Return of the Frozen Player

“I thought you were in trouble because you told everyone to gather, but…” Shin Sung-Hyun took a glance at the two Overminds kneeling with their hands raised as if they were being punished by their teachers.

“Who are these guys?”

“They’re my sparring partners.”

Tremble

The wounded Overminds trembled.

Gilberto looked around and asked, “I’m assuming you didn’t call all of us over just because of these guys.”

“Of course not.”

Seo Jun-Ho shared the information he had gotten from the young bartender in the northern area. After hearing his story, Yuri and Wei Chun-Hak nodded.

“It seems like we missed that part. We had no idea that a gang like that existed.”

“It’s not strange that you guys were unaware. I wasn’t sure of it either until these bastards told me the truth with their own mouths.”

“But the scale is much bigger than I thought. Sixty-four, huh…”

The gang which took over the abandoned factories consisted of sixty-four members.

“Do you think it’ll be okay? It seems that they are bribing the security here.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal. I think the power plant would gladly accept more prisoners.”

“Ah!”

The Overminds hastily sprawled on the ground and desperately grabbed Seo Jun-Ho’s feet.

“P-please…! Don’t hand us over to the power plant!”

“We’ll do anything. The power plant swallows everyone who enters it without spitting them out!”

‘Of course, they wouldn’t let anyone out. After all, they must have been using them for experiments.’’

Seo Jun-Ho crouched and nodded. “Relax. I won’t send you to the power plant.”

“...?” The Overminds looked up with confused expressions.

Thud!

There was a dull thud as Seo Jun-Ho knocked out the two Overminds.

“However, we have to sacrifice you two because we need as many spots as possible.”

‘If sixty-four of us manage to infiltrate the power plant, it should be possible for us to destroy it.’

Seo Jun-Ho was determined to take over the gang at all costs. He had to do it to increase the operation’s success rate.

“Let’s get it over with before sunrise.”

***

Forty-three players walked toward an abandoned factory.

The desolate streets slowly got filled with more and more figures as they approached the abandoned factory.

“Can we really handle sixty-four Overminds without using magic?” Baek Geon-Woo asked with a concerned look.

“It’s not that too hard to deal with them without magic. Just don’t let your guard down.”

The Overminds had many different abilities, and the Overminds in the gang definitely had nothing to lose. In other words, they would do anything to kill the Players, and the Players could die if they let their guard down.

“I’ll go in first,” said Shin Sung-Hyun. He led his guild members toward the factory.

The rest of the Players soon rushed toward the factory, and the gang members emerged from the factory one by one.

“Yikes, they look scary.”

The Overminds holding knives, axes, and clubs glared at the Players with murderous eyes.

“Oh, I forgot,” said Seo Jun-Ho. “Kill them if you want.”

After all, they only needed the Overminds’ faces.

“You bastards! How dare you come here!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The gang members roared and rushed at the Players. Unfortunately for them, these Players were veteran and elite Players of Earth. They easily incapacitated the Overminds with their bare hands.

‘If we keep this up…’

Seo Jun-Ho thought the Players would easily wipe the floor with the Overminds without suffering any heavy injuries or casualties.

‘What’s going on?’

However, Seo Jun-Ho suddenly frowned.

He saw ten Overminds dressed neatly and in suits walking toward the factory with practiced and disciplined steps.

“Who are they?”

“...They belong to Ryan Company; they’re members of Ryan Company’s tracking team.”

“Ah.”

A troubled expression flitted across Seo Jun-Ho's face. If they had come here to deal with the gang as well, things would get quite complicated.

“You people must be members of the Shupigel Company’s tracking team. I hate to admit this, but you’re great.”

“Are you trying to get one last compensation from the power plant now that the power plant has stopped ordering consumables?”

“We can’t let you guys hog all the fun.”

“Hm…”

It was clear that they were here to take some credit.

“I’ll share the reward with you guys, so how about you go back and leave this place to us?” Seo Jun-Ho suggested.

“Bullshit. We’ll obtain the city hall’s honor and trust if we turn those guys in, and the city hall’s honor and trust are priceless.”

‘Is that so, then why did you leave them unattended until now?’

Seo Jun-Ho sighed lightly and asked, “Are you going to participate no matter what?”

“Looking at how things are going, I can see that you’ve put in a lot of effort to catch these guys. Why don't you just give us twenty of them?”

Giving up twenty gang members meant reducing the members of the power plant infiltration team to a mere forty-four. Seo Jun-Ho shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept that.”

“So you want to shed blood?”

“I guess you’re confident because of your mercenaries, but don’t you know that there’s nothing good about turning us into your enemy?”

Unfortunately for them, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t really care about them. His priority was to bring the maximum number of people to the power plant for the highest success rate.

Seo Jun-Ho’s stubborn look made the opposing tracking team raise their guard.

‘This is really a terrible place to live. Imagine killing your neighbors right away just because you don’t agree with them.’

However, the culture here made Seo Jun-Ho feel at ease.

“...I guess I don’t have to treat them like they’re humans…” Seo Jun-Ho muttered.

Boom!

A loud noise echoed as Seo Jun-Ho’s figure blurred.

The pupils of the Overminds constricted, but before they could even do anything, Seo Jun-Ho had already slashed out with his dagger, slicing the throat of an Overmind at the helm of the opposing tracking team.

“Ah! Aaah…”

The eyes of another Overmind quivered upon seeing his colleague stagger while desperately holding his bleeding throat.

‘You should have kept your eyes on me.’

Swoosh!

Seo Jun-Ho swung his dagger upward.

An Overmind collapsed to the ground.

He was split into two from the top of his head down to his crotch.

“Dorati! Guson!” An Overmind cried out. His eyes flashed murderously. A fierce and foreign energy flowed out of him as he pulled out his weapon.

‘Is that Force?’

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know the Overmind’s ability, but he didn’t feel the need to know.

Swoosh!

Seo Jun-Ho hurled his dagger with all his might, and it pierced the Overmind’s skull.

“...”

Thud!

Three Overminds were killed in the blink of an eye, but there were still seven Overminds from Ryan Company.

‘They only raised their guard after I killed three of them?’

Seo Jun-Ho chuckled upon seeing the Overminds’ hesitation to approach him.

“You guys have good potential, but…”

‘You lack the basics.’

However, it wasn’t strange because the tracking team members had only ever fought criminals, who were considered third-rate even among Overminds.

‘They’re not good enough to face me.’

These Overminds were nowhere near strong enough to deal with Seo Jun-Ho, who had gone through countless hardships.

“Surround him! Do not give him room to run wild!”

“Tendo! Tie him up!”

‘I can’t let them surround me.’

Seo Jun-Ho’s cold eyes turned to Tendo.

A system message appeared in front of Seo Jun-Ho.

[Hero’s Mind (EX) perfectly resists Image Bond.]

‘Image Bond?’ Seo Jun-Ho had never heard of such an ability before, but he figured that it was a mind-type ability because it triggered Hero’s Mind.

Seo Jun-Ho abruptly came to a halt.

His eyes glazed over, and his breathing immediately evened out.

“Phew. What a troublesome asshole, but at least we got him now.”

“Hurry up and kill him! We have no idea when he’ll come to his senses!” shouted their leader.

The six Overminds responded by raising their weapons and charging at Seo Jun-Ho.

‘Sorry to break it to you, but…’

Seo Jun-Ho’s dazed eyes sparkled stars upon choosing a spear-wielding Overmind as his target.

“It’s too late.”

The Overminds all had one thought upon seeing the light in Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes.

‘We’ve been had!’

Slice!

A sword appeared out of nowhere and sliced the spear-wielding Overmind’s spear in half.

“Huh?” muttered the spear-wielding Overmind. It turned out that his mind only managed to register his spear being split into two. His mind couldn’t register Seo Jun-Ho’s sword lacerating his chest.

Splash!

Warm blood drenched the ground and the six remaining Overminds from Ryan Company, but before they could even make a move, Seo Jun-Ho was already on the move.

‘That’s nine.’

Swoosh!

The heads of the remaining Overminds flew into the air.

‘And there’s only one left.’

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even bother to give the last remaining Overmind time to catch his breath.

“W-wait!” the leader raised his hands in surrender and hurriedly said, “I’m sorry. I’ll run away, so please—”

Slash!

His expression distorted in pain and shock when Seo Jun-Ho sliced his fingers as if they were tofu.

“Arghhhhh!”

“I told you. It’s too late.”

Sqwelp!

Seo Jun-Ho thrust his sword into the leader’s heart.

Overall, Seo Jun-Ho only used forty seconds to annihilate the Overminds from Ryan Company without mustering even a single particle of magic.

‘I’m getting the feel of it.’ Seo Jun-Ho had become more proficient in handling his strength. ‘I can’t use magic until the golden opportunity comes.’

“This is good enough,” Seo Jun-Ho muttered to himself before turning toward the other Players. It seemed that the timing was perfect; the Players had just incapacitated the Overminds in the factory.

***

“We can choose one of the three locations here, and we have to decide by the end of the day and leave by tomorrow lunch at the latest,” Son Chae-Won said while looking around the conference room.

They had to distract the emperor so that the power plant bomb squad could carry out their duty with ease.

“Hmm. This is difficult. We can’t choose a low-difficulty location because it’s probably not important enough to grab his attention.”

“On the other hand, a location worthy of his attention will be difficult to conquer.”

“Wait, wait, wait. There’s something wrong with your thoughts here,” said Seo Jun-Sik. He had been listening silently to their conversation, but he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and spoke, “What is our mission?”

“Our mission is to distract the emperor.”

“That’s right, but I feel like we’re too obsessed with that part. I think we’ve overlooked something more important.”

“We’ve overlooked something more important? Like what?”

Jun-Sik reached out for the hologram map floating in the middle of the air.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

He made a line by connecting several dots and went on. “Our main goal is to grab the emperor’s attention, but that’s not the only thing we should do.”

Their plan would most likely work if the opponent were an ordinary human being, but their opponent was the Emperor of the Overminds. There was no way they would catch his eyes with half-measures.

“I’m not sure if destroying a few cities is enough to attract his attention.”

Seo Jun-Sik’s words sounded cruel and inhumane, but he had a point.

“Ah!” Son Chae-Won exclaimed upon realizing her mistake. “I’m sorry. It seems that I’m still prioritizing our safety above anything else.”

“Don’t be sorry. I understand where you’re coming from.”

The Silent Moon Guild’s track record of completing most of their missions without any serious injuries or casualties had made them famous.

“I think it’s okay to proceed with this order in mind. Just keep in mind that this will draw a lot of attention.”

“Isn’t that what we’re trying to do?.”

The Overmind emperor was a callous and ruthless ruler, but he would have no choice but to investigate what was happening once the Players executed their plan.

“I hope Woo-Joong wakes up soon, he’ll be really helpful,” said Seo Jun-Sik.

Son Chae-Won nodded and said, “I know. I wonder when he’s going to wake up...”

“It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s just focus on the task at hand—”

Seo Jun-Sik suddenly stopped talking.

The people in the conference room trembled at once.

“Goodness!” Skaya jumped up from her seat and walked over to the window.

“No, no, no…” Skaya shook her head as if she couldn’t believe the scene unfolding in front of her. The horizon had become tainted with an ink-like color.

Even Rahmadat—the epitome of indifference—frowned at the strange scene.

“What is that, Skaya?” he asked.

Skaya could still remember analyzing a wall that was giving off the same energy as the black wall in front of them. Skaya bit her lips and said, “That’s Blackfield. It’s the same Blackfield as the one on the 2nd Floor.”

‘No, it was just installed, so it must be stronger and much more resilient than the Blackfield on the 2nd Floor.’

Blackfield’s appearance meant that the Players were trapped in a black box.

“I think we can no longer distract the emperor…”

‘We have to defend ourselves.’

They had to stop the enemies from invading the castle.