“Fire Punch!”
A blazing fist swung toward the heretic of the iron arm.
Whoosh!
Flames fiercely engulfed the large fist made of thorny wood. Its target was the exposed side from Lydia’s greatsword defending against it.
“You spiky little bastard!”
The guy holding Lydia’s greatsword with crossed arms gritted his teeth and pulled one arm out.
Of course, the balance of power shifted naturally, and he was pushed back by Lydia. He barely redirected the blow with his remaining arm but ended up getting deeply cut in the face by the greatsword as a price.
Yet he didn’t stop and reached out with his fist toward the iron arm heretic.
With blood pouring from his face, he growled like a wild beast, disregarding gender and categories of male or female.
The spirit of warriors who have risked their lives repeatedly appeared.
I pride myself on my adventurous life, but I still have a long way to go to reach that level.
But that’s not the point. I had no intention of face-to-face fighting and winning against a mentor-level High-Ranking Adventurer.
Boom!
The thorny fist clashed with the steel fist, creating a thunderous sound.
In a split second, the thorny vines surrounding the fist shattered and burst out in all directions. The shock that followed forced the air from my lungs.
“Cough!”
A harsh cough escaped. But that was all.
Bones weren’t broken, nor were my insides shaken by the impact.
Thanks to the armor fragmenting into pieces and dispersing the shock, I originally manipulated it like this.
Even if my arm felt a bit empty, successfully blocking that savage blow was good enough.
“Can you hold on?”
“Isn’t a real man supposed to hold on for a long time?”
I flashed a grin at the dumbfounded iron arm guy and focused my consciousness back on Basilieus.
I wasn’t trying to recover the broken part of my arm. I aimed to control the scattered fragments of thorny wood turning to ash from the Phoenix’s flames.
Swish.
The shards scattered in the air and on the ground all came to a halt.
Every piece of thorny wood, not yet turned to complete ash, flew back along the same path as my will.
It looked almost like time was being reversed. However, the final destination wasn’t my arm but the iron arm’s.
“What the hell did this brat do?!”
“Ahaha! Surprised, huh?”
It’s needless to say, but it wasn’t real time reversal. I was simply exercising absolute control over my power using immense mental strength.
If those thorny pieces didn’t come from Basilieus itself, and without the mental power bonus from the Avatar of Love, this would have been impossible.
See? Even a 5-star isn’t strictly for combat; it’s useful in its own way.
While I chuckled, the iron arm quickly distanced itself since it knew better than anyone the dangers of the Phoenix’s flames.
But Lydia was waiting right there.
Like a knight igniting an aura as fierce as the Phoenix’s flames, she was burning this moment.
The aura emanating from her greatsword blazed up to touch the ceiling, resembling a massive pillar of flame.
It was undeniably a superhuman feat that surpassed humanity. However, for Lydia, this was merely the preparation for what was to come.
The real deal would be the steadfast vertical slash that follows this stance.
A colossal column of flame came crashing down. Perhaps realizing the overwhelming current of aura resembling a natural disaster, the iron arm raised its arm again.
Maybe he knew that the range was too wide to dodge.
Without a hint of hesitation, he crossed his steel arms and firmly planted his feet on the ground.
His will to withstand anything was palpable. But…
Boom!
A sound so furious it made one question if a human wielded the weapon at all.
With the aura dense enough to blaze like fire focusing on just one person, could he withstand it?
The arm transformed by the Earth God couldn’t hold against Lydia’s strike and finally shattered.
“Graaah!”
One arm completely shattered. The other was riddled with cracks, and his entire body was soaked in blood.
In an instant, he was in a state close to death. But just like the glint in his eyes, there was ferocity as if he were a beast waiting for the right moment.
I couldn’t let it be.
In the meantime, I rewrapped the recovered thorn armor and began swinging my fist without pause, cloaked in igniting flames.
“Fire Punch! Fire Punch! Fire Punch!”
Bam! Boom! Bam!
The guy, with only one remaining iron arm, tried to block it, but still, his muscle strength, durability, and even experience all paled in comparison.
But the King of Thorns was no ordinary power, not to mention he was now cloaked in the Phoenix’s flames.
Taking such blows directly would leave even the mightiest adventurer with no means to endure.
Especially in a near-death state.
Thud! Thunk! Crash!
With every punch landed, his last iron arm slowly cracked until it began to melt away, eventually unable to hold on any longer.
Klang!
“Graaaah!”
Was it because his ability transformed his arms into iron instead of using armor like me? The sudden loss of both arms made him scream in agony.
“I can’t accept this!”
“No, what are you going to do if you don’t accept it?”
“The Goddess’s will is with us! This can’t be!”
“What’s this heretic talking about?”
I chuckled and shoved my fist into the ruined iron arm’s mouth.
Though my gums bled from the thorns scratching inside my mouth, it hardly showed since I was already covered in blood.
Perhaps realizing his death was imminent, the guy gave up on resisting. Yet, what shone in his eyes was not fear.
It was resignation and a glimmer of expectation.
Ah, so this guy thinks he’ll go to heaven if he dies?
I grinned and casually pulled out the delicate Goddess statue from my pocket.
It wasn’t the usual benevolent expression or the slightly open-armed pose embracing everything. It was a sight never seen before—
With a stern face and thumbs pointed down, the iron arm’s expression twisted in horror.
“That…!”
“Oh, I just asked your goddess if you’re a heretic, and she confirmed it.”
“Ah, nooo!”
The guy shook his head, tears and snot flowing, while I smiled wickedly and let the thorns grow from my hand.
Thud!
The thorns sprouted from the inside and pierced through the heretic’s entire body.
A horrifying yet awe-inspiring sight reminiscent of divine punishment.
The guy, who reached out toward me or more precisely toward my Goddess statue, took his last breath.
“Phew.”
After watching his end, I finally stood up.
Meanwhile, the minor mentees had already been taken care of by the elves, and one of the two mentors had just died.
Now, only the leader, Tania, remained.
Lydia was tirelessly swinging her sword to help Benny. As I contemplated how to intervene,
Suddenly, I felt intense gazes and turned my head.
“Aah, World Tree.”
“Two thrones….”
“Because of the queen…”
It was the sparkling eyes of the elves after they had either killed or subdued all remaining mentees.
Each one had a look brimming with excitement. It seemed the World Tree elixir had sufficiently kicked in.
…With this, I kind of wanted to meet expectations a bit.
It’s undeniable that something happened to Eve and that the Cradle Association, once a symbol of elven capital, was wrecked.
They must have known it too; the future of the race they were steadily building had turned drastically dark.
Perhaps the reason Eve turned dark was heavily tied to the corruption of Tuberose, the Cradle Association’s owner.
It’s just a hunch, but… this elf society seemed to have entered a stable realm where I thought it could retire yet now stood on the brink of collapse, betrayed by their comrades who had dedicated over a thousand years.
If it were me, I’d also be driven to madness, wanting to overturn everything.
However, ironically speaking, if Eve feels trapped right now, it means she will eventually be able to break free and unleash her full power without great injury.
Honestly, I had been a bit harsh on Eve last time, so it would be good to gain some favor now.
Let’s see, what could I do to uplift the elves’ spirit here?
While Benny alone might not work, with Shadow and Lydia joining in, we’d already gained the upper hand, so I thought a brief moment would be acceptable.
I quickly glanced through my spinning thoughts, tearing through my past life memories until I finally thought of one way.
Fortunately, the time taken to reach this point was just about 3 seconds, so it shouldn’t seem awkward or unnatural.
Taking a light breath, I looked up at the throne made by intertwining several trees, behind which stood the pseudo-World Tree.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure it would work, but even if I failed, I figured it’d be a worthwhile attempt and strained every last ounce of my power.
Contrary to the half-stabilized aura due to the aftermath of the Power Explosion, I squeezed out every bit of my magical and divine power.
I wasn’t trying to do something grand; I just wanted to amplify my presence and aura.
Simultaneously, I released the thorn armor surrounding my face and fully manifested the Avatar of Love.
A sensation of my being elevating to an unfathomable height. It wasn’t the same as Basilieus’s omnipotence; it felt more like my essence crossed a threshold into growth.
I instinctively knew. At this moment, I was loved by the world.
As I confirmed the astonishment and disbelief in Tania’s normally composed face, I opened my mouth.
“May the devotion of the Great Mother be honored.”
In line with my words, the massive pseudo-World Tree rose bodily. It displayed threatening branches and roots, as if declaring it would no longer tolerate further transgressions.
“To the only remaining love in this world, we show reverence.”
I gently patted the Goddess statue in my embrace.
It surely must have been at the end of its strength, yet I sensed a faint warmth emanating from the statue.
Finally, I pointed toward Tania, who was rushing toward me despite taking hits from Benny and Lydia’s attacks.
“But to those who disturb our peace, may punishment be bestowed upon them.”
Simultaneously, I unleashed Basilieus’s power to the maximum. I wasn’t even concerned about exhausting my mental strength to its limit.
Crack!
All the wood in the banquet hall, even the massive pseudo-World Tree, rose in unison to block Tania’s path.
It was as if the whole forest acted on my will, punishing my foes.
Tania, who had been narrowing down her distance while burning everything in sight, ultimately drained her strength after allowing several of Benny and Lydia’s attacks.
She was stopped right before me, blocked by countless tree roots as her life flickered like a dying flame, persevering with her thorn armor. I leaned in and whispered in her ear.
“You understand now, don’t you? The goddess’s will is for me, not you.”
“……!”
She desperately stretched her hands toward me, her lips twitching.
However, unlike the iron arm guy earlier, the emotions in Tania’s eyes were not betrayal or guilt.
They were filled with joy—only joy—as she waved her arms in the air.
“Give it to me! If I can accept your blessing, the Goddess will…”
“Wow.”
Amidst all this, she wants to take my powers and become something like the Apostle of the Goddess of Love?
I thought she was serious and lightly clapped my hands.
“I truly recognize you. …So I’ll send you off in style.”
I shoved my hand covered in thorny wood into the gaping wound of her chest that Lydia had cleaved and Benny had rotted.
Then, I squeezed every last bit of my mental strength to manipulate Basilieus again.
The thorns wrapping around my body absorbed into Tania’s heart as if being pulled in. Before long, prickly trees began rapidly sprouting from inside her.
It wasn’t just a few thorny vines peeking out of her body; it was as if a massive, beautiful tree grew from within her.
It looked like a person had been transformed into a tree.
Now bare and exhausted, I caught my breath and finished my statement.
“The King of Thorns humbly requests this.”
…That had quite an impact, right?
I wanted to collect some taxes from the elves every year; how could I make that happen?
Just the thought of rolling gacha with national budget gets me excited.
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