Return of the Frozen Player

"Ha-ak, ha-ak!"

A man let out haggard breaths and ran full steam along the dark forest path.

‘Left.’

The man threw a dagger even without looking at the enemy's position.

"Ugh!"

As soon as the enemy fell with a dagger stuck in his neck, dust rose from the floor. Another enemy who was lying in ambush in the ground popped out.

Slice!

In an instant, the man took out a dagger from his waist and cut through the enemy's neck and armpit like a ray of light.

'There's no end to these small fries.’

The man's eyes shook violently from side to side. The enemies’ levels were low, but there were simply far too many of them. It was such a large number that he wondered if all of Frontier's fiends had gathered here. The net-like pursuit they had deployed tightened itself around his neck as time went by.

"That way!"

"Follow me!"

‘This isn’t good.’

The man veered off the road and climbed recklessly up the rough foot of the mountain.

Swooosh! Baaang!

The arrows and magic fired from below chilled his blood.

'A little, a little further...’

The moment the haggardly breathing man stepped forward with a tired look…

Grab!

A hand sticking out of the dark closed around his mouth and dragged him to the ground.

‘A surprise attack!’

The man tried to gather his magic in an instant and shake off the enemy.

"Please stay calm, Leader."

“...!”

A familiar voice stopped him. The man did not rebel, and they went into a narrow pit.

Kooong!

Falling to the ground, the owner of the voice let out a sigh, "Huu, I just lost ten years of my life. What the hell are you trying to do bringing those things?”

"Sorry, but I survived thanks to you, River."

"Don't mention it."

"There’s no risk of getting discovered here, is there?"

"Of course not, this is the house that belongs to only me."

The man called River stretched out his arms and introduced his space. It was such an incredibly spacious and neat place that it was hard to believe that it was built under the forest grounds. This was because the entire place was connected to River's skill, ‘Moving House (B).’

"Let me wash up."

"The shower room is inside."

The man, Arthur Green entered the shower and closed his eyes under the hot water.

‘Where did it go wrong?’

Three years—over these three years, Arthur had pursued only one fiend. He had never gone too far, and he had never let his guard down during those times.

‘But just how did I get found out?’

This couldn’t be a coincidental crime or an accident, because the fiends had deliberately approached Arthur. This morning, he had discovered that the air was cold the moment he had entered his house.

'There were four of them hiding in the house.’

A battle had broken out. It was a big battle on a scale that didn’t happen often even in Dustang, notorious for being a den of criminals. Arthur had killed the four fiends who had been waiting in ambush in his house, then he had run away like crazy.

‘A chase of more than 12 hours...’

He was exhausted. If River, whom Arthur had ordered to wait here, had made a mistake, Arthur would have died by now.

‘I'm tired…’

After taking a shower, Arthur put on clean clothes and went out to the living room. River was watching the situation outside on the TV in the room.

"There’s a lot. There are so many fiends here, so just where are they usually hiding?"

"…I know, right.”

On the screen, he could see at least 50 fiends climbing the mountain. River stuck his tongue out in awe as he shook a cold can.

"Want a beer?"

"Give me one."

Chiiik.

Arthur drank the cold beer and spoke as he wiped his mouth, "I feel this every time I see it, but this is a really comfortable skill."

"Well, I'm more envious of skills that can help in combat like yours."

The pouting River was a slender, short, 23-year-old man. Arthur was also on the slim side, but he had dense muscles all over his body.

"Leader, what do you want to do now?"

Afterhing thinking for a while, Arthur said, "I sent over a report while I was running away.”

"What? A report? Just who did you send it to!" cried River with a sordid look on his face.

Just what kind of report was it? It was the report that Arthur risked his life for over three years to produce.

"To Deok-Gu ahjussi."

"Oh... The president of the Korean Players Association?" River muttered in an accepting voice.

"Well, he's reliable, but...”

They needed more than a reliable person; they needed someone trustworthy, good, and helpful, right now.

“Does the president of the Korean Players Association even have that much power? I have no idea about on Earth, but on Frontier…”

"Well, we shouldn’t expect immediate support," Arthur murmured with a self-deprecating smile.

River stared at Arthur and asked, "Can't you just ask Specter-nim for help?"

“…”

Arthur couldn’t answer for a while. He also had a strong urge to do so, but he wasn't sure.

"I can't…"

Arthur couldn't bring himself to say what he thought.

‘The fiends tracking me right now are too strong. They're powerful even amongst the inner-rankings of the Fiend Association.’

Arthur wasn't talking about the small fries climbing the mountain right now. They were nothing more than chess pieces. The occasional aura he felt while running away was that of a powerful fiend with a spine-chilling strength. Even his uncle, who had been called the strongest 26 years ago, was probably no match for them since he was still recuperating on the 1st floor.

‘Uncle will probably take two years—no, one year at most to come up here after his treatment.’

It was a calculation he made knowing that his uncle’s talent was the best. In fact, it had taken Shin Sung-Hyun and Kim Woo-Joong that long to establish themselves throughout Frontier.

"What about the archmage-nim? Last time I saw, she was doing well catching fiends…”

"Those were only weak fiends who are no different from the ones climbing the mountain right now."

Even that information hadn’t been updated recently. She could be facing a bottleneck right now.

"What about the other Watchguards?" asked Arthur.

"When I checked before I came here, everyone had gathered at the hideout. Everyone is fine except for Leader."

"…I'm glad." Arthur sighed with relief.

The Watchguards' hideout was so secure that it could be called a fortress. There were several security mechanisms installed, making it impossible to enter unless one was an ally.

"Can you reach them right now?"

"No, the House is not recognized as a city, so it’s impossible to use the community forums. I can watch videos, though."

It meant there was no way to contact someone from here.

"By the way, what the heck happened? You even suddenly sent an alarm to the Watchguards."

"...I was ambushed. There were fiends in my house waiting for me."

"Oh my god! You didn't do anything to get discovered, right?” River looked serious for a moment, then opened his mouth carefully. "Leader, perhaps… was the information leaked from inside the Watchguards…?”

"Stop."

Arthur interrupted River in a firm voice.

No matter how bad the situation was, Arthur didn't want to doubt his comrades.

"The members of the Watchguards are those who can't live under the same sky as the fiends. They are people who would rather risk their lives than sell their pride. We didn't even take in those kinds of people in the first place.”

"...Sorry. I only said it because that's all I could think of with my head," River mumbled and trailed off.

Arthur didn't really blame him. Arthur had also thought about that for a moment while he was being chased.

'But there’s no way that can be the case...’

They were all family. If he had been caught by the fiends, he would rather die than snitch on them.

‘Of course, there is still a possibility...'

There could be someone among the fiends with a hypnotic skill. However, not a single Watchguard had failed their missions recently. Naturally, no one had been caught by the enemy, so this possibility was infinitely close to 0%.

"W-well, fortunately, I made several entrances before I got here.” River delivered good news to reduce the heavy atmosphere.

The Moving House (B) could designate up to three outside places to connect with the front door.

"That's good to hear. Then, let's go to the place that’s the farthest away from here."

"Okay, if we move around diligently, we'll be able to get to our hideout in time at dawn.”

River and Arthur even took stamina potions before leaving the Moving House. They would have to run diligently through the night.

***

Those using the Dimensional Elevator for the first time would always be at a loss for words at the movement that seemed to have transported them through the void. But nothing else was important for Gilberto—he was only worried for his son. The other two also didn’t reveal their usual casual attitudes because of the current situation.

"Hmm?"

"Ohh! It’s Skaya Killiland-nim?”

"Please give me your autograph... Wait a minute, next to her is...”

"Ohhh, it's Specter-nim…!”

The moment the Dimensional Elevator of Gilleon opened, countless people gathered around the three people. But at the same time, their bodies disappeared in the blink of an eye. The three vanished from the place using Skaya’s Teleport.

"Good job."

Seo Jun-Ho checked the articles on the community forums first.

[Specter and the archmage have arrived on the 2nd floor. He's back on the field.]

[Silent Moon Guild and ‘Specter,’ this cooperation is the beginning of new raids in the future.]

[We’ll be together with Specter to keep the fiends in check. The Goblin Guild, the true Noblesse Oblige of this era.]

[Labyrinth, with the world's best equipment, ‘We'll spare nothing in support of Specter.’ Cooperation Announcement]

…

As expected, the articles came out. Articles poured out from the Big 6 as if they had been waiting, followed by the Korean Player Association.

"What do you think?"

"The community forums exploded as expected."

The sand in the hourglass began to fall. Just as people showed explosive interest in them, so would the fiends.

pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ "Gilberto."

"All right..."

The three of them began their pursuit of Arthur. The brightly lit tattoo told Gilberto where Arthur was.

"It's quite far, west. 6,200 km.”

As soon as Gilberto checked the approximate location, the place changed once again.

Skaya asked, "Now?"

"Still in the west, but the distance is now 800 km."

This ridiculous thing was possible because an archmage was with them.

"That's perfect. Let's run from here, then."

Teleport created a large flow of magic, which could also alert the fiends. In addition, there was nothing good about consuming too much of Skaya's magic before the battle even started. The two followed him without saying anything, since they instantly understood what Seo Jun-Ho meant.

"Gilberto, tell me if you have a hard time running. We’ll go ahead."

"No problem at all.”

Gilberto simply had an indomitable spirit. Even though he had slept within the ice for 26 years, lost his muscles, and wasn’t really in a good condition overall, his eyes were still dazzling.

***

"We’re almost there…"

After running diligently, Arthur and River arrived near the hideout. The Watchguards’ hideout was built in Outland and was quite close to Dustang.

"As long as we get to the hideout, there won’t be any problem.”

Although the organization had been in operation for as long as 10 years, the number of people belonging to the Watchguards was only 30. It was a number that didn’t exceed the number of members a newly-established Guild would have. But as long as he was with them, Arthur was not afraid of anything.

‘First of all, I'll have time to lie low and build my strength for a while.’

Arthur initially thought he was strong enough, but he became aware of the reality after today.

"We're here..."

As soon as they arrived at the hideout hidden on the cliff of a mountain, River smiled brightly. For the Watchguards, the hideout was like their home. But his smile quickly disappeared, and a confused expression took over his face.

"L-Leader…"

“…”

Arthur let River's nervous voice pass by his ears as he stood at the door of the hideout as if he had been possessed by something. With keys given only to the Watchguards and several layers of security that would only open by entering the authorized biometric data and passwords, the door should have been tightly closed as it had always been.

‘But why is the door open?’

Arthur pushed the door open while asking a question that no one would answer.

Squeak.

As the door slid open, the strong smell of blood stung his nose.