1052. Shall we go?
The demon army attacked the Border Guard, but to no avail. Had anything else happened since then? Nothing.
Demons, monsters, demons, bandits—none of them appeared. This actually fueled Crys’s anxiety, but that fear vanished the moment they visited the Knights’ Training Grounds.
Whether the demons sent an army or not, they would devote themselves to training just as they did today and tomorrow.
The most peculiar thing lately was that it would rain one moment the sun was blazing.
Even this was nothing compared to a few years ago.
Usually, rainy days were a headache because monsters called Drowned Ones would appear everywhere, but after clearing out the surrounding monsters, the number of Drowned Ones had dropped to less than one-tenth.
In a way, it was a continuation of peaceful daily life. The morale of the Border Guard standing army soared. It was as if
their determination to fight the Demon Realm to the very end had now spread throughout the entire city.
“Unless the situation gets seriously messed up, those guys in the Demon Realm won’t recklessly unleash their full power. I told you before. Just looking at how Audin killed a demon and sent away only the homeless, you can tell he is still full of intentions to settle things with a few words or resort to other means.”
Well, that doesn’t mean the anxiety will completely disappear, so I will make all sorts of preparations, just as I have always done.
Encred knew that Crys would handle things on his own, so he did as he had done before. That
is, he woke up at dawn, trained his body, gripped his sword to reflect on what he had learned, and showed Luagarine his swordsmanship training as well as the beating up of Pell, Roford, and Theresa.
On top of that, he proposed a different method of training only to Dunbakel.
Try fighting without the beast transformation.
At Encred’s words, Dunbakel asked why he had to do that.
“They said that’s better.”
“Who?”
“Krimhart’s first daughter.”
It was a statement that would make Dunbakel involuntarily tilt his head.
“Krimhart’s first daughter” is a title referring to the most outstanding warrior among the beastmen. A warrior of warriors, a title that represents the world of beastmen.
To draw a comparison to humans, she is the most honorable knight and simultaneously the most faithful paladin.
If asked why paladins are included, it is because while humans believe in many gods, the god of the beastmen is solely one.
It wasn’t a concept that corresponded exactly, but it felt similar.
What are you talking about?
There is no beastkin worthy of being called Kriemhart’s first daughter. At least, as far as he knows in this era.
So, what Enkrid just said was no different from the barking of a dog with a human face.
Well, even so, he intended to do as he was told.
His sense of smell—the scent—speaks. It tells him that everything Enkrid is saying right now is sincere.
At some point, his sense of smell began to distinguish between the scent of lies and the scent of truth. With that, he had seen through deceptive tactics.
It was after he had accepted this and nodded his head.
“Ugh!”
Frock screamed beside him, and Dunbakel faced the shadow cast before him.
An ominous scent, which in the past would have made him flee long ago, stung his nose. Along with the smell, the fine hairs on his skin stood on end.
“Wow, our Smell, you should have improved by now. Why? Because I learned a lot of interesting things in that place way over there called the Empire.”
Rem casts an intimidating aura regardless of who his opponent is. Dunbakel opened his eyes wide. Gray eyes stared at him.
“Hey, your eyes look a bit off. Is this like, ‘I’m not even scared anymore’? Ah, maybe it’s because it’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”
The Gray Barbarian’s body grows larger and larger. It is not that it has actually grown, but that an insubstantial intimidation is crushing Dunbakel’s mind.
So what?
It rebels while stirring up vitality. Vitality is energy, vitality, energy, and strength. It
also awakens the mind. Fear is not something to be overcome, but a companion.
Fear is a good element that brings out your instinctive reactions.
Everything he learned in the East, everything he had mastered while fighting, and everything he had built up after deciding to survive and stay here.
That filled Dunbakel’s inner and outer self.
If he showed even the slightest weakness, he would die. He sucked in the surrounding air through his nose at a constant speed. With that, he realized the intentions of that bastard Rem.
Running straight forward from the front and striking downwards.
There is no deception. There are no tactics. I merely refine the form of intimidation to display a single will.
“Enovatio or whatever it’s called—anyway, I found out that concept exists in the West too.”
Rem thrust the sword of his will forward and spoke in a very ordinary tone. He was quite the talent. I, on the other hand, couldn’t even utter a word because tension filled my entire body like a bowstring pulled all the way back.
I couldn’t release the string without aiming at a target, so it was unavoidable.
They are called Geuneulgeoji and Asaemat.
What could the West possibly be inferior to the Central Continent?
Rem reflected on the many things passed down from his ancestors. In doing so, he conceived and established a concept.
Subsequently, he concluded that it was correct to view renewal in the West as divided into two concepts.
“Shading is shaking off the useless residue left inside the body.”
Speaking, Rem took a step closer. He only lifted and then brought his left foot back down, yet his determination remained unwavering throughout the sequence of movements. The axe swings falling from above his head were also unchanged. The sense of distance had not shifted either.
The fact that the physical distance had decreased while the emotional distance remained the same meant that the mad barbarian facing him had taken control of everything around him.
“Asaematgi means to greet the first rising sun and cleanse the inside of the body.”
Discard and cleanse. It is renewal.
The reason for her rambling was not so much to explain things to others, but rather to speak to herself and reorganize her thoughts. Dunbakel did not pay attention to the stories she was hearing.
As the world narrowed, the sound faded away. Suddenly, Rem’s axe fell from above her head.
Dunbakel swung her dark gray scimitar upwards. She blocked the falling axe as if striking it and used the recoil to bounce her body back.
Then, lifting herself parallel to the ground, she swung her legs and pulled back the scimitar to slice, but Rem’s fist struck her in the abdomen before she could do so.
Bang!
Along with the sound of air popping, a buzzing vibration inside my body shook my brain and internal organs.
“Ugh!”
He vomited up everything inside in one go. Yet, without rolling on the floor, he kept one knee touching the ground and lifted his head to look at the barbarian.
That’s a good attitude. If you had rolled around in there, I was going to just kill you.
The bright, smiling face made me wonder if it was true that demons only exist in the Demon Realm.
“You expect me to fight something like that without even transforming into a beast?”
Even if the captain ordered it, isn’t this a bit wrong?
On top of that, that barbarian bastard came back even more ferocious—I don’t know what he ate, but he’s got it.
I wasn’t playing either.
The gap is clear. Dunbakel gritted his teeth. *Crunch, crunch*, it is the moment when the hair all over his body is about to thicken.
If you transform, you will really die.
The barbarian, who had suddenly come very close, grabbed my hair with his left hand and struck the spot he had hit with his right knee again.
“crazy!”
She rolled backward, grumbling. “Why on earth do I have to do this? I only did it because I was told to, but isn’t this just too unreasonable?”
Of course, no one would listen to her complaining.
“Just stab ‘there’ instead, you lunatic.”
“Huh? Prok, who can’t even fight, actually knows how to talk?”
There’s this guy named Encred who revels in tormenting Prok, who is standing next to him unable to overcome his suffering and showing something akin to frustration.
“Are you trying to train the smelly beastwoman sister? I have plenty of hands to spare, Brother Barbarian.”
There was the bear-like paladin who threatened to step in and beat them up on their behalf if things went wrong.
In any case, none of them were normal. Nor were Pell, Roford, and Theresa just playing around.
They, too, were called out by Encred if things went awry, and were struggling to survive while facing Ragnar’s greatsword.
“…Are you planning to kill me?”
Roford spoke as he barely dodged Ragnar’s greatsword.
“It’s just because you’re not used to it yet. Still, I don’t think you would have died.”
“But you almost lost an arm.”
“Exactly.”
Roford swallowed hard, cursing him with his expression as a crazy bastard. If you let your guard down, you’re dead. His determination shone brightly. His resolve to survive was conveyed to everyone.
Dunbakel could neither ask for help nor do anything about it. Then what was she to do? Her survival instinct stirred within her.
Crunch.
The hair all over the body rises up like thorns and transforms.
I told you not to do it.
Seeing that, Rem muttered with a broad smile on his face. He looked extremely happy to have found an opportunity to beat him up.
* * *
Outwardly, Rem seemed focused on taunting and beating up Dunbakel, but inwardly, he was cold-hearted.
Hadn’t Kreis said it time and time again? That
when it came to using his head, the word “cunning” was the very word that suited Rem best.
Saxen fully agreed with this sentiment by nodding whenever the remark was made.
While everyone else had prepared for ambushes as a matter of habit, that bastard Rem was even worse.
He wouldn’t allow anyone to come within a certain distance, especially within the territory he had designated. He did this consciously. The
same went for his habit of preempting advantageous positions whenever something happened.
Whatever the case, Rem once again racked his brains, dissecting Dunbakel’s strengths and weaknesses one by one.
When transformed into a beast, muscle strength, agility, and reaction speed become half as fast.
Strength is the foundation of everything. If you lack physical strength, you cannot properly execute techniques.
In that sense, beast transformation is absolutely advantageous.
Instead, you lose conciseness.
When you transform, your reason becomes clouded. You become a fighter faithful only to instinct. At least it isn’t to the point where you completely lose your mind, though.
‘still.’
The weakness becomes clearly evident when entering the realm of short, concise rapid strikes or combos.
Thinking this, Rem sheathed his axe and approached Dunbakel at close range with his fists clenched.
It was a distance where he could reach him without even fully extending his fists. A foul stench stung his nose, but he ignored it.
Startled, Dunbakel gripped his scimitar upside down and struck Rem’s shoulder with the handle. Rem pushed it away with his palm and changed all his movements to short and concise, striking, pushing, kicking, and slamming.
Six movements were executed within a quarter of a breath. Unable to hold back, Rem pounded Dunbakel’s entire body as he finished his beast transformation.
Hit on the shoulders, neck, forearms, and thighs, Dunbakel rolled on the ground, scattering his white fur.
As Rem chased after him to kick him in the head, Dunbakel opened his mouth wide and bit his leg. Rem did not push his foot into the range of his sharp fangs by striking the ground with his outstretched leg, but instead brought his other foot over and kicked Dunbakel’s thigh.
Bang!
“Kaak!”
Dunbakel, having been hit, wrapped his arms around his leg and rolled on the floor.
Untransform. Next, I will cut off one of your legs with an axe.
Faced with a vivid threat, Dunbakel controlled his instincts and returned to his original form.
“Whoa, whoosh.”
Blood trickled from Dunbakel’s nose. It was because he had been beaten so much, but considering that, he has surprisingly good stamina. That is one of the advantages of transforming into a beast.
It means your body gets really strong.
But then again, it’s not quite as big as a giant, is it?
“Hey, you know that just a moment ago, the movement wasn’t fast enough to be inaudible, right?”
Rem spoke. Dunbakel didn’t even nod, but that was the answer.
“You don’t need to know. You’ll figure it out if you get hit more. I don’t know.”
Rem said with a sly smile.
The water flower is rough.
Conciseness disappears. It is a form of staking everything on a single blow. In other words, unless you are going to risk your life and fight to the death against an opponent superior to yourself.
Is it a useless skill?
It was visible because he possessed skills several levels above Dunbakel’s.
It was exactly fifteen days after the army of the Demon Realm had been defeated. The weather was muggy, with rain coming and going.
Rem, after excitedly beating Dunbakel, came to find Encred and spoke.
“That thing you were talking about actually worked. Did you know what you were ordering?”
It was midday, after finishing dawn training, and the rain was drizzling.
What were you talking about?
Encred asked back.
I mean the sour smell. It worked.
Encred had said this to Rem, who had said he would take charge of Dunbakel.
“Make him fight better without his beast transformation.”
“Very well. I’ll half-kill him.”
“No, I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Understood. I’ll make that bastard wash himself morning and evening.”
“……Are you even listening?”
“Do you want something worse? Very well. I’ll make that stinky beastman smell of lavender.”
This is how the conversation went. After having so much fun with Dunbakel these past few days, they are now discussing the results.
“I was beating him up, and he was fighting well even without his beast transformation. Is this exactly what you wanted?”
Rem spoke as if asking, and Encred pondered what one of the boatmen had said.
“Tell him to fight without his Beast Transformation. It’s frustrating to watch. That’s not the right path.”
“Ah, if he really can’t do it, tell him to look for the Holy Land of Kriemhart.”
It’s not that I’ve forgotten, but I didn’t really take it to heart. Good heavens, if Primahild knew, she’d have nightmares right now.
“What about Dunbakel?”
“Well, he’s passed out. But it actually worked. Fighting well as if he’d suddenly transformed without ever turning into a beast, and not losing his composure—something like that? Is that what you wanted? Did you have a beast-lover in the past? How did you even know to order this?”
“Not a lover, but a beast-lover who came out of my nightmare told me.”
“……Very well. I’ll keep it a secret from the Golden Witch and the Black Flower.”
It was as if he thought he had glossed over his past lover with a nightmare. Rem chuckled, making a pointless remark. Encred went to find Dunbakel. He was sprawled on the training ground’s grass with a towel covering his face, having been beaten mercilessly by Rem.
“Do you know where Suin’s temple is?”
At the question, Dunbakel blew a gust of wind to blow away the towel, then opened his eyes wide and stared at Encred.
A faint resentment flickered in those golden eyes, the ones once called the Evil Eyes. What was that resentment directed at? I don’t know. It just seemed like an emotion reeking of musty dust.
“I’m in the City of Prisoners.”
She answered. And Encred asked.
“Do you want to go?”
