Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-459

-I understand your pursuit of glory, but the habit of only facing excessively strong opponents is also not good!-

At the undead mage's advice, Gainando unconsciously nodded his head.

Yi-Han smacked the back of Gainando's head and said.

"It's not like I wanted to be in that situation..."

-I'll hear the explanation later. I'm lacking mana now! I need help!-

The undead mage spoke while looking around at the students.

Since he was not originally an existence of this land, the undead mage consumed a tremendous amount of existence each time he was summoned from the realm.

Moreover, the damage he had taken when he faced the King of Ghouls last time had not yet recovered.

No matter how outstanding the undead mage was, it was difficult for him to play a proper role without help.

-Serpent, run, gather the energy of the eight directions, from Qian to Kun, from Kan to Dui!-

[TL: Directions in Bagua : Qian (乾) - Represents the northwest direction. It is associated with the sky, and its element is metal. Qian symbolizes heaven, strength, creativity, and the father figure. Kun (坤) - Corresponds to the southwest direction. It represents the earth, with its element being earth as well. Kun symbolizes motherhood, receptivity, nurturing, and care.

Kan (坎) - Linked to the north direction. Its element is water, and it symbolizes danger, the moon, the abyss, and trials to be overcome. It is also associated with the middle son.

Dui (兌) - Represents the west direction. Its element is lake or sometimes metal, and it stands for joy, pleasure, and the youngest daughter.]

He hurriedly drew a magic circle around him and scraped together mana, but it was still insufficient.

The undead mage shouted at the students.

-Each to your position! Face your position and add strength to the magic circle!-

Yi-Han didn't ask about the principle of the intricate magic circle drawn with snakes, bones, and dark elements.

Instead, he quickly moved as the undead mage told him to. There was no time to waste with the army approaching from afar.

"His recovery is incomplete..."

"Yi-Han. Wouldn't it have been better to summon the cheeky spirit?"

"Still, in the current situation, it will be better than Ferkuntra."

"Indeed, right?"

-You, dawdling there! Move quickly!-

When the undead mage shouted, Gainando was startled and tried to run.

But there was no need for that.

As soon as Yi-Han stepped into the concentric circle inside the magic circle, the magic circle emitted light as if burning and began mana circulation.

-There's too little mana! In the current state, forget about grand magic, I might not be able to endure and be reverse summoned... Oh. It's all done.-

"..."

"..."

Gainando and his friends, who were rushing over, paused.

"It's all done?"

-Ah... right. He had a lot of mana.-

The undead mage had no facial muscles but expressed embarrassment through his actions.

Come to think of it, this mage he had contracted with had genius-level talent for his age and an unbelievably large amount of mana that would make even the lords of other realms gasp.

Thanks to that, the required mana was achieved in an instant without the need to scrape together mana from other students bit by bit.

With this much mana, he could summon undead abundantly without worrying about reverse summoning.

-Thank you.-

"I summoned you, didn't I?"

-Then... appear, my armies!-

The undead mage began summoning the undead he had contracted with, along with a command.

From the space connected to the magic circle, a realm gate opened, and skeleton warriors formed a neat formation.

Seeing their appearance clearly different from ordinary skeleton warriors, Yi-Han asked in disbelief.

"Could they be dragon tooth soldiers??"

For undead summons whose strength varied depending on the quality of the bones, skeleton warriors made from dragon teeth were a symbol of strength and fear.

With that size and such a lively spirit...

-Are you crazy? Do you know how proud summons made from dragon teeth are?! They can never be commanded like this. Of course, these warriors are not ordinary either, but still.-

"Ah. Could it be demon bones..."

-Dragon teeth are mixed in very slightly.-

"..."

-Even that is really amazing!-

"R, right."

It did sound a bit shabby when he said it, but the undead mage's words were not wrong.

Even with just a tiny bit of dragon teeth mixed in, the skeleton warriors were exuding an overwhelming spirit.

The summoning didn't end there.

After the skeleton warriors with shields formed a formation and completed an iron wall, banshee mages lined up behind them.

The banshee mages were tapping the ground, trying to secure mana somehow, and when they spotted Yi-Han, they bowed deeply.

"...It's because I contracted with that mage."

"Uh, okay."

Ymirg was puzzled when Yi-Han answered something he didn't even ask.

-...I offer all my remaining mana, so the king of horses and the king of kings, aid me according to the contract!-

As the undead mage squeezed out his mana and finished the last summoning, centaur ghouls sprang out from one side.

The huge monstrous cavalry, the centaur ghouls, initiated a charge following their leader.

-Now, the preparations are complete! Intercept the enemies! Don't worry about mana!-

"Isn't that too reckless?"

When Yi-Han asked worriedly, the undead mage glanced down at the magic circle to check.

And he shouted again.

-Don't worry about mana and pour it on even more!-

"..."

"Phew. It's all done."

Coholti, who had finished summoning the undead, plopped down.

Summoning that many numbers was indeed not an ordinary task even for the outstanding students of Einroguard.

He had used up all the reagents and over a dozen magic circles, but the fatigue was inevitable.

"Is it going well?"

"Yes. It's going well."

Ogoldos answered while looking at the undead army running in the distance.

Although he had seen it last year, seeing it again with more knowledge after becoming a 2nd-year student made him realize anew how amazing it was.

It was surprising to summon that many undead, but the strong control over those ferocious undead was also impressive.

Even though countless undead were running as if they would sweep away everything, making the earth tremble, the juniors among them didn't get a single hair hurt.

Ogoldos was reminded of old memories.

'I also decided to devote myself to dark magic after seeing that.'

At first, it was really scary.

He entered the lecture hall, and suddenly a different realm unfolded before him, and an army of undead was rushing towards him. How could he not be scared?

He was trembling, thinking this was the end, but suddenly the army of undead scattered to the side without touching a single hair of the students and passed by.

Only then could Ogoldos realize.

All of this was a splendid play by the seniors learning dark magic!

'Seeing it again, it's really amazing...'

"H, hey! Hey!!!"

"Why are you doing that? Wait. Don't come near my back."

Ogoldos looked at Coholti with eyes full of wariness.

Coholti showed that both his hands were empty as if it was unfair and shouted.

"Look at the undead army over there!"

"Why... gasp."

The two let out a gasp.

No matter how they looked at it, the scene in the distance looked like a fight.

Why???

"Wh, what's going on? C, could it be that the control was incomplete? Did they not understand not to attack the juniors?"

Coholti turned pale and trembled.

In his mind, 'All 1st-years quit the dark magic school' was circling.

Even if Professor Mortum was lenient, if something like this happened, he might lock Coholti in the punishment room forever.

"...W, wait a moment, senior. Doesn't something seem strange?"

"Why? What? Did I see it wrong? I saw it wrong, right? R, right? I saw it wrong, right?"

"That's not it! Right now, that side is... that side is pushing forward!"

"???"

Coholti blinked his eyes.

Come to think of it, something was strange.

If the command to the undead was wrong, the juniors should have just been trampled and it would be over, but now they were fighting, weren't they?

Fighting meant it was even.

And now it wasn't even, but this side was...?

"!!!"

Coholti, who hurriedly sent an undead bat to secure vision, froze at the sight unfolding before his eyes.

Some undead army was orderly pushing back the undead on the ally's side.

When elite skeleton warriors, who seemed several grades higher than ordinary skeleton warriors, formed a defensive wall and blocked the way, centaur ghouls from behind relentlessly hit and run, collapsing the army.

Moreover, the banshee mages used some secret technique, and mana gushed out like a spring as they fired magic one after another. As a green specter cloud spread like fog, the undead melted away.

'What is this...!'

The undead army on the ally's side was not prepared for combat in the first place, so there were no tactical movements and no defenses against attacks.

Since they were inferior in everything except numbers, they were bound to lose if they clashed like this, but...

But...!

'No, does this make sense!?'

Putting that aside, how could 1st-year students summon an army of this scale!?

Coholti kept observing because he couldn't believe it no matter how much he looked.

It seemed like it would take a lich who had lived for hundreds of years to make this possible.

Not only the undead summoning but the composition, deployment, and command were like...

"...nior! Senior!!!"

"Huh! What!?"

When Ogoldos called from behind, Coholti hurriedly came to his senses.

He had been unconsciously captivated by the battle that was too thrilling.

"I don't know what the situation is, but shouldn't we quickly contact them and stop the fight?! At this rate, all the summoned undead will be destroyed!!"

"...Ah!"

Only then did Coholti fully return to reality.

The important thing now wasn't how the 1st-year students summoned that many undead.

Ah, of course, he was really curious about that too, but...

'No!!'

The important thing now was the enormous amount of reagents used to summon the undead army.

If the undead were reverse summoned relatively unharmed, at least some recoverable reagents would come out, but if they were destroyed and reverse summoned like this, there would be none of that.

Direth was already preparing to recover the reagents in the next lecture hall after the demonstration was over...

If he left it like this, the sight Direth would see when she came would only be a miserable ruins.

And the possibility that Coholti would also be buried upside down next to those ruins...

-Junior! Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! Midterm exam! Play!-

An undead bat flew over and shouted desperately.

It was so urgent that it shouted with sentences missing here and there.

Fortunately, Yi-Han quickly understood.

"Ah. So it was a demonstration before the midterm exam? No wonder it seemed to lack aggression..."

-Yes! Stop! Stop!-

"Isn't it a trap?"

"It might be a trap. Yi-Han. Let's destroy them all. We can think about it after that!"

Raphael and Gainando whispered from behind, but Yi-Han didn't waver.

First of all, the dark magic school seniors weren't the kind of people who would set a trap with something like this, and above all, the circumstances made sense.

"I overdid it for nothing. I should have just stayed still."

-...What...?-

The undead mage next to him looked at Yi-Han as if dumbfounded.

He thought it was an urgent situation where Yi-Han's life was threatened, but something was strange.

"It was an exam. You know? Being tested by the teacher..."

-■ ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■!-

The undead mage threw a fit in another realm language.

He brought his unrecovered body, thinking Yi-Han's life was in danger, and organized an army, but what??

-And what kind of stupid dark mages show off something like this?! The army of the undead is a hammer and an axe to crush the enemy, not a tool for boasting!-

-...-

Coholti, who was listening through the bat, had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.

"I'm sorry. Next time, I'll call you when it's really dangerous."

-You must keep in mind that if you waste a precious opportunity like that, it's your loss!-

The undead mage admonished him several times as if it was really absurd.

Powerful beings from other realms were difficult to summon again until their strength recovered once summoned, and moreover, the undead mage was also injured...

Gainando, who was next to him, asked in puzzlement.

"But you took a lot of mana earlier, so isn't your injury healed?"

-...-

When the undead mage glared at Gainando with a blue light, Yi-Han quickly made him shut his mouth.

"No, Mr. Verduus. It was my fault. Please go back now."

-Hmph!-

The undead mage glared at Gainando once more and was reverse summoned.

Then, the plains became so quiet that it was hard to believe there were so many undead just a moment ago.

Ymirg, who was next to him, hesitated and then cautiously asked as if he couldn't hold back any longer.

"Wa, Wardanaz. Did you turn Professor Verduus into an undead?"

"...No!"