Chapter 164 - Swinging the Sword
The moment the gnoll lunged forward with its crude spear, Enkrid's sword traced an arc, slicing through both the spear shaft and the creature's chest in one motion.
Crack! Thud!
Two sounds rang out at once as the gnoll's chest split open.
Dark, viscous blood seeped out from between its yellow fur—thick, black ichor unique to monsters.
Enkrid flicked his sword, scattering the blood across the gnoll's spotted hide.
The mortally wounded creature gurgled, black foam bubbling from its mouth.
Snap!
A whip cracked through the air.
A hyena beast, which had been lunging at a fallen worker, had its neck snatched mid-pounce.
The creature was yanked into the air with a whoosh before crashing down among its kin.
One unfortunate beast landed atop a nearby rooftop, let out a shriek, then rolled off the edge.
"Lua is a name lovers use, you know?"
The Frog reacted to the name, her voice casual.
She was now clad in a chest plate—when had she put it on?
Her gaze briefly flickered over the corpse of the gnoll.
She hadn't aimed for it, but she had split its heart.
She looked away, unconcerned.
Her seasoned experience as a Frog warrior was evident even here.
After all, she was no ordinary Frog—she was the mentor of the Refined Sword Style, and a warrior with an extensive history.
"Hey, I'm heading out."
"...Where to?"
Even for her, leaving now, in the middle of battle, seemed absurd.
And so suddenly?
"Cultists."
Cultists?
Enkrid didn't even have time to ask further.
Rumble.
Luagarne's cheeks swelled, a physical expression of emotion—rage, regret, or something similar.
But Enkrid had no way of knowing.
Luagarne bolted.
With a powerful stomp, she vanished forward, sending dirt spraying up like a fountain from where she had stood.
Her body left afterimages as she sped ahead.
Several hyena beasts moved to block her path, but it was meaningless.
Luagarne became a green streak.
Boom!
The hyena beasts at the end of her charge were sent flying in all directions.
Seeing them soar through the air made the entire situation feel unreal.
It was a feat of brute strength, something only a Frog warrior like her—who could shrug off minor wounds—could accomplish.
Enkrid focused his gaze in the direction she was heading.
There was something there.
No, someone familiar.
A figure he had seen over the past three days.
The one who had always stuck close, that so-called captain, Deutsch.
Clang!
Before a fallen worker, Esther stood, claws raised.
Enkrid snapped his attention back to his own battle.
The gnolls and hyenas were swarming.
There was no time to watch from afar, nor to ask about the cultists.
"What is all this?"
Behind him, Krais muttered.
There wasn't even time to answer.
The gnolls were already charging.
"Hah..."
Exhaling, Enkrid dug his left foot into the ground, twisting his ankle, knee, and waist in unison as he swung his sword.
A Refined Sword Style spinning slash carved through the incoming gnoll.
Thud!
The blade cleaved through its torso, severing it in two.
Black blood and entrails splattered to the ground.
The bisected corpse was flung aside, momentarily halting the gnolls' charge, but only for a second.
One of them leaped over the corpse, swinging a battle hammer.
More followed, tongues lolling, saliva flying.
Enkrid had no armor—only his sword.
The situation was dire.
"They just keep coming!"
Krais shouted.
Enkrid exhaled sharply, raising his sword once more.
There was no time for words.
The chaos had begun.
***
There were things in this world that could not be yielded.
Things that could not be ignored.
And things that could never be forgiven.
For Luagarne, cultists were one such thing.
A group of mad zealots who believed their god resided in the Demonic Realms.
They were an enemy she could never overlook.
So the moment she spotted one, Luagarne lost control.
She was indeed an experienced warrior—one who had spoken the word heart with knowing weight.
But she was also a Frog.
A species that acted upon the primal desires that boiled in their chests.
And the cultists had taken her second lover.
She had sworn on her heart that day—sworn to kill every cultist she ever laid eyes on.
This was more important to her than anything else.
Her only thought was to kill and return.
But her movements had been checked.
The cultist brat was craftier than expected.
"You crazy Frog bitch."
The cultist sneered, lips curling into a sharp grin.
To him, it must have looked like he had successfully lured her into a trap.
No matter.
It was time to shatter their arrogance.
Though it meant she wouldn't be able to return to Enkrid right away...
Don't die.
That was all she could hope for.
***
The moment Luagarne left, the monsters surged forward like floodwaters from a burst dam.
Enkrid had stepped up to buy time, but it was futile.
There were too many of them.
"Guhhh!"
With an eerie cry, a short battle hammer came crashing down toward his head.
A weapon tipped with an iron spike.
If it hit, the damage would be more than just painful.
Enkrid stepped back and swung his sword upward from below.
A reverse vertical slash.
Thud!
Enkrid split his opponent's jaw and half of his skull vertically with his blade.
Then, he used the pommel of his sword as a blunt weapon to strike the head of a hyena charging from the left.
Thwack!
A hyena that had leaped up, aiming for an opening, crashed to the ground with a dull thud.
The sensation in his hands was like cracking a walnut—its skull must have been shattered.
There was no time to confirm how cleanly he had split it.
Now, the attack came from the right.
Three glinting blades.
They flew at Enkrid, eager to prove their effectiveness against his body.
These gnolls… they had impressive coordination.
Enkrid swung his sword three times in quick succession, relying on instinct.
If he couldn't block them, he would simply strike them away.
His focused eyes gleamed.
Two of the slashes were deflected.
Clang!
The third, however, left no room for a counter.
He twisted his body to dodge—
—but a spear blade suddenly thrust forward, stabbing into his stomach.
Enkrid immediately brought his sword down, striking the middle of the spear shaft.
Thwack.
The spear aiming for his gut was stopped—
Thud!
—but at that moment, a hammer crashed down onto his shoulder.
This was another enemy entirely.
There was no way to block that in time.
Even with his heightened senses, it was impossible to detect every attack in such chaos.
The strike had come from his blind spot.
Stopping meant death.
His instincts screamed, his gut and his intuition roared.
Enkrid let himself fall backward, shifting his weight as if collapsing.
Then, he reversed his grip on his sword and slammed the pommel onto his left shoulder.
Thud!
A heavy impact.
The enemy behind him let out a pained, gurgling groan.
Using the momentum of his fall, Enkrid suddenly sprang back up, swinging his sword to the right.
A hyena beast was lunging at him.
The first one had aimed for his throat with reckless aggression.
The ones attacking after were persistent.
This time, the beast targeted his wrist.
Just as Enkrid split the creature's skull, his heart pounded from the imminent danger surrounding him.
Calmness.
Boldness.
The Heart of the Beast anchored his mind.
The moment he regained full awareness of his surroundings, his sense of evasion went beyond his five senses—into his sixth.
Time slowed.
The gnolls' weapons advanced toward him in sequence.
A spear, a gladius, a battle axe, and a hammer.
A thin line connected them—
The line between life and death.
Enkrid followed that line with his sword.
Thud! Slash! Crack! Thud!
A well-honed blade performing its craft.
The gnoll at the front had its skull split with a clean downward cut.
The second had its nape slashed as the sword smoothly transitioned downward.
The third was struck in the collarbone, the blade cutting deep into its heart.
The fourth—after piercing its heart, Enkrid ripped the sword out and swung diagonally, carving through ribs and stomach, exposing entrails.
It was a fatal wound.
Death was certain.
The other three had suffered the same fate—all struck with lethal blows.
Four dead in an instant.
The ground was soaked in the dark blood of beasts.
Gnolls were the embodiment of persistence.
They used their fallen comrades as an opportunity, thrusting spears from behind.
Meanwhile, the hyena beasts remained relentless.
Failing to strike his wrist, they targeted his thigh.
When that failed, they aimed for his shin.
It wasn't just one or two of them.
There were so many that counting them was meaningless.
There was no time to worry about others.
Enkrid focused his entire mind on what he had to do.
Cut.
Cut again.
Stab.
Stab again.
His heavy sword techniques flowed effortlessly, splitting heads and bodies of the beasts.
Even after battling over a dozen creatures in this chaotic melee,
The number of gnolls and hyena beasts remained the same.
Even with his calm mindset, his breath grew ragged.
His heart pounded in his chest.
And now, something new emerged among the gnolls.
Taller than the others—by an entire head.
Naturally, they were stronger and more formidable.
Most of his enemies were smaller than Enkrid.
But these exceptions towered over him.
One of them advanced, raising a massive wooden club high above his head.
"Grrrruuuuhh!"
'No time to dodge.'
A split-second decision.
The best possible choice.
'Jump.'
Boom!
He had prepared for this—but held back until now.
Now, he unleashed it.
Revealing the Heart of Monstrous Strength, Enkrid swung his sword upward without hesitation.
Crash!
A deafening explosion.
It was as if a bomb had gone off.
The mutated gnoll's club was sent soaring into the sky.
The moment it lost its weapon, Enkrid propelled himself forward, thrusting his hand like a flash of light toward its throat.
Squelch!
A single thrust—swift as lightning—pierced through its neck.
It was one motion.
In and out.
It had to be.
Losing his sword meant losing his only weapon.
Now, two more of the large gnolls rushed in from the side.
No—every gnoll's yellow eyes gleamed.
Murderous intent.
Malice.
Greedy hunger.
What could be done against eyes like those?
What was possible now?
I don't know.
The only thing I can do now is swing my sword—that was all there was to it.
***
Esther knew something was wrong.
'Too many. A large-scale colony.'
The term indicated the sheer difference in scale.
It was too late to run.
The panther's eyes scanned behind her.
What she saw was humans dying—monsters committing a massacre.
"S-Save me!"
One couldn't even finish his plea before a gladius pierced his throat.
"Kuaaah!"
Another was torn apart alive by a hyena beast's fangs.
Thud, thud.
Gnolls repeatedly thrust their spears into fallen corpses.
"Guuk! Guuk!"
Monsters exuding base pleasure.
Everything happened in an instant.
Humans couldn't escape.
The palisade was tall.
The moment the monsters breached it, this place ceased to be a human village and became nothing more than a platter for the monsters.
There was nowhere to run.
Some humans sprinted toward the watchtower, hoping to buy some time by climbing to higher ground.
But it was futile.
'The monsters aren't the only problem.'
Esther's eyes narrowed.
Atop the watchtower, some supposed former mercenary grinned as he fired arrows.
Aiming at those trying to climb up the walls in search of safety—twang, thud.
The struck man plummeted to the ground.
His skull shattered, and the hyena beasts devoured him.
Everyone who attempted to climb met the same fate.
A foreboding sensation filled Esther's mind.
"Kyahhh!"
And so, she revealed a portion of her power.
With monstrous strength, she kicked and crushed a gnoll's skull.
Then, leaping forward, she clawed, slashed, and stabbed at the hyena beasts.
Thud! Squish! Crack!
Her claws split skulls apart.
Esther rampaged.
Even after killing over a dozen, the wave did not end.
This was no colony that a small group could handle.
A catastrophe-level colony.
A monstrous gathering that would cause massive problems within the kingdom.
'Someone orchestrated this.'
Esther, a mage who possessed a spell world, had an instinctive understanding—this wasn't natural.
But there was nothing she could do at the moment.
Even as she pondered, she moved ceaselessly and soon reached her limit.
There were simply too many.
If they held their ground, they would die.
Escape was the only option.
That was her judgment.
An escape route?
"We have to break through the front, Captain!"
Krais—Big Eyes—shouted.
At some point, he had drawn a shortsword.
A talented one, indeed.
How had he survived with just a single shortsword?
He had been staying near his captain—the eye of the storm.
Holding his ground right at the boundary.
The surrounding gnolls prioritized the most dangerous enemy.
And that was Enkrid.
A man Esther needed.
He fought like a hero out of legend.
Against the approaching gnolls, he slashed, stabbed, and killed with a single sword, wielding it madly.
Gripping near the ricasso, he fought in a half-swording style, crushing a gnoll's skull purely with brute strength—a breathtaking sight.
A sheer display of overwhelming martial prowess.
If there had been time, if the situation had been less dire, it would have been a scene worth marveling at.
'This isn't good.'
If she were in her human form, possessing her spell world, things might be different.
But what could she do with a panther's body?
Fighting alongside him?
That would just mean dying alongside him.
Esther leaped onto the roof of a nearby hut.
She erased her presence and watched the man.
She had decided to observe for now.
'I will avenge you.'
And in that moment, she made a fresh resolve.
She had never harbored such feelings for anyone before in her life.
But without even realizing it, Esther committed herself to vengeance.