Episode 285

Episode 285

The incident yesterday, where Lee Han almost got trapped while raiding the kitchen, taught him a lesson.

In Einrogard, doubt everything!

‘I didn’t expect a water cannon to come flying.’

All you had to do was quietly jump over the installed obstacles?

Isn’t that too easy?

Lee Han, of course, expected there would be additional traps.

Thanks to that, only the students who dared to let their guard down at Einrogard and rushed ahead were given a harsh lesson.

“Wardanaz! That’s too—”

“It wasn’t Wardanaz who fired it!”

“Oh. Really?”

“……”

“Professor! I think the summoned spirit went wrong!”

“I set them up myself, so just try to avoid them properly.”

“Huh? What does that—”

“You’d better focus instead of chatting. If you fall, you’ll get points deducted.”

The students who had set off boisterously now faltered and slowed down, scattering.

They realized that just running quickly wasn’t everything.

If you sped up too much and got ambushed and fell off, the loss would be even greater.

“Gather over here! Let’s go this way!”

“Are you sure there aren’t any traps?”

“This way was clear just now! If we go together in a group at once…”

Fwoosh!

“Don’t try to memorize the pattern. I didn’t set them up that simply.”

“What… Professor!!”

A student whose hair had been singed looked at Professor Lightningstep in disbelief.

Why was he so serious about these obstacles?

Couldn’t he just set up hurdles you could simply jump over?

“Everyone, this way.”

Lee Han called his friends together.

He’d felt it before, but the Mount Training class was basically more advantageous to clear in a group.

Not only did a bigger formation make it easier to withstand outside attacks, but with more wizards, the range of usable magic increased.

“Let’s not rush—let’s just go at a brisk walk. Ahsan, you handle the left. Yoner, the right. Nillia, cover the back.”

“And what about the front?”

Gainando asked naturally.

“No. You just stay next to me and use magic when I tell you.”

“I see. Like a secret trump card just in case, right?”

“……”

“…Y-Yeah.”

The friends were impressed by Gainando’s positive attitude.

“Let’s go. If we fall behind even once, catching up will be hard.”

Lee Han and his friends all nodded and set off.

Professor Lightningstep, seeing this, gave them high marks in his mind.

‘Well organized in a short time.’

Coordinating with others on horseback was completely different from coordinating on foot on flat ground.

Dealing with unruly horses while matching each other’s pace required not only good horsemanship but also strong understanding among the group.

They weren’t even from the same tower, and yet were able to coordinate on the fly like this.

“Right!”

Sensing a flow of mana, Lee Han called out first and Yoner immediately pulled out a potion.

Trying to cast a spell while riding a horse could easily fail. In that case, a pre-made potion was safer.

Clink!

The sound of a potion bottle shattering was followed by a Magic Missile dispersing.

‘-Potion of Minor Magic Nullification-, huh.’

“Left!”

Ahsan swung his staff, ready as ever. Since he had been preparing, the magic was cast safely.

A clump of mud flying with a strong wind was knocked off its trajectory.

Lee Han didn’t even have to call out the attack from behind. Nillia, noticing first, immediately shot it down with an arrow.

‘Good start!’

‘At this rate…!’

Even without exchanging glances, friends could feel each other’s intentions.

That sense of unity only found in perfect teamwork!

Sssshhhh!

But the danger was only just beginning.

A green mist was spreading and sweeping in from behind.

It was an obstacle that couldn’t be shot down with an arrow or blocked with the magic available. Nillia’s hand paused for a moment.

“Vaporize!”

Seeing that Nillia wasn’t able to respond, Lee Han immediately swung his staff. The green mist dissipated in midair.

Professor Lightningstep, seeing this, was startled.

‘Vaporization?!’

The vaporization property, an advanced domain of the water element.

Since it was a difficult and complex field, it was obviously not something a first-year student should be able to handle.

What’s more, balancing on a horse and clearing distant mist in a single shot like that.

It was remarkable and surprising every time he saw it.

Talent was talent, but that tireless academic passion for seeking magic…

Pppppppt!

“!!!”

This time, a crisis hit Ahsan’s side.

More than ten magic spheres flew at him at the same time, making him tense.

“Earth… cough, cough!”

Using magic in combat, which called for a high degree of concentration, was harder than expected.

No matter how skilled you are, unless you’re trained in magic combat, mistakes are unavoidable.

This wasn’t a real battle, but even so, it was enough to make a first-year stumble.

“Shield, spread out!”

Lee Han quickly summoned water and turned it into an elongated shield. The orbs of mana crashed down on it with a dull thud.

“I’m out of potions!”

Gainando shouted urgently. While they were fending off attacks from the other side, another attack had come toward Yoner.

“Flash!”

Only after repelling the attack with a lightning bolt could they finally catch their breath.

Taking a moment to rest, Lee Han addressed his friends.

“Good work, everyone. We broke through because we all worked together.”

“……”

“……”

“……”

“What’s wrong, everyone?”

“N-Nothing.”

His friends waved their hands.

…It felt like Wardanaz could’ve broken through alone…

• * *

As time passed, more and more students started to appear who had succeeded in breaking through.

No matter how many obstacles there were, by persevering, your ability to overcome increased.

“Speed up!”

Shyles of the Richmond Family swept his arm in a great signal.

He was not only an excellent rider himself, but his friends moving with him were some of the best horsemen in the tower.

Since they even enjoyed playing polo on horseback during free time, their riding skills stood out naturally.

If Lee Han’s group adopted the solid formation and orthodox route, Shyles’s group opted to push through at speed.

A few unlucky ones might drop out in the process, but that was something they were prepared for.

‘I’ll get the top score in this class!’

With the rapid beat of hooves pounding the ground, Shyles dashed ahead.

To accelerate like this through a field full of obstacles couldn’t be done without real skill and courage. Shyles was certainly an outstanding rider.

“It’s the turning point!”

‘Finally!’

Seeing the turning point in the distance, Shyles’s heart swelled at the thought of making the turn and heading back.

At that moment, a huge monster burst out of the ground with a heavy vibration.

“…?!”

Even before the dust cleared, a loud shout came from behind.

“It’s a hydra!”

“What?! A hydra?!”

Startled, the students shrank back.

But when the dust cleared, what appeared was not a hydra.

It was just a normal sand octopus.

“Th-Thank goodness. It’s not a hydra.”

“It’s not good news!”

A huge sand octopus was by no means an easy monster.

Of course, compared to a hydra, it didn’t have deadly poison and was much less ferocious, but in this situation…

Whack!

One of the sand octopus’s long legs lashed out like a whip. With a sharp crack, sand billowed and obscured everyone’s view.

“Don’t attack it! It’s my precious monster!”

Professor Lightningstep called out delightedly.

It was worth all that expensive feed he’d invested.

“Professor! No matter what, this is—argh!”

A student trying to protest was grabbed and dragged away by a tentacle.

“Instead of complaining, focus on tagging the turning point and getting out.”

“So it wasn’t a hydra.”

Arriving late, Lee Han muttered as he saw the chaos at the turning point.

When a huge monster suddenly burst out of the ground, he’d immediately thought of the hydra rumor from before.

“Wardanaz! It’s not a hydra! To use such a trick!”

Lee Han was about to answer that it was just a mistake, but Ahsan and Gainando answered first.

“If you get tricked, you’re the fool!”

“Who trusts the others in a competition? That laid-back attitude is why you lose!”

“Grrr…! You bastards!”

“……”

Lee Han stared at the backs of the two, then looked away.

Getting out of this mess at the turning point was more important than clearing up the misunderstanding.

‘Gotta do this as fast as possible.’

The longer it took, the fewer students there would be around to draw its attention, making it harder.

“Mirage!”

One of the students from Black Turtle Tower, apparently talented in illusion magic, managed to conjure up an illusion in the chaos.

It wasn’t a very good illusion. The form was blurry and indistinct—anyone looking closely could tell it was fake.

But in all this chaos, it was easy to be fooled for a moment. And the opponent was a monster, after all.

Ssssshhh!

However, the sand octopus ignored the illusion completely and caught and carried off another student.

“!”

Watching that, Lee Han realized.

‘It’s not sensing with sight!’

Having been thoroughly trained in illusion magic, Lee Han knew how it was broken into different types.

The illusion just used was a visual illusion magic.

It created an image by distorting the air with heat or freezing it with cold.

But if the opponent wasn’t using sight, it was useless. The sand octopus was half buried in the ground.

‘No wonder it had such good awareness…’

He was sure it was detecting movement through vibrations on the ground.

If so, illusions of this type were pointless.

‘Pahait’s illusion magic won’t work. The method is…’

Lee Han prepared to use -Gonadaltes’ Cloak of Invisibility- and the invisibility necklace.

Unlike Pahait’s heat-based illusion magic, Gonadaltes’ Cloak of Invisibility or the necklace were types of magic that directly altered perception.

“Cloak, swallow me!”

“Wardanaz, it’s too hard to coordinate while on horseback!”

“I know. Let’s break through one by one. The others, draw its attention!”

Instead of trying to break through as a group, Lee Han went for a staggered approach.

It would take longer, but it was safer. The area of invisibility magic wasn’t large enough to cover all the friends on horseback.

“Let’s go!”

Lee Han set off with Yoner. The other friends scattered to keep the sand octopus distracted.

Whoooosh!

“!”

The sand octopus suddenly swelled up. Lee Han and Yoner tensed at the unexpected move.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sensing something was off, the sand octopus began blasting out a fierce wind.

The wind, full of sand, whipped around the students like a storm. The sudden gust made it nearly impossible to see.

‘This is bad!’

Lee Han himself could endure it, but the horse Yoner was riding panicked at the sudden sandstorm and started to flail.

If they broke invisibility now, the sand octopus would notice them approaching.

Just as Lee Han was about to forcibly restrain Yoner’s horse, help arrived from behind.

It was Gainando.

“Be itchy!!!”

Shouting his curse with gusto, Gainando charged ahead without stopping.

Seeing Gainando dash in like a maniac, the sand octopus forgot the other students and focused all its attention on him.

That reckless curse magic had riled up the sand octopus.

“Gainando…!”

Lee Han was genuinely surprised.

He’d known Gainando was talented in black magic, but never expected him to shine in this kind of situation.

“Lee Han!”

“Got it! While you attract its attention, I’ll slip—”

“Help me!!! This horse won’t listen!!!”

After shouting that, Gainando dashed, or rather was dragged, forward.

“……”

Yoner, who finally managed to calm his horse, asked Lee Han,

“Didn’t Gainando shout something?”

“He said he’d draw its attention, so we should break through quickly.”

“!?”

Yoner was shocked.

No way, that’s not right, is it?