A Knight who Eternally Regresses - Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Luck Isn’t Always on Your Side (2)

“Do you really need to bring that longsword?”

It was right before they were about to leave the camp, which also served as their base. Finn pointed at Enkrid and Torres’ equipment.

“Can’t I?”

“You’ve never climbed over a wall before, have you?”

Of course not. Scaling a wall wasn’t exactly an everyday experience.

“Let me say it again. Travel as light as possible. If you try to climb the wall wearing that thick gambeson, you’ll collapse before you even get halfway.”

Finn was right.

Even getting over the rocky mountain had been a chore. When they finally reached the front of the wall, Enkrid was glad he had followed her advice.

‘As light as possible.’

That was the key. Finn crouched low and stuck close to the wall. Enkrid and Torres also lowered their stances as they approached. Between the towers along the wall, the torches blazed with a flickering glow.

‘Can we really sneak in?’

The thought chilled him. The grass under their feet barely came up to their shins, offering no cover at all.

Moreover, it wasn’t as if the moon was hidden. Had it been raining or so dark that they couldn’t see anything, it would have been an entirely different scenario.

The surroundings were clear. Even without the torches, it seemed far too easy to spot someone moving in the open plains.

His heart pounded. He felt like they might get skewered by arrows before they even got close to the wall, let alone climb it.

Had it not been for the Heart of the Beast, his legs might have been shaking. Enkrid saw Finn’s back as she led the way ahead.

She moved forward without hesitation, her steps steady.

‘Does she have something to rely on?’

He had no idea. By the time they reached the front of the wall, his body was slick with sweat. The distance they had covered was considerable.

Of course, if they had run at full speed, they could have closed the gap in no time, but the looming shadows on the watchtower above had quashed any such ideas.

“Is this route the one that avoids the watchtower’s line of sight?”

Torres, perhaps feeling the same unease, whispered the question as soon as they pressed against the wall.

Finn’s answer was startling.

“Nope, if we got spotted, we’d just run for it.”

“…What?”

“We didn’t get spotted, did we? So, we’re good. From what I’ve seen before, they get a little lax on nights like this when the moon’s bright. If it were my people, no way this would’ve worked.”

She wasn’t relying on any grand skill— just pure luck.

“This is insane,” Torres muttered.

Enkrid shared the sentiment, but upon thinking about it differently, it made a certain kind of sense.

‘If we get caught, we run.’

To catch up with the speed of a Ranger’s footwork, they’d need a cavalry unit, but what kind of land was this?

A land teeming with monsters and beasts. The conditions were the worst possible for cavalry.

Imagine a griffon, known for its fondness for horse meat, charging out of nowhere. A griffon was a creature that required at least a platoon of trained soldiers, if not knights, to handle.

He didn’t know if there were griffons here, but as for cavalry…

‘No chance.’

The answer was clear. As long as they timed it right and approached confidently, they could make it to the wall.

If they were unlucky, an arrow might come flying, but how many sharpshooters could perfectly aim at a shadow on a bright night?

A bold approach, exploiting the enemy’s overconfidence on a moonlit night.

So…

“Did you spend the entire day planning to scale the wall at night?”

It made sense that she had chosen a day when the dual moons were out.

As Enkrid muttered, Finn turned her head.

The moonlight illuminated half her face, casting one side in darkness while the other shimmered with silver light. She pursed her lips and gave a little exclamation of admiration.

“Hooh, sharp, aren’t you? Like I said, on nights when both moons are out, they get careless. Did you see the shadows hovering near the watchtower? There were only two of them. The numbers are lower tonight.”

Enkrid nodded and glanced back at the wall. There were four watchtowers. Two guards at each.

Not many.

‘Once we get up, there’ll be a corridor-like passage.’

The passage running along the top of the wall wouldn’t be that wide. The Border Guard and Cross Guard walls had been built in the same era.

‘They should be similar in structure.’

He visualized it in his mind. What they’d need to do after reaching the top. There was a big difference between predicting how to act and just reacting on the fly.

Enkrid wasn’t the only one thinking things through.

“You think we’ll be too exhausted after climbing the wall to keep going?”

Torres was also thinking ahead. He worried about what would come next. Finn just shrugged her shoulders in response.

“Now that we’ve come this far, we’ve got no choice but to go up. I’m counting on your strength and grip to get the job done.”

Enkrid raised his head, estimating the height of the wall once again. It seemed to be about three or four times his height.

“This way.”

Finn resumed her guidance.

She led them to the outer side of the wall, where the moon cast deep shadows as it passed over the watchtower.

As they pressed against the wall, everything became pitch black around them. Far away, the torches on the watchtowers blazed. Beside him, he could sense the presence of Torres and Finn.

Bwooo—!

The sound of a night bird echoed faintly in the distance.

Other than that, ten steps away, there was only the bright moonlight illuminating the ground and the contrasting darkness that filled the surroundings.

In the pitch black, Enkrid saw Finn’s eyes.

In the daylight, they had a hint of brown, but now, all he could see was a faint glimmer in the darkness.

“The wall isn’t as heavily guarded as you’d think. Especially against someone trying to climb it. It’s rare for anyone to actually make an attempt. Just avoid the patrols.”

“And you know the patrol times, or have someone on the inside?”

“Do you think I would?”

“More luck then.”

Finn and Torres whispered, and though Enkrid understood this plan relied somewhat on luck, he didn’t think it was purely that.

‘Moonlight.’

Overconfidence, slipping past the wall, and hiding in the city immediately after.

“Beyond this is a slum. If we hide well, we’ll be fine.”

The patrols here would be less frequent compared to other areas.

Why wouldn’t they be?

Even at the Border Guard, it was the same.

No soldier enjoyed walking through foul-smelling streets, constantly being pestered by beggars. Especially at night, where a half-mad vagrant might leap out at any moment.

So, even if this wasn’t a fully calculated infiltration, it was definitely backed by experience.

“You’ve done this before.”

“You’re sharper than you look.”

Scaling a wall was not something many would even think to attempt.

That’s why the defenses were loose.

If they’d dug a hole like the doghole to sneak in, how common would it be for someone to actually choose to climb the wall to enter Cross Guard?

It was the safest method because it was so rare.

Of course, hardship was inevitable.

From the rocky mountain route to preparing to scale the wall now, nothing had been easy.

Ptooey.

Finn spat into her hand, rubbed it, and then pulled out a leather pouch from her belt, tilting it slightly. The pouch was filled with powdery stone dust.

She rubbed the dust on her hands and began to climb the wall. She searched for cracks, hooking her fingers in and pushing off with her feet to cling to the wall.

Even though the wall was built straight, the stones were uneven and had plenty of cracks.

As she climbed, Finn began driving stakes into the cracks in the wall, angling them downward. She tied a rope to the stakes and let it drop, before continuing to climb using just her body.

“Think you can do that?”

“Me? No chance.”

Enkrid and Torres spoke while hiding in the shadows cast by the wall as the moonlight struck it.

Finn looked like a cross between a monkey and a nimble squirrel as she scaled the wall. She steadily dropped the rope down for Enkrid and Torres.

They began climbing, gripping the rope tightly. The stakes creaked as they pressed down, sprinkling stone dust, but they held firm.

They didn’t rely solely on the rope. Whenever they spotted a gap between the stones, they used their toes and fingertips to steady themselves.

Both of them rubbed their hands with the stone dust they had prepared, using the rope at times, and at other times, digging their fingers and feet into the cracks in the wall, pausing to catch their breath.

When they had first looked up, they thought they’d climb it in no time.

‘I’m going to die.’

It was much harder than expected. Even Enkrid, whose body was honed by the Isolation Technique, felt the strain in his muscles.

His forearms in particular throbbed with pain. Even though this was an area he had trained by gripping and swinging his sword every day.

“A different set of muscles gets used for different movements.”

Audin’s words flashed through his mind. If he kept that in mind, scaling the wall could be seen as another form of training for the Isolation Technique.

Looking up, he saw Finn continuing to climb with ease. If there was a start, there was also an end.

After what felt like an eternity of struggle, they finally reached the top of the wall, which was about three or four times the height of a grown man.

Cautiously, they hooked their hands and feet onto the top, hauling themselves over and dropping down.

As Enkrid’s feet hit the ground, he felt a moment of relief, thinking there was no one around.

His instincts and his sixth sense told him so, allowing him a brief sense of ease, but…

“Quite the effort, climbing in the dead of night.”

A voice rang out, as if waiting for them.

It was a clear, melodic female voice.

Then came a sharp snap.

Fwoosh!

Between the torch stands, where the moonlight shone, several more torches burst into flame. Whatever trick had been used, a mere snap of the fingers had lit them all.

It was surprising, the kind of stunt one might see at a circus. But would that stop him from reacting?

Huff.

The moment the torches flared and his eyes stung from the light, Enkrid sucked in the breath he had been holding, immediately flicking his hands.

A dagger slipped out of his belt and flew through the air.

It wasn’t the Whistling Dagger since its sound would have given him away, but a regular throwing knife. Though the way he threw it was sharp and precise, just as he had been taught.

Thud!

Right after Enkrid’s dagger flew, another one shot out with a hiss, but…

Though it hadn’t been blocked by a shield, both daggers made a dull sound, like someone striking a poorly made drum, and bounced off mid-air.

Both of them.

“Goddamn, we’ve got no luck.”

Torres spoke with a frustrated tone.

“Why?”

Without looking back, Enkrid asked as he quietly gripped another dagger in each hand.

“A sorcerer.”

A sorcerer?

Here?

That was Enkrid’s first thought.

Only then did he fully take in their opponent, standing between the torches.

A woman stood there, her long wavy hair and eyes that resembled a snake’s, with vertical slits, catching his attention. She was only about ten steps away.

The number of soldiers surrounding them didn’t seem to exceed ten. All ten were aiming crossbows.

‘This is not good.’

That was the immediate thought.

The sorcerer was about to speak again when—

“Go!”

Finn’s voice rang out. Instinctively, Enkrid ducked and pressed himself against the narrow corridor wall.

Whoosh!

A heavy object whistled through the air, just past Enkrid’s face, pushing the air aside. He could feel it rush by, grazing his cheek.

‘She threw an axe.’

As he grasped the situation, he finally noticed the transparent barrier that had been reflecting the moonlight.

If one looked closely, they could just make it out— a barely visible shield.

Crack!

The spinning axe smashed into the barrier with a sharp crack, unlike the dull sound from before when the daggers hit.

A visible fracture appeared in the shield. The axe seemed to be stuck in mid-air, lodged in the barrier.

“Jump!”

Finn’s voice rang out again.

The axe, still suspended, shattered into pieces.

Crunch!

The blade broke, the handle warped, and it crumbled to the ground.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The sorcerer, who had disintegrated the axe mid-air, lifted one side of her mouth in a smirk. It was a clear mockery.

Her expression seemed to say, “Try whatever you want.”

The first to jump was Torres.

He moved swiftly, grabbing the rope tied on the outside of the wall to slow his descent as he dropped down. Next was Finn, who leapt off the wall without hesitation, almost as if she were flying.

If they executed the landing correctly, they wouldn’t break their legs, but…

The drop was about the height of a five-story building. A wrong move could mean death.

Yet, there was no hesitation.

And as for Enkrid—

‘If I have to escape anyway…’

He figured it would be better to take a stab at the sorcerer. He crouched low, gathering strength in his thighs.

Recalling the technique of a Squire he had once observed but never fully mastered—

Crunch, thud!

He kicked off the ground.

In an instant, he closed the distance, reaching for the sorcerer’s neck with the broad blade of his Guard Sword in hand.

If the shield could be broken by an axe…

‘I’ll break it with strength.’

And then split her head open.

How had he killed the sorcerer he met before?

Get in close and cut. Sense the unseen spells and dodge them. It was confidence built on his past experiences of fighting sorcerers.

There were still crossbows aimed at him, but that was a problem for later. As Enkrid closed the gap, he could see the sorcerer’s eyes.

Those vertically slit eyes.

The moment their eyes met, he almost lost all strength in his limbs, but—

Thump!

The Heart of the Beast surged with power, holding his muscles firm.

At that moment, he thought:

‘Got her.’

But sometimes, certainty could be a fatal flaw.

“Some enemies deceive your instincts. Those are the ones to be wary of. Sorcerers are like that.”

Jaxon’s words came to mind.

Squelch.

The sound of flesh tearing.

Followed by the pain.

“You idiot!”

Finn’s voice echoed from below, as if she had seen him about to fall to his death.

“Cough!”

His senses sharpened as he neared death, and he could hear Torres coughing.

When Jaxon had talked about sorcerers…

He had already killed one. He had dodged spells using his instincts. So, he hadn’t really listened carefully.

‘I made a dumb mistake.’

Not all soldiers are the same. Not all knights are of equal skill. What about sorcerers?

They were all different.

Enkrid grasped his arm, looking at the thorny vine wrapped around his throat.

Just as he thought he had overcome the sorcerer’s gaze, something had reached out from the ground and coiled around his arm. It was a thorny vine.

“I am Ressa of the Thorned Vines.”

With the sorcerer’s words, Enkrid closed his eyes. It was the end of his second repetition. When the third day began, Enkrid trained his body as usual, swung his sword, and…

After practicing with Torres’ Hidden Knife, he switched to a sharper practice stone.

A gesture to remember this third day.

And then—

“Did you say we could disguise ourselves as a caravan at dawn?”

He inquired about the third method of getting past the wall.