A Knight Who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 408



Only Krnovel

408. Ten Thousand Ghosts

Count Molsen was not a genius in strategy or tactics, but he had a broad mind.

It means that you moved outside of the other person’s thoughts.

As the battle was just beginning, some of the Count’s troops broke away from their formation.

They broke away during the fight and appeared to be running away.

The commander of the royal army decided that there was no need to pursue them. It was natural for deserters to appear when the battle was in jeopardy, and they were already outnumbered.

I would appreciate it if you ran away.

That is, they are some troops that no one cares about.

They gathered in twos and threes, then dispersed, then gathered again, following the commands ringing in their heads.

‘Find the source of magic.’

It was natural that the destination that moved like that was in front of Andrew. Looking at the group of troops that had become a surprise attack force, Andrew calmly opened his mouth.

“Should I get up? I think I should get up.”

Despite Andrew’s words, Esther did not move at all.

Instead, a line of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

It was evidence that Esther was also fighting.

Andrew sighed.

The situation was similar to that of a dog.

The fighting stopped across the battlefield, and then suddenly, the kids with their eyes rolled back popped out.

‘Where do these guys come from?’

It was a surprise attack in an unexpected way.

‘Why here of all places?’

This isn’t where the supplies are, and this isn’t where the crane is?

A place that has no tactical meaning?

Of course it must be because of Esther. Andrew thought about it that far too.

It was an infantry unit of over fifty men. They all looked formidable.

I thought it would be better to grill fifty of them.

“Go away, these kids’ eyes.”

The freckled student takes a step back and says this. Andrew also noticed it.

Blood vessels had burst, and most of them were bleeding, dripping down their cheeks. It was hard to even see the whites of the eyes of the ones that were still healthy.

It has bright red cheeks and black eyes.

It didn’t look human, except for the pupils.

The intimidation that came with his appearance was no joke. Andrew clenched his molars.

‘Should I step down?’

Even though Esther and the five disciples formed a large formation, if they fought here, they would die.

Does that mean I should run away with Esther in my arms?

Those who were shedding tears of blood all had their swords hanging down, revealing thigh muscles that looked like they were about to burst.

What did you do to those thighs to make them so thick?

‘I don’t think it’s possible to escape by running.’

It would have been dangerous to run away alone, so it didn’t make sense to run away holding a person in my arms.

It was broad daylight, but the sky seemed to be getting darker. With the battlefield right in front of us, we should feel the heat, but instead, we felt a subtle chill.

No, I felt the same heat until just now, but then suddenly I felt cold.

I saw guys approaching without any formation.

There is an old legend about an angel fighting while shedding tears of blood, and it seemed like it was a realization of that fable.

Did he fight at the call of the gods, or did he go into battle shedding tears of blood because he didn’t want to kill?

Of course, they were the opposite of the fable.

These were people who took drugs and maximized their physical abilities.

“Hey, hey, wizard, rip, rip, kill, kill.”

The man in the center who wasn’t shedding tears of blood groped and spoke.

Even though it was a stuffy way of speaking just to hear it, the meaning was clear. He was targeting a magician.

Why did the main force just let these guys go?

Does the captain know about this situation?

It was a complaint Andrew could well have.

“house owner.”

One of the trainees calls him. He has a rational choice left. If he runs away, he can survive. He has no obligation to protect the woman named Esther.

“What can I do if I can’t even protect the person behind me?”

One day, the captain’s words came to mind. Andrew thought back to the time they had spent together since they first met Encred in a moment of crisis.

What did you learn from seeing him?

“If I run away without protecting even one woman, how can I protect my honor? If I have to survive that way, then from today on, I will abandon the name Gardner.”

I’d rather die here than run away.

“Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off.”

“You get out.”

Andrew cut off the stuttering idiot.

“Let’s try dying.”

The freckled apprentice spoke and designated the positions of the four. Andrew stood in the center and swung his sword vertically once.

It is a sword that strikes down. It is a declaration of will. The enemy’s special forces rushed forward, drooling and shedding tears of blood.

“Keep going!”

It was accompanied by a sound that was either a shout or a scream.

The opponent was as difficult as his appearance. He swung his hanging sword quickly and strongly, and he extended his legs and swung his claws.

I wondered if this was really a human being.

As a joke, I wondered if the mother was really a ghoul.

A half-human and a half-ghoul? It’s ridiculous, but aren’t there such children right before your eyes?

“Come on, you fucking bastards!”

Andrew screamed. He had already been stabbed in the thigh and his leg was not moving properly, but what did it matter?

This is the moment I held on and held on.

Bam!

Andrew wondered where the stone had come from.

Blood flowed through my torn scalp, obscuring my eyes, and the world turned red.

I saw a tank running straight from one side. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it wasn’t a tank, but a person. He was striking the enemy with a flat blunt weapon in his left hand, and crushing the enemy with a broad sword in his right hand.

‘Red potatoes.’

Andrew looked at the crushed enemy army without realizing it and had that thought.

It was already at its limit and the help was on the verge of running out.

It was the half-blood giant warrior Teresa.

Dunbakel also came next to him. Dunbakel, holding a sword in both hands, was running wild like a mad sorcerer.

The sword held in both hands cut, stabbed, and bent to strike the enemy.

He rushed in front of Andrew, mercilessly killing the special forces.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“You look so pretty.”

Andrew said, wiping the blood from his eyes.

“I’m originally pretty.”

“It looks prettier over there.”

Andrew nodded over Dunbakel’s shoulder.

Teresa’s shield and sword moved like a crusher. The word merciless would be the right word for it now.

A large female warrior with a blurred sense of perspective crushed, smashed, shattered, and torn apart a dozen enemy soldiers in an instant.

Although it was a far cry from what anyone would call pretty, Andrew was sincere.

These are the two who saved my life. I could have said something worse than that.

Andrew sat down.

Just before Encred set out for the Count, he sent Dunbakel and Teresa to Esther.

The fact that Esther sent a fluid or something to talk to him means that he couldn’t come in person.

That is evidence that this is an imminently dangerous situation.

It was a decision made based on reason, not intuition.

That’s why Dunbakel and Teresa came here.

Of course, during this time, Dunbakel saw the Count and felt a sense of inferiority along with the fear inherent in his nature.

Teresa was annoyed because she felt that her skills were lacking.

In such a situation, there are people who need them and are saved.

The two felt somewhat better as they looked at Andrew.

“Coolook!”

Just before Teresa and Dunbakel were about to annihilate the enemy soldiers who had surprised them, Andrew saw Esther cough.

She opened her eyes for a moment.

“Witch?”

Andrew called her, but Esther did not answer and closed her eyes again.

It was clear that something was wrong.

Esther opened her eyes in the other world again, rejecting the Count’s magic that had pushed her away.

A black soot-like substance was seen spreading around the count.

‘I got hit.’

To put it bluntly, it wasn’t so much that I was victimized as that I had no choice.

The opponent was a prepared wizard, and Esther had not yet recovered all of her magic power.

If my world of orders had been sane, I wouldn’t have been affected even if I knew.

‘so?’

Esther saw a man who never gave up, and she learned something from him.

Esther, moreover, was well aware of her own lofty pride.

Her self-esteem, bordering on arrogance, does not allow her to back down like this.

That’s why.

‘You know how to back off?’

It means that I can’t stand it unless that wizard bastard, who is a count or something, overturns the table that he has laid out.

If it’s difficult to overcome it head on, try another method.

‘second best.’

Of course, this required a few things.

The source of the soot, the entity that generates the magic power, must be half-killed or killed immediately.

‘Enki will do it.’

A wizard’s guess is a prophecy. It is a conclusion reached after considering the circumstances.

But what Esther said to herself was not a prophecy.

It wasn’t the wind either.

This was faith.

It was the trust that was shown by the way a person lived his life.

Enki is a man who does what he wants.

Esther believed so and prepared a second option.

* * *

The Count did not explode in anger. It was like a seven-year-old boy to get angry when things did not go his way.

‘Can’t I handle the problem that has arisen?’

I can handle it.

‘Did something go wrong with the plan?’

It’s hard to see it as wrong.

A cool head quickly cooled down the irritation.

It was frustrating that the magic circle I had prepared was distorted, but it was enough.

You can’t take down an entire kingdom at once, but you can finish one battlefield.

‘But didn’t I originally need a proper kingdom?’

Was this something that started because I was greedy for power? When I tried to recall my past self, another self asked.

‘Does it matter?’

The count answered.

‘no.’

A throne is a throne, whether it’s black or white.

Increase your clan. Color the world.

After mumbling the words in his mind, the Count recited the spell again and again, using the prepared magic circle as a base.

In fact, it was a spell that my inner self had been reciting from the beginning of the battle.

Whether the surprise attack had failed or the wizard who had interfered with my world of spells was unharmed, that was a problem for later.

For now, my priority is to weed out the souls of those approaching me.

The count raised his hand holding his cane.

As I aimed the staff forward, something like black soot spread from the tip of the staff.

No matter how dark it was, the sky that had been broad daylight began to get darker than before.

Behind the Count, dark clouds similar to the chair he was sitting on began to gather.

The heavy clouds without a single sound of thunder were extremely ominous to look at.

The dark sky blocks out the sunlight.

It seemed like everything was going to be painted black.

“What, what is it?”

A soldier of the royal army raised his head in surprise at the strange sight.

The black sky gradually spread out and reached the ground. Some of the soot slowly approached and touched the soldier’s arm.

It must have happened because the dark clouds were so thick. That’s right. But how did these shadows form when there was no sunlight?

It’s a very cloudy, extremely cloudy day, but why can I see my surroundings?

Cool reason said so, but instinct did not.

The soldier tried to brush away the soot that had touched his arm, but the soot spread and soon seized his limb.

“Ugh.”

Soon I felt something else entering my body.

It wasn’t something physical.

-Get your body.

It is a phantom that invades the mind.

The soldier’s eyes became cloudy, leaving only the whites of his eyes. Then he began to drool profusely.

The count opened his mouth and smiled when he saw the result.

“Try to handle ten thousand ghosts!”

His voice spread throughout the battlefield. He was full of confidence. The overlapping voices shook the imagination of ordinary people without mercy.

Soot itself was a spectre that sapped the life out of humans.

The strongest of them reached the five who were approaching the Count.

Encred heard someone muttering to himself.

-Give me your body.

Before he could even answer, Will reflexively responded with refusal. The soot and such could not color his will in the slightest. The ghost was repelled by Will.

-… … Give me your body.

Thump.

-… … .

The ghost turned away from Encred.

Rem was also approached by ghosts, but Rem knew how to deal with such men.

But I didn’t want to touch that disgusting liquid. It was like not wanting to touch a rotten egg in the midsummer heat.

Rather, isn’t it human nature to want to hold your nose at a bad smell?

So Rem swung his axe.

Hung.

The will of the ghost was scattered along the vertically drawn axe blade.

Since he still had the power of sorcery he had acquired from the madman of immortality, slaying ghosts was not something he could call a talent.

This is something that can be done even without the power of magic, even if it is by using tricks.

Ragnar ignored it.

The ghost clung to Ragnar, but no response was heard.

-Give me your body, can’t you hear? Give me your body.

Ragnar consistently ignored him, and the wraith gave up. Even if he didn’t listen, he would at least react and do something.

No specter could pierce Ragnar’s rock-solid will.

Saxon was following slightly behind the group when he sensed an approaching specter and dodged it.

The soot seemed to spread without fail, but if you looked closely and felt, there were plenty of places to escape.

It wasn’t that hard. It didn’t matter if it was unavoidable. If it was too hard, I could just use a straw doll artifact or something.

In Saxon’s arms there were a few things prepared just in case.

Audyn accepted the ghost. He alone showed compassion and generosity.

‘Come, the Lord is waiting.’

What a pitiful soul! I will hold you in my arms. Even in death, you cannot rest in peace.

I felt like crying. In fact, small tears formed at the corners of my eyes.

Inside of Audin, divinity was hidden. It was just bound with gold. The phantom dug into Audin excitedly and encountered a lump of divinity bound with gold.

There was no room to even scream. It disappeared as it was, heading towards the Lord.

This was the most horrible death for a ghost.

It wasn’t for nothing that the divine was the antithesis of the undead and other monsters like the Wraith.

The divine power inflicted the most terrible pain on them.

Of course, Audin knew that too.

‘He said that on the way to God, you must be able to endure suffering.’

I did it knowingly. With the utmost delusional thinking.

The Count frowned at the fact that the momentum of the five approaching him showed no sign of abating.

Moreover, there were things here and there that resisted my ‘soot ghost’.

There were a few others besides that guy named Krang.

“Those cheeky guys?”

The count waved his cane as he spoke. If you can’t break his heart, then you can just tear his body apart.

“Hey, try blocking this too.”

He gave the order, and following the staff, black soot-like figures rose from the floor of the chair where the Count sat.

He was a ghost soldier.

I send out ghosts from the reality connected to my world of order, and their number is ten thousand.

Suddenly, a black wave appeared in front of Encred and the Mad Company, blocking them.

Encrid didn’t hesitate to look at the vast waves.

Who is the most skilled in this type of combat?

“Rem.”

He is a crazy axe craftsman.

“… … I don’t really feel like it.”

Rem also saw the approaching horde of wraiths and knew that he had to break through them.

So, I didn’t like it, but I said what I had to say.

“Let’s form a battle formation.”

It was a word that meant to stand in line for a specific purpose. It was not a word that really suited the Mad Company.