Episode 737
Episode 737
"Wait a moment!"
"?"
Lee Han paused at the professor's shout from behind.
He had wondered if perhaps the professor was about to give him some advice.
"Since it's a dangerous place, how about leaving the basilisk behind?"
It was the first time he had heard Professor Bendozol speak in such a gentle tone.
'Shouldn't have listened.'
Lee Han decisively ignored him and moved forward.
"Sharkan. Track the traces and scent."
The emerald panther, Sharkan, nodded its head, declaring its loyalty to its master's command.
"Gonadaltes. Lead the other skeleton warriors and search the surroundings. If you encounter an evil spirit, don't fight—retreat immediately."
The undead warrior, Gonadaltes, nodded and brandished his blackish-green bone sword.
"Basilisk."
-!
"Here, have a snack and sleep a little longer. If you stay awake, who knows what Professor Bendozol might do."
-......
The baby basilisk was baffled but obediently bit into the jerky offered to it and closed its eyes again.
'Let's move quickly.'
Unlike Professor Bendozol, Lee Han had some experience with evil spirits and spectral-type monsters, so he was confident.
He knew that most monsters would avoid approaching him and retreat.
Rather than wasting time being overly cautious, it was better to quickly announce his arrival and gather the students.
"Light of Truth, descend!"
The spheres of light he fired with full determination were on a completely different level from before, beginning to gather one by one.
The light pierced through the dark, damp mana mist drifting through the Nightmare Echo Forest, spreading in all directions.
"Everyone, respond!"
"......"
"Everyone, respond! If you can hear me—"
"Wardanaz?"
From up ahead, Nilia's wary voice reached him. Delighted, Lee Han shouted back.
"Nilia! It's me, Wardanaz!"
"Did you get lost too?"
"No. I already arrived and came back in to bring you all out."
"...That does sound like something you'd do!"
The moment she heard Lee Han's words, Nilia thought it really was Wardanaz, but she still didn't let her guard down.
She had encountered too many fake friends on her way here.
"Prove you're the real one!"
"What...? Ah, did you see illusions or something?"
"Yeah! It wasn't this bad last year! And they didn't even use illusions!"
Hearing his friend's gritted voice, Lee Han shuddered as he realized Professor Bendozol's meticulousness.
To deliberately summon students when the already difficult forest had become even more sinister—
This level of malice was almost on par with 0.8 Skeleton Principal.
'Even showing illusions? He really is thorough.'
Spectral-type monsters were already troublesome, but when combined with the ability to project illusions, even the most experienced students could be caught off guard.
Lee Han resolved to move even faster.
"Nilia. I'm the real Wardanaz."
"Yeah! But the fake Yoner and the fake Siana said the same thing!"
"I see. Then, Nilia, I'm going to attack and subdue you now. If you get caught, you'll know I'm not an illusion."
In his urgency, Lee Han proposed the most optimal solution.
Nilia would take a few hits, but once she did, she'd realize Lee Han was real.
"...You really are the real one!"
Nilia ran toward him with certainty.
She reasoned that evil spirits, which lured people by showing them what they wanted to see, wouldn't create such an absurd illusion.
"Nilia! The power of friendship!"
"W-Well, I don't know if this is exactly the power of friendship..."
Covered in mud and dust from rolling around in the forest, Nilia roughly brushed off her hair and shoulders before speaking seriously.
"Wardanaz. I think we've been tricked."
"Huh? Are you talking about enrolling here?"
"Not that! I mean this lecture! It feels like a fake lecture."
At first, it was just suspicion, but after wandering through this forest, Nilia's doubts had turned into certainty.
A normal lecture would never take place in a place like this.
"Nilia."
"Huh? What?"
"Sorry to say, but this is a real lecture."
Lee Han proceeded to explain Professor Bendozol's educational philosophy and the bizarre situations that could occur in second-year and above lectures.
Some lectures required stealing the professor's work to learn, while others involved classroom walls being shattered by an enraged professor's strike.
Nilia's pupils trembled violently in disbelief before burning with hatred toward Professor Bendozol.
"If someone like that existed in the northern mountains, they'd go missing immediately!"
"...Should we go find the others?"
Rather than asking about the Shadow Patrol's covert execution methods, Lee Han changed the subject.
"Yeah. Let's go. I don't want to attend lectures even on weekends."
"Me neither."
Nilia chuckled. Then she paused belatedly upon seeing Lee Han's serious expression.
"...Wait, you weren't joking?"
"Which part of what I just said sounded like a joke to you?"
"W-well... You take way too many lectures."
"Are you saying people who take many lectures deserve to attend them on weekends?"
As her friend's voice turned icy, Nilia hastily explained:
"That'snotwhatImeantIjustmeantthemorelecturesyoutakethehighertheprobabilityyouhavetoattendthemonweekends!"
"...Fair point."
Lee Han nodded with a bitter expression.
He couldn't deny that logic.
After all, those who took more lectures did indeed have a higher chance of weekend lectures than those who took fewer.
"H-hang in there."
Though lacking confidence in her cheering skills, Nilia did her best to encourage her friend.
"I ended up dropping Summoning Magic."
By second year, even students who'd shown interest in three or more schools of magic as freshmen began specializing.
Freshmen could dabble in various fields since they hadn't fully grasped their capabilities yet, but specialization became necessary from sophomore year onward.
Nilia was no exception, having dropped Summoning Magic she'd taken as a freshman.
While everyone else acted this way, her stubborn friend who persisted in taking all schools of magic was truly remarkable...
"Why? You should've just kept taking it."
"......"
At her friend's utterly malicious remark, Nilia subtly edged away.
In some ways, the real danger might be the friend beside her rather than any evil spirit.
"Lee Han!"
"Yoner-da."
Hearing the distant voice, Lee Han turned to Nilia with joy.
But Nilia wore a cautious expression.
"That could be a fake Yoner created by an evil spirit."
"Don't worry. If it's an illusion, it'll disperse the moment I approach."
Suddenly reminded that her friend was a monster, Nilia looked at him with admiring eyes.
In a forest like this, his ability made him nearly invincible.
"Right. You... I should've thought of that. If we'd met earlier, we wouldn't have been fooled before."
The dark elf friend ground her teeth in frustration. Suddenly curious, Lee Han asked:
"How did the earlier illusion approach you?"
"It said it would quit the Blue Dragon Tower and come to the Black Turtle Tower. Tch."
"......"
For a moment, Lee Han thought, 'Isn't it weird you fell for that?'
Nilia, perhaps realizing this too, shouted with reddened ears:
"It sounded totally convincing when I heard it!"
"R-right."
* * *
Lee Han began gathering his friends one by one.
Occasionally, illusions pretending to be students approached, but none lasted long. The moment Lee Han ran toward them, the illusions dispersed and the hiding evil spirits fled screaming.
"Waaah! Wardanaz! Why, why are you running at me? The assignment isn't out yet!"
"Ah. Sorry. Just checking if you're real."
Some genuine friends stumbled in terror at Lee Han's approach, but fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
"Is this everyone?"
"Numbers seem right. The rest must be attending at different times."
The gathered students checked their numbers. Since this was a required lecture for second-years—not a faction-specific class—it was possible to estimate how many students should be attending.
"Let's move again."
"Lord Wardanaz... It seems the evil spirits are gradually increasing..."
The students from Phoenix Tower cautiously spoke up.
Being all temple-raised priests, they could sense the movements of monsters with sinister intentions more acutely than others.
Though the creatures couldn't approach right now due to Lee Han's presence, they were encircling the group at a distance, waiting.
Lee Han, too, had noticed the unnatural shifts in mana and nodded.
"They're more persistent than I thought. I didn't expect them to follow us like this instead of fleeing or scattering."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm thinking of just leading them straight to Professor Bendozol. He'll handle it."
The students gasped in shock at Lee Han's extreme solution.
"That's a brilliant idea!"
"Let's do it right now!"
Even the Phoenix Tower students nodded in agreement, which made Lee Han smile faintly.
Their year together had clearly forged strong bonds among them.
Whoosh!
"!"
A prickling sensation shot up the back of his neck as Bagrak's Instant Foresight traced the trajectory of an incoming attack.
Lee Han immediately activated one of the spells stored in his Lesser Magic Storage. Though he hadn't mastered it enough to store two spells, one was manageable.
'Gonadaltes' Quickening Agility!'
Accelerating rapidly, he dodged just as a shadowy spectral arrow struck the spot where he'd been standing.
"Ambush!"
"Defensive positions!"
Without hesitation, the students swiftly moved into formation, preparing their defenses.
Potions billowed smoke, summoning mist to obscure the enemy's vision, while several scrolls unfurled to form protective barriers.
Buying time, some students began chanting additional spells to detect the enemy's location.
"Reveal thy malice, foe—"
'There!'
As the magic dyed the enemy's form crimson, Lee Han lunged forward.
"Lightning Spear!"
His staff blazed with lightning, morphing into the shape of a spear. Exploding mana from his feet, Lee Han kicked off a tree and shot vertically upward.
The enemy, clearly not expecting a mage to move so fast, fluttered in panic, trying to flee.
"...?"
Surprisingly, the foe was a sparrow. But Lee Han didn't let his guard down.
Even as a small sparrow, the mana it radiated was anything but ordinary.
Moreover, its eerie and sinister aura suggested that unless someone had Lee Han's level of strong magic resistance, even a mage could suffer mental damage.
Crack!
The branch where the sparrow had perched shattered as lightning arced through it.
The sparrow fired waves of evil spirits at Lee Han, but realizing they had no effect, it quickly gave up and retreated.
Instead, it unleashed a flood of malevolent ghosts, weighing down Lee Han's spear with their presence.
Lee Han grimaced.
'Can I make it in time?'
The sheer number of spectral monsters the enemy summoned made it hard to break through quickly. Even as the Lightning Spear incinerated them, more kept surging forward.
If this kept up, the enemy might escape...
Snap!
Suddenly, the baby basilisk leaped from Lee Han's sleeve, sinking its fangs precisely into the sparrow hidden among the spectral decoys.
True to its title as the king of serpents, it ignored all dazzling illusions and instinctively pinpointed the enemy's location.
"...Good job!"
The baby basilisk nodded proudly, swelling with satisfaction.
Once the students arrived just in time, Professor Bendozol began his lecture—albeit with some grumbling.
"As you must have noticed on your way here, the forest is now steeped in yin energy and deathly aura. That's because a delightful little Nightmare Magpie has taken up residence. It may look like an adorable sparrow, but its power far surpasses most avian monsters! You're all incredibly lucky to be here today. To witness such a rare creature..."
"......"
"...Huh?"
As Professor Bendozol grew slightly excited while describing the monster, the students exchanged bewildered looks.
Something about the monster's description felt oddly familiar.