Enkrid could sum up Luagarne's fight in two words:
"Boom" and "Crash."
Charging forward, she charged directly into the group of gnolls without a second thought, a reckless yet formidable charge akin to a knight riding a warhorse and striking with full force.
"Well, that works," Enkrid thought.
The effect was undeniable. As she charged, she ignored the cuts and bruises that formed along the way, continuing to swing her whip with her right hand and a sword in her left.
Bam! Bam!
Each time the whip cut through the air, it made a loud crack as it struck the heads, shoulders, and bellies of the gnolls. Clang! Thud! Boom! —the sounds of bone shattering echoed as the whip connected.
With the sword, she pierced the heads of approaching Hyena Beasts.
Thwack! Thunk! Crack! The sound of her sword piercing the beasts' skulls rang through the air.
As she repeatedly stabbed and withdrew the sword, four or five Hyena Beasts collapsed, spilling dark blood across the ground.
The bodies of those creatures, bubbling with black foam as they died, were quickly bypassed as Luagarne pressed on, taking down another nine gnolls and fifteen Hyena Beasts.
Soon after, the remaining gnolls regrouped, about five or six of them at a time, and began to challenge Luagarne.
"Grrr!" Luagarne puffed up her cheeks before swinging her whip fiercely.
The whip whipped through the air, but this time, it didn't strike any of the gnolls. Instead, it wrapped around one of their necks. She yanked it hard, throwing the gnoll through the air.
Whoosh!
The gnoll flew through the air and crashed headfirst into the ground. In the meantime, the whip and sword in her hands continued their deadly work, cutting down foes left and right.
She killed and killed again.
The strength of the angry Frog was terrifying to witness.
Her sheer force and instinctive combat ability were on full display. A wail of agony rang out from one of the gnolls.
Meanwhile, Enkrid trudged forward.
Luagarne, the one who had provoked the fight, was expressing her anger through a furious rampage, and it was undeniably powerful.
However, with the battle ongoing, something started to become clear to Enkrid.
"Can't we handle them?"
Not all Frok-like creatures were warriors, but Luagarne had always said—she was a scholar. She wasn't obsessed with battle.
But now…
"I don't think we'll lose."
The thought occurred to him suddenly.
Was it arrogance or confidence from accumulated experience?
Though all fights are uncertain until they are over, if they were truly going to kill, Enkrid felt it could be done.
"Real swordsmanship, I can teach, but knights and your crazy group... they're quite the troublesome opponents."
Luagarne, ever the cold observer of talent, was clear about her abilities and where she stood.
"I'm more driven by curiosity than ambition," she remarked.
Which Frog wasn't curious?
Saying that, Luagarne's eyes sparkled with light. Her large, round eyes almost seemed to shine as they filled with light.
Then, when Enkrid explained his strategy for dealing with the beast horde, Frok puffed up her cheeks and tilted his head as if questioning it.
As someone familiar with human ways, Luagarne communicated with gestures similar to a human's to express her thoughts.
When she heard the strategy, her reaction was clear: "What kind of crazy idea is that?"
"Same as yesterday."
At that reply, Enkrid felt his heart, body, hands, feet, and entire being grow hot.
What should he say? It felt like he wanted to go wild.
Should he say it felt like he wanted to run through pouring rain?
Or maybe he should say it felt like he wanted to roll through a snowy, white wasteland?
In any case, he wanted to do something—exactly, he wanted to wield his sword.
"So just watch my back," he said.
It was a request to Luagarne and Ester.
The village was on the verge of collapse anyway. If they had brought the ladder, it was practically over.
So what could he do?
'Break what they believe in.'
What did the gnolls and the cultists believe in? Numbers, tools, ladders, and sheer numbers.
At the same time, he felt something boiling up inside him that he wanted to pour out.
Something burning, something boiling.
"I think we need a short, but intense fight."
Enkrid murmured to himself as he stepped forward, whispering a verse like a chant, remembering the boatman's words.
While Luagarne attracted all attention with her brute force, Enkrid closed the gap and approached the monstrous horde of beasts.
At that moment, Luagarne took a breath and fell back.
By that point, she had slaughtered nearly thirty golls and Hyena Beasts.
Returning with minor wounds on her arms, legs, thighs, and abdomen, she was a force to be reckoned with.
She was strong.
But was she so strong that she was untouchable?
Enkrid wasn't sure. It seemed like she could be taken down.
Enkrid paused between the gnolls, Hyena Beasts, and Ghouls.
A deep growl echoed.
"Raaah!" "Kaaah!"
The gnolls and Hyena Beasts roared.
But first, it was a Ghoul that greeted him. And it greeted him well.
As Enkrid looked at them, he wondered.
Was the strength of a knight truly something unreachable?
But would that mean it was impossible to touch?
He didn't know. The future was uncertain.
But one thing was clear.
Short and sharp.
He could probably show them something.
The enemy, a mass of countless monsters and beasts.
And there, in the midst of it all, were those carrying ladders.
There were more than thirty of them.
Alright, thirty.
He acknowledged the number and drew his swords.
Shing!
One in his right hand.
Clink!
One in his left.
Though he was much more used to wielding just one sword, now, in this moment, this way seemed better. After all, he was facing many opponents, so Enkrid swung both swords.
There were several reasons why Luagarne did not ask.
First of all, she was confident that even if she were surrounded by the gnolls and the beast horde, she could easily slip away.
If things went wrong, she could afford to sacrifice an arm or two and escape.
Her limbs would regenerate, so there was no real problem. That's why, when she was told to enter the horde of monsters, she didn't bother asking.
Another reason was Enkrid's change.
'Why has he changed?'
She had only been absent for half a day, but Enkrid's posture and momentum had completely shifted.
'How?'
Luagarne was a talent assessor. Her eyes and senses naturally measured Enkrid's steps, gestures, and posture to gauge his skill level.
'How?'
She asked the same question twice. This man had changed.
Skill could suddenly grow like this, but it was different. It was clearly different from anyone she had seen before.
"I told you, I have an appointment at the salon."
That's how geniuses were. When someone who had been idly playing around suddenly grew in skill, Luagarne was astounded.
That's what being a genius meant.
But didn't they show any signs? Any hints?
No, there were signs.
Luagarne had seen them.
There were usually signs or indications before skill increased.
It was natural for growth to follow the signs.
'But there were none.'
She didn't see any signs, no indications.
Nothing at all. He had changed suddenly.
Was this even possible?
After all, Luagarne didn't even consider Enkrid to be part of the genius category.
So how?
Again, the same question. Right now, she stood here to confirm whether Enkrid had truly changed or if her senses were failing her.
'If things go wrong…'
She could just grab him and run away.
Beside her, Esther scratched the ground with her claws, the sound of them tapping making it clear she was thinking the same thing.
Worries, expectations, curiosity, and a thirst for the unknown intertwined in her mind, and she looked ahead.
After that, her worries dissipated.
Ching, Ting.
Enkrid, with two swords drawn, moved forward. Through the gnolls and beasts, into the horde of Ghouls.
His objective was clear.
'The ladder.'
He charged straight toward the one carrying it.
Luagarne was also targeting that. But, as someone who didn't consider herself a true knight—though, perhaps, she would feel differently about one of her kind—she knew the situation was different.
A horde is still a horde.
They were the ones who would purposely hide and retreat. She could easily kill the ones charging forward, but…
What about chasing down the ones fleeing? That would require a horde. The problem was that the numbers were just too many.
It was a fight with monsters. For Frogs, these were creatures that could be killed even while half-asleep, but there were just too many of them.
Luagarne wasn't a knight. She was a Frog, but even a Frog had limits to their stamina.
She could handle one social creature, but there was no way she could take on the whole horde. That was common sense.
In the continent, those who broke common sense were called knights or knight-level warriors.
And now...
Hoon, whew, thud, crack, scrape, bang, thump, boom.
Enkrid's sword shattered the path. The path that common sense had laid out.
'Ah.'
It wasn't possible to suddenly grow in skill without any signs or premonitions.
Even if you were a genius, that was impossible.
How?
Enkrid's sword moved exactly when and where it was needed.
Thrust and slash. Cut and stab. The sword cleaved through the gnoll's skull with ease, and the sideways swing of the blade cut through the gnoll's spear.
The creature whose spear was cut opened its mouth, showing sharp fangs, trying to bite into Enkrid's shoulder, but before it could, a flash of light erupted from below, rising upward.
The flash split its head in two with a sharp crack. The split head couldn't bite anything anymore.
The two halves of the head spread apart, and the gnoll collapsed, having been torn apart by the blade's force.
Luagarne knew that the power behind that sword was now as great as her own.
It was the same kind of power she had seen in their sparring matches.
However, back then, he only knew how to unleash it chaotically, losing control.
But now, he was using perfect balance, only applying the power when necessary and retracting it when not.
He slashed vertically and thrust forward, his feet moving without pause, taking control of the space around him.
When the ladder came into range, he swung his sword to destroy it. At that moment, six or so Ghouls rushed at him all at once.
They were willing to grab onto his legs and drag him down, even if it meant dying in the process.
This was the effect of the social creature's brainwashing.
But it was useless.
Before the Ghouls could even reach him, Enkrid stepped forward with his left foot and then pulled his right leg back, smoothly and naturally swinging his sword as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Boom, whizz, crack!
What were bones, muscles, and tendons worth?
The great sword's spinning cut cleaved through the Ghouls as though they were nothing.
Arms, legs, heads, torsos, and abdomens—entangled body parts of the creatures scattered across the ground.
In the gaps between them, Enkrid's sword stabbed into the ground with a sharp thud.
Zzzip!
With a strange sound, Enkrid let go of his sword and moved his hand, unleashing throwing knives.
They were whistle daggers.
Ten blades scattered like the wind, piercing everything around them.
All of the flying daggers struck the heads of the monsters carrying the ladder.
Just because someone knew how to use toys, it didn't mean they weren't reluctant to use them.
When the ladder fell to the ground, it was stepped on by accident. The hastily constructed 'tool' shattered.
"Guoooo!"
The mutant gnolls charged. The bigger ones, about three or four of them, surrounded him from all directions, and in the gaps, the hyena-like monsters stuck their heads in.
Enkrid, who had planted his sword in the ground, vanished for an instant.
Luagarne didn't miss it, though there was still an afterimage left in her eyes.
"A charge?"
It was the kind of charge often seen from mid-tier knights. The speed was similar, perhaps.
Just before being surrounded, he disappeared, reappearing behind the mutant, thrusting his swords, one in each hand, crossing them to stab.
Thump!
The two swords crossed through the mutant's heart before pulling back.
It was the heart, so the impact made a slight bulge. Still, Luagarne ignored it. She was an experienced Frog.
However, even with her experience, this was the first time she had seen a human fight like this.
The unknown stirred something in her heart.
Enkrid pulled the swords from the mutant's body.
A trail of black blood flowed down the blades.
"Grrk!"
The mutant died.
Grrrk!
The hyena-like monsters attacked. Enkrid kicked one away with a thud, and then smashed its head with his pommel, causing it to burst open.
"Kyaa!"
A ghoul charged forward without hesitation. It extended its claws, which were coated in poison, a deadly weapon on their own.
Snap.
Enkrid, seemingly irritated, swung his sword lazily, smashing the ghoul's head apart.
There was a rumor that ghouls had no brains, but looking at this one, it certainly had one, though it was small—only about the size of a finger.
Enkrid had only been fighting for a short time.
Not even half a day, not even a few hours.
Was it the time it would take to drink a single cup of tea?
A time so brief that the sun's position wouldn't change.
For beings like dragons or fairies, who had lived for eons, it could be considered a mere moment.
In that brief time, Enkrid had destroyed most of the ladders.
He had turned nearly a hundred monsters, combining both beasts and creatures, into rotten meat.
The ghouls were almost completely wiped out.
Lua Garne, being a Frog herself, felt a chill in her heart—but it wasn't fear; it was the pain of her own heart muscles.
Admiration and awe, the joy and ecstasy of discovering an incomprehensible unknown.
The happiness of seeing something unknown right in front of her.
Everything mixed together, and tears welled up in her eyes.
It was a cruel happiness.
"Ah..."
She sang a Frog battle song, mixed with admiration.
Before the song could even begin, Enkrid suddenly stumbled backward and collapsed, kneeling and planting his sword in the ground.
Even as he did so, his body swayed, and then he opened his mouth.
"I need..."
Huh? Huh? She had just been moved, about to sing more and shed more tears, and now this?
Why was this guy, who had been fighting like a knight, suddenly acting like this?
"Hurry."
Enkrid spoke with lips pale as death.
Lua Garne instinctively extended her whip. With a swish, it wrapped around Enkrid's wrist.
She yanked it, and with a loud drag, Enkrid was pulled toward her.
The ground was littered with corpses, but with a quick flick of her wrist, she lifted Enkrid off the ground.
She caught him mid-air, and bent her knees to absorb the shock.
"Let's go."
The man with black hair and blue eyes, in her arms, spoke.
Lua Garne's emotional surge was interrupted, but the initial sensation she had felt didn't disappear.
She nodded.
Despite the remaining gnolls and beasts charging again, they had already decided to retreat.
And then...
"Fire! Fire!"
As the monsters pulled back, arrows flew from above, providing support.
The beasts and monsters charged once more, but even as their heads were pierced by the arrows, they continued to lash out with their claws and axes, striking the log barricade.
Arrows and rocks rained down from above.
Some of them tried to climb the ladder.
"Are you just going to watch?!"
Krais' shout rang out, and the former mercenaries under Deutch, now a volunteer force, surged forward.
They pushed the ladders away and fought back.
As Luagarne and Esther returned to the fray, the few ladders remaining became useless.
"Insane, they're insane."
Deutch Pulman muttered, watching as the monsters retreated atop the barricade.
Luagarne agreed with him.
'Insane.'
Enkrid had performed a short, but knightly-like display.
Without any signs, any hints.
In just half a day, the man who had seemed talentless had changed.
Luagarne's heart muscles moved like they had in her youth.
For a brief moment, she felt like a girl again.