The Demon God Worshippers Come No More
There was no sign that any more Demon God Worshippers would come.
Yujun did not move on at once. He still had to collect the Coordination members' equipment, and more than that, he wanted to know what it was that had restricted his mana.
"Paranet. Go pick up the items."
"At once."
It wasn't that he was too lazy to do it himself. Stripping equipment off players of his own nationality simply felt awkward. They'd all be wearing ordinary clothes under their gear, no doubt, but it was still embarrassing, and an undead was perfect for work like this.
It felt similar to a barrier. How's the formula constructed?
Analysis was impossible while he stood inside the formation. He figured he'd only get a proper read from the outside, so once Paranet had hauled in every last piece of equipment, Yujun stepped beyond the barrier-like thing that still lingered.
Outside, he could see a transparent membrane enveloping the whole stretch of ground where he had fought Coordination. Faint, motley colors blended across it—things that had been completely invisible from within.
Ordinary barriers don't behave like this.
And contrary to his expectations, looking from the outside didn't give him any sense of what it was either. He had stepped out fairly confident, his knowledge of magic towering to the heavens, and the result was a mild shock. This was something on an entirely different track from magic, which meant analysis was impossible.
Maybe it's just that I can't see it, but the formula itself doesn't exist.
A barrier ought to have a formula composing it. Even if that formula were hidden, it made no sense that he would fail to find it with his present knowledge of magic and his eye for such things. He spent quite a long time observing, and came away with nothing.
"To think there is something even Master does not know. How astonishing."
"I didn't grow up here. Of course there's more I don't know than I do."
"Come now. Even the things you didn't know, you always figured them out the moment you laid eyes on them."
"That's..."
It was only because the grades of his skills and traits were high. There wasn't much he had known from the start and then spoken of, though a great deal of knowledge had been forced into him.
"Well. Nothing I'm going to figure out right now. Let's go."
"Yes, sir!"
Yujun checked the footage from the recording orb he had set in the building where Mah had been. A few Demon God Worshippers had reached the place, but they seemed intent only on recovering the corpses and cleaning the scene, and their skill was negligible. He felt no need to go all the way back there just to catch them.
Returning to the inn room, Yujun moved with Paranet to the Golden Temple. He had no intention of bringing the others back out with him. He had been away long enough that he only meant to show his face and return.
A man bit down hard on his molars.
Ji Gyutae. A branch head of considerable influence in the cult that worshipped the Demon God, and the man who managed Coordination.
Ha...
Coordination had been as good as a secret weapon he had kept in reserve. That was why he had wanted to delay their receiving Grace for as long as possible. Circumstances had not allowed it, so he had committed them to the operation—and this was the result.
If I can't catch him now, then no matter when they received Grace, catching up to Shin Yujun's rate of growth is impossible.
Even so, Coordination's death was an enormous loss.
I have to admit I was looking down on Shin Yujun.
He had been arrogant enough to believe he was analyzing and judging Shin Yujun with precision. He should never have done that against a man who grew stronger by the day. He ought to have poured in enough force that it felt excessive.
Of course, Ji Gyutae had done the best he could under the present circumstances. There was nothing more he could do right now. From here on, he judged, there was no chance of victory unless the Cardinal faced the man himself.
"He was more than an obstacle."
He was angry, but he did not resent anyone. He did regret. He should have brainwashed Shin Yujun somehow, back when the man was still green. Had he done so, the fighting power the cult gained could not have been expressed by any word so small as formidable, and every plan Yujun had blocked would have ended in success instead.
Underestimating him and leaving him alone—that was what he regretted most of all. Kill him or kidnap him: if he had managed just one of the two, it would never have come to this.
To receive an audience with the Cardinal, Ji Gyutae brewed a strongly fragrant tea.
He said he'd be here soon...
With a result like this, no excuse would do any good.
I'll just have to grovel.
The Cardinal had a habit of dropping in without warning, so he could not afford to let his mind wander. All the more so now that he had actually been told the man was coming. Ji Gyutae held on to his composure and scrubbed his stiff face hard with his thumb.
"Gyutae."
"I greet the great one."
Ji Gyutae offered the formal bow.
"We don't need that right now. Coordination is dead?"
"Yes. To my shame..."
"Ha... Fuck."
"..."
The Cardinal's voice lay low. Ji Gyutae flinched.
It was not the first time he had heard the Cardinal swear. This was the second. The first had been long ago, when the Cardinal told him of what had passed between himself and the Primordial Player.
Ji Gyutae considered himself quite close to the Cardinal, and in truth he was, which was why he had heard any number of stories. He knew well the complicated feelings the Cardinal held toward the Primordial Player. And now Shin Yujun had appeared, walking a path that was similar—no, worse.
Ji Gyutae was curious what the Cardinal was thinking at this moment. He did not dare ask, so he swallowed the question.
"Ah. You were trying to keep the Coordination kids in reserve, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"And you only did this because the Saintess asked, and you had no choice?"
"...Yes."
It felt like shifting the blame onto the Saintess, but it was not untrue. She really had asked him, and that was why he had thrown Coordination in so hastily. In truth, he did not think more time would have changed the outcome much.
"Want me to have a word with the Saintess?"
"...Would that be possible?"
"No. I was just saying it."
"..."
"I haven't lost my mind yet."
"I know."
"Your thoughts seem impure."
"Absolutely not."
Even the Cardinal could not treat the Saintess carelessly. It was less that her power was great than that it was a matter of the influence she held in the cult, and the work she did. In a sense, she was a greater presence than the Pope.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"I've faced Shin Yujun myself, so I don't think I can blame you. You may be glad."
"Nice!"
"You really are happy."
"You told me to be."
"That's exactly the part of you I like."
A thin smile touched the Cardinal's face.
"Should we borrow the Saintess's hand?"
"You know this isn't the time for that."
"But... the longer this goes on, the more dangerous it becomes."
"I don't know anymore either."
"Then we're just going to leave him be?"
"Yes."
When Ji Gyutae's expression darkened, the Cardinal added to it.
"His Holiness's innermost circle is stepping in, so we can take our hands off it now."
"I—is that true?"
"It is."
"When you say His Holiness's innermost circle, exactly which...?"
"That's not for you to know anymore. I told you to take your hands off."
"I apologize."
"Don't do anything related to Shin Yujun. I'm not scolding you. It's for the cult."
"What should I do with the materials I gathered?"
"Send them all to me by messenger. However fast the bastard grows, the abilities he already has won't disappear."
"Understood. Then... does that mean you won't be interfering either, Your Eminence?"
"Depends on the situation. You focus on the other plans."
"Understood."
Freed of Shin Yujun, Ji Gyutae smiled inwardly and drank in the relief.
"This is what I came to say. I'll be going."
"You won't even have the tea..."
"I'm busy. I don't have time to sit around leisurely drinking tea."
"Understood."
"Ah. But if you learn anything about Shin Yujun, do tell me that."
"Yes."
The moment Ji Gyutae answered, the Cardinal vanished without a trace.
"Guess I'll have to drink this alone."
Sipping the hot tea, Ji Gyutae was smiling brightly.
"Leaving already?"
"I have to wrap things up and come back. Wait just a little."
"All right..."
With Manuela's reluctant face the last thing he saw, Yujun left the Golden Temple.
Back at the inn in the Koruna Kingdom, he expanded the range of his senses and searched for Demon God Worshippers. Almost none of them were visible. Aside from those who had been abducted and only recently seeded with a Worshipper's energy, there was hardly anyone.
I didn't kill that many, did I?
When he had assessed them before, there had been tens—hundreds—of times more. Had they all fled? That many of them? Absurd, but if not that, then his senses were off, and that could not be.
The cult must have given the order.
Yujun clicked his tongue. Thinking about it, it was the obvious move. Leave them sitting there and they would all die—why would they stay and endure it? Not when even the Coordination members they had trusted were dead.
"A bit of a shame."
There had been thousands more Demon God Worshippers he could have killed.
"What do I do."
Yujun sank into thought.
"What are you thinking, Master?"
Paranet, who had been watching him closely, asked.
"Listen. Most of the people in this kingdom are going to become Demon God Worshippers before long."
"...Truly?"
"Yeah. That's the problem. Should I kill them?"
"...Hmm."
It was not that there were too many of them to kill. It was that it felt excessive.
"It is ambiguous. Destroying an entire kingdom is more than even the word massacre can cover... Is there no other way?"
"If there were another way, I'd have taken it long ago."
"Would it not be resolved if you killed the one who made them like this?"
"I thought of that too. But won't I end up meeting that one at the very end anyway? The day will come when the players in this kingdom stand in my way. And then I might regret it."
"Master. You are not going to kill them anyway, are you?"
"...What?"
"They are not enemies who threaten you at this moment. Frankly, even if small fry such as these gathered and showed themselves, you could wipe them out in an instant."
"True."
"I do not think you need to kill them right now."
"Thanks. That helped me sort my thoughts."
"I am glad to have been of help."
Yujun opened his messenger and sent word to Do Jiyun, Kim Yohan, and Dokgo Minsu, the ones who had played War of the Gods with him all the way to the end. He also reached out to Jo Su-a, Kim Heeyeon, and Hong Yeji, whose faces he had not seen in some time, and contacted Asilien, who had Ju Donghyeon with her. Atradeon, up in Heaven, did not particularly need to be called, but he sent a message all the same.
Karamtan of the Interspecies Alliance. Jortang of the Join. The twin lizardmen, Simjid and Shamzad. Palchio the orc, who had once urged him to join the Alliance. Stelln, the dark elf elder, and his father, Cain. Caston of the Dragon-Fang, with whom he had formed a tie after they met in the Grand Melee. He called the elf Mei as well. In truth she was too weak to be of any use, but that did not matter. He was not calling them because they would help him fight.
Maybe I'll leave it at this for now.
There was a reason he was doing something he normally never did—contacting the people in his messenger. Word was that the Great Cataclysm would soon strike the Continent, so he meant to gather them in one place. He did not expect all of them to come. Even if only a few did, that was fine. He was only calling because sitting still and simply waiting for the Great Cataclysm felt a little off.
Once the messages were sent, the replies came almost at once. They arrived as if the recipients had been waiting, enough to leave him faintly thrown.
Let's see... what did they say.