Chapter 352
Chapter 352
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.74 – The Knight Talks with the Butler (3)
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Swish─.
It was in an instant.
Druruk!
...Reaction?
He didn't even have time for that.
Truly.
"Kuhk?!"
At some point, it had seized his throat.
They say your eyes open and your nose is cut? He took it further.
Your eyes open and...
What the hell is dismemberment?!
He was one step away from execution!
Crack!
I have to... get free...?!
Thanks to the Indestructible Training, he was still safe from the tearing that defied physics.
But he couldn't hold out forever.
His intent could endure for a maximum of five minutes at best.
Any longer, and his body would be torn into five pieces. Lee Han was about to force his way out with sheer power, but...
Kwachik!
"!!"
As if reading his feeble thoughts, the chains binding him suddenly...
Sizzle!
A massive surge of agony erupted.
"!!!!"
There was no wound. Nor was it poison invading him.
As long as Indestructible held, his body wouldn't break—that much was certain.
And yet...
"Ugh... uuuugh...!!"
He had to scream.
It wasn't whining. It was genuine, maddening torment.
What should this pain even be called?
Like being stabbed with a knife? Or seared by fire?
Whatever it was, it was horrific beyond words.
Even Lee Han, who prided himself on his pain tolerance, felt his mind reeling on the verge of blackout...
At that moment.
"If I may offer a personal opinion, I consider pain to be the most profound blessing bestowed upon humanity by the Light. Isn't it pain that lets humans feel truly alive? Because of pain, we treat wounds in advance and strive to cure illnesses. Without the sensation of pain, humanity as we know it wouldn't exist today. We'd have all perished. Thus, I firmly believe pain is a blessing—an essential element that reminds us of life's preciousness."
Albert's soft, gentle voice rang in his ears.
"Yet... there are occasional 'sinners' who exploit this blessing to satisfy their own desires. They inflict forced suffering on others to gain profit. ...Foolishly so."
Grrrind!
The chains constricting him tightened further, and this time, a bone-chilling cold assaulted him like frostbite.
"In my youth, I scolded such sinners who took delight in others' agony. Being full of youthful vigor, I may have been a bit excessive. But what do you know? Those who reveled in others' pain begged for mercy the moment it struck them. How could they be so foolish...? But then it dawned on me. Ah, perhaps they're not foolish—they're simply ignorant."
Gurgle!
...This time, he couldn't breathe.
At least suffocation alone he could endure, but his body felt heavy as if submerged in water, his lungs filling up.
Water flooded his mouth, nose, ears—every orifice.
The classic water torture.
An ancient technique that had endured into modern times, reliably pushing humans to their limits with ruthless cruelty.
"Ignorance isn't a sin, but refusing to learn can be. So I decided to 'educate' these ignorant sinners. To teach them the nature of pain—so they could realize their own sins."
Hummm!
The rising chill, agony, respiratory distress, scorching pain, and even the lethargy of a common cold.
Before the onslaught of pains like compounded illnesses, Lee Han's mind began to fade, unable to stay conscious.
"-[Pain]. That is my intent. A very straightforward one, isn't it? But being so intuitive makes the usage conditions tricky. The user's experience is key. ...In simple terms, I can inflict on others only the pain I've personally endured. What do you think? Nothing special, right?"
Not a question seeking an answer, but a casual recitation.
The moment he chuckled dryly like that,
Craaaack!
...A chilling sound echoed.
Like something shattering.
A burst that made even the listener's legs tremble in vicarious pain.
As if something had crumbled under the chains' pressure.
It sounded no different from a body being utterly destroyed...
"Heh."
Yet Albert smiled contentedly amid the rupture.
He still looked pleased, as if mocking his ruined foe.
"Puha...!"
But his opponent wasn't destroyed.
On the contrary.
"Haa! Haaa... haa! I... I barely survived...!!"
Fresh as a just-caught fish.
Thud...
Lee Han had dramatically escaped the chains.
He gulped down fresh oxygen as if discovering for the first time how sweet and refreshing it was. Having learned the value of life in just five minutes,
"Impressive."
the butler offered heartfelt praise.
...Not that it felt grateful in the slightest.
"...Does that mean you're disappointed I didn't die?"
"No, I'm genuinely impressed. To think you'd slip free from those chains."
His expression didn't show it much, but Albert was truly admiring him.
He prided himself on his long life, and most who faced his execution arts met similar ends.
They died instantly and peacefully.
Or were destroyed within [Pain].
...Or devolved into beasts or idiots, forgetting they were ever human.
A rare few exceptional powerhouses escaped those fates, but they were outliers.
Nowadays, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say no one could escape his execution arts.
...Yet this man had.
And moreover,
"Contracting and compressing your muscles, bones, and blood flow to squeeze out—remarkable skill, Sir Lee Han."
with a feat akin to a magic trick.
Clap clap─.
Albert clapped as if at a circus or magic show, while the recipient of the praise...
"...You're totally mocking me, aren't you..."
couldn't shake his reasonable suspicion.
...He had survived death.
Not a metaphor—this was literal fact.
Crack.
In that desperate crisis, he'd come up with a solid idea.
Just before losing consciousness, he'd manipulated his bones, muscles, and blood flow to slip free.
In simple terms, shrinking his body to pass through the narrow gap.
Of course, such frantic manipulation damaged the body, but survival came first, right?
I considered Rebound Aura, but it probably wouldn't work on that.
Chains made of aura.
Not just durable—they were a material he couldn't guarantee destroying with Rebound Aura.
Beyond that, techniques like sword aura, Sword Resonance, or sword rays required intense 'concentration.'
Even maintaining Indestructible in that frenzy was a miracle; no room for other skills.
Thus, he was endlessly proud of himself for adapting the Shrinking Bone Technique at the last second.
Had he not thought of it,
...I'd be dead.
Lee Han eyed the chains with dread.
No—dread bordering on horror.
How could such a thing exist?!
"...That's not for education—it's an intent crafted to figure out the most agonizing ways to kill or torture someone, isn't it?"
Reasonable suspicion, but the former heretic inquisitor denied it.
"A misunderstanding. It's solely for 'education' purposes."
"......No way it is."
How could such an intent exist?
He held no torture tools in hand.
Yet Albert could torture without them.
Water torture without water.
Burning pain without flames.
Frostbite without winter.
He even replicated the lethargy and aches of colds or food poisoning.
...And the most terrifying part?
It doesn't look like that's the end of it.
Sure enough.
"Hm, correct. Sharp intuition. My intent can reproduce about 6,620 types of pain. There may be some I can't recall, but that's roughly the number I can reliably inflict. Heh."
"......"
The butler confirmed it cruelly, turning suspicion to certainty.
"Of course, the pains you endured were among the higher grades out of those six thousand plus. Anything less wouldn't push you, Sir Lee Han."
"...Truly horrifying."
It felt like he'd been granted those horrors in recognition of his strength, but this time, he wasn't grateful at all.
Just pure horror, his eyes trembling.
And the chilling fact here was...
That means this guy deliberately endured over six thousand tortures or pains?
Albert had declared he could only reproduce pains he'd personally experienced.
No reason for him to lie—he spoke only facts. Realizing this truth, Lee Han felt goosebumps explode across his skin.
No wonder everyone in the south fears him.
Executing dismemberment solo was one thing, but minor by comparison.
He could transmit pain to any target at will, regardless of who or what.
Even if their body was unbreakable, like his.
A judge imparting pain equally to demons or demon lords alike.
- [Heretic Inquisitor] John Ray Albert.
No one suited the title better.
No existence could avoid interrogation before him...
......Screw the talk—should I just surrender now?
For the first time in a while, the knight regretted his choice.