Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 164

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 164

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 164

The End of a Certain World (4)

A nameless brother and sister I met on the street.

Who knew that our connection with them would be so tenacious?

Our first meeting might not have been anything special, but the second time, when I saw them trapped in the basement of the mansion, I realized there was something special about them.

‘These children are deeply connected to the heart of this world.’

I didn’t particularly feel like I had to save them.

I wasn’t the type to find meaning in a life that was already dead.

Unless there was a way to save them.

But there wasn’t, so there was no value in offering salvation to the dead.

My vessel is small, and the helping hands I can extend are limited, so it was important to be thorough in my selection.

‘Right now, my only concern is my students.’

If my skills were at their peak, I might have extended a helping hand to the NPCs [Non-Player Characters, characters controlled by the game] as well.

But even my own life is like a candle in the wind, so how dare I try to save anyone else in my condition?

So, I.

“Isis, find the siblings.”

“…What are you going to do when you find them?”

“Since they are the core of that monster, there’s no way to save them.”

“…….”

The head of the girl carrying me on her back droops down.

Since I’m on her back, I can’t see what kind of expression she’s making in this position.

Even if I knew, I wouldn’t know how to comfort her.

‘This isn’t something you can comfort someone about.’

Innocent children.

Killing the children, who are already dead and tied to the fragments of this ruined world under the name of NPCs, once again. Not by natural disaster or a predetermined destruction, but by the hands of those from the outside.

It wasn’t difficult for me, who had already emptied my heart and suppressed my emotions.

‘The dead do not fall under the criteria of ‘human’ according to the law.’

NPCs who died a long time ago.

I have no reason or belief to protect them.

So, even if they are children, I am fully prepared to kill them with my own hands. Because I know all too well that the logic of a hero is not always valid only with justice.

I could smear innocent blood without hesitation.

“If you really don’t want to, put me down. I’ll find them myself.”

“If I put you down, you’re going to kill them, right?”

“If that’s the right thing to do.”

“Killing children can’t be the right thing to do.”

“Then, is it the right thing for you and me to die at the hands of that snake like this?”

I’m not trying to argue right and wrong.

I’m certainly not trying to justify my actions.

“There’s nothing we can do about the children who are already dead, but that’s not the case for you. You’re still alive. So, it’s clear who to save and who to kill.”

“We didn’t say we’d fight that monster because of things like that.”

“So, you’re telling me to stand by and watch as you get seriously hurt or die? I don’t care if you’re trying to take responsibility for your own choices, but as a teacher, I can’t allow it.”

I can’t see her face because she’s on my back, but I could easily tell that Isis was feeling a sense of responsibility.

It’s not just her.

「Jormungandr」, who had shed its skin and cut off its cumbersome tail, was moving faster.

To catch him, the students were desperately squeezing out their mana, continuing their attacks that couldn’t reach. My eyesight isn’t good enough to see the expressions on the students’ faces far away, but their actions seemed to be filled with a sense of responsibility.

“You don’t have to take unconditional responsibility for your own choices. Leave that to me. That’s what teachers and adults are for.”

I want you to grow.

Physically.

Mentaly [sic].

Surely the consequences of today’s choices will become a mental foundation for you.

That’s enough for now.

You don’t need to bear the responsibility that comes with that choice yet.

The day you grow up enough to take over from me.

I will entrust it to you when the day comes when you become an ascetic who can take responsibility for your choices and walk silently.

“So, put me down now.”

“I… I might have known it all along.”

“What?”

“When I confirmed that the siblings had chains on their feet, I saw that they were different from the other children, and I thought that there might be some hidden secret or weakness.”

The siblings were chained to prevent 「Jormungandr」 from being defeated in vain.

I don’t know why the count chose to split and store the monster’s core in the bodies of weak vagrants instead of his servants or his own body.

Anyway, that’s the way it is.

“That’s what we all found strange. It’s not just you. It’s just that we didn’t have enough time to think deeply about that sense of unease because we were busy avoiding the 「Jormungandr」 that suddenly popped out of the ground.”

“B, but…!”.

“…….”

“If I had been a little smarter, the teacher wouldn’t have been hurt so badly. I was wrong… It’s my fault. I’m sorry, teacher.”

Even if I don’t look at her face.

It was easy to notice how sincere her apology was.

“What did you do wrong?”

“We were just being reckless. We were trying to save people, but in the end, only the teacher got badly hurt. It’s all gone wrong.”

“I’m here to fix that. So, be sorry, but you don’t need to feel deep guilt.”

“…….”

What, why isn’t she responding?

I tried my best to be sincere, but there’s no response. Ah, maybe it’s because I’m on her back.

‘Well, a teacher can’t stay on a student’s back forever.’

I should get off now.

Putting aside the embarrassment, I could feel my body moving.

I can’t run, but I think I can walk.

So I called her.

“Isis?”

“…….”

“Sis, what are you doing?”

“Ah, yes, um, thank you for worrying about me, teacher.”

Her pronunciation is all twisted.

I swallowed a laugh at Isis’s tense appearance, and then tried to tell her to get off me in a roundabout way.

“Ah, yeah, you don’t have to thank me. Anyway, I can walk by myself now, so I’m going to get off…”

Thump!

A sound of something breaking.

I wondered what that sound was and looked straight ahead.

My eyes were a little blurry, so I squinted slightly, and my faint vision captured a broken shield.

“…Huh?”

That’s the shield I got from Gu Yaja.

The shield I gave to Easy couldn’t withstand the constant pounding and was torn and ripped like paper.

At the same time, I heard a voice.

“Isis, run away with the teacher! He’s heading that way!!”

“…I know without you telling me.”

Thump.

The girl’s frail hands grabbed my thighs with both hands.

But the power within was stronger than mine.

With Isis fixing me on her back like that, she ran in the opposite direction of the scene she had been watching.

Kugugugung!

The monster, who had shed its black skin and molted white, moved its massive body towards us. It was huge, but it was disgustingly fast.

Even if Isis froze the ground and ran at full speed on the icy road.

It couldn’t match the speed at which he moved once.

At the moment when I was about to be caught by 「Jormungandr」.

“…….”

I turned around on the back of the female student.

A monster with eyes as big as its huge body.

The moment I confirmed where his pupils were pointing, I had no choice but to escape from Isis’s back as soon as possible.

“T, Teacher.”

Thud!

As soon as I was forced out of her back, I rolled on the floor.

Isis was running at full speed, and she made the floor an ice rink, so I had severe abrasions, but this wasn’t the time to worry about such injuries.

I didn’t even glance at Isis, who was calling me from behind.

I stared straight at where the individual, 「Jormungandr」’s eyes were pointing.

‘…I hope my prediction is wrong.’

I ran as if I was really going to die.

I overused the 「Annihilation」 magic embedded in my shoes until the circuit burned out and my feet were burned.

On the downhill, I was prepared to roll and increase my speed even more.

After exhausting myself to the point where my ankles were about to break and twist, I felt the presence of two people.

Two small children.

A girl and a boy.

It was the brother and sister I had seen before.

‘I guess my predictions are never wrong.’

The moment I saw the two siblings, the prediction I had in my head became the truth.

A giant sea serpent.

The main body that allowed him to set foot on this frozen land was doing well even in the fragments of the collapsed mansion. It seemed that the baron had built a solid barrier around that bastard.

Even if the mansion was half destroyed.

The main body would not be damaged at all.

And unlike that main body.

There were no special measures for the siblings with shackles on their ankles.

Each of their stomachs contained the core that made up 「Jormungandr」.

This was directly related to his life.

‘Maybe the baron designed the siblings so they couldn’t escape from the basement.’

The chains were stronger and sturdier than I thought.

It was so strong that ordinary people could never do anything about it.

It would have been a perfect shackle for children who hadn’t even reached puberty yet. But I intervened and released the core of 「Jormungandr」 into the city.

This was the same as the weakness of that huge and powerful monster wandering around in the dangerous outside.

It would be fine if they were safely trapped in the basement.

The core that escaped outside was nothing short of a disaster for him.

‘So he’s trying to swallow those siblings…!!’

I quickly realized what he was up to.

If the core was dangerously outside, he could just store it safely in his stomach forever.

‘If that’s what you’re going to do, I’d rather…!’

Rather what?

What should I do?

‘Of course, kill…!’

What will change if I kill them?

‘!!!’

The death of the children is the death of him.

But if he kills the children, it’s the same as facing a monster that has offset its weaknesses once again.

So I strike first.

The brother.

The sister.

I kill them with my own hands.

But is that really the right thing to do?

‘Damn it, to hesitate after coming this far. How soft has my mind become?’

Hadn’t I vowed not to treat the already dead NPCs as humans?

Wasn’t that the basis for massacring the knights and destroying the mansion?

‘It’s too late to turn back. Then I’ll gladly dirty my hands.’

I’m used to getting blood on my hands.

Then suddenly a thought came to mind.

‘But, you know.’

I shouldn’t think about it.

The moment I think about this, I won’t be able to sit idly by.

I desperately tore at my hair, but thoughts are not something that can be stopped with such a simple method.

‘What’s the difference between the characters in the novel and the NPCs in the other world?’

Stop.

‘After all, they’re both fictional characters to me. They’re not worth more than that.’

Stop it.

‘The only difference is that there’s room to save the world in the novel, while this place is just replaying a world that has already been destroyed like a video.’

Stop it!

Blood and tears are flowing from my eyes, but my thoughts don’t stop, they keep chasing each other’s tails.

My mind forced me to think in order to resolve the question.

I can’t stop anymore.

‘But when did I ever care about that? Isn’t it right to save the novel and the already destroyed world if I can?’

The moment my thoughts reached that point.

“P, Please save us.”

“Even if it’s just my sister… someone, please…”

A very small voice was heard.

The siblings hugged each other.

Looking at them, I thought of my younger sister and me when we were young.

Back then, my sister and I hugged each other like those children, and she was saved by her just before she became food for the monsters.

It was a very old nightmare.

At the same time, it was a very old memory.

Kwaaaaa!!!

The sound of a snake crying.

The terrible voice, like scraping an iron plate with steel, woke me from my reverie.

Now he was right in front of me.

On the other hand, I still had quite a distance to go.

‘Well, there’s nothing I can do.’

I was reminded once again that I am a foolish human being.

Yes, I was so foolish that I put many people in danger.

I reached out to save everyone.

But my reach wasn’t as big as I thought it would be, and the experiences of missing the lives I could have saved right in front of my eyes made me realize my place.

The helping hands I can extend are limited.

That’s why I hesitated to reach out.

But my beloved teacher.

My respected teacher took me as her disciple because I was that kind of person, and gave me unconditional love.

So how could I hesitate?

「Instant Step」[A movement technique].

The moment I took a step forward, my vision changed.

Before I knew it, I was in the center of the siblings and 「Jormungandr」.

Crack!

My ankle snapped.

“!!!”

I was barely standing, but I felt like I was about to fall at any moment.

The insane footwork that trampled through space is not a divine skill allowed to my weak body. Ignoring the body’s continued warnings and wearing clothes that didn’t fit me several times, my ankle was completely destroyed as a result.

‘Hold on! Just hold on!!!’

I felt like I was about to fall backwards from even the slightest stimulus, like a roly-poly doll.

However, the only difference was that the roly-poly doll seemed to fall backwards but returned to its original position, but if I fell, I would definitely not be able to get up.

Forever.

I’d be spending a hundred years with the core in his stomach.

……Thinking about it, it’s disgusting.

I couldn’t stand that.

Whirr-!!

A small flame burning on my hand.

Should I throw this at the siblings on the left and catch that monster?

Or should I throw it at the snake bastard on the right?

A simple choice between two options.

The answer was already decided to the point where I yawned.

So I.

Crunch!

“…It hurts more than I thought.”

I chose the third option.

Without throwing the flame at anyone.

The option of feeding my dangling, empty left arm.

“T, Teacher, your, your left arm…!!”

“Oh, you came.”

Isis screamed when she saw my empty left arm.

I looked at her and smiled, recalling the conversation I had with Nam Hwayeon.

─We’re not far from advanced magic now.

─You could have entered it a long time ago.

─But if I did, the process of mastering it would take unnecessarily long. I want to become a great wizard as soon as possible.

─What do you mean by mastering it when you’ve already memorized all the formulas for advanced magic?

The person who took me as her disciple and taught me all sorts of knowledge.

One day, she asked me.

─But are you really satisfied with just mana as firewood for [Fire Magic]?

─Then should I offer my memories?

─Memories are good fuel, but sometimes offering the body as a price can also be good firewood.

─Ah, I saw that in a paper. You’re talking about the wizard who used his hair as a price to wield powerful flames and ended up bald, right?

─It doesn’t have to be hair. You can also use your nails, toes, and bones as a price.

─Toes and bones to light a fire once. It doesn’t seem very efficient.

─Yes, as you said, the efficiency is very low.

Whirr!

The flames burn fiercely.

─But the firepower will be so brilliant that it will be one of the most spectacular in your magic life.

“…I guess so, teacher.”

The flames burn as if they will burn the world.

Even though the snake’s mouth was closed, the momentum of the flames that overflowed through the small gaps never waned.

That was proof that the quality of the ‘firewood’ was good.

“Among the flames I’ve seen in my life… it’s as brilliant as my teacher’s hellfire.”

I have no more mana left.

My mental strength is also lacking.

So I condensed the energy of Yanggang [A type of powerful energy] in my heart.

This became a small spark.

I used my torn left arm as firewood and grew the spark.

Khaaaaa!!!

As he screamed and writhed in pain, embers splattered from his mouth.

Just his mouth.

Isn’t the price I paid more than that?

『Eat it all』

I shouted the words that came to my mind.

Until now, I’ve said things like burn, burn, and burn while using [Fire Magic] several times.

But it had never resonated with me so much.

I realized instinctively.

‘This is my incantation.’

For me to wield magic better.

My own incantation that will allow me to wield it better.

“…Haha, today is a good day.”

Whirr!!!

The fire that spread from his mouth to his whole body could no longer be contained.

「Jormungandr」 desperately rolled on the floor.

Soon, the flames completely swallowed him.

It was the moment when the giant predator became the prey of the fire demon.

“I got to see a good sight, and I lost weight…”

And above all.

Haha, I saved two siblings and prevented a massacre that would happen in the future, and I lost an arm for the sake of tens of thousands of lives.

This was cheaper than I thought.

I smiled with my whole body broken.

At this moment, I lost my health and my future.

With this, the ‘price’ has been paid.