WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 35

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I heard voices murmuring.

That happened often when I followed traces of people. I released magical power and slowly approached the direction the voices were coming from. It was a signal that I was not hostile. They must have noticed me long ago, because several detection spells brushed past the turtle.

The sword-wielders had gathered in a wide space where several paths intersected. I came out of the turtle’s body and greeted them. Most of them were focused on honing their swords with magical power, so they did not even glance at me. A few of them, though, saw me and waved.

The muscular man who looked three heads taller than everyone else was especially welcoming. When we had exchanged names before, he had introduced himself as Goro. Goro stepped out from the group and laughed. A thick metallic stench rolled off him.

“Hey there, good to see you!”

“It is good to see you too. Meeting swordfighters here puts me at ease.”

I gave them a quick look. Their group, which had originally numbered a little over twenty, had been cut in half. This labyrinth must have been rough on them too, because all of them looked worn down. The blank-looking woman from before had already dropped out or gone somewhere, because she was nowhere to be seen.

“It looks like the road here was hard on you.”

The man let out a bitter laugh.

“We were ambushed a few times along the way. We were already fighting in a hurry, and then those mage bastards came down on us. The magical beasts were obviously dragged in by them too. Anyway, everyone got scattered in that mess, and we met up again like this and were trading stories.”

As he said that, a brutal smile spread across his face. It was a cold smile, as if it were hanging from the edge of a blade. In the metallic stench coming from him, there seemed to be the deep, pooled scent of blood as well.

“Of course, we cut off all their limbs and tossed them aside. At first, I was holding back a little, but as I roamed the labyrinth, I learned something. If they look like they’re going to die anyway, they disappear on their own, don’t they? Dropout, was it? Thanks to that, I stopped feeling so burdened about chopping people up.”

“Oh, is that so? That was something I suggested to Professor. I am glad it helped.”

“No wonder I liked you from the first time I saw you! Ron, thanks to you, I feel much better.”

“I merely did my best for the convenience of everyone taking the lecture.”

“Anyway, gratitude is gratitude, so just understand how I feel. And we’ve decided to keep killing the bastards who ambushed us. Every time we come here, I’ve already talked it over with these friends, and we’ll slice off their arms and legs at least once. So I’m asking you this. Is there any problem with planning ahead like this for the next lecture?”

“How could there be a problem? We respect every choice made by the participants.”

I said it with an awkward smile. This was why I hated earning grudges. Especially when the grudge came from sword-users. These people loved attacking in groups. To them, debts and grudges worked that way. They were a very different sort from individualistic mages.

What fools had ambushed sword-users? I could not understand it. Did they look down on them just because no one could kill each other?

Of course, even I had not expected the dropout system to loosen their reins this much. Judging by the thick killing intent that refused to leave the eyes of the people resting here, quite a lot must have happened along the way.

Still, it was none of my business. Wasn’t all this part of the lecture?

I slowly searched the area. It should have been safe since they were resting here, but I wanted to be prepared just in case.

Last time, I had also been resting among mages like this when a swarm of magical beasts suddenly rushed in. I had been so flustered that I had not even thought to pack up the luggage I had spread out, and I had bolted on the turtle. The others had done the same.

I quietly parked the turtle near them. Unlike the mages from back then, these people seemed capable of holding out well enough if something like that happened. Then I checked the turtle’s condition.

I had survived so far largely thanks to the turtle. Since I had kept such a steady connection with it, it was starting to feel more natural than my own hands and feet. I stroked its shell.

Its whole body was covered in wounds. They were traces of the many magical beasts and traps we had faced. By following the paths others had taken, I had avoided most dangers, but I could not avoid everything. Traps left behind to keep the people behind them in check, magical beasts hiding in the labyrinth, things like that kept popping out and damaging the turtle.

I used magical power to repair the turtle’s wounds. It was terribly inefficient. Even if I used all my magical power, I would not be able to restore half of these injuries.

But I had no choice. I had used up all the materials that had filled my spatial pouch on the way here. This was the only way left to fix the turtle. So I scraped together everything I had and repaired the turtle so it could hold out even a little longer.

I did not know how much time passed like that, but then I felt a signal from a coffin puppet. It was slowly approaching along the path I had taken. It looked badly damaged, to the point that a hole had opened halfway through the coffin.

The coffin puppets had broken down quite a lot too. Only around fifty were still being carried around in people’s arms, and the puppets that had not returned had exceeded twenty percent. Roughly fifteen. Most of them were in areas I could not possibly reach, or they had gone missing as the labyrinth changed.

So I did not expect much from the coffin puppet now coming toward me. In truth, because I kept moving around the paths, the survival rate of the mages stored inside the puppets had dropped quite a bit. Most of them passed the time limit and dropped out.

But what could I do when I could not stay in one place for long? The magical beasts roaming this labyrinth were extremely varied, and when they saw a person, they charged like mad. I had no confidence in dealing with them, so I had no choice but to keep running.

With no expectations, I opened the coffin.

To my surprise, there was a living person inside. I saw a familiar face. It was Jun. This person really had a stubborn grip on life. This was already the fifth time. How was he still alive?

His tenacity was almost admirable, so I let a little information about the treasure slip. This time, it was not enough to get on Professor’s nerves. I had only tossed out a few rough guesses of my own. Then he grew full of motivation and rushed off to find the treasure. And just like that, he came back loaded into a coffin. Then he rented another puppet.

It was an excellent virtuous cycle. Good for him, good for me. A perfect structure where both sides won. Once, out of curiosity, I asked him why he kept challenging it like this.

He said that simply checking the magic in the traps and referencing those magic circles helped him a lot. No wonder he kept running around without caring about fire or water.

Still, this too would soon end. I quickly restored him and checked the time. There were less than two hours left now. Almost no more dropouts were occurring, and almost no one was being carried back in a coffin puppet.

Everyone had gathered in safe places while conserving their strength.

The labyrinth was clearly about to undergo a major change soon. This would be the third change.

Most of this labyrinth had already been revealed. I had felt it with my own body, so there was no doubt. Most of the traps were gone, and there were more paths reaching the end. If someone reached that end, the labyrinth would change. The two previous changes had already proven that.

And there would be many people aiming for that moment.

“So, are you going to the clearing too?”

Goro, who had been watching me fiddle with the turtle, asked. It seemed he knew too. Well, anyone who had sensed that fight would have been able to guess the treasure’s location.

It had been during the second change.

Hongryeong and his group had occupied the clearing and driven out all the other mages. Once the change began, an enormous burst of magical power had erupted from that clearing. It continued until the change ended. The fight was so intense that anyone anywhere in the labyrinth could notice it.

Then the change ended, and the labyrinth stabilized again. Of course, perhaps because the aftermath of that battle was so large, the labyrinth’s scale had shrunk greatly. After that fight, Hongryeong’s group occupied the clearing and refused to let anyone inside.

Because of that, everyone else was wandering the labyrinth. But once the fight began, just like these sword-wielders, all of them would certainly be thinking of entering the clearing. That was the sort of people mages were.

“Haha, no. Someone like me? Not a chance. I plan to quietly watch from a corner like this until time runs out, then leave.”

I waved my hands as I spoke.

“That’s a shame. Then we’ll head out first. It seems it’ll be soon.”

He said that while looking in the direction of the clearing. As if sensing the fight to come, blue sword energy shot up from the blade at his waist.

The other sword-wielders were the same. At some point, they had all finished their preparations. I saw them off, then continued adjusting the turtle.

Did anyone think I was crazy enough to go to the clearing? If I went to the clearing now, I was sure I would be crushed under a rock right away. I would never go, even if I died. Never.

In the end, I went.

It happened when the labyrinth began changing. I had found a perfectly safe spot and was doing nothing but breathing, when magical beasts suddenly swarmed in. This had not happened before. They were charging while looking only at me.

The moment I saw their eyes, I knew. They were definitely magical beasts sent by Professor. I had come all the way here after realizing that Professor’s influence weakened the farther I got from the clearing. I never thought she would send a whole swarm of magical beasts.

So, chased by magical beasts, I headed for the clearing.

I could feel that I was being herded, but there was nothing I could do. The turtle had already been battered to pieces and returned to my chest, and I barely held out by pouring out puppets.

At the end of that, I stepped into the clearing.

A huge storm of magical power was raging there. Space split apart, and people shot upward. Then I was flattened.

I had no time to do anything. Before I even noticed, a thick pillar fell from the sky. It was clearly a trap prepared just for me. I was crushed flat beneath that enormous pillar.

The magic cast on it was very strange. Even though my entire body had already burst apart and I was dying, I did not die. The magic carried by the pillar was regenerating me without end. It was also crushing me to death.

Between that endless regeneration and death, I felt horrible pain.

Ah, this was why I had not wanted to come to the clearing.

My mind gradually began to blur. Then, at some point, I was flung out of the labyrinth. Even so, I could not come to my senses because of the pain.

Then, all of a sudden, I felt the pain of a slap across my cheek. It contained powerful magical power that snapped my mind awake.

When I slowly opened my eyes, Professor Irian was crouching in front of me. A very fierce smile hung on her face.

“How was it? Did you have fun all this time? Did you earn a lot of points?”

I blankly nodded. I still could not tell whether this situation was real or a dream. A blue flame seemed to flicker in her eyes.

“Then you need to get beaten.”

My soul was pulled out just like that. In that moment, I realized this was reality. I also realized that the flames flickering in Professor’s eyes were a flow of magical power formed by accumulated anger.

But it was already too late to beg forgiveness. Magic shot out from her fingertips. My soul was split apart by all kinds of spells and screamed.

Within hallucinations that flickered like flames, soon I could not even scream. My thoughts grew hazy, and my memories vanished. The things that made me who I was gradually drained away, and only pain filled the space inside.

How much time passed?

At some point, I was back in my body.

I saw her dusting off both hands. She seemed to feel a little better. I could only lie collapsed on the floor in a daze.

This indescribable pain. I could not even lose consciousness. Professor had kept restoring my soul and repeating the entire process from the beginning.

“You’re not getting up?”

She struck my head once with magical power. I stroked the spot where I had been hit and stood up. Because I had been tortured until a moment ago, my mind was utterly exhausted, but my body and soul were as vivid as could be. That gap was tormenting me.

It felt as though several hours had passed, but when I checked the time, everything had happened in less than a minute. Looking around, I saw that I was in Professor’s room. A huge number of mirrors floated around the massive bed where she always stayed. Only a few of them were giving off light.

The rest held nothing but something like black fog. In each glowing mirror, one participant could be seen.

They were fighting a bloody battle over the treasure. The treasure was buried deep inside the labyrinth. In a place anyone could come and go. The ceiling of the clearing.

I had guessed from the start that it would be in the clearing. But it had taken some time to become certain. When I realized traps only fell when I went to the clearing, only then could I be sure of the treasure’s location.

“So, is it really all right to hand that over to them?”

I asked carefully. She looked slightly sulky. Her mind must have been uneasy. Still, the fight seemed more exciting to her, because her eyes sparkled as she watched them kill each other.

“It’s not like you can even call it a treasure anyway. It’s too cheap to go in my storage. If it hadn’t eaten the sixth floor, I wouldn’t even have known it was there.”

I let out a bitter laugh. Everything they were fighting over, spilling blood like that, was to obtain that thing. Yet to her, it was merely cheap.

When I first heard how that thing had ended up mixed into the treasure vault, I had been so stunned I could not close my mouth. Apparently, it had slipped in while she was putting in the other treasures. Its power was so weak that even the barrier sealing the sixth-floor room had failed to recognize it.

That thing had swallowed the sixth floor. And as could be seen now, it held enough powerful force to create a labyrinth. Then what on earth was a proper treasure like?

Ah, I had seen a proper treasure before. I remembered that eyeball. Even now, my head hurt when I thought of it. Well, if something on that level was treated as a treasure, then that box might really be nothing more than a cheap trinket.

I steadied my mind as much as I could and watched the fight.

At the end of that life-or-death struggle, a victor emerged.

It was not someone from a great family, nor was it the sword-wielders. It was not the mages who had formed the third group either.

Amazingly, the winner of that fight was the most unimpressive and weakest person there.

It was Jun.

Taking advantage of the others fighting, he leaped across space and grabbed the box. No one could have imagined that a Sapling mage who had not even reached the complete stage would use space magic. That was the hidden card he had kept concealed all this time.

The box resisted fiercely. The magical power of the labyrinth whirled, and all kinds of things struck his body. Flames rose and burned his entire body, and the wind tore him apart. But even as his whole body broke down like that, he did not stop injecting magical power.

Then, the moment the box was dyed in magical power and fully tamed, the labyrinth stopped.

In an instant, everyone was flung out. The place they appeared was the infirmary on the second floor. Inside, they regained their original bodies in a flash. Arms sprouted, and organs were restored.

It was a wondrous sight, as if time were being rewound. No, time actually was being rewound. It was a miracle produced by the magic cast on the infirmary. It was magic that used the explosive magical power flowing through the tower to rewind a target’s time to a fixed point.

Professor had cast it. When I was maintaining the tower before, I had grown so curious about its principles that I asked Professor about it. She had laughed briefly and said it was magic I would not understand even if I spent my whole life trying, so I should not bother caring. Professor had never been wrong, so I simply nodded.

“Then may I go down? I think I need to wrap up the lecture.”

She nodded. From the moment the fight ended, she lost all motivation again and sprawled out on the bed.

Still, she looked to be in a good mood. It seemed this lecture had been fairly satisfying. That was fortunate. At this rate, I did not think I would be punished any further.

I carefully headed to the second floor. My mind felt like it might collapse at any moment, and it was killing me, but I still had to end the lecture.

Those who recovered their bodies in the emergency room gathered in a regular classroom according to the notice I had written in advance. The dropouts were all waiting there as well.

When I entered, murmuring rose. They were shouting at each other, glaring, and scattering brutal magical power. At the center of it was Jun. But he paid no attention to that and was very carefully stroking the box in his hands.

“Now, today’s lecture ends here. How was it, everyone? Did you have fun?”

I said. Even those who had been arguing stopped talking and glared at me. The only person among them smiling was Jun. The others’ gazes felt extremely sharp. I smiled as I faced them.

“The treasure has gained an owner. He may sell it, or he may use it himself. It belongs to him now.”

At that, several gazes turned toward Jun. Taking it by force was prohibited by the university rules. Jun must have known that too, which was why he had stolen the box without fear. Would he sell it? I could not predict it.

“Seeing how harmonious you have all become, I am glad our lecture seems to have gone well. Please do not be disappointed. You can seize the treasure next time. The next lecture is scheduled for three months from now, so please feel free to visit the tower as much as you like until then.”

As I said that, I released magical power. Then the coffin puppets slipped out from the arms of the survivors and came into my arms. Leaving behind the people who had started murmuring again, I quickly left the classroom. I was not in good condition either. I needed to hurry up and rest.

Some left, and some remained.

I returned to the room I had prepared on the fifth floor and fiddled with my ring. My points appeared. They were a little over two thousand. I laughed.

Even excluding what I had received from Hongryeong, I had earned close to seven hundred points. Of course, if I thought about the materials I had used so far, I would have to subtract part of that too.

As I stroked the ring like that, I blacked out.

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