Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 684
The mages snapped out of it at those words.
Thinking about it, it made no sense that they’d just stood there while the boy in front of them fought alone.
“YOU ANNOYING—BASTARDS—!”
As dozens of spells began to take shape along with the chants, the Pride Duke furrowed its brow.
Even when mages weren’t strong, they were always irritating because of how crafty they were.
The spells being cast now were exactly like that.
Realizing it would be hard to land a direct blow on the Pride Duke, they were layering weakening magic over this entire space.
<Light of Devil Banishment>, <Resistance Against Evil>, <Hellrealm Link Strike>, and so on.
Those kinds of weakening spells couldn’t deal major damage to the Pride Duke by themselves, but if dozens stacked one after another, the story changed.
On top of that, a few of them were preparing grand magic.
It would take quite a while, but if it was completed, even the Pride Duke would take a considerable hit.
Bothered, are you? Why don’t you retreat even now?
Perkuntra sneered as if Perkuntra had noticed what the Pride Duke was thinking, and made the suggestion.
In the first place, in a situation where neither side could easily decide the outcome, the longer things dragged on, the more advantageous it was—not for the Pride Duke, but for Perkuntra.
The Pride Duke had been relying on the gate opened behind it, but Perkuntra also had a contractor who was no less impressive—no, even more impressive than that.
Not having expected that, the Pride Duke had practically lost from the start.
An Einroguard—mage—was it—? Your—skill—has—increased—while—I—wasn’t—looking—
Uh. That’s…
When the Pride Duke looked at Lee Han and spoke highly of Einroguard students’ ability, Perkuntra hesitated.
It was a statistical error on the level of including the Skull Principal and then calculating the Empire’s mage average.
Fine—fine—I’ll—retreat—then—today—I—lost—!
At the opponent’s declaration of surrender, Perkuntra rejoiced and whispered to Lee Han.
Perkuntra was horrified at this bold first-year student.
Lee Han considered bringing up House Wardanaz, then decided against it. It didn’t seem like a very good example.
Sure enough, if the devil knew about the Skull Principal, it didn’t look like it would get stuck in the Bottomless Deep.
If it came to that, it would just kill itself and resurrect back in the hellrealm instead!
Mage—I’d—like—to—know—your—name—
“Osu of House Gonadaltes!”
……
……
“……”
The Pride Duke, Perkuntra, and even Diret stared at Lee Han as if they couldn’t believe what they’d just heard.
Only then did Lee Han realize his mistake.
‘It said it’s clashed with the Principal before—how could I mess up like this!’
When he tried to think of a mage name that would have no problem even if a powerful devil harassed them, the Skull Principal’s name had popped up immediately.
“Bible of House Verdus…”
Enough—mage—. Seems—you—don’t—want—to—tell—me—your—name—
The Pride Duke chuckled.
But—innate—power—calls—fate—. Just—as—we—met—today—, we—will—meet—again—. Surely—!
‘It’s spouting absolute bullshit.’
Lee Han was disgusted.
“Devil duke, you’ve wrecked the area like this and you think you can go back safely!”
One of the mages preparing grand magic shouted with an enraged expression.
The Pride Duke replied as if it was ridiculous.
After—getting—drunk—on—my—fight—with—the—mage—and—watching—your—fill—… what—right—do—you—have—?
The mages all reddened at once.
It was, undeniably, true.
Be—satisfied—that—your—souls—were—protected—today—. Where—else—would—you—find—such—luck—!
The moment it finished speaking, the Pride Duke opened a new dimension gate.
Even though the existing gate had been sealed by Diret’s magic and the supply of power had weakened, it tore space lightly with what power it had left.
The Pride Duke gave an elegant greeting and vanished beyond the gate. After confirming the dimension gate had closed completely, Perkuntra released the unification.
Good work. I’ll be going back as well!
THUD!
Lee Han pitched forward. He couldn’t put strength into his body.
“…Perkuntra… I can’t… move my body…?”
Hmm! Looks like you used too much power. If you rest well, you’ll recover. You’ve got mana.
“You definitely said earlier it’d only be muscle soreness…”
Maybe because Perkuntra was embarrassed too, Perkuntra hurriedly /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ said goodbye and returned to Perkuntra’s domain.
Lee Han lay collapsed on the floor, cursing Perkuntra in his head.
‘Spirits can’t be trusted, seriously!’
“Underclassman, are you okay!? If you can talk, talk!”
Diret rushed over in a panic.
After summoning a great spirit and fighting for so long, the underclassman had collapsed from exhaustion—there was no way Diret wouldn’t worry.
“Pain? Burning pain? Like lightning burning your body—”
“It’s just that I can’t put strength into my body.”
“Other than that? That’s all?”
“…What do you mean, ‘that’s all’?”
Lee Han put a hurt tone into his voice.
Someone collapsed and that was “all”?
Diret realized it belatedly and explained while hiding the awkwardness.
“N-no, not like that. If you forcefully draw out a spirit’s power, or force unification, you get backlash. Mana exhaustion, or the spirit’s power burning the flesh… you don’t have anything like that, right?”
“Yes.”
Diret let out a relieved breath.
Diret had been worried about the worst, but it seemed they’d avoided that.
If it was just exhaustion where you couldn’t put strength into your body, they’d gotten off incredibly cheap.
“Thank goodness…”
“Thank goodness?”
“You misheard. Don’t worry. This kind of exhaustion is easy to recover from.”
Diret propped the underclassman up, then pulled out a potion and dropped three drops into Lee Han’s mouth.
“It’s a Bae-du-ong potion. Don’t try to force strength—circulate your mana slowly and focus on getting sensation back in your fingertips and toes. When exhaustion hits hard, you have to revive sensation first.”
“There’s a better way.”
Princess Yukbeltire suddenly leaned in and spoke. Diret startled so badly that Diret almost smacked Princess Yukbeltire in the face with the potion bottle.
“What is it?”
“At the estate I’m staying in, there are excellent healing mages. Diret. Rather than first aid, it’s better to leave it to a specialized school. Wouldn’t that be better?”
“Ah. If that’s the case…”
Diret brightened.
A rich friend was convenient in moments like this.
“Can we impose on you?”
“Of course.”
“It’s been a long time since the fact you’re rich has actually helped!”
“Of course.”
At Diret’s praise—truly rare praise—Princess Yukbeltire nodded.
‘That doesn’t sound like praise…?’
Lee Han thought to himself, but while circulating mana and reclaiming control of the body, he couldn’t answer.
“Then right away… wait.”
Diret was about to carry the underclassman to Princess Yukbeltire’s estate, then hesitated.
Something felt off.
‘Was Princess Yukbeltire always this good at worrying about people?’
It felt like the same emotion Diret had felt long ago, when Diret had seen the Skull Principal coax a devil the Skull Principal had summoned into a contract…
“…Yukbeltire.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you ask about this underclassman’s house earlier?”
At Diret’s suddenly chilly voice, Lee Han wondered what was going on.
Princess Yukbeltire replied calmly.
“I’ve heard stories about a freshman from House Wardanaz.”
“And why did you ask about how this underclassman is taking dark magic, alchemy, and enchantment magic?”
“I’ve heard that as well. Why are you asking such pointless questions, Diret?”
“Just answer. Then after you took this underclassman to your estate and this underclassman recovered, what were you going to make this underclassman do?”
“Obviously, my research—”
“…Back off, you garbage Verdus-type mage!”
Diret swung the staff and spat curses.
Princess Yukbeltire spoke with a wounded expression.
“Do I look like a fool like Professor Verdus? Take that back, Diret. I can’t understand why you’re saying that.”
“You’re a mage who’s just as wicked as Professor Verdus—no, not more, but you’re not far off! Excuse me! Get this person out of here! This mage is trying to kidnap this mage!”
“!”
The mages who’d been checking the surroundings and confirming there weren’t any other dimensional links hurried over.
To try and kidnap the young mage who had summoned a great spirit and protected them—who on earth could—
“…N-no. Princess Yukbeltire…”
“Princess Yukbeltire was trying to kidnap someone?”
Diret decided this wouldn’t do and poked Lee Han.
“Underclassman. You say it too.”
“……”
“Hurry! Whose underclassman are you?”
Strictly speaking, Lee Han had taken both dark magic and enchantment magic, so both applied—but Lee Han knew the enchantment magic senior wouldn’t be much help, so Lee Han chose the dark magic senior.
“That person was trying to kidnap me…”
“!!!”
“Princess Yukbeltire. Come with us!”
“I think there’s a misunderstanding. I was only going to take this person to my estate and help this person recover—”
“And then you were going to drag this person into your research by force!”
“That’s kindness.”
At the princess’s reply, the mages seemed to get a sense of who the worse person was.
“Come with us. I won’t say it twice!”
“You stupid mages ruined my artifact and now you’re going to interfere with my next research too? How regrettable.”
Princess Yukbeltire left, thoroughly scraping at the mages’ nerves. Only then could Diret relax.
“Please call a healing mage. I did first aid, but I think a healing mage needs to handle anything professional.”
“Don’t worry. We’re preparing right now!”
The mages who’d attended the exchange gathering expressed their gratitude with impeccable posture.
Considering what that boy mage had accomplished today, no spell felt too precious.
In fact, the healing mages were gathering every reagent they had and preparing the strongest healing magic possible.
“We used Alhazard’s Tears, so no matter how severe the mana depletion is, we’ll restore it immediately—”
“Ah. The mana’s fully recovered, so please help with physical recovery.”
“?!”
At Diret’s words, the mages stared at each other in confusion.
Even the healing mages who’d been called over seemed unable to accept it, and came in person.
“Excuse me, but you can’t decide the order of healing magic arbitrarily! In a situation like this, what matters most is mana. You need to restore mana—”
“Just check the mana.”
Diret said with an exhausted expression.
Diret had used so much magic today that Diret was running out of stamina to explain.
The healing mages checked Lee Han’s mana, still wearing faces that said they didn’t buy it.
Then they toppled backward in shock.
“H-how… how… how…?!”
“Now that you understand, please skip the mana and take care of other recovery.”
“Y-yes. Wait. But…”
“What now?”
“Are you, by any chance, Diret?”
At the healing mage’s words, the mages nearby lifted their heads too.
Come to think of it, they thought they’d heard Diret’s name earlier.
“That’s right! How is your quasi-perpetual engine research using devil mana going? I truly admired that concept…”
“……”
Lee Han stared at the upperclassman, horrified by the ominous name of the research.
Diret forgot about hiding the name and hurriedly explained.
“Even if it sounds like that, the research approach is way more peaceful than you think!”
