Episode 520
Episode 520
Lee Han suddenly fell silent at Yoner's words.
'So...'
'Is that so? They probably didn't see me as a first-year...'
Nor would they have considered me a second-year. Most likely, they saw me as a third or fourth-year.'
If it was the Skeleton Principal, it wouldn't be surprising if he had prepared the Hydra even for third or fourth-years.
However, Gainando voiced a dissenting opinion.
"If it's that headmaster, he might have prepared the Hydra specifically for us. There's no rule saying we have to defeat it just because it's there. What if the trial is about avoiding it?"
"That... could be true."
At those words, their friends wavered slightly.
After all, the difficulty between defeating a Hydra and slipping past its gaze was worlds apart.
"Even if we do have to defeat it, it'll probably just be Lee Han by himself."
"That... huh?"
Lee Han, who had been nodding along, suddenly turned to stare at Gainando.
The shocking part was that the others seemed to agree with the sentiment.
'These bastards...'
While Lee Han was inwardly vowing to drag his friends along if they did have to fight the Hydra, a new figure appeared from above.
It was Professor Voladi.
"......"
Lee Han froze.
He had assumed the trial was prepared by the Skeleton Principal, but... could it have been Professor Voladi instead??
'No. That makes no sense. The final exam is about giants, right? Surely we're not expected to fight a Hydra-riding giant??'
"What's wrong?"
"Shh."
Lee Han jabbed his staff to silence Gainando and focused intently.
Professor Voladi stopped before the Death Knights and examined the Hydra.
"Still untamed."
-Apologies. They're naturally quite ferocious...
"Is what I requested ready?"
-Yes. We've fed them plenty, so extracting now should be fine.
One of the Death Knights approached the Hydra, venturing so deep into its massive maw that it seemed like he might get swallowed whole.
A moment later, the Death Knight emerged with a glass vial containing several thick drops of venom collected from the Hydra's poison sacs.
-Here you are. But... what do you plan to use this for?
"Feed for the Basilisk."
-You're raising a Basilisk too?
The Death Knights exchanged glances that clearly said, 'As expected of a No-disciple Professor—only the maddest pursuits.'
While most professors at Einrogard were unhinged, those without disciples took their insanity to another level.
But the Death Knights kept their thoughts to themselves.
It wasn't their business anyway.
-The Basilisk will love this.
-That little fiend. Hope it eats well and happily chases students around.
"I hope so too."
With a brief farewell, Professor Voladi departed.
Watching him leave, Lee Han exhaled in relief.
'So he wasn't here for the exam.'
He had only come to gather Basilisk feed—not to prepare Lee Han's trial.
A deep sense of relief washed over him.
-Keeeee!
The baby Basilisk let out a sharp, agitated hiss, clearly displeased.
Lee Han tilted his head.
"Isn't poison good for you?"
'Though obviously not for me...'
The baby Basilisk smacked its tail emphatically, as if to say it absolutely refused to eat it.
No matter how beneficial a medicine might be, if it was unappetizing, there was nothing to be done.
"I see. Hmm... But if the professor tries to feed it to you, I won't be able to stop him."
-......
The baby Basilisk sulked.
Just then, Gainando made a sound.
"Urghghgh."
Staff still in his mouth, he gestured urgently toward the distance.
The Death Knights had finished their work and were retreating elsewhere.
If they wanted to check things out, now was the perfect opportunity.
"Let's go!"
The students swiftly opened the door and crawled out from below.
The Hydra, having vented its earlier temper, now lay quietly with all nine heads resting peacefully, snoring away.
Lee Han spotted a sign erected in front of them.
Next to the large "Hydra - 4th Year - Yongge" sign, there was another one.
The "Small Hydra - 3rd Year - Yongjiha" sign had been hidden from view earlier, but now they could see there was another small hydra beside it. The smaller hydra lazily spun its heads around and yawned.
Even with the invisibility spell active, the students froze upon seeing the awake hydra.
'No matter how strong the invisibility spell is, we can't ignore a monster's senses.'
Lee Han cautiously waved his staff.
Though they were under an invisibility spell, if the hydra sensed something amiss and merely lashed its tail, it would spell disaster.
'Gonadaltes. I'm counting on you!'
Among the summonable creatures at the moment, the easiest to summon and the most intelligent was the Skeleton Warrior Gonadaltes.
This Skeleton Warrior could move with far greater precision than anything Lee Han could create himself.
When the summoned Skeleton Warrior made noise behind the small hydra, all nine heads of the hydra turned at once before swiftly tearing the skeleton apart and swallowing it.
'Thank you, Gonadaltes.'
Lee Han silently expressed his gratitude to the summon before slipping out of the hydra's territory with his friends.
Imirg, who also studied Black Magic, asked in bewilderment:
"W-won't your summon get angry if you treat it like that?"
There was a reason necromancers rolled around in graveyards and smeared rotten mud on their clothes to befriend undead summons.
Summons from other planes were beings that could hold grudges at any time, and even if bound by contract, mistreating them could lead to a dagger in the back.
Which was why openly using an undead summon as bait, like Lee Han just did, was incredibly risky.
"No. Gonadaltes is loyal and kind, so it's fine."
"......"
Imirg stared in shock at the Skeleton Warrior being torn apart and shared among the small hydra's heads before being forcibly recalled.
Was this really okay?
'Maybe this kind of ruthlessness is necessary to master Black Magic...'
Even the same actions felt different when performed by a Wardanaz compared to when done by Gainando.
Seeing the top Black Magic student act this way made Imirg strangely intrigued.
Come to think of it, had he been too soft in handling undead summons until now?
'I should be more ruthless like Wardanaz...!'
As Imirg clenched his fist in determination, Lee Han, sitting nearby, gave him a puzzled look.
'What's up with him? Is he psyching himself up to hunt a hydra next?'
Lee Han briefly wondered if he should stop his friend.
"Looks like we're clear, Wardanaz."
"Yeah. Good work, everyone."
Once they were far enough from the hydra, the students slumped down to rest.
Between navigating the secret passage and encountering the hydra, they were thoroughly exhausted.
Lee Han passed around a bottle of lemonade to his friends.
'At least it's a relief that this was a 3rd and 4th-year exam.'
Seeing the signs in front of the hydras, Lee Han felt incredibly fortunate that this had nothing to do with him.
In a way, he had only suffered losses from the deal with the mirror entity, but Lee Han wasn't angry at all.
If anything, he was relieved!
'To think they genuinely believed I was at least a 3rd-year...'
He had put effort into disguising himself, but he hadn't expected it to work this well.
After a short rest to recover their energy, the friends glanced around.
"Lee Han, have you seen this?"
"Students of Gonadaltes - No Entry!"
"So it really was the Headmaster's exam after all."
"Look at this one too."
"Students of Gonadaltes - Absolutely No Entry!"
"And this one."
"Students of Gonadaltes - NO ENTRY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!"
"...We get it after the first one. Stop bringing more signs."
Lee Han stopped Gainando from fetching yet another sign.
They already had a clear idea of where they were.
'Must be something like a dangerous beast stable.'
While ordinary or non-threatening animals could be kept in stables across the campus, Einrogard housed creatures far more dangerous than horses.
Basilisk, hydra, griffin...
Lee Han suddenly wondered if there were too many dangerous beasts around him.
'Wait. When did they multiply like this?'
In any case, if such beasts were carelessly let loose, even the famously free-spirited Einrogard would see no small amount of harm come to its students.
Naturally, there had to be a specialized place to raise these dangerous creatures.
Especially with someone like the Skeleton Principal around—there was no way such a place wouldn't exist.
"Th-That's not a fire dog, is it?"
"That's a Stymphalian bird! Their feathers are supposed to be crazy expensive..."
"What? Can't we take one with us?"
Watching the rare creatures dart past, Lee Han abruptly regretted not studying more magic in his free time.
Professor Voladi's words had been right after all.
Magic was unpredictable—you never knew when or how you'd need it!
'If I could've caught one, I would've taken it without hesitation!'
But seeing them vanish like arrows into the jungle canopy, he couldn't spot any way to capture them.
"Hey, hey! Did you see that?! A Ghost Chicken! There's a Ghost Chicken over there!"
"I-I-I-I-mirg! You can talk without shaking me!"
"Ah, s-sorry."
Imirg stopped shaking Lee Han and cautiously pointed.
In a corner of the clearing stood a bizarre-looking chicken.
It was several times larger than a normal chicken, with a shadowy, ominous gleam in its eyes, and it kept viciously pecking at tree roots as if throwing a tantrum.
'A curse?'
True to his reputation as the top Black Magic student, Lee Han immediately sensed the eerie energy radiating from the Ghost Chicken.
The sinister arrangement of mana was unmistakably close to a curse. It was clear this thing had an innate ability to inflict curses on anyone who touched it.
"Th-That Ghost Chicken is seriously rare... I-I've never even seen one before."
Imirg kept swallowing nervously, clearly excited. Lee Han spoke without much thought.
"Then why don't we just take it?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, if we can take it, why not? It's not like they'd leave it here if they didn't want us to take it."
Of course, the Skeleton Principal hadn't technically left it there for them, but Lee Han respected his teachings.
If you had the skill to take something, then you were free to take it!
"B-But... we don't even have a place to keep it..."
"We'll find a place if we look. But besides being cute, does that Ghost Chicken have any other merits?"
Given how Imirg had fawned over the chick earlier, it was obvious he had a soft spot for poultry.
He probably even found this cursed monstrosity adorable.
"M-Merits? Well... its feathers and eggs are valuable...?"
Imirg sounded unsure if that even counted as a merit.
Lee Han answered decisively.
"Let's take it. Seeing how it spews curses, I should probably be the one to grab it."
"!?"
* * *
Monday.
With his muscle pain somewhat recovered, Lee Han headed to Professor Lightning Step's lecture.
Beside him, his Skeleton Warriors supported their still-stiff master.
"......"
"......"
Students from the White Tiger Tower whispered among themselves and quickly moved away at the sight.
'What's up with that Wardanaz guy?'
'No idea. Don't make eye contact. Looks like he's itching for a fight.'
Spotting Professor Lightning Step, Lee Han bowed his head.
"Good morning, Professor."
"Yeah. I'm not having a good one."
"Is something the matter?"
"Tch. I trusted the Headmaster and left today's lecture materials with him, and now he says he lost them. Can you believe that?"
"Oh dear. You should protest firmly."
Feeling a slight uplift at the thought of today's lecture difficulty dropping, Lee Han kept his expression professionally neutral.
"Of course I'll protest later! He told me to leave them with him because he'd take care of it! Though, admittedly, I did leave them with a troublesome creature..."
"What kind of creature was it?"
"You know, a Ghost Chicken? Probably too rare for you to have seen one."
"...!"