Chapter 1015

It was Seliadot’s ward that saved Fran.

「Black Lightning Princess, fall back immediately!」

「What are you gonna do, Seliadot?」

「I’ll hold him down here.」

The lorelei girl looked up at the antidemon. Her face was filled with hostility toward the antidemon, as well as powerful resolve.

「Aren’t you working with Meltritte though?」

「Of course not. I gave her my wards as a fellow lorelei, but I never thought she’d be plotting something like this……」

The wards she gave to Meltritte apparently had a communication function, which she used to listen in on our conversation with Meltritte.

That’s how she learned Meltritte’s schemes, to some extent. She slumped her shoulders with a look of regret covering her face.

「There’s no time to talk! Watch out!」

「UUUURGH!」

「Reactive Ward――Tch!」

I originally suspected that Seliadot might be in cahoots with Meltritte, but I guess not. She attempted to block the goliath’s fist with her ward, though it didn’t work well.

「Over here!」

『Ora!』

Fran took Seliadot into her arms and jumped back. Meanwhile, I used my telekinesis and spells to slow down the fist just a little. Are we still in a tough spot though?

Just as I was focusing my mana for another blast of telekinesis…

A huge black object fell from the sky and slammed into the goliath’s fist. The force of the impact changed the trajectory of the swing, causing his fist to crash into the ground.

『Urushi! Good boy!』

「Woof!」

It was Urushi at his maximum size. By taking advantage of his body the size of a small mountain, Urushi bit down on the giant antidemon’s arm to impede his movements. However, this wouldn’t last long.

Even if Urushi was over 30 meters tall, he was still no match for the antidemon. After all, the goliath was as tall as a skyscraper. From his point of view, Urushi was nothing but a tiny puppy.

Sure enough, he lifted Urushi’s body easily.

Meanwhile, Fran and Seliadot managed to escape thanks to Urushi buying time for us. After seeing us off, Urushi also shrunk himself and retreated from the antidemon.

The antidemon seemed puzzled by the sudden disappearance of the giant wolf. He kept glancing all around with a somewhat confused look.

Since his body was so big, he must have a hard time finding us. A great distance away, Urushi regrouped with Fran and Seliadot.

「Urushi, you saved us.」

「Woof!」

『What happened to Velmeria and Frederick?』

「Woof!」

I looked in the direction indicated by Urushi’s nose, and I sensed the mana of many people. It seems he deposited the two with the second division before coming back for us.

Meanwhile, the second division was already very far away from the castle. Did Urushi tell them to run? Or maybe seeing Urushi made them realize something was up. Either way, nice call.

『Let’s get out of here.』

「Nn. Urushi, Seliadot, let’s go.」

There’s no way to win this by ourselves. Knowing that, Fran readily accepted the plan, but Seliadot intervened.

「You can escape by yourself. I’ll grab his attention.」

「You’re not going to run?」

「I have no choice…… What Meltritte has committed is a terrible sin. One that may result in divine punishment.」

Now that you mention it, that might be true. She manipulated the Abyss Eater, created vast numbers of antidemons, and took the lives of many innocent people.

I find it unforgivable that she massacred so many innocents, but I doubt the gods care much for that. They preside over a variety of areas after all: a god for men, a god for beasts and bugs, a god for plants, and so on.

From their point of view, the human race has been clearing forests, hunting beasts, and exterminating insects since the beginning of history. That’s nothing short of a genocide upon other living creatures. Also, guys like Ashwrath and Izario must have taken countless human lives during times of war.

Yet, there is no story about the gods punishing anyone for any of that. It’s very likely that the gods simply don’t care about us killing each other for survival, as long as we don’t violate any other rules.

The sin Meltritte committed was in manipulating the Abyss Eater. Since the Abyss Eater contains a fragment of the Evil God, she can be said to have abused the power of a god.

Also, this entire continent was contained within a barrier under the jurisdiction of the gods. Performing such an action here might have been very unwise of her.

「At the very least, I must ensure that other lorelei will not be blamed.」

The sin committed by a lorelei must be corrected by one of her fellow lorelei. Seliadot wished to avoid divine punishment on her race as a whole. I don’t know if that will actually make up for it, but I guess it’s better than doing nothing.

「So don’t worry about me.」

「……I’m staying too.」

「Black Lightning Princess? What are you saying!?」

Seliadot was absolutely stunned.

I’m stunned too.

『Fran! Don’t be ridiculous!』

（……But!）

The lorelei and black cats were very similar in their unfortunate circumstances and position in society.

Moreover, Fran couldn’t leave her alone after seeing the determination on her face. Seliadot was obviously trying to make this her last stand. She wanted to throw away her life in order to protect her race, and Fran sympathized with this feeling.

「Wolf and sword, you two help me convince her to stop!」

「W-Woof?」

『Eh? By sword, is she talking about……』

「I know that sword has a will of its own, after hearing your conversation underground. I had planned to take this secret with me to the grave, but you give me no choice.」

She did mention eavesdropping on Meltritte’s conversations, but it seems she knew more about us than I thought.

「Black Lightning Princess. You must run for now, and assist the others in taking the giant down. Either way, someone must act as the decoy or neither of us can escape. Therefore, I am the best suited for the job.」

『……Fran. We really do need to regroup with everyone first.』

「……Then I’ll take Seliadot with――」

「Hurry! We’ve been noticed!」

『Shit!』

Just as Seliadot said, the giant antidemon took a step toward us. But at the same time, however, we sensed a new presence.

「There’s so many of them!」

『Is it the adventurers?』

「More from over there too!」

「Woof!」

We sensed a large number of people headed in our direction. They’ve gotta be the first division and the third division. It seems they’ve noticed the giant antidemon as well.

Well, it wouldn’t be hard to tie this giant antidemon with the current anomaly affecting Gordicia. These were the forces originally assembled to fight the titan-types, so there’s no way they’d be able to ignore him.

I could also sense the presence of the aces assigned to each unit.

「We can just hang in there until everyone arrives!」

『To be honest, I was hoping you’d run still.』

The word “escape” seems to have disappeared from Fran’s dictionary.