The Great Sword of Ice

Zap.

Zzzap.

Electricity coursed through her body.

Right arm, torso, left arm.

It drew a line.

The mark left on her body by the [Sword Aura] unleashed by [Death Knight].

The [Execution Sword], the blue flames, and the defense from the repulsive field of her Electrical Ability, along with the protection created by the Freeze effect from its overload.

All of it was pierced.

But not completely.

The rough and violent [Sword Aura] was chipped away as it froze, pierced, froze, and pierced again.

Only the sharpest part of the [Sword Aura] remained, cleaving her.

Right arm, torso, left arm.

The path the [Sword Aura] took.

‘I thought I was going to die.’

Cold sweat turned to steam.

Her legs trembled from the aftereffects of having her spinal nerves severed once before.

She quickly realigned them.

She healed them with [Heal].

19 seconds.

18 seconds.

17 seconds.

She stood up.

There was no room for leisure.

She was caught up by [Death Knight].

[Death Knight] immediately wrapped his sword in black [Sword Aura] and slammed it into the ground.

A Slash flew towards her.

She created the [Execution Sword],

And parried the Slash.

The [Execution Sword] shattered.

The Slash dissipated as well.

It couldn’t compare to [Sword Aura]. But it was comparable to the [Sword Aura] that [High Knight Evga] had shown.

It seemed that to unleash the same power as the [Sword Aura] he had shown just now, he had to stand still and gather his energy.

Then she couldn’t afford to collapse here.

She couldn’t let him launch the same attack again.

She made a quick decision.

It took her 4 seconds just to get up.

As if she didn’t have time to spare to prepare her stance, she dashed out.

Leaving flames in her wake.

The [Black Sword] collided with [Death Knight]’s sword.

Sword against sword.

‘Come to think of it, it’s not breaking?’

[Death Knight]’s sword.

It wasn’t breaking.

The [Black Sword] wasn’t breaking either.

Then the [Black Sword] and [Death Knight]’s sword were on the same level.

‘Does that mean I wouldn’t even be able to fight without the Black Sword?’

Isn’t it cheating for someone who’s already strong to get item buffs?

Whatever.

[Death Knight] was on the offensive.

She was pushed into the defensive.

She steadied her mind, which had been dazed by the [Sword Aura], and regained her momentum with [Berserker].

But,

‘Ah, I messed up.’

She was knocked back.

Before the battle could end, a sonic boom struck them.

Even the blue flames exploded for some reason.

Americano was thrown back.

Her body became a large shape and flew like a shuriken.

Having experienced [Sword Aura], she didn’t have the luxury of being thrown back leisurely. With the single-minded determination to not let him use [Sword Aura], she focused all her mind.

She righted her body as she was being thrown back.

She spewed flames.

She kicked off the ground.

Offensive and defensive battle.

Explosion.

Flying away.

Charging in.

Offensive and defensive battle.

Explosion.

Repeat.

The trees, rocks, grass, and soil that made up the forest were dug up, turning it into a desolate land.

‘Ugh…!’

Americano was thrown back.

She saw it.

[Death Knight] was preparing [Sword Aura].

‘Like I’ll let you.’

[Leap]

[Execution Sword]

Stopping mid-flight,

Closing the distance in an instant,

She brought down the giant sword of Magical Power.

No, it was a giant sword of ice.

With each exchange of attacks, the work of transferring Electrical Ability to the sword became easier.

She was getting used to it.

The more accustomed she became, the more Electrical Ability she poured in.

The increasingly powerful electricity.

The Magical Power of the [Execution Sword] surrounded by that electricity froze. Perhaps because it took a physical form of ice.

[Death Knight] canceled the [Sword Aura] midway and countered with [Sword Aura].

The [Execution Sword] shattered,

And they entered an offensive and defensive battle.

As it had always been until now,

───It didn’t break.

Hoo.

A breakthrough?

Now you’re dead…

‘…Ghk?!’

Before she could even swing the ice [Execution Sword], [Death Knight]’s sword pierced her chest.

Penetrating her heart and going through to her back.

The sword went straight through to her shoulder.

The ice [Execution Sword] was slow.

It had the strength to not break even after colliding with [Death Knight]’s [Sword Aura],

‘…Heavy.’

Her body was splitting apart.

───So?

Zzzap.

Sparks flew from the split.

She generated attraction.

The severed surfaces stuck together.

The sharp blow, as fast as the speed at which the sword was thrust, left a clean cut on her body.

Making it easy to stick together.

She healed it instantly with [Heal].

She swung the ice [Execution Sword] again. She slashed horizontally with the [Execution Sword], which remained unbroken in its ice form.

But it was too late.

[Death Knight] pulled his body back, moving out of the range of the [Execution Sword].

The image that came to Americano’s mind was a Skill that could close this distance in an instant.

There was one.

Form 2?

No,

[Form 4]

Long-range Slash.

With the [Execution Sword] that had been slashed horizontally and moved to the left still intact, she raised it high and slashed down.

Energy gathering?

She sensed it.

She could fire this.

Without gathering energy.

She gathered energy.

She gathered Anti-Magic Power.

But the [Execution Sword] was already a mass of Anti-Magic Power.

It was frozen, but that fact remained unchanged.

With a crack, the ice that made up the [Execution Sword] shattered, and she launched the Anti-Magic Power contained within in the form of a Slash.

[Death Knight], who still had his feet in the air, deflected the [Form 4] Slash with his sword.

[Death Knight]’s sword, shattered.

With a crash.

She saw it break.

Now was her chance.

Americano’s eyes flashed.

She kicked off the ground.

───Her knees buckled.

Her legs wouldn’t listen to her.

She clutched her chest.

She couldn’t breathe.

It hurt.

She could ignore the pain.

But pain was the body’s warning signal that something was wrong. To use a machine as an analogy, her body was currently short-circuiting.

‘Damn it.’

She didn’t even have the will to shout.

The shock and frustration of missing a golden opportunity swirled within her.

She was missing an opportunity for such a trivial reason? Even though she had reattached her body with electricity, the damage from the blow that pierced her heart was still significant.

But she could recover.

She was wary that [Death Knight] might attack, but,

He stood still.

“….”

“….”

[Death Knight] looked at his sword.

He ran his hand over the deep scratch on his armor.

A scratch engraved vertically.

Unfortunately, it had glanced off his helmet.

At that time when he didn’t rush in immediately.

The magic that Cappuccino had sent.

There were 20 seconds left.

20 seconds passed.

[Heater] magic.

The magic that generated heat made her even hotter. It generated stronger and greater amounts of Magical Power.

Chill that could instantly cool her body.

Heat that could instantly evaporate her body.

She exploded with Magical Power and firepower.

But,

There was a fact she had missed.

It was simple when she thought about it.

‘Why didn’t I notice this?’

Magic also used Magical Power.

Chill also froze Magical Power.

Until now, the heat had covered it, so it was able to pass without freezing, but,

The Magical Power had broken through the critical point.

The Chill contained in the Magical Power.

Even froze the flames.

Frost began to form on her body, which was located at the core of the flames.

‘Is this the end?’

Americano ran her hand over the frost that had formed on her skin from the frozen Magical Power, melting and freezing repeatedly.

This was it.

Unfortunately.

But she maintained the [Heater] magic.

Her body was getting colder and colder from losing the [Magic Sword].

She replaced it with [Heater] magic.

Once the [Heater] magic was applied, she could control the firepower as she pleased.

It replaced the blue flames.

It gradually subsided.

Heat haze remained where the flames had been, and Chill had settled where it hadn’t been visible due to the flames.

The clothes that had been hidden by the flames.

A horizontal line was drawn near her abdomen. The clothes were torn from near her heart to her shoulder. The ends of the clothes were torn and tattered by the wind and flames.

She had endured well.

“….”

“….”

She shed the flames,

And faced [Death Knight].

He didn’t seem like he was going to attack immediately.

Was he so surprised that he was injured?

How arrogant.

‘Is there still a chance?’

The chance she thought she had missed.

The dazed [Death Knight] was an opportunity in itself.

[Death Knight] had lost his sword.

She wasn’t sure if she could win.

Still,

She raised her sword.

‘I’ll know if I Slash him.’

Before dashing out.

She peeked at [Divulging Secrets of Heaven].

[The King of Death cheers for the Death Knight’s disadvantage.]

“….”

…?

‘Why are you cheering?’

She deduced the reason for the cheering step by step.

The undead do not die.

They become stronger when killed.

[Death Knight] was also undead.

He becomes stronger when killed.

= Therefore, he cheers.

‘Wow.’

What are you admiring?

You have to stop it.

She scolded herself.

It was a shame, but,

[Death Knight] would die here.

She surrounded the [Black Sword] with [Bless].

She severed [Death Knight]’s neck.

[Death Knight] didn’t resist at all until the blade touched his neck.

‘It’s not like it’s a weapon destruction match.’

He lost his will to fight just because his sword was a little broken.

Or did he know about the King of Death’s cheering?

Maybe he knew that his lord wanted [Death Knight]’s death.

In any case,

‘It might be a little disappointing.’

“You have to insist on victory whether your sword breaks or not.”

So she severed his neck with [Bless], but it probably wouldn’t completely purify someone like [Death Knight] with just that.

She picked up the fallen helmet.

It was [Death Knight]’s.

There was nothing inside the helmet.

The inside of the armor was also empty.

She tapped it with her fist.

It was hard.

What was it made of?

“Won’t I get cursed if I wear it?”

Still, it was a valuable Loot.

She put it in her Inventory.

After putting it in, she returned to the village.

As she returned to the village.

The dazzling morning sunlight stung her eyes.

She returned to the village.

Where was Cappuccino?

She knew the location.

The location could be estimated with the [Ring of Contract]. Cappuccino also knew Americano’s location, so she thought she would come right away.

But,

‘Why is she in the castle?’

She looked at the lord’s castle.

Cappuccino was there.