Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 126

Chapter 125

According to what Simon learned in Summoning, a necromancer’s dark spells to turn corpses into zombies fit one of two categories.

Raise Zombie and Summon Zombie.

Raise Zombie is a dark spell that creates instant zombies that’ll fight for a few hours in times of urgency.

On the other hand, Summon Zombie can make a semi-permanent zombie by taking the time to summon them.

And Aaron’s evaluation subject this time had to be, of course, a Summon Zombie.

Simon was planning to do it all by himself, but before he knew it, the other group members were also taking their places and assisting Simon.

“Simon, the magic circle’s ‘frenzy’ formula is causing a negative reaction with the corpse. It needs to be replaced entirely.”

“Ah, yeah.”

“The actomyosin in the body is reacting abnormally as the summoning magic is being activated!”

“It must be because there’s no decay in Death Land. I think it’s alright to go on like this.”

Feeling a little touched, Simon spurred on the creation of the magic circle.

‘Let’s focus. I need to make the most of the unique characteristics of Death Land. All formulas related to maintenance and decay should be eliminated.’

Simon simplified the complicated formula as much as possible after considering the environment, and then activated the magic circle.

Clunk clunk.

The dead armored guard shook as if having a seizure.

“Everyone, back off!”

Said Rick.

“I heard that aggression toward the living can sometimes spike within the first moments of the Summoning magic being activated!”

All four of them distanced themselves from the corpse.

Finally, the corpse lifted itself up. Fortunately, it didn’t show any aggressive reaction, just standing there blankly with his mouth agape.

“I-It’s a success, right?”

“I think so.”

The four of them sighed in relief at the same time.

Then, Simon, the caster, tried to access the zombie’s thoughts. There was no rejection. No side effects either.

“I’ll try attacking.”

Simon used the connection to order it to attack a nearby tree.

The guard zombie dragged on its armor and gnawed at the trees.

The scene of it pushing at the tree while scraping it with his fingernails played out before them.

“Hmm.”

Meilyn bent down and looked at the zombie’s movements.

“The aggression is perfectly replicated, and the ptomaine is properly smeared on his teeth and nails. It’s a pity that he has a slight limp because he seemingly injured his leg in the past, but this is good enough.”

After standing straight, Meilyn finally nodded.

“Yeah. If it’s a zombie of this quality, a middle grade or higher is guaranteed.”

“Everyone, good job!”

The tough part was finally over.

Everyone lay down their heavy hearts and started talking. Simon decided to keep the zombie in his subspace, as he was the caster.

“Huuzzz…ah!”

Meilyn stretched and shook her tension out.

“Now we can just go back to the camp going through the sewer the same way we came and take the test from the professor, right?”

Rick blinked.

“Oh, that’s unexpected.”

“What is it now?”

“I thought you’d insist on searching all the graves until we find a better zombie.”

“Forget it.”

Meilyn shook her head.

“I don’t want to go that far here. I also feel uncomfortable hearing about Talheren a while ago. Let’s go back to the camp.”

“Sure!”

The other three also nodded.

“But…”

Simon, scanning the surroundings, said with a stiffened face,

“I don’t think going back will be that easy, either.”

“Hm? Why?”

Whiiiiiiish.

A cool breeze blew through, and the bushes began to stir.

“Is there something in there?”

Simon just silently nodded.

After a while, corpses with backs unnaturally bent began to rise from the bushes.

“Z-Zombies!”

“They were here too?”

Clink!

Shatter!

This time, the mansion’s windows fractured and broke above them.

When Simon turned his head to look, he saw zombies pouring from the window. Bodies fell from the fourth and fifth floors and crashed to the ground before pushing themselves back up.

“Woah, shit! What is it now?!”

“Run!”

Everyone sprinted in the opposite direction of the zombies.

It was going to be a long run to get back to the sewer because they came all the way to the back of the mansion while searching for corpses.

‘They are already this far…’

Simon groaned at the thought after staring at the garden. Before they knew it, the beautiful garden was flooded with zombies.

What was happening, really?

The zombies were also in the mansion. If they wanted to attack, they could’ve struck from the start. Didn’t it seem like they deliberately dragged Simon and his party in deep until reinforcements arrived?

Of course, there was no way zombies had that level of intelligence or tactics. Doubts in Simon’s head began to snowball.

“This way!”

There were too many undead in the garden. Simon and the others decided to go a roundabout way behind the warehouse next to the mansion.

However, zombies were guarding this side as well.

“There really is no end to them!”

“Let’s go!”

They were left with no options but to break through the siege with force.

While Rick and Meilyn took the lead, frantically taking down zombies, Simon paused, then ran briefly in another direction. He stood at the back of the warehouse and pulled the imaginary lever.

‘At this rate, somebody will get hurt. I’ll have to borrow your power here, Pier.’

Whirr!

Simon’s group mates couldn’t see the subspace from this angle, covered by the warehouse building.

The subspace opened. Pier and conscripted skeletons poured out.

[Kuhehehe! I’m always welcome to run wild. But!]

Said Pier while shouldering his greatsword.

[If I fight like this, could not your friends discover you are Commander to the Legion?]

‘They won’t.’

Simon grinned.

‘This is Death Land. It’s the paradise of the undead. It’s not unusual to see a skeleton fighting a zombie.’

[Aha!]

‘Pier, please act as a separate unit. Act as though we don’t know each other.’

[Kuhahahaha! Understood!]

In short, Simon was asking Pier to pretend to be a native monster of Death Land.

Pier moved with the conscripted skeletons, and Simon quickly ran back to the party and joined them as if nothing had happened.

* * *

* * *

“Wow, this is actually really dangerous.”

Muttered Rick.

He defeated the zombies blocking the way, but there were close to 100 zombies blocking their way to the sewer. Plus, the number of zombies increased in real-time, and the siege was slowly closing in.

Meilyn bit her lip and looked at the tongue pad. She seemed to be hesitating about whether to send an SOS or not.

But her hesitation was blown away at once.

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!

A huge slash cut through the dense formation of zombies.

[Kuhahahahahaha!]

A tall skeleton carrying a white greatsword jumped into the zombie horde. Dozens of zombies fell with every swing of his greatsword. Behind him, conscripted skeletons began to kill zombies along with Pier.

“…Hm?”

“A fight between skeletons and zombies? Is it a territorial dispute?”

Said Simon, trying his best to feign ignorance.

“I don’t know what it is, but now is our chance! Run for it!”

Simon and his group mates ran toward the sewer, and Pier and the skeleton army were also carrying out their mission properly.

On the surface, it seemed like they were just fighting randomly, but Pier followed Simon and the others while drawing the attention of the zombies. He sent slashes now and then to destroy the zombies on the way to Simon’s group.

“Woah! Wow! That’s so fucking cool!”

Rick was fixated on Pier even as he ran for his life.

“With that great sword and that cape… Wow! It’s a necromancer’s dream! Isn’t it insane, Simon? I’d love nothing more than to have an undead like that!”

Simon tried his best to smile and said,

“I-I know, right?”

“But isn’t it a bit strange?”

Pondered Meilyn.

“Are those really Death Land skeletons? Why does it seem like they’re helping us?”

“What are you saying? It must be a coincidence.”

Rick replied that way, but Simon had a guilty look on his face.

‘Hmph, is it clearly contrived after all?’

Since where Simon’s party and the Legion were heading was similar, she would’ve made that conclusion. Simon poked Pier’s clone.

‘Pier, can you see my location?’

[Yeah, I can?]

‘Could you slash at our exact location? I’ll react to it somehow.’

[Kuhahahahaha! You crazy bastard!]

However, it seemed like he was going to do as he was told. A flash of light shone from where Pier was.

[Ten steps ahead of your position.]

Simon reacted immediately. A huge slash came their way.

“Meilyn!”

Simon hugged Meilyn, who was running ahead, and threw himself to the side. Immediately, a slash sliced through the spot the two were just in, leaving not a single blade of grass behind.

Rick and Camibarez fell on their butts out of fright.

Crrrruuumble!

A huge scar was left on the ground, thick smoke trailing up.

“Holy shit…”

Rick let out a feigned smile looking at the destruction left by the slash.

“Who said that monster was on our side again, please?”

Simon stood up and said,

“Meilyn! Are you alright?”

“…”

After spacing out with a reddened face for a while, she jolted upright in surprise and said,

“Ah! Yeah, thank you.”

“It’s coming again!”

Pier was firing indiscriminate slashes in all directions.

The land shook frantically. Buildings collapsed, and debris fell. With a shower of debris about to fall on them, the four ran in a panic.

[Was my acting fine?]

‘Well done!’

As Simon fled, he gave a stealthy thumbs-up to Pier’s clone. The clone giggled.

“Over there! I can see the sewers!”

While Pier and the skeletons stopped the zombie horde, Simon’s party safely reached the sewer entrance.

This time again, Meilyn covered their vision with jet-black flames, and Rick scattered loud music boxes.

Simon opened the hatch, and the other three quickly climbed down the ladder. Finally, Simon went in last and closed the hatch so it wouldn’t look obvious. Rick even fixed it firmly in place with an enchantment.

“Pheeeeew.”

“We’re saved.”

Everyone let out a collective sigh as if they had forgotten to breathe.

“Let’s return to camp quickly. This place isn’t normal after all.”

“I completely agree.”

The four of them descended the ladder and walked through the sewer.

The zombies above didn’t come down, so the tension that had been eating away at them gradually released. They also started talking casually.

“By the way, didn’t that skeleton have some crazy strength? Wow! Maybe that entity is the ruler of Death Land?”

“Enough is enough, dumbass.”

Meilyn scolded him.

With that said, Simon tapped Pier’s clone with the tip of his finger.

‘Pier, how is it going?’

[They’re just many in numbers, but it’s no big deal. I’ll fight for a while then back out to join you.]

‘Yeah. I’m counting on you.’

Simon felt like they somehow passed this mission without much trouble. If he had one regret, it was that he couldn’t find any clues about Prince.

Simon wanted to look around this Death Land a little more.

However, he couldn’t come up with a reason to go ahead and search alone, leaving his group behind. If he told them he wanted to go alone, everyone would follow him, saying it’s dangerous.

‘…!’

Simon stopped in his tracks. A chill ran down his spine.

What was carried along with the wind was the foul stench of the dead.

Camibarez, who was walking alongside him, looked at Simon in befuddlement.

“What’s wrong, Simon?”

“Everyone, stop.”

Rick, who had been taking the lead, raised his right fist and said that.

“Someone’s coming from the other side.”

Tap.

Tap.

Footsteps echoed throughout the sewer. Since it was an enclosed area, the sound felt exceptionally loud.

Meilyn whispered,

“Who’s that? Is it a zombie?”

“Its footsteps sound pretty normal for a zombie.”

“Wouldn’t it be Kizen students who entered the sewer like us?”

Simon shook his head.

“Then you should hear at least two pairs of footsteps. A Kizen student wouldn’t walk alone in a dangerous place like this.”

Tap.

Tap.

Bzzzzt…

Everyone gulped and waited.

[Hmm.]

And what appeared out of the darkness was a boy with an uncanny appearance.

He looked young, about 12 years old, and his grayish skin drew immediate attention from the eye. He wore luxurious ceremonial robes typical of noble children and had a crown on his head.

The boy was dragging something on the floor.

It was the corpse of a horse that gave off a terrible stench. It looked as though it had been eaten by wild animals. There was a big hole across its side.

‘Wh-Who’s that?’

Anyone could tell that he wasn’t an ordinary person.

While everyone was nervous, the boy threw the corpse of the horse in front of the four. They flinched at the disgusting appearance and stepped back.

[My name is Prince.]

Said the boy.

[I am the ruler of Death Land.]

——