Chapter 49

Chapter 49

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 49The kids who had been fighting Eugene just moments ago were lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

“No, seriously, that's supposed to be a freshman just like us?”

Young-je was the first to speak.

“Why does he smash every spell we use with his bare hands, and how does he notice every surprise attack so easily? Does that even make sense?”

The Eugene they had just experienced firsthand was practically no different from an Awakened who was thoroughly accustomed to battle.

“That's probably why he's the Boss. No matter how many times I see him, he's seriously a monster...”

And Jin-woo, who had fought Eugene at close range, shuddered as he recalled the battle that had just happened.

His movements had seemed as though he could predict exactly where every attack would come from.

Even when Jin-woo mixed in feints and irregular attacks, Eugene had grabbed his dagger barehanded as though it were nothing and pulled him in.

Thinking that if not for Young-je's magic, he would definitely have been knocked unconscious in an embarrassing fashion, Jin-woo shook his head.

“I can't do that again. Even if I try to interfere with the field, something is interfering from outside. I think Instructor Ji Su-hyeon is preventing me from interfering with the field anymore.”

At Se-ah's words as she slowly caught her breath while panting heavily, Young-je nodded.

“Yeah, being able to keep interfering with the field in the first place would be ridiculous. Still, thanks to that, we bought ourselves one turn.”

It was disappointing that their trump card had failed to succeed in one go, but there was nothing they could do.

It had been a cheat they could only pull off because the field itself had been created through mana.

As he said that, Young-je recalled Eugene, who had discovered them earlier.

They had attacked while working hard to alter the trajectories of their magic with Se-ah's help in order to conceal their positions, yet Eugene had still managed to find them through the birds.

Deciding that they needed to change their method of attack, Young-je pushed himself upright.

“Se-ah, can you locate the president's position one more time?”

“Huhhh? Right now? Well, since I'm the one who moved Eugene, if I prioritize searching around his expected location, I think I can find him quickly enough.”

“Please do it right now.”

Se-ah, who no longer even had the strength to put her hands on the ground, flopped forward, stretched out flat like a frog, and scanned the location where she had sent Eugene.

She was able to find Eugene quickly.

“Huh...? Eugene is standing still at the spot where I sent him.”

“Really? Then I'll cast magic, so guide it toward that location.”

“B-but won't Eugene find us again?”

“You don't have to worry about that. I'll send the magic underground.”

“...

Underground? Then I'll give it a try.”

After hearing Se-ah's answer, Young-je nodded, raised his fountain pen, and pointed it toward the ground.

“tranquollo.(Quietly.)”

Young-je's spell shot toward the ground while producing only a small ripple of mana.

Se-ah then took control of the spell and adjusted it so that it headed toward the place where Eugene was standing.

She made the spell surge upward toward Eugene's position, but at that moment.────!!

Realizing that some kind of impact had suddenly caused her to lose control, Se-ah let her shoulders droop.

“I missed him this time. Still, it definitely doesn't seem like he's figured out our position.”

“Really?”

That meant this method was working.

“Then I'll leave the adjustments to you.”

“Yes! Leave it to me.”

After hearing Se-ah's answer, Young-je continued firing magic into the ground.

Young-je's original magic, ‘conduttore(Conductor).’

It was magic that expressed spells possessing intent through words, and ‘tranquollo,’ meaning ‘quietly,’ continued firing toward Eugene with extreme silence.

“It grazed him this time. It looks like he's gradually switching from blocking to dodging. No, is he moving right now? Something... he's moving really slowly.”‘Moving slowly?’Hearing Se-ah's words, Young-je looked toward Jin-woo, who was sitting and resting on a nearby tree stump.

“Jin-woo, climb a tree right now and check the direction the president is in.”

“Hm? Right now?”

“Hurry!”

“Huh? Uh, okay.”

At Young-je's words, Jin-woo immediately started climbing a tree. And at the same time, he noticed that something strange was happening far in the distance.

“...

Hm? Why is only that area completely bald?”

-ThudAnother tree fell once again, causing birds to fly away and clouds of dust to billow into the air.

-Rumbleeeee!!!

More trees collapsed behind it. The nearby birds had already flown off, but the dust showed no sign of settling.

“What the hell is that...”

Another tree fell.

Watching the scene, Jin-woo remembered a documentary he had seen when he was young.

A documentary about poachers bulldozing through a forest with heavy machinery.

If he remembered correctly, even heavy machinery hadn't knocked down trees as quickly as that.

“Holy shit, don't tell me... He's not seriously planning to clear this entire forest, is he?”

Only then did Jin-woo realize.

The person over there was Eugene.

And he was trying to find their location by smashing every tree in the forest.

And if that happened... they would inevitably end up fighting on a field no different from open ground.

“...

We're screwed.”

Jin-woo immediately climbed down and looked at the others.

Young-je and Se-ah were still firing magic toward where Eugene was.

But their expressions were much darker than before Jin-woo had left.

“Something keeps moving around Eugene. And... the ground around him is shaking.”

They had noticed the abnormality as well.

Young-je turned and looked toward Jin-woo, who was panting heavily.

“What the hell is happening right now?”

At Young-je's question, Jin-woo worked to catch his breath and prepared to answer.

Pointing in the direction where Eugene was, where trees were still continuously falling, Jin-woo said.

“Boss is knocking down every tree he comes across.”

The expressions of the others changed in all sorts of ways after hearing Jin-woo.

Se-ah looked as though she had no idea what he meant, while Young-je made a grave expression.

“...

Crazy.”

As though realizing something, Young-je hurriedly spread his mana and shouted.

“Forget about whether our position gets exposed, we need to pour magic onto the president right now!”

“What?! Right now?”

“There's no way we'll get caught just from firing magic in this situation! Se-ah, guide all the magic toward the president's last known position!”

At the same time, countless magical bombardments began flying from the fountain pen Young-je pointed toward the sky.

Seeing that, Se-ah hurriedly guided Young-je's magic toward Eugene's last known coordinates.

Jin-woo also climbed back up into a tree to check the situation, but trees continued collapsing from the direction the magic was flying toward.

“He's still coming closer!”

“Se-ah! What's happening with the president?”

“I don't know! Trees keep falling around that area and magic is flying everywhere, so I can't tell!”

And apparently using the direction from which the magic was coming to roughly estimate their position, the direction Eugene was moving, as seen from above the trees, was toward them.

“I think the magic gave us away! Are you sure this is right?!”

“If we don't do this, there's absolutely no way we'll win! Don't you understand what kind of crazy thing the president is doing right now?!”

“What?”

“He can't find us because of the trees, so he's planning to clear the entire forest!”

“Then what do we do?! We can't stop him even now!”

“What do you mean, what do we do! Once I stop the bombardment midway, immediately go in and──.”

“──Found you.”

A cold voice came from between the trees.

“Holy shit... he broke through all that magic and got here?”

At Eugene's voice, Young-je stopped casting magic and aimed his fountain pen.

“I already know your exact position, so there's no reason for me to walk around. More importantly... judging by how you're still sitting there even after I got this close, it seems you can't mix up the field again. Am I right?”

Perhaps because he had already been sent flying far away once, Eugene's expression looked even more serious than when they had first seen him, causing Se-ah to flinch.

“W-well, about that...”

“I'm not going to scold you. If anything, it deserves praise. Hacking into and interfering with the spatial formulas spread throughout the field to send me far away. It was something I never imagined.”

Eugene genuinely thought so.

After all, he had never seen or heard of anyone hacking and controlling a field like that.

The same was true of Young-je and Jin-woo's abilities.

The way Young-je issued commands to the kids as a temporary leader and directed them perfectly suited his magic, ‘conduttore,’ while Jin-woo's animal-like instincts that had tied Eugene down before he was moved could only be called sharp.

That was why Eugene decided to give the kids a few tips.

“Se-ah, besides supporting Young-je's magic, there should also be ways for you to support Jin-woo.”

“Pardon? Jin-woo? B-but I don't know any buffing or enhancement magic...?”

“Just because it's spatial magic doesn't mean you have to use it only for detection.”

In the past, Eugene had played countless games while playing CS.

And among them, there had also been spatial mages.

“The advantage of spatial magic is that, unlike other forms of magic, you can designate coordinates and manifest magic at that location. That's an advantage over magic that always has to be centered on the caster. Then couldn't you use that to create obstacles or terrain?”

Se-ah's expression began turning to shock at Eugene's words.

“Then, let's begin right away.”

The moment Eugene charged toward the kids, Young-je activated his magic.

“Adagissimo.(Very slowly.)”

Blue ripples appeared around Eugene, causing his speed to decrease, and Se-ah and Jin-woo, who had been watching, began to move.

“Kim Se-ah! Can you match my timing?”

“That's way too difficult! How am I supposed to create footholds when I don't know where Jin-woo is going to move?”

The most important issue in coordinating between the two was how Jin-woo would know where Se-ah would place the footholds.

It was practically impossible for Se-ah to form footholds while matching Jin-woo's speed.

“If you don't know, you'll have to learn while getting hit.”

Meanwhile, Eugene had already closed the distance to Jin-woo and swung his left leg.

“Wait, hold on──!”

Jin-woo hurriedly raised his right arm to block Eugene's kick.

Feeling the force behind Eugene's leg, Jin-woo braced himself for his arm to break, but just as Eugene had suggested, Se-ah formed a purple panel beside Jin-woo like a shield and tried to block the attack.

But.

“Too sloppy!”

As though finding it laughable, Eugene shattered the purple panel and his leg reached Jin-woo's arm.

Fortunately, Se-ah's mana absorbed part of the impact, so Jin-woo's body merely tilted sideways, but the damage accumulated in his arm was still considerable.

“Why do you keep holding back your ability? If you used your wind, you'd be capable of much more varied attacks.”

“I was going to do that!”

Wind began swirling around Jin-woo, pushing Eugene's leg away.

“You should've done that from the beginning.”

Then, as though realizing something, Jin-woo raised the corners of his mouth and looked at Eugene.

“──I think I get it. Why Boss told me to use my ability.”

At the words Jin-woo had been waiting and waiting to say, Eugene smiled as well.