Chapter 381
Chapter 381
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.79 – The Man's Growth is Eye-Opening (5)
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It was the first time.
Thud!
...that he could react like this, rather than just getting unilaterally pummeled.
Whoooosh!!
Lee Han dropped his guard and channeled strength throughout his body before thrusting out his fist.
His face was completely defenseless, and the seasoned mercenary didn't miss the opportunity, instantly dodging the strike and launching a counter.
It was a speed Lee Han normally wouldn't have been able to react to.
But.
Whoosh...!
"...Whew."
"Well now."
Lee Han had successfully reacted.
He had simply brushed it aside with his head, but considering that he'd only ever blocked his fists up until now and never dodged, it was an enormous breakthrough.
And soon...
Whoosh!
Bam!!
Without anyone striking first, Lee Han and Kaiser's fists collided.
Boom! Boooom!
It was hard to believe those were sounds coming from fists.
If anything, it was like thunder crashing down.
It was strange.
Clearly, neither man had used any Fighting Technique or other methods yet.
Yet they were displaying power that could overwhelm most elite knights.
At some point, their fists were moving too fast to even see, and their feet were constantly shifting without rest, positioning for the optimal moves.
Anyone with a discerning eye watching this fight would have thought of a game of Go or chess.
It wasn't just fast and intense; it involved instantaneous optimal judgments—
A high-level spar that could be called performance art, and it was tragic that it was happening in these secluded mountains with no one to witness it.
It could have been an epiphany for warriors at a plateau.
...But neither Lee Han nor Kaiser was clashing fists to show off to anyone.
It was purely...
Crunch!
Whoooosh!
...to acknowledge each other...!
To defeat the strong opponent before them, they gripped their fists tightly.
At some point, they stopped raising guards.
Defense was now a mere luxury.
Thwack!
A blow to the face.
Slam!
A strike to the side.
However, they weren't just mindlessly trading punches.
Swish!
Whoosh...!
They repeatedly dodged fists they shouldn't take by a paper-thin margin.
The astonishing part was that this was all happening at point-blank range, and they stubbornly stuck to an out-boxer style.
Dodge by a hair's breadth, strike when the chance arose.
At times, they dodged so perfectly that even the strikes missed entirely, and their fists clashed more frequently.
Kabooom!
A relentless barrage without even a single breath.
It was a choice born from knowing that any lapse in vigilance would mean getting pierced, a testament to their fierce competitive spirits, and like testing the limits of their lung capacity, they continued for about a minute without breathing.
Drip-.
"Haa, haa... "
"......"
Lee Han and Kaiser simultaneously halted their fists.
"...Damn."
More precisely, it was right before Lee Han's strike would have properly landed on Kaiser's face for the first time.
...Three minutes over.
They had precisely recognized the end of the 26th round and stopped—an obstinately spectacular sight.
"I didn't mind continuing..."
"I didn't want to get that petty."
"Haha, you're the tough type to live in this world."
"...Can't deny that, sadly."
Thud...
With that murmur, Lee Han collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
As if he couldn't stand any longer.
"...Can't do more. I give!"
Lee Han's declaration of surrender.
Even so.
"Haha, you don't look like a loser."
"...I gained something. And as long as I don't die, it's fine, right? There's a 'next time.'"
"......"
"So live long, handsome old man. Next time, let's go with both fists."
"...Blessing or curse? Ha, hahaha!!"
Kaiser laughed heartily as he rubbed his numb arm and side.
It ached terribly, and he shook his head, wondering what would have happened if that final blow had hit his face.
'He grows in the blink of an eye.'
Fear of youth, he thought, but confirming his heart pounding fiercely, Kaiser felt a slight embarrassment.
"Why is my heart so hot at this age...?"
Thinking it sentimental, he let out an excuse-laden murmur to the not-unpleasant heat.
He realized 'that' after passing the 5th round.
- This guy's strength and speed are about equal to mine.
Though Kaiser overwhelmingly surpassed him in experience, judgment, and tactics, their speeds were roughly equal, and in raw power, Lee Han had a slight edge.
Yet.
- ...Why does he feel faster and stronger than me?
It was a strange sensation.
He knew the man was stronger, but the gap felt too extreme to comprehend.
If their power and speed were similar, it should have been a proper spar, but it wasn't at all.
Could experience and judgment create this difference?
- No.
They were superior elements, but not enough to toy with him like this.
So what was the difference that let him play around?
- ...Gotta take more hits.
Lee Han decided to fight more rather than overthink.
As if he'd ever relied on his brains in a fight before.
By the end of the 15th round.
- Whoa...
After 10 full rounds as a sandbag, desperately seeking answers, he finally got a hint.
- ...Is that a reaction speed possible for a human?
That was it.
What Lee Han learned while playing sandbag was that Kaiser's reaction speed wasn't permitted for a primate.
If anything, it was movement close to intuition without conscious thought—like in Go, every intuitive judgment being a 'blue spot.'
As if the guy wasn't human disguised as AI—how was this possible?
Facing that doubt...
"-So I decided to take more hits. Thought answers might come while playing sandbag."
"......"
"Up to round 18, I tried fighting intuitively like you, but got beat every time. From 20, I kept switching tactics. Honestly, planned to go to 50."
"...Utterly brutish approach."
"When your head's lacking, you make up for it with your body. Guess I got lucky. Entering round 23—"
Whoosh.
"...I kinda got it."
Thwack.
Lee Han reacted to the incoming fist and blocked it.
Proving it wasn't luck.
Drip...
"...Whew, but this is exhausting."
Blood trickled from his nose.
A nosebleed he hadn't had in ages.
Not from Kaiser's beating.
It was aftermath from using that 'sense.'
Lee Han wiped the blood and shook his head.
As if his head throbbed from the unfamiliar exertion.
Watching this.
"Entering the 'domain' and only ending up with a nosebleed. You'd normally pass out."
Kaiser exclaimed in admiration.
As if marveling at his overwhelming vitality.
"Not lacking stamina or grit. ...So you call this the 'domain'?"
He'd just put his senses in 'real-time open mode,' and they gave it such a grand name?
"It means entering a realm not permitted to humans."
"Exaggeration..."
"Exaggeration? Your view of the world has changed, hasn't it?"
"......Can't deny."
It had.
With senses open, Lee Han was taking in all information flooding from every direction.
The rustling wind, chirping birds, scent of earth and grass.
The opened senses let him view the world from countless new perspectives.
But even more miraculous.
"That info gets summarized in real-time, boosting your judgment and intuition—isn't that thrilling?"
"...Stop mind-reading."
Spot on.
Felt like his thoughts were read.
But this was merely...
"Not reading thoughts—speaking from experience."
"......"
"But you can't grasp how it's possible just from opening senses, right?"
"...Driving me crazy."
Yes, advice from someone who'd walked the path before.
"It's possible because you're a warrior who's entered 'Intuition.' It's like birthing a new sensory organ—invisible nose, ears on your body. But even with it, using it is extremely hard, and controlling it creates massive gaps between warriors."
Even entering Intuition, opening it as a sense is grueling.
Like reactivating an atrophied organ—not through mere training.
"That's why I thought you couldn't match me here. But you suddenly flung open the door to the domain. Been a while since I had such a ridiculous experience."
"...That big a deal?"
"Of course! You didn't reach it by intent."
Only a strong 'shock' could stimulate such an atrophied organ.
And that shock was...
"-Something like surviving death's doorstep. So, have you ever died and come back?"
"......"
"Something rings a bell."
"......"
"Butler? Hm?! Wait, have you crossed paths with John Ray Albert?"
"......"
"...You're surprisingly intact. That guy's the type to take a leg or eye, ...has age mellowed him?"
"......"
...Lee Han just made a sour face, not mentioning how he'd nearly been dismembered.
'Should I thank him for the fake death experience or not?'
It was probably natural not to thank someone who'd implanted trauma.