A Knight Who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 438



Only Noblemtl

438. Dumb and stupid

The bandits had recently made their fortunes by robbing merchants who came and went from here.

The group didn’t even have a name. At the center of it all was Jack the Knife.

He was a mercenary turned thief who specialized in swinging a broad blade without recoil.

To be exact, he was a deserter, but there was no need for him to tell the details of his past as a thief.

Jack stepped forward, brushing past the man who was speaking.

‘You lost your fear just because I swung my sword. Or do you trust Prock?’

In times like this, you just have to break the nose of the guy who stands up the most. After that, the others will take care of it on their own.

That’s why.

Ching.

Jack drew his sword without saying a word and struck down the enemy.

A trajectory as close to perfection as I’ve ever experienced in my life was drawn.

Jack felt it as he swung his sword.

Sometimes, when I was lucky, moments like this would come. Moments when I would use my sword more fiercely than my skills.

It’s a gap in time.

He aimed for the black-haired man at the very front. To anyone who saw him, he seemed to be the center of the group.

If we kill the leader, the rest will be easy.

Even though the prongs were annoying, Jack was confident.

He was a skilled person who could reach the level of a junior knight with just a little effort.

‘Those damn knights.’

Those guys just came to mind.

But why does time seem to pass so slowly?

Everything around me seemed to slow down. In the meantime, something passed by with a whoosh.

It was faster than the raccoon I saw in the mountains when I was young.

Even then, since he only saw a shadow, his friend said it was a rabbit, and he said it was a raccoon.

That raccoon was right.

As Jack was thinking, he suddenly saw the sky and the earth reversed.

huh?

Before I could even think about it, I saw a body standing on the ground.

I saw a man who lost his head while swinging a sword.

It was somehow similar to the clothes he was wearing.

That was the extent of his thoughts.

Encred, who had cut off his neck with a single blow, swung his sword horizontally and swung it away.

The blood of the thief who had been buried in Aker fell to the floor.

Jack the Swordsman was a mercenary who had recently become famous. He was a soldier who had been holding out in the border area of ​​the Demonic Realm but had deserted.

He knew the structure of this area and was planning to make a big profit and leave.

It had been less than a month since I started stealing that I met Encred.

Jack was never a man who would die in one stroke. But that’s what happened.

“Jump!”

The remaining group of bandits fled. Even the one with the bow didn’t dare to draw his bow.

It was obvious. Jack the Knife was the reason this gang of thieves had survived until now.

If not, they wouldn’t be doing this work here.

But then that fearsome Jack was beheaded with a single stroke of the sword. At the same time, I was suddenly frightened. The rest of the group ran in all directions, following their instincts.

Encrid didn’t bother to chase after him.

“If you leave it alone, it will die on its own.”

Rem said, wiping her nose. Why not? Running away in such a scattered manner in a land ruled by demons?

Isn’t it like praying to the heavens to kill you?

There were quite a few monsters and groups of demons I encountered on my way here.

It was unusual for a thief to attack, but it was almost common for a monster or an evil spirit to attack.

On the surface, it looks like there are only four of them.

There were some groups that tried to make a surprise attack, but none of them were able to defeat the monsters because they were using their brains.

First of all, it wasn’t common for monsters or beasts to penetrate Dunbakel’s sense of smell.

“It’s bland.”

Dunbakel said.

“I guess this is the time when those kinds of guys are running wild.”

Luagarne added.

I asked because I knew what he was talking about.

“There are times when monsters come rushing in like waves. There are a lot of difficult ones, and you end up fighting without sleep. The pay isn’t much, and if you make a mistake, you’ll die, so it’s natural that some of them will run away, right? Even so, the scale is quite large.”

There were over twenty bandits centered around one guy. Were they all deserters?

Listening to Luagarne’s words, old memories came to mind.

To be exact, something a former colleague had said came to mind.

“It’s stupid and foolish.”

Encred replied that he knew too.

“I have to run away.”

He claimed so.

A man-eating bear that had become a demon attacked a village. It was a village that had just started gathering people.

It wasn’t a request. It was something that happened while I was passing by.

My colleague’s words were reasonable.

Encred knew it too well.

“Are you stupid or dull? It’s suicide to survive here with our skills!”

The colleague got angry. Encrid did it even though he knew it was stupid.

The bear that had become a demon ate a person, and Encred saw the child of the person who had been eaten crying.

A child who barely survived, but it is not known how much longer he will live.

It was obvious that there would be more children like that.

A child who has lost his mother.

A mother who lost her child.

A person who has lost a lover.

A person who has lost a friend.

A person who has lost a comrade.

Such things were common on the Continent. The threat of demons was always like a blade thrust at the neck.

There were people dying. It was obvious.

Should we still ignore the things that are approaching us because they are dangerous?

Even though we know there are people struggling to survive?

Encred snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the palm of his hand.

My palms were covered in scars from the calluses that had burst and burst again.

What were you trying to do when you took up the sword with this hand?

It was a sword I carried to protect my back.

Because I decided to live like that, I am where I am now. So it was natural for me not to stop.

“let’s go.”

Encred said.

What is different from the past is that in the past, there were only colleagues who ignored him, but not anymore.

“Let’s do that.”

A savage who follows without any consideration.

“I have to go.”

There were even Suin and Frock with blinking golden eyes.

‘Should we consider this a luxurious group?’

Encrid suddenly had such a thought.

To be honest, they were the kind of people who could crush any monster the moment they met it.

It has been like that up until now.

* * *

The party headed straight for the border, staying in a village if there was one, or camping if not.

Camping wasn’t awkward for everyone.

If they were familiar, they were familiar.

Anyway, today was camping day.

There seemed to be no small towns as there were large cities nearby.

Soon, the city guarding the border of the Demon Realm would come into view.

Before the sun set, the group found a spot where two rocks blocked the way on either side, leveled the ground, and built a fire.

Dunbakel caught a rabbit, and Rem chopped it up and made a stew.

“If you know how to do it, why do you do it in the barracks?”

Dunbakel looked curious, and Rem smiled and answered.

“This is field cooking, that’s proper cooking.”

“How about just doing field cooking from now on?”

Encred sometimes thought Dunbakel was fearless, though he didn’t seem to know what he was doing.

“You’ve been quiet lately, haven’t you?”

Rem asked, slurping down her stew. A drop of broth ran down the rim of the wooden bowl.

“what?”

“Daria.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

It was quiet. Rem was quiet about what was going on, so she was fearless. It seems like things have gone back to how they were before.

“Eat and come out. Can’t Suin regenerate even if she loses one or two legs?”

“I can’t do it!”

“Oh, was that a prok?”

Rem knew how to tease her opponents. And when she did, she was quite honest.

It would be great if we could do that when teaching too.

As I was thinking like that, Luagarne, who was sitting next to me, spoke.

“Somehow the atmosphere seems worse than before.”

“what?”

“Just a feeling.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s why. Do you want to learn Frock’s walk?”

The words didn’t make sense, but he didn’t argue. It was a learning process. Encred knew how to put aside minor awkwardness.

Encrid put down the dishes he had finished eating from. He could wash the dishes later by going to the stream he had already checked out.

If Dunbakel doesn’t faint, you can just do it.

As expected, Luagarne’s teachings were enjoyable.

“It’s bending the knee of the leg that’s stretched back. From there, you gain the strength to push forward in one breath, and before that, you show your front foot to your opponent, so that he or she doesn’t realize it and shortens the distance. It’s called the frog-step.”

It was more of a rushing step than a swordsmanship move.

In some ways, it was close to the technique of the Valencian mercenary sword.

It was a technique of deceiving with the front feet and striking with the back feet.

Besides that, Prock taught a few more steps.

On the way, he explained how to jump off a carriage, how to fight on horseback, how to fight a rider from under a horse, how to deal with a monster you have never seen before, and eleven secrets to blocking arrows.

The best way to stop arrows was with a shield.

But he said that practicing blocking with a sword isn’t a bad thing.

She was a truly great teacher.

“Yeah, that’s okay.”

Rem, who was listening from the side, also nodded.

Encred was a generalist who would teach anything and try to master it.

Luagarne divided the whole process into sections to teach it.

I also learned how to jump off rocks, roll, and keep my balance while holding a sword in both hands.

Today, time flew by just doing step training.

Before we knew it, it was a full moon night, and Dunbakel was doing the dishes.

It was a pitiful sight to see him limping after being hit by Rem.

“If you limp one more time, I’ll cut you off.”

At Rem’s words, Dunbakel’s steps quickly returned to normal. It was a feigned illness.

His acting skills are quite outstanding.

Encrid thought as he went to the stream to wash off the sweat.

I came back, tidied up the place, and lay down to sleep.

Lying down, Encred finished his training session in his dreams.

It started with basic steps like lunges, passing, and gathering, as well as steps that eliminated distance and steps that confused the distance.

After waking up, the group cleaned up, heated up the stew left over from yesterday, and started moving again.

Summer should be coming to an end, but it’s gotten hotter and hotter and the air is getting humid.

It was the weather that Luagarne liked, and Dunbakel didn’t mind, but the weather wasn’t good.

Frock originally liked this kind of damp weather, and Dunbakel made it a point to not wash, so it seemed okay.

The air became more humid after a brief rain shower in the middle.

Encred felt he had forgotten something when he came.

‘I forgot.’

I came without telling Shinar. I think he asked me to tell him where I was going this time, but I think Christ will know how to tell me.

I was walking with that general idea in mind.

“It’s a smell, it’s a devil.”

Dunbakel spoke, and Encrid felt like he was living in the realm of the sixth sense.

This was a road. That is, a road leading to the city. It was not a road made by people walking, but a road paved with stones.

Would a devil come out in the middle of a road like that?

No matter how hungry you are, this kind of thing couldn’t be common.

Moreover, isn’t the city in front of here the gateway that blocks the border between the demon realm and the demon realm?

“Crrrrrrr!”

I saw a few hunting dogs that had become masochists. They were much larger than the others.

After the thieves, there were demons. It’s not that I didn’t encounter any monsters on my way here, but the demons appearing here was a different matter.

This area is inside the city. That is, on the opposite side of the Demon Realm.

I thought that if a few ghouls came out, it would be okay, but it was a place where hunting dogs that had been transformed should not jump out.

“Is the situation bad?”

Luagarne blinked her big eyes and puffed out her cheeks.

She had previously worked in various positions in the palace, and knew a bit about this.

It seemed that there were quite a few monsters coming from the border area of ​​the Demon Realm.

Otherwise, there would be no hunting dogs wandering around here.

The thieves did the same thing earlier.

Normally, a group of bandits would not be able to operate actively in this area.

If you were to openly expose it, those from the Knights Templar would come and take your life. Who would commit robbery around here?

‘It’s out of control?’

Luagarne began to make some inferences while watching the situation unfold.

It was all bad.

Meanwhile, four demons rushed in without fear.

While Dunbakel was cutting off two heads with a curved sword, one of the horses attacked the pack horse.

That was also done by spinning around and running towards me.

He went into the short bushes, pretended to run away, and then bit the horse’s neck. He did it by jumping on the ground.

If it had been a single-eyed horse, it might not have been affected, but the horse that had been brought here was a regular horse.

It wasn’t even trained as a war horse.

The horse let out a pitiful cry as it bit his neck.

Heeeeeeling!

The horse’s blood poured over the dog’s hide. The hide absorbed the blood and turned dark red.

It was an unexpected attack. Not targeting the threatening Dunbakel, nor the other party looking at him with murderous intent, but targeting the horse?

‘Clever.’

Were the demons really this smart? Even their size was unusual.

Even the way he showed his clumsy will to attack and aim for the horse made him look like a skilled trickster.

The demon that killed the horse was kicked to death by Luagarne.

Gang! Kkuuuk!

A kick that demonstrated the strength of Frock’s muscles caused Masoo’s stomach to burst and his internal organs to spill out.

“It’s strange.”

Luagarne took back her outstretched leg and kept spitting out similar words.

This area is under the control of the Red Cloak Knights. There could be demons, there could be monsters. But there were too many and too often.

“There are too many.”

“It still smells.”

Dunbakel continued speaking after Luagarne’s words.

Rem’s gaze turned.

He also had a bad feeling. He had come close to the demon realm, but this was under the city walls, so it should have been a relatively safe path.

Otherwise, such a well-polished pipe would not have been made.

Encred examined the horse’s neck. It was dead. It had been bitten by a demon, so if it was unlucky, it would turn into a demon.

“sorry.”

I grew fond of you as we came together, but I felt like I wasn’t taking good care of you.

Heehee.

The horse cried out. Encrid cut off the horse’s neck.

Horse blood soaked the stone floor. Encred spoke as he stepped on the flowing blood.

“Let’s go and see for ourselves.”

If you’re not going back, then you have no choice but to move forward.