Night falls quickly in the mountains. The early twilight faded in an instant, and the moon and stars replaced the sun on the ceiling of the swiftly arrived night. They couldn't sprint at a full gallop, but they were running quite fast. Their speed doubled on flat terrain, and as their pace quickened, the moon and stars above stretched into long lines.
Kkiiiii!
A boar-like monster they passed was startled by the group and gave up trying to chase them. If it had been just a little more persistent, it would have had the rare experience of spilling its guts on the ground, but the beast was lucky. Grida raised her hand to the grip of her sword, then lowered it. In a brief moment of judgment, she decided that killing a monster here and spreading the scent of blood would only attract other miscellaneous creatures. Running on flat ground was practically a break. As he had said, Magrun led the party down a somewhat rougher path. The ground was littered with protruding, uneven rocks and tree roots that looked like nature's traps, numerous enough to trip them up. Such things might have caught someone's ankle, but these were all Knights. None of them were hindered by this environment. The only one among them who couldn't run at this speed, Anne, had swallowed two small pills and was sleeping like the dead on Ragna's back, so there was no need to worry about her.
Hook! Swish! Crack!
Magrun, at the lead, swung his sword and cut down a few branches. The severed branches flew backward. After dodging a few roots and picking his steps, a waist-high boulder blocked their path, but no one even touched it as they leaped over. They were passing through a slope that would make one sigh just looking up at it from below. Enkrid ran, lost in his own thoughts. Thinking two things at once was now a specialty of his, so dodging obstacles while running was no big deal. His eyes, adjusted to the dark, could perceive his surroundings with only the moonlight and starlight, and since he wasn't at a full sprint, changing his footing at the last second if something got in his way wasn't very difficult. So, this time spent running was the perfect time to leisurely think about swordsmanship. That was what Enkrid thought.
'Like reaching for a flying object, or a jerky shop owner turning skewers back and forth in front of a brazier.'
If he used Will in a natural form, even a surprise attack would carry power in its strike. He had realized this before, but without repeatedly practicing it with his body, he wouldn't adapt. Enkrid knew himself well. He knew that just because he thought of something and mulled it over, it wouldn't easily become second nature to his body, and that he had to repeat it over and over. So, this kind of ambush was something to be welcomed. It was while he was briefly lost in thought. Something registered in his sixth sense.
'Something's coming.'
As he perceived it, Ragna, who was carrying Anne, shifted his forward-moving foot to the side, changing direction. Thud! The ground he stomped on caved in, creating a hole. His boots wouldn't be damaged by such a sudden application of force. They were very sturdy boots with iron plates on the soles and an outer layer made of troll leather. In Enkrid's vision, the scene of the boots, specially ordered by Krais, kicking up dirt entered slowly. And also, the long, black shadow that shot through the gap.
"Ambush!"
Ragna's dodge came first, Grida's shout came next, and Enkrid, who was right behind Ragna, drew Penna and swung it at the same time Grida shouted.
Swish!
The Fairy's masterwork sword, with its outstanding cutting power, diagonally sliced the black shadow that flew forward.
'An arm.'
As he cut, Enkrid identified the shadow's true form. His dark-adapted eyes saw it by the moonlight. A forearm covered in black scales. There was also information he gained from the sensation in his hand.
'Hard.'
If it had been an ordinary sword and not Penna, it would have cut, but not this easily. A hard forearm covered in dense black scales—information obtained through sight and touch. He had cut the arm, but there was no scream. Instead, black blood scattered into the air, and that blood was intentionally aimed at Enkrid's face. The severed arm's cross-section was shaken to spray the blood. His high-speed thinking grasped the opponent's intention.
'Using the severed arm as an attack.'
This was not a tactic an ordinary monster would display. It was instinct to react to the pain of a severed arm.
"Black!"
Grida shouted again, but Enkrid had already dodged the sprayed blood and moved his body away. If Ragna had moved to the right, Enkrid moved to the left. Enkrid bounced his body with the frog step he had learned from Luagarne and this time swung Penna horizontally.
'An attack shines for a moment.'
It was natural that Will permeated every movement, and there was no wasted motion, making it look like a choreographed sequence. A flash resembling the moonlight ripped through the air, drawing a line, and everything caught in that line was cut. The darkness of the night, and even the Scaler hidden in the black curtain of night.
Splat!
The monster, its body half-severed, collapsed sideways, spilling black blood and entrails. Enkrid stopped in the posture he had swung Penna, and the rest of the party also paused their steps.
"Look at these bastards?"
Grida said, looking ahead. There was no smell, and their presence was not easily read. But in the darkness, beast-like vertical eyes announced their existence. Dozens of pairs of black eyes. Eyes that held a strange light only in the vertical line of their pupils floated in the darkness.
Saaaaaaaaah.
From between the obscuring bushes and from under thick tree roots, the creatures' cries spread. It was another attack by a group of Scalers. Enkrid assessed the path they had taken and the state of the group blocking their way, grasping the situation.
'A group of Scalers, not magic or sorcery.'
And their numbers were smaller than before.
"Be careful of the ones with black scales. Some of them have special abilities."
Grida said. Was it in place of magic and sorcery? As Grida said, there were monsters with special abilities. The one he had just cut.
'Its body was a bit harder.'
Was that all? It didn't seem likely.
'Did they hastily send monsters because we deviated from the predicted path?'
Then how did they know our location? Easy. They must have observed us. How did they observe? How do you track enemy movements on a battlefield? You send out scouts. Wouldn't the enemy do something similar? If they sent out scouts openly, they would be easily spotted, so wouldn't they use a method we can't know, can't predict? Several clues overlapped to deduce something close to the answer. It was a process where his mind reflexively grasped cause and effect and inferred the situation to draw a conclusion.
'The bat monsters from the first day.'
Bats use sound to perceive movement. If it was just for observation, they could use that, and if there were those familiar with this terrain and with sharp eyes, they could tell just by seeing trees breaking and moving from a distance. Come to think of it, even if they failed to predict our route, meeting us in real-time didn't seem difficult. That must be the reason they sent the Scalers to this spot.
'Their goal must be to tie us down.'
As an example, this time they weren't just targeting Anne. Though the malice aimed at Anne still existed. They were desperate to block the path. Therefore, getting held up here was not a good move. Strategically speaking, that was the case.
"Go on ahead."
That was the decision he made. At Enkrid's words, Grida asked.
"And you?"
"I'll catch up. Leave a trail."
The question of whether he would be okay alone was a luxury. Even if there were special individuals with black scales over there.
'It's safe to say this side has a special individual Knight as well.'
Grida thought to herself and nodded at Magrun. Magrun set a direction, and Ragna left without looking back. His attitude was clear. It was a manner that said there was no reason to worry and nothing to consider. Would the Scaler group split up? They didn't. When Enkrid stopped, they held their ground. Did they anticipate this separation? He didn't know. The identity of the enemy beyond the veil was difficult to deduce. There was too little information. So, he just had to do what needed to be done now. Enkrid spoke to the creatures blocking his path with a slightly joyful heart.
"Play with me."
If the opponents were a species that could understand words, wouldn't they have felt a chill? In fact, the monsters might have felt something similar, but there was no way to know.
Ching, ch-ling!
He sheathed Penna and drew Tri-Iron. The True-Silver blade and the Black Gold blade whined, each wanting to go first.
"Whoa, whoa."
As Enkrid soothed the two blades, they must have thought he showed an opening, as some of them had already closed the distance and were rushing at him from the left and right. Enkrid swung his swords at the two creatures in turn. To the right, he swung True-Silver toward the sky, and to the left, he brought down Black Gold with a heavy blow.
Whoosh.
On the trajectory drawn as if he had grown wings, the two Scalers were split vertically, scattering blood. The moonlight pouring through the black blood illuminated the gentle curve forming on Enkrid's lips.
"Let's keep going."
It was a tantalizing situation, as if something was just within his grasp. As Enkrid spoke and raised the tips of his swords above his head, two of the black-scaled Scalers extended their hands toward him. They were the ones with telekinesis. At that motion, Enkrid felt intangible strings wrapping around his body.
'Is it stronger than a Manticore?'
Or was it similar? It was just about that level. Useless. The difference in power was so stark that he could ignore it and charge.
Zzzzt.
It didn't actually make this sound, but Enkrid tore through the net of telekinesis with his body and leaped forward. He didn't even run toward the ones who had used telekinesis on him. He just calmly cut, stabbed, and sliced the monsters nearby, one with each stroke. Left foot forward, a downward slash of the Heavy Sword Style, then a big step forward with the back foot, the right, for a thrust.
Thwack, thud!
Then, feeling three lines of killing intent from behind, he switched his offense and swung his swords behind him. With those three slashes, the wooden spears and such held by the Scalers broke and were cut. Sometimes he was so fast he was invisible, and at other moments, he blocked so slowly it was as if he had stopped. It was because he moved only as much as necessary at the necessary moment.
'Defense like a wave, offense like a momentary flash.'
But did he really need to separate offense and defense? Was there any reason not to see them as one? At the level called a High-Knight, one uses swordsmanship naturally without dividing it. So, he just had to do that now. The thought and the action were simultaneous. In front, there was a creature holding his sword with telekinesis, and to the side, another was thrusting with a long wooden spear. The tip of the wooden spear was blackish. Something had been applied to it. Given the situation so far, it was likely poison. A natural association.
'It's not Art and Training.'
Enkrid newly defined a concept he had once thought of. He changed the classification he had made into Finisher, Sustainer, Versatile, and then Art and Training.
'It's Sensation and Calculation. Not Art and Training.'
That seemed right. Also, it was a structure where even if one focused on one, they would naturally learn the other. If Pel couldn't calculate at all, he would be easily defeated by Lawford, and if Lawford's senses were significantly inferior to Pel's, the match would be decided in a single blow, regardless of calculation. It was while he was deep in thought. The two swordsmanships didn't play separately but moved as one, naturally harmonizing. By repeatedly using what he had newly learned and realized, the next time was better than the first, and it got much better each time he did it.
'What I'm doing now is Calculation.'
In an instant, he considered the possibilities, checked the probabilities, and then struck with his sword. All of this was as natural as breathing.
'I was arrogant.'
He had said that the level of a High-Knight was to use Will naturally, but.
'It looks like that on the surface, but if you dig deeper, it's constant repetition.'
You use Will naturally, then learn swordsmanship again, and then make that a natural part of your body. So, it's repetition. Even now, he could see his own shortcomings.
'The Sword of Calculation.'
He could do that now, but what about the Sword of Instinct? The Madmen Knights had told Enkrid to hide his specialty, but Enkrid chose to acquire a new specialty instead. If anyone saw it, it would be an act that could be called madness. Even Rem.
Despite these thoughts, there was no problem as he swung his swords. A Knight is a disaster and can cut down a thousand alone. Enkrid realized a part of the continent's proverb against the monsters. Of course, he didn't get a single scratch in the process. Moreover, there was no process of looking back on what he had done. The moment he judged that the cleanup was finished as he cut, he immediately set off in the direction the party had gone. This was all the group of dead monsters here had accomplished. Buying a little time and serving as Enkrid's practical training.