Chapter 734
Unlike when he drew mana in from the surrounding space, this filled up in an instant.
Diret, who had been about to swear, had no choice but to admit that the junior’s judgment had been correct.
If they had gone with Diret’s original plan, they never would have secured enough mana in time.
The black, wavering sphere Diret had pulled out of his body was a kind of quasi-sacrament made by infusing it with fragments of his own soul.
It was a masterpiece of dark magic, inspired by the way liches tried to deceive the laws of the world by placing their souls inside a reliquary.
Diret used this essence, compressed with enormous mana and arcane mysteries, by linking it to his Lesser World.
Diret had engraved the true name of the Lesser World Pentagramaton into it so it could be activated instantly if the situation demanded it.
But powerful magic always came with powerful penalties.
Diret had thought it was complete enough, but the moment it was brought out into the open, this quasi-sacrament became unstable as it violently reacted against the outside world.
It was only because they had hurriedly filled it with mana that it held together at all. Otherwise, it might have collapsed much sooner.
“Junior. Don’t let go. I’m activating it!”
At some point, Diret’s incantation shifted into a language Lee Han could no longer understand.
It was a spell meant to call forth a world separated from the external one.
In an instant, all the mana in the surrounding area was sucked into Diret’s sphere, and a temporary mana vacuum spread around them.
Then waves of negative energy and dark elements burst out violently. With the mana drained away, the golems and bone barriers Diret had summoned were nullified at once.
But Diret did not care in the slightest. With black flames flickering in his eyes, Diret shouted,
“Curse!”
At that moment, the enormous black, sticky mass flinched.
It was utterly at odds with the savage ferocity it had shown until now, charging forward no matter what barrage hit it.
BOOM!
A full third of the gigantic mass blew away. Lee Han stared at the crowkin upperclassman with awe in his eyes.
That curse had not been an ordinary curse.
Even with Lee Han’s senses, he could not begin to grasp how many curses had been woven together and fired as one.
It was a truly vicious curse among curses.
Mortally wounded, the enormous mass writhed as it tried to recover. But Diret gave it no such chance. The black sphere blazed, and Diret’s pupils flashed in turn.
FWOOOOOSH!
The enormous mass began to combust spontaneously.
The curse it had just taken had not ended with blowing its body apart.
That had only been the beginning.
In the blink of an eye, the mountain-sized enemy took a curse straight into its essence, thrashed helplessly, and shrank in on itself.
It kept burning and burning, and when it finally vanished into dust in midair, the monstrous bird carrying the two of them cried out,
—Whoever the archmage was, that was vicious! Leaving behind mana like this!
“What do you mean by that?”
—That wasn’t a natural phenomenon! It was magic somebody left behind!
“…!”
Mages did not believe in coincidence easily.
Especially not someone like Lee Han, who had dealt with more than his share of wicked mages.
There could only be one reason something like this would happen in a place where the Skull Principal’s insane duplicate and a magical criminal had been.
So it really was the insane duplicate!
Lee Han ground his teeth. Even the Skull Principal’s duplicate was an unbelievable nuisance.
“Upperclassman. I think it was the Principal’s duplicate. Let’s go back and confront him immediately!”
“Right…”
Diret coughed, face drained white. Startled, Lee Han shouted,
“What’s wrong with you?!”
—Diret! Diret pulled out an unfinished Lesser World! Idiot Diret!
“Shut up…”
At the monstrous bird’s cry, Lee Han finally understood what was happening.
He did not know exactly what that black sphere was, but bringing it out before it was finished had obviously destabilized it. Right now, Diret was trying to stabilize it.
“Junior…”
“Yes. What do I need to do?”
“When I said shut up, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to that one…”
“……”
Realizing Diret was in bad shape, Lee Han asked the monstrous bird,
“If I pour mana into it like before, won’t that stabilize it?”
—You idiot mage! This isn’t something mana can solve!
Damn.
At the bird’s scolding, Lee Han clicked his tongue.
Unlike during the preparation stage, it seemed stabilization could not be solved with mana this time.
—If you tried to stabilize it with mana, even this idiot mage dying several times wouldn’t be enough!
“Ah.”
Ignoring it, Lee Han grabbed the sphere again and stabilized it.
—?!
*****
After barely recovering, Diret spoke with an expression that said this was giving Diret a splitting headache.
“Thank you, junior. Normally I’d have to scold you for trying to meddle in someone else’s magic on your own, but…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Forget it. I can’t say that after taking help from you. Ugh. This is terrible for my dignity as an upperclassman.”
“What are you talking about? You practically killed it by yourself.”
—Idiot Diret! Idiot Diret!
“Will you shut up already?”
Diret clamped the monstrous bird’s beak shut.
“I thought it was complete enough to be usable once I brought it out, but it turned out to be more unstable than I expected. If you hadn’t helped, junior, it would’ve been far more dangerous.”
“What exactly was that?”
“Probably some kind of evil thought-form left behind by a mage. Something that gathered the elements in the Dark Forest and sent them to attack…”
“I was asking about the magic you used, upperclassman.”
“……”
Diret glared at Lee Han for a moment, then answered.
“A quasi-sacrament. One of my research projects. It’s about exceeding the limit without becoming a lich… since something like a Lesser World takes too long to prepare.”
After hearing the detailed explanation, Lee Han was impressed.
Wasn’t that basically the same as artificially creating and using a second origin for a mage?
Just as expected of a fifth-year student. Diret was pursuing a research project overflowing with madness. No one made it to the fifth year for nothing.
“But upperclassman, did you solve the instability problem from earlier?”
At the question, Diret’s expression darkened.
Because Diret had brought it out before it was finished, the instability had become much worse.
They had temporarily stabilized it by overfeeding it mana, but that was nothing more than emergency treatment.
There would be all kinds of problems until it was properly completed again.
“It’s solved.”
“…Is it really?”
Looking at Diret’s face, Lee Han turned and whispered to the monstrous bird. Now subtly freed, the bird whispered back.
—It’s not solved! It’ll take a year to finish it again!
“When I poured mana into it earlier, it stabilized. Did that not mean anything?”
—It’ll become unstable again once enough time passes! Mana gets consumed!
With a blank expression, Diret lifted the wand and smacked the bird. The monstrous bird was immediately unsummoned.
“That one talks too much.”
“Upperclassman, it seems like you could just keep feeding it mana periodically. I’ll do it.”
“It’s fine. You don’t have to.”
“Do you have another method?”
“I do.”
“What is it?”
“Well… there’s a secret method left behind by the great archmage Letibelkui. I can use that.”
“…You’re not trying to trick me by reversing Upperclassman Yukbeltire’s name and slapping ‘great archmage’ onto the front of it, are you?”
Diret clicked Diret’s tongue openly.
For someone who had not taken first in the year for nothing, even tricking Lee Han was difficult.
“You catch on too fast.”
“Feeding it mana isn’t that hard. You saw it yourself just now. Besides, if I don’t regularly expend mana, every mana channel in my body bursts and I die.”
“What?! Really?!”
“It’s a lie, but if it makes you feel better to think that, then let’s call it true.”
“……”
Diret glared at the junior viciously. Feeling a little sorry, Lee Han made an excuse.
“I didn’t think you’d believe something like that.”
“How was I not supposed to believe it when you said it that seriously?!”
After snapping, Diret let out a sigh and said,
“Fine. I’ll be honest. It would help a lot if you did that. It would. But…”
“But?”
“That would mean you’d have to come to the workshop regularly and help. In effect, you’d be helping with my research.”
“Is that a problem?”
“…Did you forget that Yukbeltire tried to kidnap you?”
“Ah.”
Only then did Lee Han understand what Diret was getting at.
At a time when certain students wanted to drag Lee Han away and make him participate in their research by force, Lee Han taking part in Diret’s research could act like a signal.
—So the junior really did want to take part in research after all!
—Of course. There’s no way someone taking every school’s classes wouldn’t be interested in research!
At Diret’s explanation, Lee Han smiled and said,
“Upperclassman. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why not? It sounds like something I should be worried about.”
“Because we can just keep it secret!”
“……”
Diret narrowed Diret’s eyes and looked at the junior.
For some reason, Diret felt like Diret had just figured out why this junior had ended up attending classes from every school.
*****
—Master. The boy from House Wardanaz…
So he finally made contact with a first-year! Bring the culprit to me!
—Pardon? What are you talking about?
Didn’t I tell you to keep watch on whether I made contact with first-years?
—Ah. That.
……
At the Death Knight’s reaction, which very plainly suggested it had completely forgotten, the Skull Principal flashed his gaze in irritation.
You forgot my order!
—I apologize, Master. I did not forget. However, if I may dare offer frank counsel…
Do not offer it.
—Since there are many other important orders, there is no choice but to pay less attention to comparatively less important ones.
In truth, few among the Death Knights actually watched whether Lee Han made contact with first-year students.
It would be more accurate to say they might announce, “A first-year is coming,” if they happened to notice.
At the Death Knights’ insubordination, the Skull Principal grumbled that they were ungrateful, that they had forgotten all generosity shown to them, and that they were the kind who would stab their master in the back.
The Death Knight, enduring the entire rant with knightly patience, finally spoke once it was over.
—The boy from House Wardanaz is requesting an audience.
Really? Tell him to come in.
—What do you think it is?
A magic question, obviously.
—It isn’t even the weekend yet.
In truth, most students did not come asking magic questions even on weekends.
That boy is just like that.
—Fair enough. I’ll let him in.
The Skull Principal looked back at the magazine in hand with satisfaction.
And the moment Lee Han entered, the Principal bragged,
Look at this!
“??”
“…One day, a master found there was too much to teach a disciple and said this.
‘Since I must teach you quickly, four in the morning and three in the evening—’
Ha! I knew they’d print ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) it. I thought it was one of my best works. It’s all thanks to you!”
“……”
Lee Han found it absurd, but he held back. He was dealing with a wand-wielding tyrant.
“So what magic did you come to ask about? Word of command? Lesser World? Sixth-circle? Ask someone else about sixth-circle.”
“It’s none of those three.”
I trust it isn’t some garbage magic.
The moment Lee Han said it was none of the three, the Skull Principal’s gaze turned cold immediately.
“Principal.”
When you wear that serious look, I feel like you usually say complete bullshit…
“There is a magical criminal in Einroguard territory with one of your duplicates, Principal!”
How do you know that?
“!”
The Skull Principal did not look surprised. The Principal simply asked the question calmly.
Lee Han was horrified.
He immediately shouted at the Death Knights,
“Everyone! The Principal has finally gone insane! Someone please send a petition to His Majesty the Emperor!”
Lee Han spun at once to leap out the window.
The Skull Principal shook the skull in disbelief and twisted the room’s space, changing Lee Han’s direction.
But Lee Han had anticipated even that. The instant the space twisted, Lee Han exploded mana from the tips of his feet and jumped backward.
Hey!
Dumbfounded, the Skull Principal turned the window into a wall.
As a master, having a disciple who was smart in all the wrong ways was a blessing, but at the same time it was an exasperating flaw.
Jump if you want, but listen before you do.
Lee Han hesitated.
The Skull Principal said irritably,
Don’t pretend to stop while you’re getting ready to break the wall!
Damn. Busted.