The Duke's Son :Re-Chapter 251

Chapter 251
Memories of his human days were faint.
Theodore couldn’t remember his parents, his own face, or his name. However, Theodore remembered one fact clearly...
I will be the strongest in the world!
There was a time when he’d been a man... No, not just a man, but a man evaluated as a genius even among his family, which was said to have produced the strongest knights for generations.
They’d called him a genius, they’d called him a generational prodigy, and they’d even called him the future of his family...
But so what?
Accolades weren’t enough—
he
hadn’t been enough.
The fact was that the human body was fragile; its potential, limited. To seek the peak, Theodore knew he needed more than what his mortal coil could offer. And thus, he traded it for something greater.
Upon being gutted of his heart and stripped of his flesh, he’d traded mortal life for eternal undeath, and from thereon, Theodore existed as a death knight. Moreover, he was the only one of his kind to retain an intact mind after conversion.
The ground on which Jae-Hyeok stood collapsed—the fragile basalt unable to withstand the clash of his and Theodore’s swords.
“You blocked it well!”
Theodore’s sword plunged toward Jae-Hyeok as they fell from the fragmented cliff. Lightning flashed continuously, making the tip of Theodore’s sword seem as if it were jumping frame by frame, ever closer to Jae-Hyeok.
“But it isn’t enough! Try harder!”
Bang!
A wreath of purple mana radiated from Theodore, trailing behind him like the tail of a comet as it accelerated, propelling itself between falling fragments.
Its purple aura wasn’t just for show. It lingered in the sky, obscuring Theodore by blocking out the moonlight and lightning. With Theodore’s sword blending into the night, Jae-Hyeok was forced to change tack. Attuning himself to the tumultuous winds, he listened and felt for the subtle abnormalities that preempted the motion of Theodore’s sword.
Another round of blocking and parrying ensued. Jae-Hyeok and Theodore darted between the falling rubble, chasing each other from one boulder to the next.
The two figures separated at last as they reached the base of the cliff, whereupon they landed in the waters of the shore. At the same time, the purple mana in the sky dissipated.
Moonlight illuminated Jae-Hyeok’s pale face, and blood dripped from his sword hand.
“Hmph. As expected, humans have their limits. Only by abandoning the fleshly body can one truly transcend.”
“Is that possible?”
Jae-Hyeok spread open his hands to reveal the source of his bleeding, which was nothing more than torn calluses.
“My calluses will become harder as the wounds heal. On the other hand, your body only has bones left and will remain the same forever. Giving up on being human is something you will regret for the rest of your life.”
“How naive. Even the soul has ranks. The longer I exist and the more achievements I accumulate, the stronger my soul becomes. My body will grow accordingly.”
“That is why you lost to my father.”
“What?”
“Unlike you, who can only train your soul, humans train their soul and body simultaneously. Doesn’t that mean our growth rate is twice as fast? A Death Knight will never be able to keep up with humans.”
“Kukuk... Do you really think this provocation will work? Even if your simple calculations are true, a death knight’s lifespan is infinite. For you humans, you won’t even live one hundred years if you can’t achieve transcendence. I’ll outlive you all, and in time, no one will be my match.”
“You talk a lot about the future. But what about now? Are you invincible now? No. You’re not. Father beat you. And you’ll never catch up to him.
“That was just a fluke! I didn’t feel well that day! If we fight again, I’ll definitely win. Why else would I be waiting for the reunion with your father!”
The light in Theodore’s eyesockets flared, and it resumed its offense, striking with even greater speed than before.
The seawater reached up to Theodore’s waist, but Theodore showed no signs of being affected; on the other hand, Jae-Hyeok did.
The water reached up to Jae-Hyeok’s stomach, and the sand sucked at his feet with every step he took. He was clearly at a disadvantage.
Yet amazingly...
Just a little bit more.
This situation was what Jae-Hyeok was aiming for all along—he’d intentionally goaded Theodore into fighting at the edge of the cliff, having planned to fall into the water below.
After all, he was someone who wielded a small amount of the power of a thunder tribulation.
“What?”
Theodore had been driving Jae-Hyeok deeper into the sea, only for lightning to suddenly arc from Jae-Hyeok’s sword and propagate through the water. Theodore flinched and drew back with trembling hands.
[Thunderbolt Sword Level 1.
Type: Passive.
Attacks have a small probability of activating an aura of thunder energy around one’s blade.[1]]
Unlike Jae-Hyeok’s other Skills, which had reached level 2 or 3, Thunderbolt Sword’s growth was still level 1.
That was to be expected.
Thunderbolt Sword’s activation was probability-based, with a less than 3% chance of activation upon swinging his sword. Given this—and given the nature of Jae-Hyeok’s sword-drawing technique—the Skill was rarely activated outside of drawn-out battles with powerful opponents, and therefore, it rarely received experience.
After all, even rounding Thunderbolt Sword’s probability to 3%, that was still an average activation rate of three times per hundred sword swings.
Still, aside from the issue of experience, the Skill’s low rate of activation hadn’t been much of an issue to Jae-Hyeok. Beyond sword-drawing, Jae-Hyeok’s general swordsmanship was also swift enough as it was. So it usually only took several minutes for him to activate the Skill.
And regarding the current situation, Theodore had the habit of analyzing the force and direction of Jae-Hyeok’s strikes. Of those that it deemed harmless, Theodore would allow them to land to gain more ground in exchange. But knowing this, Jae-Hyeok had been able to focus purely on speed, allowing him to trigger Thunderbolt Sword even faster.
“You won’t be safe either!”
Theodore screamed in pain as lightning arced from Jae-Hyeok’s sword and spread through the water again, following which Jae-Hyeok slashed a long divot across Theodore's unguarded chest.
“It’s okay. I can bear it.”
While Thunderbolt Sword would occasionally arc to nearby opponents regardless, using the seawater as a medium played to the properties of lightning to electrocute Theodore at a much higher frequency. Of course, Jae-Hyeok wasn’t spared either with this method, but he’d had confidence in his lightning resistance—after all, he was even misunderstood as the Thunder Emperor in the Community.
“
Hmph.”
Theodore turned gloomy when it saw that Jae-Hyeok was fine. With no other choice, Theodore let go of its pride and released a burst of mana, knocking Jae-Hyeok away while it leaped back.
Bang!
Theodore slid to a halt on the sandy shore.
So long as I’m not in the water, there’s nothing that brat can do to me.
Theodore smugly beckoned Jae-Hyeok to meet it on the shore. However, inwardly it was nervous. If Jae-Hyeok chose to hold his ground in the water, there was nothing it could do short of waiting.
Imagining itself in a standoff with a kid, Theodore’s mood fell further.
Jae-Hyeok shouted over the waves and wind, “Hey! Isn’t it only right to give an advantage when facing someone hundreds of years younger?”
“Dammit! What does age have to do with a fair fight?”
Rather than reply, Jae-Hyeok channeled mana to the soles of his feet and leaped from the water. He soared into the sky until the two moons aligned behind his shoulders. From there, the stark shadow of his arm concealed Jae-Hyeok’s sword hand.
Meticulous brat.
Theodore realized Jae-Hyeok’s current power wasn’t some fluke. He was the sort to think calmly and act with purpose. That much could be seen by Jae-Hyeok’s calm response to his provocations. Had it been a normal child, Theodore was sure its haughty words would’ve had them charging onto the shore without a moment's thought.
Hmph. Plan and plot all you want. Tricks are useless in the face of an overwhelming difference in skill!
Purple mana erupted from Theodore’s sword, congealing around it until the sword was as big as a huge greatsword.
“Come!”
Jae-Hyeok plummeted toward Theodore, but Theodore remained steadfast. Having grasped the range of Jae-Hyeok’s sword, Theodore prepared to counter Jae-Hyeok’s sword-draw at the last moment, crushing him in one move.
However, Jae-Hyeok’s attack came sooner than it’d expected.
Hidden by the shadow of his arm, Jae-Hyeok drew the dagger that he’d had tucked under his scabbard and threw it at Theodore. It was none other than Grand Justice Alus's Dagger.
Theodore didn’t act rashly.
Rather than scramble at the last second, Theodore decided to endure the dagger so as not to miss its opportunity to counterattack Jae-Hyeok’s sword strike.
Grand Justice Alus’s Dagger blurred through the air and precisely struck
one of
Theodore’s cervical vertebrae.
Just a bit more...
Exactly 0.2 seconds, Jae-Hyeok would draw his red sword, and the battle would be over. Thinking as much, Theodore honed its focus to a needle point, but just as it did, Jae-Hyeok’s sword had already left its scabbard ahead of schedule.
The red blade morphed and elongated as it streaked through the air, following which it carved a shallow wound across Theodore’s shoulder bones.
“Well, you’re just full of tricks, aren’t you?!”
Before this, Jae-Hyeok had been using the hwando that Elder Song had crafted for him. It was different from Iyarugt in that the hwando was smaller and lighter; however, what was lost in power was gained in terms of speed, allowing Jae-Hyeok to stack successive hits on Theodore while remaining uncommitted enough to dodge Theodore’s own powerful cleaves.
This was the go-to method for dealing with powerful opponents, where one touch meant death or serious injury. And it paid off, too.
As an undead, Theodore may lack a sense of pain, but its damage resistance was also quite weak.
Rattle!
Theodore attempted to raise its arm, only for the injuries to its clavicle and cervical vertebrae to combine, interrupting the pivoting joints and causing Theodore to fail in the action.
Meanwhile, having lost himself in a flow state, Jae-Hyeok thought of nothing other than defeating his opponent. He didn’t give Theodore the slightest chance to recover and immediately used Two Scythes Block a Cart.
“You shouldn’t have given up on being human.”
A skeleton lacking muscles... How was that any different from a sandcastle? Jae-Hyeok was convinced that humans were superior to the undead. His father had proved it, and now so would he.
He raised Iyarugt and activated Hell Sword.
“Undead can’t beat humans.”
Although Jae-Hyeok was speaking to Theodore, his thoughts were on the Baus family—his words, a decree to those who’d dared to target his friend and make a fool of Lion’s Castle and the dukes of Korea.
An impossible sword pressure radiated from Iyarugt, and from the tip, red threads spread like fine roots as Jae-Hyeok brought it crashing down on Theodore, who raised its own massive sword to meet it.
Under the force of the collision, sand sprayed in every direction, and Theodore crashed to one knee.
“Serve me obediently.”
1. The original description of Thunderbolt Sword makes it sound like the Skill produces a completely separate sword of lightning, which then shadows the path of Jae-Hyeok’s blade. But this is not how Thunderbolt Sword functions in fight scenes. In the past, I spent time trying to blend the differences between the Skill description and how it’s actually used in combat. By now, however, I’m pretty sure Thunderbolt Sword just amounts to a lightning aura around Jae-Hyeok’s sword. I’ve changed the Skill description to reflect this. ☜