Episode 567

Episode 567

Of course, Lee Han did not believe the words of the Death Knights either.

‘It could be a trick.’

The Death Knights might be lying, or perhaps it was a minion unknown even to the Death Knights.

Sensing such suspicion, the Death Knights felt so wronged they could die.

-Look. Student Wardanaz. Our master does… in fact, possess uncontrollable monsters like that, but at any rate, he does not have a creature like that!

-Our master does… in fact, have dangerous creatures like that, but we’ve never seen that one before, I tell you!

“……”

“……”

Not only Lee Han, but the priests as well began to eye the Death Knights with growing suspicion.

Swallowing their grief, the Death Knights surrounded the vampiric monster.

-Take care of it. That thing is clearly a nuisance at a glance.

-Where did this thing crawl out from? If you have a mouth, speak up.

A spear-axe, rippling with bluish negative energy, pointed at the vampiric monster. Feeling threatened, the monster moved explosively.

Whish!

The creature moved so fast that only its shadow could be seen. However, the Death Knights did not bother trying to match its speed.

Bang!

One of the Death Knights was struck by the vampiric monster and sent flying.

-■■■■■■■!

The monster let out a victorious roar, but it was a hasty judgment. A Death Knight’s sword had been deeply embedded in the monster’s left leg.

Cracklecracklecracklecracklecrackle—

In an instant, the creature’s left leg froze to the ground. The Death Knight who had been sent flying rose, restoring his shattered armor and crushed helmet.

-Keep boasting about your speed in this domain.

The Death Knights chuckled as they derided the vampiric monster. Lee Han once again realized the strength of these summons.

Even though Einrogard’s power was enhancing them, for each summon to possess such advanced judgment and overwhelming combat strength was astonishing.

“Impressive!”

-Eh? All of a sudden?

-Why?

The Death Knights, standing by, were embarrassed by Lee Han’s compliment.

“My summons can’t show the same capability as you all.”

-Ah. That’s only natural. Summoning death knights like us isn’t easy.

-First, finding the materials alone would be hard. You need a knight who died with an oath and lingering regret…

‘White Tiger Tower students?’

As soon as knights with many regrets were mentioned, students from White Tiger Tower came to mind.

Even as they conversed, the Death Knights in the front continued their assault on the vampiric monster.

With one leg pinned, the monster could not avoid the Death Knights’ attacks and was mercilessly battered.

-Like before! Do it! Like before!

-You insolent— Hm? I said do it!

Each time the polearm, condensed with negative energy, stabbed the monster, it dealt severe internal damage.

The monster violently slashed with its claws and shot blood, forming it into sharp spikes, but the Death Knights simply continued their attacks with a ‘You hit, I strike’ style.

Most attacks didn’t even pierce their armor. When a rare attack did, the swirling darkness within immediately healed the wound.

Lee Han understood why Death Knights were often depicted as archetypal minions of evil necromancers in stories.

Powerful offense and rock-solid defense.

Their intelligence allowed them to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses with the most advantageous tactics, based on battle experience accumulated in life.

And with dreadful ruthlessness, they didn’t hesitate to use underhanded methods, contrary to their former honor.

The last aspect was almost an insult, but Lee Han took it as a compliment.

‘If there’s a wizard constantly healing them, they’re unstoppable.’

There were two main ways to defeat undead: either inflict such irreparable damage on the summon that it gets banished, or defeat the summoner.

For Death Knights, the former was almost impossible. Their defense and vitality were beyond imagination.

-■!

The vampiric monster collapsed, vomiting blood. Beaten, stabbed, and slashed, the creature lost all its initial ferocity and lay sprawled like a corpse.

The Death Knights stuck their swords and spears into its body and clicked their tongues.

-What sort of lunatic just shows up out here…

-Doesn’t look like the students summoned it, though.

“You mean they didn’t?!”

Lee Han was startled.

If it wasn’t the skeleton principal’s minion, he had assumed it was a monster his seniors had created.

‘Thought they failed making a chimera.’

-Einrogard students wouldn’t make something like this.

-Yeah. No matter what.

“Last time, one senior said he wanted to make an artificial spirit, and let loose a bunch of monsters in the forest, though.”

-……

-……

The Death Knights fell silent, averting their gaze.

-You see, Wardanaz, the more you serve under the master, you realize some things. You can just feel it when students have caused trouble.

A veteran Death Knight from the Three Kingdoms era began to explain.

Even for vampiric monsters, those created by students’ mishaps had telltale signs.

Traces of different magic experiments and attempts were evident.

In contrast, this captured vampiric monster showed nothing of the sort. It was a naturally-born monster.

“Why would such a monster even be here? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Lee Han asked gravely, but the Death Knights didn’t think it that severe.

-Haha. It’s not that big a deal.

-He’s right. Happens now and then. Maybe drifted from the mountains… Actually, no. A creature like this likely came from underground. Could have emerged from somewhere below after hibernating.

-The senior’s logic is correct. As an undead type that dislikes light, it’s more likely from the underground than the mountain range.

“……”

“……”

The first-years watched the Death Knights’ conversation with ashen faces.

For such a savage creature to have appeared and for it to be shrugged off as ‘It happens now and then, ha ha’ was astonishing.

-■■■■…

A growling noise suddenly returned.

The Death Knights quickly turned their heads in surprise.

It was a piece of the vampiric monster’s flesh, which had flown onto a branch during the intense fighting.

Using that fragment, the vampiric monster instantly regenerated. The body impaled on the ground dissolved into ash and vanished in a split second.

The Death Knights were shocked by this unexpected regenerative power.

To regenerate from just a chunk of flesh, not even the head or heart…

It wasn’t even under normal circumstances. The Death Knights’ arms were no ordinary weapons: they were loaded with potent negative energy.

Once cut or stabbed, even monsters with formidable regeneration had their ability suppressed—but this one pushed through and healed regardless?

In terms of regenerative power alone, it ranked among the highest the Death Knights had ever witnessed.

-Huh.

-Best to just burn it. I wanted to investigate its origins, but oh well.

The Death Knights summoned ghostly fire as they muttered.

Though surprised by the regeneration, now that they’d seen it, they could handle it as many times as needed.

-■■■!

But instead of attacking the Death Knights, the vampiric monster took off at top speed in the opposite direction.

Bounding off several trees, it vanished into the forest, leaving no trace behind. The Death Knights froze in the moment.

-……

“Huh, did it run away?”

-…You can’t really say it ran away.

-It could come back…

-I’d call it an exceptional circumstance in battle, not our mistake per se.

‘You clearly let it get away.’

Lee Han looked at the Death Knights with exasperation.

All the respect he’d felt earlier vanished in an instant.

• * *

“A monster that was trapped underground came up?”

“Wasn’t it Principal who let it loose?”

“Its regeneration is that strong? Should we carry something to block regen?”

“Wasn’t it Principal who let it loose?”

“But if it got beaten up so bad by the Death Knights, it wouldn’t come near the school, right? They say it ran off toward the mountain range.”

“Wasn’t it Principal who let it loose?”

What happened last evening naturally spread quickly among the students.

With finals coming up, the news of a wild monster rampaging became a hot topic.

“We need a patrol squad, form up into groups.”

“Isn’t that overreacting? The thing ran off, anyway. We barely have enough time to study.”

The students divided into those who said “We need to prepare” and those who said, “Is that really important now?”

There was also a small group, like Gainando, who claimed “It’s principal’s plot,” but it had little influence.

While his friends talked, Lee Han quietly moved his quill.

He had to complete Professor Voladi’s assignments to a presentable level before the end of the term.

“Wardanaz. What do you think?”

“What?”

“The vampiric monster.”

“It’s a bit harsh to call Professor Baegrek that… Ah. You weren’t talking about the professor.”

“…??”

“What can we do? It’s not like we can go after it now. Best option is to stick together in groups.”

“Will that be enough?”

“There’s not much else we can do. How about armor?”

“That sounds good.”

“Since even that might not be enough, carry the crossbow we made when we held out in the library last time. In black magic class, I learned about poison. I’ll make some and we’ll use it on the bolts. Oh, and there should be some leftover magic signal flares in Professor Verdus’s workshop—we should bring those too.”

‘Says there’s not much to do…’

If that’s not much, what’s much?

He calmed his friends’ worries and set off.

In truth, even Lee Han himself was sometimes surprised.

No matter how much Einrogard accustomed people to the abnormal, to react so coolly after seeing that vampiric monster last night…

Even now, unlike his friends who were worried, he was very calm.

“Hello, Professor.”

Lee Han opened the door and entered the lecture room.

Upon reflection, Lee Han realized a big reason for his fearlessness was because of the professor inside this very room.

‘The living embodiment of fear.’

What was there to fear from a vampiric monster lurking in the bushes at night?

True fear would stride toward you confidently in broad daylight.

Professor Voladi nodded lightly to greet Lee Han.

“You’re here.”

“What’s… all this?”

Lee Han was puzzled at the sight of the basement classroom, which was so different from usual.

It was normally a bleak room with only the bare necessity of furniture and school supplies, but today there were many unfamiliar items.

A large metal bowl (inside, a green, squirming hunk of meat), a racetrack that looked cobbled together from toys, rings like those used in circus performances…

Even Professor Voladi himself was holding a strangely shaped toy in one hand, as if to play with a pet.

Professor Voladi was intimidating with a sword, but even more so holding a toy. Lee Han glanced around to check for an exit.

“The basilisk’s growth is lagging.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han finally let out a sigh of relief.

He had feared some insane training session for boosting his combat power in preparation for finals—but thank goodness, it wasn’t that.

From his sleeve, the baby basilisk hissed openly.

It was a very clear sign of strong dislike.

“Sorry. I have no strength either.”

-?!

Lee Han apologized to the baby basilisk.

In other circumstances, he could fight for the basilisk, but not in front of Professor Voladi.

Both Lee Han and the basilisk could end up dead.

‘Someone’s gotta survive.’

“I got this meal made by Professor Lightningstep. Try it.”

The baby basilisk, of course, shook its head.

So Professor Voladi clamped its neck with one hand and used his gaze to cast a psychokinesis spell. The basilisk’s mouth sprang open.

-■■■■■!

Lee Han didn’t know what the baby basilisk was saying, but that green hunk of meat certainly didn’t look appetizing. Lee Han apologized once again, in his heart.

As Professor Voladi fed the basilisk, he turned to Lee Han and asked,

“I heard you succeeded in transforming the form of the lightning element?”

-■■■■■!

Lee Han made the same guttural, strangled sound the basilisk had just uttered.