Episode 1165
by CristaeLee Han wanted to ask Saratan what had happened, but first he had to deal with the immediate problem before him.
He floated higher with telekinesis, then fired Lightning Strike at the pursuing Binding Magic.
It paused briefly but wasn’t that effective. The Binding Magic regained its form in an instant and surged again.
But Lee Han had already predicted this much. He used teleportation magic to swap his position.
“Saratan! Send the stone tablet over here!”
Lee Han packed magic into his staff and hurled it with force. Saratan, understanding without need for explanation, exerted his authority to the fullest.
‘As long as I get that tablet, the trial will surely end!’
Determined to hand over the tablet to his irritable, mean master no matter what, Saratan caused vines to erupt madly in the air.
If Lee Han could just hold on a bit longer, Saratan would be able to pass him the tablet.
At that moment, a chilling telepathic wave reverberated.
I will now cast the next spell.
“!!”
-No!
Saratan screamed.
Wardanaz had even thrown his staff, and now the next spell was coming!
And the worst part was, he hadn’t warned about this in advance.
Just imagining the fuss Wardanaz would make afterward was terrifying.
‘A pattern where it casts another spell in the middle of Binding? Baquantalana! Why do something you never did before…’
The space shook as magic swept through. Saratan squeezed his eyes shut, despair folding over him with the magic.
“Send the tablet.”
-?!
Saratan was stunned at the magician’s unscathed voice.
Amazingly, Lee Han was standing there calmly. He caught the tablet Saratan threw and reclaimed his staff.
-What? What happened? Wasn’t the magic cast?
“It was, but luckily, I was immune to the spell that came up. Something like -Baquantalana’s Screech- doesn’t work on me.”
-……
Saratan thought to himself.
‘Could he have passed this trial without all the fuss if he’d just kept calm?’
“Saratan.”
-What is it?
“You said before that there wasn’t a pattern like this, didn’t you?”
-……
Except for rare cases like Catten, everyone present had to do their utmost just to endure.
‘How could anyone possibly cut through that?’
The adventurers would have asked if there had been time.
No matter how many times they saw it, it made no sense to cleave the magic of a ruin with only a sword.
Of course, even Einrogard magicians couldn’t explain it. There were still many areas of magic even magicians did not understand.
With Binding Magic still spreading, the space for escape shrank rapidly. The Einrogard students, who had been forging new airways, were soon cornered.
“Let the walls become a new path!”
It was Garco who came to the students’ aid.
He opened up the blocked walls of the ruin, creating a new path. Students and adventurers hurried in, and Garco, transformed anew, followed.
“Oh no, we left Senior Catten behind!”
“Now’s not the time to worry about the Senior! Worry about yourself!”
“How is this magic tracking us anyway?”
At someone’s shout, Giselle fell into thought.
Though it was urgent with the magic on their tail, this was precisely when calm analysis mattered most.
‘It’s not the five senses.’
Some White Tiger Tower students earlier had tried outwitting the magic with transformation spells like Garco, but it hadn’t worked.
Garco, too, had transformed, but the magic kept right on his trail.
‘Could it be heat?’
Some spells tracked by sensing heat.
“Ack!”
Angrago, running along the wall, stumbled. Giselle quickly cast Frost Cloak on her friend.
Slaaash!
“Waaah! Moradi! Why give me a cold cloak?!”
“…Sorry!”
Apparently, it wasn’t heat either.
Garco, newly transformed, spun around and spoke to Giselle.
“Trying to figure out how it’s pursuing? Good check.”
Angrago wouldn’t agree, but the two magicians swiftly exchanged thoughts.
“I don’t think it’s the senses or heat.”
“I don’t think it’s relaying info through the Mystic Eye, either. We’ve come all this way, and it’s still chasing us.”
“Maybe it’s tracking our souls?”
“Tracking souls! Piercing insight. As expected from Einrogard magicians… It would also explain why the test took so long to start.”
“Please, anything, whatever it is, just think up a way, already!”
The adventurers running alongside them panted and cried out.
Discussion among magicians was all good, but did they forget their current plight?
Were all high-level magicians like this?
‘Oops.’
Giselle felt a bit embarrassed.
Maybe if it was Wardanaz, but for her to slip up like this…
“If it’s blocking soul detection…”
“Among the potions you have, is there a soul-reckless potion? It’s crude, but maybe it could fool it.”
“Is there a transformation spell that can temporarily alter the form of one’s soul?”
“That’s possible, but I’m not sure if it would help us escape…”
‘I swear, I’ll never take another magician’s commission again!’
Just as the adventurers were inwardly cursing, the pursuing magic abruptly vanished, as if it had been a lie.
On the other side, White Tiger Tower students who had been caught stood up, bewildered.
Garco cheered.
“We must have passed the test!”
“I see. That must be it!”
“I’m sure the magic inside will be transformation magic!”
“That is… um…”
The students exchanged glances.
To be honest, Baquantalana’s magic didn’t seem like it would be transformation magic.
With a reputation as an Enchantment magician, would she really leave transformation spells behind?
“It’s black magic.”
“……”
“……”
Not just the Einrogard students, but even Garco was left speechless in shock.
“You’re joking, right, Wardanaz?”
“Don’t tell me Wardanaz is a black magic student…!”
“Be quiet. You idiot.”
Lee Han shut his friend’s mouth.
As if Garco’s shock wasn’t bad enough—he didn’t want even more misunderstanding.
“I’m also affiliated with the Transformation Magic school, Garco.”
“Ah… yes, I know. You belong to the Enchantment, Summoning, Precognition, and other schools as well, don’t you?”
‘Sir Alsicle…!’
Lee Han cursed Alsicle’s name inwardly.
No way he wouldn’t have boasted about that detail. Lee Han added defensively:
“I’m not particularly close with the Enchantment Professors, by the way. Haha.”
“I… I see. But… black magic, you say?”
“Yes.”
The inscription on the stone tablet read -Baquantalana’s Purgatory-. Definitely an undiscovered spell.
He’d have to study the formulas and incantation carved on the tablet to know exactly what it did, but it was definitely black magic.
From the name alone, it screamed black magic…
To the successor who reaches this tablet, I grant black magic.
This black magic is the fruit of my later years’ research.
I’ve studied all sorts of magic my whole life, yet the more I studied lately, the more I marveled at the wonders of this black magic.
Such notes were etched on and before the tablet.
Saratan chimed in.
-So it was a spell Baquantalana completed in her final years—that’s why I missed the pattern! No wonder…
“Be quiet.”
“To think Baquantalana’s last spell was black magic… I thought it’d be transformation magic.”
Garco, uncharacteristically, was deflated. Difficult to believe he was the same magician who’d pressed on bravely into the unknown depths.
Unable to bear it, the adventurers consoled Garco.
“Sir Magician, missing a chance written in an ancient text must be disappointing, but this isn’t the only opportunity you’ll have.”
“That’s right! I’m sure you’ll find what you seek at another ruin!”
“…That’s true.”
Garco regained his spirit.
A magician mustn’t give up just because of a few failures.
“We look forward to working with you on the next ruin.”
“……”
“…Um, that’s a bit…”
The adventurers instantly made sour faces.
Once this commission ended and they returned above, they planned to go to the Empire’s warmest southern region and rest for half a year.
Especially somewhere without magicians!
Lee Han, feeling needlessly sorry, offered comfort.
“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t find proof Baquantalana was a transformation magician, but on the bright side, she was versatile enough to research even black magic. I’m sure she also studied transformation magic in depth.”
“?”
Giselle beside him tilted her head slightly.
Versatile enough to research black magic?
What was that supposed to mean?
‘Isn’t that an insult?’
Luckily, there were no black magic students present.
“Thank you for your kind words. Einrogard magicians are admirable not only for their skill but also their character.”
“It’s really nothing… Would you like me to tell you our family names?”
The White Tiger Tower students seemed shy but not particularly displeased.
While Giselle and her friends approached, Lee Han trod on their feet and asked again,
“If you’re interested in deciphering this stele, would you like to join—”
“Oh, no. Unless it’s about transformation magic, I’ll be fine. And anyway, there’s a gathering of magicians in the North right after this, so I have to go.”
“A gathering of transformation magicians?”
“There will be transformation magicians—and ah!—black magicians, too. They’ll be delighted to hear this news.”
Lee Han nodded absentmindedly.
Just hearing there’d be a magician gathering in the North didn’t surprise him.
There were plenty of magicians in the Empire, and such gatherings and conferences happened every day.
It’s not as if hearing that some black magicians were gathering nearby was surprising or concerning.
Besides, he was sent out by the Moradi family for this job, so…
‘If it’s a joint meeting with transformation magicians in the North, maybe it’s just a small club for socializing?’
Ziderf, Patriarch of the Moradi family and de facto spiritual leader of the northern knights, looked solemnly around at the gathered black magicians.
The backgrounds of the black magicians assembled here were illustrious.
Kalarogard, the mage school rumored to possess the Empire’s darkest black magic.
The descendants of the great black magician Ahrak, continuing the tradition of the mage tower founded by Ahrak.
The Black Obsidian Tower, a mage tower operated without any of the eccentricity or abnormality typically associated with black magicians, one that actually had influence in the Empire.
The Legion of Oondorgu, the most bizarre group present, composed entirely of undead.
“I have heard the opinions of the magicians assembled here. However…”
“No ‘however,’ Patriarch! We must immediately seal off the North and search every inch to find the cause of the recent disturbances!”
“W-we don’t think it’s necessary to go that far, but we do think the search should be increased.”
The reason these black magicians had come here was the turmoil recently occurring in the North.
What disturbance in the Empire could possibly lack a magical reason? The black magicians suspected this turmoil was intimately linked to black magic.
And they were prepared to endure any drastic search to find it.
Of course, that was the black magicians’ stance, and for Ziderf, representing the knights’ view, such extremism was out of the question.
“I shall think it over a while longer.”
“Patriarch! If you’ll listen a bit more, I’m sure your mind will change!”
“I doubt it. Ah, guests are visiting from Einrogard. I must welcome them myself, so let’s pause here.”
The black magicians were frustrated by the family head’s slippery retreat.
How hard could it be to seal the North!