Siren Among the Demon God's Faithful
The Demon God Worshippers, Siren among them, pushed their pace higher still. The moment they broke into a full sprint, the scenery tore past in a blur.
What was strange was that the monsters never attacked them. If anything, the creatures cleared the path, or scrambled in a panic to get out of the way. It was not simply that the Worshippers were strong. An elixir brewed by one of the more influential alchemists in their order was doing the work. Drink it, and you could not quite command every monster in Sourtul Forest—but you could make them treat you as one of their own.
"Honestly, those lab idiots. They ought to have handled it themselves. Getting wrecked by a bunch of Continent nobodies. Pathetic."
Komalan took pride in belonging to the Demon God Worshippers. When word came that one of their laboratories had been blown apart, he had been furious. It felt as if someone had dragged the name through the mud.
"When I get my hands on that Shin Yujun, he isn't dying clean."
Komalan ground his teeth.
Paranet stopped dead without warning, then cocked his head.
"What's wrong?" Yujun asked.
"It is dangerous."
"Again?"
How many times had Paranet cried danger by now? Even so, Yujun never took the warning for a joke. If that one said it was dangerous, it was dangerous. The talent had lost its shine during the Species Tournament, but this time would be different. They were standing in none other than Sourtul Forest.
"Why is it dangerous?"
"I believe someone is pursuing us."
"I don't sense any presence."
Hide a presence with stealth all you liked; it meant little before his Ancient Magic, before a detection spell. That was how he knew there were only a few monsters nearby, and no Demon God Worshippers at all.
"So it's just a bad feeling?" Yujun asked, entirely serious, and Paranet nodded.
"I shall go faster. It may be taxing, but please keep up."
"Hold on." Jo Su-a raised a hand. "We're just going to take a summon's word for it?"
"Yes. We were headed this way anyway. I only mean to pick up the pace."
"If we burn stamina now, we'll have a hard time dealing with the Worshippers we run into later."
"It's fine. We can use potions. And if Paranet says something feels ominous, then something really is there."
"Is his intuition that good?"
"He's well past that. Where his own danger is concerned, you might as well call him an excellent prophet."
"Th-that good?"
"Yes."
His face was dead serious. Then Paranet spoke.
"However, Master."
"What?"
"It seems you place a great deal of faith in me."
"..."
Yujun glanced back mid-stride and found Paranet grinning—straight white teeth, and a thoroughly insufferable smile.
"What's with you?"
"Master. Speak honestly. Beneath this barren sky, the only person you can trust—nay, the only undead you can trust—is I, is it not?"
"Right. Among the undead, there's only you."
"...No. I shall amend the question. I am the most trustworthy, am I not? Of every being you have met thus far. Cast aside race and all such nonsense! Tell me! What say you! Of me!"
"Hmm..."
What rankled was that he could not quite deny it. Paranet really had helped him, in small ways and sometimes in very large ones, and not once had the summon ever done him harm.
"Y-yeah. You are."
"As expected, Master! I knew you believed in me!"
"..."
The sheer smugness of it sat so poorly that Yujun clamped his mouth shut. Paranet's physical ability, meanwhile, was beyond anything he had imagined. The summon kept pace right on his heels with a perfectly calm face—though, being nothing but bone, it was impossible to tell whether he was straining. Horidan's ring, no doubt.
Jo Su-a, as if stung by rivalry, tried to pull ahead of him, but in raw stats Paranet had the edge. Yujun smiled, quietly pleased. The sense of loss Jo Su-a felt, by contrast, was beyond words. Slower than a summon? And not just any summon—an undead one. There were summons built for extraordinary speed, but the undead were not that kind of race.
I'm slower than that bag of bones...
Losing to Yujun, she could accept. An undead summon was a bit much. She ran as if her life depended on it. That undead, of all things, she refused to lose to. Then Paranet glanced back and, she was certain, sneered—before turning his face forward again as if she were nothing worth noting.
"...This is pissing me off."
She used an elixir that temporarily raised her Agility. A clean ten percent, lasting only about fifteen minutes. That was enough. She began to pull ahead of Paranet and drew even with Yujun.
"Oh? When did you get here?" he asked.
"...I just figured we ought to hurry."
She absolutely could not admit she had overtaken Paranet because her pride had been stung.
"Right?" Yujun smiled brightly. "We really should go faster."
"...What?"
"If even you feel uneasy, Miss Jo Su-a, then whoever's chasing us is no ordinary threat."
A player's instinct was a frightening thing—especially a high-level player's. Instinct. Only a feeling, and yet Yujun had decided not to let even the small things slide.
"Th-that's not exactly what I meant..."
"I can feel an aura like the lab we blew up earlier. Just a little farther."
"How long?"
"Fifteen minutes?"
"..."
Even a player could not run forever, and a full sprint made that truer still. Jo Su-a opened her inventory, drew out a potion, yanked the cork, and gulped it down. A stamina potion, despite the name, did not actually restore exhausted stamina. It only treated injuries and wounds. Still, it was not entirely useless. When you were truly spent, it helped about as much as a sip of water.
"Feeble. A human, as expected."
Paranet, by contrast, had no such thing as stamina. No matter how long he ran, his speed never fell off. That was one of the advantages of being undead. Hearing him, Yujun frowned.
"Hey. I'm human too, you know? Watch your mouth."
"...Ah. My apologies. I had forgotten that Master is human."
"Are you mocking me?"
"Not at all."
"Then drop it."
"Might I offer one observation, however?"
"What?"
"Running like that without so much as a roughened breath is certainly not very human."
"I'm pacing myself."
"...You could run even faster?"
"Obviously. Why would you even ask?"
He was not showing off. He really was jogging along at a leisurely clip. Set beside Jo Su-a—over level 600 and already gasping—the situation was absurd. He genuinely had energy to spare, recovering faster than he tired. And Yujun kept his word. His feet struck harder, and his speed climbed.
At that pace, isn't he basically an airplane?
Jo Su-a could accept not being able to see his feet. What she could not accept was how he surged in those sudden bursts, as if he were folding the ground itself. Then Paranet addressed her.
"Human."
"What? Skeleton."
"I also possess a skill called Space Movement."
"...And?"
"It means I am of greater use to Master than you are."
"Who asked?"
Paranet was entirely serious.
"I know everything."
"...Know what?"
"That you keep hovering about, desperate to win Master's favor."
Irritation crept across Jo Su-a's face.
What is he even saying?
She had already been in a foul mood, and his nonsense only made it worse. Getting angry at a mere summon, though, would be embarrassing in its own right. She kept her mouth shut.
"Keh-heh-heh! The sight of you flustered, your heart laid bare! How adorable!"
When Paranet kept needling her, Yujun caught him with a backheel. The kick landed with a heavy thud.
"Guh—!"
Paranet went flying backward.
"Be quiet."
"M-my apologies."
Yujun glanced around.
"Where'd the half-bloods go?"
"Scrambling after us from behind, I should think," Paranet answered.
"Why didn't you bring them?"
"And why would I?"
"Fair point. They can get here on their own. Why should we babysit them?"
Whether the two half-bloods lived or died, there was truly no need to care anymore. Another five minutes or so passed.
"Hold on."
With those words, Yujun stopped the sprint.
"Why?"
"I think the lab's location has changed."
"What? You said you'd pinpointed it..."
"I did. Manuela's prophecy definitely pointed this way. Hmm..."
His own senses were catching it somewhere else—a place that diverged quite a bit from where Manuela had indicated. He scratched his head.
"Manuela. Can your prophecies be wrong?"
"They've never missed. Not once."
"Out of how many?"
"Hundreds."
"You've imagined that many?"
"I've lived a long time, you know."
"...Right. You are getting on in years."
"Don't talk about my age."
"Anyway, we're stuck."
After a moment's thought, Yujun set off again in the direction Manuela had indicated.
"Let's stick with the direction we first decided on."
"You sure?" Manuela asked.
Yujun nodded. "It's more likely something in this forest is messing with my senses than that your prophecy is wrong."
"Mm."
More time passed. By the time Jo Su-a was close to exhaustion, the party finally reached their original destination.
"Hahh... haah... There's nothing here?"
At her words, Yujun called out.
"Paranet."
"Yes!"
"Do you feel anything?"
"Yes!"
"Where."
"In this vicinity."
"You don't know exactly?"
"No. All of it—from that far edge to here."
Something was registering across a fairly wide stretch, including the ground beneath their feet. Yujun loaded mana into his leg and struck the earth. A tremendous boom split the air, and the ground caved in. Once was not enough. He kicked a second time, then a third, and something came into view.
"Why do these people love hiding things underground so much?"
"The Demon God Worshippers?"
"Yeah."
"They can hardly put it out in the open. It's not as if the forest has some separate place to hide things."
"I suppose."
What was curious was the complete absence of any protective barrier or ward. Ordinarily, if you meant to hide something, you set a barrier—and it was not as if the Demon God Worshippers lacked the ability.
Right. Space Movement only worked imperfectly here.
Some supernatural force might well be acting on Sourtul Forest itself. Use spatial magic carelessly in this place, and a mana backlash could turn dangerous. An immortal like Paranet could probably afford to take that risk.
"Let's go in."
What lay revealed, once again, was a staircase leading underground. Yujun and his party entered the laboratory without hesitation. Less than five minutes later, ten Demon God Worshippers arrived at the spot they had just left.