Logging (5)
“Saint Ronan, are you okay?”
Not okay at all.
To be honest, I was so preoccupied with saving the queen that I overlooked the difficulty of forcibly breaking through the forest.
Perhaps because of the image of a devil worshiper who suffered without doing anything in his fantasy, he might have looked down on him even more.
In the first place, I planned to break through as quickly as possible before the fact that I disappeared was discovered by the expedition, but even if it wasn’t, breaking through the forest was difficult enough that I didn’t have time to catch my breath.
Most of them broke through using my castle method, but it was unavoidable that there was a certain amount of sacrifice.
It’s probably not worth mentioning how tiring it is to run through the woods all day without sleep, even minding the trees attacking you with their branches.
I couldn’t match the speed of the knights, so I was carried almost in turns from the middle.
In the meantime, the princess dutifully ran along with the knights. What the hell is going on? Do the princess and all the daughters of noble families have basic martial arts knowledge?
For some reason, in this world, it really seems to belong to the basic knowledge.
If I had really come alone, I would have given up halfway through and gone back.
I wanted to tell her that it was okay, but I didn’t bother answering because I thought it would be better to save my strength to speak and maintain my divine art.
The princess continued talking alone as if she had intended to confirm my consciousness rather than hoping for an answer.
“We’re almost there. I can see the ruined citadel. It’s all thanks to Saint Ronan.”
That’s really nice to hear.
I raised my head and looked in the direction the princess was pointing.
Not far away, the crumbled walls of a citadel, which may have originally been the boundary between the borders, were visible.
There was no guarantee that there would be a devil worshiper inside that citadel, but everyone had a visceral hunch.
That the culprit behind all this was inside the fort.
Everyone silently continued to break through, and as soon as they finally got out of the forest and out of the attack range of the trees, all of them sat down on the spot.
It’s fortunate that the forest and the fort are adjacent, so I didn’t go through the worst situation of having to go inside the fort and deal with the devil worshipers without any preparation.
It’s hard to guess the reason, but the positive factor was that the number of monster trees decreased as we got closer to the wall.
“I somehow got here.”
I also sat down and looked at the elves around me and let out a long sigh.
To be honest, most of the elves did not even remember their names, but the number of elves decreased in that short period of time and their heroic actions during that time were enough to leave a strong impression.
“That’s right… We’ve come this far.”
Even for me, it must have been an unforgettable memory for the princess.
“But we can’t sit back here if we don’t want their sacrifice to be in vain.”
However, since the princess started out on the road with me, she seemed to have made up her mind in her own way.
“Let’s take a minimum of rest and go straight into the fort.”
The moment everyone started to take a break after accepting the princess’ words without any disagreement.
thud!
There was a trembling sound that everyone in the room could feel.
The epicenter seemed to be inside the citadel.
It wasn’t just that.
“Look at that!”
When I turned my attention to the words of an elf, the trees in the forest we passed by were withering one by one.
The expression withered was a bit ambiguous.
In the first place, it was a rotten tree without a single leaf.
As if time had been rewinded, the tree, which had become smaller and smaller, disappeared as if it had been absorbed into the ground.
A thousand thoughts came to my mind in an instant.
Could it be that it’s already too late? Is the queen befriending a devil worshiper and that’s why those trees are disappearing?
Then you really worked in vain. Even the elves who died on the way to this point will die like dogs.
Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, but their expressions weren’t good.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the disappearing trees did not disappear anymore after they disappeared to some extent.
thud!
And again, the earth quake started inside the citadel.
“…Can I hurry up a bit?”
The princess asked me as if asking for permission.
I measured the amount of divine power remaining and examined the situation.
The holy power remaining in me was less than when I was dealing with the devil worshipers at the academy, and the elves were less than me, so there was no way they would be fine.
Besides, I lacked divine power and was just tired, but most of the knights had injuries somewhere on their bodies.
The elves who received fatal wounds to break through the forest literally sacrificed themselves to clear the way, and the wounds of the elves, which were not that severe, were the result of neglect.
In short, if you didn’t do the minimum maintenance here, there was a high possibility that you would be reversed when you met a devil worshiper.
That’s all, if this is a devil worshiper seeing our arrival and trying to steer us away, it’s a pretty nice trap.
With the final boss in front of us, now was the time to be cautious.
but…
Instead of spitting out a negative answer, I cast a healing spell to the extent that the elves had no problems moving.
Even if you knew it was a trap in the first place, it was a story that you had no choice but to get caught.
As long as we were proceeding with the time limit of not knowing the exact time that the queen would die, this was the one that was urgent.
“I’m in a hurry.”
I struggled to get up and answered that, and the elves stood up with stiff faces, holding their weapons.
…
Fortunately, there were no obstructions as we headed towards the constant ground shaking.
There was nothing beyond the non-existence of obstruction.
The inside of the fort was desolate, as if it had been left untouched by humans for decades.
Why is it necessary to bring us in by emptying the inside like this?
Are you going to pull it in so deep that it can never escape and deal with it at once?
Even so, shouldn’t we take the risk that the main body will be adversely affected by dragging it this far?
Could it be that the citadel itself is prepared for traps, and the demon worshipers are elsewhere?
So even that damn forest and trees are bait?
It was the moment I was thinking about the ominous side of the interior, which was so desolate.
bang!
This time, there was a roar that was distinctly different from the ground shaking.
And the inner wall, which was not there, collapsed.
The sight beyond the collapsed inner wall was so shocking that I was at a loss for words.
Have my eyes gone crazy?
I see a tree that has exceeded the size of the inner wall.
Demonic power that is so dark that it can be seen with the naked eye is also pouring out.
Perhaps there was black magic on the inner wall that hid the appearance of the tree.
The magic must have been broken when the inner wall was broken… Really, I’m on the verge of hating trees now.
Unlike the withered trees so far, only the skeleton took on the appearance of a tree, and it had a terrible appearance that could have grown somewhere in hell.
It had the same blackish surface, as if it had been rotten and twisted, but instead of leaves on each branch hung something like reddish fruit, which throbbed as if it were alive.
Besides, the tree trunk revealed the screaming face of a person trapped inside, but there were dozens and hundreds of faces attached to each other, and most importantly, they were moving along the body of the tree as if they were alive, which was extremely repulsive.
bang!
While I was distracted by the terrible appearance of the tree, which seemed to be thrown out of hell, the terrible tree began to move again with a roar.
Seeing that the tree trunks were not enough, the roots of the trees sprouted from the ground and the ground shuddered in the process.
What the hell are you doing to make such a mess?
“mother!”
Before I could properly check who was at the end of my line of sight, the princess and the elves rushed out.
…mother? Elf Queen?
Belatedly, at the end of my gaze, I saw the figure of a person who was too dwarfed compared to the trees to be seen here, caught in the trunk and roots of the tree.
Is that the elven queen that’s caught in that giant tree right now?
I was exhausted from the forced march, but my energy returned in an instant.
Is there proof that everything I’ve done so far isn’t crap? You’re still alive?
Just in time, the stem rushing towards the queen caught my eye.
What if the queen self-destructs while attacking like that, hands off you bastard!
I reflexively hit most of the holy power and fired the saint beam toward the monster tree.
Wow!
Is this really a monster prepared by the final boss?
So far, most of the targets hit by the saint beam disappeared without resistance, but that monster tree was still in good shape even though the area around it was damaged with a tremendous roar.
come on
However, even as a monster, it must have been an unexpected shock, and it was emitting a shriek, swinging its stems and roots in all directions and glowing.
Even a giant eyeball popped out from the top of the tree and started looking in the direction from which the attack came.
what is that really
It screams, it feels pain, and now it makes eyes.
is it a tree?
While I was staring blankly at the tree in a state of exhaustion, the maniacal tree dropped a terrifying fruit hanging from its branch to the ground.
The scene was so typical that I could easily guess what was going to happen next.
Tiny demons popped out of the fruit that had fallen to the ground with an unpleasant noise.
They were the demons that burrowed into people’s bodies and hid themselves.
While the princess and the elves, who were on their way to rescue the queen, were blocked by countless demons and time was delayed, the monster tree shot its trunk as if it had changed its target to me.
The queen has already been subdued to some extent.
Oh, this is dangerous.
I thought that while reflexively creating barriers.
I didn’t have enough time to create a barrier because I didn’t prepare in advance, and I didn’t have enough divine power left to ignorantly hit the holy power to shorten the time.
I wasn’t sure that the imperfect barrier could stop the flying stems.
“Saint Ronan!”
I heard the frightened sound of the princess who ran in front of me.
To be honest, I want to say a word or two, but in my heart, I am faced with the moment of desperation for the queen, who thought that she might already be dead, so it is understandable that her body moves first.
Orion-sama, if you help me even now, I’ll cancel everything you said until now. Or Ariel-sama, honestly, I’m struggling this much to save your saint, can’t you help me at least once? Or even that unknown god.
I closed my eyes in preparation for the shock that was to come.
…
The shock I expected did not come.
Eh, was that enough of a barrier?
That monster tree is great to look at, but is there really nothing special about it?
I gently opened my eyes and saw the scene in front of me, and I was stunned once again.
What is it, am I being tricked by a devil worshiper and seeing visions again?
The stem that was approaching me was twisted in a bizarre direction, and instead of attacking me, it was facing another place, and at the end was the knight commander.
The stem still trembled and seemed to be moving, but the stem, restrained by the knight commander’s power of manpower and repulsion, did not budge.
Ah, that’s not for attacking, but it can change the attack coming from other people in a different direction.
Only then did I understand why a knight commander who didn’t even wear a shield was called the emperor’s shield.
“Saint Ronan. You’re surprisingly stealthy and quick. As a reminder, no compliments. I never imagined I wouldn’t catch up until I got here.”
And behind me as I stood blankly, I heard a voice I thought I would never hear.
I reflexively turned my head and was able to confirm the appearance of the princess, who was pretending to be expressionless but was on the verge of exploding inside.
“…What if Azalea-sama is here?”
I think it is possible for the princess to be angry with me, but that was when I was arrested.
What if the princess comes all the way here to catch me?
“Do you really think Ronan Saint can say that?”
That too, but…
come on
While I was at a loss for words, the monster tree, angry at me for ignoring it or angry at its own stem being grabbed, started screaming again.
“I’ll give the sermon later. Be sure, take your time.”
Hearing that scream, the princess walked past me and said so.
Before anyone knew it, the soldiers following the princess had gathered and were preparing to intercept the tree.
The soldiers, like the elves and me, were full of wounds here and there, but none of them had any doubts about the situation.
Everyone was determined to risk their lives.
“Are you… helping me?”
I didn’t understand the situation, so I spit out such a stupid question.
To be honest, I thought that if I was caught by the pursuer, I would of course be caught.
Just because she could see the queen in front of her, that was not a reason to help her unconditionally.
Even the soldiers who had come this far were not in perfect condition, and even at a glance, the tree monster looked unusual, so even though the queen was captured, it was not something to be criticized for strategically retreating.
“Rather than building Ronan Saint from continuing to take risks, we decided to eliminate Ronan Saint from taking risks.”
No, what nonsense is that…
“For now, I decided to focus on subduing that monster while saving the Queen of the Elves.”
Having said that, the princess looked at me for a moment.
“So, Saint, don’t try to handle things that are too difficult for you to handle alone in the future. I will always support Saint Ronan’s will.“
After speaking, the princess looked ahead again and gave an order to the soldiers.
“With the elves who did good deeds, we will start intercepting that monster tree from now on. Our top priority is to save the queen.”
“All right!”
Before I could say anything, the ordered soldiers, the princess, and the knight commander started running towards the monster.
I looked at it and thought.
If anyone claims that God arranged this, I will strike first. From today on, I will worship the princess, not God.
The princess is the best
I tried to raise the remaining divine power to give buffs to the soldiers running out.
…uh?
Divine power continued to rise.
It couldn’t even compare to the divine power that seemed to run out until just now.
Princess, it’s not like your divine power increased just because you said you believed in this? Is the princess really a god?
The buffs I put my whole life into went back to everyone.
Even so, divine power remained.
Is this the miracle of five loaves and two fishes?
I raised the remaining divine power this time as well and hit the monster tree close to the huge target with the saint beam.
You’re really behind, son of a b*tch.
