Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 378

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 378

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 378

I didn’t want to see this here (3)

I piled the fallen researchers into a mountain.

“Should I move this over here?”

“Yeah, you’re doing great. There are too many corpses piled up on that side. Stack the remaining corpses neatly next to it.”

Despite the rather unpleasant sight, Luna stacked the corpses neatly, building a tower. The old Luna would have turned away and vomited, but she has grown now.

“You cut them so cleanly. How do you do such swordsmanship?”

“Just cut hard.”

“There’s no way you can cut this cleanly just by cutting hard.”

“People who can’t do it just lack effort.”

“Ugh, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Now she can even joke around with Seungwoo.

Seungwoo was impressed by her growth, but the biggest growth was something else.

“Should I burn all of this?”

“Burn the corpses here? Are you forgetting that we’re in the basement of the tower right now?”

“Hey, how could I forget that? Of course, I know that’s what I’m talking about.”

“Then what are you going to do about the fire hazard and lack of oxygen?”

Burning all those corpses one by one would take at least several days, and if they were burned all at once, the flames would become uncontrollably huge, engulfing the entire tower in a firestorm. If that happens, the Magic Tower is finished, this city is finished, and we are finished.

“Then do you think I would have said that without thinking about it?”

“Well, probably not, but I thought there was a good chance if it was you.”

“What do you think of me! Watch carefully how I do it.”

Luna reached out her hand.

Four small lights flickered above the palm of her hand reaching towards the corpse. Among the small lights, about the size of fireflies, the red light floated into the air.

The light that floated into the air flew far away and landed on the mountain of researchers, emitting a burst of brilliance.

Whoosh!

It became a flame.

The flame that landed on the corpse began to burn the people in an instant.

As soon as a musty smell began to accumulate on the 65th basement floor, a green light flashed from Luna’s palm. Green was the wind.

A refreshing breeze blew in the deep underground.

The refreshingness of the wind, which could not normally be felt underground, touched the flames, causing some places to burn fiercely and others to extinguish the flames, controlling the burning speed.

“…Th-this, could it be magic?!”

The former Magic Tower Master, with one arm blown away,

said in surprise with dead eyes as he waited for his turn.

“What’s wrong? Former Magic Tower Master, is this your first time seeing magic?”

“No, how could this be…?”

“You’re the master of the Magic Tower. How can you say you’re seeing magic for the first time?”

“That’s enough. It’s probably because that guy is seeing someone use it for the first time.”

“Huh? Magic? If people don’t use magic, who does?”

“Machines.”

Seungwoo pointed to the places where the researchers were sitting.

“You see those machines over there.”

“I don’t know how they work, but I can see them well.”

The world Luna lived in was not civilized enough for machines to develop, but thanks to the excellent craftsmanship of the surviving dwarves, it had reached the point just before machine civilization. Although it was not commercialized enough to be used in war, at least the leader of one alliance knew about it.

“The end of the wires connected to that gauge and panel. That’s all machines.”

“Yes, that’s right. Everything in this Magic Tower is a machine.”

“Huh?”

What on earth are you talking about?

“This place enjoys a medieval level of civilization. But how can there be so many machines…?”

“If you follow that logic, does an elevator connected from the surface to the underground make sense?”

“…That’s true.”

When I think about it, that’s right.

“If you think about it, there are more than one or two strange things about this world.”

Why don’t the monsters wandering outside the city attack the inside of the city? How can such a huge building with 77 floors above ground and 66 floors below ground be built so stably in the Middle Ages?

‘The more you dig into the strange things, the more there are.’

The powerful Magic Tower hands over its security duties to hunters, giving them a foothold and opportunity to grow. Why is there an elevator in the tower, and how is the energy produced to supply the entire city?

It was a question why, in the Magic Tower, the Tower of Wizards, the researchers had never used magic with their own hands without the power of devices for more than two weeks.

─But outside the tower, in the city, hunters used various abilities such as using mechanical devices or spewing fire to defeat monsters. How can you explain that?

‘You don’t know much because you haven’t been initiated into magic for long.’

Of course, Seungwoo, who was saying this, had only started learning magic less than a year ago, but at least he could point out the part that Tamamo misunderstood.

‘The abilities that hunters use consume magical power, but that doesn’t mean they are magic. There is no incantation at all. It is reasonable to see the hunters’ abilities as heterogeneities [unique, innate powers].’

Just like I did.

‘Heterogeneity is different from magic.’

Unlike magic, which can be learned regardless of type, heterogeneity has its abilities determined from birth. Incantations are unnecessary for using heterogeneity.

Because it’s not magic.

There is no reason for an incantation to exist.

‘I can say for sure.’

There are no wizards in this world.

That doesn’t mean there is no magic.

─I think I know what you mean. Magic existed, but at some point, magic disappeared. So the people of the Magic Tower called themselves researchers, not wizards, and used magic through mechanical devices armed with all sorts of theories and papers. Right?

“Aha! If that’s true, why did this world lose its magic? Magic is not fixed in one place like a building, so even if the world is driven to the brink of destruction, it is possible to pass on knowledge to the next generation.”

Luna clapped her hands after hearing our conversation through Tamamo’s mouth.

She seemed to have realized something. But unlike that action, her mouth was questioning.

The former Magic Tower Master listened to all of Luna’s words and then.

“…Impossible.”

“What did you say?”

He raised his head and looked at us.

“That is impossible.”

His eyes were darker than when all the researchers except himself had just died. His despair was conveyed through his eyes, which were darker than those of a person who had lost hope in life.

“As you said, our world is destroyed.”

“…Huh?”

“Even if the world is driven to the brink of destruction, knowledge can be passed on. You said it was strange why magic was lost, right?”

The Magic Tower Master continued with a hollow look.

Seungwoo stared at him intently.

‘I deliberately left him alive alone to get information, but I didn’t expect him to open his mouth on his own without doing anything.’

He was a man who had accumulated a lot of evil.

I was worried that he wouldn’t open his mouth no matter how harsh the torture was, but he opened his mouth so easily.

‘It’s even more unsettling.’

I was worried that he might be spewing out wrong information or opening his mouth like that to buy time. Whether he did or not, the former Magic Tower Master continued to speak.

“Then let me ask you. If the world is destroyed, can you learn magic? Can it be fully passed on to future generations?”

“Th-that’s…”

I don’t know.

Luna’s world is at the point just before destruction.

Since it was incorporated into the Otherworld, it was certain that her world had already been destroyed, but at least when she was alive and leading the alliance, it had not yet been destroyed.

On the other hand, this world is.

“You don’t know the answer. For a guy like that to be the Tower Master’s assistant.”

The Magic Tower is doomed. Doomed.

The former Magic Tower Master shook his head, letting out a strange hollow laugh.

Before he knew it, his eyes were gradually turning to madness. Luna, who met his eyes, took a step back without realizing it.

Even though she now had the courage not to blink an eye at moving and burning corpses.

“If you don’t know, I’ll tell you.”

The former Magic Tower Master said something shocking.

“If the world is destroyed, magic cannot be passed on to future generations.”

“H-how do you know that?”

“Of course I know. How can I not know when this world is destroyed.”

“…Huh?”

Destroyed? This world?

This city, which has a larger population and enjoys a relatively prosperous life than the alliance led by Luna? I couldn’t understand.

From Luna’s point of view, I didn’t want to admit it.

If I admitted his words, Luna’s alliance would be a worse place than this city, which the Tower Master said was destroyed even though it had not yet been destroyed.

“Destroyed? How can a city that is doing so well be destroyed?”

So I asked back.

“Walls that safely protect people, companies that still maintain organizations, and hunters who are just thugs but protect the peace, etc. It seems so prosperous that I can’t believe it’s destroyed?”

“Have you ever been outside this city?”

“No.”

I came from outside this world, but I don’t know the outside of this city.

All I know is that there are many monsters.

“See.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You said you’ve never seen the outside scenery. Why do you think that is? Is it simply because there are many monsters? Our Magic Tower’s technology is enough to wipe out that many monsters.”

The more he spoke, the more Luna’s questions grew.

On the other hand, the more Seungwoo listened to his words, the more he began to understand this world.

Now I could understand. What the former Magic Tower Master meant by a destroyed world. What exactly it means.

─…Seungwoo? You don’t look so good, are you okay?

Seungwoo’s expression was getting worse and worse.

So much so that Tamamo, who had never called him by his name until now, kindly called him by his name, Seungwoo’s expression was the worst.

‘Tamamo.’

Seungwoo moved his mouth.

‘Give me some time to think alone for a moment.’

A huge picture was drawn in Seungwoo’s head right now.

It was a very terrible picture.

There were gaps everywhere in the picture.

It was a picture that I wished would never be completed, but every time the former Magic Tower Master opened his mouth, the gaps in the picture were filled like a puzzle.

“This world was destroyed a long time ago. There is no other place where people live outside this city.”

“But there is this city. If even one person survives, that world is not destroyed.”

It was a confident voice.

That’s what Luna’s alliance was like.

But it seemed that this world was different.

“Does this city look like it belongs to this world to you?”

“Huh?”

“Why don’t monsters have any interest in this tall tower that was built? Why don’t they attack this city? Haven’t you ever wondered?”

“…”

I’ll tell you because you don’t seem to know.

“We are surviving by hiding diagonally in the crack of dimensions. If you cross this wall, you will be crossing dimensions.”

“…!!!”

The Otherworld is a fragment of a destroyed dimension.

The players who enter that fragment can experience the traces of that world before it was destroyed. But it seems that this world was destroyed a long time ago.