I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 461

Baek Yuseol's airship soon arrived over Brightly Port.

The crew prepared a parachute for him to ensure a safe landing, but naturally, a magic warrior of his caliber as an Honorary Mage didn’t need such things.

"Are you just going to jump...?"

A crew member asked hesitantly, concern evident in their voice. Baek Yuseol merely nodded indifferently. He had something more pressing on his mind.

‘The port is already burning.’

This meant the attack by the Black Mages was over. If Baek Yuseol eliminated the Black Mages and allowed the airship to land at the port, the passengers might still face restrictions on their movement.

‘Not that it’s my concern.’

Clank!

As the lower hatch of the airship opened, a fierce gust of wind surged in.

The upper deck of the ship, where passengers moved freely, was protected by magical coatings to block the harsh winds, but the lower levels had no such protection.

"Here, at least take this..."

The crew members seemed uneasy and kept trying to hand him various items, but Baek Yuseol coolly ignored them and leaped down.

Whoosh!

"Oh my!"

Leaving behind the crew member’s brief gasp of astonishment, Baek Yuseol plummeted toward the ground, musing to himself.

‘Wait, how am I going to land?’

He had jumped without a parachute to look impressive, but he didn’t have a proper landing plan.

Of course, he trusted his physical abilities, but unlike other mages, he couldn’t float in the air.

‘I’ll just use Blink or something...’

While pondering stylish ways to land, Baek Yuseol suddenly remembered the [Blessing of the Adamantine July].

This was one of the most synergistic abilities he had gained, thanks to Flowering.

However, it was still challenging to use, and he had only practiced with it so far—never actually using it in combat. But wasn’t this the perfect chance to test it out?

As he fell, Black Mages began appearing one by one in his field of vision.

Among them, there were five with auras suggesting a 7-Risk level.

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Contrary to the crew member’s earlier claim that there were only four, it seemed a considerable number of 7-Risk Black Mages had gathered here.

It was hard to understand why so many of them were assembled in such a rural area, but it didn’t matter.

‘Target acquired.’

Drawing his sword, Baek Yuseol aimed downward and activated a skill.

[Unyielding Body]

This temporarily hardened his body to the strength of steel but came with the drawback of immobilizing him. Normally, it couldn’t be combined with Blink, but during a fall like this, it was entirely possible.

‘Fire!’

Smiling as though he was having fun, Baek Yuseol aimed his sword downward. In an instant, Blink activated, propelling him at an incredible speed.

Bang!

Like a bullet, Baek Yuseol hurtled toward the ground. The tip of his sword aimed directly at a 7-Risk Black Mage who had only just noticed him and shouted in alarm.

"What the hell—!"

But that was the Black Mage’s final outcry.

Boom!

With a single strike, Baek Yuseol’s sword cleaved the 7-Risk Black Mage clean in half.

"What’s going on?"

"Something just fell from the sky...!"

The leader among the 7-Risk Black Mages shouted, and the others, trembling, answered in shaky voices.

One of their comrades had been killed instantly, and even Black Mages, who were said to have lost their emotions, couldn’t help but feel fear.

As the cloud of dust settled, Baek Yuseol emerged, and all eyes turned to him.

"Quite the gathering you’ve got here."

Tapping his shoulder with the hilt of his sword, Baek Yuseol surveyed the burning port and noticed something strange.

‘What’s this?’

The signs of intense battle were evident, but there were no magic warriors to be seen.

If they had been annihilated, there should have been bodies, yet there weren’t any.

Even traces of magic were nearly nonexistent, meaning the mages hadn’t arrived yet.

"...Who were you fighting, exactly?"

Examining the Black Mages more closely, Baek Yuseol noticed something peculiar about their wounds—scratches and bite marks, the kind that no human could inflict.

"Don’t tell me... you were fighting each other?"

Baek Yuseol asked in disbelief, his expression one of sheer astonishment.

"Ha! You dare meddle in the war of Black Mages, human? Begone!"

"No, but you’re fighting a war in a human city. Does that make sense?"

"When Black Mages engage in battle, the location becomes a battlefield! Inferior humans must endure it!"

"What kind of nonsense is this?"

Realizing they genuinely believed what they were saying, Baek Yuseol felt a throbbing pain in the back of his neck.

‘How should I deal with these morons?’

Still, the fact that they were fighting amongst themselves was puzzling.

It was rare for 7-Risk Black Mages to invade human territories for a power struggle.

Individual duels were common, but a large-scale faction war like this suggested something was amiss at higher levels.

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‘It could be because of the Black Magic King’s injury.’

Baek Yuseol had learned through Mayuseong that the Black Magic King was gravely wounded.

Perhaps other Black Mage factions were exploiting this opportunity to claim the throne, leading to widespread conflict.

Naturally, the Black Magic King wouldn’t take this lying down, resulting in these faction wars.

This skirmish before him was likely just one small piece of the many battles happening across the world.

Somewhere, even 8-Risk or 9-Risk Black Mages might be clashing.

‘The regime change among the Black Mages is happening already.’

It was far too early.

This event was supposed to occur after Mayuseong graduated. Following this war, the main storyline would escalate rapidly, nearing its climax.

‘Not my problem for now.’

Right now, Baek Yuseol’s mission was to recover the Green Core. To do that, he had to deal with the Black Mages standing in his way, regardless of their faction.

"You all better start cooperating. Otherwise, you’ll all die."

"Don’t be ridiculous..."

The port was occupied by fifty Black Mages, including four remaining 7-Risk ones.

"You seem confident in your abilities, but can you still talk big in the face of these numbers?"

...Those were the Black Mage’s last words.

In less than twenty minutes, Baek Yuseol had cleanly wiped out every single Black Mage. He shook the blood from his sword.

There was no need to test the Blessing of the Adamantine July; the Black Mages fell far too easily.

If they had actually cooperated, Baek Yuseol might have struggled a bit. Instead, they were too busy keeping each other in check, preventing any effective teamwork.

In other words, they had effectively destroyed themselves.

"If these guys ever actually managed to conquer the world, it’d be a disaster."

A short while later, news spread that Baek Yuseol had wiped out the Black Mages, and the Tulris Airship No. 3 docked at the now-ruined Brightly Port.

“This... this can’t be... My hometown...”

Some of the passengers were filled with despair as they looked at the devastated port, while others grumbled about their journey being delayed because the shipping routes were now blocked.

"Still, the disaster relief center says they'll start restoring the port soon, so airships should be operational again shortly. Thank you, Baek Yuseol."

The airship's captain approached him and expressed his gratitude. Baek Yuseol responded with a stock phrase.

“It was something I had to do.”

Though his words were spoken without much emotion, as if out of habit, they seemed to resonate differently with those who heard them.

"Fighting alone in a danger zone like this is something you had to do...?"

"I thought mages were all about chasing money, but this changes my view."

"Maybe I’ll become like him someday..."

Whatever misconceptions they had didn’t matter to Baek Yuseol.

"Well then, I'll take my leave."

Leaving the cleanup of Brightly Port to the Mage Association, he swiftly moved on.

In the past, he might have lingered to bask in the gratitude and cheers of the people, but there was no time for that now.

Brightly Port, built between cliffs, was a city where ships rarely passed anymore. Instead, it was filled with fishing boats, some of which were illegal smuggling vessels willing to take passengers for a bribe.

Baek Yuseol’s original plan had been to use one of those smuggling boats to search the nearby islands for the Green Core. But now, with all the ships destroyed, that plan was no longer feasible.

'Searching the islands blindly would be fastest in this situation, but...’

Black Mages typically established their bases far from human settlements—in abandoned, monster-infested islands or rugged mountain ranges.

He knew that a group of Black Mages had stolen the Green Core and were hiding somewhere near Brightly, but beyond that, he had no leads. His plan to search the islands had already been derailed from the start.

'Until the port is restored, I’ll have to search the forest first.'

If the locals were still alive, the ships would be repaired quickly.

Besides, given the amount of property damage, there would likely be plenty of people willing to lend their boats if he offered them a large enough sum.

"For now..."

Baek Yuseol activated his Orbital Lens Glasses and projected a map into the air. Comparing the map to the landscape in front of him, he murmured,

"Perfect match."

The map marked the area as a forest, but upon arriving, he found a massive fortress standing in its place.

Moreover, the grotesque figures patrolling the walls were unmistakably Black Mages. He had found the right place. The problem was whether or not the Green Core was actually here.

‘The defenses are sloppy.’

There didn’t seem to be any concept of a proper guard rotation. In a human fortress, soldiers would have been stationed at every checkpoint, but here, there was no one.

In other words, it was an ideal spot for Baek Yuseol to infiltrate unnoticed.

Hiding in the shadows, he moved swiftly, leaped onto the wall, and landed silently.

Two Black Mages spotted him, but before they could raise an alarm, his blade swiftly cut their throats, silencing them.

Dragging their bodies to a corner and hiding them was enough to ensure no one would notice.

After all, Black Mages didn’t care about each other’s whereabouts.

With no assigned guard positions, no one would question an empty post.

‘Still, this place is bigger than I thought.’

The leader, or boss-level figure, was likely deep within the fortress, but reaching them seemed like it would be a difficult task.

In his current state, Baek Yuseol couldn’t handle the hundreds of Black Mages inside. While he could escape if needed, he didn’t have the means to take out large groups of enemies at once without wide-area magic.

‘But I can still take over this fortress today.’

Step by step, slowly and cautiously.

As Baek Yuseol moved carefully forward...

Beep!

A chilling sensation ran through his body, and he instinctively threw himself backward, using Blink in rapid succession.

Moments later,

Boom!

Something massive fell from the sky, obliterating part of the fortress.

"Ugh..."

Caught in the fierce gust of wind, Baek Yuseol enveloped himself in the Blessing of the Adamantine July and squinted toward the fortress.

‘What is that?’

The fortress was already half-destroyed, and at its highest point, the fortress lord, who had likely been waiting for him, was now drenched in blood and being held by the throat.

It had only taken a single second to subdue a Black Mage who was at least a 7-Risk, possibly even 8-Risk.

‘Who the hell...’

Squinting, Baek Yuseol caught sight of the assailant and couldn’t help but be startled.

...Black Kingdom?

It was an incredibly distinctive Black Mage clad in black armor, seemingly imitating the Black Magic King.

The figure was none other than the Black Magic King’s right hand, Black Kingdom, one of the most dangerous boss monsters in Aither World Online.

"Why is he here..."

As Baek Yuseol stared blankly at Black Kingdom, the armored figure snapped the neck of the Black Mage he was holding, killing him instantly.

Then, he turned his head sharply and looked in Baek Yuseol’s direction.

To be precise, he looked directly at the spot where Baek Yuseol was hiding.

Their eyes met, and sweat dripped down Baek Yuseol’s face.

‘This... is not a good time to be noticed.’

Not only had Baek Yuseol once used Black Kingdom’s name to get out of trouble, but he had also disrupted several of the figure’s plans in the process. If he got caught now, he’d be on a one-way trip to the afterlife.

Which left him with only one option.

‘Run.’

It was the only way to survive.