Two Absolute Sealing Orbs

Two Absolute Sealing Orbs.

Two Absolute Sealing Orbs—and two beings sealed within them.

One was Masare, the Root of Darkness, who had once plunged the world into terror. The other was Blood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lord Marcus, no less infamous than she.

Many beings had passed through the sealing orbs over time, and in the end only these two remained. They were the ones Yujun himself had selected, and in their respective fields their abilities stood peerless, at the very top.

He summoned both at once.

Masare, the Root of Darkness, was an especially dangerous being, but Yujun was confident he could keep her in check. He had already won a crushing victory over her, and that was before he had grown any stronger in the event dungeon. As he was now, she could not threaten him. Marcus, thinking back to the last time he had been summoned, had been fairly cooperative, so Yujun wasn't greatly worried about him either.

The instant her seal broke, Masare put distance between herself and Yujun as fast as she could. He had no intention of letting her run. As if he had expected exactly this, he was already at her back, and he lifted her by the nape with one hand. Knowing full well how dangerous the energy pouring off her was, he immediately flung her to the ground.

"Aagh! What are you doing!"

Masare, who had never meant to resist in the first place, looked up at him through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the pain, the very picture of wounded injustice.

"I was going to pin you down properly so you wouldn't fight back."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Sorry."

Yujun apologized without a fuss. In truth, he couldn't sense the slightest will to resist from her. Marcus, for his part, was only standing well off to the side, watching.

I set the pain to the minimum for Masare. Why does it feel like her attitude fixed itself on its own?

"I'm telling you, I have no intention of talking back to you."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? Because you're way stronger."

"You weren't trying to run?"

"I was."

Masare answered honestly.

"Killing you is impossible, but running at least has a sliver of a chance."

"And you failed."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Nothing. I've hit a wall, and I need every hand I can get, so I called you."

"......A wall? What wall? You had something like that?"

"The Peace Contribution Shop...... I doubt that means anything to you. Anyway, there's something like an event shop near here, but I can't see it. It doesn't register to my senses, either."

"An event shop? You're sure it's here?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Tapagol had said so, so it couldn't be wrong. Yujun's faith in him ran that deep.

A deep furrow settled between Masare's brows.

"Shouldn't we be approaching this like solving a riddle?"

"That's why I tried grilling some meat. Didn't help."

"......What are you talking about? Why would you grill meat?"

"Because Paranet told me to. So? What's the approach you're thinking of?"

"Isn't there some kind of hint?"

"No."

"Mind if I look around a bit?"

Yujun weighed her request, then nodded.

"Wait. There's something I need to do first. Hold on."

He laid an enormous barrier across the whole of the twentieth floor. Raising its durability so drastically had cost him no small amount of time, but thanks to that, the barrier was made as perfect as a barrier could be.

"You're doing this because you think I'll run?"

"Yeah."

"......Thorough."

"Letting you loose would be the same as unleashing a plague on the Continent."

"That's a bit much."

It wasn't wrong, so Masare didn't deny it.

"Marcus."

Yujun approached the Blood Lord. Marcus received him with a faintly stiffened face.

"Do you mean to make the same request of me?"

"No. It's an order. Find it."

"......"

Marcus had no choice but to obey. The man he was seeing after so long had grown shockingly strong—far beyond their fight in the Sky Prison, of course, and far beyond the time he had been summoned in Lerltrang Forest as well. Strong enough that Marcus doubted they were even the same being.

A strength on an entirely different plane. I must never defy him.

It was not a thought befitting Blood Lord Marcus, who had always reigned above others. His thralls would have found it preposterous had they known, but there was nothing to be done. That man was a powerhouse who had stepped beyond the bounds of common sense. And so long as the Absolute Sealing Orb—the most horrific instrument of torture in all of history—rested in his hand, resistance was out of the question.

"What happened to the Lord of the Forest?"

"It has grown obedient, worthy of the long sleep into which it fell."

"Oh, good."

He remembered the Lord of the Forest as quite a powerful thing back then. It no longer seemed likely to be his match, but its enemies would be the Demon God Worshippers in any case. Powerful allies like that were worth securing while he could, against whatever lay ahead. And now that it had become one of Marcus's thralls, it would have no way to stab him in the back.

"Yenil, I've got a question."

"Out of nowhere? Speak."

It was Manuela who had called out to her.

"When the Great Cataclysm hit, a bunch of system messages showed up, didn't they?"

"They did."

"So what does the Tesila race have to do with yours?"

At Manuela's question, Yujun's ears pricked up as well.

Messages that had appeared during the Great Cataclysm.

Yenil tilted her head, as if she couldn't make sense of the question.

"Why would they have anything to do with me?"

"Because you're of the Tesla race, Yenil. The names are similar. And the Tesila seem just as adept at magic."

"......I do not know. I have never heard of them. Dark Mana itself was an unfamiliar concept to me. And did they not say this was the first time those people had set foot on this continent?"

"They didn't say it was the first time."

Yujun cut in. Yenil cleared her throat and went on.

"In any case. Similar though the pronunciation may be, we of the Tesla race do not wield Dark Mana. I cannot be certain there is no connection, of course. I speak only of what I know."

Come to think of it, the message had said players were summoned as well, and yet he still hadn't seen hide nor hair of them.

The System had no reason to lie. Nor any cause to. Which meant their numbers probably weren't all that great—and yet, one way or another, the Continent should have been thrown into chaos.

If they were players from another server...... no, from another country, then Great Cataclysm wouldn't be overselling it.

Having already met one player from Japan and one from Poland, Yujun was keeping the possibility of players from other countries well in mind.

It was then.

KRRRK! KRRK!

With a noise like the earth itself being ground apart, the entire tower began to shake. He nearly jumped out of his skin, thinking the Demon God Worshippers were bringing the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whole tower down, but the tremors soon died away, and calm returned.

"......Whoa. My heart almost stopped."

It wasn't that he feared death. Having come this far, it would simply be too galling to miss the Peace Shop. Fortunately, the tower hadn't collapsed.

"Dad! Over there!"

"Huh?"

Yujun turned toward the spot Harp was staring at, eyes round as coins. A colossal stone statue of a lion's head stood there, its mouth gaping wide. The opening was broad enough that even the massive Paranet could thrust himself inside.

"I think it wants us to go in there."

At Yujun's words, Tapagol nodded.

"That is the Peace Contribution Shop."

If he said so, it was certain. Paranet, who had been watching in silence, opened his mouth.

"Hoh. So the shop took a form like that? I find myself rather reluctant to enter."

"Since you brought it up, you go first."

"......"

"You come back to life even if you die, anyway."

"Very well. It is no difficult matter. For my master's sake, I would gladly offer up my life."

"Laying it on a bit thick—"

"And yet, what was the condition for the Peace Shop to open, I wonder? We did nothing in particular, did we?"

"True. Masare, did you do something?"

"No? I didn't do anything."

"Then I guess it just opens once enough time passes."

He was glad the Peace Contribution Shop had revealed itself before he did anything more embarrassing.

I was about to try a handstand.

The timing had saved him. Yujun let out a breath of relief.

"Then shall I enter first?"

"Go ahead."

Paranet thrust himself into the lion statue's mouth. The equipment he wore gave him a truly staggering bulk, and still he slipped in with room to spare. Once even his head had gone fully inside, he vanished without a trace.

"Master! Come quickly! It is indeed the shop!"

Paranet's voice boomed from within. Yujun peered inside, but looking at it this way, he could see nothing at all. It was simply empty.

"It should be fine to go in, right?"

"Then I'll go in first."

Masare moved to enter as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and Yujun snatched her by the nape.

"Urk!"

"Not there. You go in here."

"Ah, no......"

Yujun stuffed her into the sealing orb.

"Put me in as well."

It was Marcus, who had been watching from the side.

"What? Why do you want to go in so willingly?"

"I have no desire to be sucked in without a shred of dignity, the way that one was just now."

"......Wise."

Yujun put Marcus into the sealing orb as well. A truly courteous villain. That Marcus was close to evil was a fact that could not be denied—he had been the most famous of those imprisoned in the Sky Prison, after all.

Trusting Paranet, Yujun thrust himself into the statue's maw. There was a smooth, sliding sensation, and the world inverted around him. A mild dizziness washed over him, and as he clutched his head, he found Paranet there to greet him.

"A building stands over there. One look is enough to know it is a shop, is it not?"

"Yeah."

It couldn't be called large. It had the feel of a neighborhood shop tucked into a back alley—a single story, nothing more. There was no surrounding scenery to speak of. Everything was pitch black, and only the Peace Contribution Shop wore a different color: a dingy, sallow yellow.

Manuela and Yenil came through after them, and Tapagol entered last. Manuela clutched her head against the rising dizziness, then relaxed when she saw Yujun and Paranet.

"Let's go in."

Yujun took the lead, and the others followed. He opened the door and stepped inside, and antique furniture and old curios of a stately, old-fashioned elegance met his eyes. The interior, thick with the scent of juniper wood, was wider than he had expected.

The shop's owner, however, was nowhere to be seen. The magic lamps burned bright, and yet there was no sign of anyone at all.

"Nobody here?"

"Doesn't seem like it......"

Then a system window appeared in the air.

"Sh—"

A curse had nearly escaped him of its own accord. He was simply too happy. Exactly how much did that come to?

I swept up another undead legion on the way here, so......

"Whoa......"

It felt as if fanfare had erupted at his back.