Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1016

“Let’s move! Upwards!”

The exploration team members made a swift decision.

Even though the monster looked tempting, and they were greedy for the criminals’ rewards…

“Damn it. If we caught just one, the people here could split 8,125 gold coins each,” one of the team members said.

The others stared. Even in this dangerous place, the young magician was quickly doing math in her head!

They hadn’t even thought about the reward because of the dangerous criminals and the scary monsters.

No matter how tempting the monster looked, they couldn’t be foolish now.

Whether the elf who worshipped evil gods was lying or not, they had to go up. They needed to tell others what was happening and get ready for a bigger fight.

Crack!

Alsicle’s necklace crystal suddenly cracked and broke! Alsicle gasped, feeling a sudden, sharp fear.

“Left! Enemies approaching from the left passage! Dozens of them or more!”

“Back!”

The exploration team members immediately changed direction. Almost simultaneously, spider monsters poured out of the left passage.

Chittering and hissing sounds filled the passage!

Lee Han reacted instantly. He raised his hands, and flames burst into existence, forming a wall of fire across the passage. But these weren’t ordinary flames. They shimmered with blue and white light.

Seeing the flames, one of the team members yelled urgently.

“Magician! Don’t waste your mana, join us!”

“Don’t worry about him!”

Alsicle pushed past the team member. “He’s fine!” she snapped, quickly creating small, icy amulets. She pressed them into the hands of the others. “Wear these. They’ll protect you.”

‘…How can a person be so cold!’

The team member shivered, misunderstanding Alsicle’s focus. *Someone so cute shouldn’t be so cold,* he thought. *Maybe she’s spent too long studying ice magic.*

“At least let him wear an amulet!”

“‘No!’ Alsicle insisted, her voice sharp. ‘He doesn’t need one!’ She was already thinking about how much magic she had left, how much concentration she needed. She couldn’t waste any on someone who didn’t need protection.”

‘She’s really heartless!’ the team member thought, glaring at Alsicle’s back.

“‘Okay, let’s move!’ Lee Han said, joining them. Flames still danced in the passage behind him, lighting up the walls.

The team member was surprised to see Lee Han keeping pace with them easily. He hadn’t even seemed to take a moment to rest after using so much magic.

Team member: “Are you alright? Do you need to recover your strength?”

Alsicle snapped back, sounding annoyed. ‘I told you, I’m fine! Just move!’

Watching Alsicle’s reaction, the team member made up his mind.

*When we get back,* he thought grimly, *I’m going to tell everyone about that cold-hearted little magician. The Imperial newspaper needs to know the truth about this ‘genius’!

“Die—!”

The giant hybrid warrior, Basirmac, greatly inflated his lungs and drew out mana to shout.

The determined roar of a warrior who had reached a high level transformed into an intense shockwave and swept through the passage. The spider horde that had been swarming like clouds was crushed all at once.

However, there were still many spiders coming from behind. It didn’t even feel like they had decreased.

“Why are there so many?!”

“Their breeding speed is beyond imagination.”

Kitarenanum said with a groan.

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a monster that had crossed the dimensional barrier to boast such numbers in such a short time.

It was a speed that was on a different level from general sexual reproduction.

“Are they eating anything and everything around them and laying eggs?”

“Is this the time for magical analysis, you spell-casting bastard!”

Basirmac pointed ahead.

Only two of the mercenaries he had brought were left. They had been swept away by the wave of spider monsters and disappeared.

In the midst of this, the doomsday cultist magician was smirking creepily. Basirmac regretted not throwing him away earlier.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a magical fire arrow was created among the spider monsters and fired.

The power wasn’t strong, but Basirmac and Kitarenanum were startled.

They didn’t know that these spiders could use magic.

“They can use magic too?! What is this!”

Basirmac shouted, knocking away the fire arrow with the back of his hand. However, Kitarenanum couldn’t answer.

“I, I don’t know. Was it from a dimension where it knew how to use magic? But it definitely didn’t use it at first?”

“That fire arrow was definitely the magic that the brown-haired mercenary used.”

Kitarenanum flinched at the doomsday cultist magician’s sudden words.

“What…”

“Don’t you have a guess?”

-This is messed up. It has absorption abilities too!

The great demon Esadojiqua muttered in astonishment.

No wonder the demons were being swept away without a sound; this monster could absorb the abilities of those it devoured!

Even among monsters, those with such powers were extremely rare.

-How could you miss that!

-Be grateful for even this much information. Magician!

“That’s a relief, at least. The mercenaries weren’t anything special. Even if it uses magic, it won’t be threatening.”

“We have to consider the possibility of it eating more. If it eats a hundred magicians, even if it only absorbs one-hundredth of each, it would still gain the magic of one person.”

“Then you and I shouldn’t be eaten even more…”

The giant hybrid warrior, who was speaking, instinctively sensed danger and shouted.

“Get down!!”

“What…”

Kitarenanum, who had been focusing only on the spider monsters, was slow to react.

The doomsday cultist magician was already casting magic at them.

‘How?!’

Kitarenanum had no choice but to admit that he had underestimated his opponent.

Even though he was at a much higher level as a magician, he had been overconfident that the other party wouldn’t be able to deceive his eyes.

However, the doomsday cultist had completely deceived their senses and summoned magic, using some kind of trick.

Rumble!

“You spell-casting bastard!!! I’ll chew your heart out!!!”

Basirmac gritted his teeth, taking the sharp blades of vacuum with his body.

In any case, all magicians were untrustworthy.

“To ambush with magic like this. You’re crazy.”

Kitarenanum, who had regained his composure, also checked his defense and prepared to counterattack.

The ambush was surprising, but its power wasn’t that great. At this rate, he could immediately…

“…No! No!!”

Kitarenanum belatedly realized and cried out.

The doomsday cultist was grinning and trying to complete his magic.

“You can’t stop it, you madman!!!”

“What! What’s going on…”

At that moment, all the walls and floors of the surrounding passages melted. The spider monsters that were coming up from below roared excitedly and jumped up.

The monsters that came up swallowed the doomsday cultist first. Kitarenanum had to grit his teeth as he barely summoned a new foothold.

‘Damn it! There’s no time to switch magic…!’

“Do something! You spell-casting bastard!”

To prepare a wide-area magic, he needed a moment to switch. However, the monsters were coming from all directions, not only from the front, back, left, and right, but also from above and below. That brief moment was impossible to find.

Drip!

It was then.

Suddenly, the monsters stopped moving. Then, they changed direction and tried to go higher up.

“…Storm, unleash and sweep them away!”

Kitarenanum, who had barely managed to get a chance to switch magic, turned his arm into a storm. The fierce wind pressure swept away the surrounding monsters.

Basirmac shook off the monster’s fluids and shells and asked.

“Why are they suddenly trying to go up?”

“I don’t know. Did they find new prey? Something more delicious than us…”

“Ha! Do you think that makes sense?”

Even in this situation, the giant hybrid warrior didn’t let go of his arrogance.

Even if it was a ranking of the monster’s tempting prey, he could never lose to that warrior.

“…Are we cursed by the skull? More are coming from below. Let’s move!”

Kitarenanum shouted as if he was fed up with the approach of new monsters from below.

They couldn’t come as hunters and become prey.

“Alsicle, isn’t something strange?”

Alsicle, who was being carried on Lee Han’s back (she had quickly collapsed due to her stamina), couldn’t answer immediately and panted.

“What… what’s strange?”

“It seems like the monsters have been targeting only me since a while ago…”

“Th… that’s understandable. You’re threatening. And you have a lot of mana.”

Alsicle wasn’t very surprised.

To the monsters, an enemy with an abnormally large amount of mana and immunity to contamination would feel the most threatening.

“But Alsicle, your magic is more outstanding.”

“…You!”

Even while being carried, Alsicle felt her eyes welling up.

Alsicle didn’t have that many magician friends, but at least she had one friend she could brag about in front of others.

“More than that, Alsicle, the exploration team member keeps glaring at you… Did you perhaps have a grudge in the past?”

“Ah, no. There’s nothing like that. Maybe it’s because I’m being carried by you.”

The sight of her being carried by a junior magician probably didn’t look good.

‘Is that so?’

Lee Han wanted to explain to the exploration team member who was sending him a look of contempt, ‘Magicians are originally weak,’ but there was no time to do so.

“To the upper floor!”

“I have something to say.”

Suddenly, the evil god worshiper elf opened his mouth. Lee Han was about to cast fire magic again but was puzzled.

“What is it?”

“It would be safer to abandon that magician…”

“Shut up.”

Thwack!

Lee Han struck the elf’s snout with his staff. Alsicle was surprised by her junior magician’s violent reaction.

Although he was hit, the evil god worshiper elf didn’t stop.

“If you don’t want to abandon him, change direction. The monsters have already occupied that side.”

“Where to?”

“To the side path on the right. There’s another closed waterway. If you go that way, there are usable tools.”

“!”

Alsicle lightly divined. Then, she nodded.

“To the side path on the right!”

“What are the usable tools? Is there a sluice gate opening and closing device or something?”

Lee Han asked the elf while running.

If they could sweep away the monsters with such a device made by the ancient dwarves, there would be nothing more to wish for.

“No. There’s the magic criminal Kitarenanum and the separatist Basirmac. Throw those guys who are cornered to the monsters. Then, you can safely escape without the monster going berserk.”

Not only Lee Han and Alsicle, but even the exploration team members were speechless.

What kind of bastard is this?

“Can we use them? They’re notorious wanted criminals.”

“If they’re in the same situation as us, they’ll know they’re cornered. They’ll probably accept if we suggest cooperation.”

“But they’re not fools, so won’t they know our intentions? If a fight breaks out, it’ll become even more dangerous.”

As the exploration team members quickly exchanged opinions, the evil god worshiper elf quietly said to Lee Han.

“The magic criminal Kitarenanum offered ninety-nine giant hearts to contract with the great demon. Tell this fact to Basirmac. Then, the two will argue greatly.”

“Is that true??”

“No. It’s a lie. But it’s effective.”

Lee Han could clearly feel why the god the other party served was an evil god.

It was an evil eloquence that surpassed the Einrogard students.