Chapter 248: Black Dragon (1)

Crunch, crunch.

An ice golem would never tire. Had it been ten or fifteen days since they entered the Wailing Mountains? He couldn't remember how long it had been, but the ice golem was still doing fine. As long as Seo Jun-Ho's mental strength wasn't exhausted, it would move silently with him forever.

"Ha, ha-a..."

The problem was Seo Jun-Ho. Forget improving; his condition was deteriorating by the day.

"Contractor, are you all right? Do you need anything? Do you want water?"

Due to this, the Frost Queen was becoming increasingly more concerned in recent days. Seo Jun-Ho's body had become more and more haggard, and his face was as sunken as that of the dead. Without the Hero's Mind (S), the ice golem would have long been unsummoned, and he would have died as well.

"Ugh..."

Shiver.

Seo Jun-Ho hugged a thick blanket. Due to the unbearable cold, he wore thick clothes and covered himself in several layers of blankets. Nevertheless, a terrible chill penetrated his bones relentlessly. It was a fatal blow to a patient whose muscles had been wrecked and torn apart.

"Ha-a, ha..."

If a person's breath were to be compared to a thread, his thread was thin and delicate, as if it were going to break at any moment.

"This is not going to work. Stop."

The ice golem stopped walking at the Frost Queen's orders. Currently, they were in an unknown location amidst their climb to the Wailing Mountains. If they turned around now, they would be able to get to Denver in time and meet the Saintess.

"Didn't the Sage say so? If you ask her to treat you, you will recover in about a month."

"..."

"Let's go back. Hmm? Please... Just listen to me once."

Seo Jun-Ho shook his head stubbornly even as his body trembled. Just recovering?

'That alone... is not enough.'

He had to meet the Thunder God, get treatment, receive guidance, and overcome his previous self.

"Cough! Ugh..."

The reason was simple—one of his biggest delusions was shattered after meeting Janabi.

'It's been a long time since... the footprints I left had ended...'

He realized that the path he had to walk from now on wasn't the path he had already walked once. In fact, he had thought about this once when he came up to Frontier. However, it had remained a concept he only thought about in his head without understanding it with his heart.

'From now on...'

It was going to be harder. It was going to be lonely. It might become so exhausting that he would want to cry. However, if he became strong... If he became even stronger... As long as he could grab on to strength such that it would no longer be hard, lonely, or exhausting to the point that he would want to cry...

'I'll do anything.'

The strength Seo Jun-Ho wanted to obtain was akin to becoming an existence who could suppress all fiends on his own and becoming every Players' sanctuary.

"Cough! Cough!" With every cough, Seo Jun-Ho could feel his lungs shake, and it was so painful it felt like his guts were about to get torn into shreds.

"Why, why do you want to be so strong to that extent? You are already strong enough!"

... At first, I didn't even have, cough—peace in mind."

It was only because of his comrades that he chose to return as a Player. It was for the few friends whom he could trust his back to. He had decided to lead his trashy body into fighting again to save them. But now, that goal had changed a little.

'Precious people...'

It wasn't just his body that had become weak. His mind had also become very weak. Because of that, he had made a mistake he wouldn't have made before. He found people precious to him. It wasn't just one or two people; there were many of them.

'I can't lose them again.'

He didn't want to lose the people he valued; he didn't want to have things taken away from him anymore. The emptiness from the sense of loss had already been imprinted so deep that it had become unforgettable even after a lifetime.

"This feeling of not wanting to lose something precious... Cough! Cough! You know it well too."

"I, I...!" The Frost Queen's voice rose.

However, the words got caught in her throat, and she couldn't spit out the next word. As he said, she knew it well. She had imagined and regretted hundreds of thousands of times what it would have been like if she had a little more power.

"...I hate you." The Frost Queen bit her lips. To her, the ridiculously stubborn Contractor felt cold and hateful today. "Why don't you understand? Because of your stubbornness, I may lose someone precious once again...!"

"..."

Seo Jun-Ho silently looked at the crying Frost Queen, who couldn't finish her sentence. He was thankful. The proud queen had called him a precious person. What greater honor was there?

"I..."

The skin on his face was dry, and his lips had shriveled up. However, his eyes were clear as he looked at the Frost Queen. No ugly look could mask his bright eyes.

"I definitely won't die..."

The Sage of the Observatory Tower had said that this was going to be a difficult path, but he hadn't said it was impossible.

'I can hold out even longer...'

He had experienced countless life-and-death situations throughout his entire life. How could being sick and suffering from the cold compare to those harrowing experiences?

"Ku..."

His dry lips tore, but Seo Jun-Ho had finally raised the corner of his mouth. He smiled despite the blood flowing down his lips.

"Not yet; I'm fine."

"...Remember that I definitely tried to stop you. Countless times. Many, many times."

The Frost Queen's shoulders drooped like a collapsed roof. She realized that she could not break her contractor's stubbornness even if he died.

'I feel like I am always losing to you.'

Sighing lightly, she eventually closed her eyes tightly. "...Go ahead."

Crunch, cruuunch.

The ice golem, which had stopped for a while, began to move once again. But six hours later, the ice golem collapsed like a sand castle. Seo Jun-Ho was buried in a snowy mountain path.

"Contractor! Contractor! Is there no one there? I don't care who it is, please...!"

The crying Frost Queen tried to use her powers with all her might. However, she was just a Spirit, and she would exhaust her contractor's mental strength with every use of her abilities.

If Seo Jun-Ho's mental strength was exhausted, her powers were silenced.

"Uaahhhhhhh..."

It was about ten minutes after covering Seo Jun-Ho with a blanket that the Frost Queen stopped crying.

Crisp. Crunch.

It was because a man in fur had approached her.

"What footprints... No, a person!"

The man approached Seo Jun-Ho, and he turned pale after checking his condition.

"This person... To Master, quick!"

The man put Seo Jun-Ho on his shoulder and ran down the mountain path at great speed.

"...Sniff."

The Frost Queen sniffled and quickly followed after him.

***

Drip, drip.

The incessant sound of dripping water woke Seo Jun-Ho up. Opening his eyes, Seo Jun-Ho stared at the wooden ceiling.

"...Ah."

He felt like he had been asleep for a long time. Yeah, this was exactly how he felt when he returned after being in the ice for twenty-five years.

"Ugh."

However, his physical condition was different from back then. His current condition was so bad he couldn't even raise his upper body by himself.

'I was definitely heading toward the end of the Wailing Mountains... Then I lost consciousness...'

He couldn't remember anything after that.

'Where am I?'

It was a small single room filled with the strong scent of green tea. Seo Jun-Ho was lying on the floor of the room, which gave off the feeling that it was a grandma's house in the countryside.

'What about Frost?'

He urgently searched for her, but he found her sleeping next to him while drooling.

"Frost, get up."

"Mmm... Five minutes..."

Rubbing her eyes and tossing her body, the Frost Queen suddenly raised her head as if she had realized something. When she saw Seo Jun-Ho, she quickly put on her mask[1] and said, "Contractor, you are up? Are you awake? Do you remember everything?"

"This feels like a repeat of what happened a while ago." It was only recently that he had woken up in Denver's hospital room. Seo Jun-Ho laughed dryly and nodded. "My body is still not feeling well, but my mind is surprisingly sound."

"It is because he boiled special tea leaves."

"Ah, the one that smells like green tea." He followed up with a question. "So, where are we?"

"The Thunder God's house."

Seo Jun-Ho was surprised by Frost Queen's words.

"I arrived? I thought I lost consciousness on the way..."

"You fainted and fell down. If it were not for the luck of his disciple who was on his way back from buying alcohol, you would have died on the snowy mountain path."

"...I see."

Seo Jun-Ho let out a breath of relief. Perhaps, the Sage had foreseen this whole situation.

'Perhaps if I had given up in the middle and went back, I might have died.'

He could have missed the Thunder God's disciple on the path up the mountain.

Seo Jun-Ho calmed down his surprised heart and asked, "Where is the Thunder God?"

"Well, he is probably out training his disciple. I looked around, and there was nothing here." The Frost Queen spoke grumpily, "There's just a large open space, a mineral spring to drink water and the house where the disciple and the Thunder God live. That is it."

"...That's some intense minimalism."

In fact, the interior of the room wasn't much either. It was simple and small.

"Oh, speak of the devil."

As soon as Frost Queen spoke, the door burst open without a knock.

'He's the Thunder God...?'

Seo Jun-Ho turned his eyes and was surprised when he looked at him. There were many terms to describe him. The Second Heaven, the number 1 ranked Player, the strongest Player, Master of Lightning, etc. Because of that, the image of the Thunder God in Seo Jun-Ho's head was clear.

'A muscular appearance not appropriate for his age, white mustache and hair like that of God, sharp eyes, strong expression, and beautifully formed wrinkles...'

Seo Jun-Ho was vaguely imagining an image of a martial artist detached from the world. However, the Thunder God he met was the exact opposite.

'He's thinner than I thought.'

Rather than being muscular, he looked just like a normal, well-trained martial artist. Additionally, his hair and beard was gray, not neat white. Furthermore, his wrinkles were like those of rural villagers.

'But his eyes are as I expected...'

The Thunder God had a sharp look in his eyes. Perhaps, it was because of his slender stature, but even that alone made him seem like a cool person. Making eye contact with Seo Jun-Ho, the Thunder God was slightly surprised.

"Oh, yer awake?"

"Yes, I greet the Thunder God. Please forgive me for greeting you like this."

"Well, if yer awake, that's enough."

The Thunder God nodded like it wasn't a big deal, and he spoke in a dialect. It wasn't clear whether it was a dialect translated through the Vita or if it was an actual Korean dialect.

The Thunder God beckoned with his hands, "If yer awake now, hurry up and go down."

"...Yes?"

"Are ya deaf? If yer up, go down."

Seo Jun-Ho gulped a mouthful of his saliva and asked, "I cannot do that. I came here for help and to learn from you, the Thunder God."

The Thunder God snorted, then smiled. "Huh, do I ow' ya something? Have we met before? Why are ya asking me for help?"

"I'm sorry for the sudden visit. But the Sage told me to go find you, the Thunder God..."

"The Sage? The one from the Observatory Tower?"

The look in the Thunder God's eyes changed. After thoroughly looking at Seo Jun-Ho for a while, he scratched his head.

"Hmmm, I wanted to comfortably live till the end of mah life, but some bothersome work's been handed over to meh..."

He flopped down next to Seo Jun-Ho with a helpless look.

"Ya've heard a little about meh, haven't ya?"

"I have heard that you have the power to wield lightning and are also good at treatment."

"His lips sure are loose. If it weren't for mah promise, I would have never accepted ya."

The Thunder God looked as if he was being forced as he said, "Take off yer clothes."

"W-why?"

"Don't ya want to get treatment?"

"Do I have to take it off to get treatment?"

"Of course, ya punk. If I treat ya with mah power, the clothes will get burned anyway. I don't have extra clothes here."

"...Then please."

As Seo Jun-Ho nodded slowly, the Frost Queen grabbed the door and whispered, "C-contractor, I will be out here... Call me when it is done."

Tap, tap, tap.

The Frost Queen quickly went out the door.