Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 220

The students from White Tiger Tower thought Ethan wanted to catch the Rock Drake, but he didn’t.

He knew the Rock Drake was tough, so he wouldn’t be so reckless.

“Lure him out.”

He didn’t need to fight it head-on, and he didn’t need to run away.

Lure him out.

Wizards are valued everywhere because they are good at finding different solutions.

Other adventurers have to risk their lives to fight or give up and run, but wizards have more options.

And Ethan was especially good at this.

He studied many different things, even for a wizard.

“If I provoke him and guide his gaze…”

Dergyu was Dergyu, but the White Tiger Tower students were on the path leading down. He couldn’t just let the Rock Drake have them.

He had to protect them at all costs!

“Whoa, whoa, Wodanaz. Promise me one thing,” he said.

“What?”

“Promise you won’t catch the Rock Drake.”

Ethan looked at the White Tiger Tower students with disdain. Their legs were trembling.

‘I said I wouldn’t catch it…’

“Alright. I promise.”

“…Really?”

“Of course.”

The White Tiger Tower students stared at Ethan, watching his face carefully.

His face was so still and hard, it was hard to believe him, even when he made a promise.

“…Really, really…”

“If you ask me again, I’ll use you as bait first.”

The White Tiger Tower student was scared and shut his mouth.

It didn’t sound like a joke.

‘Did I bring these guys for nothing…’

Ethan had left the other friends on the hill and only brought the White Tiger Tower students with him.

He didn’t need many people to lure the Rock Drake. The more people there were, the harder the invisibility magic was to use.

He brought the White Tiger Tower students because they were quick and could react easily if problems came up, and…

‘If I go alone, Dergyu won’t listen to me, no matter what.’

If something went wrong, he could give orders to the other White Tiger Tower students on the hill.

Even if they didn’t listen to Ethan, they would have to listen if their friends were next to him.

They were practically hostages!

The White Tiger Tower students next to Ethan didn’t know this. They were just staring at the Rock Drake, looking scared.

“But will the Rock Drake react to just a water orb? Ordinary magic doesn’t work…”

“That’s why I hit his weak spot.”

‘Why did you do that!’ the White Tiger Tower students thought.

They thought he was just trying to provoke it, but he had hit its weak spot without them even knowing…

Thud, thud, thud, thud-

The Rock Drake looked away from the hill and started moving in the other direction.

It seemed to be looking for the one who had hit its nose.

‘Please, Sharkan.’

Whack!

Ethan signaled, and Sharkan jumped out.

The Rock Drake was surprised by the green panther and turned its head.

-■■■…

Sharkan didn’t do too much.

Instead of attacking a monster that was bigger and stronger than him, he just made a sharp cry to provoke it.

Then, he quickly turned and ran. The Rock Drake got angry and tried to chase him.

“Bone, seize the enemy,” Ethan said quietly.

Dark energy swirled around, and bone restraints appeared on the Rock Drake’s foot.

Clatter!

It didn’t really do much.

You can’t tie up a giant by putting a rope on its finger.

Even if he put bone restraints on the Rock Drake’s foot, it could break them in a second.

But Ethan didn’t care and kept casting the spell.

“Bone, seize the enemy. Bone, seize the enemy. Bone…”

If one wasn’t enough, he used two. If two weren’t enough, he used three.

Soon, the bone restraints spread quickly and stuck to the Rock Drake’s foot.

It still didn’t do much, but it made the Rock Drake even angrier.

It had been hit by a water orb, provoked by some undead monster, and now it had annoying bone restraints on its foot.

-■■■… ■■■…

“Heat, distort the air.”

When Ethan flickered like a wizard, the Rock Drake exploded with anger.

It stopped being slow and charged forward, crushing the ground.

Crack!

The charge was so strong that the students nearby felt like there was an earthquake.

“Did… did he go? Did he go?”

“Yeah.”

The White Tiger Tower students sighed in relief.

Wodanaz had kept his promise and hadn’t done anything reckless like hunting the Rock Drake.

Thank goodness!

“You guys go up the hill and tell them you chased the Rock Drake. They won’t know what’s happening, so they’ll be confused.”

“Th, that’s right. I’ll go now.”

“I’ll take the other students…”

Ethan stopped talking.

Another Rock Drake had appeared near the Blue Dragon Tower students.

The students were shocked by this.

But Ethan acted quickly.

“Tell them you chased the Rock Drake. I’ll shake that guy off and come back!”

“Wo… Wodanaz!”

The White Tiger Tower students called Ethan’s name.

Even though he was reckless and used evil magic, they had to admit that Wodanaz was brave to save his friends in this situation.

“…Be careful!”

“Stop saying useless things and go up and tell them!”

“M, sorry.”

When Ethan got angry, the White Tiger Tower students looked away.

He didn’t need to get so angry…

Even though Yihan knew his friends were hiding safely behind the hill, he still felt worried. He held onto Sharkan tightly and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

But they were too far away.

“Blast it!” Yihan thought.

“Heat, twist the air!” he shouted.

Yihan made a blurry, wavy image appear around them, hoping to get the Rock Drake to notice him. He needed to distract it!

“Light, shine bright!”

Suddenly, a huge ball of light burst into existence. It was so bright it even surprised the Rock Drake far away.

‘Yes! I got its attention!’ Yihan thought.

-Grrrr.

Sharkan whimpered, sounding scared.

Right in front of them, the Rock Drake started to sink into the ground.

“…” Yihan was very surprised by this strange behavior.

He remembered reading in books that Rock Drakes would fight if they thought they were stronger, but if they felt scared, they would dig underground to hide and wait.

‘So it’s true!’ he realized. ‘Did I make the light too strong?’

Maybe the Rock Drake thought the light was too powerful and scary, and that’s why it was hiding.

Suddenly, Sharkan started stomping his feet on the ground and pulling hard on Yihan’s sleeve.

-Grrr! Grrrr!

“!” Yihan understood right away. Sharkan was warning him! He tried to jump back quickly.

But the Rock Drake was much faster underground than he expected.

CRACK!

With a very loud roar, the Rock Drake exploded out of the earth.

The ground shook, and bits of rock and dust flew everywhere. Yihan quickly said a magic spell.

“Hold tight!”

An iron ball appeared in the air and stayed still. Yihan grabbed onto it tightly, holding on with all his strength.

‘If I fall, I’m finished!’ he thought, his heart pounding.

How long could he hang on?

Then, the ground seemed to rise up to meet him, like it was going to lift him.

‘Wait a minute…’

It wasn’t the ground.

It was the Rock Drake’s huge back.

“…” Yihan was shocked to realize he was now on top of the Rock Drake.

In his rush to get away from the Rock Drake bursting out, he had accidentally climbed right onto its back!

‘…No, maybe this is actually good.’

He felt dizzy for a moment, but Yihan quickly got his balance back.

Luckily, the Rock Drake didn’t seem to notice him up there.

It looked like it had let out its anger by smashing the area where the light had been. Now, it started walking forward with big steps.

‘I need to jump off as soon as we get near a hill,’ Yihan thought.

He promised himself he would learn a spell to fall slowly as soon as he got back. After today, he knew he really needed it, just in case something like this happened again.

-…

-… …

“…” Yihan still couldn’t see a hill to jump off.

And then, by chance, the Rock Drake he was riding bumped into the Rock Drake that he had annoyed before.

‘No wonder this way felt familiar!’ he thought.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

The two Rock Drakes stared hard at each other. It looked like each one wanted the other to move aside.

But neither of them would move.

“…Wait-”

WHAM!

The two Rock Drakes crashed into each other with a huge bang.

Yihan was thrown around on the wildly shaking back of the Rock Drake. He held on tight, thinking:

‘…If Professor Inguldel ever needs a really difficult place to practice sword fighting, I should tell him about the back of a Rock Drake.’

“Faster! You guys! Why are you so slow?!” shouted a Blue Dragon student.

“Hah, hah… How do they… have so much… energy…” gasped a White Tiger student.

The Blue Dragon Tower students kept pushing the tired White Tiger Tower students to go faster.

After they heard what had happened, none of the White Tiger Tower students said no to helping rescue Wodanaz.

– “Ha! You Blue Dragon Tower people can stay here and rest,” one White Tiger student said, trying to sound tough.

– “Yeah, you’re too slow. You’ll just slow us down,” another added.

They even said things like that, even though they were exhausted!

But surprisingly, the Blue Dragon Tower students really *were* much more energetic.

When you thought about it, it made sense.

The White Tiger Tower students had been saving their water while exploring, and they had also been working hard to build walls and traps to stop the Rock Drakes from attacking.

The Blue Dragon Tower students had had an easier time, so of course they had more energy left.

“Moradi, thanks. I thought you might say no,” Dergyu said.

Giselle just shrugged. “Maybe we became friends because we were in the same swords class… Ah, forget it. Never mind,” she mumbled, sounding annoyed.

Giselle glared at him like she wanted to punch him, and Dergyu quickly shut his mouth.

“Wodanaz risked his life to pull those Rock Drakes away. There’s no way we idiots would just stand here and do nothing. That’s why I’m going,” Giselle said firmly.

“Right,” Dergyu agreed quietly.

“So please, just stop talking silly, Choi. Okay? Why have you been acting so weird ever since we left the school…” Giselle snapped.

“…” Dergyu wished he hadn’t said anything.

‘I should just be quiet,’ he thought.

Giselle, after calling Dergyu all sorts of names in her head (idiot, pushover, fool, someone who’d get his pockets picked by a kid on the street, etc.), changed the subject, feeling a little better after letting out her anger.

“There’s something I don’t get,” she said.

“What’s that?” Dergyu asked.

“Why did Wodanaz help us?”

“…” Dergyu didn’t even think about mentioning that Yihan had told him where the secret door was. Giselle would probably insult him ten times worse if he did.

“Well… maybe Wodanaz does care about friendship, even if he seems cold,” Dergyu said hesitantly.

“I told you to stop talking nonsense, didn’t I?” Giselle said sharply. “He must have some secret reason. He wouldn’t help us for no reason at all.”

People always think others are like them. Giselle was the same.

‘He must want something!’ Giselle thought, frowning and trying to figure out Wodanaz’s sneaky plan, which she couldn’t understand at all.

Of course, there was no sneaky plan.

“Th-there!! Look over there!!!” someone yelled, voice shaking.

“Stop making such a big deal. It’s not like the water’s gone bad. Why do you always scream when you see something…” Giselle started to say, annoyed.

But her voice faded away.

Dergyu was also staring ahead, his eyes wide with surprise.

Lying on the ground in front of them were two Rock Drakes.

“…” Everyone was silent.

“I, I told you! Wodanaz wanted to catch a Rock Drake earlier!” one White Tiger Tower student blurted out loudly in the quiet.