Chapter 101: Hilda VS Soldier Predicament [2]

Nadia quickly knelt down and yanked a large object out from under the rubble.

After patting away the greyish dust, what was revealed was a brown bag — a satchel, to be exact — and it didn’t appear to be empty either.

Nadia gulped with a hopeful look in her eyes. ’Talismans, please be in it!’

Without wasting any more time, Nadia opened the bag and reached into it. After a few seconds of rummaging around, she cursed silently. ’It’s not in here!’

Even when she dumped everything out, all she found were random small objects and rubbish inside. Whoever owned this bag before must’ve thrown out the Talismans because they were taking up space!

She gritted her teeth and stood up, holding up the bag for everyone to see.

"Everyone! Help me find bags like these hidden under the rubble!"

...

BOOM.

After collapsing an entire district of buildings, the two of them returned to the ruins, their bodies still locked together in close combat.

After managing to distance herself, Hilda picked up a rusty metal chain — long enough to cover a dozen metres — and whipped it toward the Predicament. She then withdrew a sharp metal rod from her Inventory.

The Soldier raised an arm and blocked the chain, then watched as the chain quickly wrapped around its forearm.

As it was about to scratch it off, it felt a strong yank from the chain, followed by a sharp pain in one of its eyes.

Hilda, having used the chain as a grapple, plunged the metal rod into its eye as she flew past its head. Then, with a firm grip still on the chain, she kicked off the ground when she landed and swung around the Predicament.

When she had now circled back to its front, she pounced up and spun mid-air, allowing her to land a powerful drop kick—

’{Force}!’

BAM!

—On the bottom of the Soldier’s chin.

The Soldier was lifted a few metres off the ground, visibly dazed. When it landed back on its feet, it stumbled several steps back before getting its bearings.

Hilda landed a few metres away, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down her face, mixing with the blood. It had been a while since she was pushed this far.

She wiped off her sweat. ’I only have around a third of my Vitality left...’

As exhilarating as this battle was, she couldn’t keep up her current momentum forever. She needed something else — something that would leave lasting damage on the Predicament...

As Hilda pondered a solution, she watched as the Predicament did something unexpected...

Something even she wouldn’t have considered.

After pulling the metal rod out of its eye, it readjusted its posture and...

Stood on two legs.

Its previous height of 6 metres had now been increased to roughly 9 metres with its change in posture.

Hilda widened her eyes when this happened and shook. She then began to laugh nervously. "Haha, that’s insane...!"

Although she sounded flustered and hesitant...

Badump! Badump! Badump!

The widening of her grin seemed to suggest otherwise.

Hilda placed a hand over her chest and savoured the suffocating sensation of her rapidly beating Heart.

She felt her blood rush through her veins and couldn’t help but briefly reminisce about an encounter that occurred a year ago.

"Ah... this excitement..."

It was a type of sensation you could only get from facing Predicaments!

After experiencing all of this in a few seconds, Hilda took a martial stance; her fists clenched and raised in front of her.

By now, she had exhausted all of the metal rods in her Inventory — the one she had just used earlier was her last — along with all the stray weapons and materials found on the ground.

Although there was one left. The clock hand.

Unfortunately...

’I doubt this Predicament will let me go look for it.’ She snickered inside.

The second she finished that thought—

"Hm?"

—She noticed the Soldier did something odd.

She watched as it gently swung its arms and spread its legs, as if adjusting to something.

Before she knew it, the Predicament had crudely mimicked her stance; its fists clenched like hers, and its legs positioned similarly to hers. It seemed that the two had been fighting long enough that it had begun adapting her way of fighting into its own.

"Hahaha, how disgusting!" Hilda laughed wickedly.

After a second of silence, the two rushed in and...

BAM!

Clashed.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Fists against fists. Legs against legs. The two were closely matched in strength and were relentless in their attacks. Every time they clashed, a powerful gust of wind boomed out.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Blood dripped out of the corners of Hilda’s mouth. Plating began to shatter and break off the Soldier’s body, eventually coughing up blood.

It was obvious that the two were locked in a fierce deadlock — neither willing to bend the knee to the other, no matter how many attacks they endured.

...

Unfortunately...

That wasn’t going to last long.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Crack—!

Under the stress and intensity, the bones in Hilda’s forearms had begun to crack, struggling to withstand the continuous force applied to them.

Hilda winced slightly at the pain, but continued with her attacks, unrelenting and without complaint. Because even if the odds were stacked against her...

"HILDA!"

Her Heart had yet to give up.

In the corner of her eye, Hilda watched as Nadia hurled something in her direction — something that caused her eyes to widen when she realised what it was.

’Talismans!’

Predicting that they were about to fly over them, she quickly rushed towards the Soldier, who was readying an attack.

SWOOSH.

She dodged its swing, the wind brushing against her cheek, then hurriedly climbed onto its huge forearm before leaping towards its head and stomping on it.

After doing that, she jumped high into the air and reached out, catching a bundled stack of yellowish-green paper slips.

Her eyes then half-closed. ’What a blessing...’

As she fell back down, she slipped one of the Talismans out and placed it between her fingers. Then, after shaping her hand into a gun, she flipped around and aimed down at the Predicament, who was now looking up at her.

With the Talisman aimed straight at the Predicament, Hilda quickly imbued the paperslip with her Vitality. And when she finished drawing her Spell...

Crackle—!

She fired at point-blank range.

’{Lightning Bolt}.’

BOOM!

Hilda was blown back by her own Spell, exiting a cloud of smoke that hovered around the Soldier’s head.

Her hand was twitching from the point-blank attack. Hilda was certain that, without her Relic, she would’ve suffered some burns from her reckless attack.

After landing nearby, she watched as the smoke quickly cleared. And when it did, it revealed the Soldier standing upright, motionless. Its face was charred black, burned off by the attack, and its ears were ringing.

Despite having been hit point-blank, the Predicament was still alive; kept alive because of the night. And Hilda knew this for a fact.

By the time the Predicament had recovered, Hilda had already situated herself behind it. While holding the Talisman in the same gesture, she quickly drew another Spell and fired it.

’{Fire Bolt}.’

A bolt of scorching flames shot from her fingers, striking into the Soldier’s back and exploding.

BOOM.

Although it did not set the monster ablaze, it was able to heavily damage its plating.

The Soldier, seemingly angered by this, fiercely struck the ground with all its might.

BOOM!

The ground beneath them cracked apart as dust quickly erupted, veiling the Soldier, who speedily repositioned itself.

What occurred next was a rapid battle.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The two moved across the entire battlefield with immense speed and agility, unleashing destructive attacks that either shook the ground or destroyed it.

At this moment, Soldier was back to moving on all fours, rushing towards Hilda, tanking and dodging through the hailstorm of Spells she threw at it.

When it eventually managed to reach her, it swung. Then it watched as Hilda mysteriously managed to avoid its attack, while simultaneously circling around to its back and striking it with another Spell.

BOOM.

Ross, who saw this, sat up. ’That’s the same thing she did to me last night!’

He then realised what she had done.

Vitality, when released from the body, acted as a repelling force. {Force} was a technique to capitalise on this property for offence, with {Barrier} doing it for the opposite. However, besides these two, there was another technique that capitalised on Vitality’s repelling property.

The technique was called {Kick-Off} — a technique about using Vitality to help with movement by having it propel you around with it.

And at this moment, Hilda was using that very technique to distance herself from the Soldier to avoid physical confrontation!

’What incredible mastery!’

Right now, everyone who watched the fight watched in earnest, their roars and cheers echoing loudly!

"YOU CAN DO IT!"

"WE’RE COUNTING ON YOU!"

"BEAT IT!"

Even if Hilda had wronged them earlier today... even if they feared or resented her... even if she looked like a demonic fiend in her current state... All of that didn’t matter!

Because right now, Hilda was fighting against a powerful enemy for the sake of all of them — putting her life on the line to save all of them! As of this moment... Hilda didn’t look like a human, nor like a monster in their eyes.

But rather—

BOOM!

—Like an incarnation of hope!

Hilda flipped through the air before sending out three Talismans, targeting the Soldier, who was charging straight at her.

As she watched it dodge her Spells, she heard everyone’s cheers in the distance.

""HILDA! HILDA! HILDA!""

When she registered what they were saying, the grin faltered for a split second before turning into a small smile. ’That’s new~...’

She hadn’t quite experienced such a thing before. And... it didn’t feel bad.

’I better finish this up quickly then, so as not to disappoint,’ Hilda thought with a gigantic grin.

After landing on the ground, she pulled out two Talismans before tossing the stack into her Inventory.

Then, while facing the Soldier, who continued to charge at her...

Clap!

... She clapped her hands together, pressing the two Talismans flat between her palms.