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The sudden drop in temperature turned Seo Jun-Ho’s breaths into white mists. Goosebumps had broken out all over him, and his heart was palpitating, perhaps due to the abrupt drop in temperature.
“...” Seo Jun-Ho wordlessly looked around in a daze.
‘Wow...’
Everything—as far as he could see—was covered in azure ice.
The street lights, the buildings, and the flame that was flying toward him had frozen splendidly as if they were works of art that a stubborn craftsman had crafted with all his might.
‘No, the flames have been temporarily trapped inside the ice.’
The flames were still trembling, looking for a way to escape.
“Hm.” The Frost Queen breathed out and lowered her hand. “So this is how you use it.”
She had failed to freeze the entire world, but she finally understood how to use the divine power that Helic had granted to her.
She turned around gracefully and walked toward her contractor. “Contractor.”
“...”
The Frost Queen in front of him felt unfamiliar, rendering him speechless.
“Let’s get you patched up first. It’ll be quick with this power.”
The Frost Queen split the divine power within her and injected the other half into Seo Jun-Ho’s heart.
“...!” Seo Jun-Ho recovered at breakneck speeds. He recovered so quickly that his regeneration rate had to have surpassed Cell Regeneration (S) or even Rahmadat’s Super Regeneration (EX).
Seo Jun-Ho examined himself and asked carefully, “This power… did you evolve while I was away?”
“Of course not. The Sun God lent me this power.”
“Helic lent you her power?”
‘I don’t recall an Administrator helping a Player to this extent../’
Seo Jun-Ho revealed a puzzled look and looked over the Frost Queen’s shoulder. He could see a crack forming on the ice that had sealed Kineos.
“He’s about to come out. You’ve become extremely powerful, but can you fight him without me?”
“Who knows? I can do it until I’ve exhausted this power, but…” the Frost Queen smiled and said, “I did not come here by myself, so you do not have to worry about me.”
‘She’s not alone?’
The thought had just popped up in Seo Jun-Ho’s mind when pillars of light descended upon the ruins.
The first ones to emerge from the pillars of light were Mio and Mr. Shoot.
“Jun-Ho. You did great holding out by yourself.”
- It seems that I can finally repay the debt I owe you.
The figures who emerged from the pillars of light after the Tenmei siblings were also familiar to Seo Jun-Ho.
“This is a Holy War led by the Sun God Himself. How can we stay back and not participate?”
“Holy War? No, I’m here because I’m Specter-nim’s fan.”
The priests and the Knight Order of the Church of the Sun under the leadership of Christin Lewis, as well as the members of the Goblin Guild under Gong Ju-Ha’s leadership, emerged from the pillars of light.
Moments later, a familiar swordsman also emerged from a pillar of light.
The members of Silent Moon stood behind him.
“All troops. Get ready for battle.”
Kim Woo-Joong turned and looked at Seo Jun-Ho.
“...Let’s talk once we’re done here, Jun-Ho.”
‘So he’s awake...’
Seo Jun-Ho felt like one of the weights that had been pressing down on his shoulders disappeared. Meanwhile, the Players and the failures hiding in the city finally emerged upon realizing that the battle was about to reach its climax.
“Woo-Joong, the emperor is strong. I know you just woke up, but you should focus if you don’t want to lay on a sickbed once more,” said Shin Sung-Hyun.
“Hm, is that so? Why do you look like you need to lay on a sickbed the most?” Kim Woo-Joong retorted. Indeed, Shin Sung-Hyun looked so exhausted that he needed to lay on a sickbed more than anyone else here.
However, Shin Sung-Hyun shook his head and drank a potion.
“I can’t let my subordinates go into battle without me.”
Crackle!
The ice that had been sealing Kineos finally shattered.
“You inferior creatures…” Kineos looked around and growled. “It’s great that you’ve assembled here! I can just wipe all of you out at once!”
The Frost Queen stomped, signaling the start of the battle.
Crackle!
A small igloo enveloped Seo Jun-Ho.
“Focus on your recovery! Do not enter the battle until you’ve completely recovered!”
The Frost Queen’s loud voice pierced Seo Jun-Ho’s ears, and the last scene he saw before the igloo was shut close was the sight of humans and failures fighting together against a massive Red Dragon.
‘Frost is right…’
The overwhelming power that Helic had bestowed upon the Frost Queen would eventually run out, and the scales of the battlefield would surely tip in Kineos’ direction once the Frost Queen was exhausted.
‘I can only trust them.’
Seo Jun-Ho set aside his concerns because the Players had the same goal as him.
“Kill the Overmind emperor and clear the 7th Floor.”
Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes and soon descended upon the world that he had briefly stopped establishing.
***
“Ah!” Gong Ju-Ha unknowingly exclaimed. Her flames were definitely hitting the Red Dragon, but they weren’t causing that much damage.
‘And it’s so hot out here!’
Gong Ju-Ha would have run away without looking back if she were fighting alone, but she couldn’t retreat here. If she retreated, the Players’ burden would become even heavier.
“Argh Just! Die! Already!” Gong Ju-Ha roared.
Fwoosh!
She hurled a massive pillar of fire at the emperor.
“Learn your place.”
The emperor blinked, and the massive pillar of fire disappeared.
Afterward, he stomped, and an earthquake shook the city.
“Argh!”
“Damn it, he really is a monster…”
Flames exploded like firecrackers in the skies before raining down on the Players.
“Holy Shield!”
Christin Lewis hastily raised his hand. A golden dome instantly manifested to protect the Players from the flames. The priests also injected their divine power into the shield.
“Tsk!” The emperor clicked his tongue. ‘This is annoying.’
He was annoyed, nothing else.
‘These dirty bugs.’
And then he started to get angry at their persistence…
‘Are they really thinking they can beat me? Is that why they’re holding out with all their might?’
The Overmind emperor roared. “Roarrrrrrr!”
The shockwaves swept past the city, destroying any buildings in its path and bursting the eardrums of the unfortunate Players who couldn’t react in time.
“Ah! M-my ears…!”
“Damn it, I can’t see clearly!”
The emperor looked down at the humans struggling in pain.
‘This is the difference between Stages.’
“You insects can’t withstand even a single roar of mine.” The emperor snorted in disdain at the Players’ pathetic efforts to hunt him down. ‘If I need to keep my eye on someone, it would be…’
The emperor’s gaze turned to a certain someone.
‘I have to keep an eye on that woman over there.’
The Frost Queen was looking for the perfect opportunity to use Helic’s power because she didn’t want to waste the power that Helic had entrusted to her.
‘The opportunity… It’s coming, but I don’t know when...’ The Frost Queen was frustrated. ‘If the contractor were here by my side, I think he would have somehow made an opportunity for me to take.’
“Are you perhaps looking for an opportunity to attack me?” asked the emperor with a contemptuous smirk. He easily saw through the Frost Queen’s thoughts, and it wasn’t that difficult because he could feel Helic’s divine power from her.
‘Unfortunately, that opportunity won’t come at all.’
Things would be different if Seo Jun-Ho were here, but he wasn’t here, and no one on the battlefield could hurt him.
‘There is no blade sharper than Seo Jun-Ho here.’
The Frost Queen thought the same.
“...!” The emperor felt a shiver down his spine, and his eyes shot wide open. ‘I see, there’s another one.’
He finally realized that there was another blade sharp enough to harm him.
Slash!
The scales on his nape were abruptly torn apart.
***
“I still don’t know whether I’m dreaming or not…” Kim Woo-Joong muttered. He looked down at the sword in his head. Everything was hazy, but one thing was certain.
‘The line.’
He had gone beyond the limits of the sword path that he had been walking down all his life, and the line he vaguely felt when he saw Ceylonso’s swordsmanship was already behind him.
‘Maybe this is nothing more than just a delusion.‘ Perhaps he wanted to see a miracle amidst his desperation. ‘But it’s worth a try; it’s just death, anyway.’
“Sigh.” Kim Woo-Joong lowered his sword. The sword in his hand felt unnatural, and he felt like he had been holding the sword a different way from the way he had done all throughout his life.
‘Was I holding it like this? No, was it like this?’
Kim Woo-Joong felt like he was in a foggy forest with a blindfold as he scoured through his memories. He carefully pieced together the fragments of memories he found within the deepest recesses of his mind.
“A forest? No, a cemetery?” muttered Kim Woo-Joong after piecing together a scene.
The scene depicted him fighting against someone in a life-or-death battle.
‘I went beyond the line during that fight…’
Kim Woo-Joong started running. ‘I think I remember it now. Yes. It was exactly like this.’
Kim Woo-Joong jumped onto a street light and onto a three-story building before soaring into the skies.
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“Ah.” Kim Woo-Joong swept his gaze across the ruined city, the Players, and the emperor. Soon, he was convinced. Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes shot wide open, and he no longer felt like he was wearing a blindfold in a foggy forest.
‘This feeling is just…’
Kim Woo-Joong couldn’t abandon the scene that he had witnessed because it was closest to the sword art that he had been pursuing all his life.
“Sword Saint Style Seventh Sword…”
Kim Woo-Joong gripped his sword as usual. He wielded it the way he had been wielding the sword since he became a Player. He had made many mistakes in the interim, and he had even doubted himself numerous times.
‘But I finally understand.’
He finally understood that he had been walking on the right path all this while, albeit it was a crooked path.
‘It’s crooked, but it belongs to me. It’s my path.’
Kim Woo-Joong thrust his sword sword.
“Heavenly Road.”
There had always been only one path.
***
The scales protecting the emperor’s nape were abruptly torn off, eliciting a sharp pain as well as injuring the emperor’s pride.
‘This is the second time! This is the second time an inferior human has harmed me today, and I was harmed by a human who hasn’t even reached the Star Destruction Stage?!’
“Roaaarrr!”
The emperor’s massive figure suddenly tilted.
And Tenmei Mio didn’t miss the opportunity...
“Sword Kinesis: Sword Dance.”
Swoosh!
Two swords pierced the emperor’s left eye.
“Aargh!”
“...!”
Thud!
The Red Dragon flapped his wings to temporarily escape the onslaught, destroying several buildings in the process.
However, the Frost Queen had been desperately waiting for him to take flight.
“Now!”
Kim Woo-Joong’s unexpected performance and Mio’s help gave the Frost Queen enough courage to attack.
‘Perhaps we can defeat him without the contractor.’
The Frost Queen imagined the best-case scenario as she activated every particle of divine power within her.
Crackle!
A giant sword of ice appeared upside down from a hundred meters above the sky.
“...Fragarach, kill my enemy.”
Fragarach was an invincible sword, and it had never failed to destroy the enemy, so the meaning behind the sword’s name was the Answerer.
“Get lost, lizard,” the Frost Queen spat coldly, and the giant sword plummeted toward the Red Dragon.
“Argh!”
“Stop him!”
“Don’t let him fly!”
“Restrain him with all your might, even at the cost of your lives!”
The Players and failures shouted at the same time.
‘He’ll die the moment that sword hits him!’
‘Die! Die! Die!’
The giant sword of ice seemed to be carrying the hopes and dreams of both Players and failures as it descended on the emperor’s head.