Mawin Jaewick couldn’t forget that day. As the next successor of his elite family and the genius of the magical tower, he had always walked the perfect and sturdy road of a mage. Even when his classmates slipped from the harshness of the field called magic learning, he never stopped progressing forward. Before he knew it, he left his peers in the dust and succeeded in catching up to the people who had walked the mage’s path far before him.
Naturally, confidence sprouted out of Mawin. And it would have all been well if things ended there, but his confidence soared until it reached arrogance. Normally, such arrogance would have been the cause of one’s downfall, but Mawin Jaewick’s outstanding talent and family background overpowered it all and gave him the power to simply ignore people’s criticisms.
There were definitely people who disliked Mawin Jaewick; but as many there were who looked at him with scornful eyes, there were as many who did their best to flatter him. Thus, a specific kind of environment came to fruition, one where he would simply think that everyone who hated him were jealous losers. Thanks to all these factors, Mawin Jaewick maintained his arrogant nature…until a couple of days ago.
Rumors of a mage teaching Elena Dwayne were circulating within the magical tower. These rumors were soon proven to be the truth, and when Mawin Jaewick heard of this, he couldn’t contain his laughter. After all, Elena Dwayne was from an even more esteemed family than him and was also once thought to be a genius who possessed greater talent than him. Yet, once it was found out that she didn’t have mana, which could be considered more important than a mage’s life, she was banned from studying magic altogether in the magical tower.
To Mawin who had envied Elena when he was young, her fall was pure entertainment. There were times when he happened to see her, but of course he acted like he didn’t know her since they lived in completely different worlds. He simply looked at her from far away and thought she had the appearance of a loser. But the pleasure of seeing her so fallen lasted only once or twice, and soon Elena’s existence gradually faded away from his mind. It was around this time Mawin heard about Elena’s teacher.
When he heard that the granddaughter of the magical tower master was receiving education from a random wanderer, only laughter came out of his mouth; but as he thought about it more and more, Mawin began to feel annoyed. He felt annoyed that Elena was still hopelessly dreaming of becoming a mage without even having any mana. That was why he decided to provoke Elena Dwayne and scold the wandering magician who dared to call herself a teacher at such a young age.
However, his confidence completely crumbled into pieces that day. There were two people who dared to challenge him to a duel: the wandering mage who didn’t know her worth, and her friend, the knife-using rock-head who didn’t even know how to use his brain and insulted Mawin. When Mawin accepted the duel, he planned to thoroughly teach them the honor and difficulty of the field called magic. Yet, he was the one who lost the duel, especially after his opponent thoroughly played with him. Although he didn’t lose his life, he felt as if he had lost far more things than his life. All the magic he had always shown off in the magical tower burst against Lyla’s magic. When he dashed towards her with gripped fists because he didn’t want to admit his loss, he got beaten up. To make matters worse, it was that ignorant, knife-using bastard who ended up saving him from Lyla.
After that incident, Mawin was bombarded with contempt and ridicule. Not that many people outrightly laughed in front of his face, but Mawin couldn’t help but notice the way people looked at him; they looked at him with the same eyes he had looked at the losers beneath him. There were even some, such as those with similar family backgrounds and talents as him, who directly tried to provoke him.
He couldn’t forgive them. Mawin thought he was meant to smoothly walk down the mage's path and become the master of the magical tower one day. He couldn’t forgive Lyla and the knife-cutting bastard for making a fool out of him, especially in front of so many people. Thus, with his grudge as his main motivator, Mawin plotted his revenge.
Simultaneously, Mawin couldn’t easily enact his revenge. The best revenge would be to request another duel, but he had no confidence in beating Lyla. Yet, the heavens didn’t cast him away. While his resentment grew, somebody gave him information that his duel opponent had used a trick.
When he heard this, Mawin thought, ‘I thought so!’ There was no way a girl who looked around his age would have beaten him without using tricks. At this point, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of this from the beginning. Since he now knew that his opponent had used tricks while battling, he knew that he had to definitely enact his revenge. He planned to immediately send a challenge letter. He thought about sending it hard in his mind, but his body didn’t move. He kept thinking about the last magic attack Lyla had shown and the fists that came flying his way.
He couldn’t gather up the courage, and he didn’t think he was a coward for doing so.
‘Since I was tricked, it’s natural that I would be worried about getting tricked again.” That was his excuse for why his body didn’t move.
He gave up getting his revenge through a duel, but didn’t give up on revenge itself. After thinking about all kinds of methods, he decided on one idea—a very simple one.
‘I should ambush them.’
His opponents had dared to use trickery on the sacred dueling ground. There was no reason for him to use a fair method to beat such people.
“Even if she teaches Elena Dwayne all the time, she won’t stick to her side for hundreds and thousands of days. I should aim for their resting days.”
Like that, Mawin slowly plotted his revenge. He requested help from the person who told him that his opponent had used a trick and gathered people. He also brought in some people under his father who would listen to his request. Eventually, he finished his preparations until the only thing he had left to do was decide the timing of the ambush.
It was difficult for him to find the opportunity since Lyla was with Elena all the time; it was baffling how a cheater had so many things to teach, but in the end, his perseverance paid off. The scammer finally had a rest day, and luckily for him, they left the city for some reason and went inside a forest, just those two who had made a fool out of him. It was like an opportunity sent by the gods. If he missed this chance, he thought he would never have such a perfect chance again. He moved his troops in a hurry, and successfully surrounded the two.
‘I won!’ Mawin was confident of his victory. The only thing left was how he was going to punish them. There were many good choices; he could cleanly kill them, beat them up until he was satisfied, or let them live on with humiliation and pain. Mawin became absorbed with delightful imaginations about punishing Zich and Lyla.
Of course, in the middle of his plan, his identity was accidentally revealed, but he had worn a robe just in case anyways. It didn’t really matter if they knew who he was; what mattered was bringing those low-lives who kept insulting him to their knees.
Why? Why was that woman, a swindler, emitting such a powerful amount of mana?
Mawin quickly shouted, “Kill those two!”
The mercenaries he hired rushed towards Zich and Lyla, and the mages reciting their incantations. Since they all realized that the aura coming from Lyla didn’t seem extraordinary, everyone was on guard and seriously focused on their tasks. They looked almost desperate.
However, Lyla’s spell was already complete. Even though she hadn’t used Incantation Reduction or Silent Incantation, she had completed casting her spell extremely quickly.
“Willa! Phil!” Water droplets began appearing on top of Lyla’s head; they gathered together and formed one big lump of water. The water swirled around like a whirlwind and splashed water droplets in all directions.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ugh!”
“Agh!”
“Kuah!”
Even though the water droplets were the size of fingernails, they pierced into human skin like swords ripping through mud. Screams burst out everywhere. However, there were some who could not even scream.
Bang! Bang!
Human heads exploded like watermelons cracking open; the people who were hit on the head by water droplets were not even able to let out a sound. The hired mercenaries tried to protect their bodies in any way they could. They were some who tried to strike against the water droplets, and some tried to attack Lyla by throwing their swords at her. One person even ran off and hid behind a tree, but all their efforts were futile.
Boom, boom, boom!
“Blergh!” The mercenaries who tried to hit the water droplets away were unable to hit all the ones shooting towards them, and their bodies were covered in holes.
Bam!
“Ack!” The mercenary hiding behind a tree was pierced in the stomach by a water droplet that completely passed through the tree in front of him.
Thud, thud, thud!
“Ugh!” Those who threw their swords at Lyla all became punctured with holes like beehives just like the rest of their team. However, one of the mercenaries who threw their sword kept his eyes open. Even if he died, he was determined to at least see his sword land on Lyla. However, even his desperate determination was soon shattered by a mere flick from Lyla’s finger.
Clang!
The swords that came flying towards Lyla were much too easily intercepted by a piercing wind that Lyla made by using Double Incantation and Silent Incantation.
“…Fuc…!” Unable to finish his swearing, the mercenary took his last breath.
The water droplets falling from the sky also covered a wide area; it was wide enough to cover all the ambushers that Mawin brought. So naturally, all the mages at the back also got hit by the water droplets.
“Ack!”
“Aggh!”
The mages who thought they wouldn’t be directly attacked were unable to protect themselves against Lyla’s magic. They didn’t have amazing physical abilities, and they also weren’t able to quickly cast Silent Incantations like Lyla. In an instant, their bodies became ripped apart like worn-out rags. However, it wasn’t as if no one managed to survive.
“Huff! Huff!”
Zich suddenly appeared in front of a mercenary fiercely striking water droplets to survive. The mercenary widened his eyes in surprise, but Zich paid no attention to the mercenary’s mental state.
“You seem like you know something.”
Punch! Zich punched the mercenary’s head. The mercenary fainted with his eyes rolled back without even letting out a scream. Zich dragged the collapsed mercenary and moved ahead.
“You also seem useful.”
Punch!
After punching another mercenary, Zich put the mercenary on top of the first mercenary’s body and dragged both of them together. While this was happening, water droplets kept pouring down.
“Hmph!” Zich waved his hand. Mana swirled all around him.
Bang! Despite the water droplet’s deadly power, Zich easily burst the water droplets, and the water droplets in front of him poured down like normal water. Zich walked through this safe zone and moved back to where Lyla was. As expected, even though Lyla’s magic turned her surroundings into a living hell, no water droplets came down in the area she was standing in.
Zich roughly put the mercenaries he punched beneath Lyla’s feet. Then he began moving again; this time, he brought some of the mages standing in the back. He put them next to Lyla’s feet and began moving again. He went back and forth like this several times.
‘This is probably enough.’ Zich nodded his head.
Then he began moving towards the last person he wanted to get.
“Hey!” Zich appeared in front of Mawin Jaewick whose entire face was now distorted with fear and despair. Compared to Mawin Jaewick, Zich’s voice was way too carefree. “Have a nice nap.”
Punch! Zich hit the back of Mawin’s face like he did to all the others. He put Mawin on his back and went back to Lyla’s side. Like this, Zich stopped moving. After he put Mawin on the ground, he folded his arms and looked at the battlefield. Most people were dead, and there were very few people left. Then Zich looked up. The lump of water was now considerably smaller, but it seemed as if it was going to spit out water droplets for a few more minutes.
“It’s going to be over soon.” He yawned in boredom and folded his arms again.
True to Zich’s words, all the water droplets in the air disappeared, and Lyla’s spell was over. The only things that were left were horrifying pieces of human flesh, blood mixed with water all over the ground, and the completely destroyed forest.