WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

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A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 299: The Bandit Lykanos

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Lykanos watched the Cultists' advance grinding to a halt.

There was no way to miss the man over there, fighting a Dire Wolf barehanded.

Grrr!

The man took one of the Dire Wolf's forepaw strikes straight to the chest, then shouted,

"Hahahahaha! That feels great!"

What was that body made of, to take a Demon Creature's forepaw and come away with only scratches and bruises?

His skin had yellowed with bruising, but that only made him look even more abnormal.

Anyone else would have been reduced to a bloody pulp.

After enduring the Demon Creature's forepaw, the man threw out a forepaw of his own.

Boom!

"Does it feel good?!"

What exactly felt good about this?

All Lykanos could do was stare in disbelief as the Demon Creature that got hit staggered.

'Is he insane?'

That was not the only problem. The Cultist horde's advance had become a mess.

They could not fight properly.

Why? He could tell by instinct.

There was a problem in command.

The Cultists were one thing, but this side had its own formidable fighters too.

There was Enkrid, the one he still had not managed to kill.

There was also that swordsman, carving through and killing the very unit Lykanos had raised with his own hands.

'That bastard is no joke either.'

He had fought him once, and no matter how he looked at it, the man was not beneath him. Would the Fastest Sword work on him?

The question crossed his mind, but he felt no urge to test it.

No, whether it worked or not, he did not want to trade his final sword strike with that bastard.

Was this the last selfishness he had left?

Or was it the fighting spirit of a warrior he had ignored to the very end?

'No point picking it apart now.'

He had not expected his end to look like this.

"Let's finish this with just the two of us."

Lykanos spoke to Enkrid, who had stepped off to one side.

It was not that he disliked the blond opponent. He just wanted to choose his own ending.

'The first man who blocked my sword.'

The one who caught up to the Fastest Sword would not leave his mind.

It was also the first time he had truly decided to kill someone and failed.

No, the second time. But the first one who escaped had been a knight, had he not?

That was why this felt like the first.

Knights had to be counted as exceptions.

Enkrid stared at him blankly.

He rose on unsteady legs, gripping and regripping his sword a few times.

What showed in that posture, that attitude?

A man who did not retreat and only moved forward.

'I should never have left this to my underlings in the first place.'

That was the mistake.

'Let's fight.'

Being his last fight did not mean he was desperate to kill Enkrid no matter what.

He had fought him once and simply wanted to fight him again.

His fighting instinct, the youthful spirit he thought he had forgotten, woke on its own.

So you copied the Fastest Sword? They call you a genius?

Then take the blade I have built up. Let's compete in speed.

That was all.

Lykanos's eyes shone. Like glittering stars. Not the eyes of a man who had given up.

Enkrid caught his breath and gripped his sword again. Only then did he feel at ease. It was a small bit of preparation.

"Fine."

Enkrid did not refuse. There was no reason to.

He wanted another clash just as much.

Seeing Enkrid step out, Ragna cut through nearby enemies so no one else could come closer.

That was enough.

Enkrid stood there, limping. His leg was already far from normal.

Lykanos was not in good shape either.

He had rushed in to block Ragna's sword and gotten his right shoulder sliced open.

Blood was still streaming down.

The two faced each other.

Sleet fell between them. The snowfield kept whitening and deepening.

"You have that thing wrapped around your belly, right?"

Lykanos asked. Enkrid nodded.

That item had stopped his stomach from being pierced again and again.

Lykanos nodded to himself.

'The target point is set.'

He let his arm hang loose. Then he would thrust in one burst of explosive strength. One point, only one point. Mark that point on the best possible line. End it with that.

End it? Is that really the end? Win, then die? Looking at him now, the opponent did not even seem that overwhelming.

Then should this really be the end? Why should it end?

Lykanos changed his mind.

'Finish this, then clean up the rest.'

He had reached this far because he never treated an ending as truly final. The will to live, what he had achieved, what he still had to achieve, what he had left behind, what would become his in the future.

Lykanos's eyes turned muddy.

Like pure white snow clouding over as it mixed with blood and dirt on the ground, his gaze dulled the same way.

Even so, his aura was like a finely honed blade. Sharp, and sharper still.

Lykanos could handle Will too. His Will was limited to his arm.

The instant Will settled into the force of his extending arm, that became the Fastest Sword.

Realizing his preparation was complete, Lykanos swung his sword back and forth.

That strange pendulum-like motion drew the eye.

Enkrid was a little different from usual.

'How fast was it?'

There had been a time when Rem's axe looked like a ray of light.

But this man's sword had gone beyond that. The instant it flashed, it pierced straight through his body.

Because of that, Enkrid still could not properly use his right arm.

Out of nowhere, Enkrid remembered the moment he saved that child.

The one who said he would become a herb gatherer.

He had saved that child because he was skilled at hiding his intent.

So should he do that now too?

Ah, no.

He did not want that. Enkrid wanted to cross swords.

He wanted to clash his own sword against the Fastest Sword.

'Speed too.'

He wanted to hold it, take it in, realize it, and make it his own.

That was why today had repeated over and over.

It had let him chase down two rabbits running in opposite directions, one after the other.

Now was the moment to catch the second rabbit.

Heart of the Beast pounded. The moment he recognized the enemy's speed, his tensed muscles relaxed.

Only boldness made that possible.

With just the right strength in his arm and hand, he held his sword softly and aimed ahead.

The tip of his longsword rose diagonally from low to high and pierced toward the sky.

Next came Sensory Art. He laid intent over Sense of Evasion. The Will he had to place now was only one thing: thrusting.

The focus he had built through Focus Point would explode the instant he swung.

The body he forged through the Isolation Technique was the foundation that supported all of it.

Enkrid recognized all of this, understood it, then forgot it.

Leaving only the opponent before him, he erased everything else from his mind.

Who he was, who the opponent was, even what this was for.

Only one thing remained: a fast sword.

Whoosh.

The wind was shoved aside. A sword faster than that wind had already reached his Adam's apple.

Thrust!

The sound of flesh being pierced burst out, and Enkrid crumpled as he fell.

As he collapsed to the ground, the Boatman appeared before him like a mirage.

With only his upper body floating in the air between snowflakes, the Boatman asked:

"Is it that good?"

By then, Enkrid's face was full of a smile.

At the final thrust, in that instant, he had felt something close to Refusal.

So that was Will.

It did not settle in his arm to help him. This time, his Will settled into the instant itself.

For a brief moment, it traveled from his toes through his knees and waist, past shoulder and elbow, all the way to his fingertips.

For that one instant, Enkrid's sword was faster than Lykanos's.

* * *

Graham did not spare himself even under assassination attacks. He did not retreat from the battlefield and fought with full valor.

"Do not fall back!"

Midway through, Dunbakel barged in and turned the battlefield upside down, while Sinar went around cutting the throats of enemy mercenaries who formed the enemy's main force.

In the middle of that chaotic melee,

"Over there, the enemy commander."

His escort, the lieutenant, said it. Past the lieutenant's back, helmet pressed low, the enemy commander was indeed visible.

Enkrid stood before him too.

The two facing each other, and Ragna carving through the area around them, all of it was there, but the atmosphere between those two seized attention in an instant.

Graham stopped pressing the enemy and stared.

They were not even swinging yet, and no blade was at anyone's throat.

Still, the moment he saw them, his palms broke into sweat.

Tension raised goosebumps on his skin.

The sweat running down him felt cold.

He could not even see the falling snow. Without realizing it, Graham had focused completely on the two of them.

Half the soldiers watching were in the same state.

It was like a storm that sucked in every gaze around it.

This happened because both of their Wills were active, but few people knew that.

'Ah.'

Graham felt a bad omen.

That enemy commander's sword was that terrifying.

'He's going to die.'

He could almost see Enkrid's death.

They had not moved yet, but the moment the enemy commander moved, it would be Enkrid's throat getting pierced. He was sure of it.

'No!'

He had to stop this.

That man should not die there. Save him. Did he really need to risk his life and fight here? No.

Of course, Graham never got the chance to step in.

Without any signal, without any sign they were about to start, the enemy commander and Enkrid suddenly moved.

They crossed with thrusts.

No, they passed each other. Graham had not blinked once, yet he did not see either sword carry out its purpose.

It ended the moment it began.

He did not see the process.

But he saw the result.

"Ah."

A short gasp escaped Graham.

He was that shocked. It was that unexpected. Relief was mixed in too.

Because he saw Lykanos fall.

Enkrid was not unharmed either. Blood streamed down from his neck. But he casually pressed the wound with one hand, rolled his neck, and stood straight, showing he was still fine.

'Good!'

Without realizing it, Graham smacked his own thigh with his fist.

"Madman Company Commander!"

"Uuugh, Captain of Pain!"

The soldiers watching and Graham's guards shouted something close to cheers.

Everyone's chest swelled.

They won!

Graham thought the tide of battle had turned.

It was over.

The lapse in caution might have been natural. No, Graham did not let his guard down. His escorts did.

Boom!

Suddenly dirt exploded behind Graham's back.

Three assassins who had been hiding underground.

Fwoosh.

All three stabbed for Graham's back in one motion.

Only one of the three achieved his goal.

Thud-thud-smack!

All three burst through the ground at once, but two of their heads were cut off by a blade shaped like a leaf.

No one saw when she appeared. Flying through the air, she swung her sword. The curving Leaf Blade swept in and severed two assassins' necks in an instant.

"Never let your guard down."

That was what the Elf Company Commander said as she swung her blade.

Kraiss had asked her to stay near Graham.

The elf fulfilled her duty like that.

The third assassin, though, was persistent. He shoved one arm into the elf's blade. In exchange for losing that arm, he used his remaining hand to drive a short spear into Graham's back.

Thud!

The spearhead was coated in poison.

"You fucking..."

Graham clenched his teeth and staggered back.

It was not a through-and-through wound, but it stabbed deep.

"For a new world."

The assassin left those final words. Sinar swung her Leaf Blade without hesitation.

The elf's Leaf Blade cut off the assassin's neck.

* * *

Lykanos lay on the ground and watched all of it.

He sensed death.

Why he had come this far, the circumstances, the process, none of it came to mind.

Only lingering attachment remained.

'Hyung-nim.'

He spoke inside his head.

There was a hole in his throat, so no words came out of his mouth.

He lay there watching his subordinate stab the enemy commander in the back and die. Naturally, his gaze turned to the sky, and heavy snow poured down. Blood filled his eyes, turning even the white snow red. Everything around him began to dye itself crimson.

As he died, Lykanos recalled one moment from the past.

"If we're going to become bandits, then we'll become bandits who steal a throne. We'll make a new world. We will steal freedom."

If you are born a serf, do you have to offer up your life too?

If you have nothing, should you accept oppression as natural?

Is it natural to be robbed by those with power?

Then I will live the same way they do.

"We will become kings."

A bandit group that stole thrones.

The beginning of the Black Blade Bandits.

Lykanos was the captain's sworn brother, and the symbol of their force.

As he died, he thought:

'Was this the world we wanted, hyung-nim?'

Corruption came quickly.

They gained power, Krona, authority.

Steal the throne, open a new world.

The vow to make sure no one else suffered the same pain had vanished before they knew it. It scattered like melting snow.

Through the falling snow, Lykanos saw a shining gate.

Soon it opened, and his little sister, brothers, and parents who had died in his childhood came out.

His sister could not pay taxes, so the lord took her in payment, violated her, and killed her.

His parents were killed by robbers simply because they had nothing.

All of them welcomed him with blood streaming from their eyes and noses.

"Too late, son."

"Go to hell."

Lykanos's eyes closed.

Right below where his family stood, he saw where he would go. A dark red river flowed beneath the shining gate.

He gave his body to that river leading to hell.

Beyond the gate, the swaying river of blood welcomed him.

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