Episode 780

Pop!

-Ogonin’s Veil- and -Baegrek’s Premonition- were instantly cast.

Both were sub-third circle spells stored and released for immediate use through the -Lesser Spell Storage-, which succeeded perfectly.

Lee Han should have been pleased at executing spells he hadn’t mastered perfectly yet, but there was no time.

The frost giant was in pursuit.

-…Wait, don’t tell me you’re running away?

The frost giant shouted in disbelief.

But no matter how the giant denied reality, the magicians running off in the distance didn’t change.

-How?! Why would a challenger recognized by the king flee from me?!

“I’ll come back for a duel when I have time! I’ll visit sometime!”

Lee Han shouted as if making a polite social invitation.

That might have worked on Gainando or the Einrogard giants, but unfortunately the opponent was a clever frost giant. He saw right through Lee Han’s ruse.

-So you’re just running away from me! Shameless magician—so the king may recognize you, but I will not! I’ll change your mind!

Lee Han wanted to argue, but he was too busy holding his breath and running.

Luckily, Ogonin’s Veil wrapped around the group, blocking the giant’s sight and making their escape safer.

“Gainando, left! Princess, right! On my signal… freeze!”

With the spell, -Pengerine’s Cold Elemental Replica- was unleashed.

With cold energy everywhere around them, Lee Han felt composed. He instantly sensed he could make another replica.

“On my signal… freeze!”

‘Lucky it’s a cold dimension!’

Whether it was good or bad was hard to say, but at least it suited the situation.

-Hmph!

The frost giant, truly angered, hunched and leapt straight down the slope.

He charged down in a physical onslaught, determined to destroy everything regardless of illusions or decoys.

Simple, but effective. With the brute coming up so fast, Lee Han—prepping his next spell—clicked his tongue.

‘Should I cancel and defend?’

If he gave up his current spell, the frost giant would get the initiative.

But letting it get that close…

“Do it! Block the path!”

“!”

Gainando’s spell took Lee Han by surprise.

Apparently, Gainando realized the danger and joined in.

Judging by the big undead and the corrosive toxin, he clearly aimed to collapse part of the icy slope.

Frost giants had immense strength, but also great weight.

The thick, seemingly solid glacier slope could break badly if it started to crack.

“Hurry! Hurry!”

Gainando barked out urgent orders.

Giving too many commands to a contracted undead could cause rebellion later, but now Gainando didn’t care.

‘I used an expensive Penguincatcher Toxin for this!’

The ice-corroding toxin, brought along for the Frozen Empty Zone, cost as much as a week’s worth of snacks.

Even after using it, only small cracks had appeared.

“Fly now!”

“W-waugh!”

Gainando screamed as a chakram artifact flew at him.

Adenart’s summoned artifact was sent to help.

“What do you think you’re doing with that? Summon something bigger! Idiot!”

Gainando wondered what a round weapon could do, but Adenart paid him no heed.

The power of the chakram artifact wasn’t the point.

Clang!

A potion attached to the artifact landed perfectly, dropping onto Gainando’s undead, the Thorn Revenant.

Lee Han, being top of the alchemy class, instantly recognized the potion.

That was…

‘Undead Explosion Potion!’

A potion made by imperial alchemists during the undead crisis, it detonated any undead it touched, dealing explosive area damage.

It’s hard to make, unstable, with a short shelf life—not something you carry unless you plan to hunt undead.

‘She didn’t bring it just for Gainando, right?’

BOOM!

It worked brilliantly.

The Thorn Revenant, big and with spiked armor, exploded upon contact with the potion.

The shock shattered the slope’s surface further. Gainando screamed.

“You! You!!”

How dare she forcibly unsummon his minion?!

“Are you crazy?!?!?!”

“Wasn’t that the reason you sent the undead?”

Adenart answered at a loss.

Given the timing, destroying the slope with Gainando’s undead and toxin was improbable.

She assumed he meant to explode it.

“No black magician would toss out their undead like that!!”

“A spirit might be okay with it if you explain—”

“Undead are different!!”

Spirits are forgiving of accidents, but undead are petty and vindictive—they’d gladly stab you in the back.

Unless you were intimidating like Lee Han, a black magician couldn’t deal with them too roughly.

“Do you know what it took to make that contract?! You ignorant brute who knows nothing about black magic!”

“!”

Adenart, stunned, went even paler.

To be called ignorant of magic by her own half-brother!

“Lee Han! Say something to this black magic ignoramus!”

But Lee Han couldn’t answer.

He was finishing his spell.

“Flame, rise as a barrier!”

FWOOOOSH!

A wall of fire erupted over the broken slope.

The fierce flames would make a solid barrier to keep the frost giant back.

Adenart started to ask, “Should I learn a bit about black magic?” but hesitated.

‘Isn’t something off?’

The flame barrier looked way too powerful.

…Even with lots of mana, was this really possible with -Lesser Flame Barrier-?

“Guys, run!!”

“Huh? Why? It can’t cross, right?”

Gainando questioned, but quickly realized.

The fire barrier had gone berserk, expanding aggressively beyond control.

Faster than the frost giant.

“Is fire barrier supposed to be this aggressive…?”

“Run!”

“G-got it!”

The three dashed away.

Adenart only now realized what Lee Han had done.

He must have cast -Lesser Flame Barrier-, fixed the shape, and then poured in a ton of mana to make it explode.

Magic run amok is hard to control, but it gets super strong. The wild flames behind them were proof.

“How… while it exploded, the mana…?”

Even now, Adenart couldn’t let go of her curiosity.

Making magic go berserk on purpose is very difficult.

Just causing it is hard, and even if you have Wardanaz’s massive mana, maintaining the shape before the explosion isn’t easy.

Could Lee Han’s magic control really go that far?

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“With all that mana, how did you—”

“Let’s talk later!”

“……”

Adenart wondered if Lee Han thought he was being scolded.

…Was he dodging because he thought it was a rebuke?

“I’m not blaming y—”

-Challenger! Mark my words! I will see you again. Treasure our duel until then!

“…I really need to avoid the cold dimension from now on.”

• * *

Ahsan and Raphadael sweated their way through the Rainforest Zone.

This dimension, dense with giant plants, was so humid and hot that mages tired quickly.

“W-we really did get the toughest place…”

“…Agreed.”

The summoning students who’d joined later nodded as well.

The students in the Rainforest Zone had suffered like no others.

Ahsan, landing near a man-eating plant, nearly got caught and only just escaped thanks to fire artifacts.

Raphadael lost supplies due to unstable transit, and nearly drank poisonous water trying to secure drinking water. Luckily, with black magic antidotes, disaster was averted.

One student tried to steal a giant turtle’s egg for food and almost got buried alive. Another was chased up trees by angry velociraptors…

“The forest’s over. Look over there!”

The students pointed in relief.

At the edge of the rainforest, the central region of the dimension emerged.

Covered in mist and clouds, it was a massive stone massif marked “relatively safe” on the map.

It was the best camping spot to join up.

“Hey, it’s Wardanaz!”

“Wardanaz! Over here!”

Spotting Lee Han’s group in the distance, students cheered and fired off signal magic.

Soon an answering signal showed they’d been seen. Students, forgetting their fatigue, hurried to join up.

“You all did well. I didn’t expect us to meet up so quickly; we’re lucky.”

“Lucky? Wardanaz, do you know what we went through?”

Raphadael replied with a weary voice.

Given their rotten luck, this much “good fortune” felt like nothing.

“True, the Rainforest Zone is full of giant plants. That must have been rough.”

As soon as Lee Han finished, students started venting.

They’d been through so much, they couldn’t hold it in.

“Seriously, Wardanaz! That turtle kept coming for us over one egg…”

“Do you even know how annoying raptors are?”

“If I hadn’t had my fire dagger ready, it would have been game over right there…”

While they vented, Raphadael quietly asked Gainando,

“Didn’t you run into anything?”

“We ran into a frost giant and got away.”

“…How?”

“Broke the glacier, set the whole area on fire…”

“……”

Raphadael was appalled.

‘This bastard… he waited for us to complain first on purpose…!’

So it would sound like the stuff his group went through was trivial by comparison!