Chapter 70
Chapter 70
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 70
The mine in the suit sat comfortably in the VVIP seat.
Inferring that he was the ringleader of this terrorist attack from the aura and composure emanating from Dorudo wasn't difficult at all.
The problem was whether I could take him down.
The average skill level of the guards and attendants hovered around mid-B to A-rank players. No one suitable to face the S-rank mine, Dorudo, was in sightnot even to the naked eye.
I had no choice but to step up myself.
'But I can't land a solid hit.'
I'd burned through a fair amount of mana, unleashing a barrage of spells at him.
Yet he only showed signs of surprise.
No major damage on his skin.
Especially shocking was that he hadn't suffered a single burn despite that level of fire assault.
Some poor guy couldn't even take off his gloves because of severe burns inside.
Talk about unfair.
Here I was struggling like thiswhat about the students?
Worried, I glanced to the side.
'...No need to worry too much.'
I shook my head, watching the students hold their own despite our teamwork still not quite meshing.
Yeah, who was worrying about whom?
Instead of me fretting over them, it was more fitting for them to worry about me. Isis and No Yu-ra, who weren't heroines, were a bit concerning, but worrying about the other three was pointlesscrossing the line, even.
You could tell just by looking.
Shweeeeeek!
She swung the ice spear wide, spraying blood everywhere and throwing the mines' formation into disarray. Undaunted even against mines rivaling a thousand in strength, she seized the opening and swung again, widening the pool of blood on the floor.
Her martial prowess made the phrase "one against a thousand" feel inadequate. She was Seo Ye-rin, who would one day be called the [Divine Spear].
Kurrrr rumble!!!
A girl shot past her like a bolt from the blue.
Like lightning crashing from the sky. She truly channeled thunder into her sword, swinging it wide to shatter the ground and shake the ceiling.
She embodied heaven-shaking, earth-rending power in her slender framethe future Sword Venerable, Seong Yeon-hwa.
As the two girls tore through the front lines, drawing the mines' attention and slaughtering them.
The beautiful blonde directed the group with magic, manipulating mana with her bare hands. Unlike spoken incantations or chants, she formed spells with hand seals using her fingers.
Her seals belonged to Isabel, the great mage who would one day bear her family's name and wield the city's lights and the stars of the night skySirius the Celestial Wolf.
But...
"...What are you doing, Rae?"
Tucked in a corner, she hadn't cast a single decent spell, merely serving as command center via .
No, handling command was fine.
'But she's the only one not contributing anything.'
While the other students showcased their standout talents and skills befitting Chilseong Academy cadets in their respective domains.
She alone failed to shine.
Not to mention Seo Ye-rin and Seong Yeon-hwa.
Even Isis and No Yu-ra made their marks, leveraging ice magic and scouting respectively.
Isis's ice barriers cleverly divided the mines for divide-and-conquer tactics, while No Yu-ra's swift movements relayed enemy positions in real-time to the team's heads.
She infiltrated deep into enemy lines yet evaded capture with agile footworkan ideal scout.
Only Isabel showed no notable exploits.
A difference between her and the other students suddenly clicked in my mind.
The other five had received my lessons and advice, but Isabel's custom sessions had been repeatedly postponed due to her advanced light and photon magic.
Was that the cause of this stark gap?
Right then, as I pondered.
"Don't get distractedfocus on me!"
"I don't have a hobby of focusing on guys."
"You bastard...!"
"Not wrong, though. Foxes are canines, after all."
Dorudo swung a massive fist at me.
His sharp, vicious punch twisted its trajectory with mana-infused physical force flames, but that was his limit.
This time, I was gradually being pushed back.
An utterly disadvantageous situation.
Even so, I couldn't fully focus on Dorudo's onslaught.
In the corner of my vision was Isabel, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.
* * *
Boom!!
Since the battle with the mines began, Isabel and the students had dragged it out into a prolonged fight, maximizing cover.
Even as elites, dozens of mines were too much.
"Isis, I'll supply watererect an ice barrier up front."
"Got it."
At the 'head's command, the team's caster, Isis, moved swiftly.
Simultaneously, Isabel waved her hands in the air.
Runes filled the empty space as she drew circles in midair.
Brilliant light shone atop them, forming a cluster.
The cluster soon glowed with the deep blue of ocean depths, manifesting seawater above the auction house.
A massive volume splashed onto the floor.
Isis's chill instantly shaped the seawater into an ice barrier, blocking the mines.
But this wouldn't hold long.
Even combining various spells with the ice barrier had clear limits.
The best defense is offense. They needed a way to break through.
Isabel recalled her teammates' strengths while eyeing the crumbling barrier.
Bang! Bang!
The ice barrier shattered under the mines' attacks.
Cracks and melts revealed gaps.
Isabel exploited them slyly, firing light bullets.
Bang!
A bullet pierced a mine's head with the sound.
Isabel's ability to manipulate light at the particle level.
Incredible and versatile in any situation, but requiring commensurate prep time.
She could only manage one bullet while the barrier bought time.
'If only I had more time!'
Isabel blamed the barrier's durability and her chant speed as she ducked behind new cover.
She wasn't a warrior splitting seconds.
Nor a staff officer devising brilliant tactics from instant reads.
Thus, she struggled to adapt to this time-sensitive chaos.
As frustration churned in her mind amid the dire straits.
Isis erecting an ice wall.
Isabel was about to scold her for wasting mana before it even broke.
Kugugung!
The ice wall rose from the floor upward.
But on a whole different level of range and precision.
As if the very ice particles composing it had changed.
The intricate, sturdy ice wall perfectly separated the civilians and them from the mines, buying time for regrouping and counterattacks.
Whatever sparked it mid-battlea sudden insightthe tide turned lively.
Relieved at the fortune.
Kwagang!!!
One mine swung an exceptionally sharp spear, piercing the sturdy ice wall.
A hole barely wide enough for one person.
He emerged alone, lunging at the civilians.
As his spear's chill edge targeted throats.
A transparent ice construct blocked it.
Seo Ye-rin clung to his flank as he instinctively dodged.
Seo Ye-rin gripped and swung the ice spear Isis shaped.
Unpredictable chaos, shifting every instant.
In the turmoil, scout No Yu-ra pushed her mind-reading ability to its limits.
Surface thoughts only.
She delved into [Mind Reading] territory she'd never touched since birth.
Reading.
Thoughts.
Plans.
Desires.
Not just surfaces, but deep dives.
No time for depthquick scans.
Repeated over and over.
"The mine on the right plans a big right-arm swing for defense. The eight on the flank aim to overwhelm usbetter prepare. The three-horned one on the left intends pinpoint mana shots at us."
She spoke without thinking.
They handled the thoughts; her role was just cheating off them.
Bonus: Taunting foes with the agile moves Seung-woo taught, toying with them.
While No Yu-ra excelled as scout.
Her friend Seo Ye-rin swung her spear.
Seo Ye-rin clashed with a spear-wielding mine.
Seo Family Spear Art, Five Forms: Wave Sweep Forward.
Her swing swept ahead like crashing waves.
The mines suffered under her precise spearwork, forgiving no gaps.
But suffering wasn't theirs alone.
"...Hup, haa... Mu-must end this quick."
The ice spear in her hand began melting from body heat and blood warmth. Frostbite symptoms appeared on her handsshe should withdraw and rest.
Yet Seo Ye-rin was stubborn.
If she believed her actions right, she ignored bodily harm and swung on. But that mindset wasn't innate.
Born talent, privileged home.
Family that blessed no one.
Self-taught in spear and studies, Seo Ye-rin walked a path someone laid out for the first time.
Just follow.
Ignore everything else, walk her own road.
How reassuring to have someone pave and prepare the rugged path.
She poured all time into honing technique.
Time and effort built confidence in her skills.
Something she'd never had.
Confidence bred ambition, ambition faithand it rewarded her.
"...I, I can do it. I can."
Faith in self.
Faith in her skilled teacher.
With such faith, she couldn't leave this spot.
What was a little frostbite?
Would her faith yield to this?
Ignoring pain, she recalled healing knowledge skimmed from Chilseong books. Untested, superficial.
Yet wrapped in inexplicable faith, she invoked the mental formula.
Her clumsy, incomplete healing spread faith throughout, yielding novel results.
Shwaaaa!
Golden light bathed her hands.
Frostbite pain vanished, along with lifelong sword calluses.
Holy light that healed all.
Divine power.
[Based on your steadfast faith, your trait [Divine Studies] and skill [Healing Studies] merge into one.]
[Trait acquired: 'Divine Power'.]
[As long as your faith holds, all future magical and mana-based acts will be infused with divinity.]
Clang!
Seo Ye-rin hurled the ice spear she'd gripped tight.
With this holy light transcending mere healing, no need for icefaith told her so.
And faith became conviction.
Shwaaaaaak!
A golden spear birthed in her hand.
Without thought of retrieval, she hurled it at the mine's heart.
As his spear shifted to defense against the high-speed throw.
Puk.
A golden spear conjured in her other hand pierced his heart.
As the prolonged battle let Isis, No Yu-ra, and Seo Ye-rin consolidate insights.
Seong Yeon-hwa gripped her father's gifted treasured sword, Baekseon Sword, spotting a fleeing mine far off. He'd sensed the reversal and bolted.
She didn't like him.
But lacked means to catch him.
"......"
Over hundreds of meters.
Nearly end-to-end in the auction house.
Leaping undetected and striking at that range? Even at her peak, no easy feat.
But who was she?
Eldest daughter of the glorious Jeocheon Clan. Seong Yeon-hwa.
"...Think it'll work?"
"Wh-what? Hey, stay put a sec?! Move on my command as head!"
"Then I'm off!"
Thud!!
A massive crater formed on the floor with a thick boom.
Its source arced to the auction house's far side.
"Gotta get outta this madhouse. Huh, why'd the ceiling suddenly go dark...?"
"Haha, see? It works!!"
"Crazy bitch!!"
The distant mine fled desperately at leaping Seong Yeon-hwa's sight.
Abandoning defense, all into escape.
His speed far outpaced her max.
'...Distance issue. Four paces shortno, six at least. No technique in my forms catches him. Special moves or skills might not cut it.'
Seong Yeon-hwa analyzed coolly.
Contrasting her usual halting Korean and sunny face, her sharp mind reached conclusions instantly.
Ultimately, one way to kill the fleeing mine here.
Impossible at current realm? Step to the next.
The path would appear.
On that sole conviction, she closed her eyes in meditation.
Silence to no-thought, no-thought to transcendence, reaching no-thought-no-image, thoughts vanished. From the void, something crept up.
Five rings.
Forming the Five Qi Returning to Origin.
Five Qi to Origin.
She felt she understood now.
Teacher's words resurfaced.
Once dismissed as meditation disruptions, now they guided her path.
Doubt yourself endlessly.
Delusion sprouts in doubt. Cast it off to grow.
Five Qi isn't hard. Especially for you, who reached Three Flowers Gather at the Summit young. But not quick to attain, either.
Only by establishing self-identity amid endless delusion and gaining self-conviction can you reach it.
'...Teacher, too hard. You're disturbing my meditationbe quiet.'
......Fine, handle it yourself.
'Teacher's sulking?'
N-no, stay away. Don't pet my tail and ears.
Then, too complex to grasp or remember.
Why so vivid now, like just heard?
No time for deep thoughtpower surged from her back, immense.
Inner energy cycled through the five rings, sprouting wings.
Drunk on unprecedented omnipotence, Seong Yeon-hwa unleashed her clan's thunderous ultimate.
Jeocheon Sword Form
First Form
One Thunder Heaven Pierce
Kwagagagang!!
Thunder crashed into the floor.
At center: Seong Yeon-hwa clutching Baekseon Sword, and the mine pulped with a gut wound.
Thus, one by one, the students began embodying Baek Seung-woo's teachings.
All but one.