The Frozen Player Returns

s the first time you’ve done something like that.
All that matters is that you got back safely.

Bang! 

He sniped another robot.
“Do you want me to explain them to you?”

“I got the gist of it from Miss Si-Eun.
She said that they’re even more dogged than the cockroaches.”

“Ah, yes.
They’re damnable creatures.” Gilberto turned around, putting down his rifle.
“So, what do you need me to do?”

As always, he was ready to follow whatever Seo Jun-Ho suggested.

Seo Jun-Ho grinned.

“Gilbe, you’re good with a bow, aren’t you?”

***

The Guild Master of Red Tower, Choi Han-Young, was pushed back.
His eyes were crinkled because his pride was hurt.

‘…They’re strong.’ 

The Immortal Army they were fighting right now was by no means weak.
Each robot was as strong, or even 1.5 times as strong as an individual Player on the 5th floor.

‘We can’t sense magic from them as well, and they just keep coming because they don’t get tired like us.’

Perhaps that was why the Players felt so overwhelmed.
Because they knew that if they didn’t precisely destroy the chips in their heads, the battle would drag out forever.

‘So, it’s really a question of which happens first.
Either the Players will run out of stamina, or we have to kill them all before then…’

Things were bad.

The Players were exhausted from the fight with Namgung Jincheon.
They didn’t manage to get a proper break because they had to fight the Immortal Army immediately afterward.

‘If we’d just had half a day—no, even five hours to rest…’ 

They wouldn’t be breathing so hard, and they wouldn’t be so exhausted.

“Guh!”

He kept getting pushed back by the robot’s longsword.
It was a mere difference in strength.
When he glanced around, he saw that Cha Min-Woo from the Cheong-Hae Guild wasn’t doing much better.

“Looks like you’re struggling too, eh?”

“…I don’t even have the energy to talk.
But if you do…”

Clang! 

Cha Min-Woo charged at the robot as fast as lightning, knocking it over.
He ripped off its head and pulled out the chip.

“Hoo. Save your strength so you can take down at least one more.” Whenever they killed one robot, twenty more would pour down from the sky.

“Guild Master.”

“Are we not going to retreat?”

“The situation is too dire.”

“…”

Choi Han-Young wordlessly looked up at the sky.
His eyes were full of fatigue, and his breathing had long grown ragged.

‘What would you do, Hero?’ 

Currently, they were fighting in the east.

“N-Noona…”

“Hush! Be quiet.
We can’t bother them.”

The houses in the slums were dilapidated, but now, they had been completely destroyed, forcing many adults and children onto the streets.

‘If we retreat now, they will die.’ 

They had already seen it a few times.
They didn’t know why, but the robots never killed Players.

‘But they hold no regard for the citizens here…’ 

The robots killed anyone else who appeared in their line of sight—as if the citizens here were worthless.

‘Sure, I don’t have any personal connection with them.’ 

Actually, he wasn’t sure if he could call them human in the first place, considering that parts of their bodies had long been replaced with machinery.
In other words, he had nothing in common with them.

‘But…’ 

He knew that the 5 Heroes would protect them.
Even if they could live comfortably, the 5 Heroes would risk their lives to fight for the weak.
They had shown everyone how the powerful should use their power.

‘You taught me this.
So I will follow…’ 

Choi Han-Young parried a robot’s claymore and cut off both its arms.

Slice! 

He cut off the bastard’s head and raised it up high in the air.

“Uwaaaaah! Hold on for a little longer! Reinforcements will come once they’re done cleaning up!”

It was just for show.
They were deluding themselves into believing that they would survive if they just held out and that other Players would come to help them.

“…”

However, it actually happened.

Just as the Players exhausted all their mental and physical energy and were about to give up…

“You fought well.”

The reinforcements arrived…

The Players cheered at the sight of him.

“T-The Nine Heavens! It’s Kim Woo-Joong of the Nine Heavens!”

“The Sword Saint of Silent Moon has come to help us!”

“Player Kim Woo-Joong will fight with us!”

They looked at him with eyes full of belief.
Still, Kim Woo-Joong wordlessly swung his sword.

The Players had been fighting the robots on their own, and the robots seemed extremely powerful in front of the other Players, but they couldn’t even withstand three strikes from the Sword Saint.

“Huh? That’s weird.
I definitely heard that this side needed help.”

Another ally!

The Players’ heads turned to the other side.

And the man standing there was none other than Specter himself.

“S-S-Specter! Specter-nim has returned!”

“The rescue team succeeded!”

“We have two of the Nine Heavens here!”

“Kill these bastards!”

Once their morale was boosted, the Players’ movements changed.
Earlier, they had been fighting with the belief that they would never be able to turn the tides no matter how hard they fought, but now, even if they didn’t manage to do so—even if they didn’t succeed completely, they knew that there were people here to support them.
The knowledge made all the difference.

“Ah.” Kim Woo-Joong noticed Seo Jun-Ho, expecting to see the latter’s eyes filled with the same brilliance as always.

He suddenly stopped.
Something was different.

Seo Jun-Ho had always been an approachable person, but he still drew a clear line.

‘But now…’ 

He was different.
He didn’t know why Seo Jun-Ho had a change of heart, but his hair was slicked back, and the line was no longer there.

To put it harshly, he looked a little bit like an endearing idiot.

‘If I take this opportunity…’

 Shouldn’t he be able to speak to him naturally like they were friends?

Kim Woo-Joong kicked the robot he was fighting in the knee and slapped its head with the back of his hand as it doubled over.

“Goodness, I didn’t think that the head would go flying so far with just a slap of my hand.
I never even considered it.”

Kim Woo-Joong smoothly made his way toward Seo Jun-Ho and made a surprised face.

“Wait, Seo Jun-Ho? When did you return? -yo?”[1]

His subtle pronunciation was perfect.

At that, Specter whirled around.
He stared at Kim Woo-Joong and spoke.
“Um, I don’t really like being called Jun-Ho.”

“…”

Kim Woo-Joong’s face and eyes were as expressionless as always.

Clang! Bang! Crrrang! 

He crushed the robots’ heads over and over.

Nonstop…

1.
Woo-Joong says the formal parts of the sentence very quietly, like he’s testing the waters.
Lol.
☜