Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 754

The griffin groaned, a low, rumbling sound. Anyone could see it was in a terrible mood.

“Why is Ponryg so angry?” Salco asked, nervously glancing at the griffin.

“Be quiet, Prince! Ponryg is like this because he can’t find Wodanaz!”

Yoner hesitated. “Um… guys? Not to be a downer, but…”

Giselle sighed, cutting him off. “If we don’t find him before that potion is gone, we’re in serious trouble, right?”

“Worse than that,” Yoner said, his voice trembling slightly. “I was thinking… before the potion runs out, that angry griffin might just eat us all.”

Silence fell.

No one spoke.

The air around them seemed to grow colder.

As if to prove it, the griffin snapped its beak. The glint in its eyes suggested it suspected the wizards.

Gainando said, feeling like he was being treated unfairly.

“It’s true! Lee Han disappeared, so we brought you here!”

Even though it had followed the students’ directions, the griffin didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t its master, no matter how close they seemed.

It thought that cunning wizards might be trying to use its power, taking advantage of Lee Han’s absence.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t just stand by.

-■■■■■!

With a cry, the griffin began to dive.

The students had no choice but to grab onto the griffin and scream as it suddenly moved.

“There, there’s Lee Han!”

“You guys…! How did you get here?!”

Lee Han, who had been speeding down the mountain path, was surprised to see his friends.

The griffin shook its body, trying to throw off all the friends except Lee Han.

“Ponryg! You shouldn’t do that!”

-!

“Apologize to your friends. Don’t try to drop them like that.”

-……

Ponryg seemed to think he was right, but the friends watched him, trying to calm him down.

Still, hadn’t he flown all the way here, trusting only their words?

“That’s right! Apologize!”

Gainando brushed dirt off his clothes and jumped up and down. He had been sitting on the very edge and had tumbled all the way over.

Ponryg glared at Gainando as if to remember him.

“Wodanaz, let’s get out of here quickly. The potion’s time is running out.”

“Okay. Thanks, everyone. I didn’t expect you to come all this way.”

Lee Han looked around at his friends, feeling touched.

Even if Lee Han had just disappeared normally, it would have been hard for them to find him. But they had come all this way to rescue him from a crazy doppelganger.

“Wait. Shouldn’t you all be in class right now?”

“Oh… class is off today.”

“That’s right. The professor had something come up.”

At his friends’ words, Lee Han gave a wry smile.

It was a kind lie, but everyone knew it wasn’t true.

“You don’t have to lie. You skipped class to save me.”

“No, no. The professor really did have something come up…!”

Lee Han ignored his friends’ explanations and climbed onto the griffin. Once everyone was on, the griffin soared back into the sky.

Gainando chattered in a relieved voice.

“The seniors weren’t any help at all. They gathered like that but couldn’t undo a single spell for days.”

“What are you talking about? The seniors and professors solved this.”

“Professors?”

The friends were puzzled.

They hadn’t expected even the professors to come.

“Professor Garcia and…”

“Ah. So that’s what happened!”

“Professor Begreck and Professor Verdus came too.”

“Wodanaz. Aren’t you mistaken about something?”

*

*

“A junior joined. It looks like they’ll be out soon!”

“That’s strange.”

“??”

Dirett was a little surprised by Professor Volardi’s words.

“What’s strange, Professor? It might sound strange that a junior tamed a griffin, but originally, he…”

The professor shook his head.

That wasn’t what he found strange.

Professor Garcia and Professor Verdus realized something was wrong a moment later. Their faces became serious.

“A dimension?!”

“Looks like he summoned something?”

“A tracker, I guess. Send a message.”

Professor Volardi gave the order calmly.

If it was a tracker summoned by the Skull Headmaster’s doppelganger, it wouldn’t be easy to deal with.

“W-what should I send?”

“Tell them to disguise themselves as another being. Are there any students nearby?”

Professor Volardi poked his head out of the magic tent and checked the campsite.

Fortunately, some of the students who had come after class were marveling at the melting sky.

“Help is needed.”

“Aargh!! Profe… Professor Begreck! What’s going on?”

Bang!

Professor Volardi waved his wand and transformed the student. The student, transformed to look similar to Lee Han, shouted in surprise.

“W-what is this?!”

“Run. Next!”

Professor Verdus understood quickly and was impressed.

“Transforming them to look like Lee Han… to confuse the trackers! That’s clever,” Professor Verdus said, impressed.

“Is this really the time to be saying that!?”

It was Dirett who snapped the juniors, who were panicking because they had been forcibly transformed, back to their senses.

“Everyone, to the main building! Trackers from another dimension are chasing us, so we need to confuse them!”

“Y-yes!”

The juniors, despite their panic, each began to move quickly.

Ikurusha and the giants arrived a little later. They were confused to see the students running away, all seeming to look like Lee Han.

-What are you doing now…

“Mr. Ikurusha. We need to get the students out, but a nasty tracker has attached itself. We’re disguising them to trick it!”

Ikurusha quickly understood the situation at Professor Garcia’s explanation, whom he knew.

-You’re trying to trick the trackers. I understand. I’ll cooperate. Here are the giants too!

“Oh… um… yes!”

Professor Garcia wondered if transforming giants would even work. But there was no time to think. He quickly cast a transformation spell.

Then, giants who looked somewhat like Lee Han appeared in droves. The giants burst into laughter at each other’s ugly faces even in the urgent situation.

-No time to laugh and play around! Scatter!

-Understood!

“Professor!”

Meanwhile, the griffin appeared in the distance.

Though it hadn’t even been a week, Professor Garcia and Dirett felt like they were meeting the student in front of them for the first time in almost a year.

“Student Lee Han…!”

“Aargh! Lee Han became a giant!!!”

Before they could even exchange greetings, Gainando screamed and pointed at a giant running away.

The giant was pleased with the reaction.

The disguise was so good, it even fooled a human wizard.

-Haha. Foolish wizard!

The giant left, satisfied.

“…Everyone, listen carefully. We’re going to scatter and move to the main building. Professor Begreck, take charge of these two. Professor Bible, take charge of these two. If you lose any students, your lives are over. Understand?”

Professor Garcia spoke firmly, worried Professor Verdus might not take it seriously and leave the students behind.

“Student Dirett. You…”

“I’ll take these two with me.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Giselle looked like she was about to throw up when she saw her friends transformed with features similar to Lee Han.

“Sorry, Moradi,” said one of the Lee Han look-alikes.

Moradi sighed. “…It’s okay. I said I’d do it.”

Another Lee Han face grinned. “Hey Moradi, it’s me, Salco! Just kidding!”

“You little…!” Moradi started, annoyed.

Then a third Lee Han face spoke, sounding more serious. “Moradi, it’s really me, Lee Han. Salco is just joking around.”

Moradi looked confused.

“They’re coming!”

In that instant, the students thought night had fallen at the sight of the darkened sky.

But it wasn’t.

Over a thousand bats were flying in, blocking out the sunlight.

Professor Garcia muttered.

“The hounds…! Why those troublesome trackers of all things!”

“Departure!”

Professor Volardi split up the students remaining at the campsite and Lee Han’s group and sent them off.

Lee Han rode the griffin with Professor Volardi and asked.

“Professor, why are those called hounds?”

No matter how he looked at them, they were bat-shaped monsters, far from being hounds.

Just as he finished asking, some of the bats vanished and then suddenly appeared right in front of Lee Han.

Then, they rose up in swirling smoke and shadows and suddenly transformed into four-winged demons.

Professor Volardi destroyed the demons with a quick wave of his hand and replied.

“The Hounds of Greed. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

The Demon Duke Lee Han had met, the Duke of Pride Garisaima, and another Demon Duke, the Duke of Greed.

The wizards called the Duke of Greed’s pets the Hounds of Greed.

To be precise, they weren’t in the shape of dogs, but monsters that could transform into any form…

Whoosh!

“!”

Lee Han was horrified to see one of the hounds out of his sight narrowing the distance with spatial movement.

As soon as it left his sight, it had immediately cast spatial movement.

He knew that bizarre beings from other dimensions could instinctively use magic that wizards spent their entire lives researching and building up, but this was quite shocking.

To use this level of spatial movement so casually?

Bzzzzzt!

Suddenly, emerald chain lightning erupted from the western sky, tearing the hounds apart.

Professor Verdus screamed in a shrill voice.

“Garcia! Identify friend from foe! Identify friend from foe!!!”

Unlike Professor Begreck, Professor Garcia was clearly not used to combat.

Combat wizards had skills to skillfully distinguish between allies and enemies, but Professor Garcia had little interest in such things.

Professor Verdus frantically defended himself at the sight of Professor Garcia boldly summoning high-powered magic even though he was within range.

“Please block it yourself!!”

“Begreck! Switch places!”

Professor Volardi ignored him and kicked the griffin’s side. It was a signal to increase speed.

Even though it was a bossy order, the griffin sped up. The Hounds of Greed felt that threatening.

‘I see. So that’s why they’re called hounds!’

Unlike the demons with reason, these demons felt no reason at all.

They did not flinch or feel fear even when hit by powerful magic.

They only chased their target.

Moreover, their abilities were brutal. Spatial movement as soon as they left the opponent’s sight.

Bang!

As one of the Hounds of Greed approached, Lee Han cast the Wodanaz’s telekinesis he had learned this time.

Maybe they weren’t very tough. The demon turned to dust when Lee Han’s magic hit it.

Professor Volardi asked at the sight.

“What was that magic just now?”

‘Oops.’

He felt a pang of regret, but he couldn’t hide it now that he had already shown it.

Professor Volardi would immediately recognize the level of magic he had created with instant casting without incantation.

“…I learned it when I was kidnapped by the doppelganger.”

Lee Han told him everything about how the crazy doppelganger had pressured him, without leaving anything out.

This was a coincidence, and the possibility of it happening again was really slim, and…

“A dangerous method of teaching.”

Even in this dangerous situation, Professor Volardi still criticized the crazy doppelganger’s way of teaching.

Magic should be taught with trust between teacher and student, not by forcing someone like that.

“That person doesn’t seem suitable as a teacher.”

“……”

Lee Han couldn’t speak for a moment.

No…

No…!!

Of course, it was good that Professor Volardi was criticizing the Skull Headmaster’s crazy doppelganger.

Lee Han could be moved just by the fact that Professor Volardi didn’t say something like, ‘Good method, as expected of the wisdom of the ancients.’

But it was too unfair that Professor Volardi was saying such things.

Why was it so unfair?

Lee Han couldn’t figure out the reason himself.

“What’s wrong?”

Professor Volardi asked, worried that Lee Han was hurt by the magic.

“It’s nothing. Looks like I got dust in my eyes.”

“Still, don’t lose sight of the enemy.”

“Yes…”