Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 423

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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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Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius — Chapter 423
“There’s no need to belabor this with tedious explanations. Let’s cut straight to the core.”
Rette turned to the very last page of her notebook as she spoke.
“The core being?”
“The true nature of the severe cold.”
She tapped the Quill Pen held between her fingers.
“This severe cold blanketing the region isn’t the Snow Maiden’s wrath, nor is it some temporary climate shift.”
“Then what do you think it is?”
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“Dungeon Abnormal Phenomena.”
Simon already knew the concept.
The moment a dungeon manifests on the continent, inexplicable calamities that defy natural explanation occur in its vicinity.
Scholars across the continent defined such phenomena as Dungeon Abnormal Phenomena.
“Have you ever been inside a dungeon?”
“Yes. Quite recently, actually.”
Simon had witnessed Dungeon Abnormal Phenomena firsthand.
During the Promotion Evaluation—the final exam of his first year—when they’d traveled by boat to that volcanic island.
It was supposedly a peaceful place where native inhabitants lived. Yet despite its geological structure making eruptions impossible, a massive volcano had detonated.
And from within the magma’s heart emerged a portal leading to the dungeon. He still remembered vividly how the entire first-year class had dove into the lava.
“Then the story moves faster from here.”
Rette seized the Quill Pen and began sketching a cave atop a mountain peak across her notebook.
“When I illuminated the mountainside with White Magic days ago, the cave you saw was roughly like this, yes?”
“…You really can do anything, can’t you?”
Rette’s sketches were masterful. She tapped the end of the Quill Pen against the drawing.
“I believe this cave is the dungeon’s entrance.”
Simon nodded and folded his arms across his chest.
“I think so too. If that prediction holds, destroying the dungeon would end these Abnormal Phenomena, wouldn’t it?”
“It should.”
Rette closed her eyes and took a slow sip of tea with steam curling from its surface. It smelled warmly of grain.
“This dungeon has likely existed uncleared for quite some time. The Abnormal Phenomena reaches across the mountain ranges all the way to Kula—so it’s been at least several decades.”
“And what about the Snow Maiden legend and the Mizenashi people?”
“I mentioned that fairy tale earlier, didn’t I? What do you think their true purpose is?”
Simon closed his eyes and fell into thought.
“Revenge.”
His mouth opened.
“Against Kula Village, for driving them into this frozen Snowfield Mountain Range.”
Instead of answering, Rette opened her palm with a knowing smile. The two of them high-fived with a sharp clap.
“Correct. Kula was originally inhabited by the Mizenashi people. But they were deceived and cast out to this Snowfield, and now they harbor vengeance against Kula.”
She raised the Quill Pen and drew a circle around the cave she’d sketched moments before.
“As they sharpened their blade of vengeance, one day they stumbled upon this dungeon in the Snowfield by chance. And they decided to exploit the Abnormal Phenomena it causes. The Snow Maiden legend? The Snow Maiden’s wrath? All of it—every word—is a fabrication by the Mizenashi. It’s a deception meant to hide the dungeon’s true identity.”
When dungeons are discovered within the Sacred Federation, the organization dispatches knights and priests and treasure hunters to form conquest teams.
So the Mizenashi would have gone to great lengths to conceal the dungeon. Once it’s destroyed, their revenge against Kula becomes impossible.
“Look at this.”
Rette dropped torn scraps of paper from her Subspace storage bag onto the table.
“We found these stuck to rocks when we searched the Snowfield yesterday.”
“What is it?”
“A Talisman. A Barrier using pure elemental magic. It creates illusions or causes people to lose their way.”
Simon carefully examined the fragments of the Talisman.
“The Mizenashi’s work. They’re using magic to prevent anyone from approaching the dungeon.”
Rette nodded.
“Hmm, though I still can’t quite figure out what that ‘sacrifice’ actually is.”
“I think it’s another means the Mizenashi use to prove the Snow Maiden’s existence to the village people and maintain the illusion.”
Simon suspected the worst case scenario: human sacrifice. An offering ritual giving people to the Snow Maiden.
Most likely the Mizenashi used it to eliminate those who escaped their control or witnessed their secrets. The teachers who came before us were probably sacrificed as well.
“We should be careful. We could become targets just as easily.”
“Understood.”
Rette let out a long yawn.
“I’ll rest my eyes for a moment, then we depart at dawn again. I’m worried about Kula’s situation, and I want to find the dungeon and settle this as quickly as possible.”
“Okay.”
Rette spun back around to face Simon just as she was heading toward the inner room.
“You still look troubled. Is there something on your mind?”
“If the Snow Maiden legend was something Mizenashi fabricated…….”
Simon folded his arms, his expression clouded with worry.
“Then what about that gray-haired woman I’ve been seeing all this time?”
“Ah.”
Rette smiled knowingly.
“The woman standing behind you?”
Every hair on his body stood on end.
Simon turned his head stiffly to look behind him.
Whiiiiiing—!
There was no one there.
When he turned back, Rette was holding her stomach and laughing, “Aha-ha-ha!” Simon’s face burned crimson with embarrassment.
“Rette!!”
“Consider it revenge for teasing us with that Saint nonsense at the cathedral.”
She pouted and fled into the bedroom. Simon let out a sigh.
“Predictable as always.”
Just then, her voice drifted back from the room.
“We still don’t know who’s mimicking the Snow Maiden—frightening us, warning us.”

* * *
In the dead of early morning, when all slept.
Simon and Rette dressed warmly and slipped out of the lodging, glancing furtively about to ensure no one was watching before dashing through the darkness.
“The village seems unusually quiet tonight.”
Simon said.
“Well, everyone’s sleeping, so it makes sense.”
Rette replied.
The two crossed the field by the shortest route and arrived at the village’s entrance.
The barrier was transparent, but the exit passage glowed with a faint blue light.
“Let’s go.”
Simon strode ahead and passed through the barrier into the outside.
And.
“……!”
His face went rigid with shock.
‘No, Rette! Don’t come out now—!’
Simon tried to stop her, but Rette had already reached his side. Her pupils trembled.
“…….”
“…….”
Every single person from Escail Village stood outside in furs, glaring at them with cold, frightening eyes.
“I warned you.”
Tap. Tap.
From among the crowd emerged the village leader, leaning on a staff.
“Not to leave the village under any circumstances until the matter was resolved.”
It was Nenia Mizenashi.
She fixed Simon and Rette with a cold stare.
“You two teachers have broken the village rule. What was your true purpose in coming here?”
The situation had already spiraled beyond redemption.
Just as Rette opened her mouth to protest, Simon placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped forward.
“We came to teach the children.”
“You lie even now. We know you’ve been repeatedly sneaking outside the barrier to do something suspicious.”
Nenia gestured to her side.
The guard stationed at the barrier lay collapsed, severely wounded. Frost-bitten scratch marks—seemingly made by the Snow Maiden—scored his chest, and the barrier itself bore signs of damage.
“You’ve angered the Snow Maiden!”
With that cry from someone in the crowd.
“We asked you to stay put!”
“Because of you, innocent villagers have been harmed!”
The angry residents poured forth their rage and reproach.
Rette glanced sideways at Simon. He was already looking back at her. Their eyes met, a silent exchange passing between them.
“Yes, we sincerely apologize.”
Rette opened her arms wide and spoke.
“We’ll accept any punishment you deem fit. For instance—”
Her lips twisted.
“Offering young people as sacrifices to the Snow Maiden to appease her anger, or some such thing.”
The murmuring of the crowd around them died abruptly.
Rette fixed her gaze on Petria, who stood beside Nenia Mizenashi. Petria couldn’t meet her eyes and hung her head like a condemned prisoner.
“Petria. You said there were no peers your age in the village? People terrified of being driven out by the rules would never willingly leave. And the outsider teachers went missing too. This has to mean—”
“Enough!”
Nenia Mizenashi stepped forward, leaning on her staff.
“So you came to investigate the disappearances of the previous teachers? You won’t find them. They too broke the village’s rules and were cast beyond the Barrier. They’re frozen to death somewhere on this Snowfield Mountain Range by now.”
……
“This time will be no different. We shall neither punish you nor lay a hand upon you!”
Whoosh!
Clap!
The villagers split apart in unison, opening a path.
“I banish you from this village. Leave at once.”
In truth, driving them out into the Snowfield Mountain Range in the dead of night, with a severe cold bearing down, was no different than leaving them to die.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Yet the two moved with measured steps. The villagers’ stares burned, but Simon showed no sign of distress.
This was always going to happen.
“Sean! Sean!”
“No! Teacher Lea!”
At that moment, the village children came running, tears streaming down their faces.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“I don’t know!”
The adults tried to stop them, but the children shook off their parents’ hands and clung to Simon and Rette.
“Teacher! Don’t go! Don’t die!”
“No! Teacher! Sob! Sniff!”
Confronted with this unexpected turn, silence fell over the crowd.
Simon and Rette crouched down, stroking the children’s heads and smiling.
Even if their life in this village had been false, their teaching had been sincere.
Feeling warmth bloom in one corner of his heart, Simon smiled at the children.
“We won’t die. We’ll meet again someday, all of you.”
Then the children’s bodies were engulfed in cold air, and they were pulled away from the two.
The children wept as they retreated, and beyond them, the Mizenashi mages stood with palms outstretched.
“Now go.”
Nenia Mizenashi struck the ground with her staff as she spoke.
And so Simon and Rette were cast out from the village.

* * *
Wheeeeeee!
In the night, severe cold and blizzard poured down.
Simon and Rette tore forward like madmen, Divine Power blazing in their legs.
“So it turned into a time attack out of nowhere, but hey, I’m good with that!”
Rette said with a grin.
“We clear the dungeon in a day and end this miserable cold once and for all!”
“That’s the plan.”
During this time, they hadn’t merely wandered the Snowfield Mountain Range.
As Rette ran through the snow, she spotted a boulder and reached out her arm.
Holy Bolt
The Divine Magic struck the rock with force, and the surrounding empty space cracked and shattered with a shriek.
“First obstacle cleared.”
Next, an avalanche came pouring down a mountainside. Simon extended his arm.
“Corpse Explosion.”
Zombies that he’d hidden in his Subspace the night before burst forth in brilliant light.
The unstable ground on one side collapsed inward, and the avalanche was swept down into the chasm.
“Second obstacle cleared too.”
Beyond that, they threw corpses of monsters they’d captured beforehand to draw other monsters’ attention, broke through illusions, walked straight through warped maze magic, and cleared various other obstacles.
The fruit of experience.
The two had continually searched for shortcuts on the Snowfield Mountain Range and analyzed traps.
“Let’s check our bearings here.”
As Rette activated the Magic Circle, light flashed from the summit of the mountain range shrouded in severe cold.
The illumination spell that Rette had installed in the cave beforehand was marking the path.
“This way!”
“Okay!”
Six obstacles conquered in three hours.
Neither of them had expected things to go this smoothly.
Now they were climbing ever steeper slopes toward the mountain’s peak.
“I can see the cave!”
In that instant.
Snap! Crack!
Their leg caught on something. The ground beneath them suddenly heaved, and a massive ice golem burst forth.
“What the—!”
The ice golem hurled both of them into a bottomless black cliff. Their screams faded into the distance.
—……
Having disposed of the intruders as commanded, the golem shifted its stance and crouched low again.
But then.
Boom!
Impossibly, the two figures it had just flung down came soaring back up.
On the right, Rette clung to a Divine Beast shaped like a bird; on the left, Simon climbed the cliff face using Acalion.
“Don’t interfere!”
“Don’t interfere!”
Boy and girl leaped from their Divine Beasts in unison, delivering kicks.
Rette’s leg struck the golem’s head; Simon’s leg smashed into its chest where its core lay.
Crack!
The golem shattered and scattered. Both landed on the ground and withdrew their Divine Beasts into the Sacred Subspace.
“Good. We’re almost there!”
“Indeed.”
A black cave loomed before them.

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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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