Encrid had learned something from facing the Knight of Aspen: if you only stay on the defensive, you'll end up dying without accomplishing anything.
This was a lesson he now knew from experience.
Encrid swung his sword and took a step forward. His boots, stained with black blood, pressed into the ground as he advanced.
His sword and foot moved in unison.
He had learned something from observing Oara's strikes.
This was a sword technique that incorporated that knowledge. He combined his steps with his sword strikes.
It was nothing more than aligning the swing of his sword with his forward movement, but it wasn't easy.
It had taken more than sixty attempts 'today' alone to get it into his body.
Two blue eyes cut through the darkness, stretching into the distance. Channeling the power flowing through his entire body, he brought his sword down with greater intent.
Crackle.
A slash imbued with White Lightning struck the ghoul, cutting from its head down to its shoulder. It seemed as if part of the ghoul's body might be severed.
Thwack, thud.
But the ghoul pushed against the sword with its palm, easily blocking the blow that should have overwhelmed a Junior-Knight. Their speed was simply on a different level.
Encrid wasn't shaken.
He merely pulled back and thrust his sword, as if expecting it to be blocked.
This time, his thrust turned into a flash aimed at the ghoul's eyes.
Flick.
This attack missed too.
The ghoul tilted its head to the side and dodged. Encrid swung his sword to the side.
The ghoul stepped back, moving just one foot, completely evading the sword's trajectory.
Now the ghoul was standing to Encrid's side, and it extended its claws in a strike.
Encrid quickly pulled back his chin and raised his left shoulder. The ghoul's claws scraped against his shoulder guard.
Crack!
A piece of his armor shattered, and fragments hit his eyebrow. If the angle had been just a bit worse, he might have lost an eye. But Encrid didn't even blink.
He stepped back with his left foot, creating enough space to swing his sword, and brought down his Aker.
Just because the ghoul could fight Knights didn't mean it was a Knight.
It might be able to mimic Oara's laughter, but it couldn't fully replicate her swordsmanship.
Encrid's next strike came from an unexpected angle.
Still empowered by raw strength, the blade aimed at the ghoul's head.
No matter how hard its shell was, this strike would hurt if it landed. Blood would spurt out, and something would likely get severed.
Thud!
The ghoul bent its knees, then kicked off the ground, leaping backward. It had effortlessly escaped the range of his sword strike.
Encrid noticed the deep imprint left where the ghoul's foot had been.
How could it dodge like that?
The first strike that had shattered his shoulder guard had been light, more of a probing attack. The ghoul's superior physical abilities allowed it to evade attacks like that.
And that was how Encrid had lost his left shoulder guard.
"Hmph."
Encrid retracted the flame and gripped his Aker with both hands. The tip of the sword pointed at an angle toward the sky. He took his stance and stared at the ghoul. He could see its black, pupil-less eyes.
How many more of its attacks could he endure?
He didn't know.
Of course, Encrid intended to fight until he won.
The fire of competitiveness burned within him.
But he hadn't forgotten his goal, either.
Holding out here was only temporary.
It wasn't because he couldn't endure, it was because Oara would only be watching for a short time.
The moment she stepped forward, Encrid's day would be a failure.
'So...'
Hurry up.
Encrid painted a mental picture based on his instincts, and in that picture, there were those who should have hurried back after finishing their task.
If he couldn't overwhelm the ghoul, Oara would step in.
That meant he just had to kill the ghoul before she did.
If he failed, today would be no different from any other day.
He didn't want that.
He didn't want to see Oara without her smile.
He would show what a true Knight is.
So, he would twist today.
"Do you believe you can twist fate?"
One of the many days, at the end, the ferryman asked.
Since it wasn't a matter of belief for him, Encrid answered.
"I will."
Because that's what he does.
Those words had been guiding him all along.
He laughed at Encrid.
Was it too optimistic to think that the laughter didn't look like mockery in Encrid's eyes?
It was.
* * *
It was a hunch.
A feeling that today might be that day.
"I sharpened my axe well. That's the foresight of this body."
Rem said as he brandished the bright blue, razor-sharp blade of his axe.
He spoke while walking quickly—faster than someone who wasn't running but still as fast as a sprint.
Admor followed without difficulty and responded to Rem's words.
"Isn't that like the sound of a dog's droppings?"
It was a jab at the idea of obsessively sharpening the axe.
Dunbachel was, at times, often oblivious. And at the moment, she was still a bit giddy from Encrid's earlier praise.
"You're excited because you found a good whetstone, huh?"
She said.
At moments like this, Dunbachel's tongue didn't follow her brain. The thoughts that sprouted from her chest bore fruit as words.
Rem twisted his lips into a grin.
"That's the foresight."
'That's nonsense.'
Admor thought as he trailed behind. But he didn't say it aloud. He didn't have time to, anyway.
Though his body had been trained without rest, keeping up was exhausting.
It was practically an all-out sprint.
He chose to keep his mouth shut rather than risk biting his tongue.
Even if they weren't running, Admor likely wouldn't have spoken.
He had enough sense to know when to stay quiet.
There was a deadly glint in the barbarian's eyes. One more wrong word, and it looked like the next thing split wouldn't be a monster, but whoever said something foolish.
But Dunbachel, unfazed by the threat of an axe, pressed on provocatively.
"Nonsense."
The barbarian replied with a smile that feigned kindness, setting an appointment for after the battle.
"Let's see you afterward."
Dunbachel hesitated for a moment but didn't slow down. Instead, she puffed out her chest and replied,
"Fine, let's do that."
She had resolved to prove herself.
She wouldn't retreat before the fight had even started.
It wasn't as though the axe was flying at her yet, and though that crazy axe-wielder had nearly killed her several times in training, there hadn't been true intent to kill.
It was hard to dismiss all those brutal days as mere training, but facts were facts.
So she wouldn't retreat.
If she backed down now, proving herself would remain a distant dream.
"Alright then, let's see."
Rem quickened his pace, and Admor, panting heavily, followed.
He revised his earlier prejudice, realizing that when Rem said 'let's see', he truly meant it.
Rem was clearly someone who held grudges for a long time.
"Smell."
Dunbachel abruptly stopped and sniffed the air. Her nose twitched repeatedly.
To their left lay a swamp radiating poisonous fumes, and straight ahead, the Gray Forest loomed.
Admor raised his right fist, palm facing outward, signaling the others to stop.
Everyone halted, shoulders rising and falling as they caught their breath.
An icy tension gripped them all.
Why wouldn't it?
This was the Demon Realm.
Even though they were soldiers stationed at Thousand Bricks, penetrating this deep into the Demon Realm was rare. Almost unheard of.
Typically, even scouts only skirted the edges, never venturing into the heart of the Demon Realm.
But now, they had no choice.
As Admor glanced at Rem and Dunbachel, a surge of forgotten anxiety returned.
It felt like someone was slicing open his heart with a thin blade.
'Rowena.'
Admor scanned the surroundings, desperately trying to find a clue, but he wasn't a ranger. Nothing obvious caught his eye.
Usually, scouting involved scouring the perimeter of the Demon Realm.
They had previously killed monsters on the verge of becoming colony leaders and even predicted the timing of waves.
But what should have been a routine scouting mission had ended in a disappearance.
'Please.'
His heart raced, the air felt damp, and tension tightened his body more than usual.
Admor couldn't tear his gaze away from the area Dunbachel had pointed out, where she had smelled something.
Beyond his narrowing vision, a creature was crouching in the forest.
Its long legs shimmered like a mirage in the darkness.
A bizarre monster moved silently across the ground—it was a giant spider.
A monstrous spider, the kind that wrapped people in webs and ate them alive. It was called a Giant Spider.
'Why is it so big?'
The creature was far larger than any spider monster Admor had ever seen.
"There are a lot of them."
Dunbachel didn't seem fazed by the creature's size, but rather, she was estimating their numbers from the smell.
Admor, listening to her, saw another monster moving between the spiders—a creature covered entirely in feathers.
It was an Owlbear.
A reaper of the night in these parts, the Owlbear stood amidst the spiders.
No, it wasn't just standing there.
'Is it preparing for a charge?'
That couldn't be right.
The monster horde hadn't formed a battle formation, but they looked ready to charge at any moment.
It didn't feel like a mistake.
And there was an Owlbear in the mix?
Admor felt a curse welling up inside him.
If you'd ever experienced the silent assault of a beast the size of a bear crashing into you, it was enough to make you want to wet yourself just by looking at a dark place.
Of course, having such reactions was a privilege of the living.
Normally, encountering an Owlbear while separated from your group was akin to signing your own gravestone.
But if it was Rowena, she wouldn't die so easily.
The scouting team would have been ready to detect the approach of such dangerous monsters.
But where was she now?
Damn it, why are there so many monsters?
Damn it, damn it, this is messed up.
"Hey, relax. I don't know why they sent you guys with us, but didn't I tell you? This body's foresight was shining."
The barbarian, with only the back of his gray head visible, said this as he moved forward.
Admor realized he'd been holding his breath and regulated his breathing.
He then looked ahead and saw the barbarian placing his hand on the handle of the axe at his waist. He loosened the specially made holster and pulled out the axe.
In that moment of horrifying tension, to forget the unpleasant thoughts of potentially losing his life or his beloved, Admor asked,
"Why do you follow orders without question?"
Was he that loyal?
It didn't seem that way from the outside.
Admor thought he knew what Rem would say.
It was a question meant to ease tension, not out of genuine curiosity.
He had already concluded that Rem either owed a life debt or had sworn loyalty.
But the answer Rem gave was so unexpected that Admor momentarily forgot his anxiety.
"I am helping because he asked for help."
"…Huh? What?"
Admor reflexively responded, not knowing what else to say.
It was just a startled reaction.
Dunbachel, listening nearby, twitched her nose and chimed in.
"He asked for help. Just earlier."
Wait, what?
Admor briefly replayed the earlier conversation in his mind.
Had his ears gone bad?
Had his worry for his loved one made him mishear?
He glanced back at his subordinate's face.
In his subordinate's expression, he saw his own confusion reflected. The subordinate's face was clearly saying: What the hell are they talking about?
"He asked for help, so we're helping. That's not something he'd normally ask for."
Rem's words had the desired effect. For a moment, Admor forgot his anxiety and tension.
And he also gave up on trying to judge the man.
So, he kept quiet. There was no point in saying more. This wasn't someone you could have a rational conversation with.
The conversation ended briefly.
As Admor lowered his gaze, he noticed tracks on the ground, mixed in with boot prints.
There were signs something had been dragged.
He wasn't particularly skilled at tracking, but it was so clear that he couldn't miss it.
There were broken trees and tough vines scattered around the area.
What the hell happened here?
Just as that thought crossed his mind—
Wuuuung.
The gray forest trembled.
A vibration.
His body began to tremble.
At that moment, Rem turned his head back. A smile spread across his face.
It wasn't the smile he usually saw when Oara appeared.
It was like the grin of a mischievous child who had just found a particularly fun toy.
The kind of smile that you'd see on a kid who wouldn't stop pushing things.
Just then, clouds covered the moon, and Rem's face darkened.
For a moment, Admor felt like Rem had disappeared.
Right after thinking that his twisted smile was no longer visible— Rem vanished.
With a light step, he leaped forward at a speed Admor couldn't hope to match.
He bent his body low and launched forward with incredible speed.
Though Admor didn't actually see him run, he knew Rem had gone ahead.
Because the head of the monster standing guard in front of them had been split in two.
Now, what was his task?
Admor gave a hand signal.
Advance cautiously. Walk through the path they were carving, and fill the gaps in the frontlines.
Having trained with the squad many times, the soldiers were adept at handling situations like this.
( Hey readers, I hope you're enjoying the novel so far. I received a bad news two days ago. My buymeacoffee account got suspended permanently and I have lost all those members. I any of the member of that platform is reading this, you can subscribe to the same memberships on this platform. And to my regular readers, please support me in these difficult times. I don't know why this is happening to me. First my free sites got suspended and now my paid site got suspended too. I am now working on building my own novel website where all the novels will be available and no one will be able to interfere with that site. So please support me guys.)
[T/L: Please support me AND read further chapters here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans.]
[Additional Info: If anyone is facing the issue of payment on Ko-Fi, please contact me on revengerscans1@gmail.com]