Return of the Frozen Player

However, the ice castle’s walls couldn’t defend against enemies falling from the sky.

Bang!

The giant Overminds landed on the magic circles above the castle with a loud explosion.

“Jun-Ho!” Skaya exclaimed as she emerged from a rift in space. She looked at the magic circle that covered the sky above the ice castle and spoke urgently, “The castle is still holding out, thanks to the pre-installed defense spells, but our situation is bad!”

“How long do you think the castle will last?”

“I’m not sure… maybe ten minutes at most.”

“How many enemies are out there?”

“I’ve seen at least ten thousand…”

In other words, there would be more than ten thousand enemies. Still, ten thousand was a number that was four times more than the current number of Players.

“It’s too late to retreat,” said Seo Jun-Ho. They would be able to retreat if there were only a few dozen Players here, but there were at least two thousand Players in the ice castle. The retreat was bound to be slow with so many Players.

“We need to get it together and fight back.” Between the unprepared and prepared, one didn’t have to be a genius to know who would be at a disadvantage. However, Seo Jun-Ho knew what he had to do in a situation like this.

“Skaya, amplify my voice.”

***

The Players crowded the outdoor training ground of the ice castle.

Boom!

They gulped as they nervously looked up at the giant Overminds banging against the magic circle above them.

“Damn it! What the hell were the patrols doing? How did those bastards come near us?!”

“What? How were we supposed to find them when they’re moving above the clouds?”

The Players started playing the blame game, and the air between them heated up.

It was clear that chaos was imminent.

However, a loud voice rang in their ears, attracting their attention.

- Mages and long-ranged fighters. Climb up the wall right now.

“That’s…” The voice sounded as steady as a boulder, and it calmed the Players down. It was hard to find even a little sign of hesitation in the voice echoing throughout the training ground.

- First of all, get rid of the Overminds falling from the sky one by one. The close-quarters combatants should gather at the snowfield.

The voice brought the Players back to their senses. The sudden rain took them by surprise, but they were veterans.

“The Cheong-Hae Guild will obey Specter-nim’s command.”

“What are you doing? Gather the mages of each party and send them up the walls!”

“Hamel Mercenaries! Advance toward the snowfield outside the castle! Specter-nim must have a plan!”

The Players had no idea about Seo Jun-Ho’s plan, but not a single one of them doubted him.

“Specter-nim has led countless battles to victory! Trust him and follow his command!”

“This is a precious opportunity to take up a page in history, so focus! Don’t die!”

The guilds and parties followed Seo Jun-Ho’s command at once as if they had received a holy revelation, and it only took them seven minutes to move to their respective positions.

Seo Jun-Ho placed both of his hands on the window frame and asked, “Skaya. How much magic do you have left?”

“I still have quite a bit, why?”

“I thought that we should be in tandem for the first time in a while.”

Skaya’s eyes flashed at Seo Jun-Ho’s words. “Oh? Do you have a good idea?”

“I don’t know whether it’s a good or a reckless idea, but… I do have one.”

Boom!

Seo Jun-Ho looked up at the thousand Overminds punching the magic circle and murmured, “It’s a bit unfair for them to be at an advantage on our home, don’t you think so?”

***

Swoosh!

A supermassive airship the size of a few cities hovered above the clouds.

“Hm.” Digor was in the cockpit, and he was observing the situation on the ground through one of the monitors. Two generals—Bocello and Bamon—were standing next to him.

“They seem quite perplexed.”

“Of course, they would be. I’m sure they didn’t expect this.”

“Mmhm.” Digor nodded. Digor was sure that they would be able to annihilate the enemies this time. Of course, it wasn’t really strange because the enemies had no idea that their hideout had already been exposed.

In addition, they had to have been taken aback by the sudden attack from the skies.

‘In other words…’ Digor’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at the door of the cockpit. He suddenly remembered two men and a woman who should be on standby right now.

‘They’re humans, but why are they trying to wipe the Players out?’ He found it difficult to understand their intentions, but it didn’t matter. He cared a lot more about the result rather than the process.

“Huh? Your Highness,” said Bocello with a frown as he pointed at the screen. “The humans suddenly became organized…”

“Hm. You’re right.” The movements of the panicking humans had changed.

‘Is it that cheeky human who invaded the capital by himself to rescue his colleague?’

Digor’s eyes grew fierce as he recalled Seo Jun-Ho’s face.

“General Bocello. What do you think is the reason why the humans are moving out of the castle?”

“Well…” Bocello closed his mouth at a question that was a bit difficult to answer.

Bamon saw that, and he opened his mouth. He considered this as an opportunity for him to rise up the ranks as he said, “I think they’re going to sacrifice the minority for the majority.”

“Oh? You think they’re going to save the rest at the expense of the others?”

“Yes, Your Highness. There are many times more people leaving the gate rather than those who are on the wall.”

There were about five hundred humans on the wall, but there were about two thousand humans leaving through the gate.

‘If General Bamon’s assumption is true…’

Digor would be slightly disappointed by Seo Jun-Ho’s incompetence.

‘I guess I won’t have to worry about humans from now on.’ Even if they survived today’s ambush, they would never be able to unite once more. ‘There’s nothing less reliable than a superior who abandons his subordinates in times of crisis.’

Digor was relieved. He then gave an order. “The defense magic circle is about to break. Get ready to deploy the troops.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Thousands of Overminds would descend on the ice castle the moment the magic circle broke. Digor thought that there would be no more reason for him to continue watching the operation by then.

He was convinced that there was no way the humans could still turn the tables around at that point.

‘Everything is going perfectly according to plan.

However, Digor’s look of satisfaction turned strange.

“...General Bamon,” he called out.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I don’t think those humans are running away.”

The two thousand Players weren’t running away. They drew their weapons, seemingly determined to fight.

“Hah. How are they so confident?”

The snowfield was huge, and there was nowhere to hide. In other words, those with more troops would be at an advantage if they were to fight here.

‘Even if they take advantage of the ice castle, they will be at a disadvantage…’

Digor’s confusion grew at the nonsensical decision of the humans. However, his train of thought was interrupted by Seo Jun-Ho’s appearance.

“Seo Jun-Ho!”

Seo Jun-Ho walked toward the outdoor training ground of the empty ice castle.

Then, he slowly raised his head.

‘What? What was that?’’

Digor knew that it was impossible, but it felt like he had made eye contact with Seo Jun-Ho.

Digor felt a shiver down his spine, and his instincts forced him to speak, “Up...”

“Pardon me, Your Highness?”

“Go up!”

***

“He’s more quick-witted than I thought.”

Seo Jun-Ho smirked upon looking at the supermassive airship.

“However, he noticed it a bit too late.”

Seo Jun-Ho awakened all the magic inside him, and the magic circulated rapidly through his magic circuit to answer Seo Jun-Ho’s call. “You should have fought me with all you might from the very beginning.”

‘Why did he only send a thousand when he brought ten thousand troops with him?’

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes focused on the supermassive airship, which was frantically trying to raise its altitude. “You’ll pay for your arrogance and carelessness.”

Crackle!

Seo Jun-Ho’s magic froze the clouds.

Buzz!

The supermassive airship tried its best to raise its altitude, but the frozen clouds held it in place.

“Skaya!” Seo Jun-Ho shouted while holding his aching head.

Skaya’s playful voice echoed. “You didn’t have to shout. I’m not deaf, you know? And I’m ready since a while ago.”

A vast amount of magic burst out from behind Seo Jun-Ho.

Boom!

Skaya’s Destruction Ray illuminated the night as it pierced the clouds and struck the supermassive airship.

“Y-Your Highness! There is severe damage to the engine! T-the airship is falling!”

“...Damn it!” Digor gnashed his teeth with bloodshot eyes. “The transport ships! Send out every transport ship we have in this airship! We’ll win an all-out war anyway, so don’t hesitate!”

‘We’re fine.’

The destruction of a supermassive airship was heartbreaking, but this wasn’t enough for the humans to turn the tables around.

‘Nothing changes. I just have to send the troops safely down to the ground.’

The Overminds who couldn’t fly were already on standby in the hundreds of transport ships. They would win as long as the troops landed safely on the ground.

General Bocello was staring at the monitors and saw a figure through the static.

“T-that bastard…!”

A gray-haired man was standing on the castle wall.

“This is a bit overwhelming, but what can I do? It’s my junior brother’s request.”

The gray-haired man looked up at the sky as bright yellow sparks burst out of him.

“You can go ahead and try to come down, but… it won’t be that easy.”

Boom!

The transport ships barely managed to break through the frozen clouds, but they exploded like fireworks upon being greeted by powerful lightning bolts and attacks.

***

“Keep attacking! Give them no quarter! Drop as many of them as you can!”

“Seven, eight, nine… haha! I got two at once! That was my eleventh transport ship!”

The Players on top of the walls destroyed the transport ships with ease. There were so many transport ships that the Players could hit one of them even without aiming properly.

“Damn it, it’s going to be hard to destroy them all!”

“It doesn’t matter! Just damaging them is good enough”

“Make sure they won’t fall on the ice castle! Get them to crash on the snowfield!” Shin Sung-Hyun shouted at the top of his lungs as he swept his gaze across the snowfield with eyes shining in admiration and awe.

‘No way. Did Specter-nim know about all this?’’

The operation’s outline wasn’t so great. In fact, it was an operation that relied on the empire’s carelessness. If the empire hadn’t been careless, then the operation wouldn’t have been impactful.

‘The most important part is that he seemed to have looked this far into the future...’

Even Shin Sung-Hyun himself was taken aback by the sudden night raid. However, Seo Jun-Ho calmly came up with a plan, and he even spearheaded the operation.

‘...And the results are clear as day...’

Boom!

The enemy transport ships crashed everywhere on the snowfield.

“Keugh…”

“Damn it, what’s going on…”

There were a few surviving Overminds, but they were greeted by the furious Players whose attacks were even colder than the snowfield.

‘We can do this.’

Shin Sung-Hyun clenched his fists.

Of course, he still wasn’t expecting that they would win because there were simply too many enemies.

‘However, what looked impossible now looks doable…’

And it was enough...

In addition, Specter would be fighting with the Players.

“Specter-nim…? Where did he go?” Shin Sung-Hyun tilted his head in wonder while staring at the outdoor training ground. Shin Sung-Hyun could swear that Specter was standing in the outdoor training ground just now, but he suddenly disappeared.