episode_0072

A face contorted fiercely like a beast. A sinister aura that glows like flames.

“Why aim for here of all places? That lunatic child…!”

Bellita, staggering slightly, leapt towards Friede, driving herself into the ground.

“Pierce through like a skewer and die!”

A ferocious shout. In her bloodshot eyes, a mix of rage and disgust was vividly apparent.

“Friede!”

Urgently, I swung my body, wielding my longsword, deflecting Bellita’s magnificent charge towards Friede.

Clang!

A spectacle of sparks soaring up.

With a cold tongue, Bellita, leveraging the momentum from her deflected charge, rotated her body, aiming the tip of her spear at my throat.

Crack!

I raised my left arm to block. The clash with the steel shaft sent a sharp pain through my forearm.

Damn, that hurts!

“You’re the one who’s going to be… pierced through!”

I pressed down on the throbbing pain in my aching arm with a shout filled with anger, thrusting my longsword like a spear towards his neck.

“Haah!”

A thrust imbued with the power of .

If he relies on his breastplate to withstand it, this strike will pierce right through his upper body—

“…Hmph, as if.”

Passing by the half-collapsed Bellita, I pierced through nothing but empty space above his body.

“Where’s someone who’ll take it for you!”

Stabbing the ground with the tip of his spear, stopping his falling body, Bellita then spun widely like a pole dancer, whipping his thigh at me like a lash.

I couldn’t avoid it, as my body had stiffened momentarily due to the recoil of .

Thud!

The full weight of Bellita’s body was like a club striking alongside my thigh.

“Argh!”

It felt like flesh and muscle were bursting out. However, the coldness flowing through my heart and the anger engulfing my mind suppressed the pain.

“This is…!”

My body, trying to bend forward as my leg gave way.

Pushing off the ground with my intact right foot, I leapt, crashing into Bellita, who was pulling out his spear after stopping his spin.

Kwaaah!

“Guh!”

A shoulder tackle enhanced by several kilograms of steel. Bellita, raising his left arm to shield himself, was flung away like a child hit by a cart, rolling on the ground.

In the meantime, I stabbed the longsword I held in reverse into the ground to support my falling body and gasped for breath as if exhaling the intense breath I had been holding.

“Hah, hah…! Are you okay, Freide?!”

It felt like several minutes had passed, but in reality, it was just a short skirmish of mere seconds.

At the end of it, I finally found the opportunity to ask about Freide’s well-being, despite the throbbing pain in my left arm and thigh that I had endured.

“Yes! I’m fine, really fine! Just… except for the sword…”

Freide nodded, showing the greatsword, now shortened to about a third of its original length.

“Good, that’s a relief.”

Thankfully, there were no serious injuries. That was fortunate.

“If it’s a sword… go over there and ask for one. There should be at least one or two near the baggage cart.”

I gestured towards the group engaged in combat near the baggage cart.

There should be a couple of large swords taken from the bandits’ corpses inside that baggage cart.

They might not be as good as the one I originally used, but… it would still be much better than fighting without a sword.

“And then, help those people with that.”

“What… help them? Besides Miss Hilde?”

“Yeah, otherwise they’ll all die.”

A quick glance revealed a dire situation, difficult to describe as anything other than precarious.

They were holding on desperately, but even at a glance, it was clear that nearly a dozen had already perished. It was a scene akin to a crumbling dam.

“But if we do that, Miss Hilde might… No, um, I mean…! Of course, Miss Hilde wouldn’t lose to someone like her!”

Freide, who seemed about to argue, suddenly faltered, surprised by her own words.

“But still… are you really, really okay? Is it really okay…?”

Is it okay?

Well, I don’t know… but now isn’t the time to worry about that. If they get wiped out over there, we’ll be next anyway.

“I’ll manage somehow. It’s okay. I’ve got a rough idea of what to do.”

So, I straightened my back confidently, as if to reassure her.

“…Okay, I’ll trust you!”

Freide hesitated for a moment, looking uncertain, but then she sighed and nodded before quickly getting up and dashing toward the baggage cart.

Alright, over there should be safe… at least, I won’t have to worry anymore. Whether I win or lose, it’s already out of my hands.

Even if Freida joins and we still can’t hold our ground, well… that just means from the start, we never stood a chance.

So now, the only problem I need to worry about is one thing.

“…Unbelievable.”

Walking towards me, flicking off the dirt on her head and shoulders, was just one woman, holding a damn fast spear.

◆◆

“You two can’t handle it together, so you’re sending that little girl over there? Do you have nine lives, pussy?”

Bellita spat on the ground, twirling her spear around.

“Are you alone? That must be tough for you.”

Slightly bending her knees and lowering her stance menacingly, she launched her spear at me like a lightning bolt.

“Kyaah!”

The moment I recognized it, the spearhead was already in front of me. My improvised response was to roll to the side, putting about three steps’ distance between us.

Whoooom!

A chilling sound pierced my ears. Bellita came to a stop, exactly as I had calculated, precisely three steps away from me.

‘As expected.’

Normally, avoiding like this wouldn’t work. Rolling on the ground exposes a big vulnerability to the enemy until you get back up. If I had rolled further away, it would have been fine, but with just three steps, I would have been fatally stabbed before getting up.

From Bellita’s perspective, a three-step gap was enough for the spear to reach me with just one step forward.

“Tsk…!”

However, Bellita did not take that one step forward, the perfect opportunity to deal me a fatal blow.

Just as I expected.

“Eat this!”

I clenched the ground beneath my feet, leapt up, and threw a handful of dirt at Bellita’s face.

“Dirt?!”

A crude and pathetic technique that street thugs might use. With her skills, she could easily dodge such a handful of dirt by simply sidestepping.

“How disgraceful…!”

However, Bellita raised her left arm to shield her face and, with just one step, chose not to avoid the dirt, letting it hit her squarely.

No, I couldn’t avoid it.

I smiled as my guess was right and swung the longsword I held like lightning.

“Just as I expected!”

Didn’t I tell Freida earlier? I had a rough idea.

That wasn’t a lie.

Through the brief skirmish so far, I could understand the principles and limitations of Velita’s high-speed charge.

“It only increases movement speed. Attack speed and reaction speed remain unchanged.”

It seems her resistance is still the same, judging by the kick she withstood.

“That means it only amplifies the momentary movement speed… something like that.”

Just like my “Strong Arm” that greatly increases strength, Velita’s body possesses an engraved characteristic that enhances movement speed.

Traits like , , , or .

“And the cost is…”

“You can’t move, can you? Not right now!”

Temporary immobilization.

Just as my engraved trait, Strong Arm, rapidly depletes stamina in proportion to power output, Velita probably can’t move for several seconds after her charge.

That’s why I had to block Freida’s greatsword head-on and why she couldn’t stab me up close or dodge the dirt clods.

Every time she missed her charge, she made small talk to cover up that weakness.

After charging, she can’t lift her feet off the ground, so she has to face whatever comes at her head-on!

“They’ve figured it out!”

“Don’t panic!”

With my left hand blocking the dirt clods and covering my head, Velita fiercely swung her spear with one hand, deflecting my black iron longsword diagonally.

However, how could she block a two-handed longsword with just one arm?

Clang!

A vivid crimson blaze burst forth. Along with sparking and scattering iron fragments, my sword cut through Velita’s grandeur, piercing her right shoulder like a thorn.

Swoosh!

The black iron blade pierced through her clothes and flesh, scraping against her shoulder bone, tearing through muscle like a torn piece of fabric.

The gushing blood dyed Velita’s cloak a deep crimson.

“Urgh…!”

Belita’s lips twisted in pain.

The first allowed scrutiny. At that blow, her shoulder was cut so deeply that the bones were exposed, revealing the cross-section of the muscles.

It was quite a serious injury for just one hit.

“Does it hurt a lot? Your expression says it all!”

“How dare you!”

Enraged, Belita contorted her face and reached out her left arm towards my head.

Hwaaaah!

A surge pushing like a wave. Within the gauntlet with sharp claws, there was an intense scent of blood.

Instincts sounded the alarm.

It was dangerous to be caught by that arm. Probably, if caught, my head would be pulled out like Amina’s. I had such a premonition.

…In that case.

“If I don’t get caught, that’s it!”

Activating , I struck with my left hand. The clash between the open palm and the fist rang out the roar of steel.

– Kikigigik…!

The characteristic squeak of metal. The distorted gauntlet pressed its fingers tightly due to the impact.

“What, the strength…!”

It was a surprising strength. It wasn’t at full power, but even so, I had activated and struck with my fist, yet it stopped with just one palm.

…If it had hit my head, I would have been dead. I did well to trust my intuition and block it.

“Hah… You blocked this?”

I wasn’t the only one surprised. No, rather than me, Belita seemed several times more surprised than I was.

“That too with one arm? No way, really?”

Facing a human with equal strength, her expression showed it was the first time in her life. It was a face mixed with doubt and confusion, pride and anger, like mud.

“What are you. Are you some kind of troll hybrid?”

Troll hybrid, where did that kind of sarcasm come from?

“It seems your father was a troll. Just seeing you come up with such an idea.”

Sarcasm should be repaid with sarcasm.

“…What?”

“A person with strength like yours can only be a troll hybrid, right? So, that’s how you confess the secret of your birth, isn’t it?”

I kicked Belita’s abdomen with my right foot, spreading the distance, and threw a sarcastic remark asking if her birthplace might be a troll cave on her mother’s side.

“…Oh, perhaps it wasn’t your father but your mother who was a troll? Hmm… that’s… what shall I say, quite an extraordinary taste.”

Exhaling an exaggerated sigh as if to mock, she concealed her sense of relief immediately after Kang Wan’s departure.

“Well, scratching till the end…!”

“What can I do? Can I even swing a sword properly with that arm?”

I taunted Bellita, extending my middle finger forward, unable to contain my anger.

With the shoulder muscles completely severed, her right arm would be practically useless now.

Just a slight movement would cause excruciating pain, let alone wielding that iron bar with such an arm. It’s an absurd idea.

It’s not just a little cut; enduring the pain and moving on should be enough, right?

She’s making sounds of blocking a blade barehanded and retaliating.

Being stabbed is not such a trivial injury.

Even a minor skin wound tends to rapidly deteriorate due to pain and bleeding, but isn’t this a situation where the muscles have been completely sliced off?

Forcing a body with severed muscles to move or enduring massive bleeding through sheer willpower to keep fighting is something only superhumans can achieve, far beyond ordinary humans.

Adventurers or knights may boast physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people, but when their muscles are deeply cut by a blade, they immediately become temporarily disabled.

So now, the only thing to watch out for is her left arm.

“Alright, I can win…!”

Her acceleration ability has been identified as a weakness.

Her right arm, which is barely functional.

Bellita’s power has weakened to the point where allowing just one sword strike has greatly diminished her strength, and now I alone could have the upper hand.

That’s why you should have worn your armor properly.

You were only wearing the pauldron on the left, so when your right shoulder took a hit, your arm was just rendered useless, right?

Serves you right. Serves you right.