Chapter 71: The Knight Goes Against the Season (1)

The Ghost King’s body was riddled by a total of 13 harpoons. Those harpoons were arranged in such a way that they looked like flower arrangements. This was a completely intentional move by the knight, showcasing how precise his aim was. Even an archer who was able to hear the sound of the God of Bows wouldn’t be able to do such a thing.

Drip-!

Blood flowed like crazy from the Ghost King’s pierced thighs, forearms, and chest. Any ordinary monster would have heard the footsteps of the reaper approaching them after receiving this kind of injury, but it wasn’t the case when it came to the Ghost King.

If anything, the reaper would probably get scared shitless and opted to escape when it faced the creature.

Besides…

[K…Kill… You…!]

The Ghost King wasn’t such a frail being that would die from ‘this kind of wound’.

Bang-!!

Even though Lee Han managed to wound it relatively badly, its vitality had not diminished at all. A normal creature would be flung across the Styx’s River the moment their chest got pierced, but for the Ghost King, this kind of injury couldn’t even be classified as an injury.

[GAAA!!]

Instead, it just made it angrier.

The Ghost King slammed its fists towards Lee Han.

Boom-!

It created an explosion that shook the vicinity, followed by a loud boom.

The tremor that the explosion created was strong enough to make those who were standing around on the Academy’s ground lose their balance and fall down. It wouldn’t be strange if they mistook it as an actual earthquake.

As to how such a big tremor happened…

Thud-!

It was because the Ghost King’s blow made the ground cave in, almost collapsing it entirely.

Such was the rumored power to destroy a nation.

It was proof of how the Ghost King earned that moniker.

Yet, facing such a being…

“I’m here.”

[!!?]

At one point, Lee Han managed to climb onto the Ghost King’s shoulder and swung his sword at it without hesitation.

Scratch-! Scratch-!

It was just a simple slash without any fancy names.

But it went on to create countless trajectories and slashed the Ghost King’s arm more than ten times.

[D…die!]

However, the Ghost King’s flesh wasn’t something that could be easily pierced. Even the large harpoons barely managed to pierce through it. There was no way such a small sword could inflict even a single wound on its skin.

If, its body was in a normal condition, that was.

Crack-!

[!!]

The monster cried out in pain.

“See? That’s what happens if you don’t treat your wounds properly.”

Lee Han cringed at the creature’s stupidity for ignoring all the harpoons stuck in its body. At the same time though, he was relieved. After all, it would be easier for him to deal with a dumbass than a smart fucker.

Parts of its skin were cracked because it didn’t bother to pull out the harpoons. Lee Han took advantage of it and dug into that exact spot, aiming to tear its arm apart.

[G… Go… A… Away…!]

At that moment, a giant fist zoomed towards where he stood with a speed that didn’t match its size. The sound of air being ripped apart accompanied said fist. Those who were facing the fist directly could easily mistake it as a rock falling from the sky.

This showed Lee Han once again, that the creature’s physical strength was off the chart. It didn’t stop him from thinking that it was to compensate for its extremely low intelligence, though.

Whoosh-!!

“B-Bastard! Your physical stats are something else, huh?”

Anyway, Lee Han managed to dodge the falling fist using Bending Body Launch.

It was a technique that enabled him to move from one point to another in an instant like an arrow. Moreover, it was Lee Han’s own unique high-speed movement technique.

Thanks to that technique, he managed to move like the wind. Every time he moved, he…

Swiish-!

Swung his sword.

He slashed the monster’s back, legs, shoulders, knees, groin, and neck.

Fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Lee Han recreated that saying and demonstrated the perfect hit and run tactics.

However, no matter how fast and skillfully he was toying with his opponent, he still couldn’t let his guard down.

After all…

[N-No!]

Roar-!

A single mistake could easily cost him his life.

“Haa… This fucking monster.”

Sweating profusely, he let out a dry laugh.

Every time the creature’s arms and legs swung towards him, a tingling pressure poured down upon his entire body. It felt like razor blades made of wind were scratching him while a heavy hammer was hitting his entire body at the same time.

This is it’s weakened state?

Fucking hell.

The magic freak said its current power is less than 30% of its full strength, right? That means, if it has its full power, I would’ve died a long time ago.

No, even if it isn’t the case… If it had been a little smarter, I would’ve died…

The reason why Lee Han was able to deal with it like this was solely because the creature only used its strength blindly. If its intelligence was just a tad better than it currently was, or if it was able to use just a little bit of martial arts, or if it ran away from him and attacked another location instead, this wouldn’t be a fight at all.

I guess it was worth provoking it and making it focus its hostility and killing intent on me, huh?

This thing won’t leave this place before it kills me.

Which means…

I can’t die here.

The moment he died, all the students of the Academy, including his disciples who were fighting in the Colosseum, would follow him to Avalon.

His task increased in difficulty, as the monster gradually became more accustomed to his movements. Because of that, Lee Han set a new goal for himself.

To not get hit by it at all costs.

And to do that…

I have to make sure it doesn’t get used to my movements.

Whoosh-!

He decided to show the creature something even more flashy.

Stagger-!

At that moment, the Ghost King stumbled. It thought it had finally caught its prey and moved its body with all its might, but its prey suddenly disappeared from its sight. It wasn’t a wonder that it stumbled like that.

But unlike what it thought, Lee Han didn’t disappear.

Instead, he…

Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

[!!]

Made a series of movements which complexness was incomparable to before.

There was both freedom and chaos in his movements, as if it didn’t follow any set rules. For a moment, Lee Han’s afterimage created by the Bending Body Launch confused the Ghost King’s eyes and even tricked its senses.

[S…Slow.]

“━━”

Lee Han gritted his teeth, unable to even groan. The moment he finally showed off his secret technique that he had been hiding so that he could turn it into his ultimate trump card, his whole body screamed. However, the effect was excellent. His movements were considerably sharper, and it allowed him to toy with his opponent even more.

This was originally a secret technique that he had saved to surprise Baltar. He never expected that this creature was the first being who got to see it in action, though.

Phantom Eight Trigrams Step.

It was a technique that combined the fastest speed Lee Han could muster through the Bending Body Launch, the afterimage the technique left behind, and the principles of Eight Trigrams¹.

However, the technique was still incomplete.

After all, Lee Han lacked the understanding about the Eight Trigrams. Moreover, trying to do the Bending Body Launch while considering the principles of the Eight Trigrams was putting too much constraint on his brain.

However…

It should be enough to fool a stupid monster like this thing.

His Quick Movement Technique that contained the power of illusion and freedom created by high-speed movement and a technique was more than enough to confuse the monster.

Thud-!

…Unfortunately, it wasn’t a technique that could be used for long.

The strain it put on the body was simply too heavy.

That was why…

He only had one choice next.

“Huuuu!”

To unleash a stronger attack on the monster while it was still confused.

Bang-!

[??]

The Ghost King’s jaw turned.

It felt the pain strongly, but that wasn’t its main concern. Instead…

[Why-?]

It wondered how the puny human got there.

Because it clearly sensed the bastard’s presence below it, but for some reason, its head was the thing that got hit.

The Ghost King couldn’t understand that, that was why it was more confused than hurt.

Hundred Steps Divine Fist.

In boxing or martial arts, the length of the arms and legs, also known as the reach, was one of the most important factors to dominate one’s opponent. In that sense, there was no better technique than Hitting A Cow Across the Mountain to deal with a monster whose reach was dozens of times longer than him.

That was why he picked the martial arts technique that re-established Hitting A Cow Across the Mountain to attack the monster: the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.

The attack ignored the opponent’s size and reach to continuously hit its body from all sides.

Bam-! Bam-! Bam-! Bam-!

[Gaaa!!?]

Distracting its sense using the Phantom Eight Trigrams Step.

While relentlessly attacking it using Hundred Steps Divine Fist which ignored distance and direction.

Furthermore…

Rumble-!

Lee Han also added Energy Penetrating Attack to his strikes.

With the combination of those three techniques, Lee Han managed to corner the Ghost King.

…However, in the eyes of a third party who saw all of this happening…

“I-Is there anything we could do?! A-At this rate, he’s going to die!”

He looked like he had reached his limit and was about to collapse at any moment.

Although the Ghost King was currently being overwhelmed, its regenerative power was still there. Moreover, its power had not diminished at all, just like when it first appeared.

Currently, it was just bewildered by a technique it had never seen before, but the moment it got used to it…

“N-No!”

Just imagining it already terrified the mage girl.

[No matter how strong he is, if he uses such a big technique in rapid succession, he will soon reach his limit. Arin, you should help him with magic!]

“I will if I get the chance to!”

No matter how badly Irene wanted to help him, normal magic wouldn’t work against the Ghost King’s body.

Even if she were to force herself and attack it with her magic, it would just nullify her attack. That was how powerful the creature’s magic resistance was, and why Odwal lost his will to fight the moment he saw the Ghost King.

But it wasn’t the case with Irene…

“I need to prepare a big attack…”

She gathered all her magic power.

So what if the opponent had strong magic resistance?

She could just launch an overwhelming barrage of magic so that its resistance couldn’t keep up with.

And so, the girl gathered all her magic power, waiting for a chance to unleash it.

Even if she couldn’t kill the monster with the attack, it should at least be enough to give him the chance to escape.

“D-Do I just need to create the gap for you then…?”

“Yes!”

“…How much gap do you need?”

“Umm, just about a meter away from the instructor?”

“I-I understand. I’ll try to create that gap.”

“I’d appreciate it if you do, but… Who are you?”

“…You are asking that now?”

The boy who had an extremely faint presence looked at Irene in disbelief. Wearing a disappointed expression, he muttered, ‘She’s different from what I expected…’.

Irene blinked her eyes, failing to understand why he looked so disappointed, but instead of satisfying her curiosity, the boy…

“…I-I’m just a coward who’s passing by… I-I can’t do anything about this, t-that’s why I asked that person for help…”

“Huh?”

“T-That’s why I should at least lend him a hand, even if it’s late…”

The boy with impressive gray hair muttered such strange words and prepared himself to use his final move while risking his own life.

-Sky Full of Flower Rain.

The boy, Derrick, used his secret power and made poison rain pour down from the sky.