I Became the Academy's Disabled Student-Chapter 292: The princess is dead and the king is...(2)

The unique abilities of the three great families are in a symbiotic relationship of both mutual growth (相生) and mutual restraint (相乘).

The fire of destruction melts the sea of creation. The sea of creation can promote life by sinking into the mountain, and the mountain can serve as fuel for the fire of destruction.

The ice can be thawed to prevent complete freezing, or it can be melted without leaving a trace.

It can also be the nutrients to sprout life or can seep in to completely devour it.

It can serve as fuel for the fire or, conversely, smother the flames.

Depending on the degree, it becomes either symbiosis or restraint. If it's moderate, it results in symbiosis, but if excessive, it leads to restraint.

Whoosh! Hong Yeon-hwa raised her sword again. Concentrating the output of the fire of destruction into the flames, with the surrounding life force turning into fuel according to the mountain's guidance, the fire grew even stronger.

The fire of destruction, having consumed sticky emotions, swelled beyond the necessary degree.

She swung her sword down. The fire of destruction that followed her slash wiped out various spirits and golems, destroying the barrier.

The barrier, already disturbed by the mountain and the sea of creation, had no chance of holding up against the attack.

“Phew...”

After completing her attack, sparks flew from Hong Yeon-hwa's breath.

Even though Hong Yeon-hwa had been steadily controlling the fire of destruction, it was now difficult to keep it properly under control. The fire of destruction blazed like a wildfire, and emotions flared up, tinting her vision red.

But she wasn’t worried.

“Control your strength a bit, will you? You’re rampaging like it’s the Tower of Growth.”

A presence approached from behind. A cool palm touched her back. Hiss! The cold from the touch seeped into the blazing fire of destruction, cooling it down.

“You’ll end up dragging the allies into this.”

“I controlled it all before using it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you did.”

Baek Ah-rin shrugged her shoulders and twirled her spear. A cold air swirled around the spear's blade. Following the direction of the spear, the wind from the sea of creation turned to ice and was shot out in all directions.

Where the fire of destruction hadn’t yet burned, the places that still had embers froze solid. The flames that once danced were now frozen in midair, preserved as they were.

The exposed inner barrier turned pale white.

Crack! The cold from the ice spread throughout, and the barrier’s midsection cracked loudly. The debris from the barrier fell, mixing with the white frost and the swirling dust from the earth.

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been staring at the scene while calming the fire of destruction, glanced sideways at Baek Ah-rin.

“Isn’t your own ally also caught up in this?”

“There are no allies nearby, so there’s no problem.”

Baek Ah-rin shrugged again. Frost spread across her pale skin. Though she spoke cheerfully, the cold air that had poured out of her body was now freezing both her body and mind.

‘...’

Baek Ah-rin, observing the destruction she had caused, let her gaze soften.

She felt uneasy. She seemed to have been pushed down the priority list. While she had thought she could still outshine Hong Yeon-hwa, other people had quickly surged ahead of her.

Then, as Elia was specifically targeted and taken away, the sense of unease only grew stronger.

“That’s how I feel too,” Hong Yeon-hwa said, shaking her head. She placed a hand on Baek Ah-rin's shoulder. Whoosh! A moderate heat from her flame spread into Baek Ah-rin’s frozen body, melting the cold away.

“Phew... That’s better.”

For a moment, Baek Ah-rin embraced the warmth and sighed deeply, loosening her shoulders.

Both the fire of destruction and the sea of creation required careful output control to avoid side effects, but if they could help suppress each other’s side effects, it alleviated a lot of the burden.

Thanks to that, as long as her magic and stamina were maintained, she could unleash high-output techniques without worry.

“We’ve pushed them quite a bit.”

While the two were taking a break, Lee Ji-yeon trudged over.

Behind her, tree roots imbued with the sea of creation’s energy surged from the ground.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Each root was as thick as a building, rising up and driving into the barrier, while new roots settled inside. The broken seals had absorbed the magic, with the roots now dominating the barrier.

At the same time, Lee Ji-yeon’s control over the earth shook the defenses, opening up paths for reinforcements to follow.

“Sis, do we have enough mana?”

“No, it’s being consumed a lot. Breaking the defenses and taking control is no simple feat. It takes more than double the energy of the land.”

Lee Ji-yeon shook her head, looking somewhat tired.

Baek Ah-rin, checking her own condition, looked around.

The nearby area, scorched by the fire of destruction and frozen by the sea of creation, had cleared up significantly, thanks to the collapsing barriers that allowed a wide space to form.

Behind them, Lee Ji-yeon’s roots tangled with the barrier she hadn’t destroyed yet.

But even though much had been broken down, there were still barriers in the distance. Moreover, if she hadn’t frozen the earth with the sea of creation, the barrier would have risen again quickly.

Breaking a barrier once didn’t mean it was over.

Even if they managed to break it down, if they advanced inside, the subsequent rising barriers would block the exit, trapping them in a mage’s defense.

So, it was necessary to use powerful output to clear the magical seals entirely and leave control in the aftermath.

“Wow... They said something about the Demon King’s castle.”

The problem was that this level of output was beyond what most could attempt, and breaking down a single barrier had been incredibly difficult so far.

Baek Ah-rin stared at the barrier ahead with a look of realization.

It felt like just yesterday she had watched Hae-yul, who had just learned his magic, floundering. Yet, now he was running such an enormous-scale defense.

The Sea of Creation clan had many monsters and dungeons, and the defense structures they had built across their domains were abundant.

The defense here, however, felt far superior to what Baek Ah-rin had seen in her childhood when visiting her clan’s defenses.

“Still, it looks like we’ve nearly arrived.”

Lee Ji-yeon, taking a deep breath, spoke, and both Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek Ah-rin focused on the front.

The now-familiar black barriers were growing tedious to look at, but the outer edge of the fortress was now visible.

Hong Yeon-hwa, sitting on a piece of rock, unknowingly frowned.

“Isn’t that the heart of the defense? If so, it’s going to be a lot tougher than this...”

“For now, let’s test from a distance and see what we’re dealing with. We don’t know what kind of magic might fly at us.”

“The higher-level magic that’s been charged might be fired. I’m not sure if we can block it all.”

While they were talking and resting, the base of the barrier suddenly opened with a creaking sound like a door. The three immediately got up and took combat stances.

The door opened, and a white object poked out. It was Iha-yul, nervously looking around with wide eyes.

“Ha.”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s lips curled up, amused at the dog-like anxiousness of Iha-yul. It was so cute she almost walked over to pick him up.

“Wow, you made it through all that already?”

...As soon as Elia appeared, however, Hong Yeon-hwa’s gaze turned cold. Her previously playful smirk disappeared.

Iha-yul, who had been nervously scanning the area, froze as Hong Yeon-hwa gave him a sharp look.

“...First, I’ll ask. Why did you take Elia?”

“W-Well, I tried to stop the healing personnel from coming.”

Iha-yul hurriedly pulled out an excuse he had already thought of.

“In a large-scale battle like this, specialized healers are crucial. Even if the pain is almost nonexistent and resurrection is possible, having healers drastically changes the combat endurance...”

Though the importance was somewhat diminished in the Tower of Growth, healers were invaluable on the battlefield.

It was said that the number of people who could cut down monsters with their swords was high, but those who could heal and assist others were few.

Even if an advanced fighter killed a monster, they wouldn’t heal from the wounds the monster inflicted... unless they had special abilities.

“Besides, with resurrection here, I decided to capture her so she couldn’t escape. I thought everyone would eventually unite to attack here, so I preemptively...”

It was too embarrassing to admit he had brought Elia with him out of a kind of possessiveness after wandering around, unable to resist.

“But why Elia? There are other healers, aren’t there?”

While listening carefully, Baek Ah-rin nodded. Her normally cold gaze was now fixed firmly on Iha-yul’s eyes.

“I could easily heal our allies with the Sea of Creation, you know?”

[Er... Baek Ah-rin, it’s hard for you to restrain anyone...]

“Even if I just tied them up, they would have been caught without a problem.”

[?]

“I could heal multiple people too, you know...”

[...It's still hard for you to restrain anyone...]

“Really? So I wasn’t even on the list?”

“Well...”

Iha-yul was sweating profusely. The more he tried to explain, the deeper he seemed to sink into a pit. He realized that the direction was bad, but couldn’t think of a way out.

Elia, unaware of the tension, reached out and gently stroked his white hair. Her soft gesture made her feel a surge of motherly affection as she saw Iha-yul's troubled expression.

“...”

For Hong Yeon-hwa, who was already in a foul mood, it didn’t help. Her brows furrowed tightly.

“Mm, I understand.”

[Expression of approval]

“Then I’ll be taking you as well.”

“?”

Iha-yul, with a look of approval, seemed to lose track of what was happening. He didn’t understand at first.

“...What do you mean, take me?”

“You said it yourself. Resurrection is possible here, right? But from our perspective, it’s inconvenient if you keep resurrecting and charging in. So, I’ll take you and tie you up.”

“Ugh.”

Hong Yeon-hwa muttered calmly. Baek Ah-rin and Lee Ji-yeon nodded in agreement and drew their weapons.

Baek Ah-rin’s spear grew frosty, and rocks rising from the ground were refined into double-edged axes.

“What about the hostage?”

“I don’t know. Just kill them since they’ll resurrect anyway.”

“Watch your mouth.”

Iha-yul’s face darkened.

This was a problem.

Hong Yeon-hwa, Baek Ah-rin, and Lee Ji-yeon.

They often sparred together. Thanks to that, they had accumulated a lot of information and were able to respond proficiently.

But that information was based on not using their unique abilities. Most of the sparring involved basic martial arts, techniques, and magic.

Facing them while they fully unleashed their abilities without worrying about injuries was difficult. Those three, after all, supported each other’s strengths, so when they worked together, it was incredibly tough.

The 12th round was not for nothing... especially against those three.

The 12th round was when those three survived and grew strong.

No matter how low the physical capabilities of the players were at the time, even if they fought against the Tower Master of the Spirits and took damage, cutting through armies, they still couldn’t fight back properly.

The reason why the 12th round players couldn’t fight back was because of the tricky combination of those three.

And somehow, Iha-yul felt that he would have to protect Elia while fighting...

‘Ugh...’

Before I thought about that, Iha-yul didn’t want to fight with them here.

It was difficult to restrain them. After all, with resurrection possible in the Tower of Growth, it was easier to just kill them rather than restrain them.

...Even though there was no pain and resurrection was possible, I didn’t want to do that. Just thinking about it made my stomach turn and gave me a headache.

Iha-yul closed his eyes tightly and reached out. As everyone showed signs of vigilance at his sudden move, something flew from far away and landed firmly in Iha-yul’s hand.

A white flag. On the large fabric fluttering in the wind was the number 1,000, and thin rays of light rose from the flag, reaching into the sky.

“Special flag?”

The special flag that had been given to Iha-yul at the beginning and carefully stored in the fortress. Holding it tightly, Iha-yul swung his arm widely.

Before anyone could react, the flag pierced the air and struck the plains below Am-san.

“Hmm?”

“Whoa?”

Amidst the students who were getting ready to launch a full-scale attack, they blinked as the flag fell from the sky and was embedded into the ground. They quickly checked the points marked on the fabric.

1,000 points.

If each capture zone was worth three points, that would mean 3,000 points.

If they failed to capture the first zone, this would become a crucial point for victory.

After a brief silence, they surveyed their surroundings, and most of them made eye contact once.

“...Get that!”

At the same time, the ground shook. Those who had been attempting to climb Am-san now aimed their weapons at each other.

“Ah...”

Lee Ji-yeon, watching the chaotic formation, let out an exhale. Some of the people who had been following along in the path she had opened turned around.

“Ugh! Whatever! Let’s just capture it and fight for the zones later!”

Hong Yeon-hwa clicked her tongue and slammed her foot into the ground. With a frustrated look on his face, Iha-yul closed the barrier.

[Main Match Ended]

[Score tallying has concluded as of the current time]

“Whew... Ugh...”

The signal for the end of the match echoed in the dark sky. The pressure from the force caused Baize’s legs to give way.

His body rolled across the ground. Fortunately, Baize’s sturdy body, built like a typical enhanced human, didn’t suffer any injuries, though the dirt stuck to him.

“Ah, ugh... My chest hurts.”

Even though he was an enhanced human, Baize, who was more of a researcher-type mage, struggled as his stamina was lower than expected. He gasped desperately for air.

“Wow! This guy’s really fast at running away! How did he survive?”

“I don’t know, just stay away from me...”

A student, similarly disheveled, approached Baize, making light of the situation. Baize, barely managing to reply, shifted his gaze away.

The white flag now gripped in his hand. Looking up, the same white cloth was sprawled on the ground.

The 1,000-point special flag.

Baize had obtained it by sheer chance. While the students were distracted by a sudden explosion from one of their own, the flag flew through the air and landed perfectly in front of Baize.

He accidentally grabbed it, and as students rushed toward him in a panic, the match ended abruptly.

It was a stroke of unexpected luck for Baize, who had been watching the senior’s magic and learning during the tower training.

“Didn’t they say this would trigger an event?”

“They said it would trigger an event... What, are monsters going to be summoned now?”

The students around him blinked, glancing at each other. They then stared briefly at the flag before cautiously backing away from Baize.

Baize narrowed his eyes.

“Such disloyalty... I’ll give them a break, announce it, and then we’ll start...”

[Next event, the event match begins]

[Mechanism activated]

“They’re starting right away.”

Crash! White light poured from the night sky. The scene was like a meteor crashing down, drawing the attention from far away.

Baize squeezed his eyes shut, fearing he would be blinded by the intense light.

After a moment, the light gradually stopped, and something felt off.

‘Huh?’

Baize blinked. A figure appeared, looking down at him as he lay on the ground. The person was wearing a helmet, so their face was hidden.

However, Baize felt something else.

A mage’s awareness and detection of magic had to be sharp. To control it, it was necessary to sense it first.

Baize couldn’t detect the magic of this person properly.

It wasn’t hidden. It was wide open, almost daring him to perceive it.

But his head was spinning. It felt like he was seeing an optical illusion; the magic was so twisted and chaotic that just sensing it made him feel dizzy.

The man’s mouth opened.

“■ ■■, ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■ (This guy’s still as scrawny as ever).”

The man who surveyed Baize chuckled.

[The power "Growth" is manifested]

[The trial of growth begins]

[The power "Knowledge" is manifested]

[The power "Observation" is manifested]

[Accessing the 5th observation record of the Knowledge Tower]

[The power "Tuning" is manifested]

[Connecting the Knowledge Tower and Growth Tower]

[The power "Space" is manifested]

[Accessing the 5th observation record of the Knowledge Tower]

...

[Manifesting the recorded existence]

[Incomplete manifestation]

[5th round]

[The Foolish General's Rebellion]