She swings. She slices. She stabs. And she kills.

This was an action Erin had repeated to the point of exhaustion in her third life.

Unlike her first and second lives, the world where Erin reincarnated for the third time was one where killing was necessary for survival.

In that world, facing monsters was routine. A world overflowing with monsters, without laws or regulations.

In this world, she could still choose whether to kill something, but there, she had to kill to survive.

Children and the elderly alike all carried swords. However, few could properly face monsters.

The similarity to this world was that those who could face monsters were called knights.

And in that place, Erin was stronger than anyone else.

The absence of Amon and the Princess actually gave her wings.

Erin was dispatching monsters with astonishing speed. Not a single wasted movement in her sword swings.

If anyone trained in swordsmanship had been nearby, they would have been speechless at her technique.

Wherever her sword passed, monster corpses piled up.

Erin didn’t avoid the monster blood splattering onto her body. She could have easily dodged it, but chose not to.

Because of this, she became covered in blood from head to toe.

Behind the monsters dying without even making a sound, countless others with various appearances surged endlessly.

Creatures with two heads, ones resembling beasts, and even monsters with human-like appearances.

The sword cutting through them gleamed with subtle mana.

The cheap iron sword, when infused with her mana, emitted a sharper edge than any treasured blade.

Upon becoming a high-ranking knight, one could handle small monster hordes mixed with mid-level monsters.

However, the monster horde Erin now faced numbered in the dozens, mixed with high-level monsters that ordinary humans wouldn’t dare even look at.

Facing such a horde alone was only possible for a Sword Master.

But Erin had witnessed the ultimate in swordsmanship in her third life.

Sword Master. A title held by only three people in the Empire. Throughout the continent, their number didn’t exceed ten.

The pinnacle that every student in the Swordsmanship Department of Atenz Academy, all overflowing with talent, aspired to reach.

But before this towering wall, only those with extraordinary talent could become Sword Masters.

And that had been her achievement in the past.

Erin’s palm burst open, unable to withstand the intense pressure. This happened when the body couldn’t keep up with the state of enlightenment.

Her entire body screamed in pain. She probably wouldn’t be able to move properly for a while after today.

‘Karon will lecture me again if he sees this.’

She imagined her younger brother nagging her endlessly. Actually, that wouldn’t be so bad. Erin remembered clearly how desperate Karon had been after losing an arm in the past.

She could endure any amount of nagging if it meant protecting his future.

The final monster. Her sword pierced straight through its head. Blood flowed down her arm.

With this, she had twisted one of her greatest past regrets. The Princess had survived, and Karon’s arm remained safe.

Erin halfheartedly wiped her blood-stained hands on her clothes and collapsed where she stood.

It felt like something that had been knotted in her chest for decades was finally unraveling.

She covered her mouth and shed silent tears.

The emotion that had tormented her through three lifetimes.

It was guilt.

* * *

As soon as he heard Amon’s words, Ferdin mobilized his forces. The entire subjugation team began searching for Erin.

The knights were on edge after Ferdin mentioned the appearance of a monster horde.

Moreover, Ferdin’s order was to find ‘Erin Liserth’ who was fighting the monster horde.

Complaints inevitably arose from the knights.

“Find Erin Liserth? If a monster horde has appeared, shouldn’t we be fleeing right now?”

“We don’t know the scale, but abandoning that villainess… that would be the right choice.”

“What difference would it make if that villainess disappeared? I don’t even believe she’s fighting a monster horde.”

“Maybe it would be better if she died now.”

The knight who said this snickered, finding his own comment amusing.

Another knight spoke with a stern face.

“Didn’t she bring this upon herself? It’s her fault for provoking Sir Amon like that.”

“She could only do that because she doesn’t know what kind of person Sir Amon is. How dare she speak that way to a prospective knight expected to become a future Sword Master? What would a lady who’s been pampered in a duke’s household all her life know?”

“Exactly. She acted so arrogantly because she doesn’t realize how great he is.”

Many of the knights on this subjugation had graduated from the academy not long ago.

Those who knew Lilia disliked Erin just like the Swordsmanship Department students. They believed the duel between Erin and Amon was entirely Erin’s fault.

A very ominous aura enveloped the forest. The moonlight became obscured by clouds, darkening their surroundings.

The apprentice knights on the subjugation clearly lacked the practical experience to face a monster horde.

In this situation, not avoiding the monster horde but instead searching for Erin Liserth…

The knights couldn’t help but voice their complaints.

If Erin Liserth hadn’t come to the Swordsmanship Department, none of this would have happened.

All the knights present agreed it would be better if that useless villainess died at the hands of the monster horde.

“But isn’t something strange? It’s too quiet around here.”

At one knight’s words, the others seemed to sense the oddity too.

The silence in a forest where a monster horde had appeared was abnormal.

Given that monsters grow stronger at night, eerie sounds should have been echoing through their habitat.

At that moment, they began to feel a chilling presence that made the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

“This presence… I’ve felt it before…”

The knight who spoke realized where he had felt this aura before.

It was the same presence he had felt from Roman, the Sword Master of Edwin Kingdom, when he went to the battlefield.

The overwhelming pressure exuded by a master who had transcended human limitations.

This kind of aura always lingered after he had slain monsters.

“Ahhh!”

A scream broke the silence.

The knight who had gone ahead turned back to his companions with a pale face.

“The m-monsters…”

He pointed to a spot.

Monster corpses were piled up. It was such a grotesque sight that words failed to describe it.

Even high-level monsters they had only heard of by name were visible.

One knight stumbled backward and fell. Even then, he crawled along the ground trying to get away.

Although the monsters were all dead, they instilled an instinctive fear.

From the ominous aura they emitted, one could easily imagine what would have happened if they had encountered these monsters alive.

So who had killed all these monsters? Had a Sword Master happened to pass through here?

But who exactly?

The knights knew the whereabouts of all existing masters. They were stationed at each important battlefield.

Normally, no master would visit this forest where strong monsters didn’t exist.

“This is unbelievable… look at this.”

A knight bent down to examine a monster’s corpse.

The cut was remarkably clean. Just from the traces, one could tell how skilled the person who had been here was.

Despite his fear, the knight felt a kind of reverence. Most knights held deep respect for Sword Masters.

They understood better than anyone what it meant to reach the level of a master. All knights strive, but not all can reach their desired position. So it was natural to tremble at the result created by an unknown knight before their eyes.

The knights exchanged words of disbelief.

“This is truly impressive. I don’t know who did this… but it gives me goosebumps.”

“Where has such a knight been hiding?”

“To kill a monster horde of this scale… I can’t even gauge that level of skill.”

They spent a long time admiring the remains of the monsters.

“We need to report this immediately. A hidden Sword Master might have emerged!”

One knight said this as he stood up.

Erin had long since vanished from their minds.

* * *

Erin moved forward. With each step she took, blood dripped. She knew it was monster blood, but she couldn’t help feeling filthy.

Her hair, stained red, was returning to its original color in the pouring rain.

Erin stared blankly at the red droplets falling from her body. Those drops of blood resembled the blood of people who had died because of her.

With each drop that fell, she felt something pressing down on her heart.