Episode 552
Episode 552
"Not all mages care about spirits."
The squirrel spirit shook its head in agreement from Lee Han's shoulder.
Even excluding extreme cases like the Skeleton Principal, mages who genuinely cared about spirits were surprisingly rare.
Even those who befriended and contracted with spirits wouldn't risk their lives to venture deep into the contaminated forest for them.
"But Senior, how did you appear before us...?"
"There's a potion that can briefly stop the Headmaster's magic."
"!"
"...!!!"
All three, being top alchemy students, immediately grasped just how incredible what Ilendil had said was.
Even if only for a moment—stopping the Skeleton Principal's magic?
Their gazes, which had been looking at Ilendil as either a "crazy senior" or a "suspicious senior," instantly shifted to ones of reverence for an "amazing senior."
"You're incredible!"
"Seriously...!"
"Huh?"
Ilendil, however, was puzzled by his juniors' sudden reaction.
"Why?"
"Senior, sorry, but we have to save the spirits. We don't have time..."
"I'll help. The potion's effect is still active."
"Uh..."
Lee Han hesitated. He wasn't sure about traveling with a senior he'd just met—especially the mastermind behind this incident—who still seemed suspicious.
Plus, they still had to contract with the spirits...
"Aren't you in danger if the professor returns?"
"Yeah. The forest and spirits matter more than me."
"So cool...!"
"Maybe I misjudged him, Lee Han."
As Priest Siana and Yoner showed even greater respect toward Ilendil, Lee Han thought to himself, 'Did everyone forget he's the one behind the contaminated beings?' But there was no time to waste now.
"Understood. Let's go."
At the very least, he was a senior and an alchemist far superior to Lee Han—so he'd be helpful...
Even if the fact that he was the mastermind behind this whole mess was a bit unsettling...
"Why did you try to create an artificial Dark Spirit?"
While ordinary students might chat about dinner while walking, top alchemy students discussed alchemy even on the move.
At Priest Siana's question, Ilendil answered in his characteristically slow voice.
"Yeah. I wanted to use it as a forest guardian."
"A forest guardian?"
The forests of Einrogard possessed ancient, primordial power.
But not all imperial forests could be like that.
Darkness was one of the elements that made forests particularly vulnerable.
There were even cases where a single mis-summoned Dark Spirit contaminated an entire vast forest.
Heartbroken by such incidents, Ilendil took the opposite approach.
What if he used a Dark Spirit as a forest guardian?
"Wow! That's really..."
"Isn't that insane?"
Priest Siana, who had been about to praise the idea, froze awkwardly at Lee Han's muttering.
"Isn't it a good idea?"
"Priest Siana. Look at the contaminated beings in front of us."
Ilendil's expression darkened at the juniors' conversation. The leaves connected to his hair drooped dejectedly.
"It would've been great if it worked."
'Oops. He's still a senior.'
Lee Han realized his mistake. His urgency over the spirits had made him slip up in a way he normally wouldn't.
Ilendil was, after all, his senior.
If word of Lee Han's rudeness spread among the senior community...
'Can't I just use the Moradi family? No, too risky. I already mentioned my name and family earlier.'
"Not at all, Senior. I think it was a meaningful attempt."
"Huh? You said it was insane."
"Pioneers always seem insane at first. I meant it as praise."
"You're really a kind person."
Ilendil's leaves perked up immediately.
"But wouldn't it be better to consult experts when dealing with tricky elements like Dark Element?"
"Experts?"
The dryad-blooded senior stared straight at Lee Han.
Lee Han answered without missing a beat.
"I meant seniors from the Black Magic school."
"Hmm. But the Black Magic faction members are all eccentric and scary."
"Pardon?"
At the senior's words, Lee Han paused, wondering if he'd misheard something.
"Wait. The spirits are over there."
Ilendil extended a finger to correct the direction.
"Can you sense the spirits' presence?"
"Yeah. I've been close with spirits since childhood."
"......"
Yoner shook her head vigorously as she saw veins bulging on her friend's hand gripping the staff.
Just what did the spirit say...!
"We're here. The spirits are gathered over there."
Lee Han had no choice but to acknowledge the senior's skill as a temporary guide in place of Professor Thunderstep.
Spirit half-bloods, where ancestral contracts manifested randomly in descendants, all had distinct characteristics.
Some spirit half-bloods were so sensitive they'd startle at the sight of Lee Han, while others remained utterly indifferent.
Given that Ilendil claimed closeness with spirits, it was clear he had a natural affinity in that regard.
"Hold on."
Suddenly, the senior's complexion changed.
"The homunculus is coming this way."
"!"
Lee Han's eyes sharpened.
Unlike other contaminated beings, the artificial dark spirit—the root cause of this incident—was a different matter entirely.
"I'll hold it off. You take the spirits and go."
Lee Han, about to nod, hesitated.
With spirits present right now, wouldn't showing Ilendil's self-sacrificing attitude just reset the situation back to square one?
"No. I'll help hold it off too."
Ilendil gave Lee Han a look that said, 'You really are a genuinely good person.'
"Hmm. What was your name again?"
"Mo—"
"Lord Wardanaz."
"Lee Han of the Wardanaz family."
"Yes. That's correct."
"Lee Han of the Wardanaz family. Lee Han of the Wardanaz family. Got it. I'll remember."
The Dryad half-blood senior swung his staff.
Instantly, the already dense trees grew even more tangled, forming a solid wall.
Thud!
The charging artificial dark spirit was trapped within the wooden prison.
But the spirit was no pushover either. It fluidly morphed its form and began squeezing its entire body through the gaps in the wooden cage to crawl free.
"Darkness, gather here!"
Lee Han reacted immediately without waiting for the senior's instruction.
Ilendil, who had been containing the spirit with trees, nodded approvingly at Lee Han. This was precisely what needed to be done right now.
Continuously absorbing the dark element from the artificial dark spirit.
Dark elements gathered at the tip of Lee Han's staff.■!
The spirit reacted violently as its very essence was being torn away.
Initially trying to forcibly retain the dark elements through sheer power, the spirit—now outmatched by Lee Han's control—switched tactics instantly.
'This is...!'
As the condensed dark elements at the staff's tip flickered and threatened to explode, Lee Han hastily pulled bone fragments from his reagent pouch and compressed them urgently.
Some fragments burned away, but there was no helping it.
'<Dark Wave Diffusion>!'
Lee Han recalled the spell from the magic tome Professor Voladi had given him.
A spell that condensed dark elements before detonating them in a wave to affect the surroundings.
With other elements, this wouldn't have been particularly potent, but the nature of dark elements made even wave-based attacks lethal.
Living mages hit directly by such dark elements multiple times would have their vitality drained away.
The spirit was now instinctively attempting to induce a similar phenomenon.
"Absorption... difficult...?"
Ilendil gasped, his words fragmented.
Though he was using potions to maintain containment, the sheer scale of the magic was taking a visible toll on his mana and stamina.
Yoner and Priest Siana were assisting too, but they were already drenched in cold sweat.
Lee Han instinctively knew that backing down now would only complicate things further.
'If push comes to shove, I'll have to counter with magic.'
Though he'd never practiced <Dark Wave Diffusion> before and had postponed it, the current situation left no choice but to attempt it based on theory alone.
With recklessness that would've made Diret shut his eyes tightly if he were here, Lee Han swung his staff.
"Darkness, gather here once more!"
Once again, the dark elements coalesced.
The spirit struggling within the wooden prison reacted even faster this time, having learned from experience.
As the dark elements flickered and threatened to burst apart immediately, there was no time to contain them with reagents.
Lee Han cast <Dark Wave Diffusion> exactly as he'd read in the magic tome.
"Darkness, sweep them away!"
A wave of dark energy surged through the air above, passing over them. By casting first, Lee Han had consumed the elements before the opponent could detonate them.
Ilendil asked again in confusion:
"Why didn't you... earlier...?"
"It was my first time casting that spell—I had no choice!"
"What?"
Lee Han couldn't explain further to Ilendil.
The spirit, realizing it couldn't match the dark elemental mage, shifted tactics once more.
Grass and branches fused with dark elements, rising like puppets.
At the sight, Ilendil let out a pained scream.
"You bastard!"
"Hand, rend my enemies!"
With no time to draw Morning Star against the closing foes, Lee Han barely managed to chant the spell.
The Skeleton Principal's close-combat spell, <Gonadaltes' Sharp Hand>.
He'd wondered when he'd ever use such a spell, unlike other magic...!
Swish!
"Flash forth!"
Slashing with one hand while swinging his staff to chant with the other, the numbers and momentum were alarming.
In chaotic melees, mages always drew the short straw.
"Flash forth!"
As lightning coalesced, another grass puppet charged. Lee Han forcibly anchored the lightning to his staff's tip and thrust it like a spear.
If he could just buy a moment, he could summon all his minions to gain time—but that moment never came.
If only he had a single moment!
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
As if answering Lee Han's desperation, the lightning element at the staff's tip swelled violently, engulfing the staff.
Lee Han himself, busy dispatching foes on the other side and glaring at the spirit trapped in the wooden cage, failed to notice the change.
He only realized it after seeing all enemies near his staff-wielding hand had collapsed.
"...?"
Startled, Lee Han suddenly noticed his staff had transformed into a spear of lightning.
'Wait. How did I do this?'
Clearly, he'd used the staff as a conduit, fixing the lightning element into the form of a blazing spear.
Professor Voladi's lectures on elemental stabilization made it obvious at a glance.
But the bewildering part was that he couldn't remember how he'd done it.
In the heat of the moment, it must have been instinctive—
'No time for this!'
Lee Han immediately summoned Sharkan and the Skeleton Warriors.
The lightning spear repelled the grass puppets as the summons blocked them. Seizing the opening, Lee Han charged forward with the spear in hand.
■!
The spirit trapped within the wooden cage seemed to realize its fate and let out a terrified shriek.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!
Unlike the shock of released and passing lightning, the condensed, anchored lightning was sharp and vicious.
Moreover, it didn't dissipate—it continuously burned the spirit.
Lee Han raised the spear and thrust again.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!
He intended to keep stabbing until the opponent was banished.
Of course, being a creation of Einrogard's seniors, it wouldn't be banished as easily as a normal spirit.
But it didn't matter.
In a battle of endurance, Lee Han's magic would never give out first.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
■! ■! ■! ■! ■!
After a chorus of thunder and screams, the artificial spirit abandoned all resistance and knelt.
It stopped attacking and made its sigil rise on Lee Han's hand—a signal of complete surrender, entrusting its fate to the mage.
"???"
Of course, Lee Han had no intention of forming a contract, leaving him utterly bewildered.
Hadn't this thing been a rampaging menace just moments ago?
Few mages would contract with something that might stab them in the back at any moment.
Unless they were obsessed with spirits...
"Wardanaz! Form the contract! Didn't you want to contract with a spirit?!"
"Is that true? I think it's a great idea! A bit mischievous, but deep down, it's a good kid!"
"......"
At the shouts from Priest Siana and Senior Ilendil, Lee Han grimaced.