The Dragon Fang's Strategic Weapon
The strategic weapon the Dragon Fang brought to bear was cooperation—a coordinated fight alongside the other cloned summons.
In truth the battle had been three against one from the start, but only now did they resolve to accept the situation they had been handed and commit to it in earnest. Spending everything he had to open distance from Yujun, the Dragon Fang slid in beside the Hydra. Whether some sense of alliance passed between them or not, the Hydra did not turn its fury on him. As before, it only vomited poison mana cannons from its mouths at Yujun.
And luck favored the Dragon Fang, who had been on the brink of disaster: the Giant Gorilla shook off its hurt in short order and hauled itself upright.
"Kraaaaaaah!"
As if still seething at having been poisoned, the Giant Gorilla shot the Hydra a single glare—then its head wrenched around of its own accord, dragged by some inscrutable force. Toward Yujun.
Feels like the item is forcibly designating the enemy. So items like this exist.
Setting them on each other seemed impossible. Not that he had meant to try.
Use every skill and trait I can.
The system had stated plainly that victory inside the virtual battle space would raise proficiency. It had never said the gain would be limited to any particular skill or trait, so the sensible course was to exercise as many abilities as he could manage. A rational enough judgment. Of course, if he took his time and died here, none of it would matter.
First, the SSS-rank trait Absolute Presence.
An intangible pressure, invisible to the eye, spread from him in every direction—more precisely, toward the place where the three summons stood.
Intimidation dealt to all opponents except gods increases by 300%.
Absolute Presence drew amplification from his gems, but the boost granted by a title of this kind was enormous. Nor did it end there. Among the equipment he wore were pieces that raised the effects of skills and traits by a percentage, and on top of that the Genius trait multiplied them yet again by more than double. Absolute Presence, therefore, did not stop at a mere SSS rank. It would outperform the EX-rank Absolute Presence of any ordinary player.
What was more, the trait was exceptionally efficient against anyone weaker than its wielder, and not one of the three was stronger than Yujun. The effect settled on them in full. Dragon Fang, Hydra, and Giant Gorilla alike grew sluggish, as if something immense had laid its weight across their bodies.
Should have used it sooner.
For a skill, Absolute Presence was the always-active sort, yet there was still a wide gap between invoking it with intent and letting it lie. That gap was on display now. Would he struggle against foes weakened this visibly?
Not a chance.
No matter how he turned it over, he could not picture a loss. The opening momentum of the Hydra, the Giant Gorilla, and the Dragon Fang had startled him for a moment, but they had not strayed far beyond his expectations. They were closer to degraded copies than to faithful reproductions of their original selves. And once Absolute Presence took hold, the match was as good as decided.
Yujun kicked off the ground.
"Push them!"
"Shin Yujun is dead!"
"Lady Ukria did it!"
"Charge! Charge!"
"Sweep them all away!"
The Hardline Faction was being driven back without resistance. Shin Yujun had slaughtered Moderate angels in droves, yet the two sides had stood about even in strength—until Ukria entered the war. One person committing herself to the fight in earnest. That alone was enough to decide the outcome, and it was no exaggeration to say so.
Some forty minutes had passed since Yujun stepped into Pierre's Domain. In that span the Hardline camp was collapsing with embarrassing speed.
"This is Ukria's doing again, isn't it?"
"Come on. No matter how good an item is, there's a limit. She uses a handful of them and we're getting rolled like this? That doesn't make any sense."
"Hey. It's Ukria."
"I always thought that woman was overrated."
"We underrated her, if anything. Think about it. Why would our Hardline camp have any reason to overrate Ukria?"
"So a comeback is hopeless..."
"If only the Archangel would step in."
The Hardline Faction had, in effect, given up on turning the tide. The situation was that bad.
"Magic bombardment, incoming again!"
"This is insane! Since when can you amplify magic that's already been cast by several times over?!"
A cataclysmic blast tore through the Hardline camp, and the thunder of it hammered the surrounding ground. The players dying in that single strike numbered more than a thousand. Ukria had taken hundreds of already-completed spells and strengthened them several times over; in a sense, the result was inevitable.
The Hardliners were not only on the receiving end, however. One group among them was still making a fight of it—the elites with the Black Sorceress Yenil at their head.
Kim Yohan, sweat pouring off him, twisted aside from a spear thrust by one of the angels.
"There's just no end to them."
"We will be surrounded before long. We must break through, and quickly."
"The angels on our side really aren't any help."
"Nor can we lay all the blame on them."
"I know."
With an absolute existence like Shin Yujun gone, and no way to reach him, they were doing what they could to hold the situation together.
"Going after Ukria would be hard, right?"
"We would have to drive into the rear of the Moderate camp. That will not be easy."
Manuela said it with a grim face. It was entirely possible that every one of them would be wiped out. Yet what weighed on her more than the crisis itself was the simple fact that Yujun had vanished.
It's the same. Just like last time...
He had disappeared without a word. Yujun himself had not chosen it, but for this to happen twice in a row left a dread she could not shake. If there was any mercy, it was that Paranet was with her again this time.
"Madam, pray do not worry so. The Master shall return before long."
"...Why do you keep calling me Madam? You're sure he's coming back?"
"This one's hunches are scarcely ever wrong. Heh heh."
"Yujun's alive and well, isn't he?"
"But of course. Look at me, perfectly whole. Wherever the Master may be, he must be in the finest of health."
"And when does he get here?"
"How should I know the hour? Yet even should he have gone to the far side of the Heavenly Realm, or stand somewhere upon the Continent, the Master will come to deliver us in a trice. As he did before."
"...I hope so."
"Have faith. Blessings come to those who believe."
Even at Paranet's words, Manuela's face showed no sign of brightening.
"We should pull back now."
At Yenil's words, Dokgo Minsu nodded.
"Whittling down Moderate players here will accomplish little. It is no different from being slowly herded to our deaths. Let us retreat at once."
"Ugh... yeah."
Kim Yohan agreed with feeling. Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan had never meant to stand on the front line, but Manuela's message asking for help had brought them here. Even so, Kim Yohan had no regrets. He had been of at least a little help to his comrades.
It was then that someone came toward them.
"Not Ukria, I think..."
Dokgo Minsu narrowed his eyes and studied them. There were only two, yet both angels radiated a presence that prickled across the whole body.
"Who are you?"
"Enemies."
One of the angels answered.
"It seems I asked something far too obvious. What is your station?"
"Must I tell you? You have been thrashing about like madmen since we arrived. You will die here."
"A moment. We intended to leave this place regardless."
"And?"
"Before a fight in which both sides only lose, look the other way and let us pass."
"Hahaha!"
The angel who appeared to be the superior burst into loud laughter.
"Mercenaries of the Continent. Where has all that spirit gone? The moment we appear, you tremble like frightened dogs. Do I frighten you?"
"To be honest, the reinforcements sure to come swarming at your back are the greater nuisance."
"You lie poorly."
"If your station is too paltry to admit, you need not force yourself."
Dokgo Minsu's provocation hooked him.
"You asked my station. I am Gerbain, commander of the Moderate Faction for this engagement. This one is Vice-Commander Seban."
"I did not ask for names..."
"It is the name of the one who shall kill you, and so I have granted it out of goodwill. And still you jeer, blind to the favor..."
Gerbain's expression changed. He did not care for Dokgo Minsu's tone, or for his attitude. The two angels drew spears plumed with feathers. Even at a glance they were exquisite—Mythic-grade weapons. And so the battle began.
The first to strike were Manuela and Yenil. Their attack magic tore toward Gerbain, and even he, commander of the Moderate Faction, could not easily slip Yenil's non-attribute Ancient Magic. He spun his spear, meaning to block—and in that instant Yenil cast Reverse Bounding.
A spell she had devised on her own. No one knew the signs that came before it was cast.
"Hup—!"
Gerbain's body was bound upside down. The vice-commander fared no better. Reverse Bounding had struck them both.
"Now!"
Yenil shouted, and Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan were just charging the commander when Ukria's item triggered once more. Every magical effect on the battlefield vanished. Had the nullification covered the whole field, it would at least have been even. Ukria, however, had shrewdly calculated even the Hardliners' line of retreat and drawn a zone in which only they would suffer.
"This is enough to drive a person mad."
Yenil let out a hollow laugh. The magic she had labored to shape, and the magic only she could use, were both being erased. For a mage, this ground was the worst imaginable. Nearly a thousand years separated her from the present. Yenil was a person of the past, and she could hardly make herself believe that magic and items of this kind existed.
Freed from Reverse Bounding, Gerbain and the vice-commander fell back in a hurry and avoided the blow. An instant later they thrust their spears straight out. Kim Yohan flinched and threw his body aside. Chilled to the bone, he looked around and scowled.
"Mister. Bailing first like that is pretty cheap, don't you think?"
Dokgo Minsu had already withdrawn.
"How am I to blame for your being slow? Your life may have been in danger, but do you not find this complaint rather forced?"
"You're right. Sorry."
The fight returned to where it had begun. The Black Sorceress's magic flew in succession, and Gerbain and the vice-commander batted it aside as they closed on Yujun's party at a measured pace.
"You two, hold them. If they close the distance, we're finished."
Yenil snapped it at Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan. But their skill was already strained against angels who were merely a cut above the rest. They were no match for Gerbain, commander of the Moderate Faction. Stepping forward while knowing they could not match him would be throwing their lives away.
While they hesitated, a single enormous silhouette planted itself in front of them.
"I shall hold the line!"
It was Paranet. Standing a full five meters tall, he was impossible to miss. Without a moment's pause he battered aside the magic in his path, or slipped it, and charged straight at the oncoming Gerbain.
An undead with a vicious countenance, calling angels a wicked lot, made for a somewhat ridiculous sight. To the companions standing behind him, however, Paranet had never looked so gallant, or so magnificent.