Chapter 298
Chapter 298
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP. 63 – A Knight's Valor Knows No Recklessness (8)
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...Fortunately.
Kwaaang!!!
The fact that this annex was so sturdy and completely isolated from the outside world.
If it hadn't been, the ground would have probably collapsed long ago.
Then again, a space that had remained intact through thousands of monster raids wouldn't be shaken by just two tremors...
Ku-gu-gu-gung-!
...Or would it?
The annex shook.
No matter how isolated from the outside it was, the massive bulk slamming straight into the ceiling seemed to disrupt the space's balance entirely, as if cracks were forming somewhere.
It might have been the effect of the Heavenly Bull's pulverizing mystery.
But whichever it was.
"Wh-what did I just see?"
"...Thanks to that knight, no natural disaster will ever surprise me again."
"Of course. That knight is already a natural disaster."
"I-Is that even human...?"
"????"
It was beyond overwhelming—it was superhuman strength. The Modred soldiers who witnessed it were stunned, but more than that, their morale soared.
In their first encounter, he had moved them as a mere letter courier. Now, in battle, he was displaying one absurd feat after another, giving them a sense of security, and capping it off with this superhuman spectacle!
Modred's warriors had never met a real Aura User or true superhuman, but to them now, Lee Han was an Aura User!
A being on par with a superhuman—or beyond.
"I thought he was no ordinary man when I heard he'd overwhelmingly defeated Sir Felix..."
"To think he can even transform from that handsome face into a monster like that...! He might not be human—maybe a subrace."
"A subrace that can transform?"
"A new species, perhaps. There are plenty of mysterious undiscovered races out there."
"Does that even... make sense?"
The fuss was immense, and the soldiers were properly excited, but no commanders scolded them.
On the contrary.
Kwaak!
They were struggling to calm their own racing hearts, clenching their fists.
All of Modred's warriors looked at him with swelling pride in their eyes.
At his utterly majestic back!
"????"
...However, unlike how others saw him as majestic, the man who had displayed that superhuman might was tilting his head with a dumbfounded expression.
He had poured out every ounce of strength, worried the kid outside might get hurt by the bull's power...
'Was I always this strong?'
Lee Han was utterly bewildered by this monstrous power he hadn't even known he possessed.
He had thought merely toppling it would be a success, yet he had hurled that building-sized mass straight to the ceiling.
'How did I even do that...?'
Woooong!
"...Ha."
And the most ridiculous part?
'I feel like I could do it a few more times.'
After unleashing such monstrous strength, he wasn't exhausted at all—he still had energy left.
...Absurdly so.
Come to think of it—
'It's been a while since I properly cut loose.'
Since reaching the realm of Intent and attaining Indestructible Training, Lee Han rarely had a chance to truly fight.
He had only battled a few small-fry vampires to deal with them, so he hadn't properly gauged how much his total power had grown.
His spar with Geom-gong had ended so one-sidedly and quickly that he hadn't even realized his own growth. Moreover, recently—no, just ten minutes ago—he had spent dozens of days in Santa Ri Han mode, constantly suppressing his body's reactive force and focusing on power control.
In that sense, today was the first time Lee Han had properly unleashed his strength, and thanks to it, he gained considerable insight.
Most notably, two things...
—The duration of Intent had lengthened, and the flow of Force felt as natural as breathing.
"Like catching a rat while stepping back from a cow... This is."
It seemed that while playing the whimsical Santa character, his [foundational level] of Intent and Force had absurdly improved without him realizing.
It wasn't an incomprehensible phenomenon.
It was like living for dozens of days with an unpredictable bomb in his pocket, forcing him to constantly maintain the flow of Force and Intent, which in turn massively boosted his base capabilities.
His foundations were already high, but if his past level was like wine aged a year, it had now jumped to ten years in an instant.
One might question if the exponential maturation wasn't too much, but...
Thud thud!
It was the only way to explain the flow of power.
'It's changed. Or more precisely, my proficiency in wielding it has become far more refined.'
Lee Han was no longer just relying on raw physical strength; utilizing terrain and objects around him with Force had become much smoother.
Whether due to mastering Intent or his Force proficiency skyrocketing absurdly, either way.
Grip!
"Feels good."
It was the moment he confirmed his steady growth, and moreover...
[Ha, the Heavenly Bull...!]
While battling that wretch, it was an utterly refreshing achievement.
Lee Han glared sharply at the Great Evil Spirit, deliberately smirking. As if savoring its frantic gaze at the marrow lump embedded in the ceiling.
Did it notice the provocation?
The Great Evil Spirit...
[Hweeeeng! My, my Heavenly Bull is broken, hweeeeng!!]
...burst into tearful sobs.
"??"
He had expected rage or irritation, but it went further and suddenly started crying. Lee Han furrowed his brow in bewilderment.
It wasn't because the female-formed Great Evil Spirit's tears softened his heart.
Whoooosh!
...His expression hardened at the ominous flow he sensed.
Lee Han urgently clenched his fist and assumed a stance.
A straight punch stance.
The posture for unleashing Hundred Paces Divine Fist. He thrust out a single strike and...
-[Don't cry, my Lord God. If you weep like that, I will grieve.]
Kwaaaang!!
...This time, unlike before, Lee Han was slammed into the ceiling.
-[I will eliminate the culprit who made you sad.]
As if returning the humiliation the Great Evil Spirit had suffered in kind...
- According to Modred's investigations, the Great Evil Spirit had once reigned as a god in some ancient kingdom on the western continent.
The Border Earl, acknowledging Lee Han, shared without reservation all the information Modred had gathered on the Great Evil Spirit over the past 300 years.
Even though it wasn't necessary to know much, the Border Earl said knowing was better than ignorance, and Lee Han agreed it might help to know rather than not, so he listened intently.
- Great Evil Spirit Inanna. That vermin, who once reigned as a god in an ancient kingdom through human sacrifice, is said to have governed abundance and war.
- ...Abundance and war?
- God of agriculture and god of war.
- Hmm. Sounds like it was pretty popular.
- Indeed. But shortly after granting abundance, the soil's fertility was exhausted, turning the surrounding area into a land of death for centuries. And instead of victory in war, it demanded hundreds of young living humans as tribute each year. That's the problem.
- ....
- Well, not that unusual. Human sacrifice is common in ancient myths.
- ...Sounds completely insane.
- From a modern view, yes.
It fully explained why it had been ousted from godhood.
It promised abundance but brought centuries of famine to its followers' descendants. It promised war victories but demanded so many young lives annually that surrender seemed preferable...
Wasn't it literally a [Calamity God]?
- Yes, a Calamity God. Humans would naturally want to abandon such a deity early on, yet it reigned as the god of that ancient kingdom for a full millennium.
- ...Insane.
- Yes, insane. But ancient humanity probably had no choice. That vermin was terrifying.
- Terrifying?
- Precisely, the [entities] following it were the source of terror.
- ?
- Great Evil Spirit Inanna—it possesses 'two mysteries,' they say.
One was obtained by slaying the husband of what might have been its sibling or fellow divine kin.
- Heavenly Bull. Also called [Gugalanna]. Records say it's a powerful mystery that causes famine and eradicates all life on the land.
- ...And the other?
- The other is the soul of a warrior who fervently followed that vermin in life.
- Warrior?
- The ancient kingdom's strongest warrior, called the most beautiful— that's what our records say. The warrior was undefeated and the primary reason that vermin was called a war god.
- So, really, that vermin isn't the war god—the warrior's soul is?
At Lee Han's remark, the Border Earl nodded in strong agreement.
- You sound just like my father.
- Me?
- Yes. My father said the same. And he fought that vermin directly and clashed with the warrior's soul, so his words carry more weight.
- Hmm.
- Father said: If you must fight it and the warrior's soul, run without fail.
- Why?
- Because it's strong.
- ....
- Too strong—impossibly so. Unbearable.
- ....
...A reason so straightforward it was blunt. Lee Han had blinked in surprise at the time.
The old knight Garok he had met was a strong knight.
Yet even he could only flee? His head naturally tilted.
And now...
──It wasn't a lie.
"...Damn it."
As he fell from the ceiling where he was embedded, Lee Han let out a hollow laugh.
Sensing there wasn't a shred of falsehood in that man's words.
Ku-woong!
Lee Han quickly twisted his body and kicked off the air.
Falling dazed like this would cause greater injury, so he swiftly regained balance with air-stepping. Even as he did, his eyes and ears remained fixed on the one who had kicked him.
-[Are you alright, my Lord God? Forgive me. I should have emerged sooner.]
[Too late! Why did you come out so late, you slug!!]
-[I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.]
If the Great Evil Spirit's voice was disgustingly unpleasant, this was a dissonant tone like an 8x speed video.
Yet its owner wasn't visible—only the voice echoed—but...
"'It was raising something weird inside its 'body.'"
Lee Han soon realized the dissonant voice came from within the Great Evil Spirit's body. And sure enough.
[Apologize later! Hurry and kill that irreverent human! Quickly...!]
-[Understood, my Lord God. I shall obey your command.]
Hwaaak.
In an instant, the aura emanating from the Great Evil Spirit's body shifted, its eye color gradually changing,
"─By the command of my Lord God, I shall erase you."
Kwaang!
It closed in on Lee Han's face in a flash.
The true war god that allowed the Great Evil Spirit to reign as such.
"─Ninsubur."
"I never permitted a lowly human like you to utter my name."
Whoooosh!
Ninsubur, the ancient great warrior's strike, slammed into Lee Han's face like a bullet. His body plummeted like a shooting star.
Kwaaaang!!
Shaking the earth...
The ancient great warrior displayed a strike that truly rent the land, then impassively regarded the insolent one embedded in the ground.
The irreverent fool who dared injure and make his Lord God weep...!
Pusuk!
"......?"
...What?
Ninsubur's eyes widened involuntarily at the surging pain.
"The arm I struck with..."
It was broken.
"─So the so-called war god has a frail body."
Ptooey.
Lee Han spat out the dirt from his mouth and rose effortlessly.
Crack crack.
He had been buried underground briefly, but it was far better than when that spellcaster once flipped the earth to bury him.
And above all.
"...Not just the power—my body's gotten ridiculously tougher too."
It seemed no ordinary blow could harm this body anymore.