Episode 508
Episode 508
'Hmm.' Today's underclassman must have expended quite a bit of mana and mental energy while making the Cursed Doll...
Come to think of it, it wasn't so much the mana but the mental exhaustion that was the real issue.
Magic inherently requires intense concentration, so each casting inevitably builds up mental fatigue.
Yet Diret didn't stop his junior.
Seeing the boy pull out bone fragments from his reagent pouch and ponder so earnestly made him hesitate to intervene.
'Should be...'
fine?'
Watching Lee Han vigorously preparing the bone fragments with such ease made Diret wonder if he was worrying over nothing.
After all, shouldn't geniuses be treated as the geniuses they are?
Telling a prodigy to slow down would just be meaningless interference.
'Right. Let him be.'
"Senior, I'm trying to compress Dark Element into these bone fragments..."
"That's usually too difficult to do on the spot. I can lend you—"
"How about this?"
Diret lifted his head and stared at the bone fragments resting on Lee Han's palm.
In that brief moment of contemplation, this junior had already perfectly compressed Dark Element into the reagent.
Between the Cursed Doll and now this—watching him effortlessly accomplish groundwork that would normally take months in workshops or the Magic Tower—Diret found himself seriously pondering:
'Could this junior bear some responsibility for the professors' persistent madness?'
Even if most Einrogard professors were lunatics, didn't this junior share some blame for constantly pushing forward when he could just stop?
Especially when he advanced so flawlessly—didn't that make him even more accountable?
'Agh, what am I thinking...'
Diret shook his head vigorously, trying to dispel the wicked thought.
Here he was, in this insane Magic School, considering blaming the underclassman instead of the professors.
No matter how exceptional Lee Han was at magic, it didn't justify the professors' behavior.
Any decent person would think, 'He's already doing so much, maybe I should hold him back,' not, 'Since he's handling it well, let's push him further.'
Clatter clatter
"......"
Despite his firm resolution just moments ago, Diret felt it waver as he watched his junior effortlessly summon over ten Dark Skeleton Warriors.
Summoning a Skeleton Warrior and summoning one enhanced with Dark Element weren't fundamentally different in principle.
As long as one could control the Dark Element imbued in the reagent during the summoning process, the undead from the Undead Plane would naturally absorb the power.
Of course, it was slightly more complicated for Lee Han.
Unlike other necromancers, he wasn't summoning from the Undead Plane but weaving them from scratch using ancient necromancy.
Still, that didn't make it impossible.
Lee Han already had plenty of experience summoning Skeleton Warriors for combat, and...
'A bit unstable?'
When the Dark Element infused in the bones rippled, threatening to leak out, Lee Han immediately channeled mana to stabilize it.
Given that losing control was the greatest risk when handling volatile elements like Dark Element, his swift response was an unmatched advantage.
'No need to summon Gonadaltes yet.'
Lee Han looked on with satisfaction as the Skeleton Warriors emanated an eerie black aura.
Dark Element was unique—it inflicted damage simply through contact.
While ordinary Skeleton Warriors couldn't defeat seasoned opponents head-on, these were different. Against an unprepared foe, they could drain life force in an instant.
'Summoning succeeded. Now to combine them into one...'
Lee Han prepared to dismantle and reassemble the summoned Skeleton Warriors into a single entity.
Such brutality would earn a knife in the back from undead summoned from the Undead Plane, but ancient necromancy granted far more freedom in this regard.
For Lee Han, who couldn't yet control large numbers of Skeleton Warriors, this process was essential.
"Ugh—"
"Huh?"
Lee Han, who had been about to swing his staff to dismantle them, was startled when the Skeleton Warriors began moving on their own.
'What the...?'
It wasn't an illusion.
When he swung his staff again and channeled his mana, the Skeleton Warriors moved in response.
"Senior! The Skeleton Warriors are moving!!"
"...Huh? Uh... Well, of course they're moving?"
Dilette was slightly bewildered, unable to understand why Lee Han was reacting this way.
It felt like watching an exceptionally brilliant friend—one sharp enough to be scouted by the Imperial Treasurer—suddenly exclaim, 'Gasp! 1+1=2! I finally get it!'
Why was he so shocked by something so basic?
"I... I couldn't move them before."
"You?!"
'Ah, crap. Did I come off as too careless?'
When Dilette reacted with a high-pitched voice, Lee Han realized he might have made a mistake.
Showing himself as incompetent and lazy in front of a senior wasn't a good idea.
"It's just that my schedule got delayed because I was studying other magics too. I was planning to fix it soon. If I'd had just a little more time, I definitely would've—"
"...Ah, no. I don't think you need to go that far..."
Dilette had only been surprised because Lee Han of all people couldn't move them—if it had been any other junior, she wouldn't have batted an eye.
And now that she thought about it, she could guess why he'd struggled.
These weren't ordinary undead summoned through standard necromancy—they were Skeleton Warriors created through ancient necromancy, and he'd been trying to control over ten of them simultaneously.
Even for someone with prodigious talent, that wasn't easy.
In fact, the fact that he'd managed to sustain them at all was more surprising.
'His mana pool is so massive he probably didn't even realize something was off.'
Most other black mages would've run out of mana or collapsed from exhaustion a few times before humbly realizing, 'Ah, I must be doing something wrong.'
But this junior had never had that chance—he'd just brute-forced his way through until he adapted.
"Maybe the dark element embedded in them also made them more controllable and precise."
Dilette lightly nudged one of the Skeleton Warriors with the tip of her staff as she explained.
Since he wasn't just controlling them with mana but also using dark element as an additional medium, it made sense that his control over the summons would be stronger and more refined.
Of course, that also meant higher mana consumption and increased spell difficulty—but for this junior, that didn't matter.
Things like mana cost or spell complexity had no effect on him.
"And you've probably gained some experience too. You must've been summoning Skeletons consistently this whole time."
"Yes. When I was stranded last time, I summoned Skeleton Warriors to fight the Ghoul King."
"...Uh. Uh-huh."
Dilette had been trying not to react, but even she couldn't keep her expression neutral upon hearing that her junior had taken on the Ghoul King with a squad of Skeleton Warriors.
But...
Was that even possible?
"Senior. Since I can move them now, I'd like to practice a bit more."
"Mmm. Got it. This place is a bit tricky, so let's move somewhere else."
Dilette guided him to a more suitable location for practicing with Skeleton Warriors.
'To properly test Skeleton Warriors infused with dark element... I'll have to account for that too. Wait. There's also the number—that's another factor. The ossuary-side dungeon would be too easy. The warehouse area? Or would that still be too simple?'
As they moved, Dilette failed to notice something.
She had fallen into the exact same trap as the professors she used to criticize.
When talking to this junior, she unconsciously—almost as if hypnotized—kept raising the difficulty higher and higher.
* * *
Whoosh!
'What the—?'
Lee Han blocked an arrow flying toward his head with a Water Shield, baffled.
The dungeon's difficulty had suddenly spiked way too high.
Sure, the first dungeon had been for testing basic dark-element Cursed Dolls, and this one was the next stage—for testing dark-element Skeleton Warriors.
But still.
This was ridiculous.
Still, the difficulty spike was expected to some degree...
But the gap between the Blood-sucking Weasel dungeon earlier and this Wooden Soldier dungeon completely surpassed all expectations.
The moment they opened the dungeon door, the waiting wooden soldiers began their assault with machine-like precision, moving like perfectly interlocking gears.
The front-line wooden soldiers advanced while shielding themselves with wooden bucklers, the middle-rankers charged with long spears, and the rear units relentlessly fired crossbows.
An ordinary mage would've panicked, but Lee Han had already cast various Enhancement Magic spells before entering. With <Gonadaltes' Agile Footsteps>, <Spatial Perception>, and even <Bagrak's Instant Foresight> layered on top, his reflexes now rivaled those of a master swordsman.
His overall physical abilities were enhanced.
Add to that <Spatial Perception> detecting enemy attacks.
Thanks to this, <Bagrak's Instant Foresight> became even more precise, warning him of incoming threats. Lee Han swiftly dodged sideways, evading the attack range.
"Skeleton Warriors, forward! Shield, unfold!"
Deploying a massive Water Shield midair to reinforce his defenses, Lee Han advanced his dark element-enhanced Skeleton Warriors. 'They're moving properly!' Seeing the Skeleton Warriors slowly but steadily advancing in formation was honestly moving. It felt like compensation for all his previous magical failures.
Thud!
The wooden soldiers, apparently crafted with powerful magic, overpowered the Skeleton Warriors in raw strength upon collision. Even with raised shields, the Skeleton Warriors were gradually being pushed back.
But...
"Hold the line!"
Lee Han had faith in one thing.
As expected, the wooden soldiers began slowing down and weakening upon contact with the dark element. In a prolonged battle, victory was inevitable.
After enduring and finally toppling his opponents, Lee Han sighed in relief and glanced at Diret.
"Senior?"
Diret, who'd been thinking 'Wait, why did I bring him here? Isn't this too difficult?', startled at being addressed.
"Huh?"
"Thank you. But is this a Black Magic department dungeon?"
"Sharp. This is actually an Enchantment Magic department dungeon."
"Ah, that explains it."
Maintaining wooden soldiers of that caliber artificially required advanced magic. It made sense that the Enchantment Magic department managed it.
"Senior, are you acquainted with the Enchantment Magic department too?"
"No. They're not very sociable."
"Then how...? Oh."
"Figured it out?"
"Did we... sneak in without permission?"
Lee Han gave a knowing look.
Diret paused incredulously before responding.
"...We got permission from Professor Verdus. You're taking Enchantment Magic too."
"Ah."
Lee Han looked slightly embarrassed.
"We've tested enough. Should we head back?"
"Could I test just a bit more?"
"Here? More?"
Diret fluttered his wings in confusion. They'd already tested advancing and retreating the Skeleton Warriors—what more was there to check?
Mana-wise... 'No, his mana should be fine.' Maybe he wanted to test bone weapons or tactics?
"You can handle more?"
"Yes."
"Alright then."
With Diret's permission, Lee Han led his undead troops deeper inside.
Then came the explosion.
BOOM!!!!!
"...?!?!!!"
As Diret watched in shock, Lee Han—without batting an eye—advanced his remaining Skeleton Warriors through the formation of wooden soldiers shattered by Bone Explosion. 'With explosions of this magnitude, they should endure shield deployment somehow.' Losing one Skeleton Warrior was worth it. The explosion laced with dark element further slowed the wooden soldiers.
"Senior. I was thinking of combining poison element too, if you could teach me... Senior? Senior??"