Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 111
Chapter 110
“I’ll go first.”
It was Fitzgerald who started the interview first. The undead he took out of his subspace was of a species Simon had never seen before.
There were biological wheels where the legs should’ve been, a rectangular torso reminiscent of a wagon, and a proper humanoid form the rest of the way up.
Its large eyes waved in all directions, seemingly unstable, and each of the six arms made strange hand movements.
‘…This is an undead?’
It held a very convoluted appearance that was difficult to describe with words. It looked almost like an old statue that could only be found in ancient ruins.
Simon was confused, but the reactions of the second-years were quite different.
Dio leaned closer out of curiosity, and Benya shouted in excitement,
“This is an amalgamation! Right?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
The invention of amalgamations was called a masterpiece of undead research.
In many cases, if a living organism was modified or mutated even a bit from the original form from which it should be born, the physiological balance would fall apart, and its lifespan would decrease. Siamese twins and mutants were examples of such.
However, the undead, which has a sense of life far from common sense, is capable of somewhat unconventional biological research, and the monsters that necromancers have elaborately crafted by combining different types of undead cells were these, amalgamations.
“What was the primary monster for this?”
Asked Dio. The ‘primary’ monster was the one that worked as the core entity of the amalgamation.
Fitzgerald answered without hesitation.
“It’s a seiren.”
Benya and Dio let out a small gasp at the same time.
Seirens were rare monsters that were half human and half seabird.
“Using a magical undead as a first-year student, huh?”
“I heard that the seiren’s thoughts are extremely complex. That people go insane just by accessing them!”
“Yeah. 5 minutes is my limit, too.”
Said Fitzgerald, pushing up his glasses.
“And… going insane doesn’t really matter.”
Everyone silently agreed with that statement.
Benya observed the amalgamation from various angles, her eyes glistening, before finally asking,
“Mister! Can you show us a demonstration? Ah, of course, if it’s too much for you…”
“I’ll do it.”
Fitzgerald quietly closed his eyes. Then, the amalgamation, whose eyes were closed, suddenly shot them open.
It was still bizarre to see the six arms bending in different directions and taking different poses.
Whir! Whir! Whir!
Whir! Whir! Whir!
Magic circles formed at the end of each arm, and jet-black flames and icicles shot out from them and hit the wall.
‘How amazing. A summon that can activate six dark-magics at the same time!’
“…That’s all.”
Fitzgerald stumbled in his spot and disconnected from the amalgamation.
“Awesome!”
Benya jumped in joy before raising a finger and pointing at Fitzgerald.
“You passed, mister! You definitely passed!”
“Thank you very much.”
“What are your thoughts?”
Benya asked Dio. Dio gently nodded his head.
“…Perfect for the style of our club. He’s good.”
“Then, one person is confirmed to have passed! Next!”
Next was Toto’s turn.
‘Toto’s special undead, huh…?’
Simon was very curious about which undead Toto would bring out.
They had all used skeletons until now. Simon wondered what kind of special undead he got in such a short amount of time.
“I-I’ll begin now!”
Feeling Benya’s expectant gaze, Toto nervously opened his subspace.
What appeared in it was none other than…
“…A dog?”
Three fluffy, medium-sized dogs boasting abundant fur walked out. They were big and had sharp teeth, so they resembled wolves.
Simon scratched the side of his head.
‘But no matter how you look at it, this isn’t an undead, right?’
In Simon’s opinion, it was a technique closer to ‘Taming’, in which monsters were tamed with dark magic and used as summons, rather than the undead of ‘Summoning’.
“Interesting, little mister.”
But Benya thought differently.
“These dogs are all dead, right?”
“Yes.”
“…!”
They were undead?
However, to think of it as a corpse, it was hairy, active, and very healthy looking.
“…So that’s what you mean.”
Dio also squatted down as if he had a clue. Benya nodded in agreement.
“An undead parasite.”
Parasites were one of the most unusual undeads in the world.
It entered the body of a specific animal and lived as a parasite, going through various processes such as hypnosis, paralysis, and hallucination, and finally eating the animal’s heart and disassembling its own body to form a ‘core’ in its place.
The host animal didn’t know whether it was dead or undead, but its mind was gradually eaten by the parasite.
Because of the uniqueness of the parasite, it was also actively studied by necromancers who were interested in immortality.
“Pretty good. Dealing with parasites isn’t that easy.”
Benya put her hand on her hip and smiled. With her compliment, Toto made a shy yet very happy face.
“Can I see your skills, then?”
“Y-Yes!”
“…Try fighting against my skeletons.”
Dio took out a few skeletons from his subspace and made them attack. Toto also immediately sent an attack order to the parasite-infected dogs.
Dash!
The dogs closed the distance at an incomprehensibly faster speed when compared to the skeletons, then chomped down on a skeleton’s neck in a single jump, bringing it to the floor. Their claws and teeth were stained black, seemingly having jet-black applied like any other undead.
And just like that, within a few minutes, the skeletons had been torn apart by the dogs and strewn across the floor.
“Come back!”
The dogs that had been gnawing at the skeletons like chew toys approached Toto again. As Toto got down on one knee and stroked their heads, the dogs wagged their tails and licked Toto’s face.
“Very well! You also passed, little mister!”
“Thank you, Senior!”
Toto bowed his head.
“Then, lastly…”
Benya turned her head to look at Simon, flicking up her cream hair.
“What kind of undead will you show me, mister?”
It was Simon’s turn now.
* * *
* * *
Simon pondered for a bit, then looked at Dio and said,
“Senior, can you raise that skeleton again?”
“…Huh? Yeah?”
At Dio’s call, the skeleton was restored and returned to its original form. Simon readied his stance and took a deep breath.
Everyone was wondering what he’d show. Suddenly, there was a strained atmosphere in the cellar.
‘Attack it.’
Even at Simon’s command, it was still silent. Of course, he didn’t expect it to work the first time.
As Simon repeated the order over and over…
Fffwwwiiiipp!
A sharp tentacle made of metal and bone protruded from the subspace and shattered the skeleton in a single blow.
“Wooaah!”
“What was that?”
Excitement broke loose from everywhere. When Simon beckoned again, the tentacles returned to the subspace.
“…Th-That startled me.”
“That was an undead?”
In the midst of everyone’s buzz, Benya was silent, her face blank.
“…It’s an undead I’ve never seen before.”
Benya looked shocked.
“Mister! What was that just now! Don’t just fidget, show me already!”
“…Ah, yes. I’ll show you.”
Simon opened the subspace and carefully took out the Overlord. Everyone exclaimed again in surprise.
“What in the world is this?”
“An octopus undead…? This is the first time I knew there was such a thing.”
Everyone looked at Simon with eyes demanding an explanation, and Simon slowly told the story.
From the fact that he went to Blue Harbor where the undead exhibition was held, to the fact that he received it as a reward for completing the mission from the client, and even the fact that this undead used the kraken as a base.
“The Blue Harbor Undead Exhibition!”
Benya clapped once in realization.
“I really wanted to go there! I kept on waiting, thinking that a mission related to it would arrive!”
“I was lucky. I also went because of a designated mission.”
“So it was an undead that was displayed there, right? Now I finally understand.”
Benya seemed to want to get closer and touch it, but the Overlord was vigilantly and menacing shifting its long tentacles, so she only could click her tongue.
Seeing this, Simon accessed the Overlord’s thoughts. Then, he moved one tentacle and sent it in front of him before starting to pet it.
“Would you like to touch it?”
“Yes! Yes!”
Benya arrived next to Simon with tremendous speed.
“It’s sharp, so be careful not to cut your fingers.”
She touched the Overlord’s blade with a more serious face.
“Mythril was mixed with the bones, right?”
“Correct, Senior.”
“This balance is fantastic.”
Ting.
A clear sound echoed out as she lightly flicked the Overlord’s tentacle.
“Of course, the skill of the creator is excellent, but the golden ratio between bone and mythril is the product of a miracle, the coincidence of all coincidences! I think it’d be hard to produce such a sophisticated kraken undead again.”
“…Ah.”
“So, I’m telling you to take good care of it from now on.”
She released her hand from the Overlord and smiled broadly as she slapped Simon on the back.
“Aaaalright! Congratulations on joining, mister!”
Even in the midst of pain, Simon didn’t forget to thank her.
With this, all three of them became members of the club ‘Mutant.’
“It’s on me! Ask anything about clubs, Kizen life, undead, anything!”
They sat down on the sofa, piled up some snacks, and talked in earnest.
Simon never realized how good it would be to have someone you could talk about the same topic seriously with. He immersed himself in the conversation, unaware of the passage of time.
Then, when they returned to the topic of the Overlord, Benya said…
“The Overlord’s specs are certainly good, but I think it’s difficult to use it while leaving it outside the subspace.”
She was right, and Pier had said the same thing.
“They say it’s the fate of Summoning majors for their summons to be destroyed, but the Overlord itself is too fragile.”
“Yes. So I’m also practicing to put the Overlord in the subspace and attack using its long tentacles.”
“But it isn’t easy, right?”
“Yeah, it’s probably a connection problem while linking…
She pondered for a moment, then snapped her fingers.
“Mister! Do you have any plans on meeting a subspace master-artisan?”
“What?”
“I’m saying you should find the solution for your subspace. In my opinion, subspace management isn’t a maybe for the Overlord, but a necessity, and if that’s the case, create a subspace that’s exclusive for the Overlord and use it!”
Simon’s eyes widened.
“W-Would that be possible? You can’t go outside Roke Island during the school year.”
“I’m saying this because someone just happened to be in Roke Island right now. Have you ever heard of Gelen Eclipse? He’s in contract with us, Vanilla, you see.”
‘That name rings a bell…’
Simon put on his thinking cap and scoured his memory.
“This is a product that hasn’t yet been released to the market. The latest work of Eclipse, one of the next generation of young artisans!”
Simon looked down at the ring on his finger.
Yes, Gelen Eclipse was the creator of the subspace he was using right now!
Simon jumped in excitement.
“Please tell me, Senior! How can I meet him?”
Finally, the path was starting to become clear.
——