Chapter 2: 10 Years Later

“Young Master, Young Master Muno!”

“Are you listening?”

Voices came from both sides, just before we entered the mountain range.

“I'm, listening.”

Hwook.

Muno answered dismissively, shaking off the memory from 10 years ago.

This was no time to be reminiscing about the past.

Throb.

- The body…….

‘Shut up!’

Barely suppressing the headache that followed whenever the voice echoed in his head, he checked his equipment.

He swung his arms to see if the moderately-fitted leather armor was restrictive.

After slightly moving the iron chains wrapped around his limbs in place of a knight's gauntlets or greaves, and checking the greatsword on his back, he gave a slight nod.

The Drasen territory's finances couldn't afford to fit a still-growing body with steel armor.

‘This equipment is enough.’

While he was checking, the soldier Rom's voice continued.

“For now, the area presumed to have a pack of gnolls is……”

Letting the information he already knew go in one ear and out the other, Muno once again recalled his father's words from the past.

- Your ‘side effect’ seems to be a remnant of that evil cult's experiments.

He remembered his father's face as he said those words, the look of pity on it.

- To shake it all off, the best way would be for you to master Corporeal Arts and be ‘reborn.’

- But because of the demonic energy flowing from those chains connected to your body, you cannot learn our family's Corporeal Arts the normal way.

Yet if we try to forcibly sever them, you feel pain…….

It was all because of his own shortcomings, so he couldn't blame anyone else.

Therefore, if he was lacking, he had tried to live contentedly with what he had.

But, now he couldn't do that any longer.

- You stubborn human, give me the body now!

Throb.

“Ugh……”

The devil in his head.

If only to get rid of this terrible headache that had started to worsen again recently, he had to go on an adventure now.

No matter how dangerous that method might be.

- Still, if you are determined to overcome it, there is only one way.

- To throw yourself into life-or-death battles, just like the ancient warriors did, and realize the secret of the steel body for yourself.

- But I don't particularly want to recommend it, Muno. You don't have to push yourself so hard…….

‘Father’s words are always right.’

It had already been 10 years since he met his father. Muno had never seen his father say anything wrong.

- You are my child. You are my precious son, Muno.

But the worsening headache hadn't stopped for a single moment for some time now.

On top of that, as if his reason was also slowly awakening along with the pain, he gradually started to become conscious of the voices around him.

- The foolish adopted son is smearing shit on the honor of the Drasen family.

- Why would the lord take in such a monster…….

Throb.

‘I don't, want to be a fool. Anymore.’

On top of that.

- Give me the body!

Throb.

“Keuk.”

Losing myself is even worse.

This devil in my head must be driven out.

But he couldn't possibly get his parents' permission for a plan that involved risking his life.

So.

‘I’ll just do it.’

Furthermore…….

“This time, it’s just for reconnaissance……”

He couldn't go on an adventure with soldiers in tow.

They would interfere with, no, try to protect him until the very end.

“Don't, follow me.”

“……Pardon? What did you just say, Young Master?”

“I said, don't follow me!”

Muno put strength into his legs, kicked off the ground, and started to shoot forward.

Pababak.

“……Young Master?!”

The questioning voice soon turned into an increasingly loud shout.

“No!”

“Young Master!!”

“After him!!”

Pababak.

He heard shouts from behind him, but he ignored them and ran on.

The voices, which had been getting farther away, eventually couldn't be heard at all after a certain point.

But Muno didn't care.

Even though he hadn't awakened yet, his body had already transcended that of a normal human.

There was no chance the soldiers could catch up to him in a short amount of time.

After running for a while longer, when he reached his target location, he quieted his footsteps and focused his senses on scanning the surroundings.

‘It's definitely around here…….’

Recalling the information he had confirmed before departing, he continued to focus his mind on searching for the enemy.

It's definitely not far.

An enemy worthy of risking his life, and yet one he might just be able to overcome.

‘Where…….’

With a desperate heart, he heightened all his senses, and among them, his most sensitive sense of smell caught the unpleasant odor of mixed blood and game.

“Found it……”

The moment the words escaped him, he changed direction and started running not towards the forest, but towards the distant, exposed mountain ridge.

And soon, the expected enemy came into view.

“Kkeong!?”

“Kyarreuk!”

“Krrr.”

The target of this subjugation.

And enemies of a level that he could risk his life against right now.

“Keong!”

“Kiyaaayak!”

“Kyaak!”

A pack of Gnolls, monsters with the heads of dogs and humanoid bodies.

‘Here I go!’

Charrreuk.

The moment he steeled his resolve and raised his greatsword, the iron chains wrapped around his limbs began to come undone.

And by that moment, the pack of gnolls armed with all sorts of crude weapons was already close.

“Keong!”

“Kyaak!”

Even the smallest of them was larger than an average human man, and the largest was well over 2 meters tall and was even holding a Halberd as large as its frame.

Roughly thirty monsters, armed and possessing physical abilities far surpassing humans.

Against a group of monsters that even a formal knight who had mastered Corporeal Arts, the secret art of human evolution, couldn't handle alone, Muno threw himself in without hesitation.

- If you're facing a formidable group of enemies, deal with the weakest one first, for certain!

“Uaaap!”

“Kyaak!”

Kwajik.

Recalling his father’s words, Muno’s greatsword broke the smallest gnoll's crude wooden club and plunged straight into the creature's head.

“Kkeureuk?”

The moment the small gnoll collapsed with a final gasp.

“Kwarrak!”

KAKAKAKAKWANG!

Simultaneously, the weapons of the gnolls that rushed in from all sides were all parried by the iron chains extending from his four limbs, which moved as if they had eyes of their own.

“Kyarreuk?”

“Kyak!?”

“Ha!”

In the instant the gnolls were flustered by the absurd situation they had never experienced, Muno's greatsword swung horizontally once more, bisecting another one at the waist.

Jjeoeok.

“Kkeu, kkeukkeureureu…….”

At that moment.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

The enormous gnoll that appeared to be the leader of the pack let out a convulsive roar, then swung its halberd like a thunderbolt towards his front, which had become momentarily defenseless.

The direction it was falling.

‘Diagonally, from above my left head.’

The moment he made the judgment, Muno threw his body towards the creature's right side as if tossing it.

Charrreuk.

Simultaneously, the four chains connected to his limbs bound the creature's limbs.

With the greatsword he had been holding high since he jumped in, he went to stab its heart.

A surefire pattern he had performed countless times in monster hunts until now.

And yet.

“Kyaak!!”

Before the sword could even touch the creature's skin.

Chareuk.

The gnoll leader’s knee, moving like lightning as if ignoring the chains' restraints, slammed into his abdomen.

Bbeoeok.

‘Gack!’

The moment the shock, so intense it snapped him to his senses and even momentarily cleared his terrible headache, the massive axe blade was already before Muno's eyes.

The creature’s halberd, seemingly swung at the same time it sent his body flying.

Against the truly lightning-fast attack, the chains instinctively bunched together and blocked his front.

Simultaneously.

Woooong.

His ‘ability’ activated, slightly twisting the halberd's trajectory.

However.

KWAAAANG!

Thud.

“Keok!”

Even so, he had only barely avoided being split in two; he couldn't help but be slammed into the ground with a dizzying impact.

“Kyaaak!”

Whether it was angry that things didn't go its way, the gnoll leader let out a monstrous scream and brought its halberd down again in succession.

Muno, with the throbbing pain still not gone, used his four chains instead of his improperly moving hands and feet to push off the ground and hastily move his body.

And the halberd fell like a thunderbolt again on the spot he had just vacated.

KWANG!

“Kyaaak!”

As the gnoll leader, having missed its target again, roared while staring at him with blazing red eyes.

“Keong!”

“Krrr.”

The other gnolls that had retreated to the sides began to charge towards Muno.

A dizzying sense of crisis washed over his entire body.

‘I'm going to die……!’

He had jumped into this fight hoping to encounter such a situation in the first place, but when the moment actually came, his hands and feet seemed to freeze up even more.

But even in that instant his body froze, the chains responded to his will to survive and parried the gnolls' attacks.

Charrreuk.

TADADANG! TANG!

Only in the moment the gleaming weapons skimmed past his surroundings did his mind snap back to attention.

- A knight does not retreat.

As his father's voice came to mind again, his countless accumulated combat experiences made his body move reflexively.

“Haap!”

Tatang!

Jjeoeok.

Kwadeuk.

He deflected attacks with his chains, and then swung his greatsword in succession to cut down the gnolls.

And.

KWAAAAANG!

The moment he narrowly dodged the gnoll leader's halberd that had come right up to his nose.

Charrrrreuk.

The four chains began to choke the creature's neck.

Unlike before, all at once, only on its neck.

Fortunately, the creature couldn't ignore it this time either.

“Kyaaaaak!”

Thud. Thud.

“Keok!”

Every time the gnoll leader, struggling with even redder eyes, swung its halberd, Muno's body, connected to the chains, was repeatedly slammed against the uneven ground of the mountain ridge, even while narrowly avoiding fatal wounds.

KWANG. THUD.

THUD.

‘Kkeueuk.’

His vision spun dizzily with the intense impacts.

This dizzying experience, where he felt like he could die at any moment, strangely felt like something he had experienced somewhere before.

- I wanted to live like a person too…….

A voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, echoed in his head.

“Kyaaaaak!”

Just as the struggling gnoll leader and the other gnolls swarming in all at once began to fill his vision.

His father's voice once again came to mind.

- Life is something you seize for yourself.

- You are a shining life that survived even that terrible experience, my son.

- You can do anything, Muno.

……I can do it.

At that moment, amidst the pain that felt like he was about to lose consciousness, he clenched his fist instead of the greatsword he had lost.

KWADEDEUK.

Simultaneously, he moved the chains to pull his body up above the gnoll leader's head.

“Kyaaak!”

- Give me the body! If you want to live!

“Shu……”

He brought his knee down straight into the gaping maw of the large gnoll that was starting to foam at the mouth.

“……t up!”

KWANG.

And he mindlessly threw his fists towards its red eyes that were glaring at him.

POW. POW. POW.

With the thought of beating to death not only the gnoll in front of him, but also the devil whispering in his head.

“Die!”

WDEUDEUK.

“Die!!”

The more he punched, the more he felt the blood boil throughout his body, and strangely, strength began to build up in him.

KWANG. KWANG. KWANG!

“Kyaaaa……”

But the gnoll leader, while spouting streams of blood from its red eyes, refused to fall, and the other gnolls were approaching one by one.

Amidst the growing sense of crisis, his father's voice and the unfamiliar yet familiar voice began to mix.

- Muno, believe in yourself.

- Give me the bo-……!

“SHUT UP!!!”

The moment his will was firmly established, the eerie voice echoing in his head instantly faded away.

And in its place, only familiar voices remained.

- Life is something you seize for yourself.

- You can do anything, Muno.

- I wanted to live like a person too…….

‘Yes, I can do it!’

KWANG. KWANG. KWANG.

Just as he felt more and more power entering his clenched fists.

He felt the boiling blood in his body soon take over even his mind, and then with a ‘snap,’ his reason went completely white.

- KWANG!!!

And sometime later.

“Young Master!!?”

“Oh no!”

“Get him!”

When the knight and soldiers who had followed caught up and found Muno, he was passed out on top of the corpse of the large, fallen gnoll leader, in the midst of the annihilated gnoll pack.

Looking as if his body had suddenly grown, with his chains and even his hair dyed ‘black’.

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