Chapter 451 - The Thief of Smiles
Chapter 451 - The Thief of Smiles
Enkrid responded as Dunbakel and Rem moved.
Arrows sliced through the dark night sky in quick succession.
A few scaffolds collapsed to the ground.
In Enkrid's mind, the whole situation unfolded like a picture.
In such a dire situation, Enkrid's instincts shone coldly. The blade of intuition cut through the darkness.
'Save half.'
Some of the hostages tied to the scaffolds were on the verge of death.
The giant spider showed no intention of saving the hostages it had tied to the poles.
Its sole intent was to break the morale of the enemy.
For a monster to think like this? It was surprising, but not the time to dwell on it.
The key now was how many could be saved.
Not all could be saved. The giant spider, shining in bluish-white light under a stone, extended one of its sharp legs.
That leg was as long and pointed as a spear.
'Exactly half.'
It might be possible to kill by throwing something, but that wouldn't save anyone.
The Will was activated. The vision provided by the instinctual eye expanded, showing glimpses of the future. This was the future seen through intuition.
Even so, nothing could be changed.
In the meantime, Rem and Dunbakel killed two of the spiders.
Axes and sickles split the monsters' heads.
Enkrid reached one of them, thrusting his spear with sparks flying.
He kicked the ground and swiftly thrust again, piercing the spider's head. He pulled it out and immediately put power into his leg. Should he give up just because he saw an unchangeable future?
Enkrid didn't do that.
Whether it worked or not, he was going to take the next step.
There were nine scaffolds.
Even if he ran, he would die. This was what the canvas of the future Enkrid saw depicted.
Even so, he wouldn't stop.
And silver light tore through the canvas.
Whoooosh.
It cut through and severed the spider's leg, which was aiming for the hostage.
Enkrid halted his steps as he had intended to charge. He forgot to breathe.
Had he seen the knight's sword?
It was a misunderstanding.
What did it mean to split the fabric alone?
Why was it called a disaster?
The mercenary king thrust his spear from an angle that was incomprehensible.
Ragna's lightning, descending with incomprehensible strength.
Shinar's sword, manifested in an unimaginable form.
And now.
Oara moved at an incomprehensible speed, her sword changing the picture drawn on the canvas.
Her position was farther than Enkrid's, but now Oara was everywhere.
Six scaffolds held the hostages; six that Enkrid had missed, and six that Oara also took care of.
The divine speed she had created unfolded before their eyes.
A single sword strike sent chills down their spines, but now, ecstasy filled their bodies.
This was what he wanted.
This was what he wanted to see.
This was what it meant to be a knight.
Oara of the Red Cloak Order wielded her sword and began to dance among the monsters.
Her sword became a rain of disaster, pouring down on the spider monsters.
"Impressive."
Rem's admiration was heard.
"Ah."
Dunbakel's exclamation followed.
Enkrid's gaze was fixed on Oara's sword.
"Hahaha!"
Oara laughed loudly.
With a simple longsword, she killed giant spiders the size of human heads, one after another.
It was a series of simple actions.
Just as she had been taught.
"Fancy swordwork is unnecessary."
Her words seemed to echo in his ears.
She thrust, slashed, sliced, and struck.
That was enough. With each laugh, Oara's sword grew fiercer, and her kicks became like a war hammer, speeding up even further.
One spider monster opened its mouth and spat out a mass of webbing. The mass of web was bigger than its head.
Oara's sword cut through it too.
Plick, from the torn webbing, a small baby spider exploded outward.
It was a little spider no bigger than a fingertip.
That wasn't even a problem.
Though it couldn't be seen, Enkrid guessed that Oara had sneered.
In that moment, her sword created flowers.
A flower made from dozens of stabs.
Sssshhhh!
A dozen baby spiders died at once, all due to the swordwork.
Enkrid had watched, but it wasn't a long time. Therefore, it was fair to say the change on the battlefield came in just a few breaths.
The hostages appeared, and Oara showed the strength of a knight—all of it happened within the span of only a few breaths.
Oara then lowered her sword, puffed her chest, and shouted.
"All units—! Take your positions!"
Enkrid heard those words and began throwing hostages back one by one.
Rem caught them and sent them further back.
"Shit, Oara!"
The man shouted, lifting a hostage. It was Rowena.
Another soldier also began running, carrying a hostage.
"Close the gate!"
Enkrid's gaze shifted back. The dead Milio and some of the soldiers were visible.
Had Milio reacted to the earlier shout, he might have lived, but he threw himself in front of his subordinates to protect them.
He probably hadn't planned it.
It was just instinct, and his body moved on its own.
It was just a shame.
He would never dream again.
The dream of welcoming Oara as his bride was over.
The dead could not be with the living.
Instead, Rowena had survived.
"Don't die, I'm here."
The soldier carrying Rowena kept shouting as he ran.
Is there a flower blooming even in a cursed land?
Such a phrase existed in the city.
Here, people lived, and there were those who loved.
These were the things Oara wanted to protect.
"Commander, are you just going to watch?"
Rem asked. This was different from before. More monsters, far more than before, squirmed out from the darkness.
There were terrifyingly many of them.
And that wasn't the end.
In front of Oara, a dark figure jumped out and slashed with its sword.
Enkrid's eyes caught it.
It wasn't just one sword, but many.
The sword strikes were so fast that they appeared as dozens of afterimages.
Tch-tch-tch-tch-thang!
Oara's sword moved, deflecting them all. Each strike was followed by a counterattack, and thrusts were added.
But the one who swung the sword retreated and avoided the blows.
Enkrid's eyes saw the opponent.
It was an unusual form. A spider monster with eight legs, standing on two, and the others hanging like arms, had an appearance resembling a human face.
"Special species."
Luagarne spoke, drawing out a whip.
The spider monster wielded eight blades, its face resembling a human's with pale skin. Its eyes were divided into dozens of insect-like lenses.
Its nose had a single round hole, and there was no snout.
On each of its eight legs, white blades were attached.
No, it was all tangled up. The legs were like blades.
"Let's see it you bastard"
Oara laughed as she spoke. Even if everything wasn't to her liking, she still smiled. That was Oara, the laughing knight.
"Master!"
It was the shout of Roman as he appeared behind Oana.
"Those damn monster bastards."
On the opposite side, a short blonde emerged, and the four squires stepped back.
At that moment, arrows began to fly from deeper inside the gray forest.
They hadn't even collected the body of the dead Melio yet.
Enkrid raised his shield to block the arrows, while others quickly struck and deflected them.
No arrows flew near Oara or the junior knights.
It was just a standoff between Oara and the spider, which had eight legs and walked on two limbs.
'Knight-class monster.'
A world without monsters to challenge knights was an impossible dream.
Naturally, there were monsters that could face knights.
It was one of them.
The spider, with its eight legs, split into dozens of segments, and its red eyes glowed menacingly.
"Ugh."
To Enkrid's ears, it almost sounded like the creature was laughing.
"Is it fun playing with another woman?!"
Oara jested, showing her sharp wit.
The spider, with its eight blade-like arms, gave off an intense pressure that could make anyone tremble, but Oara paid it no mind.
She held her sword, and the spider stepped aside.
From behind, an Owlbear appeared.
With the head of an owl and the body of a bear, two abnormally large hands were visible.
When it clenched its fists, rocks seemed to hang from its fists.
Its inflated feathers made its body and fists appear even larger.
"Well, this one's not so easy either."
Rem commented.
Enkrid felt the same. It was staggering to look at.
His heart raced as well.
It was clearly a strong monster, not some trivial one.
"Did you plan this, you guys?"
Oara's mouth opened.
Two monsters charged. The knight's sword and the monsters' weapons clashed.
The speed exceeded limits, creating long streaks in the air like sparks.
As their trajectories overlapped, the light scattered in a dazzling display.
Boom! Crash! Clash!
Loud explosions rang out with each moment.
The junior knights only looked for an opening to intervene.
But it was hard to just jump in.
It was a two-on-one fight, but it was hard to say Oara had the upper hand.
And this wasn't the end.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Another monster began shooting arrows.
Beyond the magic boundary, more monsters began crawling out.
It was a wave.
The wave Oara had been holding back was crashing down on Thousand Stone.
Oara swung her sword horizontally with great force, slightly injuring two of the monsters, then shouted.
"Enki, Aishia, protect the city!"
She would handle the rest of the fight.
The two junior knights followed closely behind her.
Asia wasn't visible, but she had already gone to deal with the monsters shooting arrows.
"This is troublesome."
Rem spoke, pulling out his axe. The number of monsters was too much for stones to solve.
Enkrid also drew his sword, Aker in his right hand, and the fairy blade in his left.
Would Oara be pushed back? It didn't seem likely.
She skillfully parried the spider's eight bladed arms and the Owlbear's fists.
'What about me?'
There was no way he could handle it that easily.
The two monsters worked together skillfully, covering each other's weaknesses.
How could he break them apart?
'Ragna's sword of lightning.'
That might work. Could he mimic that with his own white lightning?
It was impossible. He knew it the moment he saw it.
Enkrid shifted his focus away from Oara's fight. While she fought, he too had his own duties to attend to.
Kii-riik.
Strange cries and the sounds of creatures scuttling along the ground followed one after another.
The spider horde emerging from the darkness was a horrifying sight to behold.
Enkrid decided to meet that horror with his sword.
Thwack, thud.
Aker sliced through the head of a spider at neck height.
Rem helped from the side, his axe doing similarly gruesome work.
Luagarne, observing the situation, spoke.
"Just hold out."
At those words, Dunbakel seemed visibly relieved.
Even though there had been casualties from the flying arrows, the soldiers took it in stride, shouting their war cries.
"Oara!"
The shout echoed from Roman the previous night.
That shout was for Oara.
These were the people Oara had sworn to protect.
The owner of the city she had devoted her beliefs to.
If Oara fought for them,
They too would fight for her.
And fight for the city.
After killing four monsters with his sword, Enkrid briefly looked forward.
He was following his instincts. His intuition told him someone needed to look ahead.
It was deep in the forest. There, a spider and another strange monster emerged.
Between the gray trees of the magic boundary, the creature walked, stepping on the black soil.
"Jericks, you really prepared well."
[In case of any missunderstandings she refers to Jericks(her ex husband) as the monster who sends monsters from the demonic domain and keeps the demonic domain afloat]
Oara said, as she blocked and parried the attacks from the Arachne and Owlbear with her sword, creating a brief opening.
The two peculiar monsters stepped back for a moment, stopping.
"Are you aiming for me?"
Oara asked.
The ghoul didn't respond.
And Oara smiled.
Enkrid couldn't grasp the full situation, but one thing was clear.
They were outnumbered.
Jericks, her ex-husband, the monster maintaining this magic boundary.
The monster Oara most wanted to kill.
If she killed him, the magic boundary would lose its power. The magic boundary was essentially a massive colony, they said.
And yet, it had emerged.
This was a fight for survival.
When coincidences pile up, they become inevitable.
Oara had torn through the magic boundary countless times.
A monster capable of thinking.
Double Crescent Moon.
The number of monsters gathered.
From the monster's perspective, there was only one way to end this threat.
Kill Oara.
All these coincidences had led to this moment.
Finally, Enkrid's gaze fell on the ghoul.
Blue skin, torn lips, a nose-less face with holes, black eyes with no pupils.
Its arms hung limply, with claws growing about half an inch at the tips, and its skin looked unusually hard.
It almost seemed like it was holding a sword.
The ghoul's posture caught Enkrid's attention.
Its gait was different, and its arms looked as if they could be used like blades.
Even its claws seemed to be coated with poison, enough to contaminate a knight with just a touch.
The claws were a dark color, unlike its skin, like soot stained on them.
It absorbed the light of the Double Crescent Moon, dark as night.
In the end, the ghoul's posture looked like that of a swordsman.
"The magic boundary makes monsters evolve."
Luagarne spoke.
Enkrid didn't fully understand why, but after witnessing what happened right in front of him, he could guess what had occurred.
A single ghoul who had been born from the magic boundary.
It had observed humans, fought them, and barely survived.
Oara had said she failed to kill Jericks three times.
Each time, the creature had become stronger. Each time, it had become more cunning.
And now, they had reached this point.
'Evolving monsters.'
Monsters that trained and hardened.
The ghoul's lips twisted upwards.
It had even stolen Oara's smile.
Guuuuhhh!
It burst into laughter. At least, that's how it sounded to Enkrid.
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