I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

‘Where in the world did a guy like this come from?’

Jangyeo couldn't hide his bewilderment at the current situation.

The formation masters he had brought from the family were defeated in an instant. Even though a first-class formation master was included among them.

“Incredible.”

He had no choice but to admit it.

‘I made a mistake.’

A beast does its best even when catching a rabbit. But what about himself now?

Hadn't he underestimated the opponent's strength and ended up chipping away at the strength of his own formation masters?

Just as in the strategic battles of martial artists, the fight for dominance among formation masters was also an affair that consumed a great deal of mental energy.

The act of interfering with a formation and twisting the energy of nature was in itself a burden on the caster, and it was needless to say what would happen if the interference was forcibly cut off during a struggle for dominance.

Jangyeo clicked his tongue as he looked at the family's formation masters who had fallen into extreme exhaustion.

‘I should have stepped in sooner.’

If he had intervened from the beginning and fought with all his might, the result would have been different. It seemed his senses had dulled from the long period of peace.

‘Still, the enemy must have consumed a considerable amount of mental energy as well. Defeating several formation masters was not an easy task even for me.’

Humans have their limits. If pushed by numbers, even a strong person can't do anything.

No matter how much of a natural fortress it was, there was no answer if they were surrounded and starved out.

“How many martial artists are ready?”

Jangyeo asked the elder of the Geummun Merchant Guild.

“About 10 martial artists with formation experience.”

Including the martial artists who had already been deployed, the number of personnel amounted to a platoon.

“When I give the signal, charge in. I will intervene from now on.”

“Oh! I understand.”

Jangyeo said to the family's formation masters who had regained some of their energy.

“You will assist the martial artists. I will take control of the formation in the meantime.”

It was a pincer movement to have martial artists directly infiltrate the formation while simultaneously seizing control of the formation. It was the standard method for breaking a non-automated formation.

Jangyeo took out his artifact, a ruby ring as red as blood, from his bosom and put it on.

“How dare you touch the formation of the Zhuge family. I’ll make you regret it.”

He didn't know who this audacious fellow was, but he wouldn't let him go easily. Jangyeo extended his hand towards the formation.

* * *

“Are they finally moving?”

Suddenly, the formation stirred, and I sensed a large number of martial artists rushing in. Seeing them enter in formation, I could guess that they were professionally trained personnel.

“Threatening. Suspiciously so.”

But this was just a feint. The real thing was something else. I raised my energy sense and perceived the subtle changes occurring within the formation.

Rustle-

Reeds began to spread at the edge of the formation. Not trees, but reeds. It was a quiet infiltration that would have been unnoticeable without the energy sense developed by [Absolute Magic].

“How cautious.”

A type of plant with pointed, sharp leaves. Of course, it wasn't a real tree. It was just a manifestation of wood energy in the concept of a formation.

However, the power contained within it was real. To the point where it could cover the entire formation at any time.

“It’s certainly tricky since they’re coming at me by the book.”

Even if I noticed the invasion of the reeds, there wasn't much I could do right away. I first threw a jade stone to change the path leading to the center of the formation.

I had to block those martial artists before responding. If the battle between formation masters was like Go, the battle with martial artists was similar to chess.

If you lose the king, everything is over. And right now, the king of this formation was me.

‘First, I’ll block the martial artists.’

I changed the structure of the formation with jade stones or created traps to chase away the martial artists.

‘I’ve spread a mist formation, so they won’t be able to come this way for a while.’

After taking a brief breather, I checked the edge of the formation.

“Ha.”

A dry laugh escaped me without my realizing it.

The reeds had grown wide before I knew it. It was an abnormally fast infiltration speed.

‘To block this…’

After finishing the calculation in my head, I was about to take out a jade stone, but the other side was one step faster.

Fwoosh-

Flames rose, wrapped around the reeds, and formed a wave of fire.

“An arson attack.”

He had added the energy of fire to the wood to enhance the fire energy.

‘He’s pretty good.’

He knows how to use a synthesis formula. It’s difficult to utilize even one attribute, but to use two at the same time, and in harmony at that, requires considerable skill.

I was about to block it with a water-attribute jade stone as per the book, but I suddenly stopped. Considering the opponent's capabilities, I needed to be cautious with my first move.

‘In that case.’

After quickly setting up a strategy, I took out three jade stones and threw them at the same time.

Rumble-

Then, the floor of the formation vibrated, and a fortress of earth rose. It was a response made because earth also has a strong attribute against fire.

“Not enough.”

But the other side was a fire + wood enhanced synthesis formula. Soon, the fierce flames swallowed the fortress whole.

Crack!

The rapidly cracking earth barrier. At this rate, I’ll be pushed back.

“Synthesis for synthesis.”

I manifested the water energy I had hidden within the earth barrier. Then, the water energy was added to the earth energy and began to fill the cracking earth wall.

Sizzle!

Steam rose rapidly from the immense heat. Just as it was about to become a power struggle between fire and earth, Jangyeo’s monologue came through the path I had opened beyond the formation.

“You were cautious, but that’s all. You brat.”

Whoosh-

An unusual energy was felt within the formation. Soon, the surroundings began to swirl in the vortex created by the steam.

‘Was he aiming for this?’

My gaze sank. The reason I hadn’t immediately defended with water, its direct counter, when I saw the fire was right there.

Why do typhoons frequent tropical regions? It’s because of the hot steam and the difference in atmospheric pressure.

And that principle of nature applied equally within this formation.

The noise of the atmospheric currents gathering and rushing together. The unique vibration that occurs as the air trembles covered the area.

“He was planning this from the beginning.”

Sensing the anomaly, I took out a jade stone from my bosom.

The vitality of wood + fire + water, the harmony of these three attributes creates wind.

“He added yang energy to this.”

In that instant, Jangyeo had blown away the damp nature of the yin energy and formed a dry yet hot wind.

Soon, the flames rode the dry wind and formed a vortex of fire, soaring within the formation.

Immense heat. The soaring pillar of fire had the appearance of a fire dragon.

“Is this the protector of the Zhuge family?”

I was genuinely impressed. To think he would create a synthesis formula like this, even considering the opponent’s response.

However, if there was one thing Jangyeo was mistaken about, it was that I was not just a cautious person.

“I hold a grudge too.”

I casually threw a jade stone I had taken out from my bosom. Then, cracks began to form in the earth fortress that was drying and crumbling from the fire. The ground below trembled and then, beyond cracking, a cliff began to form.

“Take a good look. Your subordinates have played more than one or two tricks.”

What was revealed as the ground split was the groundwater swirling along the valley.

Right now, this place was in a state where the maze I had created when fighting the Zhuge family’s formation masters earlier was laid out like an underground waterway.

That meant that this entire area was full of groundwater.

“You should have kept in mind that this is my domain.”

I curled the corner of my mouth and recovered all the earth energy that had been maintaining the ground.

Ruuuumble!

Then, the earth fortress crumbled, and the groundwater that had been hidden within it was revealed.

“What?!”

While Jangyeo, who had realized this belatedly, was flustered, I manipulated the underground waterway and surrounded the fire dragon that was swirling as if soaring into the sky.

“Then let’s have a go.”

Advanced techniques and overwhelming power. Which one would win?

“Go.”

The groundwaters moved in unison, following my hand gesture. Soon, the giant vortex of fire and the vast lake collided.

Sizzzzzle!

It began with several streams of water rising into the air. The vortex began to suck up the surrounding water channels.

Soon, the flames and the streams of water swirled together, and a huge amount of steam was emitted.

The steam, with its immense heat, scattered as if exploding and began to eat away at the power of the vortex itself.

A steam barrier formed, and the cloud mist, which had grown hazy and large, was swallowed by the vortex for a long time.

The flames slowly died down, and the airflow that shot up in a straight line, on the contrary, collided with the vortex, creating a whirlpool and gradually shrinking.

“…Was it a trap? When in the world did I get caught?”

Jangyeo’s muttering came from beyond the barrier.

It’s still too early to be surprised. The real counterattack hasn’t even begun.

I imbued the formation with all the mana in my body and slowly raised my head.

Rumble!

Above the fire vortex that was dying down like a dragon that had failed to ascend, a huge cloud curtain, swollen like the palm of the Buddha, was spread out.

I muttered with difficulty.

“…What would happen if a large scale of fire and water energy collided while containing earth energy?”

Of course, it was a question he wouldn’t hear. It didn’t matter. Because he would now experience it with his own two eyes.

Jangyeo’s cry of astonishment came from beyond the barrier.

“This is?! No way! Why would a formation master of this level!!!”

The place I was aiming for was the interference zone that Jangyeo had prepared at the edge to invade the formation.

It was a core area connected to the formation master’s senses, so if this place was hit, he wouldn’t be able to interfere with the formation for a while.

“…A monster?”

Jangyeo’s voice, which seemed to have resigned itself, echoed around.

A heavy silence hung in the air.

The stone fragments on the ground, broken and scorched by the fire, slowly began to rise. The dark sky twisted and began to gather towards one point as if being sucked into a black hole.

Crackle!

One of the highest-level formation techniques I had read in the secret manual library.

Dark Heaven Thunderous Lightning

Flash!

In an instant, along with a flash, a dazzling ray of light struck the ground.

Everything in the world flashed brilliantly and then lost its light.

Following that was a deafening roar as if heaven and earth were breaking apart.

In the world where sound had disappeared, the rain that had been pouring from the sky stopped for a moment, and as the world regained its original color, a low sound of raindrops pouring down followed.

Swoooosh-

In the middle of the ground where everything had been annihilated, I felt Jangyeo’s energy being cut off. With this, the formation masters from the Zhuge family side would not be able to step forward for a while.

I looked down at this whole scene from the center of the formation.

The water droplets that had gone up to the sky were falling as a shower.

“The ground hardens after it rains.”

The earth became wet. The remaining flames were all extinguished, and the streams of water pouring down like a monsoon were full of life.

At that moment, I released the power of the jade stone I had hidden in the earth at the beginning. As the wood-attribute energy spread through the earth, the ground was torn apart, and twin leaves began to sprout.

Soon, a huge tree began to grow on the land overflowing with life, containing water, earth, and ash. So lush that it couldn’t be compared to the previous forest.

Ten Thousand Dominations Unheard. A huge hand no longer needs to play with the opponent. Because too big a hand has been played. The formation, enhanced using the opponent’s power, is now impenetrable.

“Then shall we take care of the intruder now?”

I let out a dry laugh.

The things I have truly built up do not easily betray me. In that sense, a formation resembled the subtleties of Go.

* * *

“…A monster.”

The cold sweat that had formed under Jangyeo’s chin dripped to the floor. He recalled what he had seen with a pale complexion.

The majesty of having dug a trap in reverse and neutralized his own advanced formation technique, which he had created by using the opponent’s formation against them.

“I never thought he could pull off a formation technique of that level right away.”

Above all, the strategic battle and skill leading up to the Dark Heaven Thunderous Lightning were astonishing. As if he were facing the head of the Zhuge family for the first time.

The final blow, the moment his vision was flooded with white, was still dizzying even now.

At the same time, he had also felt a thrilling sensation at that distant talent.

He was a master he definitely wanted to face one day. Of course, there were things to do before that.

“…I’ll have to report first.”

When that person had blocked the family’s first-class formation masters, he hadn’t thought it would be this much.

Still, those kids had only recently become first-class. However, he, who had once been a candidate for a semi-special-class formation master, never thought he would be so overwhelmingly defeated.

“Who in the world is it?”

The opponent was just one person. Although his face couldn’t be seen because it was hidden by the formation, he could feel it instinctively.

‘That monster was handling the formation alone.’

That large-scale formation that dozens of the family’s formation masters had clung to and created.

“Protector Jangyeo, what happened?”

Just then, the elder from the Geummun Merchant Guild side asked with an urgent expression.

“…I failed. He’s no ordinary person.”

“No! If even the protector can’t do it, then who in the world can break through this formation?”

The elder’s reproaches, with his face changed in an instant, continued. It was a rough language he would not normally hear, but in this situation, Jangyeo had nothing to say. However, one thing was certain.

“We must withdraw the martial artists.”

“What do you mean? Withdraw the martial artists? You mean let him go just like that?!”

Jangyeo nodded his head at the elder’s dumbfounded reaction.

“There’s nothing we can do in this situation.”

“What in the world do you mean? In the first place, isn’t this because the formation didn’t work properly!”

“Against an opponent of that level, it’s useless unless it’s an Unbreakable Formation. If you really want to catch him, you have no choice but to destroy the formation itself.”

“I can’t do that!”

The elder shouted. The amount of money that went into that large-scale formation was at least millions of nyang. The sum of all the efforts to maximize the medicinal properties by coexisting with the earth’s veins of the elixir zone was contained in there.

There was no way he could hear the words to give that up.

“To destroy that precious large-scale formation to catch a mere ruffian is absurd! Anyway, it’s absolutely not happening, so know that!”

The elder led the martial artists of the Geummun Merchant Guild and disappeared. The scale was that of a single platoon.

Since a considerable number of martial artists had already entered, the number of martial artists deployed inside the formation would be 50 to 60.

It seemed they were planning to deal with it by mobilizing military force. No matter how well-designed a formation was, its capacity and effect had a limit.

Jangyeo looked beyond the formation. And then he laughed as if in despair.

“A formation is more precious than a mere ruffian…”

The only person who had seen the true value of that person here was Jangyeo himself.

“Nonsense.”

That’s why he could be certain.

That the being inside there right now was a monster that couldn’t be compared to a mere few million nyang.

(End of Chapter)