Episode 994

Even so, Lee Han threw the grape he was holding. The telekinesis magic cast without incantation traced a flashy arc, striking the hamster right on target.

Rolling through the sawdust, the hamster shivered at the realization that Lee Han’s telekinesis control had reached a whole new level.

In truth, it was far harder to precisely control small, light objects than to roughly control large, heavy ones.

For the hamster, zigzagging away as fast as he could, to be struck so accurately—

-How much have you practiced this magic?

“Stop changing the subject and give me a real answer.”

Lee Han spoke stiffly.

Why change the topic to telekinesis magic in such an urgent situation?

The hamster, brushing grapes off his back, squeaked.

-I told you! You have to finish him off. Do you really think I’d say such a thing to fool a brat like you?

“Yes.”

-……

The hamster’s whiskers quivered with rage. He started to explain in more detail.

-Listen up, you silly brat. Thought-forms aren’t handy tools you can use however you want. They’re fundamentally incompatible with the world itself.

Other-dimensional beings had to endure massive loads when manifesting in the material plane.

This was because the world rejected things that never originally existed.

Composed not of proper flesh and soul, but of pure power and information, a thought-form provoked the world’s most violent immune response among all such foreign entities.

The hamster, too, had approached to extract the thought-form’s secrets before it rampaged, never intending for it to survive for centuries.

That wasn’t even possible in the first place.

-You wouldn’t know this, junior, but Gonadaltes’ clones have manifested a few times before. Do you know the story of the Endless Slumber? An entire domain fell into a sleep…

“Hey, magical criminal, shut up and give me the solution already!”

Lee Han fired the remaining grapes in a barrage. The hamster squealed and tumbled across the floor.

“Are you deflecting again? Want me to interrogate you Einrogard-style?”

Even Lee Han, who had tried to show respect since the hamster was from a grand noble family, now bared his teeth in a rare display of menace—which only made the hamster more miserable, whether from the pain of the grapes or the humiliation.

-What the…

“You totally infiltrated this place for the secret manual, didn’t you? No way a guy like that wouldn’t have a backup plan. At the very least, you must have prepared some sort of delay tactic.”

-!

The hamster flinched in astonishment.

He never expected such a brat to see through his intentions.

Of course, the hamster had contingency methods ready in case the thought-form went berserk.

…Admittedly, he hadn’t planned on being turned into a hamster and locked in a cage…

-…There is, but it really is only a delay tactic. It’s for escape, not for healing or recovery… Not the rock! Not the rock!

As Lee Han picked up a pebble, the hamster panicked and squeaked frantically.

-And even if I told you, I can’t use it like this!

The method the hamster had prepared originally was as follows:

He had a few specially reinforced and modified minions standing by. If the thought-form looked to be going berserk under world rejection, the burden could be distributed to the minions.

Of course, even if they’d strengthened their bodies, mere minions couldn’t survive a load that even archmages would have trouble with. This was, at best, a way to buy time.

-I can’t use that method in this body. All the connections are severed. If that lunatic hadn’t turned me into a hamster…

“What about Fall?”

-What did you say?

“You should have heard about it, too. -Gonadaltes’ Fall-. If I use that to—”

-…Impossible. I knew you were arrogant, but this is absurd. You’re nowhere near that level!

The hamster scoffed so hard it made him forget the pain of being hit.

He’d heard about Fall, too. Ancient magic held plenty of strange, alien workings, but even among them, Fall was especially peculiar.

But that didn’t make it a solution.

It was like a ferryman with no experience suddenly trying to cross a swollen river during a flood on his first day.

“You tried to solve it with a similar method, didn’t you?”

-What I prepared was a much more intricate, high-level magic. There were seventy-eight support spells. You’re saying you can do all that with a single spell? Even if you did succeed, what about the burden? Sure, you have a lot of magic power—but don’t overestimate yourself!

“There’s no need to argue.”

“!”

At some point, Intarendals had come outside. Both Lee Han and the hamster jumped in surprise and turned.

“Is your master alright?”

“Yes. He took the potion I prepared.”

“…?”

-!

The hamster realized first, and Lee Han a moment later.

For a state-improving elixir, something felt far too off about this.

“…Wait… Are you saying the potion is poison?”

“So you saw through it, Lee Han. That’s right. Lord Gonadaltes anticipated this and made preparations.”

Intarendals answered with a calm face tinged with unusual sadness.

Lee Han was aghast.

“No…! You call that loyalty?!”

“Some forms of loyalty mean feeding poison to one’s liege with one’s own hands.”

-Calm down. Honestly, this ended as well as it could, junior.

Lee Han, with his telekinesis, smashed the hamster into the side of the cage. The hamster tumbled mercilessly.

Squeak squeak squeak!

“I’ll explain everything. To start with, the items Lord Gonadaltes entrusted to—”

CRASH!

A sound of breaking came from inside.

The current workshop was set in a cave, its walls solid rock.

Now, the sound of rocks splitting like crackers caused the three to freeze.

“What…?”

-…Wait. Maybe the poison didn’t work? Did you check the dose?

The hamster squeaked as he wriggled out of the sawdust. The attendant bristled at the question, as if deeply insulted.

“Lord Gonadaltes himself prepared it! There’s no way he’d make a mistake!”

-What kind of idiot just trusts the calculation of a thought-form whose condition is deteriorating and leaves it at that?!

“!!!”

Lee Han and Intarendals looked like they’d been struck by a hammer.

Intarendals struck the hamster with a magic whip, then hurried to rush inside. But it was too late.

CRACK!

The inner rock wall tore away, and an impossibly dense wave of magic, unlike any they’d experienced, surged out like a storm.

The hamster, forgetting his bruises, squeaked in terror.

-Fall! Prepare Fall, you brat! If you don’t contain it now, we’re all dead!

“It’s not too late—I’ll…!”

The attendant’s words enraged the hamster.

-Too late! He’s already rampaging! The weak poison only accelerated it! You have to reduce the disaster at the world-level itself!

The opponent was already half insane.

In times like this, halfhearted attacks were meaningless unless you could overpower that madman. There was no way he would just succumb.

They needed to restore him as close to sanity as possible and appeal to reason. At this moment, only that brat might be able to manage both.

“Be quiet, slave!”

Squeak!

Ignoring the hamster, Intarendals tried to evacuate Lee Han. There was no way he would endanger his master’s disciple by listening to a convict slave.

But Lee Han was already wielding his staff and casting his spell.

‘No!’

Intarendals, about to scream, froze at the scene before his eyes.

Above the disciple’s head, a familiar crown was forming.

A crown of bronze, copper, and intertwined branches.

Intarendals could not fail to recognize that simple yet beautiful crown.

“Basilios!”

Even at the attendant’s cry, Lee Han couldn’t hear, focused wholly on his magic.

His mind no longer even registered the voices around him. All his senses gathered on the spell, until it felt as if time had stopped and only he and his magic existed in the world.

‘A perfect Small World. When did he…!’

Intarendals felt ashamed for thinking Lee Han was being too idle lately.

No disciple but a true one could inherit this Small World.

Essences imprinted in countless parallel worlds.

From that concept, power was summoned, exerting fierce control over the surroundings. The hamster witnessed dozens of ancient magic circles appear on the ceiling, the floor, the destroyed wall, and the air.

As a wizard who had prepared something similar himself, the hamster understood instantly what Small World was now doing.

‘A spell to distribute the burden?! In this short moment!?’

Even as a Small World inherited from antiquity, this was unimaginable. Cold chills ran over the hamster’s tiny body.

But most startling was the young wizard himself.

He was using a Small World like that, absorbing world-level disaster, and yet he was still enduring it.

‘No… That’s…’

The hamster belatedly realized Lee Han’s condition.

Though his magical power was fine, he was already bleeding from his mouth, nose, and eyes.

So even with infinite magical power, the mortal body couldn’t be helped.

-Spread it out more! Fire up more magic circles! Don’t absorb it yourself—disperse it!

The hamster squeaked, knowing his words would not reach.

Even if Lee Han could have heard, he wouldn’t be able to respond.

Already, the ancient circles were doing everything to distribute the disaster’s burden.

The spatial distortion and rampaging magic alone said as much. Diverting the burden instead of absorbing it directly made the outcome unpredictable.

Clack!

What saved the master was the Small World.

A small cask-shaped pendant Lee Han wore around his neck burst open, its contents forcing themselves into his mouth.

That wasn’t all. The overloading power flowed into a behemoth bone necklace and into artifacts like the Morningstar. When it hit the Bracelet of Ten Thousand Demons, a chorus of unseen demonic screams rang out.

Lastly, the Small World rolled up the baby basilisk and flung it far away. The baby basilisk, which had been trying to bear the burden with Lee Han, whipped its tail in angry protest.

The hamster buried his head in the sawdust and begged.

‘Please, brat!’

If, after this catastrophe ended, an even crazier thought-form appeared, who knew what would happen.

“…Basilios can only be used under strict conditions.”

-!!!

Hearing that familiar chilling voice, the hamster nearly burst into tears.

The mad clone walked out from the wreckage, looking at the disciple, still entranced by magic, with troubled eyes.

“You cannot call upon it for use without true nobility for others. I never imagined even royalty would meet that condition…”

“Master!”

“I’m sorry, Intarendals. My mistake as royalty caused you trouble. But… I can fix this right away.”

The hamster was about to shout, “Hurry up and kill yourself!” but stopped.

No need to press—he’d likely handle it himself.

“There is no need.”

-?!

“!”

Not only the hamster, but even the mad clone was shocked.

Lee Han had somehow come back to his senses and was now speaking.

-H-how!? Wait. What did you drink?

Seeing the odd, unnatural glow in Lee Han’s eyes, the hamster was alarmed.

Lee Han, having drunk the Wine of Wisdom, spoke with deep conviction.

“Look. Whether it be disaster or catastrophe, in the end, it’s not any different from other magical phenomena. If you fear it and act rashly, you’re unfit to be a wizard, aren’t you?”

“Such a bold statement for someone shredded to pieces after a brief taste.”

The mad clone was displeased, but Lee Han paid no mind.

“A wizard must always attempt the calculations to block it! Otherwise, what can I ever learn from you, Teacher? If you truly cannot stop it even after all considerations, then I, too, will not intervene. But if you prepare in secret and fail like this, how is that not the act of a thief? Where did all that royal dignity you always lecture me about go?!”

-You crazy brat. That’s enough…

The hamster fretted.

He didn’t know what relic Lee Han drank, but the unnatural wisdom seemed to be bringing out wild courage as well.

But the mad clone didn’t get angry. Rather, he fell silent.

Silence.

After a long pause, the mad clone finally spoke.

“…You’re right. If I trust my disciple, I shouldn’t hide my plans. I admit it. This was my mistake as royalty.”

“M-master!”

“I’ll try to contain the disaster openly. Without hiding it from my disciple…”

No.

A familiar telepathic voice rang behind them.

Everyone turned to see the familiar skull floating in the air, gazing coldly in their direction.

You thought it through, but that isn’t the answer.

-Gonadaltes!

The hamster squeaked in terror, but the skull headmaster didn’t pay him—just a magical criminal—any mind.

His burning eyes were focused solely on the clone as he declared:

The answer is eternal sealing.