How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 135

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (135)

The student’s eyes frantically went back and forth between Hans and Ascanien.

‘He definitely said that thing on his wrist was a restraint.’

Seeing him use magic, the restraint’s performance as a binding device must be lowered, but anyway, it was true that it was limiting his magical power.

The antagonist’s magical power that I saw three days ago had a scale that overwhelmed people, and was so excessively flashy that once you saw it, you couldn’t forget it. Even now, the shape of those sparking flames was vivid in my eyes.

But now it’s different.

The magical power Ascanien is emitting now is calm and quiet, unlike that day.

But…

‘…What?’

Even with magical power not much different from ours, Hans can’t keep up at all.

We’ve been learning magic for 15 years, from before the 3rd Education Institute until now.

But to be pushed back like this by a beginner who just started learning magic?

That side even wore restraints to deliberately match our output?

‘That’s impossible.’

Crash! Bang!

Ascanien wore a gentle smile and sometimes even opened his mouth to laugh as if finding it amusing.

While doing so, he lightly hit back all the attacks Hans was firing like playing tennis.

Hans, unlike him, was getting redder and redder in the face.

‘…No good.’

The moment you get excited about anything, you lose. In the end, the one who calmly uses their head is bound to win.

Hans must know that too, but the fact that he was being one-sidedly pushed back by someone who had only learned for a few days seemed to make him unbearable.

The student looked around anxiously left and right, then cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted.

“Hans!”

Ascanien glanced at me, then smiled with a mischievous face and spoke quietly.

“Calm down, Hans.”

Hans’s movement stopped for a moment.

Hans, drenched in sweat, stared at him blankly, then gripped his wand tightly.

‘No, that made him even more pissed off…! What do you mean calm down?!’

Hans took a deep breath with his completely reddened face. He seemed to realize that he himself was getting excited.

I thought he might calm down a bit, but now he was doing the incantation he had just been dismissing as amateurish.

[But Yahweh knows all the paths I take!]

“Uh, uh!”

Whoooosh—

The students standing around the training ground instantly pulled their bodies back.

Dark green magical power split into seven branches, then twisted and curved wildly, extending in all directions.

The student who grasped the situation clenched his fist.

‘…Good.’

He was a bit flustered, but anyway, it was good.

This is the magic Hans is most confident in.

All those magical power streams making spiral rotations would shoot up to the sky and then dive down rapidly.

Can’t he just dodge?

The student’s eyes quickly turned to Ascanien. The spot where Ascanien stood had turned pitch black, with Hans’s magical power binding him from his feet to his thighs. There was virtually no escape route.

‘Because that magic has warp interference formulas layered on top.’

Not only that.

The formulas Hans deployed at this location must number close to ten.

This is what technique is.

Making it possible to produce ten times, even a hundred times the effect with ordinary magical power.

The noise that had been getting distant was now starting to grow loud again.

‘This time he can’t… hit it back.’

Since attacks are coming from all directions, if he tries to hit back all those streams one by one, he’ll just end up getting hit and collapsing.

Also, due to the acceleration gained while falling, it’s impossible to cover with the current ordinary magical power level.

A barrier would be the same. Rather, it would be a bad move since the barrier breaking could cause greater injury.

‘How will he come out of this.’

The student twisted up the corner of his mouth and clenched his sweaty hands tightly.

I honestly feel sorry for creating a situation where he gets defeated by a classmate just three days after becoming a hot topic, but grade evaluation is a more important factor than anything else for us.

Ascanien looked down at his legs with a frown, then raised his head to look at the magical power that would crash down on him.

Just how high had it climbed – that magical power had now changed color due to the heat.

Whoooosh—

At that moment, the corner of Ascanien’s mouth slowly rose. He raised his staff and struck it down on the ground.

[But Yahweh knows all the paths I take.]

Crash—!

The student squinted his eyes.

Isn’t this the attack formula Hans just used?

‘Even so, he’ll take the first hit and collapse… wait.’

The student’s eyes widened.

Ascanien’s red magical power spun in the opposite direction of Hans’s and shot up following each stream.

Rumble— Crack crack! Crack—!

“Ugh!”

“Uh!”

The student unconsciously raised his arms to cover his eyes. Light scattered like fireworks as the magical powers scraped against each other.

Hans’s magical power, scraped once by Ascanien’s magical power, was still fierce but began to lose its earlier momentum.

The student who grasped the situation opened his mouth in shock.

If he had simply fired a counter-attack, seven attacks should have followed in succession, but the attack was accomplished in one strike.

So it’s correct that he used the special formula Hans had used.

What’s puzzling here is that all of Ascanien’s attacks hit Hans’s attacks perfectly.

‘How?’

The arrival coordinates of the formula are a single point.

Although it flies while rotating in all directions until reaching that point, anyway, all attack streams converge on one point.

In a situation like now where there are as many as seven targets, using a guided attack formula for one point would result in a situation of ‘might hit if lucky, might not if unlucky.’

So, the fact that all of Ascanien’s attacks headed precisely toward Hans’s attacks means…

‘…He operated seven formulas at once?’

It means attack formulas were set separately for each target.

Who would do such crazy thing? You’d be lucky not to get hit while calculating?

The student was speechless and just stared at the red flames.

He was clearly planning to reduce the overall attack power once and then handle them one by one.

If nothing else, I had to acknowledge his situational judgment and calculation ability.

It was too seasoned a judgment for someone who had never properly experienced a duel, and all the results were accurate without error.

Crash—! Bang! Bang!

As expected, Ascanien turned his waist and fired at the green attacks coming from behind one by one. But the magical power rushing above Ascanien’s head and toward his front remained as it was.

While staring blankly at that magical power, a diagonal barrier spread above Ascanien.

‘…Wait, diagonal…?’

Crash crash crash! Crash! Bang!

The path of the magical power that had been fiercely drilling toward Ascanien was deflected as it was and rushed toward Hans’s eyes.

Hans, who had been continuously pushing magical power into the ground, widened his eyes.

The student, who had only been gaping, finally grasped the picture Ascanien had drawn.

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

‘So this was the purpose.’

In a situation where you’re too busy blocking attacks coming at you, there’s no energy left to attack Hans with your own power.

But if you only focus on defense, the initiative in the situation belongs to Hans.

‘So… if you change the trajectory of someone else’s attack, you can save your own magical power and also deal damage to your opponent.’

At this point, to reflect magic, the barrier would need to be sufficiently strong, but since there are limits to strengthening barriers, he must have thought to reduce the power of the attack altogether.

With well-internalized theory and seemingly ideal thinking, plus the execution ability to put it into practice, he possessed all the elements and responded perfectly technically to Hans’s technical attack.

It was proof that he was a talented mage.

‘….’

Kwang―!

The black magic power that had been wrapped around Ascanien’s legs disappeared, and a blinding light erupted in front of Hans.

Chwaak―

The sound of Hans’s shoe heels scraping against the floor could be heard.

Hans breathed roughly and slowly lowered both arms that had been covering his front.

The watching students froze in place, and silence followed.

Soon Ascanien spun his wand in his hand and smiled.

“How does it feel to be attacked by your own magic power?”

“….”

“Impressive, Hans. There really is a reason for your grades.”

The moment he finished speaking, for some reason Ascanien turned his head sharply toward where the students were with surprised eyes. Then he burst into refreshing laughter.

Hans just stood still, watching him.

‘Honestly, I understand now.’

The Student had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Why the Professor gave Ascanien a 1+, and both he and the friends watching around seemed to understand.

When Hans just stood in place for several minutes, Ascanien lowered his wand to the ground and approached him.

“Is this the end? It’s lucky to spar with a skilled friend like you. Next time too….”

When Hans switched his wand to his other hand, a white glowing blade formed from its tip. Hans channeled magic power into his legs and kicked off the ground.

Paang―!

The Student’s eyes widened. Ascanien also opened his mouth with surprised eyes.

The moment Hans’s sword flew toward Ascanien’s right shoulder, Ascanien turned his body to the side to dodge and stepped back one pace.

“How about taking some deep breaths.”

‘What, wait, what is he doing…!’

The Student gaped in shock.

This time, he had no choice but to cheer for Ascanien.

Since no solidification magic was cast, being stabbed by a sword made of magic power wouldn’t cause easy injury, but it could deal meaningful damage to the core and blood vessels through which magic power flows.

Of course, since magic was involved, there was no need to respond to a sword with a sword. It would be fine for Ascanien to simply wave his wand to block his attack.

But whatever the case, rushing at someone with a weapon without warning was clearly not proper etiquette.

“Hans! That’s enough!”

“Your friend is trying to stop you too.”

Chaeng!

Ascanien was still speaking gently with a smile on his face.

His wand had already transformed into a sword and lightly deflected Hans’s sword.

Though he didn’t know why that guy started wielding a sword while smiling….

‘No, this isn’t a field that can be overcome with simple situational judgment.’

Hans had clearly lost his reason after being confirmed to be losing to an opponent who had only learned for a few days.

Honestly, if he had been in that position, he would have lost his reason too from embarrassment and disbelief.

But we only wanted to see the Antagonist’s skills through sparring, not to injure Ascanien.

Before things got worse, he should call a Professor.

The Student urgently turned around and left the Training Ground.

* * *

Hans gritted his teeth.

Despite frantically thrusting his wand and wildly firing magic power until now, not a single speck of magic power had reached Ascanien.

Even pouring out more attacks would be the same.

Magic power that looked fiery and threatening just from watching devoured my magic power and remained in the air like an afterimage.

He tasted blood on his lips. His nails dug hard into his sweaty palms.

Yes, he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

That guy hadn’t even properly learned magic, yet he accurately grasped the most essential elements that determine victory or defeat in battle.

‘But….’

To be in a position of receiving advice from someone who had never properly learned magic until now?

Grade evaluations and such weren’t very important anymore.

Having come this far, he couldn’t be the only one pushed back and flustered so one-sidedly. He felt he could only be satisfied after seeing the same light that was in his own eyes appear on Ascanien’s face.

‘…Magic might be managed somehow with talent, but swordsmanship can’t be covered by talent alone.’

And he was among the top handful in the entire school when it came to magic swordsmanship.

He channeled magic power into his legs and kicked off the ground.

Ascanien’s surprised eyes quickly drew near. The moment he swung his sword fiercely, his voice moved to the side.

“How about taking some deep breaths.”

“…!”

He pivoted. It was somewhat surprising, but entirely possible if one had good reflexes.

Hans’s eyes sank with composure.

Ascanien’s wand had already transformed into a sword like his own.

However, his sword-holding posture wasn’t very proper. The tip pointed toward the ground as if he had no intention to attack.

‘As expected.’

He doesn’t even have the basics down. There’s a chance of winning in this category. Hans’s sword swiftly flew after Ascanien’s path.

“Your friend is trying to stop you too.”

Ascanien’s sword collided with Hans’s sword and then moved away.

Hans’s eyes sharpened.

He swung his sword following the path where Ascanien retreated. The magic power flowing from the sword spread through the air along that trajectory.

Chaeng!

The briefly touching sword quickly pushed Hans’s sword away and escaped from the attack route. No matter how much he chased and chased again, Ascanien didn’t properly attack back but continued to retreat one or two steps while dodging or deflecting Hans’s attacks.

“Are you just going to run away like a rat?!”

“Weren’t you the one talking about technique before?”

Ascanien once again retreated with light footwork while deflecting the attack.

No matter from which direction or how he launched his attacks, he still didn’t lose his composure and received all attacks.

Though these were absolutely not movements a beginner would show, Hans interpreted only the point that Ascanien wasn’t taking his attacks seriously, maximizing that aspect rather than gauging his skill.

Hans, heated up to the extreme, unknowingly trembled his body as he shouted.

“Are you taking this spar lightly? Do it properly!”

Ascanien slightly shook his head and said.

“Calm down first. Is there any meaning to sparring in this state?”

“…This….”

Shwaeaek―

Hans brought his sword down diagonally from the upper right.

Before Ascanien’s blade, which moved to block the attack, could touch his sword, Hans twisted his wrist outward. Despite going against the flow, Hans’s sword nimbly changed direction and flew toward Ascanien’s ribs from left to right.

“Oh! Whoa! That guy…!”

“Hey!”

Kaang!

Ascanien twisted his sword backward to block the attack. He was putting appropriate force into the hand that blocked the sword.

‘…When?’

He didn’t deflect the attack. Only now did Hans’s mind return a little. Even if the earlier one was lucky, this reaction speed was hard to consider that of a beginner.

‘…No, more than that, this is more than I thought….’

He looked so skinny that he thought there would be no strength or anything, but whether he properly distributed magic power, the force transmitted through the sword was extremely stable.

Hans unknowingly put strength into his arms.

Ascanien looked at Hans and said quietly.

“You’d prefer if I didn’t dodge?”

What an obvious thing to say?

Hans frowned, took his gaze off the sword, and looked at Ascanien.

“It’s about time to wrap this up. Tell me with your own mouth. What do you want me to do?”

Ascanien’s eyes were gently folded.

For some reason, it was an ominous smile.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————