Episode 737

Chapter 737

“Wait a minute!”

“?

Lee Han paused at the professor’s shout from behind.

He thought there might be some advice.

“It’s dangerous here, so how about leaving your basilisk behind?”

It was the first time he’d ever heard Professor Bendozol sound so gentle.

‘Shouldn’t have listened.’

Lee Han ignored it firmly and moved on.

• * *

“Sharkan. Find their tracks and scents.”

The emerald leopard, Sharkan, nodded his head, declaring his intention to faithfully follow his master’s orders.

“Gonadaltes. Lead the other skeleton warriors and search the area. If you encounter evil spirits, don’t fight, just retreat immediately.”

The undead warrior, Gonadaltes, nodded and waved his dark green bone sword.

“Basilisk.”

-!

“Eat this snack and sleep a bit more. If you’re up, who knows what Professor Bendozol might do.”

-……

The baby basilisk was dumbfounded but bit into the jerky and closed its eyes again.

‘Let’s move fast.’

Unlike Professor Bendozol, Lee Han was confident about evil spirits and ghost-type monsters since he’d had some experience with them.

He knew that most monsters wouldn’t dare approach and would retreat.

Rather than being overly cautious and wasting time, it was better to quickly announce his arrival and gather the students.

“Light of truth, descend!”

Unlike before, the orbs of light Lee Han fired with determination started to cluster together.

The lights pierced through the darkness of Nightmare Echo Forest, where damp and ominous magical mist lingered, spreading in all directions.

“Everyone respond!”

“……”

“Everyone respond! If you can hear me—”

“Wardanaz?”

Up ahead, Nillia’s wary voice was heard. Lee Han called out joyfully.

“Nillia! It’s really me, Wardanaz!”

“So you got lost too?”

“No. I made it, but I came back in to get you all.”

“…That’s just like something you would do…!”

Nillia thought that truly was like Wardanaz as soon as she heard it, but she didn’t lower her guard yet.

She had encountered too many fake friends getting this far.

“Prove you’re really you!”

“What… Ah. Are you seeing illusions or something?”

“Yeah! Last year it wasn’t this bad! I’m telling you, I didn’t use an illusion!”

Hearing her grinding voice, Lee Han shuddered, realizing just how meticulous Professor Bendozol could be.

He had chosen to call students into the woods just when it became even more wicked and difficult.

This was evil on a level comparable to about 0.8 of the Skull Headmaster.

‘They even show illusions. This really is a pain.’

Ghost-type monsters were already a hassle, but if they had the ability to show illusions as well, even the most experienced students could fall for it.

Lee Han resolved to hurry even more.

“Nillia. I’m really Wardanaz.”

“Yeah! But the fake Yoner and fake Siana said that too!”

“I see. Then, Nillia, I’ll just attack you and subdue you now. If you get captured you’ll see that I’m not an illusion.”

Feeling pressed for time, Lee Han went with the most effective method.

Though Nillia might take a few hits, she’d know it’s really Lee Han afterward.

“…You’re really him!”

Nillia ran out with conviction.

She figured evil spirits that created illusions to lure people in wouldn’t come up with something as crazy as this.

“Nillia! It’s the power of friendship!”

“Y-yeah. I don’t know if friendship is supposed to work like this…”

Nillia was coated in mud and dust, evidence of having tumbled through the woods. She brushed her hair and shoulders clean as best she could and said seriously:

“Wardanaz. I think we’ve been had.”

“What? Are you talking about enrolling?”

“Not that! I mean this class. I think it’s a fake class.”

At first she had doubts, but after wandering the forest, Nillia’s doubts had become certainty.

If it were a normal class, there was no way it would be held somewhere like this.

“Nillia.”

“Huh? What?”

“Sorry, but it’s a real class.”

Lee Han explained Professor Bendozol’s educational philosophy and all the strange situations that could arise in upper-year classes.

In some classes, students had to learn by stealing a professor’s work; in others, classroom walls would be smashed to bits by the angry professor.

Nillia’s eyes, unable to believe any of this, trembled with emotion and then blazed with hatred for Professor Bendozol.

“If there was someone like that in the northern mountains, they’d have gone missing right away!”

“…Should we go find the others?”

Instead of asking about the Shadow Patrol’s covert execution methods, Lee Han changed the subject.

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t want to have a weekend class.”

“Me neither.”

Nillia smiled wryly. However, as she belatedly noticed Lee Han’s serious expression, she hesitated.

“…Wait, you weren’t joking?”

“Which part of what I just said would be a joke?”

“W-well, it’s just… You take too many classes.”

“Are you implying people who take a lot of classes have to take them even on weekends?”

When his friend’s voice grew cold, Nillia hastily tried to clarify.

“I just meant your odds of weekend class go up if you take a lot, that’s all!”

“…That’s true.”

Lee Han nodded bitterly.

That was hard to deny.

Those who took a lot of classes had a higher chance of having to take classes on weekends.

“C-cheer up.”

Nillia wasn’t confident about her encouragement but did her best.

“I ended up giving up on summoning magic.”

Back in first year, many students were interested in three or more disciplines, but that changed by sophomore year as they had to focus.

As freshmen, before fully understanding their own abilities, they could dabble a bit, but as sophomores, focus was needed.

Nillia was one of those, having given up on summoning magic after taking it in first year.

While everyone else did this, Nillia’s friend, who persisted in taking every discipline, was truly remarkable…

“Why? Why not just keep taking it?”

“……”

At her friend’s cruel tone, Nillia subtly stepped away.

In some ways, the friend beside her was scarier than the evil spirits.

“Lee Han!”

“It’s Yoner.”

At the voice in the distance, Lee Han looked at Nillia, delighted.

But Nillia wore a cautious expression.

“It could be a fake Yoner created by an evil spirit.”

“Don’t worry. If it’s an illusion conjured by an evil spirit, it’ll dissipate the moment I approach.”

Nillia was impressed anew, realizing again that her friend was a monster.

This ability exerted nearly invincible power in this kind of forest.

“Yeah. Who knew… If I’d met you earlier, I wouldn’t have fallen for that trick either.”

The dark elf friend ground her teeth in regret. Suddenly curious, Lee Han asked:

“How did the illusion approach you earlier?”

“It said it would transfer from Blue Dragon Tower and join Black Turtle Tower. Hmph.”

“……”

For a moment, Lee Han thought, ‘Isn’t it a little strange that you fell for that?’

Nillia, realizing it too, blushed and shouted:

“It sounded completely legitimate in person!”

“I-I see.”

• * *

Lee Han began picking up his friends one by one.

Sometimes there were illusions posing as students, but they didn’t last long. Once Lee Han rushed at them, the illusions scattered and the underlying evil spirits shrieked and escaped.

“Uwaagh! Wardanaz! Why—why are you rushing over?! The assignment isn’t out yet!”

“Ah, sorry. I just wanted to check if you were an illusion.”

Some of the real friends were so startled by Lee Han rushing over that they fell down, but fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

“Is this everyone?”

“Looks like it, judging by the headcount. The rest are probably taking it another period.”

The students gathered checked their number.

Since this was a mandatory class for sophomores, not a discipline-specific class, it was possible to estimate how many people would be in each class.

“Let’s move again.”

“Wardanaz-nim. It seems like the number of evil spirits is increasing…”

The Phoenix Tower students spoke cautiously.

Since they were all order-born priests, they could sense the malevolent intentions of monsters moving like this, somewhat more sharply.

For now, since Lee Han was with them, the spirits couldn’t approach, but they were circling around, drawing a large ring.

Lee Han, aware of the ominous mana movement, nodded.

“They’re more tenacious than I thought. I didn’t expect them to chase us like this instead of just running away or scattering.”

“What should we do?”

“I’m just going to drag them all the way to Professor Bendozol. He’ll take care of it from there.”

The students were startled at Lee Han’s aggressive plan and shouted out.

“That’s a great idea!”

“Let’s do that right now!”

Even the Phoenix Tower students agreed, and Lee Han was pleased.

The time they’d spent together over the past year had definitely strengthened their sense of unity.

Swish!

“!”

Suddenly the sensation at the back of his neck raised his hackles, and -Baegrek’s Instant Foresight- drew the arc of an incoming attack.

Lee Han instantly released one of the spells he had stored in -Low-grade Magic Storage-. While he couldn’t manage two since he hadn’t mastered it completely, he could do one.

‘Gonadaltes’s Swift Agility!’

Boosted by velocity, he dodged as a dusky phantom arrow struck where Lee Han had just been.

“It’s an ambush!”

“Defensive formation!”

The students all moved at once, preparing for defense.

Potions burst in clouds of smoke and summoned mists, obscuring the enemy’s vision, and some scrolls raised barriers.

With time bought, the students chanted more spells, trying to detect the attackers.

“Show forth malice, O enemy…”

‘There!’

As the spell marked the shape of the foe in red, Lee Han immediately dashed forward.

“Thunderbolt Spear!”

His staff blazed with lightning, forming a spear. Lee Han propelled himself with magic from his feet, springing vertically off a tree.

Apparently, the enemy had never expected a mage to come this fast, and tried to flee, flapping away.

“…?”

Surprisingly, the enemy was a sparrow. But Lee Han didn’t let his guard down.

Even a small sparrow, if filled with intense magical power, was nothing to take lightly.

Moreover, the aura was so strange and chilling that even a powerful mage might have their mind shaken.

Crash!

The branch the sparrow sat on exploded with thunder.

The sparrow blasted Lee Han with waves of evil spirit but, realizing quickly that it didn’t work, gave up and retreated.

Instead, it unleashed a host of shadowy ghosts to weigh down Lee Han’s spear.

Lee Han grimaced.

‘Can I make it in time?’

The sparrow summoned such a horde of ghost monsters that even burning them with the Thunderbolt Spear didn’t clear them quickly.

If the enemy managed to escape now…

Chomp!

Suddenly, the baby basilisk leapt from Lee Han’s sleeve and bit the sparrow, hidden among the ghost decoys, precisely.

As the king of snakes, it was unfazed by even the trickiest feints and instinctively located its foe.

“…Well done!”

The baby basilisk nodded its head with satisfaction.

• * *

When the students all arrived on time, Professor Bendozol began the lecture, grumbling.

“As you probably noticed on the way, the forest right now is brimming with malice and demonic energy. It’s because the adorable Nightmarejack has taken root here. Although it looks like a cute sparrow, its power is beyond most bird-type monsters! You’re incredibly lucky to see such a rare monster today…”

“……”

“…Uh…?”

The students all wore bewildered expressions as they listened to the slightly excited Professor Bendozol explain the monster.

The monster description sounded strangely familiar.