Eternally Regressing Knight - Chapter 31: Set It Ablaze

“It feels like setting tents on fire has become my specialty somehow.”

Thinking this, Encrid clutched the piece of wood and briefly explained the plan. None of the squad members added any comments; they simply listened. At this point, they were like arrows already shot from the bow—there was no turning back.

Encrid moved out.

“I’m going first.”

He moved with such stealth that even his footsteps made no sound. After lowering his posture, he eventually lay flat on the ground and crawled forward.

All the squad members watched as Encrid crawled across the ground. The plan he proposed was simple.

It was a basic ruse: make noise on the east side and strike from the west.

Mac and the rest of the squad were responsible for making the noise.

Only three members were exempt from this role—Encrid, Andrew, and the soldier who had once been a gangster.

“I’ll do it.”

Mac took the lead in drawing the enemy’s attention without any complaints.

Even though Mac’s attitude had suddenly changed, Encrid didn’t think much of it.

If he follows orders, that’s a good thing.

In the darkness, Mac loosened up his body, picked up a stone, and threw it.

The stone flew through the air and struck an enemy soldier on the head.

SMac!

The stone bounced off the soldier’s helmet, causing him to let out a loud cry of pain.

“…Damn it.”

“What the hell?”

The four soldiers on guard turned toward the noise.

Encrid held his breath and observed them. There was no need for words.

“An intruder!”

One of the soldiers shouted, and chaos ensued.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Encrid tried to move closer to the tent.

“You sneaky rat.”

But he was caught.

There was no need to panic. He had learned through several repetitions of today.

‘You can’t do it alone.’

A soldier standing beside the tent with a spear glared at him.

Before the enemy could charge, Encrid stood up. The dirt clinging to his chest fell to the ground.

Without so much as a shout, the soldier with the spear thrust it forward.

Encrid watched the spear hurtling toward him and twisted his body to dodge it.

But he didn’t just dodge; he gambled with half his life.

The Heart of the Beast gave him the boldness needed for this reckless act.

He dodged and advanced.

The spearhead grazed his shoulder, barely missing him.

A burning sensation spread from his shoulder, but Encrid had managed to get right in front of his enemy.

Seizing the opportunity, he slashed upward with his sword.

The enemy soldier, realizing the danger, lowered his spear shaft to block the attack.

But Encrid had been hiding a knife in his left hand from the start. He drove it into the soldier’s collarbone.

Squelch!

The blade pierced through bone and flesh simultaneously.

“Ugh!”

The enemy soldier groaned.

Encrid immediately headbutted the man on the bridge of his nose.

Smack!

The soldier couldn’t even let out a groan before collapsing backward.

This was the Valen-style mercenary swordsmanship, specifically the Three Sword Technique.

The first sword was a feint; the real attack came from the knife in the left hand and the headbutt.

That’s why he had gambled with his life to dodge the spear and close the distance.

The enemy soldier was down, but since he had been discovered, setting the tent on fire seemed unlikely.

Another soldier appeared behind the fallen one, holding a torch and sword. He had a scar near his eye and looked formidable.

Just by his stride and demeanor, it was clear he wasn’t an ordinary soldier.

“Pathetic.”

The man clicked his tongue and spoke.

His approach was calm and composed.

Even though he had seen a surprise attack from the darkness, he showed no sign of fear.

“Phew, took you long enough.”

Encrid muttered.

The man frowned at that comment.

Whoosh.

Behind the man, flames were rising. The tent was now on fire.

“…Put it out!”

The man shouted. Taking advantage of this, Encrid lunged forward, thrusting his sword.

Pushing off with his right foot, he stepped firmly with his left.

“It all starts with the feet.”

This was the foundation of swordsmanship that Rem and Ragna had repeatedly emphasized.

Encrid did just that.

Starting with the feet, he propelled himself forward. In an instant, the soldier holding the sword and torch grew larger in his vision.

The man was still looking back. His entire body was exposed.

Encrid thrust his sword.

With the elasticity of his entire body, it was the same thrust that had killed Encrid countless times before.

Whoosh.

The blade cut through the air and reached its target.

It happened in a flash.

Of all the thrusts he had executed so far, this one was the best.

It was the best thrust of any iteration of today.

Encrid thought he had killed his opponent.

So focused, everything seemed to move in slow motion in his eyes.

The world around him slowed down, including his own sword and the man’s hand.

In this slowed world, the enemy soldier’s hand twitched. Soon, his sword shot upward from below.

Thwack!

Slick!

Encrid passed by the man and staggered to a stop, clutching his side.

The enemy soldier, who had been looking back, turned forward again.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Encrid.

“You arrogant bastard.”

The man looked utterly furious.

Of course, the anger itself wasn’t a problem.

The issue was his remarkable swordsmanship.

‘At that moment?’

The thrust had been perfect, satisfying even to Rem, who would have struggled to block it without his whip-like axe.

Yet the man had dodged it.

Though a shallow cut marked his neck, it was nothing more than a scratch, far from a fatal wound.

On the other hand, the enemy’s instinctive upward slash had sliced into Encrid’s side.

It wasn’t deep. His bones were unharmed.

It wasn’t fatal, but…

‘I was careless.’

Yet here he was, with this result.

After so many iterations of today, Encrid should have been familiar with it.

And still…

It felt like a vast river lay between him and the enemy soldier.

The enemy could cross that river anytime and cut him down, but it seemed as though Encrid could only dip his toes in the water.

There was a clear difference in skill between them.

But what could he do?

It’s not as if he had only ever fought opponents weaker than himself.

Encrid steadied his breathing and gripped his sword tighter.

If this was the turning point of today, then he would simply do his best.

The gap in skill was overwhelming, but that changed nothing.

While others might see overwhelming odds as despair or a wall, Encrid saw it as a staircase.

A staircase he could climb one day.

A thrilling excitement welled up from his toes to his chest.

Just watch.

How can repeating today be a curse?

By surpassing countless iterations of today, he would eventually defeat even this formidable foe.

He would make sure of it.

He would never settle for today.

And that’s why the excitement grew.

Encrid’s thoughts were reflected on his face.

“Are you smiling?”

The enemy soldier’s face twisted in anger. While Encrid’s face showed excitement, the enemy’s face showed rage.

“I’ll tear you apart and feed you to the dogs.”

Encrid sensed death.

This was an opponent he couldn’t win against right now, no matter what.

But that didn’t mean he would just let himself be killed.

He braced himself for pain and didn’t retreat. Just as he tightened his grip on his sword and steeled his resolve—

Whoosh.

The flames behind the man surged upward. The earlier fire was now a raging inferno, like a dragon spewing flames.

The entire tent was engulfed in fire.

Sparks flew in all directions.

Amidst the flames and smoke, several panicked voices could be heard.

“Damn it! Put out the fire!”

“Someone poured oil on it, sir!”

“The torch stand has fallen!”

Wow, they’re doing a great job.

Encrid had created two distractions to set this tent on fire.

One was Mac and the squad members.

The other was himself.

The fire had been set by Andrew and the soldier who used to be a gangster.

The former gangster had put his city troublemaking skills to good use here.

“The flagpole’s burning!”

A man shouted as he saw the flames rising next to the tent.

He had a strange tattoo on his face.

“Lieutenant! Do you not realize what’s important right now?!”

The man scolded the one standing in front of Encrid.

Seeing this, Encrid subtly stepped back.

Even if he was outmatched, he wouldn’t die from just one or two sword swings.

The enemy knew this too. If Encrid decided to hold out, he could last until the flames completely consumed the tent and the flagpole inside.

Honestly, Encrid couldn’t understand why they were risking their lives over a few flagpoles.

The only thing he knew was this:

The enemy valued those flagpoles more than the lives of a few soldiers.

“I’ll remember you.”

The enemy, who seemed to be the lieutenant of the Azpen unit, glared at Encrid before abruptly turning around.

He must have decided that dealing with the ones who set the fire was more urgent than fighting Encrid here.

Encrid breathed a sigh of relief.

It was like he had come back from the dead.

No matter how many times he experienced death in the repetition of today, he could never get used to it.

If there was a curse, it was having to face that terrifying moment over and over again.

Of course, the agony and suffering that came from confronting all this pain and death wasn’t Encrid’s biggest problem.

If this could help him move forward.

If this could help him improve his skills.

Why wouldn’t he endure it?

“We need to go.”

While he was keeping an eye on his surroundings, Encrid heard Andrew’s voice from behind.

When he turned to look, Andrew’s face was covered in soot.

“We’re retreating.”

Encrid spoke and started moving.

The former gangster soldier followed behind him.

As they ran, Andrew pulled out a whistle from his pocket and blew it.

Two long, sharp blasts echoed through the night, and soon, Mac appeared with the remaining squad members, running toward them.

Encrid noticed that Enri’s arm was bleeding, and there were no other soldiers following behind Mac.

The squad, which had started with ten men, was now down to half.

But at least the escape route Encrid had intended was open.

“The enemy’s in chaos. We probably won’t see a large-scale pursuit, right?”

Mac’s tone seemed to suggest he was asking whether Encrid had planned for this, as if to say their side had been through enough. His forehead was also bleeding, indicating he had seen his share of action.

“Probably.”

Encrid replied, continuing to move.

Blood kept flowing from his side.

He thought it wasn’t a deep wound, but the constant running without any time to stop the bleeding wasn’t helping.

For now, he could only press down on the wound with his hand and keep moving.

From this point on, today was an unknown. Encrid kept a wary eye on their surroundings.

The enemy was in pursuit. Five soldiers were chasing after them.

“Damn bastards!”

These soldiers seemed relatively unscathed.

Although their faces were marked with soot, they had no visible injuries.

The five soldiers were enough for Encrid, Andrew, and Mac to handle.

Enri had a gaping wound in his stomach, and he was staggering, likely due to the blood loss. The gangster soldier was helping to support him, making it difficult for him to fight properly.

“Damn it, at this rate, we’re all gonna die! Pull yourself together!”

The gangster soldier barked at Enri, but he didn’t abandon him.

In the skirmish with the pursuing soldiers, Encrid’s side wound reopened, but it wasn’t enough to kill him.

Mac, in the process of killing two of the enemy soldiers, got a deep cut on his thigh.

However, he quickly wrapped a linen bandage around it and kept pace with the group.

Andrew’s skills seemed to have improved dramatically after just a few battles.

‘No, that’s not it.’

Encrid realized it wasn’t that Andrew’s skills had suddenly improved.

It was more accurate to say that Andrew’s true abilities had surfaced after experiencing the intensity of battle.

If Andrew hadn’t swiftly cut down two of the pursuing soldiers with his deadly swordsmanship, their escape might have failed.

Or it could have been much more difficult.

Blood was seeping again from the wound on Andrew’s cheek, which he had received earlier.

Despite being in such a battered state, no one had died yet.

As they continued to flee through the night, Enri’s weak voice finally broke the silence.

“If we head west from here, we’ll reach the plains where foxes and snakes live. If we go there, the enemy won’t be able to pursue us easily.”

In this region known as Green Pearl, there were various wild animals.

Among them were foxes and snakes. While the foxes were less of a concern, the snakes were dangerous, with many venomous ones among them.

“If we go there, we might lose the enemy, but we could end up getting bitten by a snake and dying first.”

Mac responded.

But Enri, with a faint smile, spoke again.

“There’s a place where the foxes and snakes’ habitats overlap. I know the area. It’s right on the border between the two, so it should be safe. It’s a hunter’s path.”

Encrid looked at Enri, who was pale and weak yet still smiling, and thought how remarkable it was that he could still manage to guide them in such a state.

His mental fortitude was something else.

Everyone looked to Encrid.

It was up to him to make the decision.

“We’re heading that way.”

Encrid made the decision without hesitation.

He moved forward, his mind drifting to other thoughts.

‘That guy… I’ve never seen him before.’

The image of the enemy lieutenant was etched deep in his mind.

If that lieutenant had appeared every time, Encrid would have been too busy dying to do anything else.

But this was the first time he had encountered him.

Perhaps it was because they had pushed the situation to this point that he finally showed up.

‘Or maybe not.’

As Encrid thought about it more, he realized the voice sounded familiar.

It was from one of the earlier iterations of today when he had sneaked into the burning tent after repeatedly reliving the day.

When he had barely managed to enter the enemy-guarded tent, what he saw was a strange sight.

A flagpole and a flag.

A strange smoke rising from a bowl and a man with tattoos all over his face.

It looked like some kind of ritual.

But the enemy’s reaction was overly intense.

“Catch him!”

When Encrid had kicked over the flagpole, they had freaked out.

That’s when he realized it.

This flagpole was something important to them.

And that’s when someone had slashed his neck from behind.

“What’s this bastard doing?”

Now that he thought about it, the voice of the person who had killed him seemed to belong to that same lieutenant.

Lost in thought, Encrid followed Enri’s guidance until he noticed that the surroundings were starting to take on a bluish hue.

The light of dawn was beginning to envelop the area, signaling the start of a new day.

It was dawn.

Before he knew it, the sky was brightening.

Encrid realized that he had survived another iteration of today.

As the sun rose and the surroundings grew brighter, Encrid’s reconnaissance team finally rejoined the main unit.

“What the hell happened to you guys?”

The scout lieutenant asked as soon as they met.

Encrid had more urgent matters to attend to than explanations.

There were too many wounded.

They could report back on their mission on the way back.

For now, simply surviving was enough.

“Phew, I’m going to pass out now.”

Enri’s voice came from behind.

Encrid didn’t respond.

There was no point in saying anything to someone who had already fainted.