A Knight Who Eternally Regresses Novel - Chapter 741

Chapter 741

The beastmen shifted their tactics repeatedly. Initially, they struck every other day, then transitioned to once every three days. A few nimble fox beastmen even attempted a wide flanking maneuver around the settlement to lie in wait along the lakeside path, but they couldn’t bypass Enkrid’s perception. More importantly, such maneuvers fell entirely within his anticipated scenarios. If these creatures had adopted human deceit, he simply needed to factor that into his defensive preparations.

“How do you manage to foresee all this and plan so accurately?” Aitri inquired during a momentary lull.

Enkrid decided to impart some wisdom to the youth while they had the time. When Aitri asked for the direction of the east, Enkrid gestured toward the ocean and confirmed it. Aitri focused intensely, his ears practically twitching and his eyes fixed on the man. He was absorbing every word.

“Even if it seems unnecessary now, it is vital to possess some measure of power. That strength could become your weapon, or the final shield that preserves your life in a crisis.”

This traveler who had arrived by chance was clearly no common drifter. He was exceptional. Enkrid’s words were rooted in the ideology of Kraiss. Looking back to when Kraiss had narrowly cheated death, the first thing he had uttered was:

“And if you can develop a physique that makes the ladies swoon, that’s an added bonus.”

Since the second part of that sentiment wasn’t worth repeating, Enkrid omitted it.

“You aren’t expected to slaughter dozens of beastmen immediately, but you should begin honing your physical power. When you train your body, your intellect sharpens as well.”

Enkrid gestured to his temple with his forefinger as he spoke. He merged his own life lessons with the philosophy of Kraiss to mentor the boy. Others would describe this as instruction or discipline.

Between preparing for the beastmen’s incursions, he directed the inhabitants in formation exercises. For Brunhilt, he provided specific combat styles, strategies, and physical conditioning. With Aitri, his focus remained on dialogue. To the boy, these talks were equivalent to studying a hidden manual of martial arts.

“It isn’t about predicting every single outcome. It’s about being ready for every outcome that is predictable.”

While some might find that distinction confusing, Aitri understood immediately.

“I see.”

A soft murmur of comprehension escaped him. Kraiss had lived in a state of perpetual vigilance—to quiet that unrest, he made sure he was ready for everything. Applying that logic to this locale: narrow the defensive perimeter and consolidate all available assets. Normally, they would have struggled to protect the granaries and the lake road simultaneously while worrying about the vulnerable elderly and children. Now, that complexity was gone. Eliminate the excess and prepare for everything within your capacity. That was the essence of the Kraiss-style doctrine.

Enkrid put this into action. He didn’t just react; he moved preemptively, utilizing his intellect alongside his blades.

Consequently, the villagers gripped their spears and engaged the beastmen. From his vantage point in the branches, Enkrid observed them thrusting their weapons with desperate resolve.

“If the line snaps!”
“We fall!”

They had developed their own battle cries, independent of Enkrid’s teaching.

“If you’re exhausted, rotate back! Don’t overextend!”

Familiarity grew through repetition. If one person out of ten faltered, they stepped back. The formation remained sturdy with nine. Those who retreated were cared for by the non-combatants. Two competent archers held the center of the ring. Two nights prior, an owl beastman had nearly taken one of their shoulders, and since then, they had occupied the center by choice. One man with powerful arms kept a wary eye on the sky. If owls could strike, so could crows. He remained vigilant even in the daylight.

They weren’t trying to read the beastmen’s minds; they were focusing entirely on the integrity of their line. Enkrid’s lessons were bearing fruit.

“Hold your ground! Don’t retreat just because it’s difficult!”

They had even designated their own leaders for the squads. Some beastmen tried to exploit gaps in the ranks—

“Not today.”

Brunhilt intervened. His natural aptitude was evident. His spear caught the light like a flash of sun as he drove it into a beastman’s cranium. It was a basic strike, but the execution was incredibly swift. The wolf beastman died before it could even snap its jaws. Pivoting on his heel, he rotated his hips and sent the spear through the creature’s flesh—specifically through the soft palate rather than the thick hide. The sight of him withdrawing the weapon—the tip bursting through the back of the skull—was both fluid and gruesome.

Leaping into the air, Brunhilt pushed off the creature’s shoulders to free his spear. What he lacked in sheer muscle, he compensated for with rapid, agile movements. He planted his spear as he flipped, sticking the landing perfectly. It was a testament to his bodily mastery.

“Some might find such a person unnecessary.”

Enkrid’s heart quickened. He recalled having that thought once while watching people perish. What if those in need of salvation had instead held the power to defend themselves? Giving a coin to a beggar only sustains them for a day, but teaching them a trade allows them to survive indefinitely.

Even if I depart, the beastmen will still be here.

The Ferryman had whispered a similar doubt into his ear the previous night:

“Consider this. You help them and then you leave. Then what? These souls will eventually perish. Can you truly walk away with that on your conscience?”

Was it an attempt to exploit Enkrid’s internal friction? Enkrid remained resolute. He would do what he could, and after that, the future belonged to them. He would provide them with a means of deterrence, following the traditions of the frontier. Slaughter the beastmen repeatedly. Mark the boundaries with their blood. Claim the land. It was a territory established through might.

You cannot eradicate every beastman. But these people had already found their footing. They just needed a spark of power. Most didn’t grasp Enkrid’s true goal, but Harkventyo seemed to suspect it, and Aitri had realized it long ago. Brunhilt and the others hadn’t looked that far ahead.

“Some might find such a person unnecessary.”

The thought returned. He remembered the charred remains of a youth and the mercenary who died defending her, his skull crushed. Amidst the carnage of his past, Enkrid had harbored those grim reflections.

But now—

“Yah!”

He watched the villagers drive back the beastmen with focused shouts. Not one of them had fallen. They were holding. Aitri was right; Enkrid had enabled them to endure. That was sufficient.

From his position in the trees, Enkrid shifted his focus. His senses, which exceeded those of many knights, had detected a hateful gaze following him for several days.

“You intend to wait until I’m gone, don’t you?”

If humanity produced individuals like Aitri and Brunhilt, then the beastmen likely had a counterpart—a leader capable of thought and strategy. That beastman was the heart of the problem. Even if he couldn’t wipe out the entire horde, he could remove the masterminds. The beastman army functioned like several grouped colonies, each led by a core individual. By eliminating those few, the threat would be neutralized.

Enkrid jumped from his branch and moved through the air. He traversed the canopy like a flying squirrel, though far more rapidly. But just as he touched down where the trees thinned—

Two leopard beastmen pounced from the flanks. They had moved so quietly that Enkrid only felt them at the last second. The hair on his neck stood up. His instincts flared. He adjusted his weight instantly, channeling his forward momentum into a dead stop with his left foot.

Crash!

The earth shattered beneath him, sending debris flying. Through the cloud of dust, the leopards’ claws aimed for his head and torso. They weren’t just attacking from both sides; they were coordinating their strikes vertically and horizontally. Clever creatures.

But that was their limit. Enkrid didn’t even shift from his braced position. He simply deployed his blades to either side. The midday sun shone brightly, and the movement of Three Iron created a perfect arc—like a second sun manifesting behind him. Instead of warmth, it radiated the lethal sharpness of the steel.

Thwack.

The sound was subtle. He didn’t need to break the sound barrier; he simply let their own speed carry them into his blades. The edge of Three Iron was more than capable. Enkrid struck the right one with meteoric iron and the left with black gold. He cut them down and immediately resumed his sprint. It all happened in the span of one breath.

Behind him, the leopards slumped to the ground, leaking dark fluid. As he raced forward, he felt as though he were leaving a trail in his wake. He could hunt them through sheer stamina, but that would take too long. Even if the villagers were holding their own, they wouldn’t be safe forever. He had to finish the hunt quickly.

Was it a challenge? No. Not all displays of power are equal. There are subtle applications and blunt ones. What happens when you merge the power of Will with Ganggak, the art of infusing Will into your stride? The result was a body that felt weightless and fluid. The forest blurred around him. His reflexes adjusted to his velocity, ensuring he took no damage from the environment.

Enkrid’s run brought him face-to-face with a fox. Instead of fleeing, the creature stood its ground. Wise. The moment they squared off, over a hundred fox beastmen emerged from the shadows, eyes glowing but presence masked. These were techniques honed in the wild. People claimed knights learned from spirits, but Enkrid wondered if they had actually learned from these predators.

He remembered a tale from Valphir Valmung. Humans—

“Learned how to be fearsome by observing monsters.”

If the spirits learned from beastmen, then perhaps the beastmen were now learning from humanity.

“What else is hidden in the Demon Realm?”

He felt a sudden spark of curiosity about that place again. The true entities that fought there—not just shadows, but the actual Balrog.

The fox beastman used blades in its tail and claws on its hands, but this was simple compared to what he had already faced. Enkrid’s Three Iron and Penna began their dance. With the sun as their light and the dark blood as their stage, the two swords were the main attraction. Cut, pierce, strike, kill.

When he finally returned to the settlement—

The villagers, showing a blend of relief and terror, gaped at him.

“……Get some water for him to wash.”

Harkventyo spoke up. Enkrid was drenched in black blood, looking like a nightmare. Yet, no one complained. Enkrid felt multiple gazes. Three more significant threats remained among the beastmen. He didn’t waver in his plan: eliminate the leaders while the people held the line. The horde could have fled, but they stayed.

“They are waiting for something.”

He had a suspicion but didn’t vocalize it. In two subsequent hunts, Enkrid killed a small, incredibly fast bear, and then carved through a pack of five hundred hounds to slay a single black dog.

The final adversary was a tiger with skin like iron. Until now, he had been the hunter, but this beastman was waiting for him.

Grrr.

“Do you aspire to be the Beast King?” Enkrid asked. The creature couldn’t speak, but its growl sounded like an affirmation. When you perceive the truth of a thing without logic or memory, that is intuition. Enkrid’s intuition was far beyond that of ordinary men. It was the result of his journey and his battles against demons.

Beast King. He didn’t know its name, but the tiger clearly had ambitions of royalty. In the Pen-Hanil Mountains, even predators had to fight for their place. This tiger dreamed of ruling the range, of hunting across the land, and devouring both humans and spirits.

Grrr.

It was a grand ambition that might have been realized if not for the human standing before it, and those who had intervened earlier. The reason this village had survived was that Enkrid had already neutralized the other threats from the secondary front.

Enkrid did not take the opponent lightly. This creature had unified various species and risen to the top, altering the natural order of the mountains. Just as humans had their champions, beastmen could produce legends.

“The ones who transcend their kind.”

The Demon Realm was full of them, just like the one he faced now. The tiger’s muscles tensed. It was invisible to the naked eye, but his sixth sense alerted him. As the beast put power into its legs, a massive paw descended from above. It was only when the tiger stood that Enkrid realized it was larger than a bear and faster than anything he’d fought that day.

Sound died away. The atmosphere turned heavy, as if he were submerged in a bog. Time seemed to slow. To break this pressure, he needed power that went beyond human boundaries. Enkrid tensed every muscle and poured his Will into Three Iron. But as the tiger struck, it opened its maw and exhaled a torrent of flames.

It was a move he hadn’t seen coming.