27. Taeryeong Divine Art (6)
After the second exam ended, Magic Combat Practice was added to the list of required subjects.
From this point on, the number of hands-on practical classes increased in earnest, and they were packed with all kinds of annoying things.
For someone like me, whose only joy in life had been dozing off at my desk while sitting still, it really could not help but be a deeply tragic development.
"Those who bore the sacred conviction and duty of eradicating dark mages gathered together and became magic warriors. But not every warrior was able to uphold that conviction. Sometimes there are criminals who betray the magic world and turn against it, and there may also be times when friction arises between territories or nations, forcing you to fight other mages."
Instructor Lee Hanwol stood at the center of the Stella Dome and spoke to the S-Class students.
"No matter the reason, if you live as a magic warrior, there will come times when you cannot avoid fighting another magic warrior. To prepare you for that, you will now undergo mage duel practice."
I barely suppressed the corners of my mouth from twitching upward.
Normally I hated attending class with a passion, but this one was actually pretty good. Duels between mages—PVP, in other words—were my specialty.
Even back when I used to play the game, instead of hunting the dark mages I was supposedly supposed to catch, I spent my days killing other players out in the field or going back and forth from the duel arena. I'd lived and breathed magic combat.
"This instructor will teach you the strategies of magic combat, how to use magic according to the situation, and how to win."
If you compared it to the game Aiter World, I'd finally pushed through the main episode far enough that I was now getting the tutorial that let me enter the Online Server Duel Arena.
It was that kind of class—one that gave players tips on how to properly conduct magic battles.
If this had been me from a few days ago, I would've lacked the firepower to break through Magic Shield and would've had no confidence.
But things were different now.
I had obtained Taeryeong Divine Art and Mana Concentration, and now I could produce a blow with truly sufficient power.
To be honest, I still wasn't at a level where I could use Taeryeong Divine Art in real combat yet.
I had to maintain an unmoving posture and concentrate for at least several seconds without thinking of anything at all for Taeryeong Divine Art to manifest even briefly, and even then, if I relaxed that concentration because I wanted to move, the skill would be canceled almost immediately.
Still, practice was practice.
Even if I couldn't properly manage the skill yet and ended up looking a little embarrassing, I had to practice Taeryeong Divine Art as much as possible in a setting where I wouldn't die, so that later, in real combat when my life was on the line, I could use it freely.
"The surest training would be to pit your magic directly against one another's, but having you fight recklessly from the very beginning would be inefficient."
Fortunately, it seemed they had no intention of making me fight the S-Class monster freaks right from the start.
"Magic combat is like soul chess. It is good to know how to wield powerful spells, but what is even more important is how efficiently you use which magic at what time and in what situation."
If you just mindlessly fired off powerful magic, then if your opponent had a total mana capacity similar to your own, the one who would collapse first in the end would be you.
What magic the opponent would use, what magic you should use in what situation to respond, what strategy they were predicting, and how you should counter it.
It would not be wrong to say that magic combat was a battle of intellect and psychology.
"The first thing you must pay attention to in a duel against another mage is not casting powerful magic. It is controlling the distance between yourself and your opponent, and seizing the flow of battle in a direction more advantageous to you."
Shooting-type magic, which is fired directly from the caster's body, had extremely long range, but while it was being cast, there was a high chance the opponent would notice and respond.
But target magic was different.
Because it generated magic by designating coordinates, it was practically impossible to react to it properly unless your reaction speed was extraordinary.
The drawbacks of target magic were that its range was extremely short and its destructive power was weak. But even if its destructive power was weak, once you landed a valid hit and inflicted damage, it could lead to a second hit, then a third, and during that opening you could even cast a powerful spell. In that sense, it could be said to be the most important of all.
For a mage at the level of 2-Class, the effective range for using target magic was often less than 5 meters in the case of short-ranged attributes like rock, and even if it was a long-ranged attribute like wind, it was usually only around 15 meters or so.
If you looked only at the raw numbers, you might think wind attribute was obviously the best, but the shape of the designated range—that is, the form in which one could specify the area—varied by attribute.
Wind attribute could only generate the target range straight ahead in a single line, whereas rock-type spells, though their ultimate range was shorter, could designate a rectangular area in front of the caster.
"Thinking about the different ranges of each attribute, continuously staying outside the opponent's effective range while drawing the enemy into your own attack zone is the foundation of magic combat."
Also, hiding your own range was a key part of magic combat…
or so it was said.
In reality, thanks to Sixth Sense, I could grasp the range of a target spell almost exactly.
"This wooden puppet before you uses only target magic and will always face forward."
And since the opponent just stood there without moving, this was easier than drinking cold coffee.
"From this point on, you will each use Shield only twice. Your objective is to break into this wooden puppet's blind spot and remain motionless for five seconds to confirm your safety, or endure within its effective range for at least thirty seconds."
At Lee Hanwol's words, the cadets' faces grew tense.
Target magic activated instantly, just as the name implied. You couldn't dodge it by seeing it and then moving, so the moment you used Shield twice, you were effectively out.
'So the idea is to use the first Shield to identify the opponent's attribute and estimate the shape of its range, then survive with the second Shield and get outside its reach…'
How many students would actually be capable of making that judgment in such a brief instant?
Other classes would probably be given at least five opportunities to use Shield.
As far as I knew, the wooden puppets for S-Class also had better overall performance, so it felt like they were training them way too harshly just because they were elites.
Even if you identified the attribute, the range still varied wildly.
Take wind-type, for example—the simple type that extended long and straight in a single line.
One mage's target range might be shorter than average at around 12 meters, but more than 2 meters wide, making it extremely broad.
On the other hand, another mage's target could be over 18 meters long but less than 1 meter wide, the kind that won through sheer reach alone.
If even the wind type, with one of the simplest ranges, could vary that much, then what about the other attributes, whose range shapes became more uniquely complex from mage to mage?
"We will begin practice immediately."
Four wooden puppets were placed up ahead, and at the command, four students stepped forward.
S-Class, Knight Pung Harang, wind specialty.
S-Class, Bishop Aidan, blue flame specialty.
S-Class, Bishop Mae Suwol, barrier specialty.
S-Class, Bishop Melian, curse specialty.
Even among those four distinctive students, Pung Harang's presence stood out especially strongly.
His hair was buzzed short, but his thick eyebrows and sharp features gave off a fierce pressure, as though one should never treat him carelessly.
"You are to use only the basic Shield without adding attributes. The magic used by the wooden puppet is 2-Class, and if you block one attack with Shield, remember that you must release the Shield afterward."
In other words, using a single Shield to block two attacks as a cheap trick was not allowed.
"Begin."
All four nodded as though they understood, and the command was given at once. Pung Harang was the first to dash toward the wooden puppet.
A Knight who could not use Power Jump did not differ much in mobility from an ordinary Bishop. But Pung Harang trusted in his sharp reaction speed and quickly picked up on the magic.
Gurgle!
A drop of water formed on his body as he sprinted and burst with a pop, but he easily deployed Shield and blocked it.
Immediately afterward, the calculations began.
Cooldown and spell power changed according to maximum range, so it was possible to estimate the approximate range from those clues.
Though really, there was no need to calculate.
Gurgle! Pop!
Once the second attack ended as well, Pung Harang was able to grasp the range instinctively.
Gurgle!
Roughly 2.7 seconds later, the third droplet formed, but Pung Harang slid across the floor and avoided it.
Then he got up calmly and counted to five.
…Nothing happened.
"Pung Harang, success."
Whether he had measured the range accurately or not, he had succeeded, just barely, in getting outside its reach.
"Oh…"
"He actually pulled that off."
Some of the cadets nodded. Pung Harang's method had been brute-force and simple-minded, but it was impressive.
The next student who drew attention was Melian, the curse specialist.
He had a gaunt, skinny body, and even at a glance he looked so hollow-eyed that it was questionable whether he had even slept properly the night before.
He half-ran, half-staggered forward, and then—
Fwoosh! As flames engulfed his body, he panicked and hurriedly deployed Shield.
His reaction was slightly late, but he somehow managed to block it.
The target range for fire attribute took the shape of an arc; while it could not strike directly in front of the caster's nose, it had the advantage of controlling a broad distant area.
Also, because it was hard for the opponent to predict exactly how far that arc extended and how wide it was, it could be said to be one of the more difficult types to deal with.
So then, how would he respond?
Fwoosh!
…Indifferent to everyone's expectations, Melian rolled around on the floor with flames all over his body.
"Gaaah…"
He still had a second chance to use Shield, and yet he had failed to react at all.
"Jeez."
"I knew he'd be like that."
Melian, who displayed especially pathetic behavior even within S-Class.
But I knew very well just how terrifying he really was.
His reaction speed was slow, and he could not wield destructive magic, but…
the ability to inflict debuffs that pierced through an opponent's Shield inspired tremendous fear on the battlefield.
Weak when alone, but the more outstanding the mage beside him, the more brilliantly his synergy shone—
a mage who wielded horrific, abominable magic that slowly, steadily ground an enemy down and killed them. That was Melian.
"Next."
Whether Melian had made a fool of himself or not, practice continued.
Most of the results ended in failure. No matter how much of a genius they were, no matter how strong they were in theory, when it came to this sort of sudden high-difficulty practical exercise, there was only so much they could do.
To begin with, having only two chances to escape from target magic was absurdly insufficient, so cases like Pung Harang or Ma Yuseong succeeding were the unusual ones.
"Baek Yuseol, Calivan, Hajiran, Chekolonha. Step forward."
After some time had passed, my name was finally called, and I stepped up before the wooden puppet.
As I've said before, my Sixth Sense lets me instinctively know the range of target magic. Back when I was playing the game, the range simply appeared as a drawing on the ground. Now that it had become reality, I felt it through my senses instead.
So up until now, I had fought by instinctively dodging outside that range. That was the only way I could avoid being hit by target magic.
Fighting without even giving the opponent a chance to use target magic in the first place—that had been my way.
But suddenly, I wanted to test something.
After obtaining Taeryeong Divine Art and dramatically increasing my blood mana circulation rate, my Sixth Sense had also become astonishingly sharper.
If that were the case…
Then even if I were inside the target's range, could I perhaps react to the magic with Sixth Sense and dodge it?
On average, the activation speed of a 1-Class target spell was about 0.2 seconds.
For mages with high [Senses] stats, that was a level where they could react after seeing it, and even if their brain couldn't consciously keep up, their mana could still often react on its own and unfold a Shield.
But once you got to 2-Class, it entered the realm of 0-point-something seconds, so unless you were already anticipating it, it was not easy to react.
And moreover, the "reaction" I was talking about here meant the simple act of instantly putting up a Shield the moment the attack came in.
A skilled mage could deploy Shield in a truly momentary instant, with no additional movement required.
But I was different.
I had to physically move my sword to knock attacks away or evade them, and that required senses and speed far superior to those of ordinary mages.
'See the target and dodge it.'
That was impossible, even if the opponent's spell was only 1-Class.
But I possessed a body that couldn't use magic at all.
If I didn't make possible the things mages considered impossible, then I would never be able to stand on equal ground with them.
A challenge I could never even have imagined back when I played the game.
'Maybe now… I can.'
If I failed, then well, it would be a little regrettable and embarrassing, but it couldn't be helped.
'Huu…'
Standing before the wooden puppet, I concentrated as hard as I could in an unmoving posture.
According to the energy of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, nature seeped into my body and flowed back out again. I focused all of that energy into my senses.
Very occasionally, true 'geniuses' were said to hear the song called by nature's mana from childhood.
I might not have been a genius, but I felt like I could vaguely understand what that meant.
'I can hear it.'
I can feel it.
The movement of mana.
How its waves tremble and ripple.
All of it was whispering to me.
"…Begin."
And then—
the instant Lee Hanwol's command rang out—
A chill ran down my neck!
I felt a cold sensation there and quickly shifted one step to the side to avoid it.
Shwik—pang!
A translucent sphere warped in the air, then scattered.
'Holy shit, that startled me…'
It wasn't one of the ordinary five elemental spells.
It was magic that twisted not nature, but space itself.
The wooden puppet I was facing was a spatial-type.
'No, is this really okay for a wooden puppet?'
The absurd irony of a mere wooden puppet using spatial magic, which was even rarer to wield than luminous magic.
Because the activation speed of spatial magic was very fast and its range was the widest, space-type was especially difficult to deal with.
But I had no time to dwell on that.
Shwik!
A cold sensation struck my shoulder again, and I had to twist my body quickly.
Pang!
Space warped for an instant, then went still, and I smoothed down my racing heart.
It was only 2-Class magic, after all, so even if it hit, it would probably only feel like someone had grabbed my wrist and twisted it hard. It wouldn't really hurt.
Low-level space-type spells were infamous for their pathetic destructive power.
And with the Stella Dome's corrective effect on top of that, there was no chance of actually getting injured.
So I decided to attempt something a little more daring.
Even if I didn't leave its range, enduring for thirty seconds or more within it was also a condition for success.
It was just that no one had managed to hold out inside its effective range for more than thirty seconds.
Shwik!
Again, I felt a cold sensation near my waist and took a step to the side.
Pang!
This time, I had a little more room to spare.
'At this distance, the cooldown seems to be around two seconds.'
If I closed the distance, that cooldown would shrink even further. I boldly took one or two steps forward.
Shwik-pung!
Shwik-pung!
The distortions of space swept past my shoulder, knee, right arm, neck, and waist in sequence. I avoided every last one of those attacks simply by stepping left and right.
The reason I was walking wasn't because I was trying to show off.
It was because I didn't yet know how to maintain Taeryeong Divine Art while running.
But the intervals between the spells gradually grew shorter, and my tension rose little by little.
Just as avoiding them through simple walking alone was starting to reach its limit—
Yeah, at about this point…!
I thought maybe I could start using Taeryeong Divine Art while running, and was about to exert my concentration even further when—
"Baek Yuseol, success."
"Huh?"
The light in the wooden puppet went out, and the exercise ended. Lee Hanwol was looking at me as though utterly dumbfounded.
"Honestly, in all my life, I've never seen a bastard like you before."
I thought it had gotten strangely quiet. When I turned my head to look behind me, the other S-Class students were also staring at me like I was some kind of lunatic.
No, I understood why they were looking at me like that, but…
It had just started getting fun, and now it was over, so I was disappointed.
"Can't I do this a little longer?"
"No. Go back."
Instructor Lee Hanwol was firm.
Damn it.
I'd have to file a request to get one of these installed in the S-Class training grounds.
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