Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 28

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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 School’s Summoning Prodigy – Chapter 28
The Sentinels’ lantern light crept ever closer. The hounds sniffing at the ground were tightening the noose around them.
‘Come out.’
Simon pulled a Skeleton from his Subspace. He issued a hold command and had it lie flat in the grass.
“Kami. Over here.”
Simon grabbed the trembling wrist of Kami Barez and lowered his stance. As soon as a sweep of lantern light passed, he pulled her from behind the tree toward a wide boulder.
He then summoned another Skeleton from his Subspace and had it lie flat as well. Currently, Simon could control a maximum of two Skeletons.
‘I have to use everything I can.’
Simon scooped up stones from the ground and stuffed them into his Subspace while his eyes darted frantically, absorbing as much tactical information as possible.
How many Sentinels there were. How many carried lanterns. The weapons they used. The breed of the hounds, their habits, the terrain, the direction of the wind, the sound of water flowing through the Valley.
For now, the wind was at their backs, so the hounds were floundering—but wind direction could shift at any moment.
It was time to make his move.
‘Now!’
Simon’s eyes snapped open. The Skeleton lying flat beneath the tree suddenly lurched to its feet and bolted.
“There!”
The Sentinels responded immediately, and the hounds howled and gave chase to the Skeleton.
“Send half after it! The rest keep moving forward!”
“The other dogs are still tracking the scent!”
True professionals of the hunt—they didn’t fall for the trick so easily. Simon sent the Skeleton crouching behind the boulder into motion instead.
“That’s the real one!”
“Get it!”
The Sentinels and hunters surged toward the side.
“Kami, run!”
Now was the moment. Simon and Kami Barez burst from their hiding place behind the rock and sprinted in the opposite direction.
‘We didn’t shake them completely. There are still some on our tail!’
As they ran desperately, Simon glanced back. Several Sentinels were pursuing them in earnest.
“Keep going, Kami!”
“Yes!”
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
The scent-tracking hounds were tearing through the grass toward them. No matter how fast a human ran, they couldn’t outpace a hound.
“Kami! Cast Blood-type Magic in the direction the hounds are coming from—anything will do!”
“Got it!”
Kami Barez cast Dark Magic while running. A small magic circle bloomed at her fingertip, spurting forth crimson blood.
She twisted her waist and swept her arm backward, and the dark-streaked blood spray caught the wind, scattering across the grass.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump-thump!
A deep, growling snarl.
Vampire blood carried a scent so potent it was used as a base ingredient in fine perfumes.
The hounds grew frenzied at the rich, heady aroma and began tearing at the grass. In that window, Simon and Kami Barez picked up speed and pulled ahead.
Thud! Thud!
His heart hammered with tension. Simon was starting to worry about Kami Barez’s stamina, but she ran with stubborn determination, staying close behind him.
“There they are!”
A lantern’s beam swept across Simon and Kami Barez’s backs. At the same moment, the sound of a bowstring being drawn taut cut through the air.
Thwack!
Crack!
Arrows suddenly flew at them and embedded themselves in the ground. Kami Barez let out a short cry.
“They… they actually shot! What do we do?”
“It’s fine.”
Simon spoke calmly.
“They saw our School Uniform. No matter what, their men won’t wound Kizen students.”
Just as Simon said, the arrows were landing well away from the direction they were running. It was clearly just warning fire.
“Those bastards…”
“Stop! I said stop!”
As if. Simon grinned and pulled an imaginary lever.
Boom!
The ground split open, and the Subspace released the stones he’d stored inside at maximum force. It was nothing more than a stone barrage, but the pursuing Sentinels mistook it for Dark Magic and halted, tensing defensively.
“Kami, this way!”
“Coming!”
Thanks to Simon’s quick thinking, they’d bought a little more time.
It seemed like they’d been running without direction, but in truth, Simon had been following the sound of water. At last, they reached the Valley.
‘Damn.’
But of all places, it had to be a cliff. Far below, a valley stream trickled and babbled, and the opposite ridge stretched at a considerable distance.
“Kami! Remember that Leap Technique from Martial Combat Studies? Can you use it?”
Her face had gone ashen. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
She was one of two students who’d failed to clear the cliff during that lesson.
Yelp! Yelp!
But there was no time to hesitate. Even now, the hounds’ barking and the lantern light crept steadily closer.
“Simon. I’ll be fine.”
Kami Barez forced a smile and pushed against Simon’s chest.
“Go ahead. Even if I’m caught, I’ll never tell them anything about you.”
“My apologies.”
Simon rushed toward her like lightning, swept her into his arms, and spun on his heel—racing across the grassy field without pause.
‘Treading the Darkness Sense!!’
Boom!
Black smoke erupted from his feet like a detonation, and Simon took to the air.
Below: a bottomless precipice. Above: the enormous face of a full moon.
Cold headwind rushed past. Beneath his legs, nothing but void.
For an instant, Simon felt something like perfect freedom—then his body began to fall.
Whoosh!
He scraped against the earth and landed on the far ridge by the narrowest margin.
Simon scrambled down the slope and set Kami Barez on her feet. Both of them pressed themselves flat against the ground.
“Where are they?”
“Gone!”
Above their heads, lantern light swept back and forth. For several minutes the beam combed the area thoroughly, then finally withdrew.
“Let’s head that way.”
“Move! They couldn’t have gone far!”
Yelp! Yelp! Yelp!
The light and barking grew more distant, and soon all sound faded completely. Simon exhaled in relief.
“Phew… Kami, are you hurt?”
Kami Barez stared as if dazed. When her eyes met Simon’s, tears began to well up.
“What’s wrong? Are you injured—?”
Startled, Simon raised himself on his elbows. She shook her head and wiped her eyes roughly with her sleeve.
“I thought we were done for. Thank you. Thank you for saving me…!”
She broke into sobs. Simon said nothing, only patted her shoulder.
‘She was terrified the whole time, yet she told me it was fine if she got caught?’
He was beginning to understand what kind of person she was.
After a time, Kami Barez composed herself. They rose and brushed the dirt from their school uniforms.
“Let’s head back. We’ll need to take a wider route to avoid the sentinels—is that all right?”
“Yes.”
The two of them stepped back into the darkened forest.
They couldn’t risk being spotted by monsters or sentinels, so they left the lantern unlit. At least the moon was bright enough to be grateful for.
They’d been walking through the forest for about an hour.
‘…Where on earth are we?’
Walking without focus, they’d wandered far deeper into the woods than intended.
The forest had taken on a desolate character Simon hadn’t seen before. The trees grew taller as they progressed, their dense canopies shutting out the night sky. Pairs of eyes—whether beasts or monsters, he couldn’t tell—appeared and vanished repeatedly. Eerie cries made his shoulders jump, nerves on edge.
The midnight forest held something primal, something that stirred human fear in a way that made him almost prefer capture by the sentinels.
Even Kami Barez, who was a vampire, seemed gripped by terror. She clutched the hem of Simon’s sleeve and glanced nervously about.
‘I have the map memorized, but I can’t figure out where we are.’
It felt as though they were walking in circles, bewitched by some phantom force. No matter how far they went, the forest seemed unchanged.
‘I’m exhausted. My body temperature keeps dropping. What do I do?’
“…Simon.”
Kami Barez spoke, her face now ghostly pale.
“Do you hear that sound?”
“An owl?”
“No.”
Pressing herself against Simon, she whispered, her voice trembling with fear.
“A person… a voice…”
“…”
Simon fell silent and focused his hearing.
Certainly.
Faint, but audible.
He couldn’t tell whether it was a wild beast, a monster, or a human—only that some unintelligible sound kept repeating itself, over and over.
“Let’s go.”
He’d heard that people lived in the forests of Rocksum. If it was human, they might be able to ask for help. The two exchanged a nod and moved forward toward the voice.
-#$#@%@#^@.
As they walked, he focused his hearing. Gradually, bit by bit, the voice grew clearer.
-@$%@^have mercy @%#$^.
-$†°†take away fate @%@$$^almighty @$@%Mother.
The voice was cold, monotone, and hollow.
-$††@^we worship @%@$$^and holy.
What in the world is this?
He furrowed his brow, concentrating harder on the words.
“……Simon.”
Simon flinched.
Kami Barez’s face was twisted with terror, tears streaming down her cheeks. Yet her mouth twitched upward at the corners, trembling in a way that was almost grotesque.
“What’s wrong? Kami.”
“……We need to run.”
-#$^$#*#You alone, exalted Mother %@%* glory.
“……We have to get out of here.”
“Run? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Ah. Ugh. Ahhh. Ahhhhh……!”
She convulsed, thrashing about. Simon steadied her and bolted in the opposite direction from where the voice came.
But the voice only drew closer.
-@#$@#Grant us mercy. The sins of the world#@$@#$@.
Pushing through the undergrowth in a panic, Simon finally reached the source of the voice.
There was an Altar.
Someone in a long grey robe lay prostrate on the ground.
Both arms pressed to the earth, palms turned upward to the sky.
Hanging from above the Altar were unidentifiable objects and animal entrails, and beneath them a beast impaled through the chest with a Dagger writhed as an Offering. Thick blood pooled around it, staining everything a gruesome red.
And at the center of the Altar.
Something large rested there.
Simon knew what it was, but he could not believe it.
Something that should never be in Rocksum.
Something that should never be in Kizen.
A Cross.
A Cross. Why is a Cross here?
Hanging from the Cross was a naked woman in a grotesque state, her body smothered in thorned vines.
The figure prostrate beneath the Altar rose from the waist, chanting prayers, then pressed himself back to the ground in worship, both palms stretched toward the heavens.
Simon felt the blood drain from his body, turning ice cold.
‘……Priest!’
Priest was here, in Kizen.
Kneeling in Kizen’s territory, bowing, chanting prayers.
‘We have to get away.’
He had seen what he should never have seen.
If he was discovered, it was over.
Kami Barez was paralyzed with pure terror at the sight. Mercifully, both her hands clamped over her mouth, stifling any sound.
Simon draped an arm around her shoulders and turned to leave.
Crack.
Grass on the ground crackled underfoot.
Priest’s prayer halted mid-motion.
“…….”
“…….”
Simon felt his throat dry up. He twisted his neck slowly, turning to look back.
‘!!!’
Priest stood motionless, staring directly at them.
From within the darkness of the inverted robe, his eyes gleamed as though burning with light.
Simon’s legs tensed.
“Run!”

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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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