Emperor of Solo Play

Chapter 146 - Frost Knight (2)

3.

Before Hyrkan returned to the past, he spent the most important period of his life in Warlord.  This was why he could clearly remember the past events so clearly right now.

The first Main Scenario Quest was the Corrupt Count episode.  There had been a lot of confusion during this period of time.  Many people experienced something new, and these batch of Users brought a new age of Warlord.  At this stage, they were getting interested in the game, and they started paying more attention to this game.

Everything was still fresh, and everything was unfamiliar.

The second Main Scenario Quest was something given to those, who finished adjusting to the game the fastest.  The Immoral Prince episode was where everything started in earnest.  It was an era where Users enjoyed what had unfolded in front of them.  It was also the era where people didn't hold back their money in the pursuit of enjoying this game.  It was also an era where it was proven that incredible amount of fame, reputation and money could be earned by simply being good at the game of Warlord.

The third Main Scenario Quest wasn't about enjoying oneselves by playing the Ruined Kingdom episode.  It was the start of an era where the Users were in search for something.  They started anticipating and craving for something.  Every masterpiece had a beginning and an end.  The Users that started out from the launch of Warlord was starting to become interested in the end.

The end was the essence of Warlord.  The world had been turned into a battle field, and someone would rise above to end the war. Who was closest to being the 'warlord'?

This was a conversation that would be ongoing until the Warlord came to an end.  The person to light this argument on fire was none other than the Storm Queen Shir.  It was her.

Frost Knight.

The Frost Dragon had put a curse on this ancient kingdom, and there was a monster that was enforcing this curse.  This monster was continuously summoning its Cursed underlings, and it used a powerful magic to freeze any enemies that dared to go against it.  Even if anyone was able to pierce through all the obstacles laid out in front of it, the monster could summon the Ice Wall of Lament.  It also let out a ferocious cold air in its death throes as revenge.  The Storm Queen had shown everyone the possibility through all of this.

It was possible to solo against a Boss Monster!

Groups of experts of this game had flocked to monsters that had overwhelming strength and ability.  It was how everyone used to prove their bravery.  However, after her battle against the Frost Knight, soloing a monster with overwhelming strength and ability was the new method used by the Users to prove one's bravery and skill.

It was also at this point when he had developed a crush for her.

Ah!  She had such a beautiful appearance.

She had a flashy look, and her background was unfathomable.  However, these were all outstripped by her skills.  

She had revealed a new possibility!

Moreover, at the time, Hyrkan was able to hold out using the help that been extended to him by her.  The Hahoe Mask guild was slowly settling in, but once one paid off the monthly fee to play Warlord, one didn't have much money to spend on food. He had to live an impoverished life.  It wouldn't have been strange if the Hahoe Mask guild transitioned into a guild that no longer existed.  His dream and driving force was the only thing that had kept that guild going.

Of course, this version of the world no longer existed.  Hyrkan was the only one in this world, who remembered this line of history.  In a couple years, even he would start to forget about it.

‘Just admit it.’

However, he can say for certain that he could still remember all of it right now.

‘In truth, this is a table set up by the Stormhunters.  If I can't eat everything on this table, I'm the retarded one.’

This was why Hyrkan had to monopolize the Frozen Kingdom.

This wasn't him simply expressing his resolve.

The Stormhunters guild had revealed a comprehensive guide on hunting in the Frozen Kingdom.  Even a mediocre guild could clear the Frozen Kingdom with the information they had released.  Currently, Hyrkan was using a secret space found by the Stormhunters.  It allowed him to avoid the absolute surveillance of the Frost Knight residing at the throne of the Frozen Kingdom.

Everything had been provided by the Stormhunters guild.  In such circumstances, if he failed in achieving what he wanted to do, he wouldn't just be regretful.  He would be thoroughly embarrassed by the situation.

‘If I can't monopolize this by myself, I deserve to quit this game.’

He would be so ashamed that he wouldn't be able to play this game with a bare face.  There was no way others would find out about this failure, but this was about Hyrkan's own pride.  He wouldn't accept failure.

This was why Hyrkan was more serious than ever about this venture.  He was more serious about it then the time he fought the Immoral Prince.  In truth, he hadn't fought the Immoral Prince after a thorough preparation.  Hyrkan had been conflicted as he saw the battle between Storm Queen and the Immoral Prince.  After a deliberating over his decision, he decided to act.

Unlike what he did in the Immoral Prince battle, he had made exhaustive preparations before he crossed the Terube castle wall.  This was the result of the meticulous calculation.

‘The consumable Items I have left....  I have the exact amount left.  I have just enough to catch the Frost Knight.’

Of course, his recent hunt wasn't actually about leveling up.  He was meticulous in his actions as he set up the battle with the Frost Kingdom's boss monster, the Frost Knight.  He hunted until he had the requisite amount of consumable left.

‘I hit level 199.  That was unexpected.’

At this point in time, he had predicted he would be around 197 or 198.  His prediction was off....

‘Well, that's a good thing.’

It was a pleasant miscalculation.

‘As expected, the most important part is the Ifrit's Essence.’

What consumable Items did Hyrkan prepare to take down the Frost Knight?

There was the Essence made by gathering the Ifrit's tears. Then there was the holy water made from the Great Priest's sacred blood, the gum made from the innards of the Glutton Alligator, and the healing clay made from the heart of a Red Troll.

These were all very expensive Items.  Even the 30 great guilds used Items of such high value on the really important Raids.

Amongst these Items, the most important one was the Ifrit's Essence!

One had to catch a rare monster called Ifrit's Acolyte to obtain this Item.  One had to gather Ifrit's tears then one had to pay a high production cost to create this Item.  This item had two effects.

Fire Attribute Resistance will increase.  Any penalty received from Fire type attacks will decrease.

Ice Attribute Resistance will increase.  Any penalty received from Ice type attacks will decrease.

Ifrit was the Spirit King of Fire.  With the help of Ifrit's powerful strength, one can become a friend of the fire, and at the same time, one gained the power to resist against the cold.

Originally, this consumable Item was used on Boss Monsters, who had powerful Fire type attacks.  It was a one time use Item, and there was a time when it easily cost over 4 thousand gold to purchase it.

In recent days, the regions where the Ifrit's Acolyte appeared had increased.  As the monster wasn't as rare any more, the market price had significantly gone down.  Still, it was expensive. Hyrkan had bought a whopping 20 Ifrit's Essence to use in the Frozen Kingdom.  He had only one left in his supply.

Basically, he'll have only one chance to challenge the Frost Knight.

In truth, there would be no re-attempt at this.

If Hyrkan failed at the Frost Knight Raid, he would suffer a Game Over.  The place he'll be revived was the Terube castle wall.  Currently, there were numerous Users massing up at the Terube castle wall for the Northland hunt.  Moreover, there probably was a good number of Users, who had already met the requirement for the Northland Exploration quest.  These users were already in the Northland.  If they were skilled and fast, these Users probably had already entered into the territory of the Frozen Kingdom.

In such a situation, Hykran would be spending his 48 hours in death.  To fight the Frost Knight again, he would have to cover a significant amount of distance to get from the Terube castle wall to the Frozen Kingdom.  When he got here again, he would have to take a number.  He would have to wait in a queue.

Moreover, the wait time would be significant.  He could probably climb the Urugual mountain range once in the time he would have to wait in the queue.

He shouldn't go into this expecting a second try.

‘Cast Iron Rhinoceros Gem and...the Bone Explosives.  All of these Items are worth over 100 golds each.’

This was why he had prepared the most expensive Items.

He had spent an incredible amount.  If he failed this Raid, the entire time he had in the Frost Kingdom would register as a loss in his budget.

After checking the number of Items he had, Hyrkan felt a resoluteness.

He carefully started placing his organized Items into his pockets and pouches.  He felt tense as he carried out this action.

The Items couldn't just be stored anywhere.  He had to know where these Items were located at, and he had put place it in locations where he could quickly reach it in a desperate situation.  He had to be thorough in his calculations.

The last Item he picked up was the most important consumable Item.  it was the Ifrit's Essence.

It was large enough that it was a little bit uncomfortable to put it in one's mouth.  Hyrkan carefully picked it up, and he looked inside the Item.

‘This is worth more than a month supply of food.  It is expensive yet it tastes nasty.’

At that moment....

“Uh?”

Hyrkan unintentionally lost his grip on the Ifrit's Essence. His fingers were slippery from the frost.

Took took!

The fallen Ifrit's Essence bounced several times before it quickly rolled towards a wall.

‘Uh!’

At that moment, Hyrkan became frightened.  He looked towards the wall where the Ifrit's Essence was rolling towards to.  There was a big crack at the bottom of the wall.  He didn't have the luxury to express his surprise.  When Hyrkan approached the wall, the Ifrit's Essence fell into the crack.  It was like a hole-in-one in golf.  It had been that accurate.

Hyrkan didn't ruminate over the surprise he was feeling.  He didn't waste any time.

Choo-oong!

‘If I don't have this, I can't beat it.  I'll have to just return to the Terube castle. Please!’

He immediately took out the sword sheathed at his waist.  He started to scratch at the crack with his sword.

Choo-roong, choo-roong!

The Crying Sword was a famed sword that had taken down numerous monsters and Users.  Currently, it was considered to be one of the ultimate swords amongst the sword carrying Users.  It was on par with the Dethroned King's sword.  In a flash, the Crying Sword had been turned into a pickaxe.

Maybe it was because of this fact.  The Crying Sword could be heard making especially mournful wails.

This sword could make scrap metals of high durability armors, and it could cut through monsters with very high defense.  However, it couldn't make a scratch in this very plain stonework.  It was a surprise to him.

This was when Hyrkan's accident started to roll forward again.

‘What the hell?’

[This region cannot be destroyed.]

The System Announcement answered Hyrkan's question.

‘Uh?’

Hrykan's mishap came to pause.  Hyrkan stopped to look up at the plain looking wall.  The harsh coldness had caused ice to form over the wall.  He looked at the ice wall.  Then he looked at the crack that had eaten his precious Item.

Finally, Hyrkan felt that something was off.

‘Why is the crack only here?’

Hyrkan was at a location about ten square meters in size.  This alcove reminded him of a cube.  The path to enter this location was small.  It was a location where the Cursed Monsters under the command of the Frost Knight couldn't come in. This was the space used by the Storm Hunters guild to safely rest before they had battled the Frost Knight.  None other than the Storm Queen herself had explained the use of this location, and how important it was to rest here.

Of course, every time Hyrkan had to take a break from the battle he had used this location.

There had been such a crack here?

If one considered the setting of this stage, even if a User had made a crack, the crack should have been mended over by ice.  Moreover, the stage becomes reset when a day passes.

This basically meant that his crack was clearly intentional.  It meant that this crack had been placed here by design.

Hyrkan got up from his seat.

Choo-roong, choo-roong!  

The Crying Sword, which had been used by its owner as a pickaxe, started to grumble.  This time Hyrkan used the Crying Sword as a tool to peel off the ice from the wall.

Suh-guhk suh-guhk!

The sound of the thick ice falling drowned out the Crying Sword's wailing.

In the end, the wall revealed the Frozen Kingdom's emblem.  A sun and moon was above a large tree.

Hyrkan put on a smile.

‘Yes.  Luck is once again with me.’

Hyrkan had found something the Stormhunters had never discovered.

4.

There had been a kingdom in the Northland that had reached the era of prosperity a long time ago.  They were closest to the sun and the moon, and various races lived as one in this kingdom. They were the keepers of peace in the world.

On a fateful day, a Frost Dragon suddenly appeared, and it crushed the kingdom that was in its era of prosperity.  Then it placed a curse on the kingdom.

It was curse where one could never die, and the weather would never change.  It was a curse where one had to forever fight the people that the kingdom had once helped!

The Frost Dragon even bestowed authority to a knight, so it could keep an eye on the curse.  The Frost Dragon appointed the knight as the owner of the capital, which was a mere shell of itself.

This was the story behind the Frozen Kingdom, and it was also a clue about the Ruined Kingdom.

“Finally, I receive the reward for long resisting the evil curse of the Frost Dragon.”

Hyrkan had found a hidden tunnel, and when he followed the tunnel, he reached a location where a being had chained himself a long time ago. This being was so weathered that its body was falling apart.  The NPC Nero showed infinite sadness at not being able to die.  However, Hyrkan couldn’t feel any hatred or confusion from the NPC.

“My name is Nero.  I am the last heir to the kingdom that exists only in a nightmare now.”

Hyrkan decided to be bold.  He introduced himself.

“My name is Hyrkan.  I am nothing special.  The world is overflowing with calamity, and I'm an adventurer that is striving towards hope.”  

‘I hope the cameras are doing a good job.’

Hyrkan had been smart in how he approached this.  He started recording beforehand.

Wasn't this a truth that even the Stormhunters weren't able to find out?

‘Yes.  I always felt a bit disappointed at the Stormhunter's videos.  This is what they missed!’

Hyrkan was happy.  He had to force himself not to laugh.  It was almost painful.

Of course, he wasn't happy about the fact that he found a truth that the Stormhunters hadn’t found.  This footage would be part of a pay-per-view full length film, which was currently being made by him.  This would be one more point in the story that would be added to the film about the Frozen Kingdom quest.  He felt happy about the sweet reward he would receive from it.

“Is that so?  That makes me happy.  I'm happy that a hero like you still exists in this world.”

“I'm not a hero.  Anyways, I cannot fathom how you came to be in this state....  I will undo your chains.”

“Please don't.  These chains allows me to hold onto my intellect. If you unchain me, I'll be just like the poor souls wandering outside..”

“……what happened here?”

Nero started to tell his story after being questioned.  Hyrkan didn't ask any more questions.  He just calmly listened to the story.

The story wasn't that much different from the one known by Hyrkan.

The Frost Dragon had put a curse on the prosperous kingdom, and it caused the kingdom to freeze.  After everything was frozen, things had pretty much stayed the same until now.

When the story ended, Nero naturally gave Hyrkan a mission.

“You are the only one I can ask this of.  I know better than anyone that the Ruined Kingdom cannot be brought back.  I just want revenge.  If revenge isn't possible, at the very least, free the tormented people from under the Frost Dragon's knight.”

[The Quest 'Kingdom's Revenge' has started.]

[The Quest 'Evidence to the Ruined Kingdom'.]

[You've gained the Title Agent of Revenge’.]

[You've gained the Title 'One who Earned the Evidence of the Ruined Kingdom'.]

Hyrkan was barely able to stop himself from laughing at the System Announcement.  He fixed a serious expression on his face, and he nodded his head.  He had his mask on, but Hyrkan wasn't even conscious of this fact.  This was how happy he was.

“Yes.”

At that moment...

[The curtain to the new era has risen.]

[The one to open this new era is 'Hyrkan'.]

The System Announcement was heard in Hyrkan's ears, and it was heard by everyone currently enjoying the game of Warlord.

‘Uh?’

Once again Hyrkan's mishap came to a standstill.