Chapter 129: Amazing Power

Choi Yoo-jin.
She possessed a magical trait that made her different from others.

She could condense her mana and release it explosively.

Simply put, it was like a skill in a game that became stronger the longer it was charged—
the longer her spellcasting time, the more she could push her magical power to its absolute limit.

–Chiiiiing–

In the air where Choi Yoo-jin extended her hand, her deep-blue mana began to gather into a single point, rapidly growing denser by the second.

–Whoooooosh–

After maintaining that state for over ten seconds, fierce winds began to swirl around where her mana had concentrated.

Choi Yoo-jin thought to herself.

‘He’s seriously just standing there letting me charge like this? Is he really planning to do nothing until I attack?’

Choi Yoo-jin’s charged spell.
Anyone with decent combat instincts—be it a mage or a swordsman—would notice immediately that this wasn’t a typical spell the moment it began.
Which was why, in most cases, the correct response would be to interrupt the caster immediately before the spell could fully charge.
Either force them to cast early or stop them before they could finish.

But Lee Hyun-seung, even after ten full seconds of her charging, was still just standing there with his gun in hand.
His expression even appeared relaxed.

‘What the hell… what is this guy?’

–Vwooooooooom–

The whirlwind of mana raged, and the guild members in the Artemis Guild’s hall began murmuring.

– Isn’t someone going to die at this rate?
– He’s really letting her charge for this long? What is that newbie doing?
– This is interesting. Is he trying to show off or something?
– Quiet. If the Guildmaster decides to step in, we’ll get in trouble. Just shut up and enjoy the show—been a while since we’ve seen someone get blown apart.

Since the Artemis Guild operated around individual abilities, everyone had different reactions to the same phenomenon.
Some were worried that Lee Hyun-seung might die from that overwhelmingly charged spell.
Some looked indifferent, as if it had nothing to do with them.
And others watched with excitement, as if enjoying some sort of game.

Their attitudes and reactions differed, but there was one thing they all had in common:

[Lee Hyun-seung is arrogant.]

The biggest downside of a charged spell was the casting time.
In real combat, they were virtually unusable.
Anyone with decent skill could shift the battle in tenths of a second—
no idiot would let a mage stand still for several seconds to cast something like that.

That’s why even in a fight, charged spells rarely lasted more than ten seconds—
in most cases, five seconds or less.
Considering that most spells were cast within a single second, even five seconds was already a luxury.

However, for all the downsides of a long casting time, there was also one massive advantage—
charged spells had no upper limit to their power.

If the caster had enough mana, they could keep charging until they exhausted it all, increasing the destructive force infinitely.
In theory, it could reach the level of a massive explosion.

– S**t… are we in trouble too if that thing goes off?
– Just in case, everyone get your defense spells up! Now!

A full minute had passed since the spell began.
Choi Yoo-jin continued pulling all the mana from her body into that one point.

She hated Lee Hyun-seung.
It irritated her that he had claimed the team leader position in an instant—
something she had worked for years to achieve.
And the fact that he stood still and offered her the first move, without even a hint of caution or respect during a fight, only made it worse.

As if it were only natural that he had the upper hand—
as if he was simply humoring her challenge—
that attitude alone was enough to wound her pride.

‘One shot… I’ll end it in one blow. I’ll make him regret underestimating me.’

Lee Hyun-seung was a talent directly scouted by Guildmaster Yoo Han-beom.
If she could take him down, she might even have a shot at a position above team leader.
And if that happened, she could pursue the dream her late father once had—
becoming an elder of the Artemis Guild.
That dream might no longer be impossible.

–Fwaaaaaaaash–

Before long, white light began to flicker from the charged spell.
It was proof that the mana concentration had surpassed its limit.

From that state, Choi Yoo-jin called out toward Lee Hyun-seung.

“If you surrender now, I’ll spare your life.
If all you’ve got is empty bravado with no real ability, you’d better give up while you can.
Otherwise, you might actually die.”

She didn’t truly intend to kill him, so she gave him a warning.

[Admit you only got in through connections and apologize while you still can. That’s the only way you walk away from this alive.]

But Lee Hyun-seung responded like he couldn’t care less.

“I’ve heard that charged spells put a heavy strain on the caster’s mental stamina.
Please focus on maintaining your magic, so its power doesn’t drop before it hits.”

–Flinch–

Choi Yoo-jin involuntarily muttered the moment she heard his words.

“He knows I’m casting a charged spell… and he still has the nerve to act that relaxed?”

Either he had something up his sleeve,
or he was just dangerously overconfident in his own skills.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
He had just declared with his own mouth that he could handle whatever was coming.

–Krrrk–

A wave of humiliation washed over her.
A gunmage, of all people—someone who was neither a mage nor a swordsman—
Why was he acting so arrogant?
Why did a man who couldn’t even make proper judgments hold the same rank as her?
The very thought disgusted her.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that final remark, Choi Yoo-jin withdrew her hand.

–BBOOOOOM–!

As soon as she pulled her hand back,
the condensed sphere of mana shot toward Lee Hyun-seung in an instant—
like a cannonball being fired.

It moved so fast it was nearly impossible for the human eye to follow,
and a thick trail of blue mana was etched into the air along its path.

“Kghhhhk!”

People nearby groaned in pain, unable to withstand the backlash from the charged spell.
Of course they would.
There were many who were stronger than Choi Yoo-jin,
but this particular spell had over a minute of focused mana behind it.
She had poured nearly all her mana into that single shot.
The fact that anyone could remain standing after the backlash was surprising in itself.

“Hoo….”

Lee Hyun-seung took a short breath, then held it.

‘The trajectory looks straight, but from the way it’s flying, she must’ve built in a feint curve near the end.’

Choi Yoo-jin hadn’t just gone for raw power with her charged spell—
She had designed it with deception in mind,
launching the spell along a path meant to confuse.

But even that trick didn’t escape Lee Hyun-seung’s notice.
He already knew all the patterns associated with charged spells.

‘Didn’t expect to see this so soon…
A charged spell—one of the rarest magic types in Broad Academy Online.’

When combined with a berserker’s traits and proper team support,
it was a skill considered utterly broken.
As he stared down the incoming shot, Lee Hyun-seung placed his finger on the trigger.

‘If I mess up, I die.’

At that exact moment,
when the charged spell was about five meters away from him—
it suddenly shot upward.

–Fwhoooooosh–!

Then, from directly above,
the orb of mana plummeted toward the ground—straight at him.

–BANGGGGG–!

Lee Hyun-seung pulled the trigger,
and the bullet was fired in an instant.

–Sssssshhhhhh–

The bullet dashed forward at high speed and struck Choi Yoo-jin’s charged spell dead-on.
However, Choi Yoo-jin let out a baffled laugh and shouted loudly.

“What a fool.
A low-tier clown like you, holding the same team leader title as me? There’s a limit to nepotism.
If you don’t want to die, you’d better start running—”

–Flinch–

She suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence.

Until just a moment ago, when the bullet made contact, Choi Yoo-jin had been certain—
She thought her spell would easily obliterate that bullet.

Bullets, by their nature, were small and could only contain a limited amount of mana.
So even if it managed to make contact with her spell,
she figured it would just dissipate on the spot.
But instead—

–KZZZZZZZZZZK–!

The bullet struck the charged spell head-on and didn’t break apart.
Instead, it clashed against the spell directly,
like two blades grinding against each other,
causing a powerful feedback of energy as the bullet and spell collided.

–KAAAAAAAAAANG–!

With a deafening roar, a blast of dust exploded outward in every direction.

“Kh…haaagh!”

–Thud–

Choi Yoo-jin was thrown backward by the shockwave and collapsed.
The guild members in the hall immediately cast defensive spells,
while Yoo Han-beom had already floated into the air, watching calmly from above.
The elders simply stepped back and observed in silence.

– I-Is he dead?
– Are you an idiot? Of course he’s dead! No one could survive that.
– Ugh… our new team leader died on day one? Do we need to go to the funeral even though we just met him?
– Shut it. This isn’t a joke. Look properly—look at him.

The moment one of the men spoke, everyone in the hall turned their eyes toward the center stage.

“What the hell are we even looking at—”

He thought he’d be seeing a corpse.
But he could only clamp his mouth shut in stunned disbelief.

“What the f*ck is that…”

There stood Lee Hyun-seung on the stage—
completely unscathed, not a single wound on him—
with the barrel of his gun pointed directly at Choi Yoo-jin’s head.

[Your bullet has successfully struck the target’s magic.
Confirmed: The opposing magic is of lower grade than [Legendary].
The target’s magic has been nullified.]

With his finger still resting on the trigger,
Lee Hyun-seung looked coldly down at the collapsed Choi Yoo-jin and said:

“Do I still look like some underqualified hack who got here through connections?”
“W-Wait, just a moment—”

The moment Choi Yoo-jin tried to crawl back—

–Click–

–BANG–!

A cold, sharp gunshot echoed through the hall.