Chapter 770

A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

Will  fluctuates wildly.

It must be because there are few things more exhilarating than this.

Enkrid  sometimes felt that  Will  moved on its own, outside of his control.

This was one of those times.

But if you asked if that was bad, he'd say not at all.

'What one desires unconsciously.'

That's what was projected onto  Will .

If you considered its structure or principle, it wouldn't deviate much from this.

His prolonged thought created over a dozen ideas, but they soon converged into one.

'Cut.'

It brought even the wildly fluctuating  Will  into focus.

Will , responding to his intent, circulated throughout his body, moved through his arm and fingers, traveled along the sword's grip, and surged into the blade.

'An engraved weapon is a part of my hand.'

That's how it felt.

It was natural for  Will  to flow towards and reside in  Dawnforged .

He stopped his controlled breathing and half-closed his eyes, looking at the rampart.

Ragna , holding the sunrise, watched his commander from afar.

In his eyes, he saw  Will , infused into  Enkrid's Dawnforged , ceaselessly gather and thicken.

"Doing something interesting."

Ragna  murmured.

Shinar  watched  Enkrid  dash off, then stopped the rough movements of his hands and feet.

Shinar  was similar to  Ragna .

She was already conscious of  Enkrid , so one could say she looked at  Enkrid  even faster than  Ragna .

The air of the  Demonic Domain  was poison itself to fairies.

She endured it because she harbored spiritual energy that had reached the knight level; otherwise, fairies wouldn't even be able to set foot in the  Demonic Domain .

This place was truly filled with unpleasant air, making one's chest instinctively tighten.

Yet, watching  Enkrid  grip his sword now, it felt as if the spiritual energy of the forest wafted from somewhere.

That could have been a trace of the power she herself infused when the sword was made, or it could have been because the fairy's keen senses predicted what was about to happen.

Whatever it was, the reason wasn't important to  Shinar .

An ordinary person would probably be aghast at what  Enkrid  was doing now, but  Shinar  was filled with nothing but support for what that madman at the forefront was about to do.

Was that not the proper attitude towards one's beloved?

Above all,  Shinar  believed in that man.

Where he goes, a path opens, and where he heads, there is light, so the sword that will protect the child of the forest and flowers shall harbor spiritual energy.

It made her want to hum a fairy song.

Instead of singing, she murmured, echoing her heart:

"Cut, fiancé."

No one heard her murmur.

Even Fel, who was blocking arrows, and  Ropord , who was fighting monsters, couldn't help but have their gazes drawn to  Enkrid .

Is what that guy is trying to do now really what I think he's trying to do?

Fel  and  Ropord  secretly had the same thought.

Even amidst the charging monsters, a part of everyone's consciousness turned towards him.

Enkrid , knowing his sword wouldn't break, poured the inexhaustible  Will  into his sword with all his might.

An intangible power, born of his will, seemed to flow through the blood vessels of his entire body.

All of it entered the sword.

Dawnforged  accepted it readily.

For a moment, he felt a sense of exhaustion.

He adjusted himself to prevent that.

Then  Enkrid  placed his engraved weapon against the fortress wall.

Crunch.

The blade, now horizontal with the ground, embedded itself about a finger's depth into the Thornbriar Fortress Wall.

Gripping the hilt with both hands, he steadied his breathing.

There were no extraneous thoughts.

He was so focused that a blue circle seemed to form within his pupils.

Uooooooh, Uoooooh, Aaaaaahk.

The wall erupted in monstrous shrieks, trying to stab at him by extending thorn-like barbs and attempting to ensnare the madman before it with whip-like thorn vines.

With the sword still stuck in the wall, he took off running—carving a gash across the Thornbriar Fortress Wall as he moved. It was more than just slicing through—it was a cut infused with Will.

It couldn't just be said it was drawing.

He had imbued the sword with  Will , after all.

As  Enkrid  ran, the wall exploded with a deafening roar.

Kiaaaak , the wailing vengeful spirits shrieked.

Kwagagagagagagak!

The sound continued as he ran.

As  Enkrid  ran,  Dawnforged  carved a line along the base of the wall in the direction he was running.

Black blood splattered as the base of the Thornbriar fortress wall was cut, exploded, shattered, broken, and crushed.

A whitish smoke seemed to rise.

And whatever it was, everything that begins must end.

Enkrid  stopped running.

Steam rose from his shoulders.

His dark green cloak, which had spontaneously lengthened, fluttered in the wind and then wrapped around his shoulders and back.

A long trail marked the Thornbriar Wall as far as he had run.

A very short time later, the ground vibrated faintly, and the wall swayed before beginning to tilt backward.

Kugggeugeugeu.

With a rumble, part of the wall toppled backward.

It was a spectacular sight.

A scene that made one wonder if such a feat could truly be accomplished by human hands.

The fallen wall looked surreal, but the vibrations and impact proved that this was no dream.

The fallen wall collided with the ground, announcing the considerable weight it carried.

Kwaaaang!

The sound and pressure that followed were enough to burst an ordinary person's eardrums.

The vibrations shook everything.

It felt like an earthquake.

The ground trembled.

That was natural.

A part of the wall had collapsed backward in the direction  Enkrid  had swung.

The stones embedded within the thorn bushes to form the wall cracked and shattered, creating grey dust.

Even in the  Demonic Domain , dust wasn't black or purple.

Rocks were just rocks.

Amidst the purple earth of the  Demonic Domain , in the pitch-black darkness of night where colors could no longer be distinguished, dust billowed.

Something whitish covered everything, like an overlay on the darkness of night.

A brief silence permeated the roar and dust.

Even the charging monsters were about to retreat, reacting to the sound and vibrations.

Everyone stopped in surprise, their mouths agape.

Can the one who builds a Steel wall also cut down one?

Eyes filled with such astonishment gathered on  Enkrid .

Yet, they were still the madmen knights.

Although surprised, they weren't shocked to the point of losing their minds.

"Not breaking through, but cutting and toppling?"

Fel's  murmur.

Even amidst the flying dust,  Fel  saw, and at the same time, his pupils continuously trembled.

How is such a thing possible?

It was a remark imbued with such meaning, but it wasn't merely surprise.

More accurately, if you asked how he felt after seeing that.

"You asked us if there's even anything we can do about it—!"

Luagarne's  shout would express that feeling.

Thump-

Her heart pounded, and she felt naturally excited.

Damn it, he can do something like that?

Something like that is possible, you say?

Such thoughts followed, and she was simply thrilled.

A frog croak, resounding everywhere, burst from  Frog's  mouth instead of a battle cry.

The retort from  Frog's  vocal cords loudly echoed everywhere for the enemy.

Audin  paused his punching for a moment.

'Brother.'

It was an act that elicited admiration and exclamations.

He cut an entire wall with a sword.

Rather than a competitive spirit,  Audin  wanted to show something in praise of the feat he had displayed.

In front of him, he saw a part of the rampart that had just been punched through.

"Lord."

He threw himself into the part of the wall the captain had split and broken.

It was a place that could rightly be called a thorny jungle, squirming, moving, entangled, and twisted.

"Crazy."

Ropord  murmured in surprise upon seeing that.

In his eyes,  Audin  had just thrown himself into the squirming, self-restoring thornbriar wall. And as soon as  Audin  entered, the wall's restoration ability accelerated several times over, as if it was exerting its full power.

In addition, the thornbriar vines became entangled and twisted, blocking the opening where  Audin  had entered.

Two breaths passed.

The hole where  Audin  entered was blocked by thorn vines, and streaks of light began to leak out from between the wall, which was a tangled mess of distorted faces of vengeful spirits, thorn vines, and broken stones.

The light streaks flowing from the crudely blocked hole gradually thickened, and then their number began to increase, until the fragmented lights gathered and burst.

White light, the holy light itself, was not accompanied by sound.

Only the deafening roar of the things scorched by that light collapsing followed.

Kudududu.

The ground rumbled, and another section of the holed wall collapsed, dropping thorn vines and stones onto the ground.

The ballistaes that Jaxen hadn't managed to deal with yet was swept away and fell, spreading black blood everywhere with a  thud .

The gazes of those avoiding the collapsing debris now turned to  Audin .

If  Enkrid  had cut the wall,  Audin  had made a large hole in it.

"Ha, ha, ha! This is delightful, Brother!"

A shining armor over his innate physique was his symbol.

The thick thorn vines covering him, and the stones etched with vengeful spirits, solidified in the very act of opening their mouths and screaming.

It was a grotesque sight, but  Audin  smiled broadly, looking at it.

A smile of utmost happiness and satisfaction.

"The Lord awaits you in Heaven."

The wall's groans, which had been stubbornly cursing and screaming, completely ceased.

Finally, the defiant thorn vines sagged.

"These insane bastards, what the hell."

Only then did the one who had been provoking them appear.

The corrupted fairy followed him out, and  Enkrid  realized for the first time that a fairy's eyes could grow that wide.

'Ah, is she already too different of a species to be called a fairy as well?'

They were called fairies because they consumed spiritual energy, and corrupted fairies because they lived in the Demonic Domain.

A longbow in her left hand, a needle-like sword at her left hip, the corrupted fairy's eyes were fixed on  Enkrid , but in the meantime,  Shinar  glared at the corrupted faity.

If a stranger had seen it, they might have said she was gazing intently, but  Enkrid , being somewhat familiar with fairy expressions, knew it was a glare.

"You, who have rotted away and even changed your form."

The corrupted fairy glanced at  Shinar  when called, but what was happening before her was simply more baffling.

What insane humans cut walls with swords and smash them with bare fists?

Such madmen were here.

"You, you really."

The one who was either the lord of the fortress, or a sorcerer, or an apostle of the Red Toe, or whatever that guy is, couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.

No, what kind of bastards are these?

Luagarne  looked at him, puffing out her cheeks. She was satisfied.

The Frog , with puffed cheeks, opened her mouth.

"How's that? Good enough answer to your question of what could we possibly ammount to?."

The lord surveyed his surroundings.

Given the dead monsters lying around and the lack of calls or signals, the three fairies who had been on the wall must also be dead.

It was absurd, but that didn't mean he forgot his duties.

Especially since the collapse of the wall wasn't his first such experience.

"Kill them."

He spoke, and at the end of his words, black figures surged from behind  Audin  and  Enkrid's  shadows.

These were corrupted fairies specialized in assassination.

Purple skin, a wavy dagger in hand, and astonishing techniques that suppressed sound, smell, and presence.

Jaxen  looked at the two of them and thought they could easily claim a spot among  Georg's  daggers.

Two shadows rose, and one friendly shadow also rose behind the assassins.

Jaxen  slashed the neck of the one reaching out behind  Audin  with a stiletto.

Along with the crunching sound of a neck being cut, a  thwack  echoed from the head of the one targeting  Enkrid .

It was the sound of the  Silent Dagger  he had thrown embedding itself.

The one with the dagger in its head made a motion of thrusting its wavy dagger into the air and then collapsed.

"Necessary?"

Enkrid  turned around and asked.

His left hand was on  Penna , while  Dawnforged  remained in place.

He could have blocked it even if he had left it.

He was focused, and although he had poured  Will  into cutting the rampart, it wasn't a complete depletion.

He didn't feel exhausted.

"No need for thanks, right?"

Audin  was similar.

He could have taken a hit, but he still had holy light all over his body.

What he wore wasn't some blade manifested from  Will  like  Ragna  had shown, but armor forged from holy light that wouldn't easily be pierced by ordinary metal.

"It felt like my kind of work."

Jaxen  retorted casually, and the lord, resident of the Demonic Domain who worshipped the Red Foot, was no longer surprised.

Alright, so none of you are pushovers, huh?