Chapter 174: Till the Heart Beats (1)

Lee Han’s Lion’s Roar announced the start of the battle.

[━━!]

Wooong-!

It was a Roar full of spirit; stronger and more powerful than any Roar he had ever let out.

This was why rather than getting ruptured eardrums, the archmages and the other mages felt like their head had been hit by a hammer, and many fainted because of that.

Such was the power of maximum volume Lion’s Roar.

However…

“Why are you rejecting my offer? I can’t understand…”

Despite being hit directly by Lion’s Roar, Toure was incredibly calm. He just shook his hand lightly.

“The dissection will be painless, why are you deliberately trying to make yourself suffer?”

Crackle-!

Every time he waved his hand, the ground cracked, and the wind slit apart. His spells quickly covered both Lee Han and Lake.

Rumble-!

An enormous mass of pressure fell upon them, pressing them violently from all directions, it was impossible to avoid.

“This magic is called ‘Perspective Manipulation’. It’s a magic to manipulate everything in the three-dimensional space that my vision takes in. Quite a fun magic if I may say so myself.”

Rumble-!

Toure was kind. He even kindly told them what kind of attack they were facing.

Perspective. In simple terms, it meant the entire space that one could see with their eyes. Being able to manipulate it meant that one could materialize something out of one’s imagination.

Everyone had tried to grab or hit a distant and unreachable mountain or cloud with their hands at least once, it was normal.

Actually doing it however, was impossible.

“Here I go. I’m gonna hit your side next.”

Yet, Toure was able to do it.

For a man with magical powers as vast as the ocean and had studied countless magic for over 400 years, magic was no longer something that needed to be activated as a ‘spell.’ He had reached a level where as long as he willed it to happen, it would happen.

That was his ‘magic’.

Perhaps, if someone were to see him, it wouldn’t be strange for them to claim that God had descended, but…

Crunch-!

“Huh?”

Something that proved that he, in fact, wasn’t God, happened. A ‘small scratch’ appeared on his palm.

“No matter how monstrous someone is, they’d still need a catalyst to affect the 3D world, and the most likely catalyst for that is either their hands or eyes.”

“Then, as long as we cut that, it’ll be over?”

“To put it simply… Yeah.”

The two knights aimed their weapon at the invisible, enormous mass in front of them. If it was any normal person, they’d be shocked, give up, and try to run away, but it wasn’t the case at all with the two knights

Instead, they aimed their swords at the coming mass and swung their weapons.

“…I knew it, you guys are really fun test subjects!”

Toure however, seemed more interested in their resistance than the scratches on his palm.

Those who had experienced his magic for the first time all gave up, but these warriors who had trained their souls were different.

They fought back.

Looking at that…

“Would you still be able to stand up after what I’m gonna do next~?”

Swish-!

Toure spread his arms wide. The two knights were locked in his vision. If they couldn’t avoid this, they’d undoubtedly be crushed like ants.

Although, there really wasn’t anywhere for them to run.

After all, he had set numerous traps throughout his whole vision.

If, by chance, they were able to avoid his magic, then—

Stop-!

“…Huh?”

Toure blinked.

Bulge-!

“You blocked it?”

His palms failed to touch each other—no, to be exact, they couldn’t touch each other. There was an unusual resistance blocking him from doing so.

“Keueueuug-!”

It was Lee Han, using all his strength to prevent Toure from clapping.

Crack-!

This was how great the power of the doping was; it let him withstood the enormous force that tried to squeeze him—an enormous force that was pretty much the equivalent of getting pressed by a giant hydraulic press—with his power alone.

However, he wasn’t satisfied with just that.

That was why…

Crack-!

He poured out all the strength he could master.

“…Wow.”

Thanks to that, not only did he wound Toure’s palms, he also quite literally tore his flesh open.

However, Toure still didn’t pay any attention to that. Instead, he clenched his fists again, as if he was experimenting with the thing that had piqued his curiosity.

Rumble-!

Such a sound echoed as he slammed his fist down. A force that was no different from a boulder falling from high above descended upon Lee Han, but…

Crack-!

“You blocked this one too?”

He blocked the blow by crossing his arms.

Although it still shook the ground, forming a crater under him, and he could feel something in his knees and ankles burst, he still managed to block it.

It went without saying that Toure was amazed by the spectacle. He knew he shouldn’t have let himself get hurt, but that wasn’t important, the fact that he found a warrior who managed to have a power struggle against his Perspective Manipulation for the first time in his 400 years of life was.

It was refreshing.

Because of that, he became more and more excited.

“Can you block this one next?”

Toure swung his fists and hands haphazardly.

Sometimes he’d swing his fists, other times his palms. At times, he’d even blow strong wind with his mouth.

Within those series of actions, there were instances where he clenched his fists and blew out a particularly strong breath.

Crack-!

RUMMMMMMBLE-!

Every time that happened, the ground shook, as if it was going to collapse.

“Ahhhhh!”

“R-Run away…!”

“T-Tower Master?”

Though his movements seemed like a child throwing a tantrum, it caused various natural disasters occuring at once. However, because of that, the mages of the Magic Tower—who were on his side—were caught in the crossfire, they were so shaken that they couldn’t even stand properly. Some of them even vomited out blood due to the aftereffects of the shock.

All in all, it was pandemonium.

However, Toure didn’t even register their screams in his ears. What was important for him at the moment was to see how well the test subject, or rather his ‘new toy’, would hold up.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Surprisingly, Lee Han blocked all of the attacks.

Whenever a fist flew and a palm tried to hit him, he’d pull out his sword to either cut it, or parry it.

Thanks to the doping, the injuries on his knees and ankles were quickly recovered, and his reactions to Toure’s attacks became faster than the speed at which he was getting hurt.

“─!”

Since even a small mistake could lead to a huge disaster, Lee Han rolled his body around like crazy without even bothering to catch his breath.

Hitting, blocking, parrying.

His appearance as he was doing these three things while trying to not make a mistake was one that could be described as ‘desperate’.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!”

He shouted, trying to gain momentum, and it seemed like he was testing his limits.

The knight was literally fighting for his life.

With his raw desperation and intensity in each of his movements, he marched forward, little by little.

His instinct told him to kill Toure if he wanted to live, and his body responded to that, doing its best to carry out his will, step by step.

Infinitely small but great steps.

The distance between Toure and Lee Han was about two hundred paces. Blood poured out from him with every step he took, and his bones cracked repeatedly, but he still pushed forward.

A knight who never backed down.

His appearance that made him look like he didn’t know how to step back was literally like a turtle.

The first time got his surname after becoming a knight, he had carelessly thought about it. But looking at him now, anyone could tell that he had given himself a surname that suited him better than anyone else.

“Puhahaha! What is that?!”

Someone might have been moved by Lee Han’s desperation and exclaimed in admiration, but Toure just laughed at it.

As if he was mocking him, saying, ‘Do you really think you can reach me?’.

Then, suddenly…

“I want to see you despair.”

He made a different hand gesture like a cruel mischievous child.

The moment his palm made a hand gesture that resembled a child scooping up sand…

Rumble-!

…The earth turned upside down.

An absurd situation where the heavens and the earth turned upside down unfolded before Lee Han’s eyes, and when Toure’s hand finally turned over and his fingers unfurled…

…!!

Lee Han’s body fell deep into the ground and bounced around.

“…You monstrous bastard.”

Lee Han made a disgusted expression as he stared at the large amount of soil and snow covering him.

-Turning the earth upside down.

It was unbelievable that this horrific result was achieved in the hands of a single mage. But, the most terrifying thing was the fact that the ground flipped over and Lee Han was buried along with it.

Even after that, Toure continued to hit the ground with his palm and fist as if he was going to make sure he was dead.

Boom-!*

Boom-!*

Boom-!

Still won’t break? How about this?

…What he did was like a child doing a prank to satisfy their curiosity.

Just a moment ago, he was happy to see a rare test subject, but now, he was destroying it like this, something that came straight out of a horror movie.

This was clear evidence as to why he was called the greatest madman in the Magic Tower.

And then…

Bang-!

Trickle-!

“Oh, right! You are here too!”

Toure, who had been playing with only one ‘toy’ for so long that he had forgotten that he had another toy, didn’t show any particular emotion when blood flowed down his cheek.

Instead, he…

“Woah, you’re all better now?”

“…”

“Tch, your reaction is not fun.”

“…”

“Hmm, but aren’t you worried that your friend might be dead? Normally, when a human gets stuck in a place like that, they’ll die, you know?”

“…He’s not my friend.”

“Really? I thought you were a close friend.”

Whoosh-!

“C’mon, let’s talk a little more~”

Completely dismissing Toure’s words, Lake’s spear strikes continued without pause.

Since the tanker had given his all to tank the hits, now it was the DPS’ role to pierce the monster’s neck.