Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 445

Rain lashed against Gainan’s face, and the wind whipped his hair. He still didn’t understand what was happening. His brow furrowed in confusion. “You said we could fish,” he asked, his voice barely audible above the storm, “right?”

Professor Lightning-Walk raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “…Do you honestly think you *can* fish in this?”

The students weren’t fools.

In this weather, under these circumstances, Einroguard wasn’t so lenient as to allow them to simply fish up the necessary aquatic creatures.

And in truth, even on a good day, most aquatic creatures were difficult to catch by fishing. If you weren’t careful fishing, a monster was more likely to pull *you* into the sea, not the other way around.

“If we catch a fish…”

Tanzua, who had been resting in the back, replied as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “There aren’t any fish in this… weather.”

He usually avoided joining in the wizards’ conversations, but Gainan’s words were too absurd to ignore.

“Go into the water in this weather? Really?”

“I told you, never trust the professors.”

“Even so…”

“Hey, should we just say we caught Tanzua and be done with it?”

Tanzua shot a stream of water at the student who had just spoken.

Splash!

The water-soaked student fell straight into the sea. The students went completely silent.

“Hoo…”

“What can we do? Let’s prepare.”

Students at Einroguard learned to accept things quickly. They went through denial, anger, bargaining, and sadness in seconds, not days.

The students, having accepted the situation instantly, sighed deeply and thought about how to enter the water.

“Water breathing… what else do we need?”

“We need light to brighten our vision. Even if waterproofing is impossible, we’ll need something to generate heat to avoid freezing to death.”

“Good thing I learned the Latent Heat spell.”

The students who had successfully learned the Latent Heat spell proudly raised their wands.

Ihan’s shoulders slumped. Yoner, who had been listening nearby, quickly tried to comfort him. “…I, Ihan. You’re good at other things.”

“Since it’s raining, maybe it’ll be a little better?”

Just in case, Ihan waved his wand along with the incantation. Immediately, flames erupted from his cloak.

“Fire!!!”

“Wodanaz! Put it in the water!!”

They quickly threw the cloak into the water, but the fire didn’t go out easily. The students were horrified by the flames that continued to burn even underwater.

“……”

“……”

Sssssss-

Ihan took out his cloak with a bitter expression. The friends around him spoke urgently.

“I’ll cast the Latent Heat spell for you. Honestly, that’s not even an important spell.”

“You can cast something else! We can help each other!”

The students from various towers, who usually sneered savagely if other tower friends made a magical mistake, quickly convinced him not to this time, united in their concern.

“Damn it!! It’s me again?!”

“Sorry. Just go in and come back quickly.”

“Kugh…”

The student who lost the lottery tied a rope around his body and plunged in with a splash.

‘These first-year students are quick-witted.’

Professor Lightning-Walk looked around at the students with a satisfied expression.

Originally, as it was an individual exam, the students could move separately.

However, the students were now gathering in groups of three or five, cooperating without being told to do so.

They were students who already knew wisdom more valuable than difficult magic spells.

“You bastard… you bastard! You rigged the draw!?”

“Wh-what nonsense! What do you mean, rigged the draw!”

“Wodanaz! Come here! Be the judge! This guy rigged the draw!”

“Why are you calling Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Don’t come!”

Of course, there were disputes in some places, but disputes were bound to happen wherever people gathered.

Even this was quite impressive.

Splash, splash, splash!

Students were diving and resurfacing everywhere. Thanks to the light orbs Ihan had created, the pier was as bright as day.

‘…I’ll ignore that detail.’

It was also a skill for the students to have an outstanding first-year friend. Professor Lightning-Walk decided to ignore that detail.

“See anything?”

“I don’t see anything? I think we need to go deeper.”

The students who came up exchanged information with bewildered faces.

They should have found something by now, but perhaps because the sea was so turbulent, they couldn’t see any living creatures.

“It’s my turn.”

Ihan prepared to enter, chanting the water breathing spell.

Gonadaltes’ Dark Vision and Gonadaltes’ Nimble Steps too.

And Spatial Awareness and Granting the Light of Truth…

‘How many is he casting?’

Professor Lightning-Walk was dumbfounded as he watched.

Anyone would think they were infiltrating the inner sanctum of a demon duke, not just going into the water!

“I’m going!”

“W-wait a minute.”

Gainan, who was up next, called out hesitantly.

“What?”

“I need to mentally prepare…”

Splash!

Ihan kicked Gainan in to push him in, then jumped in himself.

‘Going deep.’

Even though his body was tightly bound with rope, he was violently shaken as soon as he entered the water. The aftermath of the spirits’ rampage was affecting the water as well.

The students who came down with him were also struggling, their hands and feet tangled in the unexpectedly fast currents.

-Everyone, stay calm.

Ihan first gathered his friends.

They had to adapt here before going further down.

-The current is faster than expected, but we can overcome it with magic. We learned water element magic in the first semester. Who here is confident in their water element magic? Raise your hand.

Three of his friends raised their hands. Ihan nodded.

-It’s about manipulating the water element. Like this… move!

Ihan cleverly applied the magic.

Originally, it was a spell to move water to create shapes or move it around, but in the water, it became a decent means of propulsion.

Whoosh-

As the water parted and Ihan was propelled forward, his friends nodded.

They understood the principle.

-I understand. Wodanaz.

-I’ll try. Move!

-……

-…???

The students were bewildered by the lack of any change.

-Move! Move! I said move!! …Kugh!

The complexion of one of the friends chanting the spell suddenly worsened.

‘Acute mana depletion!’

Ihan quickly grabbed his friend and went up. As Ihan came out of the water, the waiting students asked.

“What happened?!”

“Help him rest!”

“???”

Without answering, Ihan threw his collapsed friend onto the pier. Then he went back down.

-Let’s try again…

-Huff…

‘Damn it.’

As another friend collapsed, Ihan grabbed him and went up again.

“Take care of him too!”

Splash!

“……”

“…Ah, no, what’s going on?”

As Ihan went down and threw his friends up one by one, the students waiting above gradually became frightened.

Was he perhaps angry about the Latent Heat spell earlier?

“I told you not to show off your magic!”

“I didn’t think showing off magic in front of Wodanaz was something to be proud of…! Would you think it was something to be proud of! In front of Wodanaz!”

“Isn’t he angry because you rigged the draw earlier?”

While they were whispering above, Ihan was figuring out the situation.

‘Using magic in the water is not easy.’

A wizard’s magic, though it may seem easy, was a mental process that required a high degree of concentration.

Just as wizards who had not been trained as combat mages could not cast spells if dropped onto a life-threatening battlefield, sudden environmental changes interfered with a wizard’s magic.

A cold, dark, and turbulent underwater environment like this would be enough to hinder a wizard.

‘…Wait. I cast them though?’

Ihan suddenly had that thought, but decided not to say it out loud.

-It seems that the failure rate is higher if you chant spells in the water. Everyone, be careful.

-But you’re using it well… No, never mind. I think I asked the wrong thing. Wodanaz.

The friend who was about to ask something quickly understood.

Indeed, it seemed like Wodanaz could cast spells even if he was hung upside down over lava, not just in the water.

-Instead, I’ll push you, so let’s go down again.

Ihan created light orbs and slowly descended.

How far down had he gone?

The murky, grey bottom of the sea slowly appeared below. It was a familiar place he seemed to have seen several times.

‘…It’s the racetrack we made…’

He was dumbfounded, but Ihan tried not to lose focus.

He had to find something alive.

-Wodanaz. Here. Here.

One of his friends tapped Ihan on the shoulder and pointed down.

Surprisingly, there was a pattern carved on the bottom indicating the direction.

‘What is this? Did the professor carve it?’

-Let’s go. Follow me.

-Okay.

Ihan slowly swam along the sign carved on the bottom. The path led to a sea cave.

-……

No matter how he looked at it, it was a cave that looked very uninviting.

‘The professor must have prepared this?’

If he had just released the aquatic creatures into the sea, they would have scattered all over Einroguard, so he must have prepared them by releasing them inside this sea cave.

It was just like Professor Lightning-Walk, but it made him sigh.

‘What kind of awful thing is in there…’

-♪♬♩♩♩♬

‘?’

A clear and pure singing voice began to be heard from afar.

‘…This is underwater…?’

The light in Gainan’s eyes suddenly turned dull, and he began to wear a dazed, happy expression.

Ihan was horrified and slapped Gainan across the cheek.

“Professor!!!!”

A student from the Black Turtle Tower, who had gone in another direction, ran out in a panic.

He was so surprised that he didn’t even think to wipe off the water.

“What is this!! What… what… what is that in front of the cave!!”

“Oh. You’ve found it now?”

Professor Lightning-Walk replied, slightly pleased.

“You have to let us enter the cave!!”

“Even if the sea is rough, it can’t be that the test is just going into the cave and quickly grabbing something. Of course, you have to overcome it.”

Professor Lightning-Walk said as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

To prepare for this exam, Professor Lightning-Walk had released various hard-to-catch aquatic creatures into the sea cave.

The faster, better-hidden, and better-evading creatures you caught, the higher the score.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy to catch them. Naturally, there was also something hindering the students.

“I… I’m glad I went in from the back, otherwise…!”

The student from the Black Turtle Tower, who had been excited to find the sea cave faster than others, was still dumbfounded.

A siren!

The friends who had found the sea cave and tried to enter were now all charmed and out of their minds. If they hadn’t had ropes, they would have been captured.

“Wait. Calm down. You were caught off guard because you didn’t know, but now that you know what it is, there must be a way to deal with it. If it’s a siren…”

Sirens, hybrids of mermaids and spirits, possessed ancient magic in their voices.

Wizards, who manipulated mana, had a decent resistance to the unique abilities of monsters…

But the siren’s song was powerful enough to break through that.

However, now that they knew what it was, there was always a way to attack it.

“Let’s go in with our ears blocked.”

“Th-that’s right! That should work.”

Professor Lightning-Walk grinned. The students felt a sudden sense of foreboding when they saw that smile.

…Or not?

“The siren’s song doesn’t just go away when you block your ears. It comes in through your whole body.”

Anglago, who was from the coast, said.

Everyone was surprised by his incredibly intellectual appearance for a White Tiger Tower student.

“Th-then? Alpha. What should we do? How should we attack it?”

“Huh?”

Anglago was flustered.

“Uh… sailors tie themselves to the mast, but…”

“…We have to go inside.”

“Is it impossible to talk to or persuade it? What does the siren like?”

“I heard they like messing with people…”

Splash!

In the meantime, they heard someone coming up from behind. Anglago and his friends inadvertently turned their heads.

Ihan was coming up holding the siren.

“……”

“……”