Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 48

Little was known about Vila’s origin.

Even within the special task force, they only guessed that he was from a savage tribe, but they didn’t know exactly where he came from.

It couldn’t be helped. He never revealed it himself, and there were no documents or records related to him.

‘But he was the savage boy that he saved from the subjugation in Beowulf?’

Yan glanced at the silent return of the black armor knight commander.

He didn’t know what he was thinking, but his head looked complicated.

‘Well, it’s strange that he would make such a concession with that kind of past.’

Lorena also seemed to think so, biting her lips.

But still.

‘Well… it’s none of my business.’

If the children of the Habur tribe were also expelled, he would have to take care of them himself.

‘Then I’ll have to complain to the chief instructor.’

As he thought about this and that, he soon arrived at the castle of Beowulf.

In front of him, unfamiliar knights appeared.

They wore white armor, unlike the black armor knights who were unified in black armor.

The black armor knight commander waved his hand at the one who was standing at the front of those knights.

“Kion. Long time no see. How was the North Sea this time?”

The man called ‘Kion’ chuckled.

“What do you mean? It’s still the lord’s playground.”

“Isn’t that too modest for the best frost knight corps in the north?”

“What can I do? It’s true. Haha.”

Yan listened to their conversation and recalled his memory.

The Frost Knight Corps.

It was one of the best knight corps in the empire, and one had to have at least a fifth-grade skill to join it. It was the strongest military force of the Beowulf ducal family.

And the man in front of him, ‘Kion’, was the leader of the frost knight corps, a strong man who belonged to the rank of superhuman.

‘Really… even if I can use my previous life’s skills as they are, it won’t be easy.’

Yan’s eyes lowered.

‘As expected, there are too many monsters.’

The crown prince, the chief instructor, the special task force leader, Kyle, Hans, and Kion.

He had already met six strong men who were in the superhuman rank.

‘I need to get stronger soon.’

Yan vowed to increase his power.

No matter how detailed the plan was, the most important thing was his own skill.

Kion laughed lightly as he talked with William.

Then he felt a strange sense of discomfort and looked at the face of the black armor knight commander, William.

William, who always had a friendly face, had his eyes twitching.

His mouth was also unnaturally raised… as if he was forcing himself to smile.

‘Did something happen during the subjugation operation?’

Kion thought so and looked behind William.

There were some unfamiliar people among the familiar black armor knights.

They must be the trainees of the ‘Dragon Soldier Project’ who visited with the lady this time.

‘Huh?’

At some point, his eyes softened with a gentle emotion.

He found Lorena.

He saw her and his eyes suddenly brightened.

“Ah, miss? Those kids are…”

It was because Lorena had four or five children riding on horses in front of her.

A memory flashed through Kion’s head.

About 30 years ago, William bravely confronted the order of the knight commander at that time and brought the savage children with him.

Kion smiled bitterly.

He realized the situation right away.

‘Is that how it happened?’

Lorena was deep-hearted, unlike her blunt and cold appearance.

She hated the unrest and felt sorry for the unfortunate.

Even when she was young, she couldn’t just pass by the hungry people in her territory and would give them something.

She must have been unable to watch the children die in the subjugation operation.

“You must be tired, go ahead. We’ll patrol around once and go.”

Kion let them in without saying anything else.

“By the way… hasn’t the lord returned yet?”

“He said he was going to get something and disappeared. He said he would be back soon, so he should arrive in a few days.”

With that, William saluted and entered the castle with the black armor knights and the trainees.

Kion quietly watched their backs.

His gaze was fixed on the black-haired young man, Yan, next to Lorena.

* * *

William muttered as he watched Lorena and Charl head to their room, holding the children’s hands.

“What do you think?”

“Well, I didn’t expect that much.”

Yan was also surprised by the trainees’ actions.

He only knew Lorena as a competitive person, but he never expected her to take care of the savage kids even if it meant confronting the knight she was close to.

“And you joined in too.”

Yan snickered as he looked at Cruel.

Cruel turned his head sharply, blushing slightly.

“You, a commoner, wouldn’t know such a noble word as ‘noblesse oblige’.”

Noblesse oblige.

It meant that the nobility had to fulfill their duties and responsibilities as much as they had power.

Yan looked at the back of Cruel’s head as if he was amazed.

“It seems your soul isn’t rotten after all.”

[It seems he’s not evil to the core.]

Momon agreed with Yan’s thoughts.

“What, what? You bastard!”

Yan ignored Cruel’s anger and looked at William.

“By the way, why are you making such a complicated face? You said you’d let them be. They’re adults now.”

William still looked somewhat uneasy.

Yan tapped the sword hanging on his waist.

“They say it’s refreshing to sweat it out at times like this…”

William reacted to that.

Yan’s words seemed to tempt him.

“That’s true.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go sweat it out. Come on, let’s go.”

“…I want to rest.”

“If you’re going to live looking at my back all your life, then do that.”

“Go now!”

* * *

The place they headed to was the training ground prepared in the castle of Beowulf.

It was not unfamiliar, as it was the place where they had held a banquet a while ago.

William took out a wooden sword from a pile of them in one corner and asked.

“Do you want to use a real sword?”

“…How can I win with a wooden sword?”

The one who answered was Cruel.

Yan suggested a duel between the two of them before he stepped in.

He had already trampled on his pride, but that was not enough.

He thought that his personality would be a little more subdued if he was trampled by someone other than himself.

And he also wanted to check the strength of the black armor knight commander this time.

“Hoo.”

Cruel took out the sawtooth sword he had been using since the training center and took a stance.

His usual frivolous appearance and sullen face disappeared and the face of a swordsman took its place.

Seeing that, William admired and glanced at Yan.

‘Wow, I thought that Yan guy was the only outstanding one, but this guy was hidden by his shadow.’

He had heard that this young man named Cruel was 19 years old.

He was quite lacking compared to Yan who was standing behind him.

‘But he’s much better than I was at that age.’

When he was that age, he barely managed to raise his sword energy.

William swung his wooden sword lightly.

Woong! Woong!

A sound that seemed to break the bones if hit by one blow rang out fiercely.

William checked the condition of his wooden sword and relaxed it.

Then he opened his mouth with a friendly face.

“Let’s start.”

Tap!

As soon as he said that, Cruel stomped on the ground.

Cruel swung his sawtooth sword vertically when the distance was shortened.

He seemed to cut William’s body in half at any moment.

But.

Tang!

William didn’t even dodge, but twisted the sword with just a slight swipe of the blade of the sawtooth sword that came in fiercely.

In that state, he stretched his right foot forward.

Then the distance between him and Cruel narrowed even more. It was a distance that was hard to swing a sword.

“Your abdomen is empty.”

Puck!

William’s fist dug into Cruel’s abdomen like lightning.

Cruel’s eyes widened.

He thought knights only used swords!

But that wasn’t the end.

William followed Cruel, who was backing away, at a fast speed.

“When you face a panic moment, it’s a good action to widen the distance.”

Cruel swung his sawtooth sword hastily.

He had to widen the distance from William.

But.

‘He disappeared!’

William, who had been following him from the front, disappeared from his sight.

Ohsik!

And then he felt a cold sensation on his neck, and something grabbed his neck tightly.

“But you always have to keep the blind spot in mind. Your vision narrows.”

William had grabbed Cruel’s neck from behind with his hand.

He saw a knee rising quickly to his pupil.

Puck! Puck!

“Ugh!”

This time it was a knee kick. His face turned pale because he allowed the vital point.

‘Breath, breath!’

If he allowed the vital point a few more times, he would faint.

William didn’t seem to want to end it like this, so he let go of Cruel and gave him some distance.

“Come on, if you have anything else to try, try it.”

“Are you… mocking me now?”

“Hmm, maybe it’s a vent. But I’m sure I’m teaching you. I’m explaining one by one what you didn’t know.”

Yan chuckled as he listened to their conversation.

It was mocking as Cruel said, but it was also teaching as William said.

Cruel gritted his teeth and rushed at William again.

He had been beaten so badly that his momentum had shrunk, but he didn’t show it.

In the meantime.

He heard a sound of a group of people coming from the side.

“Oh. William, what are you doing teaching a duel?”

“It’s pretty fierce for that.”

They were not the black armor knights. They were unfamiliar faces.

Yan got up from his seat and bowed to them.

Knights who wore white armor and had a sharp aura.

They were the frost knights he had met at the door.

“Are you… Yan? I heard about you. You killed a chief.”

“I was just lucky.”

“Haha, luck is also a skill. And the chiefs are not easy to kill with luck.”

The frost knight leader Kion tapped Yan’s shoulder and sat down next to him.

He watched the duel between William and Cruel with a serious eye.

William seemed to have stopped teasing and matched Cruel’s level.

“That’s an amazing move. That Cruel guy is the third in the training center, right?”

Yan stuck out his tongue at Kion’s words.

He knew the inside story of the training center from the Beowulf ducal family in the north.

Lorena might have told him, but.

‘Maybe the rangers found out the information.’

Rangers were the information organization of the Beowulf ducal family.

They were not as good as the special task force, but they were not too far behind.

They were the information organization of the four dukes, after all.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The duel between Cruel and William reached its climax.

At a glance, it looked like Cruel was overpowering William.

But.

“You’re impressive, but you lack experience. You’re too hasty. If you swing like that without breathing, you’ll end up exhausting yourself.”

Unlike William, who blocked with a relaxed face, Cruel swung his sword frantically.

But it was not enough to land a hit on William.

His strength was slowly fading and his stamina was starting to decline.

Just then.

Something flashed through Cruel’s mind.

“You only focus on strength and speed. You lack smoothness, smoothness.”

It was the advice that Yan, who had killed Habur, had taunted him with.

‘He said I lack smoothness?’

Cruel’s sword began to change as he gritted his teeth.

“Wow!”

William, who had easily blocked Cruel’s sword, exclaimed.

“Did you realize something?”

Something began to fill the empty shell-like sword that was strong and fast but hollow.

He started to deflect some of the attacks, and the attacks that were only fierce became a little lighter.

And then.

Cruel swung his sword with a force that seemed to split William and his wooden sword in half.

The same as before, no, even faster and fiercer than before.

“You’re still immature.”

If he added smoothness to his powerful swordsmanship, he would be much stronger.

William thought so and deflected Cruel’s attack.

And the gap that was exposed in Cruel.

He stabbed his wooden sword there.

At that moment.

“I got you!”

Cruel blinked his eyes and spat out a strange sound that didn’t match the situation.

“Huh?”

William frowned.

But his movement didn’t slow down or anything.

William’s eyes widened in an instant.

The sawtooth sword flew toward his neck.

“Damn!”

He had definitely repelled the sword that came flying with a strong force.

Then it was natural that his action would be big, and the gap would be exposed if he failed.

He thought so and repelled the sword… but why?

William soon realized the reason.

‘This fox-like bastard.’

It was a mistake to think that he had a strong force at the end.

Unlike Cruel’s face that had exerted all his strength, he didn’t give all his strength to the sword.

That’s why he could react at such a fast speed.

‘If it was the original, I would have lost.’

William’s movement became much faster than before.

He showed his true skill.

The sawtooth sword touched his neck before he could stop it.

He plunged into Cruel’s arms.

Just like that.

Clang!

William’s wooden sword hit Cruel’s stomach.

Cruel fell back with a thud.

“Ugh…”

If it had been before, he would have gritted his teeth with anger, but.

“I did it.”

At this moment, Cruel was able to faint with a very satisfied face.

He had seen the slight scratch on William’s neck.

Yan, who was watching from afar, smiled contentedly at Cruel’s performance.

“He can walk on his own now.”

He had managed to recall and apply what he had taught him.

Kion, who was watching the duel with Yan, clapped and laughed.

“Ki, Kion?”

“Hahaha, that was fun. Come on!”

Kion got up from his seat and looked down at Yan who was sitting next to him.

“Do you want to try one too? Our kids are itching for a fight right now.”

Yan smiled at that.

He had no choice but to ask the black armor knight commander for a duel because he had no acquaintance with the frost knights.

But he got a chance to duel with the frost knights.

Yan called out his joy, but he didn’t show it.

But he didn’t answer politely or humbly.

“It’s not my responsibility if you get hurt.”

A single word of provocation.

There was silence in the training ground.

And a very short time passed.

Kion laughed loudly and turned around to face the frost knights.

“What, what?! Hahaha! You heard him, right? Give him a good lesson!”

“Yes!”

“We’ll make him a pulp!”

That’s how Cruel and William went back to their seats, and Yan came out.

He carried a wooden sword, unlike Cruel who used a real sword, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Who’s first?”