Episode 59

“Can’t we just leave them behind? There’s a 90% chance we’ll be in danger too, you know?”
Asan said urgently.
At his words, not just the Black Turtle Tower but even the Blue Dragon Tower students stared at Asan in shock.
How could he say such a thing?
“Hey. Even if you say that about the White Tiger Tower guys, there are priests with them too.”
“We can’t abandon the priests.”
“How can you think so coldly?”
At the others’ reactions, Lee Han felt a pang of guilt.
In truth, he’d thought the same as Asan.
“It’s too late to leave them anyway! Everyone, scatter!”
Nilvia shouted urgently.
Having faced dangerous monsters in the mountains several times, Nilvia knew how to handle this situation well.
Fleeing blindly from a monster chasing you was even more dangerous.
First, you had to scatter to tie up its feet, then escape one by one in an orderly fashion.
Rowena asked in a panic as she ran.
“The spell you used earlier—can you use it again?”
“What? I don’t know what that is, but I can’t use it now! Just focus on getting everyone to safety!”
Even as he answered, Lee Han belatedly remembered who Yumidius was.
A famous imperial mage who had created many water-affinity spells.
But regardless, he couldn’t use it right now. Hadn’t it taken tens of minutes to cast before?
And the mud golem was already charging toward them…
“I hide in the night!”
Lee Han chanted, and his body vanished into the rain.
It had already been confirmed earlier that the mud golem relied on sight to find targets.
‘A shame, but…’
Approaching the mud golem, Lee Han took a smoke chalk from his robe.
It was one of the incomplete artifacts he bought from the Black Turtle Tower’s black market.
‘Go!’
Pop!
With a cracking sound, smoke billowed up near the mud golem. The sudden loss of vision made the golem hesitate.
Lee Han drew the anti-magic imperial sword, Dawnstar, which he’d received from the principal.
The blade of black-violet stone absorbed magic around it, making an eerie sound. The bone summon grimaced and distanced itself.
‘Go for its legs!’
Thunk!
Lee Han had no intention of taking down the mud golem from the start.
‘Blinding its vision and tying up its legs is enough. Unlike other monsters, the mud golem won’t keep chasing once the students disappear.’
Dawnstar’s effect was better than expected.
Struck on the back of the ankle connecting its thick legs, the golem couldn’t recover right away, lost its balance, and staggered to one knee.
That’s when something fell from above.
“?”
Lee Han instinctively caught it.
It was a White Tiger Tower dwarf.
“???”
Bartek Bark, grabbed by the golem’s fist, looked around in confusion.
Someone invisible was holding him up.
“What are you doing? Get up already.”
At the indifferent words of the unseen person, Bartek quickly straightened up in surprise.
“Are you Wardanas by any chance?”
“?!”
Now it was Lee Han’s turn to be shocked.
‘What’s with this White Tiger Tower guy? How did he know?’
“How did you know?”
“I just thought, the only guy in Blue Dragon Tower who’d do something this crazy is Wardanas…”
“……”
Lee Han was speechless.
I mean, that made no sense…
“Help Bartek! Help Bartek!”
“Bartek! We’re coming!”
When the mud golem stopped, the White Tiger Tower students reformed ranks and prepared to attack again.
Even after being beaten up and fleeing, their morale hadn’t dropped at all, which was truly impressive.
Of course, Lee Han was furious.
“Really, these useless punks!”
For the honor of the person who had just saved him, Bartek pretended not to have heard.
‘Can these guys not even evacuate properly?!’
Lee Han’s plan was simple.
Using the mud golem’s weakness he’d found earlier, Lee Han would distract and stall it.
Meanwhile, the students would evacuate on their own.
Once they were all gone, Lee Han would also use his invisibility belt and quietly vanish.
It was a simple but decent plan, but the White Tiger Tower students ruined it.
Granted, they hadn’t heard Lee Han’s plan, so there was some excuse, but it meant nothing to Lee Han.
“Hey, tell them to run!”
“Everyone, get back! You don’t need to come help me!”
Bartek panicked but did as Lee Han said.
Right now, it was Lee Han—not any other student—who had blinded the golem and saved him.
Pride in one’s tower or not, if you had a conscience, you couldn’t refuse.
…But the White Tiger Tower students ignored Bartek’s words.
“Bartek! We’re coming!”
“Bartek, we’re on our way!”
“……”
Bartek unconsciously looked at Lee Han for help, though he couldn’t see him.
Thump—
With the smoke everywhere and the golem pausing to heal its legs, it started moving again.
On top of that, the White Tiger Tower students running in beyond the smoke seemed to provoke it. The golem turned its head, staring right at them.
‘It’s obviously locking on to new targets.’
“Hey. How did you get through here anyway? The mud golem’s not the type to let anyone slip past easily.”
Lee Han asked Bartek.
While Lee Han could cast invisibility and get behind the golem, the White Tiger Tower students couldn’t.
“We made a mud-dissolving potion and threw it. Priestess Siana knew how…”
“!”
Lee Han was surprised. Didn’t know such a thing existed.
If something like that existed, weakening the golem itself wasn’t impossible.
“That’s good! Where’s the potion now?”
“We used it all…”
“……”
Lee Han restrained himself from smacking Bartek on the back of the head. Such a valuable potion, wasted so carelessly.
Are your heads just helmet stands?
‘Hmph.’
After a sigh, Lee Han refocused himself.
The White Tiger Tower bunch weren’t planning to retreat….
At this point, before the smoke cleared, he needed to deal maximum damage to the golem.
What’s the best way right now?
‘Even if I slash it with Dawnstar, the wounds are too small for its size, and the water orb takes too long…’
No time to ponder—the White Tiger Tower crew was getting closer already. The golem was raising its fist.
‘Damn!’
“Burn!”
It was less a conscious thought than an instinctive spell.
At close range to the golem, within effective distance, it was the most offensive spell available.
…But the effect was much better than Lee Han had expected.
FWOOOOOOSH!
“?!?”
Bartek was so startled he dove to the ground.
Suddenly, intense flames roared up and enveloped the mud golem.
Ordinarily, the pouring rain would’ve extinguished the blaze, but the fire fed on Lee Han’s mana and continued burning without stopping.
“A… Amazing!!”
Bartek was genuinely impressed.
Many in the White Tiger Tower resented and envied Wardanas, but none could deny this.
For a fellow first-year to burn up a mud golem with a single spell—
It was so overwhelming that it inspired awe rather than jealousy.
“This is nuts!”
“??”
Instead, Lee Han cursed out loud.
‘Sorry, Professor Garcia!’
Lee Han now realized firsthand why Professor Garcia had told him to wait before practicing fire element magic.
In his rush, he had poured more power into the spell than he could actually control, letting the flames run wild beyond his grasp.
His earlier success had made him overconfident.
He was lucky the golem absorbed the brunt of the blaze.
Otherwise, it would have spread in all directions.
Crrrack!
‘What’s that?’
Lee Han looked up at the cracking sound.
The mud golem was crumbling as it baked in the fire.
Many assumed clay got harder when baked, but unless it was specially prepared, ordinary mud wouldn’t become ceramics from fire.
In fact, it was brittle and simply broke apart like this.
“…To think, you planned this all along…!”
Bartek could barely even marvel anymore.
And Lee Han didn’t have the energy to retort.

• * *
  Lee Han released the invisibility spell.
  Together with the rushing White Tiger Tower students, he slashed and stabbed at the golem.
  Already cracking and crumbling, the golem couldn’t hold on. It collapsed and fell over.
  “Yeeaaaahhh!”
  “We got it! We got it!”
  “All thanks to you! Well done!!”
  “?”
  Lee Han looked in confusion at the White Tiger Tower students, who came over to thank him.
  ‘What’s this about?’
  Sure, they’d be happy after beating the golem, but why act all friendly after all that fighting?
  “…But wait, who are you? I don’t remember seeing you before…”
  “What family are you from?”
  “???”
  As they thanked Lee Han, the White Tiger crew suddenly felt something off.
  They’d taken it for granted that the kid fighting next to Bartek was also from White Tiger, but—
  The more they looked, the less he seemed like a White Tiger Tower student.
  Bartek couldn’t take it anymore and interjected.
  “He’s not from our tower, he’s Wardanas from Blue Dragon Tower.”
  “…Aaaaaaugh!”
  The White Tiger Tower students, just now thanking Lee Han, leaped back in shock.
  Some even toppled over.
  ‘They look even more shocked than when the golem attacked them.’
  “Wh-what’s your motive for… coming to us?”
  “No, but how did you trick us? Was it the rain? Still, that doesn’t make sense…”
  “Was it some kind of spell??”
  While the White Tiger Tower gang rambled with wild theories, Lee Han just shook his head in disbelief.
  Bartek limped over, having been injured by the golem earlier.
  “Wardanas here came to help us. He saved me. Can everyone stop with the nonsense?”
  “Bartek! Are you alright?”
  “I think I just strained something. Could you gather the other students? Before they get lost, we should regroup.”
  At Bartek’s words, the White Tiger students nodded.
  Not everyone had recklessly charged into battle.
  The Phoenix Tower priests and the more timid (or, from Lee Han’s point of view, clever) White Tiger students had fled instead of fighting.
  Someone needed to call them back before anyone got lost in the mountains.
  “But…is it really okay to leave just Bartek? Wardanas, you’re not going to do anything to him, right?”
  “……”
  “N-no, it’s not that we don’t trust your honor, it’s just that Bartek is injured and…”
  Meeting Lee Han’s cold stare, the White Tiger Tower students shrank and mumbled excuses.
• * *
  “Nobody’s missing, right?”
  “No, I checked everyone.”
  Lee Han checked the numbers among the Blue Dragon and Black Turtle Tower students.
  Looking over, he saw the White Tiger and Phoenix Tower students were also all gathered.
  Lee Han’s group had no injuries, but White Tiger Tower had the most wounded.
  They’d rushed the golem so recklessly that few escaped without bruises or even fractures.
  The Phoenix Tower priests provided first aid for their comrades, especially Siana, who produced painkillers and bruise-healing potions true to a Flemang Order acolyte.
  Yoner marveled at her skill.
  “You really are amazing! As a Flemang Order member, you know so many recipes—the speed and the finesse—”
  “……”
  But Lee Han, hearing the stories of Siana’s jealousy, was conflicted.
  -If you were gone, I’d be number one!!
  …Such things flashed through his mind.
  ‘I’ve already made enemies with White Tiger Tower. I don’t want to add Phoenix Tower to that…’
  As Lee Han thought that, Siana approached.
  “I heard you fought a mud golem directly. Take this. It’s a bruise-healing potion.”
  “Lee Han isn’t hurt…”
  Yoner tried to explain kindly, but Lee Han was faster.
  He snatched the potion and downed it in a single shot, lavishing praise.
  “This’s… the best potion I’ve ever tasted!!”
  “Huh?”
  Yoner looked puzzled at Lee Han’s over-the-top reaction.
  True, Siana was skilled, but such a hastily brewed potion couldn’t be that amazing…?
  But Lee Han was just getting started.
  His skills honed by years of enduring boring professor lectures were on full display.
  “You made this yourself? Unbelievable! This should be sold for money! Heavens!”
  While exclaiming, Lee Han snuck a glance.
  And sure enough, he saw it.
  Siana’s face blooming with a bright smile!