Magic Academy’s Genius Blinker

In fact, there was a little bit of Verayen’s selfishness mixed in with the request for a demonstration of defensive magic.

Rather than bothering Baek Yu-Seol, it was a plan to make Morso of the Dorden Family, who supported him, shine more.

Morso was currently in Class B and had a much lower grade than Class A. However, his position would certainly improve if he demonstrated superior magic in a mock battle against a Class S student.

He would likely be promoted to Class A.

“Both of you, go up to the podium.”

“Yes.”

Stella Academy encouraged competition between students for the sake of gaining practical experience. However, it was under the premise that safety equipment was worn.

Baek Yu-Seol stood proudly at one end of the long, straight class podium.

Morso stood on the other side.

“Morso! Crush that guy completely!”

The boy standing next to Yuslek shouted. It was Aiden, who Baek Yu-Seol harshly beat during the Dungeon Practicum.

‘Narrow-minded.’

Aiden was gritting his teeth, making it clear that he still could not admit his previous defeat. 

Morso glanced at Aiden then grinned as he gazed at Baek Yu-Seol triumphantly.

“Of course. Just you wait.”

He knew that he was a difficult opponent. Not only did he play with Aiden and his gang during the Dungeon Training, but he also won a duel against Hong Bi-Yeon after that.

However, all that was thanks to Flash. As such, he could defeat Baek Yu-Seol in this demonstration, as the attacker and the defender changed on a turn-by-turn basis, rendering flash useless.

‘I’ll make sure to humiliate him in front of everyone.’

The students approached the podium, gathered around both contenders and started chatting.

“Morso will win, right? Although the demonstration revolves around defense, he learned a powerful earth-attribute attack magic skill.”

“I think it’ll be difficult to resist Morso’s attack…”

“Baek Yu-Seol doesn’t even wear a magic shield, so how is he going to block it?”

As Verayen raised his hand, the students’ chatter stopped.

“Morso goes first. Ready.”

Morso and Baek Yu-Seol drew their staffs and aimed them at each other.

“Begin.”

As soon as the command was issued, Morso revealed his teeth and smiled, creating a brown magic circle in the air. 

Several students widened their eyes at the sight.

It was an implicit rule to use low-level Class 1 magic skills because it was friendly combat, but he used the Dorden family’s Class 2 magic skill, which had strong destructive power!

“Dorden Stone Pierce!”

A brown glow flashed from Morso’s staff as stone began to rise from the ground. They hovered in the air until they became the size of a human’s head, and then they shot toward Baek Yu-Seol.

Even though their training uniform included a Class 1 Magic Barrier, the magic skill conjured by Morso was powerful enough to be dangerous for a student who did not know how to use defensive magic properly.

The instructor would have to intervene if the students’ confrontation became too heated. However, Verayen was watching the duel without intending to do so.

Swish!

But in reality, it didn’t matter if no one intervened.

Swish! 

Baek Yu-Seol drew his wand diagonally in a relaxed motion.

And then, as if nothing had happened, everything went silent.

Morso’s magic skill had vanished into thin air.

It disappeared completely.

“W-What?”

“What just happened?”

“His magic… disappeared?”

The students began to gossip after the sudden disappearance of the skill. 

However, Morso, who performed the magic, some students from the other class, and the instructor noticed it right away.

Morso’s magic skill was activated correctly. It was just that Baek Yu-Seol destroyed it.

But that was all they could grasp, and no one present could understand the principle behind it. 

It was the same with Professor Verayen.

‘What…? What just happened?’

The principle was simple.

Just as electrical appliances have wires, all magic has a mana pattern, and if you cut it precisely, the magic disappears.

The skill, which was not easy to master in the game, posed a greater challenge in real life.

With ordinary human vision, it was hard to even see incoming magic, let alone precisely cut through the mana flow.

‘For now, I can only barely cut through Class 1 or 2 spells, maybe Class 3 at best……’

It was the result of several days of pitching machine training.

“Ugh…”

Morso gritted his teeth and raised his staff again. 

Three stones appeared out of thin air.

Professor Verayen and the other students saw how Baek Yu-Seol defended himself.

A white beam of light emanated from the tip of his wand. It was a top-notch intangible magic sword that some wealthy people possessed without knowing its offensive attacks.

‘Invisible Magic Swords are known for their weak output, and this one seems especially weak…?’

Professor Verayen, who had now seen the magic sword, had doubts but was soon forced to put them aside.

The moment the stones touched the magic sword, they all disappeared.

It did not require much movement. No matter how fast you were, with 1 Star Agility, it was impossible to block consecutive flying spells by wildly swinging like a baseball player.

The key was to use the minimal amount of movement.

Baek Yu-Seol slightly shook the sword to defend his left shoulder, then with a snap of his wrist, the sword danced across his right thigh, engaging the second stone, and then he rotated on his own axis like a fan to block the stone that was flying at his head.

It was an efficient movement he learned while being hit by level 5 of the pitching machine.

‘This is not so bad, is it?’

If it were a powerful magic skill, he would not be able to stop it like that, but for Class 2, it was enough.

While Baek Yu-Seol was satisfied with his swordsmanship, Verayen broke out in a cold sweat and analyzed his defensive skill.

‘If Morso loses here, it’s going to be a headache for me too…’

Professor Verayen, who was racking his brains for a way out, came up with a brilliant idea.

‘Yeah, he’s a little unique, but anyway, he has his weaknesses.’

He deliberately gave an exaggerated round of applause in the middle of a battle with its real aim being to draw attention. 

“Deflecting magic? As expected, you’re impressive,” he praised. “I acknowledge that your defense skills are quite good. But…”

He subtly signaled to Morso.

“In the end, your defense is just about deflecting each attack one by one, so there’s a limit. What will you do if multiple attacks come at you?”

In other words, Verayen was hinting to Morso to attack with numbers, a method that took advantage of Baek Yu-Seol’s inability to nullify multiple incoming projectiles simultaneously.

Hearing his words, Morso pointed his staff towards the sky. The brown rhombus-shaped magic circle started rotating, gradually being enchanted with formula after formula.

The stones that rose from the ground slowly clumped together to form eleven stone projectiles, each much smaller in size than before.

As an offensive magic skill that attacked multiple people at the cost of power, it was unsuitable for use on a single target, but it was the perfect magic skill to suppress Baek Yu-Seol.

“Wait, isn’t that too much?”

“That’s way too many…”

Morso had gone too far. 

Sure, the magic he used was impressive for a high school freshman, but it was not supposed to be used in a freshman duel.

Despite knowing that fact, Professor Verayen chose to turn a blind eye.

“Bollir Stone Pierce!”

At his shout, the pieces of stones fell from the sky one after another…

Clang!

… But once again, they all disappeared.

Baek Yu-Seol defended his body by rotating the sword like a windmill.

“Wait, what?”

“How…?”

Chak! 

Baek Yu-Seol, who held the magic sword straight again, was sweating slightly.

He had once examined martial arts techniques and seen a method describing how to twirl a sword to block a swarm of flying arrows. However, he had no idea how to do it.

This technique was known as (Fanning) and had been extensively practiced while defending against the pitching machine.

Fanning required much more mental strength to maintain the form of the magic sword Teripon and a significant intake of breath, causing a rapid drop in stamina right after use.

Additionally, the defense was weaker compared to blocking a single spell, so if Morso had been able to use a stronger spell, the sword’s form might have shattered while blocking.

“Oh…!”

“Wow, wow.”

“It almost looked like a Magic Shield…?”

Eventually, the students exclaimed.

It was a surprising technique no one had ever seen in textbooks. How many people in the world could perform such stunts with only a sword?

“That’s insane…”

“I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Is that some kind of Magical Defense Technique? Is he from some special family?”

“No, it’s just a sword in the first place.”

Amid the uproar, someone stepped out when Verayen still did not stop the fight.

“Professor.”

At those words, the students moved away, paving the way for the owner of the voice.

Crown Prince Jeremy Skalven. 

He—who had been quietly observing the situation from the back—had stood up.

Examining his smiling face, Verayen, as well as Morso’s complexion, became pale.

“Yes? Is there a problem?”

“Why didn’t you stop the duel?”

His words seemed to have several meanings.

Morso’s magic skill was unsuitable for a first-year battle. If he had made a mistake, his opponent could have been seriously injured. 

Furthermore, it seemed that victory and defeat had already been decided.

Verayen then slowly looked around at the students.

The eyes of all the students were cold and sunken.

It was over. 

The instructor had a feeling that his career had ended there. 

Having provoked Prince Jeremy, he knew there was no way out.

His hands and feet trembled, and cold sweat dripped down his cheeks, but he parted his lips. “I… The first round is over.”

That way, the initiative fell to Baek Yu-Seol.

“Magic shield… Argh!”

Although he could not use flash, his opponent could only use a magic shield anyway. Baek Yu-Seol approached with a leisurely gait and swung his sword once, instantly shattering Morso’s magic shield to pieces.

The friendly battle ended with Baek Yu-Seol aiming his magic sword at his opponent’s neck.

Verayen instantly saw red, and the words he had to say got stuck in his throat.

Prince Jeremy was watching. 

That fact alone made him feel painful pressure all over his body as if he were shackled.

Therefore, he had to admit reality.

He was forced to spit out the words he never wanted to say.

“Baek Yu-Seol… wins.”