The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

An electric current strong enough to make the air tingle spread in all directions. The lightning ignited leaves, and a searing pain as if being slashed by knives arose on the skin. Sevia and Paul, who had been moving with Ruhan, abruptly stopped at this pain and collapsed in place.

“Kuhuk!”
“Kyaaaa!!”

Their bodies trembled. As if there was a malfunction in the electrical signals sent from their brains, their fingers twitched on their own.

Paul gritted his teeth and raised his head to glare at Asel. Ruhan was no longer in the place where the lightning had disappeared. He had been severely injured by just one spell and teleported away.

‘Just one spell?’

Paul let out a hollow laugh as he recalled the thought he’d just had.

That wasn’t a spell that could be described with such words. Its destructive power was beyond imagination for a spell that manifested without any precursor. Roughly estimating, it was double Selina’s power. Moreover, the speed at which the magic manifested exceeded common sense. If one were to engage in battle judging him as a mere magician, they would be defeated instantly like Ruhan.

“Sevia!”

Paul struck Sevia’s back with his trembling hand. As if regaining her senses, she, who had been lying face down on the ground crying, raised her head.

“Listen carefully. We hold out until Selina completes her magic. Then we decide whether to keep fighting or run away. Understood?”
“Y-yes.”
“Then get up!”

Paul shouted this and pointed his sword at Asel, who was standing still. Asel glanced at Sevia, who was groaning as she got up, then turned his head towards Selina, who was incanting magic.

“Is the meeting over?”
“…Ugh.”
“The magic you’re using is constellation magic. It has the advantage of strong power but the disadvantage of needing preheating. And…”

Asel met eyes with Selina, who had a hardened expression, and chuckled.

“It’s also vulnerable to external interference.”

Click.

Asel twisted his fingers as if manipulating a puppet. In sync with this, Selina’s magic formula began to distort grotesquely. The inscribed characters were erased, and the round circle deformed, spewing magical power outwards. Selina, who had been injecting magical power into the formula, coughed up blood from the backlash.

“Ugh!”

A pain as if her internal organs had been shaken arose. Selina stared at Asel with disbelieving eyes while sweating profusely.

‘He interfered with my magic from outside? Is that even possible?’

Selina was a magician called a genius even within the magic tower. No matter how excellent a mage might be, they couldn’t carelessly interfere with her magical power manipulation. To begin with, magicians capable of such a feat were rare. Unless one was an archmage, such a thing was impossible.

Then, does this mean this man is an archmage?

“Kuhuk!”

The magic formula distorted further with each passing thought. Selina hurriedly regained her senses and withdrew the deployed formula. The magical power that had been pouring out like a broken dam struck Selina directly, and she staggered from the impact that shook her head.

“Sevia! Protect Selina!”

Paul shouted loudly upon seeing this sight and rushed towards Asel.

Unlike Ruhan, he was conscious of Asel’s magic. He was prepared to dodge sideways at any moment and even counterattack. Asel looked at him and let out a thoughtful hum.

“It’s my first time seeing aura. Is it a structure that spreads throughout the body from the heart through blood vessels?”
“Don’t get cocky!”

Asel smiled slightly and leaped backwards. Following this small action, a massive storm arose.

[Wind Overflow]

The wind spread. Paul frowned at the scattering mud and sliced through the wind with his sword. Through his eyes that had just reopened properly, a bright red flame spread.

[Fire Conduction]

The flames dancing to Asel’s gestures engulfed Paul’s shoulder. Paul gritted his teeth at the sudden searing pain and cut off his shoulder armor. This series of actions was carried out very swiftly. Quick judgment and action. His battle sense seemed to be better than expected. Probably thanks to his developed senses as a warrior.

Swish!

In the moment of thought, a sharp dagger cut through the air and flew in.

Asel caught Sevia’s thrown dagger with fire, burned it to ashes, then grabbed the ashes and scattered them widely. And then he manifested magic right away.

[Ignition]

A magic that burns whatever it touches. This magic, which doesn’t project from a distance but directly burns what it grasps, is as powerful as it is risky. The scattered ashes turned red-hot, and Paul, sensing something amiss, retreated.

Whoosh!!

The flames, using the ashes as a medium, spread instantly and burned the forest. Paul gritted his teeth at the flames that had caught on his legs and removed his leg armor as well. His exposed pants were stuck to his skin, oozing pus and blood.

A horrific sight. Even Asel was slightly taken aback, seeing the power of his own magic for the first time.

‘…Was it to this extent?’

He already knew how far his magic level had risen through duels with other magicians. But this was the first time he had directly struck an opponent and seen its destructive and lethal power. Most magicians could block or deflect attacks even when hit. The number of times he had drawn blood in duels could be counted on one hand.

And in most of those cases, it was Asel himself. After all, his main dueling opponents were Ena and magicians from the Witch Association. No matter how similar in rank or talented he was, their combat methods were quite tricky for him, who had no combat experience.

Of course, they also struggled to deal with Asel’s daily growing magic, but anyway, it was mainly Asel who bled in duels.

So, he had adjusted his power as he usually did when dueling with them, but it seemed to have been excessive. Asel made a “tsk” sound and worried about the well-being of the man who had disappeared after being struck by lightning earlier.

“…He shouldn’t be dead.”

He muttered this, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Asel sighed deeply and canceled the lightning magic he was about to launch as a follow-up attack.

Not being able to gauge the appropriate power now, it would be crazy to recklessly fire lightning magic. He might accidentally split the opponent in half if he’s not careful. Lightning magic, which focused only on destruction and killing, wasn’t a good choice in the current situation.

‘I’ll have to use only other types of magic for this exam.’

Of course, there was no need to hold back against golems, so it was only an issue in battles against people. Thinking this, Asel approached Paul, who was staggering.

“…Huu.”

Even in his precarious physical state, Paul’s eyes remained sharply open. Asel quite liked that venomous gaze. Although he was part of the group of robbers who had ambushed him while he was preparing well, Asel didn’t think too badly of it from the start.

Didn’t the supervisor say? That plundering among participants was allowed. He had just moved according to the rules announced in advance. He didn’t particularly hold a grudge. After all, he was born and raised in the slums, so what was robbery to him? That was a place where people’s organs were taken while they slept.

Borwell was relatively decent in comparison. Asel smiled and stopped right in front of Paul’s attack range.

A momentary lull. Selina had calmed down and was incanting magic again, and Sevia was slowly approaching with daggers held in reverse grip in both hands. Although she was moving stealthily, her stealth techniques were meaningless in a space filled with Asel’s magical power. Everything was in the palm of his hand.

“Your name?”

Asel ignored Sevia and Selina and asked Paul. Although suspicious of the intent behind his words, Paul answered obediently.

“Paul Pedrick.”
“Are you a noble?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s my first time seeing a noble. Are most of them as full of venom as you?”
“…You’ve never seen a noble before? Did you come here after training only in the mountains?”

Paul said with a hollow laugh.

Magicians are as rare a resource as nobles. Because of this, they had many points of contact with nobles, and this tendency was even more pronounced for higher-ranking magicians.

The magician before him was at a level where it wouldn’t be strange if he had been chatting casually with high-ranking nobles.

Such a guy has never seen a noble?

“Not the mountains. I came after training in a city.”

Asel answered roughly and kicked Paul in the abdomen. With a kick overlaid with a barrier and covered with flames on top, Paul’s body burned as it was pushed back. While Paul frowned at the sudden attack, Sevia rushed in through the flames.

“Die!”

Her momentum as she pounced was good, but her eyes couldn’t hide the underlying agitation and fear. Probably not used to this kind of situation.

Needless to say, he had no intention of being considerate to her. Asel snapped his fingers, bursting an invisible shockwave centered on himself.

‘Shockwave’, a low-level shock magic. A magic that simply blows away surrounding objects, when unleashed from Asel’s hand, projected enough power to shake trees. Sevia’s body, which had rushed in, was pushed straight back and slammed into a tree.

Crack!!

“Kuhuk!”

Along with the sound of something breaking, Sevia coughed up breath and blood. An ambush where the outcome was decided before they could even exchange blows.

Sevia, perhaps with a broken bone piercing her organs, fumbled for her bracelet while blood trickled from her mouth. Then light enveloped her body and transported her to a safe place.

In an instant, the group was reduced from five to two. What remained was one magician with severely tangled circuits and one vanguard oozing pus from burns all over his body. What they had to face was a high-ranking mage still in his initial state.

There was no chance of victory.

Paul sighed deeply and raised his broken hands. Even just that motion made his overworked arms scream.

“I surrender. It’s shameless, but please let me off just this once. I want to enter the academy.”
“I surrender too.”

As soon as Paul was confirmed to have put down his sword, Selina, who had been groaning, shouted. Asel nodded after confirming that both had completely lost their will to fight.

“I’ll let you off, so hand over your cores.”
“…We only have 5.”
“So?”
“…Haah. Take them. Selina has them.”

Asel approached Selina with a smile. She, as if frustrated, tightly closed her lips and took out 5 cores from her bosom. Cores with transparent colors and faint magical power rotating. They weren’t fake. Asel immediately stuffed the cores roughly into his backpack.

“You’ve only hunted 5 so far? Seems like you haven’t encountered many golems.”
“What are you talking about? We found ones separated from the herd and caught them with difficulty.”
“Couldn’t you do a drive hunt?”
“?”
“?”

The corners of both their eyes twisted similarly.

“How could we do a drive hunt? Each one is at the level of a weapon.”
“…Is that so?”
“…Your reaction is strange. Hey, how many cores do you have?”
“25.”

Asel said while shaking his rattling backpack. Selina, who had glimpsed inside it, looked at Asel with an expression that said, ‘What kind of guy is this?’

“…Are you perhaps an archmage?”
“I’m a disciple of an archmage.”

Asel smiled slightly, closed his backpack, and moved his steps with the burning forest behind him.

“More importantly, you’d better run away quickly. They’re coming in droves.”
“What’s coming in drovesㅡ”

The moment she spoke, noisy voices were heard from beyond the darkness of the forest.

“Is this the place where lightning just struck?”
“I’m telling you it is. It must be an event created by the Academy. We need to hurry.”
“Hey, other bastards are coming too! Run, damn it!”
“Get lost, you bastards! We won’t go easy on you just because you’re nobles!”
“Keep Grace in check! Don’t let her come!”

Commotion spreads in the middle of the night forest. Selina gritted her teeth and turned her head at the voices that had gotten closer than before. But Asel had long since withdrawn. Not a single strand of his hair could be seen anywhere.

“…He said his name was Asel.”

She got up from her seat, mulling over the words the supervisor had uttered before the exam started. Paul also got up, pouring the self-regeneration potion he had brought onto his wounds. The two looked at each other, then moved their bodies as quickly as possible in the opposite direction from where the voices were coming.

The first day of the exam ended thus, in chaos.