Floor Sixty-Six was quite different than anything else, yet still somewhat similar to the White Palace. The pristine blue ice of the Glacier Territory from Floors Fifty-Nine to Sixty-Five gave way to dark, crushing, abyssal depths. The caves became impossibly gargantuan—even larger than the White Palace from Floor Thirty-Seven.
These floors were defined by jagged, mountain-sized chasms and freezing, lightless expanses. It felt less like a cave and more like the floor of an arctic ocean that had completely frozen solid under terrifying atmospheric pressure.
"Smells like a place a Monster Rex would spawn," Damien muttered to himself as he continued to explore ahead. "But according to the data... there are no Monster Rexes until Floor Seventy. So what could it be?"
He passed through the corridors slowly, trying to see what this place had for him. Yet it was still nothing. Not a single monster.
"That does not look good. Not a single monster." Damien entered the final stretch of the floor. Instead of the regular corridors, it was now a massive hall—empty, but massive. It was still dark, but due to his senses and special eyes, he could still see in that darkness. Yet there was still nothing.
"This is... absolutely a trap." He smiled. "But let us see what kind of trap it is."
He walked forward.
After a while, he finally heard something. The ground shook slightly. Then a crack formed on the floor. Something rose from beneath—as if a dead being was crawling out of its grave, but it was the ground instead.
A head raised and looked at Damien.
It was a human-looking thing, but not quite human. Its face was broken. Most of it completely hollow. No mouth or anything. Only a head, some strands of hair, and an eye. The body was the same—parts of it hollow, parts of it standing. Half a hollow thigh. A missing hand.
"A fucking zombie?" Damien frowned. "Or what is this?"
The thing made a sound. A hum.
"Ahh... I have not spoken in a long time." It looked at Damien. It could not even stand straight.
"You can talk?" Damien asked.
"Oh, why of course I can." The thing's voice was raspy, ancient. "Ah... it must be shocking to one like you. After all... I have not seen one of your kind since... I do not remember. Perhaps a hundred years ago? Yes... yes... a hundred or so."
"Who are you?" Damien's hand rested on his dagger.
"Me? Oh... yes. I forgot you mortals like such things. Names... and titles." The thing shifted, its hollow body creaking. "I am what you call a monster. However, there were people like you before who killed me once." It paused. "They called me Jörmungandr."
Damien's eyes narrowed. "Jörmungandr. The World Serpent."
"Oh, interesting. Is that what my name means? A world-coiling snake?" The thing—Jörmungandr—seemed almost amused. "Huh. Yes, pretty fitting. I did not like Jörmungandr before. But now... I like it."
"Why are you here? Talking to me?" Damien's voice was steady. "Are you the Monster Rex of this floor? Its protector?"
"Yes. Something like that." Jörmungandr's single eye gleamed. "I am a protector of the Lord of Light. But I am not of this floor. Or any floor, in that manner. For I am very special. I can traverse floors." It took a shambling step forward. "I am here to see who angered the Lord of Light so heavily that he called me."
It stopped.
"But now that I have seen you... well... I am done." Its voice dropped. "Prepare to die."
An earthquake hit the floor.
Damien looked around, trying to sense where the attack would come. Then, suddenly, he felt it.
"Oh SHIT!"
He ran backward and jumped out of pure instinct. A mere millisecond later, the floor beneath him cracked open. A massive head emerged—a snake's head, twice the size of Balor. It crushed everything around it, swallowing the rubble in its gaping maw. It turned to look at Damien.
Its eyes regarded him like prey.
Damien landed and skidded backward, his daggers already in his hands.
"A fucking world-coiling snake that can traverse floors." He shook his head. "Why, of course, it would be that."
He raised his hand.
"Arise!"
Hundreds of shadows erupted from the ground behind him. Igris. Baal. Diana. Adonis. Soldiers and monsters alike, filling the dark cavern with their presence.
Damien grinned.
"Let us hunt a World Serpent, shall we?"
The serpent known as Jörmungandr looked at Damien and he could've sword it had grinned at him as it spoke.
"DOoooo NAaaaaa VIIIIIIiiii Kaaaaaaa."
Damien blinked. "The fuck are you saying?"
A deep voice rumbled from behind him. Baal stepped forward, his goat-headed shadow form towering over the other soldiers.
"It means 'I have an army of my own,' my lord."
The walls exploded.
Dozens of dragons burst through the ice and stone—smaller than Jörmungandr, but still massive compared to anything on the middle floors. Their scales were dark, their eyes burning with corrupted light. They screeched as they poured into the cavern, filling the air with their wings.
Damien's eyes widened. "Are those? Those are the fucking Nidhogg monsters from the battle with the Corrupted Spirit, aren't they?"
Diana moved to his side, her great scimitar already drawn. "The Nidhogg Broods, my lord. We have fought them before." She studied the approaching swarm. "I will take a sizable army and face them while you handle the strong one. With your wishes, of course."
Damien nodded. The Nidhoggs were dangerous. They dwarfed the Infant Dragons of the middle floors. They did not just breathe ice or fire—they emitted Miasma. Their breath corroded divine armor and induced rapid magical exhaustion just by inhaling it. Mind Down, they called it. A slow death for any mage or healer caught in the cloud.
"All right. Sure." Damien pointed at the swarm. "Deal with those fucks!"
Diana nodded and turned to a group of shadows—infant dragons and earlier Nidhogg Broods that Damien had added to his army during the Corrupted Spirit war. They moved as one, launching into the air to meet the enemy.
Damien turned to his remaining lieutenants.
"Igris. Baal. You are with me." He looked at Adonis. "Adonis, you will handle dwindling that thing down. I know for sure that is not its full size. Once we pressure it, it is going to start crawling its full body toward us." He met the martial artist's eyes. "That is your target."
Adonis bowed. "Understood, my liege."
Damien raised his daggers.
"Let us go."
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