Solein Couldn't Hide His Shock
Solein couldn't hide how rattled he was.
And no wonder. His Legendary spear had shattered—in a single clash.
"Y-you... what the hell did you just do?"
"What?"
"My spear isn't weak enough to break against some piece of junk like that."
"This? This sword's Legendary too. Or are you just that weak?"
Yujun said it with a sneer, and Solein's face flushed red, then went pale.
From Solein's side of it, the outrage was fair enough. That spear was the Spear of the Blue Dragon, a Legendary weapon locked behind a level 400 requirement. Its options and attack power sat near the top of the tier, and no small number of spear users favored it. But a fine weapon alone never decided a fight. The higher one's level and stats climbed, the more the performance of weapons, armor, and accessories split victory from defeat.
Decent weapon. The armor's a bit lacking, though.
Solein was wearing Heroic and Rare armor, and even that sat below his own level. Far beneath the Spear of the Blue Dragon.
"Got another weapon?"
"Th-that was luck. This time will be different."
Solein drew another Legendary spear from his inventory. This one was Legendary as well, though capped at level 330.
And once more, the weapons collided.
KWAANG! CRACK!
The result was no different. If anything, Solein's spear shattered even more miserably than before.
"......"
Yujun swung at the dumbfounded demon. Solein twisted to dodge, but the blade changed its arc and sheared across his chest.
WHOOSH! SLASH!
"Ghk!"
The cut had bitten deep. Solein clutched his chest and scrambled backward, and Yujun advanced on him at an unhurried pace.
"I let you live just now."
"...What?"
"I've got questions."
"Keh heh... Human. Do you even know who I am?"
"A greater demon."
"I am Solein! Speak my name in the Demon Realm and anyone will know it. I live by honor, and I die by honor. I have nothing to say to the likes of you."
"You'll talk soon enough."
Yujun stood before Solein, who was bleeding freely, and began driving the sword into his arms and legs.
THUNK! THUNK!
"AAAAAGH!"
Even a greater demon felt pain. If anything, they felt it more keenly—the sharper the senses, the sharper the suffering.
"You think I'll break under this and spill anything?! Not a chance!"
Solein roared. Pain hadn't been the point, so Yujun stopped there.
"Answer what I ask, and I'll let you live."
"No! I'd rather die! And I will not trust a human."
He sounded far more like a child than he had when he'd first appeared.
Without a word, Yujun gathered the shattered fragments of the Spear of the Blue Dragon into a single pile.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Answer my questions, and I'll fix your weapon."
"How? Are you some master smith?"
Yujun opened his inventory and drew out something shaped like a toolbox.
"That's..."
An Equipment Item Repair Kit.
"What is that?"
Solein stared at the kit as if he'd never seen one, which made sense. The kit didn't exist in the Tower of Infinity as it stood. It was an item you could only obtain by paying in the game, so of course he wouldn't know it.
"See for yourself."
Yujun tossed him the kit. Solein checked its options, and his eyes went wide.
"Something like this is possible...? From a mere item?"
"I'll give it to you. All you have to do is tell me the truth."
"......"
Solein swallowed hard. His eyes wavered more than they had when his life was on the line.
As expected.
Yujun had tried this approach precisely because Solein was so conspicuously well armed and poorly armored.
"F-fine. What do you want to know?"
Solein finally dropped his stubbornness.
"Tell me everything connected to this. For the record, I can tell whether you're lying. If even one thing turns out false, you don't get the repair kit. Ever."
"......"
Solein's gaze wavered again.
"You can tell truth from lies? I don't believe it."
"Then that's your loss. You've felt it yourself—I've got rare items to spare. The thing that shattered your weapon in one hit was one of my secret items, too."
"A-all right. I won't mix in a single lie."
Naive, for all that bluster.
With that thought, Yujun crouched in front of him.
"Go on."
"...It's rather long. Should I summarize?"
"No. Length doesn't matter."
"I-is that so. Very well. Nngh..."
Solein groaned under the pain wracking his whole body, then opened his mouth again.
What came out was outrageous. The demons had planned to offer players of various races—humans included—as sacrifices to summon a Demon King, or something on that level. Offering players as ritual sacrifices, he said, accumulated a tremendous amount of energy.
Figures...
Once the Demon King descended, they meant to swallow the Continent whole. Solein said as much, then looked Yujun straight in the eye.
"Now you'll give me the repair kit?"
"Not yet. I've got more questions."
"What?"
"Where did you get the sacrifices? You and the other demons only crossed over to the Continent recently."
"......"
At that, Solein visibly flinched.
"Ugh... that..."
"If you don't tell me properly here, everything you just said is void. You fine with that?"
Yujun shoved the kit in front of his face and pressed him.
"There was a player who cooperated with us."
"A player? What kind of player?"
"A human. A human, same as you."
"...A human?"
Yujun fell silent for a moment. The sacrifices were supposed to include humans. And the one who had provided them was a human too?
Then again, if they'll enslave their own kind, why would sacrifices be impossible?
Solein didn't seem to be lying.
"Do you know who he is?"
"...Yes."
"Tell me."
"He is not someone you can handle. Should a sense of justice blind you—"
"You're in no position to say that."
"Ji Gyutae. A human by that name."
"Ji Gyutae?"
A name he'd heard somewhere.
"You must know it. He's one of those so-called top rankers. Even among them, he seemed rather famous."
"Ah..."
The rest of it brought the memory up. Ji Gyutae... the one they call the Saint?
People said no human was the same inside as out. Was Ji Gyutae exactly that sort of man? Judging from a demon's word alone wasn't wise, but Solein didn't seem to be lying.
Yujun sat with the thought in silence for a while.
"Hey. Where are the sacrifices?"
"My subordinate should be guarding them. Now will you give it to me? I've told you everything I know."
"Sure."
Yujun made as if to hand over the repair kit—and thrust out the sword in his right hand.
THWCK!
The blade punched through Solein's throat.
"Ghk!"
And so the greater demon Solein died.
No need to keep a promise made to a demon.
Blinded by the repair kit Yujun had held out, Solein had spilled everything, and met a wretched end.
Strength, Agility, and Constitution each increase by 10.
Using the repair kit on the Spear of the Blue Dragon would be a waste, anyway.
A repair kit only meant something on Mythic gear, at the very least. Even for Yujun, the kit was precious. Still, the reward was excessive for killing a single greater demon.
Another Rainbow Sticker.
He hadn't expected another Impossible Achievement. How many times had he been judged for one in the past month alone?
Even so, I'll save them.
He had plenty of broken items. He was only short on level. The more Rainbow Stickers he had, the better he could actually put those items to use.
Yujun distributed the stat points that had already piled past one hundred and fifty, then headed for where the sacrificial players were being held. They weren't far from where he'd killed the greater demon.
"Hey!"
"P-please, help us!"
Hundreds of players were bound tight in blue thread. Every race was represented, and every one of them was skin and bones—pitiful to look at.
"Quiet, you lot!"
A demon burst out of a shabby tent. It was the one Solein had ordered to guard this place. He glanced around, locked eyes with Yujun, and went rigid.
"Y-you..."
"Yeah. Me."
Yujun didn't hesitate. He closed the distance in a single stride and swung. The terrified demon never managed a single act of resistance before his head came off.
The players, unable to move, rejoiced.
Yujun went to them and began cutting the threads of mana that bound their bodies. There were so many that freeing them all took ages.
"I don't know who you are, but thank you—truly!"
"You're my savior..."
The players poured out their gratitude. Looking them over, Yujun noticed something odd. Most of them had slave crests drawn on their necks.
Almost all of them former slaves.
The Tower of Infinity had a great many slaves. In nations far from the residential zones, they were even traded legally. Perhaps that was why so many of them simply stood there, dazed and bleak, even after the bindings came off.
Yujun took them back toward the expedition. It happened to be advancing in his direction, so they met quickly.
"Yujun! You're safe!"
"Yes."
Once again, Jorteng was the first to welcome him.
"Gave me a fright, I tell you. There was a greater demon's corpse on the way here."
"You could tell it was a greater demon even dead?"
"The clothes give it away."
"Ah..."
"And who are all those people behind you?"
"It's a long story... The demons meant to use them as sacrifices to summon the Demon King."
"...The Demon King?"
"Yes."
"I had a feeling it might be something like that. They really were about to do something insane."
"Yujun! You killed the greater demon, right?"
"Obviously! Anyone can see it was you."
The lizardman brothers. He simply nodded. This wasn't the time.
Yujun ignored the endless handshake requests from the expedition members and went to Palchio, who led them.
"The gem, please."
He said it without preamble.
"You're in quite a hurry."
"You said you'd give it to me."
"Of course I will. If anything, I'm sorry I can't give you more."
"Oh, then give me more. Gems."
"...I'd need the stock for that. For now, I intend to push for additional compensation on your behalf. There are plenty of witnesses to your feats, and we recorded them on a recording orb beforehand, so you needn't worry about the reward."
"Thorough. I like it."
Yujun smiled, satisfied.
"It isn't really my place to say this, but without me, this expedition would have failed. You know that, right?"
"Yes, yes. Of course. Everyone knows it."
That was when a player approached him. A familiar face.
"Um, Mr. Yujun. Do you remember me?"
Recognizing her, Yujun's eyes went wide.
It was Kim Heeyeon.