Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 552

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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 552

“No. Not all mages think about spirits.”

The squirrel spirit nodded its head on Lee Han’s shoulder as if agreeing.

Even if not as extreme as the Skeleton Principal, mages who were truly devoted to spirits were rarer than one might think.

Even if they befriended a few spirits and made contracts with them, they wouldn’t risk their lives to venture deep into a polluted forest for the spirits’ sake.

“But how did you manage to appear before us, senior?”

“I have a potion that can temporarily stop the Principal’s magic.”

“!”

“…!!!”

All three being students with excellent alchemy grades, they immediately understood how incredible what Senior Ilendil was saying was.

To be able to stop the Skeleton Principal’s magic, even if only briefly.

The gazes that had been looking at Ilendil as a ‘crazy senior’ or ‘suspicious senior’ just moments ago immediately changed to respectful looks reserved for an ‘amazing senior.’

“That’s incredible!”

“Really…!”

“Huh?”

Ilendil himself was puzzled, wondering why the underclassmen were acting this way.

“Why?”

“Senior, I’m sorry, but we need to save the spirits. Right now time is…”

“I’ll help. The potion’s effects are still active.”

“Uh…”

Lee Han wondered if he really needed to travel together with this senior he was meeting for the first time, who was also the culprit behind this incident and still suspicious.

Moreover, they still needed to make contracts with the spirits…

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you since we don’t know when the Professor will return?”

“Yeah. The forest and spirits are more important than me.”

“How cool…!”

“I guess I misjudged this person, Lee Han.”

As Priest Siana and Yoner showed even stronger respect for Ilendil than before, Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Did everyone forget that this person is the culprit behind the Contaminated Ones?’

But there was no more time to waste.

“Understood. Let’s go.”

In any case, he was a senior and an alchemist several times more skilled than Lee Han, so he would be helpful.

…Though it was somewhat unsettling that he was the cause of this entire situation…

* * *

“Why did you try to create an artificial dark spirit?”

While ordinary students would chat about tonight’s dinner while walking, students skilled in alchemy talked about alchemy even while walking.

At Priest Siana’s question, Ilendil answered in his characteristically slow voice.

“Yeah. I wanted to use it as a forest guardian.”

“A forest guardian?”

Einroguard’s forests possessed powerful forces close to those of primeval forests.

However, not all forests in the Empire could be like that.

Particularly, one of the elements forests were vulnerable to was the dark element.

Sometimes a single dark spirit would be summoned incorrectly and contaminate an entire vast forest.

Heartbroken by such cases, Ilendil approached it from the opposite direction.

What if he used dark spirits as forest guardians instead?

“Wow! Really…”

“Isn’t that a crazy idea?”

Priest Siana, who had been about to express admiration at Lee Han’s muttering, became embarrassed.

“Isn’t it a good idea?”

“Priest Siana. Look at the Contaminated Ones in front of us right now.”

At the underclassmen’s conversation, Ilendil became dejected. The leaves connected to his hair drooped as if wilted.

“It would have been nice if it had succeeded.”

‘Oops. He’s a senior.’

Lee Han realized his mistake.

Being anxious about the spirits had made him commit an error he wouldn’t normally make.

Ilendil was clearly a senior, wasn’t he?

If bad rumors about Lee Han spread in the seniors’ community…

‘Could I use the Moradi family name? That would be too much. I already told him my full name and family earlier.’

“No, senior. I think it was a meaningful attempt.”

“Huh? You said it was a crazy idea.”

“All pioneers are bound to look crazy. I meant it as admiration.”

“You’re really a kind person.”

Ilendil’s leaves immediately perked up with good mood.

“But wouldn’t it be better to get help from experts when dealing with difficult elements like the dark element?”

“Will you help?”

The dryad hybrid senior stared directly at Lee Han.

Lee Han answered quickly without even breathing.

“I was referring to the seniors from the Black Magic Academy.”

“Hmm. But everyone from the Black Magic Academy is eccentric and scary.”

“Excuse me?”

At the senior’s words, Lee Han paused, wondering if he had heard something wrong.

“Wait. The spirits are that way.”

Ilendil pointed his finger to correct their direction.

“Can you sense the spirits’ presence?”

“Yeah. I’ve been close to spirits since I was young.”

“…”

Yoner shook his head seeing the veins bulging on the back of his friend’s hand gripping the staff.

What was so special about spirits…!

* * *

“We’re here. The spirits are gathered over there.”

Lee Han had to acknowledge the skills of the senior who had taken on the role of temporary guide in place of Professor Thunderstep.

Spirit hybrids, whose ancestral contracts manifested coincidentally in later generations, each had completely different characteristics.

Some spirit hybrids were so sensitive they would be startled at the sight of Lee Han, while others were remarkably indifferent.

Since Ilendil claimed to be close to spirits, he was clearly gifted in terms of affinity.

“Wait.”

Suddenly the senior’s expression changed.

“The homunculus is coming this way.”

“!”

Lee Han’s eyes changed.

Unlike other Contaminated Ones, the artificial dark spirit that was the cause of this situation was a different story.

“I’ll block it. You guys take the spirits and go.”

Lee Han, who was about to nod, hesitated.

With spirits right beside them now, wouldn’t showing Ilendil’s sacrifice bring the story back to square one?

“No. I’ll help block it too.”

At his underclassman’s words, Ilendil sent him a look that said ‘you really are a truly kind person.’

“Hmm. What did you say your name was again?”

“What…”

“It’s Wardanaz-nim.”

“Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family.”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family. Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family. Mm. I’ll remember that.”

The dryad hybrid senior swung his staff.

The already dense trees became even more entangled as they grew, forming a solid wall.

Thud!

The charging artificial dark spirit was trapped in the tree prison.

However, the spirit was no pushover either. It instantly changed its form at will and began squeezing its entire body through the gaps in the tree prison to crawl out.

“Darkness, gather here!”

Lee Han responded immediately without needing the senior’s words.

Ilendil, who was trapping the spirit with trees, nodded at Lee Han. This was exactly what needed to be done right now.

Continuously absorbing dark elements from the artificial dark spirit.

Dark elements gathered at the tip of Lee Han’s staff.

■!

As its flesh was being torn away, the spirit reacted very sensitively.

When the spirit that had been trying to hold onto the dark elements with force was overpowered by Lee Han in terms of control, it immediately used a different method.

‘This is…!’

As the dark elements condensed at the tip of his staff flickered and tried to burst out, Lee Han quickly pulled out bone fragments from his reagent pouch and compressed them urgently.

Some bone fragments burned up, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘【Dark Wave Spread】!’

Lee Han recalled the magic from the grimoire Professor Boladi had given him.

A type of magic that condensed dark elements and then burst them in wave form to affect the surroundings.

With other elements it wouldn’t have much power, but the characteristics of dark elements made even this wave-type attack lethal.

Mages with living flesh would have their life force extinguished if they took direct hits from such dark elements several times.

Right now, the opposing spirit was instinctively trying to cause a similar phenomenon.

“Absorption, difficult…?”

Ilendil panted as he spoke in broken words.

Even while using potions to maintain the prison, the large-scale magic was consuming an extraordinary amount of mana and stamina.

Yoner and Priest Siana were also helping from the side, but they were already breaking out in cold sweat.

Lee Han instinctively knew that backing down in this situation would only make things worse.

‘If necessary, I’ll have to deal with it using magic.’

【Dark Wave Spread】 was something he had never practiced and had put off, but in a situation like this, he had no choice but to try it based on what he had read.

With the recklessness that would have made Diret squeeze his eyes shut if he were there, Lee Han swung his staff.

“Darkness, gather here!”

Once again, dark elements gathered.

The spirit struggling in the tree prison reacted much faster this time, having learned from experience.

As the dark elements immediately flickered and tried to burst out, there wasn’t even time to contain them in reagents.

Lee Han cast 【Dark Wave Spread】 as he had read in the grimoire.

“Darkness, sweep through!”

Dark waves rippled through the air above their heads. Lee Han had cast first and consumed them before the opponent could detonate them.

Ilendil asked again in confusion.

“Earlier, why…?”

“It was my first time using that magic, so I had no choice!”

“What?”

Lee Han couldn’t explain further to Ilendil.

The spirit, realizing it couldn’t possibly keep up with the opposing mage in terms of dark elements, had changed its approach once again.

Grass and tree branches combined with dark elements and rose up like puppets.

At that sight, Ilendil let out a scream filled with pain.

“You bastard!”

“Hands, tear apart the enemy!”

With enemies closing in without giving him time to draw Dawnstar, Lee Han barely managed to chant his spell.

The Skeleton Principal’s close combat spell, 【Gonadaltes’ Sharp Hands】.

Unlike other magic, he had wondered when he would ever use this kind of spell…!

Slash!

“Flash forth!”

He slashed with one hand and swung his staff with the other to chant, but the numbers and momentum were serious.

In this kind of chaotic battle, mages were always at a disadvantage.

“Flash forth!”

The moment lightning formed, another grass puppet charged at him. Lee Han forcibly fixed the lightning at the tip and thrust his staff like a spear.

If he just had a moment’s gap, he could mobilize all his summoned creatures to buy time, but that moment’s gap didn’t exist.

If only he had a moment’s gap!

Crackle!

As if responding to Lee Han’s earnest wish, the lightning element gathered at the tip of his staff swelled even larger and covered the staff.

Lee Han himself didn’t notice, being busy dealing with enemies approaching from the opposite side and watching the spirit trapped in the tree prison.

He only realized this change after noticing that all the enemies around his staff-holding hand had collapsed.

“…?”

Lee Han was startled to realize that his staff had transformed into something like a lightning spear.

‘Wait. How did I do this?’

Apparently, he had used his staff as a wick to fix lightning elements in the form of a blazing spear.

Having heard Professor Boladi talk so much about fixing lightning element forms, he could tell at a glance.

But what was confusing was that he himself couldn’t remember how he had done it.

Because he had done it in such an urgent situation, instinctively…

‘This isn’t the time for this!’

Lee Han immediately summoned Sharkan and the skeleton warriors.

The summoned creatures blocked the grass puppets that had been pushed back by the lightning spear. Lee Han took advantage of the gap to run with his lightning spear raised.

■!

The spirit trapped between the tree prison let out a terrified scream as if realizing its fate.

Crackle!

Unlike the shock of lightning that was fired and penetrated through, the power of condensed and fixed lightning was sharp and fierce.

Moreover, it didn’t disappear but continuously burned the spirit.

Lee Han pulled out the spear and thrust it down again.

Crackle!

Lee Han intended to keep stabbing with the spear until the opponent was reverse-summoned.

Of course, being something created by Einroguard seniors, it probably wouldn’t be reverse-summoned as easily as ordinary spirits.

But it didn’t matter.

In a battle of endurance, Lee Han’s magic would never disappear first.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

■! ■! ■! ■! ■!

After a chorus of lightning and screams, the artificial spirit gave up all resistance and knelt down.

It stopped attacking and made its sigil rise on the back of Lee Han’s hand.

It was a signal of complete submission, entrusting its fate to the mage.

“???”

Of course, Lee Han had no intention of contracting with the opponent, so he was just confused.

Wasn’t it a vicious creature that had been rampaging wildly from the start?

There were rarely any mages who would contract with something that might stab them in the back at any moment.

Unless they were obsessed with spirits…

“Wardanaz-nim! Make a contract! You said you wanted to contract with a spirit!”

“Is that really true? I think it’s a good idea. It’s a bit mischievous, but it’s originally a good kid!”

“…”

Lee Han frowned at the outcries from Priest Siana and Senior Ilendil.

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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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