Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 297

Chapter 297

League of Spirit (10)

***

Even though two of Gayurin’s teammates were killed by Baek Yu-seol in the beginning, she did not lose her composure.

‘Stupid idiots.’

As members of the Emerald Stella team, they were also outstanding players, but they did not meet Gayurin’s standards. Compared to herself, they seemed infinitely inferior.

‘They came up with a slightly unusual strategy, but to be taken down by such an attack?’

To be killed by a sub-item, the adhesive grenade, of all things, would be a source of ridicule for a long time.

‘I must win even more.’

Gayurin calmly continued the laning phase. Her lane was in the middle, inevitably facing Ma Yuseong.

‘I’m not like those guys.’

She wouldn’t let her guard down.

She had heard countless times that Ma Yuseong was a genius mage with exceptional one-on-one combat abilities.

Within the League of Spirit arena, Gayurin might be more skilled and experienced, but Ma Yuseong’s innate talent could not be ignored.

‘I won’t engage in a full-frontal fight alone.’

However.

This was a team game.

But Ma Yuseong had never relied on proper backup from his teammates in any of the matches he had played. In other words, there was no teamwork at all.

If she prepared carefully and cornered Ma Yuseong, creating a 2-on-1 situation and gradually breaking him down would be very easy.

‘I’m worried about having to rely on the idiot who got taken down by Baek Yu-seol, but…’

With her abilities, she should be able to win even with such a lacking player.

‘Just play it safe.’

She acknowledged Ma Yuseong’s skill in one-on-one, but League of Spirit was ultimately a team game. His behavior of trying to take on everything alone was fundamentally flawed. On the other hand, Gayurin, who used her teammates’ backup to efficiently suppress the opponent, had a better understanding of the essence of this game.

‘Now’s the chance!’

Just then, Ma Yuseong moved to the right, and the alley liner was slowly approaching from the side path behind him.

If Gayurin attacked from the front, Ma Yuseong’s only escape route would be that way. If her teammate appeared and ambushed him from the spot where he fled, he would be caught off guard.

Boom!

Her judgment was quick, and her actions were swift.

Gayurin, who had been maintaining distance and only harassing, suddenly unleashed a powerful spell, and Ma Yuseong quickly retreated. He had taken some damage, but the terrain was also unfavorable to him.

‘As expected!’

Ma Yuseong hastily fled to the side path that Gayurin had predicted, and there, her teammate was waiting, gathering mana for an ambush.

‘If he goes this way…!’

With the thought of finishing him off, she stopped casting the spells she had been spamming and prepared a casting spell that took only about 1 second.

It was just 1 second.

But as Gayurin briefly paused her spellcasting, Ma Yuseong, as if he had been waiting for it, used a spell.

‘…Huh?’

Ma Yuseong used Power Smasher, a spell that required about 0.8 seconds of casting.

It was a spell that allowed him to charge forward and deliver a powerful impact, but its long casting time made it difficult to land, and very few people used it.

‘W-wait.’

Gayurin’s spell took 1 second. She could hit Ma Yuseong with just 1 second of casting, but he had cast his 0.8-second spell at the exact same time she started casting, as if they were perfectly in sync.

Boom! Boom!

“Argh!”

[An ally has been slain!]

Ma Yuseong emerged from the side path and accurately charged at the student who was trying to ambush him, scoring a kill in an instant.

‘This is crazy…!’

There was no radar there. In other words, Ma Yuseong had no way of knowing that Gayurin’s teammate was coming.

But he cast a spell towards that location and instantly killed him in one hit.

As if he had seen through everything.

‘Could it be, that’s what he did?’

Gayurin jumped back with a pale face.

‘He saw my attack timing, realized that someone was waiting in that side path, waited for the moment my attack paused, and deliberately launched an attack spell in that direction…?’

It all happened in less than 3 seconds, but Ma Yuseong’s judgment and execution were superior to Gayurin’s in every aspect.

Ma Yuseong tried to deal with Gayurin after taking care of her team’s alley liner, but seeing her quickly retreat to a safe distance, he returned to base.

If she had engaged in a one-on-one fight with him, even belatedly, would she have won?

‘…No. Not yet.’

Even though her team had already accumulated 3 deaths, the difference in the early game could still be made up.

‘I can’t lose here.’

Gayurin acknowledged the enemy’s strengths.

She assessed that their innate, genius-level one-on-one combat skills as elite magic warriors were superior to her own.

At the same time, Gayurin clearly recognized the enemy’s weaknesses.

“From now on, avoid one-on-one situations in the lane as much as possible, and just exchange harassments. If the enemy advances, it’s okay to just back off.”

As Gayurin gave remote instructions, her teammates cautiously raised questions.

-If we fall behind in the laning phase, we’ll be at a disadvantage in resources.

-It will be difficult to plan for the late game…

“It’s okay. It’s better to fall behind a little than to keep giving away kills by forcing the laning phase.”

They could quickly make up for the lack of strategy with mid-game alley lane management.

-…Understood.

Following Gayurin’s instructions, the team members avoided one-on-one situations as much as possible.

If Baek Yu-seol or Ma Yuseong suddenly closed in with Blink or Power Jump, they quickly ran away. Even in the lane where Hae Wonryang and Aiselle were facing a 2-on-3 situation, they didn’t engage in fights but only postured, avoiding forced combat situations.

Watching the situation, the players nodded at Gayurin’s quick judgment but also clicked their tongues.

“Her pride must be hurt badly.”

For Gayurin, having to resort to operational play because she was outmatched in one-on-one ability by magic warrior players who had only started playing League of Spirit less than two weeks ago was a huge blow to her ego.

“I thought she was just a prideful amateur, but… she’s making level-headed decisions.”

“So, who do you think will win?”

“Well… my head says Gayurin’s team will win, but my heart says otherwise.”

“Right? Who knows what Flame’s team will show us next.”

Until now, Flame’s team had never won with a normal strategy. They had overwhelmed their opponents with unique tactics that had never been seen before in regular League of Spirit matches, leaving them bewildered.

However, Gayurin’s Emerald Stella team was a professional team that had been trained with the best education within the academy.

Would it work against them?

The situation had reached the mid-to-late game.

Gayurin, using her quick judgment and accumulated experience, played operationally and gradually pressured Flame’s team.

They gathered four members in the alley lane to quickly take down Hae Wonryang and Aiselle in the bottom lane, and they surrounded Ma Yuseong with three members to kill him, racking up quite a few kills.

In the process, Gayurin’s team also lost one or two members, so even though they ambushed, they couldn’t achieve a complete victory, which was a painful blow, but…

‘It’s fine.’

In the meantime, Gayurin’s team was steadily suppressing the enemy’s growth through their operations and securing resources for themselves.

As Gayurin expected, Flame’s team might be strong in one-on-one, but they were weak in team fights and operational aspects.

Eventually, as the late game approached, Gayurin’s team’s resources surpassed Flame’s team, and the enemy’s growth was increasingly delayed due to the lack of opportunities to secure kills.

‘All we need to do is have one big 5-on-5 team fight!’

They were sure to win a 5-on-5. And in the late game, the enemy couldn’t avoid a 5-on-5 situation even if they wanted to.

Because in the late game, a monster called the ‘Last Guardian’ appeared in the center of the map, and defeating it granted a massive buff.

With that buff, they could push forward, and the enemy would be unable to defend and would be pushed back helplessly.

“Attack now!”

[Last Guardian has spawned]

As soon as the monster spawned, Gayurin’s shout signaled the start of the Last Guardian’s takedown. They had predicted the exact timing of its appearance and had prepared their spells in advance.

As the barrage of spells rained down, and the Last Guardian was about to collapse, Ma Yuseong appeared from the opposite side with a terrifying expression.

Boom!

Ma Yuseong slammed the ground with Power Jump, raised his head, and aimed his staff, causing Gayurin’s teammates to flinch and retreat.

A chilling aura swept through.

Even though they knew it was the effect of Ma Yuseong’s ‘Frost Chill Robe,’ why were they so tense and trembling?

“Everyone, prepare!”

Gayurin gritted her teeth and looked around. Indeed, Flame was casting a radiant magic circle high in the sky from a distance.

Knowing that they intended to attack the Last Guardian at the same time Ma Yuseong charged, she immediately gave the order.

“Take care of Flame in the back!”

Immediately after receiving the order, the player in charge of Gayurin’s team’s middle lane rushed out, and several spells rushed towards Flame.

[Blue Giant’s Stride]

Boom!

However, a giant blue foot suddenly appeared in the air and stomped down, stopping both the player’s charge and the barrage of spells.

“What, what is that?”

That spell was used to disrupt the enemy’s formation, but it was outdated and rarely used in the current meta.

But who would use such a trash spell?

‘Could it be, Aiselle?’

As expected, Aiselle was chanting spells on the opposite side of Flame.

‘I expected this much!’

She didn’t expect that several of her team’s attacks would be blocked by such a useless spell, but she had already anticipated Aiselle’s appearance.

Gayurin calmly focused her attacks on Flame, and she soon fell.

Dealing with Ma Yuseong, who was rampaging through their formation, was the most difficult, but they eventually managed to take him down. They also finally dealt with Aiselle, who had been constantly harassing them with Frost Storm and Ice Curse.

At this point, a sense of incongruity arose.

‘What? Where are Baek Yu-seol and Hae Wonryang?’

Why weren’t they appearing even though it was the final team fight?

Thinking that, she quickly opened the map to check.

[Your tower is under attack!]

“…This is insane!”

Baek Yu-seol and Hae Wonryang were gleefully destroying their team’s tower.

Because Gayurin’s team had been running away in the early game and couldn’t properly lane, the tower was already pushed back to the point just before their command center. Baek Yu-seol had sold all his combat items and bought ‘Demolition Items,’ and his tower-destroying speed was incredibly fast.

“G-go back! Go back now!”

Baek Yu-seol was holding a chisel and a hammer, wearing a yellow hard hat and work clothes, and even singing a work song as he happily hammered the tower.

“Happy Happy G-Mart~”

“…Can’t you demolish it quietly?”

“What’s that? Want to use the hammer?”

“My magic is faster.”

Hae Wonryang ignored Baek Yu-seol’s suggestion and forcefully overturned the ground.

Then, fangs rose from the ground, dealing critical damage to the tower, and it exploded and collapsed.

He fully utilized the fact that earth-type magic could deal significant damage to towers!

“Oh, they’re coming back.”

Gayurin’s team had four members remaining, but it seemed that it wasn’t easy to take down more than two enemies in a 3-on-5 situation.

Just then, the durability of the [Legendary Demolition Hammer] was critically low and flashing red, so Baek Yu-seol shook his shoulders and asked Hae Wonryang.

“I’ll go and hold them off for a bit, how much time do you need?”

“30 seconds.”

“That’s enough.”

Baek Yu-seol grinned and spun the hammer around before charging in the opposite direction.

[Blink]

The place where he blocked Gayurin’s team was a very narrow passage. Arriving there, Baek Yu-seol, with a ‘screw it’ attitude, recklessly used [Blink] on the enemy and swung his hammer.

[You have taken significant damage!]

[You have dealt significant damage!]

Blink was avoided because it caused significant damage when colliding with objects. It was the same in League of Spirit, but Baek Yu-seol was the only person in the world who could accurately control its direction.

He accurately ‘body-slammed’ Gayurin, instantly killing himself.

“N-noooo!!”

[Emerald Stella Team’s Command Center has been destroyed.]

[Flame Team wins!]

Thus, the highly anticipated showdown between the students ended with the absurd strategy of ‘just destroy the tower.’

End of Chapter