Episode 1057
Episode 1057
'Why Is That Guy Here?'
Though he didn't yet know who had come for him, Kitarenanum was indeed a seasoned Magic Criminal.
He wasn't reckless enough to face a powerful Combat Mage while still recovering from injuries.
If something felt off, he would flee.
It was a simple principle, yet surprisingly few criminals in the Empire adhered to it.
Kitarenanum gathered all the supplies he had scattered in the small room before walking to the storage at the end of the corridor, sweeping up dried meat and bread.
Then, throwing an invisibility cloak over himself, he sprinted toward the underground escape route.
'Good luck, Ibinta! May the bandit's fortune favor you!'
"Strange."
Truth be told, Professor Voladi hadn't come here looking for Iron Cloak Ibinta.
He had been tracking a ranch owner who had fled into the nearby forest when he stumbled upon this ruined village.
"Definitely suspicious. There's even a Far-sight spell set up over there."
Lee Han, with his sharp senses, detected the magic placed atop the rubble.
There was an odd, unnatural dissonance in the flow of mana nearby.
Giselle stared blankly at her friend.
"Why?"
"It's nothing."
Her friend's senses were gradually crossing into the realm of something inhuman—perhaps even monstrous.
At this rate, by next semester, he might resemble a professor more than a person...
"Wow. Whoever set this up must be a real idiot."
Gainando scoffed.
Leaving such an obvious magical trace here was practically shouting, 'I'm right here!'
Of course, this was an unfair insult to both the bandits and Kitarenanum.
The bandits had nothing to do with the Magic Criminal recklessly leaving traces behind...
And Kitarenanum had his own excuses.
-Who the hell senses hidden magic like that just by instinct?! How was I supposed to anticipate that and disguise it?!
He was already badly injured—he didn't have the mana to spare for something like that.
"Could it be a spell left by the ranch owner hiding in the forest?"
"No. The spell's proficiency is too high."
Professor Voladi shook his head, recalling the ranch owner's profile.
The man had illegally smuggled in banned variant cockatrice eggs, caused an accident, and fled—hardly the type to cast high-level magic.
A classic case of an amateur's mistake.
"There are traces in the village."
"Traces?"
Lee Han asked, puzzled.
Aside from the magic, he hadn't noticed anything unusual in the ruins.
"The wreckage is artificial."
"!"
Lee Han was startled by the professor's answer.
It wasn't just random debris covered in dust—there was an intentional pattern to it.
True ruins untouched by human hands should have been chaotic.
'As expected.'
"There might be people hiding underground."
After saying this, Professor Voladi told them to wait while he checked the forest.
"Yes."
"Understood."
Lee Han and Giselle responded immediately. Gainando, pleased, plopped down on a nearby rock.
Hehe. This should be easy.
"Has he left?"
"Mhm."
"Then let's go."
At Giselle's words, Lee Han nodded and approached the ruins.
Gainando, who had just settled on the rock to rest, jumped up in shock.
"Where are you going?!"
"We're catching whoever's hiding underground before the professor gets back."
"......"
Faced with Lee Han and Giselle's matter-of-fact attitude, Gainando briefly wondered if he was the strange one.
Am I the weird one?!
Professor Bagrak had clearly told them to wait...
"L-Lee Han, did you... fight with Professor Bagrak?"
"No. If I had, I wouldn't be in one piece right now."
That makes sense.
Giselle inwardly marveled.
It was a logical answer.
"But why are you just barging in?"
"Mhm."
Lee Han and Giselle exchanged glances.
Could they convince Gainando without explaining that they needed to hide any Evil God-related clues before Professor Voladi potentially went berserk?
"Of course I'm a madman obsessed with challenges."
"Exactly. You're completely insane."
Giselle chimed in, backing up Lee Han's words. When Lee Han stared at her blankly, she flustered and whispered.
"I-I was just supporting you..."
"There seems to be some emotion mixed in there... Anyway, thanks."
Gainando stared at them blankly before letting out a deep sigh.
"Well. Lee Han's always been like that. Let's go."
"......"
Seeing his friend accept it so easily, Lee Han found himself torn between being pleased and slightly concerned for his friend's well-being.
"Alright. Let's go in then."
"But isn't it dangerous?"
"It's not far from the capital, and the village isn't very big—there probably won't be more than ten people or so."
Lee Han used Crystal Top Divination to check for danger. The results didn't suggest anything particularly threatening.
"Arise, golem of bones."
After summoning the Dragon Tooth Golem, Lee Han ordered Gainando to summon his own creature as well.
As they prepared for battle, Giselle thought to herself. 'But how does he plan to find the entrance?' Even if the village wasn't large, if a hideout was concealed within these ruins, finding the entrance wouldn't be as easy as one might think.
Moreover, just by looking at the camouflage, it was clear these weren't amateurs. Unless you were a hunter on Professor Voladi's level, you wouldn't even notice anything off.
"Ready?"
"Yeah. But how do we find—"
Lee Han immediately began hurling massive Water Prison Bombs haphazardly at the ruins' floor.
Trusting in his mana, he kept firing until the surroundings became as noisy as if a hailstorm had struck.
CRACK!
Finally, an unlucky section of the floor collapsed, revealing an opening. Lee Han widened the hole and jumped inside.
"......"
"......"
And then he found himself face-to-face with about twenty heavily armed bandits surrounding him.
Both Lee Han and the bandits were equally shocked.
"Intruders—!"
"There are more than I thought! Everyone, be careful! Split apart, Perkuntra's Lightning!"
"Ahhh! You crazy mage bastard!"
Despite their panic, the bandits screamed and retreated down the passage as the mage unleashed an alarmingly rapid chain of lightning spells.
"Gainando! Don't come down—just send your summon!"
"Stop talking and focus!"
Giselle, who had already descended unnoticed, smacked his back and shouted.
The hideout was far larger than they'd anticipated from above. The number of fleeing bandits alone, not to mention the passage itself, spoke volumes about its scale and quality.
A tunnel carved from rock, walls that could be sealed, and all sorts of traps—this wasn't the time to worry about the prince above.
THWIP THWIP THWIP THWIP—
The fleeing bandits had already triggered hidden mechanisms, sending projectiles flying from all directions.
Lee Han ordered the Dragon Tooth Golem to smash through walls and devices while deflecting the remaining attacks with Psychokinesis.
"What kind of fortress is this?!"
"We were too reckless!"
Giselle realized her mistake.
She'd been too focused on Wardanaz's goal and underestimated their opponents.
She'd assumed that whoever was hiding in such a village couldn't be that formidable... 'We're not done yet. How could I let my guard down like this?!' CLANK!
Before they knew it, the passage they'd entered through had sealed shut, and new walls opened on either side. Bandits roared as they charged.
Giselle fiercely swung her sword, incapacitating the approaching bandits. With each swing, waves of frost surged forth, making the bandits gnash their teeth and shout.
"It's a mage! Bring frost-resistance potions!"
"Wardanaz, some backup...!"
Giselle, intending to clear out the enemies here before retreating back up, suddenly noticed something odd.
Her friend, who should have been bombarding the area with several times her firepower, was strangely silent.
"...I summon thee!"
With a distortion in the vast space, the Thunder King tore through the underground fortress's bedrock, revealing his terrifying presence.
Giselle gasped in shock.
"You summoned a Spirit King?!?"
"W-well... the opponents are stronger than I thought."
Lee Han was, without a doubt, an outstanding mage of Einrogard.
The moment his expectations were proven wrong, he didn't stubbornly persist—instead, he immediately deployed his most powerful asset.
"Of course, it might seem like using a dragon-slaying sword to kill a chicken, but..."
"How astonishing! To summon the Thunder King for such a trivial reason! Why don't you do this more often?"
Perkuntra, summoned for such a wholesome reason for once, was so exhilarated that it began tearing through the underground fortress.
As the expensive devices and reinforced passage walls—likely purchased at great cost from the dwarves—were swept away like they were mere playthings in a natural disaster, Giselle couldn't help but feel an unexpected pang of sympathy.
'Those bandits are really out of luck...!'
* * *
"Professor! Professor!"
Gainando was about to dash toward the forest, shouting.
But when even the last remaining entrance closed and his friends disappeared from sight, he completely panicked.
However, Professor Voladi suddenly appeared beside him as if he had been there all along.
"!??"
Gainando, who had stumbled, blinked in confusion, wondering if he was seeing things.
But no, it really was Professor Voladi.
"Wh-when did you get here?!"
"I was waiting over there."
Professor Voladi explained calmly.
He had noticed his student acting strangely lately—there was no way he wouldn't have.
He had anticipated that if they left under the pretext of searching the forest, they would recklessly charge in on their own.
"Th-that's...! I mean, sure, Lee Han has been risking his life with reckless actions lately, but that's just how he's always been...!"
Gainando, who had been about to insist that Lee Han was always like this, trailed off.
For the sake of friendship, he had always denied it, but honestly, Lee Han had been acting a bit odd lately.
Could the shock of losing to the Headmaster still be lingering?
KWA-RRRRUMBLE!
"Wh-what was that noise?!"
"He summoned the Thunder King."
From the sound below and the overwhelming presence of a powerful spirit, Professor Voladi immediately grasped the situation.
The only spirit his student could summon in such a scenario was the Thunder King...
Though it did sound a bit strange to summon it just to fight some bandits, considering Lee Han's mana reserves, it wasn't entirely unreasonable.
"Th-then... what about the lesson?"
"Lesson?"
"Weren't you planning to go in and help, then have Lee Han reflect and promise never to go into dangerous places again?!"
Professor Voladi slowly shook his head.
Gainando's elaborate scenario was far from the professor's original intentions.
Frankly, a bunch of bandits hiding in a place like this weren't enough to push his student into a crisis severe enough to warrant reflection.
Hadn't he just summoned the Thunder King without hesitation?
Professor Voladi had simply been standing by in case of an emergency.
At the realization that his friend wouldn't learn any lesson, Gainando looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
'No way!'
"Professor! You have to scold him properly!"
"I'm not sure about that."
Professor Voladi was skeptical.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
His student wasn't the type to obediently listen just because he was told not to do something.
Especially since Professor Voladi himself had been just as stubborn in his student days.
"But lately, Lee Han keeps trying to hunt them down alone! And recently, he seems obsessed with Evil God Worshippers—who in their right mind tries to take on Evil God Worshippers solo?!"
Stamping his feet in frustration, Gainando didn't notice Professor Voladi flinch slightly.
Even if he had been calm, he probably wouldn't have caught it.
"With thorough planning and an iron will, it's not entirely impossible..."
"It's impossible! Only a complete lunatic would try!"
"......"
Professor Voladi hesitated slightly.
He opened his mouth to argue but ultimately gave up.
"...You might be right."
"See?! You have to tell him that!"
"Which cult is it? Prahgal?"
The cult with the deepest grudge against his student would undoubtedly be the one responsible for those overly resilient chimeras.
It wouldn't be strange for him to be obsessed with hunting them down during break.
"Probably not. I've never seen Lee Han reading any books related to them."
"Then... Ksaxarigol?"
"Nope. He didn't react to their wanted posters either."
Gainando displayed an unexpected sharpness that no one had anticipated.
Perplexed by his insight, Professor Voladi frowned.
Was there another Evil God Cult connected to his student besides those two?