Episode 255
Episode 255
Lee Han answered with utmost sincerity, as if he genuinely had no idea.
"Wardanaz!"
"I already said I don't know how."
"That's not what I'm asking! I'm telling you to give us instructions! What should we do?!"
Rafael shouted urgently.
Gainando then spoke up, looking utterly dumbfounded.
"You're from a knight family! Shouldn't you be taking charge in a situation like this?!"
"Shut up! You imperial brat! Then why aren't you acting like the royalty you are?!"
"What...?!"
Gainando was momentarily speechless at the absurdity of the accusation. Then he grew furious.
"Hey! What does me being royalty have to do with anything?! Are you even a real knight?! What kind of knight acts like this?!"
"If you're royalty, then act like it and show us your abilities! Even the Princess from our tower has followers in the Blue Dragon Tower—what about you?!"
"I am showing my abilities! Everyone in our tower knows what I'm capable of! Lee Han! You know my skills, right?!"
Gainando shamelessly exploited the fact that his opponent didn't know the situation in the Blue Dragon Tower.
"Lee Han...?"
Lee Han and Ymirg had already retreated far away from the two.
Gainando panicked and yelled.
"Lee Han!! You're just going to abandon me?! What about me?!"
"Just hurry up and run. Seeing you two waste time arguing, I thought you had plenty of energy to spare."
Gainando and Rafael cursed at each other as they scrambled to catch up.
Watching them, Ymirg whispered with a bewildered expression.
"I... I don't mean to overstep, but... is this really okay...???"
"It's fine. This is how they'll snap out of it and get along."
"...?!"
Ymirg thought that sounded completely nonsensical, but Lee Han's face was dead serious.
'Well... if it's Wardanaz, he must have some kind of plan...?'
'Those idiots need to get caught at least once to come to their senses.'
Unfortunately, the two didn't get caught. They panted heavily as they reached the hilltop.
"Huff... huff... Is this place safe? Maybe we should just head straight for the exit... huff..."
"It's farther than we thought, so rushing there would be dangerous. Let's deal with them here first."
The true strength of the undead lay in their relentless endurance.
While other monsters would tire and give up the chase, the undead could keep coming endlessly.
If they carelessly tried to flee just because they were slightly faster, they'd only risk getting surrounded and cornered.
"This place doesn't look very sturdy."
Rafael glanced nervously at the ruined temple.
Even though they were in another dimension, it wasn't an empty void. Scattered debris and ruins from various places had accumulated here.
In the undead realm, graves, cemeteries, and crumbling buildings were common sights.
The four of them had now arrived in front of the ruins of a collapsing temple.
It was better than facing the undead in an open field with no cover, but even so, the temple ruins looked far too fragile.
"This wall... won't it collapse if pushed? If the undead swarm it..."
"It's not that weak, so don't worry. Plus, I plan to reinforce it."
"How?"
Instead of answering, Lee Han swung his staff.
"Gather, earth!"
A pile of dirt formed behind the ruined wall. Seeing this, Rafael hesitated.
"Piling dirt behind the wall might help, but this much won't..."
"Gather, earth. Gather, earth. Gather, earth..."
Without even pausing to breathe, Lee Han stacked mounds of earth all around the inside of the ruins, reinforcing the walls to prevent collapse.
In no time, the temple ruins—which had seemed flimsy just moments ago—were transformed into a decent makeshift fortress.
With walls and earth blocking every side, it was now a serviceable stronghold where they could hold out comfortably in the spacious interior.
Aside from the temple's entrance path, it seemed unlikely that enemies could easily break in.
"Done."
"......"
Rafael was stunned all over again.
"Every time I see it, I can't help but think... when it comes to magic, that Wardanaz bastard's abilities are truly..."
The kind of person who becomes an Archmage must be someone like him.
"Can't we just completely block the entrance?"
"It'd be troublesome to clear later, and if we seal it off entirely, the undead might find some strange way in. It's better to lure them from the entrance and take them down one by one."
"I see."
"Right. Then go lure them in."
"...What did you say?"
"I said go lure them in from the entrance."
Lee Han waved his staff.
His plan was to wait in the open space inside, then cast a spell the moment enemies passed through the entrance tunnel to take them down.
For that, Lee Han needed to stay here on standby.
Instead, they needed someone to draw the enemies in from the entrance, and the person for this role was obviously...
"You're the knight, aren't you? Surely you're not thinking of making friends who can't even properly wield swords do this?"
"......"
It wasn't wrong, but for some reason, it made him incredibly angry.
Raphael cursed Lee Han internally as he walked toward the entrance.
Crunch!
"That's right!"
Another undead poked its head through the entrance tunnel before collapsing on the spot.
Raphael, who had been nervously pointing his wooden sword, let out a sigh of relief.
Things were going much smoother than he'd worried.
A quick glance outside showed that the number of undead that had swarmed earlier had already decreased to about a quarter.
At this rate, they could definitely handle it.
"...Lee Han. Didn't the professor mention something last time?"
Now that he had some breathing room, Gainando whispered to Lee Han.
Last time, it was clear that Lee Han's mana had leaked out, attracting other undead...
"Gainando. Seems like you're pretty relaxed even with undead pushing in from outside. Want to take over the luring?"
"N-no. No way."
Gainando quickly shut his mouth.
Lee Han thought to himself:
'They couldn't possibly swarm in greater numbers, right?'
Even if the undead were drawn by mana, the fact that more had appeared this time was a bit unsettling.
If it was just coincidence, that would be fortunate, but what if...
'What if the ones that came close last time are swarming in greater numbers now...'
If the undead that had approached last time but hadn't seen Lee Han were lying in wait nearby, only to gather again now, the situation would be different.
Wouldn't that mean each time they entered, more undead would be drawn in?
If spirits avoided them in the Spirit World and undead attacked them in the Undead World, summoning magic was clearly going to become quite troublesome in the future.
Lee Han resolved that if that were the case, he would definitely bring Raphael and Gainando along with him.
"...Seems like we've taken them all down."
Raphael spoke hesitantly.
No more sounds of undead could be heard from beyond the tunnel.
"We should go check outside."
"Would you stop orde— Oh. You were about to do it yourself."
"......"
"....."
Lee Han and Gainando, who had been about to head out, looked at Raphael with pity.
Raphael's face turned red.
"I just misheard!"
"Y-yeah."
Lee Han and Gainando passed through the tunnel and peeked outside.
The horde of undead from before had vanished, leaving only...
"Eek!"
Gainando yelped and hid behind Lee Han. One undead was still left.
It must have arrived late because it had been positioned further back.
"Don't worry. Just one shouldn't be a problem to handle..."
-■■■■!
Before they could even attack or restrain it, the approaching Skeleton Warrior suddenly collapsed.
Lee Han and Gainando were at a loss for words.
"Huh. If it was going to be like this, couldn't we have just waited without fighting earlier?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Undead grow more violent in numbers—they would never have surrendered this easily otherwise."
Lee Han spoke firmly.
But his voice trembled slightly.
After clearing the undead horde, the four of them successfully found and contracted additional undead.
As they returned to the exit, Professor Millay was conversing with a few students who had remained in the classroom.
"Good day, Professor."
"Did you just return from the undead plane?"
"Ah, yes. For the assignment."
"It would be best not to enter again for about two days."
Professor Millay adjusted his monocle slightly as he spoke.
"The flow of mana from the other dimension feels unstable. If you enter now, you might suffer some unpleasant consequences—"
"...Gasp! We already did!"
Gainando cried out as if he'd just realized something.
"We were wandering inside when dozens of undead swarmed us in a horde! So that's why...!"
"?"
Professor Millay tilted his head slightly, sensing something odd as he listened.
"When mana flow becomes unstable, undead may change in nature or behavior, but even with safety measures in place, dozens swarming in a horde is an entirely different—"
"Indeed. The flow of mana is truly astonishing. Even if safety measures are in place, we should make it a habit to double-check before entering from now on."
Lee Han spoke decisively.
Not stopping there, he swiftly changed the subject.
"Professor, could you examine the undead we contracted?"
"Let me take a look."
Professor Millay nodded, oblivious to his student's wicked ulterior motive.
The final assignment for summoning magic—contracting a summon.
Students always sought to contract powerful and impressive summons, but the professors' evaluation criteria were slightly different.
Finding a strong and rare summon could wait until they reached higher grades.
What mattered now was how well they could handle their summons.
Even with the same summon, there were contracts that commanded absolute loyalty and those that were nearly uncontrollable, so caution was necessary.
Of course, Professor Millay didn't expect first-year students to master complex and thorough contracts to command their summons. That would be unreasonable for their level.
What the professor hoped for was to see them exert as much control as possible, even if they could only manage a simple, abbreviated contract.
"Make it turn around."
"Turn around. Turn around. Please turn around. Hey, I'm begging you...!"
After Gainando repeated the command about ten times, the Skeleton Warrior slowly, sluggishly turned.
Professor Millay twirled his quill with an understanding nod.
"We were a bit closer earlier, but I guess it's having a tough day today."
Gainando slung an arm over the Skeleton Warrior's shoulder as if to prove their closeness.
The Skeleton Warrior shoved the arm away, clearly annoyed.
"Now, have it form the number four with its fingers."
"Number four... number four..."
Not just Gainando, but Lafadell and Imirg faced similar struggles.
Though they had contracts, their summons were more reluctant to follow detailed commands than expected.
When it was Lee Han's turn, Professor Millay had to consciously maintain his composure to hide his anticipation.
As the student who had achieved the top marks in the midterms, the professor was curious how he would persuade his summon.
"Make it lie down."
"Lie down."
Thud!
The Skeleton Warrior dropped to the ground instantly.
Though it might sound odd to say an undead had discipline, no other word fit the scene better.
"...Now, have it form the number four with its fingers..."
"Show me the number four."
The Skeleton Warrior immediately folded four fingers.
Professor Millay was speechless.
As a master of summoning magic, he naturally recognized exactly how Lee Han was controlling the undead.
Which meant right now...
'He's intimidating the undead into obeying his commands?'
While the method wasn't technically wrong, the absurdity was undeniable.
The assignment was meant to teach them how to handle summons in preparation for contracting powerful entities later—not to simply overpower them.
"...Well done. Full marks."
Though baffled, Professor Millay didn't comment further.
Even this... was impressive in its own way.
"Good work, Gonadaltes."
"......"
Professor Millay decided to pretend he hadn't heard that last remark.