Episode 58
Episode 58
He couldn't even remember how many hundreds of attempts he'd made.
That's how painstakingly he'd finally completed the orb.
"...Lee Han?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't know much about that spell, but... hasn't it gotten too big?"
Yoner asked with a bewildered expression.
The other students seemed equally perplexed.
The water orb that had initially been about fist-sized was now...
It had grown as large as a massive boulder.
At this point, one might wonder, 'Can that even still be called an orb?'
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—
The enormous water orb spun with an ominous sound.
Ashan spoke to his friends as if to say 'What's the big deal?'
"There's no way a Wardanaz wouldn't be able to properly control a single spell. That's definitely how the spell is supposed to look—100%."
"R-really? But for a first-year's spell... it looks too... dangerous."
When Loweana stammered, Nilia stepped in angrily beside her.
"What are you taking the Wardanaz for?! A Wardanaz can definitely handle this much!"
"......"
Lee Han was grateful for his friends' faith but also felt the pressure mounting.
Suddenly, he began feeling the weight of expectations.
'Did I push myself too hard?'
There had always been sayings for young mages:
-Don't mess with a well-crafted spell for no reason.
A single spell was already a complete formula and world in itself. An inexperienced mage tampering with it recklessly would never end well.
What Lee Han was doing now wasn't an extreme modification, but it was still a modification.
'Am I doing this wrong?'
Maintaining rotational force while strongly compressing water into an orb form was proving difficult for Lee Han in his current state.
Unbeknownst to him, this was a spell even upperclassmen struggled with unless they specialized in it.
A high-difficulty spell that required maintaining an orb shape with fixed mana while also generating internal rotation!
Of course, Lee Han knew none of this.
So he simply pumped more mana into it.
To maintain the rotational force.
As he injected more mana, the water orb began spinning—but its form warped as it couldn't withstand the sheer volume of energy.
So Lee Han thought, 'There's plenty of water around anyway,' and just enlarged the orb.
But as the orb grew, the rotational force started weakening again.
...So Lee Han pumped in even more mana.
Under normal circumstances, one of two things should've happened by now—either the mage would collapse, or the water orb would burst.
But Lee Han's mana reserves were too vast for him to collapse, and his concentration was far more formidable than expected for the orb to break apart.
The result after who knows how many tens of minutes?
Lee Han had finally completed it.
A perfected state where the barely maintained water orb spun in form!
...Though its size had grown dozens of times larger than originally intended!
'No. I'm sure I can control this.'
Lee Han aimed the water cannon... no, the water orb at the golem.
The spell was already so precarious to maintain that even aiming was a struggle.
'Go!'
BOOM!
With a deafening roar, the water orb shot forth—though its trajectory veered slightly off-target as the orb couldn't fully contain its own power.
'Oh no!'
He'd aimed for the golem's back, but it ended up striking its shoulder instead.
Lee Han clicked his tongue in frustration.
'Can I really recreate that now? My head's already throbbing just from making one...'
THUD!
"......"
"......"
"?????"
The students on-site blinked in disbelief at what had just happened.
The mud golem struck by the water orb on its shoulder had literally exploded into smithereens.
"Woo... WOOOOOAH!"
"Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Wardanaz!"
"See?! What did I tell you?!"
"......"
Lee Han stared blankly at the mud golem's remains.
Even though it missed... to this extent...
He couldn't tell if it was due to the water orb's sheer power or the mud golem's inherent weakness.
'Still, Professor Voladi's teachings weren't wrong. That saved my life.'
Of course, Professor Voladi had never specifically taught them this.
"Wardanaz. You okay? I'll carry you."
"No, I'll carry him."
"I'll do it."
When Lee Han staggered back from the aftereffects of casting magic, his friends swarmed around him.
As they grabbed his limbs and started pulling, Lee Han felt a headache coming on that hadn't even existed before.
"...I can walk on my own."
"Oh, really?"
After resting briefly and downing the remaining coffee, his mind cleared back to normal. Lee Han found his own recovery rate almost ridiculous.
'Maybe coffee is basically a magic potion no matter where you are.'
Gulp—
"Hmm. The rain's let up a bit. Nilia, do you think it's okay to move out now?"
"Normally... I'd prefer to wait a little longer..."
"Let's all move out!"
"Wardanaz says we can go!"
"...Will you brats let me finish speaking?!"
Nilia flared up as the students tried to move before she'd even finished speaking. Lee Han had to gather his friends back to their original positions.
"I'd prefer to wait longer too, but given that mud golems have appeared, we shouldn't let our guard down. Let's move now while the rain's lighter. I'll take the lead, so just follow behind me. Don't stop midway, don't wander off elsewhere, and don't get distracted if you see something interesting—"
"Ah! Isn't that an ureum fruit? Looks delicious."
Whack!
Lee Han smacked the Black Turtle Tower student's back with his staff.
The student yelped in surprise.
"S-sorry! Lord Wardanaz!"
"Apologies!"
The atmosphere instantly shifted to one of perfect discipline. The Black Turtle Tower students straightened their uniforms and postures.
Nilia gave Lee Han a grateful look, but inwardly, he sighed.
'Damn. Should've made someone else do it.'
Nilia had ended up playing the nice teacher role while Lee Han became the strict one.
Of course, this was an effective dynamic often used during training camps or field trips...
...but Lee Han had wanted to play the nice teacher role too.
'Should've just made Nilia do it.'
Unaware of Lee Han's dark thoughts, Nilia finished her instructions.
"Everyone form groups. Keep track of each other so no one gets left behind. If there's a problem, speak up immediately. All set? Let's move out!"
The students lined up and began marching.
It was such a disciplined formation that no one would believe these were Magic School students.
"Light, arise!"
Lee Han conjured a sphere of light overhead to illuminate their surroundings.
This was to help the students following behind.
Not just Lee Han—any student capable of magic used their spells to assist their friends.
Seeing this, a thought suddenly struck Lee Han.
'Wouldn't now be a good time to try fire magic?'
Fire magic might be the most suitable for their current situation.
Though the rain had lightened, all the students were shivering from the cold.
'Professor Garcia did warn me...'
Professor Garcia had advised Lee Han against using fire elemental magic within the school until his magical abilities became more proficient.
There was a risk Lee Han might hurt himself if he wasn't careful.
But in this rainy situation, the danger seemed minimal.
The bigger concern was whether fire could even ignite properly in this downpour.
In fact, even students who currently knew the <Flame Creation> spell were failing to cast it successfully in this rain.
The constant downpour aside, the cold, damp environment was affecting the mages' concentration.
-Could I really ignite flames in these conditions?
The moment this doubt surfaced, the spell was already half-failed.
'Let's try.'
"Burn forth!"
Lee Han visualized fire and incanted the spell.
Having repeatedly watched his classmates with envious glances during Professor Garcia's lectures, he remembered the motions perfectly.
Whooshhhhhh!
"!!!!"
"!!!!!!"
Nilia, who had been walking beside him, pricked up her ears and jumped in surprise.
Lee Han had just spewed forth a violent burst of flames right in front of them.
Fortunately, the flames disappeared in an instant, but the shock remained.
"?!?!?!"
"S-sorry."
Nilia didn't scream, wary of startling the students behind them. Truly befitting someone from the Shadow Patrol.
Instead, she expressed her shock with her entire body—waving her hands, widening her eyes, and shaking her feet—making her feelings abundantly clear without words.
"Really sorry. I didn't expect it to be this uncontrollable."
"Wh-what did you just do?"
Nilia asked in a stunned voice.
"Flame Creation."
"...???"
Nilia doubted her ears.
Since when did a spell for creating small flames do... that?
"It's my first time using it, so I lost control. But it's fine now. I've got the hang of it."
As if to prove it wasn't a lie, Lee Han adjusted the flame's size. A flickering sphere of fire floated in the air.
The intense heat warmed their bodies, and Nilia's expression softened.
"Burn!"
"??"
"What?"
"Uh... never mind."
Nilia had thought, 'Even if it's 1st Circle Magic, is it really okay to cast it repeatedly like that?' but she held her tongue.
Just as Lee Han respected her abilities as a hunter, she too had to respect his as a mage.
That's what friends do, right?
"Ah, by the way, is it okay to summon this many at once?"
"......"
Nilia glared at him.
Regardless, the flames and light helped the students pick up their pace.
The blazes Lee Han summoned melted the frozen limbs of the students, warming them up.
'Professor Ingoldel really isn't here.'
Upon reaching the spot where Professor Ingoldel had been earlier, Lee Han scanned the surroundings.
The professor was nowhere to be seen, but Lee Han wasn't disappointed. He had been inwardly certain of this for a while now.
'Just as I thought—another one of the professors' traps.'
Creak-creak...
"?"
The Bone Summon suddenly trembled in fear and hid behind Lee Han, as if terrified of the spot where Professor Ingoldel had disappeared.
'What's going on?'
Lee Han focused his senses.
From where the professor had vanished, he detected a strangely familiar mana.
Where had he felt this before?
BOOM!!!
"?!?"
All the students flinched and turned their heads.
From the opposite direction they had come, a Mud Golem was charging toward them, rampaging wildly.
While Lee Han's group had him as a leader, the students from Phoenix Tower and White Tiger Tower had no such figure.
When the same Mud Golem appeared before them, each student voiced their own opinion.
-Let's throw potions at it to take it down!
-Let's gang up on it from all sides! If we distract it, we have a chance.
-What if we attack it with magic?
-Just try everything at once.
-That's a great idea, right?
What happens when you throw dozens of unrefined ideas into a project and just do all of them at once?
Naturally, chaos ensued.
-Throw it! The potion's working! Batrek's potions really are the best!
-Wait, wasn't that potion made by Priest Siana?
-Oh, really? My bad.
-Everyone, scatter and stab it! Don't let it reform!
For such a disorganized assault, the students fought surprisingly well.
They threw hastily brewed potions to weaken the Mud Golem's body, while the White Tiger Tower students slashed and hacked at it with spears and swords—a display befitting their knightly lineage.
But that was as far as they got.
When they failed to bring the Mud Golem down before the potions wore off, the students were quickly pushed back.
-...Fall back! Retreat! If we stay, we're all dead!
-Run! Run if you want to live!
Once they realized their weapons were no longer effective, the students began screaming and fleeing.
And of course—straight toward Lee Han's group!
Lee Han muttered as he watched the chaotic stampede approaching from afar.
"Those guys are nothing but dead weight in life..."
For Lee Han's image, Nilia decided to pretend she hadn't heard that.