I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

Chapter 107 : Tomb of the Heaven-Shattering Demon (1)

‘I’m going to faint.’

Perhaps due to the aftermath of using my internal energy to its limit at the end, my whole body was weak. As I sat still, unable to get up, Baek Hasin approached and offered a hand.

“Thanks.”

“Then I’ll put this down as a debt.”

“…Stop talking nonsense.”

In the meantime, the instructors who had been hiding all over the place appeared one by one and began to escort the injured and tally the scores.

For reference, in their case, if their qi sense was detected, they would reveal themselves with a telepathic message mixed with the unique tone of an academy instructor, so there was no confusion.

After arriving at the assembly point, I followed the guidance to the scoring area at the foot of the mountain. The instructor in charge of tallying looked at the headbands being untied from my body one by one with wide eyes and began to calculate.

“…24 credits!”

The instructor, who let out a voice mixed with admiration as if he hadn’t expected me to collect all the possible credits, recorded it.

It was the result of adding up 4 points for white, 8 points for blue, and 12 points for black.

‘With this, I’ve somehow reached the level of a lower-middle-ranking student in terms of credits.’

Including my existing credits, it was 43 points. I still had the credits to receive for the last thesis, so this was about half the credits needed for promotion.

‘It’s going smoothly.’

I wondered if it was okay to earn so much in just one event, but it was natural that the reward was great as much as I had taken the risk.

My case was particularly unusual, but considering that most of the other students had lost credits and that the opponents I had fought so far were all masters at the level of intermediate to high-grade requests, it wasn’t strange.

If I had made a mistake, I would have just had my credits snatched and my future would have been bleak.

A few gazes that were looking this way were stinging, but I ignored them.

For reference, Baek Hasin, who was standing behind me, was missing one black headband, so he had 18 points.

And so, the credit snatching event came to an end.

After forcing myself to eat and wash with my trembling legs, I immediately returned to my dorm and lay down in my private room. From the intermediate student level, a small but private room was provided.

The next day, I had a fever all over my body due to the strain of using my strength to its limit. During the last Blood Cult attack, I had endured thanks to the remaining energy of the Great Return Pill, but this time it was different.

‘If it weren’t for [Transcendent Growth], it would have been dangerous.’

24 credits for this level of aftereffects was a cheap price. As much as I had run like crazy until now, it didn’t seem bad to rest a bit this time.

And so, while I was bedridden for a while, the end of the festival period approached.

‘Is it already the last day?’

When I opened my eyes refreshed after a few days, it was the morning of the closing ceremony.

I heard from Baek Hasin, who came to visit occasionally, that there were demonstrations by each martial arts school, and solicitations and activities from clubs at the festival, but they were activities that I didn’t need right now.

Thanks to the good rest, I could feel that my body had recovered. I sat at my desk and wrote a growth report.

It was a kind of honey assignment where you could get 3 credits just by writing and submitting a record of your personal growth.

First, to confirm my achievements over the past half year, I listed them as they were.

[In the case of martial arts, I was a third-rate at the beginning of the semester, but I have now reached the peak level.]

[In the case of formations, I obtained a 1st-class formation master qualification from a 3rd-class formation master at the beginning of the semester.]

[In the case of magic, I formed a circle and reached the 3rd circle.]

Even if I didn’t write down the last part about magic, it was an unbelievable achievement.

‘Should I just fix it a little and write it down?’

It seemed better to change the martial arts from peak level to first-rate. Just mentioning the achievements in formations and sorcery here was a splendid enough achievement.

‘With this, I’ve also obtained the 3 credits they just give away. Now, what’s left is that, isn’t it?’

As I was checking my future growth plan, I reached deep into my bosom and took something out.

What came out was a metal key.

It was the item I had eventually snatched from Oh Cho-sam when I had obtained the Spirit God Step before.

‘Originally, it’s a place I should go to later, but…’

Now that I felt that I was lacking in strength in many ways, such as the lack of mana, it was worth a try. And even more so if it was the last day of the festival.

I slowly caressed the key and hardened my resolve.

It was about time to enter the tomb of the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

***

First, finding Oh Cho-sam was the priority. Because it was easier to break through the traps and pass with him.

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find him.

“Hey.”

“H-how did you get here?!”

The guy was investigating the vicinity, taking advantage of the relatively loose surveillance of the spiritual mountain on the day of the festival.

“Lower your voice. Let’s stop here and go back. If you’re looking for the entrance to the tomb, I know the location.”

“H-how?”

“You don’t need to know that. Not now. To get to the mid-slope of the spiritual mountain, we need to use the gap when the surveillance is reduced.”

I took Oh Cho-sam and returned to the festival, and instructed him to bring the tools for disarming the traps.

“I’ve brought them. Then are we going in today?”

“Wait.”

I went through the overnight stay application procedure for intermediate and junior students with the excited guy. Since there were many students who wanted to go out and play around this time, the application for going out was not strange.

After all the preparations were finished, I loitered around the festival.

“Sir, when are you planning to move?”

“Wait.”

And so, as I was wandering around the academy streets until the sun went down, a sign began to appear.

‘I feel a huge energy.’

A huge qi wave erupted from one corner of an alley. I pushed Oh Cho-sam aside and said.

“Dodge.”

Kwaaaang!

The wall of the alley exploded, and the food stall that had been set up on one side of the street for withdrawal was shattered to pieces.

The ones who revealed their appearance in the smoke were Cho Min-ha and Maeng Dong.

Both were super-masters belonging to the Wudang Sect.

‘As expected, they’re doing the master-defeating thing.’

If they hadn’t succeeded until now, it would be the most intense on the last day of the festival. Just as it was in the original work.

As Cho Min-ha’s sword drew a sharp trajectory at an incredible speed, Maeng Dong’s sword path drew a semicircle as if to counter it.

In the midst of the huge sword strikes, the sword pressure echoed, and the festival street, which was beginning to get dark, was filled with only the glint of the two swords, like a cluster of stars that had descended to the ground.

Their sword paths were all not just powerful, but overwhelming.

‘With my current self, I can’t even receive a single move.’

Blows that were more than just amazing. I watched the life-and-death struggle that threw a clue to a realm increase just by watching and said.

“Get ready.”

“Yes?”

If those two had fought, it was highly likely that the fight I was aiming for would happen soon.

And that premonition was correct.

A chilling sensation.

In the midst of the chaos, even though the attention of the crowd that had been spread throughout the area until just a moment ago was on Cho Min-ha and Maeng Dong, everyone’s head went up for a moment.

It couldn’t be helped.

Because in the midst of the moon rising, a huge energy was rising from the center of the tall tower in the center of the Martial Academy.

Kugugugung-!

With a deafening roar as if something was collapsing, one side of the tower’s wall burst open.

And two figures who began to fall into the tower.

Gu Ja-beom, who was swinging a large saber against the sky, and a man with curly hair who was thrusting his sword, scattering a huge energy that was no less than his.

‘That person is…!’

Two hands full of scars and beast-like eyes. There was no way I wouldn’t know.

Cheon Ga-seong, the top student of the senior students.

‘A clash of monsters.’

A fight between the top senior student and the chief professor, Gu Ja-beom. I narrowed my brow, looking at the two figures who were crashing to the ground like a meteor shower.

As if a bombing had occurred, a shockwave and dust soared in the area, and soon, they changed the surrounding terrain, sweeping the surroundings like a storm.

The place they were heading to was the spiritual mountain. Because the spiritual mountain was a place with few people in the vicinity, while not sweeping the surroundings during the move.

‘Good, since it’s a fight between masters of that level, they have no choice but to intervene.’

Thanks to that, the number of guards guarding the entrance to the spiritual mountain had no choice but to decrease.

“Let’s move.”

“Yes? Yes!”

I took the dazed Oh Cho-sam and headed towards the spiritual mountain. A deafening roar continued to be heard from a distance. We climbed the spiritual mountain, taking advantage of the gap where the security was distracted by the battle.

And the place we headed to was a rocky area that covered one side of the spiritual mountain, a terrain that was not often visited because the mountain was rugged and complex.

“Here it is.”

“Here?”

What was spread out in front of my eyes was a canyon area where huge rock walls were soaring like scales along the mountain range.

“Isn’t this just a rocky mountain?”

Oh Cho-sam, who was puzzled when I pointed to a place completely different from his own investigation, even though we had come to find the tomb of the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

But this was the right place. I had found a few suspicious places when I had watched Sama Woon’s formation repair before, and I was able to accurately estimate this place as a result of linking it with the parts mentioned in the book left by the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

Although I knew the approximate location through the original work, I had a hard time because the reality was completely different in its scale and size.

I ignored Oh Cho-sam’s question and looked around. And I reached a place where huge rock walls were soaring, which looked like a hand reaching for the sky.

‘Here it is.’

Although I had wandered because it was wider than I thought, I was able to find it because I roughly knew the direction and terrain, and because there was a faint mention of this place in the book of martial arts.

I stood right in the middle of the place called the place where the dragon slept.

And I imbued the metal key with qi. Then, the metal shattered and scattered, and then it took the form of a sword.

Then, a faint signal that I could feel. I used the signal of the sword as a compass and examined the rock bed.

‘Found it!’

The place where the tip of the sword pointed was a small groove in the rock wall. After checking the surroundings and confirming that there was no one, I put the key in there.

Kurururung!

Then, a part of the rock wall was pushed inward, and soon, a gap that was embossed like a door appeared between the rocks.

This was the hidden entrance to the tomb of the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

“Then let’s go in.”

“How in the world…”

I headed inside, with Oh Cho-sam, who was just muttering in shock, in front.

Inside the dark cave, what surprised me as much as the cool air of the sub-zero temperature was the huge energy that filled the inside.

‘Is it a natural accumulation of power?’

Just as I was about to move forward, feeling the indescribable atmosphere, I realized that a formation was spread throughout this entire space.

I put mana into the jade stone and made a hole in the formation. It was a kind of bypass. But this wasn’t the end.

“Break through the traps.”

“Yes.”

At those words, Oh Cho-sam used the tools he had brought to find and dismantle the traps on the walls and floor. It was a very delicate and fast handiwork.

‘I’m glad I brought him.’

The skills that the guy, who had a natural talent for thievery, had acquired over a lifetime. It was difficult for me to learn them all in a short period of time.

Even if I learned them, I wouldn’t have been able to do it faster than this guy. Because everyone had their own aptitude.

And so, as we broke through the hidden mechanisms and formations, the end of the passage began to be seen.

A fork in the road with two paths.

Seeing the artificial gap on the floor, it seemed to be a path with a structure where if you chose one side and entered, the other side would close.

‘It’s the same as the original work. In this case, the answer is…’

“Leave the pathfinding to me! I’m good at the forks in this kind of cave-type ancient tomb!”

Just then, Oh Cho-sam confidently stepped forward, looked around and figured things out, and then pointed to the phrase engraved on the rock that divided the fork.

“That’s the clue!”

I ignored the guy who was proudly reporting a story that anyone could have known and read the phrase.

The content of the phrase engraved on the bluish-white wall was this.

[You who are qualified, follow and become a dragon, you who wish to be qualified, become a tiger alone.]

[To those who wish to be the same, a trial, to those who wish to be different, a provision.]

It was a phrase that was easy to understand, but also difficult to understand if you didn’t know. Oh Cho-sam, who was racking his brain, muttered, staring at the phrase as if to pierce it.

“Qualification and inexperience, sameness and difference, dragon and tiger…”

It seemed he had roughly grasped the keywords. Since there was no reason to wait, I was about to walk in the direction I had decided when.

“I’ve figured out the answer!”

Oh Cho-sam raised his voice as if he had realized something.

(End of Chapter)