Chapter 162. Frozen Spirit (5)
What popped out of the Dungeon was a skeleton in a ragged robe. In the arms of the skeleton were research journals that she seemed to have urgently packed.
Sasasasak!
The research journals were exposed to the intense snowstorm brought over by the banshee, and they were blown away and scattered by the wind. The lich screamed as she looked at the research journals flying away somewhere.
- No…! My journals!
It wasn"t a day or two of effort. For decades and hundreds of years, she had researched alone, rotting away in this dirty Dungeon. Of course, the contents and results of the research were kept intact in her head. But those diaries were the fruit of her effort. The only fruit she had achieved since she had become a lich and lost all feelings. If she succeeded in becoming a human once again, those journals would have become a precious treasure of the world.
- …
The lich glanced down at the journals she had held onto until the end. She was now left with only a few pages out of hundreds of years" worth of writing. She was furious. Blue lights blossomed inside her empty sockets.
- Kkrrrr…! You… do you know… what you"ve done…?!
The world sympathized with the lich"s anger. The snowflakes that swept through the area became hard and sharp hail. The whole world in sight became Seo Jun-Ho"s enemy.
[U-ugh…]
Face to face with the lich"s anger, the banshee began to tremble. The vengeful spirits hugged around her and patted her, but her trembling didn’t stop.
[W-we have to run away…]
It was an intense trauma and shackle. The Ice Witch had taken everything from her. Parents, younger siblings, life, and even her time after death. She groaned in horror as the pain was deeply etched into her soul. Medically, she was having a seizure similar to what people with PTSD would experience once it was triggered.
[Ice Witch… There"s no way we can win…]
A while ago, she had thought that the man"s aura felt fierce. But the moment she faced the Ice Witch"s explosive anger, that aura seemed like it was nothing.
[It"s dangerous... This is the first time…]
It was the first time she saw the Ice Witch so angry. It meant that the human in front of her had done something monumental. She was starting to get afraid of the consequences.
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho looked back. The banshee was more surprised by the way he ignored the Ice Witch in front of him.
[Wh-what are you doing?! You have to look in front of you right now!]
"Ella."
[…!]
The banshee"s eyes widened. It was no wonder since the word that came out of Seo Jun-Ho"s mouth was something she hadn’t heard in hundreds of years. It was her name—a name that seemed blurry even in her own memories.
"Don"t be nervous."
It was a soft voice, with no violent feelings or anger like the Ice Witch"s. Her whole body stopped shaking, as if it hadn’t been trembling in the first place.
Ella looked at Seo Jun-Ho blankly. She felt as if she had just experienced something magical.
Seo Jun-Ho said with a small smile, "It"s not you who should be afraid."
Seo Jun-Ho turned his head forward and looked at the existence who should truly be afraid at this moment.
‘The shield that protects the weak, the spear that pierces the wicked."
It sounded corny, but it was a phrase that he had promoted during his Specter days. People would be disappointed to know that, in fact, that sentence had no grand meaning. It was just a phrase spoken to give hope to people—for the sake of world peace.
‘If there"s one thing that"s unfortunate…’
It was that he, whether as Seo Jun-Ho or as Specter, was a person who always kept his word no matter what.
"That"s why you"re ridiculous..."
To him, the Ice Witch’s anger that seemed as if it could engulf the entire world looked as ridiculous as a child"s tantrum. He had already faced far more intense anger and resentment than that so many times in the past.
"Strong dogs don"t bark."
- Not even death will bring you peace!
The world fell on him. Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of sharp hailstones fell toward him. It was such a beautiful sight that he would have been mesmerized by it if he wasn"t the target of the attack.
Looking up at the scene together with Seo Jun-Ho, the Frost Queen spoke, "Contractor."
"Yeah."
"This time… I will do it."
"Are you confident?"
Frost Queen raised her head proudly and flew into the air. "I am ‘The One Who Freezes the World.’ I cannot just leave alone an existence who brings destruction using the power of frost."
Her words were quite elegant, but the actual intention behind them, much more plain and blunt, was made clear by her next words.
"I find her displeasing to the eye.”
The Frost Queen slightly lifted her mask. This was the first time she removed it.
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho"s mouth opened slightly as he looked at her in surprise. Her cool blue eyes shone brightly, like clear sapphire.
"Just who are you targeting with this tainted ice?"
Seo Jun-Ho could feel that his body had become heavier. As the Frost Queen used his mental strength, he was starting to get exhausted.
Hududududuk! Pasasak! Pasasak!
The world became noisy.
“…”
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of icicles poured down. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of icicles rose. Seo Jun-Ho looked at the scene without saying a word.
‘Myriads of shards of ice waltzing.’
Maybe it sounded childish, but whoever saw this scene would have no choice but to express their pure admiration. As the ice collided with ice, the sounds it made sent shivers down one"s spine.
"Go. Now," the Frost Queen beckoned, still glaring upward.
She meant that she would take care of the hail, so in the meantime, he should kill the Ice Witch.
"…Your eyes are blue."
"My eyes are white, stupid Contractor."
She knew what he was talking about, but she was ignoring it. Leaving her behind, Seo Jun-Ho slowly walked over to the Ice Witch.
- You"re trying to stop this attack? Do you have anything to do with them... No, there"s no reason to be hostile to me...
Seo Jun-Ho looked at the Ice Witch speaking gibberish and raised his hand.
"Your last words… I won"t ask."
It was one last favor granted to an opponent he thought worthy of being remembered.
- Haaa…
The lich shook her head. She hadn"t shown all her strength just yet, but they were acting triumphant as if they had already won? It was funny.
- Hundreds of years ago, people called me an Ice Witch and feared me.
They respected her, but also feared her.
- No one understood me.
Even her teacher, who had told her that she would become an undead magician beyond death, had not understood her. In fact, it was quite natural, as it was something that shouldn’t be understood.
- I"m going to confidently go back and tell them. Who"s right now? Who’s wrong now?!
Crackle, crackle!
Thousands of frozen soldiers rose up around the lich. They were the elite soldiers of the snowfields, holding swords, spears, and shields.
- After having lived for hundreds of years, my magic power is infinite. Do you think I"ll lose to a mere human?
"You..."
Seo Jun-Ho lightly took a step. As he walked forward, his body slowly began to disappear. No, to be exact, his whole body began to turn into "darkness."
"You talk too much."
Saaaaak!
Seo Jun-Ho had completely transformed into darkness itself, flooding the snowfield soldiers.
- Kill him!
Thousands of soldiers rushed in, wielding swords and spears. Each weapon contained magic and could actually strike the darkness. However, not a single one could touch Seo Jun-Ho. Having turned into darkness, he whirled among them like the wind.
Pasasak!
The soldiers" weapons shattered and their arms and legs were broken.
- Surround him! Don"t even give him a chance to move!
Soldiers gathered to besiege him in a way that was almost impossible to escape from. On top of this, the soldiers built a wall by climbing on top of each other"s backs and heads. It was an operation that could only be done because they were snowfield soldiers who only obeyed orders. This was absolutely impossible for humans.
- Got him!
Only then did the lich spit out a jubilant voice of joy. The lich didn’t know what skill Seo Jun-Ho was using, but she could see that he had become the darkness and ravaged the soldiers.
- It"s a pretty annoying technique, but that"s it for the tricks.
The soldiers’ siege was perfect. The mountain of dense soldiers, which could not be escaped from so easily even if he was darkness itself, was complete.
- Hold him still like that!
The Ice Witch began to chant a spell. At the same time, all the magic in the area moved over to her. She sucked in the magic power that seemed to be struggling for freedom as if she was a vacuum cleaner.
"A strong bombardment after immobilizing the opponent."
This was the picture that she had in mind from the time she ordered the soldiers to surround her opponent. However, Seo Jun-Ho"s experience in combat was several notches higher. He was basically looking over her shoulder while she was painting.
Woooong!
He was currently darkness, but he could feel his hair standing up. It meant his that opponent’s lethal spell was aimed at his head.
‘It"s time.’
Seo Jun-Ho went under the ground. This was the biggest reason why he had spilled the darkness across the land before the battle.
‘It"s dark.’
He couldn’t see anything in the dark s.p.a.ce, but strangely, he felt calm. It was the same as when he had gone through the "dark ordeal" in the Cave of Trials. The only difference was that he had his senses this time. Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes.
‘It’s the front.’
There was only one thing he remembered. The fact that the Ice Witch was about 27 meters ahead. Seo Jun-Ho flew forward, only focusing on that.
Craaaa.s.sh!
The area where he had been swirled and collapsed. An explosion could be heard.
- It"s the end of that insect-like human! Everything within the range of my spell will be reduced to nothing!
That brutish witch had destroyed everything along with her soldiers. If he had been there, regardless of whether he was darkness or not, he wouldn’t have avoided the disaster.
‘This is a very consequential story, but…’
Seo Jun-Ho slowly opened his eyes. Darkness came, but now, he could feel it even if couldn’t see it.
‘I’m better than you.’
Seo Jun-Ho ran out of the darkness and turned his back. The Ice Witch"s empty defenseless skull appeared in his eyes.
"That"s all..."
Craaaack!
A sharp blade made of darkness cut through the Ice Witch"s skull like slicing through b.u.t.ter.
- Ah? Uh, huh?
Like a broken toy, the lich spat out strange sounds.
- Senses? It"s back? How?
Her head felt cool for the first time in hundreds of years. She was so happy that she tried to clap her hands, but for some reason, the distance between her hands was far.
It was too far. She wanted to clap, but her two hands never met.
This was the end of the Ice Witch.
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho stared down at the lich who had been split in half and was starting to disappear. He wasn"t just looking at the skeleton; he was contemplating the end of a person who had been dragged along by desire.
"Is it over?"
With a tired voice, the Frost Queen came and took her place on his shoulders as if it was natural. Before he knew it, her mask had been covering her face once again.
"Yeah."
"It was just a trivial skeleton."
As the crashing sound of ice that covered the battlefield disappeared, only the sound of drifting snow remained. The snowstorm was also gone.
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho looked at the banshee approaching him. The banshee stared at the lich, who lay in two pieces, and wept silently for a long time. About 10 minutes later, Seo Jun-Ho spoke, "Are you done crying?"
"Contractor, how can you be so tactless?" The Frost Queen tugged at his hair and gave him a hint. "It is a gentleman"s duty to pretend that he did not see a lady’s tears...”
"I"m not a gentleman. You can ask Gilberto when you see him." Seo Jun-Ho shook his head and continued. “And if I lose my hair, I’d become like Deok-Gu, so don"t pull it.”
[Pffft!]
When Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen squabbled over their usual pet peeves, Ella burst into laughter.
[What’s this? The Ice Witch looked so scary like she was the G.o.ddess of snow, but did she really just die… just like this?]
"Well, as you can see..."
[…]
Ella finally looked up and made eye contact with the two. Her moist eyes curled into half-moons.
[Thank you so much. Thanks to you two... I"m relieved of my regret.]
"Then, you don’t have any more lingering feelings in this world?"
[It"s gone. Cleanly.]
Ella looked down at her hand. Her fingertips were slowly turning into specks of light that rose into the sky.
"Your parents must have been waiting for you for a long time."
[Will they still be waiting for us, I wonder? Will they still remember us?]
"They will. That is how parents are...”
"Yeah, they’ll be waiting.”
The vengeful spirits, who had been chasing after her, bowed deeply and flew toward the sky. Left alone, Ella smiled brightly as she looked at the skies up above.
[They’re calling me. My parents and siblings!]
"Go ahead."
[Goodbye, kind human.]
Leaving behind a bright smile, Ella eventually turned into light particles that disappeared into the sky. The snowstorm stopped, and the darkened earth returned to being the white snowfield from before.
[You have cleared the hidden quest of the Ice Witch"s Castle Dungeon, "The Banshee Girl’s Wish.”]
[You have earned the ‘Lich"s Magic Book’ as a reward.]
[You have earned a ‘Frozen Heart’ reward.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
…
[All stats have increased by 6.]
[You have recovered 12 lost strength stats.]
[Thanks to the Limit Breaker’s effect, your stamina has increased by 3 and magic has increased by 3.]
[The sad story of the Ice Witch and the banshee girl has spread throughout the world via word of mouth.]
[Your fame has increased by 2,500.]
The Frost Queen murmured while staring at the sky, "Will Ella be happy from now on?"
"I don"t know. I have never been to heaven." Seo Jun-Ho shrugged and grinned in response, "Rather, wouldn"t you know better?"
"...I do not know about heaven. I do not remember."
She shook her head softly and murmured, "I hope she’s happy."