Episode 597

Now that he thought about it, for a student like Wardanaz, it would have seemed natural to simply cast the spell more powerfully if the magic didn’t work.

“Artifact.”

“Here it is.”

One of the seniors quickly pulled out an artifact and handed it to Professor Alcassis. It was an artifact shaped like an iron rod.

The professor, with practiced movements, jammed the artifact into the giant’s nostril like a hook.

“When healing someone with strong magical resistance, you need to be able to blast magic straight inside their body like this.”

-Ughrk, my, my nose hurts.

“Endure it. It’s part of the healing process.”

-Mage. This mage is scary.

The giant looked at Lee Han with a tearful face, but Lee Han was just as scared of Professor Alcassis. There was nothing he could do for him.

“Then we check the condition… It’s a concussion. Phil, what’s the recipe for a concussion potion?”

“Th-three sprigs of camellia and one sprig of black bindweed, cast a compression spell, then boil for thirty minutes. When the color darkens…”

Professor Alcassis reached out his hand.

Seeing this, Phil felt a jolt in his chest, thinking he’d made a mistake.

“Write it on paper so your junior can see. Phil. Do I still have to say this for every single thing?”

‘But he’s a first-year junior…’

Phil felt a bit wronged.

No one would have expected him to have to teach a concussion potion recipe to a first-year junior.

In fact, the others were murmuring too.

“Why is he teaching a first-year the concussion potion recipe…?”

“Oh. Is that him? That Wardanaz?”

“I thought Phil and Chil made him up because they were so miserable.”

Ignoring the students’ chatter, Professor Alcassis poured the potion into the giant’s mouth.

The giant, blinking because of the nose pain, was startled and shouted.

“I’m cured! I’m not dizzy!”

“That’s good. Now. As you just saw, giants…”

Bang!

Before he could finish, another giant broke through the just-repaired classroom wall and entered.

Professor Alcassis looked at it and said cynically,

“Looks like it’s better to go outside. Everyone, head out.”

“How many giants are there, anyway?”

“There aren’t going to be more, are there?”

The healing magic students walked out anxiously.

By now, they no longer wished for the final exam to be easy; they just hoped it would end at a reasonable level.

• * *

Outside, a battle that felt like the end of the world was taking place.

A no-holds-barred melee between giants and the vampire monster.

The massive warriors fought fiercely, neither side yielding.

-Raaagh!

-Aaaaugh!

The giants yelled their unique battle cries and swung their clubs. Each hit sent the vampire monster’s body flying and bursting apart.

But the vampire monster was tough. Even as it was pummeled, it stored power and managed to land heavy blows on the giants.

The giants made no attempt to defend. Especially since they were never used to being hit by anything larger than themselves, the vampire monster’s attacks shocked them even more deeply.

-It hurts my pride!!

-Uuuugh! Uuuugh!!

The giants staggered, clutching noses streaming with blood.

Then Lee Han arrived, running over with the recovered giants.

“Those who are hurt, fall back!”

-I, I’m not hurt though?

“Don’t talk nonsense, get back!”

Professor Alcassis shouted savagely, full of irritation.

One of the types this dark elf professor hated most was a patient who insisted they weren’t hurt even when they were.

-I’m really not hur—Aagh!

Suddenly, as if someone had grabbed the giant’s ankle, the giant toppled forward and was dragged right in front of the professor.

“Take care of him.”

“Yes, sir!”

Knowing that the professor’s mood worsened rapidly as the number of patients increased, the healing magic students worked fast instead of mumbling.

“Okay, giant. Please trust us.”

-Uh. I can’t trust you! All mages are evil! Mage! Mage! Hold my hand!

“……”

“……”

Lee Han was genuinely glad he couldn’t see his seniors at the moment.

‘This is so embarrassingly shameful.’

“…I’m here.”

-Uhh. Thank goodness.

Phil hurried to explain, worried the others would misunderstand the junior.

“He’s just really sociable.”

“B-but no matter how sociable you are, how can you get this close to a giant…?”

Even healing magic students at Einrogard, who had seen plenty of weird stuff, had never seen someone get this friendly with a giant.

“Why not! It’s your way of thinking that’s narrow! That, that… Illendil! Illendil has a lot of friends in the forest because he’s sociable!”

“Even Illendil doesn’t have a giant friend, though?”

It was Professor Alcassis who saved the cornered Phil.

A sharp surgical knife flew in and stabbed into the ground before the chattering students.

“Got time to burn?”

“N-no, sir!”

The students quickly started healing the giant under the professor’s threatening words.

Lee Han also earnestly healed the giant’s stab wounds.

“??”

The seniors looked at Lee Han in confusion, but since they couldn’t see him, their gazes didn’t connect.

‘Why is he doing this?’

‘I-I don’t know…’

While the seniors had to work since the final exam was now healing giants, they couldn’t understand why this first-year junior was helping out when he should have run far away.

And he was good with healing magic too. Seeing him successfully heal a giant without any special preparation, it was clear what Phil and Chil had said wasn’t a lie.

“Is he taking the finals too?”

“No matter how crazy Professor Lagrinde is, he wouldn’t make healing a giant a final for a first-year… right…?”

-What in the world is going on!

The Death Knights, who had arrived late, were shocked to see the vampire monster in its changed state.

It was rare for a monster to go berserk to this extent.

How could a monster, usually cunning in its instincts, rampage like this?

“If I explained… it’d be a long story.”

-We’ll hear later. For now, stop that thing!

The Death Knights pushed the students back and started throwing spears.

Every time a spear imbued with strong dark energy landed, the vampire monster screamed in pain and its movements froze and trembled.

-Giants! Fall back!

-No! It’s our prey!

Despite the giants’ resistance, the Death Knights showed no anger.

Like seasoned and experienced knights, they called out again.

-Giants! We need your help! Advance backward!

The giants were fooled by the Death Knights’ words and advanced backward. Lee Han was impressed.

‘A cut above me!’

They really weren’t ordinary—experienced knights, indeed.

That they could trick the giants like that!

-Looks like it’s gathered quite a lot of blood. Not ordinary stamina.

-This will take a while.

The Death Knights clicked their tongues as they watched the vampire monster’s slowed movements.

Its basic life force was so tenacious that, even when attacked from outside, it would take a long time to whittle down completely.

“Is it really that strong?”

-Actually, once it starts rampaging like this, exterminating it isn’t too hard. You can just immobilize it and leave it alone.

A monster that rampages like that has a fatal flaw—its own body.

Once it swelled up like that, it kept burning energy, so if left alone, it would self-destruct.

-So just attack enough to prevent it from moving, and wait.

-Would you like to try too, Wardanaz-kun? Fighting such a monster will be a good experience.

‘I’ve already fought plenty…’

Lee Han wanted to decline, but the Death Knights looked at him with such expectation that he couldn’t refuse.

It was the look of a grandfather expecting his grandson’s antics.

“Um. Should I try attacking with lightning magic?”

-That’s not bad. But you also have an interesting artifact; why not use that? The teleportation stone, for example.

-Seems like a good idea.

“…?”

Lee Han was puzzled by the Death Knights’ reaction.

“I don’t have any such teleportation stone?”

-Hmm?

-Uhh… The, the one embedded at the tip of your staff.

Lee Han looked at his staff.

It was reinforced by a wood spirit, with a blue gem given by the Frost Giant King set at the tip, and beside it…

“!?!”

Startled by the unfamiliar gemstone, Lee Han almost dropped his staff.

“What is this?!”

-…You probably shouldn’t ask us that.

-If you don’t know…

As the Death Knights looked bewildered, Lee Han rapidly sifted through his memories.

Then he remembered.

‘That’s it!’

It was definitely when he’d forcibly awakened by drinking the water of prophecy and got entangled in the future.

He’d defeated a wizard statue that used spatial magic and received a gemstone from it…

He clearly remembered it, but until just before, he had completely forgotten about it.

‘Perfectly foreseeing the future can be dangerous after all.’

“Sorry. It’s come back to me. So that’s the teleportation stone.”

The Death Knights gave Lee Han a pitying look at his answer.

-Does your master work you that hard?

-Strange, for you to forget the gem set in your own staff.

“No, this really has nothing to do with the headmas—”

-Anyway, give it a try. Against a tough and durable monster like that, spatial magic can be a secret weapon.

The experienced Death Knights recounted their experiences fighting alongside wizards skilled in spatial magic.

Wizards capable of spatial magic were rare and faced many limitations, but used properly, its power could be immense.

-Don’t just think of it as something that can move the weight of a small stone. Even if you can only teleport a pebble, there are countless uses. Try moving this deep inside.

A Death Knight pulled out a vial of poison hidden within his ribs and handed it to Lee Han.

The teleportation stone in Lee Han’s staff could only move something about as heavy as a small stone, but spells could always be adapted.

“Very well. …Vanish!”

Lee Han nodded, focused his mind on the stone, and chanted.

At that moment, a huge amount of magic was consumed and the stone completed the teleportation spell. The vial of poison was shifted deep into the vampire monster’s body.

-But doesn’t spatial magic use up too much magic power? Even with an artifact’s power, isn’t that dangerous…

One of the younger Death Knights asked with concern, but the others laughed and replied.

-That’s nothing to Wardanaz-kun. See how easily he handles it.

-He wouldn’t have cast it so boldly if he wasn’t confident.

“…I didn’t know that.”

Lee Han frowned.

Shouldn’t people tell you these things before you use them?

Maybe because they were Death Knights, not Death Wizards, they seemed to lack common sense about magic safety.

-…Really?

-Well… hmm… True… he’s only a first-year…

-Oh. Look, the monster’s suffering! The poison is working perfectly!

The Death Knights pointed ahead and changed the subject. Lee Han glared at the backs of their skulls as he walked.

-■■■■■!

Whatever poison was used, the vampire monster’s form collapsed and sloughed down to the side like a pile of mud after a flood.

The Death Knights screamed at the sight.

-No!

-Just die quietly, you monster! Leave the front gate alone!

The main gate of Einrogard, at least, was a place that outside guests used, so if it was destroyed it had to be repaired immediately.

They’d just paved the road and decorated the statues nicely!

But, heedless of their cries, the vampire monster raged and swept through the statue park next to the main gate. The Death Knights burst into tears in grief.

“Um, Death Knights?”

-Uhuhuhu… Why do you call, Wardanaz-kun?

“By any chance, were any of those statues alive?”

-What kind of nonsense is that? That would be a big problem. …No one here turned a living person into a statue, did they?

-Ah, no! Probably not!

-Definitely not me. Probably!