Episode 219
Episode 219
The friends were bewildered, but Lee Han remained composed.
This was absolutely not due to personal feelings—he was acting based on solid reasoning.
'Without Durgyu, the White Tiger Tower bastards would never cooperate with me. If anything, they'd cause trouble. In a situation like this, causing a commotion would draw the Rock Drake's attention.'
Yoner tilted her head at his explanation.
"But wouldn't it be better to just leave them—"
"Let's go."
"......"
Lee Han amplified his Invisibility Magic and moved forward.
Yoner followed behind him with a peculiar expression.
"Nobody move."
"Guh... Gahk!"
The White Tiger Tower students were startled to the point of nearly fainting.
When students from the Blue Dragon Tower suddenly materialized out of thin air, it was impossible not to be shocked.
"W-What the... It's Wardanaz."
"Not exactly reassuring..."
One of the White Tiger Tower students muttered.
Lee Han made a mental note to remember that guy's face.
"Don't make a sound. If you do, we'll attack."
"No need to say that. We get it, Wardanaz. It's not like we're new recruits."
"?"
The White Tiger Tower students didn't seem to grasp the current situation.
Lee Han pondered how to phrase 'You are currently subdued. If you lower your weapons and surrender, we will treat you as prisoners according to Einrogard regulations' in a way that would sound less offensive.
"We were actually looking for you, Wardanaz. Durgyu earnestly requested it, so we came."
"!"
Lee Han froze.
Surprisingly, these White Tiger Tower students had come to cooperate!
"......"
The Blue Dragon Tower students exchanged glances as they belatedly realized this.
'...What do we do?'
'Let's pretend we don't know anything.'
'Doesn't our wand-holding posture look suspicious?'
The Blue Dragon Tower students, who had been holding their wands ready to cast spells at Lee Han's signal, subtly lowered their hands.
Their stance had indeed looked a bit suspicious.
Sensing the odd atmosphere, the White Tiger Tower students asked,
"By the way, Wardanaz... Why did you bring so many friends—"
"As you know, the library is dangerous."
"Oh, is that why?"
The White Tiger Tower students, who had been puzzled by the murderous aura radiating from the Blue Dragon Tower students, nodded in reluctant understanding.
Gainando, still not grasping the situation, whispered,
"When do we attack?"
"Attack?"
At Yoner's gesture, the other friends quickly subdued Gainando.
Without changing his expression, Lee Han said,
"He meant when we attack the Rock Drake."
"At... Attack the Rock Drake???"
The White Tiger Tower students stared at Lee Han as if he were insane.
They'd already guessed that Wardanaz was a mad archmage who devoted his life to all sorts of magic and arcane arts, but they never expected him to be this crazy!
'Ah. That was a mistake.'
In his haste, his excuse had come out wrong. Lee Han quickly clarified,
"It's not necessarily about attacking the Rock Drake. I meant we'd only do it if we truly couldn't avoid it."
"O... Oh."
"You'll do it when we're not around, right?"
Despite the explanation, the White Tiger Tower students had already taken two or three steps back.
No matter how unavoidable the situation, the mere idea of attacking a Rock Drake was terrifying.
Even the most reckless student from a knightly family hadn't considered something like 'In that case, we'll attack the Rock Drake'...
"...Enough. Just tell us why you came."
Truthfully, the White Tiger Tower students were in a much better position than those from the Blue Dragon Tower.
Unlike the Blue Dragon Tower students, whose only strengths were their family names and magical abilities, the White Tiger Tower students at least had the basic skills to survive no matter where they were thrown.
As such, they were able to act more proactively.
-Let's split into groups of three and search for a way out!
Splitting up to move around was much more advantageous if you had the confidence.
Lee Han would never do something so reckless, but as everyone knew, the students of White Tiger Tower were people whose courage was second to none.
And this time, luck was on their side.
-Found it! There's a door leading down here!
-Call the others! Tell them we found it!
Once one group found the path leading downward, Durgyu earnestly pleaded with his friends.
-Sorry, but can you do me one favor?
-Depends on what it is, Durgyu.
-Remember when I gave you two slices of butter sponge cake as a gift last time?
-...Fine. I'll do it. What is it?
-I'd like you to sneak over and let the Blue Dragon Tower guys know about this location. I'd go myself, but I'm worried they'd get suspicious.
-What?! Why?! Is this about Wardanaz again...?
-...It's not like that. I owe them a debt. Think about it in terms of knightly honor. Haven't you guys also been indebted to Wardanaz at some point?
-...Not that we haven't, but...
Durgyu's words left the White Tiger Tower students speechless.
As members of knightly families, they too had their pride. They couldn't outright deny the times Lee Han had helped them.
But still...
-Even if we consider knightly honor, we've suffered way too much at his hands.
-Right. We've suffered way too much.
Honor or not, we've suffered way too much!
But in the end, his friends couldn't refuse Durgyu.
When words like 'honorably' and 'repaying debts' came up, they couldn't just ignore them—not as members of knightly families.
-I really don't want to go.
-Same. Who knows what that Wardanaz bastard might pull.
-If we're going, can we at least get more people? This number feels a bit lacking...
"So, we came here after Durgyu's earnest request."
The White Tiger Tower students conveniently omitted all the grumbling and complaints they'd made earlier.
Lee Han was slightly moved.
'Durgyu...'
He was proof that even among White Tiger Tower students, there were those with a conscience who understood what honor meant.
Who would've thought they'd actually help?
"You actually came looking for Wardanaz? I thought you guys hated getting involved with him?"
"...Hmph. We don't let personal feelings interfere with duty. Nobles probably wouldn't understand this sense of responsibility as knights."
"We didn't care even a little about any grudges with Wardanaz. We only thought about the debt we owed him. That's what honor is."
'These guys really didn't want to come, huh.'
Lee Han thought to himself.
The Blue Dragon Tower students bristled but didn't say anything.
After all, they did owe them for revealing the entrance leading downward.
"Alright. Thanks. Then, will you guide us?"
The White Tiger Tower students took the lead and began escorting the Blue Dragon Tower students.
Since the terrain hadn't changed, finding the path wasn't too difficult, but that didn't mean it was entirely easy.
"Rock Drake!"
The monster that had tormented the students throughout this dungeon raid was still lurking in the wasteland.
As the Blue Dragon Tower students grimaced in distress, the White Tiger Tower students spoke with confidence.
"What? You don't know how to deal with a Rock Drake?"
"You do?"
"Of course. We ran into one on the way here. If we didn't know how to handle it, how would we have made it this far?"
Lee Han was surprised by their self-assured attitude.
'Is there some method passed down only in knightly families?'
Lee Han was a student who had devoured books from the Wardanaz family and received additional monster studies from Professor Lightning Step.
But nowhere had he found any trick to easily deal with a Rock Drake.
What was this?
'If it's a method exclusive to knightly families, I can't miss this.'
"Watch and learn!"
The White Tiger Tower students flopped facedown onto the dusty ground without hesitation. They didn't care that the scorching, parched earth dirtied their clothes and limbs.
'This must be it—the secret technique!'
Lee Han watched intently, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"The Rock Drake's line of sight is higher than you'd think. If we lie flat like this, it won't spot us."
"And in this position!"
One of the White Tiger Tower students began crawling across the ground. Making sure his body didn't rise even slightly, he inched forward like a worm burrowing through dirt.
A watching Blue Dragon Tower student muttered under his breath.
"That looks like a bug..."
"Shh. Keep quiet."
"See? Crawling like this lets you avoid the Rock Drake."
"I could just cast Invisibility Magic on you."
At Lee Han's words, the White Tiger Tower students who'd been busily dusting off dirt froze in place.
...Huh?
That was possible?
"You...know how to do that?"
"Of course."
"...Then why did you make us do this?"
"I wanted to learn your method if it was better."
"......"
Despite his explanation, the White Tiger Tower students glared daggers at Lee Han.
"Over there—that hillside slanting to the side is where we found the entrance."
"I see."
Lee Han nodded as he observed the steep cliff face of the hill, about 4-5 meters high. They must have climbed up from the gentler slope on the opposite side.
"...Wait. Are there still students who haven't crossed yet?"
"Huh? Why? Are some of your friends still back there?"
"Seems like it."
Lee Han channeled mana wastefully around his eyes to enhance his vision.
In the distance, he spotted White Tiger Tower students still standing atop the hill.
'Are they waiting for the others who haven't made it yet? Trying to teach them how to get down?'
If so, the camaraderie among these knights was truly admirab—
-"Block it! Don't let it climb up!"
-"Get out all the potions you have! If the Rock Drake gets up here, we're dead!"
"......"
Lee Han's lips twitched as he watched the White Tiger Tower students frantically scrambling in all directions, his expression twisting in displeasure.
Unaware of the situation, the White Tiger Tower students beside him kept chattering.
"Wardanaz. No matter how skilled you are in magic, finding a path like this is a completely different—"
"Tch."
"...D-did I sound too arrogant? You're not mad, are you?"
-"The door's locked. How do we open it?"
-"Search the nearby storage. There might be a key or some way to open it."
-"Right. ...It's the Rock Drake!!"
-"What? You open it with the Rock Drake? How are we supposed to get one here?"
-"No! I mean there's a Rock Drake right there!!"
A Rock Drake appeared before the White Tiger Tower students, who had been puzzling over how to open the downward-leading door.
-■■■■■...
While the students displayed sheer terror, despair, and overwhelming pressure, the Rock Drake closed the distance and planted itself firmly at the base of the hill.
Then it glared at them.
Even someone who knew nothing about monsters could tell—this creature was extremely displeased.
How long had it been?
Sweating and hesitating, the White Tiger Tower students, seeing that the creature wasn't moving, finally broke and made the first move.
-"I-is it warning us to leave?"
-"Let's move first!"
-"What about the door? The one leading down?!"
-"Does that even matter right now?!"
No sooner had they spoken than the Rock Drake began advancing.
It wasn't a terrifying charge meant to crush its foes—just a simple walk up the hill—but the sheer pressure it exuded was beyond imagination.
"It's coming this way!!"
"Buy time, no matter what! Even if we have to retreat the other way, we need to stall!"
"Grab all the monster-repelling potions you have! Throw them!"
"Prepare magic. Aim for its eyes! We have to intimidate it somehow!"
Thwack!
A Water Orb, launched from somewhere, struck the Rock Drake square on the nose.
The creature, which had been walking leisurely until now, whipped its head around at a speed incomparable to before.
Anyone could see—it was pissed.
"Th-that was okay, right? Wardanaz?"
"Maybe..."
"......"
Lee Han stared at the Rock Drake with an indifferent, icy expression. Beside him, the White Tiger Tower students suddenly recalled what they'd heard earlier.
-"It was about when to attack the Rock Drake."
-"Not necessarily attacking it, but only if we had absolutely no other choice."
'...Th-this bastard. Is he seriously trying to capture it now?!?!'