Episode 68
Episode 68
At the exact moment the Skeleton Principal was dumbfounded, Lee Han and his friends from the Blue Dragon Tower were sprinting down the stairs.
'The mana is gathering again!'
Lee Han could feel it.
The mana of the tower, which had scattered momentarily, was rapidly reforming and coalescing once more.
Though it had dispersed briefly due to the unexpected shock, the magic of the Magic School was truly formidable.
It had been prepared to recover even in such a situation.
And if all of this were to be restored...
'Our plan could go awry.'
Lee Han didn't know exactly how many spells were currently active in the tower or what their effects were.
But he could guess that if those spells were reactivated, it would spell trouble for them—the intruders.
Whoosh!
"Waaaah!"
"Gainando! Gainando!!"
It seemed one spell had completed itself during the mana-gathering process. The magic flickered and activated.
Unfortunately, Gainando was caught by the spell and was yanked backward, flying down the stairs as if an invisible hook had latched onto his collar.
"Gah!"
Gainando was flung outside the White Tiger Tower's main gate, tumbling head over heels.
It was clearly an expulsion spell meant for intruders.
"Hurry! If more spells complete, things will get messy!"
"O-okay!"
The students of the Blue Dragon Tower nodded.
Though they had nearly panicked, they had the most reliable leader of all.
Seeing Lee Han's sculpted face calmly giving orders, the students regained their composure and followed.
Bam!
The lounge door swung open.
Lee Han and Ratford quickly searched for anything that could be turned into money—no, anything resembling a flag.
"W-what in the world is this?!"
Durgyu, who had come down from his private room due to the faint commotion, blinked in shock.
Students from the Blue Dragon Tower—who shouldn't have been there at all—had swarmed into the first-year lounge.
Recognizing a familiar face, Durgyu asked in a choked voice,
"Lee Han! What's going on—"
"Durgyu!"
"Huh?"
"Behind you!"
"Huh?"
Durgyu instinctively turned around. Lee Han immediately hurled a bead, smacking Durgyu squarely in the jaw.
The poor orc, still half-asleep, collapsed once more—all because he had trusted Lee Han.
"...Haha! This White Tiger Tower punk! Now you'll pay for your insolence toward the Wardanaz!"
As one of the Blue Dragon Tower students cheered, Yoner shot Lee Han a bewildered look.
His expression clearly said, 'Are we really allowed to do this?'
Lee Han shook his head and replied,
"This is for Durgyu's own good."
The reason Lee Han hadn't told Durgyu about the plan was simple.
Durgyu was, after all, a White Tiger Tower student.
It wasn't that he feared betrayal.
He was worried that Durgyu, already somewhat ostracized within the White Tiger Tower, would face even more exclusion if he got involved in this plan.
Yoner had agreed, knowing that...
'Even so, I think you hit his jaw way too hard!'
"Seeing him collapsed like this, the other White Tiger Tower students won't misunderstand. Durgyu doesn't need to become an outcast in the tower like Nilia."
"Yeah. ...But did you really have to use Nilia as an example...?"
"Found it!"
True to his thief instincts, Ratford swiftly located the flag.
The problem was that there wasn't just one.
"Here too!"
"There's another one here...?!"
Fake flags—ones the White Tiger Tower students had made during practice and discarded—were scattered everywhere.
The emblems were crudely drawn, but in the dim light, it was hard to tell.
Lee Han came to a simple conclusion.
"Take them all."
"...!"
That's it!
Just take everything!
The Blue Dragon Tower students grabbed every flag they could see, stuffing them away.
"...W-what's happening??"
A second White Tiger Tower student appeared.
It was Rowena, the black-haired elf whose face Lee Han recognized.
Rowena's expressionless face stiffened in shock when she locked eyes with the Princess, who was casually tucking a flag into her robes.
"...What in the world is happening?!"
"Shut up and don't move! If anyone moves, the Princess won't be spared!"
"?!"
The Princess's pupils trembled slightly as she suddenly found herself taken hostage after coming to help.
Rowena raised both arms in startled surprise.
"N-no! I'll stay perfectly still!"
"Good! Keep it that way!"
With a single command, Lee Han bound Rowena's feet in place.
Ratford shouted urgently.
"I've checked everything! There's no more left!"
"Good. Run!"
Whoosh!
As the formless magics regained their power, ominous signs began to appear.
Two Blue Dragon Tower students were flung outward just like Gainando earlier.
"Those who got out—head for the Blue Dragon Tower! Ratford, run!"
"Yes!"
"The Blue Dragon bastards have invaded the common room!!!!"
As the commotion continued, White Tiger Tower students gradually began waking from sleep.
Those who came down to investigate only to witness this thunderbolt-out-of-nowhere situation started bellowing to wake their friends.
"Rowena! Why are you just standing there?!"
"Th-they said they wouldn't spare the Princess if anyone moved..."
"What nonsense! They're from the same tower and came together!"
"...!"
"After them!! Don't let them get away!!"
Some by force, some by their own feet.
Lee Han and his friends managed to escape White Tiger Tower.
Lee Han, who barely made it out last, shuddered as the tower's intruder-prevention magic grazed the back of his head.
"Ugh... ughhh."
Students expelled by the magic staggered and collapsed as if suffering severe motion sickness, unable to keep their balance. Gainando couldn't even stand, flailing on the ground like he was swimming.
"Carry the fallen and run! The White Tiger bastards are coming!"
"O...okay!"
Lee Han hoisted Gainando onto his shoulders. Gainando screamed.
"Coachman! Gently!! Drive gently!!"
"This isn't a carriage, Gainando! Get a grip!"
Thudthudthud—
"You thieving little bastards!!!"
Torches flared behind them as White Tiger Tower students' roars erupted.
Being suddenly ambushed at night was absurd enough, but now their flags were gone too.
Ashan of the Blue Dragon Tower refused to back down, shouting:
"That's our line! You cowardly cheaters! Making fake flags! You're 100% frauds!"
"Less taunting, more running, Ashan!"
Even while carrying Gainando, Lee Han outpaced the others. But he stopped short.
The White Tiger students were faster than expected.
'At this rate, some of us will get caught!'
Ratford panted as he asked:
"Are you planning to use the Prince as bait?"
"...No!"
Lee Han was momentarily flustered.
He genuinely hadn't been.
"Wardanaz, you bastard! Fine, we'll let slide how you shamelessly took the Princess hostage to threaten Rowena! But Durgyu trusted your honor! And you knocked him out?!"
Angrago the goat beastkin shouted in furious indignation.
Seizing the opportunity, Lee Han coolly retorted:
"Durgyu? He was just an easy chess piece. Only a fool would fall for that."
"...Wardanaz, you son of a bitch!!!"
Angrago exploded forward in rage. But alone, he was no match for Lee Han.
Setting swordsmanship aside, Lee Han had already been brutally trained by Professor Voladi.
Lee Han immediately summoned water orbs.
"Spring forth!"
Compressed water orbs materialized. Without pause, Lee Han cast the next spell.
"Move!"
With dull thudding sounds, the charging Angrago was sent tumbling. The heavy water orbs packed enough force to drain the strength from his limbs.
From the ground, Angrago gnashed his teeth and glared up at Lee Han in frustration.
The flickering torchlight from the tower cast sharp shadows across Lee Han's face. His already cold, sculpted features appeared even more chilling because of it.
Thinking of Durgyu lying unconscious in the lounge, Angrago's chest burned even more fiercely with rage and sorrow.
"Grrk...! Wardanaz! You magic-obsessed monster...!!"
"Angrago!!"
The White Tiger Tower students who had belatedly come running lifted the fallen Angrago while crying out in anguish.
Seeing their fallen comrade pained their hearts as if they were witnessing a righteous knight struck down by an evil black mage.
"Keuk... keukkeukkeuk! You lot could never defeat Wardanaz... Urk."
"Stop provoking them and stay quiet."
As Gainando, who had regained his senses, tried to provoke them from Lee Han's shoulder, Lee Han smacked his mouth. Gainando closed his mouth again.
"This was done for the lecture assignment, so let's not hold unnecessary grudges against each other."
"You call that an excuse?!"
'Well, even I think that sounds pretty shameless.'
Lee Han thought so too.
Telling the White Tiger Tower students—who had already been slapped in the face—that "the root cause of all this lies with the Skeleton Principal, who divided the towers into four and created these harsh lectures and environments to toughen students up, so let's not fight among ourselves" would never get through to them.
Most likely, the response would be something like, "We'll think about it after beating you up first."
Lee Han sighed. In the end, brute force was the only answer.
Of course, to the White Tiger Tower students, Lee Han's sigh—whether due to the darkness or not—felt like a mocking sneer that looked down on them.
"Y-you...! Y-you...!"
"Don't come after me. I can use the same magic as before anytime. In broad daylight, maybe, but in darkness like this, it'll be hard for you to keep dodging."
Lee Han planned to run before the White Tiger Tower students could descend further.
Even if he could intimidate and handle five or six of them, there was no telling how they'd react if more showed up.
"...I don't care! Friends! Avenge Durgyu! Avenge Durgyu, who was only used by Wardanaz!"
Angrago cried out in anguish. Lee Han slightly regretted not knocking Angrago unconscious.
The White Tiger Tower students' eyes changed in an instant.
'Damn.'
Their gazes burned with unwavering determination to avenge Durgyu, whether they got beaten down or not.
Truly, they were knightly family descendants for a reason. In a situation like this, they chose their friend's pride over their own limbs.
Gainando muttered in a weary voice.
"...Are we screwed?"
Instead of answering, Lee Han smacked Gainando's mouth again.
'Restrain the left with a Water Orb, swing my sword to block anyone coming from the right... steal their vision for a moment, then turn around and run...'
Though the situation was unexpected, Lee Han quickly calculated his options.
But those calculations became meaningless in an instant.
Gainando, perched on his shoulder, pointed behind the White Tiger Tower students and shrieked.
"...Behind!! Behind!!"
"Wardanaz, how stupid do you think we are!? You think we'll fall for tricks like sending the prince to distract us?!"
"Look behind you!!"
"We won't be fooled... Waaaah!"
Whoooosh!
A massive vine shot out, coiled around a White Tiger Tower student, and lifted them straight into the air.
Seeing the unrealistically enormous vine monster emerge from the darkness, Lee Han momentarily feared he had triggered the White Tiger Tower's defensive magic, summoning a creature.
But thankfully, that wasn't the case.
[The summon escaped from the greenhouse! The summon escaped from the greenhouse!]
[It's heading toward the freshmen! ...Not my problem! The Punishment Room should handle this bastard!]
[Shut up and clean up your mess!?]
From afar, faint but familiar shouts could be heard—the heartwarming kind of conversation only possible among students who had failed their professor's experiments.
Thud!
Professor Garcia appeared out of thin air and landed gracefully.
With a flick of his staff, he forced the vine monster to retreat before turning to Lee Han.
"For the summons to escape like this again. This week will truly be tough for the freshmen, Lee Han."
"...Wait. Did you say 'again' and 'summons'?"
The summons (plural) escaped like this again?
"Lee Han, why are you here?"
"Professor! That vine monster took our friend! Please save them!"
"Ah, understood. Just wait a moment."