Episode 508

Episode 508

‘Hmm.’

Today, my junior probably suffered quite a bit of mana and mental exhaustion from making the cursed doll.

…Come to think of it, it wasn’t mana, but anyway, mental exhaustion was an important issue as well.

Since magic itself required intense concentration, there was no way you couldn’t feel mental fatigue each time you cast it.

However, Direte did not stop his junior.

Noticing how the junior took out a bone fragment from his reagent pouch and pondered deeply, he didn’t feel like stopping him anymore.

‘Will…he be alright?’

Seeing Lee Han energetically taking out bone fragments and making various preparations, Direte wondered if he was worrying unnecessarily.

Shouldn’t a genius be given treatment befitting a genius, after all?

Telling a genius to go slowly was just meaningless interference.

‘Yes. I’ll just leave him alone.’

“Senior. I’m trying to compress the dark element into the bone fragment…”

“That’s originally hard to do on the spot. I can lend you…”

“How about this?”

Direte raised his head and looked at the bone fragment lying on Lee Han’s palm.

In that brief moment of hesitation, this junior had compressed the dark element precisely into the reagent.

The cursed doll too, and the way he instantly solved baseline processes that would take forever in the workshop or magic tower, made Direte seriously ponder.

‘Don’t these ongoing shenanigans of the professors have a little bit to do with this junior, too?’

No matter how crazy most of the professors at Einrogard are, shouldn’t some of the responsibility also rest with the junior who keeps forging ahead when he could just stop?

If he moves forward so expertly, doesn’t that make him even more responsible?

‘Ahh. What a crazy thought…’

Direte shook his head repeatedly, trying to cast away his wicked thoughts.

To think, in this insane magic school, rather than blaming the professors, he was trying to blame his junior.

No matter how talented Lee Han looked in magic, the professors’ actions were not justified.

Anyone with a heart would think, ‘I should stop him since he’s already doing so much,’ not ‘He seems fine so I should make him do more.’

Clank clank—

“……”

Just moments after resolving, Direte felt his resolve shaken again as he watched his junior casually summon over ten dark skeleton warriors.

• * *

There wasn’t much basic difference between summoning a skeleton warrior and summoning one enhanced with dark element.

As long as you could control the dark element within the reagent during the summoning, the rest would be absorbed by the undead summoned from the undead plane on their own.

Of course, it was a bit harder for Lee Han.

Unlike other necromancers, he was learning ancient necromancy, where you weave directly from the base, rather than summoning from the undead plane.

Even considering that, it wasn’t too much for him.

He already had plenty of experience summoning skeleton warriors and having them fight…

‘Is it a bit unstable?’

As the dark element in the bone shimmered and threatened to overflow, Lee Han immediately jammed in more mana to stabilize it.

When dealing with unstable elements like the dark element, the most dangerous scenario was a runaway, and Lee Han’s method of handling it was his unmatched strength.

‘No need to summon Gonadaltes for this.’

Lee Han felt satisfied as he watched the skeleton warriors, shrouded in sinister black energy.

The dark element was unique in that just touching it dealt damage to the enemy.

Ordinary skeleton warriors couldn’t win head-on against seasoned foes, but these skeleton warriors were different. Without a proper counter, enemies would have their life force instantly drained.

‘The summoning itself succeeded, so now, if I combine them into one…’

Lee Han disassembled and prepared to reassemble the summoned skeleton warriors into a single form.

To perform such reckless acts on undead summoned from the undead plane would result in being immediately stabbed in the back, but ancient necromancy was much freer in this regard.

For Lee Han, who couldn’t yet control mass numbers of skeleton warriors, this process was essential.

Sss—

“?”

As Lee Han swung his staff to disassemble, he was startled by the skeleton warriors’ movements.

‘What’s this?’

It was no illusion.

He swung his staff again and moved his mana; the skeleton warriors followed his motion.

“Senior! The skeleton warriors are moving!!”

“…Huh? Uh? Hmm… Skeleton warriors are supposed to move, aren’t they?”

Direte, not understanding why Lee Han was acting this way, felt a bit embarrassed.

It was like watching a friend smart enough to be scouted as an imperial treasurer suddenly exclaim, ‘Gasp! 1+1=2! I finally get it!’

Why make a big deal out of something so basic?

“I originally couldn’t move the skeleton warriors.”

“You??”

‘Oops. Did that sound too casual?’

As Direte reacted with a surprised, high-pitched tone, Lee Han felt worried.

It wasn’t good to look incompetent and lazy in front of a senior.

“I only fell behind because I was studying other spells at the same time, but I planned to solve it soon. If I just had a bit more time, I definitely would have…”

“…Ah, no. I don’t think you have to explain that much…”

He was only surprised that Lee Han couldn’t control them; he wouldn’t have been surprised if it were any other junior.

And now that he thought about it, Direte realized why Lee Han had that trouble.

It was a skeleton warrior created by ancient necromancy rather than the typical undead-summoning method, and he had tried to control over ten at once…

No matter how much of a genius he was, it wasn’t easy.

If anything, sustaining it was more impressive.

‘He probably didn’t realize it because he has too much mana.’

Other dark wizards would have experienced mana depletion or exhaustion a few times before realizing, ‘Ah, I must be doing something wrong,’ and would have learned humility the hard way, but this junior never had that chance and simply kept brute-forcing until he adapted.

“It’s probably because the dark element enhances and refines your control.”

Direte gently poked a skeleton warrior with his staff as he explained.

Since Lee Han was controlling not with just mana but also with the dark element, it was only natural that his control over his summons became stronger and more precise.

Of course, this meant increased mana consumption and greater spell difficulty, but that meant nothing to this junior.

Mana cost or the degree of spell difficulty simply didn’t affect him.

“And you’ve likely accumulated experience too. Haven’t you steadily summoned skeletons all this time?”

“Yes. Even when I was stranded last time, I summoned skeleton warriors to fight the king of ghouls.”

“…Uh, uh huh…”

Direte tried not to show his surprise, but he couldn’t help it when his junior casually mentioned fighting the king of ghouls with skeleton warriors.

Still…

…Is this okay?

“Senior, since I can now move them, I’d like to practice a bit more.”

“Hmm. Alright. This place is a bit tough—let’s move somewhere else.”

Direte guided his junior to a place more suitable for handling skeleton warriors.

‘For testing skeleton warriors… Considering the dark element too. Wait, there are so many, so that should be a consideration. The catacomb dungeon is too easy. The warehouse? That’s probably too easy too?’

While moving to another location, Direte didn’t realize.

He was now caught in the same trap as the professors he criticized.

When talking with his junior, he would unconsciously raise the difficulty as if he were under hypnosis.

• * *

Swish!

‘What was that?’

Lee Han blocked the arrow flying overhead with a water shield, feeling puzzled.

The dungeon’s difficulty had suddenly skyrocketed.

At first, it was just a basic dungeon for testing the dark element cursed doll. Now it was a dungeon to test dark element skeleton warriors—the next step.

So the difficulty going up was understandable, but…

The gap between the vampire weasel dungeon and this wooden man dungeon far exceeded expectations.

The moment he opened the dungeon door, wooden soldiers, waiting inside, began launching wave after wave of synchronized attacks, like meshing gears.

Those in front used shields to cover themselves and approach the mage, those in the center charged in with spears, and those at the back fired crossbows non-stop.

An ordinary mage might have panicked, but Lee Han had cast all sorts of enhancement spells before entering.

-With Gonadaltes’s Nimble Steps- and -Spatial Recognition-, and on top of that -Baegrek’s Sudden Foresight-, gave him reflexes on par with a master swordsman.

Enhanced physical abilities overall.

And the -Spatial Recognition- spell to sense enemy attacks.

Thanks to that, the highly accurate -Baegrek’s Sudden Foresight- warned him of danger. Lee Han dashed quickly out of the attack range.

“Skeleton warriors up front. Shield, deploy!”

Lee Han reinforced his defense by unfolding a massive water shield in the air, pushing forward the skeleton warriors enhanced with the dark element.

‘They’re moving perfectly!’

Seeing the skeleton warriors advancing slowly but steadily in formation was honestly touching.

It felt like all the frustrations from failed magic attempts were being rewarded.

Thud!

The wooden soldiers seemed quite powerful, perhaps because they were made by strong magic; when they clashed with the skeleton warriors, they overpowered them.

Despite both sides holding shields, the skeleton warriors were visibly pushed back.

However…

“Hold the line!”

Lee Han had a plan.

Sure enough, the wooden soldiers touched by the dark element started to slow down and weaken.

Over time, his side only gained the upper hand.

After holding out and breaking down his opponents, Lee Han let out a sigh of relief and looked at Direte.

“Senior?”

Direte was thinking, ‘Wait, why did I bring him here? Isn’t this too hard?’ and snapped out, startled.

“Huh?”

“Thank you. But is this dungeon run by the Dark Magic School?”

“You catch on quick. This dungeon is managed by the Enchantment Magic School.”

“Ah. I figured.”

Maintaining wooden soldiers like these by artificial means would require extremely high-level magic.

It made sense, hearing that it was managed by the Enchantment Magic School.

“Senior, are you close with the Enchantment Magic School?”

“No. They’re not very social.”

“Then how… Ah.”

“Figured it out?”

“Are we here without permission?”

Lee Han gave a meaningful look as if he understood.

Direte paused out of astonishment and then answered.

“…I told Professor Verdus we’d be here. You take Enchantment Magic too, right?”

“Ah.”

Lee Han felt a bit embarrassed.

“Looks like you’ve checked things out. Shall we head back?”

“May I check just a little more?”

“Here?”

Direte fluttered his wings in confusion.

He had already confirmed the command by advancing and retreating his skeleton warriors. What more did Lee Han want to check?

Mana too…

‘No. Mana is fine.’

Maybe he wanted to check bone-type weapons or techniques?

“Can you keep going?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then.”

As Direte gave his permission, Lee Han led the undead deeper inside.

And then a massive explosion rang out.

Boom!!!!!

“…?!?!!!”

As Direte watched in shock, Lee Han, without even blinking, sent the remaining skeleton warriors forward into the formation of wooden soldiers shattered by the bone explosion.

‘With an explosion of that power, even with shields, I should be able to hold out one way or the other.’

He lost one skeleton warrior, but it was worth it. The explosion mixed with dark element slowed the wooden soldiers down even further.

“Senior. I’m thinking of combining poison element as well, could you give me some guidance… Senior? Senior??”