Chapter 2372 – 2372. Modern Magic War
After realizing through experience that most mages were vulnerable in close combat, Baek Ju-hyeok had trained his body and learned martial arts. It was to use his magic, Acceleration.
‘Once I get close to a mage, I win…! Especially sorcerers, those guys who rely only on their magic and don’t even know how to throw a punch…!’
He thought it wouldn’t be any different even if the opponent was a commander-level mage. That was until he actually fought one.
Thud!
He was grabbed by the collar again and slammed into the ground. He reflexively performed a fall break, a technique ingrained in his body through years of repeated training. If he hadn’t, his spine would have broken or his back would have been wrecked.
‘Judo? No, is it even judo? How can he throw me down without using any strength while I’m in an accelerated state?’
The opponent didn’t seem to have used any force. Baek Ju-hyeok had charged using his Acceleration magic, and it was as if the direction of the road had suddenly changed, and he was slammed into the ground.
Seong Yu-jin silently sneered at Baek Ju-hyeok and then kicked him in the abdomen. He struck the stomach area precisely. Baek Ju-hyeok gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to vomit.
“If you’re going to use your acceleration ability, use it properly. You can’t even leave a scratch on my body with that. If that’s all you’ve got, it’s a waste of three minutes.”
“…My magic’s instantaneous acceleration is only a short moment, less than a second, but it’s at least three times faster. It’s not a speed that a human can see and react to. How did you react?!”
“To throw a punch, you have to pull your arm back, and to walk, you have to set an axis with one leg. I can see all your movements, so how can I not predict your next attack?”
Usually, they can’t.
It might be possible if you look slowly. But to see the target’s actions and predict their attack while fighting? Even experts would find that difficult. Moreover, Baek Ju-hyeok uses his Acceleration ability. Even without instantaneous acceleration, it’s hard to even follow Baek Ju-hyeok’s movements with the naked eye in close combat.
‘At first, I thought that guy was using the same Acceleration magic as me. But he wasn’t. He was at a normal speed from beginning to end.’
It was an undeniable fact. This was a difference in capability.
Seong Yu-jin flicked his hand. A water droplet the size of a watermelon appeared in the air and stuck to Baek Ju-hyeok’s head. A water droplet helmet. A method of drowning the opponent on the ground.
Baek Ju-hyeok punched himself in the face with a magic-infused fist. The water droplet burst and fell to the floor with a thud.
Seong Yu-jin nodded as he watched. Was it because he acknowledged Baek Ju-hyeok? Absolutely not. To him, Baek Ju-hyeok was nothing more than a lab rat.
‘At that level, Wind Cutter or Aqua Ball won’t work well. It’s not magic, but the magic power itself is highly versatile like mana.’
Baek Ju-hyeok stood up. He had already realized the difference in skill between himself and Seong Yu-jin. He would probably die here. However, he had no intention of giving up on life easily. He would show that even a worm wriggles when stepped on.
Seong Yu-jin flicked his finger. A Wind Cutter flew towards Baek Ju-hyeok. Baek Ju-hyeok blocked the Wind Cutter with his magic-enhanced arm. A scratch appeared on his arm. A drop of blood fell.
Baek Ju-hyeok closed the distance. Seong Yu-jin lightly stepped, dodging his attacks, maintaining distance, and swinging his hand. Fire blazed, water splashed, and wind burst.
‘Fire is the most powerful. It’s natural since it causes burns just by touching it. Water is the weakest. Simply swinging or throwing water won’t work. Wind is surprisingly easy to use. Especially Wind Cutter. Is it because I use a sword?’
The biggest advantage of wind is that it’s invisible. Unless one’s senses are exceptionally sharp, it’s hard to even detect it. The problem is that it can’t cut through a body enhanced with magic power.
‘What if I mix water?’
Water mixed with the wind blade. Baek Ju-hyeok easily dodged the blue blade.
What was invisible now had a form. Moreover, it became heavier and slower. It would be stranger if Baek Ju-hyeok couldn’t dodge it with his excellent reflexes.
‘This isn’t it.’
He tried mixing fire. It had a form, but it was fast. The fire blade burned the wound as soon as it made contact. From Seong Yu-jin’s perspective, the bleeding effect would have been better.
‘Should I try mixing lightning?’
Crack.
Sparks flew in the air, and a huge slash appeared, cutting through the building and Baek Ju-hyeok’s body.
Baek Ju-hyeok, who had been trying to close the distance at all costs, couldn’t dodge and was cut in half, dying. It had only been two minutes.
“Ah.”
Seong Yu-jin sighed and clicked his tongue briefly.
He hadn’t been able to control his power because he was concentrating. Moreover, it couldn’t be said that he had mixed lightning with wind. It was more accurate to say that he had shot out lightning in the form of wind. He had given the lightning the characteristics of wind.
‘Okay, that’s done, next is….’
He turned his gaze outside the building.
[The Heavenly Eye is opened.]
He could easily find the woman, Im Hyun-ah, who had escaped two minutes ago. The Heavenly Eye had the ability to see through things and could even see through mana. Mana was magic power. She was using magic power to escape at full speed, so she was bound to be visible.
Seong Yu-jin rode the wind and flew into the sky. The ground was dense with trees. Even with the Heavenly Eye’s ability to see through things, it was hard to look at everything. Moreover, focusing to see through things was more tiring than he imagined.
‘The flow of magic power is… normal. She didn’t just run away blindly, she hid her magic power.’
He used a different sensing technique instead of seeing through things.
Lightning Heaven Style Electromagnetic Wave.
An invisible wave spread out, transmitting all sorts of information to Seong Yu-jin. In Seong Yu-jin’s mind, a three-dimensional map of the terrain within a 500m radius of himself unfolded. Originally, the limit was 300m, but recently, the level of lightning and Lightning Heaven Style had increased, expanding the range.
From the trees swaying in the wind to the trampled weeds and even a crawling bug. He received that vast amount of information without any difficulty.
‘She’s not here. But I found traces.’
An unnaturally bent branch, fallen leaves that seemed to have been stepped on recently.
‘It’s amazing that she ran 500m in this rough mountain in two minutes. She must have used magic power, so it’s natural. But she can’t escape me.’
Seong Yu-jin looked to the right and flew.
• • •
I landed in front of her as she was running through the mountains, trying to escape. Startled, she jumped in place like a cat with its fur on end.
Her eyes were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel her fear.
Of course, I knew her information.
Im Hyun-ah.
A cadre of the Harrier organization Luminus, active in Korea.
Her orange hair was luscious, and her features were slightly mischievous, but she was a beauty. I scanned her from head to toe.
She was curvy and well-proportioned. Her breasts were F-cup, her waist was slender, and her hips were perfect for childbirth. She was an undeniable beauty.
‘I guess she’s worthy of being a fairly significant villain until the mid-part of the original story. She dies at the hands of the protagonist in the mid-part.’
I knew what her grimoire was and her magical abilities.
Her grimoire was a purple pair of panties. That’s why she only wore one pair of panties. Fortunately, her grimoire had an automatic cleaning function, so it was always kept clean.
Her magic was transformation. When she transformed into a target, she reproduced the memories and experiences the target had. She could also use the target’s magic. However, the initial transformation condition was that she had to ingest at least one drop of the target’s fresh blood. Also, she could only transform into women of the same gender.
‘In the case of the magic of the transformed target, she had to consume more magic power than the target consumed to use it, right?’
I grasped her magic power. Frankly, her magic power was less than the acceleration mage I had fought earlier. That was because her ability was not specialized for combat.
As I quietly watched without doing anything, Im Hyun-ah distanced herself from me. Her magic power surged, and she transformed into another woman.
A tall woman in her mid-20s with short black hair. She held a spear in her hand. Her breasts were B-cup. Her body shape had completely changed, which was amazing.
It was quite interesting to see not only her clothes change but also weapons appear out of thin air.
“If you’re going to attack, then attack.”
I began to covet her ability after seeing it. If she transformed into another woman, wouldn’t her breasts and even her pussy change? Didn’t that mean one woman had dozens of pussies?
My mouth watered.
“Take off your clothes and beg for your life. Then I’ll let you live on the condition that you become mine.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I’d rather die than suffer such humiliation!”
She swung her right hand. Whoosh! Wind raged around her, smashing trees and overturning the ground. It was a pure difference in power, without any technique or anything.
“Are you serious? You’ve used up most of your magic power trying to escape, right? Are you really going to fight me? I’m asking your real personality, not the personality you transformed into, Im Hyun-ah.”
“H-How do you know my name….”
“Luminus. I know a fair amount about your organization. Including that you’re one of the cadres.”
Because of the penalty, I didn’t know all the information about Luminus. Perhaps because of the penalty, the location of Luminus’s headquarters and the things Luminus would do in the future were vague. It was like a fog had settled over them.
“…Are you saying I should give you information about Luminus? And my body as well?”
“You understand well. In return, you’ll become my woman and live in luxury. Isn’t that better than living a dangerous life?”
Im Hyun-ah gritted her teeth.
“If I wanted to live safely, I wouldn’t have joined Luminus…!”
“Why did you join Luminus?”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember this part. She was a significant villain, so there must have been a reason in the original story, but I couldn’t recall it due to the penalty.
“If you knew, would you even help me?”
“I might.”
She paused and looked at me. But then she bit her lip as if regaining her composure and gripped her spear tightly.
“I won’t fall for your lies.”
“It can’t be helped.”
[I use Moment. Remaining stacks: 11]
I closed the distance in an instant and thrust my fist into her abdomen.
“Cough!”
Im Hyun-ah’s knees dropped to the ground.
