After taking down eight Valkyrias, we started to roam around the interior of the fortress in earnest.
The tension and sense of crisis from the first battle had already half disappeared.
Well, naturally, if we’ve already killed eight out of the originally few spirits, it’s about time the defense network itself starts to become loose, right?
Unless the remaining Valkyrias were gathered in one place as if having a company dinner, the chance of encountering two or more Valkyrias simultaneously from now on was slim.
It means we gained the leisure to roam around more comfortably.
“Miss Hilde, Miss Hilde. I wonder what it looks like inside that, that tower over there?”
“Well, I guess it looks like a tower.”
“What kind of answer is that…”
Unlike Friede, who seemed to have many curiosities like a child on a field trip, I already knew the internal structure of that watchtower from before.
The center is empty, with a spiral staircase running along the wall, and when you reach the top, there are magic circles engraved on the ceiling and floor.
In the center of the magic circle on the floor, a small platform is erected, and on the platform, there’s an unlit brazier.
And you’d see magic power swirling between the two magic circles, dense enough to be visible to the eye.
The watchtower, which during Banaditsa’s heyday served as a fixed turret shooting spears with manpower and as a searchlight illuminating enemies.
That tower was now being used as a relay for the wide-area barrier magic protecting this Banaditsa from the river water.
A relay that absorbs the tsunami-like magic power emitted by Valfreyja sealed in the amethyst of the inner castle, and spreads it widely over the city sky in the form of a magic barrier.
In other words, if we mess with that carelessly, this ruin would be swept away by river water and submerged in an instant.
What need is there to enter such a dangerous place? The wisest choice was to just look at it from afar like a cow looking at a chicken.
“There’s nothing much to see inside. Looking at its condition, we might get buried if it collapses if we’re unlucky. So, let’s focus on finding the remaining spirits for now. Got it?”
“…Yes! I’ll do my best! For, for Miss Hilde’s sake!”
Friede nodded vigorously and clenched her fist. Saying she’d do her best for my sake. Honestly, it was a bit of an embarrassing statement.
Given her appearance, rather than reliable, it felt somewhat cute and admirable?
Humans are creatures greatly bound by appearances, so even for the same message, the receiver’s reaction can be vastly different depending on who the messenger is.
Friede’s appearance, looking four years younger than her actual age, made everything she said look cute regardless of context.
Even knowing she was stronger than me, how should I put it, it made me feel like a tall mister watching over a child’s growth.
No, is comparing to a tall mister a bit off?
That guy approached a girl fourteen years younger saying he’d sponsor her, then after long-term letter exchanges, he seduced and took her as soon as she came of age.
If it were the 21st century, wouldn’t he have been headlined as a gaslighting sponsor man?
I just thought something cute was cute, so compared to that middle-aged man who seduced a child with money at that age, I was honestly a thousand times purer.
Right?
* * *
“Innbrotsþjófar!”
Intruders!
The ninth Valkyria was quite an intelligent one.
No, perhaps it would be more fitting to call it a traditional one?
As soon as it saw us, as if certain it had no chance in close combat, it created distance at top speed and kept throwing ice spears while hiding behind cover.
Baaang! Baang! Baang!
Explosions echoing in succession. Broken and crushed paving stones splash up like waves, making the surroundings even more ruin-like.
A half-collapsed single-story house crumbles with a rumble as if hit by a shell, and the spire on top of a barrack building snaps off and crashes to the ground.
A continuous destruction like a mad giant elephant rampaging while drunk.
To avoid its spears while simultaneously closing the distance with it, Friede and I had to run panting like beasts facing a forest fire.
It’s fighting in such a dirty way.
“That cowardly bastard!”
“Miss Hilde! Mind your language!”
“Is this really the time to worry about that?”
What nice words? My most hated thing is a fucking dealer who just bombards from afar.
“Refsing!”
Punishment!
Yeah, exactly those kinds of guys.
“It’s making me swear!”
I shouted angrily while hurriedly ducking to avoid the throwing spear aimed at my head.
The missed spear cut off a few strands of my hair as it passed, shattering the road behind, and the blast wave pushed my back with a whoosh.
“Friede, do something with your holy sword! At this rate, every spirit there is will gather here!”
“I’m trying but it keeps dodging…!”
Friede answered while shooting out amber-colored slashes. The light slash that flew with a ripping sound directly hit the building wall the Valkyria was using as cover.
Crack!
The stone wall split diagonally and collapsed. But the targeted Valkyria had already dodged far away.
“Tch…!”
Is it impossible to hit at this distance after all, unless we get closer…
“þú ert hægur.”
You are slow.
The Valkyria mocked us while recovering its left arm twisted from the spear’s recoil. With a new ice spear grasped in its already recovered right hand.
“Really, how despicable!”
A rapid-fire of throwing spears shot without pause while alternately recovering both arms. We were too busy dodging to have the leisure to close the distance.
As we continued this destructive otherworldly game of tag for quite a while,
“Miss Hilde!”
Friede turned to me and shouted with an expression as if she had realized something.
“What! Do you have a good idea?”
I shouted back. Due to the successive explosions, we couldn’t hear each other’s voices unless we shouted.
“That spirit, you said it belonged to your family, right?”
“Something like that!”
“Then! Can’t you do that, that kind of thing?”
That kind of thing? Does she mean the Eisenstein-style throwing spear? If that’s it…
“Maybe, I might be able to…?”
Since Brunhilde used it, I should be able to use it too. I did roughly observe the knack earlier.
“Then you should do it! Here!”
Friede came to an abrupt stop as if kicking the ground, then kicked up a long spear lying at her feet and threw it to me.
Does she want me to throw this spear and shoot down that spirit bastard?
…That didn’t seem possible.
“Sorry, but I’m not confident I can hit it! That thing’s flying around!”
Throwing a spear and accurately hitting a target with a thrown spear are completely different stories.
If it were a stationary target, maybe, but how could I, who had never thrown a spear in my life, hit that spirit bastard that’s flying around as if it had only practiced flying after eating?
So…
“So, I’ll aim for the incoming throwing spear! I’ll leave the second one to you, Friede!”
“Ah, yes! That should work! As expected of Miss Hilde!”
Instead of the spirit that could dodge unpredictably, I targeted the throwing spear itself that it shot.
At least that would be flying straight towards me, so if I timed it right, it would be no different from a stationary target.
“Nú, deyja!”
With a curse to die now, the Valkyria pulled back an ice spear behind its shoulder.
I engraved every single movement of the creature into my retina, and based on the sensation remaining in my subconscious and the descriptions from the novel, I tried to take the exact same posture as it.
From the toes, legs, pelvis, abdomen, chest and shoulders, to the right arm and wrist. Twisting all the muscles of the body to their limit to accumulate power, and invoking the power of Iron Arm to add force.
The Eisenstein throwing spear is a combination of straight line and spiral.
Using the full-body muscle strength accumulated by twisting the body to create a spiral rotation, and shooting it out in a straight line with the tremendous force of Iron Arm.
That principle was contained in the right arm grasping the long spear.
Creak, creak.
Arm muscles swelling and creaking inside the gauntlets and greaves.
Like a strong bow with its string pulled to the limit, all the power accumulated by twisting and pulling is concentrated on the tip of the old long spear.
I held my breath and glared at the Valkyria, gauging the timing to release all the gathered power.
And.
Bwoooong!
The next moment, the ice long spear containing the power of <Iron Arm> was shot like a shell with a thunderous sound.
A throwing spear containing such enormous power that the Valkyria’s arm twisted from the recoil.
As if possessed by something, I turned my body and stretched out my tightly pulled right arm like a spring. With the certainty that this would be a 100% hit.
Shweeeeek!
The old long spear soaring diagonally with a sharp ripping sound.
Since I couldn’t shatter my arm just to throw one spear, its power and speed didn’t match the spear thrown by the Valkyria, but―
Crackle!
The impact that burst out the moment the two spear tips met precisely exceeded the limit that an old long spear or mere ice could withstand.
With a roar as if the air itself had become a bomb and exploded, both spears cancelled each other out, exploding and scattering into powder.
“Now’s our chance!”
“Yes!”
Thanks to the very brief leeway created, Friede and I, no longer needing to spend time on evasion, ran with all our might to close the distance with the creature.
Perhaps thanks to controlling the output of Iron Arm, the pain in my arm was somewhat bearable.
“Kiyaaahrr!”
The Valkyria let out a fierce war cry, sounding a bit surprised and a bit indignant. A new ice spear formed in its left hand raised above its head.
Even before the spear was fully formed, it pulled its left arm back, and the moment the spear was complete, it immediately shot the second throwing spear.
“This time it’s my turn!”
“Alright, I’ll trust you!”
Friede raised her greatsword above her right shoulder without stopping her running steps. Amber light coalesced and rippled on the ornate blade.
“Hyaaaah!”
The blade swung down diagonally, shooting out a brilliantly shining light slash. Not towards the Valkyria that had been dodging despicably, but towards the throwing spear it had thrown.
Swoosh…!
A collision sound completely different from when the throwing spears clashed.
The ice long spear that collided with the light slash literally disappeared as if erased, scattering like smoke. It was a sight like light devouring ice.
Was it due to the difference in attributes that she overwhelmed it instead of cancelling it out like me? Or was it due to the difference in output? Maybe both.
Well, whatever the case, what does it matter? The important thing is that both of the creature’s throwing spears ended in failure.
Thanks to that, the distance had been closed as much as possible, and now the creature was in a disabled state with both arms twisted.
I couldn’t help but be confident in victory.
“Krrr, ósvífinn…!”
Impudent…!
The creature hurriedly tried to recover its right arm and prepare a third throwing spear, but it was already too late.
“Finally caught you!”
I leaped up and grabbed the creature’s ankle, pulling it down hard.
“Kyaaak…!”
The Valkyria lost its balance and staggered from the force of Iron Arm with my weight added. It let out a war cry like a cat with its tail stepped on.
I ignored it. What’s there to fear from an arm-disabled creature hissing? Especially one that’s terminally ill with about 2 seconds of life left.
“Hyaah!”
Before the creature could attempt any proper resistance, Friede’s greatsword, who had jumped up following me, reduced its body weight by half.
Clang.
The black-gray breastplate that fell to the ground rang out with a clear metallic sound.