How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 103: Enhanced Humans (1)

Osian had known this moment would come.

Deep in the ancient ruins, with no communication, there was no way for those outside to know what was going on.

Not even if the people inside were fighting amongst themselves.

How do you know who killed who?

We don’t know if the dead person was killed by a trap in the ruins, a guardian, or a human, because there were no witnesses.

That’s why people had to be prepared the moment they entered the ruins.

They didn’t just fight monsters or guardians in the ruins, they also had to fight people.

The blood flow in Osian’s body began to speed up.

“Actually, I was kind of looking forward to it.”

How strong would an enhanced human who thought he was superior really be?

Osian really wanted to know.

‘A class of people that didn’t exist in the game.’

An enhanced human is a human whose genes have been modified by advanced magic and science.

Naturally, they were unheard of in the game, where even the convenience of science didn’t exist.

“What, expected it?”

The augmented human frowned at Osian’s comment.

“Have you lost your mind, or are you just trying to bluff your way through this moment and scare us off somehow?”

“If that’s what it sounded like, I wouldn’t mind thinking about it.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t be so modest.”

The energy emanating from the enhanced humans intensified.

Balud, who had taken up a stance beside him, gave Osian a scowl.

“What’s the point of provoking them further?”

“He’s trying to kill us anyway, so what if I provoke him further?”

He wasn’t wrong, so Balud kept his gaze straight ahead and focused on the enemy.

‘Fortunately, they won’t be coming at us all at once.’

Enhanced humans were psychopaths who thought they were superior to humans.

They figured they didn’t need all ten of them against just two.

Balud’s opponent was a female augmented with graying hair down to her waist.

She had a doll-like face and a subtle slant at the corners of her eyes.

“Handsome brother.”

What was I thinking, complimenting someone who was about to die and kill me?

It was easy to see why.

“I like to kill people like that.”

“…….”

What a bunch of weirdos.

Balud met all sorts of people in his time in the mafia, but the enhanced humans were beyond unpleasant.

Most of them were psychopaths, like their brains had been destroyed by the experiments.

They’d rather fight for money than fight for love.

Balud didn’t respond to the augmented woman’s words, as if they weren’t worth responding to.

“Hmm. It hurts to be so cold, but good, it makes the screaming sound sweeter later.”

“Did you only learn to fight verbally?”

Balud snapped his axe blade back and forth impatiently.

“Come on.”

“Funny. Don’t get too excited. There’s plenty of time for that. Until then, why don’t you worry about your mate?”

The woman was right, for the enhanced human facing Osian, the leader of the pack, lunged at him.

Aaron, his teammates, and the enhanced humans with him thought in unison.

Soon Osian’s limbs would be torn off, and his eyeballs would be gouged out, just as the Enhancer had just warned him.

The smugness was not without reason, but it made Balud chuckle nonetheless.

‘Worrying about my fellow man?’

That’s ridiculous. Who the hell cares about anyone?

At least the Osian he had fought was not weak enough to be defeated by such an enhanced human.

-Aaaah!

The arm that had lunged at Osian was severed in a spray of blood.

“What?”

The enhancer sensed something was wrong, and his vision tilted to the side.

He realized that Osian had cut off one of his ankles, knocking him off balance.

The blade fell toward the augmented human throat as he tried to fall.

The augmented gripped the ground with one arm and pushed himself hard backward.

Osian’s blade narrowly missed him.

“You look surprised.”

Osian spoke softly to the augmented man, who stared at him from a distance.

The enhanced human didn’t answer him easily. A moment ago, his grasp had been aimed at Osian’s shoulder.

The goal was to tear off the arm that held the sword first.

But instead, it was his own arm that was cut off. Funnily enough, he hadn’t even realized it as the sword sliced through his arm.

“What the hell, how?”

“Are your eyes better than that?”

“Eyes?”

Before the words were out of his mouth, a solid red line formed across the enhanced human’s eye.

It was ugly and blood splattered.

“Kaaaagh!”

Even as an enhanced human, he was not strong enough to withstand the pain of having his eyes gouged out.

Aaron and the other enhanced humans watching were stunned.

“When?”

Just a moment ago, their boss, the enhanced human, had clearly dodged Osian’s sword.

Then his eye was cut out. Could it be that he was aiming for its eye the whole time, and it didn’t even notice?

Red blood dripped down as the boss staggered to his feet.

Osian felt uncomfortable at the sight.

The severed leg had returned to its original form. To top it off, the severed arm was regenerating in real time.

With a hissing sound, the wound bubbled up and shot out like a lizard’s tail.

The eye was the same.

The slash across his face healed in an instant, and his gouged-out eye was restored.

“I’ll kill you.”

But there was one thing that was different this time, and that was the overt emotion on his face, which was directed at Osian.

“I thought your face was broken because you had no expression, but it’s not. This is better.”

Osian’s expression was one of pure admiration as he realized something new.

Of course, to the enhanced humans, it sounded like a taunt.

Just as the others were about to step forward, the leader shouted.

“Stop! I will kill that bastard. Anyone who tries to interfere will die at my hands.”

The growling words sent the other Enhanced backing away once more.

Osian sneered at him.

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to come at me in groups?”

“You just made a big mistake. You should have killed me for sure when you had the chance, because now you won’t be able to.”

The enhanced human lunged at Osian again.

It wasn’t called Enhanced for nothing, and its movements were both swift and sloppy.

With a single stride, the enhanced man leapt several meters, reaching Osian’s location in a matter of seconds.

Its speed was twice as fast as when it tried to play with it in moderation but Osian reacted to that speed.

-Flash!

The Elven Longsword in Osian’s hand moved, and a sharp sword struck the enhanced human’s wrist again.

This time, it was to cut off his wrist.

With a bang, Osian’s sword was blocked at the wrist.

“Hmm?”

“Did you think I was going to get hit again?”

The enhanced human smirked.

Its wrist, where it had blocked Osian’s sword, sprouted scales like those of a reptile.

“I sensed it when I watched you regenerate, but were you really a lizard?”

“Seeing as you’re still talking nonsense, you must have some time on your hands!”

The enhanced human kicked out, knocking Osian’s sword away.

It appeared to be a bare leg, but it wasn’t. Its legs were also covered in razor-sharp scales.

Osian snapped his head back. The reptile’s leg brushed the tip of his nose.

As he tried to close the distance behind him, he felt his body shudder.

It was the lizard’s tail, which had now grabbed his ankle.

It wasn’t the only one. Above the augmented human’s palm holding his sword, a new palm sprouted, curling around the hilt of his blade.

It was a sight to behold, a sight that filled him with a physiological revulsion.

“Indeed.”

Only then did Osian realize why enhanced humans and modified humans were differentiated.

“The moment I first saw it, I felt like you were a lab rat, and I was right.”

If it comes out like this, I have no choice but to show this side as well.

Osian’s sword glowed with holy light. The all-consuming white flame burned through the enhanced human’s arm.

The hand that held the sword in particular was reduced to ash, disappearing without a trace.

With a flash of light, Osian sliced off its arm and lightly cut off its protruding tail.

The enhanced human squinted since the wound was not regenerating as it should.

The high heat of the Starlight sword had festered the wound.

He quickly tried to force the wound open to resume regeneration but Osian was not about to let that happen.

His sword swung once more, burning the enhanced human’s eyes out.

“Kaaaah!”

As his vision was blocked, the enhanced human opened its mouth and flicked out its forked tongue.

That was all it needed to pinpoint Osian’s location, and it locked onto him, scales covering his entire body.

Scales weren’t the only thing on his back, as he tore at his clothing, spikes like hawsers sprouting from his back.

“Come here……!”

Before he could call out, the stars danced as Osian’s sword sliced through the thorns and scales so smoothly.

Severed limbs scattered in all directions, and what was left of the enhanced human fell to the ground in a heap.

“Oh, how……I, I couldn’t possibly lose to a lowly human……”

The enhanced man’s throat snapped open as he was about to complain about the injustice of the situation.

Osian ignored the neatly severed head and stared at the others.

They were stunned at how easily their leader had been defeated.

“He, he was defeated?”

“How?”

Their leader had been defeated by a mere fixer, a human they considered so inferior.

Even more surprising was Osian’s sword.

A pure white blade that seemed to push away the darkness around it, it cut through the hard skin of an enhanced human as easily as butter.

They could see nothing more than the trajectory of white light as it flickered past the boss’s body a few times but the enhanced humans were quick to assess the situation.

Unlike Aaron, whose jaw dropped open in bewilderment, they quickly regained their stance and charged at Osian and Balud.

Balud sheathed his axe.

The female enhancer he expected to be the first to fight him lunged.

“Die!”

The restraint from earlier was gone and her voice was filled with venom.

The enhanced humans held no weapons, but they didn’t need to; their flesh was a weapon.

-Kwaang!

A fist landed on a crossed hatchet. But the force was considerable, and Balud’s body trembled violently.

“You can parry this?”

His opponent was equally surprised. Even a strongly built man would be sent flying backwards by such a blow, but Balud stood firm as if rooted to the ground.

-Snap.

The boulder closed over the enhanced woman’s curled fist again.

-Boom, boom, boom!

Fist after fist slammed into the hatchet as Balud’s body jerked wildly, but he still held his ground.

When the gap opened up, Balud swung the other axe wildly.

“With such a weak axe!”

He aimed the axe at the enhanced woman’s collarbone and the enhanced woman placed a solid rock on top of it.

-Thud!

Balud’s axe cut through the rock, breaking the bone instantly.

“Huh?”

Balud coldly shot at the dumbfounded enhanced.

“How can I call myself the Director of North Blinders if I can’t even split a rock with my axe?”

The enhancer’s body jerked and her legs gave out. The regeneration failed.

‘Blood, the skin is dying.’

It was the power of the frost on the axe.

Behind his glasses, Balud stared at the enhanced woman with a cold gaze.

“I don’t enjoy listening to screams like you do, so I’ll send you off neatly.”

-Tsk!

An axe slammed into her forehead.

A kick flew toward Balud, who promptly cleaned one up. It was a surprise attack from an enhanced human, enraged at the loss of a companion.

Balud bounced back from the blow and pushed himself to his feet.

“This never ends.”

Balud spat, blood pooling in his mouth.

As he stood, a bolt of lightning shot toward him.

Seeing Balud engulfed in the blue current, Illua cried out in surprise.

“Mr. Balud!”

This was dangerous, even for Balud but to her surprise, Balud didn’t die.

His body is scorched all over, and his clothes are charred in places, exposing his skin.

Pus dripped from his burned skin.

It wasn’t a small wound, but the enhanced human’s eyes widened in surprise that he hadn’t been killed by such an attack.

“You survived that?”

“Alas. I haven’t had a fever in a long time.”

A few strands of Balud’s hair, which he always slicked back neatly, trickled down his forehead.

A reddish glow hovered in his eyes.

“I think I’m going to have to do a little cleaning today.”

Balud could use all the skills of a Barbarian Warrior and another talent he hadn’t used until now, Raging Bear, was activated.