1084. Even if not prepared or lacking, do it if necessary.
Rem felt that he had become the pivot of the battlefield. In other words, he had many options.
If he joined Encred right now, he would be a force for them. He
could run toward Ragnar and smash the back of the head of the knight fighting him with his axe.
Alternatively, he could cut off the heads of all seven idiots who had suddenly bewitched the witch and the fairy and kick them into the damn rain-pouring sky. If he didn’t
want to do that, how about going to where Saxen was playing hide-and-seek, smashing everything around him while shooting slings indiscriminately and swinging his axe?
It would be a hindrance to Saxen, but that insidious bastard would get his job done somehow.
In the end, anything hiding its presence or form would have its throat severed by Saxen’s dagger and ooze black blood.
I can go anywhere.
Rem knows it, too. Yet, he held his ground.
What kind of answer would come out if Encred or someone else asked him later?
Because I don’t have to go anywhere.
Should I answer like this?
‘just.’
Would he say that and try to cover it up?
However, one thing was certain. He would never admit, even if beaten to death, that he couldn’t take his eyes off the foul stench fighting up ahead.
Well, if we looked at the facts, whatever it was was true.
What difference did it make if he just said it was, or if he didn’t have to go anywhere?
Rem gauged the level of the things attacking from the surroundings based on the Owlbear Legion’s combat prowess.
Except for the demons.
No one is in danger.
That is Rem’s conclusion. Saxony? That bastard is inherently insanely insidious. There is no way he could be defeated by that.
A lazy, directionally challenged slacker? Rather than worrying about that bastard, I would rather observe whether the ants passing at my feet are working hard today.
The same goes for fairies and witches. Neither Esther nor Sinar are weaklings who would get beaten to a pulp. How could they invade the mind instead of using brute force?
Contrary to appearances, Rem possessed keen insight and exceptional wisdom. He believed that the greatest characteristic of the Order of the Mad Knights was not brute force, but mental strength.
It was because of Enkrid. No, it was thanks to him. Anyone who witnessed his fierceness and his advance was either shocked or gradually changed.
That is why the schemes of amorphous demons or such idiotic behavior are meaningless. That is Rem’s conclusion.
Then what about the Captain? Enkrid deals with demons. Looking at the situation alone, there is room for him to get involved, and if viewed coldly, it seems he should lend his strength immediately.
They were having the time of their lives.
There was no need to hastily lend a hand to someone grinning with delight.
In any case, Rem remained exactly where he was. This was the place where Dunbakel was running wild as a mad beastman.
As Rem stabilized him, Dunbakel became a mad beastman. Inner transformation into a beastman meant a change in purity.
For a moment, the stale odor slipped away from Rem’s eyes as well.
It was a time when he, too, needed to change in order to respond effectively. No matter how wildly the front ran, his role was to provide support from behind.
Therefore, to coordinate, he had to match the pace of the side ahead and read their intentions. That was the core of the current strategy.
Gangsin.
Along with the words he muttered to himself, a white light flowed from Rem’s exposed forearm. Rainwater started from the forearm, struck the curtain of light on his shoulder, head, and back, and bounced off.
Rumble rumble.
In the meantime, the sound of lightning striking was heard, but Rem did not turn his head. He remained focused. He tracked Dunbakel, the beastman’s movements with his eyes, listened with his ears, and captured them with his senses.
Commander, you fight well on your own.
Instead, the demon legion deployed here would not let a single one of them live.
Rem realized the duty she had to perform standing at the center of the battlefield.
If she left them alone, the group of hostages she had briefly released would be in danger, and if the monsters scattered in all directions, some would surely escape.
Furthermore, monsters that strayed from this battlefield would kill people or cause unnecessary bloodshed. She would ensure that such a thing did not happen. Rem set her goal.
Wiiiiii-
The sling spewed out a noise and then stopped. The sling cords held in both hands left an illusion in the air. The afterimage of the line, having shot forward and returned, looked like a bird’s wing.
Since the bullet had pierced through the sound, a shockwave exploded first. The sound followed.
Bang! Bang!
As the air burst, a circular shockwave formed in the wake of the sling bullet, and the bullet pierced the bodies of two Owl Bears. No, it exploded them.
It was a monstrous display of power. “Armored monsters? So what?”
It seemed to be saying. The two dead Owl Bears had just been aiming at Dunbakel’s back when they exploded to death.
It only blocks the rear.
Rem fired a bullet, then twisted his whole body and threw an axe. The thrown axe flew as a line of light.
Boom!
The axe smashed the heads of two owl bears straight through, then stopped halfway through the neck of the third one before becoming embedded.
They certainly had tough armor and sturdy bodies. Thinking this, Rem extended her left palm forward.
The letters engraved on the inside of her palm flickered, tinged with gray. Just then, the axe embedded in the neck of a monster in front of her trembled, snapped out, and whizzed toward Rem’s hand.
Vrooosh!
The piercing sound tore through the rainwater and air. Rem snatched the axe with a sharp clack.
After retrieving it with a spell and gripping it again, he repeated his actions exactly as before. Bullets and throwing axes; then, he smashed any enemy that came close with his descending weapon, ‘Wilderness.’
He blocked the opponent’s claws with the short blade, pulled to disrupt their balance, changed direction, and split their head with the large blade.
It was a truly efficient battle. Killing those approaching simply, and throwing the distant ones to kill them.
It was obvious, but it was only possible because it was Rem. It was easy because he was the one fighting; it wasn’t easy for others.
Looking at the Owlbear Legion alone, they were a formidable enemy. If they were released outside the Demon Realm as they were, they were the kind of creatures that would require several knights to join forces to face.
How was one supposed to deal with them alone?
Fighting as usual wouldn’t yield a solution. Knowing that Rem would be supporting him from behind no matter how he fought, Dunbakel unleashed a secret technique with a time limit.
Suinhwa.
Ego Sword says that Crimson is not yet perfect.
It’s a bit early. You aren’t fully mature yet. Spend more time on your training. Take heart and effort into it.
Jinhong offers advice. To train for several more years to reach a state of mastery?
However, while that advice reached my ears, it did not reach my heart.
The world does not wait. If it is the moment to prove one’s strength, then one must do it then.
Even if I am not prepared or lacking, I will do it if necessary.
It must be so. That is the way to prove one’s life. A crimson light flowed from Dunbakel’s eyes, then turned into pure gold.
Immediately, crimson blades began to strike in all directions. He stomped with his left foot and slashed his sword with great force. As his waist and knees rotated, the blade, imbued with centrifugal force, split the Owlbear’s torso vertically.
From the split open torso, internal organs spewing hot steam rose up like blooming flowers. Rain poured down upon them, cooling them down instantly. A
pure Will struck the internal organs. His lower abdomen ached, but he ignored it. This level of pain was bearable.
While one creature’s belly split open, spilling its internal organs and collapsing, the Owlbear next to it lost half its head.
He didn’t even give the pain a separate thought. He simply ignored the pain and kept moving.
Thus, the crimson blade, split in the body vertically, advanced diagonally from bottom to top without rest, slicing through the torso and passing the next creature’s head.
He slashed his sword as if charging forward, then kicked the ground and spun his body wildly in the air. Then, as he thrust his sword forward, it looked as if he were shooting a red arrow.
That arrow pierced the head of the next monster.
While he had previously killed one or two at a time by dodging or blocking, now there was no time for dodging or blocking; it was simply a time to slice, cut, and stab. Dunbakel remembered only two things.
Even if your neck is broken, you won’t die easily.
Therefore, you must either cut off the head or split the torso in half.
That was one thing.
My change has a time limit.
It was that enjoying the pure Will unleashed through the transformation wouldn’t last forever.
How should I put it? That made it even more enjoyable. Knowing that the time limit was approaching, I had to divide and divide my Will and stamina again and again, yet I had to swing the blade with enough strength that the enemy couldn’t block it.
Pain is.
It was brief, but the moment I moved with pure Will turned into ecstasy.
I learned and gained a lot from this whole process.
Of course, I did this trusting Rem, who was watching over me.
It wouldn’t matter if I collapsed from exhaustion after killing them all.
Or even if I let a few escape, that bastard Rem would look after me and take care of them.
As I was savagely driving away at my surroundings, a thread of another’s will approached my mind and spoke to me.
You are a child who was originally meant to be under my command.
If it had been before—that is, before I went to the East and met my ancestors, if I hadn’t experienced what I went through in the city where I was born—I might have been swayed by this warm remark, but not anymore.
So I realized that the bastard who spoke to me so coldly was a devil.
Zzz
Jinhong howled fiercely. The ancestral soul assembly reacted first.
Get lost. You stinky thing.
It was along with the words Jinhong burst out. Dunbakel also inwardly mustered his resolve and drove them away.
Get lost, you rotten stench.
It seemed as though it was conveying the exact same teasing about the stale smell, but that couldn’t be important right now.
The devil’s whisper quickly scattered and vanished like mist catching the sunlight.
How dare you.
Well, just as one leaves behind remnants as they vanish, she left behind malice; however, Dunbakel’s clean and robust spirit blew away the ashes the demon had left behind, scattering them.
She then went on a rampage. Later, she even performed a feat where, while suspended in the air, she lowered her sword, curled up her body, and used the sword as a stepping stone to shoot at herself from above.
Chiririring, the rings attached to her scabbard clattered together in succession, emitting a noise; if you looked where the sound was coming from, Dunbakel was already swinging her sword in a different location.
Hey!
Rem let out a gasp of admiration. Dunbakel charged downwards, drawing a bright red line to sever the heads of two more Owlbears.
The severed heads rolled away with the rainwater. The battle was one-sided. This was the case even though Rem hadn’t actively helped, but had merely played along.
That was the conclusion. It was as if Dunbakel had single-handedly sliced through an entire legion that the demon had deliberately brought along.
“Ahhh!”
Dunbakel shouted as she slashed the last monster. Her heightened spirit compelled her to let out a monstrous scream from deep within.
It occurred to her. Normally, she would have fought like this whenever she saw a bastard like a demon.
But there was no need for that.
The devil.
Because the Captain had stepped forward.
The demon who had just attacked the Captain was the one who had sent the sea serpent into the city. He was also the one who had led her childhood to misery. And
the Golden Curse was a trick he had pulled.
Of course, Dunbakel was unaware of these facts. He simply felt disgusted the moment he saw him and thought of him as a nasty bastard.
That is why he fought even more ferociously. Now, her job was simply to watch the Captain behead the demon.
“Hey bastard. Relax. If you push yourself any harder here, you’ll get seriously ill.”
Sensing her condition, Rem approached, grabbed her arm, and spoke. Thinking she might be helping her up, she watched as Rem roughly straightened Dunbakel and let go of her hand.
Dunbakel looked at Rem. “Why is this bastard looking at me?” Rem interpreted the look in her eyes as such and returned a single, sharp reply.
“What?”
“What about supporting?”
Shouldn’t you be a little more affectionate in a situation like this?
“Shall I cut off your two legs?”
As expected of that bastard Rem.
Whether impressed or not, he was him. Dunbakel used every ounce of will remaining in his body, which was draining of strength, to stand upright and look straight ahead.
No matter what happened, all he wanted was to watch that devil bastard die.
