SMMA 90

Chapter 90

“Everyone, gather! Derregue’s been taken!”

“?”

It looked like Gainando wasn’t the only one kidnapped. Ihan turned his head toward the commotion.

A short distance away, in the courtyard, the students of the White Tiger Tower were in a frantic mess, panicking helplessly.

“The White Tiger Tower got taken too? Did those bastards maybe throw Gainando on purpose?” Ihan asked, his thoughts racing.

He wondered if the enraged White Tiger students, furious over Derregue being caught, had retaliated by throwing Gainando at the creature.

“No, Gainando just tripped over his own feet.”

“…I see.”

*        *        *

While Ihan and Yoener were detained by the two professors, listening to the lecture titled ‘True Mages Do Not Become Bureaucrats but Pursue Further Study’, the rest of the students who had just endured Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic hurried out of the classroom.

It had been such a suffocating ordeal that the moment class ended, everyone bolted outside to gulp down fresh air.

“Stay awake! Don’t collapse! You’ve got another class next!”
“Just… just leave me… I’ll sleep right here…”

Students on the verge of fainting weren’t limited to the Blue Dragon Tower.
Students from every Tower suffered through that tiresome, torturous lecture.

“But seriously, are Wardanaz and Meikin alright? What if the professor noticed they skipped class?”
“He wouldn’t notice even if we replaced ourselves with monsters.”
“True…”
“I’m not joking, I genuinely mean it. If I take this class a few more times, I’ll drift into eternal sleep.”
“What about the midterm? If the assignments are this bad, can we just hand in a blank paper? If we get dragged to the punishment room…”
“Honestly? I thought about setting the classroom on fire during class.”
“Same. I actually wished one of those runaway summoned creatures would show up instead.”

Thud!

As if answering their wishes—or perhaps just reacting to the noise—a runaway summon really emerged from the bushes.

Several students screamed as they recognized the vine monster they had seen before.

“Run!”
“Get inside the building!”
“Someone fetch a professor!”
“No! Professors won’t help, use that time to run!”

Some students fled quickly, but others, like Gainando, tripped over their own feet.

The vine monster didn’t bother chasing those who escaped.
It leisurely tied up a few fallen students with its vines, hoisted them into the air, and happily strutted away.

“…Wait, Derregue fell too? He doesn’t seem like the type.”
“That White Tiger Tower orc tried to help Gainando and got caught himself.”

“……”

Ihan felt guilty. Derregue had been caught just for trying to help his friend.

Then, a panting White Tiger Tower student burst out from the main building.

“What happened?! Where’s the professor?!”

“Said to… take care of it ourselves…”

“……”
“……”

Everyone—White Tiger and Blue Dragon alike—was speechless at the absurd answer.

Wasn’t that just too much?

But Ihan stayed calm.

Should’ve picked the professor more carefully. They acted too rashly.

When in a crisis, it was a mistake to grab any random professor and beg for help. He needed someone more dependable, someone relatively kind, or at least…

Wait. There are no kind professors here.

…then someone naive, or a bit of a pushover.
The White Tiger student must’ve been too panicked to be selective.

“What do we do, Wardanaz? What now?”

The Blue Dragon Tower students all looked to Ihan desperately.

Should they chase it?
Or think of another plan?

It was too difficult a choice for them to make alone.

“Chase it. We don’t even know where the professors are right now, and if we lose the trail, it’ll be a pain to find them later.”

At the moment, the trail left by the creature stretched clearly ahead, and the distance wasn’t far—but wait too long, and chasing it down would be impossible.

Ihan also had another reason for confidence.

Perkuntla!

Calling the name, he felt the faint shards of the spirit within him respond and resonate.

Now, the contract holder was summoning their spirit through rightful means.

“Sing the song of thunder, oh spirit! Of lightning and storm! The bell-ringer guarding the fallen kingdom’s spire and the watchman adrift upon the boundless sea both fear your name! I, your contractor, summon you by the right of our pact!”

Seeing Ihan chant the invocation, Princess Adenart’s eyes widened.

She was the fastest to recognize spirits, and immediately grasped what kind he was calling forth.

The words used to summon a spirit reflected its dignity and rank.
Such a long and ornate invocation could only mean…

Crackle—!

Lightning flowered at Ihan’s staff, and the spirit’s form began to take shape.

The Lightning Spirit!

Rowena, the knight beside the princess, was even more shocked than her highness.

It wasn’t unbelievable that Ihan, a monstrously gifted mage, had contracted with a stronger spirit than the princess—but the lightning spirit was infamous among spirits for its ferocity and volatility.

And that lengthy invocation… it could only mean a powerful one.

How in the world did he manage to contract it?!

“Appear!”

At Ihan’s call, Perkuntla’s fragment manifested.
A small lightning orb, no bigger than a clenched fist, sparked into existence.

The students looked at it uncertainly.

Huh?

“???”

“…Ah! Right! The strength of a spirit isn’t tied to its form!”

Indeed, they recalled that Professor Thunderstep’s rabbit-shaped spirit had been immensely powerful.
Surely, Ihan’s lightning spirit—the one he’d struggled so much to summon—was just disguising its true might.

That must be it! There’s no way Wardanaz would make such a mistake!

The students nodded in understanding.
But Ihan did not.

It looked far too different from the Perkuntla he had first met.

Even for a fragment, wasn’t this too small…?

What’s going on? Did only a tiny part come through?

Have you forgotten? You commanded me to remain sealed, remember?!

Perkuntla’s furious voice rang telepathically in Ihan’s head.

Sure, Perkuntla had told him, “Once you’re outside, summon me—I have far more power than this!”
But that was supposed to happen days later.

At present, Perkuntla was still bound under Ihan’s order to “remain in the punishment chamber temporarily.”

That command hadn’t expired yet, so there was no way the spirit could materialize fully outside.

It was only because Perkuntla was an exceptionally strong entity that even this tiny fragment managed to emerge at all.

The spirit explained this hastily, but Ihan’s expression remained icy.

You don’t believe me, do you…?

It’s not that I don’t believe you—but if every time I summon you there’s some excuse for why it doesn’t work right, how am I supposed to trust you?

Perkuntla suddenly longed for the mages of old—
those arrogant, irritable fools who yelled and argued without logic.
Those ones could at least be shouted back at—or struck down with thunder until they obeyed.

But this polite, infuriatingly civil child’s way of talking left him helpless.

Fine. Don’t worry. Whatever you summoned me for, even this level of power will be enough. Just watch!

We’ll see.

I can feel your doubt, you know!

Please respect boundaries. Emotional privacy matters.

*        *        *

Ihan quickly advanced with the Blue Dragon Tower students, following the tracks.
Ahead, the White Tiger Tower had also given chase.

“You bastards! Stop following us!”
“That’s our line! You back off!”
“You can’t even cast properly… huff… puff…”

It wasn’t even a contest.

Since the White Tiger students took additional classes in swordsmanship and physical training, the Blue Dragon students were at a disadvantage in stamina.

Ihan looked at his gasping peers pityingly.

“You guys really should exercise sometimes.”

“They’re just… built like oxen… huff… huff…”

“I’ll go on ahead. Follow when you can.”

“No! Wardanaz! Hah… if you go alone, those White Tiger jerks will…”

Doubtful, thought those who knew Ihan better—Rowena, Asan, and a few others.

Any other student alone among the White Tiger Tower would be in danger.
But Ihan?

More likely, the White Tiger students would be in danger instead.

“I’m fine. Catch up once you’ve recovered.”

How are you so physically strong?

Watching him sprint relentlessly, Perkuntla marveled.
He didn’t seem like someone from a knightly family, and yet…

Before he could ask, Perkuntla suddenly shouted,

Enemy! There’s an enemy hidden nearby!

“I dwell in shadow at night!” Ihan invoked instinctively—but no attack came.

“Where is it hiding? There’s no cover here.”

There were no bushes or obstacles near this stretch of road. The terrain was too open.

Below!

“!”

Ihan leapt aside instantly.

If the enemy was underground, invisibility wouldn’t work—they’d have detected him through sound and vibration.

But the vine creature didn’t lunge at Ihan. Instead, it sprang upward and ensnared one of the White Tiger Tower students ahead.

“Angrago!! No!”

The goat beastkin was lifted into the air, wrapped tightly in vines.

“How did it hide underground?”

Mages must’ve given it unnecessary abilities. Normally, that species can’t burrow or disguise itself!

This school really is crazy—not just the professors, but the seniors too.

Ihan grabbed his staff, eyes narrowing on the creature.

The captured White Tiger student hung limp and motionless.

It drains mana—be careful not to get caught. Well, you could afford to lose a little, but still—avoid it! It’ll be annoying to deal with!

I wasn’t planning on getting caught.

Ihan wasn’t foolish enough to be seized by vines just because he had plenty of mana. He swung his staff, preparing to conjure fire.

“Burn—”

NO!! Absolutely not!!!

Perkuntla, still traumatized by Ihan’s previous flame magic, cried out desperately.

Under no circumstances could he permit the boy to cast fire unsupervised again.

Not allowed?

It’s dangerous! You could burn the other students alive!

I wasn’t going to attack—it was just for deterrence…

Still too dangerous!!

That bad, huh?

Ihan frowned. He thought surrounding the field with small flame orbs to repel the creature would be safe enough.

Normally, I’d crush this monster effortlessly—but right now I lack the strength.

Ihan glared sharply at him, clearly betrayed.

Hadn’t Perkuntla just said his current form was enough?

The spirit hurriedly added—

But I’ll teach you a spell! You can cast it in my stead!

Can’t you just do it yourself? I’m not sure I can handle learning and using it mid-battle…