A Knight who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 382

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Abstract

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A KNIGHT WHO ETERNALLY REGRESSES

Chapter 382: His Heart Raged Without Stopping

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Once he had a goal, all he had to do was keep pushing forward.

Enkrid did exactly that.

He had already seen the path. He had even touched it. He only had to raise everything he had by one more step. Following signposts was both his strong suit and his specialty.

What he needed was precision, detail, and finesse.

"I already learned it."

Then all he had to do was repeat it until it became his own. Nothing was easier for Enkrid than that. What he needed was time. He needed today's repetition. He did that too. He spent today faithfully, then spent another today the same way.

"Do you really think that will work?"

The Boatman asked. He urged him to learn despair, to learn frustration. He said shuddering in agony was only natural.

That was how he planted doubt in his head.

What if he was wrong?

What if this was the wrong road?

It did not matter. Even if he crossed this wall and found another, he would cross that one too. So for now, he would walk the road his Will had made. The wall was a condition, and he had set that condition himself.

He had decided not to kill her, but to beat her down.

If something blocked him there, he would cross that too.

It was resolve, but it was also a plain, steady mindset.

The Boatman felt that inside the mental world, and if he had a tongue, he would have clicked it in disbelief.

But he had no tongue to click, so he only muttered.

"That crazy bastard again."

The Boatman knew the wall's condition had changed.

The one who changed it was the Will of the one carrying the curse.

Absurd as it was, it was not impossible, nor unheard of. He had experienced it himself.

Most people realized the wall's condition and then somehow chose the easier road, so cases like this were rare.

But Enkrid?

The hard road.

And not just hard, a harsher one.

Enduring against that orange-haired woman knight and subduing her was already difficult.

But Enkrid had set doing it in a short time as his goal.

He had sensed that enduring alone would not get him through today.

"He's crazy in the most vicious way."

The Boatman muttered to himself again. No answer came. As always, he wandered the river alone.

* * *

Enkrid did not think crossing the wall in front of him was impossible.

He had crossed swords with her countless times, and Eisia's habits had become familiar.

If it were a fight to kill and be killed, it would be easier, but he was the one who chose this road because he did not want that.

People said if he chased two rabbits, he would lose both, but if he could catch both, that was even better.

Did he really have to catch only one?

He had repeating days. Then he just had to set the condition itself so he could catch both rabbits.

He would neither kill Eisia nor fail to cross the wall.

He would subdue her quickly and move forward. He would find where he should stand. That place would be in front of Crang.

Enkrid decided to use that as his standard.

What came after that?

He did not care.

If that flow-breaking bastard became another wall in front of him, he would cross that too.

It was not even his first time facing walls one after another.

Still, he felt a strange premonition.

That man had appeared under specific conditions. Even that alone did not feel like a wall blocking his path.

Eisia facing him first only reinforced that feeling. If it were his wall, it would have stood in front of him.

"Rem."

That was how he greeted a new today. So this was the today he had decided to move forward.

The moment he got up, Enkrid called for Rem first.

"...Dawn hasn't even broken yet."

Rem answered without opening his eyes.

"Come out, you barbarian bastard. I'll shake the filth out of your skull."

His tone was so flat it barely sounded like provocation, but Rem reacted.

The barbarian opened his eyes. Gray eyes pierced the blue of dawn and stared straight at Enkrid.

"Let's do it. Let's raise one gravestone today."

It was a signal. Enkrid's signal, saying they should fight with half a life on the line.

Rem accepted it.

"What should the epitaph be?"

He said it while getting up and grabbing his axe.

"The pioneer who split open a barbarian skull for research."

"Do you really want to die today?"

Rem sounded half serious.

"If you underestimate me, you'll die."

Enkrid warned him. Rem did not know the results of the days Enkrid had piled up. So he would let his guard down.

Eisia would do the same.

So.

If Rem could not stop him, Eisia could not either.

He stepped outside, took his stance, and measured the distance.

Andrew came out rubbing his eyes, then flinched in shock.

Clang!

The sound rang out as if it blew away the dawn fog.

Enkrid, swinging a longsword with momentary Will as he kicked off the ground, and Rem, who blocked it, looked frozen like a painting.

With sword and axe locked, their breath rose above their heads, mixing with the chill of dawn until it looked like blue smoke.

Both of them felt twice as threatening as usual.

"Shit, had a good dream?"

Rem asked while their weapons were still pressed together.

"I have that kind of dream every day."

Dreaming of death was not good. But there had not been a single today wasted in emptiness, so every day had value.

Seeing Enkrid more fired up than ever, Rem answered in kind.

"Good. Let's die."

Enkrid had already been doing exactly that. He had learned while half dead. He had repeated fights with Eisia too.

He kept walking. Kept moving forward. By then, he had already stacked dozens more todays.

The spar with Rem stopped at the right point. Enkrid had squeezed out everything he could use.

"Sometimes you're so strange it's almost unsettling."

Rem said that in the end. His eyes were not full of shock, but they held surprise.

It was emotion hidden behind a calm gaze.

Ragna and Jaxon were no different.

Even Dunbakel opened her eyes like that.

Esther, right before leaving, was the same.

Enkrid brushed back his hair with one hand and shook off sweat.

Preparation was done.

Now, reaching Eisia through the same repeated day was something he could do with his eyes closed.

He actually did it with his eyes shut, beat down that forward-march bullshit instructor again, and moved on.

"Fuck, what is this?! Why are you fighting with your eyes closed?!"

Ignoring the scream right before death, he punched a hole in the man's neck, got the maid up and told her to hide to one side, then pushed forward. He moved almost at a run toward Eisia.

"What's behind you?"

That was the first thing he asked when he faced her.

"What?"

"I'm asking who's behind you."

Eisia frowned at Enkrid's question.

"Are you saying that because you know something?"

"I'm asking because I don't."

"...Then why are you so confident?"

"It's a habit."

"Are you insane?"

"I hear that pretty often."

"Anyway, I can't let you pass. You'll die a dog's death."

"I don't think so."

"Prove it."

A familiar conversation.

Eisia raised her sword and aimed, and he closed his eyes and struck it aside.

Clang!

"...What was that."

"You don't need to do it again, but you're doubtful, right? Try again."

Eisia furrowed her brow and did as he said.

She aimed her sword. Clang!

He knocked it away again. Even with his eyes closed, Enkrid swung as if they were open.

After that, he let his focus go and ignored Sword-Tip Aim.

"What did you do before coming here?"

Eisia asked in shock.

"Just come at me."

Words were unnecessary, so they fought. What were Eisia's strengths?

What defined her?

At first glance it was hard to tell. She concealed herself that well. It suited someone whose specialty was Illusionary Sword.

She started with Sword-Tip Aim, excelled at Flowing Sword and fast swordwork, had extremely quick footwork, and now and then used Pressure in fine bursts to disrupt movement.

Then what was her weakness?

She lacked strength and raw muscle.

So the method was simple.

Press with Correct and Precise Sword, crush with Heavy Sword.

Clang! Clang!

Instead of Silver, he held a Gladius in one hand and struck in short bursts. Eisia blocked again and again.

Enkrid calmly drove her back.

Through repeated todays, he kept digging into her weakness.

"You!"

In the middle, Eisia let out something between a shout and a battle cry and moved her feet.

She switched her footing and sprang sideways in one motion. She kicked off the ground, stepped on the wall, and slashed as she leaped.

Only quick feet and a light body made that possible.

It was also the result of Enkrid pressing her again and again. She kicked off the wall and charged with her body nearly horizontal to the ground.

He had seen it every time, but her response to variables was excellent.

That was likely a side effect of her long experience with Illusionary Sword.

Because of that, she could respond to almost any variable. Put simply, while fighting, her range for predicting an opponent's movement was very wide.

Even now, blocked by Correct and Precise Sword and crushed by Heavy Sword, all of it was still within her prediction range.

So she kicked off the wall and advanced, running with the ground at her side. She turned sword space into three dimensions.

She slipped out of Correct and Precise Sword's area and took a space that also escaped Heavy Sword's pressure for a moment.

That was what it meant to run along the wall with agile movement and incredible balance.

Then what if he moved outside that prediction range?

After many fights, Enkrid knew how far Eisia's prediction range reached.

That was something he could learn because today kept repeating.

So.

He would cross it.

The move she showed was impressive, but this was what he intended.

Enkrid set the Gladius he was holding into her sword path, then let it go.

Ting!

The Gladius fell to the floor. In that instant, he rushed low beneath Eisia's tilted body as she ran the wall. He kicked off the ground low and fast.

Thud!

The carpet under his feet ripped like it burst. Eisia had no room to pull her sword back and thrust, so she drew the dagger hidden on her person.

With her left hand, she stabbed with a dagger the length of a span.

Its speed matched momentary Will, but he already knew this move.

Enkrid bet everything on this.

If it worked, he subdued her in one shot. If it failed, he repeated again.

This was already the seventh time he had done the same thing.

Focus Point made the path of Eisia's thrust look slow.

Feeling like he was clawing through mud, Enkrid thrust both arms out in a crossed motion.

Valaf-Style Disarm.

He pressed her wrist between his crossed wrists. The dagger's path naturally twisted away. Enkrid deliberately guided the tip toward his own stomach.

It punched through the leather outside, but the Bandage Armor underneath stopped it.

At the same time, he twisted both hands, which had pinned her wrist, to the side.

Crack!

"Mm!"

A groan escaped Eisia as her wrist twisted.

Without pause, his left hand gripped her wrist, and his right hand spread wide between thumb and index finger, then shot forward to strike her Adam's apple.

By the time Eisia's dagger stabbed his abdomen, Enkrid's right hand was already in motion.

Crack!

The impact rang out.

"Ghk!"

Eisia let out a second groan.

If the first was surprise, the second was shock.

Enkrid stepped one foot out, hooked her heel, grabbed her hair, and smashed her head into his shield ornament.

Bang!

Blood burst from her nose and face. Bold and brutal.

That was not the end.

He dropped her body to the floor as if throwing it down, then drove his weight into an elbow strike to her torso.

Thud!