“Huuuu….”
Exhaling an icy sigh, I let the broken longsword droop and look down at the ice fragments collapsed beneath my feet.
The corpse of the Valkyria with both arms crushed and neck pierced.
The blade of the sword, broken in the middle, had burrowed vertically into its throat, tearing through the heart area hidden by the breastplate.
…I won.
The one-on-one struggle with the Valkyria that had seemed likely to end in defeat. Surprisingly, I was the one who grasped victory.
It was an inevitable result.
The Valkyria was only overwhelming me in skill… that is, in martial arts. Its pure physical abilities were clearly below mine.
And that skill advantage became completely meaningless the moment I understood, acquired, and reproduced its martial arts.
Honestly, even I hadn’t imagined I could pull off such a feat.
Analyzing and perfectly copying the enemy’s movements while fighting them. I thought that was only possible for geniuses in novels.
But when I tried, it turned out to be possible.
I see. So I was a genius? I knew I was a genius after all.
An unprecedented sword genius born once in a thousand years. That’s me, Ryu Hamin… no, Hilde. From now on, should I call myself Copy Swordswoman Hilde?
Of course, this is just a joke, and in reality, it was thanks to the Eisenstein spear techniques Brunhilde had learned and the effect of the ‘Ice Heart’ that finally activated properly.
An awakening brought about by the extreme situation where I was teetering on the edge of physical limits, with a fighting spirit so intense I forgot all my accumulated experience and everything else.
Is this what they call a blessing in disguise? The <Ice Heart> that finally awoke led me to a whole new level.
The Ice Heart, the core trait that could be called the alpha and omega of the Eisenstein human weapons, the Valkyrias.
The awakened ‘Ice Heart’ completely blocks pain sensation to draw out strength beyond the body’s limits, freezes wounds to stop bleeding, and even freezes emotions to specialize the mind for combat.
In short, it means becoming a killing machine that forgets all pain and emotion, focusing on combat without caring even if one’s own body is destroyed.
Moreover, as the proficiency of the trait increases, it even releases the cold dwelling in the heart outward, adding cold damage to all attacks.
The Ice Heart was a top-tier trait comparable to <Holy Stigma>, the trait all clerics dream of.
Was there only one trait higher than this, the <Baptism of the Dragon Slayer>?
That was probably the first hidden piece that the possessed person in the original novel found and consumed raw as soon as they were possessed.
The fact that it alone provided the foundation to rapidly grow from an ‘incompetent hero’ to a powerhouse on par with other heroes meant it was certainly a trait that surpassed the ‘Ice Heart’, one could be proud of.
To use a game analogy, it had the power to instantly change hard mode to easy mode. That’s what it was.
* * *
Anyway, thanks to the extreme concentration created by the awakened ‘Ice Heart’, I was able to absorb and embody the Valkyria’s spear techniques as if literally copying them.
At that moment, the outcome was as good as decided.
Skills that were instantly caught up to and became almost equal. On the other hand, the still glaringly obvious difference in capability due to the presence or absence of a physical body.
The only way for the Valkyria at that point to win was to prolong the fight into a war of attrition and induce my stamina consumption… but how could a spirit have such patience?
The Valkyria, which lost its right arm in an instant due to the difference in strength, then lost its left arm as well, resisted to the end but was pierced through the neck and heart and perished.
It did break my sword with its final struggle… but well, I could just pick up one of the many swords lying around here and use it.
The weapons left behind along with the remains by the human army that had attacked the Banaditsa fortress.
Honestly speaking, since they were weapons that had aged without maintenance, they weren’t in very good condition, but there was nothing better for weapons to use and discard casually.
Given that they had lasted for hundreds of years without rusting, they must have been among the famous swords of that time.
Sssss….
The spirit of the Valkyria slowly melting at my feet finally became a stream of smoke and completely disappeared.
…But this damn thing doesn’t have any drop items.
Only broken remains and shattered metal fragments were left where the spirit had disappeared.
The broken rune plate. Originally a core component that supplied magic power to the Valkyria’s armor, but now just useless trash after being shattered like that.
Even if it’s given, what kind of trash is this?
I did gain experience several times more valuable than a piece of equipment, but seeing that no equipment came out at all still made my heart ache a bit.
“Hah….”
I let out a short sigh and turned my head away from the now useless remains. Ignoring the broken sword blade that had smashed through the center of the rune plate.
Well, this isn’t the only Valkyria spirit. There’s the second spirit that was fighting with Friede right now. That one should give something.
Gauntlets, greaves, helmet, breastplate. Anything would do. My armor was all shattered except for the breastplate that was torn while fighting the Valkyria.
As I turned my head to look towards Friede, what entered my vision was…
“Crumble to dust!”
The sight of Friede thrusting Nibelung into the Valkyria’s abdomen and unleashing a light slash to burst its very body.
“Kiyaohaaaaak!”
The Valkyria exploding and scattering, feeling excruciating pain as if its whole body was burning from the power of the holy sword. The utterly miserable scream was quite impressive.
…Goddess, give me a holy sword too.
Although it’s softer than the original due to being insubstantial armor, still, the penetrating power that pierces through armor I could only scratch at best, like a bamboo spear.
The destructive power that bursts the enemy apart as soon as it penetrates.
And the overwhelming durability unique to holy swords, not even chipping while my sword broke.
Honestly, it was hard to contain my envy.
Why am I the only one without a holy sword? The enemies targeting me have holy swords, and the hero trying to protect me has a holy sword too.
Come to think of it, isn’t this real discrimination against people?
Honestly, aren’t I much more heroic in personality than Gunther or Heid? The difference in personality is almost like comparing food waste to the finest perfume.
I know well enough that a hero’s qualifications aren’t determined by personality evaluation, but still, it was an utterly unfair thing.
“Miss Hilde, Miss Hilde! Are you alright?!”
As I was ruminating on this unfairness and envy, Friede, who had just blown away the Valkyria and caught her breath, picked up the spoils and came running towards me.
“Yes, I’m fine. Somehow managed to win.”
I smiled, wiping sweat from my forehead while sitting slumped on the ground.
Until just now my body was cold and not sweating, but now perhaps because the Ice Heart’s effect had disappeared, sweat was pouring down profusely.
I didn’t show it, but the wounds all over my body were stinging and burning too.
“Here, pauldrons! Pauldrons! You said earlier these had healing magic on them, right?”
Friede suddenly held out black-gray pauldrons to me. Shoulder armor with most of its ornate engravings erased, leaving only faint traces.
It’s not in perfect condition, so it won’t instantly restore a broken arm like the spirits showed, but…
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll make good use of it.”
Still, it retained healing power at the level of an apprentice priest. It means wounds from cuts can be healed without problem, though it takes some time.
It would probably take a few days to heal fractures, and for serious injuries like internal damage, the recovery speed would be too slow, leading to helpless death.
As I was putting on the pauldrons, Friede rummaged through her pocket and pulled out that damn low-quality potion again, holding it out to me.
“Use this too.”
It was almost a commanding tone.
A look that wouldn’t allow refusal. Her expression was so resolute, it looked almost a hundred times more determined than when she mercilessly split the thief’s head.
“Oh, um. Alright. I’ll use it.”
I stammered slightly as I took the potion and sprinkled it on my wounds.
Tssss!
Ughhhh…!
Smoke slowly rising from the wounds. My teeth clenched involuntarily.
‘Damn, this really hurts like hell…!’
Honestly, it hurts about five times more now than when I was cut. To the point where I couldn’t tell if this was medicine or poison.
It’s common for adventurers to die trying to treat serious injuries with low-quality potions when the effects fall short, but wasn’t that actually death from shock rather than an issue with the medicine’s effectiveness?
If you poured this kind of medicine on a patient with torn internal organs, even Jesus or Buddha would surely jump up and slap it away, saying there’s a devil Satan here.
“…Does it hurt a lot?”
Friede looked at my face and asked carefully.
I couldn’t snap back saying ‘Of course it hurts, how could it not?’. I wasn’t the kind of shameless person to say such things in front of someone who was worried about me.
“Uh… just a tiny bit? It, it stings a little…”
So, I put on a forced smile and acted tough. Thinking a little complaint about it stinging should be okay.
“Is that so….”
Friede nodded.
She didn’t seem to particularly believe my bravado. Well, she’s used this potion a couple times herself, so she probably knows well how much it hurts.
“Then, you shouldn’t get hurt, right?”
“Huh…?”
A shadow suddenly loomed over my sweat-soaked face.
Friede leaned her face close to mine and spoke again with a smile only at the corners of her mouth, her hand on my shoulder.
“If you don’t want it to hurt, you shouldn’t get hurt. Right?”
“Oh, uh. That’s right…?”
I nodded with a slightly bewildered expression. Thinking what an obvious thing she was saying.
If you don’t want pain, don’t get hurt. Isn’t that obvious?
“So, don’t get hurt. Got it?”
Whether she was satisfied with my answer, or found my expression amusing.
Friede, who had only been smiling at the corners of her mouth, finally showed a full smile and let go of my shoulder.
“Um… okay. I’ll do that.”
I answered in a slightly disgruntled voice.
It’s not like I wanted to get hurt, so what was the point of telling me not to get hurt?
Is she telling me to fight better, like the original Brunhilde…?
Well, I think she got hurt quite often too. Though she didn’t show it.
* * *
After that, we started moving more carefully and taking down the Valkyrias one by one.
Perhaps thanks to the experience of embodying the Eisenstein spear techniques?
Whether my skills had started to catch up to the level of the original Brunhilde, I was able to deal with them much faster than expected after that.
If it became two against two, it was the start of another ordeal, but when we ganged up on one, we could take it down almost instantly.
Friede seemed to be getting the hang of it more with each kill, as the speed at which she took down Valkyrias kept increasing, and the same was true for me.
In my case, it wasn’t so much getting the hang of it as my specs themselves were increasing slightly with each fight.
There wasn’t much difference for the first two, but from the third one on, I could clearly feel it.
That the output of Ice Heart and Iron Arm was increasing each time I took down a Valkyria with my own hands. A feeling of getting stronger through cannibalism, you could say?
It wasn’t like the output doubled or anything, but it was still satisfying in its own way.
We hunted five more Valkyrias like that. The equipment that came out during that time was…
“No, really. Greaves again?”
Greaves, nothing, greaves.
Surprisingly, the Valkyrias whose lives I ended either didn’t spit out anything or repeatedly disappeared leaving only greaves behind.
To be frank, all three were duds.
It’s not like I’m a sad centipede with lots of legs, what use is there in having three pairs of greaves?
These are Eisenstein-exclusive equipment, so I can’t even put them on Friede.
And I can’t carelessly sell cloud iron equipment either, so they were really ambiguous, chicken ribs-like spoils.
“Um, don’t be disappointed! There are gauntlets here too!”
Do you know what’s even funnier?
I’m really speechless with disbelief, but unlike me, Friede obtained new pieces of equipment every time she killed a Valkyria.
Earlier it was pauldrons. This time it’s gauntlets. Looking at this pattern, it seemed like the next time would probably be a breastplate or helmet.
“Right… there are gauntlets too…”
Faced with such an overwhelmingly blatant difference in luck, I could only laugh hollowly as I received and put on the gauntlets.
According to sayings from the original world, warriors who use spears generally have terribly bad luck… but why am I in this state when I don’t even wield a spear?
This was truly an inexplicable thing.