The Heresy Inquisitor

The Heresy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Inquisitor.

Well. Roughly speaking, his role was probably to pass judgment on anyone who refused to believe in the Demon God. An existence that made an enemy of everyone except the Demon God Worshippers, wasn't he? It wasn't as if he would pick out only the faithful and kill them.

Yujun scratched his head. So what was any of that supposed to mean?

"Why did a Heresy Inquisitor come to me? Because I'm a heretic?"

"I came on other business."

"I heard you had orders to kill me."

"No. Whether you live or die is none of my concern."

Yujun's face went blank with disbelief. From the very start, the Heresy Inquisitor had kept speaking as though he were something apart from the Demon God Worshippers.

Looks exactly the same to me.

Would a Heresy Inquisitor really be any different from the Demon God Worshippers? He belonged to that organization. He had to be one of them.

"So? What is this other business?"

"The Angel's Tears."

"......Are you insane?"

The curse slipped out before Yujun could stop it. Did this man have any idea how hard he had worked to grow that World Tree? A whole twenty minutes, and one Mythic-grade item. And finding his way here had been no small feat either. Yet the man had come for the Angel's Tears that were supposed to become his?

"You're just here to look and then leave, right? Right?"

"No. I must recover the Angel's Tears. That is not an item a player ought to possess at present."

"Are you insane?"

"I am sorry to arrive when your goal is within reach. But it cannot be helped. I would ask you to understand that I do not do this because I wish to."

"Are you insane?"

"Why do you repeat yourself?"

"Because you seem insane."

"I am insane?"

"Yeah."

"On what grounds do you say such a thing?"

"Look at what you're doing. You're going to take the Angel's Tears? Now? Hey. Have a conscience. The table's already set, and you're just laying your spoon on it."

Ugh. The more he said it, the angrier he got. Yujun drew his sword.

"Time you learned a lesson."

"You mean to fight me?"

"Yeah. You had a weapon pointed at me too. Weren't you asking for a round?"

"......Courageous. Scarcely any player has ever dared challenge a Heresy Inquisitor."

"I don't even know what a Heresy Inquisitor is. So I'll ask. Are you somebody important?"

The Heresy Inquisitor. For one thing, no such being had existed within the world of War of the Gods. He had barely understood the Demon God Worshippers themselves, so of course a Heresy Inquisitor was beyond him.

Yujun moved first.

A sharp crack of footsteps, and he shot forward in an instant. He had already changed back into his original equipment, just as Paranet had told him to, and the speed of his charge was nothing short of astonishing.

The blade hissed out. The Heresy Inquisitor threw his upper body sharply backward and slipped past the sword thrust straight at him. The motion was large. Yujun brought the blade down in the same breath, and the Heresy Inquisitor slid away to the rear, avoiding the strike by a hair, as if the exchange had been choreographed.

Yujun was impressed.

If he can dodge my attacks... his stats must be absurdly high.

Either that, or he had a high-rank evasion skill or trait.

No. His Agility is just high.

You could tell by looking into an opponent's eyes whether he was leaning on a skill to slip past an attack, or truly seeing it and dodging. The Heresy Inquisitor was reading him.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoong. And yet he could not counter at all. He was hard-pressed merely to evade the swords Yujun sent in one after another. The paths were too exquisite, the force too overwhelming, for any opening to strike back.

This one... is no joke.

He had heard the man was strong, but to think that even he, bearer of a god's status, would be driven this hard. Just how high were those stats, to produce speed like this? Fine equipment, he could grant. But mastery of Swordsmanship on top of it was cheating. This was not mere excellence. It had passed beyond the realm of a master.

The Heresy Inquisitor let out a hollow laugh. Incomplete though it was, he possessed demigod status, and still he was being pushed like this. Honestly, before meeting the man in person, his plan had been to toy with him a little and then take the Angel's Tears. Shin Yujun's strength, however, was beyond imagination. As time went on, the Heresy Inquisitor's face grew rigid.

There is no opening. How does his form not break once across dozens of attacks?

That was when it happened.

"Body Slam!"

Paranet had closed in through space movement, and he drove his body straight into the Heresy Inquisitor. Every nerve of the inquisitor's had been fixed on Yujun, and he could not avoid the collision. As the man was blasted away, Yujun cast a flame spell of the highest grade.

Hellfire shot out in a streak and struck the Heresy Inquisitor dead on.

"Paranet. One question. Why use your body instead of a sword? It's inefficient."

"Pray, do not be alarmed, Master. I have body-slammed so very often that a skill has come into being."

"What...?"

"It is quite true."

Yujun hurriedly opened Paranet's status window.

"It's real......?"

The summon had gained a skill called Body Slam (S+). A skill that had definitely not been there before. When had he turned that into a skill?

"Ho ho. It was born ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠earlier, when I hurled my body against the door."

"......"

Paranet said it while preening. At first Yujun had thought the fool was only playing around, and yet a skill had been created from the shabby technique name he had been shouting. S+ rank, at that.

"Does shouting the name while you do it have something to do with creating a skill?"

Yujun considered it in earnest. It really didn't seem like the sort of thing that would appear without a fair amount of repetition, and yet Paranet had made a skill with ease. If that was truly how it worked, wasn't it worth trying himself?

Even just the skills I know of—the ones No-Pay Casual Gamer had—there were far more of them than I have now.

No-Pay Casual Gamer had possessed a great many skills and traits. Yujun now had fewer skills, but their ranks were high. Asked which was more efficient, he could not readily choose, but there was no harm in having more skills. And so he resolved to run through repetitive motions whenever he had the time.

Just then, as if on cue, the fallen Heresy Inquisitor rose. Paranet's surprise body slam through space movement, and Yujun's Hellfire. He had taken both dead-on, and he was perfectly fine. The Heresy Inquisitor glared at Yujun with a twisted face.

"Why did you not continue the attack? Do you take me lightly?"

"Yeah. You're easy."

"......"

The provocation landed. A terrifying presence began to pour from the Heresy Inquisitor.

"What are you going to do, glaring at me?"

"......Human. With your Status, you cannot harm me. To be precise, you cannot kill me. Are you aware of this?"

"Why can't I kill you?"

He asked because he genuinely wanted to know, and the Heresy Inquisitor answered without resistance.

"Because of the difference in Status."

"......Difference in Status? Pretty sure I killed everyone else who said something like that."

"I would prefer you did not compare me to such small fry."

"So you're different, is that it?"

"I am."

"I'll know once I check."

Sword in hand, Yujun burst forward. Anger had not made the Heresy Inquisitor any stronger. If anything, now that the other side was coming at him aggressively, the openings were easier to see, and whenever one showed, Yujun drove his sword in deep.

"Guhk!"

He succeeded in planting the blade in the man's shoulder blade. The Heresy Inquisitor, however, did not simply take it. His sword grazed past Yujun's hair, and in the gap opened by that dodge he sprang far back.

The attacks were certainly fierce. He seemed even stronger than Caston, whom Yujun had faced in the last event. Where did bastards like this keep coming from? It was enough to make a ghost weep.

Yujun had thought that by now there was no player left who could stand as his opponent. The one who shattered that thought was the Heresy Inquisitor.

So he really is someone I can't kill outright.

The enemies he had met until now could be ended with a single swing. The Heresy Inquisitor was somehow different. Still, if a proper attack landed, cutting his life short ought to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠possible.

Then Yujun's eyes went wide.

What?

There was no wound on the Heresy Inquisitor's shoulder. His sword had definitely run the man through. That was an undeniable fact. It was not that the inquisitor had used a potion, nor that the wound had regenerated quickly.

"What in the world is this, all of a sudden?"

Paranet was dumbfounded.

"Has that wretch gone and become undead?"

"It's strange."

"Yes? What is?"

The attack Yujun had just landed was being treated as if it had never happened. The blood on his sword vanished. There was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no blood on the man's armor either, and it was hard to believe he had wiped it away in that brief instant. Yujun had not taken his eyes off the Heresy Inquisitor even once.

The Heresy Inquisitor wore a thin, unpleasant smile.

"This is the difference in Status. Whelp."

"Wow, I'm cringing. You're not even a comic book character, so what is this......"

"......What did you say?"

"Nothing. It's just not cool at all."

"Ahem."

The Heresy Inquisitor cleared his throat.

"In any case, it is impossible for you to kill me."

"Unbelievable."

"Well? Do you not feel despair? You went to such lengths to grow strong, and yet your Status is too low to wound me. Kehehe......"

The Heresy Inquisitor was becoming more pathetic by the moment. Yujun opened his mouth.

"Paranet."

"Yes!"

"Slam into him again."

"At once!"

Space movement combined with Body Slam. Honestly, even if you saw it coming, you could not dodge it.

"Body... Slam!"

The impact boomed, and a choked cry burst from the Heresy Inquisitor as he was flung far away. Yujun kicked off the ground. He closed the distance in an instant and thrust, and the sword sank into the nape of the Heresy Inquisitor's neck.

In that moment—

Yujun's sword was knocked away. He had distinctly felt the sensation of the blade biting into flesh, and yet there was not a single wound on the Heresy Inquisitor's body. The man did seem to feel pain, though. He crawled along the ground, thrashing, and the stun clinging to him held for quite a long time.

So he isn't completely invincible?

Yujun kept driving his sword into the Heresy Inquisitor's neck. Thuk. Thuk. Thuk.

"Aaaagh! Stop! Stop! Cease while I am still speaking kindly!"

"What are you saying. Do I look crazy? Like I'd stop just because you told me to."

He did not stop at the neck. He attacked everywhere. The same hologram window appeared each time, and nothing changed.

This is getting annoying.

He couldn't kill this bastard because of one thing called Status? What even was Status? Was it really that important?

"So that's how you want to play it."

Yujun grinned instead. There was nothing in the world that could not be done. Look hard enough, and a method always turned up. And for Yujun, that method was not Doraemon's pocket. It was his inventory.

He caught the Heresy Inquisitor's body with Space Domination so the man could not move, then laid into him without distinction between upper body and lower, all to keep the stun from breaking. While he worked, he drew out an item.