Chapter 715 - This Dog
"Do you know what makes an extraordinary con artist?"
Krais spoke out of the blue.
Sometimes, after their day's work was done, the ones who had time would gather around a campfire, roasting chestnuts or walnuts, and this comment came out during one of those casual chats.
It was a conversation without any particular purpose — just idle talk.
You could even say he only spoke up because the chestnut in his hand was too hot and he had set it down to cool off.
"Isn't it someone whose brain runs like clockwork?"
Rem said, tapping the side of his own head while cracking open walnuts with the handle of his axe in his other hand.
Crack, snap.
With just the right amount of strength and perfect precision, the walnut split open cleanly without flying off.
At Rem's comment, Krais shook his head with exaggerated motions.
Finding it unbearably annoying, Rem promptly threw the axe he was holding.
Of course, Krais didn't end up dead from that throw.
Enkrid, who was standing nearby, caught the axe midair.
"Thank you for sparing my life, Captain."
Krais said nonchalantly, and Enkrid simply gave a small nod in return.
"That makes sixteen times I've saved your life. Shouldn't you be showing a little more gratitude? How about peeling those chestnuts more neatly?"
"Yes, yes, here you go, your lordship."
Krais skillfully spun his knife and handed over a perfectly peeled, pristine white chestnut.
Nearby, Shinar was munching on walnuts wrapped in flower petals, and Esther silently nibbled on a few pine nuts while watching them.
As Rem retrieved his axe, he muttered,
"That bastard's not even scared anymore."
Ragna, sitting beside him, offered a piece of advice.
"If you really want to kill him, it's better to swing the axe up close."
"…Hey, you crazy bastard, you think I don't know that?"
Rem exploded in anger, though fortunately it didn't escalate to knife fights.
Jaxen was quietly arranging chestnuts into neat rows nearby, and Audin was rambling on about how they should be grateful to God for blessing them with such delicious food.
Enkrid nodded in agreement at the sweet flavor of the chestnuts and listened as Krais continued.
"A clever con artist eventually gets too confident in his own smarts, gets blindsided, and ends up knocking on heaven's door.
They get tricked by their own tricks.
That's why truly extraordinary con artists don't trust their own brains."
Enkrid was in the middle of chewing on several chestnuts, washing them down with water, so he just gave a small nod instead of replying.
"Extraordinary ones pick their targets carefully."
This was the heart of what Krais was saying.
A truly smart and skilled con artist didn't choose difficult opponents.
He said gamblers operated the same way.
"They say the hardest part is getting a sucker to sit at your table."
Exactly.
It's hard to trick a clever person, but deceiving a gullible one is easy — the real challenge is finding that gullible one.
Enkrid was feeling the full weight of those words right now.
***
"So, did you predict this too?"
Panito — the man who called Hescal his master and acted as his right-hand — asked.
His voice crackled like freshly lit firewood.
His gaze, the way his hands moved as he spoke, the words he spat out between his lips — all of it burned with the same fierce heat, but at its core was jealousy.
Naturally, Enkrid, even as Panito's words came with the heat of a blaze, simply sidestepped internally, thinking, 'Ah, so you breathe fire too,' and ignored the tone altogether.
As he spoke, Panito raised the sword in his right hand high.
Whatever he had done, the blade seemed to ripple with black waves.
Screeeeech.
The sword let out a wailing cry.
A sword imbued with an evil spirit.
If the blade contained a malevolent spirit, could it be called an ego sword?
No, it would be more accurate to just call it a cursed sword.
"Of course."
Enkrid nodded calmly.
A tremor flickered at the corner of Panito's eyes.
Watching that, Enkrid's thoughts only deepened further.
If you deduce the surrounding circumstances, patch them together, and fit all coincidences into a single intent, the answer becomes clear.
Scattered, they're just beads; but string them together, and they become a necklace.
Who received the cursed sword, and what power did it hold?
By attaching evidence to assumptions through multidimensional thinking, the answer would naturally emerge.
"Do you trust the sword Dmule gave you? The sword that suppresses the Will and restricts your body's freedom with an evil spirit?"
If you phrase it vaguely but with an air of detail, you could deceive the opponent perfectly.
He asked that and watched for a reaction.
Panito's startled expression was obvious.
His shoulder even twitched slightly.
The man proudly revealed his sword, believing he'd win if he so much as grazed his opponent with it.
Fel had possessed such a sword too.
The Will of Rejection had been what was gained from that time.
Fel's idol-slayer had been ineffective against knights or squires capable of wielding a Will.
Therefore, this weapon must be even more threatening, fitting the current situation better.
'Panito is, at best, at squire level, yet he's acting this boldly.'
And yet he didn't look too frightened.
Enkrid had just spit out a guess, inferring from the situation.
"How did you know?"
Panito opened his mouth wide in shock, rainwater flowing in without him even realizing.
"I told you, everything's going according to plan."
As Enkrid spoke, he also grasped that the man before him had spent most of his life sheltered in Yohan.
He had probably never been scammed wandering the continent, nor gambled at a table.
In other words, he was naïve.
"Bring out what you prepared behind you."
This time, Enkrid just said it casually—
"No way, how—?"
Panito was once again astonished.
"According to plan."
Repeating the same words, Enkrid scored a massive victory in their psychological battle.
And then, two assassins, whose presence hadn't been detected even within Enkrid's black-and-white world, revealed themselves behind Panito.
Strictly speaking, they had been visible but ignored before recognition—a trick that erased their presence.
Both wore hooded cloaks, which were Enchanted Items that implemented a veil enchantment.
They were called assassins, but their eyes were pitch-black.
Their forms were human, but they lacked true intellect.
One was large, the other small.
Honestly, Enkrid was a bit surprised too, but he'd always had a knack for deceiving opponents—that was part of why he liked using the Valensian mercenary sword style.
"…Everything really is according to plan."
Since he'd decided to wrap even accidents and misfortune into his "plan," Enkrid reacted consistently—and while he was at it, he pushed one step further.
"I know events a thousand steps away while sitting still."
In short, he just spewed nonsense.
"Ah, so that's why!"
Panito's jaw dropped even wider—it looked like a fist could fit in there.
"I can even predict tomorrow's events."
He threw out another line—
"Impossible, that's absurd."
Yet this time Panito's eyes widened twice as much.
Despite his words, he clearly half-believed it.
"I can see it. The future."
At Enkrid's words, Panito trembled slightly before clamping his mouth shut and opening his eyes to their normal size again.
He was an easy mark to toy with, but he was still a skilled swordsman.
He had the mental strength not to break easily.
"Even so, nothing will change."
Panito said this, waving his hand.
He must have realized that he couldn't just keep getting dragged along like this, so his hand moved.
Following the signal, over fifty arrows came flying.
You couldn't just dodge those with a simple nod or head tilt—they were aiming to turn Enkrid into a human pincushion from head to toe.
At the same time as the arrow storm, an invisible hand appeared midair, deflecting raindrops.
A hand of telekinesis had materialized within arm's reach, trying to grab Enkrid's body.
Yet, by the time Panito lowered his hand, Enkrid was already gone from that spot.
If you had gained an advantage by digging into your opponent's psychology through words, you had to make use of it.
The Luagarne tactical sword style utilized the surrounding environment to the fullest.
And the very first teaching of the Valen mercenary sword was: If you can deceive, deceive the heavens themselves.
"Panito, watch out!"
With a sharp sidestep, Enkrid still kept his eyes closed as he shouted.
His voice, filled with energy, echoed through the air.
The arrows rained down, and his telekinetic hands brushed away the raindrops as he shouted once again.
His overwhelming presence, much like a tempest, took shape, much like his master,
Tempest Yohan, who shaped his dominance into a great sword.
Enkrid's presence now took on a similar form, bearing down on Panito.
'Straight and square, like a fortress wall.'
The pressure of Enkrid's aura revealed the honesty and unyielding resolve within it.
Panito could see Enkrid beginning to tense his back leg, preparing for a violent charge.
Panito's mind raced.
The intensity of the pressure Enkrid had just shown felt like death was closing in.
Inside the high-speed thoughts, Panito readied himself to counter with everything he had.
'I'll block it.'
His armor was enchanted with a spell that could repel most attacks, enough to withstand several strikes.
Meanwhile, the cursed sword Dmule had given him would bring chaos to the mind of anyone it struck, creating hallucinations and confusion, blurring the line between friend and foe.
Panito planned to exploit this, knowing that once the sword's curse took effect, the two swordsmen behind him would jump in to capitalize on the moment.
However, the real threat was not the cursed sword, but the two humanoid golems—the Flash Golems—created by the alchemist of the previous era.
They were towering figures, designed for war.
'Come at me.'
He was ready.
His resolve was high, and he was prepared for whatever came next.
"...This bastard."
Panito couldn't help but curse, his mouth muttering the words before he closed it again.
Pabababak!
Fifty arrows lodged into the ground.
The telekinetic hands lost their target, swept away by the wind and rain.
The two golems, poised to spring into action at any moment, now prepared to strike as Panito braced for Enkrid's direct assault.
Bam!
Enkrid leapt back, his feet sinking into the ground as he put all his strength into the retreat.
It was a move that looked almost like a sudden dash, so swift that it seemed to vanish from sight.
Everyone had been deceived.
Enkrid, having expertly misled his opponents, darted between the two golems, positioning himself between them.
Had they known, they would have reacted.
But in the briefest of moments, Panito's mind failed to process the move.
It was a perfectly executed deception.
He used his aura to mislead them, then, with all his might, launched his sword at the larger golem's neck.
Thunk!
The sound of the blade cutting through the thick neck of the golem was harsh.
The impact showed just how solid the golem's outer body was.
The swift and powerful strike had been executed with such force that the smaller golem barely had time to react.
Enkrid, however, was already one step ahead, using his left hand to throw his sword.
The moment the larger golem's neck was severed, the sword lodged into the smaller golem's head, sending it sprawling backward.
Thud, thud.
Hescal knew about the people of Yohan about Rhinox. He understood his technique, his temperament, and his habits.
While Rhinox was tricky in battle, he did not rely on underhanded tactics.
But Enkrid was different.
'Deceive them.'
Enkrid had understood the essence of the Valenic Mercenary Sword.
It was a sword designed to manipulate the enemy, to deceive them when the opportunity arose.
He also applied the techniques of the Luagarne style, observing the environment and using it to his advantage.
With the Vaenic sword, he was able to deceive his opponent, taking full advantage of the situation.
"You lying bastard!" Panito shouted.
Having dispatched the two golems, Enkrid paused momentarily, only to feint again, dashing forward once more.
This time, his sudden attack caught Panito off guard.
Even though Enkrid had just eliminated the golems, Panito had no time to recover, forced to face another unexpected strike.
Enkrid was skilled at deception, and Panito had walked straight into his trap.
'If you don't see them, you can't dodge their telekinesis.' Panito's thoughts sharpened, recalling the times he had witnessed those with telekinetic powers.
"By now, you should have figured out your weakness."
With a sharp sidestep, Enkrid still kept his eyes closed as he shouted. His voice, filled with energy, echoed through the air. The arrows rained down, and his telekinetic hands brushed away the raindrops as he shouted once again. His overwhelming presence, much like a tempest, took shape, much like his master, Tempest Jaun, who shaped his dominance into a great sword. Enkrid's presence now took on a similar form, bearing down on Panito.
'Straight and square, like a fortress wall.'
The pressure of Enkrid's aura revealed the honesty and unyielding resolve within it. Panito could see Enkrid beginning to tense his back legs, preparing for a violent charge. Panito's mind raced. The intensity of the pressure Enkrid had just shown felt like death was closing in. Inside the high-speed thoughts, Panito readied himself to counter with everything he had.
'I'll block it.'
His armor was enchanted with a spell that could repel most attacks, enough to withstand several strikes. Meanwhile, the cursed sword Drumul had given him would bring chaos to the mind of anyone it struck, creating hallucinations and confusion, blurring the line between friend and foe. Panito planned to exploit this, knowing that once the sword's curse took effect, the two swordsmen behind him would jump in to capitalize on the moment.
However, the real threat was not the cursed sword, but the two humanoid golems—the Flash Golems—created by the alchemist of the previous era. They were towering figures, designed for war.
'Come at me.'
He was ready. His resolve was high, and he was prepared for whatever came next.
"...This bastard."
Panito couldn't help but curse, his mouth muttering the words before he closed it again.
Pabababak!
Fifty arrows lodged into the ground. The telekinetic hands lost their target, swept away by the wind and rain. The two golems, poised to spring into action at any moment, now prepared to strike as Panito braced for Enkrid's direct assault.
Bam!
Enkrid leapt back, his feet sinking into the ground as he put all his strength into the retreat. It was a move that looked almost like a sudden dash, so swift that it seemed to vanish from sight. Everyone had been deceived. Enkrid, having expertly misled his opponents, darted between the two golems, positioning himself between them.
Had they known, they would have reacted. But in the briefest of moments, Panito's mind failed to process the move. It was a perfectly executed deception.
He used his aura to mislead them, then, with all his might, launched his sword at the larger golem's neck.
Thunk!
The sound of the blade cutting through the thick neck of the golem was harsh. The impact showed just how solid the golem's outer body was. The swift and powerful strike had been executed with such force that the smaller golem barely had time to react. Enkrid, however, was already one step ahead, using his left hand to throw his sword. The moment the larger golem's neck was severed, the sword lodged into the smaller golem's head, sending it sprawling backward.
Thud, thud.
Hescal knew the name of the golem—Lynox. He understood his technique, his temperament, and his habits. While Lynox was tricky in battle, he did not rely on underhanded tactics. But Enkrid was different.
'Deceive them.'
Enkrid had understood the essence of the Valhenic Mercenary Sword. It was a sword designed to manipulate the enemy, to deceive them when the opportunity arose.
He also applied the techniques of the Luagarn style, observing the environment and using it to his advantage. With the Valhenic sword, he was able to deceive his opponent, taking full advantage of the situation.
"You lying bastard!" Panito shouted.
Having dispatched the two golems, Enkrid paused momentarily, only to feint again, dashing forward once more. This time, his sudden attack caught Panito off guard. Even though Enkrid had just eliminated the golems, Panito had no time to recover, forced to face another unexpected strike.
Enkrid was skilled at deception, and Panito had walked straight into his trap.
'If you don't see them, you can't use their telekinesis.' Panito's thoughts sharpened, recalling the times he had witnessed those with telekinetic powers.
"By now, you should have figured out your weakness."
If the Madmen Knights' Frog had seen this, she might have said something like this.
The core of the Luagarne-style tactical swordsmanship is insight.
Seeing a glimpse of the future is a momentary flash of insight, but what she's talking about is different.
It's about maintaining a sharp observational ability to change the tactical situation to your advantage.
'And then, you use it when needed.'
A trick that uses the environment and situation.
Enkrid had never dug into the weakness of a Scaler until now.
He used that weakness just once for a single attack.
Sudden stops and accelerations erased Enkrid from the Scaler's vision.
No matter how good a monster's dynamic vision is, biological eyes are vulnerable to the variations in speed.
Enkrid knew this well from personal experience.
He had been hit by that very trick from Alexandra.
Using variations in speed, Enkrid reached right in front of Panito.
"You crazy bastard!"
Surprised, Panito swung his sword upward.
Enkrid was as tall as him, and feeling the downward sword strike, his reflexive movement was to block it.
Enkrid recognized the nature of the sword Panito wielded.
It was a cursed sword.
It shouldn't even graze him.
But he had faced countless similar situations before, hadn't he?
He had already dealt with demons like the One-Killer.
This was just a lesser version of that demon's sword.
His instincts told him that even if he were cut by that sword, he wouldn't die.
His cold head also agreed.
'That said, there's no need to get hit.'
The steel sword falling from above met the black blade coming up from below.
This was also a tactical move.
He had the advantage in both strength and position in the motion.
Bang!
The clash of blades caused an enormous sound.
It was as if a landslide had occurred, with boulders crashing into the ground.
The deafening noise pushed back the rain and wind.
But that wasn't the end.
The blades that clashed didn't separate.
It was a bind.
Then, Enkrid's next move was simple: he pushed the blade downward.
Even with armor and good weapons, what about strength?
If we're talking raw strength, even Rem would admit defeat to sheer muscle power in front of Enkrid.
But when Will moves, strength is added.
That's why a knight who has mastered Will becomes asymmetrically powerful, showing strength and movement beyond limits.
Panito had good weapons and armor, but his strength wasn't overwhelming.
"Grrk!"
Panito, struggling to hold on, found his sword piercing his own helmet.
The sword he had raised to block became his own executioner.
Enkrid pressed and struck downward.
Dang! Crash!
The cursed blade cleaved through Panito's helmet, sparks flying even through the rain.
The blade cut through the helmet, creating a lid for his skull.
Panito's elbow twisted in the opposite direction, and bones broke from his joint, piercing through his unprotected armor.
"You… you…"
Our innocent Panito, even though his skull was cleaved, managed to hold on for a brief moment.
But with no strength left to even lift a finger, his eyes filled with nothing but the frustration of injustice.
Yeah, just from his gaze, it was clear how unjust he felt, with tears of blood flowing.
"They must have felt the same way when they died at Hescal's hands."
Enkrid said it matter-of-factly.
Among the people Hescal had killed, some had been his companions, people he'd spent a few days with, enjoying themselves.
Even after knowing them for just a few days, he was angry.
He did the same thing himself, so how could he blame others for feeling the same way?
Some were even angrier than him, yet didn't even know why they were angry.
Creeeak!
The cursed spirit within the sword shrieked as it soared into the sky, gathering into a mass and flying beyond the enemy lines.
Next, Panito's eyes blurred, and raindrops fell into his eyes.
With a final, choking gasp, Panito mumbled.
"Is… this… it?"
It wasn't clear who he was asking, but with those words, Panito died.
What remained was a horde of monsters.
"Don't run away, I don't feel like chasing you."
Enkrid, with his eyes closed, could sense even the telekinetic power.
Fighting such creatures was incredibly easy for him.
***
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