Episode 829
Episode 829
"Why are you looking at me like that? Surely you don't doubt my words?"
"..."
"Uh."
"..."
"Lafadell is my witness."
"..."
"Gathering two fools won't make them any less gullible."
'Isn't that a bit too harsh?' Lee Han thought to himself.
Of course, Angrago and Lafadell did have their gullible moments, but calling them fools?
That was going too far.
"Wardanaz. You'll be fine, right?"
As the two conversed, Angrago cautiously approached.
It seemed that entering the Punishment Room had dredged up several painful memories for him.
-"They sent me to the Punishment Room just for raiding the kitchen! I could've compensated for it!"
-"Student. Keep it down."
-"Hmph! I'll keep talking! Aren't you Death Knights ashamed? Locking up students just for raiding the kitchen!"
-"If you keep making noise, we'll have to silence you."
-"Go ahead and try!"
-"Tsk. Turn to stone!"
Beyond just painful memories, the Punishment Room was filled with dangerous elements.
To prevent students from attempting escapes or infiltrations, traps and defensive mechanisms were scattered everywhere. No matter how skilled a mage was, carelessness could lead to immediate capture.
"Haha, of course. I'll be fine."
"R-right? Well, Wardanaz, you wouldn't have come down to the Punishment Room without a plan. You must have everything prepared."
As Angrago sighed in relief and stepped back, Lee Han glanced at Giselle.
"Doesn't the White Tiger Tower trust others too easily?"
"Shut up."
Lee Han, who had descended into the Punishment Room with his friends, summoned his courage and wisdom to overcome the obstacles.
"Good day."
-"Yes. Good day, Lee Han."
"I'll be passing through now."
-"Ah. Very well."
As Lee Han politely greeted the Death Knight patrolling the hallway and walked past, the White Tiger Tower students stared in shock and disbelief.
What in the world did they just witness?!
"W-wait. Hold on. Wardanaz."
"What? Stop bothering me. I'll lose my way."
Lee Han, who had been intently studying the map, snapped irritably when his friends called out to him.
Even within the ever-changing grounds of Einrogard, the Punishment Room was particularly volatile—its shifts as unpredictable as boiling porridge.
Though Lee Han had mapped out several key routes, a moment of carelessness could land him in dangerous territory.
"Wasn't that a Death Knight just now?"
"..."
"Do you not know what a Death Knight is, Lafadell? You're from the Black Magic faction..."
"I wasn't asking because I couldn't tell! I was asking how you convinced them!"
Lafadell, suddenly branded as a Black Magic faction dropout, flared up in anger.
He wondered if Lee Han had used Illusion Magic to confuse the Death Knights.
He knew these death knights possessed formidable anti-magic resistance, but if it was Wardanaz... maybe...
"Ah, what's the big deal? We're just acquainted, that's all."
"......"
"......"
The White Tiger Tower students fell silent again.
Though they were all polite, Death Knights were still the Skeleton Principal's enforcers—objects of terror.
If mere words could persuade them, Einrogard students wouldn't be suffering so much.
'What kind of deeds does one have to perform to be on friendly terms with Death Knights?'
'Wardanaz has always been somewhat favored by the Headmaster.'
'Well, that does make sense.'
Fortunately, Lee Han was too focused on the map to hear his friends' scathing insults.
"This way. Follow me. Durgyu, be careful with that path. The moment you tap the statues embedded in the wall, the floor collapses and drops you two levels down."
"!"
"Don't worry, Wardanaz. By second year, no one's foolish enough to mess with something like that."
Giselle retorted when Lee Han seemed overly concerned about the White Tiger Tower students.
Now that they were all second-years, they knew better than to recklessly tamper with things in Einrogard just because they seemed intriguing.
'Gainando messed with it, though.'
Thinking this to himself, Lee Han continued forward.
There was one thing Lee Han could do that even the seniors at Einrogard couldn't—breaking through the punishment room like this.
Of course, he still had to watch out for naturally occurring traps and unexpected situations, but simply escaping the pursuit of the Death Knights and Perkuntra was already an enormous privilege.
"Uh... Where did the warden go?"
Seeing the floor where Perkuntra was supposed to be completely empty, Lee Han grabbed a passing Death Knight in surprise and asked.
The Death Knight kindly explained:
"Two days ago, students summoned a Void Monster and destroyed the surroundings. They moved to a lower floor. If you push those bars over there, stairs will appear."
"Thank you."
"This is completely different from what I imagined."
Lagesa, who had been following behind to watch, grumbled.
She had wanted to see students overcoming an underground dungeon, but this was just an underground tour.
"Why is she following us?"
"She said she wanted to see Einrogard students' magic."
"More like she's waiting for us to step on a trap..."
Thud
—No sooner had the words left his mouth than someone stepped on the edge of the corridor, triggering a trap.
Because Perkuntra had relocated, they had entered an unfamiliar passage, and an unknown trap had been discovered.
"Finally!"
Lagesa cheered in an excited voice. The White Tiger Tower students reacted swiftly.
"Spread out and hold your breath!"
"Check above!"
The White Tiger Tower students, who first created distance and then checked whether the trap was cloud-based or falling from the ceiling, were indeed experienced. By second year, this much was entirely possible, but...
Einrogard always exceeded students' expectations.
The space twisted right in the center, forming a sphere—a trap that would send anyone it touched to another part of the punishment room.
"!!!"
The students who had already moved were caught off guard. Who would have thought the trap would target the very spot they had dodged to?
"This way."
Lee Han immediately cast Psychokinesis.
The students were yanked away as the sphere was pushed back.
Thud!
"The traps have gotten more advanced since we went lower. Upstairs, they activated when you got close, but down here, they just fire magic directly."
Lee Han explained to Lagesa. It was only because <Wardanaz's Telekinesis> was speed-specialized magic that they avoided losing anyone.
"What a relief."
Lagesa replied with a mischievous expression. Her mouth said 'relief,' but her face absolutely did not think so.
"...You're not disappointed that I just saved them, are you?"
"Of course not! Just keep moving. Didn't you say the stairs onward are unfamiliar territory?"
"......"
Lee Han met Lagesa's expectant gaze with a lukewarm stare and immediately summoned Gonadaltes, the skeletal warrior.
"You're going to scout ahead carefully."
"Hey! No fun!"
Despite Lagesa's complaints, Lee Han proceeded with thorough checks. His friends supported his approach.
"Wardanaz. Your way is right."
"Let's not be swayed by an outsider's whispers!"
'These second-years are all shameless,' Lagesa grumbled inwardly.
Whether it was because of the Wardanaz family boy, they didn't care one bit about appearances or decorum, even with an outsider guest present.
Normally, there'd be at least one guy who'd step forward to show off, but... 'Ah, there's a perfect target!' Spotting an easy mark, Lagesa crept closer.
Angrago flinched and tried to distance himself as Lagesa approached.
"You're from the Alpha family, right? Those honorable knights of the sea!"
"Gasp! You know about our family?"
"Of course, of course! But are you really going to just rely on your friends and wait, coming from such a lineage?"
"Th-that's..."
"Surely a knight wouldn't throw away an opportunity for glory?"
Lagesa subtly goaded Angrago with a sly voice.
Angrago wavered before finally making up his mind and rushing toward Lee Han.
"Wardanaz!"
"Huh?"
"I'm going in to check things out too. I've gotten much stronger now... Ack! Agh! Oww!"
Lee Han rapped Angrago's back with his staff. None of the White Tiger Tower students tried to stop him.
"That Angrago guy's been spouting nonsense since he hasn't been beaten in a while."
"If he just waited quietly, Wardanaz would handle everything properly."
"......"
Lagesa thought there was something seriously off about this year's White Tiger Tower students.
Watching silently as a fellow tower member got beaten by another tower's student, then following along like a flock of sheep...
Thud!
Gonadaltes, who had been running forward, was instantly reverse-summoned.
The absorption trap detecting undead souls had activated. As reddish mist surged upward, the skeleton warrior's soul was sucked straight in.
"Oh no! It's been destroyed. What do we do now?"
"I suppose we could assemble and send another skeleton warrior."
"I heard from Professor Bagrak. You practice orthodox Black Magic, don't you?"
'Since when did that conversation happen?' Lee Han made a slightly sour face.
Professor Voladi didn't seem the type, yet he had a surprisingly gossipy side.
Lee Han kept noticing this whenever he realized how much other professors knew about his progress.
"Yes. I can use it."
"Orthodox Black Magic is impressive but has weaknesses. The puppets you create lack souls. They'll have trouble detecting traps."
The current Empire's standard Black Magic summoning involved contracting with beings from other dimensions.
Once contracted, they could be summoned far more efficiently—this was now the norm.
In contrast, the classical Black Magic summoning Lee Han had (forcibly) learned required manually assembling undead piece by piece and controlling them.
It was far more laborious and had the critical weakness of failing to trigger traps in situations like this. 'Maybe I should've just learned the modern method...'
"Isn't this exactly when a student should go in?"
"No. It's fine. I'll just summon another one."
"Summon another? It'll be full of resentment after being reverse-summoned! Have you never heard the cautionary tale of the Black Mage Oondorgu, who starved to death trapped by a ghoul legion?"
Regardless, Lee Han summoned the skeleton warrior again.
"Could you go back in?"
Gonadaltes politely bowed his head before darting back inside.
Watching this, Lagesa's jaw dropped.
What kind of undead control was this?! 'Monstrous bastard!' Of course, everything she'd seen so far had been monstrous enough, but those were just glimpses of genius.
Normally, only archduke-level demons could exert such absolute control over undead.
"You'd do just fine in the demon realm, kid."
"Why would you say something so horrifying?"
Lee Han, who'd been monitoring the summon from behind, recoiled at the absurd remark.
Though it took some time, the outcome was essentially predetermined.
Unlike other mages, Lee Han could continuously supply mana to resend his summon even when it was destroyed or collapsed.
After repeated attempts, they'd roughly mapped out the new passageway's layout.
"Let's head down."
What brings you here?
BOOOOM!
Distant thunder roared as lightning energy eerily crawled across the walls and floor.
The students instinctively tensed at the overwhelming presence emanating from afar.
"We came seeking help."
Help, you say! I could refuse since you haven't invoked our contract's Authority... but since you've come all this way, perhaps I'll hear you out?
Perkuntra's voice, audible only to Lee Han, rang out. The other students grew increasingly wary as the thunder intensified.
In Einrogard, such omens usually heralded an enemy's appearance...
"Thank you."
No need. I actually anticipated this. That you'd come seeking me.
"!"
"How did you know?"
Lee Han was startled. 'Does someone at the Thunder King's level gain precognition?'
It's only natural. You mages might not understand, but the Pride Duke never forgets a defeat. He must have sent you a letter, no?
"...No, he didn't."