The Frozen Player Returns

The mountains of Canal Mountains were deep. Naturally, from time to time Adventurers and Players who had climbed the mountain to hunt would miss their chance to go back down. Perhaps due to that, there were small cabins built all over the mountain. They were built in relatively safe places and were meant for those who had to endure a harsh night—they were a symbol of hospitability. There was a time when countless Adventurers and Players stayed up all night in the cabin and felt grateful. But that was long ago. The constant expansion of the Ruben Empire drove powerful monsters all the way to the Canal Mountains. As a result, the hunting difficulty of the Canal Mountains had significantly increased, and the number of people using the cabins naturally decreased as a result.

Clatter.

“…”

That was the reason why the cabins in the Canal Mountains were now being used as a meeting point for the fiends. When Seo Jun-Ho entered the cabin, there was someone already sitting there. It was a man hugging a sword sheath and wearing a satgat with a wide brim.[1] Seo Jun-Ho sat in the chair opposite him and opened his mouth. "If the contact person hasn't changed... It has been a long time, Stan. Or are you his replacement?”

“…”

A light sigh came out of the satgat-wearing man, who had been silent for a while.

"You're being careless, Gouf, quite unlike yourself. The secret code should be renewed every month through the Association.”

"It's a tough society. Is there really a need between us to exchange secret codes?"

Gouf had lived a month and a half near Gilleon to hunt Seo Jun-Ho. As contact from the Fiend Association was lost, he naturally did not know the newly updated code. That was why Seo Jun-Ho was shamelessly improvising to pass through.

"What are you doing here all of a sudden?" asked the satgat-wearing man.

"Oh, that's....”

Quickness was really important from here on. There was no reason for Gouf to visit this place. In other words, he had to tell a 'reasonable’ lie.

"You have ears, so you must have heard it too, right? That I am now under Nazad Hallow-nim."

"…Ah, I think I know.”

Seo Jun-Ho had hardly even started talking yet, but Stan nodded. An unexpected look was revealed through the slightly raised satgat.

"I didn't expect Hallow-nim to recommend you for the raid... I guess you've been receiving a lot of his trust.”

"Ah… Well, yes."

"Raid? It’s my first time hearing it," said the Frost Queen.

Just like the Frost Queen said, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know about the raid either, but he nodded calmly. He had to react as if he knew about it.

"Then let's go."

Stan stood up from his seat and flicked his fingers. In response, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t hesitate to put his hand on Stan’s shoulder, and the view around him changed. Stan's skill ‘Homing Instinct(C)’ was triggered. It was a skill that allowed him to return to the place he designated as ‘home,’ regardless of where he was. The place where they arrived was the interior of a magnificent and huge mansion.

“…!”

At the same time, Seo Jun-Ho's eyes trembled.

Bustle.

It was because dozens of fiends were gathered inside the mansion. Among them, there were fiends Seo Jun-Ho had seen in Gouf's memory, and some he was seeing for the first time.

'This… is a situation that I didn't expect.’

There were too many opponents. Looking at Seo Jun-Ho's slightly nervous face, Stan tapped him on the chest.

"Are you nervous?"

"What nonsense."

Seo Jun-Ho spat out Gouf's natural speaking mannerism and looked around.

“The meeting will begin soon, since you are the last one."

As Stan went up to the second floor, gazes from all over the place were directed at him. Seo Jun-Ho calmly received their gazes as he leaned against the wall, and observed the situation as much as possible.

'Fiends, and each of them is at least level 90.’

There were thirty-one such people excluding himself. Just for what purpose? Just as Seo Jun-Ho frowned, a man accompanied by Stan grabbed the railing on the second floor and began to speak.

"Everyone's here...”

At the same time, the fiends on the first floor bowed to him and showed him courtesy. Following this, Seo Jun-Ho swallowed his saliva.

'It's him.’

Seo Jun-Ho knew just by looking at him that he was the strongest man in the mansion. To compare, Seo Jun-Ho thought that guy was about half a step ahead of Kal Signer. In other words, it meant that he was a fiend who belonged to a Squadron.

"Hmmm."

The man nodded briefly at the polite bow of the fiends and continued. "Good job on gathering here. My name is Wang-Heon. I am from the Pride Squadron."

Pride Squadron. Seo Jun-Ho made sure to remember the name and listened well.

"You may already know, but the reason why you're here today is to help me raid a Dungeon."

A dungeon! Only then could Seo Jun-Ho understand why there were this many fiends gathered here.

"You are all gathered here on the recommendation of the higher-ups. But remember. My orders are absolute in the field, and you're just tools. If you disobey my orders, I'll take your life."

"Yes..."

"Understood."

Wang-Heon looked as if it was natural that the fiends had obediently responded to him. Thus, he concluded. "Then, we shall leave in half an hour. Everyone, get ready."

After speaking, Wang-Heon turned around and made eye contact with Seo Jun-Ho.

"Hmm?"

With an expression of surprise, he asked Stan, standing next to him, "Isn't he Gouf? The one under Kal Signer.”

"That's correct."

"Why is he here?”

"He received a recommendation this time, so he will be joining the raid."

"Hmm… I remember that he was quite coveted by the leader for his unique skill."

His eyes glistened as he looked at Seo Jun-Ho.

"Oh, but the problem is...” Stan hurriedly whispered something into Wang-Heon’s ear.

Wang-Heon's expression hardened. "He belongs to Hallow-nim... I see."

After that, he left without even giving Seo Jun-Ho a single glance. It was well understood why his attitude had suddenly changed.

'Nazad Hallow is a greedy old man.’

Nazad hated it when someone coveted or damaged his stuff. In fact, wasn't the reason why he was agitated and impatient was that he could not devour Seo Jun-Ho for harming his student Arma?

"Hey…"

Then, three fiends approached Seo Jun-Ho. Since Seo Jun-Ho could recall their faces in Gouf’s memories, Seo Jun-Ho nodded and greeted, "Long time no see."

"Kik, yea. I didn't expect to see your face again."

"I thought you were going to fall after Kal Signer died, but you must have been pretty good at climbing up the rope.”

"Moving from here and there like a bat can also be considered an ability."

At the blatant sarcasm, Seo Jun-Ho gave them a short sigh and stared. He was not particularly angry, but he was just thinking.

‘If it were Gouf, how would he have dealt with this situation?’

Thorough Method acting—Seo Jun-Ho recalled Gouf’s life and reflected on Gouf’s personality and manner of speech. Then, he arrived at a conclusion. He warned the fiends with a straight face. "If you say Signer-nim's name one more time, I'll personally rip your mouths off."

"...Oho, once a master, a master even after death?"

"It must be nice to have such a faithful dog.”

The fiends mocked him to no end, as if he wasn’t a threat, before leaving.

"It seems there are people like them anywhere you go." The Frost Queen clicked her tongue.

Seo Jun-Ho nodded quietly. There was no difference between a Player and a fiend when it came to arrogance. As the Frost Queen said, there were arrogant people everywhere.

‘A Dungeon raid, huh.’

It was the first time since clearing ‘Tomb of Shafirim’ with Hakan. When he checked the house's clock, it had already been about an hour since he drank the transformation potion.

‘Five hours...’

This could be a good opportunity to mess up the fiends' Dungeon raid, and hog all the rewards there. Putting together a dangerous plan, Seo Jun-Ho's eyes sparkled.

***

The dungeon was deep in the Canal Mountains. It would take about two hours to travel there.

'In the next two and a half hours...’

The frequency of Seo Jun-Ho checking the Vita on his wrist became more frequent. It was because he was becoming more and more nervous. Skaya had said that the effect of the transformation would last six hours, but it was most likely not going to be as on point and as accurate as if measured by a ruler.

"This is the dungeon we discovered."

In the depths of a mountain range, there was a rough underground cave with sophisticated doors that didn’t match its surroundings.

Tic Tic.

Wang-Heon looked back, tapping on the door with his fingernails.

"As with door-type Dungeons, we probably won't be able to get out until the end of the raid."

The difference between a door-type Dungeon and an open-type Dungeon was simple.

'The Tomb of Shafirim that I cleared with Hakan was an open-type Dungeon.’

An open-type Dungeon was a Dungeon with an open entrance that allowed you to run away at any time if you found yourself at a disadvantage. In general, the difficulty was significantly lower than that of door-type Dungeons.

'In the first place, only a few door-type Dungeons are found in a year.’

Simply put, you could say a door-type Dungeon was just like the Gates on Earth since there was a powerful spell on it that usually didn’t allow you to come out until it was cleared. The difference was that there was no ‘door’ to come back out of in a door-type Dungeon.

‘Door-type Dungeons can only be challenged by the Big 6 or an equivalently large Guild.’

It was a very rare Dungeon that ordinary Players wouldn’t be able to enter in their entire life. Naturally, the level of the monsters inside would be high, but there were valuable rewards awaiting at the end. It was a typical high-risk, high-return Dungeon.

'The problem is…’

Seo Jun-Ho looked down at his right forearm. More specifically, at the sticker that Skaya had stuck to his forearm. She probably knew all that was going on through the wiretapping magic.

'If need be, I was going to get help from Skaya...’

But entering a door-type Dungeon would make that impossible. After worrying for a while, Seo Jun-Ho hardened his heart.

‘There's nothing I can do about it. Let's proceed.’

In the next few hours, the Curse of Bitter Cold would be lifted. In addition, if it was inside a Dungeon, he wouldn’t have to pay attention to being seen by others.

‘I think this is for the better. If I use Watchguard of Darkness and Frost, then I won’t be suppressed.’

After doing some mental calculations, he found that he could do it. The only variable was Wang-Heon. Seo Jun-Ho's eyes shone, looking at the back of Wang-Heon’s head.

‘It’s imperative to find out what Wang-Heon's skills are and how strong he is...’

Did Wang-Heon feel his gaze? Turning to Seo Jun-Ho, Wang-Heon opened his mouth with an expressionless face.

"We’re entering."

Creak!

When the door opened, a white light leaked out from the inside. Seo Jun-Ho and the fiends walked into it. His vision, which had been blinded by exposure to the intense light, slowly recovered.

"Hmmm?"

Seo Jun-Ho recovered his eyesight faster than others with his unique regeneration and looked around. Around him, there were only three fiends.

"…What’s going on?"

"What about the others? Where is Wang-Heon-nim?”

"Wait, Gouf, that punk. Why is he here...”

They were the ones who had picked a fight with Seo Jun-Ho in the mansion. The four of them had been moved to a small room.

"Aha."

When Seo Jun-Ho discovered their situation, the corners of his lips went up.

‘...How interesting.’

It was certainly interesting. The kind of Gate where Players would be scattered when they entered also existed on Earth.

‘It’s the same as when I made the Shadow Brothers into heroes.’

It was none other than a maze-type Dungeon. The scattered raid team had to break through the maze, kill monsters, and join the main team.

'Hmm, this changes the story a little.'

Seo Jun-Ho grinned hard as he looked at the still-confused three fiends. Seo Jun-Ho confessed that maze-type Gates had been his favorite places during his time as Specter.

1. Old conical Korean hat made from reeds. ?