Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 643

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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 643

“What kind of stupid thing are you saying?”

“Are you really a dark mage?!”

Lee Han and Yoner scolded him simultaneously.

Rolling on the ground would have been better.

Mental magic could cause really serious injury if it hit wrong.

Right now he was seeing illusions of the Skeleton Principal, but if hit by stronger mental magic, he might see illusions of the Skeleton Principal gifting him a knitted sweater.

“Rolling on the ground would be better!”

“A little skin injury is easier to heal.”

“Right. Even rolling on muddy ground…”

“Or even if a bone or two breaks!”

“Even if clothes become tattered rags!”

“…I get it! I get it!”

Gainando got angry while still fallen over.

At this rate, it seemed like his two friends would say ‘breaking your neck would be better.’

‘Even though I cast Ogonin’s Mist…’

Lee Han scolded Gainando while inwardly trying to sharply assess the situation.

Currently, Lee Han’s group was protected by various magic spells, one of which was 【Ogonin’s Mist】.

A spell that created an illusory fog around the party to disperse focus when external enemies launched ranged attacks.

But the watchmen paid no heed and cast mental magic anyway.

It was clear that everything from the reliefs carved in this inner chamber to various magic spells were completely tracking the intruders’ location.

Tsssssssk!

Once again a spark flew in and burned a watchman.

Unlike Lee Han who obsessively restrained the intensity of flame magic, Yoner spectacularly shot flame arrows and knocked down another watchman.

However, the watchmen kept crawling out.

“Yoner, conserve your mana! These don’t seem to be limited in number!”

“Got it!”

Yoner quickly pulled out a potion burning with crimson light from his potion bag and threw it.

A wall of crimson flames shot up, blocking the enemies’ advance. Meanwhile, Nilia held four arrows between the fingers of one hand and shot them one by one to deal with nearby enemies.

Gainando desperately called for Arsil.

“Lord Arsil! Lord Arsil! We’re in trouble!”

“Gainando. Don’t stick your head out! Cold air, float as a shield!”

Lee Han cast the spell once more while searching the surroundings.

‘There!’

The largest and most ornate carving among the reliefs carved on the tomb’s walls.

From there, a constant flow of mana continued, raising the watchmen.

“Strike forth, Perkuntra’s…”

Crack!

The charged lightning left thick traces as it exploded on the wall.

But surprisingly, the relief was unharmed. It had perfectly dispersed and absorbed the incoming mana.

“Perkuntra, you’re useless!”

“??”

Yoner was flustered when his friend suddenly blamed the spirit.

Lee Han finished cursing the spirit and thought again.

What method could cut off that flow now?

‘Mana Hammer requires getting close. Even if I get close, if it’s well defended, I can’t break it quickly. Then…’

A method to disrupt the magic flow from a distance while protecting his friends.

He doubted it was possible, but for a moment a method flashed through Lee Han’s mind.

-You must know about the concept of magic counters too.

After getting involved with mage criminals before, the Skeleton Principal had imparted several teachings to prepare for facing enemies.

One of them was the concept called counter, or reverse magic.

An efficient way to destroy magic when disrupting or breaking it, without necessarily smashing it with massive external force.

However, the Skeleton Principal had only intensively trained a few magic spells mainly used by mage criminals.

Since reverse magic was so difficult to begin with, he couldn’t teach everything comprehensively.

It sounded grand calling it reverse magic, but ultimately this was just methodology close to deeply understanding and dismantling magic oneself.

Among those, Lee Han had smashed one or two by force…

‘Can I do it?’

Lee Han concentrated even more on the flow of mana flowing through the inner chamber.

Then he heard faint singing.

It was the melody from the chorus of darkness that had started when the door opened earlier.

“!”

Lee Han realized how the watchmen had found his friends’ location and easily cast illusion magic.

From the moment they heard that singing, the intruders were as good as under a spell.

“■■■, ■■…”

“!”

Gainando was flustered when his friend suddenly started singing in an incomprehensible ancient kingdom language.

“Lee Han’s gone crazy!! This is bad!!”

“No, you idiot!”

Yoner kicked his stupid relative.

Lee Han’s eyes were perfectly sane. Those were the same eyes he showed when targeting White Tiger Tower students at Einroguard.

‘Is it working?’

Singing along with the song he heard, Lee Han checked for changes around him.

Once, twice, three times…

As Lee Han’s song gradually became similar to the tomb’s chorus, the situation inside began to change.

The watchmen couldn’t find the students and checked other places instead.

Nilia felt the fear that had been weighing on her heart since earlier diminish. Gainando also looked around more calmly.

‘It works!’

Fortune favored Lee Han.

If it had been other magic, he couldn’t have cast reverse magic so easily.

However, the magic established in this tomb was music magic, and Lee Han had once before blocked a song with his own song.

It was the Siren’s song.

When song clashed with song, the effect was bound to be halved.

“■■■… ■■!”

Lee Han felt the tomb’s song’s influence gradually diminishing, with his song dominating the territory.

When a mage dominated a territory, it didn’t mean they had bought that land with money. It meant the mage was firmly controlling that space with their mana and will.

Just as the Skeleton Principal had made Einroguard his territory, mages naturally had absolute advantage in their domains.

‘Was this song a song of authority that dominated territory?’

It also explained how the watchmen kept rising and accurately targeted the intruders’ location with illusion magic.

At some point, the tomb’s song completely ended. Simultaneously, the watchmen suddenly lost power and disappeared.

“…It’s, it’s over, right?”

Gainando spoke with desperate hope in his disheveled state. Lee Han nodded.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“I’m never entering a tomb again!”

‘Is that possible when learning dark magic?’

Lee Han approached the relief where the tomb’s song had started. It was the largest and most ornate carving, but unlike before, it had lost its color and become quiet.

Creak.

“?”

Lee Han examining it was puzzled by the sight of the carving with the musician engraved shaking as if about to break off.

With a thud, the carving broke off and a rolled-up parchment tumbled out from inside.

‘This is…?’

Lee Han didn’t recognize the letters and format, but he could tell it was sheet music.

‘Is this sheet music recording that chorus from earlier?’

“!”

Arsil, who had been talking with the Hecatoncheires outside, was startled to see the chaotic state inside the tomb.

Whatever had happened, Gainando was covered in mud with his cloak in tatters.

The other friends too…

…The other friends were relatively fine, but anyway, Gainando was covered in mud with his cloak in tatters.

“Suddenly watchmen burst out from inside… Brother, you were fine? Well of course, since the spirits protect you, that darkness chorus probably couldn’t affect you much either.”

Arsil apologized to Lee Han and his friends with a sincere voice.

He had thought it would be an uneventful tomb, but hadn’t expected such an incident to occur.

“It’s fine, brother. It couldn’t be helped.”

“I’m not fine…”

Gainando muttered while brushing off mud, but his friends pretended not to hear and ignored him.

Arsil smiled with relief when Lee Han said that.

Then he praised his younger brother.

“…No, brother. That’s not right. Please don’t say such ridiculous things.”

Lee Han immediately became serious.

Since Lee Han looked so stern, Nilia became curious and asked.

“What did he say?”

“He said he knew a tomb like this wouldn’t be much of a problem for me.”

Nilia also became stern and glared at Arsil. Arsil became dejected at his younger brother and his friends’ reaction and drooped his shoulders.

* * *

Ratford skillfully calmed the old horse.

Sometimes there were nobles who traveled luxuriously with four or eight horses, but from the perspective of an expert like Ratford, that was like saying ‘please rob me.’

The best method for comfortable travel was to look like unappetizing prey.

Ratford deliberately chose an old, small horse and wore shabby clothes. To anyone, he looked like an ordinary pilgrim or wanderer.

“May I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Is this Udamhwa Village?”

Ratford was cautious.

He didn’t carelessly ask about the Wardanaz Family name. There was a chance the other person might harbor ill intentions thinking ‘someone related to the Wardanaz Family must be wealthy.’

“That’s right. If you walk straight along this Imperial Highway, you’ll see a pomegranate tree, and then you’ll have reached Udamhwa Village. What business do you have in Udamhwa Village?”

“A distant relative sent me a letter asking me to visit and help with some work. I’m a craftsman from the Locksmith Guild.”

“Whoever it is has a really good relative! If you have time, please visit the red brick house near the Bridge of Ruin over there. I was just looking for a good lock.”

“Haha. Thank you.”

Ratford ended the conversation perfectly.

He had obtained information and even earned the village person’s goodwill – he was a perfect traveler.

‘But didn’t he say Bridge of Ruin?’

Ratford doubted his ears, wondering if he had heard wrong.

Village bridges were usually named after famous heroes from the village (Gonadaltes Bridge), after events (Bridge Celebrating His Imperial Majesty’s Benevolent Ascension), or after geographical features (Three Rivers Bridge)…

How did they end up with Bridge of Ruin?

‘Did something ruinous happen in the village?’

Ratford skillfully arrived at the village and entered the inn.

He threw an Imperial copper coin to the stable keeper to leave his horse, then sat in a corner of the inn.

‘Hmm. This is a good village.’

Ratford smiled at the vitality he felt everywhere.

Poor villages and wealthy villages had different atmospheres even in their inns. An inn this noisy with loud singing represented the village’s prosperity.

“Bullshit. You dare try to deceive me?!”

“Customer, you can’t do this here.”

“Shut up. I swear by my beard, if you don’t return my silver coins, I’ll put a hole in your chest with my crossbow!”

“?!”

Some dwarf traveler was shouting loudly and grabbing the inn keeper by the collar.

“Hey, call the guards!”

“Where do you think you’re going! Anyone who goes out that door will die!”

The dwarf waved his crossbow with a face red with anger.

He had probably lost Imperial silver coins playing mage card games with the village people.

‘Should I intervene?’

Ratford pondered.

If this was a good village, it wouldn’t be a big problem if people knew he was a mage.

What else could happen before reaching the Wardanaz Family?

“Customer, please stop!”

“You stop and shut your mouth!”

“I won’t stand for this either.”

“What are you going to do?!”

The dwarf traveler shouted while gripping the inn keeper’s collar tightly.

He seemed to have battlefield experience – his skills were no joke. The inn keeper gasped and shouted to the clerk.

“Hat, bring the hat!”

“?”

Ratford wondered what hat he was talking about. The clerk hurriedly brought a hat and put it on the inn keeper.

At that moment, the inn keeper easily lifted the dwarf traveler with one hand and slammed him down.

“You bastard! Where do you get off causing trouble!”

“…?!”

‘Why the hell does a village inn keeper have a strength-enhancing artifact?!’

Ratford became very confused.

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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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