But Why Did You Call Me

"But why did you call me? I don't see any enemies."

At Paranet's words, Yujun pointed out across the broad plain stretching away before them.

"Go and see whether there are any traps out there."

"Hah. The hour has come for me to display my prowess as a treasure hunter."

"I told you to look for traps, not treasure."

"Are they not one and the same? Hidden things are hidden things, whatever they may be."

"Fine. Find whatever you can. Now that I think about it, treasure would be even better."

"Heh heh... Only leave it to me."

Paranet thumped a fist against his chest as he spoke.

Thud. Thud.

His hands had grown so large and so hard that the blows rang dull and heavy against his own chest.

"Show me what you can do."

"Yes!"

Without a shred of fear, Paranet broke into a run straight for the middle of the plain. It was only possible because his survival instinct sent up no warning at all.

When the five-meter Paranet sprinted at full strength, the earth seemed to boom beneath him. The tremor actually reached Yujun, standing far behind.

"Dad. Big brother Paranet got even bigger."

Harp had been dead asleep. The words were the first out of his mouth the moment he opened his eyes.

"Do you want to get bigger too?"

"No. I think it would be uncomfortable."

"That's a relief. If you got any bigger, I might be in trouble."

If Harp grew any larger, Yujun would no longer be able to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go about with him perched on his shoulder. Weight he could have managed. It was the sheer bulk that set the limit.

Some thirty minutes passed after Paranet set out to scout. Yujun searched for traps with detection magic of his own, but nothing in particular caught his eye. Stakes showed here and there in the ground, as if they had once been in use, yet they were so crusted with rust that they could only have been planted long ago.

They didn't look especially dangerous, so there was no real need to clear them. Still, one never knew. He destroyed every last one with mana rounds.

Boom! Kra-boom!

"This is kind of a rush."

"...What?"

The thought of obliterating, in a single instant, traps someone had labored to build left him in a rather fine mood. The stake traps, for their part, were not poorly made—not merely decent, but precise enough that winged angels might well have been caught if they grew careless. The only question was whether something so old would still function. And so Yujun, with an easy heart, wiped every trap from the plain.

"There is nothing dangerous, Master."

"You're sure?"

"Perfectly safe. For the moment."

"And later, when the Moderates and the Hardliners clash?"

"Frankly, with you present, Master, I cannot imagine us losing."

"I didn't ask what you think. You don't get any sense that it's dangerous?"

"None."

"Then that's fine."

Paranet was no prophet blessed with foresight, but when he judged a place safe, nothing much usually came of it.

"Let's wait over there."

A single hill stood before the plain. The moment they crossed it, they would be on the decisive battlefield. All that remained was to wait, from a safe vantage, for the angels of the Hardline Faction and the Moderate Faction.

Ukria truly could not rest for a single moment. She had to keep working. The preliminary plans she had poured such care into had all come to nothing—and before they had even properly begun.

For all her busyness, her expression was far from bright. Her younger sister had died not long ago in Lerltrang Forest. When the body was delivered to her, Ukria did not break into wailing, but she had remained sunk in gloom ever since.

I told her it was that dangerous...

Her sister Utria had unquestionably been a warrior of exceptional skill. It was hard to say she had lost her life this time merely out of stubborn pride. Who could have known Shin Yujun would appear at that exact moment? Any ordinary player she would have dealt with herself, or escaped from cleanly. Shin Yujun was a being of an entirely different order.

"Haa..."

She wanted to rush out this very instant and avenge her sister. But far too much work had been entrusted to her. She had labored without a single pause, and still time was running short.

Should I just abandon it all and disappear?

That she was even entertaining the thought said everything. Working hard was fine. What she could not stomach was being stuck in the workshop, unable to do a thing, even after her sister's death.

A few of the plans we prepared have gone up in smoke, but our odds of victory are still far higher.

If the Hardline Faction possessed variables capable of turning the war, they were Shin Yujun and the sage Atradeon. Shin Yujun in particular was a player of such overwhelming power that she wondered whether anyone alive could face him. Ukria judged that no one currently in the Moderate Faction could take him on alone. There was no error in that judgment.

He'll die soon enough, regardless.

She prided herself on having analyzed Shin Yujun perfectly, and so she had naturally already conceived a way to stop him—and prepared it.

I want to take revenge with my own hands, but he isn't the sort of player one can face while reading the situation... It can't be helped.

A single chance. With that chance, Shin Yujun would die on this battlefield.

Still, what a terrifying talent.

How could a human who had been a player for less than a year be that strong? The more she looked at the paper where his martial power had been measured and set down in numbers, the more astonished ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she became. Could it simply be called the realm of talent? A sharper mind and a superior body would certainly let someone grow faster than other players, and with a measure of luck one's name would spread well enough. But there was a limit to how quickly anyone could grow stronger.

He doesn't even seem particularly cautious. How did he survive the early days?

The world was vast, and the strong were many. Cross into other dimensions, and that was truer still. Even with their attention fixed on him, he was still perfectly alive.

Leave him be and he might die soon enough... but better to make certain.

Powerful beings wandering the dimensions, once they learned of Shin Yujun, would come looking for him. They would offer proposals, or recruitment, and Shin Yujun, who hated belonging to anyone, would surely refuse. The result would be obvious. Even if he accepted, his rate of growth was beyond what the word abnormal could cover. Countless powerful figures, jealous of him, would aim for his life. The only thing that unsettled her was the possibility that Shin Yujun might use them as stepping stones and grow stronger still.

Which is why he must be killed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on the battlefield, no matter what.

She had heard that Shin Yujun would take part in the final battle, and she had prepared a gift perfectly suited to him. Dreaming of vengeance for her only sister, Ukria rushed through the finishing work.

"Paulo! Bring the adamantium!"

Paulo, who served as her assistant, made a troubled face.

"I've already brought more than the specified amount..."

"I need a little more."

"And who is the adamantium meant to be used against?"

"Siege engines."

"...I can't produce what doesn't exist."

"Did I tell you to scrape whatever's left in the warehouse? I was distinctly told, before I accepted this work, that I would receive full support. Was that wrong?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Paulo knew it as well as anyone. Entrust a task to Ukria, and she always produced results beyond imagination. Even their superiors had gone so far as to order him to grant her requests whenever it was reasonably possible.

"I won't scold you, even if you fail to get it."

"Thank y—!"

"I'll simply file a formal report with the higher-ups."

"...Please just scold me instead."

"That wouldn't be enough."

"I'll obtain it somehow."

"Good. That's the attitude. You should have started that way."

"I was shortsighted."

"What are you standing there for? Go."

"Yes."

Ukria's tone made it plain he was in the way simply by remaining beside her. In truth, she had often treated her assistant Paulo as if he did not exist at all. Paulo turned his back and bit down hard on his lip.

I put up with it because she's beautiful.

The angels of the Hardline Faction and the Moderate Faction. An enormous number of players had gathered in one place.

There really are a staggering number of them.

If this many players descended upon the Continent, it would be chaos. Numbers aside, each one was the equal of a top-tier player, or greater. Of course, unlike the other races of the Continent, the angels could not go there without paying a steep price.

With a force like this, they could simply hold off the Demon God Worshippers, couldn't they?

Among the angels, Demon God Worshippers were hard to find. Aside from Redion, not a single one gave off a Worshipper's aura. That said everything.

Heaven really might not need much worrying over.

If some high-ranking angel were a Demon God Worshipper, that would be another matter entirely—but seeing that there were none at all among the ordinary ranks, the odds of that were vanishingly low.

Once things in Heaven are settled, I should do some hunting of Demon God Worshippers.

Lately he had the feeling he had left them far too free to run wild. In truth Yujun knew nothing of their situation, but judging by how carefully they avoided entangling themselves with him, they were probably scheming something strange again.

I really ought to drop by a branch, or the headquarters, and wreck the place.

It was a thought that would have made Ji Gyutae faint dead away, had he known of it.

"Did you find anything?"

Atradeon approached and asked. Yujun shook his head.

"Nothing special. Just a few dozen traps—simple, but powerful."

"And that is nothing special?"

"I removed them all, for now."

"Well done."

"I thought Ukria might have prepared something, but surprisingly, there's nothing."

Atradeon smiled at that.

"Would she resort to an obvious trick, plain for all to see? She will surely have prepared some means of dealing with you, in one form or another."

"Do you think she can?"

"Honestly, my dull wits cannot conceive of any way to stop you... but this is a difference born of what one possesses, so I cannot give you a firm answer."

"A difference in what one possesses?"

"Ukria holds all manner of consumable items capable of reversing a situation. If she has made preparations solely to face you, a predicament will surely find you as well."

"Is there no way to prepare for that?"

"By not taking part in the war at all."

"Would that be all right?"

"It would not. You must be there."

"Then what? What exactly do you want me to do?"

"You must strike down whatever Ukria has prepared."

"Strike it down? You mean she's summoned some being or other?"

"The probability is high. Even should the big boss among the Moderate angels step forward, I doubt they could face you."

"Wouldn't bringing in something stronger than that big boss be even harder?"

"So it would. But our opponent is Ukria. I believe it entirely possible."

Yujun nodded. Atradeon would not be frightening him for no reason.

"I wasn't planning to let my guard down anyway."

"I trust you."

"When do they engage?"

"Noon. They have promised to advance upon each other then."

"It certainly doesn't feel like a war. Agreeing with each other in advance, even setting the hour of the advance..."

"The purpose, after all, is to reduce the number of the angels. Those above would not want one side to seize an overwhelming victory through some brilliant strategy."

"Then my killing a great many of the Moderate angels could be a problem as well?"

"No. You are to reduce the Moderate forces as much as you can."

"Why?"

"Because the Moderate side's strength is superior. That, of course, is their strength with you excluded."

"Understood."

Five minutes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before the appointed hour of the advance, Yujun received a blessing from Manuela.

"Do Yenil too."

"Okay."

Black Sorceress Yenil received Manuela's blessing as well, and her eyes went wide.

"A blessing like this exists?"

"Nice, isn't it?"

"Looking at blessings alone, things have advanced a great deal since the age I knew."

"It's just that Manuela knows how to cast a good blessing. I don't think the art itself has advanced or anything."

"Is that so? A pity."

Goddess's Grace—the skill Yujun had obtained for her from the skill archive. When the usually blunt Black Sorceress showed her surprise, Manuela looked thoroughly pleased with herself.

"But New-Generation Magic—when do you think..."

Just as the Black Sorceress was about to broach that important subject, the advance of the Moderates and the Hardliners began. Fortunately for Yujun.