HBWnovel Chapter 210 : Chapter 210
Chapter 210 : Chapter 210
“What is your name?”“……Claudia.”
After having barely replied, she stole a glance up at her father.
When Richardson furrowed his brow slightly, the kid looked back and added nonchalantly.
“……sir.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
She was a kid with an impressive natural expression and light blue short hair that barely went past the tip of her chin.
‘…….’
I put strength into the corners of my mouth, which were naturally turning down.
Karim said that.
Tension and anxiety are contagious.
‘I think I know why physicians always have expressionless faces.’
Since I had already seen that her acupoints were tattered to a pitiful degree―
I took Claudia's wrist.
Tuk.
The pulse tells things that the eyes miss. Information that could not be known even with the combination of Ghost Eye and Blood Point was transmitted to my fingertips.
‘……What is this?’
Strength naturally entered between my brows.
The pulse was not caught clearly.
It was not simply faint or weak, but the pulsation was turbid as if impurities were caught in it.
‘Impurities?’
While holding her wrist, I scanned Claudia's acupoints with Ghost Eye again.
Various parts of the meridians that served as the main axis were hollowed out.
The traces were grotesque, like marks from long-festering and bursting sores.
‘Has it rotted away.’
I moved my gaze to the Vital Meridian.
Following the meridians from the acupoints where the blockage was progressing, I saw a thin film overlaid on the surface of the meridians.
‘This is it.’
I knew the reason why the pulse sounded turbid.
This thin film covering the meridians was very impure.
‘Poisonous energy.’
It was not simply blocked or severed.
Claudia's Severed Meridians could be called atypical Severed Meridians where the meridians are corroded by poisonous energy.
“L-look here. Please say something.”
“……What are you curious about?”
He could not answer and only moved his mouth. It seemed I had hit the mark.
It had to be. Since it was not like he came because he wanted to get some answer or expected a treatment.
In the first place, he would even be confused about whether he should treat me like a physician.
‘Desperation.’
It was just that.
What led him here from early morning was simply because he was desperate.
It must be that feeling of wanting to grab even a straw.
‘In the face of one's child's affairs, one cannot help but become infinitely weak.’
Parents are ultimately such beings.
No matter how great a person is, they are no exception.
‘……Did Father also suffer in secret because of me.’
Ridiculous. I was not sure about that.
‘Anyway.’
Since he had come dressed up so nicely and was being so anxious, I felt pity watching him.
It did not look good.
“Consider yourself lucky, Sir Richardson.”
Richardson's eyes grew round. Of course, I was not bluffing either.
“Claudia's illness is due to an innate poison.”
“W-what……? Poison? You mean that, dangerous poison?”
“That is right.”
“What on earth does that mean? Claudia is not a beast, so what do you mean by innate poison! How can a person be born harboring poison!”
It was truly the question I wanted to ask.
Usually known qualities or exceptional talents are often innate.
Of course, there is always an exception to everything.
A representative example of that is an unusual constitution like Immunity to Ten Thousand Poisons.
‘Immunity to poison is created postnatally.’
It was a proposition beyond doubt. Because it was a natural limit of the human species.
‘To think a Poison King Body actually exists in the Kingdom.’
I looked into Claudia's acupoints again.
The more I looked, the more astounding it was.
How was this possible?
In the first place, the fact that she was born with poison made no sense, yet that evil energy was almost equivalent to High Poison.
‘It is a miracle that she is even alive.’
No matter how weak the poison is, if it is chronic, it is bound to eat away at the flesh.
However, far from being eaten away, Claudia had survived while enduring the poison.
The problem was that there was no way to circulate the poison as much as her immunity developed.
The Severed Meridians of now were the result of the poison, which had gathered and gathered due to the blockage of discharge, crushing the meridians.
‘She is a Human Gu itself.’
It was too harsh for the young Claudia's body to handle.
“Look here, Sir Bihen! I told you to say something! Why are you just looking with such an admiring face!”
“……Ah, did it show?”
“W-what……?”
“Did I not say so? That you were lucky.”
There was only one method I could attempt right now.
‘Correction of pulses and points.’
After making my Innate True Qi circulate once through Claudia's body to pierce the blocked Qi and blood―
‘Great Art of Absorption.’
I would draw all the rotting poison pooled inside Claudia's body to myself.
It was a method that only I, who had Immunity to Ten Thousand Poisons, could do.
‘I will probably lose consciousness for about half a day.’
No matter how much it was me, I would have to suffer quite a bit to neutralize this much poison.
Still, if I thought of it as repaying Luke then well…….
“I will treat Claudia immediately.”
“R-really……? W-would it be possible?”
“Before that. Let's make one request.”
Richardson swallowed hard and then his eyes glared.
“Please speak! Anything is fine. If you tell me to give up my life, I will gladly―”
“Do not get excited. Let's find some people. They are kids about Claudia's age.”
I requested him to look into the whereabouts of Krnock and Deli.
Two bald kids who came here with the Imperial Capital Knight Order soldiers in time for the outbreak of the war should be easily found if he was part of the Council of Elders.
“Lie down here.”
I laid Claudia down on the bed.
Richardson was frozen stiff right behind, unable to even breathe properly.
Seuk.
I placed my index and middle fingers, joined like a sword finger, below the child's navel.
It did not take long to gather Innate True Qi.
Since my body was in a state of being always ready.
Saaaaa―
The energy that was swirling inside my body eventually escaped through my fingertips.
As the True Qi pushed into Claudia's meridians, resistance was immediately felt.
The poisonous energy had crowded into the blocked or severed acupoints and begun to harden like a coagulant.
‘Correction of pulses and points.’
I twisted my fingertips just very slightly.
It was a method of correcting the flow according to the texture of the Qi and blood rather than forcing it through.
Tuk―
A sensation like a single strand of a tightly tangled skein of thread snapping.
Soon after another one, and then another one.
Claudia's body trembled minutely.
‘It's done.’
The Vital Meridian pulsed again.
It was the moment when the blocked Qi and blood regained their flow.
The real problem was after this.
‘Great Art of Absorption.’
Before, I wouldn't have even dared.
If you ask how I can attempt it now, it was not simply because my realm had risen or my skill had increased.
‘Ten Thousand Dark Dragons.’
Last time, in the battle with Valen Krause, the wide-range ultimate technique he used gave me great inspiration.
A storm of blades in the shape of a dragon.
How could the greatest secret of the Krause family be implemented?
Valen, as the Head of the Krause family, was proficient in poison and hidden weapons and even had the help of a secret manual, so he might have been able to use the Ten Thousand Dark Dragons at that level of realm, but it would be impossible for an ordinary person.
‘Attraction and repulsion.’
The Ten Thousand Dark Dragons was a technique implemented based on these two principles.
Attraction gathers fragments, and repulsion turns that concentrated force outward to create rotation.
‘The intersection of properties of pulling and pushing away.’
In itself, it was a very audacious operation of True Qi that defied the natural order of all things.
Now, I cause that vortex of defiance to arise above my palm.
Kwaaaaaaa―!
The poison that had been pooled inside Claudia's body finally began to permeate into my arm.
Dark green smoke soared and covered the inside of the bedroom.
A stench like that from a rotten pond stung my nose.
“Uweeeek!”
The servant who had been as quiet as a dead mouse the whole time also seemed unable to endure it.
I also heard the sound of Richardson retching.
‘Kuhn, please handle the rest.’
[Yes, Young Master.]
After catching my breath, I focused on sucking in the poison while simultaneously circulating my True Qi once more.
As the poison accumulated inside me, my arm gradually became dyed purple.
Necrotic skin and veins protruding as if they would burst rose up to just below my chin.
It was in a state where it was about to cover my whole face at any moment.
‘Endure it, endure.’
It was something I said to Claudia, but it was also something I said to myself.
It felt like my whole body was going to be torn to shreds……! An ordinary person would have already fainted long ago.
Along with the feeling of my eyeballs becoming bloodshot, blood poured from my nose.
“B-Bihen Benkou! Are you alright?!”
Of course. Do you even need to ask? I was someone who even endured the High Poison of the Poison Demon.
I grit my teeth.
‘It's almost over.’
How long had it been? Finally, the last remnants were pulled up.
Tuk.
As the dark green smoke cleared, Claudia's convulsions also stopped.
Her breathing was stable and her pulse beat evenly as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.
“It is finished.”
I heard the sound of Richardson collapsing into a seat.
It seemed the strength had left his legs.
My head also spun wildly.
Soon my vision turned entirely blurry like a lakeshore at dawn, and then a familiar face shimmered.
‘Luke?’
Why does it seem like he is smiling?
“Consider it thanks to having a good elder in the family, Sir Richardson.”
And then my consciousness gradually drifted away.
·
·
·
My consciousness returned sooner than I expected.
To the point that there was no time to go to the Altar of the Abyss.
When I opened my eyes, it was all reddish outside the window.
The sunset was just settling in.
“Are you awake?”
It was the servant.
As if he had been waiting for me to wake up, he quickly poured water and handed it to me.
“Earlier, I was rude……. Please forgive me, Mister.”
When I wondered what he meant, it was an apology for not being able to hold back and vomiting when I was pulling out Claudia's poison.
“Don't worry about that. It's fine.”
“T-thank you!”
“By the way, the stench disappeared quickly. I'm a bit sensitive to such things……”
The servant snapped his head up and his eyes sparkled.
“Is that so?! I am only honored that you noticed. I ventilated while paying attention so that Mister wouldn't catch a cold.”
“Hmm. Did Sir Richardson go back?”
“Yes. He repeatedly requested that I tell him as soon as Mister wakes up……”
“And?”
“…….”
No answer was heard. I moved my gaze which had been outside the window to enjoy the sunset scenery.
The servant was restless and didn't know what to do.
“What is the matter?”
“T-that is……”
“……?”
“W-would you like to come out for a moment?”
One's impression of others is usually dictated by the first impression. In that sense, what was the first impression the servant left on me. He was someone who was excessively calm and polite. Such a person is trembling, even stuttering. I was getting anxious just watching him.
“Whew. I, I honestly don't know what to do now.”
The servant looked up at me while holding the doorknob. Before I could even ask back what he meant, he added.
“In the first place, I even wonder if letting Sir Richardson in was a mistake.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“I-if the Family Head asks for the reason……”
His voice trembled. Before I knew it, tears were even pooling up.
“P-please definitely save me, Mister. I beg you.”
Creak.
As the servant pushed the door open, people began to be seen through the gap of the opening door. The crowd was so bustling that it filled the garden.
“He's out! It's Bihen Benkou!”
“Ohhh! It was worth the wait!”
“Ahem, Uncle. I came first. Don't go cutting in line so shamelessly……”
Creak.
I closed the door again. I demanded an explanation from the servant with my eyes.
“I-I'm sorry, Mister!”
“I'm not asking to hear an apology. I'd like you to explain what this is all about. Are all of them perhaps waiting to receive a check-up from me?”
As if his throat was dry, the servant swallowed hard before answering.
“Actually, they have been here since dawn today. It's just that Sir Richardson was the fastest.”
……I'm going crazy.