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It was a curious sword, with a blade twisted like a drill.

I held the blade up once as if in prayer, then thrust it into the Undead King Zen with all my might.

“Gah…ha-ha. Ena, my angel Liltiena. I will be with you again at last…”

Zen’s body crumbled away like sand.

A moment later, his empty robe fell to the floor.

As the dust settled, I heard the words I thank you… echo faintly on the wind.

“Heh-heh-heh… Well, that was a failure.”

“Yeah, that’s a failure, all right.”

Two small violet lights rose from Zen’s collapsed remains.

“So long, hero.”

“You win this time.”

I sensed so much evil from the lights that I reflexively slashed at them with Gjallarhorn. However, they scattered for only a moment before re-forming and floating up to the sky.

“Let’s meet again, yeah?”

“See you later.”

Before long, the two lights seeped through the ceiling and disappeared.

Were those angels? They felt really evil to me.

But I had no time to contemplate that now. Because…

“The following is a system message. The Cradle’s self-destruct sequence has been activated. Staff and trainees, please escape the premises immediately. I repeat…”

…I heard this announcement.

I rushed over to Mia. She was still unconscious, so I put the mana potion to her lips. Since I’d never used this potion before, I gave it to her one third at a time; luckily, she woke up just as the bottle was finished.

“Mia, do you know who I am?”

“…Big brother?”

Uh, no.

Mia’s blurred eyes came back into focus.

Her stamina hadn’t recovered enough yet, so there was no awareness in her eyes.

“Where am I?”

“The throne room in the Cradle of Trazayuya.”

At my words, Mia forced her unresponsive body to move so that she could look around for Zen.

“It’s okay; he’s not here anymore. He’ll never bother you again.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

This was no time for a carefree chat.

“The Cradle’s self-destruct sequence has been activated. Staff and trainees, please escape…”

I had to stop it, and fast.

“Mia, can you stop the self-destruct sequence?”

“I’ll try.”

Mia’s body was still weak, so I lifted her up and brought her to the operating panel.

After attempting several different operations, Mia shook her head.

“Can’t.”

You sure give up fast.

I understood what Trazayuya was complaining about now.

I took over for Mia and tried some operations myself. It was all in Elvish, but that was fine.

I used the touch panel–like interface to find what I was looking for.

There it is.

I checked the details and clicked my tongue.

“Satou?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here.”

It seemed that Zen had never planned on sacrificing Mia, either: There was an escape teleportation setting specifically for her.

However, all the other features were locked.

If I stayed close to Mia, I could probably be transported out with her, but then I couldn’t even save the women below this platform, never mind Number 7, who was still back in the Guardian Knight’s Area.

I went to all that trouble to keep them alive before, so it would be a real shame to let them die now.

It seemed that I could change the timer on the teleportation setting, so I set it back by a minute, then carried Mia down the stairs.

I adjusted the countdown timer in my menu to match.

This convenient feature was probably meant for timing when to recast support magic buffs. It was a simple feature, but it had gotten a great deal of support from the users in the last game I’d worked on.

“Mia, listen carefully.”

“Mm.”

Having gathered the women together, I gave their hands to Mia. To make sure she wouldn’t let go, I secured all their hands together with a leather strap.

“There’s still one more I have to help.”

“Satou!”

Mia’s movements were terribly weak, but she still tried desperately to stop me.

Keeping an eye on the countdown timer, I patted Mia’s head.

“Don’t worry; I’m not going to die.”

Fifteen seconds left.

“I promise.”

“Promise— Promise, okay? You have to protect me! You have to!”

Mia forced her trembling lips to shape the words as fast as she could manage.

Three seconds left.

“Yeah, I will. I’ll come out alive.”

I nodded reassuringly at Mia as she disappeared, spirited away by the teleportation system.

I had no interest in committing suicide. So I’d definitely get out alive.

With the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn in hand, I leaped out into the great hall.

Mia’s escape was probably the trigger. As soon as she and the women had been teleported out, the Cradle’s self-destruct system started going into operation.

The walls and ivy that made up the corridors had turned brittle and white.

Luckily, my “Trap Detection” skill alerted me of any areas that might collapse underfoot, so I avoided them easily as I bounded down the hallway.

As I was racing down the first grand staircase, the ceiling started to flake and crumble.

One big chunk started to fall in my path, but I gave it a flying kick to send it out of the way.

“Ugh, salty!”

Is this white stuff salt?

I spat out a chunk that had flown into my mouth.

It wasn’t the classiest move, but nobody was around to see it anyway.

Using the stairs normally would take too much time. I jumped down along the thick pillar that supported the spiral staircase instead.

Normally I wouldn’t be able to do that, but my “Fear Resistance” skill kept my cowardly heart in check. Partway down, I stabbed the Holy Sword into the pillar to slow my descent.

The sword served its purpose well without breaking, so my shortcut past the last eight floors of stairs succeeded.

I rushed toward the giant hole in the outer wall, stepping all the way to the edge.

At this point, I had to admit that I experienced a bit, just the tiniest amount, of hesitation.

I took a single deep breath, pushing down the fear. It wasn’t easy, even with the help of my “Fear Resistance” skill.

I steadied my resolve and stepped forward.

I was just doing a jump down, same as before.

If anyone had been watching from outside, I was sure it would have looked like I was jumping to my death, but it was actually a calculated action.

I used the cracks and bumps in the tree’s bark as footholds, hurrying downward.

If I fell too far away from the tree trunk, I was keenly aware that I would tumble head over heels straight to the bottom, but there was no use worrying about that.

The difference in scale was enough to override that fear.

The bumps and cracks were the same size as they’d be on a cliff or a rock face. Even if they were a little far apart, I wouldn’t fall more than three hundred feet before finding another protrusion to grab on to.

Normally, the height alone would’ve been too much for me, but I’d dealt with a similar height before I arrived in Seiryuu City, so I was fine.

Experiencing a thrill not unlike skydiving or riding a roller coaster, I descended to the Guardian Knight’s Area on the 100th floor.

“Seriously?”

Since I had been descending at nearly the same speed as a free fall, I should’ve had plenty of time before the crumbling white salt swallowed up the whole area, but…

“…The roots collapsed?”

I hadn’t noticed as I descended before, but now I felt the tremors as the giant tree’s roots collapsed and sank into the ground. The dissolution into salt must have started down there, too.

At this rate, I might not be able to use the route I’d been planning on.

But, well, it’d probably work out somehow.

With a Holy Sword, I sliced an opening in the outer wall of the Guardian Knight’s Area. This time, instead of Gjallarhorn, I used Excalibur. I’d switched them out because the odd shape of Gjallarhorn was ill suited to cutting.

The Divine Blade I’d used to defeat the greater hell demon before was powerful, but Excalibur was no slouch, either. It was terrifyingly sharp.

I cut through the outer wall without any resistance and made my way into the Guardian Knight’s Area.

Number 7 was still unconscious, so I slung her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and broke into a run.

However, my destination wasn’t downstairs.

“Are you here?!”

“Mm-hmm.”

Dryad Number 2 responded lazily to my summons.

Her voice was quite calm, giving no indication that she was afraid of dying as the tree collapsed.

“Can you send us out of this tree?”

“Nope,” she replied smoothly.

That was okay; I figured that might be the case…

“But if you give me more magic and seeds for the catalyst, I could send you down a detour to the old trees in the basin.”

…but Dryad Number 2’s grinning face told me my other plan might not be necessary.

I had plenty of magic. But what about the “seeds”?

“Will any kind of seed do?”

“Yeah, I just need it as a means to forcibly link up with the interrupted connection, so any kind of seed is fine as long as it’s a plant.”

I should’ve grabbed some of the fruits that I saw on the way up before.

There were none in the Guardian Knight’s Area, but I’d probably find some if I went one floor up.

…Wait, I do have something that should work.

“If this is good enough for the seed, please do it.”

“Hey, now… This should be fine, but I need three times the magic you gave me before, y’know! Don’t come crying to me if you shrivel up.”

Three times that amount would be about 1,000 MP.

I had already recovered all the magic from before, so a third of my total amount should be fine.

“That’s fine. I’m counting on you.”

“’kaaay.”

I took out the handkerchief full of nuts and berries from Storage and handed it to Dryad Number 2. These were the gifts I’d received from those beastfolk kids before.

Dryad Number 2 chewed up the nuts and gulped them down, then reached her hands out toward me.

As soon as she planted her lips on mine, she started to suck up my magic with a vengeance.

As my magic was consumed, I felt a chill not unlike the kind that comes with blood loss. It was a similar sensation to when I’d used Meteor Shower.

With a wet smacking sound, Dryad Number 2 pulled her face away from mine.

“Mm’kay, I’m connected.” Looking satisfied, the dryad took my hand and led me into the fairy ring. “Okay, let’s go!”

When she gave the word, face glowing, a ring of shimmering green spores rose to create a gate.

After a slightly uncomfortable sensation, we were teleported to a hollow inside a thousand-year-old tree.

“Thanks for saving us, Dryad.”

“Mm, no problem,” Dryad Number 2 responded amiably. “I got a whole lotta magic out of it, too.”

She giggled lightly, then gave me a puzzled look.

“By the way, aren’t you going to run?”

“Run?”

Why…?

The rest of my question didn’t make it out of my mouth. Looking in the direction that Dryad Number 2 was pointing, I felt the blood drain from my face.

To be quite honest, I was more terrified than when I’d faced the greater hell demon or dived from the tree with no lifeline.

I hefted Number 7 back onto my shoulders, then reached out my other hand to Dryad Number 2.

“I’ll be fine. As long as there’s still a forest, I’ll never die.”

She shook her head lightly, so I trusted her words and broke into a run, carrying Number 7.

With a deep rumble like a thundercloud, a tidal wave of salt was bearing down on us.

If you got caught up in that, you’d definitely die of suffocation. Or maybe you’d be crushed to death first.

Based on my experience trapped in the shadow before, I had a feeling that I probably wouldn’t die, but I still didn’t want to get buried alive in salt and spend years suffering like a dried fish.

Pushing aside dead branches, I kicked up dirt as I fled wildly through the basin.

My shaking field of vision was stressful, but I managed to add skill points to the new “Off-Road Running” skill as well as my previously acquired “Transport” skill and activate both of them.

Running suddenly became much easier.

Looking at the vegetation and the ground’s highs and lows, I seemed to be able to tell which paths I should take and which should be avoided.

This definitely increased my speed, but I was still moving only as fast as an automobile, at best.

The devastating white waves behind me were still getting closer with each step, roaring all the while.

Damn—it was going to overtake me any second now.

Think.

I had to think.

What was this unnecessarily high INT stat good for?

I didn’t have any active skills right now that could neutralize this situation.

Could I learn a new skill somehow?

I was already using my “Sprinting” skill to run faster.

So, what else was there?

…The air reeked of salt.

There was no more time.

I saw a flash of light up ahead of me.

Water? A pond or a swamp? Either one is fine. Let’s not get caught up in useless details here.

What can I do to stop a tidal wave?

Breakwater… That’s right, a wall.

…Wall?

Should I take out the rubble I have in Storage?

No, that’d just get swept up along with it and make things even more dangerous.

Like a volcanic bomb, a huge lump of salt soared over my head, interrupting my thoughts and raising a column of water as it splashed down into the pond in front of me.

Something about that sight lodged in my mind.

What?

Pochi’s and Tama’s tearful faces floated through my thoughts. What is this memory?

“The kettle’s maaad!”

“Help us, sir! The kettle man is angry, sir!”

Now was not a good time for my life to flash before my eyes.

As the slightly salty water sprayed over me unpleasantly, I focused all my power on moving forward.

If I had Earth Magic instead of useless Fire Magic like my Fire Shot spell, I could make a wall right now…

…Useless?

No, wait. It wasn’t useless at all.

The flashback to that moment with Pochi and Tama gave me an idea.

I opened the map in a small window so it wouldn’t block my view of the path ahead, and I checked the direction I was traveling in.

Perfect. This would work.

Shifting my course diagonally a bit, I ran harder than ever.

The bottoms of my boots tore away, unable to withstand my running strength. I felt prickling pain in the soles of my feet.

Seconds before arriving at my goal, I opened the menu and made preparations.

Right, time to make that breakwater!

I operated the menu with my mind to use magic.

Of course, all I needed to select right now was Fire Shot.

A huge ball of fire flew through the air, sending off sparks of high heat.

As soon as it made impact, a huge column of water erupted with a roar, bearing all the heat the fire had emitted.

Of course, it wasn’t just one. I followed it up with a second shot, then a third, dissolving the water column into steam.

Water’s volume multiplies by one thousand when it vaporizes.

Arisa was the one who’d said that, right?

I fired one more shot, vaporizing what water was left of the column and propelling the cluster of steam forward.

The giant tidal wave of salt crashed into the explosively expanding wall of steam and stopped.

…But it stopped for only an instant. The mass was just too different.

White reinforcements arrived and broke through the wall of steam, creating a new wave crest.

More salt waves had crashed around the left and right of the steam wall, and they bore down upon me from either side, ready to engulf me.

Most people would see this as nothing but a hopeless situation.

I was sure that if Number 7 had been conscious on my shoulder, she would have been screaming nonstop, too.

…But I daresay, I was glad that was all hypothetical.

That tiny instant I’d created was all I needed.

In that fraction of a second, I got the chance I needed to follow up with part two of my plan.

Before my eyes was what appeared on first glance to be a grassy plain—but was really a swamp.

I moved one foot forward before the other could sink into the marshy ground. In this way, I skirted over the surface, running like a manga character.

When I got to an area with a sufficient amount of water, it was time for my next step.

With a speed that threatened to melt my brain, I sent out a barrage of Fire Shots with my magic menu.

My “Calculation” and “Fire Magic” skills showed me exactly where to aim.

This new, thick breakwater of steam suppressed the salt wave, and I was able to safely reach the foothills that surrounded the basin.

After we’d climbed up the mountain, I put Number 7 down on some soft-looking ground.

As far as I could tell from the map, this area was the border between the Cradle and the Gray Rat Emirate.

Mia and the women who’d been teleported with her were at the summit of a mountain on the other side of the basin. They all seemed to be safe.

I had wanted to get back as quickly as possible to make sure everyone was safe, but then I saw that the store manager and my kids were at Mia’s location. When did they get here?

If only I had a cell phone, I could let them know I was safe, but there was no use in bemoaning something I didn’t have. I figured I could see if there was anything with a similar function at the old capital or Labyrinth City.

Since we no longer needed to hurry, I stood on the edge of the cliff and watched the last moments of the Cradle of Trazayuya.

Apparently, the very tip of this cliff that protruded into the basin was in the Cradle’s zone.

I watched as the top of the giant tree sank into the haze of salt.

The pillar of salt looked to me like a grave marker for Zen.

As the column mostly settled, I saw the last few monsters that were shown on my map disappear from the list.

And at the same time, my log began to fill up at a startling speed.

It was the first time since the Valley of Dragons.

When I used the scroll bar to page back through the log, I saw the line Defeated all enemies on the map just before the long list of acquired loot.

Just as I’d guessed in the labyrinth before, it looked like that was the condition for automatic loot recovery.

This time there was no “source” or anything mentioned.

I put all the new loot into a folder labeled Cradle of Trazayuya for now.

I could sort through all of it at a later date. Most of it was just monster corpses and broken equipment, anyway. There were also a large number of Zen’s magic books and other written materials from Trazayuya’s Area.

From beneath the haze of white salt, I felt the tremors of the giant tree’s trunk and branches collapsing.

After a brief moment of silence, I turned away.