Episode 255

Episode 255

Lee Han answered seriously, as if he really didn’t know.

“Wardanaz!”

“I told you I don’t know anything about it.”

“That’s not it, I’m asking you to give me instructions! What should I do!”

Raphadael shouted urgently.

Then Gainando spoke as if dumbfounded.

“You’re from a knight family! In a situation like this, you should be the one to step up!”

“Shut up! You prince bastard! Then why are you a royal and act like that!”

“What…!”

Gainando was momentarily at a loss for words at such an absurd argument.

And then he got angry.

“Hey! What’s that got to do with me being a prince! Are you sure you’re from a knight family?! What kind of knight acts like this!”

“If you’re royalty, then show your abilities like royalty! Even the princess of the same tower has followers in our tower, but what about you?”

“I’m already showing my abilities?! Everyone in our tower knows my abilities?! Lee Han! You know my abilities, right?!”

Gainando shamelessly took advantage of the fact that the others didn’t know the situation at the Blue Dragon Tower very well.

“Lee Han??”

Lee Han and Imirg were withdrawing far away, leaving the two behind.

Gainando shouted in horror.

“Lee Han!! You’re only supposed to abandon that Gral bastard! Why me!!”

“Just run faster. Seeing you bicker, I thought you had time to spare.”

Gainando and Raphadael cursed at each other as they hurriedly ran.

Watching this, Imirg whispered with a flustered expression.

“I… I’m not one to talk… but is it really okay for them to act like that???”

“It’s fine. This is how they come to their senses and get along better.”

“…?!”

Imirg thought that made no sense, but Lee Han’s face was too serious.

‘If it’s Wardanaz… he must have a plan…?’

‘Those guys probably need to get caught at least once to come to their senses.’

• * *

Unfortunately, the two were not caught. Panting, they climbed up the hill.

“Hey, huff, huff. Is this spot okay? Shouldn’t we just head for the exit… huff, huff.”

“It’s farther than I thought, so just going straight is dangerous. Let’s take care of it here first.”

The true strength of the undead lay in their limitless tenacity.

Even when other monsters got tired and gave up the chase, the undead could keep coming endlessly.

If you tried to escape recklessly just because you were a bit faster and ended up getting surrounded, you’d be in even more trouble.

“This place doesn’t look very sturdy.”

Raphadael looked around the ruined temple with an uneasy expression.

Even if it was another dimension, it wasn’t just an empty void. There were bits of junk and ruins scattered here and there.

In the realm of the undead, you often saw graves, cemeteries, and buildings on the verge of collapse.

Right now, the four had arrived in front of the crumbling temple ruins.

It was better than facing the undead in an open field with nothing, but still, the temple ruins looked way too weak.

“This wall… would it collapse if you push it? If the undead push against it…”

“It’s not that weak, so don’t worry. And I’m planning to reinforce it too.”

“How?”

Lee Han swung his staff instead of answering.

“Gather, earth!”

Earth piled up behind the ruined wall. Seeing this, Raphadael hesitated.

“Piling up dirt behind the wall would help, but with just this much…”

“Gather, earth. Gather, earth. Gather, earth…”

Without a moment to breathe, Lee Han stacked piles of earth inside the ruins, reinforcing the walls so they wouldn’t collapse.

Soon, the temple ruins that had looked so flimsy now became a fairly decent makeshift fortress.

With walls and earth blocking all sides, it was much easier to hold out in the spacious inner area.

Except for the entrance passage to the temple, it looked like enemies wouldn’t be able to get in easily.

“Done.”

“……”

Raphadael was newly shocked.

He felt it every time he saw it, but the ability that Wardanaz showed regarding magic was really…

He wondered if that’s the kind of guy who becomes a great mage.

“Can’t you just block off the entrance completely?”

“It’d be a hassle to clear out later, and if you block it all off, the undead might come in through weird places. It’s better to lure them to the entrance and deal with them one by one.”

“I see.”

“Alright. Then go lure them over.”

“…What?”

“Lure them in from the entrance.”

Lee Han waved his staff.

He planned to wait inside the clearing and cast magic the moment enemies passed through the entrance passage.

To do that, Lee Han had to wait here.

Someone else needed to lure the enemies in at the entrance, and the one to take that role was, of course…

“You’re a knight, aren’t you? Surely you don’t intend to make your friends who can’t even handle a sword properly do it?”

“……”

It wasn’t wrong, but for some reason it made him really angry.

Cursing Lee Han inwardly, Raphadael walked toward the entrance.

• * *

Crash!

“That’s right!”

Another undead poked its head through the entrance passage and fell right over.

Raphadael, holding his wooden sword with a tense expression, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was going much better than he’d worried.

Peeking outside, he saw that the number of undead that had swarmed earlier was now about a quarter of what it had been.

At this rate, they could handle it.

“…Lee Han. But didn’t the professor say something last time?”

Now that he was more relaxed, Gainando whispered to Lee Han.

He was sure that last time, Lee Han’s mana had leaked out and attracted other undead…

“Gainando. The undead are pushing in from outside, and you seem to have time to chat. Want to do the luring?”

“Ah… no. No thanks.”

Gainando hurriedly shut his mouth.

Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Surely more won’t show up.’

It was one thing for undead to gather because of his mana, but for even more to show up than last time was a bit unsettling.

If it was just coincidence, that would be fine, but what if…

‘If the ones who came close last time are gathering in greater numbers this time…’

If the undead who came close last time but didn’t see Lee Han were now gathering again after waiting nearby, that changed the story.

If every time they entered, more and more undead gathered, that would be a problem.

If spirits avoided him in the spirit realm, and undead attacked him in the undead realm, future summoning magic would be a real hassle.

Lee Han resolved that if that happened, he would definitely bring Raphadael and Gainando along with him.

“…I think we’ve beaten them all.”

Raphadael said hesitantly.

No more sounds of undead could be heard from outside the passage.

“We should go out and check.”

“Don’t overdo it… Oh. You were going to do it.”

“……”

“…..”

As Lee Han and Gainando were about to go out, they looked at Raphadael with pity.

Raphadael’s face turned red.

“I just misheard!”

“R-right.”

Lee Han and Gainando passed through the passage and peeked out.

The hordes of undead from earlier were gone, and what remained was…

“Ugh!”

Gainando shrank behind Lee Han in fright. There was still one undead left.

It seemed to have arrived late because it was at the back.

“Don’t worry. One is easy to deal with…”

-■■■■!

Without any attack or special subjugation, the skeleton warrior that approached simply lay down.

At this, Lee Han and Gainando were at a loss for words.

“Uh. If it was going to be like this, we could have just waited instead of fighting earlier.”

“Nonsense. The more undead group up, the more violent they get. There’s no way they’d have submitted this easily.”

Lee Han spoke firmly.

But his voice trembled slightly.

• * *

After defeating the undead horde, the four found more undead and succeeded in contracting with them.

When they returned to the exit, Professor Millei was talking with some students in the classroom.

“Hello, Professor.”

“Did you just come back from the undead realm?”

“Ah. Yes. For an assignment.”

“I suggest you don’t enter for about two days.”

Professor Millei adjusted the position of his monocle slightly as he spoke.

“The flow of mana from the other dimension feels unstable. If you go in now, you could get into trouble…”

“…Gasp! We already got into trouble!”

Gainando shouted as if he understood.

“When we were walking around inside, dozens of undead swarmed us! So, that’s why…!”

“?”

Professor Millei tilted his head as if something was odd.

“When the flow of mana is unstable, the nature or behavior patterns of the undead change, but for dozens to swarm you despite the safety mechanism in place is something else entirely…”

“I see. The flow of mana is truly amazing. From now on, even if there is a safety mechanism, we should make it a habit to check again before entering.”

Lee Han said firmly.

That wasn’t enough, so he quickly changed the subject.

“Professor, could you check the undead we’ve contracted with?”

“Let me take a look.”

Professor Millei nodded, not realizing the wicked scheme of his student.

The final assignment for summoning magic was to contract with summons.

Students always wanted to find strong and cool summons to contract with, but the professors’ evaluation criteria were a bit different.

Looking for powerful and rare summons was something for upperclassmen.

What mattered now was how well you could handle your summon.

Even with the same summon, there were contracts with absolute loyalty and contracts that were almost impossible to control, so caution was needed.

Of course, Professor Millei didn’t expect first-year students to completely master their summons with complicated contracts. That was impossible at their level.

What the professor expected was that, even if only a simple contract was made, the students would show as much control as possible.

“Try making it turn around.”

“Turn around. Turn around, please. Turn around. Hey. Please…!”

After Gainando said it about ten times, the skeleton warrior sluggishly and slowly turned around.

Professor Millei moved his quill as if he understood.

“We were a bit closer earlier, but maybe it’s tired today.”

Gainando slung his arm over the skeleton warrior’s shoulder, as if to prove they were close.

The skeleton warrior pushed his arm away as if annoyed.

“This time, have it show the number 4 with its fingers.”

“Number 4… number 4…”

It was the same for Raphadael and Imirg as well as Gainando.

They had made contracts, but giving detailed orders proved bothersome for the summons.

When it was Lee Han’s turn, Professor Millei had to control his expression to hide his anticipation.

Since Lee Han had achieved the best score on the midterm, he was curious how he would persuade his summon.

“Try making it lie down.”

“Lie down.”

Thud!

The skeleton warrior immediately lay down.

Saying that the undead was disciplined might sound strange, but there was no better word for it right now.

“…Have it show the number 4 with its fingers…”

“Show me the number 4.”

The skeleton warrior immediately folded four fingers.

Professor Millei was dumbfounded.

Being a master of summoning magic, he instantly realized how Lee Han was controlling the undead.

So right now…

‘He’s intimidating the undead into obeying him?’

It wasn’t the wrong method, but it was still absurd.

He had assigned this so students would learn how to handle powerful beings for future contracts, but he was just subduing them by force.

“…Well done. Full marks.”

Though he was dumbfounded, Professor Millei didn’t say anything.

That was still something impressive.

“Good work, Gonadaltes.”

“……”

Professor Millei decided to pretend he hadn’t just said that.