Colchi
Colchi.
He was one of the Demon God Worshippers Yujun had run into in the royal palace of the Underground Kingdom—in the king's own bedchamber, no less. An orc, at that. The Black Knights were half-bloods, every one of them, but they were still orcs underneath, so it had seemed like a rather promising reunion was about to take place.
"Huuu... hah."
Something about it was off. Fresh out of the Sealing Orb, Colchi was making a strange sound—pained, and yet unmistakably excited. The moment Yujun understood what that sound meant, his brow tightened.
Filthy. Absolutely filthy.
He looked down at Colchi with cold eyes. The orc was smiling.
"More... give me more! Put me back in the orb!"
This was worse than he had imagined. Had the bastard actually been enjoying all that pain?
Crazy son of a bitch.
Were all orcs like this? Palchio came to mind unbidden—the orc who had come as a guide for the Inter-Species Coalition. He had been polite. Perfectly normal. Thanks to Palchio, Yujun's opinion of orcs had actually improved.
Colchi and the Black Knights stripped that good impression clean off.
Genus and the Black Knights were every bit as dumbfounded by the spectacle. An orc had suddenly flopped onto his back in the grass and started writhing, twisting this way and that—and he was enormous. The grotesquerie was well past the point where anyone could laugh it off. Everyone present simply looked away.
"What is that?"
"Looks like a pureblood."
"Weren't pureblood orcs extinct?"
"Weren't they?"
Yujun stuffed Colchi back into the Sealing Orb. He had no desire to do the orc any favors, but watching him was the greater ordeal.
While the Black Knights were still distracted, he closed in on them without warning. What he wanted was the head of the Black Knight Captain at their front. No skill—just raw physical ability, and a sword that shot out fast. The captain, startled by the speed, threw himself into a roll across the ground.
"Attack! He's no ordinary man—don't engage him one-on-one! Hit him together!"
Having barely dodged, the captain bellowed the order. One look at that ambush had told him this was no ordinary opponent. He sent his men forward and buried himself among them, waiting for an opening.
Five Black Knights came at Yujun all at once.
Let's see what they can do.
They were going to end up on the same side anyway. He couldn't kill them, so he decided to take his time. No skills. Nothing but the sword. He swung lightly and turned aside the blows that came flying in.
Clang! Clack! Crunch!
The Black Knights' weapons were Legendary at the very least—upper grade and higher. Even so, not one of them survived more than two collisions with Yujun's blade.
"Wh-what is this..."
"My mace!"
They were either sheared in half or smashed to pieces. That they lasted even two blows was only because the knights' bodies and technique were exceptional. Whenever a gap showed, Yujun cracked the offender across the head with the flat of his sword. He was holding his strength in check, so none of them died.
Thwack! Smack!
Two Black Knights dropped at the same time, knocked cold by the impact. The rest didn't panic. Two more, waiting in the rear, stepped into the fallen men's places.
They're pretty tough.
Yujun wasn't even properly using his Swordsmanship trait. Now and then a swing carried an unconscious profundity, but most of what he threw was pure physical ability. He was doing it this way because he wanted to know how far he could fight without the trait to lean on. Dozens of suitable opponents had conveniently appeared. He wasn't going to get a better chance.
The Swordsmanship trait really was carrying a lot.
The difference was unmistakable—fighting with Swordsmanship (EX), and fighting without it. If he had to put it in terms of a comparison, an EX-rank Swordsmanship trait was like using hacks in a game simply by existing. Suppressing that effect as far as he could and fighting anyway was, frankly, stifling.
Still, thank god my stats and gear are straight-up bullies.
And trading blows with the Black Knights had taught him something else. This place was a virtual space. Facing them in person felt like sparring tin cans that were strong and nothing more. They had even less technical depth than the Demon God Worshippers, and those were already half-finished strongmen. The way they suddenly grew stronger the moment the difficulty rose had smelled suspicious from the start.
Even so, dying here probably means it's over.
This event was different from the others, the ones where death still left you a resurrection. Genus must have known that. It would explain why he had clung to Yujun so desperately.
Boom! Crash!
Black Knights who collided with him went flying again and again. Not one of them took a blow cleanly. Overwhelming strength. Agility the eye could barely follow. A sword with vicious cutting power. With all three in balance, even Black Knights had no way to endure.
"Who in the world is he...?"
"Strong is one thing, but this is ridiculous. Shit."
"Hey—isn't he deliberately not killing us?"
"He's toying with us. Goddammit. A human, of all things, making us feel this filthy."
"Captain! What do we do?"
Ten minutes passed with nothing changed, and the Black Knights' will cracked badly. Even their formidable captain couldn't find an answer. The human was full of openings. He looked as if he were swinging at random. And yet—contradictory as it was—there was simply no gap to enter. No matter what simulation the captain ran in his head, the result never changed. A counter, then instant death or a knockout.
I don't know why, but he doesn't seem to intend to kill us. Small mercy.
It was obvious in the way the sword moved. Measured force. Just enough to beat the Black Knights without killing them. That didn't mean Yujun was having an easy fight.
Trying to fight without the Swordsmanship trait is giving me a headache.
His mental strength felt as if it were burning away. He had found the limit of fighting without the trait.
Enemies weaker than me, I could handle one way or another... but against someone even with me, or stronger, I might get crushed without being able to do a thing.
Of course, finding an enemy like that would be the harder task. How many players had every stat past ten thousand? Unless they were plated head to toe in top-tier Mythic gear the way he was, they didn't stand a chance.
Genus's throat went rigid. He had been about to bolt, but the fight was turning strange, and he changed his stance.
What is that guy? Why is he so strong?
He looked as if he were swinging without any particular effort, and still the Black Knights couldn't hold their own. More precisely, they were being toyed with. Even Genus, a mage, could see plainly how hard they were struggling.
Is it the equipment?
He shook his head. The gear was part of it, but the power dwelling in that body was something else. The weight packed into a single attack was on a level the Black Knights couldn't be compared to.
I couldn't even guarantee a win against more than two of them...
And this human, surrounded by several at once, looked utterly at ease. Another Black Knight fainted. Twelve remained.
Vmmm!
Then Yujun's presence changed. He didn't seem to be using mana, or a skill, and yet his movement shifted dramatically.
Wait. Now that I think about it, he wasn't using mana at all.
Insane. The curse came out of him on its own. Why was he only noticing now? That man had not used a shred of mana this entire time. Sword and body alone, against Black Knights Genus had considered monsters.
Skill aside—how big are his guts?
This had to be his first time facing Black Knights, and he opened with a gamble? Genus couldn't even imagine it. Survival had always been his first priority. That was how he had grown this strong.
His way of thinking is different from mine at the root.
Papapap! Boom!
In that instant, the force behind Yujun's swings jumped to an entirely different level. He had started using the Swordsmanship trait. That alone let his blade put out power on another plane from before, and all twelve Black Knights toppled in a flash. They weren't dead. Every one of them had only lost consciousness, still breathing faintly. Genus thought that made Yujun more impressive still. Subduing more than ten enemies was several times harder than killing them.
The only one left who could fight was the captain.
"What are you doing? Not coming?"
"..."
At Yujun's words, the Black Knight Captain clamped his mouth shut. He had thought his men, rotating in and out, were wearing the man down. The idea wasn't worth half a penny. He wasn't tired at all. Far from it—he hadn't even been using his real strength. The only strain had been mental, from holding back against an enemy he wasn't allowed to kill.
"You... what are you?"
"Why are you only asking now? A minute ago you were running your mouth with all kinds of filth, smacking your lips while you did it."
He still remembered how humiliating that had been. If it hadn't been for the imperial knights, he would have killed them long ago, and had strength to spare.
"What do you want? You subdued us instead of killing us. There must be a reason."
"There is. I'll get straight to it. Where's the Emperor?"
"...What?"
"Where's the Emperor. I want a word with him. Relax—I'm not here to tell you to join a cult."
"His Majesty is not your friend."
"I know. He's not my enemy either, though. I'd rather not stand around glaring at each other, so how about you just take me to him?"
The captain let out a hollow laugh. Brazen was one thing. This was too brazen.
"You may be strong, but the Empire's strength is not our Black Knight Order alone. There are plenty of players stronger than we are."
"Sure, sure. Of course there are. But I can't go around beating every single one of them, can I? That's why I'm saying we go see the Emperor."
"...Staggering confidence."
"Let's keep this peaceful."
Yujun leveled his sword. Faced with the point, the captain swallowed hard.
"I would like a moment."
"Of course."
The captain opened his messenger. He had no authority to decide. The one hopeful thing was that the Empire would already have grasped the situation here. They would give him an answer somehow.
Time passed.
"How long am I waiting?"
"The answer just arrived."
"And?"
"...He wishes to see you himself."
"Who does?"
"His Majesty."
"Oh, yeah? Smart man."
"...Tsk."
Yujun's tone clearly didn't sit well with him. The captain's expression was anything but bright.
"Lead the way."
"..."
They were on the road to the Empire when someone spoke up.
"Um..."
"Who are you?"
"It's Genus..."
"And who was that, again."
At the blunt dismissal, cold sweat beaded on Genus.
"I was rash."
"I saw the whole thing. You were about to run."
"Y-yes. My judgment was lacking."
"Then why are you following me?"
"...Even if I say I'm sorry?"
"Drop it. You didn't want to side with the Empire anyway, did you?"
"Th-that was before I had a proper grasp of your strength! Now I know for certain."
"Know what?"
"That if you and I join our strength, the second option might actually be worth attempting..."
"You can leave yourself out of that. Somebody steal your conscience?"
"No—this is precisely when we ought to join forces..."
"I'm plenty on my own. Why would I join forces with you? You don't look like you'd be much help."
"You underestimate me. I am more versatile than you think."
"Versatile? Manuela would laugh if she walked past."
"Wh-what? Why are you suddenly using me for this? That's so mean..."
Manuela sounded ready to cry.
"It was just a comparison. You're someone I genuinely can't do without."
"R-really?"
"Obviously. When have you ever seen me lie?"
"I have."
"...I don't think I have recently."
"You have."
"Have I? Then I'm sorry."
"A-and me? What happens to me?"
Yujun, who had been scratching his head at Genus's words, turned to him.
"If you were Zeus instead of Genus, I might have given it some thought. Shame."
"Zeus?"
"You don't need to know."
"I am truly begging you! Won't you take me in?"
"And what's cute about you?"
"I... it feels strange to say this with my own mouth, but within the kingdom I am responsible for cuteness on a level roughly equal to Sirius."
"Yeah, that's really not something you should say yourself. That was painful."
Yujun kept walking, tossing the words out without much interest, and Genus followed with stubborn persistence. Then Yujun stopped and said one thing.
"There's a condition."
"A condition? Name it. I am prepared to accept anything."
"Hand over the Synchronization Marble."
"..."
Sirius had said he received the Synchronization Marble from Genus. Yujun had not forgotten. He had carved the fact into his mind and left it there.