Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 737

Chapter 737

"Wait a moment!"

"?"

Yi-Han paused at the professor's shout from behind.

He thought the professor might have some advice.

"Since it's a dangerous place, how about leaving the basilisk behind?"

It was Professor Bentozol's kind voice that Yi-Han had never heard before.

'I shouldn't have listened.'

Yi-Han resolutely ignored him and moved his feet.

  *

"Sharakan. Find traces and scents."

The emerald leopard, Sharakan, nodded its head, declaring it would faithfully follow its master's orders.

"Gonadaltes. Lead the other skeleton warriors and search the surroundings. If you meet evil spirits, don't fight and retreat immediately."

The undead warrior, Gonadaltes, nodded and waved its black-green bone sword.

"Basilisk."

-!-

"Eat this snack and sleep a bit more. I don't know what Professor Bentozol might do if you're awake."

-...-

The baby basilisk was dumbfounded but bit into the jerky it was given and closed its eyes again.

'I'll go quickly.'

Unlike Professor Bentozol, Yi-Han had confidence about evil spirits or spiritual monsters as he had experienced them a few times.

He knew that ordinary monsters wouldn't approach and would retreat.

Rather than wasting time being unnecessarily careful, it was better to quickly announce their arrival and gather the students.

"Light of truth, dwell!"

Light orbs that Yi-Han shot out deliberately, on a different level from before, started gathering one by one.

The light spread in all directions, piercing through even the darkness of the Nightmare Echo Forest where damp and gloomy mana fog drifted.

"Everyone answer!"

"..."

"Everyone answer! If you can hear me..."

"Wardanaz?"

Nillia's voice full of wariness was heard from ahead. Yi-Han shouted gladly.

"Nillia! It's Wardanaz!"

"Did you get lost too?"

"No. I arrived but came back in to bring you all."

"...That does sound like something you'd do, but...!"

Nillia thought it was very like Wardanaz as soon as she heard his words, but she still didn't lower her guard.

She had met too many fake friends on her way here.

"Make me believe you're real!"

"What... Ah. Did you perhaps see illusions?"

"Yes! It wasn't this bad last year! They didn't use illusions!"

Hearing his friend's voice grinding her teeth, Yi-Han realized Professor Bentozol's meticulousness and shuddered.

To think he would deliberately choose a time when the already difficult forest had become even more vicious to call the students.

This level of wickedness seemed to be about 0.8 skull principal.

'To even show illusions. It must really be tricky.'

Spiritual monsters were already annoying, but if they also had the ability to show illusions, even experienced students could be caught off guard.

Yi-Han resolved to hurry even more.

"Nillia. I'm the real Wardanaz."

"Right! But fake Yonaire and fake Siana said that too!"

"I see. Then Nillia. I'll attack and subdue you now. If you're subdued, you'll know it's not an illusion."

In his urgency, Yi-Han brought out the optimal method.

Nillia might take a few hits, but after being hit, she would know Yi-Han was real.

"It really is you!"

Nillia was convinced and ran out.

She judged that evil spirits that showed desired illusions and tempted wouldn't show such an absurd illusion.

"Nillia! The power of friendship!"

"Y-yeah. I'm not sure if this is what the power of friendship is like, but..."

Nillia was covered in mud and dust from rolling in the forest several times. Roughly brushing off her hair and shoulders with her hands, Nillia said with a serious face.

"Wardanaz. I think we've been tricked."

"What? Are you talking about enrolling?"

"Not that! This lecture. It seems like a fake lecture."

At first it was doubt, but as she kept wandering this forest, Nillia's doubt had turned into certainty.

A normal lecture wouldn't be held in a place like this.

"Nillia."

"Huh? What?"

"I'm sorry, but it's a real lecture."

Yi-Han spilled out Professor Bentozol's educational philosophy and all kinds of bizarre situations that could occur in lectures for 2nd years and above.

In some lectures, you had to learn by stealing the professor's work, and in some lectures, the classroom walls would be shattered by the professor's angry strike.

Nillia's eyes, which couldn't believe it at all, trembled and then blazed with hatred for Professor Bentozol.

"If there was someone like that in the northern mountains, they would have gone missing right away!"

"...Shall we go find the other friends?"

Yi-Han changed the subject instead of asking about the Shadow Patrol's secret execution methods.

"Yeah. Let's go. I don't want to attend lectures on weekends too."

"Me neither."

Nillia chuckled. Then she paused after belatedly seeing Yi-Han's serious expression.

"...Uh, that wasn't a joke?"

"Which part of what I just said sounded like a joke?"

"W-well. You... take too many lectures."

"Are you saying people who take many lectures should attend lectures on weekends too?"

As his friend's voice turned chilly, Nillia hastily explained.

"That'snotwhatImeantyoutakesomanylecturessotheprobabilityofhavinglecturesonweekendsgoesup!"

"...That's true."

Yi-Han nodded with a bitter face.

Certainly, that couldn't be denied.

People who took many lectures had a higher probability of having weekend lectures than those who took fewer.

"Ch-cheer up."

Nillia wasn't very confident in her encouragement, but she did her best to encourage her friend.

"I ended up giving up summoning magic."

Even students who showed interest in 3 or more schools in 1st year focused and chose as they moved up to 2nd year.

As freshmen, they could try various things as they hadn't fully grasped their abilities, but from 2nd year, they needed to focus.

Nillia was such a case, having given up summoning magic she had taken in 1st year as she moved up.

Everyone acted like this, but Nillia's friend who steadfastly took all schools alone was truly amazing...

"Why? You should have just kept taking it."

"..."

At her friend's voice full of evil, Nillia subtly distanced herself.

In some ways, the friend next to her now might be more dangerous than evil spirits.

"Yi-Han!"

"It's Yonaire."

Yi-Han looked at Nillia happily at the voice heard from afar.

However, Nillia had a cautious expression.

"It could be a fake Yonaire made by evil spirits."

"Don't worry. If it's an illusion made by evil spirits, it will scatter as soon as I approach."

Nillia, who belatedly realized her friend was a monster, sent a gaze of admiration.

It was an ability that exerted almost invincible power in a forest like this.

"Right. You... I didn't know there was a method like this. If we had met earlier, I wouldn't have been fooled earlier."

The dark elf friend gritted her teeth as if frustrated. Yi-Han suddenly became curious and asked.

"How did the illusion you met earlier approach?"

"It approached saying it would quit Blue Dragon Tower and come to Black Tortoise Tower. Ugh."

"..."

Yi-Han momentarily thought, 'Isn't it strange that you fell for that?'

Nillia seemed to realize too and shouted with reddening ears.

"It sounded really plausible when you heard it directly!"

"I-I see."

  *

Yi-Han started joining up with his friends one by one.

Sometimes there were illusions pretending to be students, but they didn't last long. The moment Yi-Han ran towards them, the illusions scattered and the hidden evil spirits fled screaming.

"Aaaaah! Wardanaz! W-why are you running over! Assignments haven't been given out yet!"

"Ah. Sorry. I was trying to check if you were an illusion or not."

Some real friends fell over in fear seeing Yi-Han running to check if they were illusions, but fortunately, there were no major injuries.

"Is this everyone?"

"The numbers seem right. The rest will take it at a different time."

The gathered students checked the numbers.

As it was a 2nd year lecture and a required lecture, not a school lecture, they could estimate how many people would take one lecture.

"Then let's move back."

"Mr. Wardanaz. It seems the evil spirits are increasing..."

The Immortal Phoenix Tower students said cautiously.

As they were all priests from religious orders, they could sense the movements of monsters with evil intentions a bit more sensitively like this.

Now they couldn't approach because Yi-Han was here, but they were waiting, surrounding them in a large circle.

Yi-Han nodded as he had noticed the sense of discomfort from the mana movements too.

"They're more persistent than I thought. I didn't expect them to follow like this instead of just fleeing or scattering right away."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm thinking of just dragging them to Professor Bentozol. Then the professor will take care of it."

The students shouted in surprise at Yi-Han's extreme method.

"That's really a good method!"

"Let's do it right now!"

Yi-Han was pleased to see even the Immortal Phoenix Tower students agreeing.

The time spent together for a year had certainly bound the friends tightly.

Shik!

"!"

Along with the sensation of his neck hair standing on end, <Bagrak's Momentary Divination> drew the trajectory of the incoming attack.

Yi-Han immediately activated one magic stored with <Lesser Magic Storage>. He couldn't manage two as he hadn't mastered it perfectly, but one was somehow possible.

'Gonadaltes' Quickening Agility!'

As he quickly accelerated and avoided the attack, a dark spiritual arrow stuck into the place Yi-Han had just been.

"It's an ambush!"

"Defensive positions!"

The students moved quickly without exception and started preparing defenses.

Potions rose with smoke, calling in surrounding fog to block the enemy's vision, and some scrolls formed barriers.

Students who had bought time chanted additional spells to try to detect the enemy's position.

"Reveal your malice, enemy..."

'There!'

As the magic dyed the enemy's form red, Yi-Han immediately rushed out.

"Lightning spear!"

His staff blazed with lightning and became the shape of a spear. Yi-Han exploded mana from his toes and kicked off a tree to jump vertically.

Perhaps not expecting a mage to come this quickly, the enemy flapped its wings trying to flee.

"...?"

Surprisingly, the opponent was a sparrow. However, Yi-Han didn't let his guard down.

Even though it was a small sparrow, the mana it contained was extraordinarily powerful.

Moreover, it was so gloomy and bizarre that even a mage, if not someone with strong mana like Yi-Han, would likely suffer mental damage.

Crack!

The tree branch where the sparrow had been sitting was shattered and lightning scattered.

The sparrow shot out evil spirits like waves, but quickly realizing they didn't work on Yi-Han, it gave up and retreated.

Instead, it poured out ghosts with gloomy properties indiscriminately, making Yi-Han's spear heavy.

Yi-Han frowned at this sight.

'Can I make it in time?'

The opponent controlled so many spiritual monsters that it wasn't easy to break through quickly. Even though the lightning spear kept burning the enemy, they kept coming endlessly.

If the opponent escaped at this rate...

Chomp!

Suddenly, the baby basilisk jumped out from his sleeve and accurately bit the sparrow hiding among the spiritual decoys.

Like the king of snakes, it instinctively grasped the enemy's position without being fooled by all kinds of dazzling deceptions.

"...Well done!"

The baby basilisk nodded as if proud.

  *

When all the students arrived on time, Professor Bentozol started the lecture while complaining.

"As you probably felt while coming, the forest is now full of negative energy and death energy. That's because a cute nightmare sparrow has settled in. It looks like a cute sparrow, but its power is so strong that ordinary bird monsters can hardly match it! You coming here today is luck among luck. To be able to see such a precious monster..."

"..."

"...Huh?"

The students had bewildered expressions as they watched Professor Bentozol, who had gotten slightly excited while talking about the monster.

The monster description sounded somehow familiar.