The Bloody Valkyrie

A small body, she looked like young girl. Her hands were hanging loosely at her sides, and her chin was bent all the way downwards. The strange part was that considering the position of her head relative to the base of her neck, her neck looked as if it was at least three times as long as a normal person’s.

With such an appearance, seemingly unconcerned that her long and shiny silver hair was dragging along the ground, she slowly entered the hall. Her fine, pitch-black dress gave her the appearance of being clad in darkness.

No one said a word.

An appearance so queer; a heart stopping chill.

Slowly— her head moved. Behind the thin, silver hair that covered the entirety of her face, two crimson eyes lit up. And slowly narrowed like needles.

Everyone present understood. No— they were forced to understand.

She was laughing.

The frightening girl raised her chin, revealing a graceful face. But to those who saw her appearance just before, there was nothing more disturbing. The face was too elegant; it looked like a mask carved by the hands of a first-rate artisan.

“Hello everyone. I am Shalltear Bloodfallen. Is this the finish line? Is the game over?”

The girl who seemed to be spouting utter nonsense— Shalltear scanned her surroundings. But unable to spot the one she was looking for, her beautiful face frowned. With no one looking to interrupt her, once more, the girl’s voice rang through the hall.

“This time it’s hide and seeeeeeeeeeeek?”

She laughs mischievously. As if she found something irresistibly hilarious, the girl looked down and continued to laugh, her hair covering her face.

With their situation growing more abnormal by the second, the mercenaries inhaled a giant gulp of breath. All the while, Shalltear’s laughter grew louder and louder.

“AhahaaaaahahahaAHAHAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!!”

With her laugh continuing to ring out loud, she raised her head.

The face that entered their vision caused the mercenaries to simultaneously feel as if their heart stopped and their blood froze over.

There was no beauty to be found in that face. The color of her iris spilled forth and dyed the rest of her eyes in a deep crimson. Her teeth, which seemed so white and beautiful just a moment ago, were replaced with rows of narrow, needle-like fangs similar to the jaws of a shark. Her lips, which gave off a bewitching red glint, grew smoother, and a transparent glob of saliva trailed down from the corner of her mouth.

“AHAHAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAHAHAHA!”

Shalltear’s lips tore upwards to just below her ears, and let loose a laughter that sounded like the ringing of countless off-tune bells.

The air in the hall sounded as if it was screaming.

Even considering that they were inside a cave, the reverberation was frightening. It was as if the air itself couldn’t endure the noise and was crying out in pain.

—girl?

—monster?

—beast?

She was none of those.

An avatar of terror—.

Even at this distance, her breath was so overpowering that the stench of blood was plenty apparent. It looked as if even the air around her was dyed red from the smell.

“Uuuuwaaaahhhhh!!”

With a scream, a mercenary completely overwhelmed by terror pulled the trigger on his crossbow.

“—Fire!”

Snapped awake by the voice of their leader, the rest of the mercenaries fired their crossbows with the feeling of wanting to reject their fear. The arrows fell with the sound of heavy rainfall and pierced Shalltear’s body.

Of the 40 shots fired, 31 of them found their mark. Every single one that hit was lodged deeply into their target. It was an obvious outcome, considering that at this distance, the arrows could easily penetrate through iron armor.

There were four arrows through the head, if it were a human, the wound would be fatal.

“We got it…”

Someone muttered.

It was the hope that was on the tongue of every mercenary present. Although she was still standing, the arrows that covered her body made her look like a porcupine. Realistically, she was definitely dead. Although it made sense in their head, a thorn named terror was still lodged deeply in a corner of their heart.

The mercenaries, as if urged by some hidden beasts’ survival instinct, started to nock another arrow into their crossbows.

And— Shalltear moved.

Shalltear laughed. The smile that rose to her face could truly be called foul.

The fear took them, their screams erupted in every direction as once again, countless arrows headed towards Shalltear’s direction.

Through the eyes, the neck, buried in the stomach, lodged in the shoulder. Even in that hailstorm, she treated it like a minor annoyance, a drizzle of rain.

“Thaaaaaaaat wooooonnnn’t wooooorrrrk. You’re trying too haaaaaarrrrrrrd.”

A step. Then— a leap.

The distance to the ceiling was about five meters. A jump high enough to touch the top, easily clearing the barricade and landing on the opposite side. Her heels touched the ground with a click, and the arrows that littered her body all clattered to the floor.

She turns her face around towards the mercenaries still reloading behind her.