Why All the Fuss...

"Why the fuss... huh?"

Yujun followed Paranet's gaze, and his mouth fell open.

Giant bugs. A great many of them — so many that the swarm threw a shadow over the entire deserted island. Waaang—! Waaang!

Yujun's brow creased. Why aren't my senses catching them? He had spread his awareness wide. Did the insects choking that sky have some trick for hiding their presence?

"Hold on. The way they look is a little..."

"Quite ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so. They are mosquitoes."

"You know what a mosquito is?"

"Yes. Are they not rather common?"

"...Fair enough."

He had never, however, seen mosquitoes that large.

"They are rather big, at that. At a glance, I would say each is about the size of a human child."

"Ugh. Revolting."

He could have forgiven an ugly shape. What he could not forgive was that peculiar mosquito wing-beat, which was somehow — no, utterly — unbearable.

"It's the spitting image of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a sleepless Korean summer night. Those stomp-bug bastards."

"...Pardon? Were you perhaps cursing just now?"

"No. A mosquito only tastes right if you stomp it dead, so they're stomp-bugs."

"I-I see. But how does one stomp a mosquito that is flying?"

"...Don't try to understand it too deeply."

"Y-yes! Yes!"

That was when the giant stomp— the giant mosquitoes all launched themselves at Yujun at once. They had caught the scent of his blood.

"All of you, charging in just to jam a straw into one person?"

Giant mosquitoes in stealth mode. Even a rough count of the ones he could see already ran into the thousands, and because he could identify them only by eye, an exact number was impossible. They were right in front of his nose, and still he did not move to answer them. He was busy choosing.

Which way hurts the most?

He wanted to tear the mosquitoes to shreds. The nights those things cost me... Not anymore, but back when he had been an ordinary modern man, mosquitoes had singled him out for special torment. Perhaps his blood had looked like a delicacy to them.

There truly was no time left. He hauled up a great surge of mana and unleashed it.

Crackle. Zzzzt. Zzt. Like beans roasting in a stroke of lightning, the giant mosquitoes rushing in were charred crisp in an instant. They broke apart into ash on the savory smell of meat on a grill.

"Ah. Refreshing. This is why I use magic."

"..."

He hated mosquitoes. He wanted nothing more than to wipe every last one of them off the face of the world.

"Is it just me?"

"J-just you about what?"

"Forget it. Your empathy's lacking. Can't be helped. You're undead."

Paranet put on a deeply wronged look, but Yujun had been disappointed in him for a long time already.

"I cannot make sense of what you are saying, Master. I am normal, am I not?"

"This isn't the time."

Yujun's face turned serious.

"We have to find the General Store."

If he failed to find the General Store and the event ended, everything he had done so far would turn to foam. He had obtained Chaos, so it was not as if he had gained nothing at all — but watching more than thirty million points vanish was something he absolutely could not sit through with his eyes open. Someone else might find the General Store before I do. That didn't matter. He only had to reach it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before the event ended. Whoever was there, he was confident he could drive them out.

That was when someone sent a message through the messenger. He nearly ignored it, then checked anyway, just in case it mattered. Opening it proved an excellent choice.

Yujun replied at once.

He was tilting his head when more messages arrived from Manuela.

Manuela immediately described the scenery around the General Store, and Yujun was impressed.

Yujun closed the messenger.

Manuela. The more he looked at her, the more absurdly useful she seemed. She had helped him obtain a Transcendent Stone, and she had cleared two dungeons so that he could grow. Now she had gone out of her way to tell him where the General Store was, without his even asking. When I think about the Magic stat I picked up in the Source of Mana, I'm grateful every time.

"Tapagol."

"Yes."

"I can't give you an exact location. I'll describe the landmarks around it. Think you can find the place from that?"

"That will be sufficient."

Tapagol thumped his own chest. Ore crashed against ore in a raucous clang, and a thin metallic whine rang out after it. Wiiiiing—! Whether drawn by the noise or not, the giant mosquitoes began to swarm again.

"Where do these things even keep coming from?"

Mosquitoes with stealth fitted as a standard feature.

"Guess I'll have to waterboard them."

Kaboom! Boom! Droplets born in empty air exploded all at once, and countless giant mosquitoes burst apart in the blasts of water.

The points are actually pretty fat. What came in per mosquito was on the stingy side, but sweeping them all at once stacked up a sum he couldn't ignore. And it felt wonderful. Those nagging mosquitoes, annihilated in a single spell — every bit of stress he had been carrying seemed to melt away at once. I'm really liking this event. If he had to put it into words, killing giant mosquitoes felt like the main course, and the General Store like a bonus. Of course the General Store was what actually mattered. It only felt that way.

Following Tapagol's guidance, Yujun headed for the place where the General Store stood. Another message arrived on the way. Manuela again.

What's with her. Is she mad because I brushed her off earlier? So she paid me back the same way?

"Tsk, tsk."

Yujun clicked his tongue. She was a witch who had lived for thousands of years, so he decided he would simply understand a little capriciousness, and the occasional bout of strange behavior.

The General Store. Around that shabby-looking shop, a few dozen players were scattered in every direction.

Two players of the dwarf race began to whisper.

"What's going on?"

"Only one person can use the General Store at a time, right? Looks like they're all waiting on that."

"But nobody's even lining up. How are you supposed to wait for a turn?"

"Wouldn't the strong one just go first?"

"Has anyone died?"

"Look at those trees. Blood all over them, see? They've already had it out once."

"Brutal. Seriously. We went to all this trouble piling up points, and now we might not even get to spend them before it's over?"

"...So everything we've done so far was a waste?"

"If we can't get in there, yeah."

"Well, shit. We need to get inside somehow before more players pile in."

"If that were easy... there wouldn't be players standing around like us. Look."

A glance around showed everyone else doing just as the two of them were — nothing but watching one another. No one wanted to step out carelessly and become the first sacrifice. The strange standoff stretched on and on. Two people were already inside the General Store.

Boom!

"Guhk!"

With the blast, a player was flung out of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠General Store.

"So he lost in the end."

"There's a monster in there. Of course he did."

"Wasn't he the one who ranked first in Region 3?"

"With that guy in there, how is anyone supposed to walk in?"

The player who had taken first place in Region 3. With him inside the General Store, no one could readily step forward.

"More than that, how did everyone find the General Store this fast? Isn't this way too quick?"

"There are a ridiculous number of players. Someone was bound to find it. And once people start clustering, that cluster itself becomes a clue."

"So you're saying even more players are going to show up?"

"We don't have time to just stand around here."

"Then how are we supposed to push out the player who came first in Region 3?"

"We wait until he comes out."

"Will he?"

"Once he's bought everything he means to buy, he'll come out."

"By then it'll be a complete free-for-all."

"This is bad."

"Why?"

"Exactly what I was afraid of just happened."

As time passed, the number of players arriving in front of the General Store began to multiply at an exponential rate. The shop had turned into a meeting ground. Someone would go in, and before long they would come flying back out in tatters. It happened again and again.

"He really didn't take first place for nothing. Everyone who goes in gets wrecked before they can do a thing."

"What could he possibly be doing, squatting in the General Store for this long?"

"How should I know?"

Ten had already died putting on the exact same show. And so the players could not bring themselves to step into the General Store.

That was when it happened.

Kung! Kung! A tremendous vibration rolled up out of the ground.

"Wh-what was that?"

"An earthquake?"

"Did someone cast Earthquake?"

It was neither an earthquake nor a spell. It was only the sound of an enormous monster — no, a golem — approaching the place where they stood. Every single step sent a boom rolling across the deserted island.

"A gol... lem?"

"There's a golem that big?"

"Me, I— I've seen that one! It's the golem from the labyrinth in the second event!"

Tapagol, larger than the labyrinth's towering walls. Only his face and shoulders had peeked over back then, and no small number of players had witnessed even that much. It would hardly have been an exaggeration to say most of them had.

"Then what's it doing here?"

"The player controlling the golem must be nearby."

"Sh-shouldn't we run?"

A dozen or more players bolted without a second thought. A golem larger than most dragons — the pressure of that size was no joke. However extraordinary the players might be, they were still living things, and fear came to them as a matter of course.

"Tapagol. If they get in the way, stomp every one of them dead."

"Yes. Understood."

Tapagol's thick voice rumbled low.

Players with the nerve to charge straight at Tapagol were not, in fact, entirely absent.

"I've seen more than enough things that are all size and nothing else. A featureless golem like that is no different from a tin-can robot."

The one who showed himself was a player of the sylph race, a people famous for their speed. His level looked to be well past five hundred. The grade of his equipment was not high, and yet the level required to wear it clearly was — they were pieces Yujun had never once seen in his life.

The sylph put the two pairs of wings on his back to work and prowled around Tapagol. Gripping a flail absurdly large for his frame, he struck with everything he had.

Kwaaang—! It was only a flail meeting the golem's chest, and yet the sound was a bomb going off. Tapagol, however, was unhurt.

"Ooh. Pretty solid, aren't you?"

Tapagol's fist tore through empty air.

"Slow, slow! A golem, just as I thought. What's the point of a huge body if you can't even land a hit? Keh heh heh."

Not once did the sylph so much as glance at Yujun, seated on Tapagol's shoulder. He had simply never considered that the one controlling a golem might possess any real martial strength of his own. Even so, Tapagol's punches continued to miss.

Can't be helped.

Yujun was just about to step in when lasers fired without warning from Tapagol's eyes. Vmmm. Vmmm! Beams pouring out tremendous heat washed over the sylph's body. The lasers were thicker than the sylph himself, and under them he vanished without a trace.

"..."