Chapter 701 - Knowing What to Do Without Thinking
Enkrid saw, for the first time, a flicker of emotion in the head's eyes.
It was a trace of worry, or perhaps concern, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Because of that, Enkrid couldn't be certain if he had truly seen it.
"Do not follow me."
The head spoke again, his voice as devoid of emotion as an iron doll.
Ragna flared up at those words.
Enkrid could tell that he was deeply angry, and indeed, he was.
"What if I wish to accept 'Sunrise' now?"
As Ragna spoke, he stepped forward with his left foot.
It was a single step past the threshold of the door—a movement that signified he was ready to draw his sword at any moment.
This anger burned fiercer than when Rem stole a special meal.
His emotions turned into sheer presence, and that presence became an oppressive force that filled the corridor.
The head did not respond to Ragna.
Instead, he acted like a man of wisdom, simply looking at Enkrid in silent urging.
But somehow, it almost looked like a desperate request.
Something feels off.
With that thought, Enkrid gave a slight nod.
If he didn't understand the situation, then he should just act first and figure things out later.
If the head was indeed up to something, as Grida suspected, then this was an opportunity to find out.
"Ragna, stay here. I'll be back shortly."
Enkrid said.
Ragna glared at the head for a moment before nodding silently.
Only then did the head begin walking, his wet boots making splashing sounds against the floor.
Unlike before, his footsteps were not silent.
The friction of his boots against the wet hallway created its own melody.
Of course, outside, a grand orchestra of thunder, lightning, and storm raged, making it nearly impossible to hear footsteps unless one had the ears of a knight.
And in those steps, Enkrid sensed a subtle relief.
It wasn't an overt display of emotion, but something similar to how Alexandra had expressed gratitude through swordsmanship.
Though, it was hard to say for sure—perhaps there was emotion in his steps, or perhaps there was none at all.
As Enkrid followed him outside, the head finally spoke.
The sound of the storm crashing down like a waterfall filled the air, but his voice cut through clearly.
"Ragna listens well."
"There's no reason for him not to."
"He never listened to anyone as a child, and even after returning, he seemed unchanged."
"Maybe he simply accepted it this time?"
"More likely, he listens to you. How did you manage to win him over?"
Win him over?
Enkrid had no idea.
After a moment of thought, he answered as he walked.
"I don't know about winning him over. I just always struggled to survive, and when I looked up, my men and Ragna were by my side, swinging their weapons."
The head fell silent for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully.
The storm raged on, and their splashing footsteps intermingled with the howling winds.
Then, the head spoke again.
"Yes, one cannot force another's heart to change. But that makes me regret things a little. Should I have just subdued him by force? Though, I suppose it's too late for that now."
Outside the lodging, Alexandra stood, draped in a black cloak.
Her face was impassive.
Mileschia had been her longtime friend.
And now, she was dead—for Yohan.
The weight of that fact hollowed out her heart, leaving her expression even more devoid of emotion.
It had been twelve days since Enkrid arrived in Yohan.
The storm had made it impossible to tell whether it was day or night.
But his goals and thoughts remained unchanged from when he first came here.
There was no need to play the role of a fixer searching for someone.
That person would eventually step forward.
Until then, Enkrid had only one task.
Protect Anne.
And wait, maintaining his condition.
"Head!"
A voice called out, piercing through the rain, thunder, and storm.
The silence was shattered, and the storm arrived.
A white bolt of lightning illuminated the world.
Beyond it, two opposing groups stood, split as if by an invisible line.
The tension between them made it seem as though a fight could break out at any moment.
Enkrid realized that he had positioned himself with the head in front of him and Alexandra behind him.
These two were among the strongest in Yohan.
If they attacked together, few would survive.
In other words, Enkrid had unknowingly placed himself between the two most dangerous blades in Yohan.
***
"I will eliminate this disease."
Anne had made this vow over and over.
A disease called a curse had taken her family.
If one followed the passage of time, a plague had spread, and in their fear, people had set fire to the slums.
Her family—people she called her own—burned to death in flames set by their own kind.
At that moment, Anne had made up her mind.
To take revenge.
But the target of that revenge lay beyond a hazy fog.
So first, she needed to understand.
And she had.
She had learned, studied, and stepped into the world of alchemy.
Her first enemies were disease and ignorance.
And along the way, she had done things that were more about cleaning up than revenge—hanging a few alchemists who experimented on children or turned human entrails into chimeras.
Still, to say that she didn't enjoy exploring alchemy, despite her vendetta against ignorance, would be a lie.
It was exhilarating.
Whether it was a whim of fortune or the result of her hard work, the thrill of solving problems through unconventional ideas was unlike anything she had felt before.
Ah, I did it.
Anne felt that same thrill now.
She had identified the type of seeds spreading through Yohan and found a solution.
Not a complete one, but—
I understand the core principle.
Explaining it to someone unfamiliar would require a deep dive into the fundamental properties and base nature of Essence.
It would be difficult.
But she had something to say to Ragna.
The moment had come to lift the curse from this family.
Though, there were still parts beyond her ability, and she would have to tell him that as well.
As she lifted her head to speak, an unfamiliar voice called out to her.
"I still don't understand."
Anne's room had a window—too small for a person to fit through, but large enough for a face, a hand, or something else to enter.
The voice came from outside that window.
"Why should someone like you be the reason I move?"
Thunder roared.
The storm howled.
Rain poured in relentless sheets.
And yet, despite the deafening cacophony, his voice reached Anne's ears with perfect clarity.
The window rattled as the frame twisted and the window was torn away.
The opponent ripped the frame off with his bare hands and spoke as he did so.
"Well, I have no emotions."
The wet blonde hair clung to his face as he pointed what he was holding at her.
It looked like a spear, with a sharp tip, and the handle was a bit short for it to be called a proper spear.
Despite the storm raging outside, Anne recognized the face of her opponent.
That was no surprise.
She had seen it several times as she made her way here.
The sharp jaw, blue eyes, and short blonde hair made him unmistakable.
Anne recognized him.
He was Odincar.
'Huh?'
Anne's eyes widened in surprise, but Odincar simply threw what he was holding with a neutral look in his eyes.
Anne didn't see his arm move.
She only knew what had happened because of the sound.
Clank!
When Odincar tore off part of the window frame and threw the spear, a great sword that had come from behind swung and struck it.
Bang!
The spear flew off and embedded itself in the wall.
Anne felt someone pulling her arm.
Of course, it was Ragna.
He pulled her behind him and spoke.
"Who are you?"
Anne realized she had been holding her breath.
"Whoo, hoo, whoo."
First, she took a breath.
The man standing outside the window stared at Ragna with an indifferent gaze.
Anne's eyes focused on the fingers gripping the window frame.
She had seen it briefly, but his fingertips were black.
That was a symptom of someone who had dealt with poison for years.
"It's not Odincar."
Anne was quick-witted.
Her reasoning still worked in moments like this.
She hadn't smelled any potion from Odincar up to now.
In other words, the person in front of her was an imposter.
The fake's lips pressed together as he stood at the window frame.
"Oh."
He muttered a brief exclamation before speaking again.
"How did you figure it out?"
"You reek, how could I not know?"
Ragna answered instead.
He had immediately realized that this was not Odincar either.
The will and the vibe were completely different.
Not to mention the really foul stench.
Ragna, without twitching an eyebrow, looked at the imposter with an expressionless gaze, but he didn't rush out the window.
To be precise, he couldn't.
'There are too many.'
He wasn't alone.
There were many hiding around, waiting for an opening.
'How did he get in?'
Someone must have opened the door for him.
It was pointless to think about it, so Ragna stopped his thoughts.
Thunder rumbled.
A white lightning bolt filled the room, and the view outside the window lit up.
Behind the man outside, several feathered monsters appeared in Anne's sight.
She could count at least five.
'Wasn't there a story about the commander seeing unusual creatures in the city of Oara?'
She had heard something like that.
These things in front of her looked like those creatures.
'Unusual creatures' were another way to say monsters that wielded wills.
Ragna, holding the great sword, judged that the current space wasn't favorable to him, and while making that assessment, he thrust his sword in.
With his left foot as the pivot, he twisted his body and thrust the great sword at the shoulder of the man standing outside.
Thud!
He had aimed for the head, but his opponent avoided it, so only the shoulder was pierced.
Even though the man was struck by the great sword, he twisted his body as he backed away, and the shoulder bone wasn't shattered, nor was his arm severed.
It wasn't just because he avoided the blow.
His skin was extremely tough.
Ragna immediately knew that with a single slash.
"Take that, you bastard."
The man spoke, then sprayed something from the thing in his hand.
A yellow liquid flew toward Ragna, who leaped back, pulling Anne behind him and into the corridor.
Sssss!
The liquid burned through the desk and the floor.
"Do you think I'll let you get away?"
The words came from behind them.
As soon as the door opened, Ragna felt the presence of something falling from above.
Both of them, without concern for their own lives, were targeting Anne.
Ragna hadn't even seen them yet, but he instinctively recognized the type of monsters attacking.
His senses fused, and he spread a net around his body, predicting their movements.
Two Owlbears with claws extended were charging at them, their bodies moving as if they were arrows shot from a ballista.
Ragna held Anne with his left arm and swung his sword with his right.
He stopped his breath and unleashed his will.
The sword, moving with an unbeatable speed and power, struck the monsters.
Whoosh, thud!
The monsters were sent flying into the corridor, rolling as they crashed into the walls.
One's head was crushed, while the other was sliced from the chest to the chin, a deep gash marking its body.
Black blood gushed out, filling the corridor.
The rain drenched the ground, and the black blood was diluted by the water.
After cutting down the two monsters, Ragna instinctively leapt to the side, but the pungent, acrid smell hit his nose.
'This is bad.'
His instincts warned him.
At the same time, Anne, still in his arms, couldn't adjust to the high-speed movement.
She stuck her head out and vomited the contents of her stomach.
"Ugh!"
Yellow bile splashed onto Ragna's boots.
It seemed Anne couldn't handle the speed of Ragna's high-speed movement, which was beyond her body's training capacity.
Despite the dizziness, as if her head were being grabbed and shaken constantly, she gritted her teeth and spoke.
"Poison!"
She didn't have the strength to say more.
Ragna realized at the same time.
'The two monsters sprayed something all over their bodies and then attacked.'
The air smelled of poison, as if he had just bathed in it.
Because of this, Ragna could feel the toxin entering his nose, and at the same time, he felt his limbs weakening.
Will began to move, fighting off the poison within his body.
It was a natural reaction.
However, even Will couldn't erase all the poison.
It only helped him endure it a little longer.
But this poison seemed to have been crafted specifically to target knights, and its effects quickly spread through his entire body.
His legs wobbled.
Despite not having done anything, he could feel his body lose strength.
"Does being a knight mean you're immune to all poisons?"
Ragna and Anne were heading down the corridor, towards the outside, while the figure resembling Odincar came out from the room Anne had been in and spoke.
His face was that of Odincar, but his essence was completely different.
"That's a foolish notion. Just because you're a knight, don't act so arrogantly. Idiots drunk on their own power."
Ragna stared at the man.
He had become more muscular since the last time Ragna saw him, his limbs thicker, and his torso bulkier.
It wasn't because he had gotten wet from the rain; the man had clearly modified his own body.
He raised his discolored blackened fingers and pointed at Ragna.
"You will vomit blood and crawl on the floor begging for your life."
The man spoke as if he already knew he would win.
He didn't smile, speaking with the calm assurance that his words would come true.
Ragna wasn't someone who would use his head like Rem or Enkrid.
Therefore, he didn't think about what had happened or why it was happening.
Instead, he always knew exactly what needed to be done in the present moment.
It was a talent, if anything.
"When I start fighting, you should go find captain."
Ragna spoke.
If this was going to be the moment he burned his life away to save this woman, then so be it.
If the only thing he could leave behind in his final moments was Anne, he would be content with that.
Whether it was a short life or a long life, he had no regrets.
Ragna had made his resolve.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? You crazy bastard. Eat this!"
Anne wiped her mouth roughly after vomiting and pulled a pill, the size of a thumbnail, from her pocket.
She shoved it into Ragna's mouth.
As soon as Ragna swallowed the pill, Anne asked:
"I'll deal with that bastard's tricks. While I do that, can you take down everything else?"
Ragna nodded at her forceful words and responded.
"That's easy."
The man, with Odincar's face, furrowed his brows.
What the hell was this fool saying now?
"Don't you both want to die peacefully?"
Should he make them regret running their mouths like this before they die, using them as test subjects?
He said, and just then, Ragna felt the strength that had been draining from his limbs return, and Will quieting down.
The effect of the antidote was immediate.
Normally, antidotes were far more difficult to make than poisons, but in this case, the antidote worked faster than expected.
Those knowledgeable in alchemy would say Anne's skills were at least ten times better than the person standing in front of them.
It was the difference between a genius and an average person.
It was like comparing a child to a trained adult soldier.
Of course, Ragna didn't know that.
He only knew it was time to wield his sword.
He was about to do what he did best.
Even though he didn't think things through, Ragna instinctively knew exactly what he had to do.
***
If you enjoy the series and want to get more chapters early, head over to https://payhip.com/Samowek
or head over to https://brightnovels.com/series/a-knight-who-eternally-regresses
[SHOP BEST BUY] - 50e - Every chapter translated - Latest WN-845 + daily chapters from monday to friday for a month
-KNIGHT - Cost 20e - Chapters 780-850 + daily chapters from Monday to Friday for a month
Please be sure to join the discord :)