Chapter 25 - Tall Grass Fields

"We'll push through the grass just like this and track the Reconnaissance Squad's trail. What do you think?"

Looking again, the Recon Squad Leader's eyes were sparkling as he said this.

It was a mix of anticipation, confidence, and just the right amount of tension.

It was a new today.

To sum it up, fleeing was a failure.

After opening his eyes, Encrid welcomed the new today by reflecting on the day.

'Where did it go wrong?'

Going east might have been a mistake.

'No, I think it was fine up to that point.'

Reflecting was Encrid's habit.

While running east, he encountered the crossbow unit again and collapsed with a barrage of bolts stuck in his body.

He twitched while collapsed on the ground, only to die when a bolt pierced his head.

He didn't even want to recall the pain from that time.

But if he didn't review it, he would keep dying. He hated that even more.

Reflecting, continuously looking back to find the problem. Encrid repeated his thoughts.

'I could hear them, so I seized the chance first.'

He had caught the unnatural sound.

What he learned from Jaxon had helped.

After that, his Heart of a Beast allowed him to view the situation coldly.

He had to pick a side and break through.

Even though he failed.

'If I do it again.'

He felt like he could do it. He wasn't caught by a pursuing unit, but unluckily ran into a waiting unit.

'I just need to take a different path.'

While lost in thought, someone tapped his shoulder from beside him.

It was Henri.

Encrid thought he had been too spaced out.

"We'll just take a quick look and leave, so hold it in."

He didn't know what Henri kept telling him to hold in.

"Because your expression looks bad."

Saying that, Henri subtly pointed forward with his eyes.

Turning his gaze forward, he made eye contact with the tough-looking soldier trailing right behind the Squad Leader.

He looked like he was glaring, but he probably wasn't looking at him to pick a fight.

'Seeing how he asks us to be understanding of the Squad Leader, he must be the reasonable type.'

He was probably thinking about finding an opportunity to properly talk him down around now.

Judging that the situation wasn't right to start a conversation, the tough-looking soldier averted his gaze first.

Encrid nodded at Henri in acknowledgement and walked on.

He stepped inside, pushing the grass aside with his hands.

Soon, a familiar sight covered his eyes. The green Tall Grass Fields heavily restricted his vision.

It was definitely bad to face an ambushing enemy in here. Risking one's life to willingly enter this place was not something one would normally do.

'What if we just don't go in here in the first place?'

That wouldn't work.

Reconnoitering the Tall Grass Fields was the reason and purpose this squad came here.

What could they possibly say if they ignored that and went back?

That they noticed the enemy's ambush before even going inside?

Even if they somehow managed to change the direction of the reconnaissance.

There was no way the ten people here would easily play along with that story.

It was unavoidable. Usually, the newly welcomed 'today' was always like this.

If asked whether it was troubling, however.

'It's not bad.'

Even though he had only fought properly once.

Henri had looked at him and asked how he was a lowest-grade soldier.

The Squad Leader had degraded himself.

'Actual combat.'

It was only a single battle, but that one experience was invaluable.

The Heart of a Beast gave him no time to panic.

He swung and thrust his sword, splitting through the gaps.

He moved by predicting the opponent's behavioral patterns.

In between, he utilized what he had learned.

THUMP.

His heart beat. It felt like something thrilling pierced through his body.

'This is a good opportunity.'

Before leaving for the reconnaissance mission, Rem and Ragna had taken turns looking over his swordsmanship.

What he had learned from them.

What he had realized on his own.

It was perfect for digesting all of it.

"Do you see this? Where the grass is laid flat?"

"Those are beast footprints."

Encrid was a man who knew how to use what he had learned.

He pretended to know.

Henri looked at Encrid, rolled his eyes around, and asked.

"You have hunting experience, don't you?"

He didn't. It was something he had learned from Henri.

"I just heard a few things here and there."

He had heard it from Henri.

After answering honestly, he continued the trivial conversation.

Meanwhile, he quickened his pace slightly and stuck close to the front.

Right behind the Squad Leader.

Encrid was currently assessing the reconnaissance squad's formation.

It was a detail he hadn't paid much attention to before.

The Squad Leader was in front, two on the right, two on the left.

The spot right behind the Squad Leader was taken by the tough-looking soldier.

The rest of the personnel followed behind as the rearguard.

'So he's not just an idiot.'

The formation was plausible.

It was a good shape to respond with if enemies appeared.

Though a formation wouldn't be of much use if they encountered a unit armed with crossbows.

In the today where he had died, the Recon Squad Leader didn't act like a fool anymore.

He silently followed wherever Encrid led.

On top of that, his sword skills were pretty decent.

The tough-looking soldier was a very skilled soldier.

'At least middle-grade or higher.'

That was true when looking at the standard of Naurilia's soldiers.

Both the Squad Leader and the tough-looking soldier.

Both had decent skills.

Henri wasn't bad either. Walking with a shortbow in his left hand, he knew how to rapid-fire arrows.

Even so, it wasn't at a level where he could survive while dodging dozens of bolts.

'I must absolutely avoid the crossbow unit.'

Encrid deliberately walked closely behind the Squad Leader.

Perhaps mindful of the Squad Leader, the tough-looking soldier didn't strike up a conversation.

RUSTLE. HISS! CRACKLE.

And then he heard the same sounds again.

"Duck."

First, he grabbed the Squad Leader by the nape of his neck and threw him backward.

The first time, only four survived and ran away.

This time, he would save a few more.

"Urgh!"

The Squad Leader let out something like a scream as he fell backward.

"Enemies!"

The enemy shouted. Bolts soon flew in.

In the meantime, Encrid kicked the backs of the knees of two allied soldiers in sequence.

*SWISH! SWISH! * Bolts flew right over the heads of the fallen soldiers.

Encrid also spread his feet front and back and lowered his body closely to the ground.

A grasshopper right in front of his eyes must have been startled, quickly leaping away.

Encrid did a split with his legs front and back, then stood up using the elasticity of his thigh muscles and erector spinae to throw a throwing knife.

*SWOOSH! * The knife tore through the air.

The knife cleaved through empty space. It failed to hit anything, but it made the enemy flinch for a moment.

A short opening, that was enough.

SMACK.

He extended his elbow backward, lightly striking the Squad Leader's forehead.

"Snap out of it."

Saying that, he launched himself forward.

THUD-THUD.

Trampling over the dirt and grass, he drew his sword. The moment he drew it, he took a stance and executed a one-handed thrust.

'With all my might.'

He had to carry the determination to absolutely pierce through, but his muscles shouldn't lose their strength after the thrust. How do you save your strength while thrusting with all your might?

"You need the feel for it. How do you get that feel? Keep going. You'll get it as you do it."

Those were the words Rem had told him during a spar.

Encrid was currently digesting that right here on the spot.

THWACK!

The tip of the sword pierced the opponent's chest area.

He twisted and pulled it out.

The blade that split muscle, nerve, and heart was pulled out.

He pretended to swing horizontally, then closed the distance and swung his foot to snap kick another enemy soldier's shin.

It was an enemy soldier who was just lifting a crossbow to take aim.

"Gah!"

The struck soldier instinctively bowed his head, and Encrid slammed the pommel into the back of the stooped soldier's head.

CRUNCH!

The motion was like striking a flimsy leather helmet with a blunt weapon.

The sensation of solidly splitting a live tree traveled through his fingertips.

That was right after he struck down the second guy. He saw a man rushing towards him wearing cloth armor twice as thick as normal and holding a massive round shield.

THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!

Henri rapid-fired three arrows.

But the arrows couldn't pierce the armor.

No blood seeped out from where they stuck. One clumsily embedded arrow wobbled up and down before just falling to the ground.

Because he shot too hastily, he wasn't able to properly utilize the bow's tension.

Encrid hurriedly switched his sword to his left hand and swung it just like that.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as the blade and the edge of the shield met.

He managed to dent the shield's frame, but Encrid's hand went numb as well.

"Kuaaah!"

The enemy soldier let out a roar and lunged down at Encrid's head.

THUMP.

A place where a momentary lapse in attention meant death.

If you panic, you die.

That was exactly what a battlefield was.

It was precisely in these moments that the Heart of a Beast shined.

The audacity that made one remain calm even in the middle of a battlefield.

Because the heart made of thick muscle was doing its job.

Encrid could accurately see the trajectory of the shield slamming down.

"Look carefully, and dodge well."

It was Rem's teaching.

He looked, and he dodged.

"There are no useless parts on a sword. From the hilt to the tip, you use it all."

This was Ragna's teaching.

Encrid watched closely and stepped back at the exact, hair-raising timing.

*WHOOSH. * His hair fluttered from the wind pressure as the shield grazed right past his nose.

"Huff, huff!"

The guy who slammed the shield down tensed his muscles and hoisted the shield back up.

Rough breaths were heard from beyond the shield.

Through the sound of his breathing and the movement of his shoulders, it was clear the opponent was highly tense.

He rolled his eyes, peering slightly over the top of the shield to watch Encrid.

Striking the shield would only prolong the fight.

Encrid tossed his sword, switching his grip so the hilt faced up and the blade was in his hand.

While holding it like that, he swung with all his might using the rotation of his waist and knees.

It was a motion executed before the shield-bearing enemy could even do anything.

SWOOSH, THWACK!

Soon, the jagged base of the blade, the edge of the crossguard, embedded itself into the opponent's eye.

Blood burst from his eye.

Clear fluid streamed down along with the blood.

"Kuaaaack!"

The newly one-eyed soldier let out a scream.

With his hand bleeding from gripping the blade, Encrid drew his short sword.

Just like that, he plunged the blade into the neck of the opponent who was thrashing around half-blind, then pulled it out.

SQUELCH!

Blood spurted in time with his motion. *Gurgle. * A bloody foam bubbled from his neck as the shield-bearer collapsed face-first onto the ground.

"Over here!"

Because it was a series of ruthless scenes.

Everyone stared at Encrid, unable to close their mouths in shock.

Just how many people did he take down in that brief moment?

Encrid retrieved the sword that had pierced the opponent's eye.

Blood was thickly smeared all the way to the hilt.

He moved on, roughly wiping it off.

This time, the number of people who followed him was six.

He had saved two more.

"... What are you."

The Recon Squad Leader, sticking closely by his side as they ran, asked.

"Are you asking because you don't know?"

It would be better to run than to waste time saying things like this.

Encrid ran east again.

Even after that, he struck down and killed every enemy soldier he saw.

This time he had advanced deeper than before, but...

'I chose the wrong direction.'

He felt certain that east was not the way.

This time, he met fifty spearmen.

Fifty trained spearmen was a platoon-sized force.

Mere three people couldn't face them.

They had lost the rest on the way, leaving only the Recon Squad Leader and the tough-looking soldier.

"We got unlucky."

The tough-looking soldier said.

"Damn it."

The Recon Squad Leader looked around with a crying face.

As for Encrid.

"I'll take five with me."

He steeled his resolve and charged.

From the opponent's perspective, he must have seemed like an absolute madman.

Charging after seeing fifty spearmen?

To the group of spearmen, this was a complete lunatic.

It might be understandable if he was a knight or someone belonging to a knight order.

What on earth was this?

Seeing how he used a sword, they could tell he knew how to fight, but it wasn't at an incredible level.

At best, he might be called an experienced soldier.

Seeing him charge in without regard for his own life couldn't possibly look normal.

Charging in like that, Encrid killed three spearmen.

And then he was skewered through the stomach with a spear and died.

Of course, it hurt terribly.

He saw a long flag lying behind the group of spearmen, and that was his last memory.

* * *

"Let's go this way. If we kill the enemy soldiers beyond the grass, it's an achievement, right? Or would it be better to capture them alive?"

Listening to the Squad Leader's words, Encrid once again reflected on the day.

He was reflecting.

'I don't see a way out in the east.'

Then this time, it's north.

Actual combat was a great source of nourishment.

This was something even Rem and Ragna, who were on such bad terms, agreed upon.

Moreover, didn't Jaxon say the same thing?

That the best way to train the five senses is to fight with your life on the line.

He said human concentration shatters its limits in the moment of death.

Encrid was proving those words with his own body.

'I've improved.'

It wasn't arrogance, and it wasn't conceit.

Even thinking objectively, his skills had improved quite a bit.

And he was still improving right now.

In the repeated today, Encrid died nine more times in the north.

He died six more times in the east.

And he died twelve more times in the west.

The battles continued.

Skills don't improve all at once. That couldn't be helped.

But he could calmly take it one step at a time.

Encrid once again felt joy.

Because he was still growing even now.

Because there was a today that was better than yesterday.

"Uwaaah!"

SLASH!

In one of the repeated days, a rather brave soldier's spear blade grazed his cheek.

It was a strike the former Encrid wouldn't have been able to dodge.

It was a strike truly similar to that of the stabbing soldier, but he dodged it.

He didn't just stop at dodging.

Countless actual battles had instilled good habits into Encrid.

As he dodged, he struck down with his sword from top to bottom.

A vertically descending sword strike.

SWOOSH.

And in that moment, Encrid felt a strange sensation.

He struck down with his sword, but there was no sensation left in his hands.

No, it was too faint.

He had clearly sliced through the opponent's arm on the way down, but it felt like he had cut a rotten branch.

It was that effortless.

On the other hand, the opponent's arm was cleanly severed and flew into the air.

He didn't even hear a sound.

An unimaginably clean strike.

The commonly spoken of sword strike where no feeling is felt in the hands.

That strike which those called geniuses pull off countless times.

"Ah."

Encrid was so surprised that his concentration broke for a moment.

It was his first time experiencing this in the middle of a battle.

The weight of the sword in his hand could be fully felt.

The thrilling sensation left in his hands made him feel pure joy.

"Ha, really."

It was so exciting.

He laughed while covered in blood. He couldn't hold back his laughter from the unparalleled satisfaction bubbling up inside him.

"Crazy bastard!"

From the enemy army's perspective, he was nothing but a complete crazy bastard.

Regardless, Encrid died countless times again.

And he repeated today countless times again.

In that repeated today, what he learned from sparring seeped into his body.