The Ice Hell's Punisher
The boss monster guarding the staircase of the 20th floor was an Illusory Dragon—a sub-dragon species that constantly shifted its position while radiating twelve lights.
Naturally it was a tricky opponent, yet in truth it posed no real threat to the 3 No. Even Kang Mu-hyun’s party had been able to push past something of this caliber, after all. A bit of a hassle, but they could crush its head without breaking a sweat.
Barely ten minutes. With Park Ji-hoo’s Flash Fist [C] as the finishing blow, Yujin climbed the stairs alongside the 3 No.
“What’s the 21st floor like?” Lee Sia, ever full of questions, asked again.
“An ice plain.”
“Ice?”
“From the 21st floor to the 30th. Think of it as colder and harsher than Siberia.”
“…So that’s why you made us wear these?” Sia looked down at the clothes she was wearing.
Unlike Yujin, who was layered in black lamellar armor and a long robe, the 3 No were all dressed in pure-white coats they had never seen before. Every one of them was an item obtained in the Dream Garden.
Frostveil Coat [D].
They hadn’t understood why he’d forced them to dig these up and put them on in the warm climate of the 20th floor. Looking at them now, it was clear he had prepared them for the 21st floor.
“They’re only D-grade, so the cold resistance won’t be that strong. We’ll have to grab proper gear once we’re up there.”
“Is it really that cold?”
The Frostveil Coat [D] focused more on cold resistance than defense. Honestly, it was so warm right now that she wanted to peel it off immediately. And yet they would need better ones later?
“I told you—colder than Siberia. Literally an ice plain. It varies a little by floor, but the consistent theme is the same.”
If Yujin was putting it that way, the cold truly defied imagination. Sia, who had always been a shivering wreck, looked faintly appalled.
“The monsters are strong too, but the real danger is the cold. Fight with a frozen body long enough and, at some point, you can’t even move the way you want.”
That was why players died in droves on the 21st floor. Later, once the information spread, people prepared in advance—but at the beginning they had been ground down mercilessly.
“Then isn’t Kang Mu-hyun’s group in danger too?”
“I already told him before he went up, so he should be fine.”
Even in the first timeline, with zero information, Kang Mu-hyun had carved through this ice plain all the way to around the 50th floor. With prior intel this time, there was no need to worry.
“Anyway, watch the cold until we get new gear. Don’t even think about counting on me to keep covering for you.”
Let that kind of faith make them lower their guard and they really could die in an instant. Yujin stressed the point again and again as they climbed.
And at last, they reached the 21st floor.
Whoooooooooosh—!
The mild air vanished at once. A blade-like wind scraped across their skin.
“Uwaaah—!”
Startled, Park Ji-hoo clutched the front of his Frostveil Coat [D] shut.
“H-holy shit!”
It wasn’t just him—all of the 3 No reacted the same way. They had steeled themselves, but the cold still far exceeded anything they had imagined. If they hadn’t prepared the Frostveil Coats [D] in advance… they didn’t even want to think about it.
“There’s a village about a day’s walk north. Let’s make that our first objective and move.”
A whole day. Sia’s face went pure white.
A pure-white ice plain. An endless horizon of this insane space—and they had to walk it for an entire day while fighting monsters?
The urge to give up rose unbidden. Of course, giving up only led to death, so walking was the only option left.
“Keep moving. No breaks.”
Yujin took the first step. Because Kang Mu-hyun’s party had gone ahead, the first-clear reward didn’t appear, but he didn’t care. He no longer needed something like that—not until the higher floors above the 50th, at least.
Crunch—.
Shards of ice underfoot shattered with an eerie sound.
“Stick close behind me. There are crevasses sometimes. Fall in and you’re dead.”
A true Frigid Ice Hell. Yujin set out toward Frostvale, the only village on the 21st floor…
"You are that irregular named Seong Yujin, I take it?"
Yujin flinched hard.
A voice he hadn’t sensed at all spoke right beside their heads. His neck almost snapped as he whipped around. In the same breath he shouted:
“Shit—! Everyone scatter!”
A transparent dress and tiara carved as if from ice, and a sword. A presence seared into Yujin’s memory like a brand.
Omophnes.
Administrator of floors 21 through 30. One of the Tower’s managers who ruled this Frigid Ice Hell—and the Punisher.
Fabababababat—!
At Yujin’s shout the 3 No spun and launched themselves backward without hesitation. They had never seen him look this urgent. No time or reason to hesitate. They simply fled at the absolute fastest speed they could manage.
Yujin did the opposite.
Instead of turning, he charged straight at Omophnes, already drawing the Galaxy Sword [B] from Chunbae’s mouth.
A B-grade blade that looked forged from gathered starlight carried the milky river of power flowing through Yujin’s body and cleaved the air. A comet-like slash fell from high to low.
There was no time to activate a skill; it was nothing more than a simple downward cut. Yet the force packed into it was anything but simple. After consuming seven spiritual medicines, Yujin’s mana had become far too powerful to belong to a mere level-60 player. His body was the same—perfectly tuned for combat, it unleashed overwhelming strength.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa—!
The Galaxy Sword [B] tore the atmosphere open. Wherever Yujin’s feet landed, the ice plain shattered. Even Cupiditas or Taylon would never have been able to take a blow of this caliber.
But—
"You truly deserve to be called an irregular."
The opponent was an Administrator. And not just any—the Punisher, once called an ancient calamity of unmatched cruelty.
"I cannot allow you to ascend any higher."
Her words were filled with courtesy, yet her voice was not. Just listening made one’s chest freeze solid. In truth it already was. The mana she casually leaked was cold enough to freeze everything. This ice plain itself had been shaped under the influence of her power.
Omophnes extended her pure-white hand—palm open, not even an ice sword.
Normally Yujin would have sneered at the sight, laughing that she was about to die after putting on airs. Right now he felt the opposite: relief. Relief that this damned calamity had not drawn her blade.
It was humiliating, but there was no room to care about pride. Yujin focused solely on the single-minded will to cut the being before him and brought the sword down.
Jjeooooooooong—!
An ear-splitting impact exploded outward—loud enough that the fleeing 3 No staggered. Yet Yujin’s face twisted.
The Galaxy Sword [B] failed to dig even a single inch into Omophnes’s palm. Her hand, so pale the veins showed through and looking fragile enough to break, casually stopped a strike that had carried every ounce of Yujin’s power.
"Indeed. Your strength is far too excessive for a player of this era."
“…Is being strong a crime?” Yujin asked, blade still pressed against her hand.
"Of course not."
Omophnes shook her head.
"However, weeds that do not belong in a well-tended garden must be pulled out if harmony is to be preserved."
“What a load of bullshit.”
Yujin ground his teeth. He had never expected conversation to work with her. He had spoken only to buy even a single second for a skill.
“Heavenly Demon’s Swordplay [B].”
Heavenly Demon’s Swordplay [B]
A full B-grade skill—the strongest he could currently use—activated. The Galaxy Sword [B] was possessed by a Heavenly Demon that mocked the world.
Breath stopped as if cut. The blade itself never moved an inch, yet everything that entered Yujin’s vision was simultaneously slashed with diagonal strokes.
——————————————!!!
The flow of air collapsed. Every reality visible to the eye split apart and scattered from the tip of the sword. Sound, light, sensation—all of them lagged a beat behind. The cut existed far beyond the perceptual range of any being. Malice stripped of even killing intent slowly carved into Omophnes’s palm.
Kwaduk—, kwadudeudeuk—!
Her eyes widened slightly, as if she had not expected this at all. Frozen blood welled out and formed pillars of ice on the shattered ground.
"Impressive."
Admiration colored her voice, yet there was not the slightest fear or fluster. Even as her hand was being severed in half, she merely watched Yujin and the Galaxy Sword [B] with emotionless eyes.
"If only you had a little more time, the situation might have been different. What a shame."
At those words Yujin understood. Heavenly Demon’s Swordplay [B] had not truly reached her. Even as it cut through her hand and began to carve into her chest, the wounds belonged only to a shell—not her true body. Omophnes’s real origin was hidden far deeper.
"As Didascalia said, it is fortunate we can resolve this before you obtain all five legacies."
Five legacies? Curiosity flickered for an instant, but there was no room to dwell on it.
"Die with humility. I intend to use the authority of Punishment [A] granted to me upon you."
Punishment [A].
An ability given only to Omophnes among the Administrators—a power that could absolutely kill any player judged to obstruct the Tower’s operation. If that struck him, Yujin would die. He would die without fail. No matter how powerful his body and mana, even if Vivian spent her entire fortune on Financial Healing [C], it would not matter. An inescapable death for any player would descend.
Omophnes raised the hand that still dripped frozen blood. No emotion showed on her face—as if she had merely noticed, while walking, that she had stepped on an ant. To her, Yujin was nothing more than that.
“…Fuck.”
Yujin stared at the hand approaching him and spat a curse. This was the most dangerous moment since his return to the past. It wasn’t even comparable to the Flower Keeper’s fist.
And yet, even as an inescapable hand of death slowly closed in, Yujin did not despair. There was one way—just one—to escape this goddamn situation.
“I was saving this for later,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “But hoarding until it turns to shit isn’t my style.”
He would have to use it now. Having decided, Yujin snapped open his skill window, selected one entry, and pulled an item from Chunbae’s mouth. The entire process finished in less than a second.
He clenched the item and spoke.
“I don’t know if you’re omurice or okonomiyaki, but you’re fucking dead today, you piece of shit.”
Reversal [B]
Target: Entire Skill Window
Kwaduk—.
The bean-sized item shattered. Yujin’s status window began to change. Everything that had been active switched to inactive. Everything that had been inactive switched to active.
Which meant:
Flashback [S] had just become Flashback [S]—now active.