Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 737

“Wait a moment!”

“?

Lee Han stopped when he heard Professor Bendozol shout from behind.

He wondered if the professor had some advice.

“It’s a dangerous place. Why don’t you leave the Basilisk here?”

It was the first time Lee Han had heard Professor Bendozol’s voice sound so kind.

‘I shouldn’t have listened.’

Lee Han decided to ignore him and kept walking.

“Sharkan, find the traces and scents.”

The jade-green panther, Sharkan, nodded to show he would obey his master’s command.

“Gonadaltestes, lead the other skeleton warriors and search the area. If you see an evil spirit, don’t fight. Retreat immediately.”

Gonadaltestes, the undead warrior, nodded and raised his black-green bone sword.

“Basilisk.”

-!

“Eat this snack and sleep some more. I don’t know what Professor Bendozol might do if you’re awake.”

-……

The baby Basilisk looked surprised but bit into the jerky and closed his eyes again.

‘I need to move quickly.’

Unlike Professor Bendozol, Lee Han had some experience with evil spirits and monsters. He felt confident.

He knew most monsters would leave without getting close.

It was better to quickly announce their arrival and gather the students than to waste time being too careful.

“Light of Truth, come down!”

This time, the balls of light Lee Han created were different. They floated together, getting bigger and brighter.

The light pushed back the dark of the Nightmare Echo Forest. The mist there was cold and strange, hanging heavy between the twisted trees. The light shone through it, reaching out in every direction.

“Everyone, answer!”

“……”

“Everyone, answer! If you can hear me…”

“Wodanaz?”

Nilia’s cautious voice came from ahead. Lee Han was happy and shouted.

“Nilia! It’s Wodanaz!”

“You got lost too?”

“No. I arrived, but I came back to get you all.”

“…That’s just like you!”

Nilia thought it was typical of Wodanaz to do that, but she still stayed alert.

She had met too many fake friends on her way there.

“Make me believe you’re real!”

“What… Ah. Did you see an illusion or something?”

“Yes! It wasn’t this bad last year! And I didn’t make any illusions!”

Nilia’s voice was serious. Lee Han shivered. He understood Professor Bendozol was very thorough.

To call the students when the already difficult forest had become even more dangerous was incredibly cruel, even for a professor known for harsh lectures.

‘Showing illusions too. This is going to be really tricky.’

Monsters were already a problem, but with the added ability to show illusions, even experienced students could be caught off guard.

Lee Han decided to hurry even more.

“Nilia, I’m the real Wodanaz.”

“Yeah! But the fake Yoner and the fake Siana said that too!”

“I see. Then, Nilia, I’ll attack and catch you now. If I catch you, you’ll know it’s not an illusion.”

In his hurry, Lee Han thought this was the best way.

Nilia might get hit a few times, but after being hit, she would know that Lee Han was real.

“…You’re really him!”

Nilia was convinced and ran out.

She knew that evil spirits who showed illusions to tempt people would not show such ridiculous illusions.

“Nilia! The power of friendship!”

“W-well, yeah. I don’t really know if this is the power of friendship, but…”

Nilia was covered in mud and dust, as if she had rolled around in the forest. After brushing the dirt off her hair and shoulders, Nilia said with a serious face.

“Wodanaz, I think we’ve been tricked.”

“What? Are you talking about signing up?”

“Not that! This lecture. I think it’s a fake lecture.”

At first, it was just a thought, but as she walked through the forest, Nilia became sure of it.

There was no way a real lecture would be held in a place like this.

“Nilia.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s a real lecture.”

Lee Han explained Professor Bendozol’s teaching style and the strange things that could happen in lectures for second-year students and above.

In some lectures, they had to steal the professor’s work to learn. In others, the professor would smash the classroom wall in anger.

Nilia’s eyes widened in disbelief, then burned with hatred for Professor Bendozol.

“If there was someone like that in the Northern Mountains, they would have disappeared right away!”

“…Should we go find the others?”

Lee Han changed the subject instead of asking about the Shadow Patrol’s secret ways of dealing with people.

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t want to take lectures on the weekend.”

“Me neither.”

Nilia chuckled. Then, she stopped when she saw Lee Han’s serious face.

“…Oh, were you not joking?”

“What part of what I just said was a joke?”

“W-well, you… you take too many lectures.”

“Does taking a lot of lectures mean you have to take them on the weekend too?”

As her friend’s voice turned cold, Nilia quickly explained.

“It’s not that, but the more lectures you take, the higher the chance of taking them on the weekend!”

“…That’s true.”

Lee Han nodded, looking unhappy.

He couldn’t argue with that.

The more lectures you took, the higher the chance of having weekend lectures than someone who took fewer.

“Hang in there.”

Nilia wasn’t very confident in her encouragement, but she tried to support her friend.

“I ended up giving up on summoning magic.”

Even students who were interested in more than three schools in their first year would choose one and focus on it in their second year.

As freshmen, they could try different things because they hadn’t fully understood their abilities. But from the second year on, they needed to focus.

Nilia was one of those students, so she gave up on the summoning magic she had taken in her first year.

Everyone did this, but Nilia’s friend, who stubbornly took all the schools, was truly amazing…

“Why? You could have just kept listening.”

“……”

Nilia subtly moved away from her friend’s mean voice.

In some ways, the friend next to her might be more dangerous than an evil spirit.

“Lee Han!”

“Yonerda.”

Hearing the voice from far away, Lee Han looked at Nilia with joy.

But Nilia looked cautious.

“It might be a fake Yonerda created by an evil spirit.”

“Don’t worry. If it’s an illusion, it will disappear as soon as I get close.”

Nilia realized again that her friend was a monster and looked at him with admiration.

It was an ability that was almost unbeatable in this kind of forest.

“That’s right. You… I should have known you had this method. If I had met you first, I wouldn’t have been fooled earlier.”

The dark elf friend gritted her teeth as if she was angry. Lee Han suddenly became curious and asked.

“How did the illusion you met earlier approach you?”

“It came to me saying it would quit the Blue Dragon Tower and come to the Black Tortoise Tower. Grrr.”

“……”

Lee Han thought, ‘Isn’t it strange to be fooled by that?’

Nilia also realized it and shouted, her ears turning red.

“It sounded really believable when you heard it!”

“Y-yes, I see.”

Lee Han began to gather his friends one by one.

There were illusions that pretended to be students, but they didn’t last long. The moment Lee Han ran, the illusion disappeared, and the hidden evil spirit screamed and ran away.

“Aaargh! Wodanaz! Why are you running! The assignment hasn’t been given yet!”

“Ah, sorry. I was trying to check if it was an illusion or not.”

Some real friends were scared and fell when they saw Lee Han running to check the illusion, but luckily, they weren’t seriously hurt.

“Is this everyone?”

“It seems to be the right number. The rest will be listening at other times.”

The gathered students checked the numbers.

Since it was a second-year lecture and a required lecture, not just a school lecture, they could guess how many people would be listening.

“Then let’s move again.”

“Wodanaz-nim, it seems that the evil spirits are increasing…”

The Phoenix Tower students said cautiously.

As priests, they could feel the movements of monsters with evil intentions more easily.

They couldn’t get close because Lee Han was there, but they were waiting, circling around in a large area.

Lee Han also felt the unease with the movement of magic and nodded.

“They’re more persistent than I thought. I didn’t expect them to chase us like this instead of running away or disappearing.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m just going to drag them all the way to Professor Bendozol. Then the professor will take care of it.”

The students were surprised by Lee Han’s plan and shouted.

“That’s a really good idea!”

“Let’s do it now!”

Lee Han was happy to see that even the Phoenix Tower students agreed.

The time they had spent together for a year had made their friendship stronger.

Whoosh!

“!”

Lee Han felt a prickling on the back of his neck. Begrek’s Instant Premonition showed the path of the attack.

Lee Han quickly used one of the spells he had stored with Lower Magic Storage. He couldn’t master it perfectly, so two spells were impossible, but one was somehow possible.

‘Gonadaltestes’ Quickening Agility!’

He quickly sped up and dodged the attack. A dark, ghostly arrow hit the spot where Lee Han had been a moment before.

“It’s an ambush!”

“Defensive formation!”

The students quickly moved and prepared to defend themselves.

Potions released smoke, and the surrounding fog blocked the enemy’s view. Several scrolls created barriers.

The students who had bought time tried to find the enemy by chanting more spells.

“Show your evil, enemy…”

‘There!’

As the magic turned the enemy red, Lee Han jumped out.

“Thunderbolt Spear!”

The staff glowed with lightning, turning into a spear. Lee Han used magic at his toes, kicking off the tree and jumping up.

The enemy probably didn’t expect the wizard to come so quickly. It fluttered and tried to run away.

“…?”

Surprisingly, the enemy was a sparrow. But Lee Han didn’t relax.

Even though it was a small sparrow, it had unusually strong magic.

Moreover, it was strange and eerie. Even a wizard, unless they had strong magic like Lee Han, would likely suffer mental damage.

Crack!

The branch where the sparrow had been sitting shattered, and lightning flashed.

The sparrow shot out evil spirits like waves, but it quickly realized it wouldn’t work on Lee Han and retreated.

Instead, it recklessly released ghosts with chilling powers, making Lee Han’s spear heavy.

Lee Han frowned.

‘Can I make it in time?’

It wasn’t easy to break through quickly because the enemy was using so many monsters. Even though the Thunderbolt Spear kept burning the enemies, they kept pushing forward.

If the enemy ran away like this…

Snap!

At that moment, the baby Basilisk jumped out of his sleeve and bit the sparrow hidden among the decoys.

As the king of snakes, it instinctively knew where the enemy was without being fooled by the tricks.

“…Good job!”

The baby Basilisk nodded as if he was proud.

When the students arrived on time, Professor Bendozol started the lecture while complaining.

“As you felt on your way here, the forest is now full of negative energy and trickery. That’s because the cute Nightmare Sprite has settled in. It looks like a cute sparrow, but its power is so great that it’s hard for ordinary bird monsters to compare! You’re lucky to be here today. To be able to see such a precious monster…”

“……”

“…Uh…?”

The students looked puzzled as they looked at Professor Bendozol, who was talking about the monster with excitement.

The monster’s description sounded familiar.