Chapter 92: My Life Isn’t a Life Full of Excuses (3)

Pandemonium.

This was probably the most apt expression to describe the horrific disaster unfolding before the soldiers’ eyes.

However, it would be more accurate to describe it as a ‘man-made disaster’. After all, the man who caused all this was pretty much a disaster in the shape of a person. However, no one was paying attention to such trivialities right now.

“Y-Your Excellency!!”

“Save our lord…!”

“W-What about the servants in the mansion?”

“There are no servants in the mansion! Just make sure His Excellency is safe!”

“I-I understand.”

After all, the life of the head of the Tristan Family, Marquis Jeminia, was still unknown.

Miraculously, the only thing that was destroyed by the attack of the strange man was the mansion where the marquis was staying. Moreover, since the marquis had a sensitive sense and wouldn’t be able to sleep well if there were people around him at night, he’d always send the servants out of the mansion at night. Because of that, there should be no casualties among the servants, so as long as the marquis was safe…

“H-His Excellency is safe!”

“Waaaaaaah!!”

The marquis’ retainer let out a joyful roar as soon as they heard that there were practically no casualties. They had confirmed that their master was safe.

However…

“Surround the enemy!”

“…Ugh!”

“Don’t come near him! If you want to surround him, do it from a distance! If you get close to him, you’ll die!”

Their enemy still hadn’t retreated.

The soldiers gathered in a circle, surrounding the attacker. However no one dared to approach him.

Trickle-! Trickle-!

The man had blood dripping from his face, and he looked a little exhausted. Common sense dictated that this was the perfect time to attack him, but no one let their guard down or looked down on him.

“Where did that monster come from…?”

After all, he was the monster who broke through—no, destroyed the main gate of the marquis’ mansion with bare hands. Most of the soldiers saw that scene unfolding with their own eyes. Even those who hadn’t seen it directly would’ve heard what happened from their comrades. So, no one even dared to look down on him.

On the contrary, they were scared and terrified. Though they were dubbed as elite soldiers, not all of them were courageous.

At that moment…

“─How dare some unruly guy attack the Tristan!”

‘They’ came.

“I-It’s the Knight Order! The Knight Order is here!!”

Seeing ‘them’ appear, waving a flag with a ‘Red Eagle’ on it, the soldiers let out a sigh of relief.

They were a Knight Order with the power of a hundred men: The Order of Red Eagle.

It was a Knight Order with a long history and prestige whose name not only echoed throughout the kingdom, but also throughout other countries. Now that the Tristan was under attack, not a single knight of the order was absent.

Wooong-!

It was said that ten knights could change the flow of a war the moment they joined the fray. That might sound like an exaggeration, but that was just how strong a single knight was.

Now, if the ten knights were the members of the Order of Red Eagle, there was no doubt that they’d be able to change the flow of a war. After all, they were incomparably stronger than the other Knight Orders. In fact, they were even considered comparable to the Order of Silver Lion during their ‘heyday’, back when the previous king still commanded them.

Everyone pretended not to know, but in reality, except for Galahad and Lionel, they were the strongest force in the royal capital. Unlike the Silver Lion who had become weaker and weaker, the eagles drenched in the color of blood were still in their prime.

And now, there were a hundred of such Red Eagles.

The spirit and anger of the hundred men was enough to shake the ground, creating a hot haze.

Whoooooosh-!

The spirit they exuded looked like demons made of fire.

Their overwhelming power made the soldiers forget about the disaster, while their grandeur lifted their spirits up.

At that moment…

“Well, well, well… What is going on here?”

‘He’ revealed himself, and the soldiers started to shed tears.

[The Invincible Archer] had arrived.

“Your Excellency!”

“Stop yelling. You know I have sensitive ears, don’t you?”

A middle-aged man with red hair—no, a handsome man who looked to be in his mid-30s at most, walked out of the collapsed mansion. Even though the word ‘handsome’ wasn’t really an appropriate word to describe a man in his 50s, the man was truly handsome enough to go up on a stage even at his age.

However, he wasn’t just an ordinary handsome man.

Whoosh-!

The extraordinary presence that he exuded with every step he took, as well as the huge horn bow that infinitely heightened that presence created a domineering atmosphere around him.

Said horn bow was bigger than the average woman’s height. The bow was made by processing the horn of a monster called the Giant Ox Monster a.k.a the Minotaur. It was the bow that symbolized his status as the head of the Tristan Family, the family that had produced great archers and divine archers for generations.

“Young man, there’s no way you don’t know the consequences of targeting the Tristan, or rather, me. Yet, you still did it?”

-Jeminia Rivalin de Tristan.

A knight of the bow, the head of the Tristan family, the commander of the Order of Red Eagle. He gave the intruder a calm but spirited reproach.

“…”

Perhaps he was nervous because a hundred knights and Marquis Jeminia had entered the fray…

The man didn’t answer the question, while Marquis Jeminia simply shook his head. He never expected an answer in the first place.

“My lord, as long as you give me the order, I will bring that bastard’s head to you right away!”

Perhaps he was acting rude because he wanted to provoke the loyal knights.

The knights were clearly angry, waiting for the marquis’ order to take the enemy’s head.

However, the marquis just shook his head.

“He doesn’t look like a bad guy. While yes, he attacked us, but in the end, no one got hurt.”

“That was just a coincidence…”

“Do you really think so?”

“…”

…No one could deny the marquis’ words.

Everyone knew that the man was strong—after all, they had seen him throw that iron gate with his bare hands. And yet, he hadn’t killed anyone. He destroyed the marqus’ mansion, but no one died from that. This wasn’t something that could be dismissed as a miracle or coincidence.

Moreover…

“He spared me. There’s no worse humiliation than this.”

The man had intentionally kept him alive.

“That guy knew that I was the only one in the mansion.”

“I-Isn’t that even more humilia—”

“No, no, if anything that part is funny. You see, the area that was destroyed by the gate was the room right in front of my bedroom.”

“…”

“If this is coincidence, a miracle or whatever, I should just ignore this whole thing and try to find the Holy Grail right now. Hahaha!”

“…”

The Holy Grail, the treasure of Avalon. It was a treasure that existed only in legends, and everyone knew that trying to find it was nothing but a fool’s errand.

Of course, the marquis knew it too, as it was just a figure of speech. The thing that he really wanted to say was this:

‘That person has no intention of killing anyone from the beginning. He had the chance to kill me or the soldiers, but he didn’t.’

Hence…

“Identify yourself and surrender. If you do, I’ll guarantee that your life won’t be forfeited.”

The marquis showed his leniency.

Without hesitation, he bestowed the other person his mercy, and stated his willingness to forgive him, but…

“Hey, handsome old man. If I were to do that, wouldn’t it be better for me to just throw that gate straight into your bedroom?”

“…”

…Handsome old man…?

The marquis was stunned by the nickname he had never heard before in his life, and his knights were no different.

However, the man wasn’t done yet.

“Let me straighten this out. I’m here to pick a fight with you. I did all that, so that you’d be eager to fight me. Since that’s the case, try to make me kneel, or kill me, or whatever, so I can fight you with all my might! That’s why you shouldn’t try to forgive me so easily! Or else, there’s no point in me coming all the way here!”

“Huh?”

The man said such shameless words that left the marquis and his retainers dumbfounded.

What is this guy on about…?

His Excellency was going to let him live, but he’s begging to be killed instead…?

The marquis had lived for nearly half a century, and he had met a bunch of arrogant people. He was confident that he had seen all kinds of people the world had to offer, but it was the first time he had ever seen this kind of guy.

Not knowing what to say, the marquis let out a dry laugh that the intruder ignored. Instead, he pointed his finger at the knights.

“You guys are the same. I’ve threatened and insulted your master, invaded his mansion in the middle of the night and destroyed his property. Not only that, I destroyed the mansion where he was staying. What the fuck are you doing in front of such a person?! Why didn’t you draw your swords right away?!”

Thump-!

The man stomped his feet, then, a jolt shook the ground, as if the world was trying to pronounce the man’s displeasure and anger.

It was as if he didn’t care about the nobility of a noble and the consideration shown by the marquis just now.

“Is it because you guys feel you lack justification? If so, I’ll give you exactly that. From now on, my goal is to hit your master’s beautiful face. Stop me, or your master will have to live with a disfigured face from today onwards!”

Crack-!

“You…!”

“How dare you!”

“Insulting His Excellency! I have never seen someone so eager to fall to the fires of hell.”

Sreung-!

Chaeng-!

Rustle-!

Swords and spears were drawn. Now, the knights’ spirits were filled with murderous intent. Even if the marquis ordered them to stop, they wouldn’t stop. After all, they’d rather abandon their title as a knight than leave someone who insulted their master alone.

Bang-!

The Order of Red Eagle that consisted of a hundred knights charged at the man, in order to take his head as he had insulted their master.

As he saw the provoked knights…

“This is it.”

A satisfied expression rose in the man’s face. Then, he threw himself into the waves of murderous intent that were pressing upon him.

“Form a large monster hunting formation!”

No matter how angry they were, the knights’ didn’t lose their intelligence. On the contrary, because they were angry, their head cooled down, and that allowed them to immediately form a hunting formation for the man.

They had already witnessed the man’s strength, so they did not make the mistake of underestimating his power and instead tried to hunt him with all their might. In an instant, they formed a formation they normally used to hunt large monsters. The hundred knights moved in an orderly manner, as if they had a single mind.

Pressure.

Defense.

Attack.

Support.

Each of the knights perfectly performed their assigned role.

Bang-!

Crackle-!

Thud-!

The spirit of the hundred knights, no, the combination of the knights’ Combat Techniques, fighting spirit, and strength could not be explained simply as spirit. It was stronger and more vicious than the pressure displayed by ten thousand troops, and it wasn’t something an individual could dare to oppose.

This was the first stage. Pressure. Even if the target of this formation was a huge monster, it still wouldn’t be able to escape the confine of their fighting spirit.

No monster had ever escaped this formation. The knights were planning to strike the attacker down in one breath.

However…

“…Haha!”

It was still a formation to take down a simple monster. Against a monstrous human, a man who couldn’t be dealt with common sense, it was meaningless.

That was why the man, Lee Han, burst into laughter even though the situation wasn’t funny at all. After all, a hundred knights were trying to kill him, and each of these knights possessed extraordinary skills.

Even if their individual skills weren’t quite champion-level, they exuded the aura of real veterans.

Lee Han felt like his whole body would be crushed at any moment by the fighting spirit they were giving off. In fact, his joints were creaking.

Also, for some reason, he felt a sense of foreboding from this pressure.

And then he realized…

That he had already experienced similar pressure before.

…Is it as strong? Or stronger?

The Ghost King. The pressure they exuded was equal, or maybe even greater than the pressure that the guy called the King of Trolls had given off.

This is fun…!

The world is truly filled with fun things!

All this time, he thought that all the knights in this kingdom were as weak as the knights in the Order of Silver Lion, yet standing in front of him were the knights who could fight against the Ghost King.

His whole body was tingling. It tried to tell him that he could die if he were to let his guard down.

Ironically, the reason he could endure it was because he had already experienced the pressure that the Ghost King exuded. He had the experience, and he didn’t grow lazy because of that experience. Instead, he kept working hard.

Because he never wasted a single day, he was able to tear the confine that was weighing him down.

Crack-!

And ripped it apart with brute force.

“W-What kind of monster is he!”

“Throw the spears!!”

“Stab with your swords all at once…!!”

Lee Han showed his resistance by striking the confine of the Combat Power again and again. And when he finally exuded the spirit that matched the Red Eagles, they were bewildered.

…However, if they had heard his inner thoughts, they probably wouldn’t be bewildered, but instead felt humiliated instead.

Because he…

I don’t want them to hold grudges against my kids, so I should end this without killing them.

No killing.

He was trying to end this fight by just subding them without killing anyone.

With that determination to raise the difficulty of the already difficult battle, Lee Han…

Bang-!

Paat!

Kicked his foot toward the ‘air’.