Of Course It Doesn't End With One

Of course, it didn't end with just one.

If this had been the end, they never would have called it a difficult trial to begin with. Yujun let out a long, heavy sigh. This is going to drag.

There was nothing optimistic about the situation. It would be a mercy if the number of monsters emitting mana waves was fixed—but what if the ability of the one he had just killed could pass on to another? Should that transfer prove limitless, magic would stay sealed until the war itself was over, and picking them off one by one, the way he was doing now, would hardly mean a thing.

It's only a guess, but I don't like the feel of it. He had a reason for the suspicion. Before he killed the last monster, its body had locked rigid. It had clearly registered him, and still it made no move to dodge or flee. Would a creature holding an important place in the Black Legion throw its life away that easily? Something about it was wrong.

Just in case, I'll take one more.

He raised a Sword Barrier to stop the tentacles driving in, and that was when the next problem arrived. A message came from Manuela.

A glance aside showed gray smoke rising from within the Empire's walls.

Yujun summoned Paranet.

"Go give Manuela a hand."

"As you command!"

The reason he left that side of the fight to her was simple. She ought to earn the gear he had paid for. The Mythic-rank items he had given her were nothing but pieces he had handpicked for outrageous performance and a level requirement of 500—and only those carrying magic-related options, at that. Her magical ability should have advanced considerably. Leaps and bounds might not even cover it. When it came to raw power, equipment carried that much weight.

She'll manage. He had his own work to do. Please let this turn out different from what I'm thinking.

Yujun moved toward the place where a mana wave still lingered, faint but present. To cut the time, he chained Flash again and again, closing the distance. Monsters posted nearby came at him, but with the Sword Barrier raised, Yujun might as well have been invincible.

Kwajik! Kagagak!

Not a single attack could so much as scratch him. Some of the monsters discharged tremendous energy, yet even attacks in energy form shattered against the barrier.

Found it. There stood a monster identical to the one he had killed earlier, and Yujun let himself hold on to a thread of hope. If only the ones that look like this can use the magic-nullification...

The instant he moved to set down—

"Kkirik..."

The monster saw him. In that same moment, its body came apart.

"...What?"

Yujun hadn't done a thing. His face went hard. The guess, it seemed, had landed exactly.

Maybe only one of them handles the nullification. If it's simply moving from body to body instead... This was no ordinary kind of troublesome. He couldn't leave it like this. Setting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠efficiency aside, he had the distinct ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feeling he would never catch the monster that held the ability. He needed another way.

"Aaaagh!"

"L-Lord Conte! What are you doing all of a sudden?!"

"Kehek!"

With three mages of some renown at their head, Conte, captain of the Imperial Knight Order, had turned and begun cutting down his own allies. The Imperial knights nearby took especially heavy losses. Damage to the Knight Order—one of the Empire's greatest military assets—was a leak in the Empire's strength as a whole.

The change in the three mages and Conte was only the beginning. Knights and mages twisting into something wrong began to multiply at an exponential rate. The common soldiers were fine. Only those who could be called the elite had changed.

Haren bit down hard on her lip. There's definitely something here. From the look of it, brainwashing is underway. She was certain of it. The Empire's knights and mages had been brainwashed.

But by whom? She swept her surroundings and found no one worth suspecting. Had the work been done from very far away, then? She didn't think so. Brainwashing magic was as strict in its conditions as it was certain in its effect; the greater the distance, the higher the chance of failure. You could not pick out only the elite and turn them like this.

The enemy was inside. Without a doubt.

Through multi-casting, Haren slowly subdued the mages running wild. Within the Empire, no one but the Emperor himself could be said to match her in a contest of magic against magic. The real problem was the knights, and Conte. The moment knights still in their right minds collided with him while trying to hold the line, they dropped in droves. She even had the sense that they had grown stronger than before the brainwashing. If a player like her felt it, it was no illusion. Even in clashes between knights whose strength had once been equal, the gap showed plain.

That man needs to get here. Shin Yujun, the player who had put both her and Conte down with ridiculous ease. If only he were here, this mess could have been cleaned up in no time. He's on something more dangerous, and more important. Wanting his help right now would be unreasonable.

She was just drawing out a mana potion when an undead stepped into the path of Conte, who had been charging like a massive war chariot.

"How dare a cur defeated by my master run wild like this! Know your place!"

It was Paranet. Having appeared in grand style, he planted himself squarely in Conte's way. Conte swung for him, and Paranet hardened his body with Thousand-Pound Drop.

Kaang!

Longsword met Paranet's body, and the blade shattered outright. He was not entirely unharmed, but he was undead. The broken parts restored themselves at once.

"Body Slam... Thousand-Pound Drop!"

Paranet unleashed his ultimate attack combo.

"Keuk!"

The shock tore a groan from Conte's mouth of its own accord. Flung far across the ground, he was not a man Paranet intended to let go. Spatial movement carried the Death Knight in behind him.

"Body Slam Thousand-Pound Drop!"

Struck from the rear, Conte pitched violently forward.

"What is that undead?"

"An ally, right?"

"Looks like he's on our side."

"Shouldn't we be helping?"

The Imperial soldiers had decided Paranet was one of their own.

Wooong!

The brainwashed mages poured concentrated spellfire onto him the moment a gap opened. That was when Manuela, who had been watching in silence, stepped in. She wrapped three thick layers of shield around him. Magic hammered the blue barrier, failed to pierce it, and winked out.

She was inwardly startled by how much her mana had grown, but she didn't let it show. She poured a curse over the brainwashed mages.

Mages usually prepared against the Curse of Mana Confinement, so it was difficult to see much effect from it. Whether thanks to the Mythic-rank items or not, the curse took on every one of them.

With that, the battle was over. A mage who could not use magic could do nothing.

"..."

"..."

For a brief moment, stillness hung near the walls. The instant Manuela and Paranet stepped in, the whole mess had been settled. It had ended so simply, and so fast, that it felt almost empty, and no one could find a word to say.

"The matter appears concluded, so I shall go on ahead to Master. Madam."

"Wh-why am I Madam?"

"Then what shall I call you?"

"...Just call me whatever's comfortable."

"Deep down, you wish to be called Madam, do you not? I see all."

"I do not!"

Manuela shouted, but Paranet had already vanished through spatial movement.

He caught the third anomalous monster. This time, too, the creature had already shifted its body elsewhere, so it hardly mattered. Yujun let out a frustrated sigh.

What a pain. The surest method he could see was to ambush the anomalous monster and kill it before it ever perceived him. Then there was a good chance the body transfer would not occur. It did not look easy. Whether the monsters shared senses or sight, they tracked his position in real time, and the moment he drew near, the thing slipped out of its body—out-of-body escape, or whatever it was. An infuriating trick, and even he could not think of a proper answer.

While Yujun fretted over the anomalous monster, the Black Legion finally reached the walls. At first the Empire had meant to hold the high ground atop the ramparts, but the moment the monsters slammed into the stone and cracks began to spider across it, they changed their minds. Before the wall collapsed, they committed soldiers to fight the monsters head-on.

Yujun's intrusion had raised the difficulty, and the soldiers' strength had climbed sharply with it—but it was not only the Empire that had grown stronger. What had grown stronger still was the second foreign power: the Black Legion. The screams of soldiers being torn apart seemed to reach him even here.

I'll have to use the inventory after all. He wanted to open it that very moment, but the situation would not allow it. The monsters were giving him no opening. So long as both hands were holding the Sword Barrier, the inventory stayed shut.

I need distance. The instant he decided it, Paranet appeared.

"Master! I have finished them and returned!"

"Oh, perfect. You hold this spot."

"Pardon?"

Paranet was still asking when Yujun's form vanished.

"Huh—?"

Watching thousands of tentacles lash toward him with terrifying force, Paranet had exactly one thought.

I'm screwed!

It was far too late for spatial movement, and he did not believe Thousand-Pound Drop alone would let his body weather that many strikes.

Reverse Summon!

He reversed the summoning himself and slipped out of the crisis. The monsters' attacks, a breath from colliding with one another, stopped all at once—then moved together toward the next target. The motion fit without an inch of error. Even the intervals of their advance were constant, as if someone were pulling the strings.

Having climbed to a great height on Fly, Yujun opened his inventory.

"Ugh. Potion first."

He had been swinging so long that his whole body tingled. Even with a superhuman frame, swinging a sword without end was close to impossible. Constitution over ten thousand, and I'm still like this. That says it all.

He popped the cork on a mid-grade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stamina potion and gulped it down. The bottle showed its bottom in a single go.

"I think I can live now."

The immediate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fire was out. Now it was time to take out the item that would deal with the anomalous monster.