Chapter 64: How a Studying Student Designs a Battle (1)
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Dozens of energy arrows hurtled toward the bushes!
Taat!
Simultaneously, Kyung-joon dashed towards the bushes!
To be precise, towards the left side, just where the energy arrows weren’t flying!
[Unique skill 『Ultrasonic Vibration Mana Dagger (Lv.1)』 ]
[A blade of mana vibrating tens of thousands of times per second cuts through anything.]
Slice!
The Ultrasonic Vibration Mana Dagger sliced through the empty air.
Or so it seemed.
Zzzing.
The sound of stealth being undone.
The transparent air suddenly distorted like a broken TV, and something appeared.
Thud.
It was the carcass of a rabbit, sliced in half.
[You have defeated a Rofo Rabbit.]
[You have gained 98,708 experience points.]
“Let’s go again.”
Kyung-joon casually picked up the item and urged them onward.
“Whoa……”
Ezeri couldn’t even speak properly, only able to stare blankly at his retreating figure.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Ezeri guided the way, and Kyung-joon hunted whenever monsters popped out.
Slice—!
As before, the battles ended with a single strike, two at most.
‘Is he really a wizard……?!’
When she first saw Kyung-joon hunting monsters, she thought he was some kind of rogue class.
He always knew exactly where the enemy was coming from before they even arrived.
It was a skill difficult for a wizard to imitate, unless they were a rogue with a skill to detect presence.
No, it wasn’t even right to call it rogue-like.
He would detect the enemy in advance and pre-cast spells using Spell Delay.
Then, when the enemy appeared, a barrage of Energy Bolts.
Of course, those weren’t ordinary Energy Bolts.
They were highly sophisticated magical techniques, modified with advanced mana manipulation and Multi-Casting.
Each shot was incredibly threatening, far from being considered a common general skill.
And those threatening projectiles weren’t just one or two, but dozens, unleashed in an instant.
[You have defeated a Tet Flower Deer.]
[You have gained 101,389 experience points.]
[You have defeated a Rofo Rabbit.]
[You have gained 98,708 experience points.]
However, that spectacular magical barrage was actually a smokescreen.
His magic was both a powerful bombardment and a lure.
The moment the magic was unleashed, he was already moving.
Straight into the empty space where no magic flew.
In the end, the monsters’ fates were split into two.
Either riddled with his barrage of magic and killed.
Or, unaware that they were being led, mercilessly cut down by his mana blade.
[You have defeated a Lucuty Monkey.]
[You have gained 112,662 experience points.]
Either way, it was a swift death.
A perfect harmony of ranged magic combat and close-quarters combat using a dagger.
This was Kyung-joon’s fighting style.
‘Every single battle was perfect, as if planned in advance.’
Battles, by their very nature, had to be improvised.
But Kyung-joon’s battles were different.
From the moment he moved, it was as if he was following a predetermined scenario.
Truly perfect battle design.
Kyung-joon wiped his forehead as he looked down at the monster’s corpse, as he had done before.
“Whew. That startled me, popping out like that.”
“R, Really?”
He didn’t look startled at all.
While Kyung-joon was on guard, Ezeri collected the monster’s dropped items.
Then Kyung-joon asked,
“Which way should we go from here?”
“In the direction the Lucuty Forest flowers are facing. So…… that way.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Kyung-joon strode forward without hesitation.
He seemed to see right through the bushes, where anything could jump out.
“Yeah…… let’s go.”
Only then did Ezeri realize.
There was a reason he had offered to gather the ingredients himself.
Those words back then weren’t arrogance or bravado.
If anything, it was pure confidence.
That was Kyung-joon.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Somewhere in the Lucuty Forest.
Several figures could be seen making their way through the woods.
“Tsk, those puny little fairies……! Those weaklings acting all high and mighty! Damn it!”
He was a massive figure, nearly 3 meters tall, his entire body covered in fur.
Black stripes on orange fur.
It was a tiger pattern.
But his shape was humanoid.
“C, Captain, please calm down.”
“You’re not even mad?! Huh?!”
“Of course I’m mad! But we’re in their employ…”
“Ugh! It’s a disgrace, groveling to those tiny things!”
Tiger-type beastkin, the Tiger Tribe.
Not only that, but wolves, pumas, leopards, lions, and so on.
All kinds of beastkin were walking together.
“Well, it can’t be helped, can it? Where else can we get paid this much these days?”
“Our Beastkin Alliance is a developing country, so the city pay is pathetic, and it’s not like we want to risk our necks being mercenaries for Free Mercenaries……”
“Hey, hey! It’s not like our lives aren’t at risk right now, damn it! We’re going back to that crazy bear b@stard!”
“Hahaha…… Calm down. Well, what can we do? If we don’t do this, there’s nothing else to do but work construction.”
Their conversation revealed all the hardships the beastkin were going through.
But it couldn’t be helped.
The best way to describe the beastkin’s standing in the Humanity Cantons was as ‘cheap labor with good strength.’
“Damn…… Just a few hundred years ago, the Beastkin Alliance was the one calling the shots in the Humanity Cantons……”
Just a few hundred years ago, beastkin were a force to be reckoned with in the world.
Possessing at least as much intelligence as humans, and strength and senses surpassing those of beasts.
Their one-on-one combat ability surpassed not only humans but also dwarves and elves, and with their superior reproductive abilities, they were a nuisance even to dragons and fairies, who lacked in that area.
However, as the Demon King was sealed and the overflowing monsters began to be dealt with, their position gradually began to shrink.
The biggest reason was that while other races continued to develop, the beastkin remained the same.
Fairies and dragons, whose very existence was magic, were one thing, but compared to other races, beastkin were no better than cold rice.
Dwarves were good at crafting.
Elves had outstanding magical talent.
Demons were complicated, so they were an exception.
Beastkin began to fall behind even humans, who lacked any particular talent.
That’s because humans are good at imitating things.
Beastkin had nothing to boast about except for their superior physical abilities and tremendous reproductive power.
The Demon King was sealed.
Monsters were always present, but not in such overwhelming numbers that everyone had to step forward.
Even if they tried to take on the mercenary work that was available, most of it was already being done better by Free Mercenaries, who possessed both magical and physical prowess.
As a result, even their unique and once-prided physical abilities became meaningless.
In such a situation, what could the beastkin, who only had their large numbers, do?
Cheap, 3D labor like construction work was all that was left.
“Sigh, how did our beastkin end up falling so far?”
Even now, they were here at the Fairy-Elven Magic Academy as cheap labor.
Escorting, accompanying magic material gathering, subjugating nearby monsters, moving heavy magic tools, and so on.
All the menial tasks of the Magic Academy were their responsibility.
And so it was now.
The Memory Bear, Minto Morco, they had encountered while escorting a magic material gathering party last time.
They were here to catch that mutated one once again.
They hadn’t known it was a mutant then and had almost died fighting it, barely escaping with an elf student.
And even though they had emphasized the danger, they were dispatched again, told to take others with them this time.
“They know it’s a mutant and still send us back? What do they think our lives are?”
“They’re giving us hazard pay, aren’t they?”
“That’s just because they want to save money and manpower that would go to the Combat Magic Department! It’s fine if we get hurt or die, since there are so many of us beastkin anyway!”
When the tiger beastkin flared up again, the leopard beastkin stopped him.
“Now, now…… Just calm down. Let’s focus. We’re already in its territory. Captain, you said it was your kids’ birthday, right? We need to earn money and send it back home.”
“Really. I’m doing this for the money, for the money…… Sigh.”
The captain, a tiger beastkin, let out a deep sigh and then shouted.
“Everyone! Weapons ready! Let’s finish this quickly and go get some soju!”
“Yeah, soju is always the answer.”
“I think the academy will complain about the noise again.”
“Hey, hey! It’s not like we’re doing anything but protecting those weaklings, so they can put up with it!”
“That’s right, that’s right! No one can stop us beastkin!”
“Ehahaha! For the return of the great beastkin era!”
And so, the united beastkin began to advance deeper into the Lucuty Forest.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
[Minto Morco]
▶Commonly known as the Memory Bear. A predator of the Lucuty Forest that enjoys eating the Tree of Memory (Minto alda). With its excellent memory and learning abilities, it quickly reads an opponent’s movements. Its body is accustomed to mana, granting it high magic resistance, but its physical defense is not to be underestimated either.
▶Level: Lv.211
▶Attribute: Wood
▶Characteristics: Mana Detection, Regeneration, Learning, Mana Claws, Magic Resistance
“Roar!”
As they neared the Tree of Memory habitat in the Lucuty Forest, a Memory Bear appeared.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the mutated one they had to be wary of.
Kyung-joon activated the spell he had memorized beforehand.
[Advanced skill 『Spell Delay (Lv.6)』 ]
[Activates a delayed spell.]
[Rare skill 『Multi-Casting (Lv.6)』 ]
[Allows for the casting of multiple spells.]
[Unique skill 『Ultrasonic Vibration Mana Dagger (Lv.2)』 ]
[Summons a mana dagger vibrating 40,000 times per second.]
[Rare skill 『Fine Mana Manipulation (Lv.8)』 ]
[Advanced skill 『Spell Modification (Lv.7)』 ]
[Transforms the shape of the dagger through fine mana manipulation.]
The mana dagger, vibrating with a chilling intensity, transformed into thin threads that wrapped around the Memory Bear.
Then, as if untying a knot, Kyung-joon simply pulled his hand back.
Swoosh.
The sound was quiet.
A soft rustle, like lightly brushing the back of a hand across a desk.
But it was the sound of incredibly fine mana threads passing through the bear’s body.
There was no scream either.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Only the bear’s flesh, split into hundreds of pieces, fell to the ground, following the pull of gravity.
[You have defeated a Memory Bear.]
[You have gained 213,472 experience points.]
[You have leveled up.]
▶Kyung-joon: Lv.119→Lv.120
“……You could open a butcher shop.”
Ezeri said, sounding utterly bewildered as she looked at the chunks of meat scattered on the ground.
The cut surfaces were smoother than a mirror, putting any master butcher to shame.
As she bent down to collect the items, she asked Kyung-joon,
“Are you taking the meat too?”
“Yes. It’s a bear, so I’m taking the gallbladder as well.”
“To eat?”
“Yes. I was thinking that since it’s a Memory Bear, it might improve my memory.”
One of the reasons Kyung-joon came here to gather ingredients himself was to obtain materials for scrolls, but it was also to collect these “foods that help with studying.”
The names themselves were a giveaway: Tree of Memory, Memory Fruit, Memory Bear.
If he cooked and ate them, there was a high chance that his Infinite Reading ability would activate and grant him a memory buff.
“Ugh, that’s such a beastkin mindset.”
“Beastkin?”
“That’s what beastkin do, right? Crack open monkey skulls for headaches, swallow sheep testicles raw for stamina…… Ugh! I saw that once!”
Ezeri shuddered, as if recalling something horrifying.
From what she said, it seemed that beastkin had a rather barbaric culture.
[You have defeated a Memory Bear.]
[You have gained 213,472 experience points.]
[You have defeated a Memory Bear.]
[You have gained 213,472 experience points.]
They continued onward, defeating the occasional Memory Bear they encountered.
Then, Teemo gave a report different from before.
<Master, multiple targets have been detected approximately 35 degrees to the right ahead.>
“Multiple?”
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