Chapter 503: Master, Fran, and Urushi

「Urushi! Now!」

「Grroaa!」

Urushi, who has become much larger than his original body by his body enlargement skill, rushed towards the giant beast wielding a hammer-like tail. The gray-silver fur on his back makes his movement look like a shooting star.

By looking at Urushi made me remember.

『He’s so big…』

His size was probably more than twice as big as before. From the tip of his nose to his tail, he was over ten meters long. His body height had also more than doubled, creating a shadow that looked like a large tree.

However, his heavy body did not slow his movement at all. In fact, he was faster due to his increased strength.

Urushi easily closed the distance between them, perfectly avoiding the various attacks that were unleashed. And then there was the giant beast, whose huge limbs were protected by a hard shell―― and he struck the head of the Invisible Death.

It was not enough to kill it, but it seemed to have succeeded in violently hurting its head. The giant beast, who had suffered a mild concussion from Urushi’s blow, stopped moving with a stomp on the ground.

This was our chance.

「Let’s go!」

『Ou!』

「Haaa!」

Fran jumped out to the sky and swung me from over her head.

「Bughooooh!」

As expected of a magic beast with a threat level of B. It seems that even if it’s in a vulnerable state, it won’t let us attack it easily.

The crystal-like scales on its entire body stood upside down and shot out in unison toward Fran, who was right above it. In addition to this, it also unleashed a deadly sniper shot.

However, Fran was not panicking and was handling the situation calmly. She didn’t even need to use my teleport; she completely dodged its crystals with her defensive movement and sword handling.

In the past, she would not have been able to use the aerial jump continuously with such delicate control. However, it was not difficult for the current Fran.

As for sniping, it was completely offset by the use of her flawless sword techniques. This was also the result of her training. While using her sword skills to intercept the scattered bullets of the scales, she was also able to mix her sword technique into her offense and defense without hesitating.

Fran, who was in midair, was naturally pulled down by gravity and was gradually losing her altitude. The closer she got to the Invisible Death, the more intense the attacks became, but Fran’s defense was undisturbed.

「Brilliant Lighting Rush!」

Just like that, Fran went to end this battle at once.

「Yaaa!」

「Bumoooh!」

『That’s it!』

The Invisible Death’s scales and light magic were blocked by me instead of Fran, who had shifted to focus on attack. It was possible to use dark magic to cancel out the light magic while using telekinesis to prevent the crystal scales from hitting Fran.

Just like that, the full force of Fran’s Sword Saint techniques, wrapped in black lightning, cut through the carapace in front of her.

The Invisible Death’s tough shell, which was protected by a giant crystal and multiple barriers, was no obstacle for her now.

It’s not that the technique was special. It’s that Fran, who used the technique, has become stronger.

Fran’s black lightning and my multiple deployments of attribute swords shattered the flesh and bone inside its shell, causing it to explode from the inside.

「Shiia!」

「Bumhoooooooo……」

In the end, she thrust me against the exposed magic stone of the Invisible Death and killed it.

It was our complete victory over the Invisible Death, who had given us a lot of trouble in the past. Of course, the experience from that time is still vivid, but more than that, Fran and Urushi’s strength has increased.

『Fran, you’ve become stronger, huh?』

「Master, you’re saying it again」

『It can’t be helped. I’m happy to see you’ve grown a lot』

「It’s only been a month though」

『But still!』

「I’m not changing like Urushi right?」

『I’m not talking about your appearance! Well, in Urushi’s case, he’s changed a lot』

「Woof?」

Fran stroked Urushi, who came up to her and his size now was about the size of a cow. I guess the biggest change is his fur.

It had been black with a slight hint of red, but now it had more red with two flowing silver lines on his back. Also, the degree of its fluffiness has increased too.

The frequency in which Fran hugged Urushi had obviously increased.

『But you know, you’ve definitely grown a lot in such a short amount of time』

「Woof!」

「Nn!」

As we were talking about this, we suddenly heard the inorganic yet somewhat gentle voice of a woman in our head.

〈Obtained multiple skills from the Invisible Death’s magic stone. Integration of skills with the same name into higher-level skills have been confirmed〉

「Nn」

It was Announcer-san, who had regained a little of her power. Although she couldn’t talk to me like she did when she used her potential release, she seemed to have regained the same level of power as when I first came to this world. The fact that I was able to absorb the power of the Fanatics also seemed to have worked in the right direction.

Announcer-san was also taking over some part of my control, and the load of using magic and telekinesis was considerably reduced.

Another new feature was that Announcer-san’s voice can also be heard by Fran now. I’ve been explaining everything to Fran, but she doesn’t seem to fully understand it. She’s like a talking spirit inside of me after all.

And yes, I’ve talked to Fran about the memories I’ve regained.

It was the memories of the time before I died and became a sword.

Just before the maintenance was finished, I met the Goddess of Chaos again and she explained to me that she returned my memories of the time before and after my reincarnation. She said that if she left the part of my memory that was about to return halfway through, it could have affected the sealing of my other memories.

If all my memories came back at once, I’d go crazy for sure. Well, I guess the worst thing that can happen to me is that I start to remember.

Oh, I’ll keep the ecchi (1) part to myself for now. It’s too early for Fran. I mean, how should I explain it to her?

My ecchi memories were sealed by the gods because they could have a strong impact on me. I would rather die than have to explain that to Fran myself.

『Anyway, it’s been a month since I’ve been back』

「Nn」

『Your coordination with each other is already perfect huh?』

「Nn. Of course」

「Woof!」

I was quite confused at first. Well, both of us. Fran and Urushi looked so different after all, and my fighting power had also increased with the assistance of Announcer-san.

We had spent the past month perfecting our coordination. The result was this battle.

『Well, it was tough for me right after I woke up though. A lot harder than just practicing our coordination…』

(1) Just in case you’re pretending to not know about it, it means sexually explicit lol