"Cough. How strange."

While the seniors struggled to maintain their dignity, Professor Mortum was examining the inner passage of the ruins.

Sentinel golems appeared and blocked the way, but that wasn't really a significant obstacle.

Considering the ruins he had seen so far, it wouldn't be surprising at all even if there were many more dangerous traps.

"Why is that?"

"There's nothing special inside."

Direth nodded at the professor's words.

Certainly, the resistance was weak for ruins this intact. No notable enemies were seen except for the sentinel golems placed at the entrance.

"Darkness, spread out and resonate... Even with this, nothing. Cough. It's really strange."

Professor Mortum, who cast various exploration magic by extending it toward the inner passage of the ruins, stared into the darkness and became lost in thought.

"Could it be... No."

"What were you thinking?"

"I was wondering if these ruins have an owner. Cough. If the ruins have an owner, they wouldn't lay unnecessary traps."

Most of the ruins that mages in the empire could discover had owners who had disappeared long ago.

However, there were occasionally ruins where the owner remained.

In that case, the mage found themselves in a quite difficult situation.

It was almost like trespassing on someone else's land...

"If there was an owner, we wouldn't have been able to enter this easily, right?"

Direth tilted her head.

If it were ruins properly managed with a living owner, there should have been some signs before entering.

Not only warnings to prevent outsiders from approaching but also subordinates patrolling the surroundings to prevent access.

With the outer area of the ruins empty like this and entering through the entrance without any signs of people, there was a low possibility of an owner being present.

"Cough. That's right. You're correct. If there was an owner, it wouldn't be managed like this. Unless the owner is trapped somewhere or recovering from serious injuries..."

Ripple!

"!"

Professor Mortum and Yi-Han were the first to feel the change in the flow of mana inside the palace ruins.

Yi-Han looked around. The walls, floor, and ceiling around the palace entrance began to ripple as if they were mucus.

Although transformation magic could change the properties and shape of matter, to think he would directly witness magic on this scale.

"Everyone, don't move!"

Professor Mortum, who felt something ominous about the current situation, immediately took action.

Gone was the sickly appearance of his usual coughing, and Professor Mortum's eyes shone as he swung his staff.

"I command, open the path of yin (TL: As in yin and yang)! The ropes of darkness shall bind!"

Instantly, a door connected to the yin realm appeared behind the students, and ropes made of dark elements shot out from inside.

Originally, it was a magic that temporarily pulled enemies into the yin realm by opening a door using dark elements, but Professor Mortum adapted this magic to use it as a spatial movement magic.

If adapted, it became a powerful defensive magic that could temporarily protect the students.

The students who passed through the yin realm popped out next to Professor Mortum. The students felt dizzy as if they were about to vomit from the sudden contact with dark elements.

Gurgle!

However, it was quickly revealed that Professor Mortum's judgment was correct.

The floors that had been fine until now began to ripple and descend below, and the walls approached each other as if they would collide, erasing and changing the space.

If he had tried to move directly and bring them, a few would have fallen along the way.

"P-Professor!"

Creak!

Professor Mortum extended his palm to calm the frightened students and began to bring the surrounding bones under his control.

A huge bone platform appeared in the dark void where a solid floor had been until now. The remaining bones enveloped it like walls.

Only then could the students let out a sigh of relief.

"Professor!"

"Calm down. A trap like the floor disappearing isn't even that dangerous. Seeing this kind of reaction, this ruin isn't that dangerous either..."

"No, the junior disappeared!"

"!!!"

At first, when the seniors moved to the yin realm through teleportation, leaving only himself behind, Yi-Han thought he had done something wrong to Professor Mortum.

'Did I do something wrong?'

However, seeing the dark elements and the cracks between realms bouncing off as they tried to envelop his body, he understood what had happened.

'Professor...! This is what happens when you adapt attack magic to everything...!'

As Professor Mortum's magic bounced off, just like the poison or other curses had, it was more absurd than frightening.

As he felt the sensation of the floor disappearing and falling downward, Yi-Han immediately levitated an iron orb.

"Move!"

It wasn't originally a magic meant to endure falling, nor was it a magic capable of supporting Yi-Han's weight, but Yi-Han's crude mana fixed the iron orb in the air as if it were nailed.

A strong impact rose to his shoulders.

Yi-Han endured by infusing mana into his body.

"Feet, grasp the earth... Space, be perceived!"

He cast enhancement magic and spatial perception magic in case of unexpected situations. The surroundings were still rippling, but thanks to the magic, his sense of distance returned.

'There's a floor!'

Yi-Han levitated a sphere of light. Then, changing the position of the iron orb, he began to descend, while vowing to definitely learn slow fall magic as soon as he returned to the magic academy.

'I should have learned it right after the incident with the Rock Drake... I'm suffering like this because I didn't study.'

Yi-Han lamented.

It wasn't for nothing that the professors said, 'Are you studying to give it to others? It's all for your own sake.'

He would study more diligently in the second semester.

Thud!

"?!"

As something swiftly fell beside him while he was safely descending, Yi-Han was startled and turned his gaze.

"What..."

"Arm, my arm..."

"Senior!"

Ogoldos, a second-year senior, was rolling around next to him with a painful groan.

Unlike Yi-Han, Ogoldos wasn't bold enough to chant spells while falling in the void.

It was fortunate that he had laid out his pre-summoned undead as a cushion; otherwise, not just his arm but his entire body would have been shattered.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm, I'm fine. It's okay."

Ogoldos waved his hand, sweating with a pale face.

As a senior by one year, he didn't want to show weakness in front of his junior.

Moreover, hadn't Ogoldos suspected that juniors like Yi-Han or Gainando weren't sincere about dark magic?

He couldn't receive help from a junior to whom he had said such things.

"Your arm is broken, right?"

"I said I'm fine. A splint..."

By the second year at Einroguard, students were capable of emergency treatment for injuries to a certain extent, excluding instant death.

Ogoldos tried to chant a spell while holding his staff. However, it wasn't easy due to the pain. The spell went astray several times, and the mana scattered.

"Senior. Just let me do it."

"It's fi..."

Yi-Han, who was getting annoyed, thought for a moment and grabbed Ogoldos's shoulder, overpowering him with strength.

Even if he got on the skull principal's bad side, he would have a hard time at the magic academy for several years at most, so how hard would it be to get on the bad side of a second-year senior from another tower?

"What are you doing... Aargh!"

"Stick together!"

Surprisingly, instead of applying a splint and performing emergency treatment, the junior swung his staff and cast a spell.

Ogoldos screamed at the sudden healing magic.

"Stop! What are you doing! No!"

Ogoldos, who remembered a second-year priest failing a healing magic and rotating his friend's slightly sprained finger by 360 degrees, desperately tried to stop him.

A sprained finger was already dangerous, but a broken injury was even more...

"Try moving it."

"...???"

Ogoldos moved his arm, dumbfounded.

Surprisingly, there was no pain.

Yi-Han silently nodded and said,

"I had no choice but to cast it first due to the urgent situation."

"..."

Ogoldos pondered and pondered, then tried to open his mouth.

"Tha... Tha..."

-Growl.-

"Sharakan. There's a path over there? Thank you. Senior. There's a path over there... What were you trying to say?"

"It's... It's painful."

"Oh dear. Your injury must have been severe."

-Growl.-

"Sharakan. You shouldn't treat him like that. It's not like the senior wanted to get hurt."

"..."

Ogoldos had never sat on a bed of nails.

A third-year senior claimed to have sat on a bed of nails in the senior's room in the basement of the Punishment Room (Ogoldos was still confused whether it was a bluff or not), but fortunately, Ogoldos didn't have such an experience.

However, right now, Ogoldos felt like he was sitting on a bed of nails.

"...Da-damn it. The magic..."

Mages were delicate creatures.

Not only the shock of failing magic but also the shock of the surrounding walls dancing and the floor disappearing, causing them to fall, could shake their mana and make them unable to use magic for a certain period.

No matter how hard Ogoldos tried to concentrate, the flow of mana inside his body was twisted and wouldn't move.

"Senior. It's alright. I can use magic."

"...I said I'll do it. Just a moment... Ugh."

"Gonadaltes. Support the senior."

"It's fi... What? What did you say?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"No... That... Never mind. It's fine."

Ogoldos tried to say something about the name of the skeleton warrior but stopped.

It was a mage's freedom to name their summons whatever they wanted, but...

...Isn't that a bit too free?!

- .-

"..."

Yi-Han walked forward.

Except for Sharakan and Gonadaltes, he had unsummoned all the other skeletons. They were too slow and hindered movement.

Of course, from Ogoldos's perspective, it was perceived a bit differently.

'Because of me...!'

Thinking that the junior was canceling the other undead to support him, his face felt hot.

"That's..."

Yi-Han stopped walking.

An eerie scene caught his eye at the other end of the underground passage.

Ogoldos, who still had the dark vision magic remaining, blinked and said,

"A prison..."

"Punishment room... Ah, a prison. Out of habit."

"..."

Surprisingly, the place connected at the end of the passage was an underground prison. Yi-Han was amazed that such a place existed underground in the ruins.

'I thought ruins were all broken and damaged places.'

Walking through the passage, there were cells arranged in a circular pattern.

One peculiar thing was that there were no iron bars. The walls that should have blocked the prisoners from coming out were nowhere to be seen.

For a moment, Yi-Han thought someone had come first and ripped off the bars.

-Who is it? Which fearless intruder is wandering the king's prison?-

"!"

Yi-Han was startled by the fact that he hadn't noticed the other party who was this close to him.

Unless the other party was a more skilled mage than Yi-Han, he would have definitely sensed their mana first.

-You'd better hide quickly. If you're caught, you won't be able to stay unharmed.-

The one who spoke was an undead mage inside a nearby cell. Yi-Han realized why he hadn't noticed the other party. When the other party removed the cloak they were wearing, only then did he feel their mana.

Seeing no hostility unique to monsters, Yi-Han carefully asked,

"Who are you?"

-Who am I? I'm a sinner who couldn't keep the king's command.-

"Then who is the king?"

-...What are you saying... How did you enter here? Did you come in without knowing that this is the palace where the King of Ghouls reigns? What about the soldiers outside??-

"...?!"

At the somewhat familiar name, Yi-Han hesitated.

It couldn't be, right?