BAM!
The glimmering light slash, leaving a long shadow, crashes into the black barrier, shattering it into pieces.
Beyond the fading magical barrier, the witch with a drooping smile clicks her tongue as she stares at Friede’s sword.
“Amber steel blade with a glimmering light slash… That sword, it’s definitely Nibelung, isn’t it?”
“…….”
As expected from a priestess of the goddess’s order, Ariane immediately recognized the sword’s name upon seeing it. Her bright red eyes were clear with perplexity and vigilance.
“I’ve heard that the owner of Nibelung is a man named Friet, but what on earth is going on…? You’re not telling me that voice and that face belong to a man, right?”
Instead of answering, Friede raised her holy sword once more. The blatant killing intent swelled within that simple movement.
“…Are you ready to charge?”
“HAH!”
With a wolf-like low stance, Friede lunged forward, swinging her large sword. Three trails slicing through the air transformed into beams of light, and the black cloak following her fluttered like wings in the darkness.
“If it were Tirving, maybe, but facing Nibelung’s wielder is unexpected…”
“It was unexpected for us too!”
I stomped down on Ganagl’s split head, squashing it completely, then sprang towards Ariane with all my might. The threat to the assassins was temporarily lifted, and with Ganagl now resembling a squashed tofu, our hostage situation crumbled entirely.
The only path left was to fight this battle fairly, hoping the assassins shake off the curse and join forces.
“HAH!”
“HAH!”
Two blades infused with the power of the goddess flew in from both sides. Ariane frowned, her brows scrunching together in displeasure.
“…How arrogant.”
In the next moment, more than ten black blades of lightning erupted simultaneously, sweeping through the area.
– CRASH!
“AAAH!”
“Ugh…!”
Friede and I were both flung backward. Friede slid along the ground with Nibelung buried beneath her, while I hit the floor and rolled a couple of times.
“Ugh…!”
A groan escaped involuntarily. A pain shot through me as if fire raced through my veins. My muscles went out of control, convulsing uncontrollably, and my side, struck directly by lightning, throbbed painfully.
Four bolts of lightning targeted Friede. Nine bolts followed her glimmering blade. Two bolts aimed directly at me.
I managed to knock one away with my sword, but the other hit me square on.
It was faster and stronger than I expected. Even in my exhausted state, I couldn’t block just two attacks without taking a hit.
– HISS…!
Inside my burning, punctured armor, my exposed side was stained a deep red, a gruesome sight.
It wasn’t just the burns from the lightning. The flesh itself was smoking and beginning to rot.
I recognized the magic. It was Ariane’s favored curse magic, Kelburn’s Black Rot. A malicious curse, combining electrocution with decay, leading to a slow and painful death.
‘Damn, this hurts like hell…!’
I gritted my teeth and activated [Ice Heart].
Coldness spread through my bloodstream, swirling through my body to suppress the pain, concentrating on the wound to cool down the decaying flesh.
Frozen things don’t rot.
I felt the power of the curse gradually dying away, and I sprang back to my feet, my body finally free from paralysis.
“Whoo….”
My breath was as cold as ice. My heart felt chilly not from the ice itself but from the tension.
“… You managed to stand up so quickly after taking that hit. I guess you could beat Ganagl after all.”
“Quit showing off. It was just a little tingling, you know? With such magic, you couldn’t even kill an orc.”
I raised the corners of my mouth, pretending to be calm and scoffed.
Of course, it was just bravado.
Honestly, had the situation been just a bit worse, I wouldn’t have been able to stand again.
It was only thanks to the magical resistance of my armor that lightened the impact of the lightning, and the Ice Heart that suppressed the paralysis and decay. If I had been missing either one, I would have been dead.
‘… This woman is dangerous after all.’
Even without exerting her full power, that level of might was to be expected from the so-called strongest Abyss Priest.
Friede, too, had only managed to bear the lightning with the curse and the exceptional nature of her holy sword, allowing the light slash she unleashed to be completely dissipated by the thunder.
Since she didn’t come with the minions she usually brought around in the original work, I thought teaming up with Friede against her might be worth a shot… but was that a miscalculation?
It seemed that to kill her without sacrifice, we would need at least three people: myself and Friede in prime condition, plus another strong fighter on our level.
“… She’s strong.”
Friede seemed to think the same, gritting her teeth in anger but acting cautiously instead of recklessly charging at the witch.
“But I won’t forgive you. How dare you harm Hill—no, Krimhilde’s body…!”
Was that a reflection of her master’s rage? The glimmering light dwelling in Nibelung intensified, bright enough to scatter darkness around her.
“… So you’re truly a hero, huh? I don’t know why the hero of Raine is cooperating with Heid, but…”
Ariane murmured as she stepped aside, almost blinded by the light.
Did she think we were partners with Heid? She didn’t seem to have the best information.
No, more importantly, when were those assassin bastards going to get up?
I subtly scanned the fallen assassins who had succumbed to the curse.
Among the bodies with smashed heads, the assassins in black lay motionless like corpses.
Unlike Edgar, who had been knocked out, none of the others seemed able to rise again.
What a waste.
They perished due to a single area curse and were still lying there. Isn’t their resistance a bit too low?
Even if ordinary assassins were an average difficulty, I thought Baneum would slowly recover by now. It seemed I miscalculated again.
“What happened to Ganagl? Did you kill him?”
Ariane, targeting Friede with her right arm, pointed at me with her left.
Did she want to know if I killed Ganagl?
“If you’re curious, stick your neck out. The pain will be over soon, and you’ll be reunited with your husband.”
Yeah, I killed him. Instead of letting the captured Abyss Priest go, killing him seemed better for a fight with slim chances.
To be honest, my plan was to surprise them with Friede drawing her holy sword and then subsequent attacks with the assassins, but sadly, that plan only half-worked.
At least it was clear that the assassins were no longer in hostage status. Since Friede and I were close enough, the witch couldn’t point that black spear over the heads of the assassins like before.
In fact, if she did so, it would actually be a favor to us.
At this distance, if she were to show an opening against us, I felt that Friede and I could take an arm or two from her.
“Really? Well… if they’re dead, there’s nothing that can be done.”
Ariane shrugged lightly and let out a faint sigh.
Coming all this way to save her fellow executive, she showed that kind of reaction upon learning of his death?
Even kids who dropped a coin in the water would probably be more sorrowful than her reaction.
“A bit disappointing. I wanted to catch at least one decent specimen before leaving, but… these days are just like that.”
Stepping back a couple of paces, Ariane began to distance herself.
With her arms aiming at us, wrapped in dense magical energy, she moved backward like she was scalping a loaded gun.
“You’re leaving? Are you talking about retreating?”
“Exactly. I never liked this organization to begin with.”
Ariane grinned as she continued, “Renard is suspicious, Ganagl was an idiot, and Ord is just arrogant. There’s no need for me to stick around a group led by the grandiose plans of Hugh and the silent Hicks.”
As she distanced herself, Ariane was shedding her magic completely.
While I had expected a bloodbath, she seemed surprisingly uninterested in continuing the fight.
The reason she had come all this way might have vanished, and it seemed she had no intention of risking a fight.
It looked like, just as much as we were wary of her, she was also keeping an eye on the holy sword’s glow.
“Moreover, the second-in-command is a spy from a different organization. Such a group can’t last long, right? And with two heroes involved, it would be strange if it didn’t collapse.”
… That was new information to me. Was that setting in the original work? I didn’t think it was.
“I have no intention of remaining on a sinking ship. Dying while playing the role of a spy would be the biggest disgrace there is.”
“A spy…? From where?”
“Well, where could it be?”
“…….”
I see she has no intention of answering.
Yeah, I never expected her to. Spies generally only reveal their organization when they’ve been subjected to human modification at 3,000 times their capacity.
“In any case, since it’s come to this, let’s go our separate ways. There’s no need to spill blood over a profitless situation, right?”
So she wants us to stop fighting and split here.
That suited me just fine. I did feel a bit irked about being toyed with, but it was what it was.
Unfortunately for me, Friede seemed far more displeased about it.
“You think you can just leave?!”
Abandoning her cautious attitude while watching the enemy, she charged at Ariane, brandishing her holy sword like a bolt of lightning.
“I’ve already let you go, little hero.”
In the next instant, a black mist erupted, enveloping Ariane’s body.
“Stop right there!”
Friede swung her sword desperately, slicing through the mist, but no one remained where the fog had dispersed.
“Ugh…!”
Bitten down in frustration, Friede glanced around.
Whether it was a short-range teleportation or merely an evasion-type magic, one thing was clear: that witch had slipped away.
… Was I relieved or not?
“Whoo….”
Perhaps due to the release of tension, a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me. I sighed deeply and sheathed my sword again.
The fight was over.
We had completely achieved the purpose of coming here and came out alive without major injuries.
‘We were lucky.’
I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud due to pride, but honestly, it was the only way to explain the outcome.
Had Ariane been the battle-crazed type willing to risk herself, it was highly likely we would have lost our lives in exchange for severely hurting her.
In any case… it seemed we survived another day.
I plopped down on the ground and gazed at the sky, forcing a smile.
‘… Next time, I’ll definitely tear her apart.’
If I ever met Ariane again, I swore I would count the pieces as I tore her apart slowly.
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