Chapter 20
I looked over the new skill I'd obtained.
Resurrection... Well, I suppose that makes sense. My class is Phoenix, after all.
But do phoenixes have the ability to bring other people back to life?
I guess there are games where you can revive other party members...
'I'm not a healer, though?'
As you'd expect from a one-trick attacker, I didn't have a single skill that could support anyone else.
If I could at least use healing or buffs, maybe—but could I really save party members with just one skill that revives other people?
Not that I had any intention of partying up anyway.
But the item's description bothered me.
[Name: The World Tree's Last Leaf]
Grade: ???
A sight seen each time the body is stolen and the mind is worn away.
The end of a world whose destruction even the gods could no longer prevent.
Those I wanted to protect are all gone now.
All that remains are traces that they ever existed.
Using this item allows you to experience a memory.
'Experience a memory?'
"Are there items that let you experience memories?"
-They sometimes pop up when you climb the Tower
-Usually, it's the original owner's memories that show up
-Look at the leaf's description. Is the world's destruction already a foregone conclusion from the start?
-I thought there were a few people like the World Tree. They couldn't stop it?
-Seems that way, judging by how the Constellations can't intervene?
The viewers, who had calmed down somewhat, told me that such things sometimes appeared.
Then was this related to the World Tree's memories?
The Tower had already announced that I'd cleared floor 30.
Would it be all right to use it inside the Tower?
'Crackle...'
When I held the leaf in my hand, it crumbled away helplessly, despite glowing with a clear, bright color.
Then light that began at my hand enveloped me.
-Aagh, flashbang
-Wait, you're using that inside the Tower?
-Good grief, it's bright
-Liiiiiiight
-Glooooorious
-What's with the two comments above;;
I instinctively closed my eyes as the light enveloped me.
When I opened them again a moment later, the place where I stood had changed.
It felt like a vast underground cave, but unlike the place where I'd defeated the giant lava slime, it was cold and damp.
Maybe because it was underground, there were lots of stone buildings, but the civilization seemed advanced; there were streetlamps and even pictures carved into the pavement.
But I had no time to admire the culture.
"...Here too?"
-Don't fucking tell me, seriously, ah
-The chocolate-milk tits didn't survive either!?
-The nicely tanned big brothers aren't alive!?
-???
-This is a serious situation, and you're joking
-You gotta joke to hold it together, yeah
"Kyaaaah!!"
"!?"
Just then, I heard a scream from somewhere in the cave, and I instinctively used Flight and took off.
A white-haired Dark Elf girl was being attacked by hole-faced Dark Elves.
No time to hesitate!!
"Get down!!"
"Huh? Hyaah!!"
At my shout, the Dark Elf girl dropped backward, and I dealt with the hole-faced ones by a hair's breadth.
Maybe I'd gotten the hang of burning things, because no parasites came bursting out.
"There was a survivor."
"Ah... Thank you..."
...Without thinking, I held out my hand and helped her up.
-There... was a survivor!!
-Whoa, shit, she's super cute
-They couldn't escape extinction even though they looked like that? Who the hell's responsible?
"There are still a lot of those hole-faced things, right?"
"Yes... The infected... have already occupied the underground city."
"Yeah, well... I can tell just by looking."
The swarm of bugs aside, the soldiers, citizens, and even children had all become hole-faced things.
By the way, was "the infected" their official name? Was that what happened when a bug got inside someone?
For some reason, though, the Dark Elf girl was staring at me intently.
"...Is something wrong?"
"Could you possibly be... ■■■?"
"Huh?"
-?
-What did she say?
-I couldn't hear her
-Me neither
For a moment, the name was muted. The viewers hadn't heard it either.
The girl must have thought I'd answered, because she continued.
"As far as I remember, the only person who could wield flames that powerful was ■■■. But... why do you have a human form?"
"...I need to conserve mana. The elves have already been taken too. Even the High Elves."
"That can't be... The leader of the forest guardians, and the World Tree's closest aide... Then Her Majesty must already..."
Did she just call the elves forest guardians? That High Elf must have held a much higher position than I'd thought.
"Anyway... We need to get out of here first. Do you know the way out?"
"I did, but all the teleportation magic circles have been destroyed. The only exit left is on the other side of the city..."
"Sigh... I see."
Then we'd have to break through head-on.
"I think I'll have to burn the city. Are you okay with that? If you have acquaintances here..."
"It's okay... They've all already been taken..."
-This is seriously bleak, fuck...
-Is she the last surviving Dark Elf?
-Waaah, Daddy will protect you
-Please give us some handcuffs here
-I feel like Chocolate Milk's the one who's gonna get handcuffed, though?
"Can you use magic?"
"I can't... I used to be able to, but as the situation got worse, I suddenly couldn't use magic anymore... It's as if control over mana itself changed hands. Only the infected can use magic now..."
"Sigh... I see."
She couldn't use magic. Was that one of the causes of their destruction?
For now, I started walking forward.
Armed infected appeared along the way, but I ignored them all and burned them along with the bugs.
"Come to think of it, I don't know your name..."
"Huh? There's no need to know the name of someone like me—"
"Just tell me. It's awkward to keep calling you 'you' or 'miss.'"
"...Celia. I'm Celia."
"All right, Celia. Stay close to me. Be careful not to catch fire."
-Only two scissors!!!
-I haven't heard that joke in ages
-Rescuing a beautiful girl in an apocalyptic world, now that's the good stuff
-Nobody can lay a finger on our Celia-chan!!
-There are dark otaku here, too
-It's a livestream, so it wouldn't be weird if anyone showed up
There were more infected than I'd expected, and parasite bugs occasionally emerged from objects, rooftops, or gaps in doors.
A lot of them were targeting Celia, so I burned those first.
I died a few times, but since I could revive, it didn't matter... except Celia looked so startled that I decided to be a little more careful.
"
Sorry. I startled you, Celia."
"N-No! But... you really do come back to life?"
"Is this the first time you've seen someone revive?"
"Yes..."
Her hesitant manner was unexpectedly cute.
It wasn't really an appropriate thing to find cute in a situation like the apocalypse, though...
...At this rate, this would never end.
"Excuse me for a moment."
"Kyaah!?"
I held Celia with one arm and took off, while gathering the flames that appeared around me in my other hand and clenching it tight.
Then I dropped a small bead of fire into the middle of the city.
It might have looked like I was making it explode, but in truth, it was a little different.
This was meant to spread.
'Fwoooosh!!!'
The bead of fire touched the ground, gave off a flash of light, and surged forward, spreading flames in every direction.
The infected along its path instantly caught fire and began to burn, and the flames soon incinerated every bug inside their bodies and hiding nearby, too.
"Waaah..."
Celia, held in my arms, stared at the flames in a daze, her eyes shining.
After making sure the flames were spreading throughout the city, I descended again.
"We can walk around now, right?"
"Ah... Y-Yes! Of course!"
-Her skill control is insane
-So this is why people say illegal firepower is insanely strong
-Wouldn't she be useless underwater anyway?
-She's a phoenix, so every time she revives, she boils over. Doesn't matter.
-What the hellㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Leaving a few buildings standing, I walked through the city, still ablaze.
A few bugs were still writhing on the ground, crackling as they burned to death.
"I just wanted to die, so why is all this happening..."
"Um... What do you mean by that...?"
"Well... I was looking for a way to die soon, but now I can't die... and the world is like this... To be honest... sometimes I wonder if I have any reason to keep living..."
I'd wanted to die for a long time, and that hadn't changed even now.
But that damn Tower had made me ageless, to say nothing of making me unable to die, and I'd ended up in a position where I had to climb it to find a way to die.
Celia watched me, then spoke after a moment.
"Then... why not look for a reason not to die?"
"Huh?"
"Um... I don't know if someone like me should say this, but I've heard there are all kinds of things in the world... No, the world is already on the verge of destruction, but, b-but anyway! If there's anything left that makes life worth living, I'll find it for you!"
"No, you don't need to worry about me that much—"
"No! I really want to! Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to
offer tribute to the Great One."
"...What?"
-?
-Wait, what?
-Tribute???
-Do you have some god you worship?
Something about Celia's appearance as she suddenly stopped and spoke to me felt wrong.
"What did you just—"
"If you accept the sacred flesh bestowed by that One, you'll naturally lose the desire to die. Then you'll want to spread the faith of that Great One—"
"...Celia?"
"I, too, will carry out that One's will"
"Celia?"
"Yes?"
Only after I called her several times did Celia come to her senses and answer.
But... I had no choice but to ask Celia.
"You... When did you become infected?"
"What? Infected? I haven't been— Huh?"
She'd denied ever being infected, but at my question, her expression stiffened as if she'd remembered something.
Then a scene appeared before my eyes in the form of shadows.
An unidentified swarm floating in the air.
It reached out with parts of itself and drove them into the shadow of a huge tree, slowly seeping inside.
Elves swaying like zombies.
Then, somewhere, the swarm from a moment ago appeared before a shadow that seemed to be Celia. More precisely, it was the shadow of something smaller.
Celia's shadow made no attempt to resist.
Then a tentacle climbed up Celia's body and lifted her up
......
That scene must have been visible only to me, judging by the viewers' lack of reaction.
Apparently, this was something only the person viewing the memory could see.
"...Come to think of it, the High Elf said it was already too late. That applied to the Dark Elves too. It doesn't make sense that there'd be just one normal person left in this situation."
"Ah— Aah— What is this... My memories... I erased them? When... How long have I...?"
-What the hell, what's going on
-Wait, it made her forget that it happened to her?
-What the fuck is that thing?
-Please, not this, please
Only then did Celia realize what state she was in. She staggered, her face turning pale.
I wondered if I could burn only the parasite inside her... but I sensed other things in there besides the bugs—things like eggs.
If I removed those, the eggs would all hatch at once. It wouldn't end with just her being pierced.
Just then, she suddenly shouted at me.
"N-No! The forest guardians! The souls of all our clans are still with 'it'—!!"
"Souls? What are you—"
"Ugh."
"......"
Before I could finish speaking, her body gave a single sharp shudder and went still.
Like a doll, her eyes went unfocused, and even her breathing stopped.
"Ghk—ugh—"
"...Celia."
"Ugh. Ghk. Ah. Ghh. Guh. Ah. Haa. A—"
'Crack!!!'
I'd seen it so many times.
The red parasite burst through Celia's face and reached toward me, then went back inside. I'd tilted my head to the side when it emerged.
It wasn't just a hole being made. Her face split open from her mouth to where her eyes should be, leaving no eyes, nose, or mouth, just a single hole.
-FUCK, MY DAUGHTER!!!!!
-I barely even got to see her face
-"You wanted to see my face? So I got rid of it."
-You (excessive profanity censored)(excessive profanity censored)
-You fucking bastard!!!
Mana began to gather in the hands of the thing that had once been her.
Maybe it was the owner of that parasite who'd made them unable to use magic. It had stolen the World Tree's body and mind, too.
"So it takes things away on a whim and gives them back on a whim..."
[Kiiiiiiik-!!]
"Shut up."
It stopped at my words, but I had no intention of stopping.
I grabbed it by the face and lifted it up,
and pillars of flame surged up from beneath both me and the thing that had taken Celia's body.
Both me and the thing that had stolen Celia's body.
When the pillars of flame disappeared, I was the only one left, having returned once more from death.
"...Celia."
[Memory viewing has ended.]
There was no trace of Celia anywhere.