Eternally Regressing Knight
Chapter 30 - 30 - When Is It Time to Make Darkness Your Friend?
Chapter 30 - When Is It Time to Make Darkness Your Friend?
When is it time to make darkness your friend?
If that's the question, the answer was easy.
It's when you're in a place you know well.
A place where the terrain is as clear as your own backyard.
It would be even better if it were a place where you lived until recently.
Just a vague sense of the surroundings would allow you to roughly figure out your location.
The more familiar, the better—say, a place you used as a training ground until yesterday.
This was the case for Enkrid now.
It should have been an unfamiliar place by all means.
"This is..."
It should have been a moment of surprise, but instead...
"Damn it."
When he saw the size of the enemy, he should have been filled with despair.
But that was not the case for Enkrid.
He had been here many times before.
And not just visited—it wasn't his first time coming.
He had tumbled and fought many times here.
Every time, the team members who came with him changed a little, but the core composition remained the same.
Andrew, the grim-looking soldier, Enri, and the other squad members.
Among them, the two gangsters from the squad had often proven useful.
They emerged from the tall grass and onto an unexpected scene.
Some squad members thought the retreat route had been blocked, so this new path might be the only way out.
It was Enri who thought so.
He had a good sense of direction, just like the grim-looking soldier.
He hadn't earned his reputation as a plains hunter for nothing.
Enri thought that since the enemy had ambushed in the tall grass, this area might be empty.
But his prediction was wrong.
And that made it all the more despairing.
Enri felt his legs go weak.
The first thing he saw was a flaming torch.
And then a wide, thick cloth that half-blocked the light.
As soon as he saw it, Enri stepped back a step.
Looking up and widening his view, the structure of the object revealed itself.
It was a tent.
Why was there a tent here?
Relying on the dim light, Enri tilted his head to the side and saw the torch burning next to the tent.
Beyond it, torches were lined up in the distance.
There were at least ten of them.
The gaps between the torches were wide enough that only the faintest light of the moon and the torches illuminated the surroundings.
What they saw was a row of tents.
There were over twenty tents running along the edge of the tall grass.
This was on the opposite side of their camp.
So, the tents in front of them were the enemy's camp—the Aspen Dutchy's forces.
"What the hell is this?"
One of the gangsters instinctively muttered under his breath.
"Damn it, this is where we end up?"
Enri let out a dejected voice.
"Shh, quiet."
In that instant, the grim-looking soldier reacted first.
If they were discovered by a sentry right now, a battle would break out.
And in that case, they would be killed in no time.
In the dim light of the torches, they could also see several moving lights far away.
It was obvious that these lights were carried by sentries.
"Keep your mouth shut."
The grim soldier spoke while scanning the surroundings.
If they slipped up, they would die.
His veteran instincts kicked in during moments like this.
He acted based on his experience.
He lowered his posture and tried to sense the sentries' movements.
He would hide and assess the situation, looking for an escape route. If he was lucky, there might be a chance.
It was nighttime, and though it wasn't his plan, he had moved in the opposite direction of what the enemy would expect.
They were deep in enemy territory now, but as long as they weren't caught, there was still a chance to escape.
He concluded that he could survive even if they fell into the midst of a monster horde.
"Don't draw your weapons, stay low."
He acted like he was the leader.
Most of the squad followed his orders.
Except for two.
One of them, of course, was Enkrid, and the other was Andrew.
"He must have a plan. The squad leader is Enkrid."
Perhaps due to a misunderstanding, the only one siding with Enkrid was the guy who had been beaten earlier that morning and lost his position as squad leader.
"This isn't the time for jokes."
The grim soldier, hunched over, turned his head back.
His voice was low, but there was a growl in his tone, like a beast.
He was feeling the pressure.
They were deep in enemy territory now.
It was much more dangerous than facing the ambushing enemies in the tall grass.
At any moment, enemy spears could come flying from beyond the tent, and there would be no time to react.
In such a situation, what use was thinking?
The grim soldier's response was reasonable.
Enkrid had thought the same thing about this soldier many times.
'This guy's no joke.'
His skills, experience, judgment, and decisiveness were far beyond the level of an ordinary soldier.
If he hadn't been so confident or if he hadn't repeated today's situation over and over...
He would have made this man the squad leader and fought alongside him.
But now, there was no need for that.
Although the other squad members didn't know it, everything that brought them here had been Enkrid's plan.
Time, location, and place—everything.
How many nights had they spent here already?
How many lives had been thrown away?
How many "todays" had they repeated?
The three dull soldiers were passed out in front of the tent.
They still had some time before encountering the patrolling soldiers.
Knowing all this, Enkrid made his move.
With a swift motion, he unsheathed his sword and slashed at the tent.
The sword reflected the moonlight as it cut upward.
"You crazy bastard."
The grim soldier gasped in shock.
And at that moment, Andrew reacted to Enkrid's action.
He rushed into the torn tent and drove the tip of his shortsword into the stunned enemy soldier's throat.
Thunk!
Then, Enkrid followed him in.
As the enemy soldier tried to get up, Enkrid forced the blade down, slashing the soldier's throat.
The sound of leather tearing echoed, and soon the smell of blood filled the tent.
The last enemy soldier was finished off by one of the former gangsters, who plunged a dagger into his heart.
"Grrrk, grrk."
The soldier, who had been stabbed in the heart, crawled on the ground, reaching out.
He was a tenacious one.
The light from the torches outside illuminated the soldier's head as he reached out.
And above it, a dark shadow appeared.
It was the grim soldier.
He kneeled on the enemy soldier's back, grabbing his neck and twisting it.
With a dull sound, the soldier with a broken neck stuck out his tongue and died.
"Hey, you."
The eyes of the soldier with a fierce expression glowed sharply in the darkness.
He glared at Enkrid.
He was lucky, or else, if things had gone differently, he would have been surrounded and wiped out in the middle of the enemy's ranks.
This was, in his eyes, a gamble.
"Move to the side."
Enkrid ignored the gaze.
Before the soldier could say anything, Enkrid extended his sword.
"You crazy bastard."
The soldier with the fierce expression growled in a low voice.
He could feel the deep frustration and anger.
From his perspective, it was an endless crazy act.
Enkrid slashed the side of the tent with his sword and turned his head back.
He didn't show the slightest sign of worry about what the soldier might do to him.
Even though he was living this dangerously?
With only a patrol's soldiers attacking the enemy base, an atmosphere as tense as lightning crackled between them, causing the others to watch their every move.
"What's your name?"
"What?"
"Your name."
Was it because of Enkrid's nonchalant attitude?
Was it because of the calmness that didn't react to the murderous aura?
The soldier, still holding his sword down, spoke as Enkrid asked without a change in his expression.
"Call me Mac."
Even as he spoke, he didn't retract his killing intent. Enkrid shifted his gaze and said,
"Mac, I won't tolerate insubordination."
"What?"
Boom.
Enkrid finished tearing the rest of the tent wall and moved out.
The only choice left for the others was to follow.
"Hah, what's going on."
Mac mumbled to himself, locking eyes with Andrew.
"Yes, we're going."
Mac responded to that gaze.
For now, they had no choice but to follow.
The next tent was empty.
It seemed like all the soldiers in the tent had gone out for some night patrol duty.
"Does that even make sense?"
The tent was large enough to hold more than ten people at least.
It was at least a squad size.
If they squeezed a bit, two squads might fit in.
The traces inside the tent showed signs of more than ten people.
"Forward."
After passing the tent, the reckless squad leader didn't even bother tearing the tent wall.
He peeked out of the tent entrance, scanning left and right, before pushing forward.
The squad followed him.
By now, clouds had gathered, obscuring the moonlight.
With only the torchlight, it became difficult to see the surroundings.
Despite blinking his eyes repeatedly and trying to adjust to the night, it was still pitch dark.
In such a place, Enkrid moved forward without hesitation.
The only sound heard was the breathing of the squad members trailing behind him.
"This way."
A voice echoed in the darkness. It was not a quiet voice.
If there were enemy soldiers nearby, it would have been loud enough for them to hear.
Mac felt a chill run down his spine.
"That bastard is serious."
Yet there was no movement.
No sign of enemies that hadn't been detected.
If they had been spotted, there would have been words like "Who's there?" by now.
Enkrid moved again.
Now, even Mac couldn't tell the direction anymore.
In the tall grass fields, it wasn't hard to tell direction with the sun still above.
But now, everything was dark, wasn't it?
"Does he know where he's going?"
It seemed so.
Enkrid's steps showed no hesitation.
He moved, and only when he saw two torches next to a tent in the distance did he stop.
Using a tree in front of him as cover, Enkrid gestured towards the back.
Mac could barely see his hand gesture with eyes adjusted to the darkness.
Mac felt like he was haunted by a ghost.
"How far have we walked?"
He wasn't sure.
But by counting the tents, he estimated the size of the camp.
"Did we go through it?"
It seemed like they had walked through the enemy camp.
But no one noticed?
Why hadn't they triggered any alarms?
It was no wonder he felt like he was haunted.
"Wait here."
Enkrid turned around and whispered.
Looking at the tent he referred to, there were four soldiers guarding it.
Despite the silence of the enemy camp at night, this tent seemed to be more crowded than the rest.
Whoosh.
As the wind blew, the torchlight flickered, and the shadows of the soldiers moved in different directions.
Someone inside the tent appeared to say something, though Mac couldn't hear it from the distance.
The soldier nodded in response to the words.
"What are they guarding?"
So, the reckless squad leader had aimed for this?
Only then did Mac understand the situation.
Or rather, he guessed.
A thought suddenly struck him.
'It's a secret mission.'
A mission given only to the reckless squad leader, excluding him and the other squad members.
That must have earned the squad leader the trust of the commander.
Mac recalled what Andrew had said.
He had mentioned that the squad leader had joined based on the orders of the company commander.
Only now did everything make sense.
Enkrid, the squad leader, was carrying out a secret mission.
'Was it like that?'
It was a misunderstanding.
Mac realized something, but he didn't say it out loud.
And Enkrid, knowing this misunderstanding had formed, would not have bothered to explain.
There was something more urgent to do.
"We'll set the fire in that tent."
Enkrid raised his finger.
The tent in front of them had only four soldiers guarding it.

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