Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 122

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius — Chapter 122
Aaron went on to explain the detailed rules of the Practical Assessment.
It was now a little past noon, twelve o’clock, and the evaluation could be conducted until exactly midnight. When the time limit expired, Kizen would trigger a mass teleportation from wherever they were in the Deathland.
Aaron and the teaching assistants would establish a camp at this arrival point and wait. If a team brought a zombie to the camp by placing it in a Subspace, Aaron would conduct the evaluation, and that team could return to Kizen. Each team could receive an evaluation only once.
If problems arose during the search, the team leaders could use the Thung Pad issued to them to send a help request signal. Aaron or the teaching assistants would rush over immediately, but any further attempt at the exam would be considered a forfeit.
“The Deathland swarms with all manner of Undead. Especially wild, naturally-spawned Zombies.”
Aaron spoke up.
“Zombies are fundamentally Grade Two monsters, and there are even powerful individuals that exceed Grade Four. You’ve studied them well enough to know, but direct combat is not recommended.”
Simon, listening to the explanation, nodded.
Zombies were sensitive to sound, and fighting them would draw other zombies who heard the commotion. If you didn’t want to be surrounded by a horde, avoidance was the wisest course.
“Given how dangerous this place is, combat between Kizen students is strictly forbidden. And in the Deathland, there may be Corpse Traders who’ve come for materials, or other Necromancers. Avoid any involvement with them if possible—slip away. They’re genuinely far more unhinged than the Zombies themselves.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Then scatter.”
Aaron glanced at his Wristwatch as he spoke.
“The Practical Assessment for Class A Summoning begins now.”

* * *
The Deathland was less a forest than a vast city.
Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the outlines of buildings gradually emerged—a metropolis easily comparable in scale to Rangerstein, the great city.
But it was dark, dreary, and utterly devoid of human presence. It was nothing but an empty ghost city.
“Ugh… This atmosphere is insane, really.”
Dik glanced nervously around, his expression taut with tension.
Kamibarez gripped Simon’s sleeve tightly, and as he walked, she scurried after him in short steps. She seemed frightened, but whenever their eyes met, she’d let out a nervous little laugh.
“You okay, Kamibarez?”
“Yes!”
She answered brightly.
“It’s a scary place, but the four of us are all together like this, aren’t we? That alone gives me reassurance!”
“Right, let’s do our best together.”
Meanwhile, Merin showed more enthusiasm for exploring the city than anyone else. Striding boldly into the alleyways, she ran her palm across a wooden structure.
“It’s strange how the buildings have survived intact like this. Aside from the darkness and the Zombies, it just looks like an ordinary city.”
“Whoa, don’t just wander off like that!”
Dik yelped in alarm.
“How can you not be scared? Zombies lurk everywhere!”
Merin turned to Dik and smirked.
“Coward.”
……!
At that single word, Dik’s movements stiffened.
“Hey—hey! Coward, my foot! I’m a Necromancer of Kizen! Handling Zombies is my job, so there’s no way I’d be scared of them……”
Tap.
Merin kicked a nearby stone out of the way. Dik and Kamibarez, already on edge, let out startled cries and ducked behind Simon.
“If it really seems like you can’t go on, stay at the camp.”
Simon said with a wry smile.
“Merin and I will find a decent Zombie and come back.”
In fact, some students had been so paralyzed by fear that they refused to enter the Deathland at all. They remained at the camp under Aaron’s protection.
“N-no, we can’t do that!”
Kamibarez squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead firmly against Simon’s back.
“Please don’t abandon me! I’ll work hard!”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant……”
“We have to see this through to the end.”
Dik’s lips trembled, but he forced a smile.
“If I back out now, Merin will harp on about teamwork for the rest of the semester.”
“You know it.~”
With that answer, Merin rose on her toes and peered through a window.
“No one inside.”
“Well, of course not! There are no people here. Only the Undead, I’m telling you!”
“But Dik.”
Simon swept his gaze across the eerie, darkened city, then turned to Dik.
“Did people actually live here once, a long time ago?”
“……Huh? Yeah. Of course.”
Dik nodded and lowered his voice.
“Professor Aaron uses this place as a Practical Assessment site every year, but apparently there’s quite a bit of resistance to it within Kizen.”
“Because it’s dangerous?”
“That’s part of it, but this place is like Kizen’s shame—a stain they’d rather not acknowledge.”
Dick continued, his expression hardening.
“In fact, this used to be a city of the old Talhern Empire.”
Simon knew Talhern well enough.
An empire that had rebelled against Kizen, suffered the Rose Retribution at the hands of ten Necromancers, and ultimately been destroyed.
And Deathland, during the Talhern era, had been the second city—prosperous only after the capital itself.
“According to the history books, after the fifty-thousand-strong army that marched on Kizen returned to the capital as the undead—the Rose Retribution—the emperor was supposedly captured in the capital, right? But apparently that’s not what actually happened.”
Merin and Kamibarez had drawn closer, listening intently to Dick’s account.
“The emperor actually escaped the capital safely in the chaos, and he tried to find a new stronghold to resist Kizen. The place that was chosen as that stronghold was this Deathland. At the time, Deathland was ruled by a powerful Swordmaster of the empire, and there were substantial resident forces under his command. The emperor intended to use this place as a base to launch a massive counterattack.”
Deathland had been a fortress city, built on towering ramparts and a large population.
And with a Swordmaster capable of standing against high-ranking Necromancers, it was the perfect location for a prolonged campaign.
“Kizen feared the empire would regroup and turn against them, so they decided overwhelming terror was necessary. That’s why they dropped a terrifying strategic Dark Magic weapon on this territory.”
Dick shrugged and spread his arms.
“And it became what it is now.”
“……!”
Kamibarez covered her mouth, her expression rigid.
“Once the empire’s second city was wiped out by a single Dark Magic strike, the emperor completely lost his will to resist and surrendered to Kizen. That’s basically how it happened.”
Suddenly, silence fell over them. Merin placed her hands on her hips and spoke.
“But what choice did they have? If the emperor had safely entered this city, his own pride would’ve pushed every single citizen into the flames of war! A full-scale war between Kizen and the empire—that would’ve been a tragedy. Hundreds of millions would have died! The headquarters’ decision to cut it off before things spiraled out of control—I can accept that.”
“But…….”
Kamibarez spoke quietly.
“……The people of this city are pitiful.”
“Yeah, well, that part’s true.”
Merin sighed, acknowledging it. She’d said she could understand the strategic logic, but she didn’t claim the method itself was right.
“Anyway! Let’s drop the history lesson here. Back to business.”
Dick clapped his hands together.
“If we’re going to use Zombie Summoning Magic, the first step is finding corpses. Not every living thing in Deathland became a zombie. Some bodies that haven’t zombified yet are still lying around uncorrupted—finding those is our priority!”
Merin raised her hand.
“Then let’s start by searching the houses around here. We might find something.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“How about we do this?”
Simon suggested they split into Merin’s team and his own to speed up the work.
But.
“Hey! You’re not sending me off with that scatterbrain, are you? He’s useless!”
“We still have plenty of time. How about the four of us stick together? It’s such a dangerous place after all…….”
Actually, Simon found himself agreeing with Kamibarez—there was no pressing need to rush right now. Safety came before grades anyway.
Team 7 decided to search the houses together, all four of them intact.
Knock, knock.
Dick rapped on the door with an utterly serious expression.
“No one here, I presume? We’re coming in. Our apologies.”
“Stop showing off and get moving, you fool!”
Merin shoved Dick aside and strode confidently into the house. Simon followed, quickly surveying the interior.
It was just an ordinary home. This place had preserved its appearance from before the curse fell.
“Nothing on the second floor either!”
Merin came clattering down the stairs, uncertain when she’d gone up.
“Next house!”
“Roger that.”
The four of them methodically searched through the houses.
“Nothing here either!”
“Next!”
After nearly two hours of thorough searching, they’d found nothing at all.
“Wow, this is way more exhausting than I thought.”
“Let’s take a break here.”
Their energy was flagging, so they decided to rest.
The four entered a house and locked the door behind them. They sat in comfortable positions, pulling water bottles from their subspace and drinking to quench their thirst, when—
—Uuuuuuuuugh.
“Whoa! That scared me half to death!”
At the strange cry from outside, Dick rolled across the floor.
“Be quiet. Idiot!”
Merin pressed a finger to her lips in warning.
As the four of them fell silent and exchanged glances, a shuffling sound drifted in from outside the house.
Scritch-scritch—
It was very close. The footsteps were coming from right beside the window.
‘Right.’
Simon glanced at the window and gestured. All four of them immediately dropped flat to the floor.
As Simon’s eyes lifted, a silhouette appeared beyond the glass.
A corpse with a horrifically mangled face was moving past them.
“……!”
Kamibarez clapped her hand over her mouth. Dick fixed his gaze firmly on the floor, while Merin readied Dark Magic in case the situation escalated.
Thump-thump—
Their hearts pounded. The zombie turned its slack head and stared through the window. Its neck was torn open, the bone fully exposed beneath.
“…….”
“…….”
A tense silence settled over them, so thick it was hard to breathe.
Scritch-scritch—
Then, with that characteristic shuffling sound, the zombie moved away from the window.
“Phew—”
Sighs of relief erupted from every corner. Dick patted his shoulders and spoke.
“Man, I thought I was done for. That nearly took years off my life!”
Merin got to her feet.
“We should change locations. Zombies are starting to patrol here now, and searching this area further seems pointless. I think—”
Simon, who had been listening quietly, opened his eyes wide.
Behind Merin, something suddenly burst from the window frame of the storage door—a door that had been clearly empty just moments before.
“Watch out!”
A pallid gray hand, deathly white, clamped over Merin’s mouth and dragged her toward the storage door.
Crash!
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
She thrashed desperately. The zombie’s other arm was emerging through the bars.
Snap!
Simon was the first to react.
He shot forward like lightning and drove his elbow down hard on the arm that held Merin.
Bang!
The moment Merin slipped from the zombie’s grip, Dick threw his full weight against the door and slammed it shut.
—Screeeech!
The zombie flailed its arms through the bars of the storage door. Though the door was locked from the inside, one of its feet protruded beyond the frame.
The door rattled and groaned as though it might burst open at any moment.
“I’ve got this!”
<Blood Silk>
Kamibarez calmly completed her Dark Magic and sent a carpet of blood through the window bars.
Cleverly wrapping the carpet around the zombie’s neck, she pulled tight, and in that moment Dick pressed his palm against the doorframe.
‘Enchant!’
Dick reinforced the worn hinges with shadow aura.
“That’s good, Kamibarez!”
At Dick’s call, Kamibarez nodded and released the Blood Silk. The zombie shrieked and threw itself against the door once more.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
But the hinges, strengthened by the Enchant, held firm. The door did not open.
All four of them exhaled in unison, relief flooding through them.
Simon looked at Merin and asked, “You all right?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
She took his offered hand and stood. Dick scratched his head vigorously.
“Phew. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.”
“I’m sorry! I should have looked more carefully.”
“No, no. It’s fine.”
Even as fear clung to them all, Simon found himself thinking that this was what it meant to be a Kizen student—how swiftly they moved when danger struck.
He watched his companions with quiet pride, then turned his gaze toward the darkness outside. More and more inhuman shrieks were rising from the night.
“The zombies heard the commotion. We need to get out of here now.”
A single zombie was hardly a threat, but the danger lay in how the sound would draw others to converge on them. Everyone nodded grimly and prepared for escape.

Simon drew a long breath and gripped the doorknob.
“All right. I’m going.”
Everyone’s eyes fixed on the door. The moment Simon opened it and stepped outside.
‘……Oh!’
He came face to face with the zombies lurking just beyond the threshold.
Dick seized the table he’d been holding and hurled it at the zombies, shouting.
“Run!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————