The Great Berserker's Armor

Yujun stripped off the Frenzy armor set and equipped every item he had just taken out.

The material was thinner than the Frenzy set, and his body felt lighter for it.

The Great Berserker set. The drawbacks are obvious, but the effects are just as outrageous.

Back when he had played War of the Gods, putting this armor on sometimes ended in the ugly mishap of his character turning on his own allies. The player could not even control the character with any ease. With the Equanimity trait, it was different. S-rank Equanimity erased every harmful effect that touched the mind.

Right now, I don't have anything better than this.

That was precisely why he had chosen the Great Berserker set, a suit whose strengths and flaws split so cleanly. His preparations were finished. He made for the battlefield, where a savage fight was already underway.

"Aaaagh!"

"Kill them! Kill them! Kill every last one!"

"Calm down. Don't get worked up. If we're going to use them as sacrifices, they have to be alive first."

The expedition's numbers had dropped sharply. The demons, by contrast, had thinned some, yet they hardly looked much different from the start.

Paranet... is over there.

Even ringed by demons, the fellow stood out. He was simply that enormous. Paranet was fighting for all he was worth, but he could not easily seize the advantage against demons piling onto him several at a time. In truth, holding out even that well was remarkable. The other members of the expedition were being shoved back in an ugly scramble.

Yujun watched only that far, then threw himself straight into the fight. He had reached the level he had been aiming for. All that remained was to win this battle, and for that, it mattered that as many of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the expedition as possible stayed alive.

Reaching the point he had marked, Yujun struck the foremost demon first.

The blade bit home. The demon died without even managing a reaction.

Yujun swung again at the two demons rushing in. One read the attack and slipped aside, but the other's chest was opened, and he died where he stood.

His level climbed again. A smile touched the corner of Yujun's mouth, and he began to slaughter the demons.

It was slaughter in the literal sense. Every time he moved, another demon crumpled. His swordsmanship now verged on the divine, and the demons never understood why they were dying—not even in the instant of death.

With his accessories and armor swapped, Yujun had become an entirely different man. He swept his enemies away before their attacks could so much as reach him, and the spells that came flying now and then could hardly do him any real harm.

"What is that guy? Why is he so strong?"

"Kill him first!"

Every demon's eyes locked onto Yujun. Because of that, the expedition members who had been driven to every side of the field survived.

Yujun did not stop swinging. Demons swarmed him in great numbers, and still they could not stop him. He was not even using skills against them, so he did not tire easily either.

The demons realized, belatedly, that the fight was turning stranger and stranger.

"We should call him, shouldn't we?"

"Isn't he in the middle of the ritual? Call him now and all hell breaks loose. He might kill us."

"Does that matter right now? We're the ones about to die."

"What even is that monster? Is he really human? I've never heard of a player like that."

The demons Yujun had killed by himself already numbered past sixty, and the count was still climbing in real time. Three who charged in rashly lost their lives at a single stroke. Another, drawing up mana to cast a curse, had his neck taken by Yujun before he ever noticed the man had closed in. A demon fleeing with his back turned died as well, a sword driven into the back of his skull.

Faced with a sight they could hardly believe even while watching it, the expedition members gaped as one.

"......He's that strong?"

"That's the human who joined late, right?"

"The one Palchio brought?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Can a human even be that strong?"

"Right......? Even the ones they call top rankers weren't like that."

"What if a dragon got bored and turned into a human for fun?"

"Oh, come on. No way......"

Before long, the demons Yujun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had killed numbered over a hundred. A level 300 demon came, and a level 400 after that, and the result was the same.

"Guhk!"

"Agh!"

They died to a single blow. It was difficult to believe he was a level 200 player at all.

A few demons slipped out of the battlefield in secret, going to fetch a superior demon who could put an end to the crisis.

"Lord Solein!"

"What is it."

Solein, the superior demon in the midst of conducting the ritual, furrowed his brow.

"Don't you know this is a critical stage? I told you plainly not to come looking for me for a while."

"Th-that's...... the Inter-Species Coalition has pushed in right up to our doorstep."

"......What? With the strength I assessed, they shouldn't have stood a chance."

"You're right! But...... one human is the problem. He's rampaging alone, and no one can stop him!"

"A human?"

"Yes!"

"Don't tell me...... the Sword God came?"

"It wasn't Dokgo Minsu."

"Then who?"

"......I don't know. I feel like I've seen him somewhere, but don't all human faces look the same?"

"Is this really something I have to handle myself?"

"I'm sorry."

"Tsk."

Solein clicked his tongue and rose.

"Humans. If a top ranker has come, it can't be helped. Strange, though. Those so-called rankers ought to be hiding their strength from the other species...... and he's taken their side?"

He had been muttering to himself when his eyes went wide.

"Are they finally moving in earnest? Or is there a human among the sacrifices?"

He could not tell which it was. One thing, however, was certain. If one of those rankers had come, he could not rest entirely easy either. Solein prayed it was not that.

"The ritual will have to wait a little. You stay here and guard this place."

"Yes. Understood."

Solein spared a glance for the player sacrifices—hundreds of them—and left.

Perhaps the relatively strong demons were already dead. The pace of his level gains had slowed to something he could actually notice. A moment ago, the level-up messages had come thick enough to blind him. Yujun was not disappointed. His present strength was simply beyond what he had expected.

Well. I plastered myself in Legendary-grade gear. This much is only right.

Even those precious accessories were Legendary, every one of them.

The demons had dwindled badly. A rough count put fewer than fifty still standing. The expedition's strength, by contrast, was the same as it had been in the middle of the battle. After Yujun joined the fight, almost no one else had died. The advantage had swung so far that the expedition could now wipe the demons out with ease even without him.

"F-for now, retreat!"

"Once the ritual is over, everything will be resolved!"

What demons remained began to flee. The exhausted expedition had no strength left to chase them. Instead, the members erupted in cheers.

"We won!"

"W-we're alive! We're alive!"

Yujun smiled as well, tasting the joy of victory. He did not let his guard down.

We still don't know why the demons were gathered here...... They seemed to be preparing something.

He had to find out what. Left as it was, the whole thing felt ominous.

People were coming toward him. His party.

"So there was a reason you said you'd go off on your own."

"You're alive."

"Of course. Who do you think I am? Jortain, strongest of the Join."

"I'm glad you're all safe."

"Well, if you hadn't shown up halfway through, who knows what would have become of us. Thank you. That summon of yours was a great help, too. To put it a little grandly, there isn't a warrior alive who's worth a hundred men the way he is."

"We lived because of you!"

"Thank you!"

The lizardman twins added their thanks as well. Cain came up smiling.

"Just as I heard from my son."

"......What?"

How on earth had Stelln described him? The gap between his strength then and his strength now was enormous.

"This isn't over. We have to go after the demons."

"We do."

Cain nodded.

"I'll go on ahead. I don't think we should give them time."

"Right. We'll be right behind you."

The party had seen more than enough of what Yujun could do, so they did not try to stop him from going alone. They could not have stopped him anyway.

Yujun kicked off the ground and followed the demons' trail. They had fled in a panic and left footprints behind, so keeping after them was not especially difficult.

It happened in the middle of that pursuit. A sharp killing intent lanced across his senses, and Yujun hurled himself aside. The spear that came flying missed him and punched into the earth.

The impact cracked like thunder.

"Good instincts."

A demon had appeared behind him. Only one.

"A superior demon?"

"Correct."

"Aren't you a little late? I already killed nearly all of your demons."

"A few hundred dead is nothing. The Demon Realm has kin in the hundreds of thousands."

"So? Why were you lot gathered here?"

Yujun asked what he wanted to know first. The superior demon Solein held his gaze for a long moment, then spoke.

"Hmm...... You came knowing nothing, I see. Then I have no reason to tell you."

Solein wrenched the spear from the ground and charged.

Fast.

The superior demon was quicker than anyone Yujun had seen until now—quick enough that the eyes could barely follow. He did not panic. His senses were keen, and those senses caught the demon's presence. Yujun looked up and drove his sword straight out. The blade met Solein's spear as it came crashing down from above.

The clash rang out like a detonation. In that instant, Solein's eyes flew wide.

"W-wait?"

For the first time, the superior demon Solein sounded shaken. The spear that had met Yujun's sword had shattered to pieces.