I’m the Madman of This Family

Episode 323. There’s a Reason for Strength (4)

Before Keter’s fist hit Taragon, a flashback raced through Taragon’s mind.

‘Is he serious?’

Even without being hit, he could feel it. If that landed, it would mean instant death. Keter’s fist carried the power to shatter even steel.

“Did I do something wro—”

BOOM!

‘Ah, so this is how I die.’

Crack! The sound of his ribs breaking echoed. His body floated into the air and flipped. He couldn’t muster any strength.

After a brief moment of suspension, Taragon, who had been ruthlessly rolling on the ground, suddenly sprang up.

“Huh?!”

Even Taragon himself was shocked. He groped his chest, astonished to still be alive. Did Keter hold back? But the sound of the impact had been terrifying.

At that moment, Keter shrugged and spoke.

“Aura circulation isn’t just for training. It significantly boosts your defense from within. But don’t think you can use it easily in real combat. Right now, the extreme cold is lowering your body heat, but normally, you’d cook from the inside out.”

The trainees, far from being happy about learning a new technique, were horrified. ‘Increased durability’ was interpreted as Keter’s intention to beat them mercilessly without holding back.

Crack.

As expected, Keter clenched his fist and leaped forward.

Panir, who had been standing behind Keter, felt reassured until he hastily raised his arm.

Snap.

He blocked with his arm, but it cracked. Panir tried to ignore the pain and counterattack, but Keter’s assault didn’t stop.

WHAM!

Keter’s kick slammed into Panir’s abdomen. He didn’t fly like Taragon but was pushed back while standing.

“Don’t expect your enemy to attack honestly.”

That wasn’t just for Panir. It was a message for all the trainees.

The trainees weren’t just standing idle either. Anis and Catherine fired arrows, while the knight commanders drew attention from the front.

Mizar and Pekda lurked in Keter’s blind spots, waiting for an opening.

Tap, tap.

Keter feigned an attack, using a trick. At first, no one fell for it, but the second time, the Holy Knight Commander took the bait.

“Ah.”

The Captain of the Constellation Knight Order and the Vice-Commander of the Lunar Knight Order hesitated to help. In that moment, Keter’s fist relentlessly struck the Holy Knight Commander.

The two hesitated, then tried to help, but Keter grabbed the Holy Knight Commander’s arm and used him as a shield, causing them to freeze again.

“Don’t hesitate. Even if you think it’s wrong, move as you intended. That way, you’ll lose less blood.”

Whoosh.

Keter suddenly vanished from their sight. Moments later, Anis urgently shouted.

“Below!”

But actions speak louder than words. Keter, emerging from between the Holy Knight Commander’s legs, grabbed the Constellation Knight Commander’s ankles and tripped him.

“Gah!”

The Vice-Commander of the Lunar Knight Order instinctively kicked, but the kick ended up hitting the Constellation Knight Commander’s head.

“Don’t be fooled by the enemy’s movements. Read their intentions.”

Thud!

Without even looking, Keter caught an arrow flying toward the back of his head and threw it at Pekda, who was sliding in from the side.

“No matter how great a technique is, don’t use it more than three times. If a technique doesn’t work after three tries, it’s just not effective.”

The three commanders entangled with Keter retreated. The other trainees tried to buy time by firing arrows, but that was a mistake.

Keter didn’t dodge the arrows. He took the hits while chasing the commanders, grabbing the backs of the Holy and Constellation Knight Commanders’ heads and slamming them into the ground.

“Don’t hold back. If you face an opponent who doesn’t hold back, you’ll die.”

The two commanders didn’t get up, possibly knocked out. Whether it was because of Keter’s advice or realizing there was no other way, Mail shouted.

“Don’t try to defeat Keter. Just take the elixir from his hand. Only Sir Mizar should shoot arrows; the rest of you, charge!”

Mail led the charge toward Keter. Naturally, the other trainees followed suit.

Mizar stayed back, waiting for an opportunity. As the most accurate archer among them, he watched for Keter’s openings, but the timing never came.

The trainees surrounding Keter faced the same issue.

‘This is insane. How is none of our attacks working?’

‘It’s like he has eyes on the back of his head. His arms are like legs, and his legs are like arms.’

‘Is this guy a walking weapon?!’

Even with seven people charging at him simultaneously, excluding the two fallen commanders, they couldn’t touch Keter. Speed wasn’t the issue. The problem was that all their attacks were anticipated.

Then, as always, Keter’s advice struck the trainees like a thunderbolt.

“Unconventional attacks aren’t bad. But there are definitely opponents they won’t work on. In those cases, simple attacks are more effective. Control the pace, then unleash a decisive strike at the right moment.”

This matched Keter’s own attacks. He deliberately threw punches that could be blocked, then suddenly delivered a heavy blow, causing even blockable attacks to fail and sending them sprawling.

Fwoosh!

A small Aura Arrow shot from Keter’s fingertips. While not powerful, it flew toward their faces, forcing the trainees to dodge or cover their faces.

Keter fired blunt Aura Arrows at those who covered their faces. At the speed they were moving, they could have dodged if they’d seen it, but four trainees, blinded by their own hands, fell helplessly.

Now, only four trainees remained. With less than ten, how could they possibly take the elixir from Keter’s hand?

The previous vigor and enthusiasm faded. Their eyes betrayed their loss of will.

“Don’t falter. Even if your comrades fall beside you, keep your eyes on the enemy and maintain your attack flow. These small things add up and can turn the tide of battle.”

Keter didn’t waste time. He swiftly took down the remaining four trainees. He didn’t spare anyone—women, brothers, or elders of noble houses. He knocked them all out with equal force.

Of course, in Keter’s training, passing out didn’t mean it was over. After reviving them with an elixir for critical injuries, Keter immediately doused them with cold water and shouted.

“Want to freeze to death? Start aura circulation now!”

The trainees, who had brushed with death, were almost forced to begin aura circulation again. Their cold bodies regained vitality.

The trainees, who had just come back from the brink of death, were too exhausted to even speak. Maknun handed out water bottles to each of them.

Except for Taragon, no one drank immediately. Even in their dazed state, they were suspicious of the bottles. But after seeing Taragon drink and remain fine, they followed suit and soon perked up.

“I feel energized!”

“Wow, is this a potion? No, an elixir!”

“As expected of the instructor…!”

“But is elixir supposed to taste this salty?”

Keter didn’t bother to say, “It’s just saltwater.” To exhausted bodies, saltwater wasn’t much different from an elixir.

Revitalized by the saltwater, the trainees shuddered at Keter’s next words.

“After a 30-minute break, you’ll try to take the elixir from my hand again. By the way, until you take the elixir from my hand, you won’t get any food or sleep.”

A 30-minute break? Hardly. Even during the break, they had to continue aura circulation while figuring out how to defeat Keter.

Since no one had told them not to do anything, all the trainees racked their brains. Some planned individually, others as a team, to snatch the elixir.

Exactly 30 minutes later.

“Time’s up.”

THUD!

“Why me again?!”

With Taragon’s indignant scream, the second round began.

*

A large grave appeared in the 2nd Training Ground. It seemed all the trainees had died and been buried due to Keter’s relentless training.

…Of course, that didn’t happen.

The trainees were lying inside the grave, half-dead but clearly still alive.

The inside of the grave was surprisingly spacious, with small air holes.

“Ugh…”

“Groan…”

In the pitch-black dawn, the trainees groaned, unable to sleep easily. Even with sturdy earthen walls, they could only block the wind, not the cold.

This meant they had to continue aura circulation even while sleeping. But if it were easy, they wouldn’t have been groaning for four hours without sleep.

Only Panir and the Big Dipper duo, accustomed to pain, managed to sleep. The others had no chance.

‘No way I can sleep in this situation.’

‘It’s not just the cold; this pain is unbearable.’

‘Has a second ever felt this long…?’

‘My back hurts so much.’

Even when camping in winter, a bonfire is essential. At the very least, you’d bundle up in fur clothes.

But now, in the coldest period in Lilian Kingdom’s history, they had to sleep on the bare ground, naked. No one had ever experienced such extreme conditions. There was no way to get used to it quickly…

…Or so they thought, until they eventually fell asleep.

It wasn’t that they got used to the pain or that the cold subsided. Their bodies had simply shut down.

Just as the cave finally quieted, Keter, who had been with them, moved.

Smack!

Keter slapped Anis’s forehead awake and whispered.

“If you fall asleep without aura circulation, you’ll freeze to death.”

Anis, waking up in a daze, restarted aura circulation. Stopping and restarting it seemed to make the pain even worse.

Keter went around slapping awake any trainees who had stopped aura circulation in their sleep. Otherwise, they’d die.

With a moment of leisure, Keter glanced at Mail.

“Trainee No. 1. Why aren’t you sleeping? Need help?”

Keter raised his hand.

Mail, lying down, sat up and said.

“I’m choosing not to sleep, Instructor.”

“That won’t get you the elixir.”

“Then I definitely can’t sleep. I’m the most behind among my brothers.”

Though Keter was clearly younger, Mail spoke as if confessing.

“Anis and Taragon are naturally ahead, and even Hisop, who’s busy with work all day, is better than me at archery. You must know that, Instructor. Yet you called me to this training, which means there are two reasons.”

“Go on, I’m bored.”

“I have some decent archery talent. And the family’s current strength is lacking.”

Bitterness seeped into his words, but it was the reality of House Sephira.

Currently, House Sephira’s territory is filled with external forces. While they provide strength, it’s a double-edged sword.

They risk falling into political traps or becoming enemies. Whether they can respond to that will determine House Sephira’s fate.

Keter shrugged. Mail couldn’t tell if it was a denial or affirmation, so he decided not to dwell on it.

“Anyway, since I’m far behind, I think I need to work harder.”

“Hmm, no need to overdo it.”

“…?”

Mail blinked rapidly. This wasn’t the reaction he expected.

“Even if you push yourself, you won’t catch up to anyone here. There won’t be any miraculous growth. Of course, it’s better than doing nothing. But you won’t get results proportional to what you’ve lost.”

“If there’s even a nail’s worth of difference—”

“Do you want to die ten years early for that nail’s worth of difference?”

“…!”

“Don’t misunderstand, No. 1. I didn’t include you in this training because I see you as a key player. I just needed to fill the tenth spot. Archery talent? Sure, you have it. But at best, you’re only five or six times better than an average person. That’s not enough to make a difference on the battlefield.”

Keter’s words were so harsh they woke the sleeping trainees. But no one defended Mail. It was a bitter reality no one could deny.

“It’s natural that you’re weaker than Anis and Taragon. They ran laps while you read books, and they shot arrows one more time than you. They got the rewards for their efforts. Now you want to catch up? Thinking you can is just greed and delusion.”

The merciless verbal assault left Mail breathless. Even the grueling training hadn’t broken his spirit, but now it was crumbling.

“But does that make you worse than Anis and Taragon? No. You’re only weaker in archery. Your ability to read the battlefield, adaptability, and mental strength far surpass theirs. That’s what’s frustrating. Instead of archery, you studied magic and gained knowledge from books? That’s something Anis and Taragon don’t have. Why abandon your unique strengths to become mediocre at archery?”

“…!”

“What I’m teaching isn’t archery, but experience. Whether you learn archery, mindset, or combat skills from my experience is up to you.”

Keter hadn’t planned to say this. But if it wouldn’t hurt, there was no reason not to.

“Death is fair to all. Especially when facing strong enemies, nine out of ten will die. But even so, I want you all to survive. Because—”

Sniff.

Someone sniffled. Though hidden in the dark, some had reddened eyes.

But Keter’s next words dried their tears.

“If you die, I won’t get my money back.”