Is It Really 3rd Circle?

Han Se-hoon did something I’d never even thought of before.

I didn’t know any spells that could be cast with just activation words except for Primordial Incantations… but this guy fired off magic like a submachine gun.

Each time his lips spat out an activation word, magic burst forth.

<Nullification>

<Spell Wedge>

<Frost>

<Air Cannon>

Clang!

As the unique mana pattern of <Nullification> passed by, the cuffs restraining the enemies simultaneously lost their power and fell to the ground.

Zing!

When <Spell Wedge> pierced through my Circle in quick succession, the new transportation spell I was about to activate was canceled.

‘Damn! This is…’

It was a painful counter.

The equipment I had left behind to avoid giving away information. I was trying to transport it all at once, but with my Circle disrupted and mana dispersed, it was all for nothing.

I’d planned to transport plenty of beam shields and beam hilts to keep Han Se-hoon in check, but that failed too. Both my attack and defense were now empty.

‘Spell Wedge, huh…’

I never imagined such a type of magic could exist, so I was completely unprepared.

‘I guess he really is a Tower of Covenant mage?’

I thought that part might have been a lie… but the magic he used was clearly different from what you’d find in the wilderness.

I tried to step back, caught off guard.

But my right leg was frozen stiff by <Frost>, and immediately afterward, five shots of <Air Cannon> struck—two to my face, one to my abdomen, hitting hard. The remaining two were fired at Yuria and Monggu.

Thwack!

I raised my guard to block, but the impact still rattled my skull. The shot that hit my abdomen directly made it hard to breathe.

Bang! Yuria and Monggu tumbled backward. Monggu passed out immediately, while Yuria stood up quickly but staggered, shaking her head from the impact. Mages and Mana Users who had been freed from their restraints rushed at her.

‘He’s really no pushover…’

Is this the kind of insane spell-casting that becomes possible when you reach 3rd Circle?

I realized there was no way to win like this. I never expected to crumble from the very beginning.

‘…Let’s see one more card, then.’

<Saíl!>

I still couldn’t pronounce it through my Circle, so I shouted it with my mouth. It was still plenty powerful.

My magical power surged like boiling needles. My right leg, infected by the frost spell, instantly regained its vitality.

Thump!

I kicked off the ground and rushed toward Han Se-hoon.

As a 2-Star Ki-blood mage, my already powerful body was now enhanced to the 5th level. How many [Simulations] had I run to successfully achieve 5th level enhancement?

That pain had now borne fruit.

As if folding space, I instantly closed in on Han Se-hoon’s front.

I channeled the needle-like magical power through my blood channels and into my blade. The battle-worn sword that had lost many teeth while carving through enemies with me glowed with brilliant light. Ki-blood mages call this phenomenon “Ki,” while Circle mages call it “aura.”

Zing!

“What the hell?”

Caught completely off guard by my speed that exceeded all expectations, Han Se-hoon couldn’t react. What did react was the “Protection Necklace” he wore around his neck. His necklace snapped off and flew up to strike my sword. The impact was strong enough to make my highly enhanced wrist ache. If not for the 5th level body enhancement, my wrist might have broken.

But the necklace didn’t escape unscathed either. A crack appeared in the large blue gem at the center of the necklace, and it tumbled to the ground.

‘I can’t lose this momentum!’

I gripped the sword handle tightly and charged at Han Se-hoon again. Ki energy flowed along the blade. But Han Se-hoon responded calmly.

<Push!>

Something shoved my chest. He timed it perfectly when my feet were in the air, and I had no way to resist as I was pushed backward.

Another instant-cast spell. What’s the secret behind this?

As I floated backward, I carefully observed Han Se-hoon’s Circle.

This time, Han Se-hoon cast two spells.

One was short, and one was long.

The longer one was a grand spell that even used magical materials.

<Grease!>

“Ah, how sad! Even you, once the freest, have become a fossil. I bestow upon you, briefly, flesh and breath. May you dream of a tempestuous wind!”

<Wind’s Protection!>

The manifestation of the <Wind’s Protection> spell followed the general method I knew. Moving the Circle to make sounds while chanting a separate incantation with the mouth.

In contrast, <Grease> worked in a completely different way. The Circle didn’t produce sound to weave mana; instead, the mana seemed to be stamped out according to patterns pre-carved on the gear-like teeth.

It was more similar to a Gift than to traditional magic. No wonder it was so fast.

But what made Han Se-hoon truly frightening wasn’t just his speed. His magic was simple yet incredibly annoying.

Slip!

<Grease> affected my entire body.

Pushed backward by <Push>, I slid far behind and when I tried to get up and charge again, I had to struggle several times before I could stand.

Even my hands were slippery, and I almost dropped my sword.

Because of this, I gave Han Se-hoon enough time to cast <Wind’s Protection>.

Whoooosh!

A hurricane swirled around Han Se-hoon. He held an elongated stone in his right hand that he’d used as a spell material, and following its movements, the typhoon arose. Even my hair and clothes fluttered wildly, despite being quite far away.

Han Se-hoon spoke with a much more relaxed attitude.

“To shatter a Protection Necklace in one strike… that was expensive… tsk.”

He frowned once but quickly smiled.

“I don’t know what trick you’re using, but I was surprised by how incredibly fast and tough you are. Is that power you gained from this relic?”

He was so confident that he even took his eyes off me and looked toward Yuria.

“Look over there too. She seems to be just a 1st Circle mage, but she’s still holding on.”

Glancing over, I saw Yuria covered in blood but still fighting. To hold out against twenty-one Mana Users and seven mages this long… it was an impressive feat, but she was only holding on. And even that seemed about to end soon.

“I was genuinely surprised by your speed, but revealing your cards too early was a mistake. Now that Wind’s Protection is active, you can’t even touch a hair on my body.”

He really does talk a lot.

‘Has it been two minutes now?’

From the start of combat until now. Two minutes. It was about time to wrap this up.

I asked a question.

“How do you cast magic so quickly…?”

“Huh?”

Han Se-hoon opened his eyes wide at my question, then laughed.

“Ah, are you really from the wilderness? I thought you might be a mage sent from the Truth Tower or the Magic Tower.”

Truth Tower? Magic Tower? What are those…? Perhaps factions within the Tower of Covenant…? Anyway, that’s not important information right now.

‘Just answer the question, I don’t have much time…’

As I worried internally, Han Se-hoon answered leisurely, as if doing me a favor. He seemed to have absolute faith in his <Wind’s Protection>.

“This is what we call Memorize. I can instantly activate magic that I’ve stored in advance. You’ve never heard of it in the wilderness?”

Such an arrogant tone.

“Magic stored in advance… So there’s a limit to how many? How many?”

“Well… how many do you think?”

He seemed to be having fun, like he was playing a game. The baseness of wanting to fully look down on an opponent in a favorable situation.

But I calmly gave him an immediate answer.

“Thirteen.”

I didn’t need to hear his answer. The way his shoulders flinched in surprise was answer enough.

How did I know? Simple. The number of gear-teeth he had was thirteen. If the method involved engraving mana patterns onto the tooth-like third Circle in advance, then thirteen had to be the maximum. Once a tooth was used, the pre-loaded mana would flow out and become inactive. So, the instant magic this guy could use was limited to thirteen spells. That’s what I wanted to confirm.

Now… there’s only one thing left to find out.

Thump!

I charged at him again.

I had to break through the raging storm to drive my blade into his neck!

But this Wind’s Protection… was a cheat.

Whoooosh!

Crack-crack-crack!

The wind grew fiercer as I got closer to the center, and I simply couldn’t break through.

If I used Circle magic, Han Se-hoon would counter, and if I fired off transportation magic as a trump card, <Spell Wedge> would come flying in to block it. All I learned was that he had at least four <Spell Wedge> spells memorized.

Even with my ogre-like enhanced physical abilities and <Saíl>, I couldn’t penetrate the <Wind’s Protection>. There was no other way.

‘Is this as far as I go?’

If I spent more time looking for a method, I might find a way to break through the <Wind’s Protection>. But time was too tight. It had already been over three minutes since the fight began. I couldn’t waste any more time here.

I simply acknowledged the truth.

‘I can’t break through Wind’s Protection. I need to prevent him from using it in the first place.’

Perhaps sensing my resignation, Han Se-hoon urged me to surrender.

“Just give up. If you don’t want your one remaining friend to die.”

Han Se-hoon gestured with his head. Looking back, I saw that Monggu was already dead with his throat cut, and Yuria was kneeling in a pool of blood. Sharp blades and arrow tips were aimed at her.

I nodded.

“You’re right. This approach won’t work…”

“Slow to realize—”

I didn’t listen to the end of Han Se-hoon’s words.

[Simulation End]

It was a simulation of exactly 3 minutes and 30 seconds, starting from the moment just before his magic activated.

+ – + – +

When I first encountered Han Se-hoon, I didn’t run a simulation of what might happen. I wanted to, but there wasn’t enough leeway.

Gifts consume magical power. Even though my capacity had increased enormously since becoming a Mana User, it was still a significant burden. If I might have to fight a major battle, depleting my magical power before the fight could prove troublesome.

Instead, I checked my available magic and calculated the maximum time I could use [Simulation].

First, considering the condition burden: I counted as 1 Jun-woo. (Usually simulation costs increase with the strength of the opponent, but the cost to simulate myself is fixed regardless of my growth. So I’m always 1 Jun-woo and serve as the baseline.)

The Mana Users each counted as 1 Jun-woo, so twenty-one of them made 21 Jun-woos.

The five 1st Circle mages were 2 Jun-woos each, totaling 10 Jun-woos.

The two 2nd Circle mages were 5 Jun-woos each, totaling 10 Jun-woos.

Finally, the 3rd Circle mage, Han Se-hoon, alone counted as 20 Jun-woos.

Adding up the condition burden gave me 62 Jun-woos.

With my current simulation capacity at 5,113 simuls, I could run a simulation for roughly 83 minutes.

But I couldn’t use magical power just for simulation. I needed to reserve some for combat spells.

Currently, if I use <Transportation> at maximum capacity thirty times, I’d be exhausted after five uses.

<Saíl> could only be used once per day, but without that restriction, I could probably use it six or seven times.

Considering these factors, I selected the cards to use in battle.

Three uses of maximum-scale <Transportation>.

One use of <Saíl>.

Fifteen minor spells.

After setting these aside, I only had about 5 minutes left for simulation.

And just now, I’d used 3 minutes and 30 seconds of that.

As the simulation ended and time resumed flowing,

Click! Click-click-click!

The sound of Han Se-hoon’s Circle turning was loud.

The moment I activated [Simulation] was right after I had transported the cuffs to restrain the enemies, just before Han Se-hoon’s memorized spells were about to pour out.

Of course, Yuria and Monggu were still fine.

I learned something from my crushing defeat in the simulation.

First, I absolutely must not let him use <Wind’s Protection>.

And second,

‘I absolutely cannot let him use Nullification or Spell Wedge.’

Unlike Primordial Incantations spoken with the mouth, Primordial Incantations recited through the Circle took time to activate.

Right now, my Circle was activating another <Transportation>. A card I could only play three times.

This time, it absolutely must not be interrupted.

I ran the simulation for exactly 5 more seconds and found a way to block <Nullification> and <Spell Wedge>. As expected of Yuria… no need to explain further.

I shouted.

“Yuria! Shoot!!”

Just as I’d seen in the simulation, Yuria’s arrow was drawn toward Han Se-hoon.

Before I could even finish saying “Shoot!!” — when I’d only gotten as far as “Yu” — a lightning-fast arrow pierced through the moment!