[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-knight-who-eternally-regresses":3,"chapter-a-knight-who-eternally-regresses-a-knight-who-eternally-regresses-chapter-842":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","A Knight Who Eternally Regresses",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},428599,689,"Chapter 838","a-knight-who-eternally-regresses-chapter-842",842,"\u003Cp>Chapter 838 - Astrail\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten days had passed since the fight with the Salamander and Themares's natural integration into the group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it that Dragonkin were highly adaptable?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lived among them with a surprising casualness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn't picky about his food, nor about where he slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He ate as much as the knights ate and slept as much as they slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, to be precise, he slept for as long as Enkrid slept and ate when he ate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He never left Enkrid's side, and it was incredibly natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is the Dragonkin after my position?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To borrow Rem's words:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He'll figure it out. What's it to me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's probably what he would have said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, everyone had returned to their daily lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only slight difference from usual was that they didn't push their bodies too excessively, whether in sparring or training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was noon, with the sun beating down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps due to the Salamander's influence, the ambient temperature had been as hot as before for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had rained a few times, and the humid air raised the level of discomfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, it was a humidity that Luagarne would have found quite satisfactory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She, too, had shown a brief interest in the Dragonkin, but she didn't make an excessive fuss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As always, the Frog's attention was focused on Enkrid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The direction of her curiosity had not changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a time when that Frog had also briefly left to immerse herself in her own training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the tenth day, during one of their endlessly repeated spars, Enkrid cut Themares's neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red blood spurted where Dawnforged had passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Themares, with his neck half-cut, stabbed Enkrid's heart with his own sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with a severed neck, the speed and power of his thrusting blade did not diminish in the slightest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With apuk, the pure white blade pierced through the Will protected by the ironclad technique, cut through the muscle, and split the heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, one side should have been protected by Dragon Scales and the other by Beelrog's hide, but that was not the case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was because they were competing purely with wits, without scales or armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A win or a loss?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That couldn't be determined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were doing it for enjoyment, after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naturally, the cutting of necks and stabbing of hearts were virtual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were fake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it had been real, both would have died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just because you're a knight doesn't mean you can live with your heart pierced, and just because you're a Dragonkin doesn't mean you can live with your neck cut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had fought in their minds, repeatedly revealing and concealing their intentions through hand and foot gestures, gazes, and sword-gripping stances that were no more than a flinch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A virtual spar, perhaps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To fight in more detail, they mixed in hand and foot gestures in the air and showed movements that shifted their center of gravity enough for the other to perceive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sweat trickled down Enkrid's back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, he had been manageable, but now he could no longer be called an easy opponent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could I win if we fought for real?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could I kill him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would have to try to find out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In half a month, the Dragonkin had closed the gap in their skills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Enkrid had learned just as much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is strange,\" Themares said, blinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The favor held in his vertically slit eyes, called Dragon Eyes, was still there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was thinking the same thing. You're peculiar. Is your insight extraordinary? A racial trait? That last technique, you imbued your entire body with will and thrust as if on auto-reflex, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was the Dragonkin's insight amazing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Enkrid was amazing too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had seen the technique the Dragonkin had shown in his mind and had grasped its core.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It went beyond not being stingy with teaching; he was not stingy with learning either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He always saw and accepted everything with an open mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hadn't this very trait blossomed and allowed him to become a knight?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His insight was comparable to a Dragonkin's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, the Dragonkin's insight was still surprising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When one becomes a knight, they gain an insight called an eye that sees one step ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Dragonkin is born with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is why lies do not work on them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By reading will, they possess a skill close to mind-reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Needless to say how useful this was in a fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Orthodox swordsmanship doesn't work.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's because Themares's eyes see through deception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conversely, the orthodox swordsmanship Enkrid had created was a deceptive art based on solid fundamentals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'A method of digging into a weak point and thrusting, based on the flowing sword.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fundamentals of swordsmanship were solid, but he had pioneered his own style from the beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His insight, an inborn eye, was excellent at identifying his opponent's weaknesses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their spar was half swordplay, half conversation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that time, Enkrid had also heard why the Dragonkin had remained here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My intuition is very sharp. That intuition tells me that if I stay by your side, I can meet it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Dragonkin possessed insight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A being capable of vague precognition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They held such a mystery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It couldn't be for nothing that they could change their gender at will and become hermaphroditic beings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Meet who?\" Enkrid asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The being that interfered with my duty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no chill in the Dragonkin's answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No resolve was revealed either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the tone of a scholar listing facts, speaking of something that must be protected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, should it be called chilling instead?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spoke of a set fact as if it were nothing, but if you looked at the other side of it, it made you feel a chill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Enkrid was unfazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a man who wanted to eliminate the entire demon realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An armistice ends a war, and an apocalypse means the end of the demon realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is what he wished for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A man like that could take the Dragonkin's words about meeting and crushing a single demon as nothing special.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your intuition is sharp,\" Enkrid nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering the minions of the demon that had come for him, they would come again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not, he would find them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We do not forget a being that has interfered with our duty,\" the Dragonkin added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To them, duty was the reason for living.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was surprising that he felt interest and fun in a human, but Themares still needed a duty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed a room to find a new duty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he had always done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But before that, a Dragonkin collects the price from the one who interfered with his duty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This, more than anything else, was the priority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides that reason, Themares had remained here because his heart had been moved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That in itself was nothing short of amazing, even to the Dragonkin himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, no one here thought of it as anything special.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did you expect from his demonic charm?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He is a man who can even charm the goddess of fortune.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To borrow the words of Rem and Audin, Enkrid was this kind of man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the afternoon, Krais, who had been watching the spar, asked, \"You're not planning to gather all the races, are you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A knight order with a half-giant, a Frog, a beastkin, a Dragonkin, an elf, and humans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the Dragonkin was not an official member of the knight order, but in Krais's eyes, he seemed to be seeping into the knight order like rain on dry ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'It would be nice if he seeped into the salon, too.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, if not, then not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Shouldn't we change the name to the Inter-species Knight Order?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And I heard from Esther…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais is busy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no reason to visit so often without a purpose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Spit it out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther had discussed a crisis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, she had even predicted the timing of the visitor's visit with considerable accuracy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of that, Krais had lost sleep for about three days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This anxiety, no matter how much he suppressed it, constantly raised its head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The anxiety he had suppressed while awake came out in his dreams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a dream where the city was burning and several magicians in black robes were capturing citizens and locking them in an underground laboratory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The content was so specific that it was even more unsettling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his dream, Krais had also learned the reason for the experiment and had seen the future fifty years from now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Border Guard had become the second womb of the devil, and a new devil was born here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'The Demonic Devil of Charm.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an evolved version of a succubus, a dream demon that bewitches people with just a look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a shitty dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais, engulfed in anxiety, had taken various measures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words he was now relaying to Enkrid were also about that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I've informed everyone of their positions and what to do. Esther spoke with conviction, but if things go south, you'll have to respond on your own.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais had done his job while beating his anxious heart—he had actually been hitting his chest and had been caught and lectured by Luagarne.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, another three days passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A black shadow once again cast itself over the Border Guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naturally, most of the citizens and regular soldiers didn't even know what was happening, but a shadow had come to the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a way, it was an opponent more troublesome than the Salamander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After returning to the city, Enkrid had not devoted himself to training at full strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His spars with the Dragonkin, while they crossed the line in his mind, were restrained in person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the same for the others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, to an ordinary person, it would seem like a crazy thing to say, but by Enkrid's standards, it was so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was scratching his cheek where a scab had formed from a scrape by Baek-a—the Dragonkin's sword's name—when a member of Esther's magic unit came to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They've come,\" he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tone was not urgent, but the meaning contained in the words with the missing subject was clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Jaxen?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sir Jaxen has already moved.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let's go.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid threw on another hooded cloak over his own and headed out of the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He passed the training ground, left the inner castle, and walked without rest through the well-paved road to the outer castle gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hid his face as he went, and those he knew, he passed with only a look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"All clear on duty, and you, this way.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only a very few personnel knew that Enkrid was leaving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The one guarding the gate today was the chief of security.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vengeance nodded to Enkrid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was one of the few who knew Enkrid was leaving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mission was to come out on the pretext of checking on the duty posture, deliberately call Enkrid out, and let him leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is the kid growing well?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid asked as he passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Very much.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A smile naturally formed on the speaking Vengeance's face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid had seen Vengeance's child in passing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What would that child become when he grew up?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Protecting that child and people like him, those who stood behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid knew his job well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the short conversation with Vengeance at an end, he stepped outside the city walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dragonkin followed behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You look like your blood is boiling, Enki,\" said Themares, who had come to call him by a nickname in just a few days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I've told you several times, you don't need to say everything you see, Themares.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dragonkin's social adaptability was not that great.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said everything he saw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That beastkin doesn't wash because she dislikes revealing the scent of fear.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, he would dig into Dunbakel's wound so casually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This salamander bastard?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Dunbakel had fought back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That elf has lived for a very long time. If we were to count the years…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have you ever seen such a rotten potato sprout of a Dragonkin?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There had been such incidents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That witch, too, though she is human, the days she has lived…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had also spoken easily to Esther and had shown the feat of cutting through D'Mulle's Blizzard with Baek-a.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther had stopped the Dragonkin's mouth with her actions, not her words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, he was gradually getting used to this kind of thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the place where Enkrid was heading, the older Esther was waiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A witch who was not as old as Shinar, but clearly older than himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as Esther saw Enkrid, she said, \"Your eyes look strange.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid vaporized his thoughts and asked back, feigning ignorance, \"Mine?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rem, who had joined with almost no time difference, said, \"I told you, the commander's eyes go strange sometimes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enkrid ignored Esther's strange gaze and asked Rem, \"Are the others in their positions?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rem nodded and replied, \"In their positions.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais believed that in a fight or a battle, the one who is properly prepared before it begins, wins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther also agreed with that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, magicians and witches were those who prepared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A prepared magic is several times more dangerous than one that is simply cast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through Esther, all of the Madmen Knight Order knew that fact well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais had said to Enkrid with hollow eyes, \"If you can pierce beyond such an opponent's expectations, the blade you draw in that moment will be a sharper dagger than any other.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Preparation is in the realm of prediction and speculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A magician's inspiration can receive all of that as something close to a premonition, but…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Esther is more outstanding than the ones coming now, right? That's the premise.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais is a genius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther, in her own way, agreed with that statement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had devised a strategy with Esther's abilities also in the realm of his calculations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Coming out to greet us?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a wide land, having left the Border Guard and the main road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A land close to a wasteland, so dust occasionally rose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of it, an old man in a gorgeous white robe embroidered with gold thread spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>About a dozen people in gray robes followed behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther had predicted the movements of the magician who was targeting her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais, worried about the demon's machinations and retaliation, had heard about the mad spellcasters targeting Esther and had prepared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What can they do?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais had asked, and Esther had told him what she knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because she had rich experience dealing with them in the past, Esther knew a lot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than what Krais wanted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Commander.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krais had immediately called Enkrid and then even Abnaier and had held a strategy meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had also asked Esther again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is a magician's weakness?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Astrail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A gathering with the meaning of a group that chases the stars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther had said it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magicians are originally beings who do not know how to get along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They are arrogant,\" she had said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were beings who would not think that they would be struck down by a mere blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Esther had said they would think that way, and Krais's eyes, hearing those words, had sunk like something precipitated in a cup of water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The light in his eyes had dimmed, and he had repeated his thoughts in his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The genius, engulfed in anxiety, had recognized the magician's weakness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that, the first person he had sought out was Jaxen.\u003C\u002Fp>",2578,"2026-05-30T08:28:35.159Z","2026-06-01T04:30:45.896Z",1,"novelbin.me","b90017f2dcbe25b3d16cde2188862ca7e25a52d824a353694b515bf42a59b58a","a-knight-who-eternally-regresses-chapter-843","a-knight-who-eternally-regresses-chapter-841",882,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-knight-who-eternally-regresses-cover.jpg"]