Novel Bin Chapter 101: The Incompetence (1)
“What did you say now?”
“You may know that Moon Joo is also Kang Min-hyuk: the former successor to the guardian gate and the protagonist of the magical revolution – he has just requested a challenge. What do we do about this? According to the rules, we must accept Kang Min-hyuk’s challenge, but he’s entered as a wizard rather than a reinforced warrior.”
“This is crazy, guys.”
Bang!
Gu Gwang-mo got up with a start.
The rules were designed to be obeyed implicitly. Rejection of the challenge was out of the question.
Gu Gwang-mo stepped outside and spat his words at Kang Min-hyuk, who was surrounded by Byeokgyemundo disciples.
“Yeah-! Did the Byeokgyeokmun look so easy to you?!”
“Actually, it does. If I knew it would be so simple, I wouldn’t have come here. It’s not worth the challenge.”
“Cheeky baby. I’ve never liked you. I thought I would stumble, running wild with the guardian gate on my tail. This is Byekgyemun. Open your eyes and see Gu Gwang-mo!!”
There was a memory entangled in the fog of the past. There had been a dispute between the gates of Byeokgyeokmun and the warriors of the guardian gate. From then on, any name associated with Suhomun didn’t sound pleasant to Byeogyeokmun.
Kang Min-hyuk said, “Did you forget your own principles? If you are reluctant to face defeat, you defy your own rules, which you advertise proudly. Please tell me now. If you are worried and choose to refuse my challenge, I will think about your circumstances and withdraw…”
“OK!”
Gu Gwang-mo screamed in response. Kang Min-hyuk’s remarks touched his pride. Fighting a wizard in the first place was a muddy roll, but if the opponent were Kang Min-hyuk, the glory would be worth it.
“I accept your challenge. I’ll show you how high the door of this wall is!”
Gu Kwang-mo was convinced.
After the duel, that cheeky face of Kang Min-hyuk’s would be distorted by despair.
* * *
The opponent Kang Min-hyuk would face wasn’t Gu Kwang-mo. The surest way to defeat Byeokgyeokmun was to fight Gu Gwang-mo, but that would mean dropping the pride of Byekgyeokmun to the floor. The challenger was only a wizard. No matter Kang Min-hyuk’s lineage, his status as a wizard (whether the progenitor of a revolution or not), his position as a wizard meant that he would always be prey to fortified warriors.
The gatekeeper going directly against the wizard was something that the surrounding fortified warriors would mock, so Gu Gwang-mo stepped back, and his disciple, Park Cheol-woo, stepped forward with a determined attitude.
“It’s been a long time.”
Park Cheol-woo had past experience with Kang Min-hyuk.
In the process of smashing in the gates of the Byeokgyeokmun, Park Cheol-woo tasted the humiliation of being the first to fall to Kang Min-hyuk.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment. When you were defeated, the people around you said there was no way to get revenge. At that time, you were the successor to the Suho Gate and were very good as a prosecutor. But a person’s life must reach its end before they really know its path. You eventually gave up your way as a reinforced warrior and became a coward: a wizard. I did not miss my sword until the end and stepped up to my position. This is reality. Park Cheol-woo, you remember, became a warrior representing Byeokgyeungmun.”
Kang Min-hyuk laughed. Park Cheol-woo’s dramatized approach manifested like a speech from a badly-scripted film. It was thoughtful and filled with determination.
Contrary to Park Cheol-woo’s rage toward him, Kang Min-hyuk couldn’t place him.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”
“What?!”
“You have to bear in mind: at that time, there were countless people like you, who fell at my feet. There was no reason to remember the losers. If you were really worth remembering, I would have recognized your face; I think this is the first time I’ve seen you.”
Park Cheol-woo was furious.
The time for reflection was over.
“Yes…if you don’t remember, I will make sure you never forget my face this time.”
Whoosh!
Park Cheol-woo spurred the ground, and finally, the duel began.
* * *
In an advertised duel, all outcomes are acceptable. No matter who died or was injured, Park Cheol-woo had no obligation to bear responsibility.
‘Kill…!’
It wasn’t long before Kang Min-hyuk doled out catastrophic humiliation to the arrogant Park Cheol-woo. Min-hyuk taunted him with whatever words sprung to mind, and Cheol-woo’s fury was palpable.
“Entangling.”
Pabababak!
Tree roots arose from the ground.
It seemed that Kang Min-hyuk was trying to block his enemy’s approach, but Park Cheol-woo just laughed. He couldn’t be stopped by second circle magic! An aura spewed out of Park Cheol-woo’s sword. At the moment when dozens of tree roots were about to wrap around Park’s body, an aura flashed, and the tree was torn to shreds and fell to the floor.
“Is that all?!”
“Fireball.”
Pop!
Rumble!
A mighty flame arose. Park Cheol-woo hurriedly surrounded himself with mana to block the fireball, but the magic power was more substantial than expected.
“This is a fireball?”
His pupils shook. The fireball was second circle magic. However, it seemed that the magical power was at least three circles, and the problem was that Kang Min-hyuk used the fireball immediately following the entangling. That didn’t make sense. Wizards have a fatal weakness in the time consumption involved in casting. It was impossible to link the magic quickly, so what on earth was happening?
Park Cheol-woo still didn’t doubt his victory. The confrontation between a fortified warrior and a wizard always ended the same way – as soon as Cheol-woo got close to him, he would be demolished.
“Wizards are limited by the fact that they can’t move.”
He didn’t even check Kang Min-hyuk’s location as he made an aura wave and attacked from a distance.
Sassasak!
The blade sliced through the wind. Then, Kang Min-hyuk escaped. Park Cheol-woo laughed, yelling,
“‘I got him!”
Aura Wave was a bait – by evading the attack, Kang Min-hyuk would not be able to cast. Cheol-woo thought he was on the cusp of victory – it wouldn’t be possible for the wizard to cast a winning spell in the time it would take him to approach and wield his weapon. Due to this, he chose not to use mana on his skin as a mode of defense and instead focused the energy onto his legs as he dashed toward Kang Min-hyuk.
An incredible sight unfolded before his eyes.
Rumble Rumble!
Dozens of Fire Arrows were formed in no time, and they flew at Park Cheol-woo.
Pow!
Wow, wow!
The attack force sent Park Cheol-woo bouncing back – unable to respond; he was caught in the flames, where he crouched on the ground. His firm belief in strictly static casting had lost him any advantage he thought he had, and confusion thwarted his attempts to think of a solution.
How the hell had he done it? Surely moving and casting a spell simultaneously was impossible!
Park Cheol-woo clenched his teeth and prepared to fight again, but Kang Min-hyuk had already finished the last spell through Memorize’s high-speed casting.
“Fire Cannon.”
The moment the circle five magic was unleashed, the duel was over.
Bang!
Rumble!
Pop!
Park Cheol-woo fell to the floor, his mind a sea of chaotic questions.
In the blazing flames, the expressions of Byungryemundo, who were watching the duel, were colored with shock.
* * *
Nobody spoke for a while, afraid that the reality would be irreversible if they broke the silence. Park Cheol-woo’s mistake could have been fatal. He did not correctly grasp Kang Min-hyuk’s abilities and made the mistake of typecasting him in the mold of the wizards he’d encountered over the years.
Kang Min-hyuk thought that fight was the primary opportunity to announce Ma-Tap’s birth, so he didn’t want to conceal his strength. To show that a sorcerer could defeat a fortified warrior, he had to use skills as yet unseen by fortified civilization. The techniques he used: the power of fire, circle correlation, and moving casting were so advanced that the only likely result was Park Cheol-woo’s suffering.
He pre-judged Kang Min-hyuk and thought it would be easy to hold on with his body.
The Byeokgyemun lost their words in shock.
They had no idea how to react. Park Cheol-woo, whose fury was aroused, irredeemably lost.
The right to smash the signboard was with Kang Min-hyuk.
Gu Gwang-mo approached the wizard.
“Dae, what kind of magic did you use?”
He couldn’t understand the current situation that had unfolded before his eyes. Park Cheol-woo was far from weak.
Even compared to Suhomun, he was at the level of a first-class disciple. Not long ago, because he proved his skills by defeating A-class monsters, Gu Gwang-mo had a firm trust in Park Cheol-woo – he was vigilant. Yet, he had been defeated by a wizard.
Kang Min-hyuk laughed. The assumption was a dangerous tool, and it was Cheol-woo’s downfall. Wizards can’t move while casting, you just have to endure the wizard’s magic, wizards cannot use chain magic – these were all fixed ideas of a magician’s weakness.
The first fireball should have shown him that Min-hyuk’s magic was different to what he’d experienced. No matter how powerful the sixth Circle fire cannon was, Park Cheol-woo would have had enough ability to withstand it if he’d have been prepared.
Park Cheol-woo set an example as to the dangers of underestimating Kang Min-hyuk.
Kang Min-hyuk said, “If the signboard of the Byeokgyemun Gate was smashed so easily, none of you can hold your heads high. So, I’ll give you one more chance. If Moon Ju-nim comes down in person, I am willing to deal with him, erasing the previous confrontation. What do you think? If the wall of the Byeokgyemun Gate is so high, Moon Ju-nim will prove it to you.”
Kang Min-hyuk showed fierce teeth.
Until now, Gu Gwang-mo had been acting like a predator.