Chapter 338 - The Fourth Sword

The Fourth Sword

What was quick thinking? It was another way of saying accelerated thought. After absorbing the information all around him, he selected the most efficient, rational course of action. It took reasoning to discard unnecessary information and determine what he needed. As that process grew faster, his ability to map out a fight became extraordinary. In that respect, Encrid found this more enjoyable than learning his other sword techniques. The essence of the sword that curved like a snake to counter an attack was that a blade remained a blade, however gently it struck. Flowing Sword: a sword that redirected. The counterattack was its beauty, the very thing that gave the swordsmanship meaning. Learning that had been enjoyable too. And Lightning Stab? How could acquiring the accelerating Will of the Instant not be enjoyable? Learning was always a pleasure. The same went for Crushing Sword. It had begun as a means of withstanding a knight's sword, born from Ragna's question: How could he cut lightning? In searching for an answer, he had learned to face the lightning and evade it before it fell. In other words, extend his sword before his opponent struck. His own outstretched sword would then become a lightning rod. Even if he could not cut lightning, he could deflect it. He had even proven it in practice. A knight's sword was no different from lightning, a force of nature. Snake, lightning, crushing. He had learned each of those three forms of swordsmanship differently, but the exhilaration had been similar. Hadn't each been a technique mastered with a single purpose in mind? In that respect, Captivating Sword, born of the upright, precise Righteous Sword Technique, was a little different. 'I can incorporate techniques into it.' Calculation and reasoning stimulated his mind, bringing his concentration to a pitch it had never reached before. If the previous three techniques marked individual points, the new sword born from the Righteous Sword Technique was an unbroken line. He glimpsed hidden intentions amid the charging Ghouls. With absolute concentration infused into the Righteous Sword Technique, it felt as though he could see a fraction into the future. To counter what he saw, he could use Snake Sword. To make them move as he intended, he could crush them. To shatter their intentions from the outset, he could stab first. 'Ah.'

Encrid marveled inwardly. Captivating Sword was a sword backed by precise calculation. He could layer techniques into it. Even after creating it, he had felt something was missing. Now he knew what that was. ["You have to recognize what you lack to improve."]

He recalled a mercenary's advice. Encrid did just that. Recognized it. Faced it. What did he lack? He had established the form. Now it needed substance. Snake Sword had its curving counterstrike. Lightning Stab had the preparation of his entire body, starting from his feet, to pierce a single point. Crushing Sword had gained substance through the addition of intimidation. Captivating Sword of the Righteous Sword Technique needed something like that too. That substance did not have to be another sword technique. It did not even have to be newly invented swordsmanship. The point was that it needed substance. 'That's right.'

Understanding brought pleasure. That pleasure filled him with exhilaration. If this wasn't enjoyable, what was? He had swung his sword beneath a black, starless sky, hoping to see starlight. It was a light that had remained unseen even after countless todays. Yet Encrid had never tired. He had simply swung his sword. Unable to see ahead, walking where there was no path, he had never stopped. He had walked and walked. Walked, forgetting exhaustion. And swung his sword. And when the curse of today had been given to him? There had been no need to defy the ferryman's song of despair with words. He had no fear of living today again. He had simply swung his sword once more. After all that, how could this not excite him? Now he could see the starlight, the way lay open, and moments of understanding came even without repeating today. That made him so very happy. "Oh, look at him having fun." "At least he's not drooling, brother." "Teresa the Wanderer will lend a hand." "A hand with what? Doesn't look like there's any room to join in." Starting with Rem, those behind him each added a comment. Only Sinar remained silent, absorbed in watching. That man's swordsmanship was changing before her eyes. Her keen Fairy senses registered every change. No, the moment she sensed the changes, Sinar sharpened her senses further. Of course, an onlooker would never know. They would see only that she was watching. Sinar was making full use of the Fairy senses that allowed her to learn and master things through perception. Encrid discarded the unnecessary information reaching his ears. He had no need to listen to their words now. They were not worth selecting. What mattered here and now was the sound of Ghouls' feet striking the ground. He did just that, sorting the sounds and choosing to register only what he needed. THWACK!

THUD, THUMP!

Feet striking the ground and leaping. CRACK, SNAP, CRUNCH.

Branches and the like breaking. GUUUUURGH!

The Ghouls' distinctive shrieks, as though they were vomiting up their insides. According to scholars who studied monsters, Ghouls made that peculiar cry because of the acid burning their stomachs. Only human flesh could soothe that acid. That was why Ghouls ate people. Hadn't he heard that some monsters attacked because they liked human flesh, while others were simply born that way? That information did not matter now. He let it pass and discarded it. His accelerated thinking took in something new. Amid the Ghouls noisily barring his path, a sinister killing intent mingled. Only the source of that intent muffled its sounds, unlike the other Ghouls. It moved stealthily, taking up a position on a thick branch above Encrid's head. The branch gave a faint crackle and sagged slightly, but anyone facing the Ghouls charging straight at them should have had no attention to spare for what was overhead. Encrid held the silver longsword in his right hand and Spark in his left. Then he gave Captivating Sword its substance. SWISH, TAP, WHOOSH, RIP, WHUM, CRACK, SHH, THUNK. Rhythm. His blades danced to a precise beat. The silver longsword slashed, cut, and cleaved. Spark stabbed and withdrew. The two swords sang a single rhythm. With that rhythm as its substance, Captivating Sword trapped his opponents within its framework. Inside it, the Ghouls were merely moths rushing into a flame to die. "Oh."

Rem let out a quiet exclamation of admiration. Meanwhile, Dunbachel glanced upward. Something was sounding an alarm in her instincts. Audin and Rem did not even look up, but after Dunbachel, Teresa half-raised her head too. Was something there? Teresa felt that unpleasant sensation too. Encrid seemed wholly occupied with swinging his two swords. The sounds of tearing flesh and other noises came in a strangely compelling rhythm. "Above..."

Teresa's reflexive cry stopped short. Something dropped swiftly from overhead. It was half the size of an ordinary Ghoul. Its body was the same gray, but its right arm was abnormally long, and the claws on that arm were twice as long and pointed as those of the others. They looked like four awl-shaped blades. That entire figure vanished almost as soon as it came into view. The instant it appeared, it drove its awl-like claws downward, leaving an afterimage in its wake. It hurtled down from the branch. Encrid made just one vertical swing of his silver longsword half a beat faster than his otherwise precise rhythm. His sword traced a vertical circle centered exactly on his head. SHLACK! The blade split the charging, oddly formed Ghoul at an angle. A silver line passed from its head through its torso and between its legs. As he swung, Encrid moved aside. Even pushing off the ground and moving fell within the rhythm. The sharp sound of his takeoff and the tap of his landing were perfectly on beat. 'He already knew.'

Teresa shut her mouth. He had noticed before she had. Now that she thought about it, Rem and Audin had known too, and seemed to have known that the Captain knew. That was why they had kept silent. Encrid was not swinging his sword in a drooling, oblivious trance. He calculated and calculated, while adding another realization to his understanding: he did not need to confine himself to calculation. 'What if I can't calculate it?'

He could trust his intuition. He had a weapon that made that possible. His dodging sense. He need only layer intent over it. More than twenty Ghouls had charged him, and the attack from overhead had been a dangerous hidden dagger. An ordinary soldier would certainly have died. Ghouls using a diversionary attack? Ordinary people could easily have fallen for it. But neither Encrid nor his companions were anything close to ordinary. As they watched Encrid fight, Dunbachel was the first to snap.

"I can't take it!" Her Beastman sense of smell caught the scent of Ghouls hidden in the forest. She charged past Encrid's left. "Aren't you going to stop her?" Teresa asked when she saw it. Her tone was calm, yet somehow betrayed impatience. Encrid answered as he split the last Ghoul's skull with a swing delayed by two beats.

THWACK!

The top of its skull flew skyward. "Stop what?" Encrid's voice rang out. "Dunbachel's gone ahead." "Were you planning to just watch, then?" It had been a misunderstanding. They had thought Encrid was declaring that he would cut down every last one, that all the prey belonged to him. That was not it. He had simply been too excited to hold back. Now satisfaction was welling up inside him. And Dunbachel running wild in the middle of that? Whether he had expected it or not, it made no difference. "More are coming," Sinar said. Even in this poison-filled forest, the Fairy's senses were keen. She detected the enemy before Encrid. In the ability to locate enemies alone, neither Rem nor the others could compare. "In that case."

Teresa stepped forward too. Watching had set her blood boiling until she could barely contain herself. Was this her half-Giant blood, or proof of who Teresa herself was? She could find no answer now, so she set it aside. When a massive tree blocked her view, she swung her sword at it. WHOOSH.

THUNK! Her sword lodged midway through the trunk. Teresa found the tree harder than she had expected. Not quite a lump of metal with an iron core, but densely solid all the same. So she applied more strength. "Hup."

With a grunt, she bore down harder. Her arm muscles swelled with a creak, and she split the rest of the trunk. As the tree tilted and began to topple forward, Teresa struck it with her shield. BOOM! With a thunderous crash, the tree, three times her height, changed its direction of fall and pitched forward toward the charging Ghouls. "For God watches over you."

Watching the falling tree, Teresa recited a prayer. "And grants you the chance to repent beneath Him."

Audin supplied the next line. He was quite pleased with her prayer. Teresa did not conceal the heat Encrid's display had stirred in her blood. Her smile revealed her canines, pointed now: a physical change brought on by training her half-Giant blood. Then she swung her arms like a windmill. The sword and shield in her hands struck, smashed, cut, and cleaved the charging Ghouls. "Hahaha!"

Teresa's laughter rang loudly through the forest. "Wasn't this supposed to be some kind of infiltration?" "If that Gray Ghoul bastard hears her laughing and comes at us, I'll be grateful. If it runs away, I'll be even more grateful," Encrid replied to Rem. He was right. If it came out to attack, that would shorten the search. If it fled, they would not have to fight in the environment it had built for itself. Either was good. "Well, you've got a point."

Rem nodded. Finding thinking a nuisance was not the same as being stupid. He understood Encrid perfectly well. "I'm afraid things will not go as you wish, Brother Company Commander," Audin said from behind them with his usual gentle chuckle. He was right too. The area Dunbachel had charged into was crawling with creatures like that long-clawed assassin Ghoul. On Teresa's side stood Ghouls half again as large as the others. Their gray flesh was tougher than that of ordinary Ghouls. 'Normally, one Ghoul takes two or three pikemen.'

The ones living in this forest were more troublesome than that. Considering the diversionary attack earlier, even a reasonably well-trained unit would have suffered devastating losses. Encrid and his companions were not a knight order, but they could fight like this because their combat strength approached one. "At least it won't be boring."

Rem nodded again at Encrid's words.

"That's true too." Rem's hands were itching for something to do, so he joined in. WHIRRRRR! He pulled out a sling and whirled it overhead. Ghouls lurking here and there for an opening, creatures that could well be called commanders, and even unusual Ghouls with yellow eyes sprang out. It was useless. THWACK!

THWACK!

THWACK!

THWACK!

THWACK! Stones lying on the ground became Rem's weapons, divine instruments in his hands. About three slings broke, and the stone missiles he hurled mercilessly shattered Ghoul skulls. Encrid kept walking. As he did, a faintly unpleasant feeling came over him. 'A trap?'

It was intuition, but that seemed likely. Sinar came up beside him.

"I have a bad feeling, my betrothed." Why did she never leave out that form of address? Encrid answered as he wondered.

"This way, then." The Fairy's senses and his own intuition pointed to the same place. The ugly Ghoul said to reign over this region would be there. Encrid headed toward it. He could even catch a subtle glimpse of the enemy's intent.

'It's opening a path.' It revealed its intent only faintly, but what it wanted was clear. Paying close attention, he could see it. He could plainly see a place where, instead of the more dangerous Ghouls, the relatively weaker ones had gathered. They might be called ordinary Ghouls, though even they boasted such tough skin and swift movements that five or six ordinary pikemen would have to take on each one. It felt as though the entire Ghoul horde was herding them that way. Deliberately opening a path. Subtly urging them to take it. "Pathetic. Really."

Rem's mutter from behind told Encrid that he had read the move too. "Our Ghoul brother must be most eager to meet the Lord our Father."

Audin quietly pronounced a death sentence. Without answering, Encrid walked on. Soon he reached his destination: a clearing where the enemy's intent lay bare. More than a hundred pairs of yellow eyes surrounding them were proof enough.