Return of the Frozen Player

“Let's go.”

As Gilberto disappeared in a flash, Seo Jun-Ho and Skaya walked along the road.
As they walked toward the mountain, the demonic energy they felt began to grow stronger.

Skaya narrowed her eyes.
“Can you feel this?”

“Yeah.”

“There are more than I thought.”

“They're small fries, though.”

Having encountered fiends several times since his return, Seo Jun-Ho could feel it.

“There are about ten decent ones…
The rest are about level 100.”

“It reminds us of the old days, right?” said Skaya with nostalgia.

It was a long time ago…

Seo Jun-Ho smirked.
“Right, although we’re missing two.”

“…We will all gather eventually.
Definitely.”

As they crossed the ridge, they could finally see the mountain range.
At the same time, they could start taking notes of the fiends’ positions.

“What do you want to do? Shall we move first?”

“No.” Seo Jun-Ho shook his head.

Seo Jun-Ho would have liked to run over and sweep all the fiends, but that role didn’t belong to him.

“We should leave it up to the father to start things off.
Don't you think so, Sucker-for-your-son?”

Gilberto’s answer to the question was simple.

– I’m not a sucker for my son.

He didn't say that he wouldn't start it off himself.

***

There was an awkwardness in the fiends’ procession.
In fact, it hadn’t been easy for the fiends to cooperate in this way.

'What's this? It's so awkward, I’m gonna die.’

‘Why is there a group cooperation order all of the sudden? Who the hell is that mess of blood anyway?’

‘Those people in the front…
Are they associated with the Squadrons? They’re definitely strong.’

The fiends followed after the ten squad members while immersed in their thoughts.

Udduk.

Jang Seon-Ho stopped walking and smirked.

“What is this?”

Members of the Gluttony Squadron approached him to gauge why he stopped.
It was because they also felt the aura of Players beyond the ridge.
The distance was only about one kilometer.

“This is River's magic?”

“River?”

“It's one of the Watchguards.”

“That rat!”

Two fiends were particularly angry as they were members of Gluttony Squadron, yet they were tricked by River and were kicked out of the hideout.

“Hey, leave that guy to us.”

“Anyway, the orders were for all the Watchguards except Arthur to be exterminated, right?”

“…There’s nothing bad about that.” Jang Seon-Ho nodded slowly.

The leader's order to stay vigilant to the end came to Jang Seon-Ho’s mind for a moment, but he shook his head.

‘I don't have to worry about a mere River.’

When Jang Seon-Ho, the person in charge of the operation, gave his permission, the two fiends kicked off the ground and disappeared from sight in a flash.

“…Did you see their movement just now?”

“I couldn't see it…”

“That's the power of the fiends in Squadrons…”

The fiends gushed with admiration.
They were also level 100 fiends and had always been treated as strong beings wherever they went.
However, it was different here.
The level of the fiends in the Squadrons was so high that they could not even estimate it.

“Leave River to those two.
We'll keep going.” Jang Seon-Ho smiled and looked back at Arthur.

On the shoulders of a large fiend, Arthur twisted and groaned, “Ueup! Ueup!”

Tears flowed from his swollen eyes, but it only made Jang Seon-Ho happier.

***

Step, step.

There was little sound even though he was sprinting on leaves.
River gained confidence in that fact.

‘You can do it.
It won't be long.'

Whenever he thought of the fact that there were many fiends nearby, he felt like his legs would give out.
Each time that happened, however, he steeled his heart and worked his legs as hard as he could.

‘Is Arthur okay? He’s okay, right?’

Arthur would be okay because the fiends’ purpose was to use him to bait Specter out.
Of course, the safety of the hostage would be their first priority.

'If I run diligently, I'll get to the nearest city in two hours.’

In fact, he, a non-combatant, rarely ran as much as he had done today.
He didn't expect that the hard physical training he had done with the advice of the other Watchguards would be helpful at a time like this.

‘I'm going to train even harder after this ends.’

He decided to start hunting again, which he had given up on in the past because he was afraid.
That way, if something like this were to happen again—he would be able to help Arthur.

‘Being weak is a sin…’

River thought of the words that spread among the Players.
The words he thought were a joke seemed to ring especially loud today.

‘To help the Watchguards who took me in when I was dying and had lost my parents…’

He decided to start hunting again.
The moment he made up his mind, however, the world around him shook.

Chwaaaaaaak!

In an instant, blood from his whole body was directed to his head, and a beat later, he felt pain shooting up from his ankle.

“Kuhuhu, you rat! Why don't you use that skill again this time?”

“Did you say it was Moving House? Try opening it.”

The two fiends from the Gluttony Squadron had caught up with River and grabbed River up by his ankle.
River struggled with a pale complexion.
“L-Let go! You evil punks!”

“Cute.
It’s almost a shame to kill you.”

“Honestly, your skill is useful.
If it had been our first meeting, I would have suggested you become a fiend.”

But they couldn’t keep this River guy alive.
After all, he was the reason why Jang Seon-Ho was now treating them like idiots after River had tricked them into being kicked out of the hideout.

“It's all because of you…”

“It has been a long time since I've received such an insult.”

Demonic energy condensed in the fiend’s hand as he chuckled.
At that moment, his hand became a sword sharper than anything.

“You don't mind if I kill him, do you?”

“Well, I'll compromise this time.
Instead, if there's anyone to kill next time, I'll kill them.”

“All right.”

After calmly having such a horrifying conversation, one of the fiends slowly reached out to River.

Plop.

But at that moment, the fiend fell forward all of a sudden.

“…?”

River, who was being held by the fiend, also fell to the floor.
His wide open eyes were filled with bewilderment.

“Hey, it's no time for this lame joke.
If we're late, Jang Seon-Ho will nag us again…”

As soon as the frowning fiend tried to pull his fallen comrade’s body off the floor, his expression hardened.

‘…Wait a minute, this punk’s got a hole in his head.’

There was a big hole in his comrade’s skull.

“A bullet?”

The first thing that came to his mind was a bullet—from a sniper.
But the wound was too hideous for it to have come from a bullet because his whole face was simply sunken in.

'This level of destruction is beyond logic unless the bullet’s loaded with magic…’

No, it didn’t make sense.
He didn't hear the sound of gunfire, and he also didn't hear the bullet’s approach.

‘I didn't even feel any magic.’

Then what? Did this guy go crazy and suddenly committed suicide? The fiend gulped and straightened his back.
He started to get wary of River.

“Was it you?”

“I-It's not me.”

When River shook his head and answered stupidly, the fiend began to look around.

‘Then where? Where is it from?’

Since the victim was right in front of him, there must be a sniper somewhere.
But as to where the enemy was, who he was, and what skill was being used, the fiend could not figure anything out.

“…Huh?”

Plop.

Even until the moment when his view flipped upside down, and he turned into a cold, lifeless body, he still couldn’t figure it out.