Chapter 830

「Sophie, can you play the song one more time?」

「Did you… have another plan?」

Sophie appeared to have trouble responding when Fran approached her. Her song must have zero effect on healing herself.

I could clearly see a hint of fatigue on her face. But in order to save Nadia, Sophie’s power was indispensable.

「Nn. Nadia turned back into an antidemon because of her sword. So I’m gonna destroy the sword.」

「Even I can tell that is no ordinary sword. Can you really do it?」

「Yes!」

「……Okay, but I don’t have much strength left. I think I can only play one more time.」

「That’s plenty.」

Fran also called out to Orfalve.

「I need your help one more time.」

「I heard what you said…… but can you really destroy that magic sword?」

「Nn! I’ll do it, so――」

「Say no more. Either way, we were just getting warmed up. Right men?!」

「「「Yeah!」」」

The dwarves roared in response. Meanwhile, the reverted Nadia turned her gaze upon us.

Her eyes, which had regained the light of rationality just a minute ago, now showed nothing but the violence of a monster.

「Graaaaaah!」

「Forward, my warriors!」

「Us demonkin will eliminate the antidemons around us!」

The battle began anew.

Orfalve clashed with Nadia after taking a new halberd out, and the dwarves were covering her. Nothing else could interrupt their fray.

That’s because the demonkin were here too. The undead formed a wall to prevent the antidemons from getting closer, with spells holding back the swarm.

「Ahahaha! And now for the finishing touch! Tort, lift the seal!」

「Good grief. Fine, I suppose.」

Jayne, who was in high spirits, removed the silver skull pendant hanging from her neck and threw it forward with a flick.

Immediately after that, the pendant began to shine in a blueish-black light.

When the cold light subsided, the pendant was gone. A young demonkin man stood there in its place, carrying a jet-black spear and clad in silver armor.

He was no ordinary man, or rather, undead. I could tell from the powerful necromancy-attributed mana radiating outwards.

「It has been a long time since I had a body.」

He tested his movements by wriggling his fingers, but we recognized his voice.

「Tort?」

「Correct. I am currently using a temporary body created by underworld magic, though it is based off my body when I was young. Quite handsome, is it not?」

I have to agree, he had a handsome face very similar to Jean’s. You can practically see the blood connection there.

「Tort, you can’t maintain that form for long, so finish it up fast. Leave the other antidemons to me.」

「Very well. I shall be covering for the Dwarf Queen then. I suppose this was not a bad time to play your trump card.」

「Resummoning a heroic spirit is quite the pain in the ass, so I’d prefer if you can survive this. That way, I can just call you back in a couple days.」

「I shall try my best. Kukuku, it’s been so long since I’ve had such an exciting battle in the flesh! Time to rampage to my heart’s content. Tort Dovey, heading out!」

With this shout, Tort dashed towards Nadia dishing out a super-speed thrust. The spear penetrated through Nadia’s defenses and pierced her chest.

The sheer force of the blow sent Nadia’s huge body flying backward. Tort must have tremendous physical strength.

And despite his power, he was able to move almost as fast as us. Judging by his skill with the spear, I’d say he has at minimum level 6 in Holy Spear Mastery. And on top of it all, he was practically immortal due to being an undead……

There’s no way he’s anything less than Threat Level B. Tort was not just a talking pendant, but the Demon Lord’s trump card.

「Fuhahaha! Are you Jayne-dono’s heroic spirit summon?」

「Indeed, call me Tort! I shall cover for you!」

「Very well!」

After forming a makeshift tag team, Orfalve and Tort took Nadia head on. Considering how Orfalve handled Nadia by herself earlier, it was obvious that our side would gain the advantage now.

Tort assisted her by interrupting whatever Nadia attempted to do.

I was a bit concerned since Orfalve’s new halberd was nowhere near as well-made, but it didn’t seem to become a problem yet.

With the three of them dancing through the air in front of us, Fran and I weren’t just sitting around doing nothing.

『Fran, you ready?』

（Nn…… I’m fine. You?）

『I got this.』

While Sophie’s music did heal us, we were far from peak condition. As we are now, we would only get one shot at this.

We stood completely still, focusing all our strength for a decisive blow.

Only then would we be able to destroy that failed divine sword.

「Phew………」

Fran exhaled quietly, holding me at her waist at the iai stance. She leaned forward slightly, ready to jump in at any moment.

On the surface, she was as silent as the calm seas. But on the inside, her energy levels were rising rapidly.

The same went for me. Without uttering a word, I activated all my skills to build up my power.

First is Divine Energy Manipulation to clothe myself with the divine attribute. Then, in order to reproduce the effect from the last battle, I also activated my Evil Domination to squeeze out all the evil energy inside myself.

After using it manually, I realized this evil energy must have leaked from the fragment of the Evil God sealed inside me.

I felt a tremendous power as the divine and evil energy mixed together.

But it wasn’t enough.

If I wanted to take down Overgrowth for good, I needed more power.

（Master?）

『……Don’t worry. Let’s go.』

（Nn!）

If all I’ve got isn’t enough, then I’ll just squeeze out some more.

Meanwhile, Orfalve knocked Nadia off balance, and Fran did not miss that opening. With an explosion of force from her legs, we dived into the middle of the storm.

「Haaah! Brilliant Lightning Rush!」

Fran shouted, and at the same time, I shouted too.

『Potential Release!』