Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 463

“Hold the line!” shouted a student from the barricade. “Spells ready!”

When Ethan arrived at the main gate, chaos exploded around him. Flashes of light from spells lit up the night. Students yelled and pointed from behind a messy wall of overturned desks and bookshelves. They were firing magic at something huge trying to smash through the gate.

Ethan’s eyes widened. *A Baku!*

It looked like a giant, shaggy bear, but something was off. A thick, grey trunk like an elephant’s hung from its face. Its eyes were small and angry, like a rhino’s, and its paws had sharp, tiger-like claws.

Ethan remembered Professor Lightning-Step’s lessons. Baku monsters ate nightmares. *Why would a nightmare eater attack the library?*

*Wait…* Ethan thought, a cold feeling in his stomach. *If a Baku is here… this place must be filled with nightmares.*

The Baku slammed into the main gate with heavy thuds.

Students had tried to stop it with magic, but the Baku was determined to get inside.

The White Tiger Tower students were shocked as their enchanted spears bounced harmlessly off the monster.

“What does that thing want? Why is it trying to get in here?!” someone shouted.

“Well, we did use all the library furniture to build this barricade,” another student replied.

“…More spears! Wodanaz! Hurry! Wodanaz!!”

“Hey, don’t shout so loud, it’s embarrassing! I’m coming anyway!”

Ethan headed straight for the barricade. Just then, Giselle said with a serious look, “Wait, Wodanaz. A Baku shouldn’t be able to sneak in and kidnap students.”

Ethan paused. She was right.

Looking at its actions, it was clear that this monster wouldn’t sneak around to kidnap students.

Giselle glanced around and lowered her voice. “…Actually, I suspect someone.”

“Really? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“There’s no point. You saw Tutankha, right?” Giselle said sarcastically.

He was the type to run off if she mentioned a place she suspected.

“I think the culprit is…”

Ethan focused on Giselle’s words.

The elf from the north leaned closer and whispered, “…It’s the Headmaster, I think.”

Ethan stared at Giselle like she was telling a silly story.

But Giselle didn’t notice and continued to whisper. “Even if Einroguard is full of monsters, do you think they could just grab someone with so many wizards around? The culprit must be a wizard.”

*It’s scary how convincing this sounds,* Ethan thought.

The scary thing about conspiracy theories was that they sounded believable when you listened to them.

And the Skull Headmaster conspiracy theory was more persuasive than he thought. Ethan felt unsure.

*Is it really the Headmaster? He’s certainly capable of it. But…*

It hadn’t been long since he had gone to the Skull Headmaster to borrow black magic potions.

If he had been planning to take a student, he would have been grinning, but he didn’t seem like he was hiding anything.

Had Ethan been fooled?

“Aargh! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

A White Tiger Tower student screamed.

He had leaned out over the barricade, and the Baku had stretched out its long trunk like a whip and wrapped it around him.

“I’m going now. Flash!”

Lightning struck, but it didn’t do much.

Ethan realized that the Baku was strong against magic.

*In that case…*

“Be paralyzed, be fractured, be blacked out. Bones, seize the enemy!” Ethan cast the spell.

If the black magic school seniors were here, they would have cheered for his textbook combat method.

Against an opponent strong against magic, he would use curses to weaken their defense and then use bone magic to stop them from moving.

“Coldness, become arrows and be fired!”

Cold arrows flew.

The Baku wasn’t hurt by the cold arrows, but as ice and frost piled up, it slowed down.

As the Baku slowed, Ethan summoned a water orb.

*Even if it can’t break through, the impact…*

The impact of the spinning water orb was much stronger than normal magic.

The Baku, which had been trying to break through the main gate, flinched, turned around, and ran away.

“It’s running away!”

“Let’s chase it!”

“No!”

Ethan sighed as opinions were immediately divided again.

Moreover, the situation was different now.

*If the Skull Headmaster started this, things change,* Ethan thought.

Ethan preferred safe methods, but if the Skull Headmaster was behind this, he had to act differently.

“Wodanaz, remember that more students could disappear if we chase it.”

“We can’t just let it go, especially if the Headmaster did it. Moradi, I’m leaving you in charge of guarding this place. I’ll go with Salco and come back.”

Giselle paused, surprised that Ethan would ask her for a favor.

“Ethan, wouldn’t it be better to go with Moradi?” Deurghyu asked, worried.

Salco’s group was skilled, but Moradi was known as the most ruthless person in the White Tiger Tower.

And that would be helpful in a dangerous chase.

“…No one is as vicious, cruel, and ferocious as Moradi. Going together would be…”

“Deurghyu, did Moradi hit you or something?” Ethan asked.

Ethan was surprised that Deurghyu was being so harsh…

“The reason I’m not going with her is because of Salco. If we go together, they’ll fight.”

“Ah.”

Deurghyu understood and looked embarrassed.

“I thought you trusted Moradi’s skills and were leaving it to her,” Deurghyu said.

“Huh?”

Ethan paused and answered, “Haha. Of course, that’s why.”

“…Ethan…”

Sharkhan skillfully followed the Baku’s tracks.

The Baku was dangerous when attacking, but it wasn’t hard to chase when it was running away.

It was large and didn’t hide well.

The problem was…

“Swamp!”

“Why is there a place like this in the library…?”

“What’s new about that?”

Lee Han listened to the voices behind him. ‘This is not surprising at all,’ he thought.

He thought about it. It was silly to be surprised by anything at school anymore.

Salco looked worried. ‘I hope this swamp is where that thing lives,’ he said.

The disappearance of another student worried him.

Lee Han agreed. He respected Salco for caring about his friends.

“I hope so,” Lee Han said to Salco. “You do a lot to help your friends.”

“It’s nothing compared to what you do,” Salco replied.

“Yeah…” Lee Han started to agree, but then he stopped. Something felt wrong.

“What did I do to help…?” Lee Han began to ask.

“It stopped!” Ratford shouted.

“Lord Wodanaz, get down!” Ratford quickly pushed Lee Han down.

Lee Han wanted to say, ‘I don’t help my friends that much,’ but there was no time to argue.

Mack stopped in the swamp and stretched. Then, it jumped into the water. As it moved, pieces of bone and ice fell off its body.

Lee Han looked around. ‘The student Mack took is not here.’

Suddenly, they heard splashing behind Mack. Someone was coming! It was Siren, which was a surprise.

“…Cowardly creatures!” Lee Han said quietly.

So, Siren was the one doing this.

They had argued before, but it was just during a test.

If Siren was angry, she should be angry at Professor Lightning Foot, not a student who did nothing wrong.

Lee Han remembered avoiding trouble with the cabin before. Now, seeing what Siren was doing, he felt he had made the right choice.

“Everyone, move back!” Lee Han warned. “Siren is dangerous!”

“O-okay,” someone replied.

“Let’s go, Sharkan!” -♪♩♩???

Siren saw Lee Han and Sharkan. She seemed surprised and started to sing quickly.

While singing, Siren pointed first at Mack, then at Lee Han, back and forth. -♩♩♩♩!

“Water…” Lee Han got ready to attack Siren.

Suddenly, Mack used its long nose to grab a floating log. It threw the log at Siren.

“??” Siren quickly dodged the log.

Mack kept throwing things, one after another. It looked like Mack wanted to get rid of Siren.

Siren sang to attack Mack. Mack stumbled and almost fell, but it kept going. It was still attacking Siren and pushing her back.

‘What is happening? Is this a trick?’ Lee Han was confused.

Lee Han thought Siren was controlling Mack. But now, it looked like they were fighting each other for this place.

Mack had been attacking wildly. It turned and saw Lee Han and Sharkan. Mack had found the wizard who hit it from the wall before! It roared and got ready to attack Lee Han too.

“…Rotate!” Lee Han quickly finished the magic spell. He changed the direction of the attack.

With a heavy thud, Mack stumbled.

“Sharkan, I need your help!” Lee Han called out. He used magic to make bones appear, ready for Mack to attack.

‘Bone explosion… would Siren be hurt? Would she even understand if she was?’ Siren didn’t know about Lee Han’s difficult choice. She quickly swam to Lee Han and made signs to him.

“She wants me to come into the swamp?” Lee Han asked. Siren nodded.

Lee Han looked at Siren the same way he looked at the Skull Headmaster. He clearly did not trust her.

-Grrrr! Sharkan growled, warning Lee Han. Mack didn’t care about anything else. It was only focused on Lee Han. It looked very dangerous.

“Listen, about what happened before…” Lee Han started to say. But before he could explain, Siren quickly picked him up and swam away fast.

Wham! Right then, Mack rolled its body, crushing everything around it. It charged forward. It was scary to watch.

“Wodanaz, I’m coming to help!” Salco shouted. He now knew Siren was not the enemy and couldn’t wait any longer.

Click! A crossbow with magic power shot an arrow. Mack got even angrier when more wizards appeared.

“Bones…” Lee Han said the magic words in a strange voice. His magic power grew stronger.

Siren was holding Lee Han. She was surprised by how strong his magic felt.

“Explode!” Lee Han yelled. There was a very loud roar. The bone pieces on Mack exploded outwards. There weren’t many bones, but it was enough to make Mack go crazy.

■■■■■… Mack turned around and ran away. It looked like it was too annoyed to fight them anymore.

Lee Han and his friends sighed in relief when they saw Mack run away. Fighting a monster that big and strong would be a terrible problem for any wizard.

“Well, somehow it worked,” Lee Han said. -♩♩♪ Siren looked at Lee Han and his friends and sang a song. It sounded like she was saying thank you for now.

The other wizards, except Lee Han, immediately looked like they were in a trance because of the song.

“So, she is showing her true self now!” Lee Han shouted angrily, pointing his wand. Siren stopped singing, looking scared, and shook her head.

Even though just one word of her song could put wizards in a trance, it was hard for Siren to remember and be careful about it.

Siren stopped singing to talk. She used her hand to write letters in the sand on the shore. ‘Her handwriting is terrible,’ Lee Han thought. He looked at the messy writing with a serious face.

The writing was hard to read, like messy worms. But it seemed to say that even though they didn’t like each other before, she was thankful they helped her fight Mack first.

“?” Lee Han wondered what she meant. Then he understood. ‘Ah, she knows I was attacking Mack, not her.’ He remembered turning his attack towards Mack.

“That’s just how wizards from Einrogaard should act,” Lee Han said.

“?” Salco looked at Lee Han like he was saying something crazy. Even Siren tilted her head. It didn’t seem like wizards from Einrogaard were really like that…