A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

Chapter 855

Whatever Shinar said, Enkrid was already deeply immersed in his own thoughts.'Halfway.'

He felt a lack of connection with Dawn.

It felt like only half a connection.

What about Penna?

He felt like a 'guest' from the start.

His honed senses told him so.

Saying it was exactly half felt awkward, but what was certain was that he felt something was lacking.

'Could there be a reason?'

Was the sword not opening its heart?

Or was his own attitude the problem?

Was his skill insufficient?

Was his talent lacking?

His thoughts plunged straight to the core, deep within, searching for answers by revisiting the past.

Whether it was the right answer or the wrong one, humans always wandered searching for the right answer.

Enkrid was human too.

Naturally, he wanted answers.

He grasped and released the handle of Dawn repeatedly.

"Krah"

The Dire Wolf was a monster capable of tearing an adult man apart in a single bite.

The head of that house-sized wolf rose into the air.

The bastard from the West had cleanly severed the wolf's head.

The blow was so swift and fierce that the decapitated wolf, unaware it was dead, lashed out with its front paws at the spot where Rem had stood.

Boom!

The earth split open.

Dirt flew everywhere, screaming in agony.

If the ground had senses, that's what it would have done.

With a single kick, the wolf's body tilted sideways and collapsed.

The ground rumbled with a thud.

It was a heavy body.

Black blood poured out like rain, soaking the ground.

By now, the sunlight had faded, and the air was thick and gloomy.

Dark clouds filled the sky, making it pitch black.

It was a day where the midday sun was nowhere to be found.

Rem grinned, baring his fangs as he looked at the monster he had slain.

"Come on, more? Come on."

He was reveling in the fight, reveling in the chaos.

Was Rem the only one rampaging?

Of course not.

Fel, who had entered the pack of man-faced beasts, drew his idol-slayer, stepped on the wolf's front paw that aimed for him, and leapt upward.

The black blade struck like a thunderbolt, cleaving the wolf's crown.

The blade's sharpness and power combined to split the monster's head in two.

The blade moved like a living thunderbolt.

It sliced and cleaved, then withdrew.

Regaining balance midair, Fel kicked the severed half of the wolf's head and landed back on the ground.

One strike, one kill.

A quintessential Fel attack, wielding the sword of certain death.

A technique perfectly suited to the blade he carried.

'The blade has grown darker.'

Enkrid pondered even as he watched.

The answer didn't come easily.

No, it felt like agonizing over a question with no answer to begin with.

Why is the god so cruel to humans?

Why can't this land escape the influence of monsters and the demon realm?

It was no different from asking such questions and seeking answers.

So should he just brood over it here?

No, there was no need for that.

Enkrid shook off his worries.

He didn't dwell on problems that couldn't be solved immediately.

He went beyond suppressing the instinct to seek answers; he resolved it.

He remembered, but didn't let it linger deeply in his heart.

Enkrid could do that.

What was lacking now could be addressed later, given time to find a way.

Just as he had done until now.

'Dawn is the sword from Aetri.'

It is also a sword imbued with my will.

The answer exists.

Not knowing it now isn't a problem.

'If my talent is the issue.'

Shortcomings can be found and filled.

Just as it has always been.

Enkrid 's gaze turned to his unit's battle.

It was truly a splendid sight to behold.

It was also impressive, full of lessons, and a continuous series of things to marvel at.

The sky looked as if soot had fallen upon it.

Through it, Ragna's sunrise crossed the land.

"Looks like Weird Eyes' charge made quite an impression."

Enkrid said, his eyes sparkling as he watched.

"He shook off his worries."

The Dragonkin remarked appreciatively.

"I know without being told. Dragonkin. I can read my fiancée's mind too."

Shinar added from the side.

Enkrid listened to their words with one ear, letting them pass, his gaze fixed.

It was a moment demanding concentration.

The slightest lapse would let it slip from view.

Ragna passed between three giant wolf monsters.

His thrusts were pure speed.

He blended the basic Oara's Linking Sword with cutting strikes.

Accelerating the will swirling within his body, he drove his legs into the ground.

Bending and extending his knees and ankles, he sprang forward like a spring.

He seemed to be half-floating in midair as he flew.

Was he truly a genius?

He embodied the deep impression left on him through his own body.

It was a divine technique, demonstrated on his own two legs instead of horseback.

'Did he actually incorporate the force of twisting his torso too?'

He channeled the charge of a galloping horse into the blade swung while running.

Ragna flaunted his talent.

The sunrise drew an orange line, and everything caught in that line exploded.

Of course, he couldn't run like Weird Eyes all the time.

He merely accelerated for a moment.

'Good.'

Enkrid marveled.

The fun part was yet to come.

This time, it was Audin.

He too had observed Weird Eyes and forged a technique.

These were men whose bodies and faces immediately revealed deep impressions.

It was a fact he knew roughly without needing to peer into their minds.

Even without being a dragonkin, it wasn't hard to guess their intentions and feelings.

They were people who had been through so much together.

He was one of them.

Audin moved.

'Spin.'

Enkrid had drawn the fundamentals of his Vortex technique from the principles of Valaf martial arts.

Audin knew that too.

He spun his body like a top, then shot out to one side.

It's a method of condensing rotational force and projecting it outward.

Different from Vortex, but the principle is similar.

If Ragna drew lines of speed with Sunrise, Audin used his own body as a blade.

To be honest, it wasn't even a blade.

"Brute force, but efficient."

Audin became a rock forged from iron.

POW!

The air exploded and tore apart where he passed.

The rock pierced straight through eight monsters.

Five were impaled through their bodies; three were caught in the vortex created by Audin's sudden acceleration, their bodies torn apart and killed.

Kiiieek.

Kkaegaeng.

The monster, taller than a giant, froze in terror.

Well, who's the monster now?

Was he trying to say something like that?

Was it any different for Rem?

He too stopped swinging his axe, digested the feeling he received from looking at Weird Eyes in his own way, and showed it.

The barbarian from the West drew a hand axe bound with cords twisted from beast hide and sinew.

He didn't leap as far as Ragna or Audin.

Controlling his breath, he took short strides, then gathered that power to hurl the axe.

An afterimage lingered where he had been.

The strange thing was, the split motion made the afterimage appear as a continuous action.

It all happened within five paces.

It was like a mirage.

He planted his left foot, drew his right arm back, then thrust it forward.

At the end of the motion, his body curled forward as if every muscle had been squeezed.

That's how Rem threw the throwing axe in his right hand.

His entire body's muscles expanded explosively, then released.

His sorcery power surged in sync.

POW—

The axe became a disc, tearing through the air.

Before the boom echoed, the blade pierced the wolf's skull.

Enkrid's eyes shone brightly.

The sun, hidden behind dark clouds, seemed to dwell within his eyes.

'He gathered the force from driving his foot into the ground and channeled it into the hand axe.'

Rem threw the axe in his right hand, squeezing every muscle in his body.

He performed this dynamic motion while running.

A running start allows one to leap farther.

Rem channeled that power into the thrown axe.

This was the result.

"Well, the sling is still better."

Rem muttered as he straightened his stance.

To throw anything, you simply use centrifugal force.

Therefore, throwing a hand axe like this would rarely be necessary unless absolutely required.

For those three, it was a game.

Watching them, Enkrid's blood boiled again.

"They push and pull each other, stimulating one another."

The dragonkin remarked.

"That's the man's defining trait."

Luagarne added.

"No one disputes he's a provocative man."

Shinar spoke beside him, ensuring Enkrid heard.

The battle now included Ropord, Theresa, and Dunbakel.

The fight was one-sided.

It bordered on slaughter.

Before coming here, Dunbakel had received a sword forged by a dwarf.

Her sword was a curved scimitar.

It was longer than before, and the wavy pattern along the blade was distinct.

The dwarf had confidently assured her it wouldn't break easily.

"Recently, something called 'immaterial steel' arrived from Demp Mountain. In terms of sheer hardness, it rivals true iron."

Its defining feature, they said, was that it blended into its surroundings at night without needing to be painted black, making the blade hard to see.

The dark gray blade possessed the property of absorbing light.

Dunbakel didn't know about the rest, but she was greatly satisfied that the sword was sturdy.

"It's good. It's good."

Even as she walked, she drew her sword several times, stroking the blade, clearly pleased.

Her feet were naturally swift.

Dunbakel zigzagged across the battlefield like lightning.

While her speed couldn't compare to that of Weird Eyes' charge, it was still incredibly fast.

Even a knight could easily lose track of her movement if they let their guard down for just a moment.

Few monsters could react to Dunbakel's movements.

Dunbakel ran, using the elasticity of her entire body to swing her sword.

The blade, filled with her full power, traced a semicircle.

It was brimming with force and speed.

Its lethality was sufficient.

Pwoak!

Where she passed, a vertically cleaved man-faced beast sprayed foul entrails and black blood.

The spinning blade continued its rampage, slicing through a dozen more monsters in quick succession.

"Hahahaha! I am the Saint, Dunbakel!"

Dunbakel shouted excitedly.

"Are you crazy?"

Rem scolded her.

The battle was short, intense, and fiery.

It was a day when the gloomy sky hid the sun.

Only the stench of black blood and rot filled the air.

With Weird Eyes absent, the horses seemed unsettled, snorting and pawing at the ground.

"It's okay. It's fine."

Shinar patted her horse.

She was an elf.

Trained to hide her emotions outwardly, she seemed emotionless, yet she was more sensitive to the feelings of others than any other race.

A horse's sensitivity was familiar to an elf.

Wasn't it because of that sensitivity that she hadn't undergone training to suppress her emotions since childhood?

"Shh, shh, it's okay. No one can reach us here."

As they moved forward, soothing the horse, two more groups of these monsters appeared.

"Quite a number. Still, Harrison's Viscountcy should be fine. Rem's assault unit must be stationed there."

Ropord said, wiping his sword drenched in black blood.

He muttered with relief as he fetched several cloths to clean the blade.

He enjoyed analyzing forces.

It was a habit, a hobby.

In his view, Rem's assault troops wouldn't fall to the monster force attacking now.

A few might die if luck was bad, but they weren't the type to retreat just because they died.

'There's no one who'd fall to them at all.'

No unit in the Border Guard standing army's organization would fall to monsters of this caliber.

Ropord was responsible for the standing army's training overall.

Few in this place knew the standing army's training status as well as Ropord.

"Meaning we don't need to stop by, right?"

Was it the dark clouds?

An ominous feeling washed over him.

He thought it better to revise the plan to stop at the Viscount's domain and proceed straight ahead.

If the Viscount's domain posed even the slightest danger, that wouldn't be possible.

'Ropord's judgment is trustworthy.'

It was different from when Ragna guided the way.

He was always keenly aware of his surroundings.

That was both his strength and his weakness.

'A knight should transform weaknesses into strengths.'

He wasn't called a disaster for nothing.

Enkrid held a favorable view of Viscount Harrison.

He respected his intentions and will beyond mere allyship.

Therefore, if Harrison was in danger, Krais would step in.

'They produce fine wine.'

Krais devoted himself to protecting him.

All of that led to the standing army's deployment, and Ropord knew that when he spoke.

With the standing army behind him, if trouble arose, Krais would intervene.

"If they fall to something like this, all my efforts would have been for naught."

Rem said, twisting his lips.

If the Rem Guard heard him, they'd foam at the mouth, but objectively speaking, Rem had poured immense effort into training his unit.

If Audin was the best at building soldiers' physical strength and stamina, Rem was unmatched in tempering their mental fortitude.

Ragna and Jaxen, after all, weren't naturally suited to instructing large groups.

The party moved on.

Weird Eyes still hadn't returned after two days.

Instead, hordes of monsters swarmed in.

The sky, thick with dark clouds, persisted for two days before rain fell.

Even at midday, the sky was pitch black.

What began as a light drizzle grew heavier.

The rain continued for a while.

The group wrapped themselves in oiled hoods and the like.

The road heading south felt strange.

It was ominous, unsettling, and filled with a gloomy aura.

Well, that didn't mean Enkrid's group was entangled in that foreboding.

"What do you think? My fiancée. Isn't she splendid?"

Shinar spoke beside him, her eyes shining uncharacteristically bright for an elf.

The cloak gifted by the city of Kiraheis repelled the rainwater effortlessly.

"It is, what can I say?"

Enkrid agreed, and the Dragonkin spoke up again from the side.

"That elf insists she's the only one for him."

Luagarne could only suspect that this dragonkin brat simply enjoyed reading others' minds and speaking their thoughts.

Rem chuckled.

Ragna snorted.

The cloaks of the Mad Knight Order all came from the city of fairies.

Most of the knights wore cloaks that deflected rainwater, as if ignoring the sense of foreboding and ill omen.