The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 48

Lee Han stared intently at Yoon Haul, who was chewing on a pastry she’d bought from the school store.

Apparently, it was a new product.

There were only a handful of people at Ardel Academy who truly knew the real personality of Yoon Haul, the top student of the Divinity Department and the one often called a mysterious prophet.

Lee Han was one of the few who could speak frankly with her.

Yoon Haul paused her ravenous eating and looked up at Lee Han.

Her eyes, which curved in a peculiar way only at times like this, met his.

“Is this about Usher?”

Her insight was astonishing.

She could figure things out without needing them to be said.

Lee Han, unfazed, nodded in response.

Yoon Haul put her pastry down and scratched her head.

“Lately, a lot of people have been coming to me. I didn’t realize Usher was this popular.”

What?

Sensing something odd in Yoon Haul’s words, Lee Han blinked and asked again.

“Who else?”

There shouldn’t have been anyone else who would ask Yoon Haul about Usher’s disappearance.

So who else could have been out searching for Usher before him?

“Han Siha.”

Lee Han’s eyes widened in shock.

His usually composed expression gave way to visible confusion. Lee Han was usually good at controlling his emotions.

Seeing this uncharacteristic reaction, Yoon Haul tilted her head in surprise.

“You didn’t know?”

Before she could finish her sentence, Lee Han quickly left.

* * *

There was only one construction site at Ardel Academy where new facilities were being built.

The new dormitory, planned to accommodate the increased enrollment at Ardel starting next year.

The construction site was located on a barren piece of land a little distance from the current dormitory.

I had heard that work had paused temporarily due to last week’s heavy rains flooding the site, and as expected, there wasn’t a soul in sight at the construction site.

I kicked aside the scattered construction materials and piles of stones and crouched down to enter the area.

There were “No Entry” signs posted everywhere.

But that didn’t matter. Since construction wasn’t ongoing, no one would be around to bother me.

That meant I could look around a bit more confidently.

After quickly surveying the surroundings, I boldly stepped forward.

I needed to find it as quickly as possible.

If this wasn’t the right place, I’d have to start over from the beginning.

There wasn’t much time left.

[19:00]

“Basilus, do you sense anything?”

“kuuu…”

Sniff, sniff.

Basilus, who had been frantically sniffing the ground, began leading me deeper into the site.

I followed Basilus’ lead, gripping my staff and keeping an eye on my surroundings.

There might not be any people around right now, so I wasn’t worried about that. But there were other dangers to watch out for.

Kobolds often appeared in places like this.

Even if they were occasionally cleared out by patrols, they sometimes popped up again.

They’d most likely try to rob me.

Whoosh.

No sooner had I thought of it than Basilus slashed through the air.

A kobold had lunged at my ankle, snarling menacingly before I could even feel irritated by the sound.

Crunch.

Basilus bit through the kobold’s neck in one swift motion and tossed it aside.

“Wow, Basilus. You’re fast!”

It must’ve been too weak to hold Basilus’ interest for long.

Basilus hopped in place briefly, then stopped, looking somewhat annoyed.

Rustle, rustle.

The other kobolds, seeing their comrade’s swift demise, scurried back into the ground in a panic.

There had clearly been more than one, but none were in sight now.

“Well done, Basilus.”

“Glimpchee!”

The aftermath of the magic combat tournament.

Basilus had become an attention-seeking dragon who couldn’t live without an audience.

Hey, there’s no one here to take pictures of you.

After finishing his imaginary fan service, Basilus resumed searching for magic.

I encouraged him.

“If Usher found it, there’s no way you can’t.”

“Quuu!”

Basilus had previously located Frankenstein in Professor Ernst’s underground lab.

Even though the traces were faint, they were definitely there. He could do this.

And then it happened.

Basilus, who had been moving steadily forward, suddenly started circling in place.

It was by a large baobab tree where construction materials were stacked.

“…!”

As I thought.

He must have found it.

There was always a reason for Basilus’s strange behavior.

With urgency, I moved the construction materials aside, revealing a large hole in the baobab tree.

“Found it.”

The hole was large enough for a person to crawl into.

Inside, I could feel faint traces of magic. It was so subtle that only someone extremely sensitive could detect it.

“They hid it well.”

Whoosh.

As I brought my staff close to the tree, a faint portal appeared, just as I expected.

Unlike a normal portal that glowed blue, this one was tinged with darkness.

“Whew…”

I took a deep breath and was about to step through when—

Prick.

Basilus’ ears twitched in alarm, and an unfamiliar shadow loomed behind me.

Before I could even register who it was, my instincts took over, and I thrust my staff (physically) into the person’s midsection.

And then—

“Wha… What?”

When I turned around, I saw a face I hadn’t expected at all.

A pale-faced Lee Han was staggering, wincing in pain.

“What are you doing?”

Thud.

He collapsed forward.

* * *

“You should’ve just shot a magic bullet instead.”

“…Sorry.”

“If you had, I could’ve blocked it. Ugh, it hurts so much.”

Lee Han grumbled as he rubbed the spot where he’d been hit by my staff.

Apparently, he hadn’t detected any magic, so his instincts hadn’t triggered an Air Shield, and he’d ended up taking the hit.

Here I was, playing the role of a one-time villain who smacked the protagonist with a staff.

As always, my image was being portrayed in a fantastically negative light.

“I wasn’t trying to hit you.”

“Ugh…”

Then why did you pop up out of nowhere?

“Hah.”

Teaming up with Lee Han was something I hadn’t anticipated.

In the original storyline, there was no incident where Usher went missing, but it was supposed to be Lee Han who first discovered the existence of the Cube.

Could he have come here because he sensed the Cube?

Lee Han walked in silence, keeping his distance.

Basilus narrowed his eyes at Lee Han, clearly on edge.

“Grrrr.”

“Stop, Basilus. He doesn’t taste that good.”

“I’m getting nervous here. Is this guy going to bite me?”

“Well, Basilus does bite when he means to.”

“But he doesn’t usually bite people unless he’s really serious about attacking.”

I shrugged, speaking matter-of-factly.

“Well, he might tear someone apart.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

Lee Han surrounded himself with a shield, closing his eyes briefly before opening them again. A blue glow enveloped him as a hum resonated in the air.

I recognized the skill.

[Keen Reflexes]

It heightened Lee Han’s senses to the point where he could read almost any attack directed at him.

This made his reflexes incomparable to those of an ordinary person. I’d soon witness it firsthand.

His reaction speed was almost imperceptible to me.

Slash.

In an instant, Lee Han cut down the kobolds rushing at him from all directions.

Of course, Basilus wasn’t falling behind either.

It was as if he was determined to outdo this new competitor, torching the kobolds in seconds.

“There are quite a few at the entrance.”

“They’re not too tough, but if they swarm us, it could get tricky.”

Considering this was our first time working together, our coordination was surprisingly good.

I finished off a kobold that Lee Han had missed with my dagger. Meanwhile, Basilus unleashed a pillar of fire on the mass of kobolds gathered below.

Fwoosh.

The intense flames made Lee Han smile with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

“I guess you didn’t top the Taming Department for nothing.”

“He’s not one to fall behind easily.”

Crackle.

Amid the occasional kobold screams and rising smoke, Basilus, who had swiftly dealt with more than a dozen of them, ran toward me with a satisfied look.

“Whoa, Basilus!”

I nearly got crushed under his weight.

“kuuu!”

Ding!

[Your level has increased.]

Level: 15

Magic: 67

Strength: 76

Agility: 51

Intelligence: 25

[Flamethrower Lv 3] [Magic Defense Lv 1] [Poison Resistance Lv 3] [Flame Vortex Lv 3] [Fire Spike Lv 3]

Basilus let out a joyous cry, having reached level 15.

Though the increase in magic wasn’t as significant as before, it indicated that he had already reached a considerable level.

Given the nature of dragons, even if their levels increased slowly, each new level brought an immense boost in power.

And this was evident in Basilus’ enhanced strength.

“This is great, but at this rate, the entrance might get blocked.”

Lee Han grimaced as he cast a spell.

He doused the burning underground stairway with water and slowly descended the narrow steps.

Feeling uneasy about the squishy kobold corpses underfoot, we made our way to the now dimly lit second underground floor.

It looked like a tunnel, but the presence of tracks made me wonder if this had been a man-made mine.

Who on earth built this? It doesn’t seem like a part of the construction site; it’s too out of place.

“Phew.”

I blew the dust from my face and muttered a spell.

“Light.”

From here on, I’d need some light.

There was no telling when or where a kobold might ambush us from behind.

“Huh?”

Whoosh.

But the sight that greeted us when I turned on the light was far different from what I expected.

“What the… What the hell is that?”

It was a monster I recognized.

* * *

The aura of dark magic was palpable.

The kobolds now seemed harmless in comparison.

Shuffle, shuffle.

Straw dolls, glowing with eerie blue eyes, shuffled toward us like zombies.

I could tell instinctively.

These things were being controlled by someone.

Lee Han swiftly cut them down with his sharp sword.

They came from the front, the back, even the ceiling. The straw dolls, with their grotesque smiles, kept coming at us like cockroaches.

“What are these things…?”

Of course, these straw figures weren’t a significant threat.

But their numbers made it difficult to deal with them all.

“Phew…”

After a long fight, Lee Han glanced over at me.

While he was fighting hard, I was walking leisurely, looking completely at ease.

It was as if I had delegated all the combat duties to Basilus.

Unlike when we were fighting kobolds, I now appeared utterly relaxed, which made Lee Han frown without realizing it.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

As I walked calmly forward, I spoke in a composed voice.

“You should save your strength.”

“What?”

“They’re only targeting you.”

Lee Han parried the oncoming straw dolls with his sword, then looked around.

Indeed, the killing intent from the dolls was focused solely on him.

I spoke with certainty.

“These guys are just a rite of passage.”

I recalled “Smart Academy”.

Though this wasn’t the same as the construction site dungeon in the original story, these straw dolls were infamous monsters in the game.

They were meant to drain the player’s stamina before the final boss, the Puppeteer, appeared.

They weren’t particularly strong or dangerous.

But that’s what made them even more perilous.

If your stamina got drained here, you wouldn’t be able to withstand the curse that followed.

Lee Han bit his lower lip and took a step back.

“You’re right.”

This was something Lee Han would have realized on his own.

Not only was he skilled in combat, but his strategic mind often surpassed others.

In fact, everything I was explaining was likely something he had already considered in his head.

Though right now, it might have seemed different to him.

But Lee Han couldn’t help but wonder.

‘How did he figure that out so quickly?’

These weren’t weak monsters like slimes. With this many higher-level monsters charging at you, most students would be too focused on fighting to remain calm.

Human instinct is to deal with the immediate threat first.

Yet, Han Siha remained completely unfazed.

Had he encountered these creatures before?

There was no way he could have assessed their behavior so quickly, and they hadn’t been covered in any of our classes.

Unless he had already fought against these straw dolls somewhere else.

Noticing Lee Han’s questioning gaze, I added casually.

“It was in a book.”

“What?”

“Stick to the textbooks, and make sure you study ahead. It’s all in there—that’s the secret to good grades!”

The sight of a student ranked 11th lecturing the top student was surreal.

Lee Han was confused but decided not to say anything more.

This wasn’t the time to be arguing about that.

“Ah.”

Fwoosh.

Basilus’ breath of fire incinerated the group of straw dolls that had gathered around Lee Han.

The cursed straw piled up on the ground.

After that, each time more of the dolls charged at us, Lee Han would bait them, and Basilus would burn them, creating a seamless partnership.

“Phew.”

Finally, after clearing the second underground floor, Lee Han caught his breath and stepped onto the last staircase.

Thud.

As soon as he took a step forward, Lee Han couldn’t help but frown.

“Do you feel that?”

“It’s already giving me chills.”

This was on a completely different level.

The thick, oppressive energy rising from the ground was suffocating.

It felt like the air itself was pressing down on us.

Any normal person would have turned back immediately.

But we couldn’t.

Because we could see someone just ahead.

“Usher.”

“…”

There was no telling how long he had been tied up, but Usher, pale and drained, was bound to a tree trunk.

And next to him—

“It’s been a while, Han Siha.”

A man in a robe turned around, emanating a sinister aura.