Chapter 106
Chapter 106
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Special Training (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
***
Kagagak!!
Corbus clacked his beak while watching Yeomyeong handle the ice spikes. It was something close to admiration.
Yeomyeong's responses—deflecting, blocking, and dodging the magic—were too perfect. As if he had experienced this kind of battle many times before.
"...What kind of hell have you lived through at your age?"
No answer came. Instead, Yeomyeong seized the opening and closed in at tremendous speed, slashing down with his sword.
Creeeeng!
Corbus blocked his sword with a claw infused with mana.
The martial art called Endless Wave Kick collided with the surging mana, and Corbus used that force to leap back lightly.
And once more, the ice spikes.
Yeomyeong let out a sound that could have been a curse or a sigh as he rolled across the ground to dodge the ice spikes.
With that, the one-sided exchange of attacks and defenses resumed.
Flying spikes and Yeomyeong blocking them.
If he used higher-level magic instead of ice spikes, even Yeomyeong could be subdued in one shot...
But he had no prepared staff, and above all, the location was the problem.
This was the academy where students lived. Magic powerful enough to take down a superhuman like Yeomyeong in one hit would be a nuisance in every way.
'Well, I'm already being quite the nuisance as it is.'
Corbus decided to stick it out with ice spikes, even if it took a bit longer.
Truth be told, this wasn't the original plan.
He had intended something simpler: beat Yeomyeong's body moderately and gradually drain the murderous intent from him.
But Yeomyeong's skill far exceeded her plan.
Reaction speed, depth of martial arts, instantaneous judgment, and that fearsome physique.
None of it was at a student's level. It mocked the common perception that he could fight dragons only thanks to the Saintess's blessing.
Thanks to that, he looked ridiculous, but he didn't feel displeased.
If anything, he was glad it happened at the academy.
Without a special connection like being a visiting professor, how could a beastkin take such a talented human as a disciple?
She suppressed the smile trying to form on her beak. The fight wasn't over yet.
'About now... he'll fire sword aura.'
Flash!
Sure enough, sword aura flew toward her. A sword aura aimed precisely at the moment she was arranging her incantation.
Whether it was sharp enough eyes to read the spell or absurdly high mana sensitivity.
Either way, it was an attack seasoned enough to behead any average mage on the spot.
But Corbus wasn't an average mage, and he took the incoming sword aura with his body.
"You keep amazing me time and again."
Blood flowed from his shoulder where he blocked the sword aura, but Corbus ignored it and focused on Yeomyeong.
"Hoo, ha..."
Whether his stamina was hitting rock bottom, rough breaths escaped Yeomyeong's mouth.
It was only natural. He had exchanged blows with Corbus like that and already blocked hundreds of ice spikes.
He didn't know what elixir the boy had taken, but for a teenager his age to still have mana left after this fight was a miracle.
'Still, the end is in sight.'
In that state, the moment he allowed just one, just one ice spike, Yeomyeong would collapse like a dam breaking.
Victory was at hand, but Corbus didn't let his guard down.
A true master always prepares for the final move, and Yeomyeong had already shown himself worthy of that title.
But the move Yeomyeong pulled out next... far exceeded her expectations.
"...Comet Sword?"
The moment he saw the pure white light gathering on Yeomyeong's sword, Corbus narrowed his eyes.
Why was a martial art that should be in the Holy Sword's hands here?
He didn't ponder long. No matter how Yeomyeong had acquired it, he was the one who had to block it right now.
"Snow falls, the private gate is firmly shut, and the snow-covered yard welcomes no guests."
Corbus chanted a short incantation.
Mana aligned following the risen imagery, and thick ice and snow rose according to her spell.
It took a mere 2 seconds for the wall of glittering ice to rise.
A near-miraculous speed, but not fast enough to block the Comet Sword.
Flash!
Before the thick ice wall could fully form, the Comet Sword's light engulfed both the wall and Corbus.
Sword aura that could slice even dragon scales. The hastily made ice wall didn't hold for even a second.
Kwaaang!!!
The sword aura exploded, sending ice shards flying everywhere. Air pushed back by mana, shattered fragments.
Trees around them toppled like dominoes, as if a bomb had gone off.
It was a brutal scene, but Yeomyeong—the one who created it—stared at the opposite side of the ice debris with a frustrated expression.
"...How did you dodge that?"
From far beyond the explosion debris, where no fragments reached, behind a tree untouched, Corbus walked out unscathed and answered.
"I mixed wind acceleration magic into Fading Moon Step. A trick of my own."
Neither name was familiar, but the meaning was easy to grasp. Probably accelerating with magic added to a martial art.
Yeomyeong gauged his remaining mana and said.
"...Dodging ice spikes is getting tiresome. Can't you just finish it with your fist?"
Corbus gave a slight smile, then conjured dozens of ice spikes and said.
"I'll grant half your request. I'll use ice spikes and my fist."
"...."
"Give it your all until the end."
Yeomyeong fell silent for a moment, then nodded and unleashed a martial art he hadn't used until now.
Whoosh!
Blue haze rose from his body.
Pasun's demonic art. The moment the murderous martial art unfolded, ice spikes poured toward him.
Some hit, some missed, but none landed effectively.
The haze itself was armor, dispersing ice spike-level magic just by touching it.
Corbus watched in admiration.
"Even when I saw it last night, it wasn't ordinary. If only you could control the murderous intent..."
Separate from that admiration, she didn't stop the ice spikes. Distracting Yeomyeong's attention was purpose enough for them.
Corbus watched Yeomyeong bat away the spikes for a moment, then clasped her hands as if in prayer, like something had occurred to her.
"Yeomyeong, since I've exposed your bottom line today, I'll show you mine."
Yeomyeong wanted to tell her to stop the ice spikes if that was the case, but Corbus spoke faster.
"The martial art I'll use from now is called Black Wing Style. Unlike the ordinary one I showed earlier, it's a secret technique of my own."
Soon, black-tinged mana began to rise from her body.
Unlike Pasun's demonic art that emitted haze, Black Wing Style's mana scattered like black feathers.
Mana-sensitive Yeomyeong could feel it was a martial art on par with Wave Yang Art in quality, and one that followed a different path from Pasun's demonic art.
If demonic art was mana-formed armor and fists, Black Wing Style was like pipes aiding smooth mana flow.
From head to toe, aorta to capillaries.
A martial art that forcibly opened all mana pathways in the body.
Ordinary superhumans just moved mana according to the martial art, so there was no need to open all pathways.
A martial art for superhumans walking both magic and martial paths, Corbus's alone.
For others, especially Yeomyeong, there was no reason or need to learn it. He didn't know magic.
But the moment the black-feathered Corbus closed the distance with Yeomyeong.
Yeomyeong asked without thinking.
"...What's the true essence of Black Wing Style?"
An abrupt, rude question. Asking a martial art's true essence so casually.
But Corbus, already treating him as a disciple, answered without hesitation.
"At the fork in the road, I choose the middle, and the path I take becomes the way."
The true essence encapsulating Corbus's life. Facing it, Yeomyeong stared at her with unfocused eyes...
Then suddenly closed them.
From Corbus's perspective, who was about to draw out his murderous intent, it was bewildering.
"...No-mind state? Suddenly?"
With her voice tinged in absurdity as the last sound, Yeomyeong's mind plunged into the depths.
***
The place where Yeomyeong opened his eyes was a forest thick with the stench of blood.
On the green-tinted ground, towering trees and somehow familiar corpses piled high.
He stared at the forest for a long while, unable to collect his thoughts, then recalled what happened in reality just before opening his eyes.
During the fight with Corbus, the moment he heard Black Wing Style's true essence, he lost consciousness.
'No way... I entered the no-mind state?'
No panic. He had experienced this before.
When Seti told him Wave Yang Art's true essence, it had been exactly like this.
Suddenly, without warning, into the no-mind state.
The difference this time... maybe that he wasn't alone.
What're you staring at, idiot?
To his right stood a crimson elephant emitting a voice identical to Pasun's.
A massive body towering over Yeomyeong, flapping ears, long tusks.
The typical form of a male Indian elephant. Yet the human Pasun he had seen was clearly so androgynous you couldn't tell male from female...
'...So it was a guy after all?'
While Yeomyeong had that idle thought, a voice called him from the left.
Uh... Mr. Dung Beetle? Where the hell is this?
A blonde girl looking around in confusion.
Yeomyeong shrugged as he looked at her neatly coiled hair.
"Probably inside my dream. Or something."
Huh? Where?
"I said my dream. And I should be the one asking questions. Miridis. Why are you here?"
Faced with Yeomyeong's question, the elf princess blinked as if she couldn't comprehend the situation.
A short silence.
By the time Pasun swung his trunk to graze on grass, Miridis spoke again.
Um... just in case, I'm asking...
"What?"
Are you... having a wet dream? With me... and an elephant?
No sooner had Miridis finished than Pasun burst into laughter. A laugh so huge it shook the forest.
"..."
Of course, Yeomyeong couldn't laugh.
* * *