"Argh!" With the breaking of the Spirit Tortoise's heart, Ost showed a pained expression. Her own heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped.
"Ost!" Mirellia, noticing Ost's distress, called out nervously.
But with the breaking of the Spirit Tortoise's heart, Ost's spiritual body flew into the sky. Then, she entered the Spirit Tortoise's core.
Touching a special crystal, a special symbol appeared on Ost's chest, and she remembered everything.
"Ost-san, hang in there!" Noticing Ost's distress, Raphtalia came to her side. Although they hadn't spent much time together, Raphtalia had developed a favorable impression of this somewhat dazed but kind-hearted woman.
"I haven't had a chance to properly say goodbye to you yet, Ost." Looking at Ost lying in her arms, Mirellia showed a sad expression.
"I'm fine, Mirellia, Raphtalia. No, it would be better if I weren't fine." Soon, Ost came to her senses and spoke directly.
"Ost, you're alive, meaning..." Seeing Ost regain consciousness, Naofumi realized the Spirit Tortoise still wasn't dead.
"Yes, the Spirit Tortoise isn't dead yet. Even though its head has been destroyed, and its heart has been destroyed, I remember everything now. About the Spirit Tortoise... and about myself." Looking at everyone, Ost spoke seriously.
Takeru watched this scene with an air of calm, knowing very well that the true core of the Spirit Tortoise was further down.
To kill the Spirit Tortoise, its head, heart, and core all had to be destroyed simultaneously.
"I am Ost Horai. By the decree of the world, excise the truth, connect the truth, and purge its poison. My body, open the path to my deepest depths." Without further ado, Ost opened a passage leading to the Spirit Tortoise's deepest part.
"Let's go." Takeru said nothing more. He spoke simply and jumped down first. Seeing this, everyone quickly followed.
"How troublesome. You still came." Seeing Takeru and the others arrive here so quickly, Kyo felt a little nervous.
Here, he was in his physical body, meaning death would be true death. Although he had a special barrier protecting him, seeing Takeru's earlier attack, he was a bit nervous about whether Takeru could break the barrier and harm him.
However, though nervous inside, he still appeared natural and calm.
"You're very nervous." Looking at Kyo, Takeru said with a light laugh.
"What? You say the great me is nervous?" Hearing Takeru's words, Kyo showed a mocking expression.
"Is that so? Not nervous? You can't move, can you?" Looking at him, Takeru showed a mocking expression.
"What are you saying... you... what did you do?" Kyo, who had been calm and composed, tried to move his body but found himself somehow restrained, unable to move. An expression of panic finally appeared on his previously calm face.
"What did I do? Very simple. I just restrained you with telekinesis. Having memories of another world, you should understand what telekinesis is, right?" Looking at the panicked Kyo, Takeru mocked him calmly.
"Could it be... impossible. That kind of special ability doesn't exist in this world!" Hearing Takeru's words, Kyo didn't believe it, nor was he willing to believe it.
"Yes, this world doesn't have that ability. But some worlds do." Hearing his words, Takeru showed a mocking expression.
At the same time, a terrifying wave of malicious intent surged towards him.
Surrounded by Takeru's terrifying malice, Kyo's expression quickly showed fear. The memories he was least willing to recall rapidly echoed in his mind.
"No, this isn't me. This isn't real." Takeru's special malicious intent drew out the scenes Kyo feared most, then intensified the malice within them.
And what he feared most were the memories of his past life. Nothing in his life went well.
Bullied endlessly from a young age, no friends, family who didn't understand him.
Growing up in that environment, his heart became increasingly insecure. He began to fear his surroundings, fear contact with people, immersing himself only in the game world.
Every day of his existence was a torment for him...
Everyone stared blankly at Kyo, then realized Takeru was punishing him.
Seeing that Takeru had subdued Kyo with a single move, they also looked a bit embarrassed.
"What is that!" Soon, Naofumi noticed Motoyasu and Itsuki inside a special container, apparently having their energy continuously extracted.
"Save them." Seeing Naofumi's surprise, Takeru spoke calmly to him.
"Yes." Hearing Takeru say this, Naofumi quickly ran over. He used his long sword to destroy the special container, letting Motoyasu and Itsuki fall out.
With the two's energy supply cut off, the Spirit Tortoise's regeneration ability instantly halved.
"Everything is over. Yui, Mio, you kill him." After seeing the two rescued, Takeru spoke softly.
"Eh, Takeru, you won't do it yourself?" Hearing Takeru's words, Mio was stunned. She knew very well that killing Kyo was definitely a special mission, possibly a side quest or hidden quest. Yet Takeru didn't act, instead giving them the opportunity.
"I will kill the Spirit Tortoise, so I'll leave this person to you." Hearing her words, Takeru said seriously.
The reason he didn't kill Kyo was mainly that Takeru felt he had probably already achieved an EX-level evaluation in this world. But EX was the maximum.
Continuing to increase points would be meaningless. Instead of that, it was better to give Kyo to Yui and the others to help them improve their evaluation.
"Well, I see. Thank you." Hearing Takeru's words, after a moment's hesitation, Yui nodded seriously. She raised her scythe and split the still-wailing Kyo in two.
Kyo's wailing then stopped. Looking at the quiet surroundings, he showed an expression of relief.
Watching Kyo's soul slowly dissipate, Takeru thought for a moment, then decided not to torment him further. He directly used suction to draw his soul over and devoured it.
To Takeru's surprise, Kyo's soul energy was quite considerable. Besides providing mana reserve, it also increased Takeru's mana upper limit by 3000 points.
Looking at the core still emitting blue light, Takeru glanced at Ost, then placed his hand on it.
With a slight force, the core shattered. Ost also fell to the ground, painfully saying goodbye to everyone.
"Ost!" Seeing Ost finally dissipate this time, Mirellia couldn't hide her sadness. Yui and the others silently watched this scene, feeling a bit emotional.
Finally, Ost's body turned into points of light and dissipated.
With the Spirit Tortoise's complete demise, Takeru saw his level increase again, reaching 152.
Feeling the experience points the Spirit Tortoise became, and sensing the tortoise's body functions completely stop, Takeru knew the Spirit Tortoise was truly dead this time.
However, the Spirit Tortoise's core fragments were still useful.
Takeru collected some and gave them to his Holy Sword to devour, further enhancing the Holy Sword's attributes and unlocking the Spirit Tortoise Holy Sword.
What made Takeru frown was that with Ost's dissipation, the Spirit Tortoise's original body and the collected spiritual bodies turned into pure energy and dissipated. This energy fell upon the barren land, turning it into grassland.
"Takeru-sama!" Seeing the Spirit Tortoise's dissipation, Ram and the others were caught off guard and a bit unwilling, as they knew Takeru's goal was partly the Spirit Tortoise's corpse.
"Forget it. It seems the Spirit Tortoise and I have no affinity. But the limbs I collected earlier didn't dissipate, so this wasn't a total loss." Looking at the girls' nervous expressions, Takeru smiled indifferently.
Perhaps due to the special rules of the item bar, even though the Spirit Tortoise's original body dissipated, the previously severed limbs couldn't directly disappear.
"By the way, one last thing." As he spoke, Takeru looked at Ost's spiritual body.
Affected by the Spirit Tortoise, Ost's spiritual body was much stronger than an ordinary person's. Even exposed to the outside, its dissipation was very slow.
Then, Takeru directly took out a monster corpse and some spiritual plants from his portable space. Using his ability to manifest, a body identical to Ost appeared out of thin air.