Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

"Didn't the senior tell me to do it?"

"If it were as simple as just doing what you’re told... No, never mind. Junior, just be quiet and focus on control. It must be hard enough for you right now."

Direth was right. Unlike the stable form of the water orb, the darkness orb was fluctuating quite unstably. It felt like it could lose its form and scatter in all directions at any moment with a single mistake.

"In this state... sending it flying would be too much, but if we utilize it, it would be suitable for close combat? Junior, are you good at fighting?"

At the sudden question, Gainando and Ymirg coughed simultaneously.

"I only learned it for self-defense," Yi-Han replied.

"Well, you're from a noble family, so you must have learned swordsmanship to some extent."

Again, his two friends coughed at the same time.

"A mage doesn't necessarily need to be good at fighting, but sometimes there are instances where you have to engage in close combat. In those cases, this kind of magic can be surprisingly useful. Junior, it would be more stable if you handle it with enchantment magic, but I guess we can't expect that much right now."

"Wouldn't the fire element be better for that?" Yi-Han asked.

"There are surprisingly many enemies that can withstand fire well."

Starting with monsters that had resistance to fire, experienced adventurers usually had one or two means of defense against fire. It was an element that was commonly encountered in real life.

"I see..."

"Junior, how long are you going to maintain the dark element... Hurry up and release it."

Yi-Han, who had been admiring it, came to his senses at Direth's remark and released the dark element.

"Going back to what we were talking about earlier, when a problem arises because we couldn't prevent it beforehand, using an item with the opposite attribute is good, but if you know how to handle the dark element, this is also possible."

Direth looked around at the remnants left by Yi-Han's dark element explosion and grasped her staff.

"Darkness, gather at this end."

It was a magic that controlled existing elements, not summoning elements.

"Are you gathering all the dark elements around?"

"You guessed it right. It's creating a kind of vacuum state. If the mage preemptively takes control of the dark element, undead or beings of that category become quite vulnerable."

Undead were beings with extreme strengths and weaknesses. When dealing with such beings, it was more effective to target their weaknesses rather than clashing head-on with their strengths.

If he had known this method when facing the King of Ghouls, it would have been much more effective than turning the cave into a sea of fire.

'Indeed, knowledge is power,' Yi-Han thought.

"Isn't it interesting, Gainando?"

"Huh? Uh, uh, uh."

Gainando, who had been dozing off next to them, was startled by Yi-Han's question and answered. He had little interest in dark elements or anything else.

"...This guy..."

"Calm down, junior. It's not something he needs to learn right now. It might just make his head more complicated while studying other things."

When Yi-Han tried to pick up his staff, Direth stopped him. Gainando was touched inwardly.

'Se-Senior...!'

"Excuse me, mage sirs?"

The captured adventurers holding shovels cautiously spoke to them.

Yi-Han answered in a nonchalant voice, "Ah, I told you I'd let you go today, didn't I?"

"Uh, that's not it... There are strange sounds coming from inside the tower..."

"!!!"

The public cemetery on the outskirts of Granden City did not only have graves. There were several small towers inside, surrounded by a wall.

They were used as resting spaces for the gravekeepers, for storing equipment, or sometimes as the central core when dark mages cast large-scale magic in the cemetery.

Of course, they did not store corpses inside.

'Then...'

"Did you thoroughly check the mana?" Direth asked, shedding the face of a senior teaching her juniors and returning to being the dark mage in charge of managing the public cemetery.

Yi-Han took out a memo and checked it as he answered, "Yes. The towers where they said they heard the sound are either Tower 1 or Tower 2, and both had normal mana levels."

"What about the possibility of a monster hiding among the luggage and entering while the luggage was being moved?"

"To prepare for that possibility, we disassembled and scattered the luggage that obstructed the view. We cast spatial perception magic and dark vision magic to check, and after finishing, we closed the windows, so the likelihood of that is low."

"..."

Direth tried to focus seriously, but she couldn't help but feel a tingling sense of pride. Among the other schools of magic boasting about having many new students, there wouldn't be a junior like this one.

Honestly, she wanted to take him out and show him off.

'Ah, but that junior is taking classes from all the other schools of magic too...'

Realizing the reality belatedly, Direth felt bitter.

"Senior?"

"Either those adventurers heard it wrong…"

"Ah, no! We all heard it correctly!"

"Or it came from outside."

"Is that possible?"

Yi-Han was puzzled. He could understand if it was hiding among the luggage, but a monster infiltrating from outside?

Even though this was a remote place, it was still within the city. If a monster roamed the main road, it would likely be slaughtered in less than thirty minutes.

"I'm also curious about that, junior."

"Are you sure those people didn't mishear it?"

"Uh, could it be something like this?"

Ymirg raised his hand and spoke.

"So-sometimes, the soil underground can move too. Since there are corpses underground here, if the soil underground moves and pushes out of the public cemetery..."

"!"

If the soil underground shifted and moved the location of the corpses, and if mana unfortunately pooled around that area, an undead could be summoned outside the public cemetery, not inside.

"That sounds plausible, doesn't it?"

"Well done, junior."

"Th-thank you."

Ymirg blushed at the praise from Yi-Han and Direth. However, Gainando glared at Ymirg.

"Wh-why?"

"...From now on, you're my rival."

"..."

Gainando, who had already defeated Raphael (at least he thought so) and had decided to exclude Yi-Han, couldn't let Ymirg's performance go unnoticed.

"Hmph. Let's see who is the true number one in dark magic."

"Th-that would just be Wardanaz..."

"We're going to search. Undead, reveal yourself!"

With the incantation, a wave spread out from Direth's staff. And then, there was a flash and a sound of something breaking from the upper floor of Tower 2.

"!!"

"It's over there! Let's go!"

"Please wait a moment! Just in case, I should go with some defense prepared."

At Yi-Han's words, Direth hesitated.

'What kind of defensive magic is he going to use?'

Even if it was the same defensive magic, it would be better for Direth, a fourth-year student, to use it, but the other person was no ordinary junior.

Direth was honestly curious about what kind of defensive magic Yi-Han would use. Would he show magic that surpassed expectations again...

"Hey! Adventurers! Take the lead!"

"..."

"Why are you doing that?"

"It's nothing."

Yi-Han and Direth, along with the adventurers, went to the top of the tower. Ymirg and Gainando stayed outside the tower.

As they quickly ran up the stairs, Yi-Han asked, "The creature must know that its location has been exposed, so won't it run away?"

"The likelihood of that is low, junior. It deliberately entered here from outside the public cemetery to increase its power. It's aggressive and fearless."

"I see."

Just by the reaction it showed when it was detected, they could roughly grasp the characteristics of that undead.

If it tried to quickly move away from the summoned location, it was a cautious and timid creature, and if it tried to establish its position instead of moving away, it was the opposite.

In this case, since it was trying to absorb the mana flowing in the public cemetery and increase its power, there was a high possibility that it was an aggressive and greedy creature.

-■■■■■!!-

"Aaaahhhh!"

"It appeared!!!"

The adventurers who were climbing ahead screamed. The huge undead tumbled down the stairs from above as if rolling. Seeing its appearance, Direth let out a groan.

"Damn... It's an undead chimera."

The result of strong negative mana combining with torn and crushed corpses instead of a single corpse.

As the individuality of multiple entities was mixed, it was difficult for mages to predict and troublesome to deal with.

Direth immediately prepared a weakening spell for the undead chimera.

"Decline..."

Bang!

An explosion occurred inside the undead chimera's body, and about 1/4 of it was blown away.

Gaining propulsion from the explosion, the undead chimera, instead of crushing the adventurers in an instant, collided with the tower wall. The weakened part of the wall collapsed, creating a hole.

"?!?!"

As the ferocious creature sacrificed a part of its body to break through the tower wall and escape, Yi-Han and Direth were startled.

They hadn't even fought yet, so why was it suddenly running away?!

"...Senior, please listen without getting angry."

"Why would I get angry at you, junior? You can just say it! What is it?"

"I think that creature ran away after seeing me..."

"..."

For a moment, Direth was about to get angry and ask if this was the time to joke around.

The adventurers standing in front unconsciously muttered, "In-indeed."

"What do you mean indeed?!"

"So-sorry!"

"Among the undead, there are some with excellent mana detection abilities. I think it assessed my mana and ran away."

"...!"

Direth finally understood Yi-Han's words.

If it wasn't just a ferocious and aggressive creature, but one with mana detection abilities and enough intelligence to understand and retreat...

"This is going to get complicated, junior."

-It's running away!! It's running away!! Hey, you bastard! You can't stand there! Shoot, bones! Ymirg! Throw something! Throw a rock!-

-If, if I throw it wrong, people might get hurt...!-

After coming down from the tower, Direth and Yi-Han immediately started tracking.

"Contact the city guard and tell them that an undead chimera has appeared. We'll track it on our own, junior."

"Understood."

"Thank you, mage sirs!" The gravekeepers bowed their heads in gratitude.

Originally, this was the responsibility of the gravekeepers.

They should have checked thoroughly in advance to prevent the occurrence of undead.

Of course, the gravekeepers also had a point of injustice.

Who would have known that an undead would be summoned outside the public cemetery due to the moving soil underground?

However, even so, if a problem occurred and the damage increased, it was true that they had to take responsibility.

But when the dark mages volunteered to help, they couldn't help but be grateful.

"There's no need for everyone to be thankful. This is something that dark mages should do."

"In-indeed..."

As it seemed like the senior was going to suffer a loss too righteously, Yi-Han intervened decisively.

"But I think everyone should know who solved this matter. Make sure to convey the facts properly to the city guard and tell them that there should be treatment befitting the honor."

"Understood!"

Direth looked at her junior with a dumbfounded expression.

What was he talking about when they were in a hurry?

"Senior, even if we're in a hurry, necessary information should be conveyed."

"No... Is that necessary...? Let's depart for now!"

Direth tracked the mana left behind by the undead chimera.

The creature that had escaped from the public cemetery was avoiding the main road and fleeing through the alleys.

"If it can sense mana and knows to avoid it, it would instinctively know that it should avoid people. It would be troublesome if it hides."

"We'll definitely catch it."

"I hope so. In the city, it's difficult to track if we're even a little late... Oh no. Damn it."

Direth clicked her tongue.

They had finally gotten out of the alleys, but of all places, the creature had entered the guild warehouse district.

"Why are you doing that? Let's explain the situation and go in."

"It's going to be difficult, junior."

Guilds were stubborn in this regard.

If they let outsiders in and there was a problem with the supplies or a leak of confidential information, it would become an even bigger issue.

Even if the undead chimera had escaped and entered, there was a high possibility that they would insist on catching it themselves.

"Still, I'll try to talk to them."

"Alright. Give it a try. But don't be too persistent. Anyway..."

After a while, Yi-Han returned.

"They said it's okay. Let's go in."

"?!?!"