Chapter 313

There are things that, when you don’t know them, are darkness, but when you do know them, become light.

I understood it and recognized it.

Thus, I saw the path that had turned into light.

On this day, I placed my intentions above my instincts for evasion.

The best way to save the child was that.

This time, I had to mix instinct with intention.

'The thought that I must win by force.'

A narrow view.

I discarded that thought.

The wall is free.

What confines today is not necessarily only spears and swords.

Of course, the spear and sword were direct weapons.

They were physical entities that cut through flesh and bone.

But was that all?

Was that the only reality?

What truly confined me was the strategist’s mind.

I danced in his palm.

'So, where should I begin?'

Once again, today repeated itself, and there was only one thing left for Enkrid to do.

What should he do to break out of today?

The answer was already there in his previous experiences.

Enkrid now admitted that his mind wasn’t as sharp as he thought it was.

It felt like repeating the same mistake.

Previously, his vision had narrowed because he had been misled by the ferryman’s words.

This time, had the ferryman not helped, he wouldn’t have seen the real wall beyond the false one.

No, it would have taken more time.

So, was that a problem?

No.

In fact, even without the ferryman’s help, had he repeated today tens or hundreds of times in this very moment?

He would have done so.

He would have struggled on endlessly.

He wouldn’t have known surrender.

Eventually, he would have overcome it.

Suddenly, he thought of the little herbalist.

The child he saved, whom the mother had thanked, but he never saw the child again.

Was the comment he made back then said by accident?

Or did he truly want to live by gathering herbs?

What’s a dream, you ask? Isn’t the question itself odd?

In a world like this, talking about dreams might be a luxury.

“Interesting.”

But still, he would talk about it.

Still, he would ask.

Muttering to himself, he stood up and immediately saw an enemy soldier.

A late start today, different from usual.

“Here—!”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

In an instant, Enkrid rushed over and clasped his mouth shut.

Instead, the cry of a soldier next to him rang out.

“Ambush!”

It wasn’t an ambush; the one coming in was the one who was sleeping soundly.

Enkrid thought this as he twisted the enemy’s jaw with his powerful grip.

He felt the sensation of the jaw dislocating through his fingers.

A trick that Audin might have shown now felt natural.

The techniques learned in the repeated today were now flawless and practiced.

“Ugh!”

The enemy resisted.

He swung his fist while his face was held.

Enkrid grabbed the wrist of the incoming opponent and twisted it.

Turning his body quickly, he pulled the enemy from behind.

Crunch.

The sound of a dislocated bone followed from the captured wrist.

“Gggrr!”

The enemy, with his jaw dislocated, couldn’t even scream.

Spit flowed from his mouth.

His face turned pale, which was natural.

Would a hostage situation work?

He’d tried it before.

It doesn’t work.

“Shoot!”

As expected, it didn’t work.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Dozens of bolts flew through the air.

Enkrid threw the enemy forward and leaped to the side.

Thud!

The enemy, whose jaw had been dislocated, was riddled with bolts, his body collapsing as he bled out.

Enkrid leaped, drawing his sword.

Through the place where he had just jumped, an enemy soldier’s widened eyes met him.

He immediately swung his sword.

The blue streak of the blade traced a short arc.

Whoosh, crack!

With a cleaving strike to the top of the skull, both the helmet and skull shattered simultaneously.

It was like an orange split into pieces, the peel and the fruit still attached, except inside it was not pulp but brain and blood.

Splash, blood splattered onto Enkrid’s face.

He didn’t care.

Instead, he honed his instinct for evasion, sharpening his sense of instinct and intuition.

He had already experienced this before.

There had been a similar today.

At least, that’s how Enkrid felt.

It was the same today as the one he had faced in the shoe cobbler's house under the border guard market, where a sorcerer had stayed.

It was the same today.

‘Purely by feeling.’

He had to sense the spell trap with nothing but his instinct.

Although the scale was larger now and the situation different, he himself was no longer the same as before.

It was very different.

Maybe it was thanks to the ferryman’s advice.

Or perhaps it was just luck.

Enkrid realized one thing but also learned two.

Beyond instinct and intuition, there was something even better.

‘Force is necessary too.’

Simply uncovering the enemy’s strategy wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough to understand it and evade it.

You must add force to that.

That was the answer.

After honing his sense of evasion, Enkrid accepted the ominous feeling with his whole body.

He had calculated his own strength intuitively as well.

‘Here.’

Enkrid began to move.

Afterward, Enkrid died six more times.

As always, he didn’t waste a single day.

Even so, seven more todays were needed.

It was possible only because there had already been nearly four hundred todays.

Enkrid had seen every method prepared by the enemy strategist at least once.

He couldn’t know how these forces moved organically.

He didn’t even know what kind of military strategy it was.

Enkrid relied solely on his intuition and instincts.

He made judgments based on that intuition.

He placed the standard of judgment not in reason but in the sense that came in the moment.

He sensed the ominous feeling and judged its degree.

If there was the slightest opening, he would break through it.

Hiding among enemy soldiers was meaningless.

There was no point in hiding either.

Even if a sorcerer appeared, no matter how well hidden he was, they would find him.

And if hostages were useless here,

‘As always.’

He would fight his way through with his two arms and legs.

His back was scarred, and the shock from the previous battle hadn’t been fully resolved.

Even the aftershocks of yesterday’s battle still lingered on his body, though it felt like something from a distant past.

“Damn, this is insane.”

The words slipped from his mouth.

As the path appeared, he walked.

Enkrid’s entire body hair stood on end.

It was thrilling.

He felt like he was going to die from the joy.

It was exhilarating, almost maddening.

Moving forward didn’t just mean growing in strength.

The joy from the very act of moving forward, of growing, coursed through his entire body.

Once he realized it, it was simply joy.

“Chase!”

Thus, it resulted.

The beginning of today, filled with certainty, Enkrid’s first move was set.

He climbed the tree, surveying his surroundings for the target.

It wasn’t easy to find.

“There!”

He was being pursued.

“Where!”

He stomped on the head of an incoming enemy soldier, and with his sword, he cleaved the head of a nearby archer.

Fighting without hesitation, stumbling, and holding his ground, he saw it.

“Ugh!”

A sorcerer.

The moment they met, an invisible shockwave enveloped his body.

Enkrid’s sense of evasion activated, and he saw the sorcerer’s magic through his eyes.

It was captured not by sight, but by feeling.

Thanks to the sharpness of the sense, it felt like the very blade of intuition.

He had seen this trick once or twice before, but now his sixth sense manifested visually, showing exactly what the enemy had done.

He sensed the intangible pressure coming his way with perfect timing and bent down, narrowly dodging.

The sorcerer’s trick was avoided as Enkrid ducked low.

But the sorcerer didn’t stop and kept mouthing words.

As he crouched, Enkrid had already gathered power in his toes.

The frozen earth beneath him sank slightly.

The moment of ‘Will’ erupted.

Boom!

The earth burst open, and he charged.

As Enkrid kicked the earth, dirt shot up like a fountain.

Rock fragments shattered and flew everywhere.

It was a charge that could be called superhuman strength.

Even the charge of the semi-knight he had seen before was nothing to envy now.

Whoosh, everything was pushed back.

He charged, drawing his gladius.

Expansion, contraction, explosion.

Following the thrusting force, his waist muscles twisted and transferred the strength into his sword, the great sword’s steel slash cutting the sorcerer’s torso.

Boom!

The sound of the strike echoed.

The sorcerer’s upper body was sent flying upwards as if it exploded.

Thanks to the incredible speed and finishing blow.

It was an attack still unpolished, but its force was monstrous.

‘At least one.’

This was just the beginning.

The sorcerer had brought ominousness to every step.

Without this person, there was no next step.

So, this is where force was used.

And next,

In the ominous feeling closing in from all sides, Enkrid stepped toward the less dangerous spot.

From the enemy soldier’s point of view, it seemed almost mad.

It looked like he was deliberately running towards the area where the heavy infantry was firmly holding their ground.

Running towards the area with a higher density of soldiers would have looked crazy to anyone.

“Block him!”

The commander’s shout split the sky today.

For some, this was a once-in-a-lifetime day.

For others, it was just another of hundreds of todays.

***

“Nilf, the situation!”

Abnaier had completely cornered Enkrid.

In truth, he had.

He had killed him hundreds of times.

But for one who repeats today, death is merely a delayed opportunity.

Of course, Enkrid had almost been trapped.

The trap Abnaier had set was that vicious.

Though it wasn’t visible, a dagger had already lodged in his heart.

Even so, there were always those who, after extracting such a wound, kept moving forward.

“It’s not good. Even an eel couldn’t slip out of here, but he moves as if he knows everything we’ve prepared.”

They were receiving live updates about Enkrid’s position.

Abnaier was utterly determined to kill the man.

A furrow appeared on Abnaier’s brow.

It was a habit that came when things weren’t going as planned.

His fingers drummed on his thigh.

Was it impatience?

No.

It was a movement borne of focus.

Abnaier had no intention of losing his prey now.

“Push him, don’t let him escape.”

“Gray Dogs?”

“They’re chasing him. It’s strange how he’s weaving through areas dense with soldiers, but we’re getting lost in the process.”

‘Is he moving knowing?’

Could he be?

A multitude of soldiers was pursuing him.

Naturally, Enkrid would have to move through openings.

His feet would go to where gaps appear.

It was human instinct.

Abnaier commanded as such.

He opened up small gaps and positioned the Gray Dogs, wizards, and sorcerers in place.

Figures of cavalry were scattered across the platform.

Abnaier quickly moved their positions.

‘What if he’s moving by reversing the strategy?’

Then we move in reverse too.

Originally, he had stationed the swordsmen from the Hurrier family where the density was low.

Now, it was the opposite.

He had them all move.

He had them chase Enkrid.

‘You’re no knight.’

Therefore, you cannot break through a wall made by a thousand soldiers on your own.

Where did the engineers build the stone wall?

The cliffs?

The traps hidden in the gaps?

There were over eighty places with dug holes.

It wasn’t that the advance had been slow for no reason.

Boom!

Abnaier slapped the platform with his hand.

“After all this, if I miss him, it would be absurd, wouldn’t it?”

The ominous feeling was a power everyone possessed.

Enkrid’s sixth sense and intuition were closer to a premonition than reasoning.

He hadn’t figured out Abnaier’s intentions.

‘If I go this way, something bad might happen.’

He moved with that simple, thoughtless idea.

That confusion was exactly what Abnaier felt.

Time passed, reports continued.

“We’re pulling back.”

What is this now?

This was a trap prepared for when Enkrid reached the outskirts, yet now he was suddenly turning back toward the center?

Having already exited the range of sorcery, Enkrid would have already figured out the direction.

But he was returning to where the original siege was set up.

Of course, it was a trap.

If he rushed in, preparations were already in place to catch him.

But how did he know to slip out?

“Injuries?”

“I’ve taken two quarrels to the back.”

“Poison?”

“I haven’t applied it.”

He had selected the best archers to deliver poisoned arrows, but not every archer received one.

‘Did he know and dodge them?’

Did he intentionally avoid the dangerous arrows?

‘That’s delusion.’

Exaggerated speculation.

A futile illusion.

No human could grasp it all.

‘Or is he truly a knight?’

No, that wasn’t it.

He had certainly shown improved skill compared to yesterday.

But still, he wasn’t a knight.

And yet, he couldn’t be caught.

He had been placed right in the palm, and yet his grip failed.

It was as though there was oil on his fingers, making him slip away.

How is this possible?

The next report only left Abnaier more astounded.

“Sir.”

Nilf’s voice was urgent.

“Speak.”

After hearing the report, Abnaier lost his smile.

That Enkrid had been trapped in his palm, but he had slipped out.

Yet, this wasn’t the end.

There were still preparations left.

“Where are Galaph and the Knight Commander?”

“I’ve sent messengers.”

“Tell them to come immediately!”

Galaph was a sorcerer summoned with a heap of gold coins.

It wasn’t just the gold that had been spent.

Promises had been made, more than one.

Not to mention, he was a rare individual borrowed with the king’s approval.

Still, the commander here was himself, so they would come when called.

That was the promise.

He couldn’t just send his disciples and clean his hands of the matter.

Galaph, and then the Knight Commander.

If Enkrid escaped, these were the second line of defense.

Of course, before that, the two had their own tasks.

Abnaier had an extraordinary mind.

He was intelligent, quick-thinking.

He didn’t waste his forces.

That wasn’t all—he had even seen the future after killing Enkrid and the other elite forces.

‘I will overturn it all.’

Change the course of the battlefield.

Reverse it.

Turn the tides of victory and defeat.

If everyone does their part, it will happen.

That was Abnaier’s intention.

“Bring in the assassination squad too!”

He would use everything prepared, starting with Galaph and the Knight Commander.

Abnaier’s resolve was firm.

But, of course, not everything in this world goes according to plan.

‘Everything is ominous.’

But still, there was a way.

Though it may not be called a gap, even a small space could work.

If the gap is small, you can just widen it with force.

He would combine the ominous feeling with his own strength.

Enkrid intentionally targeted the stone wall.

He swung his gladius over the artificial wall the enemy soldiers had built.

‘It won’t break with just this, right?’

The dwarf who handed him the sword wasn’t so confident, but Enkrid was half sure.

The gladius in his hand was the strongest he had used so far, at least in terms of strength.

Crash!

He didn’t strike with the edge but the flat side of the blade.

Some parts of the stone wall cracked.

He kicked it and pulled with his hands.

In the meantime, some arrows from the archers approached. He dodged some and took others with his body.

He did exactly as his instinct told him.

It was better than trying to dodge them all.

He had learned that from a week’s worth of failures.

Indeed, that was true.

Looking to the side, he saw a few archers with poisoned arrows.

Had he avoided them quickly, he would have had more arrow decorations on him.

They were the ones who were too bothersome to chase.

They were already in a highly ominous place.

The materials and data gathered from hundreds of todays, from hundreds of deaths, all helped guide his intuitive answers.

It was a tower built from experience.

It was the source of his instinctual ominous feeling.

Enkrid struck the stone wall again.

Boom!

The second explosion sounded.

As the dust rose from the crumbling wall, Enkrid, lying down, created a small gap.

In the meantime, the enemy soldiers rushed in, but in the end, Enkrid found his opening.

On the outskirts of the poorly built wall, where it met the cliff, the wall collapsed.

This was the act that made Abnaier think Enkrid had slipped out of his palm.

The stone wall collapsed, and dust rose.

The northern winter was dry, with a series of warm days.

The dust quickly obscured everyone’s vision.

“Wizard!”

LeBlanc Hurrier shouted.

It was a moment when two of their companions had been lost.

Out of the four wizards, only two had survived.

The battle had been awkward.

Enkrid had been able to kill the two wizards with a little more effort, but he had pulled back.

Of course, had he hesitated then, he would have been caught from behind for sure.

How could he make the judgment to pull back at that moment?

As the dust from the collapsing wall filled the air, Enkrid’s eyes glowed blue and blue.

His senses continued to merge, and his instinct for evasion was opening up a new path.

So,

‘I see a way.’

His five senses blended and compressed, visualizing and revealing the path ahead.

And thus, a virtual line appeared clearly in front of him.

It was a path made of blue light.

It was the path to end the long today.