Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 788

Chapter 788

Antagondal was momentarily at a loss for words at Yi-Han's shameless attitude.

'Indeed, he's as cunning and vicious as one would expect of someone the monster wants as a disciple!'

He was such a vicious bastard that Antagondal felt ashamed of himself for once wondering, 'Why did the monster bring such a guy?'

From the way he threatened and used an evil magic criminal during his escape, one could see his true nature.

But Antagondal didn't burst into anger or lose his reason. Befitting an experienced magic criminal, he spoke calmly.

"It seems you've forgotten... Hehe... When you were escaping from the ancient mad doppelganger... Didn't I help you...?"

"Pardon?"

"When you... had to leave... You earnestly asked me to draw attention...!"

"Pardon?"

"You damn little brat... Are you going to keep pretending not to know!!!"

The hundreds-year-old magic criminal exploded in genuine anger.

Yi-Han attacked as if he had been expecting this. <Wardanaz's Telekinesis> was cast and slammed the chimera-shaped Antagondal against the wall.

Bang!!!

"Nillia, attack!"

"A-alright!"

Although Nillia wasn't sure who the opponent was, she decided to follow her friend's words for now.

Whether it was a monster pretending to know Wardanaz when he didn't, or a monster deceived by Wardanaz, blood is thicker than water, right?

Swoosh!

As a sharp arrow flew in, Antagondal let out a groan.

'This evil bastard. He agitated me to ambush...'

With such reaction speed, he must have been planning to ambush from the moment he saw him.

Not content with that, to pretend not to know in order to ambush the opponent.

He was a vicious bastard befitting the mad doppelganger's disciple.

Screech-

'Kuk!'

Attacks that could have been blocked with a mere glance in his original body state now heavily impacted his flesh one by one.

It was due to the punishment the mad doppelganger had inflicted on Antagondal.

Antagondal felt deep gloom.

It wasn't because of the oncoming pain. A great mage wouldn't despair because of pain.

The reason Antagondal felt gloom was because of Yi-Han.

'To think I let him notice I've weakened!'

"Did you use too strong a poison?!"

"Nillia. Where's the cruel hunter of the north that you were! Return to your former self!"

"I was never like that! I was just an ordinary hunter!"

While protesting at Yi-Han's rebuke, Nillia immediately prepared her next attack.

Nillia, majoring in enchantment magic and alchemy, knew how to properly utilize her specialties.

The magic arrow she had made during lecture time glowed as it passed through the bow's body and writhed like a snake seeking the enemy's flesh.

Simultaneously, the black potion thickly applied to the arrowhead dissolved mana and spread dark curses into the bone marrow.

Antagondal spat out curses for the first time in a while as he barely pulled out the arrow with one hand.

"Melt... into the wall!"

Antagondal, who had melted into the adjacent wall, barely bought time and opened his mouth.

"You brat. Not only are you ungrateful, but you're also stupid... What will you do if I immediately take you to the master...!"

"Is that so? From my perspective, if you had that ability, you would have done it already."

At Yi-Han's words, Antagondal's heart sank.

This Wardanaz family boy had clearly already guessed Antagondal's situation.

"What... do you mean...?"

"When you first appeared, I thought you had come to kidnap me on the doppelganger's request. But seeing you talk, I felt something was a bit strange."

Yi-Han spoke with confidence.

Einroguard's main building wasn't a place outsiders could enter as they pleased. Even more so for the powerful.

Moreover, this semester the skull principal knew about both the doppelganger's existence and Antagondal's existence.

Yet Antagondal had entered like this freely?

'That's a doppelganger weak enough not to be caught by the barriers.'

From entering freely to being unable to respond to Yi-Han's ambush and Nillia's attacks and getting beaten.

Yi-Han was certain his judgment was correct.

"You came as a very weak doppelganger now, didn't you?"

"...Your perception is damnably quick!"

Antagondal hid his frustration and frankly admitted it.

There was no choice once he had been found out.

"This is... a doppelganger as weak and flimsy as a pile of mud... So weak I can't even kidnap you... And the reason is because of you...!"

Antagondal poured out in a resentful voice what had happened after Yi-Han escaped.

The mad doppelganger had been generous enough to send back Yi-Han and even some stupid royal boy to Einroguard, but not to Antagondal.

-You helped him. Didn't you?-

-There seems to be a misunderstanding. Master...-

-Don't call me master. That title was revoked due to betrayal. How dare a lowly slave interfere with the master's work?-

-Master, if you bestow death, I will accept...-

Feeling a qualitatively different danger than usual, Antagondal tried to destroy his body and temporarily die.

Before coming to the mad doppelganger, of course Antagondal had set up contingencies. No magic criminal was stupid enough to approach an ancient mad being to learn magic without any preparations.

Antagondal's contingency was an additional body.

The additional body, created with ancient magic from the Pseudo-Kingdom era, would transfer the soul there to resurrect the mage if the current body was destroyed.

This was a powerful and complex arcane magic that even fairly competent mages couldn't dare attempt. Naturally, Antagondal had faith in this magic too.

Otherwise, would he have dared approach the mad doppelganger?

-Diverting the soul? What a shallow trick. You trash who doesn't even know who created that arcane magic. Did you think you could deceive the master with the master's teachings?-

-!!!-

Antagondal was shocked at being found out and immediately destroyed his body to escape with his soul.

However, before the soul could escape, the mad doppelganger sealed the magic criminal's soul with a gesture. Then he stuffed the soul back into the destroyed body.

-Trash. The prison you'll be confined in is your own body, and your sentence is until your soul wears away to nothing. If you want even a shred of mercy, make amends. Even one ten-thousandth of what you ruined!-

-Ku... Kuaaak!-

The mad doppelganger not only stuffed the soul back in but also bound it with a curse to prevent escape.

The curse was so severe that even the fairly solidly made body transformed into a hideous chimera.

Antagondal had no choice but to admit he had underestimated the ancient great mage too much.

Even if he had fallen into madness and become rigid like a law, he still had the power to easily destroy someone like Antagondal.

"Thanks to you... I'm in this state... I can't even use proper magic... Even this doppelganger... took several days to barely make... Just to make contact!"

Antagondal pointed at himself hiding in the wall as he spoke.

How much hardship he had gone through to create this weak and pathetic doppelganger.

If he could use magic normally, he would have made such a trivial doppelganger in a few seconds.

"I see. You've truly suffered a lot."

Yi-Han spoke as if feeling sorry. Antagondal noticed the pretense in that voice and glared.

"The master wants to see you again."

"Yes. I understand. I'll visit sometime later."

"Right now!"

"I have my own schedule too. Why are you being like this?"

"..."

After glaring at Yi-Han for a while, Antagondal gritted his teeth and accepted that he wasn't in a situation to threaten with force.

With this doppelganger, he couldn't even kidnap, let alone take another hit without being destroyed.

"What are you dissatisfied with...? The master loves and cherishes you... He's waiting to teach you arcane magic!"

'Does he think I'm Gainando or something?'

Yi-Han was shocked at the magic criminal's level of lying.

Who would fall for such lies?

"Didn't he try to kill me if I couldn't learn magic?"

"And then he would have resurrected you... Being able to learn under such conditions is a blessing...! Why don't you know your own luck...?"

"Ah. Yes."

Yi-Han answered indifferently.

"I understand. Please tell him I'll have a meal with him sometime when I'm free. I'll definitely come."

"If you return... The master will treat you more gently..."

"You mean he'll kill me painlessly instead of painfully?"

'Wrong.'

Antagondal gave up on persuading Yi-Han.

That Wardanaz family boy was as cunning and vicious as himself, so he could never be deceived.

Instead, Antagondal looked at Nillia. The seemingly innocent hunter girl might waver.

"You there... young mage... Listen to me... I... risked my life... to save your friend who was kidnapped there... That's why I became like this... Don't you feel sorry for me?"

"By the way, this person is the magic criminal Antagondal."

Yi-Han whispered. Antagondal didn't give up.

"Of course... I... won't deny that I committed some magic crimes... and am an enemy of the empire...! But... let's look at it in terms of gratitude and resentment... I bestowed grace on that friend... As a mage, shouldn't you not forget that grace...?"

"...Is that so?"

"That's right!"

"Alright. Then come out and swear face to face. That you won't harm Wardanaz in return for his help."

"Of course...!"

Antagondal excitedly came out of the wall.

He could make such oaths any number of times.

Swoosh!

The arrow Nillia took out, <Blade Stolen from Professor Verduus>, flew quickly and penetrated between the eyes of Antagondal who had come out of the wall.

Antagondal's doppelganger, not expecting to be ambushed in this situation, melted away pathetically.

"Hey! How dare a magic criminal try to pull a fast one!"

"..."

Yi-Han looked at his friend with shocked eyes. Nillia, belatedly feeling that gaze, became flustered.

"What?? The magic criminal was trying to kidnap you, Wardanaz!!"

"Ah, no. That's true. I just didn't think you would deceive like that."

"...This level of deception is normal."

"Is it?"

"It's normal!"

Nillia burst out angrily.

Then she said in a low voice a moment later.

"...Keep it a secret that I used this kind of trick. Got it?"

"Of course. Don't worry."

Yi-Han nodded as if saying to just trust him.

How hard could it be to keep one secret for a friend who helped?

At that moment, a bat flew out of the melting doppelganger and cried out in a mournful voice.

"To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!"

"Huh?!"

Nillia was startled and tried to shoot down the bat, but it had already flown far away.

It was rushing to return to Antagondal in the mountains outside the main building far away.

"To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!"

"W-why is it like that?"

The bat kept writhing and changing shape. And it spat out the same words as if it had lost its mind.

"It seems it hasn't properly recovered from the shock of the doppelganger being destroyed yet."

Even though it was trying to extract just the core of the doppelganger to return, it was becoming uncontrollable, unable to overcome the shock of destruction.

"Let's quickly chase after it!"

"It'll destroy itself soon anyway? At that level, it'll collapse after flying for a few minutes."

"I-is that so?"

Nillia was tempted but then heard the bat's voice from afar again.

-To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!-

"...No, we need to catch it now! Before it spreads more noisily!!"