The Indomitable Martial King

“Fire Cannon!”

Dozens of fiery bullets flew, leaving trails of flame. Repenhart frowned. Fire Cannon was merely a 4-circle blaze spell; there was no need to use Spiral Guard for something of this level.

“Hup!”

With a simple shout, golden aura enveloped his entire body, deflecting all the fiery bullets. Repenhart sneered as he glared at Jade.

“Ridiculous. Did you think you could face an aura user with something like this?”

It was common knowledge on the continent that only mages of 8 circles or higher could match aura users. In his past life, Jade might have been the second most powerful mage after Repenhart, but now he was merely a high-ranking mage of 7 circles. Although he was exceptionally advanced for his age, it was insufficient to face the Fist King, one of the top aura users.

Of course, Jade was not unaware of this fact.

“Sword of Severance!”

Jade immediately extended his right hand, launching a disc of light. The Fire Cannon had been a mere diversion to create distance from the beginning.

Swaaaah!

The disc of light left a dazzling trail as it directly struck Repenhart. The formidable energy contained within it startled Repenhart for a moment. Twisting his body to the left, he drew out and spun his golden aura with all his might.

“Spiral Guard!”

Crackle!

The golden vortex and the disc of light clashed, scattering blood. The disc of light grazed Repenhart’s shoulder and sliced through the wall like cheese.

‘What? The Spiral Guard broke?’

Repenhart stared at the wound on his shoulder in astonishment. Since descending the mountain, it was the first time he had been injured so easily. While using his aura to staunch the bleeding, Repenhart looked at Jade’s hand.

‘…An artifact from the Silver Age? The same light blade that Siris faced?’

It was a power comparable to Eldril’s Light, the ultimate technique of the magic sword Eldran used by Eusus. Moreover, the activation time was almost instantaneous. That simple-looking gauntlet was an artifact of even higher order than Eldran.

“My god, where did he get something like that?”

As Repenhart’s expression turned to one of shock, Jade shouted triumphantly.

“No matter how powerful the Fist King is, he is nothing before the great ancient power!”

Jade unleashed discs of light in rapid succession. Unable to counter, Repenhardt desperately dodged the attacks. His expression twisted in bewilderment.

‘I’ve never heard of Jade possessing such an incredible artifact!’

But he couldn’t afford to remain astonished. Regaining his composure, he launched a counterattack. Dodging the discs, he thrust his fist powerfully.

“Chain Strike Blast!”

Aura bullets flew towards Jade. Jade formed a hand seal with his left hand and chanted an incantation.

“Veil of Strength, become my shield! Antiak Barrier!”

A dark blue veil enveloped Jade, blocking all the aura bullets. A deafening roar reverberated. As expected, an aura user’s long-range attack was weaker compared to a mage’s, so the bullets couldn’t penetrate the barrier.

Still, it delayed the attack a bit. Taking advantage of this, Repenhardt closed the distance.

“Take this! Gastrizen!”

Exuding a killing intent, Repenhardt extended his right foot towards Jade. Golden aura shot forth like a cannonball, creating a formidable shockwave.

Boom!

The barrier shattered in an instant, and the aura was about to strike Jade directly.

“Blink!”

Bang!

With a puff of smoke, Jade’s figure vanished. Simultaneously, Repenhardt sensed movement behind him. He turned around. Jade had already positioned himself over ten meters away.

Noticing the faint glow of Jade’s shoes, Repenhardt was astonished once more. Even if he didn’t recognize the Sword of Severance, he knew those shoes well.

“…Blink Boots?”

It was from a previous life. When Repenhardt was pioneering the 10-circle realm with Siris and Tashid, encountering various species in the continent’s remote regions, an unidentified assassin appeared one day.

The assassin’s skill wasn’t exceptional. But Siris and Tashid were helpless against him because of the incredible relics from the Silver Age he possessed, which they had never seen or heard of before.

One of the artifacts that assassin used was the Blink Boots, capable of short-distance teleportation.

‘How is Jade wearing those?’

Despite his confusion, Repenhardt immediately sprang into action. He shot towards Jade like a cannonball, delivering a powerful downward chop.

However, it was another futile attempt. Once again, Jade had escaped far away using spatial movement. He quickly fired a strike blast towards the distant Jade, but it was soon blocked by a barrier.

Repenhart’s expression hardened. Earlier, the distance had been too great to notice…

‘This is why Siris was defeated.’

Given her current abilities, she should have been able to handle a 7th-circle mage with ease. Only now did he understand why she had been so helplessly pushed back.

“Heh heh, once the distance is widened, a mere warrior cannot stand against a mage…”

Jade, who had increased the distance, leisurely began to chant a spell. He finished casting and wore a sinister smile.

“Prison Blade Storm!”

A storm of ice blades swirled, showering Repenhart with a blizzard. Repenhart, enveloped in his aura, continuously punched, shattering the blades.

But his aura could only block the blades, not the cold. Ice fragments clung to his body, gradually freezing him. Repenhart’s movements began to slow.

Swoosh!

Once again, discs of light flew towards him repeatedly. Twisting his body, Repenhart barely managed to avoid the attacks. Dodging was the best he could do; counterattacking was impossible. Jade mocked him.

“How long can you dodge with that frozen body?”

Using the Blink Boots to increase the distance, Jade then immobilized Repenhart with magic and aimed to sever his life with the Sword of Severance. This was his surefire method against aura users. He had assassinated no less than three aura users with this tactic, and Jade was confident of his victory.

‘That elf wench’s magic was blocked due to her spirit magic, but there’s no way the Fist King, an aura user, can escape this pattern!’

It was then that Repenhart suddenly clicked his tongue.

“Che, I didn’t want to use this if I could help it…”

He brought his hands together at his chest and murmured softly.

“This is my domain; I allow no flow. Dispel Area.”

An invisible field of magic unfolded, interfering with Jade’s spells. The blizzard soon dissipated, and the cold noticeably diminished. The ice that had frozen Repenhart’s body quickly melted away, freeing him.

Jade’s mouth fell open in astonishment.

“M-Magic?”

* * *

Jade blinked. He couldn’t believe the reality in front of his eyes.

The thick, invisible magic aura emanated from the body of Jim Unbreakable, the legitimate heir renowned as the continent’s most brutish muscle. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem inferior compared to himself, a 7th circle mage.

‘Impossible! The Fist King uses magic too?’

He wondered if it might be the power of some Silver Age relic he didn’t know about.

But Jade was also a promising genius mage, not someone who couldn’t distinguish whether the opponent was a mage or an artifact user. Clearly, the Dispel Area from earlier was directly cast by this man, Repenhart.

As Jade stood there with a dumbfounded expression, Repenhart smiled coldly. Although he was pretending to be the Fist King, he had no intention of openly using magic. However…

“Well, as long as it’s not obvious.”

He didn’t use flashy magic like flames or lightning. It was enough to disrupt the opponent’s magic moderately. Then, from a distance, how could anyone tell whether Repenhart was using magic or aura?

“Haaah!”

Repenhart leaped toward Jade. Only then did Jade snap out of his daze and prepared to cast another spell.

“Su-summon Web!”

A magical spiderweb spread out above him. Repenhart pointed at the web and shouted in return.

“Cancellation!”

The magical web instantly disappeared into the air. Jade, alarmed, continued his spellcasting.

“Light Bind! Liquid with Viscosity!”

Ropes of light stretched out, and a highly viscous liquid was thrown at Repenhart’s feet. But before they could even take effect, they were canceled out. In desperation, Jade swung the Sword of Severance.

“Haaah!”

Four discs of light sliced through the air. Repenhart spread his arms wide towards the incoming discs.

“Reflect Mirror!”

A magical mirror appeared, reflecting all the discs of light back in the opposite direction. Repenhart grinned triumphantly.

“Though the power is immense, it’s still light attribute, right? So I can reflect it.”

It was the first time he had seen such an artifact, but Repenhart, once a Demon King, immediately understood the activation principle of the Sword of Severance upon seeing it.

The method of generating an enormous flash of extreme heat to cut through the target; however, the medium delivering the destructive power was ultimately light. In other words, by scattering or reflecting the light, one could defend against it with such an inexpensive (?) magic.

“……”

Jade was so stunned that he couldn’t close his mouth. To think he even blocked the Sword of Severance? The burly fist fighter displayed more sophisticated magic handling than himself, a 7th circle mage. His head was spinning.

‘Am I crazy, or is the world crazy…?’

Repenhardt charged at Jade with a terrifying momentum. Activating the Blink Boots consecutively to create distance, Jade kept firing spells and swinging the Sword of Severance. Flames, lightning, frost, and discs of light were launched in succession.

But Repenhardt continuously nullified the magic and reflected the Sword of Severance with Reflect Mirror, persistently pursuing Jade. Eventually, he grew tired of countering each one and resorted to bizarre actions.

“Screw it, Dispel Punch!”

Whatever he did, he cast Dispel Magic on his fists and started punching the activated spells one by one. It was a magic Jade had never heard of before.

‘Where the hell did he learn such a thing?’

In reality, Repenhardt had unintentionally developed a new spell while getting carried away with using magic, but Jade had no way of knowing that.

Anyway, Jade was running away frantically. With magic and the Sword of Severance being ineffective, there was only one thing left to rely on. Breaking out in a cold sweat, he kept activating the Blink Boots desperately.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As Repenhardt watched Jade slip away every time he was about to catch him, he frowned.

‘Ah, those Blink Boots are a real nuisance. They weren’t a big deal before.’

In his previous life, dealing with those Blink Boots was not a problem.

At that time, the assassin using the Blink Boots was armed with more artifacts than Jade was now, but even then, he was no match for Repenhardt, who had already been a 10th circle mage.

‘A single AMP Shockwave would take care of this easily, but I can’t use it… tch.’

The ultimate 10th circle spell, AMP Shockwave (Arcane Magic Pulse Shockwave).

This spell, invented by Repenhardt himself, had the power to interfere with the flow of the world’s mana, stopping all magical devices within a set radius.

Though it couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe, no ordinary magical item, Silver Age relic, or even the most advanced artifact could escape its effects.

It was so powerful that it could even temporarily halt the subterranean sun, Magrim. Repenhardt had immediately restarted it afterward out of fear.

No matter how formidable an assassin was with Silver Age artifacts, one hit from that spell would sink them. Hence, he had easily dealt with the assassin back then. Although the assassin had committed suicide, preventing Repenhardt from interrogating him about his backers, he had happily retrieved the artifacts and distributed them to Siris and Tassid.

‘Geez, Siris grumbled about how those boots had so many weaknesses when she used them, but facing them myself is incredibly annoying… huh?’

Repenhardt’s grumbling face suddenly brightened. Come to think of it, those Blink Boots indeed had weaknesses. In fact, they had many!