Which Item Would Make It Count

What item would he have to pull out before anyone could say he had put it to good use?

Yujun turned the question over, then drew a single item from his inventory.

No idea if this will work...

Regretting a failed attempt was still better than regretting having done nothing at all. If a thing looked even slightly promising, he had to try it.

In the game, the Target Designation Scroll was what you used when the field crawled with monsters and you needed to hunt, or capture, one specific creature.

Whether it'll actually work here is anyone's guess...

He had more than enough of them, so he decided not to be stingy.

First I have to find the bastard, or I can't designate him...

And once he found it, the real question was whether the scroll's effect would hold after the target moved.

Yujun closed his eyes and pushed his senses out until they could swallow the Black Legion whole. The presences of countless monsters flooded in — and then, belatedly, one thing struck him.

...They aren't communicating with each other at all.

Thinking back, the monsters had never once made a sound meant to convey their will. At most they screamed when the pain grew past bearing. Were these alien things talking through brainwaves, the way they did in the movies?

I still don't know who they are, or why they're attacking the empire. And this place feels like nothing more than a stage somebody prepared...

Between that realization and the fact that every monster shared a single field of vision, one inference followed. Something else was directing this entire horde. Otherwise they could never have moved as if they were one being. Whether it was puppeting them or simply giving orders, it had to be one of the two.

Yujun stuffed the Target Designation Scroll carelessly into a leather pouch and moved again. He broke through the monsters' ferocious assault, spotted the anomalous monster from a distance, and stopped. Close in any further, and the thing would likely relocate again. Knowing that, he drew the scroll where he stood. It worked even from afar. Before the creature could notice, he tore it.

A crisp snap.

That was the end of it. Nothing more was required. The designation landed cleanly on the anomalous monster, and a translucent red reticle settled over its body. The scroll's great virtue was that the one marked never knew — not the fact of it, not even a hint. The anomalous monster's nerves were drawn tight, but at this range there was no chance of being found out.

Yujun drew up his mana, though he did not scoop a great volume all at once. If the anomalous monster grew suspicious, he might have to circle the long way around all over again. Careful of that, he gathered the mana slowly and secretly into his fingertips. In his heart he wanted to use Ancient Magic, but the odds of the creature noticing were high. Worse, if the spell were nullified, the attack he had gone to such trouble to prepare would amount to nothing. So he came at it another way. Not magic — an energy that was his alone.

He folded Chaos into the condensed mana. His Chaos stood at 130. Set beside his other attributes it might look modest, but considering the power inherent in Chaos itself, it was by no means a low number.

This is the first time I've poured out a full 130 of Chaos.

Anticipation stirred. Chaos had never once disappointed him. Chaos mingled with mana gathered in his finger, and the purity of that mana was nothing to dismiss either. In raw force alone it did not fall far behind Chaos. The difference lay in the added effects. Chaos could ignore an opponent's caliber, and it could stop wounds from healing. Pour down as many potions as you liked — until a set span of time had passed, regeneration simply would not occur.

The day he met a powerhouse he seemed utterly unable to defeat, something on the order of the gods he had seen in the God Realm, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would be the day Chaos exerted its strength in full. So Yujun believed. His expectations of it ran that high, and he hoped it would answer them this time as well.

Last of all he took out the Eagle Eye Scouter and fitted it on, an aid meant to make the shot land true.

"Hoo..."

The preparations were finished. In the index finger of his left hand sat an energy on the order of a nuclear bomb, Chaos braided together with mana. All that remained was to fire. He had never sniped from a range like this, and yet, for no reason he could name, he had the feeling it would succeed.

Timing. Timing was what mattered.

The world slowed, and his mind felt as if it had cleared. True to the name, he could focus with a clarity that seemed to split a single second into tens and hundreds. Condensed energy launched from the hand trained on the anomalous monster — a thin, rising whine, then a thunderous blast. A straight lance of energy, Chaos mixed with mana, punched clean through the anomalous monster's head.

"Did I drop it?"

Without meaning to, Yujun had laid a flag he absolutely should not have laid. Even so, the fallen anomalous monster offered no particular reaction. He tore across the battlefield, ignoring every attack the monsters threw. Perhaps because he was simply that fast, their strikes rarely connected. A few blows did drum against his armor — boom, crack — but his defense was high enough that the shock was drastically blunted.

"Huh?"

What? It didn't hurt at all.

Have I been wearing myself out for nothing?

Seeing how little damage got through, he wondered whether keeping the sword barrier up had been wasted effort. No. Better to spare the equipment, at least. If his gear broke, nothing would be a greater nuisance, and considering his proficiency with the sword barrier had risen, it had been the right decision after all.

In a blink he reached the anomalous monster's corpse. Half its head was gone, and looking alone could not tell him whether the true body had slipped out.

There's always a way.

Through Ancient Magic, Yujun cast Blizzard Storm.

Let's see if it gets erased this time, too.

When he cast, even a basic Fireball carried the force of an ordinary mage's Hellfire, and Blizzard Storm in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his hands was a spectacle. The monsters froze in an instant. Colossal icicles dropped from the sky and hammered the frozen bodies with a shattering crunch. Yujun's eyes went wide. The magic nullification had not occurred. He had unleashed a massive spell, the monsters had taken real damage, and still there was no countermeasure at all — which meant he had properly killed the anomalous monster.

The Target Designation Scroll's effect is gone, too.

He seemed to have finished it for certain. No matter how he looked at it, he doubted the scroll itself deserved the credit... but the matter had resolved cleanly, and that was enough. He secured the corpse and slipped quickly out from among the horde. There was a reason for taking it. He was allowing for the chance it might revive.

His flight had become incomparably faster than before, so there was no need to borrow Paranet's spatial movement. Reaching the empire in an instant, he went to Manuela and asked after the battle.

"How's it looking?"

"We're getting pushed back, obviously. A fight between ordinary monsters and the soldiers barely even counts as a fight, and magic isn't working either..."

"You can use magic. Now."

"Huh?"

"I took care of it."

Manuela, it seemed, hadn't seen him cast Blizzard Storm. In a situation this frantic, that was fair enough.

"Anyway... this isn't good."

Looking around, he found the wounded everywhere. The mages had suffered worst of all, struck without warning by brainwashed mages while they stood defenseless. Losing so many of them — the single most important asset in a war — was an enormous loss. The emperor himself had joined the fighting. Whether because he was an orc, or because he trusted his own strength, Yujun thought it exceedingly reckless.

"What happened to Conte?"

"Getting knocked out once broke the brainwashing. Once Conte was himself again, he went around stunning the mages one by one and undid theirs, too."

"That's a relief, at least."

Ordinary brainwashing did not lift from a simple knockout. The trigger must have been simple, and in exchange the binding had not been particularly strong.

"Why's the emperor acting like that?"

"Said his body was itching, from what I heard. Word is he was a tremendous war maniac in his youth. Nobody could talk him down, so the people around him just let it go."

"A war maniac?"

Yujun let out a hollow laugh. War maniac or not, wasn't it excessive for the emperor — a man who might as well be called the pillar of the empire — to throw himself personally into the fighting?

When he talked about the second outside power coming, he looked shaken. Was all of that an act?

He approached the emperor, who was not far off. Noticing him, the emperor spoke first.

"What is it?"

"Just go inside and stay put."

"Inside where?"

"The imperial palace."

"And why is that?"

"Because if you die for no good reason, it becomes a pain. Go ahead and die, why don't you. You think only the soldiers lose their morale? The knights and the mages will be exactly the same. If that happens, even the things that ought to work won't."

"The danger is the same no matter where I go. Just as there were those brainwashed a moment ago, men skilled at disguise struck at my life inside the palace itself."

"...You're saying there was an assassination attempt?"

"I am. With so many capable knights and mages committed to the field, I judged remaining in the palace the greater danger. That is why I came out to fight."

"And you managed not to die. Lucky you."

The emperor smiled coldly.

"The measure of my strength known throughout the empire is grossly underestimated. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I am not so weak as to fall to monsters of this caliber."

"Yeah. Seems that way."

Yujun had taken a proper measure of the emperor's martial power. Conte and Haren — even those two, called the twin pillars of the empire, looked as if the emperor could drop them in a single stroke. Why he hid that strength was a question, but there would be a reason. Had Yujun chosen not to repel the second outside power but to bring the empire down, the final boss would very likely have been the emperor himself. His strength stood that far above everyone else's.

Looks like he could win against a fair number of the monsters, too.

But dangerous variables existed everywhere. The emperor was not invincible, nor was he stronger than Yujun. The chance of his death was by no means low, and Yujun could not leave him free to wander as he pleased.

"You saw through it?"

At words that had gauged his strength, the emperor's eyes went round, as if startled.

"I can tell you're the strongest one in the empire. That still isn't enough for me to promise you're safe."

"I know full well how mighty, and how frightening, the enemy is. I will take care. You have my thanks for the concern."

"It's not concern. If you die, things get annoying for me. You know how that turns out."

The emperor nodded, his face heavy.

"Which is why I'm saying..."

Yujun stepped in close and lowered his voice at the emperor's ear.

"I've got a good method."

"A good method? What sort of good method?"

"You hide, so the other monsters can't get at you."

"...Did you fail to hear me earlier? I told you there is nowhere safe to go under the present circumstances."

"No. There is."

Yujun said it with a shameless little smile. The emperor looked back at him, doubt written across his face, and said nothing.

"A very safe place. Comfortable, cozy, excellent. Stay in here and you won't have to worry about dying at all. I guarantee it."

The problem was that you couldn't die even if you wanted to. He barely swallowed the rest. His mouth itched to say it, but anything likely to stir the emperor's suspicion was better left unsaid.

"Where?"

"This orb."

Yujun produced the Absolute Sealing Orb — the one with Colchi sealed inside — and held it out. The emperor flinched at an ominous premonition and went silent.

"What's the matter? You look like a kid on the way to the dentist."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

The emperor's instincts were sound. He did not even know what the Absolute Sealing Orb was, and still he was shivering with that much unease. It called to mind a middle-school boy whose parents had, out of nowhere, announced they were taking him out for pork cutlets — the sort of invitation that never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meant only dinner.

"Get in. This isn't an offer that costs you anything. I'll say that much for certain."

The emperor did not answer.

"I still have a reward to collect from you anyway. What are you so suspicious of?"

"...Very well."

He nodded as if he had no other choice. The corner of Yujun's mouth lifted. The persuasion had worked.