Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Dungeon Practice (5)

‘What the hell!’

Baek Yu-seol quickly rotated his body so that his chest faced forward and used Blink. Just a fraction of a second later, flames erupted where he was about to land.

Boom!!

The impact was like a small bomb going off.

Due to the acceleration of his fall, even after finishing his Blink, Baek Yu-seol couldn’t control his momentum and crashed headfirst into a rock, resulting in a sharp pain in his head.

“Ugh…”
This w a s c o p i ed f r om k i ng m tl . o r g

The sound of high heels clicking on the dirt floor reached his ears. Baek Yu-seol nursed his head as he slowly got up and turned around.

‘Hong Bi-yeon…’

She was approaching slowly, pointing her Staff at him. Baek Yu-seol’s mind grew even more complex.

‘Why is she here?’

He couldn’t understand why everyone seemed to hold a grudge against him. Hong Bi-yeon pointed her Staff at him and spoke.

“Commoner. Why didn’t you take one more stick from those guys?”

T h is w a s c op ie d f r o m k i ng m tl . or g
“What are you talking about? I couldn’t take it.”

“Lies.”

“No, seriously, why do you even care if I take their sticks or not?”

She did not respond. Baek Yu-seol raised an eyebrow and asked.

T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k in g m t l. org
“Don’t tell me… if I had taken all their sticks, you planned to take them all from me?”

She remained silent, but her lack of response was answer enough.

“You brazen… And you call yourself a person?”

“I’m royalty.”

The fact that she thought it was natural to take Baek Yu-seol’s sticks showed it wasn’t just royal arrogance but confidence born from knowing her own strength.

“Hey, isn’t this too much? I even gave you a special lesson.”

“Hmph. Do commoners not know how to separate personal from professional?”

She moved her Staff up and down.

T his w a s c opi e d f rom k i n gm t l . o r g
“Get up. It wouldn’t be dignified for a royal to simply take a commoner’s belongings, so I’ll properly defeat you and take them.”

“Dignity, my foot. Does it feel good to bully the weak?”

“Weak? You? Don’t make me laugh.”

Hong Bi-yeon frowned, genuinely disgusted.

“I saw everything you did to those guys.”

She had watched the entire fight between Baek Yu-seol and Raiden’s group from the beginning.

She wanted their Point Sticks, but fighting six at once would be too exhausting, so she planned to intervene and take all the sticks once the fight was over.

Currently, she had four Point Sticks, and her score was already 144 points thanks to defeating several monsters. However, it wasn’t enough.

She had encountered Hae Wonryang earlier, who had over 200 points.

‘I can’t go back with another mediocre score.’

Otherwise, she would be punished by her mother.

She was desperate. More desperate than anyone at Stella, striving relentlessly to achieve top scores.

She had to be number one. Only by ranking first among the many geniuses and nobles here would she be recognized.

‘But that foolish commoner is just playing around.’

Hong Bi-yeon, who had always given her best, was genuinely displeased with Baek Yu-seol, who had the power but didn’t seem to put in his best effort.

‘Someone who doesn’t give their all doesn’t deserve the points.’

Whether her opponent was a commoner or not, she couldn’t let her guard down. Hong Bi-yeon focused her mind to the maximum.

She recalled Raiden, who had been seriously injured earlier. Despite his usually deplorable conduct, his magical talent was not to be underestimated. After all, he had been admitted to Stella.

Even if they were far below Hong Bi-yeon, they were still elites from prestigious mage families. The boys following Raiden were the same.

If Baek Yu-seol could toy with opponents of that level…

‘I have no choice but to use my full power to burn him.’

If she showed her true strength, Baek Yu-seol, who had been playing around without even using magic, would have no choice but to respond seriously.

…Though it was quite unfair for Baek Yu-seol, who had been serious all along, that was what Hong Bi-yeon thought.

Whoosh!!

Sparks from her body spread out, connecting the trees and spreading in all directions.

The wave of flames devoured the trees and swelled.

Since she couldn’t yet manifest a 4th-class Fire Field, she used 1st-class fire magic and the surrounding terrain to create a favorable environment.

‘She’s smarter than I thought.’

Baek Yu-seol, sweating, watched the field begin to blaze.

T h i s w a s c op i e d f ro m k i n g mtl . or g
Realizing he had no choice but to fight, he readied the Point Stick. Hong Bi-yeon’s eyebrow twitched.

“Aren’t you going to use your Staff properly?”

“You took it.”

“What about the basic Staff you got during entrance?”

Oh, right. That was a thing, wasn’t it?

Since the Staff was useless to him, Baek Yu-seol had completely forgotten about it.

Like how a Korean soldier always carries a K-2 rifle, a mage must always have their Staff with them.

“Still playing around, I see.”
This w a s c o p ie d f ro m ki n g m t l . or g

Hong Bi-yeon swung her Staff angrily.

“Even if they’re idiots, you’d better be serious with me.”

Whoosh!! The snakes of flame coiled and soared into the sky.

“Otherwise, you’ll really die.”

Finally, the flames began to explode!

Even if he used Blink twice in quick succession, escaping from the wide wave of flames seemed impossible.

Recognizing Baek Yu-seol’s ability to move quickly, Hong Bi-yeon had already prepared a countermeasure.

‘This will be tough…’

Even the tiny flames coiling around her body would explode the moment he got close. He knew that all too well from countless PVPs against fire mages.

Her skill level was far higher than anticipated.

T h i s was c o p i ed f r om k in g m t l. o r g
‘If this were a flat battlefield, I’d be done in less than a minute.’

Would the fight even have started? Not even a minute, maybe 30 seconds. With just two Blinks, there was no way he could defeat a monstrous existence like Hong Bi-yeon.

But now, the situation was very different.

The constantly changing terrain and the Point Stick in Baek Yu-seol’s hand were significant variables.

This Point Stick could easily break through Hong Bi-yeon’s notoriously weak magic shield.

‘Though beating her would be tough…’

At least he wouldn’t be helpless.

Whoosh! Bang! Bang!

Flames burst from the end of her Staff or pillars of fire erupted from beneath Baek Yu-seol’s feet.

She alternated between targeting and shooting, trying to disrupt his flow.

“Damn, she’s not kidding.”

The power was indeed formidable. Getting hit even once would be the end.

But…

Not a single attack touched Baek Yu-seol.

He narrowly dodged the flames grazing his cheek by tilting his head, and skillfully used Blink to evade the overwhelming waves of fire.

Even this Point Stick allowed for ‘parrying,’ enabling him to knock away incoming fire arrows by spotting them with his eyes.

“What, what the…!”

Hong Bi-yeon was greatly astonished at the sight of magic being deflected by a weapon, something she had never seen before.

Fire arrows were nearly as fast as regular arrows, making it impossible for an ordinary person, but Baek Yu-seol’s ‘Mana Leakage Syndrome’ at its highest level allowed him to clearly sense the attack range of all magic.

Though his current skill level only allowed him to sense it through Intuition, it was enough.

Thud, thud!!

He deflected a series of incoming fire orbs and Blinked behind a rock, leaving the wave of flames to hit empty space.

“How long are you going to keep running away!”

Of course, Baek Yu-seol wasn’t just fleeing.

He wielded the Point Stick to briefly emit mana and deflect magic, finding the optimal path with minimal Blink usage, gradually awakening his sense.

A sense awakened through real combat.

Yes, he was using Hong Bi-yeon as ‘training.’

She was different from the riffraff he had faced so far. Although still a novice, she was closer to a ‘real’ mage than anyone he had ever fought before.

He was gradually awakening that sense of facing a mage in real life, not through a 3D game controlled by a keyboard and mouse.

‘It’s becoming clear.’

The flow of mana felt almost tangible in his fingertips. The ‘Intuition’ felt as familiar as touch, sight, and hearing.

‘Ugh, how is he avoiding everything.’

Hong Bi-yeon silently screamed in frustration.

In this complex, intertwined, and constantly shifting place, how could he move so freely?

It felt like she could shoot him down if she hit him even once, yet he kept narrowly evading.

‘This terrain full of trees should be more advantageous to me, right?’

Hong Bi-yeon thought she had made the terrain her own by igniting the trees.

But in reality, whether the trees were on fire or not, the living, moving terrain was always on Baek Yu-seol’s side.

In fact, every time the burning trees soared and shrank, distracting her, Baek Yu-seol could exploit the gap.

“Damn it…!”

Despite firing such a wide range of attacks, none of the flames reached him, so Hong Bi-yeon intensified her flames further.

Preparing a major spell!

T h i s wa s c o p i ed f ro m king mt l . o r g
And that moment was the opening.

[Blink]

In a completely unexpected move, Baek Yu-seol Blinked right in front of Hong Bi-yeon.

“Ah…”

For a brief moment, their eyes met, and Hong Bi-yeon gritted her teeth, her expression twisted in frustration.

‘Fire Crash!’

An explosion of flames erupted from Hong Bi-yeon’s body.

Baek Yu-seol knew that spell well.

It was a counter-attack spell used by fire mages to repel approaching opponents, creating a small knockback explosion within a 2-meter radius around their bodies.

Having fallen victim to that spell countless times, Baek Yu-seol could easily counter it.

By taking just one step back, he created exactly a 2-meter distance from Hong Bi-yeon.

Boom!

As soon as the knockback explosion hit empty space, Baek Yu-seol closed in within 0.1 seconds.

…with the Point Stick.

Clang!!

“…Ah!”

When he thrust the Point Stick into Hong Bi-yeon’s chest, her weak magic shield shattered, and her body was pushed back.

In the future, Hong Bi-yeon might have elegantly rolled to her feet or prepared a second countermeasure before being hit, but now, having no combat experience, she simply fell backward.

Thud! Whether it was the shock of hitting the ground or the shock of being attacked, Hong Bi-yeon’s expression faltered greatly.

The flames died down, replaced by silence.

The first to speak was Baek Yu-seol.

“I win.”

“…No. Not yet. My flaming aura is still around. If you had attacked a second time, you would have been caught in the explosion immediately.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t.”

“Stop pretending to know everything!”
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r om k i n g mt l . o r g

Despite shouting, she quickly fell silent, feeling down. If he had used his real Staff, she would have lost long ago.

‘What… who is he, really?’

Despite her thoughts, Baek Yu-seol also felt troubled. He looked towards the corner and spoke.
T h i s w a s c o pie d fr o m kingmtl . or g

“Flame. You can come out now.”

“What…?”

Startled, Hong Bi-yeon turned her head, and sure enough, from behind a rock, a girl with black bobbed hair hesitantly emerged.

Her expression was still filled with dissatisfaction.

End of Chapter

TL/N: Finally I catch up with the manhwa. From now on, the future name translation might be a bit different from manhwa.