Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 177: Episode

"The smell of blood?" Lethe repeated, sniffing the air. "I don’t really smell it. Maybe something a little coppery, but it could just be food from another cabin."

As Simon stood with a grave expression, Lethe kept talking. "I’m not sure about a smell, but the train has definitely slowed down. And the ride has gotten awful—it’s so damn shaky... Huh? What the—?"

Her eyes, fixed on the window, went wide. She shot to her feet and pressed herself against the glass. "What is that?!"

Outside, a vast pasture was swarming with blood-red zombies, all of them sprinting toward the train. And that wasn’t all. A sudden thud against their window made Lethe cry out and stumble back, right into Simon’s arms.

"This is insane! What are all those things?!"

A zombie was plastered to the window. Screams erupted from the other cars, signaling that the same was happening all over the train. Excited by the sight of living humans, the zombies let out monstrous shrieks and pounded their fists against the glass. Some were even crawling onto the roof.

"Lethe, hold on," Simon said, his voice calm as he stepped forward without hesitation and pressed his hands against the zombie-covered window.

’When did this happen?’ he wondered. Between the bodies of the undead, he could see a glowing red magic circle drawn on the train’s exterior. That had to be the source.

The window behind them shattered, and zombies poured into the first-class cabin like a tidal wave. Pandemonium erupted as screams of horror echoed through the car.

"Tch!" Lethe was the first to react, dashing into the hallway and raising a finger. A magic circle unfolded before it, unleashing a volley of divine arrows that pierced the zombies’ hearts and heads. "Red zombies... It has to be the Blood Heaven Cult!"

A zombie lunged for Lethe’s neck, but Simon appeared, kicking it away as he finished her thought. "The heretics that have been causing all the trouble lately?"

"Looks like it," she confirmed. "They use a modified undead of their own creation called Blood Zombies. They’re tricky, too—they even have resistance to purification magic."

Still firing arrows, Lethe vaulted over a chair. Her skirt flared as she smashed the head of a zombie in front of her, using the recoil to launch herself into the air again. Spotting ten zombies clinging to the ceiling, she made the sign of the cross.

’La Broche!’

The zombies on the ceiling were impaled from behind by divine spears that shot up from the floor, where a magic circle now glowed.

’Bam!’

Another zombie flew several meters and slammed against a wall with a wet splat.

Simon exhaled slowly as he walked down the hallway, zombies shrieking as they charged him from both sides.

’Strength.’

’Haste.’

’Endurance.’

Casting three blessings on himself, Simon swung his fist. With a heavy, sickening crunch, a zombie’s face caved in, and it was sent flying out the broken window.

The remaining zombies charged, enraged. Simon’s arms became a blur, cutting through the air.

A zombie’s leg snapped. Another’s jaw was dislocated and sent flying. When one latched onto his thigh from behind, its teeth failed to pierce the skin hardened by ’Endurance’. Simon brought his elbow down on the crown of its head, shattering its skull.

’No need to rush. Maintain my breathing and take them down one by one.’ No matter how many swarmed him, his movements were clean and brutally efficient.

Watching him fight, Lethe tilted her head. "When did I ever teach you Holy Combat Arts?"

"This is Magical Combat Arts," he replied, a jab like a bolt of lightning sending a zombie staggering back, coughing up blood. "A punch is a punch." He followed through with a deep, powerful straight, and the zombie went down with a clatter, crashing into its brethren.

Their combined efforts quickly stabilized the situation. The other priests, who had been cowering behind their shields, regained their composure and began to fight back. Among them, Ellen was unleashing one area-of-effect spell after another.

"Ellen!" Lethe shouted over the din. "Everyone will flock to this car! You take charge and protect them!"

"O-Okay! But what about you two?"

Simon and Lethe shared a look and nodded. "We have to get to the engine room," Simon said.

"That’s too reckless! Think of how many enemies you’ll have to face—!"

Without even looking, Simon swung his fist, and another zombie collapsed, its brains splattering across the floor.

"We’ll be back, Ellen."

"Protect this place," Lethe added, and the two of them strode into the next car.

The second-class cabin was also in chaos. Terrified passengers were screaming as they scrambled toward the relative safety of the first-class car. Simon and Lethe pressed themselves to the side, moving through the second and third-class cabins until they reached the general passenger car. Packed with seats instead of beds, it held the most people.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

"St-Stop! Gack!"

The scene was pure carnage. Zombies and people were locked in a desperate struggle. Some were being torn apart, others collapsed in pools of their own blood, and some sat captured, strange collars locked around their necks. Standing among them were men and women in long, flowing red robes.

’Who are they?’ Simon’s gaze turned icy. The zombies weren’t attacking them.

"Stop resisting and put on the collar," one of the red-robed men said, tossing a device that looked like a dog collar to a passenger. "Wear this, and you’ll become one of us—a member of the Blood Heaven Cult."

Once the collar was on, the zombies ignored the wearer.

"You over there, stop struggling and just put it on!" a cultist yelled at a middle-aged man who was bleeding from a bite on his leg.

"D-Don’t be ridiculous! I am a follower of the Goddess...!"

"Bullshit."

The cultist kicked the man in the jaw. "Then hurry up and pray to your precious Goddess! Ask her to save you, to strike us down! You can’t, can you? If you had a brain, you’d realize that if there really is such a great and almighty god, why isn’t she saving you—!"

The cultist’s face caved in. The surrounding cult members stared in horror as Lethe, having just landed from a flying kick, spat, "Your divine punishment has arrived."

"You bitch!" another cultist roared, swinging a club at the back of her head.

Simon was suddenly there, blocking the blow with his arm. ’Fast!’ he thought, grabbing his attacker’s wrist and pulling him forward into a vicious uppercut.

As the cultist’s body went flying, Simon and Lethe kicked off the ground in unison. Blood splattered, bones broke, and faces were crushed. They tore through the cabin like a whirlwind, their fists and feet a blur of Magical and Holy Combat Arts as they took down cultists and zombies alike.

"Hey, don’t come this way! We keep getting tangled up!" Lethe yelled, striking a cultist in the abdomen with a powerful kick.

"This is the third time I’ve almost been hit by your foot," Simon shot back, twisting a cultist’s arm until it snapped.

The passengers could only watch, stunned. They had no idea they were witnessing a battle between Kizen’s Special Admission No. 1 and Efnel’s Selection No. 1.

"H-Help us!"

"There are more undead behind us!"

The problem was the people fleeing from the other cars. With humans and zombies pouring in together, it was impossible to fight without risking friendly fire. More than once, Lethe had to halt the divine spears she was about to launch because screaming passengers ran into her line of sight.

"This isn’t working," she said decisively. "I’ll switch to support. You fight alone. Think you can handle it?"

It sounded reckless, but Simon grinned as if he’d been waiting for her to say it. "Sounds good. I was about to suggest the same thing."

"Ugh, my pride," she muttered, then dropped to her knees. Making the sign of the cross, she cast a barrier around herself, clasped her hands, and began to pray.

’Vwoooooooom!’

An explosive wave of Divinity radiated from her.

’Having Lethe on support is incredibly reassuring,’ Simon thought. He had been surprised by her skill more than once while studying white magic himself.

A brilliant light swirled around them as a cascade of blessings began.

’Mass Haste.’

’Mass Endurance.’

’Mass Downer.’

’Fwooooooosh!’

It was even better than he’d expected. Countless white magic circles materialized on the ceiling, raining light down on the passengers. Powerful buffs enveloped the fleeing crowd. Their speed increased dramatically. When zombies bit them, their claws and teeth couldn’t pierce their skin. Their attacks were no longer a threat. On top of that, a wave of calming magic washed over them, and the chaos subsided in an instant. Simon let out a gasp of admiration.

’Mass Heal.’

’Curse Break.’

Next came healing and purification. Wounds from zombie bites sealed over, and even the signs of infection from corpse poison vanished. ’Curse Break’ even worked on the people wearing the red collars, its powerful purifying light shattering the cursed metal.

"Alright, everyone!" Simon shouted. "It’s safe now! Please exit in an orderly fashion!"

With Lethe on support, there would be zero casualties. Simon guided the passengers while continuing to fight the cultists.

His fist shattered a zombie’s face. Just then, a cultist to his side fired a blood-flow arrow.

Lethe’s defensive barrier materialized in front of Simon, blocking the attack perfectly. Simon flicked a nearby water bottle into the air with his foot, then spun and kicked it. Lethe dispelled the barrier at the exact right moment, and the bottle smashed into the cultist’s face. He screamed and collapsed.

"What’s all this commotion?"

"Can’t you even handle one cabin?"

More cultists were pouring in from behind. Just then, a white magic circle formed at Simon’s feet.

’La Vitesse!’

A gale of wind whipped around Simon’s body, his hair and clothes fluttering wildly. He grinned and lowered his stance. It was Lethe’s signature blessing, granting immense power for a short duration.

’With this...!’

Simon charged. He became a blur of motion, shooting forward with dazzling speed. He kicked off the ceiling, floor, and walls, sending any cultists in his way flying before landing back on the floor. In his wake, five cultists collapsed, spewing blood from their mouths and noses.

"Hah." Lethe pushed herself up from behind a chair, shaking her sweat-drenched hair. "Did you get them all?"