‘What the hell… does this even make sense?’
Baek Juseok stared blankly at the screen, watching Jang Hyena’s live broadcast in real time.
Until now, he had just assumed that the Masked Instructor was a fraud who simply knew some peculiar way to use mana.
But, unexpectedly, he was seriously progressing through the dungeon.
‘Does he have an enormous amount of mana? How is he able to recklessly spam skills like that?’
Using a powerful spell once, and using several small spells simultaneously, are two very different things.
The former is achievable with a significant amount of mana and magical talent. However, the latter is nearly impossible to pull off without an extraordinary amount of both.
The reason is simple. No matter what type of magic one uses, mana stored within the body is quickly depleted and then has to be replenished.
‘Damn it… what’s the secret? Could it be that he’s replenishing mana as he uses it?’
If he were relying solely on internal mana, casting multiple spells would rapidly drain him.
However, if he were drawing external mana at an insanely fast rate, then he could recover and use magic simultaneously, allowing him to continuously bombard spells.
‘The theory itself is simple. At first glance, it seems like anyone could do it if they knew how.’
‘But damn it, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.’
The current method of mana usage had been developed through countless refinements by magicians and thorough research by the Mage Towers.
Yet now, the very foundation of this mana-utilization technique was being shaken.
‘This is dangerous. If that guy really clears the dungeon on his own, it’ll be a massive problem.’
At this point, only the Masked Instructor knew how to use external mana.
The only publicly available information was from the videos he had posted.
If he successfully clears the dungeon and comes out, top-tier magicians across the country will be desperate to become his disciples.
And if he proves this technique, any mage unable to use external mana will be considered obsolete and incompetent.
Currently, it takes at least ‘five seconds’ for most people, even at the fastest, to absorb mana, circulate it for assimilation, and release it for use.
This speed is far too slow to be practical in real combat.
‘Even as an exceptional A-rank magician, it takes me over four seconds.’
Baek Juseok had also tried following the methods shown in the video, but no matter how much he pushed, he couldn’t reduce his speed below four seconds.
From what he learned in the videos, he could not even mimic the Masked Instructor’s rapid spellcasting.
‘What on earth am I missing?’
The man on the screen wasn’t using high-level spells. All of his magic, such as levitation, discharge, and detection, was B-rank or below. Those were spells that Baek Juseok could easily cast as well.
‘There has to be some kind of penalty. Judging by the fact that he’s not using higher-level spells, the Masked Instructor’s level might be lower than I thought.
At the end of the day, he won’t be able to defeat the boss without raw power to back it up.
Right now, he’s just showing off tricks, but this will be the end for him.’
With those thoughts, Baek Juseok kept anxiously watching the screen.
At that time, Helmunt Academy students were also gathered, watching the live broadcast together.
Kim Siyeon, Lee Haru, Yoon Seulgi, and Baek Hyunseo were huddled around, all sighing as they watched.
“Wow… is that even possible?”
“I don’t think I could do it, to be honest.”
“That’s insane, seriously.”
“It’s amazing. I didn’t know you could use magic like that.”
Among the group watching, Kim Siyeon tapped the screen and spoke.
“Hey guys, wouldn’t it be great to learn from someone like him? It’s totally revolutionary. Should we apply to be his disciples too?”
Yoon Seulgi looked at Kim Siyeon with concern and replied.
“What?… What do you mean by that? What about the dungeon entrance tickets? Without them, we can’t even enter dungeons, and that would slow our growth…”
Kim Siyeon raised her voice in frustration after hearing Yoon Seulgi’s response.
“Hey. After watching that, are you really still talking about growth and all that? Honestly, forget about the benefits we get at Helmunt Academy—if we could just learn from him, that would be a game-changer! It’d be a total life-changer.”
Lee Haru shook her head at Kim Siyeon.
“Siyeon, honestly, I agree with you. But there are already over 200,000 comments, and the number keeps increasing in real time during the broadcast. Do you really think we’d get selected?”
“Well, maybe we will! What’s the harm in trying? Baek Hyunseo, what do you think?”
“I agree, but I think we should keep watching for now. We haven’t even seen him fight the boss yet.”
“Hmm… that’s true. Let’s watch some more and think about it.”
The girls turned their attention back to the screen.
Meanwhile, inside the dungeon.
Jang Hyena shouted with all her strength into the small microphone in her hand.
“Ah, we’ve already passed through the first area, the forest, and it took less than five minutes! How are you all feeling? Isn’t it incredible? I swear, I’ve never seen a dungeon cleared like this before in my entire life! And remember, the Masked Instructor is a mage! Not a swordsman, but a mage!”
At that moment, Choi Juwon opened the door and stepped into the second area.
This time, the surroundings were a barren desert.
“How will he conquer this area? Aren’t you excited to find out?”
No sooner had she finished speaking than I started running.
-Thud.
-Whoooosh.
I covered my shoes in external mana, allowing me to glide smoothly across the ground, almost as if I were using a levitation spell.
By using this method, my feet barely touched the ground, making it possible to move even faster than with levitation magic.
‘We’re almost at the boss room.’
A-rank dungeons are filled with numerous traps, unpleasant environments, and a variety of monsters.
However, these are just supplementary obstacles; in reality, the middle and final bosses account for more than 90% of the dungeon’s overall challenge.
-BOOM BOOM BOOM
A large hole began to open up in the sand-filled floor, and out sprang a [Molly Worm].
Jang Hyena shouted at the sight.
“Ah! A Molly Worm has appeared! It’s one of the signature monsters of an A-rank dungeon! It resides in the desert and can quickly burrow through sand, making it a tricky foe to capture!”
As she narrated passionately, she thought to herself:
‘This is going to be tough…’
The Molly Worm resembled a giant worm, but its body was naturally equipped with thick armor. It was not only incredibly heavy but also frighteningly fast, making it difficult to defeat with most spells.
At that moment, Choi Juwon gathered mana into his arm, clasping his hands together before slamming them into the ground.
-CRACK CRACK CRACK
“Wh-what is this?! The Masked Instructor is digging into the ground! He’s tearing through it with mana!”
I was currently utilizing external mana to activate the [Magic Form Transformation] skill, shaping the gathered mana in my hands into the form of a drill, boring into the ground.
-CRACK CRACK CRACK
The ground began to crumble rapidly, and the Molly Worm, startled, started retreating to the side.
Normally, these creatures are predators that ambush their prey, but they had never encountered a lunatic who would chase them down through the very sand they moved in. It was fear they were feeling.
Of course, I already knew their habits. No one else would have known. After all, who else would be crazy enough to drill through the ground and chase these things right to their faces?
-WHOOSH
As the Molly Worms retreated, I bypassed the desert terrain and arrived at the door leading to the final boss.
“Huh?… He bypassed the Molly Worms without defeating them… Is… is that even possible?”
Jang Hyena’s startled voice echoed for only a moment, as the ground began to tremble violently. A strange creature started to emerge—the middle boss, guarding the door to the final boss.
“The middle boss has appeared! Hudebert! It resembles a scorpion, and in addition to that, it possesses deadly venom and formidable defense.”
“It’s a boss with a very tricky passive skill.”
As she said, Hudebert, like a scorpion, possesses venom in its tail. If that venom stinger hits a mage, rather than a high-defense swordsman, the situation could become quite dangerous due to the potency of the poison.
However, more troublesome than the venom is Hudebert’s unique skill.
[Hudebert] ▶Unique Passive Skill
Wall of Lamentation: Takes only 1 damage from any attack.
Because of this damnable Wall of Lamentation passive skill, no matter what you do, each attack only deals 1 damage.
In other words, for a mage, a single spell will only inflict 1 point of damage. Meanwhile, swordsmen can at least attack physically up close, making it slightly better for them.
Fortunately, Hudebert’s health isn’t particularly high—about 110 attacks should be enough to kill it.
But for an average mage, casting 110 spells is virtually impossible.
That’s why, typically, a swordsman tanks the damage while cooperating with a mage to take Hudebert down—that’s the usual strategy.
For ordinary people, that is.
I placed my hand on the desert sand behind me. The sand began to crumble into gray particles as mana was drawn from it.
“Ice Spear.”
At my command, a single ice spear floated in the air.
The spectators began to murmur.
“With that kind of spell, they won’t be able to take down Hudebert, right? Even though it’s hard to get close because of its poisonous tail, trying to kill it with just magic will take forever…”
“Is it even possible to cast 110 times? Even if Ice Spear is a C-rank spell, attacking over a hundred times seems impossible…”
“Hmm… A C-rank spell? At that rate, it would take a lifetime to kill Hudebert with that…”
I grinned at the chattering crowd and said, “It’ll be over quickly.”
At the same time, I uttered another command.
“Ice Spear Replication.”
Suddenly, an immense amount of mana surged from the sand, and over 100 ice spears were duplicated in the air.
“Kill.”
At my command, the 100-plus ice spears shot toward Hudebert like living creatures, all at once.
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