Chapter: 350
Whoosh! Senar’s axe came flying at me, and before even a minute had passed, I understood why Ducal Lord Partlan mentioned the Bedfer family flag.
Senar isn’t just some precious young lady.
Crash! This guy has wandered countless battlefields, staining many a weapon with blood!
Thud! I grit my teeth and absorb the shock of the axe crashing against my shield.
Normally, I would get a breather here, but not against Senar.
She’s the type who applies pressure with one axe while threatening with the other.
Isn’t her axe flying at my arm right now? Seeing her beyond the shield, I step back, dodging that attack, then roll to avoid another strike aimed at my head.
“You’re good at running away. Typical of a little brat who knows no honor.”
“Is swinging a weapon at a much younger girl considered honorable? ♡ If we’re talking about ugly, isn’t the No-Greater-Queen one step higher? ♡”
Bam! Flung back by the impact on my shield, I saw fragments of stone tumble over the edge and let out a ha-ha laugh.
Even if I fell, I wouldn’t get hurt, but my pride would be shattered.
That would be a problem. Even if the opponent is hard to beat, at least I want to land a hit to feel a bit better.
As I steadied my grip on the shield and redirected my gaze, I saw Senar, spinning the axe like a clown with perfect ease.
“No matter how I see it, you seem more suited to being a butcher than a queen, ♡ you’ve hidden your true nature quite well, haven’t you? ♡”
“That’s the world of nobles, kiddo. If you live like you do, blabbering nonsense, you’ll find your neck flying off without even realizing it.”
The moment I deflected the axe thrown between her words, Senar moved her feet.
Is she trying to draw attention and attack at the same time?
Clank! I moved my shield just as her descending axe came toward me, the ringing sensation rushing through my body.
Thinking I’d succeeded in parrying, I was planning to counterattack, but the moment I saw the axe in Senar’s hand, which should have been empty, I had to hurriedly move my shield again.
Crash! I clenched my teeth as the shock transmitted through my shield.
She put her magic into recreating the axe that fast?!
Throwing that axe was not to draw attention but to catch me off guard!
“Moving your shield so desperately is quite cute.”
“Bullying a much younger girl with your shabby No-Greater-Queen’s axe is truly ugly! ♡”
While dodging Senar’s relentless series of strikes with the cliff behind me, I could see that her attacks weren’t entirely unmanageable.
When I faced Count Kent’s sword or butt heads with Duke Burrow’s blade, this level was something I could definitely endure.
Yet, the reason I was on the defensive was the stark difference in practical experience.
Senar knew how to fight humans.
She understood how to cloud the opponent’s judgment.
How to bypass a sturdy shield.
How to stir forth curses from the opponent’s mouth.
Having roamed countless battlefields.
Having personally beheaded countless humans.
The experience of winning battles bathed in blood was more than enough to torment me, still stuck in the Academy.
“Oh my, are you okay? If you can’t escape, you’ll just fall down, you know?”
However, that wasn’t enough to take me down.
The dress Joy picked out for me was torn in several places.
My white skin, marked with various wounds, was painted red.
My body was screaming in agony, yet…
I was still standing on two legs.
Surviving the fierce battle, a stubborn smile hung on my face.
“I can fall, you know? ♡”
As I spread divine power within me, I healed my wounds.
The long-awaited pain returned as old scars vanished instantly, but the grin on my face didn’t fade.
Compared to everything I’d experienced so far, this amount of pain was nothing.
“With the lazy axe of the No-Greater-Queen, your attempts are simply impossible! ♡”
I smirked, glancing over at Senar beyond the shield.
While repeatedly defending, I’ve observed many things.
I etched into my memory and analyzed everything that Senar possessed, mapping out a path toward victory.
Though a false hero, my fighting method was established after meeting that hero-like skeleton.
After going through several practical encounters, I perfected my combat logic.
It whispered to me.
If Senar can’t get me to speak this moment, she’s already lost.
“Even if I’ve been out of the game for a while, it’s easy to crush a little brat who’s nothing but bones.”
“Is that so? ♡ For that, I seem too fine, don’t you think? ♡ Isn’t ‘easy’ rather different than what you’ve heard, No-Greater-Queen? ♡”
If Senar and I met out in the open and clashed weapons, regardless of our status and relation, moving to kill each other…
I would have been defeated by Senar. The gap between us was enormous.
However, the current situation doesn’t allow for that.
“Damn you!”
The root of the problem lay in the force behind Senar’s attacks.
Her swinging axe was threatening, but it couldn’t shatter my defense.
It wasn’t that Senar was weak.
The shield given by the deity was unmatched against any strong opponent.
No human could break this shield, which retained its form even in battle against Evil God Agra.
“Damn it!”
If she can’t shatter the shield, she has to target the one behind it.
But this is where Senar has limitations.
She can’t kill me.
She can’t inflict a critically fatal wound on me.
If she did, the monster known as Benedict Allen would come as a disaster looking for her, so she must keep her axe poised right by my neck.
“Damn it!”
She can’t wear me down with trivial wounds either.
Time isn’t on Senar’s side; it’s mine.
Before the party ends and countless nobles come out.
Before the beast known as Benedict Allen is unleashed.
Before our little social gathering on the clock tower is revealed to everyone.
Senar has to make me speak.
Otherwise, the political advantages of pulling out that axe will all be in vain.
I won’t receive the information I need.
“Damn it!”
Slowly, the speed of Senar’s attack increased, marking more wounds on my body, but I ignored all that pain.
The small scratches carving into my skin held no meaning.
As long as I don’t lose my shield.
If I don’t allow any critical openings.
She can’t threaten me.
Lucy! Move back!…
That judgment collapsed the moment I saw a smile appear on Senar’s face, one that I thought was anxious.
Without a shred of hesitation, she threw both axes up into the air.
What was etched in those hands was a massive axe that could probably chop down trees that had lived for centuries.
Desperately channeling miracles on my shield, I failed to entirely mitigate the axe’s strength.
My defensive stance faltered, and her hands became free again.
Once more, the axe struck the side of my shield, completely shattering my stance.
The barrier that separated us vanished, and Senar’s emotionless eyes looked down at me.
It was too late to return my defense.
First, I need to swing my mace and create a gap.
Gulp!
Before I could execute my plan, the back of the axe hit my abdomen in a powerful strike.
The sensation of my insides twisting hit me as I staggered, and an axe’s backside soared toward my head.
The world flashed before my eyes, and before I knew it, I was sprawled on the cold stone floor.
My shield precariously hung over the edge, while my hand gripping the mace was stomped on by Senar’s high heel, bringing me only pain.
“Really, you’re just a pain in the ass. How is this little brat, who’s barely in her second year at the Academy, so seasoned?”
At that moment, as I was trying to draw divine strength to escape, an axe came flying, grazing my ear and embedding itself in the ground.
“I’ve gauged just how much damage I can inflict. If you don’t want to see me hurt you more, don’t move.”
The instant I heard her words, I understood my blunder.
Just as I was watching her, Senar was also watching me.
She saw how I moved my shield while knocking against it.
She observed where I could heal through the trivial wounds she’d given me.
Once she was confident in her assessment, she feigned her disadvantage, gave me a false sense of security, then flipped the situation on me.
“Relax. If you just answer my few questions properly, nothing will happen to you.”
No escape was left for me; it was a complete disaster.
“I know what I’m going to ask, right?”
Seeing Senar’s forced smile, I thought.
If I told her everything she wanted to know, she would surely agree.
I might catch some hate from her, but she surely knows what would happen if I switched to the First Prince’s faction, thus wouldn’t retaliate further.
Perhaps I could even leverage this to bully Senar afterwards.
“I know ♡ Even your foolish face is shouting out your thoughts, how can I not know? ♡”
“Then answer me.”
“Have you already gone senile? ♡ I’ve already answered, you know? ♡ It was so long ago, I can hardly remember it? ♡”
But I didn’t want to give her the answer she sought.
No matter what Grandpa may talk about. No matter what my reason may say, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to see the brat that badmouthed my mother smiling.
“Haha. You really are a damn brat.”
With a swift kick to my wrist, Senar made me drop the mace, then placed her heel on my stomach, grinning.
“Let’s see how long you can hold out.”
“Gahhh!”
The magic-infused heel easily shattered my divine power and sunk into my flesh.
Bit by bit.
Like a tool digging into the ground.
Creating holes in my flesh.
Trying to align my organs and air with each other.
An endless pain…
“What the hell is going on?!”
It continued before halting.
Just as I barely regained my wits and turned my head, a familiar shoulder came into view.
A shoulder so unfathomably large; it felt like it must belong to a giant mixed with human blood.
“Second Queen.”
Benedict Allen.
The name often mentioned when discussing the strongest on the continent, a renowned knight who ruled through fear on the battlefield.
“No. Senar.”
His voice, flowing from lips that once wore a foolish grin, felt chilling beyond belief.
“I hope there is a justifiable reason for harming my daughter. Otherwise, I don’t know what I might do.”
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