Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 462
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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 462
[He’s here right now.]
Simon, rigid as a stone statue, whipped his head around frantically.
“Where? Where is he?”
Pier extended an arm without speaking. A space swallowed in darkness beyond the Ruins suddenly blazed with light.
And Simon bore witness.
A massive rectangular transparent coffin, within which something writhed—a formless mass of oozing mud seeping downward.
—Eeeeee, eeeeee.
It whimpered with a sound like nothing human, thrashing weakly.
“This is…….”
[The demon of pestilence, Kal.]
A sound like lamentation escaped Pier’s lips.
[An Ancient Undead who once commanded the 7th Legion.]
Simon approached with tense features and pressed his hand against the coffin. It trembled and writhed, but conveyed no thought, no will—only mindless spasm.
“How did this happen?”
Simon’s voice trembled.
[When we first discovered him, he was far more horrific than this.]
While Simon spent his break, Pier and the Ancient Undead launched an assault on the White Grave Dungeon, the suspected location of Kal’s hiding place.
No adventurers, treasure hunters, or scholars had ever known how to enter the White Grave Dungeon. The Dresden Kingdom had clung to it because of its potential, but it was little more than a festering problem.
Yet Pier knew the way inside.
[I was certain that dungeon was Kal’s nest.]
One of Kal’s abilities was transforming a dungeon into his own lair. He could enter a dungeon, swallow its master into his own body with his will, and seize control of the entire structure through that power.
Then he would drain the vast energies that composed the dungeon itself, using them to endlessly manufacture extreme poison Undead subordinates.
Kal expanded his forces this way, moving from dungeon to dungeon, until Richard and Pier defeated him when they entered the dungeon. Eventually, through Legionization, he became one of the 7th Legion’s commanders.
Years later, when Richard’s Legion was dissolved, Kal—yearning for freedom—sought out a new dungeon to claim as his own. That dungeon was the White Grave.
Pier, who had captured Kal once before, knew both that he would be in the White Grave Dungeon and how to enter it.
[But it was no longer a dungeon.]
From Pier’s hollow eye sockets, a teal-blue darkness blazed like a torch.
[It had become a laboratory for humans.]
Even for an Ancient Undead like Pier, the sight was abominable.
Red-eyed humans operated it like a factory, manufacturing proxy forms of Kal in endless succession, conducting all manner of chemical experiments with the internal matter extracted from him. In the center, a tattered Kal lay imprisoned in his coffin, being tortured without mercy.
The dungeon itself had become a single experimental facility and factory under human control.
Kal’s ability to bar outside entry had become a curse instead. This mysterious organization had infiltrated the dungeon through some unknown method and claimed it as their secret base.
‘Wait, I think I’ve heard of something similar before.’
Simon rested his chin in his hand, lost in thought, then turned to Pier.
“From what you’re telling me, I’m curious about something. The Dresden Kingdom has been guarding the entrance to the White Grave Dungeon all this time, hasn’t it? So how were so many people able to get inside?”
[As for the method of entry, I have no theory to offer.]
Pier crossed his arms.
[Only Richard and I know how to enter Kal’s dungeon! They certainly didn’t come through the front entrance—there must have been some other route they could bypass through.]
…….
[I’ll continue the story.]
In any case, Pier and the Ancient Undead became certain Kal was alive and engaged the mysterious organization in battle.
They unleashed technology and firepower the like of which Pier had never seen, but four Ancient Undead proved overwhelming opposition.
[Of course, those humans were strong enough, I’ll admit.]
Erzsebet said this while poking Prince on the head repeatedly.
[They even killed Prince once, after all.]
[Don’t do that!]
Prince brushed Erzsebet’s hand away from his head indignantly.
[Ultimately, we won that battle.]
Pier said.
[We wanted to capture those humans and extract information, but the moment the tide turned against them, they detonated their own brains and died!]
Simon shuddered as he listened.
“Suicide……?”
[Yes, and the most critical officers had already burned important documents and vanished elsewhere long before.]
Achemous spoke up this time.
[Still, we managed to secure what materials we could, Young Master. I regret we could not bring more.]
Beside Achemous lay a heap of books and papers vast enough to form a small hill. Simon’s eyes widened.
“What are you talking about? You gathered an enormous amount!”
Simon hurried over and began examining the books.
He set down the first one he opened, examined another, then unfolded yet another.
‘……I can’t make out a single character.’
Every book in this place was crammed with letters that writhed like earthworms crawling across the page. No matter how carefully he examined them, nothing made sense.
[What’s this? What’s this?]
Herseba flew over with a whoosh and perched on Simon’s shoulder. Her eyes, mounted at the tip of a staff, scanned across the text.
[Ah, this one!]
Simon looked up at her at once.
“Herseba! Can you figure out what it says?”
[No, I can’t make it out either.]
Annoyed, Simon dropped his shoulder, then jerked it sharply upward. Herseba’s body flew away with a whoosh, spinning through the air.
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
[You look quite grave, boy! Is there something you’ve already suspected?]
“Yes.”
Simon closed the book with a sigh.
“Haven’t there been a lot of these incidents lately? People seizing dungeons through some method and conducting illicit activities inside them.”
Back in the first year, second semester, there was that nameless dungeon Silaji had been dispatched to.
The entrance to that dungeon was sealed with what they called a “Ring of Blood,” and criminals had apparently poured into it en masse.
How had they taken control of the dungeon? Simply sealing the Dungeon Master wouldn’t have been enough.
And recently, the “Frost Dragon Karisa” incident that had occurred with Rette in the Sacred Federation. Even when Dungeon Master Karisa wandered outside her dungeon, it continued to function perfectly.
Finally, there was that mysterious group that had seized Kal’s dungeon and conducted experiments on him.
“I’m certain these three incidents must be connected somehow.”
The Blood Heavenly Cult and Silaji.
The Minenashi Clan and Frost Dragon Karisa.
And the experimental group that had taken Kal’s dungeon.
Too much of a coincidence.
“We need to investigate more deeply. Use the Legion’s resources to continue tracking and investigating, please.”
Erzsebet smiled with a soft “Mm-” sound.
[This is intriguing. It seems we’ve been dragged into some troublesome affair.]
Prince shot to his feet.
[They did that to our comrade Kal! I can never forgive them!]
Achemous spoke respectfully, lowering his posture.
[Could this possibly be connected to Magnus’s 5th Legion?]
“I don’t think so.”
Simon answered immediately.
“If Magnus had taken Kal, he would have kept her. There’d be no reason to use her as an experimental subject like that.”
Then Herseba, who had been lost in thought, spoke up.
[Little one! Haven’t you considered this angle as well?]
“Tell me. Herseba.”
[They grabbed that girl Kal and experimented on her until she was in tatters, right? Every experiment has a purpose. What do you think their purpose was?]
Simon folded his arms and closed his eyes.
“Could they have been trying to artificially trigger Kal’s abilities? Since the Ancient Undead are the most mysterious existence in this world, they might have been trying to mass-produce her proxy forms, which are composed of Extreme Poison, and…….”
[It wasn’t proxy forms.]
Herseba’s eyes gleamed.
[What if the very ability to make a dungeon into her own nest was the first objective of the research?]
“……!”
Suddenly, goosebumps erupted across Simon’s arms as he jerked his head up.
“Yes, that’s it! That research already succeeded! That’s how the humans were able to seize control of the dungeon interior!”
[Indeed.]
And the most puzzling question — how those strange experimenters had been able to enter the dungeon under Kal’s control.
Thinking of this, Simon recalled his final confrontation with Silaji at the end of first year.
At that time, Simon had trapped Silaji in Herseba’s dungeon, but Silaji had opened a blood-red portal and summoned Blood Heavenly Cult followers into the dungeon.
“The Blood Heavenly Cult can move freely between dungeons! They pierce through space with their special portal technique to travel!”
Prince tilted his head.
[What, so there are still Blood Heavenly Cult members left? This incident is their doing too?]
“No. There must be someone else who’s connecting the Blood Heavenly Cult to the Minenashi Clan.”
Simon then tried to interpret the materials Achemous had brought, but it proved difficult.
They lay far outside the linguistic systems of the continent.
As he examined the materials a bit longer, dawn gradually began to break.
Simon now had to prepare for his first class.
“I’ll be at school, so please contact me anytime if you learn anything. Oh, what are we going to do about Kal?”
Simon spoke while looking at the undead, limp and pressed against the glass barrier.
For now, I decided to take some time and look into it a bit more.
Pier said.
“The sword right now looks more like a mere corpse than an Ancient Undead, but the poison itself has its uses. Let me think of another approach.”
“Yes.”
“And here, take this, boy!”
Pier threw a new familiar carved from his own bones at Simon. It was shaped like a skull badge.
“It’s a means of contact!”
Simon smiled, turning the familiar over in his hands. It was small and cute.
“Somehow the design gets cuter with each semester, doesn’t it?”
Kha-ha-ha! Pier laughed heartily.
“If the design were crude, they’d suspect it was an artifact! I’ve been learning from students’ ‘tastes’!”
Simon pinned Pier’s familiar to his school uniform.
“I have something for you as well, young master.”
This time Achemous approached and handed over something. Five black feathers.
“What are these?”
“Like the one Pier gave you, these are familiars of mine. Please carry them with you. Wherever on the continent you might find yourself in danger, I will fly to your location at any time.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Though Pier’s familiar was already with him, Simon tucked the feathers into an inner pocket, thinking they’d be useful someday.
“…Pier has the badge, Achemous has the feathers, Prince has the ring.”
Erzsebet came clicking across the floor.
“I can’t lose out! I must leave my own mark on the Legion Commander as well!”
Simon, seized by an ominous premonition, took a step backward.
“What are you trying to do now?”
“Hehehehe!”
Erzsebet threw herself forward with both arms spread wide.
“A kiss mark on that slender neck of yours…!”
Simon deftly pushed off the ground with the Darkness Element and soared into the air, while she tumbled to the ground clutching at empty air.
“That’s too cruel!!”
“I’ll come back another time!”
With that, Simon parted ways with the Ancient Undead. Herseba too found the pocket dimension stuffy, so they decided to leave her here for now.
When he’d entered, moonlight had been shining, but when he emerged, sunlight was already seeping through.
* * *
‘I’m late!’
By the time Simon arrived at the dormitory, everyone was already running toward school.
“Simon!”
When Simon entered his dormitory room, Toto jumped up with a start.
“I thought you’d already left!”
“I had a quick errand. Come on, let’s go—we’re running out of time.”
Simon gathered his things, threw on his outer robe, and bounded down the stairs. The two of them were nearly the last second-year students to leave the dormitory.
“I told you not to run indoors!!”
The dormitory matron Margaret’s shout echoed after them. Startled, Simon and Toto tiptoed quickly out the door.
“Oh no, I thought my heart was going to stop!”
Toto muttered while clutching his chest.
‘Hmm.’
And Simon was already thinking about how to get to the campus quickly.
The distance from the Summoning Studies department to the campus was considerable. Even if they started running now, they’d be late.
Which is why the students running ahead were riding crude summons they’d hastily created.
“Toto! Don’t you have anything decent?”
Toto shook his head with a gloomy expression.
“There’s nothing that can carry both of us…”
“Leave it to me.”
Simon took a golem core from his pocket dimension and dropped it on the ground. Toto jumped in surprise and asked.
“What are you going to do with a golem?”
“Won’t take long. Just wait a moment.”
Simon stretched out his arm.
Whoooosh!
Responding to Simon’s Darkness Element, sand, mud, and stone from the surrounding ground began sticking thickly to the golem core.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve used this technique.’
The gathered earth and sand were molded fine with darkness into a broad, streamlined body. The golem’s arms and legs were omitted, but in their place, wheels were affixed, and an engine to turn them was fashioned at the rear. Of course, the force driving the engine was darkness itself.
From above, it resembled a flattened mud board with a streamlined body.
Simon hopped onto it without hesitation.
“Toto! Hold tight!”
“Right!”
Toto scrambled up after him and had barely gripped Simon’s waist when the darkness flowed and the golem board lurched forward.
“Wooooaaaaahhh!”
Incredible speed. The landscape whizzed backward around them.
Simon laughed freely, one hand catching his tousled hair, while Toto clung to him, only repeating, “Aaaahhh! Noooo!”
The golem board quickly overtook other students, and startled gazes snapped toward them each time.
“We’ll ride straight through to the Campus like this!”
“Nooo, Simon! Too faaast!”
* * *
The two of them arrived safely in front of the Classroom.
“Unngghhh.”
Toto, hair disheveled, staggered as he walked.
Simon kept his hands in his pockets, laughing easily.
“You all right?”
“Uhhh, I don’t think so. We went so fast that all of a sudden my stomach…….”
Grumble.
Rumble.
Yesterday’s meal had apparently begun to protest. Toto spoke hesitantly.
“I-I’m going to stop by the restroom first and catch up!”
“Got it.”
Simon watched Toto run off, clutching his belly.
Five minutes until class started. Simon approached the Classroom door with an unhurried gait.
And the moment he opened it.
Wheeeee—
A cool breeze rushed in. Before him stood a girl with black hair streaming in the wind.
She gazed out the window with an expressionless face.
‘Lorain?’
For a moment he wondered if he’d mixed up his class. He’d assumed that when he opened the Classroom door, naturally Richard and Merin and Kamibarez would greet him.
But it wasn’t so.
Now it was a new term. A new class. New studies, new lectures awaited.
This was my class now.
Simon moved forward through the awkward silence of the first day.
“Oh.”
The black-haired girl noticed him. The blankness faded from her face, replaced by a warm smile.
“Hi, Simon.”
“Hi, Lorain.”
Simon smiled back.
It felt like it was his turn to speak.
“Mind if I sit next to you?”
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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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