Return of the Frozen Player

“Screech!”

“P-please. Spare my daughter—Ah!”

“Daddy! Nooo!”

Tepes casually walked down the chaotic streets.

‘This is bad…’

Tepes hadn’t been able to feel Ghost and Stigma’s energy for a while now. He couldn’t help but think that the two True Vampires had already breathed their last.

“Haaa, damn it.”

‘How did this even happen?’

Tepes pondered to think of other solutions, but he soon lifted his finger without hesitation. He had already reached the conclusion that there was no way he could turn this around, so he had no choice but to turn back time again.

‘I will definitely win the next time around.’

Tepes firmly said to himself. This wasn’t the first time that he thought he would win the next time, but it didn’t matter because he could turn back time. He was about to turn back time once more when he noticed that the red fog over the city had dimmed.

‘No, it’s not an illusion.’

Tepes looked up without realizing it, and his eyes quivered at the sight.

‘It’s… frozen?’

‘The fog spans twenty kilometers, and they managed to freeze it?’

Tepes had never considered it because he thought that it was impossible.

“That’s nonsense…” Tepes muttered blankly.

A shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

An overwhelmingly powerful energy shot toward the skies from the other end of Trium.

‘It’sSeo Jun-Ho…! He’s attacking the fog…!’

The pitch-black energy tore Tepes’ red fog as if it were a piece of paper.

Splatter!

Thousands of ice fragments containing the red fog fell like rain, and the rays of the sun finally descended upon Trium as well.

“Huh?”

“What is that…? Is that the sun?”

The vampires were having fun slaughtering the citizens of Trium, but they simultaneously looked up. The rays of the sun were reflected in their eyes as they were quickly reduced to ashes.

Grit!

Tepes gnashed his teeth furiously.

The red fog’s destruction meant the destruction of his heart as well.

“Keuk… Keuaghhh…!”

Unsurprisingly, a terrible pain inundated him like a deluge. Tepes collapsed on the street and clawed at the ground in pain. Right now, there was only one thought in his mind.

‘I-I need to recover…’

He had to run away and recover so he could turn back time.

“Huff, huff…!”

Tepes desperately tried to catch his breath as he hurriedly departed. However, his sensitive ears caught faint noises coming from afar, prompting him to turn around.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The noises were footsteps coming from the roofs of the surrounding buildings.

Tepes’ eyes widened in fury upon discovering the identities of the approaching figures.

“The werewolves…!”

***

The werewolves could still remember what Seo Jun-Ho had told them.

- Just remember one thing: never let Tepes turn back time again.

Seo Jun-Ho had told them to stop Tepes from turning back time at all costs.

- Once I’ve gotten rid of the fog, I won’t be able to immediately join the fight. Once the fog disappears, start running after him and don’t look back.

The werewolves faithfully carried out their duties.

“Tepes…!”

Arnold was the fastest among the werewolves, so he was the first one to throw himself on Tepes.

Crackle!

He emancipated and charged at Tepes like a shooting star.

“Argh!” Tepes’ expression turned ugly. He was forced to lift his injured arm to block Arnold’s attack.

He surreptitiously looked around. ‘The chiefs of the werewolf tribes.’

Tepes had never really managed to beat the Four Legendary Wolves before the demons granted him power. Even worse, the chiefs brought their warriors with them, and they started to appear on the streets and on the roofs of the nearby buildings.

‘There are a thousand of them…?’

The werewolves’ morale was high.

However, Tepes wasn’t afraid. Rather, he was anxious.

‘I don’t care about these wolves.’

Tepes was warier of the strong Players. He knew that he had to escape before they arrived here. Fortunately, he only needed five or perhaps ten minutes to recover enough energy so he could turn back time.

“Tepes. We’re here to recover our homeland.”

“It’s yours, so piss off.”

Mekenbo snorted and said, “I hate to break it to you, but we need your head as well.”

“Yes. We promised to offer your head to the souls of our fallen comrades.”

“...”

Tepes gnashed his teeth.

“You puny bastards…! You’ve been hiding with your tails tucked between your legs…!”

Tepes wasn’t in his best condition, but he was confident that he could easily deal with the werewolves.

Swoosh!

Tepes vanished. He reappeared in front of Mekenbo and swung his nails.

Splat!

“Argh!”

Tepes’ fingernails dug into Mekenbo’s chest.

However, Mekenbo simply stretched his arms out in an attempt to hold Tepes down.

“How stupid. Do you seriously think that you can stop me?”

Tepes saw the future and avoided Mekenbo’s grab with half a step backward.

‘All right. One down.’

Tepes swept his gaze across the other chiefs and said, “You don’t mind sacrificing your colleague just to stop me?”

“Kehehe, I suggested it myself. As long as I can bring you down with me, I don’t mind sacrificing myself,” said Mekenbo.

Tepes clicked his tongue. If he hadn’t retreated, the werewolves would have managed to punch at least one hole in his body.

‘These ignorant dogs…!’

Tepes wanted to run away while conserving his strength, but the werewolves were trying to hold him down while risking their own lives.

‘If I fight with all my might, I will win this easily...’

However, killing all one thousand werewolves would still take at least eight minutes, even for him.

‘...That’s risky. The Players will definitely catch up to me here if I take that long.’

Tepes bit his lips.

‘I’ll have to retreat here.’

The fact that he had to run away from the werewolves hurt his ego and pride, but Tepes tried his best to rationalize his decision to run away.

‘This dishonor will disappear once I turn back time again. I have to survive before anything else.’

Having made up his mind, he created a blood vortex that swept everything away.

“Keuk!”

“I can’t see!”

The blood vessels of the werewolves’ eyes burst open, but they refused to close their eyes as they desperately looked for Tepes.

“That way! It’s that way!” shouted Grigor, the chief of the Blue Mane Tribe. He then threw himself on Tepes, who was trying to sneak away.

Tepes’ face turned as ugly as an evil spirit when Grigor threw himself on him within the swirling blood vortex.

“You persistent little…!”

The werewolves were like leeches, and they kept on throwing themselves on him, even though they knew that they weren’t his match.

Tepes mustered his strength out of rage.

“Piss off!”

Crashhh!

Tepes’ demonic energy exploded like a bomb, devouring Grigor. Grigor immediately lost both of his arms, but he didn’t give up.

“I… will… never… let you go!”

Tepes looked down at the drooling Grigor biting his ankle.

‘A weak and pathetic inferior creature dares to…!’

“Die.”

Crush!

Tepes stomped on Grigor’s head.

Grigor’s head was dented by Tepes’ stomp, but he refused to let go.

He actually bit even harder.

“Argh…!” Tepes’ face became even uglier.

He couldn’t help but wonder why the werewolves were so persistent.

‘Is it for the sake of their deceased friends and family? But those people are already dead, so why are they giving up their lives for the dead?’

“Pathetic…! You lot are a terribly pathetic bunch!” Tepes lifted his arm to sever Grigor’s head.

However, the three chiefs arrived and threw themselves on Tepes.

Fwoosh!

“Argh…!”

Tepes was starting to receive deep wounds all over him, but the pain didn’t really matter to him.

He was more irritated than in agony.

“You puny bastards… I don’t have time to waste on you, you bastards…!”

Bang!

Tepes unleashed his demonic energy once more, pushing everything away from him.

The chiefs received serious injuries after taking the brunt of the impact, and they looked no better than a tattered rag. It was a bit absurd, but their severe injuries were just the result of Tepes injecting a bit of his emotions into his attack.

“The Four Legendary Wolves? Friends and family, you say? What nonsense…!”

In Tepes’ eyes, friends and family weren’t important. They were classified into two categories—either they were already dead or were about to die.

‘They’re throwing away their lives for such pathetic beings? Are they out of their minds?’

After laying waste to the surroundings, Tepes turned around and tidied his clothes.

However, someone suddenly laughed before he could walk far.

“Ke… keke…!”

Tepes stopped walking and turned around.

Arnold was coughing up blood, but he was laughing.

Tepes couldn't help but ask, “What’s funny?”

“You… have become very strong indeed…”

Arnold didn’t expect that the difference between their strength would be so great. The Four Legendary Wolves joined forces and simultaneously threw themselves on Tepes, but they couldn’t even stop him from walking away.

“But…”

However, the werewolves had successfully carried out their duties.

Arnold smiled, revealing his teeth.

“My best disciple has arrived.”

“Hu, who’s your disciple?” someone shouted from afar.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Loud footsteps were fast approaching.

‘That voice…! It’s that tough guy!’

Tepes unknowingly turned, and his head was forcibly turned fifteen times in the blink of an eye.

“...!”

Tepes was thrown into the air, and the excited Rahmadat chased after him.

“...”

“He’s a monster.”

“‘...I think he is on par—no, I think he’s stronger than me.”

The chiefs muttered blankly.

Arnold chuckled and said, “He is definitely much stronger than us.”

***

Crash! Bang! Thud!

Tepes went through multiple buildings, and he rolled on the ground before eventually stopping on a curb.

“Argh…! ugh…”

Tepes was in a daze after receiving multiple punches from Rahmadat’s boulder-like fists. Tepes eventually came to his senses, and he staggered up. He looked around and saw stained glass windows depicting angels descending from the heavens.

An angel incomparably larger than the ones depicted in the stained glass windows went through one of the windows, shattering the window into a thousand pieces in the process.

“Kehehe! So you’re here…!”

A powerful energy swirled around Rahmadat.

‘Turiya.’

Turiya was an extreme technique that allowed Rahmadat to use a hundred percent of his strength. It was his own version of emancipation.

After sparring with Seo Jun-Ho, Rahmadat realized that both his body and soul weren’t strong enough for him to activate Tandav while using Turiya. Fortunately, Seo Jun-Ho guided Rahmadat on what he should do to resolve his shortcomings.

“Tandav.”

Rahmadat’s cells awakened, and they divided into a multitude of cells ahead of time as if they already knew that they would die.

“...Trishula,” muttered Rahmadat.

In the blink of an eye, he made three movements and arrived in front of Tepes.

“...!” Tepes flinched in surprise, and he blankly looked down at himself.

However, he couldn’t feel any pain.

Tepes couldn’t help but think if Rahmadat was messing with him.

Rahmadat explained in a low voice, “Trishula is a trident, and it’s Shiva’s symbol.”

Tepes was confused.

He was about to ask what Rahmadat was talking about when a powerful energy exploded in his body, lacerating his cells.

“...Keuk, Kiek?!” Tepes trembled and knelt without realizing it. It wasn’t his fault.

He simply lost the strength to stand up.

“Bleck!” Rahmadat vomited a mouthful of blood. He was in a bad condition as well, but it wasn’t strange because Rahmadat had gone beyond his limits to execute an attack that would incapacitate Tepes before the latter could turn back time.

‘Blood…! I need to drink blood… to recover…’

Tepes abandoned his pride and lowered his head to lick Rahmadat’s blood on the ground.

Rahmadat stared indifferently at Tepes and said, “Hm. Jun-Ho told me to remove all his fingers first.”

The words that came from Rahmadat’s mouth were terrifying, but the emotion that filled Tepes’ eyes upon hearing them was joy rather than fear.

***

“Haaa… haaa…!” Seo Jun-Ho regrouped with the werewolves with the help of Shin Sung-Hyun and Kim Woo-Joong. He was covered in cold sweat, and he asked as soon as he arrived. “Where is he?”

“He’s right there,” Shin Sung-Hyun gestured in a particular direction.

Seo Jun-Ho turned and saw Rahmadat walking toward them with a tattered gift.

“...Is that Tepes?” asked Skaya. She had never seen Tepes before.

Rahmadat nodded in response.

“Wow, great job…”

The last remaining True Vampire looked like a tattered rag. His fingers were missing, along with his limbs. His chin looked like it was torn apart, and his eyeballs were missing, presumably plucked out.

“That’s… Tepes?”

“Our arch nemesis and the murderer of our family…!”

The werewolves gnashed their teeth at the sight.

Their beating hearts were telling them that they could finally take revenge.

“Well, then…” Skaya clapped her hands and said, “I think we’ve seen enough; let’s finish him off.”

Tepes could manipulate time, so they had to make sure to kill him thoroughly.

“All right,” Rahmadat nodded.

Kim Woo-Joong then handed over his sword to Rahmadat.

Rahmadat took the sword and looked at it for a while before smiling. “Farewell, Tepes.”

“Stop.”

Rahmadat was about to swing the sword, but a voice interrupted him.

Everyone turned toward Seo Jun-Ho.

“Haaa… haaa…!”

Seo Jun-Ho was drenched in sweat, and he looked like he wasn’t in great condition.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Are you okay?” asked Skaya.

“Is there a problem?” asked Gong Ju-Ha.

“Yes, there’s a problem. It’s a huge one.” Seo Jun-Ho desperately tried to stay awake amidst his swimming vision to explain, “Why… why do you think I—why do you think I still haven’t deactivated my skill?”

The title effect of Dignity of an Emperor (S) was so ridiculous, and it allowed him to become a transcendent while it was active. Their original plan stated that Seo Jun-Ho would deactivate Dignity of an Emperor (S) once the red fog was gone.

It was all for the sake of minimizing the side effects.

However, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t deactivate Dignity of an Emperor (S) even after getting rid of the red fog.

“I was… suspicious.”

Transcendents were the only ones who could escape the effects of Tepes’ time manipulation ability. In other words, Seo Jun-Ho would only be able to see through Tepes’ tricks if Dignity of an Emperor (S) was active.

“I was doubtful if this is enough… enough to end everything.”

Seo Jun-Ho was highly doubtful that a shrewd man like Tepes hadn’t prepared any last resort, so he had been keeping Dignity of an Emperor (S) active despite the suffering that he would have to go through to do so.

The pain was so terrible that he felt like crying, but he gnashed his teeth and endured.

‘It’s all so that I can see it…’

It was all for the sake of seeing what only the eyes and senses of a transcendent could see. It didn’t matter even if Dignity of an Emperor (S) only allowed him to become a pseudo-transcendent because he would still be able to see it.

“And yes, I can see it…”

Seo Jun-Ho turned toward the enemy.

However, he was staring at Rahmadat rather than Tepes.

“I have always been doubting you, and it is finally my victory.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Rahmadat froze. However, he quickly rolled his eyes and pursed his lips before looking around him for help. “Help me. This punk is out of his mind right now. You can tell just by looking at his face, can’t you? He’s so exhausted that he has lost his mind.”

“...”

However, the people around Rahmadat stared at him with cold gazes.

Skaya and Gilberto’s gazes were particularly cold as they nodded.

“You are certainly not Rahmadat.”

“I saw it from how you reacted just now.”

The tough guy they knew would have already ripped his own chest without saying a word just to prove himself the moment Seo Jun-Ho expressed his doubts about him.

“He would have immediately told us to stab him in the heart.”

“Yes. He’s the type who would rather die than be doubted by his friends.”

“W-what…? H-how could there be a lunatic like that?!” Rahmadat screamed.

Tepes suddenly raised his head at Rahmadat’s words as if he were saying ‘that’s me.’

“Release my friend.” Seo Jun-Ho gathered the last vestiges of his strength to deliver a powerful blow. Seo Jun-Ho’s palms struck Rahmadat’s chest, but he pushed away not Rahmadat’s body but the soul inside of it.

“Piss off, bat.”

“Noooooo…!” Tepes screamed as his soul was torn apart. He had never expected—even in his wildest dreams—that someone would see through his ability to swap souls with an infected being.

After all, it was an ability exclusive only to the very first True Vampire.

‘But why did they go this far for their friends and family? Why are friends and family… important?’

Tepes died without knowing the answer.

[Congratulations! You have defeated the Trium Area Boss Monster, True Vampire Tepes.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

…

[All stats has increased by 22.]

[Safe zones will now appear in the Trium Area.]

A few moments later, Seo Jun-Ho heard Rahmadat’s grumbling.

“Ugh, I really thought I was going to die.” Rahmadat gave his dizzy head a few times before smiling and walking toward Seo Jun-Ho.

“How did you know? That bastard plucked out my eyes, cut off my tongue, and severed my limbs, so I couldn’t have given you any hints. So, how did you know?”

“What do… you mean…”

‘I know because we’re friends...’

Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes without answering Rahmadat.

“Huh? Hey! Jun-Ho! Jun—”

Seo Jun-Ho finally lost consciousness and collapsed.