A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

Encrid could sum up Luagarne’s fight with just two words.

‘Boom’ and ‘Bang’.

Charging straight towards the knoll horde, it was an unstoppable charge without a thought, as reckless as a ghoul’s brain.

When a Knight rides a proper warhorse and slashes down, that’s called a charge.

Couldn’t we call Luagarne’s assault the same thing right now?

‘It seems like it.’

The effect was sufficient. Ignoring the scratches incurred while rushing, she swung her whip with her right hand and her sword with her left.

Bang! Bang!

Each time the whip cut through the air, it struck the knolls’ heads, shoulders, and bellies.

Boom! Bang! Crack!

The loud noises echoed as heads burst, spraying black blood and brains everywhere.

Then, with the sword in her left hand, she stabbed the heads of the approaching hyena beasts.

Swish! Swish! Swish, Thud! Crack! The sounds repeated as she stabbed and withdrew her sword, causing three or four hyena beasts with short snouts to collapse to the ground, bleeding black blood.

Growl, Croak.

Beyond the hyena beasts dying with black foam in their mouths, Luagarne charged on, killing nine knolls and fifteen hyena beasts in her assault.

Afterwards, the knolls began grouping in fives or sixes to face Luagarne.

“Croak!”

Luagarne puffed out her cheeks once and swung her whip fiercely.

The whip flew through the air, wrapped around an enemy’s neck instead of striking them, and yanked them forward.

Whoosh!

Have you ever seen a flying knoll? You just did. The knoll flew through the air, landed headfirst on the ground with a thud, and in the meantime, Frog’s whip and sword acted like a continuous guillotine.

Killing and killing again.

Frog’s furious strength was truly astonishing.

She was showcasing great strength and innate combat sense.

A loud cry from a knoll, akin to a scream, echoed.

In the meantime, Encrid also trudged forward step by step.

Luagarne, the Frog, displayed her anger appropriately through provocation.

It was an astonishing power.

However, now that something has started to become visible or graspable through today’s repetition.

‘Can I not match her?’

Though Frog belonged to a combat race, not all were the same. Luagarne had repeatedly said she was a scholar.

Not someone immersed in combat.

If it’s now.

‘I don’t think I’ll lose.’

Such a thought suddenly occurred.

Was it arrogance or confidence from accumulated experience?

Of course, all battles are unpredictable until fought, but if the intention is to kill.

‘I think it’s possible.’

That thought crossed her mind.

“I can teach swordsmanship, but dealing with Knights or your mad group, well, they’re quite formidable opponents.”

Luagarne, the talent assessor, was candid. She clearly knew her skills and where she stood.

“I’m more inclined towards curiosity than competitive spirit.”

Which Frog wouldn’t be curious?

As she spoke, Luagarne’s eyes sparkled. Her large, round, bulging eyes seemed to glimmer with light.

Afterwards, when Encrid spoke about a strategy to deal with the horde of monsters, Frog puffed out her cheeks and tilted her head in curiosity.

Accustomed to human life, Luagarne often expressed her thoughts with gestures similar to those of humans.

Upon hearing the strategy, it was as if she was questioning what kind of madness this was.

“We did it yesterday too.”

Responding to that statement, Encrid felt his heart, body, hands, feet, and entire being heat up.

It was a feeling of wanting to go wild.

It felt like wanting to run in a sudden downpour of rain.

Or perhaps the urge to roll around in a snowy field covered in white.

Whatever it was, he wanted to do something.

Specifically, he wanted to swing his sword.

“So, just cover my back.”

This was a request to both Luagarne and Esther.

The village was on the verge of falling anyway.

If they had even brought ladders, well, that was the end of it.

So what should be done?

‘Destroy what they believe in.’

What do the knolls and cultists believe in? Numbers, tools, ladders, and their manpower.

In the process, he wanted to release something boiling inside him.

Something burning, something rising up.

“It seems we’ll need a short but intense fight.”

Encrid murmured as he stepped forward. He muttered as if reciting a verse, thinking of the ferryman, and then stepped forward.

While Luagarne drew all attention with her strength, Encrid approached the horde of monsters and beasts.

Luagarne, having taken a breath, stepped back.

By then, she had slaughtered nearly thirty knolls and hyena beasts combined.

Frog returned with small wounds on her arms, legs, thighs, and abdomen.

She was strong.

But if asked if she was so strong as to be untouchable, well, it seemed not. She seemed reachable.

Encrid stopped among the knolls, hyena beasts, and ghouls.

Guoooooo!

Kia! Kaa!

Knolls and hyena beasts.

Kayak!

The ghouls were the first to greet him. They welcomed him, indeed.

As he looked at them, Encrid thought.

Is the power of a Knight something unreachable?

Does that mean it can’t be reached?

No one knows the future.

But,

Short but intense.

It seemed like he could show something.

The enemy was numerous, a mass of countless monsters and beasts.

Among them, those with ladders could be seen.

There were roughly over thirty of them.

Good, thirty.

Acknowledging this, he drew his swords.

Chirring.

One in his right hand.

Ting.

One in his left.

Although he was much more accustomed to handling a single sword, this seemed better for now. Facing a multitude of enemies, Encrid swung his swords.

* * *

‘What is he trying to do?’

Luagarne did not ask Encrid.

There were several reasons for not asking.

First of all, she was confident she could escape even if she were amidst the

knolls, and monster hordes.

If things went wrong, she could lose an arm and get away.

The arm would regenerate, so there was no problem. Therefore, she didn’t ask when he decided to go into the midst of the monsters.

Another reason was Encrid’s change.

‘Why has he changed?’

She had been away for only half a day, but Encrid’s posture and aura had changed.

‘How?’

Luagarne, as a talent assessor, naturally gauged Encrid’s skills by observing his movements, gestures, and stance.

‘How?’

The question repeated itself in her mind as this man had changed significantly.

While skills could suddenly improve, this felt different. It was distinctly different from what she had seen in others before.

“I have an appointment at the salon.”

That’s how geniuses were. Luagarne had been astounded when a seemingly lazy person suddenly showed remarkable improvement.

That’s what geniuses were like.

But didn’t they usually show signs or indications?

Yes, they did.

Luagarne could see that.

The signs or omens that appeared just before someone improved.

It was only natural to grow after seeing such signs.

‘Nothing.’

She saw no such signs. No omens, nothing.

Absolutely nothing, and yet he had changed suddenly.

Is this possible?

Moreover, in Luagarne’s view, Encrid didn’t even fall into the genius category.

So how?

Again, the same question. Now she stood here to confirm if Encrid had indeed changed or if her own senses were failing.

‘If things go south.’

She could just take him and run.

Beside her, Esther extended her claws and tapped the ground. Seeing that, it seemed this bold panther had similar thoughts.

Concerns, expectations, curiosity, and a desire for the unknown combined, directing their gaze forward.

Then, their worries dissipated.

Ching, Ting.

Encrid, with two swords drawn, moved. Into the midst of the knolls, beasts, and ghouls.

His purpose was clear.

‘Ladders.’

He charged straight towards the ones carrying the ladders.

Luagarne had targeted that as well. However, unless one was a monstrous Knight or a warrior whose primary occupation was combat, it was difficult to face them head-on.

A horde is still a horde.

Those who had retreated were hidden. While it might be possible to catch and kill those rushing forward, chasing down those retreating? That required a different approach. The problem was there were simply too many of them.

The knolls were easy prey. For Frog, they were enemies she could kill even while half asleep, but there were just too many of them.

Luagarne wasn’t a Knight. She was a Frog, but even Frogs have their limits.

She could take down one cultist but couldn’t handle the entire horde. That was common sense.

Breaking common sense is what the continent called Knights or Knight-level warriors.

And now…

Whoosh, swoosh, thud, slice, chop, bang, slash, thud.

Encrid’s swords cut through the path. He broke the path laid down by common sense.

‘Ah.’

It was impossible to increase one’s skills without any signs or omens.

Even for a genius, that was impossible.

How?

Encrid’s swords moved exactly as needed, at the right moments.

He stabbed and slashed, cut and thrust. He lightly split the skulls of approaching knolls, and a sideways swing severed the pole of a spear held by a knoll.

As the knoll with the severed spear pole opened its mouth and tried to bite Encrid’s shoulder with sharp fangs, a flash of light sliced upward.

The flash split the knoll’s head in half. A split head couldn’t bite anything.

The knoll with the split head collapsed as its head became two.

The force behind the blade.

Luagarne realized that this force was no less than her own.

It was the same strength he had occasionally displayed during sparring.

However, during sparring, he had only known how to unleash it without control.

Now, he used it with perfect balance, only as much as needed, and then retracted it.

He slashed vertically, stabbed forward, and his feet kept moving to maintain his position.

When a ladder came within reach, he swung his sword to break it. Then, five or six ghouls charged at him in unison.

Their stance indicated they would cling to him even if it meant their death.

This was the result of the cultists’ brainwashing spells.

But it was futile.

Before the mass of ghouls could reach him, Encrid stepped forward with his left foot, pulled his right foot back, and then swung his sword as if he had been waiting for this moment.

Whoosh, swoosh, crack!

Bones, muscles, tendons—none of it mattered.

A spinning slash in the Tangum style cut through the mass of ghouls.

Arms, legs, heads, chests, and abdomens of the ghouls lay scattered on the ground.

Among them.

With a thud, Encrid drove one of his swords into the ground.

With a peculiar sound, Encrid released the sword and a throwing knife flew from his hand.

It was a whistling knife.

Ten throwing knives scattered like the wind, striking all around.

The whistling knives embedded themselves in the heads of those carrying the ladders.

Knowing how to use tools didn’t necessarily mean knowing how to cherish them.

As the ladders fell to the ground, the creatures stumbled over them. The hastily made ‘tools’ were destroyed.

“Guuuu!”

Mutant knolls charged. These creatures had larger heads, and three or four of them surrounded Encrid while a hyena beast tried to bite him.

Encrid, who had previously grabbed the sword he had planted in the ground, suddenly vanished.

Luagarne’s eyes didn’t miss this, though even her keen vision could only catch a lingering afterimage.

‘A charge move?’

It was similar to the charging techniques often seen in junior Knights. The speed was comparable.

Disappearing just before being surrounded, Encrid reappeared behind a mutant knoll on the right, crossing his swords in a stabbing motion.

Thump!

The two swords pierced the mutant’s heart in a cross, then withdrew.

Piercing the heart caused the creature to swell, but it could be ignored. She was an experienced Frog.

However, even with her experience, this was the first time she’d seen a human like this in action.

The unknown stirred something in her.

Encrid pulled his swords back.

As the blades were withdrawn, black blood flowed out.

“Guugh!”

The mutant knoll died.

A hyena beast lunged at him. It was kicked aside with a thud, its head smashed by the pommel of a sword.

Kaa!

A ghoul attacked without hesitation, claws bared. Its poisoned claws were deadly weapons.

Smack.

With a casual swing of his sword, Encrid decapitated the ghoul.

There’s a saying that ghouls have no brains, but now it seemed that wasn’t true.

They had small brains, barely the size of a finger.

Encrid’s actions with his swords hadn’t taken long.

Not half a day, not even hours.

Perhaps only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea?

A fleeting moment, even to the long-lived Dragons and Fairies.

In that brief time, Encrid had destroyed most of the ladders.

He turned nearly a hundred monsters and beasts into rotting piles of flesh.

The ghouls were almost entirely wiped out.

Luagarne, the Frog, felt her heart ache instead of feeling goosebumps.

A mix of admiration and joy, the thrill of discovering something inexplicable.

The happiness of encountering that unknown something before her.

All these emotions combined, bringing tears to her eyes.

It was a harsh happiness.

“Ahh.”

She uttered in awe, singing the Frog’s battle song.

Before she could even start the song, Encrid suddenly stumbled back and collapsed, planting his sword in the ground as he fell to his knees.

Even as he did this, his body wobbled. Then he spoke.

“Help me.”

What? What? She had just begun to feel moved, ready to sing more and shed more tears. Why had the man who fought like a Knight suddenly collapsed?

“Hurry.”

Encrid spoke with pale lips.

Luagarne instinctively reached out with her whip. With a swift flick, the whip wrapped around Encrid’s wrist.

As she pulled him, Encrid dragged across the ground, scraping over the cluttered remains. With a flick of her wrist, she lifted him into the air.

Catching the airborne Encrid with a thud, she cushioned the impact by bending her knees.

“Let’s go.”

The man with black hair and blue eyes spoke from her arms.

Luagarne’s sense of awe was interrupted, but the initial something she felt hadn’t disappeared.

She nodded.

The remaining knolls and beasts charged at them, but they had decided to retreat.

And then.

“Shoot! Shoot!”

As they retreated, arrows rained down from above in support.

The monsters and beasts charged again, even as arrows pierced their heads. They swung their claws and axes at the wooden barriers.

Arrows and rocks fell on them.

A few of them had set up ladders.

“Is this the time to watch?”

At Krais’s shout, former mercenaries and vigilantes under Deutsche’s command sprang into action.

They pushed away the ladders and fought.

With the return of Luagarne and Esther, the few ladders proved useless.

“This is madness, madness.”

Deutsche Pullman muttered, watching the retreating monsters from the wall.

Luagarne agreed with that sentiment.

‘It is madness.’

Encrid had fought briefly but effectively, almost like a Knight.

Without any signs or indications.

In just half a day, a man previously thought to have no talent had changed.

Luagarne’s heart felt young again.

For a moment, she felt like a girl.

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