Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 349

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 349

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 349

Everything Connected (4)

The winged man’s fall.

It was a scene reminiscent of a fallen angel.

Simon plummeted towards a massive tree stump, its growth rings so numerous they seemed to encompass the history of the entire forest.

“He’s faking it.”

Seungwoo watched Simon’s descent and instinctively raised his sword.

But he hesitated, lowering his hand. He knew firsthand how dangerous Simon could be in his current state, and a hasty attack could be disastrous.

─Is he doing that on purpose?

‘If you have a question, ask it properly.’

─He has wings, but he’s deliberately not flying. How can he be falling when he has eight huge pairs of wings?

‘Ah, he’s not doing that on purpose.’

─……Huh?

Seungwoo elaborated.

“The 16 wings on his back are just for show.”

─Really? Those big, flashy things are just decorations?

The wings, with their pure white feathers, resembled those of an angel.

They were majestic to behold, truly angelic. But it was hard to believe they were purely ornamental.

“Of course, they’re not *entirely* decorations. It’s just that he can’t actually fly with them.”

─What’s the difference between that and being decorations?

“There’s not much difference, but the wings still serve a purpose. The moment all eight pairs of Simon’s wings are fully spread…”

Flap!

Just before his head impacted the ground.

Simon’s wings unfurled completely.

“─He possesses power that rivals the angels described in the Bible.”

─The Bible? Ah, you mean that Western religion, right? I’ve never read it, but I picked up a few things while you were doing research online.

“Yes. Anyway, when Simon spreads his wings like that, he manifests mythical authority and power from that moment onward.”

─Wait. If that’s true, wouldn’t it have been better to risk everything and kill him when he was falling?

“Not really.”

Weak but unkillable, and strong but killable. Killing Simon, who oscillates between these states, isn’t easy. I know that well because I’ve killed him once before.

Of course, back then, it wasn’t Simon but…

‘We called him the Seventh Calamity.’

Humanity, having defeated the previous six calamities, faced the final one.

The apple tree and wings, the snake, the halo shining like a circle above his head. Everything about him evoked biblical imagery, so we often referred to him as Adam.

─Adam? Really *that* Adam?

‘No, not the actual Adam from mythology. It’s just a nickname because it was difficult to call him by his designation number. Some people called him the Antichrist, and many called him a false prophet or a demon spawn.’

─Still, they’re all names related to the Bible.

‘Of course. If you *don’t* think of the Bible when you see him, *he’s* the one who’s strange.’

Flap!

Simon moved his wings and ascended into the sky.

However, the timing of his ascent and the wing movements were completely out of sync. The wing movements were purely for show. The reason Simon is flying now is entirely due to that halo.

“It’s getting brighter.”

The light of the halo intensified.

The moment that light becomes blindingly bright.

Simon’s wings unleash an omnidirectional bombardment, the light itself becoming a weapon.

The feathers sparkled like light and exploded. Each blast possessed power equivalent to top-tier [High-Grade Magic], and because the light was so intense, the range was unimaginable.

Seungwoo recalled a long-forgotten memory.

Probably from when that attack first occurred.

“Even though one continent was within range, the actual affected area was much larger.”

How many people died in that single attack?

I remember burying exactly 85,667 soldiers, but I can’t recall the civilian casualties at all. It was an attack of immense scale.

The increasingly bright light eventually became as bright as the sun.

─Aren’t you going to block that attack?!

‘Why would I bother? And besides, the range is too wide; I can’t possibly cover it entirely.’

─No! Not that!

Tamamo said with a frustrated tone.

─I’m not asking about dealing with it *after* the attack. Wouldn’t it be a perfect solution to attack him *before* he launches it and stop him?

‘I’m asking *why* I have to stop it.’

─Uh……?

Tamamo frowned at Seungwoo’s incomprehensible reaction.

Why was he suddenly acting like this when he usually went out of his way to save people? She couldn’t understand his changed behavior.

─Don’t tell me you’re planning to let all those people die?

‘……Not everyone will die.’

─You’re acting strange. I don’t care if people die as long as it’s entertaining, but you’re not usually like this, so why?

She’s right.

Normally, Seungwoo would grumble but still do his best to save as many lives as possible. But ever since that winged pigeon appeared, he hadn’t been himself.

“It’s not like my personality has changed.”

Seungwoo said aloud.

─Then why the sudden change?

“Because it’s not just *that* one attack that needs to be blocked.”

─……!

Tamamo’s expression twisted. Surely that attack wasn’t his strongest, just a standard one, right? A sense of dread washed over her, a feeling that reached Seungwoo through the jade ring.

“Even if it’s not a normal attack, it’s the weakest he has.”

─……That’s the *weakest*? The widest continent in the world would be torn to shreds with just one attack?

“The power is diluted because the range is so wide. Think about it. What would happen if you reduced the range to the size of a city or town and increased the output?”

─……Ah.

Seungwoo took off his mask and crushed it.

A solemn expression settled on his face. Tamamo understood his resolve.

Seungwoo *is* thinking about protecting people.

─Are you trying to save even one person?

“I don’t know. It seems like it’s hard for me to even take care of myself in my current state.”

─……Just how strong is that calamity that you and that pigeon are talking about? You, who have overcome every difficulty, are so unsure of yourself?

I’m genuinely curious now.

I wanted to know exactly what they meant by “calamity.”

“Why bother asking now? Why don’t you just ask after it’s all over?”

─You’re not planning to do anything special until the pigeon’s halo shines to the limit and launches a large-scale attack anyway. It seems like there’s still time to gather light, so it would be perfect to tell me now, right?

“I need to prepare the spells I’ll use in the fight.”

─I can prepare those. You can implement the spells you usually use in the way you newly established, right?

Tamamo, not even waiting for Seungwoo’s answer, immediately began preparing the spell.

She seems to want to hear it that badly. Simon’s display of power has piqued her curiosity. Well, it can’t be helped.

As a sorceress who has also sought the truth, she’s the type who can’t rest until she understands what intrigues her.

“……”

─I’m preparing now, so tell me quickly.

Does she really want to hear it this much?

I hesitated for a moment, then dredged up the bloody memories I’d been desperately trying to suppress. Memories that were vividly imprinted in my mind, impossible to forget even if I wanted to.

The first memory that surfaced was, of course, the first calamity Seungwoo encountered.

“It was when I was fifteen years old.”

─Specific explanations are fine. It’s okay to explain a little faster.

“……The Seven Calamities were the root cause of everything. To completely eradicate the monsters from that world, we had to eliminate all the calamities. We finally faced the first calamity after a great sacrifice. We fought in a forest like this back then, too.”

─Uh…… You don’t mean what I think you mean, do you?

“The Greedy Mother. Eve named the Sacred Tree that way as she watched it desperately struggling in a hideous state, sucking the life out of the smaller trees and flowers.”

The tree destroyed a huge island and created a new ecosystem centered around itself. In the process, it created four knights to protect it and countless monsters.

The Sacred Tree was truly the mother of that island.

Among the soldiers who first set foot on the island, some, despite fighting for the noble cause of benefiting humanity, were filled with self-loathing, wondering if they were committing a sin against nature.

That’s how beautiful the ecosystem created by the Sacred Tree was.

However, the moment the Sacred Tree was cornered, its massive roots absorbed all the creatures it had spread throughout the island, prolonging its wretched life. It was like a greedy mother using her children as a means to survive.

Everyone adopted the name Eve had given it and began calling it the Greedy Mother.

“And perhaps the original of that tree was this tree.”

Seungwoo pointed to the remains of the stump.

─How can you be sure that what you faced wasn’t the real thing and that the stump is the real thing? If I only listen to you, the tree in front of me seems fake.

“The units of energy are different.”

─Energy?

“If the Sacred Tree in front of me had absorbed all the life in the area and then rampaged, a bigger disaster would have occurred than what I experienced. Besides─”

The creatures that the Sacred Tree spread in this world were far fewer than in the world Seungwoo lived in.

And Seungwoo recalled the sphere hanging at the end of the root.

Inside the sphere were countless worlds.

If a tree that had taken root in all kinds of worlds and absorbed their nutrients had rampaged to truly destroy everything, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions would have occurred.

“It’s not really important. Anyway, they’re both dead. The next calamity was……ah, it was a woman. The Harlot. The Harlot riding the beast.”

The Calamities were mostly unique.

Starting with a giant tree, a giant riding a monster as big as a mountain, a shapeless typhoon, an old man wielding lightning like a staff, a girl who knew nothing, and a boy full of resentment.

Most of them were humanoid, leading many soldiers to question whether these were truly the calamities that had plunged humanity into crisis. But they were definitely calamities.

The calamities freely wielded powers that humans could never attain and played with natural disasters. Humanity, having barely captured the sixth calamity while investing immense resources, was already in tatters.

In the process, everyone who could die, died.

Eve, Seungwoo’s successor at the time, also needed recuperation due to the surgery to reattach her limbs after the most recent war.

Bullets and bombs were almost exhausted.

Even if I wanted to make more, I didn’t have enough resources, so in the end…

“I went to catch the last calamity alone.”

And that’s who I met.

Simon. Adam. Antichrist, etc. The guy who was called by nicknames without a fixed name smiled the moment he encountered Seungwoo. Unlike his muscles and appearance, which seemed to have been crafted with care by God, his smile was as cunning as a snake.

Immediately after, his halo emitted a blinding light, encompassing the soldiers who hadn’t participated in the battle and the civilians who had fled far away, signaling the start of the fight.

Yes.

Peeeeeeeeeeeee!

The light of the halo began to overheat, blinding me.

A light so intense that even blind people covered their eyes.

It was just as bright back then.

Immediately after.

Bang! Pow pow pow bang!

Everything within sight exploded, and he descended from the sky.

As if to recharge the power he had released, preparing for this bombardment for a long time, he took a moment of rest. The past Seungwoo missed that opportunity.

He worried about the people who were hit by the bombing and tried to find even one survivor, but in the end, he couldn’t find anyone. In that way, Seungwoo wasted valuable time.

But I will no longer miss that timing.

Even if I allow one attack, I now know that preventing the next attack is the way to save more people.

The moment Simon descended from the sky.

Clang!

The sword aimed for Simon’s neck.