Barbarism Was Rough and Heavy

Barbarism was rough and heavy.

Yujun gave it the lightest prod of mana, and Barbarism shoved the mana straight back, hard, as if warning him not to touch.

Did a few pokes put it in a bad mood?

He decided to treat Barbarism as a living thing. Its energy felt nothing like Chaos, and dragging it out by force seemed like a mistake he ought not to make.

Slowly, taking his time, he circled it with a thin thread of mana, tickling only at the edges. It did not take long. Barbarism, planted as immovable as a stone guardian post, began to grow curious about the mana drifting around it. The moment it started to creep, the game was over. Yujun repeated the same work several times, and then Barbarism was wholly in his grasp.

They had barely become acquainted, and already it submitted to everything he commanded. He could not, however, draw it outside his body. The instant he did, it crumbled away with a dry crackle, as if melting. Given time it would regenerate within him to match the value of five hundred, but there was no sense in wasting it on a pointless release.

As I thought. Using it the way I first imagined is the right call.

The use and the effect of Barbarism were simple. Let it dwell through the whole body, and it amplified physical ability. It did not merely raise his capabilities. The body's durability climbed sharply as well, which meant it touched both attack and defense.

Yujun spread Barbarism through every part of himself and let it take root. Once rooted, it did not so much as tremble, no matter how violently he moved.

Flash!

A single leap, and Yujun shot upward to a height that nearly brushed the clouds.

Insane...

He had not even used mana. A body reinforced by Barbarism alone had carried him this high. He had never expected to rise so far, and the height left him dizzy. Then nature took hold, and he began to drop fast.

For a moment he wondered whether he ought to slow himself. He chose to trust Barbarism instead. Some certainty he could not name told him he would not be badly hurt.

BOOM!

Yujun hit the ground with a tremendous crash, and dirt erupted on a scale that looked like a nuclear blast. The earth where his feet landed was gouged to a serious depth, yet he himself was perfectly fine. His equipment no doubt accounted for some of the defense, but he could feel, unmistakably, that his body had hardened so thoroughly the impact never even reached him.

His body itched for a fight. His Swordsmanship proficiency had climbed to a monstrous degree, and he had gained a new energy called Barbarism. He had left the barbarian's body and returned to his original state, and he had no sense at all of how much stronger he had become. The visible numbers had hardly changed, which only made him more curious.

Just then Manuela and Yenil appeared one after another, their warps complete. Paranet had been reverse-summoned when Yujun warped, and was nowhere to be seen.

"You got here first."

"Yeah. You got the key?"

"Yeah!"

"Yenil, you too?"

"I received it."

"Good."

He was relieved it was not some stingy system that withheld a key for lack of contribution.

Manuela spoke, her face bright with excitement.

"So now we just go find the Peace Shop, right?"

"That's the idea. I just don't know where it is."

"Can't you make your summon do it?"

"Paranet?"

"No. You had that guide golem. Tapagol, or whatever his name was."

"Ah. Right."

He had summoned the fellow in the Secret Library only moments ago and had not even thought to put him to use. There were no clues at all, but Tapagol might still find the place. His ability to search was that exceptional. Since the subject had come up, Yujun summoned him at once.

The Tapagol who emerged in a wash of bright light, however, was in a slightly strange state.

"..."

His body was rigid, his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes shut. Then, with a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

"What's wrong with him?"

Manuela started in alarm and moved to approach. Yujun raised a hand and stopped her.

"Wait."

"Huh?"

"Get back from there."

"Tapagol? Why?"

"I've got a bad feeling."

Just in case, he summoned Paranet. Once again the role was meat shield—no. Bone shield. The air around the fallen Tapagol was anything but ordinary. He looked ready to explode at any moment, precarious in the extreme. There had been no omen of it. That was simply how it felt.

This is probably...

He thought he knew what had done this. The tome called King of the Undying. Yujun had found even touching that book difficult, yet Tapagol had lifted it without a care and said himself that it would be fine, so Yujun had believed him. There had been a reason the item's options inspired fear. Even Tapagol, who had seemed nothing but a robot, could not move. Thick black smoke kept pouring from the lone golem.

"He doesn't seem to be in pain, though."

The book Tapagol ought to have been holding was nowhere to be found. He would not have set it down somewhere and walked away. Had it vanished after reducing him to this? Yujun came no closer. He stood where he was and watched.

The party, Manuela in particular, looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at Tapagol with open worry. Somewhere along the way they had grown fond of him. There was no change of expression and no sign of pain. He was only lying there, and yet it did not seem that time alone would set him right.

Yujun approached slowly. Touch of Healing gathered in his hand. It was the only way to help that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came to mind.

"M-Master! Is this not perilous?"

Paranet sounded uneasy as he said it.

"It's fine. He's not going to die, is he?"

The smoke pouring off Tapagol grew thicker still. Its murk was beyond any comparison with ordinary exhaust. Yujun did not hesitate. He set his hand on Tapagol's body.

The moment his fingers touched, a sharp tingle ran through them, but whether because of Touch of Healing or not, the pain vanished at once. Tapagol himself did not change at all. His eyes stayed shut, and his mouth worked as if he were resisting that black energy. Yujun kneaded him from one end of his body to the other, and Touch of Healing still would not take. If even Touch of Healing, which seemed more effective than an elixir, did nothing, there was no proper way to fix this now.

In a forest where players were almost nowhere to be seen, nearly an hour passed while they waited for Tapagol to wake. The black smoke had swollen so large that they could only watch from a distance with the rest of the party. Then Tapagol's arms and legs twitched.

Yujun, who had been watching without so much as breathing, opened his eyes wide. Tapagol rose. There seemed to be no particular change in his appearance. If one thing was different, the atmosphere had shifted a great deal. The old stiff, obedient energy was gone. He felt like a complete stranger.

Tapagol fixed his gaze on Yujun. It was the feeling of being stared at by a killer robot designed to kill nothing but humans. A chill ran through him.

"Master!"

And yet Tapagol came running, calling out in a bright, clear voice. He had no expression, so Yujun could not be certain, but somehow it seemed he was smiling.

"What happened to you? You all right?"

"Yes?"

"You were groaning in agony until a moment ago."

"I was?"

Tapagol's tone suggested he had no idea what Yujun meant.

"Yeah. You were lying there, unable to move."

"Ah. That. A certain ruffian was acting insolent, so I pinned him down before I returned. That is why."

"...A ruffian?"

"He introduced himself as the King of the Undying and attempted to swallow me. His bluster was no small thing, so I could not remain idle. I disciplined him thoroughly."

"..."

What was he even saying? Yujun could not grasp it at once. Even he, bearer of a high-grade Equanimity trait, had felt tremendous fear from a few seconds of contact. Tapagol had gone beyond merely enduring and thrashed the thing?

Is he talking about something other than what I'm thinking?

Unlike the thoroughly startled Yujun, Yenil and Manuela did not understand the situation at all.

"The King of the Undying? Do you mean Marcus, the Blood Monarch?"

"No. If it were him, I wouldn't have reacted this seriously."

Marcus was certainly formidable, but the existence Yujun had glimpsed through the tome was on an entirely different level.

"Tapagol. What exactly happened?"

"Yes?"

"Is the King of the Undying completely gone?"

"No. I could not annihilate him. I have, however, educated him so that he listens well."

"...You educated him?"

"Yes."

His manner was that of someone who had carried out a perfectly simple task as a matter of course. Yujun kept his calm and went on.

"And after that, has anything changed?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"I feel incomparably stronger than before. I believe the cause is that I absorbed roughly half of that ruffian's power."

"Absorbed it..."

Honestly, he could not believe it. Still, there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no reason for Tapagol to lie. The fellow did not even know how.

"How much stronger do you think you've gotten?"

"I cannot gauge it either."

Tapagol was a guide golem incapable of growth, but he was also a fellow whose specifications had been high from the very start, and when he gigantified he became absurdly strong. To confirm the changes the King of the Undying had wrought in him, Yujun opened the status window. The original had looked like this.

Tapagol had been level 801 from the moment of his first summon, and through all the growth Yujun had undergone since, he had not grown stronger in the slightest. Until now.

"What is this."

Yujun had been through enough to stay detached from most things, and even he could not help but freeze. Tapagol's status window had changed so much that even ever-changing fell short.

Level 999?

Was there some reason he could not pass a thousand?

Level 999 isn't the cap, is it?

Judging by the rate at which the stats had risen, it would not have been strange if he had crossed level 1,000.

And what are those question marks?

Constitution was not even displayed. It seemed to be because of the trait Super Recovery. Across the board the grades of his abilities had risen, and two new abilities had appeared besides. Most astonishing of all was the effect of the new title. Befitting a title of nothing less than Transcendent grade, the effect was no joke.

It grants lives to nearby allies...

Of course it would be a one-time thing: one extra life, once, for each person. Anything beyond that would mean resurrection without limit, and that made no sense. Even so, the effect was tremendous beyond any doubt. Granting an additional life. He had thought that the domain of the system that ran the events, and Tapagol had done that astonishing thing.

"Tapagol."

"Yes."

"Want to try gigantifying?"

"Understood."

Tapagol answered without a moment's hesitation and used Gigantification.