Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 90 Convergence
"You didn't do this on purpose?"

In a corner of the huge lava space, in addition to the largest and smallest students in the academy, there was also a large fallen demon.

At this moment, the fallen demon was staring at Xia Lu suspiciously with one vivid eye.

"How could that be, Professor? It's because the demon's ability to make people fall into an illusion is too strong. I thought it was a real demon imitating your voice, causing us to be careless."

Fallen Demon, or rather, beside Ritas, Xia Lu replied with a smile.

She didn't look like she was the one who kept shouting "This is just a trick of the fallen demon" and then chased after Ritas for a long time even after Ritas spoke.

Although she chased closely afterwards, she did not release any hidden weapons to attack Ritas. This is why Ritas suspected that Xia Lu was doing it on purpose.

As for why Xia Lu did this?
Maybe he thought that being able to chase and beat the professor legitimately was a rare and fun thing.
Ritas looked at Xia Lu, who looked well-behaved, with mixed feelings.

You may not be able to find another person with such a relaxed mentality even if you search the entire maze.

"The fallen demons in this labyrinth are probably the type that induce others to see illusions in their memories. It is precisely because the essence of those illusions is provided by the attackers themselves, so it is difficult to break free from them by one's own will."

Ritas paused.

"However, precisely because of this, it's impossible for both of you to see the same illusion at the same time. Furthermore, since the purpose was to lure you in, it's obviously illogical for the illusion to produce a monster that would make you feel threatened."

In addition to complaining, Ritas was actually teaching Xia Lu and Iris some methods to identify whether what they saw in this maze was an illusion.

"Been taught a lesson."

Xia Lu said respectfully.

Looking at Xia Lu who was so "sensible", Ritas was still helpless with her.

It had been over a month since Xia Lu transferred to Yewwood Academy. Ritas felt that this young adventurer was both simple and complex.

The simple thing is that she seems to really want to be a lady in the true sense of the word, and wants everyone to think that she is a lady of noble birth.

But the complication is that she may actually know that her difference from the surface is vaguely exposed. But she doesn't care about it. No matter what others think, as long as the surface gets along with her "elegantly", she has no objection.

It felt like Xia Lu was playing a very special role. She knew she was playing a role, others knew she was playing a role, and she also knew others knew she was playing a role.
So what does Xia Lu want to do?
Does she want to be a character on the stage forever in the future?
Ritas was a little curious, but he didn't want to delve into it.

On the one hand, it was only natural to maintain a proper distance from the students. On the other hand, even though Xia Lu looked so strange, she was still a relatively worry-free student in the Yew Fir class.

Recalling the beginning of the school year, Ritas looked at the six students in the Yewwood class.

Among them, Grenville seemed to be the most troublesome. His deep posture and eccentric behavior simply wrote the words "I have a story" on his face, and he seemed to be carrying some heavy secrets in his heart that could not be revealed.

but.
After a semester, Glenwell should be the only one in the Yewwood class. He has no story and no secrets.

"Um. Why did Professor Ritas become like this!?"

It was a long time since they reunited that Iris, whose brain had just recovered from its malfunction, asked this crucial question.

“There is no complicated reason behind this.”

Ritas temporarily stopped thinking about unnecessary things and began to explain how he became a giant fallen demon.

In fact, there is really no complicated reason.

When the maze began to change, he was attacked by a large number of monsters coming from all directions.

Moreover, these monsters are incomparable to those of other students in terms of both number and degree of danger.

The number of digits is different.

Thousands of sludge monsters, fallen demon larvae filling the sky, and countless shadow vines.
There were a large number of monsters, almost like an army of monsters, staring at Ritas, wanting to kill him.

Even Professor Ritas felt a little numb at the time.

Fortunately, opening the shield and running away were instincts ingrained in him. Furthermore, in a not-so-spacious maze, the sheer number of monsters, their chaotic and undisciplined nature, would lead to them turning on each other.

So, after a fierce battle that Ritas described as "I used some magic and managed to escape", Ritas put some distance between himself and the almost endless group of monsters.

But just increasing the distance was not enough for Ritas to escape.

All the monsters in the maze seemed to have their sights set on Ritas. As soon as Ritas appeared near them, they would hunt him down like crazy.

So, Ritas, who was chased to the point where he had no way out, used magic to disguise himself as a monster with the idea of giving it a try.

As a result, the monster never chased him again after that.

"Eh? The professor's current state is clearly far from being a fallen demon!"

I don’t know if Iris is more sensitive to large things, or if she is quite strict about disguise, she commented like this.

But obviously, this is a good thing.

"The fallen demons that have appeared now are only juveniles. According to my calculations, their mature bodies will look like this."

"We haven't encountered the shadow vines the professor mentioned yet."

"is it?"

After listening to Xia Lu's words, Ritas turned his eyes to Iris and got a confirming response. Moreover, Iris added that the monsters they encountered along the way were not as exaggerated as Ritas said.

Ritas, who looked like a fallen demon, scratched his "head" with his bat wings.

He looked at the surrounding terrain.

After getting rid of a huge number of monsters, he followed the guide map in his hand and came to Ritas in this area. He really had no idea about the situation in other places.

The reason why his experience is obviously different from others may be due to regional reasons?
As soon as this idea came to mind, it was rejected by Ritas, because on his map, he could see the existence of the red protective barriers on the students of the Yew Fir School.

The reason why he came to Iris and Xia Lu first was because the condition of Iris's protective wall on the map was the most dangerous.

Among all the monsters that Ritas encountered, those black tentacle-like shadow vines were undoubtedly the most powerful. They would emerge from any corner of the maze, such as the ground or the wall, at any time, and try to penetrate the target as swiftly and sharply as an arrow from a bow.

Therefore, although the other Yewwood School students who encountered the shadow vines might not necessarily suffer any misfortune, the preservation of their protective barrier would not be any better than that of the big and small duo who did not encounter the shadow vines.

"Professor, are you being targeted by the maze?"

"It's possible, but compared to those,"

Could you please stop touching me?
Elise, who kept rubbing her large eyeballs, whispered, "It's like real!" And Xia Lu, who, upon hearing that he had transformed into a monster through magic, had suddenly glowed, and kept poking herself with her fingers while observing him closely.

Ritas frowned in embarrassment.

"The idea of escaping from the maze by defeating the maze leader is a good one." After a while, Ritas began to use bat wings to draw a magic circle on a flat ground and gave a positive answer to Xia Lu's previous plan.

"But the question is whether we can defeat the maze leader."

"professor!"

Elise raised her hand.

Currently, they are in a strange maze, surrounded by many monsters, and even their instructor has turned into a "monster".

However, when Ritas began to speak slowly, Iris had the illusion that she was back in the classroom of Yew Fir School.

"Go ahead, Cadet Iris."

"Why, after the maze leader is defeated, does the maze provide an exit? Normally, shouldn't the maze want to trap the invader out of hatred?"

"Good question. Does Student Xia Lu have anything to say?"

In response to Ritas's question, Xia Lu just shook her head with an expression that said, "I'm just a sickly young lady and I don't understand anything about the maze."

"The key to this problem is that student Iris thinks that creatures like labyrinths are too smart. In fact, if the intelligence of labyrinths is really high, then most labyrinths will not be in a state where adventurers can do whatever they want. Therefore, you have to imagine labyrinth creatures as having only the lowest level of intelligence at the level of beasts. Then, think about this problem again. Suppose, you are a labyrinth, and an external invader is in your body, destroying your most powerful defense organ. Then, what are you thinking about now, is to take revenge on this invader or..."

"Get him out of the body!"

After Ritas habitually dragged out the last syllable, Iris naturally gave the correct answer.

After this simple question and answer, she finally figured out the operating logic of many mazes.

No wonder, after the maze leader is defeated, the maze is not "angry", but will respectfully prepare the dropped treasure chest and exit to send the opponent away.

Because it really felt fear.

"Of course, this phenomenon cannot be regarded as an absolute necessity. Since the labyrinth has an independent will, variables will definitely appear. If student Iris is interested in the labyrinth, I recommend buying a book that compiles the labyrinth research records of the 'sage' Ominus. Although many of the contents may be monotonous, you will definitely benefit a lot after reading it carefully."

Faced with questions from students, Ritas briefly entered mentor mode.

Xia Lu, on the other hand, thought that it would be great if Ritas could always stay in this form (with huge eyeballs) and teach in a real classroom.

It must be interesting.

"Let's get back to the original topic. Even if this maze really has a maze boss as expected, I don't think we can defeat it. In my opinion, the maze boss seems to be a terrifying monster that only large adventure groups are capable of defeating. Please tell me, student Xia Lu."

This time it was Xia Lu's turn to raise her hand.

"Professor, this maze is clearly not a normal high-level maze. It's not even a normal elementary or intermediate-level maze. The monsters unique to elementary mazes and the fallen demons unique to intermediate mazes all appear in their weak, newly born forms. So, if the maze leader also appears in a crippled form, I believe that as a great wizard, you, the professor, can completely deal with it."

Although Xia Lu said to let Ritas deal with the maze leader.

But whether it was her previous actions of searching for the maze leader or her current eagerness to try, it showed that defeating the maze leader of this abnormal maze was what she truly wanted to do.

"First of all, unlike adventurers or other professions, the title of 'Grand Mage' in the magic world does not represent a mage's combat power. I am just a civilian with limited abilities. I am unlikely to be able to deal with the maze boss."

"." "."

Iris and Xia Lu both showed subtle expressions at the same time.

They didn't think that Ritas was pretending, but they felt that it was not very convincing for him to say these things after he turned into a wizard with big eyeballs.

Although being a great wizard is a very distant realm for them at present, they still feel that there should be very few other great wizards who can do this except Ritas.

"Secondly, even if the maze boss is really in the 'newborn' state, it does not mean that it will become easier to deal with. Just like these fallen demon larvae."

As he spoke, a young fallen demon suddenly appeared behind Ritas, was cut into two pieces by the wind blade and fell to the ground.

"It's precisely because these young fallen demons can appear anywhere in the maze upon birth that they're more difficult to guard against. And because they're so weak, they can penetrate the protective barrier provided by the magic book's pages. I was just lucky that I wasn't dragged into the illusion by them."

So, how did they defend against the fallen demons that could appear out of nowhere without any warning?
Thinking back to how Xia Lu was able to capture the fallen Iris just as easily as Ritas, he began to wonder if he was the only one who was "not very good".

"So, I think what we need to do is leave a mark here. Then, defeating the maze leader will be the last resort to escape when there is really no other way. At this stage, we should stay away from this dangerous area and prioritize joining up with other people in the maze."

Ritas, who had basically completed the construction of the magic circle on the ground, was ready to take out the map and check again whether the positions of other students had changed.

The map was only flat, but after several turns, the maze became complex and three-dimensional. Therefore, even though Ritas could see the approximate location of the other students in the Yew Fir class on the map, it was hard to say whether he could catch up and find them.

As if to prove that the map in Ritas's hand was not credible, one of the red dots on the map representing the students of Yew Fir Wood School was moving at a very fast speed. Moreover, this movement was not continuous, but kept jumping like teleportation.

After several jumps, the red dot actually overlapped with the location of Ritas and others.

"."

Is this map still viewable?
Just as Ritas frowned, there was a sudden "bang".

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The mountain wall in the lava area was suddenly exploded from the inside by a fireball. Following a shout, a figure slid out from the newly appeared passage along with the quicksand.

The gap appeared near the top of the cave, so the figure slid along the passage to a high altitude, and when he fell rapidly, he saw a red lava lake below.

He twisted his body with all his might, waved his magic wand, and sent a ball of wind fiercely downwards.

The figure, having gained some buffer, began to use wind magic in succession. Although he looked quite embarrassed, he finally succeeded in finding a suitable place to stay.

"Miriam?"

Ritas and others quickly recognized the identity of the silver-haired boy.

"This voice is"

Miriam, who may have been in the relative darkness before, squinted her eyes because of the bright light around her.

He stood up, and before he could take a deep breath, he looked in the direction of the sound, and soon saw Iris's unusually large figure and
"Iris, Xia Lu! Danger, come, come to me!"

Miriam's expression suddenly changed, and she pointed the wand in her hand directly at the huge eyeball with a dull expression.
"That..." "Miriam, calm down, this is not a monster, but our professor!"

"Wake up, you are in a state of hallucination!"

As Miriam roared in anger, his wand began to shine with magical light.

Come again?

Inside the giant eyeball, Ritas, with his eyebrows twitching, was chased by Miriam for a long time.

(End of this chapter)