Eternally Regressing Knight Novel - Chapter 975

Chapter 975: Chapter 973 – No Matter What Anyone Says

Chapter 973 – No Matter What Anyone Says

“I was told that if they sent a minion, you would just instantly cut them down, but I am merely a simple messenger. I would be incredibly grateful if you didn’t kill me. Right now, I’m half-possessed, so I don’t even fully know what the hell I’m saying either.”

Even if the boy hadn’t preemptively begged for his life, Enkrid wouldn’t have struck first.

He could instantly tell just by looking at him now.

‘He’s not a minion.’

He was merely an errand boy.

Demons truly possessed a terrifyingly diverse array of tricks.

To think they had a spell specifically designed to hijack a human’s consciousness solely to parrot their exact words.

Because he understood the situation, he simply sat on a hard wooden chair, staring at the opponent with deeply apathetic eyes.

Off to the side, Rem leisurely stretched his muscles, while Esther pulled her thick fur coat tighter around herself, glancing over.

From a distance, it might appear as if they couldn’t care less, but both of their gazes were sharply locked onto the boy.

Krais stood perfectly still directly behind Enkrid.

“He certainly doesn’t seem to be a full-fledged minion,” Krais muttered.

Enkrid simply nodded in agreement.

It meant that while he was profoundly disgusted by the sheer cowardice of a demon bastard exploiting a kid who couldn’t be older than fifteen, he wasn’t going to cut him down right now.

Suddenly, the errand boy’s eyes violently rolled backward until only the whites remained, and he spoke.

“Will you truly continue to fight for the sake of these pathetic creatures?”

It was a tone entirely unsuited for the voice of a half-grown child.

It was stiff, completely devoid of inflection, and entirely empty of any discernable emotion.

Demons simply did not know the meaning of the word ‘surrender’.

Furthermore, every single action they took carried multiple layered intentions, never just one.

This was exactly what Krais had anticipated.

And Enkrid had roughly grasped the situation as well.

What was their primary objective here?

They desperately wanted to plant the seeds of doubt within Enkrid.

They wanted him to harbor profound distrust.

To be precise, they wanted to violently strip away the fundamental meaning behind his actions.

By deliberately orchestrating the situation to explicitly expose the inherent, raw malice harbored by intelligent races, they sought to completely corrupt the very act of ‘protecting’ them.

Because the words they spoke manifested in a way that was impossible to ignore, Enkrid, Rem, and Esther had been forced to confront that exact malice head-on during this operation.

The minions were merely a reflection of the absolute ugliest facets of the intelligent races.

They weren’t innocent victims violently dragged into this against their will; they were individuals who had actively sought out demons purely for their own greed and self-interest.

There are people who, despite knowing the horrific consequences, willingly plunge themselves into loan shark debt because they lack Krona.

When they inevitably fail to repay it, some might adamantly refuse when ordered to commit atrocities to clear their debt and ultimately meet a pathetic end.

But there are many who don’t.

In fact, the world is overflowing with bastards who gladly inflict horrific violence upon others solely for their own benefit.

The world is absolutely not exclusively populated by inherently good people.

“When you look upon those who willingly sell their own children and slaughter their own parents purely for personal gain, what exactly goes through your mind?”

The demon whispered through the messenger’s mouth.

We didn’t force them to do it.

You intelligent races chose to do it yourselves.

Is that not the truth?

Look at this bastard.

He’s practically projecting his inner thoughts out loud.

Enkrid thought to himself before finally answering.

“I think they are incredibly pathetic.”

Hearing that answer, the demon paused.

Why the hell does this bastard sound so completely unfazed?

And it was exactly as it sounded.

Enkrid truly didn’t care in the slightest.

Those who had willingly become minions had done so solely for the sake of petty, immediate gains.

Because of that, they would never be able to experience the vastly greater joys that awaited them in the future.

The profound joy derived from an altruistic attitude vastly outweighs any fleeting pleasure gained by living solely for one’s own self-interest.

That was how Enkrid viewed the world.

Therefore, they were pathetic.

And that was the absolute end of it.

“Will you still draw your sword to protect people like that?”

The demon truly did not know when to quit.

He brutally shoved the dagger directly into Enkrid’s heart once more.

Aren’t the very people you are so desperately trying to protect exactly like them?

Is it truly right to wield your sword for the sake of such repulsive trash?

Enkrid remained completely unfazed.

Perhaps the world that the blonde swordsman—the bastard who had punched two massive holes straight through his stomach—had experienced was remarkably similar to this one.

At first, he had likely fallen purely into the sheer joy of wielding a sword.

Then, he must have agonizingly questioned what exactly he should do with his truly extraordinary talent.

‘After agonizing and contemplating…’

He probably fought for the sake of others, and he probably fought driven entirely by his own volatile emotions as well.

And after killing, and killing, and killing again… when he finally turned around to look at exactly what it was he had protected…

The world was likely overflowing with intelligent races who were far uglier, far viler, far more wicked, and far more pathetic than the entities they called demons.

Enkrid suddenly deduced the exact psychological shift the blonde swordsman must have undergone, and stared directly into the demon’s eyes.

The two of them locked eyes through the physical vessel of a single child.

Which of the five Lords was the bastard currently speaking through him?

Honestly, regardless of who it was, it didn’t matter in the slightest.

Will I still protect people like that?

Enkrid answered.

“No. If I see a bastard I don’t like, I’ll beat him to a pulp, and if I really despise him, I’ll just cut him down.”

“Then you are fundamentally no different from us! If you casually slaughter people simply to achieve whatever it is you desire, how is that any different from what we do?! We merely march forward to achieve our own desires! We do not slaughter people blindly without purpose!”

We never undertake actions that do not explicitly align with our ultimate objectives.

It was the defining characteristic of the Lords of the Demonic Realms.

It was an open admission of guilt, a bold assertion, and a fiercely passionate speech.

It was the kind of rhetoric designed to violently shake a person’s heart.

An appeal showcasing a level of terrifying charisma remarkably similar to Krang’s.

Listening to his words, one could almost mistake the demon for a noble, devout seeker of ultimate truth.

And with his very next words, Enkrid brutally crushed the meticulously crafted image that ‘seeker’ had built with his impassioned appeal.

“Right now, I despise you bastards more than anyone else.”

“Have you even listened to a single word I just said?! If what you desire and what we desire align…”

“You utterly repulsive piece of shit.”

“Listen to me, you absolute madman! The world you are so desperately trying to…”

“Every single thing you bastards do makes me violently sick to my stomach.”

“…You truly aren’t listening to a single word I say, are you.”

The demon completely abandoned his attempts at persuasion.

He genuinely felt that talking to a random rock on the side of the road would yield a more productive conversation than this.

At the very least, a rock wouldn’t aggressively spit curses at him; it would just sit there in complete silence and listen.

Enkrid’s stance was absolutely clear.

Yeah, I’m not listening.

No matter what the hell you say, I’m going to ignore you and say exactly what I want to say.

The reason he absolutely refused to be swayed by the demon’s silver tongue?

There were many, but if he had to choose just one, it was because he had never forgotten the experiences he lived through or the people he had met.

A crippled, one-legged mercenary full of empty bravado who secretly went out of his way to care for orphaned children.

An apple merchant who gave him slightly bruised apples when he was starving.

An elderly waitress who barely had anything herself, yet quietly roasted potatoes for him.

An old woman who constantly brewed massive pots of stew for every single child in the village.

A female mercenary who desperately hid him because he reminded her of her little brother.

A swordsmanship instructor who had quietly settled down in a remote coastal town.

Ger and Pete, whom he had met during his mercenary days.

Exactly what kind of massive benefit did any of them stand to gain by reaching out a hand to help him?

‘Absolutely nothing.’

They had simply acted entirely out of a profound compassion for their fellow man, doing exactly what they genuinely believed was right and honorable.

The warmth and goodwill those individuals had extended to him remained vividly burned into his heart.

While the warmth they offered may not have burned as fiercely as the blazing sun, it was a quiet, steady campfire that would never be extinguished, no matter how harsh the winter night.

The world was not entirely consumed by darkness.

Once the storm clouds pass, the sun inevitably rises.

It was the absolute, fundamental truth of the world.

As if on cue, the heavy rain finally stopped.

Exactly like a perfectly timed lie, the storm clouds broke.

A bright, clear sun peeked through, casting its warm light over the soaked earth.

“Wait for me. I will absolutely come find you.”

Enkrid simply stated his intentions, completely disregarding whatever the hell the demon was trying to say.

While it was true he had only been spouting whatever he wanted to say from the very beginning, delivering this exact message was the sole reason he had even bothered entertaining the conversation.

The demon violently clicked his tongue.

The errand boy let out a hollow haah mimicking that exact sound, and immediately passed out cold.

“They really do try every pathetic trick in the book, don’t they?”

Rem remarked as he caught the boy’s collapsing body and gently laid him down to the side.

Esther simply scoffed dismissively.

Did they honestly think they could violently shake his resolve just by explicitly showing him the darkest depths of human malice?

As if a man like Enkrid would ever falter because of that.

And he certainly didn’t.

The demon’s primary objective had been to completely infect him with profound distrust and suspicion toward all intelligent races, rendering the very act of protecting them meaningless, but it had completely failed.

Enkrid firmly believed that if he simply violently swept away trash like this with his sword, Krang, standing firmly behind him, would actively nurture and care for the world alongside those who were righteous and unyielding, not those completely corrupted by malice.

Well, it wasn’t as if he expected him to fix the entire world right from the start.

He would start with his own family and home, then his city, and eventually his nation.

Spreading outward from the smallest unit to the largest, step by step, striving to create a world where everyone could at least manage a smile.

At the very least, a world completely devoid of apocalyptic wars.

While he was lost in thought, Krais, staring blankly into space, finally opened his mouth.

The completely unfocused look in his eyes was the absolute hallmark sign that his brain was operating at maximum capacity.

“How incredibly insidious.”

Muttering quietly to himself, Krais stared vacantly into the empty air with his mouth slightly open, meticulously organizing his thoughts.

The massive minion eradication operation, the demonic messenger currently passed out on the floor, and the terrifying Master of Astrael they had just fought.

Every single variable violently tangled and seamlessly wove itself together inside his mind, and he finally caught a fleeting glimpse of the demons’ true intentions.

“Because of this little stunt, we essentially just gained a massive new enemy,” Krais declared, speaking up once more.

Taking a deep breath, Krais continued his explanation.

“Honestly, it feels exactly like that was their ultimate goal from the very beginning. Because now, we are locked in a blood feud with the magical society known as Astrael.”

The demonic minions had meticulously, flawlessly orchestrated a scenario to violently drag a Master of Astrael into the conflict.

Because of that, the enemies of the Madmen Knights in the Border Guard had exponentially multiplied.

Astrael was an absolutely massive, highly secretive magical society.

If they decided to actively retaliate, the resulting headaches would be exponentially worse than anything they were dealing with now.

Furthermore, they still had the entire Empire to deal with as well.

So they slaughtered all the minions?

Was that the end of it?

Absolutely not.

A meticulously crafted strategy designed to extract maximum value even in the event of absolute failure—that was exactly how the Lords of the Demonic Realms operated.

Of course, to Enkrid, none of that mattered in the slightest.

If Astrael was an organization that casually engaged in horrific atrocities like this, they were just another pile of trash he needed to sweep away eventually anyway.

“You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Once they examine the visceral traces of devastation left behind from this battle, they won’t even dare entertain the thought of fighting us.”

Esther stated with absolute certainty.

She bore the terrifying moniker of the ‘Witch of Strife’ or the ‘Fighting Witch’, a title she had explicitly earned because she fundamentally looked down on mere Warlocks as nothing more than pathetic amateurs.

‘Even though I am the one who personally taught him how to fight Mages…’

Through this apocalyptic battle, Enkrid had effortlessly vaulted over an unfathomable threshold.

From this point forward, ordinary Mages wouldn’t even dare carelessly wag their tongues in front of that man.

Enkrid’s swordsmanship fundamentally rendered the vast majority of spells utilized by Mages completely obsolete.

Just looking at defensive barriers alone, they had lost absolutely all meaning in the face of his blade.

If they actively radiated their mana outward to strengthen the exterior of the barrier, he simply severed the flow.

If they desperately tried to hide the mana flow internally, he effortlessly shattered the physically weakened barrier using pure brute force.

‘They literally cannot do anything against him.’

That was the absolute, undeniable conclusion.

“So you’re saying there’s absolutely nothing to worry about in the immediate future, right?”

Krais asked before letting out a long sigh of relief.

Yeah, what the hell is the point of me agonizing over it anyway?

First it was the massive bandit coalitions, then the violent cultists, and then a full-scale civil war.

Absolute monsters who completely defied all logic and common sense relentlessly crashed against them like an endless tide.

Their only job was to take every single one of those crashing waves head-on, violently overcome them, and then prepare for the next one.

‘The Empire’s Envoy.’

Krais aggressively shifted his train of thought.

While it was impossible to completely eradicate all his anxiety, by intensely focusing his mind on something actually productive, he forcefully shoved his useless worries aside.

It was a highly practical skill he had acquired purely from constantly hanging around Enkrid.

***

“You’re telling me the Captain of the Madmen Knights is personally overseeing the training session?!”

At his comrade’s shocked question, Rierban nodded heavily.

Rierban had met Enkrid long before he had officially joined the Border Guard.

During the grueling civil war, he had watched Enkrid fight and internally hailed him as his personal hero.

Later on, he had even been given the profound honor of receiving personal instruction from him.

Every single detail of that brutal process remained flawlessly burned into his mind.

If he had to choose a single, defining moment he would never forget until the day he died, meeting Enkrid would absolutely be at the top of the list.

“Then I absolutely cannot afford to miss this.”

His comrade declared.

In response to those words, Rierban’s head didn’t easily nod in agreement.

Hadn’t he already experienced the absolute hell of training with him once before?

Back then, he had explicitly told him it would be incredibly beneficial if he heavily reinforced his wrists.

What kind of insane, illogical swordsmanship constantly sent agonizing jolts of pain shooting through your wrists and massively overloaded the muscles in your forearms every single time your blades clashed?!

It genuinely felt exactly as if he were repeatedly slamming his sword into a solid stone wall.

Furthermore, because Enkrid deliberately clashed blades at incredibly bizarre, highly technical angles, it violently forced you to swing your sword exactly like a blunt club rather than a bladed weapon.

By the time the sparring session was over and he had barely managed to survive the grueling training regimen, he genuinely felt like he was going to die.

Seeing him completely exhausted, Enkrid casually offered him highly specific, specialized training methods he could utilize even when his body was completely broken and screaming in agony.

He even meticulously explained advanced visualization techniques and highly specific resting methods designed to drastically accelerate physical recovery.

He had shown absolute sincerity, and even though he had absolutely no obligation to do so, he had given it his absolute all.

It was precisely because he knew exactly how terrifyingly dedicated Enkrid was that he felt a deep, profound sense of dread right now.

It wasn’t exactly a closely guarded state secret, but it was a terrifying fact that wasn’t widely known to the general public: Enkrid was an absolute, irredeemable sadomasochist when it came to training.

“I’ve always wanted to see exactly how that monster trains on a daily basis.”

Amidst the murmurs, several of his comrades began visibly radiating a fierce, burning competitive spirit.

Although the Royal Guard was fundamentally not a Knight Order, it was an elite organization comprised entirely of individuals desperately striving to walk that exact same path.

Because they had brutally fought their way through an incredibly grueling selection process just to be here, their pride was absolutely massive.

While they certainly weren’t arrogant enough to explicitly challenge the terrifying infamy of the Madmen Knights, they fully believed they were highly competent individuals well worthy of recognition.

Hearing the overwhelming confidence practically dripping from their voices, Rierban seriously contemplated whether he should just politely decline today’s invitation altogether.

‘If the opponent acts highly aggressive, he’s just going to respond with exponentially more aggression, isn’t he?’

Yes, he absolutely was.

Because Enkrid was exactly that kind of human being.

“Are these idiots genuinely trying to get themselves killed today?”

Standing nearby, Aishia of the Crimson Capes muttered incredulously.

Standing right next to her was Viscount Andrew Gardener, the undisputed rising star among the capital’s nobility.

He immediately responded to Aishia’s comment.

“My stomach suddenly hurts.”

Hearing their brief exchange, Rierban felt a profound, overwhelming sense of camaraderie.

Furthermore, those two clearly didn’t give a damn who heard them complaining.

“Are you perhaps trying to secure the first sparring spot by saying things like that?”

The Commander of the Royal Guard suddenly stepped forward and asked.

He had never personally experienced the sheer hell of training with Enkrid either.

Hearing his remark aimed at Aishia, the orange-haired Knight let out a sharp laugh.

With a massive, incredibly bright smile plastered across her face, she replied.

“By all means, please, be my guest.”

Hearing her answer, the Commander simply nodded confidently.

He removed the dark gray helmet that served as his signature trademark, revealing a mop of brown hair that fell casually over his brow.

He confidently strode into the Royal Palace training grounds.

Excluding those currently on active patrol duty, the vast majority of the Royal Guard had gathered here.

In the center of the grounds, Enkrid came into view.

Right next to him, the ‘Noble Slaughterer’ of the Madmen Knights, Rem, was already heavily sweating as he violently swung his massive battleaxe.

Off to the side, the Witch bearing the terrifying moniker of the ‘Black Flower’ was leisurely sitting at a table, casually sipping tea.

Sitting directly across from the Witch, a highly attractive man with incredibly large eyes looked at him and spoke.

“Ah, you’re here.”

The entire Royal Guard consisted of twenty members.

Adding Aishia and Andrew brought the total up to twenty-two.

Those were the twenty-two individuals Enkrid had casually gathered together under the guise of ‘doing some light training’.

“Well then.”

The Commander of the Royal Guard stepped forward first.

Just crossing weapons with a man of this caliber would be an incredibly profound learning experience.

‘I will gladly learn from him.’

Having discarded his helmet, he gripped a blunt training spear specifically weighted at the tip and leveled it directly at his opponent.

The absolute core fundamentals of spearmanship are blocking, pressing, and thrusting.

If you successfully utilize the long shaft of the spear to violently parry an incoming attack and firmly pin the opponent’s weapon down, it completely strips them of any opportunity to defend against the subsequent thrust.

‘Exactly how is he going to approach?’

While the Commander of the Royal Guard was meticulously calculating dozens of different tactical scenarios, Enkrid simply began taking massive, purposeful strides directly toward him.

‘He’s just walking straight at me?!’

The Commander was completely flustered.

However, he absolutely couldn’t back down now.

He decisively chose to attack.

The spearhead violently shot forward in a lethal thrust.

Enkrid simply caught the fast-moving shaft with his bare hand.

The violent thrust abruptly halted right above Enkrid’s left shoulder.

Gripping the thick wooden shaft with his right hand, Enkrid violently yanked the Commander forward while simultaneously driving his knee brutally upward.

The raw physical strength of a Knight is exponentially greater than that of an ordinary soldier.

It is fully comparable to the catastrophic strength of a Frog.

That rising knee brutally smashed directly into the Commander’s abdomen, violently launching him completely off his feet.

WHACK!

“…URGH!”

The agonizing scream erupted a full second late.

It was entirely because the sheer impact had violently forced all the oxygen from his lungs.

With the Commander’s body currently suspended in mid-air entirely by the force of his knee, Enkrid violently twisted his hips and, utilizing purely the explosive kinetic energy generated from his core, brutally tossed the man to the side.

THUD.

The heavy, sickening sound of a fully grown man violently slamming into the hard dirt echoed across the training grounds.

“A severe lack of core strength. I’m adding an intensive strength conditioning course to the regimen.”

Enkrid declared coldly.

“Confirmed.”

Swinging his battleaxe nearby, Rem casually wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and replied.

***

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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-1120+ daily chapters from monday to friday for a month.

-KNIGHT – Cost 20e – Chapters 1050-1120 + 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**