Episode 699

While Lee Han and Giselle talked the second-year students out of their smuggling ambitions, the chaos at the inspection line was escalating.

As giants and rampaging blade bears wreaked havoc, the other third-years began to draw their wands.

-Do not draw your wands!

“Oh, I just remembered I polished my wand last night… Holy Light, burn these undead!”

-As if such a cheap trick will work!

“Fellow students, gather! Strike down the skeleton principal’s minions and reclaim the glory of Einrogard!”

“Revolution! Revolution!”

-Another rebellion?!

Like wildfire, the disturbance quickly spread.

The Death Knights, clearly exasperated, called for reinforcements.

-Subdue these magicians immediately!

“You’ll pay for sending me to the punishment room last fall! Block negative energy!”

“Freedom from the shadow element!”

“Intermediate undead weakening, undead tracking vision, undead confusion…”

‘How many times have these seniors fought Death Knights already?’

Watching the battle at the inspection line, Lee Han was amazed.

It was clear the seniors had fought the skeleton principal’s minions more than once—they immediately started slinging prepared counter-magic.

One of the magicians’ greatest strengths is the ability to stab at a stronger enemy’s weakness if they’re well prepared.

The upperclassmen were showing just that kind of flexibility. A few Death Knights took hits and even got banished.

Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

Every kind of magic erupted in the air: fiery explosions, thunder, flashes and waves of energy, and shockwaves blitzed the area.

A White Tiger Tower senior, transformed into a massive Archosaurus and backed by buff spells from friends, pummeled Death Knights underneath his feet.

On top, a Black Turtle Tower senior tossed potion bottles one after another, activating chain effects that created storms of clashing energies.

Meanwhile, some Blue Dragon Tower seniors finished preparing their grand spells. A spatial rift tore open and a crimson lizard with flaming tongues and split pupils glared down from above.

A lethal fiery rain fell. Each drop destroyed and burned all it touched.

It was an explosive combination of spirit magic, summoning, and advanced elemental magic.

‘Amazing!’

Lee Han was impressed.

“You little bastards! Who are you aiming at?!”

“Shut up and fight, you meat shields.”

“You mongrels want to die?”

“Go ahead and try. You always smell like animals anyhow.”

“……”

Lee Han was appalled.

How could they be arguing with each other in the middle of such chaos?

His friends seemed to agree.

“Isn’t that a little harsh?”

“Wow. Even when Wardanaz hit me, I never talked that bad about him behind his back.”

“Hey. Stay close to Wardanaz.”

Even when they argued, the second-years had at least managed some unity in critical moments over the last year. Their upperclassmen’s vicious squabbles felt very awkward.

Even Giselle watched on with shocked eyes.

“Giselle. Aren’t the seniors going too far?”

“Did they have to go that far?”

Lee Han kindly answered for her when White Tiger Tower students asked.

“Giselle isn’t surprised by this stuff.”

“…Ha, ha. What’s that supposed to mean, you bastard?”

“It’s a compliment.”

Phoenix Tower seniors, busy healing everyone regardless of injury, yelled out.

“If you want to fight, do it later! It’s hard to heal you like this!”

“Stick to magic that’s easy to treat! The ones you’re using on the Death Knights make such a mess…!”

‘Shouldn’t they be stopping the fight for another reason?’

As the students bickered, Death Knight reinforcements arrived.

-Warehouse Keeper. If you would, please.

The warehouse keeper nodded.

Luck was not with today’s revolutionary students.

This was the most thoroughly prepared inspection in at least a decade.

And one reason was the skeleton principal’s summoned beast left on guard.

At first, it seemed excessive, as if they were bracing for a great lightning spirit. But now, it was just the thing to put an end to this chaos.

“Come forth, Anansi!”

“!”

As the massive summoned beast of the skeleton principal appeared in a rift in the air, the students fighting at the inspection line froze in shock.

“They brought out the summon, too?!”

“Isn’t this too much?! Why did they prepare so much for this?!”

“Well, it’s too late to back down now! Crush the summon too!”

A defiant student suddenly collapsed—his whole body was wrapped up tight in spider silk, unable to move.

“A-Anansi!”

“Crazy…! It’s Anansi!”

With screams, a giant spider appeared.

As big as a giant, it glared at the students with all eight glittering eyes.

-You’re students, yet care more for mischief than academics?

“Shut up, Anansi! You think this looks like a game?!”

“You lapdog of the skeleton principal! What do you know of our desperation?!”

Magic blasted into the spider’s huge torso, but Anansi just shrugged it off. Its defenses were monstrous.

Anansi’s body swelled fearsomely. Then it exhaled—a breath of darkness that stunned and poisoned the students.

“Gah!”

“Ugh!”

“Get back!”

Anansi swept away the students massed at the inspection line, then chittered its legs and snapped at the air as if biting a rift in space.

The crimson lizard spirit the students had summoned clashed with Anansi.

Fiery rain burned Anansi, venom poisoned the lizard spirit. The clash was colossal.

But as a minion of the skeleton principal—endowed with domain power—Anansi held the advantage over mere extradimensional beings. The lizard spirit let out a humiliated cry and retreated beyond the rift.

The Blue Dragon Tower students sustaining the grand magic coughed up blood and collapsed—the spell’s backlash.

“Lee Han, fall back!”

“Let’s do that. Everyone get back!”

The second-years not involved in the fight withdrew quickly.

Other seniors who hadn’t participated retreated as well. Anansi easily bound the remaining students at the inspection line in webs and paralyzed them with its breath.

-Thank you, Anansi.

-Thanks to you, it’s over quickly.

Anansi didn’t answer, but clicked its fangs even louder.

That sound made the Death Knights uneasy.

Once a terror of the underground, Anansi was playful and mischievous, infamous for driving local dark elves and dwarves to despair.

While much improved after bowing to the skeleton principal, that mischief hadn’t vanished.

Especially when students acted up, that competitive urge flared. There was no stopping it now.

-Oh no…

-I’ll send them to the punishment room!

Anansi’s eight eyes gleamed with malice. Lee Han recognized that sensation all too well—

…That feeling when things go wrong!

“Guys! Fall even farther back! That crazy summon is coming this way!!!”

Students from second to fourth years instantly began moving.

Lee Han cast spells with abandon, summoning skeleton warriors who formed tight ranks and raised their bows.

A baby basilisk hidden in his sleeve woke up and hissed aggressively at Anansi.

As if it was saying, ‘Let me fight!’

Lee Han said firmly,

“…This is not the opponent for you!”

Given the difference in size alone, even as fellow venom-carriers, it was too risky.

Anansi’s body swelled again.

Then another breath of darkness swept out.

-That goddamn spider!

-Kill it! Make it come to its senses!

The Death Knights shouted curses, drawing swords blazing with negative energy.

With a summon like Anansi, there was no reason to go easy—massive wounds appeared on the spider’s back and torso, shriveling its flesh with negative energy.

Anansi, unfazed, got even more excited, swelling and unleashing another breath. It was positively delighted by this rare round of fun.

“Ugh…damn…”

Ogoldos, of the school of black magic, staggered and fell.

For a black magic specialist, being taken down by poison was a humiliation, but Anansi’s breath was truly horrible.

One breath, and it would freeze your body stiff—unstoppable by any means.

“Senior!”

With a burst of buff magic, Lee Han dashed over, hoisted Ogoldos over his shoulder, and sprinted back.

Paralyzed, Ogoldos could only roll his eyes to look at Lee Han.

“N… u… ck…?”

His tongue was too stiff to speak. Lee Han ran over and dumped him before the Phoenix Tower seniors.

“Seniors! Help him!”

“O-okay! …Wait, how did you…”

Lee Han didn’t wait. He turned and ran in again, pulling out any other unlucky students or seniors he found.

Seeing Lee Han carrying Anpagon of enhancement magic school, several seniors shouted in shock.

“Someone’s saving Anpagon?!”

“Must be a new second-year! Junior, trust us! Trust us and leave that guy behind! You’ll regret it later if you don’t!”

“……”

Despite the jeering, Lee Han set Anpagon safely before the Phoenix Tower seniors.

‘I’ll have to keep quiet about taking enhancement magic.’

Running back toward the breath zone, Lee Han saw the Death Knights surround Anansi and start beating on it.

The thick breath of darkness clouded his vision, but Lee Han’s conjured light orbs were holding their own—a shape emerged from the gloom.

‘Good. Soon, they’ll overpower it…’

-Dear protégé! Come over here and help! This spider’s gone nuts!

-Please, come quick!

“…?”

Lee Han looked around.

Was there someone else present?

“……”

Then he realized—belatedly.

‘They’re calling me!’

He realized they meant him.

“I don’t have the power to hurt that kind of monster!”

-Oh, really? Can’t you use -Gonadaltes’ Sword- or -Godanaltes’ Hatred-?

“……”

Awkwardly, the Death Knights spoke up.

-Then maybe just take a break…

Anansi breathed out darkness again, further deepening the gloom.

Then, Lee Han’s rune suddenly began to glow.

-Who is that?

Startled by the glowing rune, the Death Knights wondered aloud.

Who was he contracted with, in a situation like this?

“…Wait, who was this again?”

-……

“It’s not Perkuntra. Not Upinum. Not Phoenix… not a spirit either…”

While the Death Knights watched, dumbfounded, the answer soon appeared.

An undead mage who had fought alongside Lee Han before in the Ghoul King’s palace took shape and stepped out of the darkness.

-Contractor… It has been a while…!

“!”

Lee Han was surprised.

Because the contractor’s environment had become similar to its original dimension, the summoning conditions were met?

He’d known that some extradimensional beings could only be summoned under special circumstances, but to see one appear like this, now…

“Verdus!”

-…Wait, who did you say?

-Please pretend you misheard! Quickly!

The Death Knights’ reaction was more intense than expected.

If they had to subdue the summon, fine—but they didn’t want certain professors involved!