Return of the Frozen Player

“Earth? India? I’ve never heard of those places before.”

The woman who introduced herself as Mone was curious about lots of things.

“Are the people living in those places as strong as you?”

“No.”

“Fair enough…” Mone nodded. If all the people there were as strong as the man in front of him, then they would have unified the world a long time ago. However, Mone got curious again.

“Why do you hate vampires, Rahmadat?”

“Because those bastards abduct and suck people’s blood like it’s not a big deal,” said Rahmadat. He momentarily paused as if he recalled something before continuing. “And one of them even bit me.”

“What?!” Mone freaked out and ran to the corner of the alley. She observed Rahmadat with only half of her face sticking out of the corner like a frightened cat.

“Y-you were bitten? When? Which part of your body did they bite?”

“They bit me two days ago near my neck on my shoulder.”

“...It’s already been two days since you were bitten, but you aren’t infected yet?”

“I ripped out the flesh on my neck and shoulders as soon as I was bitten.”

“You’re lying. Humans die if you do that! You’re going to get in trouble if you continue lying, you know!” Mone retorted.

Action spoke louder than words, so Rahmadat tore a chunk of his own shoulder on the spot to prove that he was speaking the truth.

“See? I didn’t die.”

“T-this doesn’t make any sense!” Mone quickly approached Rahmadat and groped his shoulder for something. She even sniffed Rahmadat as if she was trying to confirm something. “That’s weird. I can’t smell our blood from you...”

“What do you mean, our blood?”

“Hm…” Mone fell into contemplation. A few moments later, she revealed a determined look and said, “Please follow me for a while.”

***

The carriage stopped on a quiet road outside the city. The bright moon overhead could be seen unobstructed.

“Are you really going to alight here? It’s rare to find carriages around here,” asked the coachman.

“It’s fine. Here’s our fare.” Mone paid the coachman and gestured at Rahmadat to follow her.

Three hours later, the pair finally arrived at a rugged mountain range. Rahmadat had remained silent all this while, but he finally spoke, “Hey, you told me to follow you for a while. I don’t think seven hours is for a while.”

“We’re almost there. We’re already in our territory.”

“And who are you referring to when you say our?” asked Rahmadat. His eyes abruptly narrowed when a large number of people suddenly surrounded him.

“Do they belong to your group?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. They’re just wary, that’s all.”

Mone waved her arms. “It’s okay, everyone! He’s my guest!”

“...What the heck are you thinking, Mone?” A man walked out from behind a tree. The man with a long scar on his face glared at Mone and scolded. “How dare you recklessly bring a human into our territory?”

“Orca, he’s not just a human,” replied Mone.

“That’s not a matter for you to judge,” Orca said. He gestured at the people surrounding Rahmadat. “Restrain him. We need to take care of him.”

“W-wait! I told you. He’s my guest!”

“You’re the daughter of the chief, but you have no authority to recklessly bring outsiders into our territory.”

“Hmm,” Rahmadat swept his gaze across the people surrounding him and spoke, “Is this how your people repay favors, Mone?”

“I’m sorry, Rahmadat. Please leave this to me,” said Mone. She then stood in front of Orca with a determined look.

“Orca, please step aside.”

“I have to do my job,” Orca answered.

“It’s an order. I will take responsibility for everything that might happen, so move out of the way.”

“...” Orca stared at Mone for a while and sighed. “You better keep your word.”

When the decision was made, the killing intent of the people around Rahmadat vanished.

‘They’re well trained. They’re at least much better than the vampires I ran into earlier.’

Rahmadat followed Mone, and they soon found themselves in front of a huge stone wall.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Creaaak!

After struggling to push the stone wall, Mone turned around and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

“Rahmadat. Welcome to the Twilight Claw Tribe!”

Beyond the massive stone wall were several unique-looking buildings. Most of the buildings were houses made out of stones and were built in a way to mimic human houses while still preserving their wild looks.

“Mone!”

A group of people walked up to Mone and Rahmadat. The large-framed middle-aged man standing at the lead had a physique comparable to Rahmadat.

A man with a long gray beard turned his sharp eyes toward Rahmadat.

“How dare you bring a human into our territory without my permission?”

“He’s my benefactor! He killed dozens of vampires and saved me.”

“Hmm.”

The large-framed middle-aged man took a few steps forward and stood in front of Rahmadat. Rahmadat felt as if he were standing in front of a massive mountain, but he remained unmoving and unblinking.

“He’s pretty good. Does one of your ancestors have our blood?”

“I’ve been saying the same thing over and over again,” Rahmadat said with a rarely-seen exhausted look, “I don’t know what you mean by the word our.”

“It seems like Mone didn’t tell you anything. All right, I’ll tell you.” The large-framed middle-aged man wrapped his arm around Rahmadat’s shoulders. “My name is Arnold Osman. I’m Mone’s father and the chief of the Twilight Claw Tribe, and…”

Squeeze!

The weight on Rahmadat’s shoulder became heavier as time went on.

Rahmadat looked up.

‘’He’s growing… taller?’

The large-framed middle-aged man grew in size as gray fur covered his body. His nose and mouth projected, his ears became pointy, and his eyes also shone in a glint one could only see in the eyes of beasts.

When his transformation was finally done, Arnold continued. “I’m a werewolf.”

“...” Rahmadat looked up at Arnold in silence. It was understandable because he had never seen a werewolf before. A few moments later, Rahmadat raised his hand and gripped the furry beast’s hand on his shoulder.

“All right, Arnold. I get that you’re excited to meet me…”

“...!”

Squeeze!

Arnold’s seemingly unmoving hand was slowly being lifted off of Rahmadat’s shoulder.

“But I don’t really like it when people other than my friends put their hand on my shoulder.”

Arnold’s eyes widened.

***

Rahmadat was assigned a house, and the interior of the stone house was much cleaner and more comfortable than he thought.

“You were amazing! I’ve never seen anyone as strong as my father!” Mone exclaimed.

“Is that so?” Rahmadat nodded, seemingly convinced. Arnold’s strength was so great that Rahmadat had to circulate his magic at full throttle.

“I have a question,” asked Rahmadat all of a sudden.

“What is it?”

“Who is stronger? Arnold or True Vampire Ghost?”

“...!” Mone’s face turned pale as if the name alone struck fear into her heart. She bit her lips tightly and asked, “Where did you hear that name from?”

“Hmm… I didn’t really hear his name from anyone. Actually, I met him in person.”

“You what?!” Mone stared wide-eyed at Rahmadat. “H-How did you survive?”

“It was difficult. He even chopped my head off.”

Of course, Rahmadat really never had any trouble recovering from decapitation, even when his Super Regeneration was still S. Naturally, it had become even easier and quicker for him to recover from such an injury with Super Regeneration (EX).

‘But I do wonder...’

Rahmadat used to believe that he would die if his heart or brain were destroyed, but now, he was no longer convinced that he would actually die from those injuries.

“You can survive being decapitated, Rahmadat?”

“Yes.”

“It’s kind of funny to say this as a werewolf, but you really are a monster.”

“Can’t you guys do it?”

“Only Arch Warriors can do that.”

“I see. So what’s the answer to my question?”

Mone contemplated for a moment before answering carefully, “If it’s during the full moon, my father is at an advantage. Otherwise, Ghost will definitely beat my father.”

“That’s a bit unbelievable.” Rahmadat was surprised. The intense pressure he had felt from Ghost was much stronger than what he had felt from Arnold.

Mone smiled and said, “Do you really think that the power my father showed you earlier was his true strength?”

“Was it not?”

“Of course not. Our prowess can be divided into three stages.”

Mone stretched out her thin arm. “The first stage involves maintaining our human appearances while using the power of the werewolves.”

“So you were at the first stage when you fought those vampires earlier…”

“That’s right. As for the second stage…” Mone blushed slightly. She lowered her head, and her arm was soon covered in beautiful silvery hair.

“It involves transforming into a werewolf.”

“Then, what’s the third stage?”

“Emancipation is the third stage.”

“Emancipation? From what?”

Mone lowered her arm and smiled lightly. “It’s an emancipation from everything that is keeping us restrained.”

“I don’t understand it at all,” said Rahmadat.

“Hm, let me ask you this—do you really think that you can handle all of your power—the entire one hundred percent, Rahmadat?” asked Mone.

“Of course, I can.” Rahmadat thought that it would be impossible to reach a higher level of power if he couldn’t even control his current power.

“I don’t think so,” Mone said firmly, “It’s because you’re simply using all the power you have built up until now.”

“...Isn’t that all of my strength?” asked Rahmadat, seemingly confused.

“No, it isn’t.” Mone shook her head and said, “Your strength includes your potential and the underlying power of your unconsciousness. You can only say that you’re using all of your power—the entire one hundred percent—when you’re using everything intentionally.”

“But there’s no way that’s possible…” Rahmadat muttered.

“It is possible. My father can do it,” replied Rahmadat.

“Hm.”

Rahmadat was convinced of the confidence in Mone’s eyes.

‘I’ll have to ask him to show me tomorrow,’thought Rahmadat.

***

When the sun rose the next morning, Mone visited Rahmadat’s stone house.

“Rahmadat. My father is looking for you.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Rahmadat followed Mone, and they eventually arrived at an open space where hundreds of men and women were sitting close to each other on the ground.

‘It seems like there are less than three hundred of them.’

It was a considerably small number when compared to the fifty thousand vampires out there.

Upon seeing Rahmadat, Arnold spoke, “I’ve heard about what happened. First of all, I would like to thank you as both the father of a child and the chief of the tribe.”

“Don’t mention it,” Rahmadat answered.

“But I want to ask you something...”

“And what is that?” asked Rahmadat.

When Rahmadat’s words fell, a sharp energy burst from Arnold. The energy formed an invisible needle that seemed to be prodding Rahmadat.

“Are you an enemy of the vampires?” asked Arnold.

“...” Rahmadat pondered for a moment and answered, “Yes. I am an enemy of the vampires.”

“I see…”

The sharp energy vanished.

Arnold rose from his seat and bowed. “The enemy of my enemies is my friend. Forgive me for the disrespect this early in the morning.”

“C-chief!”

“Why would you bow to a trivial human…”

“Stop it.” Arnold sat back down as if bowing wasn’t a big deal for him. “The other party has a different status, position, and origin, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve an apology from me. After all, I had been rude to him.”

“But the werewolf’s pride is—”

“Pride? Did we still have such a noble thing in us?” Arnold snorted and tilted his chin. “The country we have been defending for hundreds of years was pillaged by those bats, and we were eventually driven out to a corner of a rugged mountain range…”

”Even worse, the moon doesn’t even rise in the city anymore.”

The red fog covering the moon every night was the reason why the moon no longer rose in the city of Trium. The remnant moonlight from the moon during the day wasn’t enough to serve as fuel for the werewolves’ transformation.

“It’s just a shame that all this happened during my generation, and does each and every one of you still have integrity in you?” Arnold swept his gaze across the werewolves before continuing. “If you do, then don’t throw it away. We’re… losers who couldn’t protect the humans who had been serving us, so that is the least we can do.”

“...”

A deafening silence descended on the open space. It couldn’t be helped because the werewolves had always found it hard to face the harsh reality that they had always been trying to avoid.

All of a sudden, Rahmadat raised his hand. “Excuse me.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“I heard from Mone last night that the werewolves’ prowess is divided into three stages in total, and the last stage is apparently emancipation.”

“I don’t know why you’re bringing that up right now, but you’re right.” Arnold nodded.

Rahmadat requested. “Really? I can’t really imagine it no matter how hard I try, so can you show me what emancipation looks like?”

“...”

A silence that was even more deafening than the earlier silence enveloped the open space. Mone crossed both of her arms to form an ‘X’ while staring at Rahmadat with a pale face.

‘Bad idea! That was a bad idea! In the first place, it’s an awfully rude request!’

Arnold’s eyes turned cold.

“Do you even understand what you said?”

“Hm? Oh, of course, I do.”

‘I just want you to show me what emancipation looks like...’

However, the words that came out of Arnold’s mouth were a bit different from what Rahmadat had been expecting.

“This is the first time. I couldn’t have known that a human would challenge me for a duel someday.”

“Chief! This is ridiculous! I’ll deal with that arrogant human!” exclaimed Orca as he stared angrily at Rahmadat.

“No, no, no. There’s no need. Refusing a duel is a disgrace for us werewolves.” Arnold shook his head and stood up. He then glared at Rahmadat and said, “You better stand up, you reckless human.”