Return of the Frozen Player

"Huff… puff...” Arthur finally slowed down. "I can't feel their presence anymore. I think they’ve given up on the chase."

“Let’s see.” Gilberto turned around and focused magic on his eyes.

‘Snake Eye.’

The world turned black, and Gilberto’s eyes seemed to have become thermal cameras.

‘Eagle Eye.’

Swoosh.

Gilberto’s field of view expanded, and he saw the Overminds that had been chasing after them.

"They’re standing by the iron fence. What the hell are they doing?"

"Are we on a dead-end?"

"Nope.”

It didn’t make sense for the Overminds to stay by the iron fence and suck on their thumbs, even if Arthur and Gilberto were on their way to a dead-end.

“If we’re not on our way to a dead-end, then there’s definitely another reason why they aren’t going over the fence.”

Gilberto looked uncomfortable.

'Is this a good situation or not?'

There were no signs of life here, and they had no idea when the enemies would pursue them once more.

"Let's take this opportunity to run as far away as we can from them.”

"All right."

The two ran diligently through the forest with no trail.

After many hours of running, they stumbled upon a wall.

"A wall?"

"Yeah, it’s a wall."

The wall was so high that one had to crane their neck to see the end of it. Obviously, the wall was blocking their way.

"Father, is this the wall of the imperial capital?"

"Hmm. I don't think so." Gilberto shook his head. The Overminds’ civilization was advanced, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to build such ugly walls for their capital.

"And look at this..."Gilberto rubbed the vines on the wall with his leather sleeves. "This wall isn’t being maintained. It hasn’t been cleaned for at least a dozen—no, for at least hundreds of years."

"Makes sense, so this wall can’t be the wall of the imperial capital…" Arthur trailed off and asked, "What is this wall, then?"

Gilberto was silent. He also had many questions in mind.

‘What do we do?’

The wall seemed endless, and there was no other way.

'It’ll be better to go up and check the inside.’ Gilberto decided. He retrieved a long wire from his Inventory.

Doubt painted Arthur’s expression as he asked, "You’re not going to climb the wall with that, right? Dad?”

"Give me a minute." Gilberto smiled at his son and sent the wire flying. There was a hook at the end of the wire. The flying hook coiled around the vines of the wall.

"Heup!" Gilberto jumped and ran up the wall like a squirrel.

"Wow..." Arthur clapped his hands like a seal.

Gilberto soon reached the top of the wall. He looked around beyond the wall as the strong breeze brushed past him.

“…”

There was a tropical jungle beyond the wall.

'What’s up with this wall? Is it for their green belt?’

Gilberto couldn’t see any buildings or traces of people.

'… It doesn't look particularly dangerous.’

Gilberto was leaning toward going beyond the wall because they couldn’t really go back to the iron fence. However, the wall was so tall that it intimidated Gilberto. Still, Gilberto had to make a decision, and he soon made up his mind.

"Arthur!" Gilberto shouted and threw the wire down. "Come up here."

"Okay," Arthur answered. He climbed up the wall and soon arrived next to Gilberto.

"What’s up with this wall? Is it for their green belt?"

"Hm, you really are my son."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, we need to know what we’re looking at.”

Gilberto retrieved a rope from his Inventory and handed it over to Arthur.

“Here, use this."

"What? How?”

"I'll show you."

Gilberto found a crack in the wall and established an anchor.

After making sure that it could hold his weight, Gilberto rappelled down the wall.

“…” Arthur looked like he wanted to cry.

***

"Sorry, I had no idea that you’re afraid of heights. You weren’t afraid of heights when you were still a baby…” muttered Gilberto.

“…” Arthur glared at his father with resentment. However, he was still astonished by the fact that he managed to rappel down such a tall wall by himself. If he told River about it, Arthur was sure that the former would snort and tell him to stop spouting bullshit.

"Anyway, night is upon us, so we should set up camp.”

Gilberto retrieved a machete from his Inventory and trimmed the grass to make a clearing. He set up a tent, surrounded their camp with an early warning system, and boiled mushroom soup for them to eat.

"Here, this should warm you up."

Arthur received the soup and drank it. He revealed a look of satisfaction and said, “It’s good. I really think that you can do everything, Father.”

“There you go, exaggerating things again…”

"I’m being honest. I would have died long ago if you weren’t with me.”

Gilberto had been constantly predicting the Overminds’ paths, and he had assassinated quite a few Overminds before they were discovered. Gilberto hadn’t done anything unnecessary to their survival.

"You’re like Superman.”

"Pffft!" Gilberto chuckled. He looked up at the stars that could be seen between the tree leaves and said, "I’m not Superman. However, your uncles and aunts are a different story."

"You’re strong, too, Father. I mean, you're the best sniper in the world," Arthur replied, seemingly pouting. He really didn’t like to hear his father talking about himself in a self-deprecating way.

"The best sniper in the world...” Gilberto muttered.

'I didn’t expect that I'd feel those emotions again…’ Gilberto could still remember how he had been hiding in a trash can because he was garbage. Seo Jun-Ho took him out of the trash can and called him a gem in the rough.

Seo Jun-Ho was also the one who turned him into the best sniper on Earth. Gilberto became Seo Jun-Ho’s wingman from then on, and they broke through many fronts together. They depended on each other, and they were learning from each other.

‘But at some point…’

Gilberto woke up and found that Seo Jun-Ho was already out of his reach, and it wasn’t just him.

'Mio, Skaya, and Rahmadat.'

The next thing he knew, he could only chase after their silhouettes.

‘And I can feel that I’m already at my limit, it’s getting overwhelming to chase after them.’

He felt it strongly on the 6th Floor. Rahmadat learned Emancipation, while Skaya became the Tower Master of the Magic Tower’s Black Tower. Gilberto’s light was fading, but his friends were still shining brightly.

‘I think this will be my last raid with them…’

He became sure of it while he was fighting the Overminds. In the future, an antique like himself would lose his place next to his friends. Gilberto smiled wryly at the thought, and he unknowingly crushed the can of mushroom soup in his hand.

***

The forest was silent at dawn.

There were no ripples in river streams, and the birds were still sleeping.

Rustle, rustle!

And that was why the rustling noises sounded particularly louder than usual…

“…”

A few creatures looked at each other and gestured with their eyes. They immediately surrounded Gilberto and Arthur’s camp.

Rustle, rustle!

They moved even closer, but before they could approach the campsite…

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Gilberto's early warning system let out a shrill cry.

The intruders were startled, and they hurriedly looked at each other.

A monster rushed into the tent and said something incomprehensible.

"Cargalish!"

Bang! Bang!

The monster was immediately sent flying away from the campsite.

“…”

A double-barreled shotgun was slung over Gilberto’s shoulder as he looked around Gilberto.

His eyes trembled as he came back to his senses and muttered, "The failures?"

The attackers were the Overminds, but they resembled the failures more than the Overminds.

"Roctu! Bimiros!"

The Overmind in the shape of a frog opened its mouth wide.

Swoosh!

A long tongue shot out and wrapped around Gilberto's shotgun.

“Ah!”

The barrel broke like straw. Gilberto let go of the handle without hesitation and moved his hand to the holster on his waist.

Bang! Baang!

His revolver sent three bullets into the frog's forehead.

"What? No way!" Gilberto was shocked.

The frog shook off the bullets and laughed.

"Is he actually laughing?"

"Kirrk?"

Crack!

The frog suddenly grabbed its neck in agony.

Arthur had cast his Telekinesis (B) against the frog while walking out of the tent.

"It’s still too early for us to entertain visitors."

"Indeed, but they came here uninvited."

There were a total of five failures. Gilberto had sent one of them flying with his double-barreled shotgun, so there were only four failures remaining.

Gilberto swept his gaze across them.

'They came here together, but it seems that they’re not too friendly with each other.’

It was evidenced by the fact that the other failures didn’t bother helping the dying frog.

They took a step back and observed the father and son.

‘They’re looking at us as if we’re prey…’

The failures seemed to be thinking if Arthur and Gilberto were even edible. They didn’t seem worried about the lives of their comrades.

"Arthur, how many of them can you suppress?"

"Uh… One, but I should manage two somehow since they’re not that strong..."

"All right. On the count of three, suppress two of them."

Gilberto Green licked his lips. They had to catch these failures off guard.

"One, two, three!"

"Uaaahhh!"

Arthur raised his other hand and cast his Telekinesis (B) at another failure.

The octopus-looking failure at the back trembled.

"Kirrr!"

"Graw!"

The rest of the failures finally moved and rushed at Arthur. It seemed that they were aware that they would be in danger if Arthur managed to suppress two of them.

"Ah, Father!" Arthur screamed nervously.

"Don't worry. Whenever I set up a camp, I always...” Gilberto coldly scanned the approaching enemies. "I always prioritize safety."

Click!

Gilberto Green pressed the detonator, and the claymores in the ground exploded at once.

Boooom!

Two failures got caught up in the explosion and disappeared without a trace.

"Uuuh, now! Die!"

Crack! Crack!

Arthur finally crushed the necks of the two failures that he had been suppressing.

"Huff… puff…" Arthur collapsed to the ground to catch his breath.

However, Gilberto started moving without resting. He decisively stuffed their items into his Inventory.

"We’re leaving," he said.

"… Where are we going?” asked Arthur.

"We’re going back to where we came from..."

Gilberto clicked his tongue. They had made a mistake.

'I was sure that there weren’t any living creatures here aside from small animals and insects.’

However, they ended up getting ambushed by the failures. In other words…

‘They can conceal their body temperature as well, not just their presence.’

“We have to hurry up,” urged Gilberto. After all, they had no idea just how many failures were in this tropical jungle. In addition, the fight just now had been pretty flashy and noisy.

“I don't know how many of them will come here, but we just have to get out of here before they come—” Gilberto’s words got stuck in his throat.

A crocodile-looking failure that was five times bigger than Gilberto emerged from the nearby river.

"Krrrrr."

The crocodile-looking failure growled, and the noise shattered the two men’s spirits.

The crocodile-looking failure was strong, and their skin tingled as the former approached them.

“Arthur." Gilberto barely managed to squeeze such words out of his trembling throat. “I want you to run away without looking back once I give you the signal.”

"Hahaha! Crocodile meat this early in the morning? Lucky me!”

Squelch!

A massive foot crushed the crocodile-looking failure.

The failure was crushed by a giant who was at least twenty meters tall. The giant crouched and picked up the crocodile beneath his foot.

"Hmm?"

The giant’s eyes met with Gilberto and Arthur’s gazes.

Arthur trembled. He was suffocating beneath the pressure that the giant was giving off.

Click.

"…Arthur, run away the moment I shoot him."

Gilberto aimed his sniper at the giant’s eye.

They were in a dire situation.

Gilberto’s hand was covered in sweat as he tried to pull the trigger.

"Hu… mans? Are you guys humans?"

Gilberto couldn’t pull the trigger because the giant suddenly started talking to them.