Return of the Frozen Player

‘What’s going on?’

The enemies were running late on schedule. The ignorant players of Earth should have already appeared seventeen minutes ago, but they were still nowhere to be seen.

“...”

The future Tepes was aware of had changed, and the unfamiliar feeling was unpleasant to him.

‘Did I make a mistake somewhere?’

Tepes carefully examined the map of Trium. He wondered if the stupid vampire apostles got caught by the enemies while setting up the traps.

‘No, that can’t be the case...’

There was no way the vampire apostles would suddenly make a mistake when they were doing well in the previous regressions.

‘Then, what is it? What am I missing?’

A vampire apostle opening the throne room broke Tepes’ train of thought.

“Tepes-nim! The bomb we installed in the fountain was discovered by the enemies! The humans are defusing the bomb right now!”

“...What?”

‘No way…’

Tepes’ eyes flashed with profound disbelief, but that wasn’t the end of it. More vampire apostles rushed into the throne room as if they previously agreed to do so at the same time.

“Reporting to Tepes-nim! We collapsed the sewers as ordered, but there were no enemies in the sewers.”

“We conducted the specified ambush, but we only found traces of enemies upon arriving..”

“The traps we set near the shops were destroyed and…”

‘This is absurd…!’

Tepes’ expression turned ugly.

“You bastards must have made some mistakes.”

There was no way the humans could have known what he was about to do when his knowledge came from the future.

All of a sudden, a rift in space opened, and a familiar being emerged from the rift.

“...Ghost?”

Tepes made sure that the locations where True Vampire Ghost and True Vampire Stigma were stationed had more traps than the other locations.

‘So, why is he bleeding?’

Tepes stood up from the coffin and asked, “What happened? How did they get you?”

“Keuk, it’s the chiefs…” True Vampire Ghost seemed exhausted as he stared at Tepes. “The chiefs of the werewolf tribes and dozens of humans attacked me.”

“...I see.”

In the previous regressions, True Vampire Ghost didn’t have to deal with the chiefs of the werewolf tribes because most of the werewolves were supposed to be already dead at this point in the basement of the royal palace.

‘They did not fall for the trap this time… That is the change that led to this situation.’

Tepes wordlessly sat on the lid of his coffin.

‘Defeat, defeat, and defeat…’

The only news that he had heard were reports of their defeat from all over the city.

“We lost in all locations?”

The traps that they had installed all over the city also failed to get rid of a single enemy.

‘How is this possible?’

Tepes stared at the map when the door was suddenly flung open.

“There are more of them than last time…”

Tepes saw more werewolves and Players than in the previous regression. In addition, they were mostly unscathed. They wore triumphant faces as they strode into the throne room.

“This is interesting. Very interesting…!”

Tepes was defeated multiple times despite having the ability to turn back time, and it was a fresh experience for him.

“It’s over, Tepes.”

Snap!

Upon hearing that, Tepes didn’t hesitate to snap his fingers.

It didn’t really matter because the outcome was obvious.

“Tepes, over It’s…”

Time began to flow backward in accordance with Tepes’ will.

***

When the rowdy royal palace finally became quiet once again, Tepes took out his pocket watch

Tick, tock, tick!

‘It’s 6:12 a.m…’

It was currently dawn.

Tepes gathered the vampire apostles and True Vampires to give them orders.

“I am aware of the Players and werewolves’ plan. From now on, do as I command.”

Tepes ordered the vampire apostles to set up a trap once again.

Of course, he knew that the traps were useless.

‘They’ll just find the traps again…’

Tepes thought hard and long, and he eventually reached an answer that was ridiculously simple than he expected.

‘There’s another one…’

Someone else could manipulate time like himself. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the humans and werewolves to be cognizant of his plans. If there were someone else who could manipulate time, then everything would make sense.

‘Now that I know your tricks, it’s the end of the road for you…’

A trivial battle of the brains had never been right up Tepes’ alley. However, it seemed that the enemy had a remarkable strategist on their side.

‘There’s no reason to let the enemy stack the deck...’

Tepes could simply shuffle the deck and stack it again himself.

The ability to manipulate time was an invincible ability that had never disappointed him.

“There must be Players searching for the traps as we speak. Kill them all.”

Then, Tepes looked at Ghost. “Ghost. You take all the apostles with you.”

“...Isn’t that too much of an investment?”

“Not at all.”

‘It’s rather lacking…’

After all, the chiefs of the werewolf tribes and dozens of elite Players were going to attack Ghost.

Tepes pointed at one of the vampire apostles.

“Hey, you. Go to the basement and bring me my heart.”

The vampire apostle obliged, and he eventually returned with a chest containing Tepes’ heart. An ominous stream of energy flowed out of Tepes when he held the beating heart in his hand.

‘Beat faster…’

Lub, dub, lub..!

As Tepes fast-forwarded the heart’s time, the heart started to beat faster as if it were having a seizure.

The vampire apostles were stupefied to discover that the world outside had dimmed.

“T-Tepes-nim. The red fog is…!”

“It’s daytime, but the red fog has appeared!”

“I should have done this from the start. I have never really been a fan of using my brain; I still find this more enjoyable than a battle of brains.”

‘And as always, I will emerge victorious…’

Tepes clenched his heart and muttered in a cold voice,

“Members of the clan of the night—wake up and participate in the banquet of blood.”

***

“Argh!”

“They’re tougher than I expected.”

“There are more apostles than we thought as well.”

The chiefs grumbled while facing True Vampire Ghost. They thought they would be able to easily overpower True Vampire Ghost, but things were tougher than they initially thought.

“...” Rahmadat fell into deep thought upon suddenly recalling Skaya’s words.

- Hey, musclehead. If you end up struggling, unlike what we had discussed, then you should assume that the enemy has turned back time once again.

‘Skaya said that he can’t regress forever…’

Things had changed, but the changes were signs that they were doing well. Rahmadat clenched his fists, convinced that they would succeed.

All of a sudden, Arnold looked up. The other werewolves and Players looked up as well, and they were looking at the same thing.

“...The red fog?”

“W-wait, this doesn’t make sense. It’s morning.”

The red fog was also higher in the sky than usual, and there were countless dots flying in the sky.

Grind!

Arnold gnashed his teeth and roared, “It’s the bats!”

“Those crazy bastards! They’re randomly biting people!”

Trium was plunged into complete chaos. The scared citizens were running away, and the vampires would suck their blood after catching them. The citizens’ eyes turned red not long after being bitten, and they also started biting the people around them.

It was complete pandemonium.

The werewolves were also plunged into chaos.

“Huh?”

“W-wait, why is this…”

The Arch Warriors slowly returned to their human forms. They frantically tried to transform once again, but none of them succeeded.

“Goodness…!” Arnold exclaimed in distress as the fur all over him disappeared.

He stared at the red fog, looking helpless.

“They have been hiding that ability all this time?”

It turned out that the red fog could not only block them from receiving moonlight but the red fog could also absorb their Lunar Force. It was a devastating ability against the werewolves, who had to recharge their Lunar Force overnight.

The werewolves fell into despair upon coming face-to-face with the red fog’s true power.

“Damn it.” Rahmadat swept his gaze across the werewolves and inadvertently recalled Skaya’s warning.

- Don’t panic even if the worst-case scenario unfolds. Just stick to your task.

‘True Vampire Tepes…’

Tepes would definitely turn back time once he was on the brink of death.

“It’s up to you know, friend...”

Fortunately, the task belonged to someone who had never and would never fail his task.

***

Bang!

The luxurious door of the royal palace was flung open as hundreds of Players barged in as if they were on fire.

“I never expected that I would get to experience a fight like this again.”

“Are you talking about the fight we had with those cockroaches? This is even worse! These bastards are increasing in numbers even at this moment!”

The Players under the leadership of Wei Chun-Hak and Milphage made way, but that was it. Thousands of vampires shattered the windows of the corridor and surrounded the Players.

“I must admit—I’m really surprised.” A little boy greeted them with his hands behind his back. “I didn’t think there could be so many strong humans.”

“Judging from the annoying way he talks, that brat must be True Vampire Stigma.”

“He’s a child? That’s even better. He actually reminds me of my six-year-old nephew, whom I had been wanting to spank.”

The two Heavens then looked back.

“It seems like our role ends here.”

“Specter-nim. We’ll take care of him, so please go ahead.”

“Wei Chun-Hak, Milphage...”

Seo Jun-Ho bit his lips and nodded. Wei Chun-Hak and Milphage contributed greatly to the invasion of the royal palace beneath the red fog. Their contributions couldn’t be described with any other word other than ‘great’ because more than seventy percent of the Celestial Dragon Guild and Hallem Guild’s elite Players perished on the way here.

“They’ll all come back to life once time is turned back, right?”

“What a dumb question. Have you ever seen Seo Jun-Ho lie before?”

“They will all come back to life for sure. I am sure of that,” Seo Jun-Ho said firmly.

Meanwhile, Kim Woo-Joong and Gong Ju-Ha walked out from behind him.

“I will stay and support them.”

“I’m going to stay here, too.”

Judging from the number of enemies, the remaining Players wouldn’t last long, even with two Heavens supporting them. Therefore, Kim Woo-Joong and Gong Ju-Ha decided to stay here

Kim Woo-Joong flung his bloodied hair back and stared at Seo Jun-Ho.

“Once he’s dead, we will be able to start all over again, right?”

“...To be exact, we just have to beat him up until he’s on the brink of death.”

“This is interesting. I’ve always been wondering about what will happen to the people in the present if the regressor goes back in time.”

Seo Jun-Ho had been wondering about the answer to that question as well. He nodded heavily and said, “I’ll leave this to you two.”

“Go ahead.”

Shwing!

Kim Woo-Joong unsheathed his sword and stared darkly at his enemies.

“I won’t let even a single one of these vampires go past me while you’re fighting him.”

***

Tepes stood up when Seo Jun-Ho finally arrived at the throne room.

- Partner.

‘Ah, yes…’

Seo Jun-Ho was suddenly struck with a strong sense of déjà vu. He figured that he had to have already fought Tepes like this before.

‘I wonder if I won back then...’

Seo Jun-Ho presumed that he won because Tepes had turned back time again.

However, he still had one burning question.

‘Am I the only one who dealt with him?’

The situation had to have turned out in a different way in every regression, so the Players and werewolves who were still alive right now might have already died in the previous regressions by the time he had gotten here.

Tepes spoke slowly, “Are you the one who has been standing in my way again and again?”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Pffft! Kekeke…!” Tepes boisterously laughed and revealed a triumphant smile. “It just occurred to me that I will never lose to you guys.”

“I’m afraid that you’re wrong.”

The Players had suffered immense damage, the citizens of Trium had died, and many werewolves and Players had died as well. In addition…

‘I also promised...’ Seo Jun-Ho had promised that he would beat Tepes to the brink of death so that the latter would have no choice but to turn back time to survive, which meant that those who had died would come back to life.

“You’re looking for a way to kill me with minimal damage to your side or something similar like that, am I right?”

“...!” Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes trembled. Tepes saw through his thoughts.

Tepes smiled slightly at Seo Jun-Ho’s reaction.

“And that is why you humans are so insignificant…”

The moment when one would have to choose what to give up and throw away would eventually arrive in one’s life, but many humans would refuse to even face such a moment.

“Your heart is greedy and weak. You also refuse to give up anything.”

Tepes was convinced that humans would never be able to beat him with such greed and mindset. Tepes tore his own chest apart and returned his heart to its original place.

“Let me tell you one thing…” Tepes cacked wickedly before saying, “Even if you win this fight, I will not turn back time again.”

“...!” Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes quivered violently at Tepes’ words.

At the same time, a message popped up.

[You have encountered the boss monster of Trium, True Vampire Tepes.]

[Once defeated, safe zones will appear in Trium.]