Elixir Addict

That evening, I decided to accept the sponsorship.

And this morning, I signed the contract.

Who would've thought they'd start throwing gates my way from the very day I signed?

It went without saying that I hadn't expected much from the support program — but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the first gate they'd hand me would be Rhine Island.

Rhine Island was a famously famous gate. Compared to the rewards it produced, the difficulty was laughably low, and the monsters were weak.

"Heh heh."

But that wasn't why I was grinning right now.

Rhine Island held an elixir. And not just any elixir — one that existed in a completely different league from everything I'd consumed so far.

"Just eating that alone should send my mana shooting up."

My plan for this gate wasn't really to clear it. I was moving for the elixir.

Sorry to whoever was supposed to get this later.

In my previous life, this elixir had gone to the Ice Queen. She'd eaten it and climbed a whole dimension higher in strength.

She's strong anyway. Losing a little power won't hurt her.

By now, the Ice Queen would have joined Geumgang, and the Blazing Fist Swordsman Red Hunting, most likely.

Not a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠word about them reaching me, though….

Normally, by this point in a cycle, stories came trickling in from everywhere — who awakened, who cleared what, who was climbing the rankings. Always with someone to compare yourself against.

Am I moving too alone?

I was still mulling that over when the surroundings burst into an uproar.

"Ook-keek!"

"Ook-keek-keek!"

The gleeful cackling of monkeys — Banana Monkeys, the only monsters on Rhine Island.

"Finally showing yourselves?"

Banana Monkeys used bananas as weapons. Whether out of sheer stupidity or something else, their entire attack pattern was hurling bananas in every direction.

And the bananas they throw, of course, are elixirs.

Honestly, if I ate every banana on this island, my mana would rise by at least ten points.

The banana hunt starts now.

My eyes sharpened, and I stepped into my footwork.

"C-can't eat another bite."

Elixir or not, stat gains or not, there was a limit to a human stomach. Having devoured nearly every banana on Rhine Island, my belly was a bomb on the verge of bursting.

"But this one, I have to eat."

I pulled the elixir out of my inventory.

"Well then — bon appétit."

The moment I put the flower in my mouth, a subtle sweetness spread across my tongue. I kept chewing, and beyond the sweetness, layer after layer of flavor bloomed.

Gulp.

And the instant I swallowed, the system messages began.

A single Rhine Flower carried the same effect as every banana on the entire island combined.

So that's what makes a top-tier elixir a top-tier elixir, huh?

But the messages didn't stop there.

With the message, my heart began pounding raggedly. My senses sharpened until I could feel the current of my own blood moving through my veins.

"Kgh-!"

A wave of nausea rolled up my throat like I was about to vomit, but I forced it down. And no sooner had I held on than a new message appeared.

Along with the message, an explanation of the new ability flowed into my head.

Elixir effects are doubled.

Simple and to the point — which made it all the better.

But the elixir's effects weren't finished yet. This was the reason the Ice Queen had been able to take another step forward after eating it.

Because this elixir forcibly opened one's unique skill.

A unique skill was a skill built upon one's innate characteristics — a skill that existed for one person and one person alone.

I never got one before my regression.

Unique skills only opened if an elixir forced them open, or if you fulfilled some hidden condition. Before regressing, I had been unable to find the condition, and I'd never had the money for an elixir — so the door never opened for me.

"I wonder what I'll get."

With my heart thumping, I waited for the unique skill to open.

The moment I confirmed the message, I threw open my status window.

"Opposer?"

From the name alone, I had no idea what it did.

"What is this?"

Going purely by the effect, it boosted my stats under a certain condition — and if I won on top of that, it paid out a reward.

The problem was the condition.

An "enemy of the world"? What does that even mean?

The only guesses that came to mind were demons and angels.

Could there be others?

I deliberated for a moment, then got to my feet.

I'll find out eventually once I start fighting demons anyway.

I crushed the stone standing before me.

Crash!

I leveled up at least ten times in a row.

So this is the power of a guild.

This gate had driven the lesson home with brutal clarity: every gate I'd ground through until now had been garbage.

Well, now that the sponsorship's started, might as well take everything they'll give me.

I walked straight out of the gate and hunted down the next one. Thankfully, the secretary found me a follow-up gate in no time, so I moved on without a moment's delay.

All that griping, and yet she's surprisingly helpful.

Right up until yesterday she'd made a show of disliking me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

I headed for the very next gate the secretary had booked for me. After a quick check-in with the staff member stationed at the gate, I stepped inside.

A simple quest: find the source of the pollution and destroy it. The name was new to me, but the rewards looked like they'd be decent.

Then let's go find the source.

Detection Footwork. Search.

The moment my five senses stretched outward, I could feel the state of the forest. All across it, patches of greenery were dying under an energy I couldn't name.

Grim.

As I kept expanding my perception, one presence snagged against my senses — a being radiating the very energy that was poisoning the forest from its own body.

That must be the source.

What my senses painted was the shape of an enormous hound.

"Let's take a look."

Basic Footwork. Speed.

I stepped into my footwork and headed for the heart of the contamination.

On the way there, I saw what the corruption had done. The trees were scorched, rotting even as they burned, and poison seeped up out of the ground itself.

What kind of monster pollutes things this badly?

No monster I could think of fit the bill.

After about five minutes of running, I reached the source of the blight.

"Grrrrr."

The source was sleeping soundly.

Needless to say, I was not sound.

Why is that thing here…?

If you asked which monster I'd killed more often than Baphomet before my regression, the answer was the Death Hound.

Its mere existence fouled the surrounding air and killed every plant nearby.

How did nobody notice this?

Only demonic beasts could cause contamination like this.

If I don't kill it here and now—

That was when I felt a presence behind me.

Shadow Footwork. Shadow Veil.

Even as I stepped into the footwork, my figure dissolved into the shadows, hidden from sight.

I waited, and before long a man came walking out from behind me.

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

"Huh? I could've sworn I felt a person's presence just now…."

Just as I had sensed the man, he had sensed me. He glanced around in every direction, then apparently decided it had been his imagination — he scratched his head and lost interest.

"Anyway, look at this beast, sleeping away again…."

So saying, he gazed at the Death Hound in front of him.

"Time to wake up and get moving, don't you think?"

With those words, the man stirred a familiar energy.

A dark, viscous power. One I had felt a thousand times and fought against a thousand times.

Demonic energy.

A demon!

If that Death Hound woke up and sensed his demonic energy, things would get complicated.

I stepped into my footwork at once.

Illusion-Mist Footwork. Fog Step.

"Wh-what is this?!"

Flustered by the mist that had swallowed him without warning, the man flared his demonic energy to its limit. Then he realized the fog was artificial and shouted:

"Who's there?!"

I closed in on him in silence.

And drove my fist into the demon's stomach.

THUD!

"Kugh!"

The man surged his demonic energy, trying to strike back, but his body wouldn't move properly.

"What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did you—!"

"I packed the Demon-Breaking attribute into that punch, by the way."

Demon-Breaking was an attribute I'd created specifically to fight demonic energy. It was marginal against ordinary monsters and awakened humans, but against demonic creatures and demons, it reigned supreme.

"So how about you and I have a little chat?"

With that, I looked the demon in front of me up and down.

"You trash-excuse-of-a-human—!"

Perhaps in desperation, the demon started swinging his fists wildly at me. I slipped every single blow with lazy, economical movements.

Then I packed Demon-Breaking into my fist once more and slammed it hard into his side.

"Kugh!"

The man went flying.

I walked over to him and asked:

"So, demon — why were you after this gate?"

"L-like I'd ever tell you!"

Smack!

My Demon-Breaking palm cracked across the demon's cheek.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

With every blow, his cheek swelled a little more.

"I-I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"There we go. Should've led with that."

I answered with a smile.

"We ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠targeted this gate to disrupt Geumgang's clearing squad."

It was a B-rank gate, so no official strike team would come — but as far as I knew, it saw regular use for raising support staff under Geumgang's banner.

A Death Hound, in a gate like that….

Anyone could see the target was the support corps.

"Oh, one more question."

With that, I leaned in close and asked something only demons themselves would know.

"You — which lineage of demon are you?"