Mythic Grade at Level 400

Four pieces of level-400 Mythic-grade armor. One Mythic-grade weapon. Four Mythic-grade accessories. He handed all of it to Paranet, and mixed in among the pile were several items Yujun himself had worn not long ago.

"…You mean to bestow all of this upon me?"

"I'm lending them. Not giving."

"E-even so, is this not far too much? The weight of such generosity is… considerable."

"I said I'm not giving them to you. You getting stronger helps me anyway, so what does it matter? Take them."

"……As you command."

Paranet began equipping the items with grim resolve. Watching from the side, Jo Su-a let her mouth fall open.

Those items…

She had played War of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Gods. By the end she had climbed all the way to rank two, and the instant the servers shut down she had been summoned into the Tower of Infinity. In short, she was a veteran — a true old hand of that game — and she knew exactly what Yujun had just pulled out.

Every last one of them was Mythic grade. And the options were all percentage increases to every stat…

Where in the world had he gotten gear like that? And he was lending treasures of that caliber to a summon, of all things.

He must be wearing something even better himself.

Her gaze slid from Paranet to Yujun.

Now that I look… every item that man has on is Mythic grade too.

Why had she only noticed now? It wasn't that she was dull. She simply didn't take much interest in other people, and it had never once occurred to her that anyone would plaster their entire body in Mythic-grade equipment. The thought had been beyond her.

She had a mountain of questions for Yujun, but the moment left no room for them. The presence of Demon God Worshippers began to press in from every side. Six of them — more than twice as many as before.

"This many Demon God Worshippers, hiding in the forest…"

The solo hunters went ashen. Four had already been more than they could handle, and now there were six.

"Can we even win?"

"Who knows. What I do know is there's nothing for us to do."

They would count themselves lucky if they simply didn't get in the way.

"What should we do?" Jo Su-a asked, her face grave.

Yujun lifted his sword as if the matter were hardly worth discussing.

"We kill them."

"It's dangerous."

Four Demon God Worshippers and six were worlds apart. Add even a single player of comparable strength and a fight usually grew several times harder. This wasn't one more. It was two.

"It's fine. Paranet will be fighting too."

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

"……"

He was so utterly unbothered that Jo Su-a found herself reassured in spite of herself.

It'll work out somehow.

Confidence with something behind it. She had only just met him, and already she thought of Yujun as someone she could rely on. She wasn't even sure why. Perhaps it was simply that his strength was overwhelming. What mattered was that, for the moment, she was safe at his side.

The newly arrived Demon God Worshippers seemed to know everything already. They attacked without a word. Yujun, Paranet, Jo Su-a, and Manuela all entered the fight. Manuela took the supporting role, pouring curses over the enemy and laying buff after buff across her allies. That alone was an enormous help.

Yujun moved first. He was on them in an instant, and the Demon God Worshippers who saw him coming fell back, dragging their mana up.

"What is this human?"

"Does he have no fear?"

The ones who had appeared this time were of different races, and the powers they used were just as varied.

Explosion magic detonated all around him — boom, boom, crack — but Yujun never once stopped moving, and the blasts never caught him. Then a massive greatsword came swinging in with a heavy rush of air. He set his own blade upright to meet it. Steel crashed against steel, and the greatsword the Demon God Worshipper had swung split cleanly in half.

"W-what?"

The shock was so complete that the worshipper's body locked up. Yujun was not about to waste an opening like that. His sword moved like a flash of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠light, and the worshipper's head left his shoulders with a clean, wet slice.

The same holographic message as before. A faint smile touched Yujun's mouth, and he moved again.

With one of them dead, the Demon God Worshippers no longer charged in as recklessly as that fool had. Carefully, gradually, they herded Yujun's group into a snare of their own making.

"Tch."

They were certainly nothing like the three from before. They left no openings.

"Watch that human."

"You saw what happened to Sepchenku. They'll be careful enough on their own."

"I'll pin them down as best I can with the Earth Spirit King."

The Demon God Worshippers fell into formation as one, every line of it shaped to keep Yujun at the greatest possible distance. That was when Paranet moved. Armed in his new equipment, he closed with one of them in a stride overflowing with confidence. The worshipper, who had been focused entirely on Yujun, turned an irritated face on him.

"And what is this now? A mere Death Knight, daring to…"

To the eye, he was only an oversized Death Knight. No matter how fine the items Paranet wore, the undead were a race for whom growth was all but impossible. A Demon God Worshipper stronger even than the members of Coordination had no reason to fear one.

"Out of the way, skeleton. Do you imagine you're some Lich Lord?"

Paranet bristled.

"And what are you supposed to be, then? Why do you scorn me?"

"Because you look weak."

"……"

Paranet decided to answer with action, and he moved first. He closed on the massive Demon God Worshipper at a speed like light itself. Sword met axe.

Crash. Boom.

Brute force against brute force — a simple fight, and an efficient one. The two enormous weapons slammed together again and again without a single miss, and the ring of steel on steel rolled through the forest. There was no dodging in a collision that large, and the winner showed himself at once. The Demon God Worshipper, York, was flung helplessly backward.

The wound was not fatal. What struck York like a blow was the simple fact that he had been driven back by a common undead.

By a Death Knight? That thing?

Every race was born with its own measure of strength. That difference could not be ignored. The undead were immortal beings who did not die even when killed — and at the same time, they were already dead. There was a limit to how strong they could become. Of every race, they were the one whose potential sat nearest to zero. And he had been pushed back by one of them?

York's face twisted into something vicious. His pride would not allow it to end like this. Veins bulged along the hand gripping his axe, and dark demonic energy gathered there until the air itself began to warp. He brought the axe crashing down toward Paranet's skull. The sound was like cloth tearing through the air — monstrous strength.

Paranet neither took the blow nor met it. He slipped aside with astonishing reflexes, light as nothing, and a gap opened. His sense for battle was nothing extraordinary, but he did not miss the chance. His sword struck York's chest, and what rang out was not the sound of a cut but an explosion. York had caught the blade on an arm wrapped in dark demonic energy. Even so, the impact was not nothing. Between that first clash and the blow he had just blocked, the color drained from his face all at once.

"Haha! What a pathetic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sight you make!"

Paranet shouted and charged. Blood-soaked, York bit down hard on his lower lip and swung the axe out.

Boom. Crack.

Once again, it was York who gave ground. Sensing victory, Paranet began to drive him without pause.

While the two of them fought in a frenzy, the remaining Demon God Worshippers were struggling just as badly. Four of them had to hold Yujun and Jo Su-a at once. Yujun alone, a man worth a hundred, was already more than they could manage — and Su-a had joined him.

"What are these bastards?"

"Where did they come from all of a sudden? Were there things like this on the Continent?"

"We're going to need more support. One of you, send word."

"I was already showing them the situation in real time."

"Then we buy time."

The four of them had realized they had no chance against the two in front of them. So they chose to stall. To endure.

"Su-a."

"Yes?"

"I'll be gone for just a moment."

"…What? What? You want me to take four of them by myself?"

"It'll only be a moment."

Yujun vanished without waiting for her answer.

"……"

"……"

A dead stillness. Then the four Demon God Worshippers attacked Jo Su-a as if they had been waiting for exactly this. She had been fighting one, and now four came at her at once. In a heartbeat she was driven into a corner.

"Why would he just disappear like—"

Death seemed to lean in close. The color drained from her face, and the worshippers' assault grew fiercer still, as if they meant to end it in a single stroke.

"Don't let your guard down. He vanished for a reason. He'll be back any moment."

"I know that much. Let's finish this woman first."

That was when it happened. Two heads — belonging to the very ones who had spoken — came off with a pair of clean, empty cuts. The remaining two tried to react, tried to move, and in that instant something they could not name cinched around their bodies. A formless energy, invisible to the eye.

"W-what is this?"

"My body won't move…"

"N-no!"

Yujun appeared behind the Demon God Worshippers. He swung without hesitation.

Yujun had been skimming the system messages. His eyes went wide.

A change in the privilege?

Until now it had only ever said that his power as the Primordial Player had increased slightly. A message like that had never appeared.

"Is it over?" Jo Su-a asked, coming closer with a face gone blue-white.

Yujun nodded. She narrowed her eyes.

"Where on earth did you go? I almost died."

"It was only about four seconds."

"……"

To her, those four seconds had been an eternity. Even so, she didn't press the protest any further. She was alive, after all. If the result was good, that was enough. She was that sort of person. She dragged in a rough breath, then spoke.

"You said they were Demon God Worshippers?"

"Yes."

"Everyone we just met looked like they were over level 600."

"All of them?"

"Yes. Where did people like that even come from, all of a sudden…"

"Are there no one over level 600 on the Continent?"

"There seemed to be a few in a place called Coordination."

"And besides them?"

"I don't know."

"I didn't think there would be this many players over level 600."

"Neither did I. I thought I was special. I wasn't."

Being over level 600 already ought to have counted as special enough. It was the Demon God Worshippers who were the anomaly. They had clearly lived on the Continent for a long time, so a high level was possible — but that alone didn't seem to explain it. They must have known some method of raising the ceiling of one's potential. Given enough time, passing level 600 would not be so difficult a thing.

Right. And earlier, it said the privilege had changed.