“Impossible! You four Base Elements can’t maintain yourselves unless you receive prayers from humans, right?!” (Haine)
I heard that from Yorishiro.
For the Gods, the prayers of humans should be a sweet poison. They drunk that delicacy to the point of drowning, fattened themselves with it, and not only that, they ended up unable to live without the prayers of humans.
Mother Earth Mantle is one of the four Base Elements.
If she steals the consciousness of people and makes them unable to pray, it would mean her doom.
“No need to worry, Entropy-san.” (Mantle)
Mantle answers calmly.
It feels as if she is a completely different person from the woman that was crying ‘I’m sorry’ just a moment ago.
“Grandma Wood’s second form doesn’t have such a poor making. It can assimilate humans and provide them with nourishment, along with absorbing the soul energy that is pretty similar to that of the prayer energy. We will be presenting each other with the things we both want. If I remember correctly, this is called a ‘mutualism’, right?” (Mantle)
“What are you even talking about?!” (Haine)
Mantle may call it the ultimate happiness, but there’s no way that’s the case!
Stealing the freedom of thought from the humans and leaving them in this state where they are simply alive, there’s no way that’s happiness!
“Entropy-san, I hate conflicts.” (Mantle)
“…”
“That has been the case even 1,600 years ago. The moment the Gods began fighting, I was simply scared. I thought: ‘who cares about humans, I just want the fight to be over’.” (Mantle)
Mantle wished for the fast ending of the battle, and took the side of the five Gods that had the advantage. I myself faintly understood this fact.
“But it is not as if I hate humans. They are intelligent, peaceful, and they respect a God like me. But even them, when there’s a clash in opinions, they soon enter into disputes as well. Why do people and Gods fight? That’s why I thought of this; the best way to live without conflicts.” (Mantle)
“And that is to turn humans into living corpses?!” (Haine)
“Eternal eradication of conflicts. That’s exactly the ultimate happiness! Even so, the violent Nova-san and the evil Coacervate-san would be against it and get angry, so I couldn’t find the chance to put it into practice. I…had no courage.” (Mantle)
‘But…’, is what Mantle says as she continues.
“That courage…you gave it to me, Entropy-san. You praised me for the first time! You agreed with me! That’s why I was able to hold my head high and challenge this great enterprise! I will have Grandma Wood swallow all the people that worship me, and bring them into a dream world where no conflict exists!!” (Mantle) <God damn it, Madara. So this is where you ended up!>
It is my fault?!
Did a weird switch get flipped because I told her words that are normally not told to her?!
While we were doing this, the giant tree had its roots wriggle without restraint and was capturing people one after the other. Moreover, the enemy of the people were not only Grandma Wood.
“The Golems are—!!”
“The Golems are attacking us! Everyone, get away!!”
The Earth monsters that were born from Grandma Wood, Golems.
They were originally exceptions from the monsters that attacked humans; they helped out in the livelihood of humans, and lived alongside humans. It was as if they were the friends of humans, but now, Golems have betrayed humans.
They take advantage of their big frame to grab the closest person to it, and give them to the roots of Grandma Wood.
The Golems that have been born from the earth Mother Monster are clearly the dependents of the Mother Earth God. The authority rights are higher for the God than the people.
Obeying the will of Mantle, the Golems transport the people to Grandma Wood as if they were harvesting humans. Also, as if saying they won’t be letting the people at the houses out, the door are being tightly closed.
Now that I think about it, I was told that the houses in this city are made from transformed Golems.
They are trapping the people inside until the root visits them.
Their lifestyle that relied heavily on Golems was proving to be their downfall at this moment.
“Now then, let’s all go together to the dream world. There, in exchange of receiving your soul energy, I will provide you all with unending happiness.” (Mantle)
That unending happiness you are talking about is a sleep that they won’t be waking up from!
Dark Matter gushes out from my hands.
“I will protect this place. In the meantime, hurry and run!” (Haine)
The words I said made the people of Ishtar Blaze dumbfounded for a second, but because of the fear of danger, they soon began running away.
“What’s wrong, Entropy-san? If you do that, my work will be hindered.” (Mantle)
“Obviously. I plan on getting in the way, after all.” (Haine)
It looks like the Fairy Mantle couldn’t understand those words of mine.
“I was careless. In the end, you four Base Elements all have a loose screw somewhere huh.” (Haine)
“What are you saying? Didn’t you…praise me?” (Mantle)
“And I am saying that was a mistake! Mother Earth God, Mantle! I will destroy that screwed up ideal of yours along with that giant tree!!” (Haine)
My dark matter is released.
This dark matter that holds a complete advantage against the fire, water, wind, and earth, is plenty effective against the earth Mother Monster, Grandma Wood.
But it wasn’t an effective method.
Grandma Wood had already assimilated several hundreds of people.
Even if I were to destroy it with dark matter in that state, it is absolutely impossible to achieve that without hurting the people.
I naturally couldn’t go into the desired offensive and ended up fighting a defensive battle.
Creating a wall with dark matter, it took my all to make sure the roots wouldn’t get close to the people, but my opponent is that giant tree. It can easily go around the defense line I created, and it can attack the people from anywhere.
At this rate, the situation will just gradually worsen.
I have to make a drastic countermeasure… is what I was thinking when…
“?!!! Owa?!”
I suddenly felt killing intent from my back, and an instant after I twisted my body, the blade of a giant scythe passed by there, at the place where I was before.
That was dangerous.
If I hadn’t avoided that instantly, I would have been cut in two.
The one who swung the giant scythe was a small girl.
It is the first time I have seen this girl.
I have not seen her once in my time at Ishtar Blaze. Just who is she?
“Earth hero, Gonbee Sasae!! I’ll be saving Great Pillar-sama-dasu!! Let’s gooo!!”
- 122: Too much for a hero
The hero appears at this timing?
From the looks of this small girl that called herself Gonbee Sasae, I assume she is around 12-13 years old. She is younger than any other hero I have met, and with that, makes her look less reliable than the others as well.
But I couldn’t lower my guard.
Her eyes are devoid of light after all.
“I won’t forgive you-dasu! How dare ya do this to Ishtar Blaze!!” (Sasae)
No wait. Could it be that this girl is thinking this chaos is my fault?
“So you really were the personification of the evil Dark God-dasu na! Now that it come to this, I be executing my original objective-dasu! Golem Father, Golem Mother, Golem Boy!!!” (Sasae)
Without even finishing speaking, this Sasae-chan girl began attacking me.
The giant scythe was named Seeta, and it is most likely the divine weapon that represents the Earth Church.
Compared to the ones from the heroes I have seen, this one is on a whole other level of big, and the blade that has earth divine power flowing from it was dangerous enough to cut iron with it, but it wasn’t that much of a threat.
She is able to utilize the giant scythe to a certain degree, but her wide moves were making it easy to predict and easy to evade.
Her skill level is lacking compared to the other heroes, which is fitting for her age, even so, it is currently troublesome.
Because on the other side, Grandma Wood continued capturing humans, and in the time I am being troubled with Sasae-chan, the number of people caught increases drastically.
Even so, she may be having a misunderstanding here. She is angered by her homeland being hurt.
I can’t just inconsiderately knock her out…
“Don’t run around-dasu! Get cut in half to calm down Great Pillar-sama-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Wait, you calm down! Even if you defeat me, Grandma Wood won’t stop!” (Haine)
Even when I tried to appease her, Sasae-chan was not lending me an ear at all.
“Just get defeated already-dasu! Giant Scythe Boomerang!” (Sasae)
She was probably trying to throw that giant scythe and treat it as a boomerang. But…
“Oh oa…” (Sasae)
It is a giant weapon that surpasses her height by a lot. The moment she tried to throw it, she lost balance, and the giant scythe spins rapidly at an unknown direction.
“Aaah, I messed up-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“?!! Oi, wait!!” (Haine)
At the place where the giant scythe was flying to, there’s a root of Grandma Wood. At its surface, it had already assimilated several tens of people.
If the scythe were to hit someone there—!!
“[Dark Matter, Set]!” (Haine)
I set up the Dark Matter at my hands to repulsion and fly with the recoil of it. At a speed that can catch up to that giant scythe.
“Guaaaa!”
Using myself as a bullet and hitting it with my body, I managed to strike the giant scythe before it reached the root.
But…
“Guh!!”
The intense pain running at my abdomen.
It probably hit the edge of the giant scythe; I could see a cut that ran straight through my side.
Well, I did a body blow against a big blade like that, so I should consider myself lucky that I wasn’t cut in half.
“I did it-dasu! He be an idiot that went himself to get hit-dasu! This be my chance! I’ll give the finishing blow-dasu!!” (Sasae)
Picking up the fallen giant scythe, Sasae-chan approaches me.
However, because of the pain in my body, I couldn’t stand up properly.
This is bad.
Before the giant scythe fell onto my neck—
“You IDIOT!!!”
“Ugyaaaa-su!!” (Sasae)
A big water current hit Sasae-chan and was washed away by the overwhelming water pressure.
Could this be—?!
“In Apollon City you were an incredible pain because of a misunderstanding, and yet, even here, you are rampaging with that same pattern?! What was the point of your reflection?!”
“Celestis?!” (Haine)
Why is the water hero here?!
“Long time no see~. That big wound makes you look really manly. Wait for a bit. I will close your wound by adjusting your body fluids.” (Celestis)
Saying this, she places Miki-Moses on my open wound, and then, my wound was closing at a visible speed that wouldn’t be possible with natural healing.
It can’t be called fully healed, but as expected of the Water element that possesses the most practical use out of all the elements.
“…No no, why are you here?!” (Haine)
“It is not only me. See?” (Celestis)
Is what Celestis says as she points at a direction, and I follow it.
“[Holy Light Blade]!”
“[Flame Hurricane]!”
A flash occurs from afar and fire roars.
That is without doubt…
“…Karen-san and Mirack?” (Haine)
“O’ yes.” (Celestis)
Celestis affirmed it.
“The two of them quickly judged what the situation was and went their ways. They are currently fighting to protect the residents from those roots, and are evacuating the people. The only one who plunged into the day after tomorrow without grasping the situation was you, local hero.” (Celestis)
Is what Celestis said as she grinded her fists at the temples of Sasae-chan.
“But because of my elemental affinity, I can’t fight straight on against those roots, so I got send here though. How to say it, baby-sitting the rampaging girl.” (Celestis)
Ah.
The other side is earth element after all. It would be tough for the water element Celestis.
“But why are four heroes together? What happened to the protection of your bases?” (Haine)
“About that, I want to tell you about it together with all the events that have occurred till now, but you also understand that this is not the time for that, right? I am the one who wants to do the questions here. Just what is going on, and what is it that we should be doing. Quickly tell me in detail and in a concise way; say it fast and make it easy to listen to!” (Celestis)
Don’t ask for the impossible.
- 123: Decision of the hero
“Ultimate happiness?!”
That woman’s plan…for now, I decided on leaving it as the plan of that giant tree. Putting it in a concise phrase, it would be ‘ultimate happiness’. Hearing this, Celestis and Sasae-chan froze.
Can’t be helped. It can’t be understood after all.
“The problem about this is that it doesn’t have a single shred of malicious intent about it. It is all out of goodwill. It is just that it decided this is okay for the sake of humans when it decided to take this violent action.” (Haine)
Assimilating the humans into the tree, it provides them with nourishment from inside it. In exchange, it will absorb soul energy from the tree and make them its foundation to live.
The assimilated humans will most likely be able to live forever inside the tree.
There’s no need to fight foreign enemies to protect themselves, no need to work in order to maintain themselves to live. And along with that, they won’t require to think, and won’t need emotions either.
You will be able to sleep inside the tree forever.
For it, even that is out of goodwill. It is trying to take away all the troublesome things required to live.
“What’s with that?! Don’t joke around!!” (Celestis)
Taking out the parts about me and Mantle from the explanation, the first one to straight out object was Celestis.
“You saying that just by living you will be happy?! Humans can feel happiness exactly because they think and feel, right?! Don’t go putting us on the same level as plants just growing on the ground!” (Celestis)
The anger of Celestis surpassed my expectations.
She is the hero that held doubts towards being fully devoted to being a hero and entered the bizarre route of being an idol hero.
She definitely would object more than anyone else about that logic of having their free will taken away and considering existence as ‘happiness’.
“Rascals, did you hear that?!” (Celestis)
“Yeah, the reception here is favorable.”
“It is hard to believe, but if Haine-san said it, there’s no mistake.”
?!
I heard the voice of Mirack and Karen-san, who are not supposed to be here.
“What are you getting all scared for? We are keeping in contact with the ethereal sound transmission device.” (Celestis)
There’s something as convenient as that?!
True, now that I look carefully, there’s something at the ears of Celestis?!
“The Ethereal sound transmission development is the most advanced at my Hydra Ville! At any rate, I put one vote on kicking the ass of that tree! If they stay sleeping, they won’t be able to hear my singing and they won’t be able to see my dancing either!” (Celestis)
“I also agree. Like hell I would let a damn tree decide the happiness of humans!” (Mirack)
“I also…” (Karen)
The voice of Karen-san, that can be heard from the wireless device, made a small pause and finally says this.
“I can’t accept the opinion of that tree. Humans have the right to at least think about what is it that makes them happy. What that tree is doing is a breach to that right. Once hit, opposing is a legitimate right that we have as well!!” (Karen)
As expected of heroes. Their decision making is refreshingly fast.
And within that group, only one hero was maintaining silence.
“What will you be doing, Sasae-chi?” (Celestis)
Celestis slaps the shoulders of Sasae-chan.
“This is the Earth capital, Ishtar Blaze. ‘Protect this place’, in reality, you as the earth hero should have been the first one to declare that will of yours, you know.” (Celestis)
“I…I—!!” (Sasae)
It isn’t that simple of a matter.
It is exactly because this is her homeland and she knows deeply about the people here that it is making her decision difficult.
The giant tree that is currently rampaging, just how much was it loved by the residents here? Just how unbelievable that betrayal is? It is exactly because she knows about it, that her feet are heavier.
Moreover, she is the youngest out of the current heroes. It would be fitting to call her childish. For such a Sasae-chan, this was a harsh choice.
“Uhm, what happened to Earth Founder-sama…” (Sasae)
“He was the first one to get caught by the tree.” (Haine)
My answer kicked Sasae-chan deeper into despair.
There’s already no one who can think for her stead.
“I—!” (Sasae)
“Aah geez! How long do you plan on dancing around!” (Celestis)
Celestis got pissed, but the decision of Sasae-chan didn’t seem to be coming out.
That’s right. As we were in this, roots had come attacking us as well.
“Kugh…[Dark Matter, Set]!” (Haine)
I create a wall with the dark matter and stop the advance of the roots.
But I can’t go all out. If I were to go at full output in the destructive trait of the dark matter, it might erase even the divine energy of the assimilated people that maintains their very life, or they might get crushed by the heavy gravity.
“You! What are you doing?! Your wound is not closed yet!” (Celestis)
The healing from the water divine power of Celestis was still not done. She can’t leave her hands from it.
There’s no other choice but for me to do this.
“Aah, why?! You are the personification of an evil Dark God, and yet, you—!!” (Sasae)
Seeing this, Sasae-chan looks at this paralyzed.
This is bad. Releasing dark matter obviously affects my wound, and we are fighting a defensive battle at a foreign land. I can’t expect help from Karen-san and Mirack who are evacuating the citizens.
The moment I felt like I couldn’t keep up my defense anymore…
The roots that were attacking us had been suddenly cut into round slices.
“What?!”
“Haaah?!”
We witnessed this spectacle with surprise.
That root had people stuck onto it at its surface as well, but as if avoiding them, the sliced pieces were cut in a complex manner.
I could instantly tell at a glance that this was god-like skill.
And what did this was a single swing of the giant scythe; the earth scythe, Seeta.
But the one who was holding it wasn’t Sasae-chan.
It was someone completely unexpected.
That is…
“B-Baa-chan?!” (Sasae) <Grandma>
Sasae-chan shouts this in surprise.
