episode_0059

59. John’s Defeat.

The world became quiet.

As if personally experiencing that time is not fair, the steep waves of spacetime bypass only John. It felt like he could see every single muscle fiber of the enemies, and John’s cognitive ability surpassed humans ridiculously.

He blocks the axe blade aiming for Oh Tak-hoon’s right scapula, skillfully deflects the whip trying to tie the Achilles tendon, and neutralizes the awl popping out from the ground by activating Dig.

The magic used in this process was much less than expected. This is because he poured in only the bare minimum of magic.

It was truly a precarious tightrope walk. If the amount of magic invested had been even slightly less, the axe blade would have struck Oh Tak-hoon’s wing bone, and the whip would have caught him.

What more to say about the awl; Oh Tak-hoon would already be crawling on the ground.

However, John’s control over strength was very precise. Thanks to this, John was able to maintain an adequate amount of magic within his body. Large beads of sweat streamed down John’s forehead.

[Stillness of the Waterfall]

The face of the fire mage, still vividly etched in his mind, flashed by. He gathered as much ambient magic as possible through the magic manipulation method the mage had taught him.

Thanks to this, his current condition was very vulnerable. If he had only the strength of a middle school student, he could inflict a fatal wound on John.

John’s situation was not good enough to take on that much risk. The excessively rapid occupation of the zone, the complacent distribution of magic within his body, and the numerous enemies that appeared through that gap. He might have been eliminated from the second floor if he wasn’t careful.

John had been deeply contemplating in the dust cloud until just now. Whether to run away or fight back.

There were too many enemies to run, and too little magic to fight. Both options were weighing the worst against the next worst.

Then, a novel idea flashed through John’s mind. A way to recover magic while inflicting damage on the enemies came to mind.

‘It was crazy, but it was successful in the end.’

He cast [Stealthy Eye] on Oh Tak-hoon’s mask, and at the same time, activated the Dig spell with the remaining magic. He swam deep, very deep, into the ground.

After that, John’s spell refilled the ground that had been hollowed out. Filling it back to its original state was more difficult than digging. This was because there wasn’t a particularly useful spell among John’s spells.

Fortunately, he wasn’t a simpleton who executed things without thinking about the consequences. John trusted his magic control.

Explosion.

[Structural Understanding][Property Removal][Off-site Implementation]

He uses the minimum amount of magic to shake the ground. This was a very delicate task. He had to fill the hole John had created without making it too obvious.

It was much more difficult than he had thought. In particular, controlling the scale of the explosion was very difficult. Thanks to this, John added a new spell.

Shield.

[Structural Understanding] [Off-site Implementation]

It is to control the damage of the explosion through a shield. At first, it was slow, but gradually he became more accustomed to it. He moves the ground with an explosion, and shapes it with a shield.

He barely succeeded. Just in case, he looked at the hidden place through Oh Tak-hoon’s eyes. It was perfect. Even if they find it someday, it will take quite a long time.

After hiding deep underground like that, the current situation has arrived. A situation where he is slaughtering enemies by borrowing Oh Tak-hoon’s vision from a safe place.

‘I can’t use [Stillness of the Waterfall] in the middle of enemy lines. Then all I have to do is find a place where I can use it.’

John thought so as he blocked the attacks pouring in towards Oh Tak-hoon. How much time had passed like that? Gradually, their behavior began to change.

It seemed like they were gradually retreating, taking a passive stance. Did something go wrong?

‘Just because I can see it doesn’t mean I know everything.’

John felt frustrated. This was partly because his proficiency in the spell was still low, but it was still more comfortable to see directly through his five senses. Unfortunately, among the magic books John obtained on the first floor, [Stealthy Eye] was the only magic book that implemented human senses.

‘······!’

At that moment, Oh Tak-hoon’s vision shook violently. Thanks to this, John also felt dizzy. This was because the mask he was wearing also shook as Oh Tak-hoon’s head shook.

Oh Tak-hoon did not move voluntarily. As if being pushed by an irresistible force, he floated helplessly in the air and crashed to the ground.

John reflexively opened his mouth.

“Wh, what is it?”

As if responding to his question, Oh Tak-hoon’s head turned in one direction. There, a young man holding a pure white branch in his hand was mumbling his lips.

John and Oh Tak-hoon’s thoughts were in agreement. That guy is the culprit! He must be a high-level wizard. Furthermore, John was able to learn a new fact, unlike Oh Tak-hoon.

‘He’s using a spoken spell. Tch, it would be nice if I could implement hearing.’

So far, the only spoken spell that John had directly heard was Jerry’s. As the wording of the spoken spell varies depending on the attributes of the spell, John wanted to know other types of spoken spells as well.

‘Wind-type wizard. I’ve never seen a spell like that before.’

John didn’t know, but among spells, wind-attribute spells were difficult. The reason was very simple; it is difficult to see with the eyes. In other words, it was very difficult to visualize.

So wind attribute spells are difficult to learn and difficult to practice. In other words, that young man has outstanding wind attribute talent.

Fortunately, it was easy to observe his magic this time. This was because it had a yellowish-brown color. The spell he used to clear the dust cloud was finally showing its power.

A yellow wind occupied a wide space and extended towards Oh Tak-hoon. John, who was watching this through Oh Tak-hoon’s eyes, felt like he was fighting a sand giant.

John carefully examined the young man’s spell. Endless weighing was taking place in his head.

Can I block that with a shield? If so, what is the amount of magic that goes into the shield? Is that really the most efficient choice? Is there no better magic?

The world slowed down, but John’s head felt like it was about to explode. The side effects of [Thought Acceleration] were violently eating away at him.

Immediately afterwards, his worries ended. He is short on magic, but a shield alone is not enough.

Dew.

Pale blue water droplets were created around Oh Tak-hoon. The wind mage’s eyes lit up at the sight of this. So his secret move is out!

John thought. He usually avoids too many water droplets. Now is the time to restrain himself. Therefore,

He created the right amount of water droplets.

And this─

Rough Waves.

[Off-site Implementation].

─pours out.

Kukwakwakwakwakwakwakwakkwa!!!

A violent roar shook the world. It was the wave caused by the collision between the disaster created by the sand giant and the human. The reverberation was so great that the sound was transmitted even to John, who was underground.

The humans on the ground were even worse off. Countless shrimp were ground up by the battle of the two whales. The stream of water that was bounced off by the wind covered the people, and the wind, torn apart from the power of transcendence, severed their limbs.

The impact was enormous, but conversely, the duration was quite short. Before long, only a quiet silence lingered on the battlefield. The wind mage leaned on his staff and gasped for breath.

The wind mage poured out words in a language that he did not know who he was speaking to.

“Hah, hah······ I won. I won, Team Leader! I won!”

The wind mage announces the victory. However, the humans on the battlefield could not easily agree with his words. They looked around.

“······.”

“Damn······ how many people died? A mere thief and a mage did this?”

“If we had come any later, that mage would have become the main character of the second floor. He’s a real monster. The damage is painful, but we have to cut him off here.”

The man who uttered the last words looked at one place. Oh Tak-hoon used to be there. But he is not there now.

“I finally killed him. I finally killed that ghostly bastard!”

“You shit diaper bastard! Good riddance!”

They cheered. This is because the black-clothed man who had been running rampant on the battlefield had been annihilated into light.

“Woooooaaaaaa!!!”

That’s right. Oh Tak-hoon was also included among the humans who were ground up by the battle of the two whales.

Oh Tak-hoon had already been exhausted from occupying numerous zones. In addition, he continued to fight for a long time with the humans of the allied team. In fact, Oh Tak-hoon had reached his limit long ago.

It was only the fight between the two grand spells that triggered it.

***

Crack─

John felt as if his eyeballs were being seared by high-voltage electricity.

“Kgh, keuheuk······.”

Since Oh Tak-hoon had met his death, John’s [Stealthy Eye] spell was also cut off.

In the end, John failed to ‘completely’ block the wind mage’s attack with the [Rough Waves] spell. It was just that.