Chapter 491: Juol Cried, then Burst Out Laughing
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 491: Juol Cried, then Burst Out Laughing
Indeed, if he just took a beating without giving anything back, he wouldn't be that bastard Rem.
There was no telling what would happen once Rem found his true sorcery, but even now, he was more than capable of keeping up.
See? Fun, isn't it?
Encrid felt compelled to answer the statement Rem had just made with his axe.
He gripped Aker and settled into his stance.
Ever since his battles with the giant and the mage, Encrid had been obsessively reviewing his past experiences. It was a habit of his, and this was the conclusion he had reached: every battle had felt slightly lacking. None of them had truly satisfied him.
‘Something's missing.’
The giant had possessed nothing but brute strength. The mage was no swordsman.
He had felt glimmers of enjoyment and rushes of ecstasy, and the realizations he gained in the heat of those fights had given him a thrill—but those were merely extensions of what had come before.
It would be a lie to say he didn't long to clash swords with a true equal.
The giant's strength had been threatening, but his actual technique was abysmal. Even if raw power gave one an advantage, strength could never be everything. Timing and precision were far more vital. There was a vast difference between a strike delivered from a proper stance to channel force and a wild, reckless swing.
It was the art of cornering an opponent through flawless form.
It was the Orthodox Sword Style. To the foundation he had learned from the magic sword Tutor, Luagarne had added her experience, and Encrid had poured in his own blood and sweat.
It was a sword designed specifically to corner Rem.
A crown strike, a winding strike, a diagonal slash, a high horizontal slash, and a Heavy Sword Style spinning slash.
Through every movement, he telegraphed a single message: I am going to thrust with one hand.
He made it clear that this would be the final, critical blow in this battle of wits.
Rem prepared for it. Of course he did. Why would he fall for an attack that was practically being shouted at him?
But as Encrid drove his opponent back with perfect posture, he slipped a deception into the mix.
It was the Illusion Sword Style. Encrid used every single movement in this tactical exchange to construct a single, perfect lie.
Feigning the one-handed thrust, he suddenly closed the distance. He kicked off the ground, lunging forward in an instant. Seeing him close in, Rem swung the fist holding his axe.
Encrid gripped the ricasso with his left hand, shifting into a half-sword stance as he thrust the blade forward. If left as is, Rem's fist would smash directly into the edge.
Could he twist his angle to shatter the blade with his bare hand? Rem was capable of such a feat, but his opponent was Encrid, and the weapon in his hand was a magic sword.
Instead of striking the blade, Rem snapped his wrist, bringing the axe head forward to meet the sword.
Sword and axe tangled, clashing and rebounding in rapid succession.
Cl-cl-cl-clang!
As the two pieces of metal met, they spat sparks of pure, ecstatic joy.
In that briefest of moments, Encrid let go of the ricasso and thrust his fingers straight toward Rem's eyes.
It was a Valaf-style martial arts technique: Blinding.
It was a strike aimed at his opponent's blind spot, delivered half a beat faster than anything before it. Even so, Rem whipped his head back to dodge.
With a sharp nick, the fingertips grazed the tip of his chin. A drop of blood splattered, along with a few strands of gray beard. Encrid's fingers had torn a small gash in his skin.
Rem immediately launched a kick upward, which Encrid blocked with his knee.
Thwack!
The two parted after the exchange, but the moment they gained distance, Encrid brought his sword down in a massive vertical strike.
Watching from behind Rem, Ayul felt as though two blue meteors were screaming down from the heavens. It was the illusion cast by Encrid's eyes.
It was a Heavy Sword Style downward slash delivered with every ounce of his might. It was a knight's strike. The entire battle had been building toward this single blow.
Normally, their spars were conducted at eighty percent of their full strength. Using one hundred percent put both of them in mortal danger. But right now, swept up in the heat of the moment, both had unconsciously unleashed their full power. In an instant, they had turned deadly serious, giving it everything they had.
Seeing the blade hurtling toward him, Rem swung his axe upward.
It looked like a clash of pure brute force. But just before the two weapons collided, Rem's wrist curved fluidly. He caught the Heavy Sword Style downward slash with his axe blade and deflected it to the side.
It was the Soft Sword Style. A flowing sword.
And just like that, they froze.
Encrid stood with Aker lowered at an angle, while Rem held his axe near his solar plexus. If they fought any further, one of them might actually die.
That was how bloodthirsty the atmosphere had become. It could hardly be called a spar anymore.
Juol unconsciously held his breath before letting out a sharp gasp.
Despite having fought so savagely, both of them were smiling.
“Heh, how was that?” Rem asked.
“I'm being completely honest here,” a smile played on Encrid's previously expressionless face. “That was fucking fun.”
Rem chuckled. It was something he already knew without being told. When the captain bastard was truly enjoying himself, his expression changed, though he didn't seem to realize it himself. To be able to smile like a child who had just received a gift meant he still held onto a shred of innocence.
“You're both insane,” Juol muttered.
“My heart almost jumped out of my chest,” Ayul marveled.
“That's a bit of a terrifying way to put it,” Rem replied.
Dunchabel nodded silently in agreement. They were just those kinds of guys, after all.
Luagarne felt another shiver run down her spine. Lately, she wondered if she watched Encrid just to be amazed by him.
‘He’s improved at a terrifying rate.’
Now that Rem was fighting with serious intent, Encrid's current level of skill was much clearer.
‘And he will keep improving.’
For the first time, Encrid didn't look like he had hit a wall; he looked like he was still growing. Unless her talent-reading eye was broken, that was undoubtedly the case.
The reason she felt that way? Luagarne gained a small realization. It was a thought that naturally came to her as she watched the smiling Encrid.
‘Laughter.’
A smile, joy, ecstasy.
Encrid chased his dream, and he enjoyed the process. That was why he never stopped. The moment she saw that laugh, the realization pierced her mind.
“If we fight like this again, I might actually miscarry myself, so let's do the next round after I find my sorcery. Besides, I need to change my axe too,” Rem said, holding up his weapon. Because they had fought with everything they had, Rem's axe was covered in fine cracks. It looked like it would shatter at a single tap.
Encrid nodded. If they fought like this one more time, one of them really might die.
“Alright,” Encrid replied, casually packing up his bedding. It was time to move.
*
Along the way, monsters appeared, and they observed unusual terrains.
“This is where a black meteor fell. From here on south, they call it the Land of the Horizon,” Rem, Juol, or Ayul would take turns explaining during their journey.
Since the monsters were no match for them, the hunt along the Path of Shadow became more of a sightseeing tour. With asymmetric forces like Encrid and Rem on their side, it was only natural.
The Land of the Horizon was a parched territory, nearly devoid of greenery. Though large trees, rocks, and hills appeared here and there, it was mostly just a vast, open expanse. It was so vast that, with good enough eyesight, one could probably make out what the tiny moving dots in the far distance were.
Though it looked desolate, when bathed in the sunlight and the wind, it was a remarkably peaceful land.
As they kept moving, they reached the place where they had fought before.
“This is the Sand-Blocking Gorge. Literally, passing through here leads to the River of Sand of No Return. You know that the River of Sand is a desert, right?” Rem explained.
Encrid had heard that deserts were lands made of nothing but sand, but he had never been to one.
“That is a place a Frok must avoid at all costs,” Luagarne said.
She had been feeling uncomfortable due to the dryness for a while now, but she endured it well. Seeing how well she fought even against the pounding heartbeats of her opponents, Encrid wondered if Luagarne possessed the greatest patience among all Frok. While some Frok went into a wild, spasmodic frenzy if their heart armor was damaged, Luagarne remained generally calm—except when dealing with cultists.
Juol mentioned that sightseeing in the desert was out of the question. “If you go in, you'll get lost and die.”
Ayul added her agreement. Encrid replied that he had no desire to enter either.
One might have expected to see traces of the battle from a few days ago, but all remnants had been completely swept away. It seemed the giant's corpse had been disposed of.
The gorge ran deep. Passing through the entrance, they saw countless caves riddling one of the canyon walls. The cliff was so high they had to crane their necks to look up, its face pockmarked with holes that looked like cave entrances.
“It's a sacred ground,” Juol said.
This was the sacred ground of the West—a symbol of sorcery that also served as a graveyard. If asked whether he felt a divine energy here, Encrid would have said no. Still, it was fascinating. Aside from the numerous caves, animals could occasionally be seen scaling the cliffs.
Was that a monkey? No, it looked more like a bear.
“It's a bearmonkey,” Juol explained. He said it was a creature somewhere between a bear and a monkey.
Encrid wondered why such a thing existed here, but...
“It's a sacred beast. You must not hunt it.”
In other words, it was an animal you couldn't eat even if you were starving to death. It had pointed ears, a round body, and a sluggish appearance. Perhaps because humans didn't harm them, a bearmonkey waddled over and left something behind.
It was a red fruit, and when split in half, it was filled with tiny, pomegranate-like seeds.
“It's an Eternal Life Fruit. It's sour, but sweet and delicious. Since we received a gift, we should give one in return,” Juol said, offering a piece of Lucky Fish and some snacks made of grain flour. The bearmonkey approached with a healthy amount of caution and took the food. Seeing how it kept rolling its eyes toward them, it wasn't entirely trusting.
“Those cannibals would even attack bearmonkeys, but judging by its reaction, they don't seem to be hiding here.”
“The ones who fled back then?”
“Yeah. They're probably still being hunted down. Since the hunters banded together to track them, they'll be caught soon. The West is vast, but there's nowhere to hide.”
Encrid remembered plunging a dagger into the back of the last one, the dagger-wielding woman. The wound had been in a bad spot; she shouldn't have been able to move properly. Was sorcery's healing as potent as divine power? If so, she might be able to walk, but otherwise, her body would have been ruined.
He had stabbed her precisely in the back, near the spine. Unless she wore an artifact like the Bandage Armor Encrid used to wear, it would be a crippling injury. Yet, she had somehow managed to remain a fugitive until now, instead of being captured or dying long ago.
That alone proved she was no ordinary opponent. Indeed, her skills had been exceptional.
“Let's go.”
The Path of Shadow did not end here.
They traveled while chatting, sparring, cooking, and throwing Dunchabel into lakes. They rode on their Velopters most of the time, and compared to the continent, the land felt far more expansive because there were no mountain ranges blocking their view.
As they traveled, a ghoul suddenly lunged out of nowhere. This was after they had been riding west for quite some time.
Groooaaar.
A ghoul—a monster symbolic of the Demon Realm, rarely seen in the West.
Dunchabel stepped forward. The scimitar drawn from her waist severed the creature's neck in a single motion. With a dull thud, black blood gushed from the neck, which had been sliced like dry straw, and the head flew off, rolling across the ground. After a few more ghouls appeared, Ayul spoke in a grave tone.
“Rem, from here on is the forbidden zone.”
“I know.”
“I mean we shouldn't go any further.”
“I know.”
Despite her warning, Rem kept walking.
“I told you we were going to walk the true Path of Shadow.”
The end of the legend left by the hero Grime was not a happy one. He had sought out the Demon Realm and died fighting the monsters that emerged from it. His end was defined by desperation rather than happiness, but it was as grand as it was desperate.
“There is a Demon Realm in the West as well,” Rem said.
The Demon Realm was spread across the entire continent. Although the Southern Demon Realm was known to be the largest, it was by no means the only one. At least, that was what the rumors said.
“And there are named Demon Realms too.”
Rem knew more about this than Encrid. He had seen it in the West during his coming-of-age ceremony. It was a secret known only to a few. During his ceremony, Rem had approached the border of the Demon Realm and looked inside.
“The name of this Demon Realm is Silence.”
Rem stopped walking and asked with a grin, “Want to go take a look?”
Encrid nodded without a moment's hesitation. He would wield a sword to protect those behind him. That was the kind of knight he dreamed of becoming. And one of the obstacles blocking that dream was the Demon Realm. It was a Balrog, a resident of the Demon Realm, that had killed Oara.
“Ayul, it'll be fine. You know why it's called Silence, don't you?” Juol comforted Ayul after a long moment of thought. She nodded reluctantly.
They had been riding their Velopters for over twenty days. They hadn't ridden at full speed, but they had traveled fast. Their destination was the Demon Realm.
As they pressed on, the yellow-brown earth gradually turned black. It wasn't just black; it was a dull, murky color, and a fishy stench began to waft through the air.
Groooaaar!
Ghouls popped up occasionally, and mutated Ratmen could be seen as well. Still, they weren't numerous. The numbers were far too low to truly call this place a Demon Realm.
All surrounding grasslands vanished, and low hills blocked their path. Though low, the hills stretched far to the left and right, completely pitch-black. They climbed up. Having come this far, Ayul no longer objected.
Some Westerners claimed that merely setting foot here would bring death, but those in the know knew better. There was no such curse. While entering deep inside would have adverse effects on the body, they hadn't even reached the entrance yet. This was merely land adjacent to the Demon Realm.
Beyond the black mist lay the true Demon Realm.
Standing atop the hills, other colors occasionally peeked through the dull blackness. Gray trees—the symbol of the Demon Realm. Their shapes were grotesque, the tangled branches and leaves resembling a woman with disheveled hair. The rocks were shaped like human hearts, a dull, lifeless brown. The wind blew, but instead of the cool breeze they had enjoyed so far, it carried a heavy, stagnant energy.
The Demon Realm Gray Forest was the curse that had fallen upon the City of Oara. That curse had been cleaved and severed by Knight Oara. And now, the curse of the West lay right before their eyes.
The black mist spread to the left and right, obscuring their vision.
“Monsters have only emerged from here twice, and both times, the West was nearly wiped out,” Rem said. It was a story of the past. “The Purple Majin was one of them. In sorcery, they say that silly names hold no power, which is why they named it that.”
Was the curse cast by the Fortune-teller Tribe called the Purple Majin's Curse?
Encrid saw a certain fire burning in Rem's eyes. It was the determination to put an end to that Demon Realm. There had to be a reason.
“Did you lose someone you knew? Or family?”
Perhaps that had been the case when the Purple Majin appeared. And his dying father would have told him: Run away. Do not fight. Leave the Demon Realm alone.
Those living in the West would never dare to touch the Demon Realm. To provoke it meant nothing but death. But that wouldn't have sat well with Rem. An avenging son, seeking retribution for his family? Was that it?
Rem snorted, dismissing the idea. “What are you talking about? I just don't like having them as neighbors.”
His attitude was entirely nonchalant.
“That's it?” Encrid asked.
“What else does there need to be?”
They lived a bit too far to be considered neighbors, Encrid thought. But it was a very Rem-like answer. He simply didn't like them.
Encrid felt the same way.
“We didn't come here to charge straight in, so hold your horses.”
“Hold what?”
“Weren't you about to charge?”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Well, your eyes tend to roll back whenever you see the Demon Realm or monsters. Just like how that Frok over there gets when she sees cultists.”
“I do?”
“Yeah.”
Encrid highly disliked the way Rem was looking at him, as if he were a madman.
“Charging in right now is suicide. Get a grip. Shit, if words won't work, I'll have to stop you by force. Ayul, get ready.”
Rem was dead serious, and Encrid couldn't help but curse.
“You son of a—”
“It's a dog's death! Wake up!”
Unable to hold back, Encrid swung Aker. Right there, on the border of the Demon Realm, in the forbidden zone, the two wrestled and brawled for a while. Still, they didn't fight seriously. The scuffle only stopped after Encrid landed a solid punch to Rem's ribs.
Since Rem had engaged without any sorcery active, Encrid had the upper hand. Drenched in sweat, the two suddenly burst into giggles.
It had been a deliberate joke on both sides. It was an expression of their resolve: they would eventually wipe this Demon Realm off the map, but there was no need to throw their lives away right this second.
They were absolute madmen.
“Anyway, we'll be back here next time.”
“Yeah. We'll clean this place up then.”
“Let's do that.”
The two stood up, and Ayul stared at them intently. She genuinely wondered if they had some kind of brain damage. Talking about "cleaning up" the Demon Realm and laughing like idiots while doing so...
Juol, on the other hand, felt his heart race. The ambition they displayed was so utterly absurd, yet his heart pounded fiercely. Anticipation surged within him. Once again, he felt he understood why so many people gathered around Encrid, the honorary hero.
Was it because he was a great fighter? There were plenty of those. Rem was one, and the West had its own heroes in the past. Was it because he was handsome? Not that either.
‘Dreams.’
His ambitions were different, and the way he chased his dreams was unique. His attitude toward life was dazzling. Because he was that kind of person, people naturally gravitated toward him.
This deeply moved Juol. Tears welled up in his eyes before he even realized it.
“If you're scared, just piss your pants. That's better than crying. Why are you weeping?” Rem teased.
Juol cried, then burst out laughing. He did so because it felt as though the things they spoke of had already become reality.
“Did he catch their madness?” Rem muttered with mock concern.