When I was young and an only child, I once pestered my parents to have a younger sibling.

Whenever I did, my parents would either smile awkwardly like it was difficult, or make a sad face, and sometimes, half-jokingly, they would tell me, “Actually, you had a hidden older brother.”

「“Where is my older brother?”」

「“Your brother became a star.”」

Looking back on it now, I wonder if that wasn’t some kind of metaphor.

With a deliberately solemn expression, my father added,

「“Hakhyun. It doesn’t have to be the same blood running through your veins for someone to be family. You don’t need to attach too much meaning to blood. That too is just an illusion.”」

Looking back, it was really just a roundabout way of saying it was hard enough to raise even just me, but there was no way little me could understand something like that.

「“What kind of history connects you is more important. That alone can make you family.”」

My father’s words sounded just like one of those famous lines from a boys’ comic. So like an extra in a boys’ comic, I went, “Ooh, ooh.”

And now, more than ten years later, I was suddenly remembering my father’s famous line.

“Dokja!”

Even though I was being called not by my own name but by my brother’s, my chest swelled fiercely for a moment.

“Everyone, fall back!”

The demonfolk that had surged in were mauling the students to pieces.

At the center of it were my companions.

“Sein! Uncle Dansoo! Over here! Get over here! Ilhun! Seyeon!”

Hearing my voice, Killer King and Cha Yerin quickly joined up with the group.

“Kim Dokja. Why did the exam suddenly start?”

“When did they ever give us advance notice before starting? Just follow me!”

There were roughly a hundred demonfolk overflowing at the entrance to the forest.

If we tried to deal with them head-on right now, they would devour us without leaving even our bones behind.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Run! Run away!”

They weren’t just large in number; the ranks of the demonfolk weren’t trivial either.

At minimum, Grade-5.

Students who had lost their arms and legs were fleeing from a parade of grotesque monsters that easily looked demon viscount-class.

[You can evacuate into the ‘school’.]

I could see incarnations, screaming, running into the school. They were the ones who had been cowed by the momentum of the demons and given up on the scenario.

[If you evacuate into the ‘school’, you will be automatically eliminated from the ‘graduation exam’.]

Inside the school, Uriel and Wolong, and the ‘teachers’ including the Mass-Produced Creator, were waiting.

They would probably protect the students who had run away.

Far off, I could see Uriel watching this way. It looked like she wanted to come over immediately. But there was Plausibility holding her back, and she wouldn’t be able to go against it.

I looked back at my party.

“Let’s go into the forest.”

Normally, someone would have cried out in horror at that, but none of them groaned.

If anything, they nodded like they’d been waiting for it.

Suddenly, an old memory came to mind.

Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo, who had once struggled to catch even a single mole cricket. Cha Yerin and Killer King, who had had a hard time against the Dark Watcher.

Thud!

The fist Gyeong Sein swung smashed the head of a charging Grade-5 demonfolk.

Now that even their skill-use restrictions had been lifted, my companions were rampaging freely, pounding the demonfolk.

From afar, Gyeong Sein waved her hand.

“What are you doing! Hurry up and come, Dokja!”

If they wanted to live, they could go back to the school. Even so, not one of them stepped back.

“We’ll open a path.”

They had made their decision.

[The faction you belong to unites.]

[A new tale is beginning to sprout!]

I too stood at their side and swung my sword.

The ‘unbreaking conviction’ that Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja had left behind shone with a bright light.

[Wind’s Path], condensed at the tip of my blade, swirled, sending blades of wind scattering in all directions.

Gyaaaah!

In 『Infinite Wardens』, this ‘demonfolk flood’ situation was a kind of entry event. Once you broke through the wave of demonfolk at the entrance and entered the forest, there were few chances to face demonfolk on this scale again until you confronted the greater demonfolk.

[You have entered the ‘interior of the Forest of Demons’.]

Before long, we broke through the demonfolk forces and entered the depths of the forest.

[The scenario description has been updated!]

+

<Main Scenario #20 – Graduation>

Category: Main
Difficulty: SSS+
Clear condition: Enter the ‘source’ of the Forest of Demons and defeat the greater demonfolk, the ‘73rd Demon King’, who has descended at «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the source.
Time limit: 3 days
Reward: Fragment of the Oldest Dream, ???
Upon failure: ―

+

As expected, the scenario description had been updated.

My companions’ eyes widened as they checked the clear conditions.

“This is… it can’t be, right?”

The moment they saw the words ‘73rd Demon King’, each of them began spinning their own ominous strings of imagination.

The 73rd Demon King.

The ‘Tenth Main Scenario’ that Kim Dokja and his party had faced.

At the top floor of the Dark Castle, the party had completed the scenario by killing Kim Dokja, who had become the 73rd Demon King.

Killer King spoke up.

“It could be a scenario where we defeat an ‘already existing 73rd Demon King’, rather than one of us becoming the 73rd Demon King. In Revelation too, that was the original development.”

“That would be a relief, but…”

Would it really be a relief if that was how it went?

For a brief moment, I thought of the ‘73rd Demon King’ who would have descended at the source of the forest. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to linger in sentiment.

“We need to split into teams.”

“Here? That would be dangerous―”

“If we stick together, our survival rate will be high for a while. But in this ‘forest’, moving as a group can put us at a disadvantage.”

Cha Yerin quickly picked up on what I meant.

I sent a message to Cha Yerin via [Group Chat].

―Yerin, please take the others and move with them. There’s somewhere I need to go alone.

―Is it because of item farming.

I nodded.

―Yes. Do you remember?

―I roughly know Ma Hyeonseong’s exclusive farming route.

There were treasures buried in this forest for fighting demonfolk. Some had been buried by teachers, and some had been used by students from previous generations.

There were a total of eight item farming routes.

I was planning to choose Route A, the one with the highest difficulty.

―Please take Route B, Yerin. Do you remember the route?

―Yes. I remember.

As expected of someone with the trait ‘Literary Girl (S)’.

As long as we somehow collected the items available on Routes A and B, we stood a chance no matter what kind of demonfolk showed up as enemies.

Wasn’t that also how Ma Hyeonseong had defeated the greater demonfolk in 『Infinite Wardens』?

Right now, the ‘Forest of Demons strategy’ that Ma Hyeonseong had carried out was stored intact in my head.

―But will you be okay going alone.

―I’ll be fine. It’s my novel, after all.

It was a relief that Cha Yerin was a reader of 『Infinite Wardens』.

“I have a few items I need to farm on my own. Everyone else, follow Seyeon. We’ll meet again at the checkpoint in one hour. Seyeon will give you a detailed briefing.”

My companions seemed to think I had some brilliant idea; they kept glancing back at me as they disappeared deeper into the forest after Cha Yerin.

Cha Yerin’s Route B was one of Ma Hyeonseong’s farming routes that was relatively safe even among his various routes. If the four of them moved together, they would be safe unless they ran into a marquis-class demon.

The problem was my side.

With a wry smile, I took a ‘mana cigarette’ out of my pocket. It was one I had stolen from the stash Yu Joonghyuk had hidden on the rooftop. Once I lit it, thick smoke quickly curled up.

Staring at the slowly spreading smoke, I opened my mouth.

“Why don’t you come out now.”

Sending my group onto Route B wasn’t just about ‘item farming’.

Who knew how much time passed after I spoke.

From deep within the bushes, something flew in like it had been waiting.

It was a bomb filled with ‘poison mist’.

With a hissing sound, particles of pitch-black poison mist instantly surrounded the area.

“Get him!”

Incarnations wearing masks jumped out from all around the bushes.

A typical pattern: poison mist to inflict poison, then an ambush.

Thunk!

Half a dozen throwing weapons slammed into the spot where I had just been standing. But not a single one of them could hit me.

[You are activating the exclusive skill, ‘Smoke Human’.]

Kim Gyeongsik’s exclusive skill, [Smoke Human].

Using the cigarette smoke I had prepared in advance, I slipped out of the mist’s dispersal radius and hid myself between the bushes.

“What the hell. He was right here just now.”

There were nine incarnations in total.

The flustered bastards kept glancing all around.

Let’s see who came chasing me.

[You activate the exclusive skill, ‘Character List’!]

As soon as I activated [Character List], information about them flashed quickly before my eyes. Judging by their traits and potential, they weren’t particularly strong.

If they had anything in common, it was that all of them belonged to the same ‘faction’.

「Rats.」

I’d had a feeling since the poison mist pattern; so it was that guy again this time too.

“Find him! He’s got a ‘Kim Dokja Fragment’ as well!”

As expected, their objective for chasing me was also exactly what I’d thought.

“Gu Seonah and Ye Hyeonwoo both got strong by collecting those. If we just get rid of him and gather the fragments, we can get as strong as the Class A bastards too.”

This scenario outwardly billed itself as the ‘graduation exam’ from 『Infinite Wardens』, but what was going on underneath was a little different.

The constellations of <Twelve Zodiac>, the readers who had gathered from all over, and the Recycling Center Head― all of them knew what the ‘hidden objective’ of this scenario was.

「The core of this scenario is the collection of ‘Kim Dokja Fragments’.」

How many readers would die this time, I wondered.

[The constellation, ‘Rat Who Brings Plague’, is looking for you.]

At the constellation’s command, the students began to search for me. In the past, I would have run away, but things were different now.

I was the agent of the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.

I was now fully capable of fighting the constellations of the Five Poison Association.

“Is it this way?”

“Those damn rats moved first….”

The problem was that there was more than one faction that had come.

‘Snake Who Cuts Off Its Tail’, and even ‘Dog Who Throws Itself into Flames’.

Once the students belonging to the rats, snakes, and dogs respectively showed up, the nearby forest quickly became crowded.

“Find him! Find Kim Dokja!”

Even for someone like me now, fighting that many at once would not be easy.

There weren’t any hidden items nearby anyway, so I was thinking I should pull back around now when―

Slice.

One student’s head fell.

[Current remaining graduates: 186]

The number of remaining graduates popped up on a hologram window in the air.

[Current remaining graduates: 184]

The number of survivors was decreasing in real time.

“Wh-who’s there―”

The panicked students instinctively swung their weapons. But their blades only split the air and cut nothing.

Slice.

When the heads of three or four more fell, the terrified students began to scatter in all directions.

“U, uwaaaah! It’s him! It’s Kim Dokja!”

It wasn’t something I had done.

[Your infamy is increasing!]

The student shouting my name had his head cut off immediately afterward. The speed was so fast you could barely see it.

[Current remaining graduates: 152]

When more than thirty students were slaughtered in an instant, the chanting of constellations echoed in the air.

[The constellation, ‘Rat Who Brings Plague’, shouts to know what the hell that thing is!]

[The constellation, ‘Snake Who Cuts Off Its Tail’, spews flames of rage!]

[The constellation, ‘Dog Who Throws Itself into Flames’, rolls in the flames and protests that this isn’t what was promised!]

A being even those <Twelve Zodiac> constellations had to take a step back from.

I belatedly remembered the second floor of the ‘Twelve Zodiac Ball’.

I’d forgotten for a moment.

Besides those <Twelve Zodiac> bastards, there were other constellations who were interested in the ‘Kim Dokja Fragments’.

They were constellations who craved every story in this <Star Stream>.

[Warning. A ‘higher-grade demonfolk’ has appeared in the area!]

The Gourmet Association.

Those damn gourmet experts had joined this scenario in the guise of ‘higher-grade demonfolk’.

[None of these are even enough for a bite. I could’ve sworn there was a nice big chunk around here somewhere.]

While one higher-grade demonfolk licked the blood off its arm, another one appeared.

[Hmm? What? Did we miss it?]

[We missed it. It’s a quick one.]

The moment its gaze brushed across the surrounding bushes, a cold shiver ran down my spine.

That thing was supposed to be a ‘higher-grade demonfolk’?

No way. Even if I used all the power I had now, it was impossible to hunt even that one.

And it wasn’t just one.

Even though I knew I needed to run away immediately, my body didn’t move easily. It wasn’t because of fear or terror. It was because of the weapon held in the hand of the newly appeared higher-grade demonfolk.

[What a shame. The guy who had this spear tasted pretty good.]

In the hand of the bastard who muttered that, there was a spear of a familiar shape.

「Moon Halberd」.

It was the main weapon of the 41st-round Yu Joonghyuk.