Tenha is still the same as ever. He’s still maintaining his treant form, he’s still easily distracted, and he’s still not saying anything. That said, best to be careful.

   “Don’t go too near, Maya!” I warn.

   “You don’t have to tell me twice, senpai! I’ll make sure to be careful!” Maya assures me. “I-whoa!”

   Maya swoops in and rescues one of the harpies that were about to be pulverized by Tenha. As usual, the harpy is ignoring Maya completely and solely focused on tearing Tenha apart. The same goes for her sisters.

   “...you…”

   “Did you say something, Maya?” I ask.

   “No I didn’t, senpai.”

   “Strange, I swore I heard someone talking.”

   “I think it’s Tree Face here.”

   “...kill you…”

   “See?”

   “Huh. I guess he wasn’t as far gone as I thought he would.”

   “By the way, senpai. I began to notice that he’s getting stronger and stronger.”

   “How could you tell?”

   “From the wind pressure I felt whenever he’s swinging his fists around.”

   “Hmm…”

   Tenha’s Level automatically becomes 150 when he uses the Ring of the Demon Lord, which is the max Level you can attain in the game. In other words, he didn’t become strong from killing the six harpies. Did he absorb their strength with his ability? If that’s the case, he should be faster instead since harpies are more speed than strength.

   There’s also something that has been bothering me for a while now. I see Tenha moving his lips over and over and over again, but I just can’t seem to make out what he’s saying since we’re too far away from each other.

   “Can you figure out what he’s saying, Maya?” I request.

   “Please give me a moment.”

   Maya stops flying and stands at a spot close to Tenha, but not too close in case she got hit.

   “He’s saying something along the line of killing Kamei over and over again.” Maya reports after listening for a while.

   “He is? I wonder why his own comrade is on his hit list as well.”

   “Maybe he owes him money or something.” Maya suggests while resuming her duty to protect the harpies.

   “...Yeah, that’s definitely not it.”

   SMASH!

   “SCREEEEEEEEEECH~!!!”

   And now, only three harpies are left.

   “...how dare he trick me…he’ll pay…”

   That was Tenha just now. Not only can I hear him even from the same distance as before, his speech got a lot more coherent.

   “Tenha’s saying that-”

   “I heard him.” I interrupt.

   I don’t care one bit what kind of beef Tenha has with Kamei. The only thing I care about is that somehow, Tenha is regaining more and more of his sanity back despite having his Corruption Meter full. It probably has something to do with Tenha’s ability, just like how he has become stronger.

   “Maya, I’m going to pull back the harpies. If any more of them got killed by Tenha, he might regain his sanity. We definitely can’t have that.” I tell Maya.

   “Sure, senpai. Go ahead.”

   I point my staff at one of the harpies and chant Void Prison. The harpy disappeared in the blink of an eye. I chant Void Prison two more times and make the remaining two disappear. Maya gets to divert Tenha’s attention away from me at once. She flies all over the face and punches and kicks him at random, all the while throwing all kinds of insults. Tenha could only grit his teeth and swing at empty air whenever he tried to punch her. As for me, I’m still dutifully blasting Tenha with Mana Burst.

   After an untold amount of time, Tenha’s skin has shed so much he’s practically all human flesh now.

   “Ugh, it’s like I’m looking at one of those human body anatomy statues. It’s so disturbing.” Maya grimaces.

   “I know, right? I so much prefer his treant form.” I couldn’t help but agree. “Not to mention it might be dangerous to touch his flesh. Just keep on dodging with everything you got and leave the offense to me, got it?”

   “Loud and clear, senpai. Don’t you-whoa!”

   Maya barely dodged a fist that came from Tenha. As I have feared, he got a lot faster after getting rid of his tree trunk skin. The good news is that he’s a complete amateur at fighting. I could tell since all his attacks are clumsy and full of openings. Even so, I went ahead and cast a Spell called Boost Speed on Maya that increases the target’s speed for a certain amount of time just to be safe.

   “...stupid bat…flying around like an annoying fly…” I hear Tenha mumble.

   I could practically see one of the veins on Maya’s forehead pulsing in anger.

   “HEY, THAT’S JUST RUDE! COMPARING ME TO A BAT IS ONE THING, BUT A FLY? WHY I OUGHTA-” she rages.

   “Don’t be blinded by rage, or you might get in huge trouble!” I warn.

   “I know what I’m doing, senpai!”

   “You sure don’t look it-look out!”

   Tenha’s left fist was about to create a crater on Maya’s face. Fortunately, I was there to cast a triple Barrier right in front of her. The first two invisible walls were smashed instantly, but the third one managed to stop him. As Tenha is trying to pull his fist out, Maya uses the opportunity to fly away.

   “Thanks, senpai! I owe you one!”

   “You got that right! If you want to call it even, bring me to somewhere fun!”

   “Hey, no fair! You’re supposed to bring me, not the other way around!”

   “You know what, let’s make it a date! That way, both of us can have fun at the same time!”

   “Sounds good!”
 
   “Normies…can go…hell…”

   Huh. So Tenha can react appropriately when an idiot couple is flirting with each other. I wonder if it’s possible to have a conversation with him with the state he’s in now.

   “Hey, Tenha!” I called out.

   No response.

   “You hate Kamei, right?”

   Still being ignored.

   “How about we team up and defeat him together?”

   Nothing for the third time in a row. It’s either his intelligence is still too low to understand my proposal, or he’s too busy trying to hit Maya. Whatever the reason, I decide to stop communicating with him and concentrate on bombarding him with Mana Burst.

   After an untold amount of time, Tenha went down on his knees without a single warning. I tried to scan his status with Appraisal once more. This time, it worked, and I see that his HP has become zero.

   Yup, this is how it’s ended. No dramatic fights, no overly grand speeches and no cringe-inducing lines. This is real life, not some Shounen manga or anime or whatever.

   “I should have stayed at Chaos Rumble…” I hear Tenha mumbling.

   Wow, now that’s a title I haven’t heard for a long time. Chaos Rumble is a fighting video game that was all the rage around two years ago. I’m not that interested in fighting games in general, which is why I have never bothered to hop on the bandwagon. I didn’t even know it has harem in it. At least, it probably does, or the Unknown Voice wouldn’t have sent Tenha to that world. More importantly, it sure looks like he has regained his sanity during his final moment.

   “Was that world fun?” I ask him in a final attempt to form a conversation with him.

   He turned his neck to look at me. He then shakes his head.

   “Nope. Not one bit. I was only there for a few hours, and I already had to visit the hospital. Still beats getting turned into dust, that’s for sure.” he replied.

   His eyes are completely normal and devoid of insanity. It’s like he has regained his sanity during his final moment. I notice that his body is beginning to disintegrate into dust, starting with his left shoulder. Based on the speed, I’d estimate that he has less than five minutes left before he’s gone for good.

   “I, um, I guess I should apologize to you. For, well, you know…” I tell him sheepishly.

   He shakes his head again.

   “Don’t be. If anything, you released me from being a mindless tree human-”

   He paused and looked down at his own body.

   “-former tree human, I mean. Now I’m just a massive lump of flesh.”

   Tenha lets out a short laugh.

   “How ironic. I’ve always wanted to be tall and strong, but when I finally got to be those things, I had to exchange them for my sanity.”

   “Why on earth did you ever think that it was a good idea to use those Rings, then?” I couldn’t help but ask.

   Tenha’s eyes shifted to the three rings on his right fingers.

   “Oh, you mean these? I tried to get my hands on them after Kamei told me that I could turn into a giant tree human.”

   “Without telling you that they’ll cause you to go insane and lose your humanity?”

   “Without telling me that they’ll cause me to go insane and lose my humanity.”

   “And you didn’t bother to ask?” Maya asks in disbelief.

   “Hey, I was desperate.” Tenha replied.

   “For what? A chance to beat up your old bullies?”

   “That too. Most importantly, I don’t have to be short anymore.”

   “How tall are you?”

   “152.”

   “...Huh. Um, you shouldn’t be bothered so much by your height?”

   “Hey, height might not be important for girls, but it is for guys.” I tell Maya.

   “Exactly. We get at least half our confidence from our height alone.” Tenha agrees.

   “Bonus points for looks.”

   “And money.” I add.

   “Wow, being a boy is stressful.”

   “As if a girl will go near any boy who doesn’t have all these things.”

   As we’re talking, more than half of Tenha’s body is gone. Now only his head, upper torso, right shoulder and right arm remained.

   “Well, I guess this is it for me…” Tenha whispers.

   “Don’t you worry. We’ll beat up Kamei real good for you.” I assure him.

   Tenha shows me a smile. Truth be told, it’s kind of freaky since he doesn’t have any skin.

   “Thanks. And be careful when you’re fighting him. He’s not exactly one to play by the rules. If things doesn’t go his way, he won’t hesitate to cheat.”

   “Thanks for the advice.”

   A few more seconds later, Tenha’s disintegration is complete. The rings he was wearing fall to the ground while making a ringing sound. Even though they were as huge as his fingers a moment ago, they shrunk to their original size the moment he was gone.

   “So, what are we going to do with those rings, senpai?” Maya asks me.

   “Do you want it?”

   The vampire shakes her head. “Nope. Based on your description of their abilities, they don’t suit me one bit.”

   “Alright. I guess I’ll be taking them.”

   I go to the rings and pick them up. For a bunch of rings that allows you to transform into three different scarily strong Daemons, they look pretty normal. I’m thinking of all kinds of things that I could do with them but won’t actually do in real life. Anything to distract me with the thing I did to Tenha.

   “Is something wrong, senpai?”

   Maya’s question brought me back to real life. I turn my neck to look at her and shake my head.

   “No, it’s nothing. Rather than that, let’s let our friends in. They’ve waited for us long enough.”

   I tried to push open the doors which we came in. Thankfully, they opened without any resistance.

   Everyone on the other side of the doors was sitting at the ground and resting. They came over in a hurry the moment they saw the doors being opened.

   “I’m so glad that the two of you are still alive!”

   “Did you have to put it that way, Khris? And wipe those snots away.”

   “The two of you actually defeated someone who defeated a Daemon Lord! With just the two of you!”

   “Um…”

   “You said it twice, Polusa.”

   “Well done, lad and lass! You’ve done me proud!”

   “Everyone, please, um…”

   Oh, boy. They’re being so overwhelming that my social anxiety is kicking in. Just as I thought I was about to faint, all three of my girlfriends plus Khriswell step in and stood between us.

   “I understand that all of you are eager to congratulate the two of them. However, please refrain yourselves from overwhelming Kotaro as he has social anxiety disorder.” Ichika says to the crowd while bowing.

   Darum-san raises up his hand with a puzzled look on his face.

   “That means he’s scared of crowds.” Kaede explains.

   “Oh.”

   “If anyone has any questions, you can ask me instead!” Maya offers sweetly.

   “Or, or Kotaro-san can tell his reply to me, and I’ll, um, I’ll tell you in his stead!” Khriswell offers as well while being on the verge of tears and fainting herself.

   “I appreciate your offer and all, Khriswell, but I don’t think you of all people should do that.” I whisper to the priestess.

   “I-It’s fine, Kotaro-san! I can do this!” she insists.

   I pat her shoulder reassuringly.

   “It’s fine. I can do this. Again, thanks for your offers.”

   Khriswell has never looked this relieved.

   “Well, if you insist…”

   I face the crowd.

   “So, who wants to go first?” I ask.

   Catherina comes forward at once.

   “Is it true? Did the two of you really best the human who defeated the Daemon Lord?” she asked me.

   Instead of replying to her, I just showed her the rings I was still holding. Catherina looks at them with a dumbfounded look on her face for a few seconds.

   “I suppose, no, I owe you and the vampire an apology.” she tells me softly while bowing as low as she could. “I have always looked down on you. And yet, the two of you have defeated a foe that I could not. You have my deepest apologies for my arrogance.”

   “Please raise your head. It’s all in the past now, so let’s move on and focus on our task at hand.” I told her.

   Besides, it’s not like we managed to defeat Tenha by relying on my strategy alone. I had help from the great Internet from my old world.

   Catherina raised her head just like I told her to, although she still looked like she’s pretty ashamed of herself.

   “How’s the surface while we were busy?” I ask the crowd.

   “The first wave of monsters were already taken care of. Kamei didn’t send any more after that.” Lucas-san replied.

   “He didn’t? Huh, and here I thought he’s going to keep them coming in order to pressure us.”

   “Maybe he’s running out of juice.”

   “Maybe. Well, no point pondering about it. Do you need some more time for breaks, Maya?”

   Maya looks offended at my question.

   “Please, senpai! How weak do you think I am? I wasn’t even tired in the first place!”

   “You’re not even thirsty for blood?”

   A pause.

   “...Well, maybe just a little.”

   I reach out my left arm towards her.

   “Don’t be shy, then.” I offer.

   Instead of digging in like I told her to, Maya stares at my outstretched arm, then at me.

   “...Senpai, are you doing this on purpose?”

   “Do what?”

   “Don’t act innocent with me, senpai! You definitely know!” Maya accuses me while blushing furiously.

   I avert my eyes. “Nope. I haven’t got a clue.”

   “I’ll sue you for sexual harassment, you know!”

   “I doubt the law in this world consider what I’m doing as a sexual harassment.”

   “What exactly are the two of you even on about?” Kaede asks curiously.

   “Where she’s from, if someone reaches out his or her left arm to a vampire, the vampire is being proposed to.” I explain casually.

   The whole place got quiet for a few seconds.

   “What are the two of you waiting for? Get him to do the same thing to you too!” Polusa-san urges softly while nudging Ichika and Kaede from behind.

   Kaede shakes her head vigorously. “No way. As least, not in public.”

   “Indeed. I wish to savor such a moment without being seen by a crowd.” Ichika agrees while blushing furiously just like Maya.

   “Ah, you two get embarrassed way too easily.”

   “Go for it, Khriswell!” I hear someone encouraging Khriswell.

   “H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-Huh? There’s no way I can! But, well if you insist-”

   “Just be a good girl and stay here, Khris.” Clara hisses.

   “Ah, all of you are too damn noisy! Just give me your right arm, Kotaro-senpai!” Maya demands.

   I pull back my left hand and reach out my right hand obediently. Maya grabs hold of it and sinks her teeth to it. Bit by bit, I feel my blood being drained.

   Maya had her fill after drinking for five seconds. I don’t know how much blood she takes exactly, but she seems to be satisfied with the amount, nor do I feel woozy after having some of my blood drained. There are two holes where she bit me, and a small amount of blood is oozing from them. I cast Heal on the wounds, and they close up immediately. The Spell was so effective it’s like the wounds were never there to begin with.

   “Thank you for your blood, senpai.” Maya tells me politely.

   “No problem. Just tell me if you need more.” I tell her while patting her head. “All right everyone. All of you had a pretty long break, so we shouldn’t waste any more time than this. Let’s move to the next floor.”

   “The rest of us are definitely well-rested, but what about you?” Kaede asks me while looking a bit worried.

   “I’m fine. It’s not like I moved a lot just now.” I assure her. “Now come on. The ninety-first floor is waiting.”
   
   “...Alright. If you say that you’re fine…”

   The next set of doors did not, in fact, lead to the ninety-first floor. It led to the final one.