Yujun!
"Yujun!"
"Yujun!"
Only then did Manuela come down. She had taken shelter all the way up in the high sky.
"So that's why I couldn't see you. You were up there."
"Yep. Smart, right? I even threw a curse on myself and the Balrog."
"Huh? A curse works on someone that far above you in tier?"
"No!"
"...So it didn't help at all."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"It's fine. You're alive. That's enough."
It would have been stranger if she had managed anything against the Balrog. Even Paranet, wearing Horidan's ring, had been utterly helpless before the thing.
Yan, chieftain of the Illusionfolk, bent at the waist.
"You have my thanks."
"Out of nowhere?"
"To think you would bring down the Balrog by your strength alone... You are a truly extraordinary human."
"When I told you before, you let it go in one ear and out the other."
"I knew you were strong. Even so, your tier was low, and I judged that capturing the Balrog would be difficult. I was careless. Forgive me."
"I get it."
Stepping up to catch something so far above his tier had been unreasonable from the start. Yujun knew that as well as anyone.
"I caught the Balrog, so open Sourtul Forest."
"...The Balrog is still alive. You have it with you."
"Ah. You're worried I'll walk out of the forest later and turn it loose?"
"Yes."
"I won't. Don't worry."
In truth he meant to summon it now and then and use it as a summon, but for the moment he left it at that. So long as nothing went wrong, what did it matter?
"And how are we supposed to believe that?"
"I locked the Balrog in the Absolute Sealing Orb so it would die in as much pain as possible. You think I'm doing this because I want to destroy the Continent?"
"..."
"I'm already on bad terms with the Demon God Worshippers. Why would I do them any favors?"
"Hmm..."
There was sense in it. Yan swallowed a low groan.
"Open the exit. Quickly."
"First, we ought to discuss—"
"Discuss? What's there to discuss?"
"Indeed! And where do you find the gall to object? Coat or trousers, cast the whole wardrobe aside and do as my Master commands!"
Paranet planted himself at Yujun's side and bellowed. Yan, who had been glaring at the undead summon, let out a sigh.
"Very well. In return, grant me one promise."
"A promise? What promise?"
"That you will not make enemies of us."
"...Where is this coming from?"
"Simply give me the promise. The thought of you as an enemy is too dreadful, that is all. It carries no great weight."
"That much isn't hard."
It wasn't a soul contract. What was difficult about a promise made in words? If it came to it, he could always break it.
"While we're at it, shall we exchange messengers?"
"Oh, we would welcome that."
"Win-win, yeah? Yan, was it? Unusual name."
"Yours strikes me as the more unusual..."
That was when it happened.
Several presences of Demon God Worshippers caught on Yujun's senses. Quite a few of them. The moment his expression changed, Yan's face hardened as well.
"So they came after all."
"Do you Illusionfolk fight the Demon God Worshippers a lot?"
"There has been tension of late on account of the Balrog, but no direct clash."
"Oh yeah? Then how about you fight them this once, while you've got the chance?"
"..."
"Kidding."
But then the Worshippers' presences began to recede. Yujun tilted his head.
"What? Why are they running?"
If they had only come to check the situation and report back, there were far too many of them. Ten, at the least.
"You... Yan, right? Leave the exit open. I'll be back."
"Where are you going?"
"To catch the ones who are running."
Demon God Worshippers were to be killed on sight. Why? Because sooner or later they had to die anyway. There was no reason to leave them alive, and when it came to raising his level, no prey paid better for the effort.
The Primordial Player is a being the Demon God Worshippers fear.
When facing Demon God Worshippers, attack power and defense each increase by 50%.
It was an effect he had gained when the Primordial Player privilege strengthened. Against Demon God Worshippers, both his attack and his defense rose by a full fifty percent. Their levels ran high, and the rewards for killing them matched. On top of that, they were villains of the worst kind, bent on summoning the Demon God and ending the world.
If he could catch them, there was no reason to let them go.
Yujun kicked off the ground and ran. Faster than a flash of light, he closed on the Demon God Worshippers and was right on their heels.
They noticed the pursuit almost at once, and panic set in.
"Uh, what do we do?"
"Why is he following us?"
"He's trying to find our base. Has to be."
"Base? We don't have one here."
"Does that matter right now? What matters is Shin Yujun is chasing us like he means to kill us."
Fear came first, in truth. An oracle had already warned them never to oppose him, and they were no Apostles. There was no world in which they could face Shin Yujun. So when they saw that the Balrog was gone, they had chosen to flee. They had not expected him to come after them like this. Had they been too complacent? They regretted it, but it was far too late.
The distance vanished in an instant. A sword lanced out from behind like a bolt and grazed the back of the rearmost Worshipper.
"Gyaaaaaah! Aaaah! It hurts!"
He could have killed the man if he had wanted to. He hadn't, because he meant to land Painful Strike. The effect was immediate. The scream was so loud that the other Worshippers flinched as one, and in that instant Yujun cast Space Domination. The rest were bound tight in an invisible force.
"..."
"..."
Gulp. One Worshipper's swallow rang out, absurdly loud. Then someone found his voice.
"Why did you chase us?"
"Why ask something that obvious? I came to kill you."
"..."
"Not that surprising, is it? We're already in the kind of relationship where we have to kill each other."
"..."
"Release this, and we'll talk."
"If I let you go, you'll talk?"
The Worshipper nodded.
"Yeah. Sure you will."
Yujun started to swing, then stopped. A question had just occurred to him.
Can I only use Painful Strike with a sword? What about my hand?
He put the thought into practice at once, setting a finger on one Worshipper's shoulder and activating Painful Strike in that state.
"Kh...!"
The man was clearly in agony, but it was a little different from before.
Does it scale with attack power?
Yujun took up his sword and tried the skill again. The wound was barely a scratch, a few beads of blood welling along the shoulder.
"Aaaaagh! Why are you doing this to me?! You fuck— gaaah!"
The Worshipper thrashed. He could not even move under Space Domination, and still he convulsed like that. That alone said everything about the pain.
Definitely different.
Using the skill with the sword and using it with his bare hand were nothing alike.
"W-wait. Is information what you're after?"
The Worshipper next in line shouted, desperate.
"Hm?"
"If it's information, then hear me now! A geas binds us! No matter what you try to learn, it is useless! It is not that we refuse to speak. We are forcibly forbidden!"
"Ah. You thought I was doing this to get information."
"Yes."
"Unfortunately, you're wrong."
"..."
"The point is to hurt you."
The Worshippers stared, dumbfounded.
"...Why? Were you not fighting us for the peace of the Continent? If so, would it not suffice simply to kill us?"
"Hey. I'm human too. Human. Even if I fight for peace, I've got feelings. Why should I make it easy on bastards who come charging at me hell-bent on killing me?"
"..."
More must have piled up in him than he had realized. He had even said things he didn't need to say. His resentment reached them clearly enough. The Worshippers' eyes reddened—not because they sympathized with him, but because they were already despairing over the future about to crash down on them.
"If even that tough Yortega couldn't hold in a scream, it really hurts."
"Anybody got a warp scroll?"
"Who carries something that rare?"
"We're fucked."
"The Apostle. When's the Apostle supposed to get here?"
"I don't know!"
"Then tell them to hurry the hell up!"
"I sent the request. I don't know when they'll arrive."
The Worshippers were a jumble of every race, and not one of them saw the situation with any optimism. There was no way out. All they could do was submit to their fate and wait.
"Gyaaaah!"
"Aaaagh! S-save me! Aaaah..."
Yujun used Painful Strike on each of them in turn. A single scratch from a blade was enough. Every last Worshipper writhed in agony, and some could not endure it at all and passed out.
That's enough.
He was not the sort who enjoyed inflicting pain. He had only done it because simply killing them felt like doing them a favor. Then he cut their throats.
There was no reward beyond the experience, but the levels alone were satisfying enough. Yujun burned the corpses away and returned at once to where the Balrog had been summoned.
"You're back already?"
Manuela's eyes went wide. Yujun grinned, all mischief.
"Want me to come back later instead?"
"There you go again. Oh, Yujun. They said the exit's open."
"Oh, for real?"
His face brightened. Come to think of it, the four Illusionfolk were already gone.
Efficient. I like that.
His opinion of them rose a little. All that remained was getting out of Sourtul Forest. He and Manuela climbed high into the sky.
"Why are we going up? To look for the way out?"
Manuela, lost, asked.
"No. I ought to say hello before we go."
"Hello? To who?"
"The forest's friends."
He had no intention of betraying the Illusionfolk he had just exchanged messengers with. He meant other friends of the forest. Yujun turned his back on where the Illusionfolk were, so that what he was about to do would not reach them, and drew up his mana.
Vast mana stirred. The air shuddered, and the currents around him warped. The wind began to blow the wrong way—cool, and dry enough. Manuela felt the flow and flinched.
"Don't tell me... you're going to use magic?"
"Magic? Something like it."
It was fine weather for magic, at least.
"Then I'll put a blessing on you."
"Oh, right. There was a blessing. Go ahead."
You have received the Blessing of the Hot-Blooded Warrior!
Defense decreases by 40%. In exchange, attack power increases by 50%!
Manuela's blessing settled over him, trading defense for a sharp rise in attack.
This blessing alone makes it worth keeping Manuela around.
It was a double-edged sword, but he was about to pour magic out in one direction. The penalty hardly mattered.
"Thanks."
"Want me to lend you mana too?"
"No need to go that far."
"Mm..."
He closed his eyes. A finer web of senses swept the whole of the forest. Last time he had bombarded the place with magic indiscriminately, without a thought for his surroundings. He had no intention of doing that now. Thanks to the Genius trait, his magic had advanced enormously, and a different way of hunting the forest's predators had come to him. For that, he needed the whole forest drawn in his head. The work was finished in an instant.
So this is where a sharper mind really shows.
Yujun came back down to the ground and drew the Chaos inside him out into the open. Bluish energy, tinged with violet. He caught the Chaos spilling from his hand in a frame so it would not scatter, then began mixing mana into it. Chaos churned, but it recognized the mana as familiar and yielded.
From here, it mattered. He held the mingled energy of Chaos and mana aloft and prepared not a spell, but a single skill.