How to Become the One on Top (4)

It wasn't a bad thing that the monsters in this place were weak. After all, now that I'd written off the EXP entirely, the easier the work went, the better it was for me.

And yet, an inexplicable unease kept gnawing at me.

This wasn't a dungeon, so there was no reason for some variable to spring up, and everything lurking in here matched my knowledge to the letter. Even so, I simply could not make myself relax.

Why?

Because in all the time since I'd fallen into this world, had anything ever gone the way I planned? Had anything ever resolved itself easily?

Not once. Not ever.

There was always a brush with death waiting for me. Something unforeseen always barred my path, some enemy bursting out of nowhere to grab me by the collar. That was my life.

I was a person who could only barely stand here, in this place, after surviving through a countless succession of crises.

Maybe that was why. I found it flatly impossible to bask in this kind of peace and quiet.

What if a ding sounded out of nowhere? What if a dungeon suddenly manifested somewhere? What if some scheme Luka had planted turned out to be aimed at my throat? What if some variable I didn't know about was waiting somewhere in this forest?

Those anxieties kept my eyes darting around, scanning the treeline again and again.

'At this point I'd honestly rather something show up.'

If something happened, I could just deal with it. It would definitely get dangerous, and I might have to be ready to die — but at least then I wouldn't have to sit here wringing my hands.

"So you are human after all," Grandpa murmured, after I'd complained at him for lack of anything better to do with my anxiety.

'What is that even supposed to mean?'

I have been a human being my entire life, thank you very much. And I wasn't just some rotten forum-dweller, either. If you treat a veteran like me as some kind of non-human entity, I'm going to get angry. Genuinely, seriously angry.

"Just a joke. A joke. Meant to ease your nerves, is all."

'Grandpa, you are truly terrible at jokes. I can see exactly how much your subordinates must have suffered.'

"Nonsense. The other holy knights used to laugh themselves into a collapse at a single word from me."

'What about your party members, then? Not your subordinates — your comrades?'

"...Those ruffians and I shared a rather different sensibility from the knights."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

'So they really did suck up to you.'

A superior who had performance, ability, and power all at once. Horrifying.

There has to be a pillar somewhere in the old Holy Knight Order with insults about Grandpa carved into it. I'm sure of it.

Letting Grandpa's insistence that he'd been a wonderful superior go in one ear and out the other, I kept pushing forward.

The third boss was a two-headed dog that walked on its hind legs. A pet, of all things, baring its teeth at a human without an ounce of fear, so I gave it a few corrective lessons with my mace and it promptly keeled over.

The fourth boss was a witch that bloomed from a flower reeking of rotting corpses. She bound her victims with her own vines and attacked with magic, poison, and curses — a genuinely troublesome opponent, ordinarily. But not for the me of right now.

Her vines weren't sturdy enough to hold my body. Her magic couldn't pierce my shield. Her poison was purified before it ever touched my flesh. And her curses couldn't even reach me to begin with.

I drove my mace into that face — flushed with confidence at first, then steadily flooded with horror — and before long the witch had scattered into nothing. Watching her burn to ash in my divinity and vanish completely, I plucked the seed from her remains and tossed it into my inventory.

Later, I could bring it to Adri to have the curse stripped off. It'll have its uses then.

Now for the last one.

The one who had dyed this forest in death. Once a necromancer, then a dying spirit, and now — to live again. For vengeance. To find what she'd left behind. She had come to this lush, living forest and turned it into hell, and in devouring its vitality she had gone mad, losing sight of her purpose entirely.

The necromancer.

With her four servants caught and killed, she would be revealing herself at the heart of the forest any moment now.

I was just making my way toward the forest's center when a colossal wave of death energy swelled in the distance and spread outward through the trees.

This aura was on a different tier entirely from everything I'd dealt with so far. Her grudge came riding on black mana darker than the curtain of night itself.

A voice thick with resentment. A will to curse the living. A desperate, gnawing hunger to grow stronger that had survived even her own madness.

"Are you all right?"

'Yeah. This much is nothing.'

Even taking the wave head-on, nothing felt wrong. The tainted energy was purified by my divinity before it could so much as burrow into my skin.

"Quite a strong one, this."

'Looks like it.'

The true boss, as expected. Just appearing generated this much pressure. Had she kept her sanity, she would have been a genuinely tricky opponent.

Which reminded me of the old forum threads — just what kind of monsters were the Holy Knights of that era, that they brought this person down?

"Are you confident?"

'She's a shrimp compared to an Evil God, isn't she?'

Forget an Evil God — comparing her to Karia would be an insult to Karia. There was no reason to feel threatened.

"Comparing her to those two is rather unfair to her, I'd say."

'Is it?'

"Think on it. How many people on this continent could beat the Karia of that day, even now?"

...Huh. Fair point. Now that I've said it out loud, my comparisons were a bit excessive.

Okay then. Mmm. Ah — right. Here's a more accurate way to put it:

Given the right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠circumstances and conditions, she was an opponent that my friends at the Academy — everyone except me — could hunt down. Arthur. Joy. Phoebe. Frey. Those four.

It helped enormously that Phoebe was fully specialized against the undead, so all they'd need to do was buy her the time to purify the vengeful spirit. But a win is a win, no?

I could say it with total conviction: the necromancer of this forest was an opponent on exactly that level.

As long as no variables popped up, there was no way I'd lose to something like this.

The only problem was if a variable did appear. But I could handle most anything that cropped up, even as I am now.

And if the genuine worst case came calling — a situation truly beyond anything I could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠manage...

Well. The useless Chief God would figure something out, wouldn't He? It's a trial He handed down Himself, so He owes me at least that much responsibility.

And if that worst case wasn't part of Luka's calculations, then Luka would protect me.

God, that's hopeless.

Chuckling at the thought, I still didn't stop walking.

The deeper I went, the thicker the black mana grew. At this density, an ordinary person would have suffocated on the spot.

I pushed through it like wading into fog, and before I knew it, I had arrived at the center.

Only then did several things become clear to me.

That the black mana spreading through the forest wasn't something the necromancer was releasing on purpose — it was simply leaking out of her, beyond even her own control.

That the spirits of the dead were swarming toward their true master, revealed for the first time in an age, shrieking their welcome.

And that the pressure of seeing her with my own eyes was in a completely different league from watching her through a monitor.

I took a deep breath and let divinity flood through my entire body.

The Chief God's personality was bizarre, but the power He granted was the genuine article. His divinity coiled around me and drove back the darkness all around.

A point of white bloomed in the black-drowned clearing, and every lurking thing in it turned its gaze toward me.

Facing the horror and hatred written in those stares, I began chanting holy magic in my head.

A whole catalog of buff spells, their performance naturally improved along with my divinity.

Vigor flooded my long-weary body, and my sharpened senses drew the voices of the spirits into my ears.

I tightened my grip on the mace.

I seized the leather grip on my shield.

I closed my eyes, then slowly tilted my head back and looked up.

Black pupils, deep as an abyss looking down, met a pair of crimson eyes looking up.

A voice rotted through and through, long left to fester, rang in my ears. It was hard to make out — but not so hard that I couldn't understand it.

"What is it?♡ Go on, tell me, you senile old hag♡ I'm such a good girl, I'll even listen to a madwoman's ramblings♡"

And her question was almost exactly what I'd expected.

I'd need a few more exchanges to confirm it for certain, but I was already fairly sure even now.

This necromancer was no different from the one in the game. She matched my memories almost perfectly.

"Curious, are you?♡ Super duper curious?♡ Hmm, let me think about it♡ I don't usually bother remembering insignificant little trash-mobs like you♡"

"Oh!♡ I remember!♡ The lonely old hag holed up in the manor!♡"

As I raised my voice, points of crimson flickered to life in the necromancer's ink-black eyes.

That was proof of reason. Proof that, for this moment at least, conversation had become possible.

It was the skill I'd received as a gift when I once gave Adri a ribbon. The power of Adri sleeping inside it — that was what had returned her mother's sanity to her.

Yes.

This necromancer was Adri's parent.

One who had been subdued by the Holy Knights long ago, yet somehow preserved her own soul and fled. One who had come to this forest to weave a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plan of vengeance and salvation. And in the end, unable to withstand the grudges of the dead, she had gone mad — a being who could never return to humanity, her soul worn down to the last thread, too frayed even to rest in the Chief God's embrace.

The necromancer, Evina.

A pitiable mother, crying out her daughter's name even in the depths of her lost sanity.

Remember how I said this quest got re-evaluated once it turned out to be part of a chain? This is why. Complete the Adri-related quests first, come here afterward, and a miserable grind-fest of a quest suddenly transforms into a genuinely moving story.

A mother's love has the power to move people to tears, or so they say.

Frankly? I still don't feel it. I was born and raised an orphan — I've never once known what maternal love feels like.

Though I did recently experience paternal love, entirely against my will.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The point I actually want to make is this:

"Yep!♡ Saw her!♡ I even know where she is♡ But I'm not telling you♡"

...That despite knowing the whole story, front to back, I am the kind of person who would still provoke the necromancer.

"I mean, you look super slow, granny♡ Even if I told you, I don't think you'd remember♡ So I'm not saying a word♡"

The instant that grudge-laden voice came hurtling at me, an exhilaration surged up from somewhere deep inside my body.

Oh, right. One thing I haven't mentioned yet.

Something I realized the moment I reached the heart of the forest and came face to face with her:

An opponent on her level? Perfect for a warm-up.