The One He Would Take

Yujun had already settled on who would come with him.

Manuela.

Her, and no one else.

Dokgo Minsu, Do Jiyun, and Kim Yohan were trustworthy comrades in their own right, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this was a moment that called for only the single person he needed most. And in Yujun's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠judgment, Manuela's abilities were immensely useful to him.

If things go sideways, I'll need her buffs.

She would have followed whether he asked or not.

"You're coming, right?"

"Yeah."

Manuela answered as if it went without saying.

Yujun went to Atradeon and told him they were ready.

"Then we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠depart at once."

Atradeon, Yujun, and Manuela, with three celestials besides—six in all—set out for the Moderate Faction's camp.

"We're just going to run there? No flight magic?"

"We must."

"Didn't you say we had to get there fast?"

"If they catch wind of us and wall the place off with yet another barrier, we'll be in far worse trouble. What matters is arriving swiftly, and unseen."

"What about spatial magic?"

"We are not moving a single person. Shift several of us at once, and the ripple of mana grows large enough that they are certain to notice. That will not do either."

"Hmm. We're definitely going to be late."

"A summoning ritual takes longer than one might think—longer still when it must be carried out in secret. However late we arrive, the summoned being will not have regained its full strength. There is no great cause for worry."

"That's a relief, then."

"So the important thing is not getting caught?"

"Precisely. I shall lay a spell to kill our presence."

Atradeon flicked his hand, and a clammy chill wound itself around Yujun's whole body. He frowned.

"Does it feel unpleasant?"

At the question, Yujun shook his head.

"The effect seems too slight."

"..."

"I'll do it."

The presence-killing magic Atradeon had cast was one that Ancient Magic encompassed as well, and cast as Ancient Magic its effect stood on an entirely different level. Mana burst from Yujun's hand and sank into every member of the party. In an instant every presence among them winked out—so thoroughly that none of them could even sense their own.

"That should do it."

"..."

Atradeon wore a thoroughly put-out expression, as if his pride had taken a bruise.

"What's wrong?"

"If this was how it would go, you might have used it from the start."

"Are you sulking?"

"I am not sulking. I am speaking of efficiency. You have wasted mana for nothing."

"Sorry? This spell doesn't even cost that much mana..."

"Henceforth you had best handle all of it. You plainly wield magic better than I."

"You are sulking."

"I told you I am not!"

"Then I've wounded your pride."

"..."

Whatever the case, Yujun's magic had drastically lowered the chance of the enemy detecting them. Atradeon had been sullen at first, but once he felt the spell's effect for himself, wonder overtook him.

"How does one even cast a spell like this...? Is it Ancient Magic?"

"You recognized it."

"Ordinary magic could never yield an effect like this. And even for Ancient Magic, it surpasses what I imagined. You—not only your sword. Your magic has reached the very peak as well."

"...It's just thanks to skills and items. I don't actually know much."

"If a player holds skills and items, does he not hold everything? I have never once seen a decent mage among those who spurn skills and traits to chase after truth."

"You're saying there's little point in studying magic?"

"At present, at least. Are you not proving it this very moment?"

In truth, Atradeon's words didn't strike him very deeply. He knew little of magic. All he possessed was knowledge that had been poured into him, and among those implanted spells there were still many he had never cast.

And yet something in it rang true all the same. Not once had a spell of his failed. The result was always exactly what he intended—or beyond it.

To seek nothing but higher ranks of skills and traits, in a world where everyone was a player... he would be lying if he said that brought him no unease. But the results spoke plainly. The road he had walked in less than half a year had not been a wasted one.

Power gained through the System will never simply vanish one day.

System and player alike, such things had persisted within the Tower of Infinity all along. There was no need to be anxious at all.

"We ought to be entering the tunnel about now."

"It'll be loud, won't it? Won't they hear us?"

"The tunnel is already dug. You need not worry about the noise."

"When?"

"Sertiphs set his subordinates to the work ahead of time. Special magic and items were used besides, so the enemy will not have caught so much as a hint."

"Thorough. I like it."

Whether because it had been dug in haste, the packed earth of the tunnel was anything but smooth. The six players moved quickly through it. More pressing than the summoned being's gathering strength was the passage itself, on the verge of collapse and yet not quite. They had to hurry.

Then it came.

With a thunderous blast, clods of earth came crashing down. Yujun and Atradeon threw up shields at once and just managed to keep the party from being buried alive.

The problem was...

"One of them is gone."

One of the three celestials who had come with them had vanished without a trace.

Thinking the man might have been buried, Yujun sharpened his senses. Far from buried—what he caught was a single celestial fleeing into the distance. He explained that one of their companions was drawing farther and farther away.

"One of them fled?"

"Looks like a spy."

"...Could he not simply have panicked and run?"

"Absolutely not. Like he'd been waiting for a signal, he even used Blink and was out of the tunnel at once."

"If you knew, why did you not seize him?"

"I was holding a shield."

"...So you were."

"Is it all right if we don't catch him?"

"We must. Still, I am astonished. A traitor among the chosen."

"You're a sage, and you didn't know even that?"

"Do you take a sage for one who has mastered all things in the world? I merely know somewhat more than others. I cannot know everything. I am no Grand Sage—only a common sage. Do not expect overmuch of me."

"Even so, missing a spy right beside you is a little..."

"The three celestials accompanying us were chosen with the utmost care. I believed there was no chance they were acting under the Moderate Faction's direction."

"Sertiphs chose them?"

"Yes. I placed my trust not in the three celestials, but in him. And this is the result."

"I was about to say I'd go bring him ba—"

"What is it?"

"We're already surrounded."

"Above us? I sense nothing at all..."

"They've raised a barrier and cut off their presence. It's certain now. They knew we were coming."

"...Hold a moment. How is it you can sense them?"

"My Agility stat is high."

"How high?"

"Secret."

"Can you shake them off, at least?"

"What's the point of shaking them? Better to just kill them all."

"How many of them are there?"

"Let's go out and see for ourselves."

Yujun drove a fist charged with mana straight upward.

With a heavy boom, the mass of earth crushing down on the party blasted away in a single stroke. What it revealed was a host of celestials, easily two hundred strong. Just as Yujun had said, they were surrounded.

"All of this, to take the six of us... no, the five?"

At Atradeon's murmur, one of the Moderate Faction celestials let out a snort.

"With Shin Yujun among you, sending a mere few dozen would be the stranger choice, would it not?"

"Hm? You. What is your name?"

"Utria."

"Utria...?"

Seeing the shock on Atradeon's face, Yujun asked.

"Who is she, to get a reaction like that?"

"You may take her for the Moderate Faction's vanguard commander. In matters of martial force, it is said almost no one can match her."

"Hoh..."

That she had come at the head of hundreds of celestials, herself included, spoke of a hard resolve. The summoning ritual would not be disrupted. Not for anything.

Utria's gaze stayed fixed on Yujun. Uncomfortably so.

"What are you staring at?"

"I heard you were that strong."

"From who?"

"You don't need to know. You're dying here today."

She was looking at him the way one looks at a sworn enemy.

Was there family of hers among the celestials I killed?

Perhaps stopping them from interfering with the summoning was only a pretext. She might have come to kill him.

Yujun drew his sword. Taking that for her signal, Manuela—her hand already resting against his back—cast her blessing.

A reassuring effect, no matter how many times he saw it.

Manuela laid the same blessing over Atradeon and the two celestials. The eyes of all three went wide.

"What in the..."

Atradeon was the most shaken of them. Bearers of a blessing were rare to begin with, and he had never so much as heard of one that carried effects like these.

Pinned under three awestruck stares, Manuela grew shy and hid her face in her cloak. At the sight, color rose in Atradeon's cheeks.

"To think a witch could be so very cute."

"Getting foolish in your old age."

"Ahem. Forgive me. I have been rude to your lover."

In that moment a storm of magic came hurtling toward Yujun's party.

Flame roared. Thunder cracked.

Lightning paired with fire was always the correct combination. The destructive force was immense. The danger, of course, was catching one's own allies in the blast—but there was no chance they had failed to prepare for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that.

The shield Yujun had raised took only a few cracks, and no real harm besides. Even so, he had to grant the enemy their firepower. He could count on one hand those who had ever put a crack in that shield.

Pouring mana into his blade, Yujun moved to answer.

Maybe I should put Sword Unity to a different use.

Before, he had formed swords in empty air and wielded them as he pleased. Now he poured everything into a single blade. Against a crowd, conjuring many swords might well have been the more efficient choice—assuming he used no other skills. But Yujun had no intention of stubbornly relying on Sword Unity alone.

No small number of the Moderate Faction's celestials were caught by Yujun's Earthquake. Those who had committed the reports on him to memory spread their wings in a rush and tried to take to the sky.

In that instant he loaded Absolute Dominion with Chaos and mana and spread it wide. Absolute Dominion was a skill especially effective against anyone weaker than himself, and among the celestials he could say without hesitation that not one of them could best him in a contest of raw strength.

Every celestial save Utria and a few dozen of the strongest crumpled where they stood.

And in that same heartbeat, the violent shockwave born of Weapon Earthquake reached them.

The earth roared, and roared again.