al_squad
patreon
Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 1044
🕑 Added 2024-11-20 12:54:47 +0000 UTCChapter 1044
Hearing the leather merchant spewing curses behind them, Yi-Han turned away bitterly.
'Truly unfortunate.'
Of all people, to run into Professor Boladi.
It could be called tremendous bad luck.
"Wait. If that's the case, couldn't other arenas be bankrupt too?"
"..."
Professor Boladi paused for the first time. Yi-Han was shocked at this sight.
No way?!
*
Fortunately, there was at least one underground arena that hadn't gone bankrupt.
Of course, before finding that arena, Professor Boladi had to visit three more bankrupt arenas.
-You catch all our leaders then what arena! Everyone's scattered!-
-P-please spare me! I have nothing around my neck! No weapons! Since I have no weapons please not that magic!-
-Ah. Are you that combat mage? Thanks to you I could buy this tavern cheaply. The guild guys who used this place were quite terrified.-
"Found it. Let's go in."
'Can this really be called finding?'
Yi-Han thought inwardly.
With this method, it seemed like even he or Professor Garcia could find them.
Couldn't you just grab any suspicious-looking mercenary on the street, hang them upside down and say 'Tell me the underground arena entrances you know!'?
Click-
This time the underground arena entrance was hidden beside a sewer near the slums.
Going through a dark passage built with old stones in a circular shape, if you knocked three times on a red-painted stone, a secret door would open from inside.
When the door opened, quite bright light leaked from inside. It seemed full of light sources using not just torches but magic.
-That's all you have? Put more down, you bastard!-
-Can't take your hands off my cards?! I'll chew the hearts of anyone coveting this magic administrator card!-
-Target below! Target below I say! Not above where the shield is!-
Noisy shouts leaked from the end of the long passage.
Clearly all sorts of gambling from mage cards to underground arena fights was taking place.
A guild member counting roughly piled dirty silver coins on the counter spotted new guests and asked.
"Who introduced you?"
"Has a gorgon mixed-blood come here?"
"Who? Don't know. I asked who introduced you?"
Hostility began seeping into the other's voice. They were clearly suspecting them as suspicious people rather than guests who would pay gold coins to enter the arena.
Yi-Han grabbed his staff. However, Professor Boladi was one step faster.
Bang!
The guild member slammed their head on the counter and fainted. At the same time, Professor Boladi struck everyone inside with intense mental waves.
Don't move!
At the overwhelming telepathy, people who sensed something was wrong quickly prostrated themselves.
However, those without fear or foolish tried to grab weapons at their waists while cursing.
"Split, Ferkuntra's thunderbolt!"
Yi-Han, who had overworked himself with various 5th Circle magics during first semester, naturally used and applied magic he hadn't even learned.
The magic just used was a variation that strengthened and compressed Ferkuntra's lesser thunderbolt then forcibly split it to fire like buckshot.
If pressed to classify it, <Ferkuntra's Chain Lightning>. It could be called about 4th Circle magic.
Crackle!
As lightning pierced several people, they rolled around with painful screams. Yi-Han didn't stop and activated stored magic. Lightning spear and lightning cloak were cast, causing discharge phenomena around him.
"Don't come closer! I'll attack if you approach!"
"What are you saying after attacking first, you crazy bastard!"
"...Mm!"
Yi-Han was momentarily speechless, having no words to refute.
Since mages were weak to ambush, Professor Boladi chose to ambush first, but that choice must have felt very rude to these criminal guild members.
'But it can't be helped.'
Once fighting broke out, they couldn't just take hits. Yi-Han summoned a medium skeleton golem composed of dragon teeth.
Crunch!
At this mad destructive rampage demolishing the not-so-large underground arena facility, guild members taking out crossbows to snipe the mages spewed curses.
"Hey you cursed mage bastard!!"
"What's your problem smashing everything here?!"
"...Mmm!"
Yi-Han wanted to explain 'Though the situation is chaotic and I'm defending with lightning cloak and telekinesis, I brought out a defensive summon because unexpected damage could occur if magic arrows or bolts fly from range.'
But having already demolished half the underground arena's facilities, that opportunity was long gone. Yi-Han gave up and ordered destruction.
"Sweep away everyone standing!"
The lightly armored arena guild members couldn't suppress the golem and were swept away like balls. Yi-Han continuously cast <Crow's Evil Eye> from behind. Enemies hit by the curse collapsed from poison.
"Wh-what...!"
"Did a whole magic tower come?!"
Guild members who jumped out from connected rooms were bewildered, unable to grasp the situation.
Lightning flashed everywhere, a medium golem was rampaging in the middle of the arena throwing furniture around with crashes, and armed comrades were collapsing one after another without even being hit as if cursed.
No matter how they thought about it, this wasn't violence a couple mages would do.
Excessive violence like an entire magic tower had come rampaging!
Why go this far?
'Did someone kidnap a mage?? We didn't do that though?'
"Beavle's Flying..."
When Yi-Han was about to summon <Beavle's Flying Sword> that he had recently learned to make sure, Professor Boladi who had returned in the meantime spoke.
"She's not here."
"Ah. Is that so?"
While his disciple was beating guild members in the center, Professor Boladi had subdued all the guild members inside, finished checking and come out.
"Let's go back."
"Yes."
After the two mages disappeared, a suffocating silence fell.
The remaining guests snuck glances around and fled outside. The guild members sprawled everywhere could only blankly watch, unable to even think of threatening or catching them.
Someone muttered.
"...These crazy mage bastards...!"
*
Actually, it wasn't surprising that Eandurde wasn't at the first underground arena they visited.
The capital was one of the empire's largest cities, and the crime running in its shadows was correspondingly vast.
Just the large and small underground arenas in the slums easily numbered over ten.
But when Eandurde wasn't visible at the second underground arena either, Yi-Han fell into slight worry.
"Could Eandurde have gone to a different illegal arena? Not here..."
'Couldn't you have thought of that before destroying everything?'
A collapsed guild member cursed inwardly with eyes closed. He was scared to open his eyes, feeling the mages would beat him immediately.
Who the hell is this gorgon mixed-blood???
However, Professor Boladi shook his head.
"That's not easy."
Such arenas could exist in other parts of the capital besides the slum district.
But someone like Eandurde couldn't easily enter such places. They required certain identity verification and guarantees.
It would surely be an arena in this district that was relatively easy to enter and that Eandurde knew well.
"Um. Let me ask something. Are there no other illegal arenas nearby?"
Yi-Han asked a guild member pretending to be unconscious with eyes closed. Realizing he was caught, the guild member frantically spilled.
"Over there! I heard there are guys operating near the ranch down the road! Please spare me!"
"Thank you."
"Those guys are really bad guys! Please punish them!!"
"Understood."
Yi-Han moved again with Professor Boladi while hearing the guild member's encouragement.
But this time was a bit different.
At the third underground arena, their guild members came out to greet them first.
"We don't have any gorgon mixed-blood!"
Hearing rumors that a mad hunter butcher had appeared and was sweeping through the area, the guild members of this arena disguised as a ranch fell into extreme tension.
Usually they would settle things with force, but this time the opponent was too bad.
From what they heard, they were devastating everything while looking for some gorgon mixed-blood...
-Wasn't he not usually someone who devastates like this? Why is he going around destroying everything?-
-Is that important? Quickly tell if anyone bought a gorgon mixed-blood. If we find out you hid it later, I'll skin you alive!-
After checking the ledgers and even the guild members' back pockets, they could be certain.
That they didn't have anything like a gorgon mixed-blood.
The somewhat relieved guild members waited on the hill path leading up to the ranch and shouted this.
"She's not here?"
"That's right. If you don't believe us, we can let you verify."
"...Uh, do you perhaps have formal imperial guild permission?"
Yi-Han asked back in bewilderment.
The criminals operating illegally were being too polite and kind.
The guild members made expressions like they had bitten something at those words.
They felt their guts turning at these crazy mages who were devastating guilds everywhere spouting such nonsense.
'You bastards!'
"Begin."
Professor Boladi spoke to Yi-Han in a low voice.
This was because Yi-Han had asked 'Please give some signal before attacking.'
"??"
The guild members' reactions were slow, not understanding what 'begin' meant. In that moment, the two mages disappeared.
Bang!
What struck first was a well-refined attack. The collapsed guild members crumpled without even realizing phantom blades formed by magic had cut their vital points.
And what followed was magic's merciless violence without control.
The disciple, less confident than his master, showed no mercy. Feeling tension about possible counterattacks, he continuously fired magic.
"You... bastards..."
While someone muttered, Professor Boladi had already moved into the arena.
Then came out after a while.
"She's not here."
'Indeed. So this is what being professional means.'
Yi-Han understood why Professor Boladi hadn't accepted the guild members' offer and instead attacked to subdue them before searching.
Such offers were only possible with trustworthy opponents.
They couldn't join hands with suspicious people like these guild members whose schemes were unknown.
They could have hidden Eandurde elsewhere and played innocent, or let them in then ambush at the most advantageous moment.
The important thing was not losing initiative.
'I learned something. I shouldn't let my guard down easily either.'
Even if offered sweetly, they absolutely shouldn't just accept...
Whoosh-
A paper bird flew in.
Yi-Han received the paper bird and opened it. It was Professor Garcia's handwriting.
"What letter is it?"
"...It says Eandurde is with Professor Garcia right now? Apparently when she said she was going to the arena, she meant getting money she had hidden in an old bankrupt arena..."
"Indeed. Let's go back."
Yi-Han deeply reproached himself.
If he had trusted Eandurde a bit more, he wouldn't have made the rash assumption that she would go to underground arenas to get gold coins.
'Should have trusted her more.'
"..."
"..."
The guild members collapsed like half-corpses shuddered at the two mages' backs.
They were truly terrible people whose shadows they didn't even want to touch.
