Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 217 - EP.49 – 세상에서 가장 위험한 생물은…(3)
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.49 – The Most Dangerous Creature in the World...(3)
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Whoosh!
The blade's movement was invisible.
The trail of light traced by the blade was truly like the wind, imbued with a power that shook the earth.
Those called knights in the world were said to move as swiftly as the wind and deliver strikes as fierce as lightning.
True to those words, their movements were the wind itself—nay, a gale among winds. It was no wonder that a human body, made of frail flesh, could be turned into a lump of meat.
However.
Thud!
"!!"
No matter how fierce the gale or how earth-shaking the lightning, it could never topple a steadfast mountain.
Craaaack!!
The blade sparked as it tried to slice into the opponent's flesh, but the flesh allowed not even the slightest scratch, as if forged from thick iron.
"Grrrgh!"
"Y-You monster...!!"
Five demi-humans—not inferior even to knights, upper-class knights at that—gnashed their teeth in fury.
They had lost their composure, a fatal mistake, but maintaining calm in such a situation was nearly impossible.
And that was because...
"-You should have trained harder."
Lee Han took their strikes head-on without even using his shield. Not a single one of the five blades could pierce his skin.
Indestructible.
It was now Lee Han's signature technique, deployed as naturally as breathing.
If it had once been as solid as rock, now it was as unyielding as a lump of iron. No ordinary blade could even scratch it.
If one wanted to leave even a scratch on him...
"You'd need at least Sword Resonance, if not Sword Aura, right?"
Well, even if they could use Sword Aura or Sword Resonance...
Crunch!!
In that case, he just wouldn't take it lying down...
Lee Han swung his arm up and down with full force simultaneously.
It was clearly just an arm swing, yet it carried the overwhelming power reminiscent of a hammer. The blades aimed at his body crumpled like tin cans.
This alone would be terrifying for the opponents, but...
Whoosh!
The next moment, the arm gripping the buckler thrust forward like a spear strike.
Not merely extending a fist, but a vigorous thrust channeling the full power of his body!
A terrifying fist wind burst outward in all directions, flinging off the things clinging to Lee Han's body like cicadas or moths.
Boom!
The demi-humans flew through the air as if rammed head-on by a charging buffalo.
They couldn't withstand the mighty force of the blow infused with the momentum of the Hundred Paces Divine Fist.
Especially the one hit squarely by the buckler...
Splurt!
Its head vanished in a fountain of blood.
The others had lost an arm or a leg.
Thud.
"Hoo!"
Lee Han caught his breath with a light exhale.
As if cooling the heat built up from battle...
And watching him...
The one-eyed gatekeeper let out an exclamation of admiration.
"Thanks."
"...Make up your mind if it's praise or an insult?"
"Where...?"
Even as he listened to the gatekeeper one-eye's praise—which didn't sound like praise at all—Lee Han scanned his surroundings.
The fifty demi-humans who had charged at him were mostly dead, gravely wounded and unconscious, or wandering on the brink of death.
Some would bleed out if left alone.
In truth...
An overwhelming victory.
He had single-handedly annihilated fifty upper-class knight-level demi-humans—an extraordinary feat.
If word of this got out, it would become a heroic saga, eliciting admiration from many.
Well, since Lee Han already had the feat of defeating a hundred knights, he felt no particular sense of accomplishment.
More than anything, compared to Blood Ogres, these were infinitely weaker and more lowly.
Defeating them brought no satisfaction, just the feeling of exterminating moths.
...Above all.
"How long are you going to just watch, you lot?"
Lee Han unleashed his aura at the four men and women who had been irritably spectating his battle.
Whoosh-!
"Eugh..."
A lion's roar surpassing even a mountain beast's bellow washed over the four, forcing them back a step each.
"...Scary, for real."
Their words weren't exaggeration; cold sweat poured down their faces. Lee Han prepared to shoot forward like an arrow at any moment.
Prioritizing to kill at least one first.
But in that instant...
Twitch...
Lee Han's eyes caught it.
The woman's finger wriggling silently like an earthworm.
And the next moment...
Boom!
—Sparks flashed precisely where Lee Han had stood, exploding.
Like dynamite detonating.
Rumble!
The blast was so powerful it blew apart the surrounding demi-human corpses.
A strike that killed two birds with one stone.
Fortunately...
"Hot..."
Lee Han had already moved far away before the explosion, dodging unscathed.
...Though his clothes were a bit singed.
"No. 8, looks like you got a lot of info on that guy? You even know my abilities? Hmm, but knowing doesn't mean you can dodge... Impressive, to this degree. You're something else."
The 7th Apostle Dina admired him upon seeing him evade the blast, as if it had been ages since she'd seen someone dodge it.
"Damn it, I dodge because I'd die if I didn't."
Lee Han wasn't pleased by the praise at all.
No matter his immunity to blades, he couldn't endure an explosion's heat.
'I could tank maybe thirty times, but no point getting hit.'
Accumulating damage would still be a big hit.
"...Special Class-2 Dangerous Magical Beast <Lava Salamander>'s embers."
The Lava Salamander swam through lava and fed on flames.
Another name for it...
-Salamander.
It might be redundant to point out, but the Black Moon Assassins, where Lee Han was once affiliated, were undoubtedly a group of mad scientists.
They had gathered children under ten and repeatedly conducted insane experiments thousands, tens of thousands of times—infusing them with monster factors.
Common sense dictated that injecting spider DNA into a human wouldn't grant spider abilities.
No, that wouldn't happen. At best, no reaction; at worst, side effects...
Yet they relentlessly injected monster factors into the children, side effects be damned, and finally achieved results.
They kept trying until it worked, producing occasional successful specimens.
Nearly one in a thousand succeeded, and even successes often died soon after. Those who survived against thousand-to-one odds were called "Numbers" if deemed successful works.
The woman now called the 7th Apostle—No. 7—was one such.
'Looks like she's mastered the Salamander's power now.'
The Salamander, or <Lava Salamander>, was a rare magical beast found only in lava zones.
Some scholars claimed it was closer to a spirit than a beast, but due to its danger, the continent classified it as a magical beast.
Boom!
True to living off lava, they had unique constitutions.
Their bodies burning at hundreds to thousands of degrees in real time was almost cute, relatively speaking.
Just don't touch them.
However...
Boom!!
...The ash they spewed from their bodies packing dynamite-level explosive power was anything but cute.
That was the Lava Salamander's danger.
Invisible nitroglycerin mixed into the wind, then detonated.
A living hazard, a walking bomb.
...One kingdom once tried capturing them for use as weapons, only for the Salamanders to rampage, destroying the palace and burning the king and high nobles alive.
'That's the gist.'
Their danger level was top-tier.
Yet a human—a trained assassin—was wielding a Lava Salamander's power.
Truly...
Boom!
Boom!
Booom-!!
...a living explosive weapon.
Lee Han moved at high speed, swiftly dodging.
Unpredictable when or where embers would fly, agility was his best bet. His expression hardened increasingly.
"What the...? Why is she tougher and more dangerous than that No. 4 bastard?"
Back then, her explosions were firecracker-level, and she couldn't control her ability this freely.
She used to struggle against an ogre-tendon guy—how did she become such a threat?
Kindly answering his doubts...
"The 4th Apostle, huh. While that guy was holed up in a tunnel for years, I wasn't slacking. Numbers are meaningless games anyway, right? We used to have rank names, but—outdated info."
She kindly replied and demonstrated her ability again.
Whoosh!
Every flick of her finger caused explosions in empty air, and soon...
Roooar!
Flames surged, enveloping Lee Han's surroundings.
...Another new ability appeared.
"'Flame Web.' Touch it, and even you will feel the burn."
"......"
"Ah, but maybe even this can't stop you...?"
The woman flinched.
Though she shrouded him in the Flame Web, as Lee Han drew his dagger to kick it away, a chill of danger crept in.
Even if she exploded it, her head would be pierced simultaneously—her instinct screamed. Feeling death's chill, she stopped flicking her fingers.
Instead...
"You guys stop playing around and help now."
She called her comrades.
She didn't want to die.
To her plea...
"...We don't want to die either."
"We said not to poke an angry beast."
"Dina, you'll get yourself killed."
"...Why not hold a funeral instead?"
They didn't want to face that knight's wrath either, but their responses were cold.
However, mere words—they gradually drew sickles, whips, and shields. Survival odds seemed to rise now.
"-You slow-ass bastards, you wake up damn late."
"!!?"
...The moment he finished speaking, a spear aimed at her head appeared.
Boom!!
Whoosh!
The ink-wash world devoid of even dust winds now spread with hazy air like dust storms.
The knight's spear infused with crimson eyes,
Craaack!
"Grraaagh!"
"...You block my spear?"
—collided with the shield-bearing man, the 5th Apostle Dent's astonishing defensive prowess, creating a shockwave.
Of course...
Crack!
Dent's arm that blocked the spear wasn't unscathed.
Blocking alone was burdensome. Lark de Durron wouldn't miss this; he thrust again.
With even fiercer momentum than before—!
"...Oh? Can't let that happen."
Lee Han's belated mutter. Lark, not knowing what it meant, had already swung.
And so...
Fwosh!
—The one who flew next was Lark's body.
Thud!
"You alright, Fierce Wolf? Amazing. You flying off so pathetically, haha!"
"...Don't laugh."
It was genuine concern, but the speaker—possessor of an infuriating tone—only fueled Lark's rage.
As if fanning flames...
"Idiot, can't you tell by looking at that woman? They all have some mystical crap. That woman's Lava Salamander, and that guy's like an Impact Dial."
"...What's that?"
"Uh... absorbs impact and returns it double?"
"......"
"It's seriously cheat-like..."
"...Tell me that sooner."
"Who told you to sleep in?"
"......"
...For the first time, Lark had no retort and fell silent.
This was a realistic example proving that the cliché of late arrivals becoming heroes only worked in plays.
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