Chapter 49
The kids who had battled Eugene just moments before were lying on the floor, breathing raggedly.
“No, really, that’s a freshman like us?”
The first to speak was Young-jae.
“He smashes everything we use with his bare hands, but he’s so good at detecting ambushes, how does that make sense?”
The figure of Eugene that he had just seen in front of him was that of a battle-hardened Awakened.
“That’s why he’s the boss. He’s always been a monster, really…….”
Jin-woo, who had fought Eugene at close range, shuddered as he remembered the battle that had just taken place. It was as if he had predicted where every attack would come from.
Even when he had made an unorthodox attack in the middle, Eugene had grabbed the dagger with his bare hands and pulled himself up as if it was nothing.
Jin-woo shook his head, thinking that if it weren’t for Young-jae’s magic, he would have fainted.
“I can’t do that again. Even when I try to interfere with the field, interference comes in from outside, and I think Instructor Ji Hyun is preventing me from interfering with the field anymore.”
At Se-ah’s words, who was breathing heavily and slowly catching her breath, Young-jae nodded.
“Certainly, it doesn’t make sense for you to keep interfering with the field. Still, we were able to gain one more chance thanks to you.”
It was unfortunate that they hadn’t succeeded at once, but it had to be done.
Since the field was made of magic power, it was the only way to cheat.
As he said that, he thought of Eugene, who had just found them.
Even though they had attacked with Se-ah help, changing the trajectory of their magic to hide their location, Eugene had found them through the birds.
They realized that they had to change their tactics.
“Se-ah, can you search for the boss location one more time?”
“Yeah? Right now? Well, I’m the one who moved Eugene, so I’m sure we’ll find him if we prioritize searching his expected location.”
“Please, right now.”
Unable to keep her feet on the ground any longer, Se-ah laid herself down, stretched herself out like a frog, and scanned the area where she had sent Eugene.
It didn’t take her long to find him.
“Eh……? He’s standing still where I sent him?”
“Yes, then please cast a spell and lead me to the location.”
“But, won’t that cause Mr. Eugene to come to us again?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll send the magic under the ground.”
“……Under the ground? In that case, I’ll give it a try.”
Hearing Se-ah answer, Young-jae nodded, then picked up his fountain pen and pointed it at the ground.
“Tranquollo.”
With a small ripple of magic, Young-jae’s magic shoots toward the ground.
Se-ah then takes control of the magic and adjusts it to face where Eugene is standing, but at that moment.
────!!!
Se-ah’s shoulders slumped as she realized that some sort of impact had caused her to lose control.
“I didn’t hit him this time, but I don’t think he realized where we were.”
“Really?”
That meant it was working.
“Then I’ll leave the coordination to you.”
“Yes! Leave it to me.”
After hearing Se-ah’s answer, Young-jae continued to cast magic at the ground.
Young-jae’s original magic, conduttore (conductor), is the manifestation of willed magic through words, and ‘tranquollo’, which means ‘quietly’, continued to shoot toward Eugene, very quietly.
“It grazed him this time, I think he’s shifting more towards evasion than defense, no, he’s moving now, something……is moving very slowly.”
‘It’s moving slowly?’
Hearing Se-ah’s words, Young-jae questioned and looked at Jin-woo, who was resting on a tree stump next to him.
“Jin-woo, I need you to climb up a tree right now and look in the direction of the president.”
“Huh? Now?”
“Quickly!”
“Huh? Huh.”
Hearing Young-jae’s words, Jin-woo immediately started to climb the tree. At the same time, Jin-woo realized that something strange was happening in the distance.
“……Huh. Why is that place so bald and empty?”
-Thud
Once again, another tree falls, and in its wake, birds fly away and a cloud of dust rises.
-Koo-koo-koo-koo!!!
Another tree falls, followed by another as the birds have already flown away, but the dust shows no sign of settling.
“No, that’s not…….”
Once again, a tree falls and as Jin-woo saw the scene, he remembered a documentary he once watched as a child.
It was a documentary about poachers using heavy machinery to clear the forest.
He remembered that even heavy machinery couldn’t knock down a tree so fast.
“No way. He can’t be trying to clear this forest, right?”
Suddenly, Jin-woo realized that Eugene was trying to find their location by smashing every tree in this forest.
And when he does, eventually……they’ll be facing off in an open field.
“It’s …….”
Jin-woo quickly climbed down from the tree and looked at the children.
Young-jae and Se-ah were still shooting magic toward Eugene’s location, but their expressions were much darker than it had been before Jin-woo left.
“Something keeps moving around Mr. Eugene, and the ground around……is rumbling.”
They too had noticed the change.
Young-jae turned his head to look at Jin-woo, who was breathing heavily.
“What the hell is going on right now?”
Jin-woo takes a deep breath and prepares to answer Young-jae’s question.
He points in the direction of Eugene, where the trees are still falling.
“The boss is knocking down trees as fast as he can.”
The other kids’ expressions change as they hear Jin-woo’s words.
Se-ah looks like she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and Young-jae has a meaningful look on his face.
“……Crazy.”
As if realizing something, Young-jae quickly unleashes his magic power and shouts.
“Our location will be discovered, we have to pour magic into the place where the president is right now!”
“What?! Right now?”
“Se-ah, you guide the magic to the last place the president was!”
At the same time, countless bombardments of magic began to fly from the fountain pen pointed at the sky.
Seeing this, Se-ah hastily directed Young-jae’s magic to the coordinates where Eugene was last seen.
In response, Jin-woo climbed up a tree to take a look at the situation, but the trees kept falling from the direction the magic was coming from.
“It’s still coming!”
“Se-ah, what’s the situation?”
“I don’t know, I can’t figure it out because the trees keep falling around him and the magic is all over the place!”
It was even possible to get an approximate location from the direction the magic was coming from, and Eugene’s direction from the tree was facing this way.
“I think it’s a magic trap, is this really it?!”
“It’s the only way we’re going to win anyway, don’t you know what crazy things you’re doing?!”
“What?”
“He’s doing it because he can’t find us because of the trees, so he’s going to push the whole forest away!”
“What are we supposed to do then?! We can’t even stop him now!”
“What can we do, if I stop the bombardment in the middle, he’ll immediately come──”
“──I’ve got you”
A cold voice came from the trees.
“Did you……break through that magic to get here?”
At the sound of Eugene’s voice, Young-jae stopped casting magic and aimed his fountain pen.
“There’s no reason to walk when I already have a clear location. What’s more……seeing as how you’re still doing that even after I’ve gotten this close, you’re not able to control the field again, are you?”
Se-ah flinches and shifts at Eugene’s words, which seems even more serious than when she first saw him, perhaps due to the fact that he’s already flown far away once.
“Well, it’s just that…….”
“I didn’t mean to criticize you. On the contrary, I should be complimenting you. To hack into and interfere with the spatial formulas in the field and blow me away, that’s unimaginable.”
Eugene sincerely thought so.
He too had never seen or heard of such a method of hacking and manipulating the field.
The same could be said for Young-jae and Jin-woo’s skills.
The way he gave them orders as their temporary leader was worthy of his magic conduttore, and Jin-woo’s animal instincts were keen as he tied his feet before he was transported away.
So Eugene decided to give them a little tip.
“Se-ah, there are ways to support Young-jae magic, but there are also ways to support Jin-woo.”
“What? Jin-woo? Ha, but I don’t know any buffs or enhancement system magic……?”
“Just because it’s spatial magic doesn’t mean you can’t explore.”
In the past, Eugene had played a lot of CS games, and among them were spatial mages.
“The benefit of spatial magic is that, unlike other attributes, you can set coordinates and implement magic there. It’s different from magic that’s based on the practitioner, so you can use it to form obstacles and terrain.”
At Eugene’s words, Se-ah’s expression turned to one of disbelief.
“Then let’s get started.”
As Eugene rushes toward the children, Young-jae summons his magic.
“Adagissimo. (Very slowly.)”
Eugene begins to slow down as a blue color flickers around him, and Se-ah and Jin-woo, who have been watching, begin to move.
“Kim, Se-ah, can you do it?”
“That’s too hard of a spell, Jin-woo! How can I make a foothold without knowing where you’re going to land?”
The most important part of their coordination was for Se-ah to know where Jin-woo was going to place his foot.
It was virtually impossible for her to form a footing at his speed.
“If I don’t know, I’ll learn as I go.”
Meanwhile, Eugene, who had gotten in front of Jin-woo, swung his left foot.
“No, wait──!”
Jin-woo quickly raised his right arm to block his kick.
Feeling the force of Eugene’s foot that was ready to break his arm Se-ah, true to Eugene’s words, formed a purple plate next to him like a shield to block the attack.
“Clumsy!” Eugene’s leg smashes through the purple plate as if it were a joke, reaching Jin-woo’s arm.
Luckily, Se-ah magic absorbed the impact, so Jin-woo’s body only tilted to the side, but the damage to his arm was still considerable.
“Why do you keep saving your abilities, when you could have a much more versatile attack by utilizing your ability, Wind?”
“I will!”
The wind began to swirl around Jin-woo, pushing away Eugene’s leg.
“You should have done that a long time ago.”
At the same time, Jin-woo looks at Eugene with the corner of his mouth raised as if he’s realized something.
“──I think I understand why boss told me to use my abilities.”
Eugene smiled at Jin-woo’s long-awaited words.
