Return of the Frozen Player

Arnold and the three chiefs stared down at the thousands of warriors on the plain. The sight made Arnold’s heart beat even faster because it was a sight that he couldn’t have imagined that he would see once more since they were driven out of the city.

“The time has come…”

The benevolent moon had given the werewolves an opportunity. It was a bit funny, but the werewolves, who had been driven out of the city by the same humans they had been protecting for generations, sought help to recapture Trium from the humans.

“Today, we shall reclaim our homeland in honor of our comrades who have gone to meet our ancestors at the Twilight Hill!”

The werewolves howled and cried when the chiefs raised their clenched fists.

“Awooo!”

“Awooo! Awooo!”

The chiefs didn’t need to ask any more questions, because the werewolves’ determination to reclaim their land was clear from their howls.

“Forwaaard!” A roar tore through the air, and the werewolves rushed forward, roaring in reply.

The chiefs of each tribe were ahead of the lines, and they shouted, “Our destination is the royal palace of Trium!”

“Get rid of the red fog and take down the True Vampires!”

“Maintain the line!”

The sight of more than one thousand people running on the plain at full speed was spectacular.

Seo Jun-Ho’s message window was constantly flashing with lights as he ran along with the wolves.

[This is group A-2. On standby on the square in front of the royal palace.]

[This is group B-7. En route to ambush enemies in the sewers.]

[This is group H-10. Ready to raid the Vampire’s House.]

All 21,745 Players who had gone up to the 6th Floor the previous night had already surrounded the royal palace of Trium.

The key to this operation was definitely speed.

‘We need to storm in and end everything as fast as possible.’

Their plan was to get rid of the red fog and kill the True Vampires before the True Vampires could even react. With their numbers and the strength of each individual Player in this operation, the plan had a high chance of succeeding.

“Seo Jun-Ho! How far away are we from the meeting place?” Arnold asked.

“Three kilometers!” Seo Jun-Ho answered.

Seo Jun-Ho had no intention of running along the plain all day to get to the royal palace of Trium. He approached Arnold and raised his hand.

“Tell everyone to narrow the lines and form two ranks!”

“Narrow the formation and form two ranks!”

The werewolves immediately repositioned themselves into two lines in response to Arnold’s shout.

A man clad in a suit standing by himself on the vast plain welcomed them from afar.

“This way!”

The man was none other than Shin Sung-Hyun.

Shin Sung-Hyun was skilled at manipulating space, and his ability to connect places to each other was convenient, especially when it came to moving large numbers of people.

Shin Sung-Hyun mustered as much magic power as he could and concentrated as hard as he could to create a large rift in space.

Buzz!

A large rift in space manifested, connected to the space above the royal palace of Trium.

Seo Jun-Ho glanced at Shin Sung-Hyun and said, “Great work.”

Shin Sung-Hyun nodded lightly and said, “I’ll follow you right away as well.”

Mekenbo, the Chief of the Sharp Tooth Tribe, shouted, “Everyone! Infiltrate the royal palace!”

Bang! Crash!

The werewolves transformed in mid-air and broke through the royal palace’s ceiling.

“W-what’s going on?!”

“Damn it, the dogs are here!”

“Awooo!”

The vampire apostles standing guard used their abilities to resist, but to no avail. A thousand werewolves overwhelmed them like a deluge.

Tap, tap.

Arnold gently patted Seo Jun-Ho’s back.

“Seo Jun-Ho. We will go and search the underground, so you should stay here and protect everyone here.”

Arnold had complete faith in Seo Jun-Ho’s abilities. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told Seo Jun-Ho to stay here and deal with the True Vampires if they appeared.

Seo Jun-Ho nodded and said, “Don’t worry about it. Go ahead.”

Trium was soon filled with explosions all over as the werewolves infiltrated the city’s underground using many different routes. In other words, the werewolves and the Players were now fighting against the vampire apostles all over the city.

‘Everything is going according to plan so far. It’s perfect, and there are no problems.’

They believed that the red fog was being generated beneath the royal palace, so the game would end once they managed to get rid of the red fog generator. The werewolves and the Players would emerge victorious with the perfect checkmate.

‘There’s no way the vampires would have expected the war to end this quickly.’

Arnold and the werewolves soon emerged from the basement of the royal palace with bright expressions.

“We found it! This thing has been generating the red fog!”

“What is that, a heart?”

Arnold was holding a heart. It was beating slowly, even though it wasn’t connected to any blood vessels and had no blood flowing through.

“It smells like Tepes’ heart.”

“What…?”

‘He pulled his own heart out and stored it away from his body?’

Seo Jun-Ho shook his head in disbelief.

All of a sudden, a series of reports popped up on Seo Jun-Ho’s message window.

[This is Skaya! The musclehead and I successfully got rid of True Vampire Stigma!]

[Mr. Specter! This is Ju-Ha. The Heavens and I managed to dispose of Ghost!]

The True Vampires were powerful, but they couldn’t withstand the ambush of so many Players and werewolves.

Arnold smiled. “Let’s go and see Tepes, shall we?”

“...Let’s go.”

Arnold and Seo Jun-Ho proudly walked down the luxurious corridors of the royal palace before finally entering the throne room. Instead of a throne, however, they found a dull-looking coffin inside the massive hall.

Tepes was sitting on the lid of the dull-looking coffin, staring at a map with a pensive look.

“It’s over now, Tepes.”

Tepes nodded slowly at Arnold’s words. He looked as if he truly hadn’t expected all this as he swept his gaze across everyone in the throne room.

“The werewolves and the humans. Ah, yes… you guys must be the so-called Players of Earth. The demons told me about you guys,” Tepes said casually, seemingly accepting his defeat with ease.

“I could have never expected an ambush like this. There were no warning signs, so I guess it’s my complete defeat.”

“...” The silent Seo Jun-Ho remained silent as his heart was gripped by a peculiar feeling. It wasn’t the first time he encountered this feeling, and it was a kind of anxiety that he would only feel whenever things had gone a bit too well.

‘Why is he so obedient? Is he really going to accept his defeat just like that?’

Tepes’ comrades—True Vampire Stigma and True Vampire Ghost—had perished. The vampire apostles near the royal palace had been killed, and the heart generating the red fog had also been destroyed.

In other words, the game was over.

The vampires lost, while the alliance of werewolves and humans emerged victorious.

Seo Jun-Ho suddenly recalled something and asked, “By any chance, are there still any demons in this city?”

“Demons?” Tepes shook his head at Seo Jun-Ho’s question. “I haven’t seen them even once since they gave me their blood.”

‘So, why is he so relaxed?’

Tepes slowly rose from his seat and stared at the wolves and players.

“I must concede defeat. You have emerged victorious this time.”

“...This time?”

Hearing that, Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but wonder, ‘What is Tepes’ ability?’

Seo Jun-Ho managed to discover the abilities of the other True Vampires, thanks to Paradox’s memories. True Vampire Stigma’s ability allowed him to track down any marked opponent for eternity, while True Vampire Ghost could manipulate space.

However, Paradox had no clue about Tepes’ ability, so Seo Jun-Ho hadn’t managed to find any information about Tepes’ ability.

“Mark my words—I won’t let you down next time.”

“Next time? Wait, don’t tell me?!” Seo Jun-Ho hurriedly sent the four blades of his Freedom Blade toward Tepes.

Shwik!

The four blades buried themselves into Tepes.

Tepes staggered backward, but he was smiling.

Snap!

The first True Vampire, Tepes, snapped his fingers.

***

The cold breeze of dawn tickled Seo Jun-Ho’s cheeks.

Seo Jun-Ho swept his gaze across the chefs standing ahead of their own line.

“Today, we shall reclaim our homeland in honor of our comrades who have gone to meet our ancestors at the Twilight Hill!”

The werewolves howled and cried when the chiefs raised their clenched fists.

“Awooo!”

“Awooo! Awooo!”

The scene in front of him was indeed heartwarming, but Seo Jun-Ho’s heart didn’t feel warm at all. Instead, Seo Jun-Ho’s heart was gripped by a peculiar feeling.

‘What is this feeling?’

This was definitely his first time seeing this heartwarming scene, but he felt like he had already seen this scene before. Of course, Seo Jun-Ho knew what he was feeling, and it was none other than a sense of déjà vu.

‘I think I’m just nervous for the first time in a while…’

For Seo Jun-Ho, nervousness wasn’t bad. It was a thousand times better to be nervous than to be careless.

A system window popped up, and Seo Jun-Ho inadvertently looked at it.

[Hero’s Mind (EX) is ready for possible side effects.]

‘What? Why did Hero’s Mind activate just now?’

Seo Jun-Ho blinked out of confusion.

However, his train of thought was cut short.

He had to run with the werewolves and into the rift in space that Shin Sung-Hyun had created.

“Forwaaard!”

The werewolves transformed in mid-air and broke through the royal palace’s ceiling. They then tore the vampire apostles apart.

Tap, tap.

Arnold gently patted Seo Jun-Ho’s back.

“Seo Jun-Ho. We will go and search the underground, so you should stay here and protect everyone here.”

“Don’t worry. Go ahead.”

The werewolves proceeded to infiltrate the city’s underground using many different routes. However, it hadn’t even been that long since their infiltration started, but Seo Jun-Ho’s message window was already flashing like crazy as if it were on fire.

[Argh! This is the group at the square in front of the royal palace! We have been ambushed! We’re retreating!]

[This is group B-7. The drain has collapsed over the Players! Reinforcements necessary!]

[T-this is group H-10! We fell into a trap! There was a bomb in the Vampire’s House and—]

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes quivered. He felt overwhelmed, but his Imperturbable Mind and Hero’s Mind stabilized him before he could feel dizzy.

‘A trap and an ambush? How is that possible…’

The Players didn’t even know each other’s location throughout the operation, and it was to prevent enemy espionage via brainwashing and hypnosis.

Seo Jun-Ho was the only one who knew the locations of every single group because he was the leader of the operation.

‘There’s no way I can get hypnotized or brainwashed. Wait, does this mean…’

Seo Jun-Ho’s head swung back to the stairs leading to the underground. After a while, the wolves quickly rushed out of the stairs with an enormous bang.

Seo Jun-Ho’s head jerked toward the stairs leading to the basement of the royal palace.

“A-a trap… a bomb…!”

“Damn it all! Chief Charlotte and Grigor have been killed in action!”

“Chief Arnold is in a coma! He’s bleeding heavily!”

Everything had turned into a complete mess.

‘How is this possible? How did the enemy find out about our plans?’

Seo Jun-Ho shivered, but a voice in his head interrupted his thoughts.

- Partner! Wake up!

Keen Intuition spoke for the first time in a while.

- You need to kill Tepes first.

‘What? What do you mean…’

- For some reason, I feel like that’s the only way.

It was a baseless assumption, but it came from Keen Intuition.

Seo Jun-Ho bit his lips.

In the end, he leaped into the air and tapped furiously on his message window.

[Skaya, Rahmadat! Join me right now! We’re going to attack Tepes!]

[Wait, what?! We’re in the middle of dealing with Stigma right now!]

[Jun-Ho. If we leave, the players here will—]

[I know! But I need you! Please just come here! Please…!]

Seo Jun-Ho knew that he was being unreasonable here, but he wanted his friends to trust in him.

Bang!

Seo Jun-Ho kicked open the door to the throne room.

Tepes was sitting on the lid of a coffin with a calm look. He looked away from the map and stared at Seo Jun-Ho before saying, “What do you think? I’m sure you’re not disappointed this time, right?”

“What?”

‘What is he talking about?’

There was a burst of magic as Skaya and Rahmadat appeared next to him.

“I’m sorry…”

Seo Jun-Ho apologized and retrieved White Dragon from his Inventory.

“I’ll explain everything later. But… but I need you guys to just trust me for now.”

“...”

Skaya and Rahmadat nodded without saying anything.

They simply turned toward Tepes.

“Hm.” Tepes stood up, scratching his head.

***

Seo Jun-Ho swayed, breathing heavily. He was in a terrible condition. He had lost everything beneath his right knee, and blood kept on flowing out of his left eye.

‘Skaya, Rahmadat…’

Skaya and Rahmadat were on the floor, and their conditions were worse. They looked like they could die at any moment.

However, he had obtained a clear answer to his burning question.

“...I can’t believe I lost again,” Tepes murmured. Half of his head was missing, and he was currently on the floor. He lacked the strength to stand up, so he painstakingly turned his head to Seo Jun-Ho and said, “You possess such unbelievable power, Player. By any chance, are you also capable of hearing God’s voice?”

Seo Jun-Ho’s thoughts didn’t allow him to comprehend what Tepes was saying. He simply stood there and gripped the spear in his hand tightly.

‘It’s time…’

Seo Jun-Ho had discovered Tepes’ ability while he was fighting the latter. He was sure of it. Tepes’ ability was definitely time manipulation.

Otherwise, Tepes wouldn’t have been able to time his attacks just slightly off, and he wouldn’t have been able to read Seo Jun-Ho’s attacks as well.

‘Tepes’ ability is to manipulate time.’

Seo Jun-Ho knew the terrors of time more than anyone else. After all, he had been forced to fight Erebo with the power to go back in time on the 4th Floor. Without the power to go back in time, he wouldn't have been able to take down such a ridiculously strong monster.

He had finally managed to win after many regressions.

Still, the fight had lasted over seventeen years.

“Let me ask you one thing,” Seo Jun-Ho asked in a trembling voice, “How many times has it been?”

“Hmm, you truly are outstanding. To think that you would notice the trick...” Tepes was genuinely surprised, prompting him to answer in a voice full of respect. “Rest assured. We have only met twice so far.”

The tip of Seo Jun-Ho’s spear trembled. Seo Jun-Ho finally realized how scary it was to face an enemy who could regress.

‘Is this how Erebo felt while he was fighting me?’

Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t sure of what Erebo had felt, but one thing was for sure—it felt miserable to face an enemy who could regress, especially when one was aware of their enemy’s ability.

“I will try harder on the third time.”

Snap!

***

“Today, we shall reclaim our homeland in honor of our comrades who have gone to meet our ancestors at the Twilight Hill!”

The werewolves howled and cried when the chiefs raised their clenched fists.

“Awooo!”

“Awooo! Awooo!”

While watching the werewolves howl, Seo Jun-Ho was suddenly struck by a sense of déjà vu.

[Hero’s Mind (EX) is ready for possible side effects.]

‘What? Why did Hero’s Mind activate just now?’

While Seo Jun-Ho was agonizing over the reason why Hero’s Mind had activated all of a sudden, Keen Intuition spoke for the first time in a while.

- Partner.

“Intuition?”

‘I thought this guy was sleeping, and that’s why he hasn’t been answering my calls. So why is he suddenly talking to me? Hero’s Mind activated for some reason as well, and with Keen Intuition speaking up all of a sudden… just what the hell is going on?’

Seo Jun-Ho was baffled, and he stood there with wide eyes as many thoughts flashed across his mind.

Eventually, Keen Intuition spoke once more.

- Listen carefully, partner. It seems that we’re in a… very difficult situation right now.