Episode 373

Direte quietly brought his palms to both of Lee Han’s ears. Lee Han pushed him away in annoyance.

“Isn’t it dangerous to draw undead in from another dimension?”

“Cough. Normally, yes.”

Professor Mortum agreed readily with Direte’s concern.

One of the most common mistakes talented magicians made was acting as they normally would after entering another dimension, only to meet a miserable death.

Using dark magic and calling undead in the realm of the undead was like walking toward a swarm of starving insects covered in honey.

On the outside, no matter how much dark magic you used, nothing much usually happened. But in a dimension with different rules, who knew what could change without the magician even knowing it?

If unlucky, you could cast a single curse and attract the attention of a mighty demon lord who felt an unusual disgust at the pulse of magic.

And even apart from that, gathering undead into one place was simply dangerous.

A horde of undead clustered together would grow like a snowball rolling downhill, expanding uncontrollably until nothing could stop it.

“But there’s a method.”

“What…?”

“We can use—no, borrow the power of this Wardanaz guy here.”

Lee Han gave a wry smile at Professor Mortum, who was sounding like Professor Verdus.

‘So you show your true colors after I brought you to the gathering.’

“Cough. The fact that undead avoid Wardanaz means… conversely, we can also use that to guide the undead’s movement. No need for complex magic to attract the enemy.”

All Professor Mortum intended to do was use a few very simple spells.

Detecting the location of enemies and undead and relaying it to Lee Han via telepathy, for example.

With Professor Mortum’s level of skill, he could completely mask the flow of mana leaking outside, plus it wasn’t dark magic, so there was little risk involved.

“What about the risk of gathering undead into one place?”

“It’s fine, senior.”

Lee Han answered instead. Direte was curious.

“Why’s that?”

“Since the enemies will be fighting first anyway, if something seems off we can just stop at that point.”

“…Right, that’s true.”

Direte wondered if his junior was mad at him.

“You’re not mad at me or anything, are you?”

“Me? No, not at all.”

• * *

“Chase after and finish them off.”

“Yes!”

Once the enemy’s vanguard, armed with shields and heavy armor, finally collapsed, Parkdgul savagely gave the order.

The terrified enemy party turned their backs and fled in panic.

Now only the slaughter remained…

Graaaa—

“Damn it, just how many undead were there around here?”

“Ghouls, over there!”

The subordinates who had been chasing paused in irritation at the sight of undead bursting out of a side tunnel.

There had already been undead popping up here and there throughout the fight, dragging it out, and yet more were appearing.

“Deal with them. If we let them chase from behind, it’ll be a hassle.”

“We know!”

The subordinates moved to wipe out the undead as they had moments before and resume the pursuit.

But before that fight could end, another new group of undead appeared from behind.

“It’s a zombie lizard!”

A huge monster, like a long-legged crocodile, stomped toward them from the rear, making the subordinates sigh in exasperation.

Dealing with large monsters like that was a real chore.

“Permission to use potions!”

“Do you think we have potions to burn?”

“But…”

“Click. Only use one!”

Parkdgul ultimately allowed a potion to be used.

He had wanted to limit their use since there was still a lot to do, but the fatigue of his subordinates was clear.

Clang!

Fwwoooosh!

When the potion vial was thrown into the passage, blue flames erupted. The undead approaching dared not come close, hesitating at the fire.

Parkdgul and his subordinates were of course prepared for the undead realm. The -Flame of Ruin Potion- was well worth its steep price.

“Deal with— what the hell!”

The subordinates shouted.

Undead who normally wouldn’t even go near flames were now charging into the fire, even setting themselves ablaze, as if something even scarier was chasing them from behind.

“Damn that alchemist, I’ll kill him!”

“Split up and respond!”

Cursing and yelling, the subordinates did their best to fend off the monsters.

One hour later.

Parkdgul’s subordinates, drenched in blood, grime, and sweat, staggered along.

“…This won’t do. Let’s go outside for now and come back in.”

“Thank you!”

Normally, there was no time to spare since they were late, but the combat had become too intense.

If he kept pushing, even loyal subordinates would eventually rebel.

Parkdgul gave up and decided to pull out temporarily.

“Let’s rest…”

“Drop your weapons and raise your hands, adventurers! Resist and we’ll attack!”

“?!?”

Parkdgul and his subordinates were startled by the tight encirclement at the entrance.

It seemed that not only the knights, but all nearby soldiers had been called in to the entrance, forming a dense perimeter.

‘What is this…!?’

Dozens of crossbows and arrows were aimed sharply right at them. It was nothing ordinary.

This was on a different level from normal arrests.

“I-I don’t know what this is about!”

“You are charged with recklessly attacking others inside the dimension. Drop your weapons!”

“It’s a misunderstanding! It was all in self-defense…”

Parkdgul’s sense of grievance was not without reason.

Attacking other parties inside a dimension or dungeon was certainly a crime.

But in practice, it was often a meaningless charge.

How could you prove what happened inside?

Even if an investigation was held, problem-causing parties usually egged the other side on and manipulated the situation.

They’d badger the other side until attacked, then claim self-defense.

So even if officials heard reports of fighting and attacks, the typical response was lukewarm.

They’d just issue warnings or expel both parties.

But for some reason, these knights had brought in every nearby soldier and were intent on rounding them up properly.

This was not a normal situation.

‘Should I kill them all?’

Parkdgul felt the murderous urge rising.

It was hard to resist with the way the knights kept pushing their luck.

Why were these knights acting like this, anyway?

“This is your final warning. If you don’t drop your weapons, we’ll attack!”

“…Let’s drop our weapons.”

Parkdgul muttered through clenched teeth, hard enough to draw blood.

The encirclement was so dense and solid that if a fight broke out, half his subordinates would die.

It was better to be arrested, hand over some gold, and get out as quickly as possible.

“Confiscate their weapons, bind them tightly, lock them up! Keep them separated and guarded closely so they can’t plot anything together!”

“Uh, sir knight. If I may ask… why are you going so far to detain those guys?”

A soldier who’d been called over from another area tilted his head and asked.

From what he’d heard, those guys didn’t seem to warrant this level of strict response.

The only evidence seemed to be one or two testimonies of rowdiness or violence inside the dimension…

“You don’t understand justice yet, lad. You have to preemptively restrain suspicious folk to protect good Imperial citizens. To me, those men are very suspicious!”

“I-is that so?”

‘They didn’t seem all that suspicious…’

The soldier thought so, but asked no further.

As a knight, he figured they must have a discerning eye.

• * *

“You even asked the knights for help?”

Direte asked in a surprised voice.

“Yes. They seemed rather violent, and it didn’t look like anything good would come from staying with them, so I asked the knights.”

“Well done. Though, it probably won’t do much good. They might give you a heads-up, but actually holding them is tough.”

Just a report of a fight wasn’t enough.

In these situations, trying to figure out who started it was usually pointless.

“They’ll probably be questioned for a few hours, then let go.”

“I figured that was enough. If we keep bothering them, maybe they’ll get tired of it and leave for good.”

Lee Han’s words made Direte chuckle.

“Yeah. That’d be nice.”

Neither imagined that the knights outside had decided to fully lock them up.

“It’s the second sector. Everyone ready?”

At Professor Mortum’s words, the students nodded and moved ahead.

Flaash!

As the feeling in the air suddenly shifted, Lee Han understood why his seniors said, “You’ll know the difference between dimensional sectors once you step inside.”

Even the color of the earth underfoot was different. What had been white a moment earlier was now grey.

“The dark element mana is stronger here, so the ground gets darker and darker.”

“Wow, it’s huge!”

The student in front exclaimed in delight.

The long, narrow cave path finally ended, giving way to a wide-open wilderness. In the starless sky, black turbulent currents surged.

Crunch!

Someone stepped on a bone, breaking it. Bones were scattered everywhere like weeds.

“Cough. Good—bones.”

“Is there something not good?”

“If it’s full of poison instead of bones, it’s a pain.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han nodded before pausing.

‘Wouldn’t poison be more comfortable for me?’

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh. I was just thinking that I’m glad it’s bones.”

“Cough. Don’t be too glad. Bones can be quite troublesome too. Alright, let’s all split up.”

Professor Mortum stuck his staff into the ground. It grew like a giant tree, turning into a marker.

“As you all remember, let me say it again: don’t rush, don’t make a lot of noise, cough. Don’t use too much magic, don’t go too far.”

“We’ll keep it in mind.”

The seniors, accustomed to this drill, each took their staff and basket and set off.

The seniors who had made it into the second sector had some confidence and experience.

Unlike the group efforts of the first sector, they felt confident looking after themselves now and began seeking the materials they wanted individually.

“You should come with me.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Han expressed his gratitude for Direte’s kindness.

How considerate to want to protect his junior.

‘…Am I really the one who should be able to protect him…?’

Direte hesitated in his mind after hearing Lee Han’s words.

Did he really have the strength to block an enemy his junior couldn’t handle?

“…I’m not sure about the protecting part, but I can teach you how to navigate in the undead dimension. Just trust me, junior.”

“Wait, why aren’t you sure about the protecting part…?”

• * *

“Wow! Look at that, junior! A bone grave! What luck!”

“Indeed.”

“A poison swamp!! There’s even a poison swamp beside it? Is this for real!?”

“Is it so?”

“That…! That piece of terrain is cursed!”

Excitedly shouting to himself, Direte belatedly came to his senses.

He must have seemed a bit odd to his junior, who didn’t know what all this meant.

“Ahem. So, what that is…”

“Senior. There’s a monster over there.”

Lee Han pointed across the poison swamp.

A monster the size of a troll, seemingly made from a jumble of various undead types, was slurping up the poison sludge.

‘So those appear here too.’

He’d heard that Venom Predators were strong monsters, but he hadn’t expected to see one with his own eyes here.

This really was another dimension.

‘How do the seniors handle something like that?’

“What should we do?”

“Big…”

“?”

“This is bad…!”

Direte whispered, face gone deathly pale.

That wasn’t a monster one was supposed to see in the second sector.