Episode 375

Episode 375

“Cough. Strange.”

While the seniors struggled to maintain their dignity, Professor Mortum was checking the inner passage of the ruin.

Although Guardian Golems appeared to block the way, in fact, they were not much of an obstacle.

Thinking back on all the ruins seen so far, it would not have been surprising to encounter many far more dangerous traps.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing particular inside.”

Direte nodded at the professor’s words.

Certainly, for a ruin as intact as this, the resistance was weak. Other than the Guardian Golems placed at the entrance, no other enemies could be seen.

“Darkness, reach forth and resonate… still nothing. Cough. Truly strange.”

With a spell extending towards the inner passage of the ruin and casting various detection spells, Professor Mortum peered into the darkness, lost in thought.

“Perhaps… never mind.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that there might be an owner in this ruin. Cough. If there’s an owner, there usually aren’t unnecessary traps.”

Most ruins discovered by Imperial magicians had long lost their original owners ages ago.

However, on rare occasions, there were ruins with their owners still present.

In those cases, magicians ended up in rather troublesome situations.

After all, it was no different from unlawfully trespassing on someone else’s land…

“If there was an owner, we shouldn’t have been able to enter so easily, right?”

Direte tilted his head.

If the owner of the ruin was alive and managing it, there would have been warning signs before entry.

Not to mention warnings to keep out outsiders, and minions patrolling the area to block any approach.

Such an empty outer ruin and a completely quiet entrance with not a single sign of life made it less likely there was an owner.

“Cough. That’s true. You’re right. If there was an owner, it wouldn’t be this poorly managed. Unless the owner is locked up somewhere or gravely wounded and recovering…”

Sploosh!

“!”

Professor Mortum and Lee Han were the first to sense the change in the flow of mana inside the palace ruin.

Lee Han looked around. The walls, floor, and ceiling near the palace entrance began to ripple like mucous.

Though matter can be transformed and reshaped via transmutation magic, witnessing such large-scale magic firsthand was unexpected.

“Everyone, don’t move!”

Sensing that something unusual was happening, Professor Mortum responded immediately.

Gone was the usual sickly, coughing figure; Professor Mortum’s eyes shone as he waved his staff.

“I command you, let the path of yin open! May the ropes of darkness bind!”

Instantly, a door connected to the shadow dimension appeared behind the students, and ropes made of dark elements shot out.

Normally, this magic was used to open a gateway to the shadow dimension and pull an enemy in temporarily, but Professor Mortum adapted it to use as a teleportation spell.

If used cleverly, it could be a powerful defensive magic to temporarily protect students.

Students who passed through the shadow dimension popped out next to Professor Mortum. They looked as if they were about to vomit from the sudden contact with the dark element.

Rumble!

But Professor Mortum’s judgment was quickly proven correct.

The previously solid floors began to ripple and drop down, and walls drew close as if to collide, erasing and altering the space.

If he had tried to rush in and physically bring everyone, a few might have fallen through in the process.

“P-professor!”

Creak!

Professor Mortum reached out a hand to calm the frightened student and began taking control of the surrounding bones.

A massive bone platform appeared in the dark space where there used to be solid floor. The remaining bones wrapped around it like walls.

Only then could the students finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Professor!”

“Calm down. Losing the floor isn’t even a particularly dangerous trap. Judging by how the ruin reacts like this, it’s not even that—”

“No, a junior is missing!”

“!!!”

• * *

At first, when everyone except himself was teleported through the shadow dimension, Lee Han thought he must have done something to offend Professor Mortum.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

But when he saw the dark element bounce off and the rift in the dimension fail to pull him in, he realized what had happened.

‘Professor…! You can’t just apply attack magic anywhere…!’

Just as poisons and curses had bounced off before, Professor Mortum’s magic, too, had bounced off, leaving Lee Han more dumbfounded than afraid.

Feeling the floor disappear and the sensation of falling, Lee Han immediately sent a steel marble into the air.

“Move!”

It was not a spell designed to resist falling, nor was it intended to support even Lee Han’s weight. But his brute-force mana fixed the steel marble in midair as if pegged in place.

A strong impact shot up his shoulder.

Lee Han poured mana into his body and endured.

“Feet, command the ground… Space, be perceived!”

He cast reinforcement and spatial perception magic in case of unforeseen circumstances. Although his surroundings still rippled, the magic helped him regain a sense of distance.

‘There’s ground!’

Lee Han conjured a sphere of light. Then he started changing the marble’s position to descend further.

Resolving to take a slow-falling magic class immediately upon returning to magic school.

‘I should have learned it right after fighting the Rock Drake… I’m suffering like this because I didn’t study.’

Lee Han lamented.

The professors really weren’t joking when they said, ‘You think you’re learning for someone else? It’s all for your own good.’

He would study more diligently in the second semester.

Thunk!

“?!”

As Lee Han landed safely and something fell next to him, he turned his head in surprise.

“What the…”

“My arm, my arm…”

“Senior!”

Second-year senior Ogoldos was rolling on the ground nearby, groaning in pain.

Unlike Lee Han, Ogoldos wasn’t composed enough to chant spells while falling through midair.

He’d managed by summoning an undead minion in advance to use as a cushion – otherwise, not just his arm but his whole body would have been wrecked.

“Are you alright?”

“I-it’s fine. I’m fine.”

Ogoldos, face white, wiped cold sweat away and waved his hand.

As a senior, he didn’t want to show weakness in front of a junior.

Moreover, Ogoldos had suspected that Lee Han, Gainando, and other juniors from different towers weren’t truly committed to necromancy.

He couldn’t accept help now from a junior he had said such things to before.

“Your arm is broken, though.”

“I said I’m fine. A splint…”

By second year at Einrogard, students could handle most injuries except instant-death emergencies.

Ogoldos reached for his staff to recite a spell, but the pain made it hard. The chant kept faltering, and his mana scattered.

“Senior. I’ll just do it myself.”

“Don’t—”

Growing impatient, Lee Han hesitated only briefly before grabbing Ogoldos’ shoulder and restraining him with force.

If the skeleton principal caught him, magic school life might get rough for years, but what was the big deal if he only upset a second-year senior from another tower?

“What are you—Argh!”

“Stick together!”

Surprisingly, the junior didn’t bother with a splint or first aid but swung his staff and cast a spell immediately.

Ogoldos screamed from the sudden healing magic.

“Stop! What are you doing? No!”

Ogoldos desperately tried to stop him, recalling a time when another second-year priest had failed a healing spell, twisting a friend’s sprained finger 360 degrees.

A sprained finger was risky enough, but a broken bone was—

“Try moving it.”

“…???”

Ogoldos blinked in confusion and moved his arm.

Amazingly, it didn’t hurt at all.

Lee Han quietly nodded and spoke.

“Given the urgency, I had no choice but to cast first.”

“……”

Ogoldos hesitated, then opened his mouth.

“Go… Go…”

-Rumble.

“Sharkan. There’s a path that way? Thanks. Senior, they say there’s a path over… What were you going to say?”

“Go… I was in pain.”

“Oh my. The injury must have been bad.”

-Grunt.

“Sharkan. That’s not how you treat someone. The senior didn’t get hurt on purpose.”

“……”

• * *

Ogoldos had never sat on a bed of thorns.

A third-year senior had claimed they once sat on the thorn bed in the punishment room’s basement for upperclassmen (Ogoldos was still not sure whether that was a bluff), but fortunately Ogoldos had never experienced it himself.

But right now, Ogoldos felt like he was sitting on a bed of thorns.

“…Damn it. My magic…”

A magician was a delicate being.

The shock from a failed spell, or even the trauma of dancing walls and vanishing floors, could disrupt mana flow, rendering one unable to use magic for a while.

No matter how much Ogoldos tried to focus, the mana flow inside him was tangled and refused to move.

“Senior. It’s okay. I’ll use magic.”

“…I’ll do it. Just give me a moment… Ugh.”

“Gonadaltes. Support the senior.”

“I’m—what? What did you say?”

“Sorry? Say again?”

“No, it’s just… never mind.”

Ogoldos almost mentioned the name of the skeleton warrior.

However a magician named their summon was their own business, but…

…wasn’t that name a little too much freedom?!

-■ ■■■■■.

“……”

Lee Han walked forward.

Except for Sharkan and Gonadaltes, all other skeletons had been unsummoned. They were simply too slow to keep up while moving.

Of course, from Ogoldos’ perspective, it felt a bit different.

‘Because of me…!’

Thinking his junior canceled other undead just to support him, Ogoldos’s face burned with embarrassment.

“That is…”

Lee Han stopped in his tracks.

A spooky sight had caught his eyes from the other end of the underground corridor.

Ogoldos, with his dark vision spell still active, blinked and spoke.

“A prison…”

“Punishment room… Ah, it’s a prison. Force of habit.”

“……”

Surprisingly, the place connected to the end of the corridor was an underground prison. Lee Han marveled that such a place existed beneath a ruin.

‘I thought all ruins were just crumbled and ruined places.’

Walking through the passage to the end, the cells were arranged in a circular pattern all around.

One peculiar thing stood out: there were no iron bars. None of the usual barriers that should keep prisoners from escaping were present.

For a moment, Lee Han wondered if someone had arrived earlier and torn out all the bars.

-Who goes there? What fool dares to wander the king’s prison?

“!”

Lee Han was shocked to realize that he had a presence so close without noticing.

If the other was a better magician than Lee Han, maybe. But otherwise, Lee Han always sensed the other’s mana first.

-You’d best hide quickly. If you’re discovered, you won’t be safe.

The speaker was an undead magician in a nearby cell. Lee Han realized why he hadn’t noticed—the moment the other removed the cloak, Lee Han finally sensed the mana.

Sensing none of the typical monster hostility, Lee Han cautiously asked,

“Who are you?”

-Who, you ask. I am a criminal who failed to uphold the king’s command.

“So, who is the king?”

-…What are you talking…? How did you get in here? Do you not even know this is the palace where the King of Ghouls reigns? What about the soldiers outside??

“…?!”

At the familiar name, Lee Han froze.

Surely not…?