Huuuu…
With a chilly sigh, I let the broken longsword droop down and looked down at the ice shards scattered at my feet.
The body of the Valkyrie lay there, arms shattered and neck pierced. The center of the longsword’s blade had stabbed straight through her throat and was wreaking havoc on her heart protected by her breastplate.
…I won.
In a one-on-one battle that seemed dire for me against the Valkyrie, surprisingly, victory was mine.
It was the expected outcome, really.
The Valkyrie had overwhelmed me with her skill… well, her martial abilities. My raw physical ability was clearly inferior to hers.
And once I understood, learned, and reproduced her techniques, that advantage became completely meaningless.
Honestly, I never imagined I could pull off such a trick. Analyzing the enemy’s movements during battle and replicating them seemed like something only geniuses from novels could do.
But lo and behold, I was able to do it.
So that’s it. I must be a genius. I knew I was a genius deep down.
A once-in-a-thousand-years swordsmanship prodigy. That’s me, Ryu Hamin… no, Hilde! I can even start calling myself Copycat Swordmaster Hilde, can’t I?
Of course, that’s just a joke. The real reason I managed to pull it off was thanks to Brunhilde’s mastered Eisenstein spear technique and the finally activated effect of Ice Heart.
The intense premonition that nearly made me forget all the experience and everything else I’d built up, and the awakening born from treading a fine line of physical limits.
Is this what they call a blessing in disguise? Finally, Ice Heart awakened and elevated me to a whole new level.
Eisenstein’s living weapon, the core trait of the Valkyrie’s Omega – Ice Heart.
When Ice Heart was awakened, it perfectly blocked pain, drawing out strength that surpassed physical limits, freezing wounds to halt bleeding, and even freezing emotions to sharpen focus on combat.
In simple terms, it meant I’d become a killing machine that forgot all pain and emotions, completely absorbed in battle, regardless of how my body might break.
Moreover, as my proficiency with the trait increased, I could even release the chilling cold within my heart outward, adding cold damage to all my attacks.
Ice Heart was a top-tier trait, rivaling the dream trait [Divine Mark] that every priest fantasizes about.
Was there anything higher than that just one trait called [Dragon Slayer’s Baptism]?
I think that was the very first hidden piece the original novel’s reincarnator found immediately upon reincarnation.
Just by having that, they could rapidly grow to reach a level competitive with other heroes, making it certainly superior to Ice Heart.
If I were to compare it to a game, it’s like instantly converting hard mode to easy mode. That’s how powerful it was.
◆◆
Anyway, thanks to the extreme focus brought on by the awakened Ice Heart, I could literally absorb and embody the Valkyrie’s spear technique.
At that moment, the outcome was practically already decided.
In a heartbeat, I caught up and reached near-equal skill levels. However, the disparity in physical power remained starkly obvious.
The only way for the Valkyrie at that point to win was to drag the fight into a long battle, aiming to exhaust my stamina… but there’s no way a ghost has that kind of patience.
Overcome by strength, the Valkyrie lost her right arm in an instant, then her left arm, yet she resisted until the very end, only to have her neck and heart pierced, leading her to a swift demise.
In a final struggle, she managed to break my sword… but hey, I could just grab another one lying around here somewhere.
The human army that had attacked Banafitza Fortress left behind their weapons along with the corpses.
The state of these neglected old weapons wasn’t great, to be honest, but they were more than enough to use and throw away.
Looking at how they haven’t rusted and have lasted for hundreds of years, they must have been classified as excellent swords back then.
—Suuuu….
The Valkyrie’s lingering spirit, slowly melting away beneath my feet, finally vanished into a wisp of smoke.
…Wait, but where’s my damn drop item?
All that remained in the place where the spirit disappeared were a broken corpse and shattered metal scraps.
The broken rune plate that initially supplied magic to the Valkyrie’s armor was now just meaningless trash since it lay in pieces like that.
What’s the point of giving me such junk?
I gained an experience worth several times more than a single piece of equipment, but seeing no actual gear drop felt oddly disheartening.
“Ha….”
I let out a small sigh, turning away from the useless remains, avoiding the broken blade that had slammed into the rune plate’s center.
Well, it’s not like that ghost was the only one. There’s still the second ghost over there battling Friede. She might drop something worthwhile.
Gauntlets, breastplate, helmet, chest armor—anything would do. My armor was mostly destroyed, except for the ripped breastplate from my fight with the Valkyrie.
As I turned to look toward Friede, what I saw was…
“Get shattered!”
Friede was thrusting the Nibelung into the Valkyrie’s abdomen and unleashing a radiant strike that completely obliterated her very form.
“Kyaaaah!”
The Valkyrie screamed in torment as she exploded, feeling as if her entire body was engulfed in flames from the power of the holy sword. The pitiful scream was quite the spectacle.
…Goddess, please give me a holy sword too.
Even though it was an illusory armor, it was softer than the original, yet still had the penetrating power to pierce through what I could only scratch along with the overwhelming durability specific to holy swords.
Honestly, it was hard to suppress my jealousy.
Why do I not have a holy sword? The enemies targeting me have holy swords, and so do the heroes trying to protect me.
When you think about it, isn’t this clear discrimination against me?
Honestly, I’m way more heroic and decent than Gunther or Heid, right? The difference in character is like that between leftovers and a top-tier perfume.
I know well enough that a hero’s qualifications aren’t based on character evaluations, but damn if it isn’t infuriating.
“Hilde, Hilde! Are you okay?!”
As I was chewing on my frustrations and jealousy, Friede, having blasted away the Valkyrie, bounded over to me with the loot in hand.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Somehow managed to win.”
I slumped down, wiping the sweat from my forehead with a smile.
Until earlier, my body had been icy cold, without a bead of sweat, but now beads of sweat were rolling down since the effect of Ice Heart had worn off.
Though I didn’t show it, my whole body ached and throbbed.
“Here! Pauldrons! This is the one that has healing magic on it, right?”
Friede suddenly thrust a dark gray pauldron at me. The ornate engravings were mostly worn away, leaving only faint traces on the shoulder armor.
It wasn’t in perfect condition, and while it wouldn’t restore shattered limbs in an instant, it still had…
“Thanks. I’ll make good use of it.”
The healing power of a novice priest was still left in it. Although it would take some time, it meant I could recover from wounds like cuts without an issue.
For fractures, it would probably take a few days to heal, and serious internal damage would be too slow, causing me to die helplessly.
As I was busy putting on the pauldron, Friede dug into her pocket and pulled out that damned shabby potion again, offering it to me.
“Use this too.”
The tone was almost commanding.
Her gaze allowed no room for refusal. The stern look on her face was even more resolute than when she mercilessly smashed a thief’s head.
“U-uh, okay. I’ll use it.”
I stuttered a bit as I accepted the potion and sprinkled it over my wounds.
—Chiiiiiik!
Ugh, ggrrrggg…!
Smoke oozed from the wounds. My teeth were clenched instinctively.
“Seriously, this hurts like hell…!”
To be honest, the pain now was almost five times worse than when I was cut. I could hardly tell if it was medicine or poison.
Adventurers often die when trying to heal serious wounds with low-quality potions due to their insufficient effectiveness, but perhaps it was because it was the shock that actually killed them?
If you poured this kind of medicine on someone with torn insides, even Jesus or Buddha would jump up and smack me saying there’s a devil here.
“…D-does it hurt a lot?”
Friede cautiously asked, looking at my face.
I couldn’t snap back that of course it hurt. I’m not that shameless to say something like that in front of someone worried about me.
“Ugh… well, it’s just a little… more like slightly stinging…”
So, I tried to smile and show off with bravado, hoping that a slight sting wouldn’t be too concerning.
“Is that so…?”
Friede nodded.
She didn’t look convinced by my bravado. After all, she’d used the potion a couple of times herself, so she likely knew exactly how painful it could be.
“Well then, you should be careful and not get hurt, right?”
“Uh…?”
A shadow fell over my face, damp with sweat.
As she leaned in closer, placing her hand on my shoulder, Friede smiled subtly while speaking again.
“If you don’t want to hurt, you should be careful, right?”
“U-uh, yeah…?”
I nodded awkwardly, a bit flustered. What’s with the obvious statement?
To avoid pain, I just need to avoid getting hurt. Isn’t that common sense?
“So, don’t get hurt, okay?”
Whether my answer satisfied her or if my expression looked funny.
Finally, the corner of Friede’s mouth lifted into a full smile as she released my shoulder.
“U-uh, yeah. I’ll do that.”
I replied a bit hesitantly.
It’s not like I wanted to get hurt, so what’s the point of saying that?
Is she telling me to fight better like the original Brunhilde…?
Well, she did get hurt quite a lot too, though she never let on.
◆◆
Afterward, we started taking out the Valkyries one by one more cautiously.
Thanks to my experience embodying the Eisenstein spear technique, perhaps my skills were beginning to catch up to the original Brunhilde’s level, allowing us to handle them far quicker than I had expected.
If things turned south again, it would mean back to square one, but when we focused on one, we could take them down in no time.
With each Valkyrie that Friede brought down, she seemed to be getting better at it, and I was too.
For me, it was less about getting the hang of things and more about my own specs steadily improving with each fight.
The gap wasn’t noticeable for the first two, but by the third one, I could clearly feel it.
With every Valkyrie I brought down, I realized that my Ice Heart and physical output were increasing. It felt like gaining strength through devouring kin.
It wasn’t that my output was doubling or anything, but I was content with how it was progressing.
After hunting down five more Valkyries, what I received was….
“No way, again with the grieves?”
Grieves, fail, grieves.
Surprisingly, every Valkyrie I defeated produced nothing but grieves repeatedly.
Honestly, all three pairs were disappointments.
What am I supposed to do with three pairs of grieves like I’m some sad centipede?
Since these were meant for Eisenstein, I couldn’t even equip them on Friede.
But I couldn’t just sell off the priceless manufactured gear, so they were painfully awkward trophy pieces.
“Um, please don’t be disappointed! There are gauntlets over here too!”
What’s even funnier?
I almost had no words for how ridiculous it was, but unlike me, Friede received new pieces of equipment every time she took down a Valkyrie.
First it was the pauldron. Now it was the gauntlet. At this rate, I bet the next thing would be a breastplate or helmet.
“Yeah… I mean, there are gauntlets…”
Faced with such an overwhelmingly stark contrast in luck, while putting on the gauntlets, I could only let out a hollow laugh.
According to the folklore of the original world, spear-wielding warriors generally had terrible luck, yet here I am, having never even held a spear, and look at this mess.
This was truly a mystery I couldn’t wrap my head around.
