I Became a Magical Genius After Regression

Chapter 31

Aura.

When swordsmen reach a certain level, they can infuse their weapons with mana.

And when that mana exceeds a critical point, it becomes visible to the human eye, and that is called aura.

Aura Flying.

It was a technique that almost turned Randel into Ran/del.

It involved infusing the sword with the previously mentioned aura and sending it flying, and the characteristic of aura flying was its insane cutting power.

‘Even rocks are cut in one go, if it hits me…….’

But the most terrifying thing was that it flew from a distance.

Moreover, such a technique is not used on knights or small fry soldiers.

It is used on wizards, one hundred percent of the time.

‘If that thing flies at me while I’m happily casting spells from afar… even a slight delay in response would result in being cut in half.’

In fact, Randel had witnessed quite a few wizards dying from aura flying on the battlefield.

Watching that gave him quite a peculiar feeling.

Even though he was a wizard too, it didn’t even glance at him and only sliced through other wizards.

‘Isn’t a wizard still a wizard even if their casting is slow?’

It was both fortunate and sad.

However, there was a definite drawback as much as there was an advantage.

It was the extreme mana consumption.

So usually, only a high-ranking knight could freely use aura flying.

But if one pushed themselves a bit, even a mid-ranking knight could use it.

Like the knight in front of him.

Step, step.

The knight approached Randel from afar.

But something was strange.

The guy who had been foaming at the mouth and charging as if he would cut off his head immediately suddenly walked leisurely.

Could he be thinking that he had already caught his prey?

‘No way. He must be exhausted.’

It made perfect sense if he thought of the opponent as a mid-ranking knight rather than a high-ranking one.

He had momentarily exhausted himself as a result of using the mana-consuming aura flying.

Randel quickly finished his cold analysis.

Since he had analyzed it, he now had to come up with a countermeasure… but what echoed in Randel’s mind was a string of curses.

‘Damn it……! Mid-ranking or high-ranking, it’s all the same to me! How am I supposed to win against that?’

In such a remote place, wouldn’t they usually just send soldiers or maybe one low-ranking knight to command them?

But suddenly, a knight of the level of a commander of a small to medium territory’s knight order appeared and started swinging his sword.

Thud.

The approaching knight stopped in his tracks.

He raised the sword in his hand to his shoulder and spoke.

“Come out. If you don’t, I’ll cut you to pieces right now.”

“……”

If someone else had said it, Randel would have scoffed and called it nonsense, but he couldn’t remain silent.

Hadn’t he just seen it with his own eyes?

The rock splitting in two.

If that solid rock could be cut, then Randel’s body would surely be easily chopped up.

Of course, the aura flying just now was probably a strain even for that mid-level knight.

But.

‘People don’t die from overexerting themselves once or twice.’

So, if that knight sent out another aura flying?

Randel would become ‘Randel upper body’ and ‘Randel lower body.’

And that knight would just have overexerted himself twice today.

Swoosh.

Randel slowly stood up from behind the split rock.

A face that still looked young no matter who saw it.

Twenty soldiers were taken down by that young boy?

The knight ground his teeth and spoke.

“You cowardly wizard! How dare you take down my soldiers with your magic from behind?”

“Take down? They just fainted for a moment. If you treat them quickly, you can save them.”

Randel’s words were true.

The soldiers were all sprawled out like frogs, but their limbs were still trembling.

If treated right now, half of them could be saved, except for the ones who were hit badly.

But the knight didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that.

He had rushed over in anger not because the soldiers were hurt, but because of his own record.

“Fine, I’ll kill you quickly and then treat them.”

“Do we really have to do this? The soldiers tried to kill me out of nowhere, so I had no choice but to fight back.”

“We have to do this. I’m the one who ordered them to kill you.”

“Damn it… Fire Arrow!”

Randell cast the spell abruptly as he spoke.

Whoosh.

The flames flickered and in an instant, turned into an arrow that shot towards the knight.

The knight looked surprised by the sudden magic. However, he deflected it with the sword he was holding.

Thud.

The arrow hit the blade and exploded.

Randell was shocked inside.

‘Crazy! How does he have such reflexes?’

As the magic flew, his pupils followed it, and at the same time, the longsword drawn from its sheath moved.

Those three steps were without a single error.

How harshly must he have trained for there to be no gap between thought and action?

But now was not the time to be impressed.

Moreover, that skilled guy was aiming for his neck.

Randell gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Alright! Keep blocking. Fire Arrow! Fire Arrow! Fire Arrow!”

Flaming arrows appeared in the air one after another.

Then, with a slight time difference, they shot quickly towards the knight.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Red trails slashed through the air, the heat scorching the skin, and the speed faster than the arrows.

They were powerful attacks by anyone’s standards.

But Randell soon found himself speechless.

“……”

Thud, thud, thud.

The knight deflected all the magic with his shield without a single error, like a machine.

That wasn’t all.

Thud, thud, thud!

The knight started charging towards him.

“Damn, Dig!”

With Randell’s startled command, the ground where the knight had just stepped caved in.

Others would have tripped over it, but the knight didn’t even flinch.

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His foot briefly glowed blue, then he stomped hard on the sunken ground.

Crunch.

The hole was completely crushed by the force, flattening the ground.

Naturally, the knight didn’t lose his balance.

Still, it wasn’t entirely without effect. Thanks to that, the knight’s charging speed slowed down a bit.

Randell took the opportunity to cast his next spell.

“Fire!”

If the knight deflected all the arrow-like spells, then he would attack with a spell that had a wider range.

Whoosh.

The flames that spread widely in the air covered the knight’s upper body from face to chest.

For a knight charging without even wearing a helmet, it was a threatening attack.

“…!?”

But the knight showed no sign of avoiding it, nor did he seem flustered.

He didn’t even close his eyes and continued to charge.

Thud thud thud.

Indeed, his confidence was justified.

The flames covered his entire upper body, but the knight’s only damage was a few burnt beard hairs.

‘Damn it! He’s got plenty of combat experience, doesn’t he?’

Randell screamed internally at the sight.

Usually, a mid-level knight would have strong anti-magic resistance, making them immune to low-circle spells.

But what good is anti-magic resistance when your face is on fire?

Naturally, the normal reaction would be to freak out and avoid it.

But this knight just thrust his head into the flames.

That meant he had been hit by magic many times before.

In other words, he had killed many wizards.

“Water!”

Randell pulled himself together and used his next spell.

A mass of water materialized in the air as he chanted.

The knight had endured the previous flames with his body, so this time it was just water. Naturally, he would just take it and keep coming.

Randel’s scheme was there.

‘Then it’s electric shock therapy, you b*stard.’

But Randel’s prediction was off.

As soon as the knight heard the incantation, he paused for a moment and then swung his sword in front of him.

Slash.

The water that was just being summoned split in half.

Isn’t it said that a couple’s quarrel is like cutting water with a knife?

Of course, the water split by the knife should come back together… but it couldn’t and lost its strength, splashing apart.

Because the aura severed the magical mana bond.

“……”

Randel was at a loss for words as his supposedly perfect spell was so cleanly blocked.

Instead, his mind was racing.

‘What should I do now? Should I enhance my body with mana and engage in close combat?’

‘Or should I flood the surroundings with water and then strike with lightning?’

‘I should have mastered Fireball. It’s an area attack, so I would get hurt too, but that guy wouldn’t be able to avoid it all…’

He had reduced the casting time of Fireball to 2 minutes, but couldn’t reduce it any further, which was a regret.

Bang!

In the midst of his prolonged thoughts, the knight suddenly kicked off the ground and shot forward.

A completely different look from the tired expression he had while running leisurely until now.

Moreover, the speed was tremendous, as if he had enhanced his body to the maximum with mana.

So fast that it gave the illusion of leaving an afterimage.

The distance between them closed that quickly.

“Ugh! Shield!”

The knight, who had approached the remaining 8 meters in a flash, swung his sword.

The knight’s body rapidly enlarged, and the sword, leaving a unique red afterimage of the aura, was swung down.

Randel created a shield in front of him, pouring all the mana he could muster into it.

Clang―!

The sword, swung horizontally like a hammer, collided with Randel’s shield.

Immediately, with a loud bell sound, the shield wobbled once.

Crash.

As expected, it shattered instantly without any resistance.

“Ugh!”

The only saving grace was that the shield absorbed most of the impact.

But even with that, Randel was sent flying backward, rolling several times on the ground.

As soon as his body stopped, Randel got up and looked ahead, preparing for the next attack.

Through the rising dust, the figure of the knight could be seen.

Fortunately, there was no follow-up attack.

Instead, the knight’s voice, filled with admiration, could be heard.

“Impressive. You blocked that?”

“……”

“Judging by the low-level magic you’re using, it doesn’t seem like your circle is high… So it must be artifacts. Just how many artifacts do you have?”

“Just a few.”

“You must be rich? Killing you and retrieving them would be quite profitable. I’ll make good use of them in advance.”

“No, they’re all one-time use, so I’m broke now. Can’t we just go our separate ways?”

“If that were the case, you shouldn’t have done that to the soldiers.”

The knight spoke with a chilling gaze.

The knight, Shotel, had been demoted and sent here.

It was because of an incident where he cut down a blacksmith to test the sharpness of his newly bought sword.

But since he was so skilled, they couldn’t punish him severely, so he was sent here.

He was supposed to just bide his time here and eventually return to the lord’s castle.

But now, the soldiers assigned to what was almost a vacation mission were all in that state?

Losing the lord’s trust was one thing, but how could he face his fellow knights?

But the one who was truly wronged was Randel.

“No! They attacked first! You even ordered it yourself!”

“Yes, but if you had just died quietly, there wouldn’t have been any problem, right?”

“Like you? Lightning!”

Crackle.

Once again, Randel cast a spell suddenly.

The yellow current shot towards the knight, Shotel, at a speed incomparable to the Fire Arrow.

“Huh!”

But even that, Shotel dodged.

By a hair’s breadth.

Touching his tingling forearm from the passing lightning current, Shotel spoke in surprise.

“You even have a Lightning Artifact? You must be swimming in money. Shaking it all out—”

“Lightning!”

Crackle.

A second attack followed without a word.

But Shotel no longer dodged.

He watched the lightning shoot towards him until the end, then swung his aura-infused sword.

“Hup!”

Snap.

The sword split the lightning in half.

Despite its violently crackling appearance, the lightning disappeared with only a small friction sound.

It was the same afterward.

“Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!”

Crackle.

Snap, snap, snap.

Every spell cast was erased by Shotel’s sword.

For Randell, it was maddening.

The difference in their levels was just too great.

In that case.

‘Is there no other way?’

Randell prepared the decisive move that had flashed through his mind earlier.

Today, one of them would die.