Return of the Frozen Player

In a training room, a white-haired man without a single thread of clothing was sitting cross-legged. He stared down at his palm.

“…”

The Alpha and Beta neigong chips were shining seductively, looking as if they were telling him to eat them.

‘They’re bewitching chips. I shouldn't get greedy.’

They were wicked. They looked sweet, like candy, but it was magic. As soon as he absorbed more than his limit by being greedy, his body would definitely burst like a balloon.

'The preparations are complete.’

It was time to be reborn anew. The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes and clenched his fists, shattering the two chips into powder.

‘…?’

Swoosh!

A breeze that shouldn’t have appeared in the training room made his hair flutter in the wind.

Wooong!

A violent magic storm manifested.

‘Ugh!’

The Heavenly Demon barely managed to hold on to his consciousness. If his concentration had been disturbed a little, his existence itself would have disappeared.

‘How vicious.’

The magic was wild, similar to a tempest, he trembled like a shabby branch, even though he had a physique similar to a peak martial artist. The Heavenly Demon clenched his teeth and concentrated.

‘It's fierce, so it's worth taming…’

He opened his magic circuits and manifested the blood-specific characteristic of a demon mimic’s gluttony.

Hwaaaa!

At his arrogant invitation, the magic surged in at a terrifying pace.

‘…!’

The cycle of almost losing consciousness and desperately clinging to a strand of it was repeated thousands of times. How much time had passed like that? The Heavenly Demon’s closed eyes slowly opened.

"Too bad..."

He was disappointed. He didn’t manage to absorb all the magic contained in both the Alpha and Beta neigong chips.

‘In terms of proportion, I only absorbed around seventy percent.’

The magic that could not find a vessel soon disappeared somewhere.

"Hmm."

It was regrettable, but the Heavenly Demon shook his head. If he had gotten a bit greedier, everything could collapse.

'No, to be precise, I’m still in danger.’ He couldn’t completely abandon his greed, so he absorbed magic beyond his limit at the very last moment.

Creak, creeeaaaak!

As such, his blood vessels seemed like they were about to burst.

‘That's a bad sign.’

His eyes, which had the same color as pomegranates, gleamed with light.

'However, it was worth the risk.’

He felt that he had reached a new level. Now, he didn't think he would lose even if he fought with a High demon.

"Not bad."

The Heavenly Demon revealed a rare smile and left the training room.

"Congratulations. I can see that you have reached a new level."

Outside, Isaac Dvor, Valencia Citrin, and the Chef, Roxan, were kneeling. They had been waiting for him to come out.

"How long has it been?"

"It has been six hours."

"Six hours?"

The Heavenly Demon looked slightly surprised. He didn’t expect that it hadn’t been that long since he went into the training room.

"Report the situation first."

"To start with the results, the Players won."

"As expected."

The Heavenly Demon nodded as if it were natural.

"Without the neigong chips, Namgung Jincheon would have been only half of himself.”

Namgung Jincheon was an overwhelming existence with martial arts powered by neigong of three thousand gapjas. However, Isaac Dvor stole his neigong chip, so he wouldn't have been able to exert the same power.

"Namgung Jincheon donned the emperor’s cyborg frame and stole his subordinates’ neigong, but Specter still defeated him."

"Specter..." The Heavenly Demon looked as if he had been missing Specter. He had already become strong enough to devour a High demon, but his left arm still ached when he heard Specter’s name.

"The Players are exhausted and without magic. Should we just wipe them out?”

Chef Roxan proposed with a servile smile.

The Heavenly Demon pondered about it for a while.

However, it didn’t take long for him to reach a decision when he saw his swollen blood vessels. Shaking his head, he said, "It’s a shame, but we have to postpone it for now."

He could hunt the Players down and wipe them out quite easily despite his condition.

‘However, if I were to force myself, the aftereffects will be too great to bear even for me.’

He could suffer a backlash that would render him forever unable to fight. The Heavenly Demon judged that there was no reason to carry out such a gamble. Now that he had reached a new level, he could just annihilate the Players when he recovered.

"There's nothing more shameful than hunting a pack of weakened wolves. Let’s quietly descend the floor."

"Yes."

"Anyway…" The Heavenly Demon turned to look next to them and pointed with his chin. "Who is that?"

"Ugh! Ugh!"

A sharp-looking man was on the floor with his limbs tied and his mouth gagged.

Isaac Dvor smiled and said, "He’s a rat that came in while you were in the training room, so I decided to catch him."

"That's strange. He looks like Specter to me."

"It will be easier to understand if you speak to him yourself."

At that, the Heavenly Demon arrived in front of Specter and bent down.

‘It looks just like him.’

The Heavenly Demon reached out and unblocked Specter’s mouth. When he did that, the latter started cursing at him. "You perverted bastard! Put your fucking clothes on, or stay away from me!"

The Heavenly Demon seemed indifferent as he pointed out. "He is a much more serious and solemn man compared to this man. What’s going on?"

"We think he’s similar to the skill Avatar."

"So, a clone. It seems that he had gotten himself such an interesting skill.”

In that case, it made sense that he looked like Specter.

"Here are your clothes."

The Heavenly Demon took the robe from Isaac and ordered. "Release the restraint."

"Yes."

Isaac casually flicked his finger. Seo Jun-Sik's abruptly vanished the moment he was released from the magic handcuffs.

"Slow."

The Heavenly Demon put on the robe leisurely and moved slightly to the side.

Craaack!

"Ack!"

Seo Jun-Sik attacked first, but he got hurt first rather than the Heavenly Demon. Seo Jun-Sik started rolling on the floor in pain as blood dyed the floor red in the blink of an eye. The Heavenly Demon had just torn a chunk of Seo Jun-Sik’s torso.

"Valencia, what do you think?"

"It was a mediocre move. The Specter who dealt with Namgung Jincheon was much faster and stronger than this."

"…As expected."

Valencia expected that the Heavenly Demon would be disappointed. However, contrary to her expectations, the Heavenly Demon was smiling brightly in delight.

"Of course. It won’t be fun if he's only at this level."

"…Kak! Tweh!"

Seo Jun-Sik spat a mouthful of blood and desperately clung to his consciousness.

‘This crazy bastard. I didn’t even manage to get close to him before getting injured.’

Seo Jun-Sik’s eyes turned cold.

‘I better not tell the Original about this.’

He knew that the fool would surely come running to avenge him as soon as he announced his situation.

‘He must not come here. This guy is dangerous.’

Alarm bells kept ringing in his head. His instincts were shouting at him that even if he fought the Heavenly Demon hundreds of times, he still wouldn’t be able to beat the latter.

‘This bastard is a monster...’

Seo Jun-Sik felt dizzy just standing in front of him, and looking at the Heavenly Demon made Seo Jun-Sik felt as if his mind were being sucked into the latter’s abyss-like eyes.

It felt like he was facing an entirely different being rather than a human being. The Heavenly Demon wasn’t even trying, but what if he truly showed his strength?

‘It's dangerous. The Original had just learned the Black Moon Martial Arts, and even if he already learned it completely, it would still be a grueling fight.'

Clench.

Seo Jun-Sik’s grip on his sword tightened. His original role had been to either kill or force them to stay here, but now, it was different.

‘I have to delay my death as much as possible so that he won’t receive my memories while these people are still here.'

Seo Jun-Sik made a decision to save the Original and the Players.

***

"Keke… kekeke!"

The kneeling Namgung Jincheon was laughing like a madman. The Players were staring at him, and they couldn’t find a trace of his previous domineering aura when he was wiping the floor with the Players.

"So a monster like him can die as well.”

"The 5th Floor is about to be cleared, right?"

“Six, seven, eight, nine, and ten… We’ve cleared half so far.”

The Players were tired, but their faces were full of pride. Now, Namgung Jincheon just had to die, and the raid on the 5th Floor would finally end.

"I can't say die well, so just die."

Seo Jun-Ho raised his iron sword high. The cool blade reflected the bright sunlight, and Namgung Jincheon smirked at the sight.

"…I’ll wait for you in hell."

"There’s no reason for me to go there, so don't wait for me."

"Aha, ahahaha!"

Namgung Jincheon let out a final inexplicable laughter before his head went flying. At that, the messages that every Player here had been waiting for finally arrived.

[Congratulations! You have defeated the Neo City Area Boss Monster, Martial God Namgung Jincheon.]

[You have received the title ‘Dignity of an Emperor’.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

…

[All stats has increased by 23.]

[Safe zones will now appear in the Neo City area.]

The system finally declared the 5th Floor as cleared and informed them of the way up ahead of them.

[The 6th Floor, Trium Area will be unlocked in 100 days]

[After 10 days, the ‘Arcade Center’ will open on the 5.5th Floor.]

[Players, please stay strong until the final floor.]

"What, the 6th Floor won’t be unlocked right away?"

"And the 5.5th Floor. What’s with that?"

The Players were confused. They couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.

"This is certainly unexpected."

"It's an unplanned vacation."

Skaya and Cha Si-Eun murmured bitterly. They felt like the system was purposely stopping those who had been running without a break.

"Mmm, I don't have a clue what kind of place the Arcade Center is."

"Is it a game room? Arthur will love it.”

"…I'm past the age to go to such places, Father."

For a moment, there was awkwardness in the air…

Then, the Players gathered in twos and threes to plan their vacation. Since they would basically be free for the next ten days, they could finally do whatever they hadn’t been able to do because they were busy.

"I should go on a family trip. My wife and daughter always wanted us to go on a trip.”

"That's nice. Speaking of which, I should go see my parents.”

Skaya, who was watching the scene, spoke to the party.

"There’s a spell I really wanted to study thoroughly, so it’s good that we’ll have a break.”

"The system just gave us time to have a vacation, so I think it's best for everyone to plan it well."

The party made plans one by one, and Cha Si-Eun asked, "Jun-Ho-nim, what is your schedule like? Are you planning on going on a vacation?”

"I…” Seo Jun-Ho thought about it for a while before shaking his head. He couldn't figure out what to do. "I'll have to think about it a little more."

The tired Players made their own vacation plans and started laughing with each other.

At the sight, Seo Jun-Ho smiled.

“…!”

However, scenes suddenly appeared in his mind. They were memories that didn’t belong to him.

‘Jun-Sik's memories?’

Seo Jun-Ho casually accepted the memories, but his expression suddenly became stiff.

- So, a clone. It seems that he had gotten himself such an interesting skill.”

How could Seo Jun-Ho fail to recognize him? As soon as he heard the voice, he immediately identified the speaker without effort.

‘The Heavenly Demon is here…’

Seo Jun-Ho's eyes quivered.