Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 288

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 288

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 288

Unrestrained (3)

Although his left foot was severed, Baek Seok-ho’s recovery was swift.

He regenerated it immediately and created distance between us.

Sensing a sudden chill, Baek Seok-ho didn’t attack again but instead began to scrutinize the sword in my hand.

“Are you concerned about this sword?”

“…It’s holy. Was that sword what just cut off my ankle?”

‘Doesn’t seem like it,’ I thought.

Muttering to himself, Baek Seok-ho focused on the sword as he gathered his thoughts.

A pure white sword.

The sword had no embellishments.

Usually, a master craftsman would engrave their name on a famous sword.

Yet, despite being a masterpiece, this sword bore no craftsman’s name.

It had no distinguishing features.

A sword that adhered solely to the fundamentals of swordsmanship.

It perfectly mirrored the characteristics of my ancient demigod.

‘Holy Sword. It’s been a while since I’ve held you.’

The sacred sword, Holy Sword.

Born from the lives of countless artisans and blessed by the Holy Mother, wielded by the Sword Saint to vanquish numerous calamities, the Holy Sword was a myth in its own right.

A living myth. It rivaled Astrape [a mythical thunder weapon] or possessed even greater power.

‘Although this sword is a replica, it suits me better than any other.’

Of course, it wasn’t the original.

The original was probably stored in my room in the original world.

What I held was a copy.

However, being a copy didn’t mean its performance was terrible.

‘It’s true that its performance is overwhelmingly inferior to the original.’

Even considering that, the objective quality of this sword was high.

The sword stored in the ring’s space. What was its name again?

Was it the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi [a legendary Japanese sword]? Compared to that sword, which couldn’t unleash its full potential due to a powerful curse, this was several times better.

Solid and sharp.

And above all.

‘Even though it’s a replica, it perfectly captures the unique sensation.’

It was ideal for wielding swordsmanship.

I swung the sword in my hand.

The sword, devoid of any profound principles, sliced through the air.

Clang—!!

The sound of metal colliding with something hard echoed, and my hand was pushed back.

I blocked Baek Seok-ho’s attack with the trajectory of my previous swing.

Baek Seok-ho doubted his eyes at the effortless block.

“Even if it was just a feint, to block it so easily…”

The naturalness of the defense made him suspicious.

‘Could it be that this guy didn’t just block my attack but guided it towards the sword to block it?’

It wasn’t an unreasonable suspicion.

The moment Baek Seung-woo held the sword, his body trembled slightly.

He instinctively judged that he shouldn’t swing that sword and had to stop it.

So, seeing his attack blocked so naturally,

Baek Seok-ho wondered if his assumption might be correct.

‘Where should I aim? Where should I strike?’

Although the sudden change in atmosphere the moment he grabbed the sword was suspicious,

The momentum was far too weak to overcome Baek Seok-ho right now.

If he unleashed an overwhelmingly powerful and vast offensive that couldn’t be blocked, the situation would undoubtedly favor him.

And I was aware of that fact as well.

‘Is guiding the trajectory and deflecting all I can do? I’ve lost a lot of my edge.’

If only my body were like it used to be, I could have seized a definite victory.

That one difference was lacking.

Now, I was free from the problems of lifespan and health, but even so, my body, having lived as a cripple for years, was severely damaged.

So severely damaged that.

I even researched and sought out ways to overwork my body rather than heal and fix it.

In fact, the reason I created drugs to regenerate organs, bones, and flesh was to prevent my body from completely breaking down from this overwork.

It was a bit too self-serving to say it was purely for research or as a means to ensnare Nine Tails Guild.

‘In fact, it was excessive as a mere means to ensnare the guild.’

It was appropriate for attracting the attention of corporations, the media, and the public, but it was too much.

My invention was revolutionary enough to change the history of medicine.

Even while developing the drug, I hesitated several times.

Should I secretly handle this development as a failure and complete it in secret for my own use, and create a new invention to bring Nine Tails onto the stage?

I repeated the same 고민 [Korean word for “worry” or “dilemma”] several nights.

Then, I finally realized that I didn’t have enough time to conduct new research. Even for me, there was an absolute lack of time and physical capacity to conduct new research and complete existing inventions.

Besides, my physical condition wasn’t very good either.

I was about to become the first test subject.

In the end, I publicly revealed this groundbreaking invention.

‘The social repercussions were secondary.’

My physical condition was that urgent.

There was a clear limit to increasing strength and durability with enhancement magic. It wasn’t the limit of magic.

It was the limit of the body.

Maximum A-rank.

If I enhanced it beyond that, my body wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

If it breaks down, I can repair it, but if it’s ruined, there’s no solution.

Forced to be satisfied with my current physical condition, I maximized my strength. Muscles swelled, and black tattoos appeared on my skin.

All were means to increase strength.

‘I’ll guide the trajectory of the sword and sever his neck.’

─Calculate the distance and lure him in?

‘Can you do it?’

─I can if you give me 5% of your mana.

‘How much time do you need?’

─Minimum 37 seconds. Maximum 41 seconds.

An average of 39 seconds, huh.

Good. That’s enough time to recover even if I use 5% of my mana.

I recover 1% of my mana every 10 seconds.

5% is worth investing.

Nod.

As I moved my head up and down, ominous mana began to surge from behind me. It was the unique energy of sorcery.

“Sorcery?!”

Baek Seok-ho noticed as soon as Tamamo began preparing the sorcery.

Come to think of it, was divine power also a type of sorcery?

If we were to clearly classify them, Tamamo’s “Sorcery of the Beginning” would be completely different from the family’s divine power from the root.

But there were various points of contact in that mystical power.

This ominous aura was one of them.

Baek Seok-ho’s mind was sold to an unknown sorcery.

Not missing the opportunity, I swung my sword.

This time, I clearly imbued it with principles and form.

Seven Stars Sword Style.

Seven sword forms based on the tradition of severing seven calamities.

The stance of swinging the sword was exceedingly simple.

The most basic swordsmanship.

However, the unique point was.

That I was piling all sorts of principles on top of it.

“Got you.”

Seizing the opening, I swung the sword horizontally.

Sixth Form.

Mizar.

Imbued with the energy of Kaiyang, the starlight was contained within the sword, unleashing a pure white sword aura.

The high-speed sword aura didn’t remain on the sword.

It became a massive slash, breaking the sound barrier to bisect Baek Seok-ho’s upper and lower body horizontally.

Thud──!!!

The sound of something huge and heavy crashing.

Baek Seok-ho, who had been observing the sword from above, fell straight into the adjacent building. The building wall collapsed with his fall, scattering thick dust.

‘I don’t know where he is.’

In this case.

“I’ll have to swing again.”

I won’t give him a chance to escape.

Coincidentally, the building Baek Seok-ho fell into was an empty one.

The second headquarters of Nine Tails Guild, which was under construction.

A building where almost the entire exterior had been completed with astronomical amounts of money.

Yet, the owner was about to crash into the building and blow it away.

First Form.

Dubhe.

This form was about striking the sword from top to bottom.

The first star of the guiding constellation in the night sky, Tian Shu.

The sword named after it was leading Baek Seok-ho to the afterlife at this very moment, befitting its title of guide.

Clang clang clang!

The pure white sword aura bisected the floor and continued towards the building.

The sword aura that collided with the building as it was, neatly bisected the completed exterior.

The building was cleanly cut in half along with the floor.

The dust clouds that rose like clouds from the overwhelming power were blown far away into the sky by the powerful wind pressure.

“…I definitely felt something just now.”

─How is it? Do you think you got him?

“No, I only felt something.”

The moment I unleashed the sword aura,

I could tell that Baek Seok-ho was in the trajectory of the sword aura, but I didn’t feel anything beyond that.

Then he must be alive and well.

─Then I’ll guide you this time.

‘Is it ready?’

─Almost. I can do it the moment you swing the sword.

‘Then I’ll go first.’

I raised the sword upwards.

Pure white starlight descended on the pure white sword.

The way I swung it was the same as before.

From top to bottom.

There was no movement beyond that.

However, the sword I was swinging this time had a distinctly different purpose from before.

If the First Form, Dubhe, strikes down starlight, this one focused on the concept of ‘cutting.’ The sword contained the fifth star.

The starlight of Yuheng.

Fifth Form.

Alioth.

As the sword aura was emitted, an abnormally sharp energy shredded everything in the area.

Even what touched the wind pressure generated by swinging the sword.

It didn’t distinguish between trees or steel and cut them off entirely.

The sword swung like that.

Whoosh!

Despite being so sharp,

It didn’t properly cut anything except inanimate objects.

Baek Seok-ho wasn’t in the direction the sword aura was heading.

To be precise, he was there, but he disappeared.

“My back is open.”

Baek Seok-ho, who had allowed two direct hits, reacted to the speed at which I swung the sword, at least roughly.

Although nine of his toes were barely severed because the sword was mixed with the subtlety of speed.

This level of injury was a cheap price compared to seizing the opponent’s back.

Rumble!!

A thunderous sound was heard.

By the time I recognized the sound, a black lightning bolt was already close to my nose.

An attack faster than sound.

I was late to recognize it and hadn’t even taken a proper defensive stance.

However, the sword I had lowered to strike from top to bottom was facing upwards. Where there is a technique to strike down, there is also a technique to face upwards.

─I’ve subtly distorted his vision. Now!

‘I know, don’t rush me.’

The black lightning narrowly aimed beside my head.

Fizz!

My right ear bled and turned black from the electricity that scattered in all directions. An attack narrowly avoided.

The illusion that Tamamo had created by investing about a minute made Baek Seok-ho’s five senses slightly distorted to the right of reality.

The best timing she had created.

Not missing this moment, I took a step forward and raised the sword upwards.

Second Form.

Tianxuan resided in the sword.

Baek Seok-ho, who witnessed the moment the starlight resided in the sword up close, hurriedly tried to pull his body back. His movements, moving at the speed of lightning, were very light and quick, but.

Unfortunately, starlight was also light.

The moment the sword sparkled, Baek Seok-ho had already been cut.

Swish!

The sword was stained with blood and pieces of organs.

It was stained so much that it flowed like the sword was bleeding.

I roughly swung the sword to shake off all the blood and organs and immediately took the next stance.

‘It was a little subtle.’

The fight wasn’t over yet, so I took a step forward.

For some reason, my body was flying backwards.

A situation where I was facing forward but going backwards.

It was a paradoxical situation, but the judgment was quick.

Baek Seok-ho strongly struck the shield he had spread around me, and my body, unable to withstand the impact, was pushed back.