Return of the Frozen Player

"They aren’t that difficult to manage. What’s harder is inventing…” remarked the Laboratory Director. These researchers’ raison d\'etre was inventing.

"From here on out, you have to follow my steps precisely…"

"The holy relic is enshrined here?" Prince Digor asked while looking at an ordinary-looking door that was randomly attached to the corridor.

"It looks ordinary, but it’s different inside. Please follow me." The Laboratory Director unlocked the door and swung it open. Prince Digor memorized the Laboratory Director’s footsteps and looked around the room.

"What is this?"

"Isn’t it dizzying? I got really dizzy here the first time I came here..."

The space in the room was distorted, and it looked like several dimensions had been stitched together in the room. The room looked like it had no ceiling, floor, or walls. He couldn’t even say for sure whether he was standing or lying down.

"What happens if we get lost here?”

"Once you get lost in the gap, it’s over. The main reason why we use monitors to observe the holy relic is that most of them have gotten lost in the gap. The so-called gap I’m talking about is what we call a dimensional gap.”

Prince Digor gulped, and he became more meticulous in following the Laboratory Director’s steps.

"Is this the world that my father has embodied?"

"Indeed, but not quite. His Majesty said that he managed to embody this world using the power of the holy relics,” said the Laboratory Director.

They soon arrived at a landing, and the Laboratory Director muttered, “We’ll go up here, and we’re going to open this door. Then, we’re going to climb up the ladder.”

Prince Digor moved silently in the dizzying space. He was about to break out into a cold sweat out of nausea when the Laboratory Director finally opened a new door.

"Whew! We\'re here."

They arrived at an ordinary room that contained a chest.

“…”

Prince Digor wiped the sweat off of his face and looked around. Force crystal tools were installed in every corner of the room. Those tools were probably the reason why they could look at the holy relic through the monitors outside.

"Is the holy relic in that box?"

"Yes, but as I told you, it’s fine..." The Laboratory Director sighed. He looked like he had lost ten years of his life on their journey here.

"Yes, it should be fine,” muttered Prince Digor.

“…?” The Laboratory Director turned around, sensing that something was off. However, he was met with a rift in space that abruptly swallowed him.

"Y-Your Highness..!. S-save—”

The Laboratory Director’s desperate scream was abruptly cut off. The Laboratory Director would surely get lost in the dimensional gap and live the rest of his life in a maze.

“…”

Prince Digor walked over to the box.

His hand was trembling as he reached out and wiped the dust off of the chest.

‘Finally…’ He was finally standing in front of it. No one had any idea just how long he had been waiting for this moment. \'I feel like I’m starting to like those humans.’

The humans had driven his father into a corner, which allowed him to seize this opportunity. Prince Digor had been living his life as a mere scarecrow over the past thousand years.

It was about time he shattered the chains that had been holding him down.

"I will correct everything…” muttered Prince Digor with thick greed in his eyes, and then he decisively opened the chest.

***

It had been an hour since the battle in front of the Chronos Laboratory began...

Ruuumble!

How many times had it been? General Bocello frowned.

"Fool. Can’t you see that it doesn\'t work against me?"

"My master told me that a door will open if you keep on knocking."

"How foolish.” General Bocello snorted and instantly narrowed the distance between him and Baek Geon-Woo. "Lightning attacks. You definitely caught me off guard, but…”

Bzzt.

General Bocello slapped the lightning bolt away with his halberd.

"I think I already know how to deal with your lightning.”

Baek Geon-Woo examined the general. He was indeed a troublesome opponent.

\'Teacher was right. The world is big. There is always a higher mountain…’

Baek Geon-Woo initially felt like he could take on everything after defeating Erebo by himself, but it seemed that Seo Jun-Ho had been living in a world of monsters that were far stronger than Erebo.

Boom!

A large-framed man crashed to the ground not too far away from Baek Geon-Woo.

"Cough, ugh."

"Are you okay?" asked Baek Geon-Woo.

“Not really…” Rahmadat muttered.

He stood up with Baek Geon-Woo\'s assistance and glared at the ground.

"How’s your opponent, Bocello? My choice was a bust. He’s huge, but he’s much weaker than he looks."

"…Bamon."

The slime on the ground quickly took on the shape of a human.

The slime’s identity was Bamon—one of the two remaining generals of the empire.

"If I wasn’t injured, then a punk like you—Ugh!”

Rahmadat grabbed his chest as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Are you still not going to admit it? The fight is over. I can kill you anytime I want."

Bamon\'s ability was slime transformation, and he had created a small slime that managed to enter Rahmadat’s blood vessel. His slime had already wrapped around Rahmadat’s heart.

“How annoying…” Rahmadat\'s thoughts became complicated. He wanted to open his chest and take his heart out and crush it to crush the slime as well.

‘But can I endure that?’ The Babella Empire’s torture methods had thoroughly exhausted him. He had only been taking potions to recover, and only a healer like Cha Si-Eun could truly heal him. \'Is there no other way?’

Rahmadat gnashed his teeth.

Baek Geon-Woo asked, "Can’t you do something with your Super Regeneration?”

“I can, but not right now. Perhaps in a few hours…"

His Super Regeneration (EX) was working, but he still needed another six hours or so to reach optimal condition.

"A few hours...” Baek Geon-Woo said after much thought. The two powerful generals started walking toward them. "I\'ll try to endure for a few hours."

“…Are you serious?"

"Yes. So step back and focus on recovering," replied Baek Geon-Woo.

“…”

Rahmadat stared intently at Baek Geon-Woo’s face. He thought about it for a while, but he eventually bumped Baek Geon-Woo’s chest with his fist

"You look serious, so I’ll accept your offer, Jun-Ho\'s senior brother."

"Please go ahead…"

"Uh, can you not be so polite when talking to me?”

“O-okay…”

Rahmadat smiled lightly and left the battlefield. He sat down cross-legged and meditated. He cut off his senses and devoted all of his energy to recovering.

"You\'re going to deal with both of us by yourself? Aren\'t you being too greedy?”

"I thought the same, but…” Baek Geon-Woo looked up. "It seems that I’m not alone."

“…!”

The two generals instinctively looked up, but they could only see darkness.

"Hmm?"

‘Was the sky always this dark?’

The moment the question crossed the two generals’ minds, the darkness split open.

"Silent Flash Wave!"

A wave of darkness struck the two generals.

"Argh!"

They hastily defended themselves, but the attack shattered their defenses.

Seo Jun-Ho landed deftly next to Baek Geon-Woo with White Dragon in hand.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

"No, your timing was perfect,” said Baek Geon-Woo with a grin.

Bocello recovered and looked around. "…How the hell are you here?”

They had ordered all of their men to surround Seo Jun-Ho—a thousand of them. There was no way Seo Jun-Ho defeated or shook all of them off in just an hour.

"I left that side to someone trustworthy."

“Hm?”

"Ah, are you talking about your clone?”

Baek Geon-Woo asked, "Is that true? Did you leave Frost and the clone to fend for themselves against the army?”

"No, I left Frost and Sir Hart to deal with the army."

The Frost Queen had boasted that she could take on the army after evolving once more. Of course, she explained that it was impossible for her to annihilate them, but she could definitely hold them back.

“So what is your clone doing?” asked Baek Geon-Woo.

Seo Jun-Ho only smiled at him.

***

“Wow…” Prince Digor muttered in admiration.

The sacred-looking ring in the chest contained an indescribable power.

"This is it! This will do! I can do it by borrowing its power!"

He wouldn’t live as a scarecrow anymore.

Most importantly, Prince Digor was already aware of the emperor\'s goal.

‘He’s the only one who’s going to survive.’

The emperor had long become a monster, and would he give Prince Digor special treatment once he had achieved his goal?

\'Absolutely not.’

The emperor would eventually take Prince Digor’s life to extend his own life. It wasn’t strange that Prince Digor already knew his inevitable outcome. After all, he had cultivated the emperor’s Force.

Rebelling was also impossible…

In other words…

\'There\'s only one way to set it all right.’

He had to absorb the holy relic’s power and escape the emperor’s influence. Then, he would usurp the throne, similar to how the emperor had usurped this world.

"One by one, I\'ll take everything away...”

He would live as Emperor Digor rather than as Scarecrow Digor.

His trembling hands reached out toward the holy relic.

Creeak.

However, someone else suddenly opened the door.

Prince Digor turned around in surprise, and his eyes quivered.

‘No one’s there?’

The door was definitely closed just now. Prince Digor’s surprise soon turned into fury.

"Show yourself!"

His Force swept through the room and distorted space. The culprit had to use magic to avoid the wave of Force, which deactivated Night Walking as a consequence.

"…Seo Jun-Ho?"

"Hehe."

Prince Digor frowned at the sleazy grin. Why was it that just looking at that sleazy grin made him feel uncomfortable and angry?

"You’re the bloody clone."

Prince Digor gnashed his teeth upon recalling a shameful memory. He could still remember following the clone, thinking that it was Seo Jun-Ho. In the end, he discovered that he had been following the clone, and Seo Jun-Ho had already escaped by the time he returned to the Imperial Palace.

"Oh, you got it right this time." Seo Jun-Sik chuckled.

Prince Digor’s frown deepened. “I\'m afraid I don’t have time to play with you today."

"I\'m not here to play as well. I\'m here to carry out the order to stop you."

"Stop me? You’re going to stop me?" Digor sneered, and his gaze turned to the holy relic. Yes, there was no reason for him to waste time on Seo Jun-Ho’s clone. "Try and stop me, then!"

"No, hey! I’m in front of you! Stop!" Seo Jun-Sik screamed and rushed toward Digor, but Digor was faster.

Booom!

A huge explosion occurred, sending Seo Jun-Sik flying toward the wall. His back started to hurt, but his task to stop Prince Digor was more important than minding his pain.

"Uh… Was I too late? Am I screwed?” Seo Jun-Sik gulped.

Prince Digor exuded a boundless amount of energy after placing the holy ring on his forehead. The energy was so strong and overwhelming that Seo Jun-Sik felt like he would get overwhelmed by it if he were to let his guard down for even a moment.

"Ku, krrrr…” Prince Digor was trembling as if he were being electrocuted, and only the whites could be seen in his eyes. It seemed that he wasn’t strong enough to contain the power that the holy relic contained.

‘A chance!’ Seo Jun-Sik reached out for the holy relic. The operation would be successful if he managed to put that ring into his Inventory. It didn\'t really matter if he died because he was just a clone.

‘Touch it!’

When his finger finally touched the ring, Prince Digor’s eyes rolled and glared at him.

"T-this strength belongs to me!"

"You crazy basta—"

An unprecedented wave of energy engulfed Seo Jun-Sik.

***

"…Jun-Sik?" Seo Jun-Ho muttered in shock. Seo Jun-Sik was his clone, so he could feel it.

‘My connection with him has been severed?’

It didn’t feel like Seo Jun-Sik managed to return to him because there was no influx of memories. Seo Jun-Ho retreated and anxiously opened his status window without letting his guard down.

‘Where is it?’

Cloning (S) was missing from the list of his skills. Seo Jun-Sik had died many times before, but this was the first time that the skill disappeared outright from his status window.

Seo Jun-Ho\'s eyes quivered.

‘What the hell happened?’

***

"Ugh…" Seo Jun-Sik felt hungover.

‘Digor? Where\'s that idiot?’

Seo Jun-Sik barely managed to stand up.

He looked around, and his jaw dropped.

“What? Where am I?”

He was surrounded by lines that seemed to continue on endlessly. He had seen this before while he was following the Laboratory Director and Prince Digor.

"No, it\'s different…"

There was a clear path to take back then, but there was none of that here.

Seo Jun-Sik suddenly recalled what the Laboratory Director had said to Prince Digor.

- Once you get lost in the gap, it’s over.

“Shit, this is crazy… I think I got lost in the gap. Great job, Jun-Sik..."

Seo Jun-Sik sighed. He took out his sword and was about to drive it into his heart.

“…!?” Seo Jun-Sik’s eyes abruptly shot open.

"My connection to him has been… severed?”

He couldn’t feel Seo Jun-Ho anymore. In other words, he wouldn’t be able to return to Seo Jun-Ho even if he died.

‘What’s going to happen to me?’ Fear slowly gripped Seo Jun-Sik’s heart.

“…!” Seo Jun-Sik kicked up the sword by his feet, snatched it out of mid-air, and swung it backward.

Claaang!

‘An ambush!’

There were monsters in the dimensional gap? Seo Jun-Sik nervously looked up to examine his opponent, but his expression stiffened upon seeing his opponent’s face.

"You… what? Why are you here?”

"I see..." The man’s eyes resembled a dead fish. He had a gaunt face, and his left arm was missing. The man was completely different from the man Seo Jun-Sik was more familiar with than anyone else.

"You\'re Seo Jun-Sik…” said the man—no, Seo Jun-Ho.