“I sense an abnormality in one titan mandrake!” Frei shouted as I started the game again.
With a stiff movement, I turned to my magic pond again. A kind of giant leafy twig from the crack started to emerge. “Is it as big as we saw back then?
“No, this is an adult titan mandrake! You…” The goddess of nature gasped when she saw what had happened to the crack. She squeezed her head and looked even more panicked. “Shit! We can’t do anything once he’s entered human territory!”
“And there is a possibility that the monster was controlled by someone.” I hissed and rubbed my face. A few missions ago, I found a quest related to the titan mandrake, and I didn’t take it. Maybe if I were more serious, none of this would have happened.
And now all of this is real. I, as a god, must resolve this matter immediately. The lives of thousands of people are in my hands.
But can I? The pressure I feel is so great right now. If possible, I want to just run away from this place, back to my life in the real world….
No, not back in the real world. Now, this is also real. I want to go back to my boring life.
“The best way is to evacuate the people in that town!” Frei’s breathing grew heavier. “Humans are part of nature, although sometimes their actions are questioned. I can’t let this happen.”
I then spoke to my servants and also to the others. “Is there a way to open a magic barrier in that city?”
It took a while for Lauren to answer. “No, sir. Not with a barrier this big. They used many magical users to create them. We need a lot of magical users too to dismantle it. I doubt we can find that many people, not to mention the resistance this barrier maker will put up.”
“What are we dealing with, sir?” Elise asked.
I sighed, finding it hard to tell what was really going on. “A titan mandrake. The big one.”
***
Elise widened her eyes. Her body began to tremble. “T-titan Mandrake?”
Renee suddenly turned her head to her friend. “What did you say?”
“The big one?” Elise’s breath caught. “So, it’s a lot bigger than the one I was dealing with, sir?”
“That’s right.”
A bitter chuckle escaped Renee’s mouth. “You must be joking, Elise. Your master is joking with you.”
Elise didn’t answer, then looked at the giant branch from the crack in the air. Renee also looked over there and widened her eyes.
“Holy shit.” The blonde-haired woman squeezed her head. “That seems to be true…. That purple color…. It’s the titan Mandrake!”
Mona stepped forward and started barking loudly at the crack.
“What shall we do, sir?” Even though her panic was at its peak, Elise tried to keep her voice sounds normal. However, not getting an answer from her master, the female warrior raised her voice. “Sir!?”
“Ah, I will use lightning power when that monster comes out….”
“Then, what should we do after that?”
“If it really is a titan mandrake….” Renee gulped. “We have to gather a lot of people to beat it.”
Not getting an answer from her master a second time, Elise panicked even more. “Sir! Please tell us what we should do!?”
“It’s useless, Elise.” Renee smiled at the female warrior. “Even a god wouldn’t be able to do anything. However, you don’t have to worry, Elise. I have a plan for this. Now, you and Mona keep your distance from me.”
Elise frowned, not really understanding what her best friend was saying.
“Come on.” Renee continued. “Stand twenty-five feet from me. Or I’ll have to kick you all the way.”
“What would you do?”
“You’ll know later. I swear I will destroy that monster.”
Despite her doubts, Elise led Mona away from the blonde woman. The female warrior had no other choice as her master remained silent.
Renee took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. There was silence, and the tips of other branches began to emerge from the crack.
The woman’s blonde hair began to flutter, even though no wind blew in that place. And when she opened her eyelids, all that could be seen from her eyes was a shining white color.
Glowing magical circles then appeared behind the woman, floating in the air.
Suddenly Lauren ran from a distance and screamed. “Renee, stop that!!!”
However, Renee didn’t care. She looked up to stare at the crack, and her body began to float upwards slowly.
Still not understanding what really happened, Elise couldn’t help but stare at it. Yua then jumped to the side of the female warrior while carrying Kimi on her back.
“What?” Kimi jumped off the kunoichi’s back, widening her eyes when she saw what Renee was doing. An expression she never showed. “Impossible….”
Lauren and Alain tried to get to Renee, but they were blown away as if an invisible hand was pushing them.
“What exactly is she doing?” Yua asked.
“This should only exist in legends…. Even among the elves like us that were wiped out thousands of years ago…. There was a magician who managed to establish a relationship with a magic god…. And he gained immeasurable power….” Kimi’s mouth started to tremble.
“If you do this, you will die, Renee!?” Lauren started to cry. “Stop it right now!”
Elise gasped, froze for a moment, then ran to Renee. However, like Lauren and Alain, she was also thrown off. Her body seemed to hit an invisible wall that sent electricity through her body, sending her body flying through the air.
However, the female warrior managed to twist her body in the air and land. “Please, sir. Tell us to do something.”
“Sorry, Elise…” The sound of the god’s cry entered the ears of his servants. “I don’t know what to do…”
Yua and Elise opened their mouths. Even Mona froze. So far, they had never heard their master cry like that. They had never heard the god of hope’s tone of despair.
“I apologize….”
“What the fuck are you talking about!!!” Elise roared with all her might, staring at Renee, floating higher and higher. “You are the god of hope, right!!?? You should grant our wish!!!”
Raymund couldn’t answer anymore.
Elise then ran to Renee again. However, her efforts were in vain. She bounced back because of the invisible wall.
And she didn’t just give up. This time she jumped to reach her best friend, but the result was the same. Not missing a beat, she used her sword to beat the invisible barrier. However, there was no significant reaction like when she hit Kimi’s father’s barrier.
“Nooo!!! Renee!!!” Elise is getting desperate. Her sword emitted black smoke, her armor became darker, her eyes turned yellow, and her hair also turned black. Even after using all her strength like that, she still couldn’t make a dent in the magical barrier. “Come back, Renee!!! You want freedom, right!? There is no freedom if you die!”
Renee just turned around and flashed a smile, causing Elise to freeze and her tears to flow even more.
Elise was about to hit the magical barrier with her sword again, but Yua immediately hugged her.
“Please, stop, Elise.” The kunoichi also shed tears. “Enough.”
The female warrior dropped her sword and fell to her knees. Lauren came to her and hugged her too. Mona curled up in front of her master with a sad face. The three women began to sob as Renee soared higher and higher in the air.
Kimi approached those women while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. She didn’t feel close to the two Raymund servants, and she didn’t even know the woman named Renee. However, she could feel their raw emotions of them shaking her heart.
“What will happen next?” Alain asked while looking at Renee, who was getting further away.
“I don’t know.” Kimi stared at the giant branches sticking out of the crack instead. “But it’s definitely going to be something big.”
Renee’s body started to emit a bright light, making her figure invisible as it looked like it was wrapped in a giant ball of light. Then, the ball of light shot out at high speed and into the crack.
In just a few seconds, the giant branches that came out were severed and fell, making a massive thud as they fell down.
“It exploded….” Kimi hissed. “At the place behind the crack, it exploded…. Destroy everything. Probably similar to the explosion I did after the ritual. It might be much smaller, but from what happened, it looks like it managed to destroy the titan mandrake.”
“Then, what about Renee?” Elise asked in a hoarse voice.
Kimi didn’t answer, and that caused the female warrior to bow even more. The woman’s hands were tightly clenched on the street. The tremors in her body also grew more uncontrollably.
However, she laughed. It was slow at first, but then it got louder and louder like crazy. Those around her, bewildered, have no idea what happened to that woman.
However, moments later, she was crying again.
“Yua…” Raymund hissed. “I need your help.”