The surviving miners are about to get torn apart, eaten, or whatever it is that faeries do to their victims. Luckily, our trio of plucky Heroes — Xylo, Norgalle, and the conspicuously named Tatsuya — arrive just in the nick of time for dramatic effect. They quickly dispose of the faeries in the vicinity, but they know more are coming. As a result, Norgalle quickly goes about arming the miners with enhanced shovels and pickaxes for literally the fight of their lives.
I like how Xylo plays along with Norgalle’s delusion. I suppose it’s just easier that way. No point arguing on a do-or-die mission, and he’s probably had to deal with “His Majesty” for years now. I wonder what their first meeting was like. Besides, Norgalle’s mania is kinda necessary at the moment. When you’re in a crazy situation, you need an equally crazy motivation to keep yourself going. Xylo barking out orders and being a hardass is doing nothing for the miners’ flagging morale. So instead, Norgalle steps up and delivers one of those corny speeches you expect from a cheap summer action flick.
After yet another skirmish against the faeries, Xylo looks up to see Teoritta standing before him. According to her, she simply gave the Holy Knights “the slip” then waltzed her way to him. A Goddess needs her Knight and vice versa. Be that as it may, how incompetent are these so called Holy Knights? I thought they were supposed to keep her from wandering off? Weren’t they supposed to keep her safe? I guess they don’t actually care about her well-being even though Kivia blew her gasket when she initially saw Teoritta with Xylo in the first episode. Plus, did the faeries simply not notice her? I guess so.
Xylo keeps trying to push Teoritta away, but he doesn’t have it in him to truly be mean. His soft-hearted reasoning just makes her want to be by side even more. Plus, I suspect he’ll need her help anyway for the inevitable fight against the Demon Lord down here. Most of all, I just hope the story doesn’t keep dragging out this “No, stay away,” “But you’re my Knight, so praise me” back-and-forth between Xylo and Teoritta. It’s especially annoying when she literally helps him later in the episode, but he still yells at her. Teoritta looks like a child (and probably is a child), but he’s the one ironically acting like a brat. It’s already been three episodes, y’know? Move on, already. You made a pact with her, so accept it, already. Xylo’s piss-poor attitude towards her is getting old and getting old fast.
Right on cue, a shrill sound rings out and forces almost everyone to their knees. For some reason, Tatsuya is unaffected. Maybe his talent is being immune to tinnitus. But here comes the Demon Lord which is… a tree? Um, this is about as threatening as the time I fought the Curse-Rotted Greatwood in Dark Souls 3. It does have this… thing attached to it. Again, still looks kinda laughable to me, but let’s just roll with it. Ooooh, scary, please don’t eat me silly tree monster thing! Plus, the actual core is over here.
In the ensuing battle against the Demon Lord, Norgalle is so determined to protect “his people” that he willingly chops his own leg off. This then allows him to pierce the core’s lone eyeball (maybe it shouldn’t have dangled Norgalle directly above it). His courageous act finally affords Xylo enough of an opening to burn down the evil tree once and for all. We know that these Heroes are forced to reincarnate over and over. We also know that their limbs are potentially “borrowed” from other people’s bodies. Even so, it still takes a ton of guts and determination to willingly mutilate yourself. Again, Norgalle’s mania is 100% necessary. Who knows how this battle would’ve turned out if he was just a normal dude like Xylo?
In the aftermath, a bruised and battered Norgalle is shipped off to the “repair shop” for a new leg. The good news is that the villagers get some of their miners back, which is cause for celebration. Loved ones reunited with those they thought they had lost. Kivia even defends the Heroes when that priest voices his intentions to make sure the Heroes get punished for going against “regulations.” In other words, Kivia’s character development is proceeding as scheduled. Time for the bad news: a lot of villagers still look down on Heroes. The silver lining is supposed to be the young girl personally thanking Xylo. Can a child’s appreciation make up for all the distrust, hatred and discrimination? I dunno, it’s hard to say what sort of victory this is. Slaves forced to fight a losing battle against the blight, faeries, and Demon Lords while being labeled as criminals. How can this be sustainable?
Stray thoughts & observations:
- This is probably the first time I’ve ever gotten a first-person perspective of a thrown knife.
- I wish anime would “turn on the lights,” so to speak. I get it, they’re in the mines, so there isn’t a whole lot of lighting. But I also want to see the action, and it’s just so dark or dim all the time. It’s not as bad here as Roll Over and Die‘s second episode, but still.
- Love how the Holy Knights charge in just to be completely useless. Great, now we have more people to defend. I don’t think they helped one bit in this week’s episode.
- Oh, Tatsuya can “hulk” out. I assume we have to get his backstory at some point, right? But do we have enough time in a single season? As long as they don’t keep introducing new Heroes, I suppose. But “His Majesty” is probably going to be out of commission for a while. Someone’s gonna have to fill his shoes. Maybe Dotta finally comes back?
