Return of the Frozen Player

“I’ll leave the rest to you.”

With those two words, Rahmadat courageously charged at Digor.

Bang!

He threw a punch, but it was blocked.

His Highness Digor had distorted space to create a wall.

“...Tsh.” However, His Highness Digor was the one who got annoyed. “God. I’m pathetic.”

It was the first time he was struck with this unfamiliar feeling in centuries, and it weighed heavy on his shoulders. He had to take a moment to block an attack, which ended up almost hitting him.

The mage didn’t miss the opportunity to escape with the other humans.

‘And the magic that she used is…’

“Looks like you got lucky. Don’t get distracted!”

Once again, a fist the size of a pan flew toward Digor like lightning.

It was much faster than the previous punch, and it even shattered the distorted wall of space.

“Simply pathetic…” he muttered.

Crack, crack, crack!

The space around Rahmadat’s body distorted, and his fingers were forcibly twisted, along with his wrists, arms, shoulders, and the rest of his body.

“Keuk!”

Digor clasped his hands behind him and squinted as he looked down at Rahmadat sprawled on the ground.

Digor’s eyes widened slightly. “Hm? Wait. You’re still trying to stand up? Really? Despite all those injuries?”

Every bone, vein, and piece of his tissue should have gotten distorted.

The man in front of him should have been on the brink of death.

However, he managed to stand up despite his broken body.

He even charged at Digor once again.

“...How are you so tenacious?” Digor couldn’t help but admire the human.

His lackeys charged at Rahmadat to suppress him, and Digor couldn’t help but praise Rahmadat for his tenacity. “You were very impressive. I’m happy that I decided to come here in person.”

“...”

Despite being bound and restrained, Rahmadat was still glaring at him.

The fire in Rahmadat’s eyes still burned bright, unfaltering.

The prince chuckled lightly. “My presence here must feel like a nightmare to you, but please understand. I am just as tired as you are. You see, my distinguished father is the type of person who will use the finest knife to slaughter a chicken.”

And he was the finest knife of the empire—the Crown Prince.

Digor Myulivaf jutted out his chin and said, “Let us return to the palace.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

In the end, he only managed to catch one of them.

He ended up missing so many fish because of his carelessness.

‘He’s going to throw a fit.’ He sighed. He was extremely familiar with his father’s temperament.

All of a sudden, his eyes narrowed upon spotting something.

‘Wait, there’s a human who didn’t escape?’

Someone was walking toward him, but he was sure that this was his first time seeing her. It was a teenage girl with long silver hair. She stared grimly at Rahmadat, seemingly disturbed by his predicament.

“Are you truly okay with this?” she asked.

“This voice… Heh, is it you, kid?”[1]

It belonged to the Frost Queen.

Rahmadat grinned upon hearing her. “Why are you still here?”

“It was no mistake of mine. Skaya did not take me with her.” She was in her Spirit state, and the others couldn’t see her, so the mage had forgotten her in the heat of the moment.

The Frost Quen sighed lightly and continued. “Anyway, I have witnessed your willpower and determination with my own eyes. Is there anything you would like me to relay to my Contractor?”

“...Tell him not to overdo it.”

“I shall…”

Digot snorted at their conversation. “Hey, you. Has anyone ever told you that you can’t take a hint?”

“Never. I am very perceptive, you see. And do not speak to me like that.”

“Then, you shouldn’t be so relaxed in this situation.”

Digor gestured lightly, and his subordinates surrounded the Frost Queen. She swept her gaze across them, and a corner of her lip curled into a sneer.

“You wish to capture me? Is that it?”

“I guess you’re pretty perceptive after all.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

The Overminds dashed toward her, but the Frost Queen simply stomped with her left foot.

Crackle!

Hundreds of icicles burst from the ground around her, blocking their path. A few Overminds were struck, and they started bleeding.

“How dare you! Just who do you think you're trying to touch? Impudent creature,” she rebuked.

“...” Digor wordlessly scratched his head before asking, “Are you of a high status in the world where you came from?”

“I am the Queen of Niflheim. The likes of you should not even dare to lay eyes on me.”

“Wow, a queen? I finally understand why you’re so bold.” Digor stepped forward and said, “But why are you so confident? Why is it that you keep on provoking me? Are you stronger than me?”

“You just soured my mood. Of course, I am much stronger than you.”

“Nonsense. I’m stronger than you.” Digot paused. “...That’s enough. This is good for me.”

Digor now had another person to take away. He lifted his hand lazily, seemingly tried.

Crack, crack, crack!

The space in front of him distorted, and the distortion rapidly approached the Frost Queen.

However, the Frost Queen merely glanced at it before turning to look at Rahmadat.

“...Hey, lump. Hold out as best as you can[2].”

With that, the temperature abruptly dropped.

Crackle!

Azure and lucent ice quickly enveloped her.

“What kind of—” Digor’s face distorted, and he ordered his lackeys. “Take her out. Right now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Overminds tried to break through the ice with their abilities, but the ice was covered with the power to block. None of them could even scratch the ice.

***

In the end, Digor only managed to capture one man and a girl encased in ice.

His spoils were not worthy of mentioning.

Upon returning to the Imperial Palace, he immediately looked for a certain someone.

“Goodness. This place never changes; the place always reeks like old books.”

“...That is because it is a library,” an old man said gently. He stood up from his seat and asked, “What brings you to my humble abode, Your Highness?”

“There was something I wanted to ask you. Sir, do you happen to have an apprentice in another world?”

“...What do you mean?” asked the old man, looking perplexed. “My old head cannot understand what you’re saying.”

“You must have heard that a Gate has recently opened,” Digor said.

“Indeed. I heard that humans came out of—Wait. Are you saying…?”

“Yes.” Digor was all smiles. “One of them used the same magic as yours.”

“Hoh, indeed, that is quite interesting.” Was there actually another world where his magic—Chaos Magic—existed? The old man stroked his long beard and chuckled softly. “Haha. So they are my students that I have never met. I am looking forward to meeting them. Can I see them in the test lab?”

“Unfortunately, they got away…”

“They avoided your attacks and escaped…? Their skillful, then.”

“So, you’ll be busy for a while. I don’t know where they went, you see.”

“You mentioned that first, so you could put me to work.”

“That way, you’ll be motivated, won’t you?”

The old man sighed. This little raccoon was cunning, but he was right. He truly wanted to know more about the individual who could wield his Chaos Magic. His curiosity was so bad that it made him feel like going mad.

“You know me too well, Your Highness.”

With a thump, he closed the book that he was reading.

***

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho opened his eyes to a vast meadow. There was no one and nothing in sight. He felt totally exhausted from the effects of Teleport. He lifted a hand, tiredly and opened Community.

[Is anyone…There…? If anyone…Can hear me…]

Bzzt.

He was cut off, and the message was sent automatically.

Seo Jun-Ho closed the Community window and stood up. How many of them had survived? How many did Skaya manage to send away?

‘If I’m the only one who got out…’

What would happen to the others? Would they be carted off to a laboratory to be used as lab rats? He could only think of cynical thoughts.

“...”

And yet, his will was unbroken.

No, it would be more accurate to say that he wouldn’t let his will be broken.

‘I really have to get it together.’ He had no idea how many survivors were there, and he couldn’t go back to Earth as well.

The only thing he could count on was himself. Therefore, he had to be the one to do it.

‘So, I have no time to break down…’

Jun-Ho began to go through the things he could do one by one.

“First… Spirit summon.”

The first thing he did was summon the Frost Queen. In situations like these, it was essential to have someone he could talk to and brainstorm with.

“...?”

However, the Frost Queen looked a little off. She was frozen solid in a giant lump of ice, and her eyes were closed.

Knock, knock, knock!

Jun-Ho knocked gently on the ice, and sure enough, a voice echoed.

- Who are you?

“It’s your Contractor, miss.”

-...

The Frost Queen opened an eye to look at him.

After a moment of silence, she dissolved the ice.

She stepped out and looked around.

“Are you alone here?” she asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know where the hell I am either.”

He then explained the situation to her, and the Frost Queen gave him shocking news in return.

“Rahmadat got captured, and he was the only one.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.” She started rambling on about how awesome she was back there. “...So I stabbed them with icicles just like that and warned them. I also told that lump to hold out for as long as he could.”

“You did well.”

“He told me to tell you not to overdo it.”

Seo Jun-Ho chuckled. That idiot. Who was worried about who now?

“What are you going to do?” asked the Frost Queen.

“I’ll brute-force my way through this unfamiliar world so I can adapt—”

“That’s idiotic!”

“Hey. In Korean, you have to hear the full sentence. If I do something that stupid, it’ll only be a matter of time until they catch me,” Seo Jun-Ho retorted.

He took out something from his Inventory.

It was a warm corpse.

“First of all, we have to find out who we’re dealing with.”

He had to know the Overminds’ weaknesses, and he had to know how their society functioned, where their capital was located, and the strength, as well as the size of their army.

He placed his hand on the puppeteer’s forehead, and his lips moved ever so slightly.

“Spit it out.”

***

Mio had said that the people here might see them as monsters because they had emerged from a Gate.

‘She’s right.’

Seo Jun-Ho saw the lives of the people of this world—the Overminds—through the use of Confession of the Dead.

“It’s too ordinary,” the Frost Queen remarked.

“...Yeah.”

The Overminds were no different from the people of Earth. They would laugh whenever they were happy, they would cry whenever they were sad, and they would yell whenever they were mad. They were intelligent beings with human feelings, so they naturally had their own problems to handle.

‘242,738...’

When it was founded, the Babella Empire had a population of 242,738.

However, their numbers only decreased.

“They cannot endure it, I see,” said the Frost Queen.

“Because their life is just that meaningless,” remarked Seo Jun-Ho.

Babella’s suicide rate would increase every year. The Overminds were immortal, and they were incomparably more powerful and more intelligent than when they were human, but they kept on killing themselves for some reason.

“Over the past thousand years, their numbers have dwindled to a little over 90,000,” said Seo Jun-Ho.

“And I assume that their population will continue to decline,” said the Frost Queen.

The empire could finally see that its light was fading. If they couldn’t find a way to increase their population, then the people of this planet would die.

‘Perhaps that was why they attacked us as soon as they saw us.’

Perhaps they were desperate—so desperate that they didn’t even consider a conversation.

- This is Kodon Schumaver, the Archmage of Babella.

An old man’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

- A large number of monsters have crossed over a Gate and have infiltrated the empire.

- They look very similar to us humans on the outside, but they cannot use the Force.

- If we simply capture them, we might be able to conduct research and find a way to create our descendants.

“This is…”

The old man had used Babella’s signature device.

The device would allow anyone to send a message to all the people in the land as long as they had access to the device.

Seo Jun-Ho listened to the Radio and opened his eyes slowly.

- This is a message to all the citizens of the empire. If you see someone who cannot use the Force, capture them alive.

“...What a shame.”

The Overminds had already made a decision.

They had chosen violence and control over negotiation and cooperation.

‘It takes two to tango.’ Seo Jun-Ho stood up.

“What will you do now?” Frost asked.

“If it’s war, they want…” He stared into the endless plain and muttered, “It’s war they’ll get.”

“But… How can we give them a war with just the two of us?”

“We’ll have to gather all the Players. Duh.”

“But you do not even know where they are.” The Frost Queen wilted.

Seo Jun-Ho made a sidelong glance at her and smiled slyly. “Don’t worry.”

The imperial Archmage had just offered him a very good solution.

1. The sound he makes can either be a laugh or a grunt of pain. ☜

2. She’s saying it in an encouraging way. ☜