Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 345

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 345

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 345

Branches Extending to the World (5)

The Red Knight is a formidable opponent.

Solid armor and immense power.

His strengths are numerous.

His greatest strength is none other than the Red Knight’s flames.

“This is a bit inconvenient.”

Leaning against the World Tree, Seungwoo tracked the Red Knight’s location.

The guy is quite a distance away. He doesn’t seem to have found me yet, but it’s only a matter of time before he does.

“I’ll take a gamble.”

Time is running out.

The Red Knight rampaging nearby is a problem, but the enormous presences felt far away were getting on Seungwoo’s nerves. The first to be felt were two presences. Auras on par with the Red Knight.

Surely, those must be the Black Knight and the Blue Knight.

And behind them, other weaker presences.

People presumed to be warriors of the Union blocked the Black Knight and Blue Knight’s path with their bodies. They charged from behind and attacked head-on. Such attacks alone couldn’t stop their advance, but.

They could buy some time.

“Still, there’s only so much they can do.”

Vitality scattered from the hooves of the horses ridden by the Black Knight and Blue Knight.

It was evidence that corpses were piled high on the horses’ hooves. Presumably, dying warriors were trampled and killed.

It’s impossible to know just how many people have died.

Seungwoo gripped his sword and thought.

‘If those people are coming out like that, I have no choice either.’

Hiding behind the World Tree, he took a stance.

A short, concise stance.

Without putting particular strength in his lower body or arms, he focused solely on the sword. Pierce and kill in one go. With only that thought in mind, he raised his sword.

Swish!

The blade of the sword in his hand made a sound as if it would cut through the air.

Hearing that small yet threatening sound, the Red Knight turned his head.

Holding the hilt of his broken sword, the Red Knight knew that Seungwoo hadn’t been caught in the fire that engulfed the dry forest. Flames wouldn’t be enough to kill him. But close combat wasn’t advantageous either.

Clearly, the Red Knight was stronger in terms of power, but Seungwoo overwhelmingly surpassed him in skill and experience.

“Co.me. Ou.t. No.w.”

The Red Knight didn’t choose a frontal assault.

He chose to widen the range of the flames and increase their intensity.

However, he couldn’t harm the Mother Tree, so he contained the flames around it. For the spirits, no, for the Knights, the Mother Tree wasn’t just a simple ‘mother.’ She was the creator who created them and the queen who led them on the right path.

To set fire so close to such a Mother Tree.

It was outrageous. An impiety not even worth considering.

Even if the swordsman wearing the mask, Seungwoo, might be hiding under the Mother Tree, the Red Knight completely dismissed that possibility. Because.

“Mo.th.er. Has. Not. Sp.o.ken.”

If that guy was near the Mother Tree.

The Mother Tree would have said something.

But the Mother said nothing.

“He. Is. Ou.t.si.de. The. Fl.am.es.”

The Red Knight was certain.

Since the Mother had said nothing, he was absolutely sure that the guy was outside his flames. He had no doubt. In the end, the Red Knight’s attention turned outward, and all his abilities came out, turning into flames that covered the area.

And that moment was the opportunity.

Thump!

A sound like lightning striking.

Startled by the sudden sound, the Red Knight quickly turned around.

But it was already too late.

「Gwanhonggeuk (貫紅極)」(Penetrating Red Extreme – *a technique focused on piercing with extreme force*)

A red trail followed behind, long and continuous.

A red trail of intense color, so vivid that it could be clearly seen even in the area where visibility was obscured by the fire. The moment he recognized the trail, the Red Knight’s armor was already crushed.

Thud!

First, a hole was pierced in the armor.

At the same time, the back of the armor. The backplate was crushed by the impact. The impact was so great that, in that instant, the spirit’s core, which he had possessed since his days as a spirit, shook as if it would explode.

“Gaaah!”

The metallic vocal cords stretched out, screaming.

The Red Knight, desperately flailing his arms, tried to grab something that had pierced his back, but the weapon that pierced his back emerged into his chest much faster than he could reach out.

Bang!

A much clearer and more enormous burst of sound than when something entered his back.

As if to prove that enormous sound. The weapon that had passed through his back and emerged from his chest created a tremendous gust of wind.

────!!!

The gust of wind was so powerful that the nearby fire was extinguished in an instant.

And as much as that impact was, the ground where the Red Knight stood cracked, and the moment the weapon that had burst out of his chest was embedded in the ground.

Thump!

A tremendous vibration that was impossible to stand against stimulated the ground.

An unbelievably powerful attack. The Red Knight, unable to move his stiff body, only slightly shifted his gaze to examine the weapon stuck in the ground.

“Sword.”

What entered the Red Knight’s eyes was a single sword.

A clean sword that appeared to have just been used in actual combat. No matter how closely he looked, there were almost no signs of use. However, the blade of the sword, which had just moved at high speed, surpassed the speed of sound, and easily penetrated the Red Knight’s armor, was almost on the verge of breaking.

Whether the blade was scorched due to the supersonic throw.

Or perhaps the surface of the metal had melted as it crossed this hot gale, but what was certain was that the sword’s life was now over.

“Li.ke. Mi.ne.”

The Red Knight said stiffly.

The hilt of the broken sword he held in his hand.

It was so badly broken that it was no longer possible to distinguish whether the original form of the hilt he was holding was a spear or a sword. The dying appearance of the sword resembled the Red Knight’s sword. More than anything, that pathetic appearance.

“You really do resemble him.”

“Hu.man.”

Because the fire had spread over such a wide area.

Even if the fire was extinguished in an instant by the gust of wind as the sword flew at high speed, the surroundings were still a sea of fire. However, this also meant that the path the sword had flown through was completely extinguished.

Step, step.

Walking along the path blackened with ash, Seungwoo pulled out the sword embedded in the ground. Seungwoo examined the condition of the sword and said.

“As you said, you are in the same state as the sword.”

The sword in Seungwoo’s hand had now reached the end of its lifespan.

The blade was bent in a crooked manner.

The bent blade was almost on the verge of breaking.

Perhaps the blade would fall off if touched.

The appearance of this sword.

Resembled the gaunt and pathetic Red Knight.

“It seems to have worked well.”

It looked as if a huge and powerful cannonball had pierced a huge metal plate.

Naturally, the inside of the Red Knight was visible. Seungwoo looked around, examining the inside of the Red Knight.

As expected.

“My victory is certain.”

The core is no longer visible in the Red Knight’s chest.

“Ye.s. Yo.u. Wi.n.”

Unlike ordinary creatures, the core has a greater value than the heart for a Knight who does not possess any organs.

It is more than the sum of the heart and brain.

Since that core had just disappeared with that attack.

It was a miracle that the Red Knight was even speaking like this.

In a situation where it wouldn’t be strange for him to collapse at any moment, the Red Knight finally knelt down.

The half-destroyed armor rolled on the floor, making an unpleasant metallic sound. The devastated armor thus signaled the Red Knight’s end. As expected, he couldn’t even leave a last will.

I knew it from the moment the core disappeared.

“…Honestly, I’m really glad the gamble worked.”

Seungwoo examined the sword on the verge of breaking.

The Red Knight’s sword. This sword, a memento from his teacher, was a weapon made by melting the weapon and armor of the Red Knight before him. A sword and armor made of the same metal.

In the battle between the two, the sword was the ultimate victor.

Seungwoo, having retrieved the broken sword, also collected the Red Knight’s remains.

If he had the chance, he intended to use the guy’s body as material again to repair or remake the sword. As Seungwoo was cleaning up the scene without any emotion or admiration.

Ding!

That sound was heard again.

“I thought I had cut off the system’s signal with that sword strike just now.”

Along with the familiar mechanical sound, the system said in a regretful voice.

[Unfortunately, I cannot be severed by such things.]

The pure white sword strike that had bisected the Divine Tree.

That wasn’t aimed at the Divine Tree, but a sword strike aimed at severing the connection with the system. However, in the end, all that was cut was a single tree.

‘It seems that it can’t be cut off by physical means.’

Seungwoo recognized that the system’s voice was coming from above, and in order to prevent the system from speaking to him, he cut off all the miscellaneous signals existing in the area.

Even the signaling system that the Divine Tree was sending to the Red Knight.

He cut it off at that moment.

Thanks to this, the Red Knight did not receive any information from the Divine Tree, so he did not realize that Seungwoo was hiding behind the Divine Tree.

This was an unexpected effect, but in fact, it was not the effect Seungwoo wanted.

There was only one thing Seungwoo wanted to do even to bisecting the Divine Tree.

“If you’re planning to make a lot of noise, disappear quickly.”

[Surely, you didn’t unleash that sword strike just to say such a thing?]

Seungwoo did not answer the system’s words.

Step, step, Seungwoo moved his feet, examining each of the worlds hanging on the roots.

He didn’t care about the system.

“And this is a world that has already been destroyed. This place has also been destroyed, and that place has also been destroyed. There isn’t a single world that isn’t in ruins.”

[Can you even see that?]

Seungwoo sensed and analyzed the presences of living things.

Even if the world inside this marble is a vast planet like a real world, it is now closer to a planet model that fits perfectly in my hand. It’s easy to detect living things in a small model.

[You say that’s easy?]

The system expressed its incomprehension.

Whether that guy expressed his opinion or not, Seungwoo did not respond to each one.

Having realized that there was no way for him to sever the connection with the system, Seungwoo knew that it was much wiser to close his mouth than to open it.

Having closed his mouth like that and observed various worlds, Seungwoo.

“…….”

Remained silent and instinctively stiffened.

A sound that could not be formed into words escaped from Seungwoo’s mouth.

“…Ah.”

He himself forgot what he wanted to say.

However, soon after. He even forgot that he had forgotten something.

Compared to what was in front of Seungwoo’s eyes now, trivial questions were not even worth pondering deeply.

“Why is this…?”

Seungwoo muttered words that were not formed into sentences, stroking the particularly devastated glass marble. A marble full of indelible scars. Although there were many wounds, the world inside the marble was sprouting green shoots over those many scars.

Even if the scars cannot be erased.

The wounds are healing.

Unlike the other worlds that ended in destruction, hope existed in this world.

The world visible beyond the small glass marble was a world Seungwoo knew well.

“Why is my world…?”

The very land where he was born and raised.

Was now in Seungwoo’s hands.