The Frozen Player Returns

Crackle, crackle.

The forest was covered in darkness. In a clearing, two men sat in front of a bonfire. They were from the Bravo party, which was exploring the southern area of the forest.

“Yawn. Sunbae, aren’t you tired?”

“Sure I am. But we’re on guard duty.”

“...True.” The hubae looked around his other sunbaes. They were all fast asleep. “Looks like the other sunbaes aren’t worried. But if the dark elves happen to make a surprise attack…”

“Surprise attack? Hey, these are dark elves we’re talking about,” the sunbae replied while grilling cheese on a stick. “Dark elves gave in to the temptation of power and became corrupted because they nibbled on the branches of the World Tree. They did become powerful, but they were cursed by the Tree and their intellect was taken away. Forget following orders, they can barely communicate amongst themselves. There’s no way they would be able to act as an army.”

“...But isn’t it likely that we’ll encounter them at night because we didn’t see them at all during the day?”

“Even if that’s true, they act on their own, so we’ll probably only see one or two at most.”

“Hm, well, we can handle that much on our own.”

“Exactly. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” At that moment, there was a sound of movement in the thicket.

“...Shhh.” The sunbae held his finger to his lips and turned toward the sound.

—Grrr.

—Krrr.

It sounded like the growl of a dog. Red eyes started to appear in the darkness, staring at them. One, two, three….

”S-sunbae-nim.” The frightened hubae reached for their weapon, but the sunbae smiled.

“Geez, that scared me…don’t worry, they’re Woldogs.”

“...Woldogs?”

“Yeah, Wolfdogs. We call them Woldogs for short.” They relaxed and spoke casually. “They get scared easily, so they’re not very dangerous.”[1]

“Still…I’m a little scared because there are so many of them.”

“How’re you gonna be a Player if you get scared of those tiny things? They’re scared of fire too.”

They placed the cheese down and made a torch, throwing it into the bushes.

“Shoo, shoo. The maknae’s[2] about to cry.”

“W--who said I’m gonna cry?” The sunbae laughed at their cute reaction, and the hubae tilted their head. “Are you sure they’re scared of fire?”

“Why, can’t trust me?”

“It’s not that…” The hubae’s eyes were wide as they watched the Woldogs’ red eyes get bigger and bigger. They were coming closer. A Woldog emerged from the bush and stepped on the torch.

“...”

The sunbae seemed to have discovered something, and their face paled. “...Wake the others.”

“W-what?”

“Wake the others! Now!”

They were being surrounded by dark elves.

***

Beep— Beep—

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes opened at the sound of the alarm. He ripped off his sleeping mask and crawled out of his sleeping bag, surveying the area.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Seo Mi-Rae said in a friendly voice. She had made a fire while she was on guard duty.

“...What’s the situation like?”

“Nothing special has happened so far.”

“How about the other parties?”

“People on night watches have been posting updates to the community every thirty minutes. It’s 1:58 right now, so they’ll be popping up again in two minutes.”

Seo Jun-Ho walked over to the campfire and looked over her hologram screen.

‘Seems like no one’s been attacked yet.’

Was he mistaken? As he wrinkled his forehead, the clock hit 2.

“Now, let’s see.” Seo Mi-Rae finished making her report and blinked at the screen. “Huh?”

No matter how many times she refreshed the page, no new posts appeared. She tilted her head. “That’s strange. Is there a problem with the magic network…?”

“No,” Seo Jun-Ho said flatly.

Shing.

He unsheathed his sword and stared into the dark forest.

“They were probably caught by those bastards.”

“Those bastards…?” Seo Mi-Rae looked up, but she only saw the forest. Seo Jun-Ho was looking at something she couldn’t see.

It was night. Thanks to Hunter’s Night (A), all his stats were up by 10% and all his senses were sharp.

‘Four legs and red eyes…they’re Woldogs.’

Woldogs had high endurance and speed, but most Players underestimated them because they were easily frightened and had low combat skills.

But of course, it was true. Even if they were gathered together, they weren’t dangerous if you just waved a torch around.

‘But that only applies to wild Woldogs.’

If they were ‘raised’ by someone else, they became a whole different monster.

‘They’re like horses.’

Horses were tame and easily frightened by nature, but if they were trained, they could become valiant warhorses.

“They’re coming.”

“Coming? What are you…”

Rustle.

Before she could finish her sentence, the trees started to shake under a powerful wind. Seo Jun-Ho gripped Black Dragon and glanced at her.

‘This will be Black Dragon’s first meal. I should feed it something better.’

He took a step forward.

“Wake Team Leader Cha.”

“Are you being serious? But I don’t…”

Just as she was about to say, ‘I don’t see anything’…

Woosh!

A Woldog leaped out of the forest like a ray of light, swiping its paw toward her face.

‘…Ah?’

She couldn’t move and dumbly stared at the claws that were coming toward her.

Seo Mi-Rae played more of a support role than a combat one. Her physique wasn’t enough to dodge an unforeseen attack.

Slash!

But then, a flash of white came down and cut the Woldog in half. The dark elf that was riding it fell into the fire.

“Kyaaaaa!” The dark elf let out an ugly screech as it burned.

It was hard to believe that they were descended from elves, the race famous for its beauty. The dark elf that fell into the fire had flesh that was rotting and decayed from the curse of the World Tree.

“Let’s see…there are ten dark elves left, and nine Woldogs.” Seo Jun-Ho scanned the surrounding monsters. “Come and get it. Unless you want me to go to you.”

“Grrrrr!”

“Kyak!”

Did they understand him? The dark elves gripped their weapons and charged at him.

‘Let’s test out Black Armor.’

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes flashed as he took out the three dark elves of the vanguard with one slice. He prepared his second strike even before their hot blood could touch the ground.

But the dark elf behind him struck first.

Clang! Clang!

He felt an itch at his side and his back.

“...This is amazing.” His lip curled upward. He twisted his body and swung his sword like a bat.

Slash!

Four dark elf heads flew into the air. They were around level 30-35, but they couldn’t take a single hit from him.

‘Ah, how nostalgic.’

Back then, when his stats became high enough. He never had any trouble dealing with small fries like these. He simply slaughtered them. Like right now.

“Kya, kayak!”

“Krr!”

Eight of their comrades had been killed in an instant. The other dark elves looked at each other in panic.

Obviously, there was no camaraderie between them.

“I can hear you thinking from here, you bastards.” They had instinctively started calculating how they could use the others to survive on their own. Seo Jun-Ho walked slowly towards the elves who were beginning to retreat.

One brave dark elf thrust its spear, its eyes full of wickedness.

Clang!

Seo Jun-Ho easily disarmed it. His sword grazed across the spear handle and stabbed its heart.

‘Two left. Who should I go for?’

He was planning on letting one go. That way, he could use Confession of the Dead without Cha Min-Woo’s party watching.

Thankfully, one dark elf recklessly swung its sword and made the decision for him.

“Okay, you impertinent bastard. It’ll be you.” He cut off its head and shouted angrily. “Dammit, the other one ran away. I’ll go finish it off!”

Behind him, he heard the sound of dogs crying out. At some point, Cha Min-Woo and Choi Jin-Pyo had woken up and started dealing with the Woldogs.

“Not bad.” Seo Jun-ho turned around and ran after the dark elf that had gotten away.

***

“Mm, yeah,” Seo Jun-Ho muttered as he crouched over the dead dark elf. “The tribal chief is definitely strong.” The fact that he was acknowledged by others meant that he had more than enough strength to dominate the entire forest. And it wasn’t just strength that he had.

‘He knows how to use his head. He launched simultaneous surprise attacks so we wouldn’t be able to respond properly.’

Most importantly, the bastard could talk.

“As soon as the dark elves bit into the World Tree’s branches, their intellect fell…” But the chief still maintained his full mental capacity.

‘The bastard’s super smart. He wasn’t some small fry even before he got corrupted.’

That was all the information he got from Confession of the Dead. When Seo Jun-Ho returned to the camp, the fighting was already over.

“Hu, Jun-Ho-nim was right. A surprise attack at night...” Cha Min-Woo had killed nine Woldogs. He steadied his breath as he explained the situation. “I woke up because I heard shrieking, and you were already fighting. After I got my bearings, I took care of the Woldogs with Jin-Pyo…but I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

They seemed to be embarrassed because they had been sleeping when the battle started.

“There’s no need to be sorry. You guys took care of nine Woldogs.”

If they hadn’t, Seo Jun-Ho wouldn’t have been able to use Confession of the Dead. He had approved of them earlier for that very reason.

‘At the very least, they won’t hold me down.’

They were actually a little helpful, and that was more than enough.

“Anyways, how are the other camps doing?”

Seo Mi-Rae’s face fell and her shoulders drooped. “...Really bad. Some parties dealt with the ambush well, but most didn’t. I think some parties dispersed completely to run away.”

“Then we should hurry.”

“Hurry to do what?”

Seo Jun-Ho wiped the blood off his blade with a towel before he responded.

“To hunt.”

1. In Korean ‘wolfdog’ would be three syllables instead of two ?

2. Maknae means youngest. ?