Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 157

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 157

Thwack!

Despite the advice, Gainando collapsed with a thud. It seemed he had been attacked by a monster and knocked unconscious.

‘He didn’t notice at all.’

No matter how dark the surroundings were, to think he wouldn’t notice something approaching this close.

The opponent definitely had the ability to conceal its presence.

“Light!”

Lee Han floated light orbs around the area while simultaneously making himself invisible.

“Heat, distort the air!”

That wasn’t the end of it.

An illusion took Lee Han’s place as he became invisible.

“Sharkan. Attack if an enemy approaches!”

With a growling sound, Sharkan burst out. Sharkan barked menacingly toward the darkness.

‘Over there!’

Lee Han immediately floated another light orb. The pitch-black darkness quickly receded.

Then the opponent’s outline was faintly revealed. It was a monster that looked like it was made by molding shadows like clay.

The shadow monster was startled when the light pushed forward and increased the distance further. As it melted into the darkness, its outline instantly disappeared and its form was hidden.

‘It doesn’t seem like an ordinary monster.’

Lee Han stared in the direction where the shadow monster had disappeared and fell into thought.

Unlike ordinary living monsters, that shadow monster had no life force at all. It seemed like someone had artificially summoned it.

And this was the magic school.

The problem was there were too many people who could summon something like that.

‘Suppression first!’

“Blaze up!”

Flames ignited through the darkness. Having figured out the opponent’s attributes, Lee Han decided to suppress it more aggressively.

If it was something that feared light, it would likewise fear fire.

Whoosh!

When flames bloomed in the air, the shadow monster mockingly increased the distance with ease.

The panic from suddenly facing light had disappeared and it had already regained its composure.

No matter if he called forth light or flames, it was still the middle of the night.

There was plenty of darkness around to hide in.

However, the shadow monster underestimated Lee Han too much.

“Blaze up.”

-?

“Blaze up, blaze up, blaze up, blaze up…”

-!

The shadow monster should have fled immediately when it first increased the distance, instead of circling around teasingly.

Lee Han had instantly summoned over dozens of flames around the area.

Whoooooosh!

A quickly completed fire net.

The shadow monster was surrounded by blazing flames from all directions before it could even escape to another location.

An overwhelming force of sheer mana that didn’t give the monster any chance to use evasion abilities or stealth abilities!

The shadow monster, suddenly unable to move in the little remaining darkness, held its breath while watching nervously.

Sharkan growled as if telling it to come out.

“Caught you.”

The shadow monster didn’t dare come out of the darkness.

Instead, it waited for the surrounding flames to go out.

Given Lee Han’s young age, it judged that the excessively summoned flames would become a poison as time passed.

-…???

However, even as time passed, the flames didn’t budge at all.

Lee Han, who had been waiting, spoke coldly.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll burn the darkness along with you. Three. Two. One…”

He had lit fires all around and was waiting because he wasn’t confident in skillfully handling fire magic, not because he was afraid of the shadow monster.

Sensing the warning in Lee Han’s voice, the shadow monster crawled out completely demoralized.

Tap tap tap tap tap-

“?”

Footsteps could be heard from a distance.

Lee Han turned his head and looked. A face he had seen somewhere a few times was urgently running through the darkness of night.

It was the warehouse keeper of the magic school.

* * *

-These are the monsters I’ve prepared for this festival. How are they?

-There are many of them.

-…How boring. Anyway, you must manage these monsters well.

The Skeleton Principal spoke to the warehouse keeper in a solemn voice.

The monsters summoned for this festival weren’t simply creatures to be used once or twice and discarded.

They were beautiful chess pieces that would make the Skeleton Principal’s perfect plan shine.

-I will do my best.

However, in reality, there were too many monsters summoned by the Skeleton Principal for the warehouse keeper to manage alone.

Moreover, the monsters weren’t docile either.

-Stay still, don’t move.

Thud! Thud!

The monsters, having received orders from the Skeleton Principal to track and attack students with outing passes, struggled to break out of their cages at any moment.

The warehouse keeper did his best to manage them, but eventually an accident occurred.

Several cages broke and the monsters inside escaped.

Though it was a sudden situation, the warehouse keeper didn’t panic.

He calmly captured the nearby ones and caged them again, then moved to track the traces of those that had fled.

“!”

The Warehouse Keeper hesitated at the enormous mana he felt from afar.

Though the Warehouse Keeper had gained powerful mana detection abilities in exchange for losing his sight, this was such enormous mana that even those abilities couldn’t fully comprehend it.

Normally he would have asked ‘Is that you, Principal?’ but the Warehouse Keeper had just received a stern lecture from the Skeleton Principal.

“Are you the Principal, or are you a student?”

Lee Han quickly pondered.

If he said he was the Skeleton Principal here…

‘It’s not like I snuck out, so there’s no need for that.’

“I’m a student.”

“I see.”

Fortunately, the Warehouse Keeper didn’t attack Lee Han with something like ‘You must have deceived me last time!’

Instead, he looked at the Shadow Monster that Lee Han had surrounded with flames.

Though his pupils weren’t visible, Lee Han felt like the Warehouse Keeper was showing interest.

“Did you capture it by lighting fires around it?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t it try to escape?”

“I lit fires on all sides without giving it a chance to flee.”

Sharkan growled proudly.

The Warehouse Keeper was amazed by Lee Han’s words.

If what he said was true, it meant he had quickly lit the fires without giving the shadow monster any chance to escape.

All those flames like that?

No matter how specialized his talent for Fire Elemental Magic was, this was a sight difficult for a new student to display.

“You’ll become a fine mage.”

“Thank you.”

“Then may I take the monster?”

“…By any chance, is this one that escaped from the Principal’s watch?”

Lee Han was much quicker on the uptake than the Warehouse Keeper had expected.

From monster, Warehouse Keeper, and wanting to take it, he immediately thought of the Skeleton Principal.

The Warehouse Keeper didn’t show it, but he was slightly flustered.

For a new student to know so well.

Could it be?

“Did the Principal tell you?”

“In a way, you could say there’s some truth to that.”

Lee Han answered diplomatically.

Of course, the Skeleton Principal hadn’t told him, but since he had become suspicious from watching what the Skeleton Principal did, in a way the Skeleton Principal had told him.

The innocent Warehouse Keeper couldn’t imagine that a new student would already possess such a cunning tongue.

“That’s right. It’s one of the ones that escaped.”

“Are there still many escaped ones remaining?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

Lee Han cursed inwardly.

‘This damn school should ban summoning anything if they can’t manage it.’

“May I help you?”

The Warehouse Keeper was surprised by Lee Han’s words.

He hadn’t expected a new student to say something so admirable.

If it had been another new student, he might have declined the help, but seeing how the boy in front of him had just subdued the shadow monster, he clearly had the ability to help.

Besides, wasn’t he practically the Principal’s disciple?

There shouldn’t be any particular problem working together.

“Would you really do that?”

“Yes. It’s my honor to help someone who dedicates themselves to this magic school.”

“You’ll truly become a great mage.”

“Haha. Thank you.”

‘Too easy.’

After dealing with someone like the Skeleton Principal, facing the Warehouse Keeper was almost too easy.

The Skeleton Principal’s endless schemes and machinations had trained Lee Han this way.

‘There’s definitely the Skeleton Principal’s plan behind this.’

He would help while gathering information.

Lee Han knew well by now.

If you don’t seize opportunities when they come, you can’t survive in this magic school.

“Wait. Let me wake up Gainando first.”

“Please do so.”

Lee Han summoned a water mass and poured it over Gainando’s face.

“Ughhcough!”

“Gainando! Are you okay!”

“I’m… cough, cough cough. My, my outing pass! Where’s my outing pass?”

“It’s fine. Go into the tower today and don’t come out.”

Gainando had the advantage of not asking unnecessary questions.

When Lee Han spoke seriously, Gainando also nodded seriously.

“Got it.”

“Good. Go in carefully.”

“But when you come back, want to play a round of cards?”

“…”

* * *

Lee Han moved together with the Warehouse Keeper and caught three more shadow monsters.

Shadow monsters summoned from the dark world, composed of yin and shadow mana, were summoned creatures favored by cunning and vile dark mages.

They had specialized abilities in stealth, tracking, surprise attacks, and so on.

‘Really fitting for the Skeleton Principal.’

Lee Han continued to extract information from the Warehouse Keeper while confirming the shadow monsters’ weaknesses.

As he had faced it before, it was indeed a creature that severely feared light and heat.

‘I might keep encountering them, so I should know for sure.’

“So… when these creatures are summoned, they’re ordered to track students who have outing passes.”

“That’s correct.”

“…”

‘Even hearing it again, it’s absurd.’

Lee Han confirmed the information he had extracted from his opponent and was once again dumbfounded.

What kind of…

The Skeleton Principal had given out outing passes too easily, and sure enough, there was a sinister plot hidden behind it.

After the festival ended, when students excitedly headed to the main gate on Saturday morning to go outside…

That’s when they would strike with a surprise attack!

‘I’m really glad I found out in advance.’

Lee Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

If he hadn’t known, what would have happened to him…

‘Wait a minute.’

Lee Han, who had been feeling relieved, felt something ominous flash through his mind.

‘Let me think from the Skeleton Principal’s perspective.’

After summoning and preparing these monsters so diligently, would he only use them to ambush students trying to go out on weekends and steal their outing passes?

…Wouldn’t he also use them to ambush students returning?

Lee Han spoke to the warehouse keeper as calmly as possible, trying not to be detected.

“By the way. Where do the monsters wait when students return?”

Lee Han spoke so naturally, as if he already knew, that the warehouse keeper didn’t have the slightest suspicion.

“They’ll be waiting near the hill in front of the main gate.”

“If they’re late because they’re dealing with monsters… they can be sent to the punishment room.”

“That’s right.”

“…Come to think of it, aren’t midterm exams next week?”

“That’s correct.”

“If they return from the weekend and get locked up, they won’t be able to study properly for midterms… which makes it even better.”

“Indeed. You’re truly worthy of being the Principal’s disciple. You’ll become a fine mage.”

“…”

Lee Han almost tore off his mask and threw a punch at the warehouse keeper.

* * *

“Why do you look so dejected?”

Thunderstep was puzzled by Lee Han’s appearance, sighing deeply in front of the alchemy tent since morning.

However, Lee Han only sighed instead of answering.

“You should have known when to stop. Here. This is a mood-lifting potion.”

Thunderstep filled a cup with barley potion that had golden bubbles rising from it and offered it.

The people around had already drunk the barley potion and were in a happy state.

“Professor.”

“What?”

“If you had to break through a place where someone is lying in Ambush, how would you do it?”

“…What kind of plan are you scheming now?”

Professor Thunderstep was horrified.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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