Chapter 249: The Knight Didn’t Utter Lies (5)

Lee Han couldn’t help but wonder why it was so easy to imagine what his own expression was right now.

It’s frozen stiff.

And as if to reaffirmed his thoughts,

“What a scary face.”

“In this kind of situation, how could I smile?”

“True. But don’t you think you are jumping to conclusions? It might be just a misunderstanding, you know?”

“That could be the case”

“But why are you so forward?”

“What a funny thing to say.”

Contrary to his easy going remark, Lee Han raised his sword with an expression that showed no sign of laugh.

“How could it be just a misunderstanding when you have a killing intent so thick?”

In his quite long life in this world, it was only the second time Lee Han had come face to face against such a ridiculous killing intent.

Tingl-!

It’s different from what the Spear Bastard has.

If someone knew what Lee Han thought, they might find it baffling and chalked it as a stange logic. But in his defense, the killing intent Lee Han felt from the Spear Bastard was pure. Even though it harbored the will to kill, his power was pure and heavy like the morning dew, and it wasn’t something dirty or unpleasant.

But the killing intent in front of him was different.

It’s dirty.

It had the smell of rotten water, or even rotting corpses. A strong killing intent which was mixed with such things was emanating from the bastard’s body. Because of that, Lee Han’s skin was tingling as his whole body became numb. At the same time, Lee Han also thought that he had finally experienced everything that the world had to offer.

“Having some image change at that age? It wouldn’t be easy, you know?”

“Haha. Don’t you know that once someone grew older, new paths were opened for them?”

“I see. Seems like I am just foolish, you’re the one with the right answer.”

“I’ve lived a little longer than you, I’m just a little wiser.”

Iliad was still speaking politely, and Lee Han’s response to him was also childish, but those who watched them felt it.

The suffocating air that made it seem like anything could happen at any time was encroaching heavily on the space like a thick fog.

In that situation,

“Oh right. I forgot. Congratulations to you.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, about the leg. You are standing like most people now.”

Then, Lee Han followed that congratulation with an apology.

“I’ll take that leg first, then.”

Whoosh-!

Lee Han kicked the ground and flew as if he was a bullet. Without even a moment’s hesitation, he swung his sword at Iliad’s lower body.

Levy was unable to see it.

Kwaaang-!

When did her master draw his sword?

It was really amazing to see such a huge body moving so nimbly.

But…

Kwaang-!

“…He blocked it?!”

An unrealistic scene where such a swift blow was easily blocked happened in front of her. It was as if her master’s opponent was predicting where the sword would attack him in advance and blocked it.

However, her master was still her master, and as expected,

Bang-!

He still swung his sword without making any correction, as if he was challenging his opponent to block it.

And everytime… a ray of light flashed along with an explosion.

“It’s… Scary.”

Her master’s opponent kept blocking his attack while her master kept attacking him. However, what surprised Levy the most was the fact that his master’s opponent was doing it with a Rapier.

…Is that something possible?

She was so taken aback because she was also a warrior who used rapier as her main weapon.

A sword called Rapier was not a weapon that could be used in such a way. Using speed and counter attacking technique was the correct way to fight with a Rapier. To use it to block a swordsman with a large weight difference like that was no different from a fox blocking a bear’s attack.

So the question was, how…?

“…It’s because of my father’s ‘Willow Swordsmanship’.”

“?”

“It’s a swordsmanship that relies heavily on predicting the attack by looking at the opponent’s movements, posture, the subtle movements of their body, and even their flow of spirit. Not only that, it would also shoot the impact back no matter how powerful the blow is.”

“I-is that even humanly possible?”

“I don’t know. My father… is just able to do it.”

It was a swordsmanship which was close to magic that calculated everything in his head in an instant, appropriately dislocated the power, and deflected the direction of the sword by a margin of a sheet of paper regardless of the weight difference between him and the opponent as well as how strong or fast the opponent was,

It was a swordsmanship that was only allowed to Illiad, who had the greatest swordsmanship talent in the history of the Offen family, no, the kingdom. The only one who could imitate it was Duke Blake, who was called the genius swordsman of the past.

Even His Highness Duke Blake said that he cannot completely imitate that technique, he can only imitate it. It is really a swordsmanship that is only permitted to my father.”

“…”

Gulp…

It was often said that a genius was someone who possessed talent that overwhelmed everyone and someone who possessed brilliance that made everyone admire them.

Levy couldn’t help but to think that It was an accurate assessment. After all, she could not hide her admiration, shock, and thrill at this moment even when her life could be in danger. In that sense, the swordsmanship that Iliad displayed was the pinnacle of skill that could not be reached no matter how hard one tried.

However,

“…But in Kunta’s opinion, there was something strange about Arno’s father’s body. His joints were strange, and his bones seemed a little thicker too.”

“…”

“Arno… Is he fine?”

“…Hmm.”

Arno couldn’t help but groan at Kunta’s sharp criticism that he couldn’t deny. As he said before, the Willow Swordsmanship was definitely a great swordsmanship.

But,

It wasn’t enough to completely disperse the instructor’s power.

As a son, he knew that he shouldn’t evaluate his father like this. But even if he was a genius in the past, he wasn’t powerful enough to overwhelm the instructor. No, It wasn’t because Iliad was weak. It was just that the instructor was being unreasonably strong.

Moreover,

It’s like there are springs or rubber bands attached to father’s joints.

It was just as Kunta said. Iliad’s body was slightly stretched like rubber, and it was showing a spring-like repulsive force.

His skeleton was also same. Unlike his talents, Iliad’s body was that of a normal human. However, his skeleton had changed as if he had been injected with drugs to change his whole body. And as time went by, the change…

Crack-!

Was becoming more and more obvious.

“…I have no choice but to admit it now.”

Arno gritted his teeth and accepted it with a heavy heart.

His father, Iliad de Offen…

“He had become a Demonic Human.”

A public enemy of humanity.

A monster in the form of a human who must be killed at all costs.

“Fuck…”

Arno cursed at the reality that his father had to die, and he also shed tears.

It was truly a cruel reality.

A phenomenon that could transform a farmer who had never held a sword in his life into a man who had the power of dozens of knights.

People called it ‘Demonic Human Transformation’ after seeing it.

The moment someone ate the flesh of a monster and becomes addicted to it, they gain great strength that no human could have. That’s how someone became a [Demonic Human].

After witnessing such phenomenon, there’s someone who said this:

Since they had such great power, aren’t Demonic Humans quite a convenient tool?

If they used them well, wouldn’t they become helpful to humanity?

The answer was…

Impossible.

It could be said for sure that once someone became a Demonic Human, they became humanity’s ‘archenemy’.

Why?

It was because those who had become Demonic Humans would instinctively eat people. They wouldn’t show any aversion to it.

Loss of their humanity. Humans who became Demonic Humans enjoyed cannibalism. They would even gladly attack their families who were once their everything despite clearly having intact memories and knew the laws.

That’s why Demonic Humans were actually classified as ‘monsters’.

It meant that they were no longer human, and that they had crossed a river of no return.

Because of that…

“We should kill Father… Don’t you think so, Grandmother?”

Swish-!

Arno wiped away his tears as he tried to calm the brewing storm in his heart and looked into the space beside him. It wasn’t because he sensed her presence, but he just assumed that she would naturally be by his side.

And sure enough,

“…”

She was really there, looking forward with a calm gaze, unlike usual.

“Why did you come here? You should’ve trusted this old lady and stayed in the manor.”

She coldly rebuked her grandson, and Arno, who normally would have apologized, refuted instead.

“I’m sorry to say this, but although you are a great warrior, you are not a great human being, Grandmother. If I left this matter entirely on your hand, it would take a year.”

“You… That’s too much.”

“I admit it’s too much, but am I wrong?”

“…”

…Even if she wanted to make an excuse, she had nothing to say.

After all, If she, Felicia the Sword Duchess, wanted to, Iliad should have died long ago.

The fact that he was still alive…

“You were planning to subdue Father, aren’t you, Grandmother?”

Meant that she didn’t kill him on purpose.

And to that statement.

“…”

She gave a silent affirmation, her eyes glistened with sadness.

“I’m sorry.”

Felicia’s apology was full of meaning.

An apology for not being able to help when the family was in shambles.

An apology filled with gratitude for returning the family to normal despite her absence.

And,

“Because of me, things turned out like this….”

…An apology for her own incompetence.

However, Arno just shook his head.

“It’s not something to apologize for. Isn’t that what you wanted, Grandmother?”

“…”

“And Father…”

“…That’s how he was when I first found him.”

“…”

Felicia spoke calmly, but it was obvious that she was holding back a lot of her emotions.

“Yes, when I first found him, that child had already been transformed into a Demonic Human. At that moment, I knew I had to choose. It’s either to subdue him, or…”

Kill him.

However, she made the foolish choice.

“I ended up choosing the former….”

It’s often said that It wouldn’t be that hard for an Aura user to subdue someone.

That’s not wrong. Subduing one person was indeed easy for them.

However…

“I forgot that my child was once called the [Sword Saint].”

Iliad wasn’t a swordsman who could be subdued easily. In his 20s, Iliad was a swordsman who was already hard to beat even in Pendragon. And now, he even had the power of the Demonic Human.

A talent given by the heavens and a powerful physical ability that shook the earth.

From the moment these two combined into one, ‘subduing’ him was out of the question.

Killing him became the only answer.

“Of course, if I had four days, I could have subdued him somehow. However… I wonder what the point of subduing him now is.”

“Grandmother….”

“…He’s no longer human.”

Wooong-!

An ominous sound spread from her sword at that moment.

The moment she made up her mind to kill him, the sound of her sword sounded like a strong sound that no knight had ever seen before.

Perhaps because her grandson’s appearance had helped her solidify her resolve, her sword no longer showed any hesitation.

Because they were family, and because he was her only son…

“Rather than dirtying someone else’s hands, it would be better to dirty my own hands.”

Felicia made up her mind to send her child to the afterlife.

After losing his humanity, he would inevitably hurt people, and in the future, he might even touch her grandchild. And that was definitely not what her son would have wanted, so Felicia held firm for her son’s sake…

“-Please, get out of here. If you interfere, things won’t work out.”

Boom-!

“????”

A punch fell right in front of her.

Felicia was perplexed, wondering what kind of absurd thing happened.

On the other hand, a knight who had casted the Hitting A Cow Across The Mountain toward the world’s best swordsman was still staring straight ahead, drenched in sweat.

Then,

“Demonic Human my ass! That’s not a Demonic Human.”

Even while fighting, the knight heard the conversation between the kin. After hearing it, his face clearly showed his displeasure.

“D-dear?”

“That’s called inner demon, not a Demonic Human.”

“??”

“It’s also called being possessed by demons.”

“What are you…”

“And, the inner demon is a disease that can be cured.”

What has the inner demon been like since ancient times?

It’s a mental illness.

It’s just a case of the head being filled with blood, poison, or toxic energy, causing the mind to go completely crazy.

What does that mean?

As long as someone beats them up, they’ll get better.

Since ancient times, a club was the best medicine for a mad dog, and fists were the best medicine for a madman.

In that sense,

“I’m an expert.”

The medieval knight, who prided himself on his ability to fix beasts that were worse than humans, took up an axe instead of a sword. After all, it seemed difficult to beat the opponent in front of him with a sword in a noble manner.

“I guess I’ll have to fight like a bandit or a beggar.”