Chapter 1203: New Powers

《Individual Fran has acquired Divine Energy Manipulation.》

Wow! Talk about perfect timing!

I never expected her to learn Divine Energy Manipulation in such a short time!

No, perhaps it wasn’t such a short time after all? Fran had constant exposure to divine energy through me. Not to mention how she sensed the power of the gods with Sword God Transformation and her blessing.

Each time, she found herself suffering under the pressure of the power.

That’s not an experience most normal people will experience. In a sense, you could say Fran had undergone relentless Spartan training for divine energy usage. Perhaps her efforts bore fruit in our last battle.

Well, it doesn’t seem like that’s the only reason.

『Fran, did something happen while you were asleep?』

（Nn? Hmm? Someone showed up, maybe…?）

『Uh, don’t ask me…』

（I felt like someone stroked my head while I was dreaming. Then I felt better.）

Did Fran encounter one of the gods in her dream? The Beast-Bug God, I guess. It seems she doesn’t really remember it, so there’s no point in dwelling.

『How’s your body?』

（I’m fine. I can move perfectly.）

『Good. We’ll make our stand here. Let’s settle things before nightfall.』

（Nn!）

Fran seemed to be mitigating the damage from divine energy by channeling it to enhance her body. Maybe it’s similar to how divine-infused healing magic can fix divine-induced wounds.

She really mastered handling divine energy. Her enhanced senses must also be what allowed her to sense the enemy’s presence before us.

「Let’s go.」

『Alright!』

（Urushi, please take care of everyone.）

「Woof woof!」

Fran ventured out once more to protect the villagers.

As we soared through the sky, I transformed into my heavy armor form once again.

『More superhuman soldiers, like I thought!』

（Nn.）

We could see numerous figures approaching at high speed from beyond the rain-drenched plains.

（They’re still in human form.）

『Yeah.』

The superhuman soldiers were sprinting at full speed, just like when they attacked Horna Village. It’s only a matter of time until they catch up.

『We need to take down as many as possible while they’re still in this state.』

Our enemies clearly considered the superhuman soldiers to be expendable, especially since they can be turned undead after death. They’ll surely remove their limiters and go berserk once we show up.

Well, I cleaned up their bodies last time, so those ones won’t be coming back.

We have to defeat them either way, so I don’t want to exhaust ourselves any more than necessary. The more important part is how many of them we can take down while they’re still weak.

Which means our first strike is critical.

『Now then, time to showcase our newly acquired magic.』

（Nn.）

Fran had a high compatibility with thunder magic, and we’ve taken down many foes using it. That said, it’s on the narrower side in terms of area of effect. If we want to take down a large crowd at once, Ekato Keraunos is the best spell we can manage.

In other words, thunder magic is more suited for single target, high damage.

That’s why we decided to spend my Self-Evolution Points, or I guess they’re called Growth Points now. Anyways, I used the points to boost a certain magic skill and learn new spells. One that excels in area attacks, with an attribute that compliments Fran well.

I had already performed research into which spells were available for which attribute. Some categories of magic were difficult to investigate due to the lack of publicly available information, but the one we chose was quite well-known.

After all, there was a very famous man specializing in this field. Any adventurer could hear all the details they wanted by visiting the guild.

『Guess we have Izario to thank for this.』

（Nn!）

『Alright, let’s do this!』

Fran went first.

「Pheeew!」

Divine energy was mixed into the mana forming her spell. Her casting speed, mana amount, and spell quality were all on a different level from before, perhaps due to gaining Divine Energy Manipulation.

Fran hasn’t reached the level where she can activate supreme-tier spells instantly, but she’ll probably be able to do that with enough practice.

I can’t let my guard down, or she’ll surpass me very soon.

『Give it all you’ve got, Fran!』

「Nn! Flame magic, Megiddo Flame!」

In response to Fran’s voice, a massive magic circle was drawn on the ground. Immediately after, a small sun appeared out of the circle, and an immense wave of heat annihilated everything in its vicinity.

The surrounding land boiled into lava, as any nearby soldiers and rocks were vaporized in the sheer heat.

The fireball itself was only a few dozen meters in size, but the scorching wave of heat impacted an area large enough to engulf a small town.

I recall seeing this spell during the battle between Ashwrath and the possessed Velmeria in Kranzel’s capital.

The power of Fran’s spell was comparable to Velmeria’s in her Divine Dragon Form. Divine Energy Manipulation was definitely enhancing the potency of Fran’s magic.

Her single spell killed over a thousand superhuman soldiers. Moreover, by deliberately aiming it at the right flank, we successfully pushed the superhuman soldiers toward the left flank. This allowed us to group them together for the next step.

After confirming the success of Fran’s spell, I also activated my own.

『Here’s the second supreme-tier spell we’ve learned! Have a taste of this!』

（Master, you got this!）

I felt the spell’s activation draining a massive amount of mana. Reminds me of when I first used Kanna Kamui. I’ll need more practice to master this one too.

Since it’s my first time using it, all I can do is dump a flood of flames over a wide area. Well, that’s what I want to do right now, so it’s no problem!

『Level 10 Flame Magic, Surtr!』

A small mass of black flames appeared above the surviving superhuman soldiers, though only a few meters in size.

In terms of visual impact, it was not nearly as impressive as Fran’s Megiddo Flame. That said, the calamity triggered far exceeded anything Megiddo Flame was capable of.

The mass of black flames began dumping clumps of similarly black flames onto the ground. It gave an eerie and unsettling feeling, much like when one witnesses a person falling from a great height.

The ominous black flames gradually gained momentum. It started pouring down like water from a faucet, ultimately falling to the earth in the form of a waterfall.

Might be my imagination, but I caught a glimpse of a large, grotesque entity crawling around within the dark blaze.

And once the flames reached the ground, they spread out like water overflowing from a table, engulfing everything.

It was silent. There were none of the usual sounds associated with ordinary flames.

The black flames quickly encroached the earth, snuffing out the life of anything it touched. Any superhuman soldiers enveloped by the black flames could do nothing to resist. The flames refused to be extinguished until it consumed their lives completely.

If we had used this on an ordinary army, it would have turned into a hellish scene of wailing and agony. However, these were superhuman soldiers who felt no pain and uttered no screams.

The superhuman soldiers simply collapsed within the silent inferno, vanishing without a sound.