Chapter 400
From the moment Tae-kyung clashed with the black knight, the knight instinctively realized:
“He’s strong.”
The young man before him was an overwhelming force. Even if the black knight fought with everything he had, he couldn’t guarantee victory—perhaps this man even possessed strength beyond that.
As their fierce battle continued, this belief only grew stronger.
“This will be a tough fight.”
However, the black knight did not shrink back in fear or retreat.
He was the most loyal servant of his lord, and he had a mission to fulfill.
This was a battle between beings who had surpassed their limits. A fight where even the slightest difference could decide the outcome.
“If I don’t give up, the opportunity will come.”
The black knight knew this all too well.
It was a lesson ingrained in him since his days as a child in training, and he had survived countless battles by remembering it.
“…Me?”
Suddenly, confusion crept in. As his mind wavered, his body became disoriented.
And the opponent in front of him was not one to miss such an opening.
*Shhk!* *Sshk!*
Tae-kyung’s spear pierced through the dead flesh.
*Boom!*
Blue flames struck his chest.
As the heat engulfed him, the black knight felt a sensation—pain.
“What is this…?”
The knight was not alarmed by the fact that he felt pain. What unsettled him was how familiar this sensation was.
“These memories… What are they?”
His chest throbbed, and his head pounded.
Allowing these relentless attacks to land, the black knight staggered as unfamiliar memories rapidly flashed before his eyes.
“This… can’t be!”
“His mana adaptability is extraordinary. This is the highest level we’ve ever seen!”
“We need to put him into the accelerated development program immediately!”
Excited voices rang out—people in white coats, and a middle-aged man in a dark, angular uniform.
“Accelerated development program? Are you saying you want to turn this child into a hunter?”
“Of course! This child has mana adaptability on par with Pai Chen at just one year old! He’s more than capable of becoming a 5th-grade hunter, or even the best in the nation!”
“No, I refuse.”
“What? But… General, what do you mean? This child—”
“Enough.”
The middle-aged man spoke in a lowered voice.
“He’s my only nephew. I promised my sister that I would make sure he lives a happy life, not throw him into danger by making him a hunter.”
“Hunters have a noble calling! If this child becomes an S-rank hunter, he could bring prosperity to the entire nation!”
“I understand how noble their work is. But that’s exactly how my brother-in-law…”
The general’s voice trailed off, and he shook his head.
“No matter what you say, my decision won’t change. If it weren’t for the directive from above, I wouldn’t have even allowed this testing. We’re leaving now. Do as you will.”
“General! General!”
Ignoring the shouts behind him, the middle-aged man strode forward with a forced smile as he extended his hand.
“Have you waited long? Come on, let’s go.”
The black knight, or rather, the person these memories belonged to, grabbed the man’s hand.
A small, white hand.
Then, a clear child’s voice echoed.
“Uncle.”
“Hmm?”
“I want to be a hunter.”
At that moment, countless emotions flickered across the face of the middle-aged man.
He bit his lip, gazing at the child for a long time. After a deep sigh, several people approached, their faces bright with hope.
“The accelerated development program is something we’ve put our hearts into. It’s safe and effective. And, after all, someone the same age as him—Wu Haixing—is also doing quite well in the program.”
“If the child changes his mind, we can stop at any time.”
An older man, the eldest among them, placed a hand on the general’s shoulder.
“Please trust us, General Wei Feng-hu.”
Wei Feng-hu, Wei Feng-hu…
The name echoed endlessly in the black knight’s mind. A name so familiar, so dear.
*Boom!*
His chest throbbed again. Was it because he had been struck, or was it something else?
As the black knight staggered, more memories resurfaced.
—
A voice sneered in the black knight’s mind:
“Do you think you’re the best just because the adults are praising you?”
A boy in a suit and shiny shoes glared at him with sharp eyes.
“Don’t kid yourself. I’m the best. You’re second, at most!”
The black knight’s vision tilted as a naive voice echoed in response.
“Yeah? Then let’s do that.”
“What?”
“I’m fine with being second. I’d be fine with third or even last.”
The boy’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Are you stupid? Are you saying you want to be worse than Zhang Wei, the worst in the academy?”
“But Zhang Wei is kind and always helps others. He’ll make a great hunter.”
“You… You’re mocking me, aren’t you!”
“What? No way. I just think it’s fine if you’re happy. Whoa!”
*Thud!*
Suddenly, the boy tackled him, but the black knight easily pinned him down. The boy squirmed beneath him, shouting:
“I’m the best! Wu Haixing is the best at everything!”
One memory faded, and another emerged, like stones being thrown into a still pond, creating ripples of memories that disturbed the black knight’s mind.
“Top cadet, step forward.”
A small group of people filled the large space.
For some reason, the name called out was unclear, but his body moved automatically.
*Step.* *Step.*
His steps were measured, and his strides long. His perspective was higher, and he realized he had grown into a young man.
The older man from his first memory approached, pinning a medal on his chest.
That familiar face—the one he had seen in his earliest memory—whispered quietly:
“Are you sure you won’t regret this?”
“I won’t regret it. I never have, and I never will.”
“Most people will never know you exist. You might live your entire life like a shadow.”
“I learned that another name for a hunter is ‘protector.’ Even if no one sees me, my honor will remain intact.”
The older man gripped his shoulder tightly.
“I’m proud of you. Thank you for growing up so well.”
“Thank you, uncle… No, father.”
A bright smile spread across the older man’s face as tears welled in his eyes.
As a tear rolled down his weathered cheek and dropped to the ground, a new memory surfaced.
“Hello?”
One warm spring day, he had walked into a small flower shop. As he glanced around at the colorful flowers, a woman approached him.
“Welcome!”
Her steps were light, and her eyes twinkled like a cat’s.
Her voice was so cheerful, so bright, and so beautiful…
The black knight—no, the man, as he had been in his youth—felt his heart race.
“Are you looking for something?”
“Ah, yes, I came to… to buy flowers.”
“For your parents? Or maybe a girlfriend?”
“Uh, for my parents. Well, to be exact, for my uncle, who raised me…”
“I see. You sound so formal. Are you in the military by chance?”
“Something like that…”
The memory felt strange, fragmented, as if his mind was struggling to process it. Everything seemed to flicker in and out, like a fading dream.
When he came to his senses, he was already standing in a hospital room, holding a bouquet of flowers.
“You didn’t need to come all the way here for a simple case of pneumonia… But, uh, what’s that you’ve got there?”
The older man, Wei Feng-hu, asked, eyeing him curiously.
“They’re flowers.”
“Wait… Are those funeral chrysanthemums?”
“Yes, they are… Oh?”
“You brat! Did you bring funeral flowers for my hospital visit?!”
*Whap! Whap!*
The man—now much older—laughed as the bouquet hit him. He chuckled at his own foolishness, and at how much the woman at the flower shop resembled those chrysanthemums.
After that, he found himself visiting the flower shop more and more often.
“Hello again!”
“Oh, you’re back… You come here often, don’t you?”
“Haha, yes…”
“You want the white chrysanthemums again, right?”
Spring turned to summer, then autumn, and finally winter.
By the time four seasons had passed, the two were no longer just a shopkeeper and a customer.
“I have something to say.”
“What is it?”
“Will you marry me?”
“Oh…”
“I’ll make you happy.”
It was the longest memory yet. Time seemed to stretch endlessly, each second feeling like a decade, a century, until she finally responded.
“I have something to say, too. But before I give you my answer…”
“I’m pregnant.”
“What?”
*Thump. Thump-thump.* His heart pounded wildly.
The black knight began to writhe in pain.
“Aaargh!”
It felt like his head was being split open, his body wrung out by an unseen hand.
The agony was beyond anything he had ever imagined. Along with it came another memory, forcing its way into the void in his mind.
—
A baby’s cry echoed in the room.
“Waaaah! Waaaah!”
“This… this child is…”
“Congratulations, you’re a father now, dear.”
The birth of new life, and its rapid growth.
“Appa. Appa!”
“Honey! Honey! Did you hear that? She just said ‘appa!’ Isn’t our baby a genius?”
“Can you change her diaper first?”
“Wait, hold on, I need to hear it again.”
“Appa, eomma!”
“Hahaha! That’s right! We’re your appa and eomma!”
The child, once swaddled in blankets, soon began to crawl, then take her first steps.
The man was happier than ever, as if he owned the entire world.
But the days that had felt like a dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
“There’s been a spike in mana readings in Gaoping District!”
“Gaoping District? Get in touch with them immediately, and have the second division mobilize just in case.”
“Sir, we’ve lost communication with them.”
“What?”
A disaster had struck without warning.
The man quickly gathered his forces and raced toward the source of the problem, only to be met with a horrifying sight.
“Graaaahhh!”
“R-run for your lives—urk!”
*Splatter! Boom!*
The peaceful city was engulfed in flames, with countless monsters rampaging across the streets, slaughtering humans indiscriminately.
Screams and death filled the air. The man, witnessing the massacre before him, drew his sword.
“Public Security Force, advance!”
*Clang! Clang!*
A brilliant aura wrapped around his sword as he roared the command.
A thousand hunters, their armor adorned with the red stars of the Chinese flag, responded with a fierce battle cry.
They were humanity’s shield and protectors. Retreat was not an option.
“Wipe them all out!”
“Long live the People’s Republic of China!”
Like waves crashing against the shore, the hunters surged forward, only to be torn apart, their blood staining the battlefield.
“Perish in the flames of destruction, Fire Rain!”
A shrill sound pierced the sky as the heavens opened, and fire rained down upon them.
Underneath the ashen sky, the man thought of his beloved wife and their five-year-old daughter.
And then… he came face to face with *that* being.
“If you had run, you might have survived.”
“I will kill you.”
“You’re noble. What is your name, human?”
“I am…”
—
“…Lei Fei?”
Tae-kyung’s voice pierced through the chaos, and the black knight froze.
The dam that had held everything back finally burst, and the pieces of his past began to fall back into place.
All 36 years of his life as a human came flooding back like a tidal wave, overwhelming his mind.
_I am… I am…_
Who was he?
As confusion and pain wracked his body, the black knight’s thoughts were interrupted by a thunderous voice reverberating through his skull.
“You are my most loyal servant and the general of my army. I command you—fight until you are nothing but ashes.”
It was an unbreakable command, an order bound by the power of *Word of Law*.
The flickering red light in his eyes blazed fiercely once more.
Still reeling from the blow he had just taken, Lei Fei’s entire body surged with immense power.
*BOOM!*
