Chapter 251
Chapter 251
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.55 – A Knight Does Not Speak Lies (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
html, body { margin:0; padding:0; }
“-Axe?”
Iliyad tilted his head in confusion.
It was utterly baffling that his opponent had suddenly tossed his sword to the ground and picked up an axe instead.
“What? Does the axe look funny to you?”
“...It doesn't look funny, but isn't it a weapon unfit for a knight?”
“So you do look down on it.”
In Pendragon, axes weren't a commonly used weapon.
The reason was that they seemed too crude for a knight to wield.
It wasn't due to any hatred of woodcutters; it was simply the widespread perception of axes.
They were mainly used by bandits or mercenaries, and the heights one could reach with an axe were limited. Thus, making an axe one's primary weapon was akin to the knight declaring, “My talents are meager, so I'll stick to simple weapons!”
Of course, no one openly insulted those who used axes, but the overall trend was one of disdain, and axes weren't held in high regard in reality.
Seeing such an accomplished opponent pull out an axe, Iliyad couldn't hide his disappointment.
“How disappointing. If you're a swordsman, you ought to see the fight through to the end with your sword. How could you draw an axe?”
“Be disappointed or not. I've never been one to cling to weapons, and I'm no swordsman anyway.”
“...You're impossible to reason with.”
Shing.
“Don't regret this.”
Perhaps because disappointment had overwhelmed him so fiercely, the mirth vanished from Iliyad's blade as it flashed.
The swordsmanship that, alongside the Willow Sword, had seated Iliyad as the [Sword Saint] in his twenties.
“It's called ‘Light Sword.’”
Light Sword style.
A new school of swordsmanship that Iliyad had conceived in his teens and finally perfected in his twenties.
Whoosh!
Sword qi spread naturally, expanding outward.
This swordsmanship had begun from inspiration drawn from sunlight glimpsed one day, centering on Iliyad—the sun named after him—as sword qi mercilessly encroached upon the surrounding space, unfurling countless blades in an instant.
Slash!
Everything within a 1km radius centered on Iliyad was sliced.
Trees, rocks, hills—without exception, all of it.
Even if an iron wall blocked the path, Iliyad's sharp sword qi would demonstrate its devastating cutting power, cleaving through iron itself.
Boom-!
...Or so it should have been.
“-All flash, no substance, huh?”
“!!”
The next moment, the source of the sword qi shattered like glass under the axe.
It shouldn't have broken so easily—!
But whether he panicked or not.
“First one's in.”
Crack!!
Lee Han's axe struck Iliyad's jaw precisely.
“Urk-?!”
The onlookers involuntarily groaned.
They hadn't been hit themselves, yet the moment an unnatural sound came from Iliyad's jaw, they squeezed their eyes shut.
Felicia's reaction was...
“Ahh...!”
Tears welled up in her eyes at the sight of her son getting pummeled, revealing a mental state as fragile as a globefish, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
Yet the reason she couldn't step in was...
“Ah!”
...Because her grandson clenched his fist in joy, she couldn't bring herself to intervene.
‘I-is this really okay?’
In a situation that felt like witnessing filial impiety, Felicia swallowed a sigh, unable to hide her unease, but tried to think positively.
‘This way, Iliyad will come back to us, right?’
Perhaps it stemmed from the small belief that this was part of her son's healing process.
Thus.
“Fi-fight on...”
Felicia had no choice but to cheer with a tearful face.
Lee Han genuinely wanted to ask.
Whoosh!!
‘What kind of guts makes you look down on an axe?’
Boom!!
“Kuhuk!?”
When you'd end up humiliated like this.
“You blocked the sword with ease, but why struggle so much with the axe?”
“How is this...!”
“Why am I so good with an axe? Obviously.”
This was my livelihood, you fool.
As a mercenary, he'd moonlighted on construction sites.
As a soldier, he'd wielded axes to build stockades and camps.
Even after becoming a knight, he'd worked seasoned jobs in civil engineering to earn a living.
Over a decade of axework had honed his mastery, and he'd never done it half-heartedly.
‘Axes rely on that one solid hit.’
Yes, axes were indeed weapons suited for bandits or mercenaries.
But the reason bandits and mercenaries favored axes was that the weapon itself was incredibly sturdy and easy to imbue with the power to shatter even swords.
In that sense, he and axe techniques were a perfect match.
Crunch!
Lee Han's back muscles writhed like surging waves.
Having tempered his body to the extreme, he focused its power solely on destruction, channeling it into the axe. His strikes were simple, but that simplicity made them terrifyingly powerful.
If the Northern Black Lion wielded innate reverse-pulsing might from birth, Lee Han's strength was the mountain-moving great power of Yu Gong.
Through a lifetime of effort and perseverance, like a man finally shifting a mountain, he had grasped that colossal force.
-Great Power Burst!
No fancy name, but if there were a bandit king leading mountain outlaws, this was the power he'd expect—Lee Han's philosophy infused into the axe as it smashed down.
“!!?”
So what if there's a technique that nullifies all others?
‘Just keep chopping till it splits!’
Bang! Boom! KABOOM-!!
Lee Han's axework continued relentlessly.
Whether the opponent blocked, attacked, or the blade grazed him—he ignored it all, mechanically chopping again and again.
Splurt!
Slash!
His skin tore, blood finally spurting, but he ignored that too.
And so, at last...
Crack!
“Gahk...!”
The opponent broke first.
The twenty-ninth strike had snapped his wrist and ankle simultaneously.
“Around thirty chops? Or was it twenty-nine...”
“Y-you mad bastard! Wh-what the hell is your body made of!! How are you only scratched after all those cuts?!”
“That's not for you to say, is it?”
This is why demonic humans are such tough opponents.
His body was disgustingly tough and resilient.
His recovery was impressive too—after all the beating and breaking, it healed quickly.
“Wow, talent really is something. Dodging or deflecting most of my attacks?”
“Th-there's a limit to mockery!”
“No, I'm dead serious.”
“Huh...?”
Iliyad's expression crumbled.
It had crumbled earlier, but this blatant collapse was refreshing.
Suddenly.
“Dodging, blocking, even countering—yet this brute force can't be stopped... What the hell...!”
“Brute force? That's harsh... no, you're right. It is brute.”
“......”
Lee Han readily admitted it and gladly took the insult as praise.
“If I can beat up the world's geniuses, being brute is fine.”
No matter how talented the opponent or how they attacked, he'd keep striking until he landed hits.
How straightforward a method.
“If a mighty tree doesn't fall after ten blows, then a hundred... no, a thousand or ten thousand with effort. That's all.”
That's why he'd built his stamina, to pummel geniuses like this.
So Lee Han didn't mind being called brute.
Not because he was a masochist thrilled by insults.
“Seeing those far superior to me get pissed off feels so damn good.”
Proof his efforts weren't in vain was joyous.
“You're insane...”
Iliyad acknowledged it.
This knight Lee Han was even madder and more dangerous than imagined.
Thus...
“Can you break this too—?”
He had to go mad as well.
Crack!
“?”
“You should be careful. From now on, even I'm prepared to die.”
Drip, drip...
Iliyad deliberately dislocated his joints.
To use his arms more like whips.
A means to accelerate his already ultra-high-speed close-range sword qi. This expanded the already vast sword qi range even further, pouring down more fiercely.
‘White Night.’”
Iliyad's sword qi finally erupted, illuminating the world like dawn.
Whoosh-!
The previous sword qi seemed like child's play as beams of light exploded forth, blinding onlookers and striking throats before they could react—an overwhelming speed.
And not just speed...
Pierce!
With dominating penetration, it skewered everything in sight, even warping space.
Blocking was impossible. Even Lee Han couldn't just shatter or endure it like before without dying. Thousands, tens of thousands of thrusts targeted his throat in an instant.
In the face of this unfair spectacle proving effort could never surpass talent, Lee Han...
“......Worse than an arrow volley, huh?”
Delivered a disappointed remark and rolled vigorously across the ground like a lazy donkey.
Lee Han didn't call “this crap” unfair.
‘War is more unfair.’
He'd been involuntarily dispatched to a civil war nation in his previous life and rolled through battlefields for three years in this one.
Was this more dangerous than modern machine gun barrages, mines, MLRS, or snipers?
No.
More brutal than the arrow volleys or charges of tens of thousands he'd seen over three years?
No.
Having survived such brutal unfairness, Lee Han could say:
‘In any crisis, stay calm, thrash around, and you'll live.’
Whoosh!
Lee Han didn't agonize long, crawling like swimming on the ground and rolling without hesitation.
Even that fairy-tale author possessed by heart demons, still playing the noble knight.
“Have you ever seen such a pathetic coward!!”
Pathetic.
Yes, nobles who prized honor like life wouldn't roll or crawl in misery, even if it meant death.
Death before dishonor.
‘Righteous faction bastards.’
Muttering a curse harsher than “worse than beasts” inwardly, Lee Han smirked.
Yes, his appearance was truly pathetic.
Crawling low and prone advances.
Not a knight's grace, but mercenary or soldier tactics—cowardly thrashing to survive.
However.
‘As long as I'm true to myself, that's enough!’
Above all, obsessing over nobility leads to...
Crunch!
...this.
“Got you.”
“...!”
Lee Han seized the position behind his opponent and hurled the axe.
Iliyad reacted swiftly to counterattack, but.
“I was faster.”
Bzzz!
Resonating with Lee Han's energy, the thrown axe turned red amid an ominous hum.
Like gradually heating in a blazing furnace...!
“-Know what they call Cremora? No, the open version: Thousand Arrows Rain?”
The axe became an indiscriminate bomb, exploding without regard for friend or foe.