Once the Search Ends
Once this search is over, my head is going to be killing me.
Downing a mana potion did not mean there were no side effects. Drain mana without rest, and a headache set in as if someone were stirring the inside of your skull with an awl.
Can't be helped. This is the only way.
Searching the place on foot would take far too long. A mana sweep was the most efficient method by a wide margin.
Shaaaa—
Mana began to pour from his body. Split into countless threads, it raced outward in every direction. Because the search was woven through Ancient Magic, the return was exceptional—mana in, ground covered, with very little wasted.
About three minutes later, his mana ran dry. To vent that much power and still have the threads streaming without pause for three full minutes was a rare sight, and Leonhard's and Erger's faces were worth watching for that alone.
From then on, Yujun poured mana potions straight down his throat. Filling his mana all the way back to its maximum took quite a few mid-to-high-grade bottles, and his stomach was starting to swell—not with food, but with liquid. Even he found it absurd. A dry laugh slipped out of him.
So chugging potions without limit, the way you do in a game, isn't actually possible. Figures.
He was downing dozens of bottles without a break, and still he had found nothing of note. The labyrinth was simply that vast. All he had learned was that the maze was complex, and that a great many players were wandering it or fighting somewhere inside.
It really is huge...
How much time and labor would it take to build a labyrinth on this scale? It certainly had not formed on its own. Was this the System's power as well? He wanted to know what the System actually was. Did the gods make use of it, or did it stand above the gods?
The System might be a god itself.
He could not be sure of any of it.
Thirty minutes passed. Leonhard and Erger had not been idle. They roamed the ground around where Yujun sat, searching for any trace of the World Tree, and Tapagol and Paranet did the same.
Sweat beaded on Yujun's face. Emptying and refilling that much mana over and over left even his sturdy body feeling as though it were going soft. It was only a feeling. In truth, neither his flesh nor his stats had changed at all.
Anyway, I think I've covered the whole labyrinth. There's really nothing here, is there?
Then the corner of his eye twitched. He had found something at the far end of the maze. He called Leonhard, Erger, and the summons back in.
"None of you found anything, right?"
"No."
"Forgive me. Nothing of note on my end, either..."
"I have not."
"Forgive me, Master!"
"I found something."
Leonhard startled at that.
"Then..."
"It isn't a World Tree. Keep going due north and there's a door locked tight. Past it is an enormous space, and that place looks suspicious."
"Suspicious how?"
"I looked the whole of it over... It's exactly the size a World Tree would need in order to grow."
"T-truly?"
"Yes."
"And there is no World Tree?"
"I searched the entire labyrinth. There wasn't one. Not a fully grown World Tree, at least."
"...Forgive me. I spoke idly, and all I did was waste our time."
"No. I'm fairly sure the Tears of an Angel really are tied to the World Tree."
"You think so because of that hidden space?"
"Yes. Let's go."
For now, that was the only place under suspicion. There was no point in dawdling. This time he remembered the whole route, so he did not need Tapagol to guide him.
"Still, just in case—Tapagol, keep a close eye on the path. Make sure I'm going the right way."
"Yes. Understood."
He had already passed the location along as a mental image, and with two of them who knew the way, there was no risk of getting lost. The party moved at speed. They crossed paths with a few teams, but the players who recognized Yujun's face did not attack first.
"Shin Yujun! That's Shin Yujun!"
"Run!"
"Don't attack! Not if you want to live!"
Yujun tilted his head.
Was I this famous?
Up through the first event, he was fairly sure no one could place him on sight alone. The impact of that first event must have been greater than he had thought. Nine and a half million kills. That was not the sort of number you reached with tricks or luck—and he was a first-year player, at that. It was not only the name Shin Yujun that had seared itself into other players' minds, but his face as well. A memory like that would not fade easily, not when most players were sharp about what they remembered.
Am I supposed to be pleased about getting famous?
While he turned it over, they reached the place he had been aiming for.
"This is it?"
"It is."
"How are we supposed to open this door..."
"We smash it."
"Will it break? The maze walls didn't so much as budge when we hit them."
As he said, there was a good chance the iron door would hold just as the stone walls had. Even so, they had to try. Yujun packed the sword with mana. The blade already carried formidable attack power, and now it held mana of high purity.
Vmmm—
The sword shuddered violently. He settled into a stance meant to draw out every bit of its destructive force, and on top of that he used a skill: a B-rank Slash. The grade was low, but with his base attack power so high, the force would rise sharply all the same. He swung.
KWAANG—!
A tremendous boom rolled out, and the great, thick iron door shook. Not so much as a scratch appeared on it.
Your tier is too low. The attack has no effect!
Please try again after your tier has risen!
"Hm?"
Had a message like that ever appeared before? Yujun looked at the others. They did not seem to have seen it.
"Mind hitting this door for me?"
"No. If even you couldn't break it, there's no way we—"
"I'm not asking you to break it. Just hit it as hard as you can. There's something I need to check."
"Very well, then."
Erger did as he was told and struck the door with the strongest attack skill he had.
Kung!
This time the door did not even shake. No scratch, of course.
"Still in one piece, as expected."
"No message popped up?"
"Pardon?"
"Something about your tier being too low to break it. Nothing like that?"
"No? Nothing at all."
"Hmm..."
"Let me try as well."
Leonhard stepped forward. He called the Spirit King of Earth and had it attack the door.
KWAANG—!
"The same for me. Nothing."
"Is that so?"
Perhaps their tiers were lower than his, and that was why the hologram had appeared for him alone.
Right. Messages show up for Paranet, too.
On that thought, he gave Paranet an order.
"Understood! Leave it to me! I shall destroy that door without fail!"
"I'm not asking for that much. Just... give it a shot."
Paranet strode forward, full of confidence.
KWAANG!
"Body Slam!"
"...What are you doing?"
"My apologies."
"That your best?"
"Yes!"
"..."
Aside from Corpse Explosion, Paranet truly had no attack skills at all. That was surely why he had gone with this. In a way, it was clever. He had wrapped himself in mana and thrown that massive frame straight into the door.
"Did it pop up?"
"No! I am merely shaking all over."
He had slammed into an unbreakable door with everything he had. Of course he was not fine. Even so, undead as he was, he quickly restored the shattered bone.
What is this? Why did that message only appear for me?
Paranet's level was lower than his own, and their tiers were the same. It probably was not simply because he was a summon that the message had failed to appear. Until now, the guy had been reading the System's notices just fine.
Is it because my attack power is high?
That could be it. The notice had read almost as if the door would have broken, if only his tier had been high enough.
"Anyway, we're sure of one thing. The door can't be broken."
"Yes."
"What do you intend now? I see no way through."
"Just wait."
Yujun looked at Paranet, and the summon caught his intent at once.
"Understood! You there, beanpole and half-blood! Lay your hands upon my shoulders!"
"Huh?"
"Very well."
The two did as Paranet said.
"Space Movement!"
"..."
And why, exactly, did he have to say the skill name out loud? In any case, nothing happened.
"H-huh?"
"..."
"This cannot be..."
"What do you mean, this cannot be. Space Movement just doesn't work."
"Why is that?"
"How should I know."
Yujun rested his chin on his hand. Smashing the door was out, and leaping past it with Space Movement was out as well. Blink surely would not get them through, either. He studied the door up close. There had to be a way somehow. While he was examining it, he found a small hole, shaped like a keyhole. The iron door was enormous, so whether putting something in there would actually open it was anyone's guess. Still, now he knew there was a keyhole.
"It's a keyhole."
Erger had spotted it too.
"Yes."
"Then a key that fits it must be somewhere in the labyrinth?"
"There wasn't one when I searched, at least."
"Did you not receive anything from the labyrinth's Ruler?"
"No. There was no key."
"What do we do, then?"
"Most likely you get the key by killing monsters, or by meeting some set condition."
"...This is truly demanding. Even with power to spare, the goal is this hard to reach."
"You think it's level 11 for nothing?"
"This is daunting. Shall we start by looking for the key, then?"
"No need."
At Yujun's flat reply, Erger and Leonhard both looked bewildered.
"What do you mean?"
"You know a way to open the door?"
Yujun nodded. If there was a keyhole, he could settle this simply. As he always did, he opened his inventory and took out an item.
◈ Can open any door. There must, however, be at least enough space to insert the Universal Key.
◈ The item disappears three days after it is opened.
A jet-black key. The Universal Key's conditions were not particularly strict. You only needed a hole. The size adjusted on its own. The time limit was a flaw, but he had a few more of them.
"Hah... and what is that?"
Erger watched him with expectant eyes.
"A Universal Key."
"...Universal?"
"Watch."
Yujun calmly fitted the key into the keyhole. It reshaped itself to the opening and slid in cleanly.
Click!
The iron door was not a swinging door. Shut tight a moment ago, it rose, driven by a magical mechanism.
"Easy, right?"
"..."
"Shin Yujun. What in the world are you? How do you have so many items?"
Erger asked it as if the wind had gone out of him.
"I did a little collecting, back in the day."
"Weren't you a first-year player? It hasn't even been a year since you became one..."
"Exactly. I've been a little busy."
"..."
Did time simply run dozens of times slower for that man than for everyone else? When had he gathered items like those, and when had he grown this strong? By Erger's common sense, it was beyond understanding.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming in?"
At Yujun's words, Erger—lost in thought—startled and got his feet moving.