Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: The Leader Hunt
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“...It’s not Kim Shin-woo. It’s Kim Sun-woo.”
“Whatever. You’re just embarrassed about losing, so stop propping that guy up in the media like it’s no big deal. It’s pathetic. It’s your way of rationalizing it as losing to someone stronger. We can all see right through you.”
Losing to someone stronger—a rationalization.
Lily felt a slight pang at those words. She might have been unconsciously thinking along those lines.
The reason she wanted to spread word of Kim Sun-woo’s strength on SNS and in the media was probably for that very reason.
But Kim Sun-woo was a true powerhouse, not one manufactured by media hype.
At least, that was her guess—he was someone who absolutely wouldn’t lose to Lee Seo-jun.
Lily hesitated for a moment.
Should she tell Luke about her experiences with Kim Sun-woo?
She quickly dismissed the thought.
Suddenly, she missed it.
The look on Luke’s face when he lost to Kim Sun-woo at next year’s Seongmu Festival and fell into despair.
Just thinking about it made her smile involuntarily. Kim Sun-woo would surely place in the top five and participate in the Seongmu Festival.
“Fine. My skills are crap, so I lost to a guy like that. Happy now?”
“Nice to see you admit it straight up. Makes sense, though—you were ranked third among promising stars, but now you’re sixth. At that level, you’ve got to recognize your own shortcomings if you want to improve.”
Lily grinned through gritted teeth at those words.
“Hey. Let’s just throw down right here. You’ve gone too far.”
“Sorry, but I don’t have time to mess around.”
“...Right. Ah! We’re late! Damn it, this is your fault!”
Lily bolted off somewhere in a hurry. Luke followed right behind her.
The two arrived at the observation room.
A few reporters snapped photos when they spotted them, but they ignored them and entered the room.
“Wow. It’s huge.”
A massive circular arena.
Crowds of people gathered, watching the exam unfold on giant screens.
The feed was split into about fifteen sections, with a note at the bottom: Exam time—25 minutes.
“Damn it, we’re twenty-five minutes late because you had to yap!”
Lily yelled in frustration and turned to the status board.
［Surviving Members］
［Team 1: 17］ ［Team 2: 12］
“...What? Team 1 is dominating?”
From her memory, Team 2 had Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-jun, and Lee Hyun-joo.
Team 1 had Kim Sun-woo and Yoo Ara.
With ranks one, three, and four teamed up, how could the results be like this? What the hell happened?
Lily turned her eyes to the screens.
A brutal bloodbath was unfolding. The standout was Yoo Ara, specialized in battles against multiple foes.
Yoo Ara was single-handedly unleashing countless fire orbs, picking off Team 2 members one by one.
“...What the hell.”
She had expected intricate strategies, intel warfare, and psychological ploys to identify the leader. But instead, it had devolved into all-out chaos from the start.
Frankly, for an exam at the world’s top magic academy, it was pretty disappointing.
Lily snapped out of it and tracked Kim Sun-woo’s position.
She spotted him soon enough.
Kim Sun-woo sprinting at speeds unbelievable for a manifestation-type mage.
Chasing him were Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-jun, and three other students.
A prolonged pursuit was underway.
Forty minutes into the exam.
I was sprinting forward at full throttle. Running for my life, literally.
Just like when I’d desperately fled from Baek Eun-seong before—pure survival instinct.
The situation wasn’t as good as I’d hoped.
Early in the exam, I’d mingled with teammates, conserving mana during fights, when the killing intent detection triggered.
The source: Lee Seo-jun. He’d noticed I wasn’t going all-out and pegged me as the leader.
In the end, Lee Seo-jun dragged Shin Young-jun along to hunt me down relentlessly.
The others probably figured they couldn’t take me out, so he stepped up himself.
Of course, I didn’t panic. This scenario was part of the plan.
Thanks to recently buying up mana stats, even after forty minutes of constant mana drain from running, I wasn’t critically low yet.
And while Lee Seo-jun’s speed was top-tier at school, in pure running, I wasn’t far behind.
Kwaaaang!
An explosion roared from somewhere. Only Yoo Ara could cast spells that packed that punch.
Good—she was thinning their numbers fast.
Our brute-force strategy boiled down to this.
I’d draw the eyes of the heavy hitters, buying time for Yoo Ara to rapidly reduce their ranks.
A plan that played to both our strengths.
“That guy’s way too fast!”
Voices kept coming from behind—not Lee Seo-jun or Shin Young-jun, but the other three trailing us.
But the distance between me and Lee Seo-jun was closing bit by bit.
I wasn’t vastly outpaced in speed, but “not vastly” still meant he was gaining.
Finally, Lee Seo-jun closed in right on my heels and swung his sword at me.
Whoooosh!
A swift blade slicing the air.
I ducked, barely dodging.
Even mid-stride, with unstable footing, the speed was insane.
Without the Battle Maniac trait’s dynamic vision boost, my head would’ve been rolling on the ground by now.
Lee Seo-jun immediately shifted into his next attack stance. I quickly manifested a magic orb.
Not above my hand, but in his blind spot, invisible to his eyes.
Pang—!
The orb shot from the blind angle, but Lee Seo-jun spun his body at blinding speed, evading it.
The wayward orb fizzled out.
Cold sweat dripped down my back at the same time.
Instinctively dodging magic from a blind spot?
Whoooosh!
Lee Seo-jun used the spin’s momentum to swing again.
Then Shin Young-jun appeared behind him, thrusting a mana-charged spear at me with extended reach.
No dodging, no escaping—a dire pinch.
I activated ‘Instant Acceleration’.
Suddenly, time around me seemed to slow.
It wasn’t just my body accelerating—my brain felt boosted too.
I kept my eyes wide, scanning everything around me in a flash.
Lee Seo-jun’s sword, Shin Young-jun’s spear. And three incoming spells from behind.
Instant Acceleration lasted only two seconds, but it was plenty for me.
I prioritized what to evade first.
Obviously, Lee Seo-jun’s sword came top.
Ducking was out—it’d throw off my balance, leaving me open to Shin Young-jun’s spear.
Risky, but I had to backstep. Instant Acceleration exploded my physical movement, so it wasn’t impossible.
I focused mana into my toes and backstepped sharply.
Lee Seo-jun’s sword whistled through empty air, grazing my chest.
My shirt tore, a line of blood welled up, but that was within acceptable damage.
For a split second, surprise flickered across Lee Seo-jun’s face.
I ignored it, bracing for the next.
Shooo!
Shin Young-jun’s spear thrust long.
My balance was off from the backstep, but no reason I couldn’t dodge.
I twisted sideways. The spear nicked my forearm lightly before stabbing air.
Next was easy—the three incoming spells. I manifested three orbs of my own and shot them down mid-air.
Kwaaaang!
“...W-What?”
In those two short seconds.
I’d evaded every attack. Shin Young-jun’s face twisted in shock.
Lee Seo-jun and the three behind him were the same.
All stared at me in stunned disbelief.
“......Hoo.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
Without Instant Acceleration, I’d be dead for sure.
It guzzled mana—I was on the verge of depletion—but I’d saved my skin.
“W-What was that just now?”
“Whoa. Thought I was watching Soon-shin or something.”
Soon-shin Ren, S-rank reinforcement mage.
‘Instant Acceleration’ was exactly his ability.
Differences: unlike the original, it lasted only two seconds with insane mana cost.
As a B-grade skill, that was to be expected.
Less penalty, and it’d be A- or S-grade.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
Mana was critically low now.
Forty minutes of nonstop running had me nearing my limit already—this made it worse.
How much longer could I hold out?
“Haa.”
What the hell was our team doing? By plan, their leader should’ve been taken out ages ago.
Can’t help worrying we might lose.
Then Lee Seo-jun grinned wickedly.
“Fun.”
The others looked intimidated, but he seemed even more fired up.
That smile sent chills down my spine.
“...Hey, let’s take a breather.”
He beamed back with gleeful eyes.
Not like a novel protagonist—more like a final boss villain...
I slowly glanced up at the real-time status board on the ceiling.
[Team 1: 15] [Team 2: 5]
What? Only five left?
There’s five right in front of me? Where’s their leader?
Doubts flooded my mind.
Then powerful mana surged from afar.
I turned and saw it.
A massive fireball blazing fiercely in the sky.
Overwhelming mana. Only one in the academy could wield such magic.
“Kim Sun-woo. Good work.”
Under the blinding light of her artificial sun, Yoo Ara called out to me.
Thirteen teammates appeared behind her. It stirred that dramatic reinforcements vibe from comics or movies.
The villainous crew—Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-jun, and the other three—froze as their faces hardened.
Watching them, it finally hit me.
“Lee Seo-jun.”
He turned back to me at my call. His face mixed bewilderment, shock, and more.
Smiling, I said to him,
“So you’re the leader.”
With Yoo Ara and the team joining in, the tide turned fast.
15 vs 5.
The numbers were overwhelming. Lee Seo-jun’s team had no chance.
No matter how genius he was, he couldn’t overcome Yoo Ara and that sheer manpower gap.
Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-jun, and the remaining three exchanged glances, then nodded and split off.
Paat!
Shin Young-jun and the three charged at the fourteen including Yoo Ara.
Their plan: four of them stall the fourteen as long as possible.
And as expected, Lee Seo-jun rushed me.
Numbers didn’t matter—win condition was killing the enemy ‘leader’.
Take me out, and they win.
Lee Seo-jun’s body flashed, vanishing from sight. He reappeared behind me, swinging.
I twisted away, dodging.
The blade’s path grazed my hair by a hair’s breadth. His movements were markedly faster now, like he hadn’t been serious before.
Not that he’d been holding back for my sake.
His speed boost was pure ‘protagonist’ stuff—awakening in crisis.
[‘Guts’ activated!]
[All stats rise by 10%.]
As if sensing his awakening, Battle Maniac’s passive ‘Guts’ kicked in.
Guts boosted all stats against stronger foes.
Meaning Battle Maniac deemed Lee Seo-jun stronger than me.
Whoooong!
“Urk!”
To survive, I kept twisting, dodging strikes.
The 10% stat boost let me barely evade, but not perfectly.
Each swing added more cuts, big and small.
Pain wracked me, but no time to dwell.
“Hang in there just a bit longer!”
Yoo Ara’s urgent voice echoed from afar.
Teammates wanted to help, but the four clung on stubbornly, blocking them.
Gritting my teeth, I activated ‘Heart of the Great Nature’.
Thump!
My heart pounded huge, rapidly refilling my near-empty mana.
I poured mana into reinforcing my body further.
Lee Seo-jun sensed the change, flashing brief surprise before resuming with even faster swings.
I dumped all mana into my feet and backstepped again. Manifested an orb in hand and fired at him.
Kwaaang—!
A massive boom rang out. Black smoke billowed, then Lee Seo-jun emerged, unscathed by his perfect protective aura.
An attack that would’ve crippled any other student. But not him.
He really was on another level.
Then his eyes changed—something off.
His gaze turned cold and sharp. Rare for him.
Before I could question it, he charged again.
I kept firing magic while retreating fast, but his speed outpaced my full effort, closing in instantly.
In a blink, he was in my face, swinging.