Chapter 1071

1071: Fran vs Bune

After realizing that we didn’t have the time to take out the demons, I morphed my decorative thread and extended it toward Flut. We need to take out the summoners in order to shut up the demons!

Urushi headed toward Satia.

（Master!）

『I promise not to kill them!』

（…Sorry.）

Fran must have been frustrated at her lack of resolve, but it made me happy. Not wanting to fight your friends is a natural human feeling.

Maybe you could say such feelings make her weaker as a fighter. However, I can say for sure that this is true growth as a person.

Besides, this type of thing is my job as her partner.

『Let me handle anything you can’t do. In exchange, you help me out with the things I can’t do.』

（Nn. Got it.）

Fran nodded at me while going after Bune. She wanted to cover for me by sealing the demon’s movements.

「Everyone, get as far away as possible!」

The villagers began trying to escape upon hearing Fran’s shout. However, the square was surrounded by wooden fences and the men had their feet bound. They wouldn’t be able to get far. That said, even the slightest distance would make things way easier on us.

We had already canceled Sword God Transformation, and I stopped the usage of Divine Energy Manipulation and Evil Conquest. Even in this condition, Fran overwhelmed Bune.

While evading his scythe, Fran cut through the invisible blasts of telekinesis along with his gigantic body. The demon regenerated quickly due to our regeneration inhibition not working, but he still couldn’t move while his legs were healing. I felt like I was watching a martial artist master spar with their disciple.

And without the demon’s support, my steel threads reached Flut without issue.

「Kuh! Dammit!」

Flut attempted to escape, but his own stats were nothing special. Even if he leveled up since our last meeting, he’s only comparable to a low rank adventurer.

Moreover, his skills were mostly specialized in demon summoning. My steel threads entwined all of Flut’s limbs, easily sealing away his movements.

Bune desperately tried to save Flut, but Fran refused to allow this, sometimes using the Beast-Bug God’s Blessing to stop him with a divine-infused kick.

Like I thought, the divine attribute is very effective against demons. Bune now had wounds that he could not regenerate.

As a result, Bune was forced to stay vigilant. Any careless movement and Fran would smack him with a mortal blow to his vital points.

『Now go to sleep!』

「Gwah!」

I zapped Flut with electricity while he was trapped in my steel threads. The plan was to paralyze him.

But my paralysis had no effect. Upon closer inspection of Flut’s body, I saw black mana gushing out. It seems he had a demon possessing him just like the demon knights.

So he’s accompanied by another demon, separate from Bune. Demons have an innate resistance to magic and status, which must be what saved him from my spell. Should I increase the output? The problem is that going too far risks killing him.

Urushi was having similar difficulties in binding Satia. All of his black magic was being nullified.

However, he managed to deal with Ronowe splendidly by consuming the poison mist. It seems the combination of Poison Nullification and Predatory Assimilation enabled him to devour Ronowe when she morphed into mist. Ronowe was forced to remain in physical form and attack with her tentacles, but she stood no choice against Urushi in a melee.

In that case, I can focus everything on the task at hand.

『How about this!』

I activated my Magic Plunder and Magic Absorption skills at max output. Sucking up all the demon’s mana supply will leave it as good as dead.

Flut’s mana levels plummeted. Not just due to my absorption, but also because he’s spending a ton resisting my electric blast. At this rate, Flut will fall unconscious due to mana exhaustion.

But Flut refused to go down without a fight. He must have realized that he was about to lose.

「I offer.. you… my mana! Possess me… Bune! Gugah!」

『This is…!』

「UOOOGH!」

Bune disappeared without a trace, and Flut’s appearance changed drastically. His skin turned brown while his hair lost its color and went white. The new Flut had golden eyes and mysterious red patterns covering his arms and face.

Flut sunk into the shadows before he appeared a short distance away. He could now use Shadow Shift.

「Haha… Fran. You’re pretty good, but we won’t lose! That’s right! We can’t afford to lose here!」

Flut roared as he charged right at us with speed unimaginable considering his stats.

He slammed the scythe down using only his right hand, probably the same jet-black scythe that Bune carried, but it had shrunken down to Flut’s size. Despite being much smaller, the force of the blow had been magnified.

It seems Flut in this possessed state was stronger than his summoned demon.

「UROOOOH!」

「Mrgh!」

『The power of his telekinesis got boosted too, but I can still handle it at this level! Leave it to me!』

（Nn!）

「Impossible…」

Flut was stunned. He must have thought his victory was assured after triggering Bune’s possession. Unfortunately for him, that’s far from true. Maybe he could have beaten us if we were still at the same level as when we first met.

But not the us after overcoming the hellish events of Gordicia! He had yet to land a single scratch on Fran.

I was considering chopping off his limbs to disable him, but something happened behind us to interrupt that thought.

「Kyan!」

Urushi got smacked by countless tentacles and sent flying through the air.

Satia had unified herself with Ronowe. It seems the two demons were originally in the “Summoned” state, while Flut’s current state was “Possessed”. Meanwhile, the first demon knight we saw and Satia were in a different state known as “Manifested”.

「Ahahaha! You dare defy me, foul beast! I shall have you stuffed and turned into a furnishing!」

「Grrr…」

We heard Ronowe’s voice speaking out of Satia’s mouth.