Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 556

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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 556

“Is everyone in? I’m going in too.”

Since there were many students who wanted to go, they couldn’t all go at once.

Lee Han divided the students and formed parties to go in turns. The advance team that would enter first had to be skilled among the students and good at improvising.

And naturally, Lee Han was included in that group.

Both Salko and Giselle knew well that without Lee Han, they would immediately grab each other by the collar and fight.

“By calculation, it should keep maintaining. If it closes, don’t even come near here and go back to the dormitory pretending you don’t know anything.”

“Wa, Wardanaz. Still, how can we just…”

“The living must survive. There’s no choice.”

Lee Han spoke firmly to his friends who were shocked and hesitating.

If the dimensional gate closed, the students who crossed over would have to find their own way back to school.

How could the students at school rescue them?

“Then… I’m going.”

Pop!

As he stepped into the dimensional gate, he felt the same sensation as when he had entered the spirit realm or undead realm before.

The strange sensation of moving through a completely different dimension that had the same phase but was actually entirely different.

The moment that felt like eternity quickly ended, and before Lee Han stretched an unfamiliar manor corridor.

“Wardanaz.”

“…Everyone made it safely.”

The friends who had entered first nodded with tense faces.

No matter what, there wasn’t a single student who wouldn’t be nervous about entering the Skeleton Principal’s villa.

“Everyone stay calm.”

“I, I am calm?”

“I, I’m calm too. Wardanaz.”

‘Your hands are shaking though…’

Seeing friends like Salko and Giselle trembling with nervousness, he thought he should help them relax.

“If we follow the plan, there’s no worry about getting caught. Now. Everyone take a deep breath. We quickly check the manor’s structure, change clothes, then leave.”

“Are we really leaving the items in the manor alone?”

“No. That would be crazy.”

Ratford made a sad expression. Surprisingly, not only Ratford but several other students were openly showing disappointment.

It wasn’t simply because they coveted the treasures in the manor.

“But Wardanaz. If not now, we might never get to rob the Principal’s manor in our lifetime…”

“Right. If we’re going to the punishment room anyway, wouldn’t it be better to rob it first?”

The desperation that if not now, they’d never be able to steal the Skeleton Principal’s treasures in their lifetime.

And the resolve that since they’d already jumped into this situation, they were half-prepared to go to the punishment room anyway.

It wouldn’t be surprising if several students were thinking ‘Since it’s come to this anyway, let’s inflict maximum damage on the Skeleton Principal.’

But Lee Han remained cool-headed.

“No. Everyone follows the plan. Ignore what the upperclassmen said. We go in the direction with the lowest possibility of getting caught. Got it?”

As Lee Han had the most escape experience among them, he knew well.

Nothing was more dangerous in an escape than acting emotionally.

‘We need to grasp the structure as quickly as possible and escape to the city. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets. Besides, if treasures go missing too…’

“Right. Listen to Wardanaz. He’s escaped the most among us. No one can match his cunning.”

“I don’t know about other things, but I’ll acknowledge Wardanaz’s criminal skills.”

“Thanks everyone. …Wait. Did you just insult me?”

At Lee Han’s question, Salko and Giselle simultaneously shook their heads.

“No.”

“No. There’s a misunderstanding.”

“It sounded like an insult… Anyway, let’s move. Everyone stay close.”

After gathering his friends close and preparing to cast invisibility magic, Lee Han froze in place.

Mercenaries had appeared from the other end of the corridor.

* * *

The prejudiced people of the Empire thought mercenaries were no different from criminals.

People who would properly hold weapons and listen to their employers during the day, but at night would turn their weapons around and plunder their employers.

Of course, the mercenaries jumped up and denied such prejudice.

-What kind of slander is this against soldiers who dedicate themselves to justice from the freezing snowy mountains of the Empire’s north to the burning deserts of the Empire’s south!

-Of course, one of my comrades was caught attacking an employer, but that’s just an extreme minority!

-Right, right! My comrade was also caught stealing last time, but that was a very exceptional case!

Unfortunately, the mercenaries caught by the Death Knights employed by the Skeleton Principal were among such exceptional minorities.

People who originally lived in strict compliance with Imperial law but appeared to have committed crimes due to several misunderstandings and misfortunes overlapping.

Therefore, when they were caught by the Death Knights, they protested violently.

-If you don’t release us immediately, I’ll tear your master apart, undead!

-You vile spellcaster bastard, you dark mage grave-robbing thief sorcerer bastard!

After the Death Knights revealed their master’s identity, the mercenaries protested more politely.

-…Even so, isn’t this too much!

-If we have to face a mage, we can do it right now!

After the Death Knights locked the storage door and swung weapons at those who resisted, the mercenaries’ protests became much more refined.

-Ho, how much more do we need to do?

-Do we need to prepare more than this? Whatever mage it is, this should be enough. Just one arrow to the neck and any mage is…

Of course, no matter how refined their protests became, the Death Knights didn’t easily release the mercenaries.

-Shut up. You’re still far from ready. Among the targets you’re aiming for, there are mages skilled in combat beyond your imagination. Train harder.

-No, no…!

As time passed, the Death Knights selected only mercenaries who met their standards and moved them to the villa.

Even though they had passed the test, the mercenaries’ anxiety only grew.

-What exactly are they trying to do with us? Don’t tell me they want us to assassinate another mage?

-Damn it, if it’s assassination, they won’t let us live even if we succeed!

-The ones who failed might have already been cursed by the mage and turned to stone…

When cornered, even a mouse will bite a cat.

Much more so for violent mercenaries who had been caught after committing crimes.

It was natural that they would prepare to escape without waiting for the Death Knight’s instructions.

However, escape wasn’t easy.

-You rat bastard. You claim to have picked over ten thousand locks but can’t open one flimsy front gate?

-Damn it, you try it yourself! Whatever the hell they did to it, it absolutely won’t open! It’s like they embedded some kind of iron!

-I, I climbed over the wall and threw myself, but I bounced off like there was some wall there.

-That mage bastard must have cast magic in the air too. Crazy bastard!

-Let’s dig the ground! We’ll escape by digging through the ground.

-The ground is blocked too… To think he cast magic underground as well. Crazy mage bastard!

Every direction of escape the mercenaries could think of was completely blocked.

As if they knew this, the Death Knights who came every evening didn’t care even if the ground was dug up or the front gate was scratched.

They checked the mercenaries’ skills and mercilessly punished them if they hadn’t improved.

-Instead of wasting time on useless things, practice. You trash!

-Why don’t you understand that with your current skills, you can’t even break through a mage’s summoned creature!

The more the mercenaries suffered at the hands of the Death Knights, the more desperately they clung to escape.

If they stayed here longer, who knows what would happen to them!

-Let’s search inside the manor. The mage might have forgotten and left something behind.

-Search everything. Starting from behind mirrors to under beds. Search thoroughly!

-Is it okay to go in here? I think the Death Knights said absolutely not to enter…

-It’ll be a while before they return. Go in! We’re dead anyway.

The mercenaries boldly ventured into the forbidden areas of the manor, conducting their search.

Their brave search came to an absurd end.

At the end of the stairs they had climbed with such effort, a group of Einroguard students was waiting in the corridor.

* * *

“…”

“…”

Both the students and mercenaries froze in silence.

With so much at stake for both sides, their minds simply stopped working.

‘Are we caught!? Who are those guys? Are they the Principal’s minions?’

‘Are we caught!? Who are those bastards? Are they that mage’s subordinates?’

The students wondered whether they should retreat through the dimensional portal, or since it had come to this, prepare for the punishment room and push their way out of the manor to escape.

The mercenaries wondered whether they should withdraw now, or subdue the mage’s subordinates and stage a hostage situation.

And the first to take action was Lee Han.

“Attack!”

“What?”

“I said attack. Strike them down, lightning of Perkuntra!”

As lightning struck the corridor with Lee Han’s spell, the mercenaries realized they had made a huge mistake in their confusion.

To let a mage get the first strike!

‘This is bad!’

“Capture those bastards as hostages… Gah!”

A mercenary who tried to declare an attack a beat too late was pierced by lightning and collapsed.

Trembling all over and unable to get up, he had clearly taken a direct hit.

“Shield bearers to the front!”

“Sh, shield bearers! Right. Shield bearers to the front!”

The mercenaries, who had been panicking at the fact that they’d lost the initiative to a mage, were able to move in an organized manner thanks, ironically, to the Death Knight who had worked them to the bone.

Thanks to the harsh training to face mages, they could move instinctively even in this situation.

Mercenaries carrying tough wooden shields treated against magic stepped forward and quickly formed a shield wall.

The mercenaries behind them prepared ranged attacks. Crossbows were loaded and poison-coated daggers were drawn.

Seeing this, Lee Han’s expression also turned sharp.

‘So they are trained after all!’

“Wa, Wardanaz. Are you sure it’s okay to attack so recklessly like this?”

“They’re criminals that the Principal captured anyway. Attack!”

“What? How do you… Al, alright. Attack! Attack them!”

Lee Han’s reason for striking first was simple.

He had seen those mercenaries before at the warehouse on the city outskirts.

The criminals the Skeleton Principal had brought to attack the new students.

Having recognized them, there was no need to hesitate about striking first. They were going to fight at the school anyway.

“Spread, thick fog, arise, skeletal warriors!”

Lee Han quickly swung his staff to summon fog between the corridor and summoned skeleton warriors to advance.

As the pitch-black skeleton warriors formed ranks and advanced through the fog, making aiming impossible, the mercenaries felt intense pressure.

The situation had changed once again in the blink of an eye!

“Th, this is…”

“How… how…!”

The mercenaries had thought the Death Knight was just being unreasonable when he nitpicked and abused them over their tactics.

-Slow and dull. And you only prepared one method? You’re going to face a mage with just that!

Being seasoned mercenaries, they too had faced mages on battlefields before.

Most mages didn’t show much strength in sudden combat situations.

Their casting speed was slow, their awareness of surroundings was poor, and they couldn’t respond well when attacks came flying…

They thought that once they blocked one spell, they could immediately counterattack and subdue the mage.

However, the mage before them now gave no openings at all.

When they raised their defenses and bought time, he instantly adapted to their tactics, raised his own defenses, and prepared for a prolonged battle.

Seeing the skeleton warriors advancing through the fog, their thoughts became complicated.

‘Should we fight? How strong are these things?’

‘Can we break through this and reach those spellcasters?’

At that moment, a barrage of magic from the students began flying in.

While Lee Han had bought time, the students’ spells had been completed.

Boom boom boom boom bang!

“Gah!”

“Grgh!”

Even though they had set up defensive barriers against magic, there was no way to avoid impact when over a dozen mages were unleashing spells indiscriminately.

Shields began breaking and mercenaries were sent flying from the impact.

Giselle glanced at Lee Han slightly while watching the opponents fall.

‘They really are criminals, right…?’

She suspected that Wardanaz might have just called them criminals to make it easier to attack them.

‘…No, that can’t be. There’s no way to confirm it now anyway.’

“They’re running away!”

The students shouted as they saw the enemies at the end of the corridor hastily retreating down the stairs.

Lee Han gave cold instructions.

“Capture them! Don’t let a single one escape!”

“…Wardanaz. They really are criminals, right?”

“I told you they’re criminals, didn’t I? Salko. Why do you keep asking pointless questions?”

“No, no. It’s nothing.”

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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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