Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 683
“What a shame—”
The Pride Duke murmured.
Unlike other low-rank devils that obsessed only over slaughter and destruction, a devil of duke rank inevitably had a different purpose—one bound up with dignity and intellect.
The Pride Duke was the same.
Rather than killing every mage present, the Pride Duke wanted to collect their souls.
That was the Pride Duke Garisayma.
The situation was, for Garisayma, luck piled atop luck.
When else would there be a chance to overpower mages while exercising power without restriction, then shove contracts down their throats?
Mages were truly a crafty breed. Whenever they contracted with a powerful devil, they always laid traps and snares.
A chance like this was rare.
Especially the young mage right in front—contracted with the Thunder Duke King. He was genuinely desirable.
‘Like a jewel.’
Even among the souls displayed in Garisayma’s showcase, it would be hard to find one like that.
But perhaps the Thunder Duke King could sense that greed as well, because it was burning power with the resolve to kill the mage rather than lose.
If it came to that, subduing the mage and forcing a contract would be impossible. Garisayma regretted it and regretted it again, then made up its mind.
It—can’t—be—helped—Thunder Duke King—This—grudge—I’ll—repay—later—!
—It’s coming again!
In an instant, enormous mana surged up behind the Pride Duke and began swallowing the surrounding space.
Lee Han wasn’t surprised. He’d seen the Frost Giant King once reshape the surrounding space to suit itself.
What surprised Lee Han was something else.
‘That mana’s attribute…?!’
An attribute of mana he’d never seen before was writhing.
—A devil duke uses its own attribute. Be careful. It won’t be like other elements.
Not a darkness element, not any other element—an alien attribute of mana wrapped around the Pride Duke.
At that point, the mage’s advantage—figuring the opponent out in advance with knowledge—didn’t work at all.
—Do you know anything about what kind of property it has?
Sensing the ominous mana, Lee Han asked. Perkuntra answered immediately.
—You don’t need to know that!
—Pardon?
Before the words were even finished, the Pride Duke’s attack began.
Unlike earlier, when it had tried to subdue him, this time there was killing intent—an intent to make sure Perkuntra died.
‘Fog…!’
The Pride Duke turned into a black-crimson fog and tried to surround Lee Han. Objects caught within the range turned to dust and vanished.
“!”
At the strange attribute—something that didn’t feel like weathering or corrosion—Lee Han shuddered.
But Perkuntra was still confident.
I’ll show you lightning.
Lightning Transfiguration!
Fused with Lee Han, Perkuntra transformed in that instant into lightning itself and moved.
A single streak of lightning pierced straight through the space the Pride Duke had dyed by turning into fog.
It didn’t end there. Perkuntra moved in succession, pressing the Pride Duke instead. Each time the lightning moved and moved again, the Pride Duke’s space grew smaller and smaller.
Thunder—Duke—King—you’re—having—fun—!
If you’re bitter, then borrow mana yourself!
No matter how freely the Pride Duke had crossed the dimension gate, its power ultimately flowed through the connected dimension gate behind it.
In contrast, Perkuntra fought while directly fused with the contractor, and could inflate strength as much as the contractor’s capacity allowed.
The Pride Duke had no choice but to acknowledge that the Thunder Duke King was not an easy opponent.
It still didn’t understand how the contractor was enduring it—
Mage—truly—mysterious—
—But Perkuntra.
Lee Han asked, puzzled.
That Lightning Transfiguration just now could be seen as a kind of transformation magic.
Turning into lightning and seizing the area around you—a simple concept with an absurd level of difficulty.
—Is it really okay for me if we use that?
—You have that much mana, and you’re asking a stupid question!
—No. I’m not asking about mana. If you use magic that doesn’t match my level like this, it puts strain on my body.
Just as powerful enhancement magic strained the body, other magic was the same.
If he kept turning into lightning and darting in and out, would his body be okay afterward?
—You’ve got so much mana that your body won’t collapse. It’ll hold.
—Really? No muscle soreness or anything?
—There might be some…
—……
—If it’s just muscle soreness while fighting a devil duke, that’s cheap!
Perkuntra protested as if it was unfair.
‘That’s true.’
Lee Han had to admit that.
The Pride Duke pulled out its black-crimson sword and laughed combatively.
Good—good—let’s—keep—going—Thunder—Duke—King—!
The moment the words ended, the Pride Duke vanished.
Like a pitch-black night sky, the Pride Duke’s mana wrapped around the area. Within that fog, the Pride Duke moved freely and bared its teeth.
Perkuntra answered with a combative thunder roar and became lightning. Each swing turned into spears and blades of lightning, tearing the fog apart and colliding with the Pride Duke’s sword.
In a span of less than five seconds, the two clashed close to hundreds of times. The Pride Duke spoke, voice full of excitement.
Most—devils—get—trapped—here—and—chirp—like—canaries—!
Are you going to keep transforming into fog? That fog can’t beat my lightning!
The moment it touched the Pride Duke’s space, it took massive damage, but Perkuntra resisted with sacred lightning that carried the true name.
If the fog’s power didn’t work, it was nothing but a loose net.
We’ll—see—about—that—no—matter—how—crafty—your—contractor—is—eventually—he’ll—collapse—!
“That’s enough, devil. Get off the underclassman! Unless you want to be locked in Einroguard’s Bottomless Deep!”
How—dare—you—threaten—me—?!
‘Einroguard has a place like that?’
*****
Once Perkuntra and the Pride Duke’s fight began, the mages coolly judged what they needed to do first, and moved to act—
…and then didn’t. They just watched as if enchanted.
Even though they needed to isolate this exchange gathering hall’s space as quickly as possible to prevent any potential damage, and prepare great magic that could work against a devil!
But it couldn’t be helped.
Mages were, by nature, seekers and pursuers of mystery.
With a beautiful duel unfolding before their eyes—something they might see once in a lifetime, if that—how could they possibly get up from their seats?
‘Incredible!’
Each time Perkuntra swung lightning once, the mages let out low exclamations.
They could feel that lightning was on a different level from ordinary lightning elements.
A lightning element strengthened through a process so complex and profound it couldn’t even be guessed at!
If they could observe and learn even one hundredth of it, the mages present would gladly offer up their arms and legs.
In the midst of that, Princess Yukbeltire was focused on something else.
‘How is he enduring it?’
Contracting with a great spirit and summoning it wasn’t that shocking.
It was a matter of luck and aptitude. It wasn’t as if no mage had ever succeeded.
But enduring it while a great spirit was showing off power without restraint—that was shocking.
Princess Yukbeltire suddenly remembered rumors heard before about a first-year student of House Wardanaz.
According to the rumors, he took multiple schools of magic at once while placing first, and even assisted upperclassmen with their magic.
If he was odd enough to associate with Ilendil, and was close with students of the dark magic group, he was probably someone with a narrow, not-very-smooth social circle.
‘Don’t tell me?’
Princess Yukbeltire looked at the underclassman who seemed close with Diret and wondered.
“Princess Yukbeltire, help. We’re going to sever the connected dimension.”
“Is that underclassman, perhaps, House Wardanaz?”
“What? Yes. But that’s not what matters right now.”
“Is it true he’s taking dark magic, alchemy, and enchantment magic as well?”
“Are you helping or not?”
Diret looked at the friend with an annoyed stare.
The friend’s own work had made hell right in front of them, and now this nonsense?
“I’ll help. How are you planning to restrain it?”
“First, we have {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} to cut the dimension gate.”
Beings from other dimensions normally suffered severe restrictions when they descended into the living world.
They could only use a portion of the power they could bring from their own dimension.
The reason the Pride Duke could rampage now was because the dimension gate was open behind it, continuously supplying power from its own dimension.
If they severed the gate, the Pride Duke would have no choice but to hesitate.
“I see a few difficulties. A devil that powerful will notice the moment you interfere with the dimension gate. Then it won’t target that spirit—it’ll target us.”
The princess coolly laid it out. Diret nodded like he already knew.
“I’m going to interfere without being noticed.”
“Is that possible?”
“It’ll be hard, but we have to try.”
At Diret’s words, Princess Yukbeltire realized the friend had been researching impressive magic she hadn’t known about.
At that realization, Princess Yukbeltire showed the faintest satisfaction and praised him.
“Excellent, Diret. I was worried you were neglecting your own magic while babysitting underclassmen beneath your level, but you were focusing.”
“Hey. Shut up. You’re the one who couldn’t even make a single artifact right and caused a dimensional accident.”
“It wasn’t my fault. It was other mages’ mistake. It’s certainly my mistake that I trusted idiots and entrusted them with the work.”
“Noticing is ability too. The underclassman noticed it from far away. See? You should’ve listened. All stubborn.”
“……”
The princess, stabbed in a sore spot, shut her mouth.
It was hard to argue with the fact that a first-year student noticed it while she didn’t.
“I let my guard down.”
“‘Let my guard down,’ my ass. People who can’t study always say that. They ‘let their guard down’ before the test, they ‘let their guard down’ before doing the assignment.”
“Don’t compare me to those people, Diret.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I’m different from those—”
“Enough. Hey. Help.”
Geometric patterns of magic letters were rising over Diret’s arms and pale face.
Princess Yukbeltire realized he was borrowing the power of a devil he had contracted with.
“When did you contract with a devil?”
“I got permission from the principal and borrowed a devil that’s imprisoned in Einroguard.”
The Pride Duke would react sharply to a mage’s magic, but would be relatively dull to a devil’s power.
Diret planned to use a devil’s power to touch the dimension gate and seal the connection.
“You can conceal it, right? If you can’t do this, you’re worse than Coholty.”
“……”
At the insulting remark, Princess Yukbeltire’s eyebrow twitched slightly, and Princess Yukbeltire grabbed Diret’s hand and began reciting an incantation.
A devil’s power—different from ordinary mana—slithered through space like a snake and began winding around the dimension gate.
Once.
Twice.
Three times…
Because he was borrowing a devil’s power, Diret broke into cold sweat. Even though he’d paid the appropriate price under the contract, the backlash was no joke.
‘…How is that one enduring it like that…?’
Looking ahead, the underclassman had practically turned into lightning itself as he fought. The sight of lightning tearing the Pride Duke’s fog apart was surreal.
The other mages just watched like they were enchanted. Diret wanted to curse them from behind.
“Trash.”
“Agreed.”
Princess Yukbeltire agreed with Diret’s words.
They weren’t doing what they had to do, just spectating.
No matter how mythic the battle was—
“Hey. Focus!”
“……”
Princess Yukbeltire was startled, realizing she’d nearly made a mistake again while observing the fight.
‘Me… making such a trivial mistake…?’
“You’ve dropped all the way down to Coholty now.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no. Focus. …Done! That’s enough, devil. Get off the underclassman! Unless you want to be locked in Einroguard’s Bottomless Deep!”
At Diret’s shout, even the mages who had been watching as if bewitched snapped back.
“Y-you sealed the dimension gate!”
“Why didn’t I think of that…?!”
‘I really want to kill them.’
“Wait, isn’t that Diret?!”
Diret hurriedly pulled the hat low and shouted,
“You’re mistaken.”
“Uh…”
“Hurry up and attack that devil!”
