824: A Faint Possibility

「…Ah…」

Fran was left kneeling, completely stunned.

She couldn’t even say a single word as the gate closed in front of us.

But then she realized what had just occurred.

「UWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!」

She began wailing and violently scratching her head. This tore apart her scalp, causing blood to drip out. Normally, her wounds would have regenerated immediately, but the recoil from Sword God Transformation had inhibited her healing.

Blood flowed freely from her head and ran down her forehead and cheeks, making it look as if she was crying tears of blood.

Her roar of regret was filled with self-blame, as well as hatred for the antidemons.

「Fran! Fran!」 「AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!」 「Everyone! Protect Fran!」 「Yeah!」

Hilt shook Fran’s shoulders, but her screaming did not stop. Just seeing this must have made her realize what happened.

Hilt stood there with a painful expression, turning around to protect Fran behind her back. Her eyes glared at the swarms of antidemons rushing toward us.

I also just managed to get a hold of our current situation.

The red dragons were all gone. It seemed that they had succeeded in slaying them without any casualties, since the number of our companions had not decreased. Though that was good news, everyone was still covered in wounds.

Yagilale and Diggins, in particular, seemed to be very worn out.

Upon closer inspection, I could see that their armor was half broken. I can only imagine how roughly they were beaten up to have their armor damaged so badly.

Although their wounds had been healed, expended stamina and spilt blood didn’t come back so easily.

Still, the two of them were stronger than I thought if they won the battle by themselves.

「Protection is the true spirit of a knight!」 「I won’t let anyone hurt Black Lightning Princess-san any more!」 「I-I’ll do my best too!」

Everyone pumped themselves with fighting spirit for Fran, from the battered Yagilale, Diggins, and even Phobos-kun, who should already be nearing his limits.

That feeling alone made me so happy that it brought tears to my eyes.

However, Fran did not have the composure to notice their concerns.

「UWAAAAAAAAHH!」

She could not stop wailing.

But the antidemons would not be willing to wait for her. On the contrary, the surrounding antidemons took advantage of this situation to rush in all at once.

After the downfall of Twisted Horn, the commander of the antidemons, the hordes lost all semblance of control.

They simply rushed toward their prey as their voracious appetites demanded.

「Back off! Dimitris-style martial art, Whirlwind Wave!」 「Let’s show them what we dragonkin are made of!」

Hilt and Chelsea blew away the antidemons with wide-area attacks. But these two were not the only ones on the job.

「You shall not pass me!」 「Thanks, you saved me! Take this, damn antidemons!」 「Hahah! You’re finished!」

Several knights and adventurers, whose names we didn’t even know, worked together to desperately repel the antidemons. Though they could barely cooperate at the start of our journey, they must have formed a tight bond on the battlefield.

The knights defend their allies, the sorcerers cast spells to create a opening, and then the warriors deliver the final blow. All these knights, adventurers, and mercenaries moved in unison to defeat the antidemons.

They weren’t that strong compared to Hilt and Chelsea, and certainly couldn’t be considered our main forces.

But without their strength, this unit would have fallen apart. We only managed to stay afloat because every single one of them was breaking their limits.

They may not be the main players, but they were all indispensable. Everyone here played a important role, and there were no supporting characters.

「Protect the girl!」 「Follow the Knight Commander!」 「We’ll buy Black Lightning Princess-san time to recover!」

They really are a great bunch. For their sakes too, we’ve got to get out of here as fast as we can.

Is my only option to carry Fran and fly away? No, I don’t think I have enough mana for that anymore…

「…Divine Performance - The Regrets of the Brave.」

While I was searching for any way to get Fran out of here, Sophie suddenly started playing her music. It was an intense performance, unlike any song she had played so far.

Moreover, the mana imbued into her music far exceeded the mana cost of even supreme-level spells.

Every time Sophie flicked her the harp, the mana surrounding her grew denser and more brilliant.

She gave off a blue glow as she performed. The radiance surrounding her was so divine that I couldn’t believe we were still in the middle of a battlefield.

After I was enraptured by her for about ten seconds, I quickly noticed a strange feeling.

My mana had been significantly restored. Not only that, but my durability as well.

「…Sophie.」 「Have you settled down now?」

This song must have had some sort of calming effect. Fran had already stopped crying, and was now staring up at Sophie with her swollen tear-stained eyes.

「You healed me?」 「I simply restored your soul to its proper state. Well, that has a healing effect as a result.」

Maybe it was similar to a status healing ability? However, it seemed to be way more potent since it was capable of erasing the aftereffects of the divine attribute.

This meant escape was now on the table again.

『Fra―― Whoa!』 「!」

Just when I was about to suggest escape, I felt a tremendous surge of magical power from a short distance away.

It was a ferocious, wild power, like a beast’s.

『That tremendous power just now…』 「Nadia’s?」

Fran instantly turned around, staring in the direction where we felt the power.

The same enormous magical power was emitted once more. This wavelength of the mana undoubtedly belonged to Nadia, despite having completely transforming into an antidemon.

「Auntie… She’s still…」 『Yeah, she’s alive.』 「She’s fighting too!」

The light came back to Fran’s eyes. Nadia was still alive, and still fighting.

“We might still be able to save her.” I’m sure that’s what was going through her mind.

But even with Nadia alive, if her heart was already gone…

「Sophie. With your song just now, could you heal Auntie?」 『I-I see!』

Sophie said she restored the soul to its proper state, right? If so, could she do the same with Overgrowth’s erosion?

「…I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen her condition. But it might be possible.」

The moment she heard Sophie’s words, Fran’s face regained its full strength.

（Master.） 『Wait. I know how you feel, but…』

I also felt the same urge to save Nadia. But even though we’ve recovered somewhat, that didn’t change the fact that we were heavily worn out.

Besides, our friends must be nearing their limits too. Maybe we should have them fall back a bit so that we can head out on our own?

『…? Did you feel the ground shake just now?』

I was currently lodged in the ground, and my sword blade felt a slight vibration. The earth was shaking rhythmically with repeated thuds.

Moreover, the shaking seemed to be getting louder and louder. Was something approaching us? I tried to search for any suspicious presences, but was unable to find any. How is this possible?

The source of these vibrations revealed itself right afterwards.

Suddenly, a thousand-man army appeared right next to Castel. It was as if they had teleported.

But the vibrations I heard earlier must have been the sound of their footsteps as they marched, meaning this was no teleportation. Perhaps they had an ability or tool to conceal an entire army.

These newcomers were not antidemons, but people we knew very well.

「Fuhahaha! The Snorabbit army has arrived on the battlefield!」

The booming voice reaching every corner of the battlefield belonged to Orfalve, Queen of the Dwarves.

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