Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 316

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 316

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 316

Race Alliance (1)

Back in his original world, when chaos struck.

Chaos also found Seungwoo, who had arrived in the world beyond the key.

“……What is that?”

Seungwoo, perched atop a massive tree, was gazing down at the ground.

His pupils were fixed on the area beyond the forest.

It wasn’t easy to see, but enhancing his eyesight with magic allowed him to make out vague shapes.

─It’s people.

The blurry shapes were humanoids.

Human silhouettes, moving with great purpose.

However.

“……I wouldn’t call beings with abnormally long ears ‘people’.”

Even through the haze, the length of their ears was unmistakable.

Their ears were excessively long.

This wasn’t about racial discrimination.

They simply weren’t human.

Even if there were a race somewhere in this world with particularly long ears.

They wouldn’t be as long as those.

“I never dreamed I’d encounter a genuine otherworlder, not just a demi-human.”

As Seungwoo marveled at them, Tamamo spoke.

─By that logic, you’re hardly human yourself. Look at your tail and ears. Who would think you’re human?

“…….”

The fox ears on his head.

The eight fox tails sprouting from his waist.

Seungwoo’s harsh assessment of the elves was, to say the least, hypocritical.

* * *

‘We are all dead.’

This was the thought of Gion, an elf.

He was out on patrol in the Great Forest with his comrades when they encountered an unexpected enemy.

“We’re still near the forest. Why are monsters like that here……?”

“Why are there Orcs and Dryads!”

Encountering Orcs with green skin and muscular bodies, and Dryads, tree spirits adorned with vibrant green leaves, was common around the Great Forest.

No matter how many of them gathered, they posed no threat as long as the elf archers, capable of piercing their foreheads with a single arrow, were around.

However, if there was an individual commanding them.

“Haha, the big-eared cowards finally came here.”

Things changed.

Clang, clang.

As he approached the elves, they heard the heavy clatter of metal on metal. It was the sound of iron plates connecting the armor shifting.

From head to toe.

The elves knew the being clad in heavy, sturdy armor well.

“Why is a High Rider here with those monsters……!”

High Rider.

That’s what the elves called their opponent.

They hadn’t seen his face, nor was there any special insignia on his armor. Yet, the elves were certain of his identity.

As if they knew him well.

They recognized him instantly.

The armored figure, called the High Rider, seemed to take this for granted.

“Why am I here, you ask? Ha, a foolish question. Does it seem so strange that a child would leave their parent’s side?”

“……!”

“Until now, we stayed by our mother’s side to protect her, but recently, our policy has changed. To protect our mother, we will annihilate you who harm her.”

Clang!

The High Rider’s armor shifted.

His armor was red, and its non-reflective surface made it seem unlike armor made of iron plates.

The red armor absorbed light instead.

It looked like congealed blood.

The High Rider in red armor moved his right hand, solidifying pure magic into the form of a spear and brandishing it.

Whoosh!

The spear, longer than an adult male.

Thick as a rebar despite its length, it cut through the air, aiming for the head of the elf standing at the front.

Clang!

A clear sound of metal striking metal.

The elf threw a dagger from his pouch, blocking the spear’s path.

However, a thrown dagger couldn’t stop a spear as heavy as rebar. The elf archer at the rear shouted.

“Ev, everyone, retreat!”

Retreat.

It wasn’t just a shout, but a clear command.

“I see.”

The High Rider seemed to understand, gazing in the direction of the archer.

It was impossible to know if his eyes were truly on the archer due to the armor, but the elf archer felt a chilling presence seizing his ankles.

“So, you’re the leader of this ragtag group.”

“……!”

Oh no!

The startled archer’s hand trembled.

So much so that the bowstring in his hand shook violently.

‘That guy completely understands the chain of command!’

The fact that he was directing his killing intent at him was proof.

He understood that if the archer, who commanded the nine elves gathered here, died, the remaining eight would collapse and become easy prey.

The archer couldn’t comprehend this situation.

Just a year ago, their judgment wasn’t this good.

Yet, in just one year, they had evolved rapidly, able to understand strategy and efficient combat.

‘I need to get out of here quickly!’

Fortunately, the elves were fast, while the High Rider and his monsters were slow.

The elves, born in the forest and raised running through trees, had unparalleled footwork. On the other hand, the High Rider was wearing red armor that looked heavy.

The Orc also seemed as heavy as his muscles.

The Dryad’s legs were made of tree roots, making it impossible for her to run.

‘First, I’ll hold them back with arrows while maintaining formation, then send the subordinates back one by one, and then we’ll all escape.’

As the archer was formulating a concrete plan.

Thwack!

A dull sound of striking flesh, like flattening meat with a club, was heard. The archer’s body stiffened.

As he turned his trembling head to the side.

“……Ah.”

The body of his comrade, who had been alive just moments ago.

“Oops. My bad.”

“I clearly told you to aim for the archer, Orc. What good is your accuracy if you target the wrong thing?”

Was shattered.

Drip, drip.

Bones, broken by a club thrown from afar, pierced through the flesh.

Fragments of organs dangled from the ends of the bones, covered in droplets of blood.

Drip, drip.

Falling.

“……Ah.”

The elf archer understood.

“We couldn’t escape from the beginning.”

The option to escape never existed.

He understood perfectly.

Thud.

A wooden club fell from the Orc’s hand.

The club, far too large to be called a club, wasn’t the one embedded in the body of his dead comrade.

“Club. Quickly, make me a club.”

“Just wait a moment! Good grief, why are you so impatient?”

As the Orc urged the Dryad, the tree spirit conjured a tree from the empty ground.

The tree, created without any special process, became a club simply by her touching it.

The archer witnessed the series of creation.

Through this, he learned two things.

The Orc possessed the accuracy to hit any enemy, no matter how far away, with his club, and the Dryad could create an infinite number of clubs for the Orc as long as her magic allowed.

“…….”

Even if they ran, the giant club would target them from behind.

A sense of despair washed over the archer’s mind.

From the beginning, he shouldn’t have only thought about escaping.

He should have considered escaping, but also understood the opponent’s composition and how they could launch coordinated attacks.

“L, leader! S, Siri is dead.”

“Give us instructions!”

“……Ra.”

“They’re coming! They’re walking towards us now!”

“You guys be quiet! It’s too noisy, I can’t hear the leader! What did the leader just say?”

With one death, the elves collectively panicked.

But it was still fortunate.

Because their leader, who would command them, hadn’t died.

The elves, though fearful, demanded a plan from their leader.

The archer, realizing that the responsibility as a leader was heavier than he thought, opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Fight! You’ve all seen it, right? There’s no way to escape. So fight! We’ll win and go back.”

Fight and win.

It wasn’t something a man who had been intimidated by the High Rider’s killing intent without even exchanging blows should say, but.

There was no other way now.

“……Huh?”

“Leader? Are you serious? Are you really saying that?”

“Are you really saying that now? You’re the leader! As the leader, come up with some kind of plan!”

Everyone knew that fighting was the only way.

But the elves instinctively knew that they couldn’t win against those three, so the leader’s words to fight were the same as telling them to die.

However. However, the leader might come up with a clever plan.

The comrades had staked their lives on this small hope.

But when words like confirmation of death came from his mouth, the elves denied reality.

What the elves wanted was a plan.

They didn’t want to hear how to die.

This is what they demanded of their leader.

As a leader, he should take responsibility for his position and devise a way to save his comrades ‘somehow’, shouldn’t he?

It wasn’t an impossible request.

……If the situation wasn’t like this.

“Just one death and already infighting?”

“You……!”

“You guys are a ragtag group after all. And yet, you’re always arrogant.”

The red armor’s mouth moved.

It wasn’t easy to see, but the archer thought he was smirking.

Because this situation was a checkmate [a situation in chess where the king is in inescapable check, metaphorically meaning a complete defeat].

If they ran, the Orc with his insane accuracy would kill them all with his club from afar, and if they fought back, the one called the High Rider would turn the elves into meat skewers with his giant spear.

Unless someone completely unexpected intervened.

The situation wouldn’t reverse.

As the archer’s expression turned to resignation beyond despair.

Whoosh.

A tiny spark ignited in the air.

“……Fire?”

Fire blazed in the air.

It wasn’t a natural phenomenon at all.

The elves and the Rider, questioning this, turned their gaze to the spark.

Bang!

A sound of something exploding struck everyone’s ears.

One of the surprised elves, perhaps weak-hearted, covered his eyes and ears and sat down. It was that huge of an explosion.

Could it be the opponent’s attack?

The surprised elves and the Rider exchanged glances.

The Rider’s expression couldn’t be seen, but both instinctively sensed it.

This wasn’t a situation intended by the elves, nor even by the Rider.

Unlike the elves who had already resigned themselves, the Rider tensed up and heightened his senses.

Clang!

With the sound of kicking a can, the heavy armor flew into the sky.

More precisely, it was sent flying far away as if hit by a car.

The Rider spun in the air.

As he fell to the ground, the owner of the explosion finally revealed himself.

“What is this magic mass?”

A young man appeared, uttering harsh words.

He wore a mask on his face and fluttered eight tails as he appeared.

It was a somewhat shocking appearance, but for the elves, his words were even more shocking than his appearance.

“M, magic mass?”

“……I’ve never seen anyone use that expression for the Rider before.”

“Well, strictly speaking, it is a mass of magic, but.”

“No one usually says that out loud.”

“I’ve seen mere masses of magic destroy a country and wipe out a race, how can you call them that?”

The magic mass wearing armor.

That which was called the Rider by the elves had his head buried in the ground far away.

His limbs were bent in bizarre directions, though no one knew how.

For a normal creature, the joints would have been torn apart, making it impossible to move, but the Rider.

Clank! Clatter!

Casually raised his body made of iron plates.

“Hmm?”

Seungwoo tilted his head at the sight.

“I clearly put flames into the joints of the armor and detonated them?”

Is flying far away all it did?

The eye part of the mask stared at the armor.

Traces of flames were still burning in the gaps of the Rider’s armor.

Proof that the attack had landed properly.

Yet, he moved his body towards Seungwoo as if nothing had happened.