Episode 140

Episode 140

However, in the face of Professor Garcia’s anger, the old mage’s expression did not change at all.

“In our days, we actually used to teach magic inside dungeons. The magical energy was abundant, so it was easier to use stronger spells. On top of that, all sorts of phenomena would occur, so it was good reference material.”

“Wizards these days don’t learn like that.”

To be honest, thinking about the educational policy of the magic academy, it didn’t seem far removed from old-fashioned education, but Professor Garcia insisted on it anyway.

At least, that was how Professor Garcia intended to teach.

“Still, there’s nothing good about raising disciples to be too weak…”

“A lot of people messed up that way, including the headmaster.”

“Konadalthes is just too much.”

Yumidihus said firmly.

Even Yumidihus, who held a stern and rigorous educational philosophy, thought Konadalthes’s methods had gone too far.

“It’s always about maintaining the right balance. Boladi Begrek will stick to the line, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Her voice was gentle, like a kind grandmother, but Professor Garcia was not reassured at all.

They had only met recently, but he began to feel that this venerable old mage was closer in temperament to the liche headmaster than to himself.

You can’t let your guard down!

“Are you acquainted with Professor Begrek?”

“He was under me for a short period.”

“He was your student?!”

“Not a student. Just received a bit of teaching.”

‘Most people would call that being a student…’

That’s what Professor Garcia thought, but he didn’t point it out further.

In fact, there were quite a few wizards who were picky about what defined a student.

It’s a bit awkward to call someone your pupil just for teaching them one spell.

– A disciple must inherit the master’s secret techniques and enlightenment!

Having heard the old mage’s words, Professor Garcia became interested and asked,

“Was Professor Begrek lacking as a student?”

“Our personalities didn’t match, so I thought if we saw each other for too long, one of us would die.”

“……”

It was an unexpected reason, but Professor Garcia accepted it wholeheartedly.

Indeed, Professor Boladi had a knack for getting on people’s nerves.

• * *

“Professor!”

Ihan uttered a rather unusual swear as he was blasted backwards.

‘Damn!’

Entering a dark plaza where an ambush was 100% likely, Ihan did all the preparation he could.

What he called “doing what I could”—if other wizards had seen it, they would have asked, ‘Is that guy really a freshman?’

He used , , , and, not satisfied with that, even wrapped himself with .

So that he could block any ambush from whatever direction.

And Ihan’s calculations were pretty much correct.

-■■■■■!

-■■! ■■■!

In fact, the monsters called Agwi that appeared throughout the plaza could not pierce Ihan’s preparations.

Some were deceived by the illusion and ran in that direction, some were floundering after bumping into the water shield.

In the meantime, Ihan took them down precisely.

The distant Agwis were ignited by fire, the ones nearby were struck down with water orbs and broken apart…

Everything seemed perfect.

Until an unexpected enemy appeared.

-■■■■■!!!

“……”

Ihan was speechless at the appearance of a Nachal Agwi, several times bigger than a normal Agwi.

‘Do I… have to go through this just for using multi-casting once?’

Ihan abruptly felt wronged.

What was so wrong about dividing up his water orbs that he had to fight something like that in class?

But the Nachal Agwi did not care about Ihan’s grievances and charged.

Gritting his teeth, Ihan fired off spells rapidly.

Blazes erupted, water orbs scattered chaotically from every angle, all powerfully battering the Nachal Agwi.

Unlike the typical Agwi that would have collapsed, the Nachal Agwi protected itself with a thick, sticky, mucous armor befitting its size.

The burning flames receded, and the water orbs could not even impact, slipping right off.

Thud!

“Professor!”

With a dull shock, Ihan was blasted backwards.

If he hadn’t hastily summoned his water shield, he’d probably have broken a bone or two.

Ihan immediately got back up.

Cursing or grumbling could wait. What mattered now was confronting the enemy in front of him.

“Shine!”

The lightning spell veered off course. It didn’t even touch the Nachal Agwi.

“…!”

Ihan quickly grasped the situation.

A green boulder in the plaza was drawing the lightning magic towards itself.

‘What the hell…!?’

In a short moment, Ihan cursed Perkuntra, then cursed Professor Boladi.

To be fair, Perkuntra wasn’t really at fault, but…

• * *

Yumidihus and Professor Garcia soon found where Professor Boladi was.

It was in the depths of the dungeon connected to the underground lecture hall.

“Yumidihus.”

“Boladi Begrek. Long time no see.”

Even with this unexpected visit, Professor Boladi simply nodded without changing expression.

Yumidihus, not expecting excitement from Boladi, immediately shifted her gaze.

In front of Professor Boladi, a field of vision constructed by illusion magic was spread out. Professor Garcia sighed.

He knew who it was without looking.

It was the boy from the Wardanaz family.

‘He really brought him to an actual dungeon?’

He couldn’t believe it had really happened.

Though Professor Garcia was dumbfounded, Yumidihus and Professor Boladi conversed without a hint of surprise or concern.

“What level is that freshman?”

“Elemental control, shape-changing, multi-casting.”

“…Which of those is he proficient in, Boladi Begrek?”

Yumidihus sighed.

He’d always been this way, but Boladi fundamentally had no talent for conversation.

If only it were just clumsy speech, but he was also inexplicably confident in himself, which made people even more annoyed.

He was probably thinking, ‘I answered properly, so I don’t know why they’re like this.’

“He’s proficient in all of them.”

“…What? Really?”

Yumidihus was shocked.

“You’re not doing this to trick me, like Konadalthes?”

“No, Yumidihus.”

Professor Garcia explained.

Of course, from Yumidihus’s perspective, it was only natural not to believe Professor Boladi’s words.

Who would believe a freshman was that skilled at elemental magic?

But unfortunately, it was true.

“Professor Begrek is a bit strict and harsh in his teaching…”

“?”

Professor Boladi tilted his head, as if not understanding.

He didn’t seem to comprehend Professor Garcia’s comment.

“You must have taught well.”

“Thank you.”

“……”

Listening to the conversation between the two magicians, Professor Garcia felt his respect for them gradually fading.

Not knowing Garcia’s true feelings, Yumidihus continued speaking.

“A disciple’s achievements can’t come without good teaching from the master. I was wondering if you had the ability to teach anyone… Now that I see this, perhaps I underestimated you.”

Professor Boladi accepted the compliment as if it was only natural. Professor Garcia wanted to run away on the spot.

“What’s today’s objective?”

“Internalizing multi-casting.”

“The monster?”

“Agwi.”

Yumidihus nodded.

Professor Garcia couldn’t help but speak up—he realized he was the only one here who would point out the problem.

“Isn’t Agwi a bit too dangerous for a freshman to face?”

Yumidihus looked at Professor Garcia.

Then she spoke slowly.

“Not all freshmen are the same. If a freshman is skilled with elemental control, shape-changing, and multi-casting, Agwi shouldn’t be too much.”

“……”

Professor Garcia had nothing to say in rebuttal.

…Because it was simply the truth.

Beside him, Professor Boladi nodded in agreement. Garcia clenched his fists tightly.

Yumidihus shifted her gaze again to Ihan. He was quite an interesting boy.

“His magic…?”

“He has quite a lot of magical power.”

“Then it should be hard to control it, but he’s using that many spells so well.”

Wizards with innate magic generally grew more slowly.

Having more magical energy meant it took longer to control it.

And yet, using so many spells at once—that was an incredible talent.

It would be impossible unless he also had a strong ability to manipulate magical power in addition to raw power.

– Heat, distort the air. Shield, unfold.

“……”

“……”

However, even Yumidihus looked a little bewildered as Ihan cast even more spells before stepping into the plaza.

“…Is it okay for that boy to use so much magic?”

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t asking you, Boladi Begrek.”

Yumidihus, like a seasoned mage, knew whom to ask for a useful answer.

Professor Garcia answered reluctantly.

“Yes… for him, it’s fine.”

“Perhaps he has even more magical power than I thought.”

“……”

Having finished his preparations, Ihan entered.

The boy from House Wardanaz, armed with prodigious firepower for a freshman, slaughtered all the Agwis lying in ambush within the plaza.

Even the cleverly hidden Agwis fell without coming close, and Yumidihus was truly impressed.

“I didn’t know you could teach like this.”

“Thank you.”

Grit—

Listening, Professor Garcia ground his teeth.

Just as he thought the massacre was over, another monster appeared in the plaza. It was a Nachal Agwi.

‘…Isn’t this really too much?’

Professor Garcia considered criticizing, then hesitated. No matter what he said, those two mages would probably say it was fine.

“Isn’t that too much?”

Yumidihus remarked in confusion. Professor Garcia gaped at the old mage in disbelief.

“I don’t think you need a monster like that just to internalize multi-casting.”

Professor Boladi replied in his signature expressionless tone.

“That’s correct. This is an unexpected situation.”

“…You’re always like this. I’ll go.”

Yumidihus responded as though she’d expected Boladi’s answer.

Professor Boladi clearly didn’t have what it took to train a disciple.

At least, that was how it looked to Professor Garcia, though both seemed the same to him…

“To keep things under control, you have to do it right…”

Yumidihus, in the middle of her remark, stopped.

The student who was saddled with an inadequate teacher was actually bringing down the Nachal Agwi.

• * *

With lightning spells ineffective, options were limited.

Ihan swiftly dodged the Nachal Agwi’s attacks.

Though he didn’t feel like thanking the liche headmaster, thanks to dodging wasn’t difficult.

With a body honed by near-real swordsmanship and reinforced magic, simple charges could be avoided.

‘Go with the element I’m most familiar with.’

Ihan chose the water element.

Lightning didn’t work, and he didn’t have confidence with fire. Water was the best option.

That didn’t mean he could just fire away. He already knew the previous water orbs’ impacts were useless.

‘Spin them somehow. It doesn’t have to be perfect!’

Ihan began spinning the airborne water orbs together.

He didn’t need perfect rotation like when he defeated the golem.

All that was needed was enough penetrating power to bring down the enemy.

Calmly perfecting this while continuously dodging the attacks.

Papapapapak!

‘Not enough. Try again.’

Even after failing his first attempt, Ihan didn’t panic or waver.

He stayed as cool as ice.

Second time, third time.

As the water orbs delivered increasingly sharper blows, the Nachal Agwi seemed to grow wary.

And then…

Papapapapapapak!

‘It worked!’

It wasn’t as perfect a spin as when he took down the golem, but as the spinning water orbs slammed into the Nachal Agwi, they delivered a heavy blow.

As his opponent staggered and fell, Ihan couldn’t help but shout.

“Go to hell! Bol…”

“Amazing.”

“…Agwi!”

“That’s a Nachal Agwi, not a Bol Agwi.”