The next sensation Ethan felt after taking his first hit from Okam was the searing pain in his right shoulder and the burning warmth of his blood pouring out.

It had been a heavy axe, much too difficult to block with a sword, and its path was utterly unpredictable.

Ethan had been using every bit of his strength to block each attack, but ultimately, the first strike he failed to stop had torn away nearly half of his right shoulder, leaving him with a critical injury.

“Wow, you’re pretty tough. I swung with the intent of slicing that right arm you’re holding clean off.”

“Haa, ha… haaa…”

“…I like that cocky look in your eyes. Boys like you, who act like they’re the best in the world without knowing their place, are the most fun to break. Girls cry too quickly; they’re no fun at all.”

Ethan looked up at the towering figure in front of him, holding his wound with his remaining arm. Okam sneered down at him, spouting disgusting words with that sickening expression.

For a brief moment, Ethan understood, if only a little, how Lilith must have felt whenever she was harassed by sleazy men who ogled her body.

“Haa, huu, huu…”

-Clatter.

“What’s this? Giving up already? Why’d you drop the sword you were gripping so tightly?”

“Haa… haa…”

Ignoring Okam’s taunts, Ethan retrieved a small vial from inside his clothes and quickly gulped it down.

It wasn’t a healing potion or holy water. Healing potions could only mend minor cuts and scrapes, and holy water lost its effectiveness if not used immediately after being consecrated, so it wasn’t something you’d carry around for emergencies.

Instead, it was a more straightforward, improvised solution—a potion that served as both a painkiller and a coagulant. After downing it in one go, Ethan switched the sword to his left hand and brought it down on his own shoulder.

-Thud!

“Hnnngh…!! Haa… haaa…”

Ethan, realizing that a paralyzed arm would only be a hindrance in battle, made the decision to sever his own right arm.

He figured that, as long as the saintess was still alive, he could get treated after the battle ended. That was, of course, only if they won and the saintess remained safe. But for that to happen, Ethan needed to hold out and buy as much time as possible.

-Slice!

“Aaaaaargh…!!”

Even though the painkiller dulled the pain, it couldn’t completely eliminate it. Ethan felt every bit of the searing pain as his blade cut through his own shoulder. Yet, in the end, he succeeded in severing his right arm.

Now, with only his left hand gripping the sword, the young lord of Blackwood faced Okam once more.

Watching Ethan’s self-inflicted injury, Okam mocked him.

“What, did you really cut off your own arm because it was in the way? You’re as stupid as I thought.”

“…Not as stupid as your parents, who put the same name on both you and your brother’s birth certificates.”

“…Alright, fine. I was going to take it slow and toy with you, but now I think I’ll crush your other arm too.”

-Whoosh!

Now lighter by the weight of one arm, Ethan faced Okam, who was swinging his axe even more ferociously.

The situation was growing increasingly favorable for the axe-wielding man, but Ethan focused all his efforts on buying as much time as he could.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Fuck.

No, fuck. No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t right.

Seeing Ethan suffer a serious injury from Okam’s attack, a growing sense of resentment toward this absurd situation crept up inside me.

‘This makes no sense. None of this.’

Wasn’t Yongjaekis and his party supposed to deal with these guys?

Why were Ethan and I, who weren’t even part of the hero’s party, the ones facing them, and why did we have to suffer such injuries?

How were we supposed to take on enemies designed for an eight-person hero party with just the two of us?

‘Goddamn it. This is bullshit.’

This shitty, damn game.

Something must have gone wrong. Maybe a glitch or bug appeared when the game became reality.

Why did this keep happening—like before—where danger suddenly appeared out of nowhere, forcing us into life-threatening situations?

The unfairness of it all, and the fact that Ethan had been injured, made my anger rise uncontrollably within me.

“Hey! You’re fighting me right now! Where the hell are you looking…?”

“……”

Fuck.

Just what I needed—this bastard launching a surprise attack while I was already pissed off.

Focusing on the sword path that Okam had suddenly revealed, I deflected his strike with my dagger, which I’d coated in Shockwave.

-Bang!

“Oh!”

Fighting a one-on-one duel against a longsword with a dagger was generally a bad idea—unless, of course, you could read the opponent’s sword path perfectly.

If I could predict where his sword was coming from, I could knock it aside with all my strength, even with just a dagger.

…For some reason, I could see his attacks as clearly as if they were drawn out in front of me.

-Clang! Bang!

“Wow, what kind of technique is this? Have you been hiding your strength this whole time?”

“……”

-Clang! Bang! Clang!

“If you knew how to swing your sword like this, why didn’t you do it from the start? It would’ve been more fun!”

“……”

Every time my dagger met Okam’s blade, I released a Shockwave to force his sword back. It wasn’t enough to overpower him, but it did allow me to hold my ground.

We were on equal footing now, but that didn’t mean I had the upper hand. To defeat Okam, I needed a more decisive strike—something that could pierce his defenses in one blow.

“What’s wrong?! Where’d all that energy go?! Try blocking again with your dual daggers, like before!”

“Hnnngh… aaaaargh!!”

I had to end this. And quickly.

I needed to finish this as fast as possible… to save Ethan, who was fighting with a severe injury.

‘Dim Light and Shockwave for the leap.’

“What’s this petty trickery? Do you think some visual obstruction matters in a fight between Sword Experts?!”

‘Arcane Arrow, Triple Casting. And Arcane Chains, with a delayed activation.’

-Clang!

“I’m telling you! This cheap magic won’t work on me!”

‘Sharpened Blade, dagger throw. Sharpened Blade, dagger throw.’

-Clang! Clang!

“What the hell?! Are you getting desperate?! Have you gotten so worked up that you’re throwing your weapons away?!”

‘Shockwave leap again, aided by the wind. Target: Okam’s neck.’

Even though I’d used up all my daggers, magic wasn’t going to win this fight either. So, the only option left was to get in close and finish him off.

The only way to kill this pig of a man, with all that fat protecting his body, was to land a clean strike to the neck.

With that thought, I aimed for Okam’s neck as I descended toward him, just as Dim Light was ending, my final dagger poised to strike.

-Clang!

But, as if expecting my move all along, Okam casually swung his sword, deflecting my final dagger.

-Thud!

“Hnnngh…!!”

-Clatter…

“Was that your last hidden weapon?! You should’ve held onto it until the very end!”

Having knocked my final weapon away, Okam grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the ground.

He sneered down at me, his face filled with that disgusting, lecherous grin as he mounted me.

“A feisty girl, huh? Yeah, that’s what makes this fun.”

“Hnnngh… hkk…”

“You put in a lot of effort to try and land a blow on me, but I’m not the kind of guy who lets his guard down that easily!”

“Hrrrgh… Aaaaaagh!!”

“Yeah, keep struggling till the end. It’s no fun if you cry too quickly…”

‘Arcane Blade, Iai Slash.’

-Thud!

“…What?”

Relaxed and thinking he had already won, Okam hadn’t expected the Arcane Blade I conjured to pierce his throat.

Blood sprayed from his thick neck, and his head rolled to the ground as his lifeless body collapsed on top of me. I kicked his corpse off me, sending it tumbling to the ground.

“You say you don’t let your guard down, huh? Bullshit.”

“……”

“Not targeting a mage’s throat from the start—that’s what it means to let your guard down, you piece of shit.”

As much as I wanted to stomp on his body until it was nothing but pulp, I didn’t have time for that.

Right now, my priority was helping Ethan, who was still struggling through his battle. As his personal maid, that was my duty.