Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 464
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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 464
“Since Wardanaz is from a great noble family, he’s quite different in these aspects.”
Salko said bluntly.
The siren looked surprised upon hearing this and stared at Lee Han.
Would someone from the Empire’s great noble families normally grab a siren by the back of the neck and drag them up?
“Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”
At Lee Han’s question, the siren slightly averted her gaze and began writing again.
According to what they heard, this swampland was originally a lake with clear flowing water.
It was one of the resting places for sirens who traveled through Einroguard’s underground waterways, but it had changed into swampland due to the recent spirit flood.
That was already unfair, but then Mac, who should have been deep inside the library, suddenly got angry for some reason and crawled out to destroy everything around.
Marking territory in the swampland that was originally the siren’s lake was just a bonus.
“…”
“…”
The Black Turtle Tower students looked at Lee Han with lukewarm gazes.
Those gazes contained the meaning ‘Could it be angry because we broke library furniture to make a fortress and occupied it?’
Lee Han answered firmly.
“It must be angry because of the spirit flood.”
“…”
‘Wouldn’t the flood not affect the deep parts of the library?’
While the students were flustered, Lee Han immediately continued with what he wanted to say.
“I didn’t save you to show off, but you won’t forget today’s favor, right? I heard that the honorable descendants of spirits are clear about debts and grudges.”
‘I’m so embarrassed.’
Salko suddenly felt his face burning.
Even Salko, who came from the stonemason guild and learned that ‘dignity can’t be eaten,’ had to admit he still had a long way to go when looking at Lee Han.
Next time he got a construction commission, he was definitely planning to use what he learned from Lee Han.
“Let’s go, Salko. We need to check how far its territory extends.”
Since the skeleton principal was suspicious, they couldn’t just leave it alone.
Lee Han planned to chase it to the end and confirm how far Mac’s territory extended.
“But Wardanaz… if Mac is angry because of the fortress, that’s a different story. Besides… I don’t think Mac has the ability to secretly kidnap students. Especially not in such an enraged state.”
Though his head was full of worry, Salko was also thinking along similar lines as Giselle.
Mac was far from being capable of quiet and stealthy kidnapping.
“Can’t be helped, Salko. Actually, I suspect Mac might be acting on someone’s orders.”
“Wh-whose?”
“The principal’s, of course. But I’m not certain…”
“I knew it!”
Salko shouted with blazing eyes. Lee Han was slightly flustered.
“N-no. This is just talking about possibilities, and there’s no proof, so I’m saying let’s chase Mac to the end and confirm…”
“Wardanaz. Do you know about dwarven intuition?”
‘You’re an elf though…’
“That intuition is telling me. The principal is the culprit. It can only be that bastard. If he was going to take someone, he’d take those White Tiger Tower guys!”
“…Anyway, you agree we should chase and confirm, right?”
“Yes. Sorry for taking up time.”
-♪♩♩♩…
“Showing your true colors again!”
Lee Han shouted and spun his body around. Then he aimed his staff.
The siren glared with very angry eyes and slapped the ground with her hand.
Smack smack smack!
She had been writing to call them, but the students were ignoring her while chatting among themselves.
“Ah. Sorry.”
The siren glared at Lee Han with sharp eyes, her gratitude from before completely gone.
Her expression looked like she wanted to sing several angry songs in a row.
* * *
The siren’s proposal was simple.
She would help track Mac.
The recently changed swampland had many places where you could sink deep if you stepped wrong, and the paths were complex, so there was a high chance of losing the trail even while following traces.
“Indeed… Wait. You’re not thinking of repaying the favor with this, are you? Just asking in case.”
“Wardanaz… couldn’t you just say that later…”
“Salko. What are you talking about? Important things should be said in advance.”
The siren shook her head and dragged over an old ferry boat, loading the students on top.
Then she began swimming while pushing the ferry. The boat quickly gained speed and rapidly crossed the swamp.
‘So sirens had this kind of ability.’
Lee Han admired inwardly.
He thought they were only good at singing, but they served as reliable transportation when breaking through such aquatic areas.
Meanwhile, Sharkan skillfully jumped across dry land, leading the way. Not just any summoned creature could find Mac’s traces first while maintaining speed.
The siren looked at Sharkan with renewed amazement.
She couldn’t believe a young student was controlling that thing.
It wouldn’t be strange if mana exhaustion came immediately…
-Grrrowl!
Sharkan, who had been running well, suddenly stopped moving and showed wariness with claws extended.
“…!”
The students’ eyes widened.
A small island located ahead in the swampland was covered with a black rippling curtain as if someone had drawn drapes over it.
-♪♩♩!!
When the siren sang briefly, Lee Han immediately turned his gaze. The siren hastily stopped singing and wrote.
Mac’s power is activating!
The handwriting was really as bad as Gainando’s, but Lee Han frowned and figured it out.
“…Ah. Mac’s ability is activating?”
The siren nodded urgently.
Since Mac fed primarily on nightmares, it treasured them greatly, but occasionally when truly necessary, it would vomit up the nightmares it had swallowed to threaten others.
The pitch-black curtain spread over the island was a sign of that.
Mac’s nightmare curtain!
“That’s ridiculous. Why would Mac do such a thing?”
-…
-…?
The siren and Sharkan simultaneously looked at Lee Han.
Though they were different species, both their gazes said ‘Because you chased it…’
Lee Han replied firmly.
“It’s strange for it to act like that just because a 1st year student chased it. And I didn’t chase it with bad intentions anyway. I came to check what was going on.”
The siren tried her best to write ‘That’s not what’s important right now, go tell Mac directly,’ but Mac’s reaction was one step faster.
It began expanding the curtain.
“Light, reveal the truth! Mist, spread!”
Lee Han quickly cast 【Bestow Light of Truth】 and 【Ogonin’s Mist】.
The former was to counter the spreading nightmares.
The latter was to block the spreading nightmares.
However, Mac’s nightmare curtain was more powerful than expected. It surged forward like a tide, swallowed the light and mist, and struck the students directly.
“Huk!”
“Cough…!”
Groans flowed out from among the students.
They had fallen straight into the nightmare that Mac had gathered and unleashed.
“…Huh.”
Lee Han was slightly flustered.
Not because of the nightmare, but because the nightmare had been far too ineffective.
He knew his resistance was strong due to his mana, but he thought he’d at least see some illusions for a moment…
It was a bit awkward when he saw nothing at all and the nightmare veil just swept past.
‘This isn’t the time for this.’
He had to restrain Mac as quickly as possible.
When caught in this kind of illusion attack, even if it didn’t look that dangerous on the outside, the damage accumulating inside was considerable.
The longer they were held captive, the more dangerous it became.
‘To approach, I need to wake the siren. Can I wake her? Will she wake up if I give her a strong shock?’
Lee Han looked at the siren while pondering what magic to cast.
However, the siren was watching Lee Han with blank eyes.
“…”
-…
Come to think of it, since the siren had the bloodline of a powerful spirit that enchanted other beings with song, it was natural that she had strong resistance to such nightmares.
Lee Han quietly lowered his staff.
The siren looked at Lee Han with suspicious eyes.
“Quickly! Guide me to where Mac is! I have to save my friends!”
At Lee Han’s shout, the siren hurriedly nodded and began pushing the boat again.
When they broke through despite the nightmare being spread, Mac howled.
■■■■■…
“What is he saying?”
The siren hastily wrote on the boat’s rail.
Why do you keep bothering me…
“…How absurd for him to say such things after tormenting innocent people first! But let’s have us good people take a step back. Tell him that if he stops the nightmare and ceases his attacks right now, the students will leave the library as soon as the flood ends!”
-???
The siren wanted to ask what it meant for the students to leave the library, but there was no time for that.
For now, the siren conveyed it as is.
-♩♩♩♪…
“How dare!”
Lee Han instinctively reacted upon hearing the song.
Then he realized that his friends had all fallen into nightmares and were unaffected.
“Ah. Sorry. Keep singing.”
-…
The siren’s fingers gripping the boat tensed up.
■■■■…
The siren diligently interpreted.
Mac was asking ‘Is that really true?’
“I’ll swear on my family’s name.”
The siren was greatly surprised by Lee Han’s sincerity.
To even stake his family’s name.
Wasn’t that a bit excessive?
“Instead, tell him I need to verify too. He might have been ordered by the Principal.”
What nonsense…
“…Anyway, tell him to let me verify! If we both want to avoid fighting!”
* * *
The students freed from the nightmare cautiously approached Mac’s nest.
Surprisingly, there really wasn’t a single trace of the Skeleton Principal.
Death Knights or traces of other magic, all of it.
Salko whispered with a serious expression.
“Could it be camouflage?”
Mac looked down at Salko with contemptuous eyes.
Lee Han spoke with a reluctant expression.
“A student suddenly disappeared and we’re looking for him, do you know anything about it?”
■■■■■.
The siren hesitated while interpreting.
“…At this time of year, professors often take students away for divination magic exams? What kind of ridiculous slander… Professor Kraer isn’t the Principal, there’s no way he would do such a thing…!”
Lee Han hesitated while speaking.
Come to think of it, there wasn’t really any law saying Professor Kraer wouldn’t do such a thing.
‘What do I know about Professor Kraer?’
The one principle to follow regarding professors was simply ‘don’t underestimate them.’
■■■■■■■…
He says he helped with illusion magic exam preparation before and saw it directly?
“…I’ll accept that opinion for now. I’ll verify it.”
Lee Han immediately took out paper and a quill.
“Tell me the detailed situation. When and where did you help with illusion magic exam preparation? Did you help this year too? And if it’s because of divination magic exams, where did he confine the students? Tell me.”
Mac hesitated.
The professor hadn’t specifically forbidden it, but he wondered if it was okay to say such things.
Lee Han pressed strongly.
“Hey! Do you want to see students continue living in the library?”
Tears welled up in Mac’s eyes.
Finally, Mac gave up and spilled all the information he knew.
■■■…
The siren’s expression, who was interpreting beside them, gradually became subtle.
Clearly Mac was the bad guy who had intruded into their territory and caused a rampage, but strangely she was starting to feel like she was the villain.
Objectively, it would be a good result with Mac returning to his territory and the sirens reclaiming theirs, but somehow…
The sculptural face of the mage boy flickering between the wavering flames seemed to gleam particularly more wickedly.
‘…It must be my imagination!’
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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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