Chapter 234: Turns Out, A Lady’s Heart Is Like A Reed (4)

Controlling Sword with Energy, huh?

Lee Han looked at the tree branches floating in the air pointedly.

Even though it was just tree branches, it didn’t show any fragileness like it should.

“You’re taking this too seriously. It’s just tree branches.”

“…In my eyes, it didn’t seem like just tree branches. It might be a more annoying attack than a sword.”

“Did you figure it out by your gut’s feeling? That’s surprising.”

“It wasn’t a feeling, it was just…”

Thud-!

–He was just being cautious because he hadn’t read the martial arts novels carelessly.

Lee Han kicked the ground with his feet and swung his iron sword along with its scabbard. The sword hadn’t been drawn yet, he was just testing it out, and when the tree branch and scabbard collided.

Bang-!

“…If physicists saw this, they’d grab the back of their necks.”

The heavy sound of hammers clashing against hammers rang out.

It was a heaviness that could not be felt from any normal dry branch, and he could not understand how this phenomenon could occur at all. However, when he remembered that superhumans were not people who lived within the bounds of common sense, Lee Han smiled bitterly.

Then,

Let’s think that I am sparring with more than one person.

Lee Han simply decided to think of the branches that were falling on him as swordsmen and sparring partners, and he repositioned himself to take a stance for evasion.

Why did he choose evasion instead of attacking or parrying?

Of course it was because…

Whoosh-! Shoosh-!

There was not one opponent, but seven!

There were seven branches floating in the air, and those seven branches were rushing at Lee Han at once. If it were just a normal sparring session, he would have blocked it with his Vajra Body, but since he remembered Felicia telling him not to use any techniques, he had to work a little harder.

Whir-!

Some people might think he was the type of swordsman that lacked technique because he usually blocked the sword with his body, but Lee Han never took the basics, swordsmanship, and ‘Footwork’ lightly.

If he looked down on those, how could he use a complicated technique like the Phantom Eight Trigrams Step?

Thud-!

Lee Han showed off quick and flexible movements that didn’t match his size. Although it wasn’t flashy, his footsteps were full of simplicity, and they were smooth and fast, like he was walking on ice rather than on the ground.

And if those footsteps and his swordsmanship were in harmony.

Bang-!

“Good!”

It wasn’t difficult for him to subdue the swordsman (tree branch).

Lee Han’s sword finally shattered a branch, and Felicia clapped her hands, finding it delightful.

“I’m not a clown, you know.”

However, Lee Han just expressed his discomfort at feeling like a clown, but Felicia ignored him and continued to send the branches at him.

“Now… Let’s increase the intensity a bit.”

Whoosh-!

“!!?”

The speed and pressure of the branches suddenly changed, as if the difficulty of the test had suddenly increased.

Bang-!

“Fuck…”

Lee Han barely managed to block the branch, but the shock that jolt his wrist was different from before, so he instinctively swore.

This isn’t simply controlling the sword with energy anymore…

Lee Han thought that this might be the ultimate swordsmanship, commonly called the realm of the Mind Sword.

Or maybe it went one step further.

Lee Han decided not to define her swordsmanship, or the [Void Sword], with the knowledge or common sense he knew. After all, he was certain that he would never win if he confined this swordsmanship to his own frame.

Sreung-!

Lee Han threw the scabbard and pulled out the blade at that moment to show his true feelings.

And as expected,

Kwaaang-!!

…The tree branch, which already had a heavy force, gave off an even greater sense of pressure. It was as if she was telling him that pulling out his swords was the right thing to do.

“Heup!”

Crackle-!

Lee Han took a deep breath and gave the tree branch that was trying to attack him his all, and the tree branch was destroyed right away.

Crack-!

The tree branch that was sneaking up on him from behind also met the same fate.

Crunch-!

He seemed to be swinging his sword monotonously, but the strength from the sword he was swinging was incredible. The wind pressure created by just one swing reminded anyone who watched of a Berserk Technique.

It was a horizontal slash that he had practiced for three years while lifting a barbell weighing hundreds of kilos, so in a way, it was natural for it to be so strong.

“… Amazing. Not only you are strong, but it looks like you haven’t missed a single day of training. Did you get there with just basic swordsmanship?”

“I don’t have a master who can teach me useful swordsmanship.”

“That’s even more amazing and admirable. Since you don’t have a teacher, you beat yourself up even more viciously…! You’re no different from a cast iron in human form. I can’t even guess how much you’ve been refined.”

Felicia didn’t hold back on her praise as he saw what Lee Han could do. It was excessive praise to the point of teasing, but there was a reason why Felicia kept praising him so much.

“But dear, you’re not that talented, are you?”

Woong-!

“Your body is amazing, but that body is probably a work of art created through training that a normal human could never do. It doesn’t seem to be a product of Mystics either, so you must have been subjected to experiments that improved your body’s resilience. You must have suffered a lot since you were young.”

Bang-!

“Ah, of course that’s not a bad thing. When I was young, there were people with resilience like you. They trained their bodies in a similar way to you. By the way, among those with that kind of resilience, there was one who had the incredible Mystic of [Regeneration], and he was also good at swordsmanship… But in the end, he became arrogant and intoxicated by his own strength, and later on, he was the first to die.”

Crackle-!

“However, the other people with the resilience like yours also couldn’t overcome their limits in the end. They lacked persistence, or ‘determination.’”

Crackle-!

Even though Felicia was telling him something important, Lee Han didn’t have the presence of mind to listen to her. After all, the tree branch became sharper as if it had been sharpened and began to cut off Lee Han’s collar.

The weight behind its strike was also extremely heavy, and it gradually pushed Lee Han back.

However,

“It’s starting to get irritating.”

It didn’t mean that Lee Han was pushed into a crisis.

Crack-!

Lee Han’s muscles twitched and moved dynamically. Just like a spring or rubber band returning to its original state, Lee Han’s muscles tensed and prepared to release its power.

He wasn’t using ‘Martial Power’, but his muscle strength was already explosive in itself, so the moment the compressed power was released through the medium of the sword, that power…

Booom-!

It displayed a powerful force like a shell had landed.

Crackle-!

The loud sound of the explosion that shook the axis of the earth engulfed the building, and cracks formed in the ground. The dust that covered the surroundings covered the garden like fog, but the dust quickly disappeared, revealing the appearance of Lee Han and the branches.

“…Of all the branches I’ve ever dealt with, this is the most fearsome.”

The seven branches were finally shattered and rolled around on the ground, but Lee Han was not relieved at all.

Thud-!

“What’s the point of winning against branches when my iron sword becomes like this…”

His own sword was also on the verge of being shattered.

Lee Han smiled bitterly as he looked at the cracked sword.

“From now on you shouldn’t call Kunta a mystical race in front of Instructor. Kunta thinks Instructor is more amazing.”

“I agree…”

“Haha….”

Kunta and Arno were dumbfounded as they watched their instructor destroy the ground without using any Combat Techniques or Martial Power. Even the Barbarian, who was famous for their strength, would probably be just a weakling if compared to him.

Only Levy awkwardly made a timid objection, saying, ‘Isn’t that cool…?’, but no one agreed with her.

“…Elza, can I ask you something, Is Sir Totle really a human?”

“I’m not sure…”

While everyone who witnessed Lee Han’s magic of ‘strength’ reacted in a dazed manner, Lee Han’s gaze was focused solely on Felicia.

“Great. This shows how persistently you trained your body. You are greater than those arrogant people in the past, and you are indeed better than those who had many talents.”

“Comparing myself to someone or receiving compliments is not my concern.”

Clang-!

Lee Han aimed his sword which could break at any moment at Felicia.

“You will come yourself now, right? Or are you going to use the Void Sword again?”

“I don’t think I can do it even if I want to. If I do, I might kill you this time.”

“…That’s a really scary thing to say.”

Lee Han realized that it wasn’t arrogance but the truth.

If she used the Void Sword again, Lee Han would seriously use all his moves, but he couldn’t believe that he could defeat the Aura User even if he used all his moves.

If she attacked, he,

I think I’ll turn into a human cactus.

The thought of the branches making pretty holes all over his body made his body temperature drop. Just imagining it made him feel cold…

“Hmm, I guess I know what your problem is.”

“…?”

“Hehe, you must have forgotten because we were sparring so seriously. We didn’t fight, did we? We just wanted to get to know your weakness through ‘light sparring’.”

“It didn’t seem light at all….”

Stab-!

As if to tell him to focus on what she was saying, she struck the ground with the branch in her hand as soon as he replied.

“Dear, your problem is that you’re still not good at using your will, or ‘mental power’.”

“??”

Lee Han tilted his head. It wasn’t because he couldn’t understand what she was saying, but because there was something he didn’t understand.

…How do people use their mental power?

He was expressing his doubts about whether mental power could really be utilized, but she just smiled faintly.

“Are you curious about how to use the energy called mental power? Well….”

─It’s like this.

Felicia lightly held out her palm. It was a gesture that made Lee Han wonder what she was doing, and at that moment when he tilted his head…

Woong-!

“…”

The rock that had been decorating the middle of the garden like ornament began to be pulled out. WHat was more surprising was that the distance between her and the rocks was about 20 meters away.

It also happened without any sign. That too in an instant…!

“It looks like a [Mystic], right? But it’s not. I just used my mental energy to pull the rock.”

“…It’s teleknisis.”

“I said it’s not a Mystic. It’s just…. Yes, anyone can do it with enough ‘Tenacity’ and ‘Faith’!”

“…”

“…Why do you look at me like that?”

“Well…”

…If it’s really possible with concentration of tenacity and faith alone, Lee Han thought It could split the sea in half.

It’s not like it’s a miracle of the Red Sea…

It was the moment when Lee Han became convinced that Aura User would do well as religious leaders.