Yi-Han seriously answered as if he truly did not understand.

"Wardanaz!"

"I said I don't know."

"That's not what I mean! I'm asking for directions! What should we do!"

Raphael exclaimed desperately.

Then, Gainando spoke with a look of incredulity.

"You're from a knightly family, aren't you! In situations like this, it's you who should step forward!"

"Shut up! Prince! Why are you like this despite being royal?"

"No...!"

Gainando was momentarily at a loss for words at such absurdly unreasonable demands.

And then, he became furious.

"Hey! What does it matter that I'm a prince! Are you even sure you're from a knightly family?! What kind of knight behaves like this!"

"If you're royalty, then show some competence worthy of it! The princess in your tower has followers in our tower, and what about you?"

"I am showing my abilities! Everyone in our tower knows my capabilities! Yi-Han! You know my abilities, right?!"

Gainando shamelessly twisted the truth, exploiting the fact that his adversary was unaware of the situation in the Tower of the Blue Dragon.

"Yi-Han??"

Yi-Han and Ymirg were retreating far away from the two.

Startled, Gainando shouted.

"Yi-Han!! We should only leave that guy behind! Why me?!"

"Run faster. I thought you had some leeway, seeing how you were pointlessly fighting."

Gainando and Raphael ran towards them, cursing each other in a panic.

Ymirg whispered in a bewildered tone, watching them.

"I... I shouldn't be the one to say this... but is it really okay like this???"

"It's fine. This is how they come to their senses and improve their relationship."

"...?!"

Ymirg thought Yi-Han's words made no sense, but Yi-Han's face was dead serious.

'Wardanaz... he must have some plan in mind...?'

'Those guys need to get caught at least once to come to their senses.'

Unfortunately, they did not get caught. They arrived at the hill, panting heavily.

"Hey, huff huff. Is it safe here? Should we just go to the exit... huff huff."

"It's riskier than you think to just go. Let's deal with this first."

The true strength of the undead lay in their limitless perseverance.

While other monsters might tire and give up the chase, the undead could endlessly swarm.

Any premature attempt to flee could lead to being surrounded, which would only worsen their situation.

"This place doesn't look very sturdy."

Raphael surveyed the ruins of the temple with a worried expression.

Even in another realm, it wasn't a void empty of everything. There were bits and pieces of various items and ruins from different places.

It was common to see graves, cemeteries, or nearly ruined buildings in the realm of the undead.

Now, the four of them had arrived in front of the crumbling ruins of an ancient temple.

This was better than facing the undead in an open field, but even so, the temple ruins seemed too fragile.

"This wall... will it collapse if pushed? If the undead push it..."

"It's not that weak, so don't worry. I'm also planning to reinforce it."

"How?"

Instead of answering, Yi-Han swung his staff.

"Gather, earth!"

A mound of earth piled up behind the wall of the ruins. Raphael hesitated upon seeing it.

"Stacking mounds of earth behind the wall might help, but this seems insufficient..."

"Gather, earth. Gather, earth. Gather, earth..."

Without a pause, Yi-Han piled up mounds of earth in various places inside the ruins, reinforcing the walls so they wouldn't collapse.

Then, the once seemingly fragile ruins of the ancient temple transformed into a decent makeshift fortress.

With walls and earth enclosing it, the spacious interior of the makeshift fortress became easier to defend.

Excluding the passage at the temple entrance, it seemed nearly impossible for enemies to enter.

"It's done."

"..."

Raphael was newly astounded.

Every time he saw it, he couldn't help but marvel at the abilities shown by this 'Wardanaz' in magic. It was enough to make one think that this was what a great mage should be like.

"Can't we completely block the entrance?"

"It would be troublesome to clear it later, and if we block it entirely, the undead might enter from some strange place. It's better to lure them to the entrance and deal with them one by one."

"I see."

"Now, go and lure them here."

"...What?"

"Lure them to the entrance."

Yi-Han waved his staff.

He planned to wait in the inner clearing and cast spells to take down the enemies as they passed through the entrance.

For this plan, Yi-Han needed to stay here.

Someone else would have to draw the enemies to the entrance, and naturally...

"You are a knight, aren't you? Surely you're not thinking of asking those who can't even properly wield a sword?"

"..."

Although it wasn't wrong, Raphael felt a surge of anger. Internally cursing Yi-Han, he walked towards the entrance.

Crack!

"That's right!"

Another undead stumbled through the entrance corridor and fell.

Raphael, who had been tensely aiming his wooden sword, let out a sigh of relief.

Things were going much smoother than he had feared.

A quick glance outside showed that the number of undead that had swarmed them earlier had reduced to about a quarter.

It seemed they could handle this number.

"...Yi-Han. But didn't the professor say last time?"

Gainando, feeling more at ease, whispered to Yi-Han.

Last time, Yi-Han's mana had inadvertently drawn more undead...

"Gainando. It seems you're free enough to talk while the undead are pressing outside. Do you want to do the luring?"

"Ah... No. No, I don't."

Gainando quickly shut his mouth.

Yi-Han thought to himself.

'Surely no more will come.'

Even if the undead were attracted by his mana, the fact that more appeared than last time was unsettling.

If it was a coincidence, that would be a relief, but just in case...

'If the ones that came close last time have gathered more this time...'

If the undead that had approached last time but hadn't seen Yi-Han were now waiting nearby and had gathered again, that changed things.

Each time they entered, more undead might accumulate.

If entering the spirit realm meant the spirits avoiding them and entering the undead realm meant the undead attacking them, then the use of summoning magic would become increasingly arduous.

Yi-Han resolved that if that were the case, he must bring Raphael and Gainando with him.

"...It seems like we've taken them all down."

Raphael said hesitantly.

No more sounds of undead came from outside the passage.

"We should go out and check."

"Stop ordering me ar... Ah. That's what you meant."

"..."

"..."

Yi-Han and Gainando, about to leave, looked at Raphael with pity.

Raphael's face turned red.

"I just heard it wrong!"

"Sure, sure."

Yi-Han and Gainando peeked out of the passage.

The horde of undead from earlier had disappeared, leaving behind...

"Uh!"

Gainando recoiled in alarm behind Yi-Han. There was still one undead left.

It seemed to have arrived late because it was positioned at the back.

"Don't worry. One more is easy to deal with..."

-!-

Before Yi-Han or Gainando had even launched an attack or any kind of suppression, a skeleton warrior that had approached them suddenly fell prostrate.

At this sight, both Yi-Han and Gainando were at a loss for words.

"Huh. If this was going to happen, couldn't we have just waited instead of fighting earlier?"

"That's nonsense. The more undead gather, the more violent they become. They would never have surrendered this easily."

Yi-Han stated firmly.

However, his voice slightly quivered.

After defeating the horde of undead, the four successfully found and contracted with more undead.

When they returned to the exit, Professor Millei was talking with a few students in the classroom.

"Good day, Professor."

"Did you by any chance go into the undead realm and return?"

"Ah. Yes. It was for an assignment."

"It would be wise not to enter for about two days."

Professor Millei adjusted her monocle as he spoke.

"The flow of mana in the other realms is unstable. If you go in now, you might encounter trouble..."

"Ah! We did encounter trouble!"

Gainando exclaimed as if realizing something.

"We were walking around inside, and dozens of undead swarmed us! That's why..."

"?!"

Professor Millei tilted her head, sensing something odd.

"If the flow of mana is unstable, it may change the nature or behavior of the undead, but for dozens to swarm despite safety measures in place is something entirely different..."

"Indeed. The flow of mana is truly amazing. We must remember to double-check the safety measures before entering in the future."

Yi-Han spoke decisively.

He quickly changed the subject.

"Professor, could you please check the undead we contracted?"

"Lets have a look then."

Unaware of her pupil's ulterior motives, Professor Millei nodded.

The pre-final assignment for the Summoning Magic course was to contract with a summon.

While students always wanted to contract with strong and impressive summons, the professors' criteria were different.

Finding powerful and rare summons was something for higher-level students to do.

The current importance lay in how well a student could handle their summon.

Even with the same summon, contracts could vary from absolute loyalty to near impossibility of control, so caution was necessary.

Of course, Professor Millei didnt expect first-year students to control their summons with complex and thorough contracts; that was too much to ask at their level.

What the professor expected was to see how well they could manage with simple, informal contracts.

"Make it turn around."

"Turn around. Turn around. Please turn around. Hey. Please...!"

After about ten attempts by Gainando, the skeleton warrior sluggishly, sluggishly turned around.

Professor Millei nodded knowingly as she manipulated her quill.

"It was friendlier before. Maybe it's having a difficult day today."

Gainando, trying to prove his friendship with the skeleton warrior, draped an arm over its shoulder.

The skeleton warrior pushed his arm away as if annoyed.

"Now, try to make it express the number 4 with its fingers."

"Number 4... Number 4..."

It was the same for Raphael and Ymirg as well. Although they had made the contracts, detailed instructions proved somewhat troublesome for the summons.

When it was Yi-Han's turn, Professor Millei had to manage her expression to hide her anticipation.

She was curious about how Yi-Han, as the student who had scored the highest on the midterm exam, would persuade his summon.

"Make it lie down."

"Lie down."

Thump!

The skeleton warrior immediately lay prostrate.

Though it might sound odd to say that the undead was disciplined, at that moment, no other term seemed more fitting.

"...express the number 4 with your fingers..."

"Show the number 4."

The skeleton warrior immediately bent four of its fingers.

Professor Millei was dumbfounded.

As a master of summoning magic, she was well aware of the method Yi-Han was using to control the undead.

So now...

'He's intimidating the undead into obeying commands?'

While it wasn't technically the wrong approach, it was nonetheless astonishing.

The assignment was given to learn how to handle powerful beings they would meet and contract with in the future, not to simply overpower them.

"...Well done. You get full marks."

Despite her astonishment, Professor Millei didn't say anything.

After all, it was impressive in its own way.

"Good job. Gonadaltes."

"..."

Professor Millei decided to pretend she hadn't heard that last remark.