Eternally Regressing Knight
Chapter 603 - Did You Sleep Well

Chapter 603 - 603 - Did You Sleep Well

Chapter 603 - Did You Sleep Well

"I will cut down the Walking Fire."

Enkrid's voice came from the mirror.

Upon hearing his words, Esther immediately transformed into a panther and dashed away.

If she had been an actual panther, her stamina wouldn't have lasted all day.

But as a witch, she could run endlessly, and at the speed of a panther, Cross Guard wasn't far.

Luckily, she wasn't at Border Guard but near the Pen-Hanil River, which was much closer.

Thus, she sprinted toward Cross Guard.

The river posed no obstacle, thanks to the spell "Del Gretcher's Walkway."

Thin sheets of ice formed beneath her feet, becoming stepping stones as she leaped forward.

While casting the spell, she briefly reverted to her human form but retained her panther-like strength, moving faster than any ordinary person.

Switching between her panther and human forms to conserve energy and magic, Esther continued her relentless sprint.

Even as the thought "Am I too late?" crossed her mind, it didn't deter her.

Stopping now would only mean the end.

Esther pressed on.

The traces left behind by Apostle Anella, who had invoked the Walking Fire, remained vivid, allowing her to track them with ease.

She instinctively altered her course mid-sprint, sensing a shift in direction.

A skilled witch could read the remnants of spells.

This wasn't mere coincidence.

It had something to do with Enkrid.

If heading this way meant dealing with an issue preemptively, then so be it.

Her judgment and action were simultaneous.

There was no need to wait for the stars to rise and read constellations.

The aura of magic was unmistakably strong.

Soon, Esther arrived at a site marked by the remnants of a spell.

A pit littered with a hundred charred bodies—ashes caught in flames—came into view.

"Forbidden incantation, an annihilation spell."

It truly was the Walking Fire.

The annihilation spell, a type of forbidden magic, left nothing unscathed in its wake.

As Esther approached the pit, a Twin-Headed Human-Faced Dog lunged at her.

Having already sensed its presence, she didn't hesitate.

"Müller's Scythe."

With a swift, seemingly effortless gesture, wind gathered and formed blades.

Thwack!

Two heavy wind blades split the creature, cleaving both its heads from the crown to the torso.

The bisected body, now in three parts, scattered black blood and entrails as it collapsed.

Momentum carried its divided remains a few steps further before they stopped.

With her arm still raised, Esther's gaze shifted to a spot cloaked in a concealment spell.

She detected it purely by sense.

Having identified it, there was only one logical course of action:

Attack.

She formed a seal, drew upon her magic, and whispered in runic tongues to summon an entity stored within her magical domain.

"Come forth, Bonehead."

It was an improved version of the Flesh Golem Enkrid had dealt with earlier.

At her command, a circle of light appeared on the ground, from which flesh and blood intertwined to give form to the Flesh Golem.

The golem charged forward as soon as it materialized.

The best way to break a concealment spell was brute force—an effective and straightforward solution.

With a loud thud, the golem dashed ahead, breaking the faint veil of darkness like rippling water.

From within came a voice.

"How dare you."

A woman emerged, her voice sharp.

Esther saw her face but paid her no mind, continuing to form seals.

"Not ordinary," she thought.

Ignoring her didn't mean underestimating her.

Speed was simply the priority at this moment.

The magical aura emanating from the opponent was overwhelming, far denser than her own at present—a testament to the woman's immense power.

Violet spiritual energy swirled above her shoulders.

"A mere witch," the woman sneered.

As an apostle claiming to serve a god, her contempt was unsurprising.

Forming seals, Esther reflected on her current state.

Thanks to Enkrid, most of her curse had been lifted.

She was in the process of rebuilding her magical domain but hadn't yet regained her former strength.

Was she at a disadvantage?

Perhaps.

But that wasn't reason enough to stop.

In countless iterations of today, there had been moments when Enkrid had reached out to her through the mirror.

Esther had always run to this point in every one of those moments.

"Oh demon gods, do you hear the cries of your chosen children?"

Apostle Anella's voice rang out as she drew her blade—a weapon prepared for use after the Walking Fire.

Modified ghouls, now mindless, crawled from amidst the corpses.

Each was a monstrosity with dangerously enhanced physical abilities. Some skeletal warriors were reborn from reassembled bones.

It was a blend of necromancy and innate magic.

Their bodies ignited, enveloped in flames.

These burning abominations were lethal to those already weary from fending off the Walking Fire.

Esther denied even a single ember from reaching her.

She chose not to use Bonehead here.

Physical force against physical force might be effective, but not in this case.

Instead, she unsummoned the golem, conserving magic.

"Del Gretcher's Domain Marking."

Borrowing magic from others was Esther's forte.

While Müller embodied the essence of a bloodthirsty wind spirit, Del Gretcher was a glacier-dwelling creature that once roamed as a four-legged beast.

Esther was a genius capable of blending borrowed and original magic seamlessly.

"Burn to ash."

Anella, who mastered disasters, especially fire, commanded her ghouls, whose flames grew fiercer.

Esther countered with a spell she had previously perfected, though not yet fully refined.

"Permafrost."

Crackle.

Ice crystals spread from beneath Esther's feet, radiating outward.

Despite the lack of a blizzard, the air grew frigid.

Legend spoke of a land at the northernmost edge where the skies shimmered with indescribable hues, and the ground froze the very breath of those who dared tread upon it. Its name was Permafrost.

Magic was influenced by words, and Esther's spell was no exception.

Her spell froze everything within a modest twenty-step radius.

The surrounding flames vanished, leaving the burning ghouls and skeletal soldiers destabilized.

"...Did you just cast that spell without preparation or offerings?"

Anella was genuinely astonished.

There was a spell called the Eye of the Blizzard, a forbidden incantation requiring frozen offerings.

Often, the caster would even have to sacrifice part of their own body by freezing it.

And yet, here was a similar-level spell being unleashed upon her without any such prerequisites.

Though its range wasn't particularly vast, its sheer force was shocking enough.

Still, Anella had no intention of simply succumbing.

Even as she spoke, she began weaving her mana, forming seals with her hands, and chanting her own incantation.

"Flames of Malach's Dance!"

Her counterspell erupted into a blazing inferno, radiating outward from her.

On one side, the flames roared; on the other, the breath of frost froze everything it touched.

Whoosh.

Even the wind froze, sharp as blades.

"Scythe of the Northern Gale."

Esther chanted again, reconstructing the essence of Muller's Scythe into a new form.

Anella's eyes widened.

Another spell?

And a completely different one, after already casting the Eternal Frost?

To put it briefly, the battle that followed involved several spells exchanged between the two, but Esther emerged victorious, and Anella perished.

The difference in their abilities wasn't enormous.

In battles between mages, overwhelming power disparities were rare; preparation often determined victory.

However, neither had the opportunity to prepare extensively.

If anything, Esther was at a slight disadvantage, having exhausted herself by rushing to the confrontation.

Yet, her exceptional skill in spell manipulation and creative applications bridged the gap.

In simpler terms, the stark difference lay in their genius.

It was early winter, and naturally, spells that lowered the temperature proved more advantageous than flames.

A skilled witch always turned her environment into her ally—a principle that gave rise to the saying,

"No one defeats a witch in her cabin."

'I pushed myself too far.'

However, the toll on her body was undeniable.

Esther's entire body trembled.

She needed to consume a heat-providing seed or envelop herself in similar warmth.

At the very least, even the heated leather cloak Rem often wore would suffice.

Unable to venture far in her state, she made her way to the Cross Guard.

Finding Enkrid wasn't difficult.

After all, she had given him a spell object she had crafted herself.

Tracking its trace brought her to him.

Despite wearing a robe designed to retain body heat, her whole body quaked.

The early winter wind seemed to pierce straight through to her bones.

She was freezing—so much so that she felt it was her first time experiencing such cold.

"Esther?"

Before her stood Enkrid.

He was unchanged.

His piercing blue eyes cut through the predawn darkness, his presence as steady as ever, a constant flame in the unbroken night.

"Hold me."

She fainted as she uttered the words.

Enkrid instinctively caught Esther.

Her body was cold as ice, her face pale, and her hair frosted.

"Lua."

"I'm on it."

"Call for the lord and have him bring all the heating stones he can find."

"Understood."

Lua darted off swiftly, leaving Enkrid to carry Esther in his arms.

He didn't know what had happened, but he had a feeling it was somehow connected to him.

That intuition felt certain.

He placed her on a bed.

He had seen frostbite victims before—back when a deranged noble had insisted on harvesting rare herbs from the polar regions.

It had been sheer madness, but desperation and the need in the kingdom of Krona at the time left no other choice.

As the guide on that expedition, Enkrid had witnessed three companions die from frostbite.

Even the survivor had lost his toes. If not for a passing priest who intervened, they likely all would have perished.

"You carry the sun within your chest," the priest had remarked.

Enkrid, while not immune to the cold, had managed to endure it better than most.

"She'll freeze to death if left like this."

Muttering to himself, he climbed into bed with her. Wrapping them both in blankets, he held her tightly and called out.

"Prepare warm water, Delma."

"Y-yes? Oh, of course."

The inn's worker, startled awake in the early morning, had seen a woman collapse into the arms of their hero.

Lovers?

Perhaps.

Though hesitant to interrupt, the situation left him peeking covertly until Enkrid called out to him.

"Not too hot."

"Understood."

Enkrid removed Esther's robe and his own upper garments, pressing her icy body against his. Her temperature remained frigid despite the proximity.

He deliberately avoided looking at her bare form.

Losing an eye wasn't on his agenda.

Through the night and into the next day, he cradled her, having Lua assist by immersing her in lukewarm water, drying her, and holding her again.

"My body's too cold to warm you properly," Lua murmured, lamenting the natural chill of Frog physiology.

"I've gathered every heating source in the city," Lua eventually reported.

***

"Why? Are we... sharing the same bed?"

Esther asked, her memory hazy and scattered.

"There's no better way to restore dropped body temperature."

Though he didn't literally harbor the sun in his chest, Enkrid was perhaps the only one who could endure holding her.

Simply breathing in her presence chilled the surrounding air as if she carried a curse.

While Enkrid managed to withstand it, not everyone could.

Even Delma, who had tried to help, avoided coming near, complaining about the cold emanating from Esther.

For Enkrid, even holding her required constant effort.

His Will naturally surged within him, circulating fiercely to counteract the unnatural frost radiating from her.

It was undoubtedly magical in origin, yet there was no opportunity to inquire further.

The only option was to hold her and endure.

Still, explaining all of this in detail felt unnecessary. Keeping his tone casual, Enkrid said,

"You used to snuggle a lot when you were still a panther, remember?"

At that, Esther fell silent, her gaze locked on his deep blue eyes.

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