Hermit Wizard

Superior or Inferior (5)

The two turned their heads at the same time, finding a man walking in the dark. Hwang Soo-rim’s face hardened after confirming who it was.

Baek Woon-gyu appeared from the shadows and spoke.

“Kyung-hwan, you were here? I was worried.”

That man raised one hand. Hwang Soo-rim’s eyes stopped by the ring he wore. There’s a very weak Mana in his fingers.

It was late. She clicked her tongue and spoke to Kim Kyung-hwan after spitting out a small curse.

“Just now, he’s using communication magic. He’s telling them where we are. We don’t have time!”

“Ah, what bullshit are you talking about?”

Kim Kyung-hwan shouted with a face full of irritation. That was no way Hwang Soo-rim could detect the magic he didn’t notice. He ignored her words, and she continued.

“Brother Woon-gyu! Since we met here, please help me. Hwang Soo-rim, this woman is weird. She used strange magic!”

“… Strange magic?”

Baek Woon-gyu made an ambiguous expression.

“Yes, she suddenly appeared in the air where there was no one before!”

Hwang Soo-rim narrowed her eyes and glared at Kim Kyung-hwan. Only one of her eyes was exposed out of the hair, but she clearly conveyed her feelings.

Kim Kyung-hwan didn’t like that gaze.

‘What is it? Why is that bitch staring at me with those eyes? It looks like a mixture of contempt and disgust as if trying to say she has never seen such an idiot before?’

“This girl is weird! She must be in the same group with the guys invading here now!”

Baek Woon-gyu nodded.

“Well, she has been acting a little weird lately.”

“What?”

“You’re weird, Soo-rim. How many weeks has it been? You just skipped classes, went around the base without permission, and got stopped by the instructor. What’s wrong with you these days?”

Upon hearing that, Hwang Soo-rim responded quietly.

“How do you know that?”

“… Hmm?”

“We aren’t in the same class, are we? You are in the tentra class. Why do you know every move of a crappy trainee like me?”

A strange smile was caught on the corner of Baek Woon-gyu’s mouth. Hwang Soo-rim urgently turned her head, and she shouted at Kim Kyung-hwan.

“We don’t have time for this! Hurry up and…”

“Shit, shut up! I don’t know what you are, but I can catch you first before going to the basement!”

Hwang Soo-rim was dumbfounded and made a distorted expression.

“Ah, you stupid bastard!”

Sensing Mana gathering in Kim Kyung-hwan’s hands, she took one step back and got prepared. She also drew her Mana. The force penetrated through her fingers.

And at that time, Baek Woon-gyu’s words prevented the two from moving. His voice had a little confusion mixed in it. Kim Kyung-hwan could also feel the changing temperature.

His finger was pointing to Hwang Soo-rim’s ring.

“That Mana pattern. Where did you get that?”

Kim Kyung-hwan shot up with a grimace.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but once we catch her, she’ll confess them all!”

A black storm raged from Kim Kyung-hwan’s hand. It was the 4th-class melting magic used when holding the Waterbird. he created a whirlwind of the acidic solution in front of his hand.

It was a smaller scale than back then, but it wasn’t magic to use indoors in the first place. Hwang Soo-rim jumped out and lamented to herself.

‘Ah, that idiot.’

-Pheeiiing!

Compressed air exploded under her feet and launched into the air. The expressions of Kim Kyung-hwan and Baek Woon-gyu, who saw the scene, hardened at the same time. That was also magic that Kaifu never taught them.

-Wheeeiiiing!

-Cheeeeeiiik!

An acid storm melted the corridor. The windows melted and flowed, and toxic gases spread low.

Then Kim Kyung-hwan ran into an unexpected ambush. A space that is not enclosed but is a narrow corridor. When he inhaled the toxic substances, his lungs were sore. His head was dizzy.

“Ah… ugh!”

A mistake he wouldn’t have made if Eraser guided him. Kim Kyung-hwan missed his footing for a moment. He noticed Hwang Soo-rim approaching for that opportunity.

“N-no…!”

As soon as Kim Kyung-Hwan reached out to cover his body…

-Whiirrrr!

-Bang bang!

He opened his eyes wide to a sight beyond his imagination. Net-like electricity stretched out from Baek Woon-gyu’s hand, but an opaque protective membrane made by Hwang Soo-rim was blocking it. While approaching Kim Kyung-hwan, she saw his attack and turned her body to respond in an instant.

‘B—both of them, what the fuck?’

With the magic that Kim Kyung-hwan had never seen or heard, the conflict between the two continued.

“I-I…”

It felt like he was an extra. While ignoring Kim Kyung-hwan in the corner, the two executed magic against each other.

Baek Woon-gyu exclaimed.

“You! That ring, where did you get it? Which country can make such artifacts? Where do you belong?”

Instead of answering, Hwang Soo-rim calmly prepared her next spell.

-Gwoooong!

Sharp Mana gathered at the tips of her fingers, and the heat rays burned the air. A red flash poked like an awl along with where her finger pointed! However, Baek Woon-gyu’s response was faster.

“Silver mirror for magic reflection!”

With the shout, a palm-sized silver disc appeared around him, and the heat rays were deflected in the wrong direction as if reflected on the glass. Before the shield disappeared, Hwang Soo-rim’s magic poured from another direction.

Kim Kyung-hwan was staring at the scene with a puzzled look.

‘What is this? What the hell are those…’

He couldn’t help but feel it when he was that close. Mana gathered in an instant, and then it was activated in combination. That speed was something Kim Kyung-hwan had never experienced before.

In teaching magic lessons, Kaifus didn’t do it in that way. Hence, that sense of speed and the harsh response felt inevitably unfamiliar.

Looking at the scene, Kim Kyung-hwan internally questioned himself.

‘Can I make spells at that rate? Can I gather my Mana that fast? Can I naturally get the spell’s connection like that?’

An answer that his pride didn’t allow broke through the barrier of his ego and returned.

‘No, I can’t do that.’

It seemed that his eyes were turning upside down. Hwang Soo-rim cohesively threw 1st-class adhesion magic into her hand. The speed at which the spell was completed was less than a tenth of his own. Baek Woon-gyu, who blocked it with unknown defensive magic, responded by creating fire magic that was several times more powerful than his own spell.

No. Something was wrong.

‘The main character of this world must be me. I must be the most talented wizard in the world. I have to remain the best. I am the one who speaks contempt. I am the superior one. Such feelings of inferiority… I don’t have to feel it again anymore!’

Kim Kyung-hwan lost his mind for a moment and shouted.

“Both… fuck… don’t look at me like I’m shit!”

Mana infested his hand. Kim Kyung-hwan operated Eraser’s magic circle left on the back of his hand to the limit. What he was using then was the capacity of Mana that exceeded the limit set by the Eraser.

The concealment magic was broken, and the artifact’s identity planted on the back of his hand was clearly revealed!

“Huh?”

Baek Woon-gyu, who discovered what was on the back of Kim Kyung-hwan’s hand, shed his voice as if it was interesting.

“As expected!”

Hwang Soo-rim’s eyes widened when she witnessed the scene.

Kim Kyung-hwan thought that their reaction was confusing because of his overflowing Mana. He completed the spell by collecting as much Mana left by Eraser as he could draw out.

“Both of you… don’t look down at m…!”

-Shot.

“Uh… huh?”

The world tilted.

Just as he was about to complete his magic, Kim Kyung-hwan felt the sensation of a sharp thing rubbing his leg and the searing pain that followed. It was bitter, and it was hot as if he was being burned.

“Eaaaaarrrrghhhhhh!”

Kim Kyung-hwan rolled on the floor without completing the order. Two hands wrapped around his right thigh, soaking his palms with blood. Something just brushed against his body and left a scar deep enough for a finger to go in.

“It hurts…! Huuuuuugggggh!”

Tears filled his eyes.

‘It hurts. It hurts too much.’

He was drooling and rolling over the floor. Kim Kyung-Hwan, who was distracted, didn’t realize what just happened.

While Kim Kyung-hwan was distracted by constructing the spell, Baek Woon-gyu raised his finger and aimed at his leg. Without interference, he would have penetrated the thigh muscles. It was Hwang Soo-rim who turned the orbit at the last minute.

‘If you collect Mana for such a long time, you are only asking him to attack you!’ as she thought it was absurd, she struck Baek Woon-gyu’s finger, that was preparing to attack, with compressed air. Her head was pounding as she was calculating the spells one after another at a fast pace. She was reaching her limit, too.

“Ah… this… it fucking hurts.”

Looking at his broken index finger bent in an abnormal direction, Baek Woon-gyu muttered.

“It won’t work.”

Baek Woon-gyu steeled his heart. The target was far worse than he thought.

He didn’t know what kind of trick it was, but his Mana was definitely remarkable. The combination of unknown magic was also threatening.

However, he had a sense of combat and mentality that couldn’t be used in actual combat. As evidence, he was lying on the floor and crying, rubbing his thigh a little. Kim Kyung-hwan was no longer his opponent.

Hence, Baek Woon-gyu thought, ‘Let’s use the spell I saved to defeat Kim Kyung-hwan for Hwang Soo-rim. Even if she loses a few of her arms or legs, it will be fine for interrogation.’

-Ghrrrrrrrrng!

Baek Woon-gyu poured Mana into his ring. The Mana’s explicit harmony was different from the communication magic, but the speed wasn’t even comparable to Kim Kyung-hwan. Another spell stored in the ring began to wake up.

Hwang Soo-rim realized the power of the magic he was preparing, and she also noticed that its completion would soon be upon her.

Her highly trained brain thought in high concentration as if time had slowed down. She needed to be prepared to stop that attack. However, it took more time to use that kind of spell.

Her brain had overheated from casting spells one after another, and she knew she wouldn’t make it on time. There was a need for a response that didn’t require complex operations, but at the same time, it had to be powerful enough to defend her!

Hwang Soo-rim quickly made up her mind. She reached forward as if responding, taking less than a few seconds to get there.

Baek Woon-gyu rolled his tongue.

“Flame!”

However, it was Hwang Soo-rim who shouted the starter first. It was faster for her lips to open in the first place.

After her voice finished, the ring worn by Hwang Soo-rim turned into a strange color. It stretched and wrapped around her fingers, then swelled up to several dozen times of the original ring’s mass and swirled in front of her!

“Thornbush of Quécadius!”

As soon as her voice rang, Baek Woon-gyu saw dozens of blades attacking before his eyes. Each weapon possessed condensed Mana.

However, he couldn’t understand. That ‘metal’ wasn’t the material of that world. Such a Mana pattern couldn’t exist on Earth.

Sensing the blade approaching his nose, the brain of the trained wizard continued to think desperately, even in that short instance. What was that spell?

It wasn’t even an artifact. It wasn’t a precise control of Mana. As soon as the simple act of primitively drawing Mana without direction and the consciousness of shouting the starter was done, the result of the magic metal’s ductility that should’ve been chanted for a few minutes was turned into reality.

That… something was strange. No, something was wrong.

The afterimage of an accident remained in Baek Woon-gyu’s brain just before the blade hit his head.

-Stab! Stab stab!

“Ku… Kugh…!”

Kim Kyung-hwan, who was crawling on the floor, felt the air changed, but he couldn’t see well because of the tears. He closed his eyes tightly and shed tears on his cheeks before looking ahead again.

What happened in front of him was an unbelievable scene.

The sharp claws stretched out from Hwang Soo-rim’s hand. No, should he say it was a branch of metal? The blade that stretched out at an arbitrary angle penetrated Baek Woon-gyu’s entire body. Blood streams flowed from his two-legged, skewered physique.

And he couldn’t turn his eyes from the back of Hwang Soo-rim’s hand, who used that magic.

It was contrasted with what was on it. It wasn’t a vast magic circle with the sun, moon, star emblems, and unreadable characters. It was a magic circle drawn with simplicity.

The shape of the magic circle was different. However, the source from which Mana flowed was similar to his just before…

Kim Kyung-hwan recalled his conversation with Eraser.

-Eraser. It’s a random question, but the human that you chose… am I really the only one?

-Sure.

It was unfair. A feeling of defeat filled his head.

-I can see the wizard’s potential. I’ve looked all over the world, but I couldn’t find another talent like you. I’m sure you are the best.

-Of course! It’s right to choose the best person.

… Then what were those two?

‘Was it not me? Was I just… one of the most common extras in this world?’

No, it wasn’t even an ordinary extra. Most people in the world lived well in peace, after all. Kim Kyung-hwan looked down the floor with a faintly shaking view. He saw a puddle created by his own blood.

‘Getting beaten bothers me. I got hurt. It hurts. I… In the end, I’ll be the one to be beaten again.’

“Hugh… Hugh… Huaaaargh!”

He banged his head on the floor of the hallway. Covered with blood from his body, he cried out like a beast.