Return of the Frozen Player

“Ugh… my head feels like it’s gonna break.” Skaya groaned. She felt hungover.

Cha Si-Eun was diligently blowing her Breath of Restoration (A) toward Skaya.

“Is it this side that feels stiff?” she asked.

“Yes, yeah… it’s there…! Ugh, this feels nice.” Skaya was groaning like an old man in the middle of the battlefield, but no one could really blame her because everything was thanks to Skaya.

“Hmm, it seems that the nerd has learned an interesting trick from somewhere.”

“You can’t call her that anymore. Skaya has become one of the masters of the Magic Tower.”

Skaya became one of the masters of the Magic Tower by becoming the Tower Master of the Black Tower. She had also learned Chaos Magic, and she used the same magic to imprison the giant in an illusion.

“It was my first time using that spell for such a long time. Ugh, this headache is the worst.”

“You did great.”

Skaya didn’t let her guard down and maintained the spell for more than ten hours so that the giant wouldn’t be suspicious. However, Skaya was only a human being in the end, so it wasn’t really strange that she was having a terrible headache.

In fact, it was even a miracle that she was only having a headache.

“I guess it’s Jun-Ho’s turn now,” said Gilberto.

Seo Jun-Ho nodded and walked up to the giant.

“Confession of the Dead.”

***

“He didn’t lie at all.”

The giant’s words were true.

‘This land is indeed Frontier, and they really did manage to clear every Gate.’

It had been about 1100 years since then, and it was now the transcendence year of 1037.

“But there are things that he decided not to mention...”

“Right.”

“A world where life cannot be born, huh…”

The Overminds were living in the Empire of Babella, and their population had never exceeded 242,738. They lost the blessing of giving birth to life, but in exchange, they obtained tremendous power.

Gilberto’s expression seemed grim as he said, “Jun-Ho. Things are going to get complicated if the empire discovers us.”

“I think so, too.” Seo Jun-Ho nodded. Unlike the failures, the empire wouldn’t simply just try to kill the Players. After all, the Players possessed something that the Overminds had lost long ago.

“They’re going to capture us alive to conduct experiments on us.”

“Is it for the sake of finding out how they could reproduce?”

“Correct...”

The Overminds needed an abundance of population.

“Mr. Jun-Ho. How powerful is the Emperor of the Overminds?” Cha Si-Eun asked.

“Hm.”

Seo Jun-Ho rewound the video projection.

A man was walking down the street, basking in everyone’s awe.

‘Kineos Mullibach; he’s the emperor of this continent…’

He was on a similar level as Gilburt, who was a Spirit user at the Star Destruction Stage.

“This memory is from fifty years ago, so I’m sure that he must have gotten much stronger by now.”

“In other words, we don’t stand any chance against him?”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded heavily and got up. “Let’s go back to Earth. Right now, we’re not strong enough to kill all of the Overminds and defeat their emperor.”

“So we have to get stronger...”

“It will take something more than just getting stronger.”

The Star Destruction Stage was classified as strong in the universe—and it was impossible to kill Kineos unless they were at that stage as well.

“Rahmadat. Give Skaya a piggyback ride, will you? We need to go back to base camp.”

“Ugh. Okay...”

“And Gilberto, please erase all of our traces here. Let’s get out before they notice us.”

Seo Jun-Ho picked up the pace.

***

The team returned to base camp and shared the information that they had gathered from the giant through the action cam.

Son Chae-Won nodded. “So, a conversation is possible, but the outcome isn’t necessarily great.”

“That’s right. We’re nothing but guinea pigs for them since they already have a goal.”

In other words, it was impossible to resolve all this diplomatically.

Seo Jun-Ho persuaded the Players by extracting some parts of the memory video.

“Right now, there is no way that we can defeat the enemies. I think we should retreat.”

“Um, isn’t that too hasty of a judgment?” Christin Lewis said. He smiled slightly before continuing. “Of course, I agree that the information you found is useful. And we are fully aware that our enemies are strong. But isn't the empire extremely far from here, Specter-nim?”

“There’s quite a distance, yes, but we should go back while we can for the sake of everyone’s safety.”

“I don’t know about that. I think it’ll be convenient for us to take care of the failures here before we leave. Things will be easier for us upon our return in the future.”

Several Players nodded at Christin’s opinion.

“That certainly makes sense…”

“The failures might set up lots of traps around the gate if we just go back to Earth like this...”

“We should be able to annihilate a lone village in just a day.”

Christin’s words seemed to have convinced most of the Players. It wasn’t really strange that the Players wanted to follow Christin’s words over Seo Jun-Ho. After all, Seo Jun-Ho’s decision was born looking at just the worst-case scenario.

“The subjects of the empire will definitely not allow us to escape unscathed once they discover our existence,” said Seo Jun-Ho.

“I agree with that.”

“Then, why are you—”

Christin Lewis interrupted with a firm look. “We can’t risk the chance of incurring more damage in the future just because it’s the easier path to take in the present. Anyway, the Silver Constellation will retreat once we’re done clearing up the village of those failures.”

“Hm. A day should be enough, right? We will join.”

“I doubt something bad will happen in just a day…”

The members of the Silver Constellation and about thirty Players declared their intentions to stay behind. At the sight, the other Players felt uneasy.

‘I feel bad just going back like this.’

‘I feel like they’ll start treating us like cowards once they go back to Earth a day later.’

‘Damn it. Should our team just stay with them to help and return later with them?’

The Players fell into deep contemplation.

It couldn’t be helped because it would be hard for them to avoid criticism.

However, Seo Jun-Ho was serious about his decision as he spoke firmly, “Good luck then.”

Seo Jun-Ho had taken the lead, so Son Chae-Won hurriedly spoke, “Woo-Joong. Tell the guild members to get their luggage and gather in front of the Gate in thirty minutes.”

Since Seo Jun-Ho had decided to take the brunt of the criticisms, the other teams no longer hesitated.

“T-then we will also…”

“Aloys team will be going back to Earth!”

“Everyone! Pack your belongings!”

The Players declared their retreat one after another.

The surroundings grew rowdy, but Christin Lewis was only looking at Seo Jun-Ho with an ambiguous gaze.

“Are you really going to be okay? It will be hard to avoid the public’s criticism. You know how much they love to judge and how quickly they jump to conclusions,” said Christin.

“They’ll criticize me, but I really don’t care...”

Seo Jun-Ho had made the decision to leave to prioritize his safety and the safety of his colleagues. He really didn’t care about what the public thought of him.

“...I see. I’d expect nothing less. Then Specter-nim, I will see you again on Earth,” said Christin Lewis with a smile.

Seo Jun-Ho seemed uneasy as he looked at Christin, but he eventually nodded.

***

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho wordlessly looked around upon arriving at a huge clearing.

“Wasn’t this the place?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.

“Yes, this is the place, and it should have been here.”

They were sure that they had seen the massive Gate that was about the same size as the Semey Gate yesterday, but it had inexplicably disappeared.

“Contractor. I think we were one step behind,” said the Frost Queen.

“How did they do it? How did they get rid of such a big Gate…?”

“Wait, I think—no way…!” Skaya bit her lips. She seemed to have realized something as she said, “Do you still remember what the giant said? He said that they used an extremely powerful spell to make sure that the Gates would appear in a fixed location.”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“If they can do that, what’s stopping them from moving a single Gate to another location? How come I didn’t think of that?”

“Wait, so you’re suggesting that the subjects of the empire moved the gate to another location?”

“Yes. Otherwise, this wouldn’t make sense...”

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho’s expression turned ugly.

Their retreat route had disappeared, and it wasn’t like the subjects of the empire simply blocked the Gate

‘There’s only one reason they moved that Gate...’

Seo Jun-Ho’s expression stiffened. “They noticed us...”

“Yes, they probably moved the Gate to another location so that we won’t be able to retreat.”

Some Players noticed the severity of the situation, and they started speaking.

“Specter-nim. What should we do?”

“Should we go back to base camp?”

“No…”

Seo Jun-Ho put down his luggage and started into the horizon—in a particular direction.

“Those who had decided to head to the village of the failures are in danger.”

***

Christin Lewis muttered, “The failures do not wield magic. It is difficult to detect their presence because they are using a different kind of energy called Force. Be wary of your surroundings and make sure you’re ready to defend yourselves.”

“Yes, sir.”

Christin nodded. He looked at the map and climbed up the hill.

“There it is….”

The village was surrounded by a wooden fence, and it was much larger than expected.

‘Something’s strange. I understand that they don’t use magic, but are they really capable of extinguishing their presence to this extent?’’

Not even a single failure could be seen beyond the wooden fence…

“Christin-nim. What shall we do?”

“...”

After a moment of contemplation, Christin spoke, “We will move according to plan.”

With that being said, the Players started moving.

‘The plan is perfect.’

Christin thought that perhaps the failures were simply inside their buildings rather than outside. In that case, it would be for the better.

“But we can’t rule out the possibility of this being a trap. Don’t use the doors of the buildings. Attack them from the roof.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Players were finally done with their preparations.

At the sight, Christin ordered. “...Now!”

Roughly thirty Players jumped over the wooden fence at once and entered the village.

Their eyes darted around, scanning the surroundings.

‘I can’t believe that there isn’t a single one of them outside. I guess they’re inside the buildings.’

Not a single failure could be found on the streets…

Christin quietly climbed up a roof and scanned the surroundings.

Every Player was standing on a roof, quietly waiting for Christin’s signal.

‘Let’s go.’

Christin nodded, and divine power gathered around his fist.

Crashhh!

With a punch, the roof collapsed, and Christin fell to the ground.

‘On the left!’

He made a quick turn upon sensing a huge presence.

Bang!

His kick—imbued with divine power—struck the jaw of the failure.

“...”

However, the feedback was a bit unusual.

Christin Lewis frowned. He knew exactly what that feedback meant.

“What is this...?”

The failure was fixed to the wall with nails all over him. The failure’s head was drooping, and the reason Christin Lewis found the feedback odd was that the failure was dead.

Christin eventually left the building with a strange feeling in his heart. The other Players also emerged out of the other buildings one by one.

Then, they ran over to Christin to report.

“We found a deceased failure there!”

“What? You found one there as well? There’s one on this side, too.”

“Wait, does that mean that someone got here before us?”

“...”

‘But who?’

Specter’s face momentarily came to Christin’s mind, but he shook his head.

‘There’s no reason for him to do this secretly...’

Christin decided to hop on the communication channel just in case, and he immediately heard Specter’s voice.

[...Tin, can you hear me? Chris… Right now… Get out of there…!]

An unknown fear gripped Christin Lewis’ heart.