CHAPTER 272

Encrid moved with a soft murmur.

"Esther."

He pressed down on his left big toe, lowering his waist. In a crouched position, he leaned forward.

With a swift motion, two daggers brushed past him and embedded themselves deeply into the wall of the inn behind him.

Encrid drew his sword.

The inn room wasn't spacious enough to swing a longsword freely.

Especially with a wall blocking the entrance.

They were counting on that.

Even if he drew his sword here, how was he going to cut anyone?

He could almost hear the servant's words.

Encrid used his left hand to press down on the scabbard, creating an angle.

Instead of a horizontal slash, he switched to a vertical one and unsheathed his sword.

With force behind the drawn blade, he slashed upward from below, cutting the servant from the groin to the middle of the chest.

Sssk!

The sound of fabric, the leather armor underneath, muscles, and some bones being sliced through was like a low whisper.

The sword was that fast.

Encrid gauged the distance to his opponent and cut just a finger's width deep.

That was enough to kill a person.

All the preparations—adjusting the position of his sword belt and positioning his feet—had been for this single strike.

He was satisfied.

"Guh, urgh!"

The servant, whose lungs and vocal cords hadn't been damaged, let out a short death throe, spewing blood and entrails as he collapsed.

"You bastard!"

The innkeeper, who was also a bandit, shouted as he drew a shortsword.

But he didn't step inside.

Hadn't he just witnessed the servant being killed in a single strike?

At that moment, a dark shadow swooped down from above, striking the innkeeper on the head.

Crack, thud!

The bandit innkeeper's neck was half-broken, and three claw marks were etched across his face, severing his nose and bursting an eye.

It was the result of a strike from a Lake Panther's front paw.

Usually docile, but terrifying when in battle, the Lake Panther's power was immense.

Esther, who had killed the bandit with a single blow, landed lightly beside Encrid.

Her steps were light as she descended. From her movements, it seemed she was quicker than usual.

Encrid could feel his own condition just from that one sword draw.

'My body feels incredibly light.'

He was in excellent condition. Very good indeed.

"Hmm."

With a soft hum of satisfaction, Encrid looked up to see a pair of wide, glaring eyes under a bushy beard.

The man then spoke.

It was a shout mixed with tension, fear, dread, and excitement.

"Kill him!"

With those words, a cracking sound was heard.

Encrid's keen instincts quickly identified the source. It came from above, at the back.

"Damn it, what's this!"

Another voice cried out.

The sound came from the bed. There were two beds, and the noise came from the one Jaxon had chosen.

Soon, a ripping sound followed as the fabric on the ceiling was torn.

Jaxon had tried to do something, but it seemed he was blocked by the fabric on the ceiling.

As soon as it tore, something fell.

"Ah!"

Esther let out a shout. What fell looked like a leather-made orb, and it quickly exploded with a pop.

It wasn't a loud explosion.

There was no pressure or light—just green smoke spreading out.

Without even smelling it, Encrid started to feel dizzy. It was poison gas.

Adding to that, an arrow whizzed through the window.

Encrid swung his sword quickly, deflecting the incoming arrow.

With a snap, the arrow split in half and bounced off the floor.

A stray arrow is always dangerous, but in a situation where you're dodging daggers flying at your face, this was hardly a threat.

However, the poison gas was another matter.

That's what drew his attention backward.

The bearded man slammed the door shut behind the dead servant and innkeeper.

'Blocking the door and trying to kill us with poison?'

Encrid held his breath and, without hesitation, turned to the side. Arrows were aimed from outside the window, and the bearded man was blocking the door.

Should he break through the door?

No, given how things had gone awry, it seemed likely that they had something prepared on that side as well.

It was both intuition and a sixth sense.

And he was right.

The bearded bandit had released the poison orb the moment he saw Encrid's sword skills.

A few breaths of it, and one's insides would twist, leading to death in a fit of vomiting.

However, the poison had a limited range and was harmless if not inhaled.

If Encrid had forced the door open, the bandit was prepared to release more of the same poison into the hallway.

The bearded man thought to himself. 

'Stupid bastard. Does he even know where he is?'

He didn't know who his opponent was. He simply assumed it was a fool who had wandered in without understanding the situation.

This was a village run by the Black Blade Bandits, one of their key operations. Did this intruder think the guards here were just random thugs?

Even though a senior member had recently left, taking with him a top-tier assassin, there were still some formidable fighters left.

More importantly, this place was one of their strongholds.

Despite his appearance, the bearded man was a strategist who could plan multiple contingencies.

He had anticipated, judged, and believed he had successfully restricted the intruder's actions.

But Encrid didn't concern himself with what the bearded man was doing or what was currently happening.

All of that could be dealt with later.

Just by observing Esther's reaction, he knew the poison smoke was dangerous.

However, it wasn't spreading quickly. It was a heavy smoke.

Though smoke doesn't have weight, it appeared that way.

It spread slowly and densely rather than dispersing widely.

The problem was that the area where Encrid stood was now overlapping with the smoke.

If that's the case, then he just needed to move out of its range.

Encrid turned his body. There was no need to steady his breath.

The inn was a makeshift building, made of wood with thin walls.

He could hear Sinar and Finn's voices clearly through them.

The bandits had deliberately made the walls thin to eavesdrop easily. But again, this wasn't something Encrid needed to know.

He turned towards the wall and swung his sword.

There was no need to use Ragna's Severance.

The blade sliced through the wall cleanly.

After two more swings, he kicked the wall.

Several pillars and the wooden planks making up the wall broke with a crunch, creating enough space for a person to move through.

He broke through the wall and moved into the adjacent room.

It was supposed to be the room where the Fairy Company Commander and Finn were, but instead, there were only three men with gleaming eyes.

"Shit?"

One of them muttered. Their language was foul.

Encrid didn't hesitate. Since the smoke hadn't spread into this room, he could breathe freely as he swung his sword.

Slice, slice, thud!

With two short slashes, he decapitated two men, and then he pierced the heart of the last one.

Frog would be horrified if he saw this.

Putting that brief thought aside, Encrid then struck the wall near the window with his gloved fist.

Bang!

The window frame and part of the wall shattered.

Even though the framework was made of wood, there were bricks here and there, but Encrid shattered everything with sheer force.

Several more arrows were fired at him from outside, but he easily dodged them, breaking through and rushing out.

He rolled sideways onto the roof of the house next to him.

As he rolled, arrows thudded into the spot where Encrid had just been. One of them was aimed at where he would land.

While rolling on the roof, Encrid slammed his palm into it.

With a loud crash, the roof broke open, creating a hole, and the recoil propelled Encrid's body even faster to the side.

The arrows continued to hit only the spots he had just passed.

After that, Encrid smoothly rolled off the roof and landed, leaning his back against a wall.

Almost as if on cue, a hand shot out from the window.

Of course, knowing this would happen, Encrid didn't hesitate and grabbed the emerging wrist, twisting it. There was no need for any special technique to break it—he did it with brute force.

A sharp crack and a scream rang out together.

Snap!

"Aaaah!"

These guys had less endurance than the assassins who came before. To scream from just that.

Encrid pulled the broken wrist forward with all his might.

A loud bang and a groan came from beyond the wall at the same time.

Either knocked out or dead.

Encrid released the broken wrist and shook his hand before stepping into the wide-open area in front of the inn.

Things always have a way of getting complicated.

Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

That was to be expected.

So what next? You just deal with things as they come.

The Black Blade Bandits guarding the village didn't realize it, but with Encrid's abilities, stamina, and skill, the unit prepared by the Fairy Company Commander wasn't even necessary.

The bandits didn't know that.

"Who the hell is that guy? Kill him!"

Someone shouted.

Encrid couldn't help but think that these guys were quite something.

It wasn't just one or two that showed up.

There were at least twenty. And their numbers were growing.

From somewhere, men with gleaming eyes and weapons in hand began to appear one by one.

"Man, you're too good at fighting..."

One of them, standing at the front, spoke, trailing off. He was one of the guards.

He was the person who had caught Encrid's attention the most when he first entered the village.

In his judgment, this guard, who was now trailing off, was the most skilled in weaponry among the ones present.

Sigh. 

"You should've just died quietly..."

His tone didn't seem like an act.

Kaaargh!

Esther, who had suddenly burst out of the inn, landed beside Encrid.

"The rest of your group is probably already dead..."

Encrid didn't laugh or react to his opponent's words.

He simply glanced around.

Then he asked,

"Was that the entire village?"

"Quick-witted, aren't you?"

The response came from behind, accompanied by the sound of metal clinking. A person with claws attached to both hands appeared. To be precise, it was a young woman. The claws, each with three pointed blades, gleamed.

Encrid looked at her face and thought, 

'So that's what she had hidden on her thigh back then?'

The claws were long enough to pierce through a person's torso.

She was a woman whose movements had stood out as she moved about.

So she was the second person Encrid had noted.

The third person he had noticed was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you from? Judging by your appearance, you look like a soldier. You don't seem like a mercenary. Who sent you? Which fool gave the order?"

The woman asked again.

Encrid spoke up.

"Every single one of them? Do you have a honey pot hidden here or something?"

The woman's brow furrowed at his answer. They were both responding to questions with more questions.

"Do you not understand the situation you're in?"

"If not a honey pot, then maybe a stash of medicine hidden away somewhere."

Encrid said, looking around. He hadn't answered her questions, but he had roughly assessed the situation.

The number of people surrounding them had grown to over thirty, maybe fifty. All of them moved with agility.

They were all competent with their blades.

Yet...

'They all seem to be at a lower level than the ones who came to play with the Border Guard.' 

He thought.

There were a few who looked unskilled, as if they had just picked up a weapon for the first time.

Some of their movements were familiar.

They had a similar vibe to the assassins who had come before.

It was only natural. Where else would the Black Blade bandits get top-tier assassins from?

They all came from strongholds created by the Black Blade Bandits.

These places were also known as 'dens'.

Of course, a few exceptional individuals had been left behind to guard the village.

Two of them had now surrounded Encrid, one in front and one behind.

"From your awkward acting to your unnatural demeanor. What are you really?"

The woman didn't lose her temper. She had tried to provoke him, but it hadn't worked. His mental resilience was quite strong.

"We could just kill you or capture you and make you talk..." 

The man who had been a guard said this.

Encrid still found them impressive.

The growing number of enemies, their current behavior, the unfolding situation.

What was the conclusion?

This village was entirely a bandit stronghold.

'They turned an entire village into a bandit camp.'

It was proof of the immense power of the Black Blade Bandits.

But where did all these bandits keep coming from?

Should he be frightened?

No.

Encrid couldn't help but chuckle.

Esther glanced at him from the side.

'Why is he laughing?'

Encrid was secretly pleased. It seemed the power of the Black Blade Bandits was exceptional.

Obstacles, difficulties, hardships, crises, barriers, death, the ferryman, even the daunting unknown.

Encrid knew how to enjoy 'difficulties'.

It was challenging, and because of that, it was enjoyable. Because it was enjoyable, it made him want to move even more.

So if you asked whether those who had surrounded him were threatening...

'Not at all.'

That was Encrid's judgment.

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