The Devil Who Grants Wishes

150 – Gaia (6)

At my words, everyone’s eyes are directed to the center of the root.

As if Gaia’s body is a very precious and nutritious nutrient, the roots of the world tree clinging to each and every one of Gaia’s skin make me frown just by looking at them.

As an analogy… it looks like iron powder stuck to a magnet.

In order to be in contact with Gaia’s body even a little more, all the roots are touching Gaia’s body.

Everyone’s expressions contort quite a lot, as if they feel very painfully that if they were in that position, they would have been in a lot of pain.

“Now what do I do…”

It’s nice to have met Gaia, but I’m a bit skeptical about whether it can be called Gaia.

The reason why I am doing this on the topic that I had just concluded that Gaia would be right, is that Gaia is right, but strictly speaking, it was Gaia, that is, it is only Gaia’s body.

The Gaia we saw before, that is, the Gaia we saw immediately after returning from Kael, was just a form made of natural mana, but the Gaia we see now is clearly made of flesh.

That is Gaia, but not Gaia. There is no soul to give and receive opinions.

“…First of all, we’ll have to deal with this crazy parasitic tree.”

First of all, the most certain thing at this point is that this crazy world tree must be plucked out first.

The black space beneath our feet was clearly created by this world tree, and seeing that the great forest was quickly swallowed up by this black space and disappeared, this world tree must not be left unattended.

Well, that Gaia’s body just doesn’t have a soul, but since it’s certain that she’s still alive, you’ll be able to meet Gaia if you get rid of the World Tree and use your body as a medium to adjust it well.

[Dare… Dare…!]

“You talk.”

Well, he screamed so much, but isn’t it on a strange level to talk?

Even talking plants already have flora, which is not surprising.

Hmm… Flora.

After this job is over, I’ll have to do something about Flora, who has been corrupted by divine power… For now, I’ll have to focus on solving the life limit.

[The cause… Do not interfere with the master’s cause!!]

“It’s a cause.”

I don’t know what they’re up to, but to be honest, there weren’t many normal-minded bastards among the ones who were arguing for the greater good.

Somewhat of sacrifice is needed for the greater good, etc. Roughly like this.

Snatching elves by their roots, kidnapping them, engulfing the Great Forest whole, and you can’t believe there’s a cause at the end of these acts?

Roaring!

[Kyaaa!!!]

It seemed that if I heard more of what he was saying, he would only come up with sophistry, so I decided to continue setting fire to the World Tree as usual.

Of course, rather than setting fire to it like this and waiting for it to burn, just throwing out a sword and shattering it entirely would be able to quickly fulfill the purpose of logging… But apparently, no matter how much the World Tree is cut into pieces, the parts that don’t die like the Hydra and get cut into pieces Since he’s still alive, such an act doesn’t mean much.

[How dare this fake creature!!]

As I continued to set fire, the World Tree attacked me using its roots, as if convinced that it would die if it stayed like this.

Seeing the roots attack from all sides, it looks like a kraken attacking a ship in some pirate movie.

Of course, such attacks don’t mean much to me. Even that cerafia couldn’t stop me and just got beaten to death. What could a mere piece of wood do to me?

Rurrr!

[aaa!!]

As if a fuse is burning, the roots that were fired at me quickly burn up as soon as they catch fire, carrying the embers toward the main body, the World Tree.

Of course, since the World Tree is already burning very roaringly, it would be difficult to expect any meaningful effect with just that amount of embers.

“Come on, give Gaia. If so, I’ll save you from being burned to death in such a painful way.”

[That… can’t… I can’t…!]

“You’re going down the hard road.”

I guess I’ll have to wait for it to burn to death because it’s so big, so I tried a little deal like this, but the answer that comes back is cold.

It is full of will to not give up Gaia’s body at all costs.

Tsk… Do you want that much power?

Well, it’s nothing else, it’s the body of Gaia, the god of life.

Rurrr!

[Ah, ah ah ah ah!!]

Then all I have to do is just increase the intensity of the firepower. Only by burning this mad tree to death can Gaia’s body be freed.

The firepower is so strong that the remains of the World Tree, which have been burned to ashes, blow in the wind and block our view. The updraft created by the huge flame creates a huge wind that strikes everyone including me without mercy.

Hey… Seeing this reminds me of a campfire I had on a field trip before. I was very flustered when he suddenly asked me to find a mate, but in the end—-… Wait a minute.

‘…something is strange.’

No matter how much you burn and burn, the World Tree is still intact. Things that were burnt and turned to ash were flying at our faces every moment, but that was not the case, the world tree did not decrease even an inch.

And that’s not all.

No matter how rooted he is in Gaia’s body, how could he have absorbed Gaia’s power so well?

If you think about it from my point of view, even if Flora touches my body, there’s no way Flora can absorb my power this far, right? In order to absorb everything, there must be a lot of difference in basic specs, but what is the relationship between the world tree, which was just an ordinary tree, and Gaia, the god of life?

To put it in an analogy… Just as I gave power to Aigokeros, Flora, and Nero by sharing demonic energy as compensation, just as this World Tree received power from Gaia…

Come to think of it, didn’t the world tree just look at Gaia and call her master?

…shit.

“Let’s retreat for now—”

When the accident reached that point, I hurriedly tried to get out of this place, but unfortunately it was a step too late.

The flames that had been burning the whole body of the World Tree until just a moment ago had completely disappeared, and the green light from the center of the root now began to radiate from the whole body of the World Tree.

And that’s not all.

[Faust, we met again.]

It was because Gaia’s spirit returned to Gaia’s body, which was just sitting still with her eyes closed.

In that dark space, Gaia, who is looking up at me as if nothing is wrong, acts as if nothing happened despite seeing the devastated surroundings.

In other words… it means that Gaia knew from a long time ago what the world tree had done.

“…My eyesight was wrong. I thought he wasn’t the man to do this.”

[This kind of thing… You mean the Great Forest was razed to the ground?]

“I’m glad you know me well.”

Gaia’s appearance reminds me of an elf.

With very white skin, thin arms and legs, and even blonde hair, it is the image of an elf that has been seen in various media.

Even when I was Noah’s developer, Gaia’s body hadn’t been modeled, so I didn’t know Gaia’s real face, but in fact, it just resembled an elf… Um, well, maybe that’s the case. Didn’t God make creations in his own image?

“Where are the elves? Since he thanked me so much for saving the elves, he must be alive and well somewhere—”

[dead.]

“…what?”

[They did their duty and died according to the original purpose for which I created them.]

At that moment, Gaia continued to speak so calmly as if it were nothing, but she could not calmly accept those words at all.

dead?

Didn’t get kidnapped, just died?

[…I know what you’re thinking. However, this is for a good cause, so please understand.]

Even though there is no need to ask for my understanding as an outsider since she is killing her own people, Gaia bows her head to me and says so. No, maybe he was bowing down to Lena, not me.

…a cause.

There are no normal bastards for those who say that.

“Gee, don’t lie!! Killing me… Aren is alive and well…”

[That is nothing more than the World Tree’s doing what it wanted to do, not wanting to kill Aren, who still keeps his faith in me. Of course, even if a few elves were left out, there would be no problem with the work progressing, so there is no need to sacrifice your lives.]

Lena talks to Gaia as if denying reality, but Gaia’s calm answer severely rejects Lena’s denial of reality.

“…Gaia, I want to seek help to remove the life limit.”

[It’s life limit, so don’t worry about that as we’re already working on it. If all living things are wiped out with one great flood, the life limit will be destroyed, so don’t worry.]

Lena left the shock by her side and told her the purpose of finding Gaia, but Gaia’s reply was so stupid.

You say sweep it away?

What are you saying, this year again.