What is a god?
Is it unparalleled power? All-knowing, omnipotent wisdom? Or perhaps endless life?
There is no single answer. The god in each person's heart is different.
Everything about gods is born from human imagination.
Whatever you believe a god to be, that is what it becomes.
Enri had never seen a so-called god. She had only heard of such beings from the elders. For an ordinary village girl like her, if something could appear before her now and save them, then whatever it was, that was the form of a god in her heart.
When Enri saw the soldier frozen in place before her, and heard the sounds coming from the pitch-black opening behind them, she knew.
This was a god—her god.
Slow footsteps echoed from within the darkness. Three indistinct figures approached. They carried no visible aura, yet the pressure they brought made it hard to breathe.
A hand covered in jet-black scales reached out first. Then a humanoid figure stepped forward. At a glance, it looked almost human.
But the dragon horns atop its head and the black scales covering its body told the soldier clearly—this was no human.
"A Dragon? Or a Dragonoid?"
Unable to move, the soldier stared at it in horror. Whatever it was, it wasn't something a mere soldier like him could handle.
Even the weakest Dragonoid possessed strength close to the Realm of Heroes. Anything related to dragons was never weak.
And this one was even more terrifying than he had imagined. Its strength was at least hero-level. As for whether it had reached the realm of myth… he didn't dare think about it.
In its hand was a blade shaped like jagged fangs. Faintly, he seemed to hear the mournful cries of dragons coming from it. His vision blurred—
Mountains of corpses. Seas of blood. Countless dragon carcasses piled high, and in their midst, a single blade stood quietly embedded among them.
His mind nearly collapsed on the spot.
But at the very last moment, a mysterious force shielded him, blocking the illusion and dragging him back from the brink of death.
Compared to the soldier's terror, Enri and her sister felt no fear at all. They gazed at the figure before them with open admiration.
To Enri, there was nothing frightening about it. In her eyes, this was exactly what a god should look like.
Cradled in her arms, her younger sister, who had kept her eyes shut until now, slowly opened them and peeked at the figure in secret.
Dragons were known as perfect beings. They possessed an absolute attraction toward any other creature of the opposite sex. It was an instinct rooted in life itself—a natural yearning for perfection.
For those who were afraid, that instinct only deepened their fear. It wasn't just emotional terror, but something stirred from the depths of their being. But for those who felt goodwill, the presence instead seemed warm, even reassuring.
The horned figure stepped fully out and looked at the three of them without doing anything further. It simply gave them a slight smile.
The pitch-black opening did not disappear. It seemed that something else was about to emerge.
Two more figures appeared.
One held a staff. The other's form looked strangely twisted, giving the unsettling impression that it had no bones at all.
"Naohara, you're too fast."
A dignified voice sounded in their ears.
A massive scepter emerged from the darkness. It was held by a skeletal hand—pale white bones, spotless and pristine, like a finely crafted work of art.
Two crimson lights burned within its eye sockets. Clad in a luxurious mage's robe, the figure had not a trace of flesh on its body, yet it moved without the slightest hindrance.
It was a humanoid skeleton, radiating a suffocating and terrifying pressure.
"All right, Momonga. We've been observing for long enough. It's fine."
A purple figure stepped forward, looking at the scene before them.
Its shape was humanoid, but its entire body was made of viscous slime. It had no facial features, no expression. Every so often, a drop of slime would fall from its body and instantly bore through the ground, leaving tiny holes behind.
Leaning a slimy arm against Momonga, Herohero chuckled.
"Herohero, you were the one who said we needed to be the most cautious."
Momonga looked at him helplessly.
"But nothing happened, right? Momonga, and Blackie too. It's time to deal with what's in front of us."
Naohara glanced at the two of them, signaling that it was time to get to work.
"Perfect chance to gather some information about this world."
Momonga nodded. His gaze swept over the three people in front of him before settling on the soldier, who was staring at them in sheer terror.
"Herohero, can you extract it?"
"In theory, yes. But I haven't actually tested it before, so I can't say for certain."
"It's fine. If it fails, we'll just catch another one. There are plenty of test subjects."
Naohara looked at the slightly uncertain Herohero and spoke casually. There was no need to worry. If one broke, they would just replace it.
"Fair enough. I'll start then."
Herohero nodded and walked toward the soldier.
Naohara, who had been ready to simply watch, glanced at Enri instead. When he noticed the large wound on her back, he paused for a moment before casting a recovery spell on her.
He rather liked this girl. He couldn't just let her die here.
[10th-Tier Magic: Time Reverse]
Naohara activated the 10th-Tier spell, Time Reverse. He would have preferred to use healing magic, but he didn't know any. For him, Time Reverse worked just as well. Restoring something was restoring it, no matter the method.
As a Dragonoid, his natural regeneration was already exceptional. Most of the skills he had learned enhanced that recovery even further. He did know some active recovery spells, but they only worked on himself.
He was a warrior, not a healer. Wide-area healing spells were practically useless to him. They covered a large range but restored too little. Single-target recovery was far more effective.
As a result, something that could have been solved with a third-tier spell forced Naohara to use a 10th-Tier spell instead.
A magic circle appeared beneath Enri and her sister as Time Reverse took effect.
The tears in their clothing mended themselves. The wound on Enri's back rapidly reversed. Blood flowed backward under the influence of time. The pain and exhaustion in their bodies vanished instantly.
In just a few seconds, the two of them were rewound to the moment before the soldiers had begun chasing them—restored completely.
"God-sama!"
Enri stared in disbelief. The wound on her back was gone. The soreness in her body had disappeared. Even her hairstyle had returned to how it was before.
She looked at Naohara with open reverence, more convinced than ever that he was truly a god.
"Mm. You and your sister just stand to the side and watch."
"Don't worry about the other villagers. They're fine."
Naohara gave her a gentle smile. He didn't mind being called a god. In this world, he could indeed be considered one.
The soldiers in the village had already been restrained with magic, just like the one in front of them. Through Naohara's perception, he could tell that some villagers had already begun attacking the defenseless soldiers.
A blood debt must be repaid in blood. Naohara had no objections. As for test subjects, he knew there was still a larger force behind them, so there was no need to worry.
"Yes, God-sama."
Hearing that the village was safe, Enri responded excitedly. She took her curious younger sister by the hand and the two of them moved behind Naohara, standing quietly and obediently.