Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 335

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 335

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 335

The Storm Rages (5)

On the ramparts.

I strained my eyes, staring blankly ahead.

Tiny dots moved busily. Like insects.

But one thing was certain: they weren’t simple opponents like insects.

Focusing my sight a little more, clearer outlines came into view.

“Um, Hero? What on earth can you see from this distance? I can’t see anything.”

The guard next to me couldn’t see anything.

He asked me, but I shut my ears and muttered what I saw.

“……Armor.”

Something far away reflected the moonlight.

The smooth texture, like the surface of refined metal, was visible even from here.

“Red, blue, black.”

Colorfully armored figures were slowly walking towards us.

Let’s see. My eyes slowly analyzed the small dots.

“At this distance and speed, they’ll probably march for about two days.”

Next, the silhouettes.

I roughly estimated how many small, light-reflecting dots there were.

Not just one or two, of course, but roughly 80,000? 100,000?

─You miscalculated. Can’t you see what’s behind?

‘……Behind?’

I suddenly received help.

Just in case, I focused on the back part of the light-reflecting dots, as she said.

Hmm, I can’t see anything.

‘It’s a shame I can’t use 「Yoma’s Eye」 at times like this.’ [Yoma’s Eye is a skill that allows the user to perceive magic flow and discern souls.]

If only I could use the eerie Yoma’s Eye, which captures the flow of magic and discerns souls, I could perfectly count not just the approximate number of enemies, but down to the single digits.

But it can’t be helped.

For now, I have no choice but to rely on my naked eyes.

“……I can’t see because of the winding corners and tall trees.”

“What on earth have you been talking about since earlier?”

“Sorry, but please be quiet for a moment.”

“Yes, yes! S-sorry!”

I asked for silence because he kept talking to me from the side.

Then the soldier stationed next to me gasped!

He covered his mouth with both hands and kept silent.

Well, it’s good that you listen to what I say, but isn’t it a bit much that you dropped the spear you were holding on the floor to keep silent, and your face turned blue because you blocked your mouth and nose too hard?

“Let go of your hands.”

“……Can I let go?”

“Did I tell you to hold your breath and die?”

“Huh? But just now……”

He’s really simple and ignorant.

“I just told you to shut your mouth for a moment. I never told you to hold your breath.”

How can shutting your mouth be understood as holding your breath? I couldn’t understand it at all.

Then a soldier stationed on the ramparts said.

“But usually, if you want a quiet situation, aren’t even the sounds of breathing annoying? Other generals usually threaten to kill you if they catch you breathing while they’re concentrating.”

Ah.

It wasn’t just this guy who was weird, but the whole coalition was weird.

Then that’s understandable. Originally, if only one person’s personality stands out, they are likely to be ostracized, but if a group is collectively out of their minds, the normal person is bound to look like the crazy one.

─You don’t need to listen to strange guys.

‘That’s a harsh assessment.’

─So, can you see them well?

‘Well…… I can see them roughly because I keep trying to see them.’

I tried to maintain the sensation of using the skill, 「Yoma’s Eye」 as much as possible.

The structure that had been proceeding by imbuing magic into the eyes, enveloping the eyes with that magic, and granting various abilities began to manifest in a rough, intuitive, and simple way.

“The numbers don’t add up neatly.”

─Exactly how many?

“If you calculate roughly, it falls to exactly 300,000, but it slightly exceeds that.”

─You can count even that?

Of course.

From the beginning, I had already calculated all of that.

“To be exact, it should be exactly 300,000, but there are three more, no, six more.”

I pointed with my finger.

Three dots at the very front among the small dots.

If you look closely, you can see that there are three armored knights on horseback. That means there are six like that.

“Three riding on top. Three horses running below.”

─The treatment of knights is more meager than I thought.

“Of course. It’s a bit much to count those monsters as people.”

That’s not the only reason.

‘And I can’t treat those monsters the same as the others.’

The running horses.

The mounted knights.

Neither are ordinary monsters.

If I convert them to the formula I know, the horses are about 3rd Circle, and the knights are about 2nd Circle [Circles refer to levels of magical power, with higher numbers indicating greater strength].

Perhaps a pair of horses and knights could easily destroy a country. And there are as many as three pairs of such monsters running towards us.

“……We’re doomed.”

Perhaps because of the knights behind them.

Even though they were riding horses, the knights’ movements were very slow.

It seems they are matching their pace to the march.

“At that speed, it will take them two days to get here.”

And it won’t take even a day to crush everything the coalition has.

When I think about it carefully, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

‘What do you mean a day? Maybe an hour. If it’s fast, it’ll be over in an instant.’

An instant. 15 minutes.

I feel sorry for the people of the coalition, but they don’t have the weapons, food, manpower, armaments, tactics, and 余裕 [Japanese word meaning ‘leeway’ or ‘room to spare’] to withstand that army.

This group didn’t have it.

“……Should I try it out?”

For a moment, I wondered how the knights would react to an attack.

Logically, it is impossible to see their march from this distance.

Even an archer with the eyes of a hawk, or someone with the ability to see a thousand miles away, cannot see this distance, which takes two full days to reach, so easily. It’s only possible because it’s me.

‘Perhaps they have no thoughts of attacking at all.’

Looking at the way they are deploying their forces, thinking that they are the ones attacking and not even having a sliver of an idea that they will be defeated, I can see their thoughts clearly.

‘An overwhelming victory. That’s all they’re thinking about in their heads.’

In what war in the world do you bring the entire army like that?

Even the march is in a straight line.

It’s perfect for being destroyed by artillery fire in the middle.

‘Hey.’

─Why are you calling?

‘Wouldn’t it be nice to kill about 30,000 people?’

I noticed such a march in advance, how can I stand not bombing them?

─Even so, isn’t 30,000 too many? Of course, I also agree with reducing the number of enemies even a little before fighting.

‘Agree, but?’

─If the enemy gets desperate and arrives faster than two days because of a mistake, it’ll be a big problem.

That’s right.

I agree with Tamamo’s words.

‘Then we can use a better method.’

─Why are you trying to kill more?

‘If you kill about 70,000 people in advance, everything will be solved.’

If you kill 70,000 enemies in advance, it’s like pulling out the weeds in advance.

You can also expect additional effects.

For example, what Tamamo said.

You can also prevent variables such as the enemies, who have been preemptively attacked and become desperate, marching faster, or only the guys on horseback coming in advance and wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

The firepower to wipe out 70,000 troops in an instant.

Who knows where such firepower will come from again? Next time, it might target them, and even a madman is bound to avoid stray bullets.

─I admit that’s the best way, but you know the prerequisite, right?

‘Of course, I know that if you kill 70,000 knights in one shot from an unexpected angle so that the enemy doesn’t notice.’

Looking at it this way.

This is completely crazy.

‘But there’s no reason why I can’t do it, right?’

I’ve done it once before, so what.

Is there any reason why I can’t do it again?

I just need to be careful with the damaged magic circuit.

Like last time, I will put equal risks and returns on the scale through magic, add one more condition, and lead the situation in the direction I want.

Whoosh!

When I flicked my left hand, a very small spark ignited.

A very small flame that reminds me of a lighter.

─It’s too small, will it work with that size?

The flame is so small that it is not easily visible from a distance.

It was so small and faint that even if it flew in the sky at night, it wouldn’t be strange to mistake it for a shooting star.

It’s that hard to see.

‘I have no choice if I want to detonate it from a completely unexpected angle.’

I can’t help it if the size is small.

I moved the flame at high speed.

I used a lot of magic in this process, and the circuit gradually began to overheat, but luckily, the flame was able to sneak into the knights’ march before any abnormalities occurred in the circuit.

“…….”

I stood on the ramparts and stared silently at the sky.

I could see the movements of the flame and the knights, but from the perspective of the soldier stationed near me, it just looked like I was standing there blankly.

“Hero? Can’t you hear me? Hero?”

What is it? It doesn’t look like he’s looking at the scenery.

Is there anyone there?

“There’s nothing there?”

Just in case, I stretched my neck out, but I couldn’t see anything.

He may have missed it, but the soldier was an elf archer who used to hunt with a bow in the forest and protect the country and village even 20 years ago.

That means his eyes are better than those of an average hawk.

“……What is it?”

The soldier tilted his head and expressed his doubts.

Meanwhile, I put the price on the scale.

The price was the exact number of knights who would die from this spell.

70,009 people. The exact number of knights who would lose their lives from the spell I would cast.

If I get this number exactly right, I will be able to obtain the firepower I had in mind as a condition of the price.

And if I kill even a little more or kill less, and the expected number is off, the price will be my left eyeball.

I will pay all of it.

‘You have to bet this much to make it a bet.’

I considered all the variables in my head.

‘Boom!’

I injected magic into the flame.

And detonated it as it was.

─!

──!!

The flame itself exploded once.

The aftermath of the explosion swept through all directions.

Then a large number of knights in black armor and blue armor died.

The red knights were originally fire spirits, so they didn’t suffer any fire damage. However, they could not avoid the aftermath of the explosion.

In the end, the red knights who were close to the explosion died helplessly.

‘……Hmm.’

The number of people was exactly right.

The expected 70,009 people died.

Everything has been going according to the scenario I had in mind so far, which is good.

‘It’s a little disappointing.’

I wanted to see how the knights reacted to the explosion I caused.

That way, I can assume how they will act and set up the game in advance.

“Was that too much greed?”

“Hero……?”

“Ah, right. I forgot for a moment. You were here. Can you tell my words to the higher-ups for a moment?”

But when I think about it.

It seems like it was too much greed.

We are now in the eye of the storm.

Right now, it is endlessly calm, but the storm surrounding us will surely tear apart our precious things just by touching them.

“The storm will mercilessly harm our families and destroy our homes.”

It was a metaphor.

Family means the people of the coalition, and home means the foundation where the coalition is located. If things continue like this, the storm will trample everything on this land.

I explained everything I saw to the soldier.

Then I told him to go to the higher-ups and tell them.

“……Can you be sure of that?”

“Well, I guess you doubt the very fact that I said they’re coming.”

“……Everything. Honestly, I want to deny everything.”

Yes, it would be better if that sight was a lie or an illusion.

“Well, deny it if you want to deny it like that. After all, you and your families are the ones who are going to die, so what.”

You guys are the ones who are going to die. It’s not like I’m going to die.

I answered with a cynical attitude.

Honestly, from my point of view, it was frustrating beyond compare.

The enemies are advancing on the coalition every moment.

The water that has risen to our chins will now pounce to cut off the coalition’s breath.