Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 282

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 282

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 282

The Old Fox (2)

“Shall I assist you?”

‘How much can you do?’

“I can help with everything, including spells.”

‘Good. I’ll leave the miscellaneous processes to you.’

Tamamo, who usually found it more amusing to watch and would only observe whatever happened behind Seungwoo, readily stepped forward.

Naturally, Seungwoo didn’t refuse her help.

The old fox, who had replaced her lost leg with lightning, possessed considerable power.

‘It’s pointless to just chop him up. Aim to induce a massive consumption of magical power.’

“Are you thinking of burning him with magic?”

‘Yeah. Here I go, get ready.’

Seungwoo unleashed fire from his hand.

The firepower, instantly covering dozens of meters, was astonishing, but not enough to inflict significant damage on Baek Seok-ho. It wasn’t even intended to do so in the first place.

The goal was to induce a burn.

A burn that would cook Baek Seok-ho from the inside out, rather than just affecting his skin.

“Impressive. Are you perhaps trying to implement a Mana Burn with just a single flame?”

Mana Burn.

It was a kind of phenomenon.

A phenomenon that burns and eliminates mana, or magical power.

Implementing this phenomenon is not easy. It requires a foundation of various magics, and it costs too much money and time.

Therefore, Mana Burn is usually used by large S-class guilds to hunt high-ranking magical creatures. In effect, Seungwoo was trying to implement an anti-monster weapon with his own hands.

“How amusing. But I doubt you can burn all the mana in my body, can you? You’re going to replace that huge machine with just your body?”

“That machine isn’t as precise as I am.”

Compared to the Mana Burn machines used for hunting monsters, it was far too crude a flame.

There was no need to take it head-on.

Deflect it with lightning. Before the deafening roar of thunder could be heard, a bright yellow flash targeted the approaching flame, moving forward.

And then.

Before the rough sound of thunder could shake his hearing.

Whoosh.

The flash was sucked into the flame.

It happened at the speed of light.

‘What on earth… Could it be, he’s really pulling off a Mana Burn this easily?!’

The magical power that made up the lightning was absorbed into the flame.

He witnessed the fact with his own eyes, but he couldn’t believe it.

It took time to accept.

But time was not plentiful.

The flame that had absorbed Baek Seok-ho’s lightning still covered an area of dozens of meters, targeting him.

‘In that case….’

There was no need to understand.

What he needed now was a way to escape the flame.

Having witnessed an unbelievable sight, Baek Seok-ho simply accepted the situation before him. He invested all the brainpower needed for understanding and deliberation into judgment.

‘Go backward!’

Flames poured in from all directions.

To avoid this, Baek Seok-ho had to retreat backward, just as Seungwoo had done. Entrusting his body to his instantaneous judgment, Baek Seok-ho jumped backward.

There wasn’t enough time to turn his head and run.

The pain was severe because of his empty right foot, but Baek Seok-ho backpedaled to survive. And Baek Seok-ho nodded as he watched the flames melting and disintegrating everything upon touching the ground.

Indeed.

“…My judgment was correct.”

“Your judgment is quite fast. I thought you would definitely get hit.”

“Only an idiot wouldn’t avoid it after witnessing something like that.”

Not just not avoiding it, but usually, you can’t avoid it.

Does he think this is easy to avoid?

Truly a thunderous man. Seungwoo acknowledged the old fox before him.

‘I can’t win with a direct approach.’

For a mage, the basic strategy is to create distance to fight.

But if he creates distance, lightning will fly. He erased the lightning with Mana Burn, but this flame is not easy to handle because of its property of breaking down magical power.

The manipulation might be clumsy, but it’s not a matter of skill level.

It’s just that the nature of this flame itself is difficult to handle. The magical power consumption is also quite severe.

─From the start, it’s a flame with properties that are released using a machine 10 times bigger than you. The fact that you’re handling such a flame is amazing.

‘Don’t subtly brag about yourself while pretending to praise me.’

The control of the flame was Seungwoo’s responsibility, but it was none other than Tamamo who assisted in suppressing the property of breaking down magical power and maintaining the shape of the flame.

─Why, did I say something wrong? It is amazing.

‘I just hate you showing off.’

─Instead of thinking about that, make more flames. Here it comes.

‘I know.’

Thud!

A sound of something colliding was heard.

If you listen closely, it was the sound of something long and sharp being blocked by a wall. In fact, a huge barrier was spread out before Seungwoo’s eyes.

A wall made by decomposing and reassembling the soil on the floor, not fire.

It was a hastily made wall, but it was very solid because it used a lot of magical power.

Perhaps its durability wouldn’t have been bad if a spear hadn’t been embedded in it.

‘Is that the lightning spear I saw earlier?’

─You need to create distance.

‘Then more lightning will fly.’

─It’s better than dealing with this spear!

True. Only the tip of the spear protruded from outside the wall.

That sound from just now was the cause of that.

The spear of lightning that penetrated the wall.

The magical power and energy lingering at its end were beyond imagination.

Looking closely, many things were mixed in.

A large amount of magical power was basic. The part that made up the lightning was not magic or spells, but divine power passed down from generation to generation, and the spear’s aura, processed with intent, burst into flashes of light around it.

‘It’s Ganggi [a martial art technique]. Very clear and distinct. He’s fully projecting his own image onto the weapon.’

Ganggi.

An area beyond the realm of Sword Aura Injuring People, a destination dreamed of by many martial artists. But Seungwoo knows.

Because he was once someone who saw the end of the sword.

He knows how many walls remain even after the Ganggi that many martial artists dream of. Rather, for Seungwoo, the level at which he can draw out and use Ganggi is just the starting point.

It’s much harder to refine Ganggi than to draw it out.

And Baek Seok-ho’s Ganggi.

The spear’s aura surrounding the spear was unusually precise.

‘His spear has starlight lingering in it.’

Clear and distinct starlight.

A true Ganggi, different from the light that someone who has just started can show, was aiming at Seungwoo.

This is really a strange feeling.

─Hey, are you okay right now?

‘…I’m very okay. More like, I’m great.’

─Great my ass, do you know how weird your expression is right now? Your eyes are burning with hostility, but you’re smiling with your mouth.

I’m smiling?

Of course, I am.

Until now, it was always Seungwoo’s enemies who were targeted by Ganggi.

No matter how strong and numerous the monsters and demons were, they eventually fell into mere lumps of flesh by the sword aura lingering on his sword.

And now, Seungwoo himself is facing that Ganggi.

How can I not smile?

“How ironic.”

“Your eyes have changed. You seem to recognize this spear?”

Thud!

The wall vibrated and collapsed.

Then, Baek Seok-ho, holding the spear, swung it around in a large circle, taking a stance.

The moment he swung the spear, one might have thought his stance would collapse, but Baek Seok-ho did not lose his balance in any stance.

If he had tried to forcibly break his stance, Seungwoo would have been the one to suffer.

“This spear is called the Piroechang [Lightning Evading Spear]. Do you recognize it?”

“I’ve heard the story a few times.”

Yes, Piroechang (避雷槍). I remember hearing about it.

If I’m not mistaken, it was a spear that used magical power and divine power to shape and handle lightning in the form of a spear. If that story is correct, then that spear would have a similar principle to what Seungwoo used to shape fire into swords and spears in the past.

‘Similar principle my ass. It’s completely different.’

In fact, Seungwoo, who has shaped fire into weapons and is deeply knowledgeable about all kinds of weapons, can tell. It only has the shape of lightning.

It’s not real lightning.

No. In some ways, it might be real lightning.

Even if I were to throw a flame with the effect of Mana Burn at that spear, the lightning would not disappear. Because it only has that form, it’s not made of magical power.

“In some mythology, it is said that the chief god grabbed lightning with his hands and threw it.”

“You know it well. That god was the god of the sky, so he could grab lightning and throw it, but later he used lightning itself as a weapon.”

Baek Seok-ho’s spear has the same essence as Seungwoo’s prosthetic arm on his left arm.

The problem is that it only has the same essence. The inner power contained within is on a different level.

The prosthetic arm and the spear.

Both originated from mythology.

Although the points where the myths began are different, they ultimately have in common that they are weapons used by chief gods of the same rank.

However, there was an insurmountable gap between the two: genuine and imitation. Some might ask. Isn’t it possible for an imitation to be more valuable?

In fact, some items are more valuable than the genuine article.

‘But those cases are all valuable because of the story surrounding the imitation. The imitation itself is not valuable.’

Because the craftsman who made the genuine article later made an imitation with better performance, or because a small number of imitations were produced, and a sad or pleasant story was added in the process, the imitation became more widely known than the genuine article, etc.

A narrative that attracts people’s attention.

Without that narrative, the imitation can never surpass the genuine article.

In that sense, Baek Seok-ho’s spear.

“Astrape.”

That spear can never be ignored.

“You recognize this too? Until now, no one has noticed that my lightning is a real spear. You’re the first.”

“Those guys’ eyes must be full of holes.”

The spear of the chief god Zeus.

Beyond handling lightning, it is lightning itself and, at the same time, a divine weapon appearing in mythology.

What Baek Seok-ho held in his hand was the original Astrape.

─Hey! Can you block that?!’

‘I can block it. The key is that the amount of time I can block it depends on how much of the spear’s power that old man can draw out.’

Powerful weapons require restrictions and conditions.

Such a powerful spear must have conditions befitting it.

How well will Baek Seok-ho meet those conditions, and how much of the spear’s power can he draw out? Just as I was about to engage in battle with that in mind.

Rumble──!

Dark clouds that should not be seen indoors began to gather.

It was a dark cloud made of magical power, but the inner power contained within made Seungwoo doubt his eyes.

Even with Seungwoo’s near-infinite magical power, he couldn’t create something like that.

Because the inner power contained in the dark cloud was literally the lightning of the gods in mythology itself. Looking at it.

‘It seems he’s completely handling the power of the spear?’

─I think we need to fight together with the determination to really die, what do you think?

‘…You’re already dead.’

What’s with being prepared to die when you’re already dead?

Seungwoo forced out a joke.

Certainly, as she said, I think I’m going to become an electric roasted chicken if we don’t coordinate.

A spear master who can unleash perfect Ganggi and a spear of the gods.

What kind of combination is this?

This is killing me.

Still, if I do well, doesn’t that mean I can steal that spear?

‘Let’s kill him without breaking the spear. First, let’s check the spear’s abilities, and then you create an opening with a curse. After that, I’ll take care of it.’

─Huh?

Suddenly, Seungwoo’s mindset for the battle changed.