Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.50 – The Knight Broods Over Defeat (4)
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...Come to think of it, Lee Han might never have truly faced off against an Aura User before.
He knew they possessed superhuman strength worthy of the title "superhuman."
He knew they were the kind of opponents who could pull off the impossible, no matter how hard he struggled—he could never beat them.
But he'd never really understood why they were called Aura Users.
And now...
Wuuuuuum!
He thought he finally got it—the origin of the name.
"Once you become an Aura User, using your life force as aura isn't hard at all. Other knights have to concentrate intensely to wield it artificially, but for us, it's just a naturally available energy. Like how spellcasters use mana."
"......"
"In other words, showing it off in front of us means nothing. Not that it's not impressive. For someone who hasn't crossed the 'threshold' to use aura? That's definitely something. I'll give you credit. Among the young ones, you'd rank in the top fingers, heh."
"...Nah, I wouldn't."
"Hm?"
"There's that annoying spear punk from Galahad, and the big lug from Lionel who gives everyone high blood pressure."
The two knights he knew to be the most talented—and the only ones he hadn't decisively beaten yet.
Mentioning them made Baltar pause in thought for a moment.
"...Ah, those guys. Yeah, they were something. Talents that might even surpass my younger self, heh heh. Have you met them already, by any chance?"
He nodded as if recalling their faces.
"Met? We went a few rounds."
"Who won?"
"......"
"Tsk tsk, you fool. What have you been doing if you can't even beat guys like that?"
"I didn't lose... not exactly..."
"Excuses. You're the problem too. With a body like that, and you still can't finish the fight...? It's all because you lack effort. Effort."
"You bastard!"
Lee Han bristled with anger but couldn't bring himself to charge.
His sword aura, which usually seemed so majestic, looked utterly...
'Pathetic today.'
Like a toothpick.
Thirty beautiful sword rings orbited around him, dancing in the air as if ready to strike at any moment.
Each one carried overwhelming mass and destructive power that surpassed his sword aura on its own—and there were thirty of them.
Drip...
Lee Han broke out in cold sweat like rain.
The pressure from the sword rings bore down on him, draining his stamina in real time.
He was tempted to smack one with his sword aura...
'No way. If my sword aura clashes with a sword ring, it'll shatter for sure.'
He was certain from the power they emanated.
If it collided, not just his sword but his arm would vanish too.
...In that case!
Step!
"Hm? Still not surrendering?"
"Why the hell would I?"
"Bravado? Or do you think I won't fire these orbs at you? Either way, that's arrogance."
"It's not that, so butt out. And don't call them orbs!"
Call them sword rings or aura rings—
Whoosh!
Lee Han planted his feet and thrust straight ahead, sword held high.
A thrust so simple it was pure.
Straight as an arrow—but it revealed just how much he'd trained his sword. Even raw like this, its power and sharpness rivaled any advanced technique, brimming with menace.
"Would you look at this guy?"
Baltar showed more surprise at the simple thrust than at Lee Han's earlier sword aura.
'This punk! He's infused his sword with intent!'
He'd acknowledged his growth, but to think he'd load intent onto his blade tip!
Of course, compressing life force like that required terrifying focus and willpower.
It wasn't impossible to plant one's intent at the sword's edge.
Clang!
"Heavy! Still just sapling-level intent, but keep growing it like that, and you'll get closer to me someday, heh heh."
"What bullshit!"
"...Ting. So you don't even realize you're doing it."
But the user himself wasn't consciously controlling it yet.
Makes sense—he wasn't a martial artist fighting through enlightenment or technique, but a beast battling on instinct and senses.
'Funny guy.'
That's what made it entertaining to watch.
Claaang!
Lee Han and Baltar's swords clashed repeatedly.
Crackle—!
Sparks flew from colliding sword auras.
But to them now, sword auras were mere accessories. They ignored them, crossing blades like in a sword dance.
...Except.
Boom!
The clash was like lightning bolts colliding, birthing thunderous shockwaves—and eventually, eerie lightning rising not from the sky but the ground itself. That was the real issue.
They were just fighting hard, but it felt like witnessing the apocalypse.
Dragon and tiger locked in battle.
The idiom meant they were evenly matched, but this duel was pure destruction, as if a dragon and tiger were truly rampaging.
Right when he worried the royal castle might actually crumble...
Whoosh!
"Can't let the castle fall, so let's end this."
The sword rings lunged at Lee Han.
Each the size of a bowling ball, but touching one would punch a clean hole through his body.
Lee Han—
Fwaaah!
—as if waiting for this, varied his sword aura.
Weeeeng!
The compressed energy rippled and transformed.
Not mere compression—this was sword force infused with a knight's enlightenment from the underworld.
Shuuung!!
Formless Sword
A blue ring of sword energy, vast as the heavens, cleaves the sword ring.
Like a high-pressure water cutter slicing metal...!
"Hah! Haah!"
Despite this feat of slicing a sword ring, Lee Han's face showed no triumph.
Just the pallor of someone who'd cheated death, drenched in cold sweat and tension.
"F-Felt like I aged ten years..."
"......"
"Y-You old fart, you were really trying to kill me!"
"......What was that?"
"You try to kill someone and then ask about that?!"
"Heh heh, you rascal! How much more fun are you gonna give me?! Hah hah ha!!"
"???"
Lee Han flinched and stepped back.
The old man was suddenly staring at him with manic eyes.
What was that expression?
Like...
"Yes! What else you got? That's not all, right? Show me more!"
"......"
...A professor smitten with a cadet?
Like the prof yesterday at the academy debate, eyeing the cadet presenting a brilliant paper.
'Did that cadet end up in grad school?'
Lee Han felt like that cadet, a bad premonition rising.
...Should've surrendered earlier.
Gooooh!
From the moment he unleashed Formless Sword, the sword rings grew even more threatening.
They'd been dangerous before, but now they moved with organized intent to kill. Believe it?
Feeling like he teetered on a cliff, Lee Han was forced into acrobatics.
Whoosh!
He dodged by a hair, but his shoulder armor merely grazed—and evaporated.
Thick plate, gone in an instant.
"!!?"
No time to curse inwardly; he pushed his limits.
Dodging, dodging again—on pure instinct...!
Shuuung!
He swung Formless Sword.
Nothing else to trust now.
...But.
Twitch!
"...!"
"Dizzy, right? Makes sense. A blade honed with intent...? Using that in real time? Fatigue's natural. You're toughing it out 'cause it's you. Anyone else would've blacked out or died after one swing, heh heh."
"Urk!?"
Baltar's words didn't even register.
Just dodge wildly and swing—that was all he could manage.
Vision blurring in this razor-edge crisis.
But for Lee Han...
'Gonna land one hit on this smug old bastard!'
He still wanted to smack that condescending grin.
So...
'All the way!'
Crunch!
Ignoring exhaustion with sheer spite, he pressed forward.
Slash!
Cleave!
Crack!
Shatter.
Shuuung!!
Cut through.
Smashing everything in his path, his blade drew ever closer to Baltar.
No sword rings blocked him now, but Lee Han knew.
Even without them, he couldn't touch Baltar.
So...
'Sorry, sword!'
He resolved to unveil a new trick to startle the superhuman.
Apologizing to his Nth sword, he activated Sword Resonance.
Wuuung!
The iron sword vibrated fiercely, as if saying it was fine.
Perhaps a first.
Using Formless Sword energy already, now layering another sword energy on top.
A desperate move, judgment impaired.
The brute path, untried by any.
Fwaaaah—!
Sometimes, new possibilities bloomed!
Pop, pop pop.
Plum blossoms bloomed from the sword's soil.
Swirl, swirl, swiiirl.
One petal.
Two.
Four.
Eight.
Exploding geometrically, larger than any plum blossoms he'd bloomed before—and...!
Shoooaaaah!
Ever-changing!
Hard to track, inheriting Formless Sword's ferocity with majestic sword intent.
The Plum Blossom Sword, once incomplete and uncertain, now neared perfection through chance.
And its completed versatility...
Slice.
"......"
...Outpaced even a superhuman's reaction.
Baltar's sleeve was sliced clean off, and he...
"Excellent...! Seeing such a 'fine flower' this season, and even landing a hit! Heh heh, was I the arrogant one? Hah hah ha."
Showered praise.
No sword had ever nicked a swordmaster with his own weapon—slicing cloth? Impressive.
"...As thanks, I'll show you something nice too."
Baltar assumed a mid stance.
A thrust posture.
Lee Han's had carried a warrior's might; Baltar's evoked a sage.
And like a sage's thrust...
—Thrust!
...It was mystically elusive, like sorcery.
Suuung!
...A hole pierced the plum blossoms instantly.
Not strange—thrust, so hole. Basic principle.
But...
"...What?"
Every petal, covering 360 degrees, holed identically? What principle?
Lee Han doubted his eyes, blinked thinking hallucination—but reality held.
Suuuung—!
...Every plum blossom gained holes.
And Baltar was kind.
"—It's called [Thirty-Six Swords]."
Explaining it himself.
"A single swing unleashes thirty-six strikes. Albert's specialty. ...Though he uses a dagger, not a sword."
"......"
"If I wanted, I could do seventy-two or a hundred forty-four in one go, heh heh."
Lee Han's blood pressure spiked at this outrageous claim—as if countering dozens of blades was just swinging faster to block or pierce.
"Sh-Shit, of all things, Th-Thirty-Six Swords... what the hell..."
It evoked the Chungnam Sect's sword art, mortal enemies to the Huashan Sect in wuxia tales. Feeling a Huashan swordsman's anguish at defeat, Lee Han...
"Urk...!?"
...Blackout.
Not from fatigue, but blood pressure—he fainted.
'Lost again, damn it...'
And brooded over his Nth defeat.