
Despite the fierce battle that had taken place, the desk’s position hadn’t shifted even a millimeter from where he had first seen it.
Resting his hand on one of its three drawers, he opened the second compartment—where he knew a diary had once been.
Rattle.
Maybe it had been opened too many times already.
The drawer slid open effortlessly, revealing a single book inside.
However, it was not the diary Si-woo had expected.
Adorned with ornate golden decorations and bound in luxurious leather, it was an item Si-woo recognized immediately.
“The diary turned into an engraving manual in just a few hours.”
The overflowing mana from the translation magic within the diary had multiplied dozens of times over.
And its title had changed as well.
<The Frozen Anomaly’s Wish>
Not Glacia’s Diary, but The Frozen Anomaly’s Wish.
‘The translation magic still seems to be active.’
Unlike previous engraving manuals, the title alone made it clear that the contents could be read.
Si-woo picked up the book, now far from an ordinary diary, with a bitter expression and carefully opened it.
For a moment, he worried.
Had the demon tried to pull another trick?
But as he flipped through the pages, that doubt quickly faded.
Her life began in a small kingdom.
The contents of the engraving manual weren’t much different from the diary.
The only notable difference was that it felt more like a biography than a personal journal.
A story with Glacia as the protagonist.
Unlike the diary, which she had written herself, this book read as if someone else had recorded her life.
‘If the demon tampered with this too… I might have to give it some credit.’
The gumiho’s flames had burned away the demon’s fragment.
Even before it could be completely consumed, the demon had abandoned Glacia’s body in a desperate attempt to escape the pain.
And yet, in the midst of all that, it had managed to transform the diary into an engraving manual.
And even restructure the contents like this?
All just to watch Si-woo fall into despair?
“If it went through all that effort, it really deserves a curse or two.”
Besides, there were plenty of ways to deal with it.
Si-woo glanced down at the ring still imbued with flames.
If this turned out to be another scheme, he could just burn it away with the gumiho’s fire.
And if that wasn’t enough, the owner of those flames, Kitsunezawa, would have no trouble incinerating a mere demon fragment.
The biography was essentially an extended version of the diary.
It contained details of Glacia’s childhood that she had never been able to write down.
It filled in missing gaps, answering lingering questions.
And lastly, it listed the names of people who had only been vaguely referenced in the diary.
“Oh, but this part is nice.”
That day, a demon was summoned into Glacia’s domain.
The demon’s name was Samael. Also known as the Deceiver.
Unlike the diary, which had been limited to Glacia’s personal knowledge, the engraving manual was written from a third-person perspective.
It even provided information that Glacia herself could never have known.
“Samael, huh? I figured it was a big name, but this is just absurd.”
An angel of death.
The serpent of Eden from Genesis.
The one who tempted Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.
An angel often equated with Satan across various sources.
A deceiver, more fittingly called a demon than an angel.
“Well, I guess it makes sense. Just a fragment of him was enough to turn an ordinary girl like Glacia into that kind of monster. If it had been some no-name demon, that would’ve been even stranger.”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information about Samael.
The title of the engraving manual was The Frozen Anomaly’s Wish.
A book based on Glacia’s diary—meaning its protagonist was Glacia, not Samael.
Si-woo skimmed through the rest of the story quickly.
Reading it in detail would bring nothing but disgust.
The torment Glacia suffered at the hands of the Drake family, the way the demon ultimately wiped out their bloodline, all meaningless details.
He turned the pages without hesitation.
And then, with only a few pages left, the book finally reached that moment.
And then, the day arrived.
The day foretold by the mage who had saved her.
The story of Glacia and Si-woo.
Their first meeting.
Everything that happened in the castle.
Samael’s arrival.
And finally, Glacia’s salvation.
With that, her biography came to an end.
Her story had concluded.
To the one who has read the entirety of The Frozen Anomaly’s Chronicle, a choice shall be granted.
“…Huh?”
But on the last page of the engraving manual.
Si-woo’s eyes widened at the unexpected message.
Choose your engraving.
[Samael’s Soul Fragment]
[Mark of Demon Hatred]
Even if Glacia’s story had reached its end.
The hero’s story was not yet over.
The engraving manual presented Si-woo with a new choice.