The Constellation Game: Laika

Even so, the fact remained: to clear the quest Research of the Dragon's Soul, I would eventually have to make my way to the Dragon Vein Zone in southern Asterion.

Which was exactly why I'd been worried.

The only entry route into the Dragon Vein Zone I knew of was a warp gate that connected from the Alterion Continent — not Asterion.

So I tried to explain, at somewhat tedious length, that I simply didn't know the way.

Then again, I don't even know where this academy or the Golden Tower is hooked up to in the first place, so what did I expect.

But to get straight to the point: my worries turned out to be for nothing. The moment the synchronization wrapped up, [Raphaël Estère's Memory] went ahead and moved me all on its own.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every quest worked this way? It would feel like an actual game. So convenient.

Apparently these gentlemen assumed I was beaming because the quest had gotten easier…….

That was not, in fact, the case.

No chance. That's what I believed, anyway.

As I mentioned earlier, quest difficulty doesn't lie.

Meaning: I refused to entertain the scandalous fantasy that an SS-rank quest would put a level ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠105 player through level-60 hunting grounds.

If anything, the monsters here would be at least level 110 to 120.

Ancient humans were strong — so naturally, ancient monsters would be too, wouldn't they?

And yet, astonishingly, my prediction was completely off the mark.

Just a little past the dungeon's entrance, the level of the very first Drako I spotted was…….

It was the exact same creature I remembered from before.

The Constellations began to riot.

There hadn't been much of an uproar when my level was temporarily adjusted to 105……. But now, it seemed they'd concluded I was about to freeload my way through the quest, and it was giving them quite the stomachache.

And yet even now, I… couldn't quite let myself relax.

There's no way it's really this easy.

Just in case, I pulled the quest window back up — and sure enough, the difficulty still read SS-rank.

"……."

So, in the spirit of a scouting run, I decided to take down one monster first.

My only weapon was a single battered wooden staff…….

Still, if a level 105 player couldn't handle a single level-62 monster, he might as well hang up his hunter's license, no?

Fwoosh!

In that spirit, I did dispatch it with ease.

But hold on a moment.

Wait, what.

It just hands out comprehension this easily?

There's no way that's possible…… is there?

No.

Absolutely not.

You clueless Constellations!

An SS rank is never the kind of difficulty you're imagining!

Whew.

Right — something does feel off… but either way, I should keep hunting for now. There wasn't exactly any other option on the table.

……And so on.

Six kills… and it hadn't even taken three minutes.

I'd hunted Drako so many times before that my body had apparently memorized their attack patterns outright.

Which meant that once I optimized things further, I could probably hunt even faster than this…….

Hmm.

At this rate, a few hours of grinding might wrap the whole quest up.

And this is really supposed to be SS-rank……?

But then, all of a sudden, a thought occurred to me.

Was it possible I'd been drowning in a persecution complex?

Maybe this level of grinding actually was worthy of a high difficulty rating?

Poor Drako friends, crushed beneath my overwhelming level and specs — dropping dead in one honest hit, over and over.

By this point there was still no sign of anything unusual, and my suspicion was starting to melt away.

So… was this it? Was it really going to let me freeload three SP?

Seriously?

Yes.

So, everything up to this point had been genuinely, truly pleasant.

If I'm being fully honest, around here I felt a twinge of conscience — or maybe I simply let myself hope, about ten percent's worth, that a bit of freeloading might actually be on the table.

But…….

Yeah. There was no way it would be that easy.

All that hope-springs-eternal up until now had been nothing but the teabagging of this villainous Laika system.

And just like that, I was aboard the express train to hell.

Dammit all.

Nobody asked you to do the math for me, thank you very much!

Every hunter guild on Earth operated an armed force that was, for all intents and purposes, a military organization.

Of course, the exercise of that force outside the Gates was strictly limited by law…… (at least, it had been in Korea).

But for the sake of protecting the mountain of interests inside the Gates, a guild's armed might wasn't a choice — it was a prerequisite.

In that sense, the military organization possessed by Silver Knights was one of the most powerful on the global stage.

Namely, the armed group known as the Four Great Knight Orders.

First Knight Order — the White Light Knights.

Second Knight Order — the Silver Wall Knights.

Third Knight Order — the Moon Shadow Knights.

Fourth Knight Order — the Red Flame Knights.

These were, in practice, the very symbol of Silver Knights' military strength…….

And they were the driving force that had made Silver Knights one of the top three guilds in all of East Asia.

Anyone in Korea working in any gate-related ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠industry could be assumed to know the guild's four great combat orders — no exceptions.

Their every move was liable to hit the news on a near-daily basis…….

Some of them received so much public attention that they were practically celebrities in their own right.

But that didn't mean all four of the Great Knight Orders enjoyed this kind of public exposure.

The Third Knight Order in particular — the one bearing the epithet Moon Shadow — was, if anything, wrapped in an airtight veil of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠secrecy.

Everything the public knew about the Moon Shadow Knights amounted to exactly this much…….

This was mysticism by design.

It had never been made public, but 'Moon Shadow' was the shadow-like unit that handled virtually every 'unofficial assignment' that came into Silver Knights.

The reasons varied, but in the end, these were jobs big and small that could never be allowed to see the light of day.

Handling all of them — that was the role of the Moon Shadow Knights, and of Kang Do-yoon.

"Commander."

"Yes."

"You're not seriously suggesting that a single item's value… outweighs Silver Knights' very cause, are you?"

"Of course it doesn't, but……."

Because of all this, Kang Do-yoon — the Third Order's Commander — was a ranker with almost nothing known about him publicly.

Even those inside Silver Knights had little more to go on than the guess that 'he's probably a ranker approaching level 120.'

"Which is why sending Moon Shadow out personally for this… the risk is simply too great."

"And what, then? Am I to sit on my hands and wait?"

Which made Kang Do-yoon's appearance at Silver Knights HQ all the more unusual.

Even if that place was… the most heavily secured organization within headquarters itself — the direct command of Master Lee Hyunmoo.

The Arcana Headquarters, no less.

"All I'm saying is that we need a little more time."

"And if the thing slips across to North America in the meantime, there'll be no turning back. You know that as well as I do."

"You seem rather preoccupied with 'Kyle'… am I correct?"

"It's the kind of item that man couldn't help salivating over."

"Fair enough. That much is true."

A spacious, quiet conference room.

Two men sat facing each other across a black table, momentarily lost in thought.

Kang Do-yoon, Commander of the Third Knight Order, and Ryu Kang-min, First Team Leader of Arcana, held each other's gaze as they slowly sipped their tea.

They were, at this very moment, discussing matters so clandestine that even Silver Knights' own ranks must never hear of them.

"If you do intend to move personally, I take it you have a particular plan in mind?"

"The Moon Shadow way. Anything more elaborate would only complicate the situation."

"The Master will never permit it."

"Which is why I'm asking you, Team Leader, to persuade him—"

Justice — the very symbol of Silver Knights.

What they were contemplating now violated it completely…….

And yet it was the kind of deed that someone, at least, believed was being done 'for the greater good'.

That was the nature of the conversation the two men were sharing — though perhaps it was, in truth, a touch too personal for such lofty framing.

"That is beyond my authority."

"Team Leader—!"

"Although… since you've come this far……."

"……?"

"Allow me to offer a small glimpse of the plan Arcana has in hand."

At Kang-min's covert words, Do-yoon's upper body leaned forward almost against his will.

"First, as to where things stand……."

Pausing for a beat, Kang-min continued.

"For starters, the information has already been leaked to Duskport. Two days ago, give or take."

"You didn't—!"

"Ah — of course, by no means the complete information. We're hardly careless enough for that, now are we."

Kang-min's voice dropped to an even deeper hush, and Do-yoon waited in silence for what came next.

"In any case, now that the information has changed hands… Duskport's scavengers will covet 'that item'."

"Naturally."

"And in going after it… they will, without question, end up murdering an innocent player. It's simply what such men do."

"……!"

Something clicked, and Do-yoon's eyes widened slightly. Kang-min smiled at the sight.

"And then, suppose Moon Shadow were to hunt down those criminals and pass judgment upon them."

The corner of Kang-min's mouth curled upward, just slightly.

"Well? At this point, I trust you can… see the picture taking shape, can't you?"