Return of the Frozen Player - chapter 146
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Chapter 146
âDid I get him?â Nino muttered to himself, looking up. He probably had, considering that his spears had stabbed through from every angle. There would not have been any space for someone to dodge.
âBut whyâŠâ
Why couldnât he see Seo Jun-Hoâs corpse? His eyes narrowed.
Just as he was about to say something, all his hair stood on end, his body reacted to the immense amount of bloodlust and magic energy behind him.
âShit!â
The main weakness of his magnetic field was that he couldnât sense anything when he was out of charge. Just like now. âGoufâŠ!â He cried out for help.
ââŠ?!â But Gouf said nothing and pushed Nino away.
Stab!
Black Dragon Fang burrowed through Ninoâs chest.
âKal Signer chose his right hand well. As expected of a fiend.â Seo Jun-Ho wasnât surprised that Gouf had betrayed the comrade he had just been fighting with. Or rather, Gouf was only able to do that because he had never considered Nino as his partner in the first place.
Seo Jun-Ho punched Ninoâs bloody face. Nino flew to the side and his body rolled over as he died. Watchguard of Darkness was already moving inside his body as Seo Jun-Ho had released it into Ninoâs body when he stabbed him.
ââŠWhat did you just say?â Goufâs face darkened. He hadnât expected Seo Jun-Ho to say Kal Signerâs name, because that implied that the Player knew of his identity.
âDid you already forget about Signer? He saved you from the Cave of the Dead Gate 6 years ago.â
ââŠ!â Goufâs eyes widened. Even among the fiends, there were only a few people that knew of this. And there was no way they would have run into Seo Jun-Ho. âWho told you that?â
âSigner did,â Seo Jun-Ho replied, shaking some of the blood off his sword. âHis death was pathetic. He got on his knees and begged me to spare him, saying that he would tell me everything he knew.â
âThatâs⊠Impossible.â Gouf trembled. The Kal Signer he knew was a proud man. He would have faced death with dignity, not humiliation. âQuit the nonsense and come at me.â
âAre you sure itâs nonsense?â A low laugh came from inside Seo Jun-Hoâs helmet. âHow else would I know your name and story if he hadnât told me himself?â
ââŠâ Goufâs face contorted with conflict. He refused to believe that his superior would have acted like that, but at the same time, Seo Jun-Hoâs words were convincing.
âIâll tell you this. He never thought of you as a comrade⊠No, he never even thought of you as his subordinate. You were just one of his obedient lackeys.â
âYou sure talk a lot!â Gouf yelled, furious. Seo Jun-Ho had poked a sore spot. Deep down, he had also been wondering if Kal Signer even considered him a brother like Gouf did.
âAs I thought, heâs insecure.â
Seo Jun-Ho smirked. He wouldnât let a fiend die an easy death. He would make it as painful and as cruel as possible.
âKal Signer was always worried about Gouf.â
Unlike how he appeared, Gouf was very emotional. Kal Signer had thought that Gouf would let his anger get the best of him one day.
âHe was right.â
The Isekai Battlefield faltered, shrinking and trapping him. But Seo Jun-Ho was much faster.
âIsekai Battlefield sure is a powerful skill.â
If Gouf hadnât lost his composure, Seo Jun-Ho would have been in trouble. The fiend only needed to create a safe area to hide in and snipe Seo Jun-Ho from that safe zone.
As such, Seo Jun-Ho taunted him even more. The more Gouf lost his reasoning, the higher Seo Jun-Hoâs chance of winning.
Pow!
Seo Jun-Ho flew like a flash of light and struck Gouf in the face.
ââŠ!â The force was so powerful that Gouf couldnât even cry out. He instinctively raised his hands to protect his face.
That was his final mistake. If Gouf had tried to counterattack, Seo Jun-Ho would have been forced to fall back.
Shing!
Black Dragon Fang stabbed through his defenseless chest.
âHave fun burning in hell with Signer.â
âUrghâŠIâll⊠Be waitingâŠâ
âBullshit. Why would I go there?â At this point, Seo Jun-Ho practically had a free pass to heaven.
With a twist of his sword, Seo Jun-Ho thoroughly crushed Goufâs insides before kicking his chest. Goufâs body fell and slowly sank into the ground, and the world around them started to collapse.
Seo Jun-Ho blinked against the bright sunlight, and his eyes settled on a familiar cabin.
âJun-Ho!â And on a familiar faceâŠ
ââŠSkaya? Why are you here?â
âThe lucky coin!â
Coin? Ah, the coin that she gave him when they parted.
âI put a spell on it. It alerts me when the owner gets attacked by demonic energy.â
âOh, no wonder.â Seo Jun-Ho had been wondering why she gave him a coin.
Skaya observed him from top to bottom with a worried face. âAre you okay? How about the fiends? Did you kill them all? Were they strong? How many were there? Should I beat them up for you?â
âIâm okay, I killed them all, and I already beat them all up by myself,â he said coolly.
Skaya let out a sigh of relief. âGood. I was worried that something went wrong⊠And I couldnât get into the space he madeâŠâ
âYou worry too much. You know who I am. You shouldâve been more worried about my opponents.â
ââŠRight, I forgot! Thereâs never any point in worrying about you.â Skaya grinned. âOh, itâs the Queen!â
She discovered the Frost Queen, who was desperately trying to hide behind Seo Jun-Hoâs leg. Skayaâs eyes sparkled as she picked her up.
âHehe! I got you!â
ââŠHey, donât treat her like a Pokemon.â
âU-unhand me. As the Queen of Niflheim, I prefer formalitiesâŠâ She struggled in Skayaâs grasp. There had been no time for her Skaya radar to go off because they ran into her as soon as they emerged from Goufâs Isekai Battlefield.
âYouâre so noisy, go play over there,â Seo Jun-Ho said, looking around. Thankfully, the fiends had also been expelled from the Isekai Battlefield.
âAre you gonna read their memories?â Skaya asked.
âYeah. I donât know about the others, but Signer made Gouf do all the busywork.â In other words, Gouf must know even more about the Fiend Association than Kal Signer. It was because the latter had always ordered him to do the work Kal Signer himself didnât want to do. âPlease, give me a good lead.â
No matter how sturdy a house was, it would come crumbling down if one pillar or brick was taken out. A pillarâthat was what Seo Jun-Ho was looking for.
[Confession of the Dead has been activated.]
[Goufâs memories are being replayed.]
As the sun began to set, cold wind blew around the cabin.
ââŠâ After watching the playback on the side of the road, Seo Jun-Ho slowly stood up. Skaya had joined him at some point, and her eyes flashed.
âJun-Ho.â
ââŠYeah.â He nodded silently.
They had discovered a lead.
***
The monsters in the Canal Mountains were at least level 80, so even the most confident Players only went there when they reached at least level 85. It was impossible to predict what would happen on the field, so it was common practice to hunt monsters a few levels beneath them.
âThe Canal Mountains connect to the northernmost mountain range in the continent, the Wailing Mountains.â The Canal Mountains were often called the ânorthern endâ of the Ruben Empire because no one had ever made it past the Wailing Mountains. Beyond it was an unknown region called âBlackfield.â
Seo Jun-Ho quickly arrived at the Canal Mountains, thanks to Skaya and the Frost Queenâs help. Even though it was important to adjust to his newfound power, the stuff he had seen in Goufâs memories was even more important.
Skaya and Seo Jun-Ho were currently eating at an inn in Denver, a city in front of the Canal Mountains. They were wearing masks and hats to hide their identities.
âWhat do you think is there that theyâve blocked it off?â Skaya asked.
âWhat do you mean?â
âBeyond the Wailing Mountains. Iâve heard a lot of things in the past few weeks while I was running around⊠But no one knows about Blackfield.â
Hundreds of years ago a magic seal had been placed on Blackfield by the first Archmage, who had also founded the Magic Tower. According to ancient texts, the seal must never be removed at all costs.
âI dunno. The land of demons?â
ââŠDid Keen Intuition tell you that?â
âNope. Itâs just a guess.â
âHmmm.â Skaya was very interested in Blackfield, especially because not even she could place a magic seal over such a huge area.
âYouâll have plenty of time to look around eventually. But we have more important things to focus on right now.â
âYeah, alright.â
They had found a big piece of information from Goufâs memories.
âThe rendezvous point.â
Members of the Fiend Association were very thorough and organized.
âEven on Earth, I could feel that they had become a lot more meticulous than before.â
After suffering such huge losses during the era of the 5 Heroes, they had become even more careful. As such, there werenât many fiends who could give them leads. Among them were fiends associated with âsquadrons,â their immediate superiors, and the eight executives of the Association.
âKal Signer had a notorious reputation as the Demon Bow, but he was unable to join a Squadron.â
Of course, this wasnât because of his lack of skill. Squadron leaders simply wanted members that were both strong and obedient. Kal Signer had the habit of going around, doing whatever he wanted, so the more egotistical fiends didnât want to recruit him.
âBut thereâs always an exceptionâŠâ
There had been exactly one Squadron leader who wanted to recruit Kal Signer. They hadnât contacted the stubborn Kal Signer himself but had contacted his right-hand man Gouf instead.
âGouf went to that place before.â
It hadnât even been a year since they met, so it had been fairly recent.
Seo Jun-Ho had also discovered from the old fiend that the Fiend Association had a branch in the Canal Mountains. When considering these two things, they drew a pretty clear picture.
âThere will be at least one fiend in a Squadron in the branch.â
Even if that werenât the case, fiends still came and went there.
That was why Seo Jun-Ho and Skaya had come all the way to Denver.
âWhat do you think? Should we go right away? Or do you want to wait it out just to be careful?â Skaya asked as Seo Jun-Ho was buttering his bread.
âHmmm.â Jun-Hoâs hand stopped. âThere are still five days left until the full moon.â
Their meeting dates had always been the nights of full moons on even-numbered months.