Episode 377
Episode 377
The poison of a black mage was not an ordinary toxin found in nature, but rather something closer to creating a hypothetical poison that did not exist through the mage's own power.
An exceptional black mage would often link and fuse multiple such hypothetical poisons to create an even more complex and vicious toxin.
Naturally, the Undead Mage was skilled enough to perform at that level.
To complete the Compound Poison, one must begin with fifteen base toxins.
"......"
First, mix three poisons...
Though the Undead Mage was clearly explaining something, Lee Han's mind couldn't process it.
That was how advanced the poison elemental magic was.
...You must have understood by now! Try it!
"...O poison, bloom and seethe. The poison that blooms..."
Though he had barely grasped even half of it, the urgency of the situation forced Lee Han to start reciting the incantation anyway.
Poison swirled in the air, coalescing, shifting, and changing colors.
Fire it as soon as it's complete! There's no time!
"...Move!"
The poison took shape and shot forward far faster than the one the Undead Mage had cast earlier.
This level of elemental control was something the Undead Mage couldn't match.
While the Undead Mage had focused on learning higher-tier magic instead of refining such techniques, Lee Han had trained relentlessly.
Magnificent!
However, the Undead Mage misunderstood Lee Han's peculiar magical abilities in a different way.
Assuming that such skill was simply the mark of an outstanding mage, he judged that this level of control was to be expected.
Because of those high expectations, the Undead Mage was deeply disappointed when Lee Han's Compound Poison failed to completely melt the berserker's torso, only burning its muscles instead.
Sssss—
Wha... What?! If you can't even handle undead summoning or poison properly, why are you even practicing black magic?!
The Undead Mage couldn't believe it and stomped his foot in frustration.
Judging by the fields of magic he specialized in, his rapid casting ability, and his elemental control, Lee Han seemed like a mage far superior to himself—so why did he keep making such mistakes?
"I'm sorry."
Though imperfect, succeeding even to this extent in the current situation was honestly impressive.
Objectively, the Undead Mage had every right to be angry, but...
Lee Han apologized.
He was simply too accustomed to the unreasonable demands of his insane professors.
Instead, it was Ogoldos who lost his temper.
"Don't apologize! Why should you be the one apologizing?! You crazy undead bastard!"
Excuse me?!
"I don't know how many centuries you've lived, but is it right to scold a young, inexperienced mage when you were the one who taught him wrong?! Even the Headmaster wouldn't do that!"
Wh... What?!
The Undead Mage was utterly bewildered.
Listening to them speak, the two mages seemed far more immature than he had initially thought.
Whoooosh!
Meanwhile, flames erupted ahead.
The Undead Berserker had expelled bodily fluids and ignited them through friction, setting itself ablaze.
"......"
Lee Han was horrified by the sheer madness of setting oneself on fire to dispel the cold—a brutal tactic only an undead could employ.
'It's coming!'
The Undead Berserker swung its burning body, pushing back the Skeleton Warriors once more.
Though its movements were still sluggish, it was obvious it would soon break through and charge.
"Senior! Do you have any ideas?!"
"What do you expect me to—?!"
Ogoldos was so frustrated he felt like his chest would burst.
He was only a second-year himself—what clear solution could he possibly have?
The curse magic, bone elemental magic, and poison elemental magic he knew were all unlikely to work against that berserker.
Hadn't the Undead Berserker already demonstrated terrifying endurance in the earlier fight?
The barricade was destroyed, the ice elemental magic was countered, and half-hearted bone or poison spells wouldn't be enough to slow it down...
'A summon... Even if we could summon something to buy time...'
Though Sharkan remained, lying in wait to strike, if the berserker ignored him and charged straight at them, there would be no way to stop it.
They needed to summon something sturdy to stand in its way.
Desperately racking his brain, Ogoldos suddenly had an idea and blurted out:
"Can't we reduce and combine the number of Skeleton Warriors!?"
"Huh?"
"I said, can't we reduce and combine them?!"
This wasn't the time to summon multiple weak summons.
They needed a summon that could hold out, even if it meant having just one.
Normally, contracted summons couldn't be arbitrarily merged or fused by the mage, but Lee Han's Black Magic summoned them directly.
Reducing their numbers and combining them would increase their power and make them easier to control.
"Return, and... arise, warriors of bone!"
Lee Han immediately swung his staff as his senior instructed.
The Skeleton Warriors crumbled apart, returning to their original reagent form—bone fragments. Those fragments then merged back together, rising as a single Skeleton Warrior.
Though the spell consumed an enormous amount of mana—dozens of times more than a typical spell—from the casting to the maintenance, the result was undeniable.
A Skeleton Warrior with a stiff, hardened body, as if compressed from over nine of its kind, now stood before them.
'It... it actually worked?!'
Ogoldos was stunned.
He had shouted it out of desperation, but upon reflection, reducing and combining summons was no easy feat.
Ogoldos knew full well the implications of overloading a fixed spell with reagents and mana.
Yet, true to his reputation as a genius, this junior had succeeded in what was practically a gamble of a spell. Just looking at the size of the summoned Skeleton Warrior, it was clear he had fused a considerable number.
Without realizing it, Ogoldos let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness... Wait! If you could do this, why were you summoning over nine to fight earlier?"
Ogoldos couldn't understand.
If this was possible, why hadn't he done it sooner?
Even the Undead Mage seemed curious about the answer, turning his gaze toward Lee Han.
"I forgot."
"Wha—?"
"I was practicing summoning a lot and got so overwhelmed that I just fought with them. Sorry!"
"......"
-......
The Undead Mage and Ogoldos wanted to scream at how absurd that sounded, but they didn't have the luxury.
The Berserker was charging toward them.
BOOM!
Though riddled with piercings, poison, frost, and flames—bearing every kind of damage imaginable—the Berserker's strength was still terrifying.
The Skeleton Warrior blocking the passage creaked as it was shoved back. Lee Han swung his staff.
"Fire!"
At his command, bone fragments shot out from the Skeleton Warrior's torso—a method only possible because Lee Han had assembled it directly rather than through a contract.
But the Berserker, indifferent to the bone fragments lodged in its body, stubbornly pushed forward.
As the creaking sounds intensified, Lee Han gritted his teeth and reinforced the Skeleton.
"By the Rule of Vible, let mana surge forth! Frost, take hold! Poison, bloom and seethe! The blooming poison...!"
Lee Han even applied the mana surge enhancement he had learned from Professor Verdus, layering frost and poison onto the Skeleton Warrior's bone fragments.
Amplified mana. Frost. Poison.
The collision of these three elements made the Skeleton Warrior unstable, as if it would collapse at any moment. Lee Han poured in even more mana, desperately stabilizing it.
As bone fragments laced with poison and frost kept firing, even the Undead Berserker grew restless, straining its entire body to overpower the Skeleton with brute force.
Suddenly, Ogoldos remembered something and shouted.
"Wait, you know how to use Dark Element, right?! Why aren't you infusing it with Dark Element?!"
"...I forgot!"
"...Do it now, please!!!"
Unable to bring himself to scold his junior for learning too many spells, Ogoldos screamed again.
When Dark Element was infused into the Skeleton Warrior, its bones darkened, becoming sharper and harder.
"Fire, fire, fire!"
Pah-pah-pah-pak!
The already tattered torso of the berserker was riddled with bone fragments like buckshot.
-Should I detonate them?
"Huh?"
-The skeleton, I mean!
"Go ahead!"
After seeking Lee Han's permission, the undead mage nodded and barely managed to draw upon his recovered mana.
The gases embedded within the bone fragments reacted with the mana, triggering a chain reaction of explosions.
Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-BOOM!
As the enhanced skeleton exploded, the undead mage shoved Lee Han and Ogoldos into the adjacent room. The shockwave from the blast sent the air in the passageway swirling violently.
Lee Han was awed by the undead mage's prowess.
"I didn't expect this level of power..."
-How much insane mana did you pour into that?!
The undead mage roared while glaring at Lee Han.
He had absolutely not intended for such destructive force.
There were countless things to discuss—the situation in the outer passage, the secret to maintaining such a reinforced skeleton, why he hadn't stopped them from detonating it—but the first thing the undead mage chose to ask about was Lee Han's age.
-...You're not even twenty?!
"Can't you tell by looking?"
Ogoldos snapped irritably.
-Do you know how many years I've been undead?
"...N-no, I don't?"
-Just as you can't guess my age, of course I can't guess yours either. You all look the same to me.
The undead mage shook his head with a sigh.
Given how he wielded such diverse magic and overflowed with mana, the mage had assumed he was the royal court's head mage. But to think he wasn't even twenty.
Now that he thought about it, there had been plenty of clumsy moments.
-Wait, if you're not even twenty, how did you replicate the compound poison...
Krrrrumble!
As the sound of collapsing debris echoed from outside, the undead mage peeked out cautiously.
-!!!
Lee Han also peeked out and spoke up.
"Senior. I have good news and bad news."
"What... what is it?"
"The explosion earlier blew away the ceiling. If we step on the debris, we can climb up."
"R-really?! Wait. What's the bad news?"
-More undead berserkers are coming.
"......"
Ogoldos was certain of one thing about Lee Han.
This junior had the absolute worst sense of humor.
-How much mana do you have left?
"I haven't used any at all."
-You have none left?
"I said I haven't used any."
-...What... what the... No. Fine. Then can you summon another Skeleton Warrior like before?
"I used up all the bone fragments for the reagent..."
"Just ask for them! They're right here!"
Ogoldos snapped, shoving a pouch of reagents into Lee Han's hand.
Lee Han looked slightly touched as he said,
"Thank you for your help, just like earlier."
"You call that help... Damn it. Whatever. Hurry up and summon it! Before they get close!"
-But last time, we got lucky. If we try again, I can't guarantee safety.
"Of course fighting is dangerous! But we can't just not fight, can we?!"
Ogoldos shouted, exasperated by the undead mage's words.
But the undead mage shook his head and replied.
-I meant detonating the reinforced skeleton.
"......"
"...Can't we just use it like before and dodge?"
-I told you, we got lucky last time. Can't you precisely control the mana for detonation?
"I tried it for the first time today—how am I supposed to fine-tune it?"
Faced with undeniable logic, the undead mage fell silent.
It was hard to argue against that.
'Why is he not even twenty...'
Thud-
A boulder suddenly came flying. A berserker had hurled it. The undead mage hastily yanked the skull back.
"...?"
When no further attacks came, the undead mage cautiously peeked out again.
The berserkers gathered before the ceiling debris were murmuring among themselves before pointing upward.
"What are they saying? Surrender terms?"
At Lee Han's question, the undead mage replied as if he couldn't believe it.
-They're... telling us to go up first...?