Magic Academy's Genius Blinker Chapter 533: The Dark Mage King (2)

In the second semester of their second year, students at Stella Academy start sensing the mounting pressure to prepare for graduation.

What's behind the urgency? By third year, they're typically dispatched for field practicals or channel their grades into landing spots in mage towers, effectively launching their careers.

Naturally, many students face zero job concerns.

Noble heirs, for one, boast futures already mapped out. They claim family legacies or tap connections for plush roles in elite mage towers courtesy of favoritism.

However, not every noble enjoys such privileges.

Princess Hong Bi-Yeon of Adolevit serves as a prime example.

Royals encounter strict limits even in job pursuits.

Though certain curbs aim to safeguard the royal prestige, their core purpose is to divest ousted royals—throne contenders who fall short—of real influence, blocking any political meddling.

Put differently, no paved golden road awaits someone like Hong Bi-Yeon.

She alone must blaze her own trail to the future.

Hence, her days overflow with tasks more than most, surpassing even commoner pupils.

Nevertheless, amid her frenzied routine—

Hong Bi-Yeon gazed intently at Baek Yu-Seol, who lounged across from her, calmly sipping his coffee.

She struggled to recall their last meaningful exchange.

"Ahem, ahem. So why did you call me here?"

Baek Yu-Seol at last shattered the quiet, speaking while warily gauging Hong Bi-Yeon's mood. Not a single word escaped her lips as he drained his cup, her stare locking onto him with palpable menace.

Her mute, unyielding gaze rattling him wasn't mere fancy.

Hong Bi-Yeon parted her lips as if to speak, only to clamp them shut right away.

Every twitch of her mouth drew Baek Yu-Seol's eyes unwittingly, forcing him to whip his gaze away at her piercing glares.

Actually, Hong Bi-Yeon's spur-of-the-moment outreach to Baek Yu-Seol stemmed from fresh whispers linking him to first-year Scarlet.

Yet sitting there now, she grasped that her tie to Baek Yu-Seol remained nothing extraordinary.

Thus, whoever Baek Yu-Seol romanced, Hong Bi-Yeon held no claim to object.

"You came here because of the rumors, didn’t you?"

Surprisingly, Baek Yu-Seol voiced it first.

Hong Bi-Yeon realized confessing it would sour the air, opting for silence instead. Still, her telltale shifts—eyes flaring wide, lips ajar—eluded Baek Yu-Seol's sharp notice not.

[Surprise, Fluttering]

Catching her response, Baek Yu-Seol inwardly sighed, combing fingers through his locks.

"You don’t need to worry about it."

"... What?"

"I think there was a similar situation before. The rumors usually have a reason behind them, but they’re always baseless."

As he clarified, Baek Yu-Seol puzzled over his impulse to defend himself.

But that wasn't true.

Baek Yu-Seol felt absolute certainty. He'd never plotted for events to unfold thus.

It stemmed simply from... his failure to reconcile with his emotions yet.

Fawn Prevernal Moon's schemes advanced daily, doomsday loomed nearer, unresolved matters piled up. Amid this pivotal juncture, recklessly baring his heart to another proved impossible.

Such reluctance suspended all in limbo.

"...You’re the one who doesn’t need to worry about it."

"...What?"

Once Baek Yu-Seol replied, Hong Bi-Yeon shut her eyes and continued.

"This... What I’m doing, it’s just the immature whining of a foolish child. I’m fully aware of that. But when I see you worrying about every little thing about me... it makes me..."

Her eyes fluttered open, crimson depths meeting his.

Prior chill in her gaze vanished, yielding to remorse and regret.

"I know very well how important the things you’re doing are. And yet... Even knowing that, I was just too young and foolish. So please don’t let this kind of thing weigh too heavily on your mind."

"Uh. Well, I just thought..."

"Sigh. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say anymore. But anyway... Even though I said all that, just knowing that you’re thinking about me so deeply is more than enough. Oddly enough, after hearing your answer, I feel calm... like I can think clearly again."

"Really...?"

Hong Bi-Yeon rose to her feet, a tender smile blooming on her lips.

A complete turnaround from the stiff, solemn look she wore only seconds before left Baek Yu-Seol's neck rigid with shock.

That grin didn't resemble the wicked smirk you'd picture on a romance fantasy villainess.

Rather, it beamed with gentle warmth and dazzling light, ideal for the tale's leading lady. The image slammed into Baek Yu-Seol's mind like a gong echoing loudly.

Hong Bi-Yeon appeared to Baek Yu-Seol as the shining star upon a magnificent theater stage.

Everything surrounding her blurred into shadows, like the entire world had grown dark to cast a single brilliant light on her alone.

Shaking free from the trance, Baek Yu-Seol jerked his head side to side and slapped a palm against his brow.

"I must be really tired these days."

Still, the sensation wasn't unpleasant at all.

Baek Yu-Seol wished this serene interlude, filled with even trivial worries filling his thoughts, could stretch on a bit more.

***

A bloody crimson hue painted the heavens, while a rugged, scarlet gorge sprawled beneath.

The sheer walls appeared viciously gnawed and ripped asunder. Amid the canyon's razor-sharp ridges, a gigantic monster slithered threateningly, its fiery red eyes blazing with vicious intent.

Thud! Boom!

'Crawling' hardly captured it right.

Anyone close by would need to tilt their head back in agony just to grasp the beast's immense scale.

This enormous monster went by the name of Earth Dragon.

Lizard-like in form, but with a forked tail and a brow cluttered with jagged spikes unevenly. Flowing whiskers lent it the look of a legendary dragon from old myths.

Still, the 'dragon' in its title didn't make it a real one.

"To give such a pathetic creature the name of a dragon... humans are truly foolish."

Cult Leader of the Dark Mages, Hui-Ryeon, stared at the Earth Dragon with steady, sharp eyes.

Legends claimed an Earth Dragon sensed every creature's motion across hundreds of kilometers via ground tremors.

Oddly enough, it showed no sign of detecting Hui-Ryeon at all.

"I-It’s incredible, Cult Leader...!"

Dozens of followers knelt behind him in reverence, prostrating low while chanting Hui-Ryeon's glory.

Not just rousing an Earth Dragon that had slept for eons, but dominating it outright... this was the splendor worthy of the supreme priest to the dark mages' deity!

"But, Cult Leader... may I ask where you intend to send the Earth Dragon?"

The followers of the dark mages had good reason for their wonder.

Ancient texts recorded that three Class 9 mages were needed to seal away the Earth Dragon's might.

Even if its mind was gone and its old horrors unusable, raw brute strength still terrified.

Unleashing it on the Central Continent would wreak utter havoc.

Hui-Ryeon tsked in contempt.

Did they keep heads only for show? Had past humiliations slipped their memories already?

Pride cut both ways for Dark Mages.

Defeated by humans, they'd twist reality in every way to reject it.

"The humans used cowardly tricks!"

"They ganged up on us!"

"If it were a fair fight, we would’ve won!"

Endless excuses stacked high.

Dark mages deemed themselves above humans, so loss was unbearable.

Rather than grow from failures, they hid facts, stroking egos and nursing shared grudges.

Yet this order came from his father.

From dark mage ruler, Hui-Ryeon would climb to world's apex.

Tolerating the vile label of Dark Mage King for now meant little if he seized global dominion later.

"I will not send it to the Central Continent."

"R-really? As expected, the Cult Leader must have a grand plan!"

No grand scheme existed.

Just a straightforward cause that would bruise their egos deeply.

Baek Yu-Seol could smash even this fearsome Earth Dragon with ease.

Not just Hui-Ryeon's own view; Fawn Prevernal Moon agreed too.

Hui-Ryeon had probed further despite knowing, when Fawn Prevernal Moon spoke it.

Why?

To make Fawn Prevernal Moon voice the truth himself.

Put simply, Fawn Prevernal Moon—Hui-Ryeon's de facto sire—feared Baek Yu-Seol enough to plot against him.

Truth be told, Hui-Ryeon struggled to accept it.

Could Fawn Prevernal Moon, the world's mightiest perhaps, truly dread one mere human?

Though Baek Yu-Seol was no ordinary human, Fawn Prevernal Moon proved equally remarkable.

Hui-Ryeon, remembering that exchange, addressed the Dark Mage followers.

"The Earth Dragon... heads toward the Dark Mage King."

Finally grasping Hui-Ryeon’s plan, the dark mages lifted their heads, faces lit with sudden understanding.

"Y-you mean...!"

"Yes. Now’s the moment to ready ourselves for chopping off the Dark Mage King’s head."

"Of course!"

"No matter the King’s might, the Earth Dragon’s strength should surely topple him!"

"Ah, as expected from you, Cult Leader..."

The dark mages appeared fully persuaded, yet Hui-Ryeon held a different view.

Nearly 50 years had passed since the Dark Mage King last unleashed his full might.

From his father, Hui-Ryeon had gleaned the Dark Mage King’s real capabilities and knew the Earth Dragon couldn’t slay him.

A power so monstrous wouldn’t fall to anything as minor as the Earth Dragon.

That missed the mark entirely.

Even without delivering death, any major wound to the Dark Mage King would do the trick.

The Earth Dragon, legendary beast that it was, would merely act as a disposable piece on the board.

The Dark Mage King would survive, but a serious injury was inevitable.

Hui-Ryeon felt sure of it, thanks to the special preparations his father, Fawn Prevernal Moon, had set for the Earth Dragon.

A successor to claim his endless might and claim the eternal seat in darkness’s heart.

Hui-Ryeon’s gaze sharpened fiercely.

When Ma Yu-Seong took hold of the Dark Mage King’s power, that would mark Hui-Ryeon’s prime chance.

To seize for himself the talent to devour every kind of dark magic—a force that shattered worldly rules.