Episode 445
Episode 445
Gainando, who still hadn't grasped the situation, asked in confusion:
"You said fishing would work too?"
"...Do you really think it would?"
The students weren't fools.
Einrogard wasn't so lenient that they could just fish up the required aquatic creatures in this weather and situation.
And truth be told, even in calm weather, most aquatic creatures were difficult to catch by fishing. Carelessly casting a line would just get the fisherman dragged underwater by monsters.
"If we could just catch one fish..."
'Fish don't exist in this kind of... weather.'
Tanjuer, resting in the back, replied with an incredulous tone.
He usually avoided interfering with the mages' conversations, but Gainando's suggestion was simply too absurd.
"You want us to go into the water in this weather? Seriously?"
"I told you. Never trust the professors."
"Even so, this is too much..."
"Can't we just insist we caught Tanjuer here?"
Tanjuer promptly shot a jet of water at the student who'd just spoken.
Splash!
The drenched student immediately fell into the sea. The others fell silent.
"Sigh..."
"What choice do we have? Let's prepare."
Staying long at Einrogard meant you could speedrun through the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - in 30 seconds flat instead of taking days.
Having swiftly accepted their fate, the students took deep breaths and pondered how to enter the water.
"We'll need underwater breathing... what else?"
"Some kind of light source for visibility. Waterproofing Enchantment might be too much, but we'll need something to keep from freezing to death."
"Good thing I learned the <Latent Heat Enchantment> spell."
Students who'd successfully mastered the spell proudly raised their staffs.
Lee Han's face fell. Yoner hurriedly tried to console him.
"...L-Lee Han. You're good at other things."
"Maybe the rain will help?"
Just in case, Lee Han swung his staff while incanting. Flames immediately erupted from his cloak.
"Fire!!!"
"Wardanaz! Put it in the water!!"
They quickly dunked the cloak, but the flames refused to die easily. The students were aghast at the fire burning even underwater.
"......"
"......"
Sizzle—
Lee Han pulled out the cloak with a bitter expression. His friends hastily spoke up:
"I-I'll cast Latent Heat Enchantment for you. That spell isn't even really important anyway!"
"You can cast other spells! We'll help each other out!"
Normally, these top students would mercilessly mock any magical blunders, but this time they were united in quickly dissuading him.
"Dammit!! Me again?!"
"Sorry. Just go in and come right back."
"Tch..."
The losing student in the draw tied a rope around himself and plunged in with a splash.
'These first-years catch on quick.'
Professor Lightning Step looked on approvingly.
Since this was an individual exam, students could theoretically act separately.
Yet without being told, they'd naturally grouped together to cooperate.
They already understood wisdom more valuable than any complex spell.
"You bastard... you rigged the draw!"
"D-don't spout nonsense! How would I rig it?!"
"Wardanaz! Come here! Be the judge! This guy rigged the draw!"
"Why call Wardanaz?! Wardanaz! Stay away!"
Of course, there were still arguments - where people gather, conflict naturally follows.
But this level was already impressive enough.
Splash, splash, splash!
Students dove and resurfaced all around. Thanks to Lee Han's floating light orbs, the pier was bright as midday.
'...I'll let that slide.'
Having an exceptional friend among first-years was also a skill. Professor Lightning Step decided to overlook it.
"See anything?"
"Nothing at all. We'll need to go deeper."
The students who surfaced exchanged bewildered looks.
By this depth, they should have found something, but perhaps due to the sea's turbulence, not a single living creature was visible.
"My turn."
Lee Han recited the underwater breathing spell and prepared to dive.
<Gonadaltes' Dark Vision> and <Gonadaltes' Agile Footsteps> too.
And <Spatial Perception> and <Enchantment of Truth's Light>...
'How many spells is he layering?!'
Professor Lightning Steps was utterly flabbergasted watching this.
If someone dove in now, they'd think they were infiltrating the Demon Duke's resistance rather than just water!
"Going in!"
"W-wait a second."
Gainando, who was next in line, hesitated and shouted.
"Why?"
"I need to mentally prepare—"
Splash!
Lee Han kicked Gainando in and dove after him.
'Deeper.'
Even though he'd securely tied himself with a rope, the moment he entered the water, he was violently tossed about. The aftermath of the spirits' rampage was still affecting the underwater currents.
The students who'd descended with him were also flailing unexpectedly, their limbs tangled in the surprisingly strong current.
-Everyone, stay calm.
Lee Han first gathered his friends.
Since they needed to go deeper, they had to adapt here first.
-The current is faster than expected, but we can overcome it with magic. We learned Water Elemental Magic in the first semester. Those confident with water magic, raise your hands.
Three of his friends raised their hands. Lee Han nodded.
-We'll manipulate the water element. Like this... Move!
Lee Han cleverly applied the magic.
Normally, it would just shape or move water, but underwater, it became a decent means of propulsion.
Whoosh—
As the water parted and propelled Lee Han forward, his friends nodded in understanding.
They grasped the principle.
-Got it, Wardanaz.
-I'll try. Move!
-......
-...???
The students were baffled when nothing happened.
-Move! Move! I said move! ...Ugh!
One of the students chanting suddenly paled.
'Acute mana depletion!'
Lee Han quickly grabbed his friend and surfaced. As he emerged, the waiting students asked,
"What happened?!"
"Let him rest!"
"???"
Without answering, Lee Han tossed the collapsed student onto the dock and dove back down.
-Let's try again...
-Wheez...
'Damn it.'
When another friend collapsed, Lee Han hauled him up again.
"Take care of this one too!"
Splash!
"......"
"...What the hell is happening down there?"
As Lee Han kept surfacing to throw his friends up one by one, the students waiting above grew increasingly uneasy.
Was he angry about the <Latent Heat Enchantment> earlier?
"I told you not to show off magic!"
"Did you really think casting magic in front of Wardanaz was showing off...? Would you call that showing off in front of Wardanaz?!"
"Maybe he's mad about the sparrow trick earlier?"
While they whispered above, Lee Han was assessing the situation.
'Casting magic underwater isn't normal.'
A mage's magic, no matter how simple it seemed, required intense mental concentration.
Just as untrained combat mages couldn't cast spells when dropped into a chaotic battlefield, sudden environmental changes disrupted a mage's magic.
A place this cold, dark, and turbulent was more than enough to hinder a mage.
'...Wait. I cast spells just fine?'
The thought crossed Lee Han's mind, but he decided not to voice it.
-It seems chanting spells underwater has a higher failure rate. Everyone, be careful.
-But you're casting just fine... Never mind. I shouldn't have asked, Wardanaz.
The friend who'd been about to ask something quickly conceded.
Honestly, Wardanaz could probably cast spells even if he were hung upside down over lava, let alone underwater.
-Instead, I'll push you down again.
Lee Han slowly descended while maintaining the light orb.
How far had he gone down?
A patch of earthen ground settled in the sea came into view. It was a strangely familiar place.
'...That's the racecourse we made...'
Though absurd, Lee Han forced himself to stay focused.
They had to find something alive.
-Wardanaz. Here. Look here.
One of his friends tapped Lee Han's shoulder and pointed downward.
Surprisingly, there was a directional pattern carved into the seabed.
'What's this? Did the professor carve it?'
-Let's go. Follow me.
-Got it.
Lee Han swam slowly along the carved guide on the seabed. The path led into an underwater cave.
-......
No matter how he looked at it, the cave seemed like a place he really didn't want to enter.
'Did the professor prepare this?'
If they had just released the underwater creatures into the open sea, they would've scattered all over Einrogard. But to release them inside an underwater cave like this...
Though impressed by the Lightning Step Professor's thoroughness, Lee Han couldn't help but sigh.
'There's gotta be something messed up inside...'
-♪♬♩♩♩♬
'?'
Lee Han froze.
From afar, a clear and melodious singing voice began to echo.
'...We're underwater...?'
The eyes of the nearby Gyeongnamdo student suddenly glazed over as he began making a blissful, entranced expression.
Horrified, Lee Han slapped him across the face.
"Professor!!!!"
A student from the Black Turtle Tower, who had gone in another direction, came scrambling out in terror.
He was so shocked he didn't even think to dry himself off.
"What the hell is this?! What... what's that thing in front of the cave?!"
"Oh. You finally found it?"
The Lightning Step Professor, who had been sitting, answered with mild delight.
"You have to let us go inside the cave!!"
"No matter how rough the sea is, the test can't just be about going into a cave and grabbing the first thing you see. Of course, you have to overcome obstacles."
The Lightning Step Professor spoke as if the student was saying something ridiculous.
In preparation for this test, the professor had released various hard-to-catch underwater creatures into the cave.
The higher the difficulty of the creature caught—whether due to speed, stealth, or evasion—the better the score.
Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. Naturally, there were also obstacles meant to hinder the students.
"I... I only survived because I went in from the back! If I hadn't—!"
The Black Turtle Tower student, who had been thrilled at finding the cave faster than others, was still in shock.
A siren?!
The friends who had found the cave and tried to enter were all entranced, unable to regain their senses. If not for the ropes, they would've been dragged away.
"Wait. Calm down. You were caught off guard because you didn't know. Now that you know what it is, there must be a way to deal with it. If it's a siren..."
Sirens, hybrids of mermaids and spirits, carried ancient magic in their voices.
Mages had considerable resistance to the peculiar abilities of monsters, given their own mastery of mana...
But the siren's song was powerful enough to pierce through that resistance.
Still, now that they knew its nature, there was always a way to counter it.
"Let's cover our ears and go in."
"Th-that's it! That should work."
The Lightning Step Professor grinned. Seeing that smile, the students suddenly felt a chill.
...Or not?
"A siren's song isn't something you can block just by covering your ears. It resonates through your entire body."
Angrago, a student from the White Tiger Tower, spoke up.
For someone from the knightly dormitory, his unexpectedly intellectual remark surprised everyone.
"Th-then what? Alpha. What do we do? How do we counter it?"
"Huh?"
Angrago was taken aback.
"Uh... sailors would tie themselves to the mast..."
"...We have to go inside, though."
"Is negotiation impossible? What do sirens like?"
"I heard they enjoy messing with people..."
Splash!
Amid the discussion, a sound came from behind. Angrago and the others instinctively turned.
Lee Han was climbing out, dragging a siren with him.
"......"
"......"