Chapter 128: Stomping all of them together
Amidst the clamor from outside the arena, Han Shuo’s body leapt as he threaded through a wall that he had constructed earlier, landing onto the flat ground behind it. The traps, that the skeletal warriors had dug up, were a few paces behind Han Shuo, with branches and twigs concealing the entrance of the traps. The ghouls had covered the exterior with dirt, and it all looked quite normal.
Having completed their mission, the dark creatures spread out according to Han Shuo’s orders, hiding behind the big trees and artificial mountains in the back. Han Shuo then stood behind the earthen wall, firing out bone spears and bone arrows again, attacking the three quickly approaching light major students.
“Huh. You’re asking for trouble by openly attacking us.” Keelung drew near as two Radiant Slashes flew out, destroying the attacks that Han Shuo had sent their way, rapidly approaching Han Shuo with the other two students.
The other two students also recited incantations just before reaching Han Shuo, demolishing the earthen walls that Han Shuo had just erected. One of them walked over the dirt, setting foot into a snare on the ground. Han Shuo immediately gave an order to the zombie controlling the trap when he saw that.
The zombie warrior, standing in the distance, suddenly yanked hard on the rope in his hand. The loose rope suddenly tightened beneath the light major student’s foot and abruptly entwined around his ankle, sending him soaring into the sky.
“Damn it!” Keelung roared and was about to make a play to save the light major student when Han Shuo, standing quite a distance away, sent bone spear attacks at him from another direction, forcing him to temporarily retreat.
The other student however, had sharp eyes and nimble fingers and released a Radiant Slash, slashing through the rope. This caused the captured student to freefall from a great distance and cry out in pain.
A large stone, bound by a rope, suddenly started rolling down from the artificial mountain from the left and came crashing towards Keelung and the others. They gave a great start of fright and also released magic at the same time to defend against the large rock, hurrying in the direction of the other traps afterwards.
Light magic had a marvelous effect in restraining dark creatures, but the ones that Han Shuo had summoned never engaged them in direct combat. Rather, they leveraged other tools and elements to attack the three light major students. This caused the restraining effect that the light major had on dark creatures to be completely nullified.
Finally, the four dark major students, who were chasing them, also arrived. When they saw the three from the light major busily fending off the attacks from the traps, they immediately joined in the fray with great gusto. They started chanting dark major magic from not too far away, preparing to add fuel to the flame and offer Han Shuo their assistance.
A string of magical incantation suddenly sang out of Keelung’s mouth. Eye searing light abruptly shot out of the darkened sky. Everyone’s eyes temporarily lost vision wherever the extreme light landed. Even the other two light major students didn’t have enough time to react as they temporarily lost sight of everything happening around them.
Keelung had closed his eyes beforehand and calculated when the Strong Light spell would arrive. He suddenly opened his eyes and was ready to deal out a devastating blow that would turn the tide against all those who’d lost their sight.
However, in the second that he opened his eyes, he didn’t even have time to chant any magic incantation before he saw more than ten skeletal and zombie warriors surrounding him. Under the strength of two zombie warriors pushing him, his body backed up against its will as he fell into a trap when his foot stepped out into empty air.
The other light major and dark major students, who’d lost their sight, were all standing there, extremely anxious. The dark creatures advanced upon them one by one and picked them up or pushed them, throwing all of them into the traps, making an exception for no one.
The Strong Light spell was an extreme shock to the eyes of ordinary people. Han Shuo had also fallen victim due to its swiftness, but his body was different than that of ordinary people and his eyes recovered extremely swiftly. Most would need at least ten seconds to recover from such a bright flash, but Han Shuo was out for only two seconds.
Before the effects from the Strong Light spell had fully faded away, and before Keelung had even opened his eyes, Han Shuo had already recovered and directed the dark creatures into action that would change the course of the battle. He wrenched around the outcome of the battle and settled it with one move.
Not only the students from the light major, Han Shuo had also thrown the four from the dark major into the pit as well. The trap had been dug quite, quite deeply and could more than hold these small mages, who didn’t know the levitation spell yet. There were also dark creatures holding large stones standing over them, ready to fling them down at any time. This heralded the conclusion of the competition.
Deo had been watching with a more relaxed face and excitement when Han Shuo had been performing particularly well earlier, but when Han Shuo had targeted even the dark major students and thrown them into the trap in the end, he’d snorted coldly and once again tightened his facial expression, speaking to Fanny, “Your student has no sense of team spirit, look at what he’s done!”
“I think it’s your four students who had no morale from beginning to end. They weren’t that useful at all. Bryan must’ve thought that they were useless and wanted to give them this reminder. It’s just a joke, no big deal.” Fanny was in grand spirits as she chuckled and reposited Deo’s words.
On the other side, Light major archmage Voigtlander stood up with a face full of depressed dejection. He flourished his sleeves and spoke to Emma, leaving the square afterwards, leaving behind only Master Beacher to clean up the aftermath of the competition.
According to logic, because the necromancy magic was tied into the dark major, and that Han Shuo had taken the field in lieu of Phillide, this should have been a dark major victory.
But Han Shuo’s motions were a direct slap to Deo’s face. This made it difficult for Deo to be happy. When he saw Voigtlander give a random word of instruction to a teacher behind him, he also took his leave from Dean Emma and left gloomily.
As for Lisa and the other necromancy major students, they erupted into enthusiastic cheers. This was the proudest moment that the necromancy had had in many years. They’d always been suppressed and mocked, but because of Han Shuo’s sudden appearance, not only had they salvaged Fanny’s face, but all the students of the necromancy major had basked in glory as well.
When Han Shuo walked out after the magic shield was taken down, he immediately saw the light of fired-up glee in Fanny’s eyes and the sounds of cheering from the other necromancy students.
“Eh… although the circumstances are a bit odd, I still must announce that the dark major has won this year’s demonstration. Those who have participated in the fight will receive a space ring personally refined by me. Everyone will also receive a magic staff. I hope you will continue to learn and improve yourselves.” Emma’s voice sounded out smoothly after Han Shuo had walked out and carried throughout the entire square.
As onlookers watched in admiration, Han Shuo was the first to walk to Emma’s side and receive the rewards from this time’s battle. Those from the dark major side had finally crawled out of the trap with help from others. They were just about to get their revenge on Han Shuo when they heard Emma’s announcement, and smiles made their way to their faces again. They ambled over to Emma.
Han Shuo swept the space ring with his mental strength after receiving it and was quite satisfied. The capacity of the space ring personally refined by archmage Emma was at least five times greater than the one worn by Han Shuo right now. The materials needed to refine such a large space ring would be even more uncommon. It also looked like only a character on the level of a space archmage would be able to refine it.
Part 2
Up until now, Han Shuo had never used a magical staff when casting magics. When he grasped it in his hand and imbued it with his mental strength, he suddenly discovered that there was another small space within the staff. The space had the ability to store mental strength. As he released a random spell and felt it circulate throughout the staff, the speed of the spell was increased slightly.
Judging from the looks of things, this magic staff had the effect of storing small amounts of mental strength and even increasing the casting speed of spells. No wonder mages were even willing to put their lives on the line in order to get a decent staff. A wondrous staff would more or less have a great effect of enhancing the mage’s strength.
Han Shuo didn’t hang around the square after receiving his space ring and magic staff. He nodded to Fanny from afar with a smile and left alone, leaving Fanny and the others to take care of any other remaining details.
“Wait a second, Bryan!” Han Shuo’s departure wasn’t unnoticed by the many students within the square. However, everyone only watched him leave with surprise, and didn’t do anything after whispering to each other in hushed voices. When Lisa saw Han Shuo leaving however, she called out from a far distance and ran straight towards Han Shuo.
After leaving the square and arriving at the necromancy major’s training fields, there was a look of astounded excitement on Lisa’s face. She stared at Han Shuo and kept up a running litany of questions, “You were too amazing today! You handled them all by yourself! You did it all with a natural and smooth style, how did you do it?”
Shrugging, Han Shuo said noncommittally, “It wasn’t that I was strong, but just that they were too weak.”
Han Shuo had met many people during his trip to the Dark Forest that were all adept mages or senior swordsman. He’d even met swordmaster Trunks and archmage Emily.
Those McGrady Guild guards, including Duke and Erick who’d shown up later, were experts who had experienced many battles and had astonishing strength.
Having fought against these people, Han Shuo had basically experienced all sorts of situations. He’d just faced off against mages who had yet to reach the adept stage, and whose battle experience was even more lacking. He naturally held every advantage, and it would’ve been odd had he not won instead.
If Han Shuo had mobilized the little skeleton, his own martial techniques, and the Demonslayer Edge, he wouldn’t have needed to use any schemes or traps. He’d be able to completely annihilate the five light major students with his own strength, denying them the slightest change of resistance.
“When did you get this strong?” Lisa watched Han Shuo with every expression of interest as she asked curiously.
Grasping the magic staff in his hands, Han Shuo poured in his mental strength and began to practice the Bone Prison spell that a journeyman mage should be able to master. He imbued the staff with his mental strength and used it as the conduit to try to activate the Bone Prison spell.
The Bone Prison spell was a spell that imprisoned enemies. It would form a prison made completely out of white bones once it was cast and would confine enemies, making them unable to move a muscle.
If one had enough mental strength, one would be able to control every single bone within the Bone Prison. Not only would it be able to confine someone, but the caster would be able to use the bones within the prison to once again lock down the prisoner. The bones could be transformed into soft and supple vines. It was all very amazing.
It was his first time manipulating the Bone Prison spell. After more than ten bones had appeared in the air, they couldn’t quite form a prison. When Han Shuo relaxed his concentration, the bones didn’t form any kind of structure before falling to the ground with a clatter.
“My strength is similar to yours and I’m not that great. If you practice diligently, I think your accomplishments will be even higher. You may even be able to represent our major in next year’s battle.” Han Shuo responded to Lisa carelessly as he continued to practice the Bone Prison spell.
Lisa made a silly face at Han Shuo at these words, then said lightly, “I’m too stupid. I’ve studied necromancy for so long, but you’ve only learned it for a few months and you’re already much stronger than me.”
“No, your strength is quite good compared to the other necromancy students. Heh heh, I meant that if you work even harder, you should be able to increase the rate of your progress. I feel that the magics of our necromancy major aren’t worse off than any of the other majors. It’s just that there are fewer people studying necromancy magic now, resulting in fewer experts emerging.” Han Shuo chatted at ease with Lisa and practiced the Bone Prison spell over and over again.
After a while, some other students, who seemed to recognize the strength of necromancy magic for the first time thanks to Han Shuo’s heroics, all skipped their meals and arrived enthusiastically at the training fields. They too began to practice magic one by one.
When the other students appeared, Han Shuo halted his magic practice and evaded the other students’ excited babble. He walked out from the training fields and, after leaving them, headed in the direction of Fanny’s lab.
When Han Shuo arrived at Fanny’s lab, the door to the lab was locked. It looked like Fanny had yet to return. Typically speaking, Fanny would usually be at her lab right now. It looked like she’d been delayed by the necromancy major’s newfound glory that she hadn’t returned yet.
He wasn’t in a hurry either as Han Shuo took a seat on the grass and took out the book of necromancy magic that he’d taken from the cemetery of death. He studied it as the three original demons patrolled three different directions. With no fear of someone suddenly approaching, he began slowly studying the Bone Prison magic that he wanted to master.
After a while, the space in front of Han Shuo suddenly twisted as light flashed by and Dean Emma materialized in front of Han Shuo.
Giving a start of fright, Han Shuo immediately quickly put the book of necromancy magic away in the space ring and wore a smile on his face. He said to Dean Emma, “Hello Dean, what are you doing here?”
Dean Emma looked kindly at Han Shuo, and an admiring smile appeared on her wrinkled face. She opened her mouth to say, “You’re a hardworking child alright. You aren’t willing to waste the slightest bit of time and still study while you’re waiting for Fanny. No wonder you’ve had such accomplishments in such a short amount of time.”
Han Shuo felt a bit baffled by Emma’s words. He didn’t know why Emma had soundlessly appeared here and spoken such odd words to him.
He thought for a bit and look at Emma with a frown. He opened his mouth to ask, “Have you come in search of me?”
Nodding, Emma said straightforwardly, “Of course, heh heh. I didn’t appear here because I failed a space magic spell.”
“Then, do you need something from me?” Han Shuo hesitated and then asked again.
Emma smiled kindly after hearing Han Shuo’s question, “I actually want to thank you. If it weren’t for you last time, I wouldn’t have known that Camilla was a member of the Black Underworld organization from the Kasi Empire.”
Han Shuo gave another start of fright upon hearing these words. Han Shuo hadn’t breathed a word of this to anyone other than Candide, and now that Emma suddenly spoke of this, it really did frighten Han Shuo. His thoughts raced as he looked at Emma, “Did Master Candide tell you this?”
Nodding, Emma smiled, “Smart kid. Our house’s old man says you’re a good talent and Fanny’s mentioned it to me as well. After today’s competition, I’ve discovered that there are indeed some mysterious things about of you. However, I won’t ask you why. I only wanted to try to convince you of something with my visit this time.”
Shock written all over his face, Han Shuo would’ve never expected that Emma and Candide from the Dark Mantle would be husband and wife. No wonder Emma looked at him with that strange look before the battle.
“What would you like to tell me?” Han Shuo stared at Emma after coming back to himself.
“I can tell from your gaze that you have feelings for Fanny, but I hope that you don’t develop anything with her before you’re strong enough. If you’re still just a student who has yet to graduate, and your relationship crosses over that bottom line, it won’t be good for either you or Fanny, particularly Fanny. This could give rise to unnecessary troubles.” Emma stared at Han Shuo and spoke sincerely.
Hesitating and then opening her mouth once again, “This is for your own good and Fanny’s, I hope you take heed of my words of wisdom. When you graduate from the necromancy major and you’re stronger than Fanny, I can even help you then if you run into issues in your relationship with Fanny. Eh, Fanny’s coming, I’ll take my leave now.”
Emma’s figure once again vanished after she’d finished speaking. When Emma had just disappeared, Han Shuo also heard the sounds of Fanny approaching.
