Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 118
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Necromancer Academy’s Summoning Genius — Chapter 118
‘Wow.’
Simon caught a quick glimpse of the Arena from the Waiting Room and was taken aback. He’d heard there would be a large contingent of external observers today, but he hadn’t realized there would be this many people.
The stands were packed from the lowest seats right up to the very top. Students in Kizen uniforms sat below, while beyond the dividers were outsiders.
“Just so you know,”
Dick, who had wandered into the Waiting Room since it was an afternoon match, spoke while chewing gum loudly.
“All those people came to see your duel.”
“Huh?”
“The biggest draw at Arena 2 is without question the duel between Special Admissions 1 and 10. Looking at the matchups, you’re the only ones worth calling names. Everyone came to get a look at the mysterious Special Admission 1.”
Simon let out a bitter laugh.
“Come on, don’t psyche me out like that.”
“You perform better under pressure, don’t you? And besides, I’m just telling you to face reality clearly.”
Dick made a V-sign with his fingers and waved it in front of his eyes as he spoke.
“This is a cliff-edge match with no retreat. If you lose in front of this many spectators, rumors will spread across the entire continent that Special Admission 1 is nothing special! People might underestimate you without limit.”
Simon made a thoughtful sound and folded his arms.
“Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Simon!”
“Haha! Just joking. Anyway.”
Simon tapped Dick’s forearm playfully with a mischievous grin.
“Tell me. You’ve placed a bet yourself, haven’t you?”
Dick’s face went red. He averted his gaze and laughed sheepishly — the guilt was written all over him.
“Come on, spill it. Who did you bet on?”
“Oh, obviously on you! The thrill of gambling isn’t about… no, it’s because I trust my friend no matter what!”
Simon chuckled.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let your money disappear.”
“Ha, that’s reassuring! Thanks, Simon!”
As Dick said that, he glanced behind him.
“But who’s been back there? Come out.”
There was a presence Simon had already noticed from the back.
After hesitating for a moment, a female student quietly stepped forward.
“Kamibarez!”
It was her. She leaned against the wall, peeking her head out timidly.
Simon, recalling that she had an afternoon match, asked in surprise,
“Why did you come to the Arena already? Coming early just makes you nervous.”
“S-Simon!”
She squeezed her eyes shut and scurried over to him.
“D-do your best!!”
“…Huh?”
“No matter who your opponent is, you’ll win! You’re more than anyone I’ve ever—”
Her voice trembled as she repeated “more than anyone,” “more than anyone,” until it came out as a barely audible whisper.
“M-more than anyone, you’ve worked so hard!”
After those words, her courage seemed to run out entirely, and she crouched down, covering her face with her hands.
Whatever she’d originally prepared to say, it probably wasn’t “worked so hard,” but the stress Simon had been under because of the Duel Evaluation melted away like magic.
He knelt on one knee and spoke gently.
“Kamibarez.”
He called her name quietly and waited. A moment later, she lowered her hands and looked at him, her face flushed.
“Thank you. That really helped. I’m definitely going to win this Duel Evaluation.”
“…Yes, Simon!”
The atmosphere felt like something shouldn’t be interrupted.
Dick snickered and quietly slipped out of the Waiting Room.
“Huh?”
Merin was waiting outside the Waiting Room, her arms crossed and her back against the wall.
She’d been staring at the wall with a complex expression until she noticed Dick, and her face flushed as she mouthed words.
‘Why are you coming out of there, you idiot!’
“Huh?”
‘You have zero sense of timing, seriously!’
Dick chuckled and lowered his voice.
“I have perfect timing, that’s why I left.”
“Whatever.”
With that, Merin turned coolly and walked away.
“Merin.”
“What?”
Dik gestured toward the Waiting Room where Simon was.
“You can leave without saying a word to him?”
She faltered at that.
Her gaze flickered toward the Waiting Room where Simon sat, then she exhaled as if resigned to something.
“And that’s exactly why you’re so impossibly thick.”
Merin continued down the Corridor as she spoke.
Dik watched her go, one hand propping up the back of his head.
* * *
-Class A student Simon Poletia and M-Class student Malcolm Randolph, please proceed to the Arena.
Time passed quickly.
The moment Simon emerged from the Waiting Room into the Arena, a roar erupted from the crowd.
“Go! Special Admission Number One!”
“I’ve got money on you!”
Malcolm came out from the opposite Waiting Room, already fastening his Protective Suit as he prepared.
Their eyes met. Malcolm smiled crookedly; Simon showed no reaction.
Soon after, the Arena was cleaned and the break ended. Spectators returned from the restrooms, and crowds from other arenas began pouring in to watch the duel between the special admission students.
Dik and Kamibarez secured seats in a corner of the stands, and Merin joined them after her match finished.
The result was naturally victory. She high-fived both of them in good spirits, then dropped into her seat.
“Hey, how’s Simon looking physically?”
“Seems fine so far.”
Dik answered with his arms crossed.
“The real question is how much he’s mastered his Overlord Control.”
Shortly after, at the referee’s signal, Simon and Malcolm stepped forward onto the Arena floor.
“Both competitors, shake hands.”
The two approached and clasped hands.
Squeeze.
Malcolm applied pressure to the handshake. Simon spoke with an expressionless face.
“You’re at it again after what happened at the Mansion.”
“I never forget someone who humiliated me.”
Malcolm continued with a crooked smile.
“And there are plenty of others besides me who think you’ve humiliated them.”
Simon’s gaze shifted to the Dresden Royal Crest Artifact hanging from Malcolm’s neck.
“I can see why.”
Malcolm’s expression hardened. Simon, in turn, began applying pressure to the handshake. Malcolm gritted his teeth and squeezed back hard.
“Make this a good match.”
Simon spoke with a smile.
“I’ll make sure this is the worst day of your life in front of a packed house.”
Malcolm laughed as well.
Both released their grip simultaneously and turned away.
“Students! Are you both ready?”
At the referee’s question, both nodded in unison and lowered their stances.
“Then, we will now begin the Duel Evaluation between Class A student Simon Poletia and M-Class student Malcolm Randolph.”
Roooaaarrr!
Simon was startled by the cheers erupting from all sides.
Even now, the scale of the crowd was almost beyond description.
On the lower level sat not only his Team 7 members, but his friends from Class A, Hector’s faction, second-year students, Benya and members of the Mutation Club all in one section, and above them were nobility in fine clothes and scouts frantically moving their Quill Pens.
‘This is serious.’
Simon smiled wryly and wiped the sweat collecting in his palm. For the first time in a Duel Evaluation, he felt genuinely nervous.
The referee, glancing back and forth between Simon and Malcolm, lowered his raised arm from above his head.
“Begin!”
His cry snapped Simon’s focus into place.
Simon pushed his Core to full power, drawing Darkness from his entire body, while Malcolm raised the Silver Staff in his hand and planted it firmly.
Thud!
He brought it down onto the ground. A massive Dark Element Magic Circle unfurled from the staff’s center.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this stage. Simon Poletia.”
Click, click, click!
The Magic Circle on the ground began unfolding at a terrifying speed. Watching that deployment rate, Simon understood.
It wasn’t something Simon had just learned since arriving at Kizen, nor something he’d practiced only once or twice.
His true signature technique—cast thousands upon thousands of times until he could perform it with his eyes closed.
Everyone in the Arena watched with wide eyes as Special Admission rank 10 deployed his Dark Magic.
From the massive magic circle on the ground, figures identical to Malcolm emerged and scattered outward.
The real and the fake were indistinguishable. The clothing, hairstyle, gait—all identical. In an instant, over twenty Malcolms flooded the Arena.
“A Doppelgänger user!”
“The rumors were true.”
Murmurs erupted from all directions.
Among the excited spectators, Merin’s expression was one of pure bewilderment.
“What on earth is that?”
“It’s Malcolm’s signature technique—Doppelgänger.”
Dick, sitting beside her, offered the explanation.
“Malcolm gained special admission to Kizen using only that one Dark Magic spell, took control of M-Class, and has maintained the top rank in every Practical Assessment.”
Simply put, Doppelgänger was Dark Magic that created innumerable summoned beings identical to the caster, but Malcolm had transcended that level entirely.
Through his Doppelgängers, Malcolm could see, hear, and even smell. They possessed excellent combat abilities, and the technique was so refined that the original body was indistinguishable from the copies.
Considering that fellow first-year students at Kizen could only control three to four Skeletons, Doppelgänger—which created an endless stream of summons regardless of number—was Dark Magic at its most extreme.
Of course, in Kizen’s second and third years when all students were leveled upward, the technique might become somewhat less dominant, but at least during first year, sheer numbers were the trump card.
It was why Malcolm, despite being Special Admission rank 10, was evaluated as having superior combat power to other special admission students nearby in rank.
“To defeat Malcolm, you’d need either a wide-range Dark Magic capable of sweeping away both original and copies in one strike, or Detection Magic that can identify the real body. Otherwise, you’d need a Cancellation-type Curse that can directly neutralize the Doppelgänger spell itself.”
At Dick’s words, Kamibarez’s expression grew heavy with concern.
“But Simon doesn’t have any of those, does he!”
“That’s why the second-years are betting eight-to-two. Doppelgänger is either crushingly easy to beat or virtually impossible—there’s no middle ground.”
Malcolm’s Doppelgängers continued to multiply. Simon activated his Core to one hundred percent, sharpening his concentration, then walked calmly toward Malcolm.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Malcolm smirked.
“Walking in without a range spell?”
Simon shrugged.
“So what.”
“Arrogant bastard!”
Malcolm sent over twenty Doppelgängers charging forward simultaneously. Only then did Simon finally come to a halt.
He planted his left foot on the ground. An imaginary magic circle unfurled around it as his pivot point, then solidified as he poured in Dark Element. At the same moment, Malcolm’s Doppelgängers surrounded him in a perfect circle.
“What are you doing? Special Admission rank 1!”
“He’s surrounded! They’re coming from all sides!”
Twenty Doppelgängers lunged at Simon simultaneously. Eyes closed, concentrating intensely, Simon’s eyes suddenly snapped open.
‘Gate Opening!’
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A pocket dimension tore open around Simon. Just as the Doppelgängers reached his face—
Screeeetch!
Screeeetch!
The legs of an Overlord—composed of metal and bone—erupted from the pocket dimension. The blades slashed through the surrounding Doppelgängers, rising in a protective circle around Simon.
Every single Doppelgänger that charged in was shredded to pieces, scattering like coal dust into the air and vanishing.
“Wow! What, what is that!”
“That’s insane!”
The crowd erupted in explosive cheers. Even Malcolm stood motionless, his jaw hanging open.
‘That’s Dark Magic?’
Then one of the blades encircling Simon suddenly lashed out toward Malcolm’s original body.
“Gah!”
Malcolm yelped and staggered backward.
Scrambling to dodge, he lost his balance and fell hard on his rear. The blade whipped out like a whip, destroying additional Doppelgängers, then wrenched the staff Malcolm had planted into the ground free and hurled it skyward.
BOOM!
Malcolm’s staff drove straight through the Arena’s ceiling. The blades made a sharp metallic sound as they withdrew back into Simon’s pocket dimension.
Simon emerged from behind the forest of blades, a calm smile on his face.
“Range spell—what’s it matter now?”
ROOOAAAAR!
The crowd erupted from every corner of the Arena in thunderous applause.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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