Return of the Frozen Player

‘Blackfield? It seems that His Majesty is pulling out the big guns.’

Filgrim's thoughts were complicated. He was the only one who could remove Black Coffin once it was installed. ‘Of course, His Majesty can break it forcefully, but there’s no way those Players are strong enough to do so.’

The Players would become mice in a trap.

Black Coffin was created for the purpose of trapping and isolating enemies of the state.

However, Filgrim highly doubted that the emperor simply wanted to trap the enemies and let them starve to death by themselves.

“Yes, Your Majesty. How many entrances should I make?”

“One entrance should be enough.”

Filgrim was already drawing the picture in his head. The Players would still do their best to escape the Overmind army without knowing that they were already contained.

‘Well, I guess the troublesome Players are no more.’

Filgrim slowly raised his head and asked, “Your Majesty, what about Float City?”

“Float City?”

The Players managed to destroy the Radio Tower and Chronos Laboratory. Kineos had already deduced the identity of the Players’ helper.

“It must be that annoying bastard, Helic.”

Kineos’ control over the continent had weakened because two out of the three holy relics were taken away.

‘...I can’t see anything.’

Kineos’ omnipresent eyes were one of the reasons he dominated the continent. His senses had basically become his own intelligence network.

‘I can’t see anything anymore after Holy Ring Petra was taken away.’

Kineos would lose more control over the continent and face Helic’s anger if the Players managed to seize even the Holy Sword.

“...”

Kineos contemplated for a long time about how many troops were necessary to protect the holy relic. He soon reached a conclusion and said, “The Imperial Guards will protect Float City.”

“But, Your Majesty! The Imperial Guards are…”

The Imperial guards were the swords that protected only His Majesty the Emperor. In fact, they had never left the capital since the empire was founded because they existed solely to secure His Majesty the Emperor’s safety.

“I won’t accept any forms of objection. Do you really think that I need protection?”

“...” Filgrim closed his mouth. He knew better than anyone that the Imperial Guards were nothing more than just a remnant of their days when they were still lowly human beings.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Will it only be the Imperial Guards, or should I mobilize the troops?”

“Station troops inside Float City, and she’s going to be there as well.”

‘The precocious imperial princess is strong enough to protect the Holy Sword.’

“Filgrim, I want you to take the army with you and head north.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The imperial capital grew busier than ever on the same afternoon.

***

“Hm. I think I’ll need him…”

It took two days of careful selection to choose the elites who would infiltrate Float City.

Seo Jun-Ho’s Vita suddenly rang.

- Your Majesty!

The call came from Yeon, the Prime Minister of Neo City.

Seo Jun-Ho was startled. “Yeon? What’s up?”

-What do you mean what’s up? Why did you not call me?

‘Huh? Why would I call him?’

Seo Jun-Ho thought about it for a moment before shouting, “Ah! You’re talking about the reinforcements!

- We’re prepared, Your Majesty. We have been waiting for your call. How can you be so careless?

“I’m sorry. I’m really busy these days.”

Seo Jun-Ho recalled asking Yeon for help before Operation Gulat. His request back then was to prepare reinforcements from Neo City, as it was hard to expect any more volunteers on Earth.

“Can you send me reinforcements whenever I need them?”

- Yes, just give me a call. They should arrive within thirty minutes.

“Thank you; that sounds reassuring.”

Thousands of Players from Earth were here, but their numbers were incomparably smaller compared to the empire’s numbers. Seo Jun-Ho was hoping that Neo City’s reinforcements would give them a breather.

- Should I send them right now?

“Hmm…” Seo Jun-Ho contemplated for a moment, but he soon shook his head. “No. I don’t need them right now. I’ll ask you to send them whenever I need them since you said it’ll only take them half an hour to arrive.”

Neo City’s reinforcements would be like a lightning bolt on a sunny day to the Overminds, and Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t planning on wasting such a trump card.

“But I think I’ll need them soon. I’ll tell you by then.”

- All right. Approximately how soon you’ll need them?

“I think I’ll call you next week.”

- So, a week? All right.

The call soon ended, and Seo Jun-Ho looked down at the paper he was holding. The names on the paper were the members of the upcoming Operation Float City.

- Seo Jun-Ho.

- Shin Sung-Hyun.

- Baek Geon-Woo.

- Stony.

- Gilberto Green.

- Jonathan Jenkins.

- Francisco Sancho.

“Are you sure about those members?” the Frost Queen asked, “I feel like you’re leaving too many Players here in our headquarters.”

“That’s for the best.”

Seo Jun-Ho and the Players had come to the same conclusion.

“Can you tell me why you’re leaving so many Players here?”

“Those bastards aren’t dumb. They’re probably thinking that our next target is the Float Force Power Plant.”

In other words, both sides considered Float City as their next battlefield.

“The issue here is that the Overmind emperor has many chess pieces—way too many.”

The Overmind emperor had so many troops that he couldn’t only thoroughly defend the Float Force Power Plant but also destroy their headquarters in the north at the same time.

“I’m afraid he’s no longer going to hold back.”

After all, they had already recovered two holy relics.

There was no way Kineos would still underestimate them.

“If the Overmind emperor were that dumb, we wouldn’t have to go through this hardship.”

Seo Jun-Ho and the Players were confident that the Overminds would invade the ice castle, as there was nothing more appetizing than the ice castle while the elite players were out to infiltrate the Float Force Power Plant.

“I see,” said the Frost Queen. She raised her chin and continued. “If they come here with complacency, we will easily destroy them.”

Of course, it would be a good thing if Kineos decided not to send any Players here.

The Players would then be free to wreak havoc on their cities as a distraction for Operation Float City.

“I’m leaving for Float City tonight. Please protect the headquarters with Jun-Sik.”

“Leave it to me!” the Frost Queen replied confidently.

***

“All right, we’re done.” Skaya turned to the village chief and asked, “What do you think?”

“Hm.” The village chief took a closer look at the faces of the forty people in front of him.

He was amazed, and he muttered in disbelief, “This is… quite amazing. I had no idea that humans could do something like this.”

“Haha, magic’s raison d’etre is to do the impossible, after all.”

The most important part of their plan to infiltrate the Float Force Power Plant was their disguise. In addition to their auras, their appearance had to change as well.

“You won’t fall under any suspicion as long as you don’t use your skills.”

“How long will it last?”

“Fifteen days, but it might last shorter than fifteen days if you get into a fierce battle.”

‘Fifteen days is enough for us to infiltrate Float City.’

Seo Jun-Ho turned and asked, “Are you all right?”

Seo Jun-Ho was talking to a man with an unfamiliar face. He looked up, and Seo Jun-Ho saw that the man was crying.

The man then turned to the village chief and said, “Chief… can you see this?”

“I can see you, Stony.”

“It’s a body! A human… body!”

The golem, Stony, wiped his tears with his sleeves. He had lost his human body and became as huge as a hill after becoming a failure, and Skaya’s magic allowed him to possess a human body once more.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it. Although I know that it is temporary, like a midsummer night’s dream…”

“It was difficult to transform you, so I’m glad to see that you like it.” Skaya smiled and shrugged before saying, “All right. Please bring back some good news.”

“We’ll be back.”

“Don’t worry about us here. If you think you're in danger, just drop the holy relic and run away,” said Rahmadat.

Seo Jun-Ho smiled and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. All right, let’s go, Sung-Hyun.”

“All right.”

Shin Sung-Hyun reached out with his hand and tore a rift in the space in front of him. The rift couldn’t directly teleport them to Float City, but it was good enough. The forty players and two hundred failures bomb squad members walked into the portal.

***

The village chief’s Magical Spring Water allowed Shin Sung-Hyun to see their landing location, but the village chief’s ability wasn’t strong enough to see what was going on inside the power plant.

‘It must be isolated in a powerful domain…’

The bomb squad’s mission was simple.

They had to gather as much information as possible.

“Well, we’re safe.”

“Yes, but we didn’t enter through the main gate.”

Of course, the bomb squad members didn’t enter the city through the main gate because the army would immediately take notice and interrogate them. After all, it was rare to see so many people moving in a group during a delicate time like this.

Therefore, they decided to infiltrate the city by jumping over the city walls.

“How’s Community doing?”

“It’s doing good so far.”

“All right, that’s great.”

The ability to communicate freely with each other brought flexibility to their movements.

‘We gave the failures walkie-talkies, so it won’t be that difficult to contact them.’

“Jun-Ho-nim. Where are we going to stay?”

“Let’s look around the city first and decide where to stay later.”

Float City was the second-largest city of the empire, so the addition of two hundred and forty people wasn’t that obvious. However, such a huge group wandering the streets at night would definitely be suspicious.

“It would be nice if we could find a place to hide, but… there are too many of us.”

“A city this huge definitely has sewage. How about we use that?”

“Hm.”

‘It’ll smell bad, so it should be our last resort.’

Seo Jun-Ho was about to nod, but a voice interrupted them.

[Buzzzz. Hmm, Hm. Hello? Do you hear me?]

The voice echoed in everyone’s ears. However, the voice was from a local channel rather than the private channel that the bomb squad members were using to communicate with each other.

Shin Sung-Hyun lowered his voice and warned.

“It might be a trap. Perhaps the enemies can intercept Community’s frequencies.”

“Or…”

‘The voice belongs to a Player who was inadvertently teleported here.’

[Who are you? What’s your name and affiliation?]

[This voice… Are you Specter? Are you really Specter?]

It was Seo Jun-Ho’s first time hearing the middle-aged man’s voice, but the middle-aged man seemed to be familiar with him.

[Let me ask you again: give me your name and affiliation.]

[I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you...]

The voice left one final message before vanishing.

[Walk down the twenty-fourth street of district fifty-one. If you’re truly Specter, I will contact you again.]

***

“Haaa.” An old man’s breath condensed into a white mist. He glanced at the snow on his thick robe and muttered, “This place is really cold as always.”

“Should I make some warm tea?”

The old man nodded at his disciple’s offer.

“Sure. I’m going to work while the water boils.”

Tap.

With that, the old man stabbed his cane into the snow, and a massive hexagram appeared in the sky.

“Ah…!”

The Overminds trembled as pitch-black walls soared and isolated the snowfields up ahead.

Black Coffin was soon installed, and Filgrim turned around.

“We should warm up before we go in,” he said to the army.