Chapter 758: Knight of Demonic Charm
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 758: Knight of Demonic Charm
"I was planning to go even without you telling me. Got it?"
Rem ground his teeth and turned around.
From every direction, drooling beasts targeting the village were closing in.
In a way, it was efficient. There was no longer any need to hunt for monsters or demonic beasts one by one. Even the roaming-type monsters, which they hadn't been able to find a trace of despite a lengthy search, had finally shown themselves.
Screeech!
In the distance, a harpy boasting eagle feathers and firm chest muscles hovered in the air, flapping its wings. It was a roaming-type monster known as Demuiller's minion. It led a pack of ten, and every single member of that pack was said to unleash invisible blades. Since the leader was a harpy, the rest of the pack were naturally harpies as well.
There were eleven monsters capable of firing invisible, condensed wind blades all night long.
Rumble, rumble.
Before long, the ground shook faintly. It felt like an earthquake, but it wasn't. It was the sound of a massive, heavy charge—a vibration and sound easily recognizable to anyone with battlefield experience.
Casting his gaze into the distance, Encrid saw a pack of rhino demonic beasts with horns protruding sharply from their noses. Even among demonic beasts, those that had awakened special talents were rushing out of the Demon Realm to feast on a special treat.
Their appearance through the dust clouds and vibrations did not look like ordinary demonic beasts. Presumably, they would even fight among themselves on the way here; fighting over delicious prey was instinctual, after all.
Encrid had fully anticipated this moment. Because he had expected it, he smiled. Then, he spoke.
"It's a party."
The Eroded and Majin standing beside him widened his eyes in surprise at those words.
What party? A party where we are all sacrificed while they watch?
It was a natural question to arise. He had seen the black-haired man kill the Minotaur, but this was a completely different situation. They were out of the Demon God's protection. The fence that had guarded them was gone. Thus, death was preordained. Those who struggled and writhed to survive would inhale despair and exhale frustration.
"Aaaah."
One of the villagers let out a bizarre, scream-like shriek. Hearing it, the other villagers were about to scream in unison.
Hearing this, Luagarne approached and grabbed the man's throat.
"Gack."
Looking at the choking man, Luagarne puffed out her cheeks and shouted. A frog-kin's croak was always thunderous.
"At-ten-tion!"
The monstrous roar forced everyone to look at her. Even some members of the Order of Madness glanced back. The effect of the shout was absolute. The onlookers shut their mouths. Having captured everyone's attention, the frog-kin's mouth opened.
"Repeat after me."
Luagarne was a frog-kin, but she also referred to herself as an artist. Indeed, she had once worked in a theatrical troupe. She knew exactly what kind of chant was needed right now.
"Demonic Charm..."
"......Huh?"
"Knight."
Meanwhile, wind blades rained down from the sky.
Swoooooosh.
The sound could be heard, but nothing could be seen. Thus, the sound itself became terror. Rem lightly swung his axe to neutralize it. At the same moment he swung, the sound of something shattering echoed.
Shatter!
It was a noise like a glass marble being crushed by sheer force.
"So you want to play from up there, huh?" Rem said, the corners of his mouth curling upward. So, throwing things from a distance is your specialty?
There was no need to pull out a sling—called a sling or stone-thrower on the continent, but known as a muritmae in the West.
Rem's left hand blurred. That was how it appeared to everyone else. However, to those with exceptional dynamic visual acuity, led by Encrid, it looked different.
His left hand drew the axe from his waist and hurled it upward. His hand movement was twice as fast as when he had thrown it at Sachsen earlier. The thrown axe flew faster than a hawk snatching its prey.
Boom!
Breaking the sound barrier with a thunderous boom, the axe embedded itself directly into the head of the harpy leader. Its head exploded, and its body was propelled upward in midair. Because it was difficult to gauge the distance, it almost looked as if something had grabbed the leader by the neck and yanked it into the sky.
Then, black rain fell. Rem took a few steps back to avoid the spray of monster blood. The harpy, as massive as a bear, plummeted. With a heavy thud, its body twitched a few times before falling completely still.
"Perfect for warming up," Rem said, watching the scene.
Encrid analyzed every single movement Rem made, breaking them down. His near-extrasensory combat instincts allowed him to perceive exactly what Rem had done.
Gathering sorcery power to momentarily amplify physical strength.
Just before throwing the axe, he had moved to a position that would trace the optimal trajectory. It was only a few steps, but he must have drawn an imaginary line toward the harpy leader.
Then, unleashing the sorcery to throw the axe.
In the process, a technique similar to the Point Explosion using Will was added. Finally, by adjusting his sorcery power with extreme precision and delicacy, he eliminated the recoil from the Point Explosion.
Using only exactly as much as needed.
It was just like how Rynox had used Will without a single error back in Zaun. Rem had accomplished it naturally. He was truly worthy of being called a monster.
As much as Encrid grew, those crazy, genius bastards kept pace. He felt like he could win if they fought right now... but who knew what would happen in a few months? That was the difference between a genius and an ordinary person, between a genius and a dullard.
Even if I hold the upper hand with my inexhaustible Will, it's only by this much.
If asked whether he resented this, the answer was absolutely not. It was fun. It was incredibly thrilling and exciting. Ecstasy filled his entire body. Even though he experienced it often, it felt brand new every single time.
"This is fun. Very fun."
His excitement overflowed, slipping out as a mutter to himself. But to the surrounding villagers, he was simply a madman. He was calling it "fun" while monsters and demonic beasts swarmed them.
Had the Demon God descended using that man's body? Even if that wasn't the case, the realization that this man was as dangerous as the Demon God was deeply engraved in everyone's minds.
But what did the frog-kin say earlier? A few of the watching villagers chanted in unison.
"Demonic Charm..."
"Knight."
It wasn't very loud at first. But the sound gradually grew. Before long, all the villagers were chanting passionately.
"Demonic Charm!"
"Knight!"
A shout erupted from hundreds of voices combined carried immense power. Just as a hundred people shouting with one mind was far more persuasive than a single orator.
Encrid turned away, thinking it was just a wicked prank by the frog-kin, but in Luagarne's eyes, there was no title more fitting. Demonic Charm—it was the epithet that suited him best. Look at him now, radiating his charm to draw even a Balrog to this place.
"You never let me rest, do you?" Sinar stepped forward as well.
"Pel, Ropode, stop playing around."
At Encrid's words, thrown over his shoulder as he ran, the two of them moved. Roman had also caught on by now. Monsters and demonic beasts were rushing in from all sides, but this was not a crisis.
Why? Because every single bastard here was a monster.
Ragna strolled off to one side. As he drew his sword while walking, his greatsword pierced the darkness of the night and shone. A sword resembling a sun that rejected the moonlight stood tall amidst the darkness.
Roman, who had been getting nagged by Ropode for a while, joined in.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
For now, the charging rhino demonic beasts were the most urgent threat, and Audin and Teresa stepped up to face them.
"Push them back!" Audin shouted, catching the horn of the charging rhino head-on with both hands and hurling it aside.
Huh? Does that even make sense? Even if Oara came back to life, she probably couldn't pull that off.
Furthermore, Roman had thought Audin's specialty was divine power, but no divine power had even manifested. It was a duet of raw strength and technique. The ground beneath the bear beastman named Audin gouged out, tracing a semicircle. His body, including his hands and limbs, became an unbreakable pillar of steel, using sheer force to shove the rhino demonic beast aside as if throwing it.
Crash!
A thunderous roar erupted, like lightning striking a massive boulder. It was a sound that made the eardrums tingle. The rhino demonic beast collapsed along with several other beasts. The half-giant standing beside him performed a similar feat.
Only, she did it with a shield. She caught them with her shield and shoved them aside. Her feet also traced a wide semicircle. It was a footwork technique used to redirect force.
No matter how lacking in perception Roman was, he was still an associate knight. He knew exactly how extraordinary the technique behind those two's movements was.
Monsters!
The shout erupted naturally from within him.
The most terrifying monster among them stepped forward. The darkness of the night made his cloak appear pitch black. It was the very cloak that Roman knew was actually dark green when viewed in daylight.
Flutter!
As he leaped forward, his cloak fluttered in the wind. Before long, the cloak stretched into a long, narrow shape, looking practically like a scarf. It stretched out long—the tip of a black line, completely distinct from the color of the night.
"Assimilation!"
He swung his sword while uttering incomprehensible words. A ghoul possessing the ability to assimilate into its surroundings was split vertically in front of him.
When did it get there?
It was a monster that knew how to hide its presence. Yet, it had been sliced in half. As black blood and entrails splattered onto the ground, it looked as if the darkness was greedily devouring them.
"Demonic Charm!"
"Knight!"
Behind him, everyone chanted under the frog-kin's direction. The chant seemed to summon madness. Roman took all of this in. As he did, a desire to contribute to this fight naturally flared up within him like a wildfire. It was a fierce blaze, like a fire set to a dry field.
"Woooooooh! Roman of Oara is coming!"
Swept up in the atmosphere, Roman's greatsword thrust straight forward.
Thud!
The massive head of a troll caught on his greatsword.
"Wooooh!"
Shouting with exertion, he pulled his sword upward with all his might. The troll's head split open. No matter how exceptional its regenerative abilities were, it would die if its head was split.
Now, look. I am Roman of Oara! he seemed to say.
A shadow brushed past his side, and a calm voice threw a bit of cold water on Roman's blazing excitement.
"No. You are putting too much tension into your body. You must use your joints more fluidly, applying force when needed and relaxing when it is not."
"If it could be fixed just by talking, he would have done it long ago. Leave him be. If he dies running wild like that, then that's just his fate."
This was another shadow. The first was Ropode, and the second was Pel. Ropode continued speaking as he ran.
"I'm telling him so he won't do that."
"And I'm saying it's useless."
"You might think so because you have a Human-faced Dog's dick shoved in your earholes, but this man is different."
"Hey, didn't you say that kind of swearing makes a person look cheap?"
Ropode, who usually mocked others but avoided excessive profanity, felt a brief moment of self-loathing after unconsciously speaking like Pel. Had he started to resemble him a bit from hanging around him so much? The thought only made him feel more unpleasant.
Therefore, it was time to show who was superior.
"Let's see who kills more..."
"Fine by me."
Before Ropode could even finish his sentence, Pel agreed. The two scattered to the left and right. There were plenty of things far more dangerous than the troll Roman had just killed. It was the perfect environment for a competition.
Roman saw it too.
Rumble. A few stone fragments bounced off the ground, and then, with a loud pop, a fountain of dirt and stone erupted.
A Worm!
A massive earthworm-like monster, large enough to coil around a bear and crush it to death in an instant, burst from the ground.
"Mine!"
The man named Pel killed it. He launched himself into the air, curled his body, and swung his sword. Such acrobatics were something Roman couldn't even dream of attempting. The Worm tried to thrash around with its head split open, but Pel sliced it to pieces on the spot. His casual sword strikes carried the same weight as if he were pouring his entire soul into them.
Swordplay mastered through so much repetition that it has become subconscious.
The profound truth of it struck Roman anew. Beside the fallen Worm, five drooling ghouls rushed in, but Ropode blocked their path. He calmly decapitated them one by one. The entire process felt incredibly natural and effortless. But if one analyzed it closely, it was anything but.
It's like prey caught in a spiderweb.
That was the impression it left. He restricted the ghouls' movements, followed by decisive slashes when necessary.
After that, it was difficult to pay attention to anyone else's fight. Roman had to move busily as well. There were simply too many things swarming them: harpies, ghouls, Human-faced Dogs, ogres, trolls, Armored Skeletons, Plague Maidens, poison-spraying demons, and more.
Well, it was no big deal. Or so he thought. What was the big deal about fighting through the night for a mere two days?
All the villagers who had been chanting "Demonic Charm! Knight!" had long since gone inside their homes to hide. In Luagarne's eyes, there was no reason to keep them outside and expose them to danger. Afterward, Luagarne joined the battle as well. She stood at the center of the village, issuing commands to fill any gaps.
The Luagarne-style tactical swordsmanship, which served as the foundation for Encrid-style Orthodox Swordsmanship, was an excellent technique even when used to command a unit.
And so, two days passed. Roman looked upon the corpses of the dead monsters and demonic beasts. Not as a figure of speech, but a literal mountain of corpses.