The Demonkin Fell in an Instant
The demonkin were wiped out in an instant. Their fatal mistake had been failing to cut Manuela and Yenil down in a single stroke—though a professor named Rayna had been at their side, and it was thanks to her that the two had held out as long as they had.
"They said you were a transfer student... Remarkable swordsmanship. Hardly what I'd expect of a mage."
There was a bit of an edge to the remark, but her face made it plain she was grateful.
It wasn't over yet. This assault by the Demon King's army could serve as a lead for clearing the event dungeon, and Yujun turned to Professor Rayna.
"What is the single most important place to protect in this academy?"
"There isn't really any such place. More than that, we have to protect the students."
"Then why did the Demon King's army attack?"
"Those demonkin from earlier were sealed decades ago, when the finest mages of our academy stepped forward and did it themselves. It's probably nothing more than revenge against the academy."
"Seals don't simply come undone with time, do they?"
"No. Of course not."
"Then someone broke them out of malice."
Rayna agreed at once, and fiercely.
"Yes! They're probably inside the academy. Most likely someone sitting in a high post."
"Anyone come to mind?"
Rayna shook her head.
"Peace has lasted far too long. Whoever it is, they wouldn't have been sloppy enough to catch the eye of a mage whose edge has gone dull. Either way, that isn't what matters. We have to stop the Demon King's army."
"Was the Demon King sealed as well?"
Rayna nodded, heavily.
"Then the Demon King will show himself too. Or he already has."
"Yes. Can you help us?"
"Of course. I'm a student of this academy too."
"No matter how I look at you, you don't exactly look like you belong here... but thank you."
Yujun put Paranet out in front. The summon was strong, and his senses were keen enough to pick out in no time where the Demon King's forces had massed. Professor Rayna insisted on coming along—her way of saying she meant to lend them her strength. And so the five of them, Yujun, Manuela, Yenil, Paranet, and Rayna, moved as one.
There was little to gain from traveling in a pack, but striking out alone where the Demon King's army swarmed was extremely dangerous. Most of the mages who had once been charged with sealing that army were long retired, and an unprepared mage was far weaker than one might think. Against soldiers who were close to masters in combat, they would be even less of a match. Professor Rayna was no exception; wandering alone, she might drop dead at any moment, anywhere.
Mages showed their true strength when gathered together, and grew fragile the moment they were cut off from the group. For them, this instant was the worst possible situation. If a student of the magic academy rather than a professor were caught in it, death was all but certain. To keep the damage to a minimum, they had to move without delay.
Kill the Demon King, and I should be able to get the key.
It was a cruel thing to think of the students already dead, but for Yujun the appearance of the Demon King's army was no setback. It was a boon. Because of it, he would clear the event dungeon all the sooner. He couldn't be certain, and yet he was convinced.
If I hadn't come to help, Manuela and Yenil might have died.
He still had no idea what kind of influence his intervention had exerted on this world.
They saved one knot of students locked in a desperate fight against the Demon King's forces.
"Th-thank you!"
"Huh? It's the transfer student."
"Oh, you're right. They did say he dressed strangely..."
Worn and exhausted, they startled at the look of the one who had come to their aid.
Come to think of it, I still haven't even been issued a uniform.
At this rate he might be expelled before they ever gave him one.
Yujun grew stronger in real time as his level climbed. All he lacked now was raw stats. His Swordsmanship already sat at a rank so high there was nowhere left for it to go, and every single point those stats rose produced a difference so stark that even Rayna, a complete stranger to the sword, could see it plainly.
"With a sword, of all things, and not even magic... I don't think he's of the Tesla race."
"He's human."
Manuela whispered it from behind.
"What? And what's that?"
"Um..."
Hard-pressed to explain, Manuela settled for something vague.
"Something like a god. Not the same thing at all, but the feeling is... similar, you could say?"
"...A god?"
It was an absurd thing to hear. And yet, watching what Yujun was actually doing, Rayna had no choice but to find it believable.
"...Why did he come to a magic academy?"
"Probably because he was worried about me."
Manuela answered with a quietly pleased little smile.
"So he's your betrothed?"
"That's not it!"
"Then the two of you are something close to lovers?"
"..."
Manuela stole a glance at Yujun, then gave a small nod.
"Oh my. Put that way, it is rather romantic."
Only Yenil, watching from behind, let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.
Hunting down the places where the Demon King's forces had gathered thickest, they drew steadily nearer the main building.
"Master, the wretches appear to be massing upon the sixth floor."
"You're sure it's the sixth?"
"Indeed!"
The sixth floor of the main building was where the headmaster's office lay.
"Do they have business with the headmaster?"
"Besides the headmaster's office, there's the Secret Library, where every sort of magical text is kept."
Yujun eyed that answer with suspicion.
"How do you know that?"
"Every professor knows. We simply lack the right of access."
"And why would the Demon King's army be after it?"
"That, I couldn't say. What I can say is that, after life itself, the Secret Library is the only place in this academy where the most important things are kept."
"Is the headmaster the only one allowed inside?"
"Yes. Even he can't come and go as he pleases, though. He has to win the consent of us professors. Only once a majority agrees is he finally permitted to enter."
"I see."
The invasion of the Demon King's army. For an event dungeon, the scale looked enormous, but in truth it was almost quaint. In the Tower of Infinity, the Demon God was already preparing an invasion of his own. The Demon King was nothing more than a single underling who followed that god.
Even Yujun could not begin to guess the extent of the Demon God's power. There was a reason the being was called a god, and a Demon God would stand considerably strong even among gods. And yet, ironically, the No-Pay Casual Gamer—whom he had never so much as met—frightened him more.
If I were him, I'd be hunting the culprit with the face of a vengeful ghost.
Taking items out of someone's inventory was that absolutely forbidden an act.
Even if I claimed the System transferred them on its own, there's no way that excuse would hold.
Judging by the caliber of the items coming over from the No-Pay Casual Gamer, the man clearly possessed a strength on an entirely different plane. That was why Yujun feared him—a threat that might arrive at any unknown moment—more than he feared the Demon God.
This event dungeon is an opportunity.
Slaying the Demon King went without saying. Before that, though, he meant to set foot in the Secret Library at least once. Honestly, he didn't expect to find anything that outstripped his own knowledge, but you never knew. There might be something he had never even conceived of. Ranks showed on the status window, yet magic could not be graded so simply. Even a spell that looked weak and inefficient had something to teach, and there might be a brilliant idea hiding in it. Toward the Secret Library—no, toward the sixth floor—Yujun's steps grew lighter.
Shhk—! Shhk!
In an instant, the heads of five soldiers of the Demon King's army parted from their bodies. It looked as though he had swung only once, and yet they died in twos and threes—a sight that left those watching from behind unable to contain their shock. Even Paranet was startled. That was how extreme it was.
This isn't the Master I was looking at only a short while ago.
It didn't seem as though he had merely grown stronger from rising stats. Paranet couldn't be certain, but the skill of the Swordsmanship itself looked as if it had grown, and conspicuously. The reason he could not be entirely sure was that his own ability fell far short of Yujun's. Still, he knew a great change had taken place.
And his eyes were not wrong. Having become a Barbarian and taken up the sword as if starting over from the very beginning, Yujun had achieved an inner growth that astonished even himself. Swordsmanship of GX Tier—an absurdly high rank. Just because that Swordsmanship had taken its place on his status window did not mean it had wholly become his. To fully internalize the power of GX Tier demanded a great deal of experience and a long span of time.
Yet this time, upon becoming a Barbarian, Yujun had fought relying on the sword alone, without the aid of items, skills, traits, or titles. That had let him pile up combat experience of a qualitatively richer kind, and it had shortened the time he needed. Nor was that all. Becoming a Barbarian had given rise to an important systemic element: Potential. A Potential that surpassed even the highest grade—the Potential to become King of the Grasslands. Wielding a sword while possessed of that, how could his growth possibly be slow?
Those elements, come together, were letting Yujun internalize GX-Tier Swordsmanship at a tremendous speed. Becoming a Barbarian. That alone had been an immense stroke of fortune for him.
He was feeling the change. More than feeling it, he was taking it like a direct blow. A rapture that had formed slowly, without his noticing, and then suddenly swelled, went wandering through his mind. Yujun read the movements of the enemies charging him, their stances and the look in their eyes—even their thoughts. Lost in the trance, he pressed ever forward without a glance behind, desperate to draw out, even a little longer, what he could feel in this moment.
It felt as though his body moved first, and thought merely followed after. And yet the tip of his sword always found either an enemy's throat or an enemy's heart. The soldiers of the Demon King's army who witnessed that overwhelming martial prowess had no choice but to be seized by terror.
From a certain point on, even Paranet lowered his sword and simply followed behind. He had the sense that trying to help would only get in the way. As Yujun's summon, he knew very well that enlightenment was storming through his master's mind. If their paths tangled and that flood of enlightenment were cut short? Paranet had no confidence he could deal with the aftermath.
The farther they went, the stronger the forces of the Demon King's army that came out to meet them—and yet, somehow, the speed at which those forces died only increased. They still fell to a single blow; that much had not changed. Even amid it all, Yujun was searching for a way to cut in faster. Not with his mind, but with his body.
The trance ended only after he reached the sixth floor and slew dozens more demonkin. The longest trance he had ever entered. Emerging from it, Yujun let out a deep breath, a satisfied smile on his face. Ordinarily the end of such a state left a pang of regret, but this time it did not. The moment he returned to himself, the feeling was so good his mind went briefly white, satisfaction overflowing.
Not a single soldier of the Demon King's army charged the Yujun who had paused as the trance broke. The army's underlings were all dead; almost nothing remained but the demonkin themselves. From here, one might have said the real fight began—and yet the army's momentum had broken, and broken far too thoroughly.
"What..."
He remembered the climb to the sixth floor only in faint fragments. Had it really been enough to terrify them like this?
With the afterglow of the trance still faintly upon him, Yujun's condition was close to its peak.