Chapter 70

【70】69.

“Our mission is to investigate the abnormal situation in the Fairy Forest. Specifically, we need to investigate the reasons behind the undead appearances.”

As Rauta spoke, Lunia raised her hand.

“I’ve heard that d*ath Knights have also appeared in the Fairy Forest recently. Have you, Senior Rauta, ever fought a d*ath Knight?”

“Yeah.”

“So, you must have some kind of plan in place regarding the d*ath Knights, right?”

“Do we really need a plan for d*ath Knights?”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Confusion spread across Lunia’s face at Rauta’s question.

“If a d*ath Knight truly appears, we’ll need a plan, won’t we? But…”

Rauta glanced briefly at Leo.

“Only one person has claimed to have seen a d*ath Knight, after all.”

“Are you saying Leo lied?”

“I don’t think Leo lied, but he might have mistaken a different undead creature for a d*ath Knight. Skeleton Knights can sometimes look similar to d*ath Knights.”

“But even so, isn’t it wise to prepare for any potential scenario? Devising a strategy against the d*ath Knights isn’t that difficult, right?”

“Seems like our proud class representative of Seirun knows one thing but lacks awareness of the rest.”

Rauta smirked.

“Upper-level undead like d*ath Knights can only remain active if they continuously receive mana from a necromancer. Without that, they disappear. Therefore, d*ath Knights are always accompanied by demons. However, this is Berkiya, the capital of Elsalbekia.”

“…”

“Any Seirun student should know—there’s a massive spell of the Stars surrounding Berkiya. Created by the great founder, Lady Luna, it ensures no demons can approach. Even if they somehow did manage to come near, their location would be detected immediately.”

Rauta spoke as if he was utterly confident that no d*ath Knights would appear.

As Lunia hesitated upon hearing this, Leo interjected.

“There’s no law stating that necromancers have to be demons.”

“Huh?”

“Non-demon entities can also wield the power of darkness.”

At Leo’s words, Rauta shot back.

“That’s an even more absurd story. Do you really think a proud elf would stoop to such a thing?”

Annoyed, Rauta turned away sharply.

“Let’s stop wasting time and get moving.”

As Rauta walked ahead, Kal whispered under his breath.

“Didn’t his attitude just completely change from before?”

“That probably means there’s no one left he needs to watch carefully around anymore.”

At these words, Kal clicked his tongue.

“I’m not really a fan of people like him.”

A short while later, as this was happening…

Keh heh hek! Kyah hah hah!

A group of goblins emerged.

“Let’s see some of that Lumeran skill, shall we?”

While smiling, Rauta gestured toward the goblins.

“You two, handle them.”

Before Leo could step forward, Kal interjected.

“Leo, why waste your time on mere goblins?”

Kal chuckled and took out his magic wand.

“Leave these punks to me.”

‘Kal in combat… Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen much of it since the beginning of the semester.’

Kal had aimed for a support role from the start of his enrollment.

Because of this, in battle lectures, he typically stayed in the background, mainly supporting other students rather than leading from the front.

Additionally, Kal focused on studying auxiliary magic and enchanting spells rather than offensive-oriented spells.

“Beating goblins should be as easy as chewing gum, right?”

While Kal was joking around with his short wand balanced on his fingertips, a misstep caused him to fumble and drop it.

“Eek?”

As Kal frantically grabbed for the wand, Lunia gave him a perplexed look.

“How clumsy is he?”

Having retrieved the wand, Kal grinned as he surveyed the goblins forming a circle around him.

“Now, shall I show you my masterpiece?”

Kal opened up a pocket of space.

From it tumbled an array of weapons.

Eiran, upon seeing this, widened her eyes in surprise.

“Weapons…?”

“Well, that boy specializes in alchemical magic, if I’m not mistaken.”

While Leo tilted his head in thought, Kal summoned his mana.

Rauta snorted derisively.

“What weak mana.”

It was undeniable that Kal’s mana was barely on par with the average Lumeran student.

Kal, though he was indeed a talented mage, appeared somewhat inferior in a place like Lumeran where only the best were gathered.

‘Yet Kal never gives up no matter what.’

Recognizing his own limitations, Kal didn’t resign himself to failure but instead chose to progress in a different direction.

Whoosh-!

Responding to Kal’s mana, the weapons floated in mid-air.

At this, Leo’s eyes slightly widened.

“Hmm, just simple telekinetic magic, I see.”

Watching with some interest, Lunia slightly frowned, seeming unimpressed.

Using weapons through telekinetic magic was a very common offensive method, after all.

“No, those aren’t telekinetic magic.”

“Huh?”

As Kal’s weapons began emitting mana, multiple elemental powers began to manifest.

Upon witnessing this, Eiran gasped.

“How did this happen?”

“It’s enchantments.”

“Enchantments?”

“That’s right.”

In an instant, Leo had identified the technique Kal had used.

‘The boy has inscribed telekinetic magic runes onto the weapons, causing them to react with enchantments.’

Enchanting spells are relatively simple for any magician to use.

And the idea of inscribing telekinetic magic runes onto weapons is not particularly advanced.

Yet, implementing such a complex system through enchantments was a challenge even for seasoned magicians.

‘Were those weapons created through alchemy? Impressive!’

“Go!”

On Kal’s order, the weapons whizzed toward the goblins.

With a rainbow of enchanted spells, the flying weapons carved a spectacular path through the air.

Krerk?

Kyah aaahk!

The goblins screamed and scattered.

“Not so fast!”

But Kal’s weapons, imbued with his will, moved intricately.

In a flash, the goblins were sliced down, and the weapons returned to Kal.

With a smug grin, Kal stored the weapons back into his pocket of space.

“Hmph. What do you think of my special move?”

“Kal-sama! That was amazing!”

Eiran excitedly cheered.

Even Leo was impressed.

“You should’ve registered that magic as your unique spell during the midterms!”

“It’s just the use of simple enchantments and weapons made through alchemy—it can’t be called a unique spell.”

“In my view, the sheer inventiveness of approaching magic this way deserves to be called a unique spell.”

“Is that so? I just stumbled on this idea while trying to create something decent in desperate times…”

Kal specialized in enchantments, a specific branch of alchemy where he focused on bestowing properties onto objects.

But enchanters, despite their potential, rarely rise to the top as magicians.

‘Yet Kal, from the moment he entered school, chose to emphasize his strengths and intensely studied enchantment magic, leading him to master this technique.’

“Professor Ren would surely be impressed if he saw this?”

“Ho! Really? Then maybe this will help me survive until the second semester!”

Kal’s face lit up at Leo’s words.

With Leo’s guarantee, it was certain.

Seeing Kal’s renewed motivation, Leo smirked.

Lunia and Rauta also eyed Kal with shock.

“Hmph. Still just simple enchantments.”

Though Rauta scoffed, Lunia wasn’t as dismissive.

‘Even someone from a lower-level class at our school could devise such a spell?’

Lunia viewed Kal with complicated emotions on her face.

“Alright, we move on.”

Thereafter, they fought several more monsters, but no undead appeared.

“Undead haven’t appeared, and yet you say d*ath Knights? Hilarious.”

Rauta’s mocking laughter echoed.

Yet, Leo’s expression remained serious.

The group had arrived at the ancient entrance to Fairy Land.

The powerful magic set by the former Fairy King still held strong, seemingly unchanged from days earlier.

But…

‘A curse rests on this land.’

A subtle curse that only Leo, who had lived through the Era of Catastrophe, could detect.

‘The Curse of the Dead.’

Among the curses wielded by demons, this curse was unique because it could be cast by only one person.

The commander of Tartarus’s legion, who had survived through the Era of Catastrophe.

Erebus’s most loyal servant and the most terrifying entity among demons.

‘Commander Hel Kaiser.’

The practical leader of Tartarus.

‘That person wouldn’t have moved personally.’

Had Hel Kaiser moved directly, the situation would’ve been far more extraordinary.

‘After the Era of Catastrophe, there’s no documented instance of Hel Kaiser moving directly. However, it’s evident that one of his subordinates is here.’

With a firm face, Leo eyed the entrance to Fairy Land.

‘And beyond this… something Silrod wishes to protect lies.’

While Leo was lost in thought, Lunia spoke to Rauta.

“Senior Rauta, since we haven’t found any signs of the undead, should we return?”

“No, we’ll scout the surrounding areas a bit more.”

“I understand.”

“Now, we’ll each scatter and explore the surrounding areas.”

Lunia hesitated.

“Just us?”

“Are you suggesting I baby you?”

Rauta’s irritable expression made Lunia flinch, while Rauta grinned derisively as he scanned the surroundings seriously.

“Hey, didn’t this guy come here to lead us? So what’s the plan?”

“He seems to be searching for…something.”

Kal muttered with obvious confusion, while Eiran exchanged skeptical glances.

“Fine, let’s ignore that irritating guy and conduct our own scouting.”

Lunia stuck her tongue out at Rauta in a comical gesture as she turned to her group.

She paused when her eyes landed on Leo.

Leo was staring intently at Rauta, who was furiously searching for something.

Seeing the narrowing of Leo’s gaze, Lunia had an immediate realization.

‘This boy knows something.’

*

That evening.

After completing the reconnaissance mission, the Lumeran and Seirun students felt a growing sense of perplexity.

“Chelsea, your group didn’t find any undead either?”

“Yeah, not just ours, but no group found any undead.”

“That’s odd.”

The presence of undead had already been confirmed by the Elsalbekia Council, which was why they had officially requested assistance from Lumeran and Seirun.

‘So, why did the undead vanish in just a day?’

While the disappearance of undead itself wasn’t unusual—given they needed a steady supply of mana to remain active—the Curse of the Dead in the Fairy Forest’s center allowed for infinite undead generation.

‘Yet now, the undead seem to have gone into hiding. As though there’s a necromancer controlling them.’

“Professor Herdium.”

As Professor Herdium was listening to a report from the Seirun students, Rauta spoke up.

“Is there something you need, Rauta?”

“Even if we didn’t encounter undead, there is still an unusual situation at hand. The Fairy Forest is a sacred ground for elves, and it must be purged of any ominous influence as soon as possible. While it may be dangerous for first-year students, the second-years are capable of searching the forest even at night. Please allow us night reconnaissance.”

At this, a few 2nd-year students mumbled in annoyance.

“Ugh, there he goes again.”

“The smarmy guy.”

Since all the 2nd-years except Rauta belonged to the lower to middle-level classes, the other second-year students regarded Rauta with ill favor.

“Indeed, I understand Rauta’s intentions, but even the second-years face risks exploring the forest at night. Nighttime amplifies the energy of the undead. So, I’m afraid I can’t grant that request.”

“But professor!”

“Rauta, too much zeal can lead to problems.”

Seeing how resolute Herdium was, Rauta gritted her teeth and stepped back.

Upon seeing this, Leo whispered under his breath:

‘It’s getting more suspicious.’