Where's That Bastard Going?

"Where's that bastard going?"

"He cleared every Trial of Ascent he'd been putting off, all in one sweep. He clearly has business on the forty-seventh floor."

Oben and Sharnian, chosen as Apostles of the Demon God to carry out this mission, were tracking Yujun's movements through the scrying orbs set throughout the Tower.

"Not a shred of hesitation in his stride. He definitely has a destination in mind."

"Isn't this the first time Shin Yujun has reached the forty-seventh floor? He moves as if he already knows the whole road."

"Someone must have told him."

Watching through the orbs was frustrating, but they had no choice. A direct pursuit would very likely give them away, and for a perfect ambush Shin Yujun could not be allowed to realize they existed. Best if he believed nothing more than that the Demon God Worshippers were hunting him.

"Why send as many as fifteen blessed Worshippers?"

"If he decides that's the end of it and lets his guard down, that becomes our opening."

"Will it work? What if it only puts him more on edge..."

"Even then, draining some of his strength is hardly a loss."

"Fifteen believers or not, can they really wear Shin Yujun down?"

"Negative about everything, aren't you, Sharnian. I wish you'd stop grumbling."

"And you aren't being optimistic? Even my son thinks more carefully than you do, Oben."

"...What?"

"In any case, gauging how strong Shin Yujun is matters. Seen that way, sending the believers was the right move."

"Didn't you just complain about exactly that?"

"That was me picking a fight because you annoy me. I don't see any real loss in having fifteen believers face Shin Yujun. Their deaths will be a glorious sacrifice, as befits believers who follow the Demon God's will."

"As expected of you, Sharnian. Colder than anyone I know."

"You're hardly one to talk, dear."

It had been a long time since ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he'd heard that word. Oben gave a bitter smile.

The forty-seventh floor was crowded with buildings of an Eastern style, a landscape somewhat alien beside the Infinite Tower Continent. Stranger still, the place was ruin itself. Not a single structure looked intact.

It's exactly the view I remember. He had only ever seen it as in-game graphics, but there was no mistake. Thanks to his sharpened mind, he remembered every step of the road to the skill archive.

"Once this job's done, I need to start gathering ingredients."

"Ingredients?"

Manuela tilted her head at his mutter.

"What kind of food?"

"I realized something recently. If a person is going to feel any happiness while they're alive, good food has to be part of it."

"Ah..."

Manuela knew at once when he'd started thinking that way. The day they had roasted the enhanced yeti. His expression had been anything but ordinary ever since.

"I thought it was delicious too. That."

"Right?"

Yujun smiled, pleased with himself. The food in the Underground Kingdom had been considerable as well. I thought it would fall well short of Earth's cooking, but it didn't... some of it was even better. Among magic, skills, and traits, there were plenty of abilities tied to daily life and convenience. Whether that was bad luck or good, everything he had gained so far had been combat-related. It was about time he obtained something to do with food.

Yujun passed the half-collapsed buildings and headed for the outskirts.

"You do know where you're going, right?"

"Yeah. We're almost there."

He summoned Paranet once more.

"You called, Master!"

"Paranet. Deal with them."

"Pardon?"

Where Yujun pointed, a pack of Demon God Worshippers was closing in together.

"Since when...?"

Manuela, who hadn't noticed them at all, was flustered. He explained.

"They came by spatial teleportation. One of them can use spatial movement, same as Paranet."

"And where is Master going?"

"I've got some bastards to put down first."

"What?"

"I'll be right back."

The moment he finished speaking, Yujun's figure vanished.

He climbed high into the sky on flight magic. Something had been grating on his nerves for a while now. They're watching me through scrying orbs. Being spied on that way was nothing new. He wasn't merely somewhat famous. He was the most famous man on the Continent. He had assumed some faction or other would be watching him, but this time it was far too blatant. How many of these orbs did they even let loose? From the sky, more scrying orbs than he could count clung to his trail. This is them asking for a fight, isn't it?

Yujun decided to answer the invitation. He would feel easier dealing with them before he went looking for the skill archive. He expanded his senses enormously, caught the faint mana leaking from the orbs, and followed it.

A scrying orb was an incredibly convenient thing, but it had a fatal flaw. There was the orb that transmitted, and the orb that watched, and the mana connecting the two could be used to track them. In truth, chasing a transmitting orb along a mana line so thin and faint it was invisible to the eye was no easy matter. Ordinary ability couldn't even come close. I think I can do it. He, however, was different. His senses had developed beyond anything anyone else could match, thanks to his absurdly high stats. On top of that, he was wearing the Eagle Eye Scouter. He cast Fly and drove his mana output to its limit.

The image of him reflected in the scrying orbs vanished in an instant.

Oben and Sharnian, the Apostles of the Demon God who had been watching him in real time, were thrown into confusion.

"Where did he go?"

"You don't think he noticed, do you?"

"He might notice... but what's he going to do about it?"

"It bothers me that he saw the orbs and didn't destroy them."

"If you're truly that worried, we'll cut the link."

Oben shut the scrying orbs off. A trace would remain at first, but it would fade as time passed. They were a considerable distance away. Finding this place would be a long shot. Sharnian, wrapped in unease until then, finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Why do you worry so much?"

"I understand why Branch Manager Ji Gyutae was concerned."

"Hm?"

"About Shin Yujun."

"What about him?"

"Didn't you see those murderous eyes?"

"Plenty of people have sharp eyes. Spare me the fuss."

"Men like that are usually the persistent kind."

"True enough. But that's all it is. So what if he's persistent?"

That was when it happened.

KRAKOOM!

With the roar of an explosion, a huge hole tore open in the ceiling, and Yujun appeared through it.

"...There was no presence."

Oben was more shocked that he hadn't sensed him than that he had appeared at all.

"How?"

"How do you think? I just flew here fast."

"..."

"Don't tell me. The scrying orbs?"

"Sharp. If you were going to cut them, you should have cut them faster."

"...The trace was erased."

"Memorize the whole thing, and erasing it doesn't mean a thing."

"Nonsense."

Oben rejected the claim outright. The distance between the two orbs was more than an hour's run even for top-rank players. No matter how exceptional a player was, the range of their senses had a limit, and he had cut the orbs in a single instant. Memorizing the entire path of that mana line in so brief a span was close to impossible. It was not a problem of memory. It was a problem of sensory range.

"Believe it or don't."

Yujun looked around. What had this place even been? Player corpses lay beyond counting. A massacre. It looked as if the two of them had done all the killing. He drew his sword.

"You mean to fight."

"We're enemies. That's clear enough, isn't it?"

The foes before him were Demon God Worshippers. Perhaps something beyond even that. The energy rolling off them was thick, and revolting past endurance. Have they received that so-called blessing more than once? Dark demonic energy poured from them with terrible strength. Yujun realized these were no ordinary enemies, and he abandoned any thought of taking them lightly.

Oben and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sharnian, faces set hard, drew up their mana as well. Facing the man in person, the branch manager's warning landed all at once. No wonder the believers went down without a sound. Oben thought it plainly. Shin Yujun's martial power was beyond anything he had expected.

In that breathless standoff, Yujun moved first. In the blink of an eye he was in front of Oben, and he swung not at Oben, but at Sharnian. Her physical stats lagged a little behind his, and her reaction came late.

"Aaaagh...!"

The skill he had gained recently displayed a tremendous effect once again. The wound on her left arm was not particularly deep, yet Sharnian staggered backward in unbearable pain. Oben startled.

"What's wrong, Sharnian?"

"Ugh... ugh."

Sharnian could not answer. She only clenched her teeth and endured, fighting the pain that had struck without warning. Yujun was impressed. A superhuman endurance, worthy of the power she carried. Even the Balrog had failed to hold out against Painful Strike and had howled, yet Sharnian had endured it. She even fired a mana bolt laced with dark demonic energy straight at him. He slipped aside with ease, but that mental fortitude was astonishing. Does she have a trait in the same vein as my Equanimity? There was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠also a trait called Pain Resistance. Perhaps that was what let her hold on.

This time he used Flash.

The target was Oben. He reacted swiftly and raised his sword, but Yujun's profound Swordsmanship allowed no clash of weapons. The blade's path bent at a grotesque angle and grazed past Oben's body.

Shhk!

An attack that was, quite literally, a graze. Because it did not aim for a vital point, it was all the harder to avoid. Oben clenched his teeth. Tremendous pain found him as well. It felt as if a sharp awl were stirring through the inside of his skull.

"Ghk! Aaaagh!"

Unlike Sharnian, he could not endure it, and he screamed. The longer time passed, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greater the pain became. I am curious what the principle is. Even Yujun, the one who had used the skill, found the sight Painful Strike produced fascinating every time he witnessed it. As he had expected, it seemed only Sharnian possessed some special ability. She cast magic through dark demonic energy, six spells at once. Setting level aside, that was possible only with an exceptional mind. They're definitely no ordinary Demon God Worshippers.

With that thought, Yujun activated Super Concentration.

An instant later, Sharnian took a heavy blow to the nape from the flat of his blade and collapsed. Oben, still writhing, was no longer his match. He too was struck with the flat of the sword and knocked unconscious.

They were certainly strong. Have I gotten too strong? Their movements had been laid bare far too clearly. Super Concentration deserved much of the credit, of course, but that too was his own ability. Which one do I put in the sealing orb?

Of the two Absolute Sealing Orbs stored in his inventory, one slot stood empty. The Balrog needed a colleague, or a friend, to keep him company. One of these two looked as if they might do. They look thoroughly rotten, but that's reason enough to go into an Absolute Sealing Orb. There was no absolute measure of good and evil, yet Yujun considered his own judgment generally accurate. Both of them are demons, so choosing by race is pointless... The difference was that Sharnian endured pain better. It was a hard choice. So he decided to give the Balrog a chance.

With a crooked grin, he drew an Absolute Sealing Orb from his inventory.