Chapter 6 - The Returner’s Entrance Exam (5)
Accelerating.
Moving at an extreme speed.
The wind whipping past his skin.
Desir was blazing forward at incredible speed. He rocketed through the course,
deftly avoiding all the obstacles in his way.
As the various environments of the Shadow World flashed in and out of view,
Desir approached the finish line at breakneck speed. Ajest, who’d looked as
small as a dot before, slowly came into view.
Even with her tremendous lead, Ajest had kept her wits about her. With her
sharp instincts, she had already sensed Desir’s location, estimated his speed,
and quickly evaluated the state of affairs. ‘The fact that the 1st circle mage came
this far means that he must have already defeated the 2nd circle mage. It should have
been impossible for him to win with magic power, so that leaves two possibilities:
either the 2nd circle mage is worthless, or the 1st circle mage is more powerful than the
average for his circle.’
The latter seemed much more likely—no one could generate that amount of
momentum with mere 1st circle magic. This level of acceleration required 3rd
circle magic at the very least.
This situation completely defied common sense.
While looking back at Desir—the source of Ajest’s vexation—her chest started
burning with curiosity and a competitive fire. In an instant, she calculated and
compared Desir’s speed against her own. ‘At this rate, he’ll surpass me in less than
a minute.’
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She weighed two potential solutions: ‘First, use acceleration magic on myself as
well.’
But she immediately discarded that idea. Even though acceleration magic was a
2nd circle physical-type magic, she would need too much time to reach Desir’s
velocity. After all, the gap between their current speed was insurmountable—
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It only took Ajest Kingscrown eight seconds to cast her array of magic. ‘If your
analysis ability is great, then I’ll make my spells even greater.’
[Prey of Magic Arrow.]
Magic Arrow. It was a spell almost anyone could use—after all, it was only 1st
circle-level magic. But the magic that Ajest wielded was another story: she had
manifested at least 600 arrows, and they filled the sky above the spellsword.
‘I used about 15 seconds. But this should be enough.’ This attack would end it: that
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Ajest frowned, realizing she’d lost control over some of her magic. ‘His analysis
speed is abnormally high... at the level of a 6th circle mage, at least. It’s highly
probable that he’ll hijack the rest if given enough time.’
Ajest had no more time to spare. She raised her arms upward, then pointed
forward—and at her signal, hundreds of Magic Arrows showered towards Desir.
The terrifying sound of hundreds of shrieking arrows echoed through the
Shadow World. Ajest’s magical formation created what looked like a tidal wave,
threatening to drown its adversary. But Desir stood resolutely in the wave’s
center, and yelled, “Trajectory adjustment!”
17
‘I can’t afford to panic.’ Ajest calmed her breath and gathered her thoughts,
returning herself to a state cool-headedness. Once she had gotten rid of her
panicked emotions, she calmly read the situation in front of her—and the whole
process took her less than a second. ‘He’s making a path by altering the trajectories
of the most dangerous arrows.’
Just like Desir had read her magic formulas, Ajest read through his plan. ‘The
reason? The arrows were destroyed. The solution?...’
Ajest’s eyes shot back and forth. 21 Magic Arrows remained in the air. Desir
had four, she had 17. And there were less than 200 meters left between them—
he would overtake her within five seconds.
Ajest manipulated her mana. ‘Change calculation. Lower the number of arrows,
prioritize power and accuracy.’
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However, Desir still had no intention of losing. ‘You used your head... but you
came up with the wrong answer.’
Desir gazed at the incoming arrows, as he began running through more mental
calculations. “Hijack. Acquired control of four Magic Arrows.”
Desir had the capacity to hijack up to 200 arrows before—he’d intentionally left
some leeway at the start, not using up all 200. This was his buffer room, so he
could negate anything Ajest threw at him.
‘Deciding to concentrate every arrow onto the same point was too reckless. You should
have doubled down on your strategy and increased the number of arrows, even if the
power took a hit.’ If she had done so, Desir would have been skewered, judged
dead, and disqualified. But thanks to Ajest gathering all the arrows into one
spot, Desir could wipe them all out in one fell swoop.
‘If this was a few years later, you would have found the right answer.’ Judging from
Ajest’s tactic, Desir confirmed once more that he was the only one who had
returned from the future.
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