Return of the Frozen Player

Clatter, clatter.

The knife that was slowly cutting the steak stopped moving.

“Sigh.”

Count Gorgon, who let out a faint sigh, put down the cutlery and shook the little bell.

He called over the chef and started sorting out the complicated thoughts in his head.

‘This is hard.’

Count Orpheus was giving Count Gorgon a headache.

Count Gorgon couldn’t quite understand his strange behavior.

‘I managed to form an alliance between the South and the West by getting Horizon involved, but…’

To be honest, there were many loopholes in his own logic.

Count Gorgon thought that Count Horizon must have realized the flaws in his logic by now, but he didn’t think that Count Horizon would go out of his way to break the alliance since both sides were thinking of each other as insurance.

‘If Count Orpheus really made some sort of a deal with the East because he’s about to attempt a breakthrough into the Transcendent Stage, there would be no reason for him to drag things on.’

It was a reasonable assumption because Count Orpheus could simply push into either the West or the South using his superior power.

‘But he didn’t do that... In that case, perhaps a third party made that crystal ball?’

The traces on the crystal ball definitely belonged to a Star Destruction Stage creature.

“Wait a minute… Star Destruction?”

A certain thought briefly appeared in Count Gorgon’s mind.

‘What if the perpetrator is a Player who has reached the Star Destruction Stage?’

“How absurd.” Count Gorgon shook his head and returned to square one.

Meanwhile, the chef finally arrived.

“I lost my appetite,” said Count Gorgon with a sigh. “Clean the table.”

However, the chef pulled out a chair and sat down.

Count Gorgon looked up in astonishment and was astonished to find that the individual in front of him wasn’t the chef. In addition, the individual didn’t have any horns.

‘Wait, is he human?’

Count Gorgon frowned and was about to muster his demonic energy. However, he froze upon realizing that he hadn’t been able to feel the individual’s presence until he reached the restaurant.

“...”

An unfamiliar feeling that he hadn’t felt for a long time washed over him.

‘I’m nervous? Really?’

The Underworld was vast, but there were only a few beings capable of making him feel nervous.

“Hah.”

Count Gorgon chuckled bitterly without realizing it. The fact that he was nervous meant that the individual in front of him was on par with him.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t even know my face?”

“How would I…”

Count Gorgon trailed off. He remembered something and nodded slightly.

“I see. So you’re Player Seo Jun-Ho?”

“You got it.”

“You’ve got guts. Do you even know where you are?”

“...” Seo Jun-Ho wordlessly stared at Count Gorgon. The distance between the two was about ten meters, and it was a distance that a Star Destruction Stage creature could cross in the proverbial blink of an eye.

In other words, the two could mortally wound each other if they decided to do so.

“I came here knowing more things than you expect. For example…”

Seo Jun-Ho picked up a knife on the table and pointed it at Count Gorgon.

“I know that you’re severely injured, and it’s all thanks to your abduction.”

“...” Count Gorgon remained calm as he nodded.

‘The fact that he knows about my injuries means…’

“The Karshut Mine. That was you.”

“That’s right.”

“Pfft. The counts of the Underworld were actually deceived by a mere human?”

“It’s not difficult to deal with those honest to their desires.”

Count Gorgon was relieved to find that Count Orpheus wasn’t the culprit. His position would remain secure as long as he managed to somehow get rid of the human in front of him right now.

“You must be thinking along the lines of securing your position by getting rid of me somehow.”

“...Can you read thoughts?”

“No, but I just told you that it’s easy to deal with those who are honest to their desires.”

Seo Jun-Ho smiled upon seeing through Count Gorgon’s thoughts.

“Let me ask you a question: why do you think I showed up in front of you?”

“...”

It was an easy question to answer.

Seo Jun-Ho was openly encouraging Count Gorgon to give him the obvious answer.

‘But I don’t want to give him the answer that he wants.’ Count Gorgon narrowed his eyes. ‘Is he suggesting that he is stronger than me?’

It was true that Count Gorgon was still recovering from a severe injury, but the thought of losing to a human had never crossed his mind.

‘...’

Count Gorgon looked at the human in front of him.

A warm smile was on Seo Jun-Ho’s lips, but his eyes were terrifyingly cold.

‘Those cold eyes… Can a living being truly possess such cold eyes?’

Seo Jun-Ho was staring straight into Count Gorgon’s eyes with a gaze so cold it reminded Count Gorgon of a thousand-year-old icy cavern.

“How arrogant of you.”

“I don’t think so. Someone had beaten me up for the sake of instilling humility and manners into me not too long ago.”

A deafening silence descended upon the two.

- My lord, may I come in?

Knock, knock, knock!

The chef knocked on the door, and the third knock signaled the beginning of everything.

Boom!

Count Gorgon struck the table with his palm, and the lifted table obstructed Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes.

“...”

Darkness instantly devoured the table. Seo Jun-Ho turned and saw Count Gorgon’s hand reaching out toward him from the side.

Count Gorgon’s hand was reaching out for Seo Jun-Ho’s neck.

Squeeze!

Count Gorgon’s head reached Seo Jun-Ho’s neck.

“Too slow.”

However, Seo Jun-Ho was a beat faster, and he squeezed Count Gorgon’s neck before throwing the latter to the ground.

Boom!

The floor collapsed, and the two fell to the kitchen down below.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on…”

“My lord?”

The demons who were cooking in the hot kitchen with frying pans in their hands stared wide-eyed at Count Gorgon.

They quickly realized what was going on and wielded their kitchen knives as weapons.

Unfortunately, four blades pierced their heads before they could even do anything.

“Argh!”

Count Gorgon chopped off his own head using his hand, and by the time his corpse collided with the floor, his head had already recovered.

“Your regeneration rate seems to be as fast as Rahmadat’s.”

“Keuk. You reckless and dumb piece of shit. I hope you’ll have no regrets about what you’ve done today.”

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho could feel many demons converging toward their location. However, those demons were too weak to intervene in the fight between Seo Jun-Ho and Count Gorgon.

‘I just have to worry about the Counts.’

It wouldn’t be that difficult for the other Counts to discover Seo Jun-Ho’s presence if he were to make even the slightest mistake.

“Twenty-three minutes.”

The other Counts would arrive in just twenty-three minutes if they were to rush here at their fastest speed.

“I just have to kill you, then hide in the next twenty-three minutes.”

“Pfft! Hahaha!” Count Gorgon boisterously laughed and glared at Seo Jun-Ho. “Do you really think that you can kill me—the ruler of the Underworld’s southern region—in just twenty-three minutes? You think too highly of yourself.”

“I have no time for banter,” said Seo Jun-Ho. He pulled out Twilight from his Inventory and charged at Count Gorgon.

Count Gorgon gracefully raised his hand.

“We’ve had a pleasant conversation,” he said.

Boom!

Count Gorgon unleashed the full extent of his demonic energy, and the city was engulfed by the terrifying might of a Star Destruction Stage creature.

Seo Jun-Ho’s breathing briefly halted upon being struck by such an overwhelming demonic energy. It was his first time fighting someone with such a horrifying demonic energy. The demonic energy was so overbearing that Seo Jun-Ho felt suffocated.

“Flame Shower.”

Fwoosh!

A burning heat incomparable to that of Team Leader Gong’s flames descended upon Seo Jun-Ho. The flames melted the surroundings and made a beeline for Seo Jun-Ho.

‘A rain isn’t that difficult to dodge.’

Seo Jun-Ho recalled dodging a million thorns while facing Erebo, and he had gotten even stronger since then.

‘Gorgon’s Flame Shower is a bit faster, more powerful, and there are more of them as well compared to Erebo’s thorns.’

In addition, the biggest difference between Erebo and Gorgon was the fact that…

‘I’m stronger than my opponent this time.’

Boom!

A cataclysmic burst of energy capable of annihilating stars erupted from Seo Jun-Ho and pushed Gorgon’s demonic energy away.

Seo Jun-Ho took one more step forward and muttered, “Dignity of an Emperor.”

The others had to have already noticed his existence, so Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t possibly hold back anymore. He figured that Lavue or Horizon, whose tempers were short, were already flying this way.

‘I have to kill him fast, then leave.’

Dignity of an Emperor (S) allowed Seo Jun-Ho to become a pseudo-transcendent. His field of view expanded exponentially, and he captured everything around him.

The massive stream of information was processed smoothly, and Seo Jun-Ho didn’t miss even the smallest detail.

‘3,743,286.’

It was the number of fireballs falling down on him, and there were another 6,256,814 fireballs blocking all of his escape routes. A total of ten million fireballs surrounded Seo Jun-Ho.

‘But…’

A problem would always have a solution, and Seo Jun-Ho could see the solution to this conundrum.

Seo Jun-Ho took a step toward the fireballs and muttered, “Path of Flowers.”

A massive path made out of ice was created in front of him.

However, humans would eventually have to take a turn in their lives.

“Crossroads.”

Crackle!

Crossroads was a terrifying technique capable of freezing and destroying everything that it touched. Dozens of paths surrounded by Moon Eyes were created in an instant, destroying the fireballs blocking Seo Jun-Ho’s path.

‘It’s open.’

Seo Jun-Ho saw an opening amidst the multitudinous fireballs.

“...!”

Count Gorgon frowned deeply.

He didn’t expect that a mere human would one day deal with his ability.

‘I thought Count Orpheus was the only one capable of doing such a thing.’

The fact that a mere human managed to deal with his attack head-on hurt Count Gorgon’s pride.

“You’re pretty good. Let’s see if you can take this, then.”

Count Gorgon circulated his demonic energy once again. ‘If he can block ten million fireballs made out of hellfire, I can just make twenty million fireballs.’

“Did I not tell you?”

Seo Jun-Ho swung Twilight.

Slash!

Twilight carved a path amidst the flames, and the path led straight to Count Gorgon.

“I don’t have time for this.”

“...!”

Count Gorgon instinctively took a step back. However, Seo Jun-Ho had already arrived right in front of his nose the moment he raised his foot to retreat.

“That’s all.”

Slash!

Count Gorgon’s head flew into the air, and the head was quickly reduced to ashes the moment it made contact with the fireballs.At the same time, Count Gorgon’s headless body started running away.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t even bother chasing after Count Gorgon. He had infused Watchguard of Darkness into his Twilight the moment he decapitated Count Gorgon.

“No matter how much demonic energy you use and whatever means you use…”

Seo Jun-Ho’s scornful darkness would disregard all his efforts.

It didn’t take long for Count Gorgon to collapse. Count Gorgon managed to regenerate his mouth and nose, and he gasped for air as he tried his best to regenerate the remainder of his head.

“Haaa… huff… puff…!” The white flames of hellfire started to wane. “This doesn’t count! This is unfair! If I weren’t injured…!” Count Gorgon exclaimed as if he couldn’t accept the result.

“If you weren’t injured, I wouldn’t have come here to fight you.”

However, Haran’s memories had told Seo Jun-Ho that Count Gorgon was injured. He had decided to attack Count Gorgon because killing Count Gorgon would be immensely helpful to him down the road.

“Pffft! Kekekeke!” Count Gorgon boisterously laughed. “I knew it! I wasn’t wrong! I should have… killed you back then!”

“You really should have killed me.”

However, Count Gorgon failed to kill Seo Jun-Ho.

Seo Jun-Ho ended up becoming an extremely powerful creature, and Count Gorgon’s failure to kill Seo Jun-Ho would be the reason behind Count Gorgon’s death today.

Count Gorgon started to freeze as his cells had become necrotic.

“Kekekeke!”

“What’s so funny?”

“How can I… not laugh… when it is so absurd?” The cold was terrible, and Count Gorgon incessantly trembled, but he remained steadfast as he continued. “Let me. Tell you. Just one thing. Hell is. Waiting. For… you.”

“...”

Count Gorgon’s remarks were ominous, akin to a curse, but Seo Jun-Ho was unimpressed. “I don’t care.”

‘I’ve been through hell and back a couple of times.’

Seo Jun-Ho put his hand on the forehead of Count Gorgon’s frozen head.

“Confession of the Dead.”

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t have the time to read through Count Gorgon’s memories right now.

His priority was to run and hide, as he could just watch the memories later.

‘Has it been seventeen minutes?’

Seo Jun-Ho still had five minutes left to run away.

He turned around and ran toward the escape route he had set up in advance.

“Night Walking.” Seo Jun-Ho erased his presence.

Count Gorgon was severely injured to the extent that he didn’t notice Seo Jun-Ho’s presence until the latter was in the same room as him.

Seo Jun-Ho figured that the other Counts shouldn’t be able to detect him if he used Night Walking on top of his other stealth abilities

“...!”

Seo Jun-Ho whipped around at the prickling sensation.

“...”

There was no one behind him.

However, he could clearly feel a gaze on him.

‘It’s from there?’

Seo Jun-Ho felt someone staring at him from the North, but the being soon took their eyes off of Seo Jun-Ho as if they weren’t interested in him anymore.

“Haaa… haaa…” Seo Jun-Ho realized that he was covered in sweat.

‘Who was that? Was it Count Orpheus? Is there really such a huge gap between the Counts? Could it be that I only managed to defeat Count Gorgon because of his injuries?’

Seo Jun-Ho stood rooted for quite a while as he asked himself questions that were bound to receive no replies.

***

The man withdrew his gaze.

“...”

‘Player Seo Jun-Ho,’ the man muttered to himself and slowly closed his eyes as if he wasn’t interested in the death of one of the Underworld’s Counts. He acted as if what had transpired had nothing to do with him.