Ch.137EP.34 – The Knight Raised a Switch (2)

# Divine Power

It was one of the “First Mysteries” bestowed by the gods.

Divine power has existed since ancient civilizations and is still wielded by the Sun God and Moon God who maintain supreme influence in both western and eastern continents, as well as the now relatively reclusive old Gods of Sea and Earth, and the Sky God, who still have small numbers of believers.

These ancient gods first passed down to humanity the flame known as divine power, and this mystery of divine power grew stronger whenever the faith of believers was devout.

Thus, most ancient nations were theocracies.

They expanded their territories based on divine power, cultivated agricultural societies, and furthermore established the foundations of nations.

However, as cases of abusing this divine power for personal wealth and authority increased, these theocratic nations became corrupt.

People called those who punished individuals who defiled the gods’ names and used divine glory for self-enrichment the first inquisitors, [Inquisitors].

It is said that the first Inquisitors used divine power as if it were their own hands and feet, and only later did they realize that these techniques had principles similar to magic or martial arts.

However, this method, which was much easier to use and more powerful than those mentioned earlier, boasted overwhelming superiority even in the current era.

Holy Law (聖法).

A combat method using divine power said to have been created by a nameless wandering monk.

But no matter how convenient, it had its limitations.

– “Holy Law is ultimately just a shortcut. To truly become strong, one must not rely on Holy Law, but rather continuously train with divine power dwelling within the body.”

This too was a statement from the wandering monk.

Though convenient, it was ultimately just a shortcut using divine power, and with such power, one could never defeat “the real thing.”

However, even after hundreds, no, thousands of years, Holy Law remained one of the temple’s greatest powers and the symbolic combat method of Inquisitors, continuing to develop and evolve throughout those thousands of years.

If the founder of Holy Law were to see what it had become, he would have to deny his own statement.

That’s how confident the Inquisitors were in their Holy Law.

…And the same was true now.

“We’re under attack! Prepare to deploy the Grand Holy Law immediately!”

“Understood!”

Upon seeing their combat priest colleague fall so helplessly to the knight, the Inquisitors quickly regrouped.

Their colleague shouldn’t have fallen so easily, yet it happened in an instant.

This meant the knight was of a higher caliber than they had anticipated.

Therefore.

“We’ll simply give him the treatment his skill deserves.”

Grand Holy Law. It normally required at least thirty people to deploy, but each Inquisitor was worth ten priests.

Even with just nine people, they could sufficiently handle the Grand Holy Law, and so they:

“<Bring down the iron hammer upon the heretic>.”

Blessing of the Iron Hammer.

A Grand Holy Law originally used to capture violent and massive magical beasts like wyverns or drakes.

It was also known as [Earth’s Trap].

Sure enough.

BOOM!

As they activated the Holy Law, tremendous pressure poured down toward the earth.

Rocks were pulverized like sand, and trees were crushed like weeds.

It was a Holy Law where a giant iron hammer falling from the sky overwhelmed the entire surrounding area.

Even someone with the skill of a Knight Commander would normally be unable to escape from this—it was common sense that it was absolutely impossible to break through…

“Wow, this is quite the workout, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Feel that muscle stimulation? Hmm, how long can this be maintained? It can be used for two hours, right?”

“Wh-what…?!”

“Answer me, you insolent bastard.”

WHACK!

“!!!”

In an instant, one of the priests deploying the Grand Holy Law had his jaw twisted and his head slammed into the ground.

It happened in a split second, and the priest who appeared to be the commander was shocked.

How could this be…

WHACK!

CRACK!

BOOM!!

But this astonishing sequence didn’t end there.

One after another, the priests maintaining the Holy Law were struck by mysterious blows and slammed into the ground.

“Y-you! Wh-what have you done?!”

“Geuksan-ta-u.”

“…What?”

“If you don’t know, you get hit?”

CRACK!!

As if annoyed by the constant squawking, the knight delivered a special punch to the priest, leaving a clear fist imprint in the center of the priest’s face, caving it in.

A truly different dimension of striking power.

“Hundred Step Divine Fist.”

Thud…

And so the priest collapsed without even managing a proper response.

* * *

WHOOSH!

Though he had taken down the annoying ones in front, there were still some who hadn’t moved.

Ihan saw two priests lunging at him from both sides with tremendous acceleration.

They were poised to thrust sharp awls at him.

Feeling their intense killing intent, Ihan simply…

…STAB.

“?”

“??”

He let the awls hit him.

But the awls couldn’t penetrate his skin at all.

As if they had hit a wall.

“H-how? The blessing of penetration is active, so how…?”

“Do I look like someone who would answer your questions?”

CRACK!

Ihan casually broke their wrists, twisting them in directions they shouldn’t bend, causing their eyes to bulge.

“Hey, are you any better than those guys?”

Judging by their lack of screaming, they seemed quite tough.

Therefore…

CRUNCH!

“Since you seem talented at enduring pain, try enduring this too.”

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!

“!!!!?!!!!”

Bone and muscle manipulation.

Originally just a torture method rarely used as an attack in martial arts novels, Ihan had refined it into an effective combat technique.

His understanding of muscles and bones, combined with his extraordinary senses, had allowed him to adapt this for practical combat use.

While the intensity of pain was less than during serious torture, it was still about half as effective.

The agony must be excruciating to endure.

WHOOSH!

While admiring his handiwork, Ihan noticed a projectile flying toward him.

An arrow.

A gift sent by a sniper who had been radiating killing intent from 1.5km away was flying straight at him.

The arrow seemed to have a will of its own, and Ihan observed it curiously before…

THWACK!

He kicked a stone like a soccer ball with a powerful punt.

Though the motion looked playful, the power contained in the stone was anything but light.

It was incredibly heavy…

CRASH!

And incredibly destructive.

Gwan-il-chang, or rather “Gwan-il stone throw” since he used a stone?

The arrow was pulverized in mid-air, and Ihan then placed his hand on a nearby tree.

CRACK!

The tree in Ihan’s grip was uprooted.

It wasn’t like plucking a flower, yet it came out so easily that it seemed impossible, but Ihan’s strength had now surpassed ordinary levels.

If someone wanted to overpower him with strength, they would need at least a thousand-year-old troll or ogre.

Thud.

Ihan took his stance.

A javelin stance.

WHOOSH!

Using his entire body as a bow, he lightly bounced, took a running start, and transferred all his bodily power into the tree.

Though he couldn’t guarantee accuracy, if this were to strike the ground, the entire surrounding area would be devastated, making escape impossible.

CRASH!!

It wasn’t Gwan-il-chang or anything special—just a simple tree throw.

But its power and speed were incomparable to the arrow from earlier, and at some point…

—BOOM!!

It made a sound like a bomb exploding as it landed far away.

“…Did I hit the target?”

But he wasn’t sure if it had actually hit.

Since he had thrown it purely by instinct.

In this situation.

“…You even ignore the blessing of certain hit. Truly unreasonable strength. Even if you aren’t a heretic, your strength appears to be derived from heretical arts.”

“So you’re the last one. I thought that presence felt familiar.”

“……”

“I let you go once, but did you expect me to let you go twice?”

“I’m not that shameless.”

“Good to hear.”

“……”

“Ah, you can take that out.”

“You already knew?”

“With the gunpowder smell you’re giving off, how could I not know?”

“…I see.”

Click.

The priest who had been carrying a Bible and a small bell the night before.

He pulled out a revolver from inside his Bible, and then…

BANG!

He fired a bullet.

* * *

In this world, guns are limited to muskets invented for nobility’s hunting purposes and aren’t particularly common combat tools.

To begin with, guns aren’t effective against magical beasts, and if intelligent magical beasts were to get their hands on guns, nothing could be more disastrous.

Additionally, the development and distribution of guns in this world has been extremely slow due to concerns that if guns were to advance, commoners might eventually rise in rebellion.

BANG!

But just because distribution is slow doesn’t mean research is done carelessly.

BOOM!!

That certainly wasn’t the case.

Despite being just a revolver, its power was considerable.

It had the destructive force of what seemed like an anti-materiel rifle.

If hit, even someone using Golden Steel Body like himself wouldn’t escape unharmed.

A power that transcended the physical laws of what a revolver should be capable of.

It must be either using Holy Law or specially manufactured.

WHOOSH!

However, Ihan read the bullet’s trajectory and dodged it immediately.

The trained eyes of a knight can react even to bullet movements.

He thought he could simply approach and subdue his opponent, but…

WHACK!!

“?”

“So it doesn’t work barehanded after all.”

“…No, keep trying.”

“……”

“I won’t kill you, so continue.”

“…Hmm.”

The opponent’s fist, or rather his martial arts, was at a considerable level.

A fighting style that appropriately mixed joint techniques and strikes, this was probably…

‘Systema?’

Hooh!

He couldn’t help but admire this unexpected sight.

He never expected to see something like this in this world.

This was probably what they called…

‘[Gun-Law], wasn’t it?’

A martial art that appropriately combined guns and combat techniques.

It was a martial art often seen in gun-handling movies, and if mastered by someone skilled in both firearms and high-level hand-to-hand combat, it would be incredibly powerful.

Or rather, in this context, it might be more accurate to say the gun was the fearsome element.

BANG! BANG! BANG!!

The priest was not only skilled in martial arts but also in marksmanship.

He controlled the revolver’s recoil with Holy Law, remaining completely steady, and his accuracy was decent.

“Why do bullets keep coming out?”

“This too is Holy Law.”

“Wow, that’s really cheating.”

“……”

“What’s with that expression?”

“…I don’t think you’re one to talk.”

“?”

Though he felt like the priest was talking nonsense, Ihan continued to engage with his opponent.

He controlled his strength appropriately and responded using only bare-handed fighting techniques.

He could end this anytime if he wanted, but…

‘This guy’s not bad at all.’

It was refreshing.

Not just the techniques, but the fighting style that appropriately incorporated the gun stimulated Ihan’s interest and made him want to continue the exchange.

Therefore…

“One hour.”

“?”

“If you last one hour, I’ll let you go.”

“??”

The priest didn’t immediately understand Ihan’s meaningful statement, but after about 30 minutes…

“…So that’s what you meant…”

Drip, drip!

Sweating profusely, the priest’s entire body trembled.

One hour.

Only now did the priest realize that the statement truly meant he would be spared if he could last an hour against him, and his body trembled.

His stamina was already approaching its limit.

But Ihan…

“You can do it. Get up, you spineless bastard.”

“…Are you even human?”

He hadn’t shed a single drop of sweat, and his breathing remained peaceful.

“Come on, you can do it!”

“…Don’t you think it’s a bit odd to cheer on your enemy?”

“Were you my enemies?”

“……”

“I thought you just came to entertain me, hmm…”

“…This is more humiliating than being treated like a bug.”

The priest, Pierre, realized.

From the beginning, they were never even considered enemies by this knight—just toys.

Upon this realization…

Click.

“I’d rather die.”

Pierre pointed the gun at his own forehead and pulled the trigger.

As if to repay everything with death.

…However.

“Not allowed.”

“……”

“Where do you think you’re escaping to?”

“……”

…Seeing the fired bullet spinning between Ihan’s thumb and index finger, Pierre was truly at a loss for words.

And then Ihan…

“This bastard has decent skill and talent, but his mind is rotten! How can someone like this exist!”

Raging like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched, he picked up a stick lying on the ground.

It was just an ordinary wooden stick, but the moment he held it, it seemed to gain vitality and the hardness of iron.

“You rotten-minded bastard! You’re going to take exactly a thousand lashes!”

“……”

“Get down.”

“What?”

“I said get down on the ground, you mentally rotten bastard!!”

Afterward, regardless of Pierre’s opinion, Ihan continuously wielded the rod and…

WHACK!

…Pierre lost consciousness.

…Later, whenever he passed out, Ihan would pour water to wake him, apply potions when he seemed near death, and feed him when his strength was depleted, all while endlessly wielding the rod.

Endlessly…

Pierre repeatedly fainted from the intense pain he couldn’t get used to, and each time he woke up, he had to witness the rod striking him again.

Like falling into a hell where pain repeated endlessly…

And for four days, as Pierre was beaten, he thought.

…This knight unnecessarily keeps his word well.

A thousand lashes.

As the knight had boasted, over four days, he indeed received a thousand lashes.

How did he know this?

“Assistant, how many are left for this bastard?”

“Umm, you’ve hit him four hundred and eighty times so far.”

“Are you sure about the number?”

“You’ve been marking it on the blackboard as you hit him.”

“I get confused because there are so many people to beat.”

“Y-yes, that can happen.”

“Ah, he’s awake. Just five hundred and twenty more to go. Assistant, count accurately.”

“Yes…”

…Kindly, he was told the remaining number each time he woke up after fainting.