“No! Amina!”
Just as we were about to take a short rest after finishing the fierce battle with the bandits, one of the reliable copper token adventurers was horrifically killed by the hand of an enemy who suddenly appeared.
“Another attack?! Who is that woman!”
“There wasn’t any presence at all…!”
The adventurers and hired hands who had been momentarily dazed seemed to finally come to their senses, shouting urgently and drawing their weapons as they rushed toward us.
Probably.
“Ms. Hilde! Be careful!”
There was no time to turn my head and check the movements of our allies.
“Kyaaaa!”
The woman who had ripped out Amina’s neck with a single strike was charging toward me like an arrow shot.
“This!”
I reflexively twisted my waist and swung up the longsword I was holding diagonally.
Clang!
A metallic sound that rang in my ears. The spear tip that had extended like lightning collided with the black iron longsword, spitting sparks as it shot up over my head.
“Ugh…!”
The impact was enough to make my waist bend like a bow just from receiving that single strike. The black iron blade trembled as if dissipating the excess force.
If I hadn’t instinctively reacted and swung my sword, wouldn’t my head have been pierced through, helmet and all? It was an astonishingly fast speed.
“You blocked it?”
The red-haired attacker, wearing a plain black surcoat under a tattered cloak, smiled as she twisted up the corners of her mouth at that sight.
Roughly cut short red hair and sharp eyes. A fierce gaze like a beast. Her smile revealing her canine teeth resembled a hungry wolf.
She wore only a single gauntlet on her right arm holding the long spear, but her left arm was completely covered in metal armor.
Plate armor extending from shoulder to fingertips. Perhaps because of that armor, her left arm looked somewhat longer and thicker compared to her right arm.
It felt like a transplanted arm from someone else.
I could be certain at a glance that she was no mere bandit.
How could the woman who killed Amina with a single strike be just a bandit?
Although it was due to the unexpected surprise attack… even if it hadn’t been a surprise, I don’t think the result would have been much different.
From the start, even without Amina’s body convulsing like a crushed frog, my body’s instincts were already warning me.
That there was a formidable enemy before me.
So I should focus.
To the extent of not missing even a single breath of the enemy.
“…Damn it.”
Do I only meet bastards like this no matter where I go? Did I really get cursed or something?
“As expected, you’re quite good, aren’t you?”
There was no time to lament my misfortune.
As soon as I straightened my posture, the red-haired spear woman – no, the female warrior with a spear – brought down the spear that had shot up over her head like an axe.
Whoosh!
The sound of the spear shaft cutting through the air was fierce.
Perhaps because it was a simple slash rather than a charge, it wasn’t as fast as before.
“Who are you!”
I dodged the spear blade by turning my body sideways, and shouted as I rushed toward her.
A longsword swung diagonally along with the shout.
The blade that was about to split her upper body, drawing a black arc, was blocked by her left arm raised like a shield, emitting a sharp metallic sound.
“Curious? Then try to find out with your strength.”
The red-haired woman grinned as she thrust her spear with her right hand.
“Well, it’s probably impossible.”
“You’re underestimating me.”
I raised my left hand like her to deflect that spear blade sideways-
“Don’t block, dodge!”
At Amy’s urgent cry from behind me, I reflexively stomped my foot and leaped back to widen the distance.
Boom!
Flames and an explosion that erupted a beat late. Fierce flames flared up for an instant, then went out like a candle in the wind.
It was the effect caused by the tip of her spear that had been thrust toward me.
“You’re lucky.”
The red-haired woman smiled regretfully as she twirled her long spear that had missed.
…So that was a magical weapon. If I had blocked it with my left arm, it would have been disastrous.
Cold sweat trickled down my cheek.
A long spear that causes flame explosions in empty air. If not for Amy’s warning, my left arm would have been completely ruined.
This is a more troublesome opponent than I thought… where did such a woman suddenly appear from?
She doesn’t seem like someone who would live by plundering, but why did she suddenly attack us like a bandit?
“Red hair and an explosive spear…! That woman, could it be…!”
Lug, the overall leader of this caravan, shouted urgently in a tone that couldn’t hide his shock, as if he had recognized her identity.
“Could it be Belita Ladros!”
Who’s that?
Belita Ladros. As it wasn’t a character from the original story, it was truly a name I had never heard before.
“Belita Ladros?!”
The ranger Jane asked back in shock.
“You mean ‘Head-Ripping’ Belita?!”
…Head-Ripping Belita? What kind of crazy nickname is that?
It was an epithet so savage that it made the Lowborn Slaughterer look like a mischievous kid from a kindergarten.
Judging by what she did to Amina, it was certainly a fitting epithet.
“I’ve been found out. How embarrassing.”
The red-haired woman grinned and affirmed Lug’s guess, then kicked off the blood-soaked ground and shot toward me like an arrow once again.
“Kuh…!”
I hurriedly jumped sideways to avoid her and bit my lip.
Against a long spear that explodes on contact, engaging in close combat would inevitably put me at an overwhelming disadvantage.
“Yes, I am that Belita Ladros.”
Belita, who had stopped by sliding along the ground after thrusting into empty air, turned her body to look at me and flashed a provocative smile.
“What, did you suddenly get scared now that you’ve heard who I am?”
“Who on earth are you!”
Scared my ass. How can I be scared of a name I’m hearing for the first time? I shouted loudly, demanding a more detailed explanation.
“She’s a wanted criminal from Burgundy! A serious offender who killed over fifty adventurers and then killed eight knights who pursued her in succession! To think she had crossed over to Hervor…!”
Lug shouted in a voice filled with terror.
A wanted criminal who killed eight knights. In other words, she was at least a silver token level, or perhaps even beyond that in skill.
“It’s not eight but ten. I guess the two whose heads I left behind were excluded?”
Belita let out a hollow laugh between her teeth, then turned her body like lightning and thrust her spear behind her.
Bang!
“Kyaa…!”
With the erupting explosion, Friede, who was about to swing her greatsword, was blown backwards and rolled on the ground.
She didn’t seem to be injured thanks to quickly defending with the flat of her blade, but her messy hair was covered in dirt, making her look completely like a beggar.
“This little one is quite… no, hmm. More than just ‘quite’?”
Belita tilted her head as she looked at Friede rising like a spring. The next moment, the corners of her mouth rose eerily like a ghost.
“I see, this must be the winning ticket. Right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
A longsword thrust along with the answer. A needle-like thrust extends like lightning toward Belita’s side.
“I’m talking about the heart, the heart.”
A following hissing sound. Belita bent her upper body backwards as if lying down and swung her spear shaft to deflect the black iron longsword to the side.
The dark metal objects rubbed against each other violently, creating bright sparks.
“You have it, don’t you? Our master wants that heart. So, I’d like you to hand it over quietly, okay?”
Belita rained down a shower of thrusts while speaking to me.
I swung my longsword again and again without time to breathe, deflecting her spear shaft to the side as I endured.
After checking three times, it seemed that the explosive ability of that spear was limited only to the spear tip.
If I didn’t receive it head-on but struck the spear shaft itself to push it away, even if the spear tip exploded, I could pull my body back just before the flames reached me. Probably.
“Really, what on earth are you talking about!”
I shouted as I suddenly swung my longsword more strongly, greatly twisting the trajectory of the long spear to the side.
Was it wrong to try to understand a criminal’s words? I couldn’t comprehend at all what she was saying.
“What heart? Speak clearly!”
What heart? Why are you looking for such a thing here? If you need a heart, shouldn’t you go find the Wizard of Oz!
“There’s no use in feigning ignorance, you know?”
My right leg, extended as if sweeping the ground, was blocked by the sole of Belita’s extended boot. Using the strength of my leg as propulsion, Belita leaped backwards.
Right after, three arrows and an ice spike futilely grazed the spot where she had been standing just a moment ago.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue and kicked off the ground to chase after Belita. I felt like a traitor who had saved the enemy by deflecting them while our allies were using their ranged ultimate skills.
Tap.
Belita, who had landed lightly on the ground, swung her left arm to the side to deflect another arrow, then laughed mirthlessly as she saw me and Friede rushing toward her.
“G-Get away from Ms. Hilde!”
Friede charged forward, carrying her greatsword whose blade had been blackened in the middle from blocking the explosion.
Belita quickly scanned me and Friede with her eyes, then nodded slightly and opened her mouth again.
“If you’re going to disguise, you should do it properly. To place such skilled individuals in a small-scale caravan like this… at this rate, you’re practically confessing that this is the right answer, aren’t you?”
No, really. I can’t understand what you’re saying.
“Hey, have you never had a conversation with another person?”
She’s really just saying whatever she wants.
A way of speaking that grated on my nerves to the point where irritation overwhelmed the tension.
I decided to give up on trying to converse with the lunatic before me and focus all my attention solely on the battle.
“How could that be? I’ve had more than you.”
Belita gave an answer like a shut-in claiming to have internet friends, and then raised the long spear she was grasping toward the sky and burst it like fireworks, wrapping the spear blade in flames.
As if giving some kind of signal.
“Oh no…! New enemies! Ten? No, twenty…? Everyone be careful!”
It was indeed a signal.
Jane pointed toward the bushes with an urgent voice. Something was coming, rapidly rushing through the weeds from far away.
“Ugh…! Protect the wagons! You too!”
Lug shouted, gritting his teeth. In a tone that said to properly protect the cargo as much as they were being paid, regardless of whether they were hired hands or adventurers.
“How is it, isn’t it a lot?”
Belita received Friede’s greatsword with her spear shaft, and using that recoil, she launched her body to avoid my longsword.
She pointed at a group of attackers approaching us and grinned smugly, which was truly irritating.
“Must be nice to have so many friends. Is it because you’re a woman with a spear?”
I frowned deeply and answered as if spitting out the words.
“H-Hilde…?”
Perhaps unable to imagine such sarcasm coming from my mouth, Friede, who was about to swing her greatsword again, glanced at me with a startled face.
“They’re not friends, they’re subordinates.”
Belita, as if not even bothered by the sarcasm, just smiled calmly, showing her teeth.