A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

“Form up!”

The commander’s shout echoed through the air. Eight wolf-like monsters were approaching them.

Beasts and monsters were a constant threat, particularly in Border Guard, a city frequented by merchants and traders. Because of this, the city was quite proactive in hunting down the nearby monsters and beasts.

“Why are they always so aggressive in winter?”

One of the soldiers grumbled as he raised his spear. To Enkrid, it sounded like the man was trying to ease his nerves.

Twenty soldiers, following orders, formed a solid phalanx to confront the wolf-beasts. When facing monsters, the general rule was to engage them with superior numbers.

The platoon leader was a stickler for such fundamentals which annoyed Enkrid to no end.

‘This is a first for me.’

It wasn’t that he disliked drills, but rather, his desire for real combat was so intense that he wanted to burst out and fight for real.

A fight where blood was shed, a moment to reflect on what had been gained, and a step forward— that’s what Enkrid wanted.

Not to merely poke at the hide of a slowly advancing beast with a spear. This wasn’t helping. It felt almost boring.

Ordinarily, facing beasts like these should make his knees tremble. But beside him, Rem, who unusually followed orders today, chuckled softly.

“You look like you're frustrated.”

Normally, he would have told Rem to focus on stabbing the beast's eyes instead of watching his face, but the frustration made him speak out.

“You can tell?”

“You’ve become a rough stone, Squad Leader.”

Rem chuckled again, making an enigmatic comment before adding,

“Didn’t you know that there’s a fine line between being extraordinary and being crazy?”

He didn’t know. What if he charged into the midst of those eight beasts assuming Rem had his back?

It would probably end much faster than this slow process of stabbing each one to death with twenty spears.

How long would it take to clear out the other beasts and monsters in the area if we continued like this?

It felt like a waste of time.

Up until now, he had never neglected phalanx training, so his body naturally fulfilled its duty as part of the formation. However, the frustration still remained.

Rem kept chuckling beside him, and it felt like it was pushing him forward. Why did he follow him here, only to act like this?

Enkrid thrust his spear forward. The tip, filled with strength, grazed the hide of the wolf-beast’s foreleg.

“Grrr!”

The wolf-beast bared its fangs in response to the pain, and seeing this, the platoon leader tried to pierce its head with his spear, but the cunning beast dodged by backing away.

Seeing this, Enkrid deliberately let his mind wander. If he didn’t, it would be hard to resist the urge to rush out and draw his sword. His thoughts drifted to the panther he had unintentionally tamed.

‘Esther.’

After splitting open the head of that mad wizard bastard in the sewers, the Black Panther had returned to him, utterly exhausted. The stench it carried suggested it had probably devoured a rat or two down there.

It had been so engrossed in hunting city rats that, completely drained, it had collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. Out of pity, Enkrid had personally torn up some jerky, soaked it in water, and fed it to the panther.

Esther had eagerly accepted the food.

‘What exactly have you been up to?’

Roar!

His idle thoughts were interrupted as a wolf-beast came within reach of his spear. Pushing aside thoughts of Esther, Enkrid thrust his spear into the approaching wolf’s head.

Shlunk.

A portion of its scalp was torn, and blood splattered out.

“Don’t lose your position!”

The platoon leader’s shout rang out. The squad maintained its distance, poking at the approaching beasts and keeping them at bay.

This fight wasn’t going to end quickly. The pack of wolf-beasts, after being stabbed a few times by the spears, retreated again.

This was the correct approach. This was how it was supposed to be done. But it still felt frustrating.

He glanced at the platoon leader leading the soldiers. The man had a well-built, solid appearance and an impressive demeanor. Was this guy from the 2nd Company, or was it the 3rd?

With frustration and irritation still brewing inside him, Enkrid kept thrusting his spear. It wasn’t exactly a display of remarkable skill. It was just stabbing and pulling back.

It felt like wearing clothes that didn’t fit. The spear never really felt right in his hands. If he had focused on using the spear, he’d probably be worse at it than he was with a sword.

Ragna had once said,

“Whether it’s a sword or a spear, the feel in your hand can vary depending on the weapon.”

Most knights were encouraged to handle various weapons. So, while he had learned the basics, only the sword ever felt like it belonged in his hand.

‘The sword.’

The only weapon that mattered. From the first time he held it, it felt like reuniting with an old friend.

The thrill of wielding a sword for the first time. The joy, the anticipation, the pounding of his heart, and the warmth of the sharp metal.

‘Ah, I want to use my sword.’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He wanted to relive the experiences he’d gained in the wizard’s lair. He wanted to swing a sword, not a spear.

“I’ll grant your wish.”

Rem muttered beside him. By the time Enkrid looked over, Rem was already charging forward.

“Let’s get this over with!”

Rem shouted exuberantly as he ran. His voice was filled with excitement. The dirt flew up with every powerful step. His movements were dynamic. He looked more ferocious than the wolf-beasts themselves.

“That crazy bastard!”

The platoon leader shouted in fury as if he had been waiting for this. The proper way to handle monsters was to stay in formation and fight as a unit. If the formation broke, the lives of other soldiers could be endangered.

Breaking formation was wrong. Enkrid knew that well.

But.

‘We could just kill all the beasts.’

He couldn’t hold back.

The desire, the very urge itself, was overwhelming. The longing to rush out and wield his sword, to relive his experiences. Enkrid closed his eyes for a moment, relying on instinct rather than rational judgment.

Following his gut, Enkrid threw aside his spear, pushed off the ground, and leaped forward.

“What the hell are you doing now?!”

The platoon leader’s shout faded into the distance. Rem’s sudden action had been within the platoon leader’s expectations but Enkrid’s weren’t.

So, of course, he was caught off guard.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

Rem asked as he recognized Enkrid following closely behind him, then started swinging his two axes. The two axes carved through the air, leaving a trail. Naturally, the trail ended in slaughter.

The first swing split open the skull of a wolf charging at them, and the second swing, which cut across horizontally, chopped off the jaw of another beast attempting to bite at his arm.

The two axes were like the blades of an executioner.

“Just a bit.”

Enkrid admitted, drawing his sword. As he drew, he slashed horizontally. One of the wolf-beasts charging at him had its foreleg severed.

“Yelp!”

Even a beast’s cry sounded similar to a dog’s whine. Enkrid pulled back his extended arm and brought his sword down vertically. The wolf-beast’s head split open with a sickening crack.

Splat!

As he pulled his sword out of the skull he had split, he punched another wolf-beast charging from the side with the hand holding the sword.

Thud!

The beast, struck in the head, tumbled to the ground.

Only eight of them remained.

‘I don’t know when I started calling eight beasts "only," but...’

Regardless, these creatures posed no real threat to Enkrid. Axes split heads, and the sword cleaved and slashed wolves.

The sword in his hand didn’t have the satisfying cut of a longsword, but it wasn’t bad at all. Ragna had regretted not being able to come along.

One of the eight was slain by the spears of the phalanx. Of the remaining seven, four were cleaved by Rem’s axes.

Three were split by Enkrid’s sword. It was a display of exceptional skill. This was proof that he hadn’t earned his rank as a high-rank soldier for nothing.

“Wow, you fight like a beast.”

One of the soldiers in the phalanx muttered in awe. The platoon leader should have been yelling at them. He should have, but...

‘They’ve left me speechless.’

They really fought like beasts. While facing beasts, forming a phalanx was standard practice. However, if you had exceptional strength, using it was also part of a commander’s skillset.

Instead of getting angry, the platoon leader focused on efficiency. This was a good thing for Enkrid and Rem. If he had been strict, they could have been punished for disobeying orders.

But more importantly, the platoon leader had a high opinion of Enkrid. He had seen him a few times before in passing, and back then, he hadn’t seemed to be much, but when had he gained such skill?

Had the rumors about him suddenly improving been true? Who knows. It was impossible to be certain about anything.

Only the results mattered.

‘He’s at least above a high-rank soldier.’

He might even believe that Enkrid was one of those Frontier Slaughterers, known as the butchers of the border.

When they engaged in monster hunts, they didn’t maintain a phalanx, they fought based on individual prowess.

“You two.”

Instead of reprimanding them, the platoon leader gave them a new mission.

“If you want to fight, there’s a troublesome monster nearby. Go there.”

“Understood.”

Among the corpses of the dead beasts, Enkrid, the Sorcery Breaker, nodded his head.

Some of the soldiers nearby let out cheers, almost as if they were celebrating. After all, they had just wiped out those beasts.

With this, their part of the mission was complete, and their unit would soon move on to support another area, allowing them to rest for a bit.

No one enjoyed risking their lives fighting monsters. To do so, you had to be either extraordinary or insane. At least one of the two, if not both.

“We’re retreating to the city for regrouping.”

The platoon leader decided to lead the unit back. Enkrid glanced at Rem, who was roughly wiping the blood of the beasts off his axes with a grin.

“Do I owe you something?”

“Owe me? No way.”

Despite his words, Enkrid felt a bit relieved. But the thirst in his heart was still greater.

‘It’s not enough.’

The few wolf-beasts couldn’t satisfy his craving. It wasn’t a drill, but real combat. The fire that had been ignited in Enkrid’s heart burned fiercely.

“Let’s go. They said to head somewhere else.”

Rem said.

A few soldiers from the returning unit approached and patted Enkrid on the chest.

“Thanks to you, we’re heading back first.”

The grinning face of one of the soldiers looked familiar. Enkrid searched his memory. It was the soldier who had been at the dice gambling table on the first day he repeated today.

The soldier handed Enkrid a piece of jerky wrapped in a clean cloth.

“Try this. It’s amazing.”

He said and turned away.

Several others gave him approving looks as well. A soldier who fought well was always appreciated by his comrades. Enkrid also had a mild temperament, which made him generally well-liked.

Rem, on the other hand, was different. Everyone kept their distance from him. Partly because he was of barbarian origin, but mostly because he was notorious for picking fights with anyone who crossed his path when he was bored.

“Seems like they’re treating us differently even though we fought together. Is this discrimination?”

“Karma, I guess.”

Enkrid replied, tearing off a piece of jerky and handing it to Rem. He took a bite.

‘It’s different.’

It was delicious. The soft jerky melted in his mouth, then went down smoothly. The seasoning was just right, and it had a slightly sweet flavor, probably due to some kind of special sauce.

“What the hell? Why is this so good?”

“Seriously, we should ask for more later.”

He couldn’t help but be curious about the recipe. Enkrid adjusted the gloves on his hands. The thick, leather Gambeson Gloves securely covered his hands, protecting them well.

They were one of the items he had taken from the wizard in the sewer who had a penchant for corpses. Especially when he had punched the wolf earlier, the impact had been far less than expected.

These were definitely good items. The wizard had been a creepy bastard, but it wasn’t the items’ fault.

The gloves were sturdy. It seemed they had been made by layering several sheets of leather, providing excellent protection and making them useful even for punching. They acted as a substitute for gauntlets.

The leather armor beneath his Gambeson was equally reliable. After all, it had protected him during the wizard’s crafty attacks.

When Kraiss had said it wasn’t just an ordinary item, Enkrid had thought it was just durable, but now he realized its true value.

With solid gear and newly acquired knowledge, Enkrid was filled with resolve.

“Let’s go.”

Following the platoon leader’s orders, Enkrid and Rem moved on to another area. They headed south of the city for half a day. To the place where their allied forces were gathered.

“This must be the place.”

“Seems like it.”

They found the location based only on a simple map and directions. What they found upon arrival was a fully fortified position.

They wouldn’t set up a fortification like this unless they were seriously hunting down beasts or monsters. Moreover, it was clear that chaos was erupting at that moment.

Before they arrived, something seemed to be flying around in the sky. Muttering to himself, Enkrid joined the battlefield, with Rem leaping to follow him.

“Kyaaak!”

A terrifying scream echoed from above. A hideous monster announced its presence. Below it, several soldiers with gouged-out eyes or slashed limbs lay sprawled across the ground.

“My eyes! My eyes!”

“Aaaah!”

“Damn it! Kill it! Kill it!”

A few crossbowmen fired bolts into the sky.

Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!

The bolts cut through the air, but none hit their target.

“Kaaah!”

The monster’s cry was a horrible sound that made one want to cover their ears. This was a battlefield. They were facing monsters and beasts.

Directly beneath the flying monster, a unit of heavily armored soldiers had formed a phalanx.

These were heavy infantry clad in chainmail. In other words, they were the 1st Company, a unit composed entirely of heavy infantry.

“Everyone, hold your positions!”

The commander of the infantry company shouted.

The monster flying above was a Harpy. A creature with the upper body of a woman, but instead of arms, it had wings, and its lower body resembled that of an eagle.

Its red feathers fluttered in the air, and its chest jiggled as it flew. However, rather than being erotic, the sight was purely unsettling.

Seeing the Harpy, Enkrid froze for a moment. It brought back memories of a time in the past when he had been forced to turn away after the death of a comrade.

The appearance of Harpies had rendered the desperate struggles of a few mercenaries meaningless.

Death upon death, followed by retreat.

A painful memory.

While they weren’t exactly friends, he had lost more than a dozen comrades.

Screech!

The Harpy’s cry had a maddening effect on a person’s mind.

More than five of them were now soaring above, and although five crossbowmen were aiming at the sky, as he had just seen, it seemed impossible to bring them down.

It was right after they had entered the battlefield.

“Looks like things are about to get interesting. You alright?”

Rem asked beside him, just as one of the Harpies swooped down toward the two newcomers.

Whoosh!

The Harpy descended swiftly. Its talons, as strong as steel, could easily gouge out eyes, and if that was all that happened, you could consider yourself lucky.

If it didn’t go that way, your skull would be torn open. As the Harpy approached, Enkrid briefly reflected on past memories, but only for a moment.

He didn’t leave any regrets for the things that had passed. Instead, he put his strength into moving forward. That was how Enkrid had lived.

Shing.

He drew his sword.

For a moment, everything seemed to slow down around him. Simultaneously, he connected the dots and lines, tracing the path of the Harpy’s descent, while his instincts sent warning signals.

With the boldness granted by the Heart of the Beast, Enkrid channeled power throughout his entire body.

Matching the trajectory of the descending Harpy, in the slow-motion-like perception of time, Enkrid’s sword moved.