Episode 551
Episode 551
A moment later.
Professor Thunderstep grumbled as he stepped outside the cabin.
"You Wardanaz brats wouldn't know this, but originally at Einrogard, professors and students never encroach on each other's territories. Just as well water doesn't encroach upon river water—"
"My apologies, Professor."
"Ahem. Don't forget to organize the storage."
In the end, Professor Thunderstep had no choice but to surrender, unable to overcome his persistently nagging student.
While he might have easily dismissed other students, someone like Lee Han wasn't a disciple Professor Thunderstep could ignore so readily.
After all, he was an exceptionally valuable student who already handled so much work on a regular basis...
"Alright. Let's go find that spirit then."
"Why are you so obsessed with spirits, huh?"
Professor Thunderstep couldn't understand it.
Of course, having a spirit's assistance would vastly expand a mage's capabilities.
But no matter how he looked at it, Lee Han seemed like the type who'd do just fine without spirits, much like the Skeleton Principal.
"Professor, how many spirits have you contracted with?"
"...That seems entirely irrelevant to our current topic."
"Let's hurry up and go."
Lee Han showed absolutely no intention of listening to anyone even slightly more familiar with spirits than himself.
Professor Thunderstep could only shake his head repeatedly as he had no choice but to follow along.
"Everyone, step aside."
The dwarf professor pulled out a crossbow and squeezed the trigger. With a twang, the bolt tore through the surrounding space.
KWAJIK!
A Contaminated Being—which had taken a massive oak tree as its core, giving it the appearance of a tree monster—collapsed from a single strike.
Lee Han couldn't help but be impressed.
Even though he couldn't fully grasp all the enchantments layered on that crossbow, he could still sense how extraordinary it was.
Moreover, the bolt wasn't an ordinary one either. The shaft of the short, arrow-like bolt contained an elongated flask sloshing with alchemical solution.
'Can't I get my hands on just one of those?'
"This is strange."
"Huh?"
Startled, Lee Han wondered if his inner thoughts had been exposed.
"The numbers are far too excessive. If this were natural occurrence, they wouldn't multiply so rapidly."
Professor Thunderstep was not only an outstanding alchemist but also an exceptional ranger.
And few were as sensitive to changes in their domain as rangers were.
They hadn't even ventured deep into the forest, yet it was already as dark as midnight—clear evidence that the Dark Element's influence was growing stronger.
Contaminated Beings weren't supposed to increase this quickly under normal circumstances...
"Then perhaps the Headmaster—"
"More likely your seniors' mistake."
"Ah. Must be the seniors' mistake then."
"Weren't you just talking about the Headmaster?"
"Was I?"
Yoner and Priestess Siana, standing beside Lee Han, quietly averted their gazes.
Professor Thunderstep shook his head repeatedly and said,
"While the Headmaster is certainly the type who'd do something like this, he wouldn't resort to these methods. Contaminated Beings are too troublesome to clean up afterward."
"Did you just say he's 'the type who'd do this'?"
Priestess Siana asked Lee Han and Yoner in disbelief, but the two nodded expressionlessly.
"You heard right."
"Well, he is that kind of person."
"!?"
As Priestess Siana stood shocked, Lee Han asked curiously,
"By 'troublesome to clean up,' do you mean the surrounding contamination?"
"Exactly."
Professor Thunderstep looked at his student with something like pride.
Though it was infuriating how he kept dragging students into his affairs, seeing how Lee Han could infer ten things from being taught just one often made that irritation fade away.
"The Headmaster's methods of attack change every year, but he usually cleans up neatly afterward. Otherwise, he'd have to deal with the mess himself. This is most likely the students' mistake."
"I see."
"Probably the Black Magic students."
"Huh?"
Lee Han bristled slightly.
Unlike seniors from other schools, the perpetually slumped-shouldered seniors of the Black Magic school came to mind.
"Wait, whenever something like this happens, you automatically blame the Black Magic department? Isn't that too harsh?"
"Ah, no..."
Only then did Professor Thunderstep remember that Lee Han was also studying Black Magic and spoke with slight remorse.
"I'm not saying I suspect Black Magic students unconditionally. Look. These are Dark Spirit Contaminated Being, aren't they?"
"......"
Lee Han finally understood what he meant.
He immediately lowered his voice and whispered to Professor Thunderstep.
"But they're still Einrogard students who've all been taught by you, Professor. There's no need to punish them too harshly, right? If you show them some leniency just this once, I'm sure the seniors won't forget it."
"......"
'Actually, aren't they not that close?' Seeing Lee Han so quick to pin the blame on the Black Magic department seniors, Professor Thunderstep began suspecting that Lee Han might not actually be that close with them.
"I-Ilendil senior. Isn't this dangerous right now?" The second-year students asked with pale faces as they looked at the Dryad-blooded senior.
Though this student—whose soul was mixed with Dryad blood—had the highest grade among them, his appearance was by far the most disheveled.
Wearing what looked like a coat stitched together from fallen leaves, with clumps of mud dripping from various parts of his body, it was hard to tell whether he was a beggar or a mage.
"Hmm. Sorry about this, everyone."
"......"
"......"
At Ilendil's nonchalant words, the juniors' expressions turned gloomy.
What the senior had been doing in the forest was a kind of experiment.
Inject Dark Element into a Primitive Homunculus to create an artificial being close to a Dark Spirit!
Of course, if it had gone well, they wouldn't be in this mess.
The homunculus had grown beyond expectations, acting on its own before escaping and running rampant through the forest, spreading Dark Element everywhere.
Seeing Contaminated Being already emerging from the forest made them shudder at the thought of how horrifying Einrogard's winter would be this year.
"We should've gotten help from the Black Magic department after all."
"No, the Black Magic department wouldn't have helped. Those people are eccentric and scary, you know?"
"This isn't the time for that, Senior Ilendil," one of the second-years said firmly.
"Let's erase the evidence and get out of here."
"...You..."
The students stared at the friend who'd spoken up.
Then, as if agreeing it was a good idea, they patted his back and shouted,
"Well said! Right! Let's erase the traces and run!"
In their panic, they'd forgotten Einrogard's most basic rule.
When trouble arises, erase the evidence and run!
"Hmm. But... if we leave it like this, the forest will get too polluted. We should stop it."
"No, Senior! If we get caught, it's the Punishment Room until the semester ends! You'd have to take your finals in the Punishment Room! Is the forest more important than you, Senior?!"
"Strictly speaking, the forest is more important, no?"
"......"
"......"
The juniors belatedly remembered that this brilliant alchemist had an... unconventional way of thinking and sighed in despair.
"Senior! You have to come with us!"
"No choice. Grab the senior! We have to take him with us!"
BANG!
"?"
"...?!"
A familiar bolt sound and the sight of space tearing in the distance made the students jump in fright.
While all Einrogard students feared their professors, they feared their own department heads the most.
"That's Professor Thunderstep?!"
"W-why is he here?? There aren't even any cabins around here??"
"Did we get caught?! Did someone snitch on us?!"
"Scatter! Scatter and run! Senior, you have to run too!"
"Okay. Got it. Everyone, run."
Einrogard's rule—'When trouble arises, erase the evidence and run'—was followed by its next rule: 'If discovered, scatter and flee.'
Following that rule, the students quickly scattered and began running away.
"Those ungrateful brats!"
Professor Thunderstep tore at his beard in fury.
Lee Han was puzzled. The Thunderstep Professor was angrily staring at the completely empty far side of the forest.
"Ah. Are there perhaps seniors over there?"
"Yes!"
"By any chance, are they alchemy majors?"
"...Yes!"
"Professor! I told you the black magic seniors are innocent!"
The Thunderstep Professor didn't even have the presence of mind to point out how Lee Han kept changing his words.
Gnashing his teeth, he prepared to catch those ungrateful students.
"I clearly told them not to conduct reckless experiments in the forest... Track them down!"
"Wait. Professor...!"
Lee Han panicked as the Thunderstep Professor mounted his spirit deer to chase after the seniors.
They were almost at the area with the spirits!
"Shall we go by ourselves? We're almost there anyway."
"That would be best."
At Priest Siana's words, Lee Han nodded.
He was quite anxious, not knowing when the spirits might leave.
"Darkness, gather here."
Lee Han chanted a spell to clear the dark mist spreading around them.
True to its reputation as one of the most alien elemental attributes, the Dark Element approached as a hostile obstacle to life itself.
Even ordinary forest mist became a deadly trap that drained vitality when combined with Dark Element.
Fortunately, Lee Han was one of the rare Dark Element users even among the black magic school.
Lee Han swung his staff, drawing in the mist.
The Dark Element that had been so difficult to gather outside collected easily in this forest.
'I should clear this.'
Though it was a rare element, paradoxically it had become less useful in the forest.
Since the contaminated beings were already fused with dark spirits, the Dark Element itself didn't do much damage.
"Waitwaitwait!"
"????"
Priest Siana let out a startled "Eek!" and hid behind Lee Han.
A person had suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Don't discard that Dark Element! Could you put it in this bottle for me?"
The figure resembled Puyo the Banyan Tree Spirit or Professor Willow - clearly a plant-type hybrid.
"Who are you?"
"Put the Dark Element in first. It'll disappear soon!"
"It won't disappear."
Lee Han skillfully controlled the Dark Element while keeping it aimed at the stranger. A clear act of wariness.
Though Dark Element was harder to control due to its alien nature, there were exceptions for certain born mages.
With the Dark Element maintained like a spear at his staff's tip, Lee Han stood ready to counter.
"Whoa, Wardanaz. Aren't you a senior?"
"Priest Siana. Seniors are actually more dangerous. The order goes Headmaster, professors, then seniors."
"B-but..."
Still bound by common decency, Priest Siana hesitated at the aggressive stance toward a senior.
Yoner likewise looked concerned.
"Wait. I apologize. But I really didn't mean to."
"What exactly are you apologizing for?"
"About... this whole situation...?"
Ilendil tilted his head as he spoke.
Hearing this, the three first-years realized everything.
The culprit was right before their eyes!
"Attack! Attack!"
"Lee Han, give the signal!"
Flustered by his juniors' violent reaction, Ilendil waved his hands.
"I didn't mean to...?!"
"Intentions don't matter - you summoned all this, didn't you?!"
The dryad hybrid senior pondered briefly how to explain, then made a decision.
He gave up.
"Um... you can attack me, but could you at least bottle the Dark Element first?"
"......"
"H-he seems crazy."
Priest Siana muttered from behind.
* * *
Lee Han lowered his staff first.
The guy seemed crazy, but didn't seem like the type to ambush them.
Ilendil, who had slowly explained what happened, looked at the three and asked:
"So why did you all come this far?"
"Uh..."
"Well..."
Yoner and Priest Siana instinctively looked at Lee Han, who answered firmly:
"We couldn't just stand by while spirits were being chased by contaminated beings, so we came in."
"You..."
For the first time that day, Ilendil's eyes widened with intense reaction.
Among Einrogard students, few showed such concern for the forest or spirits.
"What a kind person you are!"
"Not at all. It's just what any proper mage would do."