Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 147: Episode

The fourth-floor lecture hall of the Hall of Magical Technology.

A bone-deep chill permeated the entire room.

Walking across a floor coated in a thin layer of ice, the girl with sky-blue hair let out a faint puff of white breath.

Every plant that had been guarding the Desolater was either incapacitated or frozen solid by the extreme cold.

Meirin moved gracefully across the slick, icy surface.

She retrieved the Desolater from the back of the room and secured it in her Subspace.

"Clear," she said, her breath misting in the air as she pressed a small button on the side of her glasses.

If she successfully completed the mission, she was supposed to signal Kajan with the button. Having safely done her part, Meirin straightened her back with a triumphant expression.

"A-achoo! Achoo!"

She let out another sneeze, then another. Rubbing the goosebumps on her arms, she shivered, her legs pressed tightly together.

"Ugh, I think I caught a cold. Is ice magic really for me?"

Despite her splendid success, her triumphant air had vanished. Meirin scurried out of the frozen lecture hall.

---

In the warehouse of the first-year boys’ dormitory, Dick was clapping his hands.

"Alright, people! More plants over there!"

Inside the lecture hall, now swarming with plant-type monsters, more than ten Kizen students were locked in a fierce battle. Dick watched the scene from a comfortable seat in the back, stroking his chin.

’Hmm, the tension is starting to drag.’

He pulled a golden egg-shaped ornament from his pocket and tossed it toward a thicket of vines.

"A golden egg!" he announced.

"There’s a golden egg worth five Gold over there!"

"What?!"

"Where is it?!"

The students surged forward, trampling one another to get there first. Obstructing vines were sliced apart by swordsmanship students while the plant monsters were incinerated by those who wielded Jet-Black flames. Kizen students, through and through. Dick nodded in satisfaction.

"Hey, why do I feel like a side character here?" a student who had been weakening the plants with curses grumbled, looking over at Dick.

"Isn’t this setup a little unfair for a cursology major?"

Dick just shrugged.

"Go demand your cut when it’s over. They’re only winning because of your curses, right? I’m sure they’ll toss you some coin."

"Hmm."

With a dozen students working together, the plant-type monsters in the warehouse were quickly dispatched. In the meantime, Dick slipped on Kajan’s glasses and strolled away. While the students, completely taken in by his smooth talk, fought on, he retrieved the Desolater—which was hidden by a perception-impairing spell—safely stored it in his Subspace, and pressed the button on the glasses. ’Heh, an easy clear.’

"Aargh! Hey! This is real poison!"

"I’ve got spots on my skin!" He coughed.

A commotion suddenly erupted from behind him. Dick grinned, laying out a row of antidotes he had purchased in Rochest.

"Of course plant-type monsters have poison! Now, now, step right up, customers! Have a drink!"

The students swarmed toward the antidotes.

"By the way," Dick added cheerfully, "you all know a single bottle costs one hundred Silver, right?"

"...You crazy bastard!"

---

On the second floor of the Learning Hall, the sounds of slicing, thudding, and crunching echoed through the corridor.

A one-sided slaughter was underway. A lone male student watched, pressed flat against the lecture hall wall, trembling. It was Toto, from the first year’s Class A.

’Who in the world is he?’

A boy wearing a crown strode through the room, mercilessly tearing apart vines and plant-type monsters. The overwhelming power he wielded could be turned on Toto at any moment, and the thought slowly filled him with terror.

[Hey! Loser!]

The boy’s gaze finally landed on him.

[If you even think about running, I’ll kill you myself. Got it?]

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Prince tore through the plant-type monsters with an emotional fury.

[I thought we’d be doing this together! Making me, the Zombie Prince, do this kind of grunt work!]

It was an exercise in one-sided violence. The situation was resolved in under five minutes, and soon all the plant-type monsters lay limp on the lecture hall floor. Prince put on the glasses he had received from Simon, pressed the button, and commanded,

[Loser. Get over here.]

Prince beckoned. Valuing his life above all else, Toto scrambled over.

[Put this in your Subspace.]

Prince gestured, and a Jet-Black box materialized in his hand.

Toto’s eyes widened.

[Hey, are you ignoring me?]

"N-No, sir!"

Toto hastily did as he was told, placing the box in his Subspace.

Prince grinned, slinging an arm around Toto’s shoulder.

[See? Keep listening carefully, and everything will be fine. Understand?]

"Y-Yes, sir!"

[Next question. What do you use for your Subspace?]

"It’s this bracelet."

[Take it off.]

Toto gasped, clutching the bracelet to his chest. "No! This is my precious—!"

[Are you going to hand it over or not?] Prince raised his fist and snarled, ’I’ll fucking—!’

Holding back tears, Toto had no choice but to surrender the bracelet.

[Ugh, stop blubbering! I’m not stealing it!]

As fat tears rolled down Toto’s cheeks, Prince yelled, [I’m just borrowing it for your safety. I’ll bring it back tonight.]

"R-Really?"

[I promise. I swear it on the honor of the Zombie Prince.]

’What the hell is a Zombie Prince?’ Toto wondered.

Still, as long as he got his Subspace back, he didn’t care. But he felt uneasy letting him go just like that. He didn’t seem like a completely terrible person, but he had a feeling the boy would just forget. If he asked for collateral, he’d probably get beaten up.

Resigned, Toto held out his pinky finger.

"Th-Then please promise me."

Prince let out a dumbfounded laugh.

[Kids these days.]

He squatted down and linked his pinky with Toto’s. Believing that the boy would surely remember now, Toto tried to pull his hand away.

[Hey, what are you doing? No seal?] Prince snapped.

"Huh?"

[We’re making a promise, right? You have to link pinkies to lock it in!]

"No, that’s something only little kids do..."

Prince roared, and Toto fell flat on his back.

"I-I’ll do it!"

He’d gotten tangled up with a real weirdo.

He completed the strange promise ritual just as Prince demanded. But now, Prince was looking his uniform up and down.

[Hey, that uniform looks pretty nice.]

"H-Huh?"

---

At that exact moment, Simon finally reunited with Pier and Erzebet on the school grounds.

"I was starting to worry," Simon said. "Why were you all so late?"

At his question, Pier, clad in plate armor, scowled.

[Damn it! After we broke through the fog, there was another barrier.]

Erzebet nodded.

[Yes, it was a large-scale barrier covering the entire first-year campus. Even I, with my stealth abilities, couldn’t pass through. It seems designed to completely block any outside intrusion.]

’The barrier has already made that progress?’

Simon touched his forehead, his expression grim.

"Then it looks like we have to resolve this ourselves."

[Hehehe! That’s exactly right!]

Simon briefly turned his head to gaze north. ’I wonder if Kamibarez got out safely.’ If she made it to the mausoleum and brought back the professors, it would open up new options. But for now, Simon believed the best course of action was for him and Kajan to handle this.

Re-entering the Venomology building, Simon descended to the basement where Kajan stood guard. He passed through a dark corridor and arrived at the secret storage facility for hazardous materials.

"There you are." Kajan’s voice echoed from the darkness. He had been clinging to the ceiling and dropped lightly to the floor.

[Ugh, it’s this guy again,] Erzebet muttered, clearly annoyed.

Simon offered a wry smile and looked at Kajan.

"What about Francesca?"

"Hasn’t come out yet."

Kajan shook his head.

"But there’s good news. All of your comrades have successfully neutralized the four Desolaters."

"That’s great!"

The basic conditions for fighting Francesca were now met. All the Desolaters were secured in their respective Subspaces, immune to her detonation signal. Her threats of a massive explosion were now empty. The relief was immense. Simon felt a great weight lifted from his mind. The future where a catastrophe occurred had been averted. From this point on, their actions could steer things toward a much better outcome.

"Oh, and I found Professor Lang’s diary and ID card in his office," Simon said, pulling out the card. "I gave the diary to Kamibarez to take to the professors at the mausoleum. Now, with this ID card..."

"We can go inside and arrest Francesca," Kajan finished.

The two nodded in unison.

"Erzebet."

[Yes.]

Erzebet spread her spider silk wide, weaving it over Simon’s uniform. The silk transformed, clothing him in a new navy-blue outfit.

"Pier."

[Here I go!]

Pier, having already shed his armor, disassembled into hundreds of bones that clicked into place around Simon’s body. A cape wrapped around his shoulders, the skull settled over his face like a helmet, and the bones of a hand formed around his right arm, placing Pier’s greatsword firmly in his grasp.

’Overlord is ready, too.’

All preparations were complete. Simon took a deep breath and pressed Lang’s ID card against the black magic circle.

The card was sucked into the wall. With a series of clanks, the wall and door transformed into hundreds of blocks that rose and fell like piano keys. A gap opened, creating an entrance. The tension was suffocating, knowing Francesca was just inside.

Holding his breath, Simon followed Kajan into the darkness. A secret hazardous materials storage. The name was fitting. The materials here were secured behind dozens of layers of alloys and magical seals. At a glance, it was just a room full of containers.

Just then, Kajan, walking ahead, gave a hand signal.

Simon looked at him, confused.

Simon turned and saw four empty spaces where something should have been. The black magic seals had been erased. The area was thick with dust, except for four clean, square patches on the floor. Someone had recently taken something.

’She took the Desolaters from here!’

Seeing exactly four empty spaces was incredibly reassuring. He had worried he might not have properly confirmed the explosions in his vision of the future.

The two resumed their advance. Suddenly, Kajan raised a clenched fist.

"She’s coming."

A black cross sliced through the air toward them.

"Get back."

Kajan’s arm muscles rippled as if they would burst. He didn’t dodge. Instead, he threw a punch straight at the incoming cross.

The Jet-Black cross and Kajan’s fist collided head-on. A sharp cracking echoed from Kajan’s arm, but the cross crumpled like a can before shattering into pieces.

"Agh!" Kajan grimaced and shook out his arm.

"C-Couldn’t you have just dodged it?" Simon asked, shocked.

Kajan silently pointed behind him. Simon saw a large storage tank. He understood immediately. If the cross had hit that tank... the result would have been horrifying.

’As expected of Kajan. His experience is on another level.’

Admiring him inwardly, Simon broadened his own field of vision.

"Get down!" Kajan ordered.

Simon, Kajan, and Erzebet immediately dropped to the floor. Three more crosses flew from different directions, colliding above their heads before crumpling and vanishing into thin air. It was a vicious attack.

[A mere Priest dares,] Erzebet hissed, raising her head with palpable killing intent. [There’s no way we’d fall for an attack like this. Show yourself.]