172 - - True

"But it's awesome ......."

Thor muttered to himself as he held his hand over the flames that covered the wall.

Only the heat from the relic, the "lamp of the greed-eaters," was clearly felt.

But although it is hot, it does not burn to the fingertips.

Upon closer inspection, there seems to be no change in the walls and the blackness sealed behind them.

Something peeks out from between Thor's legs as he admires the scene.

It is Moe, who bends his back and slips into the room.

He rubs his golden curls against his thighs as he gazes up at the wall of flames.

Suddenly, Thor's vision is filled with afterimages of the path that Moe has taken.

As he looks behind him, he sees him receiving something from Sora and racing straight toward him.

This was Thor's new power, .

It is a branch and fruit characteristic that allows him to look back into the past for exactly ten seconds to see the actions of an object.

Naturally, the fruit of this process was the of the branch skill that had reached the state of a complete branch.

It is a byproduct of the time when I raised it to level 10 forcibly in order to help Stratchia.

The has changed as follows.

Level: 10 / Number of times it can be used: 13 times in an hour / Activation: instantaneous / Effect: within 11 seconds / Range: visual.

The target's text is unchanged.

After all, it seems that only living creatures can be targeted even if they are raised.

However, the effect has changed significantly.

It is now possible to choose only one of cause and effect, i.e., cause and effect.

Suppose that Thor slashed an ant with his sword.

If he returns the fruit, the cut mark will disappear from the ant's body.

Of course, Thor would still be in the same position in which he had slashed the ants with his sword.

In other words, he has acted, but the result of his action does not occur.

However, it has not been confirmed whether the sword remains in the same position as it was, which means that it is still stuck in the ant, or whether Thor's movement is also modified.

On the other hand, if only the cause of the action is changed back, the action of Thor's slaying with the sword itself will not be changed back.

And only the ants would be left with the strange result of having cuts on them.

However, it seems that this also depends on what Thor chooses to do, and it is also impossible to predict what will happen to the unrecognized result.　

Although there are many unknowns, this is a tremendous skill that can be applied to both offense and defense.

However, there are, of course, some points that make it difficult to use.

First of all, it is necessary to use it twice in a row to pretend that everything has not happened as before.

When I saved Straccia, I had to first undo the action of jumping into the fire and then the result of the fire.

The divine power of the "lamp of greed-eaters" which makes everything burn, was extinguished just in time by cutting off the cause and effect.

Another weakness is that the time is only eleven seconds.

Unlike , which can return to any past state as long as there is a connection with the monster, it can only return for a few breaths.

This area may be affected only for a short period of time due to the complex factor of cause and effect.

However, the change in range compensates for this.

Unlike , which only required contact, can be triggered simply by looking at it, without the need to touch it.

It can be said that Thor has obtained the power to control the object in his field of vision for a period of eleven seconds.

By the way, what is Mu doing?

"This?　It's delicious when heated!"

The child's chest heaved as he thrust the fruit of the golden tree against the wall of flames.

Surely, if it doesn't burn no matter how close you hold it, it's perfect for just warming it up.

"Well, you're smart."

"Moo is a good boy. I'll give you one too, To-chan."

"What are you doing?

Running toward us with a bubbly face was Ninessa, who had finally calmed down.

Her face scrunched up and she took the shriveled fruit from Moe's hand.

"Oh, Moe's!"

"You can't treat the lamp like a bonfire!"

"Mwah!　You're a gourmand, Nine-chan. If she wants to eat, she'll eat.

"Hmmm... I wonder if this is the mouth that would pull a stunt like that..."

Suddenly, Moe's cheeks were pulled from both sides, and he let out a giggle of amusement.

His shyness seems to have disappeared.

Ninessa's smile is soft as if she has gotten rid of her possessions.

As I watch the two of them intertwine like a close mother and son, Straccia, who has somehow come up to me, murmurs quietly next to Thor.

"Hmm, a child. ....... I guess I'll have to make one too.

"What, are you sure?　Prince."

"Well, I've been giving you a hard time too."

"......If you're doing this for me, I'd rather not."

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I just felt that you and I could do something together."

"Prince ......"

Suddenly, they embraced each other so intensely that Moe moaned as he was about to be crushed by their embrace.

They were about to make a deep contact with each other's lips, when Thor stopped them with a look of dismay on his face.

"Please wait until we're alone."

"Mmm, that's true. So, what are you going to do now, brother?

In the meantime, I'm going to try to restore the city to its original state as much as possible.

"I see. The sooner we rebuild, the sooner we can get there before the lights go out.

"Yeah, I've got a month. We'll figure it out. If worse comes to worse and you can't make it, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to jump in again.

At Thor's words, Straccia flinched and nodded, and Ninessa's face grew frozen.

Thor's lips lifted as he pulled Moe out from between them, his retort successful.

"Sorry, I'm kidding. Was it the deputy director's idea to let me come with you to this ant's nest?"

"No, it was Director Dadan, wasn't it?"

"Well, you can go through him then. I need you to get Bossalian refugees ready to return to this city immediately.

Yes, sir, I understand.

Anything else?

The rest is business as usual, but yes, you can borrow her for a while."

Thor's eyes fell on Ram Merulla, who was chatting with Sora and the others.

"The most important thing is that is back to level 9. We'll start by earning points with the remaining ants.