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The rain stopped soon after. Sunlight, which slowly peeked from the cloud, was reflected on the puddle left by the rain on the ground. On a sharp ridge located a little away from the cave, Yoo Seodam and Guardian Knight Zaberov were facing each other. At some distance away from them, the Empress and the others watched the two of them.

“Hmm, for someone with a weak body, your aura is respectable!” Zaberov blabbered. An expert who has accumulated ki and mana in their body will subconsciously release the energy from their body when it is in a heated state of tension just before battle. And it was said that an expert who had achieved a certain level could release it in any form at any time. In Yoo Seodam’s case, the energy he released was in the shape of a blazing blue flame.

As Zaberov raised his axe and slammed it into the ground, the ground shook and the sharp ridge flattened very slightly. Yoo Seodam did not draw his sword. Instead, he raised the staff he borrowed from Aracelli to the air.

‘If I remembered correctly, he was a monster who reached 7,000kg in 3 exercises…’

It was true that Zaberov was a formidable monster, but in reality, his rank was significantly lower than Yoo Seodam. On average, an S rank body-strengthening superhuman could lift 7,500kg in all 3. A swordsman and a Murim warrior that has an equal strength to an S rank superhuman recorded a much lower score than that. Body-strengthening superhuman who invested all their abilities in a single body enhancement ability barely managed to reach 7,500 when they reached S Rank. Which means that the Zaberov was at the level of A rank at best.

‘I am well aware how many A rank superhumans who only strengthened their superpowers have died until now.’ Superhuman who have given up agility in favour of strength didn’t have very long lives. That was why Yoo Seodam invested a lot of time in evasion techniques.

“Are you ready?”

-Yes~

The flower yawned and replied. Recently, she had been busy reading all the available spellbooks in the Library of White Witch every day, and she had told Yoo Seodam that she had achieved quite a bit of magical achievements recently.

“Aren’t you going to take out your weapon?”

“This is my weapon.”

“Isn’t that a wand?”

Indeed, it was an old wand Yoo Seodam borrowed from Aracelli because he didn’t have his personal wand.

“What are you going to do with the wand used only by those weak wizards?”

“I use magic.”

At his answer, Zaberov and Empress Primel, who seemed stunned for a moment, burst into laughter.

“Heh heh heh heh hehahahaha!!”

“Pohahahahahak!!”

Even the sound of their laughter fit how bulky their body was. The Empress, who shed tears because of how hard she had laughed, suddenly stopped laughing. She smirked and lowered her voice.

“Are you kidding me? Trained muscle transcends magic! Are you going to deal with Zaberov, who is called the best warrior in the world, with a weak power like magic?”

“Please, just watch.”

“Ha! Fine. I can already imagine when your body is broken in half, the scene where the youngest princess is crying is going to give me a headache!”

When Yoo Seodam no longer responded to the Empress’ words, the duel began immediately.

“Huap!” As Zaberov sprinted out with a raucous roar, cracks spread around the ground he stepped on, resulting in stone fragments flying all around the place.

Boom Boom Boom!

The gigantic axe Zaberov swung around made a terrifying ripping sound. However, it was not fast enough. There was still plenty of space for the flower pot to cast its magic. Yoo Seodam, without moving a single step, stretched out his hand. In fact, no such action was necessary for flower pot to cast magic, but it was a much-needed showmanship to perfect his wizard role-play.

Wooong-!!

As soon as a blue diamond-shaped magic circle formed and blocked the ax, the water pool on the ground quickly floated to the air and started to take the shape of icicles with sharp tips. It flew towards Zaberov’s feet, as he swung his ax as hard as he could and destroyed them all.

Unfortunately for him, once a wizard decided to go on the offensive, they wouldn’t stop until they spent all of their mana or were forced to stop.

Yoo Seodam closes his palm. Then, a void formed around Zaberov. From it, blue chains slithered out and bound Zaberov’s body.

“Ugh!!” With a shout, Zaberov mustered all his strength and broke the chains. However, by the time he broke free, Yoo Seodam had already finished his next spell. A huge sphere of flames floated above Yoo Seodam’s head.

‘Magic… Has this kind of power?’ Zaberov muttered in disbelief.

Immediately after moving his axe to his front in order to defend himself, Yoo Seodam’s fireball crashed into his axe.

Fwoosh-!!

All the remnants of rain in the ground evaporated, creating water vapor. Zaberov swiftly swung his axe to clear the fog which obscured his vision, but even faster than his movement, blades of wind slashed through Zaberov’s limbs.

“It hurts.”

“Is that so?” Yoo Seodam chimed calmly. The truth was, however, he was also a bit surprised by what had just happened. How could someone withstand a wind cutter, which was sharp enough to amputate even the limbs of superhumans, with just pure muscle strength? That’s something that even most body-strengthening type superhumans couldn’t do.

“A sufficiently hardened muscle is harder than steel!” Zaberov leapt high into the sky as he shouted.

At that moment, Yoo Seodam thought, ‘Are you stupid?’ Since he was in the air, he couldn’t change his direction, which meant, regardless of how Seodam attacked him, it would definitely hit him.

Wooong-!!

Just like what Yoo Seodam thought, the purple bullet he let loose directly hit Zaberov’s skin. But that did not deter him in the slightest. Zaberov charged forward and struck his axe to where Yoo Seodam was standing. Judging by the fact that his eyes were bloodshot and opened wide, it seemed like he was enduring the pain with sheer tenacity. The reason why Zaberov showed such movements and used a destructive technique was probably because Yoo Seodam hadn’t moved even a single step so far.

But…

“HUH!?”

Yoo Seodam was down on one of his knees, and his palm was touching the ground. Above him, four earthen pillars rising from the guard to guard him.

The pillar was destroyed by the shock immediately after blocking Zaberov’s attack, but it shocked Zaberov to the core. He could not wrap his head around how such an insignificant pillar made of mere stones could withstand the shock wave of his ax, which was boosted by his leaping power.

Paang!

Yoo Seodam fired a shock wave with the tip of his finger and pushed Jaberov’s body about 5 meters away from him, and then he brushed the dirt off the armor he was wearing with his other hand.

“Do you know why I wear armor?”

“Tell me.”

“Because there is no need for pride in a real battle” If you don’t have armor, you cover your body with bark, and if you don’t have that as well, even a piece of cloth would do fine. In other words, to survive, you have to take, use, and do everything that is needed.

“…” Zaberov went silent and just stood there.

“I also have fought real battles!” With his face reddened, Zaberov shouted. He swung his ax wildly against Yoo Seodam, but Yoo Seodam stood motionless. He condensed a magic bullet in his palm and threw it towards Zaberov’s abdomen while evading his attack.

“Keuk!” Zaberov staggered at Yoo Seodam’s attack.

Wizards were weak in close combat.

A wizard must always be protected in a fight.

Magic could never beat trained muscles.

Such common sense was slowly being shattered in front of Zaberov and Empress Primel.

“Real battles? Have you ever faced an enemy stronger than you?”

“No one has ever been stronger than me!”

“But now, there’s one right in front of you.”

Boom-!!

The ground exploded and pillars of fire rose to the air. After that, pillars of light fell from the sky, striking Zaberov’s hard muscles. He thought that his muscles and tenacity would be able to withstand the scorching heat and cold which would instantly freeze normal people’s bones. However, it seems like in front of a real strong person, it was impossible.

All the wizards he had met so far were weak physically, so one grab was all that it took for him to defeat them. On top of it, all the warriors he had met also had weaker muscles than himself, so they were never a threat to him. That was why he only knew how to fight as the stronger one. He didn’t know how to fight and overcome someone stronger.

Tung!

The ax flew and embedded itself on the ground, and Zaberov fell to his knees. The Empress silently watched the result of the duel. The best warrior she trusted the most was defeated. On top of it, he was defeated with magic.

Could she accept this reality?

The Empress looked at Zaberov and Yoo Seodam with blazing eyes, but there was no sign of her guardian knight standing up again. After she pondered for a long time, the Empress clenched her teeth and nodded her head.

“…a defeat for Zaberov. It seems that you have really hunted that wolf.”

Even though Empress Primel was a battle junkie, she had no choice to accept the result when the outcome of the duel was this obvious. After all, there was nothing worse than a warrior who would refuse to admit the result of a duel.

“Now, wait a minute… Your Majesty! I can still figh-”

“Zaberov. Admit your defeat.”

“Keuk-!” Zaberov glanced at Yoo Seodam with flaming eyes and shook his head. His master had given him her order, so there was nothing he could do anymore.

“Stand up, Zaberov. Let’s return. There is no reason to be here anymore.”

“…I understand, Your Majesty.”

Primel looked at Yoo Seodam for a moment, then she turned without a word and disappeared into the distance.

And, when she had completely disappeared from their sight…

“Puha…”

“I thought I was going to die of suffocation…”

Saeran and Yerina sat down on the floor and made a sound.

“Professor, are you okay?”

“I used quite a lot of magic earlier, so my head hurts.”

“By the way, didn’t you say you are not a magician, Professor?”

“I’m not. But I know how to use magic.”

“HA?”

The flower pot was already included in Yoo Seodam’s imaginary world, so even Aracelli couldn’t figure out his tricks.

“But, Professor, why did you fight while just using magic earlier?”

“Because I want to show the power of magic to the Empress. Didn’t you see that she waited for Zaberov to wake up before she announced the result? She did not want to admit that I won until the end.”

But in the end, when Zaberov couldn’t get up, the Empress had no choice but to declare defeat.

“Probably, if I didn’t show my magic here, it would have been the same in the battle for the throne later. Yerina trained her magic so much that she beat up her older sisters, but she wouldn’t have admitted her win because she had won using magic.”

That was why Yoo Seodam showed the strength of magic four years earlier than the start of the battle for the throne, and made the Empress think for four years about the ‘magic that has been trained enough can be stronger than muscle’.

Well, if after four years, she still refused to acknowledge it, there’s nothing we could do.

“Should we also prepare to leave?”

“Yes, yes!” Yerina got up from her seat in a hurry. She wasn’t tired because of the great duel that had just happened. The reason she was exhausted was because she had spent the night with the Empress.

‘This is… magic….’

Yerina was skeptical if she could learn about magic, even though she had enough talent for it. She always had this doubt. ‘No matter how much she trains her magic, will she be able to beat her elder sisters’ muscles?’

She has experienced the strength of the muscles her whole life, and she had watched countless times how magicians were beaten thoroughly by the warriors. That was why she could not imagine herself winning the succession battle by developing her magic instead of her muscles.

But today, she knew for sure.

‘I can win too.’

If she becomes a real wizard, she would be able to gain the same strength the warriors who trained their muscles have. Which means, she had a shot at beating the first and second princess. Her body was filled with confidence.

“Guardian, I think we should climb the ridge.”

“Is that so?”

At Saeran’s words, Yoo Seodam went ahead and tried to disappear from sight again, but Yerina ran hastily and grabbed the hem of his robe.

“…that, yesterday. The wolf in the cave.”

“Why? You want the wolf meat?”

“Oh, no. I just want to express my thanks…”

Yerina didn’t even know that such a dangerous monster was hiding in that cave. That was why she was able to laugh and talk and have fun like an immature child on a picnic. However, now that she knew, she had to express her gratitude as a princess.

Yoo Seodam looked at her for a moment and then smiled. “If you are grateful, once you become an empress later, you can build a castle with my face.”

“Of-of course!”

Of course, Yoo Seodam was merely joking.

However,

‘Where is the best location to build the castle, I wonder? The Maureka Cliffs are spectacular… Will they take the place of the Lord of Baranta? No. I’d rather build it in the Pavelov wilderness…’

Yerina was seriously contemplating the construction of the castle.