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As she approached Teslon, Philena bowed her head.

”I’m sorry, Teslon. I haven’t been much help…”

Philena knew well how deeply Teslon despised Repenhardt. Although she couldn’t fully understand his hatred, whenever she asked, the only response she got was, ‘He’s an evil man who will set the continent ablaze.’

But that was enough for her. She trusted Teslon and wanted to do anything that would make him happy. It was the least she could do to repay him for rescuing her from the cursed prison of Delphia’s Magic Tower.

Teslon, seeing Philena’s apologetic expression, suddenly wore a bitter look.

‘Philena…’

In a past life, she had been a close friend of the Demon King, but just that—simply a magician named Philena.

In his past life, Repenhardt hadn’t left Delphia’s Magic Tower as early as Teslon had in this one. He had been bound by the system of the tower, envied and feared by senior magicians, and only managed to break free in his late twenties.

By then, Philena had already been completely ruined. For a woman to grow into a proper magician among the gloomy and eccentric magicians was not easy unless she was a noble lady. For a commoner-born female magician like Philena, it was almost like being handed over as a concubine to high-ranking magicians. In his past life, she endured all sorts of humiliation while still harboring unrequited feelings for Repenhardt, ultimately dying quietly from various venereal diseases.

Repenhardt himself was unaware of this fact. Teslon had learned of it by chance while gathering information about the Demon King; it was just one of many insignificant incidents. In this life, Philena was a proud high-ranking magician who had advanced to the late 6th circle thanks to Teslon. In his past life, she had been just another failed life.

‘Anyway, in that information, Philena was a woman who truly loved Repenhardt.’

And now, that love was wholly directed at Teslon. Yes, Philena would not betray Repenhardt regardless of what he did.

Even if the muscular giant who returned from the future was the true Repenhardt she had once loved, the current Philena would only look at Teslon. It was Teslon who had saved her, given her strength, and cherished her in this life.

‘That means…’

This realization brought to Teslon’s mind another truth, leaving a bitter taste.

‘There’s no way to win over Cyrus.’

He saw the expression of his friend from a past life, Cyrus, who was confronting Eusus. The Cyrus who now called the Demon King his brother was not the same swordsman who once ground his teeth at Repenhardt. He was merely a young man with pure goodwill, friendship, and a light of reverence towards the Demon King.

Of course, it made sense. The one who saved this lifetime’s Cyrus, gave him power, and cherished him was none other than Repenhardt, who inhabited his body.

‘I must not hold any regrets. The current Cyrus is my enemy. That is an unchangeable truth.’

Even so, he felt a deep sense of injustice at the thought of exchanging the future swordsman, Cyrus, for someone like Philena. Suppressing his bitter feelings, Teslon continued walking.

Since he had been to this place in his past life, Teslon’s steps were unhindered. At each branching path, he chose his direction without hesitation, continuously moving towards the exit.

Then, suddenly, Teslon stopped at the end of the hallway where there was a staircase leading upwards.

Philena, who was about to ascend the stairs, turned around in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Teslon? We need to escape quickly.”

Teslon shook his head as he looked at the stone chamber at the end of the hallway.

“There’s something I need to do here.”

Leaving the two puzzled women behind, Teslon stepped into the stone chamber.

It was a small stone chamber, approximately ten meters on each side. The space was entirely devoid of decorations or furniture. In the center stood a stone altar, upon which was erected a single gigantic stele.

Christine asked, “What is this?”

Teslon replied with a grin.

“This is the secret of Gym Unbreakable, the Calamity Horn. It’s the stele inscribed with the vision that will guide beyond the fifth layer.”

The stele was inscribed in the common language with all sorts of aura techniques and the martial principles associated with them. Teslon gazed at the stele, momentarily wrapped in nostalgia.

It was the ancient stele of Gym Unbreakable that had once bestowed upon him a higher realm.

This was the true gift that Gerard had left for his disciple.

After descending the mountain in his past life, Teslon had saved money through various mercenary jobs while learning about the world. This place was the first he sought out. After battling hundreds of evil spirits and with his senses extremely sharpened, he had read this stele and ultimately comprehended the Calamity Horn of the fifth layer, surpassing the fourth layer.

‘I naturally assumed that the Demon King had already passed this point and reached the fifth layer, which is why I feared him so much.’

Teslon gave a wry smile.

‘I didn’t need to be afraid. He is not much different from me now. Both of us are incomplete magicians and incomplete warriors!’

The long sword in his hand emitted a bright yellow aura. Teslon raised his sword, aiming at the stele. Although it was Gym Unbreakable’s long-held treasure filled with memories…

“For the future of the continent, I have no choice!”

With a shout, Teslon thrust his sword toward the stele.

“Spiral Blade!”

The swirling aura struck the stele. The thick stele shattered into pieces, with fragments flying in all directions. Teslon laughed heartily in front of the breaking stele.

“Hahaha! Repenhardt! Even though I lost today, I won’t just retreat! Come here and get frustrated for having come all this way for nothing!”

☆ ☆ ☆

Repenhardt’s party ran diligently through the corridor. Although they didn’t know the way, they didn’t get lost, thanks to the footprints left by Teslon’s group just ahead of them. For the skilled hunter Tassid, these footprints were as good as signposts.

As they followed the tracks of Teslon’s group, they came upon stairs and saw a stone chamber at the end of the corridor. Seeing footprints leading to both the stone chamber and the stairs, Tassid expressed his confusion.

“Huh? Benefactor, the footprints split into two.”

“Huh? Why?”

After closely examining the footprints, Tassid responded.

“It seems they went to the stone chamber first and then went up the stairs.”

Repenhardt tilted his head in puzzlement and peered into the stone chamber. The others followed him inside. Siris murmured as she looked at the altar in the center.

“There are signs that something was broken here.”

There were traces of something square and rocky being shattered. Upon inspection, each broken fragment had common language letters written on them.

‘Was it some kind of tombstone?’

The fragments were too scattered to decipher what sentences they formed. Even after checking with magic, it was neither a magic tool nor an artifact from the Age of Silver. It was just a common stone with no enchantments.

He couldn’t understand why Teslon had destroyed this stele when they were busy escaping. After pondering for a moment, Repenhardt came to a conclusion.

“Did he throw a tantrum because he couldn’t control his temper? Well, he has always been hot-tempered.”

Repenhardt, knowing nothing, shrugged his shoulders and left the stone chamber. Since he knew nothing, there was no reason for him to be frustrated.

“Tsk tsk, that temper of his…”

Clicking his tongue, Repenhardt headed straight for the stairs. As they ascended to the surface, Russ suddenly asked,

“But brother, who exactly is this Teslon? It seemed like you knew him very well.”

Repenhardt, already pondering how to explain, frowned. How could he describe Teslon without revealing details about their past lives?

Struggling for words, Repenhardt began to speak haltingly,

“He’s like a childhood friend from my hometown… uh, kind of like a fellow disciple, you could say? Actually, we were never really close from the start. We had very different views on other races. He believes that my efforts to liberate other races bring significant harm to humanity. So, he sees me as an enemy and tries to kill me…”

Although the explanation was vague, it wasn’t entirely incorrect. Moreover, Russ was fully aware of how dangerous Repenhardt’s ideology was and how unacceptable it was in this era.

“Well… it seems like an extreme reaction, but it’s not entirely incomprehensible.”

Russ nodded in understanding. Repenhardt, feeling somewhat relieved, looked at Sillan, who was still asleep on his shoulder. He hoped that Sillan would understand just as Russ did with this explanation.

“In any case, let’s get out of this cursed place quickly. It gives me the chills.”

☆ ☆ ☆

The stairs led through the back mountain of the ruins where Gym Unbreakable’s first martial arts school was located. Emerging outside, Tassid muttered in awe,

“Oh! The sun! The sun! I never thought I’d be so glad to see it.”

“I completely agree.”

Following them out, Russ shrugged his shoulders. Behind him, Repenhardt, carrying Sillan, also stepped onto solid ground. Surveying the surroundings, Repenhardt clicked his tongue.

“Damn, as expected, there’s no sign of Teslon. Of course, after all this delay, he wouldn’t still be hanging around here.”

Siris looked apologetic, her shoulders hunched.

“I’m sorry, Repenhardt. It was my idea to come here…”

If she hadn’t suggested coming here, they wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble, nor would the others have sustained such injuries.

But Repenhardt didn’t see it that way.

“No, thanks to this, I’ve come to my senses. It’s a good thing we came here.”

He wasn’t saying it just to comfort Siris. Repenhardt genuinely believed it was fortunate that he had encountered Teslon.

“I thought everything would be fine once I regained my magic. That was arrogance.”

Thinking about how he had been bested by Teslon still left him dry-mouthed. Teslon’s techniques were an unknown realm to him.

“Despite being overwhelmed, I still don’t know what exactly happened. I loosened the arm choking my neck, yet it only tightened further. The more I struggled to escape, the tighter it became…”

That was the terror of wrestling-based joint techniques. Martial arts like striking or swordsmanship were direct and intuitive, so even if one didn’t know them well, a sense of intuition and instinct could help in responding.

But grappling techniques were different. Unless there was a significant physical disparity between the opponents, ignorance meant inevitable defeat.

Russ clicked his tongue.

“I didn’t realize someone like you, brother, who is such a skilled warrior, would be so unfamiliar with ground wrestling. You’re not just a swordsman, but a martial artist…”

Even knights learned some wrestling techniques to prepare for situations like falling off a horse or losing their weapon. Since wrestling itself was originally developed to inflict damage on armored opponents, Russ had a basic understanding of it.

“Our martial arts school teaches us not to disgrace ourselves by rolling on the ground.”

“Well, I can understand that sentiment… but with some practice, you can at least defend against wrestling techniques. Would you like me to teach you some defensive moves when we have time? I’m not a professional, but I know enough to prevent the techniques from working on you.”

“Please do.”

Surprisingly, Repenhardt accepted Russ’s offer seriously. It seemed he had taken a significant beating.

“Moreover, it’s not just about those techniques… I realized painfully that I’m not even fully utilizing what I currently have.”

Reflecting, Repenhardt looked down at his fists. It wasn’t just because of the grappling; Teslon had overwhelmed him in every aspect as a martial artist. Despite Repenhardt’s vastly superior physical abilities! This was not something to overlook.

Thinking back, since descending the mountain, his skills as a martial artist had barely improved. His innate physical prowess had been enough to satisfy him, so he focused solely on reclaiming his magic.

‘I was wrong.’

With everything changed now, he was no longer the Demon King. Therefore, he needed to approach martial arts with the same seriousness as magic.