Blessing's Laurel Crown
◈ Option: While held in the inventory, Luck increases by 50%.
It was the item Dustin had given him.
A luck item so rare you couldn't obtain one if you tried — and because it didn't overlap with anything he had used until now, it mattered all the more.
How had he even come by something this good?
Blessing's Laurel Crown was an item he had never once laid eyes on. Not through all the years he had played War of the Gods, and not once after being summoned into the Tower of Infinity.
An item this ridiculous actually existed?
It didn't simply raise luck. It added another fifty percent of his current luck on top of what he already had, which meant the higher that stat climbed, the greater the return.
Of all places — and off an enemy, no less. I never thought I'd pick up a luck item here.
Yujun tucked Blessing's Laurel Crown into his inventory and looked at Dustin. The man seemed to be at his limit. His face had flushed a deep red, and his cheeks were trembling.
"So who do I have to kill? I'll need a name, at least."
"Mah."
"Mah? That's all?"
"In the Cult, there is scarcely anyone who doesn't know the name Mah. He is a branch head, and he takes part in every manner of Cult affair. His renown runs high."
"Easy to find, then?"
"Yes."
"What if he's already dead?"
"What...?"
"Assuming you've been stuck in here a long time... Mah could have died in the meantime, couldn't he?"
Dustin's face went blank with dismay, as if the thought had never once occurred to him.
"C-could he?"
"He's not undead or anything, is he? Then he'll die eventually."
"...Right. He is beastkin."
"Well, maybe he isn't dead. If I find him, I'll kill him on the spot."
"Thank you."
Even if Yujun never meant to honor the request, a firm promise to kill the man here and now would leave Dustin no choice but to be satisfied.
And I'm the only one walking away with a fortune.
He could keep the promise or break it. Either way, it hardly mattered.
"I'll put the laurel crown to good use."
"Even while I held that item, I never truly felt a difference."
"That's just how luck is."
In truth, Yujun felt the difference all too keenly — but he said it that way so Dustin wouldn't be left nursing the sting of having given it away.
"Do I really have to kill you, though?"
"Yes. Damn it all, I am the gatekeeper of this place. Unless you kill me, there is no escaping it."
That was the moment.
Dustin's body swayed, and then he lunged. He didn't seem to have lost his reason entirely, but he could no longer hold himself in check the way he had a moment before. Yujun would rather have passed him by without killing him. Just as Dustin had said, though, there was no other way. His hand went to the scabbard.
Shhk.
Dustin's head came free in a single stroke, the cut as clean as a drawn line. As expected, no experience came of it.
Still. Blessing's Laurel Crown is one hell of a haul.
Luck had a way of calling more luck after it, and the corner of Yujun's mouth refused to come back down.
It opened.
The moment Dustin died, a passage leading out appeared — a door, to be precise. It was a black door that gave off an ominous air, and yet Yujun was somehow certain it was a proper way out. Without a moment's hesitation he threw it open and stepped into a space as blurred as if a mosaic had been laid over the world.
Everything around him went black.
Little time passed before he found himself back in the banquet hall. He didn't drop his guard. He swept the surroundings at once, and saw a handful of players chatting with perfectly ordinary faces. No Demon God Worshippers nearby, at least.
It didn't seem as though a Cult player had cast a skill in person. More likely, stepping into a certain space warped you into a simulated realm, just as it had a moment ago. Even Yujun, whose magic had reached its peak, could manage something of the sort — but it would demand a considerable store of magical materials and a great deal of time. He could feel how thoroughly the Demon God Worshippers had prepared.
And thanks to them, I got the laurel crown. The Cult really is a goose that lays golden eggs. Maybe I shouldn't wipe them out completely?
It was only a passing thought, but it wasn't half bad. Pointless, of course, given that he couldn't even begin to guess how large the Cult actually was.
Then again, looking at how hard they're struggling just to kill me... there isn't a player out there right now who surpasses me.
Of that he was certain. The notion that some tremendous powerhouse existed somewhere, and simply hadn't come for him because they were busy, didn't hold water.
In a short span of time he had wrecked the Cult's grand designs more than once, and he had stuck his nose into their petty affairs besides, grating on their nerves all the while. The Demon God Worshippers were not fools who would spare their full strength when they had the chance to kill him — the single greatest obstacle to summoning the Demon God. Cunning hyenas, the lot of them.
Manuela and Yenil seem to be all right...
As the true master of the Golden Temple, Yujun could check on conditions inside it in real time. Manuela was bustling about, redesigning the temple to her liking, while Yenil sat perfectly still with her eyes closed, studying the magic he had taught her.
I can check on them. They have no idea what's happening to me...
In time, that might start to frustrate both of them.
Well. There's always the messenger.
It didn't matter much.
Yujun headed straight for where the Sky Castle Lord's eldest son was staying. The sons didn't seem to live in the Lord's manor as a rule, but according to the Lord himself, they would remain there for the duration of the banquet. Not that many of them were left — only the first and the second.
Funny, though. The third one I killed didn't seem to have anything to do with the Demon God Worshippers.
If both the first and the second had colluded with the Cult, it would be a disaster — not only for the Lord, but for Sky Castle as a whole. It would mean that not one of those who carried the Lord's blood was sound.
I'd better hope that isn't the case.
Even the Lord didn't know precisely which room his eldest occupied. In the first place, the man could barely manage to wander the ground just outside the great hall, and the banquet itself had not been his doing. It had been the will of the Demon God Worshippers. With the Lord's information anything but certain, Yujun was left to search every guest room.
Not by opening doors and stepping inside, of course. That would have been a waste of an exceptional sense for detection. He stood in the corridor and took in the interior of every room at once — and a number of deeply embarrassing scenes played out, vivid, inside his head.
Must be because it's night...
Face burning, he struck from the search every room whose contents had crossed a certain line. He had become so capable that nothing beyond his reach fit him perfectly, but the truth was he had no immunity whatsoever to this particular subject.
"Ahem..."
He cleared his throat several times and gradually drew the net tighter.
The Lord's first and second sons would naturally be stronger than the third. Taking the third as his baseline, he began sorting for players who surpassed that mark.
More of them than I expected.
Sky Castle's banquet was a grand affair, and no shortage of extraordinary beings had gathered for it.
Quite a few Demon God Worshippers, too.
Their distinctive aura was so faint that no one but him would ever have noticed it. He found the Lord's eldest, Redios, soon enough, picking out from the countless voices of chattering players the place where the man himself seemed to be speaking. Little by little, slowly, he drew up to the door so he wouldn't be noticed.
He hid his presence as thoroughly as he could, but anyone with senses sharp enough would feel something worse than a chill. So he didn't waste time.
Flash
"Who—"
The instant Redios opened his mouth, the tip of Yujun's sword touched his throat. It didn't sink in. From the shallow prick, red drops of blood fell one after another.
"What is your purpose?"
Redios glared at him with a cutting gaze. Not a shred of his spirit had broken.
"I came to ask you something. Politely."
"Politely? That is hardly the word for a moment like this."
"Not killing you on the spot is already me being polite."
"Shin Yujun... I see."
Yujun currently wore the guise of an elf, but Redios was no fool. He knew there was only one player who would do something like this.
"You know who I am. So you're a Demon God Worshipper too?"
"You are mistaken."
"Mistaken how? I can feel it on you."
That aura, the one only Demon God Worshippers carried, was coming off Redios. Just as he had feared.
"Have you come to kill me?"
Redios said it with both hands hanging loose at his sides, not even reaching for a weapon. For a man with a sword at his throat, the composure was remarkable.
"Yeah. You were ready for this, huh?"
"You should have died long ago."
"Then why didn't you kill me? You went and left me alive."
"I have a question. Why do you hate the Cult so?"
"Because what you do is vile and filthy... well, that's just the excuse. You keep poking at me."
Stopping the Demon God's resurrection was the greatest reason of all, but he didn't say so. There was no need to hand his thoughts to the Cult. Everything he said could be picked apart and turned into a weakness.
"If you cease to interfere with the Cult, we will not lay a hand on you either."
"And who are you to decide that?"
"The Cult will heed my words. Of that I am certain."
Yujun had no idea how much influence Redios actually held within the Cult, but a suggestion, at least, the man could probably make.
"It's already past the point of no return."
"No. We are magnanimous — magnanimous enough to forgive even you, our greatest enemy."
"Sure you are."
Yujun's sneer didn't deter him in the slightest. Redios pressed on, still trying to persuade him.
"No. A powerhouse of your caliber would be received with ample regard within the Cult. I can assure you of that."
"And what's so good about being well regarded there?"
"You would obtain formidable authority. You might also be granted the Grace, and grow far stronger in a short time."
"Well, look at that. And the result? You still can't catch me, and I never took the Grace."
"If one such as you received the Grace as well, you would become a greater monster still."
"You left one thing out. I'd be the Cult's puppet."
"You truly mean to see this through to the end?"
"Yeah. Lucky for me you're a Demon God Worshipper."
"What...?"
"Means I get to shake you down with a clean conscience. Chances like this don't come around twice. I'm the Robin Hood sort, see. I don't touch decent folk."
"...Robin Hood? You call yourself that?"
"Sorry. Not really. I move for my own self-interest. Still, I don't touch the good ones. I only kill trash like you."
"You are no different from a hypocrite."
"Isn't pretending to be good still better than doing evil out in the open?"
Yujun poured mana into the sword. The wound at Redios's throat split wider.
"You've got items your dad gave you, don't you? Hand them all over."
"...How do you know of that?"
"I heard it straight from him."
Redios was little better than a man who had turned on his own blood. He had sold out his father, and the time had come to pay for it.
"Did my father speak of me?"
"Strictly speaking, he only told me where the items were. He didn't know you were a Demon God Worshipper."
Even as he spoke, Yujun tilted his head. Redios wore the face of a man wracked by guilt.
"Why do you suddenly look like you're about to die?"
He was a man about to die anyway — but from the moment the Lord had come up, Redios's expression had turned strange.