HI3: I Don't Want to Be a Valkyrie

"What is this?"

The Troll gaped at how easily the tiny figure before him had deflected its powerful swing.

"Are you trying to match strength with Theresa, big guy?" With a forceful shove from Theresa, the Troll was compelled to retreat several steps back.

"Well then... let the hunt begin! Axe of the Fallen!"

Her short sword transformed into a three-meter-long giant axe. Despite being adorably petite herself, Theresa hefted this behemoth—an axe twice her size—and swung it directly at the Troll.

In an instant... one swing sent the Troll flying off the battlefield.

"Not even close to a proper warm-up..." Disappointed by such an anticlimactic end, Theresa retracted her axe after dispatching the Troll so swiftly.

"Agh! You shall die for this!" Just as Theresa prepared to leave, the defeated Troll suddenly regained its senses and charged back towards her with newfound determination.

It's still alive...

"Fascinating," Theresa mused. "Let's try that again!"

As she watched the enraged troll charging towards her once more, she drew her massive axe and swung it with all her might.

The blow sent the troll soaring into the sky. When it plummeted back down, remarkably, it remained unscathed.

"Truly astonishing regenerative ability..." Theresa couldn't help but marvel at how swiftly the wounds on its body healed before her very eyes.

In its next move, as if having learned from its previous failures, the troll refrained from rushing forward. Instead, it raised its hand and hurled a colossal fireball straight at Theresa.

Then, in a surprising turn of events, it turned tail and fled without hesitation.

Facing the immense ball of flames hurtling toward her, Theresa instinctively summoned Blood Embrace for protection. As the now-distant troll prepared to make its escape, Theresa gripped Blood Embrace tightly and launched it like a projectile.

Empowered by Theresa's tremendous strength, Blood Embrace flew true and landed precisely ahead of the fleeing troll.

"Blood Embrace, engage..."

Before the troll could steady itself, Blood Embrace transformed into a meat grinder right in front of it.

"Guhh... guhh..." The sound was akin to a juicer pulverizing flesh—within moments, the once-mighty troll had been reduced to nothing more than a bloody pulp.

When Theresa retrieved Blood Embrace, she found it pristine and clean—a testament to its resilience against such gruesome encounters. She felt relieved; cleaning it after each use would have been far too troublesome otherwise.

"Um... Hey there, Lolicon System! Can we talk about something?"

Theresa soared into the air, gazing at the moon above her as she fell silent...

Where on earth am I?

...

"I haven't even received my commission yet. Why don't you just teleport me back?"

The summoning of the host was achieved through a specific magic array; it cannot be done arbitrarily without such means.

"Oh, I see..." Theresa looked around helplessly...

After communicating with Inky via their vampire pact, she realized that he was incredibly far away—so distant that even at his swift speed, it would take him an entire day to reach her side.

Any hope of returning immediately vanished from her mind.

Feeling utterly frustrated, she had refused the quest only to find herself stranded here temporarily.

As she stared silently at the moon overhead, a thought suddenly struck her.

Given the troll's severe injuries and its deep resentment towards Hinata Sakaguchi, it was highly likely that members of the Holy Knight Order were responsible for wounding it.

In other words, holy knights must be nearby.

And Theresa still had one active bounty mission: infect ten holy knights and turn them into vampires.

Since these targets were now within reach, why not seize this opportunity to complete the task once and for all?

After two hours of travel, Theresa finally located a nearby town.

Gazing upon it from afar, she vaporized her body on the spot before drifting into the settlement like mist seeping through foggy air.

-

"In just a few more days, we should be able to return to the Holy Empire of Lubelius, right, Kris?"

In a hotel room, four young people sat together, each engrossed in their own activities.

"No, not until we deal with that escaped troll," replied one youth—a blonde—who had paused mid-action while wiping down his equipment at the sound of conversation.

"It's all your fault for being so careless and letting it slip away."

"Ah! I can hardly wait to go back," sighed another, this time a brown-haired youth clutching a dagger intricately carved with a figure's likeness. "Just one day without seeing Lord Hinata, my idol, and my heart feels like it might burst from longing..."

Lord Hinata... His voice trailed off wistfully.

Staring at the intricate patterns on the dagger, the young man's face lit up with excitement. He leaned forward, parting his lips as if to savor the design—almost like some people who compulsively lick their phone screens.

"Edd, you've gone too far this time!" The youth sitting across from him clenched his fists, anger flushing his cheeks. "If you keep acting so damn weird, I swear I'll beat you black and blue. Why in the name of all that is holy does our knight chief tolerate someone like you?"

Edd remained unfazed by these outbursts. "What's wrong with it? Lord Hinata doesn't mind anyway. And even if you want to beat me up, make sure you can land a punch first."

"You..."

"That's enough! Both of you, shut your mouths right now!" A third voice cut through the tension. It was the short-haired black-clad youth seated cross-legged on the bed, finally unable to bear any more of this bickering.

At his command, the other three fell silent immediately—he was their captain after all.

"Go back and get some rest for tonight," he continued firmly.

"Yes sir..." they replied in unison before turning to leave the room...

"The Right Hand of God, huh..." As he watched them depart, the black-haired youth gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought. His eyes seemed to hold an infinite sea of mysteries, as though contemplating the very essence of existence itself.

Edd returned to his room across the hall, placing the dagger he held on his bedside table. His true idol wasn't Luminous, the goddess worshipped by all citizens of the Holy Empire of Lubelius; rather, it was Hinata Sakaguchi—the Knight Commander herself.

Hinata had defied convention as a woman to become not only a saint but also the head knight of the Imperial Guard, simultaneously serving as its holy commander. She stood as the strongest human in the Western nations—a title that left Edd utterly smitten with her.

Though he knew there could never be any chance for him, simply seeing Hinata Sakaguchi from time to time satisfied his heart completely.

"Goodnight, Lady Hinata," he murmured.

"How pitiful..." A delightful voice belonging to a young girl suddenly resonated through the room. "As a love-struck beta, you're truly hopeless—after all, you don't even get close enough to serve at her feet."

Edd's hand instinctively grasped his dagger upon hearing this unfamiliar voice, his eyes scanning his surroundings warily.

"There's no need to react so dramatically," the voice continued. "I'm just here to inform you about something important. Oh, and don't bother trying to alert the other three—it would be futile, as I've already erected a barrier."

A translucent mist materialized, revealing Theresa before Edd. Accompanying her appearance was a life-sized cross emanating holy light.