Episode 734
Episode 734
Unlike when drawing from the surrounding space, the mana replenished in an instant.
Diret, who had been about to curse, had no choice but to admit that his junior's judgment had been appropriate.
Had they proceeded with Diret's initial plan, they wouldn't have secured enough mana within the time limit.
The dark, pulsating sphere Diret had now drawn from within his body was a type of pseudo-artifact created by infusing fragments of his own soul.
A masterpiece of black magic inspired by how liches deceive the world's laws by placing their souls in reliquaries.
This essence, containing immense mana and arcane secrets compressed within it, was something Diret had connected to his Small World to utilize.
He had engraved the true name of his Pentagrammaton Small World upon it so it could be activated immediately in case of emergency.
But powerful magic always comes with powerful penalties.
Despite believing it to be complete, the moment this pseudo-artifact was brought out, it began reacting violently with the external world, becoming unstable.
If not for hastily replenishing its mana, it might have collapsed much sooner.
"Junior. Don't fall behind. Activating now!"
At some point, Diret's incantation began transforming into an incomprehensible language.
It was a spell to summon a world separate from the external reality.
In an instant, all surrounding mana was temporarily absorbed into Diret's sphere, creating a temporary vacuum state of mana in the area.
Then waves of negative energy and dark elements erupted violently. The summoned golems and bone barriers immediately dissipated due to the mana absorption.
But Diret paid no mind. With eyes flickering like black flames, he shouted:
"Curse thee!"
At that moment, the massive black, viscous mass twitched.
Its behavior was incongruent with the ferocity it had shown earlier, shrugging off every fierce attack until now.
Bang!
A full third of the massive mass was blown away. Lee Han looked at his crow beastman senior with awe-filled eyes.
That curse just now was no ordinary curse. It had woven together countless curses—so many that even Lee Han's senses couldn't discern them all—into a single strike.
Truly, it was the curse of all curses.
The grievously wounded mass writhed, attempting to recover. But Diret gave it no chance. The black sphere flared up violently, and Diret's pupils flashed in tandem.
Whoooosh!
The massive mass began spontaneously combusting.
The curse it had just suffered wasn't merely about losing part of its body. No, this was only the beginning.
In the blink of an eye, the mountainous enemy, now cursed at its very essence, flailed helplessly as it shrank.
After burning and burning, when it finally turned to dust and vanished into the air, the monstrous bird carrying them both cawed loudly:
-I don't know what kind of archmage that was, but that was vicious! To leave behind such mana!
"What do you mean by that?"
-That wasn't a natural phenomenon! Someone left behind magic!
"...!"
Mages didn't readily believe in coincidences. Especially those like Lee Han, who had faced numerous evil mages.
There could only be one reason for such phenomena occurring where the Skeleton Principal's insane clone and magic criminals had been. 'It really was that mad clone!' Lee Han gnashed his teeth. Even the Headmaster's clones were truly a nuisance.
"Senior. It seems to be the Headmaster's clone's doing. Let's go back and confront him immediately!"
"Yeah..."
Diret coughed weakly, his face pale. Lee Han startled and exclaimed:
"What's wrong?!"
-Diret! You brought out an incomplete Small World! Stupid Diret!
"Shut up..."
At the monstrous bird's cry, Lee Han realized why Diret was in this state.
Though he didn't know exactly what that black sphere was, it was clearly unstable because Diret had brought out something unfinished. Right now, Diret was struggling to stabilize it.
"Senior..."
"Yes. What should I do?"
"When I said shut up, it wasn't directed at you but at that guy..."
"......"
Realizing Diret's condition was worsening, Lee Han turned to ask the strange bird.
"Wouldn't stabilizing it by channeling mana like before work?"
-You foolish mage! This isn't something mana can solve!
'Damn.'
Lee Han clicked his tongue at the bird's scolding.
Unlike during the preparation phase, stabilization apparently couldn't be achieved through mana alone.
-If you try stabilizing this with mana, even if this idiot mage dies several times over, it still wouldn't be enough!
"I see."
Ignoring the bird, Lee Han grasped the orb again to stabilize it.
-?!
Having barely recovered, Diret spoke with an extremely troubled expression.
"Thanks, junior. Normally I should scold you for arbitrarily interfering with another mage's magic..."
"My apologies."
"Forget it. It'd be ungrateful to complain after receiving help. Ugh. My dignity as a senior is in shambles."
"What are you talking about? You nearly handled it alone."
-Stupid Diret! Stupid Diret!
"Shut up already."
Diret tightly clamped the strange bird's beak shut.
"I thought it was complete enough to take out and use, but it turned out more unstable than expected. If you hadn't helped, things would've been much more dangerous."
"What exactly was that thing?"
"Probably some malevolent thought-form left behind by a mage. It gathers dark elemental beings from the Dark Forest to attack..."
"I was asking about the magic you used."
"......"
Diret glared slightly at his junior before answering.
"A pseudo-artifact. One of my research projects. It's about surpassing limits without undergoing lich transformation... Creating something like a Small World simply takes too much preparation time."
Hearing the detailed explanation, Lee Han inwardly marveled.
This essentially meant artificially creating an additional source of a mage's power for use.
Truly befitting a fifth-year student—conducting such insane research. No one reached fifth year without reason.
"But senior, has the instability issue from earlier been resolved?"
At this question, Diret's expression darkened.
The instability had worsened because it was taken out in an incomplete state.
While temporarily stabilized by excessive mana infusion, this was merely emergency treatment.
There would be many problems until it was fully completed again.
"It's resolved."
"...Are you sure it's really resolved?"
Seeing his senior's expression, Lee Han whispered to the strange bird. The now-loosened bird whispered back.
-It's not resolved! Will take at least a year to complete properly!
"Earlier, when I channeled mana, it stabilized. Does that mean nothing?"
-It'll destabilize again over time! Mana gets consumed!
With an impassive face, Diret picked up his staff and smacked the bird, causing it to instantly vanish.
"That one talks too much."
"Senior, periodic mana infusions might work. I can handle it."
"Don't bother. It's unnecessary."
"Do you have another method?"
"I do."
"What is it?"
"Well... There's a secret technique of the Archmage Retivelkyu that would work."
"...You're not just reversing Senior Yukveltire's name and slapping 'Archmage' in front to trick me, are you?"
Diret clicked his tongue unabashedly.
Being the top student of his year made deception difficult.
"Too sharp for your own good."
"Channeling mana periodically isn't that hard. You saw me do it just now. Besides, if I don't regularly expend my mana, my entire meridian system might rupture and kill me."
"What?!?! Really?!?!"
"That's a lie, but if believing it makes you feel better, then sure, it's true."
"......"
Diret glared fiercely at his junior. Feeling guilty, Lee Han explained.
"I didn't think you'd actually believe that."
"How could I not when you say it so seriously!"
After venting his anger, Diret sighed and admitted.
"Fine. I'll be honest. Your help would be greatly appreciated. That said..."
"But?"
"Then you'd have to come to the workshop regularly to help me. In effect, you'd be assisting with my research."
"Is that a problem?"
"...Did you already forget that Yukveltire tried to kidnap you?"
"Ah."
Only then did Lee Han realize what his senior was getting at.
With some students currently trying to take Lee Han away and (forcibly) involve him in their research, his participation in Diret's research could send a certain signal.
-No! So this junior really did want to participate in research after all!
-That makes sense. There's no way someone who attends every lecture wouldn't be interested in research!
At Diret's explanation, Lee Han smiled and said:
"Senior. You don't need to worry about that."
"Why? It seems like something I should worry about."
"We can just keep it a secret!"
"......"
Diret narrowed his eyes and stared at his junior.
Somehow, he was starting to understand why this junior had ended up attending every lecture.
-Master. The Wardanaz boy...
Has he finally made contact with a first-year? Bring him here!
-Huh? What do you mean?
Didn't you order me to monitor his interactions with first-years?
-Ah. That thing!......
The Death Knight's reaction made it clear he had completely forgotten. The Skeleton Principal flickered his eye-lights in displeasure.
How dare you forget my orders!
-My apologies, Master. I didn't forget. But if I may speak frankly...
Don't.
-With so many important orders, the relatively less important ones inevitably receive less attention.
Truth be told, few among the Death Knights were actually monitoring Lee Han's interactions with first-years.
Unless someone pointed out, "Hey, there's a first-year over there," they wouldn't even notice.
At the Death Knights' defiance, the Skeleton Principal grumbled about their ingratitude, forgetting his kindness, and being backstabbers.
Only after enduring the entire tirade with knightly patience did the Death Knight finally speak.
-The Wardanaz boy is requesting an audience.
Oh? Let him in.
-What could it be about?
Probably a magic question.
-But it's not even the weekend yet?
Most students didn't even come to ask about magic on weekends.
But that boy's always been like that.
-Indeed. I'll let him in.
The Skeleton Principal looked back at the magazine in his hands with satisfaction.
And the moment Lee Han entered, he proudly showed it off.
Look at this!
"??"...
One day, a master found he had much to teach his disciple, so he said:
-Since I must teach you quickly, four in the morning, three in the evening...
Ha! I thought it was a masterpiece, but of course it got rejected! All thanks to you!
"......"
Lee Han was speechless but held back. After all, he was dealing with a tyrant wielding a staff.
So what magic did you come to ask about? Verbal spells? Small Worlds? 6th-Circle? Ask someone else about 6th-Circle.
"None of those, actually."
I trust it's not some garbage-tier magic.
At Lee Han's denial, the Skeleton Principal's eyes immediately dulled with disinterest.
"Headmaster."
Whenever you make that serious face, it usually means you're about to spout nonsense...
"There's a clone of yours and a Magic Criminal in Einrogard territory!"
How would you know that?
"!"
Lee Han was shocked when the Skeleton Principal remained calm and simply questioned him.
He immediately shouted to the Death Knights:
"Everyone! The Headmaster has finally lost his mind! Someone send a petition to His Majesty the Emperor at once!"
Lee Han quickly tried to bolt for the window.
The Skeleton Principal shook his head and warped the space in the room to redirect Lee Han's path.
But Lee Han had anticipated even that. The moment space twisted, he immediately exploded mana from his feet and leaped backward.
Hey!
The Skeleton Principal, exasperated, turned the window into a wall.
Having a disciple who was unnecessarily sharp was a blessing for a teacher but also an annoying flaw.
Jumping out is fine, but listen first before you jump.
Lee Han hesitated. The Skeleton Principal snapped irritably.
Don't pretend to stop just to break the wall!
'Tsk. Busted.'