Chapter 278
Chapter 278
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 278 - EP.61 – 기사는 유령보다 사람이 더 무섭다2(7)
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.61 – Knights Fear Humans More Than Ghosts 2(7)
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...Arrows rained down.
No, more accurately, they were being shot.
It was an arrow aimed precisely at him, and Hansel urgently shielded his head down to the crown with his armor as he faced it.
And this judgment,
Pababababat!
proved to be an exceedingly wise one.
Kwajijik...!
One arrow pierced through the bone armor, the exoskeleton.
It hadn't gone all the way through, but the fact that it had pierced even a little of the vampire's bones—which hadn't been breached even by the explosion of a flame scroll—was astonishing.
But what was even more astonishing!
Pababababat!!
was that the menacing arrows didn't end with just one, but came flying in dozens at a time, leaving him stunned.
Kwajik!
Kuung!
Puk-!
Gradually, more arrows began destroying Hansel's exoskeleton.
"...Playing some cute tricks, are we?"
Hansel muttered lowly and snorted.
However, his pupils, which snorted in derision, couldn't hide his honest feelings and shook mercilessly.
It was unavoidable to feel disconcerted that his exoskeleton, which had never been pierced by any means, was being destroyed.
But still.
'I can just regenerate it!'
He regarded it nonchalantly.
Yes, he could just regenerate.
In the end, he was a vampire.
An immortal being who regenerated infinitely and never died.
No matter how much they attacked, he would never—
Drool...
"......Huh?"
Blackish nosebleed trickled down.
Shiver.
"W-What is this!?"
As soon as the black nosebleed flowed, his head spun as if he were dead drunk, and his body trembled.
And Hansel quickly realized the cause of this phenomenon.
'Poison?'
Poisoning symptoms.
It was strikingly similar, and even in his dizzy state, Hansel was dumbfounded.
An immortal being poisoned?
It was more believable that a passing cat had barked.
Drool...
"...This is real?"
But whether he believed reality or not, the poisoning symptoms had already set in steadily, and Hansel felt a slight urgency.
"I can't keep playing around."
Hwaaak!
Hansel ignored the arrows pouring like rain and chose to charge straight ahead.
He didn't know what means they were using, but continuing to take hits from those arrows would be utter folly, so he decided to break through head-on and take them out.
"You think you're the only ones who can do ranged attacks...!"
Pabababat!
The blood spurting from his body sharpened like porcupine quills and shot straight into the air.
[Blood Thorns].
Coagulated vampire blood possessed enough power to pierce even iron armor on its own.
No matter how much they flew through the air, they couldn't block this—
Chwaak!
"??"
A foul-smelling liquid, oil, covered his body. And it wasn't ordinary oil.
Hwaruk!
It was oil that caught fire extremely easily...!
"K-Knights using such methods?"
A fire-tipped arrow flew precisely toward him, and Hansel, seeing the flames consuming his blood, reacted with disbelief.
"...This game is bullshit...."
"Thanks for the praise."
He ended up spitting out praise toward his opponent.
Typically, knight order entrance exams involved basic spear techniques, physical tests, or swordsmanship evaluations, but Tristan was famous for conducting them in ways different from other orders.
For example.
- We'll give you one dagger. Hunt twenty wild boars without using fighting techniques or other weapons. Time limit... yeah, two days.
- Huh?
Hunting.
- We'll give you a bow and three arrows. Capture a Rank 2 wanted criminal (murderer or violent offender) using only these. Oh, but don't kill them—capture alive. Killing is too easy, right?
- ???
Pursuit.
- Here's basic rations for a week. Survive in the forest for a month with just this.
- H-How?
- Well.
- ...Bullshit.
- Profanity deducts points.
Survival.
The Crimson Heron Knights' entrance exams proceeded in these peculiar ways unlike other orders, and there were several theories for why, with the most credible being that the founding lord of Tristan was a knight who started as a hunter.
But knights who passed these exams naturally came to realize.
"There's nothing in the world we can't do."
"No monster we can't kill."
"Agreed."
That they were not only exceptional knights but also 'hunters'.
And upon joining, they inevitably became even greater hunters.
After all, Tristan had amassed vast hunting knowledge over hundreds of years.
From knowledge on magical beast hunting to characteristics of various mystical races, even techniques for handling poisons of legendary monsters that appeared only in myths.
The knowledge and methods accumulated by the descendants of the first Tristan—who became a Knight of the Round Table solely through archery and hunting—to surpass their founder granted a unique strength no southern knight could imitate. Though some ranked the Crimson Heron Knights below Lionel or Galahad, they could proudly declare.
- If we set our minds to it, there's no one we can't hunt.
Even if that was.
"[Gimjo's Poison] is working well."
"First time trying it..., how did our ancestors from the past bring such a dangerous poison all the way to the south?"
"They probably wanted to hunt an immortal too, or something."
an immortal.
A poison said to have been extracted long ago from a peculiar bird.
From the eastern continent, called [Gimjo], was it?
It was the poison of a bird known as the King of Poisons or Poison Lord, with records of even immortal-type magical beasts succumbing to it and turning into a puddle of blood.
Three hundred years ago, the Crimson Heron Knights learned of this poison's existence, crossed mountains and seas to obtain it, and succeeded in returning. It took about fifty years to research and mass-produce it artificially.
All to prepare countermeasures solely against immortals.
"Enough chit-chat, everyone. The enemy hasn't been neutralized yet."
[Yes! Sir Veil.]
He, the vice-commander of the Crimson Heron Knights but currently performing the role of acting commander, watched the burning vampire with cold eyes.
It would be nice if this killed it.
Whoosh!
'As expected, this isn't enough?'
Veil had read the vampire's records before coming here.
It hadn't appeared since 400 years ago, but according to records, it couldn't be killed by any means, and only sunlight was said to be the answer.
However.
'It's active in broad daylight, so even sunlight probably isn't effective.'
Veil instinctively knew this was a far more troublesome foe than the recorded vampire.
But,
'Well, it's a good chance to test the records accumulated over 400 years.'
Veil decided to make full use of this opportunity.
Kugugugung!
"Sir Veil!"
"I see it."
A massive shockwave centered on the vampire.
The vampire was undergoing an ominous change, and Veil ordered arrows to be fired.
Pa-at!
Arrows coated with obsidian using special techniques and infused with fighting energy.
Sharpness aside, their penetration was unparalleled.
However.
Chwaak! Chwaaaak!
Blood-red tendrils surged up as if saying 'don't underestimate me' and swatted away the arrows.
Chwaak! Chwaak! Chwaak!
It wasn't just one tendril; countless more burst from the ground like multiplying.
"Vampire tentacles, huh...."
They seemed to be formed from a mix of vampire blood and exoskeleton, apparently his trump card.
Puhwak!
...But was this judgment too hasty too?
[Kaaak!]
[Kaaaak!]
[Kreuruk!]
What burst from the ground weren't just vampire tentacles, but also wretched results that couldn't return to the earth.
"...Ghouls."
Ghouls.
Monsters born from corpses or humans who absorbed vampire blood.
Records stated they possessed five times a human's strength and carried potent corpse poison.
And the number of such ghouls was approximately.
Gooooh...!
"Ten thousand—no, nearly twenty thousand."
An enormous horde poured out, impossible to fathom where they had been hiding.
Truly...
"Like a damn game."
[Thanks for the praise.]
Veil returned the words he'd said earlier, and the loathsome monster's voice echoed.
[I've heard a lot about Tristan, and you're pretty good. But aren't your methods a bit brutal for knights?]
The vampire, protected by tentacles and hidden in something like a hive, spread a sinister voice.
A sticky, unpleasant voice.
Veil couldn't help furrowing his brow.
"Who fights honorably against a monster like you? Only idiots."
- Mental manipulation.
This monster was resorting to vile tricks to the end, and Veil showed utter contempt.
He felt strong contempt and rage at the thought that this honorless monster believed it could manipulate knights with such nonsense.
"I'll eradicate you for sure!"
[Oh? No thanks. A man being that obsessive isn't popular, hehe.]
"...Hearing a guy say that makes it even grosser."
[You bastard!]
"...Reminds me of Sir Lee Han."
Clank.
"Facts hurt, don't they?"
Veil silently raised his spear and sword.
Continuing to fight with arrows from afar wouldn't be bad, but...
"Us charging in like living arrows wouldn't be bad either."
Pak-!
Though Veil hadn't signaled, the knights had long since raised their lances and charged toward the ground just like him.
The target: the vampire and its 20,000 ghoul army.
Well, it might be a hopeless foe to some...
"Better than sparring with Sir Lee Han, right?"
"Agreed."
"Ten times better than fighting that guy."
"Puhahaha!"
They could laugh heartily because they constantly fought even fiercer opponents under the name of sparring.
It was the prelude to a great battle that would one day mark history in Wales.
Kugugung...!
Lurch!!
"...A war breaking out or something?"
Lee Han blinked as he felt the earthquake.
However, Lee Han soon decided not to make a big deal of the earthquake.
Whether a war was breaking out outside or not, for now...
Taak!
[Grrr!]
"...What breed are you guys anyway?"
[Kraaang!]
"Chihuahua?"
he had to wrestle with the two-headed dog first.
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