Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 341

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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 341

‘This is strange.’

The Skeleton Principal had a nasty personality, but he wasn’t a stupid person.

He would definitely know that the banquet hall was located in the heart of Granden City, yet he would torment students while ignoring the possibility of outsiders getting involved?

‘…Could this possibly be the Duke’s enemy rather than mine?’

Lee Han glanced at Duke Ikalderen.

The Duke was waiting with his arms crossed, showing no change in expression. From his demeanor, there was an arrogance that suggested he didn’t care what came out of the alley.

If it were an enemy targeting the students, he should have shown more surprise or a different reaction.

‘It really is the Duke’s enemy!’

Lee Han regretted it inwardly.

This would have ended if he had just left it to the Duke’s guards, but he had interfered unnecessarily.

‘Anyway, the Skeleton Principal is no help.’

Lee Han tried to call the guards even now to cooperate.

However, the enemy’s attack from within the alley took priority. The gradually strengthening aura refined itself like a blade, then burst out with killing intent.

* * *

As Lee Han had guessed, Duke Ikalderen was not surprised.

Of course, it wasn’t because he knew specifically who the opponent was. Duke Ikalderen had become sick and tired of such attacks.

An Imperial Duke couldn’t help but have enemies, and among them, Duke Ikalderen, who had been the most aggressively active, had stationed enemies one by one from great noble families to criminal guilds.

Most enemies didn’t dare touch him and tucked their tails between their legs, but when their numbers were too great, he would experience such attacks two or three times a year like regular events.

Of course, Duke Ikalderen, true to his arrogant nature, neither feared nor acted cautiously.

Instead, he raised his defenses to be formidable.

The defensive artifacts Duke Ikalderen was currently wearing cost enough to easily surpass dozens of castles, and the guards waiting nearby possessed combat power capable of slaughtering an entire guild.

He was like a walking fortress, so there was no reason to fear the attacks of petty assassins. It was the attacking assassins who should be afraid.

Therefore, Duke Ikalderen was truly, not even slightly surprised.

By the attack, that is.

‘How truly surprising!’

Duke Ikalderen attempted countless speculations in that brief moment about what meaning was contained in Lee Han’s actions.

The reason for stepping forward in this situation?

It could be to raise his own value in front of Imperial Princess Adenart, or it could be to raise his own value in front of Duke Ikalderen.

‘Or perhaps it could be both.’

The Duke leaned toward the latter.

The behavior that Wardanaz Family Boy was showing was very energetic for a new student. Many geniuses entered Einroguard, but geniuses who built their position and accumulated fame from their first year like this were not common.

‘I shall respect your ambition, Wardanaz Family Boy. But there’s one thing you’re overlooking.’

Having grasped the situation, Duke Ikalderen noticed the gap in Lee Han’s plan.

‘That is, you’ll ultimately have to handle the attack alone.’

Having stepped forward saying he would block it like that, he couldn’t receive help from the Duke’s guards.

And those who tried to attack Duke Ikalderen were mostly strong individuals who had thoroughly prepared in their own way to attack the Duke.

‘He wouldn’t know how strong those who attack me are. No matter how much of a genius, he’s still a new student. It would be difficult to face the attackers, wouldn’t it?’

It was easy to make mistakes because mages’ magic possessed earth-shaking power, but mages’ combat abilities were actually quite lacking.

Magic was powerful when completed, but before completion, it was nothing.

Those who knew this well could easily toy with mages. From spell interference to breaking concentration, there were many, many ways to disrupt magic.

Duke Ikalderen estimated that it wouldn’t be easy for Lee Han to win against the attackers.

If he received help after saying such things, it would greatly damage that ambitious boy’s dignity, but the Duke planned to intervene immediately if Lee Han seemed to be losing.

If Lee Han was seriously injured, it would be troublesome for him too.

‘Even if I help, don’t resent me. It’s something you chose yourself.’

“Master. Be careful. It’s poison!”

“Stop whining. If you’re seriously shouting that, then either your eyes or brain must be broken.”

The Duke spoke to his guard in an indifferent voice. The guard’s face reddened.

With the detoxification performance of the artifacts the Duke currently possessed, even if this entire area melted away with poison, the Duke wouldn’t lose a single hair.

Indeed, despite the guard’s shout, the Duke hadn’t moved a single step.

“What kind of monster is it? It doesn’t look like a slime. It seems like a spirit or dimensional beast was mixed and summoned.”

The Duke and guard roughly guessed the identity as soon as the attacker crawled out of the alley.

Having been attacked so many times, it was now possible to estimate just by looking at the appearance.

Seeing it move in an amorphous form writhing with poisonous liquid, it was probably a slime, spirit, or dimensional beast, but it moved too fast for a slime…

It was highly likely that a spirit or dimensional beast had been contaminated or fused with deadly poison and summoned.

The attacker probably obtained information that the Duke would pass through this area and summoned that toxic contaminated entity to match the timing.

The culprit could be tracked later by having mages trace the evidence after the situation was resolved, and now…

‘It’s impossible.’

Duke Ikalderen concluded.

The opponent was too bad.

If it were an assassin using complex magic or techniques, it might be different, but against an enemy that pushed forward roughly like that, wise countermeasures were impossible.

It had to be subdued with force against force, and while the poison that toxic contaminated entity spewed wasn’t enough to kill the Duke, it could easily melt the surrounding walls. The poison was too strong for a new student to detoxify.

Moreover, it wasn’t slow or weak either, so if a fight broke out, victory and defeat would be decided in a single clash.

“If you fall, I’ll immediately resc…”

Crash!

“?!”

Duke Ikalderen’s pupils trembled for the first time in a long while.

Surprisingly, the Wardanaz Family Boy had charged first!

‘He’s insane!!’

No matter how arrogant with youthful vigor, that was a crazy act.

The reason the toxic contaminated entity hadn’t immediately charged was because there were many other people besides Lee Han in this place, but by charging first, he had narrowed the target to himself.

It wasn’t just the level of digging his own grave, but the level of building a coffin and getting into it.

* * *

‘Thank goodness!’

Lee Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

From what he could see, it seemed he could avoid the embarrassing situation of having to borrow help from the Duke’s guards.

Fortunately, the opponent’s compatibility was very good.

Whoooosh-

The toxic contaminated entity, enraged by Lee Han who had suddenly rushed over and landed a blow, spewed thick poisonous fog.

Another mage would have used magic to steal control of the poison, but Lee Han just left it alone.

As expected, the poison had no particular effect on Lee Han. Even when he breathed, his massive mana diluted the poison like an ocean.

“Mist, spread out.”

Lee Han used the precious time gained thanks to his poison resistance to cast the newly learned 【Ogonin’s Mist】.

Lee Han’s form lost focus and wavered, shaking. The toxic contaminated entity was greatly flustered by the incomprehensible events occurring in succession.

If the opponent were a cold and experienced enemy it might be different, but such summoned creatures, while excellent in physical abilities, were weak against such unexpected situations. Lee Han immediately cast his next spell.

“Bones, seize the enemy.”

It wasn’t powerful, but it was sufficient to hinder the toxic contaminated entity’s movements.

Bone restraints formed at the toxic contaminated entity’s ankles at a speed several times faster than other ordinary mages.

“Fire away!”

Sharp bone fragments embedded themselves like bullets into the toxic contaminated entity’s flesh.

It wasn’t a fatal wound since it didn’t have a normal body structure, but the pain didn’t go anywhere. The toxic contaminated entity howled and fired poisonous liquid around.

Hissssss!

‘Ugh.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue seeing his melting cloak and clothes. Fortunately, they were clothes bought with the family’s money, not his own.

‘I need to be careful.’

If Duke Ikalderen had heard Lee Han’s inner thoughts, he would have been shocked.

In the midst of such a deadly fight, he was worrying about his clothes first rather than his life.

‘It’s not an exceptionally defensive or evasive case like the King of Ghouls. It still has its physical body, so I just need to deal damage.’

Having finished his calculations, Lee Han immediately sprang into action.

Illusion clone summoning, transparency magic casting, flanking from behind, casting 5-layer enhancement magic consecutively on an iron ball then firing!

Thud!

His movements were so swift and unhesitating that the Duke’s guards’ reactions were about half a beat late.

The guards were shocked at Lee Han casting magic consecutively at a speed far exceeding their expectations.

For a new student to cast magic at that speed consecutively in such an intense combat situation.

For guards who should anticipate and prepare for any situation without being surprised, this was close to humiliating.

“We’ve brought it down. Please finish it off for certain!”

Though he wanted to set it on fire himself, Lee Han called the guards, worried that the fire might spread to the surroundings or react with the creature causing unexpected consequences.

The guards drew their swords as if they had been waiting and swung them.

As the burning swords blazed, the toxic contaminated entity, already unable to move from the fatal blow to its chest, was engulfed in blue flames.

The magical flames instantly burned away the poison and consumed the contaminated entity as well. Lee Han cursed inwardly seeing the swords the guards possessed.

‘They had artifacts of that caliber and just stood there watching?’

Of course, Lee Han had stepped forward to handle it himself, but couldn’t they have helped a little?

Lee Han wasn’t petty enough to nitpick over something like that!

“Ex… Excellent.”

Duke Ikalderen spoke while belatedly composing his expression from the unexpected situation.

Rowena felt satisfaction at that sight. It was the first time she’d seen the Duke, who always acted arrogantly without any change in expression, show such a reaction.

“I didn’t expect you to yield the credit to my guards.”

‘Ah.’

Lee Han belatedly understood the Duke’s meaning.

Usually with such achievements, there was quite a difference between ‘Lee Han defeated it alone’ and ‘Lee Han and the Duke’s guards defeated it together.’ And everyone preferred to monopolize credit.

But Lee Han didn’t really care.

‘It’s not like there was a bounty on it anyway. It doesn’t matter.’

It wasn’t like they were splitting a bounty, so sharing some credit wouldn’t change anything.

The Duke would give a reward anyway. If he reduced the reward just because credit was shared with his guards, that would make him a street thug, not a duke.

“I thought securing the safety of the surroundings by quickly suppressing that enemy was more important than credit.”

His friends applauded with emotion, but Duke Ikalderen wasn’t fooled.

Someone as ambitious as that wouldn’t yield for such a reason.

That was a signal sent to the Duke.

-I have ambitions equal to yours. We ambitious people should be able to make deals with each other.

Duke Ikalderen felt as if he could hear Lee Han saying those words.

There was no other reason to show such generosity.

Ambitious people recognize each other.

Age didn’t matter.

Duke Ikalderen elevated his opponent from simply a talented new student to a young ambitious person qualified to sit as an equal across the table.

“…I understand. I’ll consider the proposal positively.”

It wasn’t bad.

Duke Ikalderen also needed to obtain information from within the magic school.

Whatever ambitions the Wardanaz family boy had, mutually beneficial deals would certainly be possible.

“…No. Your Grace the Duke! Your Gra… What kind of person is that??”

Lee Han muttered at the Duke’s retreating figure, but Rowena pretended not to hear Lee Han cursing the Duke.

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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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