“Your expression has changed a bit. You used to look like an ice specimen, but now you at least look like a living animal.”
Irina smirked.
As if mocking me for drawing my sword while exuding raw hostility.
“Even so, you’re just an ephemeral.”
Then, she reached behind her back and pulled out the bow she was carrying.
A bow with a platinum blonde hair intricately woven like a spider’s web on the curved branch. It looked exactly like Irina’s beloved weapon described in the novel.
Its name was probably the Short Bow of Rameld?
By original work standards, it’s just an early-game weapon that gets replaced due to performance issues around mid-game, but…
“You say all I’ll be able to take is your corpse? You’re overflowing with confidence.”
That’s only after becoming strong enough to slice through demons with eyes closed. At this point, it was a weapon more threatening than even Belita’s explosion lance.
“Do you really think you can die? With this woman by my side?”
Irina sneered as she nocked an arrow on the bowstring. Saying how could I think I could die so easily with Imelia by her side.
…It’s a valid point, I have no way to refute it.
“You talk a lot. Is it because you’re old?”
Then I can only return it with insults.
You know, didn’t Mr. Voltaire say so? When you have no words to refute, insult.
“What?”
“Was your age eighty-one, or eighty-two…? Anyway, aren’t you at an age where your joints can barely move?”
Along with the sharp sarcasm, I charged towards the enemy, kicking off the ground while pulling the flat of my blade close to my cheek.
“Right? Grandma Irina!”
While firmly gripping the sword hilt with both hands, recalling the activation sensation of the trait I had practiced many times.
<Iron Arm>
A cold chill overflowing from my heart spread through my blood vessels, granting tremendous strength to both arms.
“Ha, that would be you. You ephemeral mayfly!”
Irina pulled back her bowstring hard and made a big leap backwards. As befitting an elf, her movements were light and fast like a rabbit’s.
The arrow that followed was literally like lightning.
Boom!
A bursting sound erupted the moment the bowstring was released. Irina’s beloved weapon, the Short Bow of Rameld, exuded magical power and unleashed the ability engraved on its bow.
Scatter Shot.
The arrow that brushed past the bow split into dozens of fragments, pouring down like a surface rather than a line. It was like a sight of needle-like raindrops pouring down.
“Tch…!”
I planted my forward foot firmly on the ground to stop abruptly, then twisted my body to change direction using it as an axis.
Deflecting all the scatter shots was a skill impossible for me now. The momentum of the incoming arrows felt too ominous to try and endure it head-on relying on my armor.
Crash!
Sure enough, the ground where I had been until just before was shattered into pieces as if put through a blender, scattering fragments.
A power that could penetrate even steel plates. If I had blocked it with my body, I would have become a relative of the deep-sea sponge man by now.
Well, I dodged it, so it’s fine. For now, first―
“You first!”
I launched my body while changing direction. Towards the sky-haired priestess clutching the seal around her neck.
Imelia. I had to deal with her first. When fighting enemies that include a priest, it’s an iron rule to kill the priest first.
Even in games, it’s like that, isn’t it? To take down the ADC, you have to cut off the support first. Reality was the same.
However, it wasn’t such an easy task.
“Haah!”
“O Elianelle!”
The moment my longsword stretched out like lightning aiming for her head, she grasped her necklace and burst out a pure white holy light.
Crack!
A rough and sharp crushing sound rang out, like forcibly hammering a spike into a rock.
“…Tch.”
An extreme recoil transmitted through my arm. I frowned at the feeling of powerlessness and regret, clicking my tongue quietly.
“…This power, you really intended to kill me, didn’t you? Miss Brunhilde.”
Imelia snapped, glaring at the tip of the black iron longsword that had stopped near the tip of her nose.
The goddess church’s representative defensive miracle, Holy Barrier.
A pure white barrier with cracks etched from the impact was barely holding back the tip of my sword.
“Haah…”
Instead of answering, I took a deep breath to fill my limbs with vigor while pulling out the sword stuck in the holy barrier.
“It’s tough. More than I expected.”
Even with the same technique, its power varies greatly depending on who uses it.
While the barrier cast by Priest Bolton could barely block a wight’s strike, Imelia’s holy barrier was strong enough to block even an Iron Arm strike.
“Of course. It’s not like I’ve just been playing around.”
Imelia answered, grasping her necklace with her left hand while spreading her right hand towards me. Her voice had become much colder. It contained explicit killing intent.
“Unlike you.”
“You’re aiming for her first? Do I look that easy to you!”
A counterattack so fast there was no time to reply.
Five spheres of light appeared on Imelia’s right arm and shot out, and from behind me came a rumbling vibration along with an intense presence rushing towards me.
“Grooooar…!”
This roar, this vibration. I could guess what it was without turning around.
An earth spirit. A spirit with a body made entirely of rock that could be used as a temporary vanguard shield.
“Kuh…!”
I lowered my body as if falling and rolled on the ground to avoid the ‘Arrows of Punishment’ shot by Imelia, then sprang up to distance myself from the rock spirit as well.
The rock spirit’s fist swung a beat late. The left arm of the rock monster resembling a gorilla struck down where I had been, shaking the earth.
Boom!
Though it seemed to lack impact compared to the corpse giant that must have been 6-7 meters tall, even this had enough power to burst a human head like a watermelon and then some.
“Do you think you dodged?”
As soon as I got up and checked on the rock spirit, the ‘Arrows of Punishment’ that had cut through the air changed direction as if pivoting and came tracking after me.
“Something like this…!”
I dashed to create distance while striking down and shattering two of the light spheres with my sword, and blocked two more using the forest trees as shields.
The last one I simply took on my pauldron.
Thud!
“Ugh…!”
A shock like being hit by a hammer struck my shoulder as the metal plate dented, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t endure.
Attack miracles exert overwhelming power only when facing those classified as ‘evil’ by the goddess.
Unless it was a high-level miracle, it was possible to somehow endure ordinary attack miracles.
Even that holy barrier from earlier, if it didn’t break in one hit, I could just strike it one more time.
“What are you doing! Look this way, Brunhilde!”
The problem was indeed this side.
Irina, who had retreated into the forest and climbed up a tree, was firing arrows at me like a machine gun.
The arrow heads split like shotgun pellets battered the trees and ground like a beaten wife, scattering dust mixed with fragments everywhere.
While I was avoiding the rain of arrows, white spheres would fly at me again as if they had been waiting, and the rock spirit guarding Imelia also kept targeting me by throwing boulders.
Had she cast an enhancement miracle on it in the meantime? Its rocky body was emitting a faint white light.
So you can even buff spirits. That’s ridiculous. It was impossible in the game.
“What’s this, you seem to have gotten duller than before! Has your skill rusted a bit?”
“Did you enjoy playing adventurer? I hope you did.”
Even while unleashing relentless attacks, the two women didn’t stop their mouths and continued to mock me. I had no time to answer as I was busy running, rolling, and swinging my sword.
“Haa, haa…!”
Damn it, I can’t stop moving.
With ragged breaths. Unable to land a single proper hit, I had to focus solely on evasion, running and running without rest.
If I stopped moving even for a moment, I would be overwhelmed by the bombardment of light and steel that would pour down immediately.
I thought I would be at a disadvantage… but to not even be able to find an opportunity to attack at all.
Both women had clearly become stronger than before, perhaps having diligently accumulated experience under Gunther. Strong enough to proudly declare themselves members of a hero’s party wherever they went.
“Kuh, haaaaaah!”
“Grooooar!”
Even when I tried to force close combat by throwing my body like a bullet and swinging my sword, my slashes aimed at Imelia were often blocked and stopped by the rock spirit.
I could split the rock spirit’s body, but that was ultimately just a waste of stamina.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
“Damn it…!”
While I was avoiding and deflecting the counterattacks of the two women that came in that opening, the restored spirit would come at me again.
But if I tried to target Irina first…
“Slow, too slow! There’s no way someone like you now could reach me! Don’t even dream of it!”
It was far too difficult for me to keep up with the movements of the elf jumping between trees while shooting arrows.
I was hesitant to overuse <Iron Arm> due to the stamina consumption and vulnerability right after it wore off, but if I tried to chase after her without it, the distance would widen again every time I avoided the scatter shots.
“You cowardly ranged bastards…! Come at me head-on, head-on!”
One bitch was hiding behind a regenerating rock and only throwing guided Arrows of Punishment, while the other bitch was widening the distance as if daring me to follow and just firing scatter arrows like crazy.
They say you don’t notice your clothes getting wet in a drizzle.
As fatigue gradually accumulated and the damage to my armor increased, it felt like I had become a wild animal being hunted.
“What are you saying? If you’re dissatisfied, why don’t you pick up a bow too?”
“I am fighting head-on. You just can’t break through.”
Irina and Imelia continued their fierce attacks while mocking me.
Really, fuck, shit.
If I were just a little, just a little faster and stronger, I feel like I could have smashed those faces.
…Really, if I were just a little stronger.
I gritted my teeth so hard they might break.
Although I hadn’t been just playing around all this time, I regretted more than ever my complacency in being satisfied with the skills of a mere knight.
I set the wrong goal from the start.
Instead of aiming to regain Brunhilde’s skills, I should have aimed to become even stronger than Brunhilde at the time of possession.
“Ha, damn it.”
It was regret that came far too late.
If I was going to regret and reflect, I should have had such thoughts long before encountering these two women. What difference would it make to regret now?
What I needed to do now was not regret, but―
“Right, fighting like this, I can’t win.”
Resolution.
“I’ve been holding back too much. After all that talk about dying or living.”
The resolution to go all out even at the risk of receiving fatal wounds.
Should I avoid attrition warfare as much as possible since the opponent has a healer? Even if we exchange the same wounds, the enemy can heal those wounds?
That judgment itself was wrong.
It might work against enemies weaker than me, but there’s no way I could gain the upper hand in such a way against clearly superior opponents.
With such a passive strategy, I would only continue to have my stamina and energy eroded, leading to a slow but certain defeat.
Therefore―
“Alright, from now on… let’s really fight with our lives on the line, Gunther’s whores!”
I let out a fierce battle cry and changed direction, charging straight towards the enemy.
A straight charge with no regard for evasion.
Dozens of arrows and beams of light came rushing at me head-on, aiming for my entire body. Each with enough power to break through and penetrate my armor.
“Haaaaaaah!”
Can I block it, can I dodge it? Throwing away such concerns.
Just, straight ahead.
The sword I swung felt lighter than ever before.