The Prey Becomes the Hunter

S.E.N monster Hecate.

A monster clad in water-hued armor, swinging four swords on four arms. She moved at a speed that made it nearly impossible for a human-sized female monster to react, and the strength in each sword-wielding arm easily outmatched that of most large-scale monsters.

And that wasn't all — she wielded elemental magic with total freedom, using it to crush her opponents under relentless pressure.

S.E.N monster Hecate, with the Fall of Saynal difficulty applied, had launched a surprise attack on the hideout where one of Lilith's avatars was lurking.

In that assault, three of Hecate's 108 avatars were wiped out in a single stroke. It had all happened so fast that no one managed a proper response. After felling three of them, Hecate vanished gracefully off to who-knew-where.

Noir Lilith, who had felt three of her avatars fall with ridiculous ease, ground her teeth.

"Hecate!"

It wasn't the real Hecate, but a monster built with Hecate as its model. That fact only infuriated Noir Lilith further.

Of all the S.E.N monsters to appear so far, Hecate was the only one — but her brief, frenzied rampage was more than enough to show people the true majesty of an "S.E.N monster."

Lilith didn't know it yet, but Noel's broadcast was filtering the Liliths themselves with monster-like designs. To the users watching, it looked like nothing more than monsters fighting monsters.

Ryu Hwi slipped past the monsters with practiced ease, heading toward each of the locations where Lilith's avatars were hiding.

Fall of Saynal was a difficulty beyond absurd, but that was when you were fighting monsters head-on. If he deliberately fled using Intuition, breaking through wasn't beyond him.

Still, using an Air Road bike would draw the aggro of everything in the sky, so he needed to stay hidden as much as possible. He did run into monsters from time to time, but one or two of them posed no real problem.

Lilith had almost certainly planned to use the Fall of Saynal difficulty to slow Ryu Hwi's progress as much as possible while gradually corrupting him with the power of "Erosion."

Thanks to the 35% mental resistance reduction of Seyril's Blessing, Ryu Hwi could hold Lilith's erosion at bay to a degree. A mere 35%, sure — but there was a world of difference between succumbing helplessly to an enemy's power and being able to resist it, even by 35%.

The placement of the S.E.N monsters, which pretended to be random, had been tuned to appear frequently near wherever Lilith was. But if no S.E.N monster ever appeared before Ryu Hwi, it might raise suspicion, so they were calibrated to show up at a reasonable frequency. Naturally, countermeasures for that had all been prepared in advance as well.

The three S.E.N monsters built by 5555 were all modeled directly on the real S.E.N members. Crowley, who commanded the power of darkness. Hecate, who commanded the power of the elements. And Loki — lacking in data, admittedly — built with a setting of spewing all manner of traps. The remaining S.E.N monsters would be updated slowly over time, once more data was gathered.

Using the location data Noel streamed to him in real time and his Intuition, Ryu Hwi located the nearest of Lilith's avatars. He had no intention of playing fair.

Ryu Hwi found the three hiding in a forest clearing. Anya Nimurs. Kuina Orgin. Limunia Setten. All of them were gamers who had been active since the old version of Yggdrasil.

As he approached them, the Erosion of Phantasia washed over Ryu Hwi like a colossal wave. It was so intense that only Seyril's Blessing let him resist it at all — a soul-seizing sensation, as if Lilith's allure had hooked deep into him.

Ryu Hwi roared, trying to shake off that feeling, and threw himself at the three.

His movements were different from usual. Those who had always watched his broadcasts and videos noticed immediately that something was wrong with him. Every motion was sloppy, wild — like a child throwing a forced tantrum. As if to resolve that very question, Noel opened her mouth.

Pierces straight into the mind. Hearing those words, the audience understood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why Ryu Hwi was acting the way he was. Lilith had looked weak when she was flattened by Hecate in an instant, but her true nature was a monster lethal to gamers.

Even for Wolya, preparing over a hundred skills from the past would have been too much, so they'd disguised it as an "event monster."

"No matter how hard you try, it's useless."

Any Lilith, the red-haired woman, attacked Ryu Hwi as she whispered in a honey-sweet voice. "Whatever you scraped together, it all comes down to a pointless struggle in the end."

Kuina Lilith, with her black hair flowing long, linked up with Anya Lilith to press in on him. "It looks like you prepared some countermeasure for mental resistance, but at best it's an imitation of a 'DQ' skill."

Finally, the towering Limunia Lilith swung her enormous halberd — larger than her own body.

It was a superb chain of attacks with no room to breathe. Ryu Hwi at full capacity would have parried this level of assault easily, but under the fierce erosion of Phantasia, even making proper judgments was a struggle.

So this is what it's like, even with the 35% reduction from Seyril's Blessing? The week of prep time wasn't wasted, that's for sure.

This was what just three of them spreading Phantasia could do. If all 108 had gathered, he would never have held out for even a moment. In fact, the reason all 108 had gathered last time had probably been to erode Ryu Hwi completely.

When that plan failed thanks to Hecate's interference and Ryu Hwi's near-self-destructive gambit, this new game board had been prepared. Not eroding him in one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gulp, but melting him down like ice cream and savoring the process — that had to be the intent.

It's not a method I like one bit, but I've got no other play right now.

Ryu Hwi surrendered his body entirely to Intuition Lv3. Unable to think clearly, even if he judged and moved for himself, he'd struggle to hold his own. But with Intuition Lv3, it was a different story. Borrowing its power, the Intuition made the judgments for him and moved his body on its own.

The problem was that, with his sense of self weakened by the "Erosion," it showed signs of burrowing not just into his flesh but into his "thinking" as well, the moment it smelled an opening.

Flailing about like it's your big chance. Stay put, Intuition!

YggON had said Intuition Lv4 would still be too much. And true to that word, Lv4 was premature.

"……?!"

"Huh?"

At the sight of Kuina Lilith getting wiped out in a single instant, Anya Lilith and Limunia Lilith panicked — and then the two reacted in starkly different ways. Anya Lilith cowered, frightened by the sudden turn of events, while Limunia Lilith charged in valiantly.

Even among the same "Lilith," there were differences from individual to individual.

Ryu Hwi lightly evaded the halberd Limunia Lilith swung and aimed the muzzle of his Shuffle Gun at her head. Even without using any cards, the Shuffle Gun alone packed plenty of punch. As if to prove it, Limunia Lilith went down to a single headshot, game over.

One remained. Anya Lilith couldn't hide her alarm. He could feel the differences between individuals in every tiny action. They were Lilith, and yet not Lilith — until now, they'd simply lived ordinary lives of their own. The "Anya Nimurs" that Anya Lilith was based on probably wasn't the sort of personality suited to being a gamer.

"Your souls are linked, so you must be watching this whole situation, right? Lilith — you're planning to calmly savor me as I erode away, I imagine……"

Ryu Hwi walked slowly toward Anya Lilith.

"But I'll show you that it's you who's being hunted, little by little."

A faint light gathered in Ryu Hwi's hand. Anya Lilith understood what that light meant, and her face drained to ash.

"Wh-what are you planning to do?!"

"An experiment. And a warning."

Right now, Anya Lilith was fully "converted into data" through Conversion. The experiment: whether he could strip away only the "Lilith" portion in that state. Intuition Lv3 couldn't cleanly isolate "Lilith" on its own, but he could sense it to a degree.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Ryu Hwi laid his hand on that part of her.

5. 4. 3. 2. 1……

"Delete."

Light seeped into Anya Lilith.

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!"

In that instant, a horrifying scream tore through the clearing. He had intended to peel off only Lilith, but it seemed the effect had bled into "Anya Nimurs" as well.

"Guess I haven't gotten the knack yet."

Ryu Hwi showed little in the way of regret. Anya Nimurs would be forcibly kicked out of the game labyrinth, never to connect again — but it hardly mattered.

"It's fine. Three tries left, so let's take our time experimenting."

Lilith, too, would have felt her soul vanish. Until now, she'd surely believed she held overwhelming superiority. But what would happen the moment she realized her own soul could be snuffed out? A shame he couldn't see that face.

"With three of them gone, the erosion's eased up a bit."

The Field spread across the entire game labyrinth was still intact, but it was enough to catch his breath.

"Then, next……"

"Ryu Hwi, 'Crowley' is going to appear in about ten seconds."

Noel warned him in a whisper meant for no one else. "You remember the countermeasure, right?"

"Yeah. I'll bolt the second it shows up, so don't you worry."

The S.E.N monsters in this event had all been deliberately given a "survival option." Otherwise, the moment Ryu Hwi crossed paths with an S.E.N monster under the Fall of Saynal difficulty, the odds of an instant game over would have been far too high.

Just as Noel had warned, the S.E.N monster Crowley revealed itself.

The surrounding darkness converged and coalesced — a monster like a shadow wearing the shape of a man. Every time it moved, chains made of shadow clattered and clanked. A monster built on the basis of the "Crowley" Ryu Hwi had once met. With the original for a template, merely looking at it soured his mood.

Crowley glanced around, and the moment it spotted Ryu Hwi, it let out a grotesque shriek and lunged.

"If I had my way, I'd take you on at my leisure — but I don't have time to deal with you right now."

In that moment, an Air Road unfurled, stretching high into the sky. The monsters in the sky were a nuisance too, but still better than tangling with Crowley.

The bike carrying Ryu Hwi rocketed skyward in an instant, vanishing toward the far end of the heavens. Crowley's shadow-chains chased after him but couldn't catch a bike with its booster engaged.

A furious shriek rang out, but Ryu Hwi ignored it and rode on. Instead, the monsters flying through the sky spotted him and dove straight in. Among them were creatures that looked like massive dragons — boss-tier monsters Yggdrasil had placed there to keep Ryu Hwi from committing "sky"-based cheats. He had a memory of carelessly unfurling an Air Road before and taking a world of hurt from those very monsters.

The moment Ryu Hwi confirmed he was out of S.E.N monster Crowley's pursuit range, he shut down the Air Road system immediately. The road running through the sky vanished, and Ryu Hwi plunged toward a densely wooded forest.

⟨Krrh?⟩

The moment Ryu Hwi's figure vanished, the monsters chasing him scrambled in confusion, scanning their surroundings. Teleported to the lake far away, Ryu Hwi watched the scene and let out a sigh.

"I know."

It was just so useful that he kept reaching for it. Ryu Hwi waited until the monsters settled down, then immediately threw himself toward the next location.

Another avatar had fallen. The number lost to S.E.N monsters alone had already surpassed ten. Noir Lilith clicked her tongue.

Losing plenty of avatars was fine — that much was no problem. The real problem was that the soul of one of the avatars who had just encountered Ryu Hwi had been completely erased.

"How dare you touch my soul……"

The 108 souls, split apart only to the extent that the existence called "Lilith" did not collapse, were linked together like a network. When one of them was destroyed, Lilith tasted a pain like her own hands and feet being torn from her body.

"But the winner here is me."

A full moon had risen. This was the hour when Lilith's power grew strongest — but that wasn't the only reason she had waited an entire week.

Finding Ryu Hwi's natural predator — the "existence" — had taken that long. Hecate had wanted to bury the "Rider-On" incident, but because of "Britra," covering it up had proven impossible. Thanks to that, Lilith had learned of the "new existence." And that it was a lethal "enemy" to Ryu Hwi.

There was little time left now. What kind of expression would Ryu Hwi make, she wondered?

"Just wait a little longer. My Phantasia will deliver to you the finest nightmare of all."

Deep beneath the abyss — in a place far beyond it — "night" writhed.