"Reporting to Kainath-sama, we are your foolish servants."
Only Forest God could contact through this spell.
So despite hearing something unfamiliar, the elders had no doubt in their hearts and immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.
After all, Forest God Kainath was naturally moody—sometimes when he was in a bad mood and spoke differently, it was normal.
"Because Flower Crown was worried about your safety, we dared to disturb you. Since our lord is safe and sound, please don't blame Flower Crown too harshly for her transgression!"
Those who had rushed over most anxiously when hearing Forest God might be in trouble were these very elders.
But after confirming Forest God was fine, they immediately shifted blame, using Think as a scapegoat as previously agreed.
"Reporting to the main god, it was indeed I who raised the concern, but I also have sufficient reasons."
Not understanding what that strangely familiar feeling was, and thinking it was just a false alarm, Think immediately began defending herself.
Hearing their words, the screen's other side pondered for several seconds.
Then spoke.
"Others withdraw. Flower Crown remains."
"Yes!"
The elders all acknowledged the command, looking at Think with somewhat schadenfreude eyes.
They should never have trusted this woman. Sure enough, young people were unreliable, all rash and hasty.
What "Kainath-sama is in trouble"—Kainath-sama is a divine being, how could he be in trouble!
Making them run here for nothing.
Thinking this, they immediately left the shrine, leaving only Think Nirvalen.
At this moment, an inquiring voice came from above the light and shadow.
"The sufficient reason you mentioned—what is it?"
"Dangerous enemies appeared near the Elf royal capital. I was worried they might be unfavorable to Kainath-sama!"
Think immediately explained.
Clever as she was, she naturally wouldn't mention revealing information. Even though she had been forced to reveal information at the time, given Kainath's petty nature, he wouldn't care about that detail.
If she told the truth, she'd be dead.
"Oh? Dangerous enemies?"
The tone from the other side of the light fluctuated slightly, seeming very interested in her words.
Seeing this reaction, Think was stunned, finding it somewhat incredible.
He didn't get angry immediately—could this useless god have changed his nature and finally learned tolerance?
Having no time to feel strange, she immediately answered honestly.
"Just now I encountered two Flügel, and one suspected Old Deus—"
Before she could finish, an extremely familiar girl's voice came from the other side of the light.
"Flügel—are you talking about me?"
Think was instantly thunderstruck. All the doubts she had previously overlooked exploded in an instant.
Her body stiffened for several seconds before she slowly raised her head.
That blurry light and shadow became clear at this moment, directly showing the face of the Flügel she had met earlier.
Jibril waved at Think with a smile.
"What a coincidence, weed!"
Then the light's perspective widened, and the figures of Ryuga and Azril appeared.
"Ryuga-sama?"
Think stood frozen in place, finally realizing who she had been talking with.
Ignoring Azril's dumbstruck expression that seemed overwhelmed by shock, Think swallowed and spent over ten seconds building up her courage before finally speaking tremblingly.
"May I ask, Ryuga-sama, why does our spell for contacting Forest God end up contacting you?"
She already had an ominous premonition in her heart, but she didn't dare believe it.
After all, only about ten minutes had passed since they left.
How could such a major change occur in such a short time?
However, reality often goes against one's wishes.
"Because I am now the Forest God."
Ryuga answered with very simple language.
"Though it can't be called godslaying, Kainath indeed no longer exists in this world. His divine essence belongs to me."
As he spoke, he slightly raised his hand, and emerald divine light immediately appeared in his palm.
That was the authority unique to Forest God Kainath—his divine essence carried the concept of "Nature."
"Thud!"
With her worst fears confirmed, Think fell directly to the ground, her face full of disbelief.
"In such a short time, to slay Forest God Kainath without us even noticing... Are you really not the War God himself?"
She had never imagined that an Old Deus's death could be so casual, so simple.
In just the blink of an eye, her race's main god was gone.
This made her deeply suspect the other party's identity.
Who else but War God Artosh could do this?
Facing Think's reaction, Azril, who had been somewhat dazed, suddenly nodded frantically, as if she'd found her tribe.
"Yes! I thought so too, nyaa! No matter how you look at it, killing an Old Deus so quickly is too exaggerated, nyaa! Little Jii insisted it was because I hadn't seen the world, and Ryuga-sama acts like godslaying is completely normal."
"Wuu wuu wuu, although I can't compare to Ryuga-sama, I'm also a Flügel who has achieved godslaying before, okay, nyaa! Even so, Ryuga-sama's speed is too exaggerated. I saw nothing—Forest God Kainath didn't even have time to defend before being directly slain."
Speaking thus, she looked at Think with slightly more recognition.
"I didn't expect that despite being a weed, you still have common sense. Although I mind your race a bit, being able to maintain the same normal person thinking as me at this time is really great—I don't have to wonder if there's something wrong with my worldview, nyaa!"
By the end, she was completely relieved.
It seemed she wasn't really an idiot.
"..."
Hearing Azril's complaints, Think's mouth twitched violently. She wanted to say something but held back.
What normal person thinking—you're not normal either!
She'd thought it was just an ordinary Flügel, but it turned out to be a strong person who had also achieved godslaying feats. How dare you call yourself ordinary?
After grumbling internally, she looked at Ryuga again, having to admit Azril's words weren't unreasonable.
Leading a Flügel squad to slay gods and slaying gods alone were completely different matters.
Fighting an intense battle to slay gods and slaying gods in an extremely short time without any disturbance were also not the same thing.
The former was merely victory between equals; the latter represented crushing with unknown limits.
As an Old Deus, Forest God Kainath's strength in the current No Game No Life world wasn't actually weak—he could even be said to compete for the top three among upper-tier Old Deus.
For such an Old Deus to be instantly killed, aside from the overwhelmingly powerful first-place War God Artosh, she couldn't think of other possibilities.
But looking at the attitudes of the two Flügel, the other party indeed didn't seem to be the War God.
What was going on? There were actually two monsters of War God level in this world?
Wasn't this really a sign of the world's end approaching?
Regarding Azril's complaints, Ryuga skillfully ignored them. As for Think's doubts, he felt no need to repeatedly explain.
However, sensing the Forest God's divine essence he had just mastered, Ryuga felt it necessary to say something fair.
"Forest God's strength wasn't weak. If he had prepared in advance, he could have lasted at least a few more seconds."
Forest God Kainath's divine essence concept was nature, but his greatest expertise was multiple spellcasting.
Think, as an Elf genius, could deploy at most eight spells simultaneously, while Forest God Kainath could simultaneously deploy 168 spells.
Worth noting, the Elves' multiple spellcasting wasn't simply using different spells at the same time, but making the effects of different spells mutually amplify while using them, thus achieving maximum power with minimum spirit power.
In practical terms, just as fused authorities in the Campione world could grow in power beyond their class, multiple spellcasting effects could easily stack the simplest spells to power comparable to Saint-tier magic, even approaching divine authority level.
With Forest God's divine essence, if he deployed all 168 spells simultaneously, the resulting power would clearly exceed ordinary Old Deus authority, even temporarily gaining power comparable to the former End Dragon Hartrem.
Even for current Ryuga, Forest God's divine essence brought him considerable inspiration.
Whether allowing him to grasp this world's Old Deus divine essence structure or giving Ryuga better authority fusion techniques, both were decent gains.
So he felt Forest God deserved an objective evaluation.
However—
"Last a few more seconds? Wow, is this a new way of humiliation? Worthy of master—I've noted it down!"
Jibril excitedly shouted, then actually pulled out a small notebook and began recording master quotes.
"..."
Think also fell silent, obviously also thinking this was mockery.
"It's not humiliation."
Ryuga shook his head again.
"However, his insufficient power is also fact."
The gods of the No Game No Life world were powerful, but the complexity and strangeness of their divine cores were completely inferior to the gods of the Campione world.
So Ryuga hadn't even used much force—he just first used curse, causality, and fate-type authorities to give him a DEBUFF, then used the Salvation God Sword's exploitation ability against nature attributes to instantly kill him.
In the end, Kainath never understood what was happening.
Until death, he couldn't comprehend what kind of divine being would have such complex authorities.
Also, why was he so hated?
He felt like at least dozens of different divine cores were ganging up on him.
For Ryuga, who had already deduced and mastered "Divine Strike," aside from Artosh, other Old Deus were indeed weaklings who could be instantly killed with one strike. Giving Kainath this evaluation was already praise.
Although Think didn't understand what Ryuga was thinking, she could understand this huge basic combat power difference.
So after a moment of silence, she raised her head and proactively asked.
"Since Forest God Kainath has been killed, Ryuga-sama, what else do you want to do to the Elf race?"
Although she had always complained about Forest God's stupidity, only after losing him did she realize that the Elf race had completely lost divine protection.
Forget about the current Ryuga—even if Ryuga didn't act against the Elf race, the Elves who lost their creator couldn't possibly withstand their nemesis Dwarf race's power.
In the end, only destruction awaited them.
Facing Think's inquiry, Jibril beside them showed an interested expression.
"How about capturing all the Elves to be slaves?"
Hearing this, Azril was somewhat surprised.
"Nyaa? I thought with Little Jii's personality you'd kill all these weeds. I didn't expect you'd capture them as slaves... huh? Could it be Little Jii has that kind of interest, nyaa?!"
"I do not!"
Jibril glared coldly at Azril.
"Stupid Ril-senpai, reminder—the spirit stones on Elf foreheads are precious minerals."
The spirit stones on Elf foreheads were the key to their high-precision spirit power control and their ability to cast multiple spells.
"Right!"
Hearing this, Azril had an epiphany, looking at Think with glowing eyes.
"So many Elves—the spirit stones could definitely pile up into a small mountain. If we capture them as slaves, we can get a constant supply of spirit stones!"
Hearing this, Think felt a chill.
In the eyes of higher races, Elves were probably just a bunch of walking minerals!
Since both Flügel made this suggestion, their master's thoughts were easy to guess. It seemed the Elf race would go extinct today.
Just as she completely despaired, Ryuga's voice rang out.
"No."
Think was slightly stunned, not daring to believe her ears.
"Yes, master!"
Regarding Ryuga's decision, Jibril naturally would never object.
"However, why? Does master have other plans?"
She still curiously asked.
Azril and Think were also very curious about this point.
Such a good opportunity—why not take it?
Regarding this, Ryuga's answer was simple.
"Life's value is greater than objects. The Elves' value is also greater than their spirit stones. Sacrificing the Elves' value as life for mere spirit stones is always a poor strategy, no matter when."
Simply put, Elf lives also matter.
Compared to spirit stones, those who use spirit stones are more important.
Actually, for Ryuga, neither was important, but the spell system knowledge accumulated by the Elves over tens of thousands of years was very important.
Hearing this, Think slightly opened her mouth, somewhat shocked.
These were words Forest God Kainath would never say.
Over the years, Kainath's behavior had been extremely cowardly, often escaping dangers by sacrificing Elves.
She never expected that the one who could truly recognize the Elf race's value would be the person who killed Forest God.
How ironic.
Just as she felt slightly relieved, Ryuga's tone changed.
"However, realizing the Elves' value isn't easy either. I don't have the patience to rule the Elves as a god. Just leaving it alone, the Elf race will inevitably go extinct."
Upon hearing this, Think's heart immediately tensed, fearing Ryuga would change his mind and still want to exterminate the Elves.
But something she never expected happened.
Ryuga's next words not only completely shocked her, but even Jibril and Azril were thoroughly stunned.
He said this:
"So, would you like to accept the position of Forest God? The condition is serving me from now on."
"Ah?"
Except for Ryuga, everyone else's brains crashed.
To be continued...