Chapter 210: The Knights’ Nightly Activities (4)

Among all the plans Lee Han had for this operation, there was one that he wanted to pull off no matter what. To not hurt anyone.

It wasn’t because he suddenly felt repulsed against violence, but rather because if he were to steal something while also swinging his fist, he felt that he’d start walking on the path to be a real criminal.

That was why he made such a plan. Unfortunately for him…

Bang-!

Like all the wisemen of old said, things in this world rarely went as one wished.

Bang-!

Lee Han struck his opponent without hesitation. It was a strong blow that could pierce through a rock, so it pierced through his opponent’s defenses and broke his jawbone with quite ease.

The poor guy would’ve to live off of nothing but porridge for the remainder of his life, but Lee Han didn’t have time to pity him as he grabbed the swords of the two templars who were trying to attack him from either side with his bare hands.

Crack-!

“!!?”

The templars were shocked at that move, but Lee Han ignored their reactions and smashed the swords into pieces.

“Keuuuuk!?”

“Don’t raise your voice. It’s noisy.”

After saying that, he pierced their necks.

Swish-!

They were about to scream as blood came out from their throat, but he quickly ripped their tongues out as if he was taking away their chance to say their last words, leaving them with a brutal death. He did not show any mercy or sympathy towards them though, only gave them a cold gaze.

If they were any ‘ordinary templars’, he wouldn’t have been this merciless, but they were anything but.

After all, they were…

“What were ‘these guys’ doing here?”

Pests that deserved to die.

Lee Han furrowed his brow as he looked at them.

Of all places…

Why are there [Half-Demonic Humans] disguising themselves as templars here?

*    *   *

If one were to talk about the result alone, then Lee Han had successfully broken through the maze that was called the Great Temple.

He estimated that the place where he was currently at was an underground shelter, and he could also see the temple’s treasures sleeping in the vicinity.

A chair, candle holder made of gold, a gold crown, and even a pile of gold bars…

-To put it simply, the temple was incredibly wealthy.

At times, he’d be amazed at the wealth the temple was hiding, but he still refused to touch the gold. After all, they weren’t what he was after.

When one had a goal, they should be focused only on that goal. That was what he believed. Besides, he wasn’t someone who’d give in to greed.

As he kept on walking, he began to hear the sound of people approaching him.

-No one here?

-Those little rats!

-How dare they invade this place!

-We must burn them to the ground!

The strange thing here was that the priests looked extremely angry. It wasn’t intentional, but he flinched when he listened to their conversation while hiding in the darkness. He was always confident in his actions, but this time he admitted that this was a little hard.

-Are there other intruders besides me?

On the other hand, he tilted his head at the news he just heard. Apparently, he had some colleagues(?) running around out here. Unfortunately, the priests didn’t give out any more information about the intruders.

Since he thought that he wouldn’t be able to get any more information, he was about to run away, but…

-??

He sensed something weird from some of the priests.

…Something that he couldn’t just ignore.

-Senior, can I skip the night prayer meeting tonight? I’m not feeling well…

-You can. The Light won’t be happy if you force yourself to attend the prayer meeting.

-Thank you, Senior.

The source of that feeling was a young priest with a somewhat immature, innocent face. Others would probably see him in a positive light, but Lee Han…

-…What is that disgusting thing?

He immediately chased after the guy.

Since the other priests had dispersed to prepare for the prayer meeting, it didn’t take long for the young priest to be alone.

And as expected, when the young priest was finally alone…

-…Tsk, it’s killing me to have to kneel all the time at this age.

He made remarks that didn’t match his age, so Lee Han immediately…

Bang-!

-Keuk!?

…Pounced into the young priest with a swift movement like a hawk catching its prey. Then, he threw a question to the young priest—no, to the ‘middle-aged man’ who was disguising himself as a young priest.

-Why is there a [Half Demonic Human] here?

-!!?

-Oh, right. You won’t answer even if I ask you, right? Well, that’s understandable. Alright, why don’t we have counseling for about 10 minutes? Don’t worry, you don’t need to answer me.

-!!?!!

Crackle-!

After that, he started giving the third beast in human skin he met this year a special service. It didn’t even take 10 minutes, only 5, and the bastard already answered all of his questions obediently.

However, despite that…

-Since you’ve answered well, I’ll give you an additional 30 minutes for free.

Lee Han gave him extra service as a token of his gratitude, and the guy was so happy that his body shook and even shedding tears of blood from his eyes.

It was truly a heartwarming sight.

“-If only I had more time, I would have given you half a day of service for free.”

Lee Han chuckled as he thought about the guy who almost became paralyzed by now. This wasn’t something new, but he always felt good after doing something good.

“Do you even know how satisfying this feels? Who am I kidding? Of course not. Well, no matter, there are other guys like you who’ve never done volunteer work in their lives.”

“…”

“Oh, sorry. I pulled out your tongue, didn’t I?”

“…”

“There’s no need to cry, Kid. I’m really not doing anything special here.”

His tears only made Lee Han want to hit him more.

*    *   *

In this world, there was a species called [Demonic Human].

Just like how plants and animals would be turned into ‘monsters’ if they were to consume a monster’s byproducts, humans would become a Demonic Human if they were to consume a monster’s byproducts. Those who became Demonic Humans had a 100% chance of losing their humanity and even committing cannibalism. In fact, among the famous incidents in history, there was one where a woman accidentally consumed a monster’s remains and devoured her own child.

That example alone should show what kind of being those Demonic Humans were. Humans who became non-humans. The problem was that they had strength that was no less than that of a knight, so they were quite difficult to deal with.

In some ways, they were the [natural enemy] of humans which was harder to deal with than monsters, and in the past, Lee Han remembered that the fanatics of the Tunnel used those characteristics of Demonic Humans to achieve ‘results’.

Said results were none other than Demonic Humans which weren’t really Demonic Humans.

They are everywhere now, huh?

-A species called the Half-Demonic Humans.

They didn’t lose all of their humanity like a real Demonic Human, yet, they still gained absurd growth rates and strength.

After seeing them for the first time in the Tunnel, Lee Han never thought he would meet them again like this.

He stared at the 18 Half-Demonic Human lying around and let out a sigh. They had been striding around, disguising themselves as templars. If that fact were known by the outside world, the entire kingdom would be turned upside down. No, the kingdom being turned upside down could still be called a somewhat good result. If they weren’t careful…

The temple could just collapse.

At first glance, those words sounded ridiculous, but Lee Han knew that hypothetical situation could actually come true, leaving him with a headache. While had considerable antipathy toward the temple, he couldn’t deny the good things they brought. They were filled with those who could handle Divine Power, so they could heal a lot of people with it. There were also the poor and the orphans, the biggest beneficiary of their service.

So, what would happen, if the temple collapsed?

Chaos comparable to a disaster would occur throughout the kingdom.

Shit. I came to the Great Temple with a light heart, why is this happening?

He had infiltrated the Great Temple to turn the tables on them, not to obtain evidence to destroy them completely. If only he could find out who invited these Half-Demonic Humans and who was the mastermind, he could just beat that guy up…

These guys don’t know anything.

After doing his best to dig up information, the only thing he could get was just the fact that the Half-Demonic Humans were just here under someone’s orders, and that they didn’t know anything else. Not only did they never receive orders to do anything else, they also didn’t receive orders directly from anyone; only through letters or notes.

They also said that they hadn’t met the temple’s higher ups since they came to the temple…

In short, it was a total mess.

…Just what are they trying to do?

This whole mess was too confusing to Lee Han. He couldn’t guess what the fanatics, or rather, the schemer who planned all this tried to achieve by doing this.

Were they trying to destroy the kingdom?

Or did they want to take over the temple?

The more Lee Han investigated, the more he felt like he was sinking into a deeper swamp.

“This feels disgusting…”

The rising discomfort made him release his killing intent as he thought so. Even though he tried to control his temper as much as possible because he didn’t want to be caught, he couldn’t hold it back anymore due to the disgust he was feeling right now.

And then…

Bang-!

“!”

As if proving that showing his killing intent was a fatal mistake, he instinctively picked up the swords that the Half Demonic Humans left lying on the ground and swung them, sensing that something was approaching to attack him.

Bang-!

A huge explosion spread when the sword that he swung clashed against an incoming spear. It didn’t sound like a sound that could be produced by a clash from a sword and spear, but a violent sound that sounded like two cannonballs colliding.

Crazy!

Lee Han could tell just from one clash that his opponent was incredibly skilled.

But the problem was…

Whoosh-!

Crackle-!

The opponent wasn’t just one, but two. Because of that, he was thrown back by the huge masked man’s body slam as he had no room to dodge.

I was sent flying?

He managed to disperse all the shock he received, but he was left dumbstruck since he just couldn’t remember how long it had been since his body was blown away due to him being unable to withstand his opponent’s attack. It felt as if a bull—no, an elephant had charged at him and pushed him away.

As he barely managed to keep his balance, he glared at the two new opponents who had appeared. From the spirit they were giving off alone, he could tell one thing.

Those guys were dangerous.

To the point where they could endanger his life.

However…

I’ll still give my all.

Rumble-!

He stepped on the ground with force. The two opponents in front of him were people he had to risk his life against. Regardless of whether he’d get caught or not, it was a life-or-death battle–

“Hmm? Are you perhaps Lihan?”

“…?”

“A ferocious spirit like an animal, and a body like a lump of metal. Yeah, it’s Lihan alright! Hahaha! I never thought I’d see you here, the world is so small!”

“…”

Why does this voice sound familiar?

“Why are you here?”

At that moment, another familiar voice rang out.

“You… Spear Bastard?”

“…”

…Instead of speaking, the guy just took off his black mask, revealing his face. Indeed, it was Lake de Duran with his shining red eyes. After that, the masked man with a huge body also revealed his face.

“Hehe, it’s been a while, Lihan!”

“…My name is not Lihan, it’s Lee Han.”

“Haha, I know. How could I not remember the name of the man who defeated me?”

“Haa…”

A man with a gigantic body and black hair who people would believe if he told them he was a giant.

The Champion of the North, the Black Lion…

“Maximus.”

“Call me Max, my close friends all call me that.”

Maximus Iron De Lionel.

Lee Han made a bewildered expression as he faced the two knights, wondering if this meeting was due to fate playing a cruel joke on him.

Just what—?

Huh, wait…

“Why are you guys here?”

“That should be my question for you.”

“Hahaha, this is fun! It feels like a class reunion!”

…What bullshit is this guy even saying?

Class reunion my ass.

Hearing that, Lee Han had the urge to immediately cut ties with the ‘classmates’ in front of him.