CHAPTER 168

"Esther, let's go together. Krais, go find the village chief immediately."

"What?"

Krais questioned, looking bewildered. The awkward act was over. There was no need or meaning in it.

"Tell him that from now on, I will command all the city's forces."

"Suddenly?"

"Yes, suddenly. If they don't comply, show them this. Tell them disobeying orders will result in immediate execution."

Encrid handed over a written order and then turned around.

"Where is the leader going?"

Krais was perceptive. He sensed something in Encrid's demeanor.

"To the gate. If the village chief resists, take him hostage or something."

"Uh?"

The last comment was half-joking.

Encrid ran on. The clinking sound of the armor he wore echoed with each step.

Running in this armor is quite uncomfortable.

But it's not like he could take it off.

Esther, running beside him with much lighter steps, glanced at Encrid.

"Just follow me without asking questions. We don't have time."

He said to Esther, who nodded in response. She looked almost like a real person.

They arrived at the main gate. The dawn hadn't broken yet, so they weren't late.

'We're not late.'

They made it in time.

Usually, five members of the vigilante squad guarded the gate.

Two in the watchtower, two below, and one Squad leader.

The Squad leader was likely in the outpost beside the gate.

Excluding the Squad leader, there were four of them, and they tended to hold their position in the tower during fights. They were the kind who would shoot arrows at the faces of allies trying to climb the tower, siding with monsters.

Encrid was all too familiar with their faces.

"Huh? What's this?"

One of them, a man with a friendly face, asked.

Encrid addressed the two blocking the gate.

"From now on, command here has been transferred to this Platoon leader."

"...What?"

The man looked puzzled, and Encrid continued.

"I'm now responsible for the village's security."

Wasn't Deutsche Pullman wary of something like this?

That caution had become a reality.

The man, pretending to be one of Deutsche Pullman's subordinates, had a hardened expression.

"Did you get our leader's permission?"

At that, a mercenary with a spear, one of Deutsche Pullman's men and the Squad leader, emerged from the outpost.

Of course, that wasn't the important part.

"Do you have a problem? Once the order arrives, it's natural for me to take charge."

"Since when? And for how long will you be playing the leader?"

"I'll start now and continue until the colony issue is resolved."

Encrid's calm answer made the man's expression darken. His face looked quite menacing when frowning.

"Damn it, are you messing with me? Hey, do you think I'm a pushover?"

Well, it was the reaction Encrid expected, so he responded with the prepared words.

"If you have a problem, you don't have to use your tongue instead of your fists."

"Is this guy out of his mind?"

The man approached, clearly intending to strike, though he hadn't drawn his weapon yet.

He swung his fist directly at Encrid.

As the punch flew towards him, Encrid seemed motionless.

At the last moment, he tilted his head to dodge, then kicked the man's ankle with his left foot.

It was a fluid movement, seamlessly dodging and striking in one motion.

Caught off guard, the man stumbled forward, losing his balance.

Encrid pushed him lightly with his left hand as he stumbled.

"Ugh, ugh."

Thud.

The man fell to the side.

As he tried to use his spear to stand, his face flushed with anger.

Shing.

The sound of a sword being drawn.

At the same time, a blade pressed against his neck.

"Don't get up. Don't resist. Disobedience will result in immediate execution."

With the blade at his throat, especially seeing the blue hue of the sharp edge, speaking out of turn was difficult.

The man swallowed hard and finally spoke.

"Do you know how many members of the vigilante squad there are? You can't handle it."

It was meant as a threat, but it didn't sound threatening.

Anyone could hear the fear in his voice.

Encrid didn't intend to kill him.

He just expected this reaction.

It was a simple principle.

'How did the knolls and hyenas get inside?'

How did a thick log wall become human bars?

Why did this place become their feast?

Because they got in. Did they climb over the wall? That couldn't be it. knolls are creatures with underdeveloped lower bodies.

The same goes for hyenas.

The wall is something monsters can't climb over.

So did they break in? No, that's not possible.

There's only one answer. The gate was opened.

Then why was there no reaction until such a large number of monsters arrived?

At first, Encrid hypothesized, and today he confirmed it.

The one who opened the gate is guilty.

The ones in the watchtower who saw but didn't report are guilty.

With his sword still drawn, Encrid looked for the emergency bell.

It was next to the gate.

Since that bell wasn't rung, only one person here is innocent.

And that was the man now on the ground.

So, what reaction should he expect?

It was what he had been waiting for.

From the watchtower, a female soldier took aim with her bow. As she silently aimed and fired, Encrid lightly jumped to the side.

Thump!

At the sound of the bowstring releasing, an arrow thudded into the spot where Encrid had stood.

"Crazy! Don't shoot!"

The Squad leader, who had been defeated by Encrid, shouted in shock, but it was futile.

"Kill him."

One of the men who had been standing by the gate, smiling warmly, gave the order.

Upon hearing it, the two soldiers in the watchtower nocked arrows to their bows again.

Of the two, one was a female archer and the other a male. Encrid knew from experience that the woman was the more skilled archer.

There was no time for hesitation or mercy.

A sharp whistle split the air.

Two throwing knives sliced through the sky.

Both soldiers in the watchtower groaned in pain.

"Ugh."

"Ah."

These were their death throes.

A hole in the neck meant certain death.

The male archer fell forward with a thud, hitting the ground, while the woman clutched her throat and collapsed.

Encrid saw the male archer's neck bent at an unnatural angle as his body hit the ground.

Blood dripped down from the watchtower where the female soldier had been.

It all happened in an instant.

"You're insane!"

The Squad leader shouted in shock.

Encrid ignored him, pointed his drawn sword forward, and spoke.

"Both of you are subject to immediate execution for insubordination and attempted murder of a superior. However, if you drop your weapons and surrender, I will spare your lives."

It was a futile statement.

"Damn it."

The two cultists disguised as vigilante members at the gate glared with strange, intense eyes.

They were exceptionally skilled.

They moved quickly and with great coordination.

Clang.

Both drew short swords, splitting up and charging at Encrid simultaneously.

The two of them cut through the dawn's chilly air as they flew at him.

Before standing here, Encrid had endured countless days.

Continuous training, repeated honing.

The development of evasion sense, coordinated movement.

Keen reflexes and sharpened senses.

It all led to a change in reaction speed.

When your reaction speed changes, what do you see? What becomes different?

It's like discovering a new world.

A feeling of moving faster than others, twice as fast.

Rem, Ragna, Jaxon, Audin.

The feats they could perform, Encrid could now match.

So.

Clang!

The outcome was not surprising.

Deflecting the incoming swords from both sides with a single sweep of his blade was easy.

He swung to the right first, then quickly to the left, effortlessly parrying both attacks.

To his attackers, it must have been bewildering.

The two with the short swords stared in shock.

What was that? How did he block that?

It seemed as if the blade had vanished!

Encrid didn't stop.

As if to celebrate entering a new world, Encrid swung his sword with all his might.

What he had gained from those countless days wasn't just a sense of evasion and coordination.

With a single breath, he awakened the Heart of Great Strength, doubling his speed.

The moment he saw and felt something, his body moved reflexively.

Whoosh. Slice! Slice!

Encrid swung his sword twice more.

To the right, he swung from bottom to top, and to the left, from top to bottom.

Both strikes aimed at the wrists.

And the result was as expected.

"Aargh!"

"Argh!"

The hands holding the short swords fell to the ground as the wrists were severed.

Standing calmly between the two bleeding men, Encrid held his sword steady.

"...What is this? Why are you suddenly slashing like a madman?"

The Squad leader, who was sitting alone, spoke with utter bewilderment.

Encrid looked at him and spoke.

"It seems like there's a stench. Is that gate really closed?"

He had seen the gate open with a pulley system when he first arrived. That must be the locking mechanism.

"What?"

"Check it. If you don't get up right now, I'll consider you an accomplice and cut you down."

It was a light threat, but coming from someone with exceptional resolve.

The Squad leader quickly stood up. At a time like this, collapsing with shaky legs would be problematic.

He moved to check the pulley.

"Why is this unfastened?"

He exclaimed in surprise and quickly secured the pulley.

If the locking mechanism was unfastened, the gate wouldn't serve as a barricade. It would just be a gate that could be pushed open.

The man strained his arm muscles as he locked the pulley, panting heavily.

"Huff, huff, but what stench?"

Just as he mentioned the stench he had heard earlier, there was a loud thud!

Something hit the wall from outside, making the ground tremble.

The stench, now familiar and nauseating to Encrid, seeped through the thick gate.

"Groooaaar!"

A roar erupted from outside. It was the cry of a knoll. The heavy force and the unseen presence were felt through the gate.

The Squad leader, who had been standing at the gate, stepped back nervously.

Was he going to wet himself?

Fortunately, the Squad leader wasn't that weak-hearted.

Encrid glanced at him and then turned his attention to the two with severed wrists.

"Are you cultists?"

The two men's eyes widened. They didn't need to speak, their expressions were answer enough.

Should he spare them? No, it wouldn't mean much. True, cultists were said to use strange sorcery, but these didn't seem capable of such things, so they likely weren't important.

Leaving them alive would be like leaving a dagger at his back.

Thrust. Thrust.

With two quick stabs, Encrid created two more corpses.

Encrid then climbed the watchtower.

He needed to assess the numbers and the situation. Being in a higher position is always advantageous.

Dawn was breaking, which improved visibility. In the sunlight, he saw hundreds of beasts and monsters.

The sheer number was horrifying.

Encrid was struck by the fact that he had survived among them.

'Though I barely hung on without dying.'

There were so many.

From this vantage point, the numbers were overwhelming.

The creatures were crashing into the walls and gate.

While Encrid had cleared the watchtower, there were no guards on the wall.

Encrid spotted several vigilante corpses lying where they should have been standing.

It must have been the cultists, specifically those he had just killed.

"Seriously, what is going on?"

A voice called from below the watchtower. It was Krais.

The joke had become reality.

Krais had the village chief at knifepoint. Behind him were several vigilante members with grim expressions.

"Seriously, what's happening?"

Krais looked desperate.

Encrid couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Esther."

Encrid called Esther to guard the gate.

"Growl."

The panther responded as if understanding, seeming almost more human than some people.

"I need to ask what's going on here."

Behind the village chief, Deutsche Pullman and his followers gathered.

Most of them looked utterly confused.

There were monsters outside, a man holding a knife to the village chief's throat inside, and dead comrades around them.

Deutsche Pullman, too, appeared shaken. It was understandable, but Encrid didn't care.

Encrid spoke calmly.

"I give the orders and hold the command. No objections will be tolerated. We need to stop the monsters. Get the remaining vigilantes onto the walls. Anyone who can shoot a bow goes up."

No one moved.

Deutsche Pullman was a man of strong nerves.

Despite the booming noises from outside, he glared fiercely at Encrid.

Encrid knew what he had to say.

"Krais, cut his throat."

With the village chief's life at stake.

"Damn it, stop! What are you all doing? Shoot arrows into the monsters' heads!"

Deutsche shouted. Krais, naturally, did not cut the chief.

Encrid shrugged.

"You'll have to explain this later!"

Deutsche yelled furiously.

Encrid ignored him.

This was a stopgap measure.

The goal was to prevent the situation from escalating.

To act quickly and stop the knoll invasion from happening at all.

If they managed to do that, the cycle of today's events might change.

Encrid had thought of a way to get through today, but whether it would work was uncertain. This was uncharted territory.

Luagarne was still nowhere to be seen, as were Deutsche's other subordinates.

"Damn it, Enki."

As the situation settled and they prepared to defend, Finn emerged, crawling from the side.

Finn, who had been out on patrol, returned with a wound in her stomach.

So that was it.

Finn had fought someone and got injured. It wasn't a light injury. A hole in the stomach is painful, and walking becomes difficult.

Because of Finn's injury, they couldn't alert the town about the monster attack.

If not for this, Finn would have noticed the colony's movements.

"Krais, let the chief go and treat Finn first."

Encrid ordered. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it needed treatment.

"The number of monsters and beasts is close to a thousand."

Despite his injury, Finn managed to relay the information, her face pale with fear. Encrid just nodded.

"Can you explain what's going on?"

The village chief, his face also pale, spoke up. Truly the chief of a pioneer village, he still had some courage left, given he was demanding an explanation in such a situation.

"Let's deal with the situation first."

Encrid replied, heading towards the wall.

Even a clumsy hand needed to shoot more arrows now.

They also needed to reinforce the walls to survive the day.

Today was just beginning.

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