The Rankings Only Went to One Hundred

The rankings only displayed down to one hundredth place, and among them Yujun had seized first with an overwhelming number of kills.

The scoreboard refreshed, and for one instant the entire battlefield went still.

"Three hundred twenty thousand... what?"

"Did three hundred twenty thousand people just die from that?"

"First place is Shin Yujun? So Shin Yujun's here. Then that meteor spell earlier was..."

"Was Shin Yujun always that strong?"

"He was famous, you know. For being strong."

"No, but at this level, isn't he way too overwhelming even for a human?"

"Was he a mage this whole time...? I never knew Shin Yujun could use magic like that."

"At that point, isn't he basically a god?"

A single spell had killed some three hundred twenty thousand players, and those who remained could only fret over whether they might be next. Yujun, though, had spent every drop of his mana. He could not cast the same spell again just yet, and the look on his face was one of pure satisfaction.

Yeah. For mass slaughter, nothing beats Meteor.

It had been the same in the game. The power was real enough, and the drawbacks were obvious—a simple trajectory, a long cast, easy to dodge. But if the meteor was the size of the one just now, those drawbacks meant nothing at all.

"Yujun..."

Jo Su-a barely managed to get the word out.

"What is it?"

"You really don't mess around."

"Hm?"

"I've never seen a Meteor like that."

"No?"

"I need to hunt, and fast. First place looks like a lost cause, but I want second."

"Go ahead."

Jo Su-a burst out of the shield. Attacks could come from anywhere, so it was dangerously exposed, but she was a player past level 600. He trusted her to handle herself.

Yujun stayed inside the shield, chin propped on his hand.

I could probably hold first even if I just stood here...

Then again, you never knew who might come climbing. His mana was already surging back. He moved first. The meteor's aftermath had left no living players nearby, so he relocated to where they were clustered especially thick, and sank into thought.

Meteor stands out too much. Isn't there something more suitable?

Every spell unfolded through Ancient Magic hit with terrible force. Whichever he chose, the killing power would be high.

Something with a fairly wide area...

The deliberation was short. Ice Storm. Ordinarily it was nothing more than a common area spell, B-Rank or A-Rank at best. Cast through Ancient Magic, it was something else entirely—stronger, once manifested that way, than most SS-Rank skills. The mana cost was enormous, but Yujun's Magic stat was high enough to overflow. It wasn't worth worrying about.

Yujun cast it. The air around him began to lock with a violent crackle. Grass on the plain, pools of blood, even the corpses of players—all of it froze solid where it lay. The range was on par with Meteor. That alone was a scale past imagining.

"Wh-what is it this time?"

"Freezing magic!"

"But why is the range this—?"

They never finished. The cold was tremendous. In a way, he had sent them off more gently than with Meteor; they froze through before they even had time to feel the pain.

The scoreboard updated again, but the rankings barely moved. His score had nearly doubled. He was now, in every sense that mattered, the immovable first.

Shame the experience isn't coming in. That's the real loss.

Yujun swept a look around him. No one was trying to come near. Only Paranet and two solo players remained at his side.

"It's too lonely."

"The moment they sense Master's presence, they all flee far away. The rumor seems to have spread in an instant."

"Of course it spread. I cast it right next to them. Obviously they'd notice."

There was no need to rush. A look at the higher ranks showed mages in abundance.

In a brawl on this scale, nothing really beats magic.

If he had poured himself into Swordsmanship and close combat, he would not have taken first so easily. He might even have fallen off the board entirely. All of that, of course, assumed he wasn't using his inventory. A mage's firepower was fierce, but in a place this wide open the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠odds of being assassinated ran just as high. A few players confident in their own skill did, in fact, try to close in.

"Ah, n—!"

"How did you kno—?"

Slash. Slash. They died anyway, cut down by a Yujun who had read them with uncanny precision.

Where did Jo Su-a go?

She had drawn quite a distance from him, but she didn't look to be in any serious danger. Unless she was unlucky enough to eat blind attacks one after another, she wasn't likely to die easily.

What kind of reward is this going to be?

The event had been thrown at every player on the Continent. First place here would not come with an ordinary prize. Expectation bright on his face, Yujun set out hunting again.

A good while passed.

Even if everyone killed with everything they had, there were simply too many players. The event's goal—only ten thousand left alive—would need far more time before it was met.

Jo Su-a dragged in a rough breath.

How many have I killed?

She cut down whatever appeared in front of her. Most of the players who tried to stop her couldn't block a single stroke before they lost their lives.

This is normal. I'm plenty strong.

Before she met the man named Shin Yujun, she had believed there was no one on the Continent who could match her. Among players, at least. After meeting him, that belief had not survived.

This wasn't something you could wave off by saying the world is a big place.

To her mind, Shin Yujun was already strong, and he was a monster among monsters with nothing ahead of him but growing stronger still.

He isn't even level 500. That kind of martial might doesn't make sense.

An arrow came screaming in, and she knocked it aside with an extended blade. This was not a battlefield where you could afford to look away, but just now she had a little room to breathe. Player corpses were heaped like mountains around her, every one of them fallen to her sword, and her confidence came back.

Shin Yujun is the strange one. I'm fine. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing.

She rested a moment, then went looking for players again. She had no equal. Her rank began to climb quickly—and still, no matter what she did, she could not break into the top fifty.

Everyone ranked above me is a mage.

Jo Su-a bit down hard on her lower lip. It was the sort of event where a mage held every advantage, so a swordswoman had to move all the harder. Not being a mage didn't mean she lacked area skills. She wove magic in between her cuts and drove her rank up fast.

A tremendous roar rolled in from somewhere a little ways off. If the shock reached even a distance the eye could barely make out, she didn't need to look. It was obvious. Shin Yujun. No one else. Sure enough, players were fleeing at a dead run from the direction of the blast.

"It's him!"

"Get as far away as we can, right now!"

"Why is a monster like that in the same region as us?"

"Just rotten luck!"

"P-please, a potion! One of my legs is gone!"

Watching them, Jo Su-a's expression grew complicated.

This isn't even like they're facing a natural disaster...

Other mages cast Meteor too, but the size and force of those meteors belonged to another world entirely.

I'll use this.

She set her sights on the players being driven her way. Panicked and fleeing, they were perfect prey.

Rewards were decided by rank, so few players formed any large group. Only those who wanted merely to survive clustered together, and even that meant little. Against the overwhelming firepower of high-level players, a gathering of middling fighters accomplished nothing. They complained anyway.

"If it was going to be like this, why summon everyone? They should've just let the high-level ones join."

"Right. All we get is a miserable death and a bad taste in the mouth."

"We just have to last as long as we can. That alone ought to score a pretty high achievement."

"Who even thought up an event like this?"

"The System, obviously."

"You think the System has free will and actually did this? I say the gods are behind it."

"There are no gods."

"There are, you idiot."

High-level players were not safe either.

A blast tore the air.

"Ghk!"

"I-I let my guard down."

People died in droves, snuffed out by magic that came from nowhere. Even those with some means of protecting themselves could not survive unless that protection could be held forever. The difficulty of staying alive was brutal. No one could argue otherwise.

About three hours had passed since the event began, and by now the number of players had visibly thinned. The grassland was dyed red with their blood.

They've all scattered.

Yujun clicked his tongue. Sweeping up great numbers at a stroke had become difficult. Players who knew what he could do were doing everything they could to put distance between themselves and him. From then on, he drew his sword.

Slash. Now and then he took the head of someone who didn't recognize him and charged, or of someone whose attention had slipped.

Set against the number he had already killed, what he was doing now hardly mattered.

First is basically locked, so the kill count doesn't matter.

His real aim was to sharpen his Swordsmanship. An SSS-Rank Swordsmanship trait, with an upper-grade trait gem socketed on top of it. The rank alone already gave him more than enough power, but by his own measure it still wasn't perfect. He needed live combat sense, and experience. To use a sword properly in a melee like this, a wealth of both was close to essential.

Set against the power I have, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my experience is far too thin.

If not now, there would not be many chances to temper it.

"What's that supposed to mean? Is there some benefit if the rank shows?"

The System, of course, did not answer.

"..."

He was alone now. Paranet was a summon, so it didn't matter if he died, and Yujun had sent him off somewhere else. The two solo players who counted among the strong had gradually gone out to hunt as well. Left awkwardly by himself, Yujun scratched his head.

It's been a really long time since I was alone without even Paranet.

He had always gone around with someone, even when that someone wasn't much help to him.

Am I feeling lonely?

He didn't think that was strange. Until only a few months ago, he had been an ordinary college student who liked games. Of course he could feel that way.

For all that, I'm holding together a little too well...

Being on his own didn't feel bad, either. If anything, it felt clean. Refreshing. He took another neck with the sword, and players fell helpless before a single concise motion.

"That's first place! Run!"

"How are we supposed to fight a monster who killed nine hundred thousand players by himself? This is messed up!"

"Talk about rotten luck. Why is a guy like that coming this way?"

"Now he's going around killing with a sword? That psycho bastard!"

"Just stick to magic! At least then we'd know where you are!"

They fled in a panic.

So this is how the ranks get displayed? What a pain.

Yujun didn't bother chasing the ones who ran. He worked through the enemies close at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hand, taking his time.

"Agh! Why are you following me of all people!"

The player who had just become his new target screamed it while fleeing for his life. He was fast. A little fast—no. Very.

"Cut me some slack! Mr. First Place!"

Yujun had never met a player quite like this. He kept his feet moving without a pause and studied the man.

A hologram like that floated over his head.

"You're in the rankings."

"Th-that's right! So it'd be such a waste, and so unfair, if I died like this, you know? You— no, please, if you could show a little mercy! I'm begging you!"

The player had a face well along in years, and seeing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him plead like that softened something in Yujun.

"Fiftieth out of tens of millions of players is actually impressive."

"Yes! Yes! I just got lucky and ended up ranked far higher than I deserve!"

Yujun glanced at the ranking board. His eyes shifted a little downward.

"Hm."

There was a familiar name. Jo Su-a.

"The reward gap between fiftieth and fifty-first is going to be huge! I don't want to die here. Please. Stop chasing me."

"There probably is a difference between what fiftieth and fifty-first get."

"Yes. So please!"

Yepe sounded on the verge of tears.

"Stop that. You're making me feel sorry for you. And relax."

"Oh, then—!"

The sword came around in an instant.

Slash.

Yepe died just like that, the bright smile still on his face.

I sent him off happy.

Yujun smiled, deeply satisfied.