Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 398

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 398

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 398

It Was You (3)

“Can I break through this with my skills?”

Seungwoo looked up at the sky.

The vast sky. An immense mindscape unfolded above it.

Observing the mindscape, Seungwoo reached out and conjured a small spark in the air.

Fluttering.

The spark floated, dancing like a dandelion seed in the wind.

It rose higher and higher, becoming a tiny red dot against the blue canvas.

“Burn.”

The moment the word left his lips, the spark ignited, growing exponentially.

Whirr, whirr, whirr!

The flames surged, a chaotic dance of destruction.

The spark transformed into a colossal pillar of fire, incinerating the flower garden below.

White roses turned to crimson ash, fueling the inferno that climbed towards the heavens with terrifying speed.

“That won’t be enough.”

“I know.”

The pillar of fire was indeed formidable.

Its power dwarfed even high-grade and top-grade magic.

“Magic of this level can’t overcome your mindscape. I’m well aware of that.”

“You created it knowing that? Ha, I guess I was greatly underestimated.”

“Think of it positively.”

“What’s positive about this?”

“It means I’ve reached a point where I can test your mindscape with magic of this caliber and accurately gauge its scale and resilience.”

Seungwoo and Eve calmly sipped their tea, observing the pillar of fire’s ascent. They spoke with the certainty of knowing the magic was destined to fail.

Thump, thump, thump!

The pillar of fire swelled to a scale that defied both human creation and natural phenomena.

Even the most raging forest fire paled in comparison.

It was a truly gargantuan pillar of flame.

If unleashed in the ‘real world,’ it would undoubtedly transform the surrounding landscape into a fiery hellscape.

Bang!

The ever-expanding flame finally collided with the boundary of the mindscape.

The pillar of fire, now touching the ethereal blue sky, could grow no further.

“Spectacular,” Eve mumbled, taking a delicate sip of her tea.

She, too, seemed to dislike unsweetened black tea, as she hastily added a generous amount of sugar.

Twice as much as Seungwoo.

Seungwoo glanced at Eve, who now smiled brightly as she savored her tea, then turned his gaze back to the inferno.

“The firepower is decent, right?”

Eve responded to Seungwoo’s question between sips.

“Slurp. Well, it seems good for starting a campfire, slurp.”

Eve continued to gulp down the sweet tea, clearly enjoying the taste.

She should have added sugar sooner.

A girl who likes sweets more than I do, what’s with the black tea?

“Kindling… that’s a rather harsh assessment.”

It’s not that bad, is it?

─────!

The flame shrieked, struggling against the confines of the mindscape.

The pillar of fire, attempting to pierce the heavens, resembled a colossal fire giant trying to tear through the sky with its immense fingers.

The flames, having grown to an excessive size.

Eventually, the flames broke free from Seungwoo’s control.

The rogue flames, swirling like living entities, appeared majestic and powerful, but it was ultimately insufficient.

Clang!

A sound like a bullet ricocheting off a wall echoed through the mindscape.

It was difficult to discern amidst the roar of the flames, but immediately afterward, the pillar of fire began to rapidly diminish.

The flames, once resembling a giant’s fingers, gradually shrunk in size.

Finally, it dwindled to a dainty spark, like a dandelion seed scattering in the wind. The spark drifted and landed gently in Eve’s hand.

“It’s a really small spark. It’s hard to believe it was that giant pillar of fire just now.”

Whoosh.

Eve blew on the spark, extinguishing it.

As the spark vanished completely, a few fragments of the spell that composed it scattered in the air.

Having scanned all the spell fragments in that fleeting moment, Eve spoke.

“It’s well-made.”

“Right?”

“Considering you’ve only been practicing magic for a year.”

“…Is that a compliment?”

“Oh my, you’re being strange. I’m seriously complimenting you in my own way. You’d react the same way if you saw someone handling a sword skillfully, wouldn’t you?”

“Nah.”

I wouldn’t compliment like you, no matter what.

Eve responded to Seungwoo’s reply with a smile.

“Let’s say I practice swordsmanship for a year.”

“Okay, sure.”

“At the end of my training, I reach the entry level of Formless Sword [a swordsmanship style emphasizing adaptability and fluidity]. How about that, isn’t it amazing?”

“Formless Sword in just one year is amazing.”

There are tons of people who can’t do it even after 70 years of training, so one year is…

No need to say more.

“But how would you feel if I boasted that I could destroy your mindscape, which can handle Mind Sword [a swordsmanship style that uses mental power], with just the entry level of Formless Sword?”

Um… well.

Seungwoo pondered the answer.

“Wouldn’t you still compliment me?”

Using Formless Sword against Mind Sword.

Magicians might not know, but for martial artists, it’s like hitting a rock with an egg. But reaching the entry level of Formless Sword is purely commendable.

As a swordsman, I always welcome new talent.

“Right? That’s exactly how I felt!”

“…Ah.”

I think I know what you mean.

It feels like watching a boastful little kid.

“Now I think I understand your feelings a bit.”

If that’s how you feel, I get it.

“Now you get it, right? How I feel.”

“Yeah, I understand very well.”

How absurd the task Eve gave me is.

I realized it for sure.

“You’re telling me not to leave. Is that it?”

“…Does it come across that way?”

“Thanks to the analogy, it was easy to understand.”

The difference between Formless Sword and Mind Sword.

How can I overcome that?

“Physical attacks don’t work, and the difference in magical skill is about the level of Formless Sword and Mind Sword. So, I’ll sweat all day and fail, and then you’ll release me the next day, right?”

“Well… honestly, it’s not that I haven’t thought about that.”

“It’s not?”

“Yeah, but there’s a bit of a shortage of resources.”

Eve raised both hands.

“The scale maintaining balance is tilted too much.”

She folded three fingers on her left hand.

“Adam. That guy descended in his true form at the place where the Divine Tree was born. You don’t know, but he strained himself quite a bit at that point.”

Even all seven disasters appeared.

That was also Adam’s doing.

“Despite that, he’s straining himself again, trying not to let you go.”

“I know. I saw it too.”

The gap between worlds.

I felt Adam’s energy trying to force its way through that vast space.

Eve moved the three folded fingers.

“In the process of descending in his true form, attracting other disasters, and struggling after failing, he committed three acts of foul play.”

The system is fairer than you think.

Because it values the balance of all things in the universe, if one side commits cheating and foul play, the other side can take corresponding actions.

Click, click.

Eve moved one finger on her right hand.

“We have a total of three acts of foul play left. We used one of them.”

“Does that mean this space itself is an act of foul play?”

“That’s right. Spreading my mindscape in the gap of space. Using this consumed one unit of foul play.”

“…Closing this mindscape isn’t included in the acts of foul play.”

“That’s right.”

Eve said, moving her second finger.

“If you want to add the function of closing the mindscape, you have to use the second act of foul play.”

“Then we can only use foul play one more time in the future.”

“Unless they commit another act of foul play on their side.”

“Can’t we commit an act of foul play first?”

“We can, but honestly, I don’t recommend it.”

I don’t know what Adam will do with foul play.

Eve clapped her hands together and continued.

“Foul play is meant to nullify the other party’s cheating. Naturally, there are more things you can do with foul play than with cheating.”

“Then using the remaining two acts of foul play as wisely as possible is the best we can do.”

“You think so too, right? That’s why I can’t willingly send you out of this world.”

“No……”

If that’s the case, you should have used foul play to deliver information into my head instead of directly calling me into this mindscape!

The thought was on the tip of my tongue.

‘I learned too much information while chatting with Eve.’

Seungwoo asked all the questions he had on this occasion.

Some questions were not answered, but most of his doubts were resolved.

If I had received all this information in my head… my head might have really exploded. It was that vast.

In addition, he also received some magic lessons.

As expected of the Archmage, 「Magic Star」.

‘Even though we’re both at the level of Archmage, I was unilaterally taught.’

The gap between Eve and me was greater than the gap between Nam Hwayeon and me.

I realized once again how great a magician she was.

“…Okay. Then, what’s a way for me to get out without violating foul play?”

Seungwoo reached out to Eve.

“You must have prepared something like that.”

I know better than anyone how thorough your preparations are.

There’s no way that Eve wouldn’t have made any preparations.

“I’ve prepared everything.”

As expected of Eve.

Her obsession with preparing for and dealing with every situation was just like Seungwoo.

“You already have everything you need.”

“I already have it?”

“Yeah.”

No, what nonsense is that?

It was hard to understand that I already had a way to escape from a space where I couldn’t use a sword.

‘But even if Eve is a strange girl, she’s not a liar.’

Seungwoo closed his eyes.

He focused on himself through meditation.

‘What I have. A way to break the mindscape among them.’

What could it be?

Seungwoo first erased the sword that came to mind.

He remembered that physical attacks didn’t work in this mindscape.

Naturally, he erased means such as spears and arrows from his mind.

‘Eve definitely said I have to break it with magic.’

Since it’s the mindscape of the 「Magic Star」, who is famous for magic, it’s only natural.

So, he fired the flame at first, but the flames that could burn the sky eventually failed to inflict any damage and died out.

I can’t break this mindscape with firepower.

‘Then what I have. Which of them can break the mindscape?’

Seungwoo spread his senses widely.

It was to face the mindscape he had to break head-on.

The widely spread senses soon reached the ceiling of the mindscape, and spread out widely to the sides, trying to measure the size of the mindscape.

‘Wide… very wide.’

The senses spread out at a rapid speed.

Seungwoo was in Eve’s mindscape anyway. Since there was no need to worry about magic loss, he quickly increased the speed of expanding his senses.

Before he knew it, the speed surpassed the speed of sound and reached the speed of light, but the more he spread his senses, the wider the mindscape became.

‘Is this a mindscape that infinitely widens as I perceive it?’

Humans inevitably have limits in their thoughts and minds.

It’s only natural because they are people.

But Eve’s mindscape was so vast that it was impossible to know the end.

Like.

‘It feels like looking at my mindscape.’

A dark and gloomy space.

There was no blue sky or vast flower garden like Eve’s mindscape, but Seungwoo’s mindscape also boasted an endless size.

If this mindscape is the same as my mindscape, the only difference is.

‘That there’s no giant fox.’

A fox with nine tails.

Gumiho [a nine-tailed fox, a mythical creature in Korean folklore]. That monster was in my mindscape.

I ended up defeating it, but the power and mental strength that it possessed were not to be taken lightly.

‘If that fox is the key, could it be.’

Like that guy.

Do I have to become a Gumiho too?

Swish, swish.

Seungwoo stopped spreading his senses in all directions and focused on his tail.

His current level is between an eight-tailed fox and a nine-tailed fox.

The ninth tail, which had grown to an awkward size, was particularly annoying.

‘Should I try it once for now?’

Yes, Eve is right.

I already have everything I need.

Now, all that’s left is to face what I have.