The Barrier Nullification Orb
◈ Option: Deploys a barrier with a radius of 10 meters that nullifies any barrier spread across the surrounding area.
This was not something he would use unless he had truly run out of options. Even then, he owned only a few of the precious consumables.
The world around them convulsed. With a deep, grinding groan, rotten dead trees were ripped from the earth whole, and massive boulders went sailing through the empty air. Sand boiling up from the ground turned their vision hazy.
"Everyone, please hold on just a little longer! It'll be over soon."
"The barrier's closing in. You're just going to keep standing there?"
"It hasn't come right up to us yet, so we'll be fine."
A savage blast of sand slammed into their faces. The wandering fairy stood so unsteadily he looked ready to be blown away, and Yujun bound his body with Ancient Magic.
"Nngh...?"
"You looked like you were in danger."
"Th-thank you."
No sooner had the wandering fairy offered his thanks than his eyes flew wide and he spun around.
"Did you just use Ancient Magic?"
"How did you know?"
"The spell manifested the instant you used your mana."
"Sharp."
"You possess a remarkable ability, at any rate. There are many who don't even know Ancient Magic exists."
"You do."
"Well, I've heard a great many things."
"When can we move?"
"We can go now. Fortunately, the pressure barrier isn't drawing in any tighter."
"And the Ruler?"
"...Ah. Right."
Speak of a tiger, and it comes. Or so the saying went.
The Ruler of the 7th Layer revealed himself directly before them. He was human in shape, with an extremely lithe build, though his waist was bent at a severe angle. There was nothing remarkable about his appearance, and yet a considerable pressure rolled off him.
"Th-the Ruler..."
Terror seized the wandering fairy's face.
"Our luck is truly rotten. A barrier right at our backs, and we run into the Ruler."
Balbalnu looked ready to weep.
Yujun's expression, by contrast, was the very opposite.
Fortunately, he showed himself.
All that worry over what he would do if the Ruler never appeared had been for nothing. The thing had walked up on its own two feet. He could only be grateful.
Yujun raised his sword. More certain than Ancient Magic, in the end, was simply killing with the blade.
Having found its prey, the Ruler charged the wandering fairy without a moment's hesitation. Yujun shot forward and extended his sword, and the blade—appearing at an impeccable moment—pierced the Ruler's arm.
"Graaaagh!"
The Ruler spat a phlegm-choked scream and retreated several steps. A fairly quick reaction.
Yujun extended his sword again. Just as the Ruler made to fall back once more, he activated Rapid Advance. Closing the distance in an instant, he swung the blade in a horizontal arc, and with a clean shearing sound the Ruler's body was cut in two.
Got it!
Hunter of the Abyss was a Legendary title that could be obtained only in the Abyss, and only on the 7th Layer. He was not pleased merely because it was Legendary. It was the effect.
Attack and defense increase by 10%.
While in the Abyss, the effect is multiplied tenfold.
Even the base effect alone was an excellent option. Under one particular condition, however, that effect amplified enormously—while he was in the Abyss. At this very moment, his attack and his defense had each increased by one hundred percent.
The Ruler of the 7th Layer was powerful, yes, but also exceedingly difficult to find. The wandering fairy had called it rotten luck. For Yujun, meeting the Ruler was an extraordinary stroke of fortune.
"Huh?"
Balbalnu let out a dazed sound. He had thought they were in truly desperate straits. The instant the Ruler appeared, it was dead—finished in a single stroke by the very customer whose path he was guiding.
"Guide us."
"...Y-yes."
Still looking stunned, Balbalnu started walking again. After they had done nothing but walk for a long while, he whipped his head around.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"The Ruler."
"It showed up, so I killed it."
"...You must be incredibly strong. I had a feeling you were no ordinary person."
"Only now?"
"Anyway, I was truly shocked. Thank you."
"The path won't shift anymore, will it?"
"It should be fine for the time being."
"Good."
Following Balbalnu's guidance, they arrived at a village: Krok Village. The 7th Layer held a great many settlements, large and small, and this was one of them. Just as the wandering fairy had said, Krok Village was thoroughly ordinary. Its residents were not few, and it was not particularly hostile toward outsiders. More accurately, it simply had no interest in them.
The villagers who cultivated rare crops had a peculiar look about them.
"Yol-yol-yol. Another guest, I see."
They were relatively short, and they had no ears upon their faces. Coarse hair bristled from every part of their bodies. They were the Soyor.
"Welcome. I'm the chief of this village."
"Are there any empty rooms right now?"
The wandering fairy put the question to the chief, who smiled and nodded.
"Rooms? Always. All that's needed is money."
Balbalnu turned toward Yujun.
"My role ends here."
"You did your part."
"Thank you for earlier."
"I did it to save my own skin. That's all."
The wandering fairy, Balbalnu, departed with a smile. Now it was time to negotiate with the chief.
"How much?"
The chief ran his eyes over Yujun's equipment.
"Three million points a day."
"Three million? I was under the impression the standard fee to stay in Krok Village was one million points."
"Ahem. Heard a rumor somewhere, did you? We've had a sudden swell of guests lately, you see. Rooms are short, so I raised the price a little."
"Two million. Any higher than that, and I'll call the wandering fairy back."
Yujun was firm. The chief answered without even pausing to think.
"Very well. I'll show you to a room."
"Before that. Shouldn't you be giving me a quest?"
"I'd like to, but there's nothing suitable."
"No quest? Then make one."
"The truth is, we're in great need of players just now. An extremely dangerous task is waiting. Fully ten players are still waiting, unable even to begin."
"I'm not joining them?"
"I can put you in if you wish, but there's no telling how long you'd have to wait."
"I don't care. We can start the moment I join."
"...Then the other players will only get themselves killed for nothing."
"If that's how it is, I'll go alone."
"Are you in your right mind?"
"Just give me the quest."
"Haa... Very well."
The chief closed his eyes. And in that instant—
You have received a quest from Krok Village of the 7th Layer!
#4480. Slay the Earth Dragon
One day, an Earth Dragon appeared in Krok Village. Having claimed half the village's cultivated land, the Earth Dragon continues, even now, to spew gas in real time and contaminate the earth.
Slay or drive off the Earth Dragon, and restore stability to the village.
"An Earth Dragon?"
"Didn't I tell you? It's difficult."
"Why would an Earth Dragon come near a village?"
Its intelligence was low, and it could not use magic at all, but its innate strength was outstanding, which made it a troublesome monster to face. The Earth Dragon was a dragon that hated being seen by people.
"So this is a situation where that Earth Dragon is hard to deal with?"
"That's right. A quest already accepted can't be abandoned. Do that, and you're driven out of the Abyss."
"Then the players who came here must have been staying quite a while?"
"...So they have."
"And thanks to that, you've made a great deal of money?"
"Th-that's right."
"What about players who run out of money?"
"It's handled as debt. Fail to repay that debt, and envoys come to set them to hard labor. The wages for that labor are paid to me."
"Hoh..."
Yujun regarded the chief as if he found this interesting.
Does the chief truly want the Earth Dragon slain?
The money he took in from players staying here would be considerable. There were ten of them, no less. Those players could neither advance nor retreat; their coin was being forcibly wrung from them. Leave the village, and the pressure barrier would threaten their lives without end.
"So I've joined that line as well?"
"Hm?"
"Leave the Earth Dragon as it is, and it'll be a grave threat to the village."
"Th-that's right. A very grave matter."
"I'll resolve it."
"...By yourself?"
"Where are the other players?"
"They should be gathered somewhere, discussing the matter. Not that I expect a solution to come of it..."
"Show me to the room first."
"Very well."
Once the chief had shown him to a room, Yujun immediately set out to find the other players. That was when Paranet spoke.
"Master. I cannot help but find the chief suspicious."
"Why?"
"He is extorting money by force, is he not? And this business of an Earth Dragon sits ill with me as well."
"It's less that, and more that he turned a crisis into an opportunity. An Earth Dragon isn't the sort of thing that comes because you called it."
"Do you truly mean to go and slay the Earth Dragon?"
"I can't abandon the quest."
"An Earth Dragon is a dragon in name, at the least. Will it not prove rather difficult?"
"Better than facing Coordination."
"Ah. True enough, I suppose."
An Earth Dragon's intelligence was nothing exceptional. If anything, it was as low as a beast's. It was a fight worth taking. No—he believed he could win.
Then again, I ought to use that one skill gem I have.
The skill gem in his possession was mid-grade. Use that on EX+ Ancient Magic? It would be a waste. This was the first skill of that grade he had ever obtained, and he could not be satisfied with a mere mid-grade skill gem.
I'll think more on the gem for now. Ancient Magic is useful enough as it is.
Yujun activated Keen Senses (A). Hundreds of presences brushed against him. Among them, he found where the players were. Fortunately, they had gathered in a three-story mansion. Yujun stepped into the unguarded building, and—perhaps having felt his presence—several players came out to receive him.
"Might you be newly arrived?"
A canine beastkin was the one who spoke. Yujun nodded.
"Before I introduce myself, allow me first... to offer my condolences. You have come to a dreadful place."
"Dreadful?"
"This is a prison where all you can do is watch the living flesh stripped from your bones."
"Because of the points?"
"So you know. Because of a single Earth Dragon, the players here have already lost tens of millions of points. It would be fortune enough if it ended once they were penniless, but it turns into debt, and that's the problem. You'll be the same before long."
"Which is why I'm saying this. I intend to kill the Earth Dragon."
At Yujun's words, the players who had been watching let out hollow laughs.
"If that were something we could do, we wouldn't be sitting around like this."
"Exactly. What an optimistic person."
Yujun turned his gaze on them. Demonkin, an elf, Soyor—a variety of races gathered in one place.
"If killing the Earth Dragon is difficult, you need only leave the Abyss."
"That's even more troublesome. Do you know how we suffered to get an Abyss entry ticket..."
"The place I live is already ruined. It's become an environment where no living thing can survive."
Each of them, it seemed, had circumstances of their own.
"Then there's only one way, isn't there? The Earth Dragon. It has to die."
"You don't even know how precious a life is."
"I won't draw this out. I'm going to hunt the Earth Dragon. Anyone who's coming, follow me."
He had no intention of sitting here at his leisure and persuading them.