Chapter 962

While cooperating with the other adventurers, we succeeded in eliminating the antidemons swarming around Bultori.

All but the big one. Fran landed next to Izario, who called out to her after extinguishing his flames.

「As long as that big guy’s alive, we should expect the antidemons to keep popping up.」

「Nn. What should we do?」

「You wanna take him?」

「Really?」

After seeing the determination in Fran’s eyes, Izario gave a light shrug.

「Well, I won’t be complaining if you do my job for me. He is a little too close to town either way. I can see you’re raring to go, right?」

「Nn!」

「Then good luck with that.」

Activating his divine sword twice in one day must be very risky for Izario. Not only will his level drop further, but he would be taking the recoil twice.

And like he said, the town was right next to us. Even Izario could have trouble controlling his powers to avoid the collateral damage.

If Fran takes down the giant antidemon, then everything’s solved. Even if she fails, Izario might be able to deliver a fatal blow without activating his sword.

At the very least, nothing bad could come from letting Fran take a shot at the guy.

（Master, let’s do it!）

『Alright, we can’t keep relying on Izario to do everything.』

（Nn! Izario will be in danger if he keeps using the divine sword.）

Fran knew that Izario wasn’t in good shape. He’s hiding it well, but we could see the recoil definitely taking a toll.

We too, were still recovering from the series of intense battles on Gordicia. However, we were much better off than Izario was right now. Fran’s long sleep did wonders for our recovery.

『Weak attacks will probably get repelled by that fluid thing, since it contains so much mana. Let’s take our time charging and put everything into one strike!』

「Nn. Got it.」

Fran nodded with a look of determination and carried me on her shoulder. Then, she glanced backwards.

The adventurers and Izario were lined up to watch over Fran, but they were not the only ones on Fran’s mind.

『Fran? What’s wrong?』

（A lot of people died.）

『……Yeah, that’s true.』

（So, so…… Hmm?）

Fran stared at the gate, thinking of the sleeping adventurers beyond it. Those who will never wake up again.

Until now, Fran had considered the majority of adventurers to be something like coworkers. She never really felt much in terms of camaraderie.

But after she’s fought, sung, and feasted together with the adventurers, her feelings must have changed.

Seeing so many fallen adventurers must have awakened this strange feeling. Not even Fran herself could explain why she felt this way.

She tilted her head at being unable to explain her own emotions. However, they weren’t negative. After turning her eyes to the giant antidemon again, she got back into the swing of things.

（……We will protect this town!）

『Of course. Let’s do it.』

As she walked toward the giant antidemon, Fran steadily built up her magical power.

We do have a time limit, but it’s not like everyone’s gonna die in a few minutes or anything.

That gave us plenty of time to build our strength for a one serious blow.

Like Fran, I pushed my mana output to the limit.

As Fran took step after step towards the giant antidemon, some smaller ones popped up around her. However, they were instantly incinerated by flames shot out from behind us.

We couldn’t ask for better support. I doubt anyone else could be this reassuring.

「Phew……… Haaah……」

Fran continued walking with the same stride, undisturbed by the antidemons. Her breathing became deeper and deeper, with each breath increasing her mana levels by an extraordinary degree.

And yet, not a trace of this mana leaked outward. A sign that she managed to concentrate the entirety of this power without any waste.

Then, when the distance between us and the giant antidemon reached about 100 meters, I teleported Fran. I knew instinctively what she wanted to do.

As soon as my teleport completed, Fran went into free fall.

With the lowered orange sun behind her, Fran set her eyes sharply on the giant antidemon directly below.

「Awakening, Brilliant Lightning Rush……! Urushi!」

「Woof!」

「Still tired?」

「Grrr!」

「Then give me a paw.」

「Grrr!」

Urushi was still exhausted, but he seemed to have recovered enough to lend a paw. Fran and Urushi activated aerial hop in perfect sync.

「Groooooogh!」

「Haaah!」

Urushi used his front paw to boost Fran downwards. The Wolf-Style Draw Technique.

Fran accelerated toward the giant antidemon from the cold skies. A moment later, my sword became enveloped in black lightning.

And not just any black lightning, it contained a bit of divine power too. The concentrated black lightning fused with my own mana, magnifying the power of my blade.

「Black Lightning Divine Claw!」

One of Fran’s ultimate moves, as well as one of the most difficult ones.

She was using Wolf-Style Draw and Black Lightning Divine Claw at the same time. This combination of her most powerful techniques would pack a punch, but only if it succeeds.

「Hah!」

Fran unleashed her slash with that short exhalation――cleaving the giant antidemon straight down the center, and splitting the sea of amniotic fluid.

Crack!

At the same time, the tremendous amount of black lightning stored in the blade discharged to sizzle the giant’s entire body. The sheer heat vaporized all the fluid surrounding the giant in an instant, leaving a white mist drifting in the air around the antidemon.

Is this stuff even safe to inhale? I’ll cover us with a wind ward just in case.

The two halves of the giant antidemon started falling to the sides from the impact of the black lightning.

I teleported Fran a short distance away, and she groaned in frustration as she fell to one knee.

「……!」

I still sensed a bit of mana emanating from the giant antidemon. We could also see the section sliced open slowly restoring itself.

Even a strike with our full power was unable to vanquish the giant. No, we might have pulled it off if we had reached the expected output.

However, our control over the Black Lightning Divine Claw technique got a little loose at the critical moment, reducing the impact of our slash. We’ve succeeded in dealing a considerable amount of damage, but the giant antidemon was still capable of regeneration.

Though disappointed, neither of us showed any worry about this outcome.

Booooom!

As we watched on, countless flames came pouring down on the giant. We may have failed to achieve our goal of defeating him, but at least we managed to ease Izario’s burden.

I didn’t sense any usage of the divine sword. He must have decided that he didn’t need to release it. In the end, the crimson inferno quickly burned the giant antidemon’s two halves to a crisp.