Wait!
Wait wait wait wait wait!!
Seriously, what the heck is going on here?!
Why is this forest suddenly on fire?!
"Oy, Kami-sama! Get up! Get up quickly!!" Seeing this whole preposterous situation, I immediately ran into the cave and shook the goddess' body to wake her up.
But—
"Uuh, five more minutes."
"This is no time for jokes! Get up quickly!"
"Yeah, yeah, I woke up. What the hell, it's already noisy in the morning…" Still with her sleepy and lazy face, the goddess finally woke up.
Even though I want to scold her that it's already noon, but right now we don't have the time to do that.
"Good, quickly get up and look outside!" I asked loudly. Then, while rubbing her eyes, the goddess started walking out of the cave, and as soon as she opened her eyes to see what was happening outside—
"W-W-What is this?!"
—Her eyes immediately widened in surprise.
My goodness, she was really late.
"We don't have time to stay here, we have to get out of here before we too are burned alive!" I insisted, and without the slightest protest, the goddess immediately nodded and started getting ready.
Luckily we could carry all of our supplies in my [Inventory], so we could run without any burden.
Even though it was very dangerous to run in the middle of a burning forest, luckily the goddess had support magic that could defend us against the heat.
I also asked her to cast another support magic so we can leave here more quickly.
"Riku, that way!" shouted the goddess who led the way towards the city.
However, after we ran for only a few minutes, we have now encountered a new problem.
"You! How can you only run for a few minutes even though you've got that much support magic!!"
"Don't protest so much! Run even faster!" shouted the goddess who I was currently carrying behind me as I ran.
Damn, this goddess is really troublesome.
Can't I just put her in my [Inventory]?
"Riku, hurry up! The flames are spreading!"
"Shut up, I know that! If you want to be fast, run on your own feet!"
This is really very bad, I can't believe everything will end like this.
Right now I could only run and keep running as fast as I could while dodging the flames that were starting to spread after us, and what was even worse, I also had to keep running while carrying this goddess.
Holy shit, what the heck is going on here?
Who started this fire?
While I was thinking about that, I suddenly heard a scream from far away.
"Kyaaaah!!"
Hearing that, I immediately stopped my steps.
"—Kyaa! Why did you suddenly stop?!"
"Huh, you idiot! Didn't you hear that scream?! There are other people besides us trapped in this forest! Do you mean to just leave her?!"
"Oh my, you really are a bother."
"I don't want to hear that from you!!"
Ignoring the goddess saying something stupid at a time like this, I started looking for the source of the screams. But it was really difficult because my vision was obscured by the smoke that was starting to billow.
Damn it, where was that scream coming from?!
At that time, the goddess suddenly shouted while pointing to my right.
"Riku, over there, I saw a shadow over there!!"
"Yosh, hold tight! We're going to lunge!!" I shouted, and immediately ran at full speed through the raging flames.
"Hyaaah!! Hot hot hot hot!!"
"Riku, over there!" shouted the goddess from behind me while pointing at the person who was currently being attacked by a monster.
Seeing the shape of the monster that resembled a giant lion with black hair and hideous horns on its head, my face immediately turned pale.
"H-Hey, how is this?! A-Are you able to defeat that?!"
"Yo-You idiot, have you forgotten that my strength has weakened?! As for me right now I can only use healing magic, support magic, and magic to annihilate demon-type monsters or undead only!!"
"Shit, so what are we supposed to do?!"
Even now, while I was thinking about that, the monster was starting to approach the figure intending to pounce on it. It only made us panic even more.
I wonder, why isn't that monster afraid of all this fire?
Isn't it natural for animals to be afraid of fire?
"Huh? Wait a minute, fire?"
Thinking about that, an idea suddenly appeared in my mind.
—That's right, I can use that method!
A wide grin started to paint on my lips, and I started to feel excitement in my chest.
"Kami-sama, can you give me a lot of power-up magic."
"Huh, what do you want to do?!"
"Don't ask too many questions, hurry up and do it!"
"Oh my, alright! [Powered] [Powered] [Powered]—!!"
After the goddess cast support magic consecutively, I felt power overflowing within my body, and then, with one deep breath, I started to roar.
"Oooohhhh—!!"
"Kyaaah!! O-Oy, what are you trying to do?! Wait! Seriously, wait a minute! What do you want to do all of a sudden?! Before you do that, put me down first!! Kyaaahhh!!"
Ignoring the goddess who started to say something incoherent, I immediately ran as fast as I could, mustering all the strength I had, I smashed my body into a burning tree near the monster and pushed it with all my might.
"Kyaaaaahhhh—!!"
"Ooooohhhhh—!!" I shouted, which merged with the sound of the goddess' hysterical screams.
Then-
'Boom!!'
With a loud bang, the tree cracked and began to fall.
Since it was already burnt, it became easier to topple, and if it weren't for the support magic of the goddess, I probably wouldn't have been able to take it down.
But, with this—
"Hey, you! Quickly get out of there!!"
It seemed that, realizing my intention, the figure immediately moved away from the fallen tree. Meanwhile, the monster, who didn't understand the situation that had just happened, didn't have time to dodge and was eventually crushed by the large tree trunk, then died with its body crushed.
Seeing that, I heaved a sigh of relief, however—
"You idiot! What have you done?! Are you trying to kill me?! What happens if you fail?! I will definitely curse you!!" The goddess choked me and started to protest at what I just did.
"I-It can't be helped, right?! This is the only way I can think of!!"
While the two of us were arguing, the figure I had just saved walked up to us and said in a low voice.
"U-Umm, th-thank you for saving me."
At that moment, the goddess and I stopped fighting and looked at that figure with surprised eyes. Our voices overlapped as we saw the figure's true form.
After all, she was—
"—Elf."