Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 235

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 235

Anemone (5)

The battle continued.

No, to call it a battle would be a bit of an overstatement; it was a rather one-sided affair.

Each time I attacked, “Rebellion” couldn’t evade and was struck. No matter how strong his skin and durability, if he continued to allow attacks, damage would inevitably accumulate.

With repeated flames, his skin blackened, and bits of flesh chipped away. It seemed the heat of the flames had only affected his skin so far.

If time passed like this, the muscles and fat beneath his skin would slowly cook and melt.

But you know.

‘Why is he so nonchalant?’

Boom—!!

I threw a fireball.

“Rebellion” tried his best to avoid the orb, but the orb exploded much faster than he could evade.

Though the firepower wasn’t as high, it was inversely proportional to the speed.

Sizzle, sizzle.

It was enough firepower to reduce a person’s skin to a mere lump of meat. The smell of cooking and burning meat filled the air simultaneously.

Smells that should never be associated with a person.

Ah, but he’s a demon. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

“Cough, this is hotter than I thought. I might end up as cooked meat if I’m not careful.”

“…For someone in a hurry, there’s no urgency in your words.”

“Haha, when you’re in a crisis, do you need to be urgent when you speak? Human common sense is quite bothersome.”

“It’s not human common sense, it’s a natural instinct for any living being.”

Tuk, tuk, “Rebellion” brushed the flames off his arm with his hand.

Not frantically putting out the fire, but very calmly and peacefully flicking away the flames. His face was contorted in pain, but there was no sense of urgency in his words.

That guy. He’s just playing with me.

‘What should I do? Should I risk the backlash and inflict a critical hit?’

There’s a limit to dodging his attacks and scorching his flesh with “Flame Magic” as a form of control. If it turns into a war of attrition, I’ll win, but that would take too much time.

Wouldn’t it be better to risk the backlash and unleash the most powerful magic I can muster?

But there are many difficulties.

‘If that doesn’t completely break through his durability, and I collapse defenselessly as the price of the backlash…’

I could become vulnerable instead.

Is now the time to take a dangerous gamble?

When I asked myself that, well.

I didn’t feel like it was the right time yet.

The defensive and anti-intrusion magic I set up before leaving the dorm hadn’t been broken, and I was leading the flow of the battle.

There’s no reason to gamble in this situation.

“You’re complacent now, aren’t you? Unfortunately, unexpected bleeding occurs when the opponent is careless or complacent.”

“!!!!”

Thump, thump, thump!

The sound of fists hitting the ground several times, and a cloud of dust spread thickly. I lost sight for a moment.

「Yoma Eye」[Demon Eye – A skill that enhances perception of magical energy]

If I lost sight, I just had to read the flow of magic instead.

A monochrome world divided into black and white. Within it, “Rebellion’s” movements were felt more precisely.

Every action he was about to take came into view.

He spread his arms wide. Even in the colorless world, I caught the situation of him swinging his arms widely with particularly dark magic.

That’s a bit dangerous. I felt and judged reflexively.

“The price of complacency is life, in any era.”

“More nonsense…!!”

Evading was impossible.

My movements were too slow to avoid that with footwork.

Then I’ll meet it head-on. There’s no need to respond with maximum output. It’s enough to offset the power with a similar level of output as the opponent.

「Foxfire」

Purple flames.

Nine flames resembling the tails of a Gumiho [Korean nine-tailed fox spirit] blazed from my fingertips.

The fox’s fire, which felt no warmth. The countless curses contained within began to crawl along my fingers.

「Pyrokinesis」

I added telekinesis to the cursed fire.

I gave it form and imparted physical force, including mass.

Whoosh───!!!

The purple flames, burning as if the sunlight was scorching, advanced fiercely forward.

Bang—!

The black magic and purple flames collided.

Then, the sound of two dump trucks colliding at full speed was heard.

That was just the beginning. The moment the magic and flames collided and conflicted, a massive explosion occurred.

────!!!!

All the explosions that had happened so far were remembered as mere firecrackers compared to the intense explosion.

Clang!!

All the glass windows in the area shattered.

The shopping district, which was empty of people, was caught in the explosion, barely leaving only the foundations, and several buildings were left without even foundations. Black, acrid smoke spread everywhere, stimulating the sense of smell.

The smoke was so pungent that it felt more than just irritating to the nose.

“Haha, that was a bit dangerous. I almost got caught up in it.”

“…….”

The demon, rambling on as he pleased.

He seemed to have suffered some scratches from the explosion, but listening to him babbling, he seemed fine.

“Oh? Why aren’t you answering? Have you decided to treat me like an invisible man now? That’s a little heartbreaking.”

“…You’re all talk.”

In contrast, my condition wasn’t so good.

“Ah, precious blue blood…! If you don’t mind, would it be okay to slowly lick it up?!”

“…That’s a very unique taunt. You disgusting bastard.”

“I’m serious, though?”

Trickle, blood flowed from my left ear.

Blood didn’t flow from my right ear, but I felt a slight stuffiness, as if I had just come from a bathhouse.

I could hear strange noises, and I was sure that my hearing was half-damaged. But it was only half-damaged. I found significance in that fact.

I can still hear.

But the real big problem was something else.

“Ah, precious blue blood…! If you’re going to waste it like that, can I really help you stop the bleeding?!”

“What are you going to do? Pull out the shards of glass and stone embedded in my skin and stop the bleeding with needles or something?”

“Yes, of course. Is there any other way?”

“You’re well-versed in folk remedies, befitting someone born in the Middle Ages. I really want to kill you, so don’t come near me.”

Drip. Drip.

Blood falling on the floor.

The amount of blood flowing was considerable, enough that it couldn’t be called mere droplets.

However, it wasn’t quite a massive hemorrhage either. It was about the same as the amount of blood drawn during a blood donation.

Roughly one blood transfusion pack’s worth of blood was spilled like that.

It didn’t seem like much because it was scattered all over my body.

“How can I resist this!”

The sight of “Rebellion” lapping up the floor was grotesque.

His face was covered in blood and dust as he licked the blood off the floor; he couldn’t even be considered a demon anymore. He was just a monster.

A monster that had lost its reason.

A monster that would do anything to taste blood.

A fresh wave of disgust and revulsion surged through my mind.

Just as I was thinking about killing him quickly.

A woman came into view.

A familiar figure, a familiar coat.

It was that woman I had seen before.

“You are…”

The woman who had asked me for help.

She was hobbling out of the alley next to the shopping district.

She was limping as she walked, indicating she was injured. Normally, I wouldn’t want to, but I would have gone closer and offered her a shoulder to lean on, but my legs wouldn’t move.

“She wasn’t human?”

The presence I felt whenever she walked.

But it wasn’t a human presence.

It was closer to the sensation of an object, yet it was full of life. In short, something not quite human was moving.

Right in front of me.

“…Is that enough now?”

“Hmm, this is a delicacy. It’s a bit mixed with dirt, but the overwhelming flavor still makes even the dust taste delicious. I almost want to store it in a container instead of ketchup.”

“Hey! Is that enough or not!”

The woman approached “Rebellion” and shouted.

Despite that, he was still focused on licking the blood off the floor with his face buried in it. She stepped on the blood that was gradually hardening on the floor.

“You. What are you doing?”

He reacted immediately.

“Why did you step on the blood I was eating? Even though it flowed onto the ground, nothing had touched it yet. But you left a footprint on it. Do you know what that means?”

“I, I don’t care about that! Just keep the promise you made with me!”

“Rebellion’s” eyes lost their light, and his reaction subsided.

Only when she mentioned the ‘promise’ in a trembling voice did his eyes regain their vitality. It was as if he had just remembered the promise.

“A promise… now that you mention it, there was something like that. It’s my fault for getting lost in the taste of blood. Very well. I’ll keep my promise.”

“Ha, yeah, you should have done that from the start. It’s not like I ate an incompatible human girl and copied her appearance for nothing.”

“Enough with the chatter. Just stand there.”

Crunch, crunch.

“It’ll be hard to eat if you move.”

I stopped moving at the appearance of the woman who looked human but wasn’t. It was an instinctive action. My instincts warned me that I might lose my life if things went wrong.

It was at that moment.

I saw “Rebellion” crunching on the woman’s flesh, bones, and muscles.

“You two… weren’t you on the same side?”

I questioned the scene before my eyes for a moment.

It didn’t matter to me what the enemy did.

But the sight of one of the two monsters, whom I thought were allies due to their strange presence, eating the other was bizarre. Moreover, both of them had human forms, at least in appearance.

It was a sight that would have made an ordinary person faint or have a seizure. While I was staring at the gruesome cannibalism.

Swoosh!

I heard the sound of something piercing flesh and bone.

The source of the sound was the head of the monster in the form of a woman.

A pair of horns grew on top of it. At the same time, her skin turned pale, and her blood turned blue.

Blue blood.

Seeing that, something came to mind.

‘Blue blood is noble blood. In other words, the blood of nobles.’

Noble. A horned noble.

That meant only one thing in this world.

“The nobles of the Lost Paradise…?”

The nobles of the Lost Paradise. A group of demons with a twisted ideology that the current world is a distorted Lost Paradise and that they must lead Earth into a world of demons to create a new paradise.

A global terrorist organization. Even is just a lower organization of theirs. They are a small elite group of 72 nobles.

Each one was a monster with formidable power and authority.

A monster that would normally appear in the later part of the novel appeared in a completely unexpected place.

This doesn’t make sense. If the scenario is going to be broken, it should at least be reasonable.

‘Why is that thing already here.’

Of course, I had encountered nobles in the inner world before and even hunted them myself, but that guy was weakened.

The noble I met before and the noble I met now.

The two were in completely different states.

The one in front of me was one of the undisputed leaders of the demons with full power. But why on earth.

But is a leader being eaten by a commoner that they should be leading?

My mind was confused amidst the rising disgust and revulsion.

Whether I was like that or not.

“Rebellion,” who was eating the noble, was covered in blood from head to toe and laughing. The flavor was a bit disappointing compared to the blood he had been eating with his face buried on the floor, but he had drunk some good blood.

More than that, what was bringing out his laughter.

Was something in the form of a heart in the woman’s arms. It wasn’t a real heart.

Her heart was already being chewed by “Rebellion” like gum.

The heart-shaped object was the source of the strange magical waves it was constantly emitting. And the moment I saw it.

“Why… is that here…?”

I was momentarily surprised by the sight of a commoner eating a noble.

Unfortunately. The outline of the heart that had appeared in this place made my mind go blank.

「Heart of anemone」

The appearance of a rare object that should not have appeared in a place like this made me swallow hard. I instinctively sensed it.

From this moment on, the situation and the war situation will change.

And at the center of it was the monster in the form of a woman.

“What’s going on because of one person who suddenly appeared…”