Return of the Frozen Player

Hero’s Mind didn’t allow his mind to collapse. Sometimes, it would make strange decisions on its own, but right now, it wasn’t doing anything strange.

‘It’s a great thing that it’s not doing anything strange

Seo Jun-Ho was convinced that he would have gone crazy long ago if it weren’t for Hero’s Mind.

Slice! Crunch!

"Argh! Hup!"

Seo Jun-Ho saw how Seo Jun-Sik barely managed to suppress a scream. The floor of the training hall was littered with bloodstains that couldn’t be erased despite vigorous daily cleaning.

"Cough!”

They were lacerated, bludgeoned, and their bones were crushed as well. Even more shocking was that all this occurred at the same time every second. The duo had to endure unimaginable pain throughout the day, aside from whenever they had to cook meals.

"Damn… I just can’t get used to this

Seo Jun-Ho smiled bitterly. Hero's Mind protected his mind, but it didn’t eliminate the pain. It had already been fifteen days since he entered the Hole of Repentance, and he hadn’t been able to catch even a wink of sleep.

The effects of accumulated fatigue were starting to appear.

‘She said I won’t die, and she’s right.'

Fatigue would still accumulate, but the Hole of Repentance wouldn’t allow sinners to die while they were reflecting and repenting. Any form of death wasn’t allowed, and Seo Jun-Ho’s body would always recover miraculously despite the severity of his injuries.

‘This will be easier if I could develop Fatigue Resistance or even Pain Resistance

Unfortunately, he didn’t develop any of those. Cell Regeneration gave him Death Resistance, so Seo Jun-Ho didn’t expect that there were actually some resistances that it couldn’t give the latter.

"Ugh, Original Seo Jun-Sik called out. He was currently sprawled out on the floor of the training hall.

"What?"

"I did the math.”

At this rate, it would take Seo Jun-Ho at least fifteen days to increase all of his current resistances to high-level.

‘It’ll only take a month at most

In that case, what would they learn in the next eleven months?

Seo Jun-Ho could only close his eyes and endure the tremendous pain.

***

"You worked hard."

It was a monotonous and flat compliment. If Seo Jun-Sik were here, he would have said something, but he had already been recalled. Seo Jun-Ho briefly read through his status window, where the results he had obtained over the month were recorded.

[High-level Crush Resistance.]

[High-level Laceration Resistance.]

[High-level Bruise Resistance.]

[High-level Poison Resistance.]

[High-level Magic Resistance.]

[High-level Penetrating Wound Resistance.]

…

Among his resistances, he only failed to increase his Death Resistance. His Death Resistance was still at the lowest-level while his other resistances had all become high-level.

"Congratulations. Your physical ability has far exceeded the limits of humanity. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like you before."

"Should I be happy about that…?”

"I guess to see is to believe. Stand up."

Seo Jun-Ho stood up in response.

Reiji mustered her magic and filled her fist with an energy that was so formidable that Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but have second thoughts if he would be fine if he received that punch.

"Wait…!” Seo Jun-Ho shouted.

Thump!

Reiji buried her fist into Seo Jun-Ho’s stomach.

"Ugh!" Seo Jun-Ho took a few steps back and frowned slightly. Then, he looked down at his stomach, surprised. “It wasn’t that bad…?”

The amount of magic that Reiji had gathered in her fist was too strong for the punch to be this weak. Seo Jun-Ho was convinced that Reiji had done either of these two.

‘Either she relaxed when the punch was about to connect, or my body is too sturdy.’

From what Seo Jun-Ho had seen so far, Reiji was far from kind. She was ruthless, strict, and brutal. In other words, it had to be the latter. His body had to have become too sturdy, and the realization made Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes sparkle.

"It didn’t hurt as much as I thought."

"I held back, but I’m still annoyed to hear that.” Reiji grinned. She could still remember how every bone in Seo Jun-Ho’s body shattered when she punched him with a punch that was way weaker than her punch just now.

‘I held back, but it’s a bit unbelievable that he managed to withstand that.’

Reiji smiled, seemingly determined. "All right. There’s no reason for me to feel burdened anymore, so I guess we can start."

"Start?"

"What’s with that look? I’m obviously talking about the training that you will have to do in the next eleven months,” replied Reiji.

Goosebumps broke out all over Seo Jun-Ho as a kind of fear that he hadn’t felt in recent years reared its ugly head.

"Combat sense and skills. Those are useless, especially for someone like you.” Reiji's playful eyes turned to him as she said indifferently, "I’ve heard about how teachers are often kind to their students. But I told you, right? I'm not a teacher."

Reiji’s magic erupted and filled the entire Hole of Repentance to the brim.

"I believe that talent is everything, and I became a transcendent on my own—without someone else guiding me.”

In other words, if Seo Jun-Ho were a flower, then he had to bloom on his own.

'You better bloom before I get tired of you...’

Boom!

A heavy punch landed on Seo Jun-Ho's chest.

It was a punch that was on a completely different level than before, and it shook Seo Jun-Ho’s soul.

"You died,” said Reiji.

Seo Jun-Ho’s broken body started recovering at a frightening speed. His hands gripped the floor of the training hall tightly as he trembled incessantly.

"Haaa! Haaap!"

‘I would have died if we were outside

The foundations he had built over the years meant nothing in the face of overwhelming strength. Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes quivered.

'I-I...’

He was a lot weaker than he thought.

Reiji stared at him as he forced himself to stand up.

‘Impressive.’ Reiji inwardly remarked. Of course, she still had no idea whether Seo Jun-Ho would eventually give up or endure until the end. After all, they were just getting started.

"I’ll compliment you again Reiji muttered.

Hero’s Mind—it was a good thing that he had it.

***

As usual, the dim streets were covered in a red fog that was so thick that it was impossible to see the moon hanging overhead. It was cold and raining, but the conditions didn’t deter a gentleman from walking down the cold and dim street.

"This is a great night.”

The gentleman was returning home from an academic conference. He left his car at the repair shop earlier in the day, so he had no choice but to walk back home.

'I should have accepted Mayor Deva’s recommendation to hail a carriage.’

The gentleman regretted saying that he would just walk back home. He thought it would be okay to just walk back home because there were street lights and the academic reference was held only thirty minutes away from his home. However, he didn’t expect that it would be so dark outside despite the street lights.

"This damned red fog.”

It was unknown when it started, but every night, the city would always be enveloped in a red fog. The red fog was so thick that it caused a lot of traffic accidents. In the end, the authorities had to stop people from going out at night.

‘And there’s apparently a madman on the loose

He could still remember seeing many articles about missing people in the Trium Times. A repeat offender was apparently out there committing crimes, and the authorities still hadn’t caught them.

"What are the authorities doing? Why did they let the city regress to this state?”

And all this happened in just over half a year. The city wasn't like this before. The gentleman entered an alley while clicking his tongue. The alley was darker than the main street, but it was a shortcut to his home.

Bzzt, bzzt.

The old street lamp in the narrow alley flickered incessantly. Whenever it flickered, the inside of the dirty alley would be momentarily revealed.

‘There’s someone

They were a man covered in a thick robe. He also wasn’t holding an umbrella despite the rain. The gentleman gulped and turned away. The city was terrible, so he didn’t want to take any risks.

'I should go around.’

He turned around and was about to exit the alley.

Grab!

However, someone grabbed his arm.

"Hi-hiik!"

It was the madman in a thick robe. The gentleman could swear that the madman was standing in the middle of the alley just a few moments ago. The gentleman panicked. He was about to burst into a scream, but a cold hand covered his mouth.

"It’ll be nice if you just come with me quietly.”

When the gentleman fainted out of fear, the mysterious man chuckled and carried the gentleman over his shoulder.

"Hm, by any chance, are you the rumored serial abductor?”

!” The mysterious man abruptly turned toward the voice he heard behind him.

Boom!

There was a dull thud as a fist buried itself into the mysterious man’s stomach.

"Uh… Ahh."

The mysterious man collided against the wall, and he struggled to get up amidst the trash around him.

"Oh, you’re pretty tough.”

Drip, drip, drip.

The mysterious man looked up and saw a large-framed man. No, it would be an understatement to say that the man was large. He was definitely more than large because the large-framed man was as huge as three adult males combined.

"…Who are you?"

"Rahmadat Khali. Do you have any other questions?”

"Why—ugh! Why did you attack me?"

"Because you were trying to abduct that gentleman."

"I don't know what you're talking about,” said the mysterious man, feigning ignorance. "He suddenly collapsed, and I was only helping him."

"Hm, really?" Rahmadat scratched his head and asked. "Why were you carrying him over your shoulder, then?"

"How was I supposed to move him? He fainted, so there was no other way."

Rahmadat went silent. The mysterious man’s words seemed like they made sense.

"Tsk, I really need that nerd next to me in times like this.”

She was smart, so the mysterious man’s words wouldn’t stump her.

Rahmadat beckoned at the mysterious man. "If you’re innocent, follow me."

"All right."

The mysterious man approached without hesitation.

Rahmadat nodded. He crouched to pick the gentleman off the floor. However, the mysterious man suddenly lunged at Rahmadat and bit his neck.

Crack!

"Are you one of those dogs?!" shouted the mysterious man.

Rahmadat frowned and punched.

"Argh!" The mysterious man cried out in pain as he flew backward. When he stood up, he wiped the blood off of his mouth and laughed. “Pffft! What an idiot. You're done for. Still, you’re a bit strong, so I’m sure that you will be loved."

"What are you

Badump, badump.

Rahmadat's expression stiffened. After placing the gentleman over his shoulder, he placed his hand on his neck.

‘It's hot.’

His blood vessels felt like they were burning up. His heart was beating faster, his vision was swimming, and he felt like vomiting.

The mysterious man chuckled upon seeing that.

"What I gave you is worse than any poison out there. It’ll all be over for you once you’re on our side

Riip!

The mysterious man was stupefied. The crazy lump of muscle had just ripped a chunk of his neck and shoulders.

"Y-you madman…!"

"Whew... That feels a lot better.”

Rahmadat’s condition returned to normal. His vision no longer swam, and he no longer felt like he wanted to vomit. In addition, his neck and shoulders had also recovered by the time he let out a sigh of relief.

"W-what nonsense?!" The mysterious man cried out in disbelief. The crazy lump of muscle’s rate of regeneration wasn’t humanly possible.

"Hmph. I don't think you’re one of those dogs. Does that mean we belong to the same kind?”

In that case, why was Rahamadat bothering him? Most importantly, shouldn’t Rahmadat be a True Vampire rather than someone at the bottom of the ladder like himself, considering the former’s regenerative ability?

"I-if I did something wrong

"Finally, you’re starting to repent.” With a smile, Rahmadat abruptly appeared in front of the mysterious man.

"Sleep for now."

Craaack!

It was a clean uppercut.

The mysterious man’s eyes glazed over as he fell to the ground.

***

"So, you found the alleged culprit?"

"Yep."

"So, you caught and brought him here?"

"Yep."

Rahmadat nodded while sitting on the creaky sofa of an old apartment, and the others huddled around him.

"Whew.”

Skaya sighed while staring at the table.

It was an empty table, and there was a thick rope on it.

"You tied him up properly and placed him on the table, but he suddenly disappeared?"

"How many times do I have to say it? He didn’t disappear," Rahmadat said. He pointed at the window in the kitchen and explained, "When the sun broke out, he became like that, so he didn’t just disappear."

There was black ash amidst the thick rope.

The inspectors glanced at each other.

"Lump, tell me what happened to you last night,” said the Frost Queen. She was wearing a beret and was sitting with her legs crossed.