‘Now, what will you do?’ 

A large block of ice as big as a glacier started inching toward Pride. Alarmed, he moved his hand, shooting pinballs toward it. They began to tear into the ice like piranhas.

‘It’s pointless.’ 

However, it was too massive. No matter how strong the pinballs were, there was no way they could quickly shatter a block of ice the size of a building.

“Dammit!”

The block of ice was chipped away until it was about the size of three people, but it was still dangerous.

In the end, Pride chose to dodge.

“...”

He took two steps to the side to avoid the ice, and Seo Jun-Ho smiled.

“I told you,” he said.

“I also pointed out that it was suspicious,” the Frost Queen replied.

When Pride moved, the pinballs in the air had fallen to the ground. It proved that he could only use his skill if he didn’t move.

‘No matter how strong a skill is, that kind of restriction is a huge handicap.’ 

To be honest, his actions had made no sense. Fiends were smart enough to hide their skills no matter what. But Pride had laid it all out in the open, pretending to let his guard down, all for the sake of hiding his skill’s weakness.

“Hup…phew.” Pride’s face went red, unable to hide his anger. He let out a deep breath, calming himself. “You’re better than I thought.”

Of course, he would be—Seo Jun-Ho was a newcomer with a lot of experience, after all.

It was Pride’s turn to panic.

‘I wanted to capture him because of his skill…’

He had expected it to be a piece of cake, but Seo Jun-Ho resisted more than he thought, and the latter even knew his weakness now. Pride considered this for a moment.

‘I’ll try one more time.’ 

And if he still couldn’t capture Seo Jun-Ho…

His eyes darkened.

‘I can just make Fuze keep his mouth shut. No one will ever know that there had been an ice elemental user here.’ 

He wouldn’t go through the trouble of trying to capture Seo Jun-Ho anymore. He would just kill him instead. After all, the dead couldn’t speak.

“Again…” Pride opened his Inventory again, and pinballs came spilling out, but they weren’t as powerful as before.

‘Vision enhancement.’ 

Magic filled his eyes, enhancing his vision greatly. Until now, he had enhanced his vision so that he could only see things in the distance like he was looking through a telescope. Now, he was doing the opposite.

‘I’m not looking into the distance anymore.’ 

His scope of vision had shrunk. He couldn’t see all the pinballs floating above his head, but he could see about a third of them.

Seo Jun-Ho felt his neck itch.

‘I feel like I could do what the Frost Queen did if I just train a little more…’ 

But at the moment, he couldn’t do it. He was too inexperienced.

‘It’s too bad.’ 

Still, he had gained a lot in this battle. If he wanted to, he could immediately shoot down dozens of pinballs, which had seemed impossible at the beginning of this battle.

He looked at Pride.

‘He considered it just now.’ 

Pride had considered whether to kill him instead of capturing him as he had originally intended. But seeing how Pride was acting, it seemed he would attempt to capture Seo Jun-Ho one more time.

‘I should end this soon.’ 

It would be better to end it while his opponent was holding back.

“Inventory.” Seo Jun-Ho pulled out a long spear reminiscent of a dragon. It glowed with blue light, giving off a cool aura.

Pride flinched the moment he saw it.

‘That weapon’s at least Rare-grade.’ 

There weren’t many weapons that could put him on edge simply by seeing them. Based on his experiences through the years, he was sure it was at least Rare-grade.

“You’re relying on your weapon, is that it?”

“You sound like an idiot.” Seo Jun-Ho felt no qualms about using weapons. He was actually proud of how good he was at handling them.

‘The only reason humans could beat so many predators and take over the world was because they could use weapons.’ 

He even had the powerful Weapons Mastery (S) skill.

“That’s funny. You say that when you’re using hundreds of weapons yourself,” Seo Jun-Ho remarked. The pinballs counted as weapons.

He struck the bullseye. Pride scowled. “I’ll end this quickly. If I keep talking to you, I won’t be able to hold myself back.”

“Contractor, do you simply plan to entertain his taunts?”

“Of course not….”

As Seo Jun-Ho exhaled, the air he was breathing out started to turn white as the temperature dropped. It became cold enough to dampen Pride’s senses, but not Seo Jun-Ho’s, and his focus became as sharp as a knife.

“Tch...” Pride moved first as he grew nervous. He moved his hand, and hundreds of pinballs shot out like meteors. Their movements were noticeably different from before.

‘He’s not just trying to stop me from retreating anymore. He’s just attacking sloppily.’ 

Whatever happened, Pride intended to heavily injure Seo Jun-Ho first, so he was more forceful than before. Ironically, this gave Seo Jun-Ho peace of mind.

‘You won’t have any regrets.’ 

At the very least, he wouldn’t go to the afterlife frustrated that he hadn’t tried his best.

Seo Jun-Ho shot out like a bolt of lightning, hundreds of pinballs following right behind him.

“Hup!”

When he reached Pride, the latter suddenly opened his Inventory.

“C-Contractor! He…!”

As the Frost Queen cried out, 512 more pinballs shot out. In total, there were 1,024 of them. They filled the air until the pinballs created a clear, invisible wall. There was no room to escape.

But Seo Jun-Ho was calm as they approached. “I knew it.”

He had expected this from the beginning.

‘He’s been lying since the beginning of the battle, using underhanded tricks like this.’ 

The Frost Queen had also mentioned that he only ever used 512 pinballs at a time. When she said that, Seo Jun-Ho had gotten the feeling that Pride could use more.

“You naive little novice. This is how a fiend fights.” Pride grinned triumphantly.

“Naive? You think I’m naive?” In stark contrast to Pride, Seo Jun-Ho had a wicked smile.

‘I’ll show you naive.’ 

His focus reached his peak. He was completely surrounded by 1,024 pinballs with nowhere to dodge, but he still moved.

Woosh! 

He twisted his body elegantly, dodging the pinballs. But he was doing more than that.

Crackle!

As they grazed him, dozens of pinballs started to freeze.

“Ah.” The Frost Queen was impressed because he wasn't just freezing them.

“That kind of technique…”

He was making the frozen pinballs into his own weapons as well. Somehow, he was able to do that while dodging a thousand simultaneous attacks.

“Impossible!” Pride screamed. It didn’t make sense.

‘You’re saying that’s just talent?’ 

He had heard the stories. Seo Jun-Ho, the one who cleared all 10 floors of the Cave of Trials. The Korean Player who supposedly had the most potential since Kim Woo-Joong and Shin Sung-Hyun.

‘But that’s not it.’ 

Who would look at him and think he only had potential? He had already bloomed!

‘He has already reached his full potential.’ 

It would be unfair if talent truly made that much of a difference. Was it even possible to have such a refined battle sense after merely two years of experience?

Pride shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense.” But he was witnessing this with his own two eyes. He started to tremble as he realized that.

‘I…I have to kill him.’ 

If he let Seo Jun-Ho go, he had no idea what would happen even a year from now. As such, he had to kill him right now.

“Hup!” Pride twisted his wrist, and the pinballs started to explode as he activated his second skill, Remote Detonation (C).

Thick smoke filled his vision. He tried to enhance his eyesight with demonic energy, but the smoke was so dense he couldn’t see through it.

‘He should be dead.’ 

The explosive force of dozens of pinballs was the equivalent explosion of dozens of bombs. Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t possibly survive when the explosion happened so close to him.

‘If he’s still alive, I can finish him off.’ 

Pride waited for the smoke to clear with a solemn expression.

‘I see him.’ 

Beyond the fading smoke was a human figure. Pride immediately shot his pinballs toward it.

Crackle! 

But instead of hitting flesh, he heard them striking ice…

‘Ice?’ 

He had struck a block of ice in the shape of a human, and the head had even been severed.

‘...It’s thick.’ 

The ice was about fifteen centimeters thick, and there were signs that a human had been encased inside it.

‘Then…!’

Pride quickly released his demonic energy, covering the area. He discovered a dense concentration of magic.

“I see you!” He lifted his hand, shooting the pinballs to the ceiling as he looked up.

But all he saw was a little girl…

“It is I.”

“...?!” Rather than being confused, he had a moment of realization.

‘He wasn’t up there…!’

“Down here.”

Woosh! 

Seo Jin-Ho’s spear thrust upward through a clear path.

“...”

Pride looked down at the weapon piercing his heart. It had been the perfect trap. Seo Jun-Ho had completely concealed his magic and his presence, hiding underground.

‘And he even sent his Spirit upward…”

It was perfect. But even then, Pride didn’t give up.

“Blegh!” As he coughed up bright red blood, he fell to one knee. There was only one thought in his head.

‘Fuze, I have to call Fuze…And the others…’ 

It wasn’t too late yet. He could feel the cold spreading from his heart to his veins, but he wasn’t dead yet.

‘I can live. I want to live.’ 

Seo Jun-Ho looked down at the fiend struggling in vain. “Do you want to live?”

Pride nodded vigorously.

“I always ask fiends…Have you ever spared someone when they asked for mercy?”

“...”

He didn’t answer. However, Pride nodded enthusiastically when he saw Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes grow colder.

“Actually, I think I have a few…”

“Bullshit.”

Crackle! 

An ice flower bloomed. Pride died instantly like a trampled flower.

“Geez, fiends always lie when they open their mouths,” Seo Jun-Ho remarked.

“If you know that, why do you always ask?”

“I’m just curious.”

“...” The Frost Queen looked at the ground. Her Contractor… wasn’t right in the head.