Chapter 552
"No. Not all mages think about spirits."
The squirrel spirit nodded its head on Yi-Han's shoulder as if agreeing.
Even if not as extreme as the skull principal, mages who were sincere about spirits were rarer than one might think.
Even if they became friendly with some spirits and made contracts, they wouldn't risk their lives and enter deep into a contaminated forest for the sake of spirits.
"But senior, how did you appear in front of us...?"
"I have a potion that temporarily stops the principal's magic."
"!"
"...!!!"
All three of them, being students with excellent alchemy grades, immediately understood how amazing what senior Ilendil was saying.
To be able to stop the skull principal's magic, even if only for a moment.
The gaze that had been looking at Ilendil as a 'crazy senior' or 'suspicious senior' until just now immediately changed to a respectful gaze looking at an 'amazing senior'.
"That's incredible!"
"Truly...!"
"Huh?"
Ilendil herself was puzzled as to why the juniors were acting like this.
"Why?"
"Senior. I'm sorry, but we need to save the spirits. Right now, time is..."
"I'll help. There's still some potion effect left."
"Uh..."
Yi-Han wondered if he really had to accompany a senior he was meeting for the first time, who was also the culprit of this incident and still suspicious.
Moreover, he had to make contracts with spirits too...
"Wouldn't it be dangerous for you, not knowing when the professor will return?"
"Yeah. The forest and spirits are more important than me."
"So cool..."
"I must have misjudged her. Yi-Han."
When Priestess Siana and Yonaire showed even stronger respect to Ilendil than before, Yi-Han thought to himself.
'Did everyone forget that this person is the culprit behind the contaminants?'
But there was no more time to waste now.
"I understand. Let's go."
Anyway, since she was a senior and an alchemist several times more outstanding than Yi-Han, she would be of help.
...Although it was a bit concerning that she was the root cause of this whole situation...
***
"Why did you try to create an artificial dark spirit?"
While ordinary students would talk about dinner while walking, students excellent in alchemy talked about alchemy even while walking.
In response to Priestess Siana's question, Ilendil answered in her characteristically slow voice.
"Yeah. I wanted to use it as a forest guardian."
"A forest guardian?"
The forests of Einroguard had a powerful force close to that of an ancient forest.
However, not all forests in the empire could be like that.
Especially, one of the elements that forests were vulnerable to was the dark element.
To the point where sometimes a single dark spirit being summoned by mistake could contaminate an entire huge forest.
Ilendil, who was heartbroken by such cases, approached it in reverse.
What if we used dark spirits as forest guardians?
"Wow! Really..."
"Isn't that a crazy idea?"
Priestess Siana, who was about to admire Yi-Han's muttering, became embarrassed.
"Isn't it a good idea?"
"Priestess Siana. Look at the contaminants in front of us now."
At the juniors' conversation, Ilendil became gloomy. The leaves connected to her hair drooped as if wilted.
"It would have been nice if it had succeeded."
'Oops. She's a senior.'
Yi-Han realized his mistake.
He had made a mistake he wouldn't normally make because he was in a hurry due to the spirits.
Wasn't Ilendil a senior after all?
If Yi-Han's bad reputation spread in the community among seniors...
'Can I use the Moradi family? That's too much. I already mentioned her name and family earlier.'
"No. Senior. I think it was a meaningful attempt."
"Huh? You said it was a crazy idea."
"Pioneers are always seen as crazy at first. It was an expression of admiration."
"You're really a kind person."
Ilendil's leaves quickly became happy.
"But for a tricky element like dark element, wouldn't it be better to get help from experts?"
"Will you help me?"
The dryad mixed-blood senior stared at Yi-Han.
Yi-Han answered quickly without even breathing.
When the dark elements immediately began to flicker and burst out, there was no time to trap them in a reagent.
Yi-Han cast as he had read in the grimoire.
"Darkness, sweep away!"
A wave of darkness rippled and passed through the air above his head. Yi-Han had cast it first before the opponent could detonate it, consuming it.
Ilendil asked again in puzzlement.
"Earlier, why...?"
"It was a magic I was using for the first time, so it couldn't be helped!"
"What?"
Yi-Han couldn't explain further to Ilendil.
The spirit, realizing that it couldn't possibly keep up with the opposing mage in terms of dark elements, changed its method once again.
Grass and branches combined with dark elements and rose up like puppets.
At that sight, Ilendil let out a scream filled with pain.
"You bastard!"
"Hand, tear my enemy apart!"
With no time to even draw the Morning Star as the enemy clung to him, Yi-Han barely chanted a spell.
The skull principal's close combat spell, .
Unlike other magic, he had wondered when he would use this kind of magic...!
Slash!
"Flash forth!"
He slashed with one hand and swung his staff with the other to chant a spell, but the numbers and momentum were not trivial.
If it turned into a melee like this, the mage would always be at a disadvantage.
"Flash forth!"
The moment lightning formed, another grass puppet rushed in. Yi-Han forcibly fixed the lightning at the end and thrust his staff like a spear.
If he had just a moment's gap, he could mobilize all his summons to buy time, but there was no such gap.
If only he had a moment's gap!
Crackle crackle!
As if responding to Yi-Han's wish, the lightning element condensed at the tip of the staff swelled even more and covered the staff.
Yi-Han himself was too busy dealing with the enemies approaching from the opposite side and staring at the spirit trapped in the wooden prison to notice the change.
He only realized the change when he noticed that all the enemies around the hand holding the staff had collapsed.
"...?"
Yi-Han was startled for a moment when he realized that the staff had transformed into a spear of lightning.
'Wait. How did I do this?'
Apparently, he had used the staff as a wick and fixed the lightning element in the form of a blazing spear.
He could tell at a glance since Professor Bagrak had talked so much about fixing the lightning element form.
However, what was puzzling was that he himself couldn't remember how he did it.
He had done it instinctively in such an urgent situation...
'This is not the time!'
Yi-Han immediately summoned Sharakan and the skeleton warriors.
The summons blocked the grass puppets that had been pushed back by the lightning spear. Yi-Han took that opportunity and ran with the lightning spear.
■!
The spirit trapped between the wooden prisons screamed in terror as if realizing its fate.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Unlike the shock of lightning being fired and penetrating through, the power of lightning condensed and fixed was sharp and fierce.
Moreover, it didn't disappear and continuously burned the spirit.
Yi-Han pulled out the spear and thrust it in again.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Yi-Han intended to keep stabbing the spear until the opponent was unsummoned.
Of course, since it was created by Einroguard's seniors, it wouldn't be unsummoned easily like a typical spirit.
But it didn't matter.
If it was a battle of endurance, Yi-Han's magic would never disappear first.
Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!
■! ■! ■! ■! ■!
At the end of the chorus of lightning and screams, the artificial spirit gave up all resistance and knelt down.
It made its sigil rise on Yi-Han's hand, entrusting its disposition to the mage.
A signal that it had completely surrendered.
"???"
Of course, Yi-Han was only puzzled since he had no intention of making a contract with the opponent.
Wasn't it a ferocious one that had gone berserk in the first place?
There were hardly any mages who would make a contract with someone without knowing when they might stab their back.
Unless they were crazy about spirits...
"Wardanaz! Make a contract! You wanted to make a contract with a spirit, right?!"
"Is that true? I think it's a good idea. It's a bit of a prankster, but it's originally a good kid!"
"..."
At the shouts of Priestess Siana and senior Ilendil, Yi-Han frowned.
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