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With a triumphant smile, Repenhardt leaped into the air. He extended a long kick, aiming for Jade’s head. Once again, using the Blink Boots, Jade leaped 20 meters backward through space.

At that moment, Repenhardt’s extended foot deeply struck the ground.

“Avalanche Kick!”

Boom!

The crumbling walls and mounds of earth vibrated simultaneously and spread out in a large circle. A merciless wave of earth, at least three meters high, began to engulf the southern wall of Hundargard, raising a cloud of dust. Jade, who had just moved to a new location, widened his eyes.

“Guh!”

A massive tidal wave of earth filled his view. There was no time to use Blink again. In an instant, the mound of earth swept over Jade.

Boom, boom, boom!

Standing at the center of the shockwave, Repenhardt smirked.

“No matter where you try to pop up, if I sweep it all at once, it’s all good, isn’t it?”

* * *

“Ugh…”

Buried in the mound of earth, Jade wriggled, trying to rise.

He looked truly miserable. His entire outfit was torn to shreds, and from head to toe, he was covered in dirt, truly looking like a beggar.

Of course, that didn’t evoke any sympathy. Repenhardt quickly approached and immediately swung his hand.

The golden aura blade severed Jade’s ankles. A desperate scream erupted.

“Ahhhh!”

Bleeding, Jade rolled on the ground. It was indeed a brutal move, but Repenhardt remained calm.

“First, I need to disable these troublesome boots.”

Sweating profusely from pain, Jade lifted his head. Stammering, he spoke with a face of disbelief.

“Cr, crap! To think you’d use such a method…”

He had used the Blink Boots many times but never knew they had such a weakness. So far, when facing an Aura User, the battle was usually decided the moment he created distance and launched his spells.

Though powerful, Aura Users were less capable of responding to diverse situations compared to mages. When multiple spells were applied simultaneously, it was hard to escape with just aura. Even Repenhardt couldn’t find a way until he used magic.

Of course, if it were only that, the Aura User would eventually find an opportunity to counterattack as time passed. However, what flies towards the immobilized opponent was an unblockable flash, the Sword of Severance.

In the face of the two artifacts’ overwhelming performance, which allowed for instantaneous movement and attack, all the Aura Users Jade had faced were inevitably defeated. As a result, no opponent had fought long enough to realize the weakness of the Blink Boots.

Repenhardt wore a displeased expression.

‘Actually, you used this method frequently against Siris.’

In his past life, Jade had often restricted Siris’s movements by spreading various area-of-effect spells whenever she used the Blink Boots. Repenhardt had merely adapted this technique.

In other words, Jade had fallen victim to his own tactics.

“Ugh…”

Jade’s complexion turned increasingly pale. Blood gushed continuously from his severed ankles.

If left like this, he would die from excessive blood loss. After a moment’s hesitation, Repenhardt used his aura to cauterize Jade’s ankles. Although he had initially planned to let him die…

“It feels a bit unsettling to do that.”

It wasn’t that Jade was too valuable to let die.

Unlike Cyrus or Carsus, Jade was inherently arrogant and cruel. Even in his past life, while he outwardly acted as a benevolent Light Mage, he committed numerous heinous acts in secret.

While the incident of killing Siris belonged to the past life and couldn’t be blamed on the present Jade, his current demeanor was still entirely unappealing.

What concerned Repenhardt were the Sword of Severance and the Blink Boots.

‘If these Blink Boots originally belonged to Jade… could the assassin from my past life have been related to the Arclight family?’

Thanks to the AMP Shockwave, he had easily dispatched the assassin, but the equipment they carried was extraordinary. Even Repenhardt, who was renowned as a dungeon explorer at the time, had never seen such high-level artifacts. He had been able to create a new 10th-circle spell through studying those artifacts, so they were certainly not items a mere assassin would possess.

Back then, he had found it strange and conducted some investigations.

However, the assassin had committed suicide, leaving too few clues, and no similar incidents occurred afterward, so he never uncovered the full story. Since there was no law requiring someone who discovered an amazing artifact to report it to the academy, he had assumed the assassin had secretly kept them and continued their trade.

But now, he had found a clue transcending time and space. Moreover, this clue was still alive, unlike back then.

‘Great. I’ll take him seriously and conduct a thorough interrogation.’

Repenhardt smirked as he looked down at the writhing Jade. He had an exceptional method of torture, the “Gym Unbreakable Special Beating,” that could make even the strongest-willed person open their mouth.

‘And as a bonus, I get to beat up this annoying Jade to my heart’s content. Two birds with one stone.’

Had Repenhardt’s evil thoughts been conveyed?

Jade groaned as he regained his senses.

“Ugh…”

“I won’t kill you. There are many things I need to ask.”

The cold voice of his opponent jolted him awake. Jade urgently searched inside his clothes.

‘I-I need to escape…’

The principle for the assassins of Silver was to commit suicide if they failed their mission. However, fortunately, Jade had a strong backing.

With trembling hands, Jade pulled out a small feather. It was the Feather of Return, an artifact that could transport him “once” to a pre-designated location, no matter how far the distance.

It was a priceless item, rare even among the Silver Sages who monopolized all sorts of ancient relics. In fact, it was a forbidden relic Jade couldn’t dare to touch given his status. He had secretly obtained it through his brother, Guardian Arclight.

‘Damn, to think I have to use one of the only three in a situation like this…’

Gritting his teeth, Jade activated the Feather of Return.

Flash!

With a flash of light, Jade vanished before his eyes.

“What is this?”

Repenhardt looked around in surprise. Did Jade possess another artifact with such power besides the Blink Boots?

But Jade was nowhere to be seen. Expanding his senses, he couldn’t detect Jade within a 100-meter radius.

“A portable artifact for long-distance spatial movement, not a large-scale facility like the Daiman Terminal…”

Repenhardt muttered in admiration. Even in his previous life, he had never seen such a device.

“A small feather couldn’t possibly have the capacity to specify both coordinates and connect the space… Hmm, the portal didn’t open; he just disappeared, right? So, instead of folding space to connect like the Daiman Terminal, it slices the space around the caster and sends it through the mana flow by dimensional transformation? But if that’s the case, wouldn’t the caster’s stability be an issue… No, that could be handled with survival magic. Still, there would be a problem with mana conversion…”

Repenhardt worked hard to piece together the hypothesis in his mind. No matter how transcendent the Feather of Return was as an artifact, he was still an ultimate mage of the 10th circle, capable of comprehending its principles fairly closely.

Suddenly, Repenhardt clicked his tongue.

“No, this isn’t the time to be pondering theories. What am I doing after losing Jade?”

As expected of a mage, his attention was immediately drawn to the fascinating magical tool he had seen. Feeling a slight sense of self-reproach, Repenhardt stopped his thoughts and looked around, wondering if Jade had left any other clues behind.

Sure enough, in the distance, he saw a small pouch and a metallic object half-buried in a pile of dirt. It seemed they had been dropped in the turmoil of the Avalanche Kick.

Repenhardt picked up the metal object and frowned.

It wasn’t something he had seen for the first time.

“This is…”

An intricately crafted silver emblem with various divine beasts engraved on it amidst a giant tree.

“It looks exactly like the one that came from that assassin in my past life.”

Another common point had been found. Moreover, this emblem was not the crest of the Arclight family. If it had been, Repenhardt would have recognized it in his past life.

“What on earth is the connection?”

His curiosity only grew. Missing Jade felt all the more regrettable. There were so many things he wanted to ask.

“I guess I’ll have to investigate the Arclight family separately.”

However, unlike his past life, he now had a clue. He decided he would gather more information once he returned to the duchy. Repenhardt pocketed the emblem and then opened the pouch, hoping there might be another clue inside.

His eyes widened in an instant.

“Oh! Gold coins!”

The pouch was filled with a shimmering golden light. Despite being lightened by the infinite pouch, it was still quite heavy, likely amounting to tens of thousands of coins. Judging by the Crovence Kingdom’s gold coins, it seemed Jade had been paid by Baron Chetas.

“Did Baron Chetas invest such a huge amount just to catch me? He sure has a lot of money.”

A pleased smile spread across Repenhardt’s face. The regret of losing Jade vanished completely.

“With this amount, I could significantly alleviate the financial shortage of the duchy. Karl will be delighted.”

Fortunately, the famine in the Crovence Kingdom had ended, and the price of grain had stabilized again. However, despite this, the Duchy of Antares had countless expenses.

The number of different races rescued so far was slowly exceeding a thousand. The number of humans who had joined his ranks was also in the hundreds. There were many refugees who had fled from the famine. With such a rapid increase in population in such a short period, production could not keep up with consumption.

Karl efficiently managed the administration, and as the Duchy of Antares was still more of a large estate than a country, Repenhardt was able to cover the deficits with his private funds. However, it was true that the money was slowly running out.

There was a need to secure enough resources to sustain them until the different races settled and established production systems.

This was why Repenhardt had participated in this war despite being busy. By seizing the Barony of Chetas, especially the trade city of Zarud, he could significantly replenish the depleted finances.

“By the way, how is the battle going?”

After securing the pouch of gold coins in his bosom, Repenhardt turned his gaze toward Hundargard.

* * *

The morale of Baron Chetas’s army briefly rose as the mage Jade defeated the Moonlight Swordsman. However, that morale plummeted again when the mage was defeated by the Fist King.

That legendary warrior, the Fist King, was an incredibly fearsome existence beyond what the rumors suggested.

His very appearance defied common sense. Who could imagine a human being flying over the castle wall while riding a catapult? How was such a feat possible with a human body?

Moreover, the mage wasn’t just defeated; he was ‘annihilated’ by the Fist King. (To the eyes of those who didn’t know the situation, it seemed nothing else could explain it.)

The sight of a person being melted without a trace of bone left behind was enough to terrify the soldiers. They threw down their weapons and fled in all directions.

“Ahhhh!”

“Help meeee!”

On the other hand, the morale of the Gallin-Antares allied forces, witnessing the martial prowess of the Fist King, soared to the skies. They gazed at Repenhardt with eyes full of awe, reaffirming his legendary status.

“Follow the Fist King!”

“Let’s go! Warriors of Gallin!”

Soon, the gates of Hundargard were breached, and the Gallin-Antares allied forces stormed into the castle. Everywhere within the castle, knights and soldiers from both sides clashed. Of course, it was mostly Baron Chetas’s forces that were being felled.

“It’s truly over.”