Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 287

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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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Summoning Genius of the Necromancer Academy Chapter 287
The darkness of the forest lay unusually thick.
In the heart of the woods, where the mournful cry of an owl echoed, Simon’s carriage finally came to a halt.
The horse that had been pulling it had reached the limit of its exhaustion.
Though its wounds had healed, the animal was simply too tired, lying collapsed on the ground with no will to continue. They had no choice but to make camp, or abandon the carriage and proceed on foot.
Since camping meant checking the surrounding area for danger first, Simon volunteered to scout alone.
‘No droppings or footprints. There don’t seem to be any monsters nearby.’
Rustle.
Just then, the grass stirred. With his hearing sharpened by the darkness of night, Simon immediately fired a round from the Bone Armor-Handgun mounted on his arm.
Crack!
Something shattered with a sound as if struck by the bullet.
Simon rushed toward the spot at once.
Pushing through the underbrush, he found something white and mechanical. A bone was lodged through its center body, and when he extracted it and examined the interior, he found a holy magic circle drawn there.
[A Creature, then.]
Pier, experienced in these matters, recognized the thing.
[It’s a type of summoned beast the Priests use for reconnaissance.]
‘So Efnel really is chasing after us, it seems.’
[Khkhkh, judging by the fact they planted a Creature first, there’s still some distance between us, but we’ll be caught before long.]
Simon nodded.
‘We should abandon camp and move immediately.’

* * *
Meanwhile, at the front of the carriage, two voices clashed sharply.
“We need to rest properly today and set out tomorrow morning at least!”
Merin argued for making camp.
“Given the urgency of the operation, we must move at once. Wake Sasha!”
Seywir insisted they move on foot.
“That’s ridiculous! What can we do leaving the forest without a carriage? And Sasha is injured!”
At Merin’s cry, Kamibarez nodded timidly in agreement.
Sasha clung close to her side.
“If she cannot walk, you can carry her, can you not?”
“No, that’s not the point here!”
Merin began to openly confront Seywir.
“You may not have been, but all of us engaged in combat just hours ago. We’re exhausted! And if you’d had the Communication Crystal to stay connected with Vengence headquarters from the start, we wouldn’t need to agonize over this at all! We could simply request reinforcements!”
“It fell from my grasp during the intensity of battle. Heaven has not favored us, it seems, but this too is merely one of the countless variables in the field.”
“You didn’t help us at all while we were fighting, so what urgency are you—!”
Seywir shook his head back and forth sharply, then swept his bangs back with the back of his hand.
“If you continue to undermine teamwork like this, you should be prepared for the lowest score. Agent Merin.”
Merin’s fists trembled.
She couldn’t exactly strike him for this.
Suspicious as he seemed, she had no evidence to prove his lie.
Crack-crack-crack.
Just then, the sound of footsteps rustling through the grass was heard, and Simon returned from his reconnaissance.
“What happened?”
Simon, sensing the awkward atmosphere, asked.
“Simon! Say something!”
Merin approached and spoke quietly in his ear.
“Just back me up! He keeps talking about scores and pressing down like this!”
Simon nodded readily and stepped closer to Seywir.
“Based on my reconnaissance, I believe camping would be difficult.”
When Simon sided with Seywir, Merin clamped her mouth shut, while Seywir touched his bangs smugly.
“As expected, Agent Simon is reasonable! Your teamwork score will—”
“I found something.”
Simon opened his palm and showed them what looked like a doll’s fragment.
Everyone’s expression froze.
“This… this is a Creature, right? They’re really chasing us.”
Pier spoke with a troubled expression. Simon dropped the remains of the Creature to the ground and nodded.
“Before we fight the Priests, we need to settle the problem within first.”
“The problem within?”
“Yes.”
Simon turned his gaze away.
“Agent Seywir.”
“Yes?”
“Did you genuinely lose the Communication Crystal, or did you never bring it in the first place?”
At Simon’s words, everyone’s attention shifted. Seywir’s expression darkened with displeasure.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Agent Simon.”
“I’m asking whether you’re truly our mentor Necromancer, Agent Seywir.”
There had been plenty of odd details.
When Simon first arrived in the Neutral Zone and sought out Seywir to speak with him, he’d glimpsed writing in the letter—faint, but legible.
The name written there wasn’t Seywir’s, but someone else’s.
Beyond that, when they’d been attacked by the Priests in Kelso Village where Sasha lived, the ground had fractured and shattered—chaos everywhere—yet when they returned later, everything was pristinely restored.
The villagers around them had been far too composed. Lawless Zone or not, there had been combat within the village, yet they’d calmly laid out mats and peddled their wares as if nothing had happened. That wasn’t strange at all.
And Seywir hadn’t participated in this battle at all, claiming to have carelessly forgotten the Communication Crystal that would have verified his identity.
It was suspicious in every way.
Until now, Simon hadn’t pressed the matter, but with Efnel’s attack imminent, he’d decided that eliminating uncertainty was the wisest course.
Seywir, upon hearing Simon’s account, gave a hollow laugh and shrugged.
“That’s pure conjecture—nothing but your paranoia, Agent Simon.”
…….
“We’re doing well as it is. We’ve secured the target we were tasked to retrieve. I don’t understand why you’d want to shatter trust between agents and destroy our teamwork at a time like this. Keep this up and I’ll have no choice but to give you the lowest possible score…….”
“You may do so.”
Simon’s blunt reply made everyone’s eyes widen.
“Instead, I’ll testify before Kizen’s Disciplinary Committee that you were never qualified to be my mentor in the first place.”
“What?”
Simon lifted his head.
“I’m challenging you to a duel, Agent Seywir.”
“Simon!!”
“Hey, hey! Why are you suddenly—”
Kamibarez and Dick tried to stop him, but Simon waved them off with a reassuring smile.
“Kizen operates on pure meritocracy. If my mentor is weaker than I am, the Academy itself will validate my words.”
“That’s an insult I cannot overlook.”
Whoooooooosh!
An enormous shadow aura erupted from Seywir’s body.
“I am a Necromancer of Rank 3 Federal Certification, belonging to Vengence! I will not tolerate further disrespect!”
As Simon slowly drew up his own shadow aura, Merin gasped and grabbed his arm.
“But Efnel’s coming! This isn’t the time for us to fight each other!”
“It’ll be over quickly. Don’t worry.”
Simon spoke in a soothing tone and stepped toward Seywir.
“This is your final chance, Agent Simon!”
He warned gravely.
“I have been granted lawful command authority over your unit by Kizen itself. Apologize at once and submit to my orders!”
“If that’s what you wish, then show me your strength.”
Simon took another step forward.
“How dare you!!”
Seywir unfurled a Magic Circle in his palm and unleashed Dark Magic. Behind him, murky smoke flowed like a cape, spreading across the ground like a carpet, and from within it emerged hazy figures of giants.
Dick couldn’t help but cry out in admiration.
“It’s the Summoning Spirit Descent technique! Six of them, no less!”
In contrast to Prince Andre, a second-year student from Kizen whom Simon had fought once before and who had summoned only a single spirit, Seywir had conjured six summons.
“This is truly your final opportunity.”
Seywir brushed his bangs up with the back of his hand, lifted his chin, and looked down at Simon.
“Stand down.”
Simon ignored him and kept walking forward. Seywir’s pupils wavered—he’d expected Simon to back away by now.
“Ahem! Ah, it’s still not too late! If you withdraw now, I will graciously spare you……!”
“Let’s continue. It’s a duel, after all.”
“This is truly, truly the last time!”
As the situation took an odd turn, the four onlookers blinked in confusion.
“Don’t test my patience! Stop right there, Simon Polentia!”
Simon paid no attention. Seywir finally lowered his arm sharply.
“Commence!!”
Six summons swung their weapons forward.
Swoooosh!
And it came to a hair’s breadth from Simon’s throat before stopping. His teammates let out startled cries.
But Simon took it further. Boldly, he pressed his own neck against the Summoned Spirit’s weapon. Yet no blood flowed, no flesh was cut—his body simply passed through as if it weren’t there.
“Illusion Magic.”
Simon reached out to touch the Summoned Spirit’s body, but again his hand passed right through. Everyone watching stared in shock.
“You deceived us from the start with illusions, didn’t you? From the empty letter, to the fight with the Priests in the village—all of it.”
“Ugh……!”
Seywir’s face flushed crimson as he took a step back, and then he turned and bolted into the forest.
Whoosh!
In that instant, an Enchanted rope shot through the air and bound Seywir’s legs.
He cried out and tumbled to the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going~”
It was Dick.
Seywir was dragged across the ground, face down, until he reached the students and Sasha.
“Wait, wait, Agent Dick! Surely you trust me……!”
“Ugh—the more I think about this, the worse it gets.”
Dick ground his heel into Seywir’s back with brutal force, his voice cold.
“You were toying with us from the beginning?”
“I-I’m sorry! That’s not……!”
“Get out of the way, commoner.”
Merin clenched her fists and stepped forward.
“I’ve got business with him too.”
“Agh! Please!”
“Hold on a moment, everyone.”
Simon intervened. Merin spun around, shouting.
“No, don’t stop me!”
“Let’s hear what happened first—the whole story, front to back. We can beat him later.”
“So beating him is already decided then!”
In the end, the man who claimed to be their mentor was subdued by the students, bound tightly with rope, and forced to confess everything.
Seywir had been at Vengence for only one year as a newcomer. His claim of being Rank 3 was a lie; he was actually a first-year Necromancer of Rank 1. Naturally, his graduation from Kizen was also fabricated—he was a dropout from Alland Necromancer Academy.
As a professional Necromancer, he fell short in many respects, but in one field alone—Illusion Magic—he had earned some recognition and was tasked with reconnaissance missions by Vengence.
Yet despite his usual boasting, his work was riddled with mistakes, and rumors spread through Vengence that he was incompetent.
His boss at Vengence had raked him over the coals, telling him to forget any dreams of promotion to Rank 2.
Eventually, Seywir learned his name was on the list of employees to be terminated in the second half of the year. If he was fired from Vengence with that mark on his record, he knew no one in the Necromancer industry would hire him again.
He had to survive. To survive, he had to earn some credit.
And then, by chance, two major jobs came to Vengence recently.
The dispatch of Kizen students, and the recovery of a promising Saint Candidate.
A brilliant idea struck Seywir. Rather than wait to be fired, he would succeed at both tasks himself.
Seywir lay hidden in the village waiting for the Kizen students to arrive, and the moment they entered the Neutral Zone, he cast an Illusion Magic spell to draw them to him.
Then he deceived them into thinking he was a mentor, got them to follow him, and decided to have them accomplish one of the crucial tasks: securing the Saint Candidate.
He would leave the mission entirely to the capable Kizen students while he kept his distance under the pretext of instruction. And sure enough, they proved their Kizen excellence and successfully secured Sasha.
He had believed that if he returned to Vengence headquarters now and declared the mission accomplished, his boss and colleagues would see him in a new light.
“……This is insane. Completely insane.”
Instead, his true identity was exposed by the students, and now he was bound hand and foot with rope.
Merin crouched before him, speaking coldly.
“Is Kizen a joke? Is a mission a joke? Because of your greed, what kind of hell have we gone through?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
The arrogant Seywir had shed every shred of pride in just a few minutes and now lay flat on the ground, submitting.
Merin stared at him savagely, her anger unabated. Dick chimed in as well.
“Why don’t we just say it was combat damage, tie him to a tree, and leave him? Give the monsters a meal.”
Tears welled rapidly in Seywir’s eyes.
“Please! Spare me! I’ve committed a grave sin! My life—just spare my life……!”
Then Simon stepped forward.
“I’d like to press him further, but we’re out of time. Before Efnel’s pursuit becomes serious, we need to escape to somewhere safe.”
Simon looked down at Seywir.
“Agent Seywir. There’s something you need to do for us.”
“W-What is it? I’ll do anything if it means I can live!”
Simon smiled like a demon.
“Be our bait.”

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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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