Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 157

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 157

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 157

It’s Easy to Forget a Teacher’s Grace (2)

The war situation wasn’t as bad as expected.

My stamina is running low, sharp rock fragments pierce my stomach, and every joint in my body screams, but I still have enough magic power.

My heart beats.

If I’m alive, that means I’ve avoided the worst.

Of course, if this situation continues, the worst moment will come soon enough.

‘First, I retrieve it.’

The spear that pierced through a scale and disappeared.

I retrieve that spear back into my grasp.

There was no need for complicated processes like space magic or summoning magic.

All I needed was to be able to light a fire in my grasp.

Whoosh.

A small fire burns on the palm of my hand.

I place my other hand over the flame.

I pulled the foreign substance felt within the flame as it is.

Then, from within the empty flame, something long, heated red, revealed its sharp and sacred figure.

Swish─!

The heavy sensation I just held.

It was definitely the spear I threw for the javelin.

This is manifestation.

The authority of the spear that can be drawn out in any situation, as long as there is fire.

This ability is especially compatible with my magic.

─Is that different from subspace?

‘If you’re talking about my ring, it’s different.’

Unlike opening a storage space and taking out one of the many items inside.

This spear, if it only recognizes its owner.

It can be held and used in any situation.

Even immediately after throwing it.

Even if the spear falls deep into the sea.

The 「Twilight Spear」 is what manifests in my hand as soon as I send a signal.

‘Well, now the spear is back.’

It’s too difficult to use the sword anymore.

So, I was thinking of wielding the spear to somehow stop Jormungandr’s advance even for a moment. Although I knew it was impossible with this body.

[You have suffered an irreversible wound!]

[Your 「Health」 permanently decreases by one level.]

[Your 「Durability」 decreases by two levels.]

[「Durability」 can be restored with potions and other treatments.]

I never imagined that just barely being hit by the tail quickly flying from behind would lead to this.

“……What is it?”

I realized it only after being hit.

My body is now covered in red blood.

At the center of it, there was a large, sharp rock fragment and a large gash as if a huge sword had been swung.

When on earth did I get hit?

No, I definitely thought I dodged it, but why did the tip of the tail pierce my flesh and inflict a wound?

Splash─!

Blood gushes from the cut like a fountain.

I immediately melted the affected area with fire and managed to seal it somehow.

Perhaps because I forcibly sealed the wound, the balance of my body was broken.

I’m not talking about principles like mind-body unity or energy-spirit.

The balance that supports the body itself is completely distorted.

‘It’s impossible to perform spearmanship with this body.’

Spearmanship, which utilizes more muscles than swordsmanship, is a martial art that boasts more basic skills than one can imagine to be used in actual combat.

Although my spearmanship is inferior to swordsmanship.

There are no techniques that I would use at the risk of injury and death.

‘If I mess this up, I’m really going to die.’

If my HP [Health Points] was written above my head, it would be flashing madly as if it was about to go out, dyed as red as blood.

……Haa.

‘The moment I’ve been waiting for so long might be today.’

Smirk.

With death before my eyes, I put down my heart filled with mixed emotions and raised my spear again.

Then, the giant snake opened its mouth and approached me.

I realized once again that each of its teeth was larger than my spear.

* * *

There was no fierce battle.

It was just a feeble man resisting a giant snake and a monster trying to swallow him in one bite by opening its huge mouth.

“If only my ankles were normal, I could have put up a decent resistance.”

Kwaaaang─!

Every time that guy moved his body, there was a sound of something collapsing.

And I was always under the source of that sound.

‘How many more times can I endure?’

I, who was crushed under the giant tail, moved slightly to the side.

I’ve been lucky to be alive so far, but there’s no luck like this.

Basically, spearmanship is a martial art that presupposes flexibility.

The unity of offense and defense is flexible, and the solid stance as defense is one of the major advantages.

Clearly, I am inferior to my opponent in terms of strength.

However, if it is the mystery of diverting any mighty force into nothingness, it was possible to somehow respond.

Only responding.

That was the limit, though.

Shwaaaaaaa──!!

Perhaps tired of striking down with its tail or mouth.

This time, Jormungandr sucked in the air with its mouth.

It was the first time I had seen it, but I could guess.

‘Breath. Is that also a breath soaked in poison?’

Something green hung over Jormungandr’s mouth.

At the same time, a sour smell was felt from the bridge of my nose.

I can pass it off as sour, but if it were a normal person, they would have collapsed on the floor as soon as they smelled the faint cloud of poison that was seeping out.

If that is sprayed… I’ll be fine.

No matter how much it is a 3rd Circle poison [a measure of magical potency], unless all abilities are focused on one poison, it is impossible to penetrate my resistance.

On the other hand, if the poison settles in the city along the path of the wind.

‘Everyone will die.’

Is this really the scenario for the end of the world?

Being massacred en masse by a sea serpent that suddenly appeared in the snowfield.

Is this really the right ending that this world should reach?

[Progress: 88.9%]

Even if I wash my eyes and deny it, the rising number was regrettable.

This is right.

……It’s such a terrible end that I can’t even describe it.

‘Damn it.’

Suddenly, I felt unpleasant.

I’m working hard to save people.

But it pissed me off that the ones doing the killing seemed to be killing so easily, without a care.

No, is it right that one burp can destroy a city?

So, I confidently entered the snake’s mouth.

While he was inhaling to spit me out.

I went into his mouth.

Shwaaaaaaa──!

As I got closer, the poison was so thick in the air that a liquid pooled on the floor that could melt shoes in an instant.

This is all poison.

A deadly poison that can easily kill even people.

Of course, it doesn’t work on me.

Do you think my 「Celestial Poison Body」 is a joke?

‘This should be enough to explode.’

A thick cloud of poison inside the snake’s mouth.

Before Jormungandr, who was flustered by the fact that prey had suddenly entered his mouth on its own, could take any action.

Whirrrrr─!

Suddenly, sparks flew from the spear.

The moment the fire met the cloud.

BOOOOOOOM─────!!!!

It exploded as if a huge bomb had exploded.

The snake moved its head from side to side at the explosion that turned its palate upside down.

The firepower was as considerable as the loud noise, so it would buy me some time.

I barely protected my body with the 「Holy Sign」 of the earring and escaped from his mouth.

“Well, it burns well.”

The flames sizzling in Jormungandr’s mouth.

The flames, which resembled gold somewhere, showed no signs of dying down no matter how much the snake spat out flesh-mixed saliva and poison.

‘The detailed ability of 「Twilight Spear」, the flame of ephemeral life.’

It’s not ephemeral life meaning a short life.

Ephemeral Life (旦明) [Danmyeong in Korean, meaning dawn].

It has the same meaning as dawn, and is a word that means the time when the day is faintly bright and the light of hope.

Since the flame is attached after such a word.

It was only natural that the flame drove away the evil energy.

The explosion just now was not a concept like magic or dust explosion, but the sacredness of ephemeral life exploded while trying to purify the poison that was thick in all directions.

“……I wish he would just quietly become grilled like this.”

That won’t happen.

Spit.

Jormungandr’s pupils, which cut out his entire palate with sharp teeth and spat out the flames of ephemeral life, were eerie.

Originally, he didn’t have a gentle impression because of the reptile’s unique vertical pupils.

But now, mixed with murderous intent, there was a living fear.

Looking up at that figure, I instinctively became convinced.

……Jormungandr will no longer treat me like a joke.

* * *

The students who escaped with the children.

They were so busy taking care of their bodies and weapons, but the students managed to escape from the basement with the children.

Even after arriving on the ground.

Their steps never stopped.

A weak earthquake occurred because something of enormous mass powerfully slammed the ground behind them, but.

The students never turned their heads.

Because their lives are not the only ones at stake on their feet right now.

After running desperately, they finally arrived in the city center.

“……Is this right?”

But what awaited them was not the children’s parents, who had been kidnapped from somewhere, warmly welcoming them.

It wasn’t even a common sight on the streets where they had spent the last two days.

“……I knew there was a riot in the city, but…….”

“I never imagined that so many people would have died.”

“Crazy, it’s so different from the city I knew. It wasn’t like this even this morning!!”

There are corpses everywhere.

There are few things bleeding.

It means that they have already shed all the blood in their bodies and died a considerable time ago that cannot be reversed.

“……I. I didn’t know it was this bad.”

“Yerin…….”

“……If I had known this would happen, I would have rushed to save people first.”

I should have saved them without paying attention to anything else.

That’s what they say, but it’s already too late to regret it.

Before coming to where Baek Seung-woo was, the students worked hard to rescue the residents.

They thought that was enough.

However, the students, who failed to suppress the fundamental situation, could not accept that this was their fate anyway.

Anyway, the ending of the Reverse Side is fixed as destruction.

That is an unchanging fact.

We are just regenerating the world that has already been destroyed a long time ago through the medium of the dungeon.

It was not a life that could be saved by saving it.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have listened to the teacher.”

Isis stared blankly at the sky.

Having spent her childhood in harsh and barren lands, she was able to accept death relatively quickly compared to other students.

In fact, her gaze, who was the first to come to her senses, seemed to reach the sky, and she looked at the snake boasting a huge body.

“Maybe that snake is an executioner.”

“……What are you talking about?”

Perhaps there was something flashing in Isis’s words as she muttered blankly.

Isabel asked her.

She was not flustered or answered by the sudden question.

“…….”

She closed her eyes and thought for a moment.

After organizing her thoughts, she moved them to her mouth.

This is because it can be a sensitive topic that requires so much attention to speaking.

“Do you remember what the gatekeeper said before we came to this world?”

“Gatekeeper…… The person who guided us in that huge cavity?”

“Yes, that person said that this world, including the dungeon, is a fragment of a destroyed world.”

A distorted land that reflects the world at the point where destruction is determined.

That is the land where we are standing now.

“The dungeon and the Reverse Side are essentially the same. However, the difference is whether or not NPCs [Non-Player Characters] exist.”

“……So, what are you trying to say?”

“I mean, is the only difference between the two NPCs?”

Isabel understood what Isis was trying to say at her words.

If there are characters, there is bound to be a story.

They assumed that the story was about small towns and cities beyond the mountains.

They were inferring that it was a conflict within.

So, the students focused on this.

But there was one fact they had overlooked.

“If there’s a story, there’s bound to be an ending.”

“Yeah, that’s right. The appearance of that snake is too artificial. The fact that a 3rd Circle monster was hiding under the ground where we spent several days. If you think about it a little, it’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”

I know that the Reverse Side is difficult.

But it’s not even a 4th Circle, but a 3rd Circle suddenly popping out, what should I say.

It was too strange.

“If we join forces, we can somehow deal with the 4th Circle. But why did a monster of a Circle that we can’t deal with appear at such a perfect moment?”

“So, are you trying to raise a conspiracy theory or something?”

Isabel frowned and tilted her head for a moment at the suspicious words. She shook her white hair, denying it.

This was just a guess, not a conspiracy theory.

“No, what I want to say is that if that snake came out artificially, its goal is not to kick us out or kill us.”

Isn’t it to reliably eliminate the NPCs that exist in this world and reliably reach the predetermined ending of destruction?

Isis just raised a guess, saying that.

Isabel listened to her opinion, but soon judged it to be too much of a leap and hurriedly devised a way to get out of the Reverse Side. That was an interesting opinion as a magician, but now it was more important as a leader to protect the safety of her team members.

But there was nothing to devise.

The Reverse Side can be automatically cleared if the progress exceeds 50%.

So, all you have to do is manipulate the status window and press a few buttons floating in the air──!

Kugugugung─!!

That’s what I thought, but at that moment.

A huge shadow loomed in the sky.

It was like a cloud, and it had the power to make the dark night even darker.

The area of the huge tail.

The tail, which had an area large enough to cover the sky above one’s head, went up slightly and slammed down on the floor.

Kugugugung─!!

The tail was swung again, and the vibrations were similar to an earthquake.

The students were wondering what they were looking at right now. At the moment, they witnessed Baek Seung-woo being included in the fragments of soil and rocks that spread in all directions at the same time as the huge tail slammed down, and they could not help but be shocked.

“……Can you move your fingers in that situation?”

“……If it were you, would you have the time to do that?”

“……Right? I thought I was the only one thinking that.”

Isabel answered Leeji’s absurd words.

As the two said, there is no way to manipulate the status window in such overwhelming violence.

Something…… was going much more wrong than I thought.