WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 190: Open It

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Roar!

The manticore that took the hit let out a savage roar. It had pulled back like it would retreat, then kicked off the ground again.

Its massive body cut through space like wind as it lunged.

Whoosh!

Its claws shredded the air.

In that instant, Audin shifted his feet, twisted his stance, and swung his hand. More precisely, he slapped the manticore across the face.

Its forepaw sliced through empty air at almost the exact same moment the slap landed.

That was how fast the exchange was.

Audin's palm itself was a weapon, but the manticore was a high-grade Demon Creature.

Its head snapped sideways from the blow, but it braced itself and swung its forepaw again.

Audin stepped back lightly and dodged again.

Rooaaar!

The manticore's enraged cry ripped through the air.

"Ghh."

The soldiers groaned again under the pressure unique to a high-grade Demon Creature.

Then the monster that had just overwhelmed the area with its roar.

Smack.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Got slapped in the face by Audin.

This one hit even harder than before. Dark blue-black blood ran from the corner of its mouth. A drop fell to the floor with a plop.

"Mm."

"Hk."

"That... uh."

The soldiers found themselves speaking without meaning to. The sight was that shocking.

For a moment, it even shook the paralysis out of their bodies.

What kind of lunatic slaps a monster in the face and does that to it?

Had its pride been hurt?

Ignoring the pain in its face, the manticore lowered itself.

Then it charged again, this time twice as fast.

Its attack was not simple either.

It swung a forepaw while snapping its tail from behind. The tail came down from above like lightning.

Audin's body sped up with it, fast enough to leave afterimages.

Hung!

The forepaw missed again.

Then the scorpion-like tail stabbed into empty air as well.

In that gap, Audin casually swung his hand again.

Crack!

What was that sound even supposed to be?

Enkrid clicked his tongue inwardly. He had watched every exchange. He had not missed a single one.

At first, it had resembled some form of swordsmanship. Now it had become nothing but face-slapping.

This was probably the manticore's first time facing someone faster and more agile than itself.

If I were a manticore, I would be rattled too.

Maybe it was, because it tilted its head. Its skull had to be ringing from all those hits.

Then the glossy bloodlust returned to its eyes.

"If you are a Demon Creature, then that is only proper. The holy text says having another belief and walking the wrong path are not the same."

Audin muttered and crooked his fingers. The bear-sized man toyed with the manticore.

Roar!

The manticore lunged.

Smack!

It got slapped.

A lighter hit snapped its head to the side.

A heavier hit sent its whole body flying sideways.

Thud, thud!

Watching a Magic Beast tumble across the gallery like a failed skipping stone, who would call that thing a high-grade Demon Creature, the soldiers' terror, a monster among monsters, a manticore?

As Audin kept swinging his hand, memories from long ago surfaced.

Demon Creatures, Magic Beasts, cultists.

The days he had ground through all of them.

He had done this kind of thing countless times. Especially fighting high-grade Demon Creatures.

Even as it kept charging after repeated slaps, the manticore's face started swelling. A few broken teeth rolled across the floor.

Just as Enkrid started wondering if he should feel sorry for it, he sensed a small disturbance below. More exactly, he heard something like a faint groan, and saw shadows shift.

"Looks like we have guests below too, so I will head down first."

Enkrid said.

"As you wish, brother."

Audin fully turned and even smiled.

The manticore saw an opening and charged.

This time it used a triple attack.

Forepaw, then tail, then a snake-like tongue shot out.

Audin twisted aside to dodge the forepaw, tapped the middle of the tail with the back of his hand to deflect its path, and left the tongue that whipped around his neck alone.

"The Lord said there are sins that cannot be forgiven."

Audin spoke, ignored the tongue, and swung his hand.

In close-quarters fights, Magic Beasts and Demon Creatures were supposed to hold the advantage.

That was what the soldiers watching had learned.

Then what were they looking at now?

Klaang!

A sharper, heavier sound rang out than ever. One side of the manticore's face caved in from the slap.

He had done it with nothing but his palm.

One watching soldier suddenly needed to pee.

Monsters were terrifying, Magic Beasts were terrifying, but the most terrifying thing here was that man smiling as if he were kind.

"Return to God and wipe away the sins on your body. I shall scrub and lick clean your filthy, stained soul anew. So beg forgiveness for your sins, again and again."

His tone was merciful. His smile too. But his hands?

"I think I pissed myself."

A fellow soldier muttered beside him. Everyone watching felt the same.

After watching the manticore's face cave in, Enkrid patted that soldier on the shoulder just before heading down.

"Smells like piss."

He said that and went down beneath the gallery.

He picked up speed as if kicking off each stair. At the bottom, he saw a soldier pacing in front of the small side door by the lower gate.

He did not recognize the face, but the uniform was Border Guard regular issue. The man had one hand on the side door latch.

Beside that side door, another soldier had collapsed on the floor with his back against the wall. Dark red-black liquid seeped from his crushed body.

As Enkrid quickly approached, the one with his hand on the latch snapped his head around.

Enkrid ignored the stare and checked the soldier on the ground.

He had already read the man behind him at a glance, so even if that man rushed his blind side, it would not matter. That gave him room to move.

As he examined the wound.

Not deep.

Not enough to kill him. With enough grit, he could even walk.

Of course, that was by Enkrid's standards.

The soldier felt like he was dying. It hurt too much. There was a hole in his stomach. Anyone would be in agony.

"You can walk, right?"

Enkrid said, still bent over. His back was exposed.

The soldier with his hand on the latch hesitated. Should I open it? No, if I stab him now, this might still work.

That posture forced him to think. He knew this was the famous Alluring Squad Leader, but still.

In the meantime, Enkrid helped the wounded soldier up.

"Urgh, it hurts. It hurts! I got stabbed in the stomach. It hurts!"

"At this level, you can probably walk."

"No, I cannot walk. If I die, tell my little sister there's a pouch under the bed..."

"You are not dying."

Enkrid cut him off. This one was dramatic. Enkrid had died like mad countless times himself.

It was not the kind of wound that healed with spit, but it was not the kind that cast death's shadow either.

He tore off part of the soldier's sleeve and wrapped the wound roughly. It stemmed most of the bleeding.

"Ugh!"

When he pressed the wound, the soldier's eyes bulged from the pain, so Enkrid gave him a shove and let him lean against the wall.

"If you cannot walk, you have a whistle, right? Yeah, that. Watch the area, and if things go bad, blow it."

Enkrid said only that much and turned around. The man with one hand on the latch and the other gripping a knife handle flinched.

He was still hesitating.

Rumors about what the Alluring Squad Leader had done stopped his hand.

Was he not practically a battlefield hero by now?

Even if he did not know details of the recent gnoll colony incident, Enkrid's reputation up to now made it clear he was dangerous.

Still, there was no way one man could handle the ten Black Blades members waiting outside.

No one fights ten alone.

And every one of the men waiting outside was seasoned in killing.

Of course they were. The Black Blades had come at Bansento's request, and their purpose was clear.

Real battle in this land was done by small elite forces.

This was threat and pressure from exactly that kind of elite. Not ten as in merely ten, but only ten because ten was enough to show their level.

Naturally, they would make sure no one learned it was Black Blades work.

They had to.

After causing chaos, what if they argued there were not enough defenders left?

And what if they added intelligence that Martai, a dangerous neighboring city, was right on the verge of starting a city war?

Then there would be no choice but to reach out to the Black Blades.

There would be no reinforcements from the kingdom center, and the south was already too busy suppressing monster outbreaks.

The Black Blades were bandits, but Martai was much the same. It was a city built by gathered eastern mercenaries.

Mercenaries were treated that way to begin with, and eastern mercenaries were treated as even more barbaric.

It was like bringing in a tiger to drive out wolves, but they would force the situation until that became the only option.

They had been preparing all of this step by step.

They had already quietly turned some insiders to their side.

That was Bansento's plan.

The first step was letting in the men waiting outside.

"What are you doing?"

The man sweating cold from tangled thoughts was no soldier. He was a spy pretending to be one.

At Enkrid's question, he swallowed.

His mission was to open the door. That would let in the Black Blades fighters waiting outside.

He had just stabbed a soldier in the stomach and was about to open it when Enkrid came down.

Enkrid had not even been assigned patrol duty, yet he had appeared out of nowhere.

The spy had already spent months operating inside the Border Guard.

He knew who Enkrid was.

He swallowed hard and could not move.

If things went bad, he would be cut down instantly. He knew he could not take that man with his own skill.

And it was not like he had some iron sacrifice mentality over opening a door.

I should have opened it earlier and run.

His judgment had come too late. He had wasted the moment, suspicious Enkrid might be trying to bait him into lowering his guard.

His eyes rolled around, searching for a way out.

Enkrid glanced at him once and grasped the situation.

Above all, he could feel signs of people outside. Sharpened senses, plus instinct, told him.

Open the door. Let the enemy in.

The goal? A riot? Something else?

No way to know before meeting them.

And the stabbed soldier did not look fatally wounded.

After rough calculations and quick thought, Enkrid spoke.

"Open it."

At those words, the spy was visibly shaken. He blinked and his hand trembled.

"...Huh?"

"I said open it."

It was close to intuition, but it was judgment built on long experience and sharpened senses.

If he left the ones outside alone, they would find another way in anyway. Chasing that down would be more troublesome.

They could ring an alarm bell too, if noise and chaos were what they wanted.

Right now it was still quiet, and this had happened during patrol, so a proper response could end it neatly.

And if things went sideways, he could blow the whistle.

This was Border Guard, and Enkrid had come with Audin.

If the whistle blew here?

Would Rem come sprinting out, all excited?

He had seemed especially pent up lately.

More than anything, Enkrid had confidence. Whoever the opponent was, whatever it was, he could at least hold his ground.

Was it baseless confidence?

No. It was confidence earned by dancing with hundreds of gnolls, together with his Sense of Evasion.

"...Huh?"

Another empty sound. The spy was thoroughly rattled. Enkrid took a long stride forward, bold enough that the other man could not react.

The spy reflexively lifted the latch. Then he shoved the door and threw himself the other way. Thud, the side door swung open. The spy tried to bolt.

He twisted to run.

Enkrid, watching, flicked his hand through the air. It looked like a meaningless gesture.

That was what the spy saw, but a throwing knife whined out and buried itself in the back of his thigh.

"Ack!"

A short scream. Loud enough to call nearby sentries.

Through the crack of the opening door, waiting eyes appeared. Not a small number. Still not enough to call an army.

Enkrid walked to the door, drew his sword, and thrust it forward.

As his blade shot in, the men in front recoiled, and he stepped outside through the gap.

As he came out, Enkrid counted them with his eyes. Ten.

"...What a crazy bastard."

A man dressed in black from head to toe said it. Enkrid checked their faces by moonlight.

Yeah, he did not know him.

One of them narrowed her eyes. A woman in the back with strikingly white hair.

Her ears looked like an animal's, so she seemed to be Beastkin.

"You knew we were out here and still came out, right?"

Enkrid shrugged.

Think whatever you want. That was his answer.

"Crazy son of a bitch."

The first man to speak said it again.

Shing.

One in black drew a shortsword and rushed in. It was a strike with almost no presence.

His step and drawn blade closed in almost instantly. Very fast.

Ping, the blade split the night air that had been peaceful moments before.

Fast, but full of killing intent.

Fast, but with a simple path.

Enkrid raised his drawn sword from low to high and struck upward.

Tang.

His sword knocked the shortsword aside. He brought his blade down and set up a diagonal rising cut, and the opponent shifted his feet to the other side.

Instead of following through with that rising cut, Enkrid casually swung his blade and traced a shape in the air like two interlocking circles.

After shifting the sword position that way, he switched into a downward cut one beat faster.

More precisely, it was one of his newly learned techniques, Spiral Cut.

"Uh!"

Startled, the man raised his shortsword to block, but their weapons were different in weight from the start.

Clang, crunch!

Enkrid crushed down with brute force and smashed through the man's blade.

"Gurk!"

The opposite edge of the shortsword in the man's hand drove into his own chest.

One down first.

After reducing their number with a single simple move, Enkrid raised his sword point toward the moon and settled into stance.

"Take him together. If you come one by one, you die one by one."

The Beastkin woman who looked like the leader spoke. Tension was clear in her voice.

Anyone could see Enkrid was an outstanding fighter.

Enkrid measured his opponents. Then he realized something.

I do not even need to just hold out.

In the past, he would not have stepped out like this. He would have used his head first and searched for a way to survive.

But now?

The pressure from the people in front of him was no joke.

Did that make this an unwinnable fight?

That thought did not cross his mind even once, so Enkrid did not step back.

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