WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 18

──────

The thorn boars poured in endlessly, day and night.

Unexpectedly, though, no stronger magical beasts appeared to surpass them. There were only more of the same creatures. Far, far more of them. In response, I kept modifying the labyrinth into something simpler. The turtle went beyond merely repairing its wounds and began compressing more magical power than before into its shell.

The maze grew more stable, and I gradually found some room to breathe. Instead, the real problem became dealing with that enormous number of corpses. The puppets dragged the magical beast corpses outside, but tens of thousands had already died, and the mountain of bodies had become a giant wall in its own right.

For someone like me, who wanted to control the maze freely, that was a serious obstacle. I found a way to solve it while studying the boars' spines. If the corpses were in the way, then I simply had to make use of them.

I began creating puppets that moved using the thorn boars' corpses as their bodies. Their spines formed the core. Those unstable bodies were so volatile they would explode even if left alone, but I liked that part.

The puppets crashed into the boars charging toward them and set off massive explosions. They were on a scale far beyond the explosion magic I normally used. I smiled in satisfaction.

With every process stabilized like that, things proceeded smoothly until the sixth day. I was not sure whether constantly dealing with magical beasts could be called smooth, but in any case, that was how it went.

Only on the seventh day did things finally begin to change.

The puppets that had gone far from the mountain to keep scouting suddenly began breaking. When the scouting network I had built started collapsing, I hurriedly checked why. Giant hawks were swooping down from the sky and smashing the puppets hidden in the trees.

They swept past with tremendous size and speed, trampling the puppets and shattering them. Flying magical beasts, and powerful ones at that, were enemies my puppets could not handle. I had no choice but to sense the puppets scattered throughout the forest and mountain vanish helplessly.

And it was not only the hawks. Other magical beasts also appeared inside the forest. Wolves with fur as sharp as blades, and deer covered head to toe in iron armor. Beasts that surpassed the thorn boars in both size and magical power were approaching with an overwhelming pressure.

With the appearance of these three kinds of magical beasts, the situation on the mountain grew more complicated.

Among them, the giant hawks were not something I had to worry about at all. They flew in groups, aiming only for the summit. I had neither the means nor the intention to deal with them. I ignored them completely.

My labyrinth had been designed solely to handle land magical beasts, and those flying magical beasts were destined to be torn apart by Hongryeong's wind barrier. Hongryeong knew the structure of my labyrinth, so he would handle them easily.

The blade wolves were different. They did not pour into the turtle's embrace like the boars. In that enormous flow, they cooperated with one another and tried to escape the maze itself. At the same time, they hid their intentions completely.

Unlike the thorn boars, which simply charged straight ahead, they looked in every direction and used tactics of their own.

Then, the moment I altered the maze's structure, they gathered their strength, broke through the labyrinth wall, and burst out. I only realized what was happening after it had already happened.

I grasped their movements too late and sharpened my focus.

They passed through the place where the boar corpses had piled up, then charged fiercely toward me. Tenacity and ferocity flashed in their eyes. Faced with that sudden, intense threat, I stepped back.

"Damn it, I let my guard down."

I hurriedly activated the defensive barrier. The moment the defensive magic I had set up in advance wrapped around me, one blade wolf slammed straight into the barrier. A tremendous impact shook it, and the force sent me flying backward.

That powerful blow half-destroyed the barrier. Damn it, I should have thought about my own safety first. I had let my guard down because things were going too easily. Their intelligence and movements were far beyond what I had expected.

I kept strengthening the barrier and blocking their attacks. Before I could even catch my breath, other magical beasts began leaking through the broken wall. The flow of the labyrinth I had adjusted so delicately started to fall apart, and magical beasts rushed toward my defensive barrier.

At that moment, the entire labyrinth creaked. It felt as if the whole enormous structure was about to collapse.

At the center of it were the ironclad deer. If the boars created impact through self-destruction, the ironclad deer used their sturdy bodies to widen the broken wall itself. They rammed the wall with boars skewered on their antlers.

Under that impact, which went far beyond my expectations, the wall began to collapse.

"No...!"

Despair surged over me. But it lasted only a moment. I calmly assessed the situation and separated what I could do from what I could not. Saving the entire labyrinth was impossible. First, I had to protect the most important sections, minimize the labyrinth's structure, and bring the situation under control.

I immediately gave orders to the self-destruct puppets waiting on standby.

The puppets moved quickly. Hundreds, thousands of them rushed blindly toward the breached labyrinth wall and crashed straight into the herd of magical beasts. Countless explosions began going off among them. This would buy me a little time.

Using that brief opening, I adjusted the turtle's position. Originally, I had placed the turtle in the optimal spot to prevent the labyrinth from overloading, but I had no room to think about that now. The turtle crushed straight through the labyrinth as it advanced toward the broken wall.

As I focused every nerve on using magic, my intuition sent me a warning.

At the same time, a shadow began to fall over me. The sky. A section where the barrier was weak. A group of blade wolves kicked off the backs of ironclad deer and rushed toward that weak point. Under their claws, part of the barrier shattered.

"Damn it, these bastards."

I quickly restored the barrier, but several blade wolves dropped inside. Around me, there were no puppets or barriers left.

They charged straight at me. I hurriedly stacked circuits and drew up a magic circle. There was not enough time to spread a defensive shield. The moment a huge claw came flying at me, I quickly activated the magic.

"Explode!"

The magic circle exploded and pushed the surrounding air outward. The force of the explosion drove the wolves back, but only for a moment. They lunged again. Their claws tore deeply across my waist, and my intestines spilled out.

I swallowed the pain and built up magic again. It was explosion magic again. Before they could leap at me, I activated it quickly. This time, it was not aimed at them. The explosion was aimed at me.

"Kuhak!"

The shock of that explosion felt as if it had shattered my whole body. But by using that impact, I was able to fly far away. Enough distance opened between me and the blade wolves.

I swallowed blood and quickly wove magic. Defensive magic stacked layer after layer, and a barrier more stable than before began to form. The blade wolves smashed wildly at the defensive magic, but I poured out all my magical power and formed even more spells.

In the middle of that crisis, the turtle finally arrived. It crushed everything in its way and sealed the broken wall with its body. Only then could I breathe. Looking at the blade wolves faltering at the sight of the turtle, my eyes flashed.

"Now it's my turn, you sons of bitches."

With no more magical beasts being replenished, the puppets quickly began clearing the surroundings. After repeated explosions, most of the magical beasts collapsed. All that remained were wolves fleeing in every direction to survive.

I will turn you bastards into puppets and keep you as a lifelong lesson. I swore that through gritted teeth.

Since thorn boar corpses were scattered all around me, I quickly began making puppets with them. Then I used those puppets to drive the wolves into one place. The beasts struggled to escape, but in the end, they died in the puppets' self-destructions.

Was it more or less cleaned up? For a moment, strength left my entire body, and I nearly collapsed on the spot. But I bit my tongue and forced myself to endure. I had to repair the maze. The turtle blocking the wall was only a temporary measure.

I raised the puppets meant for repairing the maze and began filling in the collapsed wall again. Corpses were already piling up in front of the turtle. If I was even a little late, the beasts would definitely leap over the maze and burst out again.

I forcibly sealed the serious wounds on my body using the roots of the Sapling inside me. Treatment could come later. I delicately controlled the puppets and magic, rebuilding the collapsed flow of the maze.

Because the entire process had to be done in such urgency, the structure was extremely unstable. Still, I somehow managed to restore the original framework. The turtle returned to the clearing, and the flow of magical beasts resumed.

After that, I stayed up for several more days and nights stabilizing the maze. A few times along the way, wolves broke through the wall again, or the flow became blocked, but this time I responded thoroughly. There would be no more carelessness.

Like that, the night of the tenth day passed. The moment everything finally stabilized, I lost consciousness and collapsed. I woke up after a full day had passed.

During that time, something shocking had happened.

At last, one person had fallen. Sieger's fortress had broken.

The first to notice were Ailey and Hongryeong. Giant hawks - Hongryeong called them thornflower hawks - had attacked the hourglass. Fortunately, they were able to block them easily with the magic they had prepared in advance, but the fact remained that the defense had been breached.

At that moment, Hongryeong stepped forward. He sealed Sieger's zone without a single gap using his own magic, then contacted the group members and gathered everyone in front of the hourglass. Since I had lost consciousness, I could only answer the summons late.

My physical condition was a mess, so I borrowed the vision of a puppet in front of the hourglass. Ailey, Hongryeong, and Shaking Rope were already waiting. Sieger was off to one side, wearing only a bitter smile. I moved the puppet's body and stood before them. Then I bowed my head deeply and apologized.

"I am sorry. There was a bit of a crisis, and I could not respond because I was handling it."

"It's all right. As long as you were not breached, it does not matter."

Hongryeong said this with a smile. Then he told me the facts mentioned above, that Sieger's fortress had broken. I smiled bitterly. It was understandable. Had I not almost been breached too?

"Hu hu, thankfully, you're alive. I thought my puppeteer friend was definitely dead."

Ailey laughed as she spoke. Beneath her, a pool of blood rippled. As if it had drunk the blood of countless magical beasts over that time, it had turned completely dark, almost black, and become like a shadow.

"Thanks to your concern, I barely survived."

"Mm-hmm. Blade wolves are the kind of magical beast that make you suffer if you don't know about them. They aren't something wanderers can easily come across, after all."

It had been a while since my prediction was wrong. Ailey smiled brightly. Behind that smile, I felt intense killing intent. Cold sweat slid down my back. A shadow-like pool of blood. I remembered hearing about it somewhere.

"What's wrong? Did you see something scary?"

For a moment, I failed to control my expression. Ailey read it and asked playfully.

"Ha ha, no. I was just remembering how hard the last few days were."

I made that excuse and searched my memory. Before long, I found an old memory. There was a famous rumor among wandering mages. Supposedly, for about a hundred years, someone had wandered around hunting countless mages. They said a dark shadow smelling of blood was always left beside the corpses.

That seems to be the magic from the rumor. Then does that mean Ailey is that mage hunter? Why did she take the university exam? I could not know. I forcibly cut off my thoughts there. Whoever she was, and whatever purpose she had, it was not my problem. I only needed to pass this exam safely. I smiled naturally and continued the conversation.

As the atmosphere gradually settled, Hongryeong spoke.

"Sieger-ssi's fortress has collapsed. We need someone to take charge of that zone."

The area fell silent. Ailey and Shaking Rope looked completely uninterested. As for me, I had just struggled to resolve the crisis in my own zone, so I had no strength to spare.

Hongryeong waited a moment for a response, then nodded when no one answered.

"Then I will take charge of that zone as well. Evron-ssi?"

He looked at me. I bowed slightly to him.

"Could you explain to Sieger-ssi how you and I divided our zones? I would like to rebuild the area in a similar way."

"Yes, of course. I will explain it in detail as soon as the meeting ends."

"Thank you."

Sieger smiled bitterly.

"This matter has made me feel my lack of experience down to my bones. I could handle the land magical beasts well enough, but I was not prepared for the ones that fly. In the end, magical beasts managed to penetrate all the way to the center."

Sieger bowed his head to us.

"There were not many beasts like that where I came from, so I just did things the way I always had, and it ended up like this. I have no face to show you all."

"Ah, as long as the hourglass is safe, isn't that what matters? You can defend more thoroughly from now on. The exam is not over yet."

I quickly comforted the dejected Sieger. I was in a similar situation, so I felt a sense of shared suffering. In truth, Sieger and I had built our fortresses in similar ways.

I built a maze, and he built walls, but in the end, our structures were similar in that we were defending our fortresses by relying on one enormous force.

If beings capable of ignoring that force advanced, we had no choice but to be breached. If I had not cooperated with Hongryeong in advance, I would have ended up like Sieger too. Sieger shook his head.

"No. I do not think I am at a level where I can pass yet. I feel the need to temper myself a little more. For the rest of the exam, I will cooperate fully."

At his words, we fell silent for a moment. It was effectively a declaration that he was giving up. In that case, Sieger would surely join Hongryeong, who had taken full charge of his zone. At that moment, a majority of the votes had gathered in one place.

Tension hovered over the faces of those who realized it.

Ailey yawned widely with a bored expression, as if she had no interest in such things.

"So, is this meeting over now? Can I go?"

Hongryeong nodded lightly. Ailey was about to stand, then looked at me for a moment. She fell into thought, then quietly sat back down.

"Puppeteer-kun, do you think stronger ones will come out from now on?"

She asked. When I looked at Ailey, she was resting her chin on her hand and smiling.

"Yes. After all, the closer we get to the end of the exam, the higher-level tasks tend to appear."

I briefly explained the structure of the exam to her.

"Usually, these task-style exams are made up of a series of easy tasks. Only at the very end does a slightly difficult task appear. Since these task-style exams value the process more than the result, it is very important not to lose points along the way."

Ailey nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh, you know quite a bit?"

I smiled bitterly.

"Ha ha, I may not look it, but this is my eleventh time taking this exam."

"Really? You don't look like it."

"If it were not for my Professor, I probably would not have made it this far."

"Professor?"

"Yes. Thankfully, a Professor from the university has been teaching me since a year ago."

At that moment, the others' gazes turned sharp and fixed on me. I felt everyone's eyes. That was how much weight the position of university professor carried. A professor was a recognized expert whose status and strength were both publicly acknowledged.

There was a reason I revealed that here.

The exam was nearly at its end, and I had shown an opening during the last wave. The others had probably noticed, at least vaguely, that my maze had been breached. So I needed to show myself off a little more. If I did not, Hongryeong might abandon me without mercy.

If I revealed that I had a professor backing me, then I would remain useful to him even after the exam. In that case, he would not bother trying to cut me out during this exam.

The moment a majority of the votes fell into Hongryeong's hands, the structure of the exam changed so that I only had to worry about his choice. As if he had noticed my blatant appeal, Hongryeong wore a deep smile.

"Hu hu, no wonder I thought you used such interesting magic."

I answered politely.

"You flatter me."

I called over the puppets and had them serve everyone refreshments as best they could. Even at that moment, magical beasts were pouring into every zone, and each person was blocking them with their own abilities.

The meeting continued without much else being said. Only near the end, after I conveyed the structure of Hongryeong's and my zones to Sieger, did the meeting come to a close.

---

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried