Episode 744

Episode 744

“Haha. Then I’ll draw first, upperclassman!”

The music magic students lined up harmoniously and began the drawing.

“Oh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m lucky? It’s a pan flute piece. There aren’t any lyrics, so it seems a bit easier.”

The upperclassman, who had drawn a piece related to the instrument they were confident in, brightened their eyes with joy.

The next upperclassman also drew a trumpet piece they were interested in and seemed satisfied.

‘Huh?’

Lee Han, watching, felt puzzled.

If it was just one person, maybe it would be nothing, but the continued luck of drawing a piece that suited each person felt odd.

Moreover, when he focused his senses keenly and checked the drawing box, he sensed a complicated flow of magic power inside.

“Upperclassman Illeg. Is there by any chance in this box…”

“Shh.”

Illeg motioned for silence with a thick finger. Lee Han unknowingly shut his mouth immediately.

The upperclassman beastkin with glasses winked and spoke.

“As expected, you have talent? To be able to catch that. Yes, this is not an ordinary drawing box.”

This box contained the principle of Yukbeltire’s Kalendarium.

As a fellow fifth year, Illeg had borrowed magic from Yukbeltire to create this simple drawing box.

It couldn’t calculate as many lectures as the Kalendarium did, but for a drawing box, this was sufficient.

“Wouldn’t it be better to tell the other upperclassmen?”

“No. It will feel much nicer if each person thinks they drew by their own luck.”

“!”

Lee Han was amazed by the upperclassman’s kindness.

To let the other students experience a sense of achievement, he had even prepared this kind of white lie.

‘No way. Why does the Phoenix Tower have fifth-year students like this?’

Upon reflection, the fifth-year students in the Black Turtle Tower or Phoenix Tower were respectable enough to put the professors to shame.

Meanwhile, the fifth-year student in Lee Han’s tower was someone like Professor Verdus’s best disciple…

‘…It would be nice if the fifth-year in the White Tiger Tower had a terrible personality.’

With such a wicked thought, Lee Han stood in front of the box.

-Escape to the Shadow Fortress, Violin-

‘Is it dark element again?’

Lee Han looked at Ifadur. Ifadur began to explain the piece as if waiting for the question.

“-Escape to the Shadow Fortress- is quite a famous piece, Student Wardanaz. You’ve drawn a good piece.”

“Is it a piece that enhances the dark element?”

“I don’t think so… The shadow fortress in this piece is a metaphor, not an actual fortress for wizards who deal in shadow magic.”

Ifadur slowly explained the history of the piece.

This -Escape to the Shadow Fortress- was a piece based on an old fable, depicting a brilliant young wizard prince fleeing from death to a fortress.

The young prince used various tricks to alter the fortress, and in the end, death couldn’t dare enter and retreated…

“…Why does this suit me?”

“W-who knows? Because it’s a violin piece?”

Lee Han reluctantly collected the sheet music.

Of course, anything he could play was good, but Lee Han wanted something a bit more practical.

‘Something like luck or intelligence would have been better.’

Lee Han honestly had no idea why this sheet music was drawn.

Was it to prepare him for the perilous second year?

“Everyone. Read your chosen sheet music carefully. And from next week, let’s meet during lecture time.”

“Yes!”

The students gathered for music magic nodded and got up from their seats.

In fact, because of music magic’s special nature, they gathered separately today; otherwise, there wasn’t really any reason to meet apart on a weekend.

“See you next week.”

“Wait. Wardanaz.”

Illeg stopped Lee Han, who was about to leave last.

Although Lee Han hadn’t done anything wrong, he paused nervously for no reason.

“What’s the matter?”

“Don’t attend the music magic lecture next week. Get some solid rest. You worked hard by yourself today.”

“…Upperclassman…!”

• * *

Despite the dark night, Lee Han walked warmly thanks to Illeg’s recent words.

‘There really are people like this in the world.’

It made him feel sorry for having even entertained complaints while preparing for music magic.

Lee Han vowed to pledge loyalty to upperclassman Illeg from now on.

δόξαβασιλείας…

“!”

A humming sound came from somewhere.

It was common in Einrogard for screams, shouts, and spells to be heard. Unlike last year, Lee Han didn’t stop his steps for every bit of noise anymore.

But the sound he heard now was fundamentally different from the noise of Einrogard.

This was…

‘Word Magic!’

The presence contained in the voice itself was shaking reality.

As far as Lee Han knew, only word magic could do this.

And as far as he knew, there was only one person at this school who would leisurely wander around humming word magic at night, or rather, there should only be one.

“…Principal?”

There was no answer.

Lee Han quickly pulled out his staff, cast a spell stored in the field storage, then began to ready the enhancement spells he could use.

But despite his flawless actions, Lee Han’s instincts began screaming.

His innate, outstanding sense for detecting magic power was now telling him that the opponent before him possessed tremendous power.

Pop!

As if on a stroll, a human-shaped skeleton principal walked out from the nearby bushes.

But Lee Han could instantly sense that the skeleton principal in front of him was someone else entirely.

The usual skeleton principal was hard to predict, and pretty crazy, but…

This skeleton principal in front of him gave off a truly inhuman chill.

“Are you the one?”

“Who are you?”

The opponent swung his hand lightly instead of answering.

The surrounding mist and thick ice shield were torn to shreds in a single blow, and then an invisible, formless force struck fiercely at the place where Lee Han stood.

Bang!

Lee Han barely managed to glimpse a second ahead using his foresight magic, dove, and got out of the attack’s range.

‘This is…!’

For an attack delivered so casually, the power behind it was incredible.

He felt cold sweat.

Lee Han tried hard to anticipate even a single one of his opponent’s attacks by relying on his deployed foresight magic.

But while Lee Han was on edge, the insane doppelgänger of the skeleton principal kept giving a lifeless stare.

“I heard music magic, and you fouled my ears. How are you going to repay royalty for their trouble?”

‘Is this guy insane?’

Lee Han immediately realized why this was called the crazy doppelgänger.

He heard music magic, came all the way here thinking ‘Oh, music magic?’, and then made a big fuss: ‘This is the best you can do!’

Even the real skeleton principal wasn’t as shameless or brazen.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

For now, Lee Han played dumb.

What could the opponent do if he insisted he hadn’t used music magic?

But this time, Lee Han’s expectations were wrong. True madness is unpredictable.

Bang!

Once again, a telekinesis-type magic hurtled at him just like before.

Although foresight was active for a moment, this time Lee Han couldn’t see it at all. He realized that the opponent had noticed his foresight magic in that brief moment and was using it himself.

If two wizards started using foresight magic at the same time, it entered a nearly unpredictable territory.

If Lee Han hadn’t used all his magic power to defend himself at the moment of impact, he would have been incapacitated on the spot.

“Ugh…!”

Lee Han was glad he had trained in swordsmanship last year.

Had he only relied on magic and not strengthened his body, he would have been caught helpless in a surprise like this.

‘I need to extend the foresight period…!’

Even while collapsed, Lee Han quickly turned his mind.

He couldn’t tell if his opponent was off guard, but he had to catch some loophole and escape, no matter how small.

To do that, he had to extend that approximately one second of foresight, to throw his opponent’s foresight off even a little.

‘Foresight magic is demanding. The opponent must have only used it briefly to counter me, he wouldn’t have left it running for long. If only there’s a momentary opening…’

“Your foresight is impressive.”

With those words, the doppelgänger of the skeleton principal cut off Lee Han’s foresight.

Lee Han realized his own foresight magic had been blocked.

Once the opponent first read the future and firmly sealed off various possibilities, Lee Han’s belated foresight just froze up.

‘…He’ll probably respond like this.’

And then Lee Han moved again.

As a huge surge of magic was sacrificed, the time glimpsed by -Baegrek’s Instant Foresight- suddenly lengthened.

When the doppelgänger realized his opponent had escaped from the palm of his hand, his eyes cooled.

“Darkness, sweep forth!”

Lee Han desperately scattered dark elements, cast a cold element doppelgänger, and widened the distance.

Rumble—

The earth around him suddenly rose up all at once, forming stone walls. Lee Han trusted his magic and cast a stone decomposition spell.

While he was making a hole to escape, outside the stone wall had already turned into quicksand. Before he could step forward, sand rose up to bind Lee Han.

Luckily, Lee Han had already cast -Gonadaltes’s Quickening Agility-.

With enhancement magic and a burst of magic power hitting his toes, Lee Han stepped onto the air and leapt.

Finally escaping the encirclement, Lee Han was startled to find the crazy doppelgänger standing right in front of him.

He had moved instantly through space without giving Lee Han a chance to react.

“I was enraged by that lowly music magic, but your other magic is usable. Good. I’ll take you as my disciple.”

“Pardon?”

Bang!

The crazy doppelgänger swung another annoyed attack at the insubordinate disciple.

He would answer a question with another question, tell lies, forget to show reverence…

Whatever house he came from, it was clear he was behaving like a barbarian.

“…!”

This time, Lee Han didn’t get blown away and barely held out. The crazy doppelgänger looked surprised for the first time.

“That magic just now, did you use it by instinct?”

“……”

Even Lee Han himself didn’t understand what he’d done.

He’d only instinctively thought he needed to block, having predicted the power and trajectory of the incoming attack, but somehow managed to block it.

“A decent shield spell. Don’t forget to research it.”

“Th… thank you?”

Amid all this, as his opponent analyzed what he had just done and advised him to recreate it as a spell, Lee Han forgot about the situation and answered subconsciously.

Swish!

The crazy doppelgänger created a dimensional rift in midair. With a single gesture, he hurled Lee Han through the rift.

Thud!

The doppelgänger himself also disappeared through the rift, leaving nothing in the forest path of Einrogard.

As if the fierce battle from just moments ago had been a total lie.

• * *

“Sit.”

“……”

Lee Han tried hard to stay calm.

He didn’t know where he was, but it seemed to still be within the Einrogard domain.

‘A mountain range? Everything around is cliffs and peaks, and I don’t see any giants or sheep either.’

Lee Han glanced at the ring, thinking he should summon the skeleton principal.

But the crazy doppelgänger didn’t give him the chance.

He couldn’t tell how far in advance the opponent was foreseeing, but somehow, by instinct, he was sure that the moment he tried to use the ring he’d be blocked.

“You must be wondering why someone as insignificant as you was brought as a royal disciple.”

“…Yes!”

“It’s simple. Because I need a descendant to illuminate the royal honor.”

“May I ask a question, if that’s not too much?”

“So long as it’s not a useless one.”

The crazy doppelgänger made clear his intent to punish any useless questions.

Cursing inside, Lee Han asked:

“Um… doesn’t royalty already have many honorable disciples?”

“What nonsense? None.”

“……”

From that answer, Lee Han realized that the opponent didn’t count the skeleton principal’s disciples at all.