Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 569

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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 Genius — Chapter 569
The Tower of Time’s Plan
Originally, the Ivory Tower’s plan was to advance into neutral territory and establish a third faction, and they had indeed prepared for it that way—but the Ivory Tower Master and his inner circle took it one step further.
Even among the Radical Faction, only a handful knew of this plan.
The Ivory Tower Master said he would release the seal on the Frozen Clock and send it into a rampage beyond even the Gate incident—the crux of the plan was to move this tower, now a massive time bomb, to Rocksum and detonate it there.
Simon, listening to the explanation, asked with a dazed expression.
“What… what would happen then?”
“What would happen? Well…”
Serne’s lips curved upward in a smile.
“According to our research, the time bomb’s range would extend at minimum across all of Rocksum and the surrounding sea, even touching parts of Langoustin. Kizen would be completely annihilated, trapped forever in the grasp of distorted time.”
What was happening now in the Tower of Time—past events replaying—was nothing compared to what lay ahead. When the Gate first opened in the Ivory Tower and the Dungeon activated, it had been an outright catastrophe.
Previous Ivory Tower Masters, long dead, had appeared to hold the line. Beings from the future had emerged as well. Some had become trapped in the present moment, unable to act, condemned to repeat the same actions endlessly.
“The most beautiful part of this plan is that we can definitely eliminate Neftis,” Serne continued.
She clasped her hands together and smiled brightly.
“Because she possesses temporal Anomaly, she’ll be all the more entangled by time itself—caught like tangled thread. It might be our only chance to capture Neftis. And conveniently, we’ve just received word that she’s returned to Rocksum.”
……
“We’ll pin all this blame on Girdon, a master of Spatial Magic. We’ll call it his doing after he seized the hundredth floor seeking vengeance against Kizen. Once Kizen disappears, the Ivory Tower will take control of the Dark Alliance.”
Simon’s head throbbed from the sheer shock of what he was hearing.
“With that said, I have a proposal for you. Simon.”
“…?”
“You have no idea how much trouble we went through extracting you from that perilous Rocksum. Kizen’s destruction is a foregone conclusion, and now the Dark Alliance will fall to us at the Ivory Tower.”
She opened her palm and offered him a smile.
“Come to the Ivory Tower. Simon.”
……
Simon stared at Serne for a long moment, then exhaled slowly.
“The reason you want to recruit me—it’s to unseal that Frozen Clock, isn’t it?”
Simon’s observation was sharp.
To achieve the goal they were describing, there was one critical obstacle: unsealing the Dungeon Master, the Frozen Clock.
Only once the seal was broken could anything else—a rampage or otherwise—be unleashed.
But the ice that covered the clock was no ordinary seal. It could not be destroyed. Even the Sword of Ruin had failed to so much as scratch it.
“As if~”
Serne made a gesture as though cradling her cheek.
“Even a Legion Commander like you couldn’t undo that seal. It’s Absolute Sealing—pure magic cast by the Frost-White Mage three hundred years ago at the cost of her life.”
Simon’s eyes widened.
‘…Absolute Sealing?’
“It’s a pure elemental magic that sacrifices the caster’s life to trap the target in unbreakable ice, sealing them eternally. And the only way to release an Absolute Sealing is to cast the exact same Absolute Sealing again to dispel it.”
Simon’s mouth fell open.
“Wait—you mean the caster has to sacrifice their life?”
“Yes. And it’s not a technique anyone can perform. Only a mage blessed by a Spirit, or here at the Ivory Tower, only those who’ve inherited a strong bloodline from the Frost-White Mage itself. But very recently, such talent was born.”
She flicked her tongue.
“Do you know who it is? Someone you know, I’m sure…”
“Serne!”
Simon’s voice came out harsh.
“You’re not saying you’d use Merin—!”
“We cannot save everyone. It’s an unavoidable sacrifice.”
A smile crossed her face that sent chills down the spine.
“At the very least, one person must be let go.”
Simon’s lips trembled violently.
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes, completely serious. But Simon? Come to the Ivory Tower. It’s the only path that lets you live.”
Simon’s teeth ground together.
“I reject any offer that amounts to merely prolonging my wretched existence.”
“Ah, as expected.”
The smile faded from Serne’s face, replaced by ice-cold resolve.
“Then we have no choice.”
Her hair whipped around her. Countless pure white feathers spiraled through the air in dizzying patterns. Simon drew the Sword of Ruin forward.
“It’s been our first real fight since that survival assessment in first year, hasn’t it?”
The Dark Elements of both surged upward, competing for dominance.
Combat with Serne.
Even drawing on a Legion Commander’s strength, there was no clear victor. Simon slowly drew the greatsword taut, while Serne transformed her feathers into the form of a Magic Circle.
“Are you ready?”
“…….”
The air grew taut as the two Dark Elements clashed.
The moment the two seemed about to collide.
“Stop.”
Bang!
Simon lowered his greatsword first. Serne, who had been ready to fight, blinked in confusion.
“Serne, you think you’re the only one observing and analyzing others, but that’s a mistake. Everyone else watches and analyzes you just as relentlessly.”
Simon’s breathing had grown ragged.
“Whenever you test someone, you always smile like that. When you’re joking, when you want to see a reaction, when you fight with Merin, and when you fought with me too.”
“Is that so……?”
Serne blinked as if hearing this for the first time. Simon spread his arms.
“If you’d truly meant to make me an accomplice, you wouldn’t have tried to persuade me with such foolish logic if I didn’t want to die. You’ve watched me carefully from beside you long enough to know what kind of person I am.”
“…….”
“You could have used me with a suitable lie, yet you went out of your way to bare all the truth under the pretext of recruitment. And you even said Merin would be sacrificed. The reason you did that—you wanted me to see something in this information. Am I wrong?”
Simon’s eyes hardened with intensity.
“What is it that you truly want, Serne?”
Hm.
Heh-heh-heh.
She covered her face with her palm, her shoulders trembling as she laughed.
“I can’t stand it.”
When she lowered her hand and let her arm hang at her side, her face bore a tangle of complex emotions.
[Didn’t I tell you, Serne.]
At the sudden voice of a third party, Simon’s head turned.
The Ghost of Time—whom he had been searching for so long—was approaching.
[Probing this stubborn friend is a meaningless task.]
The two seemed to know each other.
As Simon looked between them in bewilderment, the Ghost of Time spoke.
[Heh-heh, didn’t I mention it before? About the person who carries away my research results.]
‘Ah.’
-Sometimes I leave my research results on the windowsill. Someone comes by every day to take them, registers them as their own research, and has climbed to the very top of the Ivory Tower!
That had been Serne.
Now Simon could begin to understand how the situation had unfolded. And he was starting to grasp why the Ghost of Time had shown him the past of Serne and Merin, claiming it was to prevent the tower’s tragedy.
[To reach the truth, there is one final thing remaining.]
Light wavered in his hand.
[A minute or so should suffice.]
Whoooosh!
Simon’s vision was swallowed in light.

* * *
-At this rate, I’ll die soon. Will you follow me?
-From today on, I am your father. I will make you the greatest human on the continent.
Young Serne followed the Ivory Tower Master into the Ivory Tower.
Just as the Ivory Tower Master had warned, everyone in this place despised and condemned her.
But then.
-Hey there, Serne! I’m Merin. It’s your first time here, right? Let’s play together!
In this strange space, Merin became a ray of hope for Serne.
This child, who should have been most wary of Serne’s existence, treated her with kindness above all others. Even the adults waging political attacks seemed to feel shame, and the harsh public sentiment gradually softened.
And so Serne and Merin became inseparable friends.
Each was the most precious thing to the other.
-When I grow up, I’ll become the Ivory Tower Master.
Merin pursued the position of Ivory Tower Master with genuine earnestness.
-I promise you, Merin. I will make you the Ivory Tower Master.
Serne supported that dream.
They had no doubt that this friendship would be eternal.
But then.
The moment they learned the truth, everything shattered.
The Ivory Tower Master, who had given her nothing but magical studies and left Serne neglected as if discarded, one day summoned her to his quarters.
“Excellent.”
The Ivory Tower Master spoke in admiration. What he had placed on his desk was a Frost Sphere that Serne had frozen. The sphere was not merely frozen—icicles jutted out in jagged profusion.
“Do you know what this Frost Sphere is?”
The Ivory Tower Master’s question hung in the air, and Serne shook her head.
“I’ve never heard the details. Only that adults say if you can freeze this sphere, you’re a great mage…….”
“Yes.”
The Ivory Tower Master cleared away the ice covering the Frost Sphere and set it carefully on the table.
“This was created three hundred years ago by the Frost-White Mage, who sealed the Tower of Time. She made it to train her own Frost Magic.”
“Ah…….”
“To freeze this sphere requires an inborn talent for Frost Magic. Or rather, it would be more accurate to call it the Spirit’s Blessing.”
The Ivory Tower Master used Frost Magic on the sphere, and tremendous magical power flowed through him—yet the sphere refused to freeze. Only the unfortunate table beneath it crystallized solid.
“Since the Frost-White Mage’s time, only two mages have frozen this sphere at all, even partially.”
“…….”
The Ivory Tower Master set the sphere down.
“For a long time, our Ivory Tower has searched for a child bearing the same blessing as the Frost-White Mage.”
“But why? If we had a strong mage, surely it doesn’t have to be specifically Frost Magic…….”
“To break the Absolute Sealing the Frost-White Mage cast.”
The Ivory Tower Master explained the Tower’s long-laid plan.
A relocation to Neutral Territory. And an Absolute Sealing—a spell that demands a life as its price. An Absolute Sealing can only be undone by another Absolute Sealing.
Serne stiffened at the explanation, her body going rigid.
“Wait, wait just a moment! Then that means……!”
“Yes.”
The Ivory Tower Master closed his eyes.
“Merin will become the Ivory Tower Master at twenty. And as the one who must protect the Tower, she will honor its noble purpose by sacrificing her own life to break the seal within the Tower of Time.”
“……!”
Serne’s mouth fell open, her face hardening—and then her anger erupted.
“Why? Why would you do this? I can’t accept it! Why should Merin have to sacrifice herself for the Tower? What about what Merin wants!”
“It is an honor. Human life is brief, but her name will remain in the Ivory Tower eternally.”
“What good is leaving a name if she dies unjustly! That’s not sacrifice—that’s murder!”
Serne’s defiance shocked the Ivory Tower Master; he had never seen her like this. But he spoke coldly nonetheless.
“Sacrifice is inevitable. If time continues as it does, our Ivory Tower will be torn to shreds by Kizen.”
He slowly raised his hand to Serne’s head.
“You are a clever child, so I trust you understand. And from now on, do not attract the attention of adults by freezing the Frost Sphere. It is Merin who will break the seal of the Frozen Clock. When she is gone and you become the Ivory Tower Master…….”
Smack!
Serne roughly batted his hand away and seized the Frost Sphere.
“No, Father. Merin doesn’t have the ability for that.”
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
As she poured her power into the Frost Sphere, ice surged upward in torrents.
“Look! I froze the Frost Sphere this much! Merin can’t do this!”
The entire plan rested on a single assumption: that Merin could break the Absolute Sealing.
Could she really break an Absolute Sealing with nothing more than the shallow surface freezing of a sphere? If she failed, it would only be innocent Merin’s life that was forfeit.
Serne was exploiting that blind spot in her father’s reasoning.
“Serne, you are our hope. Instead of that defective substitute, perfect you sacrificing yourself…….”
Her eyes blazed scarlet as she cried out.
“I’m telling you plainly—I will not yield on this!”
“Serne!”
“I will become the Ivory Tower Master!!”
She refused to back down, her voice shaking the chamber.
“I will be the one to break the Absolute Sealing……!”
Tap-tap-tap-
Then, from somewhere distant, came the sound of footsteps. Serne flinched and turned her head, but the sound had already vanished.
“Do you mean it? You would die in her place?”
The Ivory Tower Master fixed her with a heavy gaze.
“Yes. I mean it.”
Serne clenched her teeth.
“From this moment on, I will become the Ivory Tower Master by any means necessary. And I will break the Absolute Sealing with my own hands.”

* * *
Hissssssss-
The memory faded. Through the dimming haze of his vision, Simon found himself drowning in confusion.
‘So Serne was……from the very beginning.’
It had all been for Merin.
She had sought to become the Ivory Tower Master precisely so she could earn the right to break the Absolute Sealing and sacrifice herself in Merin’s stead.
Serne’s provocations and goading of Merin, her reliance on the Dark Flame Arts as her main strength—all of it was a desperate gambit to keep Merin from becoming so entangled with her that she’d abandon cultivating her true specialty, Frost Magic.
“I promise you. I’ll make you the Ivory Tower Master.”
Serne had not lied.
Once she sacrificed herself and vanished, the position of next Ivory Tower Master would naturally fall to Merin.
‘That’s not… that’s not how this works…!’
Simon bit his lip hard.
His vision, which had been blurring, cleared again.
“!”
Simon felt his limbs pinned to the wall. Feathers were embedded in his body, preventing the Darkness from manifesting. He couldn’t sense the Undead anymore either.
He looked ahead. The Ghost of Time wore a troubled expression, head bowed, while Serne was smiling softly.
“What—what are you doing? Serne!”
“I’m sorry, Simon. Just stay like that for a moment, please.”
Serne said this and approached the Frozen Clock.
“If I let you go free, you’ll tear me apart trying to stop me.”
“You—surely not…!”
She placed her hand on the Frozen Clock.
“Do you remember when we fought together in Tarados? When we entered the Dungeon controlled by the Covenant, I was watching everything with my feathers.”
“Serne! Wait! Release this first and tell me!”
She clicked her tongue lightly.
“From what I observed, a new function was added to that Sword of Ruin you carry. The ability to absorb Dungeon Masters and take control of dungeons, I’d wager?”
“…!”
“From now on, if I break the Absolute Sealing, I will die. Once I’m gone, the seal binding you will dissolve as well. At that moment—”
Serne smiled brightly.
“Please use your sword to absorb the Dungeon Master sealed within and take control of this dungeon.”
This was the only way Serne had determined to stop the Ivory Tower Master’s plan.
Simon’s face twisted in anguish.
“Didn’t you say you hated Kizen? Why…why would you go so far as to betray the Ivory Tower Master?”
“Because—”
Serne smiled softly.
“My father, the Ivory Tower Master, was a puppet of the Covenant.”
“…What?”
“The documents from the Tarados Dungeon—you and Lorain split them between you, I thought. But the truth is, I pocketed a few things too. There was a very interesting name on the membership list I found.”
Coldness gleamed in her eyes.
“A man worth nothing more than that. I could destroy Kizen this time around, yes, but that wouldn’t be the path to our Ivory Tower’s greatness—it would just mean we’re being used and played with by the Covenant. I can’t abide that. If we eliminate Kizen, they’ll probably try to devour the Dark Alliance next.”
“Serne…!”
“And besides.”
Serne’s smile widened.
“That man keeps insisting you should be killed. It’s irritating.”
-Sacrifice is inevitable.
“Sacrifice is inevitable. This is the only way to save you both—you and Merin.”
Serne withdrew her hand from the Frozen Clock and slowly approached Simon.
Then, still smiling, she gently caressed his cheek.
“Simon, do you remember when we first met in 1st Year?”
“…”
“During the Island Survival Assessment, when Lorain and I were fighting, you boldly stepped in and asked for our help. The three of us combined our strength and defeated that massive Undead giant, remember?”
“Serne…!”
“And during Combat Magic lessons, you remember when I taught you Internal Abyss Manifestation? I secretly hugged you from behind back then.”
One coupon for fighting the Saint together.
Two coupons for bringing down the Covenant in Tarados.
Serne spoke matter-of-factly, her hair falling loose around her shoulders. Each time she mentioned the coupons, memories with her flooded back like a panorama unfolding in his mind.
“One final request. I haven’t filled all ten yet, but I’m going to use this entire coupon.”
She placed her trembling hand over Simon’s heart.
“When I die, please stop the Ivory Tower Master’s plan. Understood?”
As she withdrew her hand from his cheek and turned to leave, Simon thrashed against his restraints.
“Serne!! Wait!”
Simon cried out.
“Don’t do this! I’ll find another way! There has to be a better solution! You don’t have to die here! Please…!”
“I’m sorry.”
Serne activated the Dark Magic she had prepared. Magic circles unfolded across her entire body, resonating and trembling across the ceiling and walls.
She embraced the Frozen Clock, her body covered in overlapping Magic Circles.
“Take care of yourself, Simon.”
“Serne!”
Dazzling radiance and deafening thunder consumed the ice.

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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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