Chapter 741: A Bold and Audacious Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 741: A Bold and Audacious Dream
The demonic beasts attacked relentlessly, their patterns shifting constantly. Sometimes they struck every two days; other times, they allowed only a single day of respite.
A few swift fox demonic beasts attempted a wide detour around the village to lie in ambush along the path to the lake, but they could not deceive Encrid’s senses. Above all, their cunning was well within his expectations.
'If the demonic beasts have learned human guile...'
Then he simply had to factor that into his calculations and prepare accordingly.
"How can you know all this? How do you prepare for it?" Eirik asked at one point.
Taking the opportunity, Encrid began to mentor the boy. Even when Eirik asked where the east lay and Encrid replied that the sea was in that direction, the boy listened with rapt attention. His ears practically perked up, and he blinked far less than usual—the posture of someone hanging on every word.
"Even if you don't need it immediately, it is best to possess at least a minimum level of martial force. It might become your fangs, or it could be the final means to save your life when danger strikes."
The stranger who had arrived by chance was extraordinary. He was no ordinary man.
The words Encrid spoke were rooted in Krais’s philosophy. It was the first thing Krais had told him after they had barely escaped with their lives in the past.
"And while you're at it, you might as well build some abs to catch a lady's eye."
There was no need to pass on those specific words, so Encrid omitted them.
"That doesn't mean you'll be killing dozens of demonic beasts right away, but you should still build your strength. When you train your body, this part works better too," Encrid said, tapping his temple with his right index finger.
He was conveying his own experiences, layered atop Krais’s teachings. People would call this education.
Since the raids began, he had only trained the villagers to maintain their formation. To Brunhild, he taught combat methods, techniques, tricks, and training regimens. With Eirik, however, he mostly conversed. To the boy, those conversations were as valuable as a secret manual of swordsmanship.
"It's not about knowing everything and preparing for it; it's about preparing for everything that is predictable."
Anyone else might have tilted their head in confusion, but not Eirik.
"Ah." A short exclamation of realization escaped him.
Krais had always been anxious, and to quiet that anxiety, he prepared for every eventuality. Applying that logic to this village...
'Narrow the area to protect, and consolidate all available resources.'
Normally, they would have had to guard the food stockpiled in the warehouse, protect the path to the lake, and prepare for raids targeting children and the elderly. But now, they didn't need to do all that.
'Reduce the necessities, and prepare for everything within our capabilities.'
This was pure Krais-style tactics.
Encrid emulated and applied it. He didn't rely solely on intuition; he took preemptive measures and did not hesitate to use his head. In this manner, the villagers raised their spears and fought back.
Encrid sat in a tree, watching those who thrust their spears with their lives on the line.
"If we break!"
"We die!"
They had even come up with their own chant, though Encrid hadn't taught it to them.
"If it's too hard, don't force it—fall back!"
Repetition bred familiarity. If one out of ten grew exhausted, they pulled back. Even with nine, the circle kept rotating. Those not currently engaged in the fight tended to those who retreated.
Two villagers skilled with bows stood firm at the center of the circle. They had volunteered after an owl demonic beast had nearly torn off someone's shoulder two nights ago. A woman with thick forearms kept glancing overhead; if owls could come, crows could attack too. She didn't let her guard down just because it was daytime.
Rather than trying to predict the beasts' movements, they focused entirely on defending and holding their ground. Encrid’s teachings had manifested into reality.
"Don't back out just because it's hard! Hold the line!"
They had even appointed their own Decurions.
Though some demonic beasts tried to pierce the gaps in the formation...
"Not so fast."
Brunhild blocked them.
Her innate talent shone brightly. Her spearhead shattered the sunlight as it pierced a beast's skull. It was a simple thrust, but the wind-up was incredibly short. The wolf demonic beast died before it could even bare its fangs.
Pivoting on her left foot, she twisted her waist and thrust her spear, piercing the beast's hide.
'To be precise, she isn't aiming for the hide; she’s shoving it into the soft interior of its mouth.'
The way she extracted the spear, which protruded from the back of the beast's head, was dynamic. Leaping into the air, Brunhild kicked the beast's shoulder with both feet to wrench the weapon free. She compensated for her lack of raw physical strength with highly elastic movements. With a wet squelch, she pulled the spear free, planted it into the ground, flipped through the air, and landed upright. It was a display of outstanding physical coordination.
'They don't need a savior.'
His heart resonated with the thought. It was a sentiment he had once held while watching people die. What if they had the strength to protect themselves before wishing for help?
Toss a gold coin to a beggar, and they will return to the streets once it is spent. But teach a beggar how to work, and they learn to live by their own labor rather than by charity.
'Even after I leave, the threat of the demonic beasts will remain.'
The Ferryman’s whisper from the previous night echoed in his ears.
"Look. Let's say you help them and leave. What happens after? They will die eventually. Can you turn away from their deaths and just walk away?"
Was it an attempt to find a weakness and exploit it? Encrid remained unshaken. He would do as much as he could. The choices after that would be up to them.
Based on the Laws of the Continent, he would grant them a deterrent. This followed the same principle as building a pioneer village: repeatedly killing demonic beasts to set up milestones of blood and death, declaring their territory through sheer force.
'I cannot kill every single demonic beast.'
Since they had already stood up on their own, he only needed to give them a small push. Most didn't understand Encrid’s intentions, but Harkvent seemed to have a rough idea, and Eirik had realized it long ago. Brunhild and a few others, however, hadn't even considered it.
'They don't need a savior.'
Once again, the thought returned. He had seen the charred corpse of a child. He had seen the corpse of a mercenary whose head was torn off while trying to protect that child. Amidst the dying, Encrid had harbored such thoughts.
And now, it was happening here.
"Ha!"
With spirited shouts, the villagers repelled the demonic beasts. Not a single one of them had died.
'Holding out.'
Eirik had seen it correctly. Encrid had made them hold out. That was enough. From atop the tree, Encrid’s gaze shifted.
Possessing senses that far outstripped even other knights, Encrid had not missed the malicious gaze that had been fixed on him for days.
'They likely intend to watch me until I leave.'
Just as Eirik and Brunhild were here, there was a similar entity among the demonic beasts—one that knew how to fight using its head. That beast had to be the mastermind.
Even if Encrid couldn't kill every single beast at once, he could easily deal with the troublesome ones. The horde was like dozens of colonies gathered together. Among them were core demonic beasts responsible for each colony. If he killed them, the immediate threat would crumble.
Encrid stepped on a branch and launched himself. He leaped from tree to tree like a flying squirrel, but at more than twice the speed.
When he descended to the ground to find a new footing, two spotted leopard demonic beasts lunged at him from his left and right. Their approach was so stealthy he hadn't felt a thing until they were closing in.
Just before they struck, the fine hairs on the back of Encrid’s neck stood on end. It was a warning from his intuition.
The moment he perceived it, he shifted his center of gravity. Channeling his forward momentum into his left foot, he stamped the ground to a halt.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, dirt, stones, and twigs flew up. Through the debris, the claws of the two leopards aimed for Encrid’s head and flank. They coordinated their attacks high and low, splitting left and right. They were cunning creatures.
But that was all. Remaining stationary, Encrid extended his blades.
The sun shone brightly overhead. The trajectory of Samcheol drew a circle, as if creating a new sun behind his back. Instead of heat, the sharpness of the blades scattered like lethal sunlight.
Thud.
The ensuing sound was quiet. There was no need to swing a sword faster than sound. It was enough to simply place the blade and slice, utilizing their own charging momentum. Samcheol’s blades were more than sharp enough.
He slashed the one on the right with Truesilver and cleaved the one on the left with Ink Gold. Stopping, slashing, and leaping forward again—all occurred within a single breath. In his wake, the two leopards collapsed, spilling black blood and entrails.
As he kicked off the ground once more, it felt as if a long line was trailing behind him. He could have pursued them by relying on his endurance, but that would take too much time. No matter how well he had trained the villagers to hold out, they could not remain safe forever. He had to hunt the leaders down within a strict time limit.
Was that difficult?
'No.'
Not all Explosions of Lines were the same. There were thin lines, and there were thick lines. He applied the trick learned from the Explosion of Lines to Strong Legs, channeling Will into his lower body. His frame felt remarkably light. Trees blurred past him. Naturally, his reflex speed adjusted in proportion to his sprinting speed. There was no chance of him being scratched by branches mid-run.
Encrid’s sprint brought him face-to-face with a single fox. Rather than fleeing, the fox chose to stand and fight. This one was equally clever; the moment he confronted it, over a hundred fox demonic beasts surrounded him. They hid in the shadows, eyes gleaming, concealing their presence.
'Techniques learned from the wild.'
They said a knight’s attunement was learned from the elves, but seeing the demonic beasts now, he wondered if that was entirely true. If the elves had learned the footwork of wild beasts, then they had effectively learned it from demonic beasts from the very beginning.
A story Valfir Balmung had told him came to mind. Humans...
'...learned Intimidation from monsters.'
And if they learned attunement from demonic beasts, were the monsters and demonic beasts now learning from humans in turn?
'What more lies within the Demon Realm?'
He felt a sudden curiosity about that place—about those who fought there, and the Balrog itself, not just its fragments.
The fox demonic beast hid blades in its tail and bared its claws, but compared to the "today" he had walked through so far, this was an easy fight.
Encrid’s Samcheol and Penna took to the dance floor. In a ballroom where the sun served as the chandelier and the black blood of demonic beasts served as the carpet, the only protagonists were the two swords.
Slashing, thrusting, bursting, and killing. When he finally returned to the village...
The villagers, their faces a mix of cheers, relief, and astonishment, stared at him with wide eyes.
"...Bring water to wash," Harkvent said. Encrid likely looked dreadful, drenched from head to toe in black blood. Even so, no one reproached him.
The gazes Encrid felt were not singular. Among the demonic beasts targeting this village, three dangerous ones remained. He did not change his tactics. While the villagers held their ground, he would kill the key beasts.
The horde might have been discouraged, but they refused to retreat.
'Which means they want something.'
It was easy to guess, but he didn't dwell on it. After two more pursuits, Encrid killed a small but incredibly fast bear and severed the head of a black wild dog from a pack of five hundred that moved as a single entity.
The last was a tiger whose hide had turned harder than steel.
Until now, it had been a one-sided chase, but the final demonic beast was waiting for Encrid, as if to welcome him.
Grrr.
"Did you dream of becoming the king of demonic beasts?" Encrid asked, following his intuition.
The beast could not answer in a human tongue, but its low growl sounded like an affirmation. To see the essence of an object without the need for sensation, experience, or reasoning—that was intuition. Encrid’s intuition had already surpassed the level of ordinary knights. It was an answer born from the accumulation of the "todays" he had survived and the knowledge gained from facing inhuman horrors.
'King of demonic beasts.'
He didn't know its name, but the tiger had indeed dreamed of becoming a king. In the Pen-Hanil Mountains, even a demonic beast could not easily occupy the position of an apex predator.
The tiger had dreamed of a life where it claimed the mountain range as its territory, roaming the continent, devouring human flesh in the morning and drinking the blood of elves in the evening.
Grrrrr.
It was a bold and audacious dream. And it could have come true. The reason the tiger targeted this place was because of the ore hidden behind the village. If it swallowed that ore, it would evolve into something entirely new.
If not for the human before its eyes.
Encrid did not underestimate his opponent. This was a creature that had transcended its species to unite the demonic beasts into a single horde, reaching the pinnacle and altering the territory of the mountain range. Just as knights existed for humans, special individuals could be born among demonic beasts.
'The exceptional ones among monsters.'
The Demon Realm was where such entities gathered. They would be similar to the beast before him now.
The tiger’s shoulder muscles contracted. Though invisible to the naked eye, his Sixth Sense read the movement. The moment he perceived the tension in the beast’s hind legs, the tiger’s forepaw descended from above.
It had seemed large while crouching, but standing, its body was larger than a house-sized bear. Yet, its movements were swifter than any beast he had faced.
Sound vanished, and the air pressed heavily upon his shoulders. He felt a pressure as if fighting while submerged in a swamp—a change brought about by the stretching of perceived time. To break free, he needed physical strength that transcended human limits.
Encrid squeezed his muscles, infused them with his Will, and swung Samcheol.
Mid-swing, the tiger unhinged its maw and spat a torrent of fire. It was a move that defied all expectations.