Episode 779
Episode 779
"It's because of you! Because of you, I—!"
"Are you out of your mind!? I'll get my revenge!!"
Gainando shouted tearfully, but the world of wizard duels was merciless. Once the initiative was lost and the beating began, counterattacking wasn't easy.
Adenart summoned an artifact in the form of a chakram in midair.
True to her expertise in Summoning Magic and Enchantment Magic, Adenart skillfully combined the two to seamlessly transition into an attack.
The circular blade-shaped artifact gathered mana with each rotation in the air, simultaneously using that mana to fire Magic Missiles.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"My vision is shaking... Ugh!"
Gainando, who had been trying to buy time by casting a curse spell, got hit mid-incantation and lost his focus.
'Black Magic sucks!'
Gainando cursed the absurdity of Black Magic, which required lengthy incantations to counterattack.
Summoning mages could summon something once and then do other things!
"Huff... Huff!"
Gainando, who had been scrambling up the snowy slope, quickly threw himself to the side. Then, the princess's figure vanished downward with a 'whoosh.'
'...Damn it!'
Realizing Gainando had disappeared from her sight, Adenart clicked her tongue.
It was clear that her opponent, being an Einrogard student, had escaped her line of sight to buy time and prepare a counterattack.
But instead of panicking and retreating, Adenart calmly pulled out a potion.
Though she was somewhat overshadowed by the strange genius in her year, Adenart was originally a prodigy who had chosen three major fields of study.
She was even the kind of student Professor Garcia had asked, "Are you really sure about this??"
As an outstanding student of the Alchemy School, Adenart retrieved and drank the potions she had brewed—<Sensory Enhancement> and <Mana Amplification>—before summoning another chakram.
'...Come at me!'
Adenart glared ahead with the clearest and most distinct hostility she had felt since enrolling.
She would definitely make this half-brother of hers pay!
"...??"
But no counterattack came. Suspicious, Adenart checked down the slope.
Instead of preparing a counterattack with Black Magic, Gainando was burrowing through the snow, fleeing far away.
"!"
"Just you wait! I'll get my revenge!"
"Hah! As if you can escape!"
Confident he had put enough distance between them, Gainando raised his middle finger with dignity and hurled insults at his half-sister.
Watching this, Adenart gritted her teeth, determined to chase him down and finish him off.
And then Lee Han arrived.
"...What are you two doing?"
"......"
"......"
The fog of war always easily reversed advantages and disadvantages.
A wizard who once had the upper hand could suddenly find themselves at a disadvantage, and vice versa.
And now, Gainando, who had been beaten and fleeing, suddenly found himself in a very advantageous position.
Thanks to Lee Han appearing in the direction he had been running, he could now be the first to tattle.
"$#@$%$#%! ■■■■■!"
An excited Gainando began rambling about how "Imperial royals are all cruel and tyrannical despots!"
Of course, trying to cram too much into one sentence made it hard to understand.
[Wow! It's a language I've never heard before!]
"That's not a new language, it's just Imperial tongue."
Seeing the Baby Basilisk show interest, Lee Han quickly corrected it.
Only after calming down could Gainando finally convey what he had been trying to say.
"So, you're saying the Princess got angry and attacked you because you gave her a sandwich as a gift?"
"She probably attacked me to take both for herself!"
"......"
Lee Han gave Gainando a deeply suspicious look.
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed Gainando was hiding something else he hadn't mentioned.
"The Princess does have a strong appetite, but she's not the type to attack her comrades to steal food, is she?"
"Lee Han! You said it yourself! When people get hungry, you never know what they might do!"
"That's right... I did say that. When you volunteered to be the food warehouse keeper..."
Lee Han replied in a cold voice.
Those were the exact words he'd said when Gainando had begged to be put in charge of the food storage.
"Did I? Anyway! The point is Adenart attacked me first! Even after I shared my sandwich with her!"
"Wa... Wardanaz."
From a distance, Adenart arrived panting heavily.
Having run through the snow, Adenart was breathing heavily.
Gainando looked at her with disgust and whispered,
"She's faking it! Don't fall for it!"
"Th-there are circumstances here."
"She's going to say she was hungry! That she was just too hungry! Don't believe her!"
"...Gainando. Step back for a moment."
Lee Han pushed Gainando aside to hear Adenart out.
After finally catching her breath, Adenart attempted to explain as gracefully as possible why she had attacked her stepbrother.
But Adenart was making one crucial mistake.
Some facts simply can't be made dignified, no matter how gracefully you phrase them.
"...Ah. So you're saying you got so angry about the sandwich being switched that you attacked Gainando?"
"Exactly! Wardanaz."
Adenart cheered, thinking Lee Han understood her.
-'Uh... is she a glutton?'
"Definitely on that side."
-'Compared to that person over there?'
"I'd say they're about the same."
"??"
Adenart tilted her head in confusion at Lee Han conversing in an unknown language with his sleeve.
Was he insulting her stepbrother?
The two barely managed to reconcile.
"......"
"Hmph."
"Good to see you've made up. Just don't attack each other, and if one of you is in mortal danger, help with noble dignity. That's all I ask. I don't expect anything more."
Lee Han was a practical person.
With the uncertain dimensional exploration ahead, there was no room for dramatic improvements in their relationship. 'Even Einrogard couldn't manage that.'"Despite some commotion, having the three of us together is fortunate. Let's head to the central zone as quickly as possible."
"Lee Han. When and how will we rest and eat?"
"Wardanaz. Have you witnessed any beings from other dimensions on your way here?"
Gainando and Adenart each asked what they considered important questions.
And Gainando quickly changed his tune.
"Actually, I was going to ask about beings from other dimensions too!"
"......"
While Gainando's stepsister shot him a look of utter contempt, Lee Han separated them and said,
"Haven't encountered any monsters yet. But there must be creatures that detect intruders' presence, so stay alert."
The native inhabitants of dimensions generally didn't welcome outside intruders.
Magicians were naturally included among those intruders, and such proactive attackers were one of the main factors that made dimensional exploration difficult.
-'Master. But we did meet spirits?'
"......"
-'Master? Can't you hear me? We met several frost spirits on the way! They ran away when they saw you!'
The Baby Basilisk chattered eagerly, wanting to help Lee Han.
Lee Han smiled and pressed firmly on his sleeve. The muzzled Baby Basilisk wriggled in confusion.
"...Lee Han. Didn't your basilisk just cry out?"
"He says he's hungry. Haha."
"Total glutton!"
Gainando mocked the Baby Basilisk.
How could anyone be so food-obsessed?
-'Grr... ugh... ughh!'
The Baby Basilisk tried to hiss angrily in protest, but to no avail.
"Wardanaz?"
"Yes?"
"There's a spirit over there."
"Are you sure you're not mistaken? There's no way a spirit would still be here without fleeing..."
Casually letting the truth slip, Lee Han turned his head toward the direction Adenart was pointing.
Surprisingly, a few hedgehog-shaped frost spirits were playing on the slope above them.
"Could they be special spirits that don't flee even when they see me?"
"W-well, I'm not sure either..."
Adenart floundered, unsure how to respond to the awkward question.
Honestly, it didn't seem likely...
-Master. You already have so many beings serving you. Why would you need those spirits??
The baby basilisk tilted its head in confusion.
Starting with the baby basilisk itself, hadn't Lee Han already contracted powerful and sinister beings like the griffin and Perkuntra?
"...Doesn't it feel strange even as you say that?"
-???
The baby basilisk didn't understand what was strange about it.
Wasn't it good that his contracted summons were strong and wicked?
"First, I'd like to negotiate with those spirits and ask for directions."
"That's a good idea, Princess. I'll cheer you on."
"...O-okay. I'll go then..."
Neither Lee Han nor Gainando were the type of mages who could easily win a spirit's favor.
Adenart, feeling oddly apologetic (only toward Lee Han), stepped forward.
"Lee Han."
"?"
"I've never seen ice that massive before."
While waiting for Adenart, Gainando looked around restlessly.
He hadn't gotten a proper look at the surroundings earlier because Adenart had punched him the moment they arrived.
"That's an ice shelf. You'll see them often if you wander around frost-aligned dimensions."
Lee Han explained the massive ice plain terrain.
Mages who roamed different dimensions had to familiarize themselves with all sorts of natural geography.
"What's that crack over there?"
"A crevasse, probably."
"And that huge lump?"
"That's a frost giant's head..."
Lee Han paused mid-explanation.
Something felt off.
"Wardanaz. I've heard frost giants appear here. We should move east."
Adenart, having just finished negotiating, returned and relayed the information.
She tilted her head in confusion when the two didn't react and instead kept staring in another direction.
"What's wrong...?!"
A frost giant was abruptly climbing up from beneath the glacier. Each time its massive fingers dug into the ice, the sound of cracking echoed.
THUD!
Finally, the frost giant fully landed atop the glacier.
It was similar in size to the giants that appeared in the Einrogard mountain range, but its eyes gleamed with a cunning and intelligence rarely seen in its kind.
And hostility.
-Intruders?
"...We are mages."
Lee Han cautiously spoke, stopping his friends from immediately fleeing.
Though beings from other dimensions were relatively hostile, fleeing or attacking without even attempting conversation could be like pouring oil on fire.
If negotiations succeeded, not only would danger be reduced, but it would also be a huge help in dimensional exploration.
'What can I offer them? Think. Frost giants are...'
-Wait. That is...?
The frost giant trailed off, pointing at the tip of Lee Han's staff.
Embedded there was the blue gemstone he had received from the King of Frost Giants.
'Ah!'
Lee Han suddenly remembered a way to persuade the frost giant and exclaimed.
"That's right! This gem was given to me by the King of Frost Giants!"
-Then you must be that honorable challenger! I've heard of you!
"Wow! What an incredible coincidence!"
Playing along with the giant's reaction, Lee Han exaggerated his amazement.
"To think we'd meet someone who knows of that incident. It seems fate is watching over us. This is an opportunity—wouldn't you like to exchange something we both need?"
-Oh, I do have something I need!
"And what would that be?"
-Glory!
"...How would you obtain..."
-The glory of defeating an honorable challenger recognized by the king!
Lee Han immediately signaled. His friends bolted.