At Paranet's Approach

At Paranet's approach, the vice commander thrust his spear first. Paranet was exceptional at evasion, but the speed of that thrust was no joke, and the trajectory was far too precise to dodge. Still charging at full tilt, he activated Thousand-Pound Drop.

BOOM!

The vice commander was hurled far back. Under Thousand-Pound Drop, Paranet was so solid that the spearhead failed to leave even a scratch on the forehead it struck.

Gerbain hastily swept his spear sideways and knocked him aside. Even with Thousand-Pound Drop active, Paranet could not withstand Gerbain's blow as well. A deep gouge torn into his flank, he retreated in haste.

Gerbain resolved to finish Paranet before the incoming spells. Seeing his vice commander lose a contest of raw strength, he had realized this was no ordinary undead.

"A paltry attack, this!"

Paranet shouted with bravado as he hauled himself upright. The shattered bone of his flank restored itself at once. Evolution had done more than merely enlarge him, of course. His physical abilities went without saying; even if Paranet himself had yet to fully feel it, his intelligence had developed, and his regenerative power had surged. A wound that ought to have killed him instantly would mend in moments, so long as he was not forcibly unsummoned. He had become something close to half an immortal.

Paranet recognized as much from the speed of that recovery.

I've gotten stronger...

From then on, boundless confidence welled up in him. What Paranet feared most was death itself—the sensation of being forcibly unsummoned. Yet now that he possessed a body bordering on immortality, that confidence began to surge without limit.

"Insignificant! Utterly insignificant!"

The once-insignificant alchemist of the hinterlands charged like a Death Knight who no longer feared death. Whether the attacks landed or not, he hardly cared.

Then a tremendous aura erupted from Gerbain's body, bursting outward. Paranet faltered for an instant, then moved again. In that brief span, the aura gathered at the tip of Gerbain's spear.

"D-danger..."

Before Manuela could even finish the word, Gerbain's spear touched Paranet's skull.

"Thousand-Pound—!"

KRA-BOOOOM—!

It struck before Thousand-Pound Drop could reactivate. Even Paranet, in whom they had placed such faith, was unsummoned in a hollow instant. He had grown careless, yes—but Gerbain had also forced out a powerful technique, and against that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Paranet had no recourse. Even if he had properly activated Thousand-Pound Drop, he would not have come through unscathed.

With Paranet, their sole pillar, gone, the situation of Yujun's party could only be said to have worsened. In a flash, Gerbain and the vice commander reached them. The first to step forward were Kim Yohan and Dokgo Minsu. It was obvious they would die quickly, but they had no choice. They were the only ones who could be called close-combat specialists, and Tapagol had long since been unsummoned beneath the angels' attacks.

"This is seriously dangerous..."

"Hold them off even once. That sorceress will manage something, I am certain."

"Easier said than done."

This was no time for a leisurely exchange. Gerbain's spear came in, and Dokgo Minsu met it with his profound swordsmanship, trying to let the thrust slide past.

Crack!

It actually worked. The tip of Gerbain's spear slipped subtly off its line, and in that opening Kim Yohan drove an attack home. Then the vice commander appeared and kicked him.

"Guhk!"

It had not even struck his solar plexus—only the arm he had pressed to his side—and yet his mind reeled. If he died here, Manuela, Yenil, and Atradeon behind him would follow in short order. Knowing a follow-up would finish him, Kim Yohan clenched his teeth and tried to pull back, but he was nowhere near as fast as the vice commander. The spear thrust toward the space between his eyes. At that desperate instant, Kim Yohan squeezed his eyes shut.

And then—

Shhk!

Without the slightest warning, someone appeared and severed the vice commander's spear. It happened in the blink of an eye. The face that had been smiling in certainty of victory went rigid.

"What? Who the hell is this?"

Slash!

Fresh from Pierre's Domain, Yujun simply took the head off the dumbfounded vice commander. The head rolled across the ground.

"Yujun!"

Color flooded back into Kim Yohan's face as he opened his eyes to find that nothing had happened to him.

"I'm late. Sorry."

"No—thank you for the help. I really almost died."

Yujun had known they were on the verge of death well before that. He had even seen Kim Yohan with his eyes shut. For the moment, his appearance had frozen both the party and Gerbain in a brief standoff.

"What happened? And who is that guy?"

"There is scarcely time to explain. He is Commander Gerbain, come to kill us. The one you just slew was the vice commander."

"Ah..."

"And where have you been, only to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrive now? Ukria's doing, I presume?"

"That's right."

Yujun recalled what had taken place in Pierre's Domain.

The hydra, the giant gorilla, the Dragon Fang... grateful friends, those.

In the end, Ukria's trap had become an enormous gift to him. Had he not walked out of Pierre's Domain just like this? And not a single member of the party had died. He checked once more the system messages that had appeared after he killed all three summons.

Knowing that a safe escape from Pierre's Domain would raise his proficiency, Yujun had used as many abilities as he could. Taking it easy against a hydra, a giant gorilla, and a Dragon Fang was close to suicide, but Yujun could manage it.

The only regret is that my level didn't rise at all...

He had more or less expected it. It was a virtual battle space; levels might not increase. Considering how the ranks of his skills and traits had climbed, it was more like a bargain that had paid off handsomely—enough that he ought to bow and thank Ukria.

Swordsmanship reached GX...

He had kept using Sword Unity as well, already GX like his swordsmanship, and the fact that only that skill had failed to rise made it likely that GX was the ceiling—or that climbing a single rank required a staggering amount of proficiency. Frozen Field had jumped so many ranks specifically because he had deliberately spammed the spell. The summons were so strong the magic would not have affected the fight at all, but thinking only of skill proficiency, he had kept laying Frozen Field across the surrounding terrain.

An SS+ Frozen Field might hit harder than most magic combos, wouldn't it?

Frozen Field was a spell that dealt both damage and a debuff besides. Forcing himself to use it had been well worth it. Ancient Magic, on the other hand, he had cast without pause, yet perhaps because he gained no great enlightenment, the rise in proficiency alone had not raised the skill's rank.

If Ancient Magic had hit GX as well, it would have been perfect.

Still, if he could seize that one insight that kept slipping just out of reach, Ancient Magic might reach GX too. It was only a hypothesis, not a certainty—but his understanding of Ancient Magic had grown a little, and that was why he felt the possibility all the more.

The greatest gain is still Swordsmanship.

GX-rank Swordsmanship. In truth, the Swordsmanship trait was extremely difficult to obtain, and high-rank swordsmanship harder still. Raising it was no different. Spearmanship, axe arts, saber arts—every weapon-related trait was the same.

Still, if I'd loafed around even a little longer, it would have been a disaster.

Had he known Kim Yohan would be placed in mortal danger, he would have finished the proficiency grind quickly and come out. He was late not so much because the summons were strong, but because he had indulged his greed to grow.

Looking only at the result, it was for the best—but it was a close thing.

The results were satisfying. No fewer than nine abilities had risen in rank. The remaining skills and traits were not entirely unchanged either. They had simply fallen a little short in proficiency or enlightenment; the proficiency itself had risen sharply. With the right catalyst, the others were in a state where their ranks could climb with ease.

Later I should ask Ukria to send me into the virtual battle space one more time.

Of course she was unlikely to agree willingly—but that was a problem threats could solve. Yujun met the gaze of Gerbain, who was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glaring at him.

"What are you staring at?"

"...Shin Yujun. How did you come out of Pierre's Domain alive?"

"Huh? Are you Ukria? How do you know where I was?"

"No. It was I who commanded her."

"And who are you supposed to be? Oh, right—commander, they said. Do commanders usually stroll onto the front line?"

Kim Yohan answered in his place.

"This isn't the front line. We are the front line.... Behind us, those Moderate Faction bastards are probably already tearing through everything."

"Then I'd better finish him and get moving."

"That won't be so easy. He's a commander, and he's insanely strong."

At Kim Yohan's words, Yujun smiled and nodded.

"He does look pretty strong."

"Right? If even you're thinking that, then how much—"

Before Kim Yohan could finish, Yujun kicked off the ground. Gerbain's eyes flew wide as he hastily raised his spear to block whatever was coming.

Flash!

More precisely, he had tried to block it.

Slash!

The spear was cut in half. Gerbain was aghast.

A shaft forged from the rarest metal in all of Heaven...

The weapon being severed was one matter. What mattered more was his own life. Gerbain backpedaled. His objective was half accomplished. Literally half. Only his lower body managed a few steps backward. His upper body had already been severed by Yujun's sword and was rolling across the ground.

Huh. Six levels at once?

From level 700 onward, levels hardly rose no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠matter what he did. Killing a single commander of the Moderate Faction had raised him this much.

I took down someone on Sertiphs's level. In a way, it's only natural.

"..."

"..."

Yenil, Dokgo Minsu, and Kim Yohan were so dumbfounded they could not close their mouths. They were the ones who had thought this place might become their grave at the hands of Gerbain and the vice commander. He had not only finished the vice commander in a single blow—he had killed Gerbain in the same breath? It would have been stranger not to be astonished.

Atradeon and Manuela, by contrast, were not thrown into the same immediate shock as those three. They already had a rough sense of the level of Yujun's martial power. For Manuela especially, the sight was all too familiar. Even so, she had not expected him to dispose of a powerhouse on Gerbain's level in a single strike.

Having dealt with the commander of the Moderate Faction, Yujun turned as if nothing were amiss and spoke.

"Let's go kill the rest of them."