Identity (Part 2)
The Floor Guardian of the first floor. I had no idea what would come out, but I knew exactly how to summon it. After all, it marked the true beginning of the story, so I’d put some real thought into it. Explaining it properly would take forever, so here’s the short version… It’s a sacrificial ritual.
You slaughter the residents of the Great Forest—in this case, every monster on the first floor and the elves—until you have the required number of corpses, then lay them out in front of the World Tree. Finally, someone steps forward with a desperate thirst for revenge and prays for power. That’s it.
At first glance, it seems so simple you’d wonder why no one had discovered it yet. But when you look closer, it’s not that easy. Why would anyone bother dragging monsters all the way to the World Tree without even harvesting their magic stones, just to pile up the bodies? It’d make far more sense to butcher them on the spot, grab the stones and byproducts, and call it a day.
And praying to the World Tree? In the early days of the labyrinth, when elves still clung to their faith, maybe. But these days, there isn’t a single elf who genuinely believes in it. At best, maybe Eve, who still carries those ancient ways of thinking? Which, conversely, means that in the distant past, quite a few elves truly did believe…
What they asked of the World Tree was its resurrection. Like children mourning a lost mother, they simply grieved and begged it to return. That was the shared emotion of all elves back then. No wonder the entire race suffered from collective depression.
The labyrinth’s corruption twisted the definition of “residents of the Great Forest,” and the elves’ feelings toward the World Tree ran far deeper than the tree itself ever realized. That’s why something so simple went undiscovered. And as time passed, those who truly believed in the World Tree vanished, making the ritual practically impossible to complete.
In the novel I was planning to write, the protagonist joined an elf party as their baggage carrier, only for the whole group to get wiped out by raiders dragging monsters in. It was meant to play on the perception gap created by the gender-reversed world. The protagonist, barely surviving by hiding among the corpses, was someone who—like me—had been isekai’d from Earth. Lacking common sense, he didn’t know the World Tree was already a dead god and prayed with sincere desperation, accidentally fulfilling the summoning conditions.
The Floor Guardian that appeared killed all the exhausted raiders, and the protagonist finished off the wounded guardian to obtain its Authority… Something like that. In my case, though, I’d been planning to buy elf corpses and use those.
Among the long-lived races, elves stand out as particularly valuable. Some elves, fully aware of this, even leave wills instructing others to sell their bodies after death to provide for their families. Of course, they’re seen as pretty hardcore even among their own kind… but at least there’s a legal route to obtain them. That’s something, right?
Anyway, whether it was simple or complicated, the real question was how the hell they’d figured out the conditions so quickly.
When I arrived at the illusion of the World Tree following Karen, the members of Those Who Swallow the Twilight were standing in a circle amid countless monster corpses. At the center of that circle were two elves who were about to share the same fate… and for some reason, their faces looked awfully familiar.
“…Lemon? Apple?”
Why the hell are those two captured again? Do they come into the labyrinth just to get tied up? Is bondage their hobby or something?
I muttered without thinking, completely dumbfounded. Elly, who had been tensing up beside me ready to charge, flinched and whispered back.
“What? Someone you know, Yona?”
“Yeah. If you look closely, you might remember them too, Elly. They’re the ones who came all the way to The Elf and the Silver Coin to take me away last time.”
“Ah, the ones you rescued from those raiders.”
“That’s right. The dagger I’m using now was commissioned from the person who took care of them… I didn’t expect them to get caught again.”
I let out a long sigh. By then Rydia had already drawn her rapier and was staring sharply at the scene ahead.
“Senior Elly. You said the smallest one is the strongest, so you take him. I’ll handle the one leading the ritual. Inquisitor Karen, please secure the sacrifices in the meantime.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“Leave it to me.”
Elly and Karen nodded. Rydia, her aura flaring, glanced back at me one last time.
“Yona, stay here. When Karen brings the hostages back, untie them and treat their wounds, but do not join the fight. Actually, don’t do anything that would draw attention.”
“I know. Don’t worry.”
“…Good.”
Rydia gave a small nod, then turned silently to Elly and Karen. The three of them exchanged quiet glances, and without a word, they kicked off the ground at the same time.
BOOM!
The sound was so loud my ears rang and the earth shook. A small crater formed where they’d been standing. By the time I regained my senses, the three of them had already flown all the way to the enemy.
The first to arrive was, of course, Elly. She planted her feet firmly in front of the small figure.
THUD!
“Aren’t you lot tired of this?! Why can’t you just live quietly in your corner instead of popping out and doing shit that gets you killed!”
Her remaining arm drew back dramatically, like a bowstring pulled to its absolute limit. The small figure, now the clear target, showed no sign of panic and simply continued praying in a calm voice.
“O Goddess. This longing I feel for you makes even the flow of time seem to fade away.”
It was a childlike voice fitting her small stature. But it couldn’t be ignored.
Whoooong—
A murky purple mist enveloped Elly. Was it slowing her movements? Her actions grew noticeably sluggish, as if she were underwater. Yet it couldn’t completely restrain Elly’s power.
CRASH!
With the sound of something shattering, the mist around Elly exploded outward. But the effort seemed to throw off the trajectory of her punch. Even the wind pressure alone was enough to shake the entire area. Still, it missed. The heretics remained standing tall.
“O Goddess—!”
The prayer continued. It looked like this fight would take a while to settle. I nodded to myself and shifted my gaze to the side.
There, Rydia—who had arrived a half-step behind Elly—was thrusting her aura-wrapped rapier straight into the heart of one of the heretics. The one who had been about to kill Lemon and Apple.
“Khhk…”
The man foaming blood at the mouth squeezed out every last ounce of strength to hurl the weapon in his hand toward Lemon and Apple. But—
CLANG!
It was blocked by Karen’s spear, which had arrived just in time. The spear was plain—no fancy decorations, just a blade and a shaft. Yet it carried a sharp, purposeful killing intent that suited its simple design perfectly.
Karen’s eyes, which had been heavy with exhaustion, now burned fiercely with rage. She hadn’t forgotten her objective; she quickly retrieved Lemon and Apple and returned.
“Lord Yona. Use this if needed.”
“Ah, thanks.”
Karen handed me a bottle of holy water that seemed to have effects similar to a potion, then immediately jumped back into the fray.
Just as Karen had said, most of Those Who Swallow the Twilight seemed manageable. After the initial surprise attack took one down, Rydia swung her greatsword in wide arcs, mowing the heretics down like fallen leaves. Karen methodically pierced hearts one by one with calm precision.
Of course, the heretics weren’t just taking it lying down. Those wrapped in murky divine power stepped forward to face Rydia and Karen, while the rest retreated to prepare their distorted holy arts. But it didn’t mean much.
Their heretical divine power was swallowed up by Rydia’s blazing aura and shattered before it could show its true strength. Even those who occasionally broke through were intercepted by Karen’s spear, which glowed with a vivid pink light.
There were a few completed holy arts mixed in, but—
“Silence! You who distort the Goddess’s will!”
FLASH!
The pure divine power bursting from Karen’s body crushed and scattered the twisted miracles. Yeah. Just like Karen said, even one of them would have been enough to win. The gap in power was that overwhelming.
So the real problem was still Elly’s side.
Every punch and kick from Elly flipped the ground and sent explosive booms through the air. She wasn’t clad in aura like Rydia. She was simply strong. Simply tough. It felt like the labyrinth’s growth rewards had pushed the beastmen’s naturally powerful bodies to their absolute limit.
Elly, unleashing raw violence, radiated a savage fighting spirit completely different from the Elly I knew. Yet the small figure was somehow keeping up with her.
The purple mist dulled Elly’s body and made her punches miss. The other heretics, who normally took a long time to complete even one distorted blessing, were now firing them off every few seconds. And the abilities the small figure used weren’t limited to the Goddess of Love’s Authorities.
A purple crystal spear pierced through the air. A translucent warrior wreathed in violet flames appeared behind her and swung a sword. Strange flames flickered at her feet. All of them carried the feel of divine power. She was clearly wielding Authorities from other gods—though I had no idea where she’d gotten them.
Even so, she couldn’t land a meaningful blow on Elly. The crystal spear only left scratches. The translucent warrior had its head blown off by Elly’s fist. The flames spreading across the ground were snuffed out when Elly stomped and overturned the earth.
Elly methodically neutralized the small figure’s Authorities and closed the distance step by step. It would probably take some time, but it didn’t look dangerous. Once I was sure of victory, I let out a sigh of relief and turned my gaze toward Lemon and Apple, who were rolling on the ground.
Their eyes were sparkling for no good reason. It would’ve been better if their pants weren’t sparkling too. The moment our eyes met, the Lemonade Dispenser and Plain Old Apple opened their mouths.
“Yona-nem! You came to rescue us, sir?!”
“As expected of Yona-nem, sir!”
“No. I got captured too.”
“???”
“???”
The two of them looked utterly confused. When they stared at me with those eyes, it made me want to betray their expectations on purpose.