I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy - Chapter 18

‘What the hell!’

Baek Yu-Seol used Flash, shifting his body forward abruptly. Moments later, flames erupted in an explosion right where he had been about to land.

Boom!

The blast had the destructive force of a small bomb.

Due to the momentum from his fall, he couldn’t regain control even after using Flash. He ended up slamming his head against a rock, causing a sharp pain.

“Ugh…”

Even on the grimy ground, the clear sound of heels clicking echoed in the air. Baek Yu-Seol rubbed his head, stood up, and turned to look back.

‘Hong Bi-Yeon…’

She was approaching slowly, her staff aimed directly at him. Seeing her, his confusion only grew.

‘Why is she here too?’

He couldn’t understand why it seemed like everyone held a grudge against him.

Aiming her staff at Baek Yu-Seol, Hong Bi-Yeon said, “Commoner, why didn’t you just take another point stick from them?”

“What are you talking about? I couldn’t take it.”

“Nonsense.”

“No, in the first place, why does it matter whether I took those sticks or not?”

She did not respond. Raising his eyebrow, Baek Yu-Seol inquired, “I wonder if you… Had I taken them all away, would you have done the same to me?”

Once again, she remained silent, but her expression gave him a clear answer.

"You shameless brat. Can you even call yourself human?"

“I'm royalty.”

Considering that she believed she could take away his stick in the first place, it appeared that it was not her pride as a royal that motivated her but rather the confidence that came from her strength.

“Isn’t that too much? That’s right, I even gave you a special lecture.”

“Hmph. Do commoners not know how to separate public and private matters?”

She flicked her staff up and down.

“Get ready quickly. Taking things from commoners does not reflect the dignity of royalty, so I’ll deal with you properly.”

“Is that your idea of dignity? Do you enjoy extorting the weak?”

“Weak? You? Don’t be silly.”

Hong Bi-Yeon frowned as if she was genuinely offended and disgusted.

"I’ve seen everything, all the pranks you’ve been playing on those guys."

Hong Bi-Yeon had been watching the Aiden gang and Baek Yu-Seol’s fight since the moment they met.

Her plan had been to wait until the fight exhausted everyone, then swoop in to take all their point sticks. Fighting six people at once would drain too much of her stamina.

At that moment, she held four Point Sticks and had already defeated several monsters, giving her an impressive 144 points. But she still wasn’t satisfied.

It was because Hae Won-Ryang, whom she had previously met, had points exceeding 200.

‘I can’t go back with poor grades again this time.’

Her mother wouldn’t forgive her.

Desperation fueled her more than anyone else at Stella. She was determined to secure top grades.

She absolutely had to secure first place. Only by claiming the top spot among the countless geniuses and nobles gathered from various nations here would she finally be recognized.

‘However, that commoner is playing around.’

Since Hong Bi-Yeon had always worked hard, she was dissatisfied with Baek Yu-Seol who possessed power but did not use it well.

'Someone who doesn’t even try their best doesn’t deserve those points.'

However, she could not let go of her tension. It didn’t matter that the other person was a commoner. Hong Bi-Yeon increased her mental power to the maximum.

She recalled Aiden, who had just been thoroughly beaten. 

Even if he acted pitiful, his magical abilities weren’t insignificant—enough to gain admission to Stella.

While far inferior to Hong Bi-Yeon, Aiden and his gang were still elites raised in mage families.

If Baek Yu-Seol could toy with opponents like them…

‘I’ll have to go all out.’

She assumed that if she got serious, Baek Yu-Seol - who had been joking around without even using magic - would have to respond earnestly.

It was unjust to Baek Yu-Seol, who had always been sincere, but Hong Bi-Yeon thought so anyway.

Whoosh!!!

Sparks began spreading from her body, linking the trees around them.

Flames swirled and danced across the forest.

Although she couldn’t yet implement a Class 4 Fire Field, she cleverly combined Class 1 Ember magic with the terrain to create a favorable environment.

‘She’s sharper than I thought.’

Drenched in cold sweat, he looked at the burning terrain.

Pointing at the point stick, Hong Bi-Yeon’s brow twitched at the prospect of dealing with Baek Yu-Seol.

“Your staff, aren’t you going to take it out?"

“I gave it to you.”

“Wasn’t there a basic staff given to you during your admission?”

'Oh, right. Was there one?'

In the first place, there was no point in using a staff, so he completely forgot about it.

Just like a soldier who must carry their rifle at all times, a mage was expected to always have their staff.

“You’re still joking around.”

Hong Bi-Yeon swung her staff with an angry expression.

“I don’t know about the other idiots, but you’d better be serious with me.”

A barrage of flower-shaped flames soared high in the sky. They coiled and sizzled like snakes, thirsting to color everything in their poison.

“If you don’t, you’ll really die.”

The flames started to explode the next moment and showered down towards Baek Yu-Seol!

Even after activating Flash two or more times in a row, it seemed impossible to completely escape that vast tsunami of flames.

Anticipating his agility, Hong Bi-Yeon had already prepared countermeasures.

‘This is going to be a little difficult…’

Even the small embers near her body would erupt if he got too close. Having faced fire mages in PVP before, Baek Yu-Seol knew the danger well.

Her level was much higher than expected.

‘If it was a real battle on a flat ground, I would have been robbed in less than a minute.’

Would there be a fight in the first place? Let alone one minute, it would be settled in a matter of thirty seconds. Only two activations of Flash could not beat the monstrous being named Hong Bi-Yeon.

However, things were very different now.

The ever-changing terrain and the point stick in his hand were wild cards.

This point stick would be able to destroy Hong Bi-Yeon’s flimsy magic shield, which was renowned for its weak defense.

‘It would be difficult to knock her down, but …’

At least he would not be helpless.

Fwoosh! Bang! Bang!

A mass of flames was shot from the tip of Hong Bi-Yeon’s staff, and at the same moment, a pillar of fire rose from his feet.

She intended to exploit her opponent's distraction by using a decoy to draw his attention.

“Crazy! She’s really serious.”

Indeed, it was a clever strategy. If she managed to land even one hit, the fight would be over.

However…

Not a single attack reached Baek Yu-Seol.

By twisting his head at just the right angle, he narrowly avoided the flames she launched. Through Flash, he evaded the massive pillar of fire erupting beneath him.

Next came the flying flame arrows. While he could dodge them, he opted to use the point stick to swat them away instead.

“W-What?!”

Hong Bi-Yeon’s expression betrayed her shock at seeing magic deflected by a simple physical weapon.

The flame arrows were as swift as real arrows, and although impossible for ordinary people, he had maxed out Mana Leakage Delay when he played the game, so he could clearly detect the attack with his eyes.

Even though his skill level was low at the moment and they were only detectable with Sixth Sense, it was sufficient.

Clang!

After deflecting all the flame arrows in rapid succession, he used Flash to take cover behind a rock. The following waves of magic hit nothing but empty space.

“How long are you going to just dodge?!”

Of course, Baek Yu-Seol was not simply running away.

He was gradually honing his senses by using the point stick to channel magic power and deflect her attacks while determining the optimal path for conserving Flash.

Sensory enlightenment through training. Indeed, he was now using Hong Bi-Yeon for his training.

She was unlike anyone else he’d faced before. Though her level was still relatively low, she was closer to being a real mage than anyone he had previously encountered.

Instead of a 3D game operated by a keyboard and mouse, he fought in reality to slowly discover the ways of dealing with a mage.

‘It’s becoming clearer.’

The flow of magic power appeared as though it were on his fingertips. His ‘instinct’ felt just as familiar as touch, sight, and hearing.

‘Ugh, how is he dodging all of this?’ Hong Bi-Yeon screamed internally.

‘How can he move so freely in this complex terrain?’

She thought she could shoot Baek Yu-Seol down if she hit him once, but she kept missing narrowly.

‘This terrain is full of trees. Surely I have an advantage?’

Hong Bi-Yeon thought she had made the terrain hers by setting fire to the trees.

However, this living and moving terrain was always on Baek Yu-Seol’s side, whether on fire or not.

Instead, the flames often obscured her vision whenever a burning tree flared and collapsed. Was he using this to his advantage?

“This…!”

When the flames did not reach him despite such a wide range of attacks, Hong Bi-Yeon made them even stronger.

She prepared a more advanced spell.

That moment of preparation was her fatal mistake.

[Flash]

In that unexpected moment, Baek Yu-Seol activated Flash and appeared in front of Hong Bi-Yeon.

“Ah…!”

For a very brief moment, their eyes met, and Hong Bi-Yeon, who had a frown on her face, quickly shut her mouth.

‘Aiur Crash!’

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

He knew that magic well.

It was a skill that was used as a counter for an opponent approaching a flame-attribute bishop mage. It could cause a small rebound explosion within a radius of two meters around the user.

He was able to deal with such a rudimentary response because he had been subjected to the skill many times before.

With just one step back, he was able to get exactly two meters away from Hong Bi-Yeon.

Boom!

As soon as the rebound explosion was complete, Baek Yu-Seol approached her without wasting even 0.1 seconds and stretched out…

… With the point stick.

Clink!

“…Ah!”

Hong Bi-Yeon’s chest was stabbed with a point stick and her sloppy magic shield broke, pushing her body back from the impact.

Had it been the future Hong Bi-Yeon, she might have fallen gracefully or prepared a second countermeasure before being stabbed, but she now fell backward, most likely due to her lack of combat experience.

Thud!

Hong Bi-Yeon’s face shook from shock, whether from hitting her bottom on the ground or from being attacked.

The flames surrounding them died down, leaving an eerie silence in their wake.

It was Baek Yu-Seol who spoke first. 

“I win.”

“No… Not yet. There’s an aura of fire all around me. If you had hit me a second time, you would have been immediately swept up in the explosion.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t do it.”

“Stop pretending to know everything!”

She shouted angrily but quickly grew somber and closed her mouth. It was because she believed that if he had used real staff in their fight, she would have been defeated sooner.

‘What the hell… Who are you, really?’

Contrary to what she believed, the rumors about him were also complicated.

Looking into the corner, Baek Yu-Seol said, “Flame. Stop hiding now and come out.”

“What…?”

Hong Bi-Yeon turned her head in surprise to see a black-haired girl emerge hesitantly from behind a rock, her expression still filled with discontent.