Even for a Golem...

Even for a golem, the bulk was hard to believe. That little Tapagol, grown so enormous?

The name Fallen Power Golem isn't wasted on him.

On looks alone, he seemed genuinely powerful. Yujun had no idea what principle had driven the gigantification, but it was enough to crush, all at once, the nerve of the players who had been about to attack his party.

"What in the world is that?"

"That's... the golem from before, right?"

"What's with that size? That's a dragon, isn't it? At that scale?"

"We should run, shouldn't we? Right? I'm not the only one who thinks so?"

"......"

"Say something!"

This second event ground was a maze with no ceiling in sight. The walls climbed without end, and though mages and birdfolk had tried to fly clear of them, it did no good. No matter how high they rose, the walls simply went on. That was why Tapagol could swell his body without a care.

"Hostiles detected. Shall I eliminate them?"

Tapagol's voice was low, and yet so vast it left a dull roar in their ears. He certainly didn't dawdle over the question.

"Yeah. Handle it."

"Understood. Executing the order."

Tapagol lifted his right foot and brought it down with all his strength where the players stood.

BOOOOM—!

The shock was tremendous. The players threw every defense they had into stopping it, but before Tapagol's terrifying mass, none of it meant a thing. That was the end of it. Four players lost their lives without managing so much as a scream.

A moment later, Tapagol's body snapped back to its original form.

"......"

"Obstacle removal complete. Commencing route guidance."

"R-right."

Tapagol walked on as if nothing had happened.

What do I do...

Roteren of the demonkin gnawed at her blameless nails. She could see her teammates walking along in warm, easy conversation.

She was a Demon God Worshipper. They called themselves that outright, and the name was no mistake: a faction devoted to the Demon God, bent on ruling the Continent, and planning, in a future not far off, to summon the Demon God itself. Unlike the rest of the team, she had no choice but to think.

That was the order currently laid upon the Demon God Worshippers.

An order has come down. I can't ignore it.

If she ignored a command she was capable of carrying out, she might lose every scrap of the power that had been granted to her. She would be lucky if it ended there. Far more likely, she would lose that power and, as the price of betrayal, meet death in some horrific form.

Shin Yujun was a target that had to be removed. And yet she could not get a clear read on whether she was able to kill him.

Move rashly, and I'm the one who dies.

Of that she was certain. That man was a monster beyond imagination. A straight fight offered her nothing but the picture of her own defeat, and the golem he had summoned earlier had looked stronger than she was all by itself.

Where did something like that even come from?

Roteren let out a heavy sigh. There was no way to kill him now. All she could do was wait for a chance.

Not long after, Yujun's party reached the place where the Ruler waited.

"Feels like that one glimpse is all we've had of other players."

"After they saw the golem grow earlier, I don't think anyone's coming anywhere near this way."

"......So it seems."

"I would have done the same. Who would deliberately seek out a place with a giant golem, unless they were quite confident in their own skill?"

"Even with confidence, they wouldn't come. In this event, achieving the objective is what matters most."

"Either way, we're getting a great deal of use out of that golem."

Leonhard and Erger traded wry, empty laughs as they spoke.

"By the way, do you suppose that's the Ruler?"

"Judging by the air of the place, I should think so."

The Ruler of the Labyrinth. A little shy of two meters tall, a long spear in one hand, standing in the middle of a path that looked no different from any other.

Another race, perhaps, or a monster? On looks alone, it felt akin to a magical beast, or to some transcendent species.

Back when it was the Pride faction—or was it Sloth?—commander-type NPCs showed up. Could be one of those.

Yujun turned it over. A ruler bound to a single region would ordinarily bring a monster to mind. This, no matter how he looked at it, was not a monster.

It carries the same presence as when we first found it.

They had not come to the wrong place. Sure enough, once a guide golem marked a location, it found the path with uncanny precision. A satisfied smile touched Yujun's mouth as he looked the Ruler over more closely.

Level's obviously higher than mine. No equipment items to speak of, so it really does seem to be a monster.

Any player who had survived this far into the event would be carrying gear of considerable quality. Aside from its weapon and iron armor, the Labyrinth's Ruler had nothing equipped at all.

"Has the event begun? I wondered what all the racket was..."

So said the Labyrinth's Ruler, in a tone that suggested he was aware of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠event.

"How long has it been since the event started?"

"You're asking me?"

Yujun pointed at himself.

"Yes. Human. I asked you."

"Has it been an hour? No. I don't think it's even been that long."

"......What?"

The Labyrinth's Ruler flinched. They had reached him in less than an hour?

This labyrinth was thick with traps and lurking monsters, and those were not the only enemies. Fellow players were hostile as well, and the paths tangled over themselves until simply finding this place was a trial. They had come through all of that in so little time? Frankly, it was difficult to believe. The Ruler did not doubt them, however. He had known at a glance that the human before him was strong.

"I can hardly offer a halfhearted welcome to a player who has come this far. I will not hold back."

"You can hold back, you know."

"......"

"Suit yourself."

The moment Yujun raised his sword, the Labyrinth's Ruler moved. He surged in and drove the spear out in a straight thrust. Yujun snapped his head back and let it pass. The Ruler hauled the spear downward, and in that instant Yujun's sword slid between spearhead and skull.

CLANG!

The spear was flung wide. That was not all. Cracks raced along the shaft, as if it were about to shatter—from a single clash. Yujun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had not even brought the blade down hard. He had only set it in the way and blocked.

The Labyrinth's Ruler fell back to inspect his weapon. For the first time in his life, shock was written across his face.

"My Mythic weapon..."

"Huh? You're Mythic-grade too?"

At Yujun's words, the Labyrinth's Ruler's eyes went wide.

"You are using a Mythic-grade weapon as well?"

"No. I use something better."

Yujun said it with a broad grin. The Ruler's face twisted.

"There is nothing above Mythic, whelp."

"Oh. You don't know?"

"What?"

"I only found out a little while ago myself. Turns out that's not how it is."

"......What?"

Yujun drew a flask from his inventory and pulled the stopper. Doing it by hand would have been obvious, of course, so he worked it free out of sight, with threads of mana. Then he tossed his sword down directly in front of the Ruler.

Clang!

The sword tumbled across the floor.

"What are you doing..."

"Check it."

Yujun said it quietly.

No one could hide their disbelief at the incredible sight. His teammates least of all.

"He's throwing his own weapon?"

"Shin Yujun, what are you doing!"

There was letting one's guard down, and then there was this. To seize the upper hand and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then throw one's weapon at the enemy's feet? By any player's common sense, it was impossible.

The Labyrinth's Ruler was every bit as thrown. He did not let the opening slip, however. He snatched the weapon up at once and called up its information.

Wh-what is this...?

The Labyrinth's Ruler blinked. Could an item like this exist in the world? Wasn't it too unreasonable—too unfair? The effect was so preposterous that even a Ruler who had been this strong from the moment of his birth found himself thinking so.

That was when it happened.

A hologram message appeared before the Ruler's eyes. Tremendous pressure followed. A formless force began to constrict his body.

"Th... this is..."

The Labyrinth's Ruler tore his eyes from the hologram and looked ahead. There stood Yujun, wearing a slow, clinging smile.

"......!"

He could not move.

The weapon was bait?

Bewilderment crossed the Ruler's face, but he had been in no position to avoid the trap. A sword that had damaged his spear in a single clash, set down right before his eyes—could he really have kept from taking it in hand? He might have suspected a trap beforehand, and yet, strangely, rational judgment had been impossible. Even now his mind felt faintly clouded. It was not simply that his body was bound. It felt as though some presence were circling near his brain.

What the Ruler felt was no illusion. It was a phenomenon brought on because Yujun had used a consumable. The item he had used in secret possessed the following effect.

The item's effect was powerful. It simply did not take hold on allies—that is, on those with whom one had formed a party. His teammates, however, were not in a party.

"M-my head is spinning."

"I'm seeing something stra—nge. Why is this happening."

"I don't think it's my body, exactly, but something feels off."

The teammates were a little addled themselves. Perhaps that was why—

Tap!

Someone charged Yujun without a trace of fear. It was Roteren, the demon, one of his own teammates. She ran at him knowing full well her chances were not particularly good, because she believed this was the moment when the odds of killing him were at their highest.

He has no weapon. Now.

Her judgment was clouded, granted, but it really was the best timing—right now, when Yujun was not holding a weapon. Clinging to a shred of hope, Roteren aimed for the nape of his neck. She even used Blink, and in the very instant she thought the ambush perfect, the space her body occupied was seized.

Yujun had cast Space Domination.

She could not move a finger against a force that brooked no resistance. Movement skills such as Blink were impossible to use. Bound by Space Domination, she could not manifest mana.

"H... how?"

"How did I know?"

"......"

"It's obvious, isn't it. I figured you'd stab me in the back sooner or later. You're a Demon God Worshipper."

"......You knew?"

"You'd have to be an idiot not to."

Yujun increased the force of Space Domination, meaning to kill Roteren first. But—

So that's how it is.

He had wondered whether killing her after being attacked first might at least count as self-defense. It seemed a penalty was imposed simply for harming a teammate.

The second event was a cooperative mission. Killing a teammate could certainly be a grave crime in a mission of that kind, and when the system spoke of a tremendous penalty, it meant a level even Yujun could not afford.

The tremendous penalties in War of the Gods were definitely stat reductions.

Not a modest reduction, either. All stats down by fifty percent. The penalty lasted only while the event was underway, but a fifty-percent drop was simply too much.

The message must have appeared for Roteren as well. She had been about to attack Yujun, so it stood to reason.

Roteren's mouth suddenly split in a grin.

"You're going to kill me?"

Pure triumph on her face. Yujun kept his expression blank.

"Yeah. Goodbye."

CRUNCH!

Roteren's body was crushed.

He received the enormous penalty, just as the system had warned. Yujun did not despair. A smile, if anything, rested at the corner of his mouth.