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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Bam!
Whack!
Crack!
Gruesome sounds echoed.
Those watching from behind instinctively winced, unable to bear witness to the disrespectful treatment of their king.
The battle was overwhelmingly one-sided.
“Ugh!”
Beast King Lyger desperately swung his sword, trying to create distance, but the confines of the prison corridor worked against him.
There was no room to escape.
There was no space to maneuver.
Of course, even if the fight weren’t taking place in a prison, the overall outcome wouldn’t change.
My fist, having slipped inside his guard, struck Lyger’s jaw from below.
He gritted his teeth, trying to withstand the blow, but even the strongest jaw couldn’t withstand the force of my fist.
“Gah!”
Finally, he cried out and stumbled backward.
He stared at me in disbelief.
“Your movements are… uncanny. It’s as if…”
“As if time is stopping, right?”
He bared his teeth and snorted, the unspoken hypothesis now voiced.
“Are you truly telling me you can stop time?”
“You know there’s no other explanation. Besides, you can ask those behind you.”
I was only stopping the Beast King, so the guards and his advisor behind him must have noticed the unnatural pauses in his movements.
The deer-antlered beast-kin hurriedly approached and whispered, but his words echoed clearly in the prison.
“Whenever this man moves, Your Majesty suddenly freezes. It’s… as if time stops.”
He had thought I was right in front of him, but to others, they only saw me running toward him?
Lyger placed a hand on his forehead, trying to catch his breath.
Perhaps due to his large size and the confined space of the dungeon, he seemed short of breath.
‘…Hmm?’
My smug grin slowly faded as I observed him.
Something felt off.
The first time I experienced stopped time was in the royal palace, during my fight with the Priestess of Time.
Since then, she had lost her powers, so I hadn’t experienced it again.
‘Now that I think about it, something’s strange.’
It was the same when I stopped time to enter the beast-kin city, and when I knocked out those thugs at the entrance.
In stopped time, they all lost consciousness.
Their consciousness itself seemed to freeze, which made sense, but…
‘I wasn’t like that.’
During my fight with the Priestess, I retained consciousness even when time stopped.
I was clearly aware that time had stopped, and within that frozen moment, I thought about my next move, searching for a way to counter her.
Now, I was the one confused.
What was the difference?
The power I wielded and the power the Priestess wielded were the same.
In fact, she was far more skilled in using it.
But… what was different?
Confusion piled upon confusion.
Doubts about my own ability began to surface.
I had a strong feeling that something was wrong, that things were going awry, but for now, I couldn’t understand what it was.
“Raaaaargh!”
The Beast King charged, roaring.
The fierce determination of a king who refused to be defeated by a mere human resonated in his cry, but…
As I said before, the ability to stop time in close combat was absolute.
Bam!
Whack!
I punched him again in the stomach as he froze mid-charge.
He spat up, his body swaying, but he somehow managed to stay on his feet.
“Ugh…”
He must have been in immense pain, hit while charging.
Despite being completely overwhelmed, the Beast King refused to yield.
“I am the King of the Beast-kin! Do you think I will succumb to such tricks?”
His spirit and determination were admirable.
It seemed he would continue to fight, no matter how many times I struck him.
“Alright.”
I drew my sword.
I was reaching my limit in using this power anyway.
I felt it was necessary to show him the raw, unfiltered power he craved, rather than letting him be defeated by an ability he couldn’t comprehend.
I charged at Lyger as he took his stance.
Clang!
Our swords clashed.
Lyger, finally able to see my movements, hesitated for a moment, then, sensing an opportunity, put more force into his grip.
“So you want to fight with swords?”
Beast King Lyger was strong.
He wasn’t the king of the beast-kin, a race that worshipped strength, for nothing.
In terms of pure combat ability, he was comparable to Eris, the Guardian of Yggdrasil, but…
They were different.
Eris was a guardian, a protector.
Lyger was a conqueror, a breaker.
They were both undeniably among the strongest on the continent, excluding the Demon Realm Forest, of course.
Clang!
My sword sang.
Lyger, expecting his superior strength to give him the advantage in a direct confrontation, was surprised to find me matching his power.
The Beast King, finally realizing my skill, gulped nervously.
“If I were still a student at the academy, I might have actually struggled a bit.”
Until now, I had only focused on physical training, and my senses, honed from years in the Demon Realm Forest, had dulled.
If I had fought Lyger in that state, I might not have lost, but I would have struggled.
However, the opponents I had faced before coming to the beast-kin territory were on a completely different level.
Sharcal, the Grand Mage, obsessed with power.
The Priestess of Time, the immortal fanatic.
And Kurika, the Emperor of the Demon Realm Forest, the first king of the beast-kin, still revered to this day.
My senses were now as sharp as they were during my time as a Sherpa.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Our heavy swords continued to clash.
Lyger desperately searched for an opening, shifting his body and rolling his eyes, but…
My sword pierced through the Beast King’s proud greatsword.
“Ugh!”
Thud.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“No!”
The heaviest being in this land stumbled backward and fell.
Everyone understood the significance of this moment.
“How about it?
Are you ready to admit defeat?”
The king of a nation, defeated by a mere academy student.
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Outside the palace, Kurika and Sen were munching on skewers on a rooftop.
They had been tense at first, ready to rush in at any moment, but as time dragged on, they decided to grab a snack from a nearby food stall to replenish their energy.
“Hmm, is the meat too tough?”
“A little.
But it’s delicious.”
“It’s probably cooked to suit beast-kin teeth.”
As he spoke, Kurika pulled out a pair of scissors from his bag.
It was a thoughtful gesture, offering to cut the meat into smaller pieces if she found it difficult to chew.
Sen took the scissors and, as she cut the meat, asked cautiously,
“Were you really a king?”
“Ahem.”
It wasn’t a topic he enjoyed discussing, but looking at Sen’s bright, expectant eyes, Kurika sighed.
It was like a grandfather telling a story to his granddaughter.
“I didn’t intend to create a kingdom back then. I simply united the beast-kin, who were more individualistic than other races.”
“Oh, I learned about that at the academy. They said beast-kin used to be treated like monsters by other races, but King Callius united them and saved them. That’s when the concept of ‘beast-kin’ was created.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Sen realized that the savior of the beast-kin race, the one who had united them and given them a sense of identity, was right beside her.
“Wow, I’m meeting someone from the textbooks.”
“Do humans teach beast-kin history?”
“The basics.”
He felt a strange sense of disquiet, knowing that his past was being taught in a distant human land.
“But why did you leave?”
“You’re quite straightforward.”
Kurika glanced at Sen.
Small stature, snow-white hair, needle marks on her wrists and neck…
She looked like a beautiful lily, but Kurika, who had lived for centuries, could sense the scars hidden beneath her innocent exterior.
He felt a pang of sympathy and slowly began to speak.
“I did a lot for the beast-kin. Not just protecting them and defeating their enemies, but also implementing policies and changing social perceptions of beast-kin. I believe I made significant contributions.”
Even the academy textbooks acknowledged that the golden age of the beast-kin was during the reign of King Callius.
The kings who followed, and even the current king, Lyger, were considered competent rulers, but they couldn’t escape Callius’s shadow.
Kurika smiled faintly and continued,
“I was prepared to dedicate my life to them, but they thought differently.”
“What?”
“They were willing to dedicate everything to me, believing I would fulfill their desires.”
It was a bitter memory.
He had fought to protect them, to shield the oppressed and persecuted beast-kin and give them a better life.
But as they settled into a stable life under his rule and protection, they wanted more.
Revenge.
Their desire for revenge consumed them, and they offered everything to their king, believing he would grant their wishes.
Looking back, it wasn’t much different from the Priestess of Time dedicating her life to her goddess.
“With me as their king, the beast-kin would have continued to clamor for conquest. That’s why I left.”
“……”
He was about to be dragged back into the past, his old worries resurfacing, but he was interrupted.
Kurika’s ears perked up.
He turned his head slightly and looked towards the outskirts of the city.
Beyond the horizon, he could see an army marching towards them, weapons in hand.
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