Return of the Frozen Player

"Hu, ha, hu, ho!"

Seo Jun-Sik ran as hard as he could.

"Catch him!"

"Go that way!"

"He’s quick! Close off his retreat!"

Whips, traps, weapons, and arrows flew toward him from all sides. To make matters worse, hundreds of first-grade martial artists were flocking in as well.

Seo Jun-Sik looked over at them and thought seriously. ‘I-I have never had this much fun before...’

As if he were being chased by zombies, the adrenaline rush made him feel incomparably exhilarated. Of course, the reason why he could have such a light-hearted thought was that he was relaxed in both body and mind.

‘I can't believe these people are first-grade martial artists. The future of the Murim Alliance is dark.’

He could only exert about forty percent of the Original’s strength. Nevertheless, he was confident that he could knock all these guys down if he willed.

‘Or maybe not…’

He could be a hundred percent sure about it if his magic were full. The obstacle called insufficient magic made such a feat hard to achieve.

'Well, then, what to do?’

He couldn’t just go to the pub with these guys hanging on to him like fruits.

The pub would surely have troops stationed there as well, so he couldn't waste all his magic here.

"All right, let's just get rid of half of them."

Having made up his mind, Seo Jun-Sik's movements changed. The gentle rabbit running around inside the net became a wolf in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, this is a lion."

"…It's a tiger, you punk."

Watching from afar, Seo Jun-Ho muttered with a frown. Apparently, the only difference between Seo Jun-Sik and Seo Jun-Ho was that the latter was a bit more honest with everything, but why did it seem like Seo Jun-Sik was dumber than him?

‘Do you only get forty percent of my intelligence?’

‘What? That’s ridiculous.’

Seo Jun-Sik snorted and tilted his head slightly to avoid a flying sword. From that posture, he lifted his knee and struck the swordsman’s hand before snatching the same swordsman’s sword in mid-air. As soon as the sword landed in his hand, the atmosphere changed. The experienced swordsman was no longer smiling while looking at Seo Jun-Sik.

"Hmm, there will not be much to worry about," remarked the Frost Queen.

"I wasn't even worried. Whose clone do you think he is?” said Seo Jun-Ho.

It was his proud clone. Seo Jun-Sik unilaterally started beating up the first-grade martial artists of the Murim Alliance.

"Ugh! He's strong!"

"I can't believe a sex maniac humiliated me like this!”

"What?"

Seo Jun-Sik was casually beating them up with one punch each person, but he suddenly stopped. He pointed his finger at his face and blinked his big eyes before saying, "I'm a sex maniac?"

"You shameless and abominable fellow, are you still going to deny it?!"

"No—Namgung Jincheon, really, that punk!”

Seo Jun-Sik could still accept being branded as the public enemy of the Murim Alliance as well as being chased by the martial artists of the Murim Alliance. However, wasn’t there a line that shouldn’t be crossed no matter what?

Seo Jun-Sik looked as if he had been wronged, and the martial artists gritted their teeth at the sight.

"Your acting skills are top-notch!"

"Evidence has come out that you have joined hands with the Small Heavenly Demon, Wisoso, and raped maidens in the southern area!"

"What bullshit are you talking about?!" shouted Seo Jun-Sik. "That’s not true, I have never even—"

"Shut up, you sex maniac!"

Seo Jun-Sik’s burned once again as he deflected the weapons flying at him from all directions. Naturally, he started beating them up again.

The Frost Queen and Wisoso's eyes turned to Seo Jun-Ho.

- Hmmhmm. Young Hero Seo, it is not really your fault.

"Hmmhmm. You were busy saving the world," added Frost Queen.

Seo Jun-Ho smiled brightly at their ambiguous consolation and closed his eyes.

‘Seo Jun-Sik. You’ll have to face the wall with your hands up for ten hours once you’re back.’

***

There was a man in a black suit in a shady pub. He definitely looked out of place.

The man clad in black asked, "Where’s Specter?"

"Well, he has already torn half of the Murim Alliance's Heaven’s Net."

"Oh, really?"

The Guild Master of Rock Blood was a Guild affiliated with Climb. Blood Lord, who was also known as Earth’s greatest assassin, smirked upon receiving the report.

"I don't know if I should be grateful or think that he’s stupid.”

"Stupid?”

"Of course. You said he’s tearing through the Murim Alliance’s Heaven’s Net, right?"

"Yes…"

The number of martial artists surrounding the capital was 700. He should have knocked out at least 300 of them by now.

‘Considering Specter’s personality, he probably couldn't even kill them.’

He probably just knocked them out. Blood Lord asked once again to confirm.

"There were no casualties among them, right?"

"How did you—yes, that is correct. They simply lost consciousness."

"Hu."

Blood Lord had done his research on Specter to the point that he started getting tired of hearing Specter’s name, so there was no way he could be wrong.

‘And there’s only one reason why I have been doing my research.’

It was all so that he wouldn’t fail when the chance to assassinate Specter arrived.

‘Besides, I have a beef to settle with him.’

He had lost two special assassins in the hands of Specter during the request to assassinate Cha Si-Eun. The death of the S-grade wind elemental user was especially painful. As such, he wasn’t here for petty revenge.

‘Eye for an eye, blood for blood.’

It was the creed of the assassin guild, Rock Blood.

As Blood Lord’s eyes shone while he was deep in his thoughts, a subordinate spoke up, “By the way, Blood Lord-nim."

"What is it?"

"I don't know if we should say this, but why does the Murim Alliance trust us so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"They only dispatched ten martial artists here to assist us. They’re all mediocre as well."

Blood Lord thought about it for a moment before answering, “Well, I’m sure that old snake Tenmei Yugo manipulated them well."

Otherwise, there would be no explanation. If they had no faith in Blood Lord, then the Murim Alliance would have sent their strongest group, the Four Divine Beasts, and the elites of the Ten Great Families.

"Oh, and Blood Lord-nim."

"What else?" Blood Lord asked, annoyed.

"All our agents, even those in the middle of carrying out requests, are here, but will we really be able to handle Specter?”

"Hmm."

Honestly, Blood Lord had thought about it as well Based on his estimates, Specter’s current level was on par with that of the Thunder God during his prime.

"The odds are even."

"Mm…!"

The subordinate's face darkened. He couldn’t help but think that today could be the end of Rock Blood, the greatest assassin guild on Earth.

“I’m not done yet…" Blood Lord grinned. He looked at the Players in the pub and continued. "I'm saying the odds would be fifty-fifty if we step up alone."

"Then..."

"Yeah."

The Players in the pub were all Rankers, and they were those who would attack Specter as long as they would gain something from it.

‘There will be no problems…’

Even if the Thunder God were here along with Specter, they would still die. Blood Lord revealed an evil grin and chuckled. "Hehe, hehehe.”

***

Seo Jun-Ho looked at the laughing Blood Lord as if he was a fool.

"Contractor, he’s weird."

"Sseup, it’s not good to look at people like them.”

Seo Jun-Ho covered the Frost Queen's eyes with his palm and headed toward the bathroom.

‘It’s a little different from what I expected, but it should be fine.’.

Seo Jun-Sik was still drawing everyone’s attention in the city. If he managed to go downstairs just like this, Namgung Jincheon’s chase would have been in vain.

'... Did I think too highly of him?’

Seo Jun-Ho was nervous because Namgung Jincheon was an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years. He couldn’t help but think that the sect leaders of the Ten Great Families were hiding in the pub.

'He must have thought that I wouldn’t be able to kill Players.’

So what? All Seo Jun-Ho had to do was avoid them. Seo Jun-Ho entered the bathroom with a victorious smile. The toilet stalls in this pub acted similarly to dimensional elevators.

Seo Jun-Ho opened the door of one of the stalls.

“…?”

A fist-sized ball on top of the toilet was captured in his eyes. It was a ball filled with ominous energy, and it was flashing red.

- Partner! Magic! Use your magic to protect yourself!

Keen Intuition’s warning echoed in his mind.

Booommm!

A massive explosion then engulfed the entire building.

***

- Alliance Leader, the flowers have bloomed.

"Is that so?"

Back at the headquarters of the Murim Alliance in the middle of Neo City, Namgung Jincheon was writing a diary entry. When he heard the report, he calmly said, "Send out an article."

- Yes.

With that, Namgung Jincheon finished his diary entry…

[Public Enemy of Murim, Seo Jun-Ho kills hundreds of Players for his own survival.]

Namgung Jincheon became certain once again. He was sure that everything was still going according to plan.

***

Seo Jun-Ho’s senses started returning one by one.

Diiiinnnng.

His sense of hearing returned first, and his ears were filled with an obnoxiously loud ringing sound. Then, his sense of touch returned. He could finally feel his arms and legs making contact with the floor.

'Damn it...'

However, the world around him was still spinning. He was obviously lying on the floor, but intense vertigo made him feel as though he were on a rollercoaster.

"Uu, uwaaack!"

Blood gushed out of his mouth as if he a faucet was turned on. He could even see pieces of his organs.

‘That’s not good.’

He managed to protect himself using magic before the bomb exploded. He was quick to cover himself with magic, but the explosion was a beat faster.

"Ugghh…”

His whole body ached as if he had been beaten black and blue. He wanted to faint due to the severe pain, but Hero's Mind (EX) refused to allow it.

"Ugh… Ugh."

Seo Jun-Ho moved while groaning. He looked around.

“…”

‘Fuck. That fucking bastard!’

Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t control his emotions and cursed. First of all, the pub had disappeared without a trace, and there was a mountain of corpses as well as blood flowing like a river.

"Namgung Jincheon, you crazy bastard…!”

The number of Players gathered here was just under 400. Even if they had bad feelings toward him, they were still Players of Earth. In other words, they were precious beings who were supposed to climb up the floors to prevent the destruction of Earth. However, Namgung Jincheon made all that precious manpower explode just to capture him.

'Damn it...'

Seo Jun-Ho limped. He managed to get up somehow. He could see a bone sticking out of his left elbow. He staggered along while putting pressure on the wound.

'First of all, I have to get out of here.’

He put Wisoso in his Inventory at the last minute. It was fortunate that the system judged it as a machine rather than a living being. Even the Frost Queen had disappeared without a trace. It seemed that she had been recalled to the Spirit World.

‘The forces of the Murim Alliance are definitely rushing toward here right now.’

Seo Jun-Ho knew that with his current condition, it would be difficult for him to deal with even one of the sect leaders of the Ten Great Families.

‘Damn it, damn it...’

- Partner, partner! It’s all over once you close your eyes! Wake up!

Keen Intuition kept waking him up, but his eyes felt heavy.

'Blood, I lost too much blood...’

He was experiencing the effects of hemorrhagic shock. Hero’s Mind had been doing a great job in making sure that his consciousness wouldn’t fade, but even Hero’s Mind had its limit.

Thud!

Seo Jun-Ho fell flat, and the world in front of him turned on its side.

"There he is!"

"It’s the public enemy of Murim, Seo Jun-Ho!"

"Get him!”

He could hear the martial artists running over here. Was this the end? Exhausted and in distress, Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes started to close. However, he suddenly felt as if he were floating. He looked and saw that someone was carrying him.

‘Jun-Sik?’

No, they weren’t Seo Jun-Sik. He blinked a few times, but his vision was becoming hazier by the second because his mind was shutting down. Still, he managed to catch a glimpse of the one carrying him away.

“You, why…”

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t hear an answer.