Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 658

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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 Summoning Genius of the Necromancer School — Episode 658
About one hundred kilometers south of the Northern Castle.
Fremont Village.
Sweat-drenched warriors crouched behind the ruins of the village, holding their breath in tense silence. Every face was drawn tight with anxiety.
“It’s coming!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The earth trembled beneath the thunderous footfalls.
A skeletal undead elephant charged into the village, its desiccated trunk raised high like a gnarled ancient tree.
“It’s the Named beast—the Glutton!”
They had already destroyed over a hundred undead throughout the village, but this Glutton remained beyond anyone’s reach. The warriors rose as one from their cover and drew their bowstrings taut.
“Loose!”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Whoosh!
Arrows rained down like a downpour, yet they dealt only the most trivial damage to the great undead’s body. If anything, the creature grew more enraged, charging straight toward the warriors.
“We can’t match it with our strength alone.”
“Stick to the plan! Drive it into the ravine behind the village!”
The warriors exchanged quick words as they retreated, and the Glutton pursued them relentlessly.
Soon they had lured the undead into a narrow gorge.
The warriors waited for their moment, then one of them cried out.
“Commander! Now!”
Leap!
While the elephant undead chased the warriors, a man who had been waiting on the ridge hurled himself into the fray.
“Hah!”
He raised the flag he held and drove it down with precise force, striking the creature’s forehead.
The impact tore a wound across the Glutton’s brow, but the beast’s violent convulsion sent the man flying backward.
Crash-tumble-crash!
He rolled across the dirt ground, bones screaming in protest, bleeding freely from gashes torn by jagged stone—yet he laughed despite it all.
“We… we won! Take that, you bastard!”
The Glutton stalked forward, its eyes burning with lethal hunger.
Where the flag had struck its brow, a mark had appeared like a target drawn in black ink. The man shouted.
“Everyone down!”
Everything that followed happened in a single instant.
The air shrieked.
The heavens and earth trembled. Even the Glutton, which had charged forward without hesitation, froze in place. The sky suddenly darkened as if bruised, turning pitch-black.
Whoooosh-crash!
From a distance came a meteor-like streak of absolute black darkness. To mortal eyes, it appeared only as spacetime itself warping, a black line hurtling forth.
What followed was an earsplitting detonation that seemed to tear the heavens themselves, followed by a tidal wave of earth and debris.
As the dust obscured everything, only a handful of warriors saw the black line strike true—directly into the Glutton’s forehead.
The line burrowed through flesh and bone, tearing a massive, crushed cavity clean through the creature’s skull.
The beast let out a piercing, anguished wail.
Its massive frame tilted, swayed.
Crash!
It collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
The warriors, prone in the dust, lifted their heads to confirm what they were seeing, then erupted in unified cheers.
“We did it! We actually did it! The Glutton is finally dead!”
“Glory to our great Duke!”
Warriors thrust their weapons skyward, chanting the Duke’s name. The villagers, who had been in hiding, finally emerged, relief washing over them.
Another victory echoed across the Northern Territory.
And at that very same moment.
Whoooosh—
Over one hundred kilometers away, in the Inner Castle.
A woman stood with bow in hand, her hair dancing in the wind, as she lowered her arm.
“Wait, just a moment! What did you just do?”
“Nothing particularly remarkable.”
She let a slight smile play across her lips.
“Assassination.”
“……?”
“I shot an enemy a hundred kilometers away.”
Simon stared blankly out the window, watching the direction the arrow had vanished.
Beyond lay only the ordinary sight of falling snow over a quiet village.
“Can you actually see the target?”
“No. I simply sensed it.”
She nodded slightly.
“This concerns the Legion Commander as well, so let’s finish this conversation while we take some air.”

* * *
Simon and the Archduke stepped outside.
Simon’s face had flushed somewhat, and he kept glancing sideways at her. The Archduke walked with her bow slung across her shoulder as she spoke.
“Is something the matter? How presumptuous.”
“No, it’s just…”
Simon scratched the side of his head sheepishly.
“Aren’t you cold?”
They had emerged into the open air where a sharp wind cut through relentlessly, yet she still wore nothing but that single, brief training tunic.
“Bitter cold cannot break the pride of a northerner.”
Simon found the northern culture utterly incomprehensible. The two of them stopped before a great tree that had grown within the Inner Castle grounds.
“Let me establish one premise first.”
The Archduke halted and turned to face him.
“I will teach you all that I can, but you and I are different.”
She pointed alternately at Simon and her own chest.
“Every Legion possesses its own unique character. A Legion Commander’s power varies vastly depending on the individual’s temperament, the administrator’s ability, and the Ancient Undead they command.”
“I suppose so.”
“First, we must ascertain your capabilities and focus on strengthening them. One moment.”
She stopped and lifted the bow from her shoulder, pointing it skyward. With another thunderous report, she released an arrow and then slung the bow back across her shoulder as though nothing had occurred.
“Y-you’re certainly busy. I’ve been wondering—how exactly do you fire those arrows?”
“Ah, yes. This is a good place to begin that explanation.”
She seated herself in a chair near the tree.
“In the Northern Territory, there exist those called Flag Bearers.”
In the Northern Territory of Kalos, a Flag Bearer was a command-grade position that led a division. Commanders were called Flag Bearers because they possessed the authority to carry a flag capable of guiding the Archduke’s arrows.
“When an enemy appears too formidable for soldiers to handle, the Flag Bearers stake their lives and rush forward to plant the flag upon the opponent’s body.”
She made a gesture of pressing her index finger against the palm of her hand.
“The flag houses a miniature undead that I control, and this undead leaves a mark upon the target’s body like a bullseye. I made a covenant that from this castle, the moment I sense the presence of that undead, I can fire an arrow in its direction at any time.”
Click.
She raised the pitch-black bow.
“And this is the Gale Bow, possessed by Hate, the administrator of the Second Legion. With it, one can strike even distant enemies.”
It was indeed a weapon similar to the Sword of Ruin that Simon possessed.
But Simon’s attention was drawn to something else entirely.
“Do you sense the telepathic connection with the Legion-type Undead and fire in that direction?”
“Precisely.”
“H-how far can you sense that telepathic connection?”
She lowered the bow and spoke in an expressionless tone.
“Across the entire Northern Territory under my rule.”
The most striking characteristic of Jin Arskalter as a Legion Commander was her extraordinarily vast range.
She could sense the telepathic presence of Legion-type summons throughout her Northern Territory. She simply dispersed legionized undead across the land, and when enemies appeared, those undead could move to engage them.
Originally, the Arskalter domain under the Archduke’s house had been far larger, but with the intensifying assault of monsters and undead, her range of telepathic sensing from the Inner Castle had become her territory.
‘Then surely—!’
Simon’s mouth fell open.
Those undead soldiers he had seen moving on their own without a Necromancer when he first arrived in the north—the Archduke had been remotely commanding all of them from afar.
It transcended mere surprise and bordered on awe. No wonder people hailed her as humanity’s hero.
“Of course, it is not unlimited power.”
She touched her brow.
“The farther the distance, the fainter the telepathy becomes, and I can only issue simple commands to the undead. And if thousands of telepathic voices continued to pour in, even I would surely go mad. So I moderate it appropriately.”
“S-still, that’s extraordinary.”
Simon exhaled in wonder.
“Having done every conceivable thing to protect the north, I’ve come to be capable of such feats. Now then, you presumptuous one, how far does your telepathy extend?”
Simon scratched the back of his head.
“It seemed to reach nearly as far as I could see, though I haven’t yet determined the precise range.”
“That works well then. We can test and map your range while you’re in the vast north.”
Simon had spent most of his time in Rocksum, so he had scarcely ever issued commands to Legion-type undead over great distances.
When he had needed to operate an independent force, he had entrusted command to the Ancient Undead while he himself was occupied fighting in his Pier form.
She looked at Simon, clearly embarrassed, and smiled softly.
“There’s no need to rush. Our circumstances were simply different.”
Simon had many high-ranking undead at his command, so he’d focused on developing his own capabilities rather than expanding his command range.
By contrast, the Duke possessed only two Ancient Undead. Rather than adding more, she had devoted herself to researching their most effective deployment.
Above all, the Northern Territory’s lands were vast, and she had to win multiple battles simultaneously to protect its people.
Her obsession with protecting everyone within reach had manifested as an abnormally wide range of abilities.
“Aside from me, there must be areas where you excel more than I do.”
As she spoke, she was already firing arrows toward somewhere else.
And even as she did, she was destroying Named Undead, saving countless northerners in the process.
‘Remarkable.’
He was glad he’d come north to meet her.
This was his first time encountering a proper Legion Commander senior.
His eyes had been opened to new heights.
“Then.”
Her questions continued.
“What is the maximum number of undead you can control?”
A Legion Commander could theoretically control infinite numbers of Legion-type Undead. So what she was asking now was the maximum number of Summoned-type Undead he could control as an ordinary Necromancer.
“It’s somewhat embarrassing, but… I can now control nine.”
His power had surged recently after creating the Chaos Durehan, and the number had grown, but it felt shameful to admit before her.
“You’re doing well.”
“Pardon?”
“The guidance from Kizen is correct. You’ve never received training to increase the number of undead you can control, have you?”
Simon nodded.
“The consensus is sound: a Necromancer less than two years into Dark Magic who pushes the limits of mental communication too far risks becoming unstable or breaking entirely. It’s best to focus on control and knowledge, then slowly increase the maximum number of undead you can command. Of course.”
She pointed to Simon’s chest.
“We are somewhat the exception.”
Simon’s eyes widened.
“An ordinary Necromancer would lose their mind merely by touching the consciousness of an Ancient Undead, much less commanding them—and yet you’ve already handled numerous Legion-type Undead. Whether by design or chance, a Legion Commander’s mental fortitude is exceptional. During this period, I want you to increase your maximum number of controllable undead. The more they grow in number, the greater your power as a Legion Commander will become.”
Simon nodded, his chest swelling with anticipation.
[Kah-kah-kah!]
Pier’s Fragment, watching from a distance, chuckled darkly.
Truthfully, expanding the number of undead so soon was premature—the conventional wisdom said it shouldn’t happen until third year, first semester at least—but Neftis apparently judged there wasn’t much time to spare.
She was clearly expecting Simon’s significant growth as a Legion Commander during this period.
“That should suffice for assessing your capabilities.”
She spoke.
“Now for the final test—actual combat. I’d like to see your skill in action.”
“Leave it to me!”
Simon grinned widely and struck his fists together.
Real combat.
This was the field where Simon was most confident.
“Tell your administrator to have forces standing by.”
As she raised her arm, in the distance, her war horse and phantom durehan surges could be seen pouring forth like a wave.
“Two legions deploy together!”

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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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