“Heeheehee. So you’re planning to hand it over and then ask Jaldabaoth for a child?”
“Hmph, we’ve decided that I’ll deal with her. There’s no need for you to do anything.”
“―Begging to be bred by a demon? You make me sick.”
Remedios could not help blurting out what she really thought after hearing that exchange, and Nasrene turned to give Remedios an irritated look.
“So you don’t even understand what it means to bear the child of the supreme ruler… humans truly are moronic creatures.”
“Even Jaldabaoth-sama would lavish care on the species of his offspring, no? When you think about it, there’s a lot of advantages to being a woman, huh.”
“Oh yes. And if the father’s excellent blood could be passed down, the child that’s born might come close to ― no.” Vijar puffed up her chest. “Might even be able to bear children that surpass their father ― hm? Though you could consider me an exception too.”
These three demihumans did not act like they were feeling threatened despite being on the battlefield.
Remedios began to boil with anger as she watched them chatter idly.
“How dare you demihumans come here and spout nonsense? There’s no use thinking about a future you won’t have. I’ll crush your stupid dreams here. No, not just you, I mean all of you.”
“Heeheehee. Oooh, I’m soooooo scared.”
While Halisha looked like he was flailing his arms and legs around in panic, he was not actually afraid. That was because he was confident of victory even against an opponent like Remedios. It only served to displease Remedios even further.
Remedios shouted an order to the paladins, loud enough for the demihumans to hear.
“Listen up. This is a duel. I’ll fight Vijar. As for you―”
“I’ll take him on,” Sabicus said as he pointed to Halisha. “In that case, I’ll take that one on,” Esteban said as he walked in front of Nasrene.
“…Oya?…I’m not a warrior so I’m not too sure, but they’re pretty weak, aren’t they?”
“Heeheehee… who knows? Best not to be careless, Nasrene-dono.”
Remedios picked up Vijar snorting at her, and she roared, “Here I come!” He must have sensed that those paladins were weak. No good would come of letting him mention it.
The first strike was key. The militiamen were watching her from behind with bated breath; not only would it wipe away their unease, it would also let her opponent know that he was facing a worthy opponent. For these reasons, she had to make an unreserved blow with all of her might.
Remedios hacked down on Vijar, holding the holy sword in one hand.
In response, Vijar raised his massive battleaxe to intercept her blow.
Both sides collided, and the very air shuddered.
She could hear shouts from the militiamen behind her. There was no time to slowly determine if they were cheers or cries of panic. Her full power strike had been answered by a counterattack of equal force.
The weapons of both sides were undamaged from that exchange of evenly matched blows.
If someone had brought a mundane weapon to this intense clash, it would probably have been chipped or bent. In other words, Vijar was also wielding an enchanted weapon.
“Kuh!”
“Nuuu!”
Remedios’s next swing grazed Vijar’s upper body, sending forth a spray of blood. However, the battleaxe struck Remedios’s chest at the same time.
While her enchanted armor turned the battleaxe’s keen blade, the impact knocked the wind out of her, and it became hard to breathe.
In contrast to Remedios ― who had been knocked back by the blow ― Vijar roared and stepped forward, bringing his battleaxe down on her.
She did not have enough oxygen to counterattack. Remedios raised her holy sword high and gracefully deflected the battleaxe’s force. That hair-raising strike missed her by a few millimeters and slammed into the ground. So powerful was the hit that for a moment it felt like she was floating.
Remedios turned to face Vijar ― now defenseless because his battleaxe was buried in the ground ― and lunged in with her holy sword.
“「Strong Strike」!”
“「Fortress」!”
Having judged that he did not have the time to extricate a heavy weapon like his battleaxe, Vijar took one hand off its hilt and used it as a shield.
Vijar’s right arm spurted fresh blood.
However, the holy sword did not reach Vijar’s face. There were two reasons for that.
The first was because he had used a defensive martial art. The other was because Remedios’s arm was numb and could not exert its full strength.
In that case, she would simply force the holy sword that had already penetrated deeper in ― but then the intense pain racing up from Remedios’s leg froze her briefly in place.
The source of the pain was Vijar’s lower body; the forelimbs of his bestial body had swept across Remedios’s legs. Her greaves protected her from most of his razor-sharp claws, but one of them had still managed to slice her leg apart.
At that moment, the battleaxe was pulled free and rose up.
Remedios took a step towards Vijar to keep the battleaxe from moving. Just moving her leg filled her with agony.
“「Strong Strike」!”
“「Strong Claw」!”
As the holy sword stabbed in, Vijar deftly deflected it with his battleaxe.
In response, Remedios redirected the holy sword as it bounced away and guided it into a slash over the strengthened animal forelimb.
If Vijar backed off, Remedios would advance to close the distance between them.
They went back and forth several times, both sides using martial arts.
While neither side had sustained any mortal wounds, each round they fought sent blood splashing all around.
Remedios was certain that she had her opponent on the defensive.
If this keeps up, I’ll win!
Delight boiled up in her heart.
If she could defeat these three powerful demihumans, she could protect the people here. That way, they would regain their trust in the Holy Kingdom.
There’s no need for that undead being to show up!
Simply put, the difference between warriors and paladins was that warriors were offensive frontliners while paladins were defensive frontliners.
While it was hard to express in figures, one could say that a warrior’s attack rating was 11 and his defense was 9, while a paladin’s attack was 8 and his defense was 11. Needless to say, paladins could cast spells, but warriors could learn all sorts of martial arts, so it was impossible to make a simple comparison. Still, this was the easiest way to explain the situation to someone who knew nothing.
If the question was who would be better against a magic caster, the answer would be a paladin. Thanks to the protection of the gods, they boasted superior magic resistance compared to warriors. Therefore, if Nasrene had been a magic caster on the same level as Remedios, she would not have been much of a threat.
Next was Halisha, who was very likely to be a monk-type given his wargear and movements. Monks had the advantage against magic casters or thieves, but the reverse was true against paladins. For that reason, that monkey was not a frightening foe either.
Therefore―
If I can beat this Vijar, chances are high that I can slaughter all three of them.
Between “fighting Vijar after being worn down by previous fighting” and “fighting Vijar while unhurt,” the latter option promised better odds for her. Remedios had challenged Vijar based on that decision. There should not have been anything wrong with that decision. However, she had miscalculated―
“My my. Dead already?”
“Heeheehee. Same here.”
―Because the paladins fighting the other two were far too weak.