Return of the Frozen Player
chapter-217

Chapter 217. The Queen’s Second Lesson (2)

When his view expanded, the first thing he saw was hundreds of pinballs.

‘It's like a swarm of bees.’

Hundreds of balls trapped in a not-so-wide area looked like a swarm of insects.

‘I can't believe she froze all that just by looking at it once...’

This made Seo Jun-Ho realize that the original owner of the Frost skill truly was the Frost Queen. Her level of understanding and control of the skill was higher than his own.

‘Honestly, I didn't think I'd be behind when it came to understanding the skill.’

Seo Jun-Ho was deep in thought as his body worked hard to avoid the balls.

‘I've gotten used to the elemental skill types through the Watchguard of Darkness.’

What did he get used to? He was used to thinking that no one in the world could follow him. Of course, that pride of his was still alive and well.

‘Is there a Player better at handling the elements than me?’

It was pure curiosity and he didn’t really know the answer. Twenty-six years had passed since he fell asleep, so there could be a handful of them right now. But even if there were, there definitely wouldn’t be a lot of them. He was sure of it since he, Specter, had reached that high of a level.

‘But why?’

The question appeared here. Even though he was so good at using the Watchguard of Darkness, why was he so clumsy with Frost?

‘Actually, it’s not quite right to say that I’m clumsy.’

His ability to utilize Frost was not bad in itself. By taking a lesson from the Frost Queen, he quickly learned how to use and control Frost. Furthermore, he had been using Overclocking at all times, so he was also using Frost 24 hours a day to cool himself.

‘In short, there is no problem with how I use Frost.’

The Frost Queen had also said that he had already met all the conditions. So what was the difference between him and the Frost Queen? Seo Jun-Ho thought that he had to figure that out.

'Tsk, if you're going to give me homework, give it to me when I have a lot of time.’

He cast a reproachful glance at the Frost Queen. How could she give him a question right now when he was barely holding onto his life.

'I’m sure she gave it because she knows I can do it.’

The Frost Queen whom Seo Jun-Ho knew would never give an impossible task. In that case, there was only one thing for him to do from now on.

Crackle!

Whenever Seo Jun-Ho's gaze met a pinball, it froze and crashed to the ground. One, two, three... It was quick; he was freezing them at a rate of ten per second.

"Too slow! Did I not tell you to look a little further?"

The Frost Queen’s cry shook his ears. At the same time, Seo Jun-Ho's consciousness gradually went even further away from him, but this didn’t mean he was losing his consciousness.

‘Focus.’

The Frost Queen’s nagging voice started to fade. The noisy pinballs that flew about like insects had also started to become blurry. Every sound was silenced as if he had entered a chamber where singers often recorded their songs. This was what happened when Seo Jun-Ho raised his concentration to the limit.

‘Focus.’

Crackle!

Ten pinballs rushing toward him fell, encased in ice. At the same time, his vision expanded even further.

‘Don't let the pinball in front of you draw your attention.’

Just like what the Frost Queen revealed and like how she had done it, he had to look around this space and include all the pinballs in his view. It was certainly not an easy task. After all, he was in a place filled with weapons of murder. Seo Jun-Ho extended his hand.

Craaackle!

This time, eleven froze. It was thanks to seeing one more pinball in his expanded field of view.

'It's still not enough.’

Seo Jun-Ho's eyes moved even faster.

Craaackle!

Pinballs were frozen according to the amount of magic consumed. But the number of frozen pinballs wasn’t enough.

‘Hmmmm.’

The Frost Queen murmured to herself with her arms crossed while looking at Seo Jun-Ho.

‘Was it too early for him to use this technique?’

If he mastered the skill she had shown just now, he would be able to freeze all the pinballs here even with his eyes closed. But to do that, there was a prerequisite.

‘He needs a higher and wider view.’

It was a 180-degree different view from what Seo Jun-Ho had been using so far. It was different from simply looking far, looking closely, and looking at things moving fast. They were eyes that could read through the entire space from where one stood. The number of people who had become enlightened to this kind of vision didn’t exceed a hundred people, even in her kingdom, Niflheim.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Frost Queen blamed her own greed and spoke, "Contractor, I am afraid this time it is my mistake...”

But suddenly, Seo Jun-Ho's eyes which were spinning in all directions came to a halt.

“…”

It wasn’t something that could be seen by simply moving your eyes as quickly as you could. Seo Jun-Ho realized it on his own.

‘Even if I look at one, it's important to look at it in depth.’

He looked up into the air. It was the same scenery as before. He was starting to get sick of seeing hundreds of balls flying around in all directions. But there was one thing that changed.

‘Ahh, is it like this?’

The only thing that a person in front of a harsh wave could see was the rising wall of water in front of them. But if you were a person with a high and wide view, if you could see by objectifying space itself, you would be able to see various things aside from the wave—the blue sky, the sea where the wave was from, the bubbles on the water...

‘It’s not as much as the Frost Queen… but I can see it a little bit.’

Seo Jun-Ho stretched his hand upward. If it was an ordinary person, they wouldn’t be able to understand the lesson even if they were shown and taught hundreds of times over. Still, even though he had only heard a few lines, he was enlightened in battle.

"You are… Geez...” Frost Queen smiled in shock before shaking her head.

‘As expected, you are overflowing with talent.’

She wanted him to succeed, but she only expected him to be enlightened to some extent. However, the Frost Queen had no idea that Seo Jun-Ho had exceeded her expectations.

"Huuu."

Seo Jun-Ho let out a light sigh but before the sigh ended…

Crack! Craack!

40 pieces of ice began to fall from the sky.

"That's too bad. I can't do it all at once like you’ve done."

"Hmph, that's obvious. You’re still a decade early."

She responded with ease, but the Frost Queen had to reassure herself in her heart. A chill came down her spine.

'If he really copied my technique at once...’

Didn’t that mean that he was an uncontrollable monster? If that happened, she would instantly lose all her bargaining chips and would become nothing more than a pet Spirit by then.

“A Spirit this time again? No, there was definitely a flow of magic this time."

Pride looked at the broken ice pieces on the floor. Even if Seo Jun-Ho's talent was excellent, he was still a rookie within his first two years of being a Player.

‘No, he's not a rookie. I didn't think of him as a rookie from the start.’

If one’s level was high, their stats would also be high, so one would naturally have an advantage. If one debuted early, one could accumulate a lot of experience, and that would also be an advantage However, no matter how high one’s level was and how early one debuted, death was inevitable if one let down their guard. Therefore, Pride never let his guard down no matter the opponent.

‘But I still can't do it in one go?’

It wasn't like Pride wanted to take Seo Jun-Ho’s life. It was just an arm and a leg. He was only trying to reach the point where Seo Jun-Ho was crippled, so he could be brought to the Fiend Association. But even that was so difficult to do?

"Seo Jun-Ho..."

He looked at the creature in front of him—at the individual whom he couldn’t understand with his common sense.

‘He’s growing even in this battle.’

Pride felt a bigger sense of crisis as he slightly turned his wrist. All of a sudden, the hundreds of pinballs from his Inventory spun like the galaxy. The seemingly beautiful balls fell to the ground.

"Sorry, but from now on, I'm going to get a little rough."

“Tsk."

Seo Jun-Ho clicked his tongue and once again mustered his magic.

Crackle!

The pinballs crashed into the thick ice shield Seo Jun-Ho had instantly created. Seo Jun-Ho sealed the holes with ice before the pinballs buried in the shield could escape once again.

"Pretty tricks…” Pride murmured with a corner of his mouth curled up. “Even so, the balls are infinite.”

Taking out new balls from his Inventory, Pride continued his attack. As he said, the pinballs seemed limitless. It didn’t end even if he froze them over and over again.

‘... Wait, something seems off?’

Seo Jun-Ho had a question for the first time since the start of the battle.

‘The skill that he revealed is to control the kinetic energy of all the surrounding objects.’

But then, shouldn't he be able to move the ice-covered pinballs too? Moreover, why was it that the number of balls he had taken out so far always seemed similar? A small smile formed around Seo Jun-Ho's mouth.

‘That skill has a condition…’

Pride's skill shouldn’t be as omnipotent as he explained. He looked smart in the first place, so it was a little strange for him to only be 37th in the Fiend Association with that kind of skill. But it would be understandable if Pride had overexaggerated his skill.

'He probably has the skill to control kinetic energy.’

But it was likely that it had serious conditions that had to be met. If Seo Jun-Ho could figure out what the conditions were, he would be able to achieve victory in this battle.

'Then let's test it first.’

Craaaackle!

Seo Jun-Ho froze the water around him. Balls made from ice the size of a pinball were formed.

'If he can really control all objects, this should also become his weapon.’

Swoooosh!

The balls of ice shot out like missiles.

"…"

Pride frowned and shook his hand lightly. The pinballs shot down the balls of ice quite easily. The fallen balls of ice remained unmoving on the floor.

"You can't do it…"

Seo Jun-Ho found one of the conditions. It was likely that he could only handle objects that were 'ownerless.’ But this wasn’t enough. It was still a threatening skill. There needed to be a fatal disadvantage for the 37th ranking to make sense.

"Contractor." The Frost Queen’s voice entered Seo Jun-Ho’s ears as she watched the battle. "The number of balls that he can handle is always constant at 512.”

“Did you count them all?"

"It is not counting. I just saw them."

She had an astonishing vision. It was also the field of vision that Seo Jun-Ho would need to have in order to fully use Frost in the future.

"Hmm?"

Seo Jun-Ho discovered something else as he observed Pride.

"Frost, do you remember his position when we started the battle?"

"Do you think I am a fool? From the beginning, his position...”

The Frost Queen started to speak, but she suddenly closed her mouth. It was a pretty one-sided battle, but Pride had never moved from where he stood in the past 10 minutes.

"It looks a little suspicious to me, how about you?"

The Frost Queen smiled at Seo Jun-Ho's question; she found it quite amusing. "It looks very suspicious to my eyes as well."

"Bingo."

Pride 'could not move' while using his skill. Seo Jun-Ho mustered a great deal of magic to prove his hypothesis.

"Try shooting this down like what you did before."

A block of ice the size of a house flew toward Pride.

"You, impudent...”

Pride’s face distorted by the minute as he looked at the approaching ice.