Episode 592

Episode 592

Slightly hurt, Lee Han looked around at his friends and asked.

“Do you guys… not really want to enter my labyrinth?”

“W-what are you talking about, Wardanaz!?”

“No way? I want to go in, though?”

The students answered, startled.

But not a single one could meet Lee Han’s eyes.

‘I don’t want to go in.’

‘I wish someone else would go in besides me…!’

After spending a year with Lee Han, the first-year students had figured things out to some extent.

The most difficult dungeon in this illusion magic final exam?

With 100% certainty, it was the dungeon made by Wardanaz. You didn’t even need to take divination magic to predict that.

If only it were just the most difficult level, that would have been fine; but if he made a Wardanaz family’s secret labyrinth that surpassed even first-year standards and invited his friends…

“…I think you guys are misunderstanding something.”

Sensing his friends’ subtle glances, Lee Han quickly tried to respond.

At times like this, he shouldn’t get angry. He needed to soothe his friends’ fears gently and kindly.

“I don’t plan to make the labyrinth any harder than necessary.”

“Ha!”

“Puhaha!”

“……”

“S-sorry. It just… slipped out instinctively.”

The friends who had just burst out laughing quickly apologized after seeing Lee Han’s gaze.

They felt a foreboding that if they didn’t apologize, they might be dragged into Wardanaz’s special labyrinth first.

“My friends! Why would I make the labyrinth unnecessarily difficult? Think about it. I’m just like you guys.”

Lee Han spoke in a tone softer than usual.

He put an arm on each of the two friends who had laughed, and they quickly nodded their heads.

Seeing that persuasion seemed to be working, Lee Han pressed the point with satisfaction.

“Everyone, try to name even one reason why I need to make the labyrinth harder than necessary.”

“Because you’re Wardanaz.”

“You’ve always been like that.”

“You take every school of magic.”

“You even did something different alone during the divination magic test.”

“Also the arithmetic test.”

“And the general magic test.”

At the immediately flying answers from all around, Lee Han regretted it.

‘Damn. I shouldn’t have asked the last one.’

“Wardanaz…”

Professor Kirmin looked at Lee Han as if it was pitiful.

It’s one thing for a student to resemble their teacher, but there was no need to copy Professor Voladi in this respect.

“All right. Everyone calm down! I’ll decide the order of students entering other students’ labyrinths.”

“Since Wardanaz is in the Blue Dragon Tower, how about Blue Dragon Tower students go in?”

“You guys… Wardanaz is currently staying in the Phoenix Tower!”

“I’ve seen him exploring the school with Black Turtle Tower students, so maybe Black Turtle Tower students could explore the best…”

“How about we make the White Tiger Tower guys do it?”

As the students discussed options, they asked Ratford, puzzled by his comment.

“Hm? Why?”

“No particular reason? I just want to send them…”

“You crazy bastard!”

White Tiger Tower students were offended at Ratford, who tried to send them to a death trap with no hint of respect.

Professor Kirmin began organizing things.

“I said calm down! I’ll decide right now.”

The students of each tower looked at the professor with tense eyes.

Who would be the cursed students to enter Wardanaz’s labyrinth?

“Everyone will visit each other’s labyrinths at least once. Understood?”

“……”

“……”

At Professor Kirmin’s words, the students fell silent.

The professor nodded, thinking the students had accepted it.

But after a moment, the students started grabbing each other by the collar and fighting.

“This is because of you guys! Just sacrifice yourselves and go in!”

“Shut up! Then you guys go in now!”

Professor Kirmin sighed and swung his staff.

The students who had fallen victim to illusion magic flailed and were scattered apart.

Watching it all with a cold gaze, Lee Han thought to himself.

‘…I’ll do my best.’

He always did his best, but for this test, it seemed he’d do even better.

• * *

“…Hey, shouldn’t someone stop Wardanaz?”

“I told you not to provoke him…”

The White Tiger Tower students looked at Lee Han’s shed with eyes full of fear.

Currently, the students taking the illusion magic lecture were gathered around the professor’s workshop to remodel their assigned sheds into temporary labyrinths.

Some students brought out extra materials from the forest, others dug up the ground for the foundation, and others installed artifacts to see if the effects worked…

Some students even demolished the shed entirely and rebuilt it from scratch.

“Yeah. That’s it. A little more. No, this way. Yeah, good. Well done, Gonadaltes.”

Lee Han had called even the skeleton warrior Gonadaltes and was immersed in the work.

The original shed had many limitations.

The structure was simple, and the materials were just wood, stone, or straw, so if you cast the wrong magic, the shed could collapse.

‘Come to think of it, there was a lot to learn from the traps set in the underground storage.’

Lee Han had learned much from his senior classmates from the Black Magic School this time.

The series of magical traps designed to keep people away from the underground storage.

Those traps weren’t high-quality just because they combined powerful spells.

They were high-quality because they contained a persistent malice you couldn’t find in other traps.

A malice determined to block any intruder!

‘It’s not the strength of the magic that matters. What matters is how the magics are linked.’

Lee Han flipped through a grimoire, thinking about what illusion magics to connect together.

Meanwhile, the frame of the newly constructed shed began to emerge. And fitting the term “frame,” it was literally assembled from bones.

“Space, distort!”

The -Lesser Spatial Distortion- illusion magic made intruders lose their sense of direction and see multiple paths the moment they entered.

Thanks to changing the frame, the magic was applied cleanly, and Lee Han was pleased.

‘Good start.’

“Wo… Wardanaz.”

“?”

Some White Tiger Tower students approached from behind. They held roast chicken slathered in sauce.

“Eat this while you work.”

“???”

In this situation, White Tiger Tower students, who never shared their meat, were gifting meat?

There was only one answer.

“It’s poisoned. Cowards.”

“What are you talking about! It’s not!”

“How can you suspect that!”

The White Tiger Tower students were outraged at having their sincerity doubted.

The value of supplies differed by each tower. Phoenix Tower prized beeswax, Blue Dragon Tower prized ink, Black Turtle Tower prized coffee grounds and tea leaves.

And in White Tiger Tower, meat was valuable.

They had brought such precious meat roasted!

“Are you saying you roasted this meat just to serve me while I’m working, with no ulterior motive?”

“…W-well, not exactly.”

“No need to say it so harshly…”

The White Tiger Tower students shrank back.

But having come this far, they couldn’t give up, and dropped their voices to a whisper.

“Wardanaz. We have a request.”

“I don’t know if I’ll grant it, but speak.”

“…Can you make a safe path in the labyrinth…”

“……”

Lee Han looked at the White Tiger Tower students with a contemptuous gaze—as if staring at the most pathetic people in the world.

“Just go make your own labyrinth properly.”

“A-ah…! For a plump chicken, you benefit too! It’s not even a loss for you!”

Lee Han drove the White Tiger Tower students out by kicking their behinds.

Scheming such useless tricks…

‘No wonder there are so many failing students in White Tiger Tower.’

He could understand why Moradi was so stressed.

They were all like that…

“Wardanaz. Wardanaz.”

“Lee Han. At least tell us a safe path…”

“…Gonadaltes. If anyone approaches the shed from now on, throw bones at them.”

“Argh! That’s too much! We’re just trying to compromise!”

Only after chasing away the troublemakers could Lee Han immerse himself in his work.

He covered the shed walls, built passageways inside the empty space, dug pitfall traps underneath…

‘Hm. Maybe I should rig something into the walls too?’

Doing this turned out to be rather fun.

He could see why the Black Magic School upperclassmen put such effort into their traps!

“Lord Wardanaz.”

“Ratford? I can’t tell you any safe routes, though.”

“Hehe. What do you take me for?”

Ratford laughed confidently from outside the shed door.

At that, Lee Han called to mind Ratford’s origins once again.

“Ah. Right. This kind of temporary labyrinth is something you could handle with your eyes closed…”

“I’m going to fake illness and not go in. I already made a fake illness potion.”

“…Want to just come in if I tell you the safe route?”

“Excuse me? I refuse.”

Lee Han became a bit despondent and stepped out of the shed.

“Then what brings you here?”

“Ah. I wanted to pick some fogcloud mushrooms—would you like to join me?”

Among magics, there were some that required reagents every time they were cast.

For instance, bone powder was necessary for bone element black magic, and many other schools also required such reagents.

Fogcloud mushrooms were essential for casting the -Twilight Dusk- illusion spell.

“You’re going to try casting Twilight Dusk? That’s a tough one?”

“The professor said it’s doable, so I wanted to try. But Wardanaz, it looks like you’re already all set…”

Ratford glanced over at the bone shed’s appearance.

Unlike the others, the very exterior exuded gloom and menace. Even most thieves wouldn’t dare enter such a place.

“No. It’d be good if I could cast Twilight Dusk as well. Let’s go together.”

“I think you already have more than enough, though…”

“No. It’s still not enough.”

As soon as Lee Han finished speaking, a student who had tried to sneak into the shed screamed and ran out.

The skeleton warriors had rushed him and thrown bones.

“That one’s just a coward.”

“……”

• * *

Harvesting fogcloud mushrooms itself wasn’t too hard.

The Einrogard mountain range was called the Sky Mountains for a reason, but that only applied to the deeper regions; there were also some relatively smaller mountains near the main building.

And the students who knew these mountains best were from Black Turtle Tower.

They had spent their spare time identifying all the edible plants and setting traps for small animals.

Ratford had already found the location of the fogcloud mushroom patch, so Lee Han only had to follow behind him.

“Hey, Wardanaz, why are you even…”

“Wardanaz, we’re only using reagents because we’re lacking, but you have plenty of power!”

“You’re already fine as is! No need to overdo it! You need to prep for other school exams too!”

…It was only a minor point that every student they met on the way to the patch said stuff like that.

The more Lee Han heard such things, the more determined he became to turn his temporary labyrinth into the labyrinth from hell.

“Hey… look at Wardanaz’s eyes…”

“Who pissed off Wardanaz? Who?”

“I said we should’ve volunteered when he spoke earlier. Now he’s mad.”

The students whispered, wondering if they should offer a sacrifice even now.

“It’s a monster!!!”

“?!”

At the shout ahead, Lee Han was startled.

‘I let my guard down!’

Caught up in thoughts of trapping his friends in the labyrinth forever, he had relaxed his guard in Einrogard’s mountains.

A fatal mistake.

And right now, wasn’t there a monster chasing after Lee Han?

“Everyone, this way!”

Lee Han quickly gathered his friends into formation. The students asked, frightened.

“W-what is it? Wardanaz? A monster?”

“It’s probably a bloodsucker beast. Everybody stay calm…”

Crash!

A tree ahead was sent flying, and a gigantic beast landed out of the air.

A familiar animal.

It was the Mountainbreaker Ram.

“……”