Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 829

Chapter 829

"Why are you looking at me with those eyes? Don't tell me you're doubting my words?"

"Yes."

"Raphael is my witness."

"Gathering two idiots won't change the fact that you'd both be deceived the same way."

'Isn't that too harsh?'

Yi-Han thought inwardly.

Of course, Anglago and Raphael did have some gullible aspects, but to call them idiots.

It wasn't to that extent.

"Wardanaz. Will it be alright?"

While the two were talking, Anglago approached hesitantly.

Coming into the punishment room seemed to have brought back several painful memories.

-Sending me to the punishment room just for raiding the kitchen! Couldn't I just compensate!-

-Student. Please be quiet.-

-Hmph. I'll keep talking! Aren't you Death Knights ashamed? Imprisoning students just for raiding the kitchen!-

-If you keep talking, I'll have no choice but to make you quiet.-

-Go ahead and try!-

-Sigh. Turn to stone!-

Beyond just painful memories, the punishment room had many dangerous elements.

With traps and defense facilities everywhere to prevent students from escaping or infiltrating, even outstanding mages could be caught if they let their guard down.

"Haha, of course. It's fine."

"R-right? Well, you wouldn't have come down to a place like the punishment room without any thoughts, Wardanaz. You must have everything prepared."

As Anglago turned back with a sigh of relief, Yi-Han said to Jijel.

"Isn't White Tiger Tower too quick to believe others' words?"

"Shut up."

  *

Yi-Han, who had brought his friends down to the punishment room, overcame obstacles with courage and wisdom.

"Hello."

-Yes. Hello, Student Yi-Han.-

"We'll be passing through now."

-Oh. I see. Student Yi-Han.-

Seeing Yi-Han politely greeting and passing by the Death Knights patrolling the corridor, the White Tiger Tower students threw gazes of shock and astonishment.

What on earth did they just see??

"W-wait. Wait. Wardanaz."

"What is it? Stop talking to me. You'll get lost."

Yi-Han, who had been glaring at a map, responded curtly when his friends called him.

Even within Einroguard's territory, which was prone to extreme changes, the punishment room was especially volatile in its changes, like boiling porridge.

Even though Yi-Han had recorded some key routes on a map, he could step into a strange place if he let his guard down.

"Wasn't that a Death Knight just now?"

"...Do you perhaps not know what a Death Knight is? Raphael. Even though you're from the dark magic school..."

"I didn't ask because I couldn't distinguish them! I'm asking how you persuaded them!"

Raphael, who was suddenly accused of being a dark magic school failure, flared up.

He wondered if Yi-Han had perhaps confused the Death Knights with illusion magic.

He knew that the great mana these knights of death possessed was very powerful, but if it was Wardanaz, perhaps...

"Ah. What are you saying. It's because I have a friendly relationship with them."

"..."

"..."

The White Tiger Tower students fell silent again.

Although they were all polite, the Death Knights were still the skull principal's henchmen and objects of fear.

If persuasion had been possible, Einroguard students wouldn't have been so troubled.

'What on earth does one have to do to become friendly with Death Knights?'

'The principal has favored Wardanaz from before, hasn't he?'

'Well, that's true.'

Fortunately, Yi-Han was too focused on the map to hear his friends' severe insults.

"It's this way. Follow me. Dolgyu. Be careful of that path. The moment you tap the statue embedded in the wall, the floor collapses and you move two floors down."

"!"

"Don't worry. Wardanaz. No one would be stupid enough to touch such a thing now that we're 2nd years."

When Yi-Han seemed to be worrying too much about the White Tiger Tower students, Jijel retorted.

Now that they had all become 2nd years, they knew well not to touch anything out of curiosity in Einroguard.

'Gainando did touch it though.'

Thinking this inwardly, Yi-Han moved his steps.

If there was something Yi-Han could do that even Einroguard seniors couldn't, it was this kind of punishment room breakthrough.

Of course, he had to be wary of naturally occurring traps or sudden situations, but being able to avoid the pursuit of Death Knights and Ferkuntra alone was an enormous privilege.

"Oh. Where has the warden gone?"

Finding the floor where Ferkuntra should have been empty, Yi-Han was flustered and grabbed a passing Death Knight to ask.

The Death Knight kindly explained.

-Two days ago, students summoned a void monster and the surroundings were destroyed. He changed his location to the lower floor. If you push those bars and enter, stairs will appear.-

-Thank you.-

"This is quite different from what I expected."

Ragesa, who had been following behind for sightseeing, grumbled.

She had wanted to see students overcoming the underground dungeon, but this was just underground tourism.

"Why is that person following us?"

"She wants to see Einroguard students' magic."

"It seems more like she's waiting for us to step on traps..."

Thunk-

As soon as the words ended, someone stepped on the edge of the corridor and the sound of a trap activating was heard.

Because Ferkuntra had moved his location, they had entered an unknown passage, and an unidentified trap was discovered.

"Finally!"

Ragesa shouted in a cheerful voice. The White Tiger Tower students reacted quickly.

"Spread out and hold your breath!"

"Check above!"

The White Tiger Tower students, who first spread out and then checked whether it was a cloud-type trap or a trap falling from the ceiling, were certainly experienced.

Even 2nd years could do this much sufficiently, but...

Einroguard was always a place that exceeded students' expectations.

Right in the center, space distorted and a sphere appeared. It was a trap that would send anyone who touched it to another part of the punishment room.

"!!!"

The students who had already moved were caught off guard. Who would have thought it was a trap that targeted the place they had avoided?

"This way."

Yi-Han immediately cast telekinesis.

The students flew over and the sphere was pushed away.

Thud!

"The trap level has increased because we've come down. The ones above were the type that activated nearby, but this one shoots magic right away."

Yi-Han said to Ragesa.

It was fortunate that <Wardanaz's Telekinesis> was a speed-specialized magic; otherwise, a few might have been separated.

"How fortunate indeed."

Ragesa answered with a mischievous expression. Her mouth was saying it was fortunate, but her face was absolutely not thinking it was fortunate.

"...You're not disappointed that I just saved them, are you?"

"Of course not! Just keep moving. You said you don't know the path from the stairs down there, right?"

"..."

Yi-Han met Ragesa's expectant gaze with a lukewarm look, then immediately summoned the skeleton warrior Gonadaltes.

"You'll have to search carefully."

"Hey! That's no fun!"

Despite Ragesa's complaints, Yi-Han thoroughly began checking. The other friends supported Yi-Han's method.

"Your method is right, Wardanaz."

"Let's not fall for the outsider's whispers!"

'These 2nd years are all so brazen.'

Ragesa grumbled inwardly.

Perhaps because of the Wardanaz family boy, they didn't care at all about face or anything even with an outside guest present.

Usually, there would be at least one person who would say they'd go check themselves...

'There's a good one right here!'

Ragesa, who had found an easy target, approached stealthily.

Anglago flinched and tried to distance himself as Ragesa approached.

"You, you're from the Alpha family, right? Those honorable sea knights!"

"Gasp! You know about our family?"

"Of course, of course! But are you, from such a family, just going to wait and leave everything to your friend?"

"Th-that's..."

"Surely a knight wouldn't pass up an opportunity for glory?"

Ragesa instigated Anglago in a subtle voice.

Anglago wavered and finally made a decision, running to Yi-Han.

"Wardanaz!"

"?"

"I'll go in and check too. I've become much stronger too... Ack! Aack! Ack!"

Yi-Han beat Anglago's back with his staff. None of the White Tiger Tower students stopped him.

"That Anglago. He's talking nonsense because he hasn't been hit for a while."

"If he just waited quietly, Wardanaz would take care of everything well."

"..."

Ragesa thought there was something very strange about this year's White Tiger Tower students.

From watching their tower friend get beaten by a student from another tower, to following along like a flock of sheep...

Thud!

The running Gonadaltes was immediately unsummoned.

An absorption trap that detected undead souls had activated. As a red haze-like energy surged, the skeleton warrior's soul was sucked right in.

"Oh my! It's been destroyed. What will you do?"

"I'm thinking of assembling and sending another skeleton warrior."

"I heard from Professor Bagrak. You use orthodox dark magic, don't you?"

'When did he talk about such things?'

Yi-Han made a sour expression.

Although it didn't seem like it, Professor Boladi had a surprisingly talkative side.

He felt this every time he saw other professors knowing about his progress.

"Yes. I can use it."

"Orthodox dark magic is excellent, but it has a weakness. The puppets you create don't have souls. It will be difficult for them to find traps."

Currently, the summoning technique of the imperial dark magic school was to contract with beings from other realms and summon them.

It was natural since it was much more efficient to summon once a contract was made.

In comparison, the classical dark magic summoning technique Yi-Han had (forcibly) learned was a method where the mage assembled and fitted undead one by one to control them.

It was much more difficult and had the weakness of not being able to activate traps at times like this.

'Maybe I should have said I'd learn the modern method...'

"Isn't this the time for the student to go in?"

"No. It's fine. I'll just summon again."

"Summon again? It'll be full of resentment after being unsummoned just now? Don't you know the story of Oondorgu, the dark mage who starved to death trapped by a ghoul legion?"

Regardless of what she said, Yi-Han summoned the skeleton warrior again.

"Can you go in again?"

Gonadaltes bowed politely and then rushed in again.

Seeing this, Ragesa's mouth fell open.

What kind of undead control was this...?!

'What a monster!'

Of course, what she had seen so far was monstrous enough, but that was close to fragments of genius.

Usually, only a demon archduke could control undead this strongly.

"You brat, you'd do well even if you went to the demon realm."

"Why on earth are you saying such terrible things?"

Yi-Han, who had been watching the summon from behind, was disgusted by the nonsensical words.

  *

It took some time, but the solution was as good as decided.

Unlike other mages, Yi-Han could supply mana and send his summons again even if they were destroyed and fell.

After repeating this process, he roughly finished grasping the true and false nature of the newly appeared passages.

"Let's go down."

[What business brings you here?]

Boom!

Thunder and lightning struck in the distance, and the energy of lightning ran eerily through the walls and floor.

The students unconsciously tensed at the powerful presence felt from afar.

"I came because I need help."

[Help! Since you didn't use the authority of the contract, I could refuse... but since you came all this way, shall I listen?]

Ferkuntra shouted in a voice only Yi-Han could hear.

The other students took defensive stances at the growing thunder and lightning.

Usually, when such omens occurred in Einroguard, enemies appeared...

"Thank you."

[It's nothing. Actually, I had guessed. That you would come, I mean.]

"!"

"How did you know?"

Yi-Han was surprised.

Did the Thunder King have precognition abilities at his level?

[It's natural logic. You mages might not know, but the Demon Duke of Pride doesn't forget defeat. He must have sent a letter.]

"...No, that's not it."