Ch.177EP.41 – Until the Heart Beats (4)

“…Why is that guy suddenly transforming?”

Ihan clicked his tongue while admiring Lac de Duron who was charging at the monster spellcaster like a madman, surrounded by flames.

Though it seemed powerful at a glance, he felt like this was a battle that would be as short-lived as a mayfly.

‘His body won’t be able to handle that.’

Although Lac had forcibly obtained a physical body similar to Ihan’s level through Ihan’s technique, he wouldn’t be able to endure such violent energy for long.

It wouldn’t be strange if he self-destructed at any moment.

However, rather than worrying about the guy, Ihan simply threw his punches faster and more powerfully.

Right now, winning was more desperate than preserving life!

PUBUBUBUBUK!!

“ARGHHHH!”

“S-stop…!”

Screams seemed to echo from all around, but that wasn’t his concern.

Ihan wasn’t unleashing such chaotic and wide-ranging fist attacks simply to hunt other spellcasters.

As his fist strikes increased, they occupied space and created trajectories for countless projectiles.

This meant his strikes were hitting the monster from all directions with unpredictable trajectories that neither his opponent nor even Ihan himself could read.

And among those trajectory-drawing fist strikes,

PUEOK!

There were blows that contained neither hostility nor killing intent, but only pure will!

The fist of Arahan.

– Arahan Divine Fist!

The martial art of enlightenment he had realized while facing the Marquis the day before.

Yes, this was a power that possessed the ‘concept of will,’ just like the spellcaster’s magic.

Of course, it wasn’t as natural or powerful as what the spellcasters used, but for now, nothing could block his strikes.

However,

Throb!

…Ihan decided he couldn’t use the Arahan Divine Fist for long.

As if this power wasn’t yet permitted to him, his head felt like it would split apart the more he used it.

Drip!

Ihan continued throwing punches without even having the presence of mind to wipe the nosebleed that had started flowing.

He was determined not to give that monster any chance to act.

– Hundred Step Divine Fist!

Ihan gritted his teeth as he extended not just a simple Hundred Step Divine Fist, but one imbued with the enlightenment of the Arahan Divine Fist.

He was certain this would blow the bastard’s head off…!

[-Divine Punishment.]

KWAAAAAAANG-!!

The next moment, lightning poured down from the sky.

Not just a single bolt of lightning, but hundreds of thunderbolts raining down every second, sweeping through everything indiscriminately.

“T-Tower Master…!!!”

One of the old spellcasters died from that lightning.

It was the one whose chest had been slashed by Ihan.

With wounds already severe, it couldn’t withstand the hundreds of lightning bolts surging through it.

Whoosh…!

And where the shower of lightning had passed, everything had been erased.

…Without a trace.

Divine Punishment.

A magician’s spell is a means of implementing language into reality, and the reason spells are long is to eliminate risks by using metaphorical expressions.

But Tyr de Sagan was so intuitive that he uttered words that could be considered divine authority.

The aftermath was, as you can see, overwhelming.

“Cough…”

Tyr himself was injured, spitting blood for the first time.

Even for someone like him, there was no way to commit such an act without risk.

It was the expected outcome.

In other words, he had used magic despite the risk, which meant Tyr acknowledged them as enemies.

None other than a great magician who had lived for 400 years.

So.

“…I guess this much isn’t enough after all?”

Whistle.

The land that originally had a small hill became a barren plain after being directly hit by lightning, but even the lightning that had flattened the hill couldn’t kill them.

“…Are you still alive?”

“For now.”

The two knights were covered in black ash and had severe burns, but they were still unharmed.

“You’re really persistent.”

Tyr nodded as if he had expected this.

These were the first people to engage him in a life-or-death battle—how could they die from just this much?

Therefore.

“I won’t wait any longer now.”

He declared there would be no more waiting like before.

It was a conclusion he reached because he acknowledged the knights and judged them to be a threat, and so Tyr…

Whoosh!

Swung his hand.

PAAAT!

Perspective Manipulation.

As the great magician’s unique magic that disturbed the principles of the world unfolded, the ground shook, the wind split, and a shockwave of massive mass engulfed the knights.

Just a moment ago it had been overwhelming, and they had been barely able to block it, completely helpless against such power, but.

PUJIK!!

“…I guess I can’t use this recklessly anymore either.”

Tyr’s fingers bent backward.

He had tried to attack but ended up injuring himself instead, and Tyr restored his broken fingers.

-Infinite Regeneration.

Magic that mimicked the mystery said to be possessed by the mystical bird [Phoenix].

No matter what injury he sustained, he could recover infinitely.

So Tyr felt that getting injured didn’t matter, but.

Throb!

“…The pain remains?”

In the end, this proved that it was not the original but merely a copy, as the magic was not perfect.

…Or rather, he had originally thought it was perfect magic, but today he learned the maximum tolerance of this spell for the first time.

And as if to prove this,

KWAJIK!

KWADDEUDDEUK!

The more their fierce attacks continued, the more Perspective Manipulation was exploited, the more wounds accumulated on Tyr’s body.

As they had initially suspected, the catalysts for Perspective Manipulation were indeed Tyr’s arms and eyes.

But normally, it wouldn’t matter if the catalyst was discovered.

After all, who could stand against this vast mass and magical power?

But now, that common sense was being shattered, and Perspective Manipulation was being exploited.

Most magicians would be shocked and feel despair at having their magic exploited, but.

“Heh!”

Tyr wore a smile tinged with madness.

Such crisis and injury had been so long in coming.

Some indescribable sense of danger made his heart pound faster, and as his breathing quickened, Tyr even felt a thrill.

His hundreds of years of life had been empty, always languid and repetitive.

The stimulation that came from that life was like a drug stimulating dopamine in his brain.

‘No, it can’t even be compared to drugs!’

Having been addicted to drugs for about 50 years, Tyr was certain that this current battle was an exciting moment that shouldn’t be compared to drugs.

How to put it…

This very situation—blood splattering, body breaking down, heart pounding urgently—

‘I am alive!’

It made Tyr feel vitality.

It was an exhilarating dopamine rush.

“Just a little more, make it more fun for me!”

The next moment, Tyr’s ocean-like magical power surged up,

KURURURURUNG!!

—And a waterspout descended.

* * *

KURURURURUNG!

“This again…”

Earth Flipping.

The disaster that had rendered Ihan helpless was once again engulfing him.

Even larger masses of soil were being flipped than before, and it was dizzying to think if he could break through it.

As if this alone wasn’t dizzying enough…

GUOOO!

That monster proved this wasn’t the end by summoning something insane.

He manipulated the typhoon that the old spellcasters had summoned to form a massive waterspout.

A waterspout appearing where there was no sea, land masses flipping—a scene of mad disaster.

Anyone else might have fainted in such a situation, but…

“……”

Strangely, Ihan remained calm.

This wasn’t resignation.

Simply…

‘I think I can do it.’

Ihan gauged the approaching earth and waterspout, and derived the result that ‘I can handle this.’

If others saw this, they might curse him, wondering if his head was broken, but this was an extremely cold-headed judgment.

That’s because,

HWAAAK!

Ihan was confident he could perform ‘bold actions’ with the powerful fighting energy now coursing through his body.

Even if it was something he had never tried before, it would be possible now that he could use fighting techniques.

Intense heat haze rippled around Ihan’s body.

‘This is demonic energy (magong).’

Ridiculously, even in this situation, Ihan analyzed what the fighting technique was and defined it.

Demonic energy.

Yes, the fighting technique was very similar to the demonic arts that appear in martial arts novels.

Fierce and rough, threatening its host.

A clear give-and-take power that provides tremendous strength in exchange.

So this is indeed demonic energy.

Conversely, and also amusingly, the technique Ihan had learned was ‘righteous energy (jeonggong).’

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had devoted everything to increasing his power step by step and stabilizing his vessel.

A technique that allows those without talent to advance one step at a time through effort and perseverance, eventually standing alongside those who have mastered fighting techniques.

Although it might take longer to learn compared to fighting techniques, it would be a stable power.

It could be called Buddhist reverse muscle sutra or Taoist immortal martial arts—a truly righteous (jeongdo) method.

This thought became even more certain when compared to fighting techniques.

Fighting techniques don’t draw out and grow a person’s natural strength, but rather burn this intense energy, using life force as fuel.

And Ihan…

‘I see, so I had such intense life force within me…’

He was feeling the vast [life force] writhing inside him, more than anyone else’s.

An energy that seemed like it would devour even the large amount of red fighting energy that Lac had shared.

And this energy was evidence showing Ihan’s ‘history’ and ‘life’ of effort.

He had lived intensely, pouring everything out as if each day was his last.

‘I’m glad I worked hard.’

Ihan was extremely happy that all those years hadn’t been meaningless, and he exploded ‘his fighting energy’—the energy that was rising from its crouched position as if asking, ‘Why call me only now?’

GOOO-!

The flow of the fighting technique was already engraved like a tattoo in his blood vessels, nerves, muscles, and bones, so it wasn’t difficult for Ihan to draw out his life force—rather, it was easy.

HWAAK!

A righteous sect disciple learning demonic arts—truly a deplorable thing!

But what could he do?

If it was to bring down the cult leader threatening the martial world’s righteous path, he couldn’t be picky about methods…

“…Who did I take after to become this crazy?”

The energy dormant within him seemed to dislike the fighting technique that resembled demonic arts, making strange arguments to himself.

No, even though he had been getting hints from martial arts novels for his techniques all this time, he hadn’t actually learned martial arts, so why was this energy mass treating the fighting technique with such distaste?

What an annoying thing, whose traits could it have inherited…

‘Ah, mine.’

Was it showing such strange tendencies because it resembled him?

Ihan chuckled at this situation.

Perhaps this was the karma of his past actions.

But he wasn’t worried.

Although the energy itself was strange…

‘What are you doing? We need to beat up the spellcaster.’

Twitch!

What could it mean that it resembled him?

HWAAAK!

…It meant it extremely despised spellcasters.

An intense wave of power radiated from Ihan’s body, and the tsunami of soil that was engulfing him-

JJEOJEOJEOJEOJEOK!

Exploded upon contact with him.

UUUUNG.

A massive amount of fighting energy was emitted, compressing into a circular shape surrounding Ihan.

It looked like the mages’ magic barriers, but it was created with the intention of deflecting and annihilating all attacks rather than for defense.

The basic foundation was fighting energy, and the structure of power concentration followed the principles of sword energy, so.

Strong Energy Martial Art.

Named-

“—Protective Strong Energy (Hoshin Ganggi).”