Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 893

Lee Han felt his cheeks burn. He had just learned a hard lesson about believing stories without checking if they were true. “Wow,” he thought, “that’s why you can’t just spread rumors!”

“If they really did that, they are horrible, disgusting thieves!” Lee Han exclaimed, his voice louder than he meant it to be.

Catton blinked, surprised. “Really? But Lee Han,” he said, confused, “why would stealing the Headmaster’s treasure make them *extra* bad?” Catton couldn’t understand why his usually calm and top-student junior was suddenly so furious.

Jo Woorin quietly added, “Lee Han is so angry because he’s Gonadaltes’ student.”

“Indeed…” Catton thought the Skull Headmaster was just a strange wizard he didn’t know well. But he understood why a direct student would be angry about the theft.

“You act like you don’t care, Lee Han, but you really do!”

Jo Woorin agreed.

“What are you two doing? Hurry up and come here!” Lee Han snapped at Catton and Jo Woorin for whispering behind him instead of moving.

Wizards might have powerful magic, but they were still fragile people.

That’s why experienced adventurers weren’t too scared of wizards. There was even a saying:

“A new adventurer trembles at the thought of a wizard, but an experienced adventurer prepares calmly.”

They knew how to deal with wizards: interrupt their spells, ambush them before they could cast, confuse them to break their focus, or mess with the magic around them.

The >Kangla’s Creation> adventurers who had snuck into Einroguard were experts at fighting wizards. Plus, they had prepared more than usual for this mission.

But they weren’t ready for what happened next: being chased by dozens of wizards who would do anything to catch them.

“Stay calm,” one adventurer said. “There are a lot of them, but they’re just students who are still learning. We can trick them easily…”

“Intruder! Intruder over there!”

“Damn it! My device found them first! Hormash, are you listening?”

“I’m not listening! My puppy found them first! Kill them!”

The adventurers’ confidence disappeared quickly. The Einroguard students were tracking them down incredibly fast.

“Grrrr!”

“Is that Cerberus?! Why do they have that at the school?! The Empire should forbid it!”

“This isn’t the time to worry about that! Swordsman, this way! Use the fog scroll so they can’t follow us!”

“The scroll isn’t working!”

“The Kitchen Club blocked the scroll! Everyone saw that, right?! It’s our contribution!”

“Stop bragging! Don’t even think about getting a reward for that!”

“You little brats! We show you some mercy, and you take advantage of it!” One of the adventurers, tired of being chased by young students, finally snapped. They were all mean people, so they didn’t have much patience.

The Swordsman pulled out his sword and chanted a spell.

“Drink blood and destroy the enemy!”

He cut his finger, and drops of blood appeared. The sword absorbed the blood and trembled, glowing red.

“Ha!” The Swordsman swung his sword. A beam of light from a magical item flying toward them disappeared instantly.

This sword could erase lower-level magic.

The Swordsman held his breath and hid. Then, he stabbed the student in front with his sword.

He felt the sword hit its target. “Wizards, you see that! Keep following me. I’ll do this to you too…”

“Got him! I got him!”

“?!!”

The student, who should have had his throat cut, chuckled and grabbed the Swordsman’s wrist. Then, he yelled to his friends that he had caught him. The Swordsman felt scared.

“What kind of crazy…”

The Swordsman quickly pulled out his sword. The other wizards were getting closer. He didn’t have time to waste.

Whoosh! A spell turned the branches nearby into blades that aimed for the intruder’s neck. At the same time, stones on the ground turned into sharp darts and flew up. The Swordsman swung his sword to erase the magic.

But the magic didn’t disappear. The sword’s red glow was gone.

“No way… Ack!”

“Got you, you jerk! Give us the treasure!”

“Hey! I caught him! I stopped that sword from working!”

“Even if you didn’t stop it, we could have caught someone who depends on a magical item, right?”

The students left the defeated Swordsman and argued about who would get the treasure. The student with a hole in his body grumbled.

“I used a magic spell that needed my blood to stop the sword from working…”

“Hmph. I would have caught him without getting stabbed. What’s the point if you couldn’t catch him first?”

“Hey! How well do you think he was hiding! How could I find him while using the magic spell!”

“Everyone, stop arguing and let’s find the treasure.”

The Swordsman glared at the students, but they didn’t care about him anymore. The older students at Einroguard had faced too many dangers to be scared by an adventurer like him.

“The treasure… it’s not here!?”

“Damn it! We caught the wrong one! No wonder he came out alone to distract us!”

“Wait a minute, everyone. I think the intruder wants to say something?”

The students stopped his paralysis spell, waiting to hear what he would say. “Maybe he’ll tell us where the treasure is hidden. If you help us, we might be nicer to you…”

“I’ll kill you all! You little wizard jerks!”

“Ugh, seriously. Why did we have to pick this guy?”

“Tie him up again. Let’s send him to the Death Knights.”

“That’s a waste. Can’t we use him for magic experiments?”

“Don’t say such terrible things. The Skull Headmaster will get angry.”

“Why is it okay to do magic experiments on students, but not on intruders?”

“I think the Headmaster just wants to have all the fun himself.”

The Swordsman realized that calm talk could be scarier than threats. He had heard that the wizards at Einroguard were different, but he didn’t know how different. They weren’t like any wizards he had met before.

Lee Han arrived late and was surprised to see the older students hanging the captured intruders below the mountain range, taking a break.

More intruders had been caught than he expected. ‘Did Antagondals get tricked?’ He thought the adventurers Antagondals had hired would be good, but so many had been caught.

“Ah. Maybe these are only some of them, and there are more left…”

“Huh? No. I asked them, and they caught almost all of them. Not many are left.”

Lee Han didn’t know if his seniors were amazing or the adventurers were just bad. The >Kangla’s Creation> group had completely failed. Most of them were caught right away.

Their preparations didn’t matter. Even if they blocked the students once or twice, the students kept coming in large numbers. If they blocked the magic that tracked them with a scroll, the students used magical creatures. If they avoided the creatures with flower scents, they used magical items to search…

This happened because they were discovered once. It was unfair to the intruders.

“Hmm. Maybe they’re just normal adventurers. Maybe Antagondals was tricked…”

Jo Woorin agreed with Lee Han. Antagondals couldn’t hire the best adventurers because he was a criminal. Plus, who would want to sneak into Einroguard?

So he had to hire anyone he could find, even if they weren’t very good. Lee Han and Jo Woorin had a conversation that would have made the >Kangla’s Creation> adventurers cry if they heard it.

“But have you seen Professor Ingoldel?”

“Professor Ingoldel? He went inside earlier to catch the intruders.”

“Professor is different. We’ve almost given up, but he’s still trying to catch them all.”

The older students were impressed by Professor Ingoldel’s effort. They had almost given up on the Skull Headmaster’s treasure because it hadn’t appeared even though they had caught so many intruders. But Professor Ingoldel kept going, wanting the treasure no matter what.

‘Is this what makes a professor different from a student?’

“…No. Is he really doing that for the treasure? Why? If it’s the Headmaster’s treasure, shouldn’t the Headmaster be the one trying to get it?”

“I think so too! Shouldn’t the professor let the students have a chance?”

The students agreed with Lee Han. They thought a professor shouldn’t be greedy for the Skull Headmaster’s treasure. He should let the students have it.

‘Should I just give up?’ Lee Han hesitated. The older students had caught so many intruders that even if Professor Ingoldel caught the rest, there wouldn’t be many left. Then, even if those intruders were the exam during the midterm, it wouldn’t be too hard…

‘What am I thinking? Even one intruder is dangerous.’ Fighting experienced adventurers was still risky, even if there weren’t many of them. He had to stop them no matter what.

“I didn’t know Professor Ingoldel was so greedy.”

“It could be because of the exam.”

“That’s even worse.”

Lee Han was horrified by Professor Volardy’s words. It was even scarier if Professor Ingoldel was doing it to use the intruders for the midterm exam, not for the treasure.

“Found the intruder!”

A shout came from far away. The older students started fighting each other.

“Shadow, blind the enemy!”

“Earth, trap them!”

“Fog, confuse them…”

‘Why are they doing that?!’ Jo Woorin wondered if they had been hit by magic. Catton explained, “They’re trying to stop each other and be the first to catch the intruder.”

Jo Woorin looked at Lee Han with a pitiful expression. “Lee Han, if you’re looking for Professor Ingoldel, shouldn’t you go that way?”

“Ah… I was thinking of giving up because it seemed too late.”

Lee Han was starting to give up and thought he should just face the intruder during the midterm exam. The older students were fighting so hard, how could he stop Professor Ingoldel?

“Lee Han! You can’t give up! You have to get Gonadaltes’ treasure first!”

‘That’s not true.’ Lee Han wanted to stop Professor Ingoldel from catching the intruders, not get the treasure.

But Jo Woorin didn’t care. He spread his wings and put Lee Han on his back. “Let’s go! I’ll take you!”

The older students, fighting each other, looked up in surprise as the dragon flew into the sky. ‘Riding a dragon into the sky?!’

As Jo Woorin carried him into the sky, Lee Han knew he couldn’t give up. He had to stop Professor Ingoldel, even if it seemed impossible.