Chapter 97

Observation is the ninety-seventh chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Plot Details
Despite their injuries, Fern and Stark continue standing and attacking. Solitär effortlessly counters their advances while commenting how she has always enjoyed talking with humans and hearing the stories about their lives, habits, environments, and especially so, their relationships among their families, as Demon society entertains no such concepts. Additionally, Solitär mentions that humans' future dreams and their final words upon death are intriguing to her as well and that exploring human culture, customs, and techniques through conversation all tie into her research, a source of fascination for her. Stark attacks her immediately afterwards and tells her that she is talking too much, and she retaliates by pummeling him with the swords under her control and makes the decision to continue her attacks until he can no longer move.

As Solitär and Stark face off against each other, Fern blasts Soul Track and manages to damage Solitär's arm before she is able to fully defend herself. Surprised, Solitär deduces that the mage was able to make it past her perfectly timed defense through sheer speed in a manner different from the normal Soul Track. She questions Fern what the magic she casted was, but Fern ignores her and sends multiple blasts that all hone on to Solitär and create large explosions. When the smoke clears, Fern notices that Solitär is practically unharmed despite all her casts being direct hits. She realizes that her magic is too pressured by Solitär's massive mana output, the result of the biological wall between human and demon lifespans.

Solitär tells Fern that she has never experienced magic like hers—which she figures is a rapid-fire variant of Soul Track—at such speed and thanks her for the opportunity to witness it. In return, she shows off her own special magic, and Stark and Fern immediately receive multiple slashes across their bodies. Solitär reveals that this magic is called Mana Strike, a simple and pure form of magic, and tries to mitigate their aggression by stating that she simply wants to take her time talking with them rather than killing them immediately. She is met with a blast to the shoulder by Fern, and the mage notes that by increasing the density of her magical power, her attacks can reach the demon. Solitär realizes that had the attack not been slightly off course, Fern would have made a critical hit. Impressed at Fern's observation capabilities, accuracy, and ability to maintain her attack speed despite increasing her magical power density and injuries, Solitär voices her fascination for the two humans.

Suddenly, the trio is approached by Macht's Di Agölze, and Stark and Fern are transmuted into gold. Unaffected, Solitär voices her disappointment about the end of her battle.

At the same time, Denken continues facing off against Macht, and the demon mentions that Denken's curse reversal through Mystil'zla will only work so long as Denken can predict when Di Agölze will be used, and it will become ineffective once he begins to repeatedly cast the curse. Macht questions Denken about how long he will be able to fight for, as he himself can continue fighting for three days and nights even with Mystil'zla active. Realizing Macht's capabilities, Denken immediately begins to fly away, but Macht mentions that his efforts will be in vain as his gold spreads faster than Denken can escape. Denken internally comments that he must at least save Frieren from being transmuted into gold, especially since he was the reason she and her party members were involved, and he can just barely make it if he flies at maximum speed in the twelve seconds it will take to reach her.

Solitär suddenly intercepts Denken and attacks him, requesting him to at least provide some last words. Denken, in a final effort to avoid her attack, disables his Mystil'zla, turning him into gold right before Solitär's blades make contact. After witnessing his actions, Solitär remarks that Denken, too, is a great mage. As Denken's face transmutes to gold, he apologizes to Frieren and her party.

With the entire area gold, Solitär meets back up with Macht and expresses that she found the situation boring. Macht in turn tells her that boredom is a natural, everyday occurrence for them. As Solitär looks back at the newly-turned gold forest, she describes to Macht a fascinating occurrence she recently witnessed: at the site of Aura's defeat by Frieren, Solitär discovered mana residual that showed Frieren had successfully dispelled Auserlese and further comments that Frieren has been observing Aura's magic for the eighty years Aura had been facing off against the Hero Party. Macht raises his doubts over Solitär suspicions that Frieren was able to decipher the magic of one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, but she refutes his point and tells him that although it is true that the principles of the Sages' magic cannot be figured out given the nature of the magic and the biological makeup of demons, this does not mean their magic can't be dispelled. She provides examples of when humans have been able to deal with situations despite not fully understanding their principles, such as the use and creation of boats and sails without concrete knowledge on buoyancy, wind, and waves; that is, humans are able to figure out solutions for the unknown while the unknown still stays unknown simply through their observation abilities. Realizing what Solitär was getting at, Macht mentions that his memories were being analyzed by Frieren and wonders how often he has used Di Agölze. Solitär tells him that their battles are not yet over, and their enemy is Frieren the Slayer.

Frieren recalls an event with the former Hero Party, where the group was trapped in a barrier created by the Immortal Böse, one of the Seven Sages of Destruction. Upon being enclosed, Frieren tells Himmel that their attempts to escape would be futile, and they can no longer continue. Undaunted, Himmel reminds Frieren that they cannot realize magic if they don't visualize it and asks her what she intends to do if the party gives up. Frieren specifies that giving up versus being unable to realize magic are completely different. She expresses this by asking Himmel first if he could crush a walnut with his bare hand, and when he answers that he could, she proceeds to ask if he could do the same with a diamond. She points out he had internally thought he couldn't, and he was unable to visualize himself doing so either as it is a task too difficult for a human. Eisen jumps in and states that he would be able to crush a diamond, but Frieren notes that although she knows he is capable of doing so, she herself is not, and that is the true difference between her and Böse. Thus, she would be incapable of dispelling the barrier.

After listening, Himmel stands up and readies his blade, telling Frieren that he will make her visualize since nothing is impossible. He strikes the barrier with his sword and slightly chips it, and he indicates to Frieren that the barrier is not truly indestructible. Eisen also prepares himself to attack the barrier, and Frieren, finally convinced, prepares her magic. She mentions that she is unsure about how long it will take her, but Heiter reassures her with a spell that could keep them alive for two months. Frieren remarks that there are only monsters in her party.

Back in the present, Frieren wakes up and dispells the transmutation magic around her. She comments that her analysis of Macht's memories are complete, and from now on, Di Agölze is no longer a curse.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Fern
 * Solitär
 * Stark
 * Macht
 * Denken
 * Frieren
 * Aura
 * Himmel
 * Heiter
 * Eisen