The Descent of the Hero
In truth, although Rosamy had intervened to rescue him, even that was only because Yunjae had shown immense mercy. If he had wanted to, Yunjae could have executed Domian on the spot using any of a hundred other methods, not just Meteor Rock Smash. He had only held back because he wasn't entirely sure why the man had attacked him in the first place. But if what Lupinus said was true, Domian would have to answer for his actions.
"Anyway, do you know who that girl is? The mastermind, I mean," Mari asked once more.
While the man's identity had been easily revealed, the real mystery was the blue-haired girl. Who on earth was this girl who acted as the mastermind yet went out of her way to save people?
"Her name is Rosamy."
"Rosamy?"
Yunjae looked as though he had never heard the name before. Which meant she wasn't a character from Mamon Saga.
"She was the Saintess of the world Domian set out to save..."
At those words, both Yunjae and Mari's eyes widened.
"Ah! Why would a Saintess...!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"She was born under a truly cruel star. Especially since the Hero who was supposed to protect her turned out to be such a piece of trash."
Her words carried a heavy, bitter weight. Hearing Lupinus's sorrowful tone, Yunjae nodded solemnly.
"I definitely got the feeling that Rosamy was a good person. Her eyes were so incredibly sad."
Indeed, the reason he hadn't finished off Domian that day was because of what he had sensed when he looked at Rosamy. The strange gaze she had directed at him carried a profound sorrow, as if she were desperately longing for someone.
"...So you weren't just staring at her panties after all," Mari muttered, a sudden prickle of jealousy tinting her voice.
"Ah! I didn't look on purpose!" Yunjae cried out in sheer embarrassment.
"I usually love seeing Yunjae flustered, but I can't bring myself to enjoy it right now." Lupinus managed a weak smile, but her expression quickly clouded over again at the mention of Rosamy.
"Are you a villain? Why do you enjoy teasing your own Hero so much?" Mari asked, exasperated.
"Sigh, she's such a pitiful child. She's probably being used without even realizing her own world has already been destroyed." Ignoring Mari, Lupinus continued down her own train of thought.
"Ah, Goddess Lupinus! What do you mean by that?" Yunjae asked.
"A Saintess is a being beloved by the Creator. Because of that, she can traverse the dimensions he created with far less resistance than anyone else. Mamon has likely been using Rosamy as a dimensional messenger to conquer other worlds." Lupinus explained, clearly well-versed in the mechanics of the situation.
"A dimensional gateway..."
"Wait, do you mean the portals?"
The realization struck both Yunjae and Mari simultaneously. It was Rosamy who had summoned the lower monsters and set up the summoning circles for the Demon Kings in Sumatra and Kangchenjunga.
"But what do you mean she doesn't know her world was destroyed?"
It seemed entirely contradictory for someone who was secretly saving people. As Mari nodded in agreement with Yunjae's serious question, Lupinus let out a heavy sigh.
"The world Rosamy belonged to has already been completely obliterated. I saw it with my own eyes. But before that happened, she surrendered herself to them... all to prevent her world's destruction."
Another destroyed world. Lupinus wasn't the only one who had fought to save her home. Saintess Rosamy had also made her own desperate choice to protect her world, but...
"How could they..."
But since when did villains ever keep their promises?
"What an absolute bastard." Mari's heart grew heavy as she listened. It might be the way of the world, but it didn't make it any less infuriating.
"So in the end, Rosamy is being used without knowing the truth."
"Exactly. She must be suffering so much inside. She was such a sweet, good girl! So sweet that it made me want to tease her until she blushed constantly!" Lupinus reminisced with genuine affection, but—
"You were doing so well! Why did you have to ruin it at the end?!" Mari snapped, her temper flaring.
"But I am the Goddess of Greed, after all!" Lupinus shrugged, comparing her nature to a gambling addict who just couldn't stay away from the tables. Mari could only let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"In any case, then..."
"I have to save Rosamy."
Yunjae didn't know if she was holding on of her own free will, but he believed that if she wanted to be saved, he had to tell her the truth and rescue her from Mamon's clutches.
"And I'll have to get rid of Mamon too."
The conclusion came just as easily. Hearing him speak of the final boss so casually, Lupinus looked at him with deep concern.
"This isn't a fight you can take so lightly! No matter how strong you became in Mamon Saga, a real battle might be completely different! Mamon could have grown far stronger in the meantime!"
Yunjae merely shrugged. "But it's so annoying. If I don't, they'll just keep bothering me one after another. First it was Kadmus, then Halles, then Domian... next it'll be something else. I can't even level up anymore, so there's really no point in dealing with them one by one."
Why bother fighting them if I don't even get experience points? At the Hero's incredibly nonchalant reasoning, Mari and Lupinus stared at him, utterly dumbfounded.
"...I suppose that's true."
"Besides, I need to defeat him quickly so I can start my part-time job at Ariel's cafe!"
"Oh my god! That's your priority?!"
Mari let out a hollow laugh at his declaration. To him, a part-time job at a cafe where he could experience a little romance was far more important than vanquishing a Demon God.
"Ah, Goddess Lupinus, would you like to work part-time too?"
When he went so far as to suggest a part-time job to the Goddess herself, she burst into laughter.
"Just admit you want to see me in a maid uniform! I'll wear it for you anytime!"
"Ah! How could you say that!"
Watching the Goddess and the Hero get along so swimmingly, Mari wore an incredibly sour expression.
"But seriously, aren't you guys being a bit too relaxed about this?"
"But I've defeated Mamon a thousand times, Mari. And since I reached the maximum level at the very end, I must be even stronger now than I was back then."
Up until then, Yunjae had defeated Mamon a thousand times before even reaching max level. It was on his thousandth kill that he finally hit the level cap. In the late game, even a single level made an astronomical difference. Therefore, now that he was at the absolute max level, he was bound to be on an entirely different plane of power. Of course, since he had suffered a mental breakdown and nearly destroyed the world immediately after reaching max level, he hadn't actually had a chance to test his full strength yet.
"Oh, that's true!" Lupinus clapped her hands, realizing that even she had no idea just how powerful he currently was.
"Then let's go defeat Mamon right now, Goddess Lupinus!"
"Alright! Let's do it!"
Mari stared blankly at the absurdly nonchalant duo.
"Hey! He's literally the final boss of the game! How can you both be so casual about this?!"
"But I'm a max-level player who has already beaten the final boss a thousand times!"
"Exactly. I witnessed it all."
Faced with such undeniable facts, Mari could only click her tongue and shut her mouth.
"We need to get this over with so we can choose our uniforms!"
"U-Uh, right."
Swept away by their bizarre logic, Mari nodded dumbly.
Wiiiiiiing!
It happened at that exact moment.
"Huh?"
A deafening alarm began to echo throughout the entire building.
WIIIIIIING!
"What is that...?"
While Mari and Yunjae tilted their heads in confusion, the door burst open. Anton, who had still been in the conference room, rushed out.
"It looks like an emergency!"
"An emergency?"
Before the words could even fully leave his mouth, flash! Akemi, the Blast Guild's S-rank teleporter, materialized before them.
"This is bad!"
"Akemi, what's going on?"
"Portals all over the world have started a simultaneous attack! Seoul is in absolute chaos right now! It's a code red!"
A true crisis had indeed begun.
"Yunjae!" Lupinus shouted, her eyes locked onto him. "They're planning to overwhelm us with sheer numbers!"
This was a situation even Lupinus had never experienced before.
"To think they would push forward with just monsters, without even a Demon King to rule over this world!"
Since Mamon's original plan had failed, and even his backup, Domian, had been defeated, this was the only option left to them. Seeing the genuine panic on her face, Yunjae nodded resolutely.
"Yes! I'll take care of it before it gets any more annoying."
Blink
With that, he vanished into thin air.
"And here he was, talking about how much he hates hunting."
Yet, when the situation demanded his intervention, Yunjae never hesitated. As Mari smiled softly at his departure, Lupinus spoke up.
"He might hate hunting, but he never hesitates to save lives. Those reports you were looking at earlier? Most of those incidents were actually resolved by Yunjae."
"What?"
"While you were asleep, he went out and saved hundreds of people. Rosamy might have been doing the same, but her numbers can't even compare to his."
"Really?!" Mari's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Lupinus. "But why didn't he say anything...?"
She had harbored suspicions, but she never imagined it was truly Yunjae.
"Because to Yunjae, doing something like that is so natural that it doesn't even warrant mentioning."
Mari stood frozen, utterly speechless as the weight of those words sank in.
"In the virtual world of Mamon Saga, there was an event called a Monster Rush. Just like now, monsters would pour out of portals into the villages, slaughtering the NPCs and destroying everything."
"Ah..." Mari nodded, recalling having heard of such events before.
"Even though they were just programmed NPCs and not real people, he would always abandon his battles with Mamon to rush back and protect them, hundreds of times over."
The platinum-blonde Goddess gazed out the window with a warm, proud smile. "That is simply the kind of person he is."
Step.
Materializing in the office park near the guild headquarters via Blink, Yunjae paused for a moment as he looked up at the sky and ground, both completely blanketed by a black tide of monsters.
"Kyaaaah!"
Because the attack had been so sudden, the guild had not yet been able to organize a proper response. This was a situation where someone had to step up. And if no one else could, then it was only right that he did. There was not a single shred of hesitation in his heart.
Flash!
In an instant, Yunjae's sleek office suit vanished, replaced by the radiant Goddess's Sacred Armor.
Whoosh!
Vanishing like magic once more, Yunjae reappeared in the nearby office district where the screams were echoing.
"Save me!"
"Kyaaaah! Get away from me!"
"Aaaargh!"
The office workers, caught completely off guard while out on business, were trapped in a living nightmare as monsters swarmed the streets.
Flash!
At that moment, Gae Bolg erupted with light. Screeech! Moving at a speed far too fast for the human eye to register, Yunjae's strikes appeared as nothing more than a series of blinding flashes. Just as the fleeing, screaming citizens thought they were doomed, a brilliant light swept across their vision. Whoosh! Every single monster in the office district was instantly sliced in half and reduced to ash.
"...Ah."
The fleeing crowd and those who had been on the verge of death stared in absolute, stunned silence.
"Please run toward the Blast Guild headquarters."
Standing before them in his radiant armor and wielding his holy sword, Yunjae pointed toward the guild building with a perfectly calm expression.
"G-Girl's Forearm..."
"Ah! That is..."
Even in the midst of this crisis, the floating title Girl's Forearm remained stubbornly hovering above his head. Yunjae looked slightly embarrassed, but realizing now was not the time to fret over it, he let out a soft chuckle.
"Yes, I am Girl's Forearm. So please, hurry to safety."
At his gentle, polite urging, the office workers nodded frantically and scrambled toward the Blast Guild headquarters.
Yet, even as they ran, they couldn't help but steal glances back at him, drawn by the divine, holy aura radiating from his body. Though the ridiculous title floating above his head might have seemed comical under normal circumstances, right now, no one was laughing.
Flash!
And just like a mirage, Yunjae vanished once more.
"So cool..."
Leaving behind the awestruck citizens, Yunjae leaped to the top of the tallest nearby skyscraper to survey the chaotic landscape of Seoul.
As expected, the epicenter was the massive random portal that had opened in the sky above the Han River. Being at the very heart of the city, the monsters were spreading outward from there across the entire metropolitan area.
Blink
In the blink of an eye, Yunjae teleported directly to the Han River.
Roaaar!
Sure enough, multiple random portals had torn open over the Han River. The existing portals were a problem, but the real threat was this specific location, where an endless tide of monsters was being intentionally unleashed.
"Rosamy..."
Watching the Great Demons run rampant, tearing down bridges and crushing cars, Yunjae swung Gae Bolg.
Boom!
Even though it was a mere basic swing, the sheer holy power erupting from Gae Bolg completely pulverized the Great Demons. The citizens who had abandoned their cars to flee stared in utter disbelief at the overwhelming display.
"Ah..."
To them, bathed in that brilliant, radiant light, he looked like nothing less than an angel or a savior.
"It's dangerous here. Please get to safety immediately."
Yunjae guided them with a warm, gentle smile. Still dazed, the people nodded and began to run. Yunjae then surveyed his surroundings to prepare his next move.
If he used Taunt immediately, the sudden stampede of monsters might trample and kill the remaining civilians. He needed to clear the immediate area first.
Screeech!
A swarm of monsters lunged at him, but flash! Before they could even get close, they dissolved into nothingness, vaporized by the holy energy radiating from Gae Bolg.
"Hurry, run!"
Once Yunjae had successfully ushered the people off the bridge and confirmed that the immediate area was clear of civilians—