The Spicy Taste of Frozeland
"They answered! They actually answered!"
"Good job. Keep your cool. Ignore them for now."
"Yes, yes!"
The guild members nodded frantically. In truth, they wanted to reply immediately, but they held back because Tae-hyun told them to! They bit their tongues and waited.
Then, another whisper arrived.
"They keep asking," one of the guild members said.
"Wait about ten minutes, then reply. Sound annoyed."
The guild members waited. Meanwhile, the whispers kept coming.
"Isn't this just like Nodranche?"
"It's probably way worse than Nodranche."
If Nodranche was the mild version, Frozeland was the extra-spicy edition! In a land with such a hazardous environment, a map was more important than anything else. Knowing which areas were dangerous, where they could shelter...
Right now, the fugitives were trying to bait them by offering exactly that.
Douglas, Charles, and Harold. This trio had instantly become world-famous. Of course, not in a good way.
They were getting messages even from people they had never been close to! Although the trio were greedy, fearless plunderer players in their own right, they couldn't help but be terrified when the entire world was trying to kill them.
The only one who wouldn't be scared in a situation like this was a freak like Kim Tae-hyun!
"I'm telling you, we should just return the tombstone right now!"
"Are you out of your mind? If you were the dragon, would you go, 'Oh, what a good little human, let me give you a reward' just because we gave it back?"
It was a Red Dragon, famous for its terrible temper! Even if they returned the tombstone, they'd likely get a face full of Dragon Breath as a thank-you gift.
"Th-then what if we just dump it in some city and run..."
"Even if the Red Dragon gets it back, there's no guarantee he'll let us off the hook! If he takes the tombstone and keeps hunting us down, we're completely finished. Do you want to quit Pan-On for good?!"
"Ugh..."
The three of them huddled in a corner of a cave in Frozeland, racking their brains. Of course, racking empty brains wasn't going to magically produce an answer. If a dragon were open to persuasion or negotiation, they wouldn't be so notoriously feared in the first place!
"We have to do what I said. The tombstone is our lifeline. Even if we die, we hold onto it until the very end."
"But if we actually die..."
"Shut up. We hold out. If we hold out long enough, the other players will change their minds. Trust me!"
Their plan was simple.
Right now, everyone is screaming to kill us, but if we keep holding out and the continent gets hotter and hotter, people will have to negotiate!
No matter how much they hated them, people were bound to negotiate when pushed into a corner. They might endure it for now, but if the heat rose any further, someone would eventually step forward to buy the tombstone with real money just to resolve the crisis!
...Of course, before worrying about the feasibility of this plan, they had to survive until then.
That was why the three of them had boarded a ship from Bektel City, a northern port city in the Oston Kingdom, and fled to Frozeland.
Although Bektel City was part of the Oston Kingdom, it was a lawless haven that neither the Guild Alliance nor the Midas Guild could control. Thanks to that, they were able to buy a ship and escape.
...But Frozeland was incredibly, ridiculously cold.
The continuous effect of Cold Resistance has ended!
The freezing cold sweeps over you!
Movement speed has decreased!
If you remain in this state, you will enter the [Hypothermia] state...
"This is insane. What kind of cold is this...!"
"What about the cold resistance potions?"
"All gone."
"You're not hiding any, are you?"
"You bastard... Aren't you the one hiding them?"
"Hey, stop fighting. Use food to hold out."
"We're out of cooking ingredients too..."
"......"
They never used to care about basic ingredients or potions, but now they realized how precious they were! To survive in Frozeland, they had to constantly consume potions or food to maintain cold resistance. But going outside now was suicide.
'Damn it! We have to get supplies somehow.'
'We underestimated Frozeland too much...!'
They thought they had prepared, but it wasn't nearly enough. Frozeland was completely different from any map they had experienced. Monsters were hard to find, they took constant cold damage while searching, and if a blizzard hit, they were as good as dead...
Just then, a whisper arrived.
"?!?!"
"They say they're in Frozeland?"
"Tell them to cut the crap. How could they possibly get here?"
"Y-yeah? But they might have actually come. Their guild got smashed to pieces, and they're all being hunted."
"Mmm..."
Honestly, the three of them wavered. If their guildmates had fled here... Of course, it could be a trap. But it was also true that their guildmates were being hunted.
"Sounds like there's a decent number of them."
"Ignore them for now. Let's think about this."
In the meantime, the guildmate got annoyed and cut off the whisper.
"Hey! What do we do! They hung up!"
"Leave them be! They'll message us again."
"......"
"......"
"They're not messaging back, you idiot! What now?! You go out and get the ingredients then!"
"N-no, don't worry. We can just message them first."
'By the way, Carbanog. Are there any enemies we should watch out for in Frozeland?'
'...Ancient Beastmen tribes?'
'Why are you only telling me this now?'
'...You do know I wiped out their ancestors, right?'
'...Well, as long as we don't get caught...'
'Y-yeah. Let's think of it that way.'
'Well, that's to be expected.'
'?'
A prison to exile and lock up criminals! No place was more perfect for that than Frozeland. If they tried to escape, they'd freeze to death, and getting back wouldn't be easy...
'Oh. Then are there Ancient Empire facilities here?'
Tae-hyun's eyes sparkled. Ever since Nodranche, he had been looking for Ancient Empire cities. A highly profitable quest in many ways! If an Ancient Empire city remained in Frozeland...
'And since people rarely come here, there's a high chance something is left.'
Just some fortresses used as prisons, so nothing spectacular! But Tae-hyun didn't give up.
'Wherever it is, there's bound to be at least one useful thing. Nodranche was like that too.'
'...I was talking about cities, not people. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.'
Quests related to the Ancient Empire had powerful rewards on their own, and in Tae-hyun's case, they were connected to his class quest. The fallen Archisus Church. The time when the church was perfectly fine was during the Ancient Empire.
Finding ruins of the Ancient Empire meant a higher chance of finding Archisus relics!
'It's the Ancient Empire. They're probably all dead.'
'......'
"Lord Tae-hyun! They said they're coming out!"
"Lord Tae-hyun! What should we do?!"
Seeing the guild members shouting in unison, Alcott was dumbfounded. Are these guys Tae-hyun's subordinates or what?
'Why are they so obedient?'
Anyone would think they were Tae-hyun's own guild members!
At that sight, Lee Da-bi wore a slightly jealous expression.
'Usually, that's my role...!'
'Why is Da-bi acting like that?'
'Maybe she hates those plunderers acting all friendly with Tae-hyun?'
'Whoa. Then what about Cain...?'
"First, everyone disguise yourselves. Cain, pull your arms in."
As Cain's extra arms retracted with a shshshk, the guild members gasped in horror. Aaargh! A monster!
"Everyone put on cloaks and look as shabby as possible."
"Should we take off our armor too?"
"Keep your armor on. You'll take damage from the cold otherwise."
Alcott tilted his head at their conversation.
'What kind of nonsense is this?'
The cold of Frozeland was so fierce, would wearing or not wearing a single piece of armor make any difference? You had to defend with magic or potions, not armor...
'Even if it has cold resistance or fire attributes, it shouldn't be enough to block this.'
"Hmm. Alcott, you must be cold. Take this."
Tae-hyun pulled out a torch, lit it, and handed it to him.
Alcott was momentarily dumbfounded. Are you mocking me?!
"Hey, there's no way a torch can block this kind of co—"
The Abyssal Flame blocks the cold of Frozeland!
You take no damage!
"?!?!??"
It actually blocked it?!
Alcott was truly shocked. Normally, the cold that a torch could block was extremely weak. It shouldn't be able to block the freezing cold of Frozeland...?!
"Hey, isn't this actually incredible? I heard if you advance to an Archisus Paladin or Priest, you can branch into Sadiq's Authority. Why aren't you guys promoting such an amazing power?"
Class-related professions could grow in various directions, not just one. Healing-specialized, buff-specialized, attack-specialized...
The Archisus Church was similar. They just had a few stolen authorities added to the mix! Any Archisus Paladin who wanted to could grow toward Sadiq's Authority.
"Huh? Is it that great?"
"Is that great? Seems pretty trash to me."
'Are they all insane?!'
Alcott was flabbergasted. Hey! This is an amazing authority! It's especially powerful in cold places, and since it's fire-attributed, it has decent attack power too!
"Hmm... I never really thought about it. Sadiq just seemed so weak... But hearing you say it, it does make sense."
Since no one was interested, players advancing in the Archisus Church just assumed, 'Oh, nobody cares about it, so it must be useless,' and ignored it. It was so bad that even NPCs and players who originally belonged to the Sadiq Church were jumping ship!
"When we go back, I should do some PR and tell people Sadiq's Authority is actually good."
"Eh, even if you promote it, I doubt anyone will listen."
"He's right. Sadiq's Authority is honestly a bit..."
Alcott suddenly felt pity for the Sadiq Church. They were supposed to be an evil god's church trying to plunge the continent into danger... How did their church end up in the hands of these people?!
Arriving at the meeting place, the group looked around. The three were not yet visible.
"What do we do when they show up? Attack immediately?"
"No. We need to wait a bit."
With Tae-hyun's Luck, they didn't have to worry about the drop rate when they attacked. There was no way those three had an item more valuable than the Dragon's Tombstone.
Moreover, as plunderer players, they would be carrying all sorts of penalties.
Tae-hyun's Luck + Plunderer Penalties = Losing their entire inventory upon a single death!
It seemed like they could easily force the tombstone out of them by just attacking, but...
'They might have left it behind.'
Tae-hyun had dealt with plunderer players more than once or twice. He was well-acquainted with their petty tricks.