She's Not Suffering in There, Is She?
She's not suffering in there, right?
"Aha-ha! Honestly, I'd say the port was the biggest impact moment, wouldn't you? It was early days, but I watched that and thought right then and there, wow, this person is the real deal."
"......"
"And after that, everything she touched turned into a legendary scene. Hm? Death's Echo? Oh, I use it just fine. There just haven't been many chances to — but when the moment calls for it, I absolutely—"
It had been roughly eight hours since Lily entered the trial.
Before her — seated with her eyes closed as if asleep — Yena had pitched a tent and settled in across from her, running an endless talk stream without pause.
The stream category: Just Chatting.
Ever since Lily had handed her the broadcast, she'd managed to hold onto several hundred thousand of Lily's viewers, but even Yena was starting to wear down. No matter how experienced or skilled a streamer you were, eight straight hours of talking was asking a lot.
She'd opened with recent events and spun some decent stories out of it, but eventually the topics ran dry and she'd been forced to dig all the way back into the past.
And sure, you might ask — why not do something other than talk?
The space where the Agent NPC resided was all decoration and nothing else — not a single interactive thing in it.
In the early hours after taking over the stream, she'd spent about an hour exploring the place on camera, but in the end she'd given up and switched to a talk stream.
"...Whew. I did choose it. Yeah, I did."
Yena let out a small sigh as she read the chat.
It was running longer than expected. Lily had said it might take three days, but she'd assumed that was just a figure of speech — she hadn't anticipated for even a second that it would actually take three full days.
And this wasn't just anyone. This was Lily.
The one and only Rank 1 player whom no one could match, even having advanced partially into her 4th tier. Even if she didn't hold the official number one ranking, everyone already acknowledged her as the strongest. Yena had fully expected her to finish up quickly and walk out.
"Call them? Nobody can get in here."
This place could only be entered with the Agent's blessing. The only person who could come and go was Lily, and no amount of effort from the people outside would change that.
Well — if there was any possibility at all, it would be the Agent, currently gazing peacefully up at the sky over there, opening the door for them.
Excuse me, please rest peacefully.
"Could you maybe open the door for—"
Unfortunately, those without qualification are denied entry.
"What about me, then?"
You have received the permission of a qualified individual. The others have not.
"Oh."
So she was stuck performing her one-woman show in an empty room for three days. Three days — possibly longer.
Of course, nothing terrible would happen if she took breaks or quit partway through, but Lily had given her a genuine Mythic-grade dagger. She'd flatly refused to charge any rental fee, which meant she'd effectively just handed it over as a gift.
Still, I have to see it through.
Only if she pulled this stream off successfully could she look Lily in the eye again.
"The Agent? Uh, you're all insane, you know that?"
Kill the Agent how, exactly?
"......"
She was tempted.
Not tempted to actually kill it, obviously.
From what she'd dug up with Lily's help, the Agent possessed power on par with a World Boss. Even with a Mythic-grade weapon in hand, winning was surely impossible.
But dragging this talk stream out any longer was its own kind of torment.
There's genuinely nothing left to do.
She drew out the Green Hermit.
"Alright. Here we go, my dudes."
Dagger in hand, she approached slowly. The Agent's robe stirred — it had already noticed her coming.
What is this about?
"...Would you, perhaps, like to spar?"
A spar?
The robe tilted slightly. She couldn't see the head beneath it, but it seemed to tilt along with the fabric.
Yena nodded and took her stance.
"You said you were bored. That it was lonely here, even. Moving your body a little at a time like this wouldn't hurt, would it?"
Hmm... I don't know. I'm not particularly fond of fighting.
"Aren't you bored, though?"
You literally said it was fine to just sit here, lonely as it was.
I've grown accustomed to it. Simply having you beside me, chattering away about this and that, is pleasant enough. Is there truly any need to go so far as to fight?
"And if I've completely run out of things to talk about?"
That would be a shame.
"Then how about you just... talk with me more?"
I'm sorry to say I'm not capable of conversing deeply.
"...Yeah, you do look that way."
A robe swallowing her entire body, and layers of multicolored light concealing everything beneath it. One look and it practically announced: I have many secrets.
If you held the proper qualification, I would gladly speak more deeply with you.
"...So if I were Lily, that would've worked?"
She completed every task and earned her qualification. You, by contrast, are merely here as a 'companion'—
"......"
You cannot speak with me.
"I see."
Indeed.
"So that's how it is."
Can't talk, huh.
Shhhk.
The moment the words left her mouth, Yena's body scattered like smoke. The instant the Level 90 assassin's frame vanished from sight, the Agent's robe billowed as a hand swept backward behind it.
BOOM!
The dagger-strike from the black silhouette was parried with almost insulting ease. But that didn't matter.
"The front is real too."
KA-KA-KA-KANG!!
The pink barrier wrapped around the Agent was sliced open by Yena's Green Hermit.
Shadow Clone — one of the assassin's core skills. Body and shadow, both carrying the full attack power of the original. And with the Green Hermit's Severance effect layered on top, the Agent was left exposed and defenseless in a single breath.
Granted, the Agent had more than enough leeway to instantly re-erect a barrier around itself.
"Hoo..."
Yena didn't miss the gap.
She unleashed the new technique she had forged by fusing the skills Lily taught her with her own. Seven slashes, each one carrying a rotation. Condensation and Manifestation of mana — and from within that seam, a colossal storm erupted. The storm was etched into the Green Hermit, lending it razor sharpness, and the severance split the world seven times over.
Yena-style secret technique.
"Storm Slash."
'...!'
FWOOOOSH-CRACK!!
The Agent's robe tore open.
It had all started from something very small.
From the moment she'd first learned 'Spear's Roar' from Lily, she had worked relentlessly to land the technique properly. She'd died plenty of times, and the fallout had bled into her real life too. It had genuinely hurt enough to kill her.
Especially before the Academy was founded — during a one-on-one sparring lesson, she'd gone down with the sensation of her whole body tearing apart. She'd truly believed she was going to die that day.
Lily had patched her up somehow, but... something changed after that.
How should she put it...
Like her total capacity to endure had grown larger?
Instead of collapsing flat after a single use, she could now wield it a little more steadily. In the events that followed, and after the Academy was established, she'd sat down with Lily and the other professors to workshop the technique — how to graft the 'Roar' onto a dagger, and how to multiply the number of slashes as far as it would go.
Countless failed attempts later, she'd finally succeeded.
That was the day Yena's first secret technique — her very own skill, Storm Slash — revealed itself to the world for the first time.
It only works because I have a Mythic-grade, though.
If the Mythic dagger hadn't shouldered that burden, the power she'd just shown wouldn't have managed even a fraction of a fraction of it.
Yena bowed her head, oblivious to both the chat blowing up and the Agent's split robe.
The backlash arrived, late and merciless.
"Wow. Wow, holy sh—iii—baa—! That hurt so bad... ughk?!"
It hurt like hell!
She'd expected it, but not THIS much...!
How interesting. To think there's someone besides my sister who can be like this.
"...Eh?"
Yena forced her heavy eyelids open and looked up at the Agent.
The robe she'd been sure she'd torn to shreds was perfectly intact. The only cut anywhere on it was a small slice at the top, left of center.
And through the gap in the severed fabric, something pink was visible.
Which meant...
Twitch.
...An ear?
I've changed my mind. You did ask for a spar, didn't you?
I've become curious about you.
"N-no, wait, hold on a second."
Training with an Ancient Existence (Hidden)
🎯 Objective: Deplete 30% of the Agent's health through the duel.
🎁 Reward: A large amount of experience, and the skill Path of the Divine Cat.
⚠ This quest cannot be refused.
⚠ You cannot leave this space until the quest is cleared.
✔ Logging out is permitted.
"Are you KIDDING me?! No refusal AND no escap— wait, what?!"
See? You were right. I happened to be bored, after all. How convenient.
"U-um, excuse me? Why would you—"
This is what you wanted, obviously?
"No! No no no, that is NOT what I meant!"
She'd wanted a hidden quest — not this hidden quest. She was a very busy person, for the record...
Sliccce!
The robe whipped outward, and several jagged blades of something sharp raked across Yena's body. She was cut before she could even move, and by the time she registered it, she was already sprawled on her back.
Faintly visible between the folds of the robe, something long and thin...
...Claws?
Giving up is a sin. So never, ever give up.
It's not like I can give up anyway...
By the Agent's power, you will revive at the place of death with no penalty...
"Is Yena handling things well over there?"
From what I could see, there was nothing in that place but the Agent.
—You'd best deal with it quickly. If you fail to clear that place, the wraiths of the East will come pouring out and become uncontrollable.
"Quite so."
The spear flared with light, and thousands of demon beasts perished.
Trampling over the fabric of mindless corpses, I thought:
The Agent.
I still couldn't say for certain who they were, but their power rivaled that of a high-tier World Boss.
Squelch.
"Hmm..."
She's not suffering in there, is she?