The Goddess Descends
A dryad's available skills shift with the nature of the forest that shelters them.
Basrak Forest had originally been shaped by rock spirits, but now that it cradled a spirit of wind, every dryad within it could wield wind-aspected skills as a matter of course.
"The hunt is on!"
"It is time to hunt!"
"Hiririririri—!"
More than fifty dryads poured through the newly opened warp. The moment those base Level 7 powerhouses hit the battlefield, the tide of the fight flipped in an instant.
Riding the wind without hesitation, the dryads shattered the Dark Goblin legion's front line in a single charge.
Guoooooh!
Kwaaaang!
And that was not all.
The rubble of collapsed buildings fused together and rose as a colossal Nature Golem. Every swing of its fists turned dozens of Dark Goblins into bloody pulp.
"A friend's request! Punch straight through to the warp!"
The High Dryad.
But this was no ordinary Level 9.
The High Dryad was the forest's guardian deity, its master, and the sovereign of every dryad within it—an Elite Raid Boss monster. The kind of foe that demanded a full party of nine Level 9s just to hunt.
No wonder my first instinct upon seeing it had been to run.
Thanks to that power, cutting a path to the warp had never been easier.
Hwarrrrrrrrk!
Star Claw.
A wall of stars rose and tore the broken warp apart.
You have destroyed one Overheated Warp. 1/3
Time remaining until the Black Skin Hybrid is summoned: 9 min 01 sec
Hybrids begin pouring through the warp.
From the two remaining warps, ordinary Hybrids began to emerge.
A monster shaped like a vast purple octopus drifted through the air—easily the size of a whole building.
And its level was nothing to scoff at. Even a common Hybrid hit as hard as most Boss Monsters.
"A creature of the Abyss! Truly an ill omen!"
"Can you handle it?"
"Leave it to me, my friend!"
The High Dryad brimmed with confidence. Whether it was the Spirit Egg restoring life to the forest or something else, its fighting spirit was sky-high.
In moments, a massive spear and a bow of living vines appeared in its hands. It nocked the vine-forged spear to the bowstring and loosed it at the Hybrid.
Kwarrrrrrrrrung!
The spear tore across the earth with a quake and punched straight through the Hybrid's brow.
"That's one down!"
The High Dryad shrugged as it eyed the instantly dead Hybrid.
…As expected of an Elite Raid Boss. An entirely different class of being.
And it seemed even stronger than the High Dryads I usually knew.
A High Dryad is tightly bound to the state of its forest. The Spirit Egg from the Tower of Spirits is far stronger than an ordinary spirit…
That had to be it. Spirits claimed directly from the Tower of Spirits carried several times the power of common ones. I had entrusted such an egg to the forest. The forest had grown far healthier than before—and the High Dryad had grown stronger still.
Once the spirit hatches, it might even hit Level 10…
Would that make it a Super Dryad instead of a High Dryad?
I was lucky it was a friend and not an enemy.
With that half-baked thought, I sprinted for the next warp.
You have destroyed one Overheated Warp. 2/3
Time remaining until the Black Skin Hybrid is summoned: 8 min 05 sec
Hybrids begin pouring through the warp.
Dark Warriors begin pouring through the warp.
Just like that, two warps were gone in a flash.
Only one remained.
"Mm. My friend. Away from the forest, we cannot fight for long."
The problem was the dryads' condition. The relentless momentum that had been driving them forward was dying.
This was a human city, not a forest—a place where dryads simply could not live. It was like fish that could only survive in the sea being dragged onto dry land. As proof, their once-plump skin was wrinkling and drying out with every passing moment.
"…Just coming this far is more than enough. Thank you, my friend."
They had crossed over easily enough—but I knew full well how hard that choice had been.
A warp opened through a Teleport Book could be created only once a day, and it was one-way. Having come from the other side, they could not return until tomorrow. If the city fell to the Dark Space, they would be annihilated with it. And still they had charged in without hesitation—all for the sake of a single word: friend.
How simple… and how trustworthy.
Better than humans.
So I respected their choice. I paid full honor to their faith and every action that had followed from it.
I turned my head.
Dark Warriors.
Those were the real problem. Same level as the Hybrids, but far faster and far more agile. Hybrids were sluggish enough that you could dodge them once you knew the pattern—Dark Warriors were another story entirely. Cutting past them to destroy the warp would be hard.
But—
"Priest Andrew!"
I shouted toward the distant figure of Priest Andrew. The sole priest of the Goddess Sect in Knight's Garden, master of the shelter—if anyone here could help me, it was him.
"Pray for me and me alone! Worship only me!"
Priest Andrew's face twisted.
He had heard every word. He could have ignored them—but the content alone was enough to set his nerves on edge.
Did he just… tell me to recite the Prayer of Worship?
The Prayer of Worship—or the litany for veneration. A self-sacrificial rite usable only by the highest-ranking priests who stood closest to the Goddess. Praise the Goddess and it was no sacrifice at all; turn that worship upon anyone else, and the prayer became a rite of self-immolation.
Ordering a high priest to offer the Prayer of Worship to anyone but the Goddess was as good as telling him to die. And if the one being worshipped was unworthy, the risk of death only grew.
How does he know I can use the Prayer of Worship?
Aside from the Saintess, the priests in the Goddess Sect formally capable of the Prayer of Worship—rather than mere praise of the Goddess—could be counted on two hands. Andrew was one of them. But he had never told a soul, save for a single man. Every priest who could use that prayer had met a bad end.
To worship anyone but the Goddess is an absolute sin.
That alone was the gravest of crimes. That alone was enough to brand a man a heretic within the Goddess Sect. All he had wanted was to quietly finish his days serving at the shelter.
Knight King Wilhelm… I told only him.
So there was no way an outsider should know. And yet he had clearly heard it: Worship only me. Pray for me.
Had he figured it out? Or was it just a shot in the dark?
"He is the Knight King's successor, Priest Andrew."
Marquis Weiser stepped up beside him and added a quiet word.
"Serengeti has acknowledged him. That much is certain."
"Ah…"
If it was Serengeti—if the woman who had served at the Knight King's side had recognized him—then there could be no doubt.
No wonder. I kept thinking those eyes looked familiar…
Knight King Wilhelm's gaze and this man's were uncannily alike. Now he understood why. Which meant Wilhelm must have told him about Andrew as well.
He owed Wilhelm a debt. He had given him an Indulgence, and even that had not been enough. For that man, he would have laid down his life without regret.
But Wilhelm was dead.
Priest Andrew drew a long breath.
"O Goddess of abundant grace, O Holy Spirit, glorious now as in the beginning, always and forever…"
He clasped his hands and recited the Prayer of Worship.
But its object was not the Goddess. It was that man—the Knight King's successor.
Sacred power poured from Andrew's heart and reached Randolph.
To a human, not a god. To one without the right.
This was an absolute sin that demanded atonement with one's life.
And yet—
"Ah…!"
At the same moment, a shudder ran through him.
"Th-the Goddess!"
"The Goddess has descended!"
"Aaaah!"
…Because everyone had seen it.
The Goddess settling upon Randolph's head. Golden light surging as she pressed a kiss to his brow.
You have destroyed all Overheated Warps.
Time elapsed: 3 min 56 sec
Main Quest 4: Seal the Rift in the Dark Space
Settling results…
Normal settlement is impossible due to intervention by a Singularity.
Total Score: ??? pts. Updated to the Hall of Fame.
The Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations frown.
Tip: In the Golden Rule Shop, you may use Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule to purchase special talents, items, elixirs, and more. Among them are truly extraordinary things—such as Mythic species.
The Dark Legion returns to the Abyss.
The Skin Hybrid of God burns your image into both its eyes, promising a next time.
The city was saved.
Every broken warp had been destroyed, and the Dark Legion had all withdrawn through the rifts. But everyone present had witnessed something they could not believe.
What did I just see?
The sudden appearance of the dryads and the High Dryad alone had set hearts hammering out of control. It had been an overwhelming spectacle. But beyond even that—beyond any comparison—they had taken in a sight that defied description.
The Goddess… truly descended.
The Goddess who had come down had kissed Randolph's forehead and laid a blessing upon him. That was no mere Prayer of Worship—it was the Goddess's blessing itself.
No one had ever seen such a thing. No one had ever heard of it. Even when a Saintess or a Holy Emperor of the Goddess Sect recited a prayer, the Goddess did not appear.
Marquis Weiser rubbed his eyes.
The Goddess who had settled upon Randolph vanished as if she had never been. But the figure he had shown was unmistakable. For a single moment—a flash no longer than a breath—in the way he cut down the Dark Warriors, Marquis Weiser had seen not some mere successor, but the true Knight King Wilhelm.
The Knight of the Goddess himself.
Thud—
Then it happened.
Without warning, Priest Andrew dropped to his knees—before Randolph. Before the Knight of the Goddess.
Thud. Thud.
One by one, every person who had been watching began to kneel as well. No one ordered it. It simply happened. They had witnessed an overwhelming sight. They had received a god.
What human would dare stand stiff-backed before a deity?
At least, none here would. Marquis Weiser was no exception.
"You worshipped me instead of the Goddess. That sin will not be light."
Randolph walked toward Priest Andrew.
Successor to the Knight King or not, he was still human. Using the Prayer of Worship on a human would mean certain expulsion if the Goddess Sect ever learned of it. Having poured out every drop of his holy power, Andrew looked a full decade older. To recover, he would need years of unbroken devotion—and the chance to raise that faith would never come again. Even so, he felt no regret.
At last the man stopped within arm's reach and spoke.
"The Knight King said this: that he would take your sin upon himself. That the Indulgence you gave him, he would use for you."
…Long ago, Priest Andrew had issued an Indulgence to Knight King Wilhelm. A priest of the Goddess Sect could grant three Indulgences in a lifetime, and Andrew had issued his only to the Knight King.
An Indulgence needed no physical form. It was simply the right to absolve a single sin. But Indulgences could not be inherited. A successor who was not the Knight King himself had no claim to use one.
It was good to see you again, Priest Andrew.
The words the man had left him with when he departed the shelter. Coming from someone Andrew had never met, they had made no sense—but now, somehow, he understood.
"Ah…"
Even so… Priest Andrew could not form a single word. He could do nothing but weep without end. No one present could have found anything to say in that moment.
Slowly, the man set a hand upon Andrew's shoulder.