Chapter 171: I Just Didn't Like the Gnoll's Laugh
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 171: I Just Didn't Like the Gnoll's Laugh
"I wanted to face you in perfect condition at least once."
A surge of satisfaction prompted Encrid to speak.
If he drew any closer, the Gnoll Leader might notice him—or it might not. Regardless, Encrid wanted to make his presence known.
It wasn't out of a sense of sportsmanship or some noble desire for a fair fight. What kind of "fair fight" could one have with a monster?
It was simply...
‘A test.’
He merely intended to verify the strength he had forged through this endlessly repeating "today."
At the sound of Encrid's voice, the Gnoll Leader—flanked by two variants acting as bodyguards—snapped its head toward him.
It didn't just turn. In the blink of an eye, it raised two daggers and leveled them at him.
‘Fast, as expected.’
Encrid was impressed.
"Gu-uk!"
The Gnoll Leader shrieked. At its command, the two variants standing guard lunged.
"Gu-work!"
Their cries were guttural, reminiscent of a ghoul’s. One variant rushed forward, swinging a heavy club in a crushing downward arc.
Encrid held his sword, caked in black blood, at a diagonal.
Whoosh—
The heavy club came crashing down. Encrid’s eyes remained unfocused, taking in the entire scene at once. Just before the club could smash his skull, his blade moved.
No, his feet moved first.
Thwack!
Twisting his blade, he caught the middle of the club and shoved forward. Screeech— the surface of the wood peeled away as if shaved by a chisel. Encrid’s sword surged upward, whipping around to slash the variant’s neck.
It was a single, fluid motion: shaving the weapon before tearing through the throat.
The blade sliced through half of the variant gnoll’s neck, severing muscle, bone, and tendon.
"G-ah, ha, g-ha..."
With its throat slit, the gnoll let out a deflating wheeze. Gurgling, the creature fell to its knees, its yellow eyes glazing over before it collapsed face-first into the dirt.
Ignoring its companion's death, the second variant charged. Encrid feigned a vertical guard before shifting his weight. Pivoting to the left, he dodged the club and executed a High Horizontal Slash.
Gripping the hilt above his head, he flicked his wrist. The sword drew a perfect semicircle, slicing parallel to the ground and through the center of the gnoll’s head.
It was a perfect harmony of monstrous strength and refined technique.
Crack.
The variant’s head split open. It looked like a pumpkin with its top popped off—though instead of seeds and pulp, it was filled with brain matter and black blood. The severed half of the skull thudded onto the ground.
"If you run, you'll die with this in the back of your head," Encrid said, flicking his hand.
With a sharp shriek, a Whistle Dagger flew through the air and embedded itself in the skull of an ordinary gnoll that had been hesitating on the sidelines. The blade sank so deep it vanished entirely, leaving only a geyser of blood in its wake.
Knocked backward by the impact, the gnoll collapsed, its blood soaking the earth.
"Gu-uu-uk!"
Sensing their leader’s peril, the surrounding beasts bristled. Encrid hoped the leader would lunge.
This was a path he had never walked before. Consequently, this was a "today" he was experiencing for the very first time.
He didn't know what would happen. The leader might choose to tuck tail and run. If it did? He would simply chase it down and decorate its skull with another throwing knife.
And if it attacked?
‘Can the me of today survive?’
He asked himself. The answer was still pending. He had anticipated, prepared, and sized up his opponent, but the outcome of a battle was always unpredictable.
Above all, the leader was a creature that never showed itself unless Encrid was severely compromised—when he had a hole in his thigh, a deep gash on his leg, or a puncture wound near his navel. Its face was only ever seen when his mobility was gone or when he was mortally wounded.
‘An incredibly cheap bastard.’
It was a silent compliment. How clever of it to only step forward when victory was guaranteed.
But the Gnoll Leader did not retreat. It moved exactly as Encrid had hoped.
"Gru-uk!"
Swish.
Or so it sounded. It was just that fast. Though he had prepared for this based on past loops, the speed was still breathtaking. The moment the Gnoll Leader kicked off the ground, its body stretched out like a shadow lengthening under the setting sun.
The elongated shadow snapped into focus. Encrid’s eyes did not lose track of his foe.
‘Seeing’ it had been possible before. The problem had always been that it was too fast to defend against. The gleaming daggers in its hands were weapons that could not be allowed to graze him even once.
Poison. A single scratch meant death, and then today would repeat once more.
Slash, swish!
Of the two slashes, the first grazed Encrid’s shoulder. It didn't touch his skin; his armor wasn't weak enough to split from a mere dagger. It only left a faint scratch on the outer leather.
He avoided the second strike entirely.
The beast slashed with its right hand and thrust with its left, but Encrid twisted his torso, forcing the thrust to bite empty air. His reaction speed was astonishing. The moment he saw the movement, his body was already responding.
The attack pattern was similar to the Valen-style crossed blades, and though the rhythm was different, it was exceptionally fast.
‘It works.’
It went exactly as expected. He could dodge it. Even if he couldn't prevent a graze, he could keep his flesh from being pierced.
‘Sense of Evasion.’
Rather than a mere "sense," this felt more like the result of training to push his reaction speed to its absolute limit. At least, that was how it felt to him. It meant the skill had been poorly named. The stray thought flashed and vanished.
In any case, he felt that if he focused solely on dodging, he could avoid even a graze. But was there any need for that? No. It was time to move on.
The day had come to surpass "today" and see tomorrow’s sun.
"Kru-uk!"
The Gnoll Leader was furious, its bloodshot eyes swirling with a reddish tint. It swept past Encrid, spun on a dime, and lunged again.
This time, it stayed low, aiming for his thighs. It was a tricky trajectory. One dagger subtly targeted his hip joint, the twin blades moving in an alternating, lethal rhythm. A single wrong move and he would be crippled.
Encrid didn't wait to process what he saw. The moment he perceived the movement, he acted. It was a small but monumental difference. This was the first time he had truly applied this while swinging his sword in earnest.
What had changed, built upon the foundation of his Coordination, was his reaction speed. It was a whole new world—a leap into a higher realm.
The difference in reaction speed brought a total shift in his reflexes. His body, tirelessly trained through the Isolation Technique, perfectly translated the shift in his perception.
The moment he saw the opening, his sword was already striking.
Whoosh, crack, thud!
The instant the Gnoll Leader lunged, a flash of light split the air vertically. It didn't cut empty air.
Crack!
The blade split the leader from its skull down to the middle of its back.
The creature made a final, futile gesture. Unaware that it was already dead, it reached out with both hands. Its left hand stabbed uselessly into the air, but its right hand aimed for his hip, just as intended.
Encrid simply bent his knees and took the dead gnoll’s thrust on his abdominal armor.
Thud.
Strength naturally drains from the hands of the dead. The dagger struck the leather armor weakly and fell.
The leader, which had kept moving for a heartbeat despite being split in two, finally collapsed, its body dividing into left and right halves. Entrails and blood soaked the ground. The slash had been so fast that a line of blood sprayed in a straight arc behind the falling corpse.
He had intended to split it perfectly down the middle, but the creature had dodged reflexively. Thus, the cut had sliced diagonally from its shoulder, cleaving it in two.
"Haa."
Exhaling, Encrid felt a rush of pure ecstasy.
‘I am moving forward.’
The joy of growth—this was the moment he proved it through results. He had dodged the poisoned daggers with his Sense of Evasion and cleaved the foe in a single strike through his trained Coordination and reaction speed. Before that, his eyes had caught the creature’s movements, and the Beast’s Heart had granted him the boldness to stand his ground.
"Gu-uu-uk!"
Of course, this wasn't the end. Gnolls and demonic beasts still swarmed the area. Now, the escape route was the problem.
"Hah!"
With a sharp shout, Encrid swung his sword with immense force toward the two gnolls blocking his path.
Orthodox sword forms? He had no luxury for such things. He had learned the swordsmanship best suited for slaying monsters in the first place: Northern-style Heavy Swordsmanship.
They said the North was a freezing land overrun by monsters. Their swordsmanship had evolved into the optimal form for butchering beasts. And Encrid had mastered it.
Whoosh, crack! Thud!
Ankle, knee, waist, shoulder, wrist. With a centrifugal strike carrying perfectly concentrated power, the upper and lower halves of the two gnolls parted ways. They would never meet again.
Having cleaved the two, Encrid ran.
‘Can I break through?’
Dodging all day? That was possible. But dodging while completely drained from fighting? That was another matter. Having lived this loop multiple times, he knew that pacing his stamina was essential in a prolonged battle.
To kill the Gnoll Leader, he had crawled on his stomach and engaged in a brief but intense clash. On top of that, he now had to carve a path back to the village. That was a completely different beast from simply holding his ground.
"Can't we just see each other tomorrow instead?" Encrid spat out the useless words as he dodged.
Naturally, the gnolls did not reply. Instead, a hyena-like demonic beast aiming for his back answered. It lunged, jaws wide, targeting his lower back. Encrid reacted instantly, driving his elbow down onto the beast’s skull.
Thud.
Taking the direct hit, the creature crashed to the ground. Fluidly, he drove his sword into its head.
In the same motion, he slashed horizontally with the sword in his left hand to fend off two other beasts and a gnoll that rushed him. The gnoll was wearing crude leather armor; hit with a dull thud, it stumbled back a few paces.
He hadn't been able to cut it down in one go. His breath was short, and he hadn't channeled his strength properly. Part of it was his broken stance, but it was also because he had fought while activating the Heart of Monstrous Strength.
‘Good grief.’
Pushing himself even slightly caused his hands to tremble. He just needed a brief moment of rest. It was time to dance once more with his Sense of Evasion.
"Gu-uu-gu!"
The gnoll’s cry sounded like a command: 'Kill him! Kill that human!'
Encrid calmly retrieved his sword and shifted his feet. Dodging what needed to be dodged, parrying what needed to be parried. He looked like a master of offense and defense. Anyone watching would think so, though his movements were a blur from a distance.
Encrid felt a deep satisfaction in having killed the leader. Along with the ecstasy, it felt like he had finally overturned the board laid out by the Ferryman.
How was that possible? What had been the original wall?
In Encrid’s mind, the wall had been fighting that hyena-headed beast while accepting the risk of injury. No—it was fighting and winning without letting those poisoned daggers graze him even once.
Encrid had twisted that reality.
Was it because taking down the leader while injured was impossible? No, it was possible. He could have walked that path. But he didn't want to. Even if that was the designated "wall."
‘I really didn't like the way that bastard laughed.’
He hated the gnoll’s laugh. The fact that it wouldn't show itself until it confirmed a fatal injury—even if he praised it for being clever, he still despised it.
So, what was he to do? He used his head. He didn't need Krais’s help. It was incredibly simple: block the gate, defend the barricade, and confront the leader. Plan everything. This was the result.
The leader was dead, and none of the people in the Pioneer Village had died to the gnolls or the hyenas. If they had been pelted to death by stones, well, that couldn't be helped. But at least from what he could see, no one had died that way.
This wasn't out of some noble desire to protect the villagers. It just happened to turn out this way. If he had to give a reason, it was simply that he really, thoroughly disliked that gnoll’s laugh.
Above all, wasn't this far more efficient than fighting through injuries?
Of course, to give this a proper ending, he had to make it back alive. He conserved his breath and saved his strength. After failing to clear a path with a few Heavy Sword forms, he reverted to concise attacks, but the way remained blocked.
It was at that moment he faced a choice. Should he hold out and look for another variable? Or should he pour out his remaining strength, detonate the Heart of Monstrous Strength, and force his way through?
Neither option had a high chance of success. Encrid felt this intuitively. Yet, there didn't seem to be any other way.
Amidst his brief contemplation—
"Clear the way!"
A roar came from the direction of the village entrance. Rumble— the main gate of the village swung open. A section of the thick log barricade parted to clear a path.
Thanks to the havoc wreaked by Esther and Encrid, the gnoll pack had turned around, and the beasts hammering at the gate had vanished. Having witnessed everything, Deutsch Fullman could no longer hold back.
"Only those who want to follow me, come out! But if you're going to back out now, pack your bags and get the hell out!"
It was a proposal fitting for a mercenary captain. Why would anyone who valued their life so dearly become a mercenary in the first place?
Deutsch’s men rushed out one after another. Stepping outside the village, Deutsch Fullman vigorously swung his glaive. Behind him followed ten members of the vigilante group who had fought by his side since their mercenary days.