Episode 556

Episode 556

“Is everyone in? I’m going in too.”

With so many students wanting to go, they couldn’t all go at once.

Lee Han divided the students and organized them to go in parties, one at a time. The first advance squad needed to be students who were both highly skilled and good at improvising.

And of course, Lee Han was included.

He knew full well that, if he wasn’t there, Salko and Giselle would probably end up grabbing each other by the throat and fighting.

“Theoretically, it’ll stay open. If it closes, don’t even come near this place—just go back to the dorm and play dumb.”

“W-Wardanaz. But how can you say that so…”

“If you’re alive, you have to survive. There’s no other way.”

Firmly, Lee Han spoke to his friends, who were panicking and hesitating.

If the dimensional gate closed, the students who crossed over just had to find their own way back to the school.

How could the students left at school save them?

“Well… I’m going.”

Pop!

As Lee Han stepped through the dimensional gate, he felt a sensation similar to when he’d entered the spirit realm or undead realm before.

It was a strange feeling—moving through a different dimension with the same status, yet actually completely different.

A moment that seemed eternal rapidly ended, and Lee Han found himself in the unfamiliar hallway of a mansion.

“Wardanaz.”

“…Everyone made it safely.”

The friends who’d entered first nodded with tense expressions.

After all, they were inside the skeleton principal’s villa; there was no student who wouldn’t be nervous.

“Everyone, calm down.”

“I am, I am calm!”

“I-I’m calm too, Wardanaz.”

‘You’re all shaking…’

Seeing even Salko and Giselle trembling, Lee Han decided he needed to calm them down.

“If we stick to the plan, there’s nothing to worry about getting caught. All right, deep breath. First, confirm the structure of the mansion, then change your clothes, and then head out.”

“Are we really leaving everything in the mansion untouched?”

“No. That would be insane.”

Ratford looked sad. Surprisingly, not only Ratford but a few other students openly looked regretful.

It wasn’t just because they coveted the treasures in the mansion.

“But Wardanaz. We might never get another chance in our lives to raid the principal’s villa…”

“Yeah. If we’re ending up in the punishment room anyway, wouldn’t it be better to loot the place?”

The desperation that they might never have another chance to steal the skeleton principal’s treasures.

And the resolve that, since they’d already gotten involved in this, they were half-resigned to facing the punishment room.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if there were several students thinking, ‘Since it’s come to this, let’s hit the skeleton principal as hard as we can.’

But Lee Han stayed cool-headed.

“No. Stick to the plan. Ignore anything the seniors said. We’re doing whatever is least likely to get us caught. Understood?”

As the student with the most escape experience, Lee Han knew well.

Nothing is more dangerous during an escape than acting emotionally.

‘We need to figure out the structure and get to the city as fast as possible. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets. If something goes missing on top of that…’

“Yeah, listen to Wardanaz. He’s the one who’s escaped the most. Nobody can match him for cunning.”

“I can at least acknowledge Wardanaz’s criminal skills.”

“Thanks, everyone. …Wait. That sounded like an insult just now, didn’t it?”

At Lee Han’s question, Salko and Giselle shook their heads simultaneously.

“No.”

“No way. You misunderstood.”

“Pretty sure it was an insult… Anyway, let’s move. Stick together, everyone.”

As Lee Han gathered his friends and prepared to cast an invisibility spell, he froze.

On the far side of the corridor, mercenaries appeared.

• * *

The prejudiced people of the Empire thought there was little difference between mercenaries and criminals.

By day, they’d carry weapons and listen to their client, but come nightfall, they’d turn those weapons on their employer and rob them.

Of course, mercenaries vehemently denied such prejudices.

-From the blizzard-blasted northern mountains to the scorching southern deserts, what slander to paint us, soldiers devoted to justice, this way!

-Sure, one of my colleagues got caught attacking a client, but that’s a very rare case!

-Yes, yes! Last time my colleague got caught stealing, but that was a truly exceptional situation!

Unfortunately, the mercenaries caught by the death knights working for the skeleton principal were just such rare exceptions.

They had tried to live strictly by imperial law but ended up looking guilty due to a mix of misunderstandings and bad luck.

So, when they were caught by death knights, they protested fiercely.

-If you don’t let us go right now, we’ll rip your master to pieces, you undead bastard!

-You filthy spell-slinger! Black magician, grave-digger, tomb pilferer!

Then, when the death knights revealed who their master was, the mercenaries protested a bit more politely.

-…Regardless of anything, isn’t this going a bit far?

-If you need to fight a mage, we’re still up for it, even now!

Then, when the death knights locked the storeroom and swung weapons at those who resisted, the mercenaries’ protests became even more refined.

-How much longer is this going on?

-Do we need more training? For any mage, this should be enough. A single arrow to the neck and a mage will…

Of course, no matter how refined, death knights didn’t easily let the mercenaries go.

-Shut up. Not yet. Among those you’ll face, there are mages with more combat experience than you can imagine. Train harder.

-Ah, no…!

Eventually, the death knights selected only those who met their standards and moved them to the villa.

Having “passed the test,” the mercenaries’ anxiety only grew worse.

-What are they going to do with us? Are they planning to have us assassinate another mage?

-Damn it, if it’s an assassination, even if we succeed, they’ll never let us live!

-The ones who failed probably got turned into statues by the mage’s curse already…

A cornered rat will bite a cat, as they say.

Let alone hardened, vicious mercenaries who’d been caught committing crimes.

Of course, it was only natural that they prepared to escape instead of waiting for instructions from the death knight.

But escaping was not so easy.

-You rat bastard. Didn’t you say you’ve picked over ten thousand locks, and you can’t even open this simple front door?

-Damn it, you try it then! Whatever tricks they’ve done, it won’t open. Feels like they’ve put in some kind of steel bars!

-I tried climbing over the wall and throwing myself, but it bounced off like there’s an invisible wall there.

-The mage bastard definitely put spells in the air. Maniac!

-Let’s dig! Break out by digging.

-The ground’s blocked too… To think he put spells underground too. Crazy mage bastard!

Every escape idea the mercenaries came up with was blocked.

Whether the death knights knew this or not, every evening they would visit, not reacting at all to scratch marks on the door or dug-up earth.

If the mercenaries didn’t improve, they would get punished without mercy.

-Stop wasting time and use it to train, you trash!

-You guys can’t even get past a mage’s summoned creature with this level of skill!

The more they suffered from the death knights, the more desperately the mercenaries clung to thoughts of escape.

Who knew what might happen if they had to stay here any longer!

-Let’s search the mansion. Maybe the mage left something behind.

-Turn the place upside down. Check behind the mirrors and under the beds. Search everywhere!

-Can we really go inside here? Didn’t the death knights say never to enter?

-They won’t be back for ages. Go in! We’re dead anyway.

So the mercenaries boldly set foot in forbidden areas of the mansion.

Their brave search, however, ended absurdly.

At the end of the staircase, a group of Einrogard students was waiting for them.

• * *

“……”

“……”

Both students and mercenaries froze silently.

With so many reasons for both sides to be nervous, their minds went blank.

‘We’re caught!? Who are they? The principal’s minions?’

‘We’re caught!? Who are they? That mage’s underlings?’

The students wondered whether to retreat through the dimensional gate or, at this point, throw caution to the wind and fight their way out of the mansion, risking the punishment room.

The mercenaries considered whether to back off, or try to overpower the mage’s minions and take hostages.

The first to act was Lee Han.

“Attack!”

“What?”

“I said attack! Strike, Perkuntra’s lightning!”

With Lee Han’s spell, lightning flashed through the hall, and the mercenaries realized—too late—that they’d made a grave mistake in their confusion.

To lose the initiative to a mage!

‘This is bad!’

“Grab those bastards and take them hostage… urgh!”

A mercenary who tried to give the order a second late was struck by lightning and collapsed instantly.

He lay shaking violently, evidently unable to get up.

“Shields, up front!”

“Shi-shields! Yeah. Shields up front!”

The mercenaries, shaken by losing the initiative, were able to respond as a unit ironically thanks to the death knights who had worked them so hard.

Thanks to rigorous training on how to deal with mages, they could react instinctively in this kind of situation.

Mercenaries carrying tough, anti-magic treated wooden shields moved to the front, quickly forming a shield wall.

The mercenaries behind readied ranged attacks: crossbows were loaded, and poison-coated daggers drawn.

Seeing this, Lee Han’s expression grew sharp.

‘So they really are trained!’

“W-Wardanaz, is it really okay to just attack like this?”

“They’re criminals the principal caught anyway. Attack!”

“What? How do you… Got it. Attack! Attack!”

The reason Lee Han struck first was simple.

He had seen these mercenaries in the warehouse on the outskirts of the city before.

Criminals the skeleton principal had brought to attack the freshmen.

Now that he recognized them, there was no need to hesitate on the preemptive strike. They were enemies the students would have had to fight anyway.

“Let the mists spread, and arise, warriors formed of bone!”

Lee Han quickly swung his staff, summoning fog into the corridor and calling forth skeleton warriors to march forward.

As the skeleton warriors advanced in formation through the fog, the mercenaries felt overwhelming pressure.

In the blink of an eye, the situation had shifted again!

“T-this is…”

“H-how…!”

The mercenaries had thought the death knights were being unreasonable when criticizing their tactics and abusing them.

-Too slow and clumsy. Only one prepared tactic? You’ll take on a mage with just that?

As seasoned mercenaries, they’d faced mages on the battlefield before.

Most mages didn’t fare well in sudden combat situations.

Their casting was slow, their situational awareness was poor, and if attacked, they seemed unable to respond properly…

Once you blocked one spell, you could immediately counterattack and take them down.

But this mage before them left no openings.

When they raised their shields and braced for a long fight, he instantly adapted his tactics to match, ready for a drawn-out engagement.

Seeing the skeleton warriors advance through the mist, they hesitated.

‘Should we fight? How strong are these things?’

‘Can we break through and reach those spell-slingers?’

At that moment, a barrage of magic from the students began to rain down.

Lee Han had bought enough time for the students to complete their spells.

Kwakwang! Kwakwang! (Boom! Boom!)

“Urgh!”

“Gahh!”

Even with a defense wall against magic, there was no way to remain unscathed against a barrage from over a dozen mages.

Shields broke, and some mercenaries were thrown back by the impact.

Giselle glanced at Lee Han while watching the enemies collapse.

‘Are they really criminals…?’

She wondered if Wardanaz had just shouted “criminals” to make it easier for them to attack.

‘…Probably not. And there’s no way to check now anyway.’

“They’re running!”

The students shouted as they saw the enemies at the end of the hall hurriedly fleeing down the stairs.

Lee Han gave a cold order.

“Catch them! Don’t let a single one get away!”

“…Wardanaz. They really are criminals, right?”

“Of course they are, Salko. Why do you keep asking pointless questions?”

“Ah, never mind. Nothing.”