“Then you should have just said goodbye nicely, shouldn’t you?”

Leupen was very angry, but he couldn’t raise his voice any higher.

Now there was truly little time left. Edel would die soon.

“Because you were wicked.”

Edel replied. There was no hatred. Though he didn’t know what kind of person she used to be.

No, I can roughly guess. To set a trap twice with one’s life at stake… It’s something most people couldn’t do.

But now she just seemed like an ordinary old woman.

“I wanted to get one last hit in before I left. At first, I thought about just dying… but I held back because of all the years we spent together.”

Edel and Leupen had never confessed their feelings to each other. When they first met, the situation was much more urgent than it was now.

There were many challengers, and just as many battles with the Voidor were constant.

In such circumstances, they felt it was a luxury to even mention their budding emotions.

The two implicitly agreed, spending their time merely guessing each other’s feelings.

For about 150 years, that is.

“…It certainly wasn’t a short time.”

Leupen said, his shoulders slumped. It was as if the years he had lived were weighing him down.

“It’s 150 years. The years we’ve struggled. Can you believe it? I never thought I’d live this long, even when I became a Mage.”

“That’s absolutely true. Even I’m sometimes surprised when I try to guess my age.”

“Why didn’t you give up during all those long years?”

There was a slight edge to Edel’s tone. She was blaming Leupen.

For not giving up.

“Are we going to talk about that again now?”

“Wasn’t that the beginning of everything?”

The reason Edel and Leupen parted ways.

It was a difference of opinion.

Edel wanted to give up on this Trial and spend the rest of her life with Leupen.

While they couldn’t live like ordinary people within this Trial ground, she at least wanted to be free from the grand cause of needing to escape.

Even if they abandoned the cause, their lives wouldn’t change much.

They would still have to fight Voidor to get food, and constantly check their defensive magic or reduce the number of Voidor nearby to protect their home.

It wasn’t an ordinary life, but Edel just wanted some peace of mind.

It had been about 150 years.

It wasn’t just one or two attempts; it was 150 years of watching countless Hunters and disciples die.

After 150 years, she came to one conclusion.

That she must have paid the price for the original sin she committed in the past, for entering this Trial ground.

But Leupen was different.

“It’s just a repetition of what we talked about 50 years ago. I told you everything then, didn’t I? That I couldn’t forget the ones who died, that my original world wasn’t here, and that I never even considered giving up.”

What calmed Leupen, who was getting agitated again, was Edel’s single sentence.

“I only needed you, Leupen.”

The feelings they had for each other, which they had never spoken aloud during all those long years.

Even 50 years ago, when they had their big fight, they treated each other only as comrades.

They knew each other’s feelings, but no one ever voiced them.

As if they had kept it to themselves for so long that they had forgotten how to talk about it.

Leupen froze the moment he heard Edel’s words. Leupen, who had been kneeling under the table, slowly raised his head and looked at Edel’s face.

Edel was smiling faintly. But Leupen’s face was a whirlwind of emotions.

“Why… why now…?”

“Because I thought you’d know without me saying it.”

“If you had said that then…”

“Should I have? We fought for months, battled with Threads for days… If it could have been resolved with just one word like this… I should have said something sooner.”

Even if two people know each other well, if something isn’t said out loud, it can be meaningless.

Perhaps that’s because assumptions and Threads are completely different realms.

“But Leupen. A lot has changed for me too. Spending 50 years alone, I came to understand your thoughts. It’s frustrating that you never visited, but I understand why you couldn’t give up… I get it. Maybe it’s a good thing. If I had persuaded you back then, I’d probably be regretting it now.”

If Leupen had decided to give up everything and spend the rest of her life with Edel, everything would have been different.

Edel would have died in Leupen’s arms instead of unnaturally prolonging her life.

Dan Woohui and Baek Woosang would have been abandoned, having lost their master.

If Kim Songcheol’s team had entered the Trial in that situation, there’s no guarantee that Leupen would have helped Kim Songcheol.

And the deceased Edel would not have been able to improve the Magic.

Because Leupen and Edel spent 50 years apart, paradoxically, the probability of escape increased exponentially.

“Leupen, you must escape from here. Wasn’t that your goal? Now I can support you.”

“Edel, now that you’re saying such things, I can no longer send you off with a smile.”

“You would never have been able to send me off with a smile, no matter when. Because you loved me.”

Leupen shook her head at that.

“No.”

Just as a chill settled on Edel’s warm expression.

“I still love you.”

Edel’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, then she smiled. That smile was not that of an old woman, but of her youthful days.

“It took 200 years to hear those words.”

With that smile, Edel began to crumble.

The time that had been unnaturally prolonged rushed in.

Her face solidified like a plaster statue, and cracks appeared, running from her forehead to her chin.

“Edel…!”

Leupen sprang to her feet but could do nothing. As her hand touched Edel’s shoulder, her arm simply fell off.

“Edel!”

Leupen clutched her head.

She had witnessed countless deaths over 200 years, but now she was like a young man experiencing someone’s death for the first time.

Edel rapidly disintegrated. Even the clothes she was wearing turned into a handful of sand.

Time scattered everything she had.

A breeze blew.

The fine sand was carried away by the wind, leaving only a handful on the table.

Leupen covered her face and knelt before it.

One could not possibly guess what emotions Leupen was feeling.

After sobbing for a long time, Leupen slowly got up. Then, with dry hands, she gathered the sand and placed it in a small box.

She held back her tears with all her might so they wouldn’t fall on the sand.

Only after closing the lid of the box did she finally shed one more tear.

Leupen returned to her original self.

Emotions must have been swirling inside her, but they were not shown outwardly.

After all, 200 years was a long time in many ways.

Meanwhile, Kim Songcheol, who had been outside since around the middle, stood next to Leupen and read the Notebook Edel had given him.

Edel had left Magic in the Notebook. It was already modified to the point where it could no longer be called Invictus.

‘Is this all there is?’

Kim Songcheol is a master in the use of magic, but his depth of understanding in the academic field of magic is not that profound.

He hasn’t even been initiated into magic for ten years.

No matter how much of a genius he is, he cannot completely overcome the passage of time.

As long as one is born human, there are limits.

That’s why he felt chills every time he read through the magic formulas Edel left behind.

‘She’s definitely not an ordinary mage.’

From the magic formulas Edel left, Kim Songcheol caught a glimpse of her character.

He had never seen her confront a Voidor, but it was so vivid it felt like it was happening before his eyes.

Edel was a mage like iron.

Forged with blood and heat.

She was a battle mage, just as she said.

In the dungeon, mages are categorized by the magic they’ve mastered. The title ‘Battle Mage’ was more akin to an honorific given to mages who were proficient in combat.

Of course, it was quite an honorable title where Edel was born, but Kim Songcheol couldn’t have guessed that much.

Anyway, her pride was so great that she spoke of that magnificent title herself, and that pride was backed by solid evidence.

‘Now I understand why she spoke so disparagingly of the Pioneer mages. Their approach is completely different.’

Magic is truly a vast field of study. There are an enormous number of magic formulas as ingredients, and the outcome completely changes depending on how the same ingredients are used.

For example, even if two people use the same bricks to build a structure, one might build a castle wall while another constructs a tall tower.

If the Invictus created by the Pioneers was akin to a sculpture made to showcase the latest construction methods, the Invictus touched by Edel was a massive battering ram.

There was that much of a difference.

If one were to point out a major difference, it would be output and efficiency.

In battle, one never knows what situation will unfold. Mana, as a resource, must be used as efficiently as possible to achieve the maximum result.

Those who had only researched this were the battle mages.

Furthermore, the magic formulas Edel created during her 200 years on the path of a mage were unique and creative.

This trial ground, like the Galapagos, cut off communication with other mages, and Edel was forced to walk her own path over a long period of time.

However, that doesn’t mean she was dogmatic.

She unreservedly adopted what was useful from the Pioneer’s magic formulas.

The desperation to use even enemies’ items or the deceased’s items without hesitation if they were beneficial was imbued in her magic.

‘…This is how one must fight.’

Kim Songcheol saw the combat style and the mindset for battle within the magic formulas Edel left behind.

Kim Songcheol was a skilled mage enough to read her footsteps, but Edel’s unique style was also that strong.

Edel had not only left behind magic but also a signpost pointing to the destination of a battle mage.

“How is the magic Edel left behind?”

Kim Songcheol heard Leupen’s voice from behind and turned around.

Leupen stood with his hands behind his back, as usual.

From his composed demeanor, Kim Songcheol perceived a certain will.

“It couldn’t be better.”

Kim Songcheol didn’t mention Edel. Instead, he praised the book she left behind.

Leupen nodded in response.

That was the end of it.

Edel’s funeral.

After that day, Kim Songcheol’s team and Leupen’s team began proper training.

They maintained the routine of consuming the Hawk-day elixir while adding high-intensity training.

The one who appeared most often in that training was, surprisingly, the Celestial Spirit Maiden.

There were outstanding martial artists like Dan Woohui and Baek Woosang, and Leupen was also a Swordsman who used Aura.

The person who could absorb most of their know-how was the Celestial Spirit Maiden.

Kim Songcheol broke down Edel’s Magic and her combat style as a Battle Mage, and Setsu also opened his Upper Dantian wider, and his Supernatural Ability grew exponentially stronger.

Kim Songcheol’s team’s power increased at an incredible rate.

The rate of their strengthening in this Trial Ground was higher than all their previous growth combined.

Thus, a year and a half passed.

Seventeen months passed.

It was a period that significantly exceeded Kim Songcheol’s expectations, yet it also drastically shortened Leupen’s expectations.

Leupen made a decision seventeen months after Kim Songcheol’s team entered the Trial Ground.

That it was time to risk everything and make a final attempt.