Chapter 557

The mercenaries cursed as they retreated to the stairs.

Even excluding the fallen ones, the mercenaries' condition was not very good.

From those with burns to those bleeding from tattered armor.

No matter how young the mages were, if they were well-prepared, they boasted a fierce power.

Let alone when there were several of those mages.

"Damn it, to be ambushed by mages..."

"They're chasing us. Block them for now!"

Clank!

A wolf mixed-blood mercenary with a long scar on his cheek threw a sharp metal seed.

With an explosive sound, steel thorn vines appeared in the space connecting the corridor and the stairs.

Even though they were pushed back by force from the front, the battle-hardened mercenaries showed their wits even in a disadvantageous situation.

It wasn't a very impressive magic item, but depending on how it was used, it could be quite useful.

As the path was blocked, the pursuit of the student mages also stopped for a moment. Taking advantage of that gap, the wolf mixed-blood mercenary roared.

"You spell-casting bastards, if you don't want to die, don't even think about sticking your heads in! Do you know who I am? I'm Gardam, the 'Bleeding Hand'! I've torn apart and killed many young spell-casting bastards like you!"

"Gasp!"

The mercenaries used their notoriety to threaten and buy time to retreat.

Since the opposing mages looked young, there was a high possibility that a threatening threat would work.

There was nothing more powerless than a mage whose mind was shaken or concentration was broken.

They were indeed prepared to face mages.

But they had the wrong opponent.

"They must be real criminals!"

"Wardanaz is right...!"

"I believed him from the beginning. You guys. Don't you believe Wardanaz?"

"I believed him too! I believed him too!"

"...???"

The mercenaries were startled by the nonchalant conversation coming from above.

It wasn't a reaction of being scared or hesitating.

Gardam gritted his teeth. As expected of the subordinates of a crazy grand mage, their nerves were not ordinary.

"Fall back! Get out of their range!"

The mercenaries who had come down the stairs turned the corner and got out of the magic's range.

And they reloaded their crossbows and drew their hidden weapons.

They planned to strike the mages' weak points and take them down the moment they came down defenseless.

"Don't go down."

Despite the initial victory, Yi-Han didn't immediately go down the stairs.

"Sharakan."

The leopard roared and leaped down. As the bolts and hidden weapons shot by the mercenaries cut through the air, Gardam shouted.

"You idiot retards! I told you to look before shooting!"

"Now."

The skeleton warriors came down the stairs again. Gardam suppressed his resentment and ordered another retreat.

"That leader over there. He's not ordinary."

"If we keep retreating like this..."

"I know too!"

Although the villa mansion was annoyingly large and wide, if they kept getting pushed back by the mages like this, they would eventually be surrounded.

And as they could tell from getting beaten up earlier, a head-on confrontation was close to suicide.

"Use the Devil's Tongue too!"

"Now??"

"Then use it after we're all dead!"

"Damn it. Alright! Alright!"

Expensive magic items were like a lifeline for mercenaries, so they were reluctant to use them unless absolutely necessary.

However, the intense pressure the mercenaries felt made them act beyond such profit and loss.

Whoosh!

Black flames engulfed the skeleton warriors coming down through the stairs.

The flames didn't just burn, but took on a form as if they had physical power and cut down the skeleton warriors.

"Spring forth."

Yi-Han summoned a huge mass of water in the air.

The mercenary who threw the Devil's Tongue cursed as if it was quite a waste.

"Do you think water will work? This fire..."

Splash!

"Spring forth, spring forth, spring forth, spring forth."

In less than a second, the space above the stairs was filled with water.

The mercenaries froze at the sight of the mage summoning that much water in a situation where there was no river or stream nearby.

Hiss-

The black flames, which initially ignored the water and evaporated it, couldn't withstand the repeated attacks and died down.

Yi-Han quickly took out bone fragments and summoned five black skeleton warriors.

As the precious magic item he had just used disappeared without a trace, the mercenary just blinked his eyes.

"Gather, spin."

The remaining water gathered and began to spin.

A mercenary hurriedly raised his shield upon seeing the flying mass of water, but it was a clear mistake.

Unlike the water element magic that could be seen on the battlefield, the water bullet had a distinctly different power.

Crack!

With the sound of bones breaking, the mercenary who used the Devil's Tongue collapsed.

"..."

"..."

"Wh-what do we do? Gardam. What should we do?"

Although he thought he had experienced many battles, Gardam realized how narrow a world he had lived in until now.

What the Death Knights had said was the truth.

'Until now... I've only faced fake mages...!'

"Over there! Catch those criminal bastards!"

"This side is blocked too!"

"!!"

When they came to their senses, mages were also coming down from the opposite corridor.

They had divided their forces and taken a detour while buying time.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

***

"Tell the rear party about the situation and tell them to wait for a bit."

Yi-Han sent a message to his friends waiting at the academy and focused on the pursuit.

He didn't know why those criminal bastards were in this villa, but he had a guess.

'Isn't it something the skull principal kept to use during the finals?'

There was nothing else particularly suspicious.

It seemed quite likely...

Anyway, whatever the reason, those criminal bastards had to be subdued quickly.

There was already more commotion than calculated.

If there was more commotion here, the Death Knights might come running regardless of the outing.

'Subdue them as quickly as possible and get out!'

"Surrender. Mercenaries! We'll show leniency."

"Don't talk nonsense, you crazy spell-casting bastards!"

"Aren't you ashamed to lick the boots of a necromancer trickster?!"

The mercenaries reacted fiercely.

Yi-Han was dumbfounded by that reaction.

'What did we do?'

They had a fair fight and if they lost, they should accept defeat, but to insult them as spell-casters and tricksters.

The other students were very enraged and fuming.

"Spell-casters?!"

"Necromancy? Do I look like a necromancer? Ah. Wardanaz. I'm not insulting you."

"...Forget it. Everyone follow me."

Although they had almost won, Yi-Han didn't let his guard down.

He led the students and systematically occupied the areas of the mansion, checking the rooms.

The mercenaries who had run away and hid alone to survive were dragged out miserably.

"Ah, no! Have mercy!"

"Try calling us spell-casters again! You criminal bastard!"

"Call your comrades! If you don't call your comrades, we'll send you to the punishment room..."

"Hey. The punishment room only works on us, you know."

"Is that so?"

"Knock him out and follow me! We need to subdue them quickly!"

At Yi-Han's shout, the Immortal Phoenix Tower priest nodded and waved his staff.

"The fainting spell..."

Bam!

Yi-Han swung his staff and blew away the mercenary's jaw. The mercenary went limp and collapsed.

"Let's go!"

"Ah, no..."

"This is the true fainting spell!"

The Black Tortoise Tower students and White Tiger Tower students followed Yi-Han with admiration.

They didn't know about other things, but they were always in awe of Wardanaz's magic.

***

"Those bastards are heading to the main gate!!"

As they knocked out the last mercenary hiding in the mansion, a scream erupted from behind.

The remaining few mercenaries were desperately running towards the main gate.

'What?'

Yi-Han's face also turned serious.

'Do they have a way to escape? How?'

Of course, Yi-Han thought the mercenaries wouldn't be able to escape from this mansion.

The skull principal wasn't a fool, and there must be a reason why the mercenaries were trapped here.

But seeing them running like that, he suddenly felt uneasy.

Could the mercenaries have another method that Yi-Han didn't know about?

"Follow me! We must stop them no matter what!"

Yi-Han fired water bullets at the mercenaries without even aiming. The ground shattered and the main gate shook.

"Flash forth..."

As his mind became anxious, a lightning spear began to gather at the tip of his staff once again.

Yi-Han drew the Morning Star in his other hand and charged explosively.

"That crazy bastard!?"

Gardam seemed to have not expected the young mage to charge in, so he threw his body to the side.

The lightning spear pierced the main gate and the Morning Star slashed through the air.

"Moradi!"

Jijel, who had run together from behind, swung her dual swords and blew away Gardam's weapon. Gardam let out a scream mixed with pain.

"What kind of tricksters are you!"

"Surrender!"

"Shut up. I'd rather die here than be tortured by the undead!"

"No... Damn it."

The mercenaries were unnecessarily persistent. Yi-Han lamented that he had no time to explain and swung his weapon again.

Gardam leaped back and drew a dagger. The remaining mercenaries also stood back-to-back and aimed their weapons.

"Wardanaz. Be careful. They're not easy."

"I know!"

Although it wasn't a properly learned swordsmanship, the opponent's swordsmanship was fierce and explosive.

Moreover, those who had survived this far were the most experienced and vicious among the mercenaries.

If they got caught off guard, they could be overwhelmed and defeated even after cornering them, so the two approached cautiously.

Crackle!

"!"

As the lightning spear covering the staff grew even larger and flew in, the mercenaries gritted their teeth and dodged.

"Ugh!"

"Ugh!"

However, the lightning bounced around and struck the mercenaries. The mercenaries groaned at the lightning energy flowing through their bodies.

Taking advantage of that gap, Jijel simultaneously cut off the leg and wrist of one and subdued him.

"One more time!"

"Got it!"

As the opponent focused their attention on the lightning spear, Yi-Han instantly dispelled the magic and moved on to the next magic.

"Strike, Ferkuntra's thunderbolt!"

A thick thunderbolt flying in from an unexpected direction pierced a mercenary.

And it also pierced the main gate.

Creak, boom!

The villa's main gate made an unpleasant metallic sound and swung open.

Yi-Han and Jijel froze on the spot.

The mercenaries also froze on the spot.

"...Get out of the way!"

This time, the one who took action first was Gardam. After pushing and knocking down his comrades who had come together, Gardam ran towards the main gate with all his might. He also used all the magic items in his possession.

With an indescribably complex sound, fog, sandstorm, poison cloud, etc. were released for a moment.

As Jijel subdued the fallen mercenaries, Yi-Han spoke to his friend seriously.

"By the way, you said to strike one more time. Moradi."

"...Are you blabbering about that now?!!!!!!"

Jijel let out a scream without realizing it.

"Let's chase him for now."

"Chase him!! If we lose him, we're all going to the punishment room!"

Yi-Han and Jijel gritted their teeth and ran out.

They had to catch the last remaining one as quickly as possible.

"Salko. Change the other students' clothes and make them move according to the original plan! We'll catch that bastard!"

"Ah, got it! Wardanaz. Moradi. Good luck!"

***

Eunrad Lee, a bureaucrat from Einroguard, bowed his waist cunningly to his superior.

"You're excellent today as well. Lord Hodlong! Lord Gonadaltes must also be waiting eagerly for your arrival!"

"Stop talking nonsense. Eunrad Lee. There's no way Lord Gonadaltes would like the visit of an inspector like me."

Hodlong sat in a city cafe with an uncomfortable expression and sipped his coffee.

He was in a bad mood as he had to enter Einroguard soon.

How many more misdeeds and excuses would he have to face once he entered Einroguard?

-A dog ate my research data! Sob sob! But please forgive the dog. Isn't it cute?-

-Th-there's a misunderstanding about burning down the entire farm. Of course, there was a fire, but first, we need to consider the concept of 'entire', don't you think?-

"I understand that you can't help but have your arm bent inward since you're from Einroguard."

"Ah, no, what are you saying? No. Absolutely not!"

"But you can never put personal feelings into this kind of work. Understand? If you want to persuade me, bring data that can do so."

"Well, magic often fails..."

"If the magic results are lacking, then at least bring the attitude of the mages! Bring evidence that the mages of Einroguard have dedicated themselves to the citizens of the empire. Only then will I have the face to go back and ask for more gold coins to be supported!"

'That seems even more impossible.'

Eunrad Lee quickly gave up inwardly.

Rather than hoping for the juniors to dedicate themselves to the citizens of the empire, it seemed more likely to hope for a grand mage to appear.

-A criminal has been caught!!-

-An Einroguard student caught a wanted criminal!-

"Cough."

Eunrad Lee spat coffee on his superior's face.