There Was a Problem
There was a problem.
The expedition had gathered on the twenty-first floor of the Tower of Infinity. Yujun, meanwhile, had only cleared as far as the fourteenth. Now that he had reached the fifteenth, he had no way to get to them.
"You could have told me it was the twenty-first floor."
"......"
Palchio, the orc sent by the Alliance, looked utterly dumbfounded.
"I mean... why are you still on the fifteenth floor?"
"Why are you asking me? It just ended up this way. I climbed properly the whole time, matching my level."
"And that level... is what, exactly?"
They would see it the moment they formed a party anyway.
"198."
"......Ha."
For a long while, the orc couldn't climb out of his shock.
"I knew your level was low. I just thought the talk was a little exaggerated. Level isn't everything, I'll grant you, but it's still what affects combat power the most."
"A very sound observation."
"And yet every one of those rumors was true."
"......"
Yujun said nothing at all.
Palchio pressed on.
"Well, that isn't the problem. Low level or not, your skill is beyond question. The problem is that the demons, and the expedition, are both gathered on the twenty-first floor."
"Truly... a shame."
Yujun said it as if the matter belonged to someone else, and one of Palchio's eyes twitched.
"You seem remarkably untroubled, for all that."
"I'll wrap it up and be right back."
"Sorry? Wrap what up?"
"The trials."
Palchio tilted his head.
He hadn't caught the meaning all at once.
Yujun set a hand on the stone statue, and in the next instant he was gone completely.
"Don't tell me he just..."
Palchio muttered, looking lost.
"He's going to clear every trial through the twentieth floor and come back?"
Say something that makes sense.
Come on, old man.
Yujun had neither lied nor exaggerated in the slightest.
In well under thirty minutes, he appeared again.
"Let's go."
"......To the twenty-first floor?"
"Yes."
"You cleared all of that just now?"
"Yes. You said we were short on time. Are we going or not?"
"Hah. We're going. Let's go."
Palchio had weathered every kind of madness the Continent could offer, but he had never been as thrown as he was today.
"It's a relief, but..."
"Yes?"
"No. It's nothing."
"How much farther?"
At Yujun's question, Palchio scratched his head.
"From here, another five hours of running."
"Without mounts?"
"We're faster than horses, aren't we? And we don't tire easily. It shouldn't be hard for you either."
"That's true."
If anything, it was Palchio who began to look a little strained. He was the one matching Yujun's pace.
"Ha... honestly."
"What's wrong?"
"Do you know what level I am?"
"What level?"
"390."
"......That's high."
"If you're the one who's surprised, where does that leave me?"
"Huh?"
"My level is more than double yours, and I'm the one who's winded. Ah, this is bad for my pride. Let's stop talking."
Palchio had an orc's face, but nothing else about him felt like an orc.
He dragged in a rough breath.
"......"
Watching him, Yujun thought, My stats really are high.
He hadn't truly felt it himself until now. Seeing Palchio made it real. So many of his effects raised every stat by a percentage—was that why the gap had grown this wide?
Yujun and Palchio ran on without a single rest.
"W-we're here!"
Palchio shouted, utterly spent.
"There's nothing here."
"The building is hidden behind a magic circle, so it doesn't stand out."
"Ohh..."
So that was possible. There was no end to the strange magic in this place; he decided to take it in stride.
"Then how do we get in?"
"I just let them know I've arrived."
"Oh? Is there some special method?"
"I call them on messenger."
"......"
Messenger. Wasn't that a bit broken? For people supposedly trapped in the Tower of Infinity, things didn't seem all that different from the modern world.
Just then, whether because Palchio had sent the message or not, a small vibration rose directly in front of them.
A low hum. A tremor spreading fine through the air.
And suddenly an enormous building stood before Yujun's eyes.
"Well? Easy, isn't it?"
"No need for a doorbell."
"Messenger is wonderful like that."
Palchio joked as he stepped into the mansion, and Yujun followed him quietly inside.
"The entire expedition is gathered here?"
"That's right. We're about to go to war with the demons, so everyone's been summoned."
"So I was nearly the last to arrive."
"Yes. Exactly. I'll show you to a room, so rest a little. They'll call you again soon enough anyway."
"Understood."
Shown to his room, Yujun threw himself onto the plush bed. Lying down like this didn't actually do him much good. His body had long since left the human range, and fatigue rarely built up in the first place.
The room the Alliance had provided was comfortable. Yujun stared up at the brightly lit ceiling and sank into thought. Lying in a room luxurious enough to belong on Earth left him with a strange sense of dissonance.
Science hasn't advanced an inch here, and yet they have everything. A little uncanny.
It was probably the magic. Even before the Koreans entered the Tower, the other races had already maintained a high civilization through magic alone.
......Do I want to go back to Earth?
He did. But what if every ability he possessed vanished as if it had never been? Carrying his inventory over intact had been an enormous privilege, and that privilege had made him strong. The thought gave him pause.
Damn it. I don't even know whether I can return to Earth...
Dwelling on it now was meaningless.
About twenty minutes after Yujun had lain there with his eyes open, a knock came at the door.
"Mr. Shin Yujun. It's time for the assembly."
"Yes."
So it was finally time. A faint tension mixed with the eager smile that touched his mouth.
This is my chance to pile on the levels.
The experience from killing demons was incomparable to what came from other races or monsters.
His first meeting with the expedition.
Most of what he saw were common races—elves, dark elves, orcs. There were dwarves and birdkin as well, and he spotted about three of the massive trolls.
I'm the only human.
Of course. This was the Interspecies Alliance's expedition. Naturally, every eye in the room fixed on Yujun, and the noise rose at once.
"A human?"
"Palchio's gone and caused trouble."
"Wasn't there a lot of opposition to calling in a human?"
"No. I know him. That's the human from the Species Tournament. His skill is guaranteed."
"The Species Tournament? That's something only greenhorns enter."
The members gathered here were high in both level and caliber, which was why the words Species Tournament drew little reaction. They were people about to fight demons; few of them had paid much attention to a tournament broadcast live.
Palchio stepped forward.
"All right, that's enough talk. Don't worry. His ability is certain."
"He isn't even a member of the Alliance, is he? If something goes wrong, how do you intend to take responsibility?"
"The chairman and five councilors approved this. And that's not all. If anything, they were the ones who pushed it through."
"I-is that so? Ahem."
"So the human over there is some kind of prospect?"
"He's past the prospect stage. I watched the Species Tournament from start to finish, and he was the only one who stood out. He looked stronger than the ones they call rankers among the human players."
"......That strong?"
"Palchio's no idiot. He wouldn't have brought him if he weren't of that caliber."
"Hmm..."
Some watched him with open doubt. Others looked on with expectation. None of those gazes mattered to Yujun. He was wholly occupied inspecting the expedition's equipment.
Oh, that's level 400 gear? That stuff is incredibly hard to get. How in the world did they get their hands on level 400 Legendary equipment?
Wait... who's the one wearing level 200 gear? His level looks high. Bad at making money?
Tsk. Why is there so much equipment at Heroic grade or below? The level requirements are high, but the grades are far too low.
Aside from a few, the quality of their gear was painfully poor. The expedition members were spread fairly evenly from the low-to-mid three hundreds through the early four hundreds. By Korean standards, that was enough to call them top rankers.
Their levels are high... but the equipment is genuinely disappointing.
Then Palchio spoke.
"First, we intend to form parties of five. There are 499 of us in total, so that comes to one hundred parties. Form them as we discussed before."
Whether the groups had been arranged in advance or not, quite a few had already formed parties. Palchio came over to Yujun.
"You should party with the people over there."
In the direction he pointed stood one birdkin, one dark elf, and two lizardmen.
"Understood."
Yujun nodded and walked over to them. They seemed already acquainted; the air wasn't particularly awkward.
"Good to meet you. I'm Shin Yujun."
He offered the greeting first, and the birdkin smiled as he returned it.
"A pleasure. I'm Jortain. You've more presence in person than you did on the broadcast."
"You saw me?"
"At the Species Tournament. Watching you was a thoroughly enjoyable affair."
The two lizardmen approached in the same stride.
"Hey. I'm Simjid."
"I'm Shamjad."
"We're twins. Born the same day, the same hour."
"Let's get along on this expedition."
They were alike in looks, in manner of speech, even in the wet rattle of their voices.
"Let's."
Last was the dark elf. For a dark elf he looked quite old, and he almost certainly was. Several centuries, at the very least.
"Shin Yujun. It is a pleasure to meet you like this. I am Cain."
"Good to meet you."
"I have heard a great deal about you."
"Yes?"
"I understand you helped the Karamtan tribe."
"Ah. That."
"Stelln could not stop praising you."
"......You know Stelln?"
"He is my son."
"......Aha."
Unbelievable. If this counted as coincidence, then it was one.
"I'll be in your care."
"No—I'll be in yours."
The introductions were done.
The expedition set out with the orc Palchio at its head.
"Are the demons nearby?"
At Yujun's question, the birdkin Jortain beside him shook his head.
"If they were, we'd be in serious trouble. Their senses are exceptional. Close the distance even a little, and they'll know at once."
"I suppose so."
"Have you ever faced a demon?"
"Yes. Once."
"And you survived. Impressive."
"I got lucky."
"No. Luck alone will not see you through a demon."
The satisfied smile on Jortain's face suddenly went stiff.
"I've only just opened the party window, but... your level is 198?"
"That's right."
The two lizardmen, who had been following in silence, jumped.
"What? He's actually level 198?"
"The party window isn't displaying it wrong, is it?"
"Level 198, and he's going to fight demons? You've got to be joking."
"You're joking, right? You're joking?"
"Simjid. The System doesn't make mistakes."
"The System makes mistakes too, you know. You've all seen that Irregular, or whatever they called it."
"......"
"......"
Yujun had said it playfully, but no one played along.