Eternally Regressing Knight Novel - Chapter 868
Chapter 868: Chapter 866 – The Knack for Flying in the Sky
Chapter 866 – The Knack for Flying in the Sky
“Feed them more. If they don’t listen in the sky, they’ll think of what’s on their back as emergency rations.”
As the monster tamer commanded, several soldiers jabbed tridents into chunks of bloody, dripping meat and dropped them in front of the griffons.
Teeth like serrated blades were revealed inside beaks that resembled an eagle’s.
Crunch, chomp, rip.
The raw meat tore, making a gruesome sound.
A griffon is a monster.
A monster with black eyes, black blood, and the foul stench of blood.
The soldier feeding it did not let his guard down.
‘If this goes wrong, I’m dead.’
The soldier’s spear was cautious.
Freshly caught horse meat was the first means of taming a griffon.
“It’s over if you let them go hungry,” the tamer said.
Feeding them plenty, mainly meat, was basic.
Only then would they not covet human flesh.
If one were to ask if they could be ridden for a long time just because they were well-fed, that, also, was not the case.
The monster tamer was experienced, having tamed many monsters.
In his view, the griffon was inefficient.
Griffons did not have very good stamina.
On the ground, they could fight all day, but once they started flying, they used all their strength flapping their wings. What if their stamina ran out, and there was a lump adding weight to their back?
What’s more, what if that lump on their back was a human, a delicacy of tender flesh?
What’s this, a packed lunch? they would think, and promptly throw it to the ground and chew it up.
It meant that when their strength gave out, they would eat the one riding them.
On top of that, they didn’t listen to every command.
Compared to a trained warhorse, there were too many inconvenient points.
They were worse than a freshly broken wild horse.
Their ferocity couldn’t be controlled, so they chased every decoy unit the enemy sent, which was also a problem.
And yet, these griffon riders were the key to the strategy.
A single advantage offset all these disadvantages, which was why efficiency could go to hell.
‘What can they do against an opponent that flies in the sky?’
Because griffons were included, the Guardian of the South was pinned down with just this many troops.
The entire knightly order’s strength could not be directed elsewhere.
They did not dare look away.
If they pulled out, the remaining troops would be annihilated.
The tamer didn’t know the entire strategy, but he knew from his rough intuition that this was part of the main trunk.
Even if things went wrong here, there was no danger to himself.
‘I am special.’
Monster taming was a rare skill, even in the South.
His master had learned a little alchemy, a little magic, and some sorcery to create the current concept.
The birth of the monster tamer.
It was the work of a single genius.
“Can’t you make these stupid things listen a little?”
One of the griffon riders threw out, his brow furrowed.
If it had been an ordinary soldier, he would have retorted, Who do you think you are, running your mouth? but he couldn’t.
The one who had spoken was the only knight among the riders.
Looking at the entire empire, his skill wasn’t top-tier, but thanks to his special talent, this man alone rode a griffon.
Above all, he was a knight.
Even if his skill wasn’t top-tier, at a single gesture from him, his head would be lopped off and he’d die.
The superiority of strength was clear.
The tamer bowed his head.
“If they were the type to listen so obediently, they wouldn’t be called monsters, Sir Simlak.”
“I know, but think of the person riding it, too.”
The tamer endured, even though he was annoyed, but his displeasure was subtly buried in his tone.
Wasn’t it frustrating that he said this, not even knowing the trouble he’d gone through to tame this griffon pack?
“If I hadn’t thought of the riders, they would have all become griffon fodder long ago.”
The knight’s eyes turned and fixed on the tamer.
Those eyes were as transparent as glass, but they showed no emotion.
“Hey, be careful with your words. I almost cut off an arm just now.”
“…I will be mindful.”
The monster tamer bowed his head lower.
If he died, the dozens of griffons, bound by spells and sorcery, would go mad and rampage.
The knight knew this, too.
He must have been told countless times before he came.
However, this man was the sort who didn’t care about any of that.
He was a knight of the South, crazy for a fight.
‘Damn bastard.’
The tamer cursed the knight inwardly.
Simlak knew this and let it be.
In any case, wasn’t this man the key to this operation?
He wouldn’t cut his throat, knowing that.
Would a knight fighting for the great emperor disobey the great emperor’s command?
There were three knightly orders in the South.
Simlak was a member of one of them, the Amethyst Knights.
The amethyst was one of the emperor’s symbols, meaning they were his hands and feet.
In truth, he wasn’t dissatisfied with the tamer.
He was just thirsty.
‘I want to have a go with that Cypress guy.’
He couldn’t step up because he hadn’t received permission.
That was what was unpleasant.
‘You don’t trust me? Captain?’
It was the order of the Amethyst Knight Captain.
Well, it wasn’t just him; there were three other knights who were dissatisfied.
“Did you see?”
“A glimpse.”
“If it’s just taking his life, it looks easy.”
They were three with their own exceptional talents.
The four of them, including himself, were the entirety of the knightly strength remaining in this camp.
The opponent the other three had spoken of was the captain of the Crimson Cloak Knights, Cypress.
Simlak, too, had only seen him from a distance a few times.
‘That’s Cypress?’
Is he really the knight called the Guardian?
In his eyes, the man named Cypress looked weak.
Meaning, a guy he could take on.
If he looked that way to his eyes, it must have been similar for the other three.
‘It’s not the recklessness or bravado of youth.’
There were more knights in the South than on the continent.
There was a pure difference in numbers.
Therefore, they knew their own position well.
Doesn’t a good fighter properly grasp the opponent’s strength?
It was a southern proverb.
They were men familiar with this proverb.
They did not underestimate the opponent out of arrogance.
That’s why they had doubts.
Does it make sense that their advance was blocked by that one knight?
He had also heard that they had revised their strategy because of that one knight, Cypress.
Such an opponent looked beatable.
If his blood didn’t boil, the name of a southern knights would be wasted.
If it hadn’t been for the main force commander and the captain’s orders, he would have long since abandoned the griffon and charged in.
‘I’m thirsty. Really.’
Knights were also beings with a desire for struggle.
Simlak, among them, had an excess of that desire.
That didn’t mean he had no patience.
“Endure it, Simlak. It’s not our time to step up.”
The words of a knight within the Amethyst order who used calmness as his weapon.
“I know.”
Simlak nodded.
He would carry out the job given to him.
Because that was his mission right now.
***
Two days later, in the morning, Keeee-aaak-, the griffons’ grotesque cry cut across the sky.
A sound that was terrible just to hear.
At least, it was for those defending the Southern Front of Naurillia.
The number of riders had increased even more than before.
There were over thirty.
“Are the bastards multiplying?”
Knight Rien said, seeing them.
His brow furrowed as he shouldered three javelins and gauged the position of the approaching creatures.
The ones riding the griffons would also be gauging his position.
They would feel the threat of a knight’s javelin.
“All units, move to your positions. Do not forget what we have to do.”
Despite his rank as vice-commander, his speech was informal and his actions were uninhibited.
At his words, the entire Crimson Cloak Knights stomped their feet and replied.
“Ha!”
The knightly order was a single group that had matched their hands and feet since childhood.
It was only natural that their ability to execute operations was outstanding.
They had done more than enough of the drills that measured the overall standard of that ability.
“Move.”
Rien commanded.
Five squires mounted their horses and galloped.
Today, they were the first decoy.
As the allies reacted and the griffons swooped in, behind the allied camp, a horse also pawed the ground, finished preparing to run. Weird Eyes couldn’t fly yet just by flapping its wings from a standstill.
It had to gallop, build up speed, and then its body would lift.
Only then could it fly.
Thanks to this, the entire Naurillia army had torn down and rebuilt the tents in the camp to make a path.
That path was a straight line toward where the griffons were swooping in.
Weird Eyes ran on that path, which had been made straight, and which the soldiers had even cleared of stones all night to make level.
It tore through the wind, fully unleashing its instinct to gallop.
Enkrid stuck close to Weird Eyes’s back.
If he didn’t, the wind would have cut his skin.
The black-skinned horse sweat blue sweat.
The sweat, influenced by Will, created a blue steam.
And on top of it rode a human, his dark green cloak extending on its own to cover his entire body.
As he galloped, it was as if a single line was drawing across the ground.
A dark blue line and a dark green line left an afterimage, tangled and twisted.
That’s how it looked to all the soldiers.
That strange line advancing and soaring into the sky.
“Look here! Look here!”
It wasn’t just a part of the Crimson Cloak Knights that was the decoy.
Twenty soldiers who had volunteered, including Bunion, also acted as decoys.
The veins in Bunion’s neck stood out.
His shout seeped through the sound of the griffons’ wingbeats.
Would the one on the griffon even hear it?
He wouldn’t.
Still, Bunion shouted.
To tame monsters and fight with them…
His mercenary band had been swept away and killed by that wave of monsters, so all the monsters in the world were his enemy, the target of his revenge.
Gritting his teeth, Bunion shouted again.
“Look at me! Come and eat me!”
He wasn’t the only soldier who had stepped up as a decoy.
There were many on the Southern Front who had suffered at the hands of monsters and demons.
Some of them had lost eyes or limbs, and others had lost their families.
“Come on, come on.”
One of the soldiers muttered, cutting his own hand, and scattering the blood.
Most monsters were sensitive to the smell of blood.
He was doing it because he knew that.
The Southern Front was not simply a place to fight Lihin-Stetten.
Their enemy was two.
If one was the southern empire, the other was the monsters that flowed from the Demon Realm.
And the South had long used strategies involving monsters.
This was why the South was also a target of hatred for those who hated monsters.
Separate from them, there were also soldiers who had volunteered as decoys for other reasons.
“For the Lord is watching over us!”
If you run your mouth wrong on a horse, your tongue will be cut in half.
Knowing this, there was a soldier who spat out such a long shout.
His name was Rapild, a man who was confirmed to become a devout follower of the War God if he survived.
“Ooooooh!”
Their shouts were not in vain.
The griffon pack could not shake off the temptation of the running horses and humans.
The griffon riders on them calmed their mounts and dropped the stones and scroll bundles attached to their modified saddles.
Flames erupted from the bundles, becoming large fireballs that fell.
Javelins flew toward their center.
Bang!
How many experts were there who could disrupt a spell in mid-air?
It was the Crimson Cloak Knights.
It must have been a javelin thrown by those who had reached the level of semi-knight.
The griffon riders controlled their distance and repeated what they were doing.
The rain had stopped.
This was an extension of a battle that would have ended long ago if those griffon bastards hadn’t hated the rain.
In truth, it didn’t really matter.
They wouldn’t have been able to rest even if the rain had poured.
Hordes of Drowned Ones and monsters would have pounded them endlessly.
‘A one-sided fight from the sky.’
Simlak prepared for a knight’s javelin that might come flying.
Strangely, it was quiet below.
By this point, an arrow or javelin aiming for him should have flown, but there was no such attempt.
They were pouring all their strength into just intercepting the falling scrolls.
‘Are there too many for them to handle?’
Is that why their response is so passive? Simlak’s disappointment grew. They should have fought better than this. If the fame of Cypress was not a lie, they should have.
‘Is this all?’
Naturally, they wouldn’t have the knack for flying in the sky.
The griffons flew high, flapping their large wings.
The sound was as loud as a waterfall, ringing in the ears.
Kwooo-ah, Kwooo-ah.
Through that sound, a sound of a different rhythm mixed in.
No, in reality, he might not have heard it.
Simlak had just acted on intuition.
He pulls the leather reins tied to the griffon’s beak.
A split-second decision.
The griffon reacted, twisting its body to the side, and Simlak held the reins with just his left hand and leaned his body to one side.
He had his legs fixed to the saddle so he wouldn’t fall, so he twisted his waist as much as possible.
It was a hair’s breadth.
Bbang!
With the sound of the air exploding, his helmet shook from the pressure.
Simlak straightened his leaned body and turned his head.
All his movements were so fast they were beyond the scope of an ordinary person.
The light that flowed from his eyes drew a semi-circle in the air.
And at the end of his gaze, he saw a man riding a winged horse instead of a griffon.
The winged horse was surprising, but what caught Simlak’s eye was something else.
‘Without a saddle?’
He was flying in the sky.
Meaning, in the open air.
Even a knight would be badly injured or die if he fell.
But he was riding a winged creature without a saddle?
It was a recklessness that went beyond boldness.
Even he had his thighs and pelvis fixed to the saddle placed on the griffon.
With accelerated thought, Simlak excluded a few facts that were visible and bothersome.
For instance, the existence of a pegasus or the absence of a saddle was quickly forgotten.
Instead, he recognized what was necessary.
‘Enemy, flies. At least knight-level.’
At this recognized fact, Simlak felt an inward thrill.
“So you did have the knack for flying in the sky.”
Hadn’t an opponent worth fighting finally appeared?
Although the opponent didn’t look like Cypress at all, it would be fun to drop one here and start.
In any case, the reason they had used the griffons was to wear down the stamina of those Crimson Cloak Knights and then fight.
What if, in the meantime, he killed an opponent who had barely managed to get up into the sky?
The enemy’s morale would hit rock bottom.
“Who are you? State your name.”
No answer returned.
The opponent, Enkrid, just indifferently patted Weird Eyes’ head, sharing a connection with his horse.
“Hey, I almost fell.”
Heeigh.
“You can’t say it’s none of your business. We’re fighting together right now. Don’t forget.”
Heeigh.
“Right. Let’s try what we trained.”
If it was just about fighting while riding on Weird Eyes, would there have been a need to ponder and train for days?
There wasn’t.
Enkrid had thought of an ingenious technique and intended to execute it, and the reaction within the knightly order had been varied.
Truly varied.
***
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***
If you enjoy the series and want to get more chapters early, head over to https://payhip.com/Samowek
Next 100 chapters – 25e [Be sure to message me on discord for any information]
[SHOP BEST BUY] – 50e – Every chapter translated – Latest WN-1011 + daily chapters from monday to friday for a month.
-KNIGHT – Cost 20e – Chapters 942-1011 + daily chapters from Monday to Friday for a month
I welcome you to join our discord https://discord.gg/RY7BbJpeAZ
**ANY INFO ONLY APPLIES TO THE LATEST CHAPTER HERE ON WEBNOVEL**