Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.47 – Knights' Nocturnal Raid (2)
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Lee Han was a knight with a diverse range of experiences.
Among them, the most unusual one was undoubtedly...
-Assassin.
...A career that would make others gasp in shock if they heard it.
After all, a knight with an assassin background was something rare to see and hard to believe.
Well, that didn't mean Lee Han was trembling in fear of being exposed. He had no such history of anxiety.
It wasn't a career he was particularly hiding, after all.
He wasn't the type to go around shouting "I used to be an assassin!" everywhere, but most of his close acquaintances knew about it anyway.
There was another reason he could reveal it without hesitation: none other than...
-I never actually killed anyone, so what's there to be ashamed of?
He had definitely been raised as an assassin, but before he could fully dive into the "profession," the organization collapsed, leaving him unexpectedly free.
As a result, he became a half-baked assassin who had mastered the skills but never taken a life. He then followed the mercenary path, then the kingdom soldier path, mostly abandoning his assassin techniques along the way.
However, even so...
'I didn't discard [Knowledge] entirely.'
Assassin skills weren't just about combat techniques.
On the contrary, the organization had placed even greater emphasis on 'infiltration,' 'scouting,' 'poison handling,' and various espionage and spy techniques.
Looking back now, it seemed like the Black Moon Assassins had wanted him to handle not only the role of a combatant but also that of a ranger.
At the time, he thought they taught the strangest things...
"Ah, found it."
But it turned out that everything learned had its uses, especially at times like this.
5 hours and 45 minutes.
That was how long it took to discover an entrance into the Grand Temple.
Well, calling it an entrance...
"Man, this river has a vicious current."
-It was a river that looked like you'd drown if you fell in.
Information about the Grand Temple was strictly controlled.
What did that mean?
Simply put, there was virtually no information available on the Grand Temple, and it wasn't even marked on maps.
...I know that sounds like utter nonsense, the idea that it's not on maps.
But there were good reasons for it. The Grand Temple housed 'holy relics,' the 'tombs' and 'monuments' honoring the kingdom's great heroes, and even a collection of '100,000 volumes of books.'
In other words, all the historically valuable cultural heritage was concentrated there. In the event of war and the capital being breached, the Grand Temple had the 'duty' to protect all of it.
Thus, its geographical location wasn't shown on maps. Even if it were, no high noble—short of the military's supreme commander or the king himself—could obtain a map depicting the entire kingdom.
However...
-I can't procure a map even for you, but I can tell you what the Grand Temple is like.
Among his connections was a princess who stood near the pinnacle of this nation, thanks to whom he had memorized top-secret information about the Grand Temple.
-On the surface, it looks like a massive temple, but it's essentially an impregnable fortress. Holy barriers formed by divine spells envelop the temple twenty-four hours a day, extending from underground all the way up to the clouds.
Breaking through such barriers wouldn't be hard for a knight of Lee Han's caliber, but doing so would be as foolish as openly declaring "I'm invading the temple!"—so a frontal assault was absolutely out of the question.
-Even without the barriers, it's carved into the mountain, incorporating fortress-like impregnability. To outsiders, it just appears sacred and modest.
And that was it?
Being carved into the mountain meant limited entrances, practically no viable infiltration routes.
-It even has vast farmlands and abundant water sources inside for self-sufficiency, so even if enemy forces infiltrated Pendragon and targeted the Grand Temple, it could hold out for a full year without external support.
A fortress blessed by divine spells and natural features alike. It was easy to see why it stored all sorts of relics.
However...
-...Abundant water sources, you say? Groundwater, or perhaps a flowing river?
-A flowing river.
-Hoo...
-Don't even think about it. That's not a wise approach.
-...I didn't say anything?
-You were planning to infiltrate via the river, weren't you?
-......I told you not to read my mind.
...There's no such thing as perfection in this world.
And so, right now...
"-What the hell kind of river is this? One glance and you're terrified... How is it this thorough?"
Lee Han was utterly exhausted after just five hours.
He had only tried to approach via the river, but the number of guards patrolling the surroundings was enough to make anyone flinch.
Even now...
-Woof woof!
-Grrrrr!
Despite the dead of night, hundreds of personnel maintained ironclad defenses, with hunting dogs barking ferociously.
If he hadn't tunneled underground intermittently on the way to the river, he would have been spotted ages ago.
'This is just the force guarding a single temple? ...This isn't a temple; it's the Pentagon.'
It was absurd.
More secure than the royal palace.
At the same time, it was impressive.
Though he had lost his assassin skills, Lee Han was armed with a comparable array of diverse techniques.
With Air Walk, tunneling, and even Divine Arrow Flight, he could become a bird in the sky or a mole underground.
...Yet all of that paled before the temple's defenses. They aimed arrows at flying birds and meticulously thrust spears into the ground as if suspecting something burrowed below—manual labor, no less.
He half-expected them to set the forest ablaze, but the temple was still a temple.
They refrained from stripping the mountains or fields bare.
'Well, they say the light of glory governs life itself.'
They wouldn't carelessly damage nature.
......Though for a faith that governs life, they sure treat human lives like weeds.
Anyway!
Lee Han mobilized every technique, knowledge, and experience at his disposal to finally reach the lake serving as the temple's water source.
Soldiers were still stationed around it, but...
'I'm a turtle, a turtle......'
Lee Han moved stealthily, suppressing his presence to the extreme.
Didn't they say turtles have slow steps and equally slow heartbeats?
'Slowly, slowly, even slower...'
Down to six beats per minute.
Considering the average human heart rate of 60 or even 100 beats per minute, it seemed impossible.
His pulse matched the turtle's sluggish pace, but recalling that such a slow heartbeat was why turtles lived so long, he couldn't dismiss it lightly.
And...
'It's working, it's really working!'
Applying a turtle's breathing, gait, and heart rhythm to a human body produced astonishing effects.
A technique possible only for him, who could freely control his muscles and organs.
Huu...
Haa......
──Huu...
Saaaaah—.
Turtle Breath Great Method
Complete presence suppression / Blends with darkness / Enhanced stealth mobility
It wasn't a secret technique for playing dead or perfect corpse impersonation like those used by martial artists—it was no mere secret art. But in this moment, Lee Han had elevated it into a technique for espionage warfare.
Complete aura suppression.
Fully merging with the darkness, no one realized a human was crawling through here.
Yet despite that, he moved faster and more nimbly than a turtle, blending with his surroundings until no one noticed his presence.
Eventually, even as he brazenly passed by five soldiers...
"Clear."
"No one's here."
"It's quiet."
"What about the hounds?"
"No reaction!"
No one—not a single soul—perceived Lee Han slipping past them.
It was as if they regarded him as an inanimate object.
He wasn't wearing an invisibility cloak, nor was some cutting-edge stealth weapon at play.
He had merely minimized his presence and distorted their senses to pass by.
-Sniff, sniff!
The hounds might catch his scent, but this was where a former assassin's wisdom shone.
-...Whine?
-???
The herbs and medicines slathered on to mask his odor performed perfectly.
Puk!
Of course, he still had to dodge blind arrows or spears flying randomly, threats from hounds or humans alike.
Twang...
"An arrow?"
"Huh? Was there a rock there?"
As long as he had his 'Indestructible' body, no arrow or spear would make him scream.
And so.
Slipping in.
Lee Han dove unhesitatingly into the cold river water.
Splash...
"What was that?"
"A fish?"
"Don't get too close. It's full of giant crocodiles and venomous water snakes."
"S-Such things too?"
"They put them there on purpose. Just in case someone tries sneaking in through the river."
"Who'd be crazy enough? The holy spells make the water surge like waves."
"True."
"No idiot would..."
......Should I not beat those guys on my way out?
The knight who had unwittingly earned titles like [Madman] and [Idiot] barely restrained his anger from breaking the Turtle Breath Great Method as he continued diving deeper...
Until the soldiers' taunting voices faded away...
Boom!
A massive roar echoed.
The shockwave from a spear-shaped lance clashing against an axe blade larger than a standard battle-axe tore through the air in an instant.
Speed, precision, and destructive power that even an advanced knight couldn't react to.
A perfect trifecta of skills. But in truth...
"Let's stop the joking around here, Fierce Wolf. Getting serious would defeat the purpose of sneaking in, wouldn't it?"
Joking—such a clash was mere greeting for these two. A dizzying realization.
However.
"You showed your hand first, Black Lion!!"
...The problem was that it wasn't a mutually agreed-upon joke.
"In the North, that's how we show we're glad to see each other!"
"Don't bullshit me!"
Only this northerner would call something like this a greeting.
The brute was more thuggish than any thug...!!
The masked intruders recognized each other despite the disguises and bickered. The spear-wielding masked man ground his teeth.
And for good reason—this idiot's fault had...
-Intruders!!
-Over here! They're underground!!
...Ruined the point of sneaking in.
......This happened thirty minutes before a certain knight swam through the fierce currents and entered the pupils' quarters.