Episode 699
Episode 699
While the second-year students lost interest in smuggling due to Lee Han and Giselle's persuasion, the commotion at the inspection checkpoint grew increasingly chaotic.
As the giant and the mad blade bear ran amok, other third-year students gradually began drawing their wands.
-Don't draw your wands!
"Ah. I was just wondering if I cleaned my wand properly last night... Sacred light, burn the undead!"
-What pathetic trickery is this!
"Fellow students, gather! Let's defeat the Skeleton Principal's minions and restore Einrogard's glory!"
"It's a revolution! Revolution!"
-Another rebellion?!
The scale of the disturbance flared up like wildfire.
The death knights shouted in exasperation and called for reinforcements.
-Quickly subdue these mages!
"We'll make you pay for throwing us into the Punishment Room last fall! Negative Energy Block!"
"Liberation from the Dark Element!"
"Intermediate Undead Weakening, Undead Tracking Sight, Undead Confusion..."
'Wow. How many times have these seniors fought death knights?' Lee Han marveled while watching the checkpoint battle.
It seemed the seniors had fought the Skeleton Principal's minions more than once or twice, as they immediately pulled out prepared spells and unleashed them.
One of a mage's strengths is the flexibility to exploit even a stronger enemy's weaknesses depending on preparation.
The seniors were clearly demonstrating that flexibility. Several death knights took hits and were forcibly recalled.
Boom! Paf-paf-paf-boom!
Various spells exploded in the air as flames, explosions, flashes, energy waves, and shockwaves swept through the area.
A White Tiger Tower senior transformed into a giant arxasaurus and, with enhancement magic support from friends, crushed death knights beneath its weight.
A Black Turtle Tower senior climbed atop it and consecutively threw potion bottles into the air before casting activation spells to create chain reaction effects. A storm of energy collisions erupted around them.
Meanwhile, several Blue Dragon Tower seniors completed the grand magic they'd been preparing. A spatial rift opened, revealing a crimson lizard with flickering tongues peering down through slit pupils.
A deadly rain of fire fell. Each fiery drop destroyed and incinerated everything upon impact.
It was an intense grand magic combining spirit arts, summoning magic, elemental magic applications, and more.
'Amazing!' Lee Han was impressed.
"Hey you bastards! Who the hell are you aiming at?!"
"Arrow catchers, just shut up and fight."
"You sons of bitches want to die?!"
"Give it your best shot then. Damn smelly beasts."
"......"
Lee Han was shocked.
Fighting each other in such a critical moment?!
Other students seemed to share the sentiment, muttering:
"Isn't that too harsh?"
"Wow. Even when I got beaten by the Wardanaz and cursed behind their back, I never went that far."
"Hey. The Wardanaz is right here."
Though they bickered, the second-years who'd spent a year united in crucial situations found the seniors' vicious infighting extremely bewildering.
Even Giselle seemed stunned, watching the conflict with shocked eyes.
"Moradi. Aren't the seniors going too far?"
"Do they have to be like that?"
Lee Han kindly answered the White Tiger Tower students' questions in her place.
"Moradi isn't surprised by things like that."
"...Ha, ha. What do you mean by that, you little shit?"
"Um, it was a compliment."
The Phoenix Tower seniors treating the injured equally shouted:
"If you're going to fight, do it later! It's hard to treat people now!"
"Use spells that cause easy-to-treat injuries! The magic you're using on death knights makes wounds too messy to heal...!"
'Shouldn't they be stopping them for different reasons?' As the students quarreled, death knight reinforcements arrived.
-Warehouse Keeper. We request your assistance.
The Warehouse Keeper nodded.
The students who started today's revolution were out of luck.
"This inspection is the most thoroughly prepared one in the past decade."
One of those preparations was the Summon left behind by the Skeleton Principal.
At first, it seemed strange why such a powerful Summon was left when they weren't even dealing with a mighty lightning spirit—but now, it was clear this was exactly what was needed to handle the current situation.
"Come forth. Anansi!"
"!"
As the Skeleton Principal's colossal Summon emerged through a rift in the air, the students fighting at the checkpoint were utterly startled.
"A Summon too?!"
"Isn't this going too far?! Why did they prepare something like this?!"
"Too late to back out now! Let's take down the Summon too!"
A student who had boldly shouted suddenly collapsed. His entire body was tightly bound by sticky spider silk, immobilizing him.
"Ah, Anansi!"
"Damn it...! It's Anansi!"
Amid the students' screams, the enormous spider revealed itself fully.
A spider as large as a giant, its eight eyes gleaming as it glared at the students.
-Students like you, wasting time on foolish games instead of your studies?
"Shut up, Anansi! Does this look like a game to you?!"
"You damn lapdog of the Skeleton Principal! Do you even understand our desperation?!"
Spells exploded against the spider's massive body. Yet Anansi merely shook itself lightly, shrugging off the impacts—a terrifying display of defensive power.
Then, Anansi's body suddenly rippled before swelling monstrously in size.
And then—it exhaled. The spider's dark breath stiffened the students, poisoning them.
"Ghk!"
"Kuh—!"
"Fall back!"
Effortlessly sweeping aside the gathered students, Anansi clicked its legs and lunged forward as if biting into the rift in the air.
The crimson lizard summoned by the students, flicking its tongue, clashed with Anansi.
A rain of fire scorched the spider, while the lizard was poisoned by Anansi's venom. A true clash of titans.
But as the Skeleton Principal's subordinate, Anansi—blessed with the power of the domain—had an inevitable advantage over a mere extraplanar creature. The crimson lizard let out a humiliated screech before fleeing beyond the rift.
Because of this, several students from the Blue Dragon Tower—who had been maintaining the grand spell—coughed up blood and collapsed. The backlash of a broken spell.
"Lee Han, we should retreat!"
"Agreed. Everyone, fall back!"
The second-years who hadn't joined the checkpoint battle quickly withdrew.
Other seniors who hadn't participated did the same. In an instant, Anansi bound the remaining students near the checkpoint in silk and petrified them with its breath.
-You've worked hard, Anansi.
-Thanks to you, this ended quickly.
Anansi didn't respond—only clicking its legs louder than before.
At that sound, the Death Knights suddenly grew uneasy.
Anansi, once the terror of the underground kingdoms, wasn't like other powerful and brutal monsters. Its mischievous, cruel nature had driven nearby dark elf and dwarf tribes to despair.
That temperament had mellowed somewhat after submitting to the Skeleton Principal, but it hadn't disappeared entirely.
Especially when it saw students fooling around—its competitive spirit flared up, and once that happened, stopping it was nearly impossible.
-Don't tell me...
-I'll send them all to the Punishment Room!
Anansi's eight eyes gleamed with malice. From that sight, Lee Han felt a sensation he'd experienced countless times before...
The feeling when things had gone horribly wrong!
"Everyone! Fall back further!! That insane Summon is coming this way!!!"
The remaining students—from second to fourth years—quickly scrambled away.
Lee Han hastily cast spells, summoning his own forces. Dark Skeleton Warriors formed a solid formation, arrows nocked.
From his sleeve, the baby basilisk—now awake—hissed aggressively at Anansi.
It almost seemed like it was begging to fight.
Lee Han said firmly.
"...You're not ready to face this opponent yet!"
Given the size difference, even if both were venomous creatures, it looked too dangerous.
Anansi's body swelled up.
And once again, dark breath spewed forth.
-That damn spider's serious!
-Kill it! Teach it a lesson!
The Death Knights drew their blazing negative energy swords while hurling curses.
They might show mercy to students, but there was absolutely no reason to spare a summon like Anansi. In an instant, massive wounds appeared on Anansi's back and torso, its body shriveling from the negative energy.
Yet Anansi only grew more excited, puffing up further and spewing more dark breath. It was thoroughly exhilarated by this rare chance to cause mischief.
"Ugh... damn it..."
The Black Magic student Ogoldos staggered to his knees.
For a black magic practitioner, nothing was more humiliating than being poisoned—but Anansi's breath was truly vicious. A single inhale stiffened the entire body with magical paralysis.
No countermeasures could block it...
"Senior!"
Lee Han, enhanced by magic, swiftly dashed over, slung Ogoldos over his shoulder, and sprinted away.
Ogoldos, paralyzed, could only roll his eyes to stare at Lee Han.
"W...w...w...wh...?"
His tongue was too stiff to form words. Lee Han promptly dumped Ogoldos before the Phoenix Tower seniors.
"Seniors! Help him!"
"G-got it! ...Wait, what about you—"
Without waiting, Lee Han charged back in to drag out other unlucky juniors and seniors.
When the seniors saw Lee Han carrying Anpagon of the Enchantment Magic department on his back, they shouted in shock.
"Someone actually saved Anpagon?!"
"He must be new to second year! Junior! Trust us! Leave that bastard and come back! You'll regret it if you don't!"
"......"
Amidst the shocked jeers, Lee Han set Anpagon down before the Phoenix Tower seniors. 'Better keep my Enchantment Magic studies hidden.' As Lee Han dashed back into the breath's range, he saw the Death Knights surrounding and beating Anansi.
Though the thick dark breath obscured vision, the light orbs Lee Han summoned weren't to be underestimated—they pierced the darkness, revealing the scene. 'Good. They'll subdue it soon—'
-Chosen One! Come help us! This damn spider's gone mad!
-Chosen One! Hurry!
"?"
Lee Han glanced around momentarily.
Had someone else been here?
"......"
Then it belatedly hit him. 'It's me!' They were calling for him!
"I can't deal damage to a monster like that!"
-Eh, really? Can't you use <Gonadaltes's Sword> or <Godanaltes's Hatred>?
"......"
The Death Knights awkwardly replied.
-Then maybe you should just go rest...
Another burst of Anansi's breath thickened the darkness further.
Suddenly, Lee Han's sigil began glowing.
-Who's that?
The Death Knights stared at the glowing sigil in confusion.
Who had he contracted with to appear now?
"..."
Who was this again?"-......
"Not Perkuntra, not Uphinum, not the Phoenix... not a spirit either..."
As the Death Knights watched incredulously, the answer soon emerged.
From the darkness, an undead mage they'd fought alongside in the Ghoul King's palace materialized and stepped forward.
-Contractor... Long time no see...!
"!"
Lee Han was startled too.
Had the contractor's environment grown similar enough to his original dimension to meet the summoning conditions?
He knew some interdimensional beings required special circumstances to be summoned, but he never expected to see one like this.
"Lord Verdus!"-...
Wait, who did you say?
-Please tell me we misheard! Quickly!
The Death Knights recoiled with unexpectedly violent reactions.
They'd rather handle this themselves than accept help from that professor!