Paranet Said It Was Dangerous...

The warning Paranet had sent — that the road was dangerous — proved entirely correct. The moment they set foot on it, a scene much like the one he'd been warned about unfolded.

"Catch him! Humans are easy prey. Don't let him get away!"

"The human race is full of fools who can barely fight. Grab them and stack some points, fast."

Explosions ripped out one after another. Yujun kicked off the ground, and a single leap carried him dozens of meters ahead, clear of the blasts.

They kept hurling attacks at him without pause. They were of the Saint race, infamous as masters of magic.

Nothing good comes of getting tangled up with Saints.

The mess had started in the first place because three of them had been waiting on the road and ambushed him. The Saint race carried a foul name for any number of reasons. Their magic sat at a high level, and they were anything but gentle — they wandered about plundering as a matter of course.

Better take them down and move on.

He had no intention of running from so few.

And I might as well stack points along the way.

Yujun spun and surged at the Saints still preparing their spells. His speed blew past anything they could perceive, and their bodies locked stiff. His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sword moved. Three fur-covered Saints fell at once.

His level didn't rise, but the points that had sat at zero climbed.

"Hey. This isn't that dangerous."

Yujun said it with a faint smile.

"......It has not even begun. The true threat lies at the far end."

"So until we get there, we're safe. That what you're saying?"

"I cannot be certain. Only that this road is exceedingly perilous. Would it not be wiser to turn back, even now?"

Yujun didn't answer. Paranet didn't seem to be carrying on like that merely because he was afraid. There really was something dangerous up ahead. Even so, Yujun refused to bend.

I've got a Warp Scroll.

He carried a Warp Scroll that would let him escape this place on the spot. He'd taken the item out and checked earlier, and nothing stopped him from using it here. So he pressed on, stubborn as ever.

After that, players of other races kept appearing to bar his way. None of it became a real problem. Not one of them was his match. Blasts cracked the air, steel bit, and there was no hesitation in the way he moved. Paranet ran out of things to say.

Only after Yujun had crushed another party of five did the summon open his mouth.

"It would seem I worried for nothing."

"Right?"

"Yes."

His points had already passed five thousand.

Is there anyone here with more Hunting Points than me?

He'd taken the road they called dangerous and killed every player who came at him, one after another. And Yujun was moving alone. To the players in this place he was suitable prey — no, absurdly easy prey. There had never been a better moment to raise Hunting Points.

"Hah. Now what is this?"

Along the way he found a stretch where the path split cleanly in two. He turned to Paranet.

"Where do you figure the most dangerous place is?"

Paranet cocked his head.

"Why do you ask, Master?"

"Because that's where we're going."

Paranet said nothing.

"Well? You have to tell me which one it is this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time too."

"The second path."

Yujun stepped onto the second path without a shred of hesitation. He no longer doubted Paranet in the slightest.

Stacking points is all well and good, but I need to find the target player quickly......

Honestly, he had no confidence on that front. A great many people were taking part in the Species Tournament, and the player he had to save was only one. The labyrinth, on top of that, was enormous. It was entirely possible some lucky player would simply stumble across Sim Sanghoon and bring the second mission to an end.

Well...... the System probably didn't design it that simply.

He hoped the result would follow the effort. The best outcome was finding a player locked away somewhere. Before that, what mattered was accumulating more Hunting Points than anyone else.

Steel whispered. Yujun pressed forward, taking the head of a player from another race who had learned assassin skills or traits. Keen Sense (A) let him answer the countless threats lurking ahead and behind with ease, and thanks to that Paranet never got an opening to act. Whenever Survival Instinct flared and the summon moved to warn him—

"Mas—!"

The blade had already fallen.

"What?"

"Ah. It is nothing."

Yujun had already finished the enemy. He kept stacking points and breaking through, and then it happened.

A heavy rumble rolled up through the stone. The floor beneath his feet began to shake violently — the whole of the ground, in truth. The stretch where he and Paranet stood sheared away and dropped straight down. Like an elevator, the floor kept descending and descending, then stopped all at once.

"Wh-what is this?"

Survival Instinct hadn't triggered this time. Paranet muttered as if he hadn't the faintest idea what was happening. Yujun, for his part, had no room to spare for it.

The Abyss?

He felt as if he'd heard that word somewhere before.

Don't tell me it means that Abyss.

What he'd gone through in the Abyss while playing War of the Gods came back to him — how long he'd wasted there, how badly he'd suffered. The memory alone was awful.

No...... it has to be some other place that only shares the name.

It had better be. He thought so because the Abyss was content that opened only after level 400, and one of the highest-difficulty places among them.

It can't be.

Still, it was a relief to have drawn closer to the target player. Yujun let out a hollow laugh.

Which means...... the maze was a trap after all.

From the way things were unfolding, it seemed you could reach this lower level only by stacking 10,000 Hunting Points or more.

From here on, other players are going to be hard to run into.

There couldn't be many who had piled up as many points as he had. He might even be the only one.

I'll walk a bit, then.

This place was brighter than the floor above, and only one path was in sight. Yujun followed it without a plan.

"So?"

"Yes?"

Paranet, who had been trailing him in silence, answered.

"In the end, not a single thing you could call a crisis ever showed up."

"......It seems I was mistaken."

Paranet couldn't bring himself to say that Yujun had already broken through every one of those crises.

"So even your Survival Instinct gets it wrong sometimes."

"......Yes. So it would seem."

"Guess you can't put too much trust in a trait just because it's S-rank."

"......You are correct."

"I mean, if something could get everything right, that'd be omniscience. No way an ability like that exists."

Paranet had nothing to say. He felt deeply wronged, and yet no proper rebuttal came to mind. In the first place, he had underestimated his master's strength. He had never imagined the man could be this strong. He'd known Yujun grew at a frightening pace every time he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠summoned, but this went beyond even that.

"Hmm......"

Yujun swallowed the sound. It felt like walking a quiet corridor with no one in it. For fifteen minutes, neither monster nor player appeared, so he simply followed the single path straight ahead.

"Paranet. You sensing anything?"

"Nothing I would call dangerous...... no."

"Yeah?"

He kept his nerves drawn tight all the same. An attack could come from anywhere, at any moment. That vigilance proved pointless. Nothing happened at all.

Yujun stopped dead. A dead end — no. A thick iron door barred the way, and before that door stood someone enormous. A giant of a man, well over three meters tall.

The creature spoke in a low, heavy voice.

"......Horidan?"

At that familiar name, Yujun's expression went hard. Horidan was the guardian of the Abyss — the very one he had faced when he was exactly level 405.

Then...... this really is the door to the Abyss?

Did any of this make sense? He was thrown. The Species Tournament was supposed to allow only those at level 300 and below. And yet there was a door to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Abyss? There was even Guardian Horidan, whom high-level players couldn't easily bring down even gathered together.

This isn't the time to stand here panicking.

Yujun shook his head. What lay in front of him was reality, and he had to think about how to deal with it.

Fight him like this and I lose. No question.

However strong he was for his level, he was outmatched against Horidan. That was the objective balance of power. Yujun dug through old memories.

Horidan had a weakness. What was it?

Back then he had been plated head to toe in Mythic- and Legendary-grade items, so he had taken Horidan down without resorting to any tricks. Other users were different. Horidan had one clear weakness, and they hunted him by exploiting it.

Yujun first retreated several steps. Unless you entered a set range, the guardian never struck first. There was time enough.

It'll come back soon.

Since becoming a player, his memory had grown absurdly sharp. If he set out to recall something, there was nothing he couldn't drag back up.

"Ah. I remember."

As he kept staring at Horidan, the weakness — and the item that would solve this — flashed through his mind.

A great eye sat in the center of Horidan's forehead. At a glance, one might think that eye was the weak point. It wasn't. If anything, that spot was the hardest part of his body. Horidan's weakness was in his left hand. Specifically, the silver ring on his ring finger. It was no exaggeration to call that ring Horidan's true body.

Of course, you didn't have to strike the ring to bring him down. Yujun had killed him once by grinding his HP to nothing on the No-Pay Casual Gamer. There had been a part-strike system, and he had never needed to use it. Back then he had been an existence outside every standard, armed with every absurdly broken item imaginable.

Not now. This time he had to exploit the weakness.

I'm level 159...... Taking Horidan head-on is out of the question.

Yujun opened his inventory. Once again, it was time to borrow the power of his items.

"Kya-jumo! You mean to borrow the power of Kya-jumo?"

Through repeated experience, Paranet had learned that something astonishing happened every time his master opened the inventory.

"What? What's a kya-jumo?"

"I overheard you muttering before, Master. Is it not the phrase one uses at such a time? Kya! Jumo!"

"What are you on about. No."

He drew out a scroll. On the outside it was an ordinary scroll, nothing special to look at. Its option was anything but ordinary.

An item that could strip a target's gear. It worked not only on players, but on monsters as well, which made the scroll extremely effective against Horidan, who had nothing but a ring for equipment.

I don't even have many of these......

A precious item. So it had to succeed on the first try.