Chapter 351 - Walking Past the Back (3)

“Oh, fuck,” Oh Kang-Woo expressed.

‘He’s not dead, is he? That’d be bad.’

Kang-Woo looked down at the fist he had used to punch Fidelio.

‘Dammit, I held back quite a lot on that.’

He had held back to a level that he would use to wipe off dust from his hands; no, even more than that. He had not even used a single speck of demonic energy, but...

“Kurgh! Guuuu...”

“Hey, you good? Whoa, you lost a few teeth. Your nose is a bit crooked too, I think.”

“Y-You bastaaaaard!!”

“But for real, I held back a lot on that, okay? Come to think of it, I’m older than you. Why are you talking down to me, fucker?”

Fidelio glared at Kang-Woo.

Clack!

“Oh, what’s with these guys?”

As Kang-Woo turned around while snickering, twelve knights wearing black armor appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. Sharp swords were pointed at his neck, eyes, heart and groin. Kang-Woo whistled.

“Holy shit, that’s some badass armor. But I think you guys messed up the timing for your appearance a little.”

‘You should’ve appeared before I fucking decked Fidelio in the face. Just look at him, he’s crawling on the floor with blood pouring out from his nose.’

“Also, do you mind not pointing your sword there, my guy? My Fran?ois is trembling in fear.”

‘He’s already lifeless enough as it is, you fucking sons of bitches.’

“You son of a bitch...” Fidelio got up on his feet. He glared at Kang-Woo with bloodlust, but then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Do you seriously believe... this will go unpunished?”

Fidelio had regained his composure much faster than Kang-Woo had expected. He had not managed to take control over the empire by a fluke.

“Princess Iris,” Fidelio called.

“E-Eek!” Iris exclaimed while flinching as Fidelio glared at her.

She crouched with tears flowing down her cheeks.

“It seems you will need... a harsher lesson once this is over.”

“N-No... N-No more...”

Iris trembled while stuffing her head between her knees.

“Enough of that shit.” Kang-Woo smirked and stepped forward. “You’ve way overused that trope.”

‘That shit has overstayed its welcome.’

“Halt,” said the knight in black armor, who was pointing his sword at Kang-Woo’s groin.

“Hey.” Kang-Woo slightly twisted his torso and clenched his fist. “I told you...” He turned 180 degrees while using his left leg as the axis and drove his fist forward. The black knight calmly tried to block the fist with his sword. “Not to point your sword there.”

Bash!

Kang-Woo swung his fist and destroyed the sword before smashing it into the black knight’s solar plexus, and the knight’s upper body vanished. Left with only his lower body, the knight collapsed.

“Wh-What the—?!”

“Kuh!”

The shocked knights widened their distance from Kang-Woo. Fidelio aggressively frowned.

“I see you were hiding your strength,” he said.

“It’s a common cliche, you know?”

The cliche of the protagonist hiding their strength.

‘Oh fuck, right. I’m not the protagonist. If I had to give myself a role, I’d be more the antagonist. Oh, well.’

“Shadow Knights,” Fidelio called.

“Whoa, they’re called shadow knights? That’s cool as fuck. I wanna try saying that too,” said Kang-Woo.

“Kuh. Let us see how long you can keep that leisurely attitude for!” Fidelio pointed at Kang-Woo. “Kill that man!”

“Dude, please stop with the respectful speech.”

‘You sound like Frieza.’

Whoooom!

Blue aura enveloped the black knights’ swords. Kang-Woo’s expression crumpled.

“The hell? Not black aura? Come on, you should be staying consistent with your color scheme. Where’s your sense of style?”

“Your arrogant attitude ends here,” said the black knights to Kang-Woo, who was completely unfazed despite them having unleashed their aura.

Kang-Woo smirked. “Zat so?”

He snickered and took one step forward.

“Kill h—”

Kang-Woo teleported; he vanished and appeared right in front of a black knight. Kang-Woo used the momentum to land an uppercut.

Bash!

The knight’s head flew off along with his spine from the massive impact. Kang-Woo took the collapsing black knight’s sword.

“You see, I’ve been practicing martial arts like my life depended on it lately.”

‘I’m gonna have you all by my practice dummies.’

“Haap!” The black knights charged toward Kang-Woo.

Two had died, and now ten remained. Kang-Woo dodged a sword swung at his neck by leaning back.

“So...”

He recalled Kim Si-Hun’s teachings.

- Your worst habit is that you aim for the vitals far too much, hyung-nim.

‘Obviously, since demons won’t die just from getting their limbs chopped off.’

- Once you fix that habit, your sword swings will become much smoother.

“Like this, right?!”

Kang-Woo bounced back and swung his sword. He did not focus on killing his opponent; he simply went with the flow of his martial arts.

Clang—!

“Wow.”

The sword that had been swung at him was deflected. Simply swinging his sword as per the flow of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Technique had easily blocked the attack aimed at him.

‘This is awesome.’

Kang-Woo felt like he was reciting a script that he had practiced in a play. He was only swinging as he was taught, but none of the knights’ attacks were reaching him.

- You rely too much on weapons, hyung-nim. You keep trying to attack only with your sword.

‘Yeah, because I’ll be the one to die if I don’t. The constitution of demons is no joke.

- Your martial arts will improve by leaps and bounds once you become proficient in using your knees, legs, shoulders and elbows.

Kang-Woo pushed away a knight who was charging toward him with his shoulder. He dealt a low kick, and the knight’s stance crumbled.

Stab!

Kang-Woo thrusted his sword into the collapsed knight’s neck.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this.”

He was feeling something that he had not been able to feel from fighting an insanely talented genius like Si-Hun.

“What in the world are you all doing?!” Fidelio shouted.

The black knights approached Kang-Woo anxiously.

“But to be honest...” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and threw the sword aside. “This isn’t really for me.”

Fighting like this was extremely bothersome.

“Let’s just do it the easy way.”

Kang-Woo slowly raised his hand and snapped his finger.

Fwoosh—!

Blades sprouted from the ground with Kang-Woo at the epicenter.

“Just get split in half, will you?”

The blades shot into the knights’ groins and out of their mouths. Their bodies were split vertically into two, and all collapsed simultaneously. The stench of blood filled the room.

“Kyaaaaahh!!” Iris screamed at the horrifying scene.

“Wh-What in the...” Fidelio stared at Kang-Woo with his mouth agape.

Kang-Woo had massacred the shadow knights in just one attack, and with just the snap of his finger, no less. Fidelio could feel his pants getting wet.

“Fuck’s sake, that’s disgusting.” Kang-Woo frowned. “Lilith.”

“Yes, Master Kang-Woo.”

Lilith appeared from Kang-Woo’s shadow as if she had expected his summons.

“Clean up these bodies.”

“As you command.”

Kang-Woo approached the shaking Iris.

“Wh-What are you? H-How did you kill the shadow knights...?” Iris asked.

“Hm? You’re being rather rude again.”

“Urgh...” Iris bit her lip. “You mentioned that... you were a bad fighter.”

“Oh, that? I lied.”

“Now, get it together and drink this.”

Kang-Woo bit his thumb to spill blood and stuffed his thumb into Iris's mouth.

“Mmrp!” Iris expressed surprise from Kang-Woo’s sudden action, but became wide-eyed once she saw that her wounds inflicted by Fidelio had completely healed. “H-How...”

“I’ll explain later. Follow me.”

Kang-Woo turned around. They left Iris’s chambers and went to Kang-Woo’s room while Kang-Woo dragged Fidelio along, grabbing what little remained of his hair.

“Kurgh! L-Let me go! Do you have any idea what you’re d—”

“Oh shit, some strands fell out.”

“Y-You bastaaaaaard!!”

“Come on, man. It’s not like you had that many left. Having none at all is better than dearly holding on to a few strands.”

“Y-You abominable...! You call yourself a human after committing such atrocities?!”

“Fuck’s sake, you’re so intolerant. Did losing your hair make you this way? Anyway, take a seat here.”

Kang-Woo dragged Fidelio into his room and seated him on a chair.

‘Authority of Sealing.’

Clatter

. Black chains bound Fidelio to the chair.

“K-Kang-Woo. What are you planning on doing...?” asked Iris, who had followed Kang-Woo after changing clothes.

Her eyes were shaking heavily in worry and anxiety. It was no exaggeration to say that Kang-Woo had declared war on the entire empire the moment that he attacked Fidelio. Even if he and Si-Hun were strong, would they be able to take on the full force of the empire?

‘It’s impossible.’

There was no way that two people would be able to face an entire nation. Although they had party members, there were merely ten of them altogether.

“I’m not gonna do anything,” said Kang-Woo as he turned to look down at the trembling Iris. “You are.”

“What?” Iris asked, wide-eyed. “Wh-What does that mean?”

Kang-Woo scanned her while narrowing his eyes.

‘Still not enough.’

Although Iris had managed to overcome her fear of Fidelio for the very first time, it was nowhere near enough. She was still afraid of him to the point that she could barely look at him, despite him being strapped to a chair and unable to move an inch.

‘This won’t do.’

It was nowhere near enough. Her fear of Fidelio was still rooted deeply within her. She had only taken the first baby step; she was unable to stand on her own. She could barely walk or move forward.

“You said that you wanted to take revenge against Fidelio, didn’t you?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Y-Yeah. I mean... Yes! I-I want to take revenge!” shouted Iris with her fists clenched.

“In that case, I will give you a choice.”

“A choice?”

Iris’s eyes shook.

Kang-Woo continued, “You have two choices.” He put up two fingers. “First is that you let me take revenge for you. If you choose this, you will stay like this forever.”

“Stay like... what?”

“I mean, even if you manage to get your revenge, you’ll never be able to escape from your fear of Fidelio.”

Iris’s expression froze. She was easily able to understand Kang-Woo’s abstract expression.

‘If I let Kang-Woo take revenge against Fidelio for me, I...’

Iris bit her lip and clenched her clothes. She recalled her days of being beaten by Fidelio after Reynald disappeared. Fidelio had struck her using the excuse of it being a lesson. There was once she had been beaten so hard that her cheekbones had fractured.

“U-Urghh.”

Iris couldn’t stop shaking just from recalling that memory. She felt nauseous. Her fear of Fidelio overpowered her hatred toward him.

‘I would keep having nightmares of him beating me for the rest of my life.’

Iris was not even able to escape reality through her dreams. She panted heavily.

“Wh-What’s the second choice...?” she asked.

“You’ll be taking revenge with your own hands,” answered Kang-Woo.

“If I do that... Will I really be able to overcome my fears? Will the nightmares stop?”

Iris grabbed on Kang-Woo’s clothes in desperation.

Kang-Woo answered calmly, “Yes, but there will be side effects.”

“Side... effects?”

“You could break. No, you will most definitely be broken.”

“What... do you mean...?”

“I mean, as the price for overcoming your fears, you will no longer be yourself.”

There might be another way if they took their time to search for one. Iris might even forget the horrifying memories one day over time. However, at the very least, the method that Kang-Woo had thought of and was planning on doing, would change Iris permanently.

Silence fell. Iris lowered her head and fell into thought. She honestly could not understand what Kang-Woo was trying to do nor what he meant by she would not be herself anymore. However...

“I... want to do it myself,” Iris said with difficulty. She then continued as her eyes glinted with an unbendable will, “If I can be freed from this fear... this nightmare... I could even sell my soul to a demon.”

“Hah,” Kang-Woo chuckled.

‘What a coincidence.’

He slowly closed his eyes.

“Very well.”

‘If that’s what you have chosen... If you truly wish to sell your soul to free yourself from that fear... I’ll buy it. I’ll pull out the fear within you by the roots. I’ll make it so that you’re never plagued with nightmares... Even if it breaks you.’

Kang-Woo slowly opened his eyes. He raised his hand and patted Iris’s head.

“In that case...”

A black droplet dropped from the ring on Kang-Woo’s right middle finger, which turned into a black dagger about twenty centimeters long.

Kang-Woo handed Iris the dagger and said, “Stab him with your own hands.”

“Pardon...? Y-You want me to kill him?”

“No, I didn’t say that. Let’s start from the thighs. After that, we’ll slowly gouge out his arms, calves, toes, fingers, ears, eyes, and tongue. One by one, slowly. Don’t worry. I’ll make it so that he won’t die until we’re all done.”

‘Until your deeply-rooted fear disappears...’

“You can take it slow.”

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

‘Until your fear turns into hatred...’

“What are you doing? Take the dagger.”

‘Until your hatred turns into madness...’

“Go on. Stab him.”

‘Until you go insane.’