Published at 25th of July 2024 6:49 am

Chapter 372

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Chapter 372

Yi-Han slightly frowned.

"Please call me informally."

"I am, I am calling you informally?"

"..."

"What I just said slipped out by mistake."

The senior belatedly tried to regain their dignity.

Of course, it was surprising that Yi-Han's mana was at an unheard-of level, but weren't they the seniors who entered Einroguard first?

They couldn't abandon their dignity as seniors.

"But exactly how much do you have?"

"Even if there aren't strong ones among the undead in Area 1, does it make sense for them to run away just by sensing mana? Wasn't the professor exaggerating?"

—

It made sense.

The seniors who witnessed the ghoul hound that appeared in the opposite passage whimpering and running away looked at Yi-Han with eyes that had seen something unbelievable.

"How many times is it?"

"S-six times."

"Isn't it much more effective than an undead repelling potion? We won't need it, right?"

Originally, exploring the undead realm was a lonely and suffocating task.

Mages had to cast a dark vision spell and carefully take slow steps, even minding their breathing.

Loud noises, heavy breathing, sweat, or body odor attracted the undead, and while fighting the undead, more undead would flock to the commotion.

At this point, gathering or exploring became meaningless, and they had to focus solely on combat.

To avoid this situation, they had to thoroughly avoid enemies from the beginning.

Using an undead repelling potion to prevent their approach was also a good method, but it had the disadvantage of consuming a lot of potions.

However, today they discovered a new method.

A living human undead repellent!

"This way. Junior."

"I detected undead. Junior. Walk quickly in that direction! Yes! That's it! The undead are running away!"

"Stand here for a bit! So they can't come!"

Seeing Yi-Han standing still, Direth apologized in a sorry voice.

"Sorry. Junior. Are we overworking you?"

"Huh? No. Honestly, this much is easy."

"...I-I see."

"Ah. There are shadow bugs here!"

"I'm going to get the collection net now!"

Seeing her juniors running over with equipment at Yi-Han's shout, Direth thought to herself.

'...I wonder if the positions of seniors and juniors will be reversed in about half a year...'

—

About two days after Yi-Han's group entered, Bagdugul, who was in the village, slowly began to feel something strange.

"...It's strange?"

It was rare for there to be a two-day deviation from the scheduled overlap date.

Other parties in the village seemed to have felt it too, as they could be seen chatting and murmuring in the square.

"What do the knights say?"

"They keep saying it hasn't opened yet, and that they'll let us know first as soon as it opens..."

"...Those bastards couldn't have?"

Bagdugul felt an ominous feeling creeping up.

In the empire, people with some brains didn't trust knights.

Knights had their own solid internal logic, so they often arbitrarily broke promises.

"Check the surroundings first. See if any parties have disappeared or not!"

"U-understood!"

"And keep probing the knights! If they show a strange reaction, push them hard! Even the knight bastards won't be able to come on strong if they have something to feel guilty about!"

As they sent people to poke around here and there, a clue quickly emerged.

A group of mages who had arrived a few days ago hadn't been seen for a while, and one or two of the knights avoided eye contact.

As the answer became clear, Bagdugul became so furious that his face turned red.

"How dare these knight bastards?!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Go and call all the guys that have been resting. We'll depart now!"

Bagdugul gritted his teeth, vowing to repay this debt someday.

The goal was more important, so he let it slide, but these knights were truly infuriating.

"Sir Knight! Is it true that the realm has opened?"

"What is this! Why were you hiding it!"

Other adventurer parties gathered in the square were already confronting them first.

Those who heard the rumors late shouted in great anger.

"Answer us!"

"It seems to be a misunderstanding."

"What!?"

"The realm opened an hour ago today."

"...What does that... We heard! Two days ago, something black was spreading in the forest! Isn't that when the entrance opened!"

"It's a false rumor."

"It's common for false rumors to spread along with such unusual phenomena."

'These bastards are really shameless!'

The adventurers were amazed by the knights' iron wall, never admitting their faults even in this situation.

It wasn't for nothing that not just anyone could become a knight.

"Then why are you telling us now that it opened an hour ago?"

"If we had announced it right after it opened and let you enter, how much damage would there have been from fighting each other? Look at the situation now."

"At times like this, an orderly entry is necessary."

"..."

The adventurers realized that arguing further would only be a loss for them.

'Damn it.'

'Curse them.'

They grumbled and obediently moved their feet toward the realm's entrance. Bagdugul also followed behind with his party.

He wanted to start a sword fight right away, but he couldn't cause a commotion.

"I-I'm sorry."

"..."

"I will definitely find and secure the mushrooms."

"Of course you should if you don't want to die. Properly scout the other parties. If there are guys who found the mushroom location..."

At the superior's words that seemed to reek of blood even when spoken quietly, the subordinate nodded while trembling.

—

"Found it! I found it!"

"Quickly dig it out!"

"Should I help too?"

"No. You can just stand still."

"Don't waste your energy. Your mana will be consumed."

Gainando and Raphael grumbled as they pulled out the mushrooms from the ground and put them in a basket.

'I'm good at standing still too!'

Unlike Yi-Han, the other first-year students received no special treatment. They had to work as much as they came.

"It was huge that we came before others. It seems we swept up everything in Area 1."

"Right? It seems we obtained everything we could get now."

The seniors put their heads together and compared the maps they each drew.

Although it was a winding and complex cave, thanks to the mages wandering around for two days, it was fairly completed to some extent.

"We checked everything here."

"This side is all done too. We dug out all the shadow stones stuck on the walls."

"Maybe we should slowly head towards Area 2 now."

When Gainando gave a pitiful look, the seniors spoke as if they understood.

"We'll let you guys out and go in, so don't worry."

"Unlike other times, we bought a lot of time, so it's enough."

—

"You opened it two days late?"

"Hehe. It wasn't very difficult."

The students who came out, having bought a lot of time and completed the map, were surprised to hear the explanation from the knight.

To think they would buy them two days.

"I thought it was strange that I didn't see other people..."

Hearing that, Yi-Han suddenly thought of something and asked.

"Wait. Then the people who entered late won't have anything to take from Area 1, right?"

"That's right. But what can we do?"

"If they're upset, they should have come early."

"Or go into Area 2."

At the shameless response of the dark mages, Yi-Han thought he understood a little why dark mages were cursed in the empire.

"You don't have to feel sorry at all. Junior. We did what we had to do. Let's rest and organize the materials a bit before going in."

"It's nice to be able to rest a bit before entering Area 2."

The seniors spoke with joy.

Of course, since they had to save on expenses, resting only meant eating some rough food from the inn and lying down, but it was much more comfortable than wandering around in the gloomy undead realm with nerves on edge.

"Uh, what if I ask the merchants to bring more food? If you only eat what comes out of the inn, you'll probably lack energy... The merchants will also welcome it if we trade them a little, as they're short on mountain ring mushrooms now."

"...Junior, can't you just move up a grade and come to our year??"

The students were moved to tears at the sight of a junior presenting such a tempting suggestion that was music to their ears.

—

"I was going to kill them anyway, so this is perfect. Kill them!"

"H-how dare you?!"

As Bagdugul's subordinates began swinging their swords, the other side was startled.

They thought at most it was a young master who heard the rumors and came to watch, so they picked a fight, but it was such a sudden ambush.

"Kill them!"

"These bastards took what we were going to take first! Destroy them and take it!"

The parties that entered the empty Area 1 late were suddenly embroiled in internal strife.

At first, the parties wandered around thinking it was just bad luck and that something useful would come out soon, but they became on edge and began to suspect other parties.

-Those bastards must have taken it first and came out, right?-

-I thought it was suspicious that they moved first, but could it be…-

The air was taut with tension.

The one who burst this situation first was none other than Bagdugul.

He had no intention of taking these unnecessary competitors with him anyway, as he had to gather materials.

Bagdugul's subordinates, who were going to kill them anyway, thought it was perfect when they even picked a fight, so they rushed at the other adventurer party, swinging their swords.

"Block them!! It's an ambush!!"

"Lower your heads! Raise your shields! Arrows are coming!"

"Don't let those bastards use potions!"

"Scrolls! What about scrolls?!"

Shouts flew here and there, and other parties who heard it from afar also began swinging their weapons, swayed by it.

"If you approach, I'll kill you! Don't come near!"

"You're the guys who were fighting earlier, aren't you? Don't come close! If you don't want to be suspected!"

The atmosphere was on the verge of exploding, ready to mercilessly swing weapons if they clashed.

Bagdugul didn't care.

"Now that it's come to this, get rid of them all."

"W-will it be alright?"

"Looking at the situation now, it's better to deal with them all than to leave them alone. Even if it's a bit tiring, let's endure it and handle them. Area 2 comes after that."

—

The students who finished recharging entered again.

This time, the number of people was reduced by about half. Because the target was Area 2.

"You'll feel the difference as soon as you enter too."

"Cough. The undead in Area 2 will attack even if they're scared of mana. They're that ferocious."

"Of course, if you avoid them well, you won't encounter them, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Rather than that, junior. Should I carry your luggage for you?"

The seniors were worried that Yi-Han might get tired if he carried luggage.

If Yi-Han got tired, his mana would also decrease, and then the undead repellent of Area 1 would also weaken...

"Wait."

Professor Mortum frowned and spoke.

"A fight broke out."

"You mean inside here?"

"How long has it been since it opened?"

It wasn't a rare occurrence, but it wasn't that frequent either.

The students were already puzzled by the sight of other people fighting.

"Cough. Normally we don't intervene, but this time..."

The fight Professor Mortum saw with his remote viewing magic showed one side unilaterally attacking the other.

"Should we prepare to fight?"

"No. Cough. Their skills are quite decent, so there's nothing good about fighting them."

"Can't we send the undead to drive them away instead? They're people too, so won't they get tired if the undead keep flocking?"

At Yi-Han's question, Professor Mortum was about to say what nonsense that was, but he hesitated.

"...It seems like it could work. It's not dangerous either."

"We have an undead repellent here, so it's sufficiently possible!"

"Hey. You idiot. The junior is listening."

"..."

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