Episode 1066

“Hold still!”

With that shout, Lee Han stepped in to help Saratan.

As he infused mana into his staff, power flowed into the true form of Saratan inside it. Feeling a surge of life, Saratan breathed a sigh of relief.

Th-thank y…

“Hey, you idiot! Why did you lie just now when I asked if it was too much?!”

……

Lee Han lashed out harshly.

He’d already suspected something was off with that reaction; the spirit had been bluffing.

As Lee Han’s scolding, which wasn’t ending after just one jab, continued to rain down, Saratan felt the gratitude he’d just felt quickly fade away.

‘What exactly is supposed to be “good” about this guy?’

Bitterly grumbling inside, Saratan suddenly staggered.

Amazingly, even the first shock wasn’t completely over yet. The energy remaining inside the magic circle surged once again.

Gah! …This mirror, it’s really no help at all…!

“!”

Yukveltire’s eyes widened.

She wanted to argue with the spirit right then, but she had no time to spare with her focus on the ritual.

‘The stone mirror isn’t the problem—it’s clearly because the spirit isn’t using it properly. He’s not supposed to face it directly, but at an angle…’

“Senior! Ignore this side and keep concentrating on the magic. I’ll handle it!”

Lee Han gave Yukveltire a warning.

She had jolted, looking as though she might drop her spell and jump in to argue.

“Saratan, how are you holding up?”

Th-thank you. I’m feeling a little stronger…

As Lee Han continued to pour in mana, Saratan managed to catch his breath.

“You can handle the next one, right?”

What?

Hearing the wizard, Saratan unconsciously looked up.

As soon as the first trial ended, the second ordeal—stabilizing -Baquantalana’s Dimensional Rod—was underway.

Immutability that maintained its form even in completely twisted and mingled dimensions.

The essence of the enchantment magic was to somehow fix this immutability to an object in reality.

Yukveltire tried to fix the magic to a thin adamantite plate. The process resembled trying to tame a wildly rampaging stallion.

T-that’s a bit much…

‘What did Master see in this guy to recommend him?’

Lee Han inwardly cursed at Saratan.

Transferring mana into the Saratan in his staff felt less efficient. It seemed better to send it directly by touching him.

“Get yourself set! If you break, I’ll make sure you never leave the staff again!”

Understood! I get it!

Lee Han positioned himself behind Saratan, handling the giant wood spirit like a palisade or shield.

As long as the tree spirit held out, Lee Han wouldn’t be in danger.

Cracking and splintering rocks grazed Lee Han’s cheek with crunching sounds.

The dimensional rod extracted immutability created by the violent mixing of dimensions.

Just as a blacksmith needed fire and pressure to forge steel, this magic worked the same way.

Naturally, the aftermath shook the surroundings.

Even though Saratan absorbed most of the impact, pieces of warped, shattered space still flew toward Lee Han.

…Uh… urgh… g-g-ggh…

‘Still all right?’

Lee Han checked the spirit’s condition. He looked worse than when he’d been tortured inside the staff, but his physical shell was holding up—tough as a proper tree spirit.

Of course, that was only by Lee Han’s standards. To Saratan, repeating injury and regeneration felt like dying over and over.

Getting mana support from behind was the only way he wasn’t falling immediately.

“Master! Is this okay as is?”

-You’re doing well, Disciple. Keep it up just like that.

The young prince’s voice was peaceful—so much so it was completely at odds with the chaos in the basement.

Saratan wanted to beg for him to step in again, but the pressure was too much to even speak.

-But it wouldn’t hurt for you to take over a few spots, Disciple. Can you cast a spatial stabilization spell under the farmer-with-straw illustration?

“A spatial stabilization spell… Understood!”

Luckily, he did know that spell. Lee Han cast a 2nd-circle spell to lock down a dangerous area.

Looking up, he saw Yukveltire soaked in cold sweat, face pale as death—a classic sign of high-level spellcasting.

Their eyes met, and Yukveltire shaped her mouth in silent words. Lee Han focused, thinking she might need help.

‘What does she need? Is she asking for help?’

-My, artifact, not at, fault…

“If you distract people with nonsense one more time, I’ll shut the whole project down right now!”

Yukveltire flinched.

Truly, she was emotional—just as it was with Junior Direte.

“Master, what comes next?”

-Next, move the dimensional rift beside the chest with the bound wraith.

“…How do I do that?”

Lee Han was slightly thrown.

He was supporting Saratan and casting spells, so moving directly wasn’t easy.

But even if it was, moving a rift was intimidating.

How should he do that?

-Use spatial magic, Disciple.

“Uh… Understood.”

Lee Han tried to use the -Fragment of Teleportation- embedded in his staff.

He’d acquired this stone from a campus statue—it was inscribed with a low-level spatial teleportation.

-No, Disciple. That stone isn’t enough.

The young prince advised kindly.

The spell on the -Fragment of Teleportation- could only move small, light objects—it couldn’t move a rift like that.

It might look like a floating tuft of straw, but that rift was a solid chunk of dimensional overlap and power.

“Then…?”

-You must cast an intermediate spatial teleport, Disciple. Here, let me show you.

The prince walked him through it step by step.

The instruction was so natural that Lee Han didn’t have a chance to say he hadn’t even learned basic teleportation yet.

-Learn this spell and you’ll be able to easily move heavy objects—maybe not living beings, but still quite a bit.

“I… see…”

Pl-please… hurry…

Saratan groaned through the pain, barely spitting out words.

As far as he could tell, the only way for this torment to stop was for Lee Han to hurry and learn the spell and cast it.

“But this magic is hard, you know?”

Lee Han protested to the spirit.

Thinking back, he had never actually learned even low-level teleport spells.

Space-time magic was infamously difficult, even compared to other schools; Professor Garcia hadn’t forced it on him, knowing.

You’d master the basic low-circle spells first and build from there.

…Of course, the fact that her disciple was already overdoing it with advanced spells from other schools played a role.

Now, suddenly, he was told to start with intermediate spells.

‘Isn’t this 5th Circle-level?’

Space-time spells were so difficult you could rate every one a rank higher—it was hardly an exaggeration to call it 5th circle magic.

Th-… change it to something easier… please…

Saratan cast aside honorifics to give a savage suggestion.

If he hadn’t been fed mana, he would have collapsed and vanished long before now, but with the wizard sustaining him, he couldn’t even pass out—the pain just went on.

“I mean…”

Lee Han hesitated.

He felt awkward directly refusing such requests in front of the smiling young prince.

If it was the Skeleton Headmaster, he’d grumble, “Are you kidding me? I’m writing a complaint,” and flop to the floor, but faced with the trust and encouragement of the prince it was hard to be blunt…

B-bast… If you’re changing it, just learn it…

“Yeah, yeah. Just bear with it a little longer.”

Dodging flying shards, Lee Han tried to calm Saratan.

‘That guy really exaggerates…’

If the prince wasn’t stepping in, it couldn’t be that serious yet.

If it really was dangerous, the prince would have acted.

‘I did learn the basics though…’

He recalled the spatial magic basics Professor Garcia had taught him, and what the prince had just explained.

Teleportation looked like projectile magic, but fundamentally…

‘…It’s actually more like dimensional magic.’

You press and twist space with enormous mana to open a pathway for something to move through.

That was the essence of spatial teleportation.

Lee Han drew a deep breath.

Using both his experience with small world magic and other powerful spells, he managed to adapt quicker than most.

Channeling mana, bend space!

Crack!

A misfired, shattered brick teleported by Lee Han’s feet, breaking apart with a sound.

Yukveltire, who had been struggling with her own magic, was startled and hurried her hand, signaling him to move faster.

“……”

Lee Han thought he’d have to apologize later and turned his focus back.

‘Aim the direction the other way.’

Of course, being a magician herself, Yukveltire could block spatial teleportation with her own mana or sense and react first.

But she was exhausted and wholly focused on top-level magic.

If anything went wrong, Lee Han could go down in Einrogard history as the Junior who assassinated his Senior.

-Doing great, Disciple. Just try to speed it up and set the coordinates more precisely.

“Thank you.”

Hurry… hurry…

“I said I get it, just be quiet.”

After several attempts, Lee Han finally managed to move the rift.

Dimensional rifts were far trickier targets than ordinary chests or stones. Lee Han’s hands ached and his head throbbed from the effort.

“Did it work?”

-Wonderful job, Disciple.

A-am I alive…?

As the pressure let up, Saratan found his voice again.

Maybe it was the wizard’s spell—or maybe since there was nothing left to endure—the pressure finally eased up.

“Aximan’s—”

“Third phase! It’s the third one, Saratan!”

Hearing Yukveltire’s chant, Lee Han realized his Senior was breaking through the blockage and bringing forth the final spell component.

At the announcement, Saratan reeled. His body still had some strength left, but his will had been crushed.

And a spirit with a crushed will was obvious outwardly—Saratan’s huge form shrank and twisted like a rotting old tree.

It’s over… I can’t… I give up…

“Don’t you dare give up, you idiot!”

Saratan jumped from the blunt blow from the side.

He’d expected the wizard to run off by now, but Lee Han was propping him up and giving orders.

“Hang on! We’re almost there! I’ll cast magic right alongside you!”

Wh-why…?

Normally, if a spirit collapsed, a wizard would give up and retreat too.

But this wizard wouldn’t leave, no matter how much he scolded him. Instead, he stepped forward and tried to shoulder the load together.

Saratan glanced at the young prince.

Was this what the archmage meant by a good heart?

‘The spirit is weaker than I thought.’

The young prince mused inwardly.

He’d meant to support the spell of the silver-haired wizard and teach his disciple a few spells, but the spirit turned out to be weaker than expected.

He barely managed to pass down one spatial spell.

Even if you’d been sealed away for ages, you didn’t have to exaggerate this much.

Wizard! Was this what you meant?

-Yes?

About a good heart! I think I get it now!

-Is that so? That’s wonderful. Then try to hold on just a little bit longer.