Boom!
The undead giant’s head crashed into the dirt ground as if sliding. Its headless body collapsed forward lifelessly, as if following its own head.
Along with streams of black blood gushing out, it let out a sound that couldn’t even be called a groan through the exposed cross-section of its throat.
Had I won?
I suppose I could say I’d won. At this point.
Thud.
After watching the undead giant’s body convulsing like an old man hit by a truck, I sat down hard beside it, gasping for breath.
“Heu… haak… haaak…!”
The backlash of <Iron Arm>. I didn’t even have the strength left to stand due to the intense exhaustion.
A sensation as if all the moisture and energy in my body had been sucked out. Whether I’d gotten used to it after using it a few times or not, it wasn’t to the point of completely passing out, but…
“Huaa… I’m dying, really…”
It wasn’t so easy that I could endure it nonchalantly. To be honest, I felt like I wanted to just lie down flat right there.
I was barely holding back from lying down, feeling like I’d fall asleep immediately if I did.
“Hilde! Are you alright?!”
Amy, bursting out of the undergrowth and running towards me.
“Did you take it down…?”
Gerda, running alongside her, tactlessly mentioned resurrection spells, but… fortunately, the undead giant just trembled slightly in its limp state, showing no signs of getting up again.
Well, it probably wouldn’t try to resurrect after having its head and body separated.
Unlike high-level undead that have transcended physical limitations, this thing was essentially no different from a revenant, just with an abnormally large body.
“Haa…. Haa…. I’m fine, just a bit tired.”
I turned my head with difficulty to look at them and answered.
“And… I think I managed to take it down. Somehow.”
To be honest, it was an astonishing achievement even for me.
A situation where I had subjugated, almost single-handedly, a monster that would normally require the coordinated attack of several knights to safely defeat.
Should I say I’ve taken another step closer to Brunhilde’s true ability?
Of course, I was still far from perfectly matching Brunhilde’s skills.
Even this time, if Friede hadn’t taken on the Abyss Priest and drawn him away, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid defeat.
If that old man had used the undead giant as a shield and unleashed attack magic, I would have had no way to respond.
…Come to think of it, what happened to Friede?
Given that she hadn’t returned even after quite some time had passed… was she still fighting the Abyss Priest?
During the battle with the undead giant, I had been too desperate to even have the luxury of worrying about Friede…
‘Surely, she hasn’t been defeated…?’
Now that I had taken down the giant, belated concern suddenly arose, troubling my heart.
Although her skills were probably among the top within copper token adventurers, Hugh Casvail was also a powerful individual who could easily slaughter ordinary copper token adventurers.
Therefore-
“To take down such a monster single-handedly… impressive. Astonishingly so.”
“Gerda, I have a favor to ask…”
“A favor?”
“Um, if you can still fight, could you go look for Friede? I can’t move right now…”
I asked Gerda, who was expressing admiration while looking down at the undead giant next to Amy, to go find Friede.
If she was fighting the Abyss Priest, to join forces to take him down and return, or if not, to just flee together.
Now that the undead giant had fallen, Hugh would have no means left to face the paladins.
So, even if Friede retreated, he wouldn’t be able to pursue her.
If he didn’t escape from the forest as quickly as possible, he would be caught by the enraged paladins and end up as a human puzzle.
“…You can’t move?”
Gerda tilted her head slightly and asked back. With an expression that seemed to ask if I had been seriously injured somewhere despite looking fine.
“Yes, I’ve used up all my stamina… I don’t even have the strength to stand up right now.”
I answered, gesturing with my eyes towards my trembling arms and legs from exhaustion.
“No wonder you’re tired. You took that thing down almost alone? It’s a miracle you’re not seriously injured.”
Amy bent down, extending her hand as if to support me.
“Indeed…”
I smiled faintly and raised my trembling hand to grasp hers.
It seemed like I could somehow get up again after resting like this for about five minutes, but it was impossible right now.
To fight again, I felt I would need to rest thoroughly and fill my stomach for at least an hour or two.
“…It certainly was a fierce battle that would cause exhaustion.”
Gerda nodded with a faint smile.
“How fortunate.”
With lightning-fast movement, she drew a dagger from her bosom and slashed Amy’s shoulder as she was about to support me.
* * *
“Huh…?”
A sudden attack. Amy, who looked at her bleeding shoulder with shocked eyes, collapsed as if her legs had given out.
“Amy!”
I too couldn’t hide my shock and hurriedly tried to get up.
Or more precisely, I tried to get up.
“Kuk…!”
Before I could even half raise my body, my strength gave out and I collapsed again.
“Judging by that reaction, it seems it’s true that you’re too exhausted to move.”
Gerda, who had ambushed Amy, spoke while looking down at me.
While taking out a vial from her waist and wetting the blade stained with Amy’s blood.
“That’s fortunate. If you had been in a state where you could move, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of doing this.”
“Gerda…!”
I glared at her, gritting my teeth.
Reproaching myself for my carelessness in letting my guard down too much just because I had defeated a strong enemy.
“You were a plunderer…! You, thieving woman…!”
To think that a copper token adventurer, and one who had been actively cooperating without showing any suspicious signs until now, would ambush us.
It was a bitter miscalculation.
“Thief? What an absurd accusation. I’m just doing what I have to do.”
Gerda smiled faintly and slightly stabbed my forearm with her dagger.
A pain like a red-hot awl digging in. A tingling sensation spread throughout my body from where the blade was embedded.
My muscles lost strength and my senses blurred. My body, which had been able to at least squirm, seemed to be stiffening like a wooden block.
“Poison…?!”
“A paralytic poison with a sleeping agent added. The same kind I used on Amy.”
Gerda smiled, holding out the glass vial of poison towards me, who couldn’t move a muscle due to total body paralysis.
She put the half-empty glass vial back into the small bag at her waist and lightly patted my shoulder plate.
“It’s good I prepared this. I can’t kill a magician from the Magic Tower, and you, Hilde, need to be alive for now.”
“Why…?”
“You’re asking because you don’t know? Surely, you didn’t think you wouldn’t be found out?”
Gerda smiled and revealed the reason for her sudden betrayal.
“Deserter knight of the Rhine Kingdom. Hero betrayer Brunhilde.”
The karmic retribution for what the original owner of this body had done.
* * *
My identity exposed. I looked up at Gerda with eyes full of bewilderment, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Honestly, I was unsure at first. I couldn’t be certain just from the face alone.”
I had been aware that my identity might be discovered by others once I lost my helmet during the battle, but…
‘I was careless…!’
To think that Gerda, who had shown no reaction upon seeing my face, had actually recognized me but pretended not to!
Her acting had been so natural that I had been completely fooled.
Gerda wiped the smile off her face and looked down at me expressionlessly while taking out a thick, sturdy rope.
“The name Hilde also added to the confusion. For a criminal who had gone into hiding after becoming a wanted person to use part of their real name. It’s an action incomprehensible by common sense.”
…She wasn’t wrong.
The reason I had chosen Hilde as an alias was because it was an extremely common name in the north and…
“The real Brunhilde would never use such an obvious name as Hilde for an alias unless she had gone mad… Wasn’t it aimed at exploiting that blind spot in thinking?”
It was to induce the ‘common sense’ judgment that Brunhilde would never use Hilde as an alias.
“However, I was finally able to be certain when I saw you single-handedly subjugate the undead giant. Hilde. That your true identity is Brunhilde, the wanted person from the Rhine Kingdom.”
But in the end, I had been found out like this.
“What… do you… intend… to do… with me…”
My body becoming paralyzed. Drowsiness washing over me.
It was the worst situation. Even I couldn’t find a way out.
“Isn’t it obvious? I intend to transport you to the Rhine Kingdom like this and hand you over to the royal family. The reward for capturing the ‘Hero Betrayer’ alive should be enough to live luxuriously for a lifetime and then some.”
Gerda answered as she started tying me up with the rope. A rope made by weaving wire, not fabric. It was a restraint no different from iron chains.
“Originally, I was planning to be satisfied with just reporting, but… Friede is away, and you and Amy have been neutralized. I can’t let an opportunity like this slip away, can I?”
“You, uh…!”
“Don’t resent me. Even for me, betraying party members I fought alongside is somewhat conscience-pricking… but when you think about it, isn’t it all your own karmic retribution? Wanted criminal.”
Gerda finished tying me up tightly like that, then raised the poison-coated dagger again and lifted the corners of her mouth.
“By the way… it’s quite a strong sleeping agent, but you’re holding up well. It would be troublesome if time is wasted, so I’ll have to increase the dosage a bit.”
The sharp dagger glinted, reflecting the morning sunlight.
“Sleep well. The journey to the execution platform is―”
And then.
Crack!
The next moment, a steel greatsword shot out like a cannonball, piercing through Gerda’s forehead and protruding out the back.
“Kuk…!”
Gerda staggered greatly with a shocked face, then collapsed to the ground with her knees buckling, convulsing.
Instant death.
Struck by the greatsword that came at a speed impossible for a copper rank ranger to respond to, she died without even being able to leave any last words.
It was an absurdly empty end.
For me, it was like a lifeline descending from heaven in a situation where I was trapped in a fire pit.
“Hi, Hilde!”
An urgent voice filled with intense emotion.
Beyond my blurring vision, a black-haired girl holding an old man’s head was running towards me.
My consciousness cut off there.