SMMA 59

Episode 59

“Can’t we just abandon them? Ninety percent chance they’ll drag us down with them!”

Asan blurted in desperation.

His words froze everyone—both the Blue Dragon Tower and Black Turtle Tower students stared back, horrified.

How could he suggest such a thing?

“Even if it’s White Tiger Tower idiots… there are priests among them, too.”
“We can’t abandon priests.”
“How can you think so coldly?”

Under their condemnation, Ihan flinched slightly.

Because truthfully—he had thought the same thing as Asan.

“Too late even if you wanted to! Scatter!” Nillia cried.

She, with experience in mountain beasts, knew well: turning your back and fleeing was worse. The only option was to split briefly, bind its feet, then retreat steadily.

Rowena shouted as she ran:
“That spell you used earlier—the Yumidifus Aqua Burst—can you cast it again?”

“What? I don’t even know what that is! And no, I can’t! Just get the others to safety!” Ihan snapped.

Only later did her words register. Yumidifus—a famous imperial sorcerer who had created many water-element spells. She had mistaken Ihan’s clumsy experiment as that legendary mage’s work.

But however glorious the name, the truth was, that spell had taken him half an hour to form once. A charging golem wouldn’t allow such luxury again.

“Night conceal me!”

He cast invisibility, vanishing into the rain. He knew already: the mud golem trusted its vision.

Time to gamble my trinkets…

From his garments, he flung the Chalk of Smoke.

Pop!

Thick fumes coiled up around the monster, masking sight. The golem stopped, confused.

Ihan drew his sword—Dawnstar. The emperor’s gift; its black-purple blade that drank mana and whined with hunger.

Even the bone summon cringed, skulking aside.

I only need to hobble it.

Slash!

He cut the tendon-like joint of its ankle. It staggered, knee dropping, hindered by the draining bite of the blade.

Then—something fell.

“?”

He caught it instinctively. A dwarf—Bartrek Bark—flailing in shock, freed from the golem’s fist.

“???”

He blinked, panic flooding. Invisible hands held him aloft.

“What are you lying there for? Up.” A dry voice beside him.

He jolted upright. “…Wadanaz? Is that you?”

“?!”

Now Ihan, stunned. How did he know?!

“How could you tell?”

“Because, who else would pull something like this? Only Wadanaz of Blue Dragon Tower.”

“……”

Utter nonsense logic—but accurate.

“Help Bartrek! Support him!” the White Tiger students cried, rallying again.

Bruised and battered, yet their war screams had not dimmed. Their recklessness was astounding.

Ihan seethed.
“Those utterly useless, suicidal brats…”

But Bartrek, for honor’s sake, pretended not to hear his rescuer’s insult.

Do they not even know how to retreat properly?!

Ihan’s plan had been simple: blind the golem, hobble it, let the students escape, then vanish unseen with his belt. Clean, efficient.

But White Tiger stupidity had jeopardized all.

“Tell them to retreat!” Ihan urged.

Bartrek echoed instantly, “Run! Don’t come near! You don’t need to help us!”

Yet his comrades ignored him.

“Bartrek! We’re coming for you!”
“We’ll charge together!”

“……”

He shot a glance at Ihan—but the boy was invisible.

The golem stirred again, its leg reforming, its gaze drawn to the onrushing Tigers.

“Surely you didn’t break through its guard alone. How did you get this far?” Ihan asked quickly.

“We threw a solvent—a Mud Dissolve potion. Priestess Siana brewed it.”

“!”

Ihan was startled. Such potions could be the key to weakening it completely.

“Where is it?!”

“…Used all of it.”

“……”

Invisible, Ihan itched to cuff the dwarf’s head. Precious weapons wasted! Is your helmet full of rocks instead of brain?!

He sighed, focusing again. With the White Tiger charging like fools, he had seconds to act.

What trump card remained?

Steel was swallowed. Water took too long. Dawnstar left only scratches.

Then the Tiger youths sprinted close, the golem’s fist shadowing down.

“Damn it!!”

“Burn!”

It wasn’t thought—it was instinct.

Flame erupted point-blank.

“?!?”

Bartrek dropped prone. A tide of fire roared outward, enveloping the golem wholly.

It should have died—quenched under rain. But the blaze fed on Ihan’s flooding mana, refusing to extinguish.

“Magnificent!” Bartrek breathed, raw awe shaking his voice.

Others had despised and envied Wadanaz before. Now they could only gape in reverence.

A freshman, abolishing a mud golem in a single roaring inferno!

But Ihan cursed under breath.

“Damn it!”

Forgive me, Professor Garcia!

Now he understood why the troll had forbade him from using flame yet. Ihan had poured beyond what he could anchor. His fire ran wanton, uncontrolled.

Luckily—the golem bore it all. Otherwise, his classmates too would have become kindling.

Crack—crunch!

“What?” He jerked his head.

The mud body, baked, split and shattered.

People imagined fire hardened clay. But unrefined sludge, scorched unprepared, crumbled. The beast was falling apart.

“You—calculated this…?” Bartrek gasped in disbelief.

But Ihan had no breath left to deny.

He dropped invisibility. Tigers now recognized him as ally, stabbing together. Their weapons bit; the weakened body collapsed.

“Waaaahhh!”
“We won! We took it down!”
“You saved us! Well done!”

“?”

Bewildered, Ihan received their cheers. What are they playing at now? Just moments earlier they fled in shame—now camaraderie?

“But wait—who even are you? I don’t recall your face.”
“Which family are you from?”

“???”

Their cheers soured into confusion. He carried no White Tiger’s aura.

Bartrek limped forward. “He’s Wadanaz. Blue Dragon Tower. Not ours.”

“…Uuaaghh!”

They recoiled further than they had from the golem. Students tripped, fell.

They look more frightened of me than of the monster…

“What trick… what scheme brought you here?”
“You deceived us! With illusions? With rain concealment?”
“Did he hex our eyes?!”

As their paranoia bloomed, Ihan only shook his head in disgust.

Bartrek cut in, hobbling.
“No. He saved me. He saved us. He bled for this fight. Stop talking nonsense.”

“Bartrek! Are you hurt?!”

“Sprained, nothing more. Now, gather the scattered ones before they wander too far.”

White Tiger students sobered. Some brawny fools, true—but not all. Many Phoenix priests and cautious Tigers had fled far. They must regather before worse came.

“Wait…”

“?”

“Is it safe leaving Bartrek with him? Wadanaz—you won’t harm him, will you?”

“……”

“I-it’s not mistrust of you, it’s just—Bartrek is wounded—”

His cold gaze shut them up at once.

“Roll call—any missing?”
“None. All present.”

He confirmed Blue Dragon and Turtle lines. White Tiger and Phoenix had regrouped as well.

His side had no injuries. Theirs: battered, fractured, countless wounds from charging the golem like berserkers.

Phoenix priests tended them. Siana especially, her Plemonn Order training showing—brewing analgesics and anti-trauma draughts in moments.

Yonellia watched, impressed.
“Remarkable! Such speed, such finesse! Truly worthy of your Order!”

“……”

But Ihan was torn. For he remembered the rumors.

—If only you didn’t exist, I’d be first…

Would she truly not covet his downfall? He could not say.

And just then, Siana approached with a vial.
“I heard you fought the beast directly. Here, drink this—it will ease bruises.”

“But Ihan isn’t even—” Yonellia began, but he stepped forward first—seizing it, downing it gratefully.

Instantly, he erupted in praise.
“This—it’s the finest potion I’ve ever tasted!!”

“Eh?” Yonellia blinked.

Siana flushed, surprised delight breaking over her face.

And Ihan piled on, sword-sharp.
“You brewed this yourself? Inconceivable, incredible genius! Why, this deserves sale at high price, a gift of divinity itself!”

He stole a glance sideways—saw the glow widening on her lips.

Siana’s jealousy melted—her pride beguiled by his torrent of praise.

And if feigned? If overblown? None need ever know.