A Knight Who Eternally Regresses

Since that day, the road toward the West had been peaceful.

Looking out across the wide plains, it almost drained your strength—it felt endless.

But truthfully, it wasn't a bad journey at all.

"Today's a high sky. On days like this, it's nice to walk while looking up."

Rem was an excellent guide.

Even though she must've left the West long ago, she navigated it expertly.

"Nothing's changed out here?"

So Enkrid asked.

"Nothing ever changes. This land's just like that."

Came the reply.

And so they walked, watching clouds drift.

The clouds scattered, gathered, then scattered again and disappeared.

A "high sky" was what they called a day when the sky felt especially far away. That meant a sky with barely any visible clouds.

Even that had become a familiar thing now.

After drinking another ground squirrel fruit, Enkrid sensed something strange.

It was just before dawn. He was standing watch when he felt an unusual gaze.

Faint and thin, but unmistakably present.

No—if he lacked sharp instincts, he might've missed it altogether. That's how stealthy it was.

Enkrid traced the source.

A small shadow darted across the uneven ground and disappeared.

After that, not a single trace of presence remained.

When he mentioned it in the morning, Rem nodded and laughed.

"Time for the pouch peekers to start showing up."

"Pouch peekers? Isn't that just a fancy word for thief?"

He said this while wiping down Acker's blade and gathering the weapons and bows they'd been gifted.

That morning's meal was dried rations.

Well, it's hard to cook properly on a long journey. For days, they had filled their stomachs with jerky and dried fruit alone.

Rem had said it would only be a few more days of that—but in the meantime, even on this quiet trail, there was always that strange sensation of being watched from somewhere.

"If we steal one of those fruits, how pissed do you think the owner gets?"

"They have owners?"

Of course, Enkrid had assumed they just grew from the ground.

"Use your head. Look over there."

Rem raised her hand and pointed at one of the trees sparsely dotting the barren plains.

He had seen them a few times before.

Branches like thorns, long leaves hanging off them—those leaves looked as hard and dry as wood.

"That's the ground squirrel fruit."

"That?"

Nothing looked like a fruit.

"That."

Rem pointed at one of the long leaves.

Following her finger, Enkrid squinted.

"That?"

"That."

Dunbakel, curious as ever, walked up and asked, "Really?"

Since the spar with Enkrid, she had been pulled into bouts with him repeatedly, and her face still showed bruises in deep, bluish hues.

But even after all those hits, Dunbakel always spoke her mind.

She didn't care about things like shame.

"Really."

Rem was the same.

Neither of them held grudges.

They simply hit, got hit, trained, and improved.

Watching them, it was a strange dynamic.

You'd think there might be romance brewing, but Rem was always thorough.

It was as if women simply didn't exist in his mind.

"That fruit—ground squirrels carry it off and bury it in the ground. Then it absorbs the energy of the land and grows. Only the squirrels can find the right kind of ground with enough spiritual energy for it to grow."

The West really was full of rare and fascinating things.

Enkrid had figured out that the strange gaze from before came from an actual ground squirrel.

Beyond that, everything he saw and heard was a lesson.

And inevitably, curiosity began to creep into his thoughts.

It was the third reason he had come here.

"How do other Westerners fight?"

Whether sitting or standing, walking or resting, he always focused on one question at a time.

That was a strength.

But it was also a flaw—he'd charge at a thought with no brakes.

Rem looked at this possessed lunatic and answered.

"Some fight like me."

"And?"

"Some fight differently."

"That's it?"

"You really want to know ahead of time?"

Enkrid shook his head without thinking too deeply.

"No, don't tell me."

In the past, he would've needed to gather every bit of information possible about a potential enemy's skill set—if only to survive.

But now... now he could afford to hold back a little.

And so he thought:

'Let's face them and enjoy it.'

Not knowing made the encounter more fun. He wasn't marching toward death anymore.

Rem smirked. She'd expected this.

Enkrid smiled too. He understood what Rem was aiming for.

The two bumped fists lightly.

As if the flower of friendship had just sprouted a bud.

"Should be fun meeting them. Ah, some might be pissed though. But not the captain—he won't be. That dumb beastkin'll definitely get beat, and Frokk... he probably won't last long in the first place."

Rem reminisced aloud, guiding them forward.

They left the plains and walked with a small ridge on their left, just a little higher than where the sun was falling.

Eventually, a small village came into view.

Villages appeared now and then, scattered and fading in and out—but everyone who lived in these parts was a warrior.

From the continent's perspective, it was a borderland.

But in the West, they simply called it a warrior's village.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

A settlement where everyone knew how to fight—and fought well.

Now, faces that Rem recognized were about to appear.

"Hoo..."

Rem quietly caught her breath. She was a little tense.

Among the people they ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don't copy, read here) were about to meet again, one would likely hold a serious grudge against her—and justifiably so.

'What should I say?'

"Long time no see" maybe?

If she'd known it would come to this, she might've picked up a few sparkling gemstones to bring.

If Kraiss had been there, he'd have found a way to make sure she didn't show up empty-handed—even if it killed her.

Those were the thoughts running through her mind when—

Thump.

Enkrid raised his arm and blocked Rem's path. She looked up at the arm now resting across her stomach.

The village she knew was still a little further ahead.

But right now, there were presences whose faces would have to be looked up to meet.

Three of them.

Figures crawled out from behind a small hill, poorly hidden.

"Did someone send us lunch?"

"No, dumbass, we're the brightest thing out here. Who the hell would send anything?"

"Then what are they supposed to be?"

The three of them spoke as they looked at the party.

Their voices were thunderously loud and deep—so much that hearing them up close would make your eardrums cry in pain.

A beard like twisted wire, fingers like steel, and a barrel-thick torso—

They were giants.

The three giants, mid-conversation, blinked slowly.

Each one gripped a massive dark-brown wooden club studded with thorn-like spikes.

"Are giants common in the West?"

Lua Gharne asked.

Through her eyes—more accurately, through her gift of talent-sensing—those three were no pushovers.

As the group paused briefly, the giants picked up on their reaction and came to a conclusion.

"No idea."

"Just snacks."

"Let's eat."

The three giants stepped forward, excitement in their stride.

Enkrid had faced giants before.

But never ones like these.

Did they just say... eat? What? Us? Are they treating humans as food?

"Frokk tastes bad, so scram!"

The one in the center of the three shouted.

His booming roar swept across the barren plains. The pressure in it was real—so real that Enkrid's internal force activated on its own.

Grrng!

Dunbakel's spine visibly elongated in a vertical stretch.

Fwik, tak!

Even in this absurd situation, Rem spun her axe up once and gripped it tight.

Chaaaak!

Lua Gharne lashed her whip, cracking it against the ground.

With a loud snap, a cloud of dust burst up from the dry earth.

The giants closed in with wide strides.

"Frokk's too tough."

"Spit him out halfway."

"The beastkin's mine!"

Cannibals? No—omnivorous giants, apparently. They didn't just eat humans.

They drew closer fast. The clubs may have looked heavy, but that was only because of their massive size. These giants were anything but slow.

One of them suddenly accelerated.

With momentum building, he thrust his club forward in a straight line—

An unexpected move, catching them off-guard.

Instead of a mindless swing, he stabbed forward—

Like someone carefully placing something atop a skewer, the club aimed right for Enkrid's face.

Startled by the shift, Enkrid reacted instantly.

His senses—the fusion of honed instinct and experience—guided his movement.

From a single point of focus, his blade honed in with a cold, concentrated aura.

Bang!

Acker struck the giant's club, and an explosive sound rang out.

Sword and club collided, then bounced apart.

The sharp edge of Acker had split part of the dark-brown club. Fragments splintered off and flew to the side.

The giant hesitated and came to a stop.

As one stopped, the other two giants spread out to either side and halted as well.

Now, the three giants were encircling the party.

Enkrid looked down from his raised sword to the ground below.

Truly, it had to be said—this was giant strength.

Even after triggering the Heart of Might, his feet had been pushed back.

Off to the side, Rem tilted her head and asked with an annoyed look,

"What the hell are you things?"

Giants—cannibalistic ones at that—just randomly showing up out here?

Rem was genuinely curious.

"Rawr, scared now, little baby?"

One of the giants growled, his tone like he was teasing a child.

Rem had never been treated like that before.

He looked up and thought.

If even one of them survived, they could answer questions later.

Judging by how they fought, they weren't dumb. They knew how to use their appearance to manipulate others.

In other words, they could think.

And if they could think, they could also feel fear.

"Don't kill one of them—just play with him a bit."

em said, lowering her axes.

She pulled in her chin and lowered her head slightly, but in her upturned eyes, fire blazed.

She was supposed to be the one guarding these lands.

Yet those who should be here were nowhere to be seen, and the ones left behind were these flesh-eating giants.

That could only mean one thing.

Something had gone wrong. Someone had let this happen.

That fact grated on her nerves.

She grounded her stance with force.

The Heart of Might activated, and energy surged into her thigh muscles.

Her knees bent, and power gathered in her ankles.

Crackle...

The ground trembled.

"What now?"

One of the giants still tried to bait her with mockery.

em decided to fall for it.

Boom!

She shot off the ground.

There were moves she could never use when sparring with Enkrid—

Like pushing the Heart of Might to its absolute limit.

Of course, that didn't mean she could necessarily beat Enkrid.

If she was hiding things, her captain was probably hiding some too.

Whoosh.

Just as she lunged in, the giant's club dropped directly toward her head.

Rem pushed off with her left foot, launching herself forward, then kicked off the ground again with her right foot.

Weaker than the first step, but enough to double her speed.

A movement technique known as the Double Step.

Thunk!

The second step wasn't as explosive as the first, but it was perfect for gaining speed.

Slipping past the club, Rem's axe slashed across the giant's torso.

Skrk!

"Grahhhh!"

The giant howled like a beast. Blood sprayed in all directions.

Giants were usually called Beasts of Red Blood, but this one was different.

Its blood was a deep, dark violet—nearly purple.

As blood splattered, the giant howled again and swept its leg at the spot where Rem had stood.

It wasn't just a mindless kick—it was a wide, sweeping motion. Proof that the thing knew how to fight.

em struck the incoming leg with her axe and used the rebound to launch herself sideways.

A planned movement, of course.

As she flew, another giant pretended to swing its club—but actually reached for her.

Rem twisted midair and dodged to one side.

Enkrid followed all of it—and noticed one of the giants had silently crept up behind him.

"You bastard!"

The thing swung its club with its right hand to cut off Enkrid's escape path, while reaching with its left hand to pin his shoulder.

And as it did so, it shouted, "You bastard!" loud enough to rupture eardrums.

That alone could momentarily freeze a person's body.

But not Enkrid.

Already aware of the presence behind him, he spun, stabbed with Spark, and swung Acker upward.

As a result, Acker slammed into the club, and Spark pierced the giant's palm, leaving a small wound.

Thanks to pulling back his left hand in time, the giant avoided getting a hole blown through it—only a shallow cut.

Pshh.

From the wound, dark violet blood flowed.

It was clearly not red.

"Where the hell did a freak like you come from?! I won't forgive you! You!"

The giant roared in fury. Enkrid stared straight into its eyes.

Despite its rage, its eyes were cold.

Back when he'd measured dynamic coefficient values using Crona as a baseline, he'd seen the same look.

Those were calculating eyes.