episode_0018

A current strong enough to make the air tingle spreads in all directions. Leaves catch fire in the burgeoning lightning, and an excruciating pain arose as if being hacked with a knife across the skin. Sevia and Paul, who were moving with Ruhan, suddenly stopped their bodies at the pain and sank down on the spot.

“Keuheuk!”

“Kyaaaaaak!!”

Their bodies tremble violently. Perhaps due to an abnormality in the electrical signals sent from the head, their fingers twitch on their own.

Paul gritted his teeth, lifted his head, and glared at Asel. Where the lightning had disappeared, Ruhan was gone. He had been severely wounded and moved by just one spell.

‘Just one spell?’

Paul recalled the thought that had just occurred to him and let out a hollow laugh.

That was not a spell of a power that could be explained with such words. Its destructive power was beyond imagination for a spell that manifested without any premonition. It was roughly double Celin’s. Furthermore, the speed of the spell’s manifestation exceeded common sense. If one were to judge him as a simple mage and engage in combat, they would be defeated instantly like Ruhan.

“Sevia!”

Paul slapped Sevia’s back with a trembling hand. Thereupon, she, who had been lying face down on the ground and crying, seemed to regain her senses and lifted her head.

“Listen carefully. We hold out until Celin completes her spell. After that, we decide whether to keep fighting or run. Understand?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Then get up!”

Paul shouted that and pointed his sword towards Asel, who was standing still. Asel glanced briefly at Sevia, who was groaning and getting up, then turned his head towards Celin, who was chanting a spell.

“Is the meeting over?”

“……Eugh.”

“The spell you’re using is a Sacred Rank spell. It has the disadvantage of requiring warm-up despite its strong power. And…”

Asel met the gaze of the stiff-faced Celin and let out a chuckle.

“It is also vulnerable to external interference.”

Kkiririk.

Asel twisted his fingers as if manipulating a doll. In sync with that, Celin’s magic circle began to twist grotesquely. The characters being inscribed were erased, and the round circle warped, spewing magic power outward. Celin, who had been pouring magic power into the circle, coughed up blood from the backlash.

“Uuuk!”

A pain arose as if her organs had been concussed. Celin was drenched in cold sweat, staring at Asel with disbelieving eyes.

‘He interfered with my magic from the outside? Does that make sense?’

She was a mage called a genius even within the Magic Tower. No matter how skilled a spellcaster, they couldn’t carelessly interfere with her magic power manipulation. In the first place, mages who could do such a thing were rare. Without being a Great Mage, such a thing was impossible.

Then, does that mean that man is a Great Mage?

“Keuheuk!”

Every time her thoughts continued, the magic circle warped further. Celin quickly pulled herself together and retracted the spell she had cast. The magic power that had been pouring out like a breached dam struck Celin directly, and she staggered from the shock that rattled her head.

“Sevia! Protect Celin!”

Seeing that sight, Paul shouted loudly and rushed at Asel.

Unlike Ruhan, he was conscious of Asel’s magic. He was fully prepared to evade to the side at any moment and even counterattack. Asel looked at him like that and let out a hum of thought.

“It’s my first time seeing aura. Is it a structure that spreads from the heart through blood vessels to the whole body?”

“Don’t be complacent!”

Asel chuckled and leaped back. Following that small action, a great storm arose.

[풍람(風濫)]

The spreading wind. Paul frowned at the scattered mud and split the wind with his sword. Through his eyes, opened properly again, a crimson flame spread.

[도화(導火)]

Flames dancing at Asel’s gesture covered Paul’s shoulder. Paul gritted his teeth at the instant burning pain and cut off his shoulder armor. This series of actions was performed very quickly. Quick judgment and action. His combat sense seemed better than expected. It was probably thanks to his developed senses as a warrior.

Swaeeeak!

While he thought for a moment, a sharp dagger cut through the wind and flew in.

Asel caught the dagger Sevia threw with fire and burned it, then grabbed the pile of ashes and scattered it widely. And he immediately manifested a spell.

[점화(點火)]

A spell that burns whatever it touches. This spell, which burns things directly by grabbing them rather than projecting from a distance, has power proportional to its risk. The scattered ashes glowed red hot, and Paul, sensing something wrong, retreated.

Kwaaaaaa!!

Flames using the ashes as a medium instantly spread and burned the forest. Paul gritted his teeth at the flames that had spread to his leg and removed his leg armor as well. His exposed trousers were stuck to his skin, dripping pus and blood.

A horrible tragedy. Even Asel was slightly flustered as it was the first time he saw the power of his magic.

‘……Was it that much?’

He already knew how much his magic level had risen through sparring with mages. However, it was the first time he had directly struck an opponent like this and seen its destructive and killing power. Most mages could block or deflect attacks when hit. The number of times he saw blood in sparring was few enough to count on one’s fingers.

In most of those cases, it was Asel himself. This was because his usual sparring opponents were mages belonging to Ena or the Witch’s Assembly. Even if their hierarchy was similar and their talent excellent, their combat methods were quite difficult for him, who had no combat experience.

Of course, they also found it difficult to deal with Asel’s magic, which grew stronger every day, but in any case, it was mostly Asel who bled in sparring.

So, he adjusted the power as he usually did when sparring with them, but it seemed he had overdone it. Asel made a sharp intake of breath and worried about the safety of the man who had been hit by lightning earlier and disappeared.

“……He didn’t die, did he?”

He muttered that, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Asel let out a deep sigh and canceled the lightning spell he was about to use as a follow-up.

Unable to gauge the appropriate power level now, recklessly firing lightning spells was madness. He might accidentally split the opponent apart. Lightning magic, focused solely on destruction and killing, was not a good choice in the current situation.

‘I’ll have to only use magic of other elements in this exam.’

Of course, there was nothing to hold back against golems, so it was only a problem to be concerned about in person-to-person combat. Thinking so, Asel approached Paul, who was staggering.

“……Heuh.”

Even in his precarious physical state, Paul’s eyes were still sharp. Asel quite liked that venomous gaze. Although they were bandits who attacked him while he was well-prepared and his companions, Asel didn’t think of it as that bad in the first place.

Didn’t the supervisor say? That looting among participants was allowed. He had just acted according to the rules told in advance. He didn’t hold a particular grudge. In the first place, having been born and raised in the slums, what was looting compared to that? It was a place where they would pull out the organs of sleeping people.

Borwell was practically a gentleman compared to that. Asel smiled and stopped right in front of Paul’s reach.

A brief lull. Celin was chanting a spell again after calming down, and Sevia, holding daggers reversed in both hands, was slowly approaching him. Although moving stealthily, her stealth technique was meaningless in the space saturated with Asel’s magic power. Everyone was in the palm of his hand.

“Your name?”

Asel ignored Sevia and Celin and asked Paul. Paul, while suspecting the intention behind his words, answered meekly.

“Paul Pedrick.”

“Are you a noble?”

“……Yes.”

“It’s my first time seeing a noble too. Are most of them as full of venom as you?”

“……You’ve never seen a noble before? Did you come after only training in the mountains somewhere?”

Paul let out a hollow laugh and said.

Mages are a resource as rare as nobles. Because of that, they had much contact with nobles, and this tendency was even stronger among high-ranking mages.

The mage in front of him was a spellcaster of a level where it wouldn’t be strange even if he had spent time laughing and chatting with quite high-ranking nobles.

A guy like that has never seen a noble before?

“Not in the forest. I came after training in the city.”

Asel answered vaguely and kicked Paul in the abdomen. With a kick that layered a barrier and covered it with flames, Paul’s body ignited and was pushed back. While Paul frowned at the sudden attack, Sevia dashed through the flames.

“Die!”

Her charging momentum was good, but in her eyes, there was hidden agitation and fear that she couldn’t conceal. Perhaps she wasn’t used to such situations.

It goes without saying, but he had no intention of being considerate towards her. Asel snapped his fingers, unleashing an invisible shockwave centered on himself.

‘Shockwave’, a lower-tier spell of the shock element. A spell that simply blows away nearby objects, when cast by Asel, projected enough power to shake trees. Sevia, who had charged in, was pushed back directly and crashed into a tree.

Ppudeudeuk!!

“Keuheuk!”

Along with the sound of something breaking, Sevia coughed up air and blood. A surprise attack where the outcome was decided before a single exchange could take place.

Sevia fumbled for her bracelet, blood streaming from her mouth, perhaps a broken bone had pierced her organs. Then light enveloped her body, and she was transported to a safe place.

Instantly, the party dwindled from five to two. What remained was one mage whose circuits were severely twisted and one vanguard whose body was dripping pus from burns. The one they had to face was a high-level spellcaster still in his initial state.

There was no chance of winning.

Paul let out a deep sigh and raised his injured hands. With just that movement, his overworked arms screamed.

“Surrender. It’s shameless, but please spare us just this once. We want to enroll.”

“I surrender too.”

As soon as he confirmed Paul lowering his sword, Celin, who had been groaning, shouted. Asel confirmed that the two had completely lost their will to fight and nodded his head.

“I’ll spare you, so hand over the cores.”

“……We only have 5 too.”

“So?”

“……Haa. Take them. Celin has them.”

Asel chuckled and approached Celin. As if indignant, she bit her lip and took out 5 cores from her pocket. Cores with a transparent color and weak magic power circulating. They weren’t fake. Asel roughly put the cores straight into his backpack.

“Have you only hunted 5 so far? You must not have encountered many golems.”

“What are you talking about? We found those that had fallen behind from the herd and caught them with difficulty.”

“Couldn’t you just herd hunt?”

“?”

“?”

The corners of the two people’s eyes similarly contorted.

“How can you herd hunt that? Each and every one is at the level of a weapon.”

“……Is that so?”

“……Your reaction is strange. You, how many cores do you have?”

“25.”

Asel said, gesturing with his hand at his jingling backpack. Celin, who glanced at its contents, looked at Asel with an expression that said, ‘What kind of bastard is this?’

“……Are you perhaps a Great Mage?”

“I am a Great Mage’s disciple, though.”

Asel chuckled softly, closed his backpack, and walked away, leaving the burning forest behind.

“Rather than that, you’d better run quickly. They’re gathering.”

“What do you mean by gathering-”

The moment he said it, noisy voices were heard from beyond the darkness of the forest.

“The place where lightning just struck, this is it, right?”

“I told you it is. It must be an event created by the Academy. We have to go quickly.”

“Oh oh, other bastards are coming over there! Run, shibal!”

“Get lost, you bastards! No special treatment just because you’re nobles!”

“Keep Grace in check! Don’t let him come!”

A commotion spreads in the middle of the night forest. Celin gritted her teeth at the voices that had become closer than before and turned her head. But Asel had already left long ago. Nowhere was even a strand of his hair visible.

“……He said his name was Asel.”

She chewed over the words the supervisor had uttered before the start of the exam and got up from her spot. Paul also poured the self-regeneration potion he had brought onto his wounds and got up. The two looked at each other, then moved their bodies as quickly as possible away from where the voices were coming from.

The first day of the exam ended like that, amidst the chaos.