In Truth, Yujun Had Underestimated the Demon God...

In truth, Yujun had been quietly looking down on the Demon God Worshippers. An underestimation, if one wanted to put a name to it. He had killed so many of them that the dead were past counting, and he had come to believe that any Worshipper who came for him could be put down with ease. In practice, hunting them left him at a steep advantage — through his titles, and through the privilege of the Primordial Player most of all.

For the Worshippers, that effect was nothing short of horrific. Not that his edge came from compatibility alone. It didn't. His attack and defense were overwhelming in their own right, and he held a spread of abilities of extremely high rank. For any number of reasons, Yujun was certain he would never lose to a Demon God Worshipper, and that certainty held now as well.

Jang Geoncheol had gone berserk beneath the peculiar aura of the Worshippers and grown unnaturally strong, but he was still within the range Yujun had already accounted for. His eyes turned red — scarlet from corner to corner, the whites gone entirely.

I've never seen a Demon God Worshipper end up like that.

Jang Geoncheol hadn't been a Worshipper to begin with, but there was no denying he had fallen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under their influence.

Is this different from the Demon God's Blessing?

Worshippers who received the Blessing grew unnaturally strong as well. That much was the same. The feel of it, though, was different — fouler than before, as if more impure energy had been mixed in, and more destructive even than dark demonic energy.

Sensing the danger, the other players began to open the distance. That suited Yujun. All he needed was for them to stay out of his way.

Before anyone quite registered the movement, he was in front of Jang Geoncheol with his sword thrust straight out. He meant to end it in a single stroke, but the man's body vanished, and the blade cut cleanly through empty air. A presence stirred at his back. Jang Geoncheol was already charging him at tremendous speed. Yujun didn't bother whirling around. He simply swung, and the sword traced a smooth arc as it swept sideways. Jang Geoncheol vanished again, as if he had used Blink, or Flash. That was how it looked to the players. Yujun knew better. The man was moving under his own power, on his own two feet.

Something that drastically raises physical ability?

What in the world had the Demon God Worshippers done to him, to push a body this far? From ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what Jang Geoncheol himself had said, it didn't seem to be the potion.

A curse, then. Or a blessing.

But Jang Geoncheol had not truly grown stronger. He was only rampaging for a little while, and once that power burned out, the odds were high he would simply die. He was forcibly drawing on something like true energy — a reserve a living being could possess, but was never meant to spend.

Footprints scattered across the dirt, and new ones kept appearing. He was circling on purpose, trying to muddy the trail. Even in Heaven, there could not have been more than a handful of players able to follow that speed with the naked eye. Yujun stood still and waited for him to come. Whenever he had moved to strike, Jang Geoncheol had slipped away with uncanny agility. The charge had been nothing but raw physical ability, no skill at all, and even so his reaction speed was beyond anything Yujun had imagined.

I have a rough sense of the speed. How much strength is he packing?

He was still growing stronger by the moment, and that only drove his body harder. His life force was burning away with it. He was on a timer.

I could toy with him until he burns himself out...

But that would be bad for Jang Geoncheol, and bad for Yujun as well. The man had not lost his mind completely. Every so often a scream tore out of him, loud enough to roll across the whole area.

"Graaaaaah—!"

It sounded like a giant bellowing with everything he had. Even Paranet, an undead, clamped his hands over his ears.

"Master! Allow me to assist!"

"Out of nowhere?"

"That wretch is far too loud! I wish to kill him!"

"I'll finish this quickly, so stand by. I might need your spatial movement magic."

"As you command."

Jang Geoncheol stamped, and earth and trees alike came apart beneath him — and still, somehow, he held his speed. He had been plowing into the trunks like a bulldozer. Then, all at once, he surged toward the other players. The angels flung their wings open in a rush to flee, but they were too late.

KWAANG!

One of them was rammed by Jang Geoncheol, a charging bull of a man, and died on the spot. As he locked onto his next target, Yujun appeared at his side.

The sword shot out like an arrow and punched through Jang Geoncheol's forehead. Thuk. His movement seemed to stall for an instant — and then, incredibly, he threw a punch even with the blade buried in his brow. Yujun slipped aside easily enough, but he was startled that the man could still move with his brain run through.

How is he moving fine with his forehead pierced? Plant their power in someone, and the Demon God Worshippers turn them into an entirely different being?

Strong player or not, a human with a hole through the head was supposed to die. Jang Geoncheol looked perfectly intact. He yanked his head back hard, tore free of the sword, and charged again — not at Yujun, but at the other players.

"Why won't you come at me?"

he grumbled. Jang Geoncheol knew, on instinct, that rushing Yujun would never get him what he wanted. So he was hunting the others instead, and Yujun had no intention of standing by to watch. Once was already too much. He was not about to let it happen twice. This time he didn't use the sword. He drove a fist into Jang Geoncheol's gut, a blow loaded with tremendous force.

"Guh—!"

Jang Geoncheol folded at once. Unable to draw a proper breath, he clawed at the ground and twisted at the waist.

Somehow this works better than the sword.

With that thought, Yujun stamped hard. The ground shook, and Jang Geoncheol's body bounced into the air. Yujun followed with a flurry of punches — pak, pak, pak, pak! — hammering away without pause, as if he were firing off a game skill. Each blow carried absurd force, and the same man who had kept moving with a sword through his skull could not pull himself together.

So the key isn't raw attack power. It's stacking the impacts, one after another?

Jang Geoncheol looked stunned, but not like a man about to die. Was he under some protection that kept him from instant death, no matter what was done to him? If that assumption was right...

That's completely broken.

If the Demon God Worshippers mass-produced test subjects like Jang Geoncheol...

Stopping the Demon God's summoning alone won't be enough.

He would have to interfere with everything the Worshippers did, and shut it all down.

Did Heaven and the Illusion Realm cost me too much time against them?

Less than a month had passed, and yet his last real clash with the Demon God Worshippers already felt like a long time ago. While Jang Geoncheol gasped for breath, Yujun poured Chaos into his sword and drove it forward. Thuk. This time the blade ran through the neck. Against an attack carrying Chaos, he could not hold. The focus left his eyes, and Jang Geoncheol met his death.

He had killed one of his own kind, so of course neither experience nor level rose. He didn't feel particularly disappointed. Killing a fellow Korean only left him uneasy. Sim Sanghoon had been a specimen of pure evil, so that was one thing. Jang Geoncheol, though, had rampaged against his will. In a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way, he was pitiful. He had taken the bait the Worshippers dangled — an item — and chosen a road that could end only in ruin.

Yujun hoisted the corpse onto his back and went to Atradeon.

"So Sertiphs's killer really was the cult. The Demon God Worshippers."

"If one of the Archangels is a Demon God Worshipper, this is a disaster of no small measure."

"There's no guarantee it's only one. I'm curious, though. Why are there so few Worshippers among the Heavenly race?"

"Most players turn to the Demon God Worshippers because they have felt the limit of their own strength and hunger to grow stronger. For the Heavenly race, receiving that power does not make them stronger at all. The energies are incompatible. They clash, and the recipient grows weaker instead. That is why their numbers are markedly lower than among other races."

"Then why would an Archangel become one?"

"Because his loyalty to the Demon God runs so deep that growing weaker is a trifle he can laugh off. There may be some other reason, of course..."

"You don't know who it is, I take it."

"I shall look into it myself."

"So the incident is settled?"

"One must regard it as such. The trail ends cleanly with Jang Geoncheol."

"At least we gained a lead — that a Demon God Worshipper is involved. The problem is, an Archangel who serves them won't be easy to find."

"No. We have a thread now. I shall mobilize every scrap of intelligence at my disposal and see what can be found. Should I discover anything, I will contact you."

"Am I free to go?"

"This will take a great deal of time. You would do well to go somewhere in the meantime. Waiting would only bore you. Or would you search alongside me?"

"No. I have something else to do."

"I thought as much."

Atradeon laughed, a low rumble, and nodded. Yujun went to where his companions waited and explained the whole of it.

"The Demon God Worshippers were involved? Ha..."

Do Jiyun let out a heavy sigh.

"Why the sigh?"

"Because there doesn't seem to be a single place they haven't stuck their hands into. At this rate, the Demon God's descent is only a matter of time."

"That's what we have to stop."

"Does it really have to be us?"

At Kim Yohan's words, Yujun gave a bitter smile.

"It does. Why else do you think we humans were summoned to the Tower of Infinity? The gods dumped a grave duty on us and told us to stop it."

"Gods?" Kim Yohan tilted his head.

Yujun's face twitched. He had let something slip. Explaining would be a pain.

"Anyway, if you run into Demon God Worshippers, kill them when you can. Sooner or later, every last one of them is going to try to kill us."

"And if they're too strong to kill?"

"Then only take the ones you can handle. I'm stepping out for a bit."

"Weren't you going after the Worshippers?"

"I don't even know who they are yet. I can't just go charging off blind. Atradeon said he'd handle the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠search, so I left it with him."

"Yujun. Where are you headed?"

Do Jiyun, quick on the uptake, asked.

"I've got somewhere to be."

"Somewhere dangerous, I assume."

"It is. If you're not planning to leave Heaven right away, stay close to Atradeon."

"All right."

Dokgo Minsu, who had been listening in silence, spoke at last.

"I have long thought a time would come when we must join our strength. It seems that time is now. I, too, shall guard Atradeon with all I have."

"Please do. This affair is tied to a Demon God Worshipper on the level of an Archangel. There will be more than a few attempts on Atradeon's life."

"There is a problem, however. Can the likes of us truly hold back a foe of that caliber?"

Dokgo Minsu had put his finger on the heart of it.

"You're right. It might be difficult as things stand. Which is why..."

Yujun opened his inventory as he spoke.

"I'll be lending you all a few items."