Chapter C.178: Watchguards (5)

"...You said 26 years?"

Gilberto blankly stared at Seo Jun-Ho. The latter patted him on the shoulder.

"It's going to be confusing. I was like that at first, and Skaya... Come to think of it, she was fine.”

"Wait, then Arthur…”

Gilberto’s fist, resting on his knee, trembled. He recalled Arthur, who in contrast to other children, had no choice but to leave the protection of his parents at an early age.

"Arthur, yes. The reason I woke you up is because of Arthur."

"…What does that mean?"

"Arthur is in danger."

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho thought Gilberto would be angry or very excited since he was that much of a sucker for his son. However, Gilberto was much calmer than Seo Jun-Ho thought. Rather, Gilberto asked calmly in a slightly colder and sharper voice than usual.

"A little more, more detail."

"Arthur seems to have gotten caught while chasing a fiend. He is currently missing. So, I woke you up."

"Wait…"

Gilberto closed his eyes and gathered his magic. The place where the magic headed was toward the magic tattoo engraved on his left forearm. After a while, his eyelids trembled.

"There’s… nothing."

Gilberto didn't feel anything. He couldn’t feel even a speck of Arthur's presence in the world. Seo Jun-Ho quickly explained in case Gilberto might misunderstand.

"It's no use trying to track where he is right now. Arthur isn't on Earth."

"Isn’t on Earth? Does that mean Arthur’s dead?"

The moment Gilberto's eyes became filled with resentment, Seo Jun-Ho took out a map of the 2nd floor showing the continent of Frontier.

"…What’s this map?"

"The newly opened 2nd floor after killing the Frost Queen. It's the continent of Frontier."

"Frontier? 2nd floor?"

“Currently, this world is made up of a total of 10 floors. The Earth is only the 1st floor."

"Then..."

"Arthur is currently on the 2nd floor."

Even though it was Skaya's location tracking magic, it was impossible to find an existence who was on Frontier, which might be on the other side of the universe or even in a completely different dimension, from Earth.

“...”

Gilberto rose from his seat in silence and pulled out a sniper rifle from his inventory.

Clack, clack!

After breaking it down in an instant, he checked that there were no problems with any of its parts before putting it over his shoulder after assembling it once again.

"Let's go..."

He didn’t ask about anything else, such as how many opponents there were, whether they were strong, or even whether they could handle them or not. Nothing mattered to Gilberto right now.

"...To where Arthur is."

Only the thought of saving his son, Arthur, filled Gilberto’s head.

***

"As soon as I go up to the 2nd floor with this mask on, the reporters will be all over me." Seo Jun-Ho said as he shook his Specter mask.

Journalists and Guild members wouldn’t be able to stay still if they saw him, and he had also signed a contract with the Big 6. He signed a contract with the Big 6 that he would announce his cooperation with them to the world on the day he went up to the 2nd floor.

"Jun-Ho, then isn't that dangerous? If the fiends see the reporters, they'll be on guard," asked Gilberto with concern.

"Of course, they’ll be on guard, the ones near Dustang won’t be, though," replied Seo Jun-Ho.

Those fiends probably never imagined even in their wildest dreams that they would be targeted because they most likely had no idea that Arthur was Gilberto’s son.

"From the moment we get out of Gilleon, there’s a high chance we’ll get followed."

If the Fiend Association’s plans were in order…

"It's going to be annoying."

The fiends couldn’t come down to the 1st floor openly. However, it was different the other way around.

"Did you say that the fiends of this era are strong?"

"The strong ones are strong since it has been 26 years already."

The fiends who regarded Specter and the archmage as prey probably wouldn’t be able to control their itching bodies. Especially since it was not even the 1st floor, but the 2nd floor where their front yard was.

"We have to rescue Arthur while shaking off the pursuit of other fiends,” Seo Jun-Ho remarked.

In terms of difficulty alone, it was higher than any other mission since he had awakened from the ice. Seo Jun-Ho even felt sorry for Gilberto, who had just woken up a few hours ago.

"…The situation isn’t good. You and I even have a debuff called the Curse of Bitter Cold," mentioned Gilberto.

"Oh, about that." Seo Jun-Ho lifted the bracelet. It was a mithril bracelet made by the dwarves that Skaya had enchanted. "I've prepared some tricks for days like this.”

"Tricks?” Gilberto asked, looking at the bracelet.

"Yes, tricks."

Click.

Seo Jun-Ho put the bracelet on his wrist. The mithril’s luxurious coldness gave a strange sense of comfort.

"When I woke up Skaya and got the Curse of Bitter Cold debuff, I met an interesting fiend."

Wang-Heon was a fiend who had the skill, Dispel (A), and he died when he encountered Seo Jun-Ho in the Blackwall Maze.

"I thought about it the moment I got rid of him. Ah, this Curse of Bitter Cold…”

He thought that he could resolve the curse on his own. As such, he prepared the so-called Dispel Bracelet.

"Even with the A-grade Dispel, the Curse of Bitter Cold can only be reduced by an hour."

So Seo Jun-Ho thought that the power of the Curse of Bitter Cold couldn’t be lifted by a person’s own power. But what if it was an artifact?

"If it's an artifact that can activate the same magic hundreds or thousands of times in an instant...”

Perhaps it could be possible then…

"Stand back."

With Seo Jun-Ho's warning, three people, including the Frost Queen, stepped back. At the same time, Seo Jun-Ho, gathering vast magic, led it toward the bracelet.

Woooong.

Seo Jun-Ho felt as if his body had become full of power. Although 30 magic stats had disappeared, his magic was nonetheless like a boundless sea.

‘This magic…’

From now on, he would continuously inject magic into the bracelet to use Dispel magic. There was only one purpose. It was to remove the Curse of Bitter Cold.

"Dispel."

When Seo Jun-Ho whispered and activated the bracelet, the flow of magic in his body became twisted.

"Ugh!"

The bracelet began to devour a huge amount of magic. Watching this scene, Skaya bit her lips slightly out of anxiety.

"As expected... It wasn’t fully stabilized. The magic flow is unstable."

Magic enchantment without proper stabilization was a double-edged sword. It wasn't certain if it would work properly, and even the amount of magic consumed would be immense. It was a bracelet made of mithril, which had the highest magic conductivity, but Skaya still could not hide her anxiety.

[The Curse of Bitter Cold resists Dispel.]

[The Curse of Bitter Cold’s rank is overwhelmingly higher than Dispel's.]

[Dispel's power is weakened.]

[The duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold has been reduced by 30 minutes.]

[The duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold has been reduced by 30 minutes.]

[The duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold has been reduced by 30 minutes.]

The amount of time that the duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold decreased every time a single Dispel was used was 30 minutes.

‘24 hours in a day, and 20 days of the Curse of Bitter Cold…’

As many as 960 Dispels needed to be used to cleanly remove the Curse of Bitter Cold. Whether it was possible or impossible was beyond Seo Jun-Ho's will and ability.

‘Endure it, please endure it!’

It was a matter of whether this Dispel bracelet made of mithril could withstand it or not. Seo Jun-Ho continued to gather his magic and looked at the bracelet with anxious eyes.

‘300 times... 320 times... 340 times...'

The bracelet shone every minute and as dozens of Dispels were activated per second. However, as soon as the number of times exceeded 400, the surface began to blacken as if it had been scorched. The mithril, the mineral with the highest magic conductivity, could not withstand the magic anymore and began to deform.

"Jun-Ho! Stop right there!" Skaya issued a warning.

The fact that the appearance of the bracelet began to change meant that the magic enchantment had failed to stabilize. It was inevitable because the work that was originally scheduled for a month had to be forcefully ended after only five days.

"…Not yet,” Seo Jun-Ho gritted his teeth and murmured.

He continued to count the number of message windows in front of him.

‘440… 471… 490…’

The number continued to grow.

Chiiiiik!

Black smoke rose from the bracelet, and the rate of deformation began to accelerate.

"Ahhh!"

Seo Jun-Ho's expression became distorted. His wrist was exposed to the intense heat coming from the bracelet.

"What a high maintenance Contractor!"

Eventually, the Frost Queen, who was watching from afar, reached out. In an instant, Seo Jun-Ho's wrist was covered with ice which melted immediately, and the cycle repeated.

‘Frost…!’

The Frost Queen helped Seo Jun-Ho. Thanks to this, the burns to his wrist were prevented. In the meantime, Dispel’s activation could be continued.

'Now... the limit...!’

Having endured to the limit, the moment Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes tightly and tried to remove the mithril bracelet…

[The duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold has been reduced by 30 minutes.]

[The duration of the Curse of Bitter Cold has been reduced by 30 minutes.]

[The Curse of Bitter Cold has ended.]

[The reduced stats has been restored.]

The curse was finally lifted.

"Ugh, it's hot!"

Seo Jun-Ho immediately hurled the bracelet away. The bracelet that fell to the floor was burnt black beyond recognition. One couldn’t even see that it was made of mithril anymore.

"Tsk... What a waste.”

When Skaya clicked her tongue and felt that it was a shame, Seo Jun-Ho murmured while waving his sweaty arms, "The black edition is not bad either. Besides, it's mithril.”

Mithril was also called a 'characteristic memory alloy.’ This was because it had the property of always returning to its original form.

"It will be restored in time."

Honestly, since it had been scorched this much, it was unknown how long it would take for it to return to its original form. Seo Jun-Ho looked at Gilberto with a sorry expression.

"Sorry, I failed to lift your curse."

"Don't mind me. You're the important one." Gilberto shook his head.

Gilberto was very aware of his current situation.

‘I don't know if it's because I woke up after a long sleep... but my mind is still in a daze. My whole body feels like it's floating in the air.’

Was it because he had been stuck in the ice for a long time? His fingers were a little stiff, too. In this situation, it wasn’t even clear if he could shoot his own specialty sniper well. Therefore, it was more appropriate for Seo Jun-Ho to recover first. Seo Jun-Ho was a man who came back to this world a year earlier than Gilberto, after all.

"Two hours," Seo Jun-Ho said firmly, "In that time, we will rescue Arthur and come down to the 1st floor. Does anyone have questions?

"No. Gilbe?"

"I don't have any either.”

Two hours were the golden time in which Seo Jun-Ho believed he could save Arthur. If it went beyond that, there was a high possibility that the fiends would make an organized pursuit against them.

"Let's go, then."

As Seo Jun-Ho and Gilberto reached out their hands, Skaya grinned as she grabbed each of their hands.

"It has been a long time since we have done this.”

She used to complain a lot, asking if they thought that she was a taxi. But now, this feeling didn’t seem so hateful anymore.

***

The Dimensional Elevator installed on an artificial island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean was narrow, but there was everything that you needed. Of course, it meant that there was even a special elevator for VIPs. As such, this place was often used by high-ranking officials wanting to move without the people’s prying eyes.

“...”

The eyes of the Association staff members guarding the place trembled. They had seen many famous people while protecting this place. High Rankers, masters of Guilds, and even the heads of the Association… But they were certain that those who appeared before them today were not in the same vein as those they had met before.

'That’s crazy, Skaya Killiland-nim’s here too, but...’

‘Perhaps that mask is... I didn't expect to see Specter-nim with my own eyes.’

What they felt was beyond honor and shock. After all, they were receiving legendary heroes they had only seen in textbooks until now.

'But...'

‘There's one more?’

The Association staff members tilted their heads and turned their heads. Just who was the guy walking with Specter and the archmage? No one asked and no one answered. But the moment they saw the blond handsome man casually putting a long sniper rifle over his shoulder as if it was a spear, they immediately recognized him.

"D-don't tell me..."

"The Gray Envoy…?"

He was the strongest sniper in history whose bullets were known to be unavoidable as long as you lived under the same sky as him. The Gray Envoy, Gilberto Green, was back.