Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.41 – Until the Heart Pounds (4)
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"…Why the hell is that guy suddenly transforming?"
Lee Han clicked his tongue in admiration mixed with exasperation as he watched Rak charging madly at the monstrous spellcaster, enveloped in flames.
It looked powerful at a glance, but it felt like the frenzy of a mayfly—brilliant but short-lived.
'That body won't hold up.'
Though he had forcibly elevated it to a physique comparable to his own through his meridian, it couldn't withstand such violent energy for long.
It could self-destruct at any moment without surprise.
However, rather than worrying about him, Lee Han swung his fists even faster and harder.
Right now, winning mattered more than survival!
Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam!!
"Gaaah!"
"S-Stop…!"
Screams echoed from all directions, but they weren't his concern.
Lee Han wasn't unleashing these chaotic, wide-ranging punches simply to hunt other spellcasters.
As his barrage intensified, the punches dominated the space, creating countless trajectories like bullets.
Strikes that even he couldn't predict battered the monster from every direction, tracing unpredictable paths.
And among those fist trajectories,
Thwack!
was one devoid of enmity or killing intent, infused solely with will!
Arhat Divine Fist
Enlightenment martial art awakened against the marquis
The martial enlightenment awakened while facing the marquis the previous day.
Yes, this was a power embodying the 'concept of will,' just like the spellcasters' magic.
Though not as natural or potent as theirs, at this moment, it was utterly impossible to block his strike.
However,
Throb!
…Lee Han judged he couldn't sustain the Arhat Divine Fist for long.
As if it weren't a power permitted to him yet, the more he used it, the more his head felt like it would split open.
Drip…
Without even time to wipe the nosebleed trickling down, Lee Han kept punching.
Determined not to give the monster any breathing room.
Hundred Steps Divine Fist
Infused with Arhat Divine Fist enlightenment
Not a mere Hundred Steps Divine Fist, but one infused with Arhat enlightenment—Lee Han gritted his teeth as he thrust it out.
Convinced it would surely blow off the monster's head…!
"[-Heavenly Punishment.]"
⟨ Heavenly Punishment ⟩
Kaboom-!!
The next instant, lightning poured from the sky.
Not a single bolt, but a rain of them—hundreds per second, indiscriminately sweeping everything.
"T-Tower Lord…!!!"
One elderly spellcaster died to the lightning.
The one whose chest Lee Han had slashed. Already gravely wounded, it couldn't endure the churning bolts.
Whoosh…!
Where the lightning shower passed, everything was erased.
…Without a trace.
Heavenly Punishment.
A mage's incantation turns language into reality, with lengthy chants using metaphors to minimize risks.
Yet Tuur uttered a word so direct it bordered on divine authority.
The aftermath was overwhelmingly devastating, as seen.
"Cough…"
But it wounded Tuur himself, making him vomit blood for the first time.
No matter how great he was, such an act couldn't be risk-free.
It was the natural consequence.
In other words, he had risked it to cast the spell, acknowledging them as true enemies.
A grand mage who had lived 400 years.
Thus.
"…As expected, this much isn't enough, huh?"
Whoosh.
The small hill that once stood was flattened by direct lightning strikes into barren land, yet even that failed to kill them.
"…Still alive?"
"For now."
The two knights were covered in soot, badly burned, but still intact.
"Tenacious, really."
Tuur nodded knowingly. He had anticipated this from their first true deathmatch.
They wouldn't die so easily.
Thus.
"I won't hold back anymore."
He declared there would be no more waiting like before.
Having acknowledged the knights as threats, this was his conclusion—and Tuur.
Swish!
swung his hand.
Fwoosh!
Perspective Manipulation.
The grand mage's unique spell shook the laws of the world: earth trembled, winds split, and a massive shockwave of distorted mass crushed the knights.
Overwhelming just moments ago, they could only defend desperately, utterly helpless.
Squelch!!
"…Can't use this recklessly anymore."
Tuur's finger bent backward.
He had injured himself mid-attack, so he healed the broken finger.
A magic mimicking the mystery said to be held by the divine bird, the [Phoenix].
No matter the wound, he could regenerate infinitely.
Thus, Tuur felt no concern for injury.
Throb!
"…The pain lingers?"
Ultimately, proving it a mere copy, not the original, the magic was imperfect.
…No, correction: he had thought it perfect until today, when he first learned its maximum limit.
And as proof.
Crack!
Crunch!
As their fierce assault continued and Perspective Manipulation was increasingly countered, wounds accumulated on Tuur's body.
As they had predicted, his arms and eyes were the catalysts.
Yet even if discovered, it shouldn't matter.
Who could counter such vast mass and mana anyway?
But now, that common sense shattered, and Perspective Manipulation was being dismantled.
Any ordinary mage would be aghast and despair at their magic being countered.
"Hah!"
Tuur grinned maniacally.
Such crisis and wounds were too long absent.
A vague sense of danger made his heart race, his breaths quicken—and Tuur felt exhilaration.
His hollow, languid, repetitive centuries of life.
This stimulus was like a drug surging dopamine in his brain.
'No, incomparable to mere drugs!'
Having been addicted to drugs for 50 years, Tuur was certain this deathmatch was beyond exhilarating compared to them.
What was it?
This situation of blood spraying, body breaking, heart pounding frantically—
'I'm alive!'
It made Tuur feel vitality.
Thrilling dopamine.
"…Just a bit more—make it even more fun!"
The next moment, mana like an ocean surged from Tuur,
Rumble!!
—and the Dragon Twister descended.
Rumble!
"This again…"
Earth Flip.
The disaster that had rendered Lee Han helpless assaulted him once more, even larger than before.
The massive upheaval of earth was dizzying—could he even pierce it?
Dizzying enough on its own, but…
Groooar!
The monster proved this wasn't the end by summoning madness itself.
Manipulating the typhoon conjured by the elderly spellcasters, it formed a colossal Dragon Twister.
A Dragon Twister on dry land, amid overturning earth chunks—a scene of utter insanity.
Enough to fell anyone unconscious, but…
"…"
Oddly, Lee Han remained calm.
Not resignation.
Simply…
'I can do it.'
Lee Han gauged the oncoming earth and twister, deriving the result: 'I can handle it.'
Others might curse him as mad, but it was ice-cold judgment.
And why not?
Fwoosh!
Because the potent Fighting Technique energy churning within him now convinced him he could perform a 'bold act.'
Unattempted before, but with Fighting Technique mastery, possible now.
Intense haze rippled around Lee Han's body.
'This is demonic arts.'
Ludicrously, even now, Lee Han analyzed Fighting Technique, defining it.
Demonic arts.
Yes, Fighting Technique closely resembled demonic arts from wuxia tales.
Fierce and wild, threatening the host.
A clear give-and-take: immense power in exchange.
Thus, it was demonic arts.
Conversely, ridiculously, the meridian he cultivated was 'righteous arts.'
Steadily building power, stabilizing the vessel—nothing overstated.
A technique for the untalented to advance through grit and effort, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Fighting Technique adepts.
Slower to learn, but stable.
Comparable to the Reverse Muscle Meridian or Taoist immortal paths—true righteous way.
Contrasting with Fighting Technique solidified this.
Fighting Technique didn't draw natural human growth; it burned intense energy and vitality as fuel.
And Lee Han.
'Ah, so I had this much vital force within me…'
Felt immense [life energy] writhing inside, greater than anyone's.
The crimson Fighting Technique from Rak— it devoured even that.
This energy embodied his 'history' and 'life' of effort.
The fruits of days lived fiercely, poured out as if each were his last.
'Good thing I worked hard.'
Lee Han was immensely glad his years weren't wasted, igniting the energy that grumbled 'Why now?' as it rose—his Fighting Technique.
Hummm-!
Fighting Technique's flow was etched like tattoos into veins, nerves, muscles, bones—drawing his vitality was effortless, natural.
Fwoosh!
A righteous successor practicing demonic arts—truly lamentable!
But what choice?
To topple the demonic cult leader threatening the martial world, no holds barred…
"…Who'd I inherit this madness from…?"
The latent energy, evoking demonic arts, disliked Fighting Technique intensely, spouting odd logic at him.
Even if he'd drawn from wuxia for techniques, he hadn't truly learned martial arts—why did this energy picky-eat Fighting Technique?
What a hassle; whose temperament was it…?
'Oh, mine.'
Did it mirror his own bizarre nature?
Lee Han chuckled in the absurdity.
His karma manifesting thus?
But no worries.
Though the energy was odd…
'What're you doing? Gotta smash the spellcasters.'
Wriggles!
What else could mirroring him mean?
Fwoooosh!
…Utter loathing for spellcasters.
Intense power waves emanated from Lee Han's body, and the earthen tsunami crashing upon him—
Crack-crack-crack!
—exploded on contact.
Hummm.
Vast Fighting Technique energy radiated, compressing into a spherical field around him.
Like a mage's mana barrier, but for offense: repelling and annihilating all attacks.
Based on Fighting Technique, structured like sword aura principles.
Aura martial art.
Named—