Chapter 25

‘No way. It can’t be.’

Lee Han closed his eyes tightly.

But reality was harsh.

Caught! From the very first week! Haha! Hahaha!

"...W-What the...?"

Niria, who hadn’t fully grasped the situation, asked in a trembling voice.

Lee Han answered calmly.

“It seems we’ve fallen into the headmaster’s trap.”

No matter how Giselle found the escape route, it was clear that she was played on the headmaster’s palm.

The problem was that if only Giselle had been caught, it would have been one thing, but Lee Han’s group had also followed her!

Coming here from the very first week must mean that they saw the fake map I created and spread! Today, you will learn a lesson! Don’t trust maps of unknown origin! You can’t tell if that treasure map is real or a trap set by an evil lich!

“......”

“......”

Is there really such a guy?

Lee Han was speechless.

So, the skeleton headmaster himself had created and spread fake escape maps all over the place.

Even though he didn’t know when the freshmen would come in, or if they would even see the maps, he still did it...

‘This is just for fun, no matter how you look at it.’

While he claimed to be teaching the students for their benefit, Lee Han knew such professors well.

This was just for fun, no doubt about it.

Students of the White Tiger Tower, listen up! The escape is over. Now it’s time to return. The rules are simple. I won’t come out myself, but I’ll send trackers, so avoid them and return to the tower! If you’re caught, you’re guilty. If you avoid them, you’re innocent! You can use any method. It’s fine to knock out my trackers!

As he spoke, a giant skeleton appeared in the dark night sky, glowing green.

And the skeleton began to spew out undead summons from its mouth.

Bone hounds and trackers began to fall onto the mountain one by one.

Flash!

Lights appeared in various places. The bones had lit torches.

The chase had begun.

* * *

“Let’s run!!!”

Niria whispered urgently.

Niria’s eyes were filled with fear, trembling.

“Niria, calm down.”

“How can I calm down!! We might die if we’re caught!”

“No, we won’t die.”

Unlike Lee Han, who was used to crazy professors and had spoken with the headmaster a few times, Niria found the skeleton headmaster terrifying.

While Lee Han saw the headmaster as someone who was just having fun, Niria saw him as someone enraged by the freshmen’s arrogant and terrible crimes.

“Is... is that so?”

“If we’re caught, we’ll probably just be sent to a punishment room or something.”

“A punishment room!? There are torture devices inside... and you might never come out...”

“I don’t think it will be that bad.”

Niria had a vivid imagination, but in a bad direction. Lee Han covered her mouth with his hand and checked the surroundings.

‘Skeletons?’

The rustling of bushes and the sound of bones clashing. It seemed that bone trackers were moving around, cutting through the underbrush.

-Clank! Clank!

The barking of bone hounds could also be heard.

“Run!! If they chase us, knock them down!”

“For honor! For chivalry!”

The students of the White Tiger Tower shouted and drew their wooden swords.

It was clear that they were ready to fight.

‘But this situation has nothing to do with honor or chivalry.’

While he was curious how sneaking out of the school and getting caught could be related to honor or chivalry...

“There’s only one thing we should do right now.”

Deregyu asked in a low voice.

In this situation, it didn’t matter that they were from different towers.

We need to work together to push back the enemies!

“Good point, Deregyu.”

“Yeah, I’ll go out and...”

“While they draw attention, we’ll slip away.”

“......”

Deregyu looked at Lee Han in disbelief.

However, Niria, Yoner, and Gaynando immediately agreed.

“Good idea!”

“......”

Deregyu hesitated to speak. After all, the leader of the group was Lee Han, not Deregyu.

‘We need to break through the weakest point of the encirclement.’

Observation.

Lee Han wanted to run out immediately, but he held back.

In any situation, it’s often better to wait and observe rather than panic and rush.

Lee Han waited to confirm the weakest point of the encirclement.

Fortunately, the students of the White Tiger Tower were shouting and running, buying them time.

He couldn’t waste this opportunity.

‘But isn’t this a bit much??’

Lee Han was surprised as he observed from the bushes.

The undead summons being spewed out by the floating skeleton in the dark night sky kept coming, one after another.

It was an overwhelming number, as if trying to prevent anyone from escaping.

‘...I underestimated the headmaster’s madness!’

Lee Han sighed inwardly.

The headmaster was even crazier than Lee Han had thought.

While he expected the headmaster to give the students some chance, given his declaration that being caught meant guilt and escaping meant innocence.

But to seal everything off so tightly...

Or perhaps, the headmaster thought this was his way of giving them a chance.

‘The professors’ thought processes are a bit twisted.’

The headmaster might genuinely believe that ‘students will grow by breaking through this encirclement.’

The problem was that Lee Han had to break through it.

‘This... even if the White Tiger Tower students draw all the attention, it won’t make a difference. Should we just surrender?’

Every path leading down was guarded by bone trackers, who had started lighting torches.

Behind them were more bone trackers.

And behind them, even more...

The number had grown so much that the lower part of the mountain felt as bright as daytime.

‘Wait a minute.’

As Lee Han pondered, he noticed something strange.

The bone trackers leading the bone hounds were completely ignoring Lee Han’s group.

‘That’s odd?’

Of course, Lee Han’s group was hiding in the bushes, and the White Tiger Tower students were drawing all the attention by running down the mountain.

But if the trackers knew Lee Han’s group was hiding nearby, wouldn’t they search the area or come closer?

Instead, the bone hounds and trackers were only chasing the White Tiger Tower students down the mountain.

‘Could it be... the headmaster doesn’t know we’re here?’

Lee Han naturally assumed the headmaster knew where they were hiding.

The headmaster was a far more powerful magician than Lee Han.

But what if the headmaster wasn’t here?

‘I won’t come out myself, but I’ll send trackers, so avoid them and return to the tower!’

Thinking about it, he couldn’t be sure if the giant skeleton floating in the sky was the real headmaster.

It wouldn’t be strange if he had sent a clone or just an illusion from a distance.

‘Then we just need to avoid the trackers’ eyes!’

It was better to hide and escape rather than be caught and run.

“...Let’s go up.”

“What??”

“It’s impossible to avoid being seen if we go down. Look at the numbers. The moment we clash, the trackers will swarm us.”

Lee Han’s words made Niria’s eyelashes tremble.

“But there are no trackers up there. We can either go around or hold out. It’s a much better option.”

“Okay!”

“?”

Lee Han was surprised by how easily Niria agreed.

“I suggested it, but... is it okay to accept without thinking? We don’t know what’s up there.”

“Better than being caught and locked in the torture devices of the punishment room!”

“...I said before, but it seems you’re misunderstanding something.”

* * *

After climbing up carefully for about 30 minutes, Niria spoke in a low voice.

“It’s a cave. Let’s go in.”

“Monsters?”

“No. It’s a small cave, and there’s no sign of anyone. I threw a stone to check.”

Niria tapped her long ears.

“We’ve moved too much. I’m fine, but the others need to rest.”

“It seems so.”

While Niria, Lee Han, and Deregyu were fine, Yoner looked tired, and Gaynando was on the verge of collapse.

After walking in the dark and evading trackers, it wouldn’t be surprising if they collapsed.

“Light!”

Lee Han used magic inside the cave, and a light like the sun filled the space.

Yoner hung his coat at the cave entrance to block the light from leaking out.

“Surely... they won’t chase us here?”

“Don’t worry. We didn’t hear any chasing sounds on the way. They seem to be gathered at the bottom of the mountain.”

Niria reassured Yoner.

Fortunately, what Lee Han said was true.

The summons the headmaster had called didn’t notice Lee Han’s group and didn’t come up the mountain.

“The problem is how long those summons will stay.”

“Maybe I should have tried to break through.”

Deregyu said regretfully, but Lee Han shook his head.

“No, it would have been impossible to break through by force.”

“Why?”

“Given the headmaster’s personality, he wouldn’t have left such an obvious weakness.”

“......”

“......”

The other students thought, ‘How do you know that?’ but respected Lee Han’s opinion and didn’t speak.

“We can either wait for them to disappear or find a way around. For now, we need to rest. Let’s eat something.”

“Agreed!”

Lee Han distributed sausages, bread, and cheese to everyone.

Gaynando threw a dwarf-style honey candy into his mouth and closed his eyes, savoring it. It seemed he hadn’t had sweets for days and was craving them.

“Oops. We drank all the water...”

Niria pulled out a leather water bag with a perplexed look. They had run out of water from walking.

“Don’t worry. We have magic.”

“!”

“Spring forth!”

As Lee Han waved his staff and shouted, a lump of water appeared in the air.

Niria hurriedly brought the leather water bag.

“You’re amazing, Lee Han!”

Deregyu was impressed.

Coming from a knight family, Deregyu was slower in learning magic than other tower students, so Lee Han’s magic seemed like a miraculous wonder to him.

Gaynando and Yoner clapped and cheered like children.

“Just in time, I was thirsty!”

“Thanks, I’ll drink well.”

Niria filled the leather water bag and carefully closed it. She said enviously,

“I wish I could learn water magic...”

“You’ll learn it quickly once you get the hang of it.”

Lee Han spoke sincerely.

In reality, it wasn’t a difficult magic, and once you got the feel of it, you could use it easily.

“I hope so.”

Niria said and raised her staff, reciting a spell.

“Rise!”

Whoosh!

A small flame began to burn in the air and then attached to the kindling Niria had gathered.

With a crackling sound, a cozy bonfire was created.

Everyone, whose hands and feet were frozen from the cold night, let out exclamations of relief.

“Phew. I’m glad it worked on the first try. I was nervous last time.”

Niria seemed to have a natural affinity for fire, as she successfully cast the fire creation spell on the first try.

Then she looked at Lee Han and said,

“I’m envious. I want water magic more than fire.”

“......”

“...Why, why?!”

Niria stuttered, startled by Lee Han’s glare.

Did I say something wrong?!