A Maiden’s Unwanted Heroic Epic

Chapter 185: Virtuous Murderer

***Arc 8 One Who Spread Death, Chapter 185 Virtuous Murderer***

Magic crystal is a crystalline body of magical power.

Naturally, it itself possessed magical power that was incomparable to ordinary substances.

Magic crystals are used for a variety of purposes in this world, such as Everlasting Magic Lights, water conduit pipes, and cooking utensils for heating and cooling, but when used in this way, they’re only used as a medium for magic formula.

It does not use the magical power hidden within the magic crystal itself, but merely serves as a converter that transforms the magical power the caster has put into various forms.

So, how much power can be demonstrated by using the magical power of the magic crystal itself?

That was the concept, and Krische had carved out a formula for that purpose.

What that formula causes is the collapse of the crystal structure that makes a magic crystal a magic crystal.

It was really simple in words.

“Hmm, about 1,300 people huh. About 4 people get caught up in one shot... Well, a cheap one will be like this. It wasn't good that they were scattered a little. The angle of the griffin when it was dropped was more slanted than expected...”

Looking down at the battlefield from high in the sky, the girl said dissatisfied.

She and all the other fifty-nine people aboard the Griffin watched their results, but not a single one screamed with joy.

Everyone was stunned and speechless at the terrible sight.

They had received explanations about how to use it, and they understood the phenomena and consequences it caused.

However, when they look at the actual results, it was beyond imagination.

"Seems Krische need to think a little more about the size of the metal pieces. And it doesn’t seem good enough against heavy infantry. Well, it's a hastily made product that prioritized numbers..."

Alberinea narrows her eyes as she calmly commented on the results, saying things like, ‘Krische’s glad we were able to take out the War Lion Commander’.

“Vinthril, keep moving west. We’ll drop the rest on the adjacent battle line.”

“....Ha.”

Vinthril answered in a somewhat stiff voice.

He had imagined what a battlefield would be like, and he understand her methods.

One-sided, without suffering any damage.

That's what hunting is like, and that's what fighting is like.

One-sided surprise attacks and attacks from the air――that's how the Griffin Cavalry operated since ancient times, and what she did was not at all a deviation from that practice.

Even though he knew that, however.

He couldn't swallow all the emotions that arose in one breath.

ly

However, he had to accept this as well.

Vinthril felt something buzzing in his chest and tried to swallow it.

At the very least, that was the war that Alberinea, that equaled Dragon, Krische Christand painted.

Although the Kilrea army was pushed back, they desperately withstood the onslaught of the Garhka army.

The destruction of Gulshan's right wing was noticed by almost everyone except those fighting in the front row.

The same goes for Dazzle, who was in the back row of the Kilrea army's battle line――behind War Lion Commander Keenia.

Deep down, he wanted to be freed from this fear and to escape, but he remained here because he had no friends who would run away from this battle line.

‘Why did I volunteer for this recruitment?’

Although he strongly regretted this, he raised his voice and held his heart to respond to the words of the centurion and company commander.

If he had not raised his voice, he would not have been able to stand.

The brutal deaths of Alcazaris and the war elephants could be seen from there.

He could hear the cheers of his enemies and the screams of his allies.

Even Dazzle who was a common soldier, realized that the original plan to crush Alberan with an unprecedented force has ended in failure.

The commanders raised their voices and telling Dazzle and the others to not be afraid.

He honestly told them that Alberan's army was stronger than they expected, and on top of that, he repeated over and over again to Dazzle and the others that they still had the upper hand.

‘The other party is 50,000 and we’re 100,000, remember the difference in numbers.’

Indeed, as they said, they still had the advantage of numbers.

Dazzle desperately tried to convince himself that they had just been pushed back at the initial attack.

Despite this situation, the War Lion Commander Kenia in front of Dazzle was showing strong command.

On the contrary, he even has the leeway to show his adjutants and guards a manly smile, and seeing that makes Dazzle's fear somewhat lessened.

Furthermore, the area in front, the front row, hadn't collapsed, so he thought it might be okay somehow――

“...U-g...what hap...?”

Dazzle manages to raise his fallen body and crawled onto all fours.

For a moment, he was unconscious. It seems he had been lying in a puddle. Every part of his body ached.

The colors faded from his vision, swaying and blurring.

He wondered what had happened, and retraced his memory of what had just happened.

‘――Up, look up!’

With such a voice, dozens of beasts jumped up from the fortified city of Nakria in the east.

While holding up a black flag――those with good eyesight could tell that Alberinea was riding on it.

Everyone thought that they were trying to attack the main camp, and the tension increased.

However, riding on flying beasts, they did not head towards the main forces of Kilrea and Orugan in the rear, but instead began to form strange formations in the sky above Garhka's battle lines.

Two columns in the air, no one knows what their intentions were.

After a while, they began to drop countless things――Maybe due to the wind, one of them flowed right in front of a squad leader who was standing in front of Dazzle, glowing blue.

――The next moment, the sound of countless roars echoed through the air.

As if sorting through his memory, he recalled what had happened just before, and then searched for the appearance of what should have been there.

The squad leader who was supposed to be in front of him was not there.

Next, he tilted his head at the sensation that shouldn't have happened.

‘What on earth is this puddle? The ground should have been dry.’

His right hand feels sticky as he crawls on all fours.

It was more of a sticky liquid than water.

Touching something soft, he picked it up.

His eyes, which had lost their color, finally regained their normal sight.

It was flesh-colored, pink colored――something long.

It was wet and slimy, and for a moment he didn’t realize what it was.

If Dazzle was a butcher, then that would be familiar.

However, Dazzle wasn't a butcher, and although he knew what it looked like after being processed, it was only as an ingredient called ‘sausage’.

“Hi――!?"

What was lying in front of him was the squad leader with a shredded torso.

He jumped up in a panic, fell on his buttocks, and waved his arms as he realized the identity of what he was holding onto.

However, a part of the squad leader clung to his arm as if entangled in it.

With an unintelligible voice, Dazzle whole body flailed about.

Unaware of the simple solution of grabbing it with his left hand and removing it, he continued to scream, spraying blood and intestinal contents all around him.

Even when he finally freed himself from it, his body did not stop shaking.

The scene from earlier did not return, and he finally turned his attention to my surroundings――to see if anyone was there.

Most of those around him were either lying on the ground, screaming and rolling around like Dazzle, or laughing maniacally.

He could hear voices yelling for them to calm down and get in line, but they were few and far between.

When he looked, he noticed that the War Lion Commander who was in front of Dazzle and the other was not even there.

Even the flag bearers, who if they lose the banner would be considered a crime punishable by death, were seen to have let go of their banners and were crouching――or rather, their hands and feet had fallen to the ground, shredded to pieces.

And some of the comrades-in-arms lying around were likewise motionless, either missing a limb or with countless metal shards sticking out of their bodies.

Those who got up, like Dazzle, looked around in a daze, as if they did not know what had happened.

There was no sound from the battle line in front of them.

Some of them fell down like Dazzle and the others, or stopped fighting and looked back at them.

The voices of the allies――no, not even the sound of the enemies could be heard.

No cheers, no battle cries, no screams.

The battlefield music of clashing steel was gone from the surroundings.

It seemed even more eerie, and he dragged his body backward, urinating from the fright that had arisen.

His right hand touched his helmet, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a heroic helmet in the shape of a unicorn.

Seeing the helmet of the War Lion Commander, he hurriedly called out to him.

“War Lion Commander”

War Lion Commander Keenya was a veteran who fought through the civil war under Orugan.

He remembered the relaxed smile he had on his face a few moments ago and tried to hang on to it.

“Wake up――”

However, the helmet he touched to shake him up rolled away without any resistance.

It was not only the helmet, but also the 'contents', but that was all.

The heroic armor was not connected to it, and Keenya’s well-groomed, manly face was not there, but what was there was the normally invisible ‘inside’ of the War Lion Commander.

The reason that had just barely kept Dazzle together was broken.

――The magic crystal's magic power runs out of control, and the explosion it causes scattered the metal fragments all around it.

The creator of this simple and straightforward weapon had given it a ridiculous name such as "Bonjara," but no one would believe it.

It covered a three-ken area as its killing range and efficiently spread death――a weapon filled with malice that wiped out part of the battle line in just a moment, leaving it in ruins.

At least in the history of war between people in this world, there has never been a case of more instantaneous slaughter than that.

The sight was confusing not only to Gulshan's army but also to Garhka's army.

The force of the death that was unilaterally and haphazardly sprayed over their heads was beyond their common sense.

Even the men who were clashing blades directly with the enemy stopped their fighting due to the roar that echoed and the rain of blood and pieces of flesh, and stared dumbfounded at the rear of Kilrea's line.

They have also heard that they will be supported by Alberinea's new weapon just before the battle begins.

Taking that as a signal, they began an assault――the order was to break through the disorganized enemy lines, but even their commanders were unable to give an order for an assault and remained rigid.

Again, something was dropped to their west.

It emits blue light and made a roaring sound.

Human body parts flew up into the sky again, and a red mist and a rain of fresh flesh and blood fell down.

It was a scene that completely lost any sense of reality.

The soldiers stared at it in shock,

“――What are you doing!!’

A trumpet and a shout sounded from behind.

"The enemy line is in disarray! Advance!!"

It was the voice of the general who appeared in the front row――Dougleen Garhka.

They regain their senses as they hear the sound of the great ax wielded by that powerful arm.

The same goes for the Gulshan soldiers.

They finally understood their situation and saw the enemy approaching.

Finally, they were allowed to scream and run away.

The second explosions――the blood and flesh of the soldiers were scattered.

Just like Elkar's right wing, some of the soldiers were running away.

With a roar, the enemy soldiers thrust their spears at the soldiers whose backs were turned, or slash them to death.

Leading the way was Dougleen Garhka holding a huge ax.

“…No way, are they.”

――Finally, Kilrea understood everything.

It wasn't a surprise attack on the main camp with a one-point breakthrough, as he had originally thought.

Overwhelming an army of over 100,000 with a small force of less than 50,000――the enemy's goal was a bold, all-out breakthrough.

There was no distinction between right wing and left wing.

It was not a question of which one was the main attack or anything like that.

Alberinea overwhelms and defeats Gulshan, who doubles the number from the front.

This was such a performance since the start――looking to the aftermath of the war.

If they could have carried out such a bombardment, they could have targeted Orugan main camp since the start.

That would have won the battle.

Even so, they dared to target Kilrea's lines in order to obtain a complete and utter victory.

Alberinea was not only confident of victory.

She even had the room chose the way to win.

In the situation of simultaneous invasion of three countries, with only a small number of soldiers against Gulshan's full power.

Kilrea felt a chill run down his spine.

It's natural for a commander to aim for a beautiful victory――but who would have imagined that the opponent would even be thinking of something like that in this situation?

Alberinea made Elkar dead.

However, the goal was not simply to breakthrough, but to steal the general from the country of Gulshan.

If she then defeated Kilrea, and on top of that, Orugan’s main camp fell――for several decades after the war, she thoroughly crushed Gulshan so that they would not be able to stand against Alberan.

Alberinea's role was not to serve as a shield against the simultaneous invasion of three countries.

She was a sword

――It was a blade that Queen Alberan aimed in order to inflict a fatal wound on the country itself.

“Like hell, I would let you......!"

It was a mockery, a defilement, a trampling.

It was a taunt.

Kilrea and the other would shoulder a stigma even in the far future.

The honors and valor they have gained all would be lost.

They would be written on an unforgettable record as the hubristic fools who challenged Alberinea.

As incompetent people who pride themselves on numbers, they would be laughed at until the end of time.

Alberinea, who had been watching the line of battle ahead from the sky for some time, was convinced that Garhka had broken through.

She then turned toward him and passed over their heads to the rear of Kilrea's main line.

And at the same time, Kilrea screamed as he saw something being dropped from Alberinea and the other beasts in the lead.

"――You can throw down the flag!! Everyone, lay on the ground!!"

As fast as he could say it, Kilrea jumped off the elephant and laid down on the ground.

A countermeasures thought of in an instant.

Was that judgment correct? ――It was half a gamble.

That thing from Alberinea intentionally causes explosions.

The principle behind it was unknown, and the power was unimaginable considering its size, but it seemed the most effective way to avoid the destruction it caused was to minimize the exposed area.

“...!!”

And that was a wise decision.

The blue light that directly hit Kilrea's main camp scattered destruction, and many of them passed directly above Kilrea.

Half of Kilrea's elite, with their excellent judgment, crouched at the sound of his voice and survived the predicament, but it was a spur-of-the-moment voice.

The remaining half of them turned into mute lumps of meat, and died without a chance to display their well-trained abilities.

At most 40 of it fell there.

The bombs were aimed at the main camp, so in terms of pure damage, the losses were not that great.

However, the presence of the flag lost from the main camp along with the bombing was significant, and from the front, the Garhka had succeeded in halfway breaking through the battle line.

The lee-way that existed in Kilrea's main camp had now completely disappeared.

“――――!!!!!”

The piece of metal that stuck through the gap in the armor wasn't a big deal, but

“Shit!!”

Kilrea screamed when he saw the war elephant he was riding go wild.

It didn't have enough power to kill an elephant.

However, it was enough to cause countless scars on its body.

The elephant panicked at the overlapping sound of the roar and the pain. While shaking off the riders who had managed to survive, it began to overrun the front――the main battle line from the rear.

In this battle, the elephant's first and last attempt to overrun the main battle line resulted in the crushing of its allies.

The battle lines of the allies were suddenly reaped by the overwhelming violence of the war elephant, which had suddenly bared its fangs.

Behind Kilrea, the Griffin cavalry, including Alberinea, had begun to land with ease.

And Alberinea, her silver hair swaying, had already raised her spear in the opposite hand.

The movement was so graceful that it could be described as flowing, even though it took only a moment to complete.

She charged in earlier than anyone else, closing the gap before anyone else.

――What was released was, of course, an extraordinary magic spear that crushed even the air.

“Hg, Kilrea-sama!”

Prepared to die when the young girl charged, the brave adjutant Orka saved Kilrea.

Immediately, he jumped Kilrea's unsteady body from the side,

“O-Orka!?”

And as he rolled over, Kilrea quickly looked over to see that all that was left was his lower body.

The entire steel armor burst apart and scattered, sending up a mist of blood from the waist up, and the remaining part of the armor sank into the earth as if crumbling.

The spears killed a man, shattered the steel armor, and still did not stop.

It pierced the wall of flesh of the soldier in front of Kilrea's main camp from behind, and even the fragments of their armor mass-produced death.

The lance of the black-painted armor that completely overwhelmed and shattered Elkar's initial movement.

But that was only child's play in the face of this.

The spear that Alberinea unleashes destroys and lays waste to anything that stands in front of it.

――It was truly a blow of the Absolute.

A heretic who stares at the battlefield as if she herself is a God.

She was the ultimate genius who tramples on all efforts and wills, and looks down on others as if it was only natural.

Alberinea was not a word that referred to a person.

It was a unique name that signified something that was beyond humans.

"hg――Protect the general!!"

She unleashed violence, rolled over performing ukemi, and moved forward with her body as if sinking.

A dozen soldiers danced out in front of Alberinea.

They were the elite of the main camp escort, who had survived the earlier bombing and had not yet lost their will to fight.

However, their contact with Alberinea was fleeting.

Three sword flashes flash, and three of them fall, blood spurting from their necks.

Silver hair that naturally peek out.

Kilrea unconsciously pulled out his curved sword.

The curved, sharp sword was thin and light for use on the battlefield――but it killed over 100 enemies with it.

It passed through gaps in armor without distortion of the sword's line.

Kilrea, who could be said to be a master of curved swordsmanship, has no prey that was so familiar to him.

He took pride in being able to aim for the gaps even if his opponent was covered in armor.

His absolute trust in his own sword skills was what allows him to be reckless on this battlefield.

“I won’t let you?!!”

In her right hand was a curved sword, and she did not even wear armor, and her cloak draped over her body.

Alberinea's long, graceful silver hair is tied up and swept away.

No one would snag her cloak, no one would grab her by the hair, much less hurt her.

An abnormal person who brings recklessness to a battlefield full of chaos and easily executes it.

She was similar to Kilrea, but she had even crossed a line that should not be crossed.

It was beyond arrogance, it was blasphemy against the opposing warrior.

Closing the distance from her from five to three, she swung the curved sword in her right hand in a horizontal sweep.

A thin blade――The fastest flash was unleashed.

Kilrea matched it with a counterattack from the reverse kesa.

Alberinea's blade will surely take his own life――knowing that, aim after her.

Even if his neck was torn open, he was sure to cut her down with his sword and inflict serious injury on her.

"ts――!?"

However, the girl's sword moved strangely.

With her next step, she completely crushes the distance, and just before she cut Kilrea's head with her right blade――she defied inertia and swung the tip of her sword in the exact opposite direction.

Before Kilrea's swung blade reaches sufficient speed, she strikes it from the side with the back of her curved sword.

――She overwhelmed Kilrea with her mastery of magic manipulation, imaginary muscles.

From her toes to the tips of her fingers.

The human anatomy of the body is such that there is always a distortion of muscular strength.

The dominant arm can exert 100, but the left arm can exert only 80. Such imbalances always create habits in the human body and further bias the muscular strength.

If the swing down is 100, the swing up is only 60, and if the right cleave is 90, the left cleave is 70――80 at best overall.

That is, so to speak, the limit of a living being.

But for Krische, who controlled her own body entirely with magic, human is like a puppet with only joints.

Optimize imaginary muscles for each movement and transform it into the ideal body.

For spear throwing, specialized muscles were used.

When kicking a person to death, muscles specialized for that.

When tearing the flesh of the neck, use specialized muscles.

Her body was fluid and constantly reshaped and optimized by magical power, causing every movement she performs to produce 100 results that would otherwise be impossible.

Just before she struck Kilrea in the neck with the curved sword, she transformed the imaginary muscles that controlled her into the exact opposite――and swung the curved sword in the opposite direction.

The blade was swung by a force of 100, and the inertia acting on it was defeated by the same force of 100, and before it could overcome its speed, it deflected Kilrea's curved sword.

"Ah――"

And the blade that her left hand pulled out from her waist was also swung with 100 power.

Krische’s body had already changed into one that could only be used to decapitate Kilrea with her left curved sword.

Kilrea was one of the best swordsmen in this world, one who could be called a master.

Although he was not particularly tall, he had long limbs, possessed excellent magical power, and possessed skills befitting the name of a master swordsman.

His specialty, reverse kesa, was even better than Krische’s in terms of its cutting edge and maximum sword speed.

At one point over the course of his decades, he had reached the limit of what his body could produce――very close to it.

But in front of her, it was just a fact.

Even if he could win a sword-speed contest at one point, his opponent was someone beyond human who would win at everything else.

She observes with her thoughts speed that transcend even time, takes advantage, takes the initiative, makes her opponent's victory disappear, and wins as a matter of course where she can win.

Alberinea is an incarnation of unparalleled skill in warfare, and metamorphose into infinite variety.

She was not an opponent that a mere master can defeat, but rather a transcendent who did not even let her opponent step on her shadow.

Therefore, the swordsman Kilrea had no choice but to watch the reality of his own neck being torn from the middle.

There was no surprise at the beautiful monster that tore his neck.

The jewel-like purple color was open, and she looked at it inorganically.

Then she kicks the body away.

Without even a drop of the gushing blood on her.

She was the only pure thing on the battlefield where flesh and blood is scattered.

――It was a heresy that untouchable by man, equaling God.

"Hmm, it feels similar to when Krische first used it. The weight distribution is very good."

Krische brushes off the blood from her left sword, “Heavy One”, and smiled with satisfaction as she looks at the undisturbed blade.

It's true that the blade was harder than the “Light One” right sword she's been using, and the wear and tear was minimal――almost non-existent.

If it's a simple sharpness, the “Light One” that has completely thinned out was better, but unlike the “Light One” whose sharpness becomes obviously dull after killing dozens of people, if it's like this, even two or three hundred people wouldn’t be a problem.

The same was true of the wear and tear on the blade after killing one person, but thanks to its weight, there would be no problem even if the sharpness dulled a little.

When she looked behind her and saw Kilrea's men who had jumped out as escorts being killed by the Griffin Cavalry and Kalua, she thought her job was done.

She carefully wiped the two swords with Kilrea's dead body's pants and sheathed them.

Holding Kilrea's curved sword, which had fallen to the ground, she sever Kilrea's neck, which had been cut half-way.

"Ah, this one might be quite sharp as well. Should Krische use it for a while?"

As she said that, she started walking, picked up Gulshan's flag that had fallen to pieces from the blast, and stuck it to the ground so it could be clearly seen by the surrounding area.

She grabbed Kilrea's head, jumped up and down, and stabbed it in the neck with the tip of the flag.

The adorable girl was innocently working on her exposed head.

"Hmph, it looks like this. Oh no, maybe Krische should have shown it to Vice-Chancellor Orugan firt instead..."

The extraordinary spear that killed Alcazaris.

Even those was behind the lines and didn't actually witness it, knew who had fired it.

She was demonstrating it with her hands earlier.

On top of that, she slashed at the enemy's main camp alone, leaving the elite behind, and easily killed the famous swordsman Kilrea.

Right now, right in front of them, she was playing with the neck of the general who led them.

Fear from the eeriness rose before anger, and instinct forced them to remain still.

No one could stop her or move while she did so.

It was so natural that it seemed all the more seamless.

She was calmly playing with the general's neck in enemy territory, acting like she was preparing for a festival.

“B-basta...!!”

One of the escorts, who had lost their arm in the explosion and was knocked unconscious, wakes up.

He stumbled to his feet and glared at the girl with hateful eyes.

“――!?”

"Geez. You shouldn’t wake up."

With the sound of fluent Shaan language.

Her sharp curved sword vividly scraped the flesh of his neck.

The girl then kicks the man's body, causing him to fall.

After a moment's delay, blood gushes out, and the girl was not even bathed in blood.

"..."

They realized that she was simply doing this because she didn't want to be stained with blood, and their body trembled quietly.

It was beyond their comprehension that a person could avoid being bathed in blood on the battlefield.

Looking at the gaze of the soldiers in the back row of Kilrea's headquarters, the girl raised her finger.

“Krische, doesn't particularly like killing people senselessly. The battle here is mostly over, and those who understand should throw away their swords and run over there.”

Krische pointed his finger toward the west――the sea of trees.

"If you do that, General Garhka won't come after you and kill you, and the same goes for Krische. After the battle is over, Krische promise to treat you as prisoners of war in accordance with the Holy Spirit Covenant."

And behind Krische, who said that, the elite in black armor gathered, and above their heads, the griffins were once again looking down at them from the sky.

"――Or maybe is the demonstration is not enough yet?"

The only beautiful girl on the battlefield tilted her head as if troubled, fingertips to her lips.

The inorganic purple shone coldly, as if she were a made-up doll.

Ahead of them, the vanguard screamed as the Garhka charged.

Behind them was a mad monster girl.

Directly under the main camp――no matter how brave the soldiers were, they were only human and had their limits.

"Ah, ah..."

"Wait! Don't disturb the formation!!"

The commander, who could not even give orders, raised their voices to avenge the general.

The soldiers ignored it, throw down their swords, scream, and run west.

The innocent demon purple looks at it with satisfaction, and throws her dagger that she picked up at the noisy centurion's neck.

The screams caused more waves.

“Ugeh...what did you say?”

"Krische, doesn't like killing people, so Krische won't kill you if you run away."

Kalua looked at Krische exasperated and looked at the devastation around.

A ferocious bomb, pieces of flesh scattered by javelin, and the head of an enemy general stuck against a flag.

Her words were true, but she was an existence that was far from that truth.

"Usa-chan is such a good girl...Onee-san, like the fact that Usa-chan is a bit sick in the head."

“Mu… sick?”

"Oh no, I mean Usa-chan is such a good girl that she looks sick. Mia――"

“I didn’t say anything!”

She killed people mercilessly and cruelly in order to keep the number of deaths to a minimum.

She didn’t shy away from showing off, she's ruthless, and the efficiency she seek was only based on numbers.

――She was a virtuous murderer.

It was something that should be called a distortion, created by the crazy world of the battlefield.