I'll Bus You Today

What the hell? Is she picking a fight?

Lee Sia wasn't sure. She'd offered to let them join the table out of goodwill, but the answer she'd gotten left a thoroughly bad taste in her mouth. Still, she couldn't quite call the woman out on it. Her expression was far too pure—as if she were genuinely just asking out of curiosity.

So Sia swallowed the uneasy feeling, forced it down, and made the offer again, as kindly as she could.

"You must be exhausted after coming all this way. Come sit down first. The beer's decent here, and the food's good too."

She even threw in a smile.

And yet…

"Yeah, no."

Rejected a second time. And in a tone that had nothing whatsoever to do with courtesy.

Something in her skull went crack, like a gear had slipped out of place. Without thinking, she glanced at Yujin. He showed zero interest in stepping in. He was simply watching the whole thing unfold with an expression that said he was thoroughly entertained. Everyone else was the same. Only Vivian truly looked uninterested, sipping her beer as if none of this concerned her at all.

Which meant Sia had to wrap this up herself…

"If you don't like it, go get married."

"What kind of answer is that."

Yujin shook his head at her pathetic comeback. Sia pointedly ignored the reaction and pressed on.

"But why's your tone like that? If you don't want to sit with us, you could just say you're sorry, you know?"

Her head tilted at a sharp angle, and the atmosphere around the table plunged in an instant. Irritation had laced her mana, crushing the air itself. That was the kind of power a player past level fifty carried—even without intent, willpower and mana mixed together.

Creak—creeeak—

The old wooden table and chairs twisted and shrieked. The only reason they didn't shatter outright was because Park Ji-hoo had quietly released a thread of his own mana. Without him, the entire inn would have been reduced to kindling.

The woman's expression—and those of her companions—hardened even further. They were finally starting to get a sense of just how strong Sia was.

"Logan."

The woman called the man beside her.

"Maybe we should just stop?"

The man called Logan spoke carefully, but nothing changed.

"Get ready."

"Jane…"

"Hurry."

Get ready for what, exactly? Sia snorted as she watched them—then Logan abruptly activated a skill.

"Huh?"

She'd been certain an attack was coming. It wasn't.

"A buff?"

Yujin muttered, and this time it was Jane's turn.

Fwaang—!

The air split. No—torn apart was the more accurate description. Air that failed to flow aside in time compressed, then ripped open as if exploding. A massive shockwave bloomed outward in concentric rings, and at its center stood Jane. She charged straight at Sia.

Barely five meters. With the skill active, it was a distance she could cover in a fraction of a second—and with Logan's buff layered on top of it. She was certain no one would be able to react. That was written all over her face.

But—

Hoooooooom—

Something black shot upward from beneath her chin, impossibly fast. Even with Skill Enhancement [D] stacked onto Instant Acceleration [D], she couldn't begin to match that speed. Jane slammed on the brakes and twisted her body, but she was already far too late. The black object crossed the space in a blink and smashed up into her jaw.

KWA-AAAANG—!

Agony so intense it felt as if her entire head had been blown clean off crashed through her. Jane never even managed a scream as she was launched upward and slammed into the inn's ceiling.

"Has this bitch gone insane? Attacking me?"

Sia slowly lowered the black object—Black Wing [B]—and bared her teeth at Logan, who hung there like a limp doll. She no longer spared Jane so much as a glance. She simply pointed the sheathed blade at the rest of them and opened her mouth.

"Repeat after me: You're all dead."

"W-wait, why us—?"

The three nameless men standing behind Logan wore looks of pure injustice. But once the Sword Empress's sword-storm had been unleashed in anger, it made no distinctions. In short, every last one of them got the living hell beaten out of them without exception.

Long time no see for these two as well.

Yujin looked down at the half-corpses that were Jane and Logan. Gnat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jane. Junkie Logan. Those were the nicknames they'd carried in the first timeline. Other people had apparently called them Ray and Overclock or something similarly flashy, but Yujin had stuck with Gnat and Junkie. They were simply easier to say.

Either way, the two of them had been famous enough to earn monikers. Their skills weren't bad. Alone, each of them was solid; together, they were even better. Being a couple, their coordination was excellent, and their skills synergized well. They made it up to around the 70th floor, as I recall. Wouldn't be the worst thing if they tagged along.

Yujin nudged Logan's thoroughly bruised body with his toe.

"Uuugh…"

The groan meant he'd recover soon enough, at least.

"Vivian."

"Not doing it."

"Yeah, fair enough."

Burning money just to heal these two would have been a waste anyway. He didn't actually need their help to clear the 16th Floor. The ten-person rule existed because the difficulty spiked hard—ordinary players needed at least ten people just to have a chance. Yujin was not ordinary. He could clear it with room to spare using only the 3 No. He'd poured that much effort into raising them. But rules were rules, so all he'd needed was the headcount. And now, at last, they had more than ten.

"So what do we do now?"

Sia fidgeted as she asked. She'd lost her temper and made a mess, and now she had no idea how to clean it up.

"What do you mean, what do we do?"

"If we want to go up, we have to wait until these people recover, right?"

Her head slowly drooped. Yujin snorted a quiet laugh.

"Recover, my ass. Just drag them."

"Huh? We can do that?"

"As long as the numbers match. Not like these guys would be any help at their level anyway."

Her face brightened at that.

"Oh, thank god."

The rest of the party looked at her with distinctly complicated expressions—the kind reserved for someone who was clearly not right in the head. Oblivious, Sia was still grinning to herself when Yujin drained the last of his beer in one go and stood.

"Alright. Time to move out."

"Huh? Already?"

Everyone stared at him in shock. They'd been waiting for the numbers to fill, sure—but they were seriously going to haul these wrecks upstairs looking like that?

"W-will it be okay?"

Park Ji-hoo asked carefully. The thought of dragging people who couldn't even stay conscious into a higher floor and getting them killed had clearly crossed his mind.

"It's fine, it's fine."

Yujin waved it off like it was nothing.

"Just carry one each and follow me. I'll handle the boss myself."

He took the lead, and after a brief moment of hesitation the others fell in behind him. They never really had a choice. Every decision rested with Yujin. Once he'd decided to move right now, the rest of them could only follow.

They each hoisted a half-corpse and left the inn. Yujin headed straight for the stairs—a place quite a distance from Ezhara. Horses would have made short work of the trip, but he didn't bother. He was currently the only one with a mount. I should get the others something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soon too. The higher they climbed, the more critical mounts became. Buy them or loot them—either way, they needed to be ready before it was too late.

He walked while mentally listing the things they'd need going forward, and before long darkness had begun to settle. The floor was vast enough that the journey had taken a fair amount of time. As they neared the stairs, sand exploded upward like a detonation.

A Sand Dragon.

An earth dragon whose entire body was composed of crimson sand revealed itself with a massive roar.

GROOOOOAAAAAAARGH—!

The roar turned into a scream almost instantly. Yujin's Heavenly Silk Thread [C] unfurled mid-stride, and Heavenly Myriad Slaughter [C] activated. The Sand Dragon never even got to show off its presence before it was reduced to drifting grains of sand.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The people watching let out disbelieving laughs. Kang Mu-hyun, Kim Jihye, and Lim Ayeong in particular gaped, mouths hanging open. They'd known Yujin was strong, but they had never imagined anything on this scale. Even killing an ordinary monster that cleanly would have been shocking—and this was a boss monster. The kind of creature Kang Mu-hyun would have had to stake his life against just to seize a slim advantage. And Yujin had shredded it without so much as lifting a finger. Shock had already crossed over into something closer to awe.

Yujin paid the reactions behind him no attention at all and simply stepped onto the stairs.

"Nothing but trash again."

The drop from the Sand Dragon had been underwhelming. Too shabby to give the 3 No, and not suitable for Kang Mu-hyun's group either.

"Might as well just sell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this one."

Thinking he should start stockpiling credits, he climbed the stairs at a rapid pace.

Piiiiing—!

At the top, the searing heat vanished and an entirely different atmosphere unfurled. The coppery stench of blood. Acrid smoke. And screams thick with terror and death.

"…Where is this?"

Sia, coming up behind him, frowned as she looked ahead.

"A battlefield?"

The others' expressions turned grim as well. At that moment, the Akasha System's notification rang out.

This was it. War. A quest to hold back endless waves of troops and drag the war to a victorious end.

"Why did we need ten people?"

"Because there are a lot of enemies."

Yujin answered Sia's question.

"Still, way fewer than the zombies, right?"

True enough. Even a rough scan of the distant forces put them at maybe ten percent of the zombie horde on the 7th Floor. Far fewer. But it was different.

"Those things are strong."

Not even remotely comparable to mere zombies. A single soldier could easily take down ten zombies and still have strength left over. A knight? Ten times that would be a joke. And they had to fight those things.

"How many are there?"

"Around thirty thousand, give or take?"

Everyone's faces darkened at Yujin's answer. It didn't look like a fight they could possibly win.

"Don't worry too much. We've got forces on this side too. It's a war, after all."

As if on cue, a roar of battle cries rose from nearby.

"Those are the allies."

Maybe five thousand? Far too few compared to the enemy. Still better than nothing. If they coordinated well and joined forces, they might be able to clear the quest somehow. It would just be a hellish grind.

"Then we should make contact with them first, right?"

They couldn't just charge in like they had against the zombies. They needed a plan, divided roles, a proper way to handle the enemy. But Yujin shook his head.

"No need."

"What?"

Everyone blinked at him, as if asking what that was supposed to mean.

"I told you, didn't I? All I needed was the headcount."

Once the ten-person rule was satisfied, that was enough.

"You should count yourselves lucky you met me."

Yujin smiled and took a step forward.

"Today I'm giving you a free bus ride, so bow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your heads and thank me for the rest of your lives."

"What kind of bullshit is that."

Sia spat the crude retort on pure reflex, but Yujin never dropped the smile. He grabbed Chunbae and hoisted the little bear over his head.

"Fire—Chunbae Cannon."

"Kkyaaaaaaaaaang—!"

Chunbae's tiny mouth opened wide.

KUUWAAAAAAAAAA—!

Tomahawk missiles poured forth in a roaring torrent.