1004. Any more?
Rem’s running made no loud noise. He habitually kept his voice down when chasing something. It was a habit of a hunter.
Rem, who was ahead, stopped midway and put his ear to the ground. If Esther gauged the direction by the main current, the fine adjustments were Rem’s job.
It’s this way.
Finding the horde of monsters was not a difficult task. The Cyclops is a massive creature. Being larger than a giant, it was easy to identify its appearance even from a distance.
Having properly oriented themselves and approached, the party spotted their target. It was a horde of monsters led by a Cyclops, mixed with ogres and trolls. Over twenty of them were about to enter the small forest.
“Trying to pollute the forest?”
Trimache spoke with a hint of displeasure. The fairies of the Empire and the Continent were different, yet they shared similarities.
Both loved forests and flowers. It was not for nothing that fairies were called the children of trees and flowers.
I guess I have to stop it.
Sinar’s reaction was similar. Whether this was the Empire or anywhere else, the forest was a space that deserved respect.
That was a common ground between the two fairies that did not require agreement.
This time, Trimache did not let anyone beat her to the punch. The entire process of nocking the arrow, drawing the string, and shooting flowed as naturally as water.
She, too, demonstrated that she was not lacking in ability as an elf knight.
Thump.
The flying arrow left a blurry afterimage even on the knight’s dynamic vision. It flew through the sound as a beam of light. Encred, Rem, Sinar, and Temares—all four of them—reflexively took in the arrow’s trajectory.
pop!
The arrow struck a troll’s head squarely. Pitch-black blood radiated outward from the direction of impact.
The shock was so intense that some of the blood appeared to vaporize and fly away. That was how high the stream of blood shot up. Fragments of torn neck skin scattered beneath it, sending the monster tumbling backward.
It was a clear declaration of war. Trolls possess extraordinary regenerative abilities, but they do not come back to life even if their heads explode. That is not regeneration; it is resurrection.
It is an arrow imbued with the spirit of the wind.
Trimache spoke. She didn’t know about anything else, but as a Knight of the Empire, her pride was second to none.
Moreover, this was her land, her home, and her world. She had no intention of leaving everything to others and just watching.
Looks like you’ve been hanging out somewhere.
Rem spoke in agreement. Encred approached the monster without a word. He did not run. It was now within his sight, and within range of an arrow. Even if it ran away, he could simply chase it.
His breathing, which had been labored from running this far, returned to normal within two steps. The Will flowing through his body settled in his muscles more stably and fully than ever before.
There were three Cyclops in the pack, and one of them was overwhelmingly large. A Cyclops of conspicuous size held a long iron rod in his hand; it thickened toward the tip and appeared large enough to crush a person. Its shape matched the mark seen from above. It was the perfect weapon to half-shatter, crush, and smash a person.
He had been taunting and mocking people with something like that.
The monster displayed confidence. It was the kind of confidence that said, “I can handle it no matter who comes.”
A troll had died, but so what?
The creature turned around. There was no sign of being startled by the arrow. The ogre standing next to the troll simply tumbled sideways in surprise.
While trolls and ogres aren’t exactly higher-ranking monsters than cyclops, that one-eyed giant was certainly different from the others. The
sheer aura he exuded spoke volumes. It was evident that
he didn’t care who came along; his determination to crush anyone he could find was clear.
Hostility, murderous intent, malice, and demonic energy combined to weigh down the air. The surrounding air became damp and sticky, as if one had stepped into a swamp in the sweltering heat of midsummer.
This was the situation, even though the forest beyond them looked like a place where fresh air should naturally emanate.
Weng.
At some point, corpse flies, which only cling to corpses, began swarming around them. They weren’t just ordinary flies; they were actually part of a horde of monsters.
Looking at them this way, it was a very complex group. While the trolls and ogres were more numerous, there were three cyclops as the leaders, accompanied by corpse flies.
When corpse flies lay eggs on a corpse, it becomes the host, and a monster is born.
There was even a theory that the eggs of creatures similar to these were hatching to create the drowners that appear ceaselessly whenever it rained.
Then where were the corpses of those fly offspring now? “Fly Corpse” is the name given to the corpses that became monsters after the flies laid their eggs on them.
As he approached, Encreed felt the monsters’ gazes scanning him.
The one who appeared to be the leader kicked the corpse of a troll that had been killed by an arrow.
Bang!
A troll’s body flew toward Encred. The gray body was no different from a heavy boulder. Oneul emitted light and drew a vertical line.
It was such a concise and fast strike that it didn’t even make the sound of a sword being drawn.
three-
With only that sound remaining, the gray stone split into two and fell to the left and right, using Encred as its pivot point.
The cut surface was so sharp that it dropped only a few drops of blood from its torn neck as it flew through the air; only after collapsing to the ground with a loud thud did it spew black blood, guts, and broken, severed bone fragments onto the earth. Before anyone realized it, Encred and a Cyclops stood face to face.
“caution!”
Trimache shouted from behind. The fairy of the Empire recognized the monster’s true identity.
It was a fellow who had already killed a knight. Whether that club itself was a magical tool or a talent possessed by the monster was unknown, but the creature possessed a special ability.
Such mutated monsters are occasionally born in the Empire, but this one was a unique individual who even had a name.
Its name was Flink, and its special ability was spatial teleportation and control. The
knight didn’t fall for it for no reason; he was defeated because it possessed such power.
Encreed saw the imminent future where he would block the approaching club and acted accordingly. He lifted his head to block it, pushed it away, and struck it.
puck!
Then the club struck his side. Encred’s foot lifted off the ground, and his body flew sideways. Encred’s today was nothing but a useless slash at thin air.
He flew to a distance that would take an adult ten steps to reach, and just as he was about to land headfirst, Encred curled up, rolled over the ground, placed his palms on the earth to regain his balance, and stopped half-sitting.
The impact was not small. His side ached. If it weren’t for the elf cloak, the gambeson, and the Balrog hide he was wearing underneath.
A few ribs must have been broken.
That is the extent of its power. This is the result of being wrapped in Willow armor.
Why did I get hit just a moment ago?
There is no process. That is because his club came down from above my head, suddenly vanished, and reappeared beside me.
Even when knights fight each other, they give themselves nicknames like “Barley Harvester” to steal each other’s breath and lull each other into a false sense of security, but in this case, despite having similar speed and strength, mine misses while only the opponent’s hits.
So what?
I reflect on the process from just moments ago. My accelerated thinking combined with my habit of deep contemplation led me to a conclusion immediately.
The club is gone.
So there was no shock as expected. Instead, I was hit in the side.
The club suddenly appeared from the side, not from above.
It was as if the Cyclops’s club suddenly appeared right before he was about to be hit.
“They say its name is Flicker! They say the club disappears!”
Rem shouted from behind. “Yeah, it seems so.” Encred faced the monster once again.
Khh.
He laughed. It looked like he was mocking me. No, he definitely was mocking me. Does he think of me as another prey? Is he secretly excited too? Because he is confident of his own victory?
Ah, this guy is interesting.
“He’s the guy who devoured two knights. Let’s fight together.”
Trimache spoke to everyone again.
The mind-reading dragon stopped her.
“He wants to fight alone, so just leave him alone.”
What if they get hurt or die like that?
“Don’t worry. If I were going to die at the hands of a guy like that, I should have died a long time ago.”
Rem also helped. In truth, they had died countless times and repeated today, but no one knew.
“after.”
Encred forgot the shock from moments ago with a single breath and tightened his grip on his sword. He then charged again.
It was an opponent to whom even Ember Slaying and Wave Blocking would be ineffective. With his weapon suddenly vanished, there was nothing he could do.
It was the second clash. Amusingly, everyone stepped back to become spectators, as if it were a captain’s duel.
Both the monsters and the humans.
Bang, crash!
This time, two bangs rang out. Cyclops’s head snapped to one side, and Encred bounced a couple of times on the ground like a skipping pebble.
That looks like it would hurt a bit.
Rem muttered. Sinar stood still and placed his hands on the Naides. The Sword of the Four Seasons quietly absorbed vital energy.
Although he trusted that Encred would handle it on his own for now, he couldn’t help but tense up for no reason.
Lightning flashed from Esther’s hand. Crack.
Encred sprang to his feet once again. He had a slight nosebleed, but he huffed and let it blow onto the ground before swaying his head from side to side.
You’re pretty good.
That is what he said. For some reason, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Getting angry at the monster’s antics is one thing, but he enjoys what he can right now.
Should I say he truly lives up to the name of a madman?
“Why are you laughing?”
Trimache asked, muttering to himself without realizing it.
“Don’t ask me. I’m perfectly normal.”
Rem drew a line. Of course, no one believed him.
Whatever the case, he had intended to just watch, but the group of monsters seemed to have a slightly different idea.
“bottom.”
Sinar spoke first, and Rem drew his axe and struck the ground. Temares leisurely stepped away to dodge, while Esther radiated lightning directly onto the floor.
Trimache was also a fairy with keen senses. She, too, sensed the malice surging from the ground and hurled her body to the side.
As she kicked off the earth, something long and deep blue shot up from the floor.
It was the arm of a corpse. To be precise, it was a corpse of a fly filled with venom at the tips of its fingernails. It was a corpse that had been used as a host by flies to attack.
Naturally, no one felt any danger.
Esther scattered lightning across a space wide enough for Audin to stretch out his arms and dance around her.
Black smoke vaporized and rose above the floor, which was filled with dirt and piles of stones. It was the blood of the corpse burned by the lightning.
Because it was filled with venom, Esther waved her hand to create a gust of wind to push it away.
Naturally, everyone else dodged, splitting heads open or severing necks with their swung swords.
It was Rem who split the head open, and Sinar and Temares severed their necks.
In the meantime, Encred and Cyclops fought again.
“Oops?”
Rem muttered as he watched. This time, two cyclops
giants attacked alongside him. Even one of them was troublesome enough, but the two swung their weapons simultaneously from the left and right. One wielded a morning star—a chained mace—and the other a broad blade.
The two weapons momentarily blocked Encred’s escape route. Through that gap, the club from the front dropped vertically once again before vanishing.
Was this a crisis? Anyone could see it, but it wasn’t a cause for great concern.
They all possessed good judgment and knew just how formidable a fighter Encred was.
Only Trimache didn’t know Encred properly, so he simply shouted in surprise.
“danger!”
With a fairy’s shout, the heads of two one-eyed giants flew through the air with a thud.
The human who had accomplished that did not fly this time. Instead, he simply stepped on the Cyclops’s club with his boots and jumped backward on his own.
His body floated upward as if flying. He performed a somersault in mid-air. His cloak fluttered in the wind to aid his landing. He landed gently on the ground with a thud and opened his mouth.
Ta-da, I tried to imitate it.
Who are you talking to? It was directed at a monster.
Can you even communicate? There’s no way.
The one-eyed giant, Flicker, let out a scream at the words of the man named Encred.
Gwooooh!
Anger, fury, rage.
No matter how you describe it, it all means the same thing. It is a monstrous scream mixed with maddening rage. It is the aura of a monster spreading around in the form of intimidation.
Even from a distance, it would be enough to send shivers down one’s spine, yet the man standing at the center of it all still wore a smile. No, he smiles even more broadly than before.
“Is there any more?”
He raised his sword as he asked. The blue-glowing sword turned yellow in the sunlight. The sword, slowly dyed, now emitted a soft yellow light.
