Return of the Frozen Player

The Archduke opened his eyes. The fact that he opened his eyes meant that a situation interesting enough to grab his attention had occurred.

“...”

Fwoosh!

A constellation of great magnitude rose before his eyes. The stars that made up the constellation looked relatively similar to each other, but if one were to take a closer look at it, one would find that the stars were distinct.

“Humans always repeat their mistakes.” The constellation in front of the Archduke was created by only one individual. However, the constellation was going down a path that didn’t contain the oasis that it had been looking for.

“His struggle will not change anything.”

It had always been that way, and it would always be that way. Specter was an interesting, foolish human being. However, he was fated to die like a hamster running on a wheel.

“...”

‘But why did I open my eyes even though I already know his fate?’

The Archduke already knew the end of Specter’s path.

‘Yes, I already know. But…’

The Archduke found it hard to look away.

***

“H-human…! My colleagues will never forgive you—”

Splat!

The sword pierced the amor and the Overmind at the same time.

The swordsman confirmed his target’s death and sheathed his sword. “Yes, it doesn’t matter even if you don’t forgive me. I’ve never asked for your forgiveness, anyway.”

The swordsman’s exhausted eyes scanned the battlefield.

“Retreat! Everyone retreat!”

“Take care of the wounded! Retreat all the way to B-3!”

‘Is it finally over?’

Operation Gulat was a success.

Now, Kim Woo-Joong simply had to retreat before the reinforcements caught up to him.

However, Kim Woo-Joong suddenly came to a halt while retreating.

‘A human being?’

Kim Woo-Joong’s excellent hearing allowed him to notice someone’s faint groan.

He looked around before turning into the alley.

“...”

The groan was coming from beneath the debris of a collapsed three-story building.

“Please… anyone… I don’t want to die here…”

The voice sounded familiar, and it didn’t take long for Kim Woo-Joong to realize that the voice belonged to a member of his Guild.

“Stay still.”

Kim Woo-Joong swung his sword.

Slash!

The debris slid sideways.

“V-Vice Master…!” the Guild member exclaimed and revealed a look of relief.

Kim Woo-Joong pushed the remaining debris away and asked, “Can you walk?”

“Oh, well…” The Guild member’s anxious eyes turned to his own legs. His left leg was crushed under the weight of the debris. “I-I can’t feel my leg…”

The Guild member spoke with teary eyes. He was afraid that Kim Woo-Joong would abandon him. After all, he would be nothing more than a burden if he couldn’t even walk properly.

“What’s your name?” Kim Woo-Joong asked.

“I-I’m B-Bailey Miller from Team Seven.”

“All right, Bailey Miller. The healers of our Guild are competent. Chae-Won spent a lot of money on them, after all,” said Kim Woo-Joong as he pulled the Guild member out of the debris as if the latter were a radish sticking out of the ground.

He carried the injured Guild member on his back before continuing. “If you get lucky, you should be able to live a normal life. If a miracle occurs, you could even return to your duties.”

“...You’re trying to comfort me, right?”

“Is this not how you comfort someone?”

“Hahaha!” Bailey chuckled as tears filled his eyes. It seemed that the current Kim Woo-Joong was still the same Kim Woo-Joong he had known a long time ago. “I guess you’re right. I feel much better now…”

“Close your mouth and wrap your arms around my neck. Hold on tight, or you’ll fall.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, Kim Woo-Joong started running toward the rendezvous point.

All of a sudden, Bailey Miller urgently shouted, “V-Vice Master! Cavalries are chasing after you!”

“...Cavalries?” Kim Woo-Joong turned slightly and clicked his tongue at the sight.

Overminds riding on huge horses were racing through the ruined streets.

‘They’re too fast.’

It would only be a matter of time before they caught up to Kim Woo-Joong.

‘Should I cut them down before I go? No, I will end up being surrounded by the army behind them if I were to do that.’

While Kim Woo-Joong was thinking about what he should do, he saw someone waving at him in the alley up ahead.

“Here! Come this way!”

Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes flashed, and he immediately entered the alley.

A few Players were gathered in the alley.

“Phew. I was so nervous! I’m glad you made it in time!”

“Let’s talk later! We need to get out of here first!”

One of the Players retrieved a magic scroll.

“All right. Let’s get out of here first.”

“...I thought we couldn’t use Teleport Scrolls because of the prince’s ability?” Kim Woo-Joong asked, perplexed. Prince Digor’s ability was the reason they had to use Skaya’s portals.

The Player shook his head at Kim Woo-Joong’s question.

“We can’t set a destination, but we can get out of here,” he said.

“Is it safe enough?” asked Kim Woo-Joong.

“Do you not want to come with us?”

“...My apologies.” Kim Woo-Joong apologized. He realized that he had been asking too much when the Players waited for him with good intentions.

“All right, then. Everyone—put your hands on my shoulder.”

Clip clop!

The clip-clop of the pursuers’ horses was already starting to get louder in Kim Woo-Joong’s ears. Kim Woo-Joong hurriedly put his hand on the Player’s shoulder.

The scenery peeled away, and the Player crashed to the ground.

“Keuk!”

“I don’t think that was safe enough—”

Kim Woo-Joong couldn’t finish his words.

He paused in the middle of patting himself clean upon noticing the surroundings and stared grimly up ahead.

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong found himself at a shady graveyard surrounded by the thick fog of dawn. However, the eerie location wasn’t the only reason why his expression turned grim.

“He’s here.”

“Good work.”

His expression turned grim upon identifying the individual in front of him.

Kim Woo-Joong gulped.

“The Heavenly Demon…”

To make matters worse, Valencia Citrin was next to the Heavenly Demon.

‘Which means…’

Kim Woo-Joong glanced at the player who teleported them here.

“Hahaha. I guess I’m sorry for deceiving you?”

The player’s face melted like paint, revealing a face that Kim Woo-Joong could never forget.

Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes turned cold. “...Isaac Dvor.”

“You’re right. I’m Isaac!”

The last remaining three fiends of this world were standing in front of Kim Woo-Joong.

Kim Woo-Joong looked behind him.

“W-wait…! What’s going on…?”

“I thought we were going back to the headquarters!”

“Damn it! It’s the fiends! They tricked us!”

The Players tried to pull their weapons out in panic.

Kim Woo-Joong urgently shouted, “Stay still! Don’t be reck—”

Slash!

Something similar to a whip split the air...

“Don’t be reckless…”

The Players’ heads fell to the ground before Kim Woo-Joong could finish speaking.

Kim Woo-Joong and Bailey Miller were the only ones left.

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong unsheathed his sword and stared coldly at the fiends. Fiends were hopeless garbage that only knew how to harm the world, and they all deserved to be annihilated.

“This is great. I can wipe you all out in one fell swoop,” Kim Woo-Joong spat coldly.

“...Heavenly Demon. Please give me an order,” Valencia Citrin said coldly.

However, the Heavenly Demon shook his head and said, “No, I’ll personally take care of the Sword Saint.”

The Heavenly Demon had been sitting on someone’s tombstone, but he finally stood up and started walking toward the Sword Saint.

“I’m not sure whether you’re aware or not, but I personally think very highly of you.” The Heavenly Demon had made the same evaluation upon invading Seoul. “I was sure that your sword would eventually reach me.”

However, it had been too long since he had made that evaluation.

‘What about today?’

The corners of the Heavenly Demon’s lips raised slightly. “Come.”

***

Cough!

Kim Woo-Joong coughed.

He had no idea how long he had been wielding his sword against the Heavenly Demon.

‘Has it been a few days?’

His stamina was running out, along with his mental strength.

“...” Kim Woo-Joong was extremely exhausted, but he was still glaring at the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon was like a wall—a wall of an impregnable iron fortress.

‘Has he always been this powerful?’

Kim Woo-Joong was well aware that Heavenly Demon was strong, but he thought that he could overcome the Heavenly Demon given enough time.

Kim Woo-Joong had the talent to match his confidence, and he had been working hard.

He had also gotten plenty of time since the Heavenly Demon’s invasion of Seoul.

“Haaa… haaa…”

However, it seemed that he had been mistaken all this while.

He wasn’t the only one who had gotten plenty of time.

“Is that all you’ve got?” grumbled the Heavenly Demon. The disappointment was palpable on his face. “Specter was a much more interesting opponent than you, even though he was much weaker than you at the time.”

‘Of course, he would be a more interesting opponent. It’s a bit ridiculous that he’s comparing me to Jun-Ho.’

Kim Woo-Joong caught his breath.

“V-Vice Master…” muttered Bailey Miler.

“Hush. You have to be quiet in the middle of a battle.”

Bailey Miller was dying because no one was here to treat him. He stared apologetically at Kim Woo-Joong and smiled bitterly as he said, “I’m sorry… I shouldn't have asked you to save me…”

“I…” Kim Woo-Joong gulped to moisten his throat and said. “I haven’t given up, so you shouldn’t give up as well.”

‘I will these fiends down and take Bailey Miller to the healers.’

“If you get lucky, you should be able to live a normal life.”

“Pffft! Haha.” Bailey Miller chuckled with teary eyes. “You’re trying to comfort me, right?”

“I am. So…” Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes burned once more. “Don’t give up.”

“Hm.” The Heavenly Demon smiled upon seeing the fire burning in Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes once more. “Come.”

Kim Woo-Joong took a deep breath.

He stared at the Heavenly Demon for a while before closing his eyes.

“...”

The swordsmanship that he had been pursuing appeared in his mind.

He still hadn’t caught up to the swordsmanship that he had been pursuing, but he had seen an individual whose swordsmanship perfectly embodied the swordsmanship in the Sword Saint’s mind.

‘Ceylonso Bestard.’

Kim Woo-Joong could still remember his life-or-death battle against Ceylonso Bestard. It sounded ridiculous, but Kim Woo-Joong thought that he had been mixing words with the latter during the process.

‘Ceylonso was at the end of the path I’m still walking down…’

Ceylonso’s sword move came to Kim Woo-Joong’s mind.

The trajectory of Ceylonso’s sword inspired Kim Woo-Joong.

“...I’ve been a fool.”

Kim Woo-Joong smiled. He suddenly felt exhausted.

‘How foolish…’

He had witnessed the swordsmanship of someone at the summit of the swordsmanship that he had been pursuing. In other words, he simply had to take Ceylonso’s swordsmanship for himself, but he was instinctively refusing to do so.

‘Was it because it’ll hurt pride?’

Kim Woo-Joong had just realized why he had been refusing it.

All of a sudden, he felt weightless.

“...”

Walking down the path of one’s predecessor wasn’t a shameful thing to do.

In fact, a swordsman should be embarrassed to be trapped in his own world.

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes narrowed, and then the sword in his hand hung loosely from his hand. It was a strange sight because he had always been holding his sword as tightly as he could as if he wanted to crush it in his hand.

“Hm?” The Heavenly Demon’s expression changed as he stared incredulously at the Sword Saint. “How is he…”

Kim Woo-Joong was evolving in the face of death.

He was taking the crucial step to become a completely new being.

“Well, I seemed to have forgotten that you’re a genius as well,” said the Heavenly Demon.

When the Heavenly Demon’s words fell, Kim Woo-Joong abruptly vanished.

‘There was no need to obsess over light movement. I didn’t have to be stubborn about pursuing speed.’ Kim Woo-Joong’s priority was to forget his obsession. He knew that if he managed to do so, he would be able to move faster than ever before.

‘I see it!’

Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes flashed blue.

He could finally see the path that he couldn’t see until just a few moments ago.

‘I can cut him now. I can cut him down. I can do it. I can do it…!’

The Sword Saint executed his final sword move with hope in his eyes.

“...”

A deafening silence enveloped the graveyard.

The Heavenly Demon’s eyes trembled ever so slightly.

Thud!

Kim Woo-Joong fell to his knees.

“...What a shame,” the Heavenly Demon said, sympathizing with him.

Everything was perfect, but Kim Woo-Joong’s stamina ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“If you had been enlightened a few days ago, then our match would have been interesting.”

“...Just kill me,” Kim Woo-Joong muttered and closed his eyes.

The Heavenly Demon was right. It was a shame that his sword didn’t manage to reach the Heavenly Demon, but Kim Woo-Joong had no regrets.

‘I tried my best. I executed the best move I have ever executed...’

Kim Woo-Joong knew that he would have no regrets in the afterlife because he knew for sure that even his best sword move couldn’t reach the Heavenly Demon. In other words, he would die without any what-ifs.

However, the Heavenly Demon’s words surprised Kim Woo-Joong.

“You won’t die here. You still have a role to play.”

“...What do you mean?”

“I just want to teach Specter a lesson.”

Kim Woo-Joong glared at the Heavenly Demon.

“He has so many people he considers precious. In other words, he has so many people to protect.”

“Do you really think that my death will cause him to collapse?”

"I don't think so, but I’m sure that he’ll be furious.”

The Heavenly Demon slowly walked over to Kim Woo-Joong.

He took out a dagger and slashed his palm open.

Grab!

“Keuk!” Kim Woo-Joong’s mouth was forced open by an irresistibly strong grip, and his eyes trembled ever so slightly upon realizing what was about to happen to him.

"And don't you think he’ll be quite sad about killing a fallen friend with his own hands?"

Becoming a fiend was scarier than dying to Kim Woo-Joong.

Kim Woo-Joong struggled fearfully, but he couldn’t escape the Heavenly Demon’s grip.

“Here. Drink my blood.”

The Heavenly Demon’s mad eyes flashed insidiously.

The Heavenly Demon’s blood was about to fall into Kim Woo-Joong’s mouth, but the droplets of blood were suddenly suspended in mid-air, looking as though they had been nailed into the empty space.

“You’re correct.”

The Heavenly Demon frowned.

‘The time in the point of space where my blood is located has stopped?’

The Heavenly Demon turned to look at where the voice had come from.

‘Who is strong enough to do such a thing?’

The crisp noise of shoes stepping on the weeds on the ground echoed, and an individual walked into the eerie graveyard.

“I was devastated, and I cried a lot.”

‘Seo Jun-Ho?’

The Heavenly Demon doubted his own eyes.

“...How are you here? The Overminds should have been chasing after you right now.”

“Yes, there was indeed a time like that.”

The Heavenly Demon couldn’t quite grasp what Seo Jun-Ho was talking about.

‘Is that his clone?’

The Heavenly Demon stared at Seo Jun-Ho for a while before shaking his head. He could distinguish between Seo Jun-Ho and his clone, and he confirmed that the man in front of him was certainly Seo Jun-Ho himself.

‘The problem is…’

The Seo Jun-Ho in front of him wasn’t the Seo Jun-Ho he knew.

“Who… are you?”

Seo Jun-Ho felt like he had been hearing the same question a lot in the past few days.

He couldn’t answer Prince Digor’s question just a few days ago, but he thought he could answer the Heavenly Demon’s question.

Seo Jun-Ho stared coldly at the Heavenly Demon.

“I’m someone who has killed you hundreds of times before.”