The Heresy Inquisitor Steps Out of the Orb

For a long while after he emerged from the orb, the Heresy Inquisitor simply stood there in a daze.

He was slow to grasp what was happening. It was understandable. Yujun had tormented him to his heart's content, and the certainty that he could never die had been shattered the moment he was sealed. In a way, it was worse than suffering the punishment of the Abyss.

"Wh-what is going on..."

"Sorry. Looks like I pulled you out while you were asleep."

He hadn't given the man time to sleep in the first place.

"Sleep? You call that sleep? You've clearly never been sealed. You cannot sleep in there. Not ever. A cold that freezes the whole body solid and a heat that feels as if it will burn you alive take turns tormenting you."

"Stating the obvious, aren't you. People almost never get sealed in the course of an ordinary life, right? And heat and cold, huh. Perfect. You used a skill just like that on me."

"......"

"Hey, you might as well polish your skills in there. Isn't it the ideal environment?"

Yujun hated the Heresy Inquisitor. The man had dared to covet the Tears of an Angel. He had spoken as if he had no choice but to take them, but did that matter? What mattered was that he had tried to take what belonged to Yujun. Yujun had no intention of forgiving him.

He drew Chaos up, then fired it from his fingertip. It left his hand with a sharp fwik.

"Gyaaaaaah!"

A hole opened in the Heresy Inquisitor's stomach, and he screamed in agony. He's in far too much pain for one little hole, Yujun thought. Was touching Chaos that dangerous? The man didn't look as if he were acting.

"I'll have to try once more."

This time he shaped the Chaos a little larger and fired again. It punched into flesh with a heavy thuk.

"Aaaagh! Aaaaaah, I'm dying! Stop, please!"

"I already did it. What's left to stop?"

Yujun studied the Heresy Inquisitor's condition closely. Unlike before, when no attack did more than inflict pain while leaving him perfectly intact, the hole in his body refused to close. It even seemed to suppress the regeneration players possessed by default. The wound was healing at an absurdly slow rate.

It makes him feel more pain... the destructive force is tremendous, and it ignores rank on top of that.

A smile touched Yujun's lips.

"This is completely broken."

That wasn't the end of it. He drew a mid-grade potion from his inventory and poured it over the Heresy Inquisitor's stomach. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It struck the wound with a hiss, and still the injury would not heal. More precisely, flesh was knitting back together little by little, but the pace was painfully slow.

"Whoa... potions don't even work?"

A mid-grade potion was fairly expensive. At this rate, Chaos had more advantages than he could count on one hand.

Ignoring the gap in rank would have been satisfying enough...

Weren't there far too many bonus effects? That was good, of course. It was so absurdly overpowered that worry came first.

Are there no side effects?

Even listing only what he had confirmed so far, every single effect was broken. A power like this had to come with a price, and yet no side effect had turned up. That only made him more uneasy.

It isn't something that costs lifespan, is it?

Yujun shook his head.

No way. I'm not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠some boy who made a contract with the god of death.

There wasn't much Chaos left. It had only been a thumbnail's worth to begin with, so burning through it quickly was only natural. It was recovering little by little, but not at any great speed.

I'll have to save it for enemies of high rank, or the troublesome ones.

There was still too little of it to use freely.

I should look for a way to increase it.

Satisfied, Yujun turned away. The Heresy Inquisitor was still writhing in pain, and Yujun considered what to do with him.

I can kill him now. In front of Chaos, that rank of his doesn't mean a thing.

But thinking it over, killing the Heresy Inquisitor would only be doing him a kindness. Being sealed and imprisoned for a long, long time would be a far greater misfortune.

Whenever I gain a power like Chaos, I can use him as a punching bag.

He knew the Heresy Inquisitor's rank stood far above his own, so for the time being the man still had his uses.

He isn't much of a threat to me anymore, either.

Above all, the Heresy Inquisitor was infuriating. He was never letting the man go.

The Heresy Inquisitor saw Yujun's wicked smile and sank into despair.

The labyrinth.

Leaning against a dreary wall, Jo Su-a turned a thought over in her mind.

Staying at Shin Yujun's side isn't doing me much good right now.

He was strong. Overwhelmingly so. No matter what crisis or obstacle arose, the moment he stepped in, it was resolved without a trace. Being with him felt like using a cheat code that existed only in games—like doing something she shouldn't. It left her uneasy.

I can't settle for this.

They weren't completely close, but she felt she shouldn't draw too near either. It wasn't because he was a dangerous man. Shin Yujun was the sort of person who made you want to lean on him simply by being nearby. If she stayed with him, she felt she herself would grow complacent.

Growth can never happen without your own will.

And yet a surprising number of players forgot something that simple. It made sense. A player's abilities were far too convenient. Hunt monsters, and your level rose and points came in. Now and then an item dropped along the way. Reach even a decent level of strength, and living a smooth life wasn't particularly difficult. In truth, the Continent was full of people who had given up on growing stronger and were quietly building stable lives instead. Most of the players who had died early in the first event had been exactly that sort.

Jo Su-a didn't dislike them.

Most of them lived peaceful lives on Earth. There's no way they'd adapt easily just because the world changed.

She understood. She herself wanted desperately to give up on everything and rest. But she couldn't. Jo Su-a steeled her heart. The only reason she possessed this much strength was that she had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠driven herself without mercy, and there was something she constantly reminded herself of in order to grow stronger: receiving a reward through someone else's help could do more harm than good.

"Excuse me."

"......"

"Why won't you answer?"

"I was thinking about something else for a moment."

Jo Su-a barely spoke with the people who had become her teammates. She simply moved in silence, intent only on completing objectives. One teammate found her unpleasant for it, but he couldn't bring himself to voice the complaint outright. Jo Su-a was strong. Standing beside Shin Yujun had only dimmed her light; set down anywhere else, she was a powerhouse who would not have been out of place.

One teammate, looking thoroughly worn out, spoke up.

"We've been moving nonstop, and I think I'm getting worn down mentally. I want to rest. When do you suppose the event ends?"

"Does that matter? Isn't completing even one more objective more important?"

"......"

Jo Su-a said it flatly, and the face of the teammate who had spoken curdled.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"......Ah, it's nothing."

Yujun called up the hologram window that had appeared earlier.

Ten million points. Not bad.

In truth, ten million points was an extremely high score—more than he had gained from killing nine and a half million players. Even so, the level 11 objective hadn't seemed like something meant to be completed at all. Having done it, the reward felt like something he was simply owed. And there were bonus points on top of that. Add in what he already held, and the total climbed past twenty-four million. Considering that even respectable ranked players couldn't break a million, it was a truly staggering figure.

Points secured, for now.

The level 11 objective did not refresh. Could it only be completed once?

"From now until the event ends, I'll only take level 10 objectives."

"Yes."

Naturally, no one opposed Yujun's decision.

Time passed quickly.

A notification window appeared before the teammates who had just completed a level 10 objective and were resting. Yujun rose as if he had been waiting for it.

"Timed it perfectly."

"So it's time we part ways. What a shame."

"Yes. For me as well."

A lie. He hadn't so much as exchanged messengers with them. From here on, he intended to trade messengers only with people whose skill had truly been verified.

Erger and Leonhard are on the strong side, but...

They seemed to fall a little short of the Demon God Worshippers.

I've gathered over thirty-two million points, too.

After completing the level 11 objective, he had cleared four more level 10 objectives and picked up another eight million points for it.

At this rate, there shouldn't be anything I can't buy at the General Store.

The location changed from the labyrinth. No—the players must have been warped.

Once he had finished reading the hologram, Yujun looked around. Low trees, and not even densely clustered. On level, unbent ground, trees and flowers he couldn't name were in bloom. It really did look like an ordinary deserted island.

A bit wide for a deserted island, though.

In the second event, you wouldn't be eliminated so long as you didn't die, so there would be quite a few players on this island.

It said there's a General Store.

Then finding the General Store came first. Locating the single shop on an island this vast wouldn't be easy, but he had Tapagol—and Paranet, who had been recalled against his will over some unfortunate business and then summoned again.

"Master. We need only find the General Store, yes?"

Paranet said.

"Yeah. Think you can find it?"

"I have no sense of it yet. But that is merely a matter of time!"

"So right now you have no idea at all."

"Yes!"

"Then say it like that, you idiot."

"......Yes, sir."

Paranet scratched his head. Tapagol, meanwhile, was waiting on one knee.

"And why are you like that?"

"I am awaiting your command."

"......The General Store. Do you know where it is?"

"Please inform me of the location."

"If I knew the location, I could find my own way from here."

It wasn't a maze of twisting paths. The island was relatively open.

"......I... apologize. Please blame this incompetent one."

"I'm not blaming you."

If he had a summon that could find anything at all, that would have been the more absurd thing.

Then let's start with a mana search.

Before long, he began to sense the presence of players.

Was my perception this wide?

With only a little exaggeration, he felt he could pinpoint every player on the island. Even with his improved memory, remembering all of those positions would have been too much to ask.

For now, it doesn't seem like the General Store is anywhere out in the open.

Then—

"Ooooh!"

Paranet shouted, jabbing a finger at the sky.

"Look there, if you please!"