The Elite Association
The Elite Association was a group that quietly carried out justice for the peace of the Continent. As they always had, they took the lead in cutting away anything that threatened the Continent's security, and they were among the precious few capable of interfering with the plans of the Demon God Worshipper Cult.
Everyone who belonged to the Elite Association was either a famous name or a hidden powerhouse, and by a method of verification they trusted, they screened out the Cult's spies. In truth they did not possess strength to rival the Cult, and so they could not act in the open—but to the Demon God Worshipper Cult, they were a thorn that could not be ignored.
"We ought to request his help."
"I agree."
"He is under no obligation to aid us."
"No obligation, no. But we can at least ask him to."
"Shin Yujun is a man who moves only when there is something to be gained. We have watched him a long time. Unless we can offer something he is certain to want, receiving his help is next to impossible."
Opinions splintered, but there was one thing they all wanted.
To call Shin Yujun in.
The Demon God Worshippers remained the Continent's greatest threat, yet after the Great Cataclysm the situation had shifted. A new variable had appeared: players from another world.
They were human, but their features differed subtly from the humans who had come to the Tower of Infinity first—something between elf and human, if one had to put a name to it. Had they been merely new players, there would have been nothing to fear. They were not. They had already grown somewhere else, stronger than the humans originally summoned to the Tower of Infinity, and bound more tightly together. The moment they were summoned, they gathered as one and forged a single vast organization.
The Guardians of Balance. That was the name they took.
The name did not match what followed. From the moment they showed themselves they stirred up one incident after another, and the Elite Association could not sit idle. Once word arrived that they had made contact with the Demon God Worshipper Cult, looking the other way became impossible. The Worshippers alone were headache enough. And now a powerful group from beyond this world meant to cooperate with them?
The sprout had to be cut before it grew. It might already be too late. That was why they were desperate.
"Shameful as it is to say, this is beyond what our strength alone can manage."
"I know."
"We need someone to make contact in person…. Will anyone step forward?"
The moment the president of the Elite Association spoke, a heavy silence settled over the hall.
"Tch…."
As the president clicked his tongue, one person raised a hand.
"I'll do it."
The man who had raised his hand was Borhem, vice-president of the Elite Association—a beastkin with orc blood in him, an orc's frame covered in the fur of a canine beastkin. He had never been the sort to look back once his mind was set, and he volunteered without a moment's hesitation.
"Will you be all right?"
"What is there to go wrong? He would not refuse me and then kill me, would he?"
"You never know."
"I believe that man has a good heart."
"Because he goes out of his way to kill only Demon God Worshippers?"
"The stories told of Shin Yujun do not, to my eye, portray him truly. I have not confirmed his every move, but he has done good more than once. He does not hesitate to take life. Neither has he abused the power he holds."
"And if he decides you are evil and tries to kill you?"
"Then I shall take care not to look the part."
"Good. If Borhem is the one stepping forward, I can trust it. You are not vice-president for nothing. One might even call you the bravest soul in our Elite Association."
"That's right! Even more than the president!"
The president had nothing to say to that.
Yujun, the very man who had brought down the Flying Dragon's Tower, was spending oddly leisurely days in the middle of fighting an undead legion. Piling up Peace Contribution no longer meant much. The experience event did. He had already fixed an experience talisman to his weapon and could claim an extra fifty percent experience; he was not about to let an event like this slip past.
Kills made by magic, however, did not grant that extra fifty percent, so Yujun met the undead with Sword Unity. Whenever he could, he also kept his summons, Paranet and Tapagol, from stepping in. Only what he cut down himself yielded the best return.
The trouble was that even then, his level climbed at a crawl. No surprise. He was already nearing the mid-eight hundreds. Practically stuck at 830. Another plateau, starting here? It figured. Stack the experience buffs as he might; once the gap in level itself opened too wide, large gains became hard to come by. Not as if it isn't moving at all. He was raising his proficiency in Sword Unity and picking up experience on the side. Staying was by no means a loss.
Manuela and Yenil were busy erasing undead with magic from the sky overhead. With the whole of the legion's aggro fixed on Yujun, the two of them were hunting in absurd comfort.
They had been at it for a long while in the middle of the plain, and there were unusually many eyes on them. Players from the kingdom this undead host is invading? Huddled together at a distance, they watched as if they had come to see a zoo.
In a sense, Yujun was taking from other players the chance to gather Peace Contribution, and that did not sit entirely easy. He had no thought of yielding, though. Once it feels like my level isn't rising at all, I can hand the rest over then.
Fortunately, the players were not watching his party with hostility. If anything, they looked relieved. The undead legion bound for their kingdom was unusually vast. They had prepared for everything, but had that host struck as it was, the kingdom could have faced a crisis of survival. Yujun's arrival could only be welcome.
Players as mad for experience and Peace Contribution as Yujun were, surprisingly, few. Everyone was only trying to get by, and standing against an undead legion carried far too much risk. Each undead's level was high enough that only those at the very top—or at least in the upper ranks—could face them.
I'll make this the last of it and move on. He began to wrap things up. His experience no longer seemed to be climbing, and for Manuela and Yenil, who received less of an experience benefit than he did, the hunt had stopped being efficient. Traveling at Yujun's side, the two had lost any feel for the slow work of raising their levels on a moderate number of reasonably strong monsters.
They were nearly finished with the legion when a single player came toward them at speed from far off.
Yujun checked the presence rolling off the man first. Not a Demon God Worshipper. No Worshipper had yet slipped past his senses. Come from the kingdom, then? He didn't think so. The man looked as if he had run a very long way; sand, dust, and bits of grass were caked thick over his gear.
"An orc?"
"Haha! A hybrid of orc and beastkin. First time seeing one, eh?"
At the easy words of the man strolling up, Yujun nodded without protest.
"Paranet, Tapagol. You two finish whatever's left."
"As you command!"
"Yes!"
Tapagol — Gigantification
A heavy rumble rolled across the plain. It was a sight to drag every eye.
Borhem, the player who had come looking for Yujun, let his mouth fall open.
"…Greater than what I was told."
"You would've seen it on a recording orb anyway."
"Quite so. Sharp, as expected."
"What's this about?"
Yujun asked it without loosening his guard. The man did not look like a bad sort at a glance, but in the Tower of Infinity nothing was more dangerous than judging by the surface.
"I am called Borhem. I serve as vice-president of the Elite Association."
"The Elite Association?"
"You do not know of it?"
"I've heard of it. Seen it, too."
Yujun paid steep prices to buy word of whatever happened in the Tower of Infinity. Aside from that, he also took information from a dark elf elder who loved to talk.
"Might I explain the reason I have come?"
"Keep it short."
"You know the hard labor we put in for the peace of the Continent. You will also know that the Great Cataclysm summoned new humans not long ago. They are the problem. We need your help."
Yujun kept his mouth shut and said nothing. Borhem, growing anxious, cast out a word he thought might hook him.
"It is a matter tied to the Demon God Worshippers."
"Tied to them? How?"
"The newly summoned humans formed a group called the Guardians of Balance. And we have caught signs that players of the Guardians of Balance made contact with the Cult."
"You're sure? You're not feeding me a line?"
"I am certain!"
"Stake your wrist on it?"
Borhem went still.
"Kidding."
Yujun found it hard to believe a group like the Elite Association could exist—people who did righteous work without chasing profit—but in practice they had spread a great deal of good. And now one of their players had come asking for help.
"How, exactly, do you want me to help?"
It was a favorable answer. Borhem's face brightened.
"On the day they make their second contact, we ask that you raid the place together with us."
"So what you need, in the end, is strength."
"Correct."
"Not hard. But…."
Yujun let the pause hang, then spoke again.
"I don't work for free."
"I am aware. The Elite Association will prepare a reward sufficient to satisfy you."
"I've gotten pretty hard to impress. I stopped by the Peace Contribution Shop not long ago."
"…Already?"
Yujun looked him straight in the eye.
"And you think you can still prepare something?"
Borhem's pupils wavered, plainly caught off guard.
"…I shall make the effort."
"How dangerous is this, that you're calling me?"
"The players who have newly appeared. Their force of arms is beyond imagining. The hegemony of the Continent itself may turn over."
"Hegemony of the Continent? Didn't the Demon God Worshippers already take that?"
"Officially… no."
"Fine. We'll say that's how it is. I am curious, though."
Players who had plainly existed in another dimension. Which was to say, there was a strong chance they were people of other nationalities from Earth. That stirred the question.
Summoned by what principle? From how many countries, and into how many dimensions? How many Towers of Infinity were there with a Demon God's Invasion already set upon them? Perhaps only this one. Perhaps more than anyone could count.
Yujun judged that following the Elite Association, if only to learn more, was the right decision. Even so, he did not care to decide it alone, and so he asked his companions.
"What about you two?"
"Anywhere Yujun goes is fine by me."
"I don't mind either."
Answers that made the question feel pointless. Come to think of it, the two of them had never once objected.
"I'm fine with all of it. There's just one thing that snags."
"And what would that be?"
"What if the information you got was something the Demon God Worshippers let slip on purpose? They might have dug a trap. Honestly, I don't see people that meticulous moving in a way that shows."
"…That, too, is possible, which is why we have already sent an informant ahead."
"There's no way the Cult failed to notice that informant. If they're who I think they are, they'd know and pretend they don't. And they'd use that to set the trap I just mentioned."
"Even so, we cannot merely stand and watch."
"I know. That's why I'm saying we prepare properly, and then we go."
Yujun drew a single item from his inventory.