Return of the Frozen Player

“...”

‘Is this his way of checking whether I’m in disguise or not?’

Seo Jun-Ho immediately froze the blood vessels in his left arm.

Swish!

The vampire apostle was surprised when Seo Jun-Ho made a deep cut on his forearm using the dagger, which was lightly infused with magic.

“Oh, my, you didn’t have to cut that deeply.” The vampire apostle closely examined the wound on Seo Jun-Ho’s arm and asked, “I can see that there are still blood clots in your blood vessels. It seems that it hasn’t been long since you became part of the clan.”

“Yes. It has only been a few days since I received the favor.”

“I understand.”

The vampire apostle seemed like he had no doubts about Seo Jun-Ho. After all, it was common for first-class citizens of Trium to offer their own necks to extend their lifespans.

“And next to you is…” The vampire apostle turned to look at the Frost Queen before continuing. “There’s no one next to you. Hmm, the information must have been wrong.”

With that being said, the vampire apostle left. He couldn’t see the Frost Queen.

The Frost Queen made a sidelong glance at Seo Jun-Ho and asked, “Are you enduring the pain, or can you not feel it at all?”

“Let’s talk about that later. We need to focus on our task at hand.”

“...I grant you royal permission to do so. I’m sure we can talk about it some other day.”

The Frost Queen turned her gaze beyond the window, but what she said earlier echoed in Seo Jun-Ho’s head.

“By the way, Contractor. What are you going to do with the ordinary citizens sitting on the rear cars of the train when the battle begins?”

“Skaya said that she would take care of that part.”

Seo Jun Ho trusted Skaya. Skaya had never failed in her task before.

‘We have six hours left until we arrive at Twin Cliff…’

So Jun-Ho also turned to look beyond the window.

The train running on the outer rail of the giant city of Trium was soon to pass through the Twin Cliff in six hours.

***

Two hours later, Seo Jun-Ho felt an unknown sense of disharmony.

‘...What is this? Why am I feeling this way?’

The emptiness in the back of his mind made Seo Jun-Ho have a strong hunch that he was missing something important. To find out why he was feeling this way, Seo Jun-Ho looked around.

“What’s wrong, Contractor? Are you looking for something?” asked the Frost Queen.

“No, it’s nothing.”

The Frost Queen seemed to be doing fine. She looked bored, but she was calm.

‘Is it a problem on Skaya’s side?’

- Skaya. Skaya?

- Huh? What is it?

- Is everything okay on your side?

- Yeah, there’s nothing much going on. Ah! The passengers in front of me are snoring too loudly.

‘What? That’s not helpful at all.’

Seo Jun-Ho’s brows furrowed slightly.

‘...Am I being too sensitive?’

Indeed, Hero’s Mind(EX) would have already protected him somehow if he were under any form of illusion. The fact that no system prompt had appeared to notify him of that meant that the situation was normal.

Gilberto heard Seo Jun-Ho’s sigh and asked, “Jun-Ho. Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. I must have been mistaken.”

“You’re silly.” Gilberto smiled and handed over the pamphlet he was holding to Seo-Jun Ho. “Let’s go grab a beer when we arrive at our destination. It looks like there’s a decent bar right there.”

“Sounds good. I mean, it’s been a while since we went on a trip together—” Seo Jun-Ho blinked and asked, “We’re on a trip?”

“You certainly look a bit strange today,” said Gilberto with a worried look.

Seo Jun-Ho kneaded his forehead and said, “I’m sorry. I keep zoning out for some reason. I must be tired.”

“Haha. You’re still young, so you should be more energetic,” said the Thunder God in front of Seo Jun-Ho. The Thunder God was smiling as he stared at Seo Jun-Ho.

Seo Jun-Ho revealed an awkward look as he said hurriedly, “W-well, I do feel like this sometimes.”

“If you’re tired, get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get there,” said Baek Geon-Woo from the side.

Seo Jun-Ho nodded at Baek Geon-Woo’s kind words. “Yeah, I think I should do that.”

“Eat this hearty lunch before sleeping…”

Mio appeared and handed over a lunch box to him.

“Um… you bought this from the train station, right?” asked Seo Jun-Ho.

“Lunch boxes require sincerity for them to become delicious, so I made this lunch earlier,” said Mio.

“Honestly, my stomach has been hurting since we were at the station,” said Seo Jun-Ho, politely refusing before closing his eyes.

“Anyway, I’ll just take a short nap,” he said. Seo Jun-Ho thought that he should take a nap so that he would have more fun the moment they arrived at their destination. After all, he was on an overdue, pleasant trip with the people he loved.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho started to feel drowsy. At the same time, many different thoughts popped up in his head.

‘Going on a trip is always fun… trip… trip? Wait. I thought I was supposed to catch the Chef?’

Seo Jun-Ho abruptly opened his eyes and sharply exhaled. “Haaaa…!”

“What’s wrong with you? I’ve been trying to wake you up for quite a while now!”

The Frost Queen scolded him the moment he woke up. However, the first thing Seo Jun-Ho was looking ahead of him with a perplexed look.

‘He’s there… the Chef is still there. When did I fall asleep? It’s not like me to make such a terrible mistake.’

Seo Jun-Ho wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve.

“I’m sorry. How many hours has it been?” asked Seo Jun-Ho.

“Five hours and forty minutes. I slapped you several times, but you won’t wake up.”

“...”

‘So that’s why my face hurts...’

Seo Jun-Ho shuddered.

‘I fell asleep during the operation? I actually fell asleep?’

Seo Jun-Ho felt like dying of shame.

At last, the terrain that Arnold had told him about appeared beyond the window.

‘Twin Cliff.’

The Twin Cliffs belonged to two different mountain peaks, but they earned the name Twin Cliffs before they were facing each other. Twenty minutes later, the train would arrive at the Twin Cliff, and the operation would begin.

‘There must be no mistakes. I must cut him down at once.’

The first casualty of this operation had to be Dryer.

Slap! Slap!

Seo Jun-Ho slapped his cheeks lightly to come back to his senses.

- Jun-Ho, get ready. We’re almost there.

- I know.

With Skaya’s reminder, Seo Jun-Ho got ready to make a move.

The distance between Seo Jun-Ho and Dryer was about thirty meters. He could easily cover that gap in the blink of an eye.

‘The entire first car of the train is within my attack range.’

Seo Jun-Ho calmed down as he got ready to attack. After he was done simulating the upcoming attack with his Imperturbable Mind, the train was now close to the Twin Cliffs.

‘Soon… We’re almost there…!’

Crash!

“W-what’s going on?”

“Damn it, it’s the dogs!”

Shouts erupted all over as the train shook powerfully. The Chef tightly gripped the armrest while Seo Jun-Ho retrieved a dagger from his Inventory.

‘Now!’

Seo Jun-Ho hurled the dagger in his hand, even though the train was shaking as if it were in a blender.

“Argh!” Seo Jun-Ho’s dagger struck Dryer’s nape, and the latter died instantly.

The vampire apostles turned and glared at Seo Jun-Ho.

***

“...”

“They’re here…”

Twenty men and women were standing on the Twin Cliff. They looked down at the train in the distance.

“You all know what to do, right?” asked a man.

“Tear the bats apart while protecting the citizens?”

“I guess, you know…” the man replied with a smile as he slowly grew larger.

“We have to stop the train first.”

“I’ll go to the engine room.”

Choo-Choo! Chug-Chug!

The werewolves measured the train’s speed, and then they decided to throw themselves down the cliff with impeccable timing.

Bang!

One of the werewolves ripped open the locked doors of the engine room.

“Ah!”

“A human… Anyway, I’m sorry, but we will have to stop this train.”

Squeakkkk!

A werewolf pulled the lever to stop the train. Then, they rushed over to the first compartment of the train. There were many werewolves standing inside the compartment, and the corpse of the vampires piled up like a mountain.

“What happened here?”

A werewolf asked upon seeing the concern on their colleague’s face.

The colleague answered, “We missed the guy called Chef.”

“What? How did we miss him?!”

“He vanished with a vampire apostle as soon as we broke the doors and barged in,” replied the colleague. He shook his head as he swept his gaze across the compartment. “But I don’t think that’s important right now...”

The reason they missed the Chef was that someone who should have been here wasn’t here.

The werewolf revealed a grim look and said, “Seo Jun-Ho isn’t here.”

***

Seo Jun-Ho thrust his sword into a vampire’s mouth.

As expected, the first compartment quickly became chaotic.

“I can see that you really want to protect him by any means necessary.”

However, there was no way they could stop Seo Jun-Ho.

After all, not even dozens of vampire apostles could stop him.

‘It’s no use…’

Seo Jun-Ho snapped his fingers.

“Black Ball.”

Plonk! Plonk!

The balls made out of darkness bounced off of the walls, floors, and ceiling of the train. The balls contained so much power that upon being struck, the vampire apostles would literally explode.

“Ah!”

The vampires were annihilated in the blink of an eye.

Now, there was only one left—the Chef.

Seo Jun-Ho calmly approached the Chef.

“D-don’t…! Don’t come here!’ The Chef shouted. He got up from his seat and mustered his magic.

Seo Jun-Ho remained indifferent as he stared at the Chef.

“Now, only three remain…”

‘Demon King, Isaac Dvor, and Valencia Citrin.’

The world only had three fiends remaining…

“...!”

The Chef’s head abruptly flew and struck the ceiling. Then, his head helplessly fell to the floor. It was a rather vain death for an Executive of the Fiend Association.

Seo Jun-Ho slowly walked over to the corpse and reached out.

“Confession of the Dead.”

Seo Jun-Ho frowned. The memory projection didn’t pop up.

He opened his mouth once more. “Confession of the Dead.”

The memory projection still wouldn’t pop up.

At last, Seo Jun-Ho realized that there was something strange as he slowly got up.

‘Where are the werewolves…?’

All of a sudden, an unfamiliar voice penetrated his ears.

“Hmm. Confession of the Dead, huh? That must be the name of the ability you’ve been using to peek into other people’s memories.”

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho turned around.

A man giving off an ominous energy was standing in the middle of the bloody hallway.

The man was smiling, but the man’s smile reminded Seo Jun-Ho of a doll.

The bloody hallway also seemed to fit the man perfectly.

“Nice to meet you. I have been wanting to meet you so bad.”

The man was obviously happy.

He looked like this encounter was too pleasant for him to bear.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho was familiar with the man. It was only natural because the man had been in the memories of the many vampire apostles he had killed so far.

“True Vampire…” Seo Jun-Ho trailed off. The man was the head of the Paradox clan and one of the absolute beings of Trium. “True Vampire Paradox.”

Seo Jun-Ho’s gaze turned complicated as he stared at Paradox.

‘What… what is going on?’ Seo Jun-Ho was confused. ‘Wasn’t he supposed to protect the Chef? Why did he wait until the Chef died? And what was wrong with Confession of the Dead earlier?’’

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “Am I in a dream by any chance?”

“Wrong. Unfortunately, the skill I used on you isn’t as simple as a dream.” Paradox smiled slightly and shrugged before saying, “I don’t know if you would understand, but let me explain anyway. You’re currently in my Unique Realm.”

“...Unique Realm?”

‘Unique Realm? Like Mio’s Unique Realm?’ Seo Jun-Ho’s gaze deepened. ‘When did I get dragged into his Unique Realm? Does it have anything to do with the dream I had earlier? Why did Hero’s Mind remain quiet?’

When Hero’s Mind reached EX-grade, it became capable of invalidating abilities that would affect his mind. Therefore, this could only mean one thing. Seo Jun-Ho was dragged into this Unique Realm without Hero’s Mind noticing it.

“Why? Are you bothered that I managed to break into your mind with such ease?”

“...!” Seo Jun-Ho raised his guard.

Paradox laughed. “You don’t have to be surprised. I saw how Obi’s hypnosis didn’t work on you when you broke into Astaneca.”

“Sigh. It doesn’t really matter.” Seo Jun-Ho was right. It didn’t matter whether he was in a Unique Realm or not. His hand blurred as he decapitated Paradox in the blink of an eye. “It doesn’t matter because everything will end when you die.”

Seo Jun-Ho’s indifferent voice filled the bloody train.

However, a voice unexpectedly answered him. “You’re right. This Unique Realm will disappear if I die...”

“...”

Paradox casually picked up his smiling head and attached it to his body.

“But do you really think that you can kill me and—”

Crash! Bang!

A minor moon eye landed on Paradox before he could even finish speaking. Darkness then swallowed his figure as a follow-up, shredding him into thousands of pieces in the proverbial blink of an eye.

‘If his regenerative ability is the same as Rahmadat, I can just shred his cells.’

Flinch.

However, Seo Jun-Ho’s expression abruptly distorted when a voice echoed behind him.

“It’s not nice to interrupt someone who is talking, and I wasn’t expecting this kind of fight with you.”

“...”

Paradox stood behind Seo Jun-Ho with a grin.

“Oh, right. I still haven’t told you the name of this Unique Realm.” Paradox casually extended his hand as if he were a host of a play. He pointed at the bloody train and spoke, “The Land of God.”

In this Unique Realm, Paradox was an omnipotent god.