The moment of extreme pain was short yet long. He opened his eyes while the aftereffects of that pain remained. He calmed his agitated breathing in just two breaths. Focusing on the agony would only make it hurt enough to drive him mad. No matter what he did, the pain never disappeared in an instant as it always had been.
'It hurts.'
He hadn't adapted to the pain experienced right until the moment before death. But was that even important?
Several thoughts followed in succession as he endured the lingering phantom pain remaining in his body.
Enkrid looked ahead, swaying with the rippling motion. He saw the ferryman standing motionless on the small boat. The lamp held in his hands seemed like a still-life painting, frozen in quiet stillness regardless of the boat's rocking.
"So this is what you meant by the end? Dying while fighting, then dying while fighting again? Your brain will melt from the pain."
The ferryman waved the hand not holding the lamp along with those words. At that gesture, Enkrid felt his body being pushed back without being able to say a word. Perhaps it was his imagination that the ferryman's attitude seemed sulky.
And when he opened his eyes again, he realized he was standing motionless. The ferryman's boat and the river were nowhere to be seen. This was reality, not a dream.
He'd already repeated today to the point of tedium. Enkrid checked his surroundings and his body's condition to grasp when now was.
'Was this where today started?'
The standard for gauging the day's beginning had been twisted by the Balrog wielding his power to create the labyrinth. Still, if there's an end, there must be a beginning.
The ferryman had set that beginning as the moment just before Enkrid stepped into the labyrinth's passage and witnessed his first opponent.
In other words, when he met his first opponent.
"Ah, a customer?"
That opponent spoke. Enkrid looked at him indifferently, but his head was full of other thoughts.
If the ferryman had given him a bit of time, he could have organized his thoughts, but he'd immediately kicked him out.
Thanks to that, he felt dissonance. Hadn't he been desperately fighting the Balrog just moments ago, clenching his molars to endure?
The phantom of pain hadn't yet faded, and the burnt smell from his burning innards still swirled through his nostrils.
'But it's okay.'
Enkrid had experienced this countless times. He knew where to focus at times like these.
Sword, flow, changes in Will, results of training, bodily movements, the process of fighting.
He did just that.
He fixed his branching thoughts to one direction. It was one method of shaking off and overcoming the phantom of pain—focusing on elements that brought him ecstasy.
'The black flame sword burns just by grazing.'
The flame whip moved on its own. It acted as if it had a will of its own.
And.
'The ferryman's blessing is effective.'
Though the ferryman himself would ask back why this was a blessing.
It was the moment of facing the demon's power, yet Enkrid hadn't changed. It was the same whether it was when he first died to a thrust or now.
Back then, what he'd clung to in order to surpass the wall was the Heart of the Beast; what he clung to now was something not yet established—that was the only difference.
"What? Are you mute?"
The opponent asked while approaching. A fellow who hid countless weapons in the fluttering sleeves within the darkness.
He brought his hands to the two swords stuck at both hips, then dropped them without drawing. He'd judged it more advantageous to approach unarmed rather than drawing his sword and raising the opponent's vigilance.
Enkrid seemed to be looking at him with his eyes, but on closer inspection, his focus was blurred. It was a gaze that seemed to be looking far away rather than at the person standing right in front of him. In other words, anyone could see he was lost in other thoughts.
It was an opening that someone with knight-level keen senses couldn't miss. The opponent recognized it too. Even so, Enkrid only continued thinking.
'Swordsmanship is a tool.'
What if that tool is mixed?
'When going from squire to knight, I naturally used Will; at knight level, I gather and use Will again by putting intention into it.'
He'd even made blades from Will. The Balrog knew how to do that too.
Enkrid's thoughts dove inward. There was much to learn, master, and realize both externally and internally.
So he was in the middle of doing just that.
It was about when the phantom of pain from the previous today had completely disappeared. The approaching fellow blinked his eyes and muttered.
"Well, this is something. If you took the wrong path, quietly leave."
It was a deflated voice. Just hearing the words made it seem that way, but what he did was entirely different.
He narrowed his blinking eyes, shifted his center of gravity backward as if to pull back his body, then suddenly leaped forward.
An afterimage remained on his body, drawing a line. Enkrid's eyes captured the opponent. It wasn't particularly difficult. Though fast, it wasn't something to miss.
His sense of danger was also low.
Originally, this was an opponent with a skill gap, and just moments ago he'd been desperately struggling to land even one blow on the Balrog. The phantom of pain had faded, but the phantom of fighting senses remained.
Enkrid's reaction was immediate.
However, it wasn't an ordinary sword strike.
The premise of countering with the opponent's specialty was the same as when he first saw him. It remained unchanged.
'Deception.'
He was confident in that area too.
Enkrid looked at his opponent with a blank gaze, then widened his eyes with shock as if just now discovering him.
The opponent believed his attack had worked, and Enkrid displayed excellent acting skills—keeping his eyes in the surprised look while moving his hands and feet at a speed and trajectory completely different from his expression.
He extended his left hand to grab the opponent's wrist. He pulled and twisted it as is.
Even before meeting Audin, his training to build strength had never ceased, so he always had better strength than other mercenaries.
On top of that, the Isolation Technique devised by Audin was added, and now he even used Will. Just by twisting and pulling the wrist, Enkrid obtained what he wanted.
Crack!
The wrist gripping the dagger snapped like a piece of wood. At the same time, because he'd pulled with all his strength, it created the appearance of the opponent rushing toward Enkrid.
In that process, the blade specialist who made deception his forte did shake his other wrist to grab a new dagger, but he had no chance to use it.
He pulled while rushing forward. Enkrid closed the distance with his opponent while lifting his feet. Using the planted foot as the axis, he tilted his neck back then thrust it forward.
No matter how fast one's hands are, they can't be faster than a forehead thrust from this closely attached state.
Thus, leading with his forehead, he rammed into the philtrum area between nose and mouth.
Kwang!
It sounded like rock striking rock.
"Urk."
From the struck fellow's face, black mist flowed instead of blood, and several front teeth tumbled out.
A wound from teeth also remained on Enkrid's forehead, but this was intentional.
The blood flowing on his forehead whooshed and flew backward.
Since he moved continuously even after the headbutt, there was no time for blood to flow downward.
Enkrid had grabbed and twisted the opponent's wrist, and with his remaining hand was already in the middle of drawing and swinging his sword.
Every motion fell within calculation. It was at a level that could be said to be even higher than Aker's web.
It was a harmony of deception and proper swordplay. Before the one deceived while trying to deceive could recover anything.
"...!"
There was no time even to be startled, so the opponent had his eyes wide open and mouth slightly parted. Black mist clumped together and spurted like blood from inside that mouth, but before it could even fall to the ground, Dawnforge struck his neck.
Enkrid briefly observed the expression of the one whose neck was severed. Compared to the shocked expression he'd shown through acting, this side was more realistic.
It was natural. Enkrid had done it with the intent to deceive his opponent, but the one whose neck was severed by his sword was truly experiencing it.
'There's quite a lot to learn.'
Of course, he wasn't just talking about the dead one's expression. It was a thought that arose while extending his sword.
In the slash he'd simply swung just now, his sword naturally thrust like Flash, mixed with the Sword of Chance, and contained the essentials of Vortex.
'Above all, I was ahead in calculation.'
Even without grasping the opponent's intent, he countered with the Sword of Chance and swung his sword through Thought Optimization.
_'What more should I mix in here?'
It was a vague feeling, but now even that vagueness didn't seem so high. The Enkrid from when he first died to a thrust and now were different people. Now he could learn something from even a single fight.
It was so with the fight against the Balrog.
"This is good."
Enkrid muttered to himself. It wasn't common. He wouldn't do this unless he was exceptionally excited.
In other words, the Balrog wasn't the only being displaying ecstasy, joy, and pleasure.
In his inner world, the ferryman only clicked his tongue saying that bastard was crazy anyway.
[ * * * ]
Time-wise, the moment everyone including Rem's fight ended was the moment Enkrid's today began.
In other words, around when Enkrid headed toward the Balrog again, the Madman Knight Company group was catching their breath for a moment.
Even while doing so, they were aware of things appearing sluggishly from one side.
Anyone could see the number of things gathering from far away wasn't small. Enough to make counting tedious.
Not all of them were like the one Rem had faced or the one Audin had burst open. Most of those who'd been eroded by the labyrinth for a long time with not even reason remaining were things that just swung swords with eyeballs turned pitch black.
Of course, since people died if struck even by those blind blades, the threat level couldn't be called low.
"There are many. Is that brother still holding on?"
Audin asked while clenching and unclenching his fist. Beside him, Teresa glanced backward, holding a shield in her left hand and sword in her right. Her gaze headed toward the subject of Audin's question.
Rem, who'd smashed the head of the one rushing at him, threw down the burden he'd been shouldering on his shoulder as soon as he arrived. The person who caught what was thrown was Roman.
He inadvertently set him down behind himself, and thus that man was now sleeping peacefully behind Roman.
A few of the residents gathered on one side watching the situation, while Lawford and Pel just kept their eyes ahead, exchanging words like "They keep coming?" "Indeed."
"It's because that bastard slacks off even in moments like this that he doesn't become vice-captain."
Rem answered while feeling the stiffness in his muscles.
"Hehe."
Audin laughed it off, and Luagarne, having lost a leg and standing on one, was busy grasping the situation.
"The Balrog, right?"
Her mouth opened but there was no answer. Everyone seemed to think so. Was it a moment when the sense of crisis surged?
Roman thought so. It would be a lie to say he wasn't afraid. Seeing the various combinations of wraith knights gathering ahead and their numbers, it felt like saliva would gulp down his throat.
But these people didn't do that. They seemed to have forgotten even fear. To Roman's eyes, it was so.
"My fiancé is nowhere to be seen."
Shinar spoke calmly while casting her gaze far away. The person who should be frothing at the mouth and rampaging even from sleep at this kind of fight was nowhere to be seen. Naturally, he must be fighting elsewhere.
She threw those words and opened her mouth again as if unrelated to what was currently happening.
The fairy with otherworldly beauty spoke words that also far exceeded what humans could expect.
"Then you all stay here and block. I'll be where I need to be."
Yeah, you guys figure this out here and I'm going to do my business.
The content was no different from saying this.
At Shinar's words, everyone except Roman frowned. Roman was standing determined to protect Ragna behind him.
It was currently the best an injured person limping on one leg, and among these the one most lacking in skill, could do.
Just deciding not to give up and not to break didn't mean doing the obviously fatal thing of fighting in a place where death was certain—that was what fools did. He'd decided to endure, so he stood at this position.
From ahead, things that were wraiths or whatever still approached, each displaying knight-level military power.
Of course, they weren't really knights. He knew from watching these people fight them, and he could probably face one or two if he put his mind to it.
'Though there is variation even among them.'
Among them, some were at a dizzying level of skill just from looking.
One of them had its head burst by that bear beastman Audin, and another was killed by that bastard Rem.
Between the miscellaneous thoughts filling Roman's head, an answer to the fairy's words came back.
"What are you saying?"
Rem said while picking his ear.
"Elderly sister, where do you think you're slipping away alone?"
Audin said while clasping both hands in a prayer posture.
"Elderly?"
Though a fairy, Shinar was in the middle of becoming accustomed to expressing emotions. She repeated the bear beastman's words that scratched at her inner self.
"Who's elderly?"
Audin only continued smiling, and Shinar's green eyes turned coldly. Between that, Rem's words cut in abruptly.
"The lazy one is sleeping, and if you two are going to brawl, stay here and handle those things. This vice-captain is taking the wildcat and leaving first."
This time, Audin and Shinar's gazes turned toward Rem.
"Not everything spoken with your mouth is words."
"I said before too, the vice-captain position should be held by a companion."
While they bickered, the horde of wraith knights closed the distance. Death Knights transformed among them were visible here and there, three or four Dullahanriding horses with heads tucked under their arms, and the Minotaurus that Enkrid had killed was mixed in too.
Roman blinked. All sorts of thoughts arose, but seeing these people, it seemed his own reason for fear disappeared. Somehow, there was no sense of crisis whatsoever from these fellows.