Ner, With an Anxious Face

Ner gnawed at her blameless nails, her face tight with worry.

"This won't do……. It's dangerous."

What help could she even offer? She had sponsored something enormous last time, and for the moment all she had left to give were trifles. Those trifles would do Shin Yujun no good at all.

Under any ordinary circumstances she would have had no reason to worry about him. Masare, the Root of Darkness, was another matter entirely. For thousands of years she had committed every kind of evil and hoarded the negative energy born of it. The techniques she wielded were a problem in themselves. Many of them were grotesque abilities of a sort Shin Yujun had never faced, and among them were powers that killed outright, defense or no defense. In a sense, she was the only being on the Continent just now who could take his life.

And of all places, he had gone to her in person. It was coincidence, and it was enough to make one sick.

I understand, though.

The undead legion bearing down on the Holy Empire was the largest of them all. Yujun would know that. Starved for growth as he was, of course he would make for the Holy Empire. An experience event had already begun, and on top of it he could earn Peace Contribution. Had Masare not been there, Ner herself would have urged him to go, and forcefully. That damned Masare was the problem. She was no ordinary Root of Darkness. She stood in a class of her own, a being even the gods thought dangerous.

Ner stamped her feet in sheer frustration. Where survival was concerned, a sponsor was forbidden to intervene directly.

Those wretches are probably cackling with delight.

Plenty of gods envied and resented Ner for sponsoring Shin Yujun. A few of them were forever hunting for faults, ready to object the moment she opened her mouth. Of late Yujun had done a great deal to knock the arrogance out of them, but if he died here, all of it would come to nothing. There was nothing she could do now. All that remained was to pray to the Chief God with everything she had, and wait.

Before long, Shin Yujun and his companions reached the Holy Empire. Anxiety and tension left Ner's mouth bone-dry.

At first Masare did not show herself. Yujun, for his part, kept from drawing too much notice and simply dealt with the undead. It was far too soon to relax. Then, at some point, a bone dragon appeared, and Yujun stepped out as casually as if he were strolling through the neighborhood and brought it down. It ought to have been a moment for joy, yet Ner could not smile. That feat had caught Masare's eye.

In the end Yujun came face to face with Masare, who had been spreading plague wherever she went. The fight opened as a mutual probe, and in a flash Yujun seized the advantage and drove her into retreat. The moment she was drawn into the Absolute Sealing Orb, offering hardly any resistance at all, Ner let out a cheer before she knew she had.

"Yes! That's it!"

And then Shin Yujun pulled Masare right back out of the orb.

Ner nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Why would you—"

It was reckless enough to crease her fine brows. On the feed, though, Shin Yujun promptly threatened Masare into calling the plague back in, and then sealed her in the orb all over again. To handle Masare—the strongest Root of Darkness in all of history—so easily. Ner was delighted and dumbfounded at once.

I knew he was strong. I just can't begin to guess how strong.

At this point she even wondered whether she could still do her job as his sponsor. He managed perfectly well on his own. Was she only getting in the way?

Masare was not dead, only trapped in the sealing orb, and Ner had barely sat down in relief before she had to bolt upright again. The cause was a spell Yujun cast.

Hundreds of frozen meteors slammed into the ground and blasted it to ruin. Aside from the undead at the very front, everything was wiped out. The power of it, and the scale, were immense. The sight froze Ner completely. It was not that the cold had reached her. The spectacle itself was simply too shocking.

"What…… is he a god?"

No. There was no one around her who could stage a scene like that. Not every god was strong, true enough, but Shin Yujun's might—his magic, to be precise—might as well have reached the realm of the divine. It might even have gone past it.

He might even be closing on the higher gods…….

Battles between gods were fought differently from the battles of players, of course. Even so, looking at Shin Yujun's power alone, it seemed enough to rival a god.

He isn't actually going to set his sights on a god's seat, is he?

Strength by itself was not enough to become a god. A great many conditions had to be met, and those conditions were exceedingly strict. Heaven's fortune had to favor you as well.

"And now he's off hunting again?"

Watching Shin Yujun set out without a rest in search of yet another undead host, Ner laughed as if she could not believe it. At the same time, she felt good.

How much stronger will he get here?

The undead assault had only just begun. While Mortal Players ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were still piling up Peace Contribution in sums under a hundred, Shin Yujun had already stacked hundreds of thousands. Given the size of the undead grand army, that figure was the floor.

I underestimated him.

She had watched him for so long, and still she had made that mistake.

From now on, I'll just believe in him. No conditions. I'll believe.

She decided to throw away every last doubt she held about Shin Yujun.

He is invincible. He is a god.

Ner, an actual god, thought so.

Yujun let out an excited breath.

"At this rate, I think I've really gathered about as much as there is to gather."

He had destroyed eight undead legions in all, the ones that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had struck three kingdoms and five villages. He had joined partway through, so it was hard to say he had cleared every last one of them himself, but he might as well have erased more than half of each legion alone. He had hunted above all the powerful undead in the rear, and so the Peace Contribution that came in at a stroke ran very high.

"Master, I am ever so glad to be your summon."

"Why all of a sudden?"

Yujun asked at Paranet's remark, which had come out of nowhere.

"Die as I might, I rise again and again, like some deathless thing. How shall I put it…… with resurrection waiting behind me, I can fight with that much more confidence. Thanks to it, I have even attempted techniques I would never otherwise have dared."

"And you're only realizing that now?"

"Heh heh…… Master. You saw me fighting earlier, did you not? How was I?"

"You've improved a lot. You're handling the Heavenly Demon Divine Art pretty cleanly now, too."

Yujun had let him take the Heavenly Demon Divine Art from the skill archive, and Paranet had repaid it by bringing the art to bear at exactly the right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moments and putting on a dazzling show. His movements were so nimble, so flashy, and yet so practical that even Yujun was impressed. In the beastkin kingdom, the alien sight of one colossal undead knight standing against an entire undead legion had been nothing short of spectacular.

Even so, it was nothing beside what Yujun himself had done. The number of undead he had slain belonged to another order of magnitude entirely.

Contribution's already past a million.

From some point on he had been cutting down undead day and night, and he had stopped even checking the total. Harp had worked without pause as well, loosing his Breath five times in a row, and through him Yujun understood all too clearly why people said one well-raised child was worth more than ten. Harp was a hundred men by himself. With Breath alone, he was doing more than his share.

"Next…… we should hit the village near the residential zone. It's on the larger side."

"It hasn't already fallen to the undead, has it?"

"They say the assault reached it latest of all. They probably haven't even made contact yet."

"Oho……. Your information is truly outstanding, Master."

"It's not just me. Most players probably know. There's the messenger."

Honestly, the messenger was convenient enough that he hardly felt the lack of the internet. Telasi Village was what you might call a hot spot for players. If things went badly, they could flee into the residential zone and escape the undead legion. It did not quite border the zone, but a five-minute run would get you there. All the more reason to arrive quickly and claim the ground first.

Yujun looked at Paranet.

"Shall we go to Telasi Village?"

"Yeah. I'll give you the coordinates."

Even after they reached Telasi Village, Yujun tore through the undead legion without mercy. He could have ended it with a single spell, but the village sat close against the mountain behind it, so he cut the undead down with his sword alone. Once his level had passed 800 his experience had all but stopped rising, yet Peace Contribution knew no such limit and climbed fair and steady.

And so, a day after the event began, a new message appeared.

It was a very welcome message. He had already been itching to spend the Peace Contribution piled past a million. Even so, it seemed he could not simply charge into the shop. He would have to enter the event dungeon, bring down the boss or something of the sort, and win the key. He did not yet know where the shop was, either.

It said I can go to the event dungeon anytime.

In truth, there had not been many places locked in a desperate fight with the undead. Far from hastening the Continent's ruin, the undead event was a once-in-a-lifetime windfall meant to grow its players. Setting aside the Holy Empire, where the Root of Darkness had been, the undead were nowhere near a threat that would carry things all the way to destruction. He had heard that one kingdom would vanish from the map…… but set against the scale of the event, that was a small thing.

There's no point running around for Peace Contribution anymore.

He currently held 1.13 million. Having already swept the key points, Yujun had little left to gain no matter how hard he ran about.

"Just in case—you two are over a thousand contribution, right?"

He asked Manuela and Yenil. At that, the two of them laughed as if the question were absurd.

"Obviously. We already stacked thousands back in the Holy Empire."

"Yeah? Good."

In truth, unless one was a reasonably skilled player, gathering Peace Contribution was grueling work. The whole thing had warped into a shape where the top five percent of players swallowed most of it. Manuela and Yenil certainly had the skill and the firepower to sit inside that five percent.

Yujun said quietly, "Entering the event dungeon."

He had not expected that.

"Looks like we'll have to go in separately."

"Yeah."

The event dungeon might well be dangerous. Even setting Yujun aside, it was not as if Manuela and Yenil could go in together. The three of them would each have to enter alone.