When was it, I wonder.
Aren't you tired of reading those martial arts novels?
While I was on duty, a superior I'd known for nearly a decade asked that. He wanted to know if I didn't get bored reading martial arts novels every day on duty.
Ten years is a long ti to keep reading the sa thing. Isn't it boring by now?Sotis, but there's always sothing new each ti.Geez, why do you like martial arts so much?Hmm... maybe because it's full of romance?Romance, my foot.And you, don't you ever get tired of that duel ga you've been playing for over ten years?Hey! Dueling touches a man's very soul, it's classic, pure and simple!Right, if you say so...
They say birds of a feather flock together. Looking back now, we both must have been a bit eccentric.
Still, I thought I was better off than my superior. After all, I didn't just read martial arts novels; I enjoyed a bit of everything, from webcomics to romance novels. anwhile, he only focused on those first-generation cards as if he could never get enough. In his words, only the classics and maybe the second-generation stuff were worth anything.
Nevertheless, as my superior had pointed out, I did have a preference for the martial arts genre above others. And if I had to explain why...
It's exhilarating.
Exhilarating. People often envy what they lack, and I admired those uninhibited, bold heroes in martial arts novels.
They don't worry. They just go straight ahead and do whatever they want. Instead of worrying about tomorrow, they live in the mont, facing each day without fear, without regret. Living every minute to the fullest, even if it ans they'll face death without hesitation.
How bright and thrilling that life must be.
...But I couldn’t be like that.
I was always timid, lacking confidence, a life constantly battered and bruised by others.
How pitiful a life, swaying like a reed.
And so, I envied the lives of those martial arts heroes, the warriors living for righteousness in those novels. Their lives were free from trivial excuses.
So, do you like the main character?No, it's not just the protagonist. I envy anyone in martial arts novels who pursues righteousness.
Yes, it wasn’t the main character I admired. I longed for the life of the hero, an ideal that had always existed deep in my heart.
And so I would often murmur to myself.
If there is a next life, I’ll live without cowardly excuses, simply following my heart.Why don’t you try it now?So, can I set the battalion commander's head on fire?...Hey, the guy's already bald, isn’t he? What’s the point?Heh, guess you're right.
If there were a next life, I wouldn’t live like I do now.
Well...
"Hmm, is assaulting a superior considered thrilling?"
At the end of his life, I wonder if he had, in his own way, achieved his ideal.
Now, he—Ihan, who had unknowingly reached the sa age as his forr self—marched forward, pondering.
Was he truly living as his past self had wished, following his heart?
"...Who cares."
But Ihan quickly dismissed this thought as useless. The re act of contemplating it felt uncharacteristic of a hero. There was only one thing he needed to rember.
‘I will act as I believe is right, without needing the approval of others.’
In the end, there is no correct answer.
Who can predict what impact these actions will have, except for the gods? So, this is an act of pure self-satisfaction.
And responsibility lies solely with him.
Clank.
Ihan finally stopped.
It wasn’t because he intended to halt his advance. It was because he saw a wall before him, towering like a fortress, with an iron gate that seed sturdier than the wall itself, making him wonder how to proceed.
He had two choices.
Scale the wall, or call out. But neither option appealed to him.
Provoking a noble family, after all—shouldn’t he go about it in a bolder way?
And so, he...
Step, step.
"Huh?" "Who’s that?"
"Stop right there and identify yourself. This is the Tristan estate."
The guards standing by the iron gate exuded a sharp aura as they issued their warning. As expected from a renowned family, even the guards were elite, their presence intense, ready to strike at any mont.
But still...
"W-weren't you told to stop?!"
Ihan did not stop and continued straight ahead. Like a runaway truck with no brakes.
As his pace quickened, and he began to run...
"Shoot! Intruder!!"
Clang, clang!!
The sound of bells echoed through the night, alerting the household as soldiers raised their bows. No hesitation in their aim.
Impressive. If they were under my command, I’d grant them leave as a reward. Unfortunately, he had nothing to give them at this mont, for now he was rely...
Thud! Thud!
"W-what the—arrows?!" "What... what is that?!"
...a re intruder, ready to tear through them.
The arrows aid directly at him were all deflected. Not because they hit armor.
No, the arrows bounced off due to the intense pressure generated as he sprinted forward with all his might.
He tore through the wind, and then...
Whoosh!
...he took flight.
“━!”
Soaring like a high jumper, he spanned five ters in a single bound, thrusting his fist toward the iron gate in front of him.
Not so sophisticated technique—just a straight punch filled with his full strength.
And that punch...
CRAAASH!!
...obliterated the iron gate made of solid tal.
KA-BOOM!
“....”
“Am I... dreaming?”
The guards, mid-attack, stopped in shock, their jaws dropping.
No...
How could the gate shatter from a re punch?
“...Huh, guess the hinges were rusty. They should take better care of it.”
“.....”
“What?”
“Pfft...”
Ihan, shalessly flexing his wrist, offered his advice, and the guard chuckled dryly.
A frontal assault. Ihan’s third option had certainly left a morable impact.
The Marquis Tristan estate was vast.
Not just vast, but a jaw-dropping mansion with five separate farms around it, a spacious garden for horses to roam, and more.
It was practically a village of its own, housing over two thousand staff mbers.
And even more impressive was that this was a re fraction of the Tristan family’s wealth and influence.
After all, the Tristan family operated several lucrative jewelry mines and trading companies. For them, managing a mansion of this size wasn’t even a splurge. Given their imnse resources, the estate was as secure as a fortress.
A mansion resembling a fortress.
Dozens of elite soldiers were always on standby, patrolling the grounds in shifts. Archers lined the high walls, ever ready to shoot, and each entrance was fortified with dwarf-crafted iron doors.
Even if one were to overpower the soldiers, breaking through the front gate was considered impossible.
...Yet now, that notion had crumbled.
Thuuud...
The iron gate, pulled entirely from its hinges, lay in ruins.
The gathered soldiers, gradually illuminating the area with torches, took in the scene.
“What... what is this?!” “Is it a giant beast?” “Watch for ballistae! There might be one nearby!”
The soldiers, responding as expected, readied themselves. A ballista or so colossal creature must have torn through the gate.
Because, otherwise, there was no way the gate could have been breached.
They were reacting sensibly, not suspecting that a single man had done this.
But soon...
“...No, this isn’t right.”
“??”
They would co to learn who had committed this unimaginable act.
The intruder’s mumbling, although unintelligible, hinted at his dissatisfaction. Could he possibly be regretting his assault on the Marquis’s residence? If so, they would gladly accept it, perhaps even considering leniency...
“If you’re going to pick a fight, do it properly.”
“....”
Apparently not.
The guard, catching the intruder’s muttering, looked into his eyes. They were sharp, clear.
Flinch!
A sudden chill ran through the guard, a primal instinct urging him to flee.
Sure enough.
Crash!
“Move if you don’t want to die.”
“.....”
The soldiers stared, dumbfounded. The man lifted that colossal iron gate single-handedly!
One of the guards, recalling how over ten n were needed to install that gate just yesterday, turned pale.
More of them began questioning if this was all just a dream, but unfortunately, this was their reality.
"Hoo..."
Breathing in and out, Ihan gripped the gate, his body twisting slowly.
Swoosh!!
Lifting sothing this massive should have dislocated his shoulder or arm, but Ihan set aside the limitations of human anatomy, just for now.
He finally...
Whhhooosh!
...twisted his body, as if about to hurl the gate like a shot put, creating chaos all around.
“Aaargh!” “Run!!” “Grrr!”
At 2,550 kilograms—about 2.5 tons—the rotating gate alone was a threat and a force of destruction.
Though moving slowly, it generated violent air pressure, tearing through everything, and the soldiers, forgetting their duties, scrambled for their lives.
While Ihan’s power was terrifying, none wanted to et their end as shredded at caught in that spinning gate.
It was pandemonium, and soon a thirty-ter radius around Ihan had cleared.
Crack!
Gaining a sufficient running start, Ihan braced himself.
Grind, creak!
The cracking sounds emanating from his arms, shoulders, waist, and legs would have crushed him if not for the elixir he’d taken.
“Grrr!”
But Ihan endured it.
His newfound strength and deeper understanding of his aura granted him the might to hurl such a massive object.
Yet he had only one chance. There wouldn’t be a second attempt.
One wild, reckless act.
But one was enough; he gathered his strength, tid it, and calculated the distance perfectly.
“Raaagh!!”
With a guttural cry that was half resolve, half desperation, he hurled the gate.
Whoosh-!
It arced slowly.
Though it was thrown, spinning such a heavy mass was no easy feat.
But what mattered was that it was airborne.
A 2.5-ton chunk of tal was barreling toward its target.
Which ant...
KA-BOOOM!
...a disaster capable of collapsing buildings and shattering the ground was now descending.
Rumble!
The iron gate, launched by Ihan, struck the Marquis’s mansion dead on, shaking the earth.
“...Yes, that’s how you properly start a fight.”
If he’d just broken down the front gate and called it a day, where would the impact be?
Though Ihan now bled from his eyes, nose, and mouth—every pore spilling blood—he rely wiped the dust off his face with satisfaction.
It was a small(?) injury, insignificant next to such satisfying results.
Reviews
All reviews (0)