Episode 567
Episode 567
Of course, Lee Han didn't trust the Death Knights' words either.
'It could be a trick.'
The Death Knights might be lying, or perhaps they had a subordinate they weren't aware of.
The Death Knights, sensing his suspicion, were so aggrieved they could die.
-"Look, Wardanaz student. Our master wouldn't keep such an uncontrollable monster... Well, anyway, he definitely doesn't have one like that!"
-"Our master wouldn't keep such a dangerous-looking creature... Though, to be honest, we've never even seen that thing before!"
"......"
"......"
Not just Lee Han, but even the priests were now eyeing the Death Knights with suspicion.
Suppressing their sorrow, the Death Knights surrounded the Blood-sucking Monster.
-"Deal with it. It looks annoying at first glance."
-"Where did this thing crawl out from? If you've got a mouth, start talking."
The blade of a spear, shimmering with deep blue Negative Energy, was pointed at the Blood-sucking Monster. Sensing the threat, the creature moved explosively.
Whoosh!
Its speed increased to the point where only its shadow could be seen. However, the Death Knights had no intention of competing with it in speed.
Boom!
One of the Death Knights was struck and sent flying by the Blood-sucking Monster.
-"■■■■■■■!"
The monster roared in triumph—but that was a premature judgment. The Death Knight's sword was already deeply embedded in the Blood-sucking Monster's left leg.
Crackle crackle crackle—
In an instant, the monster's left leg froze solid all the way to the ground. The Death Knight who had been sent flying stood up, repairing its shattered armor and crushed helmet.
-"Go ahead, keep boasting about your speed in this domain."
The Death Knights sneered and cackled at the Blood-sucking Monster. Lee Han was once again struck by the sheer strength of these Summons.
Even if Einrogard's power was enhancing them, the fact that each Summon possessed such high-level judgment and formidable combat prowess was astounding.
"You're amazing!"
-"Huh? Suddenly?"
-"Why?"
The Death Knights on standby were taken aback by Lee Han's sudden praise.
"My Summons never show this level of competence."
-"Ah, that's only natural. Summoning Death Knights like us isn't an easy feat."
-"For starters, the materials alone are hard to come by. You'd need a knight bound by oaths and lingering regrets..."
'White Tiger Tower students?'
At the mention of knights with many grievances, the White Tiger Tower knights immediately came to mind.
Even as they conversed, the Death Knights at the front relentlessly attacked the Blood-sucking Monster.
With one leg immobilized, the creature couldn't evade the Death Knights' strikes and was mercilessly pummeled.
-"Try it again! Like before! Come on!"
-"You arrogant—! Huh? Go ahead, try it!"
Every time a weapon condensed with Negative Energy pierced the Blood-sucking Monster, it struck deep into its very existence.
The monster slashed wildly with its claws and fired sharpened blood spikes, but the Death Knights simply traded blows in a "you hit me, I hit you" fashion.
Most attacks couldn't even pierce their armor, and the rare strikes that did were instantly healed by the swirling darkness within.
Lee Han now understood why Death Knights were the quintessential example of evil Black Magic Summons in fairy tales.
Overwhelming offensive power and unbreakable defense.
The intelligence to analyze an enemy's weakness based on their combat experience and exploit it in the most advantageous way.
And, completely unrelated to their honor in life, a ruthlessness that didn't hesitate to employ underhanded tactics.
The last part was almost an insult, but Lee Han considered it a compliment.
'If they had a mage constantly healing them, there'd be no way to win.'
There were two ways to deal with undead: either deal enough damage to make Summon reversal inevitable or defeat the mage controlling them.
But with Death Knights, the former was nearly impossible—their defense and vitality surpassed imagination.
-■!
The Blood-sucking Monster coughed up blood and collapsed. After being beaten, stabbed, and slashed, the once-ferocious creature lay sprawled like a corpse, its earlier menace nowhere to be seen.
The Death Knights planted their swords and spears into the creature's body and clicked their tongues.
-What kind of lunatic shows up like this...
-From the looks of it, it doesn't seem like something the students summoned.
"It wasn't them?!"
Lee Han was startled.
If it wasn't one of the Skeleton Principal's minions, he had naturally assumed the seniors had created this monster.
'Thought they'd failed at making a chimera or something.'
-The students of Einrogard wouldn't make something like this.
-True. No matter what, they wouldn't go that far.
"Last time, a senior tried to create an artificial spirit and ended up releasing a bunch of monsters into the forest..."
-......
-......
The Death Knights fell silent and averted their gaze.
-Ahem. Young Wardanaz. After serving under our master for so long, you learn to recognize certain things through experience. When students cause trouble, it just feels different.
One of the older Death Knights, hailing from the era of the Three Kingdoms, stepped forward to explain.
Even among vampiric monsters, those created by students' accidents had a certain telltale quality.
Traces of various spells being practiced and attempted were inevitably visible.
In contrast, the vampiric monster they had just captured bore no such marks. This was a naturally born monster.
"Then why is a monster like that here? Isn't that dangerous?"
Lee Han asked in a grave tone, but the Death Knights didn't seem overly concerned.
-Haha. It's not that serious.
-Indeed. These things happen from time to time. Probably drifted in from the mountain range... No, wait. A monster like this would more likely come from underground. Might've been hibernating somewhere beneath and just woken up.
-Your judgment seems correct, senior. Given that it's an undead-type monster that despises light, it's far more likely to have emerged from underground than the mountains.
"......"
"......"
The first-years watched the Death Knights' conversation with queasy expressions.
A vicious monster like this had just appeared, and they were casually chatting as if it were just another "oh, it happens sometimes" occurrence.
-■■■■...
A guttural growl suddenly echoed again.
The Death Knights flinched and turned their heads.
A portion of the vampiric monster's flesh, which had been flung far onto a tree branch during the earlier fierce battle.
Around that piece, the vampiric monster regenerated in an instant. The corpse of the monster, impaled on the ground, turned to ash and vanished in the blink of an eye.
The Death Knights were stunned by this regeneration ability, which far exceeded expectations.
To regenerate like that from just a small chunk of flesh—not even the head or heart!
And this wasn't even under normal circumstances. The weapons wielded by the Death Knights weren't ordinary—they were cursed armaments steeped in negative energy.
Once cut or pierced by them, even monsters with exceptional regeneration should have their healing suppressed. Yet this thing had regenerated right through it?
In terms of sheer regenerative power alone, this monster ranked among the top the Death Knights had ever encountered.
-Tch.
-We should just burn it to ashes. Was going to investigate where it came from, but...
The Death Knights muttered as they summoned ghost flames.
Though startled by its regeneration, they had plenty of ways to deal with it now that they'd seen it in action.
-■■■!
But instead of attacking the Death Knights, the vampiric monster turned and fled with all its might.
It kicked off several trees, vanished into the forest, and disappeared so thoroughly that not even a shadow remained. The Death Knights froze in place.
-......
"Uh... Did it just run away?"
-...
Can't exactly say it fled.
-Might come back, so...
-Wouldn't call it our mistake so much as an exceptional combat situation, I suppose?
'You totally let it get away.'
Lee Han stared at the Death Knights with undisguised disappointment.
All the respect he'd felt for them earlier had completely evaporated.
"A monster that was trapped underground came up?"
"Are you sure the Headmaster didn't release it?"
"Its regeneration was that strong? Should we start carrying something to counter that?"
"Are you sure the Headmaster didn't release it?"
"But if it got wrecked by the Death Knights, wouldn't it avoid the school area? They said it fled toward the mountains."
"Are you sure the Headmaster didn't release it?"
Naturally, news of last night's incident spread quickly among the students.
With finals approaching, the fact that some insane monster was running wild became a hot topic of discussion.
"We should form a self-defense squad and patrol in groups."
"Isn't that overreacting? The thing ran away in the end. We barely have enough time to study as it is."
The students were divided into two factions—those who insisted they 'must prepare' and those who argued 'that's not the priority right now.'
There was also a minority opinion, like Gainando's, that claimed it was 'the Headmaster's scheme,' but it didn't gain much traction.
While his friends debated, Lee Han silently continued moving his quill pen.
He had to somehow complete Professor Voladi's assignments to a presentable level before the semester ended.
"Wardanaz. What do you think?"
"Huh?"
"About the vampiric monster."
"Calling Professor Bagrak that is a bit too harsh... Oh. You weren't talking about the professor."
"...??"
"What else can we do? We can't exactly go searching for it now. Sticking together in groups is our best bet."
"Do you think that'll be enough?"
"There's not much else we can do. How about armor?"
"That sounds good."
"Armor alone might not be enough, so bring the crossbows we made last time in the library too. We learned about poisons in Black Magic class—I'll brew some and coat the bolts with it. Oh, and there should be some signal magic fireworks left in Professor Verdus's workshop. We should grab those too."
'He says there's not much we can do... but if this is "not much," then what the hell counts as "a lot"?'
After calming his friends' anxieties, Lee Han moved on.
Truth be told, even he was sometimes surprised at himself.
No matter how much Einrogard acclimated people to the extraordinary, to remain this composed after encountering a vampiric monster like yesterday's...
Even now, unlike his worried friends, he was eerily calm.
"Good afternoon, Professor."
Lee Han opened the door and stepped into the lecture hall.
Come to think of it, the professor inside this classroom bore a significant share of the credit for Lee Han's lack of fear.
'A walking terror.'
What was so frightening about a vampiric monster lurking in dark woods at night, thirsting for blood?
True fear walked boldly in broad daylight.
Professor Voladi gave a slight nod in greeting as Lee Han entered.
"You're here."
"What... is this?"
Lee Han was puzzled by the unusual state of the underground lecture hall.
Normally, it was a barren space with only the most essential furniture and academic tools, but today it was filled with unfamiliar objects.
A large tin bowl (containing a squirming lump of greenish meat), what looked like a toy racetrack, rings that might belong in a circus act...
Even Professor Voladi himself was holding a strangely shaped toy in one hand—something that resembled a pet plaything.
A sword-wielding Voladi was terrifying, but a toy-wielding Voladi was no less unsettling. Lee Han subtly glanced behind him, checking his escape route.
"The basilisk's growth is too slow."
"Ah."
Only then did Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.
He had feared it might be some absurd training regimen to boost his combat prowess before finals, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.
From inside his sleeve, the baby basilisk hissed loudly and unabashedly.
A very, very displeased sound.
"Sorry. I can't help it either."
—?!
Lee Han apologized to the baby basilisk.
Under different circumstances, he might have fought for it, but not in front of Professor Voladi.
Because both he and the basilisk could end up dead.
'Those who must live, must live.'
"It's a meal I requested from the Lightning Step Professor. Try it."
The baby basilisk, of course, shook its head in refusal.
At that, Professor Voladi gripped its neck with one hand and cast a telekinesis spell with his eyes. The basilisk's mouth snapped open.
—■■■■■!
Whatever the baby basilisk was saying, the green meat lump didn't seem appetizing. Lee Han apologized silently again.
As Professor Voladi fed the basilisk, he turned to Lee Han.
"I heard you succeeded in altering the form of your Lightning Element?"
"■■■■■!"
Lee Han let out the exact same strangled noise the basilisk had just made.