Run away! I almost lost my leg there! If it weren’t for the fact that Durandal fought me with a spear in all our spars, I probably wouldn’t have been able to react to that strike. Durandal’s foresight is amazing. I wonder how I’d fare against a sword user…. Anyways, it seems like I’ve finally been tracked down. And by the Sixth Prince, the man known as the training freak. Why the heck did he leave his room? I thought he was a one of those people who never left their rooms except to eat and use the bathroom. I’ve only heard rumors about him from the army members. Whenever the generals had to spar against him, they always had a bad mood when commanding the army, which, of course, led to bad moods from everyone all around. It’s all his fault I suffered in the army! I should beat him up! …But he has a spirit weapon, and Durandal’s out of commission. Fine. Guess I’ll just have to keep running. And I forgot to gather those super rare corpses of the not humans before I left. Oops.

But this is a really big problem, isn’t it? If the prince is chasing me, the royal family has to know about Durandal’s existence. Gah! Stupid Snow! Why’d you have to betray me at a time like this!? Couldn’t you have waited, you bastard? I have to get stronger, a lot stronger if I want to survive. I’m lucky it was the Sixth Prince that chased after me and not the others. I’ve heard the First Prince is a sixth circle magician, which would’ve been a lot harder to deal with than Lan. I guess Lan and I are pretty similar, huh?

“Snow. Flopsy! Get back here!”

Gah! Didn’t I launch him really far away!? How did he catch up so quickly? Haste! …Darn. My magical tools still aren’t working. How much of the surrounding mana did I use up while dismantling those bodies?

“Gae! Chase her down!”

Large crashing noises came from behind me. Eep! Run faster legs, run faster! Let’s use a bone engraved with speed while I’m at it. I almost forgot I had these. Maybe I should continue wearing them around my body so I never forget. A large boulder flew past my head and crashed into a tree, breaking the trunk and causing it to topple over. What the heck!? If that hit my head, I definitely would’ve died. I peeked behind myself and saw a rabid wolfman lunging after me on all fours.

“Gah! Breaking Blade!” The lunging wolfman collided against my sword with the spear he held in his mouth. How strong is his jaw? Isn’t that a bit too excessive? I could see his eyes widen as a shockwave rippled outwards, blowing away the dirt and pebbles by my feet. Then, he flew into the air much like Lan had when I struck his spear.

“Gae! Return!” The wolfman’s body disappeared midflight as Lan continued to run after me. Why was a human so fast? He was almost as fast as me! But I suppose princes get all the resources required to raise them. While I only started to use beast cores when I obtained Durandal, the Sixth Prince was probably eating them right out of the womb. That’s not fair. “Gae! Chase her down!”

Doesn’t he get tired of repeating the same commands? Jeez. The wolfman sprung out of his spear and lunged towards me again like a hound chasing a hare. “Breaking Blade!”

Our weapons collided once again and he was launched—“Gae! Return! Gae! Chase her down!”—and instantly lunging at me again. What the hell is this infinite respawn cheat!?

Try respawning after I break your face! “Breaking Blade!” I avoided the wolfman’s spear and struck towards his face. He turned his head away and my blade collided with the shaft of the spear in his mouth. This time, my sword cut deep into his shoulder after forcing his spear back. Suck it! That should definitely slow his respawn time.

“Path of the spear: 1,000 Talons!”

Gah! Lan caught up while I was dealing with his stupid spirit! My vision was filled with hundreds of spearheads flying towards me, each one attacking from a different angle. Durandal’s training never prepared me for this! “Barrier!”

…And there was still no mana in the vicinity to use my magical bracelet. I’m throwing these stupid dismantling and barbequing rings away! I did my best to block the strikes while retreating, lowering mini-DalDal’s weight to maneuver it as fast as possible, but dozens of cuts appeared on my skin and dress. Dammit! I liked this dress too. At least I’m able to keep my vital spots safe. Durandal drilled protecting my organs and joints into me through lots of pain and head pats. I can’t disappoint him!

Lan’s expression turned fierce like a constipated tiger as he stopped his attacks. “Path of the spear: Mirage Thrusts!” His spear disappeared and reappeared in front of my face.

“Not the face!” I barely managed to avoid it while shouting. What kind of prince was he!? Doesn’t he know a woman’s most important part is her face!? This bastard…. I didn’t even do anything to you except kill your brother! …Which is pretty bad I guess, but it was totally Durandal’s fault. Speaking of Durandal, can he please deus ex machina and save my ass sometime soon?

No.

Dammit, Durandal! Don’t answer me when you’re supposed to be asleep! What other attacks do I have? “Long-ranged qi blade!” I fired a blade of qi towards Lan, but his weapon spirit lunged forward and absorbed it with his chest. A bloody line appeared, and his shoulder hadn’t even recovered, but he didn’t seem hurt at all. The wolfman’s eyes were red and staring at me and—gah! Another invisible spear to the face! “W-wait, dammit! What do you want from me!?”

“Stop resisting arrest!” Lan shouted and stabbed another vanishing spear strike at me.

Arrest!? You’re trying to kill me! “I’m resisting my death!”

“Then die peacefully!”

Fuck. My shoulder. Why did he aim there when the last three strikes were at my face? A hole in my shoulder dripped blood as my left arm went limp. The wolfman lunged at me, stabbing his spear towards my chest. I barely managed to block it with mini-DalDal, raising its weight to my limit of 13 tons. The wolfman bounced off the sword, but he also knocked me off my feet. Damn. This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. Consume a bone of strength to recover!

Oddly enough, Lan didn’t stop me from using a consumable. Instead, he ran over to his weapon spirit and poured a red liquid onto the spirit’s wounds. …Well, I guess I’m not the only one with recovery items. “Can we, uh, talk about this?”

“I don’t trust savages!” Lan’s voice rose as he thrust forward with his spear. Kuh, why is his range so much longer than mine? It’s not fair at all. I can’t win if I can’t hurt him…, then I just have to get close?

Dammit. I really didn’t want to do this. “Unrelenting path of slaughter!”