The Broken Possessors of the Infinite Regression Academy chapter 69

69 – Raising a Hero – 3

Flame Bear and its subspecies, Ice Bear. Not only are these guys extremely superior to bears in terms of their basic physical abilities, but they also use various special abilities.

Not only did they spew ice and flames from their mouths, but they even had attribute enchantments on their front feet and attacked them. Moreover, it was extremely large. When it stands on its own two feet, its body length is about 4 meters.

“I’ll ask you later! Mummy!”

From far away, Brünnhild rushed head-on towards the Flame Bear, which was spouting flames from its mouth. The holy sword caught the entire flame breath, and its body was pressed inside.

“Please save me! “Save me—big?!”

“If you cling to me like that, there’s nothing you can avoid, so keep your mouth shut and be quiet. “Before I throw it to them as food.”

The priest behind my back was trying to fight me, so I suddenly kicked him. It rolled on the floor, making a strange noise. Perhaps because his body was round, he rolled quite well.

The nuns tried to cling together, but when they saw the priest fly backwards, they calmly sat down next to him. Perhaps because I lived next to that fat guy and fawned over him, I was quite quick to notice.

“Oooooh!!!!!!!”

Ice Bear, who had been circling and watching, finally rushed forward. There seemed to be a chill on its front paws, and then white frost rose up. It was an attribute enchantment.

I remembered what I learned during the theory lecture. They are powerful enough to make an ogre or something like that in a one-on-one match, but since they are monsters, they cannot think beyond mere beasts.

So, in theory, it was said that it was possible to kill it with one hit.

Mana surrounds eternity. The blade filled with mana glowed blue. The Ice Bear approached right in front, raised its right front paw diagonally and slammed it down with all its might.

I took advantage of that opportunity and moved to the left of the guy. As soon as I jumped out as if launching my body, its front paw struck the spot where I was standing just moments ago.

Ice fragments flew in all directions, and cracks appeared on the floor. The moment its frost-covered front paws scattered white mist like snow, I had already reached the area near its left front paw.

ㅡSuddenly!

Eternity was swung. Even though no special technique was used, the blade, which simply contained mana, sequentially cut through incredibly thick fur, leather, fat, muscle, and bone.

The head that was supposed to give orders was cut off, and the body, which lost balance, took a few more steps toward the direction it was running in before collapsing. Craddangtang! And a loud sound rang in my pupils.

“Huh?!”

After rolling for a while, the lost head stopped right in front of the high priest. The priest who saw the cut was nauseated. Blood poured out from the cut torso.

‘They said it was possible in theory, but it turned out to be true.’

If you have the reflexes and physical ability to see the front paws and dodge them, a neck thicker than the waist of three adult men, and the power to cut through the tough skin, muscles, and bones at the same time, it was true that you could kill it with one blow.

“Hey! Do you want to keep cheating? “Why did you kill it with one hit?!”

Brünnhild, who must have just seen that scene, stopped fighting Flame Bear and shouted as if it was absurd.

“Do you want me to help you?”

“Ah, you…… ! I can do it alone! “You just watch and protect those people!”

Flame Bear’s body was already half covered in flames. The holy sword cut off his left front paw, which was not yet covered in flames. The front paw was completely cut off, despite its size.

But as soon as Flame Bear roared, flames burst through its skin and created new paws. Feet made of flame naturally stepped on the ground.

If you give it more time, new feet will sprout perfectly. Brünnhild, perhaps aware of this fact, moved more actively to end it before then.

ㅡQuaaang!

The Holy Sword caught the front foot striking from above. Brünnhild, who momentarily got down on one knee, let out a loud sigh. It seemed a bit difficult to fight back with force.

Actually, that alone was great. He didn’t even use physical strengthening like me, but he was able to take the front paw hit with all his might from a 4 meter long bear using only his physical strength.

‘There is plenty of room to become stronger.’

As long as you help me steadily.

This was when Brünnhild, who fought while imbuing the holy sword with divine power, cut off Flame Bear’s head with difficulty.

“Mummy! “I won”

ㅡRumbling… ….

Without even a chance to rejoice in victory, the entire dungeon began to vibrate. Embarrassment appeared on Brunhild’s face.

Everyone except me, who had planned this in advance, was confused as to what was going on, but it wasn’t long before everyone realized the cause of the sound.

“The dungeon…… !”

The walls, floor, and ceiling of the dungeon were collapsing simultaneously. Everyone’s faces turned pale at the sight of the dungeon itself collapsing.

“What?! Why is the dungeon collapsing?!”

“…… I know?”

I pretended not to know as I gently nudged the nuns who were desperately clinging to me, begging them to do something. Up to this point, it was just as I had planned with the Demon King.

“Stop! Let’s get out quickly! This way! “I will clear the path first!”

Taking advantage of that opportunity, the high priest started running towards the direction he had come from. The speed was so fast that I wondered why I was panting all this while running so well. The nuns hurriedly followed behind them.

To put it in a good way, it means that they will clear the path first, but in a bad way, it means that they are abandoning us and running away. And I had no intention of speaking well of those guys.

“What are they? “I fought and protected you at best, but then you run away first?”

Brünnhild also made an expression of bewilderment, as if it was absurd. It would be even more unfair since we fought by deliberately adjusting the distance so as not to be swept away by the flames.

“You can never run faster than us anyway. You know that. “How far can those who can’t even use physical strength go if they run away first?”

“Yes, but…” ….”

“Do you want to just abandon them and run away on our own? “They betrayed us first, so there’s no law saying we can’t do that, right?”

“… ….”

Brünnhild seemed to hesitate when asked to abandon them. First of all, the fact that he was worried here was proof that he had changed greatly from the hero in the original.

It is said that the hero in the original work was influenced by Aria, who was always with him, and had a personality that could not abandon even a single person. He probably would have rejected my words outright.

“Ugh, wow!”

Brünnhild could not continue his worries. The priest’s screams were heard from the other side of the aisle. The nuns who had run away were lying on the ground and crawling backwards.

As if chasing after it, a Flame Bear appeared with the high priest’s waist in its mouth.

“Okay, uhhh… ….”

Every time Flame Bear put pressure on her mouth, the priest’s back buckled, blood flowed back into the hole in her face, and she vomited. The abdomen, where the teeth were embedded, was being cooked alive.

The Flame Bear spat out the priest and stuck its nose into the abdomen and began to eat the half-cooked flesh. The nuns who saw this were so nauseous that they ended up spitting out vomit.

“Live, save…… “It’s big.”

The priest whose internal organs were being eaten alive soon stopped moving. The nuns were spitting up vomit and shedding tears while begging us to save them.

“When was the first time you left us and now you are asking us to save your life again? What do you think, do you think it’s worth protecting from things like that?”

“…… I do not know.”

Brünnhild had complicated eyes.

I had no intention of making Brünnhild a perfect good person who would protect everyone like the hero in the original. Because that’s something I’ve already failed at.

And, in order to change the value system of protecting everyone, it was necessary to shake up the premise itself. Guys like the Starlight Church, who looked like good people at first glance but were not at all, were perfect for that purpose.

“aaagh?!”

It was the dungeon that solved the problem of whether or not to save the nuns. The floor, which was gradually changing into a spider web shape, began to collapse.

Isn’t Flame Bear eating a corpse a bit funny? It fell to the floor with a sound, and the nuns also fell far down without us having time to help them.

“Well, I guess there’s no need to worry anymore.”

“…… I know.”

The rate at which cracks appear has become faster and faster. Before we knew it, half of the pupil we were in had collapsed. Brunhild was blank for a while and finally opened his mouth.

“The entrance is blocked… ….”

Just as they said, the fallen rock ‘exquisitely’ blocked the passage they came in through. If there had been enough time, it would have been possible to break through, but there was no time to do so while the floor was in the midst of collapsing.

“Then there is only one answer. “I have to go downstairs.”

“Bottom? Uh? Now, wait a minute!”

From Noble mtl dot com

He lifted Brunhild by his side. Ignoring the shaking, I kicked the ground and jumped into the collapsed crack. As I accelerated my body, I heard a scream from the side.

I wrapped a shield around my body to prevent any unexpected shocks, and as I stepped on falling stones and was falling faster than them, it was easy for me to step on new ground.

“…… Underground?”

Once both legs touched the ground, Brünnhild was put down. Brünnhild stamped his feet as if it was amazing that there was another basement beneath the collapsed dungeon.

If you didn’t know that this structure itself was a collaboration between Elisier and me, it would be full of surprises.

The strength of the shield has been slightly increased. This was because debris was falling in all directions, falling slower than us. Brunhild, who was watching this, muttered a little bitterly.

“…… “Those two people are probably dead, right?”

It was probably referring to the two nuns who fell before us.

“He must be dead.”

“…… I see.”

The nuns on both sides seemed to feel a little guilty because, unlike the fat high priest, they had not done anything directly.

But I know that those two are also people who overturned the power of the priests and committed all kinds of evil acts. Because the person who hanged them was none other than the hero from the original.

Not the hero who has come to terms with reality a little by sticking around with me like now, but the hero who has been dyed pure white while accompanying Aria.

Since the good Brunhild hanged himself, it was easy to guess how severe the evil was.

“Let’s walk first. “You can’t just sit here and die.”

“Yes. Okay.”

Brünnhild and I walked through the underground space with the protective magic circle still in place to prepare for any unexpected situation. Even if you are Elisier, you won’t be able to control every single rock that falls.

As we continued along the passage that looked like a road, we encountered a corpse. The body was a corpse with the upper body crushed by a rock, with only the lower body exposed, wearing a nun’s uniform.

Looking around, I saw a corpse buried in a pile of rocks with only its left arm exposed. It was obvious who the owner of those corpses was.

“… ….”

Brünnhild was staring blankly at the blood stain, which was still slightly bright red. I thought the shock must have been too great, so I walked to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hey…… “Yes, Mira.”

Brünnhild, who was clenching his fists while looking at the corpse, looked at me.

“I am a hero. Yes?”

“That’s right.”

Perhaps he was weighed down by the guilt of not being able to protect people even though he was a hero. That shouldn’t happen.

I know that this is a bit of an extreme method. However, given the situation, it was inevitable to hasten the awakening that had been slowly progressing for a year in the original work.

I was running through all kinds of scenarios in my head, but the words that came out of Brünnhild’s mouth were unexpected.

“A hero shouldn’t do that…… Strangely, I keep thinking that I’m glad it wasn’t you, Mira, who got caught here. Because I am a warrior, I have to protect everyone…….”

“… ….”

“Mummy, what you said keeps coming to my mind. Do you think things like that are worth protecting? I’m really selfish too. I’m glad he died instead of us just because he behaved a little bit unpleasantly. They said the previous warriors didn’t do this. Mira, am I not qualified to be a hero?”

He seemed to have been thinking very seriously after hearing what I said earlier.

That’s enough. Now is the best time to change Brünnhild’s values.

Like in the original work, he is not a warrior who takes on everything on his own and blames himself and suffers while remembering the one person he could not save even though he saved 99 people. Instead, he is a warrior who is basically good but also knows how to look around.

The awakening of a hero means accepting the burden of being chosen by the Holy Sword. It would be easier to overcome that burden by becoming a warrior who accepts reality rather than becoming a warrior with perfect perfection.

Because I am the only one who fails.

“Brünnhild.”

I approached Brunhild and made eye level.

“…… Huh.”

“I said it before. There is no need to try to protect everyone. That’s the same even if you’re a hero.”

If it were Aria, the main character of the original work, she would have been filled with thoughts like we should always try to protect everyone, or let’s work together to save as many people as possible.

But not me. I couldn’t say that because I knew it was impossible.

“There are people in the world who are worth saving, and there are people who are not. And those were people not worth saving.”

I conveyed my experience, my position as a failure, the regret of what it would have been like if it had been like this, all of those emotions were conveyed through my eyes. We must acknowledge that there are people in the world who are not worth saving.

“…… “Are you saying he was not worth saving?”

“Because the entire Starlight Church is just rotten people. Those two are similar too. They are the ones who fawn over the priest and use that halo on their backs to commit all kinds of abusive acts. “They deserved to die.”

“…… Really?”

Instead of answering, I removed the blue hair that was sparsely sticking to her cheek, one by one. Brunhild was quietly accepting my touch.

“As a hero, I have to save as many people as possible. You have to work hard for that. That’s right. Those are good words. However, you should know that this only applies to those who are worth saving. There’s no need to worry about all those things. “It’s not possible.”

“But I am a hero…… It was like that in the imperial palace too. A warrior always…….”

“It has to be special? Should we try to save as many people as possible? Do you have to persevere even when things are difficult? No. You don’t have to do that. Listen to me carefully. You are a human before you are a warrior. A human named Leona Brünnhild. There is a human being like you, and then there is a hero holding a holy sword. There is no reason to deny who you are as a person because of your duty as a warrior. Why should you do that? “Why do you have to make sacrifices for responsibilities you didn’t choose yourself?”

“… ….”

The golden pupils widened slightly. He removed the last strand of his hair, placed his hand on it and stroked it gently.

“So, you don’t have to try to carry all the burden by yourself. When I’m having a hard time, I look around me, ask for a little help, and sometimes I even say I want to throw everything away and rest…… “Just try it.”

The last one was a delusion of what it would have been like if I had done that. It was also a delusion that I wondered what it would be like if there was someone who could say these things to me. Thanks to you, I was able to relax a little.

If you replace the word ‘warrior’ with the word ‘savior’, it would be an exact word for me.

“Don’t try to be perfect on your own. There is someone next to you to help you. “Aria is there, and although it’s a bit hard to say this with my own mouth, there is me too.”

Unlike me, I swallowed hard to keep the words from coming out of my mouth. Everyone who helped me is dead, but Brünnhild here will never be like that.

Because I won’t let that happen.

“Well, the story got a bit long. In the end, the point is this. There is no need to try to save everyone, there are people by your side who can help you, so if you are having a hard time, try asking for help. “Don’t try to carry everything on your own.”

I don’t know how much this advice will be accepted by the heart of a warrior.

But one thing is certain: if I accept this advice, the Brünnhild next to me will be completely different from the Brünnhild that Priscilla, Rosaria, and Elisier have experienced so far.

“…… “Someone who can help me.”

Brünnhild blankly repeated my words, looked at the holy sword in his hand, smiled, and nodded.

“Yes. Okay. “I will do that.”