Chapter 336 - The Land of Gray Ghouls

Rem threw the axe in his left hand.

As his left arm formed a circle, the axe in his hand sped toward him faster than an arrow.

In Enkrid's eyes, it appeared as a streak of light, elongated vertically.

His sense of evasion reacted, and his body moved instinctively.

He raised his sword, creating a shield with the blade, blocking the trajectory of the spinning axe.

From the side, it was as if Rem's arm moved simultaneously with the action.

Clang!

With a cheerful sound, the axe was deflected to the side.

The grip felt heavy.

The force carried by the incoming axe was not insignificant.

It was like blocking a thrown axe.

Rem's left hand brushed his waist, and a stone rose into the air.

It seemed like a pointless action.

Wasn't he just throwing a stone upward?

However, the act of tossing the stone created a gap, and Enkrid didn't miss it.

He closed the distance and activated "Momentary Will," launching his "Sparking Stab."

It was a sword technique he had named "Sparking Stab."

Using the muscles in his thighs and his entire body's elasticity, he leaped like a lightning strike.

He had practiced this since the days when he roamed the battlefield, refining it further after observing knights' swords and undergoing extensive training, now performing it with unparalleled precision.

The light-like thrust was something even Rem couldn't ignore.

Clang!

Instead of throwing another axe, Rem twisted the remaining one in his hand.

He blocked the Sparking Stab with the axe's face, causing the blade to gouge in, with the sparking blade piercing halfway through the axe.

At the same moment, the tip of the blade began to twist as it continued through.

As the sparking blade pierced the axe's edge, Rem twisted his wrist, releasing the pressure.

If he hadn't done that, a mark would have been left on the side of Rem's head.

Rem was also skilled with a sword.

He was particularly proficient with handling weapons, making him the best among his comrades in that regard.

Enkrid could admit that.

Enkrid pulled the sparking blade toward him.

Thrust!

The blade, having pierced the metal, was pulled free.

With the sudden acceleration, the power of the longsword was naturally applied.

Enkrid was about to strike again, but in the meantime, Rem pulled out a sling from his side, spun it over his head, and in one smooth motion, the stone he had thrown earlier was caught by the leather sling pouch.

A high-pitched whistle pierced the air.

It was as if Rem was performing a preordained act, each motion flowing seamlessly.

Rem had predicted this and moved accordingly.

It was a battle of anticipation, prediction, calculation, and quick thinking, an application of swordsmanship.

'I've been hit.'

Enkrid, having also trained in basic sword techniques, realized that his calculations were slightly off.

Thwack!

The noise echoed as the stone flew through the air.

It was faster than the daggers thrown by Jaxen.

It was many times faster than the axe that had come at him.

The feeling of evasion rang in Enkrid's senses.

He felt a burning heat in his eyes and head.

His focus surged like never before.

With full force, he activated his sense of evasion, relying on his instincts to dodge the stone.

He pivoted his body on his left foot and launched himself sideways.

The stone brushed against his hair and flew off behind him.

Behind him, a loud pop echoed.

It sounded like a rock falling from the sky.

Enkrid didn't have a chance to catch his breath.

He had avoided the stone, but now he had to deal with the gap left by his posture being disrupted by the incoming axe.

"Ha."

Enkrid quickly inhaled, swallowing hard, and swung his silver longsword vertically from below to above.

He used the reverse vertical cut of the longsword technique.

In response, Rem's axe was thrown off course mid-flight.

'Madman.'

It was a trick.

A feint that even his sense of evasion couldn't fully decipher, meaning Rem had been sincere until the moment of attack.

Then the second stone came flying, and Enkrid dodged it once more, only narrowly avoiding the axe blade that nearly slashed his neck.

If it had connected, his neck would have been severed, and he would have died.

Why did he survive?

By instinct, he had jerked his head back, and at the last moment, Rem had pulled back his strength.

"You could've died there."

Rem took a few breaths before speaking.

"Then I'd enjoy it properly."

Enkrid, who had fallen to the ground and then gotten up, replied.

"Dying in a duel?"

Was that what he considered enjoyment?

Rem asked, looking at Enkrid with astonishment in his eyes.

Without changing his expression, Enkrid answered.

"Yeah.

It's fun."

"Crazy bastard."

Rem couldn't help but reveal his inner thoughts, but the duel continued.

Especially for Enkrid, he was learning new things.

Above all, he had learned a lot from Rem in how to handle various weapons.

"What's the best training method for dealing with axes, spears, maces, and flails?"

"I don't know."

Enkrid didn't answer.

Rem didn't expect him to, either.

These were words that came after a grueling duel that felt like dipping halfway into the river of death over the course of the past two weeks.

"Try using it yourself."

And that's exactly what Enkrid did.

For the rest of the fortnight, he had practiced with various weapons—maces, axes, spears, and tridents.

Rem was just as skilled with all those weapons as he was with the axe.

Enkrid's experience level quickly surpassed what one might call an ordinary level.

Soon enough, he realized a few tricks and started executing them.

As long as there were tricks to follow, mastering the basics wasn't too difficult.

"Is this really how slow you are?"

Rem expressed his dissatisfaction loudly.

From then on, it was nothing but a continuous cycle of sparring, training, and refining.

Enkrid had to admit, this time was truly valuable.

He felt that it was worth it.

And soon enough, the moment to put that valuable time to use arrived.

The discussions had already been concluded.

"Alright, we're dealing with a Gray Ghoul.

It's dangerous."

Krais, who had been busy running around, came up with a question.

To be precise, it was about linking up with the central command to get credit for a task, but Enkrid wasn't concerned with such procedural matters.

What mattered more was that, while the training could never simulate it, a real combat situation had finally come.

But that didn't mean they would leave immediately. The current task had to be finished first.

The sparring wasn't over yet, so today was the day Enkrid would spar with Audin.

"Wait.

I'll finish up."

It was a day in early spring, just after winter had ended.

Krais couldn't stop his superior.

And, truth be told, there was no need for him to.

Dealing with the ghouls wasn't an urgent matter.

He settled near a brazier, waiting for Enkrid and his party.

Though it was spring, the wind was still chilly.

The warmth from the brazier heated his body.

He felt drowsy.

Krais thought to himself that this task would be the first step toward the further development of the Border Guard.

There were plenty of reasons for that.

Gradually, his eyes began to close.

Though he was drowsy, his thoughts were still crisp, and the words in his head formed clearly.

***

The ferryman gazed out into the distance, watching the man connected to him.

He could see death.

He had seen it many times.

Though not a wall, it was a desperate struggle, a resolve to die alone.

He knew that it was merely someone who had become obsessed with training, no longer caring about their own life.

Was he blindly trusting the repetition of today's events?

No, that wasn't it.

It was obvious just by looking.

The person was simply crazy.

But had he died?

No, he had survived, even at the moments when he should've died.

Was it skill, or was it luck?

The ferryman judged it to be skill.

The combination of the opponent's skill and his own had twisted what should've been a certain death.

'What kind of idiot is this?'

Today, the ferryman's tone was light.

He observed his opponent.

He wouldn't offer any praise anymore.

After all, those who heard compliments only used them as fuel to push themselves further.

So now, he would just watch…

"Crazy bastard."

He muttered again, and his personality seemed to flit about.

He couldn't help but leave his words in Enkrid's unconscious mind.

It was a compliment.

As Enkrid briefly entered the dreamlike world, he blinked and tilted his head.

The ferryman had lived a long life, and most who had done so gained an intuitive sense from their experiences.

He could read what was being communicated just through a look.

He received the message.

Enkrid's eyes seemed to ask if he wasn't busy.

"I'm busy!"

The ferryman shouted.

The dreamlike world faded away.

In truth, there was nothing to be busy with.

Watching was his life and purpose.

Enkrid awoke, recalling the last moments.

Audin's fist had bent in the air, striking his head.

The flow, the process, the trajectory—he could recall every detail sharply.

'I stepped.'

He had tried to dodge, but Audin moved his feet with him.

Despite his large frame, his feet were unnaturally quick.

Normally, a blow of that force would wipe away any memory of the moment, but perhaps due to his beast-like heart, or his effort to absorb the opponent's afterimage, technique, and momentum, Enkrid's memories remained intact.

'I twisted just before impact.'

He had absorbed the shock with his body.

He had learned that technique from Audin, and now it was second nature to him.

"I got the idea from the Commander's Snake Sword."

Audin had countered with a new technique of his own.

Enkrid couldn't help but think—Audin was a genius.

To make something new from watching his own sword.

Rem, Jaxen, and Ragna all did something similar.

They were all geniuses.

But that didn't mean Enkrid felt inferior.

When he finished his sparring and entered the barracks, he saw Krais by the brazier, waiting with the table set.

He was sitting in a chair, nodding off intermittently.

He seemed to be lacking sleep.

Esther was also sitting in a corner. She gazed at Enkrid indifferently.

"Did you come?"

That was her way of greeting.

"Yeah."

She switched between the forms of a leopard and a human, and today she was in human form. She wore a black robe, and underneath it, a soft reddish shirt that was a change from the usual. When asked to cover more of her body, she complied.

The outfit suited her quite well.

"Oh, you're here?"

Krais, who had been dozing off, opened his eyes at the sound of her voice. He had taken an unexpected nap because he had rushed out to deal with the gray ghoul but was now awake.

He had only slept for a short while, but it felt refreshing.

"Ugh, I've been overworking lately. If only there were some good drugs around... Is Jaxen not coming back?"

Jaxen was the one who supplied Krais with various medicines. Some of the herbs and restorative remedies were things Krais had procured himself, but Jaxen was more knowledgeable about medicinal herbs and tonics.

"He'll come when it's time."

Enkrid honestly believed that.

Krais, however, didn't actively seek him out.

"Shall we begin the briefing?"

Krais asked, wiping his eyes.

Every task had its proper order, and cause and effect were important. There was a difference between knowing what you were doing and not knowing.

Krais thought like this.

However, Rem and his subordinates didn't share the same view.

Ragna had been sleeping more and more lately.

As for Rem, he didn't seem to care about the briefing. He was off to make a sling or sharpen the weapons that Enkrid had brought.

Maintaining the weapon that one wielded was a fundamental discipline for any warrior.

Rem had once been careless about such things, but that was in the past.

Now, things were different.

A knight had appeared, and Rem couldn't just stand by and watch.

His upbringing hadn't included knights, but instead, the term "hero" was used for those who were brave.

There was a reason for calling someone that.

Did beasts also have their own heroes, the best among them?

Rem didn't particularly care about that.

But when a knight appeared, what should be done?

If one didn't want to be caught off guard, what was needed?

Enkrid's actions were the answer.

Training and practice.

That's what Rem did as well.

He worked harder in unseen places.

And so, fatigue had built up.

The past few months had been a relentless push, with no time to catch his breath.

'This is the first time I've worked this hard in my life.'

Excluding the time he first picked up a weapon, it felt like he was working harder than ever.

Enkrid's skill had grown, and now it was no easy task to face him.

Every moment felt like walking on thin ice.

One mistake, and he would lose—or worse, die.

At least, the danger had diminished by teaching Enkrid how to use unfamiliar weapons, but if he was satisfied with that, he would truly be a fool.

'That crazy man.'

Rem concluded as usual and lay down.

It was after everything had ended, and he had even visited the bath.

The warm water had lulled him into sleep.

Audin had left, saying it was time for prayer, and neither Dunbakel nor Teresa showed much interest.

As for Esther, she was never interested in such things.

Only Enkrid remained, but Krais had already expected that.

The humans who had been listening attentively for some time, Krais thought.

Enkrid, being the captain, was at least a listener, which was a relief.

If he hadn't been listening, that would've been a problem.

"Do you know about the dangers surrounding Border Guard?"

Krais began the briefing, his words lengthy, but Enkrid was a good listener.

Krais knew how to summarize and get to the point.

The key was this:

There were three dangerous places in the area surrounding Border Guard, areas that could pose a threat like a cursed land.

One of these places, the Gray Ghoul's territory, was situated southwest of Border Guard, and it posed a risk by making trade routes with the western territories detour.

"Yes, that's it."

Krais also knew the political reasons behind the delay in dealing with the issue but didn't bother to explain them, thinking it wouldn't be heard anyway.

"Gray ghouls?"

Enkrid only seemed interested in the monsters he would be facing.

Krais had repeated the same message to everyone who had come seeking him out.

"We're preparing for a major battle in the spring of next year. There will be significant changes in the area, so it's best to prepare."

"What kind of changes?"

It was one of Molsan's nobles who had come, not the Baron Bentra, who they had clashed with in the last battle.

Perhaps the conflict from that battle had soured their relationship, as the Baron didn't extend any offers to Enkrid.

That made Krais once again admire Molsan's capacity.

"How can he make someone like that come under his command after everything he's done?"

There were several problems that arose because Molsan had turned a blind eye to them, and there were even rumors of underhanded tactics, like sending people to threaten Border Guard.

Though there was no concrete evidence, Krais was sure of it.

If they looked hard enough, they could probably find proof, but even if they did, it wouldn't matter if it was denied.

"Border Guard will grow in scale," Krais continued.

They would expand beyond the fortress, into the territory itself.

That was the preparation, though he didn't explicitly say it.

Enkrid was the one meant for that purpose.

Did Border Guard have the freedom to do as it pleased?

They had even discussed rebellion when calling for the former Lord, Marcus.

To expand, they would need the kingdom's permission.

That meant direct involvement from the royal palace.

"Ha."

If the surrounding nobles took Enkrid, it would be a disgrace to the royal family.

Krais knew that with the things he had already said, he would have to prove his words through action.

The first step was to deal with the Gray Ghouls.

Krais mixed in subtle political calculations but knew Enkrid didn't care for any of it.

He had already made up his mind to fight, not to be concerned with politics.

The Lord was the type to handle such matters on his own.

"Let the lord handle his work," Krais thought as he resumed his duties.

He was already doing what needed to be done.

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