Yujun Returns to the General Store
Yujun went back to the General Store and spent every last point he had left.
Even with what little remained, he managed to buy three more pieces of Mythic-grade equipment.
If I come across a skill archive later, I'll have to offer these up as sacrifices.
Leaving the General Store, he checked the barrier first.
"Nothing's been breached yet."
True to a barrier shaped by his own defense, it was extraordinarily solid.
He did not call Paranet and Tapagol back. The two of them still had a barrier to maintain.
"What about me?"
"Do what Paranet's doing. Please."
"......I can't come either?"
"It's dangerous."
"The event's still going, isn't it? My score isn't even going up, so there's no need for me to claw and scrape just to stay alive."
"Huh? You're right."
Now that he thought about it, the event had reached its final stage, and Manuela wasn't particularly attached to the rewards. She couldn't be. She had never properly taken part in the event at all. Looked at that way, there was no reason for her to stay on this island.
Manuela's blessing looked pretty useful. Maybe I should bring her along as a buffer.
Watching her give him that gift—an Enchant Stone—he had realized something. She had come over completely to his side. She had always been inclined to follow his lead, but this time she had gone to the trouble of gathering the materials herself and presented him with an item made from them. She didn't seem to want anything in particular, either. Honestly, he was a little grateful.
"All right. You can come too, then."
"Really......?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you!"
Was getting off an uninhabited island really something to be this happy about? She wasn't angling for some reward of her own, was she?
Yujun headed north. A hunch had struck him.
......The God's Minion in the north was the strongest.
That was the reason. Aside from the northern God's Minion, the other five had been much of a muchness. It was a reasonable suspicion, as far as these things went.
He rose into the sky on Fly, a spell of Ancient Magic. His shabby cloak snapped and billowed hard in the wind. Manuela could fly as well.
"This feels nice."
Yujun broke into a bright smile. It was the first time he had truly flown, and the feeling was wonderfully clear. Their speed climbed steadily, and Manuela kept pace without falling a step behind.
"Oh. Not bad."
"......Hmph. Do you have any idea how long I've been flying?"
"Hm? Oh. Right. You said you've lived a few thousand years. Then I suppose I'm about two thousand years behind. Sorry for showing off, Senior."
"I'm the one who's sorry. Please, just don't talk about my age."
"I'll think about it."
Manuela's face crumpled, on the verge of tears.
"Body Slam!"
KWAANG!
"Guhk!"
One player failed to withstand the tremendous impact and was hurled far away. Good armor kept the blow from killing him outright, but it drove him to the very brink of death.
"The hell is that skeleton?"
"Looks like a Death Knight."
"Death Knights get that big?"
"Was he an orc when he was alive?"
"Big even for an orc. Chieftain class, maybe?"
"Who cares how big he is? This is our shot."
The two companions of the player who had just been launched threw themselves at Paranet. Their opponent, however, was Paranet, bearer of Survival Instinct and an evasion trait. With ghostlike movement, he slipped the attack coming in from behind.
"H-he dodged?"
"How did he even move?"
His stats had already soared from the Mythic-grade items borrowed from Yujun, and Horidan's Ring was on him besides.
"Full-Power Body Slam!"
Before the man knew it, Paranet had closed the distance and slammed bodily into him. He died on the spot without even managing a scream.
"Retron!"
"This is hardly the time, human."
Paranet bared his white teeth in a crooked grin. The remaining player let out a hollow laugh, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
"You...... how is an undead like this? Unbelievable. What even are you?"
"I am my master's summon."
"So that master of yours, who the hell is—"
"Wretch! What manner of tongue is that to turn upon my master!"
"W-wait!"
Paranet thrust his sword straight out. The keen point sank into the player's forehead.
Thuk.
"How dare you......"
His anger unspent, Paranet seethed for a long while.
In the time since, he had sent more than ten players down the road to the underworld, every one of them someone who had tried to break the barrier. A few had been stronger than Paranet himself, but his survival instinct was exceptional. Faced with an opponent beyond him, he never hesitated to turn tail and run. Thanks to that, he had not once found himself in real danger.
Then his senses caught a presence of immense power drawing near the barrier.
Dangerous. Survival Instinct was screaming a warning.
Paranet flinched and reset his stance.
If I am to carry out Master's command, I must live first.
Another tidy piece of self-justification. A moment later he fled as if his feet had caught fire, ducked behind a tree whose trunk was slimmer than his own frame, and sighed in relief.
"And how do you like the taste of a tactical retreat, you wretch."
It was not, of course, a retreat in service of an advance. It was only ever a retreat in service of staying alive.
Paranet stole a glance back toward the barrier. A player who looked exceedingly strong was hammering on it.
"Filthy wretch. How dare you lay hands on the barrier my master erected......"
Paranet ground his teeth.
"Infuriating. If only I had the strength to stop that one this instant."
The enemy was far too powerful for him to face.
To Master, a wretch like that wouldn't even be worth a single punch.
Paranet's fists trembled. At times like this, he couldn't help thinking of his master.
KWAANG! KRANG! KRANG!
The player pounded the barrier without pause. It shook violently, and that was all. A sneer touched Paranet's mouth. Even an enemy he had no hope of handling could not deal the barrier any real damage.
"Serves you right. Fool."
The player heard the mutter and turned his head. Paranet startled and looked pointedly somewhere else. A cheap trick like that was never going to work.
"What is something like this doing in a place like...... Wait. Aren't you Shin Yujun's summon?"
The speaker was a demonkin player with a hard, heavy-featured face, eyes narrowed as he spoke. Paranet went through the motions of gulping. His body locked stiff, fear written all over him, and the demonkin read that state in an instant.
"Hey, Death Knight. You scared? You used to strut around like you owned the place. What's with the sorry look now?"
"H-hmph. What are you talking about? Me, afraid? Impossible. Not in the least. There is no problem."
Even as he said it, Paranet's legs shook like aspen leaves. The demonkin scoffed.
"By any chance...... Shin Yujun isn't nearby, is he?"
"......No, he is?"
"So he isn't."
"He is? He is?"
"If he were, a bat like you would've already run off to tattle."
"......"
Paranet's mouth shut. It galled him, but he had no rebuttal. How did this one know him so well?
"Clinging to a strong man's side and basking in his authority always disgusted me. Running into you here is convenient."
"C-clinging? I am his summon. A summon belongs at his side, does he not?"
"Even so, it doesn't matter. You don't seem to realize how much you've been swaggering around. Wanting you dead hasn't been a one- or two-time affair."
"......"
By now it was fair to say there wasn't a player left who didn't know Shin Yujun. Every move he made drew eyes, and Paranet, forever stuck to his side, was bound to draw attention as well—Paranet, glaring down at other players from beside Shin Yujun with a face drunk on his own importance and an arrogant stare. Among the players, his reputation was considerably poor.
"Are you jealous of me? You wish to stand with my master as well, I take it?"
"Don't make me laugh. He and I are enemies...... no. Closer to mortal foes. We stand where we can never stand together."
"You! Then you are a Demon God Worshipper!"
Paranet bellowed the accusation. His eyes, however, stayed fixed on the ground.
His inborn cowardice and the unprecedented self-esteem he had gained from traveling with Yujun were colliding without rest. Hence this spectacle: a moment when even fighting back would not have been enough, and here he was shouting at the dirt.
The demonkin's mouth curled in a sneer of pure contempt.
"You cannot even meet my eyes. Truly, nothing could be more pathetic. You are not fit to stand at Shin Yujun's—"
That was when it happened.
Tadak!
Still bowed in that same posture, Paranet activated Body Slam.
Whoong! KWAANG!
"Kup!"
The demonkin raised a sword infused with dark demonic energy and blunted the impact, but he could not stop it completely. His body was flung far back.
Paranet roared.
"Rockhead! I am counting on you!"
"......"
Tapagol, who had appeared at some point and Gigantified, seized the demonkin's body in one hand.
The grip cinched.
"Grrrgh......!"
Tapagol's grip was strong enough to crumple even the body of a God's Minion in an instant. No ordinary player could endure a hold like that.
Crack!
The demonkin's body was crushed past any recognizable shape. Once a body came apart like that, there was no path back to life.
"Heh. How dare you covet the place at my master's side. Not knowing your own station...... Tsk, tsk."
Paranet muttered it with a triumphant smile.
"Hey, Rockhead. You did well too."
"......I merely followed Master's orders."
Paranet and Tapagol. As the time they spent together grew, they had learned how to deal with enemies efficiently. Tapagol roamed while keeping his body small, and Paranet lingered nearby, waiting for prey to take the bait. If an enemy was more than Paranet could handle alone, they finished it the same way they just had, with Tapagol. Boasting that fantastic coordination, the two of them had been able to cut down more than twenty additional players.
They seemed quite satisfied with their teamwork. The two summons exchanged a look of trust. Then Paranet tossed out a new subject.
"There is something I have been wondering. Rockhead, why is it you do not speak to me with respect?"
"Is there a rea......son I should?"
"Hah, you dense lump. Am I not your senior? Ought you not manage at least that much on your own? Just because your body is stone, is your brain stone as well? No—even stone would not be this bad. It isn't completely empty in there, is it?"
"Correct. I have no brain."
"......"
Tapagol admitted it without the slightest resistance. Paranet scratched his head and opened his mouth again.
"Anyway! I am the senior! I would very much like you to use honorifics with me as well."
"No."
"Ah, why!"
"The only one worthy of my respect is Master."
"Th-that is certainly a fine mindset. But I believe I, too, am owed a certain degree of respect?"
"Absolutely. No."
Tapagol was a golem. His intelligence was not particularly high, but his will was immovable. Paranet's mood soured at once. He shot the golem a glare, and Tapagol did not so much as glance at him.
As if it weren't enough that the wretch's ability is outstanding and he is monopolizing Master's attention...... This cannot stand. I must find a way, somehow.
Paranet gnawed on fingernails he did not possess, fretting.
After leaving the deserted island, Yujun and Manuela flew on for some time before another island came into view. It was vast and enormous, beyond any comparison with the uninhabited island that served as the event grounds.
"Why is there another island like that?"
"Wait."
Yujun's face hardened. The closer they drew, the more an inexplicable unease swept through his whole body. Were there simply that many powerful beings on that island? He glanced sideways. Manuela's expression was perfectly calm.
She can't feel it?
Maybe he was only being sensitive. It might have been the Keen Senses trait. Which was precisely why he felt the present sense of danger was the last thing he should ignore.
He set his feet down softly, without a sound, and landed on the island's outskirts.
"Manuela. From here on, I think we need to move as quietly as we can."
He spoke in little more than a whisper.
"Why?"
"There are a lot of strong ones. On this island. Even the presences I can feel nearby are players so strong it doesn't make sense. No...... I'm not even sure they're players to begin with."
"Y-you mean it's dangerous?"
"Yeah. So we have to be careful. One wrong step and we could actually die."
"Is just leaving again not an option?"
"Why would I?"
"......Huh?"
"The more dangerous it is, the more there ought to be to gain. And it'd be a waste to turn around the moment we got here."
"......What if there's nothing on this island that we need? No items, nothing at all?"
"Then we squeeze it until something comes out. And you said dying was fine, didn't you?"
Going back empty-handed would make the whole trip here pointless.