I Became a Veteran Heroine in a Harem Story

“—!”

‘Indeed, this isn’t easy.’

With a powerful strike, my body that blocked it was pushed backward, and my feet left the ground.

Taking advantage of being flung into the air, I twisted my body in mid-air, stepped on the wall, and leaped forward to counterattack. Unable to block this, the monster was slashed by my spear blade, spraying blood and letting out a beast-like scream.

“…You should know that you won’t die easily.”

I grimaced looking at my hand, torn and bleeding from gripping the spear shaft.

I had the intuition that even if I won, my body wouldn’t be unscathed.

“Ugh.”

The fierce exchange of attacks continued, with consecutive shockwaves that assaulted my eardrums. Their impact alone gradually cracked the ground we stood on and the walls of nearby old buildings.

And with each exchange, my body’s durability was being whittled away. There’s no way there wouldn’t be a price for deliberately ‘ignoring’ the clear difference in strength to fight.

The bones throughout my body creaked as if about to break at any moment, muscles began to tear, and the resulting intense pain overwhelmed me.

Pain didn’t matter, but the problem was that as injuries accumulated, my body wouldn’t move according to my will. Moreover, with my mana nearly depleted, dizziness began to set in like a drop in blood sugar.

“–, —.”

“You think you’ve won. Stupid bastard…”

Finally, one of my knees buckled and slammed into the ground. The monster was gripping its spear with both hands and thrusting it downward, while I was blocking it with trembling arms, one knee on the ground.

My vision turned red, probably from burst blood vessels in my eyes.

‘You should die for letting your guard down.’

But I thought this was my chance. While that monster looking down at me thinking it had won wasn’t fully prepared.

I gathered all my strength, then released the power from my spear and immediately moved my body.

“—?!”

With a tremendous impact, the monster’s spear cut my spear in half and struck the ground where I had been. Simultaneously, I leaped into the air holding the half of the spear with the blade.

What provided the propulsion for my insufficient strength was none other than the mana the monster was emitting.

I couldn’t help but smile at the monster’s confused eyes looking back at me.

This magical beast, who had been swinging its weapon relying solely on strength without any technique, wouldn’t even be able to guess what I had done by absorbing part of the power it had exerted.

“—!”

From the broken spear I swung, dark red mana blazed and was released in the form of a crescent-shaped slash. The monster could never block this attack.

Because the source of its power was its own strength.

“Now one arm gone. Let’s continue, until you die.”

Landing gently on the ground alongside the monster’s arm that had been cleanly severed along with the exterior wall of the building behind, I charged at it again on staggering legs while it screamed in pain.

I was fine with the pain since I was used to it. Getting injured was the same, so I could endure it. The monster didn’t seem to be the same way.

That figure, unable to hold its spear, staggering and backing away from me, was quite different from when it had been laughing while killing people. It could still fight if it wanted to, but its will was breaking just from losing one arm.

“—!?”

But at that moment, something intervened in our fight.

A flash of light that cut through the air penetrated the hesitating monster’s head and went through the building wall on the opposite side and the wall beyond that.

“What the f…”

At that moment, my knees buckled, I dropped my spear, slumped down, and coughed up a handful of blood I had been holding back. The minotaur, with half its head shattered, also fell to the ground with a thud.

‘What bastard stole my kill.’

The epitome of poor manners, but having pushed myself too hard, I couldn’t go confront them now.

It’s not like they give rewards to the person who lands the killing blow like in a game, so perhaps I should be grateful for conserving a bit of strength.

“Are you… alright?”

Soon, with approaching footsteps, someone came up behind me. I couldn’t identify the perpetrator of the theft. A silhouette was reflected in the pool of blood I had spat out, but my vision had darkened that much.

They grabbed my shoulder, but I didn’t sense any hostility, so I just turned off my consciousness for the sake of future days.

* * *

“Hurry and move! There are more injured here!”

“Area confirmed! No living magical beasts present!”

The situation was quickly resolved as the city guard, primarily stationed on the outskirts, was mobilized in large numbers and knights joined in. Although the response was quite slow, it wasn’t too late.

In fact, the incident had occurred less than an hour ago.

“Are you all not hurt?”

“We’re fine.”

Erich’s group had also safely joined up with the city guard, and they had managed to defeat the kobold warchief they faced. It was a proper victory where everyone had only minor injuries.

Dmish, who had rushed from the academy after hearing the news, sighed with mixed emotions upon seeing them.

“How are the other students?”

“They haven’t even been confirmed yet. Of course, there must be casualties.”

Dmish’s eyes wavered at Erich’s mention of other students. It would be more unreasonable to expect nothing to have happened when a gate opened inside their dormitory and such an incident occurred.

“In the end, you’ve achieved a great feat. For mere first-year students to defeat an enemy at the level of a regular knight.”

So he changed the subject. There were many eyes watching, whether residents, guards, or academy personnel. At a time when people needed hope rather than despair, their achievement of bravely fighting the enemy and succeeding deserved praise.

“Many other students also showed courage. Of course, taking down the warchief wasn’t easy.”

In response, Erich smiled weakly, showing humility about the courage part while answering slickly as usual about defeating the warchief.

The atmosphere had lightened enough for such jokes now.

“Dmish! Come here immediately! It’s a summons from the administrator!”

“Wh-what? What’s going on!”

At that moment, another instructor urgently sought out Dmish. Surprised by his colleague’s mention of the administrator, Dmish instructed Erich to take the other students to rest at the designated place before hurriedly leaving.

“The others, are they really okay? What about the people who were on duty at the dormitory entrance when the gate opened?”

“They’ll be fine. Let’s rest for now. We’re all too exhausted.”

Erich smiled bitterly at Lunara, who was worrying about others with a pale face from exhaustion.

With his abundant practical experience, he knew that Lunara and Deina needed rest, both mentally and physically.

‘Familiar, yet unfamiliar.’

After taking the two to the building assigned for rest, Erich looked out the window with a hardened expression.

Even now, injured people were being urgently transported, and numerous bodies covered with cloth up to their faces were being collected. And among them were those wearing the same academy uniform as him.

No matter how familiar, it was a sight he never wanted to see.

‘You’ll be okay, right? Surely. Right?’

As he thought this, Erich recalled someone. The strongest person he knew at the academy.

It was hard to even imagine her getting hurt or dying, someone who always showed a mountain-like presence in front of superiors and seniors.

“This can’t, this can’t be. Kiina…”

“Is she really your student?”

And at that very moment, Dmish, who had been urgently summoned, was in shock looking at her lying unconscious.

“Is, is she alright?! Her condition…”

“We haven’t been able to clean off the blood, but we’ve done everything we can, so calm down.”

When Dmish stuttered, not knowing what to do, those around him tried to calm him down. The lineup was quite impressive: the hastily summoned academy chancellor, year head, city administrator, and more.

The doctor who was next to the hastily prepared bed reassured him that all measures had been taken and that her life was not in danger.

“Has this reached the ears of the Adenberg family?”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

“Sigh…”

Meanwhile, the administrator sighed deeply upon hearing the year head’s response to the chancellor’s mention of the family. In fact, Kiina wasn’t the only issue.

All the academy students who had fallen victim were children of noble families. The responsibility for the delayed response could not be avoided.

“How did this happen?”

“That’s what I should be asking you, instructor. Of course, I know this child is talented and strong enough to serve as the year representative, but she’s still just a freshman. As her direct instructor, didn’t you know what kind of power she was hiding?”

And just as Dmish, who had finally calmed down, opened his mouth, the chancellor instead furrowed his brow.

For a moment, all eyes turned to Dmish. Not understanding what was meant, he opened and closed his mouth, looking back and forth between Kiina, who was lying with her eyes closed, and the chancellor.

“Explain.”

“Dmish, in the battle that took place in the garden in front of the dormitory, Kiina single-handedly crushed a kobold warchief and overwhelmed numerous kobolds.”

“…What?”

At the chancellor’s sigh and nod, a colleague instructor cautiously spoke up. It was a fact determined based on testimonies heard from Karin and Eric, and evidence left at the scene.

That alone was shocking news, and Dmish could only blink his eyes.

“So this student defeated a kobold warchief with her bare hands at the dormitory, and then immediately came to the city to single-handedly confront a minotaur that had killed dozens of citizens, multiple guards, and even knights?”

But the testimony didn’t end there.

Standing a step away, leaning against the wall and quietly listening to the story, he spoke up.

The first thing Dmish’s gaze turned to was the badge attached to his jacket. Dmish’s body flinched when he saw that badge, signifying a high knight, of which there were barely over 100 in the kingdom.