I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

Thunk!

A dull thudding sound echoed.

“Gahk!”

“That just now was a technique called chongyeong. Even in close range, it lets you land a powerful hit straight to the solar plexus like that.”

“Grruuuaaargh!”

Wow, that damn nymph must have eaten an insane amount of broccoli today. Judging by the sheer volume of broccoli spewing from its mouth, you could almost call it the mother of all living broccoli. Maybe farmers should hire a few nymphs like this, smack them in the solar plexus with chongyeong, and let them grow broccoli naturally.

“Are you done puking?”

“Urk… what?”

Crash!

I slammed its body into the ground. It seemed to barely manage a breakfall, though it would’ve been a shame if he had died too quickly.

“Khack!”

“This is called a slamming technique. It’s used for subduing someone, though if you slam their head, they can die. But the power control is a pain, so I don’t use it much.”

“You bastard, how far are you planning to—”

“Your tone, you damn idiot! Fix your tone!”

This shattered my fantasy about nymphs completely. Like a child realizing Santa isn’t real or a fan discovering their favorite character dies, this disappointment was irreversible.

“Nymphs speak in this manner, don’t they? You damn idiot, you need to learn!”

I straddled the bastard and started landing punches on its face. My fists, capable of delivering 13 jabs per second, smashed its nose, teeth, and cheekbones.

But it wasn’t just sitting still; it jabbed its fingers into my thigh. A poorly executed finger jab can break your fingers, but it seemed to have trained its fingers well.

“In the Jewel of Solitude… magic and weapons are forbidden… but physical attacks are allowed… and poison-coated fingers are acceptable. I’ve coated mine with neurotoxin…”

“And so what?”

I practically overdosed on neurotoxins when I was seven. There were sweet ones, sour ones, spicy ones, and bitter ones. It was like experiencing all 31 flavors of ice cream at once.

“It tingles a bit, but so what?”

“This can’t be… Even beasts writhe in agony from this poison…”

“Did you really think I’m only on the level of a beast?”

Even the fiercest beast is just an untrained, thoughtless animal. To compare me, a clever and virtuous individual, to such a creature? That calls for a stern punishment. Now, which martial art should I demonstrate next?

I opened the Werner Martial Arts Experience for that damn dwarf-like nymph. The admission fee was its blood and teeth, specifically because it didn’t use proper nymph speech. A major bleeding sale, meaning, of course, he’s the one bleeding, not me.

Standing up, I decided to give my guest a choice of what to experience next.

“Krav Maga? Silat? Kali Arnis? Boxing? Judo? MMA? Karate? Sumo? Jeet Kune Do? What’ll it be? I’ll let you pick.”

The nymph barely managed to stand and stumbled back, trying to create distance.

“What the hell are you talking about…”

Ah, there are so many facilities to choose from that our customer is overwhelmed. But there’s no need to worry. A great sage—namely, me—once said:

[If you can’t decide what to eat among many options, go to a buffet. And if you can’t decide among many choices, just try them all.]

I’ll serve a full course. I should aim for perfect customer satisfaction and win this month’s Employee of the Month award.

“There’s no need to agonize over my words. You’re going to die here.”

The nymph, who had proven itself nymphophobic, spat out blood and spoke.

“Meraugis of the Black Round Table, a candidate officer, will kill you with all my might!”

Then Meraugis stabbed its chest with its left index finger. I thought it was committing suicide, but its skin turned red-hot. Was this some kind of buff skill?

“Don’t think it’ll be like before… My physical abilities are now five times stronger…”

“Oh, is that so?”

Meraugis charged at me with a roar.

“Die for the Black Round Table!”

“Hey, if the sword dies for the round table, what happens to the shield?”

It was a joke I was quite proud of, but the bastard didn’t laugh. No sense of humor at all, that damn nymph. They say laughter brings blessings, but there won’t be any blessings coming its way.

.

.

.

In a vast chamber so expansive that it was hard to believe it was inside a sewer,

One man was fending off the attacks of two heroes. Despite the relentless onslaught of their strikes, leaving no openings, the man deflected every attack with ease—all while his sword remained sheathed.

Ricardo thrust his spear forward. It was a strike capable of shattering even a steel shield like an eggshell, but the man’s sword effortlessly blocked it.

“Your skill with a shield is excellent, but your spear work leaves some gaps. Isn’t the true allure of a spear its unpredictable trajectory?”

“Shut up! Where is Werner?”

“I must have told you three times. He’s inside the Jewel of Solitude. And I said it would be difficult for him to survive.”

Hearing the man say it would be hard for Werner to survive enraged Camellia, who unleashed a slash. It exceeded the speed of sound, not even leaving the sound of wind being sliced, but the man easily dodged the strike.

He blocked attacks that couldn’t be stopped and dodged those that couldn’t be evaded. It was a demonstration of his overwhelming skill, mocking the heroes’ attacks as inferior through his actions.

Of course, Camellia’s anger wasn’t due to that provocation—it was for an entirely different reason.

“What is this ‘Jewel of Solitude,’ and why are you spouting such nonsense?”

“Once someone is sucked inside, they cannot come out until one of the two inside dies.”

“Then, of course, Werner will win. Do you really think there’s anyone who can withstand his magic?”

“True, Meraugis wouldn’t stand a chance. That is, if this Werner were a fully-fledged archmage.”

At this, both Ricardo and Camellia furrowed their brows. That fact was supposed to be a closely guarded secret among them, yet here was someone who knew it—a member of the enemy’s Black Round Table, no less. If he knew, then the information about Werner’s inability to use archmagic was likely already shared across the Black Round Table.

“Even so, with regular magic—”

“To add, inside the Jewel of Solitude, only bare hands and feet can be used. Weapons and magic are forbidden.”

“What?”

That statement sent chills down everyone’s spine. While Werner could mimic techniques taught by the old Celestial Mage, it was only an imitation at best. Ricardo was deeply concerned.

From what he’d seen of Werner fighting knights or ambushing enemies from behind, his hand-to-hand combat skills were above average. However, having observed Meraugis’s movements, Ricardo could tell one thing: that man’s hand-to-hand combat skills were far from ordinary.

If what Werner had shown so far was the extent of his combat ability, then Werner would undoubtedly be killed.

Ricardo’s face twisted in a grim expression.

“You bastard. If you so much as lay a finger on my brother, I’ll kill you.”

“Oh? With that arm of yours?”

The man gestured to Ricardo’s right arm with his finger. The armor on his arm had been destroyed, and the arm itself was severely wounded.

“With that arm, you won’t even be able to peel an apple.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Ricardo wrapped a chain lying on the sewer floor tightly around his right arm, then clenched it in his teeth to secure his spear-wielding arm. Chain in mouth, he charged at the man.

“With this, you’re nothing but a beast.”

The man, judging that he couldn’t block Ricardo’s charge, shifted his trajectory slightly to avoid the attack. However, waiting for him was Camellia’s sword. Compared to earlier, her speed and ferocity had dramatically increased.

The man judged it would be difficult to avoid this attack.

Clang!

From his sheath emerged a sword with a bluish blade, blocking Camellia’s strike.

“To think I’d have to draw my sword. I must have grown dull.”

“If you’ve dulled, you die. That’s the fate of anyone who wields a sword, isn’t it?”

Camellia, now overtly declaring her intent to kill, emanated a fierce killing intent. Ricardo was no different. Confronted with the murderous aura of the two heroes, the man smirked and spoke.

“A tiger with a sword in front, and a bear with a spear and shield behind. How amusing.”

“Looks like you’re finally ready to fight seriously.”

“No, I’m merely showing these foolish rookies the difference between us.”

The man spoke in a cold, emotionless voice.

“That Werner of yours, and the two of you—none of you will leave here alive. No matter who you are.”

The man declared Werner’s death, and both Camellia and Ricardo glared at him, biting their lips. The tension stretched taut but didn’t last long.

“What, did he die just from a liver blow? How anticlimactic.”

Werner appeared, carrying the mangled corpse of Meraugis.