Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 64

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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 Prodigy — Episode 64
“Match start!”
Simon immediately pulled an invisible lever. Three Skeletons wielding polearms erupted from the Subspace.
Haren drew a Dark Element magic circle behind his back. A moment later, with a sharp metallic sound, a demonic arm made of Dark Element surged upward.
It was his signature technique: Black Hand.
‘Simon. I’ve prepared a perfect counter strategy for you.’
Haren moved the Black Hand to respond to any situation, a smile spreading across his face.
‘He’s aspiring to be a Summoner, but his real threat is Martial Arts. As long as I don’t let him get close, I’ll be fine.’
Simon was an anomaly compared to the typical summoner archetype.
The most common strategy would be to bypass the Skeletons and target the caster directly, but Simon was equally skilled in Martial Arts.
Rushing into close combat recklessly would be suicide.
‘He’s probably going to attack me with the Skeletons to bait my charge. I won’t fall for it so easily.’
Haren held his ground at a distance. Then, unexpectedly, it was Simon who took the first step.
‘Here he comes……!’
Haren watched with braced tension, but Simon wasn’t advancing—he was retreating.
Step. Step.
He continued backing away, his Skeletons mirroring his withdrawal, maintaining formation as they pulled their entire phalanx backward.
‘……What the hell is he doing?’
Haren’s brow twitched.
Curious to see how far he’d retreat, Haren watched in silence—only to find Simon had reached the very end of the Dueling Arena.
Now there was only wall behind him. He’d cut off his own escape route.
‘I don’t know what strategy he’s planning.’
But if he could mount a ranged attack, he could still win. Haren floated several Dark Element magic circles into the air. Four dark arrows began hurtling toward completion.
“Wait—what? How is that possible?”
Dick shot to his feet in the Spectator Seats.
“While maintaining Black Hand, he shouldn’t be able to cast any other Dark Magic—”
Yet Haren completed the magic circles regardless, firing the dark arrows forth.
Simon reacted swiftly. Three Shields burst from the Subspace below, and the Skeletons dropped their swords, gripping the Shields in both hands.
‘Hold the line!’
The Skeletons charged toward the incoming dark arrows, Shields raised.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The impacts thundered through the arena. The Skeletons were driven backward but successfully maintained their guard.
‘Look at him.’
A smirk crossed Haren’s face as his gaze fixed on the weapons the Skeletons had discarded on the ground.
‘He’s given up on attacking altogether. That’s it, isn’t it?’
Simon had retreated; his Skeletons had abandoned their weapons.
Feeling something amiss, Haren scrutinized Simon carefully.
A deep blue Dark Element was rising from Simon’s right arm—not a magic circle, but it seemed he was preparing something. Or perhaps it was all a feint.
‘If he has no intention of attacking……!’
Haren opened his palm. Dark Element flowed from it, tracing the lines of a Curse magic circle.
Ordinarily, this level of Curse lay beyond Haren’s capability, but Bahil’s technique had made it possible.
Bahil’s secret art: using the Dark Element’s inherent nature of remembering to reproduce a magic circle, even without knowledge or mastery.
The moment the circle completed, Haren extended his hand.
‘Sickness!’
A pitch-black Curse shot forth like lightning from the magic circle.
The Skeletons surged forward to block the Curse, but it passed through their Undead bodies effortlessly and pierced into Simon’s chest.
“……Ugh!”
His vision spun. Nausea and dizziness washed over him as Simon dropped to one knee.
The Sickness Curse—a Curse designed to be particularly effective against Martial Arts practitioners.
‘This……this is what dizziness feels like?’
His head throbbed as the world fractured into three versions of itself, then snapped back together, over and over.
Simon gritted his teeth and clung to his consciousness.
“Hm.”
Haren smiled.
“Most people would lose all will to fight after taking that, but you’re determined to continue, I see?”
Sweat poured down Simon’s face as he answered with a grin instead of words.
Finding the expression thoroughly irritating, Haren moved the Black Hand.
Whoooosh!
The demonic arm extending from his back lashed out like a whip. Simon sent forward the Skeletons bearing Shields to intercept.
Crash!
Two Skeletons went flying lightly through the air. Black Hand pivoted mid-trajectory and lashed toward Simon again.
Despite the crushing vertigo, Simon kicked up Dark Element from his right leg and launched himself skyward.
‘God, I’m dying here!’
He dodged the attack, but the jump made the vertigo and nausea worse. Simon landed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
‘That bastard…!’
Haren moved Black Hand again. The whip-like attack bent its path at will, and Simon scrambled across the ground, rolling desperately to evade.
Haren’s one-sided assault continued unabated.
“What are you doing! Simon!”
Merin shot to her feet and shouted.
“Attack! Counter-attack already!”
“Hey, student in front there. Please keep quiet.”
At the voice from the back seats, Merin’s face flushed red and she lowered her head.
It would have been the perfect moment to tease Merin, but Dick seemed oblivious, his brow furrowed as he watched Simon’s battle unfold, perspiration beading on his temples.
“…Something’s wrong. Really wrong.”
“Hey, Dick.”
Merin glanced at him sideways.
“Those reports you brought! Not a single one is accurate! You said he can’t cast other Dark Magic while channeling Black Hand? That Black Hand’s maximum range is just two meters? That he’s excellent at Dark Energy Manipulation but terrible at Curses! None of it—not one thing—is right!”
Dick scratched his head furiously.
“I don’t know, I have no idea! Did he hide his strength? Was he actually a power-concealer?”
“What are you talking about!”
“I don’t know!”
Dick burst out with frustration.
“What’s certain is—Haren Kok right now is several times stronger than the rumors suggest!”
Crash!
Simon clamped his mouth shut as he evaded Black Hand lashing like a whip. He felt like he might vomit any second.
“…Damn, he dodges too well.”
Haren Kok breathed heavily, speaking. By now, a new Sickness spell circle was forming in his left hand.
“But once this finishes, it’s over. Let’s see if you can survive two Stacks.”
“…….”
A deliberate provocation.
Haren pressed closer and closer, needling Simon’s nerves.
He deliberately swung Black Hand wide to expose gaps in his guard, trying to bait Simon into a reckless charge, but Simon never once deployed Martial Arts.
He simply summoned new Skeletons to replace the shattered ones in silence.
It was strange. Haren himself was clearly on the offensive.
He’d already landed a Curse, and another one was coming to completion.
And yet. And yet.
‘What exactly is he preparing!’
Psychologically, Haren was the one being driven back.
Thoom!
Crash!
‘…….’
Meanwhile, Bahil sat quietly in the Spectator Seats with his arms crossed, watching the match unfold.
The duel was proceeding exactly as he’d predicted—entirely one-sided.
“Fascinating.”
Bahil turned his head, murmuring to himself.
“This is your first time watching a first-year Duel Evaluation, isn’t it? Senior.”
Aaron, dressed in a shirt and shorts, was climbing up to the Spectator Seats from the steps. He tried to pass Bahil without a word.
“Guilt.”
Aaron’s footsteps halted abruptly.
“That’s why you don’t take direct disciples, isn’t it? Because you know all too well what hardships unfold for those who choose Summoning Magic. Most of your students couldn’t overcome those trials and switched majors, so you can’t bear to watch it happen again.”
Bahil shrugged.
“But now you’re developing a craving for it?”
“…….”
Aaron turned back to face Bahil, his eyes cold. Bahil met that gaze unflinching and smiled.
“Let’s see, shall we.”
Bahil opened his hand.
“What becomes of our student.”
Now Haren was actively closing the distance, wielding Black Hand in wide, aggressive arcs.
Simon was pure defense—dodging and parrying, nothing but an impenetrable stance.
The Skeletons’ Shields eventually shattered. The Skeleton itself crumbled under the follow-up strike, but Simon stubbornly raised it again with Restoration.
“Once Haren completes his second Sickness, this match will be over.”
“…….”
“Am I wrong, senior?”
Aaron watched the match between Simon and Haren in silence, then turned and descended the stairs he’d climbed moments before.
“Senior. Where are you going?”
“The outcome’s already decided.”
Aaron glanced back at Bahil as he added one more thought.
“I came just in case, but there’s nothing more to see.”
“……?”
Bahil watched Aaron’s receding figure with a bewildered expression.
Rumble!
The Arena remained shrouded in hazy smoke from Haren’s relentless assault. His face flushed crimson, Haren gasped for breath between heaving exhalations.
“This is……!”
He couldn’t fathom Simon’s strategy. Dark Element continued to ripple along Simon’s right arm, but it was neither a spell formation nor anything of the sort.
‘No, there’s no need to understand. This is really the end!’
Haren extended his right hand fully.
Toward Simon, whose stance had crumbled trying to evade the Black Hand, the second Sickness surged in.
‘Wretch!’
That made two stacks.
Simon felt the world spin horribly around him. Vertigo and nausea crashed against the edge of his consciousness.
There was no way to fight in this state.
“How’s it feel? Pretty awful, yeah? Special Admission number one?”
Haren bared his teeth in a grin.
“Of course I came thinking I’d crush someone like you easily, but it’s not so simple, is it? That’s the reality—crawling on the ground like a worm.”
“There’s nothing inevitable in this world.”
Simon pressed his left palm to his forehead and slowly pushed himself upright.
“Huff.”
The Dark Element rippling along Simon’s right hand vanished. Haren’s mouth spread into a grin from ear to ear.
“You’re giving up. Conceding?”
“No.”
Simon slowly brought his hand to his neck, working out the knotted muscles. A series of crackling pops echoed out.
“It’s finished now. Time for my counterattack.”
“……?!”
Was he talking about that thing he’d been preparing all this time?
Haren jerked his head around, scanning the Arena frantically.
There was no change in Simon, the Arena, or anything else. His own body felt the same. No curse, no illusion.
‘Is this just bluffing to the very end……!’
“You know what?”
Simon clenched his fist and drove it forward into empty air.
Rumble!
“What?!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The entire Arena shook.
Screams erupted from scattered points in the Spectator Seats as people startled, heads whipping around in confusion.
Simon’s expression remained blank as he retracted his fist, then drove it forward again.
“Duel Evaluation Detailed Rules. Article 3, Section 4.”
Rumble!
“Any student conducting a Duel Evaluation who leaves the Arena during the evaluation shall be disqualified.”
Rumble!
Haren’s eyes flew wide open.
The Arena wall behind Simon’s back was beginning to cave inward, scarred in the shape of a massive fist.
“But no matter how thoroughly you examine the rules, there’s no clause forbidding bringing something in from outside the Arena.”
Crash!
Finally, the Arena’s wall shattered and crumbled inward with a deafening cascade.
The outside world came into view. Referees, attendants, spectators—every one of them stood with their mouths agape.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Something massive lumbered in from outside, crossing the Arena’s threshold. Each time those colossal legs struck the ground, furrows carved themselves into the Duel Arena’s floor.
“……Ha.”
Haren let out a hollow laugh.
“……Hck! Ha! Hahahaha! You crazy bastard!!”
A massive summoned creature crafted from earth and mud, centered around a ‘Core’ that draws on Summoning Magic—the iconic servant of any summoner.
The mark of a Summoning Magic user.
Toward Simon, who smiled with infuriating calm, Haren’s voice cracked with desperation.
“This is a first-year Duel Evaluation! Damn it! How—how is a Golem even here?!”
Summon Mud Golem.
A Summoning Magic that gathers earth around an internal ‘Golem Core,’ shaping it into the form of a golem.
The crowd roared.
A first-year student who’d brought a Golem to the inaugural Duel Evaluation—the Spectator Seats erupted in chaos.
Merin and Kamibarez dropped their jaws. Haren let out a hollow laugh, the same disbelief etched across his face.
“When I went out looking for Simon, he was burying the Golem Core behind the Arena. He’d planned to construct the Golem outside the grounds all along.”
Merin’s head snapped toward him.
“Even if we overlook the Skeleton Archer, how is a first-year even capable of constructing a Golem?!”
Haren shrugged.
“You’re watching it happen right now.”
Of course, the shock hit Haren hardest of all.
“Impossible! That can’t be—Referee! Isn’t that an external summoned creature? That should be Disqualification by Foul Play—!”
The referee shook his head coldly.
“That summoned creature is being moved by Simon’s Dark Element. It is his Golem.”
Simon, who had buried the Golem Core behind the Arena, had sprinted to that spot the moment the duel began. To Haren, it would have looked like he was retreating in panic.
Instead, he’d taken a defensive posture while completing the Golem beyond the wall. With the Core outside the Arena’s boundary, there was no risk of it being struck down.
And so he’d awakened the Golem Core with his Dark Element, gathering the surrounding earth piece by piece, all without the aid of visual guidance.
“Now.”
Simon smiled.
“Shall we begin?”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
As Simon gave the command, the Golem began its charge with terrifying speed.
Despite its lumbering, colossal frame, it moved faster than imagination allowed. Haren’s fists clenched as he savored the desperate tension of facing down a towering monster alone.
‘Damn it…’
Life is not fair.
People are born with different gifts.
Talent. Wealth. Status. Body. Race. Nation.
He knew this.
And that’s why he wanted to break it.
To prove that a commoner like him, born without talent, could seize an opportunity and accomplish something of value.
But.
No matter what—
‘A Golem is too much…’
A wall of talent so vast it defied imagination.
Haren felt that Simon standing behind the Golem loomed far larger and more insurmountable than the creature bearing down on him.
“Nnngh—!”
Consumed by rage, Haren roared and threw himself forward.
Now it was victory or nothing.
He pushed off the ground, launched into the air, twisted his body in a spin, and unleashed every ounce of his strength into a Black Hand strike.
The air tore violently as the demonic fist collided with the Golem’s chest.
A hollow boom echoed.
But.
The Golem’s body didn’t budge. Some earth crumbled away, and Haren’s arm bent like soft jelly.
“A straight punch,”
came Simon’s voice from behind the Golem, as he drew his fist back.
“is about putting your weight behind it.”
Simon drove his fist forward, and the Golem, linked through his will, unleashed its massive arm in tandem.
A tremendous boom shattered the world.
Reality itself seemed to break apart.
Struck by the Golem’s punch, Haren’s body flew backward at impossible speed, slamming into the far wall of the Arena. The wall crumbled inward like a crater, and fractures spider-webbed across the entire arena floor.
A savage wind swept across the grounds, and everyone in the Spectator Seats curled in on themselves.
“Done.”
Simon slowly lowered his arm. As the Curse Haren had cast lifted, Simon’s vision cleared.
[Simon Polentia: 76%]
[Haren Kock: 0%]
The referee, who had been frozen in shock, finally stirred and thrust his hand forward. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.
“The winner is! Student Simon Polentya of Class A!”

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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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