Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 248

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 248

Doppelganger (3)

The fight is becoming increasingly chaotic.

The intervention of additional enemies and the intrusion of completely unexpected figures. From the start, this fight was more of an accidental clash, triggered by the intentional manipulation of actions through “Vine’s” scent.

I wasn’t prepared for this fight at all. But the end of the fight is still vividly clear. Even if it becomes more chaotic than this, the end will come soon.

Whether it’s positive or negative.

“You’ve been faltering since you lured us in! What, are you running out of magic?!”

“…When I perfectly imitated your authority, I even felt a sense of existential dread and despair, but it seems your magic consumption is immense. We must eliminate such an ominous seed like ‘Vepar’ here and now.”

The guys who were lamenting that the world was unfair until just now became emboldened. It was an unpleasant sight, but I could understand. Understanding and imitating their authority wasn’t particularly difficult, but the consumption of magic was holding me back.

In contrast, they didn’t need to invest as many resources as I did when wielding their authority. The difference in efficiency was significant.

Thanks to that, my magic was depleting quickly. My magic is among the most abundant in the world, but.

Even for me, magic isn’t infinite.

Unless I’m guaranteed a 10-minute break during the fight.

Even with an immense S+ magic capacity, if I’m not given time to recover, I’ll eventually run dry like other mages.

But here, a clever mage would think this:

If your magic runs out, can’t you stockpile it in advance or steal it from others? That’s right.

However, the former requires a bit of time for absorption, and the latter requires more skillful magic manipulation than the opponent, not to mention a whole host of prerequisites.

Still, if possible, the latter is much more efficient.

So, I chose the latter.

“Murciélago [Spanish for ‘bat’].”

─────!!!

My shadow silently burrowed into the ground.

Because it was a confined corner, the shadow cast by the moonlight was stretched out to its maximum. The stretched shadow burrowed into the ground and spread out in a radius of 1 km around me.

The ominous presence of magic rippling from the ground.

The two demons belatedly recognized this and were startled.

“What is this? The floor… when did you spread so much magic?”

“Evacuate immediately! The quality and quantity of magic are low, but it’s spread out too widely. If it were to explode like this…!”

Unlike “Vepar,” who was surprised and resentful that he hadn’t noticed this trick sooner, “Vine” calmly analyzed the situation.

A mage with little magic left has laid all his remaining magic on the floor like landmines. A self-destructive end?

There’s no way a mage fighting equally with two Marquis-class demons would resort to such self-destruction. On the contrary. He judged that it was worth investing all his remaining magic.

“You’re quite perceptive.”

But it’s too late.

I’ve already invested all the magic remaining in my body to create and manipulate shadows. The preparation is complete. All that’s left is to actively take advantage of the fact that it’s the dead of night.

Now, here we go.

“Flip over─.”

“Stop him! Mouth! Block his mouth, at least. Block his mouth so he can’t chant!”

“I know that, so shut up and attack!!”

The two belatedly attempt to attack.

A large amount of liquid and perfume with a concentration so thick that it’s clearly visible rush towards me like a tidal wave from an unknown source.

I smiled as I watched their attack. They wouldn’t be able to hear me because of the sound of the attack, so I muttered to myself.

Thanks for wasting your resources.

“!!!!”

“Wait, we need to stop attacking even now…!”

Just as my magic isn’t infinite, their magic is also starting to run dry. In a situation where they wouldn’t be surprised to feel impatient, like watching the balance in their bank account dwindle, they’re launching such a large-scale attack.

Thank you so much. I wonder what percentage of their remaining magic they invested. Even if I underestimate it, it seems like it’s well over 20%.

I carefully analyzed the attack approaching right in front of me, applying the magic volumetric ratio. Just before the attack pulverized and ground my front like a drill.

“─My shadow.”

I completed my magic with a short incantation.

I usually think of incantations as meaningless magic processes, but this one was so large in scale that I had no choice but to mutter it.

And then─────!

Thoughts slow down, and space distorts.

Kugugugugung!!!

Along with the sound of the earth’s surface flipping over, the startled demons hurriedly tried to escape, but their thoughts gradually slowed down, causing headaches.

My head hurts so much that I don’t know where to move. My sense of direction isn’t normal either. The slowed thoughts and distorted space didn’t stop until all the earth’s surface within a 1 km radius was flipped over.

Thud!

A sound of something closing was heard. Everyone regained their senses and scanned their surroundings at the loud noise that sounded like a giant door being forcibly closed and locked.

Then, no one could hide their shock.

“What. Where is this?”

“It’s dark, I can’t see anything.”

“Instructor, no, Masked Man! Where is this?!”

When I regained my senses and opened my eyes, there was not just a ceiling I had never seen before. An entirely new world unfolded.

There was oxygen needed for breathing, and there was a floor to step on with every step. But in the space above my head where the sky should be, there was only pitch-black darkness. The floor also had only a wide horizon far away. There were no geographical features or hills at all.

It was a very distorted world. It looked like a world that an incompetent god had given up on creating halfway through making the Earth.

“The structure is severely distorted for a mage’s [Domain]? It doesn’t look like magic or modern abilities. Is it perhaps an ancient species’ authority?”

“An ancient species? You, who’s copying me. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, do you know anything about this?”

“Don’t call it copying.”

“Okay, copycat.”

Two girls with the same face.

Even the way they fought and spoke was identical. Leona spoke to the one who had imitated everything about her. After entering this dark space, the expression of the guy who imitated her wasn’t good.

Until she fought herself, she was burning with a secret competitive spirit behind her annoyed expression. But that competitive spirit melted away like snow. He no longer paid attention to the fight with Leona and was staring at the masked man, presumed to have unfolded this space, with a hollow look.

“…I don’t like the way you talk, but okay. Do you see the black shape extending behind that masked guy?”

“It’s blurry, but I can see it. But it’s so faint that you can’t even recognize it unless you enhance your eyesight. What is that.”

“You… you’re completely ignorant about ancient species.”

“My ancestors know about it?”

In the distant past, when various races, not humans, ruled the land, there were so many species that it was necessary to classify them based on specific criteria. The highest of these criteria were ancient species and absolute species.

Ancient species refer to the extinct races of ancient times, and absolute species refer to literally absolute races armed with absolute authority and power, regardless of extinction.

Representative examples of each race include the Gumiho [Nine-tailed fox] for ancient species and the Dragon for absolute species. Of course, a Gumiho can evolve into a Celestial Fox, which can stand shoulder to shoulder with a Dragon through long training.

Since only one Celestial Fox has existed in history, it was not of great significance.

It is right to treat absolute species as completely out of the question. In the first place, information about them only exists in records, and not a single modern person has ever witnessed them, so it is meaningless to discuss them.

On the other hand, there are plenty of traces of ancient species ruling this land.

Immediately, the Celestial Fox Baekga, Sirius, and Leonhardt, which occupy a corner of the Nine Heavens Families. All three families are descendants of ancient species. The other six families are the same. All of them are descendants born with the blood of ancient species.

They have solidified their position for thousands of years by using the powerful influence and the power and traits passed down from their ancestors.

Well, the Celestial Fox Baekga uniquely regards the Celestial Fox, an absolute species, as the founder of the family, but that’s not particularly important. After all, their great authority has weakened over generations.

The innate power became weaker as the blood flowing through the veins thinned.

Because of that, there were families who practiced consanguineous marriage [marriage between close relatives] with the justification of protecting the bloodline like royalty, but they couldn’t last even two generations with that method.

“The current nobles are falling stars. Of course, stars live longer than organic matter, so even if they are falling stars, they will enjoy prosperity for another 1,000 years… That’s completely different.”

“What’s different about that guy?”

“The concentration of blood.”

Nobles and royals consider themselves noble.

What was born from that origin was the concept of bloodline or blue blood. Both are concepts that include blood, and those with this blood extremely hated their noble blood being mixed with or diluted by other lowly things.

But bloodline is bound to fade over generations.

However, there are cases where the ancestor’s genes are copied as they are.

Atavism [reappearance of ancestral traits], children who resemble the traits and constitution of their ancestors, were born more often in one generation. But this person would be the first to be born with traits that resemble the founder of the family endlessly over dozens of generations.

“Concentration? What does that matter? Instructor, no, Mask… Ah, it’s really annoying to gloss over it.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to gloss over it like that. You know that person, right?”

A lie that was too obvious.

She was lying so hard that she was chewing on her tongue, so I wondered if it was a sophisticated trick, but when I thought about it, it didn’t seem like the other person had that much brains. Eventually, he, who looked like Leona, sighed and continued.

“I know that person too. Baek Seung-woo. The way he fights is like that, and there doesn’t seem to be another pure bloodline like that in this era, so I recognized him at a glance.”

“Hey! You should have told me sooner if you knew! I was just trying to gloss over it, and only I became awkward!”

Leona shouted, feeling embarrassed. The other person didn’t pay much attention to her. Rather, she pointed with a look of discovery.

Where that finger is pointing.

There was an answer to what she had asked.

“Look at that right now.”

“That?”

“Look at the sky that that man, Baek Seung-woo, unfolded.”

The pitch-black that covered the sky. When I carefully observed the pitch-black, it looked as if countless bats had embroidered the sky with their eyes closed.

Bats not only carry plagues but are also symbols of vampires.

If an ordinary vampire brings one bat with him, then only a king or someone equivalent to him can bring so many bats.

And that thought was true.

True Ancestor. An ancient species in the legend that can only maintain its status if only royal blood is mixed among vampires. His authority was proven by the fact that the shadow of the Gumiho’s tail reflected on the moon overturned the surrounding space. This is not a mage’s [Domain] or [Sanctuary].

It’s the creation of a world.

Judging from the landscape with only a barren field, his proficiency is still immature, but if he becomes more and more familiar, all the physical laws and even the concept of life and death that occur here will come into his grasp.

It was at that moment.

Thud─!

Two bursts of sound piercing through a lump of meat. “Vepar” and “Vine,” who naturally caressed their chests at the too-fast sound, felt a foreign sensation in their chests.

A whip-shaped shadow pierced through the heart. It was a critical hit.

They hurriedly pulled the shadow out of their bodies and began to staunch the bleeding in their chests with magic, but no matter how much they tried to staunch the bleeding, the blood wouldn’t stop.

“What is this…!”

“Vine” with a bewildered expression.

He then turned his head to glare at Baek Seung-woo, who had made him like this, but there was only empty darkness in the place where he had been.

His eyes, which had lost their way.

Swish!

Gradually went down.

Below the neck, near the waist, the eyes that had been buried in the ground realized that their neck had been cut off entirely.

For a moment, he didn’t understand where the guy had attacked from, but soon he squeezed out his last strength and realized that all the space and concepts, including the sky and the floor of this area, were under Baek Seung-woo’s control.

The right to staunch the wound and the decision of where he would appear when he took a step were solely Baek Seung-woo’s will.

He, who had asserted that his proficiency was still immature, scratched his head with an embarrassed look.

“…I was completely wrong.”

Oh my, there was such a miscalculation.

Everything in this shadow world was already in his grasp.