Return of the Frozen Player

Demons were extremely prideful, and they regarded the members of other races as nothing but mere bugs. Once a demon became a Common demon, they would immediately become a combatant in the brutal land of demons.

They could be considered seasoned veterans when it came to battles, so there was no way a provocation from mere humans would make them move.

“Hey, is it illegal for me to leave without asking permission from a mere bug?”

“No way. If someone dared to make that illegal, then I would have killed them long ago.”

"Tsk, these bastards are trusting to a fault when it comes to the System. I’m sure they wouldn’t be able to make even eye contact with us if they were in the Underworld."

"Stop." Mellis raised his hand and silenced the Common demons before speaking toward Seo Jun-Ho. "Player Specter, if you want to keep that life and honor of yours, I suggest you don't cross the line."

"Aren’t you the ones who crossed the line first?”

"Hm, does a lion have to care about a line drawn by a mere rabbit?"

Mellis’ eyes were filled with arrogance. He was very confident that mere bugs like the Players wouldn’t be able to harm him no matter what.

In response, Specter muttered, "Rahmadat."

"Yeah?" Rahmadat raised his chin in confusion, seemingly asking why he was called.

"He said you beat a demon named George to death.”

"Oh, I did. He said he was a Common demon."

"Did you hit him first?"

From what they understood, the demons couldn’t harm a Player first.

"No… I kept ignoring the System that was telling me not to get out of the Octagon, so he appeared and hit me first."

Were the demons allowed to punish the Players if the Players ignored the rules they made? The demons were acting awfully similar to Administrators.

"How strong was that Common demon?"

"Hm, how strong?" Rahmadat thought about it for a moment before nodding. "They’re definitely stronger than fiends. I had to use four Tandavs."

"Four, you say?"

His comrades became slightly nervous at that. After all, they knew the power of Tandav.

‘That muscular idiot did that absurd dance four times?’

‘These guys are a bunch of monsters. They’re nothing like we have ever faced before.’

‘We have to be careful about this...’

‘Hmm...’

Three Common demons and a High demon. Specter activated the abacus in his head and started calculating. A few moments later, he got a result.

‘With our current forces, it's worth trying.’

According to Butcher’s memories, Specter could be considered a High demon if he were a demon. In addition, Specter was confident that the Heavens and the other Heroes would be able to deal with three Common demons on their own.

Therefore, their odds of winning were higher.

‘But I'm sure they know about that as well…’

The demons knew that if they were to fight the Players, the latter would win by a landslide.That was probably the reason why they were emitting so much killing intent with their bloodshot eyes. Realizing that, Specter knew just what he needed to do.

‘I just have to fan the flames...’

The determined Specter clicked his tongue. He swept his gaze across the demons as if he found them pathetic before mocking them. "Tsk, I don’t even have to take a closer look at you guys to know just how pathetic you are. After all, just one of us managed to beat one of yours up to death."

Specter then waved his hands as if he were chasing away a fly.

"Get lost while we’re letting you go. You'd better go before I change my mind.”

Could the demons whose pride and arrogance had long reached the summit endure such an insult?

‘I’ll bet a hundred million that they won’t be able to take it.’

Sure enough, the demons stared at Specter without moving. If looks could kill, then Specter would have already been torn apart hundreds of times by now. Even Mellis stared at Specter with narrowed eyes.

"What happens if you change your mind?"

"Those who won’t run away while I’m still playing nice will regret it."

"Are you strong enough to do that?"

"You have eyes as well, right? Not just ears? In that case, you should see it for yourself."

"You’re not wrong." Mellis revealed a murderous smile and said, "All right. Since you’re that confident in yourself, I suggest that we play a game."

Mellis flicked his finger, and System messages popped up in front of Specter.

[Demon Mellis has proposed a duel game.]

[Warning! The system will not protect the life of participating Players!]

After reading the messages, Specter asked bluntly, "How do we do it?"

"Simple. We’ll fight the Player you pick."

With that, it became clear to Specter that these demons truly wanted to fight them. The so-called game was just a facade.

Specter turned to look at his comrades and asked, “What should we do?"

"Well, I don’t mind.” Rahmadat started drooling at the thought. "It felt good to beat one of them up earlier, and I want to feel that sensation again, so I don’t mind going."

He leveled up a lot as well.

While the Players were muttering to themselves, Voros stepped forward and spoke, "Mellis-nim."

"What is it?"

"Please give me a chance. Mellis-nim doesn’t have to get blood on your hands; I'll take care of everything."

Specter’s eyes narrowed. If Voros also had eyes, then there was no way he didn’t notice the power gap between the present demons and the Players here. Voros seemed confident, so it was clear that he had something to rely on.

Specter thought about it for a while before calling someone out, "Skaya."

"Yeah?"

"I have a bad feeling about this. I think you should go and support Rahmadat."

"I don’t feel good about this as well, but why me?”

"Well…”

It was all because Rahmadat and Skaya’s synergy was one of the best among them.

Gilberto was working on his gun, but when he heard Skaya’s complaint, he spoke up and said, "You will have to help later anyway, so why are you complaining? Are you embarrassed to be paired with Rahmadat? Do you like him or something?"

"What are you even talking about, you dumbass! Are you finally senile? Jun-Ho, rather than the demons, can I just fight him instead?”

"Of course not…” Specter sighed and decided to just push Skaya toward Rahmadat.

Skaya walked over to Rahmadat in resignation.

"Why are you here?" Rahmadat looked at her with a frown. "We’re about to have a fierce one-on-one battle, so why are you here trying to join us when it’s a one-on-one battle?"

"Jun-Ho asked me to ensure that you won’t die."

"What? I don’t think he said that.”

“Yeah, he said that without me, you’d get blown away like dust. He asked me to help you just this once.”

"Hey, Jun-Ho! Is she telling the truth?”

“…”

The Frost Queen had been observing the situation from the side, and she suddenly clapped upon realizing something. "I got it! Those two are the ones responsible for all of the 5 Heroes' shameful pasts!"

Wait, she just found out?

***

Before the battle hiding behind the facade of a game started, Specter looked around for a while before raising his hand and suggesting, "At this rate, there’s a high chance that the other Players will get involved, and I’m sure you don’t want that to happen, right?”

The Arcade Center was still full of sleeping Players. They were more like ordinary people than Players. They were rookies who couldn’t even take proper care of themselves on battlefields.

"You’re not wrong." Mellis nodded. He flicked his finger, and the hundreds of thousands of Players disappeared. "Is this good enough? Now, the only ones here are the ones you might select to fight.”

"Nope, send everyone back aside from those I selected.”

Specter only selected nine people. The 5 Heroes, Saintess Cha Si-Eun, and three members of the Nine Heavens. Naturally, the Players who didn’t get selected were furious.

"Hey, hey! Specter-nim! This isn’t right!"

“I can definitely fight!”

Milphage and Gong Ju-Ha came running over to him, but Specter revealed a grim look and said, "I know you two are strong enough, but I need people who will protect Earth in the interim. Please..."

It could just be an unnecessary concern, but the demons’ words earlier worried him.

“Anyway, we still achieved one of our primary goals.”

There was no way they lured and kept hundreds of thousands of Players here for no reason at all. The first thing that came to Seo Jun-Ho’s mind was Nazad Hallow and Charbork.

‘They could have attacked our cities while the Players were away.’

Fortunately, Milphage and Gong Ju-Ha quickly caught on to what he was trying to say, and they nodded at the same time.

"Hm, you’re right. Earth needs Players who are strong enough to deal with any terrorist. I understand what you’re talking about."

"It can't be helped. I'll go back and protect Earth."

With that, the hundreds of thousands of Players in the Arcade Center disappeared, leaving only nine Players remaining.

"Only nine? These crazy bastards. I'll acknowledge your courage, at the very least."

The chuckling Voros turned to Rahmadat and Skaya.

"I'll let you attack me first. Attacking humans first is kind of cruel, even for me."

"Oh my, really?" Skaya’s eyes glimmered as she excitedly cast her spells. "Hey, musclehead. I'll kill you if you make a mistake."

“Just cast your spells as usual…" Rahmadat coolly replied.

Several magic spells quickly wrapped around Rahmadat.

【Haste】

【Steel skin】

【Inferno】

【Contact Explosion】

【Poisonous Smoke】

His speed was increased, his skin became as hard as steel, and his fists became enveloped in flames. In addition, magic circles spinning like cogwheels were following him as he moved.

"I’ll be attacking, then."

"Bugs like you don’t need to tell me when to attack," Voros snorted.

Rahmadat abruptly disappeared. Voros' eyes shook. He didn’t expect that his opponent was capable of vanishing from his line of sight.

“…!”

Before he realized it, a flaming steel-like fist shook his skull.

‘He’s fast...!’

'I didn't even see him move.’

‘This is crazy… How is he so fast when he’s so big?’

Rahmadat’s speed was beyond human, and the three Heavens were both horrified and dumbfounded by Rahmadat’s speed. Meanwhile, Voros’ face instantly became a bloody mess the moment Rahmadat’s flaming steel-like fist made contact with his face.

However, the attacks weren’t over just yet.

【Contact Explosion】

【Poisonous Smoke】

Boooom!

A beat later, a huge explosion occurred on Voros' face. The smoke from the explosion was a deadly poison, and it quickly filled Voros' lungs.

"Is he still alive?"

"Yeah, he’s still alive. I guess he’s definitely strong,” said Rahmadat while looking down at the fallen Voros. Rahmadat was sure that Voros was still alive because he didn’t feel like he had severed Voros’ soul.

"Cough! Ugh… Ugh…!" Voros started coughing as he trembled and breathed roughly while lying on the floor. He seemed confused as he stared at the ceiling.

‘Ceiling... No, wait, am I on the floor? Why am I lying down? Did I fall asleep?’

Rahmadat’s destructive power was beyond his imagination. A single attack actually managed to inflict such severe injuries on him. It was just one attack—one.

Voros shook his head to clear his mind, and when he recovered his wits, he immediately widened the distance and took a closer look into his condition.

‘Damned it, fuck!’

He was on the verge of death. His skin had unknowingly turned pitch-black, and it was clear that the poison he had inhaled was still gnawing away at his life.

‘What an absurd attack… there’s no way he can use it an unlimited amount of times, right?’

Rahmadat’s combat ability was clearly far below his own. However, Rahmadat’s explosiveness seemed to be on a whole new level.

"Damn it…!" Voros hurriedly hid his trembling fists. He couldn't reveal that he was fearful of humans—no, bugs. Ashamed, Voros mustered his demonic energy. "Fuck, fuck!"

He didn’t expect that he would have to use his demon characteristic. He wanted to hide it until the end.

Slice!

He became enveloped in smoke before splitting into two.

"Hm, is it a clone?" Rahmadat tilted his head.

A clone would always be weaker than the main body. However, when the smoke cleared, an old man and a woman appeared. They looked completely different from Voros.

“…!” Specter’s eyes turned bloodshot at the sight. He was incredibly familiar with the old man.

Bzzt, bzzt!

Specter’s heart trembled as sparks started flying from the old man’s wrinkled fingertips.

“T-the Thunder God!"

"What a hateful skill. How dare he insults the deceased!”

Shin Sung-Hyun and Wei Chun-Hak expressed their discomfort at the side. Specter, the disciple of the Thunder God, could barely hold in his boiling anger.

“I remember seeing you in an article. You’re Jun-Ho’s teacher, right?” Rahmadat stretched his shoulders and said coldly, “Keep your eyes closed. I don’t want to traumatize you.”