Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 394

“Wait, what did you just say?” Deorgyu asked, blinking in surprise at Lee Han. Giselle, standing beside him, looked just as confused.

Lee Han’s question had been sudden and strange. But, even though they were surprised, Deorgyu answered him anyway.

“Professor Inguldel won’t be happy, that’s for sure,” Deorgyu said.

Giselle nodded. “Even if Professor Inguldel is easy on us usually, going to see him now is a bad idea, Lee Han. Really bad.”

“Hmm. I see. Angalo and his friends are probably skipping class and playing in the forest right now.”

“? !”

The two found it hard to believe what he was saying.

“Lee Han, even if Angalo doesn’t like studying that much, skipping even swordsmanship class…”

“Trying to fix the golem.”

“Ah. That makes sense. I understand.”

Deorgyu immediately understood.

Angalo and his friends had been constantly complaining loudly, saying, “The golem is broken, why can’t you fix it?”

Giselle got so annoyed she almost took out her swords.

“I guess we should tell them to avoid him. I don’t want to see an angry professor for no reason.”

“…How?”

“Uh… don’t you have some way of communicating with each other? A secret sign or something…”

At Lee Han’s question, the two students looked at him as if he was talking nonsense.

Why would they have something like that?

“Are you serious, Lee Han? Does the Blue Dragon Tower have something like that?”

“Yeah. I learned it from someone in the Shadow Patrol. When entering places like forests, we leave a sign.”

“……”

“……”

The two were surprised by how strange Lee Han was acting.

Giselle inwardly resolved to tell the White Tiger Tower students to leave such signs in the future as well.

Angalo swung his wooden sword, cutting down the bushes blocking his path.

Zzzzzing-

“More blade flies?!”

“Duck!”

A bug the size of a sparrow flew in with a sharp sound. The continuously vibrating wings were sharper than expected, and if hit wrong, they could cause deeper wounds than a blade.

However, unlike before, the senses of the White Tiger Tower students had been sharpened by hard training.

Not only the requests they carried out during school time and holidays…

“Burn!”

As the burning wooden sword brushed past, the bug fell straight down.

He scoffed. ‘That’s nothing compared to Wodanaz’s magic!’

“Hey. Do you have to say things like that?”

“M-my bad. It just came out.”

“…No. I’m sorry.”

Angalo and his friends looked at each other warmly.

The strong friendship formed while facing the evil archmage could not be destroyed by small arguments.

“According to the map, it’s around here…”

“The Black Tortoise Tower guys didn’t trick us, did? Those guys don’t care about being fair.”

“I hope not. Would they really do that? Even Wodanaz trades with those guys.”

“…Even if they can’t trick Wodanaz because they’re scared, can’t they play tricks on us?”

“……”

Angalo suddenly began to feel suspicious of the forest map he was holding.

Thud!

“!”

The White Tiger Tower students were startled.

A heavy sound echoed from inside the forest.

“…What was that?”

“Be careful. Power, dwell within me!”

“Sound, linger in my ears.”

The White Tiger Tower students cast magic to make them stronger and faster and raised their guard.

The other tower students made fun of them, saying, ‘If they’re going to fight with their bodies, why did they join Einroguard instead of the Knights?’, but the White Tiger Tower students had their strengths.

In particular, they progressed faster than other tower students in magic to boost their skills, where a skilled sense of the body was important.

The magic they were casting now wasn’t as high-level as powerful magic like ‘Agile Steps’, but it was still quite effective.

…And Wodanaz’s magic was too hard to use because of the side effects.

“I can’t see anything…”

The White Tiger Tower students walked forward nervously.

It was a scene that Lee Han would have thought was a bad idea if he had seen it.

If a strange sound is heard and the identity of the enemy is not visible, you should explore and gather information in as many ways as possible, not just blindly go in.

Not being careful got them into trouble.

Whoosh!

A thick tree branch sprang up from the ground and grabbed the ankles of the White Tiger Tower students, lifting them upside down.

“!!!!”

“It’s a ghost tree!”

A monster where an evil spirit moves in a form combined with a tree, not a spirit form.

The ‘thud’ sound from earlier was definitely the sound of the tree awakening.

“Burn… Crack!”

The staff fell from the hand of the White Tiger Tower student who was trying to cast a spell.

The monster, instinctively sensing magic power, used its strength to subdue him.

Angalo, left alone, couldn’t decide what to do.

‘What I can do now is…’

Angalo suddenly thought of Wodanaz.

What would Wodanaz have said?

-If you don’t have the ability to catch it alone, you should call for support. What are you doing?

“Friends! If you wait, support will…”

“Angalo! Save us quickly!”

“What are you doing! Charge in!”

“…Ah, no. Support…”

“What are you saying! Are you going to leave us behind!?”

“…Damn it. I’m going!!”

Angalo changed his mind and grabbed his weapon.

But he couldn’t help but feel uneasy deep down.

“Lee Han, then what should we do in a situation like now where there are no signs?”

“Huh?”

Lee Han looked at Deorgyu as if he was talking nonsense.

Deorgyu was slightly embarrassed.

‘Did I say something strange?’

“If what you said is true, Lee Han, didn’t Angalo and his friends enter the forest first? I think we should send a message quickly and have them come out. The professor might get angry, and more than anything, skipping class to find them isn’t the right thing to do.”

Deorgyu thought about how he could send a message.

If it’s Lee Han, a magician of his level, he might be able to send a magical message…

“I can’t do that?”

“You can’t? Then is there another way?”

“There isn’t.”

“…There isn’t?”

Lee Han nodded. Deorgyu couldn’t say anything and just blinked.

“Deorgyu, I appreciate you thinking I’m so good at magic, but I’m not skilled in all magic. What we need to do now, when we have no signs or way to contact them, is something else.”

“What…?”

“We deny knowing anything even if those guys are discovered. In that regard, I’m at an advantage as a Blue Dragon Tower student, but you two will have to pretend we don’t know them quickly.”

“……”

Deorgyu was dumbfounded and gaped, but Giselle agreed.

“That’s right. There’s no need to get in trouble for something that’s not our fault.”

“Deorgyu, a living person has to live. There’s no need to get punishment points for nothing.”

“Ah, no…”

“What are you all doing over there?” Professor Ingeldorf called out to them amidst the commotion. He had gone ahead of Lee Han, Giselle, and Deorgyu.

Lee Han and Giselle responded quickly.

“Coming!”

“Hurry up. Oh, Wodanaz, I was surprised to hear from the Beech Knights. What did you do to get such praise?”

“…I think they are just very kind,” Lee Han replied.

“I don’t remember them being that way…” Professor Ingeldorf tilted his head, puzzled.

Thwack!

“Ack!” A student screamed and fell to the ground.

“!”

A life-sized wooden mannequin with a weapon had jumped out from the side.

“P-Professor! There’s something strange here!”

“Ah, that. I prepared them for today’s lesson,” Professor Ingeldorf said.

“…W-We’re surrounded!!!” Another student screamed, realizing what was happening.

They saw that Professor Ingeldorf had placed many wooden mannequins densely packed in the forest.

“Don’t use brute force. Use the ground to your advantage and fight smartly. Fighting in the forest is different from fighting in an open space,” Professor Ingeldorf advised.

Fighting in a forest with bushes, branches, slopes, and stones that could trip you was like fighting yourself. Only a swordsman who saved energy, stayed calm, carefully checked the area, and used the situation could fight for long in the forest.

“This way! Break through!”

“Break through to the side!”

“Scatter! Scatter!!”

Professor Ingeldorf was surprised as the students scattered in groups of three or five, trying to escape.

“Ah, no. If you fight together…” He had planned for them to fight together, but they were trying to escape, leaving their friends behind.

Professor Ingeldorf didn’t realize that the students were used to this because of Headmaster Skull. They remembered harsh lessons from Headmaster Skull.

When trapped, the best plan was to scatter and survive, not to get caught fighting together!

‘Professor, I’m sorry,’ Lee Han thought. He knew this, so he broke through at the weakest point as soon as the wooden mannequin appeared.

“Space, be recognized! Deorgyu, this way! Moradi, that side might be weak!”

“Is this the time to be playing tricks!” Giselle shouted angrily. Lee Han was up to no good. Who was he trying to use as bait now!

He wouldn’t be embarrassed if caught. Lee Han looked at another White Tiger Tower student and shouted, “It looks like that side is weak!”

“Thanks! Wodanaz… Ack!”

“Let’s go!” Lee Han sent another student to distract the mannequins and ran.

As the wooden mannequins rushed at him, Lee Han drew his wooden sword and chanted.

“Frost, settle!” Frost magic could hurt the enemy even without a direct hit. Frost swirled and stopped the wooden mannequin’s feet.

Lee Han thought he was safe. ‘I broke through!’ There were still many wooden mannequins, but they were far away, and there were many students scattered around. They would stop the other students first and wouldn’t chase after Lee Han’s group.

“I underestimated you all. I should have thought of it as a real battle,” Professor Ingeldorf said seriously from behind.

Lee Han felt uneasy. Professors rarely said good things when serious.

Rip!

A powerful magical energy spread out as a scroll tore. The number of wooden mannequins began to increase quickly.

“It’s different from what I planned, but a chase in the forest will be a good experience. Try your best to avoid them!”

‘Damn it,’ Lee Han thought. He vowed to stop the students from ignoring the professor’s lessons and doing as they pleased.

“Turn into steel! Cloak!”

Thud! The cloak turned into steel and blocked the wooden mannequin’s attack with a dull sound. Five wooden mannequins jumped out and tried to hit Lee Han. He blocked the attacks with his cloak and stomped his feet. The footwork he learned from Alar Rhong saved him.

‘There are too many!’ He saw that numbers were a powerful weapon. The numbers were still increasing.

Lee Han gritted his teeth and glanced at Professor Ingeldorf in the distance.

“Wodanaz, you mustn’t use magic other than enchantment or transformation magic!”

“…Tch.”

How did he know? Lee Han clicked his tongue, having secretly tried to use other magic.

Giselle tripped a wooden mannequin with her twin swords and shouted, “Let’s scatter!”

With the enemy having many more soldiers, it was a luxury for the three of them to stay together. Lee Han nodded and raised his hand. Giselle also raised her hand. Deorgyu looked confused. Why were they raising their hands?

“…I won! I won!!” Giselle shouted, her face red. Deorgyu had never seen her so happy.

“Damn it.”

“…A-Are you deciding who gets to choose the direction to escape first…?”

“What? Didn’t you know? Oh well. Deorgyu, you choose first,” Lee Han gave up his turn.

Deorgyu wanted to say a lot, but there was no time. He had to run. Lee Han, left last, saw the wooden mannequins coming and took out an iron ball he always carried for emergencies.

“Move!” He had planned this earlier but put it off.

Lee Han ran toward the cliff, grabbed the iron ball, and hung in the air.

Thud! The wooden mannequins were stronger than he thought. They jumped to grab Lee Han.

‘What kind of professor made these summons!?’ Lee Han cursed and waved his staff.

It was frustrating, but not unexpected.

“Water…” As he chanted, water began to gather from below. He held the iron ball with one hand, and the wooden mannequins jumped in front of him, but the spell was completed.

“…Spread!”

Professor Ingeldorf was impressed. He wanted to see swordsmanship, but he couldn’t blame a student who escaped so cleverly.

Splash! Lee Han landed on the water, rolled, and quickly stood up. The wooden mannequins were smashed as they fell, but he couldn’t relax. They might revive.

‘Quickly escape and go down…’

“Wodanaz!!”

“…What are you guys doing??” Lee Han was surprised to see Angrago and his friends hanging upside down.