Chapter 285. Sleepless City (6)

Piglet’s chubby face grew bleary.

‘...He’s a dangerous bastard.’ 

While Seo Jun-Ho was walking toward him with long strides, Piglet felt an indescribable sense of danger.

However, he was still a Squadron leader. He had climbed to the position despite the cutthroat nature of the Fiend Association. The pieces of his plans were already falling neatly into place.

‘Thankfully, this isn’t a bad lineup.’ 

The first thing he considered was the skills of the remaining Squadron members. If there was one good thing about this unfortunate outcome, it was that the members complemented each other.

“Samuel, shoot your spiderwebs!”

One of the fiends nodded at Piglet’s command.

Fwoosh! 

Spiderwebs shot out of his sleeves like lighting and flew toward Seo Jun-Ho. Seo Jun-Ho swung his sword, but instead of snapping, the threads wrapped around him and his weapon like chains.

“This is the steel thread from a spider that resides only in Frontier’s jungles. Trust me, you don’t want to move,” Samuel said triumphantly as he wound the threads tighter.

Piglet didn’t stop there. “Gulan, Jayden, Kim, Tomomi!”

It was only their names that had been called out, but the members knew what to do.

Vrrr! 

The ground vibrated as an earth golem stood up behind Seo Jun-Ho. It hugged him from behind. At the same time, dozens of foxfires[1] formed in the air, and green smoke started to snake around his feet as well. To top it off, the smoke also gave him a status debuff.

“...” Seo Jun-Ho’s pupils dilated at the sudden change. All he could see was pitch-black.

In the blink of an eye, they had executed their coordinated attack. Piglet finally started to relax.

‘Hooo, the heat of the moment made me nervous. Still, he’s acting like a 2-year-old newbie.’ 

If Piglet had been in Seo Jun-Ho’s shoes, he would have dodged the threads instead of trying to cut them. Rashly taking on the opponent’s attack without even knowing their skills was a stupid move.

“Don’t drag it out. Just kill him.” Piglet sentenced Seo Jun-Ho to death without hesitation.

But at that moment, Seo Jun-Ho slowly raised his head.

“Mmm.” He breathed in. “...Disgusting.”

The fiends’ stench always made his nose sting. They killed as casually as eating, and they gave off a heavy scent of blood that couldn’t be washed away. This was especially true for those who flaunted their demonic energy like this.

“You first.”

Crackle! 

His Frost skill activated, targeting the man who had tightly wrapped Seo Jun-Ho and his body in threads.

“W-what?!” Samuel watched as his two hands were instantly frozen.

‘Did he… Let himself get caught on purpose?’ 

But by the time the thought crossed his mind, he was already dead. The only thing that remained of the man named Samuel was an ice statue resembling him.

“Hurry up and kill him!”

Fwoosh! 

Dozens of fireballs shot toward Seo Jun-Ho. At the same time, the earth golem’s arms tightened around his waist, trying to crush him.

“...Hoo.” White smoke blew out of his mouth.

And then everything stopped…

It was an unbelievable sight, as it looked like time itself had stopped. Piglet couldn’t understand what was going on. His eyes shifted back and forth. The foxfires had stopped their assault, and the golem crushing Seo Jun-Ho’s body froze.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho casually raised his hand and removed the golem’s arms trapping him.

“That’s two.”

Crackle! 

As Seo Jun-Ho elegantly stamped his foot, Gulan froze over; he died on the spot.

‘My sight is starting to come back.’ 

It appeared that the one he just killed was the one who had placed the status debuff on him. As his sight gradually returned, he could finally see the fiends gripped in fear.

“A-ahh!” Tomomi summoned more foxfires and hurled them at him before running away without looking back.

Crackle! 

A spike of ice shot out from the ground and pierced through her stomach. Meanwhile, the golem’s summoner—Jayden—had been running away in the opposite direction. His head also froze over where he stood.

‘Oh right, this smoke.’ 

When Seo Jun-Ho looked down at the green smoke covering the ground, a message appeared before him.

[Your cells have been destroyed due to Poisoning.]

[Your cells have gained the lowest-level poison resistance.]

‘Makes sense.’ 

It appeared that the smoke was poisonous. But thanks to the effects of Cell Regeneration (A), his cells were revived, and he even gained poison resistance.

“A-a monster…” Kim looked terrified. Seo Jun-Ho was still walking toward her, despite his rotting legs.

“That’s five.” Seo Jun-Ho created an ice spear in his hand and hurled it.

“Ugh… Yeah, right!” Kim took off the thick shield on her back and deflected the ice spear at an angle.

‘There!’ 

Because its trajectory was interrupted, the spear fell to the dirt. However, Kim noticed that both her arms had frozen over.

“But I blocked it… Didn’t I?”

What kind of crazy skill was this?

When Kim looked up helplessly, a sword came down like a flash of lightning.

Slice! 

With her head severed, her body crumbled like a sandcastle.

“...Ha.” Now the only one left, Piglet couldn’t help but let out a choked laugh after witnessing Seo Jun-Ho’s abilities.

‘Were we… were we the ones caught in a spiderweb?’ 

He initially thought that they had caught Seo Jun-Ho in their tightly coordinated attack. But now that the cards were out, the tables had turned. The bloodlust Seo Jun-Ho was giving off felt as restrictive as a spiderweb. And Seo Jun-Ho’s righteous anger was choking Piglet.

He impatiently squawked. “Dammit! Rosemary!”

“Hm? Oh… Are you talking about this guy?” Rahmadat answered. He was standing a short distance away, holding up Rosemary’s head. When the residents of Maliva fell asleep, she became no match for him.

“...Impossible.”

The entirety of the Sloth Squadron couldn’t take out three measly Players? The sidekick hadn’t even done anything at all.

‘I can’t die like this.’ 

As soon as Piglet met Seo Jun-Ho’s cold eyes, his body started to tremble. Seo Jun-Ho had an indifferent look as if he were looking at a dead man walking.

‘There’s no other choice. I’ll use it.’ 

The look in Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes changed when Piglet pulled out a book from his inventory.

Fwoosh! 

It was because Seo Jun-Ho could see seven complete magic circles.

“Dammit! You should be honored that I’m using this on the likes of you!” The time and money Piglet had put into this were enough to buy a whole city. It was so invaluable that he normally never even considered using it. It was reserved as a last resort.

‘No matter how strong your mentality is…’ 

If Seo Jun-Ho was trapped in a dream created from a seven-layered magic circle, there was no way he would be able to escape.

Tak! 

Piglet shut the book, and it quickly disintegrated into black ash.

‘It’s over.’ 

Now, he just had to get rid of Rahmadat. Then, he would emerge victorious.

With that tidy ending in mind, he turned around. But the sound of familiar footsteps made him turn back around.

“...What? That’s impossible…” Piglet’s eyebrows furrowed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was sure that he had activated the seven magic circles at once. The spell was sure to corrupt and destroy the sanity of anyone caught in it. After all, it would show them seven horrific nightmares that were even worse than death.

‘Even I don’t know if I could survive a three-layered circle.’

And Seo Jun-Ho was trapped in a seven-layered one. The deeper he wandered through the dreams, the more he would lose his grip on reality.

‘Maybe he has lost his mind and his body is moving on its own?’ 

It occasionally happened. Sometimes, the bodies would move unconsciously, as their owners overcame the limits of their willpower.

‘Then… I should end it myself.’ 

Piglet retrieved a crossbow from his inventory and aimed at Seo Jun-Ho’s forehead.

Zing! 

The bolt flew through the air, only to be cut in half by Seo Jun-Ho.

“Y-you…! How are you still…?!”

Slice! 

Seo Jun-Ho immediately rushed in and cut off Piglet’s tongue.

‘He’s crazy!’ 

Rather than the pain, Piglet’s body was trembling more from fear. He remembered a time when he had stumbled upon the elite fighters of a demon clan and watched them from a distance.

‘Why… Why can I feel it from him?’ 

Piglet could sense the aura of the truly strong, and it was an aura that couldn’t be replicated just because someone had made a few escapes from death here and there.

And it was coming from the 2-year-old Player in front of him.

Crackle! 

“...?!” Piglet let out a soundless scream. His body had started to freeze slowly, very slowly from the tips of his toes.

“Guhhhh!”

His heartbeat began to slow down.

“Uh… Ugh…” 

It was cold. It was so, so cold. The biting cold bore into his bones like he was standing outside naked on a wintry day.

“...”

Piglet died the world’s coldest death just like that, with his eyes still glaring.

“I always say this, but you’re too nice,” Rahmadat said as he stepped closer. “You sent him off so easily.”

“...It’s merely because I don’t want to stoop to their level.”

“You’re way more uptight than you look. You could have just let me do it for you.”

“You know that I don’t like it when you drag it out.”

“That’s true, but he made you cry.”

Cry?

Seo Jun-Ho unwittingly swiped his eyes with his arm. He stared at the dampened sleeve, and then looked back down at Piglet.

“Son of a bitch. I don’t ever want to see that again.”

Even if Hero’s Mind had become EX-grade by then, he still had no idea if he would be able to survive through it again.

Rahmadat patted his friend’s shoulder wordlessly. He didn’t know what kind of dream this dead swine had shown Seo Jun-Ho, but if it was enough to make the great Specter sob like this…

‘Past, present, future… Maybe he showed him all of them.’

Death wasn’t a strong enough punishment.

After Rahmadat consoled Seo Jun-Ho for a while, something fell from the sky with a loud thump.

“...”

It was Jung Hyun. He looked completely out of it.

“I suppose we will need some more time. For both you and this guy here,” Rahmadat muttered, checking on their conditions.

***

“I don’t know how I can ever repay you…” Viscount Hosen squeezed Rahmadat’s hands, completely beside himself. The fiends had stolen the residents’ sleep and put them under hypnosis. But now, they had all returned to their normal selves.

“Hm. I’m sorry, too. I completely ruined your courtyard…”

“Not at all. I’ll take care of it myself, of course. You saved my life, after all.”

The legend of the 5 Heroes was known far and wide even across Frontier. Hosen had the utmost faith in Rahmadat. “It’s truly an honor to meet one of the Heroes.”

“Sure. If something happens again, call me.”

Holding a heavy pouch in each hand, Rahmadat soon headed back to the inn. He stepped into the room where Seo Jun-Ho was staying and placed them down next to the bed. “You can have all the money. Being able to unwind like that was more than enough for me.”

“...Do what you want.”

Four days had passed since that night. During that time, Seo Jun-Ho slept like he was dead, but now, he had somewhat recovered.

“Are you alright, Contractor? Shall I make you some porridge? How about that?” the Frost Queen asked. She had put in a lot of effort to take care of him. She had seen all the dreams he had gone through, so it was only natural that she did.

“What are you planning to do now?” Rahmadat asked. Seo Jun-Ho noticed that Rahmadat was still standing, and he realized that Rahmadat was going to leave.

“...I don’t know. I’m planning to rest for a few more days,” he said.

“Mm, I was planning to go to a Dungeon soon because I heard something from Moonlight. How about it? Wanna come?”

“I’m not interested,” Seo Jun-Ho replied.

Rahmadat nodded coolly. “I’ll go by myself then. Anyway, I have to get on with the farming if I want to close the distance between our levels.”

“Have fun.”

After sending him off, Seo Jun-Ho checked his status window. He had leveled up four whole times after killing dozens of fiends.

[Seo Jun-Ho]

Level: 100

Title: Bringer of Spring (+4 more)

Strength: 336         Stamina: 317

Speed: 339            Magic: 370

Fame: 61,942

Sure enough, he would recover more stats the more he leveled up. This time around, his strength had increased by 27, while his speed had increased by 27 as well. On top of that, his magic stat had increased by four additional points thanks to Limit Breaker.

“...”

He was now level 100; he had fulfilled the baseline requirement to enter the 3rd floor. However, Seo Jun-Ho closed his status window and silently looked out the window. The news of the overwhelming victory at Maliva was making headlines in Community.

“The world never changes, whether it was back then or now,” he commented.

“...Such is the nature of the road you travel,” the Frost Queen muttered, sipping her tea.

After winning a battle, heroes needed but a single bottle of medicine to heal their wounds rather than a hundred praises.

‘If there is a God, I wish to meet them just once.’

She wanted to ask them why they made her Contractor suffer like this.