Ellie, Lydia, and Karen—all of them, even the slightly distanced Apple from the now-moistened lemon—couldn’t tear their gazes away from the spectacle unfolding before them.
That was how brutal the fight Jonas was putting on display was.
With wide eyes and a subtly twisted grin, he threw himself into the fray, wielding his dagger time and again. Each slash left behind shallow wounds that healed quickly, but the marks were left clear as day.
His armor, made from the finest Iron Wolf hide available on the first floor, was now tattered and stained with bright red blood.
If it weren’t for the Unicorn Dagger, which continuously spewed forth white light healing Jonas, he would have collapsed from blood loss long ago.
Watching this, Ellie bit her lip as a single drop of fresh blood rolled down her cheek.
Naturally, she and the others could jump in whenever they wanted. Lydia and Karen were no different.
The Thorn King, cloaked in spikes, was certainly strong. But at best, it was just a guardian of the first floor.
They all eclipsed the level of the first floor and could surely take it down without much trouble.
Yet, there was a simple reason why they were just watching Jonas.
Because that’s what he wanted.
Lydia gently wrapped her fingers around Ellie’s clenched fist and spoke up.
“Are you okay, Ellie-senpai?”
“…Yeah. I’m fine. If Jonas is fighting that hard, then I should be fine too.”
Jonas had shared the hardest moments with them, but now, he had killed a friend by his own hand.
And now he was battling against the enemies that had fed off his anguish.
It was sad and painful, but still, he faced the past that held him back for a better future.
How could one not cheer for Jonas, willing to shoulder such a heavy burden with his small frame?
Especially knowing that everything he did was for Ellie herself.
If Cena viewed Ellie as the enemy of his shattered world, then Jonas regarded Ellie as the savior who pulled him from the abyss of heresy.
With bloodshot eyes, Ellie watched Jonas struggle to remain standing, not willing to collapse. After a moment of contemplation, Lydia slowly opened her mouth.
“Ellie-senpai. Do you happen to know about Jonas before he was caught by One Who Devours the Twilight?”
“…Huh?”
“This is just speculation, but…”
Feeling sorry for Ellie, who blamed herself for everything, Lydia whispered a secret that she had agreed to keep unless Jonas spoke up first.
Of course, she made sure that only Ellie could hear it.
As Ellie quietly listened to Lydia’s confidential words, her eyes widened in realization.
And at the same time, Karen couldn’t help but be shocked.
‘Could it be that Jonas…?’
Though Ellie and Lydia hadn’t shared the detail with her, Karen was perceptive enough to catch on.
While she didn’t know the specific circumstances, she could tell that Jonas had once been a victim of One Who Devours the Twilight and had killed one of his own friends with his own hands.
In an instant, Karen recalled her first encounter with Jonas.
His words, filled with a sincere love for the world, were undeniably genuine—no doubt a paradigm for a saint.
But he had also sincerely wished to avoid the Temple.
At the time, she followed him, thinking the goddess must have had profound intentions, and accepted the rumors about the Pope being a traitor…
But seeing him now, directly combating One Who Devours the Twilight and fighting against the guardians, showed a different picture.
The anger and sadness she felt from the little frame that was overcoming its struggles was real.
A heart filled with the desire to love the world almost matched with a heart resenting it.
Inside Jonas’s heart lay both affection and contradiction.
Yet now, as he fought against that Thorn King, exuding a similar feeling of negativity, Jonas was transforming.
The hatred buried deep within him began to melt away slowly.
He wasn’t simply casting off his darkness. He faced it, embraced it, acknowledged it, and ultimately transcended into love.
“Ah…”
In reality, having fought together, he was proving to be more than he looked, yet to Karen, who didn’t know that, it was quite the moment of inspiration.
Like a caterpillar breaking free from its cocoon to become a butterfly. The saint, still tender, was undergoing a transformation into a complete entity.
That was the spectacle unfolding right before her eyes.
“Oh goddess…”
Clutching the Goddess Statue she received from Jonas in her pocket, she made a promise to follow the goddess’s representative who descended to this land, no matter what.
And so, as Ellie, Lydia, and Karen sank deeper into their own thoughts filled with different misunderstandings, Lemon and Apple were completely oblivious.
“I don’t know what everyone’s talking about.”
“If you try to understand, you’ll get hurt, Jonah. Let’s ignore it.”
After all, they had erected sound-control barriers with magical devices and divine power so that no one could hear them!
To Lemon and Apple, all they saw were lips flapping and odd scenes of people biting their lips or shedding tears…!
Moreover, Lemon and Apple lacked the capability to intervene in Jonas’s battle.
Eventually, as Lemon continued to marvel at Jonas’s struggle, he carefully asked, “Hey Apple. What can we do?”
“We can’t do anything. Let’s just bring some fried peas.”
Thanks to these silly wannabes, even with their weapons taken away, the fried peas remained unharmed.
After rummaging through his flat chest, Lemon pulled out a well-tied pouch.
Then, he started sharing traditional elven snacks with Apple.
Crunch, crunch.
“Oh, but it’s true that Jonas summoned a guardian.”
“I mean, it’s definitely surprising. He must have had some strategy up his sleeve.”
Nom, nom.
“By the way, that guardian… doesn’t it look familiar?”
“I thought the same thing. But I can’t remember where I saw it.”
Munch, munch.
“Hmm… Ah! I remember! Isn’t it the Thorn Monster from Basilieus?”
“Why on earth are we suddenly talking about founding myths…?”
Dumbfounded, Apple glanced back at the fighting guardian.
A thorny humanoid. Though partially severed, the crown of thorns on its head, its ability to consume wood to regenerate spines, and its power to manipulate the thorns on its body.
In the distant past, it was the Thorn King, the being who enacted the World Tree’s trials and became the first King of Elves.
And now, Jonas was fighting that very monster of trials.
“…”
“…”
Without speaking, Lemon and Apple exchanged glances and nodded in unison.
“Gotta prepare the tribute in advance.”
“Jonas’s concubine? That’s awesome!”
They no longer needed those fried peas.
Pulling out a hairbrush that hadn’t been used in who knows how long, Lemon and Apple brushed each other’s hair, wearing serious faces as they nodded.
“There seem to be many competitors, but our Eve chief is the best.”
“She’s of a different caliber than those rookies.”
The two casually made remarks disrespectful to others.
“Of course, the best option is to hitch a ride with Chief Eve.”
“As a servant, that’d be more than enough. Besides, it’s an old story, but aren’t Chief Eve’s marriage conditions still the same?”
Lemon and Apple exchanged sly smiles. But the two dim-witted heads failed to realize that squeezing wisdom from their dense brains would only result in a denser state.
“I want to live off the fat of the land.”
“That saying somehow feels like it’s about doing things raw, which makes it sound kinda lewd, doesn’t it?”
The two flat-chested elf girls puffed up their unyielding chests with pride.
“Jonas loves money.”
“Surely, if we offered him money and asked him to do something, he’d disdain and trample us, but still permit it.”
It was a ridiculously trashy thought, but disappointingly, there was no one here to stop the two of them.
Everyone was floating in their own misconceptions.
“…But I don’t even know how much we need.”
“Money! Only more money can bring the elves back to greatness!”
Round and round they went, ultimately becoming engrossed in money like other elves, igniting the foolish ambitions… no, desires within them.
It was spring.
*
“Gah!”
I never thought they wouldn’t help at all.
I retracted a scream as I pulled out the thorn deeply embedded in my arm.
Of course, it’s my own fault for saying not to help unless it was a truly dangerous situation.
Spit!
I spat out blood-mixed saliva and glared at the Thorn King before me.
My mana was almost depleted. My already weak stamina was nearing exhaustion from an unending sprint, and my body, punctured many times and healing, burned with pain like an afterimage.
But the results of my all-out effort were undeniably clear.
Most of the spikes wrapped around that thing’s body had been broken and cut off. It wasn’t getting tired like me. But it was a fact that it had lost both weapon and armor.
The Thorn King began to stumble and widen its distance from me. It seemed to be attempting to regain its lost spikes by consuming the surrounding trees.
That was an opportunity I could utilize.
“Ugh.”
Feigning weakness by swaying, I displayed a gap. As if waiting for this moment, it dashed away in the opposite direction.
In that instant, I realized. This was the decisive moment I’d been waiting for.
Swiftly, I pulled a Low-grade Mana Potion from my subspace pocket and drank it.
Thanks to the ability Gluttonous Stomach, my mana surged instantly. I channeled that into my Transparent Cloak and Haste Boots, activating the sound-cancelling steps.
Now, I felt the familiar sensation of isolation from reality.
I lunged towards the unguarded neck of the thorny king as it reached for the trees surrounding the World Tree’s illusion.
Slash!
I sliced halfway through its neck, revealing the growth rings within. Still under the effect of Haste, I didn’t let this opportunity slip, continuing to swing the dagger.
Slash, slash, slash.
The white light emitted from the Unicorn Dagger filled the space as the Thorn King’s body was chopped apart in an instant.
Wrist, hip, waist, shoulder, spine….
Its powerless form, no longer shielded by its spikes, was dismantled piece by piece.
Thud.
Finally, its head dropped.
Without letting the flicker in its still-open eyes fade, I plunged the Unicorn Dagger downwards.
Whoosh!
“Thanks for the wish token.”
That was all there was to it.
