Return of the Frozen Player

Mellis quickly checked his condition. There was a wound, but it wasn’t that deep.

‘Damn it. Just how the hell did he hurt me?’

Satisfying the curiosity was for later. He pressed his finger at some parts of his chest to stop the bleeding.

“…!” He was still bleeding.

‘Hemostasis isn’t working?’

An indifferent voice reached the flustered Mellis' ears.

"You won’t stop bleeding."

The effect of the title ‘Demons’ Foe' was Demon’s Bane. It was an energy that was basically the bane of demonic energy. Specter’s attacks would always contain that energy, which was dangerous against fiends and demons.

"Damn it." Mellis cursed as complicated thoughts filled his head.

'This is worse than I thought. There are a total of three options I can choose from here.'

The first was to kill the enemy and heal himself, and the second option was to flee. However, both options were difficult to do. There was no way that Specter would just stand idle and let him leave.

‘If this drags on, I will be at a disadvantage. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, I’ll lose strength.’

The blood of the demons symbolized power. The higher the concentration of demonic energy in the blood, the stronger a demon would become. Naturally, the more blood they bled, the weaker they would become.

‘If I want to win, then I have to take action as soon as possible.’

It would be difficult to kill the enemy, and it would be difficult to run away.

In that case, he had no other choice but to choose the final option.

‘I have figured out his skills, so as long as I don't let my guard down… It's doable.'

Unfurl!

Mellis' back cracked, and a pair of bat wings unfolded behind him. He leaped into the air, and he broke the sound barrier as he passed by Specter.

‘I did it! I passed by him!’

Mellis only had one destination after successfully catching his opponent off guard. He was going to target the others.

‘I don’t really know him that much, but I’ve already noticed that he has a fatal weakness.’

His weakness was his friends, who were weaker than him.

Specter loved them a bit too much.

‘Emotions will always get in the way of the strong.’

Just like now…

Mellis glanced behind him. Rather than thinking of chasing after him, Specter simply stood around.

'Hehe, that's right. He doesn’t have wings, so there’s no way he can chase me.'

As expected, humans could become stronger than demons, but there was no way they could truly overcome the demons due to the gap between their species. Such thoughts passed through Mellis’ head.

"Contractor."

"I know." Specter flicked his finger and muttered. "Red Thorns."

Craaaaackle!

The blood on Mellis' chest erupted into hundreds of frozen thorns.

“…!” The pain was so excruciating that he couldn’t even scream as he crashed to the floor with his eyes rolled. The pain of crashing to the floor at speeds beyond the speed of sound wasn’t as painful as the pain caused by the frozen thorns.

“Haaak..! Haaa…!” He let out short breaths as the pain continued to gnaw away at his nerves. The tremendous pain was all thanks to Demon’s Bane.

‘What kind of battle is this?’

It was so unfair that Mellis wanted to cry at the injustice. Wounds inflicted on him by his enemy couldn’t be healed, and even his own blood was his enemy’s weapon? What the hell was that?

“Haaak! Haa…!”

A bitter cold started to embrace Mellis.

‘Damn it.’

He didn’t even have to look at the wound. He could feel it. The frozen crimson thorns made from his own blood were tearing his organs apart. Of course, his heart was being torn apart as well.

‘I’m not going to die like this…! I’m a ranked 3,015th demon in the Underworld!’

Step, step.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Mellis squeezed the final vestiges of his strength to raise his head.

‘Specter…’

Mellis believed it now. He had no choice but to believe it.

He was sure that Specter would definitely become a threat to the demons someday.

‘Heh…’

However, Mellis wasn’t worried. There was no way Specter would be able to defeat the nobility of the Underworld. Mellis wasn’t looking down on Specter—humans simply had their limits. Human beings had short life spans and weak bodies.

In addition, their bowl of magic could only contain so much magic.

“…”

Mellis murderously glared at Specter. Mellis was proud of himself. As a High demon, he managed not to show weakness until the very end.

"Kill me."

Mellis growled. He was ready to die.

Specter stretched out his hand and ordered. "Wait."

“…?”

The approaching hand landed on Mellis’ chest.

"What are you—” Mellis started.

However, his words got caught in his throat as he stared at himself in disbelief.

‘It’s… leaving?’

His power was leaving him. After confirming what was going on, Mellis cried out, "H-human…! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I’m absorbing it," Specter replied casually.

He was indeed absorbing it.

[You sense Mid-upper grade demonic energy from the target.]

[Watchguard of Darkness can consume the demonic energy.]

[Upon absorption, your magic stat will increase.]

‘As expected…’

He finally confirmed that his old hypothesis was true.

The Frost Queen nodded next to him. "Hoh, you cannot absorb the demonic energy of fiends, which is mixed with impurities, but you can absorb the demonic energy of demons?"

"Well, their demonic energy is a hundred percent pure."

He had been thinking about it since he absorbed the demonic energy in the children's bodies in Paradise.

Those kids were injected with demonic energy, and since they couldn’t wield magic, the demonic energy in them remained pure. Thus, he was able to absorb it.

"T-that's ridiculous…!"

Mellis was appalled. The feeling of losing his strength was almost like a tower he had been building over a lifetime was collapsing right in front of his eyes.

'I've met a lot of demons.’

Some of them definitely had the ability to absorb another being’s power. However, Mellis had never met someone who could absorb demonic energy like this.

‘Does this even make sense?’

Demons usually became stronger by drinking the blood of other demons. However, one’s absorption rate didn’t matter. If one decided to drink ten cups of blood, one would only be able to assimilate power from two out of the ten cups.

‘But this guy is different...’

Mellis could feel that not a single grain of demonic energy was being wasted as Specter took them away from him. The revelation was so astonishing that he had no idea what to do.

'…Wait a minute. Is it an ability to absorb demonic energy itself?'

While he was on the verge of death, Mellis suddenly recalled a certain skill. Specter’s skill was of the darkness attribute, it ignored defenses, and it could absorb demonic energy itself.

Mellis knew just one skill that was extremely similar to Specter’s skill.

‘B-but…’

It was a skill that could be considered the natural enemy of all demons.

Mellis asked in a trembling voice, "You…! A-are you perhaps using the Watchguard of Darkness?"

"What?" Specter was surprised, and he asked with a frown, "How did you know? Oh, did you hear it from the Heavenly Demon?"

"My god…!"

Mellis had just received the shock of his life. He couldn’t even count how many times he received a similar shock today.

‘How come such a great skill is with such a worm?’

No, this wasn't what mattered right now. When he realized that the skill gnawing away at him was the Watchguard of Darkness, Mellis tightly gripped Specter’s hand on his chest.

"N-no, you can’t. Ugh, unhand me! Don't take my demonic energy…!”

"You were nice and quiet, so why are you so rowdy right now?"

Smack, smack!

Seo Jun-Ho easily overpowered Mellis and continued absorbing the latter’s demonic energy.

Mellis started sobbing. "Please don't take it away. Give me back my demonic energy. I beg you… please…!"

"Hang in there. It's almost over."

[Magic stat has increased by 10.]

‘Not bad.’

It was an excessive reward for catching just a High demon.

Seo Jun-Ho frowned at the motionless Mellis, whose mouth was open and frozen.

‘Pretending to be dead…?’

No, it seemed that it wasn't the case because Mellis’ forehead was shining faintly. It was a sign that the Confession of the Dead could be used on him. Moreover…

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

…

[All stats has increased by 12.]

Since Specter’s level rose, it could be said that Mellis had truly perished.

"What? Did he bleed to death?"

"It is a death worthy of a mean and bad demon who looked down on me."

Wasn't it a vain death for a High demon? Well, Mellis was already dead, so Specter stopped thinking about it. He decided to think about another problem.

‘This skill isn’t working at all.

[Soul Collector]

Grade: A

Effect: Collects souls.

It was the skill he purchased from Reiji with points that he earned from selling the 4th Floor Guide that the Frost Queen had written. However, he still had no idea how to use the skill.

‘I don't know how to use it at all.’

Skills weren’t appliances that came with user manuals. Of course, it was up to the Players to figure out how to use their own Skills. However, it was his first time encountering such a mysterious Skill.

‘At first, I thought it was just a Skill where you kill and collect souls.’

However, Specter had killed many people since then, but the skill remained inactive. In that case, it seemed that there was another way for him to use the skill and collect souls with it.

"Tsk." Specter clicked his tongue. It was foolish to keep focusing on something that he couldn’t figure out in the meantime.

Setting the matter aside, Specter lightly placed his hand on Mellis' forehead.

"Now, confess.” He was truly curious to see what kind of lives these prideful demons were living. However, he received a completely unexpected System message.

[The target's soul cannot be identified.]

[Only the memories in the body will be played.]

[The Confession of the Dead has been activated.]

‘The soul can’t be identified? What does that mean?'

A hologram window floated and filled his eyes, interrupting his train of thought.

***

There were tens or hundreds of thousands of demons prostrating on the red ground. The combined demonic energy of the demons filling the world made him tremble, even though he was simply watching a playback.

‘... What are they worshipping?’

Usually, the object of worship was the only one that should be upright when it was being worshipped, so it was bound to stand out. However, nothing could be seen in the playback aside from demons prostrating on the red ground.

"Hmm?"

The camera flew up, and Seo Jun-Ho felt a strong sense of incongruity from the sight.

‘I don't think this is Mellis' memories.’

Mellis was prostrating as well and was staring at the red ground. The moment the thought passed by his head, the camera zoomed in at tremendous speeds. The camera quickly left the planet and showed the universe, and an existence sitting on a throne on an asteroid could be seen.

The existence was a bored-looking man with his eyes closed.

He slowly raised his eyelids and stared at the camera.

- …Human?

Specter held his breath. He didn’t dare to even exhale. A far greater and more primitive fear gripped him than when he saw the hundreds of thousands of demons.

‘Is he talking to me?’

No, it couldn’t be. This was the video playback of the Confession of the Dead. This was a scene from the past, so there was no need for him to be afraid. He didn’t have to be afraid, but even though he knew that he didn’t have to be afraid…

- I see. So that’s how you look…

The demon staring at him suddenly reached out.

Swoosh!

“…!”

The hologram window vanished as soon as Specter unknowingly pulled out his weapon.

[For the Player’s safety, the Confession of the Dead has been terminated.]

[Hero's Mind (EX) has resisted the effects of Fear.]

[Hero's Mind (EX) has resisted the effects of Overwhelm.]

[Hero's Mind (EX) has resisted the effects of Erosion.]

[Hero's Mind (EX) has resisted the effects of Madness.]

…

"Haaak…! Haaa…" Seo Jun-Ho finally exhaled the air he had been holding in. However, he found that his hands and back were damp with sweat.

- You… you should be grateful for Hero’s Mind.

Keen Intuition was right. He would have lost his mind if Hero's Mind was S rather than EX.

‘What the hell was that?’

Was he a member of the Underworld’s nobility whom Mellis had been putting on a pedestal? He had no idea about the identity of that man, but the man was more powerful than anyone he had ever seen in his life.

He saw the man through the video playback, but when their gazes met, Seo Jun-Ho suffered a tremendous shock that made him nauseous, even though their gazes only met through the video playback.

‘I-I have to fight someone like that someday?’

Tremble…

The human Seo Jun-Ho looked down at his trembling hands when System messages suddenly popped up in front of him.

[5.5th Floor, Arcade Center, is about to close.]

[In 60 seconds, all Players will return to the place where they came from.]

The 5.5th Floor was about to close. He profited a lot on the 5.5th Floor, but whether he liked it or not, it was about time for him to leave.