Following Asilien's Aura

Yujun followed the trail of Asilien's aura and reached out to the sage Atradeon. He wanted to ask about the Dragon Heart. A man who went by the title of sage ought to know what one was, at the very least.

Yujun's eyes went wide. Asilien was supposed to have kept her identity hidden, and yet Atradeon knew her name without the slightest hesitation. Perhaps the title of sage was not for nothing. Or it might simply have been chance.

There was nothing to be gained by sifting Atradeon's advice. Knowing that well, Yujun drew out the Dragon Heart and consumed it on the spot.

It could not have been more of an item made for mages alone. It was also the sort of thing he doubted he would ever lay hands on again. With that, his raw mana stat reached 3,000. Once the percentage effects of his titles and equipment stacked on top of it, the number would climb at a geometric rate.

Even a mage at a higher level than me, one who'd poured everything into mana, probably doesn't have this much.

In truth, Yujun's mana sat so high that comparison hardly applied. Only a true dragon, he suspected, could stand anywhere near it. He had never actually seen one, so he could not be sure.

Yujun picked up speed. Asilien's summon began to fall farther and farther behind. Manuela, Paranet, and Yenil kept pace well enough, but Asilien's summon was nowhere near as fast. Being undead, it would not tire, yet its raw speed simply lagged behind the rest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the party. Yujun had already slowed himself as much as he could to accommodate it.

Asilien's summon dying doesn't really matter anyway.

Failing that, Asilien could unsummon it and call it forth again, and it would return to her side. If she had lost consciousness, or if she were dead, that would be impossible—but she was not dead. Her summon was still right there, moving as plain as day. So long as the creature did not suddenly vanish, he had to assume Asilien was still alive.

Small mercy, at least. Being able to tell whether she's alive or dead......

There was one misfortune as well. The Demon God Worshippers were creatures for whom vicious was too mild a word. What horrors might people like that already have committed...... It was possible they had not, but there was no chance the Demon God Worshippers had done nothing at all.

Almost there.

Little by little, Asilien's aura was growing distinct. Not once had the trail broken.

They wouldn't have laid another trap, would they.

The odds of that converged on zero. Why? Because they would not even have assumed he would pass Manat's Trial. It was a trial that handed out a reward as monstrous as a Dragon Heart. Would they really have served him a chance to grow stronger on a silver platter? The Demon God Worshippers must have been certain he would die in Manat's Trial. There was no way they had prepared for everything all the way out here.

He spotted a building nearby.

"Given the circumstances, that has to be it."

Yujun confirmed there were no dangerous explosives or spells waiting inside, then moved at once.

"This is bad, Branch Head Ji Gyutae."

"He slipped out of the trial grounds you prepared."

"E-even so, you can hardly say you had no hand in it! You told us it was a trial ground where we could catch Shin Yujun!"

At Branch Head Deir's outburst, the Ji Gyutae on the screen let out a heavy sigh.

Ji Gyutae looked angry, if only on the surface. Deir knew just how terrifying the man became when he was truly enraged, and swallowed hard. Within the cult, the power Ji Gyutae held was beyond imagination—in force, in authority, and in influence.

"I truly am sorry for dragging you into this against your will. But the problem is that the place you pointed us to was far less impressive than expected. Shin Yujun went in alone, and we still couldn't catch him."

"You mean he already knew?"

Deir's face went the color of a corpse.

"Then you're saying Shin Yujun has grown even stronger than before?"

"Toward that Great Merchant we used as bait. Seeing how desperately he's trying to save her, if we play this situation right, the matter might resolve itself easily."

"You think the odds are low?"

Just as Ji Gyutae said, the cult had yet to find any proper means of stopping Shin Yujun. It was not merely that he was strong. He had no weaknesses, and his rate of growth was without precedent. Nor did he belong to any organization. Assassination was the only option left, and for the moment there was no player capable of piercing the barrier he kept raised at all times and killing him. Not unless they called in the honorary devotees dispatched across any number of dimensions.

"I'll try to kill him here, then. I've requested support, and the cult seems to grasp how serious this is—they're sending a large force. Today, Shin Yujun will burn to ash and vanish."

Ji Gyutae cut the video call with Deir. Once he confirmed the man was gone, he shook his head. What good were mere numbers? All they would do was shower experience upon Shin Yujun, whose level was already low relative to his combat power. He had carried that very opinion up to the cult's higher ranks, and it had not taken in the slightest.

Whatever the case, Yujun was the single greatest obstacle to the plan of bringing the Demon God down upon the Continent. The cult was the sort of order that would do anything if it meant catching Shin Yujun, even if tens of thousands of clergy and devotees died for it on the spot. Knowing that, Ji Gyutae made no particular effort to stop Deir. The matter had already left his hands. Push too hard, and he might well be branded a rebel himself. It was only because of all Ji Gyutae had done, and how greatly he had contributed to the cult, that he was still standing. Otherwise he would have been dead long ago, or left half a cripple.

So long as I don't leave the cult, entanglement with Shin Yujun is inevitable.

Ji Gyutae drew the Mushroom of Nullification from his inventory. For a long while he turned the mushroom over in his fingers, pacing the room.

The building was not large. Two stories, the interior looking cramped—so ruined it might as well have been called half-collapsed. From within it he felt not only Asilien's aura, but her presence as well. Her breathing was neither labored nor faint. For the moment, she seemed no different from usual.

I'll have to see for myself.

Yujun stormed the building before the Demon God Worshippers could set whatever they were scheming into motion. Two daggers came flying. The shield he had raised before he even stepped inside knocked them aside, and with Space Domination he bound the bodies of the two players as they sucked in a startled breath.

Space Domination was the most efficient spell in Ancient Magic, and at the same time its mana cost was no joke. Cast through New-Generation Magic, however, the consumption dropped to almost nothing, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the power surged as well. On top of that, he had consumed the Dragon Heart. His raw mana had risen by 1,500, and the damage of his magic by 150 percent. The two Demon God Worshippers, caught with no real defense prepared, had no hope of resisting Space Domination.

Crack. Crunch.

Before the Worshippers, pinned helpless in the spell, could call for support, Yujun drove the pressure of Space Domination higher and crushed their bodies. Experience rose, but only by a negligible amount.

As expected. At this point, most of it barely matters.

Unless he killed higher-level players or monsters, rapid growth would be difficult to come by. That, or slaughter thousands—tens of thousands. It was not a method he much cared for. However well he had adapted to the Tower of Infinity, taking that many lives still sat uneasily with him.

Ah. I forgot the items.

If there was a drawback to killing with Space Domination, it was that the items were crushed along with the bodies. They had not been particularly strong anyway, so he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did not feel all that regretful.

Clack!

Paranet shot forward like an arrow. He had found Asilien's aura as well. In the room he reached first, Asilien lay on a low bed with her eyes closed.

"A-Asilien!"

Paranet rushed to her and frantically checked her condition.

"How is she?"

"She is breathing...... yet her eyes will not open. There is no cause for it."

"She's not just asleep?"

"It is not that. Those wretches have done something to Asilien. Of that I am certain."

Paranet, tall enough that his skull nearly brushed the ceiling, stamped his foot hard.

"On the outside, she doesn't look like anything's wrong. Doesn't seem like they fed her poison, either."

"If it is a thing they would do, the answer is plain. They will have laid a curse upon her."

"Paranet. I'll take a look."

"Yes. I entrust it to you."

Yujun stepped closer to Asilien.