Eisenstein was renowned for its spear techniques.
Whether due to the erasure of records or self-censorship, even to descendants who had forgotten the truth that their ancestors were the worst of humanity, only those spear techniques were preserved and passed down through generations.
Of course, even those spear techniques have long since been discontinued. Because the descendants who had prospered as nobles of the Kingdom of Rhine were accused of treason and exterminated.
Brunhilde, the survivor of the Eisenstein family, was virtually the only successor… but isn’t she already gone from this world now? So it should be considered discontinued.
No, is the expression ‘gone from this world’ a bit too definitive?
After all, the soul of Brunhilde, the original owner of the body I’m possessing, is closer to missing than annihilated, if you think about it.
Has she completely disappeared like Friet in the original novel? Or is she just sleeping somewhere inside the body? I had no way of knowing.
Maybe my original body and soul have been switched.
Like the female protagonist of an old animation who tried to survive by stealing another man’s body at a disaster site of a falling meteor, using the ability to swap souls.
Honestly, I could only hope it wasn’t the third case.
Brunhilde, with the cultural common sense and ethics of this world, entering the body of a 21st century Korean young man. Isn’t the future obvious if that happened?
If that were the case, wouldn’t she be locked up in prison as a legendary violent criminal by now?
The moment someone utters a curse word, I could vividly imagine her throwing her gauntlet at their face and literally beating them to death.
It would be madness worthy of being preserved on the front page of every news outlet, but Brunhilde wouldn’t even realize such actions were crimes.
Why, you ask? Because it’s allowed here.
This is a world where killing someone who insulted a knight in a proper duel is not only legal but openly encouraged.
A world where you’re called a coward who doesn’t know honor if you don’t kill, perhaps?
So, assuming Brunhilde, who lived in such a world, possessed my body, it would be safe to say her chances of adapting to modern Korea without issues were zero.
…Well, these are all just hypothetical assumptions close to delusions, as long as we can’t know the truth about the possession.
Kwaooooo!
Anyway, such an Eisenstein spear came flying towards me and Friede. Fully laden with the intense killing intent characteristic of a vengeful spirit.
“Don’t block it, dodge!”
I shouted urgently while throwing myself sideways.
Eisenstein’s throwing spear technique, concentrating the cold of the Ice Heart and the power of Iron Arm at the spear tip and shooting it like a flash of lightning.
Though it was a throwing spear greatly weakened from when they were alive, now that they had become spirits who lost their physical bodies, it still wasn’t an attack that could be blocked head-on.
A throwing spear with abnormally enhanced strength and high-speed rotation added.
The spear blade, whirling like a snowstorm with the cold of the Ice Heart mixed in, plowed into the ground with a roar, shattering the paving stones into pieces.
Fragments of stone and ice scattering like shotgun pellets. The flying fragments struck the armor like rain, making a dull metallic sound.
“Friede?!”
“I dodged it!”
Friede, who had blocked the fragments with her greatsword held like a shield, turned to me and answered from beyond her left arm covering her face.
No injuries? That’s a relief.
I looked up at the Valkyria with a sigh of relief.
Perhaps due to the recoil of the throwing spear, its right arm was dislocated at the shoulder and its forearm was twisted into a mess.
Crack, crackle…!
Well, even so, the broken arm was twisting back in the opposite direction, rapidly recovering.
It was the effect of the magic imbued in the magical armor the creature was wearing, especially in the pauldrons.
The Eisenstein Valkyria’s exclusive standard equipment, the Armor of the Eternal Maiden.
Magical armor made from cloud iron, one of the representative rare metals like elven silver or amber steel.
According to the setting, it was armor with as many as eight magical formulas engraved from helmet to greaves.
Although it wasn’t the actual armor but a recreation of the armor worn in life with the spirit’s body, it seemed the magical effects themselves were still maintained.
If that’s the case―
“That cloak! Tear the cloak first! It can’t fly without it!”
First, we should destroy the cloak imbued with flying ability. It would be a real pain to deal with if it just keeps throwing spears while flying around.
“Yes!”
Friede nodded and raised Nibelung diagonally, shooting out a crescent-shaped amber light slash that cut through the air.
“Kuuuuh…!”
The Valkyria, who was reaching out to create a new spear in the air, growled like a beast as soon as it saw Nibelung’s sword energy and quickly dodged to the side.
The holy sword’s slash was the natural enemy of spirits. It must have been certain it couldn’t survive a direct hit.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The moment I saw that, I kicked off the debris of a nearby building and leaped towards it.
The blade of the longsword advancing in a black-gray arc. The Valkyria turned towards me and swung its ice spear to meet it.
Crackle!
Black iron and ice colliding. The chipped blade and the magically reinforced spear tip gnaw at each other, scattering fragments.
Since both sides were activating <Iron Arm>, their weapons were screaming, unable to withstand their owners’ strength.
“I said don’t block!”
My right foot thrust out while twisting my waist with weapons locked.
With a woong sound, the toe aimed at its side stops abruptly. Blocked by the magical barrier, the defensive magic formula engraved on its breastplate.
In fact, it would have been the same even without the magic barrier. How could a spirit feel pain from a kick?
The Valkyria spread the magic barrier purely out of lifetime instinct. It was an attack that would have caused no damage even if not blocked.
Of course, it didn’t matter to me whether it was blocked or not.
My purpose wasn’t to crush its side…
“I wasn’t expecting anything from that side in the first place!”
It was to create an opening to swing my sword by turning my body and kicking.
“This is the real one!”
The moment the sword blade and spear tip separated due to the recoil of the kick, the freed black iron blade burrowed between the spear blade and shaft like a snake, shooting towards the creature’s neck bone.
“Haaak!”
What’s with that hissing? The Valkyria hissed fiercely like a street cat with its tail stepped on, arching its back to avoid my sword tip.
“Not yet!”
I extended my body forward as if being dragged along without resisting the momentum of the missed longsword, mounting the Valkyria’s body as it leaned back as if falling backwards.
Then, like passionate lovers, I tightly embraced its limbs with my whole body.
“Gyaaak!?”
The Valkyria was bewildered, wondering what I was doing.
It tried to shake me off by flailing its limbs, but unfortunately, I had the advantage in weight and muscle strength.
Probably due to the presence or absence of a physical body.
A warrior’s strength dwells in the flesh. Having become a spirit without a body, wouldn’t its specs have dropped compared to its physical abilities in life?
Although it was moving its body with magic and traits, that didn’t mean it could fully exert the strength that had dwelled in its lost body.
If it could exert it fully in the first place, Friede and I would have died long ago. How could we possibly catch a Valkyria in its prime now? Not a chance.
Anyway,
“Now, Friede!”
No sooner had my words ended than an amber light arc burrowed in, aiming for the Valkyria’s back.
“Hyaaah!”
Perhaps worried about sweeping me up too, instead of shooting out sword energy, Friede leaped up and swung her greatsword directly.
“Haaaaaak!”
Sensing the intense killing intent burrowing into its back, the Valkyria hissed fiercely again, then suddenly thrust its head forward to headbutt my face with its helmet.
Baaang!
The collision of head against head. Our skulls, turned into metal heads beyond stone heads thanks to the helmets, tilted back with a thunderous sound.
“Ugh…!”
I flew back with a short groan.
My head was buzzing and dizzy. Unlike the spiritless Valkyria, the brain inside my head wasn’t strong enough to withstand such a violent impact.
Let’s not do headbutts from now on.
I made that resolution as I fell and crashed into the debris of a collapsed house. Dust rose like fog with a whoosh.
‘Ugh, my whole body…!’
Though it was a short fall and I hadn’t suffered major injuries, a fall is still a fall. I groaned faintly as I got up from the debris.
Is this when you use the expression ‘my whole body aches’? My limbs were throbbing and my back was stabbing with pain. My head was a bit dizzy too.
“Ugh…”
The helmet, split in half, was falling off with a crack.
Clutching my dizzy forehead, I raised my head to look up at the Valkyria who had repelled me with a headbutt like a mace.
Rustle!
The ice-bodied spirit that had been floating in the air was falling like I had just moments ago. Along with Friede landing, fluttering her cloak like feathers.
It seemed to have avoided getting its waist completely cut off by hurriedly dodging while repelling me, but its fluttering cloak was torn away and even one of its pauldrons was completely shattered.
“Dauði…!”
Death.
The Valkyria, falling limply, spat out a curse to kill Friede, then rotated half a turn in the air to land on the ground with its legs and knees.
Boom!
A dust cloud burst forth with a thunderous sound. It was a flashy landing worthy of a superhero movie.
It really landed with all sorts of posturing. I had just flown and crashed like a dog.
Is this what they call the difference in experience? Befitting a being that flew around, it seemed to have plenty of experience falling from the air. Judging by how perfectly angled its posture was.
Well, it wasn’t a particularly important matter.
“You finally came down. How does it feel to be on the ground? Feeling nostalgic and all that?”
What’s important is that it lost its flying ability.
In other words, it had been dragged down to a battlefield more convenient for me and Friede to fight on.
“Since you’ve come down, why not lie down completely? We’ll help you with that.”
The Valkyria glared at me through the gaps in its helmet, perhaps irritated by my sarcasm.
Its dented left shoulder and dust-covered armor looked ridiculous and pathetic.
“Systur, okkar…!”
‘Our sister.’ It muttered that.
It must have been certain that Brunhilde’s body was an Eisenstein Valkyria just like itself. It seems they used to call each other sisters. When they were alive.
“What nonsense.”
I’ve never had a sister like you. I don’t have a younger sister like you either.
I’m not even a woman… well, I wasn’t before.
So why should I care about your sister talk? You were the one who attacked first anyway.
I chuckled as I brushed off the dust on my cheek, then with my longsword resting on my shoulder, I kicked off the ground and hurled my body like a bullet towards it.
“Hyaaah!”
Friede, who had landed by thrusting her greatsword into the ground, also charged towards the Valkyria in sync with my movement.
“Kyaaaaak!”
The spirit of the Valkyria, creating ice spears in both hands as it rose, let out a hate-filled roar while glaring at us.
Two spears. Why did I suddenly feel like my chances of winning had skyrocketed about two thousand times?