Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.22 – The Knight Seeks Growth (3)
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"-I've only removed the demonic nature from the heart, leaving the poison intact. Since you said you have poison resistance, this will actually greatly help in building it up."
In half a day, he looked utterly soaked in exhaustion, as if he'd competed in two back-to-back Ironman triathlons.
Derek, whose condition fully justified such a description, seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment, yet his eyes brimmed with vitality.
"The potency was so overwhelming it lacked harmony, so I also prepared three other elixirs infused with water, earth, and wood energies. You have to take them in sequence."
"...Yeah. Thanks."
Lee Han offered him a straightforward thanks for his efforts.
He could have given a long speech expressing his gratitude, but that wasn't his style—and it would probably make the other man uncomfortable too.
Aware of this, Derek responded with a simple smile of his own.
"...Right. Then the rest can wait until a bit la—"
Thud.
He collapsed before finishing his sentence.
"Looks like this guy still needs to take his meds."
Having anticipated the collapse, Lee Han caught him and laid him down on the hammock in the corner.
Then he turned his gaze to the elixirs on the desk.
Whoosh.
"Quite the dazzling array."
His tone was plain, but his eyes betrayed unmistakable surprise.
He'd only asked for simple refinement, yet something far beyond his expectations had appeared.
Anyone could tell at a glance—these were peerless spirit elixirs.
Even though they were merely pills, a misty aura rose from them.
The three elixirs Derek had instructed him to take.
Each shimmered like iridescent pearls in shades of water-blue, gold, and green, looking as if they'd melt instantly in the mouth.
'Nurturing earth with water, then using earth to bolster wood for full-body protection... Was this guy's specialty traditional medicine?'
Elixirs that seemed to perfectly harmonize the elements, like yin-yang and five phases theory made manifest.
Nothing ordinary about them.
Yet even these extraordinary elixirs paled in comparison to one particular one.
"This isn't an elixir—it's a monster."
Whoosh!
If you could melt a radiant red sapphire like water, it might look like this.
The beautifully glowing crimson liquid emitted light like fluorescent material, making him inwardly question if humans were even meant to consume something like it.
But.
"He said to start with this one."
Lee Han didn't hesitate.
After all, wasn't this the elixir into which he'd poured every ounce of his effort? As a man of his word.
'Gotta consume it all.'
He immediately swallowed the three elixirs.
Contrary to his expectation that they'd dissolve like water, they remained solid until swallowed.
However, the moment those three elixirs traveled down his esophagus...
Boom!
"!!!"
An impact incomparable to anything before overwhelmed his body from within.
It wasn't an explosion.
Just a phenomenon of equal intensity erupting inside him.
'Feels like it's even devouring the energy in my body...'
Not only did the three elixirs amplify each other's energies, they were straight-up consuming Lee Han's own vitality.
The sensation of all the vigor and stamina painstakingly recovered through agonizing priestly treatment being stripped away.
Anyone else might suspect he'd been deliberately poisoned.
It felt that much like his lifespan was draining away in real time.
Such intense revulsion surged through him, making him want to spit out the elixirs right then—
'But... maybe I should just let it ride...?'
Lee Han observed as his energy was devoured right up to the brink.
He trusted that the timid guy wouldn't endanger him, and above all, the elixirs' energies didn't feel life-threatening.
If anything, as they absorbed his vitality, some other part of his body felt refreshingly clear.
Like unnecessary energies—ones he could do without—were vanishing, freeing up [space] inside him...
It was almost like forcibly emptying a container.
For dozens of minutes, he let the three elixirs rampage freely.
"...Urk."
Lee Han lost even the strength to speak as dizziness hit.
His vision blurred; he just wanted to pass out.
And if there had been a mirror, he would have been horrified.
His robust, sturdy frame—once perfectly suited to the term "imposing build"—had withered to skin and bones, on the verge of shriveling up entirely.
Lucky that his eyes were dim and there was no mirror in this moment.
Blind to the changes in his own body, Lee Han reached out with trembling effort and grasped the vial of red liquid.
Heavy.
Though it weighed barely 250 grams, lifting it felt impossibly arduous.
Pain, suffering, sleepiness, hunger—none of it was under his control.
He craved food desperately, yet felt he didn't need to eat at all; two conflicting urges warred to the point of madness, each demanding he just lie down and sleep.
If his lust hadn't been sealed, it might have led to an embarrassingly pathetic display.
In this state, Lee Han suppressed all desires and torment through sheer 'endurance' alone.
Patience was one thing he prided himself on never yielding to anyone, so even as agony and urges surged like uncontrollable rapids through his body, he resisted.
'Shut up, shut up... shut up—!'
He commanded his entire unruly body.
As if ordering his own flesh to obey his will.
Gulp.
And finally, Lee Han forced the red liquid into his mouth.
Crunch!
It was less drinking and more chewing.
Though it was liquid, it writhed in his mouth like tough pork rind or a wriggling earthworm.
"—."
Yet Lee Han didn't spill a single drop.
He just chewed and chewed.
Stuffing it relentlessly so it couldn't escape his mouth, until finally.
Gulp!
He chewed and swallowed every last bit.
But was swallowing where the true ordeal began?
Boom!
Boooom.
A tingling jolt electrified his entire body.
Imagine swallowing a tiny homunculus by mistake, only for the furious little thing to pound your insides with an enormous warhammer. That's what it felt like.
Pain so insane it birthed such delusions. Lee Han didn't even try to endure—he just convulsed.
"Grrraaagh..."
Not even a proper scream escaped.
No strength left for groaning, eyes on the verge of rolling back.
Consciousness could flicker out any second.
The heavens themselves roared.
Was this what childbirth felt like?
'Wait, I'm a guy...'
Lee Han briefly felt a surge of absurdity.
But having the leisure to think meant it wasn't quite kill-or-be-killed pain yet.
Probably because the energies from the first three elixirs were buffering this wild potency like a rampaging bull.
'Ha! This is the potency?!'
He'd heard the potency was intense.
And that the three elixirs were prepared for it.
But this went beyond "potent"—words couldn't cover it!
Lee Han barely registered the poison's pain, his mind reeling solely from the heart's demonic potency.
Without the first elixirs protecting his stomach, he'd have blacked out from agony long ago.
'...Maybe passing out would be better.'
A bitter smile escaped, but he knew losing consciousness wasn't wise.
He needed to know exactly what was happening in his body.
So.
'Damn it! Let's see who wins.'
Stab.
He bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood.
The metallic taste sharpened his fading mind with fresh pain.
And soon.
"Hoo, huuuuh!"
Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.
He began stepping.
Boxing steps.
Like shadowboxing, he slowly extended and retracted his fists.
A body devoid of vitality, flooded with exhaustion and sleepiness.
Yet on the brink of madness from pain preventing even sleep.
Better to force it to move.
To protect his mind, he needed to focus elsewhere.
To an outsider, it might seem brutally foolish, but Lee Han willingly chose to sweat through the pain.
Whoosh!
Extend, retract. Repeat.
At first, agonizingly slow.
Moving his body itself was pure torment now.
Grit!
But Lee Han was stubborn.
As if refusing to yield to pain, he punched with utter sincerity, moving his body—and gradually, his sluggish strikes gained speed.
Fists slicing empty air.
Initially feeble enough to miss a fly, but as Lee Han continued...
Whoosh, whooooosh!
Momentum built; power surged into his fists—no, his entire body.
Hadn't he realized it yesterday?
That softness held power too.
Power existed everywhere, and even in a body drained like a deflated balloon, he could generate force.
In some form.
His accelerating punches began carrying a threatening sharpness.
No raw strength, but the keen edge of an awl or spike.
Not some profound enlightenment, though.
Just doing what he could—a desperate struggle against pain and encroaching drowsiness.
And that struggle.
Crunch!
Gradually took effect, as he began absorbing the potency.
A process that should have taken a full day, defied as he forcibly moved, absorbing—no, adapting—to it.
"—."
At some point, Lee Han punched in a trance, eyes unfocused.
Half-conscious, his body simply obeyed his will.
So he didn't see it.
The steam rising from his body.
Sizzle.
Whoooosh.
The steam expelling long-accumulated waste from his body.
Side effects from unidentified drugs force-fed by a mage in childhood, or war-era poisons.
Things piled up knowingly and unknowingly flowed out like sweat, and soon the heavy fatigue that had gripped him vanished entirely.
And moreover.
Bang! Boom!
The potency went further, refilling his gaunt frame.
Not just bulking up crudely.
Previously rock-hard like flint, now it was that solid plus springy, rubber-like elasticity.
His body, thought to have reached its training limits with minimal room for growth, had transcended mere improvement into a leap forward.
This was a 'fortuitous encounter.'
Yet it couldn't be dismissed as mere elixir aid.
It was the fruition of Lee Han's brutal life, his intense, life-risking training that no ordinary person could fathom.
If anyone else had taken these elixirs, such growth would be a pipe dream.
Just pricey supplements at best.
A quantum leap only [he] could achieve.
Not to be chalked up to the elixirs alone.
...Unfortunately, in this historic moment of his efforts bearing fruit, the entranced Lee Han remained oblivious to his body's changes, endlessly throwing punches at empty air—no,
Crack, craaack!
Repeating unconscious hundred-step divine fists.
Endlessly.
——And ten minutes later, having barely regained his senses, Derek was aghast.
He'd checked the wall on the verge of destruction, but...
"Y-You just took that? Without even waiting for me to wake up?"
"......"
"I-I told you the order before collapsing—do you not remember? No, more than that, didn't it hurt? Taking it out of sequence is like pouring oil on fire..."
"......"
"Y-You could've died trying to endure that pain..."
"...Hmm."
"......Did it hurt a lot?"
"Ahem!"
Lee Han gazed at distant mountains.
There were none visible underground, but that's what he felt like doing.
As he thought.
For some reason...
'...It fucking hurt.'
Thus reaffirming why the saying exists: if your head's dumb, your body suffers. The knight thought anew.