Episode 459
Episode 459
-I understand seeking glory, but your habit of only challenging overwhelmingly strong opponents isn't good either!
At the undead mage's advice, Gainen nodded unconsciously.
Lee Han smacked the back of Gainen's head and said,
"It's not like I wanted to end up in that situation..."
-Save the explanations for later. Right now, I'm running low on mana! I need help!
The undead mage looked around at the students.
As a being not originally from this plane, the undead mage consumed an enormous amount of existence each time he was summoned across dimensions.
Moreover, the damage he had sustained during his previous battle with the Ghoul King still hadn't fully healed.
No matter how exceptional the undead mage was, he couldn't perform properly without assistance.
-O serpent, run forth! Gather the energies of the eight directions—from Heaven to Earth, from Water to Lake!
In desperation, he hastily drew a magic circle around them to scrape together every last bit of mana, but it still wasn't enough.
The undead mage shouted at the students.
-To your positions! Head to your designated spots and pour your strength into the magic circle!
Lee Han didn't bother asking about the intricate principles of the magic circle drawn with serpents, bones, and dark element.
Instead, he moved swiftly as instructed by the undead mage. There was no time to waste—a horde was approaching from the distance.
"You're not fully recovered yet..."
"L-Lee Han. Wouldn't it have been better to call the Prickly Spirit?"
"Even so, in this situation, he's still better than Perkuntra."
"...Right, I guess?"
-You, the dawdling one! Can't you move any faster?!
When the undead mage barked, Gainen startled and tried to rush over.
But there was no need.
The moment Lee Han stepped into the concentric circle within the magic circle, it blazed with light as if on fire, initiating the mana circulation.
-There's still not enough mana! In this state, forget about grand magic—I won't even be able to hold on and will get unsummoned. Stop lazing around and—...Oh. It's done.
"......"
"......"
Gainen and his friends, who had been scrambling over, froze mid-step.
"It's done already?"
-Ah... right. He had a lot of mana.
Though the undead mage lacked facial muscles, his body language conveyed embarrassment.
Now that he thought about it, this mage he had contracted with possessed a genius-level talent far beyond his years and an absurdly vast amount of mana—enough to make even interdimensional rulers balk.
Thanks to that, there was no need to painstakingly gather scraps of mana from the other students. The required amount was fulfilled in an instant.
With this much mana, he could summon undead without any worry of being unsummoned.
-Thanks.
"You're the one I summoned."
-Then... appear, my legions!
With a commanding shout, the undead mage began summoning the undead bound to his contract.
A dimensional gate opened within the space connected to the magic circle, and Skeleton Warriors steadily formed battle formations.
Their appearance was clearly different from ordinary Skeleton Warriors, making Lee Han ask in disbelief.
"Are they... Dragon Tooth Soldiers?!"
For undead summons, whose strength varied based on the quality of their bones, Skeleton Warriors forged from dragon teeth were symbols of power and terror.
With that kind of stature and such overwhelming presence...
-Are you insane? Summons made from dragon teeth have too much pride! There's no way I could command them like this. Of course, these warriors aren't ordinary either.
"Ah. Then maybe demon bones...?"
-They have just a tiny bit of dragon teeth mixed in.
"......"
-And that alone is already incredible!
"R-right."
Admittedly, it sounded a bit underwhelming when put into words, but the undead mage wasn't wrong.
Even with just a minuscule amount of dragon teeth mixed in, the Skeleton Warriors exuded an overwhelming aura.
The summoning didn't end there.
Once the Skeleton Warriors with shields formed their battle lines and completed an iron wall, Banshee Mages lined up behind them.
The Banshee Mages tapped the ground, trying to secure whatever mana they could, but upon spotting Lee Han, they immediately prostrated themselves.
"...It's because I'm the one who contracted with that mage."
"Uh, yeah."
Imirg answered before Lee Han could even ask, leaving him puzzled.
-...I offer all my remaining mana, O King of Horses and Sovereign of Sovereigns! By our contract, aid me now!
As the undead mage squeezed out the last of his mana to complete the final summon, a horde of centaur ghouls came charging out from one side.
The monstrous cavalry of centaur ghouls began their assault, following their leader's charge.
-Now, preparations are complete! Intercept the enemies! Don't worry about mana!
"Isn't this too reckless?"
When Lee Han voiced his concern, the undead mage glanced down at the magic circle to check.
Then he shouted again.
-Don't worry about mana, so pour it out even more!
"......"
"Whew. It's done."
Coholti, having finished the undead summoning, plopped down exhausted.
Summoning that many undead was no ordinary feat, even for the outstanding students of Einrogard.
He'd used every available reagent and dozens of magic circles, but the fatigue was unavoidable.
"Is it going well?"
"Yes. It's proceeding perfectly."
Ogoldos answered while watching the distant undead horde charging forth.
Though he'd seen this spectacle last year too, now as a second-year with more knowledge, he could truly appreciate how incredible it was.
Summoning that many undead was astonishing enough, but to also maintain such powerful binding magic over those unruly creatures...
Countless undead shook the earth as they charged like a force that would sweep everything away, yet not a single hair on the juniors' heads was harmed.
Ogoldos was reminded of the past.
'That sight is what made me dedicate myself to black magic too.'
At first, it had been terrifying.
Entering the classroom only to find another dimension suddenly unfolding before you, with an undead horde charging straight at you - how could anyone not be scared?
He'd been trembling, thinking this was the end, when suddenly the undead horde scattered to the sides and passed by without touching a single student.
Only then did Ogoldos realize:
This entire spectacle was just the senior black magic students' dazzling performance!
'Even seeing it again, it's truly amazing...'
"Hey, hey! HEY!!"
"What's wrong? Wait. Don't come behind me."
Ogoldos eyed Coholti warily.
Coholti indignantly showed his empty hands and shouted:
"Look at the undead horde over there!"
"What... gasp."
Both let out strangled breaths.
No matter how they looked at it, the distant scene appeared to be... a battle.
Why???
"W-what's happening? D-did the binding magic fail? Did they not understand not to attack the juniors?"
Coholti turned pale and began trembling violently.
His mind was already spiraling with thoughts of "All first-years withdrawing from the Black Magic department."
No matter how lenient Professor Mortum was, if this incident occurred, Coholti might be confined to the punishment chamber forever.
"...Wait, senior. Something's strange here."
"What? What is? Did we see wrong? We must have, right? I saw wrong, didn't I?"
"That's not it! Right now, the other side is... the other side is pushing them back!"
"???"
Coholti blinked.
Now that he thought about it, something was odd.
If the undead had misunderstood orders, they should have just trampled the juniors and been done with it. But they were currently fighting.
Fighting meant it was an even match.
And right now, it wasn't even - their side was...?
"!!!"
Coholti urgently sent an undead bat forward to get a better view, then froze at the sight before his eyes.
Some unknown undead horde was methodically pushing back their own undead forces.
Elite skeleton warriors, clearly several grades above normal ones, formed defensive walls to block paths while centaur ghouls relentlessly struck from behind, collapsing their formations.
Moreover, the banshee mages were casting spell after spell as if mana was springing forth endlessly. As green spectral mist spread like fog, their undead began melting away.
'What the hell...!'
The undead forces on their side weren't prepared for combat in the first place, lacking any tactical maneuvers or defenses against attacks.
Outmatched in every aspect except sheer numbers, they were bound to lose in a head-on clash like this, but...
But still...!
'This doesn't make any sense!?'
Setting that aside, how could first-year students summon an army of this scale!?
Coholti kept staring in disbelief, unable to accept what he was seeing.
Only a centuries-old Lich should be capable of something like this.
Undead Summoning was one thing, but this level of organization, deployment, and command was just...
"...Senior! Senior!!!"
"Huh!? What!?"
Snapped out of his daze by Ogoldos calling from behind, Coholti quickly regained his senses.
The intensity of the battle had unconsciously enthralled him.
"I don't know what's going on, but shouldn't we contact them and stop the fight!? If this keeps up, all the summoned undead will be destroyed!!"
"...Ah!"
Only then did Coholti fully return to reality.
The real issue wasn't how the first-year students had summoned such a massive undead force.
Well, of course, he was still burning with curiosity about that...
'No!!'
The truly urgent matter was the enormous amount of reagents used to summon the undead army.
If the undead were safely reverse-summoned, at least some of the reagents could be recovered. But if they were destroyed like this, even that would be impossible.
Diret was already preparing in the next classroom to retrieve the reagents after the demonstration ended...
If things continued like this, the only sight awaiting Diret would be a pitiful wasteland.
And Coholti himself might very well end up buried upside down beside that wasteland...
-Junior! Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! Midterm Exam! Performance!
An undead bat flew over, desperately shouting.
It was so frantic that parts of its sentences were incoherent.
Fortunately, Lee Han understood immediately.
"Ah. So this was a demonstration for the upcoming midterm exam? No wonder they weren't aggressive..."
-Yes! Stop! Stop!
"Could this be a trap?"
"It might be a trap, Lee Han. Let's just destroy everything first. We can think about it later!"
Lafadell and Gainando whispered from behind, but Lee Han remained unmoved.
For one, the Black Magic seniors weren't the type to set up such a crude trap, and more importantly, the situation made sense.
"We overreacted. We should've just stayed still."
-...What...?
The undead mage beside him stared at Lee Han in utter bewilderment.
They had thought it was a life-threatening emergency, but something felt off.
"It was an exam. You know, like being tested by a master..."
-■ ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■!
The undead mage erupted in an otherworldly language, furious.
They had dragged their unrecovered body here, organizing an army because they thought Lee Han's life was in danger—only for this!?
-And what kind of idiotic Black Mages would show off something like this!? An undead army is a hammer and axe to crush enemies, not some tool for bragging!
-......
Coholti, listening through the bat, was left speechless even if he had ten mouths.
"My apologies. Next time, I'll only call you when it's truly dangerous."
-You better remember that wasting such a precious opportunity only hurts you in the end!
The undead mage, thoroughly exasperated, scolded him repeatedly.
Powerful beings from other dimensions couldn't be easily summoned again until their strength recovered—especially since this undead mage was still injured...
Gainando, standing nearby, asked curiously:
"But didn't you take a lot of mana earlier? Shouldn't your injuries be healed by now?"
-......
When the undead mage glared at Gainando with icy eyes, Lee Han quickly shut him up.
"No, no. Lord Verdus. This was my mistake. Please return now."
-Hmph!
With one last glare at Gainando, the undead mage was reverse-summoned.
The field fell eerily silent, as if the countless undead from moments ago had never existed.
Imirg, hesitating for a while, finally couldn't hold back and cautiously asked:
"W-Wardanaz. Did you turn Professor Verdus into an undead?"
"...No!"