Episode 592
Episode 592
Slightly hurt, Lee Han looked around at his friends and asked:
"By any chance... do you guys not really want to enter my dungeon?"
"W-what are you talking about, Wardanaz!?"
"No way? I want to go in?"
The students answered in startled voices.
Yet not a single one could meet Lee Han's eyes.
'We don't want to go in.'
'I wish someone else would go instead of me...!'
After spending a year with Lee Han, the first-year students had come to understand one thing quite well.
What was the most difficult dungeon in the Illusion Magic final exam?
With 100% certainty, it would be the dungeon created by Wardanaz. Even students who didn't take Divination Magic could foresee that.
If it were merely the highest difficulty level, that would be one thing—but if he created something like the Wardanaz family's secret labyrinth that surpassed first-year standards and invited his friends inside...
"..."
"I think you guys are misunderstanding something."
Noticing his friends' subtle exchanged glances, Lee Han quickly grasped their true feelings and responded.
This wasn't the time to get angry. He needed to soothe his friends' fears with kindness and generosity.
"I don't plan on making the dungeon unnecessarily difficult."
"Ha!"
"Pffft—hahaha!"
"......"
"S-sorry. It, uh... just slipped out instinctively."
The friends who had just burst out laughing hurriedly apologized upon seeing the look in Lee Han's eyes.
A foreboding feeling surged in them—if they didn't apologize, they might be the first ones dragged into Wardanaz's special dungeon.
"Friends! Why would I make the dungeon unnecessarily difficult? Think about it. I'm just like you guys."
Lee Han spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.
When he draped an arm over the shoulders of the two friends who had laughed, they both frantically nodded.
Seeing that his persuasion was working, Lee Han drove the point home with satisfaction.
"Come on, tell me—give me even one reason why I'd make the dungeon unnecessarily difficult."
"Because you're Wardanaz."
"You're just like that by default."
"You're taking the Black Magic course."
"Even during the Divination Magic exam, you were the only one seeing something different."
"Same with Arithmetic."
"Same with General Magic."
Lee Han immediately regretted his question as answers flew at him from all sides.
'Damn it. Shouldn't have asked that last one.'
"Wardanaz..."
Professor Kirmin Ku looked at Lee Han with pity.
While it's said that disciples resemble their masters, did he really have to inherit this particular trait from Professor Voladi?
"Alright, everyone, calm down! I'll decide the order in which you enter each other's dungeons."
"Since Wardanaz is from the Blue Dragon Tower, how about the Blue Dragon students go in first?"
"You bastards... Wardanaz is staying in the Phoenix Tower right now!"
"He's been exploring the school with the Black Turtle Tower students, so wouldn't they be the best at navigating it...?"
"How about sending the White Tiger Tower guys in?"
The students, who had been exchanging opinions, turned to Ratford in confusion.
"Huh? What's the reason?"
"There isn't one? I just feel like sending them..."
"You insane bastard!"
The White Tiger Tower students flared up at Ratford, who was trying to throw them into the deathly antlion pit without even the slightest pretense of goodwill.
Professor Kirmin stepped in to restore order.
"I said calm down! I'll decide right now."
Students from each tower stared at the professor with tense expressions.
Which cursed students would be the ones to enter Wardanaz's dungeon?
"Everyone will take turns visiting each other's dungeons once. Understood?"
"......"
"......"
At the professor's words, the students fell silent.
Thinking they had accepted it, the professor nodded in satisfaction.
But moments later, the students immediately grabbed each other by the collars and started fighting.
"This is your fault! If you just sacrificed yourselves and went in, this wouldn't be happening!"
"Shut up! If that's the case, why don't you go in right now?!"
Professor Kirmin sighed and swung his staff.
The students, caught in the illusion magic, flailed and separated from each other.
Lee Han watched the scene with cold eyes, thinking to himself:
'...I'll do my best.'
He had always done his best, but it seemed this test would require him to push himself even further.
"Hey... shouldn't someone stop that Wardanaz kid?"
"That's why I said not to provoke him..."
Students from the White Tiger Tower stared fearfully at Lee Han's barn.
Those attending the Illusion Magic class had gathered around the professor's workshop, each assigned to convert their own barn into a makeshift maze.
Some students were bringing additional materials from the forest, others were digging foundations around their barns, some were testing artifacts to ensure their effects worked properly...
And then there were those who had completely demolished their barns to rebuild from scratch.
"Yeah. Just a bit more. No. This way. Yeah, yeah. Good job, Gonadaltes."
Lee Han had even summoned his Skeleton Warrior Gonadaltes to assist in the construction.
The original barn had too many limitations.
Its structure was too simple, and the materials—just wood, stone, or straw—were so basic that a poorly cast spell could cause the entire barn to collapse.
'Come to think of it, the traps set up in the underground warehouse had a lot to teach me.'
This time, Lee Han had learned much from the Black Magic seniors.
The interconnected magical traps designed to keep people away from the underground warehouse.
Those traps weren't highly refined just because they combined powerful spells.
Their true sophistication lay in the relentless malice woven into them—a malice absent in other traps.
A sheer determination to stop intruders at all costs!
'It's not about the strength of the magic. What matters is how the spells interconnect.'
Lee Han flipped through his Magic Tome, contemplating which Illusion Magic spells to link together.
Meanwhile, the framework of his newly constructed barn began to take shape. True to the word "framework," the structure was literally built from bones.
"Space, distort!"
The moment someone entered, they would lose their sense of direction and see multiple false paths—a <Lesser Spatial Distortion> illusion spell.
Thanks to rebuilding from the bones up, the magic settled cleanly into place. Lee Han smiled in satisfaction.
'Off to a good start.'
"Wo... Wardanaz."
"?"
A few White Tiger Tower students approached him from behind, holding a whole roasted chicken slathered in seasoning.
"Here, eat this first."
"???"
In a situation like this, students from the White Tiger Tower—who never shared their precious meat—were offering him a gift?
There could only be one explanation.
"You poisoned it. How cowardly."
"What nonsense! That's not true!"
"How could you suspect us like that?!"
The White Tiger Tower students were outraged at having their sincerity questioned.
Each tower valued different resources differently. In the Phoenix Tower, beeswax was expensive; in the Blue Dragon Tower, ink was costly; in the Black Turtle Tower, coffee grounds and tea leaves were precious.
And in the White Tiger Tower, meat was the most valuable.
And they had roasted such rare meat for him!
"Are you seriously telling me you grilled this meat out of pure goodwill, with no ulterior motive, just to treat me while I work?"
"...Well, not exactly."
"You didn't have to put it so harshly..."
The White Tiger Tower students shrank back.
But having come this far, they couldn't give up. Lowering their voices, they whispered:
"Wardanaz. We have a request."
"I might not agree, but go ahead and say it."
"...Could you... make a safe path in the maze...?"
"......"
Lee Han looked at them with utter contempt, as if he were staring at the most pathetic people in the world.
"Go build your own maze properly."
"W-wait! A whole plump chicken is a fair trade! You're not losing anything here!"
Lee Han kicked the White Tiger Tower students away, sending them scrambling.
'No wonder the White Tiger Tower has so many failures.'
Now he understood why Moradi was so stressed.
With students like these...
"Wardanaz. Wardanaz."
"Lee Han. Just give us a safe path..."
"...Gonadaltes. From now on, throw bones at anyone who approaches the barn."
"Ah! There was no need to go this far! I was just trying to reach a compromise!"
Only after driving away the troublemakers could Lee Han focus on his work.
Covering the barn walls, creating corridors inside the empty space, digging pitfall traps beneath them...
'Hmm. Should I add something to the walls too?'
Strangely enough, he found himself enjoying the process.
Now he understood why the Black Magic seniors were so obsessed with setting up traps!
"Lord Wardanaz."
"Ratford? I can't show you the safe path."
"Hoho. What do you take me for?"
Outside the barn door, Ratford let out a confident laugh.
At that response, Lee Han was reminded once again of Ratford's background.
"Ah. Right. A simple maze like this would be child's play for you..."
"I'll fake an illness to avoid going in. I already prepared the potion for it."
"...Fine, I'll show you the safe path. Want to come in now?"
"Huh? No thanks."
Lee Han pouted slightly and opened the barn door to step outside.
"Then what did you come here for?"
"Ah. I was planning to gather some Mist Cloud Mushrooms—would you like to join me?"
Some spells required specific reagents for each casting.
Bone-based elemental magic in Black Magic needed bone powder, and other schools also had spells that required reagents.
The Mist Cloud Mushroom was an essential reagent for casting Evening Twilight, an illusion spell.
"Trying to cast Evening Twilight? That's pretty advanced, isn't it?"
"The professor said I should give it a try, so I thought I'd test it. But Lord Wardanaz, you seem to have already finished your preparations..."
Ratford glanced at the exterior of the bone barn.
Unlike other barns, its appearance alone was eerie and unsettling. Most thieves wouldn't dare enter such a place.
"No, casting Evening Twilight would be good too. Let's go together."
"It already seems more than sufficient, though..."
"No. It's still lacking."
The moment Lee Han finished speaking, a student who had been sneaking into the barn screamed and bolted out.
A horde of Skeleton Warriors swarmed in, pelting bones at him.
"That guy's just easily scared."
"......"
* * *
Gathering Mist Cloud Mushrooms wasn't particularly difficult.
Einrogard's mountain range was famously tall—so much so that it was nicknamed the "Sky Mountains"—but that applied only to the deeper regions. Near the main buildings, there were plenty of relatively low mountains.
And the ones most familiar with these mountains were the students of the Black Turtle Tower.
Thanks to spending their free time foraging edible plants and setting traps for small game, they knew the terrain well.
Ratford had already located a cluster of Mist Cloud Mushrooms, so Lee Han only had to follow him comfortably.
"Hey, Wardanaz, why are you even—?"
"Wardanaz, we use reagents because we lack power, but you're already strong enough!"
"You're fine as you are! Don't make things harder for yourself! You have other school exams to prepare for too!"
...
The only downside was that every student they met along the way said something like that.
The more Lee Han heard such remarks, the more determined he became to turn his simple maze into a labyrinth of hell.
"Hey... look at Wardanaz's eyes..."
"Who pissed off Wardanaz? Who was it?"
"That's why I said we should've volunteered earlier. He's mad now."
The students whispered among themselves, wondering if they should offer a sacrifice now to appease him.
"Monster!!!"
"?!"
At the sudden shout from ahead, Lee Han jolted in surprise.
'How careless of me!'
Lost in thoughts of trapping his friends forever in the maze, he had let his guard down in Einrogard's mountains.
A fatal mistake.
And wasn't there already one monster chasing Lee Han?
"Everyone, over here!"
Lee Han quickly gathered his friends and formed a defensive formation. The students asked with pale faces:
"Wh-what is it, Wardanaz? A monster?"
"Probably a Blood-sucking Monster. Stay calm—"
BOOM!
A tree ahead was sent flying as a massive beast soared through the air and landed.
A familiar creature.
It was none other than a Mountain-Destroying Sheep.
"......"