Return of the Frozen Player

“This is an opportunity,” Arnold said with a glimmer of determination on his face.

“Seo Jun-Ho. How many apostles do they have left?”

“There should only be around sixty apostles left...”

The number included the unofficial apostles as well.

“Sixty, huh…” Arnold rubbed his chin and slowly nodded. “It’s doable. Yes, we definitely have a chance.”

The combined population of the werewolf tribes was roughly one thousand and four hundred, and there were roughly a thousand warriors and about fifty Arch Warriors.

“There are a lot more warriors than I thought…”

“Well, it is necessary.”

Regardless of age or gender, a healthy werewolf had to become a warrior.

They had to fight to recover their hometown and save as many humans as possible.

“I’ll contact the chiefs of each tribe soon...”

“For what?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.

Arnold’s eyes shone intensely as he said, “It’s about time we face our destiny that has remained but a pipe dream until now…”

He turned to stare at Trium, which looked as tiny as a dot in the distance.

“It’s about time we recapture Trium.”

***

The village got busy as the werewolves discuss the operation to recapture Trium. They also diligently trained to improve their skills for the upcoming operation.

The adult warriors were the only ones who would participate in the operation, so a group of werewolves was naturally excluded from all the hustle and bustle.

“I’m bored...”

“I wanna play…”

It was the group of young werewolves.

Their mom, dad, uncles, and even their aunts could no longer play with them. However, the young werewolves didn’t bother to nag the adults because they also noticed that the situation this time was too serious for them to start whining about it.

“Do you still remember where we went yesterday/ Let’s go there again today!”

“That’s a good idea!”

The young werewolves rushed toward somewhere else with excited expressions.

“Sis! Let’s play!”

“Yes! Play with us, sis!”

“Ugh…!” The Frost Queen pulled a long face.

She was currently rolling on a stone bed in her comfortable sweatpants and was relaxing by watching TV shows on her tablet, but the uninvited guests interrupted her.

‘I’m so annoyed.’

The young werewolves visited the Frost Queen for the toys she had created for them yesterday. The young werewolves were impressed, and they started following the Frost Queen with twinkling eyes.

For them, the Frost Queen was a great being who would relieve their boredom.

The Frost Queen sighed and tried to negotiate with the children. “I am currently enjoying my rest, so why don’t you go somewhere else to play?”

“We came here to rest, too!”

“Let’s rest and play together! Just like yesterday!”

“...”

‘I have never experienced a job that is tougher than playing with you lot…’

The Frost Queen raised her upper body and cried out at the passing by Skaya.

“Skaya! Help me!”

“Ah! Your Majesty! Did you just call out to me first?” Skaya gasped and joyfully made a beeline for the Frost Queen, but she took a sharp U-turn the moment she saw the young werewolves jumping around the Frost Queen.

“Oh, my apologies, but I totally forgot that I still have matters to handle…” Skaya said awkwardly.

“You’re lying!”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not good at Korean. I love you. Kimchi, kimchi,” said Skaya in broken Korean before immediately running away.

‘That traitor...!’

The Frost Queen clenched her fists and swore to take revenge.

The children started urging the Frost Queen.

“Can you make us a slide made out of ice, please?”

“I want a doll…!”

“Ugh…”

‘I’m annoyed—so annoyed.’

However, the children would obviously continue to bother the Frost Queen until she started playing with them.

‘I guess I can only reveal my identity...’

The Frost Queen sighed lightly. With a determined look, she spoke, “Do you lot know what a queen is?”

“We do…!”

“A queen is an amazing person!”

“So you know…”

The Frost Queen was relieved that she didn’t have to explain everything from the start.

She smiled and gracefully introduced herself. “I am the Queen of Ice Kingdom Niflheim, and I am very busy.”

“That’s amazing! You’re a queen, sis?”

“Wow, that’s so cool!”

“...”

The Frost Queen froze. The clamoring children reminded her of her servants whenever she walked around with them. It was a strange feeling that she had long forgotten, so she couldn’t help but pause upon recalling it.

The Frost Queen cleared her throat and emerged from her thoughts.

“Ahem. You shouldn’t call a queen ‘sis’.”

“Then, what should we call you?”

“You have to call me ‘Your Majesty’.”

“Wow!”

The children started calling the Frost Queen ‘Your Majesty,’ so she wasn’t that annoyed anymore.

“Hm.” The Frost Queen swept her gaze across the werewolves. She couldn’t help but think that they were a bit cuter than she initially thought.

The Frost Queen spoke once more, “All right. What do you want to play?”

“Let’s play hide-and-seek!” someone suggested.

“No, my legs will hurt from all the running! Let’s play with your doll house, Your Majesty!” someone protested.

The children were at odds with each other. They couldn’t make up their mind about what game they should play, so they started pulling the Frost Queen from both sides.

The Frost Queen said solemnly, “Do not pull on the queen’s sweatpants, lest you be punished.”

“What’s a sweatpants?”

“It’s a type of clothing. And you have to speak formally…”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The children were quick on the uptake, and they would always do what the Frost Queen would tell them. It wasn’t really strange because they were young and innocent children.

They were so cute as well that the Frost Queen couldn’t help but smile.

‘All right. A monarch should always take care of their people.’

The Frost Queen stood up. She figured that it should be fine to run around and play with them for a while.

***

“As we all know, the main problem here is the red fog,” said Arnold, “The number of apostles has dwindled, and True Vampire Paradox has died. This is a golden opportunity to strike, and I’m afraid that it won’t come twice.”

Arnold didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity. He wanted to strike and end everything before the True Vampires could create more vampire apostles.

“Seo Jun-Ho. Are you sure you don’t know where they are producing the red fog?”

“I have no idea,” Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. Even True Vampire Paradox didn’t know anything about where the red fog was coming from.

‘It means that Tepes really cares about security...’

However, Seo Jun-Ho was suspicious of a particular location.

Thump!

Seo Jun-Ho placed a chess piece made out of ice in the middle of the map.

“Paradox is suspicious of this place—the basement of the royal palace.”

“...The royal palace?”

A complicated light flashed by Arnold’s eyes. The members of the royal family were descendants of the people who used to serve them.

“The royal place is no different from Tepes’ front yard...”

“I know. That’s why Paradox never dared to search the royal palace,” Seo Jun-Ho answered, “It would be best if everything ended before nightfall.”

The werewolves still had one advantage over the vampires.

“We just need to deal with the vampire apostles and the three remaining True Vampires before the sun goes down.” The werewolves had no problem being active during the day, but ordinary vampires couldn’t do the same.

“Hmm.” Arnold fell into deep thought. These days, the sun rose around six in the morning and settled at around four forty in the afternoon.

“That’s more time than I thought…”

“Yes. Ten hours and forty minutes is enough time,” said Seo Jun-Ho.

“We can do this!”

The Arch Warriors nodded and actively agreed with Seo Jun-Ho. Their morale had increased drastically after the death of a True Vampire.

“The Four Legendary Wolves will join forces with Seo Jun-Ho, Rahmadat, and Skaya to fight the True Vampires, Then, the Arch Warriors and warriors will deal with the vampire apostles.”

“Great.” Arnold nodded and said, “The other chiefs told me to set a date.”

Once a date was set, the war would be inevitable by then.

“Let’s observe the weather in the next few days before setting a date. We’ll have to make sure that the sun will stay up for as long as possible on the day of our attack.”

Their meeting finally ended, and they finally heard the laughs coming from somewhere.

“...They’re having such a good time.”

“We shouldn’t let those children experience the same hunger and sorrow we had to go through in the past.”

Seo Jun-Ho froze while staring at the playing children.

“Wait.”

‘What’s Frost doing over there?’

Seo Jun-Ho blinked and made eye contact with the smiling Frost Queen.

“...”

The Frost Queen’s cheeks turned as red as a tomato as she stammered, “I-I was just fulfilling my duty as a monarch. They begged me to play with them, so I—”

“I didn’t say anything,” said Seo Jun-Ho. The Frost Queen’s cheeks looked so red that they looked like they would explode if he were to poke them. He didn’t dare to even try poking her cheeks because he was afraid that they would actually explode.

***

Fwoosh!

While Rahmadat was still stuck in the prison of his own consciousness, Shin Sung-Hyun was busy with his own training.

‘Left… no, is it a feint?’

A sharp sword barely missed Shin Sung-Hyun’s throat.

He stepped backward and swung his baton.

Crash!

The space in front of him distorted, forcing Kim Woo-Joong to take a step backward.

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong stared down at his sword.

He looked indifferent, but he was clearly disappointed.

“What’s wrong?” asked Shin Sung-Hyun.

“This isn’t good enough. You’re too weak to be compared to that bastard.”

Shin Sung-Hyun was surprised by Kim Woo-Joong’s harsh evaluation.

“Is that True Vampire really that strong?” asked Shin Sung-Hyun.

“Of course. Hmm… how should I explain it…” Kim Woo-Joong contemplated for a while before drawing a massive circle with his sword. “This is True Vampire Ghost.”

Kim Woo-Joong proceeded to draw a small dot on the ground.

“And this is you...”

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong’s crappy metaphor upset Shin Sung-Hyun, but he was even more furious by what Kim Woo-Joong was trying to say.

Shin Sung-Hyun turned and asked, “What do you think, Team Leader Gong?”

“Um…” Gong Ju-Ha was quietly drinking her iced tea in a corner. She carefully put down her cup upon being addressed and said, “I’m not sure if the difference in power is that huge, but True Vampire Ghost’s firepower was definitely stronger than yours, Master.”

“Firepower?”

“Yes. I’m talking about his ability to fold, distort, and manipulate space, Master.”

“Hmm.”

‘Firepower, huh… so that is what has been holding me back.’

Shin Sung-Hyun realized it when he faced Namgung Jincheon on the 5th Floor.

‘My ability to manipulate space is extremely powerful and weak at the same time…’

Of course, Shin Sung-Hyun had no issues crushing monsters and fiends to death with space, but he couldn’t do the same against powerful Players and enemies.

‘Firepower.’

Actually, Shin Sung-Hyun knew a way to increase his firepower greatly.

He had to abandon his baton.

‘I honestly couldn’t handle my ability to manipulate space back then…’

Space couldn’t be seen, so he found it difficult to manipulate space despite his innate ability. Shin Sung-Hyun had no choice but to use his senses to feel space. In the end, Shin Sung-Hyun decided to use a baton so that he could be more intimate with space.

‘I started manipulating space as if I were conducting an orchestra…’

It was a massive success, and Shin Sung-Hyun’s ability to manipulate space greatly improved as a result.

Shin Sung-Hyun also became confident that he could manipulate space into any form as long as the baton was in his hand.

‘But at some point, I started thinking that perhaps this baton is the chain that is holding me back from progressing…

Shin Sung-Hyun couldn’t help but think that the baton had become an obstacle to his improvement. At the same time, he couldn’t let go of the baton because he didn’t want to become a pathetic Player once more.

He felt like everything he had built so far would collapse if he abandoned the baton.

‘But…’

Shin Sung-Hyun turned to the swordsman in front of him. He had always regarded Kim Woo-Joong as his rival, so he couldn’t allow the man to shun him just like this.

“I’ll get going, then. Thank you for your help so far,” said Kim Woo-Joong.

Kim Woo-Joong turned around to leave.

Shin Sung-Hyun stared at Kim Woo-Joong’s back.

“Stop for a moment,” said Shin Sung-Hyun while biting his lips. He decisively abandoned his baton and hurled it into a rift in space before saying, “Let’s change the method and try again.”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re not strong enough to help me prepare against Ghost—”

Bang!

A huge chunk of the training hall disappeared with a loud noise. The walls of the training hall had also been dyed in darkness as if they had been swallowed by something that couldn’t be seen.

“I still haven’t shown you this… Honestly, I’m still having trouble controlling my ability without the baton, so you better retreat if you don’t want to die.”

Kim Woo-Joong silently stared at the space surrounding him before smiling for the first time.

“Nice.”

Rather than a dot, Kim Woo-Joong thought that Shin Sung-Hyun was now as huge as a basketball.