Vol 1 Chapter 26 – Berserker【Vol 1 – Spoiled Princess Arc】

“…Why? Erik’s wound, is it really that fatal?”

In stark contrast to Miriam, whose face had gone deathly pale, Debora remained relatively composed.

Still, seeing a knight she prided herself on calling her own so grievously injured, she was anything but calm inwardly.

However, even for a sheltered young lady like herself, she understood that it was strange for someone to die from a mere arrow to the abdomen.

“It’s poison, Ojou-sama.”

Not just Debora, but the others too must have been wondering.

Brecht began his explanation with glee.

“I coated the arrows with poison. A potent one, at that—the kind that can claim a life with just a scratch, y’know.”

“Poison, huh.”

Debora looked as though she understood.

For royalty, poison was a rather familiar threat—usually when they were the targets.

Thus, she showed no outward signs of overt shock.

“He’s got a bigger build than you, Ojou-sama, so it ain’t gonna be instant… but that’s probably rougher on him. He gets to really feel himself slowly dying while being tormented by excruciating pain, y’know.”

Brecht found nothing more amusing than this.

That irritating hypocrite had thrown himself into harm’s way to save others.

And as a price for that, he should be tasting hellish agony right about now.

Blood would be flowing out, his consciousness likely starting to cloud over.

Blood trickled not only from his mouth, but from his nose as well.

“W-We have to treat him, quickly…!”

Miriam dashed forward, intending to cast healing magic on Erik.

While ordinary healing mages might not be able to, her powerful healing magic was effective even against poisons.

However, Brecht wasn’t about to just stand by and let that happen.

“I ain’t lettin’ you heal him, moron!!”

“Ghh…!!”

Brecht swung his sword, lunging at Erik.

Though dazed, Erik desperately raised his own sword to fight back.

But, as expected, he was completely on the defensive.

If only the poison could be neutralized, he could probably defeat the one-armed Brecht. However, Miriam, lacking any combat experience, couldn’t enter the fray where the fierce close-quarters battle raged.

It might not even be called a battle…

Brecht was one-armed, Erik was poisoned—both carried handicaps, but the handicap of a deadly poison was far greater.

Of course, losing an arm was a severe injury, yet Brecht could still unleash a furious barrage of sword strikes.

Erik, on the other hand, was well and truly on the defensive.

Bleeding from his nose and mouth, he blocked the attacks.

Swaying…

The way his body yielded to each blow showed that the slightest misstep could easily cost Erik his life.

“What’s wrong?! Laugh, Berserker!! This is the kind of life-or-death battle you love, ain’t it?!”

Brecht continued to swing his sword with delight.

However, he was also feeling the strain.

Sweat slicked his face, a result of the excruciating pain and blood loss from his severed arm.

Besides, if he dawdled, the bandits would be dealt with, and the escort knights would come swarming.

If that happened, Brecht, in his current state, probably wouldn’t even be able to escape.

That’s why, while he still had the chance… he desperately wanted to kill Erik, that paragon of hypocrisy.

“Gettin’ pushed around by me, and I only got one arm! Ain’t ya ashamed, huh?! Hero-san!!”

“Ghh…!!”

They locked swords.Grind…

Though he only had one arm, Brecht was overpowering Erik.

However, in Erik’s case, merely staying conscious was something to be praised.

To then engage in fierce combat on top of that was, no matter how you sliced it, simply too cruel.

“Ughh…!!”

Slowly, Brecht’s sword bit into Erik’s shoulder.

It tore skin, and blood dripped.

“Hey, hey, you’re really gonna die, y’know? …Either way, you’ll die from the poison!”

“Guaaaah…!!”

Brecht moved his sword as if to gouge Erik’s shoulder.Dig, dig…

He sadistically watched Erik, who cried out in pained delight.

The reason Brecht was staying so excessively close was to avoid attacks from projectiles or magic.

Being this close, and with Erik swaying erratically from the poison, trying to hit only Brecht while avoiding Erik would be an incredibly difficult feat.

But that wasn’t all.

He wanted to see the suffering hypocrite right before his very eyes.

It was also due to such a twisted desire.

“Kuhahahahahahaha!! C’mon, suffer!! Your own damn creepy personality is what’s makin’ you go through all this pain right now, got it?!”

The sword dug further into his body.Scrape…

As Brecht stood at the peak of his ecstasy, Erik, who had been wearing an expression of pained joy,Softly…

smiled.

“Huh…? What’re you smilin’ at…?”

“As things are… it doesn’t look like I can win, you see. …So I’ve also resolved to sacrifice myself.”

Erik spoke, his words broken by poison and pain.

What was he planning to do?

Brecht, who had been looking suspicious,Hah!

Suddenly, it hit him.

Where he turned his gaze, there was Debora, his assassination target, generating a vortex of magical power.

“Y-You, are you an idiot?! If you take an explosion from the ‘Spoiled Princess’ this close, you won’t get away unscathed either, dammit!”

“I told you I was prepared.”

In contrast to Erik, whoSoftly…

smiled, Brecht’s face twisted in terror.

According to rumors, it was the ‘Spoiled Princess’s’ skill that had blast-killed scores of people.

If he were hit directly by that…

Even though he had approached Erik specifically to escape the ‘Explosion’ he feared most, was this man really going to sacrifice himself to defeat him?

“Okay, here it cooomes~”

Debora said this in an overly carefree tone. Her emotions were running high from seeing her knight injured.

It almost sounded as if she didn’t care much about Erik at all.

In fact, Miriam was frowning deeply.

However, this might also have been a sign of her trust in Erik, if you looked at it another way.

“Boom.”

Magical power rapidly converged between Erik and Brecht.

Brecht instantly tried to drop his sword and flee, but it was too late.

KABLAMMO!!

“Gahack!!”

Debora’s skill, ‘Explosion,’ activated, occurring right around chest height.

Brecht took damage from the impact and spat blood.

His body arched back dramatically, and he looked about to fall flat on his back onto the ground.

“A power-suppressed ‘Explosion’… It was the real deal right away, but it worked out surprisingly well, huh?”

Debora smiled brightly.Grin!

Her original ‘Explosion’ couldn’t be controlled in terms of power or scale.

It changed naturally according to the intensity of her emotions.

However, this time Debora intentionally limited its scale and power.

She, too, was growing through this current adventure.

A large part of this was likely due to the mental leeway she gained from obtaining her first ally in Erik.

“Not yet…!!”

Even while vomiting blood, Brecht maintained consciousness.

Because Debora had suppressed the ‘Explosion’s’ power, it hadn’t been enough to take his life.

Nevertheless, it had inflicted immense damage on Brecht, but he clung to consciousness with his formidable mental strength.

Erik must have been blown away by that explosion too.

No, he, who was clearly more grievously injured than Brecht, must be in greater mortal danger.I should use this explosion as a chance to escape now.

To hell with the request. My own life comes first.

“Wha–?!”

However, Brecht’s thoughts were utterly shattered by Erik, who emerged from the smoke.

He too must have taken damage from the explosion; he was bleeding from something other than the poison.

The pain and suffering must have been unimaginably intense.

But still, Erik advanced, a smile on his face.

“N-No way…!!”

What “Altruistic Charity Hero”?

What “hypocrite”?

This man… Erik… was a berserker who found supreme joy in taking his enemies’ lives, no matter how much he himself was hurt.

Could a man like this truly be called a Hero?

“Th-This damn berserker…!!”

A curse muttered with intense hatred.

Erik didn’t respond, simply swinging his sword.

Brecht, whose stance had been broken by the explosion’s impact, couldn’t use his arm as a shield again, and his head was cut clean off.