“Okay, okay, calm down,” said the goddess, waving her arms, “Sit and just listen. I’ll explain everything. I don't have any other chance anyway…”

  I sat down like she said and waited for her to start. Things were getting more and more messy, and my dream of being a hero was dying slowly.

  “I don’t even know where to start,” she said, letting out a weary sigh, “Some time ago this world was given to me, and I had to send a hero to defeat the Demon Lord. At first, he did well, he grew strong, even won in the end. But then he lost control. The power twisted him, and he became worse than the Demon Lord himself.”

  “I just can’t wrap my head around it… how does a hero blessed by a divine being suddenly turn like that?”

  “That’s kind of my fault. I’ve told you already I’m the goddess of lust, right. Others always treated me like some filthy, odd one out. And just when I was about to rank up, they shoved an SSS?tier world at me… even though I’m only S?tier!”

  “...What? They basically wanted you to fail!”

  “Yes, they said it was the only world left. I couldn’t oppose the commission, so I had to accept. But a normal hero could never beat an SSS-tier Demon Lord.”

  “But you just said he did it?”

  “That’s because I blessed him more than enough, with a power strong enough to shatter a normal soul. He held it at first, but it eventually went wrong.”

  She fell into a sad, heavy silence. I won’t lie, I actually felt bad for her. She had done what she thought was right, taken a gamble, and lost. And judging by my situation, she didn't stop gambling afterward either.

  Once I understood everything, I calmed down a bit. Someone had to act like an adult here, and it sure wasn’t going to be the goddess whose eyes were glossy and ready to turn into a river.

  “Can’t you just end his life? As you stated in the contract?”

  “No. I can’t. I added that part later. The old one didn’t have anything like that.”

  “Oh, yeah…”

  It made sense. If she could have done it, she would’ve done it long ago. She wouldn’t need to summon another hero. The whole thing was way messier than I thought.

  “So, what now? I mean, I really want to help but…”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t…”

  She picked the book back up and started flipping through it again. Her eyes raced over the pages like she was hunting for a miracle hidden between the lines. As if one sentence, one tiny word, could fix all.

  “There has to be something…” she mumbled.

  “I know it can sound stupid but… can’t we just, I don’t know, wait for the hero to die? I mean, even the strongest bully kicks the bucket one day, right?”

  I had no idea what I was saying. It could be smart, stupid, or most probably straight nonsense. I just kept throwing ideas, hoping one of them might help.

  “That won’t work,” she said right away. “I sent him there a hundred years ago. For a normal human, he should’ve died long ago, but somehow… he found a way to keep living.”

  "But from what I get, you summoned me to stop him, right? Do I have any chance without the blessing or?"

  "No, honestly, even with the blessing, you might not have had a chance.”

  I was just about to say something brave. Then I heard the hero was basically an immortal monster, and my courage died on the spot. I will be honest, I got scared. My old life was awful and I didn't want it back, but jumping into something even worse didn't sound like any better.

  “Okay, that’s it,” I said. “I tried. I really did. I’d love to help, but I’m out. I’m not crazy enough to fight an immortal psycho with my bare hands.” I turned away. “So please. Send me back.”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. A summoning cannot be undone, and you’ve already signed the contract.”

  “But! That was before you said all of that!”

  Feeling desperate, my eyes landed on the book resting on the throne. I walked over, grabbed it, and flipped through the pages again, hoping to find anything at all that could help me.

  “I think we should look at this once more. We may have missed something… who knows.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Right then, a massive, ornate door appeared before us. The person hadn’t even stepped inside, but his furious, booming voice was already shaking the air.

  “Desira, one of the forbidden books is missing. Do you know—”

  The goddess suddenly leapt, panicked. She darted her eyes around like she was hunting for a hole to escape. Then she locked onto me.

  

  I didn't even see it coming. She suddenly smacked my head and shoved me down. The floor split open, and I plummeted into the new world like a sack of potatoes in a trash chute.

  ?

  I found myself up in the clouds, clutching the book and looking around, confused. The soft, damp clouds gave me a brief, fleeting peace… until I realized I wasn’t actually floating. I was falling fast toward the ground. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  “AAAAAAHH!”

  I flipped through the pages like doing so might magically spawn a parachute or a rescue helicopter, even though I knew it was pointless. Soon I realized I couldn’t read a single word of it.

  “I can't even read this damn thing!”

  Frustrated, I threw the book, then panicked and grabbed it back in mid-air. I shoved it into my belt just in case, like it would somehow slow my fall or change my stupid fate.

  I was going to hit the ground in less than a minute, and I had to think fast. Then Grandpa’s lessons, which were more like torture sessions, flashed through my mind one by one. My brain tried its best to find anything that could save me from turning into toothpaste.

  "A man is not defined by the drop, but by how he hits the ground,” Grandpa’s words echoed in my head.

  I flipped onto my stomach, stretched my arms and legs wide, and turned myself into a human kite. Still, it didn't help much. I was falling way too fast. Helpless, I muttered the old man’s advice under my breath.

  “Okay, stay calm. If you land wrong, even water turns to stone… and if you land right, stone… no, stone is always stone!”

  I scanned the ground, hoping to spot something, anything, that could soften the fall. But of course not, there was nothing down there to save my ass before it exploded. I was dropping straight toward a dead, empty wasteland covered in sharp rocks that looked way too excited to meet my face.

  Then something caught my eye. Among all those sharp stone fangs, there was one strange thing. A big, smooth rock shaped like a perfect sphere. If I could land on that, maybe, just maybe, I could pull off the Ukemi fall Grandpa drilled into my bones.

  With everything I had, I twisted my body in the air, trying to steer myself toward that one tiny hope. I aimed right for the smooth round rock, lined myself up for the Ukemi fall, ready to make the old man proud… But the moment I touched it, the thing stretched like warm jelly and swallowed me whole.

  “...Huh?”

  Before I could even react, the “rock", which was actually a giant slime monster, had pulled me in, stretched itself like a rubber band, and snapped me back out. I had to admit, at least it slowed my fall, but now it was hurling me forward like a cannonball.

  “AAAAAAHH!”

  I spun through the air, flipping helplessly. I kept turning again and again, not even sure where I was heading. I reached out with both hands, hoping to catch something, anything.

  Then a sharp tearing sound cut through the wind. Something grabbed the back of my collar and yanked me to a sudden stop. Whatever it was pinned me midair, a few meters above the ground, leaving me hanging like some sad flag.

  “...Huh?”

  I took a deep breath and looked around, trying to see what I was hanging from. I had no idea, only that I was way too high to jump. I reached around, searching for anything to grab. Then, without warning, whatever was holding me lurched forward.

  “AAAAAAHH!”

  It twisted hard and slammed into something like a giant rock. Before I even realized what was happening, my clothes tore and I tumbled to the ground. I dropped to my knees and stared down. The pattern on the ground felt oddly familiar. When I looked up, my jaw hit the floor. I was sitting on a giant turtle, big enough to make a two-story building look small.

  "Whaat?!"

  Then the turtle got smashed hard from behind. I slid forward across its shell and barely stopped myself from falling over its huge head. I turned to see what it was, and my eyes almost popped out. A giant scorpion, just as huge as the turtle, was ramming its massive stinger into the shell, trying to force its way through.

  "What the—"

  Soon I found myself stuck in the middle of a giant animal fight. I clung to the turtle’s neck, praying the scorpion’s wild strikes wouldn’t hit me by mistake. The turtle just took every hit on its thick shell, shrugging off the scorpion’s frantic attacks like they almost didn’t matter.

  It felt like watching a siege on top of a castle. The one with the stronger walls would win the battle. But the scorpion was all over the place… messy, rushed, swinging without thinking. For a while, it kept pounding on the turtle’s hard shell with those pointless attacks.

  Just as the scorpion looked spent and ready to give up, it suddenly locked its eyes on me. And seconds later it aimed its huge stinger at the turtle’s head. I was caught off guard, and from that distance there was no way I could jump off.

  Until the last second, I kept hoping the turtle would block it again. But even it didn’t see the attack coming, and panic hit me. Acting on pure reflex, I grabbed the book from my belt and held it up like a sad little shield.

  I shut my eyes tight and had already accepted my tragic end. But somehow the worst never came. When I cracked an eye open, I almost choked on my own breath.

  The scorpion’s stinger got stuck in the book, and a cold rush of death spread through its body. In less than a minute, it shriveled up like a raisin left in the sun, froze solid, and turned into a hollow shell.

  I had no idea what was happening or how any of this worked. I carefully pulled the book free to examine it, when the turtle suddenly lowered its head toward the ground.

  Its head was as big as the rest of its body. Even when it lowered it all the way down, it still expected me to climb off from a height that could break my legs. With no choice left, I leaned to the side to slide down… but my hand slipped, and I dropped straight onto my butt in the most painful, dignity-destroying way.

  I stood up, dusted myself off, and took a few steps back, rubbing my sore butt. The thing was huge, just looking at it made my head spin. It lowered its head a little, like it was giving me a nod of thanks.

  Then the turtle suddenly froze. Its eyes went wide, gripped by sudden panic. And before I could even turn around to see what was happening, something slammed into me from behind, smashing me face first into the ground.