Chapter 832 - Pattern Recognition
A faint yellow light lingered on the Dragonkin's white longsword.
Though there wasn't a breath of wind, the Dragonkin's lemon-colored hair, which seemed to hold the light, shimmered.
He swung his sword and cut through the fire monster that was larger than his own body.
Fwoosh.
The bisected flame transformed into two snakes and rushed him.
The Dragonkin uttered a Word of Command.
"Vanish."
At that single phrase, the two fire snakes were extinguished. They had been closer to him than the length of his longsword. The fire snakes, having penetrated his guard, were pushed back as if by an unseen hand and disappeared, scattering red powder like sand in the wind.
The source of the flames was close to a will.
He had delved into that will and erased it.
However, the opponent was not one that could be defeated by Words of Command alone, so he was mixing in sword strikes.
This was the swordsmanship Themares had originally specialized in, a harmony of Word of Command and swordsmanship.
As he fought, he recalled his techniques one by one.
As Enkrid had guessed, he was in the middle of rehabilitation.
While rehabilitating, he was also realizing what a formidable warrior race he was, born of the Dragonkin's blood.
And as he was taking down one fire beast…
PANG! PANG! PANG! PANG!
"Try bringing out some more."
A human, creating two discs in his hands and relentlessly firing projectiles, took down six fire-forms.
"Hoho, this much is not enough."
A human who looked like a half-breed of a bear and a man emitted divine power, repeatedly blasting away the Salamander's forelegs.
The true form of the Salamander was faintly visible to the Dragonkin's eyes.
Therefore, from his perspective, it looked as if the bear-hybrid beastkin named Audin was receiving the fire phantom beast's extended legs with his fists.
There was a difference in the size of their fists as great as that between an adult and a seven-year-old child, but that child possessed unprecedented monstrous strength.
Therefore…
BOOM!
The phantom beast's forelegs exploded and scattered time and again.
Embers flew, and the fireballs that had been flying through the air scattered in all directions.
Broken stone fragments, ignited by the exploding fireballs, flew everywhere.
It was a situation where anyone could have been seriously injured, but everyone was fine.
Not a single person had a scratch.
They all responded as if this much was nothing.
The Dragonkin was beginning to wonder if the level of martial power on the continent had risen dramatically while he had been bound by his duty.
Enkrid had not forgotten Luagarne's teachings.
"From now on, you won't just be meeting ordinary swordsmen. This is in preparation for that."
If Esther had taught him how to deal with spells, Luagarne had been in charge of the overall aspects of personal tactics.
Enkrid was always focused and approached it with an attitude of listening.
Even though he could defeat the Frog before him in terms of simple martial power, he did not stop his race to learn.
'There is something to learn from everyone.'
After realizing the lack of his own talent, Enkrid had tried to absorb and learn everything.
He had done so by spending the silver coins he had earned by risking his life.
He had done so for his conviction, and to protect those who stood behind him.
It was not easy.
It was truly not easy.
Even if he was trapped repeating 'today' alone for over a year, he could not surpass the talent of a genius in a single breath.
And before being trapped in 'today', it had been even worse.
Had he spent those times of hardship and suffering without thinking?
Even an ordinary person would not have.
Moreover, Enkrid was no fool, and his head worked quite well.
He found what he had to do in his position.
He fumbled for and craved a path to advance, somehow.
'Can I catch up just by simply swinging a sword?'
It wouldn't work just by trying hard.
That was the reality.
The blade of reality had always sharply grazed his neck and aimed for his heart.
Let's review and repeat every fight.
Let's make review my weapon.
And so he did.
Let's take a step forward, even if it's a small one.
Let's at least build up my strength.
Let's not fall behind in stamina.
And so he did.
He endured all those days and moved forward, even if it meant crawling.
Enkrid realized that to properly review a fight after it was over, he had to watch it well.
This was from before he had even joined the troublemaker squad.
He had not forgotten what he had learned then.
"To fight properly is to see properly."
What Luagarne had said was consistent with what he had learned then.
To see is not simply to confirm with one's eyes.
It is to grasp the opponent's intention, and through the process, to see the result and dig into what is contained within.
This very attitude must have been the strength that allowed Enkrid to survive in the days when he lived with insignificant skill.
The attacks shown by the phantom beast called the Salamander were not complicated.
That is to say, they were simple if you grasped the main points.
Enkrid divided the attack patterns.
'Heat-ray tongue.'
It comes out from anywhere, and its speed is comparable to Rem's axe.
But it's slower than a stone fired from a sling.
Therefore, it's not impossible to dodge.
'Foreleg fireballs.'
The Dragonkin had called them legs.
Enkrid also perceived them as such.
The fireballs that rushed in along the thin line connected from the fire cloud could become two or four at the same time.
'Not fast, but heavy.'
He went beyond simple pattern recognition and read the nature contained within.
The eyes and senses he had trained after meeting Jaxen had become even sharper after becoming a knight, and to this, Luagarne's style of tactics was added.
'Don't just gauge the opponent; accept them as they are, and you will see.'
That principle had shattered Enkrid's limits.
His concepts expanded, and the field of his thoughts stretched endlessly.
'Fire shaping spell.'
The Salamander's third means.
Separate from the forelegs, blazing flames flew in like javelins.
To be precise, they weren't spearheads, but they looked like similar sticks.
And there weren't just one or two.
If there was even a slight gap, dozens would be created and fly in with a single breath.
This was not the end.
The Salamander's power had more.
'Fire-forms.'
The fourth was to create things like fire golems.
A portion of the lava-like fireballs that fell from the fire cloud would transform into the shape of a wolf, golem, bear, or snake and charge at the party.
'And a rain of fire on top of that.'
Finger-thick flames constantly fell from the fire cloud.
Each and every one was a rain of fire that could easily burn and penetrate human skin.
The mountain path was being gouged out here and there, turning into a plain.
The trees were on fire, and everything was red.
It was as if they had entered a prison made of fire.
'And finally, the mirage.'
The entire area was filled with a heat that induced illusions.
If one were to be careless for even a moment, phantom images and sounds caused by the heat would ring in their ears.
Nothing was easy.
And yet, no one was falling.
Tak!
Esther snapped her fingers and recited a spell.
"D'Mulle's Spatial Domination."
On the surface, the hand gestures were simple and the incantation was brief, but the spell Esther had just used was a considerable feat.
She had momentarily removed the conditions for the flames to form.
She had created a vacuum in the area where the fire spears, arrows, and rain were falling.
In her perception, she had stopped the wind and made the air in the area disappear.
And so, the projectiles sculpted from fire scattered in the air.
Spatial Domination is a volatile spell, not a sustained one.
It activates for a moment and then disappears.
The effect of the spell, which would normally be of little significance, was now working perfectly.
It was because the necessary spell was activated at the necessary moment.
It was proof that Esther's sense for using spells was that outstanding.
"Easy, so easy."
About ten paces behind Esther, Rem muttered as he continuously fired projectiles, all of them imbued with shamanic power.
Each and every one of those bullets accurately destroyed the cores of the fire golems.
To the eyes of one who has mastered shamanism, finding the core of a fire-form is a very, very easy task.
Originally, Rem was more adept at dealing with things that had no physical form.
The fire-form was not a malevolent spirit, but it was an opponent where an unformed fire had taken a shape.
That is why Rem could gauge the core without pouring out his shamanic power.
So, it was easy.
Also, because Enkrid had said it would be a battle of attrition, Rem was moderately conserving his stamina.
It was the same for the others.
Audin extended his fists towards the continuously flying masses of fire and used his shoulder as a shield to receive them.
"Oh, Lord."
What was impressive was his movement.
He half-turned his body, rotating his shoulder.
The moment the fireball grazed past his holy light armor, Audin's palm shot straight forward.
BOOM!
Then, without fail, the phantom beast's foreleg exploded.
It was a method of deflecting the pushing force of the fire foreleg while striking the weak central point to scatter it.
It's easy to say, but it was a skill that made one wonder how much time he had spent to actually do it.
Audin had based his skills on the Valaf-style martial arts and then applied his own methods to move into a new realm of martial arts.
It was, of course, Enkrid's influence.
All of that was now seeing the light of day.
A portion of the exploded fireball covered Audin.
He lightly stepped to the side and escaped the range of the flames.
In this way, he too fought using only the minimum of movement and strength.
'Easier than against brother commander.'
He was thinking something like that.
Enkrid, who possessed Uske, was like a monster.
And Audin was a monster who enjoyed sparring with such an opponent all day long.
Ragna just watched, only occasionally unleashing his sword.
If anything was caught in that slash, it was cut.
It didn't matter if it was a fire-form or a projectile made of flames.
His sword slash cut through anything.
He must have realized something and advanced again.
Because Ragna possessed that kind of talent.
Enkrid saw it so, and at the same time, he thought.
'The breakwater group battle formation.'
He had grasped the opponent and decided on how to respond.
He had told Rem and the others what was needed, and they had carried it out.
There was nothing difficult.
As they increased their speed and beat them down, it was to the point where everyone seemed to have some leisure.
The Salamander instinctively felt a sense of crisis and even absorbed the power of the fire-forms scattered around.
This was the reason that had stopped the Salamander's advance towards the Border Guard.
A thunderous sound like Jjejejeong- came from between the flame clouds.
At the same time, a flame shot out in a zigzag.
Enkrid accelerated his thoughts and reacted.
He raised Dawnforged to receive it.
At the same time, a white longsword entered his vision as if to cross it.
As a result, the flame, which was like a lightning bolt mixed in with the rain of fire, was hit by Dawnforged and the white longsword, exploded, and scattered.
KWANG!
With the explosion, a shockwave spread.
A strong wind blew.
A gale strong enough to make an ordinary person's body float.
Of course, Enkrid was fine.
The Dragonkin was too.
"You would have blocked it even on your own."
"I probably would have."
The Dragonkin habitually read his opponent's inner thoughts and spoke.
"Truth."
The two exchanged glances for a moment.
Then they went back to their own tasks.
The Dragonkin was trying to prevent them from harming the Salamander and also to prevent them from getting hurt.
It was a task that offered a glimpse into the madness of a Dragonkin.
Even for him, it was a truly difficult task to subdue the Salamander without harming anyone.
Of course, Themares had intended to do so even if it meant burning his own life force, but now there was no need for that.
The Salamander's tongue cut between the two.
Enkrid just moved one step to the right and flicked away the falling rain of fire with Dawnforged.
The Dragonkin walked through the rain of fire and dodged the heat-ray tongue.
'Useless.'
All of the Salamander's attacks were like that.
Also, there was no hesitation in the hands of Enkrid and the Madmen Knight Order.
They dodged and countered whatever the Salamander did.
The rain of fire relentlessly aimed for them, but it wasn't actually a rain-level density.
Knights are those who have surpassed their limits.
They saw and dodged, and those who couldn't, blocked.
For example, Esther cast a protective shield on her body through a spell.
That was enough.
The attacks are blocked, and blocked again.
None of the Salamander's powers reached here.
At the same time, they endure, crushing and breaking everything.
It was not a difficult task to control their breathing.
Ragna and everyone else were experts at controlling their stamina because they had faced Enkrid.
Uske is an undrying well.
If you spar day and night with a man who possesses such a Will, you naturally learn how to conserve stamina and fight.
Enkrid, after swinging Dawnforged a few times, became half a spectator.
Just because he was a spectator didn't mean he was just standing still and watching.
As he repeatedly analyzed the patterns, the true form of the phantom beast, which should not have been visible, became faintly visible.
It was the form of a four-legged beast.
'It looks like it will die if I cut it.'
Enkrid had awakened to his tactical sense after falling into Abnaier's trap in the past.
Even on this battlefield now, he saw a path to victory.
'If Rem knocks it down and Ragna cuts it.'
It wasn't a simple task, but if he joined in, it would work.
In other words, it was possible to put the fire phantom, whether it was a phantom beast or a monster, to sleep.
He trusted Dawnforged.
This was an inscribed weapon.
There was nothing that couldn't be cut with a weapon imbued with Will.
It wasn't a sense of omnipotence, but trust and belief.
And the Dragonkin was watching all of this.
Should one say it was natural for him to be amazed?
Also, the Dragonkin's sensitivity read a part of the will extending from Enkrid.
He couldn't read his mind, but it was a talent for reading his opponent's inner thoughts.
A talent he had recalled once more while fighting.
The Dragonkin was also a master of mind-reading.
The reason was because of his ultra-precise senses that could read his opponent's will, and now those senses had awakened.
"My duty is to protect the phantom beast and to ensure that it does not commit unwanted slaughter."
The Dragonkin said again.
He would keep his word, even with his actions if necessary.
"I know," Enkrid replied.
So what do we do about that?
Enkrid could hold out like this for three days and nights.
Would that be enough?
It was as everyone was doing their part and holding on.
Shinar, aside from dodging the rain of fire, did not step forward.
To be precise, there was no moment for her to step forward.
However, the elf felt her heart pound.
***
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