Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 558

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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 Episode 558
Thud. Thud.
Through the suffocating silence, Bermund, Master of the Ivory Tower, descended the stairs.
Grey hair fell to his shoulders, and a dark, lengthy beard adorned his face. His thick, somewhat stubborn eyebrows were particularly striking.
He wore an ivory-colored robe and held a magic staff in his hand.
‘He really doesn’t look like Serne at all.’
It was Simon’s observation. Since he was an adoptive father, not a biological one, it was only natural.
But if one were to point out a single similarity between them—
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
It was that distinctive oppressive aura and his difficult-to-approach charisma.
He carried himself like one who commanded a vast organization and city such as the Ivory Tower.
Yet his condition seemed poor; his complexion was pallid and his gait slightly uneven.
“Master.”
Daniela approached and bowed her head.
“I report: Girdon has attacked the invited guests of the Tower and fled to the Tower of Time. We must halt the festival at once and dispatch soldiers to apprehend him.”
“Daniela.”
A flat, toneless voice flowed from the Master’s thin lips.
“You never change, no matter how much time passes. That rigid manner of yours especially.”
“…….”
Daniela remained silent, head bowed, awaiting his response. The Master of the Tower leaned on his staff and descended into the Banquet Hall.
Then he surveyed the assembled crowd once.
“Dear guests, welcome to the Ivory Tower. The festival will proceed as planned, and I assure you that we shall personally apprehend Girdon. You need not worry.”
A mixture of bewildered murmurs and delighted exclamations erupted—half confusion, half joy at the prospect of entering the Tower of Time.
Daniela’s face, meanwhile, had turned ashen.
“But Master! A criminal suspected of mass murder has entered the Tower of Time! He nearly killed the children! The children! At the very least, you must capture Girdon first and then——”
“I’ve already heard that report, Daniela.”
The Master of the Tower brandished his staff. Not darkness, but a pure blue aura of mana spread across the entire Banquet Hall.
Crack-snap!
Click!
The decimated Banquet Hall began to reconstruct itself at a stunning pace.
Shattered dishes reattached, broken table legs rose upright, fragments adhered to collapsed pillars like living tissue, and the iron rods and pipes that Girdon had hurled were lifted out the windows and cast away.
“……!”
Simon’s eyes widened in astonishment.
Time.
As if time itself had reversed, the Banquet Hall was restored to pristine condition—to the state it held before Girdon had reduced it to ruins.
“I hereby declare.”
Thud.
The Master of the Tower struck the floor with his staff.
“The Festival of Time shall continue, and the soldiers of the Tower will hunt down and arrest the fugitive Girdon. You shall suffer no attack from him. Should anything befall the invited guests on account of Girdon—”
He slowly placed his hand over his chest.
“I, Bermund, Master of the Ivory Tower, shall bear full responsibility.”
A well-dressed invited guest stood askew and spoke up.
“Responsibility? How exactly do you intend to be responsible?”
“I shall step down from my position as Master of the Tower.”
Murmur, murmur!
The weight of those words was immense. Even the invited guests who had harbored doubts began nodding, thinking, ‘The Master of the Tower speaks thus—it must be so.’
Only Daniela’s expression continued to darken.
“……Master! This is a matter of the guests’ safety!”
“Is even my position as Master of the Tower insufficient?”
“That is not what I mean—”
“If you insist so, then I shall let the guests decide directly.”
The Master of the Tower turned to regard the assembled crowd.
“The Ivory Tower shall take responsibility for the safety of our honored guests. However, should you doubt the Ivory Tower, you are welcome to forgo entry to the Tower of Time and depart.”
Clang!
As he moved his staff, the exit doors of the Banquet Hall opened.
“Of course, once you leave, you cannot return. What shall you choose?”
In the heavy silence, the crowd exchanged words among themselves.
Ten minutes passed.
Of the more than a hundred people present, not a single one moved to leave. Even Daniela, who had been watching, wore a bewildered expression.
“Do you see, Daniela.”
The Master of the Ivory Tower’s lips curled upward.
“No one wishes to see this festival halted. Not even.”
His gaze turned toward Simon and Merida.
“Those children—victims of Girdon’s assault.”
……
Simon’s mouth went bitter.
‘I’m sorry, Daniela, but there’s nothing I can do.’
This dispatch evaluation was a “completion-based” mission.
He had to clear the assigned task to return to the academy. No matter what variables arose in the field, the student themselves had to resolve it. That was precisely why Kizen had granted investigative and command authority.
Kizen was an inflexible institution.
Of course, since a criminal like Girdon was involved, there might be some room for clemency if he accepted the lowest possible marks. But Simon had already received orders directly from headquarters.
He couldn’t retreat under any circumstances.
“Then let’s assume no one is leaving.”
The Master of the Ivory Tower gestured with his staff, and the exit sealed shut. In its place, a doorway opened—leading to the Tower of Time, the same path Girdon had entered earlier.
“Within the Tower of Time, I wish you all a most pleasant journey.”

* * *
After the Master of the Ivory Tower and Daniela departed, a contingent of armed Ivory Tower soldiers entered the Tower of Time first.
They were there to track Girdon’s trail and apprehend him.
The invited guests would follow in two hours. After the rather tedious wait, the announcement that they could finally enter sent everyone into loud cheers.
Simon smiled bitterly.
‘Girdon or not—these people were planning to go in from the start.’
The Festival of Time came once every five years.
Everyone wanted to experience it at least once, but becoming one of the hundred invited guests who could actually enter the tower was like plucking a star from the heavens. You had to make continuous payments to the Ivory Tower faction—whether in funds or favors—just to get your name on the list.
And the invited guest themselves had to be a necromancer capable of protecting their own body within the Tower of Time.
Even wandering the supposedly safe lower levels, a dungeon was a dungeon. Combat could erupt at any moment.
“Then let us depart!”
All the invited guests crossed the threshold of the Banquet Hall and stepped into the tower proper.
“The Tower of Time is, in the truest sense, the ‘birthplace’ of our Ivory Tower. It is a place we must one day reclaim.”
As they ascended, an Ivory Tower guide leading the guests spoke with fervent intensity, launching into a lengthy panegyric on the organization’s ancient history.
“We bear the responsibility to record and pass down two thousand years of history to future generations! One incident of forgotten knowledge and the loss of arcane techniques is more than enough. We carved our magic, our formulas, and our history into the tower, building it ever higher. Yet recording by books and written word alone carried the risk of loss.”
So they had created Time Magic.
In those days, lacking Mana Cameras or Memorial Crystals, they had devised a recording spell using elaborate, massive magical circles.
At first it was primitive—a “Time Artifact” similar to a phonograph cylinder or gramophone—but gradually, wizards made efforts to capture and fix time itself.
The entire Ivory Tower undertook the Time Magic Project, and as enthusiasm reached its zenith—
“A dungeon gate opened.”
Perhaps humanity’s obsession with and arrogance toward time had summoned such a singular dungeon. It swallowed all the tower’s magic and materials, growing ever larger.
“The dungeon became impossibly formidable! The continent fell into grave peril, but through the sacrifice of Bingbaek—the Master of that era—and his disciples, we saved the continent from the time-hell!”
Simon, listening to the account, scratched his head.
‘……Aren’t they just cleaning up their own mess?’
At that moment, one of the guests raised a hand.
“Why can’t the current Ivory Tower simply destroy the Dungeon Master and the dungeon with its own strength?”
“This dungeon has existed on the continent far too long. Scholars warn that if the tower were to suddenly vanish now, spacetime itself could warp, causing catastrophic problems.”
In truth, this was precisely one of the crucial elements through which the Ivory Tower appealed to the continent about their own survival and necessity.
They controlled the continent’s spacetime.
“Even now, the Ivory Tower confines that dreadful temporal monstrosity within the tower! The Tower of Time continues to drain and record the very time of the continent! For the sake of honoring the noble sacrifices made by Bingbaek and his disciples, we must continue to maintain this place!”
After listening to such rhetoric for a time, they arrived within the tower.
The Tower of Time, once the headquarters of the Ivory Tower, extends from the first floor to the hundredth. The closer one approaches the topmost floor where the gate stands open, the stronger the dungeon’s influence becomes.
From the first floor, where the Banquet Hall stands, up to the twentieth floor, everything is arranged as an ordinary museum. Here, one rarely encounters dungeon monsters or anomalies.
From the twentieth floor onward, anomalies occur roughly two to three times daily, and starting from the thirtieth floor, they become ideal for observation.
At the very pinnacle, on the hundredth floor, dwells the famous Dungeon Master—the “Frozen Clock,” so it is said. Access to the ninetieth through hundredth floors is strictly forbidden to outsiders.
“Girdon is currently confirmed to be beyond the seventieth floor, stationed on the eightieth.”
The official from the Ivory Tower spoke.
“Floors seventy through eighty-nine are now under lockdown. No one is permitted to ascend beyond that level until Girdon is captured.”
“What? Come on!”
“The seventieth floor onward is the highlight!”
Several of the invited guests—necromancers confident in their abilities—voiced their disappointment.
“Then the ninetieth floor is open?”
A senior-looking necromancer in robes spoke up. The official shook his head.
“My apologies. Even for VIPs such as yourselves, access beyond the ninetieth floor is impossible.”
“This year will be dreadfully dull.”
The invited Necromancers scattered about the hall with practiced ease.
“Hello! I’ll show you around!”
Mirde, belonging to the Ivory Tower Academy, approached Simon and Merida.
“First time at the Tower of Time? Come on!”
The two were not invited guests but dispatch students, properly speaking, sent to assist the Ivory Tower. Their destination was the fiftieth floor.
Following Mirde deeper into the tower, they reached a vast space where an endless staircase unfurled before them.
These stairs allowed passage between floors, and since the tower stretched a hundred stories high, the Ivory Tower operated a magical lift constructed from a Magic Circle.
Simon’s group, along with the other invited guests, stepped onto the platform.
‘Hmm.’
Simon observed the other guests with careful attention.
Some descended on the second floor, eager to tour the museum first. Younger, less experienced visitors got off at the twentieth floor.
The thirtieth and fortieth floors proved popular as well, with a steady stream of people exiting.
From the fiftieth floor onward, the numbers dropped sharply—and it was here that Simon, Merida, and Mirde stepped out.
“You must use only the designated lodging areas. Unless you enjoy being attacked by dungeon monsters in your sleep, that is. And absolutely do not enter any other rooms without permission.”
Mirde continued her explanation in rapid succession as she guided them toward the Lodging.
“If you happen to find anything in the Ivory Tower, report it. There’s a reward. Taking things without leave is theft, understand? And I’m sure you’ve all memorized the rules the Ivory Tower provided.”
Near the elevator, there stood what appeared to be lodging quarters.
This was the Safe Zone.
Beyond this point lay sections under the dungeon’s influence, where monsters could emerge.
“This is your lodging. If anything comes up, use this to contact us.”
She handed them a Communication Crystal.
“That should do it. I’ve got afternoon classes, so I should head back…….”
“Mirde.”
Merida spoke up. Mirde, who had been turning toward the magical lift, paused with a questioning look.
“Thank you for showing us around.”
Merida extended her hand. Mirde smiled and stepped forward to meet it.
“Think nothing of it.”
The moment their hands clasped—
Ping—
Drowsiness crashed over her entire body.
‘What? What—’
The world spun. Then Merida’s Curses struck in rapid succession, and Mirde collapsed into sleep.

* * *
How much time had passed?
“Gasp!”
Mirde’s eyes snapped open. Her entire body was drenched in sweat.
“Hah! Hah!”
Her pupils darted wildly.
Just now.
The memory was unclear, but she must have endured some horrible nightmare.
Every muscle ached, and her mouth tasted bitter.
‘What happened?’
She was lying flat on the floor.
A short distance away, Simon stood looking bewildered, scratching the side of his head. Directly in front of her, Merida stood motionless and staring.
“You—what do you think you’re doing? Do you have a death wish?!”
“You. Back in the Banquet Hall.”
Merida continued.
“You deliberately lured Girdon to us, didn’t you? By constantly emphasizing ‘Kizen’ so he’d hear it.”
“Damn it! Break this Curse! Kizen, you crazy bastards……!”
Mirde’s head dropped before she could finish.
Sleep claimed her again. Whatever nightmare seized her, her joints convulsed like a puppet’s, thrashing violently against the invisible torment.
Snap.
Merida flicked her finger, and Mirde’s eyes flew open once more.
“You deliberately lured Girdon to us, didn’t you?”
“Wait—I’m sleep—!”
Mirde’s bloodshot eyes rolled desperately as her breathing grew ragged.
“Just wait—! Let me speak! Let me speak!”
“Answer.”
Merida chambered another Sleep spell as she spoke.
“Who ordered you to do this?”

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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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