The Frozen Player Returns

but he was smiling.

Snap!

The first True Vampire, Tepes, snapped his fingers.

***

The cold breeze of dawn tickled Seo Jun-Ho’s cheeks.

Seo Jun-Ho swept his gaze across the chefs standing ahead of their own line.

“Today, we shall reclaim our homeland in honor of our comrades who have gone to meet our ancestors at the Twilight Hill!”

The werewolves howled and cried when the chiefs raised their clenched fists.

“Awooo!”

“Awooo! Awooo!”

The scene in front of him was indeed heartwarming, but Seo Jun-Ho’s heart didn’t feel warm at all.
Instead, Seo Jun-Ho’s heart was gripped by a peculiar feeling.

‘What is this feeling?’

This was definitely his first time seeing this heartwarming scene, but he felt like he had already seen this scene before.
Of course, Seo Jun-Ho knew what he was feeling, and it was none other than a sense of déjà vu.

‘I think I’m just nervous for the first time in a while…’

For Seo Jun-Ho, nervousness wasn’t bad.
It was a thousand times better to be nervous than to be careless.

A system window popped up, and Seo Jun-Ho inadvertently looked at it.

[Hero’s Mind (EX) is ready for possible side effects.]

‘What? Why did Hero’s Mind activate just now?’

Seo Jun-Ho blinked out of confusion.

However, his train of thought was cut short.

He had to run with the werewolves and into the rift in space that Shin Sung-Hyun had created.

“Forwaaard!”

The werewolves transformed in mid-air and broke through the royal palace’s ceiling.
They then tore the vampire apostles apart.

Tap, tap.

Arnold gently patted Seo Jun-Ho’s back.

“Seo Jun-Ho.
We will go and search the underground, so you should stay here and protect everyone here.”

“Don’t worry.
Go ahead.”

The werewolves proceeded to infiltrate the city’s underground using many different routes.
However, it hadn’t even been that long since their infiltration started, but Seo Jun-Ho’s message window was already flashing like crazy as if it were on fire.

[Argh! This is the group at the square in front of the royal palace! We have been ambushed! We’re retreating!]

[This is group B-7.
The drain has collapsed over the Players! Reinforcements necessary!]

[T-this is group H-10! We fell into a trap! There was a bomb in the Vampire’s House and—]

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes quivered.
He felt overwhelmed, but his Imperturbable Mind and Hero’s Mind stabilized him before he could feel dizzy.

‘A trap and an ambush? How is that possible…’

The Players didn’t even know each other’s location throughout the operation, and it was to prevent enemy espionage via brainwashing and hypnosis.

Seo Jun-Ho was the only one who knew the locations of every single group because he was the leader of the operation.

‘There’s no way I can get hypnotized or brainwashed.
Wait, does this mean…’

Seo Jun-Ho’s head swung back to the stairs leading to the underground.
After a while, the wolves quickly rushed out of the stairs with an enormous bang.

Seo Jun-Ho’s head jerked toward the stairs leading to the basement of the royal palace.

“A-a trap… a bomb…!”

“Damn it all! Chief Charlotte and Grigor have been killed in action!”

“Chief Arnold is in a coma! He’s bleeding heavily!”

Everything had turned into a complete mess.

‘How is this possible? How did the enemy find out about our plans?’

Seo Jun-Ho shivered, but a voice in his head interrupted his thoughts.

– Partner! Wake up!

Keen Intuition spoke for the first time in a while.

– You need to kill Tepes first.

‘What? What do you mean…’

– For some reason, I feel like that’s the only way.

It was a baseless assumption, but it came from Keen Intuition.

Seo Jun-Ho bit his lips.

In the end, he leaped into the air and tapped furiously on his message window.

[Skaya, Rahmadat! Join me right now! We’re going to attack Tepes!]

[Wait, what?! We’re in the middle of dealing with Stigma right now!]

[Jun-Ho.
If we leave, the players here will—]

[I know! But I need you! Please just come here! Please…!]

Seo Jun-Ho knew that he was being unreasonable here, but he wanted his friends to trust in him.

Bang!

Seo Jun-Ho kicked open the door to the throne room.

Tepes was sitting on the lid of a coffin with a calm look.
He looked away from the map and stared at Seo Jun-Ho before saying, “What do you think? I’m sure you’re not disappointed this time, right?”

“What?”

‘What is he talking about?’

There was a burst of magic as Skaya and Rahmadat appeared next to him.

“I’m sorry…”

Seo Jun-Ho apologized and retrieved White Dragon from his Inventory.

“I’ll explain everything later.
But… but I need you guys to just trust me for now.”

“…”

Skaya and Rahmadat nodded without saying anything.

They simply turned toward Tepes.

“Hm.” Tepes stood up, scratching his head.

***

Seo Jun-Ho swayed, breathing heavily.
He was in a terrible condition.
He had lost everything beneath his right knee, and blood kept on flowing out of his left eye.

‘Skaya, Rahmadat…’

Skaya and Rahmadat were on the floor, and their conditions were worse.
They looked like they could die at any moment.

However, he had obtained a clear answer to his burning question.

“…I can’t believe I lost again,” Tepes murmured.
Half of his head was missing, and he was currently on the floor.
He lacked the strength to stand up, so he painstakingly turned his head to Seo Jun-Ho and said, “You possess such unbelievable power, Player.
By any chance, are you also capable of hearing God’s voice?”

Seo Jun-Ho’s thoughts didn’t allow him to comprehend what Tepes was saying.
He simply stood there and gripped the spear in his hand tightly.

‘It’s time…’

Seo Jun-Ho had discovered Tepes’ ability while he was fighting the latter.
He was sure of it.
Tepes’ ability was definitely time manipulation.

Otherwise, Tepes wouldn’t have been able to time his attacks just slightly off, and he wouldn’t have been able to read Seo Jun-Ho’s attacks as well.

‘Tepes’ ability is to manipulate time.’

Seo Jun-Ho knew the terrors of time more than anyone else.
After all, he had been forced to fight Erebo with the power to go back in time on the 4th Floor.
Without the power to go back in time, he wouldn ’t have been able to take down such a ridiculously strong monster.

He had finally managed to win after many regressions.

Still, the fight had lasted over seventeen years.

“Let me ask you one thing,” Seo Jun-Ho asked in a trembling voice, “How many times has it been?”

“Hmm, you truly are outstanding.
To think that you would notice the trick…” Tepes was genuinely surprised, prompting him to answer in a voice full of respect.
“Rest assured.
We have only met twice so far.”

The tip of Seo Jun-Ho’s spear trembled.
Seo Jun-Ho finally realized how scary it was to face an enemy who could regress.

‘Is this how Erebo felt while he was fighting me?’

Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t sure of what Erebo had felt, but one thing was for sure—it felt miserable to face an enemy who could regress, especially when one was aware of their enemy’s ability.

“I will try harder on the third time.”

Snap!

***

“Today, we shall reclaim our homeland in honor of our comrades who have gone to meet our ancestors at the Twilight Hill!”

The werewolves howled and cried when the chiefs raised their clenched fists.

“Awooo!”

“Awooo! Awooo!”

While watching the werewolves howl, Seo Jun-Ho was suddenly struck by a sense of déjà vu.

[Hero’s Mind (EX) is ready for possible side effects.]

‘What? Why did Hero’s Mind activate just now?’

While Seo Jun-Ho was agonizing over the reason why Hero’s Mind had activated all of a sudden, Keen Intuition spoke for the first time in a while.

– Partner.

“Intuition?”

‘I thought this guy was sleeping, and that’s why he hasn’t been answering my calls.
So why is he suddenly talking to me? Hero’s Mind activated for some reason as well, and with Keen Intuition speaking up all of a sudden… just what the hell is going on?’

Seo Jun-Ho was baffled, and he stood there with wide eyes as many thoughts flashed across his mind. 

Eventually, Keen Intuition spoke once more.

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– Listen carefully, partner.
It seems that we’re in a… very difficult situation right now.