Chapter 168 - Krais, Slit His Throat

"Esther, come with me. Krais, go find the headman. Now."

"What?"

Krais sounded bewildered. Well, the awkward acting was over. There was no need for it, and no point. "Tell him I'm taking command of every soldier in town, effective immediately."

"Just like that?"

"Yes, just like that. If he refuses, show him this. Tell him disobeying orders means summary execution."

Encrid handed over the written orders and turned away. "Where are you going, Captain?"

Krais was quick on the uptake. He had sensed something in Encrid's manner.

"The gate. If the headman gives you trouble, take him hostage or something and hold out."

"... Huh?"

That last part was half a joke. Encrid ran off, his armor clattering with every pounding footfall. It was quite awkward to run in. Not that he could take it off.

Esther glanced at him as she ran beside him, her steps twice as light as his. "Don't ask. Just come with me. We don't have time."

The panther nodded at his words. She really was like a person.

They reached the main gate. Dawn had yet to break, so he wasn't too late.

'Not too late.'

He had made it in time, at least. Normally, five militia members guarded the gate: two in the watchtower, two below, and a squad leader. The leader would be in the guardhouse built beside the gate.

Excluding him, that left four. Whenever fighting broke out, all four would hole up in the watchtower. They sided with the monsters, shooting arrows into the faces of their own people trying to climb up.

Their faces were all too familiar to Encrid. "Huh? What is it?"

A friendly-looking man among them spoke.

Facing the two men standing guard before the palisade gate, Encrid announced,

"Command of this location has now been transferred to me, as Platoon Commander."

"... What?"

He continued as the man stared blankly.

"I'm in charge of the village's defenses." Was this what Deutsch Fullman had been wary of? His fears had come true.

The expression of the man who outwardly claimed to serve Deutsch Fullman hardened. "Did you get our captain's permission?"

Someone emerged from the guardhouse and thrust his head out. A mercenary carrying a short spear—one of Deutsch Fullman's men, and the squad leader.

Not that any of that mattered. "Do you have a problem with that? I came with written orders. Naturally, that puts me in charge."

"Since when? No, how long do you plan on playing captain?"

"Starting now, until the colony problem is resolved."

At Encrid's straightforward answer, the man furrowed his brow. His scowl was positively vicious.

"Fucking kidding me? Hey, you pampered little prick. You think I'm a pushover?" It was more or less the reaction Encrid had expected, so he delivered his prepared reply.

"If you've got a problem, there's no need to use your tongue when you've got perfectly good fists."

"Have you actually lost your mind?" The man approached. He hadn't swung his weapon straightaway, but he clearly meant to land a blow.

Once close, he threw a punch without warning. His fist came flying, and Encrid seemed not to move at all. Then, just before it connected, he tilted his head out of the way and extended his left foot to kick the man's ankle.

The dodge flowed so smoothly into the kick that they looked like a single movement. Caught off guard, the man stumbled over his own feet, pitching forward. Encrid gave his off-balance body a light push with his left hand.

"Uh, uh!"

CRASH!

The man toppled sideways. Red-faced, he was about to use his short spear as a cane to get up.

SHING!

A sword left its sheath. At that same instant, its blade touched his throat.

"Don't get up. Don't resist. Insubordination means summary execution." With a blade pressed to one's throat—especially after seeing the blue gleam of its keen edge—it would be hard to speak recklessly.

The man was no exception. He swallowed hard and barely managed to speak.

"Do you know how many militia we have here? Y-you won't be able to handle this."

It was a threat, but it didn't sound like one. Anyone could hear the fear in his voice. Encrid had no intention of killing him. He merely thought this would provoke a reaction.

The reasoning was simple.

'How did the Knolls and hyenas get inside?'

How had those thick log walls become prison bars for the humans? Why had this place become the monsters' banquet hall? Because the creatures had gotten inside. Over the wall? Surely not. Knolls were monsters with underdeveloped lower bodies. The same went for hyenas. Neither the monsters nor the demonic beasts could scale this wall.

Had they broken through, then? Not a chance.

There was only one answer. The gate had opened. Then why had there been no response until such a massive number of monsters arrived?

He had begun with a hypothesis and confirmed it over several todays.

Those who opened the gate: guilty.

Those in the watchtower who saw them and said nothing: guilty. Sword still in hand, Encrid searched for the alarm bell. There it was, beside the gate.

That bell had rung, which meant one person here was innocent: the fellow currently lying on the ground.

Now, how would the others react?

He had been waiting for this. It came from the watchtower. A female soldier raised her bow, silently aimed, and fired. Keeping his surroundings in mind, Encrid lightly pushed off the ground.

TWANG!

He moved just as the string snapped forward. The arrow buried itself with a thud where he had stood. "... Are you crazy? Don't shoot!"

The squad leader Encrid had knocked down cried out in horror, but why would they listen to him?

"Kill him."

The order came from one of the friendly, smiling men at the gate. Hearing it, the two in the watchtower nocked arrows again. Two in the watchtower: one woman, one man. The woman was the better archer. He knew from experience.

They were Cultists too.

He had neither the luxury nor the inclination to show mercy. FWEE! FWEEE!

Two whistles sounded as the whistling blades sliced through the air. Groans escaped in succession from the two soldiers nocking their arrows above.

"Ghk."

"Guh."

Their death cries. Neither would survive with a hole through the throat. The male archer pitched forward and struck the ground with a thud. The woman slumped down, clutching her throat.

The Cultist archer who had fallen headfirst lay with his neck bent at an unnatural angle. Blood dripped from the watchtower where the woman had been.

It had all happened in an instant. "Fucking hell!"

The squad leader shouted in shock. Encrid ignored him completely and pointed his drawn sword forward.

"Insubordination and attempted murder of a superior officer. Both of you deserve summary execution, but drop your weapons and surrender, and I'll let you live."

The words would fall on deaf ears.

"Bullshit." The eyes of the two Cultists posing as militiamen at the gate gleamed. There was something strange about that look.

More importantly, both were unusually skilled. For a start, they were fast and worked well together.

SHING! SHING!

Both wielded shortswords. Splitting to either side, they lunged at identical speeds, cutting through the blue predawn air. Before standing here, Encrid had endured countless days. Today after today. Training over and over. Developing his dodging sense and coordination.

Sharpening every sense, including his ability to track moving objects, had changed his reaction speed.

When that changed, what could one see? What became different?

It was a whole new world. How to describe it? It felt as though he moved twice as fast as anyone else.

Rem, Ragna, Jaxon, Audin. Encrid could now perform the same feats they did.

And so—

CLANG-CLANG!

—the result shouldn't have been particularly surprising: knocking aside two swords striking in unison from left and right with just one blade. It was easy. Swing once to the right, then to the left before it was too late.

Of course, those on the receiving end could only be dumbfounded. Both shortsword wielders stared wide-eyed.

What was that? How had he blocked them?

Hadn't his blade just seemed to disappear? Encrid didn't stop. To celebrate entering this new world, he swung with all his might.

Dodging sense and coordination weren't all he had gained through those todays.

With a single breath he awakened the Heart of the Superhuman, doubling his speed. The instant he saw and sensed something, his body moved on its own in response. WHOOSH! SLICE! SLICE!

Encrid swung twice more. From low to high on the right, then straight from high to low toward the left.

Both cuts aimed for the wrists, and both found their marks.

"A-aagh!"

"Gyaaagh!"

Their sword hands were severed at the wrists. Two hands, still gripping shortswords, dropped to the ground. Between the two men streaming blood, Encrid stood still, calmly holding his sword.

"... What, what is this? Why the hell are you suddenly swinging your sword like a lunatic?"

Still sitting on the ground alone, the squad leader spoke in utter bewilderment. Encrid looked at him.

"I think I smell beasts. Is that gate shut tight?" When they first entered, he had seen the gate open by means of a pulley. That would be its locking mechanism.

"Huh?"

"Check it. If you don't get up right now, I'll take you for an accomplice and cut you down too."

A casual threat, but it came from a man unusually quick to act. The squad leader sprang up. This was no time to stay on the ground with trembling legs.

He hurried over and checked the pulley.

"Why is this undone?"

With that startled cry, he secured it. If the lock was undone, the gate offered no protection. A push would open it. The man locked the pulley mechanism, straining so hard the muscles in his arms nearly burst, then panted for breath.

"Hah, hah... What do you mean, you smell beasts?"

Only then did he ask about Encrid's earlier remark.

BOOM!

Something slammed into the wall outside, sending a tremor through the ground. The rank stench of beasts seeped through the thick gate—a smell Encrid knew so well he was sick of it.

"Gruuuuk!"

A cry erupted outside. A Knoll's call. A weighty force, an unseen pressure—something of the sort could be felt beyond the gate. The squad leader staggered backward from the gate. Was he about to piss himself?

Fortunately, the man wasn't quite that fainthearted.

After glancing at him, Encrid turned to the two men with severed wrists.

"Cultists?"

Their eyes widened. An answer didn't always require words. Should he keep them alive? No, there wasn't much point. Real Cultists supposedly used strange spells, but these two didn't seem capable of that. They couldn't be important figures.

Leaving them alone, however, would be like leaving a dagger at his back.

SHUNK. SHUNK.

Two stabs through their throats made two corpses. Encrid climbed the watchtower to assess their numbers and scale and survey the surroundings. High ground was always the right choice.

Dawn was breaking, giving him a clear view. In the sunlight he could see a horde of monsters and demonic beasts numbering well over several hundred.

A horrifying number.

It struck him anew how astonishing it was that he had survived among them. 'Even if all I did was hold out without dying.'

There were far too many. From above, there really were a goddamn lot of them.

They were charging into the palisade and gate. Encrid had dispatched the ones in the watchtower, but the sentries who should have been on the wall were nowhere to be seen.

Then he spotted several militiamen lying dead where they should have stood guard.

The Cultists' work, surely. More precisely, the work of those he had killed. "What the fuck is actually going on?"

The voice came from beneath the watchtower. Krais.

The joke had come back as reality. Krais shouted with his blade held to the headman's throat. Several menacing militiamen stood behind him.

"Seriously, what is going on?"

Krais looked ready to cry. Why did the sight make Encrid want to laugh? "Esther."

Encrid called her over and had her guard the gate.

"Grr."

She answered as if she understood. Perhaps a panther was better than a person. "I think you'd better tell me what you're doing."

Deutsch Fullman had followed the headman with a crowd of his men. Confusion filled most of their eyes.

Monsters outside, a man holding a blade to the headman's throat inside, and dead comrades to top it off.

Even Deutsch Fullman's gaze wavered. His bewilderment was understandable, but that wasn't Encrid's concern. Encrid spoke as though it were nothing.

"I give the orders, and I hold command. I will tolerate no objections. We hold off the monsters. Get the remaining militia onto the wall. Anyone who can shoot a bow goes up."

Nobody moved. Deutsch Fullman was a man of considerable nerve. Despite the pounding outside, he glared fiercely at Encrid.

Encrid knew what he needed to say here.

"Krais, slit his throat."

They had the headman's life in their hands. "Fuck, don't! What are you all doing? Put arrows through those monsters' skulls, now!"

Deutsch shouted. Naturally, Krais didn't draw his blade across the man's throat.

Encrid shrugged.

"You'll explain this later!"

Deutsch roared. Encrid ignored him. This was the shortcut: preventing any of it from happening in the first place. Moving quickly enough to stop the Knolls' invasion itself.

If he stopped it this way, what would happen to the repeating today?

He had thought through a way to get past today, but he didn't know whether it would work as planned. He had never tried this before. There was still no sign of Luagarne, wherever she had gone. Naturally, the same went for Deutsch's subordinate.

"Damn it, Enkie."

With the situation brought under control, Encrid was about to watch the fighting for a while, using the headman's life as security, when Pin crawled into view from one side. Pin had gone out on patrol. She returned with a hole in her stomach.

So this was it.

She, too, had fought someone and been wounded. It was no minor injury. A hole in one's stomach tended to hurt and make walking difficult.

At any rate, her injury had prevented her from warning them about the monster and demonic beast attack. Otherwise, there was no way she would have failed to spot a colony that large on the move. "Krais, let the headman go and treat Pin first."

Encrid spoke. The wound wasn't fatal, but it wasn't one she could move freely with either. It needed treatment.

"The colony of monsters and demonic beasts numbered close to a thousand."

Despite her injury, Pin said everything she needed to. Her face was deathly pale. Encrid merely nodded. "Could you explain?"

The headman, equally pale, spoke in the meantime. Just what one might expect from the headman of the Pioneer Village.

He had nerve too, demanding an explanation in a situation like this.

"Let's hold them off first." With that, Encrid headed for the wall. Even with his mediocre aim, every extra arrow counted.

Besides, he had a wall to smash through if he was to get past today.

Today had only just begun.