Chapter 252: The Knight Didn’t Utter Lies (8)

-It felt like a scene from a play.

The combination was so perfect. At the same time, it was also so tense and realistic to the point it made one wonder whether the actors were acting or not.

Cough-!

However, the next scene quickly brought the spectator back to reality.

Illiad, the man called the Sword Saint, sank down like a puppet who had its string cut and spit blood from his mouth.

Thud-!

“H-he’s dead…”

One of the spectators, the Barbarian, felt the reality first before anyone else and said so under his breath.

“…”

And then, no one opened their mouths anymore. Letting the deafening silence blanketed the forest.

Were they silent because of the futility of his death, because they had the bereaved family members around them, or because the bereaved family members couldn’t accept reality and were simply stunned by their sadness?

Whatever the reason was, one thing was certain.

It was not a positive silence.

But,

“…This is how it turned out, huh?”

“It was a wonderful, truly wonderful duel.”

Even after the death of their family members, the family member of the deceased who witnessed the fight did not show any signs of criticizing or resenting the knights. On the contrary, they just calmly accepted the situation, as if they had already known something like this would happen and come to terms with it beforehand.

Offen, a renowned family of swordsmen and honorable knights. Even when their blood relative died, if the death was due to a fair duel, it was their duty as a knight family to accept it without criticizing it. After all, even if they were called nobles, living a life on the edge of a sword meant living a life prepared for their eventual death.

Because of that, even though they were sad, they did not show any resentment towards the one who brought Iliad to the end of his life.

The duel they had done was a duel between knights, something with no cowardice in it. So, there’s simply nothing for them to feel resentful about.

The only thing they had to say was…

“Thank you, my dear. For allowing that child to pass away like a knight.”

“Instructor, I’m sorry. I have forced you to dye your hands red because of my family’s business. Even though things turned out this way, I will not resent you. This is the life of those who carry the sword…”

Expressing their gratitude because he had done something they couldn’t do because of their wavering hearts. In a sense, it was like they had owed him a great debt. So, they would not acted cowardly like resenting what he did.

“Illiad must have been satisfied too.”

“Definitely…”

“He’s really strong, Mother. I didn’t know I would have such a refreshing duel. You have a great teacher, Arno.”

“That’s right, Father.”

“It was really a good decision to send him to the Academy.”

“But it’s still a bit disappointing. If I were still active, I could have fought even better than that.”

“You were great, fath… Huh?”

“Like he said, you were great. Of course, if you are still active, you would have fought even bet- huh?”

“…Hmm?”

At that moment, everyone realized that something was wrong.

What the?

Why were they hearing the voice of someone who was supposed to be dead?

They all blinked their eyes as if they were hallucinating, and towards them Offen family who were tilting their heads stupidly to the side,

“You guys are having fun, huh?”

The knight just snorted.

Thump-!

Lee Han collapsed to the ground as he felt his body had no remaining strength and gasped for breath.

“A-are you okay, Instructor?”

“…I’ll be okay once I rest for a while.”

Even though Lee Han said so, his whole body felt heavy and his head was also dizzy. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to use his strength for a while.

The amount of blood he had lost during the fight was quite substantial for a human being, but the reason why he was exhausted to that extent was because of him using his willpower. If he wasn’t someone with such a strong willpower, he would have passed out or died long ago.

To be honest, Lee Han wanted nothing more than a good night’s sleep now.

“First, you should finish treating that guy and then let me go to sleep or something.”

As soon as Lee Han finished speaking, Felicia asked urgently.

“What the hell did you do! How is Illiad alive? What did you do to turn him back to human? There has never been a case of a Demonic Human turning back into a human!”

“Calm down… Ask the questions one by one. You’re completely out of your mind.”

“Ah…”

At Lee Han’s calm atmosphere, Felicia seemed to have become somewhat calmer. So, her face quickly reddendeed as she observed Lee Han’s appearance.

“I-I’m sorry.”

She seemed embarrassed about the fact that she couldn’t stay calm.

Well, It was understandable.

After all, how could she stay calm when her son returned from a point which people deemed as a point of no return?

What happened to her son was almost as shocking as someone returning to life after dying. That’s why Lee Han responded calmly instead of scolding her.

“…I’m sorry to say this when you are supposed to be relieved, but please take action quickly. Your son is not completely out of harm’s way yet.”

“What?”

“Use whatever you have, aura or whatever. If you leave that guy like that, he’ll die.”

“!!?”

As soon as Lee Han finished giving his advice, Felicia put her hand on Iliad’s body, and before a minute had passed, her jaw dropped.

“I-I see… You are using such a method to return him…”

After Felicia looked over his condition, she quickly realized what she had to do and released her aura.

Wooong-!

A huge amount of aura enveloped Iliad’s body like a cocoon. Then, it gathered in one point and rushed to Illiad’s chest. To be precise, his heart.

“Well, Instructor. How did you do it?”

While the mysterious aura was gushing into Illiad’s body and everyone else was dumbfounded and not understanding the situation, Derrick asked Lee Han as he couldn’t stop being curious about it.

Just what kind of mysterious method did you use?

To such question,

“It’s nothing special, I just killed him once and brought him back to life.”

“??”

“To be precise…”

…I destroyed his heart once.

Back when they were investigating the Tunnel, the Status Window had told him about the criteria for distinguishing between low-level Combat Technique and high-level Combat Technique.

-The reason why the Combat Techniques that the nobles learn is classified as high-level Combat Technique is because it required the practitioner to consume the magic stones of a monster.

It was a shocking revelation to Lee Han.

Common sense dictated that when someone eats monsters or even their monster’s magic stones, they would become a Demonic Human.

But Status Window’s statement that destroyed that common sense was shocking information that could shake not only the kingdom, but the continent.

However,

-Of course, they can’t just consume it. They have to dilute and process it to make [an elixir]. That is a secret recipe that only the nobility have.

When he heard that explanation, Lee Han felt that the saying that someone had to hear any explanation until the end makes sense.

-As you know, Combat Technique was originally designed for humans to fight monsters such as demons and devils. But honestly, exploding life energy inside the body to gain physical abilities that are dozens of times greater than what normal humans could do doesn’t make sense, right? No matter how we look at it, it’s suicide.

A Combat Technique that ordinary humans couldn’t handle. Using that technique just once or twice would make the human’s body be destroyed, killing the practitioner of that technique. Even in the rare case where the body could endure it, the vitality they had would be depleted, killing them before they were even thirty.

In fact, according to records, many early users of the Combat Technique died in their twenties due to these side effects.

…That’s why the researchers had to make a choice.

Should they give up on the Combat Technique or should they think about a new way to use it in a stable manner?

And their choice was obviously…

-They searched for ways to improve it by focusing on the phenomenon of Demonic Human transformation.

Through that phenomenon, humans literally gain superhuman strength.

The researchers saw potential here.

-They decided to focus on creating that Demonic Human transformation phenomenon in just one place.

They cause a Demonic Human transformation in just ‘one place’ without letting it affect the brain or other parts of the body.

It was in the most important organ among the human body organs, and the place where the source of life force resided.

-[The heart].

Strengthening the heart.

The researchers were convinced that by strengthening the heart by artificially causing it to transform was the way to further develop the Combat Technique. After countless experiments and checking, it spread among those in power, and countless knight families succeeded in perfecting their own Combat Technique based on this experimental data through tens or hundreds of years.

-That’s why the high-level Combat Technique is incomparable to the low-level Combat Technique. It gave the nobles a path to build a power that common people couldn’t surpass. Even if the commoners learn the secret of strengthening the heart, they still have a long way to go to surpass the Combat Technique and elixir manufacturing method of the prestigious family that was perfected throughout their history. If we compare it by taking technology as an example, the difference was like a steam engine and a rocket.

This was the secret and core of the high-level Combat Technique of the nobles, and it was shocking to Lee Han who heard it for the first time.

-There are so many crazy guys whether in this world or in that world.

-But, they didn’t experiment on sane people, Instructor. They mostly experimented on extremely evil criminals…

-You really believed that?

-…

-I’m not criticizing you. Human development always has its dark sides. Still… it’s not romantic at all.

-Hmm…

Lee Han couldn’t deny that it’s a bit heartbreaking.

Well, originally, growing meant having their fantasy broken to pieces, so Lee Han just accepted it.

However, even after hearing such a shocking story, Lee Han still forgot about it for a while.

But today,

“-I just remembered about the secret of the Combat Technique.”

“Such a secret…”

“Even Kunta was surprised.”

“If it’s revealed to everyone, it would cause great confusion. So, It’s something that was simply not shared.”

“If it were known, there would be a lot of people who eat the magic stones without permission, so we have to be more careful.”

Female Bear and the Brute were left surprised one after another. In the meantime, the Wolf Cub and Status Window just scratched their cheeks bitterly.

“Well, it’s an embarrassing secret.”

Lee Han snorted at them, who clearly looked like they were being stabbed. Seemed like they thought that their lack of ‘nobility’ was a flaw.

“If you’re a noble, you should be somewhat annoying and lack humanity. What are you guys doing…”

“Please stop hating on nobles, Instructor.”

“You are discriminating, Instructor.”

“Forget about it, we are talking about the origin of Combat Technique now. Now, let me tell you how I treated the author.”

Lee Han nagged them to stop talking, and they shut their mouths tightly. If he was healthy, he would have given them some discipline training, but since Lee Han was exhausted, he just answered their questions.

“My treatment process was honestly nothing special.”

‘Guessing’ based on faith.

“Honestly, I don’t think that guy would have eaten monster meat or magic stone like an idiot.”

Even if he was idiotic, the Iliad Lee Han knew was not a foolish guy. On the contrary, he was extremely wise.

So how did that guy become a Demonic Human?

“If he was poisoned, wouldn’t even that guy be helpless? I thought so.”

Lee Han thought that if the monster cells in his heart spread rapidly throughout his body like cancer cells, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to become a Demonic Human.

Lee Han expected that it would be a tragedy caused by his dantian called the heart going out of control.

After Lee Han guessed so,

“I just broke it.”

“…”

“Fortunately, my guess was right.”

“…It was a gamble, huh?”

“Well, maybe?”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“…”

Lee Han was confident, on the other hand, his disciple was at a loss.

After all,

Can someone really think about something like that in that kind of situation?

The fact that he made such judgments in the face of a Demonic Human, the natural enemy of humanity, and that he came up with a way to cure that everlasting problem for humanity during the battle was definitely an indicator that he was an extraordinary person.

The problem was that it was an idea so extraordinary that it was difficult for a normal person to accept.

“M-master, I understand the principle and the process, but if you destroy the heart, how is Sir Iliad ​​still alive?”

Common sense dictated that if someone’s heart was broken, they would die.

But to that question, Lee Han just shrugged his shoulders.

“I hit him with ‘Martial Power’ twice. The first Martial Power destroyed the inside of the heart, and the second Martial Power protected the outside, temporarily preventing it from being destroyed. Because of that, the heart just stopped temporarily. Fortunately, he came to his senses…”

Point-!

“Moreover, since there’s a way to regenerate the heart, I thought it should be fine, right?”

“…”

In the direction where his finger was pointing at, there was a swordsman who was busy restoring her son’s heart with a massive aura.

Looking at her, Lee Han’s disciples almost applauded despite the situation.

“Instructor, you really don’t break your promises…”

“I told you I hate lies.”

“Ha…”

Arno lowered his head with a hollow laugh of admiration.

Really…

“…I respect you, really.”

He was an amazing person.