‘He predicted the enemy's move.’
Jacksen saw it as an effect of the Sense of the Blade. Seeing him make full use of the techniques he had taught, his chest felt a little ticklish. It was a pleasant feeling.
However, Jacksen did not face his emotions directly. He wasn't used to it, so he didn't know how to reflect on his feelings.
‘What’s the big deal.’
He was just someone he would be bothered about if he died in front of him, that's all. Who was that man to him that he should care so much? He was nothing.
That’s what he thought. Jacksen thought that this shoddy game of playing soldier wasn't important. His own goal was clear.
Even as he thought that, the unpleasant feeling remained. That was the reason. Jacksen stared intently at the man called the guild master from behind Enkrid.
‘I don't like his face.’
Jacksen created a suitable excuse. It was definitely not because of the Squad Leader. He just didn't like the bastard's face.
Therefore, if he attacks, I will kill him. Here, he would be faithful to his mission. Rem saw Enkrid use the Heart of the Beast, wielding his boldness as a weapon.
To think he would charge into the arms of an enemy thrusting a spear. Just a few months ago, he couldn't have imagined the Squad Leader showing such a side. At some point, his skills had grown rapidly, and at the heart of it were his own teachings.
‘Of course.’
That made him feel good. But now some assassin was targeting Enkrid.
‘I should just kill them all.’
Rem wanted to grind them all to dust. Ragna once again saw a trace of his own swordsmanship in Enkrid's. ‘Where did he learn it?’
Excellent.
The way he shifted his center of gravity, the way he took his steps, the way he thrust his sword, all of it. Although he had looked over his swordsmanship from time to time, to become that proficient would require bone-grinding training.
‘It’s strange.’
A person he had judged as talentless suddenly shows outstanding skill. Ragna had a favorable impression of Enkrid to begin with. His ceaseless drive for improvement was a good stimulus for Ragna.
An assassin, a gang of criminals, targeting such a person?
‘It'd be easier to just kill them all.’
Forgetting his usual laziness, Ragna resolved to kill the entire criminal gang. However, the initiative here belonged to the Squad Leader. He intended to follow his will.
Audin scanned Enkrid's body with his eyes, tapping his own thigh with his fingers.
‘A well-trained body.’
But it wasn't a body built systematically. The monastery monks build the body before the technique. It is the secret of physical training.
Audin had refined it countless times to create his own method.
‘He'll improve if he builds up his body.’
The Squad Leader was a man who knew how to put in honest effort. A thought suddenly surfaced in Audin's mind. Why does the Lord not grant talent to one who strives so hard?
‘A mere human cannot know the will of the Lord.’
They were words like a dagger stuck in his own chest. Whenever those words came to mind, a sharp pain spread from his heart throughout his body. But now, right before his eyes, was a man trying to overcome the wall of talent through effort.
A man who trusted himself completely, without a care for the will of the Lord.
‘My Lord.’
Audin prayed inwardly.
‘Look upon him. May one who dreams of shining not die by a vain and blind blade.’
Just as his heart was in the prayer, he too was quite displeased that someone had targeted Enkrid. For it would be a great shame for such a man to die by a dagger in the back. However, Audin had no intention of killing anyone.
‘I will just break both their legs, and take an arm from the leader.’
So it would be fine to take something other than their lives.
A single clash. The shock Enkrid delivered was quite significant. Yet, no one dared to cross the line.
‘So it's not enough.’
How does one overwhelm an opponent with force? By delivering consecutive shocks. Enkrid recognized his position.
It meant he didn't necessarily have to be the one to act.
"Rem."
"Yes?"
"Kill just three."
Even if it was an excuse to avoid their eyes, this was an operation and a mission, and Enkrid was the Squad Leader. Rem stepped forward without another word. Before the shock from Enkrid had faded.
Rem, spinning two hand-axes in his hands, ran. He was so fast he seemed to vanish with a whoosh. The disappeared Rem stood before a man with a vicious face holding a studded club.
It was a scene he had seen many times. Rem's arm whipped out like a whip. The axe blade at the end of the whip spat out a flash of light.
Hwaang! Puk! Hwoong!
Jjeok! Udeuk!
The first axe-strike cut the vicious-faced man's throat. The second axe-strike split the head of the man to his right. The last was to the left again.
Rem twisted his waist and struck the neck of a man with fierce eyes with the butt of his axe. A throat was cut, a head was split, and the last one's neck was broken. After killing them, Rem flicked his hand-axes diagonally towards the ground to shake off the blood.
Droplets of blood scattered on the ground. Then, he turned his back to the guild members and strode back.
"Killed three."
Enkrid thought two shocks would be enough of a chance.
"Anyone who wants to come over."
The same offer for the third time. Now, there was nothing he could do if they didn't listen. He couldn't show mercy to an opponent trying to kill him.
It was an age of killing and being killed. They must know that to kill an opponent, they themselves could also die.
"…Were you the frontier garrison?"
The refined-looking guild master asked.
"No." Enkrid merely led a humble squad.
It was just that the members making up the squad were unique individuals.
"We're an infantry battalion from the Cyprus Division, Border Guard."
He revealed his origin, holding his sword loosely. There was no reason to hide it. As some of the men who had been hesitantly watching began to lower their weapons, the guild master glared fiercely.
"Just try to struggle to survive. See if I let you go."
It was a remark aimed at his own men. It reminded him of what Krais had said. That fellow Gilfin rules his subordinates with fear.
That he breaks their limbs and cuts out their tongues if they displease him.
"Don't get swept up in the mood! Those bastards are human too. They're guys who'll die if you stab them."
"Can't you see they're not even wearing proper armor? Kill them! No one can withstand a mob beating!"
For a thug, he uses fancy words. Enkrid inwardly thought he had a point. Overwhelming with numbers.
Generally, it's the right method. Trained soldiers are most effective in group battles. In small-scale fights, even a passing thug could kill a soldier.
If they aimed for an opening and stuck a blade in, how could one survive? In a fight of a few against a few, a thug might even have the advantage. Of course, this didn't apply to knights or those who had surpassed human limits.
And it was a story that didn't work here either.
"Don't," Enkrid warned.
The troublemaker squad were guys who fought as they pleased, outside the bounds of strategy and tactics. They were heroes who fought gleefully against large numbers on the battlefield and returned unscathed. For such people to be challenged by a mere thirty armed men, and non-soldiers at that, was a suicidal act.
"Let them be, some people only cry when they see the coffin."
"Brother, it seems it is time for divine punishment."
"Why don't you step back and watch."
For some reason, even Audin and Ragna showed enthusiasm. Jacksen stepped forward without a word. Chaeng, he drew his sword and took a bold step forward.
Perhaps there was an impatient one on the other side, as a thief also jumped out. The man jumped out and swung the broad-bladed scimitar in his hand. Hung, the blade fell towards Jacksen's head.
Jacksen raised his sword horizontally to the scimitar's blade, letting the opponent's blade glide along his own, and then swung his sword down.
Buuk.
The sword sliced through the opponent's stomach. It didn't seem like he used much strength, but it was enough to cut the belly skin and reveal the innards.
"Keok."
The man, spilling his pinkish intestines, collapsed to his knees. That was the beginning.
"Kill only those who attack," Enkrid said.
At his words, Rem simply swung his axes from where he stood. Yet he was no different from a grinder. A man who swung a flail saw his weapon cut in half and retreated, but an axe had already split his head.
He stumbled back, spilling blood and brains, and fell backward. Ragna raised a single arming sword and swung it mechanically from top to bottom. It didn't seem like there was any mysterious technique.
But with every downward strike, the number of corpses increased. Crowns were split, and shoulders were severed. Audin held two clubs, one in each hand, and parried the incoming blades.
Tadadadang!
Thanks to that, Audin's side was the loudest. Audin parried the weapons and closed the distance. His feet were incredibly fast.
Comparable to Rem. Closing the distance, Audin skillfully swung his clubs to break the enemy's legs.
Jjeok, udeuk!
"Kuaaaack!"
The screams of those with broken legs echoed through the clearing. It was enough to make one wonder if the patrol guards would be dispatched by the sound. Fortunately, no one came looking for this place.
Krais thought that was natural.
‘Half an hour from the burrow.’
The base they found at the end of the alley was on the outskirts of the city anyway. This estate was probably a high-class residential area invested in by some wealthy merchant guilds within the city. It was a place with few people usually.
Plus, their opponents were the Gilfin Guild, a criminal organization. They must have bribed the higher-ups.
‘They must have kept people away from the vicinity.’
They probably thought it was more convenient to handle things with no one around rather than having patrols wandering about. Krais wasn't flustered by the enemy's numbers, nor did he feel threatened. He was also a member of the troublemaker squad.
He had a rough idea of the level of his squad members. A level that made Enkrid, who had become a high-rank soldier, struggle.
‘They're all at the frontier garrison level or higher.’
Then, the answer is clear. The answer that they are no match. Krais's mind worked vigorously, planning for the future.
He had even intentionally leaked information for this.
‘I'll deal with that friend later.’
The information he leaked and the current situation were, to some extent, within Krais's intentions. Was there anyone here who noticed this? The Squad Leader might realize it.
He looked like an honest fool on the outside, but the Squad Leader knew how to use his head. Rem might also know if he had clues. But he didn't know how the city worked.
‘He probably doesn't know.’
Ragna and Audin were out of the question. Jacksen wouldn't care about anything else as long as his own desires were clear. So, it was done.
In the meantime, the number of corpses was increasing endlessly. And from Audin's side, screams were ringing out like crazy.
"Kuaaaaack!"
Audin didn't just break one leg and stop. He always came back to break the other leg too. And he didn't forget to preach.
"I won't tell you to become a saint. However, please refrain from a life that harms your neighbors."
Since he was saying things they could barely understand while breaking their legs, there wasn't a single person who could comprehend him. Still, Audin acted consistently. Enkrid's eyes were busy.
At first, he was engrossed in Jacksen's restrained movements.
‘Righteous Sword.’
The foundation is the Righteous Sword. A counterattack using the opponent's sword, making the opponent move as intended along a set path. The Swift Sword was mixed in with it.
A sword where offense and defense are one, the beauty of the Righteous Sword. Beyond simple sword forms, his judgment in wielding the sword was extraordinary. He chooses a certain means to kill the opponent.
It was a sword for murder. There was much to learn. After that, Rem caught his eye.
He was only striking the approaching enemies, but the axe's trajectory drew an unexpected picture.
‘How is that possible?’
It didn't seem to belong to Righteous, Heavy, Illusion, Swift, Flowing. It was natural. Rem's axe-work was purely based on instinct.
If one had to classify it, it would be a technical sword. Of course, since he used an axe, it should be called a Technical Axe style. Enkrid learned from this as well.
Ragna's Heavy Sword Style was the same. It showed the extreme of the basic swordsmanship he had learned. If blocked carelessly, it would break through and strike the target.
That one strike shattered skulls and severed shoulders. And what about Audin's martial arts? Swordsmanship is fundamentally based on martial arts.
Without using fists and feet, it couldn't be called proper swordsmanship. Learning close-quarters combat was an essential condition. In that respect, there was the most to learn from Audin's fight.
He took in the process of breaking legs with two short clubs. Movements he wouldn't have understood even if he had seen them before were now stored in his mind. Enkrid, not even knowing where he was, was busy watching the four and stealing their techniques.
Realizing them with his body was another matter. But what was certain was that there was much to learn. The fight was not long.
It couldn't take a long time. People who lost their will to fight were emerging one after another. In the midst of it, Jacksen, unlike his usual self, stubbornly broke through the path.
Towards the guild master holding a staff. Jacksen, having closed the distance, suddenly swung his sword. It was an overhead horizontal aimed at the head.
The guild master pulled the handle of the staff upwards. It wasn't an ordinary staff, but a sword-stick. A staff with a blade hidden inside.
Ting, the long blade that was pulled out blocked Jacksen's sword. Chaeng, sparks flew between them. Then, the two men guarding the guild master's back tried to join in.
"Don't." "Let them fight."
Rem and Ragna, who had approached at some point, said. The two who had stepped forward as the guild master's guards looked at each other. Should we attack?
Their eyes turned to the path Rem and Ragna had walked. A path of blood. Only corpses were strewn about.
The only survivors were those who had pissed their pants in fear and those who had read the room and not attacked. The two guards quietly lowered their weapons. Both were holding daggers.
They put the daggers back into their sheaths and quietly knelt. A posture of surrender and submission.
"You bastards!"
The guild master shouted seeing what his two guards were doing. But what could he do? The most important thing in the world is one's own life.
It was just a pity for those who had gotten swept up in the mood and attacked. Jacksen was expressionless. His brown eyes, rimmed with red, chased the guild master.
"I surrender!"
The man shouted. Jacksen didn't listen.
"I said I surrender! Why are you doing this? If you need money, I'll give you money!"
His tone was urgent.
Chaechaechaechaeng!
While the man was running his mouth, Jacksen's sword became drastically faster. He struck the sword-stick five times in a row. Sparks flew into the winter night.
The darkness of the night and the flickering torches. Dead bodies and a crowd of groaning men. The terrified and the ones who brought the terror.
Amidst it all, Jacksen's voice rang out.
"I don't like your face."
‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
That was the guild master's last thought. Soon, Jacksen's sword tore through the guild master's expensive clothes and cut his throat.
Sguk.
An eerie sound. The guild master died with his eyes wide open in indignation. He still had much to say.
Like did he know who was backing him. Above all, how many krona had he poured into those in power. It was unfair, and unfair again.
It was a natural thing. A person who dies by the sword is always wronged. Jacksen lowered his blood-stained sword.
All the fighting around them had ended. Enkrid closed and opened his eyes, replaying the movements of all his squad members in his mind. It was time to sort out the situation.
On a dark night, with the chilly winter air and torches as a backdrop, Enkrid took a step forward. He happened to be right in the center. In the middle of the circle of torches, where shadows and gazes gathered.
After gathering everyone's attention, Enkrid's mouth opened.
"Anyone who wants to come over?"
One word was enough. All the survivors dropped their weapons.