Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 372

Lee Han looked a little more serious.

“Please, just relax and call me by my name.”

“I, I am calling you comfortably, though?”

“……”

“That was just a slip of the tongue.”

The older students quickly tried to act normal again.

Of course, they were astonished by Lee Han’s magic power, which was at an unprecedented level, but they were the seniors who had entered Einroguard first, weren’t they?

They couldn’t abandon their dignity as seniors.

“But just how much is it, really?”

“Area 1 undead aren’t strong, right? So, does it really make sense to run away just because of magic power? Is the professor making it sound worse than it is?”

It made sense.

The older students watched the ghoul-dogs. The dogs had whimpered and run away. The seniors were amazed. They stared at Lee Han in disbelief.

“How many times is that?”

“S-Six times.”

“Isn’t it much more effective than undead repellent potions? I guess we don’t need them?”

Usually, exploring the undead realm was lonely and felt like you couldn’t breathe.

Wizards had to cast Dark Vision spells and tread slowly, careful even of their breathing.

Loud noises, heavy breaths, sweat, or body odor attracted the undead, and fighting the undead would bring even more undead, drawn by the commotion.

At this point, gathering or exploring became meaningless, and they had to focus solely on combat.

To avoid this situation, they had to meticulously avoid the enemy from the start.

Using undead repellent potions to prevent approach was also a good method, but it had the disadvantage of consuming a lot of potions.

However, today, they had discovered a new method.

A living, human undead repellent!

“This way, junior.”

“Undead detected. Junior, walk quickly that way! Yes! That’s it! The undead are running away!”

“Stand here for a moment! To keep them from coming!”

Dirette, seeing Lee Han standing there, apologized with a sorry voice.

“Sorry, junior. Am I using you too much?”

“Huh? No, it’s honestly quite easy.”

“…O-Okay.”

“Ah, shadow worms here!”

“I’m bringing the collection net now!”

Dirette watched the juniors take out their equipment and rush over at Lee Han’s shout, and thought to himself.

‘…Won’t the positions of the seniors and juniors be reversed in about half a year…’

About two days after Lee Han’s group entered, Park Deok-gul in the village began to feel something was amiss.

“…This is strange, isn’t it?”

It was rare for there to be a two-day difference from the scheduled overlap date.

Another party in the village seemed to feel it too, as they were buzzing and talking in the open space.

“What are the knights saying?”

“They keep saying it hasn’t opened yet, and they’ll be the first to let us know as soon as it does…”

“…Could those sons of bitches be…?”

Park Deok-gul started to feel worried.

People in the Empire who had some sense didn’t trust the knights.

Knights followed their own rules, so they often broke promises without warning.

“Check around! See if any parties have disappeared!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

“And keep pressing the knight! If they react strangely, push them hard! If the knights have something to hide, they won’t be able to come on strong!”

As people were sent out to poke around, clues soon emerged.

A group of wizards who had arrived a few days ago had not been seen for a while, and one or two of the knights were avoiding eye contact.

As the answer became clear, Park Deok-gul was so angry that his face turned red.

“How dare these knights?!”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“Call all the guys who are resting. We’re leaving now!”

Park Deok-gul gritted his teeth, vowing to repay this debt someday.

The goal was more important, so he was moving on, but these knights were truly infuriating.

“Knight! Is it true that the dimension has opened?”

“What is this! Why are you hiding it from us!”

Other adventurer parties gathered in the open space and were demanding answers first.

Those who had heard the rumors late shouted in great anger.

“Answer us!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.”

“Yes!?”

“The dimension opened an hour ago today.”

“……”

“…What does that…! I heard! I heard that something black was creeping and spreading in the forest two days ago! Isn’t that the entrance opening!”

“That’s just a rumor.”

“When such strange phenomena occur, rumors also spread.”

‘Those dirty, brazen bastards!’

The adventurers were amazed at how stubborn the knights were. They never admitted they were wrong, even now.

It wasn’t for nothing that not just anyone could become a knight.

“Then why are you telling us now that it opened an hour ago?”

“If we had announced it as soon as it opened, how much damage would have been caused by fighting each other? Look at the current situation.”

“At times like this, an orderly entry is necessary.”

“……”

The adventurers realized that arguing any further would only hurt them.

‘Son of a bitch.’

‘May you be cursed.’

They stomped and quietly moved towards the entrance of the dimension. Park Deok-gul also took his party and followed behind.

He wanted to start a sword fight right away, but he couldn’t cause a disturbance.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I will definitely find and secure the mushrooms.”

“You better, if you don’t want to die. Scout the other parties properly. If there are guys who find the mushroom location…”

Even though he spoke quietly, the subordinate trembled and nodded at his superior’s words, which seemed to reek of blood.

“Found it! I found it!”

“Dig it out quickly!”

“Should I help?”

“No. You can just stand there.”

“Don’t waste your energy for nothing. You’ll use up your magic power.”

Gainando and Raphaelle sighed and complained as they picked mushrooms and put them in a basket.

‘I’m good at just standing there too!’

Unlike Lee Han, the other first-year students didn’t get any special treatment. They had to work as much as they came.

“It was great that we came earlier than others. It seems like we’ve swept away everything in Area 1.”

“Right? It seems like we’ve gotten everything we can get now.”

The seniors put their heads together and compared the maps they had each drawn.

It was a winding and complicated cave, but thanks to the wizards who had been wandering around for two days, it was quite complete to some extent.

“We’ve checked here.”

“This side is all done too. We’ve mined all the dark stones that were attached to the walls.”

“Now we might have to go to Area 2.”

When Gainando sent a desperate look, the seniors said as if they understood.

“We’ll send you guys out and go in, so don’t worry.”

“Unlike other times, we’ve earned a lot of time, so it’s enough.”

The students who came out, having earned a lot of time and completed the map, were surprised to hear the explanation from the knight.

To think they would earn two days.

“I wondered why I couldn’t see other people…”

Lee Han, who was listening, suddenly thought of something and asked.

“Wait. Then, won’t the people who entered late have nothing to get in Area 1?”

“That’s right. But what can we do?”

“If you’re upset, you should have come earlier.”

“Or go to Area 2.”

Lee Han watched the black magicians’ rude reaction. He started to understand why people in the Empire didn’t like black magicians.

“Don’t feel sorry at all, junior. We did what we had to do. Let’s rest and organize the materials before going in.”

“It’s good that we can rest a bit before going into Area 2.”

The seniors said happily.

Of course, since they had to save money, resting meant eating some rough food from the inn and lying down, but it was much more comfortable than wandering around nervously in the gloomy undead dimension.

“What if we ask the merchants to bring us more food? I think you’ll be short on energy if you only eat what comes out of the inn… The merchants will be happy to exchange it for a little bit since they’re having trouble with the supply of Sanhwan mushrooms right now.”

“…Junior, can’t you just skip a grade and come to our grade??”

The students were deeply moved by the junior’s suggestion, which was so tempting that their ears perked up just hearing it.

“I was going to kill them anyway, so this is good. Kill them!”

“H-How dare you?!”

Park Deok-gul’s subordinates began to swing their swords, and the other party was taken aback.

They thought they were just harassing some scholars who had come to see the sights after hearing rumors, but it was such a sudden attack.

“Kill them!”

“These bastards took what we were going to take first! Destroy it and take it away!”

The parties who entered the empty Area 1 late were suddenly caught up in internal strife.

At first, the parties thought it was just bad luck, and that something useful would come out soon, but they became nervous and began to suspect other parties.

-Those bastards took it out after taking it first, didn’t they?

-It was suspicious that they were moving first, could it be…

The air was tense.

It was Park Deok-gul who triggered this situation first.

He had to gather materials anyway, so he didn’t intend to take these unnecessary competitors with him.

Park Deok-gul’s subordinates, who were going to kill them anyway, swung their swords and attacked the other adventurer party.

“Block! It’s an attack!!”

“Duck your head! Raise your shield! Arrows are coming!”

“Don’t let those bastards use potions!”

“Scroll! What about the scroll?!”

Shouts burst out here and there, and other parties who heard it from afar were shaken by it and began to swing their weapons.

“I’ll kill you if you approach! Don’t come near me!”

“You guys who were fighting earlier, aren’t you? Don’t come near me! If you don’t want to be suspected!”

An atmosphere of imminent danger where weapons would be wielded mercilessly if they got close to each other.

Park Deok-gul didn’t care.

“Now that it’s come to this, get rid of them all.”

“A-Are you sure?”

“Looking at the way things are now, it’s better to deal with them all than to leave them alone. It’ll be a bit tiring, but let’s bear it and deal with it. Area 2 is next.”

The students who had finished recharging re-entered.

This time, the number of people had been reduced by about half. It was because the goal was Area 2.

“You’ll feel the difference the moment you go in.”

“Cough. The undead in Area 2 will attack even if they are scared of magic power. They’re that ferocious.”

“Of course, you don’t have to worry about that if you avoid them well.”

“More than that, junior. Shall I carry your luggage?”

The seniors were worried that Lee Han might get tired from carrying his luggage.

If Lee Han got tired, his magic power would also decrease, and then the undead repellent in Area 1 would also weaken…

“Wait.”

Professor Mortum frowned and said.

“A fight broke out.”

“In here?”

“How long has it been open?”

It wasn’t uncommon, but it wasn’t that frequent either.

The students were puzzled by the sight of other people fighting already.

“Cough. I don’t usually interfere, but this one is a bit…”

The fight that Professor Mortum saw with the original magic was one side unilaterally attacking the other.

“Do we need to prepare to fight?”

“No. Cough. They’re quite skilled, so there’s no point in fighting.”

“Can’t we drive the undead to them instead? They’re fighting people, so wouldn’t they get tired if the undead keep coming?”

At Lee Han’s question, Professor Mortum was about to say that it was nonsense, but he paused.

“…That might be okay. It’s not dangerous either.”

“We have an undead repellent here, so it’s definitely possible!”

“Hey. You idiot. The junior is listening.”

“……”