Wounded to the bone.
That’s the only phrase that could accurately describe the state of Fran and the others.
「Uraaaaaaaaaah!」
Forcibly ignoring the pain and fatigue, Fran continued to swing me.
「Gishhaaa!」
「Pant! Pant! ……Teyaah!」
She had no time to catch her breath in between the antidemons’ strikes. By now, her breathing was so ragged that it seemed as if there was something wrong with her throat or lungs.
I wanted to suggest a retreat, but there was no way Fran would accept that proposal.
「Deryaaaah! Incinerate!」
「Water Dragon Wave!」
Fran’s friends, Mea and Velmeria, were also fighting nearby with similar amounts of suffering.
Mea looked like a complete mess, her white hair and skin stained red with her own blood. Velmeria’s scales and claws were practically falling off, and her blood sprayed out every time she swung her arm.
Zefmate was covered with injuries from head to toe, and Lind had lost one of his wings.
There was no way Fran would be willing to leave her friends behind and escape alone.
（Master! Let’s do this!）
『Got it!』
Fran cut down the antidemons jumping around her, and I used my magic to blast the antidemons coming in to take advantage of her opening.
Even so, we were unable to fend off all of them. We were already surrounded by the jet-black ones, so holding them off was no easy task.
「Graaaah!」
「Ugh!」
A wolf antidemon bit into Fran’s right arm. She managed to endure and not lose her grip on me, but the antidemons didn’t miss the opening.
They pounced on us from all directions.
Fran used her left hand to crush the neck of the wolf antidemon, freeing her right arm, but she wasn’t quick enough to handle the rest. I sensed this and immediately activated my magic.
『Get outta here!』
The multiple simultaneously activated Gale Hazards created a wall of wind around us. However, there were a few antidemons that protected themselves with a magical barrier and withstood the storm winds.
Three crimson wolves latched onto Fran with their huge fangs, one on her shoulder and one on each leg. Fran held back her scream.
Rather, she immediately struck back at the wolves. These crimson antidemons are the upgraded form of the jet-black ones.
If we could destroy three of them here, it would be a very serious blow to the horde.
Knowing this, Fran purposely chose not to evade. Instead, she strengthened herself with mana in preparation for the hit, allowing them to bite her. This way, she could limit her opponent’s ability to evade, and deliver a lethal counterattack.
She made this judgment right as the three wolves pounced on her, so it must have taken only an instant. Then, she put her plan into motion as soon as they latched on.
「Raaaaaah!」
『Let go of Fran!』
Fran manipulated the black lightning surrounding her body, focusing it all on the one biting her right leg. The wolf, burned by the black lightning from the inside, fell down with black smoke billowing out from its body.
The one biting her left leg got wrapped in my decorative string, which turned into a sharp wire. After I tore him off, I passed mana through the string wrapped around its neck. Even these crimson antidemons were as good as dead if you lop off the head.
As for the last one on the shoulder, he got finished off by a stab from me. The wolf tried an evasive maneuver, but Fran’s attack was just a fraction of a second faster.
Even these speed-specialized antidemons couldn’t dodge immediately after delivering an attack of their own.
Fran’s self-sacrificing strategy had allowed us to eliminate three red wolves, the most troublesome out of all the enemies here. I’d call that a great victory, but Fran’s face was not smiling.
「Gugh……」
『Poison?!』
A god damn wolf using poison?! I quickly used Antidote to heal her, but I could tell. Fran had been pushed to the edge. She was already at her limit before, but that momentary dose of demon poison became the straw that broke the camel’s back.
As Fran stood motionless, the antidemons rushed towards her without mercy.
『Fran, we can’t keep going like this!』
（……I won’t… run!）
『Oh come on! Jeez!』
I continued intercepting the antidemon with my magic, but once I’m out of mana, it’s really and truly the end. After that, I’d have no choice but to teleport us away.
We could still retreat into the city with Mea and the others, and try to regroup. I don’t know if we really can regroup, but at least it’s better than dying here.
As soon as I started considering where the best place to open my Dimension Gate would be……
「?」
Fran looked at her feet with a curious expression.
At that moment, the earth shone with a golden glow.
An immense amount of mana surged around us, freezing the antidemons. This seemed to be the same principle as Sophie’s mana-imbued sound that she used to attract the antidemons’ attention.
They ceased movement, not knowing how to react to the mana suddenly enveloping them.
For a moment, I thought Ashwrath had come to save us, but no.
The mana filling the battlefield was much gentler than that ogrekin’s mana could ever be. Both Fran and I recognized its owner.
（Sophie, she’s back……）
The long-awaited return of the saintess.
I could sense Sophie’s presence behind those crumbling walls, and she was not alone. Thousands of people followed right behind her.
But isn’t that kinda weird? There’s way too many of them. It’s almost as if they were all――
Before my doubts could form, Fran muttered with energy in her voice. There was not a trace of weakness left.
「I’m overflowing with power.」
『Me too!』
Fran’s wounds began to heal, and her spent stamina and mana slowly but surely returned.
The music echoing through the battlefield was what gave us this strength. It sounded like an orchestra, with multiple overlapping notes. It’s simply not possible for a single person to be playing all of this. Did Sophie find an entire band or something?
Wait, this song…… Along with Sophie’s music, we heard a song. Hundreds, no, thousands of people sung in unison.
「I know this song!」
『It’s the one the adventurers sung in the tavern.』
That cheerful and lighthearted song echoed through the air.
「We are adventurers~…♪ The golden adventurers~…♪」
「No foe shall make us falter!」
「Dragons, demons, bring anything on!」
「The hordes of antidemons will be a piece of cake!」
This was not the refined and beautiful singing that you might imagine when you hear the word “choir”. It was rough and out of sync, with each member singing as he or she pleased. I couldn’t call them talented, even as flattery. But because of that, they were brimming with emotion.
Thousands of voices resounding clearly through the battlefield.
And strangely enough, listening to them gave us a surge of power.
「They’re cheering for us.」
『Yeah. They definitely are.』
This was no simple song. Every one of those people were cheering for Fran and her friends.
The moment I heard it, I immediately understood the thoughts of the crowd: “Hang in there!” “Don’t lose!” and “We’re with you!” It was filled to the brim with all those feelings.
Our wounds healed, our strength returned, and our mana recovered. But more than that, the fact that we were not alone seemed to give Fran an even bigger push.
「Fran! I’ve brought reinforcements!」
「Sophie!」
