"No way… It can't be."
Ihan shut his eyes tightly.
But reality was cold and unforgiving.
Gotcha! From the very first week! Hah! Hahaha!
"…Wh-What is going on??"
Nillia asked in a trembling voice, still not grasping the situation.
Ihan answered calmly.
"Looks like we fell into the headmaster's trap."
Whatever method Giselle used to find an escape route, it was clear now that she'd been dancing in the palm of the headmaster's hand.
The problem? It wasn't just Giselle who got caught—Ihan's group followed her.
The fact that they'd made it all the way up here in the first week meant one thing: they must have seen the fake map Ihan himself had made and spread around.
Today, you've learned a valuable lesson! Never trust a map with a shady origin! You never know if it leads to real treasure—or a trap set by an evil lich!
"…"
"…"
Seriously, what kind of maniac does that?!
Ihan was speechless.
So the skeleton headmaster himself created fake escape maps and scattered them all over?
There was no way to know when—or even if—a freshman might see them, yet he did it anyway…
That's not education. That's just him having fun.
He claimed it was all to teach the students something, but Ihan had dealt with plenty of professors like him before.
This was absolutely just his idea of fun.
"Students of the White Tiger Tower, listen closely! The escape phase is over. Now it's time to return. The rules are simple. I won't come after you myself—but I'll be sending trackers. Avoid them and return to the tower! Get caught, you're guilty. Avoid them, you're innocent! Use any means you like. You may even defeat my trackers—if you can!"
As those words echoed in the sky, a huge green light flared across the dark night—and a gigantic skull appeared.
Then, from the gaping maw of the skull, a flood of undead summons began to pour out.
Bone hounds and skeletal trackers dropped onto the mountain one by one.
Pop!
Torches lit up all around, carried by skeletons.
The hunt had begun.
"We need to run!!!"
Nillia whispered in panic.
Her eyes were wide and trembling with fear.
"Nillia, calm down."
"How am I supposed to stay calm?! If we get caught, we could die!"
"No. We won't die."
Unlike Nillia, who found the skeletal headmaster utterly terrifying, Ihan had dealt with insane professors before—and even had a few private conversations with the headmaster.
To Ihan, the guy just seemed way too into his own game.
To Nillia, it looked like the headmaster was enraged by the arrogance and criminal behavior of the new students.
"Y-You sure?"
"Worst case, we'll end up in the punishment room or something."
"P-Punishment room!? Like, with torture devices… and we never come out…?"
"I doubt it's that bad."
Nillia's imagination was exceptionally vivid—in the worst way.
Ihan quickly covered her mouth and checked their surroundings.
Skeletons, huh?
The sound of rustling, scraping through bushes—skeletal trackers moving through the terrain.
Woof! Woof!
The bony hounds were barking too.
"Run!! If they chase you, take them down!"
"For honor! For chivalry!"
The students of the White Tiger Tower shouted as they drew their wooden swords.
It was clear they had decided to fight their way out.
Though… honor and chivalry? Kind of a weird match for this situation…
They had been caught sneaking out of school. What did that have to do with honor?
"Seems like there's only one thing to do now."
Durrgyu spoke in a low voice.
At times like this, which tower you were from didn't matter.
They had to work together to survive.
"Good point, Durrgyu."
"Right! I'll take the lead and—"
"While they draw the attention, let's sneak out the back."
"..."
Durrgyu stared at Ihan, dumbfounded.
But Nillia, Yoner, and Gainan all nodded instantly.
""Great idea!""
"..."
Durrgyu opened his mouth to argue, but held back. Ihan was clearly the one leading the group now.
We need to break through the weaker side of the encirclement.
Observation.
Ihan wanted to bolt immediately, but held himself back.
Panicking and rushing only made things worse. Patience was often the smarter choice.
He waited to see which side of the trap was the thinnest.
Luckily, the White Tiger Tower kids were making plenty of noise and drawing attention.
This was a chance they couldn't waste.
Wait… isn't this a bit much?
Ihan's eyes widened as he observed from the bushes.
The undead pouring out of the floating skull weren't stopping. Not even slowing down.
It was like the headmaster was using sheer numbers to make escape impossible.
…I underestimated how crazy this guy really is!
Ihan sighed inwardly.
He had assumed the headmaster, after all his theatrics, would still give the students a fair chance.
But instead, he was sealing every exit completely.
Or maybe… in his twisted mind, this was giving them a chance.
Professors' logic is always a little off-kilter…
Maybe the skeleton headmaster really thought, "This level of challenge will help them grow!"
The problem? Ihan was the one who had to get through it.
This is so bad… No matter how much the Tiger kids distract them, it won't matter. Should we just surrender?
Every path down the mountain was now guarded. Skeleton trackers with torches lined the trails.
And beyond them… even more skeletons.
And more behind those.
There were so many, the base of the mountain looked bright as daylight.
Wait a second.
As Ihan watched, a strange thought occurred to him.
The skeletal trackers leading the bone hounds… weren't paying any attention to his group.
That's odd.
Sure, they were hiding in the bushes. And yes, the White Tiger students were making a huge scene.
But if the headmaster knew they were there, wouldn't the trackers—or at least the hounds—be sniffing around?
Instead, they were all ignoring Ihan's group completely and chasing only the Tiger students.
Don't tell me… the headmaster doesn't know we're here?
Ihan had just assumed the headmaster knew exactly where they were.
The man was a far more powerful mage than Ihan, after all.
But what if he wasn't here at all?
"I won't get involved directly. I'll send trackers instead, so return to the tower while avoiding them!"
Now that he thought about it, there was no way to know whether that massive skull floating in the sky was really the headmaster or not.
It wouldn't be strange if he had sent a projection or an illusion from afar.
'If that's the case, then we just need to avoid the trackers' line of sight!'
Running away after getting caught was much worse than sneaking away without being noticed.
"…Let's go up."
"What??"
"Going down now would be impossible without getting caught. Look at the numbers. The moment we run into them, the trackers will swarm us."
At Ihan's words, Nillia's eyelashes trembled.
"But there are no trackers above. Let's go up, circle around, or wait it out. That has a much better chance of success."
"Alright!"
"?"
Even Ihan was surprised by how quickly Nillia agreed.
"I mean, I brought it up, but… are you sure you should agree so quickly? We don't know what's up that path."
"It's way better than getting caught and ending up trapped in the punishment room with torture devices!"
"…As I said before, I think you're seriously misunderstanding something."
About thirty minutes later, after carefully climbing higher up…
"It's a cave. Let's go in." Nillia whispered.
"Any monsters?"
"None. It's a small cave and there's no presence inside. I tossed in a few rocks to be sure."
Nillia tapped her long ears proudly.
"We've moved too much. I'm fine, but the others need rest."
"You're right."
Nillia, Ihan, and Derregu were fine, but Yonere looked tired, and Gainan was about to collapse.
They had walked through the dark while constantly on edge, dodging pursuers—so it wasn't surprising.
"Light!"
As they entered the cave, Ihan cast a spell. A light, bright as the sun, filled the inside.
Yonere hung his coat at the entrance to block any light from escaping.
"You don't think they'll follow us up here, right?"
"Don't worry. I didn't hear anything chasing us. They all seemed to gather down below." Nillia reassured him.
Thankfully, Ihan had been right.
The summoned creatures hadn't noticed their group and hadn't climbed any higher.
"The real problem is how long those summons will stay there."
"Maybe I should've tried breaking through after all." Derregu said, sounding regretful.
But Ihan shook his head.
"No. Forcing our way through wouldn't have worked."
"Why not?"
"Because knowing the headmaster, there's no way he'd leave such an obvious weakness unguarded."
"..."
"..."
The others thought, "How do you know that?"—but they respected Ihan's judgment and stayed silent.
"Whether we wait for them to disappear or try to circle around later, for now we need to rest. Let's eat something first."
"Agreed!"
Ihan distributed the sausages, bread, and cheese he'd brought with him.
Gainan popped a Dwarven honey candy into his mouth and closed his eyes, savoring it like it was divine. He'd apparently been craving sweets for days.
"Shoot… I'm out of water…"
Nillia pulled out her empty water pouch with a troubled expression. They'd run out after so much walking.
"No worries. I've got magic."
"!"
"Come forth!"
With a swing of his staff, Ihan conjured a sphere of water in the empty air.
Nillia hurriedly held her water pouch underneath to fill it.
"That's amazing, Ihan!"
Derregu was impressed.
Coming from a knightly family, he was slower at learning magic than students from other towers. To him, Ihan's spell was nothing short of a miracle.
Even Gainan and Yonere clapped like children, delighted.
"Just what I needed!"
"Thanks for the drink!"
Nillia carefully capped her now-full pouch and spoke wistfully.
"I wish I could learn water magic too…"
"Once you get the hang of it, you'll learn it in no time." Ihan said sincerely.
It truly wasn't a difficult spell. Once you got a feel for it, it was fairly easy to cast.
"I hope so…" Nillia said, then lifted her staff and chanted a spell.
"Ignite!"
Fwoosh!
A small spark ignited mid-air and landed on the kindling Nillia had prepared.
With a crackling sound, a cozy campfire was lit.
Everyone let out relieved sighs—it was clear they'd been freezing from the night's cold.
"Whew. I'm glad it worked on the first try. I pulled it off last time too, but I was still nervous."
Apparently fire magic suited Nillia well, as she succeeded immediately.
Then she turned to Ihan and said,
"I'm jealous. I wish I had water magic instead of fire."
"..."
"...Wh-Why?"
Nillia stammered in surprise when Ihan gave her a sharp look.
Did I say something wrong?!