Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 147

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 147

Northern Winter (2)

Immediately after swinging the sword wide,

I stepped forward.

Stepping not on the floor, but on space.

Embracing its outline with my foot and moving forward, the distance folded, unfolding a movement akin to teleportation.

The pinnacle of footwork that even 「Blink」 and 「Swiftness」 embedded in the shoes could neither catch up to nor imitate.

「Sun Step」

Step by step.

The more I walked forward, the more space and distance folded.

The mysterious principle of the steps soon led me outside the ruins.

A vast open space was visible in the distance.

It was definitely the place where the flower garden full of poison and the exit of the sewer were, but.

What remained was a desolate bottomless pit, deeply dug and filled only with dirt.

‘Did I swing the sword too hard because it’s been a while?’

It was a range where I might have been caught up in it if I had made a mistake.

If it were my usual self, I would have endured that level of impact without any problem, but I can’t endure it with this body that must be treated more preciously than a flower.

Anyway, it’s a wonder I made it all the way here from there.

Good job, my ankles.

Tuk tuk.

When I tapped it with my hand, something felt strange.

“Is it broken?”

Uduk.

After arriving at the destination,

I wondered why I couldn’t feel anything in my ankle, but my ankle bone was broken.

Fortunately, I’m barely holding on with the indomitable power, one of the various additional effects of 「Conditional Sword Saint」.

Hmm… will this heal if I rest?

‘I don’t think it will.’

Well, it’ll work out somehow.

In a world full of mysteries, there’s no way I can’t fix one ankle of mine.

Of course, the 「Solar Meridian Severance」 I suffer from is the most terrible mystery among the many mysteries of this world, so there are almost no cures for it, making it an incurable disease.

But a broken ankle is…

No big deal.

Really.

…Except that it hurts a little.

“The medicine is wearing off little by little.”

─Medicine? I don’t smell any opium on you, Master?!

“…I don’t mean it that way, it’s just a metaphor.”

I already don’t feel well and have a lot to think about, and now there’s one more annoying freeloader.

Haa.

Sighing, Seungwoo lamented while looking at the star clusters filling the sky beyond the cracked clouds at the end of his sword.

It seems like I have one more annoying roommate.

Should I just give this sword to Seongyeonhwa right now?

I’m seriously considering it.

* * *

Before moving my steps to the mansion,

I briefly stepped into the deep bottomless pit.

“…….”

“You survived.”

“…….”

The center of the flower garden where I swung my sword.

As if a meteorite had fallen.

In the deeply dug crater, there was a naked woman.

“It seems like her clothes have completely burned away. Did the armor and shield melt away without a trace in the high heat emitted by the starlight?”

Even looking at the woman’s naked body, it didn’t particularly affect my lust.

Even if I saw a beauty that could topple a kingdom, I had trained my unwavering mind for over ten years so that I wouldn’t feel any attraction.

Moreover, after letting go of my first love, my teacher, from my arms, I became unable to feel strange emotions, including love.

My mind is broken in relation to sexual desire.

No, rather, I no longer cling to lust and love among the five desires and seven emotions, so can’t it be seen as a greater evolution?

Only depending on the point of view.

“You haven’t answered since a while ago. Judging by the fact that you can’t even understand my words, your consciousness is already fading. Is it literally just surviving?”

─At this point, shouldn’t we just treat her as dead?

“No, look at her cells properly.”

─What… what am I supposed to see? Hmm? Ah… wounds of this scale are healing on their own?

What is this?

Is this really the same creature as me?

She was swept away by sword energy that didn’t even leave a trace of ordinary iron, but armor reinforced with alloys and all sorts of runes.

Even with such an attack, her body remained intact, so I was wondering.

─This is almost an immortal body, isn’t it?

“‘Isn’t it?’ No. This is already immortality.”

There doesn’t seem to be a limit to the cellular regeneration of her body.

The damaged body was slowly being restored.

Even the ancient vampires, the nobles of the night, and dragons, belonging to the absolute species like ogres, do not have this level of regenerative power.

“It seems to be an ogre’s racial trait. And the principle is… perfect.”

Boil, boil.

A sound similar to water boiling.

The source of that sound was not far away.

“How amazing. This has academic research value.”

Blood boils near the woman’s severed arm.

The blood is not boiling because it is hot.

It started boiling after coming into contact with oxygen.

“A potent poison? It’s definitely a type of poison, but it might be more toxic than I thought.”

The progenitors who touch the sky and perform all kinds of divine feats, the Celestial Fox.

The patriarch of magic, the Dragon.

The embodiment of force and energy, the Ogre.

With them at the forefront, a very small number of absolute species do not easily allow injuries based on their great power.

As a result, information about their blood is significantly lacking.

However, according to old scribes and ancient stone tablets, their blood had one thing in common.

─Even diluted blood of an absolute species still has the instinct to not show bloodstains to individuals of lower status than themselves, right?

That means the blood is poisoned.

To be more precise.

When looking at the ingredients alone, there is no toxicity whatsoever, but their blood itself acts as an element that erodes the lives of creatures, including humans, like poison.

“It’s only because she’s a descendant of an ogre that it’s only this much. If she were a half without diluted blood, death would have spread throughout the area the moment she bled.”

Of course, even with this much diluted bloodline, the ogre’s blood, which tries to kill opponents of lower status than itself, was still no different from a potent poison to superhumans below a certain level.

It’s fortunate that it’s me.

If the students were here, they would have been coughing up blood and making a fuss.

─It’s a relief that you’re my bloodline, isn’t it?

“It’s not your bloodline, it’s the descendant of the Celestial Fox.”

─But even so, you’re just a foolish being who hasn’t even awakened half of the ten tails that the Celestial Fox has, right?

“Ha! I became a Three-Tailed Fox in less than half a year. That kind of enlightenment is not a difficult ordeal for me, who has devoted my whole life to the sword.”

The predecessor of Celestial Fox Baekga is the Celestial Fox.

As an absolute species like the ogre.

Although I have weak powers and only three tails, to the extent that I cannot even follow in the footsteps of the absolute species, I can resist this level of blood without any problem.

Rather.

“Thank you for the meal.”

This level of toxicity could rather be made my own.

I picked up an arm that had fallen on the floor.

She stretched out her right arm to defend her body from the sword containing the stars, but.

Unfortunately, from the moment she defended without avoiding the Sword Saint’s sword, this level of damage was as good as predicted.

Her severed right arm was a symbol of recklessness, but.

At the same time, it also meant that she bravely faced my sword without looking back.

Kwaduk.

I bit the severed arm.

I didn’t tear it off as it was.

What was important was the will to ‘consume’.

My skill responded to that will and action and began to absorb the severed arm.

[Skill, 「Blood Absorption」 consumes the severed ogre’s right arm.]

[It’s a fresh arm that has just been cut off! Absorb the fresh blood to secure genetic information.]

The vampire’s legacy obtained from the auction house.

The additional abilities are 「Blood Transfusion」 and 「Hemophilia」. [Blood Transfusion allows the user to transfer blood, while Hemophilia induces a blood clotting disorder.]

In game terms, it’s a means of acquiring magic power and a skill that induces status abnormalities, but depending on how it’s used, it’s also possible to analyze the opponent through blood.

Of course, that’s only possible if you have a certain amount of knowledge.

In my case, I was able to analyze it without difficulty thanks to the genius of 「Archmage」.

[You have absorbed the blood of ‘Absolute Species’ and ‘Transcendent Species’.]

[The level of information that can be accommodated by the vampire’s power is far exceeded!]

[Trait, 「Archmage」 assists.]

[‘Ogre’s Blood’ is no different from a potent poison to lower-ranked individuals. Skill, 「Weakness Resistance Delay」, the 「Thousand Poisons Body」 builds resistance.]

[The blood throughout the body changes…!]

[Powerful toxicity in the blood…!]

“Ugh… I feel like my stomach is turning inside out.”

After the black space, which was pierced in the air, swallowed the arm,

I felt a sensation of boiling inside my body.

How intense the poison was.

Even with my body, which has resistance to a thousand poisons, it caused considerable pain, chills, and fever.

However, I gradually analyzed the information about the blood that came into my head and succeeded in turning it into my own power.

‘The pain is considerable.’

I, who wouldn’t even shed tears from ordinary pain.

Before I knew it, tears of blood were flowing from the corners of my eyes.

Ah, my eyes are stinging.

It’s a little painful, but not unbearable, so the moment I was about to step on 「Sun Step」 again and head towards the mansion,

Ujiggeun.

I felt a sensation as if something was grabbing my ankle.

It was as if shackles were grabbing and stretching my legs.

My arms became heavy as if they were handcuffed.

There is no special abnormality visible.

The trait 「Conditional Sword Saint」 has not been released either.

Judging from the limits of my magic power and stamina, there are more than 10 minutes left.

Nevertheless, my body was heavy.

As if to prove that fact.

Ding!

The same cheerful mechanical sound as always.

But the system’s sound, which was extremely unpleasant to me, greeted me.

[The data of the reverse side world ‘Frozen ■■■ ■■’ has been severely damaged.]

[The logs recorded in the system prove that you are the culprit.]

[A penalty commensurate with the level is imposed!]

Jijijijijik!!

The air flickers and electricity sparks.

For some reason, I felt like I knew the cause.

‘The distorted universe around the bottomless pit.’

A part of the world that was destroyed long ago was damaged by my sword energy.

Even if my star clusters filled that gap,

The fact that the data forming the reverse side world has been damaged does not change.

The system, as a price for that,

[Trait, 「Conditional Sword Saint」 is changed to 「Mind Sword Stop」 due to internal intervention.]

[The physical ability enhancement and ‘Indomitable Will’ of 「Conditional Sword Saint」 have been deleted!]

[You suffer the damage inflicted on your body as it is.]

Took away something big from me.

Ha.

Even if you take it, you took the biggest thing for me.

If that’s the case, you shouldn’t have given it in the first place.

What value is there in giving and taking away?

That’s why I raised my hand.

“I have a question.”

[…….]

There was no response to the message.

It was a unilateral appearance, as if it couldn’t understand my words.

It’s unpleasant, but there was a way to make it respond to the conversation.

“You’re somewhere near here, right?”

[…….]

“I felt like I witnessed something huge in the process of entering the reverse side world. At first, I tried to brush it off, but now that I think about it, something feels uneasy.”

[…….]

There is still no response.

I don’t know if I’m heading in the right direction, but now I was just pushing forward with my choice.

“Even if you took 「Conditional Sword Saint」 away from me, the sense of omnipotence that trait gives me has not disappeared yet. It’s just slowly dissipating.”

The most primitive power I wielded.

Other Ability, 「Wave of Star Clusters」.

Just by using this, my body and mind were greatly halved.

It hasn’t been revealed on the outside yet, but it will be soon.

If the time limit runs out, I will complain of considerable pain.

But as long as there is still time left,

There was a chance to unleash a big skill.

A bigger skill than just now.

“I have a chance to unleash my swordsmanship just once, on the premise that my life supports it. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know if you’ve seen my prime, but at least let me tell you that I have the power to accelerate the end of this world.”

[…….]

“It would be good to properly establish our relationship, right? I don’t know if you’re outside the reverse side world, but if there’s no response within 1 minute, I’ll swing it?”

If I swing the sword with all my heart, my body will collapse.

The reverse side world, which only shows the afterimage of the past, will soon collapse.

And the students will die, the Chilseong Academy, which has connected the space, will suffer a significant blow, and above all.

“I’m confident that I can easily tear apart a space like this? You don’t think I can’t exert influence even beyond the world, do you?”

[……!!]

─Master, what are you talking to yourself about since a while ago?

“You just stay still.”

─Yes.

As if the mask of a madman had not yet been removed.

When I acted like a crazy bastard who was ready to self-destruct if things went wrong, I slowly felt something approaching me.

Like a huge meteorite moving close above my head.

A feeling as if the entire universe was watching me.

‘Wow, I didn’t think this would actually work.’

It seems that my sincerity got through.

Since it was obvious that a situation with no answer would unfold if things really went wrong, I seriously thought that it wouldn’t be bad to fall into eternal sleep together.

Fortunately, I think I can leave the thought as a thought.

“Well, then, Mr. System. No, should I call you Mr. Status Window? Shall we have a constructive conversation quickly?”

[……Yes, that’s good.]

A voice with a timbre similar to that damned sound rang in my head.

A cleanly delivered voice that was different from 염화(念話) magic such as [Telepathy] or 「전음입밀(傳音入密)」[Jeoneumimmil – a technique to transmit sound directly into someone’s ear].

I roughly know the method.

Indeed, is this how you do it?

[To think that the noisy notification was a voice. Ah, maybe it’s TTS [Text-to-Speech]. Maybe it’s a type of voice synthesis.]

[……It’s enough for me to speak in this way. Please answer normally with your voice.]

[That’s too much. You’re being unfair by yourself. I like this method too.]

[……Do as you please.]

Actually, it’s more comfortable to make a sound with my mouth.

The reason why I’m trying to communicate with this unknown thing in this way is.

‘This looks much more fun.’

Purely for fun.

There is no value beyond that, and no meaning below that.

However, it seemed like it would be fun in many ways.

……I realized it only in the distant future, but the traces of wearing the mask of a madman still remained, and the madman’s way of thinking was still in operation.

There was no way that the conversation that was formed in an instant would roll normally.