The Winged Heavenly Race...

The winged of the heavenly race flew on ahead, while the mercenaries of other races advanced with their boots on the ground.

"Kill them!"

"Hit the ones in the sky first! Knock the heavenly race down and drop them on the ground troops!"

"Understood!"

"Aaaagh!"

"Shields up!"

Running at the very front, Yujun wore a look of pure disbelief. They're really just slamming straight in. No strategy at all. He had half doubted it, and still he hadn't imagined they would fight this stupidly. For him, it was ideal. Wary of Ukria, he would rather have stepped in late — but now that he stood on the front line, he meant to kill as many of the Moderate Faction as he could.

Fifteen swords took shape in the empty air. Doesn't even feel like a strain. He knew at once that he had grown again. He set them drifting at wide intervals and poured Chain Lightning into them from a distance.

The air crackled. Current hissed and spat. A vast web of lightning filled the sky, sparks bursting as a prickling charge ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hung over the battlefield. The bolts looked ready to fall at any moment, immense and unsteady — and yet they only circled the swords, swelling larger and larger.

Whoa. That actually looks incredible. Even Yujun couldn't help admiring it. The Chain Lightning bound into those fifteen blades drew every eye on the field, not only his.

"W-we should dodge that, shouldn't we?"

"That doesn't look normal."

"Y-yeah."

Even the Hardline Faction's heavenly warriors, who were not the target, felt the danger. Yujun had set the swords toward the Moderate camp, but the mana pouring off the Chain Lightning was of an extraordinarily high quality, which meant the spell's reach was very likely far beyond anything they imagined. The players here had not gained their levels for nothing. Most of the battlefield understood what a linked Chain Lightning of that scale would do.

And before the Moderate camp could react, the lightning bombardment — the spell's true finish — came down. Ordinarily Chain Lightning struck only the enemies inside its range, but because the swords held it in the sky, the area of effect expanded enormously. The power went without saying.

The blast was so tremendous it buried the crackle of sparks and swallowed the surroundings. Vast lightning shattered the shields over the Moderate camp in a single stroke and poured inside. Current still snarled through the breach.

"Gyaaaaah!"

"Kh—"

Crash after crash. The heavenly race, wings beating as they flew well above the mercenaries, took the worst of it. Because of them, the powerful mercenaries of other races suffered almost no losses at all. The heavenly warriors had been sacrificed in their place without ever meaning to.

Yujun's expression, though, was far from satisfied. The range is this wide, and it still doesn't look like their numbers dropped. He had not killed few of them. His level had risen by two, which said enough — a few hundred, at a rough guess. There were simply so many enemies that a few hundred didn't show.

And if I use magic that's only wide, the shields will probably eat it. Even if they didn't, everyone had a trick or two prepared against magic. Without overwhelming firepower, a clumsy area spell was nothing but wasted mana.

"It's Shin Yujun!"

"Call Lady Ukria!"

"Even if she steps in... can we actually win?"

"Are you doubting Lady Ukria? Huh?"

"That's not what I meant..."

At the sight of Shin Yujun, the Moderate heavenly race looked for Ukria first. Word of him had already spread throughout the Heavenly Realm. He had raised enough hell that not knowing him would have been the stranger thing. No one failed to recognize him, and they had been wary in equal measure — they simply hadn't expected him to open like this.

While the Moderate forces floundered, Ukria, waiting in the rear with her body hidden beneath a pitch-black cloak, drew out a single item. It was not equipment. It was a consumable, and it stood a full eight feet tall. Without hesitation she planted the flag in the ground before her. The point sank in with a dull thud, and the thin cloth at its tip snapped in the wind.

Ukria narrowed her eyes. Shin Yujun's position... about two and a half miles from here. He was closing on the Moderate camp. He must have enjoyed the Chain Lightning; he was already preparing the same spell again. He's going after even more players. Of course he was. In war, did anyone need to be told how much numbers mattered? This one really cannot be left alive.

That a single player held that much power. Shields raised by more than a thousand players, pierced by one man — it meant his mana and striking power surpassed the defense those thousands had built together. That weapon... what in the world is it?

Through a viewing orb, Ukria was watching Shin Yujun in real time, and she saw at a glance that the man's sword was no ordinary thing. I can't even begin to guess the power in that blade. I've never faced an enemy like this. Her eye had long since surpassed the realm of mere talent. She already possessed an EX-tier Observation trait, and this was the first time she had failed to measure an item's performance with precision.

The armor, she could gauge to some degree, and that only made the shock worse. Armor with a level requirement past six hundred, and it's Mythic...? A set, no less. Not every detail had reached her, but she understood just how tremendous those pieces were. If the armor is like this, then what is that weapon I can't measure at all?

She had long heard that Shin Yujun wore outrageous items. She knew that much. Seeing them with her own eyes was beyond anything she had imagined. Meeting him here may actually be the fortunate thing. Had she learned of him even a little later, or crossed paths with him then, killing him might have been impossible forever. To meet him in this place was a chance heaven itself had granted.

Turning him into an ally would be the best outcome imaginable — but my poor little sister has already been sacrificed to him. From the moment Utria died, there could be no turning back with Shin Yujun. She would kill him, and with that soothe her sister's spirit. It was the only atonement she, who had driven her sister to her death, could still offer. His items were confirmed to be absurd in their excellence, and still Ukria was certain that, just as planned, Shin Yujun would die here.

A holographic message window appeared before her eyes — the effect of the flag she had just produced. It could confine a single player inside Pierre's Domain, a virtual space that existed everywhere at once. Until recently, I never thought I'd have to use this. A consumable of Transcendence grade, and not one she had crafted. She had found a passage into another dimension and obtained it by chance, the only one of its kind, and now she could no longer afford to save it.

The player ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Shin Yujun. The distance between them had closed to a little under two miles. More than enough to invite him into Pierre's Domain.

From the flag, a fierce wind rose with a vast swell of mana. The banner snapped wildly, announcing itself to a handful of nearby players — and then, between one moment and the next, it vanished completely.

It worked! The item's effect had activated. The flag was not the only thing that disappeared. Shin Yujun, who had just driven countless of the heavenly race to their deaths with a second magical bombardment, vanished with it. Moderate and Hardline alike were baffled by his disappearance, and not one of them could find where he had gone.

"What?"

An unknown force wrapped his whole body, and the world before his eyes changed. Blue and purple dots and lines seemed to have been strung together into a landscape, like a doodle drawn by a child. A warp...? This doesn't feel like one. It wasn't. There was none of that particular dizziness, none of the nausea.

"Paranet."

A flat, empty tone was the only answer. Paranet was not summoned. Neither was Tapagol.

"Dad."

"Oh? So you were here."

For better or worse, Harp had been dragged into this nameless place along with him.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

"Funny. So do I."

It was a space strange enough to make him dizzy if he looked too long. At a glance it seemed an empty void with nothing in it. It wasn't.

"An event? Just for me?"

Yujun muttered it, then shook his head. The System hadn't said a word about a sudden event. With the word event nowhere to be found, this was certainly not one. Then why was he standing in this virtual combat space? He hadn't used an item like this, and he didn't carry one in his inventory. Which meant... High odds this is Ukria's doing.

Since it wasn't an event, he wouldn't have spare lives either. Virtual combat space or not, dying here would be the end. At least the clear reward isn't nothing. The misfortune, conversely, was that Yujun could not designate the summons himself. Ukria, who had almost certainly used the item, would choose them and call them forth — the three most powerful living beings she knew.

"Well, I'll be... an item like this existed?"

There had been no way to defend against being summoned into Pierre's Domain, so this was not a matter of letting his guard down. As Atradeon had said, from the moment he joined the war he had been bound to fall into whatever trap Ukria had prepared. What in the world is she trying to summon? Not knowing what would appear, the worry did come first. That was true. But this was a virtual combat space. If the contest was a fight and nothing else, he was confident.

"Whatever you are, come out. Quickly."

Standing around was the greater waste. He didn't know where this was, but back on the decisive battlefield of the Heavenly Realm, the fighting would still be in full swing. What mattered was how fast he could get out. He might die here, but even delay alone would mean Ukria's scheme was working to some degree. He had no intention of giving her that satisfaction.

"One at a time, then?"

If it was one-on-one, he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠honestly wouldn't worry much no matter who appeared. He had already faced those so-called beings of myth — the Balrog, and the Black Sorceress — and the result had been his overwhelming victory. The situation, however, declined to arrange itself for his convenience.

A low hum rose, deep and drawn out. Three shapes began to take their places all at once.