Chapter 536: Giant of Sunlight (3)

The garden behind the main building of Turyeonmun.

Even within Turyeonmun, where facilities are restricted based on mastery and skill, this inner chamber is provided for important guests.

Several colossal stone statues, resembling fierce demons and rakshasas, surround the garden as if protecting it.

The thick hands of the statues, lined up on all sides, unfurl like a curtain, subtly obscuring the innermost space of the inner chamber.

At the edge of the sunlit garden, completely untouched by external gazes.

In the martial arts hall, which directly adjoined the wide lawn, Lennok was slowly limbering up.

The solid wooden floor beneath his feet contrasted with the warm garden visible right beside him.

The unique structure, partially connected to the outer garden, was impressive, but there was no time to appreciate such scenery now.

Because before Lennok’s eyes, a man in a pristine white robe, with his hands clasped behind his back, was staring intently at him with a peculiar smile.

Krod Azlan, standing empty-handed without any equipment or weapons, opened his mouth.

“Take your time to prepare. I can give you all the time you need to limber up.”

“……”

“However, I don’t intend to give many opportunities when confirming your qualifications. You understand, yes?”

He, with his long, curved white eyebrows, smiled.

“Having lived long, I’ve found that discerning between those who can learn something and those who cannot becomes quicker with each passing day.”

Krod Azlan’s pristine white eyes shone coldly.

“At least in the assessment of martial talent, if you fail to pique my curiosity or inspiration, I cannot grant you an opportunity. That would be disrespectful to all martial artists who have passed through this main hall.”

“Enough with the unnecessary talk. Let’s hear about the specifics.”

Lennok said, washing away the slowly dissolving taste of painkillers in his mouth.

“Tell me the test method and the passing conditions.”

He had already ingested various concoctions, including stimulants, painkillers, and paralyzing agents to suppress his sense of balance.

The pretense of limbering up was to avoid giving unnecessary pretexts to others observing this scene.

Because it wasn’t just Lennok and Krod Azlan standing there.

A dozen or so people looked down from the far side of the inner chamber’s martial arts hall.

Each and every one of them was a martial artist of considerable skill, exuding an extraordinary aura.

They were likely high-ranking officials of Turyeonmun, esteemed enough to hear Krod Azlan’s decision and personally observe this test.

Among them, a black-haired woman with an upright demeanor, standing furthest to the left, sighed and spoke.

Her eyebrows were notably thick, and her features were sharp. At a glance, she bore a striking resemblance to Krod Azlan’s appearance.

“Grandfather, I still cannot understand this situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“You finally broke your seclusion and returned from your outing, and the very first thing you do is a test to accept a new disciple?”

The woman glanced at Lennok with a dubious expression and continued.

“Moreover, if the candidate is a notorious wizard from the underworld, who could possibly comprehend this situation?”

“……”

“He is someone with no reason or purpose for doing this. I can only assume there’s some kind of ulterior motive.”

Speaking like that implied that Lennok’s past activities in the underworld were somewhat known to the martial artists of Turyeonmun.

This reaction wouldn’t be possible unless they had also heard about the decisive battle between Madrich Onnion and Lennok.

The same applied to their guessing Lennok’s identity, even without Krod Azlan saying anything.

It wasn’t that the reaction itself was incomprehensible.

No matter how high-level these martial artists were, who would understand a high-ranking wizard like Lennok suddenly wanting to learn martial arts?

Someone with talent and power that leaves no room for regret even without learning martial arts,

It wouldn’t be strange for them to find the very act of approaching Krod Azlan in this manner suspicious.

Krod Azlan, perhaps not unaware of such reactions, merely chuckled.

“Karia, that’s because you don’t fully understand this situation. The very act of bringing him here in the first place—”

Having said that much, Krod Azlan paused and slowly shook his head.

“It’s fine. It’s already decided, so it won’t be too late to discuss it after it’s over.”

“……Grandfather.”

“If he doesn’t pass the test, then that’s simply the end of it, isn’t it?”

He likely realized that saying anything more would require explaining the entire situation to the others present.

Krod Azlan, stepping forward, looked at Lennok with pristine white eyes.

Lennok indifferently met his gaze, and instead, gestured with his chin towards the woman who was sharply scrutinizing him.

“Didn’t you say you left your granddaughter in a foreign land?”

The woman Krod Azlan just called Karia. Hadn’t she openly called him grandfather?

It was absurd that he had spouted such ridiculous nonsense about Lennok reminding him of his granddaughter in a foreign land, only for the lie to be exposed in less than half a day.

“Haha, did I say that? My memory tends to wander as I get older, you see.”

“……”

“Well, that’s not important. While waiting, I’ve decided how to test your aptitude.”

Krod Azlan, casually changing the subject, subtly unclasped his hands from behind his back and took another step forward.

“Testing the cognitive abilities or judgment of a high-ranking wizard would be meaningless. I am well aware that your martial talent cannot be judged by such things.”

“So?”

“If a particular ability is already too outstanding to dissect it piece by piece, then ultimately, one must judge by the overall impression and feel.”

Krod Azlan, stroking his chin, mumbled in an ambiguous tone.

“The question, however, is who the opponent should be…”

Krod Azlan said that, and slowly began to unleash his hidden aura.

Whoosh!!

Along with the phantom sound of a chilling wind, mana emanating from beneath his feet whipped like a lash, tearing at the ground.

The moment his white robe seemed to flutter, an illusion occurred within Lennok’s mind that Krod Azlan’s presence was swelling madly.

Krod Azlan’s intense aura, as if it would fill and burst the vast interior of the martial arts hall.

“Shall I verify it myself, then?”

‘He’s coming…!!’

A single step forward transformed into a white flash of lightning.

Using simultaneous activation of mana sense and the Mystic Eye, Lennok pre-inputted Krod Azlan’s movements into the realm of prediction.

Lennok’s neck seemed to snap to one side, then his collarbone and shoulder folded inwards, skillfully lowering his posture.

Immediately after, the flash that grazed his cheek materialized into a human form.

Paaang!!

The terrifying sound of air being torn reached him a beat too late.

“Oh-ho.”

Krod Azlan’s gaze turned to Lennok, who had lowered his body.

“It’s not a matter of perception and sensation, then. Did you not intend to react from the start?”

“Hoo…!!”

Despite only making a single evasive maneuver, sweat poured from his entire body.

Even though he had made all preparations to move his body with mana manipulation, his body reacted to the overwhelming pressure pressing down from the front.

In Lennok’s mind, as he stared at the monster before him, various pieces of information he had memorized earlier quickly circulated and organized themselves.

‘The first strike must be a preemptive strike after the opponent moves, via Straight-Step Pine Shadow. I should assume there’s no possibility of reacting by sight with my current physical abilities.’

With Davi’s help, Lennok successfully secured some information about Krod Azlan’s abilities and the Miniature Universe using the deep web’s collective intelligence.

He thoroughly familiarized himself with the martial arts Krod Azlan primarily used, his first strike patterns, and his presumed abilities related to Mind Imprint.

Additionally, he had information from simulated battles built up through discussions by others, all premised on a one-on-one showdown with Lennok.

Even minutes before the sparring began, he had simulated this exact situation in his mind nearly 50 times.

As a result, Lennok was able to safely evade Krod Azlan’s first attack, which had transcended space to approach him right from the start.

‘Straight-Step Pine Shadow is a high-level footwork technique that allows one to transcend space and approach, on the condition of revealing one’s first step to the opponent.’

A paradox: by leaving room for reaction, it achieves near-certain mobility.

Among Turyeonmun’s martial arts, it is the technique that most perfectly embodies the concept of ‘preemption after reaction’.

If he could use magic, he would distort space with Compassion of the Archangel to counter Straight-Step Pine Shadow and launch a counterattack.

However, with only Lennok’s body manipulated by mana strings, reacting to and evading that attack was impossible.

He hadn’t even considered perception through sight and his five senses from the beginning.

Instead, he strictly used the Mystic Eye’s ability and mana sense to predict Krod Azlan’s movements in advance, moving first to force his opponent’s offense and defense to follow.

For this purpose, Lennok had roughly learned and researched the martial arts and techniques Krod Azlan used, which was why he stood there now.

Krod Azlan also seemed to sense this and remained silent for a moment.

“…I see. Is that the answer you’ve arrived at?”

“……”

“To use even yourself as a chess piece and dance until you break. Truly, how wizard-like.”

Whoosh!!

With a single gesture from Krod Azlan, his white robe fluttered madly, obscuring the view.

Amidst the surging fragments of mana scattering everywhere, Krod Azlan’s lowered voice quietly echoed.

“Karia. Come down here.”

“Grandfather…?”

“You’ll have to continue the sparring in my place.”

Krod Azlan said that, and slowly began to step back.

“I want to step back and observe what this wizard intends to show. Will you assist me?”

“……”

Karia, who had been silent, eventually sighed and swept back her hair.

Her form, dropping from the upper platform of the martial arts hall, instantly landed on the wooden floor where Lennok and Krod Azlan stood.

“Since it’s Grandfather’s request, I’ll help for now, but…”

Karia, stepping forward with a quick glance at Lennok, said.

“You’ll have to give me a clear explanation after this is over.”

“Of course.”

Krod Azlan, smiling contentedly, turned his gaze towards Lennok.

“Though the opponent has changed, I trust you’ll be fine. This is, after all, purely to verify your martial talent.”

“……”

“I assume you won’t object to me taking a form that is better for my judgment.”

“I don’t care.”

Lennok also replied calmly and took his stance again.

It became harder to fully utilize all the information on Krod Azlan’s martial arts and patterns painstakingly gathered from the deep web,

But if the opponent was Krod Azlan’s granddaughter, it wouldn’t be much different from facing a lesser version of Krod Azlan himself.

In that case, Lennok’s chances of performing well in the ensuing spar would increase.

Lennok’s eyes, fixed on Karia, sank deeply.

“If you’re ready, I’d like to start quickly. How much time do you need?”

Lennok’s words, wanting to finish the test quickly before the medicine wore off.

However, Karia seemed to interpret Lennok’s words as a form of provocation.

Karia, her lips twitching, slowly turned her neck and spoke.

“Wizard. I can understand being inherently arrogant with such talent, but—”

The mana around Karia’s body began to surge powerfully.

Whoosh!!

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better focus on me right now.”

Karia declared, her face coldly hardened.

“Unlike my grandfather, I’m not so adept at adjusting my strength favorably against a half-wit like you…!!”

The shining light of intention, swirling around Karia, pounded the ground and gained speed.

Thump, thump, thump!!

With three thunderous steps, Karia’s body transformed into a streak of lightning.

A sharp aura diagonally charging, as if brushing past him at close range.

But Lennok, on the spot, twisted his knee and shoulder in different directions, drastically lowering his center of gravity right there.

Immediately after, Karia’s first strike narrowly grazed his lower back.

Seeing Karia’s surprised expression as she stopped at close range, Lennok smiled.

“Your attempt to provoke me isn’t bad, but you might want to think of a more aggressive term.”

“……!!”

“‘Half-wit’ isn’t actually all that wrong, you see.”

“How long can you remain so composed…!!”

As Karia’s hand, in a fit of pique, drew a semicircle in the air, it simultaneously swept around Lennok from all directions and vanished.

Wooooong…!!

A continuous barrage, unleashing dozens of strikes at once from close range.

The blurring hands before his eyes were slow enough to be seen with the naked eye, yet the resulting attacks and defenses extended at a speed comparable to sound.

The subtle mystery of the gap approaching, where the speeds of beginning and end were as vastly different as heaven and earth.

That difference in speed transformed into white flashes of lightning before Lennok’s eyes, pouring down like a rain of fire.

Dududududu!!!!

Amidst the incessant white flames bursting forth, Lennok also manipulated mana strings in a trance-like state to move his body.

He couldn’t possibly endure by merely evading and parrying.

Only by stepping forward and extending, even knowing he wouldn’t reach, could he secure the space to twist and survive.

Karia, rapidly dashing and twisting her shoulder, and Lennok, leaning his entire body forward, crossed paths at that spot.

Kagagagak!!

Karia’s movements, rushing with lightning speed every time she moved, were utterly dazzling and spectacular.

Yet, despite this, Karia’s face, as she looked at Lennok, had somehow hardened,

And the martial artists, who had been admiring her movements, gradually shifted their gazes from her to the wizard.

“How can a wizard possibly do this against Karia Hobeop….”

“This is ridiculous. Is this truly possible?”

Karia’s movements and flow were impeccable, even to martial artists who had honed Turyeonmun’s martial arts their entire lives.

It would be impossible not to be swept away by her continuous attacks, which were not fixated on raw power, but fluid and at times powerfully aggressive.

Yet the wizard standing in the midst of that onslaught moved as if utterly refuting the martial artists’ thoughts.

Kigigigik…!!!

While manipulating his body with mana strings, he simultaneously overlaid them onto his skin to twist and deflect Karia’s mana.

Dozens of mana strings, crisscrossing around the two, lengthened and shortened, flashing with strange light and emitting the sound of twisting air.

Under Karia’s assault, which unleashed over a dozen strikes with a single movement, the wizard’s form seemed to waver, distort, and scatter.

In Karia’s mind, in that fleeting moment, dozens of thoughts and concerns intermingled, turning into massive confusion.

‘His balance was broken from the start. His physical movements and flow were virtually sub-standard. Yet…!!’

As if he had long surpassed his limits, with a pale complexion, he continued to receive Karia’s offense and defense, yet always pushed his body forward at necessary moments.

A fierce battle, where he swayed and twisted as if he would break at any moment, yet intensely exchanged blows.

Pabababak!!

At a distance close enough to feel each other’s breath, their hands and arms intertwined and overlapped chaotically, locking together from all directions.

Amidst chilling hands brushing past his neck and temples, Lennok’s body tilted and Karia pressed forward, but.

The expressions on their faces, however, showed emotions completely opposite to the apparent superiority and inferiority.

Karia, biting her lip tightly, and Lennok, receiving Karia’s attacks almost to the point of collapsing, yet stoic, not even breathing hard.

Lennok’s right hand, clumsily deflecting Karia’s fist with his elbow, almost simultaneously collided with Karia’s wrist, which had rotated in a semicircle.

Udu-duk!!

As their arms bounced off each other and fell away, they stopped precisely.

Lennok, stopped in front of Karia’s side, and Karia’s hand, clenched as if to grab his Adam’s apple.

Lennok, half-collapsed on the martial arts hall floor, mumbled with an expressionless face.

“If we had continued, you’d have ruptured abdominal organs, and I’d have a severed carotid artery and be instantly dead, I suppose.”

“……”

“A less interesting outcome than I thought.”

Lennok let out a small laugh, slowly took his hand away, and lay back.

“I lost. I don’t have the strength to continue.”

“You… lost? Do you truly believe that?”

Karia asked, her expression unable to conceal her agitation.

Though they had only exchanged blows for a few minutes, Karia had noticed that Lennok was a novice who had never properly learned martial arts.

His way of moving his body was merely bizarre; he had absolutely no physical sense of how to parry, counter, or yield space during an attack.

He had solely relied on his cognitive abilities and strategic calculations, forcing his body to move to receive and deflect attacks.

‘Yet I almost couldn’t break through.’

If she hadn’t forced the distance, narrowed his options, eliminated variables, and dragged it into a power struggle at the last moment, she might have been the one exploited.

For that monstrous wizard, what just happened was merely an amusement to test his own abilities.

The moment Karia, realizing this, lost her composure and was about to unleash her mana once more.

Clap, clap!!

Slow claps echoed from behind the two.

“Excellent.”

Krod Azlan was slowly clapping his hands together.

As he gestured to the other martial artists, only Karia, Krod Azlan, and Lennok remained in the vast martial arts hall.

Lennok, who had arduously risen, wiped away the streaming sweat and asked.

“Is the test over?”

“May I ask one last thing?”

The white-robed young man squatted in front of Lennok and stared at him intently.

“I just confirmed it. The injuries afflicting your body are not just severe, but critical.”

“……”

“Seeing it directly makes the rumors pale in comparison. I wish to know why you would set out to learn martial arts yourself with such a body.”

“…There’s no grand reason.”

Lennok slowly chose his words, thought for a moment, then chuckled.

“It’s precisely because of this condition that I’m seeking other methods and countermeasures. Do you think there’d be any other reason?”

The circumstances indicated serious injuries from the battle with Madrich Onnion.

Thanks to that information, Lennok could unhesitatingly reveal his poor physical condition without exposing his Talent’s Bane.

Judging by Jenny’s reaction, he was certain that even his current state, after taking Archangel’s Tear, would appear close to a dying body to others.

Krod Azlan also accepted Lennok’s condition as similar to that, and was asking why Lennok wished to learn martial arts.

“I see…”

As Krod Azlan silently pondered Lennok’s answer, a look of unmistakable admiration appeared on his face.

“Even with such a body, you haven’t given up the will to ascend. You are indeed already an excellent martial artist.”

“……”

“Transcendent cognitive abilities, evasion akin to precognition. Self-restraint that thoroughly sets limits for what his physical body can endure, and self-reflection to accurately assess his condition even with an injured body.”

Krod Azlan, slowly rising to his feet, spoke.

“Such an extreme case is a first even for me. As one who delves into martial arts, it is clearly a very interesting and highly researchable case.”

His gaze, which had felt somewhat turbid and hazy, had now clearly regained its focus.

At this very moment, as he delved into martial arts, the mental problems plaguing Krod Azlan seemed to vanish without a trace.

“I have never considered taking a disciple who lacks basic fundamentals… but I have made my decision.”

Krod Azlan, having risen, nodded.

“I shall teach you Touin [鬪引]. I intend for that to be the payment for this operation.”

“Grandfather…!!”

Karia spun her head around, her expression utterly surprised.

“How could you teach such a forbidden technique, whose practice is not permitted even within our main hall, to an outsider…!!”

“Why don’t you explain what Touin is first, then talk.”

“Well, it’s not a term referring to anything particularly difficult in meaning or form. For your current state, it might even be the most necessary technique. In a word, it’s…”

At Lennok’s indifferent question, Krod Azlan smiled, as if amused.

“The method of moving the body with the mind.”