Death King Karnak Novel - Chapter 9

Death King Karnak

2. A Good Lord? Who? (4)

“Now, the first goal is straightforward: increase your stamina,” Barros said earnestly to Karnak, who was standing awkwardly in his armor.

If the body does not support it, it is useless even if you learn the secret technique of saving tax. No, I can’t even get used to it in the first place.

“Run along the edge of the arena.”

“That’s about it…”

Since it was an indoor gymnasium, there wasn’t much space to spare. 20 seconds? One could quickly finish a round lap in that time, but his feet moved very slowly because he was wearing armor.

“Hehehehe, okay? So what’s next?”

Looking at the panting Karnak, Barros made an expression asking what he had planned next.

“Don’t you have to do 49 more laps?”

“Wait! 50 laps?”

“Did you really think it was over after one lap?”

“How can a person go 50 laps without stopping?”

“You make a lot of noise. Go ahead and run.”

“Keuk…”

Karnak ran again while crying. He gritted his teeth and endured until three laps. However, the pace gradually slowed down after that. After about five laps, his eyes started to turn yellow. Slowly, the running became more like walking. On the 10th lap, the yellow eyes turned dark.

“Ugh…”

His legs twisted, and Karnak fell to the floor. The loud sound of armor hitting the floor echoed throughout the gymnasium.

Bang bang!

“Oh my…”

Barros covered his face. Frustration was overtaking him.

“I knew you had no stamina, but I didn’t expect it to be only this much…”

The plan needed to be revised entirely.

“I’ll have to postpone your strength training. First, I need you to have at least a normal level of physical strength.”

Barros forced him to his feet.

“Come on, get up and run!”

“I-I really can’t run anymore, though?”

“Are you going to give up? Shall we prepare for a late-night escape?”

“Oh my…”

Karnak moved on again while groaning. Barros was right. The current situation was too good for him to give it up like that.

“Yes! Stand up! Run!”

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Ten days later, Karnak wept tears of joy.

“It all worked out!”

He had finally succeeded in running 50 laps of the gymnasium without stopping! It was indeed an outstanding achievement. Of course, Barros hit the candle like a knife.

“You didn’t run without rest, did you? I thought it was like walking for the last ten laps.”

“I didn’t take a break, though!”

“Well, you did well.”

Barros didn’t bother to nag anymore. In fact, at this level, Karnak has genuinely engaged in his training. It wasn’t easy to gain this much stamina in just ten days on a body that has been built up with exercise. Karnak’s effort far exceeded his expectations, but having a substantial nutrition supply after becoming wealthy played the most crucial role.

“As expected, if you eat a lot of meat and marinate it well, your stamina will stick well. Is this why knights with a lot of money are so strong?”

“I was also a bit curious. I remember that I was originally short-spoken.”

“It’s all mine now. All this rice is so delicious.”

Initially, if you overwork your body quickly, your appetite will fall. However, Karnak’s gluttony, which even dwells in the soul, had surpassed the limits of the human body!

No matter how tired he was, he ate up the last bite. Whenever he felt bloated, he would take out the digestive medicine and stuff it into his mouth. It would be right to call those training days exemplary in terms of the nutrition supply.

Thanks to that, his body had shown massive improvement and had now changed from just a scarecrow to a level of the ‘scarecrow stuffed with straws’.

Barros nodded after looking up and down at Karnak.

“You’ve barely managed to achieve the level of a normal human being. We can now start our training.”

Karnak’s expression became weird for a moment. What about fitness?

“What have I been doing so far?”

“Rehab.”

“…….”

“You should be able to move with full power for at least 5 minutes while wearing armor.”

“Do you think I can do that now?”

Apparently, it was Karnak who had been running non-stop for well over 5 minutes wearing armor.

“Do you know that a situation where blades come and go in front of you is the same as running aimlessly?”

Karnak argued because he felt that it was all getting dark again.

“No, when will I start learning swordsmanship? I’m running out of time.”

Only twenty days were left before the duel.

“Then, you’d better hurry.”

Eagerly soothing his master, the faithful servant gave off an evil smile.

“Now, let’s start the training for real!”

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Karnak’s routine was simple. Once he wakes up in the morning, he’ll have breakfast. Afterward, head straight to the gymnasium to perform push-ups, hold and swing a heavy iron bar, do sit-ups and pull-ups, etc. After that, he would take a break, have lunch, and head to the gymnasium again. It was a daily life with only rice, rest, training, rice, rest, training.

“Hehehehe……”

Today too, Karnak suddenly looked to the side while swinging the iron rod.

A blond young man wearing insanely heavy armor repeated the same posture while wielding a great sword. Barros also had to build his body in the same situation, so he also trained with Karnak and devoted himself to training.

“Hey, Barros.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Do all the knights go through such oblivious training?”

Barros raised one eye, “This is not knight training.”

“Not what?” Then, is he implying he’s the only one who’s been so ignorant? It was his tone that Karnak was about to get angry with.

“That’s just a training course for regular soldiers. There’s no way knights would train like that, would they?”

“Kek…”

The disappointed Karnak dropped his shoulders. Come to think of it, even though he conquered the world; he had no memory of seeing his knights or soldiers training.

It was a matter of path. Weren’t they all skeletons, rotten corpses, demons, or death knights?

On the other hand, Barros had been fighting alongside Karnak as a living body even before becoming undead. He at least knew the basics of building a body. Barros’s current body had shown more change than Karnak’s.

He ate twice as much as Karnak to build up his body, but the thickness of his forearms was on a completely different level.

Karnak narrowed his eyes with jealousy.

“How did you get thick quickly? Why can’t I?”

“It’s still all flesh. There’s no way the muscles will grow and attach properly in just a few days, right? You have to train here continuously to turn that flesh into muscles.”

“To me, they are still oblivious and thick. Are all the knights so muscular because they undergo this kind of training?”

“You’re also too weak right now compared to the regular knights. I was at that level during my childhood.”

“…Are all knights monsters?”

Barros snapped because of those absurd remarks.

‘Who is the man who cuts people’s throats by moving their skulls, calling monsters?’

Mighty warriors pushed Barros back mercilessly even after building his body and honing his skills. Later, when he became a Death Knight with the Karnak’s power, that was when he gained notoriety in earnest.

“Keep moving, and don’t even think about resting while smoking! Rest only after I permit it!”

“I don’t know who is the master and who is the servant.” Despite the grumbling, Karnak diligently followed Barros’s instructions. Another week passed like that and Karnak now had enough stamina to move freely while wearing that armor.

Barros nodded.

“It’s time to start the knight training.”

It was the point where only 15 days were left until the date of the duel.

He finally got permission to draw his sword. Feeling a little excited, Karnak drew the long sword from his waist to train.

“Can I wield a sword now?”

“Not yet.”

Karnak’s immediate task with the sword was this.

“I don’t expect much. Just stand upright and properly.”

“Is that all?”

Though puzzled, Karnak raised his sword and took a stance to aim at the enemy. And after a while, he realized that it wasn’t the ‘only’ thing.

Barros thought that the simple posture wouldn’t be a big deal for Karnak, but he still had to listen to all sorts of whining.

“I’m shaking.”

“Bend your knees more.”

“Weight on the back foot.”

“Eyes on the enemy in the middle.”

“Take some strength off your shoulders.”

“Put more strength into your arms holding the sword.”

Karnak, who had been whining, became angry.

“How am I supposed tense up my arms and relax my shoulders? Are my arms and shoulders separate?”

“……ugh. How am I supposed to explain this?”

After devoting half a day, he finally got his posture right. Even so, his posture was so weak that it would crumble right away with a little bit of distraction. At this rate, it was impossible to expect a proper slash from him. However, Barros passed once.

“Young master will only be sliced to death even if he swings the sword with the correct posture at his current level.”

Anyway, the purpose of this training was to win against Lord Randolph without fighting.

“But if you’re in a position like this, you won’t be knocked out in one blow.”

Barros raised a large wooden club and looked at Karnak.

“I will now attack. Be prepared.”

With his eyes shining, Karnak gave strength to the hand holding the sword.

“To fight back?”

“It’s called counterattack…”

Barros grunted as if he was laughing.

“You have to experience it to understand.”

Suddenly, a heavy pain hit his stomach. That’s because Barros immediately stabbed him with the club.

“Gosh!”

Even though he was wearing armor, the impact went in deep and shook his internal organs. Karnak wrapped his arms around his stomach while groaning.

“Are you sick?”

“I’m all right!”

“But you can’t leave your hands like that. Come on, get back on your feet.”

Grinding his teeth, Karnak aimed his sword again. And he had poison in his eyes.

‘This time, I’ll aim for the club’s opening and give it a shot!’

There was no such thing as a miracle.

Puck!

“Keuk!” Karnak staggered back after receiving a blow to the shoulder.

Barros continued to talk indifferently.

“Because I want you to take a posture, the posture.”

The thrashing continued. Barros really beat Karnak mercilessly, and Karnak just got hit again and again.

Counterattack?

It didn’t matter.

Before he could do anything, the follow-up hit would land, blocking all openings for a counterattack in advance. The attacks hit him everywhere on the shoulders, waist, and knees, with the aim to cut off his source of movement, and the victim was really unable to do anything.

“This is the reason why knights can play around with normal people. Knights don’t just hit or dodge all attacks with just some amazing body vision and reflexes.”

Of course, there are those aspects, but they are not 100% relied on.

“It’s possible to make them unable to attack at all or direct their attacks in the direction they want, so that’s how they play with them. It’s even easier if the opponent is unfamiliar with combat.”

That’s why the most important thing was to immediately return to the original posture even if the posture is disturbed by an attack.

“You can at least avoid getting a follow-up hit like that. The duel with Lord Randolph will surely advance like that.”

“Right.” Karnak nodded his head with a serious expression and got into the posture.

The moment he was trying to prepare for the follow-up!

Puck! He got hit again…

“Hey! I can’t block the follow-up even if I get into the posture?”

“At the young master’s level, that’s the most plausible outcome.”

“Didn’t you say that even Randolph couldn’t cut my neck while in that posture?”

“Can’t it be? He can cut it whenever he wants.”

“Then why am I doing this training?”

Barros laughed.

“It’s to make sure he doesn’t feel that way.”

He concluded after observing Randolph that he had a bold personality. He thinks himself to be powerful enough to play with his opponent, so he won’t cut off your head immediately in the presence of so many spectators.

“There is reason to believe it.”

Parratt, who had both his legs cut off, was proof enough. Randolph cutting off his legs when it was easier to cut off his head was sufficient evidence to understand his personality.

“The story of the battle only changes when you lose your fighting spirit.”

Continuing to fight with the opponent who had already given up would only turn into the strong bullying the weak.

“That’s the sole reason why the former head of the household, who was much weaker than Master Parratt, was decapitated with a single blow.”

The former head of the household, Baron Kraput, was not very good at swordsmanship. Because of that, he heard that he had lost his fighting spirit right after facing Randolph.

“Your reputation will only decrease if you fight the opponent like that, so fight him with honor.”

And that was Karnak’s current training objective.

“You have to look like an opponent who doesn’t lose his fighting spirit and doesn’t give up until the end. That way, he won’t kill you in one shot.”

[To be continued.]