---

Silver-shining prosthetic arm. Without needing to say anything, Ellie accurately punches right at the weakness I had in mind.

Ka-BOOM!!!

The sound was a thunderous roar, incomparable to anything before. The once sturdy barrier quivered and shook.

No, it couldn’t withstand that wave and started cracking!

“How…!”

Claudia glared at us in horror. She seems to be quite shocked today.

I lifted my hand towards her, chuckling like a fool sprawled on the ground.

As her beautiful face twisted in distress, other party members launched their attacks simultaneously.

Benny threw a sharp bone spear dripping with acid, Eve charged forward, enhancing her spells with the Water Spirit King, while Karen and the Captain of the Knight Order aimed for a precise stab, giving it their all.

As a result…

Crack! Sizzle!

Finally, Claudia’s barrier began to crumble.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Ellie stuck her hand into the cracked barrier, pulling it apart with force.

“HAH!”

The barrier stretched like a plastic wrap before it ripped apart.

What on earth is that?

Truly, it’s the epitome of hot-bloodedness.

Right at the moment Ellie raised her fist toward the utterly defenseless Claudia…

“Ah! Goddess! Even if you abandon me, I will never give you up!”

Claudia shouted, exuding immense Divine Power from her entire body. She sparkled so brightly, I felt chills down my spine, as if she were a small star fallen to the earth.

“Ellie! Be careful! It’s a self-sacrifice spell!”

The self-sacrifice spell, which all priests can use only once in their lives. It’s similar to the Power Explosion but a bit more extreme.

It allows one to exert power beyond their capabilities, but it certainly leads to their demise.

Noticing something amiss, Ellie stepped back, bracing her body defensively, while Lydia moved in front of me, ready to protect.

If we can endure this one time, victory will be ours. That was the resolve I had just made.

<Ooo...!!>

A chilling sound echoed from behind us.

I instinctively turned around, and there floated Baneus’s head, murmuring a creepy chant.

“Ah!!! I’m coming now! Goddess! Please wait just a little longer!”

“I’m going insane.”

Even after confirming he wouldn’t die so easily, I never expected him to be pulling off a resurrection trick.

With just his head floating, he wielded the tremendous power he had in life.

Lydia, with a determined look and a shield in one hand, summoned a greatsword to plant into the ground.

Over her, enormous forces were bearing down.

“Guh!”

A groan escaped Lydia’s lips. If it only ended there, it would be a blessing.

Her unique tremendous aura flickered like a candle in the wind, and with every flicker, her arms burst forth as if crushed by something.

In an instant, she became drenched in blood, her arms crushed. Yet, the fierce Divine Power continued to press down on her, intent on obliterating her completely.

She seems to be trying to hold her ground and keep her eyes on me, but how could that possibly be achievable? Likely, the outcome will be something the experienced adventurer wouldn’t even want to think about.

In the end, unable to hold out, Lydia’s arms would be crushed, her upper body too, as she would lose her life. The Sanctuary’s healing powers would be useless on someone who had already died.

Right. Maybe one’s fate wasn’t so bad with just one person not making it, but there’s no way she could hold out against both!

…Unless a miracle happens.

“Goddess.”

Without wiping the blood splattering from Lydia’s face, I pulled out the Goddess statue from my embrace.

“Please. I know it’s a lot to ask. But just this once more, help me. …Take everything I have, if you must.”

I can’t let Lydia die here. No matter what happens, absolutely not.

Was my will conveyed? The Divine Power of the Sanctuary gathered around the Goddess statue, erupting into a fierce pillar of light.

The tremendous Divine Power unleashed by Claudia collided with Baneus’s immense might, beginning a true three-way fight.

Crackle!

Claudia’s distorted Divine Power, the Goddess’s will, and the power of the already deceased God converging.

A massive explosion of energy began to increase exponentially as it repeatedly distorted, annihilated, and recreated.

Just as it was about to sweep everything around into a simple blob of power…

Whoosh!

Accompanied by the sound of swelling waves, the energy that had swelled began to contract.

What filled my vision shrank to the point I could barely recognize it, once the size of furniture, now the size of a soccer ball. What once was a soccer ball size shrank to the size of a fist.

And the once fist-sized mass became a tiny point.

Energy compressed to a point that appeared invisible.

…Is this the end?

As I thought about how I might need to shower with the Goddess statue afterward, I sighed in relief.

“Eh?”

Suddenly, the point that had been invisible opened a hole, leaving a trace in the air. In an instant, that hole became enormous.

A perfect size to swallow a person whole. Beyond it, only starlight sparkled, with no way to gauge what existed beyond that gate, which began to exert a tremendous pull.

“Wait a second! What is this! I said you could take everything, but are you really going to abduct me?!”

I frantically clutched the temple floor, but ignoring my resistance, the starlit gate continued to pull me in.

As I flailed in mid-air, Lydia desperately grabbed my hand, but…

*Slurp*.

“…I’m going nuts.”

Lydia’s hand passed through mine.

She must have shouted something, but whether the sound was getting pulled in, I couldn’t catch any of it.

Something is off. It feels wrong… But the statue of the Goddess that should have been in a panic is eerily calm.

Given the Goddess’s personality, who obsessively sends revelations to me, she wouldn’t sit idly by during such a disaster.

Perhaps… Perhaps this situation isn’t necessarily a big deal.

Or maybe it’s something that absolutely needs to happen.

Lost in that peculiar conviction, I smiled at Lydia with trembling lips.

I tried my best to make my lips move bigger so that Lydia could see.

“I think it seems to be the wish of the Goddess of Love, so don’t worry.”

“Lo…ve…”

Wham!

Before I could finish my words, my body was pulled in.

***

“Lo…ve…”

“A.”

Lydia went down on her knees, staring blankly.

Right before her eyes, Jonah was swallowed up and vanished into the void without a trace.

Her young lord must have intended to cry out for her help at the last moment.

“Save me…”

But Lydia couldn’t say it. There was nothing she could do.

That lodged like a dagger in her heart. A wound that would never heal.

“I must save him.”

By any means necessary. Absolutely.

That was the duty of a knight.

It was Lydia’s vow.

***

When I opened my eyes, it was a thousand years ago.

“What the hell? Take me back home!”

“Kyah! The livestock pen we’re heading to now is your new home, little meat!”

Had the goblin, caused by the shock of suddenly fainting, luckily found me? The goblin mocked me with fluency as I muttered blankly.

That’s right. A Goblin.

A goblin that could only exist outside the Labyrinth. Even if it did exist, it wouldn’t be a rational creature ruthlessly devouring me right away.

I found myself tied up and being dragged by a long-limbed goblin, staring at the sky in a daze.

“No, what is happening?”

Hadn’t I just been battling within a three-way conflict that made my heart swell in front of the temple?

Taking down dozens of mentors of the God Slayer—a being known as One Who Devours the Twilight—and the Grand Master, Baneus.

Afterwards, I was in the thick of stopping the final desperate effort of the Crazy Psycho Les Claudia, who was scheming using the Goddess’s hair.

Then suddenly, the supposedly dead Baneus attacked me from behind, most likely resurrected by the power of the God of Death. Lydia risked her life to protect me while I was helpless, and I had asked the Goddess to grant a miracle at the cost of my life.

And from there, things resolved somehow, leading to a situation where we could all laugh together despite suffering various side effects!

Then wouldn’t I be able to resume exploring the Labyrinth with ease?

But what on earth is the reason I’ve suddenly been sent a thousand years back in time, to when the War of the Gods was raging?

If this were a novel, it would warrant a 5,500-character backlash due to such a drastic development.

“I’m getting off this ride. How about you, author, just deal with it… Ah.”

As I muttered weakly, I realized.

“I clearly… asked for a miracle regardless of the cost to me, didn’t I?”

If that’s the case, then the current situation is likely a price for that miracle.

The laws of the Pan Continent are fair even to the gods; when exerting power, whether divine or mortal, someone must always pay the price.

That’s why the gods are dedicated to creating and protecting their followers, while the followers can freely believe in their gods.

If my memory serves me right, the miracle back then is beyond what even the Goddess of Love, sealed in the depths of the Labyrinth, can handle.

Unless I had saved up power without exerting it all this time, which, in my case, I had already exceeded several times due to my own actions.

If the gods were to cut down their own existence to pay for it, the existence of the Labyrinth and the entire Pan Continent would be in jeopardy.

Thus, the most reasonable option is that the devotee who asked for the miracle must prove their faith.

In other words, it’s a trial.

Whether this place is truly the world a thousand years ago or a virtual world created to simulate it, one thing is certain.

“If I complete the trial, I should be able to go back.”

If there’s a sure way back, I have no reason to hesitate.

“Kyah! Stop muttering over my head, little meat! The goblin’s ears are aching…”

Thud.

With a snap of my joints, I freed one arm from its bindings and twisted the goblin’s neck 360 degrees.

The goblin, now with a twisted and unique neck, passed out mid-sentence.

As I pressed the writhing corpse down at an appropriate angle, I popped my joints back in place and fully freed myself.

“Ugh, finally.”

I stretched widely and began to check my equipment.

Overall, it was dirty from the dust and had the faint aroma of goblin sweat, but nothing major was wrong with it.

Even the cloak that had been in poor condition was fine now, and although there were no people kindly pointing the way for me, nor any status windows, given how I ended up here, the first place to head is obvious.

The Temple of the Goddess of Love.

For now, that’s my top priority.

“Alright. Let’s ask for some directions.”

I squinted my eyes and glared at the goblin settlement in the distance.

Could it be the time before the God of Madness died? There were goblins who could barely be called intelligent scattered all around.

For now, I’ll try to initiate a conversation.

But if they can’t understand me…

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

There’s no choice but to return as the Goblin Slayer Jonah.

 

---