"To kill or not to kill, that is my dilemma."
The man hesitated for a moment but spoke again in the same tone as before.
The Knight of Aspen had wavy dark auburn hair, a high nose bridge, and deep-set eyes framed by well-formed bones. Overall, his face was quite decent.
Though not as handsome as Encrid or Krais.
Regardless of his appearance, Rem decided to mock this idiot.
"What? What did you say? I couldn’t hear you clearly. Coming from someone who had sex with a ghoul?"
The word used was one reserved for animals mating.
Ghouls had no reproductive organs, making such an act impossible, and even if they did, no one would ever do such a thing with a ghoul. The statement was a step further in mockery than simply asking if his mother was a ghoul.
"What did you say?"
"Quite the unique taste you've got."
"What are you talking about?"
"Can't hear me? Got bad ears? Ghoul, mating, you, nasty, freak."
Rem kindly broke the words apart, and the man stood there, dumbfounded, listening as Rem mockingly enunciated each word.
What did this insane barbarian just say?
It didn’t take long for the words to register.
The man was confident in his looks and took pride in his soulful eyes and talent for reciting poetry.
It was all superficial.
He froze.
The forehead of the Knight, who wished to be called a poetic Knight, of the Aspen Royal Knights, was now visibly throbbing with a thick, prominent vein.
The fact that you couldn’t hear it popping was a marvel. He wasn't wearing a helmet, making it even more obvious.
"Don't let the words of a madman sway you."
A voice with red eyes spoke from behind.
"Ohhh, he had sex with a ghoul! With a ghoul!"
Rem was childish, sticking his tongue out and blurting whatever came to mind.
The Knight of Aspen understood the childishness and knew he should ignore it. The problem was that the presence of the one uttering the words was substantial, and he seemed genuinely relaxed as he spoke.
The man was surrounded by Montaire's swamp assassins, yet he wasn’t tense in the least. He even picked his nose.
Nothing about his words, actions, or appearance was to the Knight’s liking.
"Enjoying yourself?"
Rem snickered as he asked, and the Knight with the dark auburn hair decided he would personally tear apart that barbarian’s foul mouth.
"Your tongue is vile, barbarian."
Had anyone ever treated him with such disregard?
Maybe not, but this was the first time someone had mocked him so thoroughly.
The mockery awakened the demon slumbering inside him. Or so the man thought.
The Knight newly inducted into the Aspen Royal Knights had not undergone much mental discipline.
It was understandable, as he'd never once been surpassed or left behind by anyone since birth.
He was a natural-born genius who complemented his talent with hard work, and his environment favored him.
His name was Corwin Ekins, the genius born of the Ekins family.
He placed his hand on his sword. Ting, the blade reflected the surrounding light as it emerged.
Corwin had named his sword 'Fate'.
To be more precise, it was called 'Predetermined Fate'.
"Barbarian, devoid of rhythm or romance. I shall claim your life."
Born a genius and gifted with the ability of foresight since childhood, Corwin had always been able to see his opponent's attack paths and predict their next moves.
Thus, he wielded the sword called Fate, the sword that decided his opponent's destiny.
He was undefeated in every life-or-death battle he had ever fought, and so, he had complete confidence in his sword and skills.
Corwin spoke again as if reciting poetry, and Rem, picking his ear, responded.
"Yeah, you freak with a special taste for ghouls. Go ahead."
"...I told you not to engage."
The red-eyed man commented from behind. In the battle of words, Rem had already won.
As the vein on Corwin’s forehead thickened and his sword’s tip began to release an intimidating aura, Rem shrugged it off. At that moment, two steps behind Corwin, the red-eyed man stabbed the ground with his toes and kicked forward.
Thud!
The sound of the ground being struck echoed as a mound of dirt flew toward Rem.
Rem lowered his chin and raised his arms to block the dirt.
The entire sequence of movements happened within a breath, and in that brief moment, one of Montaire’s swamp assassins blew a dart. It was a coordinated attack.
The sound of dirt being scattered and the disruption from the aura provided the perfect opening for a nearly soundless needle to fly through the air, but Rem casually swung his left hand into the air.
It was so fast that an ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to see the up-and-down motion of his hand.
Whoosh!
The motion stirred the wind, causing the needle to lose its trajectory and fall.
At the same time, a net with weights attached fell toward Rem from above, and blades shot up from beneath his legs.
The swamp assassin had seen an opening in his target.
Of course, it was a deliberately presented opening.
Rem remained still, seemingly immobile, but at some point, he had pulled out his axe and was now grinning.
Every movement imprinted itself slowly in Corwin Ekins' mind.
Thud!
The axe moved.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The axe swung continuously, showing precisely what it was made for.
A line was drawn in the air in tandem with the movement of the axe.
It was as if a brutish hand had crushed fruit. There was no need to slash with the axe blade, the mere sweeping of it sufficed.
Heads flew.
The heads of seven charging assassins were split, shattered, and crushed. The net fell, slashed into six pieces in midair.
It all happened in the time it took to exhale a single breath.
"...May you rest, and may your will dwell within me."
The red-eyed man began chanting after witnessing Rem's movements. It was a summoning. Another soul was entering his body.
With a soul of another entity imbued within him, the red-eyed man trembled all over, closed his eyes, and drooled.
When he opened his eyes again, a different aura exuded from him, asserting his newfound presence.
It was an ancient technique that summoned the soul of a demon noble into one’s body.
With that, he sought to surpass the title of Knight with more grace than Count Molsen.
After sweeping through the assassins, Rem placed his left hand on a nearby tree and spoke.
"The guy who set up this plan, Big Eyes, seemed awfully anxious. I wondered why. Because from where I stand, this fight looks way too easy."
As he spoke, three more assassins appeared, attacking in the same way as before.
Needles and darts rained down from above, and poisoned sand scattered in the air.
Rem kicked the ground, shifting his position.
The tree he'd touched was suddenly severed and began to tilt.
The assassins hiding near or in the tree scattered like ants caught in a rainstorm.
Rem glanced at them, then kicked a small rock that had been under his foot into the air and struck it with the flat of his axe.
Thwang!
By maintaining a constant force while swinging and applying strength as the rock met the axe's surface, the rock flew faster than an arrow. It shattered an assassin's head.
Bang!
Blood and brain matter splattered in a radial pattern across the ground.
Rem casually continued speaking.
With his axe propped on his shoulder.
"And as for the Captain, didn't he say he wouldn’t allow any of his allies to die? Well, isn’t that how it should be? I don’t get why he needed to say it. Just kill all the attackers, and that’s the end of it. Right? You weak fools."
It wasn’t a childish taunt, but a straightforward provocation that made the two Knights of Aspen exchange glances and widen their distance.
Their fight would take a different form.
However, Corwin Ekins' 'Fate' saw the future, so Corwin knew how to synchronize with his fellow Knights.
The fact that he hated doing so was a separate issue.
Rem saw the two positioning themselves in front of and behind him.
The red-eyed man's body turned into red mist and then reformed.
He was using some of the spells of a high-ranking demon, specifically a vampire, whose soul was imbued within him.
Regardless, Rem, with his axe still resting on his shoulder, muttered.
"Feeling good today?"
He wasn’t talking to his enemies.
It was his axe asking in return.
His inherited weapon had just conveyed that it was in a particularly good mood today and was eager to have some fun.
The surrounding assassins reformed their ranks and encircled him.
Rem had faced Jaxon before, so Montaire’s swamp assassins didn’t impress him.
Neither did these two.
Amateurs.
Just as Varna Hurrier had asserted, not all Knights are the same.
"Have you ever played with someone whose Will never runs dry?"
If Pel, driven mad by a shift in the air, had gone a step further into insanity, and Jaxon had experienced something close to shock when seeing Encrid, Rem had felt something similar.
A Knight is not the pinnacle.
Encrid had spoken through his actions and body, and that message had hit Rem deeply.
"Because of that guy, I pushed myself to insane limits, training like crazy, you get it?"
As Rem spoke, his left hand lowered. It was time to start the real fight, the one he had never shown his allies before.
Rem brushed his waist, and soon his left hand grasped a blunt leather strap.
At the end of the strap was a pouch, just the right size to place a palm-sized object. It was a sling.
The strap was made by twisting together the sinew of a tiger beast and the hide of an owlbear.
After disassembling a set of drake scale armor to reinforce the leather pouch, Krais had once slapped his forehead upon seeing it.
"Do you know how much that’s worth?"
"Should I care?"
"No, just live without knowing."
Krais had never intended to convince Rem. He had just been too exasperated to let it go without comment.
Even if he got beaten and his life was threatened, Krais would not have been able to hold that comment back.
It was similar to how Encrid couldn’t sleep if he went even a day without training.
Rem had gathered dozens of rounded stones from the riverside, polishing them, and had also had the blacksmith make similar steel projectiles.
The sling dragged along the ground by Rem’s feet. The strap was long, perhaps too long, but it suited Rem perfectly.
Axe in the right hand, sling in the left.
This was Rem’s ultimate battle form. The same as when he killed the cannibal warrior.
"Man, this is a real throwback. Consider yourself honored, ghoul lover."
Rem mocked his opponent once more.
Corwin no longer reacted to the words.
He decided to cast off all pretenses of superficiality. After all, he was a Knight of Aspen, and he had survived to prove his abilities.
His instincts whispered to him.
The beast with the gray hair standing before him was more dangerous than anyone he had ever faced.
For a fleeting moment, Corwin saw his opponent as more formidable than even his master, Varna Hurrier.
‘Nonsense.’
Then he immediately dismissed the thought. Allowing the enemy to grow within would mean losing before the battle even started.
A Knight is meant to sharpen the blade of Will within themselves.
‘I will win.’
Corwin reaffirmed his resolve, boosting his fighting spirit.
On the other side, the red-eyed man viewed the situation more calmly, knowing that now was the time to strengthen his resolve.
He reaffirmed it.
He had become a Knight through sorcery that imbued him with a soul.
It wasn’t a conventional method, but it wasn’t wrong either.
Varna Hurrier had acknowledged it.
"Oh? What an interesting spell. So people criticize you for it? Who cares? As long as you're confident, that’s all that matters. And in the end, everyone’s bound to meet on the battlefield. It’s just a difference in methods."
The strongest Knight Aspen had produced had recognized him.
For the sake of Lord Varna.
The red-eyed man steeled his mind, bolstering his spirit for the person he trusted.
Rem.
Whirr, whirr, whirr.
He began spinning the sling. A disc formed above his head.
Whoooosh!
The sheer sound of it overwhelmed the surroundings.
It wasn’t long before Rem extended his left arm, demonstrating that the sound wasn’t just a mere threat.
Bang!
The rock, hit an assassin’s head, causing blood and brain matter to splatter in a radial pattern on the ground.
The burst of blood and brain matter splashed onto the trunk of a large tree nearby, leaving a mark like that of a well-ripened tomato.
The assassin’s body and the tree were more than ten paces apart.
Whirr, whirr, whoooosh!
After firing one shot, Rem immediately spun the sling again.
"Alright, here comes the next one."
As soon as he threw the first, Rem began spinning the sling for a second shot.
Corwin, recognizing the existence of a projectile faster than his perception, activated his Fate.
It was the eye that glimpsed the future.
Corwin’s sword cleaved the air, having determined that standing still would lead to his demise.
His feet kicked off the ground, his body surged forward, and his sword descended vertically. Just as his sword was about to strike Rem’s back, the axe appeared and deflected the blade.
In that moment, the red-eyed man dropped down from above Rem, attempting to stab him with ten sharp red claws that extended from his fingertips.
Rem’s axe deflected not only Corwin’s sword but all of the claws as well.
Clang, clang, clang!
Sparks flew, and for a brief moment, heat radiated through the air.
Whoooosh!
Rem swung the axe and twisted the sling at an angle, releasing a second rock before it could even reach full speed.
Whizz, bang!
Another assassin was killed in that instant.
It was an unpredictable attack pattern. The assassins momentarily froze in their tracks.
"Attack all at once! Anyone who spares their life will face an even harsher punishment!"
At the red-eyed man’s command, the assassins began to move again.
Rem still didn’t perceive any of it as a threat.
Even with two Knights as his opponents.
‘This is easier than dealing with that directionally challenged bastard or that wild cat.'
More importantly, this was easier than sparring with Encrid.
That was Rem’s honest assessment.
Thanks for the Chapter Bro!!! :DD
Thanks for the Chapter.
Is it updated regularly? Also what is release schedule
Creo que he leído el manhwa, talvez lo esté confundiendo.. 🤔