Return of the Frozen Player

Seo Jun-Sik prayed as he swung White Dragon.

‘I still have chocolate cookies left in the bag. I really hope he didn’t throw them away, and the best part of those cookies is the crumbs, so what was he even talking about?

“Tsk.”

The sweet and smooth taste of chocolate cookies still lingered in Seo Jun-Sik's mouth.

“Ah. I want to have some more…”

Boom!

It was a strange thought to have while literally piercing a demon’s head, causing it to explode like a watermelon. However, his nonchalant demeanor had a positive effect of inflicting terror on the demons.

“W-what the hell…”

“I-Is he not tired yet? He has already killed dozens of us by himself…”

Seo Jun-Sik looked nothing more than a bloodthirsty maniac in the demon’s eyes. Not only did the terrified demons avoid making eye contact with Seo Jun-Sik, but they also refused to come near him.

‘This is much easier than I thought.’

Seo Jun-Sik managed to catch his breath. He even had the time to look around the battlefield with White Dragon on his shoulder, and it was all thanks to the demons actively avoiding him.

“Wow. Everyone is fighting so well.”

The Season Knights, elites of Niflheim, didn’t hesitate to kill their enemies. The Jinyiwei Guards of Neo City’s Emperor swung their weapons diligently as if they were competing against the Season Knights.

“Sir Hart is doing great as well.”

The commotion attracted more demons, but they were the weak subordinate demons of the High demons. They were too weak to affect the flow of the battlefield.

‘The problem is…’

Seo Jun-Sik’s gaze turned toward the West, then the North.

Seo Jun-Ho was fighting in a vortex zone to hide from the other Counts, but Seo Jun-Sik and the knights were fighting in an open space.

‘The Counts might come here...’

Seo Jun-Sik highly doubted that the Counts of the Underworld would come over to the battlefield themselves, but he still thought that they might send additional troops to find out what was going on.

‘Well. I guess all I need to do is to drag things out until Original returns if that were to happen.’ Seo Jun-Sik could use ninety-five percent of Seo Jun-Ho’s power, but he was too weak to fight the Counts.

‘I’m probably at Liberation Stage at best.’

“I’ll have to get in touch with him.” Seo Jun-Sik slowly closed his eyes. ‘Original, where are you right now?’

***

Lavue kept glancing back while running non-stop.

Fwoosh, fwoosh!

The color of the wilderness and the light of daybreak made the red wilderness look even spookier, but Lavue was scared of something else.

‘What a monster.’

Lavue no longer had the will or strength to curse. The human had crushed her will to fight as well as her pride. Fortunately, she was getting close to her destination. Lavue got herself together by taking deep breaths.

“Haaa…” Lavue’s eyes widened when her breath turned into mist.

She instinctively looked back. “T-that monster…!”

Goosebumps broke out all over upon sensing that the monster behind her was getting closer and closer. “Fuck off!”

Lavue used three of her tattoos near her calves to keep her rear in check. The spells she cast were high-rank spells powerful enough to destroy stars, but they were effortlessly dismantled and destroyed by the monster.

The monster approached Lavue in silence.

She reached out with her remaining arm and started begging without realizing it. “I-I’m sorry I told you to fuck off! I didn’t mean it! No, I’m sorry for everything I said to you today!”

“Let’s change the plan! I-I’ll go and get rid of Horizon myself. How does that sound? If you give me some time to recover, I will take care of everything—ah! How about this?! I’ll help you attack the North after we’re done dealing with the West. Your final goal is to deal with the Archduke, isn’t it?”

“...”

Lavue could tell that the monster wasn’t buying her words at all, as his eyes were empty with no sign of interest. Seo Jun-Ho was looking at her as if he were staring at a broken toy.

“Ugh, you devil! Go to hell!”

“What an interesting remark.”

‘I can’t believe a demon called me a devil.’

Lavue left Seo Jun-Ho behind and started running away once more.

‘I’m almost there.’

The destination was just around the corner. Lavue thought that no matter how strong Seo Jun-Ho was, he wouldn’t be able to run wild like this anymore at her destination, which was a dome of deformed space.

‘I’m almost there. Just a little more…!’

Swoosh!

Lavue hurriedly dodged with only five steps left to the deformed space.

She avoided a sword by a hair’s breadth.

“Argh!”

However, a hand gripped her by the neck. Lavue desperately kicked her opponent in the stomach and chest with her two legs while helplessly hanging dangling in the air.

“...”

However, the monster stared at her with a dry gaze as if her attacks weren’t even ticklish to him.

“Hrrk! Eech!” Lavue couldn’t breathe at all, and she slowly lost her strength.

In the end, she had no choice but to pull out a trump card.

“Bleh.”

Lavue stuck her tongue out, revealing a tattoo of a flame. It shone brightly, and the monster had no choice but to throw her to the ground. For the first time ever throughout their battle, the monster frowned.

Boom!

A massive explosion occurred, sending Lavue flying toward her destination. She didn’t miss her chance and crawled into the dome of deformed space.

“Tsk. I didn’t expect her to have a tattoo on her tongue as well.”

Seo Jun-Ho shook off the dust on his clothes. He was unscathed.

He stared at the deformed dome of space in front of him.

- Partner.

Keen Intuition broke the silence and spoke to Seo Jun-Ho.

- This feels familiar. I guess I’m not the only one who feels that way, right?

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded. He had seen this before.

“It’s a dimensional gap.”

Seo Jun-Ho hadn’t been the one who had entered one. It was Seo Jun-Sik, and he stumbled upon Sung-Jun there, who trained him extensively. ‘To think that there’s a dimensional gap in the Underworld.’

“Hmm.” Seo Jun-Ho unfolded a map. ‘Where am I? Am I roughly around the center?’

Seo Jun-Ho’s current location was near the center of the East, West, North, and South, which was divided exactly into four pieces. There was no information on why there was a dimensional gap here or what was inside of it.

- Partner. There wasn’t any information about this dimensional gap in the memories you’ve seen so far, right?

“No.”

Both Seo Jun-Ho and Keen Intuition had no idea that there was a dimensional gap in the middle of the Underworld.

Seo Jun-Ho quickly scanned through Gorgon’s memories.

“Search keyword. Central region of the Underworld. Dimensional Gap.”

Several video clips that met the keywords popped up, but they were pitch-black.

[The skill level is too low to play the selected clip.]

‘It’s locked.’

It seemed that Seo Jun-Ho had to raise the Confession of the Dead’s Grade to perhaps even EX before he could watch these clips.

“Hmm.” Seo Jun-Ho was lost in thought while staring at the black screen.

He knew of only one reason behind a locked memory clip.

‘It probably has something to do with the Archduke.’

Seo Jun-Ho hesitated. He knew that he still wasn’t strong enough to face the Archduke. However, he thought that it would be a pity to just let Lavue go, considering how he had already inflicted severe injuries on her.

“Keen Intuition. Is the Archduke here?”

- Hmm.

Keen Intuition contemplated for a moment.

- I don’t think so.

“Why do you think so?”

- Let’s express danger levels in numbers from one to ten; the Archduke’s danger level is definitely ten or even above ten. It’s a number based on the memory clips we’ve watched so far. The dimensional gap’s danger level feels like it’s a six or seven at most.

“How about Lavue?”

- She’s four or five at most.

Lavue’s danger level was low, even though she was a Star Destruction Stage creature, and it was all because Seo Jun-Ho had become a powerhouse among those capable of destroying stars.

- For reference, Administrators like Reiji and Helic are assumed to be around nine.

“Hmm…”

In other words, it seemed that he could clear the dimensional gap. Seo Jun-Ho was also in great condition because his fight against Lavue had gone perfectly according to his plan.

‘It’s difficult. Should I take the risk and go into the dimensional gap to finish Lavue off, or should I just go back and take care of the East and leave Lavue alone?’

‘Original, where are you right now?’

Seo Jun-Sik’s voice echoed in Seo Jun-Ho’s head at impeccable timing.

‘We’re almost done here. How are things going on your side?’

Upon hearing that, Seo Jun-Ho figured that there was no need for him to rush back.

Seo Jun-Ho stared intently at the dimensional gap.

‘I’ll go back once I’m done with Lavue.’

‘How long do you think it’ll take you?’

‘I’m not exactly sure, but it won’t take too long. Head over to the West and join Cannell if I end up being late.’

Seo Jun-Ho bid goodbye to Seo Jun-Sik and slowly walked into the dimensional gap.

***

Seo Jun-Ho entered the dimensional gap and looked back.

- It’s still open.

“...”

The dimensional gap was still open, which made Seo Jun-Ho feel curious and uncomfortable at the same time.

‘Sung-Jun used Overclocking at a thousand percent output, and he even used Black Moon on top of that, but he only managed to cut the dimensions briefly.’

The cut also recovered at breakneck speeds, but the dimensional gap that Seo Jun-Ho had just entered seemed to have sustained a permanent wound.

‘Someone much stronger than Sung-Jun must have done this. N-no way. Am I wrong?’

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes narrowed the moment he thought of the possibility that Orpheus might not be the Floor Master of the 9th Floor.

“Well, I guess I’ll find out soon.”

Seo Jun-Ho started walking down the dimensional gap, and he saw something unexpected five minutes later.

-P-partner.

The epitome of composure—Keen Intuition—stammered.

- I was wrong. This place’s danger level is seven to eight. I personally recommend getting out of here right now.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho looked around without saying a word. There were numerous paths around him, and they were similar to the path he was on at the moment.

They all converged on the same dimensional gap.

Seo Jun-Ho saw Lavue not too far away from him.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Seo Jun-Ho gripped his sword tightly.

“...I just need ten seconds.”

Seo Jun-Ho ran toward Lavue.

“Open the door! Please open the door! A madman is coming after me!” Lavue roared and knocked on the door made out of skulls. However, the door remained silent as Seo Jun-Ho approached Lavue.

“D-don’t come near me! Please! Someone help me!” Lavue begged.

“...”

A cold glint reflected in her eyes as Seo Jun-Ho’s sword split Lavue’s hand into two.

Slash!

Lavue was quickly shredded into tiny pieces.

- Partner! There’s no time!

Keen Intuition urged.

“Just give me a moment,” said Seo Jun-Ho.

He cast Confession of the Dead on Lavue’s remains and absorbed her demonic energy. He then stood up and turned around. He had already completed his objective, so there was no need for him to take any more risks.

Seo Jun-Ho started walking away.

Creak!

A creaking sound echoed in Seo Jun-Ho’s ears. His back was facing the door, but he was sure that the tightly shut door had just opened, even though it had remained shut despite Lavue’s begging.

Flinch!

The terrifying energy that licked his back made Seo Jun-Ho feel a shiver down his spine.

- Partner! Run and don’t look back!

Keen Intuition roared, but Seo Jun-Ho instinctively turned around as his heart beat violently against his chest.

“...”

An eerie scene unfolded in front of Seo Jun-Ho.

There was a mountain of bones beyond the door made out of bones.

‘Ribs, scapula, humerus, and femur…’

Seo Jun-Ho realized a disturbing fact as he examined the bones—they were all the same size and shape.

The size and shape of a human being’s bones were bound to differ compared to other human beings, so how come there was a mountain of bones that had the same size and shape?

There was only one answer to that question.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho looked up and finally made eye contact with the individual sitting nonchalantly on a chair made out of skulls at the summit of the mountain made out of bones.

The man’s hand was resting on his chin.

He was wearing a familiar pitch-black mask, but his eyes were bloodshot.

[You have encountered the boss monster of the Underworld, Specter.]

[Once defeated, safe zones will appear in the Underworld.]

Seo Jun-Ho’s question was finally answered.

The bones had the same shape and size because they all belonged to him.