Chapter: 350
As Senar’s axe flew at me, I quickly understood why Duke Partran had mentioned the Bedfer family banner within less than a minute.
Senar is no ordinary young lady.
She’s someone who has roamed countless battlefields, staining her weapons with copious amounts of blood!
KWAANG! I clenched my teeth as I braced against the impact of the axe hitting my shield.
Under normal circumstances, I would get a moment to catch my breath here, but not against Senar.
She can apply pressure with one axe in one hand while threatening with the other.
Isn’t she aiming at my arm with her axe right now? As I caught sight of it creeping over my shield, I took a step back to dodge that attack and rolled aside to evade the blow that aimed at my head.
“Look at you, running away like a little brat who knows no honor.”
“Is swinging a weapon at a girl much younger than you honorable, hmm? ♡ If we’re talking about ugliness, I’d say Queen Ugly above has you beat! ♡”
KWAANG! Being pushed back from the force that struck my shield, I found myself chuckling at the sight of stones falling off the cliff below.
Even if I fall, I won’t get hurt, but my pride will be shattered.
That would be troublesome. I feel like I need to land at least one hit on a tough opponent to feel satisfied.
As I steadied my shield, I returned my gaze to Senar, who was handling her axe like a jester.
“No matter how I look at it, a butcher suits you more than a queen! ♡ You’ve been quite good at hiding your true nature so far? ♡”
“That’s how the world of nobility works, little brat. If you go around saying whatever you like, you might find your head rolling without even realizing it.”
The moment I deflected the axe thrown between her words, Senar moved her feet.
Is she trying to distract me to attack?
As I saw the trajectory of her descending axe, I shifted my shield just in time, and a pleasant sound resonated through my body.
Having successfully parried, I intended to counterattack, but when I saw her other axe still in her grip, I had to hastily shift my shield again.
KWAANG! I bit my teeth hard against the sensation transmitted through the shield.
Did she just conjure that axe back with her magic?!
That was no mere distraction; it was designed to make me drop my guard!
“It’s adorable how desperately you’re moving your shield.”
“And picking on a girl much younger than you is truly ugly, Noble Queen! ♡”
I endured the unrelenting strikes from Senar, with a drop-off behind me that granted me no breathing room.
Senar’s attacks weren’t completely insurmountable.
Compared to my encounters with Count Kent and Duke Burrow, this level was manageable.
However, the reason I felt pressured was the glaring disparity in real combat experience.
Senar knew how to deal with people.
She understood how to fog her opponent’s judgment.
How to bypass a steadfast shield.
How to provoke curses from her opponent.
Having roamed countless battlefields.
Having decapitated innumerable humans.
And having soaked the banners of victory with blood, the experiences ingrained in her were enough to torment me, who had yet to leave the Academy.
“Oh my. Are you alright? If you can’t escape, you might just fall off!”
But it wasn’t enough to take me down.
The dress Joy chose was getting torn in various places.
Multiple wounds etched on my pale skin were turning crimson.
Although my body was screaming in pain, I still stood on my two legs.
Even amidst the melee, I managed to keep a soft smile.
“Do you think you can drop me? ♡”
As I spread divine energy through my body, I healed my wounds.
Although the pain surged back as things that should have taken a long time to heal disappeared in an instant, the smile on my lips didn’t fade.
Compared to everything I had endured until now, this pain was nothing.
“With that sloppy axe of the Undead Queen, it’s impossible, you know? ♡”
I smiled mischievously as I scanned Senar’s form beyond my shield.
During my defense, I had seen and analyzed many things.
I painted the path to victory by embedding in my mind what Senar possessed.
My battle style was established after encountering a skeletal being who, despite being a false hero, embodied heroism like no other.
After undergoing several practical experiences since then, my combat logic had matured.
That logic told me:
If she couldn’t provoke me to open my mouth until now, then Senar had already lost.
“It’s easy to smash a little brat who’s nothing but bones, even after retiring from active duty.”
“Is that so? ♡ It seems that I’m too unscathed for something so easy, don’t you think? ♡ It seems our definitions of ‘easy’ are quite different! ♡”
If I had met Senar on an empty field and we were both out to kill each other without our statuses or relationships, I would have undoubtedly lost.
The gap between Senar and me was vast.
However, that’s not the case right now.
“Damn it, you brat!”
The root of the problem lay in the sheer power behind Senar’s assault.
While the axes she swung were menacing, they lacked the strength to break my defense.
It wasn’t that Senar was weak.
The shield granted by the gods to hero remained undiminished against any formidable foe.
What mortal could break this shield that maintained its identity even in the battle with the Evil God Agra?
“Damn it!”
If she couldn’t break my shield, she needed to target what’s hidden behind it.
But therein lay the constraints for Senar.
She couldn’t kill me.
She couldn’t inflict me with lethal wounds.
If she did something like that, the monster known as Benedict Alrn would hunt her down as a disaster, forcing her to submit her axe to my neck.
“Damn it!”
I couldn’t play a war of attrition with tiny wounds.
Time was not on Senar’s side; it was mine.
Before the party ended and the other nobles came out.
Before the monster named Benedict Alrn was unleashed from within us.
Before the peculiar tea party unfolding in this clock tower was exposed to everyone.
Senar had to make me speak.
Otherwise, the political advantages she risked by drawing that axe would be meaningless.
She would lose the chance to hear what she sought.
“Damn it!”
Gradually, as Senar increased the speed of her attacks, more and more cuts marked my body, but I ignored all the pain.
The shallow wounds etching into my skin bore no significance.
As long as I didn’t drop my shield.
As long as I didn’t permit a fatal opening.
She wouldn’t be able to threaten me.
[Lucy! Step back!…]
My judgment collapsed the moment I saw a playful smile bloom on Senar’s face, which I deemed anxious.
With no hesitation, she threw both her axes away and raised both hands sky-high.
In her hands was a colossal two-handed axe that seemed capable of chopping down trees that had lived for centuries.
In a panic, I squeezed out every ounce of magic for my shield, but I failed to mitigate the axe’s power completely.
As my defensive stance wavered, Senar’s hands became free once more.
And with that, the remaining axe struck the side of my shield, completely shattering my balance.
The shield that had blocked our distance disappeared, and Senar’s cold gaze fell upon me.
It was too late to regain my guard.
I had to swing my mace to make an opening.
“Gah!”
Before I had the chance to react, the axe’s edge slammed into my abdomen.
I felt the sensation as if my insides were being scrambled, and just as I staggered, the axe’s backside flew toward my head.
Everything flashed as I found myself sprawled on the cold stone floor.
My shield barely hung off the edge of the cliff, and the hand gripping the mace was crushed under the heel of Senar’s high-heeled shoes, bringing me nothing but pain.
“You’re really a pain in the ass. How is it that a little brat who hasn’t even hit second year at the Academy is this seasoned?”
At the moment I gathered divine energy to escape this situation, an axe flew past my ear, embedding itself in the ground.
“I’ve marked how much I can hurt you. If you don’t want to see painful sights, don’t move.”
The moment I heard her, I understood my miscalculation.
Just as I was watching her, Senar was watching me.
She observed how I maneuvered my shield when it met her blows.
She watched where I recovered amidst all the smaller cuts she inflicted.
Once she gained confidence in her judgment, she feigned weakness to lower my guard and flipped the situation in one go.
“Rest assured. If you answer my questions correctly, nothing will happen.”
An unmistakable, humiliating defeat.
“You know what I want to ask, right?”
Seeing the forced smile on Alrn’s lips, I pondered.
If I told her everything she desired, she would agree.
While earning my ire was one thing, if I switched allegiance to the First Prince’s faction, she wouldn’t seek revenge any more than she already had.
Or perhaps I could leverage this incident to have Senar owe me.
“I know ♡ It’s so obvious from the moronic expression on the Undead Queen’s face! ♡”
“Then answer.”
“Have you got dementia already? ♡ I just answered, right? ♡ It’s just that it was such a long time ago that I can’t recall well! ♡”
Regardless, I didn’t want to give her the words she wished for.
No matter what grandpa says or what reason speaks, it’s unnecessary. I don’t want to see the face of the bastard who insults my mother grinning.
“Haha. You really are one damnable little brat.”
Using her high heel, Senar kicked my wrist to disarm me, then slyly placed her heel over my solar plexus, chuckling.
“Let’s see how long you can keep that up.”
“Gwaah!”
The heel, enhanced by her magic, shattered my divine energy and sunk into my flesh.
Bit by bit.
Like a tool digging into the earth.
Creating holes in my skin.
As if trying to connect my organs with the air.
The endless pain—
“What the hell is going on?”
It paused, leaving me aghast.
Finally regaining my senses, I turned my head to see a familiar shoulder.
A shoulder so immense it felt unbelievable for it to belong to a human, giving me a conviction that it held the blood of giants.
“Second Queen.”
Benedict Alrn.
The name that invariably arises when discussing the continent’s strongest and the mightiest knight who ruled through fear on the battlefield.
“No. Senar.”
The voice that flowed from his lips was so icy that it was hard to believe it was from the same Benedict who was smiling foolishly just moments ago.
“I hope there’s a justifiable reason for harming my daughter. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what I might do.”
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