Chapter 283 : Chapter 283

Chapter 283. An Unkind Magic Lesson

What was this supposed to be?

Leon’s followers stared with wide eyes.

Something utterly unbelievable was unfolding before them.

“Focus.”

Leon was glaring at Radel with a terrifying expression.

They were used to seeing His Highness glare at the 8th Prince as if he wanted to kill him, but……

‘Something is different.’

They followed Leon every single day, observing even the smallest details.

There was no way they could miss the change in him.

And the proof was obvious.

The 8th Prince had grown even more insolent!

“No, Leon. That is too much.”

“What exactly is too much?”

“You are telling me to fight a boss monster with magic, but your standard is ridiculous.”

“And what about it?”

“Starting with no-chant casting is impossible in the first place…….”

Radel let out a frustrated sigh.

This was pointless.

It felt like trying to have a conversation with a wall.

But watching this, Leon’s followers clenched their fists.

‘How dare he talk back?’

‘He is whining at His Highness?’

Uncontainable fury spilled from their mouths.

“This is absurd. His Highness is personally speaking to him, and yet?”

“Exactly! It is not every day that a prince with the Dragon’s Blessing personally gives guidance!”

“Even if they are brothers, that attitude is far too insolent!”

“So you think so too?”

Trembling with jealousy, Leon’s followers looked at one another.

A powerful sense of comradeship surged between them.

So what if their thoughts differed a little?

Their devotion to the 9th Prince was the same!

Especially when they saw the shameless behavior of that gnat-like 8th Prince,

even nonexistent comradeship was bound to form.

‘We will not let this slide, 8th Prince……!’

Their eyes burned.

And then Radel’s voice flew straight into their ears.

“And Leon. You seem to have forgotten, but monsters are about to appear. It is hard enough just focusing on combat.”

‘That insolent little—!’

Leon’s followers ground their teeth.

“If His Highness tells you to do something, you do it! Why is he talking so much?”

“Indeed. We should make sure those pathetic excuses never come out of his mouth again.”

They chose to eliminate Radel’s excuse altogether.

If the monsters in the boss room were the problem, then they would deal with them!

They fixed their gaze on the monsters whose eyes gleamed within the boss room.

With resolute expressions, they swung their staves and chanted spells.

“O wind!”

“O earth!”

WHOOOOSH!

RUMBLE!

True to their nature as Magic Supremacists, powerful elemental magic raged through the room.

Sssssk.

From the darkness, hidden monsters revealed themselves.

-SSSSS!

Snakes slithered along the ground, concealing venomous fangs.

Green Serpents.

Several Green Serpents as thick as a thigh flicked their tongues.

The two followers stepped forward calmly to block them.

“We will handle this, so Your Highness, fulfill your will!”

“Green Serpents! We will be your opponents.”

Now the 8th Prince would not be able to complain that monsters were getting in the way.

Seeing this, Radel’s discreet followers were stunned.

“T-Those guys……?”

“They are cooler than I expected?”

We will handle the monsters, so Your Highness, fulfill your will……?

Hearing that cry made their hearts swell as followers.

They could feel the sincerity—these people were ready to throw themselves in for their prince.

“We cannot lose either! Let us go!”

“O fire!”

Radel’s followers also swung their staves and jumped into battle.

Their thoughts differed, but their actions became one.

“What is with them? Why are they suddenly so fired up?”

Inette felt baffled as the followers ran wild.

Sure, the boss room had to be cleared, but this was only a combat magic class……

Yet they were acting as if the honor of their respective princes were on the line.

“At this rate, there might not be any magical beasts left worth killing. I should join as well. There is a bet involved.”

Gusto drew his sword and charged straight into the beasts.

“Wait—!”

Inette’s face turned pale.

She had completely forgotten about the bet with the apprentice holy knight.

“I cannot just stand around either!”

WHOOSH!

Snapping back to her senses, Inette hurled herself at the beasts, fists blazing.

CRUNCH!

CRACK!

-SSSS!

-SSS!

The Green Serpents struck by magic recoiled.

Seeing that, Leon’s followers curled their lips into vicious smiles.

“Look at that, 8th Prince. Are you about to whine that you cannot do it now?”

“Heh. You are right. He brought this upon himself.”

And so, fueled by nothing but their resentment toward Radel, they became dead serious about the fight.

For a reason Radel never could have imagined…….

***

“They are faster than I expected.”

Radel murmured in surprise at the momentum of the first-years.

Thanks to them, the Green Serpents were being cleared at a rapid pace.

Up until the first semester, they had not been this strong.

Was it because they specialized in combat magic?

Radel watched the battle with admiration, never once considering that he himself might be the reason.

“In that case, I do not need to jump in.”

“What are you talking about? The one you are supposed to deal with is separate.”

Leon cut him off and pointed toward the dark cave deeper inside the boss room.

“You are coming there with me.”

There was no doubt the boss monster was inside that cave.

Something far larger than the Green Serpents.

Feeling the chill seeping out of the cave, Radel asked,

“That place looks like it obviously has a boss monster…… You want the two of us to fight it?”

Leon raised one eyebrow, as if asking what nonsense Radel was spouting.

“You will fight it alone.”

Radel’s expression turned subtle.

It was not that he could not try.

Since Green Serpents had come out of the boss room, there was a high chance the boss monster was a similar magical beast.

If luck favored him and it was another snake-type monster, then as long as he was careful of poison and slippery body attacks, it would not be too difficult.

That was, of course, if he used swordsmanship.

‘I do not even know how to use no-chant magic, and you want me to fight a boss monster without a sword?’

Leon’s plan was absurd.

Radel spoke in flustered disbelief.

“I have never used no-chant magic before.”

“Then you will start now.”

Leon calmly took out his staff.

“Do not worry. I will at least let you use a staff.”

“No, that is not it—I do not know the method—”

Before Radel could finish, Leon impatiently swung his staff.

Whoosh.

WHOOSH!

Without chanting any spell, flames sprang into existence in midair.

“Huh?”

Radel blinked at the sudden fire.

“How did you do that?”

“Think about the wall you already crossed.”

What did that have to do with no-chant casting……?

Radel’s question remained unanswered as Leon started walking ahead.

“What are you doing? Are you not coming?”

Thus began an unkind magic lesson.

***

BANG!

The boss monster’s attack came crashing down.

The boss of the Green Sanctuary was a hydra.

A massive snake-type magical beast with nine heads.

However, the one here only had two heads—a two-headed hydra.

At this level, it was something Academy first-years could reasonably handle together.

The hydra slithered both heads, driving Radel into a corner.

The right head slipped into his blind spot.

SWISH!

“Ugh!”

Radel dodged the right head’s attack and instinctively reached for his scabbard.

But before he could draw his sword, another attack came flying in.

CRACKLE!

Lightning element magic.

Not something a hydra could use.

The caster was Leon, swinging his staff behind him.

“I told you not to draw your sword.”

He was not hunting the boss monster.

He was hunting Radel.

‘You said to defeat the boss monster, but I cannot do anything like this!’

Radel’s face went pale.

The moment he showed any sign of reaching for his sword, Leon’s magic would fly at him, preventing any proper offense.

HISS!

Taking advantage of Radel’s hesitation, the hydra’s left head bared its fangs and spewed a cloud of venomous mist.

FSSSH!

‘Poison!’

Radel swung his staff.

“O wind!”

But his magic never completed.

Leon’s spell struck exactly as if it had been waiting.

CRACKLE!

A blue bolt of lightning skimmed dangerously close to Radel’s fingertips.

His concentration shattered, and his mana dispersed.

Leon raised one eyebrow and spoke coldly.

“Who said you were allowed to chant?”

‘Wow…….’

Radel was left speechless, his mouth opening and closing.

Could someone really be this merciless?

Yet there was no escape from this situation.

The only way out was to defeat the boss monster.

FSSSH!

Following the left head, the hydra’s right head also began spewing poison.

At this rate, he would be poisoned before he could do anything.

Radel plunged a hand into his clothes.

Before Leon’s staff could move again, he shouted,

“It is not a sword! An antidote potion! This is allowed, right?”

He quickly pulled out the potion and downed it in one gulp.

DING.

[The effect of Hayden-style Intermediate Magic Potion is applied.]

[Health has been fully restored.]

[Magic Power has been fully restored.]

[You are immune to all poisons for 30 minutes.]

[Magic Power recovery speed is increased for 30 minutes.]

‘Yes!’

Radel shouted inwardly.

The effects of a Hayden-style Intermediate Potion were as incredible as ever.

Most importantly, it continuously restored Magic Power.

For someone with low Magic Power like Radel, it was exactly what he needed.

‘This makes it worth trying.’

Radel’s eyes gleamed.

***

Leon followed Radel with a sharp gaze as he slipped through the hydra’s poisonous mist.

‘What will you do now?’

Of course, Leon had no intention of letting Radel chant a spell.

Nor did he intend to let him use a sword.

From the beginning, his plan had been to bind Radel hand and foot.

‘I will make chanting terrifying.’

If Radel could not overcome this wall, understanding the essence of magic would be meaningless.

Magic was the act of manifesting imagery into reality through chanting.

A mage’s chant contained Magic Power.

As mages chanted, they unconsciously adjusted their Magic Power.

How strong the spell would be, how wide its range, how much Magic Power it would consume.

This was why mages lacking confidence in mana control relied on longer chants.

Which meant that the better one’s mana control, the less one needed to depend on chanting to manifest magic.

Yes. It was possible.

‘And this guy is capable of it!’

-HISS!

The hydra’s attack poured toward Radel.

As it opened its jaws to swallow him whole, Radel—who had been crouching and doing something—rose and swung his arm.

Then he shouted briefly,

“Go!”

WHOOSH!

‘A sword?’

Leon narrowed his eyes and watched Radel’s hand.

But it was not a sword.

What Radel had thrown was an ordinary stone.

SWOOSH!

The stone flew from Radel’s hand and pierced straight through the hydra’s palate.

It did not stop there—it punched through the head itself and kept flying.

BOOOOM!

That kind of power was impossible for a mere stone.

Leon’s expression hardened.

He had realized what Radel had done.

Radel had enchanted the stone.

Turning back with a grin after piercing the hydra’s left head with a thrown stone, Radel said,

“This counts as not chanting, right?”