Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.43 Absurd

“We can really offer you better treatment. However, you seem quite young… may I ask your affiliation…?”

“I have no affiliation; I’m a wandering magician.”

“I see.”

Whether he was skillfully hiding his emotions or genuinely unbothered, Sengor showed little change in expression.

“In that case…”

“No, thank you.”

“…”

Leon declined the offer even before Sengor could finish his sentence.

Relief washed over Dave’s anxious face.

Though Dave’s large face looked pitiful as he gazed at Leon like a puppy, that wasn’t the reason for his refusal.

Leon planned to scout Zone 2 tomorrow and then head straight to deeper areas, so he saw no need to change parties now.

It didn’t matter who he went with to Zone 1 or Zone 2.

Moreover, making such a proposal while already part of a party and having a meal together showed a lack of respect, which didn’t sit well with Leon.

As soon as Leon declined, Karin slammed the table and stood up.

“You heard him, right? Now get lost.”

“Is that how you treat our relationship?”

“What relationship!”

“We’ve even had drinks together.”

“That was when you called me out saying you had worries as a newbie. Why don’t you mention the part where you tried to pull something and got slapped!”

Karin’s face twisted in anger as bad memories resurfaced.

The blonde man shrugged at her fury.

And then, pretending to look away, he scanned Karin’s figure before locking eyes with Leon.

‘Blonde hair and tanned skin… hmm…’

Although one shouldn’t judge by appearances, it somehow gave Leon a strange feeling.

‘Well, it’s not like we’ll get involved anyway.’

As Leon averted his gaze, pretending not to notice, Sengor spoke nonchalantly.

“Since you’ve declined, it would be rude to ask further. We’ll take our leave.”

Sengor tapped Dave’s shoulder as he stood up.

“Maybe we’ll see each other tomorrow.”

Despite Sengor’s unpleasant gesture, Dave wore a satisfied smile.

“Yeah, go on~”

“…”

With a disgruntled expression, Sengor left, and Dave clasped his hands together as if moved.

His leather armor seemed about to burst from his swelling emotions.

“Thank you so much. You kept your loyalty… Honestly, parties don’t even require contracts, so you could have considered better offers…”

“…We’ve already synchronized well.”

“And I’m not saying this just because I’m at odds with him, but he’s really a nasty guy.”

Leon found it hard to keep looking at Dave’s beaming face, so he wrapped up the conversation.

He didn’t ask more about Sengor.

He wasn’t particularly interested in the first place.

“Let’s meet tomorrow morning.”

“Yes! We’ll make sure everything is ready.”

After finishing their meal, they stood up.

“If you get bored, feel free to visit our inn!”

Karin said playfully as she left.

Dave was excessively polite, while Karin was overly friendly.

Linne, who stayed quiet, was more comfortable to be around.

After parting ways with the group, Leon found another inn to stay for the night.

He paid for the inn with the money he had saved during his time living at the entrance, where he had little use for it.

It wasn’t much.

Waking up early, Leon visited the market and secured a large amount of food.

Mostly, it was dried meat that could be eaten conveniently.

“Do you accept mana stones?”

“…Gasp, of course.”

Since it was a place where magicians also operated, mana stones seemed to hold enough value as currency.

‘It’s only natural since mana stones are a higher-grade version of magic stones.’

After packing the food into preservation ceramics, Leon headed to the guild headquarters, the agreed meeting place.

It seemed they had finished their preparations early in the morning, as everyone had already arrived and was waiting.

Dave was sitting on a bench, with Karin waving her arms and talking about something in front of him.

Linne watched Karin with a small smile on her lips.

It was a peaceful party scene.

“Ah! You’re here.”

“You’re out early.”

After joining the group, Leon completed the mission log, and they headed straight to the Beast Forest.

They increased their pace to head directly to Zone 2, but passing through Zone 1 smoothly was not possible.

Walking itself took time, and they encountered goblin groups more frequently than expected.

Dave tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Something feels off.”

“We are encountering monsters quite often.”

Dave seemed to sense something unusual as well.

Even though they had roamed Zone 1 all day yesterday, they had only encountered monster groups seven or eight times at most.

But now, despite increasing their pace, they had already encountered five groups.

“It seems that the high-ranking monsters occupying the deeper zones have done something.”

Monsters occupying zones.

Leon had heard about it from Kito and had a rough idea.

The closer one got to the center of the Beast Forest, the stronger the monsters became.

And these strong monsters ruled over their respective zones like kings.

“The movements of the monsters in the deeper areas can affect even the monsters near the entrance.”

When high-ranking beasts invaded each other’s territories or prepared for such conflicts, the resulting chaos affected even the monsters at the entrance.

“Although it happens occasionally…”

Dave, looking concerned, asked Leon.

“What should we do?”

“What exactly does it mean that they are affected?”

“It means that monsters are roaming around more chaotically, so we encounter them more frequently, or we might run into groups of monsters moving together… things like that.”

“If it’s just that, there’s no problem.”

For Leon, who intended to go deeper into the zones today, such issues were not an obstacle.

“Do you have a way to handle it if the monsters lose their aggro while you’re preparing your magic…?”

“I do.”

He also had a way to kill them before they lost their aggro.

“In that case, it should be fine. We won’t go deeper than the entrance of Zone 2 anyway.”

Since it was a one-day mission, Dave seemed to judge that it was manageable.

As they ventured much deeper than they had the previous day, the forest’s incline began to increase.

Aside from that, the forest became denser, but there were no significant differences.

“If you keep climbing for a while, you’ll reach a flat area, and that’s where Zone 2 begins.”

“I see.”

Since there had been some battles, by the time they reached Zone 2, the sun was already starting to set on the opposite side.

For Dave’s group, who only intended to scout the entrance of Zone 2, it wasn’t a significant issue.

‘If I fly, I could reach Zone 3 in less than a day.’

According to Dave, there were no flying monsters up to Zone 2.

He had heard rumors of adventurers encountering griffons around Zone 4.

The place where Kito had hidden the core was at the boundary just before the center of the Beast Forest, extending from the west.

The center was said to be home to unimaginable monsters, so caution was necessary.

The zone where Kito originally resided might now be occupied by another high-ranking monster.

As soon as they entered Zone 2, they heard movement nearby.

The monsters that revealed themselves were two lizardmen.

Their skin was covered in rough scales and was green in color.

Dave immediately took the front line.

The formation was the same as when they faced goblins.

While Dave drew their attention, Leon finished his incantation.

“Fire Arrow.”

As he sent the fire arrows towards the two lizardmen, they died without much resistance.

Leon controlled the flames to prevent the forest from catching fire.

The lizardmen seemed to have strong defenses, but not enough to repel magic.

However, each individual was large and strong, making them difficult to face directly.

“Let’s move quickly.”

“Yes, yes.”

*****

Dave found it hard to suppress the smile forming on his lips.

After defeating one lizardman, another appeared, followed by two more.

They kept appearing continuously.

Before long, the skin of the lizardmen that appeared had turned brown.

The scales of the brown lizardmen were even tougher.

Though he realized they had ventured deeper into the forest, Dave was still beaming.

It hadn’t taken much of a toll on his stamina.

As long as he drew the attention of one or two monsters, the magician took care of the rest.

They were pierced by fire arrows, sliced by wind blades, and swept away by waves of water.

The spectacle of colorful magic was dazzling to the eyes.

‘This is why they always talk about magicians…’

No matter how eccentric their personalities, the demand for magicians never decreased.

Thus, the lizardman corpses continued to pile up.

In fact, more time was spent dismantling and collecting the corpses than in actual combat.

“Hmm, we should wrap this up before it gets dark.”

Dave spoke, hiding his disappointment.

Since it was a one-day mission, they needed to exit the forest before nightfall.

They had already ventured deeper than planned.

As the party leader, his judgment had become clouded.

Clang—

At that moment, the sound of weapons clashing came from not far away.

Dave turned his gaze in that direction.

Though they couldn’t see through the trees, the frantic movements suggested someone was struggling in battle.

‘It must be another adventurer party.’

They could help, but Dave knew his place.

The strength of this party came solely from that young magician.

If they were to assist, they needed his permission.

‘Let’s follow protocol.’

There was no guarantee that helping other adventurers would be reciprocated with kindness.

In fact, disputes over corpses often arose after offering help.

Therefore, it was a principle that each party should handle its own affairs.

Moreover, Dave, who had already gotten too excited and ventured deeper than planned, had no face to bring it up.

“If we keep going like this, we’ll make it on time.”

As he turned his body as he spoke, Dave froze in place.

“Hiss hiss.”

A group of lizardmen emerged from the trees.

It wasn’t just one or two like before.

Dozens of lizardmen were blocking Dave’s group’s path.

Even at a glance, there were over 30 of them.

“Did they draw us in…?”

Dave instinctively took a step back.

The presence of 30 monsters was suffocating.

At that moment, someone pushed him forward with a palm.

It was the young magician.

The face peeking out from the robe was so calm that it made Dave feel calm as well.

“Don’t retreat from the front line.”

“S-sorry.”

As Dave regained his composure and gripped the hilt of his greatsword tightly, a group emerged from beside Dave’s party.

It was the party that had been fighting nearby.

Dave recognized the five faces.

“Sengor…?”

“Huff, huff… please help us!”

Sengor, eyes shining as he looked at the magician, hurriedly joined Dave’s group.

Because of this, the lizardmen chasing Sengor’s party also turned their attention to Dave’s group.

Now, over 50 lizardmen began to spread out and encircle Dave’s group.

“Sigh…”

Suddenly, Leon sighed.

Then he raised his palm.

“Scatter.”

Boom—

With a blinding flash, the sound of thunder roared.

A dazzling beam of light suddenly struck down from the sky.

The lizardmen’s bodies were instantly enveloped in blue electricity.

“Screech—”

The lizardmen let out cries of agony.

Sparks flew between their scales, their muscles convulsed, and their eyes turned white as they collapsed to the ground.

Smoke rose from the lizardmen’s mouths.

In an instant, nine lizardmen were dead.

But it wasn’t over.

“Scatter again.”

The young magician murmured once more.

Boom—

In an instant, the breath of nine more lizardmen was snuffed out.

The lightning bolts continued to strike.

Every time the magician spoke, lizardmen died.

With a single word, monsters were killed in droves.

‘This is the true power of a magician…’

They had only been holding off the lizardmen that started charging when about half of them were dead, but now all 50 lizardmen had become corpses.

There were enough bodies piled up to last a month without needing to hunt.

“Whew…”

Even the magician seemed to find it taxing to cast spells continuously, as he let out a shallow sigh.

At that moment, Sengor’s eyes gleamed.

He signaled to his fellow party members.

Dave noticed it belatedly.

‘Damn!’

When is a magician at their weakest?

Right after casting a major spell.

Moreover, this young magician had overexerted himself to fend off the lizardmen’s encirclement.

‘But surely, they wouldn’t… No, just because he’s a wandering magician?’

By the time he realized, all five members of Sengor’s party were already charging at the magician from behind.

“Theo!”

Dave shouted urgently.

His voice echoed through the forest.

And that desperate cry seemed almost embarrassing as Sengor’s sword was effortlessly deflected.

By the shield that had formed around the magician.

“?”

The magician looked at Sengor with a puzzled expression.

It was more of bewilderment than surprise.