Episode 374

Since there were no set rules in the dimension, sometimes strong monsters could appear in places where much weaker monsters should have been expected.

But a Venom Predator appearing in the second sector?

It didn’t just mean that one monster had shown up—it meant the entire second sector was going to be dangerously deadly.

“Lower your voice and let’s quietly slip away. I don’t think it’s noticed us yet.”

“Oh. So monsters like that don’t normally show up?”

“…Of course not!”

Direte almost raised his voice by reflex.

If monsters like that regularly appeared here, there’s no way he’d have brought his junior.

If that were the case, even the students wouldn’t have entered.

-■■■■■…

The Venom Predator, after slurping for a bit, turned its head and spat something into the bone grave.

Then it grabbed another squishy lump, shoved it into its mouth, and started chewing again.

“…?”

Direte was bewildered.

What on earth was it doing now?

“Senior. From what I know, the Predator eats and swallows other creatures to grow bigger and stronger. If it isn’t swallowing but is spitting things out like that, it’s probably offering it to something stronger than itself.”

“T-that’s…”

Direte was amazed at those words, but suddenly grew curious.

Wait, how did his junior know that…?

“How do you know that?”

“I learned it from the professor.”

“You learn that in first year?”

“No, in an extra lecture.”

“……”

Direte had to suppress a sudden wave of sadness at a time like this.

“Ugh.”

“Why are you turning away…?”

“It’s nothing. Anyway, if what you said is true…”

If the Venom Predator was regurgitating its prey to offer up to something even stronger, that was even more chilling.

It would mean there were even more dangerous monsters roaming this sector.

“We need to hurry back and report this.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han and Direte quietly lowered themselves and turned back.

However, by the time they returned, new undead had already begun to shuffle around the path. It was a group of Armored Demon Ghouls.

Direte frowned.

“Well, nothing we can do.”

“Yes. So shall we prepare to figh—”

“What!? No! I mean let’s go back!”

“Oh, I see.”

Lee Han sheepishly lowered his staff.

He’d gotten so used to it that fighting was now his default instinct.

• * *

“Senior! You’re back!”

“You guys ran into them too?”

Direte, returning to Professor Mortum’s staff marker, was surprised to see the juniors had arrived first.

“Ran into what?”

“The Predator. On our side, a Venom Predator showed up. And an Armored Demon Ghoul…”

“A Venom Predator?! That sounds really serious.”

The juniors’ reactions were not what you’d expect from someone spooked by a strong monster.

It was the sort of response a person who was distracted by something else would give.

Lee Han whispered in amazement.

“None of you seem afraid of Venom Predators… you must be so confident in combat…”

“Of course not! What’s got you all so worked up like you’re drunk?”

“Senior. The professor found ruins!”

“!!!”

Direte was shocked.

Ruins?!

Finding a ruin on the outside was already rare and difficult, but discovering one in another dimension was truly extraordinary.

There were many magicians who lived their whole lives without finding even a single ruin in a dimension, so the rarity went without saying.

“Rea—really? For real?”

“Yes!!!”

“…Senior, when we were coming here you said it was dangerous…”

Lee Han was taken aback.

Direte’s eyes now sparkled with a strange light.

To compare it specifically, it was a look somewhat reminiscent of Professor Voladi or Professor Verdus.

“But other dimensions are always dangerous.”

“……”

Lee Han sighed inwardly.

Even the once-normal Direte senior had gone weird.

‘Is Einrogard’s land cursed? Does it corrupt even pure people?’

“Senior, you definitely said earlier, let’s get ready to leave as soon as we arrive…”

Direte had said on the way here:

—With Armored Demon Ghouls and a Predator showing up, there’s no point in exploring anymore. We got everything we could in the first sector, so let’s just leave the second one. It’s already plenty of gain.

—But won’t the other seniors be upset that they haven’t found what they were looking for?

—I’ll beat them until they listen, so don’t worry, junior.

But now, what a turnaround.

“That’s only when there aren’t ruins. A ruin is worth the risk.”

Not just Direte but the other seniors too were whispering in entranced voices.

“Junior, think about what kind of relic might be in the ruins.”

“It’s true, if it were a dark magic relic I’d be interested, but…”

“Oh, dark magic relics don’t count.”

The students responded firmly.

“Dark magic relics don’t sell for much and are hard to move, so the professor will just use them for research. It needs to be some other magic relic. That’s what sells.”

“……”

“The professor will tell us what kind of ruin it is when he gets back…”

At that moment, Professor Mortum came galloping up on a skeletal pony from afar. Though he’d only been gone a short time, he was coughing hard the whole way.

“How is it, professor!?”

“How was it?!”

“Cough. You can all… celebrate. It’s a true ruin.”

“M-my god…!”

“What luck in one lifetime!”

“No reason to come back for the second semester! Should I throw my withdrawal form in the principal’s face!?”

“Let’s do it together!”

Smiling at the delighted students, Professor Mortum seemed pleased.

Even Lee Han, who didn’t have much hope for ruins, started to get a little excited seeing his seniors like that.

Throwing a resignation letter at the skeletal principal with the others—that thought alone was…

“Junior. Of what we just said, what did you like the most?”

Direte wondered at Lee Han’s changed reaction.

He’d been worried just moments ago, so why the sudden smile?

“I just thought it sounded pretty cool when you said you’d throw your withdrawal letter. The professor’s also quite generous.”

“Ah.”

Direte understood.

“It’s because he doesn’t care much about students he’s not fond of, so he doesn’t mind if they quit. His favorite students, though, he won’t let retire.”

“…I see.”

Lee Han nodded, then abruptly grew curious.

‘…Does that mean I count as a favored student? Surely not yet, right?’

• * *

Of course, even with ruins, not all were equal.

The kind of ruin magicians liked was a “well-preserved” one.

No matter the type, ruins that hadn’t suffered from outside intrusion, looting, or weathering were far more promising.

In contrast, half-broken or already-ruined remains usually offered little, making magicians sigh at the sight.

In that respect, the ruin Professor Mortum found in this dimension was astounding.

Amazingly, an entire palace-shaped ruin remained intact!

A palace built with a complicated and unidentifiable style stood silently within the dimension.

“Cough. From now on you can use whatever magic you like. If something seems dangerous, use spells with no hesitation.”

Professor Mortum told the students.

There was risk of attracting the attention of beings from this dimension, but considering how dangerous the area was, such risks had to be accepted.

“Mana, lose your strength. Wall, expand… Let’s go in.”

Professor Mortum cast a grand spell to keep the traces of their spells from leaking outside, then took the lead.

The students, too, began to prepare for exploration.

“Come out, puppy!”

“Ulkas, protect me.”

“Mist of poison, surround us.”

“Curse, sense hostility…”

From those summoning undead, to those preparing curse and poison spells.

Direte even pulled out a small crossbow.

“With poison-element magic, it’s a surprisingly good match… Wait, junior.”

“Yes?”

Direte, busy preparing his poison spells, was shocked when he finally looked at Lee Han.

From a panther monster built from emerald solution, to over ten skeleton warriors.

He couldn’t believe Lee Han had summoned so many things in so little time.

“Are you going to be okay like that?”

“Oh. Of course not.”

“Right. If it seems like too many, it’s also good to reduce the nu—”

“I need to enchant the undead’s weapons. Their movements are slow, so buffs are essential.”

“…That’s not what I meant, junior.”

There were many different dark magician fighting styles, but the main principle was to send undead forward to draw in enemies.

Meanwhile, the dark magician in the rear would attack or disrupt the enemy by other means.

Thud-!

-■■■, ■■■, ■■■…

“It’s out. A guardian, looks like.”

“Everyone, be careful.”

The moment they passed through the palace entrance, golems the size of people emerged from the walls on either side to attack.

But instead of panicking, the students calmly kept their summoned undead as shields and readied their spells.

A third-year student said to Lee Han,

“See, even when an enemy appears, you don’t panic, calmly stay behind and…”

Many magicians failed spells in tense fights, but with dark magicians it was a bit different.

With summoned undead stalling for time, one could finish casting spells.

But there were exceptions.

Namely, if you’d received intensive battlemage training and could quickly cast even in such situations!

Wham!

Lee Han fiercely spun a water orb, knocking down and pummeling a golem’s body. After repeated blows, the golem collapsed, its core exposed.

“Thank you for the advice, senior.”

“…Y-yeah. My advice helped a lot, huh?”

Direte thought to himself that this third-year junior was truly shameless.

• * *

-■■■.

-■■■■■!

One of the summoned skeleton grand warriors grappled with a golem and crushed it with sheer strength.

Professor Mortum flicked his staff, infusing dark element into its body, greatly boosting its power.

Thankful for the professor’s help, the students immediately chanted their next spells. The golem beside them was then hit by a corrosion curse, causing it to lose balance.

“Bones, fire! Bones, explode!”

One dark magician student managed to drive bones into the tough body of the golem and blow it up.

Professor Mortum scolded at the racket.

“Cough. Attacking is good, but refrain from noisy spells.”

“Sorry.”

The combination of bone element, poison element, and curse spells was devastatingly powerful.

Plus, the magicians’ summoned undead made sure there were no openings anywhere.

Whack, whack, whack, whack—

“……”

“……”

And Lee Han alone handled the right side, taking down the golems himself.

No one even needed to help.

Lee Han’s skeletons pelted the advancing golem with bone arrows, inflicting frostbite and poisoning.

Their slow movement didn’t matter. With more than ten skeleton warriors, they were formidable just by their numbers.

“Bones, fire!”

Lee Han used the bone element magic just like the others.

‘The power really is something…’

He could see why this was known as the Undead Dimension. Even the same bone magic was way deadlier here.

“H-hurry and finish! The junior’s taking them all!”

“We know. Don’t pressure me!”

Though Lee Han was just doing what he always did, the situation for the seniors was different.

Under the pressure, the seniors scrambled desperately and only barely managed to finish before Lee Han.

When Lee Han finished and looked over, the seniors all pretended nothing had happened.

“All done?”

“Yes.”

“We finished all ours a while ago… Well, even so, that was impressive.”

“Really? You’re amazing!”

As Lee Han offered genuine praise, the seniors felt a little pang of conscience.

…Did they really need to go this far just to protect senior pride?!