Enkrid had learned several techniques since coming to Zaun, and among them, the most unique was the technique of handling Will.
Of course, he had seen similar things within the Mad Knight Order too. Hadn't Rem done that as well?
'Will Transference.'
That was Rem's technique for handling Will. He cut off Will and used it by containing it in projectiles.
Should it be said that it was a domain you wouldn't even dare to learn unless you reached knight level?
Even becoming a Quasi-Knight only allowed you to put Will into part of your techniques for single use.
So naturally, only Knights could handle it, and it was naturally more difficult than simply moving the body. Ironically, for Enkrid, learning this was twice as easy as learning body-handling techniques.
Having inexhaustible Will also provided good conditions for repeated training.
Of course, it wouldn't work if you learned half-asleep and roughly here and there, but Enkrid was someone who gave his all to whatever he learned.
With even fragments of talent, learning anything was incredibly fun.
Controlling Will itself was difficult, but it was still enjoyable, so he was completely absorbed in it.
Honestly speaking, even when restraining and controlling, he poured Will out generously.
He repeated this many times until he dried up his inexhaustible Will and felt something like exhaustion.
He received quite a bit of help in that process.
"You shouldn't just use it, but be able to change it at will."
Rynox had said this about Will.
Alexandra had also shown something similar.
These two had the most excellent skills in handling Will within Zaun.
Among them, Rynox's was like playing a musical instrument without a single mistake.
He had to perfectly execute both when applying and releasing force without the slightest error.
He did so by cutting off only the necessary amount of Will. In other words, restraint.
Enkrid's restraint was implemented by copying Rynox's method.
And restraint was relatively difficult. He had to constantly concentrate mentally to control Will.
Should it be compared to filling a bowl with water then carrying it without spilling a single drop?
You could do it by walking carefully, but if you got slightly disturbed, water drops would flow to the floor.
But instead of walking, he even fought in that state.
As a result, Enkrid did spill a few drops of water. To be a bit more honest, it wouldn't be wrong to say he spilled enough to wet his clothes.
Controlling Will was that difficult for him.
Conversely, Alexandra's was completely different.
In "restraint being relatively difficult," that relative comparison was Alexandra's Will utilization method.
Hers was different.
'Setting fire to the tail of a running wild horse.'
A wild horse with its tail on fire would gallop frighteningly.
It couldn't conserve stamina nor have time to think about what comes next. What thoughts could you have when flames were chasing from behind?
It was like sprinting at full power down a slope. Running downhill was faster than on flat ground, but harder to control. Yet Alexandra maintained a form that threw control to the dogs.
If Rynox tried to adjust the shape of Will, Alexandra touched its speed.
The sword in her hand also changed speed according to the speed at which she released Will.
And inexhaustible Will was much easier to manifest freely than to control. The mass was large, so it couldn't be helped.
That's why control was difficult, but well, thanks to that, restraining was conversely fun.
How should I put it—the pleasure of enduring?
Enkrid knew how to endure current desires to obtain greater pleasure.
And now it was time to take that great pleasure.
The flames burning inside his body raced through his body, burning away the dregs.
Hot. His hands, feet, and head—everything was hot.
'Explosion.'
Enkrid repeated just one word. If Rynox was restraint, Alexandra was explosion.
'Burst forth.'
As Will boiled up throughout his body and raced, Enkrid took a step. Then he ran stepping on Ragna's shoulder. He raised his head and faced forward. Before exploding Will, Medusa's petrification curses meant nothing at all.
It really was so. Medusa's curse was useless. The Will of Denial became a shield twice as large as usual and deflected everything.
His toes caught on scales. He stepped on scales that rose like blades, bent his knees, then leaped upward. The stairs were rough. But hadn't he always enjoyed walking rough paths?
And this level wasn't really that rough a path.
There was no room for stray thoughts to intrude. He couldn't properly use the ability to perceive surroundings slowly that he had gained from becoming a Knight.
The air that usually felt stifling like being trapped in a swamp now felt normal.
His body was that light. It was enough to feel omnipotent.
Stepping on scales and stepping again, he applied force. His body shot upward as if it had forgotten its weight.
If someone with poetic qualities had seen it, they might have called it a march like a dragon ascending against everything.
Kyaaaaaaak!
Medusa lowered her head and opened her mouth. Green poison deflected raindrops and spread in a round shape, blocking the way ahead.
Enkrid held his breath and put strength into his hand gripping Tri-Iron.
Trrrrr- Chiiiiiiing.
It sounded like hearing underwater. The sound felt distant, as if blocked by an invisible curtain.
Crack-snap.
The scabbard split. Tri-Iron, with violent force applied, broke through the scabbard as it was drawn.
Enkrid's sword extended toward Medusa's neck. The blade was the Black Gold side. Even in his frighteningly accelerated perception, the blade was fast.
"Crazy bastard."
Anahera, who had been getting up after losing balance, could see what Enkrid had done.
It was because she had somehow penetrated through the monster horde and moved forward. What Enkrid did was clearly visible to her eyes. Everyone else could see it too.
There was no one here dull enough not to recognize the existence of Medusa, who had been scattering petrification curses from ahead.
How could you not see someone performing sword dance on top of that?
It also helped that leisure was created because Medusa didn't scatter petrification curses widely but focused on Enkrid.
Everyone saw it like that.
The sight of the guy who leaped up stepping on Medusa's tail, bursting his scabbard and drawing his sword to swing it like lightning.
Even when climbing up, it looked like lightning shooting upward against the ground, but the swinging sword looked even more so.
Lightning revealed itself through the tool called a sword and struck the monster's neck as it was.
Roaaaaar!
A roar burst out like a rock thrown by a catapult striking castle walls.
Scales on Medusa's neck stood up sharply like shields to block, but Enkrid broke through them with force and ultimately tore her neck. Black blood poured profusely from the torn and mangled nape.
Black rain mixed with the lightened rainfall. Yet Medusa endured. Was it because her neck wasn't completely severed?
Even with a half-severed neck, she spewed poison from her mouth, and the snakes attached instead of hair—as if to show they weren't decorations—rushed downward.
Anahera almost unconsciously shouted that it was dangerous.
But without time for that, Enkrid's sword moved like mad, drawing lines in the air. The sword that emerged after bursting the scabbard moved without rest, cutting off all the snake heads targeting him, then finished cutting Medusa's half-severed neck.
Thwack!
An eerie sound rang out again and Medusa's head dropped from the air. A scream burst from the dying monster's mouth.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!
Thud!
As the head fell to the ground:
Saaaa—
Immediately, the forms of the spell snakes crying above in the sky became blurred.
Swooooooooo!
Through the pouring rain, Medusa's huge body collapsed with a thud.
And above that, near Medusa's neck, a man could be seen standing with his sword embedded.
"Holy shit."
Anahera couldn't contain her thrills and let out a strange cry.
Uoooooo!
At the roar from the giant's vocal cords:
"Uwaaaa!"
Human roars mixed in.
It was the cry that all the watchers let out.
It was a natural reaction since it was an act that returned the scales that had been tilting for a moment back to their original state.
And behind the standing Enkrid, a large black mass flew and exploded.
Bang!
Then his body was engulfed in black flames.
Since this happened at a moment no one expected, everyone opened their mouths and couldn't react.
What is that? Why doesn't that fire go out even in the rain?
Questions settled in Anahera's head.
Alexandra, who had been watching from one side, was in a similar situation.
"Odinkar."
"Yes, I'm watching too."
What appeared behind her at the last moment was Odinkar. He had fought in her place. The family head had said to hide and plan for the future, but:
"It's because I got influenced by associating with Ragna."
He said this as he came to the battlefield.
"If you listen when told to stop, you're not a child of Zaun."
Alexandra had nodded and answered.
It was after cutting and slashing for a long time to save Alexandra like that.
While securing Alexandra's safety and guarding the surroundings, Enkrid cut down Medusa. Ragna's presence shown earlier was not small either.
The disappearance of the spell snakes was also a moment that gave some hope to everyone.
But the person who accomplished all this was engulfed in black flames.
Alexandra's body was not normal. Bursting Will put strain on the body. It was an act that severed nerves and burst muscles.
Of course, you could use it by appropriately controlling it, but there was no leisure for that.
"Guard this place, Odin."
The family head who had approached in the meantime said.
Tempest Zaun—he had ultimately killed the four monsters that approached.
Judging by their abilities alone, each one was sufficient to kill a Knight, but the family head endured.
Instead, Rynox was severely injured, and he also had a haggard face, but he could walk on his own feet.
"I'm going too."
These were people who wouldn't listen even if told to rest. Odinkar wanted to tell both of them to rest, but he knew this wasn't a situation where he could.
"It seems right for me to go."
Instead, he said:
"It's an order. Guard this place. I'm going to see the face of the bastard who has tormented my family for twenty years. There's no compromise."
The family head spoke firmly and turned around. Even until then, Enkrid remained engulfed in black flames.
No matter how relatively easy it was to learn techniques for handling Will, it naturally wasn't something that became ingrained in the body all at once.
It was the same for restraint, and explosion was no different.
It was something that needed to be researched and trained further to be more deeply mastered, but he had pulled it out and used it.
'It hurts.'
Pain had been rushing through his entire body since Medusa's neck, which should have been cut in one stroke, was only half-severed.
'Not yet.'
He could endure it. Racing Will was still raging inside his body. It was like a wild horse craving freedom.
Enkrid gave them freedom.
He consecutively consumed Will to swing his sword. He maintained balance in the air to cut the flying snake heads, then used the True-Silver blade to finish cutting Medusa's head.
And for a brief moment, he fainted.
That gap was extremely short, but it was enough for the ferryman to briefly stick his face in.
Before he could even feel the rippling river water, the ferryman standing at the boat's edge spoke:
"If you did it once more, could you do it better? Do you think luck will come in succession like that?"
What he felt from his short and weighty words was neither malice nor goodwill. It was a tone that calmly discussed reality.
It was a warning that repeating today couldn't guarantee living the same today.
Without time to answer, his mind returned to reality again.
The ferryman's figure at the boat's edge quickly disappeared.
It could be called the time of a single blink.
Standing on the dead Medusa's body with his blade embedded near her neck. He absolutely couldn't move right now even if beaten to death.
He needed at least time to catch his breath a few times to revive his body's energy, but at this very moment, a thick sweet smell entered his nose.
'A spell.'
He recognized it, but his body was slow to react. A black mass flew from behind and exploded.
Whoosh.
Flames spread across his entire body. Normally he should have felt hot and suffering, but he didn't.
Enkrid saw a subtle green light enveloping his body. Shinar's fragrance came from that light.
It was the grass scent you might smell in a deep forest and the refreshing feeling you might get when drinking dawn dew.
Rustle-rustle.*
Enkrid felt the undergarment given by the fairy folk that he wore underneath crumbling.
The clothes dried and crumbled like completely dried fallen leaves. The rough texture remained directly on his skin.
Instead, Enkrid could escape from the black flames.
He laid his body down as if falling backward, then maintained balance while rolling on the ground.
It seemed like screams burst out from all over his body that rolled through the falling technique. Blood also flowed continuously from his grip holding Tri-Iron.
Restraint just meant spilling water drops even with small mistakes, but explosion was similar to tearing muscles with blades if you used it and couldn't stop it properly.
Should he be grateful that his bones didn't break at this level?
This hurts like hell, doesn't it?
He also felt exhaustion.
This seemed like it could be called a suicidal technique if used without control.
If you got intoxicated with omnipotence and used Will recklessly, you'd die bleeding from every hole in your body.
It was a future anyone could know without insight.
"A fairy's item?"
It was an old man with an eye on his forehead.
Beside him was a young woman with a horn on her forehead, and behind them was a grotesque monster that looked like flesh had been roughly attached over a skull wearing a robe.
Yes, a monster. Calling that a person would be blasphemy against intelligent beings.
"Yes, you've even brought down Medusa. That bastard Heskal was confident, but what kind of state is this?"
Only the old man spoke. The monster standing behind just alternately looked at Enkrid and Ragna with barely hanging, protruding eyeballs.
Without anyone saying, he seemed to know his identity.
"Pleasure to meet you, Dremül."
Enkrid opened his mouth. Words directed toward the monster standing behind, ignoring the old man.
The diseased soul residing in the rotting flesh where necrosis had occurred opened its mouth.
"Yes."
Even that voice seemed to reek of rot.
"I think I should introduce myself."
Enkrid coughed along with his words. His organs ached. His physical condition was definitely a mess. Still, he had to say these words.
"I am one swordsman."
Then the man influenced by Enkrid matched the rhythm beside him.
"I am swordsman number two."
Enkrid completed the mockery for his opponent while suppressing his cough.
"Combined, we are just two swordsmen."
When an opportunity to mock the opponent came, how could he not wag his tongue?
"...You're crazy bastards."
As absurdity came through in Dremül's voice, for a moment he smelled like a person.