Chapter 734: Semi-basement
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 734: Semi-basement
"Hold them off! Hold the line!"
The shouts reached Encrid’s sharp ears the moment he spotted the village.
He couldn't simply ignore it. Curiosity piqued his interest, and a strange tug at his heart stirred his emotions. After all, the sight reminded him of the place where he had once lived.
Deciding it would be faster to travel through the canopy than to hack through the dense underbrush, Encrid took to the trees.
With a heavy pack on his back and two swords at his waist, he was far from light, but scaling a massive trunk was child's play for him. He dug his fingers into the bark and propelled himself upward.
Using his fingertips for grip and channeling strength into his toes, he scaled the tree with movements nimbler than a squirrel’s. For a knight of his caliber, such a feat was only natural.
Using the branches as stepping stones, he leaped toward the source of the commotion, closing the distance in an instant. Every time Encrid kicked off a branch, a shower of leaves and twigs rained down, sending nearby mountain birds fluttering away in a startled panic.
"If they break through, we’re dead! Hold them here!"
The shout was laced with raw terror.
Encrid came to a halt once he located the source. Resting his right foot on a thin branch, he anchored himself by digging his index and middle fingers into the trunk while lightly hooking his left toes into the bark.
He had climbed the trees simply to move faster, but the height now provided him with a perfect bird's-eye view of the unfolding crisis.
Below, over ten people stood clutching makeshift spears—sharp pieces of iron lashed to the ends of wooden shafts. Behind them, a few others swung crude slings, while those furthest back drew bowstrings.
A clumsy formation.
Roughly speaking, the spearmen held the front, the slingers took the middle, and the archers brought up the rear. But to call it a "formation" was generous; they were merely huddling together in a desperate mass.
The spacing between the spearmen was far too wide. If they fought like that, the wild dogs' charge would breach the line the moment the battle began, forcing the rear guard to face the demonic beasts in a chaotic melee.
In short, they were not trained combatants. Their total number didn't even exceed fifty.
Facing them was a pack of wild dog demonic beasts of similar numbers, widely deployed and ready to strike.
Feeble.
Both the beasts and the people stepping up to fight them looked weak to his eyes. Even if a fight broke out as they were, the humans would likely survive, as they seemed to have a slight upper hand.
But there will be casualties.
If luck wasn't on their side, more than half of them would perish.
As if well aware of this grim reality, the villagers clenched their teeth, their faces pale. This was especially true for those standing at the front with their makeshift spears.
Having assessed the situation, Encrid didn't hesitate. There was nothing to ponder.
With a soft thud, he let go of the tree and plummeted. He dropped from a height that would easily shatter the bones of an ordinary person, but he landed with practiced ease. Before hitting the ground, Encrid drew Samcheol and drove the blade into a fallen log to slow his momentum.
Screeech—!
Leaving a long gouge in the wood, Encrid touched down lightly.
His dramatic entrance naturally drew every eye on the battlefield. Both the humans and the wild dogs froze, staring at the intruder. Effortlessly brushing off their gazes, Encrid dashed forward.
A knight's charge is difficult for ordinary eyes to track, even when they aren't going all out. Furthermore, Encrid's physical conditioning was vastly superior to that of an ordinary knight, especially since Strong Legs was a technique that perfectly harmonized the physical body with Will.
To the onlookers, he seemed to vanish into thin air.
Boom!
It was a charge that left no afterimage, accompanied by a thunderous roar that shattered the earth beneath his feet.
Even as he sprinted, Encrid was completely at ease—so much so that he could observe the abnormally developed shoulder muscles and jagged fangs of each wild dog, gauging their reactions. He even had room to lose himself in thought.
Since his opponents were demonic beasts, this was real combat. He didn't need to hold back with the soft, restrained swordplay used in sparring.
The pack of wild dogs and Encrid existed in entirely different flows of time.
Because House Zaun hadn't provided a perfectly fitting scabbard, Samcheol had been secured inside a slightly loose one with a leather strap. He drew it in a single, fluid motion and swung upward.
Snap.
The sound of the leather strap snapping was audible only to him.
Slash. Splat.
The same went for the sound of flesh being sliced and the wet thud of entrails hitting the dirt.
Drawing Samcheol, he slashed from chest to head, then followed up with a rapid succession of battering strikes.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The sound trailed behind his movements. Encrid's sword split the heads of the demonic beasts faster than the speed of sound. He was more precise than a master woodcutter who had spent a lifetime splitting logs.
The contents of the beasts' skulls erupted vertically. Black blood, fractured bone, and brain fluid spurted upward like a macabre fountain.
To the villagers, it simply looked as though a man had dropped from the sky, vanished into a blur of dust, and then the demonic beasts' heads began spontaneously exploding.
What on earth is this?
Some unconsciously let the strength drain from their arms, lowering their spears in shock, while others tensed up even more, their bodies stiffening with anxiety.
Twang!
One woman, utterly startled by the display, accidentally let loose an arrow that landed a mere five paces ahead of her.
"Ah..."
A short gasp escaped someone's lips—a wordless expression of pure awe.
Encrid gave Samcheol a powerful flick, flinging off the clumps of flesh and fat clinging to the blade.
Splatter.
Gore sprayed to the side.
Naturally, beasts possess superior dynamic vision and athletic ability compared to humans. When tainted with monster blood to become demonic beasts, those physical capabilities increase even further. Of course, even then, they were clumsy compared to a knight.
But not all demonic beasts were created equal. Just as there are exceptional individuals among humans, some demonic beasts turned out weaker than ordinary predators, while others were far more dangerous. One only had to look at Odd-Eye to know this—a single wild horse that had overcome the monster blood to establish its own will.
Among these wild dogs, there was one particularly brave and agile specimen. The beast reacted as it watched its packmates' heads burst one by one. It kicked off the ground and lunged.
That human is busy killing my packmates. Now!
It lunged toward the human's exposed back. Its movements were different from the others—it was a unique specimen that might have earned a name for itself had it survived this day.
Keeping his torso fixed, Encrid forcefully pulled back his sword mid-swing to change its trajectory. Pivoting on one foot, his waist rotated as the blade drew a perfect horizontal line.
Whoosh—thud!
The line drawn by Samcheol severed the beast's neck. The decapitated head flew into the air with a dull thud.
Snap, snap.
Unaware of its own death, the beast's jaws continued to snap at empty air as the head tumbled through the sky.
Encrid's blade was meant to slay the greatest of monsters. No matter how "special" this demonic beast was, compared to him, it was nothing but a newly hatched chick.
Facing certain death, the remaining demonic beasts had two choices: scatter and flee, or succumb to their demonic nature and attack.
They chose neither.
Aside from his initial charge, Encrid hadn't moved much from his spot, simply methodically dismantling every beast that came near. Meanwhile, a few wild dogs turned back instead of heading toward him. They were attempting to bypass him to target the villagers.
While swinging his sword, Encrid pulled out the javelin he had received from Rynox and whipped it downward.
Crack!
He swung it with such force that the sound of the spearhead snapping into its extended position was incredibly crisp. He threw the javelin without a moment's hesitation.
Whoosh! Boom!
The flying javelin shattered the skull of the beast trying to sneak around and embedded itself deep into the ground. The crushed skull sprayed brain matter and bone fragments in all directions.
The pack of demonic beasts then did something absurd. Scattering and fleeing was understandable, but this...
A rear guard? A delaying action?
Even if he relied on intuition to formulate tactics, Encrid had studied basic strategy. It was something he had learned back when he dabbled in everything just to survive.
Part of the pack fled, while the rest stayed behind to attack. Despite the bodies of their packmates littering the ground, there was no hesitation in their dark eyes.
Then again, Encrid's sword was equally devoid of hesitation.
Slashing upward, thrusting, and cutting, Samcheol turned all the approaching beasts into inedible chunks of meat. The meat of demonic beasts was notoriously tough and toxic, making it useless for food.
Encrid watched the remaining wild dogs scatter, then cast his gaze into the distance. His pupils, which had been focused on the immediate area, contracted and then dilated—a phenomenon that occurred when he circulated his Will to enhance his vision.
Far in the distance, he saw it. Was it a spotted wild dog? No, it was a leopard. At any rate, a beast three times larger than the average wild dog demonic beast was staring in his direction.
Beyond the range of my senses.
Another pack of demonic beasts came into view far away, but they were too distant to pursue. There was also a reason why he hadn't bothered to chase the fleeing wild dogs earlier. If he had left the remaining beasts to deal with the ones far away, the villagers would have had to fight them, which could have led to needless casualties.
And given how they were gaping at him in shock, their reactions would have been far too slow.
On the other hand, that pack of demonic beasts was already fully prepared to fight.
There were several strange things about this. Didn't the last group of wild dogs act as if they were fighting a delaying action to cover a retreat? Even the ones fleeing didn't just run blindly; they withdrew in an orderly sequence.
Even employing a sacrificial rear guard?
Was it a coincidence? No. It couldn't be. His intuition told him otherwise.
Of course, none of this was something to dwell on right now. Encrid shook the remaining fat and blood from Samcheol, grabbed a handful of dirt, and wiped the blade down roughly. Since he had swung it so violently, he would need to oil it thoroughly later. He had a bottle of high-quality flaxseed oil from House Zaun for just such an occasion.
"Who are you?"
Only then did he hear a question directed at him. He figured that even if he introduced himself as Encrid of the Border Guard, no one here would recognize the name.
"Let's just say I'm a passing swordsman."
"...Thank you for your help."
The man holding the spear spoke up, stepping forward with palpable tension. It was understandable. If a knight suddenly appeared at a hidden village, anyone would be terrified. After all, this was a world where the weak were always on edge. If someone in power harbored ill intent, there was very little common folk could do.
Not a single person in the crowd even blinked. They simply stared with wide eyes, unable to look away from the warrior who had slaughtered the demonic beasts.
Encrid sheathed Samcheol back into its loose scabbard and tied the broken leather strap back together. Normally, he would have left immediately, but several things weighed on his mind.
Or, to be more honest... he was reminded of the countless people he had failed to protect in the past. Among them was a certain village. Furthermore, this place resembled where he used to live.
I'll consider this a slight detour.
Judging by the situation, if he left now, these people would likely die. That was usually the fate of those who lived in hiding. Though he had heard rumors of underground cities formed by such people banding together, usually, a hermit village vanished after becoming a single meal for monsters.
Some even claimed that these very people were the reason monsters and demonic beasts formed colonies—that by gathering together, they became a massive source of food that allowed the creatures' numbers to multiply.
Whatever the case, Encrid couldn't turn his back on them.
"Since I saved you, would you mind if I rested here for a bit?" he asked.
No one spoke. The spearman who had stepped forward didn't raise his weapon, but his wariness was clear. It seemed to be a place where people who rejected outsiders had gathered, even by the standards of hermit villages.
The thick-eyebrowed spearman standing in front pursed his lips a few times before finally speaking.
"...This way."
He seemed to have agonized over the decision.
Encrid sheathed his sword and took a slow step forward, careful not to appear threatening.
The entrance to the village was nowhere to be seen. These people were not pioneers; clearing the land was not their goal. They had banded together solely to survive. Because of this, they had constructed a unique form of housing.
They dug pits in the ground and covered them with brush. They made hut-like lids and scattered crushed Nightmare Herb fruit—which monsters and demonic beasts detested—over them. Encrid himself had used this trick on his way here.
They know exactly how to use it.
If handled incorrectly, Nightmare Herb fruit could rot your fingertips. Even if you were luckier than that, inhaling the scent would cause hallucinations for a solid week. It wasn't called the Nightmare Herb for nothing. To use it properly, one had to mix the herb and the fruit in the perfect proportions—just as these people had.
"I am Harkvent," the man leading the way said. It was a southern name.
"Encrid."
"Nice to meet you."
Speaking in a tone that suggested he was anything but pleased, Harkvent invited Encrid into a dwelling that was half-dugout, half-aboveground.
I suppose you could call this a semi-basement.
It certainly fit the description.