For Now, There's No Need to Fight
For the moment, there was no need to fight anyone, or to rush about in a hurry.
A measure of leisure had finally opened up, and the party decided to rest until Sertiphs called for them.
"This feels awkward."
"What does?" Paranet asked at Yujun's mutter.
"Just sitting still and doing nothing."
"Well... you have hardly had a day off, Master."
"I brought it on myself, so. It just doesn't sit right. Feels like I'm committing a crime."
"I know that feeling very well, I do."
"No, you don't."
"...Yes. Truth be told, I don't. And what is so terrible about resting? To do nothing at all and simply look upon these beautiful sights — that is life, and that is happiness."
"An undead, healing his soul by gazing at the scenery?"
"There is no particular need to be fond of dreary things. And I was not undead from the beginning. The aesthetic sense I possessed when life still overflowed in me remains with me yet."
"Is that so? I should have summoned you more often."
"I am perfectly content! Even now, I am more than satisfied."
"Tapagol. What about you?"
Tapagol, who had been standing in silence, tilted his head.
"To what do you refer?"
"Do you like being summoned?"
"When I am of help to you, Master, I feel proud."
"You feel things like that?"
Yujun asked as if he hadn't known, and Tapagol nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"I see..."
The prejudice that came with Tapagol being a golem had made him treat the fellow too much like a machine, and he felt a quiet pang of regret for it.
"I'll call you often, too."
"Thank you."
He had time to spare and had considered a trip to the Golden Flower Garden, but Sertiphs seemed likely to ask for help again at any moment, so he let it go. He simply sat down on a large rock and looked through his inventory.
Lately I haven't been making proper use of consumables in a fight.
The reason was simple. As his martial power grew, he no longer needed the help of miscellaneous items. In truth, there had been plenty of situations he could have settled more easily by using them. Even so, unless an item was truly necessary, he meant to save his consumables wherever he could. They would be needed someday. Against an enemy of a far higher level than his own, especially, the effect a consumable could exert was nothing to dismiss.
No-Pay Casual Gamer was his ally, and at the same time a being who might one day become his enemy. He had to be ready for that. The first thing he needed to achieve was to grow stronger than No-Pay Casual Gamer. He couldn't be certain, but the odds were high that No-Pay Casual Gamer was the stronger of them right now. Which meant he had to carry a suitable sense of danger with him at all times.
This rest won't last. I should enjoy it while I can.
He took out a strip of fine jerky and chewed it at his leisure. The meat was so tender that it soon crumbled, juices and all, into fine pieces and slid down his throat. Passing the time at ease, Yujun expanded the reach of his senses. They stretched past the forest and touched the formation where the heavenly race of the Moderate Faction was arrayed. He could not blanket the whole of it, but he could grasp a considerable portion. In a way this too was an extension of work, though it was hardly taxing.
They're busy.
The Moderate Faction's heavenly race was preparing something without rest. It looked less like the devising of some ingenious plan and more like the bracing for a final battle. Yujun had cut down a great many of their elite, stopped the summoning of a being from myth, and even neutralized the Lord of the Forest, so the Hardline Faction had gained the upper hand — yet victory was still not assured.
Ukria was on the other side. He had never actually seen her, which only made it harder to relax. She was a player whom Sertiphs, commander of the Hardline Faction, regarded with extreme wariness. Had she been merely strong, Yujun could have stepped forward and dealt with her himself. Ukria, however, was capable in every field. Even so, she was not enough to frighten him.
Unless it's something beyond handling the Lord of the Forest, I can stop all of it.
He had already cut her plans short more than once. He had blocked the assault of the heavenly race, Utria among them, and he had put the Lord of the Forest to sleep — more precisely, bound it as his familiar and left it unconscious. Subduing the Lord of the Forest, which had been as good as her hidden trump, must have thrown her schemes into considerable disarray.
There's no telling what bizarre item she might have made. I can't just sit here at my ease.
Ukria was an outstanding crafter. To Yujun's mind, consumable items were the thing most apt to produce a variable. She might already have fashioned something he would find difficult to answer.
Judging by how she snatched Utria away in the blink of an eye, her skill is anything but ordinary. That much is certain.
Even so, he had killed Utria in the end. Having slain Ukria's younger sister, there was a high chance she would seek revenge one way or another. It would be convenient if anger seized her and she lost her reason, but no matter how he turned it over, an Ukria said to possess a brilliant mind did not seem the type. She might act somewhat rashly. If he could make use of that and things went well, so much the better. If not, there was nothing else for it. He had not worried much before a task in quite some time, and the feeling was a little unfamiliar.
My level is 717 right now. Unallocated points are already up to 668.
There was no reason to hoard unallocated points, but holding some in reserve to turn a crisis around was not a bad idea either — particularly if he wanted to avoid a regret along the lines of Ah, I should have put those into Agility back then.
So long as I have Super Concentration, I can spend unallocated points in an instant. Time won't be that tight.
He checked on what the heavenly race of the Hardline Faction was doing.
This side is preparing for the end as well.
The time to settle things seemed to have come. And a chaotic melee was something he was particularly confident in. When had an enemy ever granted him a fair fight, one against one? In war, especially, such things almost never happened.
He had been watching his surroundings at an easy pace when some six hours slipped by. Sure enough, a message arrived from Sertiphs, asking him to fight on the front line of the war. He went first to the tent where Sertiphs was.
"Halt—!"
"It's Shin Yujun."
"Ah."
The guards posted before the tent had moved to bar his way, then recognized his face and stepped aside.
Fame does make a lot of things convenient.
Sertiphs lay at an angle on a bed that looked soft.
"What is it?"
"You want me fighting on the front line? Me and my whole party?"
"Yes."
"Weren't we supposed to be preparing for Ukria?"
"That is a problem for me to solve."
"I could handle it, too."
"It is a matter of efficiency. If you reduce the numbers of the Moderate Faction's heavenly race as far as you can, that will be a great help to us — better than waiting on an Ukria who may appear at any moment."
"If Ukria shows up, call me, then."
"I meant to call you even without your saying so. The first objective is to kill as many of the enemy as we can. Do not forget that, for now."
Yujun nodded in silence.
"When does it start?"
"In one hour. The preparations are already finished."
"Did you arrange it beforehand with the Moderate Faction?"
"What are you talking about, all of a sudden?"
"You said the Great Archangel thinks of this as a game. I'd expect even the ground for the final battle to be decided already."
"...That is correct. The place has already been set."
"Where?"
"Two kilometers from Lerltrang Forest."
"Do we have to pass through the forest?"
"No. It lies closer to our own camp."
"That's to our advantage."
"So it was agreed. Whatever the case, they tried to summon a being from myth and throw Heaven into disorder, even if they claim they did not know."
"Wasn't that something one Demon God Worshipper did on his own? And they're taking the blame for it?"
"So they say."
"Suspicious."
"What is suspicious about it?"
"They accepted the demand far too readily."
"Had they not, the Great Archangel would intervene. They would have had no choice."
"Does that intervention change anything?"
"It would decide the outcome of the war. They must have judged it better to yield the advantage of ground."
"I thought they'd play dumb and pretend they knew nothing. So they do have a conscience."
"Conscience? This is not a matter of conscience. The Great Archangel watches all things through the eyes of the players. From the moment you discovered Redion, there is no chance He failed to know they meant to summon a being from myth."
"This conversation of ours, too?"
"He might. And He might not."
"So you aren't certain."
"I doubt He would go so far as to look into every private exchange."
"Do I have to move with the heavenly race? Can't I leave first and wait?"
"And your reason?"
"To see whether they've laid any traps."
"...Is that truly the reason?"
"Well, while I'm at it, I'll take care of this and that."
"You may go. Provided you do not die. You do not seem likely to die, so there is no need to worry."
"Yes. I'll go."
Yujun returned to the party and briefly explained his talk with Sertiphs.
"The front line sounds pretty dangerous. I'm not really one for the very front... somewhere around the middle of the formation would suit me better..."
At Kim Yohan's words, Yujun pointed toward the tent he had just left.
"Negotiate with Sertiphs yourself. What he wants is my strength, so there's no need for you to come along, Yohan."
"Th-that's true, isn't it?"
"Go with him and you'll only be in the way. Have the sense to slip out of it."
Dokgo Minsu said it with a mocking look, and Kim Yohan bristled.
"...That goes for you too, old man."
"Which is why I never brought it up. Hold your tongue and you might at least land in the middle, young man."
"Advice born of experience. I'll receive it with all due humility."
Those who would stand on the front line were Black Sorceress Yenil, Manuela, and Yujun. Atradeon joined them as well.
"And why are you coming?"
"I know not what scheme Ukria has devised, but should matters turn dangerous, I ought to be able to buy a little time."
"Won't that put you in danger, Atradeon?"
"The concern is appreciated, but I am not without the means to look after my own hide."
"All right. I'll trust you."
There was no reason to refuse someone offering to buy time in a crisis. Four players in all had agreed to go together, but Yujun moved ahead on his own. It was not that he meant to do everything alone like some lone hero. Reconnaissance was the point, of course.
They wouldn't have had time to set traps. But you never know.
The opposition was not ordinary soldiers. They were powerful players of the heavenly race, and there was no telling what ingenious method they might have used to prepare a trap. The question was whether he could find such traps at all. He had Paranet for that — a summon exceptionally keen at sensing danger. It was a fine contradiction for an undead to possess such sharp instinct, and yet Paranet truly did catch the scent of ill omen better than Yujun himself. Most likely it was the survival-instinct trait the fellow carried. Even for an S-rank, it seemed abnormally outstanding, but he had no complaints. It worked in his favor.
I should make good use of what I have.
When Paranet revealed himself, a giant five meters tall, the entrance could not help but be grand.
"Well, now..."
Yujun was admiring that figure when Paranet opened his mouth and spoiled the moment.
"Master! As expected, the one you call first is always me. Tapagol is simply not of a grade to contest me for the starting place."
"What are you even saying."
"You trust me the most. Isn't that so? Hehe."
Well, it wasn't wrong, so he couldn't deny it.
"Harp still comes first, though."
"...Ah."
Paranet pouted, plainly hurt.