Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 85

Leon swallowed dryly at that terrifying name of Hell’s Club. One look at the Titans’ twisted faces told him enough. Their veins bulged as if they might burst at a touch, and their bodies, bruised purple from the crushing weight of iron, were blotched all over.

Their flesh, tougher and harder than steel, was battered to a pulp. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it torture.

If a human tried training like that, they wouldn’t have a bone left intact...

Even if it wasn’t as extreme as what he saw here, Leon himself had pushed his body through harsh training. He could instantly grasp just how brutal this place was.

The basic principle of building muscle wasn’t all that different. Apply stimulus through heavy weight or high repetition, then rest and feed the body to help it recover. Despite the similarity, however, humans must never follow the method displayed before Leon and Karen.

El-Cid didn’t deny it.

—Titans are built differently in many ways, after all. Unlike humans, Titans are monsters who can strengthen not just their muscles but even ligaments, joints, and blood vessels. Some of them, if they’re really gifted, can even control involuntary muscles.

Involuntary muscles?

—The ones that move on their own, like the heart. For humans to control even part of them, they’d need Aura or decades of special training. That Circulation Manipulation technique you fought back at the Academy was one example.

El-Cid’s voice was calm as always, but the content was anything but casual. A living being that could strengthen not just muscles but ligaments, joints, and blood vessels! For any warrior, that was a body to covet—a physique whose limits were impossible to guess.

No matter how much humans trained, their limit without Aura was clear. No human could shatter castle walls barehanded or run faster than beasts on bare feet.

It was a limit of the species.

Even if they built up muscle, they lacked the ligaments to support that power and the joints to bear it.

A blessed body, huh...

—Precisely.

Leon let out a heavy sigh, suddenly feeling the sting of old frustrations. He remembered how, back at the Academy, he had been stuck in a plateau that lasted years.

If only he’d had a Titan’s body instead of a human’s. He could have advanced his physical abilities endlessly, even without Aura. Having a body that repaid effort without end was a true blessing.

Apparently misreading his look, Urga clapped Leon’s shoulder and grinned.

“Oh? Looks like your blood’s boiling too,” he said to Leon. “Every time I come here, I feel fear—but I burn with the resolve to challenge my limits. ‘Hell’ really is the perfect name for this place.”

“R-right...”

Leon didn’t agree at all, but he nodded anyway. If Urga asked him to try it once, he’d refuse on the spot.

By his guess, the iron lump that one of the giants was squatting had to be over ten tons, and the one doing presses had to be lifting at least five. If he tried to shoulder that weight with raw strength, his spine would be crushed in less than a second.

Thankfully, Urga made no such offer.

“Well then—tempting as it is, let’s leave training here for another time. The chieftain is waiting for us on the other side.”

Leon and Karen both nodded at once. If they could escape this pit of blood, sweat, muscle pain, and screams, they’d meet anyone.

They quickened their pace through the training hall all the while the hellish screams never stopped. One giant coughed blood mid-squat, another pinned under iron plates demanded extra weights to be added to the barbell, and another who had fallen victim to a spotter who repeated “Just one more” over ten times.

“Ugh... T-tell me I’m in a nightmare...”

Karen visibly shivered, hugging her shoulders as if the sight gave her chills. It was such a horrific scene that even she—an assassin forged under the survival rate lower than ten percent—was shaken speechless. The Titan way was incredible in every sense.

Only after walking hundreds more meters did they finally leave the screams behind. They just began to relax when a new sound stiffened their shoulders again.

Rumble after rumble shook the ground. The scale of those shockwaves was barely behind what they’d felt from Angela back in Rubena.

A massive power was clashing. Not just once or twice—but dozens of impacts every second, each strong enough to kill just by brushing past.

It was the kind of phenomenon you wouldn’t see even at the center of a full-scale battlefield.

“Ho, looks like everyone’s busy today.”

Only Urga seemed pleased, savoring the vibrations.

He added, “With the chieftain taking part, I guess it’s no surprise. A chance to cross blades with the Chief Warrior himself—many of my brothers must be risking their lives to seize it.”

Karen couldn’t help but ask, “Sorry, Urga, but what exactly is going on up ahead?”

Every scene so far had defied reason—but this power was too much.

If they got caught in the crossfire, they’d die. Her instincts as an elite assassin screamed at her to run if she wanted to live.

“They are sparring,” Urga answered as if the question were obvious.

“S-sparring...?”

“Power without skill is just flailing, and skill without power is just dancing. One cannot grow stronger without clashing. Surely you understand?”

It was the simplest logic, but Leon and Karen exchanged helpless looks and followed Urga deeper inside. They had to see it for themselves to believe it.

And then, they saw it.

“Is this all you’ve got?!”

The storm of violence.

A giant struck by a punch flew several meters through the air, slammed into the wall, and lost consciousness. The impact was so great that the wall caved in, leaving behind a Titan-shaped dent.

And that wasn’t all. Titans with spears, swords, clubs—it didn’t matter what weapon they held. One punch sent them flying all the same. Titans tough enough to shrug off a catapult shot were helpless before another Titan’s single punch.

“Hi-hic.”

Karen started hiccupping in shock. It was a strangely endearing reaction for the assassin queen of Blaine’s underworld, but Leon was in no mood to tease her.

“That’s Aura Fist...” he muttered.

A variation of Aura Weapon, Aura Fist was a technique of coating the surface of a weapon with Aura, except that the weapon was the wielder’s body.

A skilled human fighter’s Aura Fist could shatter rock and splinter shields with a single blow. When a Titan used it, it was strong enough to send another Titan flying.

Sure enough, one flew right past them with a thunderous crash and hit the ground near Leon’s feet, eyes rolling back as he fainted. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t just a bruise, but a sign the blow had crushed even his insides.

If any other species had taken that hit, they’d have been smashed to pulp, plain and simple. The fact that he only coughed up a bit of blood was impressive in itself.

Urga gave the Titan a quick once-over, rolled him aside, and kept walking.

“Don’t worry. Just a bit of liver and stomach damage.”

A ruptured organ would be fatal for any other species, but for a Titan, it was barely a flesh wound.

With the way clear, Urga called out in a booming voice, “Chieftain! Spear-bearer Urga has brought guests of the village!”

“What?!”

The giant who reacted to that shout was none other than the whirlpool of brute force, the one who’d just flattened dozens of Titans moments before. Hearing the word “guests,” he came to his senses, brushed the blood from his hands, and strode toward them.

“Guests of the village, eh? How long has it been since we’ve had that?”

As the chieftain drew near, Leon felt his whole body tense up. Beyond Aura proficiency or techniques—this was a being whose sheer power belonged in another realm entirely.

He was overwhelmingly strong. He was above S-rank, even stronger than the drake he had only recently struggled against.

“A pleasure. I’m the village chieftain, Balkan.”

Leon managed to lift a hand and clasp the boulder-like hand offered to him. Even through skin, the power he felt gave him chills.

A certainty, like instinct, flashed through his mind: if they fought, he’d lose.

This was his first encounter with a Chief-Warrior-tier Titan, Balkan. Leon hadn’t yet met a true Swordmaster, but this man might even surpass one.

The rumor that a relic of Holy King Rodrick was left in this land suddenly felt all the more believable.

***

The chieftain, Balkan, rested his chin on a hand and murmured, “A relic of Hero Rodrick, you say... I know nothing of it myself, so I can’t help you there. I’ll pass it along to the King right away. As far as I know, he’s the only Titan who ever met Rodrick face to face.”

“Ah! Thank you so much,” Leon expressed his gratitude.

When Leon bowed, Balkan waved the gesture away.

“Not a problem.”

The Titans cared nothing for formalities. Rank, titles, courtesy—they found no value in such things. For a warrior, praise had to be earned through deeds, and honor was born from strength.

So as soon as that talk was over, Balkan immediately changed the subject.

“But a drake, eh? Should be wiped out in these mountains. Must’ve come from elsewhere?”

“Most likely so,” Urga answered. “It struck first at me and Zulu too—clearly had no idea who owns this mountain range. Black scales, dark magic... There’s no way something that distinctive would’ve stayed hidden until now.”

“Right. If we’d seen it even once, our boys wouldn’t have let it get away alive,” Balkan agreed.

“If it had flown anywhere near the village, it’d have been dead already.”

It sounded arrogant, but for the Titans, an S-rank monster was just prey they hunted several times a year. The drake was no exception.

At most, four or five Titans could handle it—and if a Chief Warrior got involved, they could take it solo. Even Balkan himself had taken down S-rank threats more than once.

“Tch. Shame though. If it wasn’t already claimed, I’d have gone and bashed its skull in myself,” he muttered.

“The others probably feel the same,” Urga agreed.

Leon, confused, cautiously asked, “Wait, claimed? You mean like... a hunting order or something?”

Balkan’s eyes went wide and then laughed when he realized why.

“Ah, right. You lot don’t know our ways yet.”

“Your ways?”

“It’s simple. If a warrior wounds a prey badly enough, they’re guaranteed the first right to finish the hunt. You gouged out its eye—that means you’ve got the claim.”

The standard for a major wound was clear. It had to impair the target’s combat ability—an eye, a wing, a leg—something that couldn’t be ignored. Leon had fit the bill perfectly.

“Splendid! Not only do we get visitors for the first time in ages, but one of them’s a warrior skilled enough to gouge out a drake’s eye. We can’t just leave you lounging around the village!”

“Haha... You flatter me too much...”

The words were high praise, but Leon felt a cold dread crawl up his spine. Somehow, he could already guess what would come next. So he should have cut the talk off before it came up, but...

“Come on! How about a few sparring matches with the boys?”

Balkan paid no heed to Leon’s awkward reaction, standing up without a shred of doubt. He clearly believed, deep down, that no warrior like Leon would turn down such an offer.

If Leon backed out now, the mood would sour for sure. He had no choice but to accept.

“Dammit... Fine, let’s do it.”

As soon as he agreed, the ground shook with a rumble. From deeper in the cave, a crowd of Titans surged toward them. One glance at their sweat- and blood-soaked state was enough to know that these were the same Titans who’d been screaming in agony in the Hell’s Club[1].

They came panting up, and the moment they spotted Leon, they raised their hands and yelled at the top of their lungs.

“There he is! The human warrior who gouged out the drake’s eye!”

“He’s mine! I’m fighting him first!”

“Out of the way, you dual-wielding freak! I’m up—I use one blade!”

“Drugo! You’re on patrol next! You don’t get to fight!”

“I’ll make up for it later!”

Leon felt his mind go numb at the uproar. Every single one of them was an opponent he couldn’t guarantee beating.

Even without a hint of malice or bloodlust, the sheer battle spirit pouring off them made sweat run cold down his back. Not even the Empire’s Royal Guard could pull this off.

“Hah...”

He took one deep breath to steady himself. A fight against the strong was exactly what he’d wished for. When else would he get a chance to clash with warriors like the Titans?

He might not be able to replicate Rodrick’s legend of subduing the Giant King, but as his disciple, he couldn’t bring any shame to that name. Regaining his calm, Leon drew his sword from his hip.

At the keen, metallic sound, every Titan fell silent. There was no fear—only the swirling excitement of warriors ready for battle.

“Starting from the left, one at a time,” Leon’s golden eyes glinted coldly as he laid down the rule. “Let’s begin.”

1. This is likely a wordplay! Hell’s Club sounds similar to Health Club, which refers to a lifting gym in Korea. Their most popular trait is their members who are obsessed with working out. ☜